William swiftly made his way back to the balloon and ignited the flame within it, causing it to inflate. Within 2 minute's, it was ready for flight. He had to get back to Ponyville, immediately. Apparently, it had turned out that, 'Grogar,' had been Discord all along, and and that Chrysalis and the other's were on their way to the Equestrian heartland with the magic of an artifact so dangerous it had to be hidden away at the top of Equestria's tallest mountain and protected behind magical barrier's that made the wall's of Canterlot look like wet tissue paper. They also had absorbed the chaos magic of a certain draconequus. William had his work cut out for them. Step one was to rush his way back to his town. It's not that he wanted to get back quickly to warn the resident's and his friends. It's that he wanted to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible. He wanted to turn what would usually be a defensive action into an offensive one as soon as possible. That was his philosophy.
The flight back was relatively uneventful, there was the odd strange looking bird and wayward pegasus to look out for, but other than that. Everything was relatively calm. That was until he came within sight of Canterlot, and watched as a bolt of red magic tore it's way through the side of the throne room. "Ah, ####. This just got real, didn't it?" A gust of wind blew across the deck. Well, time to go to work." He reached up and opened the balloon canopy ever so slightly, allowing him to descend towards the castle. As he got closer he got out his trusty M110 marksman's rifle and peered through it's glowing tritium optic. He did a quick survey of the city. And determined that it was only the castle that was under siege. The rest of the city was more or less unharmed. just then, another stray bolt of magic hit his balloon, and he began losing altitude just a little faster than he liked.
"Oh c'mon! How many times am I gonna have airdrop into Canterlot!?" He shook his head and put on a parachute. He then waved the balloon goodbye and jumped. His chute opened just a few hundred feet off the ground, and the landing rattled his teeth. He landed just as the balloon crashed into the castle ramparts. Now on the ground, he quickly disposed of the chute, and went for his LMG again. The time for talking and negotiating with them was past, ponies were getting hurt, if not killed. He needed to end this threat as quickly as possible. Though maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to shoot Chrysalis. The though of that saddened him. Though would be more than happy to dispatch the other 2.
As he ran through he garden he passed scenes of chaos and disorder, everywhere he looked, injured gaurdsponies and rubble littered the ground. He couldn't stop to help them. Rather than attempting to pull apart the debris blocking the side entrance. William just drew a Carl Gustav anti tank launcher and blasted through the wall at point blank. He bounded through the smoking crater and went back to his LMG.
"William?" He looked off to the side just in time to watch Winger and Nightlight gallop past him. He was headed straight for the throne room. He already knew where those 3 would be and who they were after. As he ran the armor on his body was replaced by a set far more befitting of the situation. Rather than the usual high cut helmet and plate carrier he usually wore. He was now clad in a myriad or soft and hard Kevlar pads and plates. As well as a much larger and more protective helmet.
He rounded the corner and entered the hallway leading up the the throne room doors. Which had been blown to smithereens by... Wait, Cozy Glow? William stopped to get a better look at the situation at hand. Cozy Glow, was now an alicorn. And in her magical grasp was the bell which he had been hunting for so long. In all honesty, the princesses, the six, and the magicless Discord weren't putting up much of a fight. Neither was the princesses personal guards. Nightlight had always told him about a running joke in the royal guard about how the royal's only selected the most inept guardsponies for their personal escorts. She was nowhere to be seen either. He spun out of cover and put his gun reticle on her head. He was about to pull the trigger when Rainbow Dash got in the way.
"Damnit Rainbow! Move!" But by the time she had done what he had asked, not out of compliance but rather out of not wanting to get hit by the bolt of magic which was now flying towards him. He was able to catch it with a ballistic shield. Which cracked and deformed at the impact. He could feel the heat of the bolt arc around him. Even with all the armor. He dove back around the pillar to snatch an M203. He heard Cozy taunting him.
"How does it feel having to run William!? I hope you hate it!" He laughed. "Yeah, screw you. He whipped out from behind the pillar again and fired the grenade. It went off in mid air, Cozy was just barely able to get able to get a forcefield up bore the blast hit her. While the shrapnel and heat of the detonation may have been deflected by it, the inertia and shock wave sent her little field ball tumbling across the room and into a pillar. She flew back up, and began to raise the bell of hers. But Was met by a hail of tungsten jacket 6.8. Causing her to take cover again. A half second later, the gunfire stopped. And was replaced instead by a hail of .50 BMG. And then twelve gauge flechettes. She was frozen in fear behind a marble pillar as William's gunfire tore it to shreds.
All this time, Celestia and the other's had been taking cover on the far side of the throne room, doing their best to stay out of the way and keep their ears covered, still, their ears were beginning to ring from the roar of all the gunfire. William motioned for them to run. " How'd the magic of friendship work for you Twilight!?" He called out as he began closing in on the pillar. The sound of the gunfire drowned out Cozy's cries of terror. It was then when she realized that she had made a grave mistake in deciding to attack this place. She tired to sneak out to use the bell again. But was once again forced behind the pillar. Which was now, alongside the northern side of the throne room, little more than a pile of rubble by now. All of a sudden, the gunshots ceased. And Cozy peaked her head out. Only to find herself staring down the barrel of an M82 Barrett. Franticly, she lit her horn, and fired off a bolt, which William easily sidestepped, and depressed the trigger.
Had Tirek and Chrysalis not climbed through the window behind the thrones and snatched her up that would have been then definitive end of Cozy Glow. She let out a disturbed laugh as they carried her away. And he watched Chrysalis give him and apologetic eye as she left. It was clear to William that bell she was still in possession of, combined with Discords magic had made the three significantly more powerful. Tirek was at least 50 feet tall from hoof to horns. And Chrysalis had an additional layer of greenish armor over her carapace as well as a chitin crown, he gave them the finger as they took off.
"See ya later Chrissy!" William joked. He casually spun back around and smiled at the princesses. "Is it over?" Luna shakily asked. Her sister, Discord, and the six looked around at what had once been an ornately decorated throne room in utter astonishment. At last, Celestia stepped forward. "Ummm... Thank you for that... Um, 'colorful' display of violence William. Had you gotten here a few moment's later, we might not be having this conversation."
"When did Cozy Glow become an alicorn!?" Twilight questioned, dusting herself off. " I don't know." William responded, replacing his M82 with an H&K 416. He looked around at the group of shell shocked ponies. " You got here just in time to save our lives, our magic is Cozy's now. " William chuckled, and chambered a round in his rifle. He walked to the very edge of the destroyed balcony, and gazed out at the trial of destruction which was slowly making it's way south towards Ponyville.
"That, was just a skirmish. I need to get to Ponyville, now, and fast."