Battle for Stable 2 Part 2

*** *** ***

My brilliant battle strategy lasted about two minutes. Like with the debris before, my magic couldn’t hold the lockers against the explosive force of their missiles and grenades. I was forced to plant our barricade in the ground, creating a makeshift pillbox about twenty yards into the orchard. The Steel Rangers quickly surrounded us, firing into the lockers, slowly tearing away at our shielding.

Our line of sight was limited to small cracks between the lockers, purposefully not large enough to allow a grenade. Even so, I had focused my magic on flinging all grenades back at our attackers until they stopped trying that.

The gaps were too small for SteelHooves to fire through. Calamity was using Spitfire’s Thunder to great effect, downing a Steel Ranger every time one was foolish enough to make herself or himself visible. The noise was deafening in our metal cage. My ears were ringing so badly I felt I would vomit, but I stayed on task.

But the pegasus was down to less than half a dozen rounds of the rare ammo (even after having pilfered some from the battle saddle of the anti-machine rifle Ranger in the Saloon). And the twin-minigun battle saddle integrated into his armor couldn’t be aimed through the tiny cracks.

The zebra rifle was out of armor-piercing bullets, and the normal sort didn’t have the penetrating power to take down a Steel Ranger. I was using my sniper rifle now. It too was out of armor-piercing ammo, but a well-placed shot to a weaker part of their armor would still go through. Part of me felt chagrin that I was becoming so practiced at defeating Applejack’s creation.

Calamity and I kept firing.

“Sonuva…” Calamity mouthed as he fired a final shot. He motioned to me that he was out of ammo.

My hope had been that we could take out enough of them to make moving again an option. From all the red lights on my Eyes-Forward Sparkle, we had done admirably… but we were still doomed. I had walked us into a trap with yet another stupid plan. And this time I had probably gotten all of us killed.

I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. It was about time to try a rush and gallop. SteelHooves and Calamity still had their battle saddles; and for the first time, the one pony not in any danger of running out of ammo was our ghoul. Finally being willing to scavenge ammo helped immensely.

I focused, floating the lockers, and hurled them in all directions, aiming at the red marks on my E.F.S. compass. There wasn’t a lot of force behind the throw, but I released them just before they hit and suddenly they went from flying weightless lockers to flying damn heavy lockers. A chorus of THUDs rang out as several Steel Rangers were clobbered and trapped underneath.

Unfortunately, Steel Ranger armor made them strong. They began to buck the metal weights off faster than I expected. We took off at a gallop, running across the orchard for the opposite door.

Gunfire and explosions erupted all around us. Dirt and wood filled the air. A missile roared past me, disappearing into the foliage of an apple tree before exploding. I felt applesauce splatter my face.

SteelHooves fired forward clearing a way ahead. Calamity, bemoaning the magically-powered armor’s lack of wings, spun and poured out suppressive fire behind us. Several Steel Rangers fired back with light machineguns and miniguns, but their shots glanced off the power armor he was wearing.

Calamity swiftly turned, racing to catch up before one of them returned his fire with a missile or sniper round. He was doing far better in the suit than SteelHooves had anticipated, but nowhere near as well as Calamity himself had expected.

Still, it looked like we would make it. I pushed as far as my battle-weakened and overstrained body would take me… and I was the first to reach the door.

It was locked. And trapped.

Of course.

But this was not a problem for me. Well, not one of skill or tools. It was a problem of time.

Calamity and SteelHooves reached me as I attempted to disarm the explosive. SteelHooves began to guide me through it, his skills far surpassing my own, while Calamity turned to face the approaching Rangers.

“Give it up,” called out Elder Blueberry Sabre as the Steel Rangers advanced, encircling us. I heard a click as the bomb disarmed. Now for the door.

I heard more clicks as every enemy Steel Ranger in the apple orchard reloaded. Elder Blueberry Sabre called out again, “Last chance. Give it up.”

I sighed. Dammit. This was the damn Ministry of Morale rooftop all over again. “Why don’t you just kill us?”

“Because now she needs to make an example of me,” SteelHooves guessed. “And she knows that will go a lot smoother if she has hostages I care about.”

“Or maybe I just need a good lockpicker,” Blueberry Sabre answered. “Somepony who can get me past a security door.”

Oh hell no.

A deep explosion rang out. One of the Steel Rangers fell, her midsection torn through. Several friendly lights suddenly danced across my E.F.S. compass.

But that was impossible, I thought. The Steel Rangers upstairs were still hours away from being freed. We wouldn’t be getting reinforcements for…

A magical energy pistol appeared pointed at Elder Blueberry Sabre’s head. It was held by a familiar-looking griffin, the hood of her cloak falling back to reveal her head.

Blackwing?

Elder Blueberry Sabre’s eyes went wide as she realized the situation had dramatically changed. “Wh-where did you come from?”

Blackwing smirked as she pulled the trigger, the green beam from her pistol striking the pony between her eyes, turning her into a pony-shaped glow of luminescent green.

“Gawd sent me.”

Elder Blueberry Sabre collapsed into a luminescent puddle.

*** *** ***

The battle had changed. Arcs of magical energy from the small group of griffins were exchanged with the artillery fire of the Steel Rangers. Calamity and SteelHooves waded into the fight while I struggled to unlock the door with my telekinesis.

The door unlocked with a satisfying click and slid open. Beyond I could see the Atrium. But even before I could see it, I could smell it. The cloying stench of burnt pony hair and the reek of spilled blood, pooling and drying by the gallons, smashed into me like a speeding wall. This room had become a slaughterhouse.

Colorful, innocent ponies lay dead everywhere. In many cases, the same ponies could be seen in multiple places -- one of the Steel Rangers had unleashed a grenade machinegun in the room. I stepped into the Atrium over a pink leg blown off at the knee.

I saw a yellowish clump of matter sliding down a wall, mixed with blood. It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t part of a pony’s brains.

It was cake.

I looked up and saw the colorful banner. The Steel Rangers had interrupted a Cutie Mark Party.

I felt rage. Pure, unadulterated rage.

I met three Steel Rangers on the Atrium balcony at the top of the stairs. Two of them were wielding auto-axes and were working their way through the third and final security door. They had about half an hour’s work left to go.

I wrapped each of them in magic, floating them up and turning them towards each other before they could react and turn the auto-axes off. The magically-enhanced blades did exactly what they were designed to do -- cut through metal. The flesh beneath offered no resistance at all. It was gruesomely messy.

I dropped them, but kept the auto-axes, turning to face the last of the Steel Rangers. “Star Paladin Nova Rage, I presume?” I noted her battle saddle had a grenade machinegun.

The Star Paladin stared at me. “Yes, and you are?”

“Run.”

*** *** ***

The adrenaline had once again left my body, and I hurt. Physically and emotionally. It was literally all I could do to stand up.

I had exorcised my rage, but that left only despair and a deep sadness.

The hour was long over -- that blackest hour whose name I couldn’t remember where the darkness of the world is echoed most heavily by the darkness in the soul. But I was still trapped there.

Fallout Equestria: Chapter 28