//------------------------------// // Blitzkreig // Story: The bird in the crow family // by InedibleBeef //------------------------------// Cadence’s body lurched around as the BTR trekked over the terrain. They were moving out to assault the hive with heavy armor. “Be advised, no air support will be granted in this mission” Huey’s radio crackled. All the rebels looked at each other and simultaneously yelled a tired “AW SHIT!” The machine gunner crouched from his spot in the top of the vehicle. “Hey don’t worry, the heavy gunners got you covered.” He shouted over the engine. “WE only have ARs!” A rebel shouted back. “Haha, sucks to be you!” The gunner returned to his respective place. “Twenty seconds!” The voice came again. The gunner unleashed a hellstorm of bullets, sweeping from side to side. Completely obliterating the enemies. Cadence found herself covering her ears, trying to muffle the noise pounding in her ears. “HELL YEAH!” He screamed over the loud gunfire. The door operator punched the open button and the door reluctantly did as ordered. “Come on you old Russian piece of shit!” He shouted as he banged on the side. The door finally dropped to the ground opening up the battlefield. “MOVE MOVE!” He shouted again and motioned everyone out of the BTR. The entire team rushed into the bitter cold and now melted snow due to the immense heat of the engines nearly side by side. The BTRs had stopped atop a hill, overlooking the hive. Masses of changelings had already mobilized since there was a smaller raid earlier. A larger APC’s 105mm cannon fired its shell into the changeling’s front formation, a huge rectangle of about five hundred of the equines, leaving a gaping hole in their defenses. The smell of sulfur assaulted Cadences nose, followed by burnt flesh, making her shudder. The rebels were already descending the hill in their assigned squadrons. Cadence made a move to join them, but was held back by Huey. “Noo way, you’re staying up here.” He shouted over the gunfire. Cadence shot him a look. “I’m supposed to protect you!” He said in his defense. Cadence lightened up. “Okay, lets take overwatch on the hill!” He shouted. The two ran to the edge of the hilltop and watched the battle unfold. Huey quickly attached a small scope on his gun and screwed on a barrel extension in less than two minutes. By then, the rebels lines had mostly broken through the main defenses and merely engaged the secondary line. Huey took a prone position and aimed down his sights. Cadence following his lead although she didn’t have a weapon. Huey pinpointed the rebels, jumping into foxholes for cover. He moved his barrel about fifty yards in front of them. The changelings were armed with crossbows and formed ordered lines of four taking turns firing on he rebels. Just after the changeling fired, he would retreat to the back of the line and reload, letting another take his place. He moved his crosshair on a changelings head, and let of a single shot. The delay of the round took about a half a second before the changeling stopped dead in its tracks and collapsed to the ground much to the surprise of his comrades. Huey quickly moved his crosshair again to the changeling caught by surprise and fired three times, getting as many kills. The APC fired another shell into a cluster of the changelings. The smoke clouded Huey’s scope. He didn’t bother to adjust it, he just pulled away and looked with his own eyes. The dust cloud sat in the middle of the defense line. Most of the changelings were retreating, and the rebels were advancing almost directly into the hive entrance. “Ay Huey! Get in!” The door operator shouted. Huey obeyed, Cadence behind him. The BTR started moving the second they entered, the operator didn’t even bother closing the door. “Alright, get ready for some CQC,” He said, offering him a SPAZ-12, Huey took it with gratitude. “It’s already filled up and loaded, here’s some extra rounds.” He unbuckled his ammo belt and handed it over. “Thanks man, I owe you” Huey said, buckling the belt around his waist. The operator didn’t reply, he just smiled. The BTR sped down the hill and rolled through the sea of foxholes made by mortar rounds. They eventually passed the advancing line of the rebels and stopped at the direct entrance of the hive. Cadence and Huey stepped out, greeting the rest of their team. “You all missed out!” Gill shouted. “That shit was so easy, I would be embarrassed if I was a casualty. And god-damn me if I was!” “Speaking of that, how many casualties were there?” Huey asked. “I don’t fucking know. Probably close to zero.” Gill said. Barbossa ran up to the trio with his Kalashnikov in hand, Dirtied from the assault. “Enough chit chat” He said. “Same rules apply, protect Cadence at any cost.” With that he turned around to his men and raised his weapon, “Come brothers! If they came for a fight, lets give them a fight!” He shot off his magazine in the air, followed by the rebels roaring in agreement. He took another mag out of his pocket and stuffed it in his gun. The rebels all charged the entrance, the commanders barking orders at each other. “Lets go!” Barbossa bellowed. He followed the rebels into the cavern along with the other three. “Damn, This place could fit a plane.” Gill said as they entered the stuffy atmosphere. “FORMATIONS!” Barbossa roared. The rebels didn’t need a second telling, they each got into four lines in rank order and crouched in their position. Cadence just followed Huey and Gill to their teams line. “Head count!” “5-4 Full sir!” “3-7 Full sir!” “4-2 Full sir!” “9-0 fu- AGH!” A crossbow bolt piercing his chest plate cut him off. Nearly every rebel in the cave stood up and fired at where the bolt had come from. Yet again, the gunfire pummeled Cadences ears, and she covered them, squeezing her eyes shut. “FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” Gill screamed. “Hold up! Hold your fire!” The commander shouted, all the fire eventually ceased. A field medic rushed to the squad leaders side and began treating his wound. “Alright, lets go, hug the walls and stay frosty.” All mobilized, staying close to the wall and out of sight from the upper levels above them, while watching the level across from them. Cadence could feel… no, hear a slight hum throughout the caverns. It sounded like a magical aurora, but was more constant, instead of waving in and out. “Huey, I think I can feel the portal.” Cadence said, tapping on his back. He stopped, halting the entire line behind him. “Yo! We got a direction.” He shouted. “Which way?” One commander across from him asked. Cadence stepped up and closed her eyes, focusing on the sound. When she opened her eyes again, another cave passage became apparent to her, and also the smell of green pollen. “This way!” She said, pointing into another tunnel. “I can tell that there’s lots of changelings, so be careful.” “Lets go!” In no time, the rest of the force had moved into the tunnel, also becoming aware of the smells it was producing. And the green pollen. Lots of ‘what the fuck’s were made as they all stepped in the gooey substance, for a moment they all slowed their pace. “Contact front!” Someone shouted and opened fire on the hidden changelings. Everyone automatically hit the ground and found a target. “Shit, this is not good man!” Someone yelled, realizing they were all lying down in an unknown substance and also getting pinned down from crossbow bolts. Just to add to it, at least five men were hit in the first second of the ambush. Huey stood back up and raised his shotgun and fired randomly into the crowd of flying insects. He started side shuffling to the left side of the cavern, where Barbossa was leading the line while shooting at nothing but the changeling force. Gill saw this, and grabbed Cadence by the collar of her vest before she could even think about following him. “Boss!” Huey shouted. “Huey! What the fuck?!” Barbossa roared in anger. “We need heavy weapons!” Huey shouted again, unfazed by Barbossa’s rage. “Okay! You do that!” He said, turning back to face the oncoming stampede of changelings. Huey threw himself against the wall and pulled his microphone to his mouth. “BTR squad! We need heavy machine gun support. The cave is big enough for you, can you do that?” Not three seconds had gone by before a familiar voice responded. “Fuck yeah I can do that!" That voice was from about 20 minutes ago, just before the assault started. It took Huey ten seconds to process this in his brain. But he finally got it. “GET THE FUCK ON THE WALL!” He screamed, but it was too late. The rumble of the BTR’s engine echoed throughout the walls as it turned the corner. The rattle of the gunner’s 50cal booming with it. The entire fight was reversed in one single strike. The feared pair of jackasses that operated the BTR sent the changelings retreating in full. Huey could have sworn he heard the bass of rap music shaking the ground. Huey decided to encourage the remaining rebels to use the BTR to their advantage. After standing up and screaming “BLITZKRIEG!” he ran deeper into the cave. However, he overall failed since the next to follow him in his rampant attack was the BTR. “Aw screw you guys.” He muttered to himself. He took a second to fill up on shells in his shotgun while he was waiting. Cadence gathered what courage she had left and flew to where Huey was. “That was crazy!” She exclaimed. “Welcome to earth!” Huey said back, bearing a smile. He finished loading his shotgun and kept made another motion for the rebels to move up. “Where to now?” He asked Cadence. She closed her eyes and ceased all movement. “This way!” She said, pointing straight. “Lets move!” “Were getting close” Cadence yelled, feeling the vibrations harder than ever. A changeling captain swooped down at her and grabbed her vest, pinning her down. His horn already glowed a light green for an attack. Cadence let out a scream from the surprise and tried to spread her wings, but it was no use. The changeling’s horn bursted into overdrive and was about to discharge when Huey tackled it off of her. Its horn discharged and hit the ceiling of the cave. The changeling hissed with rage and resisted Huey’s grip. Huey unsheathed his knife and shoved it in the changeling’s neck causing thick green blood sprayed his coat. Gunfire erupted for the second time as the changelings made their last defensive on the portal. The ear piercing cracks once again had Cadence curled up and covering her ears. Just then, something illuminated Cadence and the entire cave ahead, she opened her eyes to the BTR rolling straight for her. She was about to move, but Huey pulled her out of the way. “Damn, that’s three times I’ve saved you.” He said, laughing. Cadence rolled her eyes. Huey took aim and pulled the trigger, killing one and hitting three others. Taking out the changelings lines were very easy since they were in a formation similar to the British in the American revolution. “Dumbasses!” The gunner shouted as he lit the changelings up. Cadence shuddered at the Changelings being torn apart and closed her eyes, already covering her ears. The crackles lasted for about two minutes until it died down. “Are they gone?” She asked. “Yeah.” Huey’s voice came. She opened one eye, and instantly regretted it, shutting it again. “Oh no” She whispered. The bodies lay everywhere, and not many of them in one piece. Huey grabbed her vest and pulled her along the advancing line. “Were on track.” She said, hearing the magical hum loud and clear. “No, I think we are here.” Huey said. Cadence barley opened one eye again, but this time a much more pleasing sight was there than last time. A huge, round portal displayed the summit of Mt. Canterlot. Cadence would recognize it from anywhere, she used to fly up here many times in the past. “Walk in!” Barbossa ordered one rebel. He did as told slowly, and cautiously. Sticking one arm in the portal, seeing that nothing had changed. He slowly shuffled into the portal, and finally his whole body was in another world in itself. The rebel stood and thought for a second, and then started stripping off his heavy clothes. “It’s summer in here!” He called out to the rest. ~~ The entire group of friends sat at the royal dining hall, eating possibly the finest dishes in all of Equestria. They had practiced the wedding almost all day, and they were all exhausted, except for Jay and Will. The day was a break for them. As was the food, Will had said earlier that the entire country was jus a big vegetarian restaurant. Back to the wedding, it was to be held tomorrow. The whole thing was planned many weeks earlier and the arrival of the humans had made no difference. “Today was a long one indeed.” Celesta said, taking another bite out of her food. “Yes, and the wedding does grow closer.” Cadence said proudly. “Isnt that right Shiny?” “mhmm” He mumbled, staring off at the wall, slowly chewing food. Will turned to whatever Shining armor was looking at, but found nothing. “Uh, Shiny?” Shining Armor snapped and bounced in his seat. His eyes returned to a normal state. “W-what?” Cadence giggled. “Oh its alright dear, you’ll be much awake tomorrow.” Dear? Jay thought. He had never been to a single wedding in his life, nor had he seen someone who was getting married. But this wasn’t right. Something like marriage couldn’t possibly change someone this much, could it? Meanwhile, both sisters were having a telekinetic conversation, thinking the same thing. “What has gotten into them?” “I don’t know Luna, this is suspicious.” “I sense our new friends feel the same way.” “You sense or you read their minds?” No response came. “What the hell is the problem?” a new voice came, the voice of Jay. “Jay? You are telekinetic?” “What the…” Jay thought aloud. He stared at the Luna who immediately realized she had been absent mindedly reading him while she was talking to Celestia. “Oops” Celestia teased. Luna blushed at her remark. “You can read minds?” Jay asked, “…Maybe” Luna said sheepishly. “Yes.” Celestia corrected. “Tia!” Jay did a mental recap of everything he had thought before. Then he started laughing. “Damn, I’ve thought of the weirdest things in the past couple of days.” Luna burst out laughing as well, “Oh! The thought on the wedding!” Jay laughed harder, “You heard that?” “Yes!” “Oh shitt” Jay cackled. “What was so funny?” Celestia asked. “My dirty mind.” Jay replied. “Noo… He said… “Marrying the princess of love? Hehe, lucky bastard” Jay said. Everypony burst out in laughter except for Celestia and Shining armor. Shining armor seemed lost again. “Jay!” Celestia exclaimed, “Oh be fair sister, you most likely thought the same thing.” Luna joked. “Not with that kind of language!” Celestia argued. Just at that moment, the double doors opened, and a guard entered. He casually trotted to where Celestia sat and have her a letter, bowed and then walked away.