I step out of the carriage I was carried down from the airship in. My well polished shoes hit the ground, and I straighten my monocle. I walk up to Satan with only five other ponies following behind me.
Satan looks at my squad, “I thought you had an army? Where’s the army?”
I smile, “Everywhere.”
He tilts his head, “That’s vague enough to interest me. But, we are facing a large army.”
I look to the distance to see an army, a very WW1-ish army. Tank designs are bulky and wasteful, airships aren’t protected, and all the regular soldiers carry swords. Their grey contrasts heavily against the bright red of Satan’s army. Of which, there are only about one thousand demons. I look to him, “You said you had an army. You brought me a regiment.”
He shrugs, “Apparently some demon is trying to unite Tartarus and a lot of my soldiers retired. I swear, I’m going to have words with that- that” he turns to a demon, “what’s the name of the demon?”
The soldier responds, “Wavok, sir.”
Satan snaps his fingers, and nods, “Yeah, Wavok. I’m going to have words for him. You don’t just take over the Army of Tartarus like that!”
I slightly nod, “Right then. Order your troops to charge.”
He looks across the grey and barren landscape, “Send them out?! They’ll die, again! Where’s- you know what, I’m going to trust you. Charge!”
I nod as they charge. I look back to my five troops, “Deploy!”
They nod, and simultaneously point confetti poppers into the air. As one, they fire them.
But instead of confetti, airships come out. Firing into the air, fully manned, and ready to deploy. Just as planned.
From the airships, mechs and soldiers jump. Using their Cross Grapple’s to latch onto the airship, and slow their decent to be safe. As they go down, the ponies take out their Lightning Shock’s and throw them into the enemy lines.
The majority of their soldiers are killed or knocked out from the lightning conducting through their armor. Most of what remains are airships and tanks.
Satan whistles in approval, “Damn, that’s pretty good. Tell your men that the tanks have weak spots in the back, and down the barrel.”
I take out a microphone, “Soldiers, aim for the back of the war machines. If possible, attack through the barrel. Weapons free.”
I receive a message back, ”Sir, this is Squadon Leader Wing, of the B.C.A Solaris. What are we to do with the enemy aircraft? Any weaknesses you know?”
I magnify my vision with a flick of my wand, and look at the enemy airship, “Unprotected with support, that’s what I see. I recommend you send in the support pegasi to poke holes within their balloon.”
”Will do, Sir!”
I see squads of pegasi flock toward the enemy aircraft, armed with spears and other such weapons.
I continue using my magnified vision to watch my ground forces work.
Creamthrower squads manage to get close, and they clog the war machines weapons and treads. Other squads move in, and throw McBad Cocktails down the turret.
I see one mech in particular rushing towards a war machine, only to have itself shot at it. The mech reacts with impeccable speed, and grabs the shell out of mid air. Instead, he throws it back down the cannon, causing the entire machine to explode.
To sum it up, we are crushing them. And after five minutes of fighting, they raise a white flag. I smile, and teleport myself closer to the flag.
The pony carrying it holds it up higher as he looks at me, “Cease fire, cease fire! Hoofler is inside, we don’t want to fight! Have him, we don’t want him!”
I look at the tiny shack he is standing by, “Good. You and all your fellow fighters will be spared.”
The pony sighs in relief, “Thank you!”
I move past them to the building Hoofler is in, “Don’t worry about it. I am not about to commit war crimes. I leave that to Pickens, and he is busy with the Yaks.”
I push open the door, and walk in. Expecting Hoofler to be cowering in the corner.
What I see instead is him standing strong. And... pointing something at me.
*Bang!*
I see the barest hint of movement from him before I start to feel the pain in my shoulder. I reach up, and feel warm blood leaking out of a hole. I hold my hand to my face, only to see it painted purple with my blood.
I collapse backwards, sliding down a wall. My mind can barely comprehend the pain. I can only think a few things.
Who knew my blood was purple?
Is this how I finally end?
Is that all?
Have I come all this way just to end like this?
No, that can’t be all.
My people need me.
I promised Cross I would be back.
I said I would be there to lighten up.
“Wow, who knew the great emperor could be defeated so easily?”
I hear another rush into the room, only to fall from another shot.
My Empire, my friends.
Something slides from their body over to me.
Starlight, Chrysalis, Triek, Iron Will.
Hoofler trots over to me.
Twilight, Shining Armor, Pinkie Pie, Discord, Rarity.
He moves around the object.
Fancy Pants, Celestia, Pickens, Lightning.
My hand moves to pick up the object.
Satan, Chem, Raven, Slendy, Courier, Avatar.
I grasp the object, and Hoofler levels the object towards me.
Everyone. Everything I know. I will not let him take this from me.
I swing the object at Hoofler, and stab through his neck. It’s then I see, it was a Pickens Dagger.
Hoofler backs away, before starting to writhe in pain, “Ahhhh! What! What is this!?”
I can see blood rush out his wound, only to disappear as the dagger spell absorbs it.
I feel the hole in my shoulder patch up, cell by cell.
At the end, all that’s left of Hoofler is his uniform. My wound is gone, and I stand up.
I look at the purple blood splattered on my suit and hand.
And I swear something whispers to me.
”Í̵̴̡͍͙͇͈́f̢̳̘̤͎̣̯͈͖̪̫̤̦̦̘͠ͅͅ ̢̡̢͍̤̰͉̺̻̰̪͉̦̙̤̗͔͈̰ì̡̜͈͓̭̼͓̼͖͍͕̠̩͚͚͜͠t̨̨̨͔̗̜̼̟̞̯̦͈͍̥̮͕͔͞ ̢̘͔̘̖͕̝̖̝̖̜b̮̮̗͚̹̭͎̘͕̙̕͜l̜̼̮̟͉͖̙͙̪͔̺̼̯̙͓͉̀͝ę̸̸͇̳͚͓͈̯̣̖̻̠̦̟̘̩̕͝ͅé͘͟҉̣̣̳͚̠͍͇̩̳̤̦͔͙͉̥̟̖d̞̖̥̪̦̭̕͞s̟̳̗̣̱̲͚̲̜̬̠̘̮̬̬̮͔̕͜͜ͅͅ,̢̡̭͖̜̮̘͠ ̵̖̹̻̪̞̩̪̯̼͟i̗̰̗͈̩͘͟͞ṭ̴̛͕͇̼͖̩̣̣̥͖̳͇̣̖͠ͅ ̸̵̨̳̤͉̻͉͍͕̼̜̜͖̙c̨̡̡̳͕͓͍̞̣̥̻͙̦̘͕͚̫̼͕̕a̶̸̯̠͓̲̟͜n̴̷̷̩̟͓̭̟͕̰̜͠͞ ͏̱̫̦̞͇̮̖̝̫̘̪̠͙͜͢͞d͏͇͚͚͈̯̙͚̺̘̗̳̫̻̙̳͘i̷̖̦̜̦̳̺̖͚̠̤̖͍e̢͖̞̫̣͓͖.̀͟҉̵̞͖̰̪͎͞”