Always Vigilant

by TheScotsman

Chapter 15 - Overcome - Unedited

White Tail Woods
Equstria, San Prancisolt
August 2nd 1000
2005

"Tripped? By what?!" Vesper practically shouted, not very stealthy if I say so.

"Keep your voice down!" I forcefully whispered to him as he quickly realised his own stupid mistake. "I dont know by what I'm not a fucking mind reader. It could be anything out there,".

Vesper quickly circled around me powering up his horn as he did so. After a few seconds of humming his horn erupted with a steady stream of light, catching both myself and Astra by surprise momentarily.

His beam impacted with the perimeter of the treeline before drawing a luminescent line around the perimeter of our camp partially illuminating the thick foliage just beyond the safety of the clearing.

Turning towards Vesper I noticed his face was becoming strained as sweat began to form on his forehead as the beam got more intense. Suddenly and without warning the line around the camp shot up forming a semi-transparent dome around the camp cutting off as it hit the rocks.

If I wasn't concerned about what might be out there in the darkness I would have called it an impressive light show, maybe even enough to rival some of those pyrotechnics at Epcot.

Vespers face became somewhat less strained as the beam cut off allowing him to take a breath as he briefly examined his, uh dome?

"There," he panted slightly as if he had just finished a ten-mile run. "The shield should be able to hold most animals or random ponies away from camp," he explained as I began to understand what he was doing.

"How strong is the shield?" I asked viewing it with caution not being willing to go up and actually touch it.

"It's only as strong as the caster, I'm hardly a mage so probably not long against any sustained attack but they won't get any further without us seeing them at least,".

I smirked slightly at his quick thinking before cocking my rifle. "Right, take cover behind those bushes and put out that fire quickly!" I again forcefully whispered.

Both ponies quickly set about putting out the fire as I quickly grabbed my Night Vision googles. As I put them on I realised that one of the lenses had been shattered, probably during one of my first engagements in Equestria. It was hardly ideal but it would have to suffice for now.

Vesper and Astra both ducked behind a small set of bushes whilst I dragged Golden over behind a larger rock as I flicked the safety off of my rifle.

Silence followed...

Bang!

A resounding crashing sound erupted from a large object from hitting the shield wall causing myself to jump out of my skin. Over by the set of bushes I could here Vesper and Astra shouting over to myself and Golden before preceding to start shouting at each other.

I couldn't move, paralysed by the sound. Unbeknownst to me at the time my whole body was shaking violently as if it was having a strong seizure.

Familiar and faraway voices called out around me like, the voices were muffled together as if shouted from a distance all at once. The hollowness in the voices made it sound like they were being echoed from far across the River Styx.

"Ambush! Docherty's down! I can't even see the enemy! CAPTAIN!"

I felt myself being forced onto the ground as if I was being pushed back into the moment. As I looked up I found Astra standing almost on top of me.

"Captain!" She yelled again, this time much more clearly.

Taking a brief glance at my new orientation I could clearly tell I was now lying on my back facing upwards at the night sky.

I took a brief moment to orientate myself before pushing Astra off to the side of my chest. "I, I'm fine, SITREP!?" I asked causing her to cock her head slightly as I inwardly groaned. This was hardly the time for a classroom lesson.

"What the fuck is going on!?" I yelled, this time trying a more direct and simple approach to get my message across.

Astra looked up over the rock I was currently lying behind before looking back at me. "Monsters," she replied, disdain clear in her voice.

Confused I pushed myself up to peek over the rock I was currently cowering behind. As my eyes edged up over the edge of the rock it suddenly became clear why the title monsters had been given to these, these things of Satan.

The creatures (whose eyes glowed a sickly green colour) were smashing themselves against the coloured shield causing small cracks every time they did so.

It was far too dark to get a proper look at the monsters behind the green eyes. I quickly pulled down my NVG's to get a better look at what we were dealing with.

As my sight suddenly became a green fuzzy image I was subjected to the full horror of what laid before us.

Behind the shield stood 4 large creatures, they were clearly wolfs of some kind but they seemed to be made out of. Wood?

"What the fuck are they suppose to be?" I asked Astra who was now looking at me with some level of fear.

She sighed as she adjusted her helmet. "Those, those would be Timberwolves,

"Shit," I concluded. "I didn't think they would actually be made of fucking wood!"

My rifle wouldn't do much good if they consisted entirely of wood, then again maybe it would these being magic creatures I had no idea.

The scraping and cracking quickly intensified as more and more cracks began to appear in the shield becoming clear that our dome wouldn't last much longer.

"Seargent! Reinforce the shield!" Astra yelled to her fellow ranger across the clearing fear now overcoming her. Clearly she didn't think we were a match for these Timberwolves which wasn't giving me much confidence.

Vesper was once again pouring magic into the shield wall causing some cracks to dissipate. "What do you think I'm doing!" He yelled back his voice becoming strained.

"No, Seargent stop feeding the shield and save your energy!" I ordered.

"Are you INSANE!" Astra practically screamed in my ear. "You're going to get us all killed!"

"Calm yourself, Corporal, you're a ranger and you're not going to get through this if you keep screaming," I said back in a much calmer tone.

As Astra's breathing calmed slightly I tried to quickly measure the rate at which the cracks were increasing before turning to both of my bodyguards. "The shield is only acting as a stopgap, if these predators are like the ones back on Earth then I doubt they're going to give up with their reward so close. Better off three against four than two against four, we need to keep the Seargent in the fight with us," I concluded trying to explain my plan as best I could in the little time I had.

Looking over to Vesper I called out. "Once the shield collapses I'm gonna need you to do some magic or something!"

Vesper looked slightly confused but nodded nonetheless.

BANG!

Another large crack appeared on the shield causing us all to flinch slightly. "Corporal, you guys are the resident experts here, what is the weak point on these things?" I asked.

Astra peered out from behind the rock as if trying to make a sudden assessment. "Corporal! What are the weak points?"

"Th, The eyes and legs are our best bet to immobilise them, sir," she responded.

"Alright, good enough for me, now get ready!" I shouted to them both as they unsheathed their swords from their hilts.

With one last resounding crash the shield appeared to fragment into thousands of tiny pieces of glass, I was worried that the shards would impact us on the floor of the clearing. However, my fears were apparently unfounded as the shards simply evaporated like snowflakes upon touching the ground.

With the shield now gone the wolfs green eyes were the only clear thing, the ponies could reasonably see. Luckily despite its flaws, the Night Vision still held up to its name providing me with a better view of the battlefield.

The four wolfs had begun to spread out just behind the tree line snarling and barking as they did so, most likely to intimate us. The tactic was similar to an ancient Zulu war trick that was performed against the British Army centuries earlier. Though I knew what their game plan was it still succeeded in being intimidating.

Their intimidation tactic, however, would only serve as their downfall as I slowly unclipped my second last flashbang trying not to draw any attention towards myself (although in hindsight that comment seems rather foolish).

As the wolves now began to push their muzzles through the tree line to test if the shield was still there I gave one cursory glance to the two guards before quickly pulling the pin.

"Cover your eyes and ears, stun out!" I yelled as loud as possible before lobbing the grenade into the clearing.

Both the ponies and I ducked down closing my eyes and waiting for the explosion to come.

The wolfs burst through the treeline and into the clearing with the intent to kill barking and yelping as they ran.

BANG!

The stun grenade erupted in towards the edge of the clearing causing a loud popping bang to emanate from the area. As the initial blindness came over the beasts I could hear they're howling seemingly amplified by the explosion.

As I opened my eyes I caught a glimpse of the two guards beside me, they were still ducked down with their eyes glued shut and their ears pinned against their heads. They seemed to be trembling in pain at the sudden explosion. I stopped.

I hadn't even considered their larger ears and probably greater hearing.

As I glanced to my left I saw Golden who appeared to be in a similar state as I cursed myself out internally.

Not having time to dwell upon my reckless error I pulled my rifle up to face the wolves and began firing burst rounds.

Crack Crack Crack, Crack Crack Crack

I quickly fired two bursts towards the first wolfs head. As expected the 5.56mm rounds impacted on the wooden surface with incredible force causing small splinters to erupt as if they were old navy ships being hit by cannonballs.

One of the shots managed to clip the side of the first wolfs eye causing it to howl in pain as the other wolves followed suit.

All four wolfs were still blinded by the effects of the stun grenade and were pretty much-sitting ducks waiting to be put down.

Crack Crack Crack

Following up my first volley I sent another burst towards the wold with all three bullets making their targets as the wolf was knocked back by the impact of the rounds.

At this point, Vesper appeared to have slightly recovered as he was now shooting straight fucking beams from his horn. If we weren't in a life or death situation I would've considered that pretty fucking cool.

Many of his shots appeared to miss their target with the mana making hard contact with the trees on the edge of the clearing. Vesper was obviously suffering from the after-effects of the stun grenade, however, right now it was the only thing that was giving us a fighting chance as I continued to fire.

After a few more shots the wolf I had been firing at slumped to the grown as the green from its eyes poured out onto the forest floor.

'One down, three more to go' I thought to myself boosting my own morale in the process.

Astra was still suffering heavily from the stun grenade and Golden was in no position to fight back, therefore it was left to me and Vesper to hold the wafer-thin line against evil.

Suddenly and without warning two of the wolves broke off from the main group heading directly towards Vesper (clearing being attracted by the beams from his horn). Changing the targets I began firing multiple rounds into the wolves approaching him however the bullets had little to no effect on the wolves strongly armoured backsides.

Vesper, clearly getting desperate began to fire off beams in quick succession with one eventually catching one of the advancing wolves in the eye causing it to squeal before dropping to the ground, motionless. However, the second wolf didn't halt and without warning lept onto Vesper pinning him against the rocks causing him to now cry out in pain as the wooden claws began to tear through his armour into his flesh.

Realising the danger he was now in I quickly moved to intercept raising my rifle to fire off the last rounds from my clip. However, before I could even get a shot off I was thrown clean off my feet by the other remaining wolf.

I landed several feet across the clearing with my rifle being thrown about only being left attached me by the thick strap.

"Ugh, shit!" I cried out as I rolled over trying to ignore the pain the best I could.

The wolf quickly followed up with another attack, thinking quickly I pulled my Glock out of its holster aiming it directly at the wolfs forehead.

Fate apparently wasn't on my side as the wolf quickly pounced knocking the Glock out of my grip before I could even get a shot off.

The wooden claws pinned me down as pain erupted in both my shoulders as the claws began to dig into my own body.

The situation had gotten dire as I was totally immobilised by the wolf digging into me. I could hear the cries being made by Vesper across the clearing, clearly, he was in a worst state than I was. I tried to push myself up, however this only served to make things worse as the claws sunk much deeper than before causing me to yell out in agony.

'Fuck Fuck Fuck!' I screamed internally not being able to muster the words out through my mouth. I had been stupid and now we were all going to die because of my fucking mistakes.

'Craack!'

Like magic, the massive weight pressing down on me was lifted which was quickly accompanied by a blast air allowing a fresh breeze to hit my face for the first time since the battle had started blowing some of the blood and sweat away.

I was far too weak to move, however, I could hear more yelling and shouting followed quickly by the howling cry of a wolf.

After a moment however the sound vanished as if the voices themselves were sucked out into an empty vacuum, now all that could be heard was the natural sounds of the forest and some very laboured breathing.

From my left side, I could hear hoofsteps hitting off of the hard forest floor approaching me.

I tried to turn my head only to be stopped by a wave of sharp pain which dulled my senses somewhat as my brain went into overdrive.

My eyes started to feel heavier and heavier despite my best efforts to stay awake. Slowly the world got dark as I lay motionless on the forest floor amongst a sea of dead logs.

---

White Tail Woods
Equstria, San Prancisolt
August 2nd 1000
2010

"By Celestia! Look at it! Look what it did!"

"I know, quickly we need to get out of here in case any more decide to show up!"

Author's Note:

Another day another update and at 50,000 Words NO LESS!!!
Despite being locked up indoors quartine does allow me to write far more often which I suppose is a good thing for fans of this story.

This is one of my first experiences of writing a true battle scene in Equestria, it might not be the best in the world so any constructive criticism would always be appreciated in this regard.

Now the question remains, who saved our heroes and where will they end up.
Stay tuned!

Comments

[DovahkiinMaster]

I can't wait till the next update. :)

[TheScotsman]

10255725
Glad to hear it mate.

[Miles Skywalker]

Realising the danger he was now in I quickly moved to intercept raising my rifle to fire off the last rounds from my clip.

.....
Boi, you're lucky I can't reach through this screen and slap the shit out of you. No military personnel calls them "clips." They are designated as a magazine. If you want to get really technical, they are known as a removable box magazine.

An easy way to remember the difference is that clips are just pieces of metal that just hold cartridges, and a magazine has a spring that pushes the cartridges into the action of the firearm.

Clips are static and require an outside force, magazines do not.

[TheScotsman]

Hello everyone.

Sorry for the lack of updates however several members of my family including myself have been dealing with an illness which at this point needs no name.
I don’t know when they’ll be another update but I thought I’d keep you guys in the loop.
Thanks for your patience.

[Even Evil Has Standards]

10323151
You're welcome.

[Comet_Chaser]

Is this story still alive?

[Randomguy12]

Yeah this was really good

[Randomguy12]

Hopefully this isn’t dead this seemed like such a good story