Cabal blood splattered over Procor’s armour as he killed his next enemy. As soon as the call to begin had come through, he had charged forward, his hands coated in Arc energy. Seeing as the army behind him was slower than him, he figured he could pull some enemy fire away from them as they approached, a plan that had been working thus far.
He rammed his fist into the chest of yet another Legionary, its breastplate crumpling in with the power behind the attack. They had landed quite a few shots on him, but his Arc light was doing well to hold it back. As he turned to face the rest of the Cabal army, however, he came to the realisation his plan wouldn’t hold for much longer.
Three Goliaths could be seen advancing towards him and his allies at full speed. He quelled his surprise at the incoming machines, focusing on figuring out how to deal with them. He hadn’t planned on them arriving so quickly, leaving him little time to prepare.
As the closest Goliath came into firing range, he began running at them, ignoring the now less imposing foot soldiers that attempted to surround him. While the Cabal may have made these Goliaths faster, their weight would have been reduced in order to allow for the extra speed.
Closing his eyes and praying he was right, he charged his Arc energy as much as he could and leaped up above the tank. The explosion that followed was massive, blasting the plating of the machine apart. With the sheer amount of force and Light behind the movement, as well as its lighter armour, the Goliath instantly detonated, spraying broken metal in a large circle around it.
Rising up, he raised his gaze to look out at the remaining forces. Swathes of soldiers still charged at him, and the other Goliaths had turned their focus to him. A quick glance to the top of his HUD revealed a flashing red bar. The combination of intense gunfire and an immense explosion had managed to break his shields, leaving him with only his physical armour to protect him.
With so many enemy Cabal left, he had no choice but to play more defensively until his shield came back, something easier said than done when under masses of gunfire. Thankfully, however, his saving grace came in the form of a bright golden light that crossed the battlefield. It was enough to daze the Cabal, giving Procor time to regain his shielding and redistribute his Light to where it was needed.
When he was ready, he leapt from the wreckage, his body still covered in shimmering blue energy. The still stumbling Cabal stood little chance to the Titan’s renewed Light, many falling before shots were fired once more.
As he fought off the soldiers around him, Celestia moved from her position in the sky, and started working on the remaining Goliaths that had slowed to regain their bearings. Her attack had worked far better than she had thought it would, and she wasn’t complaining. It had given them an advantage, and anything they could use to get the upper hoof was a plus.
Seeing as she hadn’t used combat magic in many centuries, she focused more upon distracting the machines, firing blinding beams of magic into where she assumed the pilots of the vehicles were looking from. With her moving around and blinding them, they were unable to hit her, but their sense of pride and loyalty kept them trying, a seemingly endless volley of bullets and shells being fired from the many cannons.
This changed, however, when a call from Procor drew her attention away. The ponies around her had mostly passed, almost all of them making it past the distracted Cabal and storming the wall. She gave Procor a quick nod, flying to follow the army and leaving the Titan to finish dealing with what remained of the infantry.
Now that the Princess had stopped dealing with the Goliaths, they turned their focus to Procor, firing everything they had at him. Explosions shook the ground around him, but he stood tall. The time Celestia had given him away from the vehicles was enough for him to regain his strength, the Legionaries surrounding him not putting enough of a fight up to be an issue for him.
He pushed Arc light back into his arms, running forwards towards the closest tank and leaping up. Some of the soldiers near the Goliath quickly determined what he was doing and were lucky enough to move away in time. The drivers were not as fortunate. Like the last one, the force of his Light crumpled the metal armour like paper, the ammunition on board detonating and throwing shrapnel around it.
The Titan rose slowly from the wreckage, looking at the remaining Goliaths. Their weapons were pointed directly at him, but were holding fire, likely trying to get a shot that would keep friendly fire down to a minimum.
Using the extra time wisely, he pushed more Arc Light outwards, smiling as he readied for yet another slam. A few moments passed before he moved, jumping out at the enemy vehicle. Its weapon rose quickly, firing a shot at the rapidly approaching Guardian, drawing a greater smile from him.
This was going to be quick.
- - -
Outside the battlefields, a group of Cabal dropships soared over the oceans. The ponies and Guardians on board had already prepared, awaiting the clearance to engage from their pilots.
The rest of Odium had been giving brief updates through their comms, which Kervis listened to intently. Having knowledge of the battlefield was incredibly helpful to have beforehand, even if they weren’t landing in the same spots as the battles that had been called.
“Arriving in thirty seconds.” Thovog said, jolting the many soldiers up. Even with them being the lucky few that avoided the initial assaults upon the walls, they still had to deal with the anti-air and heavy resistance that awaited them when they reached their destination.
Soon, the crew bay doors of the ships opened slowly, revealing the sea below them. It seemed that the defence force were so occupied with the other three walls, there was very little opposing them as they arrived. This didn’t remove the threat of death entirely, as some of the automated defences had already begun firing at them, but the fact that the wall wasn’t covered in Cabal was enough to raise their spirits.
Compelled by his drive to set things right, Thovog was the first out of the ship, his heavily-armoured body slamming into the ground and kicking up a sizeable cloud of debris. The sound of the ships, as well as the troops exiting them, drew the attention of some of the nearby enemy Cabal, who turned and began focusing their fire on Thovog.
None of them lasted long on the receiving end of his slug thrower, however, especially not when the pilots that dropped him off provided covering fire. Within moments, their landing area was clear, and the dropships had successfully delivered all of their troops.
Kervis approached Thovog as the Cabal leader’s slug thrower finished spinning down. “Procor says he and Celestia have things handled on their end,” the Guardian told him. “Elana says she and Flamelight have just barely broken through, but they mostly made it. There’s been no word from Exodus, Chrome and Luna yet, though. We should go to the North side and assist them there.”
“What of the support force behind them?” Thovog asked.
“They’re still inbound,” Kervis responded. “They should be coming up on the edge of the city soon, though.”
Thovog nodded and turned to face his troops before calling commands to them in their native Cabal language. They responded immediately, setting off down the road ahead of Thovog and Kervis, sweeping alleyways and buildings with their weapons as they went. After a few moments, Kervis went to take the head of the group, and they continued advancing.
It wasn’t long before word of their arrival began to spread.
- - -
On the Northern side of Manehattan, things had deteriorated rather quickly as the Equestrian army, led by Exodus, Princess Luna and Chrome Shield, advanced towards the Cabal perimeter. On this side of the city, the ground had been soft enough for the Cabal to quickly construct rows of trenches outside the walls, allowing Cabal infantry to fire upon their enemy from a much more protected position.
Dozens of ponies had already fallen to incoming gunfire, despite Chrome and his fellow shield unicorns’ best efforts to protect them, and now they could advance no further due to a lack of fire support.
Exodus and Chrome lobbed grenade after grenade into the trenches before them, but more and more infantry came out from behind the walls to replenish them; rows of Phalanxes, Psion sniper teams, and hundreds of Legionaries all fired on the magic barrier that Chrome and his fellow unicorns had projected ahead of them. Cracks were beginning to show; it was clear that they’d have to either retreat soon or die to incoming fire.
Exodus, growing tired of this stagnation, decided he’d had enough. He summoned his Ghost in his hand. “Bring the ship in, weapons ready,” he told it. “That should clear the way a little.”
The Ghost nodded and disappeared from view once more. “Chrome!” Exodus called to his ally over the roar of gunfire. “Tell the Princess to prepare the ponies to advance!”
“Advance?” Chrome called back, a puzzled expression coming over him as he channelled more magic into maintaining his part of the barrier. “Sorry, but unless you’ve got something big that you’ve been holding back, that won’t be an option!”
“Don’t worry,” Exodus responded, “Support is on the way!”
Chrome shrugged and ran off down the row to the lunar Princess, who stood alongside her fellow ponies to keep the barrier strong. “Princess!” he addressed her. “Exodus says to prepare our ponies to advance!”
“Advance?” she questioned. “That is not possible with enemy resistance like this!”
“That’s what I told him, too, Your Highness,” Chrome said. “He says help’s on the way, though.”
Indeed, it was only a few seconds later that the sound of approaching sub-lightspeed engines was heard, even over the gunfire. Moments later, Exodus’s blue, tripod-shaped Ceres Galliot streaked overhead, its Reef-made onboard weaponry carpeting the enemy entrenchments. Dozens upon dozens of Cabal fell to the ship’s fire as it made a few more passes overhead until its ammunition was depleted.
Princess Luna, as well as Chrome and the other ponies in the group, watched in awe as the machine cleared out nearly all the enemies in their path. After a few moments, the alicorn cleared her head. “Advance!” she called out to her fellow ponies in her signature Royal Canterlot Voice. The solid barrier separated into columns, each led by a unicorn projecting a barrier. Advancing methodically to completely sweep the trenches, and the enemy infantry now more hesitant to come out from behind the wall, the different teams were able to reach the wall, and Exodus’ Ghost got to work on re-opening the gate.
Princess Luna looked over the ponies that made it across the field. Of the army that had entered the fields alongside her, only a couple dozen of them remained, and even some of those who survived had various wounds that would require attention. The medics that survived were doing their work as best they could, however. Steeling her resolve to appear strong for her ponies, she put off her grief for when the fate of her world was more secure.
- - -
“Thovog,” Kervis addressed the rogue Cabal leader as they cautiously advanced through the city. “Exodus just got in touch. They’ve taken heavy casualties but they’re on their way in now. We’re going to meet up with them halfway to where they are.”
“The operation goes well,” Val Thovog nodded. “But something troubles me. We caused quite the disturbance on our arrival, and yet the enemy has made no action against us. I am beginning to suspect a trap.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then we can’t turn around now,” the Titan shrugged. “We’ll just have to deal with whatever they throw at us.”
- - -
“Sir!” a Centurion shouted as he rushed onto the bridge of his leader’s flagship. “Several squads stationed along the waterfront have failed to check in, and security cameras show that there is a force of rogue Legionaries, Psions and Phalanxes proceeding through the streets, moving northward. There is also a Guardian, and… what appears to be Val Thovog among them. What are your orders?”
“We will suffer no more intrusions, least of all from that turncoat,” Primus Va’aull muttered, already frustrated at his enemies attempts to remove his forces form the city. “Kill them all. No prisoners, no hesitation.”
“Yes, sir,” the Centurion saluted before heading off to do as his Primus instructed.
- - -
One of the Psions in Thovog’s group stopped in place for a moment, listening intently. “Hold! I hear enemy communications close by!” she reported to the rest of her group. Instantly, the rogue Cabal force, as well as Kervis and Thovog, took cover behind walls, barriers, and various pieces of Cabal equipment, waiting for the Psion to report more.
“…30 meters out…” the Psion updated, raising her weapon and scanning the streets in front of her. The others were doing the same, scanning over doors, alleyways, windows, anywhere an enemy could obtain a shot on them. A few moments of eerie quiet passed, the only sounds being the soldiers’ controlled breathing and the clamour of gunfire and battle echoing through the streets from other parts of the city. None dared to move for fear of an ambush.
“Slaughter them!”
The booming voice of a Centurion roared through the streets as packs upon packs of War Beasts began pouring onto the street, led by Legionary Beast Masters, growling and running towards the invading rogue Cabal. As Thovog and Kervis opened fire on the new enemies, and their soldiers did the same, the roar of heavy engines grew louder as Interceptors also closed in on them.
The first casualty was an unfortunate Legionary, who was mauled to death by four of the Cabal attack animals. As his blood poured onto the street from his neck, torso and legs, his friend, a Phalanx, let out a terrible roar and smashed his shield into the face of one of the nearby beasts. The beast was killed instantly as its skull and neck shattered, the sheer force behind the shield sending it careening through the air until it collided with one of the Beast Masters, killing him as well. After holding position to block incoming fire from an Interceptor, he spun around and swung his shield into the air, then swiftly down onto the head of another beast that had been attacking an incapacitated Psion, knocking it off and smashing its head against the pavement.
As the Psion looked around and gathered its wits, he found himself staring down the barrel of an Interceptor’s cannon, as its pilot took aim on him and his squad. The pilot’s head suddenly erupted in a spray of blood and pressurizing fluid as Kervis’s pulse rifle delivered a precision burst directly to his face. The Interceptor fell idle as its pilot slumped sideways out of the seat. Seeing an opportunity, the Psion called for his squad nearby to give him covering fire as he left cover, sprinting down the street to the vehicle.
The cacophony of gunfire started anew behind him as soon as he left. Arriving at the Interceptor a few seconds later, he shoved the legs of the dead pilot out of the seat and climbed in, starting it back up. Its controls reported all systems to be functional, prompting the Psion to smile behind his helm’s faceplate. Grasping the control sticks in his hands, he turned the Interceptor to face the Centurion commanding the ambush, and pulled the triggers.
A volley of rockets soared through the air towards the unsuspecting Centurion, shattering his shields after a second, and shattering his body a couple seconds later.
- - -
Kervis fired another burst into the body of a Beast Master, puncturing his armour and the organs beneath it, leaving him to stumble, clutching at his wounds until he fell forward, lifeless. This only served to make his War Beast packs all the more furious, the dozens of animals unleashing roars and snarls as they set off sprinting towards the Titan, ignoring any obstacle in their path, including other enemies.
Kervis aligned his Light into its Solar form, his body igniting in flames as a hammer of solid Light formed in his hand. He hurled it at the approaching beast horde, and it exploded as it hit the centre of the pack, killing several of them. The ones that survived reached him right as a new hammer formed, and he delivered it to the side of a War Beast as it leapt at his head, jaws gaping. The beast’s body incinerated on contact, and Kervis threw his hammer again, killing another three. Thovog, seeing one of his allies nearly overwhelmed, turned in place and loosed a long stream of bullets into the remaining beasts, before he was jolted forward onto his knees.
An entire pack of War Beasts set upon him, biting at his armour as he was forced to kneel under their weight. He prompted his suit to activate its special modification; the shockwave generator on his back hummed to life and, after a couple seconds, released its energy, sending the animals flying off of him in all directions, colliding with buildings or simply launching them into the air, killing them on impact with walls or the ground.
As he stood once more and recovered his weapon, he noticed that the gunfire and noise had died down. Looking around, he saw no hostiles standing, but fewer allies remaining as well. They had, however, gained some new assets; two of his soldiers had procured Interceptors from the enemy, and both looked to be in good condition.
“Take stock of yourselves,” he called to his soldiers. “We move on in one minute.”
“Are you alright?” Kervis asked him as he approached. “I saw you had a pretty hard time towards the end.”
“Given our personal affiliations, I am surprised you care for my well-being,” Thovog observed. “But I am well… thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Kervis shrugged. “Guardians look after their allies, right?”
Thovog nodded in response. After a few moments, his remaining soldiers reported that they were ready, and they set off marching North once again.
- - -
At the North end of the city, with the main gate open, the secondary force of ponies and Frames began to enter the city to meet up with Exodus, Chrome Shield’s and Princess Luna’s division, who had overrun and taken shelter in a vehicle depot while awaiting their reinforcements. Many of them wanted to move further into the city and avenge their fallen comrades, but their leaders’ cooler heads prevailed.
“’Tis a shame we cannot make use of these vehicles,” Princess Luna remarked as she examined one of the several Goliath tanks in the room. “They would prove to be quite the asset.”
“Well, I sent the frames instructions on using Cabal consoles as we taught the ponies how to do so,” Exodus said. “When they get here, we’ll see about putting them to good use.”
“That’ll help put some of us at ease,” Chrome nodded, looking over at a group of ponies stewing in anger over their fallen friends.
“We’ll see,” Exodus shrugged. “Either way, it’s good that they’ve got strong feelings. It’ll drive them to fight harder.”
“It is only a tragedy that these feelings came in the way that they did,” Luna sighed.
“Don’t worry, Princess,” Chrome said to her. “Our victory here later today will honour them.”
Exodus was about to add his own comment when a new, and entirely synthetic voice came onto his comms. “Guardian, reinforcements have arrived,” the voice of a Frame stated as several squads of armed frames entered the building, his group of ponies turning to look at them as they came in. “There are fifty frames here at your disposal.”
“Wow, actual robots,” a pony said. “Actually, in light of everything else going on, fighting alongside robots isn’t that farfetched…” replied another.
“You’ve all received instructions on operating Cabal consoles, the same as the ponies,” Exodus addressed the Frames. “Could you help operate these tanks?”
“Affirmative,” the group replied, speaking in complete unison. Immediately, they moved toward the vehicles, making sure they were fuelled and loaded before beginning to climb into their crew compartments, joining the ponies already stationed inside. One by one, the tanks’ engines came to life as they rose above the ground, their cannons swivelling to test their mobility.
“Oh, this is gonna be a great time…” Chrome smirked as he readied his tank’s anti-infantry machine gun.
“All mobile armour operational, Guardian,” the Frames reported to Exodus. “You have six unassigned Frames remaining.”
“They can stay on foot with me and the others,” Exodus ordered. “Let’s move out.” The six frames saluted in response, chambering their auto rifles.
“You heard him, Ponies!” Sergeant Chrome called out. “Let’s get going.”
The ponies stood to their hooves and steeled themselves for war once again.
- - -
“Sir,” one of Va’aull’s Psion Flayers said calmly to his superior. “There’s been a break in at our mobile armour depot, and the ambush force has gone off-comm. Additionally, our other garrisons on the ground across the city are being routed. Our forces are too close to the enemy for our ships to provide fire support, and there is no realistic way to extract them. What are your orders?”
Va’aull thought for a moment as he looked out of the bridge at the chaos below. It was a curious thing to him, that these animals had rallied so readily and so effectively against him. Contemplation aside, he must continue his mission and deliver his Cabal back to their empire. “Contact the other Fleet Captains,” he said. “We’re enacting a new plan and heading to orbit. Those on the ground are ordered to fight until they die and take as many hostiles with them as they can. They will all be remembered on our return to the Empire.”
“…Yes, sir,” the Flayer saluted as he went off to contact the other ships in the fleet and relay his Primus’ orders.
- - -
Down on the ground, additional Frames and Equestrian Army reinforcements had arrived, and morale was slowly on the rise once again. Between this and the heavy fire support from the stolen Goliaths, the alicorns flying in to wreak havoc with their magic, and the Guardians wielding their Light, the hostile Cabal numbers were beginning to quickly diminish.
Suddenly, the enemy seemed to switch strategy all at once. Instead of acting tactically and carefully, they seemed to throw caution to the wind. Phalanxes threw down their shields to fire recklessly but devastatingly on the enemy, even more ponies dying to their hail of bullets. Legionaries armed all their grenades at once and ran screaming towards squads of ponies and Frames, detonating once they arrived at their targets and killing even more. Psions overloaded their abilities and detonated in explosions of their mysterious energy, disrupting any unicorn magic in a wide radius and bringing down their shields. These suicide assaults were quickly crushed, but not after several dozen more ponies and Frames lay dead or severely injured.
“What the hell’s with the strategy change all of a sudden?” Procor asked as he dragged an injured pony behind cover. “Wouldn’t it be best to surrender and get a chance at living?”
“I’m not sure,” Exodus responded as he felled a charging Legionary before he reached his target, his grenades all detonating a few seconds later. “But it can’t be a good thing. Ghost, can you pick up anything on their comms?”
“One moment,” his Ghost said. After a few moments, he spoke up once more. “I’ve just intercepted a transmission from the Primus to his Fleet Captains. The fleet’s about to break for orbit!”
“We’ll lose all those prisoners, and probably our orbital support from Churchill,” Kervis added. “We can’t let them escape, but we can’t have Churchill shoot them down or everyone on board will die.”
“The vehicles your Frames stole seem to have good enough range,” Celestia stated as she landed in cover nearby. “Why not have them fire on their ships’ engines?”
“That… yeah, that could work,” Exodus’ Ghost confirmed. “I’ll relay that to the Frames.”
A moment passed before the Frames spoke up, “Orders received, targeting enemy propulsion.”
The Goliaths’ cannons all pivoted to take aim on the ships’ engines and let loose their payloads. It took a few moments for the shells to travel, soaring skyward towards the Cabal engines. When the shots connected, and they all did, as the Frames were mathematically precise in their aim, the engines they hit exploded in fireballs of burning fuel and chemicals. This was repeated for all remaining engines, the alicorns contributing their own beams of intensely concentrated magic which sliced through exterior fuel lines and ran their fuel dry.
“Engine disabling operations complete,” the Frames reported. “Gravitational lift systems are uncompromised, ships will hold current position unless repairs are undertaken.”
“They’re dead in the air,” Elana confirmed after checking over all the ships with her rifle’s scope. “Let’s get up there while we still can.”
“Princesses, we’re going to need a teleport up there,” Kervis addressed the alicorns. “We can’t fly up or they’ll shoot us down.”
“We’ll prepare a teleport,” Celestia nodded as she and her sister’s horns began to glow. “We’ll be sending you in several waves, since there are so many of you.”
“Ready when you are, Princesses,” Procor confirmed as he readied his Crucible-branded machine gun.
‘I’ve been waiting so long to use this thing,’ he thought to himself. He’d soon have the opportunity.