Far Away

CHAPTER XVII

Twilight repeated her plans to Dash, skipping the minor details to keep it brief. The sun was already at its apex and was starting to fall slowly down to the western horizon. Dash nodded eagerly while Soarin draped a wing around her. It took a while to answer all Dash’s questions. They were basic things like, “What happens if one of us gets shot or wounded,” and whatnot.

Finally, after some tens of minutes of explaining, everypony was ready to go. The clunk of rifles sounded through the jungle. Twilight gave Dash her revolver that she concealed earlier that morning. The band trotted through the Everfree to the reported location of the compound. Fleetfoot recalled there being a small hill in front of the compound. They spend one tiring hour to reach the edge of a clearing. Tall concrete walls loomed over them. Time to get the plan rolling.

Jack trotted swiftly but silently to the reported location of the small hill. Thank Celestia it was actually there. He bent the front stands on his .60cal rifle forwards and balanced it on the ground. He took out his ammunition box and loaded a round into the sniper rifle, his hoof on the trigger, his eyes glaring down the scope. He surveyed the area quickly, noticing he was in a great position to give supporting fire.

The main group however moved into the bushes right on the edge of the clearing. Spitfire saw the guards patrolling on the concrete structure. The mechanical and magical defences were aimed at the air. On cue, she opened fire onto the closest guard pony. He toppled, stained with blood.

Other defenders rushed to the scene, guns ready and pointed at the ground. A terrifying bang blared from the bushes in the hill, on the right of the group. The resonating rumble echoed in the air. Two guardsponies fell to the ground with sickening cracks.

“Let’s go team!” commanded Spitfire, “Open fire!”

The five Wonderbolts leaped into the air, quickly taking aim with their rifles. They only had a magazine of seven each. Every shot must count. The defences nestled on the compound swung downwards.

“Get in!” shouted Twilight as the magic turrets began to charge and the mechanical ones, reload.

Jack strapped his rifle onto him and took out his revolver. He made a dash for the giant metal doors as Twilight cast a spell of mass destruction, melting the iron. Jack galloped into the hallway, followed closely by the Wonderbolts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, well, well… Looks like your puny little friends are here to save you Daring Do,” spat Dark Flames, the boss of the facility, “We shall extract some information from you first.”

A metal rod was lowered to Daring’s chest. She felt it buzz. A sudden zap of electricity blasted from the rod. Daring screamed in agony.

“Where are my artefacts,” he snarled.

“You… will… never… know!” shouted Daring shouted between gasps of pain. The leather straps were restraining her.

“Very well. Let’s see how long you last versus how long your friends take to get here, eh?” he said viciously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack fanned his revolver at the cluster of ponies situated outside of a locked room. Everypony fired. The close cluster resulted in no missed shots (missed shots would just hit the ponies around the target). The echo of firearms in the hall was bewildering. The ponies who were shooting back were very poorly trained, but the numbers compensated for that.

“Oof!” exclaimed Dash as she fell to the floor, limp.

Twilight wanted to help her but she was in the front line. There was no retreating now. Soarin however, being the tallest pony was firing from the back of the band. He flew swiftly down the hall. The recoil on these magic weapons were absolutely massive. He landed next to Dash and surveyed the damage. There was a large wound on her inner thigh on the left hind leg. Soarin bit his lip and grasped a spare rag from the stash of thing he keeps under his wings for an emergency and tied it onto her leg. He then proceeded to hurl Dash onto his back and flew back to the scene.

The enemy’s dwindling numbers provoked a charge led by Spitfire. The remaining few were wiped out of existence and Twilight busted into the room. There were at least seven doors here. Which one is correct? As soon as the band stepped in, hidden turrets opened fire with stunning accuracy. Fortunately, these turrets were designed to incapacitate, not kill. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Blaze and Misty were crippled by the blasts to their legs and their crimson blood leaked from their wounds onto the metal floor. Twilight magically pulled the batteries from the turrets, knowing this design because it was used widely in Canterlot. The turrets stopped firing and jammed.

“Anypony still able to walk needs to check these doors. I will attend to the injured,” commanded Twilight. She kneeled in front of the struck Wonderbolts and pulled gauze bandages from her saddlebags. She took out any shrapnel from the wounds and wrapped them in the bandages, to stop anymore bleeding for the mean time. Soarin carried Dash into the room and rested her in a corner and started barging into the rooms one by one.

“Aha!” shouted Jack as he found a room with prison cells.

“You guys stay here, alright?” asked Twilight. She got nods from the downed.

Jack entered first, then followed by Soarin and Twilight. He spotted two doors in the far wall of the prison chamber. Jack checked the first one, nopony was there. He was alerted by a scream of agony residing from the second room.

“She’s in there! Come on!” shouted Jack.

Soarin opened the door as the three ponies busted in. Two turrets immediately opened up at Jack and Soarin, because of their larger size. Twilight expertly pulled the batteries from the turrets and turned to the black unicorn with a fiery mane standing behind the table, which held Daring captive, a rod with sparks of electricity zapping her every few seconds.

“Kill me, know that this facility is linked to my life and the destruction of me will unleash the wrath inside me,” the stallion said mystically.

Jack couldn’t bear to see Daring such a state. Her unconscious body still tensing to the electricity running through her. He lashed out in blind rage and pinned the unicorn to the wall.

“Keep him there,” Jack commanded Twilight who obeyed as her magic flickered on to pin the unicorn onto the wall.

Jack searched the room for a switch or button to stop the electricity. After an eternity, he found a lever that was marked with the word, ‘electricity,’ and pulled it up. The rod stopped zapping. He found himself unstrapping the leather restraints on the table that held Daring down. He caught her on his back as she slumped off the table.

“We will take him to the gaol,” Jack said to Twilight.

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement and swung the black unicorn upside down, then cuffing his hooves with magic. Twilight levitated him along with her. The victorious trio left the forsaken room and met up with the Wonderbolts again.

“You can fly, right?” asked Twilight.

“Yes we can,” Spitfire replied.

Soarin picked up Dash and slumped her onto his back again.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

The band opened the door to the hall.

“Sweet Celestia, they moved a cannon down into the hall! Split!” barked Spitfire.

The band of ponies split into two lines, moving close to the wall.

Jack loaded one his five phoenix rounds that he had left and pulled the trigger at the cannon before it could fire. The explosion of golden light shone in the hallway, the bullet turning into a fiery phoenix, soaring towards the cannon. The phoenix hit with great force and exploded the giant metal structure to shreds, the ponies behind were vaporized by the sheer heat of the explosion. Dust filled the hallway.

All went dark. Pain dominated the senses. There might never be another tomorrow…