//------------------------------// // Nothing can stop it... // Story: A Guardsman in Equestria // by Guardsman_Sparky //------------------------------// As soon as the first object impacted with the street, the three former imperials sprung into action. Alexander drew his laspistol, setting the output to maximum. Syrette's horn glowed violet, a well-maintained autopistol floating out of its holster in its own purple aura. Iron Cog held an axe with a gear-shaped blade in his teeth as the cloak on his back bulged and tore, the servo-arm on his back unfolding into attack position. Twilight paled even further as the servo-arm's massive claw flexed and snatched at the air, a small tongue of flame spitting from a nozzle on one clamp. An amorphous black tendril shot from the hazy smoke, eliciting a shriek from Twilight. Alexander twisted to the side, slashing the tendril in two. There was an unearthly scream, half of the tendril retracting into the smog, the other half splattering on the cobbled street. A jet of flame spewed from the claw on Cog's back, throwing up a multichromatic wall of fire between the impact site and the cafe. An angry screech emitted from a black mass on the other side of the firewall, a pair of glowing yellow eyes glaring at the beings that dare defy it. It blared a freight train of a bellow, disappearing into the haze. "Cog, what kind of fuel are you using?" Alexander stared at the rainbow flames. "What the hell was...that!?" Syrette had finally found his voice. Alexander turned to Twilight. "I'd like to know that as well." Twilight swallowed. "I-I don't know. I've never seen anything like it in any of my books." Iron was examining the severed tendril lying on the ground. A mechadendrite snaked out from under the red cloak clutching a test tube. The mechanical tentacle scooped up the quivering black mass, storing the tube somewhere under the cloak. Screams of terror could be heard all over Ponyville, intermingling with the bellows of the attackers. Alexander reached into the nearby planter, pulling Pinkie Pie out by her mane. "I need you to get everybody off the streets to safety." Pinkie saluted. "Okie dokie lokie!" She popped back into the planter. Alexander plunged his hand into the dirt after her, but the pink pony was gone. "Seriously, how does she do that?" Alexander turned to Syrette and Cog. "You two, damage control. We need to keep casualties down and civilians safe. I don't care how you do it, just kill these things. You still have your comlinks?" The two nodded. "Good. Use the old squad frequency. Go!" Syrette saluted, dashing off through the smoky air. Cog strode away in the opposite direction, servo-arm flexing menacingly. Alexander turned to Twilight. "Twilight, we need to-." Twilight was running down the street. "TWILIGHT!" Alexander charged after her. Alexander chased Twilight down the street as the purple unicorn ran, heedless of the dangers. The haze was growing thicker, the smoke turning day into dusk. Twilight screamed as a dark tentacle lashed out of the shadows, lifting her bodily in the air. Alexander screeched to a halt as an amorphous blob slithered into view. Shadows seeped from it's gooey body, a cold darkness radiating from its dark, colorless mass. Twilight screamed as the tentacle squeezed her middle, passing out from the pain. Alexander shot the beast, the cracking beams of coherent light vaporizing melon sized holes in the oozing body. The thing turned towards the guardsman, yellow eyes burning. A depression yawned open on its 'face,' a bass roar shaking the air and ground. It threw Twilight at the offending human, knocking him down. The behemoth advanced upon the downed human. Syrette was having a decidedly bad day. He had six pony-sized and one house-sized goo monsters chasing him, and his auto pistol was almost useless. The hollow-point slugs tore huge rends in the bodies, but the wounds merely oozed shut. It was as if there were no vitals for the bullets to hit. The cavitation caused by the bullets however were more than enough to sever the gooey tentacles that snatched at him. Unfortunately, every time he blew a tentacle apart, the bits and pieces flowed together to form a new monster, which is why the medic was having such a warp-sucking shitfraking bad day. "Where the warp is that Cadian with a hidden tank when you need him? Shit!" Syrette found himself sailing through the air as a tentacle smashed into the ground behind him, sending broken cobblestones flying as the rest of the larger slime monster slithered down the tentacle towards him. Syrette pulled out a frag grenade, his last one. He threw it into the thing's 'mouth' and dived behind a brick wall. The beast swelled, splattering across the street along with its smaller brethren. Syrette sighed, slumping with his back to the wall. Syrette groaned as the globs all opened yellow eyes. "Oh come on!" Syrette ran again, this time chased by a wave of chortling shadowy gunk and yellow orbs. Another jello monster was bathed in a torrent of rainbow flame. A subsonic scream, more felt than heard, rattled windows as the chromatic fire boiled it down to ash and a dark, greasy smear on the cobbles. Iron Cog stepped over the blackened stain, servo-arm poised to burn down any threat. His head swiveling from side-to-side, the techpony scanned the deepening smog, artificial senses cutting through the haze. A filly's scream drew his attention. "Stay back, you big meanie!" Ditzy Doo held her daughter Dinky under her wing, a sharp kitchen knife held in her teeth as the grey unicorn filly yelled at the slime monster that had them cornered in the alley. Ditzy was glaring at the beast menacingly, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that one of her eyes couldn't make up its mind where to look. An arm bulged from the dripping mass, shadows reaching for the two mares. Ditzy braced herself for the end, a deep chuckle shaking from the yellow eyed monstrosity. A tongue of fire blazed into the side of the shadowy goo. The dark arm retracted, the viscous colossus thundering in pain. Another vibrant conflagration cut into the sludge, driving it away into the shadows. Ditzy's knife clattered to the street as she stared slack-jawed at the pony that strode from the smog, wondering at the massive claw that snapped and writhed with a life of its own. Dinky scuttled out from under her mother's wing, dashing over to the mysterious pony. "Thank you mister!" The red-cloaked pony gazed down at Dinky with glowing orange eyes. The glowing eyes seemed to twinkle. Ditzy clopped over to Dinky, holding her close. She could hear buzzing and whirring coming from under his hooded cloak as he stood silent and still, a series of clicks sounding from his head. He turned to the grey pegasus. Ditzy nodded. "Thank you. Come on, Dinky. Let's go." The small unicorn filly waved. "Bye mister!" Iron Cog watched the pair disappear into the mist. More screaming drew his attention. Claw snapping shut with a pneumatic hiss, the techpony trotted into the dark miasma. Unnoticed, a dark greasy stain on the cobbles began to writhe and bubble. A baleful yellow eye snapped open with a growl. Alexander ran for town hall with Twilight in his arms, Spike close on his heels. A colossal slime monster was hot on their trail, flowing from spot to spot like some aquatic mammal jumping through the waves. Alexander glanced at the baby dragon running beside him. "Are you sure the message got through?" "Yes...gasp...I'm sure. I sent it straight...gasp...to Princess...gasp...Celestia." A grasping coil snagged Alexander's ankle, dropping him to the ground as Twilight flew from his arms. "I got her!" Spike caught Twilight, collapsing under her weight. "Alexander!" "For the love of the Emperor, go! Run!" The tentacle snaked around the guardsman's torso pinning his arms to his sides. "B-but-" "GO!" Spike staggered towards town hall under Twilight's weight, the building designated as a safe house by Alexander and his allies over the comms. The shadowy tendril dragged Alexander closer to its owner. The yellow eyes glowed in victory as it drug the struggling human closer, the tentacle contracting into its body. As the monstrosity began sucking Alexander into its body, he managed to free an arm. Blinded by the dark grime smeared on his visor, he blindly pulled a grenade from his webbing. He primed the grenade, awkwardly pulling the pin out with his thumb. "FOR THE EMPER-" Alexander disappeared into the shadowy body of the sludge. The beastly abomination boomed with victorious laughter as it moved after the baby dragon struggling under his load. Spike collapsed with a sob, unable to go any further as the oozing behemoth towered over him. He hugged Twilight's unconscious body tightly as tears flowed down his face. Spike shut his eyes tightly as the creature loomed over him. A bright flash brought colorful spots to Spike's vision, even with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes to behold the shadowy blob thrashing in pain, its body dissolving as it screeched in agony. It burned up into nothing, its final cry hanging in the air. Alexander came to his feet, pulling off his respirator as he coughed up black,oozy phlegm. He put his respirator back on, striding to the collapse dragon and pony. "I thought I told you to run." Too exhausted to answer, Spike allowed himself to be picked up in one arm, Alexander hoisting the still unconscious unicorn over his other shoulder. He ran through the haze, not stopping until he reached the relative safety of town hall. The siege of Ponyville lasted into the late afternoon. Alexander, Syrette, and Iron Cog had met up with the royal guard contingent and were hunkered down around town hall, a massive shield bubble spell keeping the grungy creatures out. Town hall was filled with ponies, Syrette and the doctors and nurses from Ponyville General doing what they could for the wounded. Alexander approached Iron Cog, the techpony examining the sample of slime he had procured that morning. "According to Nurse Redheart and Syrette, aside from a few bruises and broken bones, they're all fine, physically. However, they said that every pony that came into direct contact with the stuff was drained of at least some if not most of their magic." "What do you got?" Alexander nodded. "Yeah, makes sense. I set off a flash-bang inside of one of the things, made it melt into nothing. Not even a stain was left." Iron tilted his head. Alexander frowned. "If that's the case, why'd they attack during early morning? And why didn't they burn up when they fell from orbit?" "Can I get that in gothic?" "There, was that so hard?" Despite his snark, Alexander was worried. "Okay, so how do we clear the smoke?" Rainbow Dash hovered high above the smoke and shadow covering Ponyville. High above the obscuring haze, cyan pegasus could see a large cordon of royal guards surrounding the town, unable to make any headway against the monsters into the smog. She still couldn't believe that Alexander wanted her to dive into the smog. If she dove blindly into that stuff, she took the risk of hitting a building. She wasn't scared of anything, but she wasn't stupid. She had refused to dive into the smoke until Alexander had told her he'd send up a flare to mark her target. The flare shot up into the open. Flipping her goggles over her eyes, Rainbow briefly folded her wings and dove for the ground. Pumping her wings for all she was worth, she felt the air begin to push against her as the mach cone formed around her. With one last push, the cyan mare broke the barrier. A shockwave of color blew the smoke away, a rainbow arcing away into the sky. The royal guard moved into the ruined town as the afternoon sun burned the creatures of shadow and ooze to cinders. Rainbow Dash cheered, her rainbow trail marking the end of the siege on Ponyville.