The Quest Through Time

Chapter 21

It didn’t take long to get into position. The trees gave them great cover and easily concealed them. With the camo they were wearing, Rainbow now knew these ponies have done missions like these countless times. Then again, she never saw an assault weapon before, let alone a pegasus carrying one.

FalconEye was the farthest from the group, and he got his name for a reason. The single-bolt he was carrying was deadly and his excellent sight and timing made him just the same. He wasn’t much of a talker, then again neither were Quickstep and Featherweight. Firefly had explained to Rainbow how the two were once captured by the Empire and had to kill their way out. “It changed them forever,” she had said. “Then again, this war has changed all of us.”

Rainbow was sitting in a tree that gave her a good view of the road, which the convoy was approaching. Firefly was with her, sitting in the brush.

“Target approaching.” It was the first time Rainbow had heard FalconEye speak but she guessed he was more comfortable in a battlefield environment.

“Got it Falcon,” Firefly said into her communicator. “Take the shot when you’re ready and we’ll move on your mark.” The muscles in Rainbow tensed. She had refused to carry a gun, preferring something more light but still as deadly. Now all she could do was wait, wait for that shot to be rung out and to see the first unfortunate victim fall to the ground.

Despite their toughness, stormtroopers did not carry very heavy armor, meaning it couldn’t hold out against a lot of firepower, which they currently had. Whatever was in that crate, if they couldn’t take it for their own, Firefly had brought a rocket launcher to the blow the thing sky high.

(A/N: For this next part the song I’m using is “Order and Chaos” from The Last Story.

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She then heard the low growl of a motorized vehicle as the convoy finally approached. Judging by the stillness, they hadn’t been discovered yet. The next few seconds all of a sudden went in slow motion as the sudden shot of a gun was heard and one of the stormtroopers took the bullet in the head, crumbling immediately.

*Once everything fast-forwarded back into real time, the other Wonderbolts made their move, quickly taking out two other soldiers. The rest were taking cover behind the large metal crate, which luckily for them was impervious to bullets. “I’ll take these guys, cover me!” Rainbow said as she charged forward and came down from above. The unfortunate soldier did not see her coming and the sudden force she possessed knocked him out as she struck the other one right in the helmet, making him crumble to the ground.

She then heard a rustle in the trees in front of her and saw more soldiers coming at her, and yet now she could see they had repulsors strapped to their boots. “Great…now they can fly.” But Rainbow was always up to a challenge and met the two head on and crashed into them both. The force was enough to make her dizzy but she couldn’t help but be impressed how much strength she had while her body made others assume otherwise.

“Nice work Dash,” Firefly said as the Wonderbolts formed up. “I’m surprised, I would’ve thought they’d have more troops than this.”

“Well apparently they can fly now…” Blazin’ muttered.

“I’d like to see them catch one of us though,” Firefly said with a wink. “Anyway, let’s crack this thing open.”

Quickstep and Featherweight both broke off the locks and opened the door in the back. They looked in and quickly shut the door, suddenly looked startled. “What is it guys?” Firefly asked. The two glanced at each other and opened the door again.

The compartment was rather spacious and they could see why now. It was indeed artillery, but standard Imperial artillery did not have the amount of firepower this mech contained. “Um… so what do we do with this?” Rainbow asked.

“Screw this, I don’t think any of us want to tinker around with this thing,” Firefly said. “Get back, I’m blowing this thing to kingdom come.” She got way back and lifted the RPG, which was not light in anyway. The rocket fired off and the crate exploded in flame. Surely nothing could survive that.

(A/N: For this next part, the song I’m using is “Test of the L’Cie” from Final Fantasy XIII.

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That was until a piece of burning metal was launched at them. *“You have got to be kidding me!” Firefly shouted as they all dodged. Just what they all needed, a tank resistant to anti-tank missiles. The mech was now fully operational and was not hesitant to brandish all of its features.

“Don’t let it get a lock on you!” Firefly exclaimed. Of course to them it was rather obvious and luckily for them the mech wasn’t nearly as fast as they were.

“Alright, Delta formation!” Firefly called out. “Rainbow, just follow our lead!” The Wonderbolts formed a triangle formation around the mech, looking for a weak spot but also keeping the mech from focusing on one target.

However, bullets were not doing the job. “That armor is too thick!” Blazin’ exclaimed. Firefly frowned and thought back to an important lesson Scootaloo once taught them.

“Every living being, including machines, have weak points,” Scootaloo said. “Machines even more so as those points are more noticeable. And even when they don’t, a strong amount of force in one small location can cause pain or damage. Always remember this when you’re taking on foes much larger than you.”

All Firefly needed was to find a chink in the armor and hit with a force large enough to break through. And she knew just the pony to ask. “Rainbow, we need you to come in from above and crack this guy’s shell!”

Rainbow understood completely as she quickly took off into the air. She flew high, needing all the distance she could get to make this work. Once she was far up enough, she took a deep breath, looking down and marking her target. Without a second’s thought, she plunged downward, locking her wings together and starting to spin, the tip of her lance out before her. Faster and faster she went and despite slightly getting dizzy she kept her eyes on the mech.

All of a sudden she felt and heard the boom behind her as somehow she once again accomplished a Sonic Rainboom. Her speed suddenly increased and she hit the mech with such a loud force you could almost hear it in the mountains. The force tore a hole through the mech’s armor and exposed its AI core.

“Holy Celestia…” Firefly said, stunned. But she saw the core and quickly started shooting. The core sparked as the mech stopped firing. Firefly then remembered what happened to big hulking machines when they short-circuited. “Everypony, move and get to cover!”

No one had to ask, they quickly got the hell out of dodge; Firefly pulled the still dazed Rainbow out of the blast area as the mech exploded, taking about twenty feet worth of trees with it. Once they peeked out, they saw it was nothing more than a charred piece of scrap.

“I don’t believe it,” Blazin’ said. “She really can do a Sonic Rainboom.”

“Of course she can,” Firefly said. “And it was that that saved the day, right Rainbow?”

“Yeah…” Rainbow said woozily. “Hooray for me…” All of a sudden her eyes refocused and she saw smoke rising from the east, near Hoofington. It could’ve been nothing of course, but she saw it wasn’t coming from the town at all.

Rainbow sped off in that direction, ignoring the startled expressions on the Wonderbolts’ faces. Firefly called out to her but Rainbow didn’t listen. Only one thing was on her mind.

Scootaloo and Fluttershy are in trouble.