Desolate Fort
The raider counted the trees, again. Watch Shift was bullshit, nothing ever happens. The last thing that showed itself was some weird colourful flying animal. The guy on watch shot it down and threw it on the spit. Might have looked weird, but it tasted alright.
Nearby on the ruined walls was another raider, also keeping an eye out. In the raider's hands was a packet of cigarettes, and his cravings have been getting worse. he hefted his rifle and walked over.
"Hey, pass me one of those," The raiders told the other.
"Fuck off," Was the response.
"Hey, was just asking. You seen anything?"
"I haven't seen shit."
"Why the fuck are we up here? Nothing ever happens."
"We here because the boss fucking said so, so shut up and keep looking."
Clearly not going to get his hit, the raider looked to the tree line. He could smell the smoke as the other raider lit one. The only thing to see was the fog moving in. The smell was getting to him.
"Come on, just the one."
"What part of shutting up didn't you understand?"
"Where did you even get those, I thought the boss took them all."
"Yeah, and he gave me a pack"
"What, why?"
"Cause I can shut up and keep a lookout."
The raider didn't bother responding, seeing as it was going nowhere. Instead, he watched the fog roll in. It was rolling in fast.
Suddenly from the fog was a glint of light. Then another somewhere else in the fog. The raider nudged the man next to him.
"Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"Over there!"
The two watched enthralled as suddenly the fog exploded outwards, covering the entire ground outside the fort.
"What the fuck..." The Raider said aloud.
His confusion turned to startlement as thunder crashed ahead, dark clouds rolling overhead.
Each of them began taking steps back as darkness engulfed the ground beneath them, the clouds blotting out the sun. They covered their faces with both arms as the wind picked up.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Multiple raiders could be heard rushing up onto the walls to figure our what was happening, yet the sounds of their footsteps were blocked out by a booming sinister laugh.
"HA HAHAHAHAA... FOOLS!"
The Woman's voice seems to echo from everywhere.
"Did You Interlopers Really Think This World Was So Defenceless? That You Would Face No Reckoning For Your Crimes? Now You Will Pay For Your Transgression! We Are Your Reckoning... We Are-"
From the fog in the middle of the field came a shapeless void, Like storm clouds rising from the ground. The giant plume rose and gave form, similar to the creatures they had hunted before. Yet it stood above the height of the wall, its horn and wings nearly reaching the treetops. Its pitch-black fur was only interrupted by what looked like armour, deep blue in colour. The shapeless void remained in what seemed to be its hair. Jagged teeth and slit irises could just be made out from this distance. A Monster.
"NIGHTMARE MOON!"
Thunder crashed from above.
"We are your reckoning, seriously? And I thought the silver shroud was bad..." Nate ideally commented to Twilight.
"She may be laying it on a bit thick, And Nightmare Moon didn't use Nosism" Twilight clinically critiqued back.
"Nosism?" Nate asked for clarity.
"The Royal 'WE' " Twilight simplified.
"Wait, She does that, but Nightmare Moon didn't? Getting some real split personality feelings here." Nate replied, with the last part under his breath.
"At least she's enjoying herself, I wasn't sure she would agree to it all things considered." Bermused Twilight.
"What happened exactly?" Nate asked.
As Twilight opened her mouth to respond, the sound of bullets zipping nearby snapped both of their attention.
At the far end of the clearing, flashes could be seen across the fort's walls. more and more flashes appeared as more raiders shot at the illusion.
Luna Laughed absurdly in front of the mirror, which in turn made the Large illusion laugh menacingly.
"HAHAHA. It Barely tickles!" Luna Announced.
"Do you think she would be saying that if they were actually aiming at her?" Nate jested as he looked down at Twilight.
"At least we know it's working," Twilight commented as she looked back over to see the fort walls lit up with multiple small flashes."
Thunderous fire could be heard from the front of the fort, as the assault team hid in the tree line to the side of the fort. From here, John could see the massive illusion standing in the clearing and wondered how long it would take for something to go wrong.
"Sit tight, we don't move till those guns do," Rapid Fire ordered the group.
"What if they don't?" one Stallion asked.
"Then we move anyway"
At the rear of the fort, a small team snuck up to the walls. Running parallel, they reached a large drain pipe, with an iron gate covering the way.
"Showtime digits." Battle Bowler told Six.
Six got to work, taking out his pins and screw drive. The lock was more archaic than the others he had practised on, the pins were heavier and the hole wider. The seconds passed as he tried each pin separately.
John waited against a tree as the performance continued. Occasionally, Unicorns would throw a fireball at the walls, making it look like the oversized image of Nightmare Moon had cast it. leaning back and looking over, John commented idlely to Rapid Fire.
"Turns out they did have machine guns, and ammo to waste. I wonder where they got that hardware."
"I'm just glad one of you brought up the guns part before. Are you sure where safe here?" Rapid Fire asked as she further lowered herself out of the way.
"As long as they are shooting at that, they're not looking for us," John answered back.
As if Lady Luck herself had heard him, the large illusion fizzled out.
John shot off the tree in surprise as the gunshots stopped.
"Well... the guns stopped." Rapid Fire commented. Drawing John's deadpan gaze.
In the silence, The group heard the raiders shouting something. When they looked back at the walls, Raiders were pointing in their direction. John dived at Rapid Fire, bringing them both to the ground as the raiders chose to shoot at them.
Ponies swarmed into action once the reality hit them that the illusion had stopped. It didn't take long for Nate to find the cause. A single high-caliber round had struck the mirror projecting the illusion onto the field, leaving a massive hole in the frame. He didn't know if it had been a stray bullet, or if someone had managed to see the mirror, but now the guns of the raiders pelted down to the side of the fort.
"What happened!?" Luna demanded as she marched away from her mirror.
"The mirror, the was hit!" One Pegasus answered.
"They're attacking the assault team!" An earth pony alerted.
"We must draw their ire!" Luna Commanded.
"We're too far away to accurately hit anything." A unicorn replied.
"Then We shall go." Luna countered.
"If they can shoot this far, they could pick you off before you even land anything," Nate added.
"So we can do nothing?" Luna scoffed.
"Not unless you can fire at something you can't see," Nate responded.
Luna was visibly angered at the situation.
"This is lunacy! We are helpless, all while our potential benefactors watch!" Luna stopped mid-rant to look up at the mirrors showing Equestria's elite the show.
"The Mirrors! Twilight, We Require your aid." Luna raced back to her original station, with Twilight galloping off with her.
Not wanting to just stand around, Nate followed suit. The brisk run was short enough that Nate caught the beginning of the conversation.
"Twilight, Can you connect this mirror back with all the others, then flip this mirror to receive and the others to send?" Luna asked.
"Maybe, why?" Twilight asked.
"We cannot attack because we will be at risk if we are seen, But we don't need to BE seen. What if we were to use the mirrors as our weapon?" Luna hinted.
Twilight's eyes grew with astonishment.
"That's Genius!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I don't understand, are you planning to use them as a periscope?" Nate asked.
"Think of the mirrors as doors connected by magic, they don't just show an image of the user, they are seeing the actual user. Normally the connection is too weak to allow anything more than light to pass through, but with sufficient power, we can use them as openings. With so many mirrors connected to one, it wouldn't be possible to send through any physical object, but magic? Sure, each spell would be weakened by the division, but with enough low-level spells..." Twilight left the insinuation in the air.
"That's, Incredible," Nate stated. taken aback by the sheer possibility of it.
"There are many things magic can do, General, it is only a matter of one's imagination," Luna advised him, a proud smile on her face.
"However I don't know how long the mirrors will last, That much magic could shatter them." Twilight mused.
"Better that we break them and buy our ponies time, than nothing at all." declared.
"What's taking so long?!" Battle Bowler barked at the courier, who had been messing with the lock for far too long now.
"The pins, one of them isn't biting." Six remarked, continuing to mess with the lock.
"Well, we're running out of time. We need it open now!" Battle Bowler demanded.
"Wait, wait..." Six said aloud.
After a moment, a loud clank was heard.
"Got it!" Six declared, so sure of himself.
He got back up to his feet and moved to the side of the pipe. With an over-exaggerated gesture to the door and a smirk on his face, he pushed on the gate. When the door failed to open, he tried again. Battle bowler came up beside Six and looked up at the man as he now threw himself at the gate.
"Well?" He asked.
"It's stuck!"
Bullets continued to chew at the tree John was using for cover. A stray bullet zipped past and hit one of the ponies in the head, killing them instantly.
"Fuck!" John shouted, He knew this was doomed from the start. Now they would all die for nothing.
No, he had not survived this long to die hiding. Unholstering his Laser rifle, John flicked the switch to turn it on. He would take at least one of these bastard with him.
Celestia could only watch as the chaos unfolded. While most of the guests didn't have a clue what was happening, Celestia understood the principles of the plan. While it looked as if the fort was attacking in some random direction, it was evident to her that one of Luna's teams had been caught and was stuck.
Suddenly the mirror that was being used as the display began to glow. Everyone watched as unannounced the image of the battlefield was replaced by one of Luna, without her disguise. Her sister began to talk through the mirror.
"Apologies for the change in plan, Sister. We must commandeer the mirror system. We advise you to disable your mirror, Now." Luna stated.
Celestia was as equally confused as the rest of the ponies in the stand, however, that confusion was cleared up as Luna Pointed her horn at the mirror and began to cast a spell. Now taking the chance, Celestia burst into the air from the stand and shot the mirror with magic. The mirror shattered into pieces just as the first of Luna's shots came through. Thankfully the only casualty was a horderves tray being carried by one of her staff, to the misery of the noble who had been grazing it.
With the show over, Celestia decided to intervene before things got out of hand.
John had unholstered his laser rifle and flipped the on switch. After shaking off any lingering regrets, he jumped out of cover. However, he nearly dropped his rifle at the sight of hundreds of blue bolts crashing into the side of the fort.
"It won't budge." Six affirmed after trying for the umpteenth time to force the gate open.
"Well, we will have to force it open," one of the ponies behind him said.
"Yeah, with what? What we need is a battering ram." Battle Bowler told him.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Babbtle Bowler. Were they really that dense?
"You know, a battering ram. it's rusted, so we need to hit it hard," he explained.
He was confused, even the courier was looking at him while stroking his chin in thought.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Luna forced herself to continue as a barrage of magic shot out of her horn and into the mirror, The sheer weight of the attack had bought her ponies time, but a mirror seemed to shatter every other moment. They were down to less than half the mirrors.
"Luna!" Celestia's voice called.
Luna didn't look away from the mirror, but she knew her sister was behind her. Whether she was there to scold or help did seem to matter, as she was interrupted by Twilight.
"Where down to our last three mirrors. We need more time!"
"We're out of time!" The General shouted as the roar of the magic missiles began to die down.
"We need to give them a new target!" Luna announced back as the last mirror broke.
"Then let's give them one. Luna, Twilight, shields!"
"This is stupid" Battle Bowler commented with a deadpan.
"It's brilliant" Six shot back.
"This isn't going to work." Battle Bowler said firmly.
"Do you have a better idea?" Six asked knowingly.
"No, I do not." Battle Bowler admitted.
"Do you want your comrades to die out there?" Six further pushed.
"No, I do not." Battle Bowler answered dejectedly.
"Then believe it's going to work." Six replied.
Everypony was standing around Battle Bowler as he faced the drain pipe. They had given him enough room for a running start. After tightening the helmet on his head, Battle Bowler took a deep breath and charged with a warcry.
"For equestria!"
With an almighty crash, the green pony ploughed into the gate, taking it clean off its hinges and causing it to fall over with an even louder crash. For as small as ponies were, apparently, they hit like a truck.
everyone rushed forth to see if their squad leader was okay. His groans of pain indicated he was indeed alive.
Six decided it was as good a time as any to take charge.
"Right, you stay with him, the rest of you on me."
"Hey, when did you end up in charge?" One pony asked.
"When all of you helped me convince your superior to charge head first into an iron door. Any questions?" Six asked.
When no one spoke up, he took that as a no.
"Good, On me."
Nate had watched as the princesses had marched out onto the field. standing side by side, they had each created their own magical barrier surrounding them. The overlapping blue, purple and gold light had shone like a beacon in the clearing. Where one barrier had failed, three overlapping shields absorbed the impact of each bullet fired at it, leaving them intact on the ground as they dropped.
Yet even from here, he could see that the three princesses were struggling to move forward under the non-stop rain of bullets.
Six carefully pushed up the grate on the floor as he popped out of the opening. Upon seeing no one in the immediate area, he carefully placed it down to the side and helped the ponies up out of the sewer.
Once they were all out, they unholstered their knives and spears. The first thing Six noticed was the smell, the place reeked with dampness. The room was cold and dark, the numerous boxes and shelves gave away that they were in a store room. without a word, they made their way out.
Opening the door, Six ended up face to face with a raider who was guarding the door and had turned upon seeing it open. Before the Raider could react, Six stabbed him in the gut with a knife, then proceeded to do so over and over again. The raider slumped to the floor. The rest of the team came out after six, a little concerned about their temporary leader. As they made their way down towards the courtyard, a new smell caught Six. It smelt good, like a roasted brahmin. He could have gone for a good steak right about now, one of the few things he liked about the ultra-lux casino was their food. However, he always felt weird eating at the ultra-lux knowing that they nearly returned to being cannibals.
The sound of one of the ponies whinying alerted six to look behind him. It was obvious that something was wrong, everypony looked distressed and more than one looked green. It wasn't until they passed what to count as a kitchen around here that he saw why. hanging over a fire on a spit was the charred remains of a pony, freshly cooked. At least two ponies threw up upon seeing the roast, it seemed his ultra-lux comment may be a little closer to home for them.
"Those monsters... this is sick!" One pony seethed.
Six didn't feel like explaining the culture gap of the wasteland when there was a job to do. He did however grab the lever action shotgun sitting on a nearby table and checked to see if it was loaded. It was.
"Well, they're all still out there, why don't we say hello?"
With grim determination, the ponies followed Six to the door leading outside. Once everyone was in position, six, With thinly veiled glee, he kicked the door open.
Before the first raider could turn around, Six fired the shotgun point blank into the back of one's head. As the rest of his team came forth and the raider turned around, the fighting in the courtyard descended into bloody carnage.
John watched as raiders began to leave the wall, it seemed as if the weird idiot had done his job.
"Alright, let's move!" Rapid Fire declared, rushing forward to reach the gate.
With less gunfire pinning him down, John let loose and started picking the remains of the raiders off the wall as they were distracted by the blinding dome now moving towards them from across the field. With the rest of them falling back from he wall, The assault team reached the large wooden gate. As the team pulled the great doors open, they were treated by the sight of an impromptu machine gun nest.
"Oh, Fu-" was all John got out before the nest opened up at the gateway.
After recovering from the shock, John looked around to see who else had sidestepped over, only to find his team down to just him, Rapid Fire and two others.
"What the hay is that?!" Rapid Fire shouted in shock.
"More guns, some do that," John shouted back over the roar of the machine gun.
Six fire another round into a raider coming down from the ramparts, then another, then another. A large brute of a man then came down, from the raised office behind him. Aiming his shotgun, he squeezed the trigger, only to hear a click. Noticing the man storming towards him with brass knuckles, Six flipped the shotgun over, grabbing the still-hot barrel with his gloved hands. The Colossal man charged towards him roaring, and so the courier charged at the man with a crazed scream.
"Well how are we meant to stop it?!" one of the Ponies shouted back.
If only he had a frag explosive on him. It then occurred to him, that he had the next best thing.
"Keep in cover!" John shouted to the three ponies, who responded to his redundant suggestion with a low-effort salute.
Not wanting to take chances, John took a moment to consider how to throw the bottle. After making his best guess, He slipped out of cover for a second to throw the bottle. a new round of bullets forced him back into cover before he could see what sounded like a massive explosion, making some of the forts morter sift free. The Machine gun nest had gone silent, and with a look, John saw the effect of the bottle.
A layer of black soot completely covered the area where the Nest had been, with nothing but a constant trail of smoke being where the nest was.
"... I need more of those." John considered aloud.
Looking back as the three ponies stormed forward. John saw the three princesses had stopped moving forward, they now returned to the treeline, having bought the time needed.
John decided to follow his team to the main courtyard of the fort, where blind panic had taken over. A handful of ponies lay bleeding or dead, with the raider's numbers being at least twelve. at least four were seen throwing their arms down and putting their hands up. All the while, the courier stood in the middle of the mess. his face and blond hair were dyed red from the blood. He was holding the barrel of a shotgun with the wooden butt in splinters.. on the ground was a large raider with the remains of his head in a pulp with the rest of the butt of the gun scattered through. Upon looking down at the mulch of a man's head and then around him, Six looked to the skies and let out a holler.
"WOO!"
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