//------------------------------// // Aftermath of an ambush // Story: Racial Difficulties // by CombineAdvisorT-141450 //------------------------------// It was already evening when Johann woke up to a dreadful scene, all the royal guard inside the castle was dead, the others were outside, still reeling from the surprise assault launched from the very heart of the castle. The rebels hit them so hard and so fast none of them knew that it was coming. In fact, none of them knew what was going on in the castle. Johann groaned as he struggled to get up, his vision swirled and he staggered as the aftermath of taking on a sound grenade full blast. Had he not been wearing his noise reducing comms headset, his eardrums would be completely shattered. He grabbed his rifle and pistol and started wandering the corridors, looking for the storeroom where the two sisters had hid. The castle was perfectly sound from the outside (save for the throne room), but it was nothing short of a warzone from the inside. There were corpses everywhere, guards, rebels, even those of the maids. The attack was surgical, it was extremely savage yet it was precise. If the princesses weren’t the targets, Johann would have praised the assault instead of loathing it for being on its receiving end. Johann feared the worst for the princesses. Finding the storeroom, he called out their names “Celestia? Luna? Where are you? Luna? Celestia? Anybody!?” Johann yelled. He struggled to get up, but throbbing head had refused to cooperate, taking the sound grenade full blast sent shockwaves throughout his entire system, he completely lost his coordination, and gained a severe concussion. He tried to walk but his weakened state only made him trip and fall. “Jesus H. Christ” Johann struggled to stand once more, fighting his severely damaged coordination, forcing every muscle to listen and heed his will. Forcing him to walk, he limped to the castle corridor only to discover an even more dreadful scene, corpses of maids, guards, rebels, fallen suits of armor, the banner that was held above the throne room was tattered and singed, the castle interior was completely razed. The only thing the human could do was to limp, and search hopelessly for Luna while his head was pounding from the pain. “Think he’ll find her?” A hidden voice whispered. “Definitely, he’s bound to. After he finds her, we’ll spring the trap and bag both of them, then we’ll execute them in front of the public.” another voice answered “What about Celes-“ a third asked. “Fuck her! If she doesn’t cooperate and make the humans leave; then it’ll be her head that’ll face the firing squad after those two! Now let’s get a move on!” the second pony snapped. Johann remembered that he had hid them in a nearby storeroom and limped his way towards it. With each step, it shot pain throughout his body but he was gaining more and more control of his senses. By the time he reached the storeroom, he had full control of his faculties although he was still limping from the pain. His mercenary’s paranoia was working overtime, his natural senses heightened to the point of near superhuman abilities. He gently opened the storeroom door and searched it’s darkness, using his nightvision goggles to navigate. “Luna? Luna are you there?” Johann called out. There were sobs, familiar sobs coming from the right. Johann quickened his pace and found a stack of crates and pallets. He put aside some of the crates in order to reach luna, who’s eyes was red and watery from crying. And as if on instinct, Johann dropped to his knees and dropped his rifle, arms opened wide. He embraced Luna and stroked her mane, cooing in order to calm her down. “Shh, shh… it’s okay, it’s okay, Im here. Hurt. But Im here.” Luna, still crying, hugged him tight but she began to calm down bit by bit. They stayed in that pose for several minutes until Luna had managed to regain her bearings. Johann stood up and picked up his rifle. They needed to get somewhere safe, and they needed to get out of the castle fast. “Luna, Im going to get us out of this castle, Im taking you to place that’s considerably safer than this one now, alright?” Johann instructed the princess. Luna, on the other hand nodded. “Do you still remember how to aim, reload, and fire a gun?” Johann asked as he tried to refresh luna of the basic firearms training he had given both the princesses, Luna nodded once more. Johann fished out his PX4 and gave it to Luna along with seven magazines, eighth one loaded into the gun. “ten shots each magazine, total of eighty shots. Not much in this situation, Princess. Make it count, Im going to scout ahead, stay here.” Luna nodded as Johann warned her. By the time he reached the storeroom door, a sizeable amount of rebels greeted them, they stayed behind to ensure that Luna would be captured. “Look, filthy human, if you give us Luna, we might just let you walk away. Hand her over or else.” The rebel leader spoke with a disgusted voice. Johann simply emptied a magazine in their direction. The ponies fired back blindly while ducked for cover as he used the mayhem to drive himself back into the storeroom where they could defend themselves more easily. He reloaded and kept the entrance to the dark storeroom within his sight. Taking potshots at any rebel who tried to enter. Johann reloaded and felt his shin was warm and wet. Johann immediately felt the area of his shin he felt one hole in his pants where the bullet went in and another where it went out. I’ve been shot. This can’t be good . He grabbed his radio and desperately tried to contact the reapers “Reapers! Where’s my armed escort!?” “Sir! This is Reaper 6! We’re on our way, there’s heavy fighting out on the castle grounds, I just lost two pegasi!, we’ll be in the throne room in one minute!” Reaper 6’s voice was muffled by gunshots “We are not in the throne room, repeat, we are not in the throne room. We have taken cover inside the storeroom two doors to the left from the throne room, we are holding out but cannot last longer.” “Aye aye, sir, we’ll be there in two minutes” Johann loaded another magazine and charged the rifle, taking careful aim, he took potshots and took down several rebels. However, he was running out of bullets. He only had two extra thirty-round magazines and fifteen left in the current one loaded in his gun. The rebels were getting bolder, sending in more and more grunts to flush him out. Johann was getting desperate. He was chewing through seventy five bullets pretty quickly. “Luna! Gimme the handgun and four mags!” Luna obliged. Tossing him the gun and the magazines, Johann, took more potshots with his rifle until he had depleted all of his ammunition. He took the handgun in his right hand and knife in his left. Prepared to fight and die, he sat and closed his eyes and mentioned a short poem “ I am not the bringer of victory, Nor the cause of defeat, I am the angel of slaughter And the slaughter is my passion. If I die now, let me die fighting Taking down as many as I can. For if I die fighting, I can say I have died fighting for a cause. Let me fight with savagery and ferocity Let my enemy fear me. Let them know the taste of mortality, Let them taste their own. By gun and by knife, I shall lay down my life For in times of strife, Death shall be rife. “ With that, Johann stood up, fighting ferociously. Shooting bullet after bullet into the heads of his foes, and plunging his knife down throats and through heads, blood sprayed everywhere like it was rain. He even went so far as to use the rebels as a meat shield to provide a barrier against him and their submachine guns. Stopping to reload, he heard voices that were music to his ears. “Alright reapers, sweep and clear! Go go go! We have a code omega on our hands, I repeat, code omega!” the reapers quickly and precisely eliminated the rebels and helped Johann and Luna get to the chariots. They got aboard and went to a safehouse inside the everfree forest, located two kilometers south-by –southwest of the old ruins of the castle. There, a medic cleaned and bandaged Johann’s wound and the rest of the reapers took watch. When it was evening, Luna wanted to talk to Johann. She went to his place and nuzzled at his side. She felt a strange comfort whenever she was around him. Noe more than ever since there was a civil war going on “What now Johann?” Luna worryingly asked “Now? We hold out. They’re going to send hunting parties for us. We’ll be wanted criminals; posters, bounties, the works. If they don’t find us within two weeks, they’ll probably call off the hunting parties. After that, we’ll only deal with the bounty hunters. By then, we should make a break for the embassy. From there, we should try and gather whatever forces we have and try to formulate a plan with humans and the other sympathizers for our cause for a joint operation against the insurrection” “Sounds reasonable, but… we can’t just wait here and do nothing, I know it’s for my safety but what about whatever guards that are left at the castle? What about our outposts and agents in canterlot, ponyville, manehattan, appleloosa, cloudsdale, and the others? We can’t just let them get overrun!” “Princess, as of now, we are Public Enemy number one in the eyes of the insurrection, and judging by the audacity of the attack, they are very large, very dangerous, and extremely angered. We need to wait out the hunting parties, doing anything now will just lead us getting ki- Sshh! Do you hear that?” Johann heard a lot of heavy hoofsteps breaking twigs and making crackling noises against the gravel in the old ruins. He motioned Luna to stay down and keep quiet while him and two reapers check out who they were. “Are you sure that this is the place?” A rebel voice asked “Of course Im sure! Intel has it that this is one of their fifteen emergency safehouses scattered in equestira, this info came directly from a defecting member of the royal guard.” Another replied in a snappy manner. “Anyway, the five of you better get your flanks moving before anyone realizes we’re here!” Johann was shocked. A defecting guard, his problems increased tenfold. Who was the guard? Could there be more defectors? How much information have they given out? And the guard must be an officer with high clearance to know the locations of the safehouses and the caches. This is not going very well. First a savage ambush, now my own men are betraying me? Johann cringed. He ordered his reapers to go back to Luna quietly and explain to her everything. Johann watched them a bit longer and waited until they left before he went back to Luna. The alicorn had a very worried look on her face when he got back. “What now?” “We have a defector who has access to very sensitive in our ranks. Simple as that. Someone who knows the location of the safehouses and the caches. To even know one cache requires gamma level clearance. In short; We’re compromised. We stay the night and first thing in the morning is we take to the embassy. We’ve got to go through the everfree forest to minimize detection, however, if what I think has happened did happen... its no point choosing between going in the open and going through the forest, but if you ask me, I’d gamble with the forest. We’d have more cover. After that, I’ll find a way to deal with the defector, probably send an assassin to put a bullet through his head.” Johann explained in a calm and apathetic tone. “You’d best get some rest, We’ll take watch.” Johann advised. Luna reluctantly tried to get some sleep as he and the reapers guarded the place. “alright, they know the safehouses. They know where they are, and how they’re built inside and out. In want you four to guard Luna. Don’t let her out of your sight. make sure she survives at all costs, I sense that this will be a very long night.” Johann ordered his ponies to take positions along the corridor and the windows. He wished for hunter killers to be by his side but this will have to do. “The fifteen of you! Check that hall!” A rough voice roared. Johann motioned his men to stay hidden. Let them get closer. Johann mouthed. The rebels began searching every room. Others satyed by the hall and moved forward. Six doors from Luna’s. Johann had to act fast. He quietly loaded his weapons and motioned for his men to do the same. Four left. Johann aimed at the rebels, readied a grenade, and ordered those guarding Luna to exit via the teritiary hidden path and go the embassy immediately and tell them that they were sent by Ghostkiller. “OPEN FIRE!!!” Johann ordered. His troops began firing. Rebels fought back in a deadly exchange of gunfire and curses. “Gods damn you to tartarus you filthy human!!!” “Fuck you and your whole pitiful insurrection you godforsaken peon!” Curses , insults, and bullets were exchanged. Rebels fell down, so did reapers. “Requesting backup! We found Luna! Repeat! We found luna and her filthy pet!” “I am not a fucking pet!” Johann retaliated as he threw a grenade towards their direction “Fire in the hole!” The grenade went off and sprayed shrapnel towards rebels hidden behind cover, shredding their armor and innards. More rebels came through. Johann needed to get out. He motioned for his men to get out through the tunnels and to destroy their tracks. “Pop smoke and banger!” “popping smoke now!” A reaper threw a smoke grenade and a flashbang in an effort to disorient the rebels that were overwhelming the, Johann and the reapers went for the emergency tunnel and as soon as every reaper had gone through he blew up the entrance with C4. The tertiary exit was a tunnel only Johann and the reapers knew about, a contingency should someone divulge every known safehouse and its details. He never fully trusted anypony and always wanted to keep bits of information known only to himself. The tunnel led deep into the forest. Any trackers would have been lost. He allowed him and his men to make camp there and stay the night. Johann however, didn’t sleep. He took watch all night and all the way to sunrise. Luna and reapers who were asleep woke up to see Johann cleaning his guns once more. “Luna, what Im about to tell you is bad. Hopefully Im wrong but I cant rule it out. I have a shortlist of all the suspected defectors here” Luna was handed a list and it containednames that were both familiar and unfamiliar to her. Names like Moonshine, Kroavia, Calder, Myers, Freepony, and other officers in the royal guard as well as their personal agents. But the last name in the list shocked Luna the most; Celestia. She looked at Johann with her mouth wide open. “w-“ “before you ask. Those are the only ponies I know of who has at least gamma level clearance. and as of now, those ponies are ponies who I may not trust completely, seeing as one of them defected and gave the rebellion very sensitive information, they know our safehouses. And given that they might know how the safehouses are designed, they might even have omega level clearance. and those who have that are You, I, Celestia, and Moonshine, my right hand-err…. Hoof pony” “then what do you plan to do?” “I don’t know. They are our closest and most trusted group of ponies. We need to find a way to contact celestia. Because as much as I hate the taste it leaves in my mouth… worst case scenario is that we have to put her down… for good.” The thought of killing her kin made Luna’s tears water. “Not now Luna, we need to get to the embassy, and judging from where we are, we’ll be there in two days journey.” Johann pressed on. With an unfeeling face, it was times like these Luna wondered if Johann could even feel any emotion, how he could even soldier on after facing such facts. Thanks to Johann’s personal stash of information, he had secret routes that led to the embassy from every safe house in equestria. Because of this, they had made it to the embassy without much effort. Upon arriving, they noticed that everything within a 200 meter radius of the embassy was a desolate warzone. The building itself wasn’t in good shape either, Johann, whose team was running low on ammo from defending the princess during the safehouse exfiltration were worried once they saw the embassy. Johann told the reapers to stay behind in a safe area and to cover him, as he would try to get in touch with his former team. “Alright, Reaper 7, you stay here and man the 240-bravo, make your shots count, we only have two –one hundred and fifty round belts left , Reaper 6 and 10, you’re with me, 5, you stay here and give us sniper cover, 8,9,2 and 1, you protect Luna at all costs. We clear?” The ponies nodded. Johann gave Luna his PX4 once more, however, he had no more magazines to spare “You still got a few magazines Luna?” “Yes, only three left” “Not much at all, make it count” Johann and the two reapers walked towards the embassy, his frame was weary and tired. Rifle in hand, one magazine loaded, three in reserve. He got nearer the building and he began yelling “Skullface!? Pirate!? Avril!? Jolly!? Crosser!? Sigma!? Jackknife!? Anyone there!?” “Boss!! That you!?” Pirate yelled back “Its me! I’ve brought my elite corps as well as The Princess. We seek refuge in the embassy now! We’ve got a lot to tell you” “Alright. Get everybody by the gate and we’ll open it up, you need to hurry though! There may be hostile snipers in the area!” “Roger that! Cover us will you?” “Affirmative, Men! Man the machine guns! Prep the gate to open we got evacuees inbound!” Johann motioned for his men to come to him at the gate, The reapers walked quickly, Luna in the center of them. “There she is! Take the shot now!” A rebel hidden among the trees on the far side of the opening told his partner. BANG! Luna was hit in the lower stomach, Reapers closed in on her and one carried her while the others formed a meat shield around her. “Shit! Fire again!” The rebel spotter yelled and this time Luna was hit in the knee. Luna was tearing up and screaming in pain “Protect her at all costs! I want that snipe- aarrggh!” Reaper 9 was shot in the neck “Reaper 9 is down! I repeat! 9 is down! Supressing fire!” Reaper 2 yelled shortly before he was shot. Johann began emptying his automatic rifle into the bush while reaper 8, who was carrying luna dashed for the side of the building where she was relatively safe. Luna was losing blood fast. The Embassy MGs were blazing into the bush. Counter snipers were being deployed. However, two rebel squads ran out of the forest and into the clearing. The embassy security force kept them down. “Wheres the gate Pirate!? OPEN IT NOW!” “We’re opening the damn thing! This thing weighs a ton! You try pushing it open when the power’s been cut for five days!” “Stay with me Princess!! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!! Everything will be fine!” Reaper 8 tried to keep Luna conscious. “We need a medic down here!! MEDIC!!!” 8 yelled frantically as 1 came by and tried to stabilize Luna. He was patting Luna’s cheek when another two shots were heard. This time, Johann yelled in pain “GOD DAMN IT!” Johann fell as he was shot in his thigh and shoulder. He staggered up and paid it no heed. He reloaded his rifle and kept shooting “Pirate! Any fucking time now!” “Get away from the gate boss! We’re sending out a humvee!” The beastly roar of the humvees engine soothed Johann’s ears as it practically flied out of the gate, guns blazing. The top gunner was busy firing at the rebels “Get in sir! Lets pick up the princess!” Johann entered as the Humvee roared and dashed for the side where Luna was being treated. They picked her up and quickly got back into the fortress before any more damage was done. Inside, Johann and luna were taken to the medical ward, Johann’s injuries were lucky, he wasn’t hit anywhere vital, no blood vessels were severely ruptured, all they had to do was to inject him with painkillers and scrub him clean. “Sorry bud, we only got morphine, you know addictive that stuff can be” Johann didn’t care as the opiate was injected into him. He got off the table and went to Luna “1, how is she doing?” “Sir… She’s… She… well. In short, she’s currently all kinds of fucked up. Concussion, broken leg, bleeding out, we need type O negative blood. Aren’t you Type O negative?” “I am, and as far as I know, two of mymen are type O. Jolly and Sigma. I’ll give whatever blood I can” Johann said as he felt the needle plunge into his arm. “Go get crosser. Two medics are better than one”. Pirate obliged and sent for Crosser, who arrived three minutes later. “Boss… How’s It going?” “I’ve seen better, go check on the princess. She needs more help now.” Crosser moved on to the princess. Crosser went to Luna and studied her wounds. He sent for a book on Pony anatomy he had asked for a few weeks before the rebellion. He had taken xrays and ensured she was stable. He ran a full physical exam on the conscious pony who cooperated to the best of her effort. He was waiting for the results to come in and and was drinking some coffee when it came in. “Crosser, here’s the analysis” “Oh dear god. She’s a mess, get my surgical team now.”