Iron Will's sword dropped from his once mighty arm, hitting the floor with a clang. His body fell backwards, arms loosened, and dropping the unconscious Twilight in the process. Shining Armor immediately galloped towards his injured sister as Iron Will's lifeless body hit the floor with a dull thud, blood gushing out from a large hole in his skull.
Gideon turned around , and saw Ramirez with smoke still pouring out from the muzzle of his MK14.
"Ramirez..."
"He tried to kill her, so I killed him first." he replied simply while lowering his gun.
"Check the wounded!" Gideon barked. Quickly wiping away the death of his probably only lead of information.
Ramirez ran towards the unconscious Twilight, while Joker and Mitchell secured Iron Will's former hostages; both guards and civilians alike before giving them medical attention as well.
As his team gave medical attention to the wounded guards and civilians, "Ilona, do you copy?" Gideon called the former Spetsnaz sniper through his comms.
"I, copy" she replied with a somewhat defeated tone, perhaps for losing her kill.
"Get over here and help us. Multiple wounded guards and civilians." he replied.
"Roger." she replied. Two minutes later, Ilona appeared on the balcony after using her grappling hook, nodded at him, and proceeded to do what Gideon had instructed.
Gideon walked towards Ramirez who had just finished his treatment on Twilight's injuries.
"How is she?" Gideon asked gently.
"Her ribs are broken; those minotaur bastards must have hit her hard." Ramirez replied "don't worry, she will live."
"That's good to hear." Gideon replied "You did alright son." he said while patting Ramirez on his shoulder, which he replied with a smile.
"Thank you" Shining Armor smiled before levitating Twilight in his telekinesis grip and walking out of the throne room.
"Where are you going?" Gideon asked.
"To her chamber." Shining replied.
"I can go with you" Ramirez suggested "Maybe we have won, but who knows if any of these bastards still lurks inside the castle."
"No, that won't be necessary...besides the guards can..." Shining Armor trailed off as he saw a lot of the castle's guards are undergoing treatment by the Sentinels,nowhere in fighting condition. Gideon and Ramirez gave him a 'you-were-saying?' kind of look; not wanting to repeat the same mistake that nearly killed his sister, Shining agreed.
Gideon nodded at Ramirez who snapped him a quick salute before escorting Shining Armor and Twilight through the castle's hallways. But not before picking up Twilight's broken tablet and muttered something about he would fix it soon for her; much to Gideon's amusement. Suddenly, Gideon's comms sparked to life.
"Sir, Princess Celestia needs to speak with you now!" Captain Menendez said, chatters could be heard on the background; probably him explaining how to use their communications system.
"Alright, patch me through."
Seconds later, Celestia's visage appeared in the top left corner of his HUD.
"Princess" Gideon greeted her politely.
"Greetings Major" Celestia greeted back "Have you got the situation under control?" she asked rather straight to the point.
"Affirmative, we have no fatal casualties on our side; save for ponies who got beaten by the minotaurs, including Princess Twilight, four other mares, and a baby dragon. But they are undergoing treatment as we speak." Gideon said "But I strongly recommend you send us more medical teams. I don't think me and my team are going to be enough, much less understanding your physiology."
'Wait, four? where is Pinkie?.' She wondered, 'oh wait, she is in Manehattan, attending to the Sweets Convention.' Celestia mentally sighed with relief.
"Thank Faust they are okay." she said with a smile. Much to Gideon's wonder about this 'Faust' but possibly it was their equivalent of God or something "Very well, I shall prepare the best royal doctors from Canterlot."
"Thank you Princess, I suggest you coordinate with Phantom and Hunter for faster transport and deployment." Gideon said.
Celestia nodded, "Speaking of which, how about the Minotaurs?"
"Negotiations didn't work, we had to use force on them. From the total of twenty-three hostiles, twenty are WIA and three are KIA."
"Oh..." Celestia lowered her head slightly "If I may know; who are those three?" She asked with a slight grim in her voice.
"Unfortunately, one of them was Iron Will himself. But if it was not for Sergeant Ramirez, Princess Twilight would be dead now. Two others are his bodyguards." Gideon replied "I know he was the key for our answers, but at least; we have twenty of them to dig our intel from."
"Thank you very much Major." She replied with a smile "We are all in your debt." But Gideon dismissed her.
"My men and I are just doing our duty Princess." Celestia nodded and her face disappeared from Gideon's HUD.
'Time to go to work then' with that, he went over to the injured and started giving medical attention to the wounded.
"Ow! be careful!" Rainbow exclaimed as Mitchell pressed an instant cold pack to her bruised face; after calming the ponies down and introducing themselves, both humans and ponies seemed to get along just fine. And needless to say, they thanked the Sentinels constantly.
"Actually, this feels good!" She said sheepishly, after the cold pack started to kick in. Causing the others to snicker at her statement "Thanks Mitchell!"
"You're welcome." Mitchell smiled as he moved to a mare unicorn guard with a broken right foreleg, her face contorted with pain "Easy there ma'am." he said gently before adjusting the broken foreleg so he could bandage and tie a sling for her.
"Ah, thank you darling." Rarity said gratefully as Joker finished wiping dried blood off her face and applying an instant cold pack on the bruise. "Say, how about Spike, Fluttershy, and Applejack?" she asked with a concerned tone.
"Don't worry, they will life." Joker assured her with a smile, while also looking behind his shoulders at the recently awoken designated mares and baby dragon, who were undergoing final checks by Ilona and Silent Wing whilst also trying to calm Fluttershy down "Applejack and Spike were knocked out by the explosion, only minor injuries. For Fluttershy, she fainted because of well...fear." he stated.
As he said that, two additional VTOLs entered the castle's airspace. Signaling the arrival of Phantom, Hunter, and the doctor teams prepared by Princess Celestia. A Warbird landed on the castle's courtyard; deploying two Phantom operatives and four unicorn doctors. Immediately tending to the wounded. Seconds later, a Razorback hovered in front of the balcony with it's doors opened; revealing two Hunter operatives, four unicorn doctors, and surprisingly the Princesses themselves.
Wasting no time, the unicorn doctors teleported to the balcony and rushed to the throne room; giving nods of acknowledgement to the Sentinels as they passed by them; quickly tending to the untreated ones and bagging the dead bodies with large body bags. The two Sentinels glided to the balcony with the Princesses; using their wings and exo land assist respectively, also sprinting to the throne room as the Razorback landed on the courtyard.
All Sentinel operatives in the room immediately stood at attention when the regents came in. The treated ponies, bowed before their rulers; although some only lowered their heads due to broken limbs. Much to the Princesses' concern about them.
"Major, how is Twilight?" Cadance asked while hastily trotting towards Gideon, concern visible on her face.
"Some of her ribs are broken. But other than that, she is okay." Gideon knelt on one knee to meet her on eye level, staring reassuringly at her eyes. "Your husband and Sergeant Ramirez is watching her in her chamber."
"Gideon, Princess Twilight is awake, she wants to see you and her friends." Ramirez said through his comms.
"Good, we are moving." Gideon replied before turning his head to the Princesses and the rest of their friends "Princess Twilight wants to see us now."
The ponies' heads perked up as he said those words, but before any of them could move; a unicorn doctor trotted next to them.
"Apologies for interrupting Your Majesties" he said politely "I just want to let you know that all of the injured have been stabilized, the civilians are not as beaten up as the guards. Only bruises. But the guards will need more medical treatment and rest for at least a week before they are fit for duty."
"Good, then I declare all of the injured guards must rest until they have recovered. Also, I want the Minotaurs treated from their wounds." Celestia said out loud to make sure all of the room's occupants could hear her, including the guards "Thank you doctor."
The unicorn doctor nodded and went to help the injured guards to get on their hoofs.
"If I may Your Majesties, I'd like to stay here and help." Silent Wing stated.
"Of course you may Sergeant." Celestia replied with a smile, he saluted and went over to help the injured.
"Both of you stay here and help these doctors to carry the wounded." Gideon ordered to the two Hunter operatives who snapped him a salute and went on with their orders.
"Doctor Med Kit, could you come with us please?" Cadance asked politely to an ivory coated unicorn stallion with a white lab coat and a red circle adorned with a white cross as his cutie mark; getting his attention. "I need you to evaluate Princess Twilight's condition, not that I don't trust the Sentinels; but you know, just in case."
"Of course Princess, I would be happy to do that." the doctor replied with a smile while trotting to the group.
"So, shall we?" Luna asked.
"Of course Princess." Gideon replied. With that the group proceeded down the mangled entrance of the throne room and into the hallways of the castle.
"I have to say, Major." Celestia spoke up during their walk towards Twilight's room, getting his attention "I am still amazed that you didn't kill all of the Minotaurs that invaded Ponyville today."
"I was thinking maybe we could use them as a leverage so Iron Will would come in easier, but unfortunately; things got out of hand." Gideon replied. "And Princess, just call us by our names we are not much for formalities." he chuckled;earning acknowledgements from the Sentinels.
Celestia nodded with a smile "Then you can call me Celestia." she stated "Or even any of us by our names." Celestia said while glancing at the two alicorns; who nodded their heads "I presume you will question them soon?" The Solar Monarch asked.
Gideon nodded, "Only after they are treated and medically stable enough." He glanced at Ilona who nodded back at him. "Ilona is our best interrogator, she will have our answers before we know it."
"I am flattered my good sir." Ilona replied sarcastically, causing the others to chuckle.
"Um, guys." Applejack spoke up with a thick southern US accent; which were interesting to the Sentinels because not only their worlds shared the same language, but also their accent. "Ah know maybe y'all have heard this a lot, but thank you for coming and savin' our flanks." she said with a smile. "Ta be honest, Ah'd thought y'all would never came; but now, Ah take it back."
"We are just doing our jobs." Mitchell chuckled. But his chuckling stopped as soon as they came across a dead minotaur with a huge slice wound on his neck. The Sentinels didn't even flinch whilst The Princesses stared at the cadaver with widened eyes, the ponies (minus Doctor Med Kit) had to hold the urge of throwing up on the floor; Fluttershy 'eeped' and instinctively ran behind the feet of the one closest to her, Ilona. Despite being cool and aloof, Ilona would do anything to prevent anything bad from happening to her friends and teammates; so she knelt and comforted the timid pegasus mare.
For Gideon, Mitchell, and Joker this was a sight for a thousand years; Ilona had expressed her emotions occasionally, but never this friendly. Especially for a person or in this case a pony she barely knows. But again, she didn't talk much about her past or even conversed with them for that matter; in fact, nothing else was known about her other than she used to be a Spetsnaz sniper. So they took it as a character development.
"I think we are going to need another body bag here." MItchell said as he contacted the two Hunter operatives back in the throne room. And two minutes later, two unicorn doctors arrived with a large body bag; quickly levitating the dead minotaur, placing him into the bag, and carrying the now filled bag out of the corridor.
"I think we should dispose of the bodies soon enough, surely we don't want panic or disease to spread any further don't we?" Luna suggested.
"Of course Sister." Celestia replied. "But now, Twilight wants us to be with her; lets not keep her waiting."
"Thank you for saving my life Ramirez." Twilight smiled as she reposed on her bed, still flinching due to her broken ribs. But thankfully, the bandage applied to her body was more than enough to support her; and in that case to make sure she stayed in resting position. And after listening to her brother and Ramirez's story, her pain alleviated a bit. "I owe you one."
"I am just-"
"Doing your job, I know.I heard that a billion times already." She chuckled.
"And you thanked me like a billion times already." Ramirez retorted with a smirk; causing the two to laugh. unaware that Shining had gave a shit-eating grin at them before joining the conversation.
"Ramirez, do you copy? we are approaching your position." Gideon's voice spoke through his comms, silencing the two ponies in the room.
"Copy that, hurry up; she's been waiting for you guys. Ramirez, out." he said. Moments later, the door swung open; on that instant, Cadance ran past Ramirez and hugged Twilight as they have been separated for a thousand years causing Twilight to squirm in pain.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." Cadance smiled sheepishly "How's your ribs?"
"Still hurts, but if it was not for him..." Twilight said while pointing her hoof at Ramirez, who smiled back at her "Faust only knows what will happen to me."
"Thank you very much Sergeant Ramirez." Cadance said gratefully.
"I am just doing my job Princess." he said.
"Please Ramirez, no formalities. Right, Gideon?" Cadance glanced at the latter; receiving an acknowledgement from him.
"Alright then, Cadance." Ramirez chuckled.
After the whole get-well-soon thing and sending the weary civilians to their homes (except for Twilight's friends since they kept insisting on staying), the Sentinels had agreed to move their FOB to Ponyville to safeguard the town against future attacks. While the Princesses (save for Luna) returned to Canterlot via VTOL ride with tablets on their disposal to inform the generals about the outcome of the attack. From there, the VTOLs will drop the Princesses, as well as picking up the rest of the Sentinels, their equipment, and some additional guards with more guards coming by train.
By the time the reinforcements arrived, it was nightfall. After setting up their gears on their designated chambers and a tour on the castle grounds by the element bearers and Princess Luna themselves, the guards insisted they will take the night's guard duty since technically they didn't do anything for the day while the Sentinels did the dirty job. Despite that, Gideon had arranged his team so they could also get involved when needed. With nothing left to do, the Sentinels called the day off.
It was like any other nights before, the same dream that kept haunting Mitchell in his sleep.
Mitchell's IMR kept on firing streams of bullet, with the Korean's People Army as target practice with Will fighting by his side. All went exactly the same as that fateful day in Seoul. But this time, in contrast from his last dream; Mitchell saw the Havoc Launcher gunship exploded before his eyes, taking Will with it. Even the spinning sharp piece of metal that had cut off his arm, had became something like a common sight to him; normally that's where he'd woke up. But this time, the piece of metal and the background faded into distortion with a blurry dark-blue equine figure fading away. Then, he woke up.
But instead of being jerked from his sleep he opened his eyes with a peaceful heart and mind, as if it was only a bad dream, but with an equally confused thought because Mithell could've sworn he saw Luna in his dream.
"Oye, you alright mate?" Gideon patted his shoulder as he was also awake "having that dream again?"
"Yeah, but I could've sworn Luna was in my dream." Mitchell replied.
"Damn son, you having a wet dream with her already?" Joker replied sarcastically as he got up from his bed, only to receive a hard jab on his shoulder by Mitchell "whoa, easy dude. Just joking around."
"Knock it off boys." Ilona commented while donning her exo, in case the use of force may come to a necessity.
"We have some bulls to question." Ramirez continued her sentence, while charging his combatant suppression knuckles to full power; causing sparks of blue electricity on the futuristic taser's conductor.
"Use it if only necessary." Mitchell advised the former NSA operative "We want information, not another dead body."
"All teams, we are heading to the suites now." Gideon spoke through his comms "meet us there, Gideon out."
After strapping on their exo suits, weapons, and equipment; they headed to the suites where the surviving members of the attackers were being held, being joined by Luna (who subtly kept glancing at Mitchell),Shining Armor, and the rest of the team on the way there. Until they were identified, their group was simply referred to as OpFor, short for “Opposing Force”. After consulting with one of the doctors, who’d been vetted to the best of their hosts’ abilities, they headed to a room holding one of the OpFor members, specifically the second in command. Gideon was given a clipboard with all available information on the individual, most of it medical. He scanned the clipboard which before handing it to Ilona which contained information as follows.
Patient 07
Minotaur
Age: Mid 30's (presumed)
Gender: Male
Coat: dark gray
Eyes: brown
Patient was treated for numerous wounds inflicted by an unknown weapon. Small conical projectiles were removed from body, having caused extensive trauma to the patient's legs resulting in significant blood loss. If not treated more thoroughly soon, amputation may be necessary.
Currently fitted with a bulky cast and kept in cell-like room. Under suicide watch and guarded at recommendation of Prince Shining Armor and a third-party adviser dubbed as Sentinels. Patient is stable and lucid, but refuses to talk about himself.
Sodium pentothal administered by recommendation of the third-party adviser.
After reading the sheet of paper, Ramirez and Ilona opened an iron door and entered the room holding his subject while the rest watched from a glass panel outside the room. The subject limped over to them, intrigued by their presence, before sitting back down. The soldiers took a seat on a stool facing him. Between them was a table.
“Ah, you must be the ones who did this to me.” The minotaur lifted his cast disdainfully, but smiled all the while. “And you’re here to…?”
“We are here to talk. Yesterday, you and nineteen others conducted an attack on this castle and Ponyville. I’m gonna ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them honestly.” Ilona stated with an icy tone.
"I will do my best." he replied mockingly.
"I want your name and the name of your organization." Ramirez began.
"You can call me 'Rook'. My organization isn't known to me or any of us, we are known as 'Berserkers'. Just some extra hired muscles and barely an extension of their will. In other words, expendable." Rook replied "But we are all here for a reason."
"And why is that?" Ilona continued.
Rook laughed "Do you know what the Elements of Harmony are?"
"I got a lecture about Equestria yesterday, so, yes. The six elements that keeps Equestria's balance and harmony." Ramirez said.
'This is not just a regular assault, there is something else here.'
Rook laughed again "Exactly, now imagine if those elements are wiped out or transformed into a weapon that will upset Equestria's balance. A country so vulnerable where it would tear itself apart from within, leaving outsiders to scavenge and enslave what's left from the smoldering ruins of war."
Then an audible crack came from the minotaur's mouth and he began to turn blue with radio chatters erupted from their comms reporting all other minotaurs were suffering cyanide poisoning accompanied by sudden explosion of activities by both ponies and humans trying to safe the poisoned minotaurs. The two interrogators called for a doctor complete with Cyanide Antidote Kit ; declaring that the patient was suffering from cyanide poisoning. Unfortunately, they were unable to save him, leaving the Sentinels with a single lead.
"So they are called 'Berserkers'?interesting. That name fits them perfectly." Luna stated after the royal guards and Sentinels had finished shipping the dead bodies to the castle's morgue before cremation. With the combination of both technology and magic, the work was faster than they expected.
"He talked way too easy." Ilona commented.
"But one thing's obvious, there's more than just a regular assault here." Ramirez added as they walked down the castle's lavish hallways. "Beside the potential threat of them targeting the element bearers, I think we will have to dig deeper."
"Guys, Princesses Celestia and Cadance will arrive with the generals and military advisers shortly." John Reeves, aka Viper 6-2's voice could be heard across the comms.
"Good, thanks for the heads up Viper. Gideon, out." The Major replied.
"This is going to be a long day..." Mitchell commented. But as he said those words, he felt a tug on his leg. As he looked down; Silent Wing, Shining Armor, and a few other guards he recognized as the same guards during their stay in Canterlot grinned at the intensity that could rival that of Jeff the Killer's.
"So? Demonstrations?" Shining asked.
"You guys got a shooting range here?" Gideon inquired and they nodded. Frantically.