My Little Tactics

Chapter Eight: Viva La Resistance.

It had been a day since he was rescued and in that time he got to meet all of those in the resistance, from the team of unicorns, including Logistics, that had rescued him, to the blacksmith who was busy forging something for him that was supposedly almost done. The reason for that meeting came when the smith called him in to take measurements and that was awkward for a pony to be touching him like that.

However the most interesting pony by far was one called Mystic Quandary. He was an earth pony through in through but he was a magister in training. His goal in life was to find none passive magicks useable by all races and species. A noble goal for sure, but one that left him ostracized more than a little bit by not only unicorns but earth ponies as well seeing as they saw his pursuit as a pipe dream. Which was why he was sticking so heavily next to Dustan now as when Dustan found out about his dream and told him that it was a good goal to have he found himself being hugged and cried on.

It seems the earth pony, whose cutie mark was a question mark with the dot being replaced by a six pointed star was not only sensitive but had been without words of encouragement for a very long time. He was also a very awkward color pattern. His hooves complete with unshorn fetlocks, nose, and the tips of his ears were solid black, the same color as the many dots covering his body. His mane and tail were brick red in coloration with a single lock being green. With himself now being followed by a pony who really needed the confidence and assurance that could only come from another Dustan was not as bothered by it as one would think.

“So yes it’s a combination of both the thaumic field and one’s own mana reserves that fuel magic. Problem is expressing it properly without a conductor like a horn.” Mystic was busy explaining how magic was generated in Equestria which Dustan himself had read in much greater detail that went over his head half the time from a book. “Since the horn is an extension of bone with many nerves in it, it connects deeply inside to the very core of unicorns. There were some theory’s that magic could be used by anypony if they had no skin, but some tests were made in the dark era right after Nightmare Moon’s banishment that both disproved that and made experimenting on ponies or other species strictly outlawed.”

“Jeeze.” Dustan was honestly sickened by the fact that it was a theory and that someone actually went through the process of testing on subjects. “Hopefully the ones who did that experiment were locked up, killed, or both.”

Giving a nod to his question Mystic answered. “They were. Sentence and tried about nine hundred and fifty years ago. They served twenty years in the most secure prison at the time before executed for crimes against ponykind among other numerous acts.”

“Good.” His voice said he agreed with this decision and he meant it.

Their little discussion though went no further then that as Logistics came forward and stated. “We are about to have the meeting on our final operation, the one that will set all of the prisoners free and turn the slavers on their heads once and for all. Many of those in command, myself included want you to be there. Mystic the invitation doesn’t extend to you.”

The earth pony had gotten his hopes up and had them dashed from just that. “I understand.”

“Good, we need those who will be useful in this venture to be in on the plan.” The way Logistics said that set the human’s teeth on edge.

“Well Mystic, I will extend the invitation to you then.” The leader of the Resistance’s jaw became set as Dustan knew that this was something he didn’t want. “Honestly so far as I know, you know the most about magic so your insight might prove to be more valuable than anyone else’s for the unicorns.”

For a moment Mystic looked more than happy but the sad look that returned on his face a second later said otherwise. “I don’t know, Logistics said he didn’t want me there and I don’t know how much help I will actually be and-”

“None sense.” The Squire turned Knight told him standing up. “Come on. So far you have helped me understand a few things about magic and I have read books as well though not as many as yourself it seems. If nothing else you can be there to help me understand any plans involving magic.”

Logistics must have seen that the human wasn’t backing down so he gave a smile that told volumes of how he felt. “Indeed, as Dustan said, you can be there to inform him on what some of the magicks we will be using and their nature.”

After the leader of the group left Dustan tisked while the magister in training just sighed. “He’s right; I have no business being there Dustan.”

“None sense.” The biped told the quadruped. “I meant what I said back there, I barely know jack all about magic and I have been trying. Having someone who knows this stuff will help a lot, so come as a favor to me and know that you deserve to be there cause of your heard work.”

The smile on the pony’s face showed how much those words meant to him before Mystic got a serious look on his face. “Sure, I won’t let you down. I will explain everything I can during or after as well as take notes in case you need to go back and review something. Just give me a minute to go grab something to write with.”

Watching the pony leave Dustan’s smile vanished as he thought something not so kind. ‘Please don’t let his excitement get him or anyone else killed coming up.’

“Alright troops.” The commander in purple armor spoke up to those there. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure who he was but it was obvious he gave off an air of someone who could lead that much the speedster was sure of. “We are gathered here today because reports have come in that ponies have been taken from various routes near the Everfree and abducted. For what purpose we do not know, nor do we even know if they are alive.” That part had Dash chocked up as she had not even considered that the one she drove off might have just been murdered. “However we are assuming they are alive and until otherwise stated this is a rescue mission. We will be deploying as soon as our scouts come back with confirmation on suspicious activity. Our scouts are using standard search techniques, a team of pegasi pulling chariots with unicorns whose spells are specifically designed to search for the resonance patterns of ponies.”

Seems somepony beat Dash to the punch as one of the guards, likely somepony new, raised their hoof and was called on. “What is a resonance pattern?”

That is when Twilight made her appearance, standing next to the lead stallion whom Rainbow made a note later to tease her on with how she had seen her chatting him up in private. “Every pony has an abundance of magic and among the pony race each one gives off its own resonance pattern, as such the teams are searching using their own protecting spells for anything that bounces back and gives off that signature.”

“Oh kind of like how bats use echolocation.” Surprisingly Fluttershy was the one who spoke up and said that only to eep and hide behind her mane when she attracted attention.

“Actually that is really very close to what is happening.” Celestia’s prized student stated. “The only difference is that the spells the unicorns are using won’t respond to anything but pony resonance so no false images or anything.”

Stepping forward once more the commander spoke up. “Twilight is right.” Rainbow snickered in her head as she caught the casual use of first name there. “Once they have a positive handle on ponies location or have swept the entire forest to confirm if there are survivors, we won’t move out. Till then, check your equipment, check to make sure you are fed courtesy of the local bakers in Ponyville the Cakes, and make sure you are ready and prepared to fight for your fellow pony.”

There was a massive cheer though Dash did feel somepony walk up to her. “You ok there sugarcube?” ‘Of course it had to be AJ’ Was what the pegasus thought to herself. “You haven’t been yourself lately and if you’re not up to it there is no problem backin’ down to let other ponies do what they do best.”

“I’m sure, after all I have a promise to keep.” Sticking out her chest to put on bravado the pegasus wasn’t expecting the question that her friend responded with.

“What promise?” For a moment the earth pony seemed like she wanted to stare into her soul.

Dash however quickly looked away towards the prepping troops. “To myself.”

“Are ya sure that a promise is worth putting your life on the line like this?” Logically she knew Applejack wasn’t questioning her loyalty but she felt herself puff up in slight anger anyways.

“Yes.” She spoke quickly and harshly. A part of her noted the hurt look in her friend’s eyes before she simply said. “Sorry, just a little wound up is all.”

“So is everypony Dash. Just take it easy out there ok?” As Applejack left the pegasus sighed and started to head over to where she seen there were sets of pegasus armor.

She knew that she was best left lightly armored at best thanks to her martial arts training so when the officer in charge asked what she needed, she stated her measurements and what she was looking for. What was given to her was a set of heavy cloth armor that was enchanted with a few durability and defensive enchantments but not overly heavy on the magical side that it wouldn’t interfere with her ability to fly or other natural pegasus abilities.

Next came weapons, to this she got some heavy duty horseshoes which luckily for her were not the ones that needed to be nailed in but the ones that could be slipped on and off. The other thing was some wing blades but she declined those as she stated she rather is mobile and the blades would weigh her wings down.

Soon after all that was settled she met up with her friends to check out what they themselves wore. Fluttershy was dressed rather daintily in loose flowing thin robes with almost a nature aesthetic to it while she wore nothing on her hooves at all except bracelets made of vines. Rarity was similarly dressed in loose fitting robes but of a sheer satin rather than regular cloth. On her back was two saddle bags that when asked the seamstress showed that they were packed full of sowing supplies and way too many needles for anything to be properly done to which the unicorn scoffed at such a notion.

Pinkie Pie was dressed, almost fittingly enough, as a jester of some type though when asked about it Pinkie said simply. “I am the pink party planner of Ponyville. I need to be able to move around, thus the loose fitting outfit which makes nearly no noise, I need my party supplies and other things, thus so many pockets, and I have my party cannons with me.”

As she stated that, while Twilight’s eye twitched no pony questioned her. Speaking of Twilight, she was dressed in the robes of a high ranking magister and when questioned about it blushed. The robes were all dark blue dotted with stars and constellations as well as her cutie mark emboldened on the outside.

“It wasn’t my idea. Princess Celestia sent it along with the troops stating that if I was sure I wanted to go into combat with them that I should dress up to my station.” Her hoof was rubbing around in the ground. “Plus I didn’t even know I was a registered magister till the Princess sent this along with a note explaining how she gave me the exam a year and a half ago saying it was a different test.” The same hoof that had once been rubbing the ground went to rub her chin. “Though it would explain why my stipend is so high every month.”

This just left Applejack, who was wearing a mix of leather and gold armor but on top of her helmet she still wore her trusty Stetson. The mix of armor was meant for movement as well as defense all in all quite practical. Spike had said he wanted to go but was strictly forbidden from doing so. There was also some surprising volunteers from Ponyville, the candy making mare Bonbon was part of the operation as was Lyra Heartstrings, Berry Punch, and a few others.

The patrols of scouts went on and on, with no sign of anything. So much so that her friends as well as the captain all suggested that ponies sleep till reports came back. As much as Dash didn’t want to, she had to remind herself that if she wasn’t in top shape not only might it cost her own life, but others as well. So reluctantly she fell asleep.

Dustan was woken up in the middle of the night or what he assumed was the middle as it didn’t feel like he got a full amount of sleep. The one waking him up was Logistics. Said point gave him a shush quickly as the human almost asked him what was up.

The reason for the shush was that there was not enough bedrooms for everyone so he shared with others. “Look I am going to be brief, we went out and talked to some ponies as planned and none really wanted to join. We got a few takers sure but nothing good.” The look on Dustan’s face said it all as Logistics just nodded with him. “Agree it’s not looking good. However there is an alternate plan. Some royal guard scouts were seen near here. They will be over our area around sunrise as such we need to start before then and cause something to alert them on the surface we are here. That is why we need you.”

“Your suggesting I become a distraction or do something to alert them aren’t you?” That only got him a nod making him roll his eyes. “So which one?”

“Both.” Again Dustan’s look must have said it all as Logistics started to explain. “What is going to happen is your party is going to cause a distraction, but at the same time if you get to the point where we plan to cause the alert then you will do that as well. We are not sure how things will go so we are going to be cutting up the large teams we originally planned into smaller groups. This will either force the goblins into smaller groups as well, or leave openings for others.”

“Some groups are going to die you know that right? Especially if the groups get collapsed on by more than they can handle.” Seeing the pony’s nod Dustan swore under his breath and started to get up. “Well so much for trying to sleep now, might as well get up and see where we need to go for the alert you have planned.”

“Good.” Was the only response that the leader of the resistance gave though once they were outside he continued to speak. “However before that go to the smith, he has your equipment ready.”

Sighing at this he did as he was told as this wasn’t his show to run and if the smith had some extra equipment he needed for the operation then he might as well grab it before being told what to do. When he got closer and closer the sound of ringing was no longer heard and the forge heat was dying down.

Inside the smith was a huge burly pony, likely the size of Trouble Shoes so it was easy to see how well he was up to the task of smithing. “Ahh there you are colt, come in come in.”

“You realize I am an adult where I come from for more than a handful of years now.” He said to the smith, though it was hard to read the smith as his entire body was blackened from the soot of the forge. So he looked solid black and cause of the soot his cutie mark was obscured as well.

Shrugging he chuckled. “Be that as it may, when you get to be my age all you young ones are colts and fillies to me. So indulge an old stallion for a bit, besides your armor is done.”

“Armor?” Seems his expression was incredibly easy to read today as once more surprise shown on his face.

Nodding to him the smith went to the back while grunting a bit. “Yep, you were a challenge alright, in the end. In the end we didn’t have enough steel to make you anything your size, the gold has already gone to the unicorns to enchant as it was the first resource to go, same with silver just being second. The iron and steel went to weapons and as such I was left with mostly scrap. But that is where the challenge came in. I decided to take up all the leftovers I had of one metal to see if I had enough to forge for you and bronze was the lucky winner.”

As the burly pony came out a large piece of armor came out with him, burnished to perfection. “I have never put on armor before, mind helping me out?” Honestly he was saying this not only cause it was true, but to hide the emotion from his voice as much as he could as he always dreamed of owning a real set of armor back on Earth.

“That I can do, but you may have to bend down for me there colt.” He did so gladly and overall the way the smith had put it together fit him nicely no chafing at all thanks to bits of cloth and leather in various spots. The straps also to tighten it were rather intuitive so much so that he got complemented on it. “It’s like you have been wearing armor your entire life colt, sure you’re not just pulling an old stallion’s leg when you said you never wore any?”

“Thanks but I say it’s the wisdom of the elderly there that helped me out.” As he picked up his axe, he stood in front of a crude mirror they had and hefted the axe in both hands. ‘Good thing I bought the skill Equip Axes while I could when I first cleaned up this thing. Otherwise I would be hard pressed to explain why it was I couldn’t wield this thing.’ For a moment that thought stood in his mind before he realized something. ‘Wait did I ever equip that skill, I thought I had something else there from another class.’

That thought went no were as the old smith chuckled. “Lookin’ good there colt. I don’t know what your species is supposed to look like in armor but you look natural that much I can tell. I even put a custom loop there on the end of your armor so you can stow away your special axe you got there.”

Looking to his side he did indeed find a loop so that he could slide the handle through leaving only the head of the axe left. This meant with a quick pull and adjustment of his hold he had easy access to his weapon now.

“Thanks old man, I will be sure to do your armor proud for sure.” That put a smile on both of their faces and soon shared laughter.

The smith patted him on his back. “Be sure to crack a few heads for me. I am a builder not a fighter sadly and in my old age my bones just can’t move as swift as you youngsters can.”

Dustan gave a thumbs up though it seemed the gesture went over the stallions head so instead he said. “Will do.”

Heading over to the meeting area he soon found Logistics. “Good you are here. I was about to explain this again to a few other team leaders, of which you are one.” He heard a couple ponies mumble something but out of his hearing, though it sounded either racist or along the lines of about time. He chose to believe the latter. “Ok so here we are, there are several exit tunnels here, here and along here. A few teams will exit each one and then split up. Our goal is to take all the spidery tunnels along this side of the cavern and make our way towards this area.” The stallion used his magic to highlight a room. “This area was boarded off as it killed ponies who entered.”

“Monsters?” One of the pony team leaders spoke up.

“Worse.” Logistics said. “Gas. Flammable gas at that. The reason for the boarding up was twofold. One so no goblins would go there to die and two they dug a hole up top to vent the gases hoping to eventually mine things out.”

“No way.” One of the team leaders spoke echoed by a couple of others. Dustan had an idea what was going on and he didn’t like it.

“Right, we are going there to light it up with the shaft to the surface opened up, it should create a nice vent for the flames to travel up and light a beacon to where the search teams should go.” Many ponies were excited by this plan but not Dustan.

He needed to say something. “But the team who lights it up is likely to be crispy from this. Not to mention that we don’t know if the scouts have any kind of decent back up to support us.”

Seems that Logistics didn’t like that once again as his jaw set for a moment before relaxing. “These are Royal Guard Scouts. That means this is an official operation they are conducting. Likely in response to missing ponies or even a threat up above. Either way once they spot this they will come in to rescue us.”

The next hour was Dustan then telling Logistics on how insane that plan was. Not only was the team to win the race to light the beacon going to likely be fried, but it might take the royal guards too long to find them leaving the entire resistance to be crushed. More and more as they argued the more and more Logistics was letting some…rather unpony like views come forth about non-unicorns and other races completely.

In the end Logistics simply said. “Well then if you are that worried about others you will be the vanguard of the assault and that is that. Dismissed. When the time comes, be ready.”

“Fine, I will be ready alright.” Dustan said leaving with a very angry scowl on his face.

Dustan went to wake up the members of his team, specifically four members as it seemed all teams were about five members give or take. The first member was an earth pony named Jump Stamp who was an actual pony fighter or at least that is what he claimed. Really all his boasted and posturing reminded Dustan of pro wrestlers back on earth. The second pony was a unicorn pony this time named Yodel Echo. He was a unicorn whose magic was tied to his singing and said to produce effects to enhance allies or debilitate enemies which reminded Dustan this time of final fantasy tactics bards and dancers. Third member came in the form a pegasus who refused to give his name to anyone.

“Me?” said the forth member of the team as he woke him up. “But why me?”

Dustan had argued that same point when he heard who his team was to be, but got no answer. “Logistics set it up to be this way Mystic.”

“But but…why me?” Mystic looked absolutely frightened and no matter what Dustan said no matter how much he tried, those words and light sniffles were all the pony responded with.

Soon it came down to the hour or prep where all ponies were outfitted with armor or weapons. Dustan had asked the smith to see if there was a shield or buckler, anything left over for him to use but seems like he got the luck of the draw in that nothing was available. All of the members of the teams came out before the other members of the resistance as Logistics took center stage.

The rust colored pony looked around before speaking up. “You all stand here today because somepony rescued you from the fate of being a slave up above us by the creatures we came to know as goblins. You wanted to help make sure no pony was treated like you and so you could free others from their tyranny so let me tell you, your chance has finally come.” There were many stamps of approval and cheers from many around. “Now we go into battle not only to save those still captured, but show the way to the royal guard who seem to be searching for us. Our bravery will win this day. The goblins don’t know what race they were dealing with when they decided to capture us. Long Live Pony’s, Long Live Celestia!”

The cheer was repeated three times before groups started to say their final goodbyes to those that were staying behind. Thus began the march towards the exit tunnels. The tunnel that Dustan’s squad was going towards, along with one other squad was near the main chambers of the goblins and the slaves.

“Now we just wait for the signal to start.” The signal was straight forward and easy to see. It came after fifteen minutes it was a light spell eventually ran down the tunnel and hit against the wall where the door was popping into sparks. “There it is!”

Setting his shoulder to the hidden wall he pushed it open and came out quickly. It was bad timing as well as a goblin had just turned the corner and had spotted them. Too late as the Harmonium Axe buried itself in the unprotected cap and forehead of the goblin who slumped to the ground a timer appearing over him to indicate his countdown.

“Move, move, move! My team with me, secondary team you go to the left. We are to go to the slave chambers to see if we can open up the slaves to help out.” Dustan called out quick. His team moved with him quickly heading to the slave chambers now only they were met with quite a few goblins including the slave driver himself. “Well you all know what to do, GO!”

Rainbow Dash had enough of sleep and couldn’t sleep no more. Though in the camp of guards she wasn’t alone, as some chose to spend time checking on equipment, some joked around and played cards, others socialized or ate. Dash wasn’t any of them.

Rainbow Dash felt the feathers and fur on her body stand up as if a storm was coming but no clouds in sight. She wasn’t the only one though as Pinkie Pie soon showed up shaking from head to toe. It only took Dash’s sleep addled mind a moment to realize something big was about to happen. Right away she started waking up her friends and those who knew about Pinkie’s sense.

Seems Twilights new colt toy took her seriously though Twilight herself seemed to doubt things. “Whatever is coming. I’ll be ready.”

Dustan kicked the goblin off his blade as his new shield deflected another blow. Say what you wanted about goblins and how much they sucked at making swords, but trust them to forge a slab of metal into a semi-decent shield to be looted. He wanted to look to see how his team was coming along but only caught a glimpse of Mystic running around trying to test a set of keys he had picked up from one of the dead slavers.

“RAWRG!” was the battle cry of the hobgoblin from before as he marched his way towards Dustan. Problem was there was a goblin in the way that he was trying to get to back off.

The slave driver didn’t see that as a problem as he reached over to the goblin and with a twist of his hand made the goblin’s head turn around to see who had killed him. “Well shit.”

Dustan barely had time to block the next attack as well as a mighty booted foot came at him colliding with the shield and throwing him back against a wall. “ME KILL YOU!”

“FUCK YOU TOO HULK!” He wasn’t sure if the hobgoblin understood any of those words but the tone he must have understood as he uncoiled both whips from his sides. “Fucking dual-wielder.”

The first crack of the whip Dustan manage to dodge to the left of the second though he felt reverberate through his armor making him remember one very important thing. He was wearing armor now.

This drove him to rush at the slave driver shield forward and axe at the ready. ‘Hulk’ wasn’t as dumb as he looked however using one of his whips to hit at the feet of the human with the other one grabbing onto the ankle of one as well and tugging hard. This sent the Knight tumbling to the ground on his back like a turtle.

The hobgoblin ran over and lifted his foot as if to crush him now. “ME SMASH!”

“You serious?!” He barely had time to comprehend the similarities at the moment as he raised his shield and brace both hands behind it only to feel like the stone underneath him cracked a little from the force of the stomp. Dustan knew that he would be paste if not for the annoying yodeling he heard going on in the background. He wasn’t sure if Echo was buffing his allies or debilitating his enemies, but either way he KNEW that it was working.

Between the next stomp the hobgoblin tried for Dustan quickly moved his axe hand from the brace and used the open end to hook Hulk’s ankle and pull causing the huge goblinoid to fall back. This opening gave him time to get up though it did the same for his enemy as well. With both of them back up the goblinoid quickly started to try to trip Dustan up again.

In the matter of fighting experience the human quickly realized he was lacking and needed something to make up for it. “Me eat you for breaking shiny cap!”

That was it; that was his opening. “Oh really, you are mad cause I broke your shiny cap? It must have not been too good if my fist shattered it like that. Maybe it was meant for a lowly redcap, oh wait I think I see that redcap now.”

Dustan’s axe pointed at the Hobgoblin which only took about five seconds before it must have put it together as the roar of anger quickly showed. The goblin subtype dropped his whips and ran at Dustan arms raised looking to swing them down hammer fist style on him.

For some reason the knight felt himself smile despite the situation. “Nut check!” With those words he brought his foot up towards the Hulk’s charging body right between his legs. A surprisingly high pitched squeak came from the slave driver as both hands went down to hold his aching privates as his legs failed and he was on his knees before the knight. “Cap check.”

The calm way he said it made Hulk look up only to have his eyes crossed when the axe crunched between them as blood ran over his vision. “Red…cap?”

“Yeah.” The body of the huge hobgoblin came crashing down causing the fighting goblins in the area to gasp before running off.

The coast was clear and Dustan could now take stock of what happened to his team. Yodel was fine, if a bit mussed up. Mystic was completely unharmed as he had ran for the most part doing other jobs. Jump Stamp wore his bleeding wounds with pride but didn’t look to be in good shape. The mystery pegasus however had faired the worse as he lay on the ground staring in the distance, his chest not moving showing he no longer drew breath.

Dustan felt his body want to break down for a moment, to give in and shed tears but seeing the three others look to him for leadership forced him to hold back. “Mystic!”

His call startled the earth pony who quickly ran over. “Yes?”

“Check Hulk’s body, see if he has the keys to the cells and manacles.” Nodding quickly it didn’t take long to find that the slave driver did indeed have a pair of keys. Luck was on their side as the instant Mystic tried it in the first lock it swung open.

As each cell opened Dustan was witness to the only two reactions that the ponies inside had, either abject fright at the fighting and stayed in their cells, or anger and fire in their eyes coming out and picking up various tools and weapons to fight back with.

“How are you alive?” The voice was familiar and when he went to look at the source, the only griffon in the facility was standing there looking awestruck as was two others, his cellmates.

He was happy to see them ok but couldn’t stand around for much longer. “Live to see this through and I will tell you. For now though either pick up some gear to fight back with or hide in a cell.” Looking around he looked at the majority of ponies hiding and spoke loudly. “This is likely your only chance. Royal guards are looking for us now but with us being underground and in a forest I am not sure they can spot whatever signs the goblins left for them up there. We either fight now to win our freedom back, or die as workhorses.” He chose the words deliberately as he knew they would impact more than slaves would. “I myself am not wearing a yoke for any reason and choose freedom. You are free to do the same or wait till things settle down and hope beyond hope, others fight and die for you to win your freedom. I myself rather take my destiny in my own hands. Will you take it in your own hooves?”

Dustan waited around for no one as he took stock of those picking up weapons already. “For those of you to fight, follow me, we need to signal the guard. So let’s go!”

His call got more cheers then he thought as looking around every single pony was now out of their cells picking up what they could. “Where to boss?”

He noticed it was his stallion cellmate who asked that. “Well first off we are heading to a sealed off section of the mines where there is gas and we are going to burn it.” Speaking of burning he went to collect the items from the mystery pegasus’ body finding not only the supplies but a piece of paper as well.

As he opened it up he swore silently to himself. “What is it?”

“Seems like my team was made for true decoys as the leader didn’t expect us to live and that we were meant to by his teams time as he sent all other teams out early. The pegasus here was one of his trusted and said at the first sign of things getting terrible to leave us. Welp too bad now, and sadly our best bet is still the gas room. So everyone let’s go!”

Except the chamber they were in suddenly rumbled fiercely as many screamed. Seems like another team had managed to get the job done while they were busy freeing the slaves.

“Here’s hoping they seen it.” The knight spoke softly as goblins started to flood out armed and looking for trouble. “And here’s hoping they get here soon!”

Seems Pinkie had been right as before the scouts had even come back there was a booming rumble that spread throughout Ponyville. Right away after that teams were scrambled as Scouts were sending up flares showing they had found something. As soon as that happened the troops started to gather around.

“Alright everypony. The scouts will set down some spells circles for us which the teams here will match. That will let a few unicorns on both sides create a teleport bridge allowing us to just walk in one circle and out the other, quick and easy access to the enemy.” The commander shouted out as she indeed did see many ponies working on drawing circles on the ground now. “When the bridge is active we will march two by two through them so pair up now with your designated Squads. V.I.P.’s go with your escorts now.”

The girls and herself all went together with Zecora, whom she had not seen till now but was wearing what looked to be faux-leather as well as various potion belts and a necklace made out of bones. The trip through the portal was quick and not as disorienting as she thought it would be. Instead taking them to a tree that had a hole among its roots.

As they came through a pony on the other side saluted the purple armor pony. “Commander, we believe the perps are underground fighting what sounds like ponies, we believe this is also one of many entrances.”

“Good work soldier.” The commander stated. “Vanguard formation let’s move down!”

As Rainbow proceeded down with her friends into the darkness lit only by magelight she hoped that Dustan was down here and alive.

“FUCK!” Cried out Dustan as he felt the edge of a blade finally get through his shield hitting his armor and biting into it a bit. Bronze armor was nice and all but this goblin was wielding steel. The blade rent deeply into the shield making it quickly useless.

Except as a Frisbee, which proved really effective once it dinged off the nose of the goblin that Dustan threw it at. The goblin merely let out a wheezing ‘oomph’ as the axe sank between his ribs dropping him dead.

Another goblin dead another timer exposed. Problem was he was feeling the ache of extended battle now. Easily solved it seems as he went to the corpse of the hobgoblin and took his floating crystal crushing it and restoring his vitality.

“Say what you want but Tactics logic rules.” He spoke that quietly to himself as he heard more fighting as well as a cry of pain.

Jump Stamp finally went down, fighting bravely as two goblins were now on him jabbing their daggers into his body with sickly sounding results. A battle cry was then heard only slightly before one goblin’s head rolled to the ground from Dustan’s axe. The other found themselves staring at three claws poking from their chest as the female griffon claimed another target.

“They just keep coming!” Mystic called out as he was tending to the wounds of Yodel who had taken a really bad hit before. “Also we are going to lose Yodel soon if we don’t move.”

“Boss we are losing the corridor behind us; we are not strong enough to hold.” The griffon called out quickly.

Too much was happening all at once; it all seemed to be going bad at once. They were holding up fine when they had someone buffing them. Echo was now down and looked to be on death’s door as cry’s for leadership and help came more and more.

They needed their support!

A calm filled Dustan as he turned towards the injured unicorn on their team. A power, calm and soothing rose from his core rushing to meet his will to fuse into something greater.

His voice rang out soothing but powerful as the words flowed without thought. “Life’s refreshing breeze, blow in energy. Cure!”

Blue light started to flow around Yodel as he barely clung to consciousness. The bleeding slowed to a stop though the wound was still bad but now manageable. Many there gasped at what they just seen: Magic from a non-unicorn.

“How did you do that?” Mystic’s speckled form looked towards him full of questions, questions that Dustan had no answer for.

“Answers later, Yodel can you sing?” It was a hope beyond hope but the unicorn nodded. “Then let your pipes sing our way to victory!”

As soon as he started the flood gates opened and in charged four goblins only to stop as they saw the huge group of ponies. The four looked at each other and right away turned and ran.

“Charge!” Dustan’s voice called out as he rushed forward trying to capitalize on the retreat of the enemy.

They came to a intersection of tunnels as goblins stood with their backs together as Dustan’s group filled one tunnel. The other tunnels were similarly filled with more ponies one of which was the resistance. The other two however were ponies in gold armor or black armor.

“The Royal Guard.” He heard one of the captive ponies say behind him.

Looking towards the goblins, he pointed his axe at them. “Surrender, you have lost this fight. Surrender and there is a chance you will live.”

“Like hell they will, do it Logistics!” One of the teams called out as Logistics came forward, his horn alight with power before a glow surrounded each and every goblin’s head and collapsed on itself in an implosion. The goblin’s bodies all stood there for a moment before the nerves in them realized their heads had been rapidly compressed and in no way to command them anymore. When they crumpled to the ground many ponies on all sides cheers though he was not among them.

“They were going to surrender!” Dustan called out starting to march forward only to be held back by the griffon and his two former cellmates. “There was no need to kill them.”

“No need?” Logistics said moving to the bodies giving them a kick. “Maybe, maybe not. We can’t trust these things would surrender. Plus reparations needed to be made for what they did to ponykind. With this their debt has somewhat been paid.”

“You murdered them!” More and more he felt himself being held back by not only one set of hooves or claws, but more.

The rust colored unicorn gave a tisk. “It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day I am a hero who lit the beacon and killed goblins before leading his kind out of slavery. That is what history will say. Meanwhile these goblins will be written as barbaric monsters like they should be. You are lucky you were at least useful or you might have ended up as a body among them when the Resistance finally made its move.”

A rage burned inside him like none other, not only had this selfish prick of a pony staged things to make sure he was in least danger, but he orchestrated it so that he came out smelling of roses when he committed murder and advocated possible genocide. Just like before he felt power rise up to meet his will, only now instead of a calm tone he felt it become erratic needing direction and control.

“Destruction of nature, gather in flame! Fire!” Dustan thrust his hand forward shooting a ball of fire at the pony catching him off guard hitting him right in the flank making him yelp as the mark on his side vanished in the flaming destruction of the black magic spell.

He heard ponies gasp once more like they had not too long ago and again Mystic was looking at him in amazement. However just as quickly Logistics lashed out with a lose bolt of force hitting him a glancing blow across his head. It was enough though as blood quickly flowed over his eyes and he felt the world tumble and turn and he knew that darkness would soon follow.

His last aware thoughts were a simple question. “Did I just cast both white and black magic today if so how did I switch my subclass skill?”

The question went without an answer for now as he faded from the world into the unconscious.

Author's Notes:

"Its that time again, woot another chapter down."
*Looks suddenly nervous at the word down.*
"I mean up, up as in uploaded yes that is what I meant yes"
*A mysterious figure backs into the shadows out of sight whispering*
"I will let you have this one."
"I need an adult."
"I am an adult"