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Post by Red Charge on Sept 1, 2012 9:28:03 GMT -5
With the Iron Shoes regaining his sanity back and taking his old position as Hightower, Field Marshal of the Royal Guard, his return was the talk of the town. There was not a single soul in Canterlot who was not recounting his mighty deeds or speculating at whether or not he could beat the current Field Marshal, Starling in a one on one match. One thing was certain however, with two Field Marshals on the field, as well as the Cult's well trained reinforcement's, Equestria was the most powerful it had been in many, many years.
Of course in the Royal Palace, brows were still furrowed, bags were still present below the eyes of the military council and naturally, nothing but worry appeared on the face of those present.
"The Leviathan and her fleet will be here shortly." Scimitar Razorwing informed, rubbing his face with a hoof as he surveyed the magical sphere in the air showing the fleet's relative position to Canterlot.
"We have acquired some volunteers to help take them down." A new arrival said, Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, "Some are veterans of the Eclipse Crisis Strike Teams."
Percheron Razorwing, also present in the room spoke up, "Your highness I still think the Sky Titans are better suited to fighting the Griffon Fleet, not to mention Blackmane…"
"Listen here, pretty-colt," Said Spitfire, "This is a matter of defending Canterlot, a matter for the Royal Guard. That's us, not you." The sunshine pony said harshly, almost immediately seeming to regret doing so. "Besides, the Sky Titans need to be on call in case that dragon and his drake army come by. Trust me Perch, I got this."
"If you're all done with your petty arguments," Said General Gallop, "It's time to go, they're almost here, get your forces off the ground."
Luna nodded and turned to Spitfire, "Do your best." She said simply. Spitfire saluted and left the room, leaving the military council to talk amongst themselves further.
"Alright ponies, we're up against the Fifth Mechanized Fleet." Spitfire instructed the mass of Royal Guard Pegasi troops, volunteers and Wonderbolts included. "These are hard-core military trained Griffon bad-flanks. There's no room for games here, Admiral Tesla is a war hardened veteran and under Blackmane's command I doubt he'll be taking any prisoners."
"I met Admiral Tesla, there's no rainy day in the summer's chance he'd work with Blackmane!" Piped up one of the officers, raising an armored hoof in the air.
"We don't know what's going on, but at this point we have to assume he's either a traitor, or under Blackmane's control. Now listen here, the Leviathan is a huge vessel," She said, drawing the pegasi's attention to a large presentation board, flipping over the page to show a schematic of the zeppelin.
"As you can see, the main gun is installed below the zeppelin itself and it's huge, by huge I mean that one shot from this baby could have taken down even the Adversary." Spitfire pointed to the large device beneath the main hull of the ship.
"Our goal is to disable the main gun at all costs, even if it means destroying the ship. The Griffons can stuff their requests." Of course, Spitfire was referring to the griffon emissary who had arrived with a rushed message ordering Canterlot not to harm the zeppelin itself.
"If you can take control of it, great, if not, blow it up and we'll head back home, let the army take care of the rest of the fleet." The Wonderbolt's leader continued on, "Most of you are going to be outside, making sure there are no boarding parties coming in on the ship after us. A ship this size is going to have enough troops without reinforcements landing left right and center." Compared to the largest Equestrian zeppelin, the Leviathan was about six times as large, nearly three quarters the size of the grounded Griffon Dreadnaught.
"Now we're going to split up, a force of Wonderbolts will enter from the left hand loading dock, while we pretend to be attacking the engine, while we'll actually break in through the gas regulation vent directly below it. Now it'll be a real short trip through the access duct into the maintenance corridor, we'll have to go through the generator room to reach the access shaft to the bridge, while at all times hauling our non Pegasi volunteers on our backs. Griffons are pretty big so we should have no problem fitting through. But you have to be careful, if your Pegasi companion is down, that means you're grounded, at least until we reach the bridge, so keep them safe."
The Wonderbolts seemed a little distraught by that statement, but then Spitfire sighed and said, "That's not even the worst bit. The fleet is lead by Blackmane with the Leviathan as his flagship. He'll probably be directing his forces from the Bridge along with Admiral Tesla, so we'll be in for a double whammy of action, unless Tesla decides to change his mind."
As Spitfire proceeded to brief the other Wonderbolt team their route, showing it to them on a simple diagram, she gave everyone her blessing.
Then the time came, a mass of fog rolled up in the horizon, and they lifted off.
"Fog's done by their rocs, roc weather is too tough for us to clear, so identify your targets before you attack. The ships themselves won't be fogged, so you'll have visibility once you're in range. Let's move!"
Mounting on their Wonderbolt companions, the non Pegasi volunteers were ready, they launched off along with the rest of the fleet, quickly reaching into the fog. But something was wrong, very wrong. Out of nowhere, at high noon, the sky became pitch black, reducing the attacking force's visibility to zero.
"What's going on?" one of the Wonderbolts asked, "I can't see my hoof in front of my face!" With the fog and the lights out, it was impossible for the strike force to even see each other in the dark.
Below, on the Royal Palace's balcony Luna gasped, as the sun escaped her grip and sank behind the horizon rapidly, "No! Celestia's setting the sun!" Her horn glowing brightly, the princess attempted to halt her sister, but her measly year of controlling the sun were no match for Celestia's millennia and she could not. Now looking up at a starless night, with no sun to light up the moon, it was truly one of the darkest nights even she had ever witnessed.
Flying blindly through the fog and the darkness the strike force finally stopped, "We can't keep going this way! How are we going to find them?" Asked one of the Royal Guard officers, his voice barely carrying. Spitfire was just about to reply when suddenly scores of bright lights blinded them.
"Fog lights!" Spitfire called as she heard a distant rumble. The Griffons were upon them, as harpoons and cannon balls burst into their formation, knocking some out of the sky, impaling others and causing them to plummet.
"Fly towards the lights!" Spitfire ordered, bursting through the fog to the clear area at the eye of the storm. She could see the fleet's ships' outlines with the light of the ships behind them, the Leviathan was easy to spot at the lead.
"Soarin' get the teams to the Leviathan! I'm not leaving the guards out here in the open!" Spitfire called back to Soarin', bursting through right after her with the strike teams.
"But Spitfire…" He barely started his outcry when she cut across him.
"Now Soarin'!" She called and took off, with the sun out, she was also completely out of her element. The now scrambled Royal Guards took off after her, still under fire of cannons and harpoons, with flocks of rocs and griffon marines approaching them.
Soarin's teams split up at the designated spot, one going to the loading docks and the other to the engine. Soarin' kicked in the opening to the vent, directing the others inside as he turned to send a wind charged buck to the side of the engine, denting it, again and again until it could no longer rotate properly. The grinding of metal on metal made sparks and smokes emerge, as the engine ceased functioning, causing the Leviathan to temporarily tilt sideways, before it could counterbalance the fallen engine.
With the teams now in the access ducts, Soarin' stepped through. "Alright," He said, "Past this point there are going to be enemies, for now get on the ground volunteers. Is everyone here ready?" He asked.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 2, 2012 7:40:49 GMT -5
Selenia awkwardly dismounted her pegasus ride. The flight to the fleet was harrowing, what with the loss of the sun and the Griffons' obvious preparation for their arrival, but it wasn't breaking. She was a bit shaken, but not stirred. Nevertheless, she followed Soarin's orders and steeled herself for what was to come. She even went out of her way to learn the basics of a new spell, an electrical blast. It would undoubtedly come in handy should they need to short out electrical systems or pop other sensitive equipment. She also boosted the power of her magical shield, realizing it would definitely be of use.
While the rest of the team was getting situated, Selenia noticed that the ship halted its list and returned to level flying. The engine Soarin disabled couldn't have been fixed so quickly, so the corresponding engine on the other side must have been shut off. It was a quick solution to an immediate problem, but it would end up weakening the ship as a whole, running under less power. She idly wondered if they should just bash up all the engines on a side and let the monstrous vessel plummet to the ground. She doused the idea, sending ponies back out into that hailstorm of flak would cause more harm than good, and the ship should have backup engines, shouldn't it?
Either way, Selenia situated herself and looked around. They were inside the ship. Nothing but metal and noise surrounded them. She prepared a volley of simple concussive spells, they weren't very powerful but she could fire them off rapidly and with minimal fatigue, and the best way to defeat their enemy in such close quarters was to overwhelm them and cause absolute chaos in the cramped space. She turned her attention to Soarin without a second thought. "Prepped and ready to go."
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2012 15:13:51 GMT -5
Strings sighed as he landed on the floor of the Leviathan. He definitely was not expecting it to be such an intense flight to the flagship. Luckily, he got there without a scratch, which is much more than he can say for some other Ponies on the strike force.
Strings stood there as he listened to the Wonderbolt Soarin'. "I'm ready." He said in reply. And ready he was. It had been a while since he was lat in battle, during the war with the cultists, and all his wounds had been healed. So, he was ready and willing to go to fight for Equestria once more.
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Post by moontrot on Sept 3, 2012 19:50:21 GMT -5
Sweet Tea stood silently among the group of pegasai and volonteers as their leader for the mission, Spitfire, began to go over the details. After learing of the mission, Moon Trot had studied up as much as she could on the Griffons, their airship fleets, and mechanical engineering as she could in the few hours she had to do so. She did not want to, nor need to, become an expert to do a disability mission. All she needed was the basics: these big red buttons screw stuff up, and these wires should not be pulled apart. Knowing what not to do would be vital do doing what they were about to set off to do.
Paying attention to the Wonderbolt leader, she looked at the schematic of the airship that they were going to invade. She walked up closer to it as Spitfire pointed out the long gun but the press of ponies kept her from getting too near. She wanted to get an idea which way the various ducts and maintenence cooridors went.
Not being a fighter, Sweet Tea's skills were in self-protection and trade. The only way she could significantly contribute is to go stealthy as soon as they were aboard the ship then wonder down a side corridor and start looking for small yet vital systems she could ruin in small ways. Cut a wire here, close a valve there, if she could cause system chaos while the others moved, she would be drawing attention away from wherever they went to the issues she caused. Also, if she was lucky enough to find a truly vital system she could sever, she might be able to help in a more significant manner.
The pegasi, poor in flying, had to mount up on top of flying ponies so that they could travel. Sweet Tea climbed onto her assigned partner, for once her tall and scrawny figure making her a lighter load to bear.
They were off and into the sky, which suddenly went dark. Sweet Tea couldnt' see anything but she soon heard the sound of canon fire as they appraoched the airships. She closed her eyes and ducked her head as the pegasus beneath her flew and weaved. She held on tight and focused as best she could, causing herself and her companion to vanish from sight. Invisibility was a tough spell on its own, but two people were very difficult to conceal. SHe couldn't maintain it for long, but by the time it broke they were too close for the fire to be able to accurately aim at them, and soon enough they had landed.
Not everyone had made it, of course. She grabbed onto someone's mane when they lost balance as the ship tilted and let go when it re-stabilized. She didn't answer when the rest of the group responded with a mass 'Ready'. Instead she calmed herself and focused, casting an invisibility spell so she would vanish. She would follow the group during the initial parts of the exploration, but once she found a side passage that they didn't take, she would break off to begin her own more subtle sabotage.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 6, 2012 15:43:27 GMT -5
Progressing through the access corridors on the Leviathan, the group already encountered resistance in a group of technicians sent to look at the downed engine. They were quickly and quietly disposed of by the Wonderbolts, with no assistance needed by the volunteers, and they proceeded deftly through the eerie, narrow corridors while the battle outside raged. Distant rumble of cannonfire and thunder rattled the ship occasionally as the forces outside were clashing full might into one another. Meanwhile time was of the essence. It would not be long until the Leviathan would be in range to attack Canterlot, and the group was now facing a difficult obstacle, the generator room.
Bursting in to the wide chamber powering the ship, they were met with heavy resistance. The Chief Engineer was wielding Electro-Talons and insulated suits, rendering any and all lightning magic (pegasi or unicorn) completely ineffective, the Generators themselves were lined up across the room. Downing these generators would not take down the ship, only the secondary systems, making them a very low priority target. Destroying them would also alert the main forces on the vessel of the infiltration team's location.
For now, they were matched up perfectly, Engineer vs pony, with Soarin' naturally going after the Chief Engineer. The volunteers were each facing their opponents, surrounded by electricity spewing generators, getting too close to one could be lethal to any unprotected pony, a disadvantage the Griffons did not share. The Griffons were stalling, waiting for the Wonderbolts to make the first move.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 8, 2012 13:12:34 GMT -5
Their first confrontation was handled admirably. Just a quiet takedown of two engineering griffons equipped with tools and engineering plans of a turbine. Selenia frowned as she passed by their fallen forms. The speedy dispatch of a repair team didn't bode well for any damage their forces could inflict. It was such a huge ship that even if they knocked out a critical system here, they would have to go all the way over there to hit another, and by then the first system they disabled would be back up and running. This ship was built to last, and it would take a mighty concerted effort to bring it down or even wrest control from the griffons.
The team headed to the generator room, lots of heat and electricity, and most certainly dangerous. There was what looked like the head engineer with a fully insulated and sealed suit, very thick and protective. At least from electricity and fire. He also had close range defenses, in the form of electrified talons. (Why would you even have those in a generator room?) Other than that, the rest of the myriad of engineers were in there with them.
"I would advise keeping your distance from the chief." Selenia calmly said to nobody in particular. "His suit is bulky and insulated. It probably can take a lot of hits but he should move slowly and have trouble dodging quick projectiles." Her mind shifted to her still ready concussive spells. Given enough speed and force, that brute could be tossed about like a ragdoll. "We should light his suit up. it may absorb all this electricity, but to do so it would have to sacrifice flame-retardants. And after all, everything burns." She continued thinking, in case there was some hidden resistance that made this guy immune to fire. If anyone can locate a rivet gun or anything like it, we should try popping the seals on his suit, barraging and damaging it from a distance, cutting gashes and stuff into the reflective top layer, then put him in front of one of those generators and see if the insulation still works." She schemed with a devilish grin. She glanced back over to Strings, "I've got your flank if you've got mine."
The griffons stalled more, and Selenia knew that they had limited time and resources. Canterlot would be a smoking ruin if they didn't hurry. She quickly charged up her horn and shaped the first of her concussive shots into a piercing lance and launched it at the chief. Nowhere near a full attack, she just wanted to see if he had a few hidden tricks. She turned her head and released the remaining standard concussive blasts at two griffons on a catwalk as she full on sprinted towards a third on their current level and dove into him horn first.
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Post by Sweet Tea on Sept 8, 2012 21:03:35 GMT -5
At the time of the fighting, Sweet Tea was crouching in a little nook of the generator room. She had very little combat training; only the absolute basics provided in basic training. She was best left out of the way, and to that end she nimbly moved from hiding place to hiding place, avoiding both pony and griffon alike.
Her original plan of breaking off from the group and causing a lesser form of sabotage while the others wreaked havoc was stopped when she found that the level they had landed on had no paths to other levels. Having no flightless griffons to worry about, they had no need for stairs or elevators.
With that plan tossed, Sweet Tea resumed her pace with the main group and contented herself with attempting to scout ahead. She neglected to tell anyone she was going to go ahead, however and so when she had counted griffon heads and turned to take her report back the rest of the group had arrived. She'd inform them after the chaos went down. As she hid, she attempted to find lesser systems she could compromise, and in the event a griffon was about to severely injure one of her comrades she had an invisible horn she could ram into an unprotected back.
((OOC: Henceforth, Moon Trot as been Retconned into my pony Sweet Tea for the duration of this event. How? Discord, that's how.))
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 15, 2012 3:21:25 GMT -5
(Retort you need to change those posts)
The Chief Engineer waved a talon and from the generators bolts of electricity shot at Selenia's concussive blasts and lance, nullifying the magical energy with small but harmless explosions. The Griffon Selenia was charging at quickly took to the air, landing upside down on the ceiling and dropping right on her back with the entirity of his heavy suit and the added force of his launch, the impact sending jolts of pain down Selenia's spine. A wonderbolt was quick to come to her aid however and with a corkscrew buck sent the engineer flying. Only to be intercepted himself and thrown against one of the generators. The effect was deadly, within moments it was obvious there was no life left in the Wonderbolt's spasming body. The lesson was learned, positioning yourself in a place where you could be thrown at a generator was lethal.
Soarin' immediately took to dodging between arcs of electricity to smash the Chief Engineer right in the chest. Even with Soarin's wind strike, that did not seem to do much damage. He was quickly thrown back by a shock from one of the chief engineer's electric talons. Strings was busy fighting a griffon of his own, managing to successfully dodge his attack and retaliate with a buck to his face, sending him unconscious to the floor.
(From this point on, for the sake of not getting stuck for 10 turns on each battle, use battle strategies instead of moves, what I mean is, instead of writing what your character is doing at the moment, write their strategy throughout their battle, their battle plan i.e. Soarin' punched would be a battle move, while, Soarin's strategy was to knock the chief engineer as far back from the generators as possible using a combination of quick hits and dodges... Alright guys? If there's any questions feel free to ask.)
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Post by Selenia on Sept 19, 2012 7:46:26 GMT -5
So. The chief engineer did in fact have a wonderful little trick up his sleeve, up his feathery sleeve... thing. He could control the output of the generators with his one little talon. That made things a whole lot worse. If he could sit back and deflect what little melee attacks the Wonderbolts could produce, he could easily wave his hand and shock the entire team to death. Once again, Selenia openly wondered why an engineer on an airship would have a tool so obviously designed to be a weapon. What would be the normal benefit of directing generators to discharge deadly arcs of electricity at will inside a cramped generator room? The world may never know. And hopefully it wouldn't have to.
Selenia's rather lengthy thought was interrupted as the griffon she charged landed right on top of her, cracking her back. It stung for a second and then settled to a dull throbbing. The weight of the griffon was then removed and she muscled herself up off the floor to watch her Wonderbolt compatriot, correction: Wonderbolt savior being electrocuted to death. What a charming way to go. She gritted her teeth and rolled her shoulders and neck with a groan, the griffon had succeeded in cracking her back, but in the good way, and now they must pay for their transgressions.
Selenia would have to change tactics. She charged up her horn and stayed a few feet out of the fray, ready to launch magic projectiles at any griffon that was dazed or stunned by an attack from her allies. If any griffon were to head her way, she was more than prepared to jump or roll out of the way, hopefully having them charge headfirst into one of the generators or a wall. She made sure to keep her back facing a solid wall, so as a wayward hit wouldn't send her flying to a shock and awe kind of doom.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 24, 2012 10:11:42 GMT -5
Selenia's tactic worked well for a while, but sooner rather than later, the griffons, more than the wonderbolts, ganged up on her. With Sweet Tea cowering in the sides, and Strings occupied, three griffons charged at Selenia, dodging her magic projectiles. They managed to break through her defenses and attack her together, delivering heavy damage, and breaking her front right leg in the process. Throwing her across the room and to the outside corridor to keep her out of the way, they were surprised by several Wonderbolts, who had managed to overtake their allies and were quickly dispatched. Of the Wonderbolts, two were wounded but still fighting fit, Soarin' had managed to overtake the Chief Engineer and the Griffons that remained were soon overtaken as well with no further injuries.
The Wonderbolt medic quickly set Selenia's leg and using a special magical balm was able to temporarily mend the fracture, at the cost of numbing the leg entirely. Selenia was still fighting fit, but another blow to her front right leg would be devestating. Casked, she could continue onwards as the Wonderbolts began to progress up the access shaft towards the higher levels. The ship continued to rattle with the intense fight happening outside, but it seemed that the majority of Griffon forces aboard the ship were heading towards the other team, leaving Soarin's team free to go right up to one of the main engine rooms.
Though they were supposed to fly past it, they were spotted along the way by several griffon soldiers with heavy armor and heavier weapons. Four in number, lead by a Griffon Sergeant. This battle, unfortunately for the Wonderbolts would take place in the air, with no room to land Selenia.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 26, 2012 13:33:07 GMT -5
Try as Selenia might, she failed to intercept the three brutish griffons as the barreled into her. Their combined force was enough to toss her aside, luckily not landing on a generator, and overextending the joint on her right foreleg and snapping it. It wasn't a compound fracture, thank Luna, but it still hurt more than anyone would like. She gritted her teeth through the pain and issued a sharp yelp before biting her tongue. The griffons that had subdued her seemed to have lost interest, and were quickly removed from play by the rest of the Wonderbolt team as she watched from her crumpled heap on the floor.
She wrestled herself up, taking care not to put weight on her injured leg, and looked up in time to be smothered by a Wonderbolt medic who set her leg and applied some soothing balm. The pain was gone, but she wouldn't be able to use her leg to its full capability, and she would have to be careful not to let it take another hit. She picked herself up again and flexed her casked leg, grimacing at the remaining pain of movement, but it was more of a throb than a sharp jolt. A simple thanks and a pat on the back was all she could provide to the medic before they had to move out again.
Their next leg would be to fly through the structure of the ship to one of the primary engine chambers. On their way up, they were spotted and intercepted by more griffons. Selenia was still riding shotgun on one of the Wonderbolts, so she had little time to inspect their adversaries before her mount dove into action.
Five hostiles. All soldiers by the look of it. Heavy armor and heavy weapons. That gave them considerably more mass than any of the Wonderbolts, save for the one ferrying Selenia. They would be sluggish heavy hitters if the laws of physics were to be followed, and avoiding a collision with one would be of prime importance, given their momentum would be enough to negate any of the Wonderbolts and knock them aside like toys.
Given Selenia and her mount would be the most vulnerable of the bunch, being slower and a lot more cautious with flying, Selenia would simply hold on for dear life and keep her head on a swivel, using shields and concussive blasts to buffet and knock any griffons heading their way off course, and if their tandem wasn't being attacked, she would use concussive blasts and electrified bolts to assist the rest of the team in any way she could. Heck, their pair could even serve as a lure for the sluggish griffons, allowing the rest of the team an opportunity to subdue the griffons while distracted, but that would mean endangering herself and her mount a lot more than necessary
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 8, 2012 7:00:16 GMT -5
(Note: Retort's character and Strings have been retconned out of the thread. Having left being injured in the generator room.)
Soarin' had just about enough of these griffons. It was obvious by the Chief Engineer in the generator room that they were not being mind controlled. A far more startling revelation was however, to those with the eye to notice, was that the Leviathan was designed to fight against magic, specifically pony magic. He was furious, for millenia the ponies trusted the griffons as brothers, never once dreaming of a concept of anti-griffon weapons or tactics. They were naiive, the greedy descendants were not of Dreadwing's line. They were not to be trusted. He knew Equestria was hardly able to take on the Griffon Armada, but he also knew that Luna will not quiet over this information. A malicious thought came into his mind, regarding the attack on Royal Rocks. They certainly had it coming, the scum.
Soarin' streaked towards the Griffon troops, his unmatched speed stunning them, before they could react he unleashed a devastating spin blast of air, crushing them against the wall of the access shaft, causing them to succumb to the weight of their armor and fall down the shaft. They would recover before hitting bottom, that much he knew, but they would no longer pose a problem to his team of Wonderbolts.
Leading them on through the shaft, they were able to arrive unhindered all the way up to the corridors leading to the bridge. It was obvious to Soarin' that they were being allowed, he had no illusions about an element of surprise now. But he had a mission to complete, and he was going to complete it. It crossed his mind that Spitfire outside may have been injured, or worse, as the devestating barrage on the Royal Guard Air Force never stopped for a beat, he wondered if there was anything even left of his forces, if they had all scattered to the wind, to buy them time.
Checking his wrist watch, he knew he had no time to ponder, the Leviathan was almost in range of Canterlot. Taking out the bridge' fire controls would not allow them to aim the main cannon, though they could still fire it independently. It was time.
Opening the heavy steel door to the bridge, Soarin' and his team entered into the bridge. Soarin' expected an ambush, maybe a couple of dozens of Griffon Soldiers in his way. But the situation was far worse than he imagined. Though he knew the possibility existed. From the other side of the bridge, past what appeared to be coils emanating electricity, stood Admiral Tesla, but far more concerning, next to him, stood Blackmane.
"Disappointing." Said the ebon-armored mare, "I was hoping to face the Stars. But as all armies do, sometimes, you must send a weaker sacrifice to weaken your opponent, before you deliver the finishing blow, it appears."
Though Soarin' could not see her face, he could almost feel her smug grin behind her helmet, she flipped her long black mane over to one side, eyeing the Wonderbolt lieutenant critically. "You are barely worthy of my time, if at all." She said, "Do you wish to stop the Leviathan? To cause it to cease its attack against Canterlot?"
Soarin' responded, however he was not addressing Blackmane, "Tesla! How can you do this? You fought together with us against Blackmane's pirates! How can you work for her?"
Admiral Tesla was not a small griffon by any measure, what bulk he already had was further enhanced by his extremely large and heavy armor, cackling with electricity all throughout. All knew the armor, the Tesla Armor that the griffon admiral had invented himself. To all but trained pegasi a single hit from its Tesla Claws could be fatal. Yet the Eagle-Lion hybrid did not seem ashamed under Soarin's accusations. He merely stood his ground, a flat look on his face.
"I think I've had quite enough of this game. Tesla, destroy them. I will head outside and end the combat." The pirate lord instructed, turning to leave.
"You think we're just going to let you go?" Asked Soarin', lunging forwards a bit, "You're staying right here Blackmane!"
Blackmane turned back, only for a moment, to spread her wings, and then she beat them, only once, with no momentum, yet the blast of wind that came from them was enough to throw the entire Wonderbolt infiltration team against the wall, not unlike Soarin' had done before to the Griffons.
The Wonderbolt Lieutenant tried to brace himself against the attack, being a wind oriented pegasi himself, but Blackmane's power far surpassed his own, and he found himself crashing into the steel wall of the bridge just like the others.
"You should have sent the Razorwing." She said simply, before leaving the room. The pressure valves on all the doors turned. They were now locked in with Tesla, in a room full of his Tesla Coils, weary from combat, and facing one of the greatest griffon generals of the generation.
Things were not looking good.
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Post by Selenia on Oct 10, 2012 19:22:40 GMT -5
As it turned out, Selenia's very well thought out and brilliant strategy would be of no use in the encounter with the griffon soldiers. Soarin' just went ahead and denied them the chance to impede the infiltration team's progress by blowing them all the way back to deck 1 in their cavernous maintenance shaft. Selenia gave an approving nod. That power of his could come in handy and it certainly was something she had never seen before. Their team continued up to the bridge uninterrupted.
Once on the bridge, their real adversaries made their appearance. Blackmane the notorious sky pirate and her pawn, Admiral Tesla. Selenia actually admired Blackmane in that nefarious ethics-for-sale kind of way. Such perseverance and power packed into a tiny pony sized ball of hate. Selenia snarled at her comment. Hopefully deaths in the ensuing battle would be mitigated and their operation wouldn't be put down as a casualty statistic in the record books. Selenia had no plans on dying today. Lucky for them, Blackmane wasn't going to be entering the melee with their team. She merely blasted them all against a wall with a massive gust of air and then left. Rather anticlimactic, but the massive griffon admiral still stood between them and the gun controls.
Selenia was faced with more than a few problems regarding her actual viable strategies for the battle. This was Admiral Tesla after all, so electric attacks would be completely useless against the griffon. His body and his armor were massive, rendering him all but impervious to her usual kinetic blasts and concussive shots. Entering into melee combat was suicidal, as merely touching him would shock the attacker to death. Then came the matter of his own attacks. Lightning was fast. It had no travel time and was impossible to dodge. Her shield could probably take one bolt before it would shatter, leaving her dazed and vulnerable to a crippling second hit. His melees would be unblockable as well, so much mass behind a single swing would send any singular pony on their team flying. She had thought partially on countering lightning with some kind of magical grounding rod or something to absorb the energy into the surroundings, but the entire airship was metal, and that would just electrify the floor, shocking anypony unfortunate enough not to be in the air.
So, every single way Selenia could retaliate was negated, and every single attack that Tesla could produce would easily smash through what meager defenses she could produce. That left only one option: avoid confrontation with Tesla. Defeating the griffon wasn't their objective. Knocking out the Leviathan's cannon targeting system was. Like all sensitive equipment, the bridge's machinery would eventually break if hit hard enough or exposed to an uncontrolled and overwhelmingly large electric current.
Selenia could just buck the stuff until it broke, and she could also shoot some lightning of her own, but the ship itself was designed around negating pony magic. So she would have to get her electricity from the biggest source in the room at that moment: Admiral Tesla. This gave her two options, engage Tesla in melee combat and kite him closer and closer to the bridge controls, eventually giving Selenia a chance to dodge out of the way of an electrified swing, letting Tesla crush and shock the machinery in one fell swoop. She could also run over to the controls and bring up a weaker version of her magic shield, not strong enough to absorb the energy of a lightning attack, but with enough power to deflect the attack into the control panel, hopefully shorting it out. Both provided serious risks if Tesla had some secret super attack up his sleeve which all the enemies seemed to possess, but their team didn't have the luxury of time.
Selenia made her decision. She would run around the bridge to the gun controls with her barrier up, giving Tesla as wide of a swath as possible until she got near the panel, then she would lower the power of her barrier, ready to deflect electricity and also see if she could get Tesla to take a few swings at her, in case the bridge controls were somehow resistant to ridiculously high currents and they needed some physical persuasion (that means smashing) to shut down. And judging by how things seemed to go, the bridge controls were probably resistant to electricity, but that was a risk she would have to take. Now, if only the Wonderbolts would back her up.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 14, 2012 23:41:50 GMT -5
Before Selenia could take one step, Soarin' stopped her. "Stay right where you are and focus entirely on your shield. See those coils? As soon as you try anything, they'll target you. You're not a pegasus, nor do you have one of these," He gestured at his suit, "Lightning resistant. Leave this guy to us."
At that Soarin' and the wonderbolts re-grouped in formation, eyeing the Tesla Coils warily as they slowly advanced. Tesla remained silent and kept an open claw as they moved, ready to target any that tried to get too close. The Tesla Coils crackled with Electricity, almost as though they were waiting for one of the Wonderbolts to make a mistake.
With Selenia's shield up, Tesla didn't see her as a threat, nor did he try to attack her. Distractions could prove costly if one of the Wonderbolts managed to get up close.
With a simple hoof signal, the Wonderbolts charged forth, jumping quickly in a zig zag pattern while rubbing their wings and hooves against their suit, creating a barrier of static electricity around them. Not a moment later, lightning struck, right near a Wonderbolt, being deflected by the static shield. Then they truly charged forwards, leaping off the walls and charging short distances each time, drawing bolt and bolt after them. However as they turned to reach the final stretch, the two final tesla coils immediately buzzed to life, generating an electrical field blocking their path.
They would have to fly over it, but without grounding, any lightning bolt could be fatal.
"Since when were you a coward Tesla?" Soarin' taunted, "How long have you been planning to betray us for?" He called. "We had maneuvers together, heck we fought together. This is how you honor our trust? What would King Whitefeather think of you?"
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Post by Selenia on Oct 17, 2012 18:36:04 GMT -5
Selenia was about to start her run for the controls, but a solid hoof on her shoulder stopped her cold. Soarin calmly indicated that she should sit back and stay protected, and she did just that. It was probably for the best, as her attack would have probably gotten her killed. Selenia grimaced and poured all her energy into her barrier and stood near the door as she watched the Wonderbolts pound away at the sluggish admiral. Selenia bit her lip. She felt left out, not in a selfish sense where she wanted some of the action, but as of right now, she just felt like a liability to the Wonderbolt team. She couldn't fly, her magic was useless in tis encounter, and sonepony would have to carry her out. Just dead weight to babysit.
A couple times, Selenia considered launching a few concussive shots at the admiral to at least take some of his attention off of the team, but that would mean sacrificing her barrier strength and giving the admiral a reason to swat her away, so she ultimately decided against it. After being repelled by the electric barrier, Soarin' engaged Tesla in some personal verbal matters. Understandably, he didn't respond. Going on Soarin's words, Tesla had to be brainwashed somehow, otherwise he would at least shoot back some gruff one-liners of his own.
The electric barrier that Tesla had thrown down as also a very interesting development. The griffon admiral was a massive creature with electrified armor that looked nigh impervious to attacks. His decision that an additional barrier was necessary showed that he didn't trust his already stacked defenses to sustain the Wonderbolt attack. In short, he was intimidated. Inference led to the conclusion that Tesla could in fact be defeated if that barrier was downed.
Selenia looked around for some way to pierce it, and her eyes fell on the tesla coils unprotected behind the barrier. To produce a barrier of such strength, it would have to rely on all available resources to maintain cohesion, that meant it should be using the unshielded coils as well as the two behind the barrier. Destroying the unprotected coils should weaken the barrier enough to let it be pierced, by a concerted attack from the Wonderbolts or other means. Selenia eyes the coils again. The casings were hardy and built for use on a military airship, but the glass and filaments of the coils inside would be weak. And those she could shatter and break with a few well placed concussive blasts.
Selenia diverted a small amount of her barrier energy to lighting up her horn before hollering to their leader. "Soarin'! We need to remove the coils so the barrier will fall!", she pointed her lit horn a one of the coils and looked to Soarin' for approval and confirmation that he got the gist of her plan.
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