Kaiden saw the shield shimmer for a second, before it disappeared completely. The explosions from inside the prison had indicated that Natasha's and Gabriel's team had manage to find this strange machine and blew it up.
"Look's like your guys came through." Ajay said on a secured radio channel. "With there defenses down, its time for us to show them what its like to mess with Nod."
"I couldn't agree more." Kaiden pressed a button that got him on the radio to every other ship in the vicinity. "This is Commander Kaiden to all Nod personal. The shield is down; prepare to launch the assault!"
He looked out the window to find that his message got through. Blackbirds and Carryall's loaded in troops, vehicles and supplies launched from the pads on some of the carrier ships and headed towards the city itself. Scarab's carrying infantry rolled into the ocean and, transforming into an amphibious transport, launched an assault by sea. Vertigo Bombers and Banshee Fighters zoomed overhead from the other carriers, the bombers cloaking in invisibility. The guns on the battleships once again fired at the city, breaking down the buildings.
Kaiden watched it with a sadistic grin on his face.
Steel Wing ducked as another building blew up and debris came tumbling down. Luckily, it wasn't facing his and the ponies direction. Beating his wings, he continued on the path that lead to a beachhead that is well fortified.
After the shields died out, the bombardment from the human ships and those metal birds that he heard about began bombarding the city. The ponies in the city were running for their lives. Steel Wing was helping out the other soldiers with the evacuation of the civilians across the Manehatten Bridge when a pegasus messenger came before him. Commander Stone wants all the other ponies on by Sunset Beach at once, that the humans were getting ready to launch an assault on the city. As fast as his wings could carry him, he raced down to join the others in battle.
He looked around at the city. The buildings that once stood tall were either falling or set ablaze. The Friendship Island is in ruins during one of the humans attempts to bombard it. One of the apartments in the district were already in ruins due to one of the metal bird's magic. Down below, he saw the ponies fleeing for their lives, some with luggage and other things that they need. One mare was holding onto a foal on her back as she galloped to one of the evacuation points in the city.
Steel Wing couldn't help but smile. He had to defend his home, no matter the cost.
He approached Sunset Beach, one of the most popular beaches in Equestria. However, that was not the case anymore. The artillery from the metal ships continued to pound the ponies side. Sandbags separated the beach from the city itself, with trench's dug to protect them from the human weapons. The metal monsters that the humans tamed unloaded the human troops, the red and black armor looking menacing up close. A couple of bunkers were there was well, some unicorns firing spells from the slits in the bunkers. He saw their new invention at work, the Gatling Gun mowing down some humans.
Steel Wing landed in one of the trenches where some of the ponies were holing the line. A couple of unicorns were firing spell after spell at the humans. An earth pony raised on his hind leg while gripping a crossbow on his fore hooves, firing a bolt at a human. Another earth pony, wearing golden armor like the Royal Guards, stood near some ponies wearing the same armor as him. Steel Wing trotted up, just as the rest of the ponies saluted to him and galloped away. The guard turned around and met his eyes, in which Steel Wing saluted. "Sir, Private Steel Wing reporting for duty, sir."
The earth pony glared at him. "Sargent Hammer. I don't care who you are. I need some ponies to pony up and hold this position." He looked behind Steel Wing. "Is this all that Stone sent me?"
"Uh...the rest are on there way, sir." Steel Wing was hesitant.
The earth pony groaned. "Well that just great! We maybe holding the frontline for now, but we're getting out flanks kicked out here." Another explosion rocked the ground, one of the bunkers in flames. "And those Celestia damned metal dragons are making things worse." He sighed. "You want to be helpful? Go along the lines and inform everypony that we are retreating to a defensible position.
Steel Wing's eyes widened at the mention of 'retreat'. "R-r-retreat, sir. But what about-"
The big, bulk earth pony glared at him. "Listen, son. I don't give a damn about what that hag of that commander has to say. She doesn't know a real sword from a spear. We're going to pull back and find a more defensive position we can defend from. We're sitting ducks out here. We-
"FOR KANE!!!"
A human had managed to jump into the trench line and blew himself up, knocking Steel Wing into the ground.
He blinked a couple of times to get his vision cleared. His ears were ringing from the explosion that came from the human. Shaking his head, he lifted his head and opened his eyes. The sergeant that he had spoken to had his entire back blown up, leaving a large hole inside. The others that defended were faring no better than him. The earth pony that help a crossbow moments ago had his entire left side blown up. The unicorn mare lost both her fore hooves and hind legs, a shocked expression on her face. The other unicorn layed on the ground without a head.
Steel Wing almost threw up his lunch at the site of his comrades.
'No. I can't be scared now. I have to do my duty.' With that thought in mind, he jumped right out of the trench and flew, narrowly avoiding the humans magic from the metal sticks they carry.
Up in the skies above, he could see the entire battle raging. The frontline is about to crumble to the humans, smoke coming from several bunkers and some in the trenches. He watched as one of the humans used some sort of long metal stick at one of the bunkers. The metal tube on the long stick suddenly bust into flames and drowned the entire bunker in fire. One of the metal beast ejected fire to another trench line, the screams of the ponies being burned were hear from up above. The metal men he hear about from some of the ponies that came back alive fired strange magic from they're hands, like the long metal sticks. The 'bullets' tore through the ponies in the trenches like they were made of paper. Some of the ponies tried to get away, but the metal beast and the humans magic mowed them down like nothing. A few luck ones had managed to escape.
He saw one of the lines holding on, the unicorns in the bunkers kept firing magic at the humans and the metal machines, reducing them to rubble. He smiled, thinking that they might have an advantage. However, he saw one of those metal birds land something away from the bunkers. He thought it was one of those machines the humans use, but when the bird lift off, he was wrong.
He didn't know what it was from up in the sky, but it looked like a combination of a human and a spider. The thing slowly skittered its way to the bunkers. The ponies inside noticed it and started firing everything they had, ranging from magic spells to arrows. However, no matter how many times they hit it, it didn't fall nor faltered. It stopped right in front of the bunker. The black boxes fired the 'missiles', aiming directly at the bunker. The missiles hit the bunker and it exploded killing anything and all inside. It then turned around....
...looking right at him.
'AH, HORSEAPPLES!!' His eyes widened as the missile was launched from the black box, heading right towards him. With a flap of his wings, Steel Wing flew as fast as he could. He dodged other pegasi as they battled the black birds that fired their own magic against them. He steered left as a pegasi fell in a bloody heap, the missile did the same. Another one of those black flying beasts flew past him as it fired at a large building, shooting it a couple of times before the entire building exploded and came tumbling down.
He twisted and turned in every direction possible, but the missile was hot on his tail. No matter what, he couldn't shake it.
A thought popped into his head. It was a crazy idea, but it was all he could think of in a time like this.
He pivoted down to some avenue, with the missile doing the same. Passing some turns and corners, he arrived at an abandoned metal factory. He flew into the building as the missile turned the same corner and followed him.
The building exploded in a ball of fire, the smell of melted metal and burnt rubber filled the air. Out of the smoke of it all was Steel Wing, coughing up some smoke.
Clearing the air with his wing, he turned his head and looked at the ruined remains of the factory. His plan had worked; the missile was somehow following the metal of his armor. With that in mind, he went right into the factory, took of his armor, and flew out as fast as he could. The missile is destroyed and he is still alive and in one piece.
He heard some hydraulics close to him. He turned his head to the noise that was coming from the smoke itself. Steel Wings had to squint his eyes in order to see what it was.
He wished that he hadn't.
The mechanical creature, the one from the beach, emerged from the smoke like a predator. He could see the thing clearly. Its long, metal legs stabbed the earth as it moved. The human torso looked like it was warped to a machine. It's skull had round, metal red eyes on its skull. It had a long, tube-like arms that looked lethal in a fire fight. On its back was two metal boxes with sharp, red pointy tubes.
Steel Wing gulped. He took out his sword with his teeth, gripping it like his favorite toys from his foalhood. "S-s-stay b-b-back." He managed to say. Truth be told, he was scared beyond anything he has seen before in his life.
The metal thing paused its step, looking at him through the red eyes in his skull. Both of them never even made any move. Through the back of Steel Wing, he could just take off again and go as far away from the scary monster as possible. He slowly flared his wings and got down to a reading position, before shooting off.
He smiled as he started to climb up. He turned his head around so he can make faces at it.....
....and saw a net coming towards him.
It was too late to dodge it, as it already entangled his legs before covering him. He lose altitude as he struggled to break free from the net he was caught in. He made contacted to the ground, skittering a few feet before stopping. Steel Wing tried to get out of his short prison, but the web was so tight and hard that not even his sword could break through it.
The metal beast slowly skittered forward, looking down at Steel Wing before stopping in front of him. His eyes widened as the beast was standing over him like a predator from the Badlands. He increased his struggling, but it was all in vain. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. However, it never came. He felt the net being moved for a second before he felt like he was lifting off the ground. He knew what its like to be lifted off the ground.
Opening one of his eyes, he saw that the metal creature did not kill him. Instead, he saw the robot-like creature use one of its arms to lift the net and began being hauled away.
Steel Wing scream as he was being hauled away, trying in vain to be released.
Private Drake lean from his cover and fired his rifle at the ponies in cover, despite being in cover. Some of his bullets missed, but one luck shot had managed to find its way to a unicorn's forehead. Despite this, the ponies loaded another clip inside one of the gatling guns he heard about, one of the unicorns using its magic to turn the handles at the side. Once again, the gun roared as they continued pinning his company down.
After a successful landing, Nod began to land more troops and began to enter the city, fighting street by street. He was with his company of Nod Militant soldiers when they were ambushed upon by those ponies. It started when they were going down a street while ransacking some buildings. While checking out a build that was filled with gems and diamonds, one of the ponies that was inside a building dropped the potion down on one of his buddies. Some of it must have gotten into his armor somehow, as he was transformed into one of them. His former human friend attack him, pinning him down on the ground. He tried to tell him to snap out of it, but its creepy smile and its dead eyes tell him differently. With no chocie left, he grabbed his pistol from his hostler and shot him in the face. The ponies fired from behind some sandbags that he thought were abandoned earlier.
He managed to take cover inside the building they were in, shooting at the ponies from inside the buildings.
"HQ, this is Romeo company. We are pinned down inside a building. The ponies have managed to kill two of our guys and converted one of them. Requesting Venom support!" He heard his sergeant over the radio in his helmet. He turned to his comrades as they fired at the enemy from all around. The ponies were hitting them left and right, and the gatling guns behind the sandbags didn't help either. A couple of his fellow soldiers had some cracks in their armor and some scorched marks from the lasers. One of the ponies lasers grazed some Nod's helmet, leaving a long, scorched mark at the sides.
Roger that. We'll have some air support coming your way.
As soon as Command said that, he heard some engines and a rumbling that shook the building. Looking out form his cover, he saw a couple of Banshees dived to his position and started firing their Tiberium-fueled ammo at the ponies behind the sandbags. One of the Tiberium bombs hit the gatling gun the ponies were using, before it exploded in a fiery explosion. The ponies came out of the fire scream as they were covered in fire. He saw some of them have crystals coming out from their skins, no doubt killing them slowly. He heard about the cases of Tiberium, who crystals would grow from the persons skin, how it would result in a slow death or mutate you into a Tiberium mutant.
Seconds after the Banshees returned to the skies, a Viper descended upon his field of vision, the whirling of the blades on the helicopter and the engines flaring as it hovered. He heard about these things. They were leftovers from the Second Tiberium War, refurbished for the modern era. Although its counterpart, the Vemon, is a step up from the regular Viper, it was still useful for the Third Tiberium War.
The Viper's guns began to whirl, and began to fire its laser guns at the buildings where the ponies were held up. The Viper swiveled left and right, the scream of ponies and the smell of chard flesh filled the air. He saw a pony, a regular one, jump out of the window when his entire fur was on fire. It plummeted to the ground, resulting in a *squash* sound.
The gun died out and the Viper left the battlefield.
His company emerged from the shop and onto the street. The whole street was quit, save for the sounds of battle overhead and the smell of burnt flesh. Luckily, his helmet protected him from that smell. As his company recovered from the ambush, Drake walked over towards the burnt pony on the ground.
He saw the golden armor scorched, almost looking black than gold. The armor itself was warped to the flesh of the pony. Apparently, there was a saddle on his back. Drake kneeled down and began to loot the saddle, searching for anything worth of value, if it wasn't melted. Reaching into it, he grasped something. Pulling it out, his hands were filled with gold coins! Behind his mask, he grinned, and proceeded to search for more.
"Alright everyone, let's move out. These ponies won't kill themselves, you know?"
Damn! His sergeant radioed everyone to move out. As much as he would like to loot this body, he wouldn't want to be in a firing squad for disobeying orders. With one last grab, he grasped more of those coins and put them in his pocket, before trying to catch up with his company.
What he didn't know, however, was that his pocket was glowing red.
Commander Stone looked over the magical holographic map that showed Manehatten, her hardened eyes scanning the entire thing. The map showed two colors; one red, belonging to one of the human faction known as 'Nod', and one showing blue, her forces and the reinforcements coming all the way to Baltimare.
The pegasus mare had a gray coat with a blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark had a sword inside a stone. She is currently inside the main town hall for Manehatten, though calling it a town hall was something long gone. During the air attacks from those metal birds the humans summoned from the big ships, they managed to damage some of the buildings in the vicinity. They town hall looked like it was barely holding on. Multiple holes on the roofs and walls were being filled with whatever they can find. The smell of burnt fur and blood filled the air from the earlier attacks from the hovering beast, some still fresh on the floors.
She looked around at the group assembled at the conference room they are use as a war room. Some of the commanding officers and other military personal were surrounding the table. "Alright, what have we got?" She started to address to the stallions and mares in the room.
"Ma'am, we're losing the battle." One stallion addressed the situation at her. He pointed to various positions on the map. "Our beachhead has fallen to the enemy. They are sending everything have at us."
"We evacuated the last of our ponies from the battle." A mare next to the stallion said. "We shouldn't have to worry about any civilian casualties. However, we need to pull all of our forces back towards a reasonable position."
"What about our reinforcements?" Commander Stone send out a pegasus messenger towards Baltimare, a large city next to Manehatten. Surely they would send something to them?
"The messanger returned to us with some grave news. Apparently, they are attacked as well by the same human faction known as 'Nod'." Another stallion said.
Commander Stone sighed. "Then we have no choice. Send a message to everypony. We with charge their lines with everything we have."
Everypony gasped at the commander's choice of words. A mare in her military uniform stood up. "Are you crazy?!?!?! We barely have enough forces to charge the front lines. Those-"
A sound of a muffled explosion rattled the building. The sounds of fireworks and screams came from the other side. The other ponies in the room were confused as to what was going on, until a guardsmare came galloping in here. "Ma'am, our position has been compromised! We are under attack!"
"A full frontal assault?" Commander Stone questioned her.
She shook her head. "They look like the humans we are fighting, but they have those prisoners from the Manehatten Security Prison, ma'am."
"Damn." She shouted. "Alright, all high ranking officials, please come with me. We need to get out of here."
All of the high ranking officials got up from there chairs and followed Commander Stone out of the room and into the hallway.
The second floor of the hallway was a mess. Debris from the ceiling were present on the hallway. A painting of Rosewood, the founder of Manehatten, was scorched, leaving only half of a smile. Some of the more luxuries furniture's were either A mounted gatling gun on an opened hole in the wall fired down on the intruders. Commander Stone caught a glimpse of the battle outside. Indeed, both he humans and the prisoners were working together to defeat the ponies outside. While the humans and some unicorns were suppressing the guard outside, some of the more non-ponies had a weapon in their paws, claws or hands. She saw a raging minotaur, Taurus was his name, plowing through the ranks of ponies with little ease. A human with some heavy armor had a long stick with a little fire coming out of the front. While the other humans were suppressing the Solar Guards, the human was flanking them from the left side. Once he was in position, the long stick unleashed a long fire spell at the guards, roasting them. Some of the guards came out screaming as they were on fire.
"Miss, where are we going?" The stallion, Hammerhead, interrupted her thoughts. Before she could say anything, the gatling gun exploded, the ponies in it blown to smothering's. The rest of the ponies pulled they're heads down. "We shouldn't stay here!"
"I know that!" She retorted. "That's why were going underground." She managed to get herself up. "There is a hidden passage in the library in here that leads to a steam train terminal. It was used during the Feather Wars, and is still operational." She motioned for the ponies. "Let's go!"
The ponies got themselves up and managed to follow her. They went down the hallway and down the stairs. The ponies downstairs were barricading the door with whatever they can find. The battle was still raging outside, the screams of both sides filling the air. The rest of the guardponies armed themselves, but they themselves were worse for wear. Some of the armors were leather-based, since the golden and silver armors were either destroyed or melted during the air raid. The weapons themselves were worse for wear, some of them being dull or somewhat melted. Commander Stone cursed those snobby nobles from Canterlot for not giving them what they need. Their was a war going on, and all they do is throw large, fancy parties and buy expensive things, when those bits could be used to buy better equipment.
Then again, they didn't expect the shield to hold on the country for much longer.
When Commander Stone first stepped on the floor, the barricaded door exploded, the humans and non-ponies charging in. A teenage dragon opened his maw and spewed out some flames at a couple of guardsponies, the guards screamed in agony. A human used his magic stick to summon some of those strange magic at the ponies on the upper floor.
"RUN!!" Commander Stone shouted to the officers. They did as they were told and started running towards the door on the left side that had a placate that said 'library'. She dodged and weaved against all the fire, sometimes using her wings to help her. She jumped and rolled inside the room. She dust herself off and looked over to where her comrades. Looking over her wither, she saw some of the officers being shot at by the magic the humans have. One of the military personal was thrown down to the ground by Taurus. He lifted his axe up and brought it down on the pony, slicing him in two. Another one was blown away by a human holding what looks like a big cannon on his shoulders. A couple more were mowed down by the humans.
She wanted to help them. She wanted nothing more than to just charge at them with all her might and kill every single one of them. However, she can have another chance at it if she is smart and get out of here.
The library itself was still standing, albeit a few items fell during the attack. It was dark inside, due to the light bulbs on the ceiling being destroyed, but she can still see clearly. A small desk sat in the middle of the room with some papers lying around the desk. A small bookcase sat next to it. Trotting over to it, she looked over the shelves. The books were still in fine condition. She reached towards a red book with her wing and gave it a pull. The bookcase began to rumble before it was lowered to the ground, revealing a staircase that lead into the dark.
She stopped hearing the screaming and the shooting outside, but now she heard humans giving orders, telling the others to check every room. She trotted down the steps and disappeared into the darkness.
It didn't take her long enough to reach the bottom of the stairs, revealing a large station underground. Town Hall was built upon an old underground train station that ran from Manehatten to Detrot. After a terrible earthquake that sank half the city into the ground, a new one was built right on top of it. The station looked like it was ready to fall apart. Old train cars were a little rushed, but appeared functional. Cracks were formed on the ceiling and on the ground. Some of the pillars that held this place had started to crumble. The sounds of battle were muffled down there. Every few seconds, there would be a mini earthquake, followed by some debris falling. The steam trains that once were alive and colorful were now rusted and broken beyond repair.
Commander Stones eyes set on one steam train in particular. An old military train that was the first prototype to us magic crystals instead of earth ponies. The project was dropped for some reason. It did showed its age, but looks fine. She trotted towards the train. Maybe she could take it down to Detrot or Canterlot and ask for reinforcements. Maybe she could ask the Princesses or the Elements for help. Maybe-
The sound of something scrapping the concrete floor was heard, her ears swiveled to find the source. She quickly turned around and got into a battle stance. "Who there?!?!?" She shouted at the darkness. The scraping continued, her ears swiveled to find the source. It didn't take long, as the scraping got closer in front of her. She turned her head towards the sheathed that held her sword. She bit at the handle and drew it.
The clicking continued.
She suddenly remembered something. Going into her satchel with one of her hooves, she procured a white crystal. Tapping it three times, the crystal brightened until she could see clearly.
In front of her was a griffon, a griffon she was all to familiar with.
"G-G-Gilda?!?!" She dropped her sword on the ground.
Gilda smirked at her. "Hello, Commander Stone."
She whimpered as she slowly walk backwards. Of all the non-ponies she would see, she was on the bottom of the list.
Stone bumped into something. Looking over her wither, she spoted a set of tree trunk-like white skin. Looking up, she saw a human with a terrifying mask in its face. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." It said in a feminine, mechanical voice. She had a long, metal rod that had red lights coming from the sides.
The sound of Gilda's claws clicking on the floor turned her attention to her. The human female back away from them both and leaned against one of the pillars. Commander Stone looked into Gilda's as she came closer. She saw something in them. Something that she thought would never happen to her.
Revenge.
"You killed my father." Gilda started to say, coming close to Commander Stone's face. Those eyes screamed 'bloody murder'. "You killed my mother and you soon converted my brothers."
Stone was practically shaking, but she put on a brave face and met her glare. "I did what I-
"BULLSHIT!!!" She squawked. "YOUR PRINCESSES WERE JUST JEALOUS OF US BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T GET ON THE COUNCIL LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD, SO YOU GUYS STARTED DECLARING WAR ON US. YOU THINK YOU PONIES ARE SO SMART, KNOWING WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG. YOU GUY CAN'T EVEN KNOW HARMONY UNITL IT SHITS IN YOUR MOUTHS!!!" She breathed a sigh of relieve. "Now I found you, and I intend to make things right." She backed away until she was about five inches from her. "Gabriel."
Out of the shadows, another human stepped in. It looked like the one that attacked the Solar Guards in the entrance. The glowing six-eyes gave her the creeps, like looking into an eyes of an abomination. The human went to the griffon and gave her the long, metal stick with a small fire on the front, a long hose connected to some tanks in the back. "Just pull the trigger and keep it at a distance." The human said in a muffled voice. The human female joined them, gun aiming at her. Stone could have swore she was behind her.
"L-l-l-look," Commander Stone was already shaking with fear, losing her bravery moments ago. "I can do anything for you. I-I-I-I-I'm v-v-very imp-p-p-portant. Thing of all the secrets you could discover." Right now, she was already on her knees, tears running down her face. "I'm sorry for what happened to you and your family. I was just following orders! Please, you can't do this to me!"
Gilda smirked. "Too bad." She saw her pull the trigger and a gush of flames flew at her.
The last thing she will remembered was searing, hot pain.
Two Hours Later
The ship Salvation was docked in the captured harbor, the cables securing the ship as a small ramp extended. Kaiden came walking out of the ship, a triumphant grin on his face.
Once he was on the ground, he looked around the harbor. The banners of Nod fluttered in the wind. The warehouse were being repainted with red, the symbol of a scorpions tail on the front doors. Vehicles were being loaded with whatever materials they can hold. Some trucks were loaded with ammo and supplies. Two Scorpion Tanks were rolling out and into the streets. A Warmech stomped its way towards the fight.
Looking over the harbor, he saw everything falling into place. Thousands upon thousands of carriers were unloading troops, vehicles and supplies onto the beaches. Some Blackbirds and Carryalls flew over the landing party and towards the city. The building were already flying the Nod symbol, some even being repainted with red. He saw a Vertigo Bomber flying towards the pedestal where they first destroyed the giant statue and towards a carrier. Maybe he could order a statue of Kane to be constructed on that island now that they have captured the city.
Whatever the case, victory was theirs.
Mission Accomplished