Survival Begins at Home

After the test fire, Shining disembarked the ship and left it in the capable hands of Captain Boom. He had more training with ballistic weapons than Shining did, having been an expert before they parted ways, and then going into the Coast Guard where long range weaponry was very commonly employed. If anypony could figure it out, it would be Boom Stick.

He was planning on just checking in with Stone and heading back to his suite for the night, as the sun was just setting on his second day in Manehattan. However, upon nearing the front line, he heard the cacophony that had since erupted. He quickly rushed forward to find Lieutenant Commander Stone launching his own volley of arrows from behind the barricades of the tower.

"I'm here," said Shining, taking a place behind a crenel. "What happened?"

"They heard that loud boom from inside the city and they all charged at once," answered Stone. "Then, all at once, they began collapsing and trampling each other. The barricade wasn't quite wide enough, but it did take out hundreds of their soldiers all at once."

"And you've managed to hold them off otherwise?"

"None of the towers have reported a breach thus far. They may have experienced one, but if they're not reporting it, their neighboring tower would."

As if on cue, a horn sounded two towers down, joined by the next tower over. Shining stood up. "I'll take care of it."

"No," commanded Stone. "I'll reach it faster in the air, with better evasive action. I trust you can use a bow?"

With a nod, Shining took Stone's bow and slipped into the arrow loop, drawing back an arrow. There was no shortage of targets within range, but Shining wasn't as good a shot as Stone was. He was a melee fighter, more at home with a sword and shield or spear than he was with a bow. His accuracy was not nearly as good as Stone's was, and he missed several of his shots. Luckily, he wasn't the only archer atop that tower, and the other was quite good with the bow. She was capable of picking off anything Shining left behind, which was quite a bit.

The bodies were piling up quickly, which meant the zebras were needing to slow down. It was taking two hands to climb the wall of bodies, which means that their shields were uselessly strapped to their backs. They had thought that a swift and defensive advance would be easy, but the ponies of Manehattan had prepared in ways they had not expected, and it had caught the zebras off-guard. They weren't expecting an attack from below, especially with their connection to the earth itself. A few of them were visibly spooked, but kept moving forward.

"How long do you think they can keep this up?" asked the archer.

"Until they run out of soldiers," came the answer. "I imagine it won't take that long, though. I expect they'll sound the retreat soon; they look shaky."

"You sure? They have yet to slow down."

"Trust me, they're losing morale," said Shining. "One more devastating blow, and they'll run off with their tails between their legs."

"Any idea what that blow might be, or where it will come from? I'm running out of ammo, here."

Shining shook his head. "No idea. Mayhaps we'll hit a general, or something."

Suddenly, from behind them, there was a loud bang. A few seconds later, a large crash in front of them sent dozens of zebra bodies flying backward. Without even waiting for orders, the zebras went into a panic and fled, leaving the fields open. Further north, another boom and another crash. It was not unlike the sound of the tube weapons on the Aeolus.

"That will do it," said Shining, tucking the arrow he'd nocked back into its quiver on the wall. "Do you think you can cover this spot while I go check on the source of that?"

"I'm pretty sure I can cover this area well enough," smirked the archer.

Shining slid down the ladder and rushed to the river road, then sprinted north. Sure enough, the Aeolus was making her way under the bridges, firing its weapons with remarkable accuracy. As soon as he was close enough to make the jump, he teleported to the deck. Captain Boom was there to meet him.

"Good news, Shiny!" he smiled, holding up a box. "I found the fuses!"

"And you learned how they work!?"

"Mathematics!" shouted Boom, tapping the side of his forehead. "Plus, the mare in the hospital bed gave me all the specifications she remembered! After that, we could make some educated guesses as to how far we needed to go and fired accordingly!"

"Well, it worked! the Zebras are in retreat!"

"I know! We have scouts relaying messages with lights!"

Shining looked up at the rooftops, and sure enough, there were ponies holding glowing batons, rotating them to indicate different distanced and elevations, and others signaling to cease firing.

When they reached the northern exit of the delta, everypony's hearing had returned to normal and the ringing had gone away. "You sure set everything up fast," chuckled Shining. "Really glad you were on our side."

"It's not for no reason that I was made captain, Shining. Sometimes, you have to think fast. If you don't, you die. Now that the zebras know that we have their weapon, what do you think they'll do in retaliation?"

Shining looked out over the sea as they coasted into the port. "I don't know. I hope they give up. This was a big loss for them, and I'd prefer if that was the end of it."

"I didn't ask what you hoped for. I asked what comes next."

"This was supposed to be just a scout ship. Even for this size. I bet the Zebrican Emperor has more of these making their way up. We need to counter with more of our own."

"You think our smiths would be able to make one of these?"

Shining turned to Boom. "Our survival may depend on it. You'd better hope to Celestia that our smiths are that good. If not, we're all goners."