Russia: May Be Your

We see only the enemy in front of us. We put all our strength into defeating them, and behold- a larger one leaves the shadows.

Warehouse 15, Sector 4, Stalliongrad Industrial Complex. August 7th, 2045. 3:14 AM

Rujy squinted at the appearing form, which solidified into a tall, black-coated pony- with both a horn and wings- wearing a small tiara. She hovered in the air for a moment before collapsing to the ground directly in front of Rujy's makeshift cover.

The Royal Guard earthpony gave a gasp of recognition and rushed forward. Rujy motioned hurriedly to the duo of gunners next to him to lower their rifles; the earthpony was only trying to help the other pony on the ground.

Half a dozen Nightguards- the remains of the guard squad- melted out of the shadows in the corners and roof of the warehouse, leaping over to help. After some hesitation, the rest of the Royal Guard squad moved forward too. Rujy guessed that the pony on the ground was Princess Luna, given her crown and her regal attire.

The Russian soldiers were less tense now, moving out of their defensive positions and rejoining their own squads. A trio of soldiers with hastily thrown-on medical helmets and their captain approached Rujy, who nodded and motioned to the limp form of Princess Luna on the ground. He accompanied the medical team as they crouched down next to Luna, ignoring one of the Nightguards who was motioning for them to get back.

"Don't worry, we're just going to check her vitals," reassured the captain, speaking with an American accent. However, the Nightguard had already started bickering with one of the Royal Guards about calling off the Royal Guard backup.

"Arrhythmic heartbeat," reported one of the medics, using a stethoscope, "but steady. Breathing is-"

The pony mumbled something indecipherable. At once, all conversation stopped, as everyone leaned in to hear what Luna was saying.

"Dusky Wings?"

One of the Nightguards bowed despite the Princess's eyes being closed. "Your Highness, Sergeant Dusky was injured. She was evacuated by Corporal Moonlit."

"She said there was-"

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to stay still. And can the rest of you stand back?" The medical captain was getting slightly frustrated at having to dodge around the ponies in his effort to check Luna's condition. Rujy motioned to the soldiers gathering around them to stay back.

The Nightguard Corporal narrowed his eyes at the syringe one of the medics was preparing. "What's in that? And there's no need for any medical attention, Her Highness is simply tired from teleporting."

"It is just an adrenaline shot. It should wake up Her Highness without causing any harmful effects," explained the medical captain.

"...more humans, fantastic," mumbled Luna as she tried to stand up. The Nightguard Corporal forced her down gently.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, the humans are just going to give you an 'adrenaline shot'."

"Can't we just use magic on Princess Luna?" demanded the Royal Guard unicorn supremacist. "Surely you don't trust these aliens after they kil-"

He stopped speaking with a horrified expression. Rujy and the rest of the Russians stared blankly in confusion as the Nightguards suddenly became tense, readying their weapons and forming a semi-circle around Princess Luna- not against the Russians, but against the Royal Guard.

Does this have something to do with how tense the Nightguard captain was earlier?

The Nightguard Corporal opened his muzzle to say something, but was interrupted by the medic with the adrenaline syringe.

"No time to wait, you'll have to fight later." He plunged the syringe into Princess Luna's neck and pushed the slider.

Thunder boomed through the room, lightning flashing out of nowhere. The whole group was blown backwards- the Royal Guard and Nightguard towards the hole in the warehouse door, and Rujy, the medics, and the duo of soldiers towards the empty corner.

Lieutenant Colonel Rujy lifted his head from the floor to see a pony form floating in the air. It was like Princess Luna, but not quite- she had glowing eyes with slitted pupils, her horn, mane, tail, and black wings appeared to have a black landscape with an uncountable number of stars in them that shifted as the mane and tail swayed in the wind- indoors.

Not-Luna turned her head, taking in the pile of confused ponies in the doorway, hundreds of Russian soldiers scattered across the warehouse, all armed, and finally the small group of soldiers with Rujy. She smiled, just a little at first before bursting into a cackling laugh.

"Oh, I see dear old Luna was playing two-face. If I didn't know better I'd say she was actually doing her job as monarch, for once." The pony spoke with a smooth, yet cold and haughty voice. "Alright then, I have places to be, things to set into action. Off with you, pathetic mortals." She raised a hoof upwards.

Out of nowhere, similarly to how the Nightguards had appeared, about three dozen ponies melted out of shadows- pitch-black and featureless, the edges of their forms waving slightly like the haze coming off a hot road. Half of them quickly surrounded the ponies on the ground, who nodded at each other and formed a defensive circle. The other half sped across the warehouse to Rujy and his squad.

"Hey, kid!" Shouted one of the Russians across the room. Rujy looked over to see the Russians still holding position, confused. It was Captain Artimey speaking. "Shoot the bad ponies?"

Rujy drew a pistol from his belt, dragging one of the soldiers next to him up. "Get ready to defend." To Artimey he shouted, "Yes, shoot the void ponies! Try not to hit the Royal Guard and Nightguard."

He kicked over the table in front of him, tripping a void pony that was charging their little defensive position. He put the pistol to the void pony's head, hesitating when it turned its head as if looking him in the eyes.

It kicked Rujy's legs, dropping him to the floor, but was quickly put down by several shots from a rifle. Although the bullets simply passed through the wispy smoke-like body of the pony, it faded and disappeared almost instantly.

Rujy was helped up by one of the two soldiers- a Private. The other one, a Private First Class, was firing over the table. The medic trio was dragging over nearby cabinets and tables, forming a sort of perimeter in their corner of the room; Rujy realised they had no weapons to use.

He peeked over the table himself. The Russians were still largely confused, although some were listening to Captain Artimey's orders and firing at the rapidly increasing swarm of void ponies. There were unicorns, earthponies, and pegasi, which flew above head and caused even more panic and confusion.

Not-Luna had fallen silent, a grimace on her face as she hovered above the floor in front of the doorway. Although none of the soldiers were firing directly at her, stray bullets revealed an invisible shield which flashed white and simply absorbed bullets when struck. Evidently, Not-Luna wasn't going to be easy to take down, but they'd have to do something about her to stop the flood of void ponies.

The Royal Guard and Nightguard had apparently set aside their tension and were now working together efficiently, holding their own against void ponies of about the same number.

Rujy turned his attention back to their own situation. Both of the soldiers were concentrating on the ground forces storming them, quickly closing the short distance between Not-Luna and the corner of the warehouse. He glanced up, relieved to see that the soldiers up on the catwalk were easily taking down any pegasi that dared fly close.

"Sir, we have a radio. Frequency is already set." The medic captain handed Rujy a small walkie talkie. He passed the medic captain the pistol and ducked behind one of the tables. The sound of gunfire was deafening- shots rang out continuously, the flashes lighting up the warehouse even as the heavy duty lights were hit by stray bullets or flashes of magic and went out.

Rujy spoke into the radio, which was entirely silent. "Blue Fang, do you read me? This is Alpha."

The walkie talkie buzzed to life with the voice of a young man. "Lieutenant Colonel? Who's Blue Fang?"

Rujy sighed. "Give it to Dedushka, please." He heard the radio change hands, still transmitting.

"Blue Fang speaking."

"It's Alpha. What is the situation?"

A thoughtful hum sounded through the radio. "I have organised the men. We are holding for now, but the numbers of the enemy keep increasing. Three men incapacitated and two dozen injured, but still able to fight. The enemy unicorns are giving us trouble, they keep firing laser beams from their horns. Should we exfil you? Over."

Rujy glanced over again to the soldiers. The medic captain had run out of ammunition, while the two soldiers were firing much more carefully to conserve ammo. "That would be appreciated, yes. I think we can hold for a couple more minutes. Where is Captain Rolan?"

"I don't know. I have not seen him and his squad since the fighting began- hold on, have to deal with this." The walkie-talkie shut off.

Ofcourse Captain Rolan disappears when we need him the most.

With an annoyed grunt, Rujy crawled over to where the medics were huddling, keeping his head down to avoid random bursts of light from over the cover. One of them had a combat knife, while the other held a scalpel with trembling hands. Rujy held out his hand for the knife while checking above them for any pegasi. The medic handed it over reluctantly.

"First time, eh?"

"Yes, sir!" replied the younger medic, holding the scalpel.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. You two stay here, watch out for pegasi. Stay calm and you'll get out of this," Rujy reassured them. He only half-believed it himself, but the effect was immediate; the medics' expressions changed from terrified to determined, and they saluted from their crouched positions.

Rujy turned to the soldiers and medic captain. The captain was folding bandages around his arm, which had somehow been badly burnt. The Private looked desperately to the Lieutenant Colonel. "Two magazines left, sir."

"Focus on the battle, Private. Medic, what's your name?"

"Sergeant Alekzander. Got hit by a unicorn beam." The medic shook his head with an insane grin. "Never thought I'd say that in my life."

"Get back to the other medics, Sergeant, they could use some experienced company. Try to look for a way out of here. We have to regroup with the rest of the Volki."

"Roger." Alekzander finished bandaging his arm, standing up slightly from behind their cover to move over to the medics.

It was a costly mistake. A black spire flew over the table, puncturing Alekzander through the chest. He collapsed and skidded over the floor to the horrified medics.

Rujy winced, glancing upwards at Not-Luna, who was hovering in the air almost directly above them, a strained but victorious smirk on her face.

"I have you now, Lieutenant Colonel. My forces are already overwhelming your-" The pony yawned widely. "Wow, uhh... as I was..." With another yawn, the pony collapsed onto the floor behind their cover, fast asleep. A... rainbow coloured spiral appeared around Not-Luna, hiding her from view for a few minutes before it disappeared to reveal Princess Luna, unconscious again.

The Corporal took this opportunity and put his gun to Luna's head, finger on the trigger. He glanced at Rujy for approval, who hesitated. The Nightguard had trusted this pony, and yet they were fighting against her... could this have something to do with the adrenaline shot? Did they really want to risk a battle with the evidently extensive Nightguard and perhaps even the changelings?

Before he could make a decision, however, a batpony in Nightguard armour flew over the table, kicking the Corporal's gun out of his hands. The batpony was unarmed but stood defensively in front of Princess Luna, her front hooves raised in a combat stance. Without thinking, Rujy tried to punch her straight in the muzzle, but the Nigthguard ducked and tripped up his feet with surprising agility given her armour.

He dashed backwards, avoiding the hoof aimed straight for his head. The Private trained his rifle on the Nightguard, but was hit in the head by the hoof of a void pegasi swooping down from above, and knocked down. Rujy slashed his knife into the pony. There was no resistance as the smoke parted way, and the knife struck the floor. The pegasus disappeared.

The Corporal and Private leapt up from the floor, pointing their rifles directly at the Nightguard, who growled back threateningly. Luna was still out cold on the ground.

Rujy glanced over to the medic team. They were busy treating the medic captain, although he appeared to be dead, with the spike still embedded in his ribcage.

His unspoken question of why they weren't being attacked by void ponies was answered when he stood and saw the Nightguards and Royal Guards fighting off void ponies directly in front of the defensive position, using their medieval swords, sharp spikes on their wings, and the occasional burst of magic from the unicorn.

The ponies were too busy fighting to see the drama taking place with their fellow Nightguard.

Rujy stood up straight, narrowly avoiding a stray, pitch-black beam of light, and dusted off his uniform. He struck what he hoped was a menacing pose, and strolled dramatically over to the Nightguard.

"Now then. Explain, please."

The Nightguard narrowed her eyes. "I will not let you hurt Her Highness."

"Fine. We will not hurt Her Highness, but we still need answers. Like for example-" he glanced towards the chaotic fighting- "What the HELL is happening?"

The Nightguard hesitated before replying defensively, "I don't know, ask your med-" She took in the medics desperately trying to stop the endless amounts of blood flowing from the medic captain. "Well, it must have something to do with that 'adrenaline shot'. None of this was Her Highness' fault."

Rujy sighed. It was evident that the Nightguard was lying about not knowing what was happening, but there was some merit to the theory that the adrenaline shot had something to do with this. After all, they had little idea what effect their drugs had on the ponies.

He motioned for the Corporal and Private to lower their rifles. "Are you sure Princess Luna won't go berserk the moment she wakes up?"

The Nightguard just shook her head. "We have to protect Her Highness until we can clear out these void ponies. Although... I think more are appearing, somehow."

She was right. Void ponies continued melting out of shadows, with more places to appear from now that most of the lights were out. The Russians were being beaten back, forced to retreat and tighten their perimeter to avoid being ambushed.

"Then how are we supposed to deal with them?" asked Rujy. "Do you ponies have a plan?"

The Nightguard shrugged. "We can hold over here."

"I need to regroup with the main force, and get Sergeant Alekzander medical attention."

"Sergeant Alekzander?"

"The medic on the ground." Rujy nodded towards the medic trio. They had stopped the bleeding, but Rujy couldn't see what they were doing now.

"Oh, yeah, we can fix him up. Oy, Vinci!"

The unicorn in question was panting heavily from the effort of maintaining a large magic shield that blocked the near-endless stream of bursts of magic power from the void unicorns. "Busy, batpony!"

"This human needs healing, I'll cover for you."

With a deep, dramatic sigh, the unicorn disabled his shield and leapt over the cover. "Go on, deflect those magic beams with your fangs."

The Nightguard hmphed, drawing a pair of knives from her saddlebags. "Just go do your thing." She joined the other ponies, hacking and slashing at any void ponies that drew near.

The two Russian soldiers turned their attention to the sky, picking off pegasi that got past the ponies. Rujy watched warily as the unicorn spoke to their medics and pressed the transmit button on the walkie-talkie.

"Dedushka, what is your status? We're secure here."

"We have pulled back and lost the catwalks. Trying our best to defend the armoury and medical bay. No sign of Rolan, he may have deserted."

Rujy cursed to himself. "Can you hold?"

"Unlikely, we have to choose between losing men and losing the armoury. The demoliton team is preparing to blow through the wall in case we need to retreat."

They couldn't afford to lose troops here- not when there was no way to receive reinforcements, no help arriving ever.

"Prepare to evacuate the woun-"

Heavy gunfire rattled through the warehouse, drowning out the sound of rifles firing. Artimey laughed with relief through the radio.

"Captain Rolan is back!"

Rujy climbed onto a cabinet to get a better view of the Russian main force. The four Mauler IFVs had reinforced the Russian perimeter, machineguns churning out hundreds of rounds which mowed down dozens of void earthponies. Unicorn beams struck their heavy armour to no effect.

The grey-tan uniform of Captain Rolan was clearly visible as he gave orders from atop one of the Maulers. One of the soldiers passed him an object.

"Where are you, Lieutenant Colonel? The men need you." Captain Rolan sounded genuine for once.

"We're stuck with the ponies, trying to protect Princess Luna."

"Roger. Sending a Mauler to evacuate you."

"I do not need evacuation!" replied Rujy indignantly, but Rolan didn't respond. He hopped off the cabinet, ducking to avoid another beam of magic from over the cover.

"Ponies! A Mauler is coming to aid, don't fire on it."

"A Mauler?" asked the earthpony Royal Guard, but Rujy didn't spare time to respond, trusting that one of his soldiers would explain. Instead he went to check on the medics.

The medics were no longer attending Alekzander, who was unconscious but breathing normally. The rip in his uniform revealed fresh skin rather than a gaping wound. The Royal Guard unicorn was looking extremely smug as he spoke to the two medics.

"Oh, it's just a bit of magic. Very helpful, isn't it? Too bad you two were born as-"

"I don't see you doing anything while your comrades are fighting, Royal Guard," commented Rujy drily.

The unicorn gave him a glance before stomping off to rejoin the battle. The two medics rushed to Rujy.

"Lieutenant Colonel, he saved Sergeant Alekzander! Just like that!"

"If we had just one unicorn on our side, we'd be winning the war!"

Rujy smiled at the excitement and hope in their eyes, but shook his head. "Let's get out of here alive before winning any wars. Get ready to evacuate the Sergeant, a Mauler is coming to get us out of here." The medics saluted and busied themselves in checking whether the Sergeant could be moved safely.

Rujy glanced down at a small object on the floor; the pistol that the medic captain had dropped. He picked it up and checked the chamber. There was one bullet left, strangely.

He pocketed the pistol.

Behind him, the Mauler had stopped directly in the center of the semi-circle of ponies. The hatch opened and three VDV troopers deployed, rifles ready. Their Sergeant spotted Rujy and marched over stiffly to him, saluting.

"Lieutenant Colonel! We are ready to exfiltrate. How many are we carrying?"

"Six, one unconscious." Rujy wasn't impressed by the VDV Sergeant's thick Old Russian accent.

"It'll be a tight fit, but we shall overcome the difficulties. For Russia!"

"Yes, yes. Help the medics load their captain onto the transport."

"Very well."

The Nightguard Corporal dashed back from the perimeter to Rujy. "Hold on, you can use your vehicle to help us evacuate Her Highness."

"Your soldier told me you can hold."

"We can't hold forever, and the Royal Guard backup is delayed." The Nightguard lowered his voice. "Listen, we can't let the Royal Guard get their hands on Princess Luna. Please. Help us get her out, then Sergeant Dusky will explain everything."

Rujy stared back. It was becoming increasingly evident that there was information being kept from him. The Royal Guard and Nightguard disliked each other, and the Nightguard was trying to protect- or kidnap- their Princess, who had just summoned creatures to kill all of them.

"Well... fine," he agreed hesitantly. "Where can we take her, though?"

"We'll worry about that. Just get us out of the warehouse, it seems completely clear of void ponies outside."

"We can't take everyone inside the Mauler at once. We have to fight our way out," Rujy decided. "Load the Princess into the Mauler, and ready your troops."

There was a sudden explosion nearby. Rujy looked over to see flames licking the edge of a huge hole in the wall behind them, steel girders, wires, and pipes now exposed.

"On second thought..."

???. August 7th, 2045. 8:15 A.M

"How much longer does this damn forest go on for?" complained the Blackbear gunner, flicking through the pictures in his camera. Every shot of the trees looked exactly the same, and he was becoming convinced that they were walking in a circle.

The whole crew, aside from the driver, was sat atop the Blackbear. It drove carefully down the dirt path, just barely scraping the edges of the trees which crowded in on both sides. Every so often, they passed evidence that the Volki had been there: ration wrappers, bloodied bandages, and even an abandoned rifle that looked as though it had been run over by a heavy vehicle.

As if on cue, the path took a sudden curve and widened out to reveal a golden, sandy beach. There was a broken husk of a Russian military cargo plane lying along it, a huge rip in the fuselage. More planes dotted the sea close by, as well as the occasional fighter jet half-submerged in the water.

Debris littered the ground everywhere- trash, broken parts, various belongings. The Blackbear Captain hopped off and raised the binoculars to his eyes.

The cargo planes were anchored in place, but there was no one onboard them. He cursed to himself.

"They were here, but much, much earlier."

Author's Note:

Sorry this is a day late! I finished the chapter earlier but didn't have the chance to upload it till now because of connection issues.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the horribly written combat.

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JcPlaty022

JcPlaty022 #1 · Jun 19th, 2023 · · ·

You're combat writing ✍️ wasn't bad

BurgerFanMan

BurgerFanMan #2 · Jun 20th, 2023 · · ·

11614701
Aw, thanks. It felt a bit tough writing from the perspective of a commander rather than a soldier, and definitely much harder when rifles are at play rather than awesome ninja-sword-fighting-stuff