A Temple of Steel and Stories (Siege of Horsehitcher Pass, Thread #1)

[Tisis Antony]

The Citadel of Horsehitcher Pass stood over two raging rivers converging in the fertile pass. High up on the precipice of this range, the stony walls rose up, resolute against the gusty winds. The Citadel was an ancient edifice built up from stones hewn from the very mountainside, and the ancient peoples had made it to stand the trials of time.

The Citadel encompassed the entirety of its town, an entire small civilization of bustling markets, marching garrisons, and warm families. This city, due to its distance from the warfront had survived the first years of the war untarnished in its splendor. In the recent years, its tactical importance to the Equestrian Guard was realized as a massive airship dock was built upon the Citadels upper regions.

The panoply of great things in this city had been divided up due to its planning. The Citadel had been built in an old age, but the divisions still proved to be valuable despite some distinctions having become meaningless. The city was divided into its six principle sections: nearest the gates, and furthest from the cliff walls the city had its marketplace; then moving in, the city divided into residential streets; as the residences petered out, the docks rose up, massive frameworks of steel and iron, with long gangways and massive stone ballasts to tie the airships to; here, the path jackknifed to the left, leading up to the fortified castle; but at the corner of this sudden turn, the barracks hugged the Grand bastion of the city, looking over the ridge and into the Lower Grandplains across.

The city was newly modernized to facilitate its new-found defensive purpose and abilities. Massive brass pipes pumped steam to all corners of the city, providing hot water to the entire residence. A generator provided electric lighting to the people of the Citadel, and was along with the steam to power the works of the Airship Dock. Hundreds of pipes moved the vitriolic gases into the docking stations, refueling the needed pressures of the docked ships.

The city had a new life with all the modernizations. It had been called the "Clockwork City", and the name had stuck. It didn't help that the siege machinery of the city was largely gear-based, giving the impression that the entire city had some form of machine sprite dancing in its womb.

(((Background Information-
For now, unless you desire to be elsewhere, I am assuming that all PC's are hosted here, in the Citadel of Horse Hitcher Pass. Your PC can be among the garrisoned troops, with the dock workers, amongst the navy, in the castle, or among the residents. I am trusting that I have provided an adequate description of the city for you to improvise details as necessary, so don't be shy about it.

This thread takes place several years into the war, but before Equestria's total conquest. As such, there are many soldiers of the Equestrian persuasion, and there is a good chance that this isolated docking station could go overlooked in the larger conquest. Morale is generally high here despite the war, though reports of Griffin Airships moving into the region have caused some panic amongst the populace.

The Griffin forces who will come to besiege the region have not yet appeared on the scene.)))

[Sassaflash]

Steam Power slowly paced the wood floor of the very large airship port she had been stationed in. Flipping her long green and pink mane out of her face, she quickly tied a red ribbon around her forehead to keep hair and sweat out of her eyes while she prepared to get to work. There was a war going on, and she knew that many lives rested on the work she did from day to day and couldn't risk some little slip-up caused by a small annoyance ending in deaths. She nodded her head before stepping forward closer to the ships to give them their daily inspections, she couldn't afford to miss a single scratch or ding.

The ships were great beasts of metal and wood, but the mare didn't even so much as flinch as she approached the first mechanical monster. Flaring her wings, the pegasus took to the air, quickly zipping around the war machine and searching every inch of it for anything that seemed off. Her tools stayed secure in the work vest around the mare's chest, to the relief of their owner. That means she hadn't missed anything during her inspection the day before. She knew inspecting a ship that hadn't flown since the last checkup was a little silly, but her conscience wouldn't allow her to let it go unchecked.

The pale blue mare slowly worked her way up the ship in a spiral pattern, circling the entire monster of a machine. Eventually getting to the top of the marvel, she landed on the very top to rest her wings and write down that the ship had been inspected and marked it as in perfect order on her note pad. Putting the quill and note pad away, she took off for the next ship. This was her daily routine, but she never tired of it. It was what she loved.

Spoiler:

[Tracker Jack]

Theros sat on a stool with his bow, cleaning it and making sure all was in order. Many of the troops gave him the nickname tracker jack becuase of his nack for being able to track things down exceptionaly... that and they didn't like calling him theros all the time.

He sat there as he looked over his equiment and re-stringed his bow before putting it away and got up to walk over to a window to look to the city as he drifted off into thinking. He had been fighting the griphons for a while now.. and he couldn't help but feel like this won't end any time soon..

[Dawn Star]

Dawn star was doing a little bit of target practice with her crossbow outside on a pleasant morning .
She would aim and fire a bolt at a stick-framed, hay bodyed,pumpkin headed dummy that was made to have the appearenss of a crippled and battle damaged griffion "Yes Another Headshot" she said congratulating her success and daring herself to do better.She was a pretty good shot at close range.. however she wasn't the best every 3 or 4 bolts that were fired she would nick the dummy's side or her worst fear in battle completely over shooting it when this happened she would curse and then try again.But there was a time in the morning when she just stopes and looked to the heavens and the clouds above.

She was fascinated with the clouds and morning sunshine.. how beautiful they both are.. she forgot this feeling after she joined the armed forces to fight for Equestria and save it from the griffon assaults on her home she would never think of stoping and looking unto the clouds..because that would most likely get her killed but it was surely relaxing to her.She started to reflect her journey called life so far from birth to now she remembered that the good days aswell as the bad and she tryed to imagine her life after the war.She then was reminded of all the platoons,squads and battalions that were lost over this time of blood shed..96th,32nd,433rd,139th and 641st were all lost in within the week in the beginning ...at least 767th was still an active platoon that she commanded and was ready to answer the call if needed "The griffon caught off guard last time But this time we will be ready if they attack ...we will be..we will be" she said smiling at the clouds then she looked back down at the dummy she loaded her crossbow once more and shot it at her target again and again and again.

[Grayscale]

Major Green Beret stands in his officer's accommodation and stares anxiously at a map of the surroundings which is rolled out on the table. In the background you can hear an old gramophone which plays classical music from Stalliongrad. He scratches his head and looks to the window. He has a good view over the town from his room. He looks at the docks. Three warships are moored there. The HMS Aura, the HMS Zephyrus and her sister ship the HMS Boreas.

*Knock Knock*

The knocking tears him from the thoughts. „Come in!“ A pony in uniform stands in the door and salutes.
„Sir, Sgt.Grayscale expects you in the conference room.“
„Tell him I am there immediately.“
„Yes, sir!“ The pony salutes once again and leaves.
Beret rolls up the map and puts it into his saddlebags. Then he goes to the conference room.
Sgt.Grayscale already awaits him in the room.
„Good afternoon, sir!“, he said when he stands to attention.
„ At ease. How was the journey?“ Beret tries to loosen the atmosphere a little bit. Sgt.Grayscale was famous in certain groups, because of his successful counterattacks and such a pony he can really use right now.
Sgt. Grayscale stands relaxed.
„The journey was very pleasant, sir“
„OK, this is our current situation.“ Beret rolls out the map on the table. „According to our scouts the griffons will probably attack us during the next days. We suppose that they attack from the east.“
Sgt. Grayscale nods in silence and stares at the map.
„Our means are very much limited. The army was increased only slightly and we have only three warships at the docks. Though the local ponies are very loyal and would also reach to the weapons if I would order it , but they do not have the experience like a professional army.“
Sgt. Grayscale pulls no look and looks further intently at the map.
„You and your squad will be my right-hand men. I need eyes and ears at the front which can properly estimate the situation. I have also assigned a bodyguard to you.“
Sgt. Grayscale makes a grimace for the first time as he turns to Beret.
„Sir?“
„You have already understood me sergeant. He is a very gifted pony and will provide good services to you. You'll find him in the training area. Dismiss.“
Sgt. Grayscale salutes, still a little bit confused and leaves the room.


(((Grayscale talks now)))
„A bodyguard?! Pfff … does he think I’m still a foal, who needs a baby sitter? I only hope that he has experience. I have no desire to train a young wild boar.“
With a vigorous step Jack goes to the training area.

[Lance]

within the citadel lies a room dedicated for the training and sparring of Equestrian soldiers. here, the combined grunts and growls of numerous stallions and mares can be heard, a discorded symphony of of gruffness.
Among these Stallions, a mustard yellow unicorn with a still glowing horn trains both his body, as well as his mind.

"Halberd! five'o'clock!"
immediately, the the unicorn's horn flashes a purple hue, as a Halberd of a pole-arm appears a little to the right from directly behind him.
"Tower shield! both flanks!"
on command, the halberd dissolves into nothing, and on both sides of this unicorn, two shields, each about twice the height of an average kite shield, appear in another flash of purple magic.
"Fancy hat! six'o-"
before the the guard could finish his sentence, a glowing purple top hat had already smacked him over the head.
"Private Armored Laff! though I do appreciate your amusements, this is the THIRD TIME you've proven to me that you are not taking this one task I'm handing you seriously."
"I-I'm sorry, Luminous Sir..."
Luminous barely changed his expression. he walked past the green pegasus, donned in the soldier's attire, "Take five, Private. We'll continue when you remember why I'm so adamant as to training today."

Luminous trots across the training area, disregarding the glances from other guards, as he made his way towards a table among benches and other seating devices. he settles down, eyes closed and in deep thought, whether in anger or dissapointment, his expressionless face makes him intimidating. a few moments later, he smirks to himself. Neither his horn nor the purple fancy phantom hat atop his head have ceased to glow.

[Rationale]

Twenty torn out pages were aligned on a table as brown eyes stared over the contents. Rationale's horn glowed a light tan and the papers were pulled up into the air. "If they were to attack from this side, we have to be prepared for an attack from the air as well." he said to himself. An exhale came from the pony, as he moved over to his jug of water to take a small drink. He was starting to freak out, he had to relax. Inability to relax caused bad decisions during war, and ended up costing lives.

Rationale levitated the stack of papers into a group before rolling them up into a significantly large scroll, so that he would be capable of transporting it. He wasn't the order writer for this war, but careful analyzation of their livign conditions provided him with some areas that could use more or less protection. Rationale wasn't that versed in magical spells at this time. All that he is capable of doing is levitation, which isn't that useful when a griffin is en route to tear our your throat. Letting out a sigh, he walked outside, the scrolls remaining close to him as he observed and recorded.

[Grayscale]

Still angry Jack arrives at the training area. It has seperated areas where soldiers can train different combat situations.
He notices a stallion who is training his magic skills and he also notices that the stallions isn't very good.
"Oh Celestia, don't let that stallion be my bodyguard." He says to himself.
Jack walks to the stallion.
"Attention Soldier! I'm searching for..." In this moment he notices that the Major didn't say the name of the bodyguard. "Eh, I don't know the name, but he is a very gifted pony and should be my bodyguard."

[Lance]

Luminous notices the grey pony step into the training area. He signals a nearby soldier to come closer,
"Tell Armored Charge that my training for the day has concluded."
the Mustard yellow unicorn begins trotting towards Grayscale, his gruff voice failing to explain his top hat. with a loud and proud lung, he calls from a good five meters away from the gray pony, "Sergeant Grayscale I presume?" He knew that his assignment was ranked at Sergeant, and named Grayscale, but his superiors left out the rest of the details. Luminous would not, however, allow himself to appear clueless.

[Grayscale]

Jack turns to the unicorn and salutes.
"You presume correctly, Sir. I'm Sgt. Jack Grayscale and you are my new bodyguard,huh?" Jack really tries not to sound snooty, but he is still angry that he gets a baby sitter, even if he isn't clottish like the soldier he met.
"And what's your name?"

[Lance]

Luminous returns the salute
"Lieutenant Luminous. I've been assigned to keep you from dying a horrible painful death."
He floats his hat off his own head, and drops it over Grey's.

[Grayscale]

As Luminous says he is a lieutenant Jack stands at attention. It's a really odd situation: A stallion who has a higher rank than him becomes his bodyguard? And how the buck did he became a lieutenant with such a childish attitude. He must be a trained killermachine or something like that or why should the major assigned him to be Jacks bodyguard. These thoughts go through his mind before Jack asks: "Do you have battle experience besides the training, Sir?"
If Luminous will become his bodyguard Jack has to know, if he can at least defend himself.

[Lance]

"Battle Experience besides my training? It's my Battle experience that got me called back into this army when the Griffins struck." Luminous had earned his rank in the army long before retiring. But with tensions rising, he wasn't the only veteran to have been called back for their combat expertise.
the purple glow from Luminous' horn fades, as well as the ethereal hat that he had conjured. With a bemused smile, he adds "At ease, soldier." near forgetting that equestrian forces ranking bellow him would continue their statuesque salute until told otherwise.

[Grayscale]

"Sir, I do not want to seem offensive, but as the squad leader I have to know your strengths and weaknesses. I would suggest a little test fight. Of course it won't be like a real fight for life or death. What do you say, Sir?"
In fact Jack is a bit worried. He wasn't in a real fight since he left the army several years ago and he might be out of shape.

[Lance]

"Grayscale, you are absolutely correct. Perhaps it is best that you test my strength, so that I may test yours as well; I may be your bodyguard, and I will protect you at all costs, but I must know just how much you'll be needing me."
Luminous' horn faded into a purple glow once more, as well as the rest of him, as his entire body became covered in a violet, transparent suit of light armor. His head remained bare, and his grin was full of confidence and enthusiasm.
"Sgt. Jack Grayscale, please, choose a weapon. any weapon, whether you see it in this room or otherwise."

[Grayscale]

"Well," Jack grabs under his wing and pulls out a combat knife. "I think I take my knife." It is the only weapon he can handle properly and he is specialized close quarter combat.
"To test your creativity in combat we have no rules. You can use every dirty trick you know to defeat me. There is no fair fight on the real battlefield."
Jack trots to the training zone and stretches his muscles.

[Tisis Antony]

The faint sound of bell-tolling filled the city, reaching up into its citadels and throughout the streets and building. At first the bell was quite faint, and not at all attention grabbing. But then another began tolling, this one louder than the first. And then a third. And a fourth. The bells sounded togethor, a riot of noise luring people to their source.

The sounds came from the airship docks, and a crowd formed as ponies left their homes and businesses to see what was the issue. But the issue was visible to anypony willing to take notice. A massive plume of black acrid smoke billowed out from the docks, blanketing the skies in darkness. The air became harsh, and difficult to breath, as burning chemicals filled the air with toxin.

The fire raged on the docks, completely overwhelming one of the ships. Many had already been untethered and moved away from the scene, but two of the larger ships hadn't been successfully moved, and were threatened by the rapidly expanding blaze.

[Sassaflash]

Steam Power's ears twitched as the loud tolling of the bells quickly reached them. The warning bells... something was wrong. Peeking through the window of one of the ships she was inspecting, she couldn't see anything due to it faced the opposite direction. The pegasus quickly slipped her hammer back into her work vest before trotting out to the deck of the ship quickly. The sight that welcomed the mare was not what she was expecting in the slightest. A roaring fire, consuming all in its path.

"Water! Sand! Anything! All available crews, we need to put this thing out!" She called while quickly taking to the skies. She kept her distance from the flames as she tried to search for the emergency supplies to help put them out. This would be a horror show if she couldn't act quickly.

[Lance]

Before Luminous could conjure a weapon of his own, he was almost startled by the ringing sound of the bells.
"What in Celestia's name... Grayscale, I'm afraid we'll have to postpone this spar of ours for later, the city's in danger!" Luminous broke into two steps of a gallop before remembering his assignment as a bodyguard, and stopped where he stood. His head turned towards the gray pony, with a quick *ahem*
"After you, Sergeant."

[Grayscale]

Jack hears the bell and recognizes it. It means something dangerous happend or will happen. He mostly heard it before the griffons attacked one of the cities he was stationed at. But it can't be. None of the outposts reported any griffon activities. It must be something different.

*ahem*
"After you, Sergeant."
Jack couldn't suppress a smirk. He'll need time to get used to it that a lieutenant has to listen to his commands.
He runs out of the room and sees the black smoke coming from the docks. He can also see a group of pegasi and unicorns near the well. The unicorns fill water into buckets and the pegasi take it ,fly to the docks and try to extinguish the fire.
"Lets hurry Lt. Luminous. They need every hoof they can get!"
Jack runs to the well to help the pegasi.

[Sassaflash]

"Oh jeeze... oh jeeze... oh jeeze..." Was all Steam Power was able to say as she returned from the fire with an empty bucket of water from a run near the fire. Not noticing the newcomers coming in to help in her panic. I'm not letting something mindless like a fire ruin my work! She through to herself as she took a new bucket of water and quickly took off again to pour it onto the flames.

[Lance]

Luminous dissolves his armor, and instead conjures two buckets. He gallops after grayscale towards the well, and fills each with water, *Lets hurry Lt. Luminous. They need every hoof they can get!* ...I have my orders.
Luminous galloped ahead towards the burning ship, only barely avoiding a crash with a pale blue pegasus "Excuse me, ma'am!" he rushed onward and poured the contents of his buckets onto the edges of the fire, making the most of what water he had, rather than wasting away his resources. He may have made slowed the fire's spreading, but it was not enough to make the difference he needed. Luminous noticed that two large ships had yet to be moved from the scene, before they too catch ablaze.

"This isn't getting us anywhere fast! are those ships going to be moved any time soon, or am I going to have to handle them myself!?"

[Harmor]

Adagio had heard the commotion about the dock fire and quickly rushed to assist. He levitated 3 wooden buckets into the water and splashed them onto the raging flames, staying away from the blistering heat. He noticed a pegasus nearby rushing to pour water onto the flames as well, "Ma'am! I can fill buckets for you if you can fly and pour them! It would be faster than us doing this alone!" Adagio quickly dunked his buckets into the dock water, then held them up for the winged mare to take.

[Sassaflash]

Steam looked down at the pony that caught her attention as she came back from dumping out her buckets, not having noticed the pony she nearly plowed into earlier. Quickly touching down to the ground to drop off her buckets, she took two of the full buckets in her hooves before lifting off again.

"Great idea my friend! I'll have to get your name once this is handled!" She called back to Adagio while she quickly flew off to dump out the water she had just received, doing her best to cover as much area as she could with each pour.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn arrived after she heard the second bell toll.She was in full uniform from head to hoof ..full standard guard combat officer armor so was her troops that she commanded she and others flew over from the training grounds to see what was going on she knew that it was trouble sence there was a second bell.When she saw the flames she increased in speed nearly leaving her troops in the dust and landing near the disaster three of her Pegasi troops landed with her.Dawn rushed over to the ponys that were battling the flames "What happened !" she yelled to be louder than the roar of the fire.

[Tisis Antony]

(((Note that I am the narrator- I'm trying to avoid introducing any NPC's that'd clunk this shit up, so try to acknowledge your fellow PC's characters. Otherwise we're gonna end up just yellin' at nobody in particular without ever getting any answers XD)))

The fire raged in the winds like a flag. The smoke drifted into the city, and ponies began covering their faces in soaked rags for protection. An impromptu fire brigade had begun to bring water up from several sources, and an actual water line had been tapped. Fire-ponies connected their hoses and began dousing the area in water, causing steam to rise from the fires.

The other ships had been untethered, yet remained unguided. They began to drift perilously close to the canyon walls below and around the docks. A dock worker screamed as one nudged the wall, tearing its outer canvas shell. Two ponies dangled from it, trying to hang on- apparantly these two had unfastened the ship, and had been dragged out over the canyon by a gust of wind.

Soldiers began clearing the streets of civilians as more volunteer fire ponies took charge- but noone seemed to notice the unfortunate duo dangling over the ravine...

[Lance]

Luminous noticed the blue and gold pegasus above,
'what happened !'

He yelled in reply, "one ship caught fire somehow! and..."
mid-sentance, the Yellow stallion noticed a ship grind against a canyon wall, two ponies hanging off its' side. "...and then there's that!" Luminous broke into another gallop, and raced towards the ship, making use of what little ground was available near the canyon walls. I might not make it in time... hold on,
"you're a pegasus, help them!" he called back to the mare, knowing that she would probably be faster... but he'd still have to figure out how to stop the ships.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn saw the to pony hanging off the side of the burning boat for their life " I Got Them !" she said taking any heavy equipment off her body "You Just Worry About Keeping That Fire Down!"Dawn lifted her hoof toward her helment and pulled the face metal face guard down over her own.She arose into the air and with one quick trust of both wings she thursted herself forward with incredible speed flying around the ship to try an find an opening in the flames passing around and around but no luck then she saw a little air vent in the flames "I Need Water On Those Flames! " she called out "There To Big For Me To Get Pass!"

[Grayscale]

Jack notices the mare, who tries to rescue the ponies. He also notices the wall of fire blocking her way.
"I Need Water On Those Flames! "

"Alone I won't be able to help her." Jack mumbles to himself and then yells
in his commanding voice to a group of five pegasi :" You five come with me! We need to extinguish those flames!"
He and the group fly to the well to fill up their buckets.
"Now follow me! Line formation and on my mark we drop the water! Lets go!"
They arose to the air. Grayscale looks back to check how the group is doing and sees that they're exhausted, but still try to stay in formation.
He smirks."For semi-trained ponies they have a pretty good discipline."

They reach the wall of fire. "Get ready!" he yells in his commanding voice "Drop now!" A loud hiss could be heard as they drop the water onto the flames.

[Rationale]

Rationale heard the bang of the fire emitting upon the docks and his eyes widened as the smoke started to move up into the sky. "Shit, shit shit!" He yelled out and his legs took him immediately to the docks where the wall of fire hit. He managed to bring three buckets of water with him, a migraine slowly forming in his head as he used the most of his magical power to immediately provide this relief. He let out a yell of pain as he emptied the buckets onto the wall of fire. He fell to his haunches after letting go the buckets.

[Tisis Antony]

The last ship was finally untethered, and the remainder were guided a safe distance from any hazards. The burning ship collapsed and fell into the canyon below, dropping into the river and releasing a plume of steam as it did. The rescued ponies graciously thanked their rescuers, and rushed off to find something hard to drink.

Minor blazes still threatened the docks integrity though, and many ponies busied themselves with putting them out. A fire brigade had formed, with ponies drawing water from the city and using the hoses and pumps to fire fierce torrents of the fluid at the blaze.

Several onlookers began to question what had caused the fire in the first place. A murmer rose up in the crowd, as several dock workers began to shout accusations at one another.

[Sassaflash]

Steam panted heavily for breath while she continued hauling the heavy buckets of water to the fires to pour them out onto the flames. Touching down on the ground by the well, she took a moment to rest and struggle to catch her breath. She's an engineer, not a fitness star, and it heavily showed on her lack of stamina. "A...at least...w-we're making...progress..." She struggled to say while huffing and puffing.

[Rationale]

Rationale was panting as well, a fresh migraine pumping in his head due to the stress that he put on his body. His brown eyes looked over to the mare next to him and he smiled. He nodded his head a few times before he looked to the pegasus general. "What the hell did this?" He thought while he surveyed the environment. "It was the griffins, but how..."

[Tisis Antony]

Suddenly, a cloaked figure darted from the crowd, and towards the steeple. He wore a tattered robe of hempen fabric, and ran along on all fours like a pony. He began throwing small satchels along his path, along the grooves of the road that indicated gas lines. Each satchel hit the ground with a heavy thud, as if it were holding something thick.

Most of the ponies in the crowd were too distracted to notice the fleeing figure, but a few did, and brought note to it. "Hey- where's he running off to?"

A few soldiers noticed him fleeing, but lacked the speed to catch up to him, as he continued up the path towards the Citadel. He veered suddenly, and began towards the cities old chapel, dropping one last satchel as he went. He doubled his speed as he dropped his last package.

[Tisis Antony]

(((Additional info provided in request by Gray)))

The satchels were thick, heavy affairs, bound in clasped leather and tied shut by leather straps. Inside, if a person were to open one, you would find several vials of alchemical fluids bound together, and wired to a timing device. The timer, when the time ran out, would activate a small but powerful black powder charge. This charge would smash the vials and mix their contents together in the air, causing a massive explosion in about 2-3 seconds.

The vials would cause the explosion only if their alchemical contents were mixed, and this could be triggered by a clumsy person mishandling them as well as the black-powder contraption.

The inside of the satchels was lined with a thick cardboard, giving the satchel rigidity, and filled with heavy cloth to pad out the mechanisms and vials from the shock of being carried and dropped.

[Grayscale]

Jack just returned the buckets as he notices the cloaked figure running through the crowd. He flies up into the air to have a better overview and to watch the cloaked figure. "Hmmm...what is he doing?"
Suddendly his iris contracts as he notices what the figure dropped onto the ground. "Ooh no, that can't be." Satchel charges all over the road, which has the gas pipeline beneath it. He knows how devastating a single satchel charge can be, if it's placed on the right spot. "And they're just too many to defuse them." He has to act quickly. Evacuate the civilians and try to close the main valve at the docks, so they won't explode.
"Get the civilians away from that road, ASAP!" he yells as loud as he can.
Then he flies to the docks to find someone, who could help him.
"I need someone of the dock staff to help me, every second counts!" he yells, hoping someone would react fast enough.

[Rationale]

Rationale looked towards the road as another four legged animal started to drop small backpacks along a certain line of the street. That couldn't be good. The creature would be running up to them if they had supplies or anything of the sort, which only meant that it was dropping something it didn't want. Something that it wanted to get rid of. Rationale took a step over to the satchels and levitated one over to him. He undid the straps with his magic, wincing while he did it, and opened the bag to see what was inside. His eyes widened as he saw all of the chemicals inside, waiting to be triggered and exploded. He softly closed the bag and placed it back on the grass, away from one of the major gas lines. He was about to move the rest of them when he heard Jack. "Right here sir!" He yelled out as he ran over to him. After being acknowledged, he would start to funnel everyone away from the main street.

[Sassaflash]

Upon hearing the sudden panicked sounds coming from around her, Steam looked up and towards the cloaked figure. Her pupils contracted in fear as her eyes locked on what was being placed down. "No, no, no!" She suddenly cried to herself. Wings too tired to carry her effectively after the firefighting, she was forced to gallop as fast as she could towards the stairs leading to the maintenance rooms. She stopped in her tracks as she barely missed crashing into an evacuee.

"Keep going! I'll close the lines to ensure the safety of the city!" She called towards her fellow workers to insure her location was known. With that, she ran down into the valve room, doing her best to close any of the lines attached to the one in danger.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn saw a cloacked figure leave the crowed in a hurry but she wasn't the only one that saw this mysterious creature leave a couple of pony that were helping with the fire earlyer went after the cloacked one dawn was lead by example and galloped after them as well.Dawn galloped in the back chasing the ponys that left before her who were chasing the creature that mite of caused the fire they were right on his tail when the cloaked figure droped a tattered bag on the ground in which the ponys in front of her stoped to investigate but not dawn she continued the chase.Dawn yelled in a commanding voice "STOP!" but it did not slow down if anything the creature was moving faster with this dawn also galloped faster."STOP!" she yelled once more as she gained speed.When she relized that the figure wasn't planing on stoping...she knew would have to make this stranger stop herself dawn was right at the the figures side when finally she jumped onto the stranger causing loss of balance and sending both of them to roll over and smack them selves into ground causing minor injurys and knocking the wind out of both of dawn and the one that she was chasing

[Grayscale]

Jack notices that somepony is running to the maintenance room."Ok, one problem less" he thinks and looks back to the street where soldiers are still trying to get the civilians away from the street."This just needs to much time. I need to rethink the plan. It would take too much time to defuse every single satchel charge and we can't get the civilians away from the charges in time."
Jack scratches his head. "There is only one thing left I can do. I hope I have enough time left." he thinks and flies down to the street to one of the satchel charges. He carefully opens the charge and watches at the clock,which is attached to the black powder charge."Only 30 seconds left. If I fly at maximum speed I could reach the border of the city in 20 seconds. I hope the rest have the same time remaining, otherwise I would be in real trouble."
Jack closes the satchel charge, takes it and flies to the others. He picks up every charge and flies to the border of the city. The charges are quiet heavy and slow him down a bit.
He just passed the wall of the city as he hears something from inside the satchel charges. *Klick* He instinctive drops the satchels several meters behind the wall and tries to fly back as fast as he can. First he hears several little explosions and two seconds after that one huge explosion pushes him back into the city. Jack crashes onto the street. As he stands up he can feel pain coming from his wing and looks at it. The crash has broken his wing.

[Tisis Antony]

A thundering roar tore through the city. The Satchels detonated nearly simultaneously, creating an immense fireball at the edge of the wall. The whole city shuddered, and debris shook loose from the walls and buildings, covering the entire population in dust and chalk. For the few seconds that the fire-ball burned, its light outshone the sun, and dazed any who looked upon it.

Then the explosion subsided, the wall was still intact save for a large crack running down its height. No ponies were seriously injured except for Grayscale, though many were disoreanted and dazed. The fireball had temporarily sucked all of the oxygen from the air, suffocating the fires on the docks instantly.

__________

The cloaked figure kicked in vain at Dawn- the cloak was heavily loaded, and he couldn't find a way to stand up with her wrapped around him.

Under the cloak was the figure of a Zebra female, painted all in black war paints. She tried in vain to force Dawn off of her, and struggled to crawl towards the chapel.

__________

The civilians, by and large were safe, but many who had been unaffected by the explosion busied themselves with helping one-another back onto their feet.

[Sassaflash]

Steam scrambled up the stairs from the valve room once the sounds of trouble reached her ears, escaping the room just in time to be thrown to the ground from a sudden fireball that was belched forth from the doorway. The pegasus mare was singed, but okay. Somepony remind her to never smell burnt feathers again.

With a little effort, she managed to lift herself up onto her shaky legs, her nerves threatening to drop her back down onto the ground again. She eventually did hit the wood dock once the realization of what she had just dodged hit her. She avoided death by mere inches.

[Lance]

Luminous had not noticed the satchels, nor the fleeing hooded figure, however he watched as Jack 'Grayscale' had flown off with the satchels. "what in Celestia's name is he doing..." He was unfazed by the blinding light of the fireball in the sky; his magical expertise after all comes from bright and shining magical constructs, and his eyes have grown used to such brilliant instances. He formed a shield before him, however all it had had to deflect was a brick and some smaller rubble.

Seeing Jack was Launched and crashed into the street, Luminous galloped over to his location, shouting, "You're going to make it very, very difficult for me to keep you out of trouble with that kind of suicidal instinct, Jack!" he arrived only a few moments after his assigned body-to-guard had stood up. his galloped slowed to a trot, and a look of disapprovement had formed on his face... "most ponies would say that you're either really stupid, or pretty darn brave. I'm just going to say you're an idiot, and that you're going to get yourself killed."

In a moment, his frown turned to a grin, "Keep it up, Kid," before he noticed Jack's broken wing. taking care not to worsen the injury, Luminous had placed a hoof over Jack's more uninjured side, "C'mon, let's get you to the infirmiry."

[Grayscale]

Jack smirks a bit. The last person who called him "kid" was his instructor at his boot camp. "I'm getting too old to play the hero,Sir." he says and looks at his broken wing again. "Well, you're right Sir I should go the infirmary.I hope they can fix the wing."
Together they trot to the infirmary, where a nurse takes care of his wing.
Suddenly two ruffled ponies rush into the room.

"Jack, are you ok?"one of them asks.
"Does the wing look like it's ok?Idiot!" the other one replies and hits him at his back of the head.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he asks and the other pony sighs.
"Sir, how long can't you use that wing?"
Jack grins as he sees the two stallions."Well, the nurse said it will take a week till I can use it again." He looks at Luminous "Squad, this is Lt. Luminous. He'll support us here. Lt. Luminous this is my squad. White Hound, our field medic and True Shot, our sniper."

White Hound and True Shot stand at attention as they suddenly notice that there is another pony in the room with a higher rank than theirs.

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