Chapter 7
Blaze of Hope
Fireball could barely believe what he was seeing the whole world of Equestria was appearing right before his eyes. The beauty of his old world was even more magical than he remembered, he felt like he was waking from a long nightmare back to his home. However it was no dream and the consequences of their scientist failing to reverse the damage that Princess Luna had done was soon to come. Right now the ponies of his world were mere ghost showing through the other dimension but sections had already started to meld into this world leaving the ponies and other creatures very vulnerable to the Collectives machines. Already two ponies had appeared and were slaughtered by the machines. Fireball’s body started to catch fire in anger as he remembered the two ponies laughing galloping through the fields of Equestria then materializing in front of a bipedal robot before they were cut down. Their screams from appearing in a strange world face to face with metallic monsters was the worst thing that he had heard in a long time and he knew they would forever haunt his memory.
“Commander Fireball, there’s another area of the rip opening in section 75 seems to be a village of some sorts” Private Flax informed him.
“Thats unfortunate the village is in a hot spot.”
“Were not going to help them then?”
Fireball gave a slight smirk “Of course were going to help them, after all this is a perfect opportunity to test our new explosives. Besides we will get rusty if we don’t have a challenge now and again.” The soldier saluted and went to spread the news to the rest of the group that they were moving out. “This is bad” Fireball thought to himself “like it wasn’t enough fighting the enemy but now with all these ponies appearing and needing to be rescued…this is going to cost lives.”
Sergeant Yoto a stern tall man who was Fireballs second in command made his way over “Commander is it true that we are going into section 75?”
“Yes” he replied. “There’s a village there that will soon need our help and I shall not let them down.”
“You do know that even if we make it the chances of that village let alone us surviving is extremely low? It would be smarter to let that village fall and press the attack to the control tower while the collective’s minions are busy with these new arrivals.”
Fireball stared coldly at the sergeant “I’m not about to sacrifice innocent blood so we can get a few more yards to the control station, that is not how we work sergeant.”
“Your right, I’m sorry sir” he apologized “I will tell the men to move out at once.”
He watched as the sergeant started to move away bellowing out orders to the troops “It’s amazing what ideas war will cause people to have” he sighed to himself. “We have been fighting a creation built solely around logic for so long that it’s starting to destroy what we are as living beings.” He then created a fiery shield around himself to strengthen his standard issued personal shield and started to lead the troops out of the trenches towards their destination.
The way into area 75 was proving to be very difficult they were halted many times by the collective’s forces and the sudden appearances of frightened ponies. The landscape had even started to morph and he could even feel grass under his hoofs. They were all entranced by the beauty that was surrounding them. However after a tree had suddenly materialized as one of his soldiers was walking through it killing him they took extra care walking through the dense forest that was around them.
“Commander” the sergeant called.
“Yea, what is it?”
“Look at the sky”
As he did his jaw almost fell open for high above the appearing trees was a Pegasus flying so fast that all he could see was a blur, behind her was a group of brain bots slowly closing in. “Sergeant continue the march to the village I have to help.”
“Yes sir, and good hunting.”
“You too” he then spread his wings and took off in a fiery display of power and magnificence like the phoenixes of Equestria. He was just able to see the Pegasus fly into a small buildings window that was quickly shut behind her. As he looked around he could see the destruction of the almost fully materialized world and hear the screams of the ponies trapped in the battle. Looking around he started to recognize some of the buildings it then struck him that he knew this village from long ago it was where he spent most of his summers from school…Ponyville.
Suddenly a splintering noise brought his attention to the building as three brain bots rammed through the windows shutters forcing three little fillies to scramble out the front door only to be stopped by a squad of brain bots. He quickly rushed towards them landing in front of the children he then quickly disintegrated the accursed metal robots with his magic.
“Please, you have to help her!” a little unicorn begged.
“Help who?”
“She’s still in the building with those…those…things.”
Fireball looked at the building “that’s right, those three brain bots did not come out yet” he listened close as he approached the house but nothing could be heard inside. “Are they playing with me hiding in the shadows?” he thought then ignited a fire on the buildings stone floor. However instead of the brain bots he saw a beautiful, enraged, wild eyed blue Pegasus standing over three crushed robots that now littered the floor. He noticed that each one had a hoof mark where they had been kicked into oblivion.
“You sure made short work of them” he stated catching the Pegasus attention.
She looked at him with slanted eyes “Who are you? Did you send these monsters? Well speak! Or I will do to you what I did to them.”
“That’s some way to treat somepony that just saved those three fillies out there.”
Her eyes widened “The children!” She then made a mad dash out the door and tackled the three frightened fillies in a tight embrace. “Oh, thank goodness I don’t know what I would have told your parents if I lost you!”
“We…can..t…breath!” the young unicorn managed to squeeze out.
“Oh sorry” she then let the three fillies go and looked at Fireball. “We cannot thank you enough for protecting them.”
“It’s my job you don’t have to thank me.”
“Oh so you’re in the military then, the royal guards?” She stepped closer inspecting him “an alicorn? That’s rare to see in Equestria I can’t believe that I haven’t heard of you given how handsome you are and everything.”
“Is this Peguses…flirting with me?” Fireball thought to himself. He stared at her then at the three little fillies “um…are these your kids?”
“Them? No, I’m just their babysitter their parents are on the other side of town on a date, I was actually trying to find them when those things showed up and attacked me.”
Fireball looked at the robots then face hoofed himself “What am I doing! I have to help save the ponies in this village” he thought then spread his wings.
“Where are you going?” the Peguses asked. “Was it something I said? Please don’t go!”
“I have to.”
“But I…”
“Listen, barricade the house and stay in it help is coming” he stated then flew off but not before looking back to make sure the Pegasus was doing what he said.
The next few hours Fireball spent fighting back the Collectives forces while gathering all the ponies that he could find in the mayors building which was the only structure big enough to fit everypony. The ponies inside were busy barricading the structure in order to withstand the impending collective attack that was to come from all sides. In fact the Collective had managed to surround the area completely making escape impossible. The only help he had to defend the building was a few of the royal guards and his own troops which had arrived just ahead of the advancing army they were now busy digging a trench around the structure. As he looked on from a cloud at the preparations a familiar voice caught his ears.
“What you doing?” the same blue Pegasus from the building asked before landing on the cloud with him.
“Setting up a defense, what are you doing here? You should be inside with the others.”
“Nah, staying inside when danger is around is not my style, I would rather be out here and fight.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about those robots you faced in that house are nothing to what is about to come. You won’t stand a chance in this battle I have been fighting these monsters for more than a decade and know them better than anypony here. It is best that you stay inside the building where it is safe at least for the meantime and leave the fighting to me and my men.”
“Awww come on don’t be like that I can handle myself you know!”
Fireball closed his eyes and thought for a few minutes before opening them up again “You have spirit but if you fight without training or a weapon you will die. I’ll tell you what if you go into the building with the rest of the ponies and we happen to survive this battle then I will give you the chance to join my squad.”
“Not a chance in Tartarus these things attacked my village and I intend to return the favor!”
Fireball was about to respond when Sergeant Yoto called up to him “Commander.”
“What?!” he called back harshly irritated from the Pegasus stubbornness.
“The enemy has entered our perimeter they will be here in less than a minute!”
“Which direction?”
“Junction A”
A small smile crept over Fireballs face “right through the mine field.”
“Mind field? What is that?” the Pegasus asked. Suddenly floaters followed by a multitude of bipedal robots entered the field overlooking the village. The tanks opened fire on the village destroying everything but the mayors building which was protected by a magic barrier that the royal guards created.
The floaters then stopped their bombardment as the bipedal robots started to move towards the building. “Boom” Fireball stated to himself just as the first robot stepped on a landmine and exploded.
“What was that? What were they just shooting at the buildings?” the Pegasus asked clearly frightened by the scene unfolding before her.
“That was a magnet mine” Fireball answered back still surveying the minefield that was making short work of the advancing enemy. “Those weapons that they are using are energy cannons, wide range scatter pattern by the looks of it.” He then looked behind them from the cloud and saw another enemy unit advancing towards them “Sneaking around the back are you? Ha, like that would ever work against me!” Suddenly a hand held cannon from one of the soldiers in the trench opened up and started to mow down the robots ranks.
“Ummm, those metallic bugs are back.” The Pegasus suddenly stated.
When Fireball looked up he saw a huge number of brain bots flying down towards them from the sun “those cleaver devils” he then grabbed the Pegasus and jump towards the earth gracefully landing in the trench but not before setting the sky ablaze destroying many of the flying robots that were too close.
“I think that I should get into the building now” the Pegasus replied trying to recover from what just happened “I’m of no use here.”
“Too late the barrier is up and if we drop it the floaters will destroy the building, you’re stuck out here.” He then looked at the clearly scared Pegasus “just keep your head down and stick with me you’ll be fine.”
“Who said that I was scared!” She suddenly stated wide eyed.
“Nopony did.”
“Oh…and you shouldn’t because I’m not!”
Fireball could not help but crack a smile at her statement “Of course I believe you” he replied putting his wing over her. She was putting up a great front but he could tell by her shaking that she was terrified.
The battle raged on where more and more of the enemy were surrounding them and for the first time since Fireball had taken command of this unit they were running out of explosives to meet the ever increasing enemy.
“They Keep coming they just keep coming!” the soldiers were saying to themselves along with many choice words. They had already experienced 47% causalities in the unit and could not keep the machines at bay much longer.
“Commander” Sergeant Yoto called. “Were low on ammunition we have just a few more rounds.”
“Can we get any help from command?”
“No sir the fighters have been unable to get through the enemies air power and commander Striker had been shot down again trying to punch through to our position.”
“The Eclipse?”
“They are locked in a heated battle of their own rescuing these ponies has put a strain on all of our forces.”
Fireball gave a curse and looked over the trench at the enemy then immediately pulled his head back down as a laser flew far to close for his comfort. Even if they had enough ammunition there was simply too many of the enemy to punch through.
“Were going to die aren’t we?” the blue Pegasus quietly asked looking at him with fear in her eyes.
As much as Fireball hated to admit it there was no way that they could survive the next assault by the machines but he could not bring himself to tell her what was to come. “Its not over yet we still have a chance to win this battle.”
The Pegasus stared at the ground clearly not believing what he said. “You know its funny just a few hours ago I was thinking that my life was over because I didn’t have a date for the Grand Galloping Gala but now faced with this I see how stupid that was.” She looked up at him “It’s funny how death can change a ponies priorities isn’t it? There was so much that I have missed because I thought that I would have time you know?”
Fireball looked up at the now smoky sky “You know I never had a date for the Gala when I lived in Equestria, I wonder what having a special some pony would have been like.” He then looked back at her “I think that it is good that you have regrets, if a pony didn’t have regrets in the end of their life it would mean that they had stopped dreaming.” The Pegasus suddenly hugged him and gave him a passionate kiss “huh, funny how death changes ones priorities” he thought to himself and returned the kiss.
“Um, commander?” Sergeant Yoto asked bringing them back to the battle.
Fireball turned to face him a little embarrassed “Yes Sergeant?”
“The enemies main force has started another attack.”
“Thank you sergeant”
“What do we do now?” the Pegasus asked.
Fireball stood up and spread his wings letting out jets of flames “We fight.”
The machines assault fell upon them with such force that many weak sections of their defense collapsed almost instantly allowing them to be flanked from both sides. The robots were now in the trenches coming at them from both sides as well as coming from the front and above.
“Stay behind me!” Fireball called to his forces as he wielded his powerful fire magic to stay off the attackers his men had run out of ammo and were waiting with their EMP knifes drawn.
“Commander!” a soldier called as a floaters heat seeking laser came racing towards them but he could not move if he did his men would be ripped to shreds.
“Buck” he screamed as the laser struck his shields shattering them in an enormous blast that sent him flying. He quickly opened his eyes to see a bipedal robots laser arm pointing at his face “You son of a rust bucket” he cursed and closed his eyes waiting for the burning sensation that would send him to oblivion. “Heh, death won’t be too bad” he thought to himself as he waited “One quick second then it’s to the pearly gates where I can see those that went before me, they might even have a bar up there with drinks that don’t give you hangovers. At least I can finally get a break from this stupid war…man what is taking him so long? Is he ever going to fire that cannon? Here I am waiting to go to the afterlife and he decided to take his sweet time, what a jerk!”
“Are you all right?” he heard the voice of the Pegasus.
“Am I already dead?” he thought then opened his eyes only to see the robot still standing pointing its gun at him but to his side he could see the worried faces of those he was protecting. “Ummm what happened?” he finally managed to blurt out.
“That” his sergeant replied pointing towards the control station. When he looked over though the control station was nowhere to be found but instead it was replaced by a huge mountain that housed the Equestrian royal palace. He then remembered how they gruesomely lost a man by a tree materializing while he was inside of it. “The mountain crushed the control tower commander” the sergeant said confirming his suspicions.
Fireball slowly got up but soon dropped back down when he realized that he was too weak to stand “Sergeant?”
“Yes sir.”
“I want you to get some medical support for our wounded and to send those in the building towards the nearest safe zone.” The sergeant quickly saluted and went to work Fireball leaned against the trenches wall and closed his eyes when he opened them again the blue Pegasus was staring at him. He felt a drip of water slide across his face and noticed that there was a wet cloth on his forehead.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you but I have been trying to get your fever down” she explained.
He wiped the cloth away “Don’t worry I don’t have a fever I’m just naturally this hot.”
She cocked her head “Was that a joke?”
Fireball gave out a short laugh realizing what he said “No, I just have a higher body temperature than other ponies. By the way how are you doing? That battle was intense even to a veteran like me.”
“After that anything that the Wonderbolt training program can throw at me will be a breeze. Thank you for protecting me I was clearly over my head” she then snuggled under his wing and they stared at the sky together.
Fireball was thinking about what had happened in the battle but a piece of his mind suddenly went to something the Pegasus said “Wonderbolt training program?”
“Yes I am a Wonderbolt, wait I never introduced myself did I with all the excitement going on.” She suddenly stood up proudly “I am Rainbow Dash the fastest racer in all of Equestria and the Captain of the Wonderbolts, please get in line for an autograph.”
“That is a impressive title Rain…bo…w…” Suddenly long forgotten memories from when he was a child and still lived in Equestria came rushing back. “DASH!” He jumped up exited at seeing her after so many years.
“Yes” she stated confused by his sudden reaction “do I…know you?”
“Yeah you know me! Although I may not look the same way that I did fourteen years ago. It’s me Fireball; you know the one that set your roof on fire.”
Dash stared at him processing what he said then her eyes grew large “No way! Fireball, Princess Cadance’s son?!” he nodded. “The same one who burnt my garden, my couch, my kitchen, my good dishes…my books” her eyes started to focus on him angrily with each acquisition but she was only pretending to be getting mad and didn’t care about any of that anymore. “You have grown, what did you say fourteen years? You must almost be as old as me now.” She suddenly blushed “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to kiss you like that this is so weird.”
“I don’t think so, I actually enjoyed it.”
She thought about it “I guess it’s not too weird since you have aged, so what does this mean?”
“I don’t know but if you still need a date for the Gala I’m willing to accompany you” he replied thinking about their conversation during the battle. However he highly doubted that there would be a gala anytime soon after everything that had happened. He did like the idea though of having someone special to give him strength during the upcoming battles much like Dream catcher and Night Shade did for each other.
“Alright Fireball” she then lightly hoofed him in the shoulder “I guess having a royal escort wouldn’t be all that bad.”
“Wait until I tell Dream Catcher that I have a Special Some Pony before him.”
“Dream Catcher?”
“Yep, Dream Catcher is here and so is Screwball and Cloud Striker.”
“You’re all alright then I’m glad, you had me so worried. When did you get back to Equestria?”
“Get back? Actually Equestria merged into my world.”
“But Discord said that couldn’t happen unless somepony entered the portal.”
“Oh, that…well that somepony was actually Luna.” He then looked away at the castle and saw a large force of armored Pegasus coming out from it. In the front of the force like ghosts from his past were Celestia, Jackson and his father. He taped on his communicator “Command I think that we need to send a welcome wagon for the friendly’s, they seem pissed.”