Amidst the rather heavy rainfall combined with the mostly inorganic winter environment, a perfect destination for a joyous occasion, there was artillery shells pounding the snow, creating holes of eternal blackness filled with rubble and debris, along with the incessant hurricane of gunfire from either side, one could tell this was no playground.
Master Sergeant Reginald, donning his standard-issue sage armor shaved a path from the nearby trench, his footsteps cutting a somewhat organized line within the sea of white, holding his rifle steady forward. The steel mask concealed not just his face but his unsteady breathing, despite all the rough training the Centurion dropout had gone through, nothing quite could prepare him for this.. hellhole. He marched into the darkness, trudging onto a snow-covered hill whilst using his rifle like some sort of support cane, pressing himself forward. Eventually, as the courageous warrior reached the top of the slide, he naturally drew back his rifle to search the dark abyss before him. Saying nothing, the soldier ventured forward.
Nothing was scarier then leaving a trench and searching the next position. Even for the war heroes, those who forged legendary tales of combat in battle felt fear. Civilian recruitment propaganda stated a single Mark-I could hold off thousands of Concordat troops at a time.
What a joke.
These thoughts of the lurking horrors and inevitable death that could very well await him had a hidden sniper get a well-placed shot on his head forced the Sergeant to take cover by a small boulder. Dropping his rifle there, he placed his hoof onto the rock and had to give in for a seat. He felt fear every single day on Diadem, knowing the Concord probably had full awareness of the entire installation, but each time the stinging sensation hit him it always bit hard. And it wouldn’t let go, not even in the dream world.
Thud. Thud.
“The hell?” escaped the rather old stallion’s lips, as he grabbed the stock of the rifle in a split second, and aimed it at the nearby barn just as quickly.
”Hey! You got a problem with me, lancy?” was followed swiftly by-
”N-no, sir.”
No Concordat could speak Ponyish that informally, so Reginald lost suspicion quickly as the thought arose on his mind, but he still kept the rifle trained on the doorway in case these Riflemen lost their minds and went rogue.
”Then let’s keep moving, dumbass. Crown ain’t gonna search itself!”
Okay, now he was positively sure those two weren’t Concordat. But to be sure, he retained his focus on the door. If anything this war’s taught him, getting caught off guard is a sure death sentence, especially by literally any Concordat rank higher than a Freelancer.
Soon enough, Reginald blinked, and a creaking sound ensued. “Wh- Sarge!”
The voice was definitely from a young man, and as soon as he opened his eyes he was greeted with a sight for sore eyes. Two Riflemen, one was a Lance Corporal, from the looks of his uniform still within the junior range. The other was a rank just one up him, a Sergeant. Not the best combination of NCOs he could find, but one that would make the cut to his objective.
“Reginald! You hear me?” The Sergeant called out.
“Yeah, I hear you, boys! You part of Death and Destruction?”
“Yes, sir! Our platoon got split, I’m with this rookie.” The Sergeant patted the Lance Corporal.
A small smirk found it’s way on to Reginald’s face. For one, he finally found some company after so much time as a lone wolf out here, Neighagra made him one.. until now, of course.
“You got names, hawks?”
“I’m Jerome..” the Sergeant gave a glimpse towards the Lance Corporal.
“..and he’s Hilton.” Jerome named.
“Where to, sir?” Hilton managed to get out to Reginald before the former shot a sharp glance at him.
“Follow me, Riflemen. You know the commander?” He slotted his rifle onto his back, taking off his cap intent for a good scratch of his forehead.
“Theresa Bluemane? Yes, sir. What about her?” Jerome inquired of his superior.
“She’s somewhere on this crown, probably half a click away from our position. She and a squad are going for the Activation Key. Let’s go give her some cover, yeah?” The two Riflemen nodded, their faces with a tint of anxiety. Reginald couldn’t blame them for it, no matter how much you trained your body for war, nothing could really mentally prepare you for the absolute hell you were about to step into, never mind the stupid stuff they were about to attempt.
The trio settled down after around half an hour of trekking through Diadem’s winter environment that was almost a replica of the barren wilderness of the Crystal Empire, though it was honestly next to impossible to tell which one came first, they parked just next to a small Concordat outpost, which from the looks of it was rather well-stocked and contained something that could really assist with their journey; vehicles.
Taking cover behind a boulder, Jerome looked to Reginald as the latter holstered his rifle and advanced forward into the formations that led themselves into the outpost.
“We got a plan here, Sarge? I know you do, just wanna hear it first.”
Reginald stopped in his tracks and drew his rifle, aiming it towards the concrete walls of the station.
“Get in, quietly. Steal a car. Get out. Simple as that.”
The Master Sergeant proceeded to make a ‘move forward’ motion with his hooves, and the trio marched out in formation; one forward, the other in the middle checking the left and right, and the last at the rear observing the back. This type of tradecraft-styled warfare was all pretty old to the stallion by now, but he wasn’t too sure of the other two’s experience in this sort of action.
Soundlessly as they could, the trio advanced into the outpost where they came across a backdoor leading to some sort of backyard, stocked up with weapons and ammunition. Reginald took point, taking cover behind a small wall, and looked down the corridor.
Nothing of real threat to them.
In under a second, Reginald sprinted and ducked behind another wall on the opposite side. After checking the hallway again, he nodded to Jerome, who was next to move. The Sergeant rolled over instead of just walking to where Reginald was placed. The Master Sergeant once again peeked to check for potential hostiles, although nothing caught his attention. Nodding to the Lance Corporal, Hilton made his move as Reginald hid back for cover.
“Rrr.. DOLTA! DOLTA! EMANI TESK DOLTA!” echoed as the Lance Corporal’s face was riddled with shock and surprise, staring down the corridor. ‘Oh crap’ repeated in Reginald’s head as an exchange of gunfire between Hilton and his spotter was initiated, alerting literally everyone in the outpost.
“Oh, for fu-“ came out of the Sergeant as Reginald whispered to him to watch his language, as the latter rolled down the corridor and proceeded to stab the wounded enemy Runt with his combat knife. The macaque didn’t stand a chance. The man then unsheathed a pistol as he took aim at the approaching Runts.
BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG!
Green blood spilled from his targets as they flopped over.
“Jerome! Circle around us and take out who you can, we’ll meet you at the carpark!”
“Depend on it, sir!” Echoed back as Reginald patted the Lance Corporal beside him, as they swiftly executed the following Runts. Then, came a real challenge. A seven feet-tall Knight stood before the Master Sergeant. He was already pretty surprised Runts would be here defending such a small staton, never mind a full-on Knight.
Swiftly ducking under a swing from the Changeling, Reginald proceeded to ram and tackle down the Knight, to which it responded by kicking and grabbing his shoulder, sending him flying into the wall. “Oof! Damn..” was his reaction as Hilton dispensed as many bullets as he possibly could into the Knight, as it got up, Reginald drew his combat knife and went straight in.
Just as the Changeling was about to give Hilton a vibe check, Reginald hitched a ride onto the Knight and drove the knife straight into the lower mandible of the dark creature, as it screamed in pain and profusely attempted to get the weapon off.
“Gun! Now!”
The Lance Corporal tossed his original pistol, and Reginald caught in time to put the Knight out of it’s misery. Sighing, the Master Sergeant felt like sitting for a break when he heard a few more yelps to his left. Turning to the appropriate direction, he aimed his sidearm only to find a few Runts holding their energy pistols at him.
As they were about to do battle, a Knight’s corpse fell behind the Runts as they turned around. Jerome leaped from the body and drew a knife too, before dual-handling both a somewhat outdated revolver and his own dagger. The three swiftly executed the helpless Runts and combined as one, retaining their formation as Reginald eyed a A4-80 Rhino car that somehow found it’s way into the outpost.
“I’ll drive, Riflemen. Take position at the back, stat!”
The two complied with actions, not words, as Reginald busted into the driver seat and soon roared the engine. Reversing into a wall of bundled-up corpses of the typical species you’d find comprising a typical Concordat ground squad, the stallion recalled in time how to drive as they boosted out of the carpark and onto the road.
“Dumbass, you almost got us killed! Starting to wonder why I escaped with your oh-so smooth ass.” uttered Jerome who was in a particularly fine mood.
“Alright, you two stay here and hold the entrance. I won’t be long.” Barked Reginald as the duo stood by the doorway, the entrance to the futuristic temple of sorts which held the Activation Key, the one item whose carriers the universe’s fate pretty much depended on. Stepping down a staircase made out of that shiny metallic material, he journeyed down the path and moved across a handful of rooms linked together with corridors, which was all a straight line forward.
The Master Sergeant also took notice of many corpses, primarily that of Knights, scattered across each room. Either they weren’t being careful, or Theresa and her squad was deadly lethal, which he preferred to think of the latter to boost his spirits. After some time, Reginald hopped down a few blocks, leading to some sort of control center which, from experience, he knew held the Activation Key.
Aiming his rifle forward, the stallion moved into the next corridor, which lead into the control center itself. The whole thing was sort of a maze, but he somewhat knew his way. Just as he caught a glimpse of the center, he saw the distinct silhouette of a Equestrian reaching to grab something. Didn’t need to know who, he just needed to get there.
“Hurgh!” yelled the individual, who promptly grabbed the Activation Key, which was floating in the hole made in the middle of the room, with one hoof and the nearby ledge to it with the other. “Gotcha!” The individual, in a recognizably feminine voice spoke, just as she lost grip.
“Woah- WOAH!-“ Reginald appeared, catching her hoof just as she fell.
“Could say the same thing to you, lady. You know, your dad never asked me for help when he needed it either.”
Hyperventilating for a moment, Theresa swallowed and gave a smile. “The Key’s secured, Sergeant. Let’s prep for evac out of here.”
Nodding, Reginald pulled her up and moved to the exit, steeling himself for the incoming burn in his throat before bellowing.
”JEROME! HILTON! HOW’S OUR EXIT?!”
After around 5 seconds of no response, the Sergeant was definitely sure his volume could be heard from the entrance, so he tried again.
”YOU HEAR ME, RIFLEMEN?”
Still, no response. Drawing his rifle forward, he turned to Theresa, who had her ears covered by her hooves.
“We got trouble.”
Scouting ahead, he navigated by the next room and checked the suddenly darkened room for hostiles. Turning the mounted flashlight on, Reginald dropped to one knee and shined it at every corner, searching into the darkness.
Thud. THUD. THUD.THUD.
“Huh?!” He glanced around to see a nimble Knight, donning fully-black armor with noticeable red stripes on the helmet and shoulder pad, leaping in front of him and engaging with a right hook. Reginald ducked under the Changeling’s attack, hitting the Knight’s chest with three good blows and one uppercut to the left mandibles. The Knight counterattacks with a right hand swipe, throwing Reginald onto the ground.
The Sergeant just barely dodges a audibly heavy hit, whose thud sound echoed throughout the room and to which the impact causes a small crack on the metal floor. The Changeling presses the attack by kicking Reginald in the stomach, followed by a rather powerful punch to the face, sending the stallion flying into the wall. Stunned, but not quite out yet, he leans to grab his dropped rifle off the ground and uses it to parry a incoming hit from the Knight. Aiming it at the advancing Changeling, he fires a couple bullets which deflect off the Knight’s armor as he elbows the distracted assailant and drives the butt of his rifle straight into the Changeling’s face.
Getting up from the attack, the attacking Knight blocked a second strike from Reginald’s rifle and hit it straight out of his hooves, causing the weapon to fly into the wall out of control. The Changeling then seized the sergeant by the throat and shoved him into the nearby barrier, pressing him onto it.
“Not… impressed!”
”ROAR!”!
The angered Knight threw him straight onto the ground, knocking him out cold with one fell swoop.
“SERGEANT!”
The Changeling turned to see Theresa wielding a pistol, whom proceeded to shoot at the dark assailant. With it’s armor beginning to become damaged, it sped off into the darkness of the room.
“Sergeant, stay down! …Reginald?”
“RAR!” Returned the darkness, as the Knight leaped straight behind her. Turning to face the attacker, the Knight neutralized her with a critical swipe to her left forehead, sending her flying onto the ground.
Taking some deep breaths, the Knight would move on and unsheathe the Activation Key from her belt, inspecting the metal, triangular-like item with curiosity.
CHCK!
A grappling hook shot into the Key, followed by it zooming out of the Changeling’s grasp. Turning in surprise, the Knight saw before him a Changeling like him, only dressed in a plated, shiny, metal grey armor which resembled that of medieval knights, hence the name.
“Doyen! That is my responsibility-“
“Was your responsibility. The Key belongs to me now, Pomez.”
“Ecirep! This is not a joke, the Key is mine! Don’t let that title mislead you into thinking-“
“The Concord thanks you for your long service and wishes you safe passage on the Grand Odyssey, Noj. I wish I could say the same.” Ecirep grew a wicked smile.
”..what?” A flabbergasted Pomez was truly lost for words. Everything that had happened in his life had all led to this moment.
“May the Antecedents grant you safe passage in the afterlife.”
“NO!” Igniting his crimson plasma sword, Pomez was about to strike, but Doyen struck first with his orange blade, landing a swipe across the Knight’s face and sending him rolling down into the hole below.