War is catastrophic for most of those who are involved whether they be the soldier or the bystander. But unquestionable, it is the civilian who suffers most in times of conflict, for it is he who finds himself at the receiving end of its heinous consequences.............................................................
Seven hours into the night and all had proven peaceful in the city of Canterlot. Commander Spark sat at his desk within the confines of the guard barracks. He had just finished compiling a paper assessing the weekly incident report in the city. Crime was low, public disturbances even more so, that was usual. In fact, the only noteworthy incident on record involved a rather clumsy mail-mare pegasus crashing into somepony's window by accident. Other than that, all was well within Canterlot, and Spark had just finished the last of the paperwork he needed to complete.
With that all well and done, he decided some fresh air would be nice, and made his way towards the west battlements for a nightly stroll, maybe even make a round on all the guards at their posts. After a short five-minute walk through the castle, Commander Spark found himself atop the battlements, staring out at Luna's beautiful night sky once again with the pure admiration that only a bat-pony like himself could really appreciate.
Through his set of nocturnal eyes, he could make out more things than most ponies could during the nighttime hours, like how the moonlight shone and how its radiance reflected off of everything it touched. As he was making his way across the battlements, admiring the sights, he began to hear a faint noise that sounded like something clanking against cobblestone. His ears began to twitch, noticing the noise was emanating from his rear and gradually getting louder. He turned around, facing the stairwell he had just used to make his way up. After a second or two, he saw one of the night guards, another bat pony by the name of Private Onyx Star, had emerged from the doorway at a quickened pace. Star spotted the Commander and began to approach him with a saddlebag strapped around his back and barrel.
"Commander Spark, sir!" he addressed, raising a hoof in salute.
"At ease, Private." He acknowledged. "Mind explaining the rush? Weren't you supposed to be on watch in the library if I'm not mistaken?"
Private Star, quickly pulled the letter out of his saddlebag.
"I was, when a letter came in via magic delivery." Star explained. "It's a letter from Princess Twilight, and it's addressed to you."
"What?" Spark said rather confused. "What's she doing up at this hour?"
"I'm not sure, I only read who it was addressed to. Perhaps the letter explains more?"
Commander Spark took the letter in hoof and opened it, reading its contents thoroughly. His eyes gradually began to grow wider with each word he read. When he was done, he closed the letter and looked the Private dead in the eye.
"What does it say, sir?" Onyx Star asked.
Commander Spark looked at him sternly before answering.
"Private Star, wake the troops and rally the reserves. I want everypony ready and able boarding trains to Ponyville within the hour under chariot escort! We're mobilizing immediately!"
Private Star was a little confused by the sudden response, but didn't voice his concerns right away. Instead. he gave the proper salute.
"Right away sir. May I ask why?"
Commander Star walked past him and back towards the barracks before answering the private.
"Ponyville's come under attack by invaders, the Princesses are in danger. We're needed immediately. Now, rally the troops."
That was all Private Star needed to carry out his newly assigned task with the utmost haste.
"I'm right on it, sir!" he answered back.
And with that, Star was off to awake the reserves while Commander Spark rushed off to his personal quarters to ready for battle.
An utterly new obstacle now stood in the way of a hasty exit for Andrew and his team. If the situation had not already outright deteriorated by this point, given that the man they came to rescue was now dead and a skirmish with the natives was currently ongoing, the large presence of civilians could turn this into an all-out disaster. To make matters worse, many of those who hadn't immediately fled the scene upon Osaka and Wolfpack's immediate withdrawal from the building were beginning to encroach closer, clearly angered by who they assumed were the intruders that were causing all the commotion within Princess Twilight's castle.
Suddenly one of the ponies stepped forward, intent to close the most distance between Andrew's men and the crowd of natives. Her coat was beige, with a grey mane and tail, and she seemed to wear glasses and a white tie collar around her neck, giving the slight impression that she held some small authority over the others. In contrast her approach came across as timid, as each slow stride of her hooves moved her gradually forward. Once she deemed herself at a reasonable distance, she cleared her throat to speak.
"Attention trespassers!" she began saying. "As mayor of this town and government official I command you to lay down any and all weapons and surrender to the royal authorities!"
Sarah narrowed her eyes at this individual, wondering how easy it be to simply fire a shot off at her and watch the others scatter as a result. But odds were that Sawyer would immediately condemn that action, probably court martial her for it once they got back, so she opted instead to inquire what the next course of action should be.
"Orders, sir?" Sarah asked.
Viktor walked to Andrew's side, popping the question that everyone was thinking.
"What's your plan on getting us out of this one?"
Andrew was still thinking that particular part through. Obviously he wasn't going to comply with the local authority figure and stand down, not when they had an exit on the way.
"*I can detonate the charges sir.*" Hale suggested. "*May cause them to scatter.*"
"*May piss em' off too.*" Andrew replied. "*Just keep it cool. Let's at least try to be civilized.*"
"*Uh, it's a little fucking late for that!*" Viktor retorted. "*Pretty evident to them that we just fought our way outside!*"
Andrew shot Viktor an vexed glare, one that said "don't remind me". The presence of so many civilians made things difficult. Add that to the fact that the guards would no doubt recuperate from the last encounter and be ready to meet them out here shortly, and Andrew was pressed for time. Andrew walked past the majority of his men, taking place beside Sarah who had the closest distance towards the crowd and the pony who spoke for the others.
"Return to your homes!" Andrew announced.
Suddenly another pony emerged from the crowd and took a place next to the mayor, and to say she was quite an odd sight to behold would be understating it. It was one of those flying ponies, with a bright baby-blue coat with a very loud rainbow styled mane and tail. Despite the colorful appearance, the face she directed at Andrew and company could best be described as livid.
"AND JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!" she shouted in a raspy voice. "YOU DARE BREAK INTO TWILIGHT'S CASTLE AND TELL US TO GET OUTTA OF THE WAY! I DON'T THINK SO, BUB!"
The pegasus took flight looked ready to charge Andrew and his team before yet another pony, possessing neither wings nor horn sporting an orange coat, blonde mane, and, almost humorously, a cowboy hat, rushed between the two only to turn around and block rainbow pony's path.
"Rainbow Dash! Now just wait a minute! Ya-"
Rainbow Dash simply ignored her, flying over her friend to have a shot at Andrew.
"RAINBOW! NO!" the orange one cried.
Rainbow Dash flew in fast, quickly closing the distance between her and her intended target, unfortunately for her, her targets had years ahead of her on reflexes. Andrew and Sarah both quickly side stepped her attack, much to Rainbow Dash's confusion as barely anything she had tried to do this maneuver on in the past had managed to successfully evade her.
This first time experience was cut short when she redirected her vision forward to see Harris, left hand raised, dart towards her. Harris' movements were quick, and with little under a second, he had managed to successfully grab Rainbow Dash by the neck, stopping her mid-charge and mid-flight. He then proceeded to swing her small mass overhead and let go, slamming her head-first into the ground. The crowd of ponies erupted in a general gasp as they witnessed their town's local Wonderbolt and fastest flyer eat the dirt.
Rainbow Dash, lying on the ground and head stinging from concussive pain and disorientation, opened her eyes from her wincing look to see Harris had pulled the two Gsh-18 handguns from his chest rig, and pointed them directly at her, just inches away from her face. Like the encounter with Timberwolves not to long ago, she once again locked eyes with death straight in the face. Not for very long though, as at least a dozen Guard Ponies charged out of the front door to Twilight's castle in a loud clamor. The first sight that greeted them were the intruders they were after, no less than ten feet away, one currently pointing a pair of weapons at Rainbow Dash who laid on the ground, and the large presence of Towns-ponies blocking their path. Seeing this as a golden opportunity to apprehend them right then and there, they didn't hesitate to act quickly. One guard pointed a hoof to the humans.
"THERE! SURROUND THE-"
His words were cut off for the last time as a stream of blood burst from the guard's head from the bullet that had hit him. Many in the crowd of ponies shrieked or screamed, the other guards that were close jumped back at the sudden fatality, and searched frantically from where it came from. The round seemingly came from out of nowhere to strike him down, yet nopony saw any of the humans fire their weapons. Suddenly, their was a loud crack in the distance, and the guard who was to the left of the one just slain was struck in chest by another round. By this point, The crowd began to scatter, fearing a similar fate should they remain here. The Unicorn guard ponies tried to retaliate by pelting the group with magical blasts. Andrew's men returned fire immediately and began ducking for cover. Harris diverted his attention away from the pony on the ground before him and began firing his twin set of handguns at the guards, suppressing the targets with round after round of 9mm as tiny shells rained down to the ground or onto Rainbow Dash. Three of the rounds found their target, nailing one charging guard as he made a break towards them and another guard behind him who attempted to charge up a spell to fire off.
The castle exterior was soon cleared of hostiles in a matter of seconds, with the remaining guards finding themselves under suppressing fire, with a few attempting to fire off spells of their own in retaliation from behind the gargantuan set of doors. One daring Pegasus guard flew past the door, evading the bullets flying towards him and managed to chuck the spear he had in hoof towards Harris. Harris thankfully managed to dodge it by turning around and ducking, but upon facing forwards he found the guard had closed the distance between him quite quickly. The Pegasus grappled Harris around the arms and torso, desperately using his legs to try and pin Harris' arms. His daring and resolve would be short lived.
Harris followed his attackers pin maneuver by holstering the pistol he currently held in his left hand. Using his one free arm, he delivered three consecutive strikes of the fist to his attacker's stomach. The punches weakened the guard's hold he had on the Corporal, giving Harris the opportunity to free the arm that was pinned. With the other arm free and a pistol still in his right hand, Harris slammed the butt of the handgun down on the top of the guard's head. That alone caused the guard to release his grip on Harris and began falling to the ground, wincing in pain. But just as quickly as Harris had grappled Dash, Harris did so to this Pegasus. Before the guard hit the ground. Harris grabbed him by the throat and performed the same maneuver he had with Rainbow Dash, but unlike Dash however, he would not come back from it alive. Upon hitting the ground, Harris took aim and fired the last four pistol shots in the magazine at point blank range. All four rounds hit their target, three in the head, one in the neck.
Dash watched in absolute horror as the Pegasus was slain right in front of her. The unnerving nature of just how quick the human delivered death to him sent her into a frantic state of shock. For the first time in her life she witnessed a killing, and instead of charging headfirst into danger, she immediately fled from it, leaving the scene to find shelter as quickly as possible before the human had any intentions of doing the same thing to her. Like lightning, she quickly flipped around off of her back and lunged herself into the air, her heart pounding and fear taking an iron hold as she didn't once even look back and took flight towards a the between two rows of nearby homes. Harris noticed her escape, but didn't make any move to stop her for it wasn't important.
The scene was complete and utter chaos as volleys of gunfire and magic were exchanged over a distance of 20-30 yards, with pony bystanders running for dear life to get away from the skirmish. Andrew jumped on this opportunity for him and his team to escape in the chaos.
"Now's our chance! Let's go, people! Double time it!" he barked
Following their superiors orders, Fireteams Wolfpack and Osaka departed cover while still keeping up the pressure on suppressing the enemy behind the doors. The group were quickly approaching what was left of the mob with ease. Those ponies who had still held their ground up to this point began to bolt as the humans got closer. Mayor Mare herself, lunged the other way as Andrew and company charged forward. The guards noticed their target were making a break for it and thus made an attempt to pursue them, increasing the volume of magical blasts towards their direction. But as they did, they began to be picked off at a distance. One by one they fell.
Meanwhile, as Andrew and company made their escape, Hale turned around to see their pursuers struggle to catch up to them on account of Asami and Ahab laying down sniper fire.
"Sounds like Overwatch is doing their job!" Hale quipped. "Think we have a solid twenty yards ahead of them!"
"Now it's time to do ours!" Andrew yelled back. "Wolf 2, when we rendezvous with Overwatch, you detonate the charges!"
"Roger that, sir!"
Andrew then turned to Viktor.
"Vik, get Wolf 4 and 5 on line! Find out their ETA! After that, get in touch with Gateway and plan an exit! We're getting the hell out of here!"
Viktor acknowledged and placed his hand on his HUD-set radio.
Nate and Jelani had been en route to overwatch's location at the center of town when they began to hear gunfire, to which they responded by picking up the pace. That had been at least 15 minutes ago. Jelani had been leading the duo, despite the heavy load he was carrying compared to Nate's.
"Come, Nathan!" Jelani called out. "We must rendezvous with the Commander's force! They have need of our prowess!"
Nate came running up behind him, yet found himself trailing Jelani by at least seven yards and growing.
"Ya mind slowing the pace down a little, Jelani!?" Nate yelled. "You know me legs aren't as finely tuned as yours!"
"There is no time!" Jelani replied with a neutral expression. "Hurry!"
Given an answer, Nate groaned in frustration. It was already bad enough as it was. First he loses the RARD for god knows what reason, and finding how it was unlikely that anyone who went with the Commander had recovered it, two and half month's worth of tinkering work had effectively went down the drain. Then the mission gets compromised with gunfire erupting from somewhere in the settlement. Top it off with the rush to regroup and everything had effectively put Nate in a foul mood. Seems all he could do now was try to keep up as best he could.
As they entered the settlement, they had their eyes set on reaching the town's center as instructed by Viktor over the comms. But Nate had a pretty good feeling that they'd be encountering its inhabitants soon enough.
"Hey Jelani!" Nate called out. "What are we supposed to do if we encounter the civilians? Somethin' tells me they won't be too privy on us bargin' in here like we are."
"If they are wise, they will stay clear of the path we set!" Jelani replied.
The implications of Jelani's statement we're enough to elicit concern from Nate.
"Jelani, just how do ya plan on doing that? Ya know ya can't kill em right!?"
Jelani didn't reply, instead focusing on reaching the center of town in time to aid his comrades. The Duo turned down one of the streets hugging the edge closest to the row of houses to their left. By this point they had seen little pockets of civilians gathering here and there, spotted either looking out their windows, glimpsed through the alleyways between houses, or simply seen in the general direction ahead. Many were fleeing, no doubt from the battle, those who didn't began to do so when they spotted the two of them racing ahead. While still on alert, Nate was beginning to feel a sense of comfort as every one of these ponies that were even in remote vicinity fled from their presence. Nate perhaps thought it was a sign that they'd wouldn't have to deal with the repercussions of invading their home. Any hope of that being the case was immediately lost when he turned another corner.
Nate stopped dead in his tracks, his face slapped with a startled wide-eyed look. Immediately in front of him stood a crowd of ponies who had gathered in the dozens. They all immediately spotted Nate the minute he rounded the corner.
Their initial expressions began with looks of surprise, then gradually formed into looks of confusion, then suspicion, then hostility.
"Oh shit." Nate blurted out.
The ponies began moving towards him, a mob mentality slowly growing at the sight of another unannounced human in Equestria. Shouts were heard, and with so many ponies jumping to so many conclusions as to what his presence here might mean and no doubt attributing him as a possible connection to what was going on, Nate could foresee this not ending well. But suddenly their faces looked upwards a little, and looks of anger turned into looks of absolutely awestruck. Jaws were wide open on many of them, and Nate was confused as to why till he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Turning around, it was Jelani, approaching the crowd. Nate was pushed lightly aside, and Jelani began staring down the mob through the visor of his Helmet cover.
The giant of the man towered over every one of the ponies, carrying a very large blade on his back, with a device made entirely of metal with small golden objects reminiscent of arrowheads feeding into it slung around his shoulder and neck.. From their perspective, Jelani looked like more machine than man with sheer amount of equipment he had on his person.
Despite the ponies still outnumbering the two of them, they were quite hesitant to engage them on account of Jelani's rather intimidating presence. Jelani whipped his M240B around, lifting it up and cocking the bolt. The loud and unsettling noise made a few ponies jump, but they still held their ground. Jelani, rather angered by their refusal to cower in face of his might, addressed them with one simple demand.
"Move." He seethed.
Half of the ponies took one or two steps back, seeing that he was clearly angered. But they nonetheless held their ground. Jelani, growing fouler by every second they delayed him, raised his MG into the air with one hand and roared out loud.
"ANIMAUX STUPIDES!! LOIN AVEC VOUS!!!"
Jelani pulled the trigger and the muzzle flashed as a continuous spray of bullets traveled out from the end of the barrel and into the air, emitting the loud and terrible sound of gas escaping the end of the barrel. The startling and unnerving display of violence and awe was enough that the would-be mob had effectively faltered. Even as they scattered in all directions, Jelani had not let up his rage.
"I SAID MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He followed it up by letting out another long burst of rounds, letting out a loud war cry in the process. By this point, everypony had run away in utter terror. Once the street had been cleared by the fear-inducing display, Jelani's look of pure rage was immediately gone, replaced by the neutral expression from earlier. He turned around to Nate, who was just standing their bewildered by the sudden would-be rampage he saw Jelani go into and even more bewildered by how easily he came out of it.
"That, Nathan, is how I will do that." Jelani retorted with a slight smile.
Jelani then turned back around and resumed his course towards the center of town.
"Come, my friend!" he shouted to Nate.
Nathan began following him, the pure stupefied look still drawn out on his face. While pondering his friend's sanity and whether or not what he just did could be considered a war crime, a transmission came over his radio.
"*Wolf 4, this is Wolf 1, what's your ETA to Overwatch's position? Over."
The sudden request snapped Nate back into the swing of things, and he quickly reached up to his HUD-set to relay back.
"Wolf 4 to Wolf 1, we're less than one mike out to Overwatch's position. Be advised there's a heavy civilian presence! How copy?"
"*I read you Wolf 4, do anything you can to avoid them, but under no circumstances are you to fire upon them.*" Viktor instructed. "*We're currently en route to Overwatch's position, be advised we have hostiles in pursuit, be ready to engage when you get there! How copy?*"
Nate paused a moment, wondering if either the Colonel or the Commander had heard Jelani's gun go off. If they had, Nate wouldn't have had any doubts that Viktor would have inquired about it by now. He spent a short time debating whether or not to tell Viktor what Jelani had just done. Ultimately however, Nate figured that since no one was hurt physically by the experience, there was no harm in keeping the information from him.
"Copy that, Wolf 1, see ya at the rendezvous point, Wolf 4, out."
The transmission ended, and Nate was left with pondering what the consequences would be of his decision.
Luna and Celestia emerged from the front doors of Twilight's castle with the guards that accompanied them. Upon stepping outside, the scene was a complete and utter disaster. Screams and yells could be heard across the distance with the blatant bursts of gunfire accompanying them. They had encountered the first set of casualties on their way outside, five guard found dead on the second floor, not too far from the staircase. No doubt killed by Achmed and his compatriots, but upon exiting the castle they could see that the death toll had doubled. Several bodies of the guards were scattered across the front of the castle, lifeless and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. Two by the door, three nearly twelve feet from the castle, one out in the open by itself, and at seven in the distance. The ground was littered with shell casings and black burn spots where magical spells had made impact. The two sisters stood their, taking in the carnage in horror.
"The situation has grown even more dire it would seem." Luna noted.
"I know, every minute we delay puts more ponies' lives in danger." Celestia replied.
"What do you suggest, sister?"
Celestia looked to those who had already fallen. Eleven of those who had set out with them we're now dead, and given how things seemed to be going, the death toll was bound to grow higher. Celestia turned to the Commander of her guard, who was currently relaying orders to those guards still alive to pursue the targets.
"Commander Shield." She said, addressing him.
Stout Shield turned around and immediately gave her a salute.
"Yes, your highness?" he replied.
"Commander, belay those orders, I need you and your men to divert efforts into evacuating the populace of Ponyville."
Luna and Stout both looked at her surprisingly.
"Sister? What of the intruders?" Luna questioned. "You don't mean to tell me you'll have them-"
"We will deal with the intruders ourselves, Luna." Celestia revealed. "At least for long enough for Commander Spark and the reserves to arrive. Assuming Twilight has sent the letter already."
Suddenly, a magic burst of lavender appeared by the front door of the castle. As it dissipated, Twilight Sparkle was found in its place. She immediately eyed the two princesses and approached the two.
"Princess, I sent the letter as you requested." Twilight informed. "I'm not entirely sure how long it will take them to get here and-"
It was at that moment Twilight saw the bodies. She gasped in horror, and Celestia immediately intervened to keep her student focused.
"Twilight. Look at me." Celestia said with a soothing tone. "I need your help once again, more importantly I need you focused and ready to act. Can you do that for me?"
Twilight's fear suddenly dropped significantly in the wake of Celestia's confidence.
"Y..yes, princess." Twilight replied.
"Good. I need you to accompany Commander Shield and the rest of the guard. Ponyville needs to be evacuated immediately. Gather Spike and your friends and assist in this endeavor to the best of your abilities. Th-"
"Princess!" A voice called from Behind.
Turning around they saw Applejack and Mayor Mare racing towards them, eventually stopping by the foot of the front steps.
"Thank goodness y'all are safe!" Applejack said in relief.
"Princess." Mayor Mare addressed, giving a quick but respectful bow. "The invaders are making their way towards the center of Ponyville! Please, tell me that you have a plan for dealing with these monsters!"
The last title seemed harsh from an outside perspective, but given all that she had witnessed and all they had committed up to this point, it was justifiable.
"I do." Celestia replied. "Mayor Mare, Applejack, I need you to assist Twilight and Commander Shield in the evacuation of Ponyville. Every resident needs to be relocated at once!"
"Where to?" Twilight asked.
Celestia turned to Applejack.
"Applejack, Sweet Apple Acres stands just a few miles out from the outskirts of town, yes?"
"It does your highness." Applejack answered. "Just North of here."
"Then it should be far enough from the fighting that it make an ideal spot for everypony to lay low until it's safe again. Assuming you would be willing to have it serve as a temporary safe haven?"
"I wouldn't mind at all, Princess." Applejack replied. "You can count on me!"
"Thank you, Applejack. In the meantime, Luna and I will see if we can't occupy the human's attention long enough for Commander Spark's reinforcements to arrive. With any luck, we can hold them down long enough for his forces to encircle them. Perhaps that would be enough to coerce them into a surrender."
"Our tasks are very dangerous mind you." Luna said delivering the last words before everypony set out. "Despite all that has occurred our duty is to the ponies of Ponyville. See to it that they're evacuated safely, no matter what odds are presented to you."
Everypony nodded in acknowledgement. With that, Celestia and Luna spread their wings and took flight, with Celestia giving out a few words before setting off towards the town's center with Luna.
"Good luck, everypony. Stay safe."
And like the wind, the two soared away. Commander Shield approached Twilight.
"Looks like you've taken command again, Princess Twilight. Shall we proceed with the evacuation orders?" he asked.
"At once, Commander. You and half your men evacuate the west side of Ponyville, while the other half aid me, Applejack, and Mayor Mare evacuate the east side. I'll go grab Spike and Flash Sentry."
The Commander saluted, relaying the orders to the men. Twilight was quick to get underway, glancing to Applejack.
"AJ, we need to get the girls together." She said. "Any idea where they would be?
"If I had guess there' all probably still at home layin' low." Applejack said. "All except Rainbow Dash. She was with me in the crowd before things got messy."
"What happened to her?" Twilight asked.
"She practically charged headfirst at them humans the minute they left the castle. I tried to tell her not to but she didn't listen." Applejack informed. "Suffice to say, they managed to not only dodge her, but catch her mid-flight. The one who caught her slammed her to the ground and pulled a gun on her! That's when the guards came out and the fighting started, and it was also the last I saw her."
Twilight and Applejack feared the worst, and looked out to where the skirmish had taken place. The group then ran out to where the remnants of the fight and looked around for their friend, checking the bodies of the fallen and nearby locations. Thankfully they found that she was not among them.
"She's not here." Twilight stated.
"Where do you think she may have run off to?" Mayor Mare asked Applejack.
"I honestly have no idea, Mayor." Applejack replied. "It's not really like her to run off at all. Though given what just happened she must have been scared outta her wits."
"We need to find her, make sure she's okay." Twilight suggested. "if anything's happ-"
"Your Majesty!" A guard called out. "We found her!"
The mere mention of Rainbow Dash immediately garnered everypony's attention. Turning around they saw the guard standing by a thicket of bushes by somepony's house. They all rushed towards them. the guard pointed towards the rear of the bushes and sure enough, there was Rainbow Dash.
However she wasn't acting like her normal self. Her eyes were wide, and didn't even seem to acknowledge that they were all standing over her. She was trembling, hyperventilating, and mumbling something too quiet to comprehend. All in all, she was a nervous wreck. Twilight and Applejack glanced at one another, deep amounts of concern strewn across their faces.
Andrew and the others had been running towards the center of town for about three minutes and by that point, their pursuers had been dealt death from Overwatch's little sniper nest. They turned a corner and they were once again greeted by the cylindrical structure. Overwatch noticed their arrival.
"They made it, back!" Ahab said, pleased with the fact.
"Indeed they did." Asami concurred. "Nice shooting, kid."
"Thanks." Ahab said.
"Now, all that's left is for Wolf 4 and 6 to show up and we should be good." Asami stated.
She turned around towards the other direction, looking through the scope of her M1500 Archangel to see if she could spot her two sqaudmates. It didn't take long to do so. Less than 20 yards away she could see the two rushing towards their position.
"There, see the two of them now."
At that moment, a transmission came through her Comm-link.
"*Wolf 3, this is Alpha. We've reached the rendezvous point. Over.*"
Asami reached up to her HUD-set.
"Copy that Alpha, be advised, I have eyes on Wolf 4 and Wolf 6 approaching the rendezvous point."
"*Copy that, Wolf 3. We'll be waiting for them. You and Osaka 5 go ahead and make your way down. Wolf 1 out.*"
"Uh, Wolf 3 you may not wanna end that call just yet." Ahab said with a bit of worry to his voice. "You should come take a look at this."
Asami looked around to see Ahab looking through his spotter scope. She walked over, and took aim with her rifle to see if she could spot what he was looking at.
"Where?" she asked.
"West, about 18-1900 yards out, bearing southwards at about 75 mph I'd say. Maybe faster."
"What?" she exclaimed.
She adjusted her scope to match the directions Ahab had just given her. Sure enough, she spotted it. Along the distance horizon some sort of object spanning several yards in length was approaching the town at a rather incredible speed.
"What is that thing?" she asked aloud.
"I think it's a train." Ahab said.
"A train?" she asked. "Where's it going?"
"Given it's on a pre-set path built into the ground and heading towards a turn that'll take it straight towards this settlement, I'd sayyyyyyyyyyyy, here." Ahab quipped pointing towards the southwest. "Their path should take them right to that station on the southwest edge of town.
Asami was quick to formulate why a train as large as it was was heading towards them.
"What are the odds that that train is bringing enemy reinforcements?" Asami asked rhetorically.
"Odds?" Ahab questioned. "There's no odds about it. The train has some sort of flying chariot escort with it."
"Wait? What? Where? Let me see."
Ahab moved from his spotter scope's position with Asami taking his place. As her hands guided the scope she could see what Ahab had described. Despite it throwing physics a knock-out punch, several dozen chariots pulled by winged guard ponies were in fact escorting the train from the air.
"Dear God." Asami said in a hushed tone.
"Believe me now? That train is definitely bringing in more reinforcements." Ahab added.
Asami quickly shot her hand up to her comm-link.
"Wolf 1, this is Wolf 3, be advised, we have a visual on a train approaching our location under armed escort. We believe it's carrying enemy combatants, over."
Viktor's hairs stood up at this sudden information. They needed to leave, and they needed to leave now.
"Copy, Wolf 3. Regroup outside, I'll notify Gateway. Wolf 1 out."
Viktor turned to Andrew, an anxious look on his face.
"What is it?" Andrew asked.
"It's official, we kicked the hornet's nest." Viktor informed him.
"Why? What's happened?" Andrew asked.
"Our snipers just spotted a train heading this way. No doubt packed with troops to secure the town, and probably kill us!"
Andrew's eyes lit up, as the prospect of facing an army of native guards was going to be damn near impossible. In fact, the ammo that they did have on them was beginning to dwindle, meaning their escape needed to happen sooner rather than later.
"Shit! Vik, tell Overwatch to get down here, then get Gateway on the line, I want an ETA on that portal, now!"
As he said that, Nate and Jelani appeared into view and approached the others.
"Wolf 4, Wolf 6, good to see you made it in one piece." Andrew greeted. "The locals give you much trouble?"
Nate looked a tad bit nervous to answer, but thankfully, Jelani stepped up to answer.
"No, sir. No trouble at all." he said bluntly.
Any signs of deceit were nowhere to be found with his statement, and thus Andrew had no reason to doubt him.
"Well, I hate to ruin your good luck streak, but you're about to. Enemy combatants are on their way here now via train." Andrew informed the two.
Andrew looked to Viktor.
"Vik, what's Gateway's-"
Andrew was cut when Vik raised a finger, indicating he was still on the line and needed a minute.
"Affirmative." Vik said. "I'll tell him. Wolf 1, out."
With that, Viktor turned to face Andrew.
"They managed to get a fix on our position and found a spot they could open the portal that's closest by." Viktor informed. "Portal's about a click and a half North of where we currently are. Grid point 324675."
"Wolf 4, you got the map grid pulled up?"
Nate quickly did some fiddling with his HUD-set.
"Got the location locked in, sir." Nate replied. "We're ready to exfiltrate when you are."
Finally relieved they had a surefire exit out of here, Andrew wasted no time in moving out.
"Good." he said. "As soon as Overwatch is downstairs we-"
"Incoming!" Lewis called out.
Suddenly as if on que, a beam of golden magic landed a few feet from where the group was standing and began advancing towards them at an incredible rate. Every one instinctively dodged or evaded it. They followed the beam's trail and discovered it was coming from one of the Princesses. Those who hadn't laid eyes on the two sisters could now clearly see their resemblance to the guards they had already engaged beforehand.
"RETURN FIRE!" Andrew yelled out."
They did so without hesitation, laying the target down with overlapping fields of fire. Celestia cut her beam off and surrounded herself in a golden bubble shield to deflect the oncoming projectiles once again. But unlike her encounter with Achmed, she now had to contend with fire from ten guns rather than just one. She poured all the power she could muster into her shield, yet the strain on it began to surface as round after round damaged it's exterior. Suddenly another beam from their right, this one bright blue, made impact and followed the previous beam's tactic to boot. The group re-positioned as to not be intercepted by the beam.
By this time, Ahab and Asami had heard the gunfire coming from outside and had raced to regroup with the others. The minute they got outside, they saw the beam heading straight towards them.
"LOOK OUT!" Asami said, shoving Ahab out of the beam's trajectory while ducking the other way as to not be hit by the beam herself.
The beam cut off just before entering the interior of the building they just came out of, but not before Asami followed it back to it's source, which happened to be a new variant of the locals. A navy blue equine with wings and a horn with a mane and tail like the starry night. Asami would have actually found her beautiful if it wasn't trying to kill her and her comrades at the moment, and for that reason, it needed to die.
Asami quickly stood back up and switched to her RFB, opening up on the target with several precise shots aimed for her head and abdomen. Luna saw this however and quickly formed her own bubble shield in the nick of time, before any of the rounds tore through her. Gunfire en masse was then exchanged over to her, giving Celestia the time she needed to fly in and fire off another spell. This beam was slower, but wide enough to force Andrew and his men to scatter for cover. This time the beam had separated the group in two, with Andrew, Hale, Vik, and Achmed on one side of the dirt street and everyone else on the other.
Celestia and Luna continued this tactic of exchanging places, one would fire a beam the other would form a shield. This worked for about a minute before Andrew and his team caught on to the repetition of the attack.
"Vik, tell my team to concentrate fire on the Blue one, your team on the white one!" Andrew ordered. "Hit em' at the same time, that way they can't attack."
Viktor nodded, reaching up to HUD-set. Achmed heard the order right away since he was standing right by Andrew, and good thing too, as both he and Andrew's radio's were still shot. The duo peaked from cover, currently a parked wagon, and began firing upon Luna, who had to cancel out her beam spell to form a shield around herself.
Soon, the order was relayed to the rest of the team, the rest of Osaka fired on Luna. Celestia saw that the humans had caught on to their little tactic. Switching things up a bit, Celestia flew to a higher altitude, tracer rounds following behind her, and began a dive bomb towards the empty space that stood between the separated group of human combatants. She quickly gained speed, and once she was at the desired speed, she cast a spell, and the bubble shield that had surrounded here now came to her front and solidified into a magical solid mass. She then pull up, letting go of the sphere and letting it plummet to the ground right by the humans. Andrew saw this and quickly yelled out a warning.
"PAYLOAD INCOMING! TAKE COVER!"
The group looked up to see the dumpster side sphere descending downwards at an alarming rate. They instantly ceased shooting and ran to escape what they thought to be the blast radius. The sphere made impact with the ground, Shattering in an explosive display as a golden shockwave spread across the ground. Andrew and the three accompanying him escaped in the nick of time as they took cover behind a nearby structure. The other half were caught by it as Lamond, Nate, and Lewis were knocked off their feet. They hit the ground, but slowly got back up with the aid of those who had escaped it.
Suddenly Achmed noticed that the two Princesses had a perfect opportunity to swoop in for the kill. He came out from cover and looked skywards for their attackers, who he assumed were ready to attack. But that wasn't the case. They were just flying around encircling them. In fact Achmed witnessed something odd. Celestia swooped in to fire her beam, but only after the rest of the team had gotten behind cover. Then he began noticing that the rest of the team were a good 30 yards away at this point. Then it hit him.
"God dammit! How could we be so-" he said furiously. "They're distracting us!"
"What!?" Andrew stated.
"They're not trying to kill us, they're trying to buy time for their inbound forces! They're splitting us up so we can't make a break for it."
Andrew, Viktor, and Hale all thought about it for a moment and came to the same realization as Achmed.
"God dammit, you're right!" Andrew said out loud.
"Any ideas on how to rectify that!?" Viktor asked.
"I got one!" Hale announced.
The three looked at Hale, who pulled the detonator out from his pouch.
"There's enough ordinance on that portal to blow a pretty good-sized hole into the building!" Hale explained. "That'll probably get their attention long enough for us to regroup and make our way North. Just say the word, Commander!"
Seeing really no other alternative than attempting a break for it under fire, Andrew conceded to Hale's plan.
"Viktor, fill the others in! Hale, when I give the word, detonate the charges! We regroup at that building with the sofa and quill sign over the door."
Andrew pointed to the building in question while Viktor filled the other half of the team in through his comm-link. At that point Princess Luna came into view rust a few meters off the ground, horn charged with another beam spell. Achmed saw her, and fearlessly challenged her oncoming attack by firing off his rifle at her yet again, only for his rounds to be instantly deflected by her shield. Viktor got off the comms and looked at Andrew desperately.
"It's now or never Andrew!"
Andrew looked to Hale, who awaited the command.
"Do it."
Hale pressed the detonator, and the sound that followed echoed for miles around. Luna diverted her attention away from the humans to notice the giant fiery explosion that erupted in the distance, the epicenter of which looked to be...
"Twilight's castle." She said to herself in a frightened tone.
Celestia had noticed as well, and her eyes grew frightfully wide as she recognized where it had come from.
From the human point of view, Hale's strategy had worked, and they wasted no time in escaping. The two groups darted from cover and made a run for the rallying point. Seconds passed like minutes as the group was out in the open, but they successfully managed to regroup, and awaited further orders, which came the second they regrouped.
"We make for the portal, Wolf 4 lead the way!"
Wolf 4 did so immediately, as he and the others raced towards their only chance of escape.
Celestia and Luna hadn't even noticed they had managed to regroup until they heard Andrew relay orders to his team. They both turned to him, angered by what was no doubt their handiwork. But they both suddenly realized what direction they were heading. Celestia and Luna immediately flew after them, pelting them with spell after spell that Andrew's team had to dodge as they charged towards their only hope for escape from this world.
The evacuation seemed to be going well so far. With so many guards at her disposal,Twilight had managed to get the word out pretty quickly. Ponies by the hundreds were moving towards Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack ran ahead to inform her family what was going on and to get their help in making the necessary preparations to temporarily accommodate everypony in town. Twilight quickly went back to her room and teleported Flash and Spike out of there, informing the two of what had transpired. AJ and herself had managed to calm Rainbow Dash down a significant amount, enough to get her back on her hooves and have her aid in the evacuation. She was still a little shaken up, but she managed. After getting Scootaloo and dropping her off with Twilight, she went to go help the guards evacuate the West side of Ponyville.
Rarity had managed to grab Sweetie Belle and Opal and had left Carousel Boutique the moment the evacuation was ordered. Fluttershy and her assortment of animal friends had just arrived when Flash Sentry approached her.
"Your Majesty." He said addressing her. "The entire East side of Ponyville's been evacuated, we're just waiting the west side to-"
His report of the situation was cut short as the ground shook violently beneath them, followed by a loud boom coming from Ponyville. Everypony either jumped, flinched, gasped, or screamed as they saw what had just happened behind them. Turning around, Twilight looked in horror as she saw a giant fireball blast its way through the side of her home, lighting fire to the things inside and sending chunks of crystal debris flying outwards. Soon however, she notice plumes of black smoke began to rise from the interior as she watched her castle begin to catch fire.
Twilight was still as the grave, as was many a pony. Tears swelled beneath her eyes as she watched her home go up in flames. Memories of Tirek destroying her first home began to surface, and was only by the interference of a beloved dragon that snapped her out of her almost perpetual state of sorrow.
"Twilight!" Spike called out as he came running to her side.
Twilight turned, tears streaming down her face as she looked down upon her little adoptive brother.
"Twilight." Spike said, now beginning to cry himself. "Our home..."
Twilight hugged Spike, both beyond the verge of tears as they watched their home go up in flames. Twilight couldn't believe it. It hadn't even been a year since Golden Oaks Library was destroyed, and now the very castle the Tree of Harmony gifted onto her and her friends was now burning before her eyes. Just when she had begun to call it home. The structure might survive, but all their belongings all the little things her friends had put into making it home, even the chandelier made from the roots of golden oaks would be gone. Tim's body would more than likely be consumed by flame as the fires raged, a final send-off for him into the next world.
Why?! Why have they done this!? Twilight mentally cried out.
There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the humans were responsible for this. Despite this, she had to look past it. For everypony's sake and safety.
"Spike." Twilight said to him softly, mustering all the strength she could to keep both him and herself going. "I....I know it's bad, the castle was our home, but we need to be strong. Like Princess Luna said, a lot of ponies are still in danger and its up to us to make sure they get to safety. Both the Princesses are counting on us. Spike. Can I count on you?"
Spike once again looked to the burning castle, watching his home be destroyed for the second time. But he then turned to Twilight. Wiping away the tears, he gave a defiantly brave look.
"Yeah. You can count on me." He stated.
Twilight hugged him one last time.
"We'll get through this Spike." she said to him confidently.
"You..you promise?" he asked.
"I promise."