Over fifty tons of heavy, thick slabs of iron held together by magical chains that could withstand a direct impact from a lightning shell. They had a top speed of off-roading at forty miles per hour, fast enough to keep up with most ponies galloping at their fastest. Inside of the metal beast's stomach were five crew members operating it. A commander, who kept their eye on the battle with use of a periscope, a driver and their assistant, to keep the entire thing moving, and a gunner and loader, in charge of the nearly five meter long, nine centimeter wide armament jutting out of it's head, capable of shooting an unstabilized magic bomb that could annihilate any structure nearly instantly from kilometers away.
It was code named the Sunburst Mk I, but more generally known as a ''tank'', named after the large tanks of raw magical energy stored on its rear end. It was a fighting machine like no other, now seeing its debut battle, along with its eleven sisters, as it came in contact with a Pegasus bombing legion.
And as it fired the first shot of the evening, after the shadow's of the bomber Pegasi were spotted, every single pony prepared themselves for combat. The Unicorns stood in twelve rows. At the head of each group was a Sunburst tank, followed by several dozen troops in formation.
On the Pegasus side, a quite sizable battalion of a hundred or so Screechers, on a mission north in search of food by raiding Earth Pony towns, was interrupted by this assortment of bombable Unicorns.
As the first cannon fired from the Starburst tank, the tone was set and the Pegasi were put onto the defense. Unicorns nearly always found it difficult to fight against a flying enemy. Aiming their magic against such fast foes rarely bore results. Only in large barrages of magical bolts did they manage to sway off a Pegasian assault. This new weapon on the other hoof really made this an easier battle than it otherwise would have been.
The Pegasi began to disperse and surround, going off in small two-to-four pony teams, meaning their shadows would much harder to spot.
And while the Pegasi prepared their counter attack, each Unicorn, in a colourful display of light, flashed a semi-sphere bubble above their heads in an effort to displace some of the damage that would be soon dropped onto them.
The Pegasus unit had to quickly adapt to the new playing field. Regular strafe bombing was too dangerous with the Unicorns artillery, leaving them to resort to tactics they generally used against large battles against Earth Ponies, a little something they called cloak and dagger.
The Pegasi began swirling in a large circle around the Unicorns, using their wings to blow down the clouds toward the ground in an attempt to create a cloud of fog that Pegasi could see through far more easily than their opponents.
The Unicorns responded by firing their new war machines' cannons out into the air where the fog seemed to come from. Thunderous, earth-shaking blasts knocked chunks out of the sky, along with a few unlucky Pegasi, to be burned alive and turned to dust within the same second. The unicorns felt a great pride as they saw Pegasi splat down to the dirt, feeling like they had killed almost half of them with this one barrage. That's landscape quickly littering with their bodies, some even landing directly next to the unicorns, who cried out in their thirst for war, yelling to empower their show of dominance.
Boom, boom, boom. The noise rang through everyone's ears as this unstoppable force pushed against the unmovable object that was the weather. The clouds began to look like Swire cheese as they were obliterated, but slowly they did engulf the Unicorn army. The Unicorns drew their blades of sparking fire from their sheaths in preparation, their cannons now silent as they awaited an onslaught of warriors to pierce the foggy barrier that blinded them.
A scream, shortly followed by a second, was belted out by falling Unicorns as Pegasi cut them down, jumping from the blisteringly white shadows.
One Pegasi, after landing onto the ground with the fog protecting them from being melted, found themself alone at the edge of a strip of Unicorn soldiers, their luminescent bubbles of protection easily visible to this keen Pegasus’ eyes. He lifted up his dual scimitars and crawled in like a panther, leaping at a Unicorn on the edge of this several-pony-thick line leading to the butt of a tank. With surprise at his aid, the Unicorn fell with a swift blade against their upper shield used to distract them as a lethal pierce came from the underbelly, sliding into the Unicorn’s neck, their blood-gargled pleas for mercy left ignored.
The Unicorns around the one he had just eliminated aimed their horns, easily spotting him now that he was right in their faces. While their draw and fire was quick, this Pegasus was quicker, swiftly wrapping themselves onto the closest one of their allies, one blade against their throat to restrict their movement, other one cutting partway into their horn to prevent any magical resistance from his hostage.
Or, perhaps, the Unicorn he held could be referred to better as a living pony-shield as this did not discourage the poor Unicorn’s allies from opening fire, turning it into a ghastly pool of pony bits. Their legs, chest and head were burnt, frozen, and rotted by each unique magical bolt shot at the Pegasus, who also got clipped with a burning scar across an uncovered portion of his face. It felt like a nail being driven into his skull, a constant and strikingly painful heat stuck to his skin like he was being pressed against a hot stove.
But he was a warrior. He fought on, using the Unicorn’s disorientation to the highest advantage as he shoved past Unicorn after Unicorn, slashing left and right, using their bodies as protection from the out-of-stabbing-range ones. His glorious stand was echoed with the cheers of his comrades aiding him, listening to Unicorns being cut down and gutted all around him as he fought his way up to the main threat.
He hopped up with a flash of his wing power, his heavy metal armour clanking down onto the back of a tank. A quick glance behind him revealed the several Unicorns that weren't preoccupied by his brethren aim up at him in an effort to blast him off of their prized weapon.
They opened fire from their horns like machine guns. The Pegasus leapt for cover behind the mechanical giant's head, getting hit in the wings and back quite severely. His entire right wing was hit at the stem and collapsed limply beside him, along with one of his swords, detached completely from his body. While the idea of never flying again would normally terrify him, his lost appendage barely earned a gaze from him, as he couldn't care; he wouldn't have needed it any longer anyways.
The ambiance of death and destruction, the motivating spike of pain, hell, the adrenaline by itself was worth dying for. With his front legs, he grasped onto what he presumed was the hatch to enter this machine. He was given a very clear confirmation as a Unicorn wielding a levitating, burning blade shot out of it. They plunged their fiery blade into the Pegasus, who, with his only remaining wing and sword, managed to deflect the Unicorn’s attack enough to only get stabbed straight though his lower gut, feeling a sting and weakness akin to biting off one's own tongue. This strike was surely to be a lethal blow after a few mere moments, but that's all he needed as the Pegasus knocked the Unicorn’s head in against the hatch door, leaving a blood spatter mixing with his own gorey gushes splating all over the war machine.
The Pegasus lunged himself down the hatch, slumping down and hitting the hard metal floor with enough force to feel like his spine had cracked in two. He saw the four other living Unicorns piloting the vehicle. Their faces grew hollow, like ghosts, once the Pegasus brought up a spherical explosive from a pouch filled with dozens and shouted out his final words, “FOR PEGASIA!!!” And with that, he slammed the grenade down, triggering all of his own and the Unicorns’ explosives in one chain reaction of combustion and destruction. The entire tank turned into a shrapnel projecting scrap of steel as it blew up from the inside, eviscerating every living creature in the immediate vicinity.
This and every other variation of how it could have went simultaneously got acted out along the battlefield, and despite the early destruction of a tank, and with a second and third still to fall before its closure, the battle began turning to the Unicorns’ favour as the fog failed to hold and they began regaining their sight, able to spot and shoot down any flyers with relative ease.
The Unicorns battled hard for their victory, such as the one Unicorn who had spotted a Pegasus sprinting toward one of their Sunburst tanks, and bravely dashed out to block their path, raising their shield and blade, prepared to give her life if need be.
Her heart spiked to the top of her chest the second her and the Pegasus’ equally sharp edges cut into each other, a spark flying off of her burning cutlass as she engaged him, feeling her power. She was going to kill this pony, that much she knew.
A skillful display came from both of them as she struck out against him, his blade throwing hers off aim, always just nearly piercing him before he managed a deflection. They fought so elegantly it could have been considered a dance under different context, her stepping forward just to be forced back every time she did, no ground being gained for too long by either party.
They each saw the other like a perfect equal in combat for those moments, a honorable respect settling between each swing and slice, only being broken once another Unicorn sent a beam of arcane energy hurtling toward the Pegasus in an attempt to decide this battle. It looked like it would end up killing them with a direct hit. That was until the Pegasus performed a maneuver so gracefully swift and precise the Unicorn he fought could feel nothing but awe as the Pegasus sent a forceful hind-leg kick right into her chest, leaving her to slam against the tank's flank, and then a spin to angle his shot, the Pegasus struck away the bolt down its center, the mirror-like surface of his sword reflecting the magical beam towards her, hitting her square in the shoulder, nearly taking the entire thing with it. She yelled out in pain, the Pegasus kicking off of her to gain some distance toward the tank, landing on top with a determined concentration aimed toward the tank's hatch.
The unicorn pushed against the drilling pain her exposed flesh let in, using her magic to boost herself up onto the tank's surface, finding herself looking up to the Pegasus, now preoccupied with opening the hatch.
She crawled over, levitating her blade up, not bothering to put any focus on a guard as she stabbed forward, placing the blade deep into the Pegasus’ side before they could react.
Now quickly losing blood and consciousness, the Pegasus threw one of their swords at her, her adrenaline-pumped response time just barely enough to grasp a telekinetic hold of it before it flew through her skull.
In the time it then took her to twist the sword back and lunge it at him, the Pegasus managed to pull open the hatch, the blade thrusting into their newly risen makeshift shield, the sword snapping against the hatch, the Pegasus free to reach for their bag of explosives.
The Unicorn pushed through with all of her remaining strength to a stand, her blasted off shoulder an agony of nerves firing at maximum capacity, begging for her to stop as she let herself stumble and collapse on top of the Pegasus, using her magic to try and pull her flame-lashed sword from his side, successfully unsheathing it from his innards and lifting it above him. She couldn't see anything as she plummeted the long sword into him again and again, her face becoming engulfed in gore as she ripped the Pegasus to shreds.
And once she was done and had left her trusty sword deep inside of the Pegasus’ heart, she opened her eyes and saw that he'd managed to pull out a grenade, and, in fact, had dropped it during his death. The proceeding explosion killed her and everypony close enough to the chaotically huge explosion.
And that was the final straw for one of the Unicorns driving a tank, who panicked after hearing the second explosion murder some of his fellow Unicorns, his comrades, his friends. They were being killed out there, protecting those like him while he was cooped up inside of this giant metal target, just waiting to be blown to smithereens. He threw off his seat-belt and began pushing his way out of the vehicle.
“CALM THE FUCK DOWN QUE!” his co-pilot screamed at him during their tussle as he refused to let Que out of his seat.
“I CAN'T DO IT! I CANT I CANT DO THIS! LET ME OUT! LET ME THE FUCK OUT! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!” he protested. He was pushed to the point where he drew his blade and smacked his co-pilot with its hilt, knocking them down and out of Que's way, allowing him to scramble to the ladder for the hatch, keeping the other members of the crew at bay with the threat of his pointed cutlass.
Que knocked open the hatch, feeling the instant rush of blizzarding air push against him as he forced his way out of his cage, the blissful joy of freedom quickly fading as a Pegasus came stabbing down onto him, knife aimed right at his laid out heart. He shut his eyes and pent up as quick a burst of magic he could, feeling a shift in his placement as he teleported a nearly meter off to sit on the head of the tank, out of the Pegasus’ attack. Quite an impressive teleport for some pony in such a stressful situation.
The Pegasus gave a quick glance to find Que, deciding against finishing the job in order to ensure the completion of his mission. He pulled out his explosives and chucked them into the open hole, the blast to come mere instants away.
Que felt his entire life pass through his head, realizing that he knew and cared about every pony that was inside of that tank, and the bombs that were about to collide with it would kill them all. The realization that he might have just caused this would hurt more than any injury that would be sustained today by any pony here.
And then, in pure instinct, he shut his weeping eyes and curved a bubble of protection around himself, putting every ounce of his power into it, his fear to die continuously persistent.
He was blown away, his shield enough to stop any burns or shrapnel coming from the blast, leaving only its force to have an effect on his feeble body, launching him far, far out, nearly a full kilometer as he flew through the air and met the ground in a sudden and backbreaking crash. His bubble shattered on impact, the only reason he still continued to breath as he lay at the hoof of the mountain he overcame not even an hour ago.
He couldn't feel his legs–they were most assuredly broken, but those would be considered minor injuries compared to what others had gotten in the battle. The important thing was that he survived.
He survived... He survived! He would live to see another day! he realized in beautiful, unadulterated joy. He began to smile like never before past his tear soaked eyes, imagining returning home to his wife and son. I'll finally get the change to raise him, Que thought, the idea a shining beacon of hope in the godless wasteland, his son would be so delighted once he heard dad is coming ho- PHUFFFF...
The echoing puff of a rifle round rung through the air, Que falling still as a bullet found its way through his cranium. “Holy shit! Come on, Auri, we gotta just keep going! Before they begin retreating!” Hopeful remarked, carrying Aurora forward by her leg around his neck, having just shot a unicorn that was flung over all the way from the not-distant-enough battle. As Auri and him pushed forward, they heard and saw every development going on, unsure of which side was winning, but unwilling to stay long enough to find out.
The two of them sprinted down along the mountain's edge, Aurora hurting all over as she lumbered over Hopeful, who had to carry most of her weight in their escape.
The battle became a distant noise, lost through the winds, as Hopeful and Aurora made it out of any harms way within the hour, finding themselves about to reach the town they had planned on entering the next day, but plans change, and now they were galloping as hard as they could toward their safety.
It was morning by the time they had arrived.
“We're almost there, Auri. Just a few more minutes...” Hopeful reassured her, unsure whether or not she could hear him anymore as her eyes were completely shut and she was practically sleep-walking to the finish.
She mumbled something in response. Sadly, Hopeful couldn't make a word out of it. At least she was still breathing.
It was like Hopeful said: the town's worn wooden walls peeked out from layers of hard snow. It was silent, the citizens most likely in hiding from the horrifying echoes of the battle fought merely a few miles away.
But Hopeful wouldn't dare be less careful, gently lifting Aurora from around him. “I'm gonna set you down. I'll check out the town and I'll be back in two minutes. Keep yourself warm, alright?” He said as her body fell limply into the snow, Hopeful seeing her delicately nod. He made sure to snug a blanket around her weary torso and head, camouflaging her and keeping her from freezing up. Even then, she would be shivering if she had the strength to. Her skin was colder than an ice cube.
Fearing he couldn't do more for Aurora, Hopeful cocked his rifle in preparation for anything before galloping in with a second wind of resilient strength.
He came into the town's limits with a raised barrel, checking every corner for hostiles. His mind settled as nothing crossed his radar. The town seemed to be covered in an unmaintained layer of snow, large enough to reach Hopeful's upper leg, and each house was covered from head to hoof in the stuff. On further, one of the buildings, he saw through the frost-worn glass, had collapsed on the inside, snow covering every inch of every surface that called this building home.
He hopped through snow to reach another and it seemed to be in the same level of utmost disrepair. None of these houses were usable...
Hopeful punched his anger out against a wall, finding it crumbled from his blows. They were being screwed by lady luck again. Hopeful wondered what he could have done for the realm to hold such a grudge against him.
And as he went to trot back to Aurora, he gave one last glance around, wishing for a miracle.
“Wait...” Something gleaned from behind one of the larger buildings, something with a metallic sheen sparkling from the smallest rays of light that pushed past the cloud barrier.
He ran to it like a colt to a candy store, bolting past the unbearably thick snow with the efficiency of a drill, soon coming around the side of this town's train station, a full beast of an engine sitting dormant beneath a deep frosting of snow, nearly half a dozen train cars in line behind, attached to the front engine, laying on an untouched track trailing off into the horizon. It was abandoned, but as far as Hopeful could tell, unharmed. “YES!! FUCK YES!” he yelled out in joy, thrusting a victorious pump of his hoof into the air.
He ran back and lifted up Aurora in blistering excitement, her waking up to the cries of his joy. It was only once Aurora was brought into view of the train that her eyes lit up as well, a faint “Yes...” whispering out from her parting lips.
Hopeful laid her out to sit on the edge of the station's platform as he forced his way into the sealed engine.
He felt like one of those Sun-Chasers that raided old griffon tombs for gold and treasure as he busted the lock of the train engine's door with the butt of his rifle, shattering its brittle core with time.
Once he had gotten it open, Hopeful put out a platform-bridge he found inside the cabin for Aurora to trot into her vehicle with the privilege of a princess as Hopeful laid out the floor beneath her to let her in.
The interior of the engine was small, the large furnace and seats for the driver quite cumbersome in such a compact area. Aurora was left sitting down by Hopeful in the driver's seat, the cotton and wool padding of the chair being a nice change from frozen dirt and rock that she had become accustomed to. Although, it was still blisteringly cold inside of the cabin, a fact Hopeful would not let remain true for much longer as he shut the door closed and worked to light the engine, using a portion of their hay rations and his trusty flint and steel to spark a fire, and in a few minutes, the entire oven-like engine.
“HOLY SHIT!” Hopeful exclaimed as he felt the blazing fire warm his shriveling skin. The entire inner cabin turned orange with the flames. He then looked over to Aurora, who, against the contrast of the fire's light, was now extremely visibly blue, her skin almost matching that of an ocean with how bad it had gotten, but the fire boiling the crisp air in the cabin like a spa was orgasmic. She let out a long, shuddering moan of relaxation as she felt her body soak up the heat, still too weak to speak she cupped her stomach, hoping the baby in her womb enjoyed the sun-like blaze as much as she did.
“Let's see if we can get this thing moving!” Hopeful stated out in curious enthralment. While he wasn't an expert, he was familiar with the basics of how a train worked. So he searched the front for the brakes, finding that they were still locked in to prevent the train from budging.
Hopeful made sure Aurora was prepared for when he pulled it, but they were only pushed a light thud forward as the wheels began to scrape against the steel tracks they had been frozen to for all this time.
But after a short while, it was clear the train wasn't going to budge. He pulled the brakes once more, figuring he knew the issue. “I'll be right back,” Hopeful assured a fuzzy-minded Auri, who wasn't quite sure what he meant until he had already hopped out of the engine room, swiftly shutting the door to deny the frost entry into their tiny, cramped sanctuary.
Aurora looked over her shoulder, hoping to find out what he was up to. And then she heard a large clank and she realized he was kicking off their dead weight; all of the carriages attached to the train's head were useless to them and would only slow them down.
Hopeful soon popped back in, a light coating of snow he had obtained quickly melting off in the presence of the burning heat coming from the fire. He sat down at Auri's hooves next to her seat, putting both of his hooves over the brake lever, waiting for Auri to brace herself.
So she placed her hooves against the dashboard in front of her and Hopeful flung the switch up, the train jumping to life, a smoke-filled chug pulling them forward as their plow created a separation in the snow, allowing them to continue down the tracks to somewhere safer than here. Hopeful's old home town wasn't too far off… Perhaps he could take Auri and live in his farm house? Aurora jumped at the idea as he proposed it.
“That would be lovely,” she confirmed.
Hopeful smiled at the idea of seeing his town once again, a pleasure he had only dreamed of since his departure. For the first time in a long time, things were good. “Well then, it's settled. I'm coming home,” he concurred, standing up and giving a big hug to Aurora before going off to shovel coal.
For the first time in months, Aurora's baby kicked once more.