Third Party

by Valuable Ashes

The Battle for Clementine Valley

A bullet whizzes through the air and it hits a changeling captain. The bullet pierces through his eye and into his brain. Any changelings nearby quickly scamper away from the dead bug. After a moment of silence I finally heard the familiar war cry of multiple changelings. With their captain gone, their numbers are disorganized and confused. They galloped through the sand with some trampling over the dead captain.

I took my chance and popped a couple more with my armor piercing rounds. With every hit, I pulled back the bolt sending spent shells off the cliff or on the rocks. Once I was out of AP rounds, I quickly switched to normal rounds. It would be harder to shoot through the shells of changelings. I have to shoot precisely in the weak parts of the shell now.

I aimed down the scope onto the nearest changeling near the town. I fired and the changeling fell to the ground. Even if he was still alive from the bullet, then he would die by his comrades trampling him. I fired on the another one but I missed. The bullet hit uselessly hit the tough helmet of a changeling.

I fired again slightly lower this time and pierced through the ear of my victim. The green blood spraying anyone in his left. I felt disheartened shooting at my race but if I stop now, This town full of ponies both innocent and have seen their fair share of war will perish under the bloodthirsty changelings. I'm sure as hell that I won't leave this town to its doom.

I focused on another one and fired. The bullet hit the underside of his neck sending him rolling to the ground spraying green blood on the dirt. The infantry has made it to near the walls of the town and are now firing on the ponies. The ponies are exchanging fire but with the changelings outnumbering them they won't be able to defend for long.

I scout around the town for any holes in the walls are any weak spots where any changelings could blow through. Seconds later, I found one over to the left part of the gate. It's a concrete wall with a large hole, two ponies wide. It was guarded with a squad of five ponies whereas the gate and the right side had a two platoons.

All five were focused on the fight towards them but failed to notice an offending changeling flying above them. I focused and aimed at him.

Their were four types of infantry that have been developed in the course of this war. One of these were the air infantry. The uniforms that the land infantry were heavy and are not suitable for flying so the air infantry are only issued their weapon, a helmet and a simplified uniform.

I shot one from the air and he fell from he sky. It landed on the firing range of the squad. One had the decency to look up and fired at any aerial changelings. While this was happening, I noticed that my killing weren't going unnoticed. Three were flying at me.

I quickly retreated and thought over my next move. If they catch me, I will be questioned and they will know that I deserted and will most likely kill me. Either way, even if I do go back to the hive they'll kill me as well. I ditched the CSR and backpedaled away from the cliff side.

I wielded my Colt and readied myself. Soon, three changelings flew above the cliff. I fired a couple to the nearest one. Few of the bullets merely bounced off but I got lucky and killed one. The other two charged at me. I panicked and discharge my entire clip on one of them. Three bullets clipped one of his wings and fell. With no ammo in my pistol I holstered the gun and lowered my head. I aimed my horn at the last changeling and charged at him.

The changeling fired his rifle, the bullet missing me by a inches. He fired again, this time grazing me by the shoulder before I speared him with my horn. He gasped and dropped the rifle. I picked up the rifle with my magic and aimed it at him.

BLAM BLAM BLAM

I originally aimed for his head but the recoil brought it up a notch as the last shot missed the head entirely. It was unnecessary though as the first shot to the brain killed him. A changeling groaned beside me and I shot him as well. Green blood spraying the sand and rocks. As the gunshots echoed all across the battlefield some of the aerial changelings broke off and flew to me. I quickly grabbed my CSR308 and focused on my new assailants.

BANG BANG

Two fell before one of them fired their weapon, missing me entirely. I fired but my shot never landed. My hooves kept shaking this entire time. Even though I swore to myself mere moments ago that I would defend this town, my instincts told me to back off and kill myself for killing allies.

I shook my head and pulled out the Colt and reloaded it. I kept it in my magical aura in case any of the bugs came close. I fired a round into the eye of one and he fell from the sky ending up as a mere splat of green. I fired at another but the bullet hit his left foreleg. Despite the pain that changeling was suffering, he continued on. I ended his suffering quickly as I put a well placed shot to his chest.

I reloaded my sniper rifle as fast as I could. The changelings were a few meters away from me now. I shot twice before retreating grabbing the pistol and rifle of the fallen bug beside me. When the first of the bugs came up, he was welcomed with a shot to the face. The standard changeling army rifle did not have the same punch that my CSR could do to its victims but sometimes some shots get so lucky and do more than what it could do normally.

In this case, the shot pierced through the bridge of his muzzle and came out the opposite end. He fell backwards over the cliff side, a permanent shocked expression fixed on his face before falling out of my sight. Then, another changeling appeared in front of me. Instead of the standard rifle he had an MG26. The machine gun that started out being distributed to defend core positions then became a devastating offensive weapon against the ponies.

With no time to waste, I shot at the machine gunner before he got a chance to fire. The bullet hit him in the right shoulder making him drop to machine gun and cripple him. His black horn shone a green light but stopped as I shot him again. He fell on his side all the while bleeding out.

Two more bugs appeared and one tried to take the machine gun with his magic. I retaliated by taking the machine gun for myself and fired a long burst at them both. The machine gun was louder than my CSR. My ears will be ringing for weeks but it was worth it.

The machine gun shredded both changelings before they could raise a gun. The bullet spray tore the right leg off of a changeling then his left foreleg almost met a similar fate. The foreleg was riddled with bullets and some pierced through or hit the hind legs. The other bug had his head detached from his body. The bullets slicing off his head like a sword.

The machine gun was heavier to carry so I dropped to the sand. Three more appeared over the cliff and I sprayed once more. Two of them died and fell down. Before I could fire at the last bug, the machine gun clicked indicating that it had no more ammo in it. The changeling took his chance and flew at me. I dropped the gun and brought up my Colt only to get it swatted out the way.

I faced the snarling changeling as he attempted to bite me. I rolled out of the way and jabbed at him. He staggered but went into an aggressive stance. I did the same and we stood there for several seconds. Then he ran and lunged at me. Thinking fast, I slid under him completely missing me. While he was turning around I grabbed a rifle with my magic and shot him.

Once I was completely certain that there were no more reinforcements coming to kill me, I peeked over the edge to the town below.

The ponies were not doing so well. With their snipers shot and a few front line soldiers, they had to retreat to their last defense point. A two story brick building. Fortunately, they're not under heavy fire like last time.

I raised my sniper rifle and did my best at killing the rest of the land infantry. Soon, the intense battle was over. I carried my CSR and reverted back into a changeling. Before I flew down to meet the ponies I've just saved, I looked down at my hooves.

Did I do the right thing? Did saving five platoons of ponies from their deaths worth it? I ignored those questions and flew from the cliff towards the town. Their savior needs to be known after all. I stopped a few kilometers away from town. I doubt they would trust a changeling after all that. I changed back into my pony self and trotted the entire way.

My alias is Shell Shot, and I will end this war one shot at a time.

Author's Note:

Colt = M1911 (also known as Colt... I think)
MG26 = MG42 (S2 E25-26 was "A Canterlot Wedding")
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The Changeling Army Standard Rifle consists of seven bullets. Kind of looks like the Kar98k but semi automatic. Uses a magazine instead of a clip.