“We won't mince words- the situation is dire. You are our last hope.”
The Guard brought the rifle down, once, twice, onto his enemy’s head. As blood began seeping onto the roof, he turned and levitated the assault rifle in front of him. The gun spun towards the hostile who was just beginning to bring his sniper rifle towards the unexpected visitor. With a slight pressure on the trigger, the sniper fell, bleeding from multiple bullet wounds to his chest.
The remaining hostile, armed with a rocket launcher, turned and brought the weapon forward. “This might be a problem,” the Guard spoke into his radio.
The hostile aimed in the Guard’s general direction and jumped backwards, attempting to escape the blast radius. Pressing a small button on his left foreleg, the rocket turret on his left side let out a rocket with a hiss.
The Guard screamed as the rocket blasted the roof beside him. He slammed into the other side of the roof and lay there, bleeding profusely from multiple shrapnel wounds in his legs and stomach. The hostile pulled another missile from his bag (which, with hooves, was an impressive feat) and placed it inside the turret at his side. He faced the Guard again and moveded his hoof towards the trigger button.
Well, this is it. The Guard thought, Wait... is that... A blur of blue and orange streaked across the sky, rocketing towards the hostile.
The pegasus mare dive bombed the rocket soldier, knocking him to the ground away from her ally. As the hostile fell, the button on his leg depressed, firing off the rocket in the turret. The rocket slammed into the roof behind her, pushing the pegasus forward.
“Ooh...” She muttered. “That was a bit too close, eh buddy?” Receiving no response, she sat up and shook her head, clearing her vision. She groaned and got up, walking over to the shape of a Guard on the other side of the roof.
Fuck. She thought to herself. No pulse. She placed her pistol into the holster on her side and grabbed the assault rifle laying next to the Guard. Well, guess you won’t be needing it. She mused darkly.
It wasn’t shocking that the Guard had died. He was a rookie, and this had been his first mission. He was a fellow Guard, of course, but the mare hadn’t even known him, being paired with him not even an hour ago to go on this stupid mission. She turned from the colt who's name she didn't even know and glided down to the Agent’s position, keeping an eye out for any hostile movement.
Satisfied the area was safe, she trotted up to the Agent who was just beginning to get up. He had dived out of the way at the last moment, taking shrapnel in the sides and rear, only his dignity being seriously injured.
The pegasus helped him to his hooves and walked over to a small piece of metal steaming on the grass. The small piece of metal was a severely deformed rectangle that appeared to be releasing large amounts of magical energy.
“Well,” The Agent began, trotting up behind her. “There goes my invisibility.“ He nudged the invisibility talisman with a hoof before turning to look at the edge of the park. “We should get going before reinforcements get here.” He gestured to the car she and the now late unicorn had driven up in. She nodded slightly before walking over to it.
This isn’t good, She realized. That colt up there takes a rocket to the ground near him and dies, and this guy takes 2 almost direct hits from rockets AND a sniper bullet and gets back up? If this guy had died, there would have been a huge shitstorm from the higher-ups, but since it was that Guard who died, they’ll just have a short funeral before shipping his body home.
That proves we’re disposable...
The Agent jumped onto the roof of the souvenir shop and began the activation procedure for the unit. Another beam of light streaked off into the distance, intersecting the other over a building in the distance. Satisfied that the beacon was working, the Agent leapt from the tower and hit the ground near the Guard
“Hey, getting in?” He said to her. The pegasus mare snapped out of her tangent and got into the car. Sitting at an almost 90 degree angle, wings crushed under her body, her legs hanging over the edge of the seat and her back arched in a way that shouldn’t have equinely possible made the ride unbearable.
Whoever designed these seats deserves a medal for their stupidity, the blue mare thought to herself, brushing her orange mane off of her face as she stared out the window, looking at the passing city. What had once been a pinnacle of beauty was now a rubble-filled hell on Equestria.
A voice broke the silence. “So.” The Agent said, turning to his new companion. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, you know, with the explosions and dying and everything?”
The Guard just stared at him, shocked that he could joke about getting getting hit with rockets and losing a friend. “Radiant Eclipse.” She said shortly. “That’s my name. Don’t bother remembering it; I’ll be out of here shortly.” She turned away and looked out the window again, lost in thought.
Sompony’s really friendly, The Agent thought. He looked at the blue pegasus mare out of his peripheral vision.
She had an orange mane and similarly colored tail and she seemed to enjoy staring out car windows, lost in thought, looking at nothing in particular. The Agent noticed her cutie mark for the first time; a single black circle with a yellow ring encircling it. He shifted his gaze back to the road.
If we’re disposable, then why do they even keep us around? the mare thought to herself. The bits put into deploying us could be going to making more of this guy. A sudden realization struck the Guard with the force of a small car. Maybe... maybe they can’t. Maybe they can’t make enough to patrol the city, or the agents aren’t living up to expectations, or something! But for whatever reason, the Empire still needs us around.!She turned back around to the Agent, looking at him in his shrapnel-perforated armor. Maybe he isn’t all that he’s cracked up to be...
She stared for a few more seconds before looking forward. “So. You... Just how did you survive that?” She asked, looking over at him. He looked back, and then down at the multiple wounds he had received.
“Well...” He began, contemplating the injuries. “Those rockets didn’t exactly hit me. I’m actually pretty quick inside all of this armor, so I just jumped out of the way. As for the bullets, well, this is million-bit armor, and is specifically designed to cushion explosions and deflect bullets. The shields it projects are actually really strong, when they actually decide to recharge.”
The pegasus looked at him strangely. “Decide to recharge?” She asked quizzically.
“Yeah,” the Agent explained. “Sometimes the shields won’t recharge if the armor takes too much of a beating. It’s kind of a glitch in the system, but we can work around it if need be.”
She looked at the injuries that the Agent had sustained from the battle and shifted in her seat. Maybe I should stick with this guy. I’d be more likely to live if i did tag along... she thought to herself, deciding to ask him when they got back to the base.
They spent the rest of the ride in silence, the Agent driving through the winding streets of the city, heading for the looming tower in the distance. On the main highway leading straight to the tower, he took a sharp turn towards the crowded city.
“...We aren’t going to the Tower, are we?” The Guard asked, looking over to the driver.
“Nope,” The Agent replied. “Here, stay in the car. I’ll be back.” He pushed the door open with a hoof and stepped onto the street. Pulling out his sniper rifle, he closed the door with a back hoof and walked down the crowded streets. As he walked, civilians parted for him as if he radiated death. He leapt onto the roof of a nearby building and looked around,
noticing the next sunlight unit on a nearby building, its console dark and the hum of its activation silenced. It sat unprotected, the hardware required to collect the sunlight sitting undisturbed nearby.
The Agent stared. It was completely unprotected, with no guards or hostiles in sight. I know what they’re up to. The Agent realized. They realize head on attacks won’t work, so now they try sniping. With that thought, the Agent raised the rifle to his face and looked into the scope, scanning for any sight of the snipers.
With an ever growing sense of dread, the Agent realized that there were no snipers. He moved towards the inactive unit, his rifle’s safety switched to off. This is unnatural,
the Agent thought. It’s quiet... during the day, the city is never quiet.What the hay is going on?
He stepped cautiously up to the activation pad set into the ground and placed a tentative hoof on it. Alright, it’s not rigged with C4. At least I don’t have to explode anymore today.The Agent stood there quizzically as no opposition arrived and the third absorption unit powered up with a hum, firing a beam off light in the direction of the others. This one intersected the ones emitted by the other two units, forming a pyramid.
The Agent turned, the last light of day fading behind him as the sun set.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Wait, WHAT?!? The Agent panicked, turning and staring at the setting sun. Only now did he realize why the unit was unprotected: every sensible pony in the city had gone into their respective house or any nearby buildings as soon as the light began fading. He turned and galloped towards the edge of the roof, jumping off and hitting the ground hard. He looked up and stared at what he saw.
All of the civilians who were sensible had ran for the nearest building minutes ago.
The ones that hadn’t were being slaughtered by the Freaks wandering the streets.
The freaks stood between the Agent and the street Eclipse was waiting in the car on. He placed the rifle onto his back and jumped vertically, grabbing onto a ledge and using an overhang to walk over the street, when about halfway through, his armor began getting warmer. That’s strange, he thought. Why does it- Gah!
The Agent leapt back, realising too late that smoke was rising off of his armor. He jumped out of the puddle of acid and fell to the street below.
With a loud crack, the Agent hit the ground, crushing one of the freaks, struggling to get to his hooves, the mutant ponies swarming around him.
The Agent stood up and turned towards a freak biting his leg. With a swift kick, it flew off and spun into two more freaks in the crowd, but as soon as that one was evicted, yet another took its place chewing on his leg. Some of the approaching freaks stood back and spat acid at the Agent instead, avoiding his powerful hind legs.
They can spit acid?!? The Agent thought, kicking any freaks within distance.
The Agent, realizing that this fight was futile, pulled the pin on a grenade and leapt for cover. With an impressive blast, the freaks were blown through the air, spinning for a few seconds before hitting the ground.
The Agent galloped for the corner before they could regroup and attack again, tossing more grenades behind him. He rounded the corner, already pulling his rifle from his back as he looked to the other end of the freak-infested street.
And noticed the overturned car, blood splattered on the glass of the broken windshield, flames rising from its bottom.