^Equis^
{5/21/350}
7:50
[John]
“Don't over use your mana! Take pot-shots till you can make clean hits! READY!... AIM!... FIRE!!” At my command, all 250 unicorn snipers fired a volley of magic at the Changelings. Many blasts missed, but the ones that hit matter. They continue firing, more volleys launch at the advancing army; every 5 seconds, another added. Zooming in, I can tell that some of them fell; the remaining ones, however, take flight. They stay low to the ground, but they are moving faster.
“John, should We be concerned about this?”
“No Luna, don't worry.”
I glance back at the snipers with me on the wall. Being a unicorn sniper in the army isn't easy. They have to learn to focus their beam of magic down to under an inch thick yet still strong enough to punch through half an inch of steel. All of them need to learn a far sight spell, improving their vision to at least 20/1, at best 30/1. Current record stands at 35/1. Advanced survival skills is drilled into their heads; I could drop any two fresh graduates in any location and have them find their way back. That's actually how they pass graduation. Spend a week in an extreme climate. After completing sniper school, they get mana enhancers. It's a relatively new mix of tech and magic I designed while working with a rather Clever unicorn. It causes spells to consume less mana, allowing unicorns to perform a spell with less strain on themselves. That's why they can send volley after volley like they are. Along with the mana pool training they undergo
I focus back at the advancing army. Good thing too. The Changelings formed a magic shield half-dome over themselves. Their advance has been slowed considerably, but they are no longer being hit. I turn to the unicorns with me. “Cease fire until they take down the wall, they can't hold it forever.” The unicorns stop shooting, and wait. I don't need them wasting their mana, despite how much they have.
I however can do what I want. Taking a knee for stability, I form an incineration cannon and take aim at the wall of magic. I fire off a round, and reload as the round flies at the army. The shot impacts, and five more explosions follow. It doesn't collapse, so I launch another round at the wall, just as it is hit it flickers, but stays up. One more hit knocks it down.
They are only half a mile from the city now. The snipers resume firing at the Changelings. I see the king of the Changelings step forward as some of his drones form a wall of magic to cover him. Looking closer, I see a ball of darkness form near his horn. “No you don't.” I form my binary rifle and take aim. Two shots, the shield flickers. Reloading. More Changelings add to the shield, two more shots, but it still holds. Reloading. The shield drops, just as Carapace fires his blast at the wall. I aim at him again, hoping to hit him while his shield is down, but it is up again before I can shoot.
I see the ball of magic approaching the wall, and there is nothing I can do about it. It hits, and the whole wall shakes. An explosions of dark magic expands out from the contact point, and a gaping hole in the wall is left over.
“Should We worry now?”
“No. No more of this.” I jump off the wall, denting the ground on impact. “Enough of this foolishness. I am ending this now.” I switch out for my suppressors, and begin firing. I hear the war cry of the army behind me, as they charge forward through the gate to join me. I cut through the Changelings, carving a path to the king. But for each one I kill, three more take its place. Many of them take flight, and begin firing blasts of magic at me and my army of ponies. My ponies. Picked off one by one, unable to defend themselves from dark magic. “NO!” My hud starts to flash warnings at me. Low shield. “My ponies, in danger. Too many to fight. Not strong enough. I have to be stronger.”
Anger. All I feel is anger at the Changelings. I am shooting them down as fast as I can, but not fast enough. “There has to be something. I can not let them down.” I see Luna fighting in my peripheral vision to my far left. Tia to my right, just as far away. Both of them fighting as hard as I am. The incessant beep of my shield's warnings becoming unimportant. I fight on, as hard as I can. “Not hard enough though.”
“Ahhh!!”
I look to my right, and see Celestia hit the ground. A thick line of blood running down her left side, staining her fur and feathers red. “No.” My hands begin to shake, my weapons fall back into my armor. “No. No. No.” I see Carapace walk up to her, smiling. “No... NO!!!” I feel something shift. Both in my head, and in my armor. Next thing I know, I am standing between Tia and the bug that tried to kill her. I give him a glare that would melt steel. My armor begins to shift, and the shield levels rise drastically. A notice pops up on my hud. 'Warning, Fail-safe Inhibitors Disabled. DGCP Enabled, Charging.'
I don't care about that. All I care about is ending this oversized bug and all its spawn. I try to move at him, but my armor does not want to budge. I can barely move. Only clench my fists at my side. Carapace begins to struggle against an unseen force, cracks form along his skeleton, he begins to buckle under the force pressing on him. He has a panicked look on his face. I don't know what is happening, but he is suffering, that is all that matters. “I warned you not to come, yet you did not listen!”
The cracks still crawl along his outer form. He falls to one knee. My own anger rising, my unspoken wish to end him ringing through my head. Still unable to move, all my muscles clenching, trying to overpower the hold in the armor's joints. Why can't I move? The bug begins to scream in agony, the other Changelings around us take notice and come to his aid. My arms start to move, budging slightly. My legs soon follow.
I look at the Changelings at the king's side, trying to help him. They too begin to suffer his fate; their armor breaking faster than his. In my hud, I notice another message, 'Analyzing Hostile DNA, 90% Complete' Why is it scanning them? I want to kill them, not study them. More of the Changelings around us are falling down, cracking under intense pressure. Celestia is wounded, why did she have to get involved... why didn't she stay in the city... 'Hostile DNA, 100% Analyzed. Fire DGCP when ready?' I don't care about that. I want to kill them all. “Why won't you just DIE!!!” 'Fire command excepted, firing...'
My armor shifts, numerous points flaring. A powerful pulse blasts out in all directions, obliterating the Changeling king, spreading through all of his army. Killing them all in an instant, turning them all to dust. It leaves the ponies unaffected by the wave of energy. I feel my heart pumping vigorously, but starting to slow down. My breathing calms down as well.
A wave of realization hits me, what did my armor just do? 'Warning. Low power, emergency shut down required. Warning. Low power, emergency shut down. Warning.' My hud goes blank, leaving me with just an empty screen to look through. Soon after, the parts of my armor recede; leaving me in just my chest plate, boots, and bracers. What was that? I look around, not a Changeling in sight. But the ponies that have been fighting them are all looking at me. Looks of fear, for what I did. Silence pervading the field, the only sound is labored breathing from behind me. I turn around and see a mortified Celestia; a long gash on her left side from her upper shoulder to just under her wing. Blood dripping to the ground.
“What... What did you just do?”
“I... I don't know.”