Chapter 85: Navarese Civil War VI
Part 1: Big Objectives
TIME: 07:22 IT
DATE: War Day 781/25 Quintillius, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Llieda, Navarre
The 1,865 soldiers under the Dukes' command were ready for a fight. We reorganized them all into two understrength Battalions. 1st Battalion had 3 Infantry Regiments of 5 Companies each (instead of 6). 2nd Battalion had 2 Cavalry and 1 Recon Regiment of 5 Companies each (the Recon Regiment had 4 Recon Companies and 1 Ranger Company). The remaining 65 Goats were assigned to help carry litters and other secondary jobs.
30 total Companies, instead of 36 and change.
Facing us, according to expert scouting done by the International Brigades, was the remaining Battalion of the Herdiet faction that Emilio Largo had commanded, now under the command of Subcomandante Marcos Rojas (a cousin to the other Rojas we'd captured a while ago). According to Colonel Salinas, Marcos was not very imaginitive, and Largo kept him at arm's length.
That meant, to me, this guy was more likely to engage in wasteful tactics that would expend lives in exchange for little gain. Fine. We planned to draw him gradually into a battle he couldn't control. The Navarese Recon Companies were probing the forward area right now, trying to draw one of Marcos' units out, and hoping to draw out more.
After the battle began, our Airborne formations would land behind the city, and the International Brigades would send the Neighponese Brigade to the east side of the town, over the mountains, to blockade that side. The Airborne troops would set up their artillery and armor on the far side of town, to the West, and blockade things from there.
Marcos would then be pinned between three superior forces and without an escape. Either he surrendered, or we attacked the town. No matter what, we had him.
I was with Webley Weaver and the Airborne team. We had enough transports to send both the 2nd and 3rd Airborne regiments over all at once, 1st Regiment would reinforce us if needed. 2nd Regiment was the 7th, 8th, and 9th companies, who got some combat experience in the last battle. 3rd Regiment is where the Battalion HHC, armor, and artillery was assigned.
Adding in members of my own staff? The Parachute Engineer Regiment would be advised by Ambrosia and Jim Beam. The Parachute Artillery Regiments would be advised by Snowy Parfait (since Cosmic was still down with a broken-but-healing left foreleg). The Battalion HHC would have me, the girls (Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Toola, Fluttershy, Dash, and Dusty), Norfy, and Gaze attached. Webley, Gorcat, and Gilda were dropping, each, with one of the Parachute Infantry Companies. Coconut Cream was assigned to the Parachute Pathfinder Company.
Webley: "I'm feeling pretty confident about this one, sir." She nodded to me, as she finished applying her grease stick. "I had a vision last night of a man named Winters.. he was charging a huge formation of enemies alone, and then.. all of his friends came up to support him."
K: "Major Dick Winters, 101st Airborne, World War II." I nodded. "Man was a legend.. what we call on earth, a real badass." I shrugged a bit. "If you saw him, you saw a man that's a real winner. He only faltered when the officers under him did."
Webley: "Shouldn't happen - we have our own people in each unit." She smiled with a nod. "Navarese might have a hard time, though.." She pursed her lips. "What do you think, Toola?"
Toola: "Hm?" She tilted her head.
K: "She's asking for a prediction." I looked at her. "How you feel."
Toola: "Ah.. hh.." She blinked a few times, and sat down with a small canvas and a paint brush with water colors.
Webley: "What's she doing?" She whispered to me.
K: "I think this is how she's.. acting as a conduit for Pinkie Sense. Pinkie's special sense is something like an Oracle's abilities, it's probably something that comes out different ways, based on the person. For Toola Roola, that's art." I shrugged, as Toola held up the painting and examined it.
Toola: "..something odd is going to happen. Katrina and Jade should come with us." She gently chewed the stem of the paint brush.
Webley: "I'll go get them ready." No questions.
Jade? Did have some objections, when she arrived a few minutes later in full para-gear.
Jade: "Honestly! A parachute? I've only done that ONCE!" She scowled a bit. "And I ended up in the wilderness.. alone.. for hours." She hugged herself - Arooster County, she was remembering.
K: "It's okay, Jade." I put an arm around her. "I wouldn't be a good uncle if I let that happen twice." I nodded to Toola. "She thinks you need to come.. I'm not questioning it."
Katrina: "No kidding." She shrugged gracefully, cat-like. "Tirek has sent only technology against us, so far. We know these forces are likely all but completely cut off from him, but it stands to reason, he has.. something mystical up his sleeve." She rolled her shoulders a bit.
Twilight: "If that's the case, we'd better take all these precautions.." She sighed. "..the last thing we need is some kind of Rainbow Sorcerer, again, dr-" She looked around a moment, making sure only approved ears could hear her. "-draining everyone around them."
Applejack: "Mm." She nodded, and checked her Chaffee. "We'll be on alert, more'n usual."
K: "Alright, let's get to the planes." I said, leading the way. "Whatever happens, we can beat it." Yeah, and if we can't, we won't have to worry about anything after that.
We took off shortly thereafter. Since we now had Gliders, the equipment for the specialized airborne units could be landed. I did intend for the vehicles to be parachute droppable, we just didn't have a rig that worked quite right, yet, thus we used Gliders.
My command element - the girls (which does include Dusty), Norfy, Gaze, Katrina, and Jade - elected to drop separately, taking a spare C-1 Buffalo. Given Toola's warning, I didn't want to take any chances. I also grabbed Gilda, Dex, Octavia, Yanjiro, and Scratch, since the plane had the room to do so, and their units weren't deployed at the front. Friendship is Magic, right?
As we jumped out of the back of the plane, and started towards the ground, I wondered what strangeness Toola foresaw? Moreover, I wondered how Pinkie's oracle ability had been conferred to her - if Pinkie had done so after becoming Chaos Embodied, or what? Either way.. when someone with a track record of predicting the worst tells you something odd is going to happen, in a world like this? You listen.
I was glad I did.
[End of Part 1]
Part 2: Swirling
TIME: 08:03 IT
DATE: War Day 781/25 Quintillius, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: South-West of Llieda, Navarre
Battle had joined almost immediately, and the report I received was that Marcos had committed his forces piecemeal, as I'd hoped he would. Airborne would block his escape to the West, and the Nieghponese to the East. Our plane was out ahead of the Airborne troops, we'd be on the ground a good 20 minutes before the Pathfinder Company.
I managed to grease the landing, this time (I was getting better at this), and came up with my Type-34 in my hands. Detaching my parachute, I got up, and went for the weapon container. Again, Norfy and Gaze had been on either side of it when it was dropped, and both of them moved over to it as I did.
Norfy: "..I can already feel something." He nodded to me.
Gaze: "Aye, suh." He puffed his chest a bit.
We distributed our weapons and set up the others for the rest of the team, setting off the smoke flare to alert them to its location. It didn't take long for everyone to gather around, and take their loadouts from this container, and the second one.
Dex: "Hey, dude.." He nodded to me as he, Octavia, Scratch, and Yanjiro came up. "..me and 'Scratch are both feeling something mega weird."
K: "Twilight?" I asked as she approached.
Twilight: "Oh, something's here alright." She frowned.
Rarity: "Yes, darling. I think everyone can feel it." She grabbed her Sniper Sherman and moved off to scan the area.
K: "We stepped into something, I'm sure of it. I bet Tirek's lieutenant in this region approached Marcos after we captured Largo, and made him a Devil's Bargain of some kind." I stood, and moved up with Rarity.
Webley was moving towards the center of the clearing, then stopped, froze..
Webley: *Hauntingly slow* "He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright, He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight; He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, 'You ain't gonna jump no more!' Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die-"
K: "EVERYONE GET DOWN!" I dove on Webley, just as the enemy opened up on us.
Only, they opened up with magic shots.
K: "DUSTY! CALL THEM OFF! CALL THEM OFF!!" I screamed at her, as she was trying to return fire.
Dusty: C> "ALPHA ACTUAL TO GULLWING LEADER, ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!" She managed to get the call out just as a magical bolt hit her radio pack, gave her a moderate electric shock, and shot her across the ground.
Up above, I saw the Pathfinder Company's C-1 Buffalos make sharp, banking turns away from the drop zones. They heard us.
We'd prevented a slaughter.. problem was, we were now alone. I crawled over to Dusty, now that Webley was out of her trance and returning fire, and got the fried radio pack off of her.
K: "You okay!?" I asked, feeling up her back, and noting burns in her uniform.
Dusty: "My BACK feels like it's on FIRE, but I'm fine!" She rolled over, and launched a Gavin grenade at one of the sources of the magic bolts.
When it impacted, it blew something else up, and ejected several Goblins out from behind some brush, all severely wounded, all with burning holes in them. Two of them managed to get up, one of them trying to extinguish the flames, the other staggering, half his head gone. A Pershing machine gun opened up on them both, putting them out of their misery.
K: "FALL BACK!" I ordered, and indicated one of the few directions we weren't taking fire from. "KATRINA! JADE! SHIELD!"
Katrina: "On it!" She hastily drew a sigil in the ground, and activated it, then envoked a spell, and suddenly an earthen wall shot up on two sides of us.
Jade: "No problem!" She flicked five green gems into the air in the slot ahead where the earthen wall didn't cover, and a ripple shield similar to the one she'd used in Quirtbeck, erected itself.
Jade and Katrina both looked at each other, and Katrina drew another Sigil, while Jade drew out a black gem. Jade jammed it into the Sigil to activate and power it, and a swirling black cloud engulfed us - we could see through it, but the enemy could not. They were blocked AND blinded.
We retreated, with me taking the lead, hastily reloading. We went from a run, to a tactical fast march, weapons up and ready.. but the enemy seemed to have lost our trail.
K: "Toola, Katrina, Jade, Twilight, traps." I pointed.
Toola rigged a couple of "grenade cups" with tripwires, while Twilight, Jade, and Katrina set magical traps along the path we'd taken.
Applejack: "Okay, hun - explain." She nodded to me.
K: "The song Webley started singing. It's sung to all new Paratroopers, reminding them of the gory death that could await them if they screw up." I nodded to her. "They have to then sing the song themselves, more than once, as a rite of passage."
Webley: "I.." She lowered her head. "..didn't know it'd be mages."
Dex: "I think it's a lot more'n that, dudes and dudettes." He paced over with our second radio. "Here, dude."
K: C> "Alpha Actual, go ahead."
Forest Spirit: C> "Mike Actual - the enemy isn't as weakened as we thought.. the Navarese troops are getting overrun."
K: C> "Do what you need to do - Tirek has some serious force, here. Alpha, out."
I learned later, that meant sending in Equestrian troops immediately, along with tanks, to break the enemy force.. but, at the moment, we had to figure out what the Mage situation meant. And it wasn't quite what we thought.
We moved at an angle, then in random directions twice, away from the encounter. Once we knew we weren't being followed, we started to double back.
Dex: "Okay, General-Dude. What's the plan?" Now that the near panic had worn off.
K: "We circle back around, hit them in the rear, scatter and disorganize them enough to have the Airborne units land. They have about another hour of loiter time before they have to go back and refuel." I pointed up. "That was the plan - if we have to abort, they loiter some distance away, and wait for us. Either we clear the area or find another Drop Zone."
Applejack: "An' y'all want 'em to drop raight on top'a 'em." She nodded.
K: "Exactly." I said, as we moved around the side of the engagement zone.
We skirted to the far side, way away from where we'd landed, and came around to the left-rear of the enemy.. they had, here, a huge open area cleared, here. A massive sigil was in the ground, at the flat part of a plateau.. it was at least fifty feet across. Mages were all over the area, guarded strictly by Porcines.
At least two whole companies of nothing but Porcines.
This was going to be serious, serious trouble.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: Magical Mysterious Fate
TIME: 09:23 IT
DATE: War Day 781/25 Quintillius, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: South-West of Llieda, Navarre
A company of Porcine, armed with Pershings, guarding Mages, and a gigantic sigil of unknown function.
The mages were a mix of Goblin, Ympha, Raptorians, and at least two Gizmonk that I could see. Troubling? I saw two Unicorn Ponies in there, wearing hooded cloaks..
Twilight: "Who in the-" She was right next to me, looking through binoculars. "-I have no idea who they are."
K: "I see them." I nodded, and gently motioned for Rarity and Scratch to slide up next to us. "Rarity."
Rarity: "Oh, I see them, Darling. Do you want them dead?" She was so casual about that.
K: "I want them protected." I said, watching them. "I want them captured. When we start shooting, don't let anyone try to grab them and take them away somewhere. Either they're forced to do this, and they need rescue, or they're traitors, and we need to know why."
Dex: "Battle plan, General-dude?" He smirked a bit.
K: "Katrina.." I slid down next to her. "..can you make an anti-magic sigil, or something that would block a Caster's ability to cast magic?"
Katrina: "Hmm." She rubbed her chin a minute. "Not quite.. but I can disrupt the Aether for a short time. That won't block magic, but it will make it much harder to cast - for myself as well." She looked at Jade. "Those that cast magic from Totems or Components won't be as effective, but their stuff will still work."
Jade: "And I can set up a Lunar Curtain." She nodded. "That'll dull most magic attack spells. Combine that with her Aether disruption, and it'll.. mooostly shut them down." She shrugged a bit, a gem in each hand. "Mostly. We'll have the advantage, for sure."
K: "Rarity, Scratch, I want you two acing those Porcine. Looks like the rest of them are lesser races.. I see lots of Goblins and some Ympha. Twilight, I want you suppressing and chasing them around with the machine gun. Everyone else, pick your shots." I nodded. "And, Norfy, if things get heavy, I want an Ice Wall in front of us, then we fall back and try again from another direction - hit and run, if we must." I pointed at the things I wanted dead.
Rainbow Dash: "I'm guessing no air support." She nodded to me.
K: "Too risky - if they get a lucky shot and down you, I wouldn't have a way to get to you." I gestured. "But, I want you, Flutters, and Gilda flitting around off to our right flank and hitting them with Gavin grenades.. pop up, fire, scoot, pop down randomly.. that'll draw some attention."
Gilda: "No problem." She nodded.
K: "Alright.." I waited until the three were down and to the right about 200 meters. "..on your go, Rarity."
Rarity was already sighted in on her first victim. I heard her let out a small breath, and tensed my finger on the trigger. She fired, a Porcine went down, and then we all started shooting.
As expected, the enemy was taken by surprise, and several more Porcine were downed, as well as three Goblins taking a stitch from Twilight's machine gun, before they even reacted. They started trying to scatter. Rarity and Scratch kept the Porcine away from the two ponies, who merely took cover behind a stone wall fragment and refused to move.
Porcine were trying to shoot back at us, but we had a range advantage - we were about 400 meters away, and Pershings can't be hip-fired accurately that far, by a long shot. So, rounds were mostly hitting short. The mages started firing spells at us - and Katrina's disruption sigil caused a couple of them to stagger with the sudden realization that their spells were taking so much more concentration. Only a couple managed to hit the Lunar Curtain, and not anywhere near us.
I went through my first magazine, exclusively shooting Mages, two or three rounds each. I simply rolled to the side to reload, the enemy fire being so ineffective at this range. Rarity reloaded at the same time, as did Scratch. We then rolled back over as Applejack paused to reload Twilight's belt.
Their numbers thinned. FAST.
K: "RELOAD! ALL RELOAD!" I called, and got out my bayonet. "FIX BAYONETS!" We were going to take them. "READY!? GO-GO-GO! CHARGE!" We threw ourselves over the crest of the hilltop.. and charged down it.
The enemy fell apart fast. These were all my expert troops, even Yanjiro. They'd all been through meat grinders. They'd survived them. Now, we were at an advantage, again - we had firearms, they made do with magic, and at long rage, we'd decimated them. They were not soldiers, they did not think, they stood in place, and tried to shoot us with magic.
We shot them with bullets.
Finally, we got to the middle of the Sigil, and myself, Dex, Scratch and Applejack moved over to where the two ponies had been.. they were still there, cowering behind the stone wall.
K: "I'm General K of Equestria.. come out." I ordered, keeping my rifle aimed at them - I didn't know if they were hostages or helpers.
Stallion: "We surrender!" He rose first, head down, and paced over, then went down on to his belly.
Mare: "We.." She moved over and did the same. "..we give up."
K: "Names." I ordered.
Stallion: "Sol Shimmer. This is my wife, Dawn." He looked over at her, as Twilight came up.
Twilight: "..MISTER SHIMMER!?" She demanded.
Sol: "OH!" He COWERED before her. "T-Twilight! Please! Don't shoot us!" He knew what was going on with this war, it seemed.. and he knew her.
Twilight, for her part, narrowed her eyes at them, and kept her Abrams aimed right at Dawn's head.
K: "Explain." I demanded.
Twilight: "Their daughter.." She started. "..it's a long story, but she was my rival in Magic School." Her eyebrow twitched a little, her grown understanding of violence over the last two years of war, showing. "She.. did something very bad, and Celestia kicked her out." She shook her head. "Her parents swore to get even with me."
Sol: "Celestia BANISHED her." He corrected, but cowered again, when Twilight reared up on her hind legs, and aimed her Abrams at him.
K: "She'll need to explain the specifics." I shook my head. "And I'm guessing someone encouraged you to join Tirek?"
Dawn: "Scorpan promised to bring our little girl back to us.." She said, darkly. "..we figured out he was lying around the time we got to see what would happen if we ever displeased Tirek."
Applejack: "'N whut was that?" She tilted her head.
Dawn: "Th-th-the.." She sniffled, and tears rolled down her snout. "..RAINBOW FACTORY!" And started sobbing.
K: "DUSTY!" I called to her.
Dusty: "Yeah, K?" She paced up and looked at the two cowering ponies.
K: "Arrest them." I said. "They've betrayed the Crown."
Dusty: "Ooooh. That's not good." She shook her head, and produced her Gendarmes badge. "I'm Sergeant Dusty Dunes of the Gendarmes. I'm placing both of you under arrest. The charge is High Treason to Princess Celestia, and Bearing Arms against the Kingdom of Equestria. You have the right to stay silent, and to legal representation before questioning and during legal proceedings against you. If you cannot afford representation, the Crown will appoint a legal representative at no cost."
K: "I should remind you, they're both executable offenses." I narrowed my eyes very slightly against them. "However, I think the two of you have information that we want - and your initial motivation to rescue your daughter from what you saw as an unjust banishment, is certainly a considerable motivation. Legally speaking."
Sol: "What do you mean?" He seemed resigned to whatever fate I chose to dish out - he almost acted like he expected me to shoot him, already, or let Twilight do it.
I lowered myself into a Catcher's Stance, and reached out to him, lifting up his chin, and forcing him to look me in the eye.
K: "Where's the Rainbow Factory?" I said, with an angered desperation.
[End of Part 3]
Part 4: Displeased
TIME: 09:44 IT
DATE: War Day 781/28 Quintillius, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: South-West of Llieda, Navarre
I was standing by the parents of Sunset Shimmer, Twilight's rival in Magic School. They were under arrest as traitors to Celestia and Equestria. They had information we desperately needed. They were also traumatized and remorseful..
Sol: "We'll tell you. We'll tell you anything you want to know.." He still seemed defeated.
Dawn: "What we did was.. wrong.." She sobbed. "..all those innocents.."
K: "Dex." I held my hand out for the mic. C> "Solarus Actual, this is Alpha Actual. How copy?"
Celestia: C> "Five by five, Alpha."
K: C> "Two ponies.. shimmer.. for you, Solarus. They sought something that you took from them, but found Tirek's company uninviting. They are detained until the battle concludes. They are willing to turn Crown's evidence in exchange for clemency." I hoped she got the reference.
There WAS quite the long pause.
K: C> "Solarus Actual?"
Celestia: C> "Alpha, change to 121.33 and stand by." She sounded.. extremely pissed off.
Dex changed channels, and we waited. For almost half an hour, actually. In the meantime, Sol and Dawn explained themselves.
Sol and Dawn explained that they'd been brought to an island that was a part of the Bowleg Islands, several hundred miles almost straight south of Navarre and Lusitania. There, they'd met other ponies that had been recruited by Tirek's lover, Cozy Glow. She'd been the one to recruit Trixie.
They confirmed that Trixie's death was as permanent as we could make it - and even if Tirek somehow had the power to bring her back, she'd basically betrayed him, and he had no desire to. They also confirmed that Grogar and Bray were quite dead and not coming back as well. Rep's death had been reported, but Rep had gone rogue to try and redeem himself after his failure at Carousel Island, and Tirek hadn't actually heard from him in months by the time Lavan squashed him.
For that matter, they didn't even know Lavan was still alive, in any sense of the word, though they knew the legends about him.
To be honest, they'd been terrified, and knew they'd made the wrong choice almost immediately, but they'd never been allowed anywhere near the front lines.. Cozy didn't trust them. Now, she was dead.
Luna: C> "Luna Actual to Alpha."
K: C> "Alpha here. Go ahead Luna."
Bit late for her to be awake, but..
Luna: C> "Is it safe enough to be put into magical sleep? We must talk with you, Twilight, and them, in person, immediately."
I looked to Norfy.
Norfy: "Area is clear, sir." He shrugged. "We can move back into the woods."
K: C> "Luna Actual, give us about 15 minutes to get to a good defensible position in concealment."
Luna: C> "Luna Actual, Nominal."
We moved back, wayyyy back.. away from our drop zone, and away from the battle area. Norfy, Gaze, Dex, Scratch and Octavia moved back to the original DZ to signal the Paratroopers. Rarity, meanwhile, was preparing a sleep spell.
Katrina: "I could do one.." She shrugged. "..but you might find it.." She looked at the other girls. "..perhaps too erotic." And scratched the back of her head. "When I do personal magic, I tend to put my emotions into it."
Rarity: "No problem, darling. All but Jade, have slept with our dear General." She winked at me. "And I understand, you.." She looked at Katrina. "..have, perhaps, some unresolved passion." A giggle. "I wasn't asleep that morning.."
K: "Alright. Rarity?" I laid down, and Twilight laid next to me.. then Applejack did.
Applejack: "Mah husband!" She insisted. "Ah don't care - ah goes where he goes. We done took a vow fer that."
K: "Do it." I shrugged.
After a few moments.. sleeeeep.
......
....
...
..
.
I sat up, and the five of us were in a Dreamscape version of Celestia's throne room. Both Celestia and Luna were already there.
I stood up, and stood between Celestia and the Shimmers. Applejack joined me. Twilight.. at first hesitated, then did the same.
Celestia: "...." She snorted. "I see."
Luna: "I was on the moon." She shrugged her wings, but came over and stood next to me. "But I stand by my co-parent's decisions."
Celestia seemed shocked that Luna would stand between her and the Shimmers after what they'd done.. but gave up, and sagged into her throne.
Celestia: "Sunset Shimmer, a former student of mine. She began her studies with me not long before Twilight. But when she did not get what she wanted as quickly as she liked, she turned cruel and dishonest. I tried to help her, but she eventually decided to abandon her studies and pursue her own path." She looked at her parents. "She became a threat to me.." She lowered her head a bit. "..I believe, now, that Cozy Glow, in one of her many disguises, was the one that influenced me to banish her."
K: "How was she a threat?" I tilted my head.
Twilight: "She tried to steal the Elements.. the physical embodiments of them. I was still a student when that happened." She shrugged. "Tried. And failed."
K: "What exactly happened?" I looked between Celestia and Twilight.
Celestia: "I caught her in the act." She shrugged her wings. "I didn't know what to do with her. One of my guards suggested banishment - that was probably Cozy."
K: "Setting it up to recruit her parents in the future, and possibly, her." I nodded.
Celestia: "Yes, exactly. Or.. it seems very likely." She looked at the Shimmers. "Come forwards. I have not seen you in some time - and, fear not, it seems your clemency is assured."
More like, Celestia probably understood that in a Dream Realm, me being Human, gave me quite literally infinite power, if Luna told her about the Ap.
They both stepped forwards and prostrated themselves before Celestia.
Sol: "Dear Princesss..." He found it hard to speak. "..Scorpan, he promised.. he.."
K: "Scorpan recruited them directly, and promised to bring Sunset back." I shrugged. "They learned right away that if they failed Tirek, he would EXTRACT them.." I gestured. "..they've been to the Rainbow Factory."
Applejack: "Fergive me, yer Highness." She shook her head a bit. "How'd y'all banish Sunset?"
Celestia: "I sent her to an alternate plane of existence." She shrugged her wings again. "Somewhere she could not harm me." And sighed. "I don't exactly know where - I found a mirror.." She trailed off. "..I see, now, how we were being manipulated, all of us, before the War ever started." She gave a distressed whinny. "Sol and Dawn. While Sunset may have betrayed me, I feel almost certain she was encouraged on her path. That the whole situation was manipulated."
K: "The Sigil. What was its intended purpose?" I looked down at them.
Dawn: "It.. it was to be a Portal to Tirek's Lands." She sniffled a little. "A massive one. He intended to invade right here, now that he had the means to do so."
K: "How? Why not before?" I looked between them both.
Sol: "Discord is no more - the power of Chaos Embodied found a new owner. In the rift created by the transfer of this power, one can drain away some Chaos Magic in a Magic Catcher. Tirek said he knew that the Human would one day kill Discord, but not how, and constructed gigantic Magic Catchers to pull as much Chaos Energy as he could." He sighed. "We needed to fuel that portal, with that energy." And shook his head. "We both happened to be in Navarre when this turn of events happened, and were ordered to make the Sigil of Transportation as soon as we could, no matter what."
Dawn: "Tirek expects us to finish by Noon. He told the leader of the goats in this city, to hold out until then. And he has the forces to do it - the Herdiets supplied him well, and some of his troops are Herdiet volunteers. When you destroyed that technical institute in Moscow, with that.. that weapon.. you did kill several hundred civilians.. the Herdiets are terrified of you, but they haven't any means to get revenge other than do something like this." She shook her head, lowered it, and sighed. "Princess.. we have seen so many ponies get extracted. My husband and I both know what that means." She started crying again. "I couldn't BEAR it! Oh, Princess.. please.." She just fell over into a heap and sobbed.
K: "She's absolutely traumatized, Celestia." I shrugged a bit. "Doctor Turner is going to have a real case on her hands. I can't, in good conscience, have her brought to trial in this condition - even on Earth, she might well be committed to a Psychiatric Institution in lieu of a trial, until she recovered enough for the Trial to humanely proceed." I shook my head. "We'll keep them both in custody until we decide what to do." I looked at them both. "One warning. If this is a trick of some kind.." I got down on their level. "On my planet, you're either food, or a beast of burden - and if you BECOME a burden, I will make you my food, instead. Very, very slowly and painfully."
Sol: "Th.. this is no trick, I.." He wanted to say 'I swear' but then realized, his word meant nothing. "..we will submit to having our magic sealed." He looked to Celestia.
Twilight: "Just so you understand, K.. that would be like you, volunteering to have your arms and legs cut off." She looked over to me.
K: "I see." I stood again. "After we finish with Navarre, we take the Rainbow Factory and destroy it, and any other facilities Tirek has around it."
Celestia: "Wise." She nodded.
K: "Magic sealing." I looked to the Shimmers, then Celestia. "Permanent?"
Applejack: "Y'huh. He means, he'll let someone cut off his horn." She gave me a short hip-nuzz, her voice low.
K: "We will see." I nodded. "Okay, Luna. Wake us up."
.
..
...
....
.....
[End of Part 4]
Part 5: Small Gift
TIME: 10:11 IT
DATE: War Day 781/25 Quintillius, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: South-West of Llieda, Navarre
I sat up with everyone around us - facing outwards, defensive positions, except Katrina, who was monitoring us. Applejack, Twilight, and the Shimmers woke up as well.
K: "We're going to the Rainbow Factory as soon as this is over." I said, getting all the way up, and seeing the Pathfinder elements of the Airborne, along with their mechanized vehicles, had secured the area.
I paced forwards, and beckoned the team to follow.
K: "That portal.." I started.
Sol: "Yes..?" He tilted his head up to me.
K: "..does it expend most of the stored energy to open it, or does it need to constantly draw energy to maintain it?" Basically, how am I going to short-circuit Tirek's battery?
Sol: "Well.. once it starts tapping the Chaos Energy, a large amount is used to open the Portal in the first place.." He started.
K: "And what do I need to do to short-circuit it?" I looked at him.
Sol: "Simple enough. Once the portal is open, discharge a powerful magic blast into it." He nodded.
K: "Girls! Magic time!" I nodded to them, and directed Sol and Dawn over to the side. "We're going to open it, we're going to short circuit the whole thing, and if I'm right, it'll drain away all that Chaos Energy that Tirek has stored, denying him the use of it in the future."
Sol: "Seems.. like.." He thought for a moment.
Dawn: "..it should work." She raised her head, her eyes showing some hope after what might've been years. "Are.. you going to send something through?"
K: "Yes, but not a person. DEX!" I motioned for him.
He trotted up, with the radio mic in his mouth.
K: C> "Alpha Actual to One-One-Three-Golf." The basic call sign for 1st Airborne Brigade, 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment's 1st company, which was 76mm artillery - "Golf" for Guns.
Capt. Spiny Plain: C> "Alpha Actual, this is Three-Golf."
K: "Get over here and set up all your guns.. we're going to send Tirek a little package.." I smirked.
Twenty minutes later, the 76mm guns were set up, direct fire mode, 120 meters from the edge of the Sigil. This distance would allow the shells to arm before passing through the portal. A full Artillery Battery of 76mm guns.. whatever it hit on the other side, was going to feel it.
K: "Ready!" I nodded.
Sol: "Ready here." He nodded slowly.
Twilight: "We're ready." She and the girls had their jewelry on.
Capt. Spiny Plain: "Battery.. READY!"
K: "Sol." I nodded to him.
It took him a bit to finish the incantation, but after three minutes, the energy in the Sigil lit it up, and the entire thing glowed a dark purple hue, with the lines themselves going electric yellow..
..the portal opened. It was at least 30 meters across, 40 meters high. It was huge.
One of Tirek's high generals came out - a Gizmonk in a uniform with lots of decorations. He stared down the barrels of the 76mm guns..
General: "No.. NOOOOO!!!" He flattened himself to the ground.
K: "FIRE ALL GUNS!"
General: "LORD TIREK, RUN, IT'S A TRA-!" He screamed back towards the portal.
The guns all fired at that instant, drowning out his last word.
K: "GIRLS!" I unsheathed the Sword of Rainbow's Light, and aimed it at the portal. "CELESTIA, GIVE ME STRENGTH!" I screamed to the heavens.
Their magical power impacted me, flowed through me, and the sword's tip directed the energy at the portal like a laser. Instantly, it shuddered, the ground cracked, the sigil started spraying energy from those cracks like seeping gas.
To one side, Katrina and Jade were redirecting the energy discharge as best they could, to avoid a mass detonation, or some kind of general corruption of the land, with this much Chaos Energy flowing like water.
The Artillerists abandoned their guns and took cover.
We focused our energy on the portal, and saw it ripple as though reality itself was being bent and shorn from its fragile moorings.. and then, the whole thing spiraled into itself, and was gone.
The rest of the Chaos Energy ejected itself from the ground like spraying blood.. dissepating into the aether from whence it came.
No matter what, I just sent a big "FUCK YOU" to Tirek.
I didn't know it at the time, but I gave him a new scar to remember me by.
{End of Chapter 85}
