Night Patrol 2 Chapter 33
By Foxgear
The snowstorm ragged, pelting her armor hard while frost gathered at the edge of her goggle lens. Captain Fleetfoot of the Equestrian air force let out a frustrated scream into her muzzle mask, angrily hitting the side of her helmet as she tried to make her gem map work. The tiny black display in the corner of her vision showed a narrow squiggly line that was supposed to be the route Fury’s battalion took to the empire.
It couldn’t be a straight line of course. Fleetfoot growled fighting against the high winds of the storm. A strong gust had her careening to the side, her map began to flash, a blinking red arrow appeared in the middle of her visor demanding her to get back on course. “I know.” She snapped adjusting her flight path. This was not the first time this happened, the whole trip has been like this.
We really should have taken off sooner or waited for the storm to pass. This is fucking impossible! I thought we just had to fly straight north, but nope! We’re out here in the middle of nowhere with a map that looks like it was drawn by a foul!
Another gust knocked her off route and before Fleetfoot could even attempt to realign herself, another blast of wind hit her again! Fleetfoot’s world spun as she tumbled through the sky, hitting two others. Everything a blurry whirl until she came to an abrupt and soft landing in the snow. After digging out of the white fluff, Fleetfoot was unsurprised to find many others in the snow with her.
Seething through her teeth she tapped her gemcom, “Alright, enough of this, everypony land at my mark. Check your squads to make sure everypony is still there, and we’ll march to the damn city!” Fleetfoot waited for everypony that didn’t get knocked out of the sky to land. Visibility wasn’t much better, but since they weren’t flying at two hundred miles per hour into forty miles per hour winds, the visibility was slightly better than in the air. Slightly being the keyword. Twenty-five yards was about as far as she could see, which would make reorganizing her units difficult.
Chatter came over the gemcom as everypony tried to find their units. Fleetfoot tapped her helm bringing up her map, from what she read in the instruction book she should be able to set a beacon that others can follow. Now if she could only remember how to place it.
“Um… set a beacon to…” She bit her tongue trying to remember what the book said. The letters and numbers on her grid map caught her attention. “Set beacons at A8, B8, and C8 and D8.” Much to her amazement, four different color markers dotted her map now. “Good, good, alright, listen up everypony!” Fleetfoot commanded. “Platoon A will gather at marker Alpha, Platoon B will gather at marker Bravo, and so on you get the picture. Don’t worry about finding your individual units, just find your Platoon and stay to gather. We don’t need any pony getting lost out here.”
Doing as she commanded the pegasi ponies regrouped and stood in parade formation at attention in ten by twenty blocks. Once it looked like everypony was back information Fleetfoot flew over the columns and counted the rows.
“Seven hundred and eighty, Seven hundred ninety... what?” She was missing an entire row! Fleetfoot flew two hundred feet up in that air and tapped her display control boarding her map. Everyponies helmet had a gemcom that acted as a beacon and marked their location. She expanded her map again, covering a near three-mile radius. There was one bright column in her location, but darkness everywhere else. “Dammit.” She tapped her map back to default and flew back down. “Come on everypony! Let’s go! It’s do or die!”
They began to march through the snow with nothing but the red path indicating Fury’s route to guide them in the frozen wastelands. There were no landmarks, no tracks, nothing but snow, snow, and more snow.
Fleetfoot led the way forward, leading everypony to their salvation or their death if they didn’t get out of this snow. “Hey Fleet?” Spitfire’s voice said over the officer’s line. Her voice distorted and filled with static. “What’s going on, you guys were flying fast, and now you’re at a crawl. Did something happen?”
“Storm knocked us off course. We’re marching on the ground can you see how long till we get there on that fancy map of yours?” Spitfire and Bridge were on the airships with a large overview map of the area, they could see everything the gemcoms recorded as long as they weren’t destroyed. “Also, could you look for ten units that aren’t with the column? The storm blew away some of my soldiers. They might be out of range of my com.”
“I’ll see what I can do, we’ve been having a hard time with the gemcoms, the storm is really pushing them to their limits. We’re lucky we can still talk to you. We haven’t been able to talk or see Fury’s battalion since the storm rolled in.” Fleetfoot cursed, while Spitfire sighed. “I know how you feel my friend. Some good news you guys are on the right track to the Empire. At your current speed, you’ll probably reach it in an hour.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“Bad news I can’t see your ten missing units. Their coms are either damaged, destroyed, or they're… indisposed. The gems only work if they're receiving magic from the pony using them. They could only be unconscious.” Spitfire said with a glint of hope, but they both knew even if the ten ponies were alive, the storm would get them sooner then later. Especially if they were unconscious.
Fleetfoot chewed the inside of her lip, angry at herself. How could I lose ten of them before even getting to the stupid city?
“These things happen, Fleet, just focus on getting to the FOB.”
“Roger that,” Fleetfoot replied bitterly.
Fleetfoot and her battalion battled their way through the snowstorm, the conditions completely whited out. To try and keep everypony together they stretched out their wings to the pony next to them. It helped, but only slightly.
“Fleetfoot!” Soarin yelled fighting his way up to her. “Misty Fly’s reporting she’s missing five more ponies!”
She tapped her gemcom, looking for them. The map only showed a faint red line, their path, and a bright green line that represented the column, everything else was blurry. The five gemcoms signals too weak to break through the storm’s interference.
“We’ll lose more looking for them, if they can find the path, they’ll make it.” She grimly replied.
“Will we even make it?” Soarin pressed, the wind picking up. The helmets registered over sixty miles per hour winds. “We should bunker down! If we dig into the snow, we can wait out the storm.”
Biting her lip Fleetfoot took a sharp breath and weighed their options. They’ve already lost fifteen ponies, but hunkering down in the storm wouldn’t grantee any pony’s life. Checking the map, Fleetfoot squinted trying to figure out just how far they were from the empire. Spitfire said they were an hour away, but that time and more have passed since then, and she didn’t see anything.
“Spitfire? Spitfire, do you read me?” No reply. “Dammit.”
Fleetfoot turned around the column coming to a stop. She could see Soarin and the first row behind him, and nothing else. Only the glowing of the others gemcoms let her know they were still there.
“Winter protocol is to stay put in a storm like this Fleetfoot,” Soarin commented. “We should bunker down.”
“If we do that there’s no telling how many we’ll lose to the cold! We’re moving, we’re as well fed and warm as we’ll ever get if we stop the sweat is going to freeze to our coat and then we’ll really be freezing. We’re close! We have to be!”
Soarin hung his head. “Are those your orders, captain?”
She stood up straight and nodded, “Yes, we keep moving! Stay on the trail!”
Pushing on again Fleetfoot dug through the snow. The snow as now deeper than her legs, so she had to drive her body through the drifts. She paused in her efforts, looking side to side, some piles were higher on either side of her like something had pushed a path… “Holy Celestia’s teat this is it! We found Fury’s path!” She cheered through the gemcoms, her troops cheering as they moved up beside her. “All together now! Pack this snow down good, Mares and Studs!”
Altogether the first row began stomping in place, packing the snow down deep, so it was easier for the ones behind them to march. They switched rows every few minutes, turning the deep drifts into a smooth snow road.
The storm began to wain, and an object could be seen in the distance, a giant transparent dome with a shining city inside. Fleetfoot and Soarin stood on the hill staring down into the valley where the Crystal Empire was nestled.
“We found it,” Fleetfoot exclaimed. “We fucking found it!”
Everypony breathed a sigh of relief as they looked upon the crystal city. A weight dropping from their shoulders. Down near the dome, several small specks waved at them, shooting up flares. Fleetfoot nodded to Soarin who replied with a flare of their own. They were friendlies.
“Thank Celestia,” the blue stallion sighed exhausted.
“Gotta thank somepony,” Fleetfoot said as they marched down the hill to the ponies. They saluted as they passed the group of earth ponies working on a huge gemcom with a dish on it. Fleetfoot stepped out of the lead allowing Soarin to take over and trotted over the radio ponies. “How’s it going?”
“Better now that the storm finally cleared up, we just reconnected with command. We’re still having problems inside I think.” One pony said frustrated.
“I see, well keep working on it.” She encouraged flying to the edge of the dome to watch the columns march inside. Carefully she counted the rows. “Seven hundred and eighty-six?” Fleetfoot blinked. Redoing the numbers again as the last row slipped into the dome. She had lost fifteen, and she had been expecting more to begone, but she had one extra.
She entered the dome, mumbling. “Did somepony manage to make it back?” Her train of thought was completely lost when she breathed the warm air. Quickly she removed her helmet, rubbed her eyes and stared at the greenery around her. After slapping herself, Fleetfoot confirmed what she was seeing was real. “Well, fuck me, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I just died and went to paradise.”
“Captain!” Soarin yelled from above. “Commander Gloves wants to talk to you!”
“Um, right, I’ll be right there!” She replied flying over her troops, who were relishing the change in climate. As she flew, Fleetfoot admired the base Gloves managed to make in only a few hours. It was made of dirt, but it looked fortified at least. Spotting the blue Rinin Fleetfoot dived down landing beside him on the exterior wall facing the city. “Holy shit.” She quickly took notice of the black-clad army directly opposed to them.
“You can say that again, glad you finally made it. I was getting worried.” Gloves reached out a claw for her shake, which she did. “Nice to meet you properly Captain Fleetfoot, looks like we’ll be going to war together.”
“Yeah,” She laughed nervously. “Be the first time I’ve been in something this grand scale. I’m more an infiltrator and black ops kind of mare.”
Gloves looked at her with sympathy. “Same, this is the first time I’ve been in command of a force this big. I’m used to small units and carrying out orders. Unfortunately, all our experienced commanders are currently trapped inside the city with the Princess and most of the VIPs.”
Slowly Fleetfoot turned to her head looking agape at the rinin, her jaw hanging wide open. “Why the hell are they there? Didn’t you have recon units or anything?”
“They were the recon unit.” Gloves answered. “Probably wasn’t the wisest course of action in hindsight.”
“Gloves!” AppleJazz shouted running up the wall with another pony. “I got the map made!” She said excitedly grabbing the rolled map from the pony trotting beside her. “This guy is amazing, look how detailed this is!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” The pony said with a higher pitched voice then Jazz was expecting, almost sounded like a mare. Ignoring that Jazz took the map back and laid it over the pony’s back, who spread their wings to be a makeshift table for them.
The map was of the Crystal city laid out on a grid. In the center of the map was the castle with markings for the Colosseum, the library, and the market district. Jazz laid several different colored chips on the gridded sheet. “The Pink and Red represent where Fury and the Princess went, I think they had Applejack and the two pegasi with them, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Trifecta and Goodnight took Twilight to the library, and I had Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who are safe inside the base. My unit… well… I hope Fury finds them.”
“What about the tank?” Gloves inquired.
“Right, sorry, Bixin and the tank are in front of the castle.”
Fleetfoot brushed against Gloves, trying to get a closer look at the map. “How’d you mark these streets if you didn’t go down them.”
“I flew up and made notes of any streets I could see and gave them to this guy.” Jazz answered. “There may be some inconsistencies.”
“Better then nothing I suppose.” The pegasi captain snorted grinding her hoof into her skull. “Oh, sweet Celestia their really all scattered throughout the city?”
Gloves and Jazz nodded. “That is the situation I’m afraid. We were trying to think of a way to get into the city to extract them, but I doubt our friends will let us pass so easily this time.” Gloves indicated the black army opposing them. “Of course, now that we have more air units, our options have greatly broadened.”
“As eager as I am to get into the fight, my ponies just flew and marched through the snow for hours. They’ll need some rest before launching a major attack.” Fleetfoot pointed out.
“That is a luxury we may not have, Captain Fleetfoot.” Gloves countered. He looked down the hill at the pegasi unit mingling with the earth units. “That said, we’ll give them what rest we can, but we’ll have to remain on high alert for…”
“Um… Commanders?” The pony acting as their table pointed out to the field between the two armies. The three officers squinted their eyes, spotting a single lavender figure galloping at them.
“Fuck… is that?”
“It’s Twilight and Spike!” Jazz shouted, leaping into action.
“Gods dammit Jazz!!” Gloves yelled, he slapped his face and groaned. “Dammit! Ponies of Equestria! To battle stations!” He bellowed the walls coming alive as earth ponies took up their assigned positions with their hoof blasters aimed and ready. “We have an ally incoming! Provide cover fire!”
Fleetfoot swirled around and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Soarin! Get your squad up here! We have a rescue mission!”
“Roger!” The blue stallion saluted, flying up to her with twenty other pegasi.
“Come on! The enemy is on the move! First Platoon provide air support!” Fleetfoot barked as the enemy lines began to move, black specks galloping towards the purple unicorn. “Come on! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Earlier
“RAGH!” Goodnight slammed one of Sombra’s soldiers against the wall, the black soldier’s mouth was clamped shut via magic rope provided by Twilight. He punched the soldier again, again, and again, his hoof breaking the soldier’s jaw with a loud and sickening ‘crack!’ Breathing hard Goodnight stepped back, reared up and brought his full weight down on the black pony’s neck. The pony’s head rolled to the side, its eyes rolled back showing only white. His hoof raised Goodnight flicked his boot blade out and stabbed it into the pony’s neck for good measure. Same as the last five Sombra soldiers he and Twilight had run into.
“Come on, let’s go.” He commanded gruffly. Twilight attentively stepped around the corpse, the lavender unicorn looked greener then purple at the moment. Spike, the young dragon, rode on her back, his face buried into her mane.
“What are these ponies?” Twilight asked softly for the fifth time since they got separated from the others. It’s not that he didn’t share her curiosity. The five ponies he’d killed were strange, but right now was not the time for questions, but action. He let her talk, as long she did it softly, it seemed to help Twilight keep calm as she continued to work out her thesis. “They’re all black coated, and have crystals attached to their bodies, but not like normal crystal ponies. The crystal almost seems like it’s apart of their bodies and then they…”
“Twilight,” Goodnight said sharply, she instantly shut up, knowing what was going on. More enemies. “Two of them this time.” He guided her around the corner, directing her focus to the two ponies standing guard just at the edge of the city. Blocking their way into the rolling green hills to the base, which was a brown line in the distance. “You know what to do.”
Grimly Twilight nodded and light up her horn with as little magic as possible to not draw attention. Thanks to VeeVee’s magic control lessons Twilight could craft a magic thread so subtle it was barely visible. Slowly she tied the magic string into a loop and in a blink of eye fastened it around the two ponies’ muzzles and hoist them up into the air! Their legs dangling above the ground.
Quick as lightning, Goodnight zipped across the street, flicked his boot and wing blades free and slashed the ponies throats. Blood sprayed from their severed artilleries painting the crystal walls they guarded red.
“Over here, quick!” Goodnight hissed motioning Twilight over. She nodded and scrambled across the barren and broken street. Goodnight patted her on the head and escorted her to the edge of the city. Twilight took a few steps into the grassy field only to turn around and look at him. “This is where we part, Twilight.” He told her.
Her lips quivered with fear and worry. “But… Goodnight… I… can’t leave you here! Not alone!”
“I need to find the others. I need to… I need to find Commander Trifecta. Besides, you’ll have a better chance of escaping by yourself. Teleport as far as you can, get as close to the base as possible, the others will take it from there.”
“But Goodnight!”
“No, now go!” He growled. “Stop wasting time!”
“But my friends… and you’re my friend too, every time I’d visit the library or visit the castle, you’d be there, and we’d talk and… I can’t just leave you or any pony behind!”
Goodnight’s expression softened. “Thanks, it’s nice that you think of me like that. Really it means a lot, but I have a duty to my friends and comrades. Tell Commander Gloves what’s going on, and we’ll hold out for recuse. Now go!”
Twilight squeezed her eyes tight, tears streamed down her face as she turned and ran. Goodnight smiled and watched her go. “Celestia’s speed and Luna’s fortune Twilight.” He smiled and sunk back into the shadows.
Twilight breathed hard galloping full speed across the grassy plain, her body screaming for her to stop, but stopping would mean death or capture for her. Her eyes darted toward the line of black ponies. They hadn’t noticed her yet, she had to make it! She ignored the pain in her sides, her punishment for sitting around reading books most of her life.
Spike screamed in her ears, shouting that the black army spotted them. Twilight dared not look back, looking back would only slow her down. Instead, she lowered her head and ran faster, charging up her horn for a teleport. Calculating the distance, she closed her eyes and disappeared in a burst of magic, jumping over a hundred yards. Shorter then she wanted. She hadn’t counted for Spike.
Behind her, she heard the enemy shouted. “Lord Ombre demands her capture! Get her, or it’s your life!”
“Twilight!” Spike screamed as gem bullets whizzed over their heads. They were barely halfway to the base. Ponies began to pour over the earth walls charging toward her while Pegasi took to the sky. Behind her, the horns of the black battle horns bellowed, and they charged across the grassy plains after her. Twilight bit her lip with enough force to break the skin, realizing she just instigated a battle between the two sides. “Dammit…” She sobbed teleporting again. Jumping another hundred yards, right in the middle of the two charging armies.
“Protect Lady Sparkle!” An earth pony shouted charging past her meeting the black horde.
“For Equestria!” Another group shouted firing their hoof blasters from behind crystal pillars. Magic bolts from the enemy’s side flew overhead, striking her rescuers and vise versa. She stalled in her gallop, fighting against the charging soldiers.
“Come on! We gotta get you out of here!” A pony shouted as six others surrounded her and charged against the Equestrian line. Twilight let out a panicked shriek as several pegasi bodies hit the ground around them.
From behind her a shout of, “Get her!” Come over the roar of battle, and one of the ponies behind her were blasted by magic bolts and another pony at her side was skewered by a crystal horn.
“Keep going, miss!” The lead pony barked pushing her head, a black crystal pegasus landed atop of him, skewering him with its crystal blade, only for it to be swiftly taken out by a stray gem bullet.
“Twilight come on! Move! We gotta get out of here!” Spike screamed kicking his heels into her sides, but she wouldn’t move. Instead Twilight stood in the middle of the chaos, ponies dying left, right, and above around her.
She began to sob, wailing in anguish as ponies died to protect her. “This is my fault. What have I done?”
“Twilight this isn’t the place!” Spike pulled her hair trying to get her to move, but with no success. “Twilight please!” He cried jumping off her back and tried to push her, but he was only digging his heels.
A cry of, “Look out!” Cut through the noise, a group of Equestrians charging toward her was suddenly wiped, their broken bodies flying high into the sky and crashing to earth with sickening CRACKS! A black blur circled around Twilight, leaving her surrounded with corpses of fallen Equestrians. The object of death come to a stop, revealing it to be a ball and chain enshrouded in green magic. A pony the size of which put the legendary Rockhoof of the Mighty helm to shame stood before the stunned unicorn.
“My, my, my, what’s a dazzling little mare like you doing in a place like this?” The black pony inquired. Some stray gem blasts flew at the pony, his green curved horn flashed, and a dome appeared over them, stopping the blasts easily. “Tsk, pests.” The flail flew through the shield, the screams Twilight heard were all she needed to hear to know more ponies just died.
“Aa..gh…” Her mouth moved, but no words would come from it, fear petrified her. Her the mare that faced down Nightmare Moon and Discord. Why? Why am I so afraid? Twilight begged for an answer as the stallion’s green magic surrounded her body and levitated her off the ground.
The stallion pressed his muzzles against her neck and breathed her scent. “What a fine wine of mare I’ve found this day. Such potent magic in your blood, yes you will make a fine addition to my collection.”
“What?” Twilight squawked with horror, finally finding her voice. She began to struggle, flaring her own magic to push against her attacker. “I’m Twilight Sparkle! I’m Princess Celestia’s number one student and sent to defeat you, Sombra!” Magic surged from her body, pushing the green away from her, she was about to break free when the stallion began to chuckle, his grip on her clamping down even harder, completely reversing her efforts as his magic pressed against her like a vise.
The stallions snorted, removing his helm, revealing a luscious black and green mane. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t compare my handsome muzzle to my father’s withered one, my dear.” The stallion leaned in and stole her first kiss for himself, Twilight struggled, but she couldn’t get away!
“Lord Ombre! More enemies approaching!” A shadow crystal pony warned as several pegasi units bore down on the dome.
Ombre broke the kiss. “Such a trifle. Here take her back to the castle for safekeeping. I shall deal with the rift raft.” He said dismissively. His horn flashed, and Twilight’s world was all-stars, and then nothing as her head rolled to the side. “It will take three of you to hold her at the very least when she regains her bearings. If she escapes, it will be your life.”
“I understand, my lord.” The pony replied fearfully. “Come your lazy lot of Equinox! To the castle!”
“Take the dragon too,” Ombre tossed the unconscious dragon to his minions and slipped his helm back on, lit his horn, and raised his flail.
“Come at me!” He taunted as a group of pegasi fired their exotic weapons at him. He flung his flail the barbed chain wrapping around one and ripping the poor pony in half! With a magic bolt he blasted another out of the sky and for the third he recalled his flail, the spiked ball smashing into the ponies back with a crack!
“Let her go!” Demanded Fleetfoot unloading a full barrage of gem bullets at the dome shield. She broke off her attack as her blaster’s barrels turned glowing red. Ariel rolling out of the way of the flying flail, she banked away glaring at the ponies escorting Twilight away. They were covered under a dome shield and getting further and further away. The unit she sent after them wiped out by magic flak, their bodies laid broken on the ground. “Shit.” She growled about to try and save the unicorn herself when somepony pulled her back.
“Don’t,” Gloves told her, pulling her away from the large black and green stud currently massacring their troops. The massive black pony’s flail rammed through everypony around pushing their forces back. “One problem at a time, we gotta put that pony down before even trying to recuse Twilight at this point.”
Fleetfoot relented, knowing he was right. That big black bastard was cutting way too deep into their lines. He’s probably killed a hundred ponies just by himself! “Got a plan?” She asked, Jazz roaring past them.
Gloves chaffed, “A better one than hers. Start pulling everypony back to base, I’ll make sure Jazz doesn’t get herself killed.”
“Roger.”
Jazz barreled down on Ombre firing a salvo of gem rockets from her wings. “Take this fucker!” She screamed her vision red from all the dead Equestrians laying on the ground. The rockets hit the shield shattering it. “Hell yeah!” She brought her gem blasters forward strife running the black pony, peppering his dark green armor with several shots.
Interesting. Ombre mused as Jazz circled around him. He raised another dome shield, the red mare’s attacks barely scratching the force field. He caught sight of one of her projectiles on the ground and levitated it over for a better look. Hmm, a tiny arrowhead with no arrow shaft, and flies at a high velocity, interesting missile. Useless against me though. He crushed the gem bullet and focused on the flying mare, noticing her silver wings. I wonder. He ignited his horn.
Jazz came to a sudden halt midair. Frantically she struggled against the green magic that held her wings, but her thrusters couldn’t break free! “Fuck!” She jolted her shoulders up, a soft click, and her wings detached. Sending her free falling to the ground. Hooves blazing with magic she slammed into the earth, creating a crater three times her size. “Asshole!” She barked running out of the crater, only to stop dead as Ombre met her at the edge of the cavity.
“Hmm a flying earth pony, now I’ve seen everything.”
Gritting her teeth Jazz charged up her legs and swung! Ombre merely held up his massive hoof in response, dust exploded into the air, and Jazz was stupefied that her attack had done nothing! She staggered back, Ombre bearing down on her as he kicked off his boot, the bottom of which was barely dented.
“Hmm, that’ll take an hour to fix.” He clucked. “Impressive for an earth pony. I don’t find your kind very appealing, but perhaps one of my brothers will fancy you. Mares like you don’t belong on the field of the battle anyway.”
“Hey what! What the hell are you doing? Put me down!” Jazz struggled in Ombre’s green magic. “I said put me down! I’ll show you what a mare can do you fucker!”
He chuckled, “How amusing, but I’ve already seen enough. Lenker,” A Green crystal Equinox galloped over to his side and bowed. “Take her too. Honestly, I come out to the battlefield, and I find it’s a ball.” Jazz’s struggles ceased, her eyes closing as Ombre sent her to sleep. The green Equinox took Jazz on his back and began galloping for their base.
Ombre levitated Jazz’s wings over finding them attractive. He’d never seen such advance prosthetics. Dropping the wings into his saddlebag, Ombre looked up to observe the battle raging in the sky. The ‘Ratatak’ of the Equestrians exotic weapons filled the battlefield. A few of the projectiles whizzed by glancing off his dome shield. He seemed to be too far out for them to accurately him as the projectile’s hits varied greatly.
“Charge!” One of his captains yelled breaking ahead of the rest of the army, cutting deep into the retreating Equestrian army. Ombre signaled for the others to stay back, letting the lone unit of a hundred charge ahead. Carefully he counted the distance from his soldiers to the enemy walls.
“Two hundred yards, one hundred and fifty yards.” One or two Equinoxes dropped here and there, their black crystal-covered bodies disappeared beneath the hooves of their brethren. For the moment it seemed their crystal covered skin was a match to the Equestrians gem bullets, and they could storm the enemy encampment with few casualties. “One hundred yards.”
Suddenly the base roared with the sounds of the cannon fire, explosions larger then he’d ever seen flung bodies high up into the air and crashing to the ground. A different sound filled the air, a dense, slow beat of another terrifying weapon in the Equestrians employ. Ombre watched with morbid fascination as a bright red projectile of light blew one of his Equinox in half and the downed the one behind it, crystal coat and all. The scene playing over and over again as the attacking force was swiftly defeated.
“The pegasi are in retreat, sir!” His second in command, Plaga reported. Ombre glanced at the sky to confirm. The Equestrian Pegasi were indeed falling back as well, the enemy ground units gathered at the base of their earth walls. “Shall we peruse?” Plaga asked him already hoovering off the ground. The crystal shell on his back split open, a pair of transparent insectoid wings rapidly flapping.
“No,” Ombre ordered pointing to the spot where his pawn unit had been massacred. “Beyond that point is when their weapons are at their most accurate and lethal. Our causalities would be too great.”
“But sir… the King…”
“Is sitting happily on his throne, where he should be. I am here. Thus my word is absolute. But if you wish to die, go gallop to your death as Captain Toxicus did.”
“I…” The Equinox bowed. “I spoke out of turn Prince Ombre.”
“Yes, you did, but I will forgive you, Plaga. I’m quite happy right now. I’ve captured two rather intriguing mares this day of battle. However fun such spoils are, I do desire a fight worthy of me. I wonder if there’s a stallion, stud enough to provide it or if Equestria is only led by mares now.”
An explosion went off behind them, Ombre and Plaga turned around to see the unit transporting Jazz in disarray. A dust trail led away circling the long way around. Ombre removed his helmet and summoned a spyglass for a better look. “Interesting.” He grinned spying a blue rinin stallion carrying the red earth mare on his back, who he then passed onto a pegasus acting as his wing pony. “Seems I might have found my challenge.” Ombre folded his spyglass and vanished in a burst of black and green.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Gloves cursed as he tossed Jazz over to Fleetfoot. He told her to organize the retreat, but she just had to be part of the recuse mission and instead had Soarin manage the retreat. Not that it didn’t work, the plan to make the enemy back off with the tanks was a success, but the enemy commander hadn’t taken the bait, wasting their trump card. Now he had to deal with that huge bastard personally. Speaking of which… In a burst of magic, the massive black pony appeared less than a hundred yards away and was closing in fast! “Get out of here!” He barked at Fleetfoot barring towards the charging pony, gauntlet raised and glowing with gold energy.
The black stallion responded by whipping out his flail and spinning in front of him.
“Shit,” Gloves reared back his right claw, gauntlet aglow with power. He punched the air, a massive ethereal blast shooting from his fist. The attack hit the spinning flail, the weapon dispelled the attack. Charging another, Gloves swung his fist again, this time shooting a mass of smaller blasts in a scattershot. The black pony stopped and threw up a dome shield, blocking all of the attacks.
Flying up Gloves inhaled and unleashed a stream of fire upon the black stallion. The dome shield blocked it of course, but the grassy field lit up filling the air with smoke the fire spreading rapidly. He flew through the rising smoke observing the enemy units fighting the fire trying to get to their General.
“Come down here!” Ombre demanded, but he didn’t sound angry, dare say, the black pony sounded happy? “I wish to properly meet you.” Much to Gloves surprise the black stallion removed his helm and set it on the ground. An old way of portraying a desire to speak peacefully. To further add to the insanity Ombre dropped his flail into a portal, the weapon disappearing from view.
He didn’t immediately fly down, at first looking for a spot for the weapon to come falling on his head. When no such place was found, Gloves warily and very cautiously landed roughly twenty-five yards from the big pony and set his helmet on the ground as well. Right now, they were alone on the battlefield, neither one’s side close enough to assist or launch a surprise attack as the smoke from the fire surrounded them.
“I am Ombre, Third Son of King Sombra, and General of the Outer Equinox legions.” Ombre introduced bowing to Gloves. It would be a perfect time to attack the dark prince.
“I’m Vice Commander Gloves, Night Hunter 9650,” Gloves curtly nodded, not wanting to keep his head down too long. “A bit late for pleasantries isn’t?” He chastised picking his helmet up but didn’t put it back on. That would mean talks were done, and they would resume fighting.
“It’s never too late for a proper introduction. I’ve waited many years for this day to come, I refuse to squander it by not even knowing the names of the ponies I’m fighting. Father may scold me later, but… well, I don’t have much to fear from him other than his tongue lashings.” Ombre answered looking happy and relaxed as if he wasn’t on the battlefield and they weren’t enemies. “I must admit, I was worried there wouldn’t be a stallion able to match me, especially when only mares come charging at me.”
“Gotta problem fighting mares?”
“I don’t find it very exciting. I prefer mares for other activities.” Ombre chuckled darkly, looking way too happy. “But I must also say you Rinin don’t disappoint. For my entire life, my father trained my brothers and me to face you one day. He even went so far to breed a new species of pony to counter your kind. Of course, trapped in the void of the Empire he only had Crystal ponies, Changelings and Shadow ponies to work with, but as you can see our Equinox are quite the force to reckon with. I would go on in detail, but as fond of you I am, I can’t go telling all of my father’s secrets.”
“Oh yeah?” Gloves glanced at the so-named Equinox currently fighting the wildfire. He didn’t know much about Shadow and Crystal ponies, but he could see the changeling in them with those bug-like wings. He wondered what other traits they got from their mixed breeding. “So, what now? You want to reset the battle lines and try again, killing more ponies or…” He raised his gauntlet, energy crackling on the surface of the metal fist. “Do you want to end this the old way with just you and me?”
Ombre laughed, “As fun as that sounds, even if you managed to beat me, one of my brothers would simply take my place and then I would lose my chance at the lovely lavender mare. That being said, I doubt you can beat me.”
“Oh really?” Gloves claw twitched at the insult. “Big words coming from a spoiled prince.”
Ombre snorted, “Believe me, my upbringing was all but glorious despite my status, but I grow tired of this conversation. I will be defeating you this day, but know I will remember your name, Gloves.” He replaced his helm, as did Gloves.
“Don’t cry when I kill you!” Gloves launched a magic blast and spewed fire, creating a swirling twister of gold flames. A shadow appeared in front of Ombre, his flail emerging from the void. The dark prince charged his weapon with magic sending it through the flames. Gloves cantered sideways, avoiding the metal ball and chain or so he thought. The chain coiled around his back-right leg, the barbs digging in deep and dragging him across the ground as the flail continued to fly. Gloves whacked the chain with his gauntlet, the chain links exploding apart as the magical weapon made contact.
The flail wasn’t done though it flew into the air and came back around. Gloves raised the gauntlet to block hoping to break the ball against his weapon. The two collided and Gloves found himself flying and skidding across the ground. He shook himself and stood, but his gauntlet wasn’t wholly intact. In fact, there was little left of it.
“I hope that didn’t finish you,” Ombre taunted. “I would hate for you lose your vigor just by losing your little trinket.”
“It’s not a trinket,” Gloves seethed in pain, unlatching the straps around his leg. The gold gauntlet fell away, and he pulled his right claw-free, revealing the secret beneath. From his knee down his right leg was red with crackles in his skin bursting with red ether. “Commander Sixes made it because I have a hard time controlling this stupid right claw of mine. Looks pretty demonic doesn’t it?” Gloves stretched out his red claw, a sphere of energy materializing in his palm. “No offense, but I hope this kills you.”
He let the attack fly. Ombre summoned up green shadows as the menacing blast of energy barreled towards him, his grin full and giddy like a child’s. “Yes! This is what I’ve been waiting for!”
Fleetfoot landed on the base walls, letting the medics take Jazz off her back, quickly she turned around to observe the battlefield. Looking for Gloves. The smoke from the grass fire hung in the air clouding her field of vision. A bright red light shined through the blackness, blowing away the smoke momentary. She and the others watched as something flew towards them that something hit the ground skipping like a rock, before coming to a stop just within their lines. Much to their collective horror, it was Gloves, his gauntlet gone, his armor trashed with a huge crack running up the side where his ribs were.
She flew down, gagging, he looked even worse close up! His breathing shallow with blood dripping out of his mouth and several of his fangs missing. His weird claw, the one usually covered by his gauntlet glowed faintly with strange magic, pulsing slowly as if representing just how bad of shape he was in.
“Come on, let’s get go,” She bit onto his armor and began dragging him towards the base, stopping cold when she felt a dark presence nearby. From the smoke emerged the enemy general, blazingly standing in their territory alone and well within the tanks cannon range and heavy gem blasters. Unfortunately, so were her and Gloves.
She shook the downed Rinin, trying to rose him. “Come on, get up, get up! You were the only one that stood a chance against him! So, wake the fuck up!”
Blaster fire rained down from the walls, Ombre merely threw up a shield, the rain of gem bullets not even a bother. Behind him, black legions under magic shields pushed forward. The tanks fired towards the approaching army, but the real threat was beneath.
“Get out of the way!” One of the tank drivers demanded over the gemcoms as they drive down earth wall. The tracks of the massive war machine spun as they slide down the side of the embankment the cannon fidgeting for a shot.
Fleetfoot grabbed Gloves by the neck with her mouth, biting as hard as she could into his coat to lift him. Her wings flapped, but she could barely lift him off the ground! How fucking heavy are you! She snorted and fluttered with all her might managing to pull him up a foot. Good enough. She flew as fast she could, the tank's gunner letting loose with the rapid gem blaster to keep Ombre back. The third son of Sombra blocking the barrage with a magic shield.
“They're out of the way!” The gunner shouted and the tank’s cannon roared! The gem tipped shell rocketed out of the barrel and blowing through Ombre’s shield. The shockwave of the blast rocked the black stallion, leaving him shaking his head, his ear ringing.
“Protect Lord Ombre!” Plaga bellowed leading the charge to the dark prince.
“I have this! This is my glory!” Ombre retorted firing a barrage of magic drill bullets from his horn. The magic projectiles pieced the tank’s armor, the war machine let out a terrible noise as black smoke billowed out of it. The crew scrambled to get out. Ombre fired upon the escaping tank crew, killing them, the machine exploding before the remainder of the team could take their chances against the dark prince.
Fleetfoot was flying up the dirt wall with all her might when she felt a pull on her wings. She tried to fight it, but in one sharp tug, she was dragged back down the hill with Gloves in tow. She let him go, trying to save him, her body was flung roughly, and she ate dirt as she tumbled to the bottom. Disoriented she stood up trying to aline herself. A barrage of magic blasts shot over her head, hitting the top of the wall where her troops returned fire. One brave soldiered tried to break through, but he was gunned down, his body sliding down the hill.
“Gloves!” She shouted looking for the blue Rinin. She swayed with her steps, half of her vision black, some sort of moisture, probably blood ran down her face. Frantically she looked for the Rinin, spying him on the ground ahead of her at Ombre’s mercy, the black stallion’s massive hoof posed to crush his head.
She ran, screaming, cursing, and praying for Ombre to stop. Her hoof fell into a hole, and she hit the ground hard, her left foreleg screaming in pain. Ombre’s foot came down.
“GLOVES!”
“LORD OMBRE!”
Fleetfoot blinked with her good eye the scene before drastically different. Gloves lay beside her and Ombre…
“RAGGH!” Was screaming bloody murder, staggering back as blood poured from his now missing right foreleg.
She panned around spotting the missing leg laying on the ground, crushed beneath an orange clawed grip. “Topaz… Slicer… that means…” The roar of Airship engines came into clear focus now, drowning out the noise of battle as all stood in awe as Equestria’s greatest engineering marvel descended. Fleetfoot rolled her head to look up, smiling as the image of Spitfire standing on the bow come into view. “Spitfire…” Fleetfoot cried tears of joy at the sight of her friend.
The second wave has arrived!
Topaz broke the bone of Ombre’s severed leg and declared, “The cavalry is here.”