//------------------------------// // Closer to Tartarus // Story: As Tartarus Breaks Loose // by Thranx //------------------------------// The summer sun was not a happy sun, Cimex concluded as he jumped into an empty foxhole. He took his canteen and guzzled it until it was empty. His water had ran out. It was a matter of time before his energy was sapped entirely or collapsed to dehydration. He heard bullets whizzed over him as he clutched his rifle with his magic and opened the cartridge to reload. He had burned through half of his ammunition since the battle began. It had been days since his unit reached Appleloosa and the resistance was unexpectedly determined. Unlike Rockville, whose garrison was made entirely out of demoralised and shattered remnants of the forces in Las Pegasus and surrendered right after a bombardment. The garrison in Appleloosa were tenacious. They were equipped with the best weapons the Equestrian arsenal could offer and many of them were experienced from the prior border conflicts with the buffalo tribes. However, most importantly, they were stubborn. They fought tooth and nail for every inch of land the changelings took. None of them surrendered. The weather offered no respite too, the sky was clear and the clouds were scarce, every changeling would stuck out like a pillar in the middle of the desert because of their black chitin and grey uniforms. Whereas, the Equestrians wore desert camouflage rendering them almost invisible. The sun shone too bright, it blinded everyling. Changelings were nocturnal beings, they lived in the darkest caves beneath the surface, far from the shining sun. To be exposed to sunlight this much would severely hamper their vision, the lack of clouds exacerbated the situation to the next level. However, they all pale in comparison to the heat. Cimex felt his entire body was only short of burning to a crisp. Unlike the sun and the sky. The heat did not leave when night fell. It only lost a little of its vigor. Only a little. It was unbearable. It was relentless. Many fail to acclimatize. Many fell to heatstroke and dehydration and many of whom did not made it. Cimex was glad he was not on the list. He shook his head and grounded himself back to reality. Right now, Appleloosa was on its last legs. At the cost of heavy casualties, the Heer had cornered to final remnant of the garrison in the City Hall. Cimex peeked from his spot facing the City Hall and saw changeling soldiers swarmed the battered building. Taking the cue, he climbed out of the foxhole and joined the charge. He opted not to fly in favor of using his surroundings for cover instead of flying to reach the building faster. He quickly rushed up the stairs and entered the building. His comrades had already cleared the entrance. "Cimex, let's clear the second floor!" Maxilla called from a stairway nearby. "Right, coming!" Cimex replied and joined Maxilla as she aimed her submachine gun up the stairs. "You ready?" she asked. "Yeah." She grabbed a grenade and threw it over the stairs before it exploded. "Let's go," she said as both of them went to the second floor and jumped behind a pile of sandbags. Cimex peeked over the sandbags, and a bullet hit the sandbag in front of him and ducked back into cover. "You're not gonna get away with this, bug!" he heard one of them shout. "Yeah, we're gonna bring you down with us, you hear?!" he heard another one shout. "As if," Maxilla snorted. "I'll provide suppressing fire, you try to get closer and lob a grenade in that room." Maxilla got up and began shooting her MP-10 in rapid succession. Cimex quickly got up and ran to a pilaster ahead. Only moving to another once Maxilla finished reloading and resumed firing. After about fifty meters, Cimex believed he was close enough and took out his grenade and threw it in the room. "Grenade!" he heard them shout before the sound of explosion followed by silence. Cimex moved carefully to the door frame of the room and poked his head in the doorway. There, he spot a motionless Earth Pony on the floor and a unicorn who was thrown against a wall by the explosion. He approached the Earth Pony and observed his injuries. He was bloody, the shrapnel got him. He was as good as dead. Then, Cimex turn to the unicorn who was still conscious. He approached the unicorn slowly, his rifle pointed at him, ready to pull the trigger at the first sight of caution. "You bloody parasites, you got me," the unicorn did not look at him. He was focused on the wound on his chest. "Surrender, please. For your own sake. I don't want to kill you," Cimex said. The unicorn lifted his head to meet the changeling's gaze. "Surrender? To you? Never" he spat. "Please, we can treat you. You just have to surrender. We can give you mercy if you surrender. Please," Cimex pleaded. "You—argh!—you speak of mercy?" he began. "Where was your mercy when you intruded Princess Cadenza's wedding, huh?!" he spat. "Where was it when you stomped the deers? Where was it when you crossed the border, captured and killed our kin? Where was it, huh?!" he stood before falling back to the floor. Cimex froze before he breathed, "I'm sorry." "You deplorable bugs, you truly are the most disgusting creature Faust has ever created. You invade us and you say you were sorry? What a disgrace. Shameless." he said. "Not to worry, she is coming. Just you wait," he chuckled. "Who? Who's coming?" Cimex questioned. "I don't need to tell you who, you—cough—parasite! She's coming and she's furious," he laughed. "But not to worry, I'll spare you from her wrath," he sneered. Cimex's eyes widen as the unicorn's horn glowed and grabbed a pistol as he aimed it to him and began to pull the trigger. BANG! The unicorn slumped as a bullet went through his head. Cimex turned back to see Maxilla stood there with her smoking MP-10. "You alright?" she asked as she approached him. "Yeah, thanks," Cimex thanked her. She turned her head to the dead unicorn. "Bloody lunatic." "He is one, alright," Cimex agreed. "Come on, let's rendezvous with the others," Maxilla patted his shoulder. "Lieutenant's gonna debrief and we're getting to have a good rest." she turned away and left the room. Cimex stood still as he stared at the dead equine before Maxilla called him. "Hey, you coming?" "Yeah, yeah, give me a sec," he replied and recomposed himself before he walked out of the room. As it turned out, there was no rest. The lieutenant ordered them to build fortifications to dig in. It seemed the Equestrians would not let up. Scouts reported heavy enemy presence about to surround the city. Some say they outnumber the changelings three to one, rumors went as high as five to one. But Cimex could not confirm which was which but what he did know was that they outnumber his comrades. Cimex heard someling collapsed next to him as he was digging a trench. He along with others glanced at the changeling before medics quickly brought him away. "What are you looking at? Keep working! We're against time, here!" he heard a changeling shout. The sun was becoming more hostile as they day progressed, in a span of hours after the battle, hundreds of changelings collapsed due to heatstroke, dwindling their numbers further. To make matters worse, water was becoming scarce, with the city's reservoir and the oases around poisoned, water was prioritized to the dehydrated which left the able changelings at the front more vulnerable to the heat. It was a never-ending cycle of destruction. Cimex did not like it one bit. He always wanted to feel the warmth of the sun. To finally be away from the frigid tundra back home. But not like this. This was not the temperate climate that he wanted. This sun was scorching and this sun could kill. However, as much as he wanted to complain, he knew it changed nothing. So he brushed his thoughts away and resumed working. "Artillery, incoming!" Cimex did not think, he immediately jumped into the unfinished trench along with the others as a loud explosion blasted somewhere a little farther from his position. This was followed by more and more explosions as more rounds began to land like rainfall. He quickly put on his helmet and took shelter in one of the underground shelters and began to pray to the Hive Mothers. O Blessed Hive Mothers, please don't end it like this, he prayed. Hoping for a miracle that would save them. His prayers went unanswered as the bombardment seemed to intensify and the ground shook harder. For thirty minutes he sat there praying while others became more hysterical and began to cry wildly, some begging to return home, some prayed for forgiveness and some had lost hope, they sat frozen and uncaring as their gaze became empty. Morale had hit rock bottom, the sun and the enemy had shattered it. No one wants to fight. Thankfully, after hours of fear and terror, the bombardment ceased and the shelter withstood the violent shelling. The changelings cleared the shelter to find out that night had fallen. A quick glance around and Cimex could see how fortunate he was, many of his comrades did not even made into the shelters and many more were buried alive after the supports gave way to the intense pounding. He recovered from the shock as another soldier shoved him a shovel, "Quick, we gotta dig 'em out!" he shouted. Cimex rushed after the soldier and saw many soldiers digging a collapsed bunker. He began to dig as he heard the previous soldier voice cracked as he muttered, "Please, I can't lose them. They all I've got." Cimex could not help but sobbed a little too as he dug faster. However, as he dug, he heard a distant noise. He stopped digging and looked to the others. It seemed that others heard it as well as they also stopped digging. He and the others looked around, they deduced that the sound was coming from a single direction. It was coming from out of the city. It was a battlecry. It was an attack. "Enemy attack! To your positions!" This was not fair.