Chapter Thirty: Plymouth.

***

Transport Helicopter en route to Plymouth, March 15th, 2030.

In the back of a transport helicopter sat Twilight Sparkle, her face scrunched up in a mixture of discomfort and displeasure at the loud noise of the whirring blades atop the vehicle. She wore a khaki combat shirt, a helmet with an HUD display visor and inbuilt radio, and wore a dagger strapped to her side. Near her sat her friends - Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Lyra and True Grit, along with Sapphire Steel, Hell Blazer, the leather-jacket clad Doctor 'Clock Smith' (as Ditzy had said he was called), and Desert Wind. Most of the ponies were equipped similarly to her, except Hell Blazer, Clock Smith, DesertWind and Applejack.

Desert Wind had a sturdy leather saddle on, on which was mounted a Resistance P220, a weapon that none of the ponies here had seen since London - though it was rare, Elliot had managed to procure one for Desert Wind, who looked suitably pleased to be so heavily armed.

Applejack and True Grit, meanwhile, were wearing more extensive body armour, made of moulded Kevlar, with True Grit also wearing a modified helmet, set into which was a larger radio. Hell Blazer, by contrast, was wearing his usual attire, the only concession to common battlefield sense being the addition of a set of HUD goggles for communication purposes. Clock Smith had less than that even, wearing the same battered clothes he always did.

Next to him was sat Elliot, the only human - apart from the pilot and the co-pilot - on the helicopter. The Avatar of Albion had his eyes closed in an expression of concentration. If Twilight had to guess, she would have said he was meditating. Most of the others were talking quietly amongst themselves, except Lyra, who was cradling a small, leather bound diary she had apparently received shortly before they left Leeds for Plymouth. She hadn’t opened it - she looked like she was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to.

"I can't decide what's more terrifying," Rarity said to the group after a while, her voice barely audible over the din of the engine. "This blasted machine we’re all cooped up in, or all the things I've heard about this 'Plymouth' place."

"I'm sure Plymouth won't be so bad," Pinkie Pie said to her, trying to be reassuring. "I mean, sure they'll be lots of mean ponies who work for Solamina there, but I just bet we'll be able to beat them."

"Oh hooray," Rarity said sarcastically. "Killing more ponies. Just what I want to do with my time."

Pinkie's face fell, and tears started forming in her eyes. "That... that wasn't what I meant..."

"We know, Pinkie," Applejack said quickly, smiling softly. She threw Rarity a glare, and the fashionista had the decency to look a little ashamed of herself for upsetting Pinkie. "Rarity's just a bit frazzled by this situation, like we all are."

"I know that isn't what you meant Pinkie," Rarity said gently. "I'm just not eager to go back into battle."

"It's ok, Rarity," Pinkie said, sniffing slightly as she held back a sob. "I know you didn't mean to be mean."

"I'm no happier about killing ponies than you, ma'am," True Grit said to Rarity, who looked over at him. The former Guard was looking sterner than ever. "But like as not, we're here. And Pinkie's right. We'll be able to beat these guys."

"Yeah, stick it to 'em!" Applejack said eagerly. Twilight threw her a look, and the farmer grinned at her.

"Well, I hope for everypony's sake that we're able to do it quickly," Rarity said. "The faster we're done, the less ponies we'll have to kill, and the sooner we can be home."

"What's home even going to be like for us?" Lyra asked quietly, still cradling the small diary and not looking up from it.

"Whaddya mean, Lyra?" Pinkie asked, slightly confused.

"I mean, we've already seen and done things we never thought we'd have to," Lyra said, looking from one pony to another. "How can we live with that? How can homely old Ponyville ever look the same when we've seen this kind of world?"

Twilight looked at the floor of the helicopter, Lyra's words echoing with her own thoughts. Her friend clearly felt the same way she did: how could they ever return to their homes after all the horrors they had seen - and all the horrors they were yet to see?

"Be grateful you can look at homely old Ponyville again at all," Desert Wind said suddenly, sounding somewhere between angry and upset. He looked surprisingly sad, as though he was thinking about something upsetting. "It's not so easy for us."

"'Us'?" Twilight asked.

"The Resistance," Desert Wind clarified, his tone grim. "For us, home is a fascist Tartarus-on-Equus. Even if we succeed, even if Blueblood gets to be Prince and we get to go back home and raise the banner of the Resistance over Canterlot and stick that bitch Solamina's head on a spike... nothing will ever be the same for us."

This statement put a damper on everypony's moods. Even Doctor Clock Smith looked sad, and he had maintained a stony silence and grim, thoughtful expression throughout the flight, not responding to anything - not even insistent questions about himself from Pinkie Pie: that the party pony had exhausted her ability to talk to someone without response on him was testament to the resolve of his silence.

"I still can't get over the fact that you get a gun!" Sapphire said to Desert Wind after a moment, her attempt to change the subject obvious but welcome.

"Perks of being a strong motherbucker," Wind replied with a smirk, his apparent moroseness forgotten. "Plus I hear Albion pulled strings to get this squad access to the rare stuff."

'Rare' was the right word. None of the items their squad had been equipped with, not even the daggers most of the squad had, were standard Resistance equipment - according to Elliot, these particular pieces of equipment had been sanctioned for use by 'special units'...

***

March 13th, 2030.

"... by which they mean, any sod unfortunate enough to be assigned to working in Plymouth," Elliot finished with a slightly apologetic smile.

Twilight was examining the gear she had just been given. Near her, Pinkie Pie was trying on the helmet with a grin, messing with the HUD settings, while Rarity was examining the ensemble with an expression of distaste, clearly not satisfied with the aesthetic of the equipment. The rest of the newcomers were checking their equipment with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. They were, thanks to Elliot's recommendation, a full special unit of the Equestrian Resistance, dubbed "Everfree Team" (Everfree beginning with E, Elliot's personal reference to the fact that the Element Bearers were in the team). Twilight was, technically, Everfree One, leader of this team, with Applejack as Two, Rarity as Three, Pinkie as Four, True Grit as Five, Desert Wind as Six, Lyra as Seven and Sapphire Steel as Eight.

"This equipment is top of the line," the tired looking human quartermaster said with a sigh, watching the ponies mess with it. "It's the peak of battlefield equipment that we're able to make at this stage in the war."

"Which means," Elliot added quietly, "that there's not much of it."

"Every little helps," the man said tiredly. He barked a tired laugh out. "Used to work in Tesco. Christ, I miss Tesco. Funny the things you miss when you’re in the post-apocalypse."

“I hear you,” Elliot said. “I miss Doc Martens.”

“Bah, fuck clothes - I miss the fancy alcohol they don’t make anymore,” the quartermaster chuckled.

"Don't we all," Hell Blazer said with a smirk. "Anyway: you'll need this lot. Plymouth's a nasty little meat grinder."

Everypony stopped looking at their equipment, each of them sharing a glance of concern. This was not the first reference to how unpleasant Plymouth was going to be that they had heard.

"I think we'd all like a little more information than that," Rarity said after a moment, speaking for all of them. "'A nasty little meat grinder' is, apart from the imagery being utterly repulsive - for which, thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” Hell Blazer grinned.

“... not very helpful," Rarity finished with narrowed eyes.

"That's fair," Hell Blazer said, looking up at Elliot. The man inhaled slowly, looking thoughtful.

"Plymouth was first attacked in 2025," he said after a moment. "The Royal Guard and Equestrian Militia attacked in force, and secured enough of a foothold to keep ferrying troops in via their mini portals."

The ponies listening nodded, Twilight especially looking thoughtful at this piece of information.

"We have to keep sending troops in to hold their forces at bay," Elliot continued, frowning as he spoke.

"It's also the only place where the PER are still anything resembling an organised group," Hell Blazer added with a slight snarl.

"Sorry, the who?" True Grit asked, looking puzzled.

"Ponificatin for Earth's Rebirth," the quartermaster said tiredly. He spat idly on the floor, narrowly missing Rarity's forehoof. She lifted it with a yelp.

"You've mentioned them briefly," Twilight said, ignoring the spitting. "But who were they?"

Hell Blazer and Elliot exchanged glances filled with trepidation and - in Hell Blazer's case - anger.mit was clearly a touchy subject.

"Are," Elliot corrected quietly. "They're still - barely - active."

"I'll tell you who they are. They're traitors," Hell Blazer said after a moment, sounding angry. "The worst kind of traitors."

"When the barrier began expanding," Elliot explained with a sad expression, "many people chose ponification over death. That was their right, and at the time we didn't think they'd turn on us afterwards. But the PER..."

"They didn't give a shit what your choice was," Hell Blazer snarled. "Far as they were concerned, Equestria was the big thing. Being a pony was supposedly preferable to being human."

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"For some it was fear of death," Elliot said, sounding morose. "But for some it was a kind of misanthropy. They hated being human. I don't know why: all sorts of reasons. Bad experiences, lack of faith in humanity…”

“Inability to get laid,” Hell Blazer added with a sneer.

“Whatever their reasons,” Elliot said, “some people just saw the ponification as an excuse to abandon humanity for something they thought was nicer."

"’Pastel ponies can't be evil’," Hell Blazer said sarcastically in a ‘faux happy’ tone. "So it's better to be one." The yellow pony spat on the floor. "Traitorous fuckers."

"The PER began potion-bombing civilians," Elliot said. "As well as organising mass attacks on certain positions. It made the gradual evacuation of certain parts of the world more problematic, caused a lot of deaths... they also assassinated various political and military leaders."

"They essentially started the war," Hell Blazer summarised. "Even before Solamina did."

“And it made evacuating even worse than it already was,” Elliot continued tiredly. “We already had the mad HLF murdering people, the sane HLF trying to stop them or stop the Convies from leaving or blow up the Conversion Bureaus, Gilead...”

“About which you do not want to know,” Hell Blazer said, holding up a hoof to forestall questions.

“Anyway,” Elliot added, looking at Hell Blazer as he spoke. “Most PER ponified before the Barrier was stopped, but there were a few here already.”

“And when it became clear that Solamina was gonna make war, they picked their side,” the quartermaster put in, sounding bitter. “Bastards.”

"When Plymouth was attacked, PER members began covertly flocking to it," Elliot continued. "They're the only humans to take arms against the Defence Forces and the Resistance."

"So we'll be fightin' humans in Plymouth then?" Applejack asked with a frown.

"'Fraid so," Elliot said with a sad smile.

"Fortunately," the quartermaster said, "this equipment should put you on something resembling a level playing field with those bastards."

"So what's the plan exactly?" Twilight asked. At that, Elliot grinned.

"Well," he said, "we -"

***

Twilight was jolted from her reminisces by a slight rocking of the copter. She looked around, to see Elliot opening his eyes and looking in the direction of the cockpit. The others looked concerned at the movement of the copter.

"What's up?!" Elliot called over to the pilot.

"We're in for some turbulence," the pilot called back, her voice sounding strained. "Hang tight back there!"

"Got it!" Elliot called with a grin. He turned to the ponies. "That must mean we're getting close. There's always a Thunder Tank or two on hand."

"Thunder Tank?" Rarity asked, sounding appalled. "What in C - the Pony God's name is a Thunder Tank?"

"An Equestrian weapon," Doctor Clock Smith said grimly, his gruff voice echoing slightly in the confines of the transport.

"That isn't very helpful, Doctor," Applejack said grimly. The Doctor gave her a hard look.

"Worth asking Errant about it," Hell Blazer said quietly after a moment. "He's fought them before."

"Remind me to do that," Twilight said with a nod.

The turbulence continued for a moment, and though it didn't get any worse, it didn't show any signs of stopping either. Whatever a Thunder Tank was, it was definitely effective.

"How near are we?" Elliot called over to the pilot after a few minutes of flying through this turbulence.

"Beginning to lower our altitude now!" the pilot called back. "We're right above a hot zone!"

"Good!" Elliot called. He unstrapped himself and walked over to the hatch. "Sparkle, close this hatch behind me!"

"Why, where are you going?" Twilight asked, confused.

"To have a word with the Equestrian forces!" Elliot grinned. Before anypony could say anything, he opened the hatch and leapt out of the helicopter. Several of the ponies let out yells of horror, and Twilight barely managed to close the hatch, horrified by what she had seen. She turned to look at Hell Blazer, who, to her surprise, was grinning.

"He's back to normal then," he said quietly.

***

Elliot reasoned that at this height he was about two hundred, maybe three hundred feet from the ground. As he jumped, he began concentrating on the power, letting it fill him up: this time, the water was under his control: he controlled its flow, not the other way around.

All around him was thunder and storm clouds: definitely signs that the Equestrian forces were using a Thunder Tank. Hopefully Grey Squadron and the others wouldn't find it too difficult: in any case, unless. Sudden lightning bolt hit him during his descent, it was no longer his problem.

In his hand, a silver sword materialised: the ornate Zweihander, Excalibur. He grinned. A soft golden glow began to show around him, and his descent became less a free fall, and more a controlled flight.

He was now close enough to see his targets: he saw a Royal Guard position, heavily defended by their artillery and their crystal golems. He narrowed his eyes, and angled himself so he was falling feet first. He couldn't resist throwing one last yell before he landed.

"Look out below!"

***

From the nearby Defence Force position, it looked a little like someone had dropped a glowing, golden bomb onto the Equestrian line. A massive shock wave extended outwards, knocking Royal Guards away and shattering golems. Dust and rubble flew everywhere, and even the defence forces had to take cover.

"What the hell was that?" a Resistance pony yelled out.

In the dust cloud surrounding the Equestrian lines, movement of some kind could vaguely be seen. A silver blade lashed out, faster than sight, decapitating unicorn golem-handlers and any guards that hadn't been knocked off their feet by the blast and the shock wave. Panicked yells filled the air.

"What's going on over there?" someone asked.

Suddenly, from the middle of the Equestrian line a golden glowing figure stepped, hefting a Zweihander. His jacket blew in the wind, displaying five tattered manes. He trudged onto the field in worn riding boots, a smile on his face as he stared at the line of Defence Force and Resistance Troopers, all of whom stared in shock and amazement at the figure.

"Come on!" Elliot yelled at the Defence Line. "They're on the run! Charge!"

***

In the sky, Rainbow Dash was flying alongside Errant Flights and the rest of the still-under-strength Grey Squadron. They had been assigned escort duty for the transport helicopters, along with Eagle, Gold and Green Squadrons, all freshly transferred from Leeds to Plymouth duty at Albion's request, as well as Upsilon and Omega Squadrons, two other experienced flight squadrons. Upsilon had, according to a slightly morose Errant Flight during their mission briefing, been the Squadron Cloud Ranger had died as part of, but the survivors from that battle had a good reputation. It was also where White Blossom had come from before her transfer to Grey, and seeing some of her old squadmates made her feel happy.

Their flight was mostly uneventful, but everypony knew that Plymouth was likely to have a heavy Royal Guard presence in the air. So far, however, the worst thing was the heavily cloudy weather.

"It's pretty quiet," she heard Dark Wing say over the radio. "I'm not sure I trust it."

"I don't either," Errant replied, "but until we see a target, we can't act."

Rainbow herself was grateful for the quietness, though she didn't trust it any more than her comrades did. It gave her the chance to fly on autopilot while her mind wandered and focused on different things: the furious face of Scootaloo. Silver Spire's body, bouncing off of walls as he fell to his death. True Blue's broken wings. The face of the first pony whose death she had seen here...

"Squadron Leaders, this is Ferry One," a transmission came in, snapping her out of her reminisces: Ferry One was the call sign of the leader of the Transport Helicopter pilots. "We have unconfirmed reports of a Thunder Tank in the air. I say again, possibility of Thunder Tank presence."

"Acknowledged!" came the voice of Eagle Leader. "We've got our eyes peeled."

"None of us are equipped to take on a Thunder Tank!" the voice of Upsilon Leader, a pony called Grey Fox, said, sounding worried. "What's our orders?"

"Hang tight until RAF forces get here," Ferry One said calmly. "We have Harrier's inbound."

A chorus of affirmatives from various squadron leaders sounded.

"What's a Thunder Tank?" Fluttershy asked over the Grey Squadron local comm frequency.

"Equestrian weather stored in a tank for transport," Dark Wing replied, sounding grim. "Initially used for colonised land. Later used as a weapon. One was present at the battle of Manchester, round about the time old Grey Squadron was wiped out."

There was a moment's silence as the squadron processed this.

"Don't worry," Errant Flight said, sounding confident, though there was an odd note to his voice. "The only reason Grey fell last time was because there were Wonderbolts led by Rainbow Dash, and they were backed up by a super-Zeppelin. This time, if we have to take that thing on, we'll be -"

"Oh dear," came the soft voice of Ditzy, interrupting Errant. "Grey Leader, check ahead of us!"

Rainbow looked up, to see a sight she had dreaded: a squadron of Royal Guard were inbound, their golden armour gleaming even in this weather, their spears pointed directly at the incoming flyers.

"All squadrons!" the voice of Green Leader called out. "Hostiles ahead!"

"Ah, horsefeathers," Errant said, his voice sounding more irritated than concerned. "Ferry One, we have Royal Guard inbound, be advised."

"Acknowledged, Grey Leader," the calm voice of Ferry One spoke. "All Squadrons, keep them off us as long as you can while we deliver the ground troops."

"Roger Ferry One," came the voice of Eagle Leader.

"Roger that, Ferry One," Omega Leader said, her voice grim.

"Roger, Ferry One," Upsilon Leader added. He sounded nervous.

"Green Leader copies," Green Leader said, the squadron leader sounding tired.

"Roger Ferry One," Errant added, sounding surprisingly enthusiastic.

"Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, prioritise attack on enemy forces," Ferry One added. "All other Squadrons prioritise defence."

"Wilco, Ferry One," Errant said, and Rainbow could have sworn she heard a tone of eagerness in his voice. "Executing. Grey Squadron, sound off."

Grey Squadron began sounding off. Rainbow tensed, flipping her arm blades out.

"Grey Leader, this is Upsilon Leader," the slightly nervy voice of Grey Fox spoke. "Will follow your lead on this engagement. Upsilon at ready."

"Copy that, Upsilon Leader," Errant said. "Form up your Squadron behind mine."

Upsilon Squadron, their uniforms a plain white combat vest with a Greek symbol embroidered in, began flying alongside Grey, their flyers looking more nervous than the more prestigious squadron. Rainbow vaguely wondered what the story behind this squadron was, who they were and what they'd fought. Cloud Ranger had been one of them, a long time ago: what had happened?

Rainbow's thought were interrupted by Errant's voice, urgent and tense.

"All flyers," he said, "on my mark, engage hostiles."

A chorus of affirmatives sounded off through the comms. Rainbow heard Fluttershy and Ditzy's voices, both of them sounding worried at the prospect of battle.

The Royal Guard's forces got closer and closer: Rainbow could have sworn she could see the whites of their eyes...

"All flyers, engage!" Errant called out.

A moment later, there was carnage in the air.

***

The helicopter landed in the middle of a park. The minute it was down, Twilight and her friends jumped off, moving quickly to a nearby staging area.

"Over here!" a human male called from nearby: he was a burly man with a thick accent and a thicker moustache. "Quickly!"

Twilight and her group headed over to him. Hell Blazer stepped forward.

"Hell Blazer, with Spec Ops," he said quickly. "This pony," he said, indicating Clock Smith, "is the Doctor, and the squad of troops are Everfree Team. We're here with Commander Albion."

"Good to meet you," the thick accented man said, grinning with gallows humour. "I'm Sergeant Piotr Rozhenko, Defence a Force Third Battalion. There'd be someone higher up to meet you, but there's not been anyone higher up for a long time 'round here, ‘less you count Captain Hanson of the Long Watch - and he is a crazy bastard." He gave Twilight and her team a quick glance. "So these are the Good-Guy Elements, huh?"

"You heard about that down here?" Hell Blazer asked, sounding surprised.

"Sure I did," Rozhenko said, not sounding particularly happy. "Command called it in before you came. And besides which, we had some guys transfer in from London, they saw Albion's speech and the swearing in. Pretty impressive stuff, if you believe that nine ponies can drop out of the sky and win a war. Me, I'm the kind of guy who thinks that bullets and steel with guts behind it is more likely than a deus ex machina-pony."

"I hate to interrupt your little tirade there, bub, but what're we doin'?" Applejack asked, looking impatient with the man's long windedness.

"Your squad is to meet up with Sergeant Dietrich's unit three streets away," Rozhenko said, not in the least put out by Applejack's comment. "Mr Hell Blazer, we need yours and the Doctor's assistance on a different matter."

"Gotcha," Hell Blazer said quietly. He turned to Twilight. "You're in charge."

"Understood," Twilight said quietly, not altogether happy. "We'll head there now."

"Good. Get going," Rozhenko said. "We'll rendezvous at the point Dietrich's team is trying to take - that's assuming you newbies make it."

Without further instructions, he walked off, and Hell Blazer - after throwing Twilight an apologetic look - followed him, the Doctor right behind him, not sparing the others a glance. Twilight took a deep breath.

"Alright team," she said quietly. "Let's get going."

"On your six, Everfree One," Applejack said smartly. Twilight threw her a look, and Applejack winked. Despite herself, Twilight smiled. She was with her friends. Sure, they were in a horrible situation... but they were together. Even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were around, though Grey Squadron were obviously in the air.

Maybe this wouldn't be quite so bad after all.

***

Author's Notes:

EDIT: This chapter was edited 28th July 2015.

Especial thanks to The Void (Matt) for Upsilon Squadron (who are the stars of an Anthology piece he's written) and RoyalPsycho (Isaac) for continued good advice on the direction Plymouth should take.