//------------------------------// // III - Buried // Story: Half-Hoof: A Second Coming // by Alfoals Trottenbauer //------------------------------// Ace awoke once again, in total darkness. He tried to breathe, but all he inhaled was dirt and powdery concrete. He coughed, sending more into his lungs. He started involuntarily inhaling, getting no air. He heard muffled speech. "I think I hear something." A mare's voice observed. Hooves started digging at the rubble, a sudden light blinded Ace as he gasped at the air. He coughed up concrete dust. "Ace!" A mare wearing a hoof band with a red cross called from on top the rubble. "Help..." Ace begged, most of his bones probably broken. A stallion looked over. "Don't worry, Ace, we'll get you out of here in a second." He reassured. Ace felt the weight lift off his body, the rubble revealed his mangled hooves, a gash in his stomach. Ace winced, the pain almost unbearable. He shakily tried to get up, to no avail. The mare and stallion took him by the hooves, Ace groaned from the touch. He looked down at his hind legs as he was dragged, blood trailed behind them. He started to close his eyes from blood loss. He opened them in a makeshift infirmary, an old, rusty bedframe under him, the most clean thing in the room was an IV sticking in his right pastern. He felt almost no pain. A Resistance pony with a red cross hoofband checked on Ace. She took out the IV. "You should be fine. Now, go fight for us." She encouraged. Ace galloped out of the room, picking up his weapons outside the door. There was another firefight outside, Three striders roamed in the open, firing their underslung cannons. One suddenly roared, a giant ball of energy formed from the cannon and the orb shrunk quickly as a beam of pure light fired. The beam hit a building. The building exploded outward, hitting multiple Resistance ponies. A gunship screamed outside as chopper's rotors whirred. A rocket hit a strider, it fell onto a building, caving it in. A gunship dropped a crate containing more Combine. Strange, three-legged creatures with two blue lights on the front dashed around the ground, screeching. One shot blue glowing needles at a stallion, the stallion froze up, paralyzed, the needles exploded into fragments. The stallion fell over, bleeding on the ground. Ace galloped into the battle, Freemane dashed over, giving Ace a rocket launcher. Gordon gave him a confident look. Ace fired a rocket at the gunship, it roared as it exploded in midair. The chopper skimmed over the ground, dropping spheres with red lights in the center, making ticking noises. A stallion galloped just past one when they exploded suddenly, launching him limp into the air like a ragdoll. The chopper flew low once again, this time dropping clawed, jet black mines. The mines dug their claws into the ground, making a beep indicating they were activated. A purple-coated mare galloped over to Ace, levitating a strange device to him. "Ace, you're going to need this." She advised. Ace took the device, looking it over. "What is it?" He asked. "It's the Zero Point Magical Field Manipulator." She answered. He thanked her and galloped to a mine. The mine started beeping faster the closer he got. It made a deeper tone, jumping out of the ground. Ace pulled the trigger on the device, a crash sounded as it was launched into the air, into a mass of Combine. The mine blasted into the mass, sending some flying. Ace looked up as a rocket flew into the chopper, sending it into a tailspin into a structure. A gunship started charging energy, a beam shot the square, a giant blast launched Resistance into the air. A rocket fired at the gunship, but the ship shot the projectile down with it's mounted cannon. More resistance ponies flooded into the plaza, most equipped with rocket launchers. An APC with a giant Lambda symbol painted on the side wheeled in, firing a mounted gun at the remaining Combine ponies. The APC launched missiles at the gunship, it screamed as it was sent crashing into the ground. "Haha! Got them!" A mare shouted out. A buzz of small rotor blades echoed through the streets. "We got marehacks!" Another mare shouted. "Haaaacks!" Somepony else called. Suddenly, the sky was blotted out by rotors. They started lowering themselves as missiles darted through the air, hitting a few, but not enough. When the cloud was low enough, razor-sharp blades popped out of their sides. The Resistance started to gallop away, but most were too slow.