Forewarning: Bless me father for I have sinned, I futilely tried to write a chapter describing a military campaign and committed the sin of doing a piss poor job of doing it. I am by no means a tactician and will try again later to improve the quality of the military tactics used henceforth.
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Morning, Patterson opened his eyes to greet the first rays of dawn on this, what would be the final day for untold numbers of men, women and their pony counterparts. At his door was a set of combat armor, specially tailored for him. A standard infantry rifle stood as a part of the care package, courtesy of the Army. He awkwardly donned the armor, not knowing what lie ahead of him on the battlefield. Eating a quick breakfast of some of last nights heaping leftovers, he ran to join the science team's truck, which would be near the front of the column. He was not alone in his choice of attire, every man and woman he saw donned some kind of protective covering, toting whatever gun could be salvaged from the armory or from some family heirloom collection. The small radio wire chirped in his ear, a general call was being put out by the General.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we rise up from this Stronghold and sally forth to remove our aggressors from our homelands. We did not start this war, but we will end it. Using our technology, and our science and our spirit as human beings we will claim victory this day! Many of you will not survive, but know that your sacrifice was for our species, for our children and for our right to this earth. By all you hold dear, know that I will deliver us from the monsters of this nightmare in human history, that we will overcome them and reclaim our lives! All companies MOVE OUT!"
Thousands of engines roared to life, fleets of helicopters of every fighting type blackened the sky, tanks began to roll out on their thunderous tracks. 200,000 humans roared for the coming battle, having overcome their fear and now wanting to slake their thirst for blood. The last march of humanity had begun.
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Cloud Hoof awoke on his ethereal cloud home. He looked for his wife, and checked Hurricane's crib. They had gone, like he had told them to. Steeling his heart, Cloud dove to the ground where his army gathered, at the edge of the forest onto a rolling grassland. He met for one final council with the other leaders.
Cloud Hoof, clad in shining black armor, led with his speech. "My friends, my brothers, we stand today on the cusp of annihilation. But know that humanity will never forget the day that simple creatures rose up and stood united against them. When mindless animals took control of their world and shook their very souls in fear! I have known fear in the face of these monsters, and I know it is petty to feed the humans with our fear! I will never lay down my spear at the feet of a human, and I curse the pony, or the gryphon, or the dragon or dog that does. We have known nothing but hatred and cruelty from our ancient masters. But now we say no more! This day, we fight! We may not have their strength of technology, nor the shear hatred that bedecks their hearts, but I have faith in you my brothers and sisters. And faith in the world that gave us birth!"
A great cheer rose up from the leaders, then from the armies of the Earth. Their cry reached high into the sky, and dove deep into the bones of the earth. Thousands of hooves slammed the ground, gouts of fire scorched the sky, howls vibrated the very air.
Starswirl stepped forth, a look on his face of seeing a great distance. "Yes my brother, I have had a vision! The Earth Mother smiles upon us, and sends us her blessing this day!"
"Will she help in the battle?"
"She works in mysterious ways, General Cloud Hoof."
"Then tell Her to stay out of our way!" He looked back to his brethren pegasi. "My brothers! DARKEN THE SKIES!"
Wings beat and a storm of dust kicked up as thousands of pegasi took to the sky to arrange the clouds.
Brutus, leader of the Diamond Dogs, barked orders to his people to tunnel below.
Quartz and his dragons took to the trees to hide themselves from the sight of human eyes.
The pony armies led by Starswirl and White Dawn lined themselves in the treeline, shoulder to shoulder with zebra, buffalo, manticore, dog and other beasts. The clank of sword and spear on armor was a constant tempo. To the surprise of the leaders, unintelligent animals like timber wolves, Ursas and cockatrices appeared in the lines, summoned by the call of the Mother.
Cloud Hoof took to the sky, perching himself among the clouds. "Now we wait for them."
The hours were long in waiting, everypony eager to spill human blood for the sake of their future.
The sun crested at high noon, a blistering heat shone on the black armor of Cloud Hoof. Thankfully for the troops, the pegasi had made the skies around the mountain completely overcast, for more than shade of course.
Through the shimmering waves of heat, he saw something, a plume of dust on the horizon, followed by a glimmer. Grelkas joined him in dulled steel armor. "Is that it? That group there?" Being thousands of feet in the air, the pegasi had the first glimpses of the human army.
"No, those are only the forward scouts." A few seconds afterwards, many hundreds of plumes emerged from horizon, and soon the human army crawled forth, covering the plain in a black wave of metal and men stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Thickly armored machines took the front, advancing methodically, trampling anything in their way. Next came the bulk of the army, human foot soldiers and cavalrymen riding in wheeled mounts, above them flew swarms of the dreaded fliers that had plagued Cloud Hoof's people in the early days of their freedom. And finally came huge versions of the human's thunder weapons, what Cloud Hoof guessed to be artillery.
"My friend Grelkas, if you want to run or save your people, now would be the time to leave."
The gryphon king sat in awe, he could never have believed the humans could mass in such numbers, much less with that amount of firepower. "No, my people and I fight for our freedom and our honor, and there is neither in running like a scared hatchling."
On an invisible cue, the human army stopped. A single vehicle rode forth, bearing a white flag on a pole.
"What are they doing? Is that some kind of suicide mission?"
"I don't know. Let us consult Starswirl, he has read much on the human's way of war."
The pair flew down to the forest, finding the wise pony leader they asked him the significance of a white flag.
"Hmm, in times of war, humans raise a white flag for several reasons. One being that they want to surrender, hardly likely. Another being that they want to parley with us. They want to talk to our leaders, that's it! This could be a good thing, or it could be a trap."
Cloud Hoof stepped forward. "I volunteer myself."
"I may as well join you," White Dawn interjected.
"And I might as well too, being that our tribes represent the greatest force present. So be it then."
The three ponies ran forth out of the trees, Cloud Hoof staying on the ground to keep pace with Starswirl and White Dawn, who had a similar white flag gripped in her teeth. The distance melted between the two leading personnel. Reaching the jeep, roughly one mile from the relative safety of the treeline, the three pony leaders halted. Three humans exited the vehicle, one bearing the white flag.
To Cloud Hoof, the human bearing the flag looked familiar, then it hit him. "Aaron? Aaron Patterson? Is that you my friend?"
The human bearing the flag stuck it in the ground and removed his helmet to get a better look at the armored pony. "Cloud Hoof? My god, Cloud, it is you!"
Starswirl glared at Cloud. "You know this human?"
"He talked to me during my imprisonment, his kind words gave me strength and allowed me to lead the pegasi."
The middle aged human glowered at Dr Patterson, taking a step forward. "Alright my little ponies, attention front and center. Under the advice of Dr. Patterson and the insistence of General Esera, I have called you to parley."
White Dawn spit the flag from her mouth. "I have nothing to say to such a rude creature as yourself."
"Watch your tongue, I could have had you all blown into mincemeat by now, you little bitch. Only my merciful nature has gotten you this far."
Starswirl snapped in anger. "What mercy, demon!? I have watched fully half my tribe being burned alive as a part of your so called 'mercy'!"
"Can everyone just calm down for a second!" interrupted Dr Patterson. "We are here to discuss whether we can end this peacefully your,um, lordship sir."
"The name is Starswirl you two legged monkey!"
"Fine fine fine! What would it take for you and your kind to surrender peacefully?"
Cloud Hoof spoke for his fellows. "My friend, you know better than this, we cannot surrender ourselves for any price."
"I just wanted to give you the option, my friend."
General Esera spoke for the first time. "His intentions were good, but we cannot back down either, sir. Whatever happens here today results in the complete destruction of one or both of us."
"You should have been the first to speak, General Esera. You seem far wiser than either of your brethren. Perhaps had things been different, I would have liked to chat with you for a while," said Starswirl.
The decorated general cracked a slight smile. "Yes, had they been different. But since we cannot reconcile our differences or come to any agreement, I'm afraid the assault begins as soon as you reach the treeline. This parley is over."
The three humans climbed back into their vehicle and sped off for their line.
"So this is it, it has come down to this," Cloud Hoof said as the pony ambassadors turned and ran for the trees.
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Cloud Hoof took to the air, flying towards the hidden lines of pegasi hiding in the overcast sky. Landing at his command post, he looked back, the human army marched once again, the heavy machines in the front going at their full speed now. The infernal devices spat shells of flaming death that tore huge rends in the front line of the creature army. But they held position, even though they saw greater casualties every second. "Come on, just a little further you demon sons of bitches."
The advancing front was now fully under the overcast sky, large numbers of human foot soldiers now within range.
A pegasus soldier nervously awaited orders. "Sir, they are within range!"
"Not yet!" Just a little further, the tank barricade encroached on the treeline, spewing more fire and causing death with every report.
"Sir!"
"Hold it damn it!"
Inside one of the tanks, the men were cheering about how easy this assault was going. Blast away and the day would be theirs! Their euphoria became their downfall, as the ground gave way underneath the tanks. The Diamond Dog tunneling had worked perfectly, the entire front row of tanks had been consumed by the crumbling earth!
"NOW!"
"FIRE!" screamed the pegasus soldier. Lightning bolts began to streak from the sky, striking entire human units with the ferocity of nature. The screams of pain and death could be heard from the clouds, the artillery assault from heaven continued, blackening the very ground the humans walked upon. The fliers remained mostly immune to the attack.
"Signal the gryphons! Attack those fliers!" the pegasus soldier began to wave a red flag in the direction of the mountain.
Scores of gryphons rose from the trees, zooming in close to the helicopter flights. The helicopters defended themselves, firing missiles and heavy guns to fend off the gryphons, many fell, but more closed distance with the hated metal fliers. Punching through windshields to rend the pilots, breaking the tails of the helicopters and even climbing inside the open ones to throw out their human cargo the gryphons took down many a flier, but suffered for it.
Just as the pegasi pounded the ground beneath with lightning, the humans began to level the forest with their own artillery.
Starswirl maintained a position in the middle of the column, ready to strike at the sign. Something screamed from the sky above, and a weapon detonated less than 50 feet from him, showering him and his ponies with dirt and shrapnel."Hold positions!" he yelled frantically trying to hold control over the nervous ponies. More screaming things fell from the sky, landing amongst his forces, killing dozens. "Hold damn you!"
Cloud Hoof took notice of the heavy bombardment on the forest, "Private, signal the dragons! Attack enemy artillery!" The pegasus soldier frantically waved a yellow and blue flag at the forest. At least thirty fully grown dragons emerged, flying around the battle to strike the enemy artillery lines.
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"General Winters! Dragons spotted flanking western flanks sir, they appear to be going for the artillery!"
"Great, load the reserve tanks with depleted uranium shells, that should give those damn lizards something to think about."
Casualties were heavy with the first wave, all but two of the tanks had been lost and the helicopter brigades were being brought down like flies. Not to mention the fact that lightning bolts were striking ground forces, forcing them to scramble for cover.
As promised, the dragon corp circled around and formed a wedge formation to strafe the artillery. They did not see the tanks hiding in camouflage. Heavy shells burst from the hidden tanks, most missing, but several actually hit. A dragon screamed a piercing death cry and fell from the sky as a shell punched through his chest, crushing several units under him. Another dragon went down, and another, and after the first strafe the dragon corp had lost nine of its original thirty. They had succeeded in destroying the current artillery banks, but had taken heavy casualties in doing so. They retreated back to the main battlefield, to find easier targets to toast.
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"The aerial attack has stopped! Forward my brethren!" The entire army lunged forward out of the forest, screaming as they charged down the human line. Each pony and creature easily leaped the gully that had formed when the Diamond Dogs has set off their subterranean trap.
From the clouds, Cloud Hoof grabbed a quiver of spears and a sword. "Now my brothers! We fight like pegasi!" The pegasi dove from the clouds, loosing spears from their mouths and letting gravity do the work. On the ground, soldiers fought like madmen. Firing at whatever didn't walk on two legs, they did not see the spears drive into their comrades from above. The pegasi landed amongst the humans, stabbing and slicing at whatever presented itself as vulnerable. Cloud Hoof used his momentum to crush a pair of humans who stood obliviously side to side. Drawing his sword, he lunged forward and impaled another human through the back. Everywhere, humans and ponies were locked in mortal combat, some still fighting ranged, but due to the extreme close quarters, hand to hoof combat prevailed.
"You! You little fucker!" A vaguely familiar voice called to Cloud Hoof, he remembered suddenly. The angered human whose leg he had broken so many months before in the raid on his village stood only a few feet away, the corpse of a mare at his feet. He held a blooded knife in his hands, and he grinned like a predator closing in on its prey. "I have waited so long for this opportunity." He made a sudden lunge at the pegasus, who had to dodge to the left. He struck out with his sword, scoring a line of blood on the madman's leg. Around them the battle raged on. Cloud jabbed towards the madman's heart but was deflected by the knife. The madman cleverly feinted and disarmed the pegasus general, with a punch he knocked Cloud Hoof to the ground. Grabbing him by the mane, he lifted Cloud's head and whispered, "Ya know, I never did thank you for savagely crippling me. I got so much hospital pussy because you decided to ruin my life."
"Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky again." and with that Cloud rolled around and kicked with all his strength, straight to the madman's chest. Blood seeped from his mouth, his chest looking like roadkill, and the madman fell. Cloud Hoof stood and grabbed his sword. Everywhere around him ponies triumphed against their human foes, felling them in great numbers. Cloud was able to stand back and appraise the damage they had done with their victory. Victory, they had victory!
Cloud went forth and found a ruined tank to stand upon, what he saw shocked him. An even greater mass of human soldiers now approached, easily triple the size and strength of the first wave.
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"Sir, first wave has been repelled."
"Send in the main army, wipe them out."
"All reserve units, advance on enemy position, no quarter."
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"RETREAT! EVERYPONY RETREAT! Back to the mountain!"
Seeing the shear size of the advancing army, anything not already dead turned tail and fled towards the mountain, which was rife with caverns.
Human fliers now reached the cloud base of the pegasi, with their fire they slew many of Cloud's kinsmen who now retreated to the mountain caverns as well. Bullets rained from the advancing army, striking down many ponies at the rear of the routed force. Cloud Hoof entered the treeline, explosions sounded from every side, trees struck down by the unearthly thunder of the humans crushed ponies that attempted to collect and charge again. He reached a pony settlement, screaming his message of retreat to the mountain. The humans were in the trees now, blowing up anything that blocked their way. Anypony that stood to fight was shot down like a dog.
He reached the base of the mountain, hundreds of ponies and creatures jostled to enter the caves, fear on every one of their faces. Bullets began to ricochet off the stones around the cave, ponies screamed and trampled each other for access to the caves that they thought held safety. Cloud Hoof eventually managed to get inside, being the last one, he turned and kicked the walls to bring down the cave entrance and seal themselves inside. He tore off his helmet, throwing it to the stone floor, and he screamed. They never had a chance to begin with, thousands of good and innocent creatures had died out there under his command. And for what? They managed to kill the scouting party. This whole war was a farce, they never could have competed with the humans. Their whole battle plan had been wasted prematurely and now his species was doomed. Cloud Hoof cried for his race, for the Earth Mother who had depended on him. For his wife and child who would be hunted down and slaughtered.
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"Sir, field is clear and the radius is clear."
"Good," said General Winters. "Advance the containment unit, and get a unit out there with Lucifer." This was too easy, Unlike Patterson had said, the enemy had not grown stronger with every attack. In fact, humanity was on top again with this easy victory.
Outside, the six flat bed trucks advanced towards the base of the mountain, carrying their sinister loads of disassembled Tesla towers. And Sergeant Salazar rode with them, with his talent for god killing, carrying the ultimate weapon in his lap, the weapon which would corrupt and kill the soul of the Earth at the Surge origin point. The weapon called Lucifer.
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Once again, the standard treatment is in order. If you have a question, criticism or comment simply post below. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. All resemblances to persons or ponies, living or dead is mere coincidence. This is a work of pure fiction, and if you somehow find a way to clop to this, I will hunt you down.
Who in the flying fudge would clop to something like this?
That's just sick.
Anyway, awesome story and another awesome chapter.
Man the human forces don't know how to wage conventional warfare, not to mention they know very little about the enemy tactics, which they should be quite aware of given they've been fighting them for a while (I mean the cloud thing should have been obvious). If I were them I'd not throw my army at them en masse, I'd bombard the shit out of their positions for a few days even (as long as possible), holding the army back while waiting for them to make the first move. Preliminary bombardment would be accompanied by various probing and skirmishing attacks by infantry and light armor in order to harass their lines or provoke their units, either way fraying their divisions and tiring them out. All the while (given that the enemy is concentrated in one position), a portion the attack helicopter squadrons (as well as infantry via apc's) would be sent around their lines in order to establish various points of attack. Mind you, the main army wouldn't even be in their view (as our weapons out-range all of theirs, artillery being able to hit from miles away), therefore they would have a difficult time doing anything about the bombardment or the flanking (as they can't even see the main army well, and any scouting or raid attempts could easily be routed via patrols and anti-air). Bottom line, they hold a defensive position, thus tactics should not be focused on throwing everything at their strong points, but wearing down their forces with constant artillery and skirmishes. This will vastly reduce their fighting capability, moral and resources. After a period of doing this, forces would be branched off into divisions, therefore not throwing one massive chunk at them, but holding many auxiliary and reserve forces. A head on assault is unavoidable, but it can be assuaged by attacking on various fronts (thus the flanking and skirmisher divisions) and weakening their defenses (artillery barrage). With their already weakened defenses, a standard advance led by an armored spearhead with infantry and air support (plus artillery cover) would easily break their ground forces (and the tunnels dug beneath the lines by the diamond dogs would have been collapsed by the artillery). The flanking attacks would force them to split their air forces, thus reducing their effectiveness on the main advance. All forces would, however, not charge right into their lines right away, as CQC is their strong point. Holding positions far enough to use midrange weapons and tanks would be best, and these units would unload a steady barrage on all of their forces (thousands of tanks, infantry and choppers firing on a concentrated defensive position would be devastating). As per how things went in your version, the dragons and air infantry wouldn't pose much of a threat, as they'd be split by various angles of attack. Once their forces start to break, a Blitzkrieg maneuver would be sent a their lines. The shock value of charging tank divisions and intense air and artillery support would deal the finishing blow, driving them back completely. Once this is done, the army would be deployed to completely surround their remaining defense. Any remaining resistance would be obliterated, and if necessary their cave positions would be subject to copious amounts of artillery (or if the Geneva convention doesn't matter anymore, simply use gas or flamethrowers/napalm to kill everything in the underground, a very simple and relatively inexpensive option). This is all, however, how I'd carry out the attack, and I'm not targeting you at all. I like the story, though it does present some really unrealistic events (like how does a force that can't take on 500 000 men wipe out over 6 billion humans and potentially hundreds of millions (with conscription) of military units with such ease, not to mention why the hell are the ponies completely fine with the genocide of an entire race just because we had them in captivity due them being animals (We'd not do so if they had human qualities), especially given that their views are biased and based on the assumption that all humans are "evil" and out to kill them [of course now they are out to kill them as they have full reason to, as the ponies in their "justified" actions have become a million times worse than Adolf Hitler by committing complete genocide...we never did that to them when they were animals]). Maybe the 'creator' should have taken a less...extreme response (as its response is one on such an immoral scale that even the evil "man" wouldn't do), or maybe the ponies shouldn't have attacked right off the bat, either way all of this could have been avoided (as humanity isn't the evil thing that they perceive it as, most humans are good), or better dealt with by humanity as in reality the anti-human forces wouldn't last long at all). Whatever, good story, I just can't help but get annoyed by the unrealistic perspective of humanity...yeah I'm very pedantic in that sense...and I shouldn't be given that this is fan fiction of a show about prismatic ponies and magic...
217754 Simple explanation, willful suspension of disbelief. Also, advanced targeting has been removed from the equation, most if not all of military bombardment must be done via LoS, (Line of Sight). Since supply routes have been severely damaged, stocks of ammunition and fuel are down to the last drops, necessitating the need for CQC and en masse strikes without the exceptionally wasteful tactics of preemptive scouting and raiding. And the mass forward attack is a tactic put forth by the criminally insane and power hungry mind of General Winters who honestly believes an all out attack pushing the enemy forces to the center followed by energy containment is the absolute best tactic. As for the genocide, I plead the fifth amendment. Besides, I'm a fiction writer, your insight will help me cover my ass in the next chapter.
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Indeed. Thanks for the explanation, though artillery doesn't need LoS (data attained by forward scouts, topography statistics and trajectory calculations would suffice for the absence of advanced targeting, that's how it was done in the old wars. Given that there are a large number of artillery batteries and the large target area, pinpoint accuracy doesn't matter. Military units are trained to use such methods of targeting should EMP disrupt targeting systems and satellite feeds). Either way, they could have used better tactics and a less careless assault in order to properly degrade their defenses, which in turn is the General's fault. My question is how the hell does an idiot like that get into a commanding position over the fate of humanity? Perhaps someone who's actually studied military theory and strategy should do it, or is high command that stupid? If that is the case, General Winters is an idiot for using primitive military ideology and careless disregard for the variables in enemy defense (not to mention careless use of valuable military assets). Just because they were low on resources doesn't negate the necessity for preemptive scouting (it's endemic to victory), which would not take much in terms of resources (as only a handful of units are required). Also, while an en masse attack may be deemed 'necessary', one could still carry out flanking and raiding maneuvers on their flanks and exposed areas simultaneously, causing further confusion in the enemy whilst dividing their forces. Obviously Winters is complete shit at commanding, his mental state making him unfit for military service let alone high command. I'm not even going to argue about the fifth amendment...God why the hell am I arguing about any of this?!
no one ever took any notice of the UN everone would lie and keep nukes saddum hussane would just nerv gased em all war over 4 min old iran war stock piles