• Published 30th Nov 2011
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Call of Duty - Equestrian Warfare - ChromeRegios



After a Disastrous mission gone wrong, Jackson was left for dead at a nucler explosion when he foundhimself to be the first human... in a whole new world.

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Chapter 11 - Black Dragon Down

Vasquez watches as the Abrams rolls forward and turret slews to face the dragon, its cannon pointing skyward to where the dragon is still trying to deal with . “Rainbow! GET CLEAR!” he shouts to be heard over the War Pig’s throaty diesel engine. He didn’t think there was any way the sky-blue pegasus pony could hear him, but her head turns towards the ground and her eyes widen as she spots the tank moving towards her, quickly darting away.

There was a massive BOOM! as the Abrams main gun fired, the concussion wave strong enough to shatter nearby windows and leaving nearby ponies cowering, wondering which was the bigger monster—the dragon or the metal beast. There was a streak of light and a sudden flash as the 120mm round found its mark against the creature’s chest, which erupted in blood and flame.

The rough tank equivalent of a hollow-point bullet, the HEAT round penetrates and detonates inside the beast’s belly, doing massive damage and seemingly setting off its entire internal furnace at once. It writhes in agony in midair, managing a single agonized scream that is quickly silenced when its chest explodes; the remains of the dragon then plummets to earth, showering the area with its flaming remains.

After dodging the debris, the marines and SAS men erupt in cheers as awestruck ponies emerge from their homes, some pegasi quickly moving in clouds to put out the fires. “Whoa! That was totally awesome!” Rainbow Dash proclaims, putting on a celebratory aerial display. “You guys rule!

“Thanks, Rainbow… but so were you!” Jackson sighs in relief. “The way you were willing to take on that dragon? You distracted it and bought us the time we needed. You saved us and the town, Rainbow!”

She blushes and preens. “It was nothing.”

“That weren’t ‘nothin’, Rainbow!” Applejack comes out from underneath the overturned carriage they’d arrived in, clapping Rainbow hard on the back with a hoof. “The Wonderbolts’ll take you fer sure now!”

“That’s if we survive the next two minutes…” a suddenly tense Gaz says, pointing up on the sky again. As one, they turn and behold… two more dragons swooping in, one white and one black, having seemingly heard the anguished cries of their brethren. Cheers immediately turn to panicked pony screams as the pair immediately dive on the tank, recognizing the creature that slew their kin.

Higgins and the rest of the tank crew hurriedly buttons up as the lead dragon open its maw and breathes massive gouts of flame on it, bathing War Pig in fire.

“Woah! Shit!” Griggs drops down as the trailing dragon spews fire at them. Price and Soap neatly dodge the flames, but Hanks is hit, his right arm wreathed in flame.

MAN DOWN!!” Griggs shouts as he lifts John to a safe distance, the latter screaming in pain as the burn grows more painful with every second that passes. “Get some water! Quick!” he shouts back at Applejack, the latter quickly moving to obey while Rainbow Dash streaks into the sky again, trying to repeat her earlier feat, even shouting orders to some nearby pegasi, which immediately streak off as well.

Griggs isn’t sure what she’s doing, but doesn’t care either. “Fuck that damn thing! If had a Stinger I’d take that sucker down myself!” the staff sergeant said as he jabbed Hanks with a morphine injector, trying to ease the pain in his right arm. Griggs tore off his flak jacket to let air in, but when he got a good look he realizes the burn is untreatable. The flesh and muscle is blackened almost to the bone, the outer layers crumbling at the barest touch. The smell is sickening and even if they get him back to a formal medical facility hospital his only option will be amputation.

Despite the destruction of most of his nerves in the limb, John screams as he feels more pain than ever in his life. It’s a fate that awaits them all, Griggs is certain as he does what he can for the wounded copilot, hearing the frantic firing of the marines and SAS men around him.

But just when all hope seemed lost, War Pig emerged from the inferno it was engulfed in, surging forward out of the flame, visibly blackened and its commander’s top-mounted MG partially melted but the M1A2 tank itself protected by its depleted uranium armor and NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) overpressure protective system, designed to keep the crew safe and tank fighting in even the most hostile environments.

HELL YEAH!!” Dunn shouts in relief as he sees the tank open up on the black dragon with its still-intact coaxially-mounted machine gun as he joins the counterattack, firing upwards with his SAW. “GET SOME!” he yells as the dragon receives full amounts of lead through its skin, its wings peppered with holes and squawking with pain before it flies out of view.

“Shit, is that all you got BITCH?” Dunn continues to mock the dragon as it flies away, but his smile vanishes as the white dragon picks up with their black one left off, seemingly targeting him specifically. Worse for the Corporal, he’s now out in the open and his SAW has just clicked empty as the dragon opens its mouth, fire visible in its depths.

At that moment, there’s a bright flash and crack! as the dragon suddenly recoils, a smoking spot on the side of its head. It spins to see.. Rainbow Dash and several other pegasi wielding clouds as weapons, launching lightning bolts out of them with simple kicks, forcing the beast back.

Wow! Rainbow wasn’t kidding; they really CAN use weather as a weapon! Vasquez notes as Big Mac gallops up and pulls a frozen-in-fear Dunn to safety, yanking him backwards by his uniform collar.

As the dragon turns its attention on the new threat, the distraction the pegasi afforded allowed War Pig to once again take aim. “HEAT round UP!” Santos calls as the tank pivots and locks on target, dripping sweat and his cheeks feeling like they’d received a severe sunburn from the dragonfire—the tank protected them from the flames, but didn’t stop the interior from heating up dangerously. It was now nearly as hot as an oven inside, but they didn’t dare open the vents or hatches.

“Just keep flying straight, you bastard!” Cooley readies his cannon as Higgins adjusts the aim.

“Steady on target!” the tank commander calls, hoping they won’t hit the pegasi. “A little more left... there, FIRE!” he triggers the gun himself.

The cannon booms a second time sending another 120mm HEAT round flying towards the white dragon. It finds its mark again, but this only time only hits the beast’s shoulder, which erupts in a spray of blood as the round passes straight through, leaving a very large and ugly exit wound. It screams in pain and flies off, wounded, the pegasi dogging it with additional lightning strikes the whole way.

“He’s done! Two down!” Price proclaims, barely able to believe they might actually live through this fight. “And where’s the…?” he scans for the third and final dragon, the black one, only to see it bearing down hard on the tank from behind, its gun pointed helplessly the other way and showing its vulnerable rear armor. The dragon bathes the tank in flames again then simply lands on it and, immune to its own fire, begins clawing at it, ripping apart its engine vents and tracks with sheer strength until the heat of its flame finally explodes the exposed engine, the tank falling silent and shredded tracks themselves starting to melt.

“Shit, War Pig’s down! We’re screwed!” Sensing it himself, the dragon seems to smile and leaves the broken beast behind, concentrating its efforts on the lesser threats--the humans and pegasi still stinging it as the tank crew began to bail out of their stricken, smoking Abrams, making it just before the ammunition started to cook off, gouts of flame spouting out the back.
Instead of flying, the dragon simply storms forward on the ground and spew flames again, the courtyard trees incinerated one after another as the dragon burned the entire area, completing ignoring the slackening fire of the marines and SAS men, a skyward-directed gout of flame driving off the pegasi and reducing the clouds to wisps.

Hanks watched as the final dragon continues its rampage..

“Hey! Anyone got a javelin?!” Price shouted at the new marine arrivals from , referring to a guided antitank missile.

“There’s no stingers or javelin, the tank was all we had!” Vasquez answers, realizing his ammunition is almost gone. He fires a fresh 40mm grenade round at the dragon but it never makes it, detonated by wall of fire before impacting.

Goddamn it!” Price shouted out of frustration as his rifle clicks empty and the dragon closes on them, advancing a wall of flame as its goes, reducing their cover and slowly cornering its quarry, which included Griggs and the SAS men.

“We are so fucking dead…” was all Griggs could say as he tended Hanks, a sickened Applejack pouring water over the the copilot’s ruined arm. THey watched as the dragon’s head turned towards the British troops.

Suddenly there was a flash and a beam of bright violet energy lanced out, striking the dragon in the neck and making it recoil in surprise. The three SAS men blinked and suddenly… Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of them, her horn aglow. “Run!” she shouts back at them when the flames had dissipated, trying to draw the dragon’s attention long enough for the their guests to escape.

The dragon immediately marched on her and released a fresh gout of flame, but there was another flash before it hit and suddenly… the violet unicorn was standing on the other side of the dragon, duplicating her feat, hitting it again with another fresh magical strike. Her eyes were wide and fearful but her face set, determined to protect her friends... both old and new.

To her horror, the dragon ignored her and this time turned its attention on the tank crew, who were gathered together, uselessly leveling their own pistols and rifles. It seems they would all die together until Twilight materialized directly in front of them along with a translucent violet shield, deflecting the flames. “T-Twilight?” a stunned Alvarez asked, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing, or that any of them were still alive.

“Can’t... hold this… for long!” she hissed out for gritted teeth, struggling to maintain her shield spell in the face of the dragon’s onslaught.

Wounded and watching the events transpire, Sergeant John Hanks realized two things--that he could not bear the pain anymore and if something wasn’t done, they were all going to die. A sudden resolution taking hold of him despite his shock, he grabbed the grenade belt attached to Griggs’ chest with his good hand, and then ran across the field towards the dragon like a demon possessed.

HEY!!” Griggs shouts at the moment he took the grenades, Applejack watching in confusion, wishing there was something more she could do. She could see Rainbow was trying to organize another assault by the Ponyville weather team, but it would take them a while to obtain more storm clouds, and she wasn’t sure how much good they could do anyway against this black monster.

“What's he doing?!” Price asks as he sees the wounded marine running right at the Dragon.

“No! You fool, where are you going?!” Soap shouts after him.

“Get back here you bloody idiot!” Gaz tries to stop him, but his words are ignored.

John stops in front of the dragon and tries to get its attention, making all sorts of noise and sounds for the dragon to see him.

HEY! MOTHER FUCKER!! YOU WANT ME? COME AND GET ME!!” Hanks shouts as the dragon turns to him, considers him for a moment, decides it likes its meat raw then reaches down for him, opening his mouth to devour him.

“That's right.. Come to me you piece of shit!” are the only words he says as he clutches the grenade belt to him and pulls the pin of one just as the dragon takes a huge bite out of him, swallowing him whole to the horror of all.

JONATHAN!!!” Jackson shouts as he and the others witness the dragon devour Hanks, licking its chops before looking around for its next meal… not knowing it just had its last as bare seconds later, the grenades detonate in its throat.

Hit the deck!” Griggs cries out. All of them took cover as the dragon’s neck exploded, followed by its chest as its internal fire was abruptly vented, sending hundreds of its chunks all around the courtyard, showering human and pony alike. A shellshocked Dunn was unfortunate enough to be hit by a large piece of burnt meat in the face, while Soap would soon need his namesake, covered in bloody gore.

When it was over the group stands in the sudden still, only the crackling of flames breaking the silence. There are no cheers of victory, there are no congratulations. For one of their own has fallen.

A hero who sacrificed his life to slay a dragon.