Chapter 1: Let Them Eat Cake

Might I trouble you for another slice of cake?

I remember a day when this city was a thriving metropolis. In fact, I was born and raised here, the streets I once grew up on laid tattered in ruin. I had originally left for Canterlot with an invitation to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns upon completing my schooling in the art of magical baking Equestria went to war against the zebras in the south. I had originally bought land and planned to set up a shop in Canterlot's shopping district but three days before my store was to open I received a draft notice. I had spent five years prior; working to save up for a shop of my very own. I remember the draft letter fondly, it had a picture of Spitfire with the words: 'Equestria needs you'. I remember the frustration and confusion on my face. I remember thinking that I am going to die before the war is over. I remember walking out of my shop for the last time, its doors never to open, full of the hopes and dreams I once had. Upon reaching basic training I was handed an officer's slot and was separated from the rest of the new arrivals. I then began my training to lead ponies into battle. I never thought that just because I graduated from Celestia's school they would have given me an officer's role. Upon graduation of basic training and my officer's training, I was sent to Shattered Hoof to reinforce the ponies fighting on the ground. The trenches reeked of blood, filth, disease, and death. Day and night constant shelling and gunfire filled the air without a moment's break. Until the fighting stopped I remember sitting down in the trench looking at my bullet-riddled body, I started to cough up blood. My eyes began to close...

All of sudden a sound of shattering glass broke the silence of the blood-stained battlefield. My eyes open sharply, I remember being completely healed and I stood up and heard deafening silence. I saw two of the ministry mares Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was leading us during the fight, then a bullet whizzed past my head and Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and dove down into the trenches. The battle began again... for another three days. During the battle, I was separated from Big Mac and his Marauders. I was detached to Macintosh's Marauders to get my first taste of combat. He was my first sergeant although, he really was the one in charge. Apparently they were called back to camp, I was abandoned... left for dead as they pulled out. By the time I made it back to camp, Big Mac was dead. Killed by the zebra assassin meant for Princess Celestia. After his body was taken to Canterlot for a state funeral I was reassigned. I was pulled off the team and demoted for negligence in the face of the Princess. I was back at 1st Lieutenant rank. It was my fault, I wasn't there. I was then put in charge of the 52nd Offensive Battalion. In the first year trying to push into the city only to be stopped by zebra snipers and ambushes. Then I was called to Canterlot again.

“Ponies of the Ministry o’ Technology, Ah give t’ y’all the Steel Ranger!" the orange mare on the stage took a side step. A pony dressed in full metal plating completely covered in armor. I was enamored at what I saw. My EFS or my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle identified him as 'Steel Hooves'.

The next day I volunteered to join the Steel Rangers. I was picked, trained, and given a set of armor. Then I was given another assignment. The 332nd Expeditionary Battalion, 3rd Company commander. I was being sent off to Stalliongrad again. They were a rambunctious bunch. During my time there and they were the only battalion to contain zebras... and the most casualties.

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I put my journal down as the train pulled into the station. The sounds of gunfire could be heard clear as day. Tracer rounds pierced the city skyline with a hue of different colors. I pity any Pegasus pony who had to fly through that much flak. I stepped off the train and walked to the gates. Ever since the battle began, a massive fence was constructed to keep regular ponies out of the combat zone. Didn't stop them though, most ponies went around it anyways. I then spoke to the two ponies guarding a gate labeled A2. Both ponies were wearing the Equestria military police uniform. The letters MP were faded and barely visible. I proceeded through and headed straight to the base commander's tent. Upon entry, I was shocked to see who it was. A light blue mare with a rainbow mane, she was wearing a black and purple jumpsuit that covered all but her wings and face. This was none other than the head of the Ministry of Awesome herself, Rainbow Dash.

"Ma'am, 1st Lt. Napoleon Cake reporting for duty!" I shouted nervously. She looked over at me. She strapped on her battlesaddle and walked over to me.

"Welcome back to Stalliongrad soldier. I thought you would have chickened out after what happened at Shattered Hoof," she smiled at me trying to lighten the mood. "Anyways the situation has changed since your departure. Dragons have been spotted flying around the city. The Shadowbolts have been doing their best to take them down but progress on the ground is slow and our losses are high. Despite this, we need to make some progress. Your orders are to capture city hall, it is the base of operations for zebra command in the city," She gestured me over to a map. "Your company will have two other steel rangers attached with the rest comprised of zebra's. Capture city hall and kill or capture their commanders by any means necessary. If you suspect that any of your soldiers are zebra spies, execute them on the spot. Report to the armory to received your equipment, your company is in Tent Five. Dismissed."

I walked out of the tent. I looked towards the city, I could hear the ear-splitting whistle of artillery shells. Day and night the artillery ponies never slept. I looked up to the two massive sky scrappers that pierced the city. They were the Friendship Towers. The now badly damaged sky scrappers had seen better days, a few times artillery shells would hit them now and again but that was rare.

I proceeded to the armory. I arrived at a concrete bunker with the word 'armory' painted on the door in white paint,
"Napoleon Cake, you will receive an anti-machine rifle and a Gatling cannon. You should be able to take out any armored tank or dragon," The Quartermaster got up and began to attach the weapons to my battlesaddle. After a few minutes of applying various power tools to my battlesaddle, the Quartermaster finished up. "Good luck."

I walked out of the armory. My heart finally caught up to me. I was back in hell. I took a deep breath. It was cool and refreshing, technically it was because of my air talisman. I found my way to Tent Five and entered.

"Company! Attention!" one of the steel rangers called out. I walked up to the pony at the front. She saluted me. "Sir, we are awaiting your orders."

I replied "At ease. Now then let's start with your names."

"Mah name's 1st Sgt Apple Fritter," she said in a very western accent, she removed her helmet to reveal a beautiful young earth pony with a light yellow coat and green mane. "It's a pleasure to meet ya, sir, I'm the squad's heavy gunner."

"Wait are you by chance related to Applejack? The head of the MWT?" I asked.

"Sure as sugar, Applejack's mah cousin, I haven't seen her since Big Mackie died. He's the whole reason ah left to join y'all. To be honest, when I spent a few years with them on the farm and I really looked up to him, he did his job, neva complained or nothin'. And when Equestria went to war, he was one of the first who left to join. Fearless in life as he now is in death, bless ya soul Big Mac," tears began to break out across her face,

The mare in the Steel Ranger armor behind Apple Fritter turned to face us, she was a Unicorn as her helmet had armor for her horn protruding out of the top. A soft pink glow of magic gripped the helmet removing it to reveal a hot pink Unicorn mare with a half blue and half light blue mane. She had purple eyes and a purple bow in her mane.

"My name is SPC Royal Ribbons, but everyone calls me Rori for short, I am the squad medic. I am from Canterlot's noble families and was drafted into this war against my will. I really just want this to be over so I can go home," Rori said with a sweet but sophisticated tone. "And behind me are the four remaining zebra's in our company."

I looked behind them to see the four zebras, they wore dark green uniforms and had their weapons slung over their backs. They completely lacked black stripes. "Where are their stripes?"

One of the zebra's stood up, "They mad us bleach our coats to show our loyalty to the princesses, my name is Milk Tart." Ironic considering she is now completely white. "I was born and raised in Filydelphia, Equestria is my home, not Zebrika.

"My name is Star Charm, I was born in Van Hoover and moved to Appleoosa and this is my brother Star Chaser," Star Charm gestures to her brother. Star Chaser was laying in his cot, he waves his hoof and returns to sleep. "Sorry, it's been a long day," Star Charm chuckled nervously.

"My name is Silent Night, I'm a sharpshooter. I was born in Zebrika and moved to Equestria when I was a young filly. I grew up in the Smokey Mountains."

"Well good to know everypony, I have our first assignment. This comes straight from the Rainbow Dash, head of the Ministry of Awesome. We have three days to make it to city hall and capture or kill their command structure. Our company will be the only one assaulting this point as the rest of the battalion will be flanking around to draw them away. I'm not going to lie to you, this one will be tough but I believe we can do it, rely on each other. Dismissed." Everypony got up, and proceeded to leave, "Oh wait, I forgot. These Sebra's think they can beat Equestria, well let them eat cake!" I yelled pridefully. The ponies and Zebras laughed hard as they walked out. Well shit, that didn't work. That's ok Napoleon you're ahead of your time.

I walked to the companies barracks on the stallion side, I noticed that there were three other empty beds with footlockers. I walked up to one of the footlockers and opened it. Inside was a few pictures and a hoof-full of letters. These are the belonged of a dead pony, or in this case dead zebra. I went over to an empty bed and climbed out of my power armor. I put in my ear bloom and turned it to the Wartime Radio Station

"This is DJ Pon-3, coming at you live from Manehatten. To all, you soldier ponies out there, thank you for keeping us safe another day. We will never forget your sacrifice. In other news Zebra sympathizers have been rooted out of Fillydelphia's factory district by the Ministry of Morale, hehe, remember ponies, Pinkie Pie is always watching you. Other reports say that the siege in Stalliongrad has come to a halt. This next song goes out to the ponies holding the line in Stalliongrad, here is Sweetie Belle singing: The Sun Never Sets."

I closed my eyes as the music began to play, tomorrow, I get to really live out the horrors of war, once again I'm heading into the depths of hell. Stalliongrad was Tartarus in Equestria. Wait a second Tartarus is already in Equestria. "Celestia Fuck me!" I yelled. I didn't seem to wake up Star Chaser. I turned in my bed, the sounds of Sweetie Belle's voice echoed as it all began to fade.

Napoleon Cake's SPECIAL

Strength: 4
Perception: 3
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 2
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 3
Luck: 6

Chapter 2: Counting Stars

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What are you waiting for? An invitation?

I was awoken to a loud explosion. My eyes shot open.

"Are we under att..." I was flung out of my bed and sent flying across the barracks. "Celestia Fuck me!" I screamed as I was tossed against the wall. My vision was shaky and my ears rang from the shell shock. Another shell sent small wooden fragments into my left hind leg. I pulled out as many as I could. I looked around, my armor, "Where is my armor!" I saw it knocked over, laying in the opposite corner of the room. It was covered by bits of the wall and the helmet was missing. I scrambled to my hooves and dove towards it. I heard the whistle of another inbound shell. I threw my hooves on top of my head. Thankfully it didn't hit my barrack. I proceeded to put on the armor as fat as I could. I couldn't find my helmet, without it I was practically blind. I could shoot without it but I couldn't see what direction the enemy was bearing in from. I began to dig through the rubble. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found it and put it on in a hurry.

As I my suit began to power it up, I noticed that the left eye was cracked. I could hardly see out of it. It was like a fucking kaleidoscope in my left eye. I ran out of the building to see zebras fighting ponies in hoof to hoof combat. I saw zebra stab a pony right through neck. I shot him with the anti-machine rifle, his body tore in two, the bullet then cracked what was left of the building behind him. I winced at the sight of this. I felt a bullet strike me in the side. It didn't punch through my armor but I'm sure it will leave a bruise. I turned to face my attacker. It was an earth pony.

"Why did you shoot me?" I yelled at her.

"I just want this all to end," she unloaded her pistol at me. She fell back on her haunches crying. "Please don't kill me, I have a family!" She cried.

"Why would you betray pony kind, those zebras are your enemy, not me!" I exclaimed.

"I-I thought I would be safe if I helped the zebras. They paid me 20,000 bits, I need it so my family could-" her voice was cut off as her head exploded.

"Rot in Tartarus ya' zebra lovin' flea!" Apple Fritter yelled. Behind her stood Royal Ribbon, Star Charm and Silent Night.

"Where is Milk Tart?" I asked, I feel like I already knew the answer.

"She was blown to bits when the shelling started," Star Charm replied tears in her eyes. "Where is Star Chaser?" Star charm yelled.

"Don't worry about him right now, I'm sure he's somewhere. We need to move now! To the train station!" I yelled turning to run.

We began to run towards the train station, ponies were lined up trying to board the train, each train care looked grossly overcrowded. Several ponies were throwing supplies and munitions out in order to fit as many ponies into the box cars as possible. As we got closer the sharp whistle of a artillery shells pierced the air.

"Incoming!" I yelled, all of us dove in different directions. A massive explosion erupted at the train station. I was closet to the blast, I could feel rubble hit against my armor. The heat from the explosion felt like I was being cooked alive. One of the shells hit the train I thought to myself. Ash and soot began to rain down on us. I stood back up trying to regain my bearings, the light had turned dark as smoke billowed into the sky covering the city in a thick blanket of smoke. I took a look around. I saw my squadmates recovering and getting up. I could see Rori and Apple Fritter's armor blackened from the blast.

"Those damn zebra's. That was dirty..." Rori looked solemn.

"Are y'all ok?" Apple Fritter asked. My armor says that nothing was wrong with me. I could feel a few bruises but that's only minor," I looked over at Silent Night. Her bleach white coat now turned to a dirty ashy grey.

"Turn on your headlamps, we'll need it," I said flipping mine on. Rori and Fritter did the same. Star Charm sat down her eyes watering.

"My brother, I fear he is dead," she began to sob. Tears streamed down her ash-covered face. Rori hugged her and tried to console her. I looked over at the city, fires began to break out across the city as more towers of smoke began to rise into the skyline.

Suddenly a group of zebras ambushed us from behind.

"Surrender pony scum, for the stars can not save you now," a zebra stallion chuckled. "We will make your deaths as painless as possible."

"Rot in hell!" Apple Fritter yelled, her battlesaddle's minigun began to spin up tearing apart the zebra commander. The rest of them scattered, diving for cover.

"This is bad," I fired my anti-machine rifle, my hooves slid against the mud. The recoil was so much heavier than earlier. "I began to back up. Then flames shot past me dousing one of the zebras in red hot flames. I stared in horror. The zebra's face began to burn and melt like an ice cube. I felt like I wanted to vomit. I couldn't watch this anymore, I raised my up my anti-machine rifle, it was overkill but at least they would be spared the horrible agony of burning alive. I reloaded my anti-machine rifle and zeroed in on the burning zebra. Star Charm stood in front of me.

"Let... Them... Burn!" she said. Much to my dismay. The zebra, after burning for what felt like hours finally collapsed. I couldn't stand the sight of it. I really felt like I was going to vomit. The zebra's skin was charred black as the night sky. Her coat was completely burned off and bits of bone could be seen on her face and hooves. Oh, Celestia, this was horrifying. Then the sounds of artillery fire continued.

"We need to find cover fast!" I yelled, artillery shells struck the ground behind us. I looked behind me, a green fire erupted from the crater. "They switched shell types don't touch the flames!" We ran towards the station, bits and pieces of ponies and zebras alike laid strewed about. All of a sudden several shells hit the train station erupting into a bright green flame. We were trapped.

"Sir! I know where there are some houses a short run from the base, we should take cover there until the shelling stops!" Apple Fritter yelled.

"Lead the way!" I replied. We took off at a sprint, shells rain down around, a mixture of fragmentation and those green fire shells suppressed the area. We ran down the main road, the road was littered with abandoned wagons from the evacuation. For a brief moment, the shelling stopped. Now was our chance. We ran as fast as we could into the suburbs. The houses were damaged from the shelling but some of them were still livable. Apple Fritter turned to one of the bigger houses and rammed the door down. We followed inside to find the place ransacked, the furniture was torn up and ripped, the walls were covered in anti-war graffiti. A big ripped painting of... wait, this was Sugar Belle. I stared blankly at the painting.

I haven't seen Sugar Belle since school, I remember she always wanted to go to the Crystal Empire to be a famous baker. I wonder why she had a house in Stalliongrad. I remember as a colt I used to have a huge crush on her. But that was a different time, before the war. She graduated before me and I never saw her again. I walked up and touched the painting.

"Sir, are you ok?" Rori asked. She looked up at the painting. "Did you know her?"

"Yes, she is an old classmate of mine. We went to school back in Canterlot."

"I see, I'm sorry, I hope she is safe," Rori looked at me. I couldn't tell what kind of face she was making through her helmet.

"Me too I replied," My EFS updated marking this place as Sugar Belle's mansion.

"Sir, come outside you're going to want to see this," Star Charm said.

I walked outside to find the whole squad out there. "Holy Celestia!" I yelled, looking up at the sky, I saw a giant pink shield began to cover the city. We were trapped... I got a notification on my EFS, it was from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.

"Hello, this is Twilight Sparkle, head Ministry Mare of the MAS, to those fighting in Chicoltgo, Horseolulu and Stalliongrad you may have noticed a giant barrier erected over the city, do not worry these shields will only be activated to prevent further destruction outside the city. For any soldier trapped within the barrier..." She paused for a minute. She sighed, "I am sorry. Personally, we thought we could evacuate as many as possible but the shield will not go down until the zebra's surrender. Until they surrender or die of starvation this shield will remain up. Good luck my little ponies... and I'm sorry," her final words echoed in my mind. I sat down. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I got up and walked back inside. I proceeded to walk up the stairs as if I knew the place. I walked into a large bedroom, it was pink and was decorated with candy-themed furniture. I would have looked nice before the siege. I sat down looking at a giant wall mirror.

"What in Equestria is happening?" I asked myself. I removed my helmet. Looking at my face in the mirror, I felt fear wash over me. I was going to die here, no one was going to survive. I put my helmet in my saddlebag and walked out of the room and back to my squad downstairs. I saw them talking to each other, Apple Fritter and Rori both had their helmets off.

"Where did ya go?" Apple Fritter asked.

"It's hopeless, we are going to die here," I said solemnly. I was then smacked across the face by Rori.

"Pull yourself together!" She yelled her face bright red with anger. "You think we are going to sit here and let them win? No, we are going to survive. I did not live my life and get to where I am before the war to die here!" she screamed at me. My zebra companions stayed silent.

"Now don't y'all worry now, I know how to survive 3 weeks on 3 days of rations so this should be easy," Apple Fritter chimed in.

"Yes, me and Star Charm know how to purify water and collect herbs. We can survive this easy," Silent Night added.

"No..." My sadness turned to anger. "We were given a mission, we are going to follow it, we are going to survive. If we take out the zebra command we should be able to get them to lower the shield. The quicker we get there the better. And besides, I doubt we are the only ponies to be trapped in here. Lets rest, for now, we will sleep in shifts. I'll take first watch," the rest of them nodded, I walked upstairs, we still had a few hours till sunset so I decided to look around the house. I walked upstairs back into Sugar Belle's room. I walked up to the dresser and opened it. Luckily no pony was in here and found an array of lewd and provocative clothing in her dresser. I quickly closed the drawer.

"No amount of therapy will fix this..." I continued to look elsewhere for something useful, I checked her nightstand. I found an array of unsavory items for a lady of grace such as Sugar Belle but everypony has their demons I guess. I walked into the bathroom attached to her room. I paused for a moment and walked out. I'm not going to look to see what's in there. I stood next to Sugar Belle's bed. I took off my armor and after a series of clinks and clangs the armor opened up and stepped out. I sat down on Sugar Belle's bed. I looked up at the ceiling and the words 'Send Celestia to the Sun!' was written in black paint. "How could ponies not trust our rulers, our protectors and the ponies who give up their lives to keep them safe," I muttered to myself. I laid down and fell asleep.

Footnote: Level Up!
Perk added: Shell Shocked- While in your Power Armor, Explosives do 15% less damage to you.

Chapter 3: The Trenches pt. 1

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I lost what I defined myself to be.

I woke up to the sound of gunfire, it was close. I jumped out of bed and looked around. The room hadn't been touched since I went to sleep. I approached my armor. It was muddy, covered with grim and riddled with dents and scrapes. I opened the rear panel and ran a diagnostic. My magical battery was at 91.4%, I had 3 healing potions left and about 5 mags of ammunition for my anti-material rifle and 2500 rounds for the gatling cannon. I closed the panel and entered the suit. The gun shots sounded like they were getting closer. I put my helmet on and went downstairs. Star Charm and Rori were peeking out the window.

"What's going on?" I asked. I proceeded to walk down, I heard faint yelling.

"Open ta door!" I looked out the window and saw Apple Fritter, covered in mud and blood with a bunch of saddle bags slung over her back. Star charmed hastily opened the door and Rori spit out a barrage of gunfire from her battle saddle. As Apple Fritter slid underneath Rori to dodge the gunfire.

"Sweet Celestia! That's a lot of zebra's!" Rori yelled pulling away from the door. Star Charm kicked the door close and began to fire out the windows at our attackers.

"Yeehaaw!" Apple Fritter yelled in delight, dropping 9 pairs of saddle bags on the ground.

"I know I should ask how you were able to carry that many saddle bags but just-" a door came flying straight into me knocking me off my hooves. Sending me tumbling down the remaining stairs. "Son of a whore! I never get to finish my damn sentence."

"Ah guess their mad ah stole their food and ammo," Apple Fritter then took off into the other room. Presumably to retrieve her power armor.

"I'm heading to the roof to get a better vantage point, can you hold them off?" I asked as I recovered from my fall.

"We'll be fine! Now head up the stairs and leave us behind!" Star Charm replied.

Did she rhyme? No time to think about that. I ran upstairs, to the second floor kicking open a door to the balcony in the master bedroom. I saw about 10 zebra's scattered about the front of the house. I locked onto my target zooming in on them for a clean shot. I noticed that a few of the zebras had masks on. They were made of wood and were painted in strange colors and each mask varied in shape, design and size. I exhaled aiming right for the head. I pulled the trigger. My anti-machine rifle let out of thunderous roar, the recoil sent me sliding back a few inches. The bullet tore through the air until it bounced off the mask landing a few feet away from the zebra.

"What the fuck?" I fired another round at the zebra, then another, and then another. He seemed virtually unfazed and unaware that a bullet had even hit him. I turn on my ear-bloom. "Apple Fritter, who are these zebra's? I keep shooting at the ones with masks on but they don't even flinch when I hit them. Over?"

"Ah reckin' it's some new fangled magical shield. If Ah knew they were this strong I would had stolen some. Try using the gatling cannon. Ah doubt it could take more than few bullets from it. Over," Apple Fritter replied. I took another long look at the zebra's mask. It seems the third bullet put a small dent in the mask. I began the warming up the gatling cannon and opened fire at the wave of zebra's below. I could see the tracers occasionally bounce off the masked zebras.

"For Celestia's sake why won't you just die!" I yelled continuing to saturate the zebras in a bullet storm. Then the whistle of multiple grenades whooshed past me as Apple Fritter walked up next to me, grenade machine gun attached to her battle saddle roaring as it continued to spew out magical apples at a rapid rate.

"If this don't stop em', nothin' will," the whistle coming from each grenade as it flew threw the air was a sharp ring almost akin to an artillery shell. A sound of a whistle pierce the air blowing multiple times. The zebra's began to retreat, Apple Fritter began opening fire with her gatling gun trying to gun down the routing zebras.

"Cease fire!" I yelled, "Everypony regroup at the front door," I sighed in relief. I walk back inside Sugar Belle's Mansion to find the place full of bullet holes. The once big picture of Sugar Belle that hung above the stairs was shredded like Swiss cheese. I walked down the stairs to meet up with the rest of my team.

"Well, that was ah mighty fine mess," Apple Fritter chuckles. I laugh with her.

"I think we are all just lucky to be alive," Rori chimed in. I look over to Star Charm who had a rather stern look on her face.

"Now is not the time to be messing around, the masked will soon be inbound," Star Charm's voice cut like an ax and ended our laughter. Did she just rhymed again? "My grandmother once told me the story of when the first Caesar united the zebra lands. He had by his side an army of masked guards who fought fiercely and were unmatched on any battlefield. They fought the most in the war and suffered no casualties."

"So what your saying is that story is more than just a tall tale," I asked. Star Charm nodded and walked outside straight to one of the dead masked zebras. We followed closely and noticed the mask was completely shattered.

"I assume the Caesar uses the masked guard as his personal bodyguards but with the war turning south he must not have much of a choice in deploying them," Rori stated.

"Yes, but there is more to the legend, the mask is past down from generation to generation and can not be received until the current owner passes. Once the owner passes the mask seals a piece of the of the former wielders soul. The more its passed down, the stronger it becomes. However should the owner die with no foal to receive it, the mask becomes a curse. It's immense power comes at a price. If the mask is destroyed, the entire family is claimed by the mask and ceases to be and turn to dusk," I took a step back after hearing that. "That is why I believe it was an old foals tale.."

I took a closer look at the body and grabbed his hoof. It broke off with an audible snap; the hoof began to crumble into dust and was blown away by the wind. The body began to turn an ashy grey loosing any semblance of color a zebra might have had.

"It reminds me of the ponies in Ponipeii. The ponies were buried in ash and all that was left was the shell of the ponies who once lived there," Rori stated over the coms. I heard Star Charm whispering a prayer over the dead zebras. Apple Fritter stomped the head of the dead zebra. The rest of its body turned to a pile of ash.

"Let's go. We got ta keep moving," Apple Fritter's accent made her sound like even more of a battlefield veteran than she actually was.

"Right..." I sighed. "Check you maps, we are meeting at Stalliongrad City Mall. If you are separated we will wait there for approximately two hours. If you aren't there we will presume you were killed and move on with the mission," I commanded. I was nervous. We were on the outskirts of town and the mall was 3 hours trot with out fighting. I saw Star Charm pull out of map and start plotting points. I walked up to her and lowered her map. "Here take this, it will make interfacing with the nav points easier," I levitated out a Pip-Buck 2000. Standard issue for officers but since my power armor, I haven't much use for it.

"Are you sure you wish to give this to me? Most ponies don't trust the zebra folk even after we bleach our coats," Star Cham was shocked at the gift.

"You'll need it. We are all stuck in here. You had a chance to kill us and return with the zebras and instead you helped drive them off. Just because you have stripes doesn't make you any less of a pony," I used my magic to clip it to her fore-hoof. "There that map will be connected to the teams navigation. You'll also have use of the EFS and SATs."

"What is an EFS and what is SATs," she questioned.

"Well an EFS is a magical spell matrix that helps you detect hostile forces in front of you even if you cant see them and SATs...," Rori was interrupted by Apple Fritter.

"And SATs was developed by mah younger cousin Apple Bloom and her friends, it will help you shoot at multiple targets more accurately," Apple Fritter Interjected.

"By Celestia you ponies are so complex, is it that hard to aim your gun at your target?" Star Charm looked down at the Pip-Buck. She sighed and said "Thank you. This will be of great aid," Star Charm smiled at me.

"Oh I almost forgot. I levitated a small earpiece out of my bag and put it in Star Charms ear. This is the earbloom. You'll be able to hear us on the coms but you won't be able to talk to us. You can also listen to the radio on it if you like. It's what I used it for mainly," I turned around and looked off into the distance. Only 9:00am and it feels like we've been up for days. "All ponies, wedge formation, forward march!" I yelled. We began our walk towards the city.

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As we marched closer to the city the sounds of gunfire seemed ever closer yet ever so distant. We walked through miles of cratered and trenched earth. Combat grew scarce since this morning. Few stragglers here and there but nothing major. We entered a large trench network. This was the quickest way to get into the city. Before the shield we were stuck in a stalemate near the mall. If we are lucky we take the trenches all the way there.

"Fire team file. I'll take point, Rori take the rear," I said. We all moved into position and began to slowly walk through the trenches. Bodies of ponies and zebras were strewn randomly about the trenches. They were all in several states of decomposition. They have been dead long before shield. Have the zebras pushed us this far back...

"Sir, the Pip-Buck picked up a distress beacon. Frequency 184," Star Charm looked around. I tuned my radio and honed in on the distress beacon. A slow beep played over the air.

"Let's go find the beacon, they could be in trouble," I said. We began to walk a bit faster. A roll of haze began to cloud the trenches making our EFS our only source of guidance. The beep began to pick up the pace as we inched along and we arrived at a square junction. One path lead south east while the other led west. "Which way should we go?" I muttered aloud. After juggling my options I decided on West.

The radio began to beep faster. The corpses disappeared... I was feeling worried at the signs of the abandoned trench. We entered a small junction with, it was a command post, the stairs were still intact and the lights were still on inside the command room.

"Set up a perimeter. Silent Night, take up a sniper position and keep your ear bloom in, I don't want any surprises," She nodded and ran off down one of the trenches. "Make sure no one comes in or out, I walked down the stairs and what I saw made me throw up in my mouth. I swallowed the disgusting vomit back down and began to cough. I ran back up the stairs throwing my helmet off with my hooves and began to violently throw up.

"Sir, are you ok!?" Rori walked over to me. "What happened you were barely down there two minutes."

"Let me take a gander," Apple Fritter began to walk down the stairs. "Sweet Celestia!" she screamed. I levitated my helmet back on and wiped away the mud on the lenses. Rori, Star Charm and I descended the stairs into the command room. The room was covered in blood. Several Steel Rangers... or what's left of them littered the floor. Guts and body parts littered the floor. I began to examine their armor. It looks like something was bursting out from the inside. I walked farther into the command post down a narrow hallway. It was an officers quarter and it was full of maps and papers. There was a bed in the corner next to a locker.

"It doesn't look like Zebra's did this," I approached the locker and I punched the lock, bending door. I pulled the door off with my magic. Inside was a number of assorted items. There was a laser pistol on the top shelf. I levitated a small picture of a gray mare with a silver mane standing next to a taller, pink unicorn with a two tone mane. All of a sudden I heard a whimper from the corner of the room. I jumped back. My heart was racing, I looked around the room scanning my EFS, I noticed a small blip over the bed, I had originally ignored it because I thought it must had been one of my squad mates in the other room. "Show yourself!" I yelled, I walked towards the bed. "Don't make me shoot you!" I screamed. My heart was racing, its beat was that of a machine gun firing.

"Wait! Please don't shoot," a soft voice yelled from under the bed. A gray earth pony mare with big blue glasses and a silver mane. She was wearing a black skin tight stealth suit with a subdued gold bar on the sleeve.

I removed my helmet. I took a better look at her and that suit fits her curves nicely. I quickly shook my head and returned to reality "What happened here?" tears began to well up in her eyes.

"They killed everypony, without warning," she sat down as tears rolled down her cheek. "One of my school mates was in my platoon, I watched as they cut his head clean off his armor."

"Who?"

"The Griffons. The Griffon Mercenaries that were hired betrayed us as soon as the shield went up... they killed everypony, they sabotaged all the power armor with explosives and... and... I ran away! I was so scared," she was crying hysterically. I climbed out of my armor and wrapped my hooves around her.

"Don't worry you're safe now. My name is 1st Lt Napoleon Cake, I'm with the 332nd Expeditionary Battalion, 3rd Company. As soon as the shield went up half of my company was blown up and now there are only four of us including me," I consoled her. I tried to sooth the pains of war.

"My name is Silver Spoon, I'm a 2nd Lt. I was in charge of the 9th Recon company with a detachment of griffons but they are all dead and the Griffons are gone."

"Well Silver Spoon, we plan on heading to the center of the city to force the zebra commanders to surrender so we can lower the shield. Do you know where the other ponies who were occupying the trenches before the shield?" I asked. "I noticed a lack of pony bodies in some places and more zebras in others."

"Well once the shield went up, the zebra's launched a massive assault to try to take our trenches. After a day of fighting they retreated. Then the griffons attacked my team. I've been hiding in the bunker for who knows how long. I've been to scared to leave the room."

"Silver Spoon, I suggest you come with us, it's probably safer in numbers than alone in the trenches," I said looking at her.

"No, I need to find a way to escape, I'm going to die here if I don't do anything.

"Silver Spoon, there is no way out. The base is destroyed, this trench system was one of the last battalions spared from the destruction and now they are all missing. Plus I'm pretty sure General Rainbow Dash escaped before the shield went up so there is no reason for it to be opened. We have to destroy the zebra's. It's the only way to survive."

"But... I don't want to die," tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Silver Spoon, look at me. I'm going to make sure you survive this. I'll protect you, I'll never let any thing harm you," I tried to look as heroic as possible. She wrapped her hooves around my neck crying.

"Thank you..." she whispered into my ear. She wiped the tears from her eyes and took deep breathe. "Thank you, let me gather my things, I'll meet you outside when I'm ready. I nodded and made my way back outside.

"Give me a sit rep," I said over the coms as I walked up the stairs.

"Well, we found some scrap metal, healing bandages and three healing potions, over," Apple Fritter said over the coms.

"I've got some ammunition for energy weapons, over," Rori said.

"Nothing on my end, its quiet from my position, just smoke and gunfire in the far trenches," Silent Night reported.

"I haven't found any survivors, I am heading back to the junction,” Star Charm replied.

“Roger that, I’m waiting at the junction. Silent Night head back to the junction we are moving out,” I walked over to the side of the trench and peaked over. Fire and smoke was were bellowing into the sky. Craters were scattered throughout the field. Body parts and war machines were strewn in bits and pieces. I turned my head back to the trenches to see my squad.

“Y’all ready time move?” Apple Fritter sounded worried.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No, but y’all might want to prepare yourself for what comes next.”

“Alright, I’m ready,” Silver Spoon exited the bunker, she now had saddle bags on and several pouches lined with magazines with a laser pistol in her holster and a PipBuck on her left hoof. She had taken off her glasses. I was able to see her eyes much more clearly. A beautiful deep purple and her silver mane was tied back into a pony tail. I couldn’t help but admire her. Then I felt a sharp punch to the head.

“Son of a bitch,” I felt my head ring like a bell. I look up and saw Silver Spoon look at me puzzled.

“Alright lover-boy, you can ogle her later, “ Apple Fritter scoffed.

“R-right, team this is 2nd Lt Silver Spoon, she was with the 9th Recon Company, she is the only survivor. Treat her kindly and please show her the proper respect,” I said stoically trying to sound cool. I sound like such a loser. My team started exchanging greeting and I started heading towards the trench that leads into the city.

“So what’s the game plan?” Silver Spoon asked.

“We are heading to the Stalliongrad City Mall to retake the forward outpost. Let’s go. I’ll take point,” I began to march down the narrow trench. Body parts, blood, shell casings and boxes were scattered all throughout the walls and floor. I continued and entered another junction full of artillery shells. We continued moving.

******************************************************************************************

It was quiet, the gunfire halted and the fires continued to burn. That was a bad sign. We made it to the end of the Equestrian trenches. I stuck my head over looking into no pony’s land. Craters, mud and the remains of ponies and zebras. littered the ground. We had to clear 100 yards of open field to make it to enemy trenches. We all looked over the trench wall, it was extremely muddy and a low fog rolled in.

"Silent Night, can you check the enemy trenches for activity," I tried to look as close as I could, but the fog was obscuring my view.

"I can't see any movement, wait a minute..." she turned a bit to the left, I lifted my head a bit higher. I felt a bullet hit me right in the left ear and a second on hit me in the chest piercing my armor, knocking me down to the muddy trench below. My EFS showed my head and body was crippled and that I was losing blood. A healing potion was then administered to me through my power armor. I opened my eyes to see my squad returning fire while Silver Spoon had her PipBuck plugged into me. I saw her lips move but I couldn't hear. My ears were ringing. I tried to stand up, my hooves felt heavy. Silver Spoon helped me up. I still couldn't hear her. I climbed out of the trench, my power armor was still repairing the damaged armor and my ear hadn't fully healed back yet. I saw a zebra fall out of a tree, probably the one who shot me. Bullets from the enemy machine gun began to hit me, bouncing off and leaving dents in my armor. They hurt, but I can take it. I spun up my gattling cannon and opened fire at the enemy trench.

"You dumb motherfuckers!" I yelled. I still couldn't hear, but I assumed it came out something like that. I watched my cannon tear through their trench. My squad stopped firing at them and began to slowly turn left and right to keep them down. Suddenly a massive fireball erupted in the zebra trench. I stopped shooting to see zebras scrambling throughout the trench. Most of them seemed to be on fire. I chuckled and the fell over. I felt my armor slightly sink into the mud. I exhaled and blacked out.

Footnote: Level Up!
Perk added: Concentrated Fire: When firing big guns, you no longer suffer from a accuracy reduction while firing for an extended period of time.

Chapter 4: The Trenches pt. 2

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"Where one is weak, another is strong, and thus unified, they are a formidable force!"

I felt as if I was hit by a delivery wagon. My head pulsed and ached. I felt pressure building at the back of my skull as if it was like two minutiae ponies were trying to break free. I opened up one of my eyes to find a blur of colors. I couldn’t really hear. Everything looked and sounded so blurry. Am I dying? I pondered this question many times in my lucid state. I began to close my eye again until the sudden rush of realization hit me like a tidal wave as a bucket of water was dumped on me. I began to cough as the sounds and sights began to clear up. Once again my eyes were fixed on Silver Spoon looking over me. I could here the
gunfire if Apple Fritters battle saddle nearby.

“Oh thank Celestia you’re alive,” Silver Spoon gasped. I looked around to find myself in a muddy, charred up ditch. This was no ordinary ditch, this was the one I set ablaze.

“What happened? I rubbed my head trying to alleviate the pain.

“Here take this,” Silver Spoon shoved a pill down my throat.

“What was-,” Silver Spoon her hoof over my mouth.

“Shhh, just trust me, it will make everything better,” I began to feel a bit dizzy. Did she just drug me? “Don’t fight it let it work it’s course.”

What did you-,” my ability to think was crippled by an overwhelming sense of nausea. I began to vomit violently coughing up strange colored liquids what I could only imagine as healing potions mixed with blood. After what felt like a eon of gut wrenching pain, my headache and my other internal wounds felt like distant memories. I sprang up, only to duck back down to avoid incoming fire.

“There do you feel better,” Silver Spoon smiler. How she could smile so innocently while bullies whirled past our heads was beyond me.

“Groggy and sore but still in on piece. Where is my armor,” I noticed I was only wearing the interface jumpsuit that we wear under the armor.

“Well to put it simply, it’s FUBAR,” she replied.

“FUBAR?” I asked.

“Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. By the time we got to you, the armor was half sunk into the mud. Apple Fritter and Rori tried their best to dislodge it but stuck to the earth like concrete. We had to scuttle your armor and weapons.”

“Great, now my odds of survival are even less likely,” I said. I saw Silent Night and Star Charm jump over the trench walk and spring forward. I peeked my head over a bit to find them hiding behind some rocks, shooting back at the enemy. I felt a bullet whiz past my ear. I shuttered and turned around. I ran over to a box breaking it open and pulled out a strange looking rifle. It's base was a nice polished wood with a scope on top. I gripped it with my magic pulling the charging handle back. Inside the box was a belt with 3 magazines and a utility belt to hold the mags. I quickly put them on and put a magazine in the gun and releasing the bolt. I crawled up on the trench wall using the scope to look around. I spotted a young zebra manning a machine gun firing sporadically in all directions. I pulled the trigger of the mysterious rifle. It fired three shots. I missed... The young zebra ducked down as my shots where high striking the ground behind him. I could have sworn I saw a spark from one of the impacts. I steadied myself as much as I could. I took a deep breath and shot. One round plowed into his machine gun and the other two hit him in the chest. Like the fires of a Pheonix, the zebra burned bright red. Within minutes, his screams died and his body was no longer visible. Never in my entire career have I seen such a devastating and cruel weapon. I heard the sound the a whistle blowing and a battalion of zebra's came charging towards our trench.

"Here they come!" Apple Fritter began to fire her grenade machine gun. "Yeehaw! Come get some motherbuckers!"

"Rori, mow them down!" I yelled.

"With pleasure," she spun up her minigun and began to spray a hail of bullets into swarm of zebras. I continued to shoot at the charging force, I took another shot. I hit the zebra in the head and he collapsed into a burn corpse. After about 10 minutes if fighting I heard two whistles blow. The zebras started retreating. I continued to fire as they fled hitting one in the hoof igniting his whole coat in flames. He collapsed into a trench.

“Looks like the zebras are loosing their touch,” Rori said, she reloaded her ammo in her minigun, the loud clang echoed in the empty wasteland.

“Sound off!” I yelled.

“One!” Apple Fritter yelled.

“Two!” Rori yelled.

“Three!” Silent night yelled.

“Four!” Star Charm yelled.

“Five!” Silver Spoon sounded off in a loud but firm voice. She hasn’t been to the front much. This is probably her first real action in the war.

“Apple Fritter take point, we are moving to the enemy trenches, we are about 6 miles out from skyscraper row. Celestia is only giving us a few more hours of daylight to get out of here. Let’s move out,” I commanded, well all formed up in a wedge with Apple Fritter leading the pack. We slowly moved through the wasteland and jumped down into the opposite trench and began to move throughout it. It was abandoned. No pony has set hoof in these trenches is many moons.

“Die star spawn!” A zebra charged and knocked Apple Fritter down, a loud crack came from the zebra and his left front hoof hung limp. He for sure broke his shoulder. I saw Silver Spoon run and tackle him. He quickly bucked her off and tried to escape. Star Charm than ran up the side of the wall getting around us jumping onto the back and taking him to the ground.

“You are a traitor to our kind, how dare you be a slave to a pony tyrant.”

“The only slave I see is you, you serve a Caesar who fights purely for the color of gems on his crown,” Stark Charm shoved his face into the dirt.

"I am no slave, Caesar will free these lands!” He yelled.

“Yet you serve him like the common dog,” Star Charm replies, before he could respond Star Charm snapped his neck. "Be free my brother," she got up off the fallen zebra. "Is Apple Fritter all right?" she asked walking past me to Apple Fritter.

"I'm all right. Little bugger just knocked me over," Apple Fritter replied.

"Ok ,lets keep moving, we only got about an hour till the sunsets," Once Princess Luna took over the throne she instituted marshal law and had the sunset changed from 1900 to 1700 hours. Keeps the ponies safe at night but turns the battlefield into a nighttime massacre. The bat ponies usually come out during the nights and abduct zebras from their trenches. At least the rumor goes. I don't see to many of them, I've only ever seen one and she was standing next to Princess Luna.

"Apple Fritter, let me take point this time," Rori walked squeezed past Apple Fritter. We began to walk forward. The trenches were filled with dead zebras and ponies alike. There was very little decay on their bodies. They must be the remains of the lost pony battalion. The sun started to set. There was no way we were going to make it out. I prayed to Celestia that there were no bat ponies under the shield.

"Napoleon Cake? The sun is starting to set, what should we do?" Silver Spoon asked. We can't make camp, we are in the zebra controlled trenches, they are probably going to use the night to repopulate the trenches.

"We are going to have to keep moving. Lets pick up the pace," we changed speeds from a walk to a trot. The I could tell the mud from the power armor is getting stuck in the servos of Apple Fritter's and Rori's armor. We eventually made our way to an outpost. "Search the area. You got 5 minutes to find what we can and we got to move. I walked over to a locker and opened it. It contained ammunition for a weapon I didn't have. I broke the box open next to it, I found enough bullets to refill one mag of my Zebra Rifle. I only had one spare and half of the mag that was loaded into the gun.

"Sir! You need to come see this!" Silent Night yelled from the other room. I walked towards Silent Night with Silver Spoon and Apple Fritter following close behind.

"Oh mah Celestia..." Apple Fritter whispered solemnly. Silver Spoon screamed in terror. It was a torture room. There were multiple ponies in several stages of decay. The scent of death emanated from every corner of the room. Silver Spoon ran out.

"Check the bodies and retrieve dog tags... If there are any," I took every ounce of strength not to throw up. I walked up to a pony hanging on the wall. Her body was still warm. Her coat and mane were filthy, I couldn't really see the color through the mud caked on her body. I poked her a few times and her eyes shot open screaming.

"You can't kill me you zebra motherfuckers! If I ever get out of here I'm going to rip your head off and shove my hoof down your throat."

"Woah, woah, woah. I'm not a zebra, I'm a pony!" I replied, she continued to struggle and pull against the chains.

"Easy now, we are Steel Rangers," Apple Fritter took off her helmet and visually gagged on the smell of the room. She gave me her pistol. "Please sir, get 'er down I'll be right back," Apple Fritter left the room, presumable to throw up. I shot the chains restricting her hooves. She fell to into the piss soaked mud. She then charged me knocking me on my back and began to strangle me.

"I'm not stupid, I'll never fall for such a stupid ruse. I'll kill you! I'll Kill you!" she screamed. Silent Night knocked her off me and pinned her to the ground.

"You need to calm down before, I have to put you down," Silent Night held her down and she continued to struggle. I began to cough and rub my neck. Apple Fritter punched her in the face.

"Snap out of it!" she yelled. Apple Fritter hit her too hard and knocked her unconscious. "Oops, mah bad."

"Apple Fritter," I coughed. "You knocked her out, she is now your responsibility," she snickered and picked up the mysterious mare and put her over her back. We walked back outside towards open air. I took a deep breath, the air was stale and filled with gunpowder and mud but it beat being in there. "Lets keep moving."

The sun was hanging low in the sky, the trenches from here were empty. The screams of ponies and zebra always seemed nearby but could never be found. Nothing could put my mind at ease, constantly did the screams put me on edge. Night began to set in. Once the sun was fully down, spotlights rained down on the trenches. Watch towers from the edge of the trenches were in constant search of anything moving. Occasionally a zebra would get jumpy and begin to rapidly spray targets. The screaming began louder. Luna's special forces were among us. I could see the slight glint of the black armor her elite troops wore. Then I saw them dive down dropping small bombs onto their targets. Their kind slept during the day but at night, they ruled the skies dominate zebra's, griffons and dragons alike. I heard the whistle of a bomb falling.

"Get down!" I fell to the ground, a bomb hit the outside of the trench. "Run!" We began to sprint down the narrow trench, bombs continued to rain down on us showering in mud. We then made it to another outpost. I could see the edge of the zebra trenches about 600 yards away guarded by fence. Bombs continually hit the outpost striking the doors and roof above. After what felt like an eternity, the bombs stopped. Then a group of bat ponies kicked in the door. We pointed our guns at them and theirs to us.

"Drop your weapons!" one of the masked bat ponies yelled. One of them tackled me to the ground.

"Hold you fire!" I yelled. I looked at the mask more closely, it was a blue visor that covered their eyes, but I could see a hint of the yellow eyes beneath.

"Night Guards, stand down. They are ponies. Whats your name, rank, service number and affiliation," the bat pony helped me up.

"My name is Napoleon Cake, 1st Lieutenant, service number: U4759SR, 332nd Expeditionary Battalion 3rd Company."

"My apologies sir," she saluted. "I am 1st Sargent Midnight Shine. If I may ask sir, where is your power armor?"

"It's been destroyed, it sunk in the mud once the servos blew out upon taking high caliber machine gun fire," I sighed, I sat down on the wood floor. I shuttered a bit expecting mud but i hit a solid wood floor. "Be at ease. We are moving towards the zebra command center. We've recovered one survivor no signs of pony life besides her."

"That's unfortunate, we've been hearing screams of ponies but as soon as we find the source of the screaming its already to late."

"According to 2nd Lt. Silver Spoon, an entire battalion was on a death charge as soon as the shield went up but they haven't been seen since, is there anypony else with you," I asked, I was puzzled because if the bat ponies survived I'm sure there are others.

"We have on 2 flights of Shadowbolts led by General Rainbow Dash," Midnight took off her visor, her bright yellow eyes felt like they could see through to my soul. Her bat like ears had tufted fur and she wore a sweet smile on her face.

"Wait, General Rainbow Dash is inside the dome?" I stood up.

"Yes she flew back in at the last minute, she said she couldn't leave anypony behind, but that's the Element of Loyalty for you. She said we are going to establish a forward base to attack the town center where the zebra's have fortified as their command post."

"So their's hope after all," Rori chimed in.

"Yeehaw!" Apple Fritter roared. "Whatcha waitin' for, lets go find er and take down those mother fuckers."

"Well, currently we are located here," she marked the Ministry of Awesome hub on my map. It was on the other side of the square. "As you are aware, you are here," she marked our location as the safe house. Unless you want to make a 3 day detour to try to go around this mess, I suggest we organize an pincer attack."

"I agree, its pointless to walk all the way around, more chance to get spotted and killed. We are currently heading to Stalliongrad City Mall and enter through the south," I look down at my map, we'd have a straight shot at the compound from there.

"That actually works out for us, the spotlights in the sky are on top of the mall, our flight time is restricted to the night leaving the Shadowbolts almost blind and us in short numbers. We've been picking off stragglers coming back in and stealing weapons and ammo."

"Midnight, we need to get going," one of the bat ponies said pointing at her watch.

"Alright... Here take this communicator," she gave me an earbloom. "That way we can stay in contact and monitor your position, we'll let the general know we still got ponies on the ground."

"Do you think you can take the pony we recovered? She is in no fighting shape, we found her in a torture chamber," I asked levitating the mare over to me.

"Black Wings, whats our time window?" she asked.

"We got about four hours."

"I don't see why not, we'll take her back to the MAW building. Black Wings, take the injured and let them know we are on our way back," I levitated the pony onto Black Wings, he opened the back door. Midnight put her visor back on. "I'll keep in touch, I sleep during the day so you'll only be able to talk to me at night but I'll give it to a Shadowbolt during the day if you need it."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Good luck," I saluted.

"Thank you, I'll let you know when we make it back to the base. Night Guards! RTB!" the Night Guards ran out the door and took off into the night sky. I shut the door, we had about four hours till the sun came up so we might as well rest here.

"Alright everyone we are camping out here. We will sleep in 3 hour shifts. I want two ponies up at all time. Strength in numbers. Silver Spoon and I will take the first shift. I reached into my saddle bags and pulled out a magic heat lamp. I place a spark battery inside and watched as the device began to glow a soft orange. I placed it in the middle of the room and felt the subtle wave of heat. Everyone else was either asleep or getting ready to sleep. Apple Fritter remained in her armor. I couldn't tell if she was sleeping or not. Rori however got out of her armor and slept on the ground. Our zebra companions slept next to each other laying their heads on the stock of Silent Night's sniper. I chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Silver Spoon inched a bit closer to me.

"Oh nothing... Well it's just if I didn't know any better it's like we were all camping," I replied.

"Camping? With all our weapons and equipment?" she giggled at me. The sound of artillery fire shook the bunker we were in. The whistle was hardly audible. They were shelling close by but not enough to be worried about.

"You know sometimes I stay up at night thinking of when the war is going to end. When I get to go back home and sleep without the fear of an artillery strike or ambush," I paused for a moment. "Say Silver, where are you from?"

"I'm from a small community called Ponyville. My parents were never around and I was raised by the head maid, life wasn't the easiest but I always had my friends to count on. My best friend is stationed at Shattered Hoof Prison," I shuddered and clenched my eyes shut. I can feel the pain in my stomach as the memories of being left for dead and the continuation of the battle. I like out a quiet whimper. "Are you okay, Napoleon?"

"I'm fine... Bad memories is all."

"Have you been to Shattered Hoof?" I didn't respond. Silver Spoon wrapped her hooves around me. "My mother when she was around always said a hug makes the darkest days brights," I smiled at her.

"Silver... I was left for dead at Shattered Hoof. We'd been fighting for 3 days straight. By the end of it I was bleeding out and left for dead. I was part of Big Macintosh's squad. All of a sudden I saw a yellow Pegasus fly over and moments later, I was healed. I was able to walk again, my wounds were gone. By the time I got my bearings the battle had reset. Whatever spell healed me healed the enemy. When I got back to camp, Big Mac was shot and as the commanding officer of the squad. I was held responsible for the assassination attempt on Princess Celestia. I was demoted back to a 1st Lieutenant and then I volunteered for the Steel Ranger Program and now I'm here."

"Wow, I'm sorry... I didn't know. I know this probably doesn't make you feel better but, right before I went to Stalliongrad, I had a big fight with my best friend. The one at Shattered Hoof. The last thing she said to me was that she hope's I get my head blown off because the world is better without me..." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "But I don't blame her, she has a temper and..." I wrapped my hooves around her.

"You know, my mother told me its okay to let your guard down every once in a while and cry. Even the strongest pony cries," Silver Spoon hugged me tight and began to quietly sob. I rubbed her back. "If I can be honest, if I told that to my best friend before he left for a dangerous mission. It tear me up inside."

"Can I be honest about something?" Silver Spoon was blushing softly.

"Uh.... Sure, go ahead."

"Just in case I die, there is something I want to do first... Close you eyes if you please," I closed my eyes, I then felt the velvety soft lips of Silver Spoon. My heart felt like it stopped. Silver Spoon pulled away and I opened my eyes to a beet red Silver Spoon. "I'm sorry, please don't be mad. It was my first kiss and..."

"Shh..." I sighed. I pulled her close to me. "Let's just enjoy the moment while we have it," then I heard a snicker from the statue-like Apple Fritter. Her snicker broke into a full laugh.

"Mah Celestia, Napoleon. Did a war really need to break out in order for you to get laid," Apple Fritter chuckled.

"Wow Apple Fritter thanks for being such a team player and volunteering for the next shift. Please wake up Star Charm and stand guard," I rolled my eyes. I looked over at Silver Spoon, her face was as red as a chili. I laid my saddlebags down and offered them to Silver Spoon, she quietly accepted my gift and rested her head on them. I then scowled at Apple Fritter who just waved at me in return. I rolled my eyes again and laid down close to Silver Spoon.

"I'm so embarrassed," Silver Spoon was covering her face with her hooves.

"If it makes you feel better, you were my first kiss too..." I then turned to face the other direction. I began to drift off to sleep. Oh Celestia what have I done...

Footnote: Character Perk Added!
Perk added: Battlefield Recon: Congrats! You've reached max affinity with Silver Spoon! While traveling with her you gain a plus 2 to perception and spotted enemies will remain lit on your EFS even when out of sight.

Chapter 5: Seize the Siege

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"Strategy is paramount to victory. I'll prove exactly that to you."

I've been up for a few hours. A thick fog has rolled over the battlefield and the fighting has stopped. The stench of rotting corpses and mud grew stronger by the minute. Thousands of dead ponies and zebras were consumed by this fog and sunk deep into the mud. After the camp was packed up we moved into the fog. Silver Spoon clung to my side as we walked through the narrow passage. I haven't said a word to her since last night. My heart began to thump hard in my chest. I looked visibly distressed and she gave me a comforting smile. I took a deep breath and continued moving. Gunfire then broke out. Everypony scrambled towards the floor. I soon realized we were not the ones being shot at. Rori, Apple Fritter, turn on your thermal sights, I want to know where this gunfire is coming from.

"I'm on it!" Rori yelled.

"I found em!" Apple Fritter yelled! She took off running down the trenches. As we were nearing the end edge of the trenches, we found a group of ponies shooting from the trenches out into an open area. They barricaded the entrance with a variety of boxes and tables. "What's going on here?" Apple Fritter yelled out. One of the ponies panicked and shot her only for the bullet to be deflected off the armor into the trench wall.

"A Steel Ranger?" a pony looked at Apple Fritter confused.

"We're saved!" another cried out. The small group cheered as we finally caught up to her.

"Reinforcements? a third pony said.

"Apple Fritter suppress the enemy, I need confirmation they are zebras. This fog is thick I don't want to be shooting blue on blue.

"Sun!" Apple Fritter called out. "Sun!" she called out again.

"1st Lt Napoleon Cake come in," a raspy voice of a mare emanated from the earpiece.

"This is Napoleon, go for secure."

"Napoleon, this is Commander Rainbow Dash, I need a sitrep. Apple Fritter and Royal Ribbons armor tags are showing you across the mall but your armor's last contact was yesterday in no-pony's land."

"My armor was bogged down and stuck in the mud, my team scuttled it after I was knocked out from a high caliber round while making contact with the enemy."

"Well shit, would could had used another pair, who's left in your team, from my terminal it says you were a squad of six including yourself."

"Our causalities are as follows, Milk Tart... KIA in the initial shelling of the base... Star Chaser... MIA he never made it to the rally point... the rest of the team are green. We also picked up a survivor from the 9th Recon Company, 2nd Lt Silver Spoon she has been added to my ranks in order to bolster our forces."

"Roger that, I have new intel for ya, last night Midnight Shine and her group spotted a Zebra camp arming ponies who were painted with black and white stripes. My Shadowbolts confirmed the same thing. These ponies are to be assumed traitors and will be shot on sight. I'm sending the video feed to your PipBuck, watch your backs trust no one. The 3rd Army lead by Applejack herself has the entire city surrounded so once the commander is dead the shield will lower and we will take the city. That's all for now, Rainbow Dash over and out.

I said nothing. I look over the makeshift barricade and lifting a pair of binoculars to my eyes. I saw two zebra continuing to fire at Apple Fritter, their bullets did nothing more than put small dents in her armor. Silent Night set up her sniper over the barricade and after a few moments fired off a shot. I looked back over to see the other zebra fleeing only to be cut down by Apple Fritter's gattling gun. Shortly after we regrouped, we moved out. We were now 10 strong. We continued to march forward into the abandoned streets. Shot up and burnt out wagons littered the road. Stalliongrad for the first time in years fell silent.

*********************************************************************************

A few hours went by as we marched into the city proper. An eerie silence washed over the city. The once vibrant and tall red skyscrapers now left blasted out shells, their glass long broken; shattered on the streets below. Once the mall was insight I halted the company and took a brief break behind a toppled delivery wagon. A few of the others opened one up and laid inside. What would come next only Celestia would know. If I can't guarantee these ponies lives I'll at least let them enjoy their last few moments in good company. I sat down in one of the wagons and closed the door. I could hear all of them laughing outside and making jokes around a heat lamp. The fog had rolled back in. I pulled up a map on my PipBuck to see where the mall was in comparison to enemy HQ. With the fog Silent Night is going to have her work cut out for her. The door to my wagon opened and in came Silver Spoon.

"Is this a bad time?" she asked taking a seat next to me.

"No..." I sighed looking out a small window in the wagon.

"Are you alright? You seem a little tense..."

"I'm just a bit anxious that's all," she wrapped her hooves around me and kissed me. Her embrace felt warming. Even though the rest of the platoon was outside, it was nice to have a small moment of privacy. I kissed her back making the seconds feel like hours. I held her in my hooves as she laid spread across my hooves. She shut her eyes as I embraced her. I used my magic to remove her glasses as she slept. We got one hour before we start the final operation. I'll have to radio Rainbow Dash and Midnight Shine. I looked back down at Silver Spoon. Her brilliant silver mane now spotted with mud and dust, I could only image the train wreck I look like.

"If we make it out of here, will you go on a date with me with?" she asked sleepily. Silver seemed pretty worn out. We covered miles of trenches and roads in the span of a few days.

I smiled at her and whispered, "If we live, you'll have nothing short of Canterlot," she giggled in response and I laid back and closed my eyes.

I awoke to my Rori shaking the wagon. The camp was silent and the faint red glow of the heat lamp was gone. I woke Silver Spoon up. I looked at her and gave her kiss. She blushed and I opened the door. The ponies of my platoon were waiting in a circle for me to come out. Silver Spoon followed me out and stood next to me. I pressed a button on my PipBuck and a hologram of the square popped up. I turned on the radio.

"General Rainbow Dash, come in, come in Rainbow Dash," I said into my ear bloom I rerouted it into the speaker into my PipBuck.

"This is Rainbow Dash. Good evening 1st Lt Napoleon Cake. Midnight Shine is here as well. Are you outside the mall?"

"Yes, if all goes as plan I am going to set up my sharpshooter on top of the mall and we are going fight them head-on."

"Napoleon, recon shows approximately 300 strong. They are well dug in, a frontal assault won't be an option. At least not without some help. My Shadowbolts have been working day and night for the last day as the zebra's consolidated their force in the square. We've set up several hundred pounds of C-4 at the base of the building to the east of the mall, directly across from the Ministry building. We are going to drop the building on them. It's all or nothing Napoleon, this final push makes or breaks the battle of Stalliongrad and could be a turning point in the war. Do not let all the ponies sacrifices be in vain. You got one hour to get set up. After that, we will be providing aerial support. Good luck soldiers. May Celestia bless us all!" she yelled and the communicator fell silent.

"Hooah!" the platoon yelled.

"I'm not going to promise you sunshine and rainbows or that all of you will make it out of here alive, but I will tell you one thing. The fate of this operation rest solely on each one of you. Remember who your fighting for, remember the reason why we left home, remember why we took up arms to defend our lands, remember the pain they brought to us. When they slaughtered the little fillies and colts at the Luna Academy or the eradication of the Buffalo Tribes. We live and fight not only to avenge them but to stop evil wherever it may turn. My orders are simple... Fight until every single one of them lies dead or die trying!" the shouted. The ponies began to stomp their hooves. I then divided the teams, I brought four other ponies into Alpha Company: Apple Fritter, Myself and three other ponies from the other company will lead an assault flanking the zebras and cutting off their escape. Bravo Company will include Rori, Star Charm and the remaining ponies from the company we found at the edge of the trench. Bravo Company will head up the main assault. Charlie Company will include Silver Spoon, Silent Night and a bat pony once night falls from Midnight Shine's unit and will provide sniper support from the mall. "May Celestia watch over all of us."

"Hey before we go I just wanted to say I lo..." I interrupted Silver Spoon and kissed her.

"I know..." I walked away and joined my company.

After we split up we headed out into the fog. We had 45 minutes to get into position before Rainbow Dash brought the wrath of Equestria onto the Zebras. As we moved through the fogs I could hear whispers calling me through the fog. I ignored them and continued to march. We got to rally point. I pulled up my zebra rifle with my magic. I strapped a bandoleer across my chest and put six mags into it. I took a deep breath and felt the anxiety wash over me. I sat down and looked at my rifle. My eyes flashed back to the trenches at Shattered Hoof. I felt a deep pain in my stomach.

My radio crackled, and Rainbow Dash's voice came over the airwaves, "Napoleon, Operation Lightning Tower is a go!"

I stood up taking point in my platoon. We waited for a brief moment until several loud explosions followed by ear-splitting sound of shattering glass. I looked at one of the four buildings surround the square began to creak and buckle. I could hear several the rivets and plates on the build snap. That building was coming down.

"Get down!" I dove behind a delivery wagon, the building came down crushing the center of the square and a massive wave of debris and dust covered the area. After a few seconds, I got up and levitated goggles out of my saddlebags. "Let's get moving!"

We moved forward through the dust cloud. A fire had broken out in the square and ash began to rain down. As the dust began to settle the fog stayed at bay. We no longer had the cover of the fog to protect us. I heard Bravo Company's gunfire as the began to engage the enemy. We began to run towards the square taking cover behind a large steel beam that came off the building. There were no zebra's insight, we moved on carefully but swiftly. The building tore up the street with subterranean pipes now spewing sludge and steam. I look towards the mall. I could see the glint from Silent Night's sniper scope. I could only imagine what this mess looks like from up there. My EFS showed lots of red pips that would change from red to yellow constantly. I couldn't figure out why. Gunfire then broke out in our direction. Seems they are covering their flanks.

"Apple Fritter!" I yelled.

"Yea, I'm on it," Apple Fritter began to hose down the enemy with a maelstrom of bullets. I began to crawl with the rest of the ponies closer to the enemy position. I peeked around the corner to see several ponies painted with black and white stripes, their cutie marks painted over with the zebra glyph marks.

"Oh hell no!" I shouted. I gave away my position and the ponies open fired. My team and I returned fired. One of the striped ponies charged at me with a spear. I grabbed him with my magic and threw him into a concrete block with the rebar impaling his body. Before I knew it, I had been shot 4 times and felled 3 more. Apple Fritter and the rest of the team cut down the rest.

I felt blood began to pool in my suit. My breathing became heavy. I slowly walked forward to one of the stripped pony's looking at him dead in the eye. He glared back at me propping himself against a wall.

"I have nothing to say to you or your disillusion princess!" he spit in my face. I dropped the zebra rifle out of my magic and punched him across the face and we rolled on the ground kicking and punching each other. After about 10 minutes of exchanging blows, Silver Spoon pulled me off him. He laughed at me, "Looks like your marefriend has come to save you," he laughed spitting out a tooth.

Silver Spoon calmly took off her glasses, folded them and placed it in her saddlebag. "Unlike my coltfriend here, I won't give you fighting chance," she pulled out her pistol grasping it in her mouth and shot the pony in the left hind leg. "Now you're going to tell me what you're doing here, fighting for the Zebras.

"Fuck off slu-," before he could finish his response Silver Spoon shot him in the front right leg. The pony cried out in pain.

"No pony is coming to save you. Trust me when I say it's just me and you. But I may be willing to trade a healing potion for some information," she said slyly. She pulled a healing potion from her bag and placed in on the floor in front of him. Instinctively, the striped stallion reached for it only for Silver to push it out of reach. "I want info, you want healing. That's the deal here."

The stallion paused for a moment and replied, "Fuck you, I'm not talking!"

Silver Spoon sighed and shot his rear right leg. "If you don't give me what I want, I'll just take something else," she pulled out a knife and pointed it at the stallion's now glyph mark. "That doesn't look like a cutie mark. I'll have to send it to the MoM for deciphering."

"Do you think you scare me? Go ahead poke some holes in me, it will only make my cause stronger!" he yelled and a pony jumped over some rubble only to have his head blown off by Silent Night.

"It's a shame about your friend and your flank. Napoleon sweetie, this stallion doesn't know what his special talent is. If there is one thing I know how to do... its to hurt blank flanks!" she took her knife and began to cut off the stripped stallions glyph mark. He screamed in excruciating pain. She then cut a small circle around the glyph mark on the other side. "You got 30 seconds. Start. Talking."

The mare was breathing heavily, "No more! We were soldiers just like you. We defected slowly. I've been here since the Battle of the Buffalo's," she began to pant, the pain caused him major discomfort. She winced with every slight movement. Silver pointed the knife at her again and I pulled Silver away, my wounds were no longer gushing blood. "I kept in contact with some friends back home and what life was like in Zebrika and in their army. I got more to defect and more kept coming. Eventually, whole battalions defected in the heat of battle. Once the shield went up over Stalliongrad. That charge was their defection. They left and met up with the commander. The commander painted them with Zebra stripes in order to know who was on who's team. However, those damn Griffons started to catch on and kill the officers. It was a few days till we tracked them down and captured them."

"Where is the battalion now?" I asked.

"Most are now dead. That stunt crushed 90% of the zebra forces," she coughed up blood. "Can I have the potion now?" he asked. I motioned to Silver Spoon who picked it up in her mouth. She then drank the contents of the potion and kissed me spitting the potion into my mouth forcing me to swallow.

"What the hell?' I coughed. She giggled and shot the stripped pony in the head.

"We don't negotiate with traitors. Under ECMJ 38-12K, any deserters or traitors found in the field must be dealt with swiftly and without prejudice," tears began to well in her eyes and she threw her hooves around me. She buried her face into my chest. "I'm so sorry... I'm not sure what came over me..."

"War does things to a pony... Silver, forget about it, and let's keep moving," my mind kept playing back to her torture of the stripped stallion. I couldn't get it out of my head. I tried my best to ignore it. I had Apple Fritter take point. I hung back to Silver Spoon and stared at her. Her mane and face covered in blood spatter.

"You probably hate me for that don't you?" she asked me. She looked at the ground as we trotted on.

"No... but we are going to have to talk about what happened there."

"I felt a rage... a surge of emotion I haven't felt since I was little more than a filly," She stared at me. Her soft magenta eyes glimmered with tears as they welled.

"Let's focus on completing the mission. Remember if we survive I still owe you that date," kissed her on the cheek. she giggled and it seemed like her mood instantly improved.

"Sir, if I may, who is that pony?" a pony in combat armor with a light orange coat asked.

"She is a recon officer. However, that display she put on is thanks to the MoM."

"The Ministry of Morale?"

"Yes, the MoM trains any type of officers who specialize in intelligence. Pinkie Pie wanted her ponies to be able to extract information on the battlefield without the need for capture so every pony is gone through a type of brainwashing and torture training. As cruel as it was... I've seen much worse," the other pony cringed at the sound of it.

We continued walking until we reached the main battlefield. Rori was engaged in a brutal firefight with the bulk of the enemy forces. Shadowbolts and the Night Guards alike were providing air support continually. We began to open fire on the enemy. Cutting down a majority of initial forces who were caught off guard. After that, a zebra mortar team began to rain down ordinance on our location. We split up. I found myself alone among the rubble. I poked my head up and began to fire my zebra rifle at the enemy. I saw Apple Fritter continue to push forward. She was taking major fire from the enemy. Most were ricocheting off into different directions. I then heard an ear-splitting sound as if a shot pierced the heavens themselves. I looked at Apple Fritter who fell to her knees. A bullet had pierced her armor.

"Rori! Save her!" I jumped over the rubble and began to run towards her. Apple Fritter looked over at me and a bullet pierced her neck armor and exited the other side into the ground. She fell with a large thud. "No!" I screamed.

"I heard Rori over the coms calling in airstrikes on the zebra's. Multiple Shadowbolts including Rainbow Dash herself were diving in and strafing the Zebra's on the ground. They dropped grenades from under their wings and carpet-bombed the area. I zebra in a strange mask appeared from the top of a rubble pile. He was wearing a battle saddle with an anti-material rifle strapped to it. He took another shot. I ducked my head as it struck the pile of debris. I fired a burst at the zebra. One of the shots chipped a piece of the masks revealing a dark crimson eye beneath. I turned again to take a shot only for his shot to graze my side. I winced in pain. I took a shot but missed by a mile. Rainbow Dash dove down on Zebra and engaged him in hoof to hoof combat. I levitated a healing potion out of my saddlebag and drank it. I felt as the pain in my side subside as I got back up and ran to Rainbow Dash's aid. When I got there she pulled out what seemed to be hoof mounted claws out of the Zebras neck and cut the head off the body.

"Their commander has fallen," She flew up into the sky and hovered over the square. "Attention to all surviving Zebra forces! You have lost. Your commander's head is mine," she held the masked zebra's lifeless head. I walked over to Apple Fritter and removed her helmet. The bullet had completely torn open her windpipe. If the lack of oxygen didn't kill her the blood loss would have. I dropped to my knees and began to cry over her body. I shut her eyes and grabbed her dog tags. Rainbow Dash flew down to me. She patted me on the back. "Good job soldier... I knew her once... Apple Fritter I mean. Back in Ponyville in the year 1000. The Apple family had a reunion during the Summer Sun Celebration. I got to meet a few of them. She wasn't anything more than a young mare at the time. Don't worry I'll give Applejack a call."

"No Ma'am, I'll do it. She was apart of my company. I will take it personally to Applejack," I looked at Rainbow Dash and she pulled out a few small rocks.

"Here have one," I levitated one over to me. I saw her put them in her mouth. I gave her a strange look and then put it into my mouth. It was chocolate. It's been three years since I've had a piece. I savored the delicately sweet flavor.

After a few hours, the shield finally went down. When the first trucks finally arrived the remaining ponies came out of hiding, we counted 5000 ponies. Hardly a battalion... The Battle of Stalliongrad claimed the lives of 1 million ponies with a few thousand missing. The Zebra's suffered 3 million deaths with 300,000 captured. Truly this was a major blow to the zebra's war effort. It was a battle they could never possibly recover from...

Footnote: Level Up!
Perk added: Bleeding Lead: You're tough as nails! The more damage you take from ranged weapons the higher your damage resistance goes.

Chapter 6: Old Friends and New Orders

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”Well, you know us Apples enjoy a good fritter...”

It's been five days since the end of the Battle of Stalliongrad. It was raining hard... Ministry Mare Applejack was towing the funeral wagon in the front of the procession. Applejack wore her signature brown cowboy hat along with a long brown trench coat. Next to Applejack stood Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash. She wore a blue and gold military uniform with a beret atop her head. Behind the ministry mares was an old green mare with an apple scarf wrapped around her neck. After that several other Apple Family members followed them. In the back, was the remaining members of the 3rd Company along with the Midnight Shine and her Nightguards. I was wearing a green military coat with a grey Steel Ranger Barret. We reached a gate with a sign that read 'Apple Family Cemetery.' We stood outside the gate and Applejack called me forward.

"1st Lt. Napoleon Cake..." Applejack's voice was low and raspy. I approached the ministry mare, I stood tall, holding back my tears and sadness.

"Yes Ma'am," I replied. I stood in front of the mare in charge of the MWT.

"Son, I thank ya for your service. And to my Steel Ranger Corps. And thank ya for taking care of mah cousin..." Applejack held out her hoof. I held mine out in return and shook it. "Now, if ya don't mind, I'd like you to be one of the ponies to carry her casket."

"It would be an honor ma'am," the back of the wagon was opened up revealing a cherry wood casket with her cutie mark. Inscribed on the side was the 'An Apple doesn't fall too far or too hard.'

The casket was pulled out and I took my place on the rear right side of the casket. I held my hoof up and we carried it through the gate. In the center of the cemetery stood a large hybrid apple-pear with two gravestones in front of it. We went towards the left side to a freshly dug grave. We placed the casket on a small table and the mayor of Ponyville was standing at the podium. After the mayor gave her speech, several other ponies came up to say a few words. I went up to the podium last to give a short speech on how I knew her.

"Apple Fritter, in the short time I knew here was one of the most loyal soldiers I knew. Always the first to put herself in the way of danger. She feared nothing. Multiple times did I see her run towards gunfire and watch as she'd stand motionless as bullets would ricochet off her. She was truly an amazing pony. Her very present frightened every zebra we came across. Truly, on that final day in Stalliongrad, we lost one of Equestria's greatest warriors," I stepped away from the podium. I called my company to attention alongside Mightnight Shine's flight and saluted Apple Fritter as she was lowered into the ground. Upon the completion of the lowering of the casket. Seven members of the Steel Rangers were standing adjacent to the grave. They were wearing their full military service dress bearing ceremonial rifles. On command, they raised their rifles up to the sky. They fired the first shot. Then the second... Then third... until they finally shot seven rounds each totally up to 21 shots. Then several members of the Apple family began to shovel dirt into the hole. I dismissed my company and told them they were free to leave. After about an hour, it was only me and Applejack standing at the foot of Apple Fritter's grave.

"Ya know... I've never experienced so much pain in such a small amount of time. This war has not only taken a toll on me but mah family..." Applejack sighed.

"Ma'am if I am free to speak..."

Applejack interrupted me, "You don't need to use fancy words right now. We aren't conducting any military or ministry business. Applejack is fine..."

"Applejack," saying her name just felt strange in my mouth. "This war... has shown such depravity and carnage that Equestria hasn't seen since before its founding. I've watching ponies ripe each other apart over food, weapons, money..." I sighed. "You name it I've seen it," Applejack chuckled and walked towards me, she pulled a light brown cowboy hat out of her coat and placed it on my head.

"We Apple's have a tradition. Our hats go with us wherever we go, they are the symbols of the Apple family's hard work and labor, whether that be to produce the greatest apples in Equestria or give our lives defending it. Son, I want you to carry on her spirit. Don't let her die in vain," Applejack paused and took a breath. "Now then, Napoleon Cake you are being promoted back to Captain. You will be leading a new team of Special Forces ponies. Your team will be given experimental power armor, including your zebra's. Don't make me regret this decision. You will report directly to me in Canterlot four days from now."

"Yes, Ma'am!" I shouted.

"As for Silver Spoon, I knew that girl as a filly and she is a right smart one. That being said she will be running your team's intelligence and communications from the nearest MWT hub to your operation zone and will coordinate between any other forces in the area. You will be a mobile taskforce directly controlled by the ministry mares. Your missions will be highly classified and your existence will only be known to the princesses and the Ministry Mares. Enjoy your days off Napoleon. Your victory in Stalliongrad was a major blow to the zebra offensive. Head to the barn you've earned this."

I walked with Applejack to the barn. All of the Apple family including my platoon were waiting in the barn. Photos of Apple Fritter were scattered throughout the room. There was a table filled with different foods and several barrels of hard cider. I proceeded to take my hat off but Applejack stopped me.

"Leave it on," I left the hat on and I began to talk to the other ponies. I learned a lot about Apple Fritter's life. She was a headstrong mare much like Applejack. If anything she lived in her shadow. She was the first Apple to volunteer for Applejack's Steel Ranger Program. She also volunteered to go to Stalliongrad instead of remaining as Applejack's personal guard.

I sat down at one of the tables and levitate a cup of hard cider to me. The cup itself looked like a tiny barrel. Midnight Shine sat down next to me.

"What's wrong?" she asked setting her cider down. In the daylight, I could see the batpony a lot more clearly. Her coat was light grey and her main was light purple. Her eyes weren't as bright as they were back in Stalliongrad. Maybe it was because it was day time.

"Nothing, I just feel like I could have done more you know. Like this was preventable. I have a PipBuck for Celestia's sake and I wasn't watching it. He was able to get a clean shot on Apple Fritter and now our suits have a weakness."

"In all my years of flying, I've learned that it's better to remember what we are fighting for. You're out there to fight not for Celestia, but for the sake of all pony kind. Apple Fritter was a tough pony. Remember her as not just a soldier but as a friend. My mentor once told me she knew a pony who valued friendship so much it pulled her out of a dark of a place," I sat there and thought about what Midnight said. Applejack then stood on a table.

"Attention everypony, I'd like to propose a toast. I promise that this will be the last reunion during the war. Never, to all those Apple's who are serving on the front lines right now I promise that with my next move, I will end the war. To Apple Fritter!" Applejack shouted.

"To Apple Fritter," the whole room shouted in unison. I drank the entire contents of my cup. The cider was sweet and thirst-quenching. I haven't had a good drink outside of dirty water since before the war. I then got up to talk to the party-goers and get more cider. I could see Rainbow Dash and Applejack chatting in the corner of the room about the old days. I couldn't hear very well but they laughed a lot.

*******************************************************************************

As day turned into night, the members of the party slowly left. I headed to the train station. I had let my platoon know to meet at the MWT hub in Ministry Walk. I boarded the train to Canterlot. It was empty with the exception of a purple unicorn sitting in the corner writing in her book. I shrugged it off and opened my journal and began to write.

It's been a while since I wrote in here, but I always carried it with me. My last entry was about a year ago. A lot has happened in a year. I feel the stresses of war finally getting to me. I've seen a lot of ponies die throughout my time in battle but for some reason, the death of Apple Fritter got to me the most. I feel like I could have done more. Thinking back to it I could have used my levitation spell to drag her out of the line of fire. I could have ran out there to help her and provide fire support. Maybe I could have killed that zebra who shot her before he had the chance to kill her. Applejack for some reason saw it appropriate to give me her hat. I'll always carry it with me. It will be my memento to myself to try to save every pony from the horrors of this war. Until peace is brought back I will not rest till I bring the Ceaser to his knees or die trying.'

I looked up from the book and noticed a purple pony with a dark mane with a pink stripe through it. She wore glasses as she was writing in a book and trying some strange symbols. She put the book down and looked up at me. She quickly glanced at me and vanished. In an instant, she appeared right in front of me. It startled me and I fell over.

"Do I know you?" the purple unicorn asked.

"Ma'am I graduated with you at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," it makes a lot of sense she doesn't remember me, she was Celestia's protege after all.

"That's right, I thought you looked familiar, I'm Twilight Sparkle if you don't remember me."

"How could I not remember the head of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences," I said.

"Wow, I didn't know I was so famous," Twilight giggled. "So why are you heading to Canterlot?" she asked.

"I'm on orders to meet Ministry Mare Applejack in four days. I'm a Steel Ranger."

"Oh that's funny, I'm actually meeting with Applejack and Rarity in four days myself we are actually..." Twilight paused and leaned in close to me, "You don't happen to have anything to do with Applejack's secret project do you?" she whispered. "Codeword Napoleon," my ears shot up, was my name the code word?"

"Cake," I responded. Twilight sat back and levitated a gun to my head.

"Now then let's get down to business. How do you know that code word and that information about Applejack's project?" Twilight looked like she wasn't playing around anymore.

"My last unit was part of the 332nd Expeditionary Force, my platoon had Applejack's cousin Apple Fritter as a Steel Ranger alongside myself and unicorn mare from Canterlot," I felt sweat pour down my face. One wrong move and I'd be dead and no one would question it.

"Hmm, I hear that they have a lot of zebra's in the 332nd, how many do you have in your platoon?"

"Only 2 remaining, we've been reorganized into Applejack's new Special Forces unit. I was only told this by the mare herself at Apple Fritter's funeral. As for the code word, Napoleon Cake is my name," Twilight put the gun away as the conductor entered the cabin where we sat in. She sat next to me and nuzzled up against me."

"Just to inform you our arrival in Canterlot will be delayed about an hour in order to pass through security checkpoints. My apologies for the inconvenience," the conductor then politely excused himself from our presence and into the next train car.

"Your story seems to match up what Applejack told me. Just not who is included in this new idea she has. Honestly, I don't know what she is even thinking anymore," Twilight seemed to relax. "Sorry about that, we've had issues with zebra spies lately who've died their coats and assumed other's identities."

"Here I think I know how to make it up to you, grab your stuff and grab my hoof," Twilight said packing her things into her saddlebags. I looked at her my cheeks, she was blushing. "I don't know what you're thinking but you should probably stop thinking about it."

"R-right," I packed my things and grabbed Twilight's hoof.

"Teleport Canterlot," she stated. The world then flashed black and before I knew it we were in Twilight Sparkle's personal office at the MAS hub in Canterlot. "Since you're here I want you to run some field tests for me so I can better calibrate them. She opened the door to her office and we walked out onto a catwalk above a large testing chamber with six sets of power armor laid dormant. She led me down the stairs onto the testing room floor. Twilight lead me to a set of armor that was marginally bigger than the rest of them, most likely due to my size. I took a good look at it. It had the same battle saddle loadout from my previous armor at Stalliongrad. The Gatling Cannon had writing inscribed on it saying : 'Twilight's Star.' On the end of the cannon barrels, there was a star painted connecting the five barrels. I chuckled at it and moved to the anti-material rifle. Inscribed on it was 'Twilight's Vengence.'

"This is impressive," I looked at the armor, I approached the rear of the armor and it opened. The insides were similar to other power armor I've seen.

"Do you like the weapons? I enchanted them myself," Twilight had a smug look on her face. The purple mare then walked around me.

"You really couldn't help yourself on the names could you," I asked. Twilight laughed and looked me over.

"You know you're not a bad looking stallion, it's not too late to become the personal bodyguard of the ministry mares," Twilight giggled. "I'm just joking, I'm sure Applejack has better things for you to do than to accompany little old me," Twilight smiled and walked to a terminal behind the armor. "If you don't mind stepping into the armor for me, I'd like to run some diagnostics."

I stepped into the armor and it enclosed itself around me. The armor locked with a loud metallic click and my helmet interface turned on. The interface was green in this system and not yellow like the old one.

"Weapons system... Online. Life support... Online. Medical supplies... Green. Ammunition... Green. Vital signs... Nominal. Welcome to the U-type 65 power armor system. My designation is the Great and Powerful T.r.I.X.i.E. I'll spare you the details since they aren't important but take good care of me because if you don't. You're not getting back up again," a very haughty voice echoed in my helmet.

"Can you hear me?" Twilight said.

"Yes, I can hear you."

"Good, I see you've gotten acquainted with your onboard AI. T.r.I.X.i.E is modeled after my personal assistant Trixie Lulamoon and as well as her personality.

"The Great and Powerful T.r.I.X.i.E will be running your weapons and armor as well as marking targets for your team and setting navigation coordinates. You should thank T.r.I.X.i.E," A little blue unicorn with a smug look her face appeared in the corner. I rolled my eyes and the face of the unicorn changed to frustration. "You know T.r.I.X.i.E can see your face."

"Twilight is there any AI that is less ugh..." I paused for a moment. "Prideful."

"I'll have you know T.r.I.X.i.E is the most advanced AI out of all of her sisters. T.r.I.X.i.E is more powerful than ever before thanks to Twilight Snarkle."

"She may take some getting used to," Twilight chuckled nervously. "Her personality is unique, we scanned the real Trixie's entire personality and behaviors in order to create this one. She is an almost exact copy, she can also pilot or hijack other machinery or use the special AI power armor that Applejack is working on," AI-controlled power armor? I thought to myself about it and shook it off. A world where ponies wouldn't have to sacrifice their lives.

"Take a walk around the room, Napoleon, I need to calibrate the system for you," T.r.I.X.i.E said, the little face went back to the natural smug look she had in the beginning. I began to walk around the room, it was heavier than my last set of armor. It progressively became lighter and lighter until I almost felt weightless. "Now to calibrate your weapons."

The room shifted and a bunch of holographic targets popped up, the other armors in the room sunk into the floor and were covered by another floor panel. Several holographic zebra's appeared and charged me. I spun up Twilight's Star and began to free at the zebra's. I gunned each one of them down without a thought.

"If you haven't noticed I enchanted the Gatling Cannon to have a higher rate of fire and more punch. In theory, you should be able to shoot through most walls," Twilight continued to watch down from above.

Multiple heavily armored zebra's then appeared running in a line at me. I switched to the Anti-Material Rifle and fired a shot into the crowd of them. It pierced a row of them dropping them instantly. After about 15 more minutes of target practice. The room returned to normal. Twilight then walked down to the now bullet-riddled training floor.

"That was very impressive. I've got some more work to do. But for now, let me walk you out, I'm sure you're tired. T.r.I.X.i.E put the armor in standby mode and you can log off for the night," Twilight hit the emergency failsafe on the back of the armor which ejected me out of the suit and threw me across the room. Twilight giggled at my misfortune. "Seem's the ejector system is working."

"I'll never understand why we need an ejection system," I got up and rubbed my head. Twilight picked me up with her levitation spell and put me next to her.

"Come on, let's get you out of here, your probably tired, it's been a long day," Twilight walked towards the stairs and I followed after her. Once we got to the top we chatted about the old days and what Equestria will be like after the war. She said next time we meet we should go out for tea. Twilight walked me to the front of the building. Ministry row had three buildings on each side of a beautiful plaza garden adorn with multiple statues and topiaries. Each side held three ministries. Right across from the MAS hub was the MoP. To the left of the MoP was the MI hub, to the right of the MI hub was the MoM hub. Unlike the other hubs, the MoM building was bright pink, decorated with balloons and streamers with a large poster of the creepy 'Pinkie Pie is always watching' face. To the right of the MAS was the MWT hub, and to the left was the... I paused for a moment. The MAw hub looked empty. It was early in the evening and the sun had just begun to set but it looked so empty. There was only a single propaganda poster advocating the Shadowbolts on it. Other than that it was empty. I approached the window of the MAw building and peered inside. The front desk was empty. Boxes lined the wall and cobwebs ran rampant from the floors to the ceilings.

"Can we help you?" I turned around to find two well-dressed MoM agents standing behind me.

"No, I was just leaving."

"I think we need to see some identification," the second agent retorted. I rolled my eyes and levitated my military I.D. to them. They slide the card through a weird machine and paused. They looked at it and looked at each other.

"Obviously fake."

"No way some random pony has this level of clearance."

"Probably stole it," I rolled my eyes at them.

"Can I have my I.D. back now, I need it to get into the MWT hub tomorrow."

"We are going to need you to come with us."

"No, I don't. You don't have a warrant, you don't have any reason to be at the MAw hub and my identity checks out, so if you don't mind," I took my I.D. from them and put it in my saddlebag. I proceeded to leave Ministry Walk when one of them stepped in front of me.

"I told you, you're coming with us," the first agent held a stun baton in his mouth. The second agent stood behind me.

"You really want to do this..." I sighed dropping my saddlebags to the floor. I cracked my neck and got into a fighting stance. The first agent charged at me. I immediately dodge him putting both of them in front of me. They began to walk around me and then charged in from different sides. I took a step back and punched one dead in the face knocking him to the floor. The second one then took a few swings at me only lasting a few seconds longer before I incapacitated them. I shook my head, "I warned you."

I picked them up in my levitation spell and walked towards the MoM building. I entered the building to find it a barrage of colors and cake themed items. I was immediately greeted by a receptionist pony who's happy smile turned to shocked as she took notice of what I was holding in my magic.

"Oh my, what happened to them?" she asked me rushing to them.

"They attacked me, I am here on official business for both Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle and Applejack and I am a member of the revered Steel Rangers. I levitated her my I.D. which she plugged into her computer. She made an audible gasp and profusely apologized.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..." the receptionist pony was bowing in front of me.

"Please just don't let it happen again, they can't just beat up any random pony on the street," I said dropping them to the ground. The receptionist pony then picked up her desk phone and two earth ponies came out of a locked door and pulled them inside. The receptionist gave me my I.D. back and said my goodbyes and left the building. It was now fully night. Celestia had set the sun down for the night and Luna was now up to rule the night. I left Ministry Walk and went straight for my hotel. I passed by many shops in cafes all in the progress of closing up for the night. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling I was being watched. I brushed it off as nothing and walked into the hotel and checked in.

"You're in room 101," the desk pony pointed in the direction of my room. I started down the hallway. My exhausted body was ready for the sweet embrace of sleep. The hallway felt long and drawn out, every step I took felt lethargic. When I finally made it to my room I opened the door and shut it. I looked inside to find my luggage. I totally forgot I left them on the train but how did they get here? I saw a small piece of paper on the top of the suitcase that read:

'Dear Napoleon,
I really enjoyed getting reacquainted with you again. It was so good to see you again. Your bags ended up being dropped by my office after the conductor saw me sitting with you on the train so I thought it was appropriate to have my assistant drop them off to you. Turn the note over I left you a little gift.
Yours's truly
Twilight Sparkle'

A photo was attached to the backside of the note, it was a picture, it must have been taken shortly after Twilight ejected me out of the suit. I was airborne with a panicked expression on my face. Twilight was standing by the armor laughing.

"Cute," I folded up the picture and put it in my saddlebags. After taking off my uniform I slipped into bed and drifted off to sleep. However, this was the last time I'd ever get a full night's rest.

Footnote: Perk added!
Perk added: Advanced Power Armor Training: With new technology comes new responsibility. You now know how to operate advanced sets of power armor. While piloting basic sets of power armor your Strength and intelligence is increased by 2.

Chapter 7: Calm Before the Storm (Defense of Van Hoover)

View Online

"Hm, a very valuable lesson to have learned."

It was late in the morning... Celestia's sun was already high in the sky. I pulled Apple Fritter's cowboy hat onto my head. It fit my head rather well. Four days had passed since the funeral, I actually spent it rather productively I went to my shop and baked a small assortment of cookies and cupcakes for my upcoming meeting. I had placed it in my saddlebag before leaving today, a gift for what is to come. I walked into the MWT building and flashed my I.D. The desk pony pressed a button and a door opened to my right. Stepping through it locked me inside a sealed chamber. After a few seconds, a loud buzz came from the door. The door swung open revealing a large open room lined with hundreds of desks where busy ponies toiled away, making phone calls, shredding papers, and drinking coffee. It almost seemed like a normal business. I walked through a small opening between the cubicles into an adjacent elevator. I swiped my card and the elevator raced to the top floor. My heart was racing. I stepped off the elevator and walked through a large door embellished with the logo of the MWT. As I entered the office I saw a purple unicorn in a lab coat, her mane was put up in a tight bun. The light subtly reflected off her glasses and she smiled. Applejack was sitting at her desk in the middle of the room she was mumbling something about magical weapons. There was another pony there as well. Fluttershy, head of the Ministry of Peace. Her peacekeepers were something else entirely. They focused on medicine and healing, they would descend on battlefields unarmed to aid the wounded and dying.

"Well shoot, aren't you up bright and early," Applejack peaked over the two mares. They both turned around Fluttershy's soft smile made the room feel rather warm.

"Hello again Capt. Napoleon," Twilight raised a hoof. I wasn't sure if I should shake it or salute her. I did just enter a military pony's office... After a few seconds of awkward silence, I began to panic going halfway for a hoof shake then saluting.

"Good morning ladies," I said nervously. Twilight chuckled, my eyes darted at Fluttershy.

She smiled at me softly, "Good morning."

"Looks like I trained him too well, can't properly tell the difference between the civilian and military life. So how was yer few days off?" Applejack leaned back in her chair.

"It was good ma'am," I responded. I stiffened up.

"It was good? Is that all you have to say, your friend, and let's not forget my family member died. You didn't do any reflections on your leadership, no self-evaluations, or even thoughts about it?" she raised an eyebrow. I scrambled to come up with an excuse.

"Ma'am I baked these in my spare time. It helped me relieve my stress and frustration due to my failure as a leader. I failed to bring all of my team home and that reflects on my leadership. So in my frustration, I thought baking would ease my mind," I levitated a small wrapped package. I contained an assortment of small cakes and cookies. I set the package on the desk. "I thought I bring you some as a gift."

"So yer bribing me now, aren't ya," she snickered. She unwrapped the package. Each pastry was neatly covered in a protective film. "Feel free to dig in," Applejack gestured to Twilight and Fluttershy. They both grabbed different pastries, carefully unwrapping them. I felt sweat run down my face as they ate them. "At least it ain't poisoned," Applejack sneered.

"If it was poisoned I would have known," Fluttershy said in between bites. I looked over at Twilight, she was levitating two different cookies besides her taking a bite of each one and writing something down on her clipboard.

"Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. Spike can make some good cookies but this one takes the cake," she said. She had a wide grin on her face.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, "Anyways if that's all you needed me for then I must be off. I have a meeting with Pathogen about developing a new counter to the magical gas."

Goodbye Fluttershy, it was nice to see you again," Applejack said.

"I need to get going as well, Napoleon's new equipment is being loaded on the train to Van Hoover now. Good to see both of you again. See you next Sunday for tea Fluttershy," Fluttershy smiled and walked through the doors of the office. Twilight teleported out of the room.

"Anyways, you're next mission will be taking you to Van Hoover. We have reason to believe an invasion is imminent. Shoreline defenses are being built as we speak to repel the attack but we need to move fast. You'll join the garrison and wait for further instruction, assist the garrison in building their defenses. Your new unit designation is the 5th Special Operations Group. You will report only to me and to no one else. Your team will not move till I tell them to, you will defend Van Hoover and support the garrison. If you have any reason to suspect a spy in their ranks do not hesitate to execute them. These are dire times Napoleon, the more intel we crack the more spies we find. Stay alert, the first stage of the plan is to arrive three days before what we think is the invasion day and help bolster the defense. Spread your team out, all of you will be in power armor for this mission. Don't make me regret giving your zebra companions this. Nothing person but can't be too careful. Defend the city at all cost, there is a Shadowbolt Squadron nearby but they will be unavailable for most of the mission. Do you have any questions?" she asked taking a breath. I shook my head. "Then get going time is a wastin."

I turned around and stepped out of the office. I exited the building to Ministry Walk and proceeded in the direction of the train station. I passed my shop, I put a sign on the front door that read, 'Out to kill the Ceaser, be back soon.' I chuckled and kept walking. There were many ponies walking about Canterlot. I saw a few celebrities here and there but they were too busy to pay me any mind. I rolled my eyes and keep walking. I passed several checkpoints and finally made it to the city outskirts.

"Good morning sir," Rori said, they were all in their dress uniform, not unusual for military personnel in Canterlot. Several different medals and ribbons adorned their uniforms. But what distinguishes us from the normal soldier ponies our Steel Ranger pin above our name.

"Good morning," I looked over my troops. "Today, we are heading to Van Hoover. I know how much you all have been begging for a beach day at the Lunar Sea and thanks to Caesar your wish will come true. I can't tell you how critical this mission is or how strategically important the Van Hoover dockyards are to the war effort. Ministry Mare Applejack has redesignated us as the 5th Special Operations Group. Each one of you will have power armor specially equipped for your expertise. As soon as the train gets here prepare to load up. Dismissed," my troops saluted me and scattered throughout the platform. I sat down on a nearby bench. I could see the train climb up the winding slope in the distance. The Friendship Express, once a colorful train that ferried ponies from all over Equestria was transformed into a dull armored workhorse to carry troops to and from the battlefield.

"What you thinking about love?" Silver Spoon sat down next to me.

I looked over at Silver Spoon, I sighed, "Do you ever miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The old days. Of peace and harmony, you know before the war..."

"Well I would say that it is true that I miss the land I grew up in during my fillyhood days but the war has brough me many good things as well," she nudged me resting her head on my shoulder. She wore a sweet perfume, the enchanting scent captivated me. It has been so long since I have taken behold of such scents. I'm guessing it would be my last of both my shop and normal pony life.

After a few minutes, the train pulled into the station. At the very rear of the train, there was a heavily armored wagon with the Steel Ranger insignia. Once we boarded the train took off. Our car was dimly lit with a few cots towards the front. I laid back in my cot. My team began to undress and change into their undersuits. I blushed and looked away. I covered my face with Apple Fritter's hat. I tried to sneak a peak and to my dismay, everypony was watching me.

"Why are you hiding your face?" Star Charm asked.

"We don't normally wear clothes..." Rori chuckled. I removed the hat and shrugged. I guess I'm so used to the Canterlot life that not wearing clothes is pretty foreign to me. I guess the only clothing I wore was an apron. I got up and changed my clothes as well. I laid back down in my cot. I yawned and felt the train pull out of the station. We have about 5 hours till we get to Van Hoover.

"Care for some company?" Silver Spoon asked. "It may be our last chance to spend some time together before we have to move out."

"Sure," I replied and moved over. The cots weren't meant for more than one pony but Silver Spoon wasn't a big pony to begin with. She still had the sweet scent of her perfume emanating off her. She laid her head on my chest.

"I wish we could have more privacy," she pouted. She put her mane up in a ponytail and put on her glasses. I kissed her cheek and nuzzled her.

"Maybe when we get back we can go on leave. I've always wanted to visit Ponyville you know. I heard there was a famous bakery that one of the Ministry Mare's once worked at."

"Oh, you must be talking about Sugar Cube Corner," she raised her head. "When I was a filly they had the best cupcakes. Ministry Mare Pinkie used to deliver them to my school all the time. Pinkie bought the building when the original owners went bankrupt. Now it's just a front of MoM spies. Their pastries and cakes are mass manufactured and the flavor is gone.

"That's too bad. The war changed everything. I owned a bakery myself in Canterlot. It's my super special talent," I chuckled then sighed. Oh, how I miss the good old days.

"Maybe you'll have to make me some cookies sometimes. They are my favorite," Silver Spoon snuggled closer to me. I smiled and held her close. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***************************************************************************

After a few short stops to take on water and coal, we eventually arrived in the sunny city of Van Hoover. We stepped off the train and I felt the cool ocean breeze hit my face. Salt invaded my nostrils, I saw the yellow sand and high palm trees dotted the beachfront. I saw the few high rises of downtown Van Hoover. The high rises gave way to the Lunar Harbor. Massive shore guns protected the mouth of the base. If our intel is good they will be landing just outside the range of the guns. I could see ponies digging defenses on the beach. Trenches, tank traps, and bunkers were all being hastily constructed. I returned to the train car and donned my suit. The scrubber worked well, I couldn't taste the salt anymore. I removed my helmet and placed Apple Fritter's hat on my head.

"Sir, do we have permission to remove our helmet as well?" Star Charm asked.

"You may remove your helmet at your own volition. Don't worry about your bags, take what we need. The train car will remain here and will be our mobile home while we work for the Ministry Mare."

I heard the audible thump as the large rucksacks dropped from their sides and they donned assault saddlebags. I tied my helmet to my saddlebag and exited the train car. Stepping onto the platform we were greeted by a light green stallion in gold armor. It was adorned with a blue star typical of the old guard armor. He removed his helmet holding it in his hoof. Oh dear Celestia not this moron.

"Napoleon Cake we meet again!" He shouted. His voice broke the peaceful sounds of waves and my ears dropped. "Napoleon Cake? Can you hear me? Remember I was in the same officers class with you. I was the best of the best, so good they put me in charge of my own forces. I heard you got demoted. Sucks you can't be as perfect as moi!" He said.

I sighed and looked at him, "Good afternoon Commander Zephyr Breeze."

He had a smug look on his face, "Where is my salute lieutenant?"

"I was recently promoted to Captain, sir..." I said. I dreaded every moment I had to interact with him. I brought my hoof up to my forehead to salute him. He saluted back and dropped it. I immediately turned to leave.

"I did not dismiss you, Napoleon," Zephyr said. "I've got lots of tasks that need to get done now that you're here."

Knowing Zephyr Breeze it was going to be the most demeaning of tasks. I turned around to face him and said, "You are not my commander, we are not here to take orders from you, we were sent to provide you support during the invasion. Don't like it take it up with the Ministry Mare herself." I walked away from him. "Let's go, we shouldn't bother the Commander any longer."

"Insubordination!" He screamed. "I will have you court marshaled for this!"

I sighed turning back to him, "Have you ever killed a pony in your life? Have you ever wondered why you were given command of forces in Van Hoover of all places?"

"It's because of my tactical prowess and genius battlefield strategy," He flaunted.

"No, it's because your a moron who flunked officers school, who was given a commission anyways to not upset your sister, Ministry Mare Fluttershy, and of course she couldn't have someone like you ruining her reputation so they sent you here. Where everypony could forget about you. I graduated in the top 10 of the class, I was sent to the frontlines and loss friends. You live in comfort away from the battlefield and here it comes right to your doorstep. Better stallion-up before Van Hoover turns into Stalliongrad. You shame the Equestrian military with your presence and even worst shame the Elements of Harmony by your relation to your sister," I stormed off. "Grab your rucks, we're setting up forward post along the cliffs!"

We went back into the train cars and grabbed our gear. We requisitioned a cart and loaded our heavy equipment on it and began our trek to the cliffs.

"Napoleon Cake if you walk away from I swear to Celestia you will rot in jail for the rest of your life. I will ruin your life do you hear me motherfuc..." he continued to scream and yell obscenities. My team was silent as we continued away from the train station. For the whole duration of the march, we said nothing. Once we made it to the cliff we had an amazing view of the sea and Van Hoover. I put my ruck down and began unpacking.

"You know what I'm just going to say it. What the fuck was that back there?" Star Charm asked.

"Are you talking about Zephyr?" I asked, Star Charm nodded her head. I sighed and looked at her. "We attended the same officer's school. During our time in training, Zephyr was involved in a number of dangerous incidents including severely crippling one of the candidates. Due to his relationship to Fluttershy none of the officers willing to criticize him for fear of punishment. Eventually, when it came to team leadership he would always protect himself even go as far as using one of us as a shield to protect himself from simulated rounds. He graduated at the bottom of the class and claimed his status was due to favoritism. He consistently petitioned Fluttershy that he was too good to be a 2nd Lieutenant and that he was 'destined' to lead Equestria to fight the Zebra menace. At that point, I was assigned my unit and headed for the Battle of the Buffalo's. I guess he was sent here to Van Hoover to watch the Changling/Deer border where he can have a low-impact role. Lucky for us Queen Chrysalis signed the Throax-Ribbon Pact allowing free trade and non-aggression."

I continued to set up my tent. "Nepotism rots this country. Don't get me wrong, I'm loyal to the Princesses but Prince Blueblood should not be a field marshal. In my last platoon at Shattered Hoof Ridge, Prince Blueblood was the division leader and by the end of the battle, more than 70% of the unit was wiped out. 40,000 ponies snuffed out," I clapped my hooves. "Just like that. I was almost counted among the dead. There was no strategy, it was to throw ponies at them till the problem goes away. Eventually, the prince was forced to retire. The growing number of malcontent in the leadership caused an uproar promoting new leaders. Thanks to Zephyr Breeze's blood relation to Fluttershy he was one of them. Princess Celestia for a time after stepping down became a general but her unit is the 1st Army. But they don't leave central Equestria to protect the war effort. "

"It seems you have a lot of hate towards the Princesses," Rori interjected.

"Not hate... I can't blame them and say how could we not expect war after reigning over 1000 years of peace. They just didn't utilize the Elements of Harmony in the right way. Even now they should be diplomats, not wartime propaganda," I sighed. "Guess this is the only world we have so we got to make the best of it," I finished setting up my tent. I moved on to help Rori with the command tent. Gripping the center support with my magic, I held up the tent as Rori hammered in the stakes. Once we got the area secured, Silent Night began to watch the cliffs. I checked inside the command tent to see Silver Spoon setting up the radio equipment. Star Charm was across from here laying out a map of the region.

"I think we all deserve a break," I said. Silver Spoon and Star Charm turned their heads to me. "Let's go," I gripped Silver Spoon and Star Charm with my magic levitating them out of the main tent. "Silent Night, it's break time lets go."

"Negative sir. I will remain here to watch the camp. I still have two hours left on my fire watch. Enjoy your time on the beach. I don't care for the sea anyways."

"Suit yourself. Rori! Beach time!" I yelled. She immediately ran out of her tent in her swimsuit.

"Are you for real? Do we really have time to go to the beach?" She was practically drooling at the mouth and ready to depart the cliff for the beach. I set the other two down from my magical grip.

"Get changed and get ready for a few hours at the beach. We could use some R&R before this anyways."

After a few minutes, the remaining girls got changed and I put on some swim trunks. Wierd... Before the war, swimming let alone walking around without clothes was relatively normal... Ever since Equestria industrialized clothes have become ever more present in modern society. Unless your profession called for clothes or you went to a social gathering it wasn't seen as necessary. I waited for a few more minutes and the first to appear was Rori, her mane pulled into a ponytail and she wore a black swimsuit. It suited her. Next was Star Charm, she had on a two-piece swimsuit. This style was foreign to me. I've never seen one like it before. Silver Spoon followed, her mane was tied up into a tight bun and she sported a shimmering purple swimsuit.

"I'm glad you like it, love," She giggled as she booped my nose with her hoof.

"Try not to stare at the rest of us Napoleon, Silvy might get jealous," Rory chuckled. I shrugged my shoulders and walked down the cliffs.

I set my hooves in the sand, I felt the warmth radiate off the sand and the nice sea breeze. I laid down a towel and setup an umbrella and sat underneath it. Silver Spoon took a seat next to me.

"You know, it's like the war never existed. Last time I was at the beach it was with my friend Diamond Tiara at here family's house in Manehatten. Celestia Sea's waters are pretty cold even in the summer. I remember how much fun it was playing in the sand as a young filly," she solemnly said. She stared blankly out into the water. The tall buildings of the Deer city was barely visible along the horizon. I wrapped my hoof around her.

"One-day things will go back to normal."

"I hope so. I've always wanted to go to the Deer Country. Or maybe even go to the Crystal Empire. I heard from Apple Bloom it was a really beautiful place."

"You know Apple Bloom?"

"Of course..." she smiled "I also knew Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle before the war. We were all in the same class. I wasn't exactly the kindness to them though. I was actually supposed to go have lunch with them one the day Big MacIntosh died but well. Everything went into lockdown and I was drafted shortly after. I didn't know Scootaloo all that well. Diamond Tiara used to always pick on her... She always took it too far but I was always scared to say something. The last time I spoke out against her she hit me on the head and scolded me," Silver Spoon rubbed her head.

"That's not friendship, that's just the makings of a psychopath."

"Yeah, I was actually pretty close to Sweetiebelle. My parents would always commission Rarity to make dresses for me. I was at her store a lot and would talk with her quite often. After a while, I started hanging out with them more behind Diamond Tiara's back. Once we graduated we all went our separate ways. Me and Diamond Tiara went to Fillydelphia to attend college and midway through the war broke out... once I graduated I was drafted into the army and went to officers school for intel. I was then picked up by the MoM and worked directly for Pinkie Pie. She always gave me really cryptic jobs. I remember the first one. She told me 'The enemy it was under E.' Like what does that even mean," she laughed.

"I was born in Stalliongrad. I was an orphan, raised in one of the many overcrowded orphanages in Stalliongrad. It was nothing but slavery and torment. Stalliongrad is far away from Celestia's influence that it almost has its own government. Pondamir Lemon, the mayor set up the city into five districts called soviets: agriculture, industry, fishing, police, and ship makers. Guess where I fell in."

"Hmm, I'ma guess industry."

"How did you know?"

"I read your file silly," Silver giggled.

"Nothing is a secret to you, huh," she shook her head at my question. "Anyways, the industry sector was by far the poorest. Filled with massive factories. Ponies lived in horrendous conditions. Lemon always said it was for the good of the collective ponies. The orphanage where I grew up, experimented on ponies. I was subjected to pure torture in order to produce a magical surge. They thought that by mastering the conjuring of a magical surge they could create a living weapon. I don't know what they did to me honestly..." I sighed I dug through my saddlebags and pulled out a glowing orb.

"Is that a memory orb?" Silver looked shocked.

"I had the memory of my childhood taken out. I don't remember most of it but I know enough from what people told me. The MoM told me it contains the memory of the day Princess Celestia saved me," I pushed the orbed to Silver.

"You do realize I'm an earth pony right? I can't view memory orbs..." Silver solemnly said.

"You can but it requires me to go in with you. So we would rediscover the memory together."

"Ok, let's go," Silver snuggled up to me. I embraced both of us in my magic focusing intently on both myself and Silver Spoon. Soon my vision began to fade...

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

Next thing I knew I was running through a dimly lit hallway. I was being chased by ponies in lab coats. I used my magic to topple several random items to block them. I flung chairs, paintings, plants, anything that wasn't bolted down I tossed at them with reckless abandon. I kept my sprint up, turning to the right down a corridor following an arrow pointing to an exit.

"Stop him!" a pony shouted.

"You have permission to use lethal force, stop him at all cost. Don't let him near the princess!" a pony shouting over a P.A. system yelled.

Gunfire swelled around me. I ended up crashing through a door leading to the outside. Falling to my face I quickly picked myself up and kept running. I felt a bullet hit me in my right back leg. I hissed in pain but kept running. I turned a corner leading to an exit. As soon as I ran through the doors, dozens of ponies in black armor, their face covered by their helmets, eyes obscured by their dark visors. I saw serval earth ponies with guns in their mouths all pointed at me.

"Just give up little one, it's over," a blue unicorn mare in a lab coat approached me. She had a red flower in her mane. My body felt cold. Her horn began to glow. "It's ok, shhh, it's ok don't worry," she embraced me in a hug. I began to feel dizzy, my eyes felt like anchors.

"No, I c-can't..." I knelt down. My vision began to darken. "No!" I yelled standing up. My horn began to glow. I felt my magic beginning to stir violently. I was losing control again. I'd rather be dead than back with them. I continued to charge my magic. I clenched my eyes shut. I then ran into a mare. I touched her leg, I detected the strong scent of vanilla cake. I opened my eyes. My eyes widen and I screamed falling to my back scrambling to back away. It was Princess Celestia and next to her was mayor Pondamir Lemon. Celestia's face looked of genuine concern. Lemon whispered something to the princess but it did not phase her. She took notice of my profusely bleeding leg. She knelt down to me, I saw her mouth move but I couldn't hear anything she said. Several of the ponies chasing me burst through the crowd, the Princess looking on at them. I could only assume they were begging for mercy. Her loving face turned to one of stern discipline. The royal guard approached the ponies. One of which attacked the guards killing him with his gun. Celestia was horrified. Her horn glowed with her magic and a beam of light shot out at the perpetrator. His mouth opened but before anything could be said he was vaporized. Pondamir Lemon began groveling at her hooves. The cat was finally out of the bag. His perfect society has been revealed for what it truly was The research pony and her guards surrendered peacefully. Celestia enveloped me with her magic placing me on a gold chariot pulled by several pegasi.

"It's ok my little pony, you're safe now," the Princess said stepping onto the chariot behind me. "Mayor Lemon. You and your entire cabinet are hereby charged with treason and crimes against ponykind. Your experiment is over and shall be brought before the sun and the moon in Equestria's high court. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"How dare you accuse me of crimes against ponykind. You are a despot ruler who knows nothing of a pure society full of ponies who live to benefit each other. I gave them true equality and brought equality against the noble bourgeoisie you call nobility. I brought true harmony to Equestria!" the royal guard promptly escorted him away.

"Back to Canterlot posthaste. Do not be afraid you are among friends now."

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

Footnote: Perk added!
Perk added: Blessing of the Sun: After reviewing the memory orb, thoughts and memories long removed begin to flood back as well as Princess Celestia's personal blessing. During the day you gain a +2 Charisma and +1 Luck but suffer the inverse at night.

Chapter 8: Midnight Squall (Defense of Van Hoover)

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It's my tail! It's a-twitchin' twitchin'! And you know what that means...

When my eyes opened I was laying in a cot inside a tent. I turned my head and Silver Spoon was lying in the cot across from me. I stood up and walked up to her. Her eyes slowly opened. I stroked her mane and helped sit her up. She looked almost traumatized.

"I had no idea..." Silver Spoon whispered.

"I was only a colt when that happened. A colt who knows what it felt like to get shot..." I said standing back up.

"Sir! Enemy ships spotted on the horizon!" Silent Night bursts into the tent. I got up and ran out of the tent with Silver in tow.

"Silver, radio Van Hoover Command and put everyone on alert," Silver ran into the command tent. "Prepare to mobilize, head down to the beach and dig in. "Silent Night, stay one cliff and radio their locations. Wait to open fire until absolutely necessary," I entered the command tent where I saw the others mounting their power armor. I opened mine up entering it. The machinery hissed and clanged as the armor shut and the bolts tightened around me. I levitated my helmet placing it on my head. I slowly lumbered forward as the suit began to compensate.

"Com check," I called out.

"I can hear you," Rori replied. Silent Night and Star Chaser followed suit.

"Silver, I want you to stay up in the cliffs and radio enemy movements-," Silver Spoon cut me off before I could finish.

"Sir, I'm patching you in to the network, you're going to want to hear this."

"The enemy is on our doorstep, no thanks to those Steel Rangers who secluded themselves to the cliff to watch our struggle. Our shore guns are our protector and shield. No zebra will be able to make it beyond the guns," I turned down the volume.

"Oh fuck me... Let's go..." I walked out of the tent. All my diagnostics were showing green. I had a total of 8 healing potions and about 4lbs of scrap to repair my armor. We began to march down the cliffs, in the distance, the sound of the shore guns boomed through the tranquil sky. I saw the shells hit far from the fleet. "Damn it Zephyr Breeze they probably didn't know the max range of the guns."

"General Applejack sent him the fortification areas, we are going to join the farthest from the shore guns. There is a rocky outcropping on the other side of our private beach. It's close enough to land their troops to be in effective striking distance but it's not an easy landing," Silver Spoon came over the com.

"When we get there I want demolition charges placed around the cliffs, same shit from Stalliongrad," we eventually made it to the cove. We found one small bunker garrisoned by about 10 ponies. A shallow trench lead from the trench down the rocky steps.

"Steel Rangers?" One of the ponies said.

"Who's in command here?" I asked.

"I am sir," a gray earth pony mare stuck her head out of the trench. "May I ask your name and affiliation?"

"I am Captain Napoleon Cake, Steel Rangers, that's all I'm permitted to say at this moment."

"I am Major Frosting Swirl, commanding the 15th Garrison Platoon," She said pushing her helmet up.

"A Major? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Zephyr Breeze didn't like that I wanted to call in reinforcement and keep my forces in reserve in case the fighting turned worse. He kicked me out of the staff office and assigned me far away from the city. I only have about 100 ponies under my command. Zephyr took about 300 of them to prepare the main cities defense."

In the distance, I could her the thunderous roar of the shore guns In Van Hoover trying to assail the zebra fleet. I grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked towards the enemy fleet. I could see the shells falling from what looks like kilometers short of their targets.

"That fucking moron, he’s already started firing the shore guns and they are no where close to their range. What is our equipment status looking like?"

"Right now 2 75mm anti-tank guns 4 mortar teams and a heavy machine gun bunker, the rest of the ponies are regulars."

"Permission to take command?" I asked standing at attention.

"Why, I don't see why they'd come here."

"Here, look about 20 degrees above the horizon. Smoke from the zebra’s coal is visible, I’d say at best we only have about an hour," I gave Major Swirl the binoculars.

"Ok, ok I see your point. What do we need to do?"

After explaining the plan everypony got to work, I used my helmet's view to zoom in on the enemy fleet. Their fleet split up with half heading towards the main shore and the other half heading towards us. I had Rori, take a few ponies to set up explosives around the cliffs. I had the anti-tank guns moved to the tops of the cliffs and had the mortar teams staggered within the rocky steps. I had Silent Night take up a sniper position while Star Chaser and a few others were ferrying sandbags to set up barricades. By the hour's end, by some miracle, we fortified the hill. I had Silver Spoon move all her equipment from the command post to the bunker. It was approximately two o'clock when we saw the boats hit the water. A signal flare shot across the sky lighting up the cove.

"Showtime," I said, I stepped out of the bunker and zoomed in on the enemy ships. "To all units on this frequency, do not fire till they make shore. Go for maximum damage, If they overwhelm your position retreat to the fallback areas designated to your by your commanders. Good luck, everypony. May Celestia watch over all of us," I said. My team took up positions in different defensive positions, I bit my bridle in my mask switching Twilight's Vengence to explosive incendiary ammunition.

"The Great and Powerful T.r.I.X.i.E. predicts they will be here in about 15 minutes," A little version of Trixie's head appeared in the corner of my visor.

"I was wondering when you'd show up."

"The Great and Powerful T.r.I.X.i.E is always ready for fight, peasant. It's all apart of my programming. By the way I don't know if that hag, Twilight Snarkle told you but you can simultaneously fire the gatling cannon alongside your anti-material rifle and visa versa."

"Really, that's pretty helpful. Thanks for letting me know."

"You're welcome, its all in a days work for T.r.I.X.i.E. Just promise T.r.I.X.i.E, you're not going to die on her, ok?" she sounded generally concerned about me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you actually worried about me, I'm touched," I snickered.

"Well, I'm not a monster you know, I have ponies I care about too."

I looked down onto the water, I saw the first landing craft enter the cove followed by hundreds more behind them. I took a deep breath. May Celestia guide us. It hit the beach with a loud thud, I could almost hear the zebras shouting onboard. The door dropped revealing about 20 zebras wielding machetes.

"Open fire!" I yelled spinning up my gatling cannon. I jumped over the trench and unleashed a volley of gunfire tearing into the zebras on the ship. No zebra's made it off that landing craft but shortly after more hit the beach. The ponies throughout the cove began to open fire on the landing ships killing any Zebra they could. They began to jump off the sides and swim to shore. I switched to Twilight's Vengence and shot at a landing craft, I watch as a bullet tore through the front ramp lighting the open crew hold on fire. I could hear the screams of the zebra's as they jumped out of the ship. A few zebras took cover at the base of the steppes.

"What is that?" somepony asked over the coms. Zoomed in on the water, a tank began to emerge from the water. "Tank!" I heard the same pony yell as it fired on their position. The anti-tank gun redirected its fire aiming for the armored amphibious monstrosity before maid before us.

I saw a large landing ship carrying five tanks and a large amount of zebra's entering the cove. I opened fire on the ship with Twilight's Star, the zebra's hid behind the tanks. I wasn't able to pierce the frontal armor of the zebra tanks but Twilight's Star could pierce the side. I fired Twilight's vengeance, I tore through the rear tank on the landing craft. The crew hatches opened and burning zebras fell out onto the deck.

"Blow the cliffs!" I yelled, I saw large explosions along the cliffs. The cliffs began to collapse hitting the large landing ships entering the cove. Zebras and pony's alike stared as the cliffs cut the zebra's only way of escape. Ponies began to cheer and charge out of their trenches towards the enemy. "Stop! Stop charging!" I yelled. I ran after them. I heard a large clang from the other side of the new rock wall. I froze, "Cliff team what was that?"

"It's aiming right at us! Run!" a pony yelled over the coms. I saw their position get rocked by a large explosion taking down the floor beneath them.

"All ponies, retreat to the secondary line, now!" I turned around and retreated towards the second line of trenches. I turned my head, looking behind me I saw a massive multistory transport ship crawling over the rock wall. Several machine guns began to fire on ponies and zebras alike. The anti-tank guns fire on the ship but did little but dent the outer shell. I dove into the trench. I lifted my head slightly and zoomed in on the ship, once it cleared the rock wall the front of the ship opened like the mouth of a dragon. A ramp emerged from the darkness landing on the beach. Zebras and heavily armored tanks flooded from their ship like ants. The anti-tank guns began to fire in quick succession. One of the tanks burst into a fiery explosion knocking the surrounding zebras to the floor. Their tanks continued to spew out of the massive transport crunching the bodies of the fallen zebras beneath their metal tracks.

"AT guns, aim for the tracks, disable the tanks to cover the retreat. All ponies retreat to the nav point charlie," I saw ponies begin to run from their trenches up the cliffside, machine gunfire began to tear us apart. "Steel Rangers, cover their retreat all weapons restrictions off."

I began to fire my gatling cannon at the zebra horde. I saw a flurry of rockets swell from the cliffs. Rori was standing along the edge of the cliffs. She consistently rocked the landing craft tearing away at its thick armor. From my right, sniper fire rained down on the enemy taking out enemy officers and heavily armed opponents. Silent Night was too far away to be picked up on my IFF. Star Charm was closer to the fight towards the beach her unique weaponry allowed her to be an exceptional fighter from any range. She carried a massive autocannon and laser weapon array, opposite to that. The beach glowed red from the rapid-fire of her multiple laser weapons. Zebras were quickly turned to ash where they stood. Once the last of the regular soldiers retreated I recalled Star Charm back to my position. I laid down cover fire forcing the Zebras to take cover against the rocks and blasted out cover. Once Star Charm made it to my position we ascended the rocky steps. Under a hail of gunfire, I felt bullets ricochet off my armor. A few bullets struck me in the back. To a normal pony that may have been fatal.

"All units, fire from the cliffs prevent the zebras from giving chase keep them on the beach."

Gunfire rained from the tops of the cliffs. I could see the tracer rounds of the heavy machine gun wiz by. I turned my head to see zebras hunkering down behind tanks and rocks. Once I made it to the cliffs the guns quieted. The cove was stained red with blood. When the sun finally began to set, the zebra’s controlled the beach but paid a heavy toll. The cliffs and most of the steppes were still under Equestrian control but it may change.

****************************************************************

Campfires aligned the cliff tops as ponies began to settle in for a night of fighting. Celestia's sun sunk beneth the waves as Luna's moon rose up into the starry sky resting over the sea. I tuned my pipbuck's radio to the local station. Classical music entered my ears and I took a deep breath and removed my helmet. I levitated the dusty cowboy hat from my saddlebags and put it on. I looked towards the city. Its lights still on as if the war was still far from their doorstep. I could hear the shoreguns continuing their bombardment against a fleet far from their reach.

"Sir, command wants you on the radio," A pony came running out of a tent. I sighed and walked into the command tent. Major Frosting Swirl was sitting at the table with a headset on. I sat down next to her and put down the adjacent headset.

"... derliction of duty and cowardice in the face of the enemy," Zephyr Breeze's greasy voice nearly blew out my eardrum.

"Sir, what is going on here?" I asked over the radio.

"Why was I the last to know the zebras invasion had started? Were you trying to make me look bad or something?" He began to raise his voice. "The Princess put me in charge of the city and that means everything that happens goes through me! You got that! You will not move until I tell you tin can ass to move."

"Sir, with all due respect, the zebras invaded the cove and we do not have sufficient troops for a successful defense against an invasion of this size. Had you not split my forces, we could have put up an actual fight."

"Major Swirl, remember, the commander bears all responsibility for every action he makes. So if he pulled forces from the landing site before the battle because he thought the zebras wouldn't land there then that's on him and the commander will have to justify his reason to the war department. Not to mention before the battle began you had the shore guns open fire kilometers beyond their maximum range before the fleet split. Commander Breeze, I say this as a caution, if you don't send us troops we will lose Van Hoover and you will lose your rank and position just as quickly. If you can't get ahold of this situation I will be forced to act within the best interest of Equestria. I'm sure General Applejack would have no qualms about my justification."

"You filthy unicorn piece of shit, you better hope those damn zebras kill you because I am going to rip open your neck and shit down your throat!" Zephyr yelled.

"Thank you, sir, I'll see you at the hearing," I took off the equipment and proceeded to exit the tent. Forsting Swirl followed behind me. "Order the ponies to dig defensive positions and distribute the remaining ammo. We need to fortify the bunker as best we can. Make a call to any Pegasi squadrons in the area and request a resupply. It's going to be a long night.

*******************************************************************

About an hour after sunset the Zebra assault commenced. Tracer rounds began to light up the battlefield. Unicorns occasionally cast illumination spells to light up the cove revealing those hidden among the rocks. The heavy machine gun beat away like a drum in an orchestra. My EFS glowed with red dots within my helmet.

"Oh wow that a lot,' T.r.I.X.i.E said.

"Trix, what's our odds of victory," I asked.

"Do you really want to know?" I didn't respond to her. She sighed and said "About 19.65% of victory. Odds increase to 23.4% if we receive supply drops."

"Not the greatest odds."

"No... but I believe in you..." T.r.I.X.i.E appeared in front of me. She was semi-transparent, he blue coat and silver mane shimmered.
"I didn't know you had a physical body?"

"What made you think T.r.I.X.i.E had a physical body. I merely projected myself onto your visor so you can see me better," T.r.I.X.i.E looked down for a moment. "Hey, if we make it through this go back to the MAS building in Canterlot. Twilight Sparkle may have left something for you."

"I see," a shot tore my helmet lantern off breaking the glass. T.r.I.X.i.E disappeared and three masked zebras approached me. They walked to me slowly. I didn't move. I think they think this is an empty suit. Once one got within a few feet of me I opened fire with, the shot grazed their neck severing an artery. Blood spewed down the side of her neck. The white parts of her fur began to turn red as she fell to the ground. The other two jumped back with one throwing a spear at me. The spear grazed my spinal armor laying to rest in my upper tail plate.

"Our armor has been compromised!" T.r.I.X.i.E yelled, "Do something!"

I levitated a grenade out of my bag tossing it towards one of the zebras. One of the zebra’s jumped up kicking the grenade back to me.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me….” I took off running, in the opposite direction. The blast knocked me off my hooves. I tried to stand back up my legs wobbling under my own weight. I collapsed again, my ears rang as the shrapnel punctured my ear plates.

“Napoleon!” I heard a faint voice. I felt the rapid concussive blast of a grenade machine gun. Rori’s rapid fire surprised the Zebras causing a panic. One of the blast landed between them blowing them back down the cliff.

“Sound the alarm!” Frosting Swirl yelled. Suddenly I felt a rush of energy. My ears stopped ringing and my vision came back into focus.

“Don’t you ever scare T.r.I.X.i.E like that again you hear me!” In the corner of my eye a small blue unicorn appeared. She walked across my visor over to my armor status bar. She began tapping them with her hooves. Slowly they moved from red, back to yellow. I stuck my head up, I was in a small crater, lifting my head to view over edge a bullet tore right through the lamp on top of my helmet.

“ T.r.I.X.i.E, my left rear servo is malfunctioning I can’t move it,” I said. I rolled onto my back to get a better look at leg. The armor itself seemed to be warped in several places causing sever pressure on the bone. T.r.I.X.i.E must have injected me with a painkiller because I can’t feel anything. Slowly the legs dent began to move outwards until they were back to normal. Magic truly can do wonderful things. Rori quickly dove into shallow crater beside me.

“Are you ok, sir? She asked. Her armor was riddled with dents a holes. Her helmet was cracked open under the lamp revealing parts of her blue mane.

“I’m fine, healing talisman just got done repairing the armor. Why isn’t your armor healing?”

“Don’t worry about me, sir, we need to focus on driving the enemy back,” she said.

“Let’s regroup at the bunker and we will figure it out from there,” I lifted my head out, I spotted the bunker and I was blown quiet a ways away from the concrete fortress. “On my go… 1… 2… 3… Go!” I took off running through the hail of gunfire. The landship was firing wildly throughout the night and tracer rounds engulfed the area. I don’t think have any night vision capabilities beyond spotting what is already shooting. I passed by several corpses, most missing bodies parts but I tried to ignore that as best as I could. Sliding through the doorway of the bunker, I could see Silver Spoon and Frosting Swirl peering out the MG nest.

“Napoleon, you’re ok!” Silver shouted.

“I’m fine, but we need to take out the landship. Major, I need five ponies and as much explosives as you got.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“I’m going to lead a small strike team into the hull of the ship and blow its core.”

“That’s suicide!” Frosting Swirl exclaimed.

“We don’t have a choice. Many more will die if we don’t succeed.”

“All I have are those on my personal staff…” Frosting Swirl excused herself and after a few brief moments returned with 10 ponies. “Filly’s and gentle lots…” Her voice broke a bit. “I need four volunteers…” She paused. “Before you raise your hooves I think you should hear my proposal.

“Ma’am with all do respect, I don’t think we should surrender,” one of the ponies said.

“I agree, I’ll die fighting,” another said.

“No, I don’t intend on surrendering. Captain Napoleon and myself will be going on a suicide mission to infiltrate the enemy landship and destroy it from the inside. I need volunteers to join us.” The ponies muttered amongst themselves. I looked over at Frosting Swirl. I didn’t expect her to volunteer for the mission. After a bit of talking all 10 ponies volunteered.

“With all due respect ma’am, if you are going we are all going.”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm but 12 ponies would be too many,” I said. “The space will be tight and we need to move fast. Not only that we only three will carry the explosives while the other two defend us,” I said. It’s seem to put a damper on their mood but soon four stepped up.

“I need the rest of you to gather as many explosives as you can. See if the anti-tank crew can spare a shell or two.”

“Silver, keep these safe for me,” I bit on my bridle and Twilight’s Star and Twilight’s Vengeance ejected from my battle saddle.

“Promise you’ll come back…” she said.

“I promise you’ll live to fight another day,” I turned around and Frosting Swirls aids entered the room. With them, they dragged several ammo canisters full of explosives. The one in the back was still trying to drag a HE shell with his teeth. I gripped it with my levitation and gentle pulled it towards me.

“Ma’am we have three bricks of C4, five pounds of Semtex, one high explosive shell and one bouquet of grenades,” A bright red pony approached. Her cinnamon mane poked out under her helmet.

“Good work, Napoleon let’s go over the plan.”

I walked over to the table and grabbed a few pens. I began arranging them around to represent the enemy positions and our own. “Ok, we are here,” I pointed to the upper part of the table. “The enemy ship is down here, based on EFS readings we can expect to see anywhere from 100-200 Zebra’s. From my understanding is the Zebra force does not possess any night vision capability. However there is an exception to this rule. The masked Zebra’s seem to not only be able to see in the dark but also have some sort of heightened senses. We need to not only be fast but evade any of these masked foes. We keep the killing to a minimum until we make our escape. Hopefully we will be able to egress undetected but there is a high chance we won’t be able to escape at all.” I looked up to the other ponies. Their faces unchanged by their fate. “Will have to march around the edge of the cliff and make our way down the collapsed portion and jump on the ship. The ship seems to have halted just below rubble on our side. Should this all go to plan we will escape along the outside of the cove along the waterline. If tide is not low enough we will have to scale the cliffs. Any questions?”

“What happens if we are unable to make to the ship?” The red mare asked.

“Distract them. Draw as many zebra’s away from the ship as you can. Do what you can to ensure the success of this mission. If we fail, Van Hoover will be encircled and its population starved.”

“Is there anything you’d like us to do?” Silver asked.

“I need you to organize small scale skirmishes with the Zebra’s. The less that are around the easier it will be.”

“I understand, I’ll coordinate with the strike teams. Would you like me to hold the remainder of our platoon on standby for rescue?”

“No, this will be a one way trip,” I said, I began to levitate the ammunition bags onto my armor. Holding the shell in my magic I affixed it to left side where Twilight’s Vengeance once was. Once I locked it into my armor. A soft blue shield then rose around it.

“This should give you better protection. We can’t have you blown up before you make it to the target,” Rori said giving the shell one final look over. I took off my helmet and removed the AI chip from it. I took it and gave it to Silver.

“Keep her safe.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” A light blue mare appeared over the chip. “You’re not going to give T.r.I.X.i.E to some hussy.”

“Wow that’s pretty rude of you. The real Trixie was never this mean and I saw her live in Ponyville,” Silver stuck up her nose.

“I can’t let the Zebra’s get their hooves on you.” The blue holo unicorn pouted and gave off a sigh. She vanished without another word. Silver took the chip and walked into another part of the bunker. After finishing our preparations we we set out for the landship.

************************************************************

I stood on the edge of the cliff. Clouds filled the sky blocking out Luna’s bright moon. For once, I was glad there was no light. It would our mission all the more easy. We slowly descended the rocky slopes. No signs of Zebra’s in the vicinity, I turned my helmet’s visor to thermal view. The majority of the Zebra’s were on the ship but few patrolled the perimeter. I did my best to step on the big rocks as to limit the amount of noise. Power Armor is good to have but it’s about as stealthy as a centaur. Silence was maintained until we reached the edge of the ship.

I motioned for Frosting Swirl and her team to jump on my back and climb aboard the ship. After the first pony was up the rest were able to climb with ease. Grabbing a rope, I tied it around my torso as they began to haul me up. Once my hooves left the ground the sea breeze began to swing me. CLANG! My armor hit the hull of the ship. I gritted my teeth as I was hoisted the rest of the way up. I carefully stood up on deck before Frosting Swirl released me.

“Alright, split up, three of us will head for the ammunition storage and the other will head to the engine room,” I whispered. The team quietly separated and I parted with Frosting Swirl.

We began our decent into the ship, the spaces got tight and the hallways were barely wide enough for two ponies to pass through. The red mare took the lead scouting ahead. I heard the sharp snap and a thud. I peered around the corner to find a the red mare holding the Zebra’s neck in her forehooves. We moved began to wind through corridors. As we followed signs towards the engine room we began to see strange symbols lining the walls.

“Glyph Marks,” the red mare whispered. I levitated a small amount of C4 and planted it on one of the dense beams.

“Start planting your charges,” I whispered. I stuck a grenade into the blasting clay and moved on down the hallway. I stopped my team as two Zebra’s walked down the adjacent hallway. “We may have a problem. Two masked Zebra’s are heading for the engine room. Red mare, I’ll take the lead.”

“Tamale,” she whispered.

“What?” I responded confused.

“My name… it’s Hot Tamale.”

“Understood, Tamale give me your explosives, I need you to stay here and cover us while we enter the engine room.

“My name is Sea Foam.”

“Well ladies, I need all your explosives. Sea Foam, I need you to kill one of the masked Zebra’s, I can take one but not two. Once they are dispatched we will plant the charges and set them to detonate,” I said, levitating Sea Foams explosive packs onto my own. My power armor began to redistribute the weight as I took on the packs. I took a deep breath and moved down the final hallway.

I peaked my head around the corner into the room, I counted three Zebra’s. Two masked, one regular. I waved a hoof at Sea Foam and she placed the rifle on top of my helmet. She started to wiggle it around to stabilize her shot. After a brief moment. One of the masked Zebra’s fell with a thud. She took another shot but the other would not go down so easy. I charged in there as fast as I could knocking the unmasked Zebra to the floor in my charge. I felt the masked Zebra grab my rear hoof pulling me to the ground. I kicked him square in the jaw. Breaking part of his mask. I tried to crawl away but once again he grabbed me. I began to kick wildly at him to free myself. The Zebra began to crawl away to escape my fever only to be caught between my kick and the wall. His head exploded on impact. The other Zebra threw her arms up and surrendered.

“Sea Foam keep and eye on this one,” she nodded at me and I began to unpack my explosives. I started placing charges all over the large furnace. Opposite of the furnace sat a room full of coal.

Coal… the whole resource that started the whole war would be this ships undoing. I levitated the HE shell off my armor and placed it in the coal bunker. I placed several blocks of C4 in with it to ensure it would blow. Once I was done setting the charges I collected one of the Zebra’s masked and placed it in a pouch on my armor.

“Sea Foam, knock her out she’s coming with us,” I shouted. Sea Foam hesitated for a moment then approached the Zebra mare.

“No! Wait!” The Zebra shouted. But it was to late, Sea Foam had struck her head with the back of her rifle rendering the Zebra captive unconscious. I levitated her up placing her across my back and tied her to me with rope formerly used to secure the explosives. I placed two radio receivers in the clay on the furnace and in the coal bunker and we quickly exited the room. Moving quickly down the hallway I tapped Hot Tamale on the back. She was using the bottom of the bulkhead for cover. I ran past her going back up the way we came. Several Zebra’s spotted us and the ship roared to life. Alarms blared and several Zebra’s gave chase.

“Brace!” I yelled hunkering down. I levitated the detonator and hit the button. The ship rocked and buckled as the explosives behind us detonated. The ship began to buckle and groan as the ships rear was torn asunder. We continued to run for the exit. Several Zebra’s with firefighting equipment ran past us in order to contain our mayhem. Another explosion rocked the ship coming from the opposite direction. Several smaller explosions followed. Turning the corner we found the stairs had been crushed by the explosions.

“Oh, no! We’re trapped!” Sea Foam began to panic. Trotting in place she tried to jump for the exit. Her attempts were futile, only a Pegasi could have any hope to reach the exist.

“Hold on let me try to levitate you up there,” my horn ignited and my magic enveloped Sea Foam. She slowly lifted off the ground. I was trying hard to focus. To move a pony took an enormous amount of concentration and magic reserves.

“Just a bit farther, I can almost reach it!” A smile broke out across her face. The idea of near freedom had her swinging her hooves hoping it would allow her to reach the exit faster. She grasped the hatch and pulled herself up to the surface.

“Alright Tamale, your turn,” I panted.

“What about you? You won’t have enough magic to lift us.”

“I’ll find another way out just-“ A blood curdling scream interrupted me as Sea Foam fell back down the hatch and into a pile of metal. She was impaled from the remains of the stairs. Tamale screamed and turned away. Sea Foam reached out a hoof to me. I approached her, she was gasping for air and choking on blood. I pulled a healing potion out of my armors slot. My last one… I opened her mouth pouring the contents into it. I used my magic to cut her free. Her eyes shuddered and closed. I couldn’t tell if she was even alive or not.

“Tamale, cut this zebra off me. We’re taking Sea Foam.”

“It’s too late she’s dead,” Tamale’s face was covered in tears. She wiped her face and sat down. I sighed and used my magic to undo the knot. I shrugged the zebra captive off my back and levitated Sea Foam on my back. I heard the rods and metal shards fall out of her wounds as the healing potion slowly healed her wounds.

“Tamale, let’s go. We need to find a way out.”

We began to move cautiously down a hallway. Tamale dispatched several Zebra’s but for the most part they were after the same goal we were. Find a way out. I felt the ship shake and start to lean forward. I could hear the anti-tank gun from our cliffs firing on the tanks below. The sound of machine gun fire and the sounds of bullets rattling along the ships hull meant the battle begun. Silver must have initiated the attack. We kept moving deeper into the ship trying to get to the bow. Smoke began to fill sub-decks. The coal fire must be spreading throughout the ship. I heard Tamale start coughing and placed a rag on her mouth. I took off my helmet and gave it to Tamale.

“Put this on. It will filter out the air.”

“Weren’t you just using it?” Tamale said reluctantly.

“It’s that or die, up to you.” Tamale took the helmet placing it on her head. The neck sealed.

“It’s weirdly heavy…” Tamale began to wobble under the added weight.

“Let’s keep moving, hook a right,” I coughed we moved up a set of stairs following the ascending smoke. Eventually we were able to see the light of day. I stopped hard at the edge of a door. Tamale bumped into me, nearly causing me to fall through. I looked down, the front half of the ship had completely blown off. I really hope that Frosting Swirl and her team made it out. Looking down we were pretty high above the water. The remainder of the bow could be seen about 30 feet away. “Tamale we’re going to have to jump. It’s the only way,” I said. “Tamale, I’ll need my helmet back. I need you to jump on my back, the debris won’t pierce fully through my armor so at the very least you and Sea Foam will survive. I’ll going to cut her loose once we hit the water. My armor will cause me to sink but at least you should survive.”

“I-I understand…” Tamale lowered her head.

“Once you surface get back to the command post as soon as possible and tell them everything,” I looked at Tamale. “Good luck.” Tamale climbed onto my back.

“Thank you, sir… For saving Sea Foam and me.” I jumped off, Tamale screamed as we fell. Hitting the water I cut the rope holding Sea Foam.

I felt myself begin to sink and out of the corner of my visor, I could see Tamale swim to the surface.

“I guess this is the end for me…”

Footnote: Level up!
Perk added: Demolition Expert: Art is an explosions! You’ve seen explosions of all sizes. Big booms, small booms and booms just for the right occasion, you skill with explosives increased by 10+ and thrown explosives have an increased blast zone.

Chapter 9: Among the Dead

View Online

Sediment makes me sentimental…

I awoke to the sound of alarms blaring in my ear. Emergency lights activated inside my helmet glowing a dim red. My armor was critically damaged, I felt water slowly flooding into my suit. I tried to look around but I couldn’t see anything through darkness. I tried to activate my night vision but the crack in my visor prevented it from working properly. Checking my system status I only had 3 hours of available oxygen. I sighed. I was laying on my back against a reef. I could see the faint traces of light from the surface, the light exposing the damage on my suit. I began to think.

“I wonder if I could eject and reach the surface…” I looked up, I think I’m too deep to make it. I tried my best to stand along the reef. It began to slope down into a pit. I reached my hooves out to try to feel my way up and began to climb up. Reef, I couldn’t get a good grasp. I ignited my horn, I was in a pit near the bottom of the sea. I saw a massive cavern along the wall. I scrambled towards it, digging my hooves into the coral and pushing off. Several pieces of the coral began to break off and sink deeper into the abyss. I continued to struggle forward. The closer and closer the mouth of the cave became the weaker I felt. Inside the mouth of the cave the water was considerably colder. I looked up and saw a pocket of air above.

“Eject!” The armor opened and I was forcefully tossed from the suit into the air pocket. Gasping for air as soon as I hit the surface. I couldn’t see. No light was able to penetrate the cave. I illuminated the cave with my magic, I swam to a nearby ledge and pulled myself on top. I began to cough violently and spit up water. The air was cold, I was cold… No pony knew I was even alive.

“Celestia must get some sort of sick kick out of this.” I laid out on the cave floor. Temperature’s in the cave were probably near freezing but it beat’s being underwater. I closed my eyes.

**************************************************************

I awoke back in my house in Canterlot, birds chirped outside, foals were playing. I got up and looked at my clock. It’s Monday morning. I cautiously got up and walked to the bathroom. I could see my scars had vanished, moving to my closet I saw none of the uniforms were inside. Only a few well tailored suits. The tag on the inscription showed three blue diamonds. That was Ministry Mare Rarity’s cutie mark. I walked away and proceeded out the door. I had a small kitchen that was furnished with various appliances and a table in the center. The two chairs that flanked it were adorned with apples.

“Apples?” I proceeded towards the stairs, opening it I could hear laughter from below. Curiously, I walked down slowly. My head began to pound as I descended the steps. Once I reached the bottom, I opened the door. I was behind a confectionary counter. Several different types of pastries were lined up in the display. They looked like they were just baked this morning. Many of the sweets had a small apple on top. Strange, I usually made cakes and very few with apples. I scratched my head.

“Well look who’s finally up,” a voice called from the kitchen. I turned to find Apple Fritter pulling at the knot on her apron. She hung her apron on a hook and approached me. “Good mornin, Darlin,” She said, kissing me on the cheek. My mouth opened and I stared her down. She had her mane in a ponytail and her yellow fur shined in the morning light. “Something wrong dear?” she asked.

“No nothing…” I said I took a step back. The door to the shop opened and in stepped two mares. One had an a blonde mane with orange fur, she wore a cowboy hat and had a lasso strapped to her saddlebags.

“Mornin, Fritter, morning Napoleon!” her thick country accent was unmistakable. This was Applejack.

“Good morning Ministry Mare Applejack,” I saluted.

“Ministry what now?” she replied. Applejack cocked her head and looked over to Apple Fritter. “Is he ok?”

“Probably a little to much cider last night,” Apple Fritter slapped me on the back of the head. I winced in pain and rubber my head.

“Well darling, one must learn how to control their stallion,” the other mare chuckled. Her styled purple mane with a large curl in the front covered one of her eyes, from what I could see she had one faint blue eye shadow. This alluring mare sported a black turtleneck sweater and a tam. Although I’ve never seen her in person, I’m pretty sure this was Ministry Mare Rarity.

“He’s a handful but it was his idea to open the shop, it’s been pretty profitable between catering royal events and nobility. We really owe Princess Twilight a lot for allowing us to cater her coronation. Since then business has been booming! Let me brew some coffee, take a seat and I’ll bring it out.” Apple Fritter turned back to the kitchen leaving me alone with the two mares.

“So Napoleon, how’s life been, been a while since we’ve seen ya on the farm,” Applejack smiled pulling up a chair.

“Yeah, I’ve just been busy,” I chuckled nervously.

“Busy with your cousin perhaps, Applejack,” Rarity nudged Applejack. Applejack seemed confused at first and then dragged her hoof down her face.

“Rarity while I wouldn’t mind expandin the family, I don’t think Fritter’s ready for foals just yet.”

“Here you are,” Apple Fritter place two coffee’s in front of Applejack and Rarity. The foam on the top looked like their respective cutie marks. “Here’s yours darlin.” She placed a cup of black coffee in front of me.

Apple Fritter sat down next to me placing her hoof on top of mine, she began chatting with the two mare’s about the latest fashion trends and other facets of Canterlot society. She drew upon the fact that the place was very different from Appleoosa. The two mare’s chuckled and continued their chatter.

“If you please excuse me,” I said standing up from the table and walked to the bakery kitchen. I turned on the water and splashed it on my face. I shook it off and looked around. The same… I began opening up fridges and pantries. It’s generally what I would have in my bakery. But I’ve never seen the two Ministry Mare’s together. Applejack didn’t even recognize her title. Was I dreaming? Is the war real? Is this real? Am I real?

“Are you ok?” Apple Fritter opened the kitchen door.

“Fritter, what’s today’s date?”

“It’s July 19, 1010. Are you feeling ok?” She puts her hoof to my head. “You don’t seem warm.”

“I’m ok, I think I’m going to go get some fresh air,” I smiled at Fritter.

She shrugged, “Ok, be sure to pull out the guest bed for Applejack when you get back in, she is staying the night with us.”

I opened the door and walked outside. “That’s the same date it was when the battle begun.” I turned around and fell into a void. Everything vanished, the daylight was gone, the shop was gone, Canterlot was gone…

“Stay strong, my little pony,” a voice called out to me.

“Who’s there?” I yelled. The moon appeared, its light was soothing yet the room felt colder. At the end of the light stood Princess Luna.

“Be strong, protect Equestria and never give up Napoleon Cake. Thing’s may seem hopeless but you must fight.”

“Princess?” The world began to spin and slowly fade away.

**************************************************************

My eyes shot open, I was lying in a bed, blue flame torches illuminated the dark walls. I couldn’t see to much, my eyes were still adjusting. To my right was a glass of water and a note.

‘There is water and food on the nightstand. A maid should check on you periodically.’

I removed the covers and found myself chained to the bed. Oh you’ve got to be kidding me… I began to pull at my restraints. The chains rattled and clattered as I whipped them into the bed. The door opened and a bug like pony stuck her head through. She wore a maids tiara and entered the room. This mare was a Changeling…

“Oh shit…” I said immediately sweating bullets. Van Hoover bordered the Deer and Changeling nation but how in Celestia’s name did I get captured? By Changelings no less…

“Good morning. I mean its really evening but I’m glad to see you’re awake,” the bug pony moved over to the hoof chains unlocking them. “Queen Argynnis has instructed me to uncuff you when you awoke. She also left you a set of clothes. She has requested you join her for dinner.” I immediately got up making a run for the door, I collided with a magical barrier blocking the door frame. “Queen Argynnis knew you would try that. You won’t be able to pass through the door until you put on your clothes.” I put my hooves on the barrier trying to push my way through. No dice, I wasn’t going to get through.

“What does your queen want with me?” I walked to the wardrobe, levitating the suit off the hanger I laid it out on the bed. It was comprised of a frilly white shirt with a high collard jacket with a short cape. It’s seemed like fashion you would see from a vampire play in the Canterlot theater than actual clothing.

“I don’t know, she just said she wished to speak with you.” I rolled my eyes and got dressed. The collar was a strange fit and even the cape seemed like a bit much. “I’ll escort you to the dinning room.”

The Changelings maid lead me out of the room. I flinched as I passed through the barrier. Several guards took post behind me and followed us. One had a battlesaddle with a firearm while the other had a pistol in his levitation field. The interior seemed to be of high quality wood and cut marble. The windows were adorned with gold laced drapes with several pictures of a tall Changeling with crimson hair. Several other maids and butler Changelings were attending to the castle’s needs. If it wasn’t for the dark undertones I may had mistaken this place for Canterlot. The maid stopped at a door.

“The queen is waiting for you inside.”

“Thank you…” I swallowed hard and pushed my way through the doors. The center of the room had a large ornate square table with several chairs flanking each side. One chair on the very end was much taller than the others. There was a massive gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling where hundreds of candles burned. I walked up to the table and spotted a black mare with a crimson mane. This must be Argynnis, next to her sat another black mare with a blonde yellow mane. Atop her head sat a small crown.

“Please, sit down,” the red one said, her voice sounded nothing like Chrysalis. Chrysalis’s voice sounded like she was gargling cider while scratching a chalk board. This Changeling’s voice was different. Her voice inflected authority but compassion.

“Is this who pony you’re refusing to report to High Queen Chrysalis? Sound’s like your secret’s out” The blonde one laughed. voice was higher pitched than her counterpart but something about her seemed awfully deceptive.

“What are two hive queens doing in the same location?” I asked taking a seat at the far end of the table away from the two.

“Come now, can’t we be civilized,” the red one picked me up in her levitation and pulled me towards her. The blonde one’s horn ignited yellow pulling out the chair across from her. She smiled as I was put down across from her.

“That’s better. This way we won’t have to shout,” the blonde Changeling levitated and took a sip.

“Let me introduce myself. I am Queen Argynnis, Queen of the hive city of Vraks. This is my close friend Queen Helvia, from the hive port city of Ditrysium.”

“Charmed I’m sure,” she held out a hoof expecting me to kiss it. I didn’t respond. These Changeling queens were much different than one I’ve encountered in the past.

“To answer your question, we are starting a successful coup to overthrow Queen Chrysalis,” Queen Argynnis said taking a bite of her bread. “Her reign has gone on to long and has do nothing but given us a cataclysmic defeat.”

“Her stubbornness to negotiate with Equestria has caused massive famine’s, thousands of Changeling deaths and the suffering of all the united hives in the region,” Queen Helvia angrily postured. “I’m sick of it!” Queen Helvia threw her cup across the room.

“I am Captain Napoleon Cake, Royal Equestrian Army-“

“All I wanted to know was you’re name. I don’t need your whole life story,” Queen Argynnis spun the liquid in her cup.

“Ok why did you bring me here?”

“One of our drone’s was trying to make contact with a noble in Van Hoover when he found you. He also found your armor,” Queen Argynnis clapped her hooves together. “Two Changelings pushed a large cart in. Pulling the white sheet revealed my armor, several dents and holes were scatted about the armor.

“Quiet an amazing feat if I do say so myself,” Queen Helvia. “I’ll cut to the chase, we want you to help us train our Changelings in a coup against Queen Chrysalis.”

“In exchange, we will pledge to provide military support in the war against the Zebras,” Queen Argynnis set her cup down. “Please we need your help.”

“If that’s the case I’ll need my team and a secure line to Canterlot. Assuming you have enough troops, that’s way more than I could handle alone.”

“We have a long range radio unit at the top of the spire. It’s how I knew where to find you…” Queen Argynnis looked down.

“Find me?” I looked up at her. Helvia leaned in with interest.

“I too am curious how you found this pony Argynnis.”

“The radio at the top of the spire…” she paused briefly, “Was stolen from Equestrian forces in Van Hoover…” Queen Argynnis dropped her head.

“That doesn’t surprise me. The guy in charge of Van Hoover is a moron,” I lifted up my cup. Taking a sip and placing it back down. The wine was smooth. Earthy and refreshing. “Let me ask you this, what is stopping you from attacking us and trying to harvest our love?”

“Harvest love?” Queen Helvia questioned. Queen Argynnis chuckled and leaned back in her seat.

“Harvesting love is not something we need to survive. It is more like a drug that makes us more powerful. Like magical amulets or staffs for Unicorns. However, with the invention of firearms and airplanes, the usefulness of love has declined.”

“I see…” I leaned my head on my hooves. Do I really have authority to strike a deal with them?

“Please follow me. We will contact the Princess,” Queen Argynnis and Helvia stood up and walked towards the exit. I followed behind them as we walked through multiple hallways full of Changelings. Many of which stopped what they were doing to prostrate in front of their ruler and her guests. She hit a button on a while revealing an elevator door. Stepping inside revealed a bright white interior with a mirror facing the door. I looked at mirror and immediately turned back around.

“Like what you see,” Queen Argynnis chuckled.

“You’re not so bad looking yourself, tough guy,” Queen Helvia chuckled. My face turned extremely red. I stared at my hooves.

“We may be known for harvesting love but we are also very sensitive to other emotions. Especially lust,” she whispered into my ear. I could her perfume filled my nostrils, it was sweet, it reminded me of vanilla ice cream. Helvia was definitely beautiful but this is starting to get uncomfortable. The elevator door opened and before me stood Princess Celestia.

“Princess Celestia!” I bowed before her.
“What’s she doing here?” Queen Helvia looked stunned.

“I’m pleased you answered my request, Celestia,” Argynnis held out her hoof. It was promptly received by Princess Celestia.

“Please, rise Napoleon Cake, no need to bow. I am no longer the acting Princess of Equestria.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t inform you two earlier. I wanted to make sure I could trust you Helvia.” Queen Helvia pouted at Argynnis then looked at Celestia.

“On behalf of Equestria and her Ministries, we accept your proposal for a attaché and liaison. By order of her royal majesty Princess Luna, Captain Napoleon Cake will assist the Changeling Queen Argynnis in her rebellion against Queen Chrysalis.”

“But Princess Celestia what about my-,” I protested.

Princess Celestia stomped her hoof down. “You’re unit is fine, they will be given a new commander. You’re assets have been seized and will be held by the state when until you return.

“Princess, what about any outside contact, what about my parents?” I asked.

“Four days ago, you were listed among the casualties at the battle of Van Hoover.” Celestia’s height made her all the more firm in her soft tone.

“Did we win?”

“No, the Zebra’s were successful in their naval siege. You’re team has been withdrawn from the operation zone and are being redeployed.” I sat down on the floor. I held up my hooves looking at them, then back to Celestia. I know this is a lot to take in my little pony,” she sat next to me and wrapped her wing around me. I felt an instant warmth flow around me. I felt my fear and anxiety vanish. “I believe you in you Napoleon Cake. Remember Equestria’s fate lies on your shoulders.”

“I understand, Princess. I will carry out your orders.”

“Excellent. Treat him well, he has turned two battles in our favor by his mere presence.”

“Is that right,” Queen Argynnis said.

“I must be off, I must raise the sun in a few hours. Good luck my little pony.” Celestia turned around jumping off the balcony into the night. I noticed one of her feathers floating down to the balcony. I caught it in my magic and held it in front of me. It shimmered with an almost pinkish tone.

“If we are to do this right, we must get started right away,” Queen Argynnis moved to the elevator. “I will show you to your quarters.”

We entered the elevator and began our decent to the ground floor. Helvia looked deep in thought, I wasn’t sure what the rules were with the customs of addressing the Queens but I didn’t want to pry. Once at the bottom we moved through winding hallways and corridors until we eventually halted.

“This will be your room. It’s far enough from the main entrance but close enough to the library. My Changeling’s will attend to your needs at any time. Her horn glowed revealing a light red stream of magic. She gave me a stack of papers. “The first page is the list of servants attending to you. Beyond that are a list of battalions and companies in my control along with their equipment. There is also a list of officers for you to pick through to help with your task. With that, I wish you a good night.”

I bowed my head to the Queen Argynnis and her and Queen Helvia continued their walk down the hallway. I opened the door to my new quarters and walked to the center. It was a fairly large room with a couch and other furniture in the corner. Against the back wall was the bed flanked by nightstands. On the other end was a wardrobe. I walked up to the wardrobe and opening it. My uniforms were inside. Everything from my combat uniform to my service attire was located in here. I heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I yelled. Two maids pushing the cart with my power armor walked in. The pushed the cart to the wardrobe and quickly left.

I walked up to my suit to inspect it. The Equestria emblem on my flank was replaced with that of the Changeling trident with wings. The armor was painted a darker shade of gray to match that of the Changeling uniform. There was a desk near the bed. I placed the paper stack on the desk and hung my coat. I climbed into bed and covering myself in the blanket.

“I joined the army to fight Zebra’s not Changelings…”

Footnote: Perk Aquired!
Perk added: Love Tap: Changeling’s are suckers for love. Your love of Equestria and its pony’s give all Changelings companions a +2 to perception and +2 to strength.

Fallout Equestria: Blood and Steel

by Psychoshy887

Intro

Chapter 1: Let Them Eat Cake

Chapter 2: Counting Stars

Chapter 3: The Trenches pt. 1

Chapter 4: The Trenches pt. 2

Chapter 5: Seize the Siege

Chapter 6: Old Friends and New Orders

Chapter 7: Calm Before the Storm (Defense of Van Hoover)

Chapter 8: Midnight Squall (Defense of Van Hoover)

Chapter 9: Among the Dead