The Quest Through Time

Chapter 15

Second to the capital Vector, Manehattan had always been one of the more populated areas in Equestria. Not only was it important for the Equestrian economy, it was also important to the Imperial army, for in the middle of the city was a large military base, which held a large communications relay, one that allowed messages to be sent over all of Equestria within seconds, no messengers needed. Of course, this did not include radio broadcasts, which were received from separate radio towers. Apparently the Empire was currently in the process of building another in Fillydelphia.

“That’s the target,” Snowblind said, looking through a pair of electronic binoculars. “No doubt it’s heavily guarded, and security is tight. Stealth is our only option but once that timer sets off, we’ll have to run like hell.” The mission was simple: get in, plant explosives on the relay, get out, and watch the fireworks. What would be difficult was getting in and out without being caught by the Imperials.

“You know, I should remind you all that we’re in restricted airspace right now,” Marcus said calmly. “And in about another thirty seconds the Imps are gonna notice and start tracking me. And if that happens, we’re all goners.”

“We’re heading out right now, so don’t get your tail twisted smuggler,” Dax said, opening the loading ramp.

“Alright, just as we planned it,” Snowblind said. “Twilight and Rarity, you hold onto Arwen, but make sure everypony stays close. When I give the signal, we go dark.” He slid on his goggles and leapt out into the rushing winds. Dax, Arwen, and the others soon followed.

“I tell you Jazz,” Marcus said as the ship took off. “When this is all over, we’re going to need a vacation. Trottingham is a nice place to go around this time of year I hear.”

“I didn’t know you were the country-type,” Jazz snickered.

“Yeah well, anything to get away from these crazy ponies.”

Snowblind had planned everything out carefully. In the next five hundred feet, their scanners would pick them up. In the short amount of time they had, Snowblind was able to teach Twilight and Rarity the basics of an invisibility spell. Not as powerful as his, but it would help support all of them from being detected. Luckily his spell prevented even radar to pick them up.

As soon as he saw everyone was close, he yelled, “Now!” and the three unicorns cast their spells quickly and suddenly they were gone. At best, there would’ve been a blip on the scanners but nothing any pony would be suspicious of.

Using two spells at once was difficult, even for older unicorns and Snowblind barely had enough magic to make a levitation spell that would prevent them from hitting the ground. Once they were down, they took a look around. “Interesting,” Snowblind said, noticing his companions. “It seems we can see one another, but not to anypony else. My magic has gotten better it seems.”

But just to make sure, they hid across a wall to prevent from being seen. “Okay, judging from the blueprints, there are two ways inside the base since going through the front door is not an option. One leads from the underground sewers and the other is through an exhaust shaft which, thankfully, hasn’t been used in awhile. They lead to different points, but they’re close enough that we shouldn’t have a hard time regrouping. So, Dax and I will go through the shaft and the rest of you will-”

“Oh no, no,” Rarity said, raising a hoof immediately. “There is no way I’m going down into the sewers.”

“…Okay then Dax and I will go that way,” Snowblind said, an annoyed look on his face. “And don’t worry, Arwen will look after you both.”

“I can hold myself well in a fight too,” Arwen said with a wink.

“Once we meet up inside, we’ll initiate phase two,” Snowblind said. “Now let’s move, the guards are about to rotate their shifts.”

Both he and Dax could now see why Rarity didn’t want to come down here. Ever since the Empire came around, plumbing and sanitation had not been kept up to date as well as it should have. “Ugh,” Dax said, walking through the sludge. “Normally I’m okay with walking around in a little dirt or mud, but this is ridiculous.”

“Complaining is not gonna make this go faster,” Snowblind grumbled. Soon however, they found the ladder that would lead to the main floor of the base. “I can keep the spell going on for as long as we need it, but we may need some uniforms.” They then made their way up.

After opening the hatch above them slightly and checking that was the coast was clear, they climbed their way out. After a second thought, Snowblind then used a rain spell. “Sorry,” Snowblind said, grinning sheepishly at a deeply unamused Dax. “Don’t want to leave a trail behind.”

(A/N: For this upcoming part, the song I’m using here is “On the Verge of the Assault” from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.)

“So where do we go from here?” Dax asked.

Snowblind had memorized everything carefully down to a tee. “The relay should be in the southeast corner, so we should go left.”

“Or we could just follow the signs,” Dax pointed out. Snowblind looked behind him and there was a sign that read, “Comm. Relay -->”.

“Oh,” he said. “Yes, or we could do just that.”

“Shouldn’t we look for the others first?” Dax asked.

“We should be able to run into along the way,” Snowblind said. “Unless something goes wrong of course.” They then headed down towards the relay. They quickly had to hide though when a guard came around the corner. “I’ll handle him.” His horn then glowed and the guard stopped, as if in a stupor. “You are hungry,” Snowblind whispered. “You should get a bite to eat…”

“Hmm… I’m hungry,” the guard said. “I should get a bite to eat.”

“Go down to the cafeteria and stay awhile.”

“Maybe I’ll stay awhile in the cafeteria.” The guard then went the other direction, whistling slightly.

“For once I’m kind of jealous,” Dax said.

“Fun being a unicorn, isn’t it?” Snowblind said.

They continued on rounding about the corner when something triggered. All of a sudden, both Dax and Snowblind felt their hair rise as something seemed to go over them, like a hot breeze. Suddenly the alarm sounded. “What was that!?” Dax snapped.

“An invisible identification laser; which can read a pony’s ID through DNA, and a magic nullifier.”

“Meaning…”

“Yeah, we’re not invisible anymore.”

*The guards came quick, loaded to the teeth. Unfortunately, these guards just happened to be stormtroopers. “No choice now,” Snowblind said. “We’re gonna have to plow through all of them and make a run for it!”

Luckily, Dax was loaded as well. Taking two grenades, he rolled them down the hallway, exploding at their feet, causing limbs to fly in every direction. This gave them the gap they needed and they continued on. The sudden adrenaline boost was what Snowblind needed as his magic reserves were refilled.

However, they were quickly needed when Snowblind felt something hit him hard in the shoulder. Hurt like hell too. Without even looking he knew he had been shot and his magic was working to heal the blood vessels that had been ruptured. He then proceeded to use a thunder spell which was enough to put the new set of soldiers out. “Cause really, haven’t they learned by now they need rubber padding?” he thought.

“You okay?” Dax said as they took cover.

“Nothing serious, I’ll be fine,” Snowblind said. He winced greatly as he magically removed the lead ball out of his shoulder. In payback, he shot it around the corner, hoping it hit somepony.

“The closer we get, the more of them there’ll be,” Dax reminded him.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Snowblind said. Since they were on alert, there was no doubt reaching the relay would be impossible. Unless… “Is that a garbage chute?” he asked, pointing to one across the hall.

“I think so but I sure hope it’s not for garbage,” Dax said, groaning.

“Care for going for a dive?” Snowblind asked.

“…Why do I even do these missions with you?” Snowblind didn’t have time to laugh. He was already going across, avoiding fire and jumping up into the chute. “I’m never going to hear the end of this…” He then followed suit, jumping in. And much to his annoyance, he smelled garbage below.

The base has once been a factory plant but after the civil war broke out, it had been made into a military base. The exhaust shaft that Arwen, Twilight, and Rarity were walking through had been used to circulate fresh air for the hundreds of workers that worked away eight hours straight.

“So… why exactly were we needed for this again?” Twilight asked.

“This is a special mission,” Arwen said. “Even big for us, so we needed all the help we can get. Blowing up this relay won’t end the war but it will cripple the Empire completely. They’re working on another relay in Fillydelphia but it’s months away before it’s complete and operational.”

“Okay, but why us?” Rarity asked.

Arwen shrugged. “Personnel are low these days…” They then made their way past the large fan that was currently shut off. Soon they came to a room the size of an arena. “These were where the workers and machines were stationed,” Arwen explained. “All the metal that was mined from the mountains came here, and processed into just about anything. Looks like they haven’t found any use for this spot yet.”

“Unless they’re planning on building something else,” Twilight stated.

“Let’s hope not,” Arwen said as they hopped down. All of a sudden, the alarms started going off. “Hide!” The three of them quickly hide behind a machine that had been abandoned. Seconds went by but no pony came. “Hmm… if they’re not coming for us, then Snowblind and Dax must’ve tripped something.”

“Well, we’re going to help them right?” Twilight asked.

“The mission comes first,” Arwen said sternly. “Everything else is secondary. They know that just as much as I do.”

“Surely you’re not going to leave them behind?” Rarity asked.

“That was never an option,” Arwen said. “But first things first.”

Once the alarms finally shut off, they went through the closest set of doors into a web of interlocking hall ways. The three of them quickly made their way, following the signs. “Can you hear that vibration sound?” Arwen asked. “The relay’s close.” She paused slightly. “Underground… makes sense.”

“It’s underground?” Rarity asked.

“Most of it,” Arwen said. “If somepony destroyed the dish, it would still be operational, although communications would be lost for a time. No, taking the entire thing out is what we want. There should be an elevator nearby.”

They quickly found one, and headed down towards the bottom floor, deep underground. There must’ve been a security breach for as soon as the doors closed, there was a small bang as gas started to vent into the elevator. “Sleeping gas! Don’t…!” But it was too late, for the three had already inhaled it and instantaneously crumbled to the ground unconscious.