Off The Grid

by MajorPaleFace

Retreat, hell II

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“Maxon,” Lieutenant Midnight greeted the biped wearily.

She’d led the column of refugees, armoured Thestrals and a few Ancillary troops they’d picked up along the way.

After arriving at an intersection and talking to a jumpy lookout, the civilians and non-combatants had been directed through the fore-passage, while she and her two dozen Thestrals moved quickly to reach the human.

“This is all that made it?” He asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I dispatched the regular guards and the civvies further into the sewer.”

John grunted, “Major Chironax is out, McKenna and her troops are holding fast, more civilians are wondering into their perimeter and they’re getting sent this way. Leave four at the intersection to hold it and funnel them down with the others.”

With a simple look at the rearmost guards, four Power-armoured Thestrals broke off and made for the intersection.

“We’re going back up, follow me.”

They moved through the sewer. Winding around a long bend and passing through a chamber full of pessimistic looking Thestrals, just as a squad left for the intersection.

Back on the surface, the courtyard was a mess, with dead and dying all over. A large bulbous pink shield covered the yard from end-to-end, small clusters of Thestrals – both mechanised and not, and Royal Guard stood ready.

Fierce combat was raging at the edges of the field, Changelings wandered through their fickle perimeter, but were cut down at the occasional cost of a pony life.

“They don’t give up easily,” McKenna had said.

“Would you?” Midnight asked rhetorically.

The three officers huddled around while John spoke, “new strategy: McKenna, you hold this fixed position – Midnight and I will take most of Onyx and move around. Create some noise, rally any survivors back to the courtyard and try to clear the city sector by sector.

“I am still deciding if we can save the city,” he added. Midnight thought he was struggling with a reason.

His helmet twitched and she thought he was now making eye contact, “well, why not?”

There were a few of those ammunition canisters, stocked with grenades and cells for the energy weapons. All the Thestrals armed with human ordinance started stocking up.

“Where’d this come from?” John asked.

McKenna looked skyward, “some Thestrals in black armour dropped them off. Said it was on the order of Princess Luna, and that help was coming. Then they upped and took off 'fore I could utter a single word.”

“Seems I was right about her, she isn’t going to let the city fall easily.”

He tapped McKenna to get her attention, “can we get the shield to cover the city again?”

“Sure, we just need a few unicorns who know how to do it.”

He replaced his half-cell with a new one, “alright, put the word out. Our mission in order of priority is to evacuate the civilians, eradicate the bugs and re-establish both the city perimeter and it’s shield defences.”

He rose and checked his weapon for the hundredth time, “Lieutenant, take twelve, I’ll lead another half-dozen and we’ll push up toward the barricade.”

“Got it,” she said. As he moved to select six from the group that had apparently arrived with Major Chironax, she made for the right side.

She had four of the power-equipped Thestrals join her group. She was glad to see that Goldenrod, Moonshot and Starchaser had all survived the valley as they welcomed the newcomers.

John passed through the far side of the shield near the fighting, instantly the fizz of laser-fire and rumble of grenades could be heard and felt as he cleared a path for the evacuation toward the ruined Barricade.

“Gold, you’ve got one stick,” Midnight said.

“Yes, ma'am.” Goldenrod replied.

She gave the other to one of the newbies, with a Sergeant crest on their helmet.
A stick was six guards, they spread out and moved toward the pink shield. It crackled as they passed through, and she began guiding them Northwest.

The air battle seemed to continue without end, she could see now with certainty that fresh Equestrian troops were being brought into the equation.

They were in another street, the end had been blocked by a collapsed aqueduct. Water was fast flooding the street in some area while it hurried to escape beneath the cobbled road.

To the left of the blockage was a damaged home, the frame all that remained of the gutted domicile.

With a good gesture, Goldenrod led her stick through. A whistle called and she moved through next, the next stick followed behind.

After rounding a corner, they ran into a small collection of Equestrian civilians and Guards, who watched for intruders. She saw their eyes visibly inflate with relief at seeing her and her troops.

“There’s an evacuation site in the East Barricade plaza. Get there and you’ll be safe,” she said.

They assaulted her with words of gratitude and hurried away back the way they’d come.

Another street, another corridor. A few stragglers here and there turned into a platoon of refugees. They were refusing to leave their side, siting safety amongst the armed Thestrals.

Midnight knew if trouble came knocking that some civvies could get killed.
She sighed reluctantly.

“Moonshot, Starchaser. Escort detail; take them back to the plaza and stay there.”

A few minutes had passed without incident. Many civilians lay strewn around, withered husks amid several dead guards.

She heard a scream carry down at the end, “no-no-no, stay away!” The young mare's voice shouted fearfully.

Midnight broke formation and galloped forward, her guards kept pace and they all moved toward the commotion.

Several bugs were arrayed around an ln intersection, some inside a storefront. On a table, a mare was being harassed as a Changeling began feeding on her.
No sooner had the bugs crooked horn ignited, than it’s head burst. An excellently placed shot from Midnight's weapon.

The area erupted in violence as both groups met each other vigorously. There were twice as many Changelings – yet they fell in twos and threes.

A quad of them emerged from another store way on her left, Midnight faced them and fired her weapon. The bolts peppered their bodies and the wall of the shop. Splinters and chips of the building blended into clouds of green gore, the wounds quickly cauterised before bleeding too much.

The fire-fight as Midnight thought of it had ended, none of her Thestrals seemed to have been harmed and she silently thanked John for providing them with their new armour and weapons.

The mare was naturally cowering and still screaming, one of the guards struggled to arrest her struggling.

Midnight approached, lifting her helmets mask slightly. The full smell of blood, charred flesh and smoke on the horizon hit her. She not fully appreciating the armours air filter until now.

Once the mare saw her very real Thestral face, she calmed. Obviously not some machine-race here to enslave pony-kind.

Midnight tried to sound kind, a word she would usually struggle to describe herself as, “Miss, you’re safe now. Stick with us for a bit, once we find some more of you – we’ll send you to an evacuation point.”

The mare had a light teal coat with very red mane kept in tight braids. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, her cherry-red eyes misted and became overrun with tears and she sobbed.

Midnight couldn’t deal with crying ponies, she lowered her mask and had Moonshot deal with her.

On the other side of the city resounded a resoundingly human-based explosion. Then another and another.

Fierce overlapping laser-fire could be heard. This part of the city seemed quieter, so she organised her team to bring them close to the plaza. They’d drop off their pony cargo and gather reinforcements to help the human.

John had led his six Thestrals into an easily avoidable ambush. He cursed himself, rarely did he make these mistakes.

One Thestral had taken a powerful energy blast to the head and dropped. As John and the others scrambled to return fire, an explosion rocked him onto his ass for what felt like the tenth time that day.
He shouted a few choice curses and leapt into a crouch. Though angry he remained calm as he picked off one Changeling with two shots quickly into its scalp.

The downed Thestral had somewhat recovered and pulled itself behind a little stone bench.

“Cover!” John yelled, the staggered clap of energy fire as it struck bug flesh and chipped away at their cover sounded out.

He fired one-handed from the hip, vaguely over the heads of a trio of bugs. As they got down, he scooped up the hurt Thestral and dashed backwards while still firing.

John quickly placed the soldier alongside another who occupied ample protection from magical blasts.

The wounded Thestrals helmet was carefully removed while John prepped some grenades. The guard's face was swollen and bleeding, his eyes almost closed from the swelling.

He kept one eye on his task and another at the bug positions. They stirred and several rushed towards him.

They were felled by his Thestral allies, new fighters replaced them so fast that they now faced a veritable swarm.

Uneasily he fired full-automatic with one hand as his Heads Up Display projected some decent arcs with which to toss his grenades.

He lobbed one, the explosion thundered through him and he had to breath harder as the air was nearly forced from his lungs.

The next one was a harder throw, yet with some luck he watched it clatter through the second-story window of a hotel. The muffled boom sent debris and dust out of the window, which just before several Changelings had been using as a position.

He lobbed another up and over, destroying the rear ranks of bugs as they formed another wave. The Thestrals with him were firing and reloading quickly, smoke and heat visibly billowed from their AERs.

More shooting from behind made him turn, a flanking run of Changelings barged into his rearward position. Half dashed for the shield while the others tried to stall him and his four-pony team.

A grenade blast hit the back of the new threat, and a dozen blocky power-armoured Thestrals appeared spouting red death. Laser shards filled the air, so thick you could walk on them.

As the bugs turned to face the more serious threat, John returned to shooting at those in front who were about to overrun him.

The last three shots of his weapons energy cell had depleted, and the bug in front fell down. Two more back it up and they collided with John’s torso with brutal strength.

He stowed his weapon a second before impact and gripped one of their forelimbs. He wrenched it hard and twisted it out if it’s occupied shoulder socket.

He pulled and the sickly crunching only got worse. The bug shrieked and lit its horn, John’s other hand wrapped around the illuminated spike and he pulled as hard as his servo motors allowed.
The second bug had turned and tried to ram him, yet John spun and using the first as a meat shield battered the intruder away. He spun again, bringing the hapless bug to the ground and crushed it’s thorax by pressing his knee into it.

The second leapt at him again, John simply punched the bug and it fell. He stomped on his head, crushing it and killing the bug instantly.

Retrieving his weapon, he reloaded and kept shooting for the engagement hadn’t wound down just yet.

Mechanised Thestral reinforcements leap-frogged one another using short wing beats. They exercised perfect fire and manoeuvre technique, pivoting around one another and John to create a flawless kill zone, allowing no bug trooper to survive.

“Maxon, we heard the fire – and brought our own to back you up,” Midnight said after pausing next to him.

“Thanks for the assist, Lieutenant,” John said, more than glad she had shown up with the Calvary when she had.
He swapped his dead cell for a charge one, overhead there was a clap light thunder. So sudden it rattled the ground and chopped the air with its following shockwave.

All eyes turned airwards, toward the crisscrossing forces of bug airpower and Equestrian interceptors. Possibly thousands had formed to massacre each other, with no clear winner in sight.
The boom had come from a bubble of rippling blue energy, it spanned much of the sky and in places arcs of power thrashed any Changelings near to the event horizon, yet spared the ponies.

Shapes began to pass through, a trickle at first. Soon, a flood. Hundreds of Thestrals poured into the air, they moved so ferociously compared to the fatigue Changelings as they began to remove the black tinges from the mass of gold and white.

A small group of Power-armoured Thestrals flocked into the airspace next, circumnavigating the air battle and moving to deploy right on top of the shield. Next tens of Chariots emerged under heavy Pegasi escort.

The backs of the Equine-pulled transports bristled with the armour of many Royal Guards. Immediately Unicorns dispelled bands of magic blasts in a variety of colours.

They split into twos and threes and massed around the Barricade Plaza to drop their combat loads all of the contested ground. One soared overhead, practically throwing Unicorns and Earth ponies over John’s position like hail.
They gawked at both he and his mechanised entourage, one formed up to him.

“Captain Capricorn,” a high-necked Unicorn officer introduced himself.

“Commander Maxon,” John replied and pointed out his tabby-coated ally, “Lieutenant Midnight. Glad you could join us.”

“Likewise, sir – we’ll not let them take Canterlot so easy.”

With that, he turned and led his Guards away. They galloped off toward the fire-storm at the edge of the city, where even now hazy black ground-attack shape-shifters were massing for their final push.
The clap above sounded once more, brushing up dirt into the street and sending a wave of blue magic across the city. Tendril-like arms formed under what now, he could see, was a power-armoured lunar Princess. The portal now closed.

She was suspended like a corpse anchored under crystal water. Her helmet eye-slits glowed blue, several more blasts of blue magic resounded out from her. The tendrils defined themselves into two levels, some thinning into clearer more expansive fields. They connected and weaved into a bubble that was drooped over the city, preventing further incursions by Changeling forces into the built-up areas.

The second set elongated and flitted about, slicing entire Changeling air wings from the sky.

She careened down toward him like a ghostly blue spectre.

Overlapping pulses of ethereal blue energy resounded from her as she drew ever nearer to him. He dared not move as his vision began to fill evermore.

Her voice echoed back over itself, “hello, John.”

“Princess Luna?” he said, unsure.

“Dispatch them hurriedly, John. Their lives are forfeit.” She vanished in a flash, a matching one signalling in the sky some way on the other end of the city, while another clap sounded. A second portal had replaced the first, and he saw more ponies distantly being released upon the Changelings without mercy.

He began jogging after Captain Capricorn, “we still have work to do,” he said aloud. Albeit more for himself, than for the benefit of anyone else.

The ground was studded with the dead of both bug-pony hybrid and equine manufacture. He skirted a puddle of a Changeling who had been chopped into chunks.

“Hyah!” A called on the wind, steeling him and likely every other soldier.

A banner-wielding Guard raced just ahead of a formation of tightly-packed Royal Guards. The ground rumbled as they dipped their speers and short-swords in unison. They clashed heavily with a large bug formation, flashes of teal along the frontline denoted Changeling magic attacks.

By this stage, he and the twenty-abreast line of tank-like bat-ponies rushed at the heels of the Royal Guard.

Mimicking their earlier advance, at the last second they leap-frogged over the Gold-armoured lines amidst bug squads. Sabres slices limbs and Equine energy weapons-fire painted the bugs hellfire red.

John’s gut sank as he jumped too. At full kilter and with a little spurt of his in-suit thruster pack, he was sent catapulting over the initial meet of the two armies.

He landed heavily, ensuring he squashed a bug in the process. His AER spat out shards, cutting through bug flesh with ease.

He reloaded and continued his onslaught. Bugs rallied together and attempted to overwhelm him during his quick reloads.
As one took hold of his shooting arm, he moved to dislodge the hitchhiker. The chitinous quadruped was blasted apart from a blender-like ball of crackling unicorn magic. The emerald spell twisted and ruined any it touched. Cutting the very earth as it was manipulated around the most aggressive looking bug fighters.

He recovered and reloaded, firing once again. He dashed left five meters, three bugs seemed to dance in place from the repeated weapons blasts. He delivered a solid kick to the centre bug, in a gaggle of limbs it dragged it’s two brethren with it to the roadside.

The bug formations thrashed as they began to feel the unrelenting pressure of the ponies human-led combined arms attack.

In a rush of movement, a both at once familiar and formidable demon scurried toward him, it’s carapace glistened red from pony blood.

It’s jagged, glass-like teeth snapped in a hiss. The creature was built to kill – it had scars that marked it’s face, neck and forelimbs. Thick bands of white that stood out against the black and red of its exterior.

He fired and it seemed to bend around the bolts, coming at him quicker than he could react to.

With cobra-like speed its leg blurred across his arms, casting his weapon away and putting him down in one move.
John instinctively rolled onto his back to fight, but the Commando from Blackwater had bigger ideas that to let John trick it onto a ground game.

He was dragged two meters aggressively by his ankles and was rewarded for sitting up with a huge strike to the head.
He was stunned already and was only remotely aware of him being lifted easily and thrown to the ground hard enough to wind him even in armour.

He coughed and spluttered, he felt the grasp around his ankle again – his mind semi-linked to sensations against his armour.

He boosted forward, his face and front gauging along the ground, yet escaping temporarily from the combat-insatiable creature.

He rolled and rose to his feet, at once calm as a prick was felt against his arms, leaving icy spots in their wake.
He breath tasted of chemicals and his head rushed and cleared one moment to the next. His skin tightened and he felt the edges of his vision clearing more than was possible.

He adopted an aggressive forward stance. His hips held low and his shoulders squared forward. His armour groaned with the odd position.

The commando was already racing to meet him, its eyes contained a double helix pupil and we’re wild. He moved forward too, zig-zagging and varying his approach.

They went largely ignored as the two nations around then duelled. The actually avoided each other for a beat, the Commando darted in and he struck using a counter momentum punch. He caught the bugs limb and turned inwards, using its momentum against it and slinging it to the dirt.

It’s horn flashed and he slipped, it twisted in a way that should have been anatomically impossible. Wrapping around his rear leg and dropping him. The dirt was cast green, and a flaming line levitated into the air. It was a meter long and formed into a fine sword. It had a tip that looked to John to have been shaped to pierce thick armour.

He grunted definitely, catching the bladed and twisting sideways to spear it into the ground. It hissed and saliva ran across his helmet visor.

He signalled his thruster and he shot up from his side and moved to be on his feet. They tugged on the blade, he stopped resisting and immediately was pulled into the bug, leading with a left Czech hook.

The bugs head rolled as if to fly from its head, but crunched horribly and it regained its shape. It clamped down with its jaws against his helmet, trapping him in its strong bite.

As John reared, the bug lifted all four of its hooves to pummel his suit. His HUD emitted a warning bleep and he sank to the ground again.

A volley of laser shots hit the bug, it screeched as its hide was scorched and seared away with the concussive blasts.
It jumped back from John, as Midnight yelled a death-rattle. It’s sound like a native American war cry.

Midnight tossed her depleted weapon, brought up her sabre and began cheering as she swiped back and forth at the larger bug-hybrid.

John rose, his armour advised him to return to base. But that was a ways off yet.

He still had his combat knife, the large sword-like double-edged dagger had a carbide coating, and cut easily through the bugs weapon.

It parried a swipe from Midnight with another summoned sword. And ducked under a sweeping arc of John’s melee attempt.

Midnight again missed a strike and took a kick in return. John swiped his leg up and around and just caught the commando in its hellish looking mouth.
Midnights next attack slipped through, nicking the bugs neck as it howled and cartwheeled into him.
Midnight tried to pry the unrelenting bug from him and was sent down from a back-hoof hit. He presses his blade into its torso, drawing green blood from a long thick cut.

The commando hissed once and headbutted him, his skull hit the back of his helmet and he reeled from the blow. His armours gyroscope kept him up, and he had to withstand a second head strike.
He’d found his hands devoid of his weapon, and he’d snaked his fingers around its neck and jaw.

He squeezed the pressure points at the back of its jawline and managed to nab it in the eyes with his index and middle finger.

Midnight barrelled into it again, and on wobbly legs, he assisted the Mechanised Thestral in brawling the Commando. It twisted and danced, so fast and so strong. He ducked and barely avoided a kick, getting in a double-jab and a high cross – then hopped back.

Midnight extended her wing blades, as the commando rose onto its rear legs to crush John’s head, she scampered between them and repeatedly sliced into its abdomen.

It roared angrily, as chunks of its black hide were separated from its nasty green insides. Flesh and contusions that looked ungodly emerged.

It ducked back to all-fours, parried a blow from John, and hit him hard enough that he swayed leftwards.

He saw Midnight eat a dirty uppercut to the muzzle, in a blur he could see – as time stilled – the bug had one of Midnight's winglets aimed for the Thestrals exposed throat.

He dived and was certain he wouldn’t make it. Just barely his bulky fingertips diverted the blade from the centre of her neck to down along her thick plate armour.

There was a quick return of fast jabs and a cheeky elbow from John.

The bug twisted the winglet around, and before he could think pain as if molten metal had been poured into his body, filling his chest.

He gasped wetly, the commando had managed to force the small stabbing tip through the gap in his armours pressure suit, below his armpit.

His back arched as he roared angrily, unable to prevent his mind from swirling with the sheer agony.

His mind went blank, as his vision filled with red and a hot, unbridled rage flooded him. His left hand gripped the bugs neck, one hoof rushing up to pry his steel grip away.

His right hand grasped the winglet, trapping the bugs other hoof in his hand. He removed the blade from his chest, feeling nothing but heat and hate.

It screeched defiantly and wiggled, but too late – John looped his left forearm around the back of its neck and applied all the hydraulic power he could muster.

Bit-by-bit the tip – coated in his own blood, edged slowly at first into the bugs neck.

It writhed and spasmed, and with one all-mighty motion, he forced the palm of his left hand and the back of his right together, in-between the trapped Commandos neck.

The blade pierced through slickly, and he was aware of the tip that had punctured just barely between the seam in one of his finger.

The thing's face was screwed up, yet it still fought and twitched – in ever decreasingly violent motions. As it stilled and it’s breathing became sharp coughs. He held it tight, he twisted the blade and heard a sickening crunch as the cartilage-like material in its neck was raised apart from its spine.

He jerked the stabber away, and the commando dropped. Still twitching, it’s one good eye remained fixed with hatefulness upon John.

The auto-doc side of his armour had sealed his pressure suit, stabbed him with a stimpak and was now displaying flashing red letters.

RETURN TO SHIPBOARD MEDBAY.

He moved to Midnight, she was unceremoniously splayed on the earth, she was stirring and rose. And with John’s help, and he with hers – together they wove through the battle as it came to a close. The Equestrians heralding victory over the Changelings.

No cheers or celebrations after the fighting, units were formed up and if not scouring the city for the last vestiges of the Changeling menace, then toward the razed heartland of the Canterlot valley.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Fresh reserves swing the tide, so far, but have the Changelings managed to make it into the mines. And are mining them.

[MajorPaleFace]

10211879
Indeed, what mines?

[Booster Spice]

10212506

The crystal mines under Canterlot that Chrysalis stuffed Cadence and Twilight in during A Canterlot Wedding?

I was worried, given the Artillery Bugs, that Chrysalis was using them as a distraction to set up a Messines Ridge Mine Attacks

[MajorPaleFace]

10212536
No - it's not that kind of battle. Although Twilight and two guards are lost in my version of the Crystal caves, there won't be any exploding of them.