> Twilight Plays EquestriaSide 2
>  by SteelyThePally
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> First Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight stared with pure annoyance at the monitor. How could a download take so much time? She has been sitting on that chair for hours, and she could surely feel that her computer was heating up. Well, her and Spike's computer. The aforementioned person was already fast asleep, while Twilight remained up to see when the download would achieve completion.

"Damn you, Rainbow..." Twilight tiredly muttered, rubbing her eyes to keep herself from sleep’s sweet embrace.

It was under Rainbow's insistence that made Twilight try the newest game on Vapor, EquestriaSide 2. This, and her constant comments on it whenever she hung out with their friends. Twilight was quite impressed with the fact that Rainbow managed to get Rarity into the game too, though the fashion designer barely played it.

A long sigh escaped her lips as she gently rested her forehead on the keyboard, not even caring about removing the bulky headset from her ears. She gazed at the nearby water bottle with great interest, and then rolled her eyes around to find something worthy to look at. That is, until she heard a sound coming from her headset.

Twilight quickly raised her head from the keyboard. On the EquestriaSide 2 patch window, a large and greenish 'Play' button grabbed her attention almost instantly. A devious smile crept up on her face, and she breathed in victory.

"Thank Celestia... let's see if this game is worth the time it took to download..." She whispered to herself and clicked on the 'Play' button.

If not immediately, the screen turned black for a second, then changed to one showing the loading screen. It was an artwork showing all of the three factions soldiers and some of their vehicles on the background, a large 'EquestriaSide 2' resting on the upper middle of the image. Twilight skeptically raised her eyebrow at the monitor for a second.

When the loading bar reached 100%, the game officially started. Now, all that she needed to do was to create a character, and select the server. She took a brief glance at a small piece of paper that Dash had given her weeks ago. Her rainbow-haired friend had written on it the faction that she joined, and the server in which she played.

"Huh... she plays on this 'New Conglomerate' faction. Quite obvious why. But this 'Vanu Sovereignty' seems interesting too..."

After she selected the faction, Twilight proceeded to create her character. She quietly groaned at the lack of shown hair for her soldier, but was simply satisfied with being able to make a female character. When asked to insert a name, she quickly wrote 'TwilightSparkle45'. Once this was done, she just needed to choose the server. 'Waterson' was its name. And she had to admit that she was starting to enjoy the music playing in the background.

She gave a loud yelp when the ‘Vapor chat notification’ sound came in and assaulted her unsuspecting ears. Twilight took a more comfortable position on her chair and held a hand on her chest, trying to calm down her rapidly-beating heart. Taking long breaths to recompose herself, she went to the in-game Vapor menu to check on whatever that sound was. It seemed to be a message from Rainbow. It read:

"Heya, Twi!"

"Rainbow!! Do you want to kill me?!?" Twilight angrily typed back.

"Nah, thanks. So, wanna play some ES2?"

"What's ES2?"

"The game, Twi. The game."

Twilight's hand hit her forehead faster than she thought when she realized how dumb she sounded there. At least Rainbow couldn't see her.

"Oh! Okay, Dash. I'm just going to press the 'play' button, and then I'll join you."

"Just make sure that you joined the right server, egghead."

As she hovered the cursor over the button, she couldn't help but to feel some eagerness inside her. She was never into shooting games, but this one felt... different, for some reason.

One brief loading screen later and she was already at the tutorial level of the game. Instructions popped up on the HUD, teaching her step-by-step the basic controls. The game's graphics felt beautiful too, specially the reflections on the weapon and the surroundings. Details being taken into account, she continued with the tutorial, smiling to no one else but herself.





*10 minutes later…*

"Hey, Dash. I just completed the tutorial. Should I join in?" Twilight happily typed to her friend, a strange excitement to experience an actual battle building up inside her.

"Heck yeah, you should. HELP US!"

With that, Twilight followed the instructions on the screen to be instantly deployed at the hottest battle around on the game. She was not aware of how she would be deployed though...





"All soldiers assigned to Amerish, standby for deployment."

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One…"

"Drop pods launched!" A robotic voice announced as multiple pods were rapidly detached from the capital ship orbiting the planet of Auraxis. Within seconds, they reached the atmosphere.

"What is going on?!" One of the soldiers shouted from inside. She wasn't able to move due to the numerous metal bars holding her in place. The tight internal chamber shook violently, and the temperature rose rapidly. Drops of sweat came down her face and her grip around the metallic bars keeping her in place tightened.

Finally reaching the clouds, the drop pods had their free-falls halted by a considerable number of thrusters placed on the underside of the pods. The frightened trooper hyperventilated as her ears caught the deafening sound of a battle. Much to her desperation, the pod seemed to have hit something, landing hard on the unknown surface. All of the bars restraining her movement went up, and three doors opened. She was suddenly propelled forward by something.

Twilight rose up from the dirt surface frantically, barely dodging the incoming beams of red and white. She didn't understand what was going on, and lowered herself once again, covering her ears. Until a familiar voice called for her.

"TWILIGHT!! OVER HERE! GET AWAY FROM THE GATES!!!" It was Rainbow Dash. She was crouching behind a low barrier, accompanied by a few more soldiers. They all wielded long, heavy firearms, a few stripes of both gold and blue passing through the metallic machinery.

Twilight barely heard her friend's yell. Her senses were numb from the ear-shattering explosions and gunfire surrounding her. All that her eyes could see were men and women being sent flying away by massive vehicles in the distance. Strange airships battled up above, sending small projectiles rocketing each other. She could swear that she saw tiny flares of fire falling from the sky.

"C'MON TWILIGHT!! GET TO COVER!!" Rainbow shouted once again, this time loud enough to catch her disoriented squadmate's attention.

The scared girl shakily jogged to the barrier, suffering with the severed surface below her unexplained armored feet. That is, if a well-aimed bullet didn't hit her in the head. Twilight lifelessly fell to the ground, her body disappearing into a cloud of black smoke after a tank shell hit the dirt surface. All that Rainbow did was let out a loud groan.





"I died already?!" Twilight furiously stated, frowning at the screen. "What kind of game throws a beginner head-on in a battle?"

"And that, Twi, is EquestriaSide 2. Enjoyed your first 20 seconds of gameplay?" A scratchy voice came from the headset, followed by laughter on the same tone.

"And now this thing has voice-chat? Well, nice to hear your voice out there, Dash."

"Heck yeah, Twi. Now please, aid us in defending this, will ya?" Rainbow pleaded.

The battle map screen wasn't a strange to her. She had watched several videos on it, and accessed multiple sites on the internet to get some pre-advice on the game. Not before doing some deep research on the setting and the factions. But she didn't imagine that the game would promptly throw her directly into a massive battle. Her heart was still beating like mad from the intense moment she experienced in game. Still, it felt so real...

Without a word, she pressed the 'Deploy' button, now slightly more ready for whatever the game would throw at her.





A short guitar sound played inside Twilight's ears as she appeared inside a small chamber. Taking a few steps, she passed through the blue field that guarded the chamber and took a look around: she appeared to be in a room full of bright blue and gold monitors. A few figures, clad in bulky armor colored in the same pattern as the room, rapidly left the room before she could ask a question. Twilight then proceed to examine herself; in her hands, the same machinery that laid in Rainbow's hands rested on her arms. This gave her a vision of some kind of steel plates placed on her forearms, painted in a blue pattern with golden stripes coming down. Her eyes widened at the sight of more of those plates placed all over her chest and legs. She also noticed that her face was confined by a tight metal wrapped around her head, a thin line of glass giving her a vision of the outside.

"Come here, Twilight! We need help!" Rainbow Dash's voice rang in the room as her own armored figure came in. Most of her face was covered by a helmet, but a few strands of her hair were escaping from the helm's tightness. A seemingly thick glass protected the exposed part of her face.

"Rainbow! What's going on?" Twilight confusedly asked, taking a few more curious looks around the futuristic station.

"We're being attacked! We can't lose this station! C'mon, they need reinforcements!"

Even though Rainbow's brief words were confusing, Twilight rearranged the rifle in her hands and jogged to her friend's side. The look on Dash's face was one of concern and utter worry. The sun was high above, showing that it was already midday. The situation for the New Conglomerate troops wasn't the best. As they ran to the ever increasing sounds of a battle, they came across numerous dead and wounded soldiers. Those who were in near perfect condition were the medics, who tried their best to heal the wounded with small, pistol-like items.

"What's the situation, Dash?" Twilight asked, showing a faint trace of fatigue in her tone.

"The Equestrian Republic forces are literally clustering us inside through the northern gate! We're lucky that our tanks pushed back the Sovereign troops, but we're still suffering heavy losses!" Dash replied seriously, not even turning her head to look at Twilight.

As they walked through the innards of the facility, the explosions and gunfire seemed to get louder and louder. Rainbow led Twilight inside a small building and took cover behind the doorway leading to the north gate. She signaled with her armored hand to make Twilight stop. She pressed her back against the wall and slowly walked towards the doorway, noticing that the heat of the battle was still high. Rainbow tucked her head out to see how the defense line was going.

Suddenly, a hyper-sonic bullet was shot at her head, She managed to duck back to cover in time, a large cut through her helmet's visor. Dash groaned loudly.

"Damned sniper! C'mon Twilight! We're doing a run for it! On the count of three!"

"What? Can't we wait a bit more?" Twilight worriedly shouted back, the grip on the rifle instinctively tightening.

Before she could even react, Rainbow's arm pulled her into the chaos. Bullets and lasers wheezed around them. A fellow squadron emerged from the remains of an exploded tank, only to be launched into the air by an incoming shell. Rainbow fastened her pace and brought Twilight closer, nearly making her fall to the ground. She caught a glimpse of their destination: a long barrier made out of steel placed right after the actual gates, filled with armored men and women behind it. Their situation seemed to be hopeless.

Throwing herself on her knees and sliding through the dirty surface, Dash finally reached the barrier in which a relevant number of soldiers from the New Conglomerate were crouched behind. With a loud boom behind her, Twilight was briefly launched into the air and landed hard by the side of the troopers, who didn't care about her harsh arrival. Rainbow quickly got her back to her feet, and turned to a rather big man that blindly fired against the overwhelming Equestrian horde.

"Big Mac! Where are those tanks that I ordered?"

"Their advance was interrupted by Vanu Magriders! It was a trap, ma'am!" The quiet man spoke up, pushing his rifle back to cover and replacing the empty ammunition magazine.

"Those freaking spandex idiots! But are they still alive? Are they on their way to this outpost?" Rainbow yelled at Big Mac, standing up for a second and throwing a grenade at a random location. Screams of pain was her reply.

"Eeyup. They're arrivin' here in a few minutes."

With this, Big Macintosh diverted his gaze to a wounded mate who just got shot in the stomach and immediately began attending to him. Rainbow let out a long breath before standing up with her heavy light machine gun and heroically emptying her ammunition drum on the ever-advancing offending forces. Her efforts were useless, as she achieved no kills with her act. She brought her hand to her head and pressed a nearly invisible button. Twilight herself only listened to her words, her hands quivering unconsciously.

"Eagle Wing one, come in!"

All that she got in response was a loud shriek followed by what sounded like numerous gatling guns firing at the same time. The transmission ended with a loud explosion.

"Starlight! Do you copy me?!" Rainbow yelled more directly now, raising her rifle to blindly hit any Equestrian soldier who dared to try and cross the line of defense.

"Yes... Argh... Yes, ma'am! We're suffering heavy losses up here, sergeant! I require immediate reinforcements!" A feminine voice came through the nearby soldiers helmet radios. A warning siren played together with the pilot's speech.

"Celestia damn those Mosquitoes! I'll try to contact base then. Just stay alive, for our sake!" Dash replied to the pilot's briefing. A quick glance to the skies, and she was able to spot all of the remaining Eagle Wing fighters, trails of black smoke coming from their engines.

Twilight looked surprised at the fact that Rainbow was the possible sergeant and leader of the ground squadron of which she was made a part of. The rainbow-haired girl turned to her with a weak smile.

"C'mon, Twilight. Make good use of that rifle!"

Twilight quickly realized that her friend had in fact gave her an order. Sheepishly placing the barrel over the steel barrier, Twilight laid eyes on the iron sights. This gave her a large overview on the other side of the battle: A dangerous line of tanks shot constant shells towards the weakened station. Snipers hid in the bushes of the forest, some even standing on treetops. Troopers desperately rushed towards the ravaged barrier, screaming and aimlessly emptying their magazines at their targets.

Rotating her rifle to the left, she spotted a sniper whose aim was particularly set on her. Her heart beat faster at the thought that the marksman could press the trigger and end her right there. Squeezing the trigger frantically, Twilight was abruptly pushed back by the gun's recoil. She recomposed herself by adding more pressure on her knee and assumed the same shooting stance as before, spotting the sniper's lifeless body in the distance.

"Great job taking that snipy out, Twi! Keep up the good aim!" Her friend shakily said while laying down suppressive fire on the Equestrian Republic forces.

Twilight grimaced shortly at the compliment, and then quickly turned her eyes to the glistening iron sights which reflected the sun's bright light. A loud gunshot was heard, and Twilight fell on her back. A scream of agony escaped her lips as she held her shoulder tightly. She shortly removed her hand from it and groaned loudly, seeing a crimson-red liquid staining her black gloves. Rainbow and Big Macintosh noticed her wound and quickly came to her aid.

"ENEMY SNIPER! GET DOWN!!" She ordered, just in time as a fellow trooper who had been bravely holding the barricade for hours was struck by a bullet in the head.

"Calm down, Twilight. This ain't gonna hurt ya." Big Mac stated with his usual calm tone as he kept his head low to dodge enemy fire. He took the same healing tool used by the medics back at the station's innards.

He aimed the tool at Twilight and pressed the trigger. A green beam of light came out from the presumed barrel of the pistol-like machinery, and everything that Twilight felt was relaxation spreading through her body. She yelped and closed her eyes as she felt the wound on her shoulder close with a fleshy noise. Shooting her eyes open in surprise, she blinked repeatedly at her fully-healed shoulder. Twilight also felt renewed, all of her fatigue suddenly seeming to fade away. It was an interesting effect. She quickly got back up to her feet, resting her back on the barrier once again.

"No trouble, Twilight." Big Mac said with a rare grin of his own.

They both took their positions back at the barricade, the intensity of enemy fire increasing above their heads. Twilight herself thought that the situation was starting to get hopeless. She had been stuck at the same place for a long time now. How many of the attackers still stood up? 

Rainbow's mind wandered about their situation, too. She has been defending the same place for one full day, and yet no success. Would she order them to retreat? No, she would fight until the last man falls.

All of her doubts went away with a terrifying roar in the distance.

Every single soldier defending the barrier diverted their gazes to the the source of the sound. The ground trembled abnormally, the engine-like noises getting closer by each second. Finally, the supposed cause of that sound emerged from the station's main road.

The reinforcements. An entire platoon of Vanguards, the New Conglomerate's main battle tank, all of them lined up in an intimidating formation, revved their engines in anticipated triumph. They slowly moved to the the gate's width, scattering away the defending troopers. The platoon smashed the barricade and aimed their cannons towards the distant line of hostile Prowlers. Their cannons all released their shells at the exact moment, reducing the once feared line of Republican tanks into nothing more than burning carcasses. All of the drivers shouted in unison as they gazed at their scorching enemies with pure delight.

The Equestrian troopers took immediate notice of the NC's reinforcements, and ordered a mass retreat, rapidly forming a red ocean of running figures in the distance. Rainbow Dash saw this as an opportunity of vengeance. She ran to the middle of the now empty gate, and raised her voice:

"C'mon, people! Let's get our payback on those reddies!" With a wave of her arm, she mobilized the whole squadron to follow the tanks. The men and women who tirelessly held back the oppressors followed suit, with newfound vigor in their steps.

The drivers noticed their approach. Without a word, all of the tanks lowered their speed to help their allies climb up and give them some transport. Most soldiers didn't want to fight anymore and rested their sore bodies against the warm turrets of their powerful tanks. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were the only ones standing up, though, observing as the road led them through a thick forest surrounded by tall, rocky cliffs. Amerish was indeed an exotic continent.

The Vanguard's gunners were precisely gunning down the fleeing ER troopers, being assisted by the sitting soldiers on top of the tanks. Some of the rebels happily unloaded their magazines upwards, screaming in anticipated victory. Rainbow Dash let out a wild shriek and finally sat by Twilight's side.

"That was a hard battle against the Republic. But they would never win. Freedom--"

"Over Oppression," Twilight completed, smiling innocently at her friend.

"You betcha, Twi! Now, we're going to raid their base; only to make sure that they won't come back at us."

"Seriously, Rainbow? Most of our soldiers are tired and wounded from the attack, and our fighters won't last long, considering their conditions. I would recommend resupplying at that base we were at moments ago, and then precisely planning an attack at their base."

Rainbow's eyebrow raised awkwardly at her friend's suggestion. She looked away, as if trying to find something to empathize her point in attacking the Equestrian Republic's base at that exact moment. She stared at her men: their armor was stained in blood and dirt. Their faces were stamped with pure fatigue, and most of them seemed to be at the point of giving up. The constant sound of the fighters' engines, accompanied by alarm sirens of critical damage and the worrying trails of black smoke coming from their innards, told her that she would easily lose the remnants of Eagle Wing if she attempted to assault. Dash groaned quietly.

"Okay, egghead. You got me. We're turning back, and doing whatever you plan to do." She firmly smacked the tank's hard metal to get the gunner's attention. "Hey, you. Tell the rest to turn back. We're heading back to base."

The gunner let out a long breath of relief and immediately alerted all of the tanks in the platoon to turn around. The line stopped for a moment, and a collective breath of relief sounded out throughout the formation in the quiet afternoon air, only muffled by the tank's lousy engines coming back to full throttle.

"Twilight, you better know what you're doing..." Rainbow said to her resting friend, whose rifle was laying on her lap.

"Don't worry, Rainbow. I know exactly what I'm doing." Twilight smiled widely at her sergeant.

As the platoon lazily moved throughout the hole-ridden road, no one seemed to notice the suspicious movement behind the trees. A group of shadowy figures hoped from tree to rock, rock to tree, as they followed the unsuspecting yet fearsome line of Vanguards. Whoever was following the platoon couldn't remove their eyes from them, watching their every move attentively. They eventually took the lead on the line of tanks and hid perfectly on the trees and bushes, waiting for their prey to cross their line. Mere seconds passed, and then the figures hopped out of their hiding spots.

"DIE, YOU FILTHY TERRORIST SCUM!"

Rainbow's eyes widened at the swarm of Republican light assault troops gathering before their eyes. They were all hovering with their jetpacks, their faces hidden by their dark crimson helmets. The one soldier who taunted the retreating group of the NC was the first to open fire, grinning widely as he painted one of the Vanguard's tank armor with the blood of a rebel.

"ER light infantry! Open fire, open fire!" Rainbow shouted to the exhausted troops, readying her machine gun for battle.

The heavy enemy fire rained down on the tired squadron, most of the rebels being killed as their dreaded nemeses briefly landed to recharge their jetpacks. Aside from the tank's engines and the gunfire, one could hear the throaty and agonized shrieks of death. The Vanguard's blue and gold colored plates were stained with blood, the NC troopers' bodies being left rolling down the road. Only a few survived, including all of the gunners who ducked in time, and Rainbow and Twilight, who took cover behind the tank's turret and few soldiers, their once vivid blue armors being bathed in their own comrades' blood.

The gunners, aided by Rainbow and Twilight, immediately unloaded their weapons at the swarming Equestrian jetpack-equipped soldiers. The results were disastrous; whenever a bullet hit the jetpacks, the soldiers were sent into wicked spins and circles. One particularly large group hit the ground a bit too hard, and erupted into one great ball of fire.

Much to Rainbow's worry and Twilight's desperation, one of the hostiles involved in the ambush dropped from the skies, ran through the ground briefly and hopped on top of the Vanguards. Using the available fuel in his gadget, he tackled Twilight harshly and took her to the skies above.

Twilight's heart skipped a beat as she felt her feet leaving the surface. A quick glance downwards was enough to make her panic. She desperately tried to kick the soldier who just grappled her, but instead,  she smacked her newly discovered jetpack. The futuristic device was now damaged enough to use all of its fuel in one thrust. Now, even the Equestrian Republic attacker could feel Death's cold arms slowly embracing him as they reached for the clouds in a insane speed.

"Get off me, you maggot!" Twilight yelled at the helmeted enemy with anger, uselessly punching his armored belly in a vain attempt of getting free of his grasp.

The light trooper from the Equestrian Republic replied with a strong kick to the gap between her legs. Twilight's face contorted in pain as her own grip around his body loosened. The soldier grinned at her loss of consciousness, but his grin faltered as he realized that her jetpack was still up and running; not to mention that they were both on the same level as the NC jet fighters wing: Eagle Wing. He took a quick look around and noticed a particularly damaged fighter jet travelling at a quite slow speed.

"I'm going to die today, you rebel scum. And you're burning together with me!" He gave a sick laugh and punched her in the face with his free arm.

The glass in Twilight's helmet was crushed by his brute force. A thin line of blood descended through the NC soldier's cheeks, her eyes threatening to give up. The Republican warrior took advantage over her weakened state to aim her body towards the critically damaged fighter he spotted earlier.

The pilot of that chosen fighter was, in fact, the leader of Eagle Wing: Starlight Shadow. The cockpit was starting to get smoky, considering that most of the systems were fried up. All of her attention was put into keeping the aircraft into the air, and hoping that the quantity of fuel was sufficient enough to reach the nearest NC base. Starlight was completely unaware of the incoming human rocket.

"Loyalty Until Death, Strength In Unity!!!" The Equestrian loyalist shouted out before hitting hard against the Reaver's cockpit.

The bulletproof glass on the cockpit was shattered to pieces by the harsh impact. Starlight herself quickly lowered her head as the Republican trooper's already dead body flew inside, forming an enormous dent in the aircraft. Twilight hit the jet with her back, deactivating her jetpack, but not halting her movement. She grabbed on the fighter's severed wing, using all of her strength to keep her hand strong on the metallic structure. She briefly shook her head to stay awake and noticed that the vehicle was about to hit the ground-nose on. Her heart was beating madly. This was her end.

Starlight struggled to keep her hand on the control lever and to remove the corpse from the aircraft. With one quick shove, the body was left flying through the afternoon sky. She let out a breath of relief that lasted shortly; one of the remaining monitors showed that she was losing altitude quickly. A loud explosion rang in her ears and she felt her jet lose an engine.

"Mayday, mayday! Something hit me! Systems have gone to Tartarus!"

The beeping of the already mad warning system now seemed to be frying up. The control panel was gone completely, and the handle didn't respond any more. Groaning loudly, Starlight made her decision:

"This is Eagle Wing 1, I'm bailing out. See you guys at the nearest base!"

"Good luck with ejecting out of your flying frying pan, ma'am. Hope to see you in one piece!" One of the pilots said as he gave a flyby on Starlight's flaming Reaver.

Starlight pressed the 'eject' button, being launched upwards together with an automatically strapped parachute. The latter was soon activated, and a blue and golden striped parachute appeared in the orange sky, slowly descending towards a cliff.

Twilight, on the other hand, took notice of the pilot's ejection. The remaining engine burst in fire and blew off the right wing, the vehicle soon started to spin around frantically. Seeing that she was too nearing the ground way too fast, she let go of the left wing in hope that her armor sustained the fall. A sudden sensation of freedom scoured through her sore body as she could see trees and rocks passing rapidly beneath her eyes. But she wanted to get out of this alive. 

Summoning all of her strength, she raised her left arm towards her malfunctioning jetpack, and pressed the right button. The device used what little fuel that it had stored to break part of her fall. Alas, it was not enough.

A dashing figure finally struck down one of the groggily moving New Conglomerate tanks on the road below with a loud *clank*. The driver immediately stopped his vehicle as he noticed that whatever had hit him made his tank bounce shortly, and added a considerable dent on his armor. The only remaining soldier on top of the Vanguard jumped out from it and raised her hand in order to stop the following tanks.

"Wait a minute there, boys. I think that I found... wait, Twilight?!" Rainbow's voice went an octave higher as she recognized the face of her friend.

"I... survived..." Twilight muttered out while grabbing a handful of dirt.

"Sweet Celestia... What happened to you, Twi?" Dash asked more worriedly as she saw the numerous bruises on her face. Her friend's eyes closed as she gave one last, long breath.

Rainbow grabbed her friend's unconscious body with her armored arms and hefted her on top of the Vanguard on which she traveled. She looked down at the injured Twilight with concern, and roughly punched the tank's turret.

"Come on driver. Someone here needs medical assistance! Head us back to base!"

"Yes, ma'am!" All of the platoon's engines revved together as the main driver replied.

And then, the once resistant platoon of tanks disappeared in the sunset, uncertain of what was going to happen next. The battle in which they waged would last long, but who will end up on the victorious side?
	
> Assault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped out the bead of sweat that had recently formed on her forehead. Before her eyes, stood nearly four dozen NC soldiers, all of them waiting for Twilight's plan to assault the nearby Tech Plant. Light and heavy assault infantry, medics, engineers, snipers, all of the Eagle Wing survivors and even MAX-clad soldiers, all waiting for her orders. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac, the two few familiar faces amongst the crowd of blue and gold, sported reassuring smiles.

Nighttime had already reached the continent of Amerish. It also announced a change of guards: snipers and fellow light assault warriors now patrolled both the innards and the extreme borders for any Equestrian or Vanu loners attempting to infiltrate the base on their own. The platoon of Vanguards that delivered the killing blow in the defense of the small base were fully repaired, parked alongside half a dozen of gargantuan Galaxies, the standard transport airships. All of those vehicles were brought to the outpost upon Twilight's request. Now, it was time for her to speak up for the battalion:

"Ummm... well. I've made some requests from the nearby bases and outposts, and I managed to receive some additional Vanguard main battle tanks, and six Galaxy transport aircraft. As for how our assault on the Equestrian base will go: We will load all of the Galaxies and launch a full-scale air invasion. Then, we will send a few soldiers off the planes and they will work on deactivating the shield generators. Meanwhile, our tanks will be gunning down their AA turrets, and any kind of ground troopers. After the shields are deactivated, our pilots will land on the station's landing pads, drop the rest of us, and provide air support for our tanks with the gunners. Any questions?"

Twilight's tension in her shoulders went away as no arms were raised. Instead, all of them shook their heads and waited for further info. Whispers of approval could be heard throughout the battalion. Rainbow Dash walked in front of the crowd and lifted her bulky light machine gun, resting the barrel on her shoulder.

"What are you waiting for, people? Man the tanks and board the planes! Go, go, go!" She clapped her hands together and dispersed the mass of NC troops towards various directions. Dash then neared Twilight and patted her on the shoulder. "Seems like a plan. But remember: we're attacking a Tech Plant, not your everyday outpost. Even if this plan goes smoothly, there will be crap-loads of reddies."

"I know, Rainbow. There's an average of 100 soldiers in those facilities," Twilight replied, smiling nervously.

"Uhhh... yeah. Now let's go. The Equestrian Republic must be getting comfortable on their rumps by now." Rainbow awkwardly thumbed her friend up and left for her transport.

Twilight quickly snapped and jogged briefly to catch up with Rainbow, spotting a large rocket launcher on her back. Strangely enough, Big Mac wasn't by their side. She carelessly shrugged that thought away and paid attention to the already airborne Galaxies, their turrets rotating from time to time. If they looked intimidating while on the surface, they seemed to be indestructible flying fortresses while hovering. Her eyes traveled downwards: one single Galaxy was still grounded, as if waiting for someone with its hatch open wide. She could spot a few comrades sitting inside, their gazes directed at the sergeant, and three others were standing and looking through monitors. The gunners, obviously. Dash suddenly increased the speed of her jog and joined the crew, Twilight uncertainly sitting by her side. Their ears were being assaulted by the loud engines.

"Sir! Why are we taking so much to take off?" A female engineer asked, her eyes covered by a thick black visor.

"Wait a bit more, private. We've got... a special friend coming," Dash replied with a devious tone of voice.

All of them looked to the outside: a large, tall, heavily armored men came into the Galaxy's transport bay with a loud clank. His actual body was mostly covered by bright blue plates of hard steel with golden trims, his head protruding from the mech. The helmet little gave detail on the wearer. His arms were bearing large scatter-guns, whose effect could be devastating in close range. The dropship's tail sunk significantly from his weight into the dirt, gasps being heard all across the squadron. All of the squad stared at him with in both amusement and mild fear.

"Eeyup." The man revealed himself to be Big Mac with one word.

"Pilot, please, report in." Rainbow called out for whoever was driving the aircraft.

"Starlight Shadow, leader of Eagle Wing, reporting for duty, sir." Starlight called from the cockpit and gave the crew a quick glance before turning her attention to the control panel. "We're off to the attack."

Multiple arms were raised to hold on the handlebars above them. The engines were set at full throttle and gravity took its toll on the soldiers as the airplane lazily raised in the night sky. A few exchange of radio chat and the thrusters were placed backwards, propelling the transport ship forward. Twilight scoured her gaze across the squad: men and women, all clad in the same heavy armor, some being either different by the number of plates or their helmet design. She shrugged carelessly at her squadmates and waited.

"Hey, I know that we were the last to take off and that this thing is a big momma, but why are we so slow? Did you guys load an elephant back there?" Starlight's voice rang in the transport bay, earning the attention of every single trooper.

"Not exactly, pilot. We've got a freaking MAX here!" A voice that could only come from Vinyl Scratch replied, multiple curious stares being thrown at her.

A frustrated groan played on the intercom before the transmission ended. Big Mac placed himself in the middle of the bay to equal his weight on the Galaxy, but it did little to maintain balance. The soldiers little did care about the giant among them, some even showing signs of boredom. Most tapped their weapons or stomped the steel beneath their feet hard, trying to pass time. Some others hummed strangely familiar tunes to themselves. The few remaining gave their faces constant swipes to take out the sweat: the transport bay was surely hot.

Twilight's heart beat faster and faster as she could feel the battle nearing her by each minute. Her hands gripped against her rifle as if they would crush it. Drips of sweat ran down her porcelain face. Her legs rocked back and forth in angst. She was halfway there to whisper on Rainbow's ear, but a shout cut her off.

"ENEMY MOSQUITOES! OPEN FIRE, OPEN FIRE!!!" The gunner frantically squeezed his trigger, being followed by ear-shattering gatling guns. An explosion made the galaxy shake violently, forcing the troopers inside to hold onto their handlebars tighter.

Everyone inside the transport bay prepared themselves for the drop off. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw her squadmates stand up in unison. She was abruptly brought to her feet by Rainbow Dash, whose face had a teasing smile stamped across it.

"Relax, Twi. We're not dropping so soon. Did you forget about your own plan?" Rainbow said in a reassuring yet mocking tone.

"I-I know... it's all so sudd-"

All of the soldiers, save for the MAX, were launched against the walls from yet another unexpected brute sway of the Galaxy. When the aircraft returned to its normal hovering line, all of the NC troopers stood up, groaning and rubbing their heads in pain. A small dent on the belly of their transport was quickly noticed. And it wasn't caused by the whole squadron being thrown against each other.

The hatch opened. They all stared wide-eyed at the confusing mess of smoke and lasers coming from the outside. A damaged ER fighter gave them a flyby, its engines on fire. Much to their misfortune, something detonated upon coming into contact with the Galaxy, and an unaware soldier slipped from the transport. Her cries of desperation were the last thing they heard.

"C'mon people! Those assigned to-" Starlight's speech was interrupted as an AA shell hit the aircraft. "To deactivate the shields, jump now!"

Three soldiers pushed their friends aside and leaped into the over-passing plant, disappearing into the grass and being briefly spotted by their jetpack's thrust. The hatch remained open, forcing the crew to grip the handlebars even tighter. Starlight slowed them down and landed hard on the landing pad, sparks raising from the already severed belly.

"Go, go, go!" She screamed, tilting the transport ship's tail down to throw the soldiers right into the landing pad, and of course to prevent vulnerability from the nearby AA turrets and possible rocket launchers.

Pushed by Starlight's rapid take off, the squadron fell from the hatch and landed harshly on the steel surface. With the help of each other, they all stood up, cocked their weapons, ready for combat. Big Mac was the last to drop into the conflict, his armor making the landing pad shake. They all staggered for a second, caught off-guard by his drop. Rainbow barely took noticed on that, raising an arm to point towards the doorways. The squadron marched as one.

Twilight took a moment to notice how large that facility was, its roof covered with antennas and a digital flag showing off a glowing Terran Republic logo, proudly emitting a red light in the dark night sky. She was snapped back to reality when someone patted her on the shoulder.

"See that thing? It's getting blue and gold this night!" Rainbow pointed where Twilight was staring, a devious grin on her covered face.

They both paid attention to the battle as their squadron neared the doorways. Taking cover behind the thick steel walls, all of the NC invaders tucked their heads into the room. It seemed to be eerily silent and abandoned, despite the raging battle outside.

"Hehe, it seems that those reddies are-" The medic's taunting speech was interrupted as a single soldier emerged from where the gravity launchers were.

He solely opened fire at the exposed medic, emptying his magazine with such force that the now bleeding corpse was thrown against the walls from the outside, nearly falling from a fearful height. In a matter of seconds, a sudden horde of red-painted soldiers emerged from the innards of the facility, mercilessly firing at the covered NC troopers. The other squadrons who dropped from the other Galaxies arrived, losing most of their numbers due to their unawareness of the newly-deployed defensive mass of Equestrian loyalists.

Ducking at the right time from the wave of bullets, Rainbow cocked her light machine gun in rage, and with the click of another hidden button on her bulky armor, she was enveloped in a bright aura of blue. Her bodily figure doubled in an optical way, she simply stepped out of the safety of the walls and revealed herself to the advancing Equestrian platoon.

"Come and get me, reddies!" Dash madly laughed and lured the swarm of Equestrian soldiers to her glowing figure, their shots simply bouncing off from her temporarily.

Twilight used their distraction to her own advantage. Leaning to her left side, she got a perfect view of the interior, filled with newly-deployed troopers of the Republic. She squeezed the trigger, taken back by the recoil. Using her hands to tighten the grip around her rifle and keep it in line, Twilight ended up emptying her magazine in mere seconds. Blood flew through the air as her bullets succeeded to precisely hit the heads of three soldiers, but the rest of her clip simply ended up in the hardened chestplate of an Equestrian MAX.

"What?!?" She yelled and put herself back to cover, shakily replacing her magazine.

"Enemy MAX! Put hi-" A random soldier's speech was cruelly interrupted as he was launched back by a sudden barrage of shots, his vital fluids painting the catwalk underside him.

Rainbow finally got back to cover, panting heavily, her shield gone by the time. Grey smoke raised from her joints, probably signifying that whatever device used to create such a powerful personal shield had overheated. She reloaded her machine gun quickly, gave Twilight a nearly paranoid look and raised her arm.

"Retreat! Hold your position at the landing pad!!!!"

She instantly grabbed Twilight by her wrist and used her own body armor to shield her friend from the incoming enemy fire. She crouched to dodge the wave of shots directed at her and waited for the rest of the New Conglomerate troopers to fall back, most of them being killed before they could even respond to their order. The defending faction kept sending more and more soldiers into the heat of the conflict, enough to make Rainbow think of the mission's failure. 

She could even hear the sounds of the ongoing air battle, and what seemed to be a Galaxy going down together with those deafening noises of explosions and battery fire.

Twilight mimicked Dash's action and lowered her body to get a better view on the doorways, spotting the feared MAX slowly making its way to the cornered rebel squad. She opened fire desperately at the advancing soldiers, lowering their numbers as their bodies started to fall over the heavily-armored Equestrian. His eyes seemed to burn with rage as every single comrade of his poured their own blood over his already crimson armor.

"Die! Die! Die and burn in hell, you filthy terrorists!" He screamed from behind his helmet, unloading his chain-gun placed right at his left arm.

“Eenope!" Big Mac's voice rang in, much to everyone's surprise.

The blue MAX ran towards the Equestrian mech, deflecting all of its rounds into his chest-plate. Big Mac gathered all of his strength to force his suit to come to a jump. With great effort, the quiet man was sent into the air with a fist raised, sparks flying from his armor as desperate Equestrian troopers unloaded their clips at the airborne MAX.

Big Mac's fist came down like a lightning on a tree on the Equestrian's MAX face, sparks and even blood coming out. The red mech staggered back while trying to use its armored arms to reach for his head, achieving no success due to the multiple layers of steel. Both the New Conglomerate and the Equestrian Republic soldiers stopped their gunfights for a second to look in both awe and shock as Big Mac lowered his arm momentarily and raised it with more force, launching his opponent backwards and making him fall square on his back. He didn't hesitate and quickly sat over his enemy and punched his face repeatedly, fighting to raise up his scatter-gun and end with him right there.

"Go, go, go!! Open fire! They're distracted!!" Rainbow yelled seconds, pressing her trigger and taking a better shooting stance with a newfound vigor as Big Mac and the enemy MAX continued to brawl and wrestle brutally against each other for dominance.

Rainbow's men and women all concentrated their fire on the remaining defense line of the Equestrian Republic, taking cover on the not-so protective walls and from newly-deployed anti-infantry turrets placed by nearby field engineers. Rebels piled themselves behind their engineers to take cover from enemy fire, leaning in to shoot and potentially kill the defending red-clad warriors.

Morale fell down greatly as Big Mac's armored and intimidating figure was seen flying through the cool night air, landing harshly on the landing pad's surface and sliding on his back. The enemy MAX emerged, damaged and bleeding, chain-gun spinning and hissing frantically, eager to spill rounds. However, the MAX could be seen as a decoy to attract their attention: emerging from the same spot as their advanced-armored comrade, yet another battalion from the ER immediately laid suppressive fire on the weakened rebel attack squad.

Only those who ducked in time were able to survive the merciless counter-attack coming from the Equestrian Republic. Unfortunately, Rainbow's shoulder was painted in red as a bullet whizzed past it. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw her friend slowly crawling behind behind Big Mac, who was groggily standing up to cover what was left of the NC. His arm then created a blue, glowing shield and protected his friends, taking a few steps back as every single survivor that took cover on his back directed the enemy fire even more to his shield.

Much to their desperation, Big Mac's retreat was pushing them down into the surface, and of course, to a deadly free-fall. The quiet man took notice of that, and, giving the Equestrian troopers a warning shot with his grenade launcher, he shouted to his cornered squadmates.

"Go! Clutch yourselves to the light assaults, and jump!!"

A pair of rebels, one being an engineer and the other a jet-pack equipped trooper, hugged each other and dropped off from the platform. Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw them going off so fearlessly.

"C'mon, Twilight! Go and leave with Rainbow! I'll hold those bastards off." Big Mac ordered with seriousness, now advancing towards the enemy fire rather than retreating.

Giving a nod to his figure, Twilight struggled to wrap her arms around Rainbow's heavy armor. Noticing that she didn't have much time left, Twilight threw herself and Dash downwards on the grassy surface below them with a shy hop to the free-fall, hints of metallic structures appearing on the dark atmosphere.

Dash used what remained of consciousness in her body to hug Twilight back and keep from falling to her death. Her calmness was strange for such a fall. Twilight, on the other side, desperately ran her hand through the device strapped to her back. Her heart raced madly as the grass and metal got nearer and nearer by each second. To her luck, she realized that the jetpack had a simple, hidden button right on her right forearm, and reaching for it with her left arm, she activated the gadget.

With a brute and raw kick, the duo was briefly held in the air by the jetpack's fuel. Twilight released the button and they both fell on the dirt surface, the same soldiers who leaped from the platform earlier helping them get back on their feet as quickly as they could. A fellow combat medic neared the injured Rainbow Dash and healed her with the healing tool, fixing the sergeant up to the ongoing battle.

Smacking the dirt surface beneath her, Dash got up with a loud, annoyed grunt that scared even the medic and the nearby soldiers that came flying from the high landing pad. Placing a hand on Twilight's shoulder for support, she gave the recently arrived combat medic a furious glare and questioned:

"Private! How's the situation on the battle? Now!"

"I-It's going quite w-well, sir! Our tanks are crushing their defense, still, we lost control of the landing pads!" The woman replied, a look of defeat on her pale face.

"Of course that we lost it, maggot! We just came flying from that piece of crap!" Dash sounded even angrier than before, and the simple thought that she potentially lost her MAX unit was enough to make her shout madly to the skies.

What sounded like the haunting whizzing of a bomb falling from the skies above was enough to make the small squadron duck unconsciously for whatever was falling over them. Some hid behind the large generators, others simply dived for bushes. But that was no bomb: there was a loud *thud* followed by a wave of dirt and grass flying over the surroundings. The survivors of Dash's team tucked their heads from their spots and gasped:

Big Mac was still alive. His MAX suit was torn and crushed by his last stand against the Equestrian defense. Wires that connected the power source on his back to the rest of the armor were hanging off, sparks of electricity spurting from them. His helmet was badly damaged, giving a view of his face and hair. Using his massive hands to get back on his armored feet, Big Mac stood up weakly, every joint of steel clanking together.

"I hate rocket launchers..." He stated, a frown of annoyance on his face.

Without a word being said, the squadron's engineer neared the critically damaged MAX trooper and attended to the dents and broken parts with his repair tool. Dash now breathed with newfound vigor, signaling her remaining soldiers to follow her into the heat of the battle.

They all stepped into the road circling the facility in a tireless sprint. Burning carcasses of what were once Vanguards and Prowlers rested along the way, shells of still prevailing tanks dashing past their ears. The surface was entirely riddled with holes and deformations from explosions. Rainbow Dash herself holstered her machine gun and grabbed her long rocket launcher. Noticing an idle Prowler slowly moving towards their position. She halted her sprint, aimed, and shot.

Much to her desperation, she didn't notice that the missile hit the tank's frontal armor. Its engine stopped roaring for a second as its cannon turned in her direction. Wide-eyed and mildly panicking, Dash pushed herself to run again and yelled for her jogging comrades:

"Enemy tank! Take cover!!!"

Twilight, who was reasonably tired from running through such harsh terrain, wasn't able to even dodge the incoming shell. The explosive landed right next to her, sending her body flying through the night's air. Her ears were assaulted by the lingering ringing, and her vision was blurred, spotting only flashes of yellow, blue and red. She landed hard on some kind of wall, the glass on her visor shattering to pieces and bouncing off her body.

Bringing her hand to her head, Twilight rubbed her forehead for seconds. A trail of blood came down her face, cleaned by a quick sweep of her palm. Using her elbows as support, Twilight slowly got up from her "crash site" and looked around: She was in a maze of buildings and small facilities.

She kept quiet and decided not to shout for help: she was in a battlefield, and now, deep in enemy territory. The conflict didn't seem to have reached her position yet, considering the eerie silence and the lack of dents and fires on the buildings. Twilight jumped in place as her ears finally stopped ringing and heard numerous footsteps getting louder and louder by the moment. She bent over to grab her rifle, reloaded it quickly, and ran to the nearest wall to take cover.

"I'm telling you, my friends: I saw a rebel soldier flying right here!!" A bubbly, hyperactive voice came in, sounding strangely angry and authoritative.

"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight whispered to herself, tucking her head out of cover to see whoever was talking.

"Pinkie, sugarcube. Please, we should be helpin' the rest of our soldiers back at the heat of ta’ battle!" Another voice came, but it was much more soft and carried a thick accent.

"Applejack?!" Twilight whispered more loudly now, her tone nothing but a huff in the night air. From her cover, she could see both Applejack and Pinkie Pie examining her earlier crash site. The overexcited woman suddenly looked over her shoulder towards the huff she had heard.

"Oh, there you are... AFTER HER!!!" Pinkie loudly announced to her squadron, her aim already set on her target.

Twilight punched herself inwardly as she used all of her energy to go into a mad sprint for her dear life. The moment she looked behind, the Equestrian squad was running dead on her tracks, their rifles and submachine guns going ablaze and unleashing a barrage of bullets in her direction. Twilight's stomach went ice-cold, but much to her luck, the fellow armor plates placed on her back, buttocks and legs deflected the shots with precision.

Taking advantage at her hunters' reloading time, Twilight broke her straight line and turned right, arriving at a dark alleyway. She hopped over a nearby pile of ammo boxes and used the thrust from her jetpack to land gracefully on top of the building. Her sprint was still on full speed, forcing her to leap the gap between a building and the other, landing with ease. The pursuers blindly shot forward, barely noticing the NC soldier right above them. Twilight's heart raced as she knew what to do.

The world around Twilight seemed to freeze as she activated her jetpack to hover right above the Equestrian squadron. She saw them turning their heads towards the source of the sound, their faces contorting in desperation. Not losing her momentum, and neither her chance, she relentlessly squeezed her finger on the trigger, blood flying from their heads and chests with the bullets. Twilight passed her sights to the leader, Pinkie Pie. Unfortunately, her magazine was prematurely emptied.

Pinkie activated her own jetpack to reach for Twilight. Grasping around the rebel, the Republican trooper laced one arm around her opponent's body and the other came smashing against Twilight's face. Blood and even a tooth were spilled from her mouth as Pinkie took full control of their human rocket. Twilight didn't sell herself short: noticing that Pinkie stopped with her failed attempts of hitting her legs with wild kicks, she planted a firm punch on Pinkie's stomach.

Groaning in pain by the hit that she just received, Pinkie unconsciously directed their bodies towards the road, where the platoon of Vanguards were finally getting the upper hand against the Prowler line of fire. Twilight's eyes went wide as she realized that Pinkie's jetpack ran out of fuel in that exact moment. The bubbly woman gave her a kick in the gap between her legs, enough to take control over the situation again. However, she barely realized that Twilight got on top of her, and that they were losing altitude faster than usual. Her only action was to try yet again to hit Twilight on the legs.

*Clank!*

This sound rang in both womens’ ears as Pinkie landed harshly on her back against the cannon of a stationary Prowler. Twilight was sent sliding through the vehicle, grabbing the anti-infantry turret by the muzzle to prevent herself from falling off the tank. The Equestrian loyalist shot a mad grin at the struggling rebel, a pistol in hands and the barrel pointed to her head. The NC light trooper quickly searched for her own handgun, tightened her grip on the turret and finally threatened to end with Pinkie with her own secondary weapon.

Pinkie's eyes lost its triumphant glisten as she realized that her pistol was, in fact, empty. Twilight simply smiled at her enemy in a mocking fashion as she pressed her trigger. Crimson liquid poured on the Prowler's armor, a lifeless body limply falling off and disappearing on the conflict. Twilight felt victorious for the first time, but then she remembered that, if she wanted to escape from the tank, she would have to somehow destroy it. 

C'mon, Twilight! Think, think!

She glanced downwards to see a fragmentation grenade resting on her belt. It would be suicide, although it would ensure the destruction and even the triumph of the New Conglomerate. Taking hold of the round object in her hand, Twilight stood up on the tank's surface. She dived in to dodge the turret's fire, crawling slowly towards the cannon. Stretching her arm, she slid the grenade into the cannon, and desperately tried to hop off from the armored vehicle.

Twilight failed to jump. The explosion set the tank afire and made it erupt in an even bigger detonation. Twilight's body flew through the battlefield, seemingly lifeless and followed by a spurt of blood coming from her stomach. Those who were already idling on the battle watched in worry and concern as a fellow comrade crash-landed hard on her back, enough to even send a small shock-wave on the ground.

Her gaze was directed upwards. The blurred and speeding figures of fighters and transport aircraft dancing with their engines flaring. Small flocks of fire descending from the tank's destruction soared towards the land. Before she could give up on her life as her injuries slowly affected her by the second, she spotted the crimson digital flag... turning into a vibrant blue.

"Come're, buddy. You took a nasty fall... lemme fix ya up." A face came into her field of view and her body was enveloped in a green, healing light.

Again, that comfortable feeling of being fixed up by the miraculous tool shot through her body. In a matter of mere seconds, her world returned to normal. Now, New Conglomerate warriors happily unloaded their weapons to the skies, while others hugged one another; the remaining exchanged chit-chats and bragged about how many kills they got in the attack. Twilight smiled at the NC's victory and celebration, but her smile widened even more when she saw Rainbow Dash and the rest of her squad running towards her.

"Twilight! You're still alive!!" Rainbow then gave her friend a bone-crushing hug, lifting her off the ground.

"Can't... breathe..."

"Oh, sorry, egghead. But seriously, that was some sick move you did there to destroy the tank. It was awesome!" Dash squealed in happiness and excitement.

Twilight didn't respond as her eyes glued on an incoming Galaxy. It was obviously from the New Conglomerate, but it looked way more decorated, since the turrets looked different from the conventional ones and its body had long, shiny gold trims. The landing gear came out from the innards, and the Galaxy came to ground level with ease. All of the nearby soldiers' eyes went wide as the hatch opened and revealed Spitfire herself, clad in a woodland camouflaged armor and sporting no weapons at all. Every trooper on the surrounding area, including Dash and Twilight, saluted deeply. Spitfire walked slowly towards Rainbow:

"Sergeant Rainbow Dash... you and your attack force have done a nice job here. The capture of this Tech Plant will help the New Conglomerate even more in the control of Amerish. Though, I think that I'll transfer you to another continent." Spitfire's voice was authoritarian and quite loud, which made some of the rookies in the squadron shake a bit. She placed her hands on her back and walked from side to side.

"Yes sir! What continent will I be transferred to?" Dash asked, not even breaking her upright posture.

"Esamir. Our troops need quite the boost there. Now, board the Galaxy, take some rest at the Warpgate, and get to Esamir ASAP."

"Sir, yes sir!" Her squadron said as one as they ran and boarded the Galaxy without a word being said. Spitfire simply smiled weakly at them, and turned on her heels to order the rest of the troopers to reinforce key defense positions and repair the damage done by the attack.

And there went Dash's squadron, towards the Warpgate to ready themselves for their next assignment. But are they ready for the inhospitable, frozen wasteland that goes by the name of Esamir?

> White Infiltration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash's squad left their Galaxy at the safe grounds of the gigantic Warpgate. Twilight couldn't help but to stare curiously at the large, light green bubble-shaped shield protecting them from the battles raging outside. However, just because the Warpgate was a relatively safe area for the New Conglomerate's troops to rest and take a breather didn't mean that other military activity couldn't take place. Full wings of Reavers ascended and assumed intimidating formations, leaving in a hurry and painting the late night sky with their trails of bright blue energy. 

Platoons of both Lightning and Vanguard tanks (The Lightning being the lighter version of the Vanguard) lined up and sped up towards various points, breaking their massive line in smaller groups. Even entire squads of soldiers were seen boarding Sunderers, surrounded by five support Harassers, buggies sporting machine guns sitting on the roof.

"C'mon, men. I know that we are all tired, but you can rest at Esamir. The travel won't take long, and we will probably have to wait for General Spitfire's orders." Rainbow Dash stated, not breaking her sprint towards the main building standing proudly in the middle of the NC's base of operations in Amerish.

The group gave sighs and breaths of defeat. They knew how cold Esamir was, and how hard it was to fall asleep in such a harsh weathered continent. Twilight herself was drowning on her thoughts, ranging from what this frozen place everyone whispered about looked like to memories of her last battle. Inside the Galaxy, she was praised by many of the squad's members. Unwanted attention was her opinion on the appraisal.

Reaching for the base, Rainbow climbed up the stairs in a seemingly tireless pace, rivaling with her troopers’ slow and exhausted steps. Most of them even had difficulties going up the large staircase leading somewhere else in the building. A few seconds of cruel climbing, and they were greeted by a half-open hallway full of consoles being used by assigned tank, fighter and transport craft drivers. At the very end of the hall was a small doorway, giving entrance to the facility's innards.

Entering the base was a common sight for most troopers, but was new for those rookies and Twilight Sparkle. Terminals similar to the ones seen outside allowed soldiers to access it and incredibly replenish their equipment. What really intrigued them was the glowing white pods sitting against the back walls, which literally made soldiers disappear and appear in thin air.
"Here. Just go through it, and you're Esamir bound," Dash announced calmly as she positioned herself next to a pod where a lesser flow of soldiers were passing through. To reinforce her order, she stretched her arm towards it.

Her voice snapped most of the bewildered rookies out of their amused trance and made them march into the teleporter, leaving the hilly and forested continent of Amerish in the blink of an eye. Twilight waited for all of them to cross it and sheepishly walked into it, her body dissipating in a flash of white. Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself before following her friend right on her tracks.





Esamir, Western Warpgate, 8:23 AM

Cold. That was the first thing that Twilight Sparkle felt as she walked out of the pod. She unconsciously shivered from the freezing wind blowing hard on her face, momentarily making her bring her hands up to her mouth. Before her eyes was a large room similar to the one she saw in Amerish's NC Warpgate, but it had a striking difference: it was completely enveloped by a snowy aura. Using the rifle's holster to swing it on her back, Twilight used her free arms to rub themselves and preserve temperature. Even her metallic plates and the leather covering her whole body weren't able to hold back Esamir's weather.

"Hehe, kinda cold around here, huh?" Rainbow jogged to her side and set a hand to Twilight's shoulder, signs of her breath escaping from her mouth with every word.

"Y-yeah, t-that's pretty obvious..." Twilight replied matter-of-factly.

"Whatever. I'll ask General Spitfire for further orders," Rainbow said as she brought up a small blue and gold-patterned bandana to the uncovered part of her head, precisely hiding any remaining facial features. Dash walked slowly away from Twilight, but turned on her heels. "Oh, you also got these neat bandanas. For some reason, the Warpgate prepares you for whatever environment you go."

Following her friend's advice, Twilight searched around her neck for said piece of cloth. Her eyes went wide with surprise as she found hers, way bulkier than Dash's, trimmed with yellow-dyed wool. Pulling it up her mouth, she felt way more comfortable and looked around in the room. Soldiers seemed to have more clothing instead of armor here, and even their weapons were colored differently from the usual grey rifles and pistols. Twilight then gazed back at Rainbow, who walked from side-to-side as she appeared to be having a tactical discussion on a small communications device strapped to her neck.

Out of curiosity, the librarian walked out of the room and to the carbon copy of the semi-open hallway containing the vehicular control panels. The flux of NC warriors here was slightly lower than Amerish's, which was explained to Twilight as she overheard chatter between two soldiers about an ongoing three-way battle to the west. The outside wasn't grassy as Amerish's, but instead it was filled with multiple layers of snow, flakes of it soaring from the skies. For some reason, she could see that the sun still shone up there.

She was snapped out of her gazing when sounds of heavy footsteps came within earshot.

"Just talked to Spitfire. The rest of the squadron will rest for a bit. For you, though..." Rainbow's gaze went distant for a second as she rubbed her clothed chin in thought. Even though she had that thick, pitch-black visor covering her eyes, Twilight could see a confused expression on her features.

"Did she assign me to a different... task this time?" She tried to guess.

"Yes! That's the word I was looking for," the sergeant exclaimed, but went back to line. "Well, Spitfire has ordered us to attack a pretty well defended AMP station... called ‘Nott,’ but she wants a new attack pattern there. We're sending three infiltrator units to disable the shields and take down the guards inside, and one of the three selected was you," explained Rainbow, using her light machine gun's holster to wrap it around her back and let her arms free.

"Well... General's orders. Where do we begin?" Twilight asked quickly with eagerness.

"Just follow me." Rainbow gave her a pat on the back and pointed towards the room where they first arrived.

The duo solely walked to the main room and stopped right in front of a terminal emitting a blue hologram of what seemed to be a weapon outlined in gold. Much to Twilight's curiosity, there was a plate beneath her feet that conflicted with the dull grey pattern spread around the room. She then looked right up to face the blue terminal screen.

"C'mon. Touch it." Dash reinforced what she wanted to do.

Twilight did as requested and used her right hand to give the hologram screen a light touch. It flashed in white and then displayed a small text: "Welcome, Private Twilight Sparkle 45. Resupply, or change combat gear?"

"It knows my name?!" Exclaimed the librarian, arm still held high to access the console.

"Not only your name, but a thousand other stuff about your combat record. But that's not the reason why we're here. Spitfire asked you to change into Infiltrator gear. Just select ‘change combat gear,’ Twi," Replied the rainbow-haired heavy infantrymare by her side.

She kept doing what Rainbow told her to and clicked on the option. It then displayed a large menu, showing off her own figure standing up in the center, rifle in hands and the list of equipment on the right side. On the left side was a small list of six options, all of them sporting names. Twilight concentrated on the Infiltrator 'class.' With one press of her fingertip, she was directed to the Infiltrator unit menu, her own figure now covered in a mixture of blue, white and grey spandex clothing. In her figure's hands was a large scoped rifle, larger than her Mercenary carbine. As she read on the right side of the display, it was named the 'NC-14 Bolt Driver.'

"Don't be shy. See that green ‘Resupply’ button? It'll allow you to change from your Light Assault gear to sniper gear. It won't kill, come on."

With a sheepish touch, Twilight pressed the aforementioned button and gasped as two metal objects emerged from the platform where she stood up. Her feet were now immobile, nearly knocking Twilight off the machinery as she swayed from side to side. The rest of the platform then opened and released an entire capsule, surrounding the panicking soldier completely and closing mercilessly around her. Rainbow's chuckles were the last thing Twilight heard before she was confined on the pod.





Twilight was literally thrown out of the pod as it retracted itself inside the floor with metallic sounds echoing around. Her eyes were wide as plates as she noticed the new weight on her arms. Said 'Bolt Driver' was now in her possession, shining like water in the room. Her body was also different the moment she looked down: Gold trims passed through her slender legs. Instead of the baggy and sandy colored clothing made for the rest of the infantry types, she was now dressed up in a skin-tight fabric that felt incredibly comfortable and warm. Armor plates weren't present anymore, save for her wrists. Her face was gripped against a full mask, covering her face entirely. By passing a hand on her face, she felt goggles on her eyes.

"Dash? How do I look?" She asked, getting a better grip around her sniper rifle and assuming a straight stance.

"You... look awesome!" Dash replied, raising her arms briefly. "Now, General told me that you're invading the base with two other troopers. Don't worry: They are marksman as well."

"Does being an Infiltrator change anything aside from the sniper rifle?" she asked, curious.

"Yeah. You can turn invisible. Just look for the button on your wrist," instructed Rainbow, pointing to the mentioned part.

Doing as she was instructed, Twilight pressed the small button located at her left wrist. Her heart skipped a beat as she could see her own arms and legs visually disappearing. She could see her outlines, but most of her body and weapon were difficult to notice.

"Pretty cool, huh? Now just remember that it doesn't allow you to shoot, and that it overheats with time. Now let's get going!"

Twilight nodded to her friend, turned off the invisibility cloak and followed her to the exit with new-found vigor in each step. For some unexplained reason, she felt different and more powerful. She was surely up for another adventure. Leaving the room wasn't much of a shock as it was in the first time. It seemed that her gear somehow kept her warm in Esamir's cruel weather. Rainbow herself already accumulated snow on her shoulders and face-gear with every step she took.

Descending the same stairway she climbed earlier in Amerish, Twilight could barely see two figures standing in the middle of the snowy fog that was the Warpgate. So much snow fell from the skies that the constant green light emitted by the Warpgate's shields was simply a barely visible barrier. From the glow coming from their lower bodies, Twilight could tell that they were Infiltrators as well. Rainbow Dash rushed downstairs.

"Privates Nightshade, Music, report to duty." She announced in an authoritarian voice, jogging around to face them.

"S-sir, yes sir!" Both men replied shakily, taken off-guard by her voice and saluting to her figure.

"You know very well what Spitfire requested! Here's the new member on your team! Now, c'mon, Nightshade! Grab a Harasser and move your asses to the Octagon!" She then moved Twilight to their sides. "When you clear the base from enemies, place those beacons, and we'll move in together with the soldiers deployed from the Capital Ship up above!" Dash then finally threw them three cylindrical objects, one for each soldier. Light beacons.

"Sir, yes sir!" They all replied in unison. By that moment, Dash had mysteriously disappeared in the facility.

The one soldier who possibly was Nightshade trailed off to the hallway containing the vehicle consoles without a word. That left Twilight alone with this 'Music' person, who appeared to be a rock from his unbreakable stance and air of seriousness surrounding him. He moved a few steps away from his original position and looked around for a second. Twilight sheepishly dropped herself on the soft snow with a hop and got by his side.

All of sudden, a loud horn accompanied by two white lights flaring in the fog. Twilight jumped instinctively back and gasped, only to be met by Music's eyeless stare.

"Here, Twilight. Our ride," he muttered, voice muffled by the mask.

She simply nodded and ran by his side towards the lights, taking long steps on the thick layers of snow under her. By the time she arrived next to the vehicle, she was instructed to hop on the back spot. Music opened the door and stood up to operate the roof-turret, and Twilight was left with the passenger spot, exposed to the outside. It wasn't difficult to climb on the small piece of metal. Now on the Harasser, Twilight took a seat on the cold platform and waited for the buggy to trail off.

As she had been waiting for, the car roared its engine and put itself into movement, snow flying off from the wheels as it scoured through the Warpgate's road. Twilight rested her back on the cold steel behind her and breathed behind her mask. She then took a longer look around as she seemed to have left the Warpgate, and the snowy aura gave space to a clearer sky and surroundings. Esamir itself wasn't very interesting: hills covered in snow, only broken by the strange purple crystal formations protruding from the surface like towers. The sky was painted in a light and relaxing blue, and the sun stood on the top as a jewel.

The buggy continued to race through the road, leading somewhere Twilight didn't know. Music, the turret operator, kept quiet and only moved the anti-infantry weapon when he noticed something strange moving in the frozen plains. Nightshade, the driver, only hummed a quiet tune, which was awkward for Twilight herself, who started to hear a calm and relaxing guitar riff directly coming from her helmet.



Silence reigned most of the time around the three snipers, save for the engine and Twilight's rifle constantly banging against the surface of the Harasser. The soldier on the back was now in deep trance with the song playing inside her helmet, staring blankly at the horizon. She barely saw that they were nearing their objective.

Few minutes passed and Nightshade pulled the brake hard and the buggy went into a shy yet effective drift, throwing snow on a nearby rock formation. Twilight had to grip herself around the bars surrounding her to not fall off the vehicle. She followed both men as they disembarked from their transport and looked directly at the gigantic station standing proudly at the middle of the tundra. It was tall enough to look like the large outpost Twilight had helped capturing back at Amerish, but it looked different, since roughly 20 feet tall walls protected it from land troops. On the edges, large and circular towers housed anti-aircraft turrets on the top, and appeared to the defend a aqua-green glowing shield gate.

"Okay, Twilight, Music. You two know very well who we're fighting here. The Vanu Sovereignty got those pesky snipers all planted around the facility, not to mention that there are some very good Infiltrators spread through the buildings to stab whoever tries to sneak into it. I'll be taking out the snipers while you two keep an eye out for hidden assassins and disable the shields. Then, just place the beacons and hold off any reinforcements," Nightshade ordered, already walking and climbing rocks to get a better view over the battlefield.

"C'mon, Sparkle. We got an objective to complete!" exclaimed Music as he patted Twilight on the shoulder and started jogging through the snow.

The fellow New Conglomerate sniper had no option but to follow her comrade towards the titanic facility. Temperature was threatening to freeze her hands and feet if she didn't keep moving. Even with the overwhelming cold wind and multiple layers of snow, Twilight and Music finally arrived at the shielded gates. For their surprise, no enemies could be seen at the top of the defense towers. They made well by invading the less patrolled gate.

"Don't worry, these shields only stop vehicles from getting in... for some reason..." Music explained as he crouched low and passed unscathed through the glowing barrier.

Twilight followed him quietly and examined her surroundings: It looked very similar to the large outpost on Amerish, except for the bigger size and larger number of crates and buildings. A road circled it completely, rays of the sunlight creeping behind the tall structure of the main building. Looking high above, she could see at least four landing pads, and most of them had small grey figures standing and aiming through strangely shaped weapons at the horizon. Her eyes went wide as dinner plates as a blue trail hit one of those soldiers and made his/her corpse fall from a deadly height.

"We can't lose time. Pick the generator on the west. I'll take care of the northern and the eastern ones." Music then pointed at where Twilight should go with a hand.

Both soldiers parted ways with knowing nods. Twilight still examined the base while sneaking on its farthest reaches, ears sharp for every little noise. At the moment, all that she could hear was the rather terrifying whisper of the wind and her slow, careful footsteps. Hurrying quickly and throwing glances everywhere, the rebel took cover by leaning her back on a crate and tucking her head to the outside.

She nearly gasped as she saw an entire patrol of Vanu soldiers jogging in a squad formation, coming right at where she was hiding. Keeping her mouth shut and mentally shouting to not panic, the librarian froze up back in cover and mashed her invisibility cloak device activator.

"I'm telling you, Fluttershy. Those filthy New Conglomerate ruffians stationed at the Octagon are undoubtedly planning an attack here. We should contact General Luna and ask for reinforcements." A familiar voice came into the rebel's earshot, getting nearer and nearer.

"I-I know, Rarity. I'll totally contact her and ask for reinforcements right away!" Another voice, as familiar as the other one, yet shyer, rang in.

Suddenly, the squad took a sharp turn right where Twilight was hiding. The soldiers were using skin-tight gear, which looked strangely ill-fitted for Esamir. In their hands laid true pieces of high-tech weaponry, most of them even containing neon-trimmed magazines and green-lighted cores. Their armor also had multiple aqua-green details, three of the members even having their whole faces covered by helmets with glowing visors. Twilight desperately held her breath as they slowed down and reduced their jog to a walk.

"Wait... I feel an intruder here..." Rarity, geared up as an Infiltrator, stated to her comrades, eyes focusing on Twilight's spot.

Cold sweat came down her masked face as she struggled to hold her breath. She was clearly exerting her lungs to their limits, so much that the pair of organs felt like they would implode at any moment. Twilight saw the world around her slowly turn black and her body go limp by the moment. That is, until one of the suspicious Vanu heavy troopers behind Rarity fell down lifelessly, a white trail disappearing in seconds. They all perked their heads as the sound of a sniper shot echoed in the air.

"NC Infiltrator! On top of that building!" Rarity exclaimed and ordered, trotting away with her men and women towards the source of the shot.

As their footsteps went away from her hiding spot, Twilight finally deactivated her cloaking device and sat down on the snow. Her lungs were quickly refilled with fresh oxygen as she rested and tried to calm down her racing heart. Rarity nearly detected her there, but thankfully someone saved her.

"Just saved you there, Twilight. Now hurry up! We need to get those generators on overload ASAP!" Music's voice came into her inbuilt comms microphone.

"Thanks... I'll get to the generators now," replied Twilight, standing up, taking one last breath and rearranging the sniper rifle in her hands and taking one last look to check if her way to the quite-near generator room was clear.

She left cover in a hurry, running at a mild speed and throwing scoped glances from side to side. Twilight was passing right through a maze of cover walls and crates, all spread around a small open area surrounded by metallic buildings. Before her eyes, stood the room containing the anti-vehicle shield generator. It was like a cylinder with multiple glass windows showing the glowing cyan light that gave power to the shields. Thick wires left the structure and stretched their way to the gate.

What she didn't expect was the sudden enemy soldier literally jumping out of the doorway leading to the generator. He gave a large jump and landed very ungracefully on the surface. Twilight froze up in place and instinctively crouched, setting one eye on her magnified scope and squeezed the other one for better aiming. She never used a sniper before, and considering the loud noises still playing up above in the skies, it seemed to be very powerful. The rebel tightened the grip around the weapon, tracked her target, who for some reason halted his sprint. Twilight exhaled all of her remaining oxygen and pulled the trigger.

Blood cascaded like water from the Vanu soldier's head. He fell limply on the terrain, painting the white with crimson red in mere seconds. Twilight nearly fell flat on her rump with the Bolt Driver's recoil, yet she had a dumb grin on her face. Her mind snapped her out of the clean headshot she had done and back to the objective at hand. The shot probably gave away her position to any Sovereignty trooper nearby.

Twilight sprinted like never to the generator. The room where it was situated was rather tight and claustrophobic, but such atmosphere was washed away by the large doorways leading to both the gate and face-first with the AMP station. The NC Infiltrator then lowered herself next to the control panel and started pressing multiple buttons, heightening the power distribution and speeding up the electricity to set the generator on meltdown. When she was done with her sabotage, the cylinder started to flash with both orange and cyan lights, flaring like a siren and ringing an alarm siren.

Leaving her objective, Twilight scanned her bearings and kept high alert to notice any incoming hostiles to halt the imminent meltdown. Noticing that she was in a quite exposed area, she ran towards the same maze of crates she was sneaking past before and took cover behind a cover wall, sniper barrel on top of it and scope scouring the entrance to the overloaded generator. No one seemed to be around, hopefully. Twilight breathed in relief, waiting for the object to explode.

"Two generators down. I broke the pursuit with the spandex-asses from before. How's the situation going on your side, guys?" asked Music on the radio, sounding a bit fatigued.

"My objective is down, and no one appears to be around in this part of the station, Music. I'm just waiting for the meltdown," Twilight reported in, still staring at the distance through her scope.

"Multiple targets down up on the landing pads. They never saw that one coming, guys. Strangely, I don't see any movement outside the walls. I thought that the Vanu high command would at least send some reinforcements." Nightshade completed the report, the wind blowing through his transmission.

*Pew*

Twilight immediately brought a hand to her shoulder after a hyper-sonic bullet whizzed right above her shoulder. The shot left a short graze on her skin, but enough to make the New Conglomerate sniper wince in pain. Turning on her heels, she desperately moved her head in every direction in a vain attempt to find the source of whatever tried to hit her. Her breathing grew quicker with every second, eyes wide and watering slightly with the pain.

She used the scope to try and detect whomever tried to kill her. The rebel's heart beat faster and faster as she couldn't find anyone around in the area, but she did notice that the laser trail left by her opponent's shot was still dissipating in the air...

This 'clue' led her scoped aim towards a standing VS sniper, rifle in hands and scope gleaming in the morning sun. The reflection little gave Twilight any advantage as she saw the barrel of the Vanu soldier's gun charge up with green energy. A loud *Pew* just like the one she heard before echoed through the facility. Diving for the nearest crate, Twilight successfully dodged the enemy bullet. However, her enemy wouldn't sell themselves short.

Twilight quickly got up to a crouching position and slowly raised her head up her cover to take a look at where the sniper was. Her ascent was abruptly stopped as she felt the right side of her helmet and mask being thrown away by the laser. Hopefully, no physical damage was made, even though now part of her face was exposed to the cold. Twilight retreated back and sat her rump on the snow: Maybe, if she moved to the right end of the crate...

Doing as her mind suggested, Twilight crawled up to the edge of her protection and sheepishly moved her barrel out to try and take out the Vanu marksman. A smile crept up in her face as she could finally see the Vanu Infiltrator standing up there, still aiming at where Twilight had lastly showed up. She had a clear shot. Holding her breath to steady her swaying long-range rifle, Twilight squeezed an eye closed, set the other on her scope, waited for the right moment and pressed the trigger.

A flash came out of the muzzle and the bullet was unleashed towards its target. What Twilight didn't expect was seeing the Vanu trooper simply sidestepping the projectile with a single movement. They promptly turned their attention to Twilight's new hiding spot and shot her again. The laser landed dangerously near Twilight Sparkle, enough for her to feel the heat from the weapon's energy melting off her gloves. The NC sniper pushed the bolt and readied herself for another shot.

"Celestia damn those snipers!" she stated to herself and winced afterwards, noticing that the wound on her shoulder was still fresh.

Twilight quickly realized that she was confronting someone of a higher level there. Someone who was way more trained in the arts of sniping and marksmanship. If she wanted to get the upper hand in this duel, she had to play dirty with her enemy. Her cloaking device would surely help her in her task. In order to put her plan to work, Twilight stood up one last time and shot off the remaining bullets in a way that even she couldn't believe she did, performing the bolt action seconds after a projectile was sent.

One of the bullets fired from Twilight's Bolt Driver fortunately hit the Vanu sniper. Blood was seen showering the clean snow as the hit target brought their hands to their right leg, apparently shouting in pain. Twilight smiled dumbly at her opportunity and activated her Hunter invisibility gadget, sprinting through the maze of crates and buildings like mad. Her destination? The nearby gate-tower. She could possibly get an advantage point over her enemy and shoot them out from the top of the large round structure placed right next to the gate.

Running on the thick layers of snow was an fatiguing activity for Twilight. If not by her determination to complete the mission, and the quite tensing fact that she was behind enemy lines, the librarian would have dropped to her knees right there. Her lungs were absolutely freezing with each inhalation she gave, her legs sore and arms tensed up. Would she give up? No. She had an objective to complete, and a target to put down.

Finally crossing the harsh path of accumulated snow, Twilight set foot on the metallic stairwell leading to the tower's innards. Sucking in more oxygen, she turned off her invisibility since the device was already overheating. As she went upstairs, Twilight felt a strange air of eeriness surrounding her. The tower split up its stairs to both sides and lead up to open windows overlooking the frozen plains of Esamir. In the middle of that, stood two gravity launchers, one going up and the other down. The NC Infiltrator breathed with confidence now, slowly walking to the gravity propellers.

"Not so fast, rebel scum!" A feminine voice rung out all of sudden, and made Twilight Sparkle jump in place. Rarity.

Her Bolt Driver fell off from her hands as a familiar greenish blast hit its surface. Now weaponless, Twilight turned on her heels to face whoever taunted her: The same Vanu sniper from before. Her face was covered up in a silver helmet, only broken by the VS logo stamped in a curious kind of glowing visor. Her body was distractingly outlined in a tight spandex suit, seeming even suffocating. Her arms held a large and apparently bulky sniper rifle, built in a curved and nearly alien design.

Rarity holstered her rifle in the blink of an eye and jumped towards Twilight to strike her, a knife shining in her hands. The rebel tried to wield her pistol and shoot the incoming woman, but her attempt failed. The pistol bounced on the steel floor as Rarity finally landed on Twilight, knife passing right next to her ear. Blood dropped on the rebel's shoulder as a cut was made on her left ear. She kicked the Vanu loyalist back and staggered back in retreat, unsheathing her Force Blade.

"Good, good. You're not like those awful rookies who don't even know how to pull the trigger!" mocked Rarity, swinging her serrated weapon in the air.

Twilight was not affected by her taunt and rushed forward, raising her arm to stab Rarity in the head. The moment she could actually put an end to the Vanu, her arm was blocked by Rarity's forearm. Hopefully, the arm which she used to block her blow was her knife arm, but it didn't mean that she would get out of it, unscathed. The lady gave her opponent a punch in the stomach and an upwards blow to the chin, sending the rebel walking back with both hands on her face.

Advantage was on Rarity's side now. She ran to her stunned opponent, grabbed the back side of her neck, brought it down and gave her a knee to the face. A crimson liquid stained Twilight's mask right where her mouth was, showing clear signs of broken teeth. How could such strength come from the most fragile unit of all armies? The world around her blurred for a second. Twilight shook her head and wiped the blood out of her mask, just in time to catch Rarity preparing herself to land a horizontal stab.

Raising an arm, Twilight groaned to keep Rarity's blow in place. Her armplate managed to block the stab, and her opponent apparently loosened the grip around her handle. The librarian had no mercy: She kicked the Vanu scientist on the stomach, spun on her heels and came clashing against Rarity's face like a bomb. She brought both hands to her face, feigning pain, and backed away from the freedom fighter. Her trap could actually work.

When Twilight advanced with total strength on her right shoulder for a bash, Rarity dodged the attack and quickly positioned herself on her enemy's side. She clenched her hand into a fist and delivered a crushing strike on Twilight's head, already readying herself for the ultimate stab. Well, what she hadn't planned was Twilight staggering long enough to reach for the gravity launchers.

A loud shriek of panic was heard across the station as Twilight was propelled up by the advanced elevator and brought to the tower's ceiling. She stopped screaming the moment she landed on the hard steel surface with a tremendous noise. Air escaped her lips, and she fought to recover it. Grabbing her knife that was only a few meters from her hands, Twilight winced in pain but brought her hands up her face, the knife's edge pointed to the blue skies.

Rarity's figure emerged from the same hole in the ceiling, blade held high to end her fellow rebel. Twilight's eyes went wide and she rolled to the left, avoiding the strike with precision.

"Damned terrorist! Stay in place!" she yelled furiously, removing the plunged knife in rage.

Twilight's lungs were almost emptied as Rarity gave her chest a heavy punch. She crawled on top of the partially-stunned NC sniper, tightened the grip around the handle, raised her arms and came down with the fury of a storm. Twilight was quick enough, and grabbed her wrists before the edge could rip through her skin. Her goggles cracked from the sudden pressure, showering her eyes in a rain of small, pitch black glass drops. Ignoring this fact and concentrating her strength on her enemy's wrists, the librarian's mind rushed madly to find a way out...

Then an idea came.

Using all of her muscles to keep the hostile blade with a single arm, Twilight grunted loudly and reached for her dropped Mag-Cutter. It was time to break free: The edge came falling on Rarity's stretched limbs and dug deep into her flesh, reaching for the bone. The Vanu marksman yelled and screamed in pure pain, allowing her own knife to fall into Twilight's hand. Left hurt and exposed to an attack, the VS sniper continued to hold her wounds in desperation, leaving an opening to Twilight.

Everything around Twilight Sparkle went slow as she grabbed the Force-Blade in midair and swung its tip towards Rarity. The movement opened a large cut on her forehead, but now wasn't the time to count gashes. With one, forceful yet tired push, Rarity's own blade stabbed herself on the chest. Her screams came to an end as her body went limp and was submitted to Twilight's still tense arms, who seemed to be nearly crushing the wrists.

Realizing that her enemy was now dead, Twilight pushed the corpse aside and winced multiple times at her bruises and cuts. Wiping out the blood on her forehead, she sucked in lots of cold oxygen to her nearly empty lungs, holding a hand. She still had one goal to complete: Setup the beacon. The device was clanking together with her belt equipment and thankfully wasn't damaged. Twilight removed it from her waist and opened the small legs to place it on the floor. It fixated itself to the new surface, ready to be deployed. The NC sniper then quickly pressed a series of buttons on the sides. A blinding beam of light emerged from the top and stretched its way to the clouds.

"This is Gleaming Shield's commander... thanks for the signal, guys. We're dropping reinforcements now." A voice came in the radio transmission, sounding way too relaxed considering the actual situation. "Make sure to let the boys capture the rest of the base, and to give 'em some covering fire."

Twilight gave a loud shout of victory and threw her arms up. She still needed to recover both her pistol and rifle from downstairs to continue fighting. Her eyes shone with victory as another beam of light ascended to the skies. That was probably Music's beacon.

"Guys... we haven't won yet..." Music stated seriously on the comms line, sounding both worried and serious.

Loud, hissing engines roared in the cold atmosphere. The march of a thousand feet stomped the ground in nearly flawless synchrony. Twilight froze in place, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, staring at the horizon. She ran up to the edge of the guard tower: A whole platoon of soldiers and tanks guarded Sunderers, probably loaded up with entire squadrons of troopers. Up above, a wing of the Vanu's terrifying Scythes soared through the blue sky, defending two Galaxies drop ships. She looked up, and saw that the NC's drop pods were already falling down into battle.

"Fuck..."

And there came the Vanu Sovereignty's counter-attack to the poorly captured facility, travelling through the harsh environment to get back what was once theirs. Will the New Conglomerate reinforcements pose a major threat to the Vanu, or will they be mercilessly slaughtered?