One. Seven
Total War
“FIRE!” Captain Kuyaki ordered, the MAC cannons thundering on the Equestrian base behind Broken Horn, two Hyperion missiles finishing up what the MAC rounds missed. With the Equestrians near the UNSC ground base destroyed the Kabato was free to move on towards the next target, which was the city of Manehattan, which was a name disturbingly close to Earth’s Manhattan.
The destroyer lowered closer to the ground and Excalibur alerted the Marines to prepare for landfall. Pelicans were loaded, Longswords were launched, and the Equestrians in the streets were panicking. Soldiers of the Royal Guard were waiting, though they too were likely afraid of humanity’s power.
The Kabato settled to a stop and two dozen Archer missiles were fired into Manehattan, tearing the city asunder and softening it for human invasion. Equestrian military positions were easily spotted and blasted as well.
The Pelicans left the bays and headed straight for the city, Unicorn soldiers in the streets firing powerful magic at the dropships. Statistically speaking some Pelicans would get hit, and some did, but the offensive spells had little more of an effect than scorching the paint of the dropships they hit.
The dropships touched down and Marines poured out, their boots hitting the concrete as they rushed for cover. The skies were already darkening from the black smoke of fires raging in the city.
“You move fast or you die! Keep alert Marines; their swords and spells CAN hurt the unwary!” the Marine Master Sergeant declared, keeping his BR55 rifle shouldered firmly as the assault got underway. Equestrians ahead in the street stood waiting with their swords. Unicorns kept them gripped in their magic, but the earthen kind had fingered gauntlets secured to their hooves to adequately hold onto the bladed weapons.
“Engage!” the Master Sergeant ordered, taking aim with his battle rifle and opening fire, his Marines doing the same. The Equestrians scrambled to charge the humans, most of their numbers cut down immediately.
Practiced discipline saw the pony soldiers fall and the Marines unscathed, the humans reloading and proceeding down the street. The Marines had been ordered to secure and occupy Manehattan, the first city in Equestria, which would send a clear and bold message to the Equestrian leadership.
The Kabato hovered overhead, policing the relatively clear skies and delivering strikes upon large Equestian ground positions. The dual-strike was devastating to the extremely under-equipped ponies, and the Marines were already starting to sweep through the streets.
“Sir, Dragons have been spotted on the move towards Manehattan” Excalibur piped up, his avatar appearing on the plinth next to Kuyaki’s chair. True to his word Adam began to see the faint outlines of the beasts in the distance.
“Keep the point-defense cannons and the Archers armed. Let’s make sure the only thing the Marines have to worry about are swords and arrows” the Captain declared.
The external speakers were on and the entire bridge crew heard the lead Dragon shout, his voice carrying for miles. “Mur untamaiu faar wol draov lan onfaker reat!!”
“What did he say, Excalibur?” Adam asked.
“One moment, sir. I’m checking with the books that Steelbeak gave us... ‘Our unrelenting force will drive the invaders back’ were his exact words” the AI answered happily.
“I’ll show them unrelenting force. Fire the Archers! Lock one on each Dragon!” Adam ordered, watching the missiles streak away from the Kabato and bank off to chase their targets. Of the seven Dragons that came only three were hit, their bodies blown open and remains falling to the streets below.
“Excalibur, you got control of the 70mm’s. Keep those Dragons entertained” Adam stated, watching the battles play out.
“Sir, the Griffons have entered the city from the North. They’ve cut off any kind of retreat from the Equestrians” the communications officer announced.
“Good. Let them know that this is an extermination. All Equestrian military personnel are to be killed on sight. Let the civilians live unless they attempt to attack.”
A thud reverberated through the walls of the bridge, the monitors shaking a bit from the force. More heavy thuds like footsteps sounded through the roof of the bridge and the personnel looked up.
“Excalibur, turn the cameras on.”
The AI silently did as told and the main feed came on, half the view blocked by blackness. It was as if some large bird had landed on the roof of the bridge. “What the fuck is this? Is that a talon?” Adam questioned, trying to make out individual aspects of the video feed he was given.
The claw moved and the camera was knocked back, the lens catching the glimpse of a pointed black tail moving away, right towards the viewport.
Craning his neck down Adam and the rest of the crew saw the black dragon, the High Lord Aldurmaax, clambering into position in front of the bridge viewport, hanging down from the roof of the room separate from most of the ship. The mighty dragon opened his maw and unleashed a jet of flame, scorching and melting the thick glass of the viewport. The heavy glass and plexi-glass mix bubbled like boiling water but didn’t give way.
Seeing his flame breath didn’t work Aldurmaax raised his free hand and slammed on the weakened glass palm-open, his claws digging in the softened glass and cracking what was still hardened. Another open slap on the window caved and buckled it, but still it did not give. Putting in one final effort Aldurmaax closed his fist and cocked his arm back, driving it straight through the glass and shattering a hole as big as a Warthog in the viewport.
Recognizing Captain Kuyaki Aldurmaax pulled his head back and opened his mouth, preparing to flood the contained room with fire. His maw wide and open Adam pulled his M6D and opened fire, seven .50 caliber rounds pocking the dragon’s mouth and tongue. His head jerked from the heavy rounds, interrupting his fire spell.
Adam expended the magazine and reloaded, stepping beyond the command console towards the mighty beast and continuing to fire. Aldurmaax closed his mouth and the remaining bullets pinged off his hide and helmet, the dragon taking to the skies and circling around, opening his mouth and unleashing fire as he dove for the open wound on the bridge.
“EXCALIBUR! BLAST SHIELDS!” Kuyaki commanded, the heavy steel sliding into place just as Aldurmaax’s fire tested its heat-resistance.
“Replace forward view with camera feed” the Captain said, holstering his sidearm as he took his seat again. A video feed was projected onto the closed blast shield, allowing them all to see once more.
“Goddamn psycho came straight for the bridge. He’s quite ferocious, it seems” Adam exclaimed, putting one leg over the other. He saw Aldurmaax flying off with his compatriots.
“Open fire with the 70mm’s, Excalibur. Do your best to put them all down.”
The chorus of heavy gunfire was dulled by the thick hull, sounding like big drums being beat by a hundred tribesmen. The AI kept an eye on all angles of the ship to make sure no other Dragons snuck up on them like Aldurmaax did.
Checking up on the ground status Adam was pleased to learn that the Marines and Griffons were pinching the Equestrians hard between them, and that civilian casualties had been extremely low. The ground-pounders almost had the situation under control down there, and now it was just up to the Kabato to clear the skies.
Missiles and 70mm bullets clogged the skies and harassed the Dragons who had become occupied with attempting to avoid these attacks. It didn’t take long for three more to fall, leaving just Aldurmaax and one other Dragon, both of which quickly retreated.
“Good work, Excalibur. Make sure the Marines and Griffons on the ground get the city on lockdown and spare any reinforcements they need. We’re going to hold on to Manehattan until Equestrian military presence is null and void down there” Kuyaki stated.
“Yes, sir.”
-=-=-=-=-
“Tell me about the dragon leader, High Lord Aldurmaax” Adam asked Steelbeak as they sat on the bridge of the Kabato, the two drinking a special blend of Griffon coffee. Adam thought it’d be perfect for UNSC soldiers to stay awake since it was almost like a pure shot of energy in your bloodstream.
“He holds the highest title a dragon can hold in their hierarchy. And he’s a zealous believer in the dragon religion” the Griffon Chancellor explained. “He leads the dragons with courage and honor, and enforces the idea that all dragons should be willing to sacrifice their souls to their God, De’mah Tokam.”
“Who exactly is their God?” Adam inquired, folding his arms over his chest.
“Only the dragons know. All the other races have gleaned is that their God, a being known as De’mah Tokam, descended from the heavens thousands upon thousands of years ago and led the dragons to victory during a cripplingly deadly war against the Equestrians, and eventually us. In the end, though, the Equestrians were victorious, and after that the Dragons became fiercely loyal to the ponies” Steelbeak answered.
“Fascinating. Looks like the Dragons take sides with those who best them in war. So their God, De’mah, was an actual living being?”
“Most Gods of the races of this planet were. The Equestrian Princesses are Goddesses, still breathing and leading their subjects. They’re worshipped heavily by most of ponykind. The God of the Griffons was actually the first of our kind. She was a fierce lioness, if the books are to be believed. Many a bird wanted to bed her, but she wouldn’t allow any. Finally one stole her heart, and out came the first Griffon.”
“Only on Equus would I find a story of interspecies romance believable” Kuyaki chuckled.
“HAH! Indeed!” Steelbeak exclaimed, taking a drink of his coffee. “So! How goes our campaign against the Equestrians?”
Adam nodded and leaned back. “Now, Manehattan is under our control. We’re bowling over the Equestrians, but the dragons are picking up the slack. We can absolutely crush ground forces, but I have to take the Kabato to every battle to make sure the dragons don’t smash my men to pieces. Aldurmaax was even so bold, or foolhardy, to directly attack my ship. He melted the front viewport open for God’s sake!” the Captain explained.
“I noticed that. We can forge glass that can withstand the intense heat of a dragon’s fire breath if you’d like” Steelbeak commented.
“Good. We’re gonna need it. So now that Manehattan’s under our control we need to move on the next Equestrian city. Excalibur, what’s the next closest pony city?” Adam inquired.
“Cloudsdale, sir. A floating city of clouds.”
“What the-- Fine, put us on a course for it.”
-=-=-=-=-
Aldurmaax braked himself as he approached high Canterlot Tower, flapping his wings to slow his speed. The massive dragon perched himself on the balcony outside Princess Celestia’s room, craning his neck to look in. The Goddess of the sun had awoken at the racket Aldurmaax had made, and was slowly walking over to the open door.
“What is it?” Celestia asked.
“Manehattan has fallen, and the humans are assuredly making a move on the next city in their path. Several of my wing-kin have fallen on this day, but I damaged the human ship” the High Lord explained.
Celestia sighed and sat down on her haunches, pondering her situation and options. “Well, there’s not much we can do except continue to stand against humanity’s onslaught.”
“And should they make it all the way to Canterlot?” Aldurmaax suggested.
“We will continue to stand. Shining Armor and the Dawnguard can keep my family safe, and the rest of the army will stand valiantly.”
“My dragons will continue to stand with honor and courage. Even should we fail in the end, we will have stood with bravery against the inexorable destruction. Divine help us, though” Aldurmaax declared, looking to the sky. De’mah may be long gone, but Aldurmaax firmly believed he would help them someday.
One way, or another, he would help them.
Celestia should probably take the field and Disable the humans ship. That would ease the fight immensely for hr forces and allies. A single well placed spell between the engine and body of the craft would break the ship.
3564311 That would be the most overpowered as fuck thing i would have seen. It is shown that most magic can only scratch the paint of PELICANS. HAVE FUN BREAKING THROUGH SEVERAL METERS OF TITANIUM A, TWILIGHT.
3564413 3564311 Might make for a funny scene if one of the princesses tried to do that.
Um.. The Kabato is a destroyer, right?
3564867 Yes sir-ree it sure is. Why?
3564413Every Defense can be Circumvented if studied well enough. For the dragons, if they plan out their attacks well enough they would do best to first de-fang[break all point defense weapons and block missile silos] the Human ship then break it, the humans only have a limited amount of weapons and ammo aboard their ship, Steam rolling a single country would be foolish and stupid without the ability to clone you're soldiars and make several Extra ships to back you up in you're assault, unless of course you don't mind pulling a covenant and glassing the hell out of your enemy with Nukes. Which Even then the humans only have a limited number, the only reason Master chief never ran out of ammo was because he kept Raiding dead bodies of both Covenant and UNSC soldiers who had died either in his way or before he got there, with a few unused mags/charges left on their weapons.
Most of the Equestrian Unicorns aren't trained in magical combat, mostly in utilitarian use of their spells for Civilian action. The only ones that would know how to use their magic for pure combat would be the princesses and ponies that Were Training in it Illegaly(few-none) So yea superheated plasma is possible for pony's to use same with concentrated lazers and particle beams, like the Spartan Lazer. Titanium armor can only last so long against a prolonged Exposure to a straight beam from the weapon.
3564460 not really since Theoretically it would disable the human ship as a quick safety buffer for the Gryphons and the humans. also Remember the humans Are not gods with infinite Equipment, the unicorns can make nearly any Item a weapon using their magic. The only thing that could help the humans with their limited ammo issue would be Putting a slew of Gryphons to work as slaves in a factory making bullets and shells for their weapons.
3564895 Just wondering, They would be screwed if a Marathon comes to say hi.
3564910 Oh lordy, a cruiser of any kind would be bad news for the Equestrians.
3564897 But the one to do the attacking would have to get close to the engines to attack. None of the Princesses would volunteer since jet-wash would kill them, and to be a safe distance away would put them in the sights of the point-defense cannons.
3564927 not if all of the point defense Cannons are destroyed before hand, which the dragons can do.
3564937 ...You make a valid point.
3564927 Even the destroyer would mess them up, I quote good old Sargen Johnson: “That MAC gun can put a round clean through a Covenant Capital Ship.” Bye,bye Canerlot. Also, the tree Shiva class Nuclear warheads on bord would do something. Your destroyer may have more because it has 70mm point defence guns insted of the standard 50mm ones on typical destroyers.
3564954 Celestia is also a brilliant mind developed over time from her ages of living, Or should have developed from the amount of time she's lived. So what I'm saying is she should be able to develop a valid plan of attack that could disable the ship. and with that Break the main assault of the war.
3565139 Good point, but Celestia's A: a politician, not a soldier. And B: fighting a war against an enemy with a titanium spaceship of doom with thousands of soldiers on it(humanity), with an ally millions strong(Griffons), that all want to kill and destroy her kingdom, not take it over. Different adversaries breed different leaders. Plus there's the extra-terrestrial aspect and guns and missiles vs. spears, bows, and some dragons.
3565624You're forgetting magic, also Ponies aren't limited to just bows spears and swords, think of Lightning clouds or Earthpony's bucking Giant boulders into Enemy formations at speeds up to 90MPH, Unicorns able to Cast disguising spells or Obscuration spells to confuse the machinery and humans. there are many things ponies can do, also Even though Celestia is currently a politician, it doesn't mean she hasn't had to lead an army in the past, she beat the Dragons previous God Leader, there really isn't any proof against her learning the art of war over the Milena she's been alive. She just has a severe Aversion to it, however Twilight is somewhat OOC and fanatical against Violence and war, to the point where she is somewhat violent about it Seems almost hypocritical in a sense. Oh yea and a limited number of Troops on the human ship. Eventually if the Equestrians Keep taking down their pelicans and soldiers, the humans will lose their foot hold on the planet also they aren't paying attention to their gryphon allies so they aren't anticipating a back stab from that direction, which I'm anticipating to happen sometime soon when the humans start faltering. Oh and the pegasi Stomeclouds, Maybe some Explosive unrefined liquid Rainbow. there are many things the Equestrians can come up with from the wood work to find and use as a weapon to fight off the humans.
3566185 Hmm, VERY good input. I may have to use some of those ideas in future chapters. As for Twilight acting that way; if that's the vibe you got from her, then I wrote her the way I had intended, which means I did my job right!
Thanks for all the valuable input; it's rare to get a reader with such a vesting interest in a story.
3566232 Thank you. I ran into a story previous that had a Fanatical hamanist, we pretty much ARGUED magic VS Technology, pretty much the author had to shut us down. however I' not against humans having superior Tech, I'm just against them being Superior in Every way shape and form(MARYSUE!!!) when the ponies even as peaceful as they are should be able to find Effective way's to counter the human Advance even without Celestia's presence and help.
Thanks for note getting angry with my Observations.
3566247 I was watching those debates you had with that Cake guy; and I admit I thought I would have to stop you two eventually, but it hadn't(and hasn't) come to that yet.
And it's no problem; I'm not pretentious enough to think my stories perfect, and even with the experience I've had writing I do need to be reeled back in sometimes.
3566340 Thank you, just a few Minor alterations to the dragons save for the more powerful ones such as their leader.
paying attention to the Human's Supply situation and making sure that there is a known limit to their Equipment and units.
And Pony ingenuity, don't forget that. Gryphon Tech should be industrial Era which means some understanding of glass creation, Steam Technology, and Gunpowder basics. Rune magic could be included as a replacement for Electricity.
3566834 Will do, man! Thumbs up!
Not bad. I'll be looking forward to more.
3564897 but where in canon does it say that a unicorns magic can be charged enough to make superheated plasma that will cut through titanium, hell celestia got defeated by a bug hyped up on love.
and you got to be more clear than "unicorns can turn anything into a weapon" because if you mean picking up rocks and throwing them at people then good luck taking out a UNSC destroyer
3564897 Yes because Unicorn horns are psuedo plasma projectors.