39 - Devotion, Part 14 of 16
Duster pressed against Cloudsdale, his weary wings whipping the air. The changelings had pulled far enough above the city that his arrows could no longer reach them. The unicorns had put up more defensive shields, but the changelings were bombarding them as griffins took the fight to the sky above.
A loud sizzling filled the air.
“Incoming! Prepare for close contact!” Locknload roared with glee.
Duster looked up just in time to see green fiery rockets coming down. It was changelings. They exploded into their normal form as they hit the cloud floor of the city, letting out terrifying and unearthly shrieks that must have stolen the hearts of the civilians.
The soldiers, all veterans of many engagements, met them without hesitation.
Duster leapt up, sending an arrow through the throat of a nearby invader. His squad all reacted similarly. Locknload let out several bursts of magic. Their backs were to one another now, as the changelings were coming down all over. There was no shortage of them; the arrows would likely run out sooner. Magic impacted into energy barriers, and Locknload’s squad repelled the attackers.
As the the offensive slowed, Duster, LD, and Rolling Thunder continued pushing for a while as Gunnysack, Jewel, and Locknload thinned out the incoming enemies.
“I think they’re running out of guys to send at us,” Gunnysack gloated.
“They’re just tired of dying,” LD added.
The shields that Jewel had put in place were cracking, some had already evaporated through use. She closed her eyes, summoning whatever reserves of magic she could to create additional defenses. Her horn glowed brightly for a moment before failing. She collapsed to her knees.
“Are you okay?” Duster asked.
He rested his wings and stood, helping her up.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she answered. “I just need-“
A blast of changeling magic struck her in the face. The body fell backward as Duster watched in horror.
A rage burned inside the stallion. He loaded his crossbow and stood up sharply, only to stumble. He walked straight out from behind their remaining defenses. He fired wildly and reloaded. Advancing, he fired again. A pair of changelings vaulted into the air and made a strafing run at him, but a magical shield went up just before they fired. As soon as they were gone, Duster was grabbed by the tail and jerked back behind the cover where the others were making their stand.
Releasing the pegasus from his magical grip, Locknload scolded him, "Just what do you think you’re doing?"
"They killed Jewel!"
Locknload struck Duster in the face with a right jab. The pegasus staggered backward, tripping over Jewel’s body and falling to the cloud floor. He could taste blood in his mouth.
Locknload growled at him, "I swear, if you ever let out a childish attack like that and waste my arrows again, you won’t have to worry about the changelings killing you. I’ll do it for them!"
LD helped Duster up.
Rolling Thunder hissed in agreement with Locknload, ”Now, put that eye patch back on before somepony sees you.”
"No, no more!” the fury hadn’t left Duster yet.
Too many had died, and he was ready to kill every single changeling he could find. Locknload slapped him.
"You need to pay attention. You’re not a good soldier. The rest of us are. We are going to kill changelings. You need keep pretending to be your sister and inspire the civilians to fly faster. The sooner we get this cloud into position, the sooner we kill even more of the enemy. Do I have to spell out everything for you? This was your plan!"
"Impersonating my sister was not what I signed up for!"
Locknload simply returned an icy gaze, "Then go die if that’s what you want to do. I won’t save you again.”
Gunnysack was oddly silent, and it was equally surprising that he didn’t even wear a grin. He was scanning for enemies, paying no mind to the dressing down that Duster had received.
Rolling Thunder and LD continued pushing against Cloudsdale, while Locknload and Gunnysack watched for enemies. Duster wiped his bloody nose and discovered that he was crying.
...
Cloud Blazer’s legs were wobbling with each step, and every part of him felt aflame with new levels of excruciating pain. The world seemed to be swimming in front of him. The sun beat down on him as he moved, dragging the limp form of Pixyglitter as he went. Sweat was pouring from his brow, blinding him. A stray shot of magic impacted the ground close by. He stepped backward, covering Pixyglitter with his body.
"Why don’t you just finish me then!" he shouted madly at the sky. "What are you waiting for?" It was blind rage flowing through him. "Come on!"
The sky didn’t answer. In truth, none of the parties battling over Ponyville had taken any interest in him. He stood there, over the still form of his friend, watching the earth and sky spin across his vision. The stallion’s strength gave out, and he collapsed. His lungs burned, and stabbing pain from his ribs rippled through his body. He convulsed involuntarily and vomited.
It took him a moment to recover, laying there with this eyes closed, just trying to breathe. It was over. Despair overwhelmed his senses. He’d seen the wound in Pixyglitter’s chest. If she weren’t dead already, she soon would be. He wasn’t strong enough to get her to the hospital. He had failed.
The stallion was facing south when he again opened his eyes, and in the distance, he saw three red flares shoot up into the sky. They had reached the apex of their arc and were on their way back down when Cloud Blazer heard a voice.
"Are you okay?"
The stallion looked up to see two mares looking back at him. He recognized the green eyes under the two-tone orange mane of the one that spoke.
"Junebug," Cloud Blazer said.
"We saw you and came to see if you needed help," a beige mare with candy for her cutie mark added. It was Bon Bon.
"She’s hurt, we need... hospital," was all Cloud Blazer managed to say before he passed out.
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8728968
The temper joke was a Lord of the Rings reference to when Sam is fighting to rescue Fro do in Mordor
8729041
I gotcha! And one for my old gaffer!
No pixy has blind rage.
8729041
How did this get here? I posted it chapters ago.
Bon-Bon, is she in the military?
8760881
1) that was cold man! Cold!
2) I gave up trying to understand the comments and how they work long ago, but I do know that if you post a comment on the main story thread, it goes on the latest chapter.
3) I’m going with nope! But... that does feel strange considering her former secret agent status...
Looks like Duster hasn't hardened up as much as he thought he had given his reaction to Jewel's death. It makes him a decent foil to Scootaloo and, ironically, his own sister as well. And the forward crawl of the city of Cloudsdale continues.
8760900
If you reply from the front page, it defaults the response to the latest chapter. It makes sys notes for those who are being replied to a pain since it doesn't always work.
Also, Bon Bon was never a secret agent. That's a common misunderstanding. It was always a 'special' agent. We joke she has to be a 'special' agent because she was probably the worst agent in the anti-monster agency. While Bon Bon uses a grappling hook to exit the second floor of a building, other agents used this thing called a 'door'.