Landfall

Chapter I - Landfall

“Spike, please bring me that next sample.” Twilight called from across her personal lab, all attention focused on a screen displaying some test result. Spike dutifully rushed down carefully with another containment unit holding a glowing blue crystal.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Twi…? I mean, it’s not even the right color…” the young dragon said quietly.

“Oh it’s nothing to worry about, Spike.” she replied, using her magic to carefully levitate the crystal into the testing chamber with a small mouse, “Besides, this strain is a rare form that we’ve only seen in Changeling territory; it might hold the key to what I’m working on.”

“You still haven’t told me more than ‘it will change the world, Spike’ and ‘it will benefit all of Equestria, Spike’.” he deadpanned.

“That’s because you don’t need to know everything about this project yet. Celestia doesn’t even know what my own personal experiments are for.”

“Isn’t that a bit risky? Hiding research from the Princess?” Spike asked. His only reply was a small smirk as Twilight flapped her wings a bit for emphasis.

“Oh right, you’re one too…” he muttered. “Still Twilight, keeping information from either Celestia or Luna just seems like a bad idea, and it’s against the Charter, too!”

“The Charter was made without my input, and Luna barely had any say in it either.” Twilight snapped back, a hint of bitterness in her tone as the mouse tried taking a bite of the crystal but instead just started convulsing once he touched it, “And besides… the Initiative only has rules against unlawful, malicious experiments, not ones that will better ponykind and the rest of the world.”

“And just how will it do that?” Spike inquired, sarcasm overflowing from his voice.

“Well, put simply Spike…” Twilight began, grinning back at her most trusted assistant as the mouse inside the test chamber started moving again, his eyes shining blue and his fur now letting off a faint, crystalline sheen, “Tiberium is the key to the next step in Pony Evolution.”
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It’s been barely a year since tiberium first made landfall, and five years since Princess Twilight Sparkle defeated Lord Tirek with the help of her friends. When the first asteroid hit Equestria, the world was a relatively peaceful place. Five days later, 20 earth ponies had been killed by green crystalline growths all over their bodies that turned the unfortunate victims into more of the crystal. A month later, Appleloosa was nothing more than a field of green crystals nearly 20 miles in diameter. By the time Celestia ordered a full-scale investigation, the first tiberium field in Equestria was beyond containment and growing rapidly.

Unbeknownst to Celestia however, the tiberium-enriched asteroid that destroyed Appleloosa was not the only one to hit the world. The Griffon Kingdom’s mountain strongholds had already been hit, the wastes where the Changelings made their homes were already saturated, and mountains where dragons congregated had begun to show massive crystal formations.

Upon finding out, Celestia ordered a complete border lockdown once tiberium’s presence was confirmed in other nations while Luna set up a covert research facility to study how to rid the planet of the crystalline cancer. The following month, Celestia commissioned the Global Defense Initiative, intent on cleansing the planet of tiberium once and for all, inviting all of ponykind to join in the fight against the cancerous crystal.

This was her first mistake.

Princess Celestia, for all her wisdom, believed that the magic of friendship and the combined intellectual might of herself, her sister, and her beloved student would be enough to find a counter to tiberium that Equestria could then give to the other nations in the spirit of companionship. Despite the assurances of countless envoys, the other kingdoms felt that the lockdown and perceived espionage was more than just suspicious. With the creation of GDI uniting only equine nations, diplomatic tensions reached an all-time high.

The Griffon Kingdom, once proud and mighty, was half-dead once GDI was founded. The mountainous steppes that formed their realm, rich in ores and minerals, proved to be a perfect environment for the green cancer, allowing it to spread unimpeded across the land. Not only were the clearings covered with tiberium fields as was the case elsewhere, but the geographical features of the realm gave rise to the world’s first tiberium glacier upon the mighty Ancestor’s Peak, grinding the ancient griffon capital that sat upon it into dust. With the loss of much of the arable land to feed the livestock they depended on, famine spread throughout the kingdom with the many resorting to hunting as their ancestors had centuries past, yet those desperate enough to do so soon found their preys to be as tainted as the land itself. Despite the painfully apparent encroaching end, King Steelwing the Second continued to maintain an iron talon upon the remaining survivors, determined to keep order and the rule of law alive until the very end. However, many considered their doom to be but a matter of time, desperately turning to their ancestors in search for salvation.

While the Griffon Kingdom went through a period of unprecedented death and suffering brought upon by tiberium, the Changeling swarms were going through a radical change. Exposure to the reviled crystal did not kill them in the same horrendous way it did equines and griffons, nor did it destroy vital pieces of lands as it did elsewhere. After all, changelings do not require food or water like the other races do, thus the loss of arable farmland means nothing to a hive. The spread of the crystal into the mighty, subterranean hives did, however, radically alter the race’s social structure due to the rampant mutations it brought upon their insectlike forms. Tiberium growths appeared upon the bodies of drones, warriors, and queens alike, the power granted to them differing not between swarms but between individuals. Suddenly underlings were able to challenge and even usurp power from the old queen, leading to a shift in leadership and the social order of the hives and swarms, most notably when Queen Chrysalis reclaimed her former castle from Thorax, converting his entire faction back into loyal drones and leaving him in exile. Inevitably, the once semi-stable lands of the changelings were now embroiled in endless civil war.

With a great portion of his people gone and the sudden unilateral unification of the equine nations under the Global Defense Initiative, King Steelwing understandably feared for the future of the Griffon Kingdom, its independence, and, most importantly, the future of his people. Likewise, the new Queens of the more stable hives in the changeling lands, seeing the power the green crystal granted them, grew worried of GDI’s apparent goal of containing and eradicating tiberium from the face of the planet. Starting with a pact between the Changeling Queens, headed by the newly reinstated Queen Chrysalis after successfully holding on to her power, to ensure they could protect what was now theirs, a strange alliance was born between the Changelings and the Griffons out of fear of what GDI had in store for them. Yet, despite what GDI’s militarization and membership showed, Equestria and its allies were far from united in their goal of eradicating what many were now silently considering to be a ‘sacred’ gift.

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An iron-grey unicorn with a close-cropped white mane and tail galloped as fast as his aging legs could take him straight towards Canterlot Castle’s Throne Room. As he approached the large double doors, the guards gave a swift salute and had them open before he had even ran half the hallway. Unlike the guards of old, adorned in gilded plate-mail, these unicorns had on grey fatigues with similar colored vests, pads for the joints, and boots. Strapped to their hips as well as the unicorn’s were a new technological marvel brought on by the Tiberium Age. GD Mk I Pistols, ballistic weaponry for use by magic users only.

The guards stiffened a little as the older stallion trotted by, giving them an excellent view of the four silver stars that adorned his shoulders and the name tag that was plastered across the left side of his chest; “Ironsides.”

“Good afternoon, General.” said one of the guards. Ironsides simply replied with a polite nod as he entered the throne room. Much to his surprise, there was already a crowd of various officers and divisional directors standing around, trying to gain audience with the two alicorns seated at the far end of the room. Scowling, the aged unicorn let out the least discreet cough he could muster while still striding forward, keeping his perpetual scowl on as the crowd of ponies split dead center, making a path for him.

“Ah, General, I see you still know how to make an entrance.” a calm, almost serene voice chimed in.

“Well, considering the rumornet believes I’m old enough to keel over any minute now, certain things cannot wait, majesties.” he replied without breaking his stride. The General had been at this little banter game with Celestia for years now, even before Princess Luna had been rescued from her evil half, and he’d only gotten better at it much to the chagrin of his competitors. In a way, he was Celestia’s second-dearest student, coming in just behind Princess Twilight Sparkle. Where Twilight focused her studies on the arcane arts and, in time, the magic of friendship, Ironsides had devoted his life to defensive magic, tactics, and reforming the Canterlot Royal Guard for the modern age.

Needless to say, when he informed the Sun Princess of the necessity for a new all-equine defense force for the survival of the old world order, she heartily agreed and even made his sweeping eagle cutie mark the emblem of the Global Defense Initiative.

“Does this require privacy, old friend?” Celestia asked once he had approached the pedestal she and Luna shared.

“I’d prefer this was kept for your ears only, your grace.”

“Very well, follow us.” Luna replied as she gestured behind the thrones with a slight flick of her head.

Obeying dutifully, General Ironsides followed both demi-goddesses from the throne room out the back entryway. Magic washed over them as magical scanners searched for any trace of tiberium, listening devices, or the subtle hint of changeling magic that they all gave off when impersonating somepony. Once past the scanners in the surprisingly short hallway, all of them entered Celestia’s ‘Situation Room’. With subtle grace, Celestia and Luna took their seats and Ironsides levitated two folders from his vest and unto the table in front of them.

“How bad?” Luna finally asked before even prodding the folder with her magic.

“That depends on you both, believe it or not, at least with the first bit of news.” Ironsides replied, “As much as I hate to admit it, even with all the reparations he’s consented to over the past 5 years, I am sad to report that Sir Discord has been declared Killed in Action.”

“Surely you jest!?” Luna interjected, her eyes widening but not nearly as much as Celestia’s did.

“I wish I was, but he is in fact very much dead as of five hours ago. While assisting in a tiberium cleanup of Braylin, a few visceroids started attacking. He rushed in to defend but was infected in moments… nopony has ever seen the crystal infect anyone as fast as it infected him and as of 0350 this morning, there is a perfect replica statue of Discord standing in the middle of a contained tib field inside the Braylin Blue Zone.”

“This is… most unfortunate, but I believe Fluttershy will take solace in the fact that he died in such a selfless manner.” Celestia stated quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I wish that was the only bad news I have to report, ma’am.” the general added with a solemn frown, “There was a bombing at the eastern gate of the Canterlot Blue Zone this morning. An earth pony was carrying a wagon filled to the brim of tiberium. The manifest said hay and wheat but the scanners picked up not only the crystal, but the ID of the bomber. When he was about to be detained, he shouted something akin to ‘Justice for Earth Ponies! Justice for Appleloosa!’ before biting down on a detonator and blowing himself and the wagon up. None of our guards were hurt, they took cover before he finished screaming. Supervisor Fluttershy’s ZOCOM specialists have already begun cleanup and the gate should be open by tomorrow morning.”

“Who was the bomber?” the Solar Princess asked.

“Majesty, I don’t think it would do you good to know the identity of a single po-”

“One of my subjects died trying to send a message, General.” Celestia interrupted, “I should at least know the name of the pony who gave so much in vain.”

“Very well…” Ironsides sighed after a few moments of contemplative silence, “His name was Braeburn Apple, cousin of the Bearer of the Element of Honesty.”

“Dear Mother Faust…” Luna cursed lowly, “Do Applejack or Princess Twilight know what has transpired?”

“We’ve withheld all information pertaining to the bomber’s ID and will not be letting anypony know until the family has been notified.”

“We wish you to delay in that notification, General.” Luna spoke up, “The death of one who was family to a Bearer of an Element of Harmony deserves more than a soldier. We will deliver the news personally.”

“I agree. While I still have matters to attend to, my sister is more than capable of bearing such news with the utmost care and a gentle hoof.” Celestia added in.

“It is settled then; We shall be the bearer of bad news, as it were…” Luna finished with a small, saddened frown before turning back over to Ironsides, “Tell us, General, where is the good Colonel now?”

“She’s been heading up the Predator Program since the approval of the Minimum Militarization Bill, majesty.”

“Ah yes…" Celestia muttered with poorly-hidden disapproval, "...the tanks…”
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A gathering of unicorns, pegasi, and one or two earth ponies were standing in a small clearing about three kilometers out from the Manehatten Blue Zone as a nearby steady roar continued to send up plumes of sand and dirt. In front of the uniformed stallions and mares were several tons worth of steel, speed, and firepower moving surprisingly fast for something its weight and size. The tracked vehicle slid to a halt next to the gathered officers and the engine began to die down. Small clanks of metal-on-metal were the only indication of locks being taken off before the top hatch popped open and an orange mare with a blonde mane, barely contained inside an open-faced helmet, popped halfway out of the angular Predator Main Battle Tank she had been testing out.

“Y’all may wanna cover yer ears for this next part!” she shouted over the still rumbling engine as the turret began to turn downrange at an armored practice target that had been set up that morning. Some live fire practice was in order.

Everypony present did as they were told, donning their protective ear-mufflers before one of the pegasi gave Colonel Applejack a nod. With a gleeful grin, the former farmer gave the gunner a light tap on the flank with her rear hoof and braced herself for the best part of commanding a 40-ton death machine. With a kick that nearly caused her to flinch, the 150mm cannon belched fire, steel, and death straight down range and hit the ‘bunker’ that her gunner had locked on to. The bunker ceased to exist, covered by a cloud of smoke and flames. After a few moments the fog cleared, the left half of the bunker missing.

“Rounds expended, permission to reload?” the loader unicorn asked.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure all them stuffed shirts got the idea the first time.” Applejack replied, “Good work team, y’all go ahead and bring’er around to the viewing station while I play nice with all these shiny collars.”

“You got it, ma’am.” the driver answered as she climbed out and off of the prototype tank.

Once down and away from her ride, its engine roared into gear again and thundered off towards the stands a few dozen meters away. Meanwhile, Applejack walked towards the nearly 50 ponies that had attended her presentation.

“As y’all can see, if anypony were to stir up some major trouble… and if Princess Celestia would let us do more than just build and test’em, the Predator is just the first step in keeping containment and harvestin’ operations safe an’ sound. A hundred and fifty mike mike cannon tends to discourage anypony from even starin’ at a harvester funny, and the top mounted machine gun is perfect at keepin’ my mares inside safe from ponies on hoof.”

“Top speed?” one of the pegasus officers asked.

“Don’t let’er name fool ya, Granny Smith’\ over there can clock in at 38kph; nearly double the newest harvesters at top speed with an empty hold and drunk driver.”

Applejack was not expecting silence. Applause? Sure. Startled swearing? Absolutely. But this silence and ruffling of uniforms was not, making her turn to scowl at the officers. Her scowl quickly gave way to a neutral, almost blank look as she snapped a salute.

“Your Majesty, welcome to the Predator MBT testin’ grounds.” she said.

“No need for formalities with us, dear Applejack. We’re here on personal matters, not that of business.” Luna replied with a soft smile, “Though we would ask for privacy to speak with the Colonel, everypony.”

Taking the order in stride, the gathered officers all trotted over to the tank as her crew began to exit out their hatches. All the while Luna and Applejack walked slowly behind them, taking a longer route as the Lunar Princess let the smile fade.

“We wish the motives behind this visit were better, Applejack. We bring rather… troubling news.”

“Princess Celestia ain’t shuttin’ down my program again, is she?” Applejack groaned, flipping up her helmet’s black visor so she could look her co-commander-in-chief in the eyes.

“We are afraid that it is not that simple… it is in regards to your cousin, Braeburn Apple.”

“Was he arrested at another ‘peaceful’ protest?” the earth pony replied, rolling her eyes at the thought of having to pull strings to get him out of the brig again.

“He is dead.”

Applejack stopped in her tracks, completely motionless, with her eyes nearly as wide as her head.

“Wh… he… what…?” she managed to sputter out.

“This morning, an earth pony blew himself up, along with a wagon of tiberium, at one of the Canterlot Blue Zone gates after declaring that there should be justice for Earth Ponies and for Appleloosa… that earth pony was your cousin, Braeburn.”

Colonel Applejack was a veteran of no less than 10 skirmishes with visceroids, mutant raiders, and even the odd tiberium-worshipping terror cell here and there. She had nerves of steel, the constitution of a buffalo, and many considered her to be just as invulnerable and untouchable as the princesses. She was one of the few ponies with an actual kill count and was no stranger to facing death head on. So, when the same mare who had successfully kept GDI’s Armor Division afloat even with Celestia fighting it every step of the way fell to her knees with tears in her eyes, Luna was understandably shocked.

“We… we did not know this would be so… hard, for you, Lady Applejack.” Luna whispered as she kneeled down next to her and wrapped a wing around the tanker. “We believed it best that we deliver the news in person, rather than send an impersonal missive o-”

“Thank you, Princess… for... for….” Applejack muttered back, unable to get a coherent thought across. Luna simply kept watch over the mare under her wing silently, waiting for her to gather her thoughts and regain her composure. After what seemed like an eternity, Applejack finally began to stand again.

“If it’s not too much to ask, ma’am… I’d like to take some leave immediately, and have a message sent out to my family an’ my friends.” Colonel Applejack requested.

“Of course, dearest Applejack. You are free of all duties until you deem yourself fit once more.”

“Thank you, your majesty… I… I better start gettin’ to those letters.”
____________________

Twilight Sparkle looked back at a mutated mouse she had in containment with an inquisitive smile. The test subject had shown a full acceptance of the crystal on a molecular level and was healthier than ever. It could run faster, had shown evidence of increased night vision, and was even passing intelligence tests with greater ease than before. That is, so long as he had steady exposure to tiberium. She was about to pull him out and place him with the other test subjects when she heard a familiar belch from upstairs.

“Twilight? Letter for you!” Spike called, “It’s from Applejack!”

“Well bring it down, silly!” she replied, her good spirits showing both in her facial features and her vocal tone as she brought a cup of tea to her lips.

“Alright alright!” he called back, tossing it down to her from the top of the stairs, not even staying to see her catch it with her magic. He was almost back to his bed when he heard her cup drop to the floor and shatter, rushing back downstairs as quickly as his legs could carry him.

“What happened!?” Spike shouted.

“We… we’re attending a funeral, Spike.”
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Rarity silently stuck another pin into the mannequin she was working on, taking great care not to tighten up the fabric across the chest lest this new dress uniform for GDI enlisted be too tight for young colts and mares to move in. With a smirk, she cut a sliver of cloth off the shoulders and let herself bask in another job well done. Once satisfied, she trotted lazily over to her desk and dropped the remaining pins she had, taking another look at the prototype railgun blueprints she had rewritten that morning for what had to be the twentieth time.

“Such an elegant, precise, weapon…” she mused with a sigh before a magically-carried scroll dropped down in front of her, right on the blueprints.

“From Applejack?” she muttered, the soft smile on her face growing larger as she broke the seal, “Why I haven’t heard from her in ages! This must be about her newest proje-oh… oh darling this….”

Rarity was at a loss for words, the blueprints and her latest success forgotten as her mascara started to run.
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Rainbow Dash walked the bridge of the Kodiak-class surveillance vessel GDA Double Rainboom. The behemoth of an aircraft hadn’t broken low orbit since its launch three years ago and it had a constantly shifting crew that was, for the most part, all pegasi save for the odd unicorn here and there. For the past three months, she had been aboard and in command after some much needed R&R back in Cloudsdale after a rather nasty tiberium outbreak that required almost every rescue craft she had aboard to scramble and begin containment operations.

“Bearing is stable, ma’am. We should be back over Canterlot for a tib scan within four hours.” a mare at the main navigation station announced.

“Good, but try and shave that down by 20 percent if you can.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Ma’am, scroll coming for you.” one of her orderlies cut in as he galloped up behind her, “It’s from Colonel Applejack and marked as urgent.”

“Thanks.” the Sky Admiral told the young colt, laying it out on the tactical table at the center of the bridge, “Must be something about the Predators that she wants to brag about if it’s this urgent…”

Rainbow Dash let her sentence fade out as she got to the heart of the letter. Her jaw dropped a little and her wings fell flat at her sides as she let out the only thought she could manage.

“Poor Little Strongheart…”
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Cannons went off, confetti spread around the room, and streamers flew into every possible corner of the Canterlot Servicepony’s Hospital as Pinkie Pie literally bounced around the room, singing a celebratory tune that she made up as she went. The GDI patrolmare laying down on a hospital bed, with her remaining three limbs propped up with care, smiled as a stray streamer landed on her upper lip and remained stuck there, giving her a neon blue mustache.

“Congratulations on everyone surviving that nasty, nasty, ambush two days ago! I got so happy that you all woke up and were alive that I felt like you all deserved a party!” Pinkie sang out to the entire hospital wing, currently packed with a whole platoon of ponies all in various states of injury and dismemberment. The worst of them were missing up to three legs, while the least injured colt was simply missing a large chunk of his left ear and had plenty of scarring over the same side of his face and neck.

“Heh, thanks Miss Pie, this… this actually really means a lot to us.” the platoon’s officer told her, smiling at her antics and at the fact that his ponies were giving genuine smiles of their own.

“Well I am the premiere party pony in all of Equestria!” she declared, pushing back the memory of a hospitalized and quarantined Cheese Sandwich from her mind.

“Miss Pie?” one of the nurses called from the doorway, “There’s a letter for you here from a… Colonel Applejack? It’s priority mail.”

“Okie Dokie Loki!” the pink party pony said with a smile, bouncing her way to the door, “Don’t worry everypony! I’ll be riiiiiiiiiiiiiight back!”

“The letter is right there on the table in the next room, dearie. I don’t want to intrude.” the nurse added as she began walking back to her desk.

“Thank you very much.” Pinkie replied, still bouncing as she broke the seal and spread the paper out across the small table. Almost instantly, her hair flattened out and lost it’s signature poof, the lights all around her went out, and her lip began to quiver. Pinkie Pie was very glad that the ponies in the next room couldn’t hear her let out an anguished cry.
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Supervisor Fluttershy was a surprisingly busy pony. She had to continually organize reclamation efforts, sonic emitter technology tests to approve and send out, and an entire division of GDI to arm, armor, and have ready to fight the cancerous crystal killing their planet. The weight of it all was only curbed by the fact that she almost never had to make any public appearances, and worked mostly through intermediaries to get her messages across.

One such assistant, Twilight Velvet, was happily helping the yellow pegasus sort through the latest avalanche of letters that had just been dumped into her IN tray. She had joined up once her daughter, Twilight Sparkle, began working on tiberium research and decided that if she could help GDI’s cause at all, she’d do whatever a mare her age could manage. Once the pile had been organized properly, with the letters all being ordered by size, who sent them, and any priority markings, Velvet grabbed the OUT tray with her magic, only to feel another letter land on her flank after a faint magical pop sounded behind her.

“Hmm…? Oh, Fluttershy dear, this one just came in. It’s from your friend Applejack and says it’s urgent.”

“Oh, thank you very much Mrs. Velvet, could you bring it here please? If it’s not too much trouble since you alre-”

“It’s nothing, dear.” the elder mare replied with a faint smile. While she appreciated her boss’s courtesy, sometimes it was a little much.

“Thank you…” Fluttershy replied, smiling as she opened up the letter, but only for the briefest of moments. She hadn’t even gotten halfway down the page before tears collected at the corners of her eyes and Velvet had to rush over to comfort the crying pegasus, sitting on the highest chair of authority in ZOCOM.
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Princess Luna rested on a cloud a few hundred meters above Ponyville, observing the processions below. The funeral had hit the 3-hour mark just a few moments prior, and those present were beginning to march out of the funeral home. The Princess of the Night watched as her subjects… no, her friends, carried a decorated casket, the Element Bearers doing their best to comfort the now-widowed Little Strongheart. The casket itself was part of that, she knew. The bomb Braeburn had used would have at least left some remains that could be cremated, or even buried. However, combined with the tiberium he carried on his wagon, nothing had remained. That casket was empty, serving a purely-ceremonial purpose to at least give some closure to a grieving family.

“We… can’t keep watching.” she told herself, closing her eyes and shifting her head. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes once more, looking straight ahead at the massive tiberium glacier to the east. The monumental testament to all their fears that had replaced Ancestor’s Peak.

“Equestria, even with GDI doing all it can, is not well. And yet we at least have something to give us hope. Those left outside have nothing.... Sister’s beliefs are going to doom us all, and we fear it is already too late to make a difference… but I will at least try.” Luna declared.

With a flap of her mighty wings, the Night Princess took off towards her research facility.

“We swear by the Moon that we put in the sky every night, We will make Celestia see the truth of salvation through Tiberium, whether she wants to or not.”

Infestation

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Chapter II - Infestation

Two days earlier

Princess Luna began her descent the moment she entered Changeling territory, its long, slow, trajectory meant to avoid any unwanted attention from the denizens of this land. Through various trades, dealings, assurances, and a well placed threat here and there, Luna had managed to secure a site outside of her sister’s gaze where she could conduct tiberium research that wasn’t, strictly speaking, permitted within GDI’s charter. Although Chrysalis would never admit it, she had forged a minor research pact with the Lunar Princess for what she had written off as purely academic reasons.

Luna, on the other hoof, had an entirely different agenda. Changelings were immune to tiberium, even getting stronger when exposed to it. With the cancerous crystal spreading as far and wide as it was, completely unopposed by anything save for GDI’s very minor attempts at containment (with even that failing spectacularly), there was only one real option that could prevent the world being turned into one giant ball of tiberium. She was intent on finding a way to have the world, and all of ponykind, adapt to the crystal and coexist with it. In a way, she found it ironic whenever she gave the idea any sort of thought; here she was, the mare who in ancient times threatened the harmony of the world for selfish reasons, trying to find a “peaceful” solution to the tiberium problem as opposed to her sister’s more heavy-hoofed approach.

Once she was within ten kilometers of the facility, Luna felt magic wash over her as defensive turrets scanned her and determined that she was authorized to fly in this area. With a small grin, she used her god-like eyesight to observe the SAM sites she had hidden around the perimeter. Like clockwork, they retracted back into their armored bunkers and the stealth-penetrating scanners began sweeping the skies once more.

Five kilometers out, a second array of SAMs began scanning her and a wing of bat ponies and pegasi, all wearing flight suits painted to mimic the night sky, began escorting her. Luna kept her composure despite wanting to let a large grin decorate her muzzle. Her thestrals were well armed with air-to-air missile saddles strapped on their backs aided by the red and black visors they sported, making use of target acquisition software years ahead of what GDI had available. While she regretted the need to keep some technology away from Celestia and her beloved GDI Charter, sometimes one must delve into the grey areas of morality for the greater good of all, or at least the security of the research center that would save the world.

“Your Majesty, please continue along your flight path at your leisure. We’ll be your escorts until you reach the first ground checkpoint.” the mare on her left told her with a short salute before facing forward again.

“Thank you, Major.” she replied, smiling at the head of her aerial security. Major Starlight “Phantom” was the daughter of an actor and an artist who came into Luna’s service as soon as she was of age. Despite their increasing numbers, bat ponies still faced some prejudice from the general population. Not wanting to live off her parents or brother, she enlisted in Luna’s Night Guard and was transferred to the “Tiberium R&D Security” before her first term was over. Ever since, she’d been one of Luna’s most loyal and skilled test pilots.

“Always a pleasure, Princess.” Starlight told her as the wing of ponies continued to glide down towards the facility.

“We are curious as to how your family is faring, Major.”

“We’re fine, your highness.” one of the few ‘normal’ pegasi in the Luna’s employ replied on Luna’s right. He was an older stallion with a greying mane and an eyepatch over his left eye underneath the visor. Luna grinned slyly as she glanced at the pegasus who answered. Starlight almost never flew escort missions with her father on the roster.

“We are pleased to hear that, though We believe you both have not taken leave in nearly a year. Consider it a personal request that you both get some R&R before the year is out.” Luna stated as they all started landing, “If the message We received from Doctor Theory is any indication, things may be about to be set in motion that will require the both of you to be at your best.”

“As you wish.” Major Starlight and Captain Fantom replied as one with a respectful bow.

“Thank you.” Luna replied sincerely, returning the bow slightly and walking past the first security checkpoint. Once again she felt magical scanners wash over her skin, making it bristle slightly as if she had just felt a cold gust of wind, though without the discomfort of the cold. Right after the scan was finished, another wave of magic bathed her in green light. Once the machine was certain that she was not a changeling in disguise, the light disappeared and she proceeded into the building.

Luna’s research facility was designed to be both discrete and threatening to anyone who didn’t know of its true purpose. With any luck, the blood-red windows that lined the various black, armored walls would be enough to make any changeling venturing along or trying to infiltrate the perimeter feel uneasy. Should ponies not part of the need-to-know club come across it and somehow get past the defenses, she was sure the survivors would be hard-pressed to push past their fears and attempt a breach.

Guardsponies of every shape and size saluted her as she passed through the various checkpoints. Regardless of how many times she came here, the Night Princess could never stop herself from noticing and being surprised by just how much of her security staff was made up of Earth ponies. With so many ponies displaced by the never-ending expansion of yellow and red zones, she had taken under her wing any and all that would not be welcome in Blue Zones due to status or space.

The number of families for whom she oversaw relocation was staggering, fueling the flames that kept driving her towards finding a way, any way, through which salvation could be attained with the green crystal instead of fighting an unwinnable war of attrition with it.

The Lunar Princess trotted silently through various hallways decorated with containment units holding all manner of tiberium and mystical artifacts on her way to the main conference room. A tyrant king’s unicorn horn, a blue tiberium crystal formation, shattered pieces of Nightmare Moon’s armor, and many other items caught her eye but not enough so that she slowed her pace to admire them.

Once she got close enough, she cast a spell that let the large, armored double doors in front of her know exactly who was commanding them to open. Dark blue enveloped the metal doors before they pushed open to reveal quite a large, circular room with an appropriately sized table in the center of it. The table was large enough that Luna could have every senior and junior department head seated and still have plenty of room for chief security officers, heads of each R&D lab, and even the head janitor. Above the table was an impressive array of red lights and along the sides of the walls were various display monitors, also backlit in red, that showed everything from tiberium outbreak zones to GDI troop movements down to the inch and second.

Standing at the far end of the room in front of one such display screen was a dark-grey earth pony with no mane or tail, chocolate-brown eyes that were nearly so dark that they appeared to be black, plenty of scruff around his muzzle and mouth, and a cutie mark of an emerald. Luna always found the cutie mark to be somewhat ironic given the events of the past year. Professor Crystal Theory had once been the leading expert in gemstone harmonic resonance and how to ‘plant’ precious stones and metals. Now he was Luna’s best kept secret, most prized pupil, and as far as Luna knew, the leading expert on tiberium on the entire planet.

“Professor, We received your message and came with the utmost haste.”

“Ah, your majesty! I didn’t hear you come in.” the professor replied, walking over to her with a bright, yet somewhat feral, smile plastered across his face. “It’s good that you came, over the past few days we’ve made some astonishing progress that even I did not think possible.”

“Go on…” Luna murmured to her lead scientist.

“If you’ll just follow me.” he told her, gesturing to the screen he had been preparing before starting back towards it, “Well, ever since you managed to help us secure all that extra blue tiberium and test subjects from the Queen, we’ve been able to double our efforts in the Adaptation Program.”

“And the Mutation Key?” Luna asked once she had gotten a good look at the data files running across the screen.

“Also nearing completion. Within a few months, maybe one if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to engineer and control tiberium mutations.” Theory replied with a smile, “Imagine it, your highness, being able to take anyone with accidental exposure to tiberium and cause that mutation to either slow down, reverse, or take hold only where the doctor wants it to. We could save the griffon race, not to mention our own, from extinction.”

The Changeling race were one of the more unique peoples that lived on this planet. Despite having equine forms, their mentality and physiology was more insect than mammal. Their method of subsistence, the positive emotions of other creatures, also suggested they had evolved side-by-side with griffons and ponies, not as predators but as parasites. Perhaps this, had thought Luna, was what had allowed them to resist being turned into more of the green crystal or, in the more nightmarish cases, visceroids. A physiology dependant on the energy of other living beings, capable of absorbing and adapting the cancerous energy released by tiberium crystals. To be perfectly honest, Luna thought to herself, basing her hopes on the unique phenomena that had fundamentally altered all Changelings was nothing short of a gamble. Being a completely separate species from ponies, griffons, or any other sentient race, there was little to no guarantee that their ability to survive and adapt to tib mutations could be assimilated into a different genetic code other than their own. However, Theory’s report accomplished one very important thing; it filled the Night Princess with unadulterated amazement… and hope.

Maintaining her regal composure, Luna turned from the continually-flowing datascreen to Doctor Theory. “What is the status of the test subjects?”

“Doing quite well, all things considered.” said Theory, going over a few notes, “That is, if you only talk about the changelings. Unfortunately, infested ponies and griffons continue to deliver a 100% mortality rate.”

Despite the Princess’ stoic expression, Theory knew what she was thinking. “Forgive me if I seem out of place, your highness, but I would suggest you not to think about them too much.”

“Oh? And why shouldn’t We, doctor? It was Us who promised them a chance at salvation, and it is Us who continue to fail to fulfill the promise.” she retorted, a slight touch of indignation present in her tone.

“It’s precisely because of that, your highness. With or without us, they were dead. Tiberium would claim them and either turn them into more of itself or grant them a fate worse than death. You promised them a chance, and a chance they got. And with every day that passes, every test subjects that succumbs, we learn more. But as I’ve mentioned before, we are at least a month away before we get something that could potentially stop their affliction.”

Princess Luna, despite her immediate silence, couldn’t help but agree. They couldn’t save their current subjects, but their deaths meant they would save future ones.

“What can you tell Us about the changeling subjects?” asked Luna, moving away from the previous, depressing topic.

“Ah yes, them.” replied Theory. “They’ve been exceptionally useful, if not entirely cooperative.”

The changeling test subjects Theory talked about were truly a gift, in all senses of the word. Their bodies were some of the most well adapted to the mutations brought forth by tiberium exposure, and as a result they were amongst the most powerful changelings alive. The research potential they offered was incalculable, with results making themselves felt as Theory’s team got ever closer to finding a way to stop death by tiberium. At the same time, they had been a “gift” from Queen Chrysalis herself; a show of goodwill, she had claimed at the time. In reality, these test subjects had been at one time rather ambitious would-be usurpers who had vastly underestimated the abilities of their hive’s Queen, and we’re now paying the price for their insolence. So really, this was nothing but a win-win for all involved. Except for the formerly-imprisoned test subjects. For them it was more lose-lose.

“Good, I’d hate for such an abundance of… testing material to go to waste.” she muttered back, looking at one of the security feeds. Her expression turned to a scowl as she noticed just how feral certain changelings got when their exposure to tiberium wasn’t controlled and their mutations allowed to run wild. Over half of the test subjects were acting more like the beasts of the Everfree than sentient beings when they were locked away.

“As would I, majesty.” the professor told her with a small smile, “I daresay that these beasts, shells of what they were, may end up being our salvation if we can keep working past tiberium’s… chaotic, nature.”

“How so?”

“Well, we’ve started to note that the crystal itself is evolving. In the year that it’s been on our planet, tiberium is changing on a molecular level as it transforms the globe.” Theory stated, waving a hoof at the screen as scans started to pop up on it. Each scan was from a different date, most at regular monthly intervals and showed that his statement was indeed fact. The samples taken from the Appleloosa Crater after the evacuation were completely different than the ones taken a mere month ago.

“How is this possible...?”

“Only one being could possibly know, and he’s busy with tiberium cleanup near Braylin.” the earth pony professor said, “The crystal practically, though not literally, radiates chaos energy… it’s evolving like a living being, yet consumes all that lives… it’s a real life paradox.”

“This would seem to be Sir Discord’s area of expertise, yes.”

“If I study this crystal too much, we might as well change my name to Chaos Theory given how crazy tiberium really is, at least on a scientific level.”

“It would be somewhat prudent, Sir Discord would definitely approve.” Luna mused, smiling at the professor. Before he could muster a proper reply however, another scientist burst into the conference room.

“Princess, Professor. We just had a breakthrough!” the unicorn announced, “One of the pony test subjects… his tib infestation has just started to recede!”
______________________

Present Day

Luna snapped out of her thoughts as familiar wingmares and stallions took up formation around her. Starlight and Fantom weren’t part of the flight of ponies this time so she refrained from the usual banter that she had come to enjoy. The Lunar Princess silently glided down at the predetermined speeds, mindlessly going through the motions of security as she let her thoughts wander back to Discord’s death, the bombing, and the funeral.

“We need to do more than hide in the shadows…” she thought with a grimace, “Peace through power, if necessary…”

Once she managed to get through the last of the checkpoints, Luna sauntered slowly towards the lab security checkpoint. Unlike the walk to the conference room, getting to the labs was a much longer and difficult process. While she agreed that it was necessary for proper security and emergency quarantine procedures, she still couldn’t help but feel annoyed that she, the mare who built the facility, had to be patted down on occasion if she happened to win what her security forces had nicknamed “The Frisk Lottery”.

She never actually got to that portion of the checking though. Before she could get through the ID scanner, Professor Theory himself ran through the exit portion and nearly collided with the Princess.

“Majesty! We have a situation!”

“Well tell us!” Luna replied without even trying to hide her worry. If Theory was near hysterics, then something terrible had to have happened.

“A tiberium spike in the Ponyville Blue Zone ruptured while you were flying here. Two of the Element Bearers were caught in the blast and are now infested with Tiberium.”

Luna only heard up to when her lead researcher said the word ‘Element’ for the moment she learned that two of her saviours were in danger, she teleported straight out of the facility to the rooftop. Lucky for her, the wards and enchantments on the building allowed anypony to teleport out of it while keeping anyone from teleporting into it. Once on the roof, she kicked off with enough force to leave a sizable crater in the meter thick armor plating straight up into the night sky. Once she reached the apex of her leap, her wings sent her screaming across the vast expanse of her night with enough force to cause a sonic boom with the first flap. As she continued on, she alternated between teleporting as far as she could see and flying at speeds so fast it would make Rainbow Dash blush in an effort to cross the distance between Changeling Country and Ponyville as quickly as possible.

Usually, under normal circumstances, a distance like this would take hours, even days for the average pegasus, train, or even Celestia and Luna to travel. Luna was barely approaching five minutes by the time she started seeing familiar territory blur past her. While her sister always practiced restraint due to how powerful the goddess sisters were, Luna for one never felt obligated to hold back if the situation was dire enough. The most her sister would do involved an extremely powerful teleportation spell or a mix of that and her regular flying speed despite the fact that she possessed enough strength of mind, magic, and body to travel as fast as their planet was rotating if necessary.

Luna was barely under her sister’s potential and decided that such things were for peace time in a world where an evolving crystal wasn’t consuming their world and their friends. Just as Celestia’s restraint with GDI’s weapons and defensive capabilities was countered by Luna wanting to up the militarization efforts, both princesses were a foil in regards to how they were willing to use their power as the god-monarchs of Equestria. Celestia was right on one thing; beings like them lived in a cardboard world, and could at any moment destroy what they cherished with an unthinking act. But when their world was in peril, ravaged by something or someone as it had so many times in the past, few were the times when the Sun Princess was willing to use her powers to their fullest, if at all. Perhaps that fact, holding a perpetual place at the back of Luna’s mind, is what angered her the most at times like this.

Her race towards Ponyville ended almost as suddenly as it began, the alicorn princess rapidly decelerating as she entered the blue zone’s airspace. Wasting no time, she teleported to the ground after catching a glimpse of the tiberium node in the open field. ZOCOM forces in protective gear had arrived almost as soon as the alert was raised and were now quarantining the area, ensuring no one else was close enough to the green crystalline growths to be infested. Surveying the area, Luna couldn’t help but think of the node and what Theory’s research had uncovered. Tiberium wasn’t limited to the surface; it grew as easily underground as it did above, and could arguably be said to spread even faster there due to the sheer amount of mass available to convert. Diamond Dogs, a race made up of subterranean canines obsessed with jewelry, had been almost completely wiped out by a combination of Tiberium’s rapid underground expansion and their instinctive need to collect jewels, something the green crystal tragically resembled. What few of them survived abandoned their ancestral tunnels to live on the surface as refugees, and many biologists suspect theirs is already a dead race. Not enough individuals left, meaning their genepool lacked sufficient genetic diversity to prevent inbreeding in future generations, as Theory had explained. They may have been an aggressive, uncivilized people, but despite her own personal opinions about them, one thought took precedence in that matter. No one deserved what had happened to them, and by the Moon she would prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else at any cost.

ZOCOM’s tib containment and eradication technology in particular, and GDI’s in general, could only best be described as being landlocked. Reports from maritime laboratories made the situation on the seafloor quite clear. Coral reefs were disappearing, being consumed by tiberium nodes that had burst all across the world’s oceans, and sea life was either mutating horribly as a result, or simply dying off. Just another place GDI could not reach to deal with the planet’s cancer. Another reason Luna knew these “Blue Zones” could not last. Because eventually, even if those areas were kept completely clear, that would only be superficially true. In time, the tiberium under them would rise and consume them all. Just as it was happening here.

Luna sped towards what she figured was the quarantine barracks for the victims, teleporting once she was near the ground to avoid causing a crater and shaking the ground too much with her landing. Immediately she was bombarded by scanners, ponies with decontamination units, and a flurry of questions as to how she managed to get to Ponyville in such a sudden and unexpected manner. She ignored all of it as politely as she could, bearing with the necessary quarantine procedures for the sake of everypony’s peace of mind before pushing her way into the prefabricated structure.

Bleach. The entire building smelt like bleach, cleaning supplies, and other various methods of sterilization and cleaning with such a magnitude that it burnt Luna’s nostrils even when she wasn’t breathing through her nose. With a snort she pressed on, looking into every glass door she walked past to see if she could find the two patients she was the most worried about. She didn’t want to detract from the fact that many more than just the two Element Bearers were hurt, but in a case like this, losing two personal friends was a much more pressing concern.

When she was about to give up her search, thinking they were being held in a different facility, she found a single holding room where she recognized the forms of Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Quietly, she worked her way into the room, enjoying the feel of the containment shield that automatically enveloped her body courtesy of the emitter above the door. The Lunar Princess was not one easily moved to publically display emotion, even in the presence of friends and even her sister, but what she saw was more than she had been prepared to deal with.

Pinkie Pie, the mare who had spread so much joy through hospitals and even the occasional tiberium breach site, was confined to a hospital bed with a breather mask over her face and sonic emitters constantly working over her body to contain the infestation. Her forelegs were already completely covered in Tiberium and her mane was taking on a green tint. Her cutie mark, once vibrant yellow and blue balloons, now had crystals growing at a slow rate, only being stalled by the sonic treatments.

Rarity, while not exactly better off, was as equally incapacitated. The entire right side of her face was covered in microcrystals and her lovely dark blue eyes were now tiberium green whenever they fluttered open in her current state. Her horn was also completely converted into the opaque crystal as well while still somehow retaining its shape. Even with the sonic treatment, Rarity would die within 48 hours from the tiberium spreading to her brain. Pinkie Pie had even less than that, by Luna’s estimate. Both heart monitors beeped slowly.

“Dearest friends… We are so sorry…” Luna murmured as she walked forward and sat between their beds. A tear ran down her muzzle as she continued to take in the sights before her. Here were two mares in the prime of their life taken away because of a freak accident. No one could save them because of Celestia’s arrogance, and the only possible way to cure them couldn’t be transported out of her facility without it revealing her entire division’s real agenda. Had Luna decided to bring her possible cure to light so soon, it would jeopardize all cure and mutation control efforts and doom the entire planet.

“Princess Luna? What are you doing here?” another mare’s voice asked. Luna turned quickly to see Twilight Sparkle standing just inside the doorway as it closed behind her. She wore no safe suit, the magic emitters didn’t cover her in an anti-tib field, and she didn’t even try to shield herself with her own magic.

“Twilight? What are you doing without safety measures? You could be infested as well!” Luna stated, beginning to panic before Twilight gave a knowing smile that for reasons beyond comprehension, calmed Luna down. Without speaking, the Princess of Friendship moved beside her friends. She administered a series of injections at the infestation sites, implanted pieces of blue tiberium of all things into the worst areas, and then cast a single spell that washed over Rarity and Pinkie Pie as if they were being doused with a very slow flowing liquid.

“Princess, if you would, please step back for this next portion of the treatment.” Twilight said, giving Luna another smile, as her majesty obliged with widened eyes and a jaw that refused to pick itself up off of the floor. Once moved, Twilight stood between her fellow Element Bearers and replaced their oxygen masks with micro-tanks that began pumping the moment they sealed around their muzzles. Much to Luna’s surprise, the crystal growths on both mares began to recede at an alarming rate. When the earth pony in her facility started to show signs of his body reaching a equalized state, it was by a matter of millimeters over hours, not inches in minutes.

Luna sat in that quarantine room dumbfounded for nearly a half hour, staring as Pinkie Pie’s legs once again became flesh and blood save two small tiberium spikes on her knees. Her cutie mark also went back to almost complete normalcy with only one balloon being made of tiberium. Rarity’s face continued to clear up, the crystals leaving an intricate pattern like webbing along the infested area and her horn glowed once. What few crystals had embedded themselves in her neck also joined the pattern currently spread across her skin.

By the time Luna managed to pick up her jaw and blink her eyes clear, Rarity and Pinkie Pie began opening their eyes. Two sets of tiberium green eyes looked around, trying to gauge exactly where they were and just what in the world had happened. Gathering her wits, the Night Princess managed to pull together a question.

“How… how is that possible? Twilight, what did you do?!”

“This? It’s just something I’ve been working on in my lab. Don’t worry Princess, I made sure to test it far in advance before using it on anypony.”

Despite her clear state of shock, Luna couldn’t help being surprised by Twilight’s nonchalant response. While it is true that Twilight Sparkle was one of the smartest ponies in Equestria, could she really have done alone what Theory, his team, and all of Luna’s resources had just begun to accomplish?

With uncharacteristic assertiveness, Luna spread her wings fully, using them pull Twilight aside with her. “How did you even manage this? Research in this field of study is illegal and against GDI’s Charter!”

“Luna, I-”

“We are not discrediting your research, Twilight. Far from it. We are both impressed and relieved that you have managed to find a way to stop in ponies that cancer which infests our planet.” she blurted out in a hushed tone.

“Thank you princess! As you said, research on ponies and other sentients is illegal, as far as the charter is concerned. I used mice!” Twilight answered with a squeaking smile. At this very moment, she was but a fountain of pride for her research.

“I hate to interrupt…” a calm, if somewhat wavering voice cut in. Twilight and Luna both turned to see Rarity gingerly trying to sit up a little and look at them both. “But could somepony bring me a mirror and tell me what just happened to us…?”

"That is a very good question. One I would like an answer to as well." demanded a booming voice, filled with authority and power. For surrounded by a squadron of royal guards the Sun Princess had arrived.

Dissent

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Chapter III - Dissent

Over her many years as Princess Celestia’s pupil, protege, and peer, Twilight Sparkle had only managed to truly upset her three times. The first was an incident involving Twilight’s doll Smarty Pants and an illegal charm. The second involved two mimes, five barrels of ‘special’ Apple Family Cider, and waking up next to Discord in a hotel room in Las Pegasus.

The third time was right now as she was being stared down by the figurehead of GDI, the Solar Goddess herself. Behind her, crammed into the room a little tightly, were five unicorns and one pegasus in gilded ZOCOM suits which signified their status as royal guards. Each had saddles with GD2 rifles slung on them and unforgiving black visors that hid their faces completely. On their flanks were oxygen tanks, with even their horns being completely covered by the tiberium resistant armor.

“Princess Celestia! What happened was… I saved my friends.” Twilight replied sheepishly, steeling herself for the inevitable, disappointed speech that she had no doubt Celestia was preparing.

“I want a full explanation, from the moment the tiberium spike burst up until now, with a special debrief from you about why you’ve breached the code of GDI’s Charter, Twilight.” she replied, her voice no longer having the same volume, yet carrying the same commanding tone she had used during the Smarty Pants issue.

“I can provide some of that information, your majesty.” Rarity spoke up. “We were all returning from Braeburn’s funeral when somepony began shouting… it was all a bit of a blur after that, but I do remember some parts. We.. we went in to help with containment, tried to get everypony away from the breach and help those wonderful ZOCOM ponies keep the containment shield active before one of the infected… well…. mutated.”

All three Princesses cringed at that. All had seen first-hand what tib infection could do if it was bad enough to cause Visceroids. The process was brutal, painful, and traumatic for the victims along with anyone watching them turn into huge blobs of crystal, flesh, and tendrils.

“I was beaten aside by one of them, the brute… Pinkie pushed a filly out of the way and was nearly consumed for her trouble.” Rarity continued, “After that all I really recall is ZOCOM ponies putting me to sleep and then waking up here.”

“That’s where I came in, Rarity. Over the past few months I’ve managed to create a workaround.” Twilight said, not daring to look her teacher in the eye.

“A workaround?” Luna inquired, doing her best not to sound too interested in how the younger princess had achieved such a miracle.

“Yes. By testing on mice, I managed to find a way to allow a simple treatment to cause controlled tiberium infection where the crystal is rendered almost completely inert and stops its spread. Pinkie and Rarity may have tiberium in their systems for the rest of their lives but it won’t infect anypony or anything that they come in contact with.”

“Mice?! How did you accomplish this with mice?! Research of this caliber would take months, even years to carry out, and yielding such results!” Luna exclaimed, incredulous.

“I magically altered their DNA to be exactly like that of a pony, while keeping a shapeshifting charm active on their body so that they’d still look like mice. Their essence was changed, but their form stayed the same. With the spells in place I could test on pony DNA without endangering any sapient life.”

“So you deliberately disobeyed my instructions to find a way to make our sonic resonance technology more effective when dealing with tissue infestation, Twilight.” Celestia cut in, her voice growing in volume again, “You went behind my back, betrayed my trust, and violated the Charter to create a… an abomination no better than those Visceroids! Tiberium is a cancer that we need to destroy, not embrace!”

So much pain. So much suffering. So much death. All because of that damnable crystal. Her critics often pointed to her decision to seal all borders to non-GDI-affiliated territories as an abandonment of those suffering the most. Celestia understood perfectly how it may have looked like that, but not for a second did she forget about the plight of the Griffons or the downfall of the Dogs. For the time being, GDI had to protect itself and its member-states. It had to buy time, time necessary to develop a method to eradicate this cancer to the world. Time to prepare itself for the non-trivial task of healing the world once they had it. By the Sun that grants life-bringing light to the world, she would cleanse the world of Tiberium, eradicate the abominations born from it, and make the land whole once more.

“Princess, I only-”

“Enough, Twilight. I will not hear it. You carried out illegal experiments, ignoring the very foundation of beliefs that GDI was founded upon, and you did it all under my nose… I will need time to think this all over.”

“But Princess…”

“I said enough!” Celestia snapped, “Captain, please detain Ms. Rarity and Ms. Pie for their own safety and have them moved to ZOCOM Command HQ in Canterlot until we can find a way to permanently get rid of their tiberium infection. I also want a detachment sent to the Castle of Friendship tomorrow morning to be sure that Princess Sparkle has destroyed all tiberium research in her possession that is not authorized by myself, Princess Luna, or GDI’s tiberium research mandate.”

“Sister, surely we can find a silver lining to this… dire, situation.” Luna interjected.

“You know very well that we can’t.” Celestia told her before looking back at Twilight, “If you don’t burn it, Captain Sentry will.”

“Yes, Princess…” Twilight managed to mutter out as the guards moved in around her and began putting up quarantine spells around Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Both mares looked at each other for a moment before attempting to grab each other’s hooves once their beds began moving. To their credit, the guards were kind enough to move their beds close enough so that they could and were as gentle as possible as they moved them to the transport waiting outside. Captain Flash Sentry flipped his visor up once the infected ponies had been removed and gave Twilight the most apologetic look he could muster before Celestia turned to leave. Princess Sparkle made eye contact with them both for only a moment, yet the amount of pain in her eyes was enough to make Sentry cringe. Celestia suppressed the urge to break down in tears herself, if only barely.

“Sister, we need to talk about this in private.” Celestia stated, not even looking over at Luna, before walking out and letting the door hiss shut behind her. For what seemed like an eternity, Luna sat next to a quivering, sniffling Twilight Sparkle with a look of disdain on her face.

“We should banish her to the Sun for a thousand years and see how she likes it.” Luna finally said, snapping Twilight out of her internal pity party. Her somber expression was replaced by one that was half terror and half confusion.

“Kidding. We are kidding… mostly.” Luna added with a hint of a smirk across her muzzle.

“Princess…”

“Twilight, We must regretfully ‘agree’ with our sister.” Luna said, giving quotation marks with her hooves for emphasis, “But that does not mean We want to agree with our sister. You accomplished something that could save Equestria and the other kingdoms that share our world, but now it will be destroyed. Commit to memory what you can, We will try and reason with Our sister that compromise is sometimes necessary for survival.”

Twilight simply nodded, still too shocked for words after all that had just happened as Luna began walking out. Once she was gone, Luna stood as well and looked around one more time before she too left. Continuing back the way she came, Luna made it outside just in time to see the doors of the ‘Ox’ transport close up its bay doors and take off. Beside it was Celestia’s chariot and four pegasi guards in ceremonial armor.

“Sister, please get on.” Celestia said from her seat.

“Only if you let Us stay here. We can have this talk, but We believe our efforts would be best suited here while you take care of business in Canterlot.” Luna replied.

“Very well…” the Solar Princess sighed as her sister took a seat next to her. Celestia gave a simple flutter of her wings to the guard commander and they dispersed outside of earshot.

“Sister, We have never seen you snap at Twilight like this before.”

“I’m barely containing the tears, Luna.”

“Anger or sadness?” Luna asked, looking up to her sister. Celestia was usually the perfect picture of royal composure and bearing but even Luna had seen her break the facade from time to time. This was the closest she’d seen her to tears in over a thousand years.

“And We were not the ones to actually see them…” the Lunar Princess thought with a shudder as a few of her memories as Nightmare Moon flashed across her mind.

“Both.” Celestia replied, throwing up a privacy shield around the chariot before sinking to both knees and letting a few tears flow. “Twilight lied to me. Lied to us. She betrayed GDI and… and…”

“She betrayed no one, dear sister.” Luna whispered as she sat next to her sister. “She is by far the most knowledgeable pony in all of Equestria. Science has been her field of expertise as much as magic has. Remember when she sent you a friendship letter speaking of faith? How hard she tried to explain Laughter’s Pinkie Sense?”

“I fail to see what that has to do with this, Luna.”

“She is a visionary, even if somewhat misguided at times. Have you stopped to think of who she did this for? She wishes to save others, regardless of cost or compromise. Can you really blame her for seeking out every alternative to saving our planet and those who haven’t been killed by this cancerous crystal yet?”

“There is no compromise with tiberium, Luna.” Celestia replied, the resolve returning to her voice, “Our world is like a pony’s body, and tiberium is a cancer. Not a flu, not a pox, not a virus, but a cancer. There is no way to cure a cancer other than complete eradication.”

“Sister, open yours eyes please. We are not exactly ‘winning’ the war against Tiberium right now. What Twilight has brought forth, even if the means are controversial, could give the world time to come up with a cure proper. Think of what would have happened if Rarity and Pinkie Pie died. What would have happened to Appleloosa if they could have survived the initial infections.”

“Luna, we cannot compromise with this crystal. It is nothing more than a monster that you cannot reason with. A beast in its own right. We destroy it or it destroys us.” Celestia retorted, “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were starting to pay too much attention to those ‘Brotherhood’ broadcasts that have been going out.”

“The tiberium extremists?” Luna asked, raising a single eyebrow, “You mean those ‘followers of the way of Nod’ or somesuch, correct?”

“Who else, Luna? They are the only ones who seem to share your cavalier attitude about Tiberium.”

“Just because We are willing to entertain all the options does not mean We are in league with a petty band of terrorists, dear Sister.”

“Braeburn was a member, Luna….” the Princess of the Sun replied, her tone going from commanding and accusing to one full of regret, “He was one and I fear my nightmares of Appleloosa will return once more because of it.”

“Then We will be there to soothe your mind and calm you as We did at the start of this entire catastrophe.” Luna replied, giving her sister a loving nuzzle before the shield disappeared. Luna stepped down as it did, giving her sister the most encouraging smile she could muster as Celestia regained her royal composure.

“I await your return eagerly, dearest sister.” Celestia said as her guards returned to their harnesses. “Please, take care of this all with as much stealth as you can muster, I fear if word got out about this fiasco the media would have a hay day.”

“No one here but us trees, dear sibling.” Luna teased back with a wink.

“As it should be. Farewell Luna.”

With that, the royal chariot took off towards Canterlot once more, followed by a flight team of 10 pegasi guards. Once all of Celestia’s guards had flown off to escort her back to the capitol, Luna’s smile immediately fell off her face. Had Discord still been alive, her expression would have likely literally fallen to the ground and shattered with the speed that a frown spread across her muzzle and her brow furrowed.

“As bullheaded as Steelwing the First on that blind date…” Luna muttered, more venom in her voice than in a thousand manticore tails.

The cleanup process at and around the area in which the Tiberium spike burst to the surface was proceeding about as well as could be expected of ZOCOM. Sonic emitters were set up around the newly-grown tib field to prevent its spread to the immediate area, all while pegasi in bulky, extremely-protected suits flew over the epicenter of the burst. Flying with one’s wings covered usually wasn’t a problem seeing as most fabrics were thin and light. These suits were anything but. The need to protect these ponies against infestation, however, made any thoughts regarding comfort a secondary concern. After all, comfort was worthless if one had a crystal growing inside one’s trachea.

Holding position above the epicenter, the ZOCOM pegasus’ instruments measured both the height of the primary crystal node, as well as the height of the soil displacement. Combining all these measurements with the tib field’s radius and size of the crystals gave an accurate measurements of the force with which the Tiberium had breached the surface, which in itself gave ZOCOM an idea of the scale of their job. Most civilians normally thought said job consisted of clearing the field with harvesters and then plugging the breach with a Tiberium silo, and they’d be partially right. However, there was a reason ZOCOM set perimeters to be a minimum of four times the radius of the field. Microtib, pebble-sized tiberium crystals, were far too common a sight during these sort of events, flying off far past where the field itself ended. They each had to be found and disposed off in order to consider an area clear, lest a fresh new tib field, or twenty, form in the middle of a blue zone weeks after the initial breach. And as the harvesters finally arrived at the scene, Luna watched the ZOCOM ponies sweep the area grid by grid.

It was quite obvious to Luna that ZOCOM would handle this well enough. Kindness herself was overseeing this cleanup operation herself after all, meaning that little could go wrong as far containment was concerned. With that in mind, the Night Princess headed into town, towards the most conspicuous building around. The Castle of Friendship, a literal treecastle. Luna knew for a fact that Twilight was not home yet, having left the temporary ZOCOM base before Twilight had even left the quarantine area. Luna could feel someone inside, however. Someone currently enjoying her domain: The Realm of Dreams. It was quite late, after all, and most ponies were sleeping at this time. Chances were, so was Twilight’s assistant, Spike. Focusing on the one mind, the Night Princess jumped into her subject’s dream.

From her experience, dreams usually had something to do with the individual’s personal experiences, worries, fears, hopes, interests, desires, all sorts of things. The most usual type, however, revolved around the events of the very day. Spike’s fell right into that category, and then some. He appeared to be in a lab with Generosity, himself represented as a taller, more muscular version of what he was right now. Apparently he fancied himself a scientist, performing absolutely flabbergasting feats of science capable of leaving the white mare absolutely speechless in amazement. Her overacting to it though reflected reality too closely. The location however did not look like it was in the main building proper. It looked rougher, still well-lit yet at the same time darker. The walls didn’t look like the wood or rock that made up the interior of the castle, nor did it look like the lab she knew was inside. Subtly influencing the dream, she dropped unspecified dream-chemicals into each other, starting a fire. This prompted the brave, knightly dragon to pick up the white mare and run out. Out of the ruins of the old library.

Perfect.
___________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle was dealing with a war of her own within the confines of her mind by the time she made it back to her crystalline castle. She had gotten past the dejected mood that her scolding had set her in and let her view of the situation take a rather confused tone.

“Why would she order me to destroy all my research? I mean, sure, it was technically outside of what the charter allowed, but it worked! And nopony was hurt either, so...” she asked herself as she magically slammed every door she passed through in frustration, en route to her personal lab. “This has to be a test, right? Yeah, she’s just testing me. Wants to test me as a princess now that I have this place… right? But, she definitely sounded serious. But then she’d HAVE to sound serious to get me to buy it. But I can’t just destroy all my research either; it saved my friends, it could save everyone else! I could just memorize all the data though… but then I’d be disobeying orders… but Luna said she’d talk to the Princess about it.... which means I could memorize them just in case… unless she’s not convinced and AAARGH!” she cried out in complete frustration.

“Twilight? Is everything ok?” a male voice inquired. Spike had come to see what all the noise was about and was greeted with the sight of Twilight Sparkle with a frazzled mane and deep scowl.

“No. I saved Rarity and Pinkie Pie by rendering their tiberium infestation completely safe, only to get Princess Celestia to order me to get rid of all of my personal research by tomorrow morning.” she grunted, a hoof to her forehead foreshadowing the onset of a headache.

“Sheesh… that’s harsh.”

“That’s not the half of it. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are now in a quarantine prison until further notice because they’re now considered to be mutants.”

“What!?” Spike shouted, “How can they do that!? Rarity isn’t a mutant!”

“No she’s not, but she’s got an inert tib infestation all along her face and neck that Celestia wants to ‘make sure’ is harmless.”

“That’s not right! She can’t just lock up our friends like this.” Spike retorted, getting more defensive of his crush by the second.

“I know that, Spike, but there’s nothing we can really do right now... except salvage what we can. Spike, the Princess ordered me to destroy anything related to my Tiberium research, but not you. I want you to pack up anything that isn’t ‘sanctioned’ and get it ready for transfer; I want it all ready for me to teleport to my auxiliary lab underneath the library ruins. The Princess may be testing me, but this is going too far… this is just too important to destroy.”

“You got it, boss.” Spike replied without hesitation. Despite his original misgivings, when Twilight was committed enough to defy Princess Celestia about anything, she always had a perfectly good reason. Whether or not he heard it now or after everything was moved didn’t really matter to him.

While Spike worked at boxing up anything he could get his claws on, Twilight started duplicating everything she saw and burning the duplicates immediately for the sake of throwing Flash Sentry off the trail. The more convincing her alibi, the easier it would be to continue her research and prepare a treatment that Princess Celestia couldn’t ignore.

“Twilight, I know I’m your assistant and all, but do you think you could help me out? There’s a ton of equipment for us to move.”

“Sure, Spike. Just give me a moment to burn this last duplicate.” she told him as another piece of paper went up in magic purple flames. Once satisfied that there were enough ashes all over the floor, Twilight began magically moving everything into boxes, crates, and folders while Spike worked as fast as he could so he could go back to bed.

“Spike, hold on tight.” Twilight said as the last crate was locked up. Spike obeyed, again without hesitation, as he felt himself blink in and out of existence for a moment as he went from looking at the laboratory basement of the Castle of Friendship to the sub-basement and secret lab of Princess Twilight Sparkle buried under the ruins of Golden Oaks Library.

“Thanks for the warning this time, Twilight.” he muttered.

“Quite the entrance, as always, Princess Sparkle.” a mare sitting in the center of the darkened lab stated. Twilight seized up like Fluttershy seeing her shadow at the voice, eyes going wide and near-panic spreading across her muzzle.

“Princess Luna… how… h-how did you find this place…?” she finally asked, her voice shaking a little.

“That is of no consequence, dearest Twilight, and if you do not mind, We would like to be the one asking the questions.” Luna replied as she stepped into the light. She was smiling, though not the smile of a predator. She was smiling as a friend would to another when an embarrassing secret is accidentally told, or a mother finding her daughter in the middle of pranking a sibling.

“Of… of course.”

“You managed to create a way to live with tiberium, not against it. A way to control infestations instead of trying to reverse them completely…. why?”

“It’s the only way.” Twilight answered instantly.

“The only way?” Luna echoed, her smile turning into a sly smirk.

“We’re losing this ‘war’. Every day we lose ponies and miles of land. Sonic resonance technology requires constant recalibration to counter Tiberium’s constant evolution and if I’m to be completely frank… if you can’t beat’em, join’em.”

“Ah yes, a phrase that has adapted itself to this new age. Would you believe we once felt that way about Discord when he first ruled? We tried to reason with him, come to a compromise, but he could not be reasoned with and the only option was to turn him into stone until he could be reformed. But he was reformed in the end.”

“Is there a point to this before you arrest me, Princess?” Twilight asked.

“We are not here to arrest you, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said, taking a few more steps towards her younger peer, “We share your thoughts on Tiberium. On how we must adapt, not eradicate… natural selection must sometimes be helped along, and right now this crystal is attempting to wipe us all out.

“Dearest Twilight, I come not to arrest you, but to recruit you. If you wish to continue your research of controlled mutation, I will spirit you away to my private facility in Changeling territory and you will be allowed to do whatever you wish as long as it is for the greater good of our world.”

“I can practice freely…?”

“We… are afraid not. Celestia does not know that we have this facility or its location. She does not know that two days ago, my research team barely started to scratch the surface of what you have already accomplished with mice and minimal resources.”

“Princess… you…. you went behind her back too?” Twilight asked, her shocked expression carrying over into her tone.

“She would never sanction what we both know to be true. Tiberium must be embraced, in a way, if we are to survive what it does to the planet. We can save this world, Twilight, all you need to do is say yes. However, be aware that if you choose this path, you will never be allowed inside GDI territory again, at least until this crisis is over. If you wish to back out now and simply give us your research, we will not hold it against you. The choice is yours.”

The offer was, in the simplest terms possible, overwhelming. Here they were, two Princesses, one being the co-ruler of Equestria, the other being a vassal of the realm. Both of them going behind the head of GDI. The world was dying; that they both knew quite well, and so did Princess Celestia. Some suspected Tiberium had arrived much earlier, but it had now been a year since the fight against the crystal began. A single year that had seen entire portions of the planet depopulated of all kind of life. The Sonic Emitters were too slow, too inefficient at their job. The constant need for recalibration and remodulation meant that, most of the time, it was impossible to remove Tiberium from somepony’s body due to technical limitations. All they did was make pretty corpses that then had to be disposed of carefully.

A year earlier, Twilight might have considered the very idea of doing anything behind Princess Celestia’s back as beyond unthinkable. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Tiberium was going to consume all. They couldn’t fight it. It couldn’t be banished. It couldn’t be disposed of. It couldn’t be reasoned with or tamed with the magic of friendship. The only ones outside of GDI’s domain who continued to prosper were the changelings, and they had changed and adapted to Tiberium. If ponykind didn’t try and replicate that miracle, then soon there would be no one left to try.

“Alright. I’ll do it. If it’s for the good of the world, I’ll definitely do it, but there’s something I need to do before we leave.”

“Yes?”

“I’m rescuing Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and I’m not leaving without them.”
__________________________

The headquarters of the Zone Operations Command, or ZOCOM for short, was one of the most secure locations on the planet. While technically located at Canterlot, geographically speaking it was almost its own city. A more accurate description would be to say that it was located over Canterlot, 6,000 meters over the sea level, located just high enough to avoid being hit by ion storms. ZOCOM HQ wasn’t so much a military base as it was a city of its own. Built on a solid foundation of clouds, the facility was one of its kind, unlike any floating pegasus city in the world. It was equipped with vast hydroponics towers capable of producing enough food to sustain approximately 50,000 ponies, with space allocated for the production of more towers should the need arise, thus increasing the capacity tenfold. Automated foundries were also present, capable of producing practically anything so long as they were fed by the raw materials provided by the onboard refineries that used tiberium as fuel, all of which were fed by carryalls loaded with harvester teams. Being the headquarters of ZOCOM, a moderate military detachment was present with its own base. However, said base was merely a secondary structure, with most of the floating city being dedicated to Tiberium research and how to counteract it.

There were only two ways to get onboard. Either one flew there, or took a transport; it simply was too high to teleport onboard and besides, the magical wards would prevent such an attempt. Twilight decided to fly there, mostly for the view. She never did like the place. To the general public, its purpose and location had been explained as being necessary to prevent a vital part of GDI from ever being threatened by Tiberium. However, to GDI’s politicians, the elite, and the heads of the military, its purpose - its real purpose - had been made abundantly clear. In the event that GDI fails and Tiberium’s spread reaches critical levels, enough to make the surface uninhabitable, all remaining non-infested personnel, both civilian and military, would be transported to ZOCOM HQ, becoming the last remnants of ponykind. ZOCOM HQ would then rise to an altitude of 10,000 meters, out of reach of any ion storm, and begin its new mission of attempting to reclaim a world-encompassing red zone.

Twilight didn’t only dislike the concept. She detested the idea itself. Of course, she understood the need for it, the need for a failsafe in case the worst came to pass, but that did nothing to reduce her hate for something that was the manifestation of defeatism, especially when she’d found a way to make it unnecessary.

As she flew closer, she suddenly felt magic covering her, scanning her once she was 10km out. A combination of changeling and ID scanner, it essentially saved VIPs’ time before they even set hoof on the facility. A pair of royal guards soon made themselves present, but by the time they’d shown up, Twilight was already landing.

“Your majesty, what an unexpected surprise!” one of the guards told her with a tone that spoke volumes about how fake his enthusiasm was. “Might I ask what’s the purpose of your visit?”

“Visiting two ponies in quarantine.” Twilight said as politely as possible while forcing a smile of her own.

“Miss Rarity and Miss Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, perfect! Lt. Colonel Macintosh is down there visiting them right now. I’ll call up his escort and we can go ahead and rush you through security without any problems.” the stallion replied with a genuine smile. Less time in security meant less time dealing with VIPs, and less time with VIPs meant resuming his rather lazy shift of waiting for ponies to fly by.

“The sooner the better.” the Princess of Friendship told him, her smile fading slightly at the thought of Big Macintosh having to see Pinkie Pie in her current state. She pushed that thought from her mind the moment that another stallion, another pegasus, found his way up to the waiting area and began leading her towards where her friends were being contained.

The interior of ZOCOM HQ could best be described as a labyrinth of metallic corridors and locked doors. Every now and then a another guard would pass by, but those were few and far between. After a while, Twilight was escorted into the research wing where her friends were being kept. Despite her escort not being the chatty type, she could easily tell, the entrance being labeled as such and all. To be honest, even though the corridors snaked around as if they were designed by Discord, at least they had everything properly labeled, arrows and floor-lines included. Soon enough though they entered the Quarantine Wing where both Pinkie and Rarity were being held. Walking past the cells, Twilight looked away. The ponies, griffons, and animals in them were in various states of Tiberium infestation, kept sedated to spare them the pain. That was a sight she’d rather not see, not knowing what she knew. Soon enough she reached their cells, finding Big Macintosh still there.

At first he didn’t notice the alicorn standing at the end of the hallway, his attentions focused on the pink party pony leaning against the glass, himself pressing a hood against it. Pinkie Pie and Big Mac continued whispering to each other. As far as Twilight could tell, they were both attempting to comfort each other, despite their current situation.

“Big Mac…?” Twilight finally spoke up as she walked over.

“Princess Twilight. Nice of ya ta drop by and say hello.” he casually replied as he looked over and gave a respectful nod. He had learned long ago to stop saluting her but, regardless of her protests, he would never drop her title while in uniform.

“Well, I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t check in on these two after such a traumatic experience.” Twilight replied, “Even if that experience is still going on…” she thought to herself.

“Hiya Twilight!” Pinkie cut in, smiling at them both. Rarity perked up at that and looked around but did not speak.

“Hello Pinkie, how are you feeling?”

“Super DUPER minus the whole ‘locked up in a jail cell for being the first mare to survive a meanie crystal infection’! Mac Attack has been keeping me company for a while now and they even let me have some cake!”

“Well, I’m glad they’re not treating you too badly.” Twilight said, her grin weary, “How about you Rarity?”

“I”m scarred, disfigured, and incarcerated. Oh I’m just peachy, darling.” the former fashionista quipped with a frown, “Though if you’re referring to my health, I’m… alive, and that is not a gift that I would ever take lightly, Twilight.”

“I’d say that’s good to hear but imprisonment never really has a silver lining.” the purple pony told them, “But, I may have worked a way to get you two released. Big Mac, would you mind leaving us ‘gals’ alone to have a little chat? I promise it’ll only be a moment.”

“I’ll give ya more than a moment, yer highness.” the red stallion replied with a small smile, “Ah’ve got ta get back to it anyways. Just lemme say goodbye real quick and ah’ll be outta yer mane.”

“Awww… you’ll be back tomorrow, won’t you..?” Pinkie whined.

“Ah’ll try.” he said, nuzzling the glass where her muzzle was and getting her reply in the same manner before giving Twilight another respectful nod and walking out. Once he was gone, Twilight’s smile vanished and she moved from her spot on the opposite wall to being mere inches from the glass containment cells.

“Rarity, Pinkie, get ready to run with me.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity asked.

“The only way I can free you two is to break you out and I am not leaving you two behind to rot away while Celestia’s research labs try to find a ‘cure’ for you two that doesn’t exist. Stand back and get ready to follow my every movement.”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie didn’t get a chance to reply as they found themselves teleported simultaneously outside of their cells and into the hallway next to Twilight. The moment she had discharged her spell, alarms started sounding throughout the facility and the lighting went from sterile white to red. Outside, the sound of boots on metal reverberated through the hallways, signaling the arrival of unwanted company. Remembering the walk through the halls and the distance travelled, Twilight calculated that their next teleportation would place them right outside the entrance to the research division. In the blink of an eye, the trio had left the quarantine area and teleported into what looked to be the main hub connecting the different research divisions, landing on an unsuspecting scientist.

“...whoops” said Twilight to no one in particular. “I… think I forgot about a turn somewhere.”

Well, at least they were close to the exit. They just had to reach it, run a few hundred meters, and then she’d be able to teleport them out.

“FREEZE! DON’T MOVE!”

It was then that Twilight realized the significance of this hub and the fact it connected the research divisions. It meant that all the soldiers would be coming through here, just like the thirty that had them surrounded. Rarity, usually a mare of sophistication and grace, let out what Twilight was thinking with the most unladylike grace she could muster.

“Buck.”

Brotherhood

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Chapter IV - Brotherhood

There comes a time in every pony’s life when they are simply… happy. A simple yet powerful emotion which many strive to earn. Sometimes it would come as the result of a great accomplishment, such as achieving victory in sports, or a scientific discovery. Other times, it came as a result of simpler, yet more intimate moments such as when embracing a lover, or one’s newborn child. Yet for every pony, there would always be a time in which they would be happy.

For Lance Corporal Rumble, along with the rest of his squad, this was not such a time. Being on the receiving end of a bright, purple beam of magic instead tended to be quite terrifying, especially when it left you and your friends spasming on the ground like rats after biting an electrical cable while the caster ran past you and right out the door.

“GET THEM! DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”

The cry of wailing claxons filled the halls of ZOCOM HQ, all civilian and research personnel rushing towards the secured shelters as per procedure. Meanwhile the facility’s military detachment scoured the halls, chasing the escaped prisoners and rogue princess down the ponymade metal labyrinth.

“Not to be ungrateful or anything, Twilight” said Rarity, running as fast as her legs could take her “but are you sure this was a good idea?!”

“No, but I wasn’t about to let you both rot in there either.” answered Twilight, trying to get her bearing as they approached a corner. It was then that three more soldiers appeared, blocking their way.

“STOP RIGHT THE- AGH!” cried the armored pegasus as his face was struck by a purple bolt, collapsing and spasming on the ground. Surprised by that sudden outcome, his two companions were unable to stop the three mares from crashing right through them.

“Sarge is down, what do we do?!” asked one of them.

“Do we shoot them?” suggested his partner.

"I don't know! We're only allowed to shoot changelings, not princesses!"

“What about tackling them?”

“Do YOU want to be the one to tackle royalty?!”

“... no.”

“Then let’s keep chasing them! There isn’t a rule about tackling, right?”
_______________________

“Looks like our services weren’t really needed, after all.” stated a silhouette, covered in shadow and invisible to the eye.

“You can say that again. For a princess, she can handle herself quite well even with luggage.” stated another of the unseen observers

“Should we.. y’know… do something besides just watch, ma’am?” a third asked. The only reply he got was a shrug that only their trained eyes could see and he got the message surprisingly loud and clear.

“We’re here just in case, not to get in the way if Princess Twilight can handle herself. We follow and observe, intervene only if necessary.”

“How about now?” the third Shadow asked, nodding in the direction of two ponies still chasing after the trio of mares. Lieutenant Pallette pumped two stun rounds into each of them as her personal targeting computer lined up the pistols on her saddle with the reticle on her HUD. Both fell to the ground as if they’d been struck too hard on the head and thrashed a little as electricity coursed through their bodies.

“Happy?” the earth pony mare replied, looking back at her team. “Yes? Then let’s move.”
_______________________

Usually when one gets chased by military police, you are supposed to go quietly in order to encourage them to detain you gently. Princess Twilight had the opposite on her mind as she and Rarity ran and Pinkie Pie bounced through more hallways. Any guard that got too close either received a magical shock from the alicorn or ended up crashing into their buddy in a vain attempt to tackle the bouncing pink party pony hopping past.

“These ponies really stink at playing tag, Twilight!”

“They’re not playing tag, Pinkie, they’re trying to arrest you!” Twilight told her as she let off another stun blast.

“But what did I do this time!?”

“Nothing! You weren’t supposed to be here in the first place! That’s why I’m breaking you out!”

“So they are playing tag, but if I lose I go back in the glass box?”

“N… yes Pinkie. This is a big game of tag and they can not under any circumstances catch you. Ok?”

“Okie Doki Lokie!” Pinkie sang back with a sly smile. Two more tried to take her down and they found themselves tied up with streamers. Where Pinkie got them from, Twilight didn’t even want to think about.

“Rarity, can you use your magic at all?” Twilight asked, looking over to her beleaguered friend as they continued their desperate race to freedom.

“Still nothing, darling. My horn is as useless as sapphires on casual afternoon wear!”

“Then stay closer on my tail, we should be getting close to the pickup point.”

“Pickup? You have friends coming to get us?”

“How else did you expect me to get you off of the airship floating thousands of meters above Canterlot, Rarity?” the purple mare replied with a tinge of annoyance. As they continued onwards, it became clear that they were now running straight towards a dead end.

“Twilight, wait! We’re trapped here!” noted Rarity, earning a grin from the Friendship Princess.

“Don’t worry, I've got a plan. But I’m gonna need you to jump as soon as I tell you to!” Twilight replied, determination prevailing in her face.

“Stop right there, criminal sc-AGH!” another guard barked, only to be cut off mid-order as a small dart found its way into his neck. Electricity coursed through his body as he and the other two that had been with him kept kicking around on the ground and four more ponies appeared out of thin air in front of the three Element Bearers.

They did not wear anything resembling a GDI uniform or piece of armor. Instead they were covered from head to hoof, muzzle to tail, in a black jumpsuit that clashed heavily with the sterile gunmetal-grey of their surroundings. Of course, given the fact that they were invisible just a second ago, concerns regarding traditional camouflage were simply nonexistent.

“Princess Twilight?” the lead pony asked as two pistols on her side folded back into the saddle.

“Yes…?”

“Lieutenant Pallette, Shadow Strike Squad Gamma. We’re your escort, your highness.”

“Your timing is perfect, Ms. Pallette. I believe you have something for me though?” replied Twilight, expectant.

“Of course your highness.” Lieutenant Pallette replied, recalling the message she had just received and was to deliver. “230 meters northwest, altitude 16 meters underneath epicenter.”

“Alright. Everypony, gather close.” said Twilight, those gathered obeying her command as she focused on her magic.

“HALT! YOU ARE VIOLATING THE LAW!” cried out yet another GDI officer, leading the charge of what appeared to be at least two squads of soldiers against the trapped ponies. However, before they could be tackled, the group was gone in a purple flash.

As far as everyone was concerned, they were floating. Not flying, or hovering rather, like a pegasus could. They were literally just standing on air.

“This is… unusual” commented Rarity, tapping the apparent solid air they were standing on, getting a metallic sound as a result.

Lieutenant Pallette wasted no time in locating something though, informing everyone just before jumping down and disappearing into the aether. Only through Twilight’s example did the other two Element Bearers do the same thing.

“We are glad you could join us.” Luna said, smiling as Twilight, her friends, and the Shadow Team dropped down from the roof hatch.

“Twilight!” Spike exclaimed, running over and hugging her, “I’m so glad you three are all safe.”

“Thank you Spike, we’re fine. Nothing to worry about.” Twilight replied, nuzzling his cheek a little.

“I know, I know…” he muttered, wiping off his cheek before looking over at Rarity as she tried to find a corner to disappear in. “Rarity…?”

“Um… hello, Spike. I hope you’re doing well.”

“I’m good, but what about you?” the young drake asked, the worry plain on his face as he walked over to her. “I didn’t get to see you after you were hurt.”

“I’m fine, Spike. Please don’t come any closer.” Rarity requested, backing away a little more as he kept walking forward. Before she could find anywhere else to run though, Rarity found herself backed against one of the seats aboard with Spike blocking all means of escape.

“Twilight already told me about… about the scars.” he whispered to her. “It’s ok if you don’t want to show me, but you don’t have to run away. I’m still the same.”

“I know, Spike, I…. I know.” the fashionista murmured, sitting on her knees as she looked around. With a sign and a small flick of her head, she whipped her mane back to show him the curving web of tiberium lines barely thicker than a hair that covered her once flawless face and neck. “It’s horrible, isn’t it?”

“Only if I were blind, m’lady.” Spike replied with a friendly smile. Rarity returned it with a small grin of her own as she moved her mane back down to cover the lines of tiberium. She had been treated like a criminal and a freak ever since Twilight saved their lives and Spike had been the first male of any species to stare out of admiration, not spite, fear, or freakish curiosity.

“If we are all finished with the pleasantries, we must get down to the matter at hoof.” Luna interrupted, “Rarity, Pinkie Pie, we have just broken you out of the most ‘secure’ facility in Equestria. You both have a choice to make now that you are free. If you desire, we will drop you off in Ponyville and you can alert the authorities that you both were kidnapped from prison against your will, where you will be arrested again and ‘quarantined’ until a cure for tiberium is found. If not, we will either take you with us to my facility in Changeling Territory, or you can wander the fringes of Equestria and hope to survive.”

“What happens if we join up?” Rarity inquired, standing up once more and walking back to the group, currently clustered around Princess Luna.

“Then you join our research division and swear fealty to Us, not our sister. You will be granted asylum from GDI and if necessary, we will even pick up your sister at a later date.”

“Can I throw a We-Just-Got-Out-Of-Prison-And-Won-A-Big-Game-Of-Tag Party once we land?” Pinkie asked, still bouncing in place.

“Of course, Laughter. Though I do hope you realize that unless ponies that you know get recruited into my division, you cannot speak with them for quite some time.”

Pinkie Pie mulled this over for a few moments, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. Twilight could practically see the wheels turning in her head before the pink mare nodded resolutely and gave the Lunar Princess a semi-serious salute.

“Count me in, Princess! I can’t throw parties in a cell so it’s my only real choice, ain’t it?”

“I will join as well, your majesty. I can’t go back. Even if I wasn’t a monster, I’m now a wanted criminal.” Rarity added.

“Rarity, you’re not a monster. I’ve been one, remember?” Spike quipped, keeping up a smug grin at the memory of his Greed Growth incident.

“And you already know that I’m in this all the way, Luna. If we’re going to save the world, we need to think outside the box. Just like we always do.”

“Perfect.” Luna stated, smiling at the four of them. “Friends, we have taken the first step in a path that will allow us to save the world.”
_______________________

The carryall flew for what felt like days to the exhausted mares, though the fact that the sun was barely setting when they arrived spoke only of hours. As it approached Luna’s facility in Changeling territory, the pilots deactivated its cloaking device and radioed in at the appropriate distances, slowing down only when ordered to. During the first deceleration, a flight of thestrals boarded and scanned everpony aboard. During the second, the shadow team all gave respectful salutes and leaped out the back as their gliders unfurled.

“They aren’t coming with us?” Spike asked.

“They are heading back to their barracks. They had a long journey and don’t need to go to the lab.” Luna replied with a small smile.

Once the scans were complete and the pilots were granted the proper flight path, the bulky aircraft started slowing down again. Everyone inside could feel their stomachs drop a little as the carryall did the same. Just a few more minutes of waiting saw them all safely on the ground, walking along a helipad with guards lining the railing. As they walked along the pathway, Twilight swore she could see SAM sites mounted along the walls of the research facility and even a few bunkers. She was unable to get a full view though before she was hurried inside with the others by a guard who was a little overzealous to get everypony inside and away from prying eyes.

“Girls, Spike, stay on our flank for the remainder of this trip, at least until we say so. Should you get lost inside it would be extremely problematic. Clear?” Luna ordered. Everypony nodded their replies and their trek into the depths of Luna’s workshop began.

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie continued down the dark hallway, trailing Princess Luna as she trotted through the passage underneath the landing pad. For nearly 20 minutes, they descended deeper and deeper through countless security checkpoints into the tunnels underneath Luna’s “Research and Development” center for Tiberium. After Luna cast a spell in passing, a doorway appeared on one of the stone walls and the three Element Bearers were hurried into another small security room by the lunar monarch.

“Princess, will you please just tell me where we are go….ing….” Twilight muttered, her request dying on her lips as Luna’s horn glowed bright once more and the walls to her left revealed themselves to be large windows. On the other side of them, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity could see a massive chamber filled to the brim with Tiberium, laboratory equipment, and every race on the planet working together underneath blood-red banners with an odd emblem of a stylized triangle with a curled scorpion tail inside of it sewn in.

“Welcome, my friends, to the true face of the Tiberium R&D Division…. the Brotherhood of Nod.” Luna announced, gesturing grandly with her wings to the display before her.

“It’s… research, but not for the destruction of the crystal?” Rarity murmured, her tone betraying just how confused she still was.

“Of course. We differ in opinion with our sister on what to do with this substance.” Luna replied as they started working their way through even more security stations, “Where she sees an incurable cancer, We have found a means to adapt. Tiberium is already proving advantageous in magical research as well as weather control. Technology is advancing faster than ever before in the history of Equestria, but only if we harness Tiberium to its full potential, instead of hypocritically harvesting and eradicating it like our misguided sister, can we hope to save ourselves.”

“But I thought you and Celestia both hated Tiberium, Princess.” Spike stated.

“In public, yes. A divided royal family is a divided country, and for now, We need to maintain appearances… however, We cannot stand idly by and just let her bury this crystal and its impact on our society in the history books.”

“So you took control and started recruiting... No wonder there are still extremists running around out there.” Twilight muttered.

“Those cells have their uses. They keep the Defense Initiative on their toes which leads to delays, they have to spring extra resources on security as opposed to research which is where we will have the advantage.” Luna continued, getting to the last doorway.

“All while still answering to you.” Twilight retorted with a genuinely impressed, if concerned, expression, “I can’t say I’m exactly comfortable with the idea, Princess, but I can’t deny I’m impressed.”

“Your flattery is not necessary, but appreciated, my dear student.” Luna replied with a small smile as the door opened. When it did, Twilight was immediately assaulted by the familiar scents and sights of a laboratory. She felt like she was home as Luna continued her tour, running her through various research areas until finally coming to one more door at the far end of the lab. Unlike the others, this one was painted the same red as the banners with an even more embellished scorpion tail and triangle emblem centered on it.

“Magic, Generosity, Laughter.” Luna said, looking at the three mares before her, “We brought you here for two reasons. One was of course, to show you the true face of our division… the second is that We wish you to see a momentous occasion, one that will resonate throughout history as a turning point in the Tiberium Conflict.”

“I’m honored, Princess.” Twilight replied with a slight bow that Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike all matched. Luna replied by willing the door open with her magic and stepping inside with the others close on her heels once more.

Inside, Twilight immediately noticed that the light was low, red, and gave the room a surreal, almost ethereal atmosphere. Consoles lined the walls, monitors showing surveillance from all over Equestria walled the ceiling, and in the very center of the room was a giant, holographic globe that glowed a familiar red hue all over except for certain portions where green was dominant.

“Welcome, your majesties. I had no idea you were stopping by.” a smooth voice cut across the room, making Twilight jump a little. Its owner was a dark grey earth pony with no mane or tail but with plenty of scruff along his chin and around his muzzle. His eyes were dark brown, almost black and his emerald cutie mark seemed as if it was glowing in the low light.

“Girls, this is Professor Crystal Theory, lead Tiberium researcher and my most loyal follower.”

“You flatter me, your highness.” Theory responded with a bow.

“We do more than that.” Luna said, “Theory, you’ve been the head of this entire operation since before We took over. You have made strides that even We never would have thought possible, and you have done nothing less than perfect work in every field.”

“Majesty, I’m just doing my job for the good of Equestria.”

“And you’ve not let anything get in your way in the process… it is for this reason that you have been selected.” Luna stated, her stance shifting a bit as she made herself a hair taller. “Professor, it is time for our division to be more active in the world. The cells already hitting GDI are not enough to delay Celestia’s efforts on their own. We believe it’s time we move to stage 2.”

“Stage 2…?” Rarity asked, cocking her visible eyebrow.

“Where the Brotherhood goes public under a single figurehead to challenge GDI openly. The intent is to prove the… inability, of GDI to protect the world from Tiberium and thus cause more ponies to flock to our cause. Violence will be necessary, but the ends will justify the means with which we conduct this war.” Theory replied.

“War!?” the three mares screeched.

“Yes, war.” Luna told them firmly, “For a year now We have tried to reason with Celestia, tried to convince her that a more ‘cavalier’ attitude was necessary for the survival of our world, but she has refused to give it even a thought. You both witnessed this firsthoof when she incarcerated you for having the gall to survive a tiberium infestation. It is the only way, but We cannot be the one to lead Nod. At least not openly, not yet.”

“But who will lead us then?” Theory asked.

“You.” Luna nearly deadpanned, “You have been the most important member of this entire division, Our right hoof in spreading our counter-measures and researching this crystal… it is for that reason that you will ascend to control what we have created, second only to Us and Princess Twilight. You, our dearest ally, shall lead the Brotherhood as their Messiah. You will lead them from the shadows and strike GDI whenever and wherever possible. Celestia’s little ‘initiative’ will be cut down bit by bit, methodically, with surgical precision.”

“It will be done, your highness.”

“From this day forth, you are Cry-”

“If I may, Princess. But I wish to leave that name behind me. If I am to publically lead the Brotherhood where you cannot, then I believe I should choose a new name that will inspire respect in our troops and fear in GDI.”

“You… have a valid point, Theory. Your given name is not exactly the most fearsome of titles.” Luna mused. “Very well, do you have a name you wish to be called, Supreme Leader?”

“As a matter of fact, majesty, I do.”
__________________________

-Three Months Later-

Five griffons adorned in black armor laid in wait in a hollowed out cloud. Below them was a GDI harvester convoy returning from a tiberium field, and above them was a dragon with two emblems magically stencilled into his shoulders. His right shoulder was bearing Nod’s signature scorpion tail, while his left was showing a dragon’s hand with the claws extended outward but with the ring and middle digit held together.

On the ground along the road, pony and changeling militia members were hiding in every imaginable place the griffons could think of. The largest griffon, a black-feathered fellow whose armor was also decorated with a blood red cape, scowled at the convoy below his floating lookout with disdain. GDI harvesters were slow and their escorts usually light, even this far into a yellow zone.

Over the past few months since Professor Theory had taken direct control of the Brotherhood, he had branched out to every race that GDI had excluded and given them an invitation. To the griffons he offered a way to save their species from extinction, to the Changelings he had offered a more stable and equal partnership. To the Diamond Dogs, he had given them a chance to avoid extinction or at least go out fighting. To the Dragons he had offered a chance for their adolescents to prove themselves in the glory of combat, and to anypony that wanted to defect away from a stagnant and incapable organization, he had offered freedom. The results had been staggering as earth ponies had flocked by the thousands to Nod’s banner and the griffons pledged their complete military support. With these alliances solidified, all five races vowed to work publically under one banner, one vision, one purpose, and one Messiah.

“Once the signal is given, we swoop in on the harvesters. Militia will keep the guards-ponies busy long enough for us to eliminate the drivers and then we focus on the officers. Leave one or two low-ranking survivors.” he whispered into his mouthpiece once he put his three-eyed helmet on.

Nearly five more minutes passed before the lead griffon nodded to his wingman, who in turn used a small mirror to reflect light right into the biggest nest of militia ponies. In response, three missiles and a blast of magical energy lanced out at the lead and rear vehicles of the convoy before small arms fire enveloped the confused GDI troops.

“For the Messiah, For Sister Pie, For the honor of the Black Hand. May He bless our charge, and protect those under our command.” the lead griffon chanted.

His wingmen said the same before bumping their helmets together at the forehead for good luck. With the official and unofficial rituals complete, the griffons and their dragon dove right into the skirmish with laser and flamethrower rifles blazing. Two flanked off to the left and two flanked off to the right, pouncing on any guardspony that got in their way. Talons slashed out as many times as laser fire did, felling any pony they could find wearing GDI garb. The dragon landed on one of the APCs, tearing the roof off and flooding the inside with flames until the sides melted.

The lead griffon on the other hand landed on the pilot’s hatch of the forward harvester. With as much strength as he could muster, he popped the hatch, and filled the inside with flames. Once he was sure that he had burnt the cockpit enough, he stood up on top of the flaming harvester, hefted his rifle into the air, and let out a warcry that would haunt every member of the Global Defense Initiative for the rest of time.

“IN THE NAME OF KANE!”

Talons Forward

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Chapter V - Talons Forward

Before tiberium and the rise of Blue Zones, technology was not necessarily spread evenly throughout the world. While certain items like television and radio were common in cities like Manehatten, they were not so common in villages like Ponyville. With tiberium fueling the economy and with civilization reduced to walled cities however, the illusion of equally spread technology was achieved.

This was both a blessing and a curse for the GDI. While they could control most news networks, the widespread use of broadcasting stations was still relatively new and, as such, was susceptible to being controlled by an outside party.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were enjoying breakfast together in their situation room when every channel on their news monitors went to static and changed from various news anchors to a sight that would fill Celestia’s nightmares for the rest of her life.

Standing in the frame was a stallion with no mane or tail and a black coat made of what appeared to be leather, of all materials. There was a pin on his left lapel showcasing the symbol of Nod, and his eyes seemed to burn with a passion unmatched by mere “mortal” ponies. To his right, Twilight Sparkle stood proud, wings tucked neatly at her side outside of the black lab coat that hugged her frame.

To his left, Sister-Field Marshall Pinkie Pie stood tall and surprisingly still in full Black Hand armor, save for her helmet. The cape flowed off her back between the dual napalm canisters on her flanks with the nozzles retracted back into their carrying sheaths. Rarity was the farthest left, wearing a stylish jacket that matched the color scheme of her peers but with crimson trimming. As per her usual since her infestation, she had her mane down, styled to cover the entire right side of her face and neck.

“Good morning, Equestria. Especially you, Princesses.” the stallion spoke with a broad smile, “Over the past few months, citizens under the banner of GDI have been misled, manipulated and denied of truth. Your Princesses have told you that GDI is still strong, fighting the spread of tiberium unopposed, and will soon be making even more breakthroughs on how to contain and eradicate it.

“I am here to tell you that that is a complete lie. For months now, families have been forced to keep quiet as their sons and daughters fight in vain against my own disciples. You have heard of the Brotherhood of Nod, you have heard of the promise we guarantee all those who come to our side and embrace us, our belief in living with tiberium and those afflicted by it instead of self-destructive isolationism. You have heard of Nod’s Messiah, Kane, and his promise to save this world through Tiberium, not from it, but you have yet to put a face to the name. You have no visage to give this legend born of flame and fear.

“I am Kane, Messiah of Nod, Leader of the Brotherhood, and the only one who can protect you from the two so-called ‘goddesses’ who would imprison ponies who survive tiberium infestation! Standing before you are are two of the only three ponies to have ever survived coming into contact with Tiberium, and what did Princess Celestia do? She put them in prison, locked away to rot until a cure that she approved of could be found.” Kane said, gesturing to the mares next to him,

“Sister Pinkie Pie, leader of what is known to your soldiers as the Black Hand, and Brigadier General Rarity, commander of our elite cadre, are such survivors. Their salvation, the work of Princess Twilight Sparkle whose work your princess ordered destroyed. I implore you my children, choose the right side as this Tiberium War escalates. Join the countless ponies, griffons, changelings, dragons, and diamond dogs who work together in harmony not to fight Tiberium, but to survive through it. Together we can end this war before it truly begins, as one. Peace. Brotherhood. Unity.”
___________________

Three Hours Later

“I said fall back! Pull back to the Heart Shield!” Shining Armor shouted into his earpiece as the vehicle he was riding in took another glancing blow from a laser weapon.

His current ride, a light, four-wheeled vehicle with a .50 caliber machinegun on top lovingly nicknamed by all those who used them as “Timber Wolves” was going in reverse as fast as it could. While the armor made it resistant to bullets and the occasional buck by a mutant, it wasn’t meant to take direct laser fire.

To say that things were bad on the northern front would be nothing short of an understatement. It had all started with a number of patrols being ambushed by Nod insurgents near the Crystal Mountains and asking for support. It didn’t take long for help to arrive, only for Shining Armor to realize that he had just rushed the Crystal Empire’s garrison into an even bigger trap.

Artillery rained upon them from the mountains, with Nod’s attack helicopters showing no mercy as they peppered the retreating forces and obliterated groups with their devastating rocket arsenal. It made Shining Armor wish his ORCAs were allowed to do more than just strafe the enemy’s infantry with their cannons, or try to cut off the helicopters’ tails.

Shining Armor didn’t have to admit to himself that he had made a mistake. The chaos around him made it explicitly clear they had been routed and would die here if they didn’t make it to the Crystal Heart’s shield. Now, a Timber Wolf was a fast vehicle, nimble and adaptable as was needed. However, it wasn’t capable of taking an RPG head on, which made it even more fortunate that the fateful round impacted the ground underneath the vehicle rather than the vehicle itself. What wasn’t fortunate, however, was the position Shining Armor found himself in now, trapped inside a flipped vehicle, the only saving grace being the front had landed facing the Crystal Empire.

“Sergeant? You ok back there?” he half-asked, half-groaned as he tried to figure out just why everything was upside-down outside. When he didn’t receive an answer, he turned as much as he could to see the unicorn operating their radio. As he turned, he grimaced, noticing that the driver was riddled with shrapnel that had ripped through the bottom of the driver’s station.

“Poor kid…” Shining muttered as he continued to turn, only to find that Sergeant Stonewall’s neck was bent at an unnatural angle and blood was trickling from his nose and mouth.

There was nothing else he could do for them now. Gathering what strength he could muster, Shining blasted out the windshield with his magic, using the ruined vehicle as momentary cover while he gathered his wits. What ponies were left were running away at a full gallop, many having abandoned any semblance of consideration for covering fire. However, the next few seconds left Shining’s blood colder than the ice on the mountains. With absolute impunity, griffons started swooping down on the fleeing ponies, carrying them away into the clouded sky and… dropping them. Their terrified screams resonated louder than all the gunfire around him.

Shining Armor was trapped. If he stayed where he was, he would be found and killed by the advancing forces. If he ran, there was a good chance he’d be caught and dropped. One was a guarantee while the other was a risk. He went with the risk and ran towards his only hope for survival, the Crystal Shield surrounding his home.
______________________________

While Shining Armor was busy running for his life, Lt. Colonel Big “Mac” Macintosh was busy providing security for a ZOCOM detachment cleaning up parts of the Dodge Junction Yellow Zone. For the past two months, the site had been one of five involved in a project to try and reclaim part of a Yellow Zone, with the intent to make a new Blue Zone. With the onset of Nod’s sudden unification of every terrorist cell in Equestria, Dodge Junction was now the only Reclamation Project still under way. His job was simple: keep the ZOCOM specialists safe, don’t shoot to kill if anypony shows up, and don’t let any of his ponies get killed by Brotherhood soldiers.

Big Mac tried to relax into the Timber Wolf he was riding in, but with reports of everything GDI related getting ambushed--and in some cases completely wiped out--relaxing was not on his schedule. He kept quietly looking to the horizon and along the hilltops, hoping that if Nod was there, some rookie would skyline himself prematurely.

“Bring us around near the sensors on the cliff edge,” Big Mac ordered. His voice was low, and he willed it to be inaudible outside the vehicle. He tapped the ‘enhance’ control on the side of his helmet. Once he did, his view zoomed towards the gorge to their north and he scanned it once again. Nothing appeared, but his gut told him that they were definitely next on Nod’s list.

“Aye, sir,” his driver replied, magically turning the wheel and starting the LRV around a group of ZOCOM pegasi who were sweeping a small tiberium cluster towards the ponies dug in near the cliff sensors. Before the unicorn could finish the turn, he shuddered. The windshield burst into fragments of glass, and Big Mac’s left side was coated in a light spatter of blood as the insides of the driver’s head became its outsides.

“Sniper!” the radio operator screamed. A unicorn pony by the name of Pokey.

“Eeyup!” Big Mac answered, grabbing the wheel and ducking his head down to avoid making himself a prime target. His RO immediately put a magical shield up around the Timber Wolf and began moving the body of the driver into the open seat in the back.

“All stations, all stations this is Apple Pie Actual! Snipers are hitting the AO! High Alert, I say again, High Alert!” the radiostallion barked through his headset. By the time he finished his announcement, Big Mac had gotten into the driver’s seat and had full control of the LRV.

“Hang on!” the red stallion barked, swerving his ride hard to the left near a small swell that sent the TW into the air before landing hard and screaming off towards the cliff patrols.

What Big Mac saw when he got there was a total nightmare. No less than three Black Hand dragons accompanied by at least a dozen griffons in heavy armor had pounced his northern line from inside the cliff. By the time Big Mac got onto the turret of his Timber Wolf, nearly 30 of his ponies were dead and the rest were engaging.

“Pokey! Get on the horn with Canterlot and call down an Orbital Friendship Strike!”

“Right away s--” the unicorn began before the vehicle flipped and sent Big Mac sprawling to the ground. Shaking his head clear, he got back to his hooves and ran back over to the Timber Wolf that had landed upright, though it was missing the rear right wheel and a sizable chunk of its light armor.

“RPGs…” Mac muttered with a scowl as he climbed back into the turret, “Pokey, get that call in for reinforcements!”

Once back on the .50, Lt. Colonel Macintosh opened up on anything that so much as looked in his direction. He knew the rounds wouldn’t do more than annoy a dragon and maybe send the Black Hand griffons diving for cover, but it was better than nothing. For a solid five minutes, he focused solely on covering for his ponies as they started falling back into secondary positions, barely even flinching when bullets and lasers grazed his position. It wasn’t until he noticed that his rear hooves were getting wet that he looked down from the gun sights and saw Pokey with a hole burnt cleanly through his chest and radio that was still smoking.

Panic flashed across Mac’s mind for a fraction of a second before giving way to training. In an instant he brought the gun around towards where the beam had to have come from and opened up again, sending bursts of fire towards anything that could give the enemy cover, still barely noticing the tracers and beams of energy flying past his head. After a few more minutes, ponies started filtering in past him. Some were running in a full-tilt sprint from the battle while some held discipline and tried to cover for their friends. Big Mac brought his turret to bear again, only for his trigger pull to answer with a heavy “clack” of finality. He’d run it out of ammo.

“Fall back to tertiary positions!” he shouted to anypony that could hear him.

“They’re gone, sir!” somepony screamed back, “They’re all gone!”

“They hit from all sides!” another mare shouted.

“Why isn’t the Network firing!?”

“Everypony for themselves!”

“They’re all dead!”

“Run for your lives!”

“IN THE NAME OF KANE!”

“Ah buck.” Mac groaned as that last declaration cut through his soldiers’ panicked screams. He turned towards the war cry and his fears were brought to life when he felt a talon slash across his face. His helmet went flying and claws dug through flesh and fur straight across his left cheek, sending him to the ground again. What the griffon didn’t account for was that his opponent fought best when facing away from his opponent.

Big Mac bucked his legs back straight into the Black Hand who was preparing to executing him, spinning his head around and snapping his neck. The Black Hand fell in a heap with his head facing the wrong direction as Big Mac stood back up and spit out a large glob of blood. Before he could fully recover, bullets impacted his armor and knocked the wind right out of him. By Celestia’s grace, none of the rounds penetrated, yet the Nod troops still didn’t finish him.

“Macky…? Is that really you?” a female voice cut in through the wind. Mac’s eyes shot open and he looked up, not quite believing what he was seeing.

“Pinkie Pie…?” he whispered, staring at the mare who still held his heart flanked by griffons, two dragons, and dressed in full Black Hand armor with flame canisters ready to fire. She removed her helmet and revealed that her mane was flat, devoid of all its signature “poof” while her expression was somewhat manic. Once her helmet touched the ground, her hair went back to normal, she smiled wide and warmly, and tackled the beleaguered officer.

“Oh it IS you!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hugged the red stallion, “I’m so glad my snipers didn’t turn your brain into confetti!”

“P...wh…. eeyup…?” was all Big Mac could muster as someone who was both his lover and his sworn enemy continued to hold him close.

“You’re not too beat up though, right? Right? Because Gilded Beak there got a little too into the whole ‘slaughter them all’ order from Kane and I’m still inviting anyone who wants to join up to my ‘Welcome-to-the-Brotherhood-Party Party’ and I’d love it if you would come with us! We could be together again!”

“Pinkie Pie… what are ya’ talkin’ about…?”

“Isn’t it obvious Mac Attack?” she replied, nuzzling him for a moment, “I’m giving you and your troops a choice! You can either join Nod and come with me or… well… join the ponies who fought back already.”

“Pinkie, ah can’t.” Big Mac told her, holding the pink mare at a little bit more of a distance, “Ah swore an oath to GDI an’ the Princesses… you know ah can’t go back on that.”

Pinkie Pie’s mane flattened out again like air being let out of a balloon and the 10 Black Hand around her leveled their weapons straight at Big Mac’s head. Before they could pull the trigger though, Pinkie put up a hoof and gave a small growl towards the griffons behind her.

“Macky… I can’t spare you more than once… Commander Hallowed Claw?”

“Yes, Sister?” one of the griffons spoke up.

“Secure the survivors. Anypony who doesn’t join us is free to leave with Big Macintosh without being attacked again.”

“As the Prophet wills.” He bowed respectfully, and his wings flapped hard, launching him from the ground, in the direction of small arms fire. Once he was gone, Pinkie walked back up to Big Mac.

“Take your survivors and head back to Canterlot… but please never face me again, or else I can’t leave you alive…” the former party pony whispered to him as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck.

“Thank ya kindly, Pinkie.” he murmured back, returning the embrace and nuzzling her cheek, “You know I still think ya joined the wrong side, but that doesn’t change… well…”

Big Mac was cut off by the Founder and leader of the Black Hand booping his nose playfully and giving him a weary smile.

“I know, Mac Attack, it’s why I need you to stay out of my way from now on. Last thing I want to have to do is hurt you.” she finished, put her helmet back on, and gave a subtle gesture with her head to the troops behind her.

Big Mac could only watch in relief and grief as his special somepony walked away through the carnage of what was left of the Reclamation Effort. All around her militia ponies, zebras, and changelings bowed as she walked past and went about their business policing the dead and their gear. After an hour of wounded being stabilized, the dead being loaded up on the only remaining APC that was still working, and the Black Hand recruiting any of the survivors they could, Big Macintosh watched 50 of his remaining 80 soldiers walk off with Pinkie Pie and her bodyguards. Of the 30 who remained, not a single one was left unscathed from the slaughter that he had just survived by luck. With a tired sigh, he dropped to his knees and shook his head slowly.

“Sir…?” one of Mac’s loyalists asked.

“Find a radio that works, call in a ride for us.” Big Mac ordered quietly, “an’ let Princess Celestia know what happened…”
___________________________________

Applejack’s eyes were set over the ridge. She could hear the weapons fire across it, see the lasers and tracers the Nod were spitting out at her brother’s unit. The radio chatter didn’t even give her the illusion that they were holding. She could tell it had been a complete rout; no support from her platoon had left them overrun, though she had doubts that even that would have been able to help.

Her fears had been realized when four IFVs bearing Nod colors and insignia sailed over the ridge. They wouldn’t be able to penetrate her Predator’s armor, nor those of the rest of her platoon--but they were speeding closer as fast as they could without throwing their riders off of their backs. AJ whickered. The Brotherhood hadn’t even bothered to try and modify the Hounds they were riding. They were unarmored, light, the things almost entirely chassis, with ponies and griffons dangling from the sides as they came closer.

The Hounds, made of a tubular steel chassis, a massive engine in the rear, a long .50-caliber turret on the back, a driver in the middle, and a front-mounted general purpose machine gun next to the driver, were built for speed and driving through infantry. They weren’t made to go toe-to-toe with Predator tanks. The only reason, in fact, that they were any worry at all was that the infantry on them didn’t appear to be carrying full-sized rifles. They had stuck with smaller weapons, things they could carry that would let them carry other things. Things like explosives. They couldn’t be allowed to get close to her tanks, or they’d make quick work of them.

Two of her tanks turned to engage--the Wild West and the Stalliongrad Hero. She stopped paying attention to them, though their radio operators transmitted a small portion of their plan. She wasn’t listening, but the radio operator filled her in a little. Something about “engaging the Hounds to try and cover the retreat”. She heard the chatter of their pintle mounts come to life, the ponies in her tanks starting to tear the non-armored vehicles to shreds.

There was a single, hard boom in the air. It wasn’t a Predator gun, it seemed to be of a slightly higher tamber. But then she heard the impact--PONK--and a noise that would make any tanker shit themselves. She heard the crunch of a broken tread, and the noise of its treads getting locked up in its wheels.

BUCK. That was the only word she could think for a split second before she glared at the ridge. She could hear more incoming fire, but the rest of the Nod tank platoon’s first salvo seemed to have missed the rest of her tanks. She cursed loudly and creatively as she threw the rules of engagement out the window. Four Brotherhood Ursas had crested the hill and were working their way towards the wounded Predator.

The Ursa was based off the Predator design, only lighter and faster due to having less armor and a smaller 90mm cannon. How the Brotherhood of Nod had gotten their greasy hooves on it she didn’t know, but they weren’t as hard to crack as her own tanks.

“Buck it! Shoot to kill!” Applejack shouted. The gunner had been tracking one of the tanks as it moved over the hill. She could see the barely armored roof of it, she knew he could, too.

“Ma’am!?” the pony at fire control exclaimed back.

“Ya heard me! Nod ain’t playin’ fair so we ain’t neither! Fire one!” Applejack barked. There were no more questions. The turret twisted, barely, adjusting its aim, and the Granny Smith replied with gusto, her 150mm cannon roaring to life. The recoil was hard enough, even past the dampers, that it made her tank shudder. There was a collection of loud “PING”s in the crew compartment below her when its shell ejected automatically, and in short order, she heard the loader shout “CLEAR!”. They could fire again.

The Ursa’s thinner armor wasn’t enough to stop the Granny Smith’s round. The round tore through the its front and must have found the ammo store. There was the sound of a multitude of detonations--krmpkrmpkrmpkrmp--and the Ursa’s turret was blown off the chassis. A small inferno poured from the open turret’s ring as the turret sailed through the air, its flight ended by the front end of a passing Hound.

“Good kill! Let’s keep moving ladies; Bon Bon, full speed so we can get under’em! If we’re lucky we can hit’em from behind.”

“You got it, ma’am!” the former candy maker replied as she gunned the accelerator, and the mass of metal and guns that made the tank roared up the ridge’s incline, spitting rocks and dirt out behind it.

“Roseluck, HE.” Applejack continued, not bothering to wait for the mare in charge of their ammo to acknowledge the command. “An’ Lyra, tell all units to shoot to kill an’ get mah helmet radio a line to the Ponyville Puncher.”

“On it ma’am.” the teal unicorn stated before giving her CO a nod.

“Colonel? That you?” a male voice asked through the static.

“You bet yer fat flank it is! Sweep your gal along the left side ‘a that ridge, we’re goin’ over together. Confirm?”

“We confirm, on our way, ma’am!” the stallion replied before the channel shut off and Applejack gave a hint of a grin. If this worked, they may actually survive this.

Applejack swept her periscope around in a quick 360, checking everything she could. She could feel their orientation change as they reached the steep part of the cliff face and, very shortly, they were airborne.

Unfortunately for the Ursa immediately behind the cliff face, the Predator wasn’t in their field of view for very long. It soared over the ridge like the Hounds had earlier, though it seemed to personify some sort of cosmic vengeance. The commander could only see a spinning tread sailing over his head, falling. He ducked into the tank, but it wasn’t enough.

The armor that Nod had removed from their tanks to make them faster and more maneuverable might have saved him. As it was, 70 tons of GDI fury landed on the roof of his tank, and it buckled with the screech of tearing metal.

“... two down, let’s go find more!”
_____________

Two Days Later

Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, General Ironsides, Colonel Applejack, and Lt. Colonel Big Macintosh sat around the conference table in the Canterlot Royal Situation Room; thirteen chairs were vacant. Supervisor Fluttershy was busy with a cleanup operation and was unable to attend the meeting. The other twelve officers who were supposed to be there were busy with a meeting of their own in the morgue, courtesy of the Brotherhood.

“This meeting of the GDI Military Council is called to order.” Princess Celestia stated, “General Ironsides, as you were the one who called the meeting, would you like to make the opening statement?”

“Yes, your highness, I would. I’ll cut right to the chase; as you all can see by the empty chairs in the room, we are not capable of facing Nod with our current military doctrine. Colonel Applejack not only survived her encounter, but managed to repel the Brotherhood’s onslaught, because she broke regulations and gave the order to shoot to kill, thus saving her troops. Macintosh made it out alive because Pinkie Pie spared him, and Shining Armor barely made it to the safety of the Crystal Heart’s shield in one piece.”

“Mostly,” the younger unicorn added with a slight scowl that highlighted the ragged scars across his jaw and neck, left by a Black Hand griffon who tried to drop him.

“The point is, Princesses… we need to change. We can’t keep losing ponies because they can’t fight back. If we don’t rapidly remobilize and put more funds into military research, we’re going to lose this war.”

“An’ believe us when we say it, your majesties, we are at war with the Brotherhood.” Applejack added.

“Are you suggesting that I give an order to the entire Initiative to engage and kill on sight any member of the Brotherhood, General?” Celestia asked quietly.

“I’m suggesting that we engage them on even ground, Princess.” Ironsides replied, “When Nod shows up, our troops not only need the weapons and support to openly engage them, but proper authorization. Colonel Applejack isn’t the only one who’s broken the rules to save ponies, but the sooner we let the army know that they can actually do everything in their power to save their own lives, the sooner we can start winning this war.”

“I… you’re asking me to make the lives of ponies, regardless of creed, forfeit.” Celestia murmured.

“I’m telling you that this is the only way we can save the lives of our own ponies, your highness. With half of the Element Bearers now fighting for Nod, the Orbital Friendship Array isn’t operating anymore. Pacification is no longer an option; open war is the only choice we have left… it has come to that.”

“And how does the rest of the Council feel about this course of action?” Princess Luna asked.

“As much as it pains me to say it, Twiley is on the wrong side, and her troops need to be treated as they treat us.” Shining Armor stated, “Even if that means… she becomes an enemy combatant.”

“Ah may be happy that Pinkie Pie spared mah brother, but she crossed the line when she started leading these raids. If they’re willin’ to kill anypony wearing a GDI eagle, then we need to be willin’ to do the same to any scorpion tails we see.” Applejack added.

“Anything to add, Lt. Colonel Macintosh?” Luna inquired.

“General Ironsides is right…” he said slowly, deliberately, “An’ even if we’re facin’ our friends, we have a duty to protect tha Blue Zones an’ everypony in’em no matter the cost. Ah can’t go soft on Pinkie if ah face’er again, no matter how ah feel, just like Prince Armor may one day have to arrest or hurt Twilight Sparkle… it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, your majesties.”

Princess Celestia looked at each member of the council as they spoke, each one in favor of General Ironsides’ plan of action. With each vote towards full mobilization and militarization of what was supposed to be a peace-keeping government reform, her expression fell a little more.

“Sister, it would appear that this is the only way.” Luna told her.

“We have no other choice, auntie.” Cadence chimed in quietly.

“I can’t do it.”

“Your majesty!” General Ironsides exclaimed before Celestia held up a hoof and he fell silent.

“I cannot, in good conscience, give such an order… but you can, General. If Luna will agree with me, I will cede all military authority of GDI to you. From there, you can do what it takes to win this war and I will… I will focus on the political aspect.”

A moment of silence passed as the Council took in the significance of her words. “Very well.” the elderly unicorn replied, “All in favor of approving a GDI Military Mobilization Bill?”

Every surviving member of the council raised their hooves in near-perfect unison as quickly as they could manage.

“Majority has it, we will start drafting the document immediately. Now onto the business of approving new military research and pressing old projects into production….”

Unbeknownst to the gathered heads of GDI, there was another pony watching the entire meeting progress. The ceiling of the Situation Room was not built like a bunker for safety from attack, shields were responsible for that. Instead, it was hollowed out and full of surveillance equipment, counter-intelligence hardware, and the necessary shielding to make a Faraday Cage. The only issue with this design was that there was ample room for a pony to fit inside, and the ceiling was even reinforced so technicians could have much easier access to do maintenance and repairs.

While convenient for GDI workers, it was a security oversight that no pony seemed to think about except for those wishing to exploit it. A Nod Shadow sat cloaked and comfortable by a bundle of wires that fed into the security cameras with a small device hooked into it. Twilight Sparkle invented the machine as a way to help with repairs and simply see if a cable was sending the proper electronic signal to a monitor, but with a slight adjustment and a little bit of Brotherhood thinking, it was turned into a wiretapping device that was currently feeding live footage of the meeting straight into Kane’s office back in Mareajevo.

The Messiah smiled as he saw the Princess of the Sun balk at violence, and let that smile turn into a predatory smirk when the vote came through.

“And now the game truly begins.”

Hubris

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Chapter VI - Hubris

Gunfire. Explosions, the rain of dirt on the ground. The occasional zap of a laser or hard THWAP of a bullet striking the ground echoed through her ears. The problem was that it sounded distant to her; while that should’ve made her panic, she couldn’t bring herself to care. After all, she felt like she could just float away. Her eyes were transfixed skyward, on the phantasmal stitchwork tracer rounds and laserfire made across the patchwork quilt of the midnight sky. The world lurched and rumbled as artillery shells struck nearby--and again, more closely, as she felt herself being moved. She could barely feel anything.

‘Co… stay… me,’ a voice said. It was muffled as all hell, the smooth sound seeming to slide over her ears instead of into them. ‘Come on.’ It came, again. ‘Stay with me, girl.’ Male? Sounded male. Why was she here, again? She blinked, and her eyes started searching again. Whatever had dazed her had been nearly bad enough to give her a concussion. Her senses were returning, slowly.

The way her leg felt, she wished they had stayed away.

The world came crashing back into focus as the pain of the compound fracture broke into her mind, piercing a line straight to her belly and forcing her to full consciousness. Bodies were everywhere, shattered vehicles were strewn about, and Black Hand were swarming the GDI defensive line trying to hold a road that connected the Canterlot and Ponyville Blue Zones.

Before she could even ask what had happened, laser fire burned a hole into the pony still trying to keep her awake, splattering smoking bits of his chest and organs all over her armor and that of the medic right next to him.

“Keep your heads down! I’ll handle this!” a male voice cut through the cacophony created by the battle. As soon as his declaration ended, a male pegasus landed in the midst of the Black Hand closing in on the wounded mare. His saddle looked like it had been modified extensively, and the rifles on either side of his body were obviously a larger caliber than those used by regular infantry which he used to great effect by placing four well-aimed shots into the vulnerable necks of each griffon he could see. His armor looked much more well-worn and scuffed up than hers which, up until today, hadn’t seen combat yet, and if she had to guess as to what caused those scuffs, she’d bet her entire paycheck that it was the very weapons that he was dodging at the moment.

Flash Sentry ducked past another Black Hand, bucking his helmet off as he came up before his HUD got a positive lock on the griffon’s chest and fired. The two GDM light machine guns opened up and punched through the armor after a few seconds of sustained fire. With his latest target on the ground, the former Crystal Kingdom guard trotted over to the wounded mare.

“You alright, kid?” he asked without looking away from the battlefield.

“What do you think!? I have a compou-”

“It’s a casualty treatment question to keep your mind off doc here patching you up. Are you alright?”

“Uh… y…. yeah… yes, sir.” she replied with a bit more respect in her voice.

“I’m marking our location. Another medic and my team should be up here any minute now.” Sentry stated before a Nod militant’s head disappeared in a cloud of vapor.

“Make that any second now; on your five, 50 meters, Captain.” another male cut in over the radio. He was obviously from Trottingham, given the accent and what the red-maned mare saw on her HUD afterwards only confirmed it.

“Pipsqueak!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed, almost causing the medic that was patching up her fractured leg to shove the splint into her flank.

“Deadeye now, actually, luv!” the young stallion called back before switching over to his ‘serious voice’, “Havoc, we got a trio of Noddies coming up along up on your blindside. Want the honors?”

“Cap’em, squirt.” Flash replied with a slight grin as a trio of shots rang out, “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Comin’ up behind you, 20 meters left, sir!” another stallion shouted.

The stallion was a monster of an earth pony, also sharing Pip’s Trottingham accent and was missing an eye. His coat was a light shade of brown and his mane, a darker brown, was cut nearly as short as his tail. He was missing his right eye and emblazoned across his armor right below his neck was the name “Gunner”. The name was fitting given the dual rocket launchers strapped to his saddle.

Next to him was a smaller pony, a unicorn, with the name “Hotwire” written on her uniform. She had a toolkit strapped to her flank that made it look like she had just raided a RadioBarn. Her coat was a darker blue and her shortly styled mane was as jet-black. Beside her, another unicorn with three grenade launchers strapped to his body, a set of black and red goggles that clashed hilariously with his teal coat and blonde mane, and the name “Patch” tattooed on his neck on the right side with the Germaneigh flag tattooed on the other.

Finally, on Gunner’s other side, another pegasi trotted along. She had a black mane as well with a violet coat and sported the same modified rifles that Flash Sentry had on himself. Her armor was light compared to the others and seemed to favor mobility over protection. Despite that, there was enough armor plating for the name “Sakura” to be stenciled in.

“Nice of you to drop by! I was afraid I’d have to do this by myself and lie on the after action reports again.” Flash quipped as the rest of Dead 6 trotted up and got to work.

“Not on your life, ‘Avoc!” Gunner sniped back as he let loose with his launchers. 50 meters down range, an Ursa Tank’s treads shattered on the right side. Taking a moment to find a new target let Gunner get a glimpse of what their situation truly looked like. As he saw it, this battle couldn’t be going any worse.
_______

From Lieutenant Colonel Zeek’s perspective, the battle couldn’t be going any better. Equestria is a land covered in hills and mountains which, for a tank commander, presents interesting terrain advantages and disadvantages. One could hide tanks behind them but couldn’t really climb over them to engage an enemy that had anti-tank weaponry unless the point was to commit suicide by exposing the tank’s underside. Likewise, parking a tank atop a hill was a good way to have everyone and their mother shoot rockets at you. For Colonel Zeek, this was not a problem.

“How’s it looking there, sir? Are we actually gonna get to shoot at something today?” asked a mare with a pale-pink coat and red mane, looking at her tank commander from atop the crew compartment of their tank.

“Maybe. Maybe not. The boys from the 12th and 38th are giving GDI absolute hell.” replied the Colonel, not even looking away from the battle. The sight of a pair of tank commanders getting sniped while outside their cupolas sent a shiver down his spine. The Ursa was a good tank, a fast downscaled version of GDI’s Predator. Unfortunately, this also meant it didn’t get as many toys as a Predator would, like external cameras. “Be ready to move out, but I think we’ll end up staying on standby rather than breaking the line.” That said, the old gray-maned, yellow-coated stallion got up from the ground and climbed back up into what Nod commanders were referring to as “Ezekiel’s Wheel”. He had no idea who Ezekiel was or what was so important about his wheel.

GDI’s defensive line was more than just “in trouble”. It was, however, also a perfect example of the recent horsepower problems GDI was facing at the moment. A critical road connecting two blue zones had been left under the care of what amounted to a glorified garrison. A single battalion, 800 ponies and their vehicles, to guard a couple dozen kilometers of road. The Nod force facing them was a full infantry battalion of a thousand troops, just to strike the GDI line, backed up by two motorised infantry battalions of 500 troops and 60 varied vehicles each in reserve ready to rush in should Murphy decide to show up, as well as an armored battalion of 40 Ursa tanks and aerial support helping in the assault just to put the nails in the coffin.

To put it lightly, were Celestia a goddess that actually did anything with her powers, it would take an act of a god to save the GDI force guarding the road. The fact that they’d lasted as long as they did was a miracle in and of itself.

Sitting on the commander’s chair onboard his Ezekiel’s Wheel, Lieutenant Colonel Zeek grumbled at that fact. The brigade’s commanding officers had been informed Dead Six had been spotted in the area. However, given the size of Nod’s current force, they’d be nothing more than a nuisance. And should they actually manage to halt the assault, then it’d be time for the 1st Stealth Tank Battalion ‘Zeek’s Chop Shop’ to take the stage.
________

“Get ready to pull back to the final defensive lines, we can’t hold here anymore!” Flash barked out as his team continued to unleash everything they could on the Nod onslaught. When he gave the order, his team tensed as the incoming fire intensified. Somepony out there must have either heard Havoc’s order or could sense that the GDI lines were near the breaking point. Apple Bloom had been propped up with her rocket launcher and sidearm in order to provide minimal cover fire after her leg had been patched up and she was doing the Apple Family Name proud. Barely old enough to enlist when she did, she had proven herself through a few skirmishes before the Brotherhood had fully mobilized and, despite her injury, was giving as good as she got.

“Gunner, grab the mare and get her out of here!”

“Tryin’ not to get ‘it as is, ‘Avoc!” the massive stallion replied. “Only way we’re gettin’ all the survivors out is if that Nod line vanishes!”

“Well we aren’t that lucky, so just grab her and ge-.” Flash began before a priority transmission hit his earpiece and that of every GDI pony on the battlefield.

“Havoc…?” Patch muttered with a raised eyebrow and a massive grin plastered on his muzzle.

“You heard Sky Admiral Dash! EVERYPONY HIT THE DIRT!”

Mere moments after his voice echoed across the battlefield, the front line of the Nod advance disappeared in a massive cloud of fire, smoke, dirt, and blood. After the initial shockwave, Apple Bloom swore she heard the subtle roar of artillery fire from kilometers away… only it was in the air and there weren’t any artillery companies left in that theatre. Before she could really let her mind work through the confusion, more fireballs caused swathes of terrain to simply vanish and the booming crack of artillery continued.

“What in the hay is that!?” the young mare finally screamed over the din.

“That’s the GDA Double Rainboom, kid! Freshly armed and sent out to make Nod hurt anywhere, any time!” Sakura shouted back as yet another blast hit the hunkered down Nod battalion. Once the artillery stopped, both sides refrained from firing. The GDI troops waited just in case the artillery began again while Nod was waiting to see just how many more shells the damn Kodiak was going to throw at them.
_______

The answer was none, but came not from the ground troops or the Kodiak herself. Their answer came in the form of four squadrons of ORCA fighters swarming towards the area. Before the Nod attack helos could bear down on the incoming wave, missiles impacted over half of them while the rest had to break formation to survive the barrage.

“Where the hell did those launch from!?” a Griffon pilot barked over the comm.

“Traces put them coming from that damn Kodiak!” a grey, cross-eyed pegasus replied. Without hesitation, she pulled her helicopter back around and sped towards the incoming ORCAs, “All craft on me! With that airship in the air we can’t win so we’ll buy the ground troops some time to pull back!”

Derpy saw a dozen or so green lights pop up on her HUD showing her that what was left of the air cover was following her lead. Quickly, with rehearsed skill, the helos formed back up on the black and red attack copter with bubbles painted on the tail and met the ORCAs headon. Down below on the ground, GDI was now pressing their attack and the remaining Nod troops were pulling back. Black Hand members were holding where they could or providing cover fire, but with the Double Rainboom in the area and GDI pilots already strafing any Nod soldiers they found out in the open, everyone wearing red and black knew that if they stayed there, they were asking to die for Kane very prematurely.

That was until SAMs started swatting ORCAs out of the sky at an alarming rate and even impacting on the Double Rainboom’s hull. Green explosions knocked GDI craft out of the blue while shell casings from the point defense guns on Rainbow Dash’s flagship began to litter the decks in an attempt to shoot as many of the missiles down as they could.
_______

“What the- what just happened?! Where did those ORCAs come from?” roared a young, enraged purple drake, seeing casualties at the front suddenly spike.

“Sir, a GDI Kodiak aircarrier arrived out of nowhere! Radar didn’t pick it up until it’d fired and launched its craft!” an aide answered, eyes slaved to the monitors feeding him information from the battlefield.

“Which one? The Goddesses? The Discord?”

“No sir. It’s the Double Rainboom.”

For a long, agonizing moment, Spike’s aides saw, felt, their commander turning completely red with rage. For a tortuous second, they even feared he would burn them all alive. Instead, he just let out a roar.

“THAT RAINBOW-MANED BITCH! GET ME ZEEK ON THE HORN! NOW!”
_______

“Yes sir. Yes. Consider it done, Brigadi-”

“Belay that order, my dear colonel.” another voice cut over the comm.

“My lord…?” Zeek asked as the face of the Messiah popped up on the screen next to Spike’s.

“There’s no reason to let GDI know that our stealth tank technology exists just yet. Have your tanks shut down their Lazarus shields outside GDI sensor range, and then engage in a covering action. They’ll think that your forces are just a dedicated anti-air tank, not a stealth weapon.

“It will be done, sir. In your name.”

“Good luck, and good work.” Kane told the elder stallion before cutting all the feeds, leaving Spike with just a black screen and his thoughts.
_______

As the feed cut out, Spike growled and smashed the screen in front of him with a swift punch. Before the war had started, he would have been hard-pressed to even dent the tempered glass that made tactical screens so durable. However, ever since Twilight Sparkle started needing to test the effects of tiberium on dragons and he had volunteered, his physique had gone through a drastic change.

Nearly 8 years ago Spike had an issue with “Greed Growth”, first making him twice as tall as any pony while still keeping his ‘cute’ proportions. The result had been him looking much like a lanky teenager before the growth got out of control and he went on a rampage. This new form of growth, however, was much more refined. His chest was broader, his neck not nearly as long as his former ‘teenage’ self. His arms and legs actually had muscle to them courtesy of the tiberium treatments and the way dragon biology reacts to crystalline structures, and his claws were now deadly weapons of war that he had yet to truly test in the field. He still had not developed wings yet but the spines on his back had grown significantly to match his new height. While he was still growing, and he probably always would now for all he knew with how tiberium evolved on its own, he was more than happy to be a good head taller than the average pony.

His uniform was one of Rarity’s creations; a closed jacket in Nod’s colors that had protective spells should a GDI mage try and send a curse at him and the decorative rank of a Brigadier General along the shoulders. His pants were equally protected from magic and he had long appreciated the fact that he now had pockets that didn’t rely on him stuffing things in the gaps between scales. The practice may have been pain free back when he was younger, but as he grew and his scales got significantly denser, it was now very uncomfortable to do with anything larger than a key card. At his request, his feet were left uncovered. There was no reason to hide his talons whether they be on his hands or feet and if he got into an untenable situation, he didn’t want to have to ruin boots just to attack with his full arsenal.

“I trust you understand exactly why I took personal control of the situation, Spike.” Kane mused

“Yes, I was able to figure it out after you explained it in front of me.” Spike muttered with a huff that caused him to snort out a puff of smoke.

“Well, we couldn’t have GDI learning of our stealth tech during an operation that was only supposed to be a distraction.”

“WHAT!?”
__________

Twilight Sparkle was nearby, preparing a carryall to take Spike to General Rarity’s latest victory when she heard her former assistant arguing with a floating holographic Kane that was being emitted from a crystal on Spike’s wrist. She didn’t bother even trying to stop Spike from acting a little more respectful and simply sat back, starting to enjoy the show as he walked aboard.

“You mean to tell me that that entire brigade was just a diversion!? My troopers, my soldiers and pilots, all those units under my care were just a distraction to keep Rainbow Dash busy!?”

“That unit was not just a distraction, dear Brigadier.” Kane’s hologram replied as the Carryall shot into the air, “You needed to learn an important lesson, one that every military commander must learn if he is to be effective in the long run.”

“And what might that be…?” the drake murmured with a scowl.

“Defeat, Spike. Until today, you’ve had a spotless battle record. Your commanders have always brought you victory on the field, but today was different even if it was somewhat staged and relied partially on GDI being predictable. You’re having your confidence tested, and your ego deflated before it gets dangerously big.”

“Why do I need to have my confidence ‘tested’!? My spotless record gave troops a morale boost! Any time I command a battle personally, militia work as devoutly as Black Hand Vanguards, now word will spread that the ‘Invincible Slavik’ is no longer invincible.”

“This is exactly why, Spike. You’re taking this loss horribly. Imagine what would happen if this had happened during a critical point in the war instead of a lull in the fighting? The only two major engagements happening this entire month were your battle, and General Rarity routing Prince Blueblood’s armored division.”

“Well at least she finally got some payback for that dance all those years ago…” Twilight muttered with a tinge of amusement, only to receive a piercing glare from her former Number One Assistant.

“I would have liked to know from the beginning that at least that my troops were to be a distraction for Rarity’s force. Then I could have prepared for when the Double Rainboom showed up. Derpy barely got 6 of our choppers out of there alive and we suffered 60% casualties on the front once Havoc got involved.” Spike growled.

“Flash Sentry was there?” Twilight asked, “I thought his commando unit was busy running counter-intel ops near our false compound at Appleloosa.”

“I may or may not have found a way to sneak it to GDI that a major offensive was on the way and needed their assistance, thus making sure that the full ‘might’ of GDI was bearing down on Spike, and away from Rarity’s battlefield. It worked, obviously, but now we have a sulking dragon to deal with. Twilight, please get him in fighting shape by the time you land, he’s needed in top condition for when he links up with Rarity’s forces.”

“Of course, Kane.” she said with a friendly nod.

“In the Name of Luna, sister.”

“In the Name of Luna, brother.” the former Princess of Friendship smiled before looking back at Spike.

“He used me.”

“He taught you, Spike. If he had used you, he would have let that your entire brigade get killed and GDI would be marching towards another phase line. Instead, he used a tactical move to ensure that Rarity’s forces wouldn’t get wiped out facing one of GDI’s heavy hitting units… even if it was in command of the most incompetent stallion in Equestria.” Twilight told the young dragon.

“So I’m just supposed to suck it up in the next 2 hours and pretend like I didn’t just get my record marked red with a few hundred dead Nod troops… I know that no commander will ever have a casualty-free battle, but it’s… it’s hard to deal with when you know they died just to buy someone else some time, that they were never supposed to even win.”

“I’ll admit, the decision wasn’t carried out the way I would have done so, but it was in Nod’s best interest as a whole. And you did need to… well, lose, at least once before continuing on. Smooth seas never did make a skilled sailor, after all.”

“War is never a smooth sea, Twilight.” Spike retorted, “I’ve had more than my fair share of ‘stormy weather’ these past few months. Look at the Second Battle of the Crystal Kingdom! My Colonels barely kept that line solid once I got involved.”

“Then take these lessons to heart, Spike. We’re not asking to you forgive and forget, we just want you to learn and move on.”

“It’s going to be a long time before I fully trust Kane again, Twilight…”

“Understandable, but would a heart-felt thank you from Rarity make this blow a little less harsh?” the purple alicorn asked, causing the like-colored dragon to perk up a little bit.

“Maybe.”
________

As the carryall approached the battlefield, Spike ordered the side doors open and took in the view. ‘Hydra’ class surface-to-surface missile launchers were laying down suppressing fire on what few GDI ponies were able to retreat while the occasional detonation of a Predator’s engine or ammunition magazines cooking off dotted the massive battlefield. From what Spike had learned, Rarity’s 3rd Special Operations Division had met Prince Blueblood’s 1st Armored Division in open field. If the 1st Armored had been under the command of literally any other GDI commander, they would have at least held the line against Rarity’s forces. Instead, the GDI division had suffered 95% casualties with nearly a 90% fatality rate.

Spike let a slight grin play across his muzzle as the Hydras fired again, catching one of the few remaining Predators in the open. The tank took two missiles to the turret, popping it off and causing the chassis to detonate as the turret went flying. Halfway across the battlefield, an attack VTOL, one of the prototype ‘Venoms’, strafed a routing squad of ponies. About 10 minutes later, Spike gave Twilight a respectful nod and stepped off the transport. He smiled a little more as he felt the dirt between his claws, the heavy smell of carbon in the air and the familiar, comforting smell of smoke. To most that scent would be hard to deal with, but when you happen to breathe fire, it’s like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t until a voice that Spike dreamt about on a regular basis called to him that he was broken from his train of thought.

“Spike? Is… is that you…?” Rarity asked as she and her personal guard walked over. He turned to smile at her and gave a short bow towards the uniformed mare.

“That it is, m’lady… Twilight’s tiberium research has yielded some… unexpected results in me.” Spike replied, gesturing to himself.

“I… can see that, darling… you’re… you’re growing up.” the white mare muttered, with a tinge of something in her tone that Spike swore was pride.

“In more ways than one, my dear Rarity.” he retorted playfully while tapping his temple. “I see you had a resounding success here against General Blueblood.”

“I’d hardly call this a success. He overrode the orders of his colonels no less than 20 times during the battle. By the time they all received solid orders, my forces were already routing them… you no doubt saw my hoofwork on the flight here, yes?”

“The after-action report said 20,000 dead, captured, or wounded, but seeing it in person tells so much more than a scroll ever could… especially with that display from the Hydras on the way in. Did you kill Blueblood too?”

“I was ordered to take him prisoner for now, Kane believed that after you found out that he used your current unit as bait for Rainbow Dash you’d want a little present to make up for it.” Rarity told them as they started towards her field command tent. Once inside, Spike noted with a feral grin that the unit flag of GDIs 1st Armored Division was hanging behind Rarity’s desk which was practically covered in various trinkets and trophies taken from the battle.

A piece of Predator tank armor that he assumed Rarity would run tests on later, a helmet from a GDI heavy trooper that had a single, precision hole burned through the center of the visor, and of course, Prince Blueblood’s armored chest plate. The plate was the standard ‘decorative’ flak that all GDI officers wore into the field, complete with enough ribbons and medals that Spike knew the pompous brat didn’t rate.

“I thought you fought Prince Blueblood, not Generalissimo Sangre Azul, Rarity.”

“My thoughts exactly, darling.” the unicorn quipped as she gestured to the most important part of the tent, a large screen hooked up to the mother of all communications arrays. With that put together, Rarity could get any signal anywhere with little to zero time lag and view it in crystal clear quality. If Spike was still his old self, he would’ve swooned at the thought of watching hoofball on that.

“The screen? What’s so important about it…? Well, besides the obvious tactical benefits.”

“Not the screen, darling. What’s on the screen.” Rarity told him before she willed the screen on with her magic. It flickered to life and in amazing quality, Spike saw a bruised and bound Prince Blueblood strapped to a medical table. His uniform, or at least what parts of it weren’t currently being held as a trophy, were in tatters and his flank was already badly cut.

“Am I just watching or will I be allowed to make him pay for the Gala all those years ago?” Spike growled. His spines were already flared a little bit as well before he felt a hoof brush under his jaw.

“Spikey Wikey… you’re going to help me break him, and after we break him, I want you to show me just how powerful your dragonfire is. After all, I wouldn’t dream of denying you something we both want.” the white mare whispered, as she moved her mane to the side. The gesture was something that she only did in front of friends or by accident given the condition of her face, and even then she rarely did so.

“You know you were beautiful regardless of crystal infection, but when you talk like that…”

“Yes...?” she asked with a hint of a smirk on her muzzle.

“You’re drop-dead gorgeous when you’re in your vendetta mood, m’lady.” Spike told her, gently brushing a claw across the infected side of her face gingerly before looking to the screen again. “So where is he being held?”

“Medical tent A-4. We were expecting many more casualties on our part and set up too many aid stations, so he’s being held in there.”

“Shall we?” the young drake asked with his most alluring tone. His reply was a gentle kiss before the mare of his dreams put her mane back in place and sauntered out of her command tent. General Spike “Slavik” The Dragon of Nod followed alongside her ever faithfully.

Unrivaled

View Online

Chapter VII - Unrivaled

General Ironsides kept muttering various curses under his breath as he looked from screen to screen in his command center aboard ZOCOM HQ. Ever since the war had started, he had relocated from Canterlot proper and with what he was seeing, his caution was well-founded. Prince Blueblood was MIA, most likely KIA, and all of 400 survivors of the 1st Armored Division had barely made it back to GDI lines, with maybe a dozen having survived unscathed. Each camera feed and piece of combat camera footage spelled out the same story; Blueblood should never have gotten General Steam’s division and he should have never taken the bait Rarity set for him.

“Over twenty thousand…” the old stallion muttered with a tired sigh, “Stupid bucking glory hog.”

“General, new estimates just came in. Filtering to non-essential terminals.” a synthetic mare voice chimed in.

“Thank yo-” Ironsides began before he realized he was about to thank an AI. With Nod targeting high-ranking GDI officers whenever and wherever possible, GDI had to come up with a new way to make sure that data could be transferred between commanders, GDI HQ, and even top staff NCOs in the event of an assassination or battlefield casualty. Their answer was the Ethereal Vision Agent, or EVA, a magical AI construct that worked mostly on enchanted crystals like most of GDI’s gear. While Nod had cornered the market on technological advancement because of how few unicorns were part of Nod, GDI focused on magical prowess in almost every aspect of their military because of the overabundance of them. This had led to them considering themselves something of a “higher class”.

“New data inbound, General.” his EVA stated. “Video log transmitted from Brotherhood territory today at 1000.”

“Brotherhood? What’s o-just show it to me, EVA.” the stallion ordered. His reply came in the form of Prince Blueblood appearing on his main screen. He was bloodied, beaten, and bound on a medical table facing the camera. Behind him were the tattered unit colors of GDIs 1st Armored Division strung up between the flag of Nod, and the flag of Rarity’s 3rd Special Operations Division. Rarity herself stood on the beaten prince’s right, with a dragon that Ironsides didn’t recognize on the left.

“Greetings citizens of Nod!” the white mare announced, putting on her best fairground ringleader’s voice. “Today we bring you a GDI general brought low by yours truly, and as a gift from Kane himself, you all get to watch him die!”
_________

Ironsides eventually found out that the broadcast was shown all over Nod territory and only censored on public screens. If a Nod citizen was watching it on a television, then Spike burning Blueblood to a crisp with his dragonfire was completely uncensored. The General was used to gore; he had fought in plenty of skirmishes with the griffons and changelings over his many years in the guard, but seeing a member of the royal family turned into a charred skeleton over the course of a few seconds was hard for even him to watch.

The sound was no better. He wasn’t sure how Nod had done it, but they’d managed to capture the sickening -sounds- associated with the act, as well--the popping of blistering flesh, Blueblood’s screams--even the ragged breaths he’d tried to take after he ran out of breath and inhaled the searing air before the flame had abated. Those had been the worst. He’d never heard such a sound before, and prayed to whatever was listening that he never would again. It wasn’t even a death-gurgle so much as it sounded like someone boiling a can of baked beans after cutting a hole in the top.

The only solace Ironsides took from the whole display was that Spike’s fire was so fierce that it made it impossible to see what had happened, only its brutal aftermath.

“EVA, have the Princesses seen this footage?”

“Negative, sir. Would you like me to alert them?”

“No… no, not yet. Celestia would be in hysterics without me to help… buffer the blow, as it were. Where are they right now?”

“Princess Celestia is currently aboard ZOCOM HQ on a security inspection. Princess Luna is with her.” EVA replied as the general bolted from his chair and out the door.

“Send a message to each of them to meet me in the general briefing room please, and make the subject ‘We Found Blueblood’. I’d rather contain Celestia’s inevitable breakdown to someplace that’s easy to clean up, rather than my office or an unsecured hallway.” he muttered, continuing his walk to trot through the halls.

It is said that in the history of Equestria, the sun has only gone dim on a few occasions, specifically when the heart of the alicorn who is bound to it by ancient magics is hurting. The first recorded instance was immediately following the Nightmare Moon Incident over a thousand years ago. The second instance was after Appleloosa became a tiberium crater. Today, the third instance happened as the sun lost some of its luster and the Princess of the Sun could not hold back the tears. Many in the castle heard her cry, and as the news was broken to the rest of GDI proper, the rest of the country joined in mourning a life cut short along with 22,255 others in one stallion’s pursuit of glory and victory.

One elder, however, did not mourn. He was just happy that Blueblood was no longer suffering and that he hadn’t entrusted any intel with him that had any possibility of being remotely important. He quietly took a long, slow walk back to his office and did his best to ignore how the sun was dulled, hoping that he wouldn’t receive any more bad news today. With a resigned sigh, he practically fell back into his chair once he had reached his office and picked up the report that Prince Blueblood’s murder had interrupted.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SWEETIE BELLE ESCAPED!?”
_________

10 Hours Prior to the “Blueblood Broadcast”

It had been a little over 7 months since the war had unofficially started with the first Nod ambush of a GDI convoy. Much had changed since that fateful day; few ponies smiled much anymore, many others were dead either due to the war or because of Tiberium, and it seemed as if much of the world was being split up, not only into Nod and GDI territories but by the Blue, Yellow, and Red Zones as well. For one pony however, there were only three changes that truly mattered.

The first was the heavy militarization of her home, Ponyville, which culminated with the finishing of the construction of the Blue Zone Wall which surrounded much of it and the farmlands it depended on. The second was the schism within her own family; her older sister had gone over to Nod before the war had even begun, effectively turning her into the “enemy” as far as GDI was concerned. And the third was a direct result of the second. In a Blue Zone filled to the brim with MPs and a hefty military garrison, Sweetie Belle’s house was receiving special attention, becoming one of the better guarded civilian buildings in Ponyville next to the Town Hall itself. After the tragic accident that befell Rarity’s boutique where she used to live, having gone up in flames along with a number of secret blueprints GDI had tried to get their hooves on, GDI Intelligence wasn’t willing to take any chances with her. Given that their currently unsavory PR wouldn’t allow them to just get rid of her however, she was put under house arrest along with her parents.

Looking out her room’s window on the second floor, Sweetie couldn’t help but feel… lonely. Her friends had volunteered to become cogs in GDI’s war machine, Scootaloo having joined the air force while Apple Bloom joined the army. She hadn’t heard from either of them in months, making her worried and, deep down, somewhat guilty. And Rarity… well there wasn’t much of a chance she’d be seeing her older sister any time soon. With a sigh, Sweetie went back to practice sewing. With some luck, she would have a nice dress ready for Rarity if - when - they saw each other again.
_________

In everyday life, both as industrial tools and objects to either draw attention to a certain part during a presentation or just to dick around with cats, lasers aren’t really visible. The beam’s end point can be seen, sure, but the beam itself can’t. In the case of Nod’s laser weaponry however, the beam superheats the air it goes through, creating a bright red stream of plasma that last for merely a nanosecond, long enough to catch the attention of anyone with functioning Mk. I Eyeballs due to its sheer brightness.

As Corporal August Turf found out the moment his skull was flash-fried by a laser while on post though, even in the dead of the night, that flash of light could be hidden by the cover of a watchtower’s floodlights.

“Target’s down, Boss. You’re clear to move.”

From the shadows around Wall Outpost 13, three figures moved in without fear of being lit up by a lucky guard on a tower. From a distance it was impossible to tell anything was going on as its occupants were eliminated with expediency and efficiency.

“Outpost is clear, Boss. The scanner is coming up clean.”

“Good. Fixer, get on the console and disable the perimeter alarms.”

Inside the outpost’s main building the lights flickered intermittently, briefly revealing the 3 figures currently waiting there. All three of them were clearly ponies, wearing a heavier-looking version of the Shadow suits worn by Nod’s infamous operatives. Instead of the Lazarus Cloak common amongst them, their jet-black suits were heavily armored and covered with storage packs. To the untrained eye, or someone who couldn’t really differentiate between Nod’s armor types, they might as well have been Black Hand troopers. Two of them, a small buffalo with a laser rifle and a unicorn with a grenade launcher on his back, covered the doors while a second unicorn interfaced with a console.

“Alarms are down, Boss. And I managed to hook up a feedback loop on their radars. They’ll be seeing data 3 hours old by the time they figure out something’s up.” said Fixer, disconnecting himself from the console.

“We won’t be here that long, but I’ll let Sev know he can fly in low. They sent their routine call right before attacked, which means we’ve got an hour to pull off phase 2 of this operation before our cover is blown.” said Boss, reaching for her helmet’s earpiece. Before actually contacting their team’s sniper however, she looked at the unicorn with the grenade launcher. “Scorch, start setting up the bombs. Fixer, set the message to play seconds after the bombs go off.”
_________

It didn’t take long for Sev to meet up with the rest of the squad. After all, a pegasus’ flight speed was significantly faster than any pony’s running speed. He landed atop the southwest side of the Blue Zone Wall which surrounded Ponyville, in between two of GDI’s automated turrets, made docile by Fixer’s technical wizardry. Waiting there were Boss, surveying a map of the Ponyville Blue Zone, and Fixer, messing with the electronics of one of the turrets

“Well Boss, that was the easy part. What now?” asked Sev, his laser sniper rifle currently retracted into its compact form. Boss’ attention remained on the map.

“Intel says the General’s house burned down a few weeks after the war started. They want us to make sure nothing remains of the schematics the General was working on back then and, if possible, secure whatever survived. After that we’ll head here, this house by the lake, where the VIP is being held. Sev, you and I will head the ruins while Fixer and Scorch finish setting up our little surprise. Once we’re done, they’ll spring the trap and join us in securing the VIP.”

Finding the scorched ruins of Rarity’s boutique wasn’t particularly difficult. Ponyville had been and remained a rural town, with the boutique being located at a midway point between the crowded town’s center and the open outskirts. It had grown quite a bit in the last couple years, what with the new Princess to cozy up to living there and the exodus from Yellow and Red zones driving masses of ponies from their homes once tiberium infested the planet. The area around the ruins remained rather open and, given the lack of anything particularly important there, rather unguarded. It took Boss and Sev approximately half an hour to get there while avoiding GDI patrols. Sev set up a sniper’s nest atop of a building, making use of Ponyville’s rustic architecture to conceal himself. Meanwhile, Boss approached the scorched building.

Having been made of wood, the boutique hadn’t had much of a chance to begin when the fire broke out. As it was, the second floor had collapsed and been consumed by the flames. However, given how large portions of the burned ruins had been cleared out it definitely looked like GDI had dug around looking for something. The Nod operative had one advantage over GDI’s search teams, however. She knew exactly where to look.

“Sev, I’m accessing the basement. Keep me informed of anything going on up here.”

“Will do Boss.”

The basement entrance remained uncovered. After all, it wasn’t as if there were any doors to keep it closed and GDI had definitely scoured it fully when searching through the ruins. Given the burn marks all over, it was obvious that this was where the fire had originated. Wasting no time, Boss walked to where the safe was located, right under a number of fake ceramic floor tiles. Removing the tiles, he found the small safe door, a number pad requesting an access code. Inputting the code he’d been provided, the undamaged and untampered safe opened up, granting access to its contents. The fact that there were none made Boss’ heart stop for a second.

“Listen up squad, I’ve bad news; looks like GDI beat us to the General’s project stash. However, the situation remains the same. We’re to secure the VIP and leg it back to friendly lines, then inform command of what’s happened here. Scorch, Fixer, please let GDI know we’re here.” Boss said over the radio. Both she and Sev then proceeded to move out as explosions went off in the distance.
_________

“-WE’RE NOT GONNA HOLD ON MUCH LONGER!”

“Private, calm down and explain what’s going on.” said the major, receiving reports of explosions outside the wall around the area of Outpost 15.

“THEY’VE GOT BUCKING URSAS ROLLING UP! BY CELESTIA, SEND HEL-” the transmission cut off all of a sudden, coinciding with another explosion outside the wall.

“EVA, what are we looking at out there?” asked the Major, not looking forward to the answer.

“Perimeter turrets report the presence of a battalion-strength mechanized force. They are prioritizing Nod armored units. Sensors are picking up infantry close to the wall along with structural damage as a result of explosions.” said the AI in her characteristic artificial, monotone voice.

“Any air support?”

“Negative. Radar is not detecting aerial units.” replied EVA.

“EVA, wake up the Colonel and give the order to mobilize. I’ll be taking command of the garrison until the Colonel gets here.”
_________

“ ‘ey Boss, looks like they took the bait. I’m seein’ lotsa movement coming from their bases and towards the gates!” said Scorch, moving on to their rendezvous point. “By the way, Fixer asks when he should be a cheeky bastard.”

On their own end, Boss and Sev were making good time going straight through the town, keeping to the rooftops. With the scare they’d just given whomever was in charge, the MPs were being redeployed into their combat units or being sent to secure something or another. The end result, however, was the same. They cleared the streets and made life easier for both Shadows.

“Tell him that as soon as GDI forces outside are at company strength he can show them the magic of sharing. Once he does, you show them the magic of caring.” Boss replied, turning to Sev as they approached the target area. A wide, open strip of terrain with a small lake was located right at the northwestern outskirts of Ponyville. And at the lake’s shore rested a humble-looking house. Right where the VIP was located.

“I need you to scope out what’s out there. We don’t want to run straight into a platoon if we don’t have to.”

“On it Boss.” answered Sev, taking to the air and making use of his sniper rifle’s thermal scope. “Boss, from the looks of it we’ve got two Timberwolves parked outside and a whole lot of grunts. I count fifteen from here and… you’ve got to be kidding me. There’s a bucking Predator coming around from behind the house.”

“They sent a tank to secure the VIP?!” Boss said, thinking quickly. “Alright. We’ll wait for Fixer and Scorch to get here and then handle this.”
_________

“Major, incoming transmission from Captain Tiara.”

“Patch her through.” she ordered, the captain’s high-pitched voice coming through. “What’s the situation out there Captain?”

“Oh you’re just loving this, aren’t you?” said Captain Diamond Tiara. “Waking us up in the middle of the night? Making us roll out without even a bath? Do you know what my hair looks like right now?! I swear, if you hadn’t used real explosives to convince us that there was something going on-”

“What the buck are you talking about?! Have you engaged the Nod forces assaulting the wall?!” the Major asked, her patience hitting its limit almost immediately.

“Yeah, yeah. ‘Nod forces’. Hardy hardy har. Do not think I’m not going to report this to the Colonel. And I swear Babs, if you EVER do something like this miserable excuse for a drill, I’m going to-”

“TIARA! Have you or have you not engaged the enemy?” asked Major Babs Seed, well beyond irritated at this point. Despite her turnaround years ago, Tiara still had a bad habit of letting her old self take over whenever she didn't get enough sleep.

“No, we haven’t engaged any of your imaginary enemies out here. Now can we go back to sleep now or do I have to get the Colonel to cut your pay?”

Major Seed remained silent for a moment. “EVA, what’s the status of the engagement at the wall?”

“Automated turrets continue to engage Nod armor outside the wall. Please standby… Enemy reinforcements have appeared consisting of motorized infantry and IFVs. Limited armor has arrived as well. Turrets are retargeting.”

It took a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second for Major Seed to comprehend what was going on.

“DIAMOND, GET OUT OF THERE!”

By then it was too late.
_________

Fixer just couldn’t stop giggling madly. It took Scorch popping him in the helmet for the unicorn to recover his senses.

“Heheheheheheheh, sorry about that. GDI’s grunts outside are toast, and the turrets are focusing on those behind the wall now.” said Fixer, rubbing his helmet where an armored hoof had just struck.

“Oh babeh, this is what I live for!” replied Scorch, his hoof coming down on a red button on his suit. In the distance where the sounds of battle were taking place, a massive wave of explosions rocked Ponyville, having originated right under the Ponyville Garrison’s hooves as they marched out into battle. “That there’s one problem fixed.” he said as the two of them met up with Boss.
_________

“Sweetie, get down here this instant! The sergeant says we have to get in the basement right now!” came from downstairs.

“I’ll be there soon, dad! Just give me a second!” Sweetie Belle yelled back. In all truth, she wanted to stay up there and see whatever was going on out there.

“Well hurry up or one of the soldiers is gonna go drag you down here!” her father answered. She knew he wasn’t kidding either. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d have had to push or drag her somewhere she refused to go. This time however, with what was happening outside, she felt something was about to change. Then she saw it. Just for an instant, a red flash of light pierced down from the heavens. Then another. And another. And another. It had taken all of a second for the three red beams to come down. She also recognized what those beams were, having seen them in the news before.

“Brotherhood…” she said under her breath and immediately went to work. She put a bag over her back and went to her closet. Hidden under random useless things were plastic tubes with blue caps on them, the GDI logo plastered at the top. Sticking all of them in her bag, she ran downstairs towards the back door, where the laser beams had struck. Outside, the smell of charred flesh hit her like a truck to her olfactory system. Taking a second to pull herself together, she went around the house trying to find where the Brotherhood soldiers were. As she came around to the front, it was as if the world slowed down. An armored Nod soldier lay atop one of the GDI guards, having crushed the mare’s skull with an armored hoof. Twisting around, he was aiming his weapon at the two guards at the door but they already had theirs trained on him.

“No!” she thought she screamed, but she felt more than heard herself as her magical aura enveloped the heads of both GDI troopers. With a single, sharp movement, she willed their heads to turn towards her faster than they could react. With a sickening crack both guards fell to the ground dead, their necks irreversibly broken.
_________

“Boss, I’ve got her in my crosshairs and the stun setting ready. Just say the word.”

“Hold you fire, Sev.” Boss said over the radio. She immediately recognized the VIP, but had to make sure. “Are you-” she started before she heard an older mare shriek.

“Sweetie Belle!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Cookie Crumbles screeched. Her father was right next to Sweetie’s mother and shared her horrified expression.

“Yeah, it’s her.” Boss muttered to herself, “Sweetie Belle, General Rarity sent us to rescue you. Please come with me.”

Taking a second to stare back at her parents, Sweetie Belle walked towards Boss’ side. “I’m sorry mom, dad, but I need to help Rarity.” she said, nodding at Boss. Nodding in return, Boss gave the order to pull out, running away with the General’s sister in tow. Behind them she could hear the wail of a mother’s cries and the echo of a father calling for his daughter, but Boss honestly didn’t care.

GDI had already taken away her father, and the father of her child.

Usually when a Shadow Team worked on getting out of an area undetected, it took them about 5 minutes give or take. With a VIP that had no stealth training, that time quadrupled. Nevertheless, they managed to get over the walls undetected and back to the pickup zone within the hour. Once aboard their cloaked carryall, Boss removed her helmet and gave Sweetie Belle a gentle smile.

“Little Strongheart?” the young unicorn murmured in disbelief.

“The very same, dear friend.” the diminutive buffalo replied, “Fixer, call it in to General Rarity; Sweetie Belle is secured but all plans might be in GDI custody.”

“No they aren’t!” Sweetie interrupted, “I have them right here! I made copies and burned them when I burned the basement… though… well… I wasn’t able to get in there right away after sister disappeared. They shouldn’t have copies of their own, but I tried to make sure they didn’t. At least they don’t have the originals, right?”

Little Strongheart quirked an eyebrow up as Sweetie Belle produced several schematics from her bag and skimmed what she could before Fixer interrupted her again.

“Boss, I got the General on the comm. What should I say?” the gearhead of a unicorn asked. Boss mulled over her thoughts for a few seconds before grinning first at Sweetie Belle, then to her team and then back to the young unicorn standing in front of her.

“All mission parameters met.”
_________

2 Months Later

“Your brother said something about a new heavy tank in the works for today’s demonstration, Colonel.”

“He’s right, sir. We’ve got a nice new toy for the 2nd Armored to try out if ya put your stamp of approval on this project.” the orange mare replied as she handed him a data crystal. Once in the older pony’s magical grasp, it came to life, showing him schematics for what could only be described as a house-sized mass of “BUCK YOU”.

“Mammoth program, eh? I’ve got to hand it to you Colonel, this is truly a marvel your R&D department has pumped out for us. I can’t wait to see the live-fire test today.” General Ironsides said with the first genuine smile he’d had since the war started.

“Why thank’ya kindly, sir, but I can’t take all the credit. Mac was the one who developed the original idea way back before the first shutdown of the armored programs. Ah’m just glad we managed to get things back up’n runnin’.” Applejack replied with a small tip of her hat.

“You and me both… you and me both…. now then, shall we?”

“Of course, if’n you’ll just follow me real quick…”

After being ushered into a somewhat smaller bay facing out onto a compact laboratory that had been so packed with wires, screens, technical readouts he could only pretend to understand, and other odds and ends did the thing actually become visible. It was situated in the middle of the room, and looked like a great, steel tuning fork. All of the wires in the room led to the thing, but half of them seemed to be plugged directly into the wall, as well.

“Watch your step, General, some of those wires are uncovered.” A female voice came from somewhere in the room, though he couldn’t see where.

“And I thought Celestia’s office was cluttered...’”He picked his hooves around them as carefully as he could, working his way toward the small alcove the voice seemed to be issuing from.

“Is it? Just look for the big yellow bits of tape that aren’t covering the wires as best as they could. Electrical tape isn’t really a bother for me since I can just walk over a shield, and the ones working the factory probably need it more.”

There were a few noises from the other side of the weapon. Its casing was a simple brushed steel at the moment, but there seemed to be patches of paint on a few of its surfaces, as though the mare working on it was trying to decide how she wanted it to look. Splotches of brass, silver, white, black, and even a bright green paint were spaced somewhat evenly around the thing, testing the colors’ resilience to whatever they were going to be put through.

“I’m willing to bet that Apple told you about what I’m working on?’ her voice asked, a long, braided black-and-yellow tail dancing about from underneath the meat of the thing. “It’s going to be amazing when it’s finally ready for production. I can tell you that much. Pushes metal at speeds we can’t even measure yet. Least, that’s the, uh… theory. Dr. Mal Practice, by the way. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person, General.”

The tail stopped its mad flickering about, and a single hoof reached out, pushing the mare from the hollow in the weapon. She took a moment to get situated, but stood and smiled delightedly at the General, her coal-colored pelt coated in grease and sweat, matted down in places by how long she’d been under the weapon.

“A pleasure… though as much as I enjoy talking magical or tactical theory from time to time, when it comes to our weapons research, I need tangible results.” the elder stallion deadpanned.

“Well that’s why you’re here, right? I’m just getting these last touches on it before the field test so that my little lady doesn’t completely drain all the power from the facility and cause a base-wide blackout like the last...” she seems to tick off numbers for a moment. “Six times I’ve tried to charge it.”

She stumbled around the room for a moment, and the stallion realized she was missing most of one leg. “Got most everything hooked up now, I just need a moment to try and find a, uh… proper projectile. I’m sure we could test-fire it without one, but I’d rather have the thing there if we needed it.”

“Considerin’ what we’d like to put this on first, how’s a one-twenny mike mike sound, doctor?” Applejack asked with a grin.

“... an explosive?” The mare seemed to consider for a moment. “I… maybe. We’re all going to be behind a blast shield in case it decides it doesn’t want to fire, right?”

“Aren’t blast shields mandatory at any ordinance live-fire test…?” Ironsides asked with an eyebrow raised, “Oh my Celestia, we hired the one mad scientist that Nod didn’t catch.”

“Oh, right. Yes, of course they are.” The mare seemed to blush for a moment as she continued putting the finishing touches on the weapon. “I’m only really worried about it because of the explosive. Long as that doesn’t go off, we should be fine, unless I put one of the capacitor gems in wrong. If that happened, we’ll have to start the build over, and re-work all the wiring. Shouldn’t be too bad, though, we’ve done it once already.”

A slightly mad grin settled on her face as she moved to clap her forehooves together--and stopped, huffing once she remembered that she was missing one and set the one that was there on the ground. “I’m so excited my baby’s finally going to get to DO something. We’re putting her on the thing they’re working on in the factory, right?’

“Eventually, hopefully. But if power sources are going to be a problem, we may have to reserve this tech for defensive emplacements.”

“That would be a terrible waste of mare-hours. You have to put her on that behemoth, or she’ll never get to be the prettiest pony at the Gala.” The mare seemed almost hurt at that point, but continued around the room. Her horn ignited, and she flipped a switch from across the weapon, turning around to glance at the readouts she had nearby. “Good, good, go--no, that’s not right, but it’s close enough, good, good…” She smiled at Ironsides. “She’s ready. Just have my assistants move her to the firing range and bring whatever you want to see her chuck downrange.”
________

Applejack and the General were led outside once Mal had her aides begin moving the massive prototype out of the lab. Once the two officers were out and onto the Manehatten Weapons Testing Facility, Ironsides heard and felt the approach of a moving building.

The four-treaded vehicle lumbering towards them was impossibly large, its treads themselves were twice the height of General Ironsides, the turret alone looked like it was the same mass as a Predator tank, and the rocket pods on either side of the turret had looked like they held enough ordinance to wipe out an entire squadron of Nod helicopters.

“General, I’d like to introduce you to the Mammoth Mk. I Heavy Tank. She’s outfitted with two 120mm cannons, double missile racks that can take out infantry or aircraft, and armor so tough that even a dragon can’t tear into it.”

“That remains to be seen, though I won’t mind seeing her weapons get a proper show.”

“Well ah can promise, you’re gonna enjoy what she has to offer. Got your headphones, General?”

“Way ahead of you, Applejack.” he replied with a slight smirk as he willed the plugs into his ears. Applejack donned her tanker helmet and said something into the mic that Ironsides couldn’t hear, but he didn’t need to in order to know what she had just ordered.

The Mammoth tank was roughly 100 meters away from General Ironsides when it began to turn to face the practice target down-range headon. The target was a full kilometer away at the foot of a ponymade berm topped off by a magical shield in order to keep debris and shrapnel from raining all over the countryside. When the Mammoth fired both cannons in rapid succession, the General was staggered by the overpressure created. When the rounds hit a Predator tank that was beyond repair, the tank ceased to exist.

“Sweet Celestia’s left cutie mark!” Ironsides exclaimed as he shook his head clear from the pressure created by the tank firing. Though only half of his words were even audible over the noise as the Mammoth fired her missile pods. One missile each from the two pods rocketed down the firing range and what little debris was left of the tank in the two craters that had been made was enveloped in another fantastic explosion.

“New weapons designs, sir.” Applejack said as Ironsides removed his earplugs, “Unicorns down in Arr n’ Dee managed to work their mumbo jumbo into crystal triggers. Magical explosives punch a helluva bigger hole in armor than regular ones!”

“I can see that. How about the railgun?”

“Don’t you worry your silly, handsome old head about that,” Mal interjected, nearly making the old stallion jump. In any other circumstance he would have wondered just how she had snuck up on him with only three legs, but then he remembered that his ears were still ringing a little from the weapons test he had just seen.

“Worrying is part of my job description, doctor… now, where’s the weapon?”

“A safe place, hooked up and charged, and loaded. It’s set and aimed at an extreme-range target, so whatever happens, we should be safe, unless it decides to flout the laws of magic entirely.

“So how do we watch it?” Applejack asked.

“That’s what these are for,” the doctor told her. She brought a collection of crystals out of her saddlebag and tossed them onto the ground. One they hit the dirt she willed them to life, showing multiple views of a testing bunker and the railgun prototype on its mount. With no warning from the good, and most likely insane, doctor, the prototype began charging up. The massive crystal batteries charged the two parallel coils to the point that the unshielded rails were sparking with magical energy. A split-second after Ironsides thought it was close to blowing up, a 120mm shell was shot down range so fast that it left a vapor trail visible clear from three kilometers away. Before either of the ponies watching could track, the bunker it was trained on disappeared in a cloud of destruction. Once the fog dissipated, the armored practice bunker that a Predator tank had only been able to damage, was now nothing more than a crater in the dirt.

“Sweet Mother Faust….” Applejack murmured. “Doctor, how hard…?”

“How hard did it hit? Hard. Harder than anything we’ve tested before, which makes me think somewhere in the 80-megajoule range. Isn’t it great? If we can tune it just right, we’ll hit the whole 80, but… that’ll strain the capacitor gems too much over the long term. We’ll probably have to end up settling for 75 or so with the prototype and first-gen models.”

“75 what-now?” Applejack asked.

“Megajoules. How we measure explosive force.” Mal sounded like she was explaining something simple to a foal. “Just one is like taking one ton of metal and accelerating it to 160 kilometers per hour, and then seeing it hit a wall. Take that, multiply it by 75 times, and you have roughly what we’ll be shooting at Nod’s troopers; preferably a dragon’s face.”

“Woah mamma….” the orange mare whispered with her eyes wide before words from her superior snapped her out of it.

“Well now….” Ironsides muttered at the sheer destruction he had just witnessed, “With gear like this, we may actually pull this war out of the gutter.”

“We can only hope, General. I just can’t wait to get mah hooves on one’o them Mammoths once production starts… hey Doc, how long until we can get them fancy railguns on the tanks, anyways?”

“Well, we could start the integration process immediately, but every shot would render the tank immobile for a minute or two. I’m talking totally draining the spark batteries, to the point it’d have to be restarted manually by every unicorn on the crew. So, the answer you’re probably looking for is ‘in a month or two, because we need to figure out how to make it not do that’. Now I know it works this well, I’ll be putting all of my efforts into it, so you don’t have to worry about it at all. You’ll have the best firepower in the Equestrian theater as soon as I can.”

“Get it done, Doctor. The faster we get Mammoths--specifically railgun equipped Mammoths--to the front lines, the sooner we can hold onto the fronts opened up by the Black Hand and their damnable dragon allies.”

“And once we start holding those fronts…” Applejack added with a slight grin.

“The sooner we push the Brotherhood right back to Mareajevo and bury Kane’s ‘temple’ on top of his corpse.”

Petrova

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Chapter VIII - Petrova

“Greetings, Children of Nod. Today we celebrate the start of our struggle. Today, we celebrate the anniversary of what GDI’s armchair generals call the start of the Tiberium War. The day when we openly struck out at our oppressors without fear. That day, we arose from their dream and freed ourselves from the shackles of tyranny. On that day our Brotherhood was carved in blood and righteous flame onto the very crowns that Celestia and Luna lord over you. On that day we started a revolution in ideology. We showed the world that we can live with Tiberium, and that the eradication of those affected by it is the will of a tyrant. Take heart my Children, my Sisters, my Brothers. Take heart and know that we will not rest…. I will not rest, until we are free and we all find salvation through the truth that is Tiberium.”

- First Year Anniversary Speech - Kane
____________

“You can’t be serious.” The Changeling Queen’s voice was as tinny as ever, buzzing with the vibrato that her species was known for. “We’ve been waiting for thirty minutes already. Why is this… why is Kane making us wait so long?”

“The aides said something about another member of the Council being gone.” came a rough voice in reply. Sitting across from Chrysalis was a monster of a griffon with plumage that rivaled Chrysalis's carapace in how dark it was and vibrant white feathers framing his face. King Steelwing was elected after an incursion into griffon territory by the Elements of Laughter and Loyalty had revived the spirit of a key city. While he hated to say that if it weren’t for them, the entire kingdom may have gone through a depression, he couldn’t deny that without their help, Ancestor’s Peak would have died years before tiberium turned it into a green crystal glacier.

“I was unaware that this triumvirate had a fourth member.” Chrysalis murmured, the annoyance in her tone extremely evident. Her facade of indifference didn’t last, however, as the doors at the rear of the conference room opened suddenly with enough force to cause the Changeling Queen to jump a little. Kane walked through moments later flanked by two Black Hand troopers and took a seat calmly.

“Chrysalis, Steelwing, lovely to see you both again. Our newest, yet oldest, member of the council should be arriving any moment.”

“What in Equestria are you talking abo-” Steelwing began before the doors at the front of the conference room slammed open to reveal a large, dark-blue alicorn. Luna’s raiment had never looked quite so menacingly sharp, with dark red edges for her shoulders and anything that connected to them, and a pair of pauldrons that wouldn’t look out of place on one of the old Knights of Equestria had they not been so similar to those worn by the Black Hand. Her usual shoes were replaced by black metal of the same material as her armored and heavily enchanted chestplate. On the heavy piece of armor protecting her chest, the symbol of Nod was heavily embellished and framed with crystalline tiberium wire that helped with the protective wards imbued into it.

“YOU!” Chrysalis hissed as she let loose a bolt of energy that Luna effortlessly deflected. She didn’t need to given how many magical shields her armor had, but better safe than sorry. Chrysalis didn’t get off a second shot though as a team of Shadows deactivated their cloaking shields with weapons aimed directly at the changeling monarch followed shortly by Kane’s Black Hand adding their weapons to the mix.

“Stand down, everyone… no need to do something we’d all regret and harm the Founder of Nod.” Kane said, his calm and knowing tone never faltering despite the chaos that had just broken out. If anything, his attitude seemed to only improve with outburst of everyone present.

“I was under the impression that you and your sister were of the same mind, Princess.” Steelwing said as everyone lowered their weapons and Chrysalis sat back down.

“In public eyes only. GDI needs stability lest the Brotherhood have to fight the mob that would remain if GDI fell and who better to spy on their highest level of military authority than Us?” Luna replied with a sly grin as she sauntered over the the empty seat next to Kane. As she did, Chrysalis got a slight tingling sensation all over.

“Odd, I only get that feeling when feeding on…” she thought before her eyes widened slightly and her gaze shifted to the ponies sitting next to each other at the head of the table. “... well this changes things now doesn’t it?”

“First order of business on the tabl-” Kane started before Chrysalis interrupted him.

“Your relationship with the moon witch next to you. What are you hiding from us?”

“Our personal matters are none of your concern, insect, or do We have to remind you that We see all that those in this realm dream of?”

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with you and Kane, Princess.”

“Should We inform the gathered Council and security about the acts, usually fornication, that you often dream of involving the current defenders of the Crystal Kingdom or can this gathered Council get on to real business?”

Chrysalis’s face went white, Steelwing choked slightly on his water, and almost every member of the security team tried to suppress their laughter. Most failed and let out a chuckle and only the Black Hand stayed completely silent. Kane on the other hand merely smirked at Luna’s smug grin before pressing a small button on table that activated the display mounted in the center. A hologram of the planet lit up and began spinning slowly while smaller, flat maps appeared before the gathered royalty.

On all of the maps, key battlegrounds were highlighted, troop movements were happening in real-time, stationary units were marked, and resource and tiberium harvesting assets were even notated. Once everything was lit up properly, the globe hovering above the table pulsed twice and then zoomed in on a specific segment of the map.

“GDI is pushing on all fronts that we took and has already reclaimed the Fillydelphia Blue Zone. The Equestrian war machine has finally began to charge forward and we’re only able to match them properly in Yellow and Red Zones.” Kane stated, “We attribute this most to air superiority created by the Kodiak and Orca programs that we are still busy infiltrating. Regrettably, they also have railguns despite our efforts to destroy the design schematics created by Rarity before she defected.”

“And how exactly do you plan on fighting back against Mammoths and Kodiaks in open warfare? You can’t have an army the size of Nod’s conduct a guerilla campaign world-wide.” Steelwing replied.

“Can’t we?” Nod’s Messiah asked with another knowing smirk, “All around the planet, our forces have been using the Lazarus Shield to great effect and so far there have been no survivors when they’re used. GDI still doesn’t know that we have Stealth Tanks and if intercepted communications are to be believed, they believe that we’ve started equipping Shadow teams with anti-air weaponry. Our true secret weapon, Princess Twilight Sparkle, has already begun to hand us the key to victory.”

“And that would be…?” Chrysalis asked, her expression having already turned sour at the mention of yet another princess-turned-traitor.

“All warfare is based on deception. We can hold a guerilla campaign much like the Zebras did during your takeover of their territory, Chrysalis... only this time across the entire globe.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re basing your entire war effort on one pony, even if she is Nod’s top scientist.” Steelwing told them.

“She cracked the Tiberium Mutation Gene by herself in one year.” Luna replied, causing Chrysalis’s jaw to drop and Steelwing’s eyes to grow to the size of plates.

“You’re kidding me.” Chrysalis finally spat out, to which Luna simply grinned.

“Princess Twilight, with her own funds and unbeknownst to Celestia or GDI solved the Tiberium Mutation Gene problem by herself. Once I asked her how long she had been working, at the time of her discovery, it had only been a mere nine months. Nine months. She’s responsible for our stealth technology, the EVAs, the mass production of our laser weaponry, and that’s just what she’s been able to do in the year since this war began. That mare is the single greatest weapon we have besides the stealth technology she created.” Kane told them, “Stealth, deception, evasion. Much like how your kin infiltrate a populous, Chrysalis, we shall be invisible to GDI until we want to strike. They may know our borders but after the army-wide refit is complete, they will never know where we are in our own land.”

“At that point, we shall launch a series of surgical strikes.” Luna added, “And once we have proven to GDI just how hopeless the situation is, you all shall join Us in Canterlot where We shall convince Celestia to open up peace talks. We will force her to relinquish control and to accept Nod’s philosophy on tiberium. From there, we can get back to the matter of saving the population of the world from the green crystal through adaptation, not eradication.”

“She’s really that important?” the changeling queen asked.

“Chrysalis, by alienating and losing her ‘most faithful student’, Celestia lost this war before it even began.”
________

“That went better than I expected it would.” said Kane, walking alongside the Princess of the Night down one of the many corridors which formed the maze that was the Temple of Nod.

“Oh? Did you expect something else to happen?” Luna asked.

“As a matter of fact, I thought we would have to carry our dearest Queen out in a wheelbarrow after hitting her with two or three tranqs. Luckily it didn’t come to that. Regardless, we are almost to Twilight Sparkle’s lab, as promised.”

The corridor was as any other corridor within the massive structure, with this particular segment ending in a rather wide elevator with the label “LAB 5” over its exterior blast door.

Walking up to a panel next to the door Kane drew his head in towards the retinal scanner, the doors opening after a short beeping confirmed this was indeed Kane. “After you, Princess.” he said with a swift leg motion towards the door.

The ride down to the underground laboratory was uneventful, if somewhat lengthy. The speed of their descent wasn’t particularly fast, yet not slow enough so as to make it take an excessively long time. This combined with the lack of any sort of markers in the control panel besides ‘Top Level’ and ‘Laboratory Level’ made Luna realize it was all part of security. After all, if an infiltrator couldn’t quite determine how deep the lab was, the lesser the chance of them doing any serious damage.

“Before I forget Princess, please don’t be shocked by some of the things you might see. Or rather, don’t let it bother you, and trust that both Twilight and myself know what we’re doing down here.” said Kane just as the elevator reached its destination.

As the doors opened, those words made Luna think she might suddenly bear witness to some sort of vivisection of a pony, or worse. What she didn’t expect was to find a giant fish tank filling a fifth of the space in the lab and holding three sirens inside. The three multi-colored aquatic equines didn’t particularly care much for the new arrivals up until they spotted Kane; a later measurement of footage showing their retreat into their underwater dwelling would reveal them breaking numerous speed records for various aquatic animals, including dolphins and sharks.

Kane’s silence was as good as sign as any that he hadn’t expected to find a glorified fishbowl down there either.

From her point of entrance, Princess Luna was able to admire a great deal of what was going on in this very room. Opposite from the fish tank was what looked like a row of pods connected to a green, glowing container. The first four pods were labelled I to IV, but the fifth pod had its number covered by a piece of duct tape with the name “Spike” written over it with a marker. Next to those was a separate, larger pod seemingly under construction. A sign on top reading “Nyx Program” didn’t really reveal what it was for either.

Not letting herself get distracted with sightseeing however, Luna turned to the matter at hand. “Shouldn’t Twilight Sparkle be here at this time?” she asked, for which the reply came almost immediately from across the room, behind where the fish tank lay.

“I’m over here! Sorry, just a bit busy. You’re going to have to walk around the tank.” answered Twilight, immersed in whatever task she was carrying out at the moment. Both Luna and Kane went around, passing by a large monitor displaying a 3D rendering of what looked like a thinner, longer version of the GDI Kodiaks that had made so many offensives hell for Nod’s forces. In a corner, a massive metal claw was also left half-built alongside what looked like its completed arm. What purpose it served, Luna couldn’t tell.

Passing by a design table with a number of metallic limbs for both equines and griffons, the Brotherhood’s leaders found the purple scientist alicorn, along with the unconscious Nod trooper whose wounds she was poking.

“Twilight… what are you doing?” asked a surprised Princess of the Night.

“I’m making sure his body isn’t rejecting the implants. I'll get to attaching a new leg to him in a moment, but his body needs time to adjust to the ones I already put on.” Twilight replied, gesturing to the pony’s three other prosthetics.

Although Kane said nothing, Twilight knew he approved. After all he had authorized the program in the first place. Luna, however, didn’t seem as sure and before she could comment, Twilight filled in the silence for her.

"If you’ll allow me to be frank, Princess, we have to face the facts. Before this war is over, everyone of every race that is of fighting age will be in the fight on both sides and we need ways to keep everypony in the fight as long as possible. Rarity already designed the prosthetics for our wounded and it’s my job to make sure they interface properly with their recipients. Civilians get her basic models, military gets my.... prototypes."

“She’s right, Princess. Twilight, please show her the projections for the future.” Kane commanded, prompting the scientist pony to stop what she was doing and display her calculations on a widescreen monitor.

"At both ours and GDI’s current recruitment rates, accounting for a steady increase, natural population growth, displacement due to Tiberium infestation, casualty rates, and time necessary for someone to reach combat-capable age, we'll still hold a horsepower advantage over GDI thanks to changelings alone but in a year and a half anypony capable of using a weapon or driving a vehicle, will. And that's not even accounting for wounded, dead, crippled, and everything in between. AND those are the optimistic calculations.

"My point is, hopefully we can end the war before the two year mark. Any longer and we'll start getting into the REALLY nasty tidbits of war… and that’s not even including the experiments that Spike volunteered for.” she said, spawning images in Luna’s mind of colts and fillies being pressed into combat on both sides. It was not a pleasant thought.

"The real hardship will be ending it before the year is out. If we can’t do that with a few more decisive victories, we’re looking at a decade or more of bloodshed… luckily for us, however, I have a program already in the works, with Kane's blessing." Twilight added, changing what was being displayed from her projections to an emblem that Luna didn’t recognize. Three lines not connected but forming a triangle nonetheless with a bisected circle in the center. Two dashes marked the top and bottom of the circle with a line cutting it in half horizontally.

What truly caught Luna’s eye however were the names plastered onto the screen next to the emblem. On one side was the official title of the project, “The Marked of Kane”, which Luna felt fit it and the Brotherhood’s naming conventions quite well. The other names however made her feel uneasy for reasons she couldn’t explain.

“What are those names, Twilight…?” Luna asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh, those? Well the first name was my first attempt at the EVA but he went crazy and during simulations constantly turned his virtual forces on other friendly forces. In fact, during the extended simulations, data provided predicted that we would have to join forces with GDI to deactivate him permanently.”

“He?” the dark-blue alicorn asked quietly.

“Well, more of an it, really. CABAL was an artificial intelligence. However, he never learned to play nice with others so I pulled his plug.”

“You’re experimenting with AIs already?” Kane inquired, one of his eyebrows quirking up.

“Well of course. GDI has the corner on magical ‘technology’ so our only counter is to take real technology and surpass them. They beat us to the punch with their version of the EVA and despite having massive numbers on our sides, very few of them have proven to be officer and battle commander material. Once I find a suitable mind to base CABAL’s brother off of though, we’ll have an unstoppable tactical juggernaut that I bet ole’ Ironsides wouldn’t be able to beat.”

Luna nodded quietly as her sister’s former student prattled on about AIs and various technologies, but as the tour continued, she just couldn’t get that last name out of the back of her mind nor the uneasiness that just thinking it caused her. What was worse is she couldn’t place why it was bothering her.

That night, she laid down to rest in her shared quarters in Mareajevo and much to her dismay, the last thought in her head before drifting off to sleep was not the name of a friend or lover, but that of a machine.

“LEGION…”
_________

Spike was having the most wonderful dream about life after the war. He was a hero with far more decorations than he already had, he was retired to a lovely castle where Canterlot used to be, and he was married to a certain snow-white unicorn mare with a royal purple mane. He woke up to a lovely sun in the morning with Rarity next to him as Luna lowered the moon and brought up its celestial partner. Nod banners were draped over most of the walls of his home and the rebuilt city, and right as one of the servants came in with his breakfast of fire rubies, the walls exploded.

When the first shell hit the Nod lines, Spike managed to roll out of bed and have his sidearm drawn before he was fully awake. Rarity almost fell out of their bed with how forcefully he threw himself off and into a low crouch but managed to levitate herself to the floor without much hassle. Once she was on the ground and crouched as low as she could get, Rarity levitated her ear piece off of her desk and into her ear and winced at the onslaught of shouts and status updates that assaulted her ears.

“Slow down Colonel, tell me what’s going on!” she barked.

“GDI artillery and air are targeting the Hydra battalion and our infantry positions along the entire line. They must be gearing up for a massive assault to be throwing this much fire at us.”

“ETA on their assault force?”

“We still haven’t gotten word back from our recon teams but if GDI follows usual doctrine, my guess would be ten minutes tops, ma’am.”

“I’m on my way to the command tent. Slavik is on the move towards the front as well.” Rarity replied with a slight nod to Spike. He replied by kissing her cheek, grabbing his uniform, and sprinting out the door towards the front line.

Had Spike tried to run the distance between Rarity’s personal quarters and the Nod front line, roughly a 3 mile trip, before the war, he wouldn’t have made it a hundred feet without being out of breath. However, given the tiberium experiments he had volunteered for under Twilight’s watchful eye, his appearance wasn’t the only thing that had improved. Ursa tanks and Hounds were moving from various staging areas towards predetermined firing positions and phase lines and Spike was keeping up with them on foot as they sped forward.

Within 9 minutes, the young drake skid to a halt in the dirt next to the biggest firing pit he could find. Spike dove into the temporary defense made of sandbags, armored plates, a mounted .50 cal, and most importantly, a working radio system and uplink for his Electronic Video Agent. While GDI had a monopoly on magic with their Ethereal Vision Agent, Nod had created a counter with their own form of the EVA based on regular non-magical technology. The prototypes were still only used by Battle Commanders, Generals with absolute requisition and logistical support powers over whatever theater they were working in, but Twilight was hoping to have a regular model out within another 4 months.

“Give me an update, boys.” Spike said as he peered over the barricade and double-checked his sidearm.

“No contact yet, sir, but we can see them coming and they have a buckton of Predators and some other tank we haven’t seen before.” Sergeant Troubleshoes replied. Spike nodded at the massive earth pony before gesturing for the changeling next to him to hand over her rangefinder.

“New tanks… must be a new variant of the Predator.” Spike muttered under his breath as he brought the rangefinder to his eyes. The moment he hit the optical zoom though, his heart fell and his breath caught in his throat. His claw reached to his earpiece so fast that he nearly ripped off the spines on the side of his head and in a rare moment of unprofessionalism, he didn’t keep his bearing as he keyed in Rarity’s command center.

“Slavik to Pincer Actual, we have Mammoths on the field! I say again! We have Mammoths on the field!”
_________

Corporal Button Mash was having the time of his life. He was sitting in a tank the size of a small house with the Nod division that wiped out the 1st Armored dead in his sights. He was an order away from unleashing hell on the enemy with the dual cannons and dual missile pods of the Mammoth tank he was assigned to and the only thing keeping him from bouncing in his seat while staring at his ‘big red button of buck you’ was his safety harness.

“Corporal Mash, range?” Colonel Macintosh asked.

“1500 meters and closing, sir. Ready to fire on your command.” the younger stallion stated.

“At 1200 meters, fire at will. Battalion Commanders, Battalion Commanders, this is Apple Actual.” Big Mac said into his helmet mic. Once the small lights on his visor’s HUD indicated that all four of his Lt. Colonels were keyed in and listening he continued. “As soon as the Apple Pie opens up, give these bastards everything you got. After that, all commanders are to take operational command of their units; over.”

A chorus of affirmatives met his ears as the distance to target meter that Button Mash had linked to Big Mac’s HUD continued to count down. He’d never admit it but he was holding his breath. Mammoths had only been tested in small skirmishes where maybe a platoon of 4 tanks spread across a line was sent to eradicate small incursion cells. This was the first time that a division’s worth of Mammoths and Predators would be facing an equal Nod force in open combat since the “Blueblood Massacre” and the last thing he needed was for unforeseen mechanical breakdowns from new tech.

Though he wasn’t too worried, he was bringing roughly 400 Predators and 150 Mammoths into the fight with infantry, Timber Wolves, and enough Orca cover to choke an elder dragon a hundred times over. The 2nd Heavy Armored Division was there for payback and by some sort of oath sworn on Celestia’s plot, Big Macintosh was going to get it.

Big Mac looked back up at the range indicator and smiled as it hit 1200. With a gentle tap of his hoof onto Button Mash’s flank, the young colt let out a yeehaw that would make even an Apple proud and hit the fire button by smashing his full-faced helmeted head straight onto it.
_________

“How many Hydras do we have left within striking distance?” Spike asked into his headset.

“I can give you four, darling.” Rarity replied over the comm, “Use them well and I trust you’ll stay safe out there.”

“Just get the support units to safety while we hold the line, I’ll be ready to pull back the moment you give the order… and of course I will, m’lady. You just keep yourself in one piece and I’ll be back once the division regroups.”

“You better.” Rarity told him before the line shut off and Spike looked back towards the oncoming wave of GDI armor. With a few quick motions he brought up the map on his EVA interface gauntlet, selected every piece of friendly artillery and units with long-range capabilities and ordered them to aim for the Predators. He had read plenty of reports of Mammoth armor being virtually invincible so he wasn’t going to waste ammo on targets that he couldn’t kill conventionally.

“This is Battle Commander Slavik to all personnel, if you have a heavy weapon, save the shot for the Mammoths once they get close and aim for the treads. We can’t kill them head on but we can make sure that they can’t follow us.” the purple dragon ordered calmly. As if in reply, the first Mammoth opened up with its main guns. 50 meters to Spike’s left, a machinegun nest simply ceased to exist and he swore he saw a hoof go flying out of the blast. Right after that, the rest of the GDI assault force opened fire simultaneously, most likely courtesy of EVA targeting and fire control.

“Son of a bitch!” Troubleshoes swore as they felt their position starting to get strafed. Orca missiles and nose-mounted guns opened up on the Nod positions, Predator pintle-mounted weapons tried to suppress the line, and wave after wave of 120mm and 150mm shells bombarded the Nod soldiers dug in.

“Just stay calm, brother!” Spike ordered, having to shout over the din that the battle was creating. With surprising calm that unsettled the ponies and changelings that he was hunkering down with, he reached back to his earpiece and keyed in another comm code. “Zeek, how long until you and your battalion are in position?”

“Give us five more minutes, Commander. Anubis Company will be targeting the Orcas, Balthasar and Cyrus Companies will hit the tanks. Darius company will be under my command in hitting Timber Wolves and stragglers that the other three companies miss.”

“Just tell me when you’re ready and I’ll give the order. I want your big reveal of the Stealth Tanks to be something that GDI will never forget.”

“You can count on us, sir.” Colonel Zeek told him with a grin that Spike could practically hear over the radio. With a smile of his own, he noted that the assault was stalling slightly as the Hydras started picking off Predators and he could already see three Mammoths with slagged treads courtesy of a few Black Hand units scattered throughout the line. It wasn’t until he saw a quartet of missiles fired from a Mammoth arc towards where he knew Rarity’s command tent was that his expression turned sour.

“Rarity, I think you have fire inbound. Please tell me you have a shield up.” he radioed in.

“Darling we’re f-” was all she got out before the line was replaced with static and Spike saw a magically enhanced explosion mar the skyline.

“Rarity….? Rarity, come in…. Rarity! Rarity!?”

His only reply was silence on the line, and a Mammoth tank round hitting a mere 5 meters from his position.
_________

When the Second Battle of The Macintosh Hills was concluded, survivors on both sides both agreed that there was a single turning point early in the fight that changed the outcome of not just what was supposed to be a quick and decisive GDI victory, but the very outcome of the Tiberium War. Most didn’t believe what they saw when it happened, and a few still had trouble believing it later on in the war even past events like the First Battle of Canterlot or the Fall of the Crystal Kingdom.

That moment was when a purple and green dragon 40 meters in height rose up from the dust and fire created by a 120mm impact. His wings were flared, his claws were clenched, and when he let out a roar, it shook the very ground and made the green tiberium spikes protruding from his spine and all of his joints pulsate and glow. His roar was long, loud, and literally scared the shit out of plenty of combatants on both sides as he proclaimed who he was fighting for and who had caused Twilight Sparkle’s tiberium genetics program to bear unexpected fruit.

“RARITY!!!”

Thunder

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Chapter IX - Thunder

It was surprisingly silent out by Post 12 despite the intense fighting taking place just a few kilometers away. The echoes of combat could still be heard at this distance, yet they were overpowered by Private Shoelace’s high-pitched whistle as he surveyed the battle from atop the guard tower.

“Boy… sure am glad they decided to stick me back here.” he said as he put down his binoculars, turning from the giant drake that saturated the scenery to look at his partner. “Wanna switch now Rocky?”

Receiving a shrug as an answer, his partner’s face sank deeply on one of those newfangled smartphones that he’d managed to smuggle onto post with him, which was enough to make Pvt. Shoelace shake his head as he went back to looking over the battlefield. That is, up until his helmet’s radio started beeping.

“Post 12, Post 14 here. We think we saw some movement down southwest but the view of that area’s not that good from here. What can you guys see?” came over the radio, prompting him to take a look at the area south of his tower.

“Post 14, you sure you saw something? I’ve got a clear view from up here and there’s nothing there.” he answered back, waiting for a reply. A reply that never came. “Post 14?” he asked once more, and once more received no answer.

“Hey Rocky, is your phone working fine? Any signal problems?” he then asked, turning to his partner who answered with a head shake. If that was still working, that meant that Nod wasn’t using some jammer or something to stop communications. Which meant that either there was a problem with the radio, or Post 14 had been-

Pvt. Shoelace never got to finish that thought as a missile impacted one of the tower’s wooden walls, detonating a nanosecond later and vaporizing its occupants.

Three hundred meters to the north, behind the area the guard tower was meant to keep watch over, a Stealth Tank’s Lazarus shield readapted to its surroundings after the missile launch disrupted the cloaking field. Inside, Lieutenant Colonel Zeek listened to the redundant yet always welcome report from his gunner.

“Target destroyed.”

“Good, good.” he replied, contacting the rest of Darius company. “All tanks, form on me after you confirm the destruction of your targets.” he ordered, his helmet’s HUD displaying confirmation blips arriving from his tank commanders acknowledging the order. Looking over a map of the area on one of his monitors, he turned to his driver. “Marble, take us to the rendezvous point.”

Travelling in an Ezekiel’s Wheel was the closest thing to safety one could get to in this damnable war, next to surrounding oneself with an army and moving as a single giant blob. And even then, a lucky artillery shell or well-placed missile could still ruin your day. Such worries weren’t much of a concern within a Stealth Tank, making it an excellent mobile command center for small units.

“Anubis, Balthasar, Cyrus, report.” he ordered, waiting for a reply from his majors. If everything went well, they’d be giving GDI a bloody nose right around now. Then again, in this war one didn’t simply do that without getting punched back.

“Anubis reporting, we’ve had to spread out due to Commander Slavik’s… I don’t know what to call it, but GDI’s birds are making our job easier by focusing entirely on him.”

“Balthasar here. We’ve been unable to punch through their Mammoths’ armor but we managed to disable a few by taking out their treads. We’re down two tanks however. Damn rear armor is better than a Predator’s front.”

“Colonel, Captain Cork speaking. Major Payne’s tank got too close to a Mammoth’s shells mid-flight. Cyrus company is down four tanks but their Predators are now hesitant to move outside their Mammoth cover.”

Colonel Zeek cursed GDI’s new heavy tanks under his breath before readdressing his COs. “Anubis, continue swatting flies and support commander Slavik as needed. Balthasar and Cyrus, disengage their tanks and focus on the mechanized infantry bringing up their rear.” he ordered, his HUD once more receiving three blips confirming his subordinates’ acknowledgement. The presence of Mammoths in unprecedented force demanded a change of plans.
________

“Phoenix-3 is down!”

“Roger that, do you see a chute?”

“Chute is good. Repeat, I see a chute!”

“We’ll pick her up later then. Focus ladies, we have a monster to put down!”

Phoenix Squadron, also known as Celestia’s Pride, was the best ORCA unit in the GDIAF and under the command of Colonel Spitfire. Despite this, they were getting their flanks handed to them by a giant purple-and-green dragon shouting out the name of a former fashionista and using his wings to send her pilots tumbling through the air when he wasn’t swatting at them.

The SAMs coming out of nowhere weren't helping.

“Viper squadron, follow us in and target its head!” she ordered to their sibling squadron.

“You got it Spitfire.” came Soarin’s reply, him being in command of the Vipers.

“Alright ladies. Our targets are the wings. Turn them into cheese and Viper squadron will get a clear shot at its big, ugly face!*”

Anyone focusing on the two ORCA squadrons couldn’t be faulted for thinking their run was a choreographed act, their synchronization of movement giving away the hours spent practicing maneuvers. As Phoenix came within weapons range, Spike’s wings presented themselves nicely mid-flap. The volley of rockets and bullets from the three ORCAs wasted no time in impacting the comparably-soft skin covering the monster’s massive wings, shredding them and provoking a guttural roar from the beast.

Following their run, the four ORCAs from Viper squadron dove in to attack, launching their own volleys from straight above and targeting Spike’s head. Well, most of them anyhow. Viper-4 appeared to have opted to target as much of the drake as possible, her weapons fire flying off in every direction.

“Viper-4, cease fire! Lightning Dust what the BUCK do you think you’re doing?!” came Soarin’s enraged voice over the radio.

“Relax, I got this in the bag!” answered Lightning Dust, accelerating ahead of her fellow Vipers, focusing her target unto the top of the beast’s back, and as she kept approaching the ground she changed it to the lower back, the base of the tail, the tail’s midsection, the tail’s tip, and she pulled up to even her flight she still had the trigger pressed when Phoenix squadron passed right by her reticle, coming for the monster’s second wing.

“AH! MY ENGINES ARE GONE! I CAN’T CONTROL IT!”

“PHOENIX-2 IS HI- GAH!”

“PHOENIX-1 GOING DOWN! MY COCKPIT WON’T OPEN!”

“... oops.” was all Lightning Dust managed to mutter out before the enraged dragon flapped his wings back and sent her now disabled craft down with Spitfire’s entire squadron. Fortunately for her, her cockpit’s mechanisms were still working and she was able to eject. Unfortunately for Spitfire, the ORCA then proceeded to crash right on top of her own ruined craft. Lightning Dust never managed to utter out another oops, though. The moment she landed in a heap thanks to Spike’s wing gusts, the Nod platoon she had landed next to cuffed her and threw her onto the nearest retreating truck.

“Hey, come on! Let me go ya creeps! Where’s this thing heading to, anyway?”

“Why, we’re going to my personal carryall to get it ready for my... escort, who you just tried to kill. Speaking of, I’m intrigued as to why you suddenly turned on your allies.”

“I di… they got in my way….” the teal pegasus murmured.

“Oh? Bloodthirsty ambition, is that what you’re telling me, darling?”

“...yes?” replied the teal mare, uncertain as to what her captor was talking about.

“Then you’ll go far in the Brotherhood, darling. Unless of course you want to rot in a prison, or be sent back to GDI for a court martial and a firing squad. So, tell me miss….?”

“Lightning Dust, ma’am…”

“Miss Dust… how would you like to fly a Venom?”
________

“SABOTs loaded!” announced Corporal Mash, reading the display confirming the autoloader has done its job.

“Target its center mass.” ordered Big Mac, reading his own displays detailing how the battle was going. The initial surprise regarding the monster’s sudden appearance had faded and his forces had regrouped, prepared to continue the assault. And once more the world turned into noise and shaking.

“Target hit. No penetration.” came Corporal Mash’s voice over Big Mac’s earpiece. Their ear protection, made to stop them from going deaf after the first time they fired the Mammoth’s cannons, made communication without radios impossible.

“Load SABOT, continue firing at target.” Big Mac ordered once more. If they were going to get this battle over with, they’d have to take down the beast. While tempting, ordering every tank to focus fire would result in all other Nod forces being free to fire upon them.

“All Mammoth’s focus on the Apple Pie’s target. SABOT, center mass. Predators, keep Nod’s forces pinned and wait for the order to advance once the drake is down.” he commanded to the 2ndHA. Confirmation of his orders came in the form of a deafening barrage focused on the singular monstrosity which had halted their advance. The ORCAs had shown it could be hurt, now the Mammoths would show it could be crushed under their treads.

It was at this moment that his onboard magical EVA unit let him know GDI artillery and missiles had stopped firing on Nod forces.

“What? EVA, situation.”

“Artillery bases are under attack by an undetermined number of Nod forces. Rear-guard mechanized infantry engaging undetermined number of Nod forces. Unable to determine composition of either force. Units closest match is to a previously-encountered type of anti-air tank. 68% chance of encirclement if the situation is not rectified.”

“67.799 repeating, EVA, don’t round up. Regardless, never tell me the chances.” said Big Mac before sending a division-wide message. “Fall back to base camp. Predators, reinforce our infantry units and then proceed to base to secure it against attack. Mammoths will bring up the rear of the retreat.” he commanded before giving his driver the order to reverse.
________

Spike roared once more at the reversing GDI tanks, claws clenched into fists and ruined wings flaring once more. The behemoth was about to take the fight to them again when he heard the voice of a mare speaking in his head. Her voice was soothing and for some reason, he just couldn’t stay angry at her words. Spike slowed his advance to a halt, let out another, substantially weaker roar at his opponents, and turned towards the Nod lines as he began to shrink.

By the time he was back to regular size, Spike was barely conscious, had multiple cracked and chipped scales, particularly in his chest, his wings had retracted back into his body, and his spines were limp. As he dropped to his knees and was about to faceplant into the dirt, a green magical aura surrounded him and held him aloft. He didn’t resist when he saw that a carryall was nearby and he was lifted onto a medical cot that had been placed aboard. Once he had been let down gently, he started looking around in his groggy stupor, his eyes only going wide when the mare who had lifted him aboard sat next to his bed.

“R..Rarity… but… bu-”

“I had a shield around us before the missiles hit, but our communications gear didn’t survive the impact.” she replied. To her surprise, the drake who had just fought an entire GDI armored division to a standstill with his bare claws started to tear up.

“I… I thought you… I thought…”

“That you had lost me? Spikey, you’ll never have to worry about that.” Rarity told him before she moved her mane to the side. Spike’s eyes widened again that not only was she revealing the tiberium-scarred portion of her face, but she had a genuine smile gracing her crystalline features as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I promise.”

Spike smiled back at her and nodded as a unicorn medic began to sedate him. He thought he said something about how bad his chest hurt, but he couldn’t really tell with how much magic was being channeled into knocking him out. Quietly, the young battle commander drifted off into sleep, content with his newest memory of the mare of his dreams smiling, her face unobscured as her lips chastely found his.
________

Three Days after the Spike Incident

Ever since Fluttershy had become the Supervisor and highest ranking pony in ZOCOM, she had done her best to reform the organization and had changed it from a simple idea of dedicated tiberium cleanup to an entire branch of GDI’s military almost singlehoofedly. Under her careful watch, sonic weapons and tools had been introduced, refineries had been updated and turned into nearly-perfect tiberium cleanup facilities, and the Blue Zones had been established. ZOCOM was a force for good in the world and a symbol for GDI citizens that the war against Tiberium could be won.

Now, however, Supervisor Fluttershy’s heart was being crushed by necessity. She never wanted a war, especially a war against her closest friends. She wanted ZOCOM’s ponies to be able to do their job, for tiberium to go away, and for life as usual to resume once the crisis was over. All chance of that died the day that Kane made his first broadcast, and with Shining Armor standing next to her, the final nail in the coffin of her hopes was being hammered in.

“Supervisor, we have to militarize ZOCOM fully. We appreciate you helping Sky Admiral Dash’s aerial forces with the updated ORCAs, but we need to hold the ground as well.” the blue-maned unicorn said, “We need your latest projects to be turned over to GDI proper for use across the board.”

“Major Armor, you want me to give up two of our best tools against Tiberium for you to use on other ponies. You have to understand my restraint… if that’s not too much to ask…” the yellow pegasus replied quietly.

“Yes, but the Ion Cannon Arra-”

“Ion Projection Satellite. It’s a tool to surgically remove tiberium fields, not living beings.”

“Regardless, ma’am, I have my orders. The mobile refinery project and the ion satellite permissions and all relevant information are to be given to me for transport to General Ironsides. If we’re lucky we can start using the Ion array within a day or so but the reclamation vehicle…. that will be difficult to get ready in a hurry.”

“I’m sure your ponies will be plenty motivated… everypony is when it comes to adding… adding bodies… to this awful, awful war.”

“None of us wanted this, ma’am.” Shining Armor told her, his expression falling slightly as his thoughts drifted to his sister for a moment, “But if we’re going to end this and bring everypony back into the fold, then we need the tools and ponies that ZOCOM has.”

For what seemed like hours, Fluttershy looked at Shining Armor, then her desk, and back between the two multiple times as she weighed her options. She knew he was right but the last thing she wanted to do was hurt ponies, or be the cause of others being able to cause harm even if they were Nod. She especially didn’t want the Ion Projection Satellites to be aimed at Twilight, Pinkie, or Rarity, but in these desperate times, desperate measures had to be taken. The yellow mare walked to the safe on her back wall and quickly used her wings to unlock it. With a sigh, she grabbed all of the folders inside with her mouth and placed them on her desk.

“In these folders you will find everything you need…. and maybe a little more. That top folder… my research teams have been working on a special project that was supposed to help ponies survive in red zones. To help them protect themselves against visceroids and… and feral mutants... but it may help…. help… help on the front lines…against Nod...”

Shining Armor gave her a respectful nod and began to say something before noticing the tears streaming down her face. He closed his mouth, backed away, and slowly exited her office as his mother, ever the faithful steward, came to the crying mare’s aid. Twilight Velvet gave her son a reassuring nod and a small, weary smile as he kept backing out the door. He nodded back with a slight grimace. Everypony knew this had to be done, regardless of personal feelings on the matter. Once out, he breathed a sigh of something that he couldn’t quite classify as relief or exasperation and looked at the project folders he had levitating in his magic next to him.

“Let’s see here…. mobile refinery…. Ion cannons… and…” he muttered as a third folder that Fluttershy told him about came to the top of the stack, “Project ZONE Trooper…?”
________

One Month after ZOCOM Militarization

ZOCOM’s projects were brought into the fold of GDI’s R&D wing with lightning speed and within two weeks, all of the prototype armor suits that had been in ZOCOM HQ were transferred to a testing facility in what was left of the Baltimare Blue Zone. Half the zone had already been bombarded during the opening weeks of the war and more than a few segments of the city had to be closed off by sonic fences to keep tiberium fields caused by crystal seed rockets from spreading. Nod raids on the walls to test the defenses or just to remind GDI that they were out there were all too common and the city was mostly evacuated except for a few thousand ponies and the abnormally large garrison outfitted with the best weapons GDI could muster. Despite this, Baltimare was heavily defended, nearly as much as Canterlot proper, and for good reason.

Baltimare looked out across Horseshoe Bay which was, at least for now, home of GDI’s aquatic navy. While Cloudsdale was in charge of keeping Rainbow Dash’s air force up in the sky, Baltimare, under command of General Stalwart Shield of the GDI Marine Corps, was the heart of GDI’s Naval, Marine, and Special Operations assets despite its beat up appearance. It was for this reason that Apple Bloom found herself on a carryall heading there after receiving a notice of “Selection due to Exemplary Service”, which she believed was the work of those commandos she worked with at the Battle of Hollow Shades. Her leg had already healed up fine thanks to some unicorn doctor and the other survivors of her squad were back in action. She missed them, and even regretted not being with them right now, but this was an opportunity that her sergeant, family, and just about everypony she knew wouldn’t let her pass up. Apple Bloom continued to let her mind wander before the pilot’s voice cut in over the noise of the Ox’s engines.

“Alright everypony we’ll be hitting the tarmac in five, make sure your gear is already on your back and that you’re ready to run; given Baltimare’s status this will be a dropoff under combat conditions. Once the ramps lower, you will all have 60 seconds to get off my bird.”

A chorus of chatter mixed with rustling bags sprang to life once the comm system cut out and Apple Bloom did a triple check of her armor, rifle, and ammo before even worrying about her bag. Despite being one of Ponyville’s biggest agricultural providers, Apple Bloom had gotten used to her more basic lifestyle before the wealth really started to pour in. Unlike the rest of the carryall, which was filled to the brim with unicorns except for her and maybe three other earth ponies, the only possessions she bothered to carry were her wallet, a few pictures of her friends and family, and Granny Smith’s old bandana. Whenever possible, she wore it with her uniform but for official business like this, it was tucked away.

The Ox landed and all 50 ponies aboard offloaded in record time. Once the aircraft lifted off once more and the platoon of ponies was corralled into an auditorium, they were ordered to sit down, keep it quiet, and wait for further instruction. Most of the other soldiers began whispering amongst themselves immediately or looking at their timepieces impatiently but the former farmer simply sat back and relaxed while she could. Her nap didn’t last long though, it was barely 10 minute before a pegasus in an officer’s uniform walked onto the stage and belted out “Attention on deck!”

Now, Apple Bloom was GDI Army, specifically a rocketeer who was retasked as a riflemare after her injury, but regardless of branch when you heard that command, you got on your hooves, stood at attention, and stayed that way until you received the proper order. Apple Bloom sprung to her hooves along with the rest of the room as a unicorn with a dark green coat and bright blue eyes walked onto the stage next to the pegasus. She had four stars on the shoulders of her uniform.

“At ease, everypony. As you probably know, I am General Stalwart Shield, GDI Marines and commanding general of the Baltimare theatre of operations. You have all been selected, chosen, or volunteered to join this program as the trial group of a new special operations corps of fighting stallions and mares. Those of you that are not dropped from training will be comparable to our Commando teams. Mares, stallions… you are about to embark on the journey to become the power-armored hoof of Celestia herself, and if you make it through training, I will have the honor of being the first to address you as our new secret weapon against Nod and the Tiberium menace. Welcome to the Zone Trooper Training Academy.”
_______

The platoon was ushered out into a mustering area by a dozen sergeants who began screaming at the top of their lungs the moment General Shield had left the stage. Each had the ZOCOM emblem, one of an eagle with its wings stretched to the sky and a lightning bolt in both talons, plastered on their shoulder pads and at least half of them had the GDI Marine Corps phoenix, globe, and anchor marked over their cutie mark. Everypony hurried their best to follow orders and all those that messed up were treated like recruits. Apple Bloom didn’t mind though, it was just a new experience and she was going to tackle it head-on like her sister or brother would. After all, the Apple Family name was a famous one in GDI and had so far produced nothing but exemplary soldiers and officers, Braeburn excluded.

The day lingered on and they got their first view of the armor they’d all be fitted for later in training, but one thing started to nag her in the back of her mind. One pony in her squad, a yellow earth pony stallion with a blue mane and scars all over the left side of his face. His ear on the same side was also mangled badly and the Z.T.T.A. drill instructors seemed to avoid him and actually treat him, a corporal, with more respect than each other. For the most part, Apple Bloom pushed her curiosity to the back of her head and continued on with the initiation.

That night as everypony began falling into their freshly made bunks, Apple Bloom was lucky enough to be bunking next to the stallion that had caught her attention earlier. Plucking up what courage she could, the young mare finally acted on her curiosity and spoke up.

“Ex...excuse me, ah don’t believe ah ever caught yer name and since we’re in the same squad’n all…” she started before he perked up a little and looked her over, almost like he was scanning her.

“Name’s Jet Deck, you must be Apple Bloom.” he replied with a slight grin.

“How’dya kn-”

“Famous family, apple-based cutie mark, and I’m not the only one who has the platoon spreading rumors.” he told her with a slight shrug.

“Oh, uh… well, nice ta meet’ya, Jet Deck. Now, ah know it ain’t exactly polite ta ask, but… well, ah’d rather hear it from you than one o’them rumors. So can ah ask ab-”

“My scars? Yeah, you can. Glad you were polite about it unlike the others, just don’t be spreading it around, word’s already going to travel fast enough as training goes on.”

“Right… so, uh. Where’d ya get’em?” Apple Bloom asked him. Jet Deck let out a small sigh, even with mental preparation and somepony being polite and courteous about the whole issue never made it any easier to talk about, though he was sure it would make its way through the platoon within a week after he accidentally blew up at that one unicorn mare on the Ox. Slowly, with as much conviction in his voice as he could muster to keep it from wavering, Jet Deck looked Apple Bloom square in the eyes and answered her question.

“I got them at the First Battle of Macintosh Hills”

It took a moment for Apple Bloom to make the connection. “Battle of Macintosh Hills? But then that means-”

“Yes.” he said as a blinding blue light outside of the complex shot up from the ground and lit up the night sky like a hundred bolts of lightning, “I’m a survivor of the Blueblood Massacre.”
________

“Did you see that?!” a Shadow operative exclaimed, though he was hardly the only pony to do so. He was dressed in civilian clothing and walking along a street in Baltimare when a bright blue, blinding light shot up into the sky. All around him, other ponies were wondering what had just happened. With a short glance to his ‘wife’, both Shadows bolted down the street looking for their apartment, as did most of the ponies still out at this hour.

“What in Kane’s name was that thing?” the other Shadow asked as soon as they were sure the apartment was secure.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to check all the channels. Something like that can’t be a coincidence. You two saw it too right?” the first Shadow asked. The other two members of the team who were on ‘apartment watch’ both nodded silently then went back to keeping an eye out the tinted windows. With a small huff the first infiltrator began scanning all channels, seeing if anything had happened anywhere that he had the clearance to check, yet nothing had shown up yet.

“Just file a high priority report.” the team leader ordered. “With any luck, command will be able to sort this all out.”
_______

500 kilometers northwest of Baltimare at the foot of Foal Mountain, a Nod army was stationed under cover of disruption towers and enough SAM sites to discourage even a Kodiak from flying in their airspace. An entire armored corps, a unit that was quickly becoming a rarity in Nod’s army after stealth technology caused a doctrine readjustment, was waiting for orders to strike any of GDI’s coastal cities as well as conduct interdiction operations in enemy territory. Despite the advancements of the Initiative’s military, there were still large swathes of land in yellow zones that could only be patrolled part-time by Kodiaks and were otherwise left to Nod or mutants.

The pony in charge of this particular corps, Nod’s 1st Armor Corps, was Lieutenant General Trenderhoof, or if you were calling him by his operational name, “Seth”. The tan unicorn had been called from his quarters due to a priority message from the Messiah himself and was galloping as hard as he could to the his office. Once there, he bowed before the large screen that dominated the back of the room where Kane was waiting.

“Rise, brother.” the earth pony ordered, his voice smooth, calm, and surprisingly soothing.

“What do I owe the honor, my lord?” Trenderhoof asked as he slowly stood back up.

“30 minutes ago, GDI christened their new Ion Cannon Array. From a control center in Baltimare, they wiped out the entire Dodge Junction garrison.”

“But that garrison had near-”

“13,942 ponies, griffons, changelings, buffalos, and zebras, as well as Brother-Lieutenant Colonel Iron Wind of the Black Hand. You will be part of our reply. Slavik is already recovered and heading up a retaliatory strike toward the Crystal Kingdom. You are to mobilize your entire corps and some tertiary units and take Baltimare while he is busy up north and take the city on the first of next month. Shadows will provide you intel to work with while building up a strategy. You will seize all GDI assets and give no quarter to military personnel in the city and its outskirts. Civilians are to be protected at all costs and allowed to resume their lives normally once we assess their faith.”

“It will be done. I’ll mobilize immediately.”

“Be careful, Seth. Now is not a time for Blueblood tactics while we have the initiative.” Kane added with a slight grin before the feed cut. Trenderhoof let out a sigh once the screen was off before letting out a chuckle himself. Ever since the Massacre, the name Blueblood had become synonymous with tactics meant to bring glory and fame to the commander while putting troops through unnecessary risks.

Once he had composed himself, Trenderhoof jumped over his desk, didn’t bother sitting in his chair, and punched in the command codes for a full mobilization into his EVA. An hour later, all of his division commanders were seated across the room from him with incredulous looks on their muzzles as Lieutenant General “Seth” Trenderhoof outlined how one armor corps was going to take GDI’s second-most heavily defended city right out of the eagle's talons.

The Battle of Baltimare - Part 1: Dragon's Tongue

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Chapter X - The Battle of Baltimare

Part 1 - Dragon’s Tongue

General Ironsides, Brigadier General Applejack, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Major Shining Armor had all gathered in Canterlot as quickly as they could afford to after news arrived regarding the stalemate and tactical Nod retreat at Macintosh Hills. Big Mac had also been asked to attend but the constant engagements between his 2nd Heavy Armored Division and Rarity’s 3rd Special Operations Division required his full attention, stopping him from breaking away from his unit. The rivalry between the two divisions was quickly becoming a model for both armies’ respective fighting doctrines. Big Mac’s unit continued to hammer the enemy with superior firepower whenever possible and in many cases literally rolled over them, all the while Nod’s stealth technology and guerilla strikes were making it nearly impossible to predict troop movements and rendered Kodiak cover fire useless with how close Nod forces would get in order to engage.

It was an issue that Ironsides took particular interest in considering the fact that, despite the advances in armor, they’d still managed to lose a few Mammoths in the weeks that had followed the Second Battle of Macintosh Hills. Much to his relief, Spike had yet to resurface openly in battle as well.

“What ah’m sayin’ is we need to put more funds into stronger and more portable scanners.” Applejack said, the circles under her eyes betraying how tired she was given the meeting was going far into the night, “Only reason Nod’s been able to hurt our armor is because of them damnable stealth tanks getting in close and those stealth generators hidin’ entire armies.”

“What we need is to reinforce the supply lines between Canterlot and the Crystal Kingdom.” Shining Armor retorted, “Scanners are all well and good but the majority of raw materials for them come from my province. With the models we have attached to the Predators, we can hold those lines long enough to stockpile sufficient crystals to last at least another year, but only if we’re not cut off from the capitol, Manehatten, and Baltimare.”

“So you’re suggesting we give extra funding to the defense of our supply lines, despite them already having a substantial escort?” Luna replied.

“A substantial escort that gets shot down at a higher rate than any other unit in this campaign. We need Mammoths covering our Predators, not ORCAs… not unless you want to designate another Kodiak to patrol the roads.”

“I’m more inclined to agree with Applejack on this one, Major.” Ironsides added, “But I think it might be possible to get you your Mammo-”

Ironsides was unable to finish that thought, courtesy of his personal EVA unit going off and letting him know something was transpiring somewhere with a loud, purposely-obnoxious beeping.

“The hell?” Ironsides muttered as his EVA interrupted him. The thought of muting his EVA and momentarily ignoring the alert until after the meeting had crossed his mind, up until the EVAs of everypony in the room started going off followed soon after by the one designated for the meeting room itself.

“Nod activity detected in the vicinity of: Baltimare. Corps-sized unit. Crystal Kingdom. Three Corps-sized units.”

“EVA, confirm those numbers.”

“Calculating….. confirmed. Baltimare is under siege by an estimated 45,000 Nod troops and General Stalwart Shield has been informed of the full alert. The Crystal Kingdom is under siege from an estimated 175,000 troops and Princess-General Cadence has ordered a full alert; Crystal Heart Shield is holding.”

“What the… why now!?” Applejack exclaimed. Ironsides only scowled a moment, wheels turning in his head before the realization hit him.

“Dodge Junction…. this is Kane’s reply.”
_________

A team of GDI troopers continued their foot patrol on top of Baltimare’s Tiberium Containment Wall, looking for enemies and checking the railgun turrets that lined the wall. As they continued their rounds after making sure that none of the components were damaged or worn too much, they looked back out at the yellow zone that surrounded the city. With a sigh, one of them stopped to really get a good look at it and Luna’s Night Sky as his team joined in.

“Hey.” the team leader said.

“Hey…” one of his ponies replied.

“Do you ever wonder why we’re he-” was all he got out before his throat was slit by an unseen blade. A second later, the rest of the team was dead from similar injuries and the four Shadows that had landed behind them 20 minutes ago galloped to the nearest railgun. All along the wall, similar events were playing out and turret after turret went silent as the unicorns in each team deactivated the base defense for further study.

What they didn’t plan for, however, was a city-wide alarm going off as soon as the first turret went down. General Shield had the EVAs that practically ran Baltimare set up automatic warning systems for practically every foreseeable scenario. The sudden loss of over a dozen railgun turrets and nearly 50 ponies’ vitals signs flatlining was all the AIs needed to sound the alarm and let Stalwart Shield know that her city was under siege. Before she could even start getting dressed, Baltimare’s primary EVA had alerted Canterlot, Ponyville, and every other Blue Zone’s military garrison headquarters. By the time she had her armor on, it had informed her that the Kodiak Discord was on the way and could be there by morning if they didn’t run into too much anti-air, and that all armor in the city was already prepping and rolling out to predetermined holding positions inside the city. Once she arrived in her command center, the EVA let her know that the GDI forces in Baltimare were outnumbered nearly 4 to 1.

Usually, EVAs wouldn’t have nearly as much free reign given the disastrous Ponyville Raid months earlier that had humiliated all of GDI in the eyes of the world, but that was because the EVAs were new, mostly untested, and GDI had no idea what the true capabilities of Nod’s hackers and saboteurs were. After extensive research and analysis on what went wrong, done mostly by Stalwart Shield herself, and even a few tweaks she personally made to Baltimare’s EVA network, she trusted the AIs more than she trusted a few of her staff to get the job done properly.
________

Brother-Lieutenant Colonel Hyperion was an imposing earth pony stallion even when he wasn’t in uniform, but today he was one of the scariest motherbuckers on the field. He was one of the few ponies that had managed to not only join the Black Hand, but become an officer for the elite fighting force and he stood tall, proud, and fully armored in the face of GDI’s damnable walls. As he strolled forward, he let a grin grace his muzzle as white contrails ended in green detonations that dotted the wall, courtesy of the 23rd Missile Launch Platform Battalion’s four companies of Hydras. Cracks were now visible as the barrage passed the 60 minute mark and the Black Hand officer let out a harsh laugh.

“They made them to stop tiberium, not an army… fools.” he thought as he walked, paying no mind to the troops flooding around him. Black Hand, regular troops, lots of ponies and changelings armed with anti-tank weapons, and to his delight, two of the newest additions to the Brotherhood’s arsenal.

Behind the Lieutenant Colonel was a platoon of Changelings outfitted in sleek, steel-plated armor that shined like the suits worn by knights of old, though their helmets had full-faced red bubble visors that allowed a greater field of view. On their backs were tanks of liquid tiberium that connected to chemical sprayers, a design originally meant for pesticides, that could shoot a stream of liquid tiberium up to 20 meters away. The specially picked soldiers were Tiberium Troopers, meant to use what GDI feared most as a weapon against them. Hyperion didn’t quite agree with using them on a Blue Zone, but orders were orders and he was getting to use something that, in his own opinion and infinite humility, put these changelings to shame.

Flanking him on either side as he stared down the containment wall’s western gate were a quartet of boxy, short tanks. Their turrets were painted red and sported two armored windows in front and large tanks full of pressurized napalm with firing nozzles that extended slightly past the turret and the front treads. The “Dragon’s Tongue” flame tanks were made of the best heat-treated armor that Nod could produce and the results were going to be beautiful.

“EVA, patch me through to the tanks.” Hyperion ordered.

“Gunnery Sergeant Marcion here, sir.” came a quick answer.

“Once the wall starts to crumble, burn the gates down.”
_____________

Behind each of Baltimare’s gates stood three bunkers armed with heavy machine guns, mounted rocket turrets, and magical shields meant to deflect one or two rounds from the main gun of an Ursa tank. Usually those who were assigned to stand post in them felt rather safe; if anything happened they’d be in an amazingly secure fixed position with the high ground and plenty of armor, sandbags, and magic keeping the enemy out with friendlies providing overwatch in the long-abandoned apartment complex behind them. Today, they felt like sitting ducks.

The alarm had already been sounded, their weapons were always loaded, and each 5-pony bunker had every weapon they could muster aimed at the gates. The bombardment had been going on for nearly two hours now and the alarms were only interrupted by shells that landed within the city itself, yet nothing had managed to hit the base along Horseshoe Bay. A Nod army was sitting outside the wall, tearing the wall down volley by volley, and now they could hear the tell-tale sound of flame throwers on the other side of the gate.

Before long, the reinforced steel and titanium started to glow. First it was red, then a dull orange, and after a few more seconds it was glowing yellow so bright that their visors had to activate the tint to protect their eyesight. Each of them felt their bodies tensing up as the unicorns among them tightened the grip they had on the firing studs and the earth ponies and pegasi nervously kept their targeting software on its highest sensitivity .

200 meters to their right, the wall started to fall in segments and missiles that had been aiming at those particular portions overshot their targets and demolished buildings farther inside. Dirt, dust, and pavement were kicked up on either side of it as the massive pieces of reinforced concrete plummeted to the ground. The troopers in the bunkers all look dumbfounded as a few more segments followed suit and then partial chunks of the wall joined in. They only noticed that the gate had been blown open when a piece of it flew past and grazed the center bunker.

Immediately, all 20 ponies opened up on the gap, hoping to discourage whatever had just burned down a 3-meter-thick blast door from coming through the entryway they’d just created. Rockets flew out, the machine guns let off burst after burst, and even the ponies providing overwatch pumped a few rounds into the gap.

The bunker on the right edge of the gate fell when twin jets of flame shot out from the main gate’s melted remains and caused the magic shields of the bunker to shut down with a “pop” in seconds. Those inside barely had time to scream before the flame tank turned them to ash. The bunker on the left met a similar fate as rockets and lasers overloaded the shields and a team of Black Hand that got through the dwindling suppressing fire threw incendiary grenades into the firing slits. Once they went off, the griffons aimed their flame rifles inside and turned the bunker into an oven.

The middle bunker was all that was left and was the most heavily shielded and armed out of the three. It had an extra team of rocketeers inside and twice as many mounted guns and rocket launchers. Out of the three, it was the most capable of holding the line by itself, but that was against a minor incursion, not an entire corps of Nod troops pouring through the wall’s open wounds. As soon as they were finished slagging the other two bunkers, the Black Hand focused their fire on the center one and its shields shut down. They paid dearly for it though as .50 caliber fire ripped through them, killing half of them and injuring the rest. For a moment, it looked like they might hold, but that was before armored changelings surged forward with unbelievable zeal.

The GDI troopers didn’t stand a chance as liquid tiberium coated their unshielded bunker and splattered all over their uniforms, armor, and fur. Seconds later, they all started exhibiting the signs of virulent tiberium infestation and were thrashing uncontrollably on the ground as the crystal converted their bodies into more of the crystal. Luckily for them, a flame tank turned the building to a molten pile of melted armor, weapons, and brass before the rapidly-forming crystals punctured their organs and drove them into unending pain.

Behind the bunker, the fireteams providing overwatch in the apartment complex were preparing to hold the line and hopefully hurt those tanks with the what rocket launchers they had. They never got the chance though as before they could line up the shot, the tanks disappeared into the smoke they had created and in their place a griffon walked out as if there wasn’t even a battle taking place. Bullets impacted around him for a moment before Baltimare’s defenders noticed that at the moment he wasn’t using the light-machine gun in his talons.

He was covered beak to tail in armor that was colored Nod’s signature black, and instead of a cape like Black Hand members had, his wings were dyed black to match. His helmet was taller than necessary, but given how loud his speech was, the GDI ponies watching figured that the extra “eyes” on it housed speakers so he could say what was needed over the din created in combat.

“Brothers! Sisters! Take this city in the Name of your Prophet! Your Messiah! Show these infidels the true power of tiberium! The true power and righteousness of our cause!”

Had it just been one griffon shouting out what every pony in GDI viewed as cultish bullshit, it wouldn’t have been very intimidating, but what followed caused even the most colorfully colored ponies in the city to grow pale. The entire army answered the Confessor standing before them, and in other sections of the city as well, as one, before charging the already beleaguered GDI line.

“Peace through Power!”

“In the Name of Kane!” the Confessor cheered as he reared up on his hind legs, flared his wings, and raised his rifle in the air like a club.

“For the Messiah!” the army screamed back.

“In the Name of Kane!”

“For the one true Prophet!”

“In the Name of Kane! TAKE! THIS!! CITY!!!”
_________

Apple Bloom, Jet Deck, and the rest of the ZONE trainee class were all woken up with a start thanks to alarms going off all over the base along with distant explosions. The 50 trainees dropped out of their racks onto the floor and lined up as per the usual for the ‘midnight drills’ that their drill instructors liked to pull on them. Their first clue that something was off however came when their lead instructor burst into the squad bay with her full combat kit on and rifle at the ready.

“Report to the armor facility and defend it! Those Noddie bastards are launching a full-scale attack on the city and we think they already have troops inside the wall! Move by squad and stay alive, damnit! The other instructors and I are gonna join the main line and give you time to barricade yourselves in! Defend the armor and if you can’t hold them back, destroy it!” she barked before sprinting towards the door. She hadn’t even made it to that door when the platoon sprang to life, grabbed their tags, and started a sprint towards the training facility where their armor was being kept.

Over the past month, if they hadn’t been training their bodies to withstand some of the strain that came with wearing the armor, they had been in the Lt. Colonel Gerard Bridger Memorial Armor Testing Facility training in the suits they were going to use to kill Nod by the hundreds once their training ended in three more months. Like most of the military buildings in Baltimare, it broke from the initial GDI standard of safety and was armored like a Mammoth tank. Before the war had started, General Stalwart Shield had made sure everything built in her city was built to withstand bombardment from the air, from naval forces, and artillery as well as an attack because of its proximity to the Griffon Empire.

This was already working to GDI’s advantage as Nod artillery shells overloaded the magical shields that most of the military structures had and impacted the buildings themselves. Most shrugged the impacts off, though there were still plenty of bunkers and other buildings that were instantly gutted by the tiberium-tipped missiles fired from Nod stealth tanks and Hydra missile launch platforms. Apple Bloom kept running with the rather morbid thought about how similar this barrage was to her last engagement, Jet Deck on the other hand seemed to have trouble keeping it together as they kept galloping.

“Jet! Y’all alright there pardner?” she shouted over the cacophony caused by GDI and Nod artillery trading blows.

“Hydra fire. It… they chased us off with Hydra fire! Everywhere! Firing and screams!” he replied, his voice getting significantly more frantic as he picked up his pace. Apple Bloom couldn’t do much more than follow and keep up as they continued the trek to where they were going to hold the line come Tartarus or high water. Once the platoon arrived, each squad leader except for Jet Deck got their respective squads together and began drawing their weapons. Apple Bloom delegated the task of overseeing this to one of the unicorns in her squad, Funny Cide, before going up to her squad leader. He was sitting in a corner, forelegs over his head and he was shaking uncontrollably while muttering under his breath fervently like a priest trying to exorcise a malevolent spirit.

“Jet…?” she muttered quietly, though he didn’t reply, “Jet Deck…? Come on Jetty, talk to me.”

“Hydras… everywhere…” he sputtered back before he felt the former farm mare grab his head and look him in the eyes. Through a well practiced ritual that they’d formed after his first ‘nightmaric episode’ had woken them both up in the middle of the night nearly a month ago, he stared back and listened to whatever she said. Sometimes it was how he was safe and sound, sometimes it was how he was a survivor, and sometimes it was even just her talking about her family or simply herself.

She’d talk during those nights when memories were too vivid to simply ignore. When they took over and he couldn’t help it. Memories of him running for his life as Nod Hydras fired into the routed GDI troopers, how Harpy-class attack helicopters strafed ponies as they ran to safety, and how he barely pulled through after one lucky Hydra missile landed nearby, sending him flying, giving him his signature scars, and killing his twin brother who he’d enlisted with.

Apple Bloom kept speaking on quietly, calmly, and in the most soothing tone she could muster until his nerves calmed down, his breathing returned to normal, and his body stopped shaking.

“T… thanks, AB…” he whispered with a small sigh, “Sorry about that, I don’t usually snap under pressure, you know that, but…”

“Hydras, I know. I had… flashbacks on the way here, too. Now come on Squad Leader, we need to grab our gear and show these buckers why you don’t mess with the Apples or The Fightin’ 400 Survivors.”
_________

The gate had fallen. Nod was pouring into the city by the company, and from what the defenders could see, they had no intention of stopping. Buildings were catching fire as fast as the mob of flamers could move, and once they’d made it through, the Black Hand units spread, integrating themselves with other, less valuable units.

“Lieutenant!” a Confessor shouted. “Give these heathens a tiberium shower!”

“With pleasure!” the Changeling at the head of a Tiberium Trooper platoon replied, his voice somewhat manic.

The changelings seemed to have a better sense of where to spray their dispensers than anyone else. Floes of green were beginning to slip into the streets from several of the buildings that hadn’t been set ablaze, and the screams that came from those were some of the most horrific that any GDI troops had ever heard.

In later days, the GDI would try and make use of what had been done by the Tiberium troops as propaganda: ‘they don’t care who they kill, who they mutate.’ The truth of the Baltimare assault was that the changelings were very pointedly searching out GDI officers and command bunkers to hose down with their weaponry.

Fanatics began to spread through the city as well, corralled and led by their own righteous thoughts, filtering through the lines, pushing harder than any other troops even when out of earshot of the Confessors. More than once, a bunker found its fate sealed by a throat-rending shout of fanaticism, another explosion adding to the choir of war, another smoke cloud dotting the sky soon after the call.

More than once during the push, the newer tanks crushed their way through a GDI-occupied building’s front wall and filled the inside with fire. Once all inside were dead, they would simply drive through the opposite wall once it was weakened and watch it crumble into a massive pile of flaming debris.

For the most part, Nod was advancing relatively unopposed. GDI had never faced the Flame Tanks, or Nod in general, inside a Blue Zone and urban combat was barely covered in GDI’s boot camps and combat training. Even then, it was mostly as a “what-if” exercise more than something serious given how Nod consistently kept to where they had the most room to maneuver, the Yellow Zones.

What Nod hadn’t accounted for was Stalwart Shield’s paranoia and how her training encouraged it. After Nod had risen publically, she had her Predator crews run through drills monthly within the city on everything from how to properly support a garrisoned structure to how to use buildings as expendable cover that could be fired through.

One particular Predator crew took this training to heart and as one of the lead flame tanks crashed through a building, a window on the apartment complex in front of it exploded outward and a 150mm shell hit the flame tank’s left napalm tank. The round penetrated instantly, coating the Nod vehicle and every Nod soldier caught in the open within a 50 meter radius with ignited napalm.

“Target is mission-killed.” the tank commander of the Predator that had fired announced, “Falling back to Phase Line Charlie.”
_________

Another laser sizzled by Apple Bloom’s head, singeing part of her mane just from the proximity of the beam and causing her to drop her head down behind the shielded armor barricade that her fireteam had helped put up. All around the armor facility, windows had been covered with built-in blast shutters, doors had been closed and reinforced with armor and magic, and barricades had been erected at various ‘phase lines’ that the facility’s commanding staff NCO had briefed the ZONE platoon on.

Apple Bloom and Jet Deck both traded nods as Funny Cide threw up a shield and the two earth ponies popped up, Apple Bloom with a GD-1 semi-automatic rifle and Jet Deck with a GD-14b SAW. Both earth ponies opened up on the Nod soldiers down the hallway, starting with the tall-helmeted Confessor leading the charge. The griffon’s armor held up against the barrage for a few seconds before Jet Deck’s SAW punched through his paws, causing him to faceplant into the metal flooring. Apple Bloom followed up by pumping a three-round burst into his head before picking out a new target on her HUD that her saddle immediately engaged. After a few more seconds of firing, they dipped back down, Funny Cide dropped the shield, and another unicorn, the staff NCO in command of the armor facility, lobbed a grenade down the hallways. The following explosion would have made everypony deaf if GDI helmets didn’t come standard issue with ear protection.

“We’re being pushed back at all phase lines…” Gunnery Sergeant Gold Smith muttered as his EVA kept updating his earpiece. “All forces, break contact and fall back to the armor bunker, we’ll reconstitute and hold out as long as we can.”

“Gunny?” Jet Deck asked with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“I know there are two phase lines between here and the armory, but we need time to regroup properly and give everypony time to recover. Nod will take a long time cutting through the doors and getting past the turrets deeper in the facility, time we can use to get the mounted weapons ready.”

“Dibs on a .30 cal!” Apple Bloom interjected, drawing all eyes to her and the two grenades she was currently tossing up and down in her hooves.

“Did you…?” Gold Smith started before she nodded and tossed a frag grenade and a smoke grenade over the barricade towards the still oncoming Nod horde. By the time that laser and small arms fire started pouring down the hall at the GDI team again, the blast doors were already closing behind Apple Bloom and were taking the brunt of the barrage. Regrettably, one round got through and nailed Funny Cide in the back of the head and sent her to the ground, dead before she even landed.

“Buck!” Gold Smith barked as blood poured out of the back of her helmet. Apple Bloom didn’t miss a beat and was already lifting her onto her back before continuing her gallop down the hallway. Gold Smith didn’t question the gesture, GDI had a long-standing tradition of “No Pony Left Behind” regardless of status, sometimes to a fault. Most of the survivors of the Blueblood Massacre suffered even worse injuries than they’d already received while recovering their fallen comrades or other injured ponies.

“Keep goin’! I won’t drop’er!” Apple Bloom practically ordered while Jet Deck started drifting closer to the mare. He backed off immediately as their trip through the hallways continued, armored doors slamming shut behind them every step of the way. As each door sealed, small dome-shaped turrets popped out of the walls in various segments and prepared to hold off any and every cut or burn through the doors and as the last door between Nod and prototype ZONE trooper armor sealed itself, 47 ZONE trainees and 35 facility personnel dug in and prepared to deny Kane his prize.
___________

Three Predators fired down the street, followed by a Mammoth adding to the volley with gorgeous results; two Ursas were immediately taken out of action, a Flame Tank detonating immediately afterwards upon being hit by the Mammoth’s barrage and an entire squad of Tiberium Troopers being caught in the blast. The counter-fire began immediately with lasers lancing out through the smoking hulks and impacting the the front armor of the lead Predator, heating the armor but not melting it. A Confessor jumped out from the smoke as soon as the laser fire slackened, bearing a rocket launcher. Before the lead tank could turn him into a cloud of blood and feathers, he managed to fire a rocket that impacted and shattered its left tread.

“Buck!” the gunner barked before his targeting computer let off a warning beep and blood started pouring into the cabin, “... oh buck me sideways.”

Another Confessor had run forward after his colleague had been killed and with deadly precision, put a burst of rifle fire through the head of the pony manning the anti-infantry turret. His body fell in through the cupola and before anypony could even properly react to it, an Ursa round hit the weakened armor and pulped the driver. Most of him was splattered across the gunner who once again swore colorfully.

With the lead tank down, the rest did their best to pick up the slack with the Mammoth slowly reversing to a different pre-determined holding position and the two remaining Predators trying to hold back the tide of Nod soldiers and armor. Despite the casualties they inflicted upon the wave of Nod forces, the dwindling GDI defenders were unable to staunch the flow. Confessors chanted, soldiers called back, and GDI troops all over the city screamed at them to shut up before gunning them down or taking a bullet themselves as the tanks continued to expend their ammunition as fast as they could.

“We can’t hold much longer! Fall back to Phase Line Delta!” the Mammoth tank commander ordered, “Infantry, pull back by squad! Tanks, hold the line and pull back by volley once they’re across the street!”
________

Unlike in Macintosh Hills and the opening volleys of the Tiberium War, the ponies fighting to keep Nod out of Baltimare were prepared. When the war began, GDI was as a whole untested, unprepared, and unable to even fathom an organized response to what they represented. The Changelings were still fighting each other, the Griffons were broken and on their way to extinction, and the Diamond Dogs were already dead and gone with their numbers barely breaking the thousands. Kane changed all that and it took nearly 3 months for them to even mount a proper counter attack. Ponies who survived through that were jaded, disgruntled, and despite holding a titanic grudge against their commanders for their overwhelming incompetence, they held a bigger grudge against Nod for killing their friends and family.

This resolve slowly found its way into almost every pony in the GDI Armed Forces and by the time that The Battle of Baltimare took place, Nod found themselves fighting a professional, determined fighting force that Ironsides, and in a rather twisted way Kane, had helped forge out of blood and fire.

All across the city, where a pre-war trooper would have turned and ran, every pony defending the fortress-city, bastion of GDI power, held to their last breaths. If a flame tank or Black Hand squad wasn’t available to burn out a building and Tiberium Troopers were nowhere to be found, Nod soldiers had to assault them the conventional way. In many of those fights, GDI held. Rocket troopers conducted ambushes on Nod armor as many times as Nod, and in straight-up fights where a Predator had proper flanking support, GDI held the line. Despite all this though, Nod’s numbers were too much to bear.

Where one platoon would face their GDI equal and fall, three more could try again and succeed in killing them all or driving them back. Nod bodies continued to pile up and thanks to the Confessors whipping the entire army into a frenzy that was only enhanced by the Black Hand presence, no one had any qualms with climbing over their dead friends if it meant getting to kill an infidel. In the name of Kane.
_______

Hyperion cringed slightly when he saw the Flame Tank in front of his go up in a ball of flame. They were losing tanks faster than he would like, but then again that’s what reserves were for. With an annoyed sigh he delegated another tank unit to take the lead as his pulled to the side to engage the condominium that had just opened fire on him.

“Optimistic bastards.” he muttered before the Purifying Flame turned the first floor into melted beams and screaming ponies. Before he could pick another target though, his EVA began chirping again.

“This is Hyperion.” he said before opening his eyes and grinning at the female changeling on the small screen.

“Hype, it’s Mantis. Are you taking a look at what Seth is doing?” she replied, but unlike normal it had a bit of a vibration to it, almost like her voice was buzzing.

“Why don’t you tell me? He seems to not have my frequency.”

“Micromanaging the entire field. I had my nerds check up on his command history and he’s giving commands to individual fireteams. It’s like he thinks he’s in a damned video game!”

“Well my dear, the more he focuses on micromanaging the small things, the more leeway we have to work however we want. He wants to point and click his way to victory one squad at a time? Then he can be my guest.”

“You’re taking this surprisingly well, Hype.”

“Let that idiot play his command games and we’ll take care of successfully conquering this city. Keep pushing up the left flank and take every liberty you want. The more we get done before he tries to order us around again, the better… now then, EVA, get me a flight of Harpies for support.”

“Unable to comply.” the AI stated.

“Clarify.”

“All air units have been ordered by Lieutenant General Trenderhoof to intercept the Kodiak GDA Discord before it reaches optimal bombardment range.”

“HE WHAT!?”
___________

“They’re cutting through the doors and we’re almost out of ammo for the .30s. Somepony get me the armor detonation codes!” Gold Smith ordered.

“What!?” came a startled reply from half of the trainee class, with Jet Deck’s voice overshadowing them all.

“Why!?” the young corporal continued.

“Orders are orders, son, deny Nod all technological advances housed in this bunker regardless of losses to GDI. We can’t risk Nod getting their hands on this armor.”

“So we’re just going to lay down and die?” Apple Bloom added in. “We didn’t spend a month trainin’.... we didn’t survive this long just to say buck it and roll over for those bastards!”

“You’re not using the armor if that’s what you’re suggesting. Orders are destroy it if we can’t hold the facility and as you can plainly see, we cannot hold this bucking facility.”

“Buck. That.” Jet Deck spat before galloping to his set of armor. “How many ponies left are technicians!?”

“I am.” one of the smaller unicorns answered. Before Gold Smith could even protest, she punched up the console next to Jet’s armor station and gestured for him to get in.

“Sydney, what the hay are you doing?” the gunnery sergeant asked with as much steel in his voice as he could muster.

“I’m a civilian, not a soldier. I’d rather not see years of ZOCOM’s work be burned as I die at Nod’s hands if there’s a chance of us surviving.” she stated matter-of-factly before looking back at the screen and booting up the armoring process. “Anypony else that can run these stations help me arm the trainees. They’re our best chance of making it out of this alive.”

Gold Smith growled as the trainees continued to armor up and the few technicians who were left alive helped them do so. Had it just been Jet Deck and Doctor Sydney Mobius, he would have been able to use his magic to levitate and subdue them both, but with a full platoon’s worth of troopers getting ready for battle, all he could do was watch. A few minutes later, a fully armored Jet Deck walked up to the old gunny and now towered over him.

“Gunny, Doctor Mobius over there is uploading the detonation codes into each armor suit, we won’t let Nod take us alive in these. I promise.”

“... I’ll get the rest of us ‘regular’ ponies into the panic room as soon as you are all ready… give’m hell, Corporal. Make them pay for the First Armored.”

Jet Deck gave an unseen smile behind his armored helmet and reflective visor as the dual .50 caliber heavy machine guns on his armor extended from their carrying position, very audibly took off the safeties, and his speakers came back on so he could mutter out his reply.

“Memory and Vengeance.”
__________

“All units, continue the push into the base. Artillery, focus your fire on the headquarters building until someone screams danger close. Air cover, move back in over the bay and engage those carriers.” Trenderhoof ordered frantically. Despite the battle finally turning fully in Nod’s favor, he was still jittery from the multiple close calls that his front lines had been through. Lieutenant Colonel Hyperion rolled his eyes again at the mass of orders because once again, “The Illustrious Seth” had used an open channel for the whole message instead of switching to each section, as was the proper Nod communications protocol.

“Hyperion, how’s progress on the armor facility?” Trenderhoof’s voice cut in once more.

“We’re still trying to take it, we have most of the building but GDI already destroyed anything useful before we could arrive. Some of their soldiers are holed up in a bunker beneath the building and my Black Hand are cutting through as we speak.” the older stallion replied with a tone that dripped well justified arrogance.

“Tell them to hurry up, Kane wants an update on that project and if he doesn’t get it soon, I’ll level that building with your troops still inside of it.” Seth barked back, though his reply didn’t have nearly as much bite as he had hoped given the deadpan response that Hyperion began to give.

“If you do, I’m willing to bet that Sister Pinkie Pie will have your head, so I suggest you wait until my troops secure the…. facility…?” Hyperion started before his EVA updated and showed almost the entire force attacking the armor facility go to red.

“EVA, confirm your readings on grid 2-Alpha.”

“Confirming… confirmed.” the synthetic voice replied, this time with all the troop markers within the fenced perimeter of the armor facility now marked red for KIA.

“That can’t be right.”

“Hyperion, why did a whole Black Hand company just drop off my roster!?” Trenderhoof asked.

“Captain Silverstar, what’s going on out there?”

“GDI soldiers in new armor! They’re tearing right throu-” the mustached former sheriff of Appleoosa replied before an explosion cut him off and the line went dead.
_________

“GDI soldiers in new armor! They’re tearing right throu-” was all Captain Silverstar managed to get out before a flame tank to his left detonated and sent Nod soldiers flying in all directions. The lucky ones died in the explosion, the rest were left to try and put out the fires on themselves thanks to the massive tanks of flame fuel being thrown about by the explosion. Part of the volatile liquid landed on Silverstar’s helmet and the electronics inside burned out from the heat immediately. He tossed it aside and checked his mane and mustache for any singed bits before letting out a short-lived sigh of relief. Before he could even ask who was still alive a pony shot out of the wreckage of the Flame Tank unscatched by the fires around him and into the sky before landing in front of Silverstar and sending him straight on his flank.

The pony standing unflinching before him was covered ear to hoof, muzzle to tail, in gun-metal grey armor that had an unforgiving black visor where his eyes should have been. On his haunches and shoulders were two small, armored jump-jets to supplement the full jetpack built into the armor’s back. The armor itself was bulky, had angular plating, and attached to the pony’s sides were two .50 caliber guns that were both trained on Silverstar’s exposed head. Silverstar was dumbfounded at the sight, unable to really function as he continued the staring contest with this walking tank of a pony and unable to really see that well with light from Celestia’s sunrise coming up in the distance.

Both ponies stopped the staredown only when laser fire lanced across the battlefield from the GDI trooper’s left and impacted a magical barrier a few inches from his head. He replied with practiced ease and pumped a trio of bursts into the offending changeling who promptly exploded into a green mist that became a similarly colored puddle of chitin and limbs.

“What ar-” Silverstar started before Jet Deck sighted in and blew him away as well.

“How’re you holding up, AB?”

“Squad and armor are green across tha board and we’re at ninedee percent ammo. Ready for another jump?”

“Damn right. Charlie Squad, form up in fireteams and prepare for synchronized jump!”

Apple Bloom and her team formed up on Jet Deck with the other teams forming up on hers. Once Jet had confirmation that they were all ready, the onboard EVAs in their armor synced up and Charlie Squad of the ZONE Trooper Platoon Alpha-001 jumped towards the nearest GDI unit, a single, powerful statement blasting out on their armor speakers and any GDI frequency in range.

“Wolverines are on the move!”

The Battle of Baltimare - Part 2: Mammoth's Tusk

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Chapter XI - The Battle of Baltimare

Part 2 - Mammoth’s Tusk

“Phillydelphia uplink successful. Welcome back General.”

“EVA, ETA until the Discord and Phillydelphia are able to provide support for our forces in Baltimare.”

“GDA Phillydelphia will be within range in two hours, thirteen minutes, and nineteen seconds. GDA Discord is being significantly delayed by a massed Nod air attack. Estimated time of arrival between two and three hours. Update: Captain Windcatcher of the GDA Phillydelphia requests authorization to support the GDA Discord.”

“Granted. The Phillydelphia is to launch six of its squadrons in support of the Discord and hold four for later deployment in support of Baltimare.”

As the EVA unit acknowledged the order, General Stalwart Shield took a second to look at the stream of incoming reports regarding the Zone Trooper platoon calling itself “Wolverines”. So far they had secured Horsehoe Bay’s naval facilities and the entire perimeter of Camp Reckless, with both areas currently being reoccupied and secured by GDI units. As a single, thunderous force they stabilized whichever section of the front they appeared at and then moved to the next one.

A satisfied grin on her muzzle, Stalwart Shield proceeded to turn to another monitor detailing the combat capabilities of a single Mammoth tank.

“EVA, ready my chariot.”
________

“I say again, this is Angel Bunny requesting any backup we can get! Nod’s pushing our flank and we can’t hold it much longer. Bravo platoon is down to three mission capable Predators, Alpha down to two, and I have Black Hand trying to take my position!”

“Angel Bunny, this is Zone Trooper squad Alpha, moving to assist. Have your support infantry start laying down suppressing fire while we hit Nod from behind.” came a stoic reply.

The stallion sitting in the command seat of the Angel Bunny didn’t question the order and relayed the information to everypony on the flank. After a few moments of the EVAs coordinating their actions, what few GDI soldiers were left began popping up in pairs, firing at the advancing Black Hand and the regular Nod soldiers that Confessors were whipping into another battle frenzy. Nearly 10 more minutes passed and the tank commander was about to open up another channel when his radar showed 4 Friendly IFF tags fly past. Any trooper on the ground only saw four contrails fly overhead between the buildings.

At first, the Black Hand griffons thought it was a missile strike from a reserve artillery unit, but there was no shockwave, no explosions, not even a plume of smoke rising from the ground behind the line. All they heard after a muffled impact was heavy machine gun fire and the screams of their more expendable brethren.

“Someone tell me what’s going on back there!” a Black Hand Brother-Captain ordered, practically screaming it over the radio.

“Heavily armored GDI soldiers are hitting the rear! It’s those bastards that took out Silverhoof’s un- buck! Fall back behind cov-urk!”

“Lieutenant? LT? Answer me!” the griffon barked, getting static and more screams in return. It was only their overpowering volume that made him realize they stopped coming from the radio and were instead coming from his troops.The griffon barely managed to get one good look at what was attacking as a gunmetal grey equine form crashed a few meters ahead of him before launching into battle once more and leaving behind a small beeping canister just a few meters from the Black Hand fireteam leader.

“Oh buck.”
________

“Basilisk platoon, move into the building next block and garrison it to provide cover fire!”

“Seth.”

“What do you MEAN Basilisk is gone?! Fine, Cerberus acknowledge previous orders.”

“Seth.”

“All air wings, report in. I want every bird covering our advance now that we got unknowns giving us trouble.”

“Seth!”

“Air wings, please report in. Air wings? Ah buck it. Flame tanks, focus fire on the unknown targets. Disregard potential friendly fire, just take those bastards ou-”

“HEY HOOFY!”

“The buck did you just call me!? I don’t care if you’re Black Hand or not, you will respect the chain of com-”

“You’re relieved of Command, I already have a squad of Brothers going to arrest you for battlefield incompetence and inability to command. I’m assuming control of this situation and we are getting the blood-soaked-heathen-Tartarus out of this city.”

“Mutiny! Betrayal! I’ll see you burn for this, Hyperion! I’LL SEE YOU B-HRK!” Trenderhoof spat back before he felt a griffon grip his throat.

“Did I mention that the ‘security’ detail I placed around you for your ‘safety’ was more meant for the security of this mission? I don’t think I did. Brother, go ahead and ex-” Hyperion started before the feed started bleeding static and the angle shifted from Trenderhoof’s command post to an extraordinarily ordinary rivet on the floor and a table leg. Before Hyperion could give the order again, the griffon holding onto Seth’s neck was knocked off his claws into the camera’s view with the bumbling unicorn following him as three massive explosions ripped through the air.

“CELESTIA’S FLANK WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT!?”
________

As Hyperion was busy trying to rip Trenderhoof a new hole to soil himself with, GDI’s fortunes continued to improve in the current battle. What was left of Nod’s air cover was in full retreat towards the relative safety of Nod anti-aircraft weaponry, but only a small fraction of them actually made it anywhere near friendly lines to regroup.

Like a vengeful god showing itself to the world below, the GDA Discord burst through the thick morning cloud cover customary of a coastal town with point defense batteries blazing. All around her hull, Orcas swarmed out to smite anything that dare even look at the Kodiak-class carrier and the rear of the Nod line soon found itself under heavy fire from multiple squadrons of the GDI fighters. In similar fashion, the Phillydelphia broke through the cloud cover and her guns reached optimal firing range of the Brotherhood troops still outside what was left of the Baltimare Tiberium Containment Wall.

16-inch guns opened up with pinpoint precision, courtesy of unicorn magical targetting technology put to its best use. Three separate Nod soldiers simply ceased to be as the railguns’ shells found their mark, hitting each pony square on the head and then detonating with such force that the everything within a mile of the impact zones shuddered. Buildings groaned, Nod soldiers were knocked off balance and in some cases thrown to the ground. Tanks too close to the detonations were knocked on their sides, flipped over, and a few were even imbedded in the wall.

One Ursa in particular was at the perfect distance from the explosion to be thrown through a weakened portion of the wall and into a tall office building. As the flaming wreck of the tank hurtled through the second floor of the building, smashing straight through support beams and quite a few Nod soldiers that had garrisoned the structure, the structure began to crumble on top of its inhabitants.

As the former office headquarters of FlimFlam International collapsed on top of two platoons of Nod infantry, the Zone Troopers who had been advancing on the building jumped away, heading towards yet another call for help in the ruined city.
_________

Boot Camp was supposed to be a somewhat controlled, halfway decent environment for GDI Marines to learn how to be marines in a moderately safe training environment. Camp Reckless was chosen early on even before the war started as a new training location due to its proximity to the ocean, proximity to GDIMC Command, and because it was safe from any Nod attack. That all changed when Kane told Trenderhoof to take Baltimare and everything in and around it.

Silver Spoon was not expecting to be getting live rounds, combat-ready battle armor, or a helmet that wasn’t a training tool. Instead, she was fully armed, armored, and holding position on a berm at the end of a rifle shooting range with the rest of her recruit training company. Once the attack had made it inside the walls, every recruit in the fourth phase of training, also known as “Combat School”, was given weapons, armor and sent to non-critical locations where they could post up behind good cover and hold the line under the extremely close gaze of their drill instructors.

Since they had arrived, Nod had rushed the berm no less than 5 times. and the recruits were barely holding on. The only reason no pony had cut and ran was because they were more afraid of their Drill Instructors than the ability of the Nod soldiers currently massing at their flanks.

“Oh this is not good….” Silver Spoon muttered as her HUD highlighted a squad of Black Hand moving in. Along with them, Confessors. A lot of Confessors. “If only Diamond were here…”

“Hold the line, recruits!” one of the instructors barked, “You’ve got Kane so scared he had to send in the big guns! Black Hand just means that their regular soldiers are too afraid to fight you! Give’em hell, Marines!”

“Aye aye, ma’am!” they all called out in unison, the morale boost of not being called a recruit for once kicking in immediately. While she hated them, Spoon had to admit that the DIs were damn good at motivating a group in a pinch. She almost felt like they’d pull this off before another recruit let out a terrified yelp and started panicking.

“Flame tank! FLAME TANK!”

“Oh buck me…” the grey earth pony whispered, only to find her jaw drop when the tank exploded.

The explosion and successive spread of the pressurized napalm in its tanks covered most of the Confessors and those around them. The Black Hand seemed to have anticipated this and were airborne by the time the explosion rippled out, only sending one back to the ground. The other four however, were taken to the ground violently by what appeared to be missiles, at least until Silver Spoon got a good look at the one that landed literally right in front of her position.

A Zone Trooper was bucking the ever-loving life out of that griffon, her augmented limbs cracking the black armor after a few hits, and then punching through before the dual .50 guns on her side blasted his head away. The view was awe-inspiring for the recruits given it was similar to what was happening to the other three Black Hand who had been tackled out of the sky by these power-armored knights.

The formerly snooty Earth pony mare on the other hand, took notice because of what was written on the trooper’s armor. Stenciled in perfectly right where the cutie mark should be, was her rank, her designation as a Zone Trooper, and the name “Apple Bloom” with what she recognized was the old Cutie Mark Crusader emblem in the background.

“No way…”

And then Apple Bloom looked at her.

“No way.”

“Sergeant!” Apple Bloom called out to the Drill Instructor standing right behind Silver Spoon, “Zone Troopers are pushing up, if you think these kids can handle it, tell your CO to send platoons to cover the roads!”

“You got it!” she replied, giving a respectful nod before sending one of her recruits to go inform Captain Thunderstruck of the plan. Silver Spoon on the other hand, was still dumbfounded and frozen in place. Here was a pony that she and Diamond Tiara had taken way too much pleasure in bullying, antagonizing, harassing, and all around just being grade-a bitches to, and now she was pulling her flank out of the fire, literally. An earth pony blank flank until her late teens was now one of the most powerful infantry fighting forces in all of GDI while Silver Spoon’s closest friend was six feet under, feeding the worms.

“I need to be a Zone Trooper.” she muttered to herself as four pony-sized missiles bounded and rocketed off towards the enemy. “I have to be one, someday.”
__________

“AB, squad on your left, 200 meters. Wanna take them out?” Jet Deck asked over a private channel. For the most part, the two talked only to themselves unless the EVAs decided that it was necessary for full-squad communication.

“Negative, Bravo squad has’em. I was thinkin’ we could go after that point I just marked on yer HUD.” the farm mare replied with an unseen grin.

“Grid 254 by 134…. is that… no bucking way. Hydra battery inside the city?”

“My guess is they were tryin’ta get better shots at the bay without the wall gittin’ in the way. Wanna go show Nod why they shouldn’t buck with ya?”

“You bet your perfect flank I do.” he whispered.

“What was that?” Apple Bloom asked, her head snapping over to look at him as they continued galloping and jumping across roofs.

“I said you bet your flank I do!” he corrected without missing a beat, cursing the EVA for enhancing what was supposed to be an unintelligible whisper.

“Then let’s jet!”
__________

“By your wise yet humble command, a general retreat has been issued for all Nod forces in the Baltimare Blue Zone.”

Hyperion’s position as a passenger onboard his personal command-variant Ursa was not exactly the safest place to be given the current stream of GDI Orcas bombing any and every Nod unit they could target. The continuous bombardment from the two Kodiaks didn’t make it any safer given their ability to disable his vehicle without even having to hit him directly. And yet, through a cruel twist of fate, it was also the safest place to be as he was protected from the apparently never-ending shower of shrapnel and debris being created by all the explosions taking place around and amongst his forces. Fate was a bit of a bitch.

“EVA, are any air units available to provide us with cover from those bucking Orcas?” he asked, although he believed he already knew the answer to that. The fact that he was right just made him angrier.

“Great Brother-Colonel, I regret to inform you that only 10% of our original air units were able to return to our mobile refueling stations. Only 13% of those are fit for combat.”
___________

Brother-Sergeant Bluefeather of the Black Hand valiantly led his squad of elite troopers in an orderly retreat, providing cover fire with his laser weaponry for any Nod units scrambling to get out of the damned city. However, as an command-variant Ursa tank rolled by on its way out of the city, through his helmet and the deafening sounds of explosions and combat around him, he could have sworn he heard some rather colorful and creative swearing coming from the retreating vehicle.
___________

Breathing deeply is usually recommended as a way to settle down a bit when deeply stressed or frustrated. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t work at all for Hyperion. “Fine then, “ he said, tapping his hoof over a few sections of his holographic map to properly display their current evacuation route, “patch me through to Mantis if she’s still alive.”

“By your command, noble sir.” came the reply, using one of his many customized dialogue strings as it always did. A few seconds later a static-saturated holo-screen manifested itself.

“Hyp-... ow nice of you to ca-... -ould really use some help ov-... ere.”

“Mantis, why are your tiberium troopers not following the general retreat?” he asked sternly, monitoring Mantis’ force on the southeastern sector of the city as it moved further south to the gate.

“They’re covering our retreat by making the rear too contaminated for GDI’s forces to follow directly, oh great commander.” replied Mantis, her changeling tone betraying her focus on other matters besides Hyperion’s call.

“Cancel that order and have them fall back with the rest. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care if your hose-bugs get killed or not but they better be behind the flame tanks when they reach points Darius and Cerberus if they want to be useful later, or else they’ll be trapped between GDI’s armor and a bunch of burning buildings.”

“Oh really now? You don’t seem as concerned about your own militia units.”

“Their confessors are some of the most fanatical, if unintelligent, members of the Black Hand. They won’t allow retreat and are probably calling me a coward, traitor, heretic, yadda yadda yadda right now. They’re not letting their units retreat, which serves us just fine. If anything, they can make themselves useful one last time and clog the treads of a Mammoth with their corpses or something. Maybe get lucky and drown a squad of GDI troops in their blood.”

“... That’s cold, Hyperion.” came Mantis’ reply, her voice losing its timber for a moment out of apparent stunned shock.

"It's math. They're cheaper to field than the Flame Tanks, Black Hand, and even your precious little tib troopers and thus easier to replace. Please keep in mind that your hose-bugs are trained regular-army specialists while militia are merely armed rabble on steroids with a sociopathic griffon barking religious fanaticism at gunpoint. My primary concern is getting those of most value out of the city, out of Kodiak and Orca range, and back to Marajevo."

“Whatever you say boss. Just hope you don’t see me as merely a price-tag either.”

“My dear Mantis, how could you think that?” the stallion replied, a hint of humor reaching his voice, “You’re purely sentimental value, I can’t put a proper price-tag on that and thus you’re on the top of my list of get the buck out of this city alive, damnit.”

“You’re just saying that because I modified your EVA.”

“And because I need a proper XO after this is over so move your thorax already. Turn into a dog or something and get the buck out of this bloody city!”

Ending the feed, Hyperion turned back to his map display. What it showed to have just popped up a few block behind him left his blood cold. In a swift motion he stood on his rear hooves, opened the cupola, stood upright with his upper half sticking out of the tank with a pair of binoculars on his front hooves, and was suddenly left sprawled on the top of the Ursa. The gust of wind left behind by two massive objects passing by his sides knocked him over the top of the tank’s turret, with the massive explosion ahead of his vehicle confirming his worst fears. A Mammoth had just gotten on his tail.

Throwing himself down into the tank, he kicked the driver in the back. “DRIVER, INTO THE SIDESTREET! NOW!”
___________

“EVA, status report.” General Shield ordered.

“Nod forces in full retreat, Zone Trooper detachments are currently rallying all available units to make a final push. Infantry and armor are massing on the main breach of western containment gate A-01, Recruit Companies Kilo, Charlie, and Indigo are holding all major roadways. Orders ma’am?”

“Orders stay the same, we push forward and no one stops until the Brotherhood is out of my Celestia-damn city.” Stalwart Shield said, both to the EVA and over a general channel for morale purposes. Once the message was out, she settled back into the command chair of her personal Mammoth tank, the Adeptus Astartes. With another roar, the two main cannons opened up and turned an Ursa tank into three pieces of wreckage that each resembled more a burnt cheese sandwich than parts of a vehicle before promptly rolling over them.

“Target destroyed, but the other tank took cover and we’ve lost target lock. Friendly infantry asking permission to engage.” the tank commander stated.

“Have them hold back and not get ahead of the tanks. Coaxials, open up and clear the way for the grunts.” Shield ordered calmly as she brought up one of the tank’s hull cameras up on her helmet HUD. She could barely feel the slight vibration of the machine guns on top of the Mammoth peppering anywhere that there happened to be Nod troops running, hiding, or a mixture of both. Pink mist was all that was left wherever the ponies of the Brotherhood had made their last stand, green mist in the case of the Changelings, and much to Stalwart Shield’s morbid amusement, a Black Hand griffon disappeared in a somewhat moist puff of feathers.
___________

At the beginning of the Battle of Baltimare, Nod had attacked with a corps-sized force of 50,000 strong with relevant armor, light vehicles, artillery, and air support. GDI on the other hand had the city garrisoned with a division-sized force of 10,000 strong and their attached support. Now the tide had changed and what looked like an untenable situation had practically turned into a rout with the arrival of both the GDA Phillydelphia and GDA Discord. Nod’s air power was gone and their Hydra SSMs blown to pieces by both Orcas and the valiant efforts of GDI’s new Zone Troopers. Merely 20,000 Nod soldiers remained, with their Black Hand elements reduced to half, support vehicles down to 40% of their original number, Ursas down to 30%, and flame tanks down to 60%. Despite still being numerically outmatched by Nod’s overwhelming numbers, GDI’s 7,500 marines were not outgunned. The arrival of the Kodiaks and Orcas put a serious dent to Nod’s offensive and defensive capabilities, but it was the Mammoths which truly nullified any numerical superiority Nod may had hoped to have. Their deployment in a tight, urban environment and near immunity to hoof-portable arms meant Nod had few, if any, ways to counter them or even hide. For Brother-Lieutenant Colonel Hyperion that meant that the only way to deal with GDI’s counter-offensive was to slow it down.

“EVA, are all charges in place?”

“Affirmative, wise brother. Engineering teams confirm the deployment of explosives in the selected structures.”

“Excellent. And I see the flame tanks are all in position. What are we leaving behind?” the stallion asked, still trembling a bit from the force of the after-shockwave from his lead-Ursa’s destruction.

“An estimated 200 soldiers will be trapped behind the improvised barriers, along with 12 Ursa tanks and 30 support vehicles. Multiple militia units will be left behind as well.”

“Acceptable. Detonate the charges.”

“Detonating, oh great dumbass.”

Before Hyperion could question his EVA unit’s sudden insult, the detonation of the charges and subsequent collapse of entire rows of buildings on their sides deafened everything in and around his command Ursa. Before the dust even began to settle, the flame tanks went to work lighting up the fallen debris, creating a huge, literal firewall which clearly split the front. It wouldn’t stop GDI, but it would buy Nod some time.
____________

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ENTIRE ASSAULT HAS BEEN STOPPED!?” a very angry Stalwart Shield barked into her headset.

“They detonated charges and covered their retreat, then created a natural firestorm along the barrier. We can’t get through.” a very nervous Major said in return.

“Tanks and infantry are completely blocked off?” she replied, her tone moving to a simmer.

“Zone Troopers are still engaging along the flanks and pushing forward.”

“EVA, have those Zone troops disengage and pull back to cover the combat engineers. Demo teams need to come in and clear us a lane ASAP while the flyboys have their fun.”

“Please confirm bombardment orders, General.”

“EVA, tell those Kodiaks to bomb those Nod bastards back to the Discordian Age.”

In perfect sync, the two Kodiaks opened up as the pilots of their Orca squadrons engaged with renewed vigor. Now that there was a very large, very bright, and extremely obvious barrier between GDI and Brotherhood forces. Chain-guns strafed the area, rocket pods were emptied out into the ruined portion of the city, and whenever the targeting EVAs aboard the Discord and the Phillydelphia calculated a clear shot, railguns opened up and thunder shattered the ground.

Nod vehicles were ripped asunder, Brotherhood infantry were annihilated, and what few Venoms and Harpies were around tried and failed to hold off the oncoming tidal wave of GDI aircraft. On the other side of the barrier, Stalwart could feel the ground shake as Kodiak bombardment made a few thousand Nod fanatics very intimate with the ground, and sent them to meet their so-called Messiah.
____________

“EVA, report.”

“Majority of remaining force has been able to exit the firing range of both Kodiaks and enemy Orcas have broken off. Presence of anti-air units has deterred further bombardment of main force and they are now focusing on stragglers, great commander.”

“Excellent.” said Hyperion, being able to sigh in relief for the first time in hours. “And what about our good friend, Seth?”

“General Hipster was able to safely leave the Kodiaks’ firing range two hours ago. He is currently guarded by assigned Black Hand units, merciful lord.”

“Good.” answered the Black Hand lieutenant colonel, mildly entertained by EVA’s latest choice of title. “We’ll have to pay him a visit then.”
____________

Apple Bloom, Jet Deck, and 41 other Zone Troopers all stood close together as the surviving ZT Drill Instructors finished their salute. With a single somber command, all the ponies in powered armor gave a salute as well, their eyes all resting on the single helmet resting atop a purposefully made pile of debris. Behind the helmet, 7 bodies, all covered in the GDI flag, were laying in a small formation, the highest ranking member of them at the head of it.

“Ready…. two.” the lead instructor said, her voice having lost its ability to truly bark orders hours ago. On ‘two’, everypony put their forelegs down and began dispersing. Some went off in groups or pairs, a select few walked off by themselves, but they all started somewhat in the general direction of the armor bay. Only two of the Zone Troopers stayed behind with the morgue detail.

Jet Deck sat next to Funny Cide’s body and took his helmet off with a small grunt. Apple Bloom took a seat next to him and did the same albeit a bit less gracefully. Even in military service with a regulation haircut, her mane tended to get everywhere and getting her helmet off wasn’t the quiet, elegant process she was hoping for.

“Hard to believe they’re gone already…” the stallion to her left muttered. “They always say to be ready to lose friends, what with how bad the war’s been going, but… you kinda wish it’ll never be your friend, ya’know…?”

“Honestly, I think we’re lucky that we only lost this many” Apple Bloom replied quietly, “More concerned ‘bout the ones that didn’t say goodbye.”

“I’m fine, if that’s what you’re asking… taking out those Hydras actually helped a bit… up there, that is.” Jet told her, tapping his head for emphasis.

“Doesn’t mean I ain’t worried ‘bout ya.” the farm mare told him, nudging him in the shoulder plate. “You survived Blueblood, and now you’ve survived Baltimare. Only difference this time is that I was here ta help ‘ya.”

“Let’s keep it like that, shall we? I… I don’t have as many episodes with you around. I also don’t want to become one of those cliche survivors who prattles on about ‘working alone’ and ‘can never have another team’ because of what happened. Everypony needs friends, and you’re the only one I have that’s still breathing.”

Apple Bloom’s reply was simple gesture that caused the trooper next to her to blush slightly. She nuzzled his cheek comfortingly before settling down with her forelegs crossed in front of her. After a few moments of him looking stunned into the distance, she made a little cough and gestured for him to follow suit. He was quick to follow settling down as well and finally realizing just how tired he was and how much his legs ached.

“Jet, you won’t be able to get rid of me even if you try… an’ after everything we’ve both been through, it’ll take Celestia herself to pull us apart.”

“I better get used to having you around, then.” he replied with a tired smirk as he sidled a little closer and put his head down on his hooves.

“Somepony’s gotta help you when the shell shock gets bad, might as well be me.” she whispered back, watching the trails of smoke along the skyline reach toward Celestia’s sun. A few hours later, one of their drill instructors would come to find the missing pair of Zone Troopers. When she found them, she took a picture of the two passed out Troopers and kept it both as a memento and as blackmail so she could mess with her trainees after the war was over. As for historians who were already building the textbook about “The Tiberium War”, it would become an iconic picture of hope on the battlefield. Two Zone Troopers, their helmets off, asleep due to exhaustion next to their fallen sister-in-arms. The male of the pair had his head resting in his own hooves, while the mare had rested her head across the unarmored portion of his neck that the lack of helmet exposed. Both were grimy, bruised, and their suits of armor had both been through hell, but still they slept with no cares in Equestria save themselves, and the 7 bodies beside them.

Scootaloo never did let Apple Bloom live down the fact that her first nap with her “not my coltfriend” happened post-battle at a memorial site while both ponies were still neck to tail in armor.
_____________

“So… let me get this straight…” Kane whispered, his gaze switching between the screen that Spike was on, and the one featuring a very bloody Trenderhoof flanked by Black Hand and Hyperion, “A flag officer…. a general of the Brotherhood… panicked, tried to micromanage his forces at the fireteam level, and then tried to have his junior officers arrested for assuming control of a hopeless situation and salvaging it?”

“That is correct, my lo-” Hyperion started before Kane gestured for him to stop talking. He stopped mid-syllable and returned to his position next to a somewhat bruised griffon.

“Hyperion, I appreciate your service. Your record is spotless and you are by far the stallion who should truly be in charge of the 1st Armor Corps… or at least what’s left of it, but right now I don’t need to hear a report from you. I want our dear friend Seth to come clean with me… after all, Honesty is part of harmony, is it not?”

“Y..yes, your eminence…” the battered unicorn murmured.

“So tell me. Did you or did you not completely botch this assault?” Kane asked. For what seemed like an eternity to those around him, though such lengths of times were trivial in his mind, Trenderhoof sat there, contemplating.

“I did…” he finally managed to say.

“And do you personally take responsibility for the thirty thousand ponies, changelings, griffons, and diamond dogs who are now being buried outside of the Baltimare Blue Zone?”

“I…. I do.”

“Then it’s very apparent what the proper punishment for so many of our brothers and sisters dying in vain.” Nod’s messiah deadpanned while gesturing idly to Hyperion. Trenderhoof immediately began blubbering. Every plea, beg, offer, and deal known to pony-kind, and a few known to dragons much to Spike’s surprise, was spouting from the unicorn’s mouth as quickly as he could muster. Then Hyperion’s sidearm popped up from his armor and drilled a hole clean through Trenderhoof’s temple and out the other side, getting blood all over the two griffons who were holding him in place.

“Brother Hyperion, you are now Brother-Brigadier General Hyperion.” Kane ordered, a wicked grin framing his face, “You’ll forgive the skip in rank but I need you to be in charge of the division that will be created out of the 1st Armor Corps survivors.”

“I am honored, my lord.” the newly promoted earth pony replied.

“Spike, you’ll need to hurry up with your assault now that Baltimare is ‘safe’ for the time being. As for this new division you’ll be heading up, Hyperion… you’ll be in charge of the 1st Fast Attack Division, stationed on the newest base the Brotherhood has constructed.”

“I was unaware that we were building any more permanent installations, sir.” Hyperion muttered, genuine surprise showing in his expression.

“Oh, it’s not permanent, and it should prove to be the answer to the ‘Kodiak Question’.” Kane told him, another savage grin flashing across his face as a file labeled “Discord-class Brotherhood Air-Assault Carrier” popped up on Hyperion’s screen. “Your new duty station needs a garrison, I suggest you read up on her schematics.”

Before the stunned Black Hand Brigadier could even reply, Kane cut the feed and Mantis walked into Hyperion’s field of vision.

“Well now… looks like we have a new toy to throw against GDI and a shiny new Earth Pony general to lead us into battle… try and live up to the hype, darling.” the changeling quipped, smirking at her new commander as he ignored the comment and the griffons removing the body of Trenderhoof, and focused solely on Nod’s answer to GDI’s air superiority.

Prophecy

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Chapter XII - Prophecy

When the Princess of the Sun opened her eyes, she was blinded by the bright, oppressive glow of Tiberium, shining intensely against a backdrop of darkness brought about by a burning husk of a city. Canterlot was covered by the cancer, with Nod and GDI forces engaged in a bloody melee to the death in the streets of the former Blue Zone; its walls, burning and crumbled as they were, had failed in their mission long ago. Mighty machines of war traded blows both on the ground and in the blackened sky, the laser fire and explosions being some of the few aerial sources of light due to the Sun’s inability to shine through all the smoke choking the ruined city. In a cruel twist of irony, the Moon, present as it was in the middle of the day, was the brightest source of light available. Ponies, changelings, griffons, dragons, diamond dogs, all were dying, bleeding, and screaming for either carnage or mercy.

Celestia couldn’t hold back the tears, obeying the command of her trusted military advisors and holding back lest she be felled by Brotherhood aircraft. She was effectively under house arrest in the Royal Meeting Room while Ironsides saw to the defense and strove to push the Brotherhood out of her city. While she hated the very idea of simply watching as her subjects murdered one another, she had to agree with the elderly stallion; if she was lost, GDI would soon follow.

“CELESTIA!” a mare’s voice rang out across the choking sky. “Come and face me, Sister!”

“No…” the Princess of the Sun murmured, “No no no, not you too.”

“Come and face your betters!” the fallen Princess of the Night declared before sending a beam of magic down into the battle. Instantly, dozens of ponies fighting to keep GDI’s citizens safe found themselves turned into smoking skeletons as Nightmare Moon’s magic sucked the life right out of them. “Face me or your army shall perish!”

“FACE ME!”
___________

Celestia woke up screaming, the last image of her dream, Nightmare Moon’s face mere centimeters from hers, still burned vividly into her mind. Her fur was already matted slightly from the sweat caused by her night terror and her mane was a mess from tossing and turning. She didn’t even realize that her guards had burst into the room, weapons at the ready to take on whatever creature or assassin had caused their monarch to let out such a horrified noise until she had managed to calm herself down. It wasn’t until the third time asking that she managed a reply.

“M’lady, are you alright….?” the guard asked again, patiently waiting for the answer as the other three started sweeping the room with scanners.

“I… I am fine… no, that’s a lie… I will be fine, and thank you for asking. Could you please call my sister here? I am need of her particular brand of sleep aid.”

“At once, your majesty.” the lead guard replied, giving a respectful bow before sending one of his outfit to retrieve Princess Luna. After Celestia managed to get her mane somewhat presentable and the guards were satisfied that there were no immediate threats in the room, Luna showed up with an extremely concerned look on her face.

“Sister, the guard told us that you are troubled. What is the problem?”

“Nightmares, my dear Luna… very vivid nightmares… visions, much like those that haunted me upon Discord’s first return, and when Tirek was gaining his strength back.”

“Visions? But dear sister, each of those threats we’ve been able to overcome-”

“With the help of Twilight and her friends… the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight has turned against us, dearest Luna. The danger Nod represents is unprecedented and these visions just keep getting worse.” said Celestia, a moment of silence falling upon them.

After a few seconds, Luna spoke up once more. “Just know that I will always stand by your side. Even if our friends have turned into foes, we will overcome this and bring peace back to the world. Together.”

“I know Luna, I know. But these visions tell me something terrible will happen, and I fear Baltimare may be it.”

As if on cue, the EVA unit installed in Princess Celestia’s quarters for her personal use began beeping in short, periodic bursts letting them know of an incoming message.

“EVA, relay message.” ordered Luna, with Ironsides’ voice coming through a second later.

“Your highness, I am glad to inform you that the Nod assault on Baltimare has been repelled and as of 1000 hours the city is secure. Our efforts are now entirely focused on fortifying the Crystal Empire’s defenses for the coming assault and harassing the approaching Nod force.”

“Sister, this is great news!” exclaimed Luna upon the message finishing, hoping to cheer up her sibling. However, she was met not with a face beaming with joy, but rather one quickly falling into despair..

“How…” she replied softly, gaining a sudden look of concern from Luna.

“Sister? Celestia?” asked the Moon Princess.

“Luna, something is wrong… very very wrong if my vision was this bad, but this news was so… welcoming. If the hell that I’m sure the streets of Baltimare were during that battle were not the cause of my vision, then something even more horrible is on the way.”

“More horrible… do you believe the Crystal Kingdom will fall?” asked Luna, mentioning what was surely on her sister’s mind.

“I fear that might just be it, my dearest Luna.”

“That is troubling, to say the least. We will go speak with General Ironsides about this, sister. You should get some more rest before beginning your day.” she said with a smile before adding “And don’t worry about your visions. We shall help you sleep peacefully at night.”
___________

The Canterlot War Room was a completely different beast from the city that surrounded it and the palace under which it was built. Created as a secure command bunker shortly after hostilities began, the multi-million bit project was as utilitarian as could be with a minimum of ornamentation of any kind, and even that which existed appeared to serve rather obscure purposes of their own. However, soon after its completion the underground structure was relegated to being a secondary command center after the decision was made to turn ZOCOM HQ into the heart and brains of GDI.

This did not stop General Ironsides from using it almost exclusively. In a way he preferred its current status as it kept the administrative paperwork away from him. That in itself allowed the underground base, built a kilometer into the mountain on which Canterlot resided, to serve as an entirely military facility rather than a fortified office building. Its sheer existence was proof enough that GDI, despite the failings of its topmost leadership figure, was not only adapting to the growing number of challenges Nod was throwing its way but also learning from the Brotherhood itself. This, over all other facts, was the one that impressed and bothered Princess Luna the most.

The trip to the War Room itself was without complications. After all, all it asked from the Princess of the Night was for her to head to the oversized basement level of the palace, have her identity verified non-invasively by some of the most loyal and trustworthy guards in GDI’s security forces, and then be escorted by two of them down a slow elevator ride. In a twist of irony, the main personnel elevators were being upgraded with faster versions of themselves, relegating the Night Princess to using the oversized cargo lift, its maximum descent speed best classified as glacial.

“General.”

Ironsides’ attention had been focused entirely on a holographic map of the Crystal Empire and the territories surrounding it. Blue markers filled and surrounded the crystalline city itself with nametags detailing force composition from the division all the way down to the battalion level. The unexpected arrival of Princess Luna didn’t change that either. “Princess.” he said, never turning away from the holographic projection and his attention focused on a mass of red markers half a day away from the city.

Standing next to the head of GDI’s military, she began studying the map as well.

“All goes well, General?” she asked, noticing the stern, yet fatigued, look on Ironside’s face.

“So far it does.” he answered, “The force that attacked Baltimare suffered an approximate 60% casualty rate so I doubt we’ll be seeing them again soon. The force heading north is concerning however. It isn’t like the Brotherhood to move large units out in the open like that.”

“We’re not talking about the strategic situation, General.” said Luna, placing a hoof on the old stallion’s shoulder.

“Princess?” he asked, the comment distracting him slightly.

“We’re talking about you. When was the last time you slept?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.

“I woke up two hours ago, Your Majesty.” he replied.

“We know about your naps, General. One hour of sleep every few hours is not good for your health. When was the last time you had a full-night’s sleep?”

The question left General Ironsides thinking, bringing a moment of silence unto them before he could answer. “I don’t know.” he answered honestly. “But that’s not important; my system has been working so far. Besides, there is work to be done and not enough time to be wasting it on unnecessary distractions.”

“Unnecessary? Distractions?! This is your health we’re talking about, Ironsides!” she exclaimed before pointing at one of Ironsides’ aides. “You, come over here.”

With some nervous reluctance, the young unicorn put his datapad on a table and approached both his superiors with the utmost respect. “H-How can I serve you, Your Majesty?” he let out with audible nervousness.

“As of this moment you are to ensure that General Ironsides gets eight hours of sleep. Any situations that arise that require his attention are to be passed down to GDI HQ until he’s fully rested. That’s what they’re there for.” she commanded, her booming voice echoing throughout the underground chamber.

“With all due respect to Your Highness, the Nod force threatening the Crystal Empire are an approximate 10 to 12 hours away from reaching the city. The defense of one of our most important Blue Zones requires my absolute attention at this time.” Ironsides protested, standing firm with his ever-present dignified composure.

“This is not up for discussion, General. This is a direct order.” said the Princess of the Night, earning herself a respectful bow from the head of GDI’s military forces.

“Of course Princess. My apologies.” said Ironsides, before turning his attention to the sweating-yet-firm aide at his side. “You heard the Princess. I am not to be disturbed for the next eight hours.”
___________

It was time.

Ironsides was, once more, right where he was needed; right in front of the strategic map overseeing the front. Princess Luna’s “request” had been forceful but at the same time he couldn’t hold it against her. After all she had done it for his own good and, deep down, he knew she was right as well. He hadn’t even felt time pass before being right back where he was either.

“General, priority call from Major General Shining Armor.” reported one of his aides.

“Put him on screen.”

The face and uniform that soon materialized on the main screen of the war room made General Ironsides cringe internally. Promoted from a Major all the way to the rank of Major General, a full three pay-grades skip, Shining Armor now commanded not only the garrison forces of his crystalline home, but also had control over an entire section of the northern front. While General Ironsides couldn’t deny his above-acceptable command skills, the fact remained that his promotion had come about due to connections instead of merit. The golden trims and decorative elements of the traditional Equestrian knight armor over the grey, utilitarian GDI uniform just made it all the more apparent.

“Good day General.” said Shining Armor as his hoof came over his forehead in salute.

“Your report.” Ironsides’ reply noticeably refreshed and stern.

“The Starswirl and Goddesses have arrived to provide fire and air support as needed, but I’m getting conflicting reports about the divisions coming in to support us. Am I correct to assume we’re not getting five armored divisions like one report claimed?”

Ironsides nearly facehoofed right then and there. He would find the pony responsible for making those reports and assign them to permanent stable duty. But that was neither here nor now, and there was important work to be done.

“Major General” began Ironsides, “I’ve re-deployed the 14th and 36th Mechanized from the Badlands front, which should arrive at your positions by the end of the month. Likewise, the 23rd Airborne will be there in two days. That’s all I could divert from the existing fronts, but I’ve also assigned the recently-formed 7th Heavy Armored to the Crystal Kingdom. They will be deployed within the week and should arrive just after the mechanized divisions. All other assets will be your shield, but they will be your hammer.”

General Ironsides let Shining Armor absorb all the information, creating a moment of silence in the War Room.

“Thank you General, they will be a great hel-” began Shining Armor before being interrupted by his superior.

“Major General, your recent triple-pay-grade promotion may have come from your marital relationship to a princess” he said, old, piercing eyes staring directly at Shining’s soul, “but I know you have ample combat and leadership experience to rely upon. I expect you make better use of the lives entrusted upon you than a certain other pony whose rank was obtained from being royalty. Is that understood?”

Ironsides swore he saw a small flash in the younger stallion’s eyes before he finally got a reply.

“... yes General. Thank you for your trust.”
___________

It was time.

“General, priority call from Major General Shining Armor.” reported one of his aides.

“Put him on screen.”

The face and uniform that soon materialized on the main screen of the war room made General Ironsides cringe internally. Promoted from a Major all the way to the rank of Major General, a full three pay-grades skip, Shining Armor now commanded not only the garrison forces of his crystalline home, but also had control over an entire section of the northern front. While General Ironsides couldn’t deny his above-acceptable command skills, the fact remained that his promotion had come about due to connections instead of merit. Despite that however, something else bothered Ironsides. Shining Armor’s standard gray, utilitarian GDI uniform made his mind itch more than this war usually did, and his eyes were a lighter shade of blue than he remembered...
___________

Roughly 15 kilometers out from the outskirts of the Crystal Kingdom, well within striking range of a Hydra but just out of the reach of GDI’s equivalent, a mass of Nod troops were creating siegeworks. Trenches, firing pits for tanks, and fighting holes for infantry were being dug by one half of Nod’s 4th Combat Engineer Battalion while the other half worked on obstacles, firing lanes, and all manner of traps for anyone trying to push Nod from their position.

Watching over it all from his command bunker, a certain dragon continued to run the numbers through EVA and the white unicorn mare sitting opposite of him at the map table. The plan of action was as simple as its execution, strangle the Crystal Kingdom slowly by blocking off all resupply routes. While the position of the kingdom, nestled at the rear of the horseshoe formation of the Crystal Mountains, was easily defensible, if an enemy could muster enough soldiers to close the gap entirely, they’d be completely trapped. To make matters worse for the defenders, none of the mines littering the mountains had tunnels that led to the other side of the pass, at least none that could be accessed by a citizen or the current monarch.

Only the previous ruler could get through the one known escape route, and his horn was still thought by GDI to be safely locked away in Canterlot’s “Dangerous Artifacts” bunker, even if the real artifact was in Mareajevo.

“The only issue is moving our troops around when the Kodiaks arrive. We’ll have to give them a wide radius if we’re going to avoid their little ‘swarm’ technique that their ORCAs are so fond of. The new scanners they’ve been outfitted with aren’t much help either…” Spike muttered, mostly to himself but loud enough so that Rarity could hear him and add that information to her current equations.

“What we need, darling, is the intel on just who will be coming to Cadence’s rescue. Kane should have sent the data hours ago.” she replied with a sigh, only to have the screen behind her spring to life, displaying the very stallion she needed to see.

“Speak of the Devil, dear Rarity, and he shall appear.” Kane declared, “I believe you’re in need of some crucial data for your little couple’s retreat up in the Crystal Mountains, correct? Well I just so happen to have a specific set of numbers and names wrested from the dreams of our dear General Ironsides. Princess Luna sends her compliments with them.”

“As always, Sir, your timing is impeccable.” the mare quipped with her signature grin, “Please tell me they’re sending the 2nd at me again.”

“Not this time, Big Macintosh is busy putting out a few dozen fires we started under Celestia’s flank along the Ponyville-Canterlot supply line so you’ll be entertaining a different set of guests. I’ve also included a certain set of codes that you’ll find most interesting, Spike. Use them well.”

“By your Name.” Spike and Rarity replied respectfully.

“Peace through Power, brothers and sisters, Peace through Power.” Kane said with a smile, cutting the channel as Rarity and Spike’s respective EVA units started buzzing.

“Well well well…” Rarity started, her grin forming into a near-feral smirk, “We’re getting two guests from the Badlands, that new Heavy Armored, and the 23rd Airborne will be gracing us with their presence. Goddesses and Starswirl will be needing a seat at the table as well.”

“Noted…” Spike mumbled as he continued to stare at his EVA.

“Spike? Is something the matter? You’re usually much more…. passionate when it comes to taking on Kodiaks.”

“The Kodiaks won’t be any issue… in fact, none of the reinforcements will be. All we need to do is draw them, and as many of the garrison out from the shield Cadence has up. I also need you to get as many unicorns as we can working on our own shield generators.”

“You’re telling me that two Kodiaks and 4 divisions of GDI aren’t going to be a problem at all? Spike darling, even for you, that’s a bit of a stretch.”

“He gave me the launch codes.” Spike replied slowly, looking Rarity in the eyes as he did.

“He didn’t…. he… no.”

Spike’s only reply was to toss his tablet at her which she caught with her magic, once her eyes hit the screen and she had both EVAs confirm, she dropped the tablet on the table with a gasp.

“He did…” she whispered, her voice filled both with concern and newfound determination. “I’ll make sure we have shields up when you launch the missile, and the cleanup crews will be more than ready to try out their radiation cleansing spells. None of our troops will fall to friendly fire when the time comes.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Spike told her, grabbing his tablet and walking towards his quarters with heavy shoulders. He had just been given the power of a god, the power of life and death over the entire Crystal Kingdom. Kane had not only given him the means to unlock Nod’s answer to GDI’s Ion Cannon, but had given him orders to turn the key.
___________

There existed a rather morbid contrast within the Crystal Palace. One of the most beautiful structures ever built, serving as the centerpiece for what was rapidly looking to become a brutal siege. That its magnificent interior served as the headquarters for GDI’s Northern Command simply added salt to the wounds carved open by this conflict.

Shining Armor was holed up in his personal quarters, a half-eaten meal left outside his door for a servant to dispose of. The last few days had given rise to a routine of personally drilling with his troops in the morning, inspecting evacuation routes, defensive positions, civilian and military bunkers, vehicle maintenance, and general readiness at noon, followed by endless meetings with officers and the brass in the afternoon along with reviewing defensive plans and the possibility of forcing a break out, a few hours of sleep signaling the end of the day only for it to start over a few hours later.

This night was promising to be another such night. The meeting with General Ironsides had ended sooner than expected, leaving Major General Armor some extra time to review the Palace’s evacuation plan in case of a catastrophic breakdown of the front. Even with the use of advanced magitech provided by GDI’s manufacturing power, he still managed to have an outlandish amount of papers strewn around his personal quarters within the Crystal Palace. In truth, he had essentially turned his room into his office.

“Shiny” he heard upon entering the massive room, the word spoken by the most beautiful mare in the land, “we need to talk.”

“Hey pookums, shouldn’t you be resting right now?” said Shining, his body moving towards his computer as if on autopilot.

“I should be the one asking you that question, snoogy. Come here.” said Cadance, tapping the bed with her bare hoof. “I want you to tell me what the problem is.”

“Problem? Candy, there is no problem. We’ve got everything under control here. No matter what you’ve heard, I’ve got it handled.” answered Shining Armor, a large, comforting smile materializing on his face.

Cadance wasn’t buying it.

“Shining, one of my hoofmaidens approached me today asking what she should do about a number of scrolls that were piling up.” she said, her horn glowing ever so slightly as she kept the city’s shield perpetually active.

“Well, what does that have to do with thi-” began shining before being cut off.

“They were from Flurry Heart, hun. Directed at you.” she said. As far as Shining Armor was concerned, his spine had just flash-frozen and become an extension of the mountain range.

“Our baby’s been sending letters from Canterlot daily ever since we sent her away. Why aren’t you answering her?” she said, her gaze fixed upon him. Shining’s attempts to look away were thwarted by a loving hoof tenderly pushing his muzzle, forcing their eyes to meet.

“Just tell me what’s going on. Please.”

Shining sighed, bested and bruised.

“We’re in… serious trouble. Nod forces will have us completely cut off from the rest of Equestria and there’s nothing we can really do about it. Reinforcements are on their way and we’ll be getting two Kodiaks to help us but… I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kept this from you.”

He waited for Cadance’s response. Would she panic? Would she ask him what he would do, what his plan was, what they would tell their daughter? Would she plead for him to leave along with her or try to get as many people out?

He got none of that. A soft, warm hug made him forget about all of it as Cadance held him in a loving embrace, fear felt through it. No words were said as none were needed, and he embraced her back.
___________

“Needless to say, Twilight, despite Luna’s efforts on the Dream Front and my little gift to him, Spike and Rarity will be needing some help if the Crystal Kingdom is to be taken down in a timely manner.” Kane said quietly as he walked alongside her. Twilight simply smirked back at him as they continued on. She had been walking him through a subsection of her lab complex for a few minutes now after calling him down to show off her ‘newest, war-changing project’.

“I wouldn’t worry so much, honestly. The whole reason I called you down is to address the issue currently worrying you, but first. Notice anything familiar about this hallway?”

“I… well, now that you mention it… isn’t this the same area that Luna showed you when you were inducted into the Brotherhood?”

“The very same. All of the lab space was repurposed into something a little more… military, and the viewing area is perfect for what you’re about to see.” Twilight replied, her triumphant grin only getting wider as they got closer to the door that would lead the two ponies into the observation room.

“And what exactly are you showing me?” Nod’s messiah asked as the guards opened up the large double doors.

“EVA, please raise the blast cover and turn on the lights.” the purple alicorn ordered.

“At once, ma’am.” the synthesized voice answered. Kane looked out as the metal coverings rolled up and the large overhead lights turned on to reveal a very large and completely empty bay area below.

“.... is this meant to be humorous?” the earth pony murmured.

“Just keep your eyes down there…. EVA, tell Colonel Glimmer that she can march in the lead battalion.” Twilight commanded. As if by her command alone, all of the large doors opened up and 20 officers marched in. Behind them, another 1000 ponies, griffons, changelings, and even some Diamond Dogs all marched their way into the bay in perfect formation. Their footsteps were so in step that Kane thought they were machines.

Nod’s Messiah gasped when he saw that his first thought was completely right. Every member of this battalion was heavily modified with cybernetics, prosthetics, and all manner of built-in weaponry and armor.

“I’d like you to meet the first battalion of the Marked of Kane under the freshly rehabilitated Colonel Starlight Glimmer. Everyone in it is a formerly wounded soldier, fanatically loyal to you out of both duty and the brain implants we put in to help them adjust to the replacement limbs.” Twilight stated, “They feel pain only in regards to functionality, cannot be incapacitated in the same way and ease as a regular soldier, and they never tire.”

“Super soldiers… cyborgs.” Kane muttered back, a sly grin forming on his muzzle.

“A good response to the Zone Troopers that Hyperion faced in Baltimare, don’t you think?”

“A good response to them, yes. In this case, my dear Twilight, I believe that their-” he gestured to the battalion with a hoof, “-trial by fire is expected as opposed to accidental. When do they head out?”

“The first three battalions will be leaving tomorrow morning, with your blessing.”

“Can I speak to them?”

“EVA, patch in Kane’s communicator to the speakers.” Twilight said before looking back, “You can now.”
________

“Brothers and Sisters of Nod!” came the Messiah’s voice over the bay’s speakers. “You have been chosen. Chosen by Me, to carry out Nod’s righteous mission and bring the heathens within GDI to heel! Your loyalty knows no bounds and I have no doubt that you will bring us victory after victory in the face of Celestia’s minions. You will take the Crystal Kingdom! You will take Baltimare! You will take Phillydelphia! YOU WILL TAKE CANTERLOT FROM THE HOOVES OF OUR OPPRESSORS! WITH THE TECHNOLOGY OF PEACE!”

“PEACE! THROUGH! POWER!”

Omens

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Chapter XIII - Omens

Flash “Havoc” Sentry was not enjoying his flight one bit. The carryall, though specially modified for Special Ops missions, was extremely vulnerable compared to the Dead Six’s modded, shielded, and extremely well armed APC. Add in that their original mission of reinforcing the Crystal Kingdom was shelved until further notice and Havoc was all sorts of annoyed. The siege had already been under way for a good week and the sheer amount of reinforcements that had been diverted to the Crystal Kingdom was staggering to say the least, but Havoc still felt his team was needed if there was going to be any chance of breaking that choke hold. After all, his team, with the help of the Double Rainboom had been the only unit to hold off Spike to date.

It was while Sentry mused about just how his team would help break the siege when the main communications crystal started buzzing, breaking him out of his annoyance-induced stupor.

“Dead Six here, what’s the job?” the pegasus said matter-of-factly with a salute as none other than General Stalwart Shield appeared on the holographic projection in front of his team.

“Good to see you’re still kicking, Havoc. Same to the rest of you Dead Six. I’ll cut right to the chase; 72 hours ago we lost all radio contact, magic or otherwise, with the GDA Canterlot. Given the frequency of ion storms in her patrol sector, 24 hour lapses in check-ins is regular protocol and to be expected. After 48, we sent in a recon team to investigate and possibly provide assistance. What they found was… rather alarming.” the General told them. On the displays around the carryall, short videos on repeat, single frames, and even full minute-length captures started playing out. Alarming was an understatement. Bullet holes and blood splatters covered most of the walls and floors that were displayed, and even some of the ceilings. What bodies were visible were badly maimed by gunfire and magic, and there were burn marks alongside completely melted armor plating all throughout the ship.

“The buck happened….?” Havoc muttered, his eyes growing wide.

“Hell if we know, Captain, but shortly after we got these transmissions from the recon team, they too went silent. Their last message from the team leader was something about Nod troops carving through the team before his helmet hit the ground. Given the sensitivity of this mission, you’ve been selected.”

“Roger that ma’am, mission parameters?” the orange pegasus asked.

“You’re going to link up with the GDA Double Rainboom to pick up sets of ZONE Armor before going in, after that you are to confirm any and all KIA crew members, gather as much intel as you can, and then you are to either call in Sky Admiral Dash to tow the Canterlot back to Cloudsdale for repairs, or you will set her spark reactors to detonate and completely destroy the ship.”

“Asset recovery or denial confirmed.”

“Good luck, Dead Six. Stalwart Shield out.” the mare replied as the hologram faded, leaving a scowling Flash Sentry staring at the crystal projector. The commandos were unnaturally quiet as they kept looking at the videos and pictures taken by the first recon team, at least until one of the Dead Six finally said what everpony was thinking.

“Scheisse.” Patch deadpanned, getting a silent chorus of nods from everypony else.
__________

“What do you mean the suits aren’t ready!?” Flash Sentry barked at the orderly guiding them to the armory.

“If you’ll calm down, sir, I’ll explain. Only three of the suits are functioning at full capacity, the other three are having software and hardware issues that will take longer to fix than your timetable will allow. You’ll have to go in with only half the team armored up. Rest of you will be going in as is.”

“Celestia damnit…” Hotwire muttered, “So, who’s getting all dolled up and who gets to walk around naked?”

“Gunner, Deadeye, Patch, you’ll be suiting up as our heavy hitters.”

“You sure about this?” Sakura asked.

“You’re our best infiltrator the armor will just slow you down, and Hotwire is needed outside of the armor to conduct field repairs or cut someone out if shit hits the fan.”

“‘E’s also bullet-proof all by ‘imself, so ‘e don’t exactly need this fancy getup.” Gunner added as he set his launchers aside and stepped up to the armor station. Pip and Patch followed suit, gearing up in the ZONE armor with various degrees of difficulty.

“It’s a little tight around the chest…” Patch grunted before he got a hoof to the visor from Hotwire.

“Quit moving and let me make sure your HUD calibration is proper.” she ordered, getting the stallion to stand completely still and earning a small chuckle from Havoc.

“EVA, what’s our ETA to the Canterlot?” Sentry asked as he continued to observe his team.

“Optimal deployment range will be reached in… 23 minutes and… 19 seconds.” the AI answered.

“You heard her team. Make sure your gear is ready in 20 on the flight deck, I’ll meet you there.”
____________

The Undiscovered West was, until the war began, a complete unknown in regards to GDI’s intelligence community. Once the war kicked off and Kane’s initial speech was broadcast world wide, it became clear that Nod had pioneered the region and secured much of it. While Mareajevo was secure at the rear of what was originally Changeling Territory, the West had become a bit of a ‘sandbox’ for both armies. Nod needed the region for the precious resources it required for its production plants while GDI tried their damndest to perform asset denial all over the region. Because of this, Kodiaks were routinely put on patrol to see if their air wings could catch a Nod convoy out in the open whenever the deadliest part of the Undiscovered West wasn’t out and active.

Due to the abnormally high concentration of naturally occurring tiberium, an amount matched only by pre-Nod Griffonstone, ion storms were as common to the region as rain was to the Everfree. Kodiaks on patrol couldn’t go more than three or four days without a storm popping up and having to ground their fighter squadrons until it was over. The only reason that the massive aerial carriers didn’t have to land themselves was unicorn magical engineering finding a counter-measure to add to the already formidable shields that surrounded the air ships.

Unfortunately, one of those storms was on a course for the battered Kodiak holding position 10,000 meters above the middle of a valley.

“She looks mostly intact, at least enough to stay airborne. That means she’s at least got emergency power.” Rainbow Dash said with a scowl as another gust of wind nearly blew her hat off.

“Meaning bare minimum on lights, internal defenses, and active terminals. Looks like we’ll have to get to the bridge to get anything done.” Havoc commented. “Thanks for getting us this far, Admiral, we’ll be ready to fly back over in an hour or two.”

“And I’ll be waiting to haul either your carryall or the Canterlot back to Cloudsdale. I’d hate to see such an awesome ship go down, but if you have to scuttle her, do it thoroughly. If Nod gets their hands on even an engine or a schematic… well, our old purple egghead could pump out a version that’s red and black faster than I can fly. Anyway, EVA puts that storm ahead of us hitting the Canterlot in 50 minutes and my ship in two hours. Your shields will get you through the storm if you’re fleeing it, but not for too long so don’t take forever or you’ll be stuck there for a whole day.”

“Understood, we’ll get it done.”

“Good luck, Captain.” the blue pegasus told him, giving a customary salute and getting a silent one in return as she turned heel and trotted back to the bridge. Flash Sentry on the other hand walked into the troop bay of Dead Six’s carryall rather casually as the ramp closed up behind him. Hotwire and Sakura were at the controls, Gunner and Patch were busy triple-checking their ordnance and ammunition, and Deadeye had a book between his hooves.

“You ever going to finish that damn thing?” Havoc asked, a small grin forming on his muzzle.

“Well I only really get to read it when we’re about to jump face-first into our most dangerous missions so I’m either going to finish it at a hundred more deployments, or I’ll get capped by a Noddie and have to ask an angel how it ends.” the young stallion retorted, his smirk unseen behind the unforgiving ZONE armor helmet. Havoc didn’t need to see though, the inflection and tone of his voice said it all.

For nearly a year they had all been working together as a very effective, cohesive commando unit. Other teams were formed, thrown to the meat grinder, and either dismissed or cannibalized for other commando squads but Dead Six just never seemed to lose their edge or come out a member short. While it was true that everyone on the team had plenty more scars (and even some new prosthetics) than when they started out, they always came home together.

“Tower has given us permission to launch, all systems are go.” Hotwire announced, “Standby for lift-off and a hard landing.”

“Confirmed.” came a unison reply from the four stallions in the crew bay as they braced for one of Hotwire’s “patented” hard drops. Right as Havoc had himself strapped in, the carryall shot off the flight deck like a thing possessed and rocketed towards their target. After a few seconds of full burn, Hotwire eased up slightly and Sakura had her EVA pull up the external camera feeds onto everything capable of showing a video.

The GDA Canterlot was a second-generation Kodiak Air-Carrier carrying a crew of 2000 ponies including pilots, ground troops, and support staff necessary for long-range strikes and months-long deployments without resupply. 350 meters from bow to stern, her ventral railguns could batter any Nod position into dust in minutes and her flight deck was littered with point defense weaponry to keep her squadrons safe during takeoff and landing. Underneath the flight deck at the bow of the ship was the bridge and several decks behind and below the command level, the main spark reactor. Add in magical energy shields, armor thick enough to make a Mammoth crew jealous, and enough anti-aircraft weaponry to take on a Parasprite swarm and one could easily understand why Nod didn’t trifle with GDI when a Kodiak was in the sky.

But this one was listing badly, her anti-gravity pods were smoking, and the flight deck was shot completely to hell. That fact alone made Havoc more uneasy about this situation than he thought possible.

“Find us a supply bay that’s open. I don’t want our bird out on that flight deck when that ion storm hits. Shields are obviously down so we won’t get any protection outside.” Havoc ordered as he donned his helmet.

“Copy that. EVA, find us a loading bay that’s still intact.” Sakura answered.

“Scanning….. scanning….” the AI stated, “Please proceed to Supply Depot 3B, starboard side, Deck 5. Opening doors.”

“Perfect. Ready for that hard landing, Hotwire?” Sakura teased.

“You may want to tighten your harness there, Sakura.” the other mare quipped as she whipped the carryall around and brought the guns that she and Gunner had added to it to bear on the large doors bearing the designation “3B”. As the doors started to creak open, Hotwire hit the spotlights as well and, after a quick scan of the bay, landed her bird facing outward.

“Stack up!” Havoc ordered, “Armor in front, pretty ones in the back.”

“That’s a contradiction, mate. I’m armored and pretty.” Pip quipped as the team brought their weapons up and waited for their leader to hit the hatch release.

“You’d rather be out of that suit then, LT?” Havoc asked, his hoof hitting the button and dropping the loading ramp.

“Ha! Buck…. that….” Pip began before they all laid eyes on the inside of the loading bay.

The entire deck of the bay was covered with debris, bullet casings, and dried blood pools, with multiple walls melted open. Cargo containers had been stacked as makeshift barricades against the four entrances into the bay, two leading to the adjacent cargo areas and two leading into the interior hallways. All of the vent covers looked like they’d been melted from inside the ventilation system. The cargo bay looked like it had been the scene of a brutal battle, but what was most alarming was the complete lack of bodies.

“Looks like a dragon got a hold of this place….” Sakura muttered.

“Dragons with cutting torches?” Hotwire replied, “Look at the burn marks, they’re way too precise for dragon breath.”

“She’s right, whatever made those holes in the walls was strong enough to melt right through the hull but small enough to fit in the ventilation system…. what in buck did Nod come up with now…?” Pip added.

“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Havoc answered, “Change of plans; Gunner, Patch, Sakura, you head to the main spark chamber and rig the damn thing with enough explosives to turn this carrier into a pile of dust. Hotwire, Deadeye, you’re with me on the bridge; we’re going to purge every bit of GDI data in the system and then permanently wipe the ship’s network. Got a spare thermite charge, Patch?”

“Of course.” the Germane stallion quipped, levitating a set of charges into Flash Sentry’s saddlebags.

“Anyone with magic move these barricades out of the way as quietly as you can; Deadeye, cover them while I lock down the carryall. Once we’re inside get the job done safely and if you run into the enemy, do not engage. We don’t know what kind of firepower these Noddies are carrying but I’ll wager a guess that it falls in the category of ‘bad for us’.”
__________

Gunner, Patch, and Sakura kept moving slowly towards the main engineering deck, their pace set by the fact that Havoc for once told them to sacrifice speed for safety. WIth whatever and whomever was on board with them, and they were all sure that the Nod bastards were still there, none of the commando team was taking any chances.

“So… young dragon strike team or gryphon Shadow team, take your bets.” Sakura said, trying to break the eerie silence.

“My money’s on gryphon Shadows.” Gunner replied quietly, his helmet lights scanning the hallway.

“I’ll take that bet, Gunner.” Patch added in, walking backwards to make sure nothing snuck up on them.

“I don’t know… Spike can do some damage when he’s not a giant rampaging monster. Remember the reports on that failed assassination?” Sakura muttered, getting a shudder out of the two stallions next to her, only for her to hold up a hoof signaling them all to stop and listen as a faint buzzing sound rang out.

“What…. is that….?” Gunner whispered over the team frequency.

“You heard it too?” Patch asked.

“Yeah…. changeling wings?” Sakura answered.

“Too high a pitch… that’s… that’s something…” Gunner started before the noise started to get louder, and a panel down the hall behind Patch started to glow.

“Contact, unknown. We need to move!” Patch barked.

“Orders still stand, boys. Run!”
_________

“Copy that, Sakura, we’ll keep an eye out.” Havoc murmured into his comm.

“Gunner ran into trouble?” Deadeye asked.

“Yeah, something started cutting through a bulkhead near them, they’re avoiding it and continuing to their objective. Whatever it is, it melts steel like butter. Regardless, we move on. They’ll be fine…. how’s that door coming along, Hotwire?”

“Just another moment, Havoc, the console was practically melted and rewiring it is a bit arduous.” the mare told him as yet another stray wire caused an arc to singe her helmet.

“And just how close are we to the bridge?”

“Schematic puts us four bulkheads away.” Deadeye answered.

“Make that three.” Hotwire interrupted as the console in front of her flashed green and the large hatch in front of the trio opened up, letting the corpse of a GDI pilot land next to her.

“Buck!” Deadeye exclaimed, leaping back a few feet as blood soon followed the pilot’s collapsing form. A few feet down the hall, marked by a grisly trail of blood, was what had to be her GD Mk. IV pistol along with at least another half a dozen corpses, their locations, stances, and bullet wounds indicating that whoever shot them was able to catch them by surprise.

“Looks like she tried to get through the hatch after getting shot in the neck…” Havoc mused before a low buzzing sound reached his ears. “Move.”

“Havoc?” Hotwire murmured.

“Now.”
_________

“The ‘ell was that?!” Gunner barked as he sealed yet another hatch behind his team.

“No idea, but whatever it is, it treats steel like cardboard.” Sakura answered with a sigh. While their sprint hadn’t been their choice, it had gotten them to the secondary objective in record time. Sitting right in front of her was the primary spark reactor keeping the Canterlot in the air.

While most GDI vehicles relied on anywhere from 1 to 20 magically imbued crystals no larger than a pony’s eye for power, Kodiaks relied on a much more potent source. The spark reactors in the massive airships contained thee crystal formations the size of a large boulder, easily as big a Predator tank and given their initial power by GDIs Unicorn Corps of Engineers. Once given a magical ‘spark’ they’d be enchanted to recharge in a cycle so that two of the reactors would be on at all times with the third recharging or being used as an emergency power source.

“So… set this thing to blow an’ run like ‘ell?” Gunner asked.

“Not even an Mammoth could blast through the reactor casing, Gunner, we have to prime her self-destruct and then hope it works like the shipyard workers think it does.” Sakura told him with a slight grin, “Save your explosives for the more fun target, like whoever is still on the ship with us.”

“How long should we set the timer?”

“That’s a question for Havoc, not me. Patch, can you call up our ‘fearless’ leader? I need a timetable to work with.”

“Already on the horn, Sakura…” the Germane stallion answered, “He says set it for a 2 hour silent countdown with 15 minute text reminders on all of our EVAs.”

“That’s a lot of time for whatever’s on this ship to buck with the countdown…” the mare murmured as she got to work. Whatever Havoc’s reasons, she wasn’t going to question them mid-mission.

“‘ey… anyone else ‘ear that?” said Gunner, causing everyone to go quiet. A faint thud could be heard nearby, the sounds of an object impacting metal repeatedly. “Sounds like it’s coming from that room there.” he said, pointing to one of the Capacitor Storage rooms.

“Gunner, take point.” said Sakura, weapon readied to deal with the potential threat. Patch stood back to cover the rear while Gunner walked forward, his massive bulk combined with his Zone Trooper suit causing rather loud clanking while walking over to the door. Glancing towards Sakura, Gunner could see his team was ready and opened the door, immediately moving in to deal with whatever was inside.

“Oh… oh that’s just not right.” he said at the sight before him.

A blood-soaked pony in the jumpsuit of one of the ship’s engineers sat in place, repeatedly banging his face against one of the large rectangular capacitors in the room. His forehead had been rendered raw, and his muzzle had been broken at multiple sections, practically caving into his head.

_________

“That’s just not right.” said Havoc upon hearing Sakura’s team report.

“He’s not responding either.” replied Patch, “Lemme tell ya, I’ve seen plenty of cases of shellshock and the like, but this guys… I dunno if he’s just lost it or what but even after we moved him away from the wall he just kept doing the same motions.”

“Are you able to move him?”

“No boss. Can’t even get him to stand up.” answered Patch.

“Alright. Place him in the safest place you can find there, then proceed to the bridge. We’re almost there ourselves.” ordered Havoc, the dark hallways continuing to expand endlessly around him and his team.

“What I wouldn’t give for the connections to actually be intact…” Hotwire muttered as she kept scanning the walls. Every couple feet, conduits were either bursting out of the wall or showed signs of being shot, cut, or just generally removed. Because of this, nothing they did on the bridge would restore lights, or more importantly, internal security turret power.

“What I wouldn’t give for an Ion strike on this whole damn carrier…” Deadeye replied quietly.

“And set off the entire storm?” Havoc asked.

“I know why we can’t use a strike, but I can’t help but wish we could just turn this derelict to dust from a maximum safe distance.

“Says the team sniper.” Hotwire quipped with a grin, but not before a small chirp from her EVA got her attention and turned that grin to a scowl. “Motion down the hall behind us; unidentified.”

“My scanner has them too… and contacts on the bridge, all GDI.” Deadeye added. “We should probably make ourselves scarce and get up there ASAP, sir.”

“Get moving then. I’ll make sure what’s behind us doesn’t sneak up while we see who’s still alive.” Havoc told them. Once his two teammates started galloping, he quickly took a hoof-full of small disks and tossed them on the walls before joining them. Each one adhered to the metal, beeped twice, and armed itself. Once Havoc sent the command signal, all of the smart claymores shut their warning lights off and became virtually invisible in the lightless corridor.

Almost as soon as they reached the bridge’s outermost security bulkhead, Havoc’s efforts to secure their rear were rewarded with a loud, satisfying explosion. “We shouldn’t have any more friends following us for a while.” he said as Hotwire began messing with the cabling on the wall. A few moments later it opened up, the team being greeted by a rather grisly sight.

“By Celestia’s shiny shoes…” said Havoc at the sight before them. Over two dozen bodies littered the hallway leading to the bridge, most of them bearing some form or another of Nod imagery. However, all of their weapons appeared to be GDI rifles, shotguns, and sidearms. That, however, wasn’t the main point of interest. On the route to the bridge, barricades had been erected using the deployable barricades the ship had for ground operations, along with a number of crates. The bodies of GDI troopers and crewmates could be found behind them, killed by either enemy fire or fragmentation resulting from explosions. Fittingly enough, the walls were peppered with impact bullet dents and scorch marks along with blood sprays. The entrance to the bridge, and the location of the final set of barricades, showed a far different picture from the one presented in the rest of the hallway. The walls were completely covered in blood and gore, with the floor being covered in a sticky mixture of blood, pulped organs, and melted equipment.

“The blazin’ Tartarus did this?!” exclaimed Deadeye. “Never seen a Noddie weapon do this, ‘xcept for tank rounds. Dunno ‘bout all of ya but I don’t think a tank would fit in here.”

“Laser rifles maybe?” asked Hotwire, still staring in horrified awe at the literal bloodbath before them.

“No. Nod’s portable lasers melt through armor and cause flesh to flash-vaporize. If anything, what’s left is a badly-scorched body along with plenty of ashes and faint blood marks. Nothing like… like this.” replied Havoc, approaching the door to the bridge before looking back at the battle that had transpired. “At least we can say they held the fucking line.”

Once more, Hotwire opened up the panel next to the door and began messing with its internal mechanisms. Leaning in, Havoc took a look at the comm panel right above.

“Are comms working?” he asked. So far they hadn’t been able to contact the five GDI contacts within the bridge.

“Nah Havoc. Whatever brought hell to this ship made sure to fry it.” replied Hotwire. “Almost got it open.”

“Hold on a sec. They don’t know we’re out here. If we suddenly go in, we’re likely to get shot at.” Havoc replied. To that, Deadeye stepped forward.

“That ain’t a problem. I’ll go in first and let them know we’re friendly. And if they fire, well then it sure helps being in a walking tank.” he said, stomping the ground for effect.

“Ready to open it on your word, boss.” announced Hotwire, putting away his multitool for the moment.

Giving both of his teammates a nod, he signaled for the door to open. As soon as it did, Deadeye walked in, his huge metal form making him quite noticeable.

“Hold fire, we’re G-” he began before being his head was knocked back by an impact on his zone trooper armor. This was followed by an old voice yelling “Hold your fire!” as the armor’s built-in EVA displayed the damage on his HUD. A direct shot to the helmet, almost penetrating.

“Hold fire, damnit.” an elderly stallion growled as a younger, orange mare with purple hair withdrew her pistol.

“S-Sorry, sir! I’m still a little jumpy.” Scootaloo replied. Pip wanted to say something about how beat up she looked but decided it was better to let Havoc do the talking as usual.

“Captain Firehawk…?” Havoc muttered, “Holy horseshoes it is you. I thought you were still working in R&D, sir.”

“They wish they could keep me bottled up. I may only have one wing left but I can still fight, damnit.” the pale pegasus told him. Captain Firehawk was an old member of the Canterlot Royal Guard with literal decades of loyal service, as well as being the mind behind the next generation of GDI aircraft to respond to the Brotherhood’s own Venom. Like most guards, he had a white coat, but his age showed in his graying mane as well as the fact that his right wing was nothing more than a covered stump. His souvenir from a small incursion with some gryphon bandits a good 12 years prior.

“I can see that, given you’re still alive even after that slaughter we saw in the hallways… is there anyone else alive besides you two?” Havoc asked him, getting a small nod and a sharp whistle from the veteran captain. Three more ponies came out of their various hiding spots on his command. Two were regular GDI troopers, though their armor was scuffed, burnt, and in many places patched together with military-grade tape. What really caught the attention of the rescue team, however, was the unicorn mare standing between them. She had a yellowish gray coat, a red mane with purple highlights, purple eyes, and was wearing the lab uniform of a GDI Senior Researcher.

“I trust we are close to getting off this derelict, captain?” she said, using her magic to push her glasses further back on her muzzle.

“I wouldn’t have given the all clear whistle if we weren’t, Doctor Dancer.” Firehawk replied.

“Good, I have an unparalleled amount of new, most likely highly classified data that I need to get back to General Ironsides, the fate of our planet may depend on it.” Moon Dancer told him, her matter-of-factly tone carrying a surprising amount of authority with it.

“What’s so damn important that we rush you back to Canterlot?” Hotwire asked her, getting an unamused, nearly deadpan scowl from the scientist.

“Well, Miss Hotwire, everything you and your team think you know about what happened to this ship is false. Nod did not instigate the attack on this vessel. Before the riots aboard began, my sensor equipment picked up what the staff here first believed to be sensor ghosts, I think they’re something completely different.”

“Uh… mind putting that in simpler terms, doc….?” Deadeye inquired.

“Very well… simply put, mares and gentlecolts, there is a third party in the Tiberium War, and it is very interested in making sure Nod and GDI continue to believe otherwise.”

Harbinger

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Chapter XIV - Harbinger

“What the doctor’s trying to say, Havoc, is that we are all being played like a damn fiddle.”

Captain Firehawk’s words were followed up by him reloading his sidearm before nodding in the direction of Doctor Moon Dancer’s escorts.

“Private Robe, Vest, prepare the doctor for transport.”

“I’m more than capable of carrying my own findings, Captain. It’s all on this crystal archive.” Moon Dancer replied, holding up two crystals the size of an apple with her magic, “With a duplicate just in case.”

“Still, we need to make sure you keep an escort.” Firehawk told her.

“We’ll keep Crimson with her, Robe will join me and my team up at the front. Scootaloo, go ahead and help Crimson keep the doctor safe.” Havoc added in. His reply was a chorus of ‘aye aye’s before everypony fell in and they started their advance towards the hangar.

In a perfect world, whatever caused the chaos and bloodbath that was currently coating multiple passageways aboard the GDA Canterlot, would have turned tail and ran the moment that the ion storm got within a 20 kilometer radius of the aerial carrier. Instead, the moment the team pushed on past the large battlefield outside of the bridge, laser fire started impacting the bulkheads all around the team.

“For Kane!” a voice buzzed out, getting an exasperated sigh from Havoc, but something was... off.

“Deadeye, see the weird aura around their heads?” he asked. Pip nodded before putting a round through one of the changeling’s heads, making it drop immediately as green pooled around what was left of its neck.

“Looks like magic, Havoc. Headshots still work though. Definitely gonna help me make precision hits for the rest of this op.”

“Everyone got that?” Havoc asked over the team frequency.

“Damn right!” Ruby Robe belted out, brandishing her combat shotgun and pumping two slugs into the nearest griffon trying to charge their position. The first blast caught her wing, making her stumble right into Robe’s barrel as she pulled the trigger again and caused the griffon’s chest to become a cloud of feathers and red.

“Holding up fine back here, by the way.” Crimson vest added, “VIP’s hunkered down just fine.”

“They’re pushing again!” Hotwire interrupted.

“Suppressing fire, don’t let anyone rush up on us!”
______________

Shots rang out as Gunner put half a belt down the hallway with an angry growl. Ever since he, Patch, and Sakura had left the engine room, he felt like they were being followed. Every couple minutes, he would shoot random spots along the walls, ceiling, or just down the passageway when he felt eyes on him.

“I’m tellin’ ya, we’re bein’ followed an’ it ain’t frien’ly.” Gunner muttered.

“Well next time let me know before you start wasting ammo.” Sakura ordered, “Last thing I need is to jump and waste mine too because you keep shooting at shadows.”

“Heh, he might be.” Patch said with a laugh, “Who knows, maybe Nod has a team on board.”

“Do you honestly think that if Nod had a team aboard, they’d be escorting three commandos? If Nod had any sense, they’d be getting intel, not shadowing us.” Sakura deadpanned before another burst caught her off guard and caused her magic to flicker around her sidearm.

“Sorry…” Gunner murmured, “But I thought I saw something down the hallway… see the… see the purple…?”

“I see it.” Sakura whispered, “I see it! Move!”
______________

“Sakura’s team has contact, they aren’t Nod.” Hotwire announced over the din of combat, getting a scowl out of Havoc and a gasp from Moon Dancer.

“Not Nod? What in the blood-soaked bugger hell could be on this Celestia-damned ship besides us!?” Deadeye exclaimed, the anger in his voice surprising Havoc as much as the sudden use of profanity.

“Sounds like our VIP’s fiddle-playing third party.” Firehawk quipped.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Captain, but how in Tartarus did all these Noddies get onboard?!” asked Havoc before pouring more fire down the hallway.

“We managed to capture a large amount of militia, a couple of platoons worth, who’d gotten caught out during an ion storm. A riot happened after we brought them into the brig however. Their Confessors did nothing to help the situation… I swear, even if this war ended tomorrow and everything went back to being sunshine and rainbows, I think those zealots would continue fighting regardless and yelling at others to join them.” said Firehawk, sighing as he reloaded and then continued to fire. “Normally, such a situation would have been resolved in a timely manner with extreme prejudice, but our third party decided to use that very moment for target practice.”

“Speaking of, is the contact the others encountered chasing your teammates?” Moon Dancer asked with a cringe as yet another laser hit the wall near her.

“As far as they can tell, no.” Hotwire replied, punctuating her sentence with another steady burst from her rifle. Once she heard a click, she ducked down to reload only for another griffon to see the lull in the suppressing fire and try to make some progress against the GDI survivors.

“For the Messiah!” the former Confessor screamed, sprinting forward with a laser rifle he ‘liberated’ from the contraband lockers during the initial prison break. His first shot went wide, hitting the ceiling. His second shot impacted the cover that Moon Dancer wasn’t completely behind. His third and final shot was dead on, heading straight for the unicorn scientist only for the laser to hit the wrong target.

“GET DOWN!” Crimson Vest screamed, tackling the doctor out of the way as the second laser hit. Before she could get herself into cover, the third blast hit her in the neck, passing through completely and causing a significant portion of her neck to flash-vaporize.

“NO!” Ruby Robe shouted as her friend dropped to the floor and began to convulse. As Moon Dancer pulled the fallen pony aside and started treating her, Robe reacted the only way she knew how; through pure, unthinking rage.

All Havoc saw was a blur of red fur and a shotgun being held in an orange magical aura as the young lance corporal sprinted forward and tackled the griffon who shot her friend. Once she had him on the ground, she put the barrel in his beak and fired. While most ponies who went into a rage like this, something completely unheard of before the war, would simply stop once they had avenged their friend or loved one, Ruby Robe never lost her situational awareness. Before she could become another casualty, she began laying down her own suppressing fire as she advanced once more. Two changelings were caught in the open trying to take advantage of the gap that their Confessor had created, and a green pegasus with inert tiberium growths on his hooves took two shots in the head from Scootaloo as he tried to pick off Ruby.

In a matter of seconds, Ruby Robe and Scootaloo had turned the tide of a one-sided firefight.

“There’s our opening! Everypony move up on to the other side of that bulkhead! Doc, stay here with Crimson until we clear the next section of hallway!” Havoc ordered, dashing ahead and finding the nearest cover on the other side of the doorway that he could find. Deadeye, Firehawk, Scootaloo and Ruby Robe followed suit, grabbing cover and opening fire immediately. Hotwire stayed behind the door and sealed it, providing cover and assistance for Moon Dancer as she continued to try and keep Crimson Vest alive despite the giant, smoking hole where her throat used to be.

“Sakura, it’s Havoc. We have a pony down and are pushing to the hangar slowly. Get to the carryall, get her in the air and see if you can’t pick us up at an external hatch closer to the bridge. I’d rather not have to fight for every inch off of this bucket.”
______________

“Copy that, we’re still moving towards the hangar, and our timer on the reactors still has plenty of time left on it. We’ll get our bird in the air ASAP.” Sakura said into her headpiece while she gestured forward. With that quick motion towards the nearest bulkhead, Gunner and Patch trotted forward while Sakura checked her EVA again.

“Damnit…” she muttered, just loud enough for the two stallions to hear her.

“What’s wrong?” Patch asked, looking back at her.

“Countdown stopped, whatever is on the ship bucked with my hack… I have to go back.” she replied quietly, walking over to them slowly but not crossing the threshold of the doorway. With a sigh, she hit the lockdown switch and shot the controls once the locks engaged.

“We are not leavin’ you behind, Sakura!” Gunner barked, his armored hoof denting the wall next to doors console.

“No choice!” Sakura’s voice barked back over their helmet speakers, “If I don’t change the timer again, this ship goes up in 10 minutes. That means no survivors, no data for GDI High Command, and whoever attacked this ship gets away without a trace.”

“Then let the storm take her!” Patch argued.

“I have to go back and do a manual detonation so that Nod can’t get their hooves on this thing. We can’t be sure that the ion storm will ground her and I’m not taking that chance. Go!”

“Damnit Sakura, Don't!” Gunner shouted, punching the wall again only for the lights in the hallway to go out.

“Gunner, whatever Nod brought that’s been eating away at this birds insides is already making way too much progress, we have to get back to the hangar.” Patch said, placing a hoof on his teammate’s shoulder.

“... promised ‘im I’d watch after ‘er…” the giant stallion murmured as they both turned and ran.

“Promised who?”
______________

Havoc ducked below another burst of magic, not bothering to watch it spear the wall behind him and melt away the armor. In reply, he brought up his sidearm and put three rounds into the offending pony’s left eye. After the last shot hit home, the small aura around his head disappeared and he dropped to the floor. All around him, other ponies and griffons who had previously been fighting with the resolve of Black Hand elites just dropped dead, screamed in terror at something the GDI team couldn’t see, or started shooting at each other. Havoc, Ruby Robe, Scootaloo, and Firehawk immediately took the opportunity and started gunning down anything not wearing a GDI eagle.

After the team finished mopping up, Ruby Robe ran over to the doorway where they had left Moon Dancer and Crimson Vest. With the proper knock, Hotwire opened the door and Ruby’s face fell at what she saw. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, her friend didn’t pull through. Moon Dancer had found a pilot’s flight jacket and draped it over Crimson Vest’s head, covering the body as best she could with what she had.

“I’m sorry, Robe, the wound was too much and I don’t have a full medical suite here.” the older unicorn whispered. Though before she could comfort the young soldier, Flash Sentry whistled, getting all eyes on him.

“Mourn later, we need to move.”

“Surely you can spare a few minutes, Captain.” Moon Dancer said.

“He’s right, ma’am. We need to get on that carryall and out of here fast.” Firehawk answered with a scowl, “What few sensors I still have linked to my EVA show that ion storm getting closer by the second. We stay, we die.”

“That means we move on. Everypony reload and follow my lea-buck!” Havoc shouted as the ship rocked to the left hard.

“Wind gusts are already hitting us!” Firehawk announced, “We have five minutes at most before flying off my ship becomes impossible.”

“Then we leg it. Pip, grab the good Doctor, Hotwire, escort the Captain. Robe, Scootaloo, you’re on point with me. Now run!”

“Pardon me, ma’am.” Deadeye said before scooping Moon Dancer onto his back and galloping forward.

After a few more minutes of sprinting, dodging or putting down insane prisoners, and one moment where they had to wait for some strange swarm of bugs to pass down the hallway, Havoc’s team finally made it to the hangar. Much to the team’s collective dismay, the ion storm was clearly visible outside.

“Well buck.” Hotwire deadpanned.

“Buck is right!” Patch shouted as he and Gunner came bursting into the hangar too. “Countdown timer got sabotaged, Sakura had to go back and fix it.”

“Where the bloody Tartarus is she!?” Havoc shouted.

“She…. she wouldn let’us ‘elp ‘er. She stayed behind…” Gunner told him, his gaze focusing on the floor. “Put a locked blast door between us an’ ‘er before we could react…”

“And you just left her!? Did you even..” Havoc started shouting again before snorting and bringing his voice down in an attempt to calm himself, “Were you able to even try and go after her…?”

“Negative, sir.” Patch answered, “She locked us out and even if we could have cut through the door in time, we would have had to evac before getting back to the engine room.”

“Celestia damnit… and there’s no time to go back for her…. BUCK!”

“That means we don’t have a pilot.” Hotwire interjected. “Unless Captain Firehawk…?”

“Never piloted a damn thing in my life. I’m a soldier turned flag officer.” the old pegasus replied.

“Then we’re stuck here until the storm or whatever is on this ship kills us.” Deadeye added in.

“I can fly.” a quiet voice interjected, causing everypony to turn and look at the wounded orange pegasus with the dirty purple mane. “I.. well, I know how to fly.”

“I thought you were just a crew chief, Corporal.” Firehawk said.

“I’ve been training in the sims on every GDI aircraft in the records since the day I was assigned to the Canterlot, sir. I can fly us out of here, I know I can.”

“Hotwire…?” Havoc asked, looking over at the team copilot.

“If she can pilot, I can still work my magic running the power systems. Hey kid, how many times did you run the carryall sim?”

“Every other day, ma’am. It’s the second most numerous ship in the air force, outshined only by the Mk. I ORCA so I figured my best chance of starting as a pilot was by flyi-”

“That’s a yes.” Havoc interrupted, “Everyone pile in! Scootaloo, Hotwire, get us off this ship.”
______________

“Admiral, EVAs are picking up a launch from the Canterlot.” a bridge officer announced, “It’s Dead Six’s carryall.”

“Get me a visual, lieutenant.” Rainbow Dash replied, perking up a bit from her spot in the command chair and smiling a little when she saw the sensor image of a single carryall speeding off towards her ship.

And then that ship dodged a burst of lightning and rolled with wind gust.

“Are you sure the EVAs are picking up the right ship…?” Dash asked, “That thing’s moving like an ORCA.”

“Scans confirm it ma’am. Transponder is a perfect match too.”

“Then who the hell is piloting it?”
______________

In all his years in the guard, Captain Firehawk had only been truly afraid only one time. When asked about, it he usually evaded the question or said something about it involving a lord’s mistress, a love poison, and estrus being involved. Today he marked down his second time of ever actually being afraid of anything. Scootaloo had just pulled off another evasive maneuver that would have thrown everypony against the ceiling if she hadn’t demanded that they all strap in as tightly as possible.

It didn’t help that the young pegasus had just flipped the damn carryall, again, and cut her engine power. With a shudder, the craft was still miraculously moving upward, the result of a typical ion storm updraft. After it had subsided, she punched the engines and rolled the aircraft out of the way of another lightning strike.

“How’re you predicting those?!” Hotwire asked, her face showing true terror the likes she had never known before, even back when she lived in the yellow zones near Changeling territory.

“Radar blacks out a few second before each hit! Ionization messes with the instruments, other than that I just guess which way it’s gonna hit!”

“YOU WHAT!?”
______________

“Damage control teams to the flight deck! Looks like a hard landing for them. Helm, turn us around and get ready to punch it, I want us away from that ion storm and away from that Kodiak the moment that bird touches down.”

“Teams have been dispatched, Admiral.” the EVA replied, “ETA, 40 seconds.”
______________

“30 seconds! Get ready for a hard landing everypony!” Scootaloo announced. They were coming in a little too fast for comfort but that storm was still sending bursts of electricity towards them and she didn’t want to even try and land this thing ‘gently’ under what amounted to combat conditions.

“Landing gear deployed.” Hotwire stated, “Power systems still nominal.”

“Give me full power on ventral boosters, burn one second for every five on my mark… mark!”

“Burning!” Hotwire told her, “Trajectory solid, 10 seconds to contact.”

“Compensating for wind mileage… Brace!”
______________

“Safe touchdown! Repeat, safe touchdown on dorsal flight deck elevator!” somepony shouted.

“Lowering lift, carryall is secure!” another crewman added in.

“Helm, all ahead full, get us the hell outta here!” Rainbow Dash ordered. At once, the EVAs that helped run her ship put every bit of reserve power into the Double Rainboom’s engines and within seconds, she was breaking a few speed records on her way away from the ion storm.

“Any readings on the Canterlot?”

“Captain Sentry reports that one of their team had to stay behind to detonate the spark reactors, recovery was impossible.”

“Explains why we aren’t picking up anything in that storm…” the sky-blue pegasus muttered, “Debris?”

“No spark reactor detonation has ever been recorded, Admiral.” her EVA replied, “All power systems on the GDI Kodiak Mk. III series are magical. Simulations of the destruction of a spark reactor estimate a 0.0001% possibility of debris. The consensus within the GDI Academy of Applied Magic is complete disintegration of the vessel and anything near it.”

“If you say so. We’ll send in a recon team after this storm passes, but for now, mission accomplished.”
______________

Scootaloo was resting on one of the cots provided by the crew of the Double Rainboom when Ruby Robe blurted out a nearly panicked “Attention on deck!”.

“At ease.” Rainbow Dash answered once both of the young mares had bolted to attention. “Ruby Robe, Captain Sentry wants to see you back over at his carryall whenever you can get over there.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.” she replied, and then galloped off towards the hangar. Scootaloo on the other hand relaxed slightly while still favoring her injured leg.

“As for you, Scoots… boy am I glad you’re alive. When the news hit that the Canterlot was in trouble, I thought the worst had happened.” the sky-blue pegasus said, sitting down next to Scootaloo. After a long, silent moment, the two started elbowing each other and giggling a little before Rainbow Dash got Scootaloo in a gentle headlock.

“You little rascal, always getting into trouble even without me there to bail you out.”

“Aw, come on! I didn’t even pick that fight!” the orange mare retorted with a smile. The last time they had been able to just relax like this was before the war. Ever since the fighting had started, Scootaloo had barely been able to see her surrogate sister.

“Yeah yeah, but you’ll be picking plenty more once your transfer goes through all the right EVAs.”

“Transfer…?”

“Scoots, you piloted a carryall through one of the worst ion storms Equestria has ever seen. You did some tricks in that bird that I didn’t think they were able to do!”

“Just… just beginners’ luck, really.”

“Yeah well, if it was beginners luck, then I can’t wait to see what happens when you get formal training. You’re getting real piloting training, and then you’re gonna get your hooves on one of the best birds in the air force.” Rainbow Dash told her as she let the younger pegasus out of the headlock. Once Scootaloo was loose, Rainbow Dash brought up the EVA on her left foreleg and tapped in a command. On cue, Captain Firehawk entered the room and sat in front of them.

“Corporal, I want you to know that what I’m about to show you is very secret, but since you’ll be one of our test pilots, it’s time to introduce you to what you’ll be flying.” the old guards-stallion announced. As he talked, he had his EVA project a hologram of an aircraft schematic.

The fighter jet had a forward swept-wing design, central-placed engines with the air intake placed just rear of the forward stub wings, dual cockpits, and enough firepower to knock a whole squad of Vemons out of the sky.

“Flight Lieutenant Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said, announcing her promotion, “I’d like you to meet the Firehawk.”
______________

A knife flying straight at her head was not the way that Ruby Robe expected to be greeted by the Dead Six. Even stranger than that was the fact that it was Havoc who chucked the damn thing.

“Sir!?” the young mare screamed in confusion as she not only ducked said knife but pulled it out of the wall with her magic and had it held up in a defensive position in record time.

“Easy there, kiddo, if you weren’t able to dodge, Hotwire would have stopped that blade. The fact that you dodged and went straight for the weapon speaks volumes about what I saw on the Canterlot.” Havoc replied, “Come, sit down with us.”

Carefully, Robe levitated the blade back to Havoc who skillfully grabbed it with his teeth and set it back in its sheath on his right foreleg. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to be attacked again, she filled in the empty space of a circle made by the surviving members of the Dead Six.

“Sakura is gone, there’s no treading lightly around that point.” Havoc said once Robe was seated, “And the Dead Six just aren’t the Dead Six when there’s only five of us.”

“We need another teammate and pretty much all of the previous candidates are now in Zone Trooper School.” Hotwire added.

“‘An we ain’t waitin’ a month for one’o them to get done.” Gunner interjected.

“Long story short, you proved that you can hack it with us.” Havoc finished, looking back up at the young mare sitting before him. “How’d you like to become the newest member of the Dead Six, Ruby Robe?”

“Do I get to pick my nickname…?” Robe asked quietly, looking from pony to pony as she gauged their reactions.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.” Pip answered.

“Well then…” Robe answered with a grin, “Blunderbuss reporting for duty.”
______________

“Show me what you have, Doctor.” General Ironsides said. His face was still showing the wear of too many sleepless nights despite Princess Luna’s protests and the last thing he really wanted to deal with was one of the R&D department’s eggheads taking up valuable time, but Firehawk vouched for her and her findings so he figured he would humor the mare.

“Well, sir.” Moon Dancer replied as she plugged her crystal data archives into the console, “We are not alone in this fight against Nod, I’m uploading the data to you now over this encrypted channel and it has my own security measures in place as well, so Nod won’t get their hooves on it.”

“What do you mean we aren’t alone…?” the aging general asked, looking over her findings lazily.

“There’s a third party in this conflict, they may have instigated this entire war.”

“... clarify…” Ironsides ordered, his eyes widening slightly as the sensor ‘ghost’ that Moon Dancer recorded started to form on the screen in front of him.

“Visitors from another world, or maybe somepony that we never encountered on our planet before tiberium landed. They started the riot that disabled the Canterlot and then used her for target practice. Plasma weaponry the likes even Nod doesn’t have battered her to hell and I don’t think they realize I collected readings.”

“So there’s another faction to deal with… well buck me sideways and call me a dragon… this doesn’t bode well for us, especially if what you’re showing me is any representation of the rest of their military… what exactly am I looking at, anyway?”

“One of their capital ships, sir.” the doctor stated as the image finally coalesced. It looked like a spine with short ribs. The rear of the hologram showed what they assumed were propulsion systems while the ‘ribs’ were undoubtedly docking space for fighters. At the front, a pincer-like formation around the assumed command center of it, “It vastly out-guns the Kodiak and her fighter compliment is most likely huge.”

“An assault carrier…”

“Meant for planetary assault if it can break the atmosphere, and we have no reason to think it can’t.”

“Which just makes more bad news for us… what happened to the Canterlot after you got off her, doctor? The reports are still being filed and I’d prefer a personal report.”

“Destroyed when her spark reactors detonated in an ion storm.”

“Well… at least there’s some good news, despite the losses I’m sure happened aboard her. Send me all your findings and then get some rest, Doctor, and let’s just be happy that Nod didn’t get a hold of one of our biggest counters to their numbers.”
______________

“Ma’am, we have a Kodiak in sensor range, she’s pretty beat up and on an intercept course with the airfield.” a changeling announced to his floor chief. The griffon in charge of security for this particular air base scowled slightly before walking over and looking at the radar for herself.

“Impossible…” Gilda muttered, “Can they see us?”

“Weapons aren’t charging and they aren’t initiating any active scans… but they’re heading straight for the main flight line.”

“Get the SAMs primed but don’t fire just yet, those GDI dweebs might not know there’s a base in front of them and we don’t want those railguns to have a clear target.”

“They’re hailing the tower, ma’am.” another griffon interrupted, “It’s a Brotherhood channel, Darius Victor Niner.”

“Audio only.”

“This is Lieutenant Sakura, former GDI Dead Six. Tell the Messiah that I have his Kodiak.”

Daylight

View Online

Chapter XV - Daylight

Mareajevo, Temple Prime
One Month After The Raid on the GDA Canterlot

“Melted by plasma? We’ve barely begun testing proof-of-concept designs. We don’t even have weapons like that in the field yet! Did Miss Sakura or Shadow Team Darius find anything to hint at what did it?” Rarity murmured to the screen in front of her.

“I’m telling you, Rarity, it’s… strange. No sign of who or what caused the damage, but it definitely wasn’t GDI.” Twilight Sparkle replied, “Anyhow, no point wasting time thinking about that until we can get some more test results. How’s the siege going?”

“Oh Spikey Wikey is having a blast with this entire vacation.” the white unicorn told her, “GDI keeps trying to get some reinforcements in and we’ve managed to harass them all the way to the Crystal Shield each time. Even the Kodiaks they’ve brought in are having trouble operating thanks to those delightful stealth upgrades you requisitioned for my Venom squadrons.”

“Was the least I could do.” Twilight quipped, “Just keep Spike safe, physically and mentally. I’d hate for him to have another breakdown like at Macintosh Hills.”

“Oh I’m handling him just fine. Your suggestion was… appreciated, but not necessary. He’s grown into quite the fine drake and honestly, I feel safer at night with him so close. We also don’t have to worry about red tape and politics interfering with our teamwork like poor Hyperion has to deal with.”

“Understood… just stay safe, alright?”

“We’ll be fine, mom.” Spike interrupted as he entered the small communications tent adjacent to Spike and Rarity’s main Command Center.

“You better behave, young drake. Now then, I need to get back to work unwrapping the nice gift Sakura bought for me. I’ll get back to you in a couple days.”

“Ta-ta, darling.” Rarity ended, smiling fondly as the feed cut. With the way the war was going, she was lucky Twilight and Pinkie Pie were still safe despite the latter’s position. Conversations like this were one of the only things keeping her sane, present company excluded, and she treasured each one.

“Another GDI unit is probing our picket line and Princess Luna’s intel says no more reinforcements will be slotted for Shining Armor.” Spike told her, “If we’re going to draw them out of that damn shield, now is the time.”

“Hmm… you’re right. Time to give them a little teaser before the big show. Shall I call up Zeek?”

“Yes… and I think it’s time we give our newest teammates some time to stretch their legs. EVA, get me in contact with Colonel Glimmer.”
_____________

During King Sombra’s Return, Princess Cadance’s Crystal Shield had covered the entirety of the Crystal Kingdom. However, as time passed and the population grew, the city became an official Blue Zone. The shield was no longer meant to protect the entire province, but instead just the city center which immediately surrounded the castle.

While this allowed Cadance to hold the shield up longer, it also meant that Shining Armor had a Blue Zone Containment Wall to protect. Defenses along the perimeter were standard for Blue Zones after the Battle of Baltimare with significant Guardian Cannon and Watchtower anti-infantry emplacements, but most had been disabled or run out of ammunition by now. Predator tanks had to be placed along key positions on top of the wall, as well as in front of it in areas that Hydra or air strikes had cracked or destroyed portions of the wall and its defenses.

Infantry support was becoming an issue too. Food stockpiles were already approaching critically low levels. Even with the current rationing orders, food and ammunition were nearing the red. Shining Armor’s only saving grace was that his ponies were giving as good as they got, and that there were nearly twice as many Nod graves out there as GDI.

“Movement detected, Sector 37.” EVA’s signature synthetic mare voice stated, rousing Shining Armor from an uneasy sleep at one of his forward observation posts.

“Do we have a set of pony eyes on said movement, EVA?”

“Opening channel to Major Sunburst, sir.” The EVA replied, getting a thankful sigh out of Shining Armor. Sunburst was the Kingdoms “Crystaller” for years now, and once the war had started, he had put his encyclopedic mind into studying tactics, warfare, and all other aspects of running an army. Though many thought he would have been better suited in an R&D lab, Sunburst had chosen the tacticians path and it had accelerated his career far faster than even General Ironsides thought possible.

“This is Sunburst, Major General. EVA’s right, there are a lot of scorpion tails out there.”

“Probable target?”

“Section Gamma, broken wall segment closest to the roads again.. looks like they got new infantry armor though. Lighter than Black Hand but definitely a new model.”

“Understood Major. You’re clear to engage. Mobile Reserve Force Echo is in position to reinforce you as needed, just be sure you come back in one piece, we can’t go about losing our ‘best wizard’, now can we?”

“Got it, sir.” replied Major Sunburst with a grin at the small jibe, the two-star general’s EVA ending the transmission once orders were confirmed. “Alright ladies, looks like they didn’t want to throw militia into the meat grinder this time. Let’s hit’em hard and make sure the rest of the Kingdom remembers why Fifth Battalion is full of the baddest bastards and bitches in the land! Who are we?”

“The Fightin’ Fifth!” Rang a chorus of replies all over the battalion comm channel.

“Damn right. All companies, your greenhorns are on chaff duty, Echo Company is on reserve detail… the rest with me!” he commanded as his EVA unit sent out each trooper’s orders and assigned positions along the wall to their helmet’s HUDs.

Squads of crystal ponies fresh out of boot camp, the horns on their helmets literally painted green by the unit’s veterans, scrambled to their designated positions, heads low and eyes glued to the sensor readings being fed into their HUDs. Arguably one of, if not the most, important part of the defensive network that surrounded the Crystal Kingdom, mobile sensor arrays were positioned all over the perimeter with overlapping detection fields. Without these, Nod’s infamous stealth tanks would be able to operate without fear of detection all over and around the Kingdom’s defenders. Unicorns and Crystal Ponies assigned to Anti-Stealth Magical Disruption Deployment Duty as Sunburst had named it after coming up with it, or chaff duty as all troopers called it, would be tasked with firing magical bursts with an effect radius of around twelve meters at areas where the sensor arrays told them cloaked units were located, disrupting their stealth fields and leaving them vulnerable to GDI’s signature application of overwhelming force.

“Heartbreak here Sunburst. Let me know when you want me to show these Noddies how high-explosive shells look like up close.” said the tank commander tasked with guarding the hole in the wall.

“Make it 500 meters, Heartbreak. Hold position at the opening and shell them when they pass that range.” replied Sunburst, checking his remaining ammo. Two magazines full, with one more with half a dozen rounds. Hopefully this would be quick. “As for all of you bastards, hold your fire until they get within 200 meters. Don’t waste your ammo shooting like crazy or I’ll personally make you reshelve the entire Crystal Archive!” With confirmations coming in over the radio, the battalion waited for the first shots to be fired.

It didn’t take long for the loud report of the Predator’s main cannon to register, a high explosive round landing in the midst of a group of unusually-tall Noddies once they were within the 500 meter limit.

“Positive hit, Heartbreak! Great shot!” said Sunburst over the radio, looking at the scene through a pair of binoculars. His momentary joy turned into confusion, then absolutely horror as the Nod troops who had been caught in the explosion… stood up again. A few of them were missing limbs, with some missing whole chunks of their central mass, yet kept moving closer. No sooner did his training supercede his surprise and disbelief then he heard the sound of superheated gas and air moisture burst into a thunderous crack; the classic report of Nod’s laser weapons.

Major Sunburst wasn’t a stranger to the sound of laser fire and being on the receiving end of it, but this was an overwhelming onslaught unlike any he’d ever experienced. For a moment, he would have sworn that every Noddie out there had their laser rifles pointed at him. That retrospectively-optimistic thought was laid to rest as Private Goldtree’s upper body exploded into a cloud of mist and ash under a constant laser barrage just as heavy as the one he was taking cover from behind the reinforced concrete battlements.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON OUT THERE?!” he yelled into his mic as he saw Goldtree’s legs topple over, hearing the blasts from the Predator’s main cannon hit targets without the volume of fire his troops were receiving diminishing one bit.

“They ain’t staying down, Major! Lots of ‘em are almost to the wall!” replied commander Heartbreak, barking coordinates to her crew followed shortly by the report of the cannon firing again.

“Almost to the wall?! How?! They couldn’t have covered that distance so quickly!” he said angrily before his EVA interrupted him.

“Alert. Cloaked units detected.”

The moment EVA said that, Sunburst turned to look at where the nearest squad of boots had been positioned. Almost as one, they emerged from cover, half of them shooting at the enemy or providing cover fire while the other half charged and fired magic bursts at the areas their HUDs told them to. It was almost immediately that laser fire found them with the kind of precision Sunburst couldn’t believe Nod infantry was capable of.

Moments later, a large explosion rocked the battle and he knew Heartbreak was gone.

“EVA, CALL IN ECHO NOW! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS” commanded the major, spotting one of the Nod attackers somehow getting onto the wall. Raising his weapon, he took aim to take down the treacherous rebel. However, he hesitated upon seeing the Noddie’s face.

“... Starlight?”

Next thing he knew, the world turned into momentary pain, then darkness.
_____________

“EVA, report. What’s going on out there?!” said Shining Armor, alarm clearly in his voice.

“Contact lost with Major Sunburst. Unable to reestablish contact. Unable to contact any member of his personal guard detail.” answered EVA. “Contact established with Fifth Battalion, Echo Company. Opening channel with Captain Rose Shard.”

“Captain Shard, talk to me. What’s going on out there?” asked Shining.

“Not looking good, sir. Our EVA unit was feeding us data from the sensor array at gamma moments ago. Was. We’ve got plenty of red at the wall and who knows how many stealth tanks are passing through.” answered Shard, the sound of her Timber Wolf’s engine roaring faintly in the background.

“Understood. ORCAs are en route to assist. Determine the enemy composition but do not engage.”

“Roger sir. We’re reaching the wall now!”

A few slow, tense moments passed in the outpost Shining Armor was at waiting for the lieutenant reply to come.

“Command, Echo here.” came in the response.

“How’s it looking there, Shard?”

“It’s… It’s a massacre, sir. There’s nopony left...”

There was a heavy silence in the air after the grim news were received.

“There’s more sir.” added Shard. “Nod’s forces are retreating.”

“Good work on that, at least.”

“It’s not me, sir… they’re just… up and leaving. We’ve done nothing to make them pull back but every step forward my mares take, Nod’s taking five back.”

“Hold back at the wall for now, we can’t afford an unnecessary offensive right now.”

“Copy that, sir…” Captain Shard murmured, stomping her forehooves in frustration. “Alright ladies, shore up defenses and dig back in, we have more ground to cover and the Major wouldn’t want us getting too comfortable!”
__________________

Teal eyes shot open and Sunburst attempted to use his magic to reach for his sidearm. He noticed right away that he couldn’t, courtesy of a inhibitor ring placed around his horn and the bindings keeping him strapped back first to a table. Nod insignias on some of the medical equipment he could see only confirmed his immediate suspicion that he had been taken prisoner.

“Well buck…” he muttered to himself, wrestling against the bonds half-heartedly in order to test them.

“Oh… language, Sunburst, language… no need to let such coarse words ruin what’s supposed to be a lovely reunion.” A surprisingly calm female voice chided.

From his vantage point, he couldn’t see who was talking to him, but the voice couldn’t belong to who he thought it did. The mare who had walked back into his life all those years ago and helped with the “Flurry Heart Incident” was KIA fighting for Nod nearly 6 months ago. The blow had hurt, both because of their slight falling out when sides were chosen, and again when he found out that the helmet camera who had recorded her death belonged to a pony in his unit.

However, when the table angled up and Starlight Glimmer walked into view he didn’t even care that she was covered in black and crimson armor.

“Starlight…? You’re… you’re alive…?” He whispered in disbelief, as if he was afraid that speaking too loudly would scare this apparition away. Starlight replied by putting a hoof on his chest, confirming that she was in fact alive and well, and that he wasn’t dead as well once the pressure became uncomfortable.

“Yes, I’m alive.” She told him, giving a genuine smile, not that of a captor or mortal enemy, but of a friend, companion, and maybe even a lover, “I’m alive, I’m… well, mostly put back together, and you are my guest of honor right now.”

“You’re… how? I saw the footage, that magical blast severed…”

“Three of my legs and shattered the bones in the fourth, yes, but everything else on me survived and those blessed enough to be marked by Kane are given a second chance to serve the Brotherhood.”

“Cybernetics… intel has always thought Nod had them what with the Fallen Princess on your side, but they never knew that you had anything this advanced yet.”

“The who?” Starlight asked, an eyebrow rising.

“Twilight Sparkle, the Fallen Princess. Celestia and Luna may not have taken away her title, but most of GDI regulars call her that.”

“Lovely, I’ll be sure to let her know of the affectionate nickname she’s getting for saving Equestria. But enough about that… today is about you.”

“Is that why you have me bound so tightly to a table?”

“Oh hush, dear, that’s just in case and because I always liked seeing you in cuffs.” Glimmer teased, brushing her tail across his muzzle as she turned to bring up a viewscreen. With a small burst of magic, it sprang to life showing an aerial view of the entire Crystal Kingdom battle area. Statistics ran up next to various areas of the map, showing force strengths, troop counts, and other various tidbits of data.

“We outnumber you 5-to-1 and outgun you 4-to-1, we have the necessary technology to wipe out the entire garrison and take both of those Kodiaks out of the sky. In about 10 minutes, give or take 5 thanks to how hectic this entire situation is, we’ll be striking inside the city… after that, and after your commanding officer replies by attacking us and leaving the shield, we wipe him out and the Kingdom will only have a minimal garrison left.”

“Your point being? Even if your predictions were correct, which there is no guarantee that they are, you’d never make it past the shield.” The GDI Major replied, shaking his head, “You’d need to harness the same amount of magic that fuels Celestia’s abilities to move heavenly bodies to even harm that shield.”

“We have that covered, Sunburst, which is why I took you prisoner.” Starlight replied with another playful grin before stepping aside. Through the doorway, a purple and green dragon that Sunburst recognized immediately appeared.

“Slavik…”

“I see my nickname actually gets circulated in GDI. Excellent.” Spike mused, “Major, you are going to make a message for the survivors inside the Kingdom. It will be a very simple affair that if they surrender, they’ll be spared. Anyone who wants to join Nod will be allowed to, anyone who doesn’t will be treated fairly as a POW or refugee.”

“The alternative?”

“They all burn with their city.”
__________________

“EVA, status on the collection of the battle footage at the Wall, sector 37 section Gamma.”

“All available footage has been collected for review, General. 78% of recording were from the Wall’s automated security systems. Few helmet cam storage units were recoverable. Acquisition of Section Gamma’s sensor logs has also been completed.”

“Thank you EVA. Please display the sensor recording on my left monitor and the video footage on my center and right.”

The magical construct did as instructed, displaying the requested footage on Shining Armor’s setup. The sensor recording started at 10:06 AM and was synchronized with all of the footage recovered to ensure the Major General had a clear idea of what had transpired a few hours ago. The grid on his left display showed all units, aircraft, and structures detected in a two-kilometer radius from the sensor array itself.

The Mobile Sensor Arrays were developed in response to the ever-increasing threat of Nod’s devastating stealth units to serve as a sort of super-radar. It focused all its power on constantly scanning a relatively-small area with sweeping scans of a large portion of the EM spectrum, succeeding in something regular radars had proven woefully inadequate to do throughout the conflict. They’d so far proven their effectiveness in ensuring the defense of GDI’s perimeter wasn’t swept aside by a wave of cloaked forces, but the latest threat Nod had thrown their way didn’t seem to bother with even the pretense of stealth.

That by itself was… troubling.

A few minutes passed while Shining watched the brutally-short battle, which he had come to admit wasn’t even deserving of the designation - “slaughter” would be more accurate.

“EVA, rewind to 10:08:67. Display footage of the Predator’s destruction.” He commanded, his magical aid doing so immediately. The sensor recording had picked up multiple stealth units on approach, almost 28 in total. Had the outcome not been Nod’s forces retreating soon after their victory, this could very well have been the beginning of a successful breakthrough by the Brotherhood. Instead, 4 stealth tanks decloaked, destroyed the vulnerable Predator, then disappeared and retreated. The other vehicles never showed themselves and were completely lost when the sensor array went down.

Which could only mean one thing.

Alarms began blaring, turning the forward outpost building Shining had chosen as his temporary base into a wailing cacophony box filled with nothing but red lights.

“Incoming transmission from Colonel Dew.” said EVA in her characteristic monotone timbre

“On screen!” The Major General commanded.

Instead of Colonel Morning Dew appearing on his screen, Shining Armor got the generic background image of the GDI insignia most of the organization’s computers had. Seconds later, only static came through the speaker.

“Colonel, report.” He commanded, but the static continued. “EVA, are we being jammed?”

“Negative. The connection with Crystal Command was successfully established and is currently stable.”

At that moment, a pegasus in full GDI combat armor stormed into his office, followed soon by a squad of similarly armored and armed troops.

“General, we’re here to escort you to the bunker!” Reported the pegasus.

“What?! What’s going on lieutenant?”

“The city is under attack, sir!”
__________________

To say Sergeant Timber was on the verge of panic was beyond being an understatement.

“HQ isn’t answering, sarge! What do we do?!” Yelled a crystal pony, almost completely prone and visibly trembling.

He’d seen them. He had only heard rumors and second-hand accounts of them and what they did, but by the Sun Goddess he had seen them himself.

“They took out the MG! They’re crossing the courtyard!”

The pitch-black armor, their devastating weaponry, the griffons and dragons amongst them.

“Sarge, something’s happening on Pillbox Del- BY CELESTIA, A TANK JUST CAME OUT OF THE GROUND!”

They had swept aside their defenses, pushed through his troops like they weren’t there.

“We gotta go now Sarge! Come on, get up!” He heard someone say, feeling his uniform being pulled.

What were those monsters? Those… he couldn’t really call them tanks. Tanks had cannons, they travelled OVER land, they were something he could fight.

“Forget him! We go or we’re dead! Come on!” Said someone else, the sound of gunfire being briefly replaced by the sound of boots running.

What came next wasn’t the sound of gunfire once more, but instead the monstrous sound of a grinder breaking through the Earth. The floor beneath Timber gave in, and as he screamed on the way down, all he saw was the deadly maw of the Devil’s Tongue.
__________________

Everything was going on perfectly.

Their strike force had managed to destroy a large number of buildings the GDI dogs had commandeered to use as offices and barracks for their officers and troops and now potential GDI reinforcements were delayed by the very shield that was supposed to protect their city.

From atop a crystalline highrise which itself was atop a probably-fancy hotel, Brother-Captain Nimbus supervised the offensive against the Crystal Palace while escorted by his personal guard of fellow griffons.

“Nimbus here” he talked into his helmet’s communicator, “all platoon leaders, report.”

“Archon Platoon has cleansed GDI’s presence from our rear, Captain. It will be some time before they can advance against us from there.”

“Excellent work. Board your transports and reinforce Bathomys Platoon’s assault on the Crystal Palace.”

With a confirmation pip on Nimbus’s helmet, Archon’s platoon leader signed off and was replaced by his counterpart. “Bathomys Platoon reporting, we’ve surrounded the lowermost floor of the palace and those new flame tanks have created a firestorm on the surrounding buildings. GDI’s infantry won’t be able to bother us unless they want to pre-cook themselves for us.”

Nimbus chuckled at that. “Good work Brother-Sergeant. What is the status of GDI’s defenses around and at the palace?”

“They’ve got maimed squads trying to stop their advance with unicorns putting up magic shields to protect infantry from our fire. A number of Timberwolves and at least one tank have been spotted.”

“Understood.” Answered Nimbus before inputting the information into a wrist-mounted computer “EVA, probability of mission hindrance?” He asked before a reply appeared on its small monitor.

“Zero percent. Incoming message from General Slavik.”

“Put it through, EVA.”

“Nimbus, pull your troops back, we’ve baited the trap well enough and I need Cadance’s shield intact for the next phase of the attack.” Spike ordered, getting an absolutely flabbergasted expression from the griffon before Nimbus nodded slightly.

“Recalculating… one hundred percent.” The EVA chimed in as Spike cut the feed.
__________________

By the time the alert had been lifted and Shining Armor had returned to the city proper within the shield, Nod’s forces had been long gone. That didn’t stop lieutenant Rock Hoof from having his squad follow Shining Armor’s every step.

“I’m really against this sir. The palace was THE warzone just minutes ago. There could be explosives or Nod may have left a sniper in wait or-”

“Save me your objections, lieutenant. It’s blatantly obvious we’re not any more safe under the shield than outside of it.” Replied Shining, impatiently tapping on his personal pad as they traveled to Crystal Command HQ, the palace itself. “EVA, have you managed to reach Colonel Dew?” He proceeded to ask his personal assistant.

“Colonel Dew has been confirmed KIA outside Barracks 12.”

“Dammit… Patch me into Colonel Bright.”

“Colonel Bright has been confirmed KIA while leading the defense of the Crystal Palace.”

The General withheld a furious roar before taking a deep breath. “Alright… alright. Get me Major Treble.”

“Major Treble has been MIA since her command bunker was overran. Believed to be KIA.”

A thought… a terrible, terrible thought crossed Shining Armor’s mind at that moment.

“EVA, display a list of all senior officers within the city at the time of the attack and their current status.”

As ordered, a list was immediately made available. Out of 188 senior officers at the beginning of the siege, 35 were listed as mission capable. The rest were either dead, wounded, or missing in action. According to the timestamps for the casualties, a little over half of them had occurred during the current raid.

“By the Princesses… they decapitated most of what remained of our command structure…” said Shining, turning back to his EVA unit. “EVA, let all brigadiers know we’ll have an emergency strategy meeting at 1600 hours on the dot in the Crystal Palace’s War Room.”

“We’re arriving at the palace now General. My boys and I will get out first and form a wall around you.”

“Do what you must, lieutenant.”

__________________

The mood at the Crystal Palace was somber, almost desperate. The palace’s staff had worn worried, if composed, expressions since the beginning of the siege, but now the mood had become one of hopelessness. Shining paid no mind to any of that though, moving into the Throne Room and straight to his wife, the Crystal Princess.

“How’re you holding up…?” Cadance asked quietly, her own EVA projecting the casualty counts on the wall in front of her.

“I figured I’d be asking you that, dearest…” Shining murmured back.

“I’ll hold, don’t worry about me. It’s you we need to look after, especially with… this.” She replied, motioning to the list of names they’d be engraving on a memorial later. Usually Shining Armor would have some witty reply about how he could tough it all out, but if he was being completely honest with himself, he had never dealt with this sort of loss before. The initial battle for the Kingdom a year ago had been costly, but nothing like this siege.

“Incoming transmission… location unknown…. Source… Brotherhood of Nod.” Shining’s EVA stated, interrupting his train of thought.

“Put it on the big screen.” The white unicorn ordered, his face going from grieving to anger the moment Spike’s head appeared.

“Hello, Uncle. How are we feeling today?”

“What do you want, Spike?” Cadance asked as her husband composed himself.

“I want this little siege to end before I have to kill all of you. I pulled my forces back after their initial subterranean assault because what we did this afternoon was a message of its own. I can strike your city at any time, in any place, and I also have the capability at my claws to destroy the shield with a single attack… and I don’t want to use that attack. The moment I do, this war turns into a superweapon race, and the last thing Equestria needs is for our two factions to start slugging it out on that large of a scale.”

“You’re bluffing. Why would you care about bloodshed when you’ve already helped send tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters-in-arms to an early grave?!” Shining barked back.

“You can ask Auntie Tia about why we continue to fight, Shining, but my plea still stands. Please don’t make me unleash Tartarus on your Kingdom… just lay down your arms, pull the shield down, and I promise anyone who wishes to join Nod can do so, and anyone who wishes to stay loyal to GDI will be treated fairly as a POW. If you refuse… I will leave nothing but a crater where the castle is.”

“EVA, cut the transmission.” Shining spat, his whole body shaking a bit with rage as the feed went back to a rotating GDI emblem. For what felt like centuries, all of the senior staff simply sat there, looking at their Theatre CO and wondering what was going on inside his head. Cadance was even speechless and despite wanting to go console her husband, was frozen in place.

Whatever nerve Spike had touched was a big one, and she had never seen Shining Armor like this before.

“Friends… if he’s asking for us to surrender… practically begging us to, that means he’s licked. Something changed and he can’t sustain the campaign… if we’re to break the siege, now is the time. I want four of the divisions ready for a full counter attack in three hours and my personal Mammoth at the head of the column. We’re breaking the Brotherhood line.”
_______________

Crystal Kingdom Outskirts
1930 hours

“I can now confirm, Slavik, that GDI has committed the majority of its forces to breaking the siege. Their Kodiaks are on approach and they intend to rain death on us all.”

“Good job Zeek. It’s… regrettable, but they’ve made their choice. Proceed with the plan.” Said Spike, his face on the screen being as perpetually menacing as ever.

“In the Name of Kane.” replied Zeek, the transmission ending a second after. Despite his promotion to Brigadier General, Zeek continued to command his forces from within a stealth tank, making use of one of his old Mk. I tank. With stealth technology having been successfully miniaturized and warheads having been made more powerful in order to make them smaller and launchable from the new Mk, II stealth tanks, plenty of space had been repurposed on the large and bulky Mk. I to assist him in commanding his forces on the field.

“Alright mares and gentlecolts, let’s not let Slavik down.” He said to his crew, getting a quick cheer out of them.

“Division” he began, addressing all stealth tanks under their command, most of them being the newer Mk. II variant with the unit commanders making use of the older Mk. Is as their beloved brigadier. “Today it is us who shape the fate of this city. Slavik’s trap has been set, and it is up to us to spring it. Each battalion will expend its munitions and make a full retreat to friendly lines. Our job is not to stop GDI’s charge, but to merely delay it and draw those lovely, oversized flying bricks into spitting distance of the shield. We do that, and Slavik will ensure this siege is over. In the Name of Kane.”

His message to his troops complete, Zeek activated his command controls and displays. His battalions were all fully stocked and prepared for this operation, and morale was at an all-time high. The 1st Stealth Armored Division, famously known as “Zeek’s Ghosts” within the Brotherhood and infamously referred to as the “Ghost Division” within GDI, had made its official debut with this siege and had played a key part in preventing further reinforcements from reaching the besieged city. And now they would ensure this battle ended in complete Nod victory.

The plan was simple enough. Each battalion would move out one after the other. The lead battalion would fire all its warheads directly at the enemy’s front, their regular guided munitions replaced with unguided HE rockets. The following battalions would do the same, circling around the enemy’s flanks and then retreating once all munitions were expended. Once all three battalions had fallen back, Zeek’s own battalion would then uncloak and fire upon the Kodiaks, the warheads of his tanks having been originally designed to penetrate the heaviest of armor which was usually found in Mammoths and then detonate within the targets. At such close range however, hitting the Kodiaks was not only possible but guaranteed.

Slavik would then have full reign to destroy GDI’s forces himself.

Accessing the division channel once more, Zeek uttered the only word his troops needed to hear in order to commit all 120 of their tanks to battle.

“Advance!”
_____________

As always, the valley looked clear. In another time, Shining would have believed there was no war simply by looking at the horizon.

That was just a dream now.

The Brotherhood had a painfully good grasp of cloaking technology, allowing them to hide their entire army. That’s why he had requested the Kodiaks join the attack. No amount of stealth would protect them from grid-by-grid creeping barrages followed by advancing Mammoths.

“The Starswirl and Goddesses report they are ready to fire.” Said one of Shining’s officers, keeping the General updated from the HQ at the palace.

“Roger that. Let’s get this started then. EVA, open a channel to both ships.” Said Shining Armor. Once the channel had been opened, he took a deep breath and gave the order.

“SHATTER THEIR SKIES!”

With a roaring boom audible even inside his personal Mammoth, both Kodiaks let out the first barrage into the pre-designated target areas. The armored forces would advance to the bombed area while the Kodiaks blasted the next grid. By Celestia, they would break out of this siege and reconnect with GDI forces on the other side of the Brotherhood blockade.

“Incoming fire!” Yelled the driver as he drove the massive beast of metal forward.

A rain of rockets fell upon the ragtag corp-sized GDI force. Timberwolves and infantry units were hit hard by the unexpected attack, but the high explosive warheads failed to do much to the armored behemoths except knock out a few tracks here and there.

“Report. Where did that come from?!” Demanded Shining, EVA answering within a moment.

“The rocket barrage appears to have originated a kilometer and a half ahead of us. Sensor scans of the attackers appear to indicate stealth tanks.”

Of course it was the damned stealth tanks.

“Forward. I don’t care what they try to hit us with, we break through!”

“Alert: Enemy forces are on our flank.” Said EVA. A moment later, more rockets came from the leftmost flank, this time impacting multiple tanks with enough HE warheads to knock them out for good.

“Dammit, this is already going to pear-shaped. EVA, have the rest of the corps advance, we will take care of this.”

With that, Shining Armor’s forward force turned towards their flank, seeking to engage the rapidly-disappearing Nod forces. However, it was too late. They were already gone.

“Alert: Enemy forces are on our flank.” Said the construct once more. Shining immediately turned to his command display, seeing stealth tanks firing from his OTHER flank. They’d just bamboozled him successfully.

“Very well then. This is how they want to play. All units, ignore enemy fire and break through their lines!”

With a set of replies from his unit commanders, Shining rejoined the charge, smiling at the appearance of the Goddesses right on top of his forces. That smile disappeared as EVA’s latest alert came through just as missile trails flew overhead.

“GDA Goddesses is under fire. Shields are down.”

This was not going as planned at all.
_____________

Spike let out a heavy sigh as he saw all of the pieces come together. GDI was moments away from being within optimal strike range, and he already had the launch codes punched in.

All he had to do was push the button.

“Spike…? Are you doing well…?” Rarity asked quietly as she sat down next to him.

“I’m about to unleash the power of a star on Equestria…” Spike replied, “It’s humbling. I’m about to wipe out tens of thousands of ponies in a single movement of my claw… just a couple of muscles flexing and I wipe out an army.”

“They gave you no choice, darling, you warned them, you warned all of them.”

“I know… but that still won’t put my conscience at ease, at least for a while.”

“GDI Counter Attack will reach optimal range in 10 seconds.” Spike’s EVA announced. With another heavy sigh, the young dragon reached over to his command console, verified the command codes and closed his eyes.

“I am become Death…. Luna forgive me.”
_______________

“Codes have been received, my lord. The launch sequence has been initiated.” Kane’s personal EVA announced, though he was already up and moving towards the observation deck before it had started talking. He knew full well what was already being put into motion.

“Open up the blast shields.” Kane said with a knowing grin. In reply, the protective metal plates in front of him retracted back into the walls, leaving only bullet-proof, magically shielded glass in their wake. The view was already spectacular on a regular day, showing vast tiberium fields being cultivated and harvested by changeling workers as far as the eye could see, the capital city of the Brotherhood slowly but surely expanding as the surrounding fields were cleared.

But today was a special day in Mareajevo.

Warning signs and security forces had cleared the courtyard to Temple Prime hours before and had successfully prevented anyone from going back in. As if commanded by a god to reveal the gates of Tartarus, the ground opened up, revealing a cylindrical chasm with but a single object within. A great spire rose up into Kane’s view, the red scorpion tail on its nose glistening proudly under the light of the early dusk.

“Launch is commencing.” An automated voice, not an EVA, stated getting yet another smile from Nod’s messiah as the first ever Sombra-class missile ignited its engines and shot up into the sky.
_______________

“All units report ammunition expended sir. GDA Goddesses disabled.” Reported Zeek’s EVA.

“Absolutely beautifully done. Inform all units to retreat to friendly lines.” Zeek ordered. With surprising, almost practiced grace, Zeek’s tank broke off, invisibly followed by multiple others out of the combat zone back towards the predetermined ‘safe zone’.

“Uhhh, Brigadier… what’s that?” Asked lieutenant Ambers, Zeek’s unicorn gunner.

“What’s what?” He asked.

“That light in the sky, sir. Getting really close, really fast.”

“... I believe that’s Slavik’s surprise.”
____________________

Spike scowled at the display on his wrist as the icon representing the missile continued to close in. Zeek’s tanks had already entered the safe zone and every unicorn in the theatre was busy putting up a protective barrier around Nod’s area of operations. After the small triangle made it past the rear phase line, he looked up and watched the streak of light heading straight towards the Crystal Kingdom.

“EVA, make sure everyone has their eyes closed until after the initial detonation…” Spike muttered, crossing his arms as he continued to track the missile. It wasn’t until the proximity alarm in his earpiece went off that he closed his eyes and covered his face with his arm.

Three seconds later, the world became nothing but blinding light, scorching heat, and deafening pressure.

Dusk

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Chapter XVI - Dusk

Darkness. All Celestia could see was darkness. All she felt was pain. Her head felt like it had after Queen Chrysalis bested her during Cadance’s wedding and her entire body was still spasming as though she had been electrically shocked.

“Princess!? Princess!?” Her aides called out, though she could only see their mouths moving. All sound was muted, as though someone had forcefully put plugs in her ears. She barely noticed the many guards helping her stand back up or one of her aides carefully retrieving her crown.

“Princess, are you alright?” One of the guards asked once she was steady on her hooves, “You started convulsing and let out such a scream… half the palace jumped.”

“I… I don’t know, captain… it felt as though the sun herself had come to life on Equestria’s soil. But that’s impossible, I can still feel her safely in our sky.” Celestia replied quietly, gingerly rubbing her head before a nearby door slammed open and a dark blue blur ran through the doorway.

“Sister!” Luna exclaimed, “We felt it too, what was that!?”

“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it can’t be good.” The Princess of the Sun murmured before regaining her usual demeanor, “Luna, with me to the War Room. Hopefully the dear General has some idea why we felt the sun leave her place.”
____________

To say that the Canterlot War Room was absolute chaos would have been the understatement of the century right behind “Discord will never return” and “Nightmare Moon is an old pony’s tale”. Ironsides was busy yelling into three comm lines, listening to five, and gesturing orders at no less than eight separate ponies and their respective EVAs, all at the same time. The only good thing about the insanity in the War Room was that Celestia didn’t have to deal with everypony snapping to attention as she entered the room. It was a custom that Ironsides insisted was necessary during a time of war for discipline’s sake, but she often found herself wishing for the days before Tiberium first made landfall and she’d only have to deal with the usual amount of royal decorum.

“Somepony get me a clear picture of what just happened in the Crystal Kingdom!” Ironsides barked, slamming a hoof on the main desk, “I have two unresponsive Kodiaks and four divisions of ponies that just dropped off the EVAs!”

“Still trying to piece it together, sir!” An intelligence officer replied, her console nothing but a flurry of images switching between video feeds and static as the entire room full of officers started spouting out status updates.

“And the EVAs?”

“Rough estimate is 80% of all EVAs in that theatre have stopped transmitting! We’ll have a clearer picture in a few minutes!”

“Satellite coverage can’t penetrate the smoke!”

“Front-line units across from the Crystal Kingdom report some sort of mushroom cloud!”

“Air recon units report being unable to take off due to Hurricane-strength winds!”

“EVERYTHING’S ON FIRE!”

“EVA’s broken through the interference, sir! We have a visual on the Crystal Kingdom!”

“You do?! Main screen, now!” Ironsides barked, though when he looked up and saw the transmission, he wished that EVA hadn’t regained the connection.

“No….” Celestia murmured, “Mother, no…”
____________

Two magical shields extended from either side of the battlefield. One shimmering under stress around the city center of the Crystal Kingdom, the other holding strong and steady across the entire Nod line at the mouth of the valley. Between them, the earth glowed red and laid covered in the husks of GDI armor and scattered ORCAs whose frames had somehow survived disintegration due to the nuclear strike. Closer to the GDI lines, the Kodiak Starswirl had lost her shields and was listing badly.

Before her captain could get the doomed vessel back under control, its port side slammed into the Crystal Heart Shield, disintegrating as its momentum carried it hard against the magical barrier. Slowly, almost elegantly, the massive airship slid down the shield while still disappearing meter by meter against Cadance’s best attempts to protect her home. After nearly a third of the ship had been reduced to ash, it finally made landfall right before her spark reactors went critical and detonated. The fact that the shield was still holding was a testament to Princess Cadance’s resolve, as much as that of the crystal ponies still left inside the city, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t hold for much longer after such traumatic and devastating abuse.

Near the center of the battlefield, the Kodiak Goddesses suffered a similar fate. She had been torn in half from port to starboard by the force of the nuke and both halves had crashed into the newly created wasteland and only added to the massive shockwave that the Starswirl’s detonation had created. As the overpressure pushed through the wastes, Predator and Mammoth husks alike were thrown into the air again, landing haphazardly and even impacting the shield protecting the Nod front line.

One Mammoth in particular, a gold-painted Command variant with first generation magical shields and railguns installed had managed to survive intact. Its inhabitants weren’t so lucky. All were burnt badly and had been irradiated beyond help of even magical treatment.
_________

Shining Armor let out a cough, splattering the inside of his helmet with blood and what he assumed was part of a lung. He could barely see from the sunlight shining through the various cracks and holes in his once proud tank and what little he could see was blurred due to the blood loss. Shining tried to gather his bearings but couldn’t think past the pain. His armor was fused to his body and the BDUs that were supposed to be underneath had burned away with most of his fur. The only reason he was even alive was the fact that the Mammoth itself was such a hard target to kill, and because his crew had shielded his body with their own magic, not that he’d ever find out about that. He was lucky he couldn’t see what was left of their ruined corpses.

As he tried to move and eventually slipped back into unconsciousness, he swore he heard cutting torches working through the hull.
____________

“Positive ID confirmed, General. We’ll be through the tank’s bugout hatch in a few moments.” Specialist Thorn stated into his helmet’s comm device, “Medics are already on station to stabilize him and we’ll get the package to Mareajevo as quickly as possible.”

“See that he survives the transition at any cost, Specialist.” Spike told the changeling, “Princess Twilight needs him alive for her next project.”

“Understood, sir. We won’t fail you.”

“Rarity said you were some of her best Shadows, Darius excluded of course, so I expect that you won’t. Slavik, out.”
_____________

Captain Rose Shard was not having a good day.

At the start of it, her superior officer was either killed or captured by the Brotherhood. Right after that, the Brotherhood renewed its attacks against the Containment Wall, and to top it all off, the last thing she ever saw before contact was lost with most of their forces was a massive flash of light.

Despite that, she was doing her best to keep the remaining garrison working properly. All of the officers above her grade that had survived the sneak attack inside of the Crystal Shield were killed with the rest of the garrison when the missile hit, and she was saddled with running the remaining division’s worth of ponies and wounded in an attempt to protect the civilians in the city. She was halfway through being talked through an updated casualty roster when every EVA in the city sputtered slightly and went to static, followed shortly by an orange pony appearing on the screen. Even though she couldn’t see who was talking, she recognized the voice immediately.

“Ponies of the Crystal Kingdom… my name is Sunburst, your Crystaller… before Nod launched this new... weapon that has wiped out the GDI forces in your city, they captured me and gave Princess Cadance and Shining Armor a chance to surrender the city peacefully. Spike… Slavik, warned and even pleaded them to surrender the city to prevent this loss of life.

They refused. They refused and now four divisions and two Kodiaks are gone. They are having me give this message in an effort to save as many lives as they can, so please… please… lay down your arms. Anypony that comes towards the Brotherhood lines peacefully will be treated fairly. Civilians will be cared for, and military will be escorted to a prison if they do not convert. This is your last chance… those that refuse… those that refuse…”

Shard could hear his voice faltering, and had she been able to see his face, she’d see tears wetting his beard before the camera shifted to Spike. His voice was different than many remembered, the situation adding quite a bit of steel to it as he finished the ultimatum that the survivors of the Fall of the Crystal Kingdom would remember forever.

“Those that do not take me up on this offer will burn in 24 hours when I attack the city again, and that is a promise I intend to keep.”
_____________

The shield was holding.

Barely.

All Cadance had to do was hold onto the hope that Shining had survived whatever had just hit the shield. She’d never felt power like that, in fact, she was sure that no alicorn in Equestria’s long history had ever felt power like that before. Whatever Nod had done, it was a bigger threat than Tirek’s second invasion.

“My lady… the EVAs have collated the data… and the casualty list.” a male voice interjected, interrupting the Princess of Love from her thoughts.

“Is my Shining still out there?”

“I’m… ma’am…” the officer answered quietly, looking at the ground as he set his helmet down, “Major General Shining Armor is officially listed as KIA… that bomb that Nod hit us with… it didn’t leave any survivors. Anyone who was outside the shield is dead.”

The cry of anguish that followed drove everyone in the castle to tears, and with that mourning scream, the Crystal Heart Shield fell once and for all.
_____________

“You hear that?” Sweetie Belle asked her team leader.

“Yeah, sounds like the the Princess just got the news about her hubby.” the older Shadow replied. He was a griffon by the name of Whirlwind with a particularly nasty grudge against GDI in general, and Shining Armor in particular. “Only wish I could have dropped that pompous ass a second time.”

“Yeah yeah, keep telling us the story how you almost changed the face of the war before an ORCA buzzed your wings.” a changeling replied. She was the team’s technical expert, only going by her nickname “Moth”.

Whirlwind flexed his mechanical wings in reply before donning his helmet once more and giving a small gesture with his claw to the fourth member of their group. He was the only other male in Shadow Team ‘Generosity’, and his species was a bit of a rarity this far into the war, but he helped represent the diversity that Nod embraced.

The Diamond Dog Brutus nodded to his team leader, sent up an IR flare, and then spread his glider wings with Sweetie Belle as the entire team took off on one of the most important missions of this entire engagement.

“Target ID is still consistent with Princess Cadance, bioscans put her at the former epicenter of the Crystal Shield.” Moth stated over the team comm channel.

“HUD isn’t picking up anything… Stealth detection is still downs thanks to that missile… looks like grabbings that pony princess is goings to be easier than we thoughts, boss.” Brutus growled happily.

“Entrance vector locked in, we’re hitting the lovely alicorn’s bedroom window.” Whirlwind stated, “Prep to lock wings and go in loud, if the shield is down, our target isn’t awake.”

“Charges are ready, just point me at the crystals.” Brutus replied, his paws keeping a firm grip on his det-charges. He’d garnered quite the reputation as being an artist with those.

To anyone who managed to glance in the Shadow Team’s general direction, they’d barely be able to see a slight distortion in the smoke that was filling the sky, but it took the trained eye of a Shadow or a GDI Sniper to actually notice the four shimmers in the air moving steadily towards the Crystal Palace. Even as those distortions landed on the outside wall of the Crystal Palace, their stealth coating held as the hooks in their suits pierced into the crystal and held the team in place. Brutus placed his charges silently, the team leaped off the wall and glided away, and with a greedy growl, the Diamond Dog hit the detonator and smiled at the shower of crystalline glass that followed.

With grace borne of months of practice drills, the four Shadows dove into the breach, rolled to their feet, and had their weapons drawn in a matter of seconds. The few guards that had been inside of Cadance’s room on duty were dispatched while they were trying to recover from the explosion, while their target was nowhere to be seen for now.

“EVA, confirm target location.” Whirlwind ordered.

“Target is unconscious in the throne room.” the AI replied, “Target vitals are dropping slowly, suggest haste in returning her to Brigadier Rarity.”

“Noted.” the griffon murmured as his team moved into the hallway. The lack of guard response was to be expected with how much of the garrison was thrown away by Shining Armor during the ‘blockade run’ that had been cut short, but still no less unsettling. As a veteran of no less than 14 target extractions and eliminations, lack of GDI security always put the Marked griffon on edge.

Sweetie Belle took point, the pistols on her armor searching for targets as she looked around in the paranoid fashion that all Shadows shared. Ever since the ‘Mother of Shadows’ had published her doctrine and training had become more standardized within the Special Ops community, Major Pallette’s techniques on “not getting your flank ambushed by some GDI moron” were instinct to every Shadow in Nod’s employ.

“EVAs aren’t picking anything up, looks like they nearly cleared the palace out for that little suicide charge.” Moth muttered, “only guards left between us and the target are in the throne room at the entrances, with a pair outside each door as well.”

“No survivors except the target, this is a no witnesses situation.” Whirlwind ordered. His response was a trio of acknowledgment lights on his HUD appearing next to each of his team’s vital sign monitors.
_____________

“She’s gone into shock.” the doctor sighed as she placed another heating blanket around the pink alicorn, “If she wakes up, she should be fine, but the strain of holding the shield on top of losing the Prince-Regent… this could end very badly, Captain.”

Rose Shard scowled, or at least she thought she scowled, at the doctor in reply. Her face was still a little numb from the treatment for her eyes and she could only hope that she hadn’t made an inappropriately silly face at such grave news.

“So we’re down the entire cadre of staff officers, our royal line is out of commission, and the heir is still in Canterlot with her aunt… this… I don’t even know what to say.”

“You’re the ranking officer of the entire province ma’am.” the blinded captain’s XO stated, getting a shudder from her superior.

“That doesn’t exactly inspire…” Shard started before shaking her head, “We still have nearly 20 hours… shore up what defenses we can, get the civilians into the caverns until this is all over with an escort. If anypony wants to defect… don’t stop them. I’m not going to order anypony to stay here and die for their home, or at least what’s left of it.”

“I’ll send the orders out then, ma’am. Anything else?”

“Stay safe.” were the last words Captain Rose Shard told her XO, Lieutenant Vibrant Sky. The moment the words left her lips, the young lieutenant’s head exploded.

The wet explosion of gore knocked Shard off her hooves and sent her sprawling to the ground, unable to see and with a laser blast hitting its target so close to her ears, she wasn’t surprised that her hearing was temporarily gone. She was lucky that she couldn’t hear or see what was happening on the room.

Every guardspony soon met a similar fate as Lieutenant Sky, losing either their head in a gory mess as their flesh, skulls, and brains flash-vaporized, or having it removed by lasers perforating their necks at the weak point in their armor. Those that didn’t fall to laser fire had their necks snapped or helmets crushed into their skulls after an aura of green magic enveloped their heads. Within seconds, the only living beings in the throne room of the Crystal Palace were Princess Cadance, Captain Rose Shard, and Shadow Team Generosity.

“Sky…? Doctor Redheart…? Anyone?! I… I can’t hear any of you! Somepony!” Shard started shouting, “Somepony! Anypony! Grab my hoof, step on my tail, anything! Who’s alive!?”

“Should we…?” Brutus asked, pointing to the bloody bindings on her eyes with his sidearms. Whirlwind was glad he had a helmet on because the scene was actually causing him some discomfort. Slowly, but deliberately, he holstered his weapons and pointed to Moth and Sweetie Belle, and then to their target.

“She can’t see or hear, she’s not a witness. Anyone who could see is out of the picture. Grab the target and get her back to Rarity.”

“Already on it.” Moth answered, the transport bag already out and closing around the pink alicorn.

“We move in 30 seconds, no need for more charges, we’ll let the army take and hold the palace when the final assault happens.” Whirlwind added, crossing his arms after he put another laser bolt into one of the guards. “EVA, confirm acquisition of the package, ready for transport to Mareajevo.”
_____________

Rarity couldn’t help but shake her head as a result of the scene she was seeing.

“Oh Shining, Shining, Shining. Why did it have to come to this?” she said, stepping back as a doctor moved to where she was standing just a moment ago. The carryall she was riding on wasn’t the most spacious of transports, but it did its job well.

“Sorry ma’am.” said the doctor, a diamond dog of all things. Rarity watched him work, failing to understand anything he was doing. She was able to navigate her way through the engineering and chemical challenges of creating a working non-magical laser weapon, but the intricacies of medicine eluded her completely. All she was able to tell was that a stable beeping and a green line on a screen meant things were good.

“We’ve been able to stabilize him ma’am, for now anyways. I expect his condition to deteriorate rapidly in the coming hours though. Injuries are too severe, and the radiation he’s been exposed to is beyond what he should have been able to take.”

“That’s alright Doctor Fang. We’ll only need him alive for a few more hours anyway. Please keep your trauma kit ready however, there is still one other pony we have to pick up before heading back to Mareajevo.”

“Oh? And who might that be?”

“Why the Princess of Love, of course. The pilot already knows the route, just keep the two lovebirds alive long enough for them to be reunited with their loving sister.”
_____________

“Looks like very few of them are going to take you up on that ‘peaceful resolution’ offer, General…” a blue dragoness muttered as she looked over her EVA again.

“I didn’t exactly expect a mass exodus, Ember. Most of GDI shares Celestia’s dogmatic view of Nod, no matter how many times I’m given the order to spare those that I can.” Spike replied, his expression falling slightly.

“They’re still sore about what your marefriend did to Blueblood’s division.” Ember quipped, smiling slightly. Ember had grown a bit since becoming Dragon Lord, and after tiberium had been integrated into the diet of all dragons loyal to the Brotherhood, she was still leading Spike in height while retaining her lithe figure. Her horns were now purely tiberium crystal which even Rarity couldn’t help but admire, even if they were stained with blood half the time.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Kane for making me use my old unit as bait for her victory, but that’s not exactly the point…” the purple and green drake said quietly, his EVA still chiming a countdown in his ear as the 24-hour mark kept getting closer.

“Almost time, Spike.” Ember stated, crossing her arms as an orderly brought in her helmet.

“EVA is keeping me up to date, Dragon Lord.” he snipped before mulling over the tactical map still crunching the numbers in front of him, “If they’re outside the containment wall, leave them be and have our forces escort them safely to our lines, and make sure my ‘aunt’ is contained safely for transport to Mareajevo with Shining Armor. Any military personnel inside the walls is a target regardless, but if you see civilians running and panicking, leave them for pickup by relief services.”

“Going soft, are we?” the dragoness asked.

“No, I just figured that as soon as I make my entrance, they’ll all change their tunes and come to their senses… Ember, the troops are yours.” Spike mused with a slight grin as he stood and joined his friend at the doorway, “Have our dear friend Zeek and the rest of the unit blockade the mouth of the mountains and push forward, I’ll be hitting them from the rear personally.”

“As you command, Slavik.” Ember replied with a salute, something she’d do to no other dragon, before walking out and putting on her helmet. With a needlessly flashy gesture, she flared her wings in the most grandiose fashion she could and took to the skies. Behind her, Brigadier General Zeek brought his entire division into what he affectionately called “Propaganda Mode” and charged all while Spike walked off to the nearby airfield where a cloaked carryall was waiting to drop him into the coming fight.

When running under “Propaganda Mode”, Stealth Tanks cycled their Lazarus Shields in a fashion that made the tanks clearly visible to the enemy, but still partially hidden from view. The effect that it had on enemy eyesight was akin to seeing a fading hologram coming at you, only you knew it could wipe you out with a single volley of its lethal, tiberium-tipped payload.

“Zeek here, we’re in position and giving GDI a show. T-minus 10 minutes before commencing attack.” the Brigadier said, surveying a holographic display of the battlefield and the movement of his stealth tanks.

“Negative. You will attack when I say you attack.” said Spike, immediately switching to the general Command Channel, addressing all his commanders. “That goes for you all as well. Hold at your designated positions and strike at my command.” he ordered, a string of confirmations arriving almost immediately.

The last few minutes before zero hour were spent with orders buzzing around on all channels, as every unit in the siege force finalized preparations. The 22nd and 15th Armored were in position and behind hills, ready to strike after the initial attack cleared out what few anti-tank weaponry GDI could still bring to bear. Likewise, multiple division of militia infantry readied for the charge of their lives, preparing to take one of the greatest cities in the known world in the name of Kane. Above them all, Ember and her cohort of Nod dragons circled around the city like vultures, waiting for the order.

Throughout the Nod lines, countdown timers ticked downwards to the end of General Slavik’s ultimatum, each second becoming slower than the last, a trickle of civilians and GDI deserters making their way to Nod lines in the final moments before the city’s end. At long last, the countdown reached zero and everyone awaited for the order to pounce on the wounded beast.

It did not come.

The minutes passed, the ravaged force of GDI remnants holding the slagged remains of the containment wall looking anxiously and at the edge of panic for the incoming attack.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty, then thirty.

“Any idea why the General’s not ordering the attack, sir?” asked Lieutenant Marble, Zeek’s tank driver. A grey-coat earth pony colt like Zeek, his sharper features and black mane made him look much older than he actually was.

“You don’t think he got cold feet, right? I heard he once saved this city long ago.” added Lieutenant Ambers, Zeek’s gunner. A light pink-coat mare with a red mane, she was positioned not next to the commander to man the gun like in a regular tank, but rather behind the driver in order to remotely control the stealth tank’s missile launchers.

“Enough chit-chat, the two of you.” said a yellow-coat colt with a blue mane, “It is not your place to bother the Brigadier with inane questions, especially with accusation against the Slavik!”

Captain Cork was the latest addition to Zeek’s tank crew, transferred from Cyrus Battalion after exemplarily leading his battalion upon the death of his commanding officer. Instead of a promotion however, he now served as Zeek’s tank commander while the Brigadier himself focused on coordinating the division’s actions. The freed and repurposed space from the old Mk. I stealth tanks was truly a blessing for all commanders who still held on to them.

“What accusations? I’m just saying, maybe he doesn’t want to burn down a place that once hailed him as a hero. Does that sound like I’m accusing him of anything?!” said Ambers.

“No it doesn’t.” said Zeek before Cork could reprimand the LT again, his eyes never leaving the holodisplay. “I wouldn’t say it’s the sole reason, but I can see it being part of what’s going on. Can’t say I blame him either. I’m not exactly thrilled by the thought of setting fire to my own house.”

The minutes continued to pass. Forty, then fifty, with more and more civilians and a few more GDI deserters making a run for it towards the Nod lines and thanking their lucky stars.

The 25th hour came.

All comm units throughout the Nod lines sprang to life at once, the voice of their General coming through with a single command.

“All units, commence attack!”
__________________

“Lieutenant, enemies moving!”

With a deep breath, Lieutenant Steelhelm raised his binoculars, peering slightly over his ruined section of the containment wall. The sight he saw sent chills down his spine as a column of semi-transparent tanks made their way towards him. His force consisted of a couple of battered squads put together into what should on paper have been a full-strength platoon. In all truth, the current condition of the Crystal Kingdom and the GDI remnants within it made it a miracle if someone managed to put together a full-strength pizza, let alone any military unit.

“Captain Shard, Steelhelm here. We got contacts on approach. Stealth tanks doing that goddamn light trick that’s making my eyes hurt.” he said.

Back in the Crystal Palace, Captain Rose Shard had been able to recover somewhat and was, with great effort, able to put together something that could be considered a chain of command if you squinted hard enough. Squinting just happened to be one of those things she couldn’t do at the moment right alongside seeing, requiring EVA and a small force of junior officers to inform her of any event as she tried to keep track of a mental map of the situation.

“Understood. Prime charges and fall back to the outer perimeter. Do not attempt to hold the wall.”

“Roger that, we know the plan already ma’am.” said Steelhelm, giving the order to fall back a second later. As Nod forces began approaching from every direction, each platoon stationed on the wall carried out the same action, retreating to the ruined outer sections of the city.

A cacophony of explosions resounded across the Crystal Kingdom as missile after missile impacted on what section of the wall remained standing, bringing down this once great symbol of GDI’s protection over the city. Expectant, GDI’s remaining force awaited an onslaught of tanks to rush them. Instead they were made witness to an endless stream of mechanical noise, growing louder and louder as something approached through the smoke where the wall used to stand. As soon as the figures approaching them became visible, the first hoof of many pressed the detonator. Like a fireworks show, explosion after explosion illuminated the early dawn, singing the last cry of vengeance of a dying city as artillery shells rained upon the invaders, fired from the city’s center at pre-determined kill zones. Cheers resounded throughout the GDI lines, a last hurrah to show the Noddies that the Defense Initiative would not be cowed or made to surrender so easily.

The cheers died quickly however, as shadows through the smoke beginning to rise from where they’d fallen. Rapid bursts of laser bolts began impacting all over the outer defense line, cutting trooper after trooper in a merciless barrage, rockets following soon after with terrible precision.

“Charlie Platoon lost, Bravo Company at half strength, Echo Platoon lost, Delta Platoon lost, Papa Platoon lost, Sigma Company lost”

Rose Shard’s EVA appeared to go ballistic with casualty reports, ignoring individual casualty reports for full unit casualties. Her aides weren’t much better at figuring out just what the hell was going on.

“This is Shard, status report! Anyone! What in Tartarus is going on out there?!”

A string of incomprehensible shouts, static, and weapon fire were all she got back for a full oppressive minute.

“...ap ... Ca... ta… can’t hold th… e’re falli… ack!”

“Repeat, what’s going on out there?!” she shouted into her piece. “EVA, amplify and clear that signal no-” before she could finish that sentence, a sudden gush of air followed by an earth-shattering tremor knocked her to the ground.
__________________

Hovering above the Crystal Palace, Spike viewed the battle from the best position possible. GDI had hoped to bloody his forces, never imagining what they would face first. The Marked of Kane were proving their worth in battle, and it was now his turn to enter the stage.

“Are you sure about this Spike?” Rarity said, her face projected on one of the carryall’s comm screens. “I know you want to leave a mark here, but consider what happened last time.”

“Last time the transformation occurred, it was triggered by primal rage and stress. I couldn’t control it back then and I had no reason to... but now? I believe I can now.”

“There is no need for it though. Your forces will be able to clear out the city before long.” the white mare added, Spike’s face revealing to her what she already feared. “If I can’t make you give up this tomfoolery, at least careful. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.”

Letting himself fall out of the carryall, General Slavik let out a great deafening roar, the battlecry of a true dragon. The loathing of what he was about to do, the hatred over having to burn this beautiful city, all fueled his rage. GDI scientists would study what little footage would be salvaged later about the event, as Slavik’s falling form appeared to explode in a bright, green burst, shaking the ground as he landed, his titanic form equaling the Crystal Palace’s size. Almost in panic, the artillery vehicles surrounding the palace began turning to point their guns at him. With a terrible roar, Slavik dug his claws into the Crystal Palace’s underside and ripped it out of the ground. Moments later, the vehicles daring to threaten him were crushed under tons of solid crystal.

A moment passed, stunned silence ruling over the city, followed by an explosion of sound as every gun behind the front turned around and fired everything they got at the monster that had just appeared within their city.

“That’s our signal.” said Ember over her earpiece, leading her dragons into battle. With practiced grace and trademark lethality, the dragon squadron let loose fireballs towards four specific points around Slavik, setting ablaze the impacted buildings and forcing those inside who were not already burning to evacuate. The intensity of the four fires heavily affected each other, the change in wind direction due to the flames and heat beginning to create a whirlwind. Inhaling deeply, the great monster’s rear scales lit up one after another. In a single, devastating roar, Spike released a great wall of flame around him, feeding the existing flames and triggering their ultimate form. The whirlwind’s speed plus the tiberium-fueled flames added to it gave birth to a cataclysm that would forever haunt Celestia’s dreams. A Firestorm the likes never seen before, green with power and, at its epicenter, he whom she once could have considered her own son.
__________________

“Are we ready?” Kane asked as he looked idly over the tablet. Chrysalis wondered exactly what it was he was looking at but decided it wasn’t wise to pry into the Messiah’s personal business after the incident with Princess Luna all those months ago. Steelwing on the other hand showed little interest in the device, electing to simply give a respectful nod that he was properly prepared for what was about to happen.

Kane was seated between the two monarchs in an opulent chair, embellished with the insignia of the Brotherhood insignia along the back. Chrysalis was standing proudly, as was King Steelwing, and behind all three of them was a line of Black Hand guards. Each one was a different species, though the only visible differences were between the non-equine species in the group. Plastered behind the guard was the banner of Nod, proudly lit with red lights properly for the cameras.

“Very well then… give me a countdown to when we go live.”

“As you wish.” the director, a griffon with a ragged scar across his beak, answered with a bow as he gestured to the production crew that it was showtime.

“Hijacking signal… bouncing to Brotherhood channels… we’re live on your signal, sir.” one of the techs at the back of the room announced.

“Alright everyone…” the director announced, bringing his attention back to Kane as he held up a claw and extended his talons, “Broadcasting in 5…. 4…. 3….”
___________________

“Rejoice, Children of Nod, for your oppressors now know true fear. 3 hours ago, the Crystal Kingdom fell to our forces after no less than three requests that they surrender and keep from wasting lives. Because those requests were ignored, we were forced to use a new weapon that harnesses the power of the Sun herself. The power of the atom is now in the hooves and claws of the Brotherhood, and we have more than one of these weapons… these nuclear missiles. Now our GDI viewers may be wondering why I authorized the creation of such a weapon, a pony-made force of nature. The answer is simple, it is a counter to the weapon that your princesses use on my loyal followers day after day called the Ion Cannon. They who sit on the great towers of Canterlot Palace, as well as those who make underground bunkers their homes while their troops die in the fields, believed they could exterminate those who opposed them with these weapons. That we would lay down and die, awaiting their judgement from the heavens.

No more. Every ion strike will be met with a nuclear one. An eye for an eye. And it is for GDI’s leadership to decide whether we all go blind. Dodge Junction has been avenged, Princesses, and so I’ll put what little trust I have left in ‘gods’ to stay their hooves, and so stay mine from unleashing holy justice upon this world. Via the technology of Peace, Peace through Power.”

Interlude

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Chapter XVII - Interlude

One Month After the Fall of the Crystal Kingdom

“Thank you Stumpy. One month after the devastating failure of GDI forces to protect the Crystal Kingdom and its citizens, ponies all over Equestria continue to march in protest of the war, carrying lit candles in honor of those who’ve perished so far. Behind me you can see hundreds of thousands of ponies in one such march moving to surround Canterlot Pala-”

Bsssh

“What you’re proposing, Mr. Rich, is beyond ludicrous! Our taxes are already through the roof, the nation’s finances are in the red, and production throughout Equestria, let alone any of GDI’s member-nations, is at an all-time low! Ponies from all backgrounds are either being called to serve due to being part of the reserves, or abandoning the fields and factories to join the army!”

“Then what do you propose we do?! The only thing keeping Nod extremists and Tiberium itself out of our Blue Zones are GDI and the brave mares and colts fighting to keep us safe. They need supplies, they need better equipment, and they need reinforcements, and to get all of that GDI needs more funding to be provided and for the draft to be activated!”

Bsssh

“According to official sources from Canterlot Palace, the situation continues to worsen in Saddle Arabia as the GDI-backed government continues fighting the increasingly-violent Nod-backed rebellion in a civil war that has ravaged the once-prosperous nation throughout the last half-year.”

Bsssh

“As GDI forces continue to retreat from southern Prance, reinforcements from Germaney and Great Britmane are expected to help stabilize the situation across the sea while the Britmane navy, graciously placed under GDI control, continues to ensure no Nod force attempts a naval landing behind GDI lines.”

The holoscreen went blank, the floating transparent monitor disappearing a second later as Ironsides lowered his remote. Looking at the real-time strategic map built into his office, he had to painfully disagree with the newscaster’s assumption. The Prench front would not hold with only the forces currently being sent their way unless Equestrian forces arrived soon as well to help hold the line. That in and of itself was impossible given that GDI forces in Equestria were, from all standpoints, fighting a losing war. If the situation didn’t change quickly, Canterlot would be in Nod hands in a matter of months. As far as he was concerned, Saddle Arabia would become Nod country within the week.

“EVA, summon the Princesses and any chiefs of staff currently in Canterlot to the war room. I’m calling for an emergency meeting within the hour.”
______________

Sparks flew, both electrical and magical, as the Brotherhood’s top scientist put the finishing touches on her latest project. With a soft hum, she lifted her safety goggles and surveyed her work, smiling as the tools held in her magical aura found their way back to their proper storage case.

“Much sturdier than the initial prototype, wouldn’t you agree?” the purple alicorn asked.

“Are you sure it will hold your next experiment, Twilight?” a synthetic male voice responded.

“Well it doesn’t involve another dragon, so we won’t have to worry about a reaction like Spike’s… speaking of which, have you finished collecting the global tactical reports?”

“Putting them on the big monitor now, ma’am.” the same voice told her as a vast collection of images, stats, and graphs flooded the giant screen that dominated Twilight’s R&D lab, creating a border around the map that took up the center of the monitor.

“Give me the ‘war map’ filter first, please.” Twilight ordered quietly, watching as various red and blue icons faded into view. Anything from cutie marks or the various battle flags of different unit commanders popped up as well, with the majority of the cutie marks appearing in GDI territory, and an Apple dominating their numbers.

“There certainly are a lot of Apples on this map, now…” she mused.

“After the Brotherhood culled GDI’s numbers, the Apple Family has saturated their command positions, most prominently Applejack and Big Macintosh.” the AI announced.

“While most of the chaff has been removed from our own ranks as well…” Twilight mused quietly, “Well, at least she’s still alive for the time being… switch to the Tiberium vibration scans.”

“Certainly… as you can see, since the last world-wide scan the year prior, Tiberium has been consuming all matter and expanding underground and even beneath the seafloor. The increased rate of infestation is alarming, at best. Geographical scans done by Nod’s ‘Evangelical Department’ show crystalline roots as far down as the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, and are believed to be expanding outwards within the planet’s crust. We’re rapidly approaching the point in which Tiberium’s expansion will transition from quadratic to exponential.”

“Wow… you never talked like that in your past life. If I wasn’t so worried about our planet becoming a giant ball of Tiberium, I’d focus more on your enhanced intelligence.” Twilight grinned, looking at the camera lense that acted as the AI’s primary eye into the laboratory.

“Well you did design me this way, my past self just gave it the necessary ‘boost’ to keep me from ending up like my older brother.” the AI quipped as Shining Armor’s face appeared on the screen, smiling at his sister.

“Well, CABAL didn’t have such an honorable and upstanding host brain to base his memories on, now did he, LEGION?”
______________

Ironsides stared at the five ponies who had arrived at the War Room. Before him, at the head of the Strategy Table, sat the Princesses. Next to them on either side were two faces he was always glad to see; General Chuck Stampede, newly assigned branch commander of the GDI Army, and Lieutenant General Applejack. If only he had more like them… Next to the General sat the former head of Equestrian Intelligence and current head of GDI’s Intelligence Collection Bureau, Director Enigma, known to most outside the intelligence community as rich playboy Fancy Pants. His real name however was a closely guarded secret.

“Thank you for attending this meeting on such short notice. I won’t waste your time with pleasantries and get right to the point. We’re in trouble.”

A moment of silence overtook the War Room’s Strategy Table, every present pony expectant to hear the bad news.

“I take it from your expressions that you all already thought as much. Good, that’ll make this easier.” said Ironsides, nodding to a micro-camera currently focused on him. Instantly, holographic displays materialized in front of those present detailing a great number of reports.

“I’ll transmit the full report to your personal EVAs after this meeting so you can review it at your leisure. Long story short, we are running out supplies, out of ammo, out of medicine, and out of horsepower. Prior to the loss of the Crystal Kingdom, Nod forces continuously harassed our lines with mass probing attacks, quickly retreating to the safety of their damnable stealth fields. Each attack killing and wounding some troopers, destroying some vehicles, wasting our supplies each time.”

“That changed a month ago. Ever since, morale has plummeted and Nod attacks have become bolder each time, pushing the front deeper into our heartland. EVA’s projections put Canterlot under Nod control in a little under three months.”

The Princesses remained silent, the gravity of the situation slowly becoming apparent for them. Director Enigma, on the other hoof, seemed perfectly calm, almost as if this information was of no surprise to him. In all fairness, he most likely knew already. Meanwhile, the two guest generals made their thoughts perfectly clear.

“HORSEAPPLES!” yelled Applejack, smashing her hoof against the table as she stood up. “What, we’re all just supposed to drop like flies and play dead?! If the problems’ we’re too defensive, then let’s go break some eggs!”

“Damn right! General, the only thing you’re telling us is that Nod has us surrounded with our flanks to the wall! That just means they can’t hide no more!” added General Stampede.

“Don’t be ridiculous you two!” the Moon Princess spoke up “We’ve just been told we’re running out of supplies and equipment, we can’t mount any sort of offensive like this!” Princess Luna then turned towards Ironsides. “General, is there any way we could increase production? Nationalize the factories? Move ponies from the fields to the assembly lines?”

“I’m afraid that would not help, my dear princess.” said Enigma, finally making his voice known. “Even if we could theoretically cover all of our supply and equipment needs, we don’t have the horsepower to make use of it. Since the start of this conflict, adding in losses taken on the Equestrian, Prench, and Saddlian fronts, GDI has suffered an approximate one million, five hundred and seventy thousand casualties, with an estimated 43.6% percent of those filling our hospitals to the brim and leaving our doctors with a task far beyond any of them. The remaining 56.4% are KIA.” he said, getting tragic, knowing looks from the others present. “With that in mind, any additional recruitment will begin drawing from our workforce. Instituting the draft will leave us with little more than a force with slightly more equipment than the regular Nod militia.”

“And I ask again, Director. Should we all just put our guns to our temples and pull the trigger already, or are we going to do somethin’ about this?!” Applejack practically yelled her question.

“There is one thing.” said Ironsides, focusing all eyes on him. “When this war started, Nod came out of nowhere. Their equipment, the Black Hand’s advanced weapons, the milita’s mass produced gear. Equipping as many troops as we’ve seen, the vehicles they use, the speed with which they’ve been deploying new gear. Even at full capacity, our industry would be hard pressed to carry out such a feat and we’re talking about the industrial power of the entirety of Equestria and its allies. To have been able to prosecute this war as they’ve had, Nod must hold a key piece of technology that is allowing them to wield and project as much power as they have so far.”

“I thought much of the same thing, General.” said Enigma “Which is why we’ve been hard at work trying to decipher their secrets, and we believe we have it. Tiberium Refinement and Processing, or, as appropriate an acronym as fate would give us, TRAP.”

In a second, those in the room went from patiently listening to non-subtly stating their confusion.

“Hold on, hold on, hold your bucking horses! Are you telling me the Noddies have been using that accursed rock to… build tanks?!” said General Stampede, a look of disbelief dominating his face.

“If that’s how you choose to interpret it, yes. Based on intelligence reports, that’s how they’re building the majority of their equipment as well.” Enigma answered.

“Sister, you know what this means?!” said Luna. “This could help us turn the war around.”

“I agree my dearest Luna.” said Celestia, turning her gaze and focus completely towards General Ironsides. “General, I want you to coordinate with ZOCOM and use their research to create a weapon to remove large quantities of Tiberium from the planet’s surface to deny Nod their precious resource.”

Before Ironsides could answer the request, Enigma chimed in with a suggestion of his own. “Actually Princess, I believe that we should take this technology for ourselves.” he said. “Tiberium surrounds much of the territory outside our Blue Zones, and occasional breaches within our territory offer the perfect opportunity to-”

“No.” said Celestia, cutting off Enigma’s proposal. “Absolutely not! I will not permit the use of this… this cancer on our world! This is a plague to cleanse from our land, not something we can farm!”

“Then would you sit idly by and watch as GDI falls and the entire planet is consumed by Nod and Tiberium, your Highness? I thought you cared about the ponies under your charge.” the pale unicorn quipped, standing up to emphasis his point.

“Now see-” Celestia began before Director Enigma did what no other pony on Earth besides possibly Luna would dare to do. He cut her off.

“We have a chance to remove two threats at once, majesty. ZOCOM already harvests Tiberium for research on how to fight it, all while Nod harvests it to fuel their war machine. You personally put me in my position after years of loyal service to you and I will say in no uncertain terms that if we do not crack the code as Nod has and put this cancer to use fighting for us instead of against us, we will lose this war and Kane will sit on your throne, watching the world become ever greener.”

Celestia stood silent for some time, half in shock over the fact that one of her ponies had the courage to stand up to her in such a manner, and half just trying to wrap her mind around the fact that he was right.

“What is your suggestion then, Director?” Luna finally asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m glad you asked, Princess. I think it’s time we beat the Brotherhood at their own game. I propose an operation that will allow us to gain their knowledge of Tiberium and, with ZOCOM’s help, use it to turn this war around in our favor. Retake the initiative.”

“That would require one hell of a black op…” Ironsides murmured, “We’d have to locate one of their refineries and work from there.”

“You plan on pursuing this course of action…?” Princess Celestia asked quietly, looking at the old general.

“With all due respect, your Highness… you told me to win this war, and right now the only option that I can take to do what you’ve ordered me to, is to work with Director Enigma on this TRAP business. I’m sorry, but we’re going to need to compromise on this if we are to survive.”

With a deep sigh, Princess Celestia gave in. “Very well, I will leave you all to it. I shall have no part in the planning, the less I know about how we’re going to… use the crystal, the better.” the solar monarch whispered before she walked out of the room, with Luna following close behind.

“We will tend to her. Generals, Director, continue your work and brief us later. For now, We must head to the mess and see if they can bake a cake for our sister on short notice.”

“As you wish, Princess.” Fancy Pants replied with a respectful bow, smiling up until the door slammed shut behind the blue alicorn, “Now then, onto business. General Ironsides, you are to provide a false briefing for her majesty, this operation is to be kept out of royal hooves. Whether we want to admit it or not, Princess Celestia is responsible for this entire war after ordering the Princess of Friendship to burn her work, as well as imprisoning the Bearers of Laughter and Generosity, leading to their defection.”

“That’s darn right seditious, Director.” Chuck growled.

“General I work with truths regardless of whether they’re friendly to the ears of the monarchy, and this is one ugly truth that Kane likes to repeat on a regular basis during his propaganda speeches. Our monarchs, just like those blasted aristocrats, are not helpful to the war effort, and if we’re to succeed in this ambitious endeavor we must keep this operation out of their ears. Now then, General Ironsides, I need you to find us the perfect place for Nod to ambush our front line troops.”
______________

The first thing she noticed was the heart monitor. The tell-tale beeping that let everyone within earshot know that she wasn’t dead yet, despite the Brotherhood’s best attempts to kill her. All she could see was perpetual darkness, but she could feel the fresh wrappings around her head keeping her eyes covered, for what little good that did.

“Hello…?” she grumbled, still groggy from being out for so long.

“Greetings.” came an immediate reply. She couldn’t recognize the voice. It wasn’t an EVA, that was for sure, and it wasn’t the same tone she remembered nurses having when talking to patients. This masculine voice was more… formal.

“Who are you?”

“I’m a friend. You’re in Canterlot right now, safe and sound for the time being.”

“Why should I believe you?” Rose asked, not bothering to face where she heard the voice coming from.

“Because you’re not restrained unless you count the IV drip and the electrodes monitoring your health. Would you like some water?” the voice answered.

“No thanks.” the battered officer replied quietly. Even though she was parched, she wasn’t going to take anything until she was completely sure she wasn’t a prisoner in some sort of messed up interrogation.

“Very well… Rose Shard, Colonel, GDI Army, formerly attached to the Crystal Kingdom Garrison under Major General Shining Armor. You served with distinction up until the nuke and Slavik gave your forces the worst one-two punch we’ve ever seen.”

“Did anyone else make it?” she asked, finally facing the pony talking to her. His long silence was all the answer she needed.

“You’re the only survivor who did not defect. I’m sorry, Colonel, but you’re all that’s left.”

“I’m just a Captain, though.” she replied, attempting to keep a stoic face after being given such news. In truth, she struggled to hold back the tears.

“You were a Captain. Five divisions-worth of soldiers are now KIA or MIA, which leaves quite a few blank spaces on the promotion list and your warrant was signed by Ironsides himself at the end of a little meeting I was having with him.”

“And who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m the pony who is willing to give you a chance to make Nod hurt as much as they’re making you hurt. I represent GDI’s Intelligence Collection Bureau, and I’m here to recruit you.”

“What would I be doing? I don’t really know much about being a spook.”

“My dear Rose Shard…” Fancy Pants mused quietly, giving a grin to leave Kane himself to shame, despite the fact that she couldn’t see his face, “You’re going to wield GDI’s dagger, and I’m going to show you which ribs to slide it between.”
______________

In the depths of a GDI bunker hidden deep beneath Baltimare, one that even General Stalwart Shield wasn’t aware of, ponies from all walks of life were keeping their eyes on various monitors, While most of the large atrium was taken up by monitoring and listening stations, the biggest eye-catcher in the room was a massive holographic display of the planet and everything in orbit around it.

“Just another day keeping an eye on the doc’s ‘boogeymen’...” a tired-eyed operative groaned, an opinion shared by much of the staff around him.

For two months now, the abandoned fallout shelter-turned-top-secret project bunker had been using magical connections to various arrays throughout GDI territory to keep an eye on the skies. Ever since Doctor Moon Dancer had gotten hard evidence of a possible alien species interfering with the Tiberium War, it was up to the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit to keep watch over the skies and protect Earth from any possible incursion.

Too little too late in Moon Dancer’s opinion, which she let everyone that was a part of the project know.

“Month and a half of constant surveillance and not a damn thing on the scopes… just our own Kodiaks and satellites.” another operative yawned in reply, “Almost makes you wish these guys would just up and attack us already, get it over with.”

“Wouldn’t joke about that, no telling if the Good Doctor is in today.” the first operative replied with a smirk before everyone in the room got the shock of their lives as the globe started pulsing red.

“Warning, non-equine signal detected. Warning, non-equine signal detected.” the EVA assigned to the facility announced as a single spot, about 900 million kilometers from the planet was enhanced and targeted. A red reticle circled the object, whatever it was, showing every pony in the room that something was in orbit that hadn’t been sent up by ponies, griffons, or any other species.

And it was talking to someone.

Best Served Cold

View Online

Chapter XVIII - Best Served Cold

Colonel Rose Shard grumbled her way past various cameras and reporters as she continued to get used to her eyesight again. For the sake of the masses, she had been granted her sight by Princess Celestia a week prior and been given the chance to get used to it again, but the process was long and gave her regular headaches. Even with the buffer period before the televised event where Celestia herself granted the brave, sole survivor her eyes back, the amount of camera flashes nearly blinded the young pony a second time.

“Colonel Shard! Colonel Shard! Ink Blot, Canterlot Times.” a light blue unicorn interrupted, managing to get in her way, “It’s only been a scarce three weeks since you woke up, how does it feel to receive such an amazing gift from the Goddess herself for your heroic actions in the Crystal Kingdom?”

Usually, an officer, specifically a staff officer, of the GDI Armed Forces would conduct themselves with tact in a situation like this. No civilian pony would ever truly understand what she went through, or what any military pony went through. Unfortunately for this reporter, he was trying to interview an earth pony with a bit of a grudge against just about everyone.

“All of my friends are dead, most of my family is dead, and the only extraordinary thing I did in the Crystal Kingdom was not get killed by the orders of a damn unicorn.” she spat, pushing past the dumbfounded reporter on her way to the Timberwolf that had brought her from the hospital.

“Quite the statement, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a bit angry at the old staff.” a black unicorn stated once she was inside.

“And you are?” she demanded, scowling at the stallion who was very obviously not her driver.

“GDI Intelligence, that’s all you need to know. I’m your driver for the trip back to the hospital, courtesy of Mr. Enigma.” he replied, starting the vehicle and pressing the accelerator.

“And what does ole’ horn-head want with me this time?”

“New orders straight from our mutual friend, top secret and all that jazz. How would you like to repay Nod for what they did to you? With interests.”
_______________

Strategy meetings were always a hassle. For Hyperion that used to be doubly so back when he was under the command of that imbecile, Trenderhoof. Oh how he had enjoyed culling that incompetent ass out of his command position.

Now that he was a Brigadier such meetings had become the regular type of annoying, the kind that, after a while, simply became routine.

“You can’t seriously believe GDI would do something so tremendously stupid.” he deadpanned as a holographic projection of the Mother of Shadows finished her report.

“That is what my Shadows have reported and I can assure you of the reliability of their findings.” Pallette retorted, “My department has ascertained the enemy is redeploying frontline units from their southern front to reinforce Baltimare, Las Pegasus, the Vanhoover front, and Canterlot itself. While they reorganize the front, their line is vulnerable. The Kodiak that’s supposed to reinforce the Appleloosa front is still days away. If we strike now, we will have a direct path through the Everfree Forest straight into the Ponyville Blue Zone, and from there Canterlot.”

The sounds of approval from all most of those present resonated within the Mareajevo War Room, hoof stomps echoing all over regardless of whether it was made by those who were present physically or holographically. The cacophony of cheers died down immediately however when the bald pony spoke up.

"Honor, glory, victory... so easily these words get melded together in the chaos of war... today, however, I am offering all three." said Kane, looking at his commanders.

Slavik was the first to reply. “I decline. Vanhoover may have fallen swiftly after the Crystal Kingdom fell, but this front is still far from secured.”

“I’m a little too busy as well, we’re all aware of the situation with Great Britmane’s latest naval incursion.” Rarity added.

Almost by turns, each commander present declined Kane’s most gracious offer, responsibilities throughout the world preventing them from grasping victory from GDI’s clutches. Hyperion could almost feel the eyes falling on him to take on the enemy.

“FOR THE MEMORY OF THE BUFFALO TRIBE” declared a thunderous voice, “I, ROLLING THUNDER, SHALL CRUSH THE ENEMY BEFORE OUR MIGHTY STAMPEDE!” said a mighty, maroon buffalo. Ah yes, Rolling Thunder; he never ceased to remind Hyperion of the Yaks in the north, and how they had managed to stay out of this whole mess by yelling at both GDI and Nod emissaries until they left. Probably the only winners in this war so far.

“EVA, what’s commander Thunder’s current position?” asked Kane, a map of Equestria soon projecting itself over the strategy table. His unit’s position was quickly highlighted as being at the Dodge City front, assisting Diamond Dog forces assaulting the city.

“Congratulations, son of Nod.” said Kane, “The honor of breaking GDI’s back falls upon you. Usually there would be a unit designated as the ‘dagger’ while you distract them with the sword, but this time… well, rather poetic that you would usher in the beginning of the end of the war with their own tactics, no?”

“YES MY LORD! WE WILL BRING DOWN THE HAMMER!” was the buffalo’s reply, obvious pride present in both his face and words.

As far as Hyperion was concerned, this was getting ridiculous. “If I may, milord. This smells like a trap.” he said flatly, getting inquisitive looks from all over. Across the room, the indignation was palpable as Pallette’s hologram was visibly hurt by the implication.

“My Shadows are the best operatives on the planet, Brother, they don’t bring me faulty information.”

“We’ll let GDI decide that.” Hyperion retorted with a sour look, getting an equally grim scowl from the mare.

“If we are all done, Brother Thunder, I believe you have a front to report to. Everyone else, you are dismissed… with the exception of you, Brother Hyperion, I’d like a moment with you.” Kane interjected, bringing the meeting to an abrupt halt. Quickly and orderly, every other officer left the office as the holograms of those not physically present disappeared in sequence, quickly followed by the security detail as well until the only ones left in the room were Kane and Hyperion.

“Did I overstep my bounds, sir?”

“Quite the contrary, Brother, I just needed this conversation to happen away from prying eyes and listening ears.” Kane replied, “Your roster is only at 80% last time I checked, correct?”

“... Yes, my lord. I still have a few hundred open spaces that I need to fill before we resume constant operations.” the brigadier stated after some hesitation; the simple topic had thrown him off-guard.

“And you refuse to pad your unit with militia forces… intriguing. Besides Rarity and Starlight Glimmer, you are the only other officer in the entire Brotherhood to use a ‘professional’ force with no irregulars.”

“Militia pressed on by Confessors were the other half of the equation that lost Trenderhoof the Battle of Baltimare… while I cannot deny the effectiveness of such units, they do not fit in with my tactical doctrine.”

“Which is why you need roughly 250 more soldiers for your battalion. Make no mistake, my friend, Pallette and I are well aware that this operation feels like and most likely is a trap, but you can’t separate the chaff from the wheat without a little force, now can you?”

“Sir…?”

“Our dear Mother of Shadows agrees that this is all a trap, but I ordered her to say otherwise during the meeting for the sake of identifying those who rely entirely on the intel network to make decisions and those who can actually use their brains.” Kane stated, gesturing to the empty chairs and blank screens, “You were the only one to question it, as I knew you would. You will take every Stealth Carryall you have and wait just outside the battle area, if you are right and Rolling Thunder gets overwhelmed by GDI’s preferred tactic, save all who deserve to be saved and recruit them. If it turns out that GDI really is as dumb as this sloppy redeployment implies they are, you’re on Dagger detail.”

“I understand, Messiah.” Hyperion stated with a bow, “What of Rolling Thunder should this battle turn into an ambush?”

“Make sure to use a GDI weapon when you keep him from boarding your transport, I’d hate for our top Shadow to find out that a fellow Brother executed one of the few remaining buffalo.”

“Your will be done, my lord.” the general added, nodding once more before he turned for the door.

“Oh and Hyperion… give my regards to your XO. It’s not every day that a Changeling gets ‘coronated’.”
_______________

When it came to orders from his superiors, Lieutenant Sandhorn was not the type to be particularly curious about the thought processes that governed the brass’ minds and ultimately resulted in his orders. That changed when Colonel Hook suddenly let them all know that instead of moving out to reinforce Canterlot, which in everyone’s minds had already been equated with a much deserved vacation, the 67th Armored Battalion would instead move out to the Front’s armpit, Dodge City.

“Nothin’ on scopes Platoon Lead.” said a voice over the radio.

“Roger that. Keep your eyes peeled for any movement. Don’t need Noddies knocking out our treads in the middle of nowhere.” replied Sandhorn.

His tank platoon was tasked with maintaining security as the tank company moved in conjunction with the rest of the battalion. For this purpose his platoon moved in a platoon echelon right formation on the company’s flank, his tank at the head of the group keeping eyes forward, two tanks in line behind his own with their turrets aimed towards their right covering the horizon, and finally the rearmost of the four tanks moving with its turret aimed to its rear.

“Think we’ll get some proper sleep once we get there, LT?” asked Sergeant Woodtooth, the tank’s gunner.

“Keep dreaming, sergeant.” Sandhorn replied, looking at the distant silhouette of Dodge City through the tank’s exterior camera. “Don’t know why you’re thinking about that though; beauty sleep’s only for the pretty.”

It was then that the tank’s EVA unit decided to make her presence known, as if anyone onboard had forgotten about its existence. Sometimes, just sometimes, they wished they did.

“New assignment received from Lieutenant Colonel Hook. 2nd Platoon, Company C, 67th Armored Battalion is to proceed to Dodge City Main Station, Platform 1-B. Uploading coordinates.”

Sandhorn sure was glad EVAs came with built-in map displays showing where he should go because he barely understood what all the longitudes and latitudes meant. Sure, he was trained to read them and find a location on a map, but that didn’t mean he understood how the damn system worked.

“Understood.” he said, opening the platoon channel to his other tanks. “Alright ladies, we’ve got a new destination once we hit the city.”
_______________

“Forgive my Prench sir, but this is some horseshit.”

General Stampede took the comment in stride.

“Your concern is noted Hook. The order comes from Ironsides himself, so unless you want to get on the old bruiser’s shitlist I suggest you colt the hell up and follow it.” said Stampede, his commanding gaze successfully making its way through the screen but not quite phasing the white unicorn. Hook had seen his fair share of combat and his formerly pristine white coat and usually well-kept blonde mane were both marred with well-earned scars. Even his horn had a few nicks and scratches on it from some close calls with Black Hand troops.

“I’ll take the risk.” said Hook indifferently, “Now, let me tell you something Chuck. This morning I got a visit from from a spook - a goddamn spook, tux and everything - telling me to ignore my redeployment orders and instead go to DC. Now, you know me, I don’t mind being at the front. Hell, if anyone has to command troops I want to be there to kick ass and get my boys and girls back safe. But when a goddamn spook with an extremely punchable face comes to my barracks, tells me to go against my official orders, and then tells me to put the lives of my troops in the hoofs of someone who skipped three pay grades after getting catapulted into becoming my superior, I will protest because this smells like some shady shit. All my respect to Colonel Shard for what she went through, but she does not have the experience or aptitude to command this battalion or any of the others I’m now being told you’re giving her reign over!”

“Which is exactly why I gave her yours as her core unit.” replied the General. “Don’t think the promotion came out of nowhere. We went through the surviving data our rescue teams were able to salvage from the Crystal Kingdom’s HQ. The force she took command of after the nuke hit had no chance whatsoever, but we did run the numbers and data through the EVAs. Were it not for Slavik dropping in personally to burn the place down, her forces would have left Nod with a couple of graveyards to fill before being taken out. Girl’s got guts and talent.” General Stampede’s grin soon became one of the few things Lieutenant Colonel Hook feared in life, “Congratulations, I’m assigning you as her XO. Give her whatever guidance she needs to get used to her new command role, then stand back.”
_______________

The Brotherhood’s R&D division was well known for their ability to take something good and then make it better. Such was the case with the infamous stealth generators, officially designated as Lazarus Shields. Originally built as massive power-hungry, building sized machines to keep the Brotherhood’s facilities and resources hidden before the war, miniaturization and power efficiency improvements had resulted in their adaptation into mobile platforms that permitted armies to move unseen and strike anywhere, at any time. This process never really stopped, with further advances allowing for the creation of a light, tank portable version resulting in the Mk. I Stealth Tanks, and eventually the far smaller Mk. IIs. This constant technological evolution now bore new fruits; a stealth generation small enough, light enough, and sufficiently energy efficient to be installed on an aircraft. Earlier in the war, a number of carryalls were equipped with older versions of the Lazarus Shield, sacrificing far too much space and carrying capacity to allow for any meaningful troop deployments to take place outside of deeply inserted shadow teams.

The Lightbender Shield changed that. The Brotherhood’s latest generation of carryalls had been equipped with these devices, allowing them to remain unseen and undetectable without sacrificing the aircraft’s precious cargo space or carrying capacity needed to ferry troops and equipment to combat zones. Another use Hyperion had found for them was using the ample space offered within to turn one such vessel into a flying, invisible, mobile HQ by simply adding all the equipment usually found either on base camps or command trucks.

At this particular moment however he wished he was on the ground in a buggy on his way to knock some sense into an overgrown buffalo instead of sitting on a flight deck waiting for takeoff.

“Listen to me, my operatives are already gathering data at the front. Delay the assault for a day, for only a day, and we’ll know whether this is really a trap or not.”

“YOUR PARANOIA BESMIRCHES YOU, HYPERION. OTHER COMMANDERS THINK OF YOU AS BRILLIANT, BUT YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A HESITANT TORTOISE COWERING IN HIS SHELL BEFORE A STORM!” replied Rolling Thunder.

“Well, one of us has to use his brain, might as well be me again… though I suppose that makes you the rabbit in this little race.”

“WATCH AND LEARN, PONY! WITNESS THE MIGHT OF THE BUFFALO!”

The holoscreen shut off immediately after. Buffalo were already hard to deal with given their prideful and stubborn nature, but Rolling Thunder was a particularly dense one to try to get to.

Hyperion sighed. There was nothing more to be done on that end. He would be hard pressed to carry out either of his orders if Rolling Thunder attacked soon. The good news was that the attack would commence in a little over ten hours, giving Hyperion just enough time to get there and set up his forces in preparation at the staging area. The bad news was that, if the assault took place ahead of schedule, his operatives wouldn’t be able to report back in time and as such they would have no idea whether this was a trap or not.

Kane may have given this assault his blessing, but that didn’t mean Hyperion approved. If this was a GDI blunder, the results would speak for themselves while they pushed towards Ponyville. If this was a trap though, the resulting loss of life and materiel would likely be unacceptable. Just like the concept of Nod’s militia forces, he despised such needless loss of life.

It was wasteful.

“Ahem”

Hyperion reached for his sidearm almost instinctually. Being as deep in thought as he was, he had failed to hear the compartment door open. However his posture and reaction became relaxed once he set eyes on the black, lithe figure before him.

“Mantis.” he said, acknowledging her presence.

With a sigh, the changeling shook her head.

“You know, I realized it’s actually pretty rare for us to meet personally. I thought you would be happy to see me.” she said.

“Why aren’t you on your transport with your troops?” asked Hyperion, his tone never changing from that of an officer to his subordinates.

“Because it was too cramped in there. I swear, the inside of my Tick is roomier than a carryall when it’s loaded.” she answered, “Besides, notice anything different, Hype?”

There was a momentary silence between the two, with Mantis’ expectant face growing gloomier the longer Hyperion remained without answering.

“Anything royal?” she added, giving him a wink before doing a half twirl, blowing the short skirt added to an officer’s uniform, displaying a plethora of Changeling cultural imagery and more than one small piece of jewelry.

“You looked better in your old uniform. Now you look like a Ladybug.” Hyperion quipped, making reference to the common nickname for Minor Queens.

“I am a Ladybug now, Hype! You were at my coronation for Kane’s sake!”

“Oh I know, but there are more important things to attend to than how good your flank looks in black… oh and Kane extends his most sincere congratulations, he’s glad to see that you’ve gotten your dues. Now then, since you are conveniently here let's get to the matters at hand.”

With the flick of a switch, Hyperion’s desk activated its holographic projector, displaying the contents of his monitor for Mantis to see.

“You last reported that our operatives had infiltrated the enemy lines fifteen hours ago. Have you heard any new reports from them?” he asked.

Mantis’ mood fluctuated slightly. On one hand Hyperion was acting the same as he always did, cold and calculating when in business mode. On the other, he had complimented her new status as well as how she looked in the new uniform so she could let his attitude slide.

This time.

For now, though, it was time to focus on the task at hand; breaking GDI’s back.

“Haven’t heard from all of them but current reports state irregular troops movement throughout the front. Units supposedly headed for Canterlot are nowhere to be seen on their expected route. A battalion-sized force was seen heading towards Dodge City, possibly to reinforce the city given the constant battle taking place there. A few other units have been seen moving across the Ghastly Gorge bridge in direction towards Los Pegasus. So far our intel is inconclusive but we should have a better idea of what’s waiting for us in a few hours.”

She studied Hyperion’s face for any sign as to what he was thinking.

“Good” he said plainly, “we might just be able to make this operation work then. Keep me informed.”

It was at that moment that Hyperion’s earpiece began buzzing, letting him know of an incoming call.

“Hyperion here.” he answered. For a brief second Mantis’ heart sank in terror as Hyperion’s jaw dropped and his eyes practically popped out of his skull.

“HE WHAT?!”
_______________

“Absolutely not!”

Rose Shard turned towards General Stampede, rage in her eyes at the prospect of what they were expecting her to tolerate.

“Colonel Shard, Lieutenant Colonel Hook is my best battalion commander on this front. He will serve as an adviser to all things relating to this theatre and provide strategic support as you require it. Isn’t that right, Colonel?”

“Yes sir.” answered Hook, giving a short nod before turning towards Rose Shard. “I await your instructions, ma’am.”

Rose Shard outright ignored him. “General, I formally refuse. Their incompetence has gotten our fellow Earth Ponies killed by the thousands. I won’t have such a hindrance under my command!”

“Orders are orders, Colonel. If you want to argue, take it to General Ironsides himself. I will leave you two to get acquainted.” said Chuck, his bodyguards following close behind as he left Shard’s new office in the Ruins HQ at the southern end of the Everfree Forest.

“I’ll level with you, LC… I don’t like unicorn officers. Unicorns? Not all bad ponies, but unicorn officers? They got most of my family and friends killed, and they are responsible for the absolute clusterfuck we find ourselves in now, so if you think for one Celestia-damn minute that I’m going to trust your ability without seeing it firsthoof, you’ve got another thing coming. You’re a unicorn, and more importantly, you’re a Blueblood. I think the name speaks for itself.”

“My idiot cousin got what he deserved and I’ve been saying that since the Blueblood Broadcast.” answered Hook, staring her right in the eyes. Those dead, unnatural eyes. “Since we’re being honest here, let me level with you as well. I don’t care if you’re my CO. Compare me to the incompetent, pampered, nepotistic bastard that got tens of thousands of ponies killed in a single battle again, and I will walk out of these ruins and take my troops with me. You may believe what you want, but I have led my troops to victory, and more importantly I’ve led them to safety, so wherever I go they will willingly follow and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

As if to emphasize the point, the whole building shook followed by the resounding echo of explosions both near and far. The EVA unit in the office sprung to life, with Generals Stampede and Ironsides being displayed on a screen.

Both officers looked at each other, their respective EVAs, and then to each other again before speaking in unison.

“Truce.”

“That was quick.” said Stampede as ponies ran frantically on his background. How he had gotten back to his unit headquarters so quickly was anyone’s guess.

“To your stations, both of you.” Ironsides pitched in. “Nod’s taken the bait. Colonel Shard, now would be a good time to call in the ‘Cavalry’.”
_______________

Apple Bloom stared out at the stars for what had to be the tenth time that day. She still couldn’t believe where she was standing, and she had a harder time believing the mission she and her fellow Zone Troopers were about to undertake. Their orders were simple enough, land in contested territory, kill every Nod soldier they saw, and make sure the scientists had gear to look over when the fighting died down.

It was how they were all getting there that had her concerned and baffled at the same time.

For the past week, Apple Bloom, Jet Deck, and their entire platoon of Zone Troopers, the now-famous “First Class” under the call-sign Wolverines, had been aboard the GDI Orbital Defense Station Harmony. Originally just an Ion Cannon Cannon satellite, Harmony was the first of 10 planned Orbital Defense Platforms. She was meant to provide extreme-range fire support for any GDI unit within her operating zone courtesy of geosynchronous orbit and her sizable armament. Point Defense lasers to keep Nod’s nukes from reaching her, “ship-to-ship” railguns that could either take out another station in the event of capture or land a projectile on a target the size of an Ursa-class tank, and the Ion Cannon. While not available for use at the time because of Kane’s Ultimatum, Ironsides planned on making the weapons available again once all 10 stations were up and had full coverage of GDI territory.

For the time being, her most lethal armament was a platoon of Zone Troopers currently waiting to be sealed up by fireteam into Orbital Insertion Pods. From the launch bays oriented in a circle around the outer edge of the station, up to 20 pods could be launched simultaneously onto a location no bigger than a hundred square meters. Once construction was complete, there’d be a ring of armor around the drop bays nearly a meter thick, but for the time being a good portion of the installation was still scaffolding and half-completed areas still awaiting the refit.

Drop Troopers was initially part of ZOCOM’s version of the Zone Trooper program, meant to be dropped down into red zones where aircraft couldn’t penetrate ion storms after an Ion Projection Beam cleared the landing zone of Tiberium. From there, they’d clear their way back into a yellow zone or set up shop to start a long restoration and land reclamation campaign.

“Still hard to believe… always enjoyed lookin’ up at the stars, never thought I’d actually, y’know, be up where with’em.” Apple Bloom murmured to the stallion standing next to her.

“I’m still freaking out a bit over the whole ‘drop you from mid-orbit’ thing. That’s one hell of a long drop.” Jet Deck replied, his eyes focusing on a particularly large tiberium patch that could be seen from the observation deck that he and Apple Bloom were waiting in. For a few moments he let his thoughts drift into emptiness as he enjoyed the quiet before the storm they were about to cause, but quickly he brought himself back and looked over to his partner in crime as she spoke up.

“Platoon’s ready for the big drop, Staff, I went through the kits of the squad leaders ‘bout twenty minutes ago.”

“You know you don’t have to call me that, right?” Jet quipped, a playful smile dominating his muzzle quickly.

“Oh but where’s the fun in you becomin’ our platoon commander if I can’t tease you about it?”

“You got promoted too, darlin’.” the stallion sniped back, forcing a horrid drawl into his voice into that last jab before he felt her elbow plant itself firmly between a pair of his ribs. It wasn’t enough to knock the wind out of him but it definitely pulled his attention from his platoon sergeant and the planet to the pony in an all-black uniform standing behind them. How she had managed to do that while they were both in armor, he’d never find out.

“Something we can help you with, sir?” Jet inquired, looking over the new arrival.

“Things on the surface got a little heated a little too early, your timetable has been moved up. The platoon drops in 10.”

“Well then we better get a move on. Thanks.” Jet answered, nodding quickly to Apple Bloom before starting towards the launch bay himself.
_____________

The airlock hissed as the doors of the pod slammed shut and pressurized. Apple Bloom, Jet Deck, and three other ponies were all secured courtesy of multiple harnesses. The ride down was bumpy at best, so they all made sure that every restraint, buckle, and magnetic lock was where it should be and tightened down as far as it could go. Around the outer ring of the Harmony, another 40 Zone Troopers were doing the same, if this went off without a hitch, all 45 troopers would land safely on the ground and be able to do what they did best against Nod’s infantry and light armor.

“Everypony ready?” Jet Deck asked over the platoon frequency. A chorus of affirmatives followed shortly after and the pods all shook as the launch bay doors opened up.

Once the doors were open, each OIP was lowered into position just below the open hatch, dangling in hard vacuum so that when launched there was no chance of a pod causing damage to the station or being thrown off course by an issue with the doors. Apple Bloom brought up the external hull cameras onto her HUD and let out a low whistle at the sight of 9 pods just hanging there like misshapen and very deadly apples ready to fall on an unsuspecting Noddie’s head. With a shudder, the launch crane detached from each pod and left them drifting, barely moving relatively down due to the weak hold of gravity this far up.

A countdown appeared on every troopers HUD, starting from 30.

At 00:20, the boosters and maneuvering thrusters primed.

At 00:10, Apple Bloom extended a hoof towards Jet Deck and he responded in kind.

At 00:05, they locked hooves and synced up their internal helmet cameras.

And once the clock hit 00:00 the engines ignited.
___________

Havoc was having a hell of a time. Nod was pressing just like expected, armor was on the way to assist, and something that General Stampede had called “Death’s Angels” were on their way to the battlefield. The seasoned commando figured he meant aircraft or maybe an orbital strike from a railgun, but honestly at the time, Havoc couldn’t give a damn.

“They’re pushing! Pull back in pairs!” the pegasus barked, grinning slightly at just how organized a retreat they were managing. Last time he had seen GDI troops retreat en masse had been early in the war and it was more of a rout than anything else, but now he was seeing proper doctrine taking hold. Groups of ponies would lay down covering fire as a team in front of them pulled back to a good position. From there, the team that had run would provide cover for the ponies that covered them and then repeat the process until they hit the right phase line.

Of course, that was before somepony saw what looked like shooting stars heading straight towards the area of operation. Barely three months since the fall of the Crystal Kingdom and shooting stars had gone from beacons of hope and wonder to omens of death.

“Those nukes!?” someone called out on an open comm frequency.

“Hold steady!” Stampede’s voice cut through all channels as ponies started to panic, “Those are ours, and you’re about to see them hurt Nod a damn bit more than some flimsy nuke could!”

Havoc took the news and ran with it, rallying every pony within earshot and willing to have an open comm frequency with him, holding down the line as those shooting stars continued to get closer and closer. 9 stars continued to shoot towards the surface, breaching the atmosphere and glowing red with the intense heat of reentry. A few moments later, everyone along the front heard the sonic booms of the blazing pods breaking the sound barrier once they were in the atmosphere followed by every EVA along the GDI line making a matter-of-factly announcement.

“Zone Troopers inbound.”
___________

Bumpy was an understatement of the same caliber as “Nod won’t ever pose a serious threat” and “Celestia only eats cake in moderation.” Jet Deck and Apple Bloom held hooves for the entire trip through the atmosphere, still keeping an eye on the cameras mounted on the pods so they could at least enjoy the show should this drop be their last.

“Haven’t seen that much fire since I landed inside of a Flame Tank.” Jet deadpanned, trying to keep calm despite the circumstances.

“I think I was punchin’ a Black Hand to death at the time, you made me look pretty cool with the explosion in the background.” Apple Bloom replied, giving a smirk to her helmet’s internal camera for Jet Deck to see. “Think this entrance will be as dramatic?”

“I fail to see how it could be, AB, we’re the first ponies to be dropped from orbit.” the yellow earth pony deadpanned, grimacing slightly as the pod hit another bout of turbulence. “60 seconds to ground, inertial dampeners enabled.”

“Thank Celestia.” another trooper blurted out, getting a similar reaction from the rest of the ponies in the pod as the turbulence stopped completely. With how they had to decelerate after being punched through the atmosphere, the pods were fitted with inertial dampeners. With them in operation, the occupants wouldn’t feel anything other than a slight rumble in their hooves when the pod slammed into the ground and broke its magical shield. The only drawback was that the power source wasn’t refined yet and could only be activated when they were nearly to the ground, otherwise the crystals powering the dampeners and shields would fail before landfall and those inside the pod would have damaged armor when they entered the battle.

“30 seconds Troopers! Let’s show Nod why they don’t buck with the Wolverines!” Jet barked into the platoon channel. The chorus of cheers that followed would keep him smiling well into the party they were about to crash.

The countdown timer continued to tick down right next to the altitude meter inside their HUDs and the cheering stopped. These last few seconds before an engagement were always quiet. Every Zone Trooper took them to center themselves, do a last check of their gear via their helmet visor, and if necessary, psych themselves up to engage jet boosters and start taking the fight to Nod in a way that only a power-armored soldier could.

The pods made landfall, huge plumes of dirt and dust were kicked up into the air and the fighting along the line came to a complete halt. Neither side could get proper firing lines on the other and with all the dirt and debris freshly sent into the air, no one wanted to risk friendly fire, not even the militia.

Along the line, 35 Ursa Tanks exploded as EVA-guided railgun rounds pierced their armor and ignited their magazines. Another 10 lost control as the rounds penetrated but instead of hitting the magazine, bounced around inside and turned the tank crews to pulp. Too shocked to respond, the Nod line kept from firing their weapons as the fog of war started to clear.

Standing out in front of 9 Orbital Insertion Pods were 45 Zone Troopers, armor-mounted railguns charging again as their .50cal secondary weapons were brought to bear on the exposed Nod line. Safeties clicked off, Jet Deck gave the order, and 45 armored death machines started mowing down any Nod bastard in sight.

Out of the Frying Pan

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Chapter XIX - Out of the Frying Pan

Nod’s spearhead force had come out of nowhere, rapidly succeeding in pushing GDI’s forces right off the railroad tracks that connected Dodge City with Ponyville, forcing them back into the southern end of the Everfree Forest.

Truly, this was in and of itself a great achievement for the Brotherhood and its troops. However, for Corporal Thorax there was only one thing that could make this day better. If General Rolling Thunder, with his booming battlefield-encompassing voice, stopped fucking yelling. While he still had his new ‘loving’ form that he had received during that fateful battle with Chrysalis all those years ago, it was now slightly corrupted by tiberium. He, along with his hive, while no longer the majority of their species, still kept their new forms while still enjoying the effects of tiberium. The only difference between his dwindling faction and Chrysalis’ masses was that his loyal few still relied on camaraderie for their strength, and thus had to stay as a unit that cared for each other beyond that required of your typical infantry group.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!” Rolling Thunder finally finished yelling, successfully delivering his first order of the day. “EVA!” he then said, “HAS MY ORDER BEEN CARRIED OUT? HAS OUR PATHETIC FOE BEEN ROUTED?!”

“GDI forces have retreated two phase lines into their defensive perimeter. Our forces are currently engaged outside the Everfree Forest.” replied the AI.

“GOOD! WE WILL THEN PROCEED WITH THE NEXT PHASE OF MY MASTER PLAN! ALL UNITS, CHAAAAA-” started yelling the buffalo before being rudely interrupted.

“Incoming transmission from Brother-Brigadier Hyperion” stated EVA.

“THAT SNIVELING COWARD?! WHAT IN BLAZES DOES HE WANT? HOW DARE HE INTERRUPT OUR GLORIOUS STAMPEDE! ON SCREEN!”

“Finally! Rolling Thunder, pull your forces back now!” said Hyperion as soon as the connection had been established.

“HA! SO THE COWARD SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS!” replied the buffalo, letting off a hearty laugh. “COME NOW! I WILL GRANT YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO REDEEM YOURSELF BY JOINING MY STAMPEDE! OTHERWISE, YOU CAN DIE A COWARD’S DEATH ONCE I MAKE MY GRAND RETURN!”

“For the love of… this is a trap you overgrown visceroid! GDI forces just dropped on your rear and you got armor on your flanks! The biggest concentration of Zone Troopers since Baltimare is hitting your tail as we speak!”
____________

“Zone Troopers are on the field, Dead Six is already heading towards their insertion point, and armor support is less than 10 minutes away, Colonel.” stated Hook, still rather uncomfortable at playing second-in-command to a catapulted hotshot.

Rose Shard watched the tactical map with great interest, focusing mainly on troops movements both friendly and not. “Your tanks are running late, LC. Their commander will have realized what is happening by now and will retreat accordingly. We need to begin our push now before our Zone Troopers lose the element of surprise.”

“With all due respect colonel, patience. General Stampede and I formulated a plan before your arrival which, if Nod’s timing is any indication, we finished implementing just in time. Take a look at the railroad.” said Hook, a slight shit-eating grin forming on his face.

“EVA, zoom.” ordered Rose Shard, her magical assistant magnifying the battlefield until a lone convoy was focused on. “... LC, what in Celestia’s name are those trains doing heading straight to…. Nod’s…. Oh. EVA, report on unit composition onboard.”

“Alpha Train transporting Company C, 67th Armored Battalion. Beta Train transporting Company D, 67th Armored Battalion. Charlie train transporting Company A, 67th Armored Battalion. Tertiary Detachment from the Corps of Mages is providing magical protection for all trains at this time. ETA to deployment zone: 2 minutes.”
____________

When he was merely a colt, one of Lieutenant Sandhorn’s favorite activities was riding a train. It wasn’t just due to the convenience they brought forth in terms of moving him somewhere else quicker, or the sites he would see on his journeys. No, it was all about the speed and the feeling of riding something far more powerful than himself. It was nothing short of exciting.

This particular train ride however was nothing short of terrifying.

“Deployment Zone arrival in 30 seco-”

“Shut up EVA.” he blurted out, shaking himself into the right mindset for being thrown into what would most certainly be a meatgrinder. Whether the ground meat would be Nod or GDI was his main concern.

The sounds of exploding artillery and non-stop gunfire all around didn’t help.

Blinking rapidly to finish psyching himself up, Sandhorn got on the radio.

“Alright Platoon, ten seconds! As soon as the train stops, move out, pick targets, and may Celestia be with you!”

Almost on queue, the doors on the train’s cars all unlocked simultaneously. For once, the Captain had actually briefed them on what their mission would be before EVA did. For whatever reason, the brass had seen it fit to do so when they were already on the train and not earlier.

Apparently a large Noddie force had been encircled in the middle of their assault on Everfree HQ. Companies C and D were being thrown right into the action, their transport trains ramming straight into the enemy lines and bisecting the enemy’s force in two. Company D would push north towards Everfree HQ while Company C, Sandhorn’s own platoon included, would push south and grind their way towards recently-deployed Zone Troopers.

“Hope them pilots ain’t too busy to help us poor tankers, eh LT?” said sergeant Woodtooth, hooves already on the main cannon’s autoloader controls.

“Aye.” Sandhorn answered, suddenly finding himself taking a very deep breath as he felt the trains stop.

As the gear stopped and the rails screeched as the trains came to a quickening halt, the doors on the cars, through sheer inertia, slammed themselves open and and exposed their cargo to the enemy.

“Company, FORWARD!” came Captain Sunset’s order. As one, all sixteen tanks, four whole platoons, rolled out.

Sandhorn could complain for hours about how much he hated having EVA talk into his ear without warning or how utterly braindead the magical construct could appear to be sometimes, but it was during time like this, time where EVA catalogued and fed him as much tactical information as possible all at once, that he really appreciated it.

“Driver, move up! Seek hull down!” he ordered, immediately setting a waypoint to a small incline near their deployment zone. “Platoon follow in Wedge!”

The 2nd Platoon soon formed up, the remaining three tanks joining Sandhorn’s Predator in formation and finding cover.

“Gunner load Beehive! Massed troops, five hundred meters, ten o’clock!” he yelled into his microphone, battlefield conditions and the tank itself making any non-radio communication Inaudible.

“Identified!” replied Woodtooth.

“FIRE!”

In response to Nod’s brutal yet frighteningly effective tactic of sending as many bodies as possible at the enemy until the enemy was no more, GDI requested an anti-infantry solution more effective than high-explosive ammunition. After a close contest, the winning result was the Manehattan Hunting Goods Co. SRS-05 “Beehive” tank and artillery shell. Unlike a traditional tank shell, this particular rounds wasn’t made to reach its target destination but rather to break up mid-air to deliver a separate payload to the target. In a way it shared a great many similarities to the SABOT round used on most non-railgun Predators. However, while the SABOT would release a single tungsten arrow unto an enemy tank to pierce its armor and neutralize the crew inside, the Beehive was loaded with over 120 small steel arrows which, upon being fired, would almost immediately spread in a cone ahead of the tank’s cannon and shred apart any troops unfortunate enough to be in the tank’s way.

It was little surprise for most in the defense industry that the biggest suppliers of pump-action shotguns in Equestria were able to turn 120mm tank cannons into 120mm shotguns.

“Targets down!” reported Woodtooth, an entire tank company’s worth of firepower almost drowning him out on the radio.

“Roger that! Platoon, new orders! We’re on overwatch duty! Let's give 3rd and 1st Platoons some cover fire!”
____________

Things were oddly quiet for Havoc and his team. The six commandos had managed to break from the front line, move through the chaos under cover of “ZONE Troopers bucking everything up” as Blunderbuss had put it, and surprised the hell out of a Nod sentry as they entered his guardhouse. Once he and his partner were splattered all over the far wall, Dead Six worked their way into the refinery.

The mission was as simple as ops went, data retrieval, hidden by a demolitions job and the death of any Nod bastard unlucky enough to get in their way; classic smash and grab. If everything went as planned, the entire operation, Rose Shard’s offensive thrust into Nod territory included, would look like nothing more than an attempt to hit Nod’s logistical capabilities and not the most important intelligence retrieval of the war.

“Fan out, teams of two. Blunderbuss, you’re with me.” Havoc ordered, “Gunner, take Deadeye with you and start planting along any electrical conduits and breaker boxes you can find. Hotwire, Patch, get the intel and leave the command center in flames. Blunderbuss, we’re hitting tib vats with sonic resonance charges. Any questions?”

“None, sir.” Ruby Robe replied, her magical aura cocking the shotguns on her harness.

“Good. Alright Dead Six, masks on.”
_______________

“TANKS! THEY GOT BLOODY TA-” yelled someone, although whom it was would probably never be known as he and seemingly his whole unit were silenced by the deafening roar of a cannon and torn apart by whatever that damn armor was shooting at them.

“Backblast clear!” yelled an earth pony, firing an unguided AT rocket at the approaching tanks. He was mowed down by their turret-mounted coax a second later.

“Sir, what do we do?!” said a wounded pegasus from behind a rock.

Taking cover and assessing the situation, former-King Thorax knew there was only one option they could take.

“We need to pull back to a more defensible position! Begin retreat to-”

“UNACCEPTABLE!” yelled out a dark, looming figure in the garb of the Black Hand’s Confessors. “RETREAT IS FOR COWARDS ONLY! IN THE NAME OF KANE, YOU WILL MARCH FORTH OR YOU SHALL REST HERE FOREVER!”

Confessor Carap; it was bad enough that she was a Confessor, but the fact that she was one of Chrysalis’ own minor queens made having her as Thorax’s platoon commander almost unbearable.

“Confessor, if we stay here we will all DIE!” Thorax said, keeping his head down.

“THEN DIE WE WILL! FOR BROTHERHOOD AND FOR KANE!”

Thorax took a deep, profuse sigh. “Ok, fuck this.” he said, pulling out his sidearm and shooting the Confessor in her front left leg.

“TR-TRAITOR! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS HERETIC!”

“Yes, yes. Let’s go fellas! Begin retreat to phase-line delta!”
_______________

Thorax’s choice to pull back was well-founded and most of the Nod force would have been wise to follow suit. The recently-arrived armor had bisected the Nod formation, creating two separate pockets into which GDI was pouring as much firepower as earthly possible. Further north, GDI infantry held the line against Nod’s now-disarrayed assault, holding out as armor and mechanized troops moved into the enemy’s flanks from Dodge City and Ghastly Gorge. Combined with one of the Predator companies that had just arrived by train further south, the northern pocket had no chance to escape. The southern pocket was a bit more fortunate, if only because the troops there were able to more easily move around the Zone Troopers while the armored infantry pushed north to meet up with the Predator company pushing south. Once the Zone Troopers and tanks met up however, things went from bad to worse for Nod.

Armor and armored infantry kept moving up and pushing the Nod positions back. Zone Troopers walked alongside Mammoths and Predators as they rolled slowly into position, with regular infantry coming up behind them and laying down cover fire. Those dumb enough to pop their heads up longer than a few seconds ended up with a stump where their heads had been and anyone who ran without covering fire ended up with a few dozen new holes in their back.

Jet Deck and Apple Bloom were having almost too much of a good time as their fellow Zone Troopers gunned down everything in their path wearing a scorpion tail.

Usually when a Zone Trooper walked the battlefield, they were a prime target for the big guns that could actually take them out. Small arms were shrugged off and anyone dumb enough to get within melee range that weren’t juvenile dragons were horribly outclassed by these modern-day knights in powered armor. The current situation on the other hand was a return to a tactic that had proven quite effective in Baltimare and a few other engagements along the unofficial border between Nod and GDI, one that became known simply as “steamrolling”.

GDI would take a Nod attack right on the nose, absorbing casualties and fire with superior armor, magical shields, and prepared positions, weather the storm, and then march as one mass of metal and magic until Nod either disengaged or lay dead and flattened by the rolling tide. No longer did GDI rush like ancient berserkers of the pre-Discordian Age into the fray, instead, they resurrected an antiquated Romane art that lead to Colonel Shard’s nickname.

Colonel Rose “Phalanx” Shard.
_______________

Hotwire cursed as another explosion rocked the facility. From the size of the detonation, she could tell it wasn’t an internal blast courtesy of her teammates, but from artillery outside. GDI’s line had pushed Nod back far enough that the big guns could hit the mountain directly. That meant they had a maximum of 10 minutes to get the data, get to the extraction point, and meet up with one of R&D’s new toys for pickup.

Luckily for the team, she had just finished cracking the server and had a plenty of unsecured data to slip into her personal data crystal and its backup. In a matter of moments, every ounce of tiberium harvesting research would be in GDI’s hooves.

“Here’s hoping Director Enigma can make good use of this crap.” she murmured under her breath, swearing again as yet another explosion nearly sent her to the ground. That one wasn’t muffled, and came from inside the refinery.

“Things are getting crowded up here!” Patch barked over the comm, shielding his face from the grenade that had bounced off the wall near him.

“Same here! Moving to extraction point!” Gunner barked back into his own mouthpiece, his voice filtering in over the sound of laser fire into the ear of every Dead Six member. Hotwire winced when she heard yet another explosion over the comm, this one on Havoc’s frequency.

“Having fun there, sir?” she asked as she sifted through the data on the terminal.
__________

“You know it, Hotwire! Blundy and I made some friends, but they took exception to us messing with the tib vats.” the pegasi laughed, “So we shot them and made some more.”

“They didn’t like us any more than the last ones!” Blunderbuss added, getting an unseen, feral grin from her team leader.

“How’s the tap going, Hotwire?” Havoc asked, his tone getting a slight edge to it as he sidestepped another laser burst and gunned down the changeling who shot at him.

“Wiping their drives now, all data is safe on my onboard EVA, even got some low-level troop movement updates from the system. Patch and I will meet you at the extraction point in 5.” the mare replied matter-of-factly, her voice only wavering when another shell from outside made the whole mountain tremble.

“Pip?”

“Charges placed, we’re already en route to the pickup, meet you there, sir!” the young sniper answered, getting another grin from Havoc. Compared to their last big op, this one was going almost perfectly. With any luck, they’d be out of here with time to spare.

“We’re moving to meet the both of you, hit the EZ and hold it, barricade if possible. We are not having another Canterlot.”

The comm was silent for that one.
____________

From the moment Thorax had shot the confessor to now, his unit had retreated a few kilometers from where they’d originally encountered the enemy armor. On their way they had picked up survivors from other units who had either been bombed or ground down to size by GDI’s unrelenting assault.

The former King had much to be proud of in this very moment. However, from his position within a hastily-dug fox hole, he feared it would all be for naught. Two Predators had found them and his recon units had detected at least five APCs loaded with GDI troops moving to his position. His troops numbered around 200, almost twice what GDI would throw at them now without leaving a vulnerability in their line. However, they had no anti-armor anymore, meaning their numbers would be useless against the Predators.

“BREVET-CAPTAIN THORAX, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR YOU MISERABLE INSECT?!”

There was also that problem.

“FORM BESIDE ME AND JOIN THE MIGHTY STAMPEDE SO WE MAY SMASH THE ENEMY UNDER OUR HOOVES!” yelled commander Thunder.

”Maybe that’s why GDI hasn’t attacked.” Thought Thorax. ”They’re waiting for this imbecile to throw us into their guns.”

“Commander, please keep your head down. Do you have some white fiber on you? We might be able to surrender to them.” said Thorax.

“SU-SU-SURRENDER?!”

“Oh boy, here we go again.”

“THE BUFFALO TRIBE NEVER SURRENDERS! OUR MARTIAL TRADITIONS HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION VIA THE THUNDER FAMILY! VERY WELL THEN COWARD, STAND ASIDE! I SHALL CRUSH THEM MYSELF!”

In one quick leap, Rolling Thunder jumped out of the trench he had forced some poor bastards dig, then began charging GDI’s line. It was at that moment that the battlefield around Thorax’s position became covered in white, glittering smoke. This was followed by a carryall seemingly decloaking over a clearing next to the line of dug-out trenches and foxholes.

“Come on ladies! Hop in before they get a bead on us!” yelled a well-uniformed, well-armed trooper onboard the carryall after its doors opened. Thorax barely managed to get a half-muttered bit of worry for Rolling Thunder before another round zipped past and grazed his helmet, making the decision he had to make very clear.

“Everyone on board! We’re leaving!”
____________

Rolling Thunder continued to charge, his armor shrugging off most of the damage that he was taking from incoming fire. Much to his surprise, the GDI infidels were not cowed at all by his glorious stampede, they simply renewed their efforts in firing at him, with most of them choosing him as his target. If he had any extra time to think about the issue, he would have wondered why it seemed like he was the only one on the field of battle charging, and why it seemed like half of these puny ponies were aiming at something in the air.

His thoughts were cut short rather abruptly as the armor on his foreleg buckled and a trio of round shredded his knee, sending him careening face-first into the dirt. He slid for a few feet before his head impacted something metal that he couldn’t see. Moments later, a door opened up and a carryall deactivated its cloaking shield.

“Well well well, it would appear the ‘great’ Rolling Thunder, commander of the 6th Army, nice of you to drop by.”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT, INSOLENT PONY!?”

“I’m here to retrieve you, you idiot. GDI overran all of your positions and most of your survivors are already aboard my birds, time for you to join them.”

“A BUFFALO NEVER RETREATS! WE-”

“Go down fighting, with honor, facing our enemies, like idiots. Yes, I know the mantra, horns-for-brains, and I’m here to tell you to stuff it. Your leg is shattered and there’s no possible way you could get your glory without a kneecap.”

“FOOL!” the buffalo bellowed, standing slowly and glaring at his peer, “I WILL TAKE THE LINE BY MYSELF! HONOR SHALL BE BROUGHT BY MY SACRIFICE TO THE BUFFALO TRIBES!”

Hyperion didn’t dignify him with a reply, merely scowling at the brash commander before giving a slight flick of his head in the direction of the carryalls crew chief. The transport lifted into the air out of Rolling Thunder’s way, its cloak reactivating as it lifted off. Thunder spat in reply.

“WATCH, HYPERION! WATCH YOU COWARD! I SHALL BREAK THE GDI LINE! FOR GLORY!”
____________

“He’s charging again, sir.”

“I can see that, chief.” the Black Hand officer replied, a smile lighting up his features for a moment before he hit the release on the hatch facing the GDI line. With practiced grace he sat at the lip of the troop bay and brought up the specialized rifle that his harness had been outfitted with specifically for this mission.

The rifle was a GDI model, a GD-AMSR Mk. III sniper rifle captured during a skirmish near Las Pegasus, that fired ballistic rounds instead of relying on laser projection like the more sophisticated Brotherhood snipers. The weapon was brought up to his eye, the eye cup of the scope fitting surprisingly well against Hyperion’s helmet as he sighted in on the lone charging figure left on the battlefield.

“Keep us steady.” Hyperion ordered quietly over the carryalls team frequency as he kept tracking the lumbering oaf.

When he saw Thunder take more rounds and stumble, he took a deep breath in, sighting in on the slowed figure. When that mass of fur, horns, and misplaced pride came to a halt, he started breathing out. And when he saw a GDI soldier, a smug unicorn with green eyes, pull out binders with her magic, he felt his exhalation end, his body completely empty of air, and he finally tapped the icon to fire on his HUD.

Major General Rolling Thunder died with a body littered with bullets, and an executioner’s round taking his head off, but surprisingly, with his pride still intact.
____________

Three Nod soldiers clustered behind a barricade meant to keep enemies out if they ever landed on the refinery’s helipad, only instead of protecting themselves from a strike team forcing the door and breaching, they were going to be keeping something from getting out. GDI commandos had infiltrated the facility, killed most of the staff and security, and now all sources from those still breathing put them heading towards the only viable egress in the refinery. That left three stallions outnumbered and outgunned. One commando was bad enough, but six? GDI must have really wanted this facility knocked out.

“Movement!” one of the troopers screamed, unloading his rifle down the hallway. At first his comrades thought he was just being jumpy, but then a trio of grenades sailed through the sky straight at their barricade, denting it and disorienting the three of them. Before they could get back up and start firing again, a mare with two shotguns on her combat harness leaped the barricade and executed them. Within moments, the other five commandos were next to her and opening the cargo doors, letting in enough daylight so suddenly that had they not been masked, it would have blinded them after even the short time they’d been inside the darkened facility.

“Clear.” Ruby Robe announced once the doors were open enough for her to scan the helipad. No one was around, and Nod had relied on stealth to keep it safe. What few SAM sites had been stationed on the mountain had been destroyed by pinpoint artillery strikes courtesy of a sniper team Dead Six knew was somewhere in the area. They had hiked their way into the area from a drop zone nearly 10 kilometers south and Havoc made a mental note to thank them personally for leaving the window permanently open for “Mjolnir” to enter.

Havoc walked onto the helipad slowly, still scanning for anything out there that could compromise the mission. Canterlot had cost him Sakura, and had made him a bit overly cautious during extractions, even the small ones that had occupied their time until this mission had worked its way down the pipe. He insisted on sweeping the extraction zones personally just in case of an ambush, and was always the last one on the bird. He had told Dead Six that he would fly with his own wings if necessary, and no one doubted that he would.

“Helipad is clear, ride is inbound.” Havoc announced, looking up at the speck in the air that was getting bigger and louder by the second.

Coming in fast was a swoop-winged, dual-rotored helicopter bigger than an ORCA. Two gun pods were slung below the wings boasting dual .50 caliber machine guns loaded with an experimental type of AP ammunition that GDI R&D hadn’t finished testing; a fitting armament for the first Hammerhead Gunship to be field tested in combat.

“Dead Six, this is Mjolnir, coming in hot, prep to load as soon as the doors are open, we’ll stay facing forward just in case some Noddie stragglers try to bum a ride.” a deep yet distinctively feminine voice announced.

“Mjolnir, nice of you to join us!” Havoc quipped, “We’re a little exposed up here, so if you could hurry we’d appreciate it quite a bit.”

If the Stalliongrad native had replied with some snide remark, Havoc didn’t hear it, the laser fire that lit up the helipad nearly deafened him and sent everyone but Ruby Robe to the ground searching for cover.

“SHADOWS!” Blunderbuss shouted, turning to lay down cover fire before her chest was peppered with lasers. Her armor took the first few hits and she stayed standing, almost shrugging them off before she started to feel numb. She could barely see the shimmering in the air from their camouflage, and filled the doorway and the walls around it with as many pellets as she could until her shotguns ran empty. The mechanisms in her harness were already reloading them when she felt something warm and hard hit her face.

She never realized it was the helipads tarmac.

“NO!” Havoc belted out, opening up on the doorway as Ruby Robe hit the ground, her armor smoking and blood already pooling around her. His rounds didn’t hit anything, they didn’t have to, all he had to do was pin those stealthy bastards down long enough to get the team out.

Mjolnir had other plans.

Both gun pods opened up on the area in front of Havoc, walking their fire danger close from his position up to the wall. In seconds, the four Shadows that had ambushed Dead Six were convulsing as their stealth measures failed. Mjolnir kept firing until the systems started reloading, and Havoc emptied enough magazines into them to turn the four infiltrators into puddles of mush with tattered uniform shreddings tossed about. His breathing was ragged, he had a laser burn on his chest plate, and his wing feathers were singed by the heat of his own rifles, but he did his duty as he picked up Ruby’s body and carried her to the Hammerhead.

Nod’s greatest secret, the key that allowed them to use tiberium to fuel their war machine, was now in the hooves of GDI. Their glorious offensive into GDI territory had stalled, and the casualty count for the Brotherhood continued to climb even as Dead Six picked up Sniper Team Bravo, but to Havoc this was a loss.

Blunderbuss, the rookie they had snatched up from the jaws of Tartarus and put through half a dozen successful missions, was gone. Another team member that he could have saved, somehow, gone to join Sakura on the Special Forces Memorial.

“We’ll make sure she gets a proper burial in Canterlot, sir.” Hotwire murmured as she took her mask off.

“Make sure of it…” Havoc whispered back, keeping his on for the sake of hiding his face.

It was going to be a long flight home.

Smoke on the Water

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Chapter XX - Smoke on the Water

Nod’s forces had been crushed in a stunning defeat followed by an embarrassing rout. Rolling Thunder was dead, and nearly 10,000 loyal members of the Brotherhood were now pinned down in the Badlands while trying desperately to get to the relative safety of the Hayseed Swamps to the west. If they could get there, they could blend in and work around GDI positions, but with the heathens so thoroughly entrenched and the Nod units relying solely on stealth field generators to hide, it was a sadly lopsided fight. The Macintosh Hills were no safer, and now under a heavy air patrol while GDI looked for any survivors from the refinery that had been explosively exorcised out of the mountain.

Along the coast of the Celestial Sea, GDI’s impressive, if as a whole mostly untested, aquatic navy had multiple battle groups holding position in immediate area. Nearly 750 kilometers of coastline had to be protected from the ‘Forbidden’ Jungle all the way up to Baltimare and Horseshoe Bay, with the beaches that lead straight into the swamps taking priority. Nod had troops trapped in that kill-zone beyond the murky, choked terrain, and Sky Sentry satellites had already picked up the tell-tale signs of massive Nod movement along the coast of the Dragon Lands.

The Brotherhood’s meager navy, after nearly a month of preparation, was finally preparing to make a desperate move that could mean the liberation or execution of an entire division of Nod infantry.
__________

Captain Carcharodon was a monster of an earth pony, and probably the most foul-mouthed sailor in the entire GDI navy. A veteran of no less than 30 skirmishes with Brotherhood ‘harassment fleets’ along trade routes up and down every coast that GDI laid claim to, he was about as no-nonsense as an officer could get without becoming a clone of General of the Armed Forces, Ironsides. His fur was a dull brown, with a mane surprisingly grey for a pony of only 42, but his eyes were what really stood out if you ignored his tendency for swearing up and down every beach he’d fought for. Dazzling green gems that shone almost like he had been a Tiberium infestation survivor like the defectors Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

His command was the Bastion-class battleship, GNS Trafalgmare, and she was one beast of a ship. Coming in at 325 meters in length, surpassing most Kodiaks, with armor capping out at 20 inches thick in certain areas, and the latest in GDI Magical Barrier tech, she lived up to her class name with relative ease. Her armament was just as impressive as her size, armor, and shielding capabilities with three turrets of three cannons each, all of them 18-inch railguns, and 150 various missiles ranging from ship-to-ship, ship-to-ground, and even anti-air and anti-missile capabilities. On top of that she was outfitted with the best anti-air projectile weapons the Air Force had to offer, courtesy of Sky Admiral Dash; a point defense grid of 20 rotary cannons firing 30mm shells that could either be armor piercing or flak, depending on the target.

All around, she looked as dangerous as her captain, and there were a good baker’s dozen of them in the GDI fleet all acting as the heavy hitters of 13 of GDI’s 15 naval battle groups. She was the Mammoth of the sea, and any captain privileged enough to command one knew it.

Nod’s captains knew as well, rarely trifling with GDI ships when a Bastion was near.

Usually Captain “Carc” as his crew had come to nickname him would be in high, if vulgar, spirits with enemy action almost a certainty and a real chance to use his ships main guns for once literally over the horizon. Today on the other hoof, put a considerable damper on his spirits courtesy of his passenger.

Fleet Admiral Jet Set, Admiral of the GDI Navy and Carcharodons biggest detractor. Grey fur, a slightly darker grey mane and tail, and light blue eyes hidden behind eye-glasses marked the delicate unicorn’s presence on the bridge of Equestria’s most powerful naval warship. His uniform reminded the bridge crew of Prince Blueblood, being overstuffed with medals, awards, and other citations that everpony knew the pompous bastard didn’t deserve, but refused to speak up about. They had much more important things to worry about than a single unicorn aristocrat’s ego.

Like the fact that orbital imaging had confirmed what the recon sorties from the Breezie-class light carriers had picked up on sensors. 80% of Nod’s navy was converging on Battle Group Whiskey’s position, and they had landing craft in tow.
__________

Rainbow Dash continued to pace the bridge of the Double Rainboom with increasing frustration. She had been told to hold position above cloud cover and wait for shit to hit the fan. Apparently, Ironsides didn’t want to entertain the thought of bringing her Kodiak down right on top of the Brotherhood navy heading towards the beaches of Hayseed Swamp and unleashing magnetically coiled death upon the sailors below.

Something about painting too big of a target on her already brightly colored rump.

“Newest set of sensor data.” one of her Ops officers chimed in, breaking the blue pegasus from her daydream, “Just more confirmation that everyone water-side is going to need help.”

“Reinforcements besides us?” Rainbow Dash asked, her tone betraying her irritation quickly.

“Three more battle groups en route, all with battleships at the head, 72 ships in total. Looks like the Admiral wants to keep up the momentum from Dodge Junction.”

“Good thing we were already here for the party Rose Shard threw for the Brotherhood, this could get pretty messy.” Dash retorted, not bothering to have her officer mention the number of Nod craft aloud. She couldn’t count it quickly but it was easily above a hundred, probably close to 200, even though over half of them were nothing more than lightly armed frigates that she knew couldn’t even penetrate the deck plating of a GDI cruiser.

“Plenty of carriers in the mix on both sides, it would appear we’re here to provide emergency air support with our squadrons, and some pinpoint artillery with the railguns.” her XO added from his station nearby. She was a short, red pegasus by the name of Flare, and her temper lived up to her name when situation demanded.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to put on a good show. I want prechecks done again on every Orca we have, every pilot ready to jump in at a moment’s notice, and extra ammunition pulled out from the magazines. If those numbers are right, ‘Jetty’ is going to need our help.”
_________

“Status update.” a monotone, yet unmistakably feminine voice ordered. The synthetic voice that followed somehow showed more emotion than she did.

“GDA Double Rainboom, is still holding position 6,425 meters above the ocean surface in dense cloud cover.” the EVA announced, “She has yet to detect us or the Barricade. The fleet’s movements have also been tracked since mustering at Griffonstone.”

“Good, I didn’t want them to be unprepared for this attack.” Maud Pie said, “Hold course and have the fleet hit the jammers once the lead capital ship is in range of the main armament of a Bastion-class battleship.”

“Aye ma’am, sending orders to captains.” the AI replied as a familiar face walked onto the bridge.

“Brother-Brigadier General.” Maud said, her voice as emotionless as ever.

“Sister-Battle Commander.” Hyperion answered back, “My carryalls are ready to take the fight to GDI once we break their lines on the water, and the troop transports are well protected behind the line… I admit, I’ve never had a knack for naval tactics but this seems to be coming surprisingly natural for a mare of your upbringing.”

“Thank you for the compliment. I appreciate when a fellow soldier recognizes ability.”

“I’d be a fool not to, especially with your family name. It would appear that the Pie Family is proving quite the match for the Apples.” the earth pony stallion remarked, grinning as he kept an eye on the holographic table in the center of the bridge, showing a three-dimensional overlay of the entire battle area, a stretch of ocean a good 200 square kilometers in size.

“Lead ships to reach engagement range in 20 minutes. Mission Countdown Timer initiated.” the EVA announced, causing a flurry of movement as those milling around on the bridge put on their game faces and rushed to their stations. Within seconds, only Maud and Hyperion were left standing.

“Brigadier, prepare for a combat drop. Once Rainbow Dash takes the bait, we will move into deployment range and I expect you to fulfill your orders to the letter. From now until the engagement is decided, I will be relying on my neural implants to relay orders, do not be alarmed at my silence during the battle. In the Name of Kane.”

“In the Name of Kane.”
_________

“Orders, Admiral?” Captain Carcharodon asked for the third time, glaring at the stammering Admiral in front of him. This was the fifth time that he had hesitated when taking command of a battle group, third time that it had happened to Carcharadon’s, and the seasoned sailor didn’t know how much more of this idiot’s way of conducting business he could take.

In almost every engagement he had pulled a victory out of, Jet Set had criticized him for being too aggressive and putting his ships at undue risk. Upon closer inspection, even Ironsides could easily tell that Jet Set considered any enemy contact at all an unnecessary risk to his precious fleet. Overly cautious and still in a defensive mindset that was bred of the early days of GDI getting its ass kicked on nearly every front.

Ironically, on the water was where GDI was the strongest and had yet to meet a morale-shaking defeat like the Blueblood Massacre or the Fall of the Crystal Kingdom. If anything, GDI could win the war just by blockading every enemy port on the globe, but the pony in charge of those decisions wouldn’t yield to the requests of many captains, headed by Carcharadon, to take the fight to the Brotherhood.

Nothing like a GDI battleship shelling you from the shoreline to put the fear of Celestia in you.

“It’s… it’s obvious.” the grey unicorn murmured slightly before regaining his arrogant tone, “Air cover will bomb the living cerberus out of them before we open up with the main guns. I want every ship to have a targeting solution with the EVAs according to their ship class. Battleships will target carriers before hitting our Brotherhood counterparts.”

“Answering, aye.” the Carc growled, finally glad to have at least some semblance of a game plan. “EVA get me a juicy target with a bloated belly ready to take a broadside straight to the fuckin’ flank!”

“Such profanity! Watch your tongue while I’m on the bridge, Captain!” Set ordered, only to back down immediately as the earth pony he was chastising gave him a glare that could stop an ion cannon strike dead in its tracks. “Or… carry on, Captain.”

“Targets locked for the Trafalgmare… rest of the fleet syncing up.” the mare at the gunnery station relayed, not looking up from her console.

“Confirmed.” EVA added, “Targets locked, optimal firing range in 5 minutes.”

“Trafalgmare will take the first shots, I want staggered fire throughout the whole fuckin’ fleet so no one double-taps one of those tin cans. No need to waste ammunition on a bastard in a dingy carrying less death and destruction than my grandma’s left teat!” Carcharodon barked.

“May Celestia Rest Her Soul.” the entire bridge crew chimed back, getting a look of revulsion from the admiral still on board, and a smile of pride from the floating fortress’ commanding officer before he went back to barking orders.

“All hands brace to fire!”

“Bracing!” another officer cried out, “Coils charged, magic recyclers at the ready!”

“Firing solution confirmed, carrier identified.” EVA stated with its standard monotone.

“Mares, stallions, time to hunt us a few white whales, and I don’t mean the Princess after a bake sale! EVA!?”

“Targets entering range in 5 seconds. Preparing to fire.”

Captain Carcharodon let out a breath, sucked in air slowly over the interval his tactical AI had just stated, and smiled as he nearly blew out Admiral Jet Set’s ear drums.

“TO EVERY BASTARD OF MINE IN THE BATTERIES! OPEN UP!”

No one heard Set’s own exclamation as all 9 main guns, followed by her secondary armament of 5-inch railguns, let off the lead salvo. A third of each battle group fired a split second after, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates all lending their armaments to try and land a crippling opening blow on the Brotherhood fleet massing at their doorstep.

24 ships fired in the first salvo, and only one shell in the entire volley managed to hit a target, an 18-inch shell from the Trafalgmare that managed to impact the carrier she had her sights on. While one shell was more than enough to disable her, Jet Set was dumbfounded, and Carc was livid.

“EVA, explain!”

“Scanning…. Scanning…. Anomaly detected.”

“I said explain you bastard child of a toaster!”

“Previously unencountered jamming frequencies identified. EVA targeting will be ineffective until shut down. Manual targeting required.”

“Manual!?” Set screamed, a little too mare-like for even the females on the bridge crew’s taste.

“You’re damn right it said manual! Ops, message down to the batteries time to put those ‘dumb fucking drills’ they hated so much to good use! No EVAs on this one, today we fight like real mariners! Send the message to the fleet, we’re doing this the hard way!”
___________

“Manual? The hell’d they do to our targeting computers!?” a pegasus shouted over the exertions of the loading mechanism.

“Nod jammers in the area, we have to use the old emergency sights! Jamboree, get the scope hatch open and start picking a target!” a blue unicorn with the name “Baritone” stenciled on his uniform barked back, getting a nod and a sarcastic salute from a yellow unicorn on the other side of the loading bay.

“On it!” the younger unicorn shouted back as he sprinted up to the “Hot Seat”. Usually in combat, gunnery teams of 6 ponies would wait around and wait for a malfunction in the automated systems to happen. Usually things went smoothly and EVA handled firing, loading, and the finer points of aiming while the team simply picked out targets for it. In emergency situations like this, gunnery control was left completely to the team and target acquisition was left to the seasoned hooves of the turret team.

“Second set of orders just came down.” the pegasus, Fritz, announced, “Target priority is carriers and battleships. Cruisers are on the target list only as targets of opportunity.”

“Pick us a fat one, Jamboree!” Baritone ordered as he trotted over to another console and took control of the middle cannon. Two more ponies on either side took up positions and relieved EVA of firing command, making sure the railgun coils were charged and ready by the time Jamboree picked a suitable ship to hit.

“Nod battleship, she hasn’t used her cloaking tech yet, 5 clicks out! Marking the target on your screens!” Jamboree shouted down, hitting a flurry of controls and highlighting the target on the three gunnery consoles below him.

“Confirmed, stand to and prepare to fire!” Baritone replied, “EVA, time on current range.”

“Shells traveling from weapon to target will take 1.66 repeating seconds to reach the target.”

“Minimum time, we fire staggered. Wait for visual confirmation of my shot to hit before firing!” Baritone shouted, getting a chorus of ‘ayes’ back, “Target is locked… firing!”

No one in the turret heard him say anything after announcing his target was locked on. Even with enhanced ear protection that was mandatory for all crewmen in the guns, the sound of even one railgun of that size firing was deafening. The center cannon fired, spitting metal out at a muzzle velocity of 3km per second. Less than two seconds later, a shell passed through the targeted battleship as if it were a hologram.

“Damn, Nod jamming really is buckin’ with the system. Offset three mils right and fire 3!”

“Firing!” the pony at the cannon marked with a massive ‘3’ answered, drowning out all sounds in the turret once more as yet another 18-inch shell hurtled down range.

This one hit her target straight on, a massive plume of fire and smoke erupting from nowhere as the Illusion Generator failed and the battleship ‘shifted’ back into reality. Cannon 1 added a second shell to the mix, hitting the superstructure of the angular vessel and completely obliterating its supports. Moments later, the ship crumpled in on itself and began listing badly to port where the first shell hit.

“Confirmed kill!” Jamboree exclaimed, stating the obvious but just doing his job.

“Good work Turret 2!” came another male voice that everyone recognized as Captain Carcharodon over the PA system.
__________

GDI adapted quickly to the situation, but not every ship trained so extensively in manual targeting as the Trafalgmare and her crew. Because of this, the GDI fleet was averaging only one in every three shots actually hitting their target, sometimes as low as one in five, but they still had two major advantages over their Nod opponents. GDI ships had vastly superior range of effective fire courtesy of railgun technology, and every ship in Equestria’s aerial and aquatic navies had Magical Barriers protecting them.

Nod had maneuverability and the ability to scramble advanced targeting, but GDI ships were built to take a hit and could dish out pain at twice the range Brotherhood ships could with ballistic weapons. Missiles had more than enough range for the Brotherhood and GDI alike, but at a little under three kilometers away, only a tenth of those fired at the GDI fleet managed to get past the point defense grid created by the sheer amount of ships in the battle area.

Once Nod ships closed the gap and passed into 1.5km range, things began to get ugly despite the hefty toll already taken. The Brotherhood had lost 37 of their original 193, with another 25 ships damaged but still capable of fighting and they were more than eager to avenge their fallen brethren.

Illusion Generators strained and failed momentarily as all across the Nod battle line as the fleet let off its first salvo of shells and missiles. Like a deadly ripple starting from the north and working its way south, Nod ships fired in succession but kept moving forward. GDI point defense turrets sprang to life, sending rivers of deadly flak into the air or straight across the water at the incoming fire, hoping to knock out as many missiles as they could before shields began to flare and eight destroyers started taking hits to their armor. The plating held for seven of them, but buckled inward for the eighth. Luckily for the crew, no penetration on the first volley.
_______

“Looks pretty.” Carc thought with a small smirk, glancing over to his shivering commanding officer as he ducked behind the tactical screen. “As if that’d offer any fucking protection if the Celestia damned shields and armor failed.”

“Marestow reporting damage to her armor belt.” EVA announced, “Integrity down to 67%.”

“And our shields?” Carc asked, bracing himself slightly as he felt the ship shudder through firing her main guns again.

“Holding at 89%, Spark Reactors are operating at optimum capacity with all targeting processing shut down.” the AI answered, getting another smile from the captain. A smile that was immediately replaced with a scowl as Jet Set opened his mouth again.

“Form a battle line! All battle groups make a staggered line, spacing one kilometer between each ship! We’ll form a wall and stop them in their tracks!”

“Belay that!” Captain Carc bellowed, “Sir, that’s a suicidal tactic. If we stay put they go between us and by the time we turn around, they will have already emptied every missile they have in their fuckin’ silos straight into our unshielded hulls. Flanking will be our best option to contain them and when they get past us, have enough guns pointing their way already.”

“Nonsense, we can hold here!” Jet Set argued, gesturing grandly to the tactical map, “We knocked and disabled nearly a fourth of their ships in one salvo.”

“And this is why you sit behind a desk and let the real stallions do the fighting, Admiral!” the vulgar captain barked back. “All your knowledge is theoretical, half of it’s built on bullshit pre-tib era tactics. I’ve been out here risking my ass and that of my crew while you enjoy a chair in Canterlot and sneer at me. You do your job, let me do mine!”

“Why I ne-” Jet Set began before yet another glare from Carcharodon shut him up.

“Have the group break north and tell battle group Foxtrot to head south. Tango can hold position and maneuver back towards the shoreline while we try flank these bastards.” Carc finally said, looking back out at the battle area through the front windows.

“Think they’ll see it coming?” his XO asked.

“Of course not! Tango will keep waving their dicks at them to keep them occupied while Foxtrot pulls their collective tails. Then we hit’em in the ass and hope they don’t want to cuddle afterwards!” Carcharodon barked back with a wicked grin, getting another gagging noise from Fleet Admiral Set.
___________

“Double Rainboom still hasn’t engaged, intercepted communications suggest she is aware of the jammers, and will not fire unless absolutely necessary.” Mauds EVA announced.

“And the GDI fleet is pulling a flanking maneuver, as expected.” she droned in reply, “Continue forward, continue dropping beacons along the predetermined path.”

“Complying.” the AI answered, “GDI ships scattering by battle group. Two more GDI battle groups are also en route to the battle area; ETA is 22 hours and 49 minutes. ETA until aircraft attached to them is within effective range, 20 hours and 3 minutes.”

“Then we don’t have much time to evacuate survivors.” Maud muttered, staring at the tactical overlay as if she were peering through it instead of at it.

“Are you alright, Sister?” Hyperion asked, becoming slightly uneasy with her gaze.

“The Fleet will punch through and around the middle battle group, from there, Rainbow Dash will try to get involved and start chasing sensor ghosts we have left in the atmosphere. Air support will be tied up on both sides, the GDI fleet will be forced to withdraw when Barricade starts firing. From there we will have 18 hours to evacuate 9000 soldiers.”

“How can you tell all that from just the tac-map?” Hyperion inquired, an eyebrow quirking up slightly at the sheer confidence behind the statement.

“GDI presents itself as a wall, much like the ones around their Blue Zones. Those walls are made of stone, which again, GDI likens itself too. They forget that like all stones, there are patterns in its makeup that are visible to the right eyes.” Maud stated plainly, taking a small chunk of granite from her uniform’s saddlebags. Even when in the middle of combat, she was still a geologist first, battle commander second.

“All one must do is pick the right spot to make one precision strike...” she added, setting it down on the map and then tapping it at a seemingly unimportant spot, causing fractures to spiderweb out all over the stone, “...and the entire face shatters.”
________

“Battle groups are in position, but we’re starting to take some losses. Damn Nod jammers are keeping us from using our full arsenal.” Carcharodons XO announced, “Foxtrot’s already lost a cruiser and Tango’s carrier had to withdraw under heavy fire. Her flight deck is still in flames.”

“And Sky Admiral Dash?” Admiral Set asked, his tone still betraying his level of panic.

“Moving to engage some sensor ghosts in the atmosphere. Apparently, Nod has something up in the clouds and her birds can’t get a bead on it, so she’s moving in personally with the Rainboom.”

“The hell could possibly be floating around up there…?” Carcharodon inquired, raising an eyebrow and simply getting a shrug from his first officer. “Keep me appraised, I don’t want to be caught without air support if this battle goes south.”
____________

“Another sensor ghost, bigger than the last one. 100 meters out, starboard side.” an officer announced.

“Confirmed. Object is 20% larger than the last scan.” EVA parroted, “Size is now consistent with a Kodiak-class GDI Aerial Carrier. Silhouette does not match.”

“We’re the only Kodiak out here. All the others are on defensive deployments inland…” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Can we get a visual anywhere?”

“Cloud cover’s too thick, ma’am. But all pings at this things comm relay are turning up static.” her XO stated quietly, “We can’t even get a proper visual on targets in the water, Jet Set is still going to be on his own.”

“EVA, are we out of range of those damn jammers yet?” the sky-blue pegasus asked, exasperation obvious in her inflection.

“Affirmative, but there is a second source keeping our weapons from getting target locks. Manual targeting still required.”

“Location of the second source?”

“Initial scans show 100 meters out, starboard side.”
______________

“Battle Commander, 78% of the GDI aircraft have finished their initial attacks on the fleet. 20% of them are on their way back to the Double Rainboom for rearmament and refueling; orders?” Maud’s EVA inquired, getting a raised eyebrow from Hyperion.

“Weapons station, coordinate with Barricade and take Sky Admiral Dash out of the sky on my mark.” Maud replied before looking over to her ground pounder counterpart, “Brother Hyperion, will you be conducting your rescue operation from the bridge or from a carryall?”

“I led the first rescue operation when we were pulling back from the Macintosh Hills, I will lead from the troop bay this time as well. Do try and keep the heretics off me? I’d hate to make you find a replacement garrison commander.”

“Noted.” the grey mare deadpanned before pausing and looking over the tactical map again.

“Barricade stands ready, ma’am. Weapons stations on both ships await your command.” EVA declared. Maud nodded quietly, rubbing her chin for a moment as she kept observing the map.
____________

Kodiaks were designed with ground or naval support in mind, with the majority of their artillery weapons mounted ventrally for optimal firing arcs on ground targets. Along the flight deck, mid-ship, and other dorsal weapon mounts, anti-aircraft and missile defense was key with point defense guns. When originally designed, this was obviously the best choice for operations against an enemy with an ill-equipped air force.

They had never counted on the Brotherhood countering the Kodiak with an airship of their own.

They had never counted on the Brotherhood being able to get artillery-grade missiles within the Point Defense Grid’s 1 kilometer kill-zone.

They had never expected an assault from above.

And Maud had capitalized on that belief beautifully.

Both Discord-class air carriers Everfree and Barricade opened up with a devastating barrage of missiles and laser fire from above the Double Rainboom. Much like the Kodiak, their main laser batteries were focused on her ventral surface. But unlike their GDI predecessors, they were designed with ship-to-ship combat in mind and had plenty of defensive armaments along mid-ships and bracketing her flight deck.

Obelisk-class lasers ate at the Double Rainboom’s shields, straining them to the breaking point in a matter of seconds and in just under a minute, breaking them. The magical shielding peeled away from impact points like a bubble popping in slow motion, and while the lasers cycled their heat, missiles by the dozen began impacting the GDI airship’s hull, knocking most of her railguns out of commission in the initial volley. To their credit the gunners in their stations managed to get off three shots, one of which clipped the Barricade and shattered an engine pod in the process. The other two went wide and unbeknownst to the gunners, impacted Ancestor’s Peak a few minutes later, showering the surrounding area for miles in each direction with tiberium shards that ranged from the size of cars to slivers a mere inch long.

Hyperion couldn’t help but smile as he saw what had become of the Double Rainboom. In a matter of minutes, Maud Pie had reduced the flagship of the GDI Air Force, practically a temple of their air superiority, to a burning hulk hurtling like a meteor towards the ocean, most likely with all hooves lost. He kept smiling as his carryall got clear of the Everfree and sped off towards the coast. Normally he would have taken in the sight of such a titanic naval battle happening below, but he held his gaze on a sight he had hoped to take in since his days raiding GDI harvester convoys before the war officially began.

“Pilots!” he barked over the squadron channel, “Let’s go bring our boys home.”

Hawks and Doves

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Chapter XXI - Hawks and Doves

For ten straight days they’d been cutting through sections of hull, and for ten straight days they had found nothing but bodies. The wreckage of the Double Rainboom was floating, barely, courtesy of the emergency aquatic landing system. Below decks, in one of the compartments flooded by water by now, somepony had been able to activate the system manually and bring the wreckage closer to the surface. Despite the losses so far, the salvage workers continued to hold onto hope given that the room they were cutting into now was the Command Bridge.

While the island by the dorsal flight line was in charge of keeping the air clear, control of the Kodiak was based in a secure compartment, centralized and near the bottom of the ship in case a lucky bomb managed to get through the top decks. The armor surrounding the airships control center was also thick and impossibly dense courtesy of unicorn-powered magical forges, making progress slow and almost painful.

“You've got 20 more minutes on this torch before you need to switch it out.” one of the foremen said, tapping the unicorn trying to melt through the blast door, getting a grunt from her as she merely pushed into the torching area further. Scans showed lifesigns in there, even though they were fading fast, and if they could save one pony, just one, then she would consider this operation a success. 15 minutes later, a hoof-sized hole was melted clean through the door, and one of the technicians assigned to the recovery team managed to get his aura to hit the manual release. With hydraulics no longer locked in place, a team of unicorns managed to pull the large door open and they, along with a medical team, burst into the room.

“Fan out, somepony’s alive down here and we are going to find them!” the foreman barked, getting a chorus of acknowledgements from those around him. Flashlights bathed the walls and the flooded floor, water was almost up to everypony’s knees, and most gave a silent thanks that there was a small current flowing through. Without it, the water would be completely red. The bridge, or what was left of it, was a complete disaster. A round from the Everfree had punched clean through and detonated when it hit the outer plating on the ventral side, leaving a massive hole in the floor that was clogged with wreckage from above that extended all the way to the flight line.

“Sir! Over here! I found her!” one of the medics screamed, causing everyone to abandon their own investigations and gallop over through the murky, oily water. Only one pony didn’t gasp when she arrived at the scene, she’d been part of the cleanup crew for the Blueblood Massacre and had seen plenty worse.

Sky Admiral Dash had a length of metal conduit skewering her wings at the base, and her legs were pinned underneath a blown-out bridge console. Compound fractures could be seen, but curiously, there was another piece of debris, a steel beam, that had barely missed her head. From where it had come from, it should have knocked her head clean off, but it had been deflected by the hard shell of a tortoise. Tank, her ever loyal pet, had a shell hard enough to redirect the beam, as well as another piece of conduit that would have pierced her throat. The cost of such dedication though, was his life. The conduit had pierced the underside of his shell but wasn’t forceful enough to come out the other side, leaving the reptile beside his owner in perpetual hibernation.

“Damnit…” the head medic murmured, tears forming at his eyes, “Just…. Damnit…”

“Get her out of there!” came a barked order, snapping everyone out of their stupor, “You’ve got the head of the GDI Air Force still bleeding and you’re gonna gawk? I want her in the med bay and stabilized five minutes ago!”
____

“Five survivors so far, sir. Sky Admiral Dash is among them.” Ironsides’ EVA stated, getting a grunt from the old unicorn. First good news he’d heard all day, but even with an asset like Rainbow Dash still alive for the time being, it didn’t make up for the nearly 9000 Nod soldiers that they had trapped that managed to get evacuated. The rest that hadn’t made the window for evacuation had elected to commit suicide or go down fighting; only three managed to be captured alive.

“Her condition?” asked the old stallion as he continued to stare at the grim image the strategic map presented to him.

“Prosthetic wings and hind legs are under construction General. However, estimated recovery time for a spinal injury such as the one she suffered is months, if not years.”

Ironsides took in the news with solemn contemplation. Although the southward offensive had accomplished its goals and secured the Appleloosa Red Zone, the operation itself ground to a halt once Nod’s forces managed to regroup and their defensive line was reached. The loss of the Double Rainboom significantly weakened GDI’s air superiority in the region; truth be told, Admiral Dash’s survival was the only good news he’d received all day.

The reports he had in front of him painted a picture he didn’t want to admit. Over a year into the war, this was the first time GDI forces encountered the Brotherhood’s defensive emplacements. Great ebony towers along a fortified perimeter brought the offensive to a halt, and although much ground was won, its condition as a Red Zone made it as much of a danger for his troops as the Brotherhood’s own weapons.

With one final look at the strategic map showing him the condition of the fronts all over the planet, Ironsides gave his EVA unit a single command.

“Get me Princess Luna.”
____

Truthfully speaking, Luna would have loved to jump for joy and show just how ecstatic she was when General Ironsides came to her, asking for her to convene with her sister to suggest pursuing peace. After all, this had been the plan in the long run, the entirety of Nod’s mission statement at the strategic level from the start, even if the Council didn’t know it until nearly a year in.

“It is with a heavy heart that We accept your proposal, dear friend… though not as heavy as We suspect Celestia’s heart will be. Between the two of us, I had tried to avoid this conflict altogether, only to be refuted by our older sister…” Luna replied quietly, feigning a morose tone and darkening features, “Worry not though, We shall speak with her and hopefully we can put an end to this madness without further bloodshed.”

“That is all I can ask, Your Highness… ICB is in agreement, that at the current rate, we’re on the losing side of this war. We can hold out, yes, but offensively our options are spent. It would take a miracle or a disaster depending on who’s looking at it for us to have a chance of coming out on top.”

“Any chance, general? Or just a fighting chance?” the Lunar Princess asked, getting a sigh from the stallion standing before her.

“Prospects put us at only a 29% chance of winning this war, even with the updated tiberium refinement tech we snatched from the Brotherhood. Still hard to believe they’re so far ahead of ZOCOM in terms of finding and developing practical applications for it…” he murmured, shaking his head slightly, “I know they’re practically tib-worshipers but still, that much advancement needed more than just a brilliant defector of a princess to accomplish.”

“A mystery for another day, hopefully to be discussed cordially across a table once we put a stop to this war over a cancerous crystal.”
____

The Royal Gardens were one of the few places in the world to remain unchanged despite the crisis sweeping the planet. A serene, beautiful place where the Princess of the Sun could find peace and meditate. Normally, all would make sure to leave Celestia alone when she entered the gardens, which made Luna’s arrival all the more surprising.

“Sister, we need to talk.” came the uncharacteristically blunt request.

The sudden surprise almost caused Celestia to drop the potted plant she had been taking care of lately, only catching it with her magic at the last second.

“Luna… you surprised me.” she said, carefully placing the pot back on the table “What do you need?”

“I just received a joint report from General Ironsides and the ICB. They’ve formally requested we contact Nod’s leadership and ask for a cessation of hostilities. They want us to negotiate for peace.”

For a brief second, Luna believed the potted plant was about to catch fire. The singed leaves lent some credence to that theory.

“Peace, sister? After everything the Brotherhood has done?! After all the suffering they’ve caused?!” Celestia ranted, clearly not at her best today, which was sadly the norm for her lately. Thanks to her tone, the Moon Princess could already tell this wasn’t going well.

“Yes Celestia. Our forces are spread thin and our offensives are going nowhere. The odds are not in our favor.”

“The odds are never in favor of the righteous. Negotiating with the Brotherhood would be pardoning their crimes, most of which are downright unforgivable. Tell Ironsides to either come up with a better strategy or resign and let someone else do his job. Nod’s leaders must pay the price for their actions, and I’ll make sure they taste justice.”

Oh for Faust's sake…

“Sister… I understand how you feel, but this isn’t Ironsides alone. This is coming from our other generals. This is coming from the intelligence community. This is coming… this is coming from me as well. Already far too many lives have been lost, and if we continue on this path all projections lead to us failing and being defeated. All the lives lost fighting under GDI’s banner will have been wasted.” said Luna.

“Sacrifices need to be made. I care for every single pony that’s taken up arms in defense of their homes, but this is a fight we can’t afford to give up on.”

“Celestia, please listen to me. If we’re able to get these talks going, we’ll be able to gather the Element Bearers once more. If they’re able to put aside their differences as they have done in the past, we can bring an end to this war…. I know your dreams, Sister… I know you miss your former pupil as much as she misses her precious library… you cannot deny that no matter how many horrors she has created for Nod, she is still as much a part of your family as she was Shining Armor’s.”

That seemed to have stunned the Sun Princess momentarily as she stumbled with her words.

“Luna, I… very well then. I shall personally request a ceasefire so we may plan a meeting.”
____

Kane was nothing if not patient. Luna had informed him through his dreams that Celestia would be reaching out personally to request a ceasefire, and while he liked to play omnipotent, it was just better when he truly knew what the other player in this game of chess was about to do. The time was set, he was in front of the War Room vid-screen, and he even managed to get Chrysalis, Steelwing, and the three Element Bearers to be in attendance.

“You said she’d be calling at noon on the dot… what is taking her so long?” Chrysalis groaned, noting how the clock was a good half hour past the time Celestia had told Luna she’d make contact.

“Give her time, Chrysalis… she’s practically admitting defeat just by having us over for peace talks. It takes a while to get over a thousand years or more of arrogance and elitism.” Kane mused, glancing over at her for a moment with his signature grin before returning his eyes to the black screen in front of him. Minutes continued to tick on by, nearly an hour passing from the intended time before the void in front of him was interrupted by EVA announcing an incoming transmission. Without hesitation everyone save Kane perked up, returning to their ‘prescribed’ positions as he told EVA to accept.

“Well well well… if it isn’t my second-favorite Princess... such a surprise to have you reaching out to me directly. To what do I owe this... unexpected pleasure?”
____

One month. Kane and Celestia agreed on a cease fire for one entire month leading up to the peace talks. For 30 days, the world was oddly silent. GDI continued to dig in where they could, bolstered it defenses both magical and physical. What troops could be spared went home, if it still existed, to get some R&R, and even the Apple Family managed to have a reunion in Canterlot. Ponyville had long since been breached, and the Apple Family Farm had long since succumbed to tiberium.

The Brotherhood on the other hand had taken the month to set up. Kane promised peace would come from Nod, either through treaty or flame, and those who followed the Messiah were well experienced in preparing for the worst. Despite the Rescue of the Ten Thousand by the Black Hand’s own Hyperion, the GDI offensive had managed to strike a painful blow to Nod, regardless of whether it was obvious to GDI’s intelligence community or not.

While the ceasefire wasn’t necessary for Nod victory, it would help save lives in the long run, something that Spike and Rarity were both thankful for. Twilight was also noticeably happier than she’d been in months when the arrangements had been made. Peace was actually possible, and Princess Celestia was willing to admit she was wrong about something. Tiberium could be combatted, the planet could be saved, and while the world may be permanently be split down the middle by differing ideologies, at least the bloodshed and the killing would end for the time being.

For Kane, the month was spent in the company of his council, Princess Luna included. Discussions were had about various demands to make, possible territory disputes to put to rest, border lines to officially draw, and of course, the dismantling of a fair portion of the GDI military. If Chrysalis had her way, the entire GDI army would be imprisoned and their Kodiaks would be surrendered to Nod for use in its own fledgling aerial navy. Kane talked her down with Steelwing and Luna countering her heated temperament.

Regrettably, that conversation carried over even as a fleet of carryalls flew on a preplanned flight lane towards Canterlot. Unlike the standard variant, the craft that carried each council member was outfitted more like a luxury suite than a military transport. Three carryalls, flanked by another six, landed in sequence at Canterlot Castle on Ironside’s personal helipad. Guards arrived first, followed by Chrysalis, Steelwing, Twilight Sparkle with Rarity and Spike, and finally, Kane and his personal Black Hand detachment, Sister Pinkie Pie included.

Ironsides had elected to meet them and while he did his best to stay as diplomatic with Havoc and Dead Six flanking him, it was very very hard not to scowl at that perpetual smirk that Kane seemed to wear.

“Welcome to Canterlot, Kane.” the older stallion finally announced, walking carefully towards his guest.

“And what a wonderful welcome it is.” the bald earth pony told his reluctant host, “So, shall we get to the proceedings? I would hate to keep the Princesses waiting.”
____

“They have touched down…” Luna murmured to her sister, noting how hard it was for her to keep still in her seat. They’d elected not to be on their respective thrones for the meeting given it would have been bad to start off peace talks from a perceived position of power, even if it was legitimate.

“The sooner we get these talks over with, the better…” Celestia whispered back, still fidgeting despite how secure of a position they were in. Lining half of the throne room was an entire platoon of Zone Troopers, specifically, the Wolverines. Applejack, Fluttershy, and a slew of other high ranking ponies were seated on either side of the Princesses, and if that wasn’t enough, they were technically in the military center of GDI. Despite all of this, the Solar Princess continued to fidget in her seat until the door began to swing open.

Black Hand of every shape and size filtered into the room, taking up guard positions, the lead members stopping as they were shoulder to shoulder with their Zone Trooper counterparts. Once in position, and once Ironsides had made his way to the seat on Celestia’s left, the Brotherhood of Nod entered the throne room. Chrysalis found her seat easily enough, with Steelwing sitting opposite of her, followed shortly by Twilight, Rarity, and Spike. Once everyone was seated, the only vacant spot in the room was filled by the one stallion Celestia had truly started to fear, escorted by none other than Sister Pinkie Pie.

Kane walked into the throne room of Canterlot Castle as if he owned the place. His eternal grin, his confident stride, just the presence he brought with him made a few of the Zone Troopers shift uncomfortably in their armor, and the few remaining unicorn officers to sneer uncontrollably. Here was an Earth Pony, lowliest of the races, and yet with sheer charisma he commanded arguably the most powerful army in Equestria on a holy war against the longest-standing empire in the history of their planet.

“Princesses! Generals!” he exclaimed jovially, causing a few of the GDI dignitaries to jump, and his escort for the day to bounce a little more before she settled in next to her charge for the day, “I think it’s time we had a little chat.”
____

Hours. The talks had been going on for hours now. So many hours that most of the Zone Troopers and even some of the Black Hand had already locked the joints of their armor. Most of the talking points were simple, but given the controversy surrounding them, drew what should have been five minutes of deliberation into an hour, possibly more. It was a good thing they had arrived early in the morning, for it was already well past noon and Luna was already feeling the call of the Moon getting louder and louder, as if listening to a whisper from a great distance.

“Maybe we should take another recess…” Ironsides suggested, a hoof rubbing his temple as Chrysalis demanded, for the fifth time that day, that Changeling territory be expanded two-fold. Steelwing seemed to agree, making the same gesture as his insectoid counterpart made her tinny voice heard again and again.

“I would be inclined to agree.” Kane answered, “But there is one point that I need some clarification on.”

“And what might that be?” the Solar Princess asked.

“There is just… one thing, one simple thing, that I can’t quite put my hoof on, Princess Celestia… one thing that I just… I don’t quite understand.” the Messiah mused, tapping his chin for a moment while seemingly looking over one of the stained glass windows featuring the original two alicorn princesses.

“And what might that be, Kane?” Celestia asked, barely containing her disdain.

“Well, I just don’t understand… you’re supposed to be goddesses, correct?”

“We are not godde-”

“But you still let the ponies under your charge worship you, the celestial bodies that you manipulate, and even swear by your name, correct? Do you enjoy playing god, Celestia?”

“Why I-”

“Tell me, Princesses, where was your divine wisdom when your star pupil, your successor, found the cure to degenerative Tiberium mutation? Where was your kindness and understanding when you imprisoned the first two survivors of tiberium infestation? Tell me, oh wise goddesses where your compassion was when you made that decision that would end nearly 2 million lives?” Kane jabbed, the smirk that the world had come to know still plastered on his face.

“You dare…” Celestia murmured, visibly shaking on her throne, “You dare to assume that I care so little for my subjects…”

“I don’t dare, I know.” Kane spat.

“SILENCE” Celestia bellowed, her mane flowing as if she were in a wind tunnel and magic already channeling into her horn, “THIS IS A WAR THAT YOU’VE ENDORSED AS A MESSIAH! THIS CONFLICT THAT HAS KILLED MILLIONS! YOU COULD HAVE ASKED FOR PEACE AT ANY TIME!”

“No Sister, he could not.” Luna interjected, calming Celestia almost instantly, but not by much, “His argument, however spiteful, holds some merit… it was a mistake to not pursue Twilight’s research further… maybe if we had not burned it, this conflict could have been avoided.”

“That would imply that Celestia is willing to compromise.” Chrysalis butted in, getting a short chuckle from King Steelwing.

“Oh hush, Chrysalis, we all know that the goddess of the sun could never be wrong… after all...” Kane added in, standing and walking towards the two thrones, “What sort of god willingly throws away a million lives just to save face and preserve her reputation?”

“Kane…” Twilight murmured, worry seeping into her tone as Celestia’s mane flared up again.

“You still haven’t answered my question, Celestia… are you willing to admit that you personally are responsible?”

“Responsible for what?”

“The death of Equestria.”

Celestia screamed out a curse that no one quite understood as a beam of light erupted from her horn straight towards Kane. All of his guards and the rest of the Triumvirate lurched forward to protect their Messiah, but none of them could reach him in time, but instead of searing flesh and burning bone, the beam of pure, concentrated sunlight impacted harmlessly on a barrier of dark blue magic.

“Celestia!”

Everyone froze as Luna’s voice echoed throughout the throne room, almost shattering the stained glass windows, both covered and uncovered. She walked forward slowly before standing in front of Kane and scowling up at her sister. All along the side of the throne room, the guards for both factions faced each other, weapons ready and charging as they awaited the order that they knew their commanders earnestly wanted to give.

“Sister! This is unbecoming of you! They are here to talk about peace, and while We cannot agree with Kane’s jabs and barbs, mere words should not have moved you to the point of attacking somepony here under parlay!” Luna said, steel filling her voice.

“Agreed!” Ironsides barked, “Your majesties, if we could stop throwing beams at ponies long enough to get this truce fulfilled, we may be able to stop the war today!”

“General Ironsides is right, we should let diplomacy resume.” Twilight Sparkle added in, getting a nod from Steelwing.

“I second that.” the griffon said.

“Dear Sister, this was a mistake, but one we can ask our guests to look past…. Kane?” Luna cut in, looking back at the earth pony behind her. Before Celestia could get a word in though, Admiral Jet Set interjected.

“Her only mistake was missing that low-born traitor!”

“No one asked your opinion, coward.” Chrysalis quipped, “If intelligence is right, you were cowering under a table while one of your Captains defeated our fleet right before the Rescue of the Ten Thousand.”

“Queen Chrysalis, please refrain fro-” Luna started, only to be interrupted again.

“Says the queen who can’t hold power without a cancerous stone! Tell me, how is King Thorax doing these days?” Rose Shard barked.

“Colonel! How cou-”

“Loyal as he should be, how’s the Crystal Kingdom?” the insectoid queen snipped right back. In moments, the negotiating table had devolved into insults, threats, and glowing horns from both sides of the table before Celestia brought forth the brightest light she could from her horn in order to get everyone’s attention. Once quieted down, all those in attendance looked to the Solar Monarch and found her muzzle pulled into a tight scowl.

“Kane, while I can appreciate your willingness to pursue peace, it should be obvious that just from what we have seen in this room, that it is not a viable option right now.” Celestia stated.

“Sister, surely-”

“Quiet, Luna, I shall handle this.” the elder sister hissed before returning her attentions to Kane, “You will be granted safe passage from Canterlot as a sign of good will, but the moment your transports leave GDI air space, we will resume hostilities.”

“Sister. Please, we can talk this out, we can have pea-”

“Luna, I will not say it again!” Celestia practically barked, only to receive a blast of navy magic to her chest for her trouble. The Solar Monarch was thrown through her throne, shattering it. When she tried to come back up to confront her sister, she was again hit with a blast of magic that embedded her in the stairwell leading to the thrones.

“For too long have We sat in your shadow, providing counsel, as you have deluded yourself into believing this War was unavoidable. That we could not compromise with Tiberium, that only a total victory and eradication of the crystal would be a ‘win’ for Equestria, for all of the Earth. We can live with this boon! We can survive! And you are just too stubborn to admit it! HALF of the Element Bearers are right here in this room on the side of compromise!”

“Luna..-” Celestia started, only to be cut off.

“Don’t ‘Luna’ me, sister!” the Princess of the Night sniped with a glare as the ground around her began to shift and warp. Her magic was flowing like weightless water around her and her fur darkened as she continued speaking, “We had a chance to end the war today but you have let yourself become irrational and acted out of anger! Kane did not word it tactfully but his propaganda back in Brotherhood territory is true! You started this war! You are unwilling to do what it takes to end it!

“But We….” she continued, her mane now taking a more celestial and disturbingly familiar appearance, “We will end this war as we first intended! BY FORCING A SURRENDER OF ALL GDI FORCES TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF NOD!”

Celestia’s head was blown back as Luna, or what had been Luna, released a wave of magical energy that sent everyone off their seats and even managed to knock over a few of the security guards on both sides. She was dazed from the previous attacks from her sister, but managed to clear her head quickly and look up at what had been Princess Luna. All around the Lunar Princess, streams of magic swirled around her, and her form seemed to be shifting inside the miniature maelstrom of her own creation. It was obviously Luna’s magic after all, not some third party, given the dark blue hues of the wisps rushing about her hooves. The process only took a few seconds, but to Celestia, it seemed to be an eternity as the mist subsided, and she was faced with her sister’s new visage.

Her wings were like that of a bat-pony, her mane and tail a lighter blue field of stars and with more flow than before. Her fur was now nearly black but with a hint of navy, and her stature now matched Celestia’s. But the real defining trait that sent shivers down the Solar Monarch’s spine were her eyes. Turquoise in color, but her pupils…. Her pupils were slits. Celestia knew those eyes all too well, and they weren’t Luna’s eyes at all.

Those eyes belonged to Nightmare Moon.

“Luna..?” Twilight murmured, a hoof covering her mouth as she tried to take in just what happened. All around her, the rest of the dignitaries were in equal states of shock ranging from Chrysalis looking just as frightened as Celestia, to Pinkie Pie’s jaw dropping to the floor.

Everyone, that is, except for Kane.

“Sister… why…? Why would you change back into her?”

“We are not Nightmare Moon, Celestia.” She replied before leaning down and whispering into her ear, “But we will use the darkness within us, no matter the cost, to bring an end to this conflict that you refuse to abandon… and as the Founder of the Brotherhood, and the rightful Queen of Equestria, you know I will do anything necessary to save our planet… even if it means ending you and your precious GDI, personally.”

The Battle of Canterlot

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Chapter XXII - The Battle of Canterlot

At first glance it would appear as if Flight Lieutenant Scootaloo was frantically getting her gear on for a combat mission. However, those that knew her could tell she was “in the zone”, so to speak, and that her seemingly hasty approach to donning her flight suit and helmet were just how she did things. The orange pegasus practically flew down the hallways to the internal hangar bay where her squadron had just begun gathering, all three of them pegasi like their squadron leader. Vapor Trail and her husband, Sky Stinger, were veteran Wonderbolts by the time the War had kicked off, but their third member, a yellow pegasus with an orange mane named Sunshine Beam, was a bit new to the team. She’d enlisted when the War began but managed to prove herself early on during the Spike Incident as an ORCA pilot.

“Helmets on, ponies! Canterlot needs our help and Stalliongrad is the only Kodiak in range that hasn’t engaged the Noddies yet!” Scootaloo barked as she trotted along towards the flight line. Given the position of the Kodiak they were stationed on, all boarding and armament of aircraft happened in an airtight hangar bay with the experimental Firehawks being lifted via elevators to the launch deck once the area was cleared. The air was thin in low orbit and the oxygen masks that ponies wore during high altitude operations only lasted so long. The four of them clambered into the aircraft, the first combat-ready models of the Firehawk fighter-bomber. Carrying air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, as well as an integrated 30mm nose gun behind aerodynamic panelling, this fighter was the GDI answer to the Venom VTOL fighter and the newer model SAM sites that Nod favored. Canterlot was going to be their first warzone deployment, but Scootaloo was more than ready to put her bird through the flames.

They weren’t Phoenix Squadron for nothing. Each Firehawk had the fiery bird painted on their noses or on the wings, and while the fighter could perform atmospheric re-entry, the magical shielding along the hull kept any nose art intact through the heat of coming through the atmosphere at top speed.

“Be advised;” the squadron EVA announced, “The Captain has ordered a Combat Descent of the Stalliongrad upon launch of Squadrons Phoenix, Onyx, and Iron. Squadron Howitzer will launch after descent as reactionary force. All squadrons will descend alongside the Stalliongrad and break from formation upon entry into the area of operation. Please confirm orders.”

“Confirmed, Phoenix will escort on the way down.” Scootaloo replied, with a similar reply coming from both Onyx and Iron Leaders a few seconds later. Howitzer Lead added in his confirmation a moment after the other two, grumbling slightly at what was often considered babysitting detail.

“Orders Confirmed…. Squadrons… ready. EVA can confirm launch prep. Phoenix, Onyx, Iron, prepare for launch.” the synthesized mare’s voice dictated. No sooner had she said this, the elevator holding 12 of the Stalliongrad’s 16 Firehawks started moving up. Magical shields surrounded the large platform as it ascended, keeping the air pressure inside the hangar from meeting that of outside, and only shutting off when the seals extended and closed off the bay from the flight deck.

“Phoenix Squadron, prepped and ready.” Scootaloo announced.

“Onyx Squadron, ready to swat some flies.” Onyx Lead retorted.

“Iron Squadron prepped and ready. Let’s fly.” the last squadron leader added, giving a salute to the other two squadron heads.

EVA confirmed their announcements, and the automated system started the staggered countdown. Each squadron would launch as one, given the deck was wide enough for them to launch four across, wingtip to wingtip. Scootaloo let out a small sigh as the timer approached zero, steadying herself once it reached 10 seconds. Phoenix was first, as always, courtesy of her recommendation from Sky Admiral Dash and the fast advancement through flight school that followed. They were the best and everypony knew it.

“Launch!” Scootaloo barked once the counter hit zero. All four Firehawks punched their thrusters, shooting forward like a round from a railgun. The acceleration always took some getting used to, even with the inertial dampeners, but it was never more than the four pegasi could handle. With helmets on tight and oxygen masks secured, the team scattered upon leaving the flight deck, only to reconstitute in a proper V formation. In less than a minute, the other two squadrons joined them, taking a tri-formation around the aerial carrier.

“Descending in five.” came another announcement, this one from a real pony on the ship’s bridge, and shortly after his message was heard all engine functions on the Stalliongrad ceased. The Kodiak dropped like a rock with the Firehawks keeping pace easily, pushing through clouds with impunity as the hulls of the fighters started to glow as their shielding easily withstood the heat of re-entry from the stratosphere. Heat pooled around the Kodiak’s hull and spilled off of the Firehawks, boiling away the clouds as they got closer and closer to the battlefield below, and while Scootaloo had heard the reports, nothing could have fully prepared her for what she saw when they finally peeled away from their dive.

With a grandiose and resounding boom, the Stalliongrad started hovering again, holding position at optimal engagement range on the edge of the massive battleground that Canterlot had devolved into. As luck would have it, a trio of dragons bearing the Black Hand emblem were in the way and were promptly sent tumbling to the ground with broken wings and shattered spines after the sheer bulk of a GDI Kodiak landed on them. All three Firehawk squadrons pulled away, engaging anything that came into sight or reacting to calls for help, all while trying to dodge Nod AA. Seconds in, Onyx Lead was hit, his cockpit blown out by a missile from the Barricade after her flak turrets softened up her shields. Shortly after, Sky Stinger’s wing was clipped by debris from a Venom he had hunted down and blown to hell with the 30mm.

“I’m ok! Superficial at worst, diagnostics say I’m fine, no leaks in fuel or hydraulics.” the blue stallion announced, getting a sigh of relief from Vapor Trail as they dived right back into the fray.

Both Nod airships were in the AO, as well as 4 Kodiaks, Scootaloo’s ride included. Had it been a battle of ships, the fight would have been over in minutes, but with the presence of every dragon that Nod had at its command, the situation was evened out. Railguns targeted boogies in the air and positions on the ground, only to be pulled off target by a passing dragon or be disabled by griffons with demolitions charges. Weaving between the 6 massive vessels, the Nod and GDI Air Forces were dueling for superiority, with the only relatively safe areas being within point defense range of their host ships. Even then, larger dragons could shrug off flak and had no trouble catching up to Orcas and ripping into them with their tiberium-enriched claws.
__________

On the ground, the situation was just as bad. Just as the battle had begun, the Everfree had dropped off four new toys, a present from Princess Twilight Sparkle to GDI’s grunts. Shaped like dragons, walking on two legs with a free claw to grab and manipulate items, and with an Obelisk-class laser attached to the right wrist and inside the ‘mouth’ of these false dragons, these massive mechs stomped around the battlefield with near impunity as even Mammoth rounds glanced their shielded armor. These monstrous mechanized units, piloted by a single faithful Nod officer, were Twilight’s newest addition to Nod’s armory.

The Avatar.

“Clear a path!” one of them ordered, both over the communications network and over the large speakers placed along the hull for the sake of demoralizing the enemy. Nod units did as instructed, moving out of the Avatar’s path as it charged forward and stepped on a Predator tank that had been harassing the line. Its partner fired off a round that bounced off the armor protecting its legs and got a laser through the turret for its trouble. The tank was cored, magazine cooking off in an instant and vaporizing anything that might have survived the laser blast.

As the behemoth began laughing at the carnage, an explosion rippled across its hull, tearing its left arm off and making the pilot howl. Seconds later, three more detonations impacted it and a quartet of Firehawks rocketed past. However, despite the loss of limb, the massive mech continued to fight. With the pilot barking obscenities at the pilots responsible for such an impromptu amputation, he aimed his main weapon after them, firing in a rage and filling the crowded sky with more laser fire.
__________

“Good hit Phoenix 2!” Scootaloo exclaimed as they peeled away from the ground. Those Avatars were the biggest trouble for the ground troops, shrugging off rounds from Mammoth Tanks and Guardian emplacements placed around the city. Luckily, they had moved outside of the city after nearly getting pinned in by the Canterlot Defense Reserve and an enraged Celestia. Her once calm demeanor had been replaced with pure fiery rage at her sister’s betrayal and with how badly Kane had managed to dig under her skin, on top of her already questionable sanity as the war continued on. Some historians would say it was the first nuke that caused it, other say the war as a whole just weighed on her more than even a goddess ever thought possible. For now though, it was safe to say that her wrath was the only reason that Nod wasn’t fighting solely in the streets of the Equestrian capital.

But while most of the battle was contained on the outskirts of Canterlot, plenty of it was still tearing up the once-pristine streets. Carnage found its way into the untouched Blue Zone, the “safest place in Equestria” with impunity as Tiberium-tipped missiles and lasers alike tore into the streets, businesses, and homes of Equestria’s elite. Above her spires Venoms and Orcas played lethal games of cat-and-mouse, and among her streets tanks fought for supremacy amongst cratered roads and blown out storefronts. In the thick of it all, one family continued to prove that there was one name you never engaged if you wanted to win against GDI.

Apple.
__________

“Target acquired, sights on target!” Button Mash announced.

“Fire!” Big Mac barked back, barely moving as both cannons on his Mammoth opened up on the legs of an injured Avatar. Whatever those new aircraft were, they packed a punch, and taking the arm off of one of these metal monstrosities was just the shot in the arm that the armor needed. Celestia had only been able to drive them out of the city and barely scuffed their thick armor.

“Good hit!” Applejack interjected over the comm channel, causing Big Mac to jolt, if only so slightly, “I saw that one from inside the city!”

“Speaking of, how bad?” the red stallion asked with a grunt as his tank was rocked by another rocket impact. Shortly after, the gentle staccato of machine-gun fire passed from one side of the turret to the other. Some idiot in a Harpy thought they could take out a Mammoth.

“It’s not pretty.” his sister replied, “We pushed’em back to the outskirts, even ran a couple off the mountain, but now we gotta get’em out of the Blue Zone and that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen.”

“And The General?”

“Docs woke him up about 5 minutes ago, none too happy with how the Noddies left the castle and I hear with a mighty nasty migraine. He should be assuming direct EVA control any moment now. Hopefully that changes this clusterfu-” she answered before the connection cut.

“EVA! Status on Predator Tank, ID 01-A.” Big Mac ordered frantically. Enough friends had died in this war and he wasn’t about to lose family.

“Predator Tank, 01-A, Granny Smith, Status: Disabled, Mission Killed in friendly territory while providing close fire support for Zone Trooper Platoon Alpha-001, Wolverines.”

“And Applejack?”

“Vitals in the green, but non-responsive. Recovery team on site currently extracting surviving crew..”

“Visu- Mash, get that Ursa before it wipes out that squad! EVA, visual on Lieutenant General Applejack.” Mac ordered again as yet two more thumps resounded through his Mammoth. Seconds later, he was greeted with a helmet camera of a combat medic. Unicorn, given the way that the medkit being used on his sister was levitating enveloped in a purple aura. With a sigh of relief, Big Mac allowed himself a weary smile, she was ok, if a little beat up. Few bruises, lots of cuts, and a lot of shrapnel embedded in her front legs, but nothing surgery couldn’t patch up.

Despite seeing via the feed that she was ok, he couldn’t help but wince when the medic looked back at Granny Smith. The treads on the side facing them were completely wrecked, and the barrel had blown making it look like some macabre flower or one of those cartoons where the hero clogged up a villain’s gun. Either the barrel had overheated and caused a round to detonate in the barrel, or someone got a very lucky shot with a laser. Given the blackened and cracked armor leading to the barrel, it was safe to say that an Ursa with laser weaponry instead of a ballistic cannon had managed to make the lucky shot.

“EVA, is the offending Ursa out of commission?”

“Mammoth Tank Adeptus Astartes rolled over it.”

“Adept… wait, Genera-”

“Correct, Colonel Macintosh.” another EVA interjected, this one a bit more expressive than his, almost as if there was another mare on the other side of the channel, ”General Stalwart Shield has taken the field.”
__________

Rolling Thunder was a name normally associated with only two things in the GDI arsenal. One was when Kodiaks “walked fire” across a broad area with railgun bombardment, destroying everything along the span of a mile or more. The second was when a Mammoth, or group of them, was given a single command that filled any tank commander’s heart with glee.

Weapons free.

She may have been a unicorn, but Stalwart Shield never quite felt at home in Canterlot. She’d devoted her life to the UEP and following its dissolution, GDI. For her, the battlefield was home and the decadent lifestyle that native Canterlot inhabitants seemed to enjoy was more than a bit distasteful. So when she was given authorization by Ironsides himself to disregard collateral damage, she had a very clear conscience about firing through mansions and high-class clubs to take out Nod forces.

“Target destroyed… as well as half the building that was shielding us.” the weapons chief announced.

“Whose mansion was that anyway?” Shield asked idly as the mechanisms reloaded the cannons.

“Residence belongs to Admiral of the Fleets, Jet Set.” EVA replied, getting a smirk from the unicorn mare with four golden stars emblazoned on her helmet.

“He can bill the Princess when this is all over. Prioritize targets, keep working our way up the chain until those Avatars don’t have any Ursas to cover them. I want pods to keep knocking birds out of the sky until we only have two reloads left, no point in getting caught without a safety net.”

“Weapons answering, aye.”

“And somepony get me a channel with the Wolverines, I want to know where my Zone Troopers are in this Celestia-damn mess.”
_____

Two Ursas detonated in spectacular twin fireballs, interrupted solely by a quartet of vapor trails punching through them. Once the explosions regressed to being little more than smoke and fire, Zone Troopers punched through it as well, jetting through with the two lead troopers slamming into a third tank and cratering the armor. Armored hooves punched into the weakened plates until finally punching through. Once through the armor, the trooper who had managed to breach it hit the arming charge on an incendiary grenade and threw it inside.

Flames spouted from the turret and through the small hole that the trooper had made until metal started melting and Jet Deck let off a harsh laugh. That was the fire team’s 19th armor kill since the battle started, nearly 50 for the entire platoon. Regrettably, that number seemed almost pointless given the amount of tanks the Avatars were taking out.

“They injured one but if we can’t take those down completely, we’re screwed…” Apple Bloom muttered, panting slightly. They’d been fighting tooth and nail since an Avatar punched its claws through the windows of the throne room, and while they had been able to push the Black Hand from the castle, they all had scorched, scuffed, and dented armor to show for it.

That and three suits with dead operators.

“Gotta take the legs, or at least try to. Should be like taking out a tank’s treads.” Jet Deck replied as they started moving again, taking cover behind a Mammoth that had been stepped on.

“Target designators, Gunny?” one of the troopers asked.

“Either that or one hell of an explosive…. EVA, got anything on those new fighters we have up there? Maybe some armaments?”

“Firehawk-class Fighter-bomber attack craft, single-pilot, armaments include 30mm cannon, air-to-gro-”

“Air-to-ground munitions, specs on those so we can take out an Avatar or two, EVA.”

“Processing…. Accessing files…” the synthetic voice answered, pausing a moment before continuing on, “Security clearance confirmed; Defender-class missiles, anti-armor bunker buster. Full specifications are restricted given nature of current combat.”

“So AP dialed up to 11? We’d just need to keep a targeter on the knees and hope one of those Firehawks is listening.” Jet Deck said, rubbing his chin.

“EVA.” Apple Bloom ordered, “Get me a link to one of the squadron leaders. Jetty, I’ll link up and get us a squadron.”

“Got it. Windy Leaf, get the whole platoon updated and make sure laser sights are on every rifle we have... EVA, contact General Shield. Tell her Gunny Jet Deck is going to help her take down some Avatars.”
__________

From above the carnage, things seemed so miniscule. Even as flak bursts peppered across the armored hull of the Everfree, Kane couldn’t help but smile as he kept enjoying the sight of Canterlot burning from his position at the front viewport. Death and destruction, raining from above like he was the god his more devout followers believed him to be.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, causing Luna and Twilight to look over at him.

“The destruction of my home?” Twilight inquired in return.

“Your former home, but yes… seeing the very heart of the most corrupt government on the planet burn with holy fire is… a wondrous sight indeed. I must say, Princess, I am very satisfied with the performance of the Discord-class ships, no matter how ironic this all is.”

“Ironic, Kane? You find our crusade… ironic?” Luna asked quietly.

“Of course… if you look across the way, towards the center of the city, you’ll see the GDA Discord, a Generation 2 Kodiak. Under our hooves is the hull of the of a class of airship sharing the same name. Two sides paying homage to the same being with a troubled past, who eventually gave himself up for the greater good. In my book that’s at least a small bit ironic, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I.. can see why you would think that, yes.” the Queen of the Night murmured, taking in the sight of the carnage as she did so.

“Do you ever wonder whose side he would have picked?” Kane quipped with a grin, the fires of Canterlot casting a hellish aura about his face as he looked back at his queen, “Adaptation or tradition… such a hard choice for the Lord of Chaos.”

“Humor? At this time? You surprise me, Messiah.” a male voice interjected. Its owner, a familiar earth pony that Kane knew all too well.

“Hyperion, I’m more surprised that you’re not on the ground partaking in such a glorious fight.”

“Usually you’d be right, Messiah, but given that the Everfree doesn’t have shielding like kodiaks, Sister-Battle Commander Pie requested I hold at least 75% of the garrison aboard in the event of a boarding action… Barricade has also repelled two boarding parties since the battle began so if GDI grows the stones to try it with Everfree, we’ll be ready.”

“Oh I’m sure they’ll try, the Messiah himself is aboard with Queen Luna, and the most brilliant scientist our planet has ever known. Such a prize would be a worthy target for any ambitious GDI officer hoping to step on their comrades for glory. If they try, please make sure to aim for their face when you kick them back down.”

“Of course, Messiah. It would be my pleasure.”
__________

“Ok, just one more time so everyone gets it…. Phoenix Squadron hits its knee while we’re running around. Make sure you don’t stay in one place for more than a few seconds, last thing we need is anyone to get caught by a beam or an Ursa. Once the armor is weakened or cracked, we hit the damn thing with everything we have until it stops moving.” Jet Deck stated, a diagram of the battle plan appearing on everypony’s HUD, “Any questions?”

“Yeah, when do we get to take this bastard down?” came a reply, one that was met with laughter from the surviving troopers.

“Soon as Phoenix is ready… EVA?”

“Squadron Leader Scootaloo has requested that you begin the assault now, ETA until air strike is 5 minutes.”

“You heard the lady! Let’s go, troopers!” Jet Deck barked as he initiated his jump jets.

“Punch it!” Apple Bloom added. Behind her, the entire platoon leaped, flew, and jumped into action.

For the past 30 minutes, the Zone Troopers had tried to “sneak” up on the Avatar, moving from cover to cover and occasionally wiping out any Nod unit that stumbled across them. All the while, the Avatar that had caught their attention by taking out a Mammoth continued its rampage. Now however, they all burst from a blown out building, formerly an apartment complex that had luckily been evacuated shortly after the battle began. The smoke screen created from the building collapsing, along with the surprise of 42 Zone Troopers bursting out from the flank, kept anyone from firing on them at first. It wasn’t until targeting beams started training themselves on the Avatar’s knees that rounds and lasers began lancing out to meet them.

Railguns answered the call of the Brotherhood, smiting tank and soldier alike as the platoon was keeping constantly on the move. The Avatar ignored them, viewing Jet Deck’s platoon as nothing more than a nuisance that was knocking out lesser Nod vehicles. What truly had the mech’s attention was the incoming Firehawks. A group of Venoms had marked them before getting blown out of the sky, and it was the same squadron that had wounded the other Avatar. Now, they were heading this way and not engaging any of the tanks.

“Full power!” the pilot announced, the laser mounted on his warmech’s wrist preparing to fire, but at the last moment, an explosion hit the armor and threw his aim off, causing the beam to bypass the four fighters speeding towards the Avatar.

“What in the..?” Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she followed the vapor trail. The owner of the rounds that kept Phoenix Squadron in one piece was none other than the Mammoth Apple Pie, “Big brother?”

“Go get’em sis! 2nd Heavy Armor will back you up!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

“Incoming!” Jet Deck shouted, and not a moment too soon. 7 missiles, all the same class that had knocked the arm off the Avatar now limping towards Nod lines, slammed into the right knee. The first trio cracked the armor along the joint, weakening it moments before the remaining quartet slammed into it. When the smoke faded, the knee was unarmored and exposed. With a primal fury, Jet Deck issued a single order.

“Put’em down!”

Designator sights were replaced with railgun fire as the Zone Troopers swarmed around the behemoth, unloading everything they had into its knee as fast as they could. Supersonic rounds tore into the machinery, weakening it further as the Avatar started swatting at the offending GDI soldiers but never managing to strike a single one. Every time it tried to get a shot off with its arm or mouth lasers, Apple Pie threw off its aim with well-aimed shots from her own cannons.

After nearly 10 minutes of constant movement and fire, the Troopers were all reaching critically low ammunition levels, but the mech was still standing.

“This thing just won’t go down!” one of the fireteam leaders exclaimed.

“We gotta throw it off balance! Make it favor its injured leg!” Jet Deck answered.

“How!?”

“We deck the bastard! Right on the jaw!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “First Squad, with me to the shoulder, we’ll sock this thing right in the kisser!”

“Gunny?” another team leader asked, sounding a bit incredulous about the idea.

“She’s right! First Squad, with me and AB, everyone else keep annoying this thing and hitting its legs! Move out!”

“Moving!” Apple Bloom answered, and Jet Deck could practically hear her smile.

Five troopers joined Apple Bloom and Jet Deck as they kept bounding up the back of the Avatar with their jump jets, taking care to keep clear of its grasper before finally settling in on its left shoulder.

“Get his attention!” Jet barked, and his answer was his platoon sergeant firing off a railgun round right into the Avatars chin. Like clockwork, it turned its head to face the seven soldiers and got a wave in reply. Had it been able, the pilot would have made his machine raise an eyebrow before blasting these pests right off his shoulders.

He never got the chance. Seven of the finest Zone Troopers GDI ever knew rocketed forward and slammed into the Avatar’s head, knocking it off balance. To compensate, it put its weight on its damaged leg, and right when the foot made contact with the ground the remaining troopers unloaded their remaining ammo into the cracked and failing joint. The result was spectacular as the knee finally failed and the servos broke apart. The calf and foot fell in one direction, the Avatar fell in the other, and First Squad rode its shoulder all the way down to the ground.

Dust, dirt, debris, and Nod soldiers were all thrown about as the behemoth finally hit the ground. The Zone Troopers who remained out of cover were blown back as well, slamming into ruined buildings and blown out tanks but not taking too much damage to their already well-worn suits. The team on the Avatar on the other hand was cheering all the way down, leaping at the last second and letting their jets land them safely on the back of the ruined hulk. Apple Bloom would have made a comment, maybe a cheer or clever quip, but a blue light lit up the sky. A beam of pure energy pierced the heavens and lanced towards Nod lines.
__________

The blue light only got brighter and brighter before pulsing for a second, nearly tripling in diameter before disappearing. At the end of the beam where it hit the ground, the obvious signs of an ion cannon blast created a sterile field nearly 500 meters wide.

The origin point of the ion cannon wasn’t from space, though. The trajectory put it in the clouds above Canterlot, surprisingly close to the ground, and everyone knew that it couldn’t be an Ion Cannon Satellite. Had it been, Kane would order a nuclear strike upon the city. Luckily for GDI High Command, while they were busy working on tech capable of taking down a nuclear missile before it hit its target, the eggheads in R&D and the Royal College of Naval Aviation had managed to create a new weapon, implementing Ion Projection technology into GDI’s behemoths of the sky.

The battlefield quickly became silent as the biggest Kodiak anyone had ever seen descended from cloud cover. Railguns of all shapes and sizes dotted her considerably armored hull, to the point that even the pilots flying by her couldn’t pick out windows along her bulkheads. Because of this, she looked heavier than her counterparts, and along the center of the ship where there’d usually be auxiliary launch bays, the familiar antennae and prongs of an Ion Cannon’s projections array were found.

Before Hyperion could let out a swear, lightning lit up between the focusing arrays and another ion blast shot forth from the Kodiak, causing a string of detonations as any Nod aircraft unfortunate enough to be between the Barricade and Everfree were vaporized. Soon after, every GDI soldier, officer, pilot, and commander received a pleasant surprise as their EVAs all transmitted a single message.

“This is Acting Sky Admiral Spitfire of the GDA Crystal Fury, ready to provide support. Let’s push these bastards out of our Blue Zone!”

The greatest Wonderbolt of them all had announced her return.
_________

“What the Tartarus was that!?” Hyperion barked angrily as he pushed himself back to his hooves. The overpressure of that ion cannon had caused both Brotherhood airships to veer violently, sending almost everyone on both bridges to the deck before the ships corrected and steadied themselves.

“Looks like a new Kodiak…” Twilight Sparkle answered, rubbing her head, “But… that was a spinal-lance mounted Ion Projection Array… they shouldn’t have been able to miniaturize the ion cannon tech for at least another year though!”

“It would appear they have surpassed your expectations… and before we could get the tactical missiles ready for use. Battle Commander Pie?”

“Yes, Kane?” Maud answered.

“Evasive maneuvering until we break contact, and inform all commands in this lovely mess that we need to start disengaging. An Avatar has already been lost and with a weapon like that unanswered, the battle is no longer in our favor, all units, pull back.”

“With all due respect my Lord, you aren’t planning on leaving that thing standing, are you?” Hyperion cut in. “Your ultimatum was clear. Superweapon would be answered with superweapon, and that thing’s ion cannon absolutely constitutes as much.”

“This I realize.” replied Kane “And with so much of GDI’s military present, including their command structure, not doing so would be a wasted opportunity. Shame really.” With a single motion, the bald Earth pony raised his hoof and inputted a series of numbers into his gauntlet. A second later, his EVA unit replied with a somber message.

“Launch codes accepted.”
___________

“Holy…” Scootaloo murmured at the sight of the Crystal Fury. She was privy to quite a few secrets that the GDIAF had around but she hadn’t even heard of a new Kodiak class being pushed through R&D, nonetheless built.

“The tartarus is that, Phoenix lead?” Iron leader asked.

“I’m about to find out.” she replied as she banked her fighter. She could learn and fight at the same time, after all, as long as she saved looking at the schematics for after the battle. “EVA, audio only, tell me everything I’m allowed to know about the GDA Crystal Fury.”

“Kodiak GDA Crystal Fury, first active Fourth Generation Kodiak, Retribution-class.” the synthetic mare filtered in, “Armor composition and density, classified. Weapons, Spinal Mounted Ion Cannon, 18-inch railgun artillery, 6 turrets sporting 3 guns, 8 turrets sporting 2 guns. 30mm anti-air batteries, 35. Ship-to-ship, ship-to-ground, and ship-to-air missile banks, 25. Shielding, classified, Complement, classified. Squadron Complement, 40 Firehawk fighter-bombers, 25 carryall transports.”

“I’m not seeing any landing strip on that monster.” Scootaloo commented.

“Firehawks land rear of the ship, take off from launch tubes placed along central armor belt via magnetic catapult. Carryall docking port is located aft ventral.”

“And the Firehawk complement? I thought Stalliongrad was the only bird with our planes aboard.”

“Processing…. Inquiring… All surviving members of Firehawk Complement, Host Ship: Stalliongrad, and all related personnel, are to report to GDA Crystal Fury after conclusion of hostilities in vicinity of GDI Blue Zone 001.”

“Then we better get pushing. Phoenix Squadron, form up! We’re going to break through their lines and Admiral Spitfire is going to help. EVA, see if you can’t ask her to hit one of those Brotherhood ships, we take down their air cover and this battle starts tipping in our favor.”

“Request sent… and answering. Stand clear.”

Another lance of pure, blue energy struck out across the battlefield, moving up slightly as the Crystal Fury corrected as best she could. The EVA aboard was the drydock model, not meant for combat, and the version meant for battleships wouldn’t be ready for another day. This meant that those aboard the bridge were literally eyeballing the ion cannon with minimal help from a barely functioning EVA. Still, they managed to get a glancing hit on the Barricade, detonating her engine pods and slagging half of her armor in a flash of blinding light. Soon after, internal detonations started dotting her hull and she began limping off. Close behind her, the Everfree began following as aircraft by the hundreds pulled back as well.

“Hey Scoots! You seeing what I’m seeing?” Vapor Trail asked, her face popping up in the upper left corner of Scootaloo’s HUD.

“Hell yeah I do! Nod’s running!” Scootaloo whooped back, smiling at the sight of Brotherhood vehicles starting to reverse.

All around the battlefield, Brotherhood units began withdrawing from the fight and their GDI counterparts cheered and jeered as they did. Hours of fighting, surprisingly short for such an important engagement, finished as GDI reminded Nod that they owned the skies, not the Brotherhood. The celebration was short-lived, though. As Nod withdrew, a new star appeared in night sky. A moving star.

“All Firehawk squadrons, you have a new priority target! A nuclear missile has been detected on route to Canterlot, you are to attempt to intercept immediately!” an alarmed mare practically yelled through the mic. “Disengage all retreating Nod aircraft and target the missile!”

“Oh shit shit shit shit shit!” said Scoots as she turned her Firehawk on an intercept course. “Phoenix squadron on me! Shoot that thing down!”

As one, every single Firehawk in the sky broke off and move off to intercept the Brotherhood’s superweapon. Even from high up in the air, Scootaloo could see the launch trails of multiple ground-based AA sites unloading everything they had at the one target. Normally such a thing would result in disciplinary action for the operator as usually only one missile was needed per enemy aircraft, but in this instance if they missed… well, a few wasted missiles would be the least of their problems.

The greatest difficulty with dealing with this weapon of mass destruction was its speed. Travelling at hypersonic speeds, it was able to strike any GDI position in the world in a matter of minutes soon after launching from its silo in Mareajevo. GDI’s anti-air arsenal was designed for engaging fighters and VTOL aircraft, all usually at close proximity of their launch platforms, and lacked any sort of proper countermeasure to a nuke.

This became painfully evident as every single missile either overshot the target or was blown away by the overpressure caused by the nuke’s complete disregard for the speed of sound.

“Negative impacts! Nuke is still in the air! GET OUT OF THERE!” Scootaloo yelled as she saw the warhead head straight towards the city.

The missile disappeared a second before impact.

There was a sense of paralyzed surprise throughout GDI’s lines. It slowly turned into relief as they all realized they were still alive, resulting in the biggest case of collective nervous laughter the world had ever seen.

__________________

Down in the war room, Ironsides looked at the radar reading in disbelief. “EVA, what in the Princess’s name just happened?!” he demanded.

“Unable to determine. Nuclear missile disappeared from radar. No abnormal signatures detected.” the EVA unit replied, followed by the doors of the War Room slamming open.

“No abnormal signatures my gorgeous, genius ass!” Doctor Moon Dancer announced as she stormed into the room, datapad magically floating besides her.

“Explain Doctor.” Ironsides demanded, more curious as to what the hell had just happened than irate at her disrespectful entry.

“My extraterrestrial monitoring team detected a spatial fluctuation over Canterlot mere moments ago.” she explained excitedly “It formed right in the missile’s trajectory, and seems to have absorbed it into itself right before-” she said before being interrupted.

“Excuse me Doctor, but a spatial what?”

“A wormhole, general!”

Their conversation was cut short as they were thrown to the floor by a sudden earthquake.
____________

“Detonation confirmed Admiral! Foal Mountain was identified as ground zero!” a bridge officer announced.

Sky Admiral Spitfire stayed in her seat due to necessity given her injuries, more confused than alarmed. How in blazes had the nuke not only disappeared, but impacted a target miles away from Canterlot?!

Her train of thought was cut short as distortions started appearing in the sky, almost as if there were cloaked vehicles waiting there. A few seconds later, the distortions managed to stabilize and circles of purple energy took their place. At first, everyone on GDI was confused, but didn’t fire. There was no reason to throw ammunition away at something that nopony could get a reading on. Moments after, every Kodiak captain in the AO wished they had blown the wormholes to oblivion the moment they appeared.

Scores of strange craft poured out of the spatial anomalies and fired on both sides of the battlefield with complete disregard. Everything from strange winged pods the size of Orcas to massive, Kodiak-sized ships that looked like bugs. The weaponry they all used was the same though, white-hot plasma shot out at everything in the sky and on the ground, obliterating tanks and disintegrating soldiers as if they were paper before a flame.
____________

Aboard the Everfree, reports were coming in all over about these strange craft firing on everything indiscriminately. While Luna, Twilight, and even Hyperion were busy trying to figure out just what the hell had happened, Kane alone stood calm, his gaze still being held outside the front viewport. The wait was over and the inevitable had finally come to pass.

The Visitors had finally arrived.

Desperate Times

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Chapter XXIII - Desperate Times

Major Blizzard was a veteran of two wars before the Tiberium War had even started; once it did, his company had been through hell in no less than 15 engagements. They were given impossible assignments on what felt like a daily basis, but Easy Company had always pulled through in the end. Whether it was them being the only unit to survive with less than a 50% casualty rate on the aftermath of the Blueblood Massacre or being thrown into the front during the attempt to break through the Nod lines to reinforce the Crystal Kingdom after the Noddies closed the pass permanently, Easy Company was the infantry unit you called upon.

Today however, he was having a hard time believing that anypony in his company would make it out of this shitshow alive.

“Sergeant Herald! Get that gun back up and running! We aren’t going to last a hot minute in this mess without covering fire!” the old stallion heard one of his lieutenants bark over the comm. EVAs were scrambled by the residual EMP interference from the nuke, despite the distance separating the battlefield from ground zero, so comms were spotty at best and jumbled at worst.

Right now it was jumbled. Usually Blizzard would only hear the comms from his captains when he wanted to, not from platoon XOs. He was about to tell the young lieutenant to check his comms and make sure his message got through to the right pony when one of the smaller purple disc-like alien craft swooped over their position, leaving a trio of plasma balls in its wake.

The detonation sent half the company to their hooves while those caught in the blast were either killed outright or burned alive in seconds. To their credit, those that could return fire did so to the best of their ability, and for a moment the Major thought his ponies had managed to blow the bastard out of the sky as it burst into flames that matched the damn things color scheme.

Moments later a quartet of Firehawks buzzed their defensive line, nose guns blazing as they intercepted another group of those damn alien fighters. A small respite, but not a long one. Small arms fire, if it could be called that, continued to pelt their shielded trench.

While what was left of the Watchtower grid along their line kept those flying knives off of them easily enough, those walking guns managed to shrug off the bullets and keep coming unless they scored a lucky hit. To make matters worse, they weren’t alone. While the walking cannons continued to unleash beam after beam of sustained energy at the beleaguered company, what looked like large bulbs on legs sent plasma disks similar to the alien fighter’s weapons at them too.

With the alien infantry and air force equivalent doing their best to wipe his defensive positions off the map, Major Blizzard didn’t even want to think about engaging what armor he could see from his vantage point. Hopefully they were having an easier time holding back these monsters than he was.
__________

Two strikes of thunder rang out in the din that was the Battle of Canterlot. Their source? The Apple Pie. Both projectiles hit home, one hitting a six-legged gun platform significantly larger than the quadrupedal version, and the other nailing a floating contraption similar to a light tank that was slinging plasma disks at GDI armor. The alien vehicles, even with the strange shimmering shields around them, didn’t stand a chance against the main armaments of a Mammoth and were gutted instantly.

Usually the shields could hold up against two or three rounds from an Ursa, or one shot from a Predator with an upgraded main gun, but Mammoths were an entirely different story and the invaders were learning this lesson as quickly as Nod had.

“Targets down, reacquiring.” EVA announced in Big Mac’s ear. Usually the statement brought a smile to the stallion’s face, but today was not a day to enjoy every target knocked out. A broken tread that had kept them dead in the water for nearly an hour had already soured his mood, and even with a squad of unicorn engineers adding shielding to the armor while they made sure the patch would work, the situation was dire.

“If this isn’t your last day I don’t know what is…” he murmured under his breath as another ball of plasma painted their hull. Button Mash replied with a salvo of missiles and two more rounds from the railguns. Everything within 20 meters of the hovering tank that dared attack them was turned into purple mist and debris.

“Colonel, we’re running low on ammunition. Those tib-eating tanks are taking more ammo to kill than I’d like!”

“Damn shielding... See if we can’t get a supply drone to get us back up to green, if not, we can always open up the hatch and start usin’ our sidearms!” the red stallion barked back with a harsh laugh, “EVA, find a resupply base with working drones and some Celestia-damn air support!”

“Will armor suffice, Colonel?” a familiar female voice cut in.

“General Shield?”

“Coming up on your six, Colonel Macintosh. Stalliongrad managed to secure the sector we were in and I figured you needed a hoof with this area. After all, you’re Army.”

“Always willing to get some help from a jarhead, ma’am, even if your EVAs are a bit slower than mine.”

“Budget cuts, Colonel, we can’t all get the same blank check as your sister.” Stalwart Shield quipped before Big Mac repeated his thanks and cut the channel. Moments later, the Adeptus Astartes rolled up a few meters to the left of Apple Pie, and along a staggered line the Predators and Mammoths under Stalwart Shield’s command filled in the spaces left by Big Mac’s decimated armor unit.

Normally, Predators either dug in to weather the storm, or worked as hunter-killer teams against enemy armor. Ursas weren’t as heavily armored or as well armed, but enough of them could easily wear down a Predator that was caught by itself. The main battle tank that these aliens were using had superior range and firepower in exchange for a lack of a turret. The only way the Predators could engage at the same rate as Mammoths was to constantly push the line, a line that even with armor support, the infantry couldn’t hold.

This left armor commanders with a difficult choice, Push forward without infantry and risk getting swarmed by the four-legged anti-armor ‘infantry’, or hold position and get taken down by the deadly-accurate hovering tanks while Mammoths tried to return the favor. In Stalwart Shield’s case, as the ranking officer on that part of the flank, the answer was to whisper “Bayonets…” under her breath and order a full-out armor charge on the enemy position.

Like beasts possessed, Predator and Mammoth alike surged forward in a way that would make any buffalo proud. Spacing between the Mammoths allowed Predators to weave as best they could, dodging as they went or at least making themselves harder to hit. Mammoths had no such luxury and shrugged off plasma with their already blackened, and in some cases melted, armor. Officially, it was the first counter-charge of the Battle of Canterlot, and had the invaders not thrown in a few last-minute entries into the fight, it would have been a perfect push that broke the back of the alien offensive.

However, like all things in this war, nothing was so simple. As the alien armor fell away under sustained railgun bombardment, the GDI armor was presented with the sight of the Nod defensive lines, or at least what was left of them. Marching proudly above the ruined trenches and the husk of an Avatar was something out of a nightmare, and something that would haunt Big Macintosh’s sleep for months on end. Three legs like those of a crab lead up to a bulbous center. Sprouting from what had to be the cockpit, if the damn thing was even a vehicle and not alive, were three arms each with forked prongs at the end. Each one was laying waste to the Nod line with sustained beams of energy as white as Celestia’s coat and as if that wasn’t enough, once it finished firing a beam into a screaming trench full of militia, the familiar sheen of an energy shield materialized around it.

As the smoke cleared, two more came into view.

The last thing Big Macintosh saw from the command chair of the Apple Pie was two rounds from his Mammoth forcing the shields on the first walker to crack and peel away, followed by a blinding, searing light.
_________

“Wolverines on me!”

Jet Deck lead the charge to the front, leaping into the air from his current vantage point and rocketing off to the newly-formed front, followed closely by the rest of his platoon. “Listen up ladies, General Shield is making a push against enemy armor at this very moment, and we are to make sure no bugs try to shoot our tanks in the back. The General herself is personally leading the charge, so give her a sight to remember you by!”

A few moments later the platoon descended upon their first waypoint, with their HUDs displaying the location of the next landing zone their EVAs had designated for them for their next jump.

“Come on troopers, on the bounce!”

At the apex of their second jump they were able to get a visual of the frontlines, with a few of them vocalizing what was on everyone’s mind that very second.

WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THAT?!

“EVA, update on the front. What were those things?!” asked Apple Bloom right as her suit touched down once more, wasting no time in getting set for the next jump.

“Unknown. Units identified as heavy enemy walkers of unknown origin or capabilities. GDI forces currently engaged.”

“Helpful as always, EVA.” Apple Bloom quipped before accessing the Platoon’s command channel. “Don’t know about you Jet, but I don’t trust our armor’s chances against those things.”

“I dunno, I’d say they have as good a chance of surviving as we do of throwing a Mammoth at those walkers.” Jet Deck replied before switching up to the platoon’s general channel. “Alright Wolverines, change of plans! Holster those MGs and warm up those railguns! We’ve got to make sure our armored ancestors don’t end up in a museum!”

“AYE GUNNY!” came the near-simultaneous response.

With that, the Wolverines made their last jump to the third waypoint, directly behind the GDI line.

“Spread out! Target anything that looks like a weak point!” Jet Deck ordered. In an instant, the orderly formation disintegrated into a swarm of suits, each jumping in a different direction, to a different position, getting as many different angles as possible to attack from.

The giant walkers paid them no mind, focusing their wrath on the tanks before them. Already a Mammoth had been mostly melted down the middle, with another one knocked out of action by virtue of its turret being warped into a boiling mess. Despite this, the line was almost single-handedly held by them as Predators were forced to either retreat or seek immediate cover. Already the result of the walker’s attacks on them were clear to see, with almost unrecognizable hulks of slagged metal lying around Mammoths. The super heavy tanks could resist a number of shots before quitting, but it seemed the Predators had no such luxury against these things.

A few seconds after the Wolverines spread, the first shots rang out each in quick succession after each other. Most seemed to do absolutely nothing to the monstrous machines, with the joints being far too well armored to serve as weak spots, and the length of their ‘arms’ being deceptively strong despite their seeming flexibility, and thus potential frailty. However some shots did seem to get their attention, particularly those aimed at its upper central ‘eye’, as well as the ‘eyes’ at the end of each arm. The sudden change of priorities from the tanks to the Zone Troopers came in the form of one the troopers responsible for those successful shots being vaporized before he could jump away, caught off-guard by the sheer speed with which the tripod walker reacted to his transgressions.

“That pissed it off alright!” yelled out Apple Bloom, jumping as soon as her shot left the barrel, and just in time to see her previous position being turned into glowing ash.

“Good! It means it’s got something to be angry about!” replied Jet Deck. “EVA, relay message to General Shield. Target the central eye, we’ll distract the arms!”

With another jump, Jet Deck targeted another one of the arms. As tempting as it was to shoot the railgun while in mid-air, doing so was an incredibly poor idea. The force required to even lift the Zone Armor, not to mention sending it flying into the air like a thrown brick, combined with the calculations carried out by the EVA units to ensure as safe a landing as possible on a relatively even landing spot meant that there was little room for error. The possibility of danger in this state was mostly a concern on long-distance jumps since the increased air time meant that there was more time for something to go wrong, while tactical combat jumps were ironically safer due to being barely more than a second long. However doing anything, for example firing an incredibly powerful weapon with enough recoil to break every bone on whomever was dumb enough to try shooting it without Zone Armor on, would most likely result in the mid-air trooper suffering serious injury as their skull became intimately familiar with the ground.

As soon as he landed on a semi-collapsed rooftop, his pre-aligned barrel immediately fired at the nearest arm’s eye, wasting no time to get back into the air. He was proud to see the other troopers doing the same, giving the arms no chance to target them individually. The roar of a Mammoth’s cannons and subsequent explosion on the central walker’s chest made his pride all the greater. And yet that still didn’t kill it, despite its central eye having a clear, fractured hole present like a macabre pupil.

Another trooper intelligently enough sought to exploit this, jumping to a nearby roof in front of the walker from which he could fire into it. He never made it there. Jet Set could do nothing but watch in horror as a beam swept across the air in a wide arc, catching him and another trooper in mid-jump, not even leaving ashes behind as their physical forms were completely annihilated.

“Looks like they’re done with trying to aim.” he said to himself. “Wolverines be advised, short jumps only! Don’t stay in the air too long!”

Another Mammoth’s roar filled their world immediately after, capitalizing on the direct hit of its compatriot. The central walker’s arms stood still momentarily before going limp, with the body in question appearing to rest on its own weight rather than being lifted by its three legs.

The next roar shattered the shields of the leftmost tripod, and Stalwart Shield’s wrath followed shortly after. A half dozen rounds from the Mammoths slammed into the tripod, coring the main pod with such force and destructive power that the arms flew off, landing on the ground shortly after the smoking husk that hosted them.

Just one more to go.

As the next round of concentrated fire pierced the third one’s shield, the Wolverines were already in action harassing its targeting systems, keeping their sights off the tanks. The risk involved in such action were extreme, with three more troopers falling to the remaining mechanical monster’s sweeping fire.

It almost became four, but Apple Bloom was able to jump off her rooftop before the arcing beam overtook her. However, with nowhere nearby to land on the destroyed landscape, she was forced to make a high jump which she was now regretting dearly as one of the mechanical eyes caught a bead on her. She thought she could hear a voice calling at her, yelling at her to escape, but at that moment all she could do was stare death in the face. Out of options, the end in sight, her mind could only think of one thing to do to get out of this.

In a single motion she pointed her railgun to the sky, then fired. The sheer recoil of the miniature cannon broke her ascent and left her motionless in the air for a split second before she began to fall. The sight of the beam passing over her was as relieving as it was terrifying to behold. She could feel the heat through her armor and it was making her uncomfortably hot even through the metal plating and climate controls. At least that was one death avoided though, and that by itself was worth a couple of first degree burns. Now there was the minor problem of her approaching date with gravity.

She suddenly found herself thrown off of that particular train of thought by a bright light directly to her side as a second arm charged up to fire. It looked like gravity would end up feeling dumped in the end. She closed her eyes, resigned to her fate as the light got brighter and brighter. So bright in fact that she could still see it past her polarized optics and tightly shut eyelids. But after a few seconds, she noticed that all she felt was the same uncomfortable heat from before and the light soon passed. Her eyes shot open as her wits came back to her and she could still feel herself falling, but to her left, the tripod was coming down along with her.

“What in the fu-” was all she managed to murmur out before the wind was knocked from her lungs and the familiar feel of armor in flight brought her fully back to the situation at hand. Needless to say, the two Zone Troopers landed hard, harder than suggested by the suit’s safety protocols’ manual. While it was possible to rescue fellow troopers and jump them out of a kill zone, no one had tested that theory when catching another trooper who was hurtling towards the ground at terminal velocity.

The heap of armor that came to a crashing halt didn’t stir for nearly a minute after the landing, and when it did, helmets were drawn back immediately so they could look each other in the eye.

“Don’t… ever do something like that again…” Jet Deck groaned, air still taking its sweet time to fill his lungs again.

“That… an order, Gunny…?” Apple Bloom panted back as she tried to get back to her hooves. At any other time, at any other place, she would have forgone any and all protocol and kissed the crazy stallion for pulling her ass from the fire, but the pain was too much, there were still aliens out there, and now Nod soldiers were walking towards them.

The one at the lead was wearing armor GDI Intel hadn’t identified yet, but the ones flanking the unicorn were obviously Shadows. The fact that they weren’t cloaked was hopefully a good sign given the surviving Zone Troopers had their weapons trained on them.

“Nice work, Apple Bloom… I wouldn’t have been able to get a charge on that last walker without you running around like that.” the unicorn mare at the lead told the battered earth pony.

“Do… do I know you, ma’am..?” she replied, finally back on her hooves and limping to meet this Noddie face to visor.

“Well I’d hope so…” the unicorn said, a green aura from her horn causing the helmet and hood she had on to come off. As they did, purple and pink hair began to show, giving way to familiar white fur and green eyes, “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders forever after all.”

Apple Bloom had heard she’d been kidnapped right from under GDI’s nose. The raid had softened up Ponyville for Nod forces, planted tib seeds on Sweet Apple Acres, and even got Diamond Tiara killed by friendly turrets. Yet here she was, in what could only be commando armor with the same confidence as an Apple on the battlefield. Just asking the name took all the effort in the world for the former farm pony.

“Sweetie Belle…?”
__________

Lightning Dust wasn’t a very popular pegasus when she worked for GDI; in fact she was single-handedly responsible for Spitfire being crippled. Working for Nod didn’t do much to calm her aptly named obsession with being the best pilot around and making sure everyone knew it however. The only person that dared speak to her outside of operations and battles was her squadron leader, Muffin “Derpy” Hooves. In combat though, the maternal mare managed to put her parenting skill to the test with Lightning Dust and reign her in when necessary.

Ever since her defection after the First Slavik Incident, Derpy had nearly beaten the insubordination out of her on more than one occasion, but this many years into the war, Dust was finally acting like a valued member of a squadron instead of the lone wolf wannabe that she had been with the GDIAF. The transformation couldn’t have been more timely, given what Derpy’s squadron was up against.

Even in top of the line aircraft, these alien fighters were almost impossible to keep a bead on when chasing them down, though that was more a design flaw for Nod than anything else. After months of advances in Orcas making the Harpy almost obsolete, Nod had responded with the Venom, a VTOL meant to out-maneuver and intercept Orcas. With an insectoid design courtesy of Changeling engineers and hovertech reverse-engineered from the stolen Canterlot, it was a nimble little craft that packed a surprising punch from all directions with its ventral mounted nose gun, an auto-laser capable of shredding Orca armor in seconds.

Against these invaders though, they were painfully outmatched. Nod squadrons were of 8 to 12 aircraft, as opposed to GDI 4 or 6, and despite that, Derpy was down to only 3 Venoms in her squadron, herself and Lightning Dust included. Despite this, the three desperate pilots were giving as good as they got, with the survivors having downed 6 of the alien craft and at least two dozen of the small drone fighters launching from the flying carriers that were engaging the Kodiaks.

Muffin would have been happy about that if it hadn’t gotten them a little too much attention from a flight of enemy craft. The only reason they were even alive was the fact that while the aliens outclassed the Venom in speed, the Venom was leagues beyond the aliens in maneuverability. Turns that would shear the alien craft in half were just another day at the office for Venoms as they continued to dance around the plasma being sent their way.

“We can’t take much more of this, Derpy! We need to pull back!” yelled Lightning Dust, doing her best attempt of breaking her flight stick by pulling back on it as hard as she was, ultimately resulting in her Venom doing a high-G roll to get an alien off her tail.

“No! We can’t outrun them so we’d only be giving them targets. Our best chance is to keep them dancing until reinforcement arrive!” replied Derpy, breaking off from her current engagement and flying directly at a pair of alien fighters. As expected, her pursuer pressed on and got behind her at a rather close range while those ahead of her moved in to intercept. At the last second she pulled a 90 degree spin, passing between the two, who then immediately collided with her pursuer.

“HOW IN THE FU-” began Dust’s train of thought before something more urgent interrupted it. “Reinforcements?! The Barricade’s a goner and all other craft are either escorting transports or the Everfree out of here! There aren’t any reinforcements!” she yelled into her comm. A moment later the alien she’d been trying to shake off simply exploded into a green ball of plasma. This was followed by even more craft they’d been fighting suddenly exploding in a similar fashion, courtesy of a missile barrage from incoming fighters. Soon after, the fighters came into view, engaging their VTOL capabilities and hovering in front of the Venoms now that the area was relatively clear.

“Attention Nod aircraft. This is Lieutenant Scootaloo, Phoenix Squadron. Let's get something straight. You don’t like us, and we sure as buck don’t like you, but I think we can agree that these space bugs are bigger assholes than either of us could be to each other. So, in the spirit of not dying horribly to space bugs, I’m offering you the option of either leaving since we don’t have time to deal with you, or helping us out since we could use all the help we can get.”

Lightning Dust was about to tell the so-called Lieutenant where she could shove her offer before Derpy remotely muted her comm and answered herself. “Lieutenant Scootaloo, this is Flight Leader Muffin. We accept your offer of cooperation. Just tell us where we can assist.”

“Right, good.” replied Scootaloo. “Before anything, cover your eyes.”

As soon as she said that, a bright, blue light blanketed the night sky as the Crystal Fury fired its spinal-mounted Ion Cannon, bisecting an alien carrier, with two smoldering pieces rapidly falling to the ground below.
__________

Jet Deck almost shot Sweetie Belle as she launched herself forward and hugged her childhood friend. Apple Bloom returned the gesture with gusto and before anyone could blink, both mares were crying.

“I thought you were captured!”

“Rescued from house arrest, I thought you were army not… a Zone Trooper.. wow…”

“They needed the best and Apples are the best GDI has.” Apple Bloom replied, smiling as the two pulled apart.

“Have you heard anything of Scootaloo…?” the Nod Commando asked, getting a bright smile from the yellow mare in front of her.

“Up in a fighter, she uh… she helped us take out one of your Avatars”

Jet Deck honestly didn’t believe what he was seeing. The most dependable Zone Trooper and most stalwart protector of GDI and its ideals that he knew was chatting up a goddamn commando like they were two fillies meeting up after going to different universities.

“Anyone want to fill me in on what the buck is going on here!?” he finally interjected, startling both mares and getting a sheepish grin from Apple Bloom.

“We grew up together… we even have the same cutie mark. Last time I saw her I was on a train heading to boot camp.”

“And last time I saw Ponyville, I was under guard of a bunch of soldiers all because my sister had to defect to survive.” the unicorn added in.

“Yeah that’s nice and all but what does that mean for us? You’re lucky we’re not gunning you down. Catching Shadows in the open is practically impossible for anypony without a detection suite installed.”

“You haven’t heard?” one of the shadows spoke up, getting a chuckle from the rest of the group before he continued, “Nod and GDI units have been working together all over the Blue Zone against these… things.”

“It’s why I took down that tripod for you... Well, that and saving my best friend’s plot.” Sweetie Belle added, a sly smirk gracing her features as she tossed one of her remaining det-packs up and down with her magic. “Looks like the only way we’re going to push these aliens back is working together.”

“.... General, are you seeing this…?” Jet Deck finally asked after a few moments of silence.

“Seeing, not quite believing…” the Marine General replied, her voice being projected via Jet Deck’s external speakers, “But nopony expected an alien invasion so working together with Nod right after a failed peace conference isn’t exactly the strangest thing I’ve seen today.”

“Orders?”

“General Ironsides told all commanders to win this battle by any means necessary… I’d say this qualifies as ‘any means’. Gunny, you have the green light to work with them, I’ll take the heat if someone decides to light a dumpster on fire over this. Staff Sergeant?”

“Yes, ma’am?” Apple Bloom answered.

“You’re our liaison with this Nod unit, behave, dinner is in the fridge, and be in bed by 11.”

“Aye aye.” she replied, a wide smile breaking out as Apple Bloom hugged her long-time friend a second time before bumping foreheads softly and carefully as to avoid Sweetie Belle’s horn.

“Well, we all heard her, and I don’t have enough rockers on my sleeve to argue with stars…” Jet Deck announced as his helmet slowly encased his head once more, “Let’s get to work everyone, it’s our job to find out if these aliens have asses, and then kick them.”
__________

“Are you sure…? Check again, I want to be completely positive before we bring it up…” Hyperion whispered to Mantis, who simply shrugged and had her EVA go through the calculations again. Seconds later, the same answer popped up, and Hyperion could only stare dumbly at the holographic projections on the table in front of him. Mantis snapped him out of it by nudging him in the ribs and he straightened up shortly after.

“No denying it, this… this is happening whether we like it or not.” she finally added, getting a solemn nod from her commander.

“Very well, I will inform the Council.” said Hyperion, steeling himself for the announcement he was about to give to the assembled heads of Nod just meters away. With slow yet deliberate steps, the large earth pony walked back over to the Council, most of which were busy muttering something or other to each other while Twilight was going ballistic about the invaders. If she had a whiteboard the damn thing would have been covered with stats and equations. Kane seemed to be the only calm one among them, even Luna was showing apprehension, but Kane was still just staring out the front viewport like he was admiring a sunset.

“Pardon the intrusion, everyone, but we’ve been getting…. Troubling news from the combat zone.”

“Define troubling, brother.” Kane replied without peering over.

“We have confirmed reports all over the Blue Zone of our troops working with GDI against the aliens.. And not isolated reports either, entire units are working with those heretics to fight whatever landed on our doorstep. For the time being it’s confined to pony-led detachments, but there are a few changeling, and even griffon teams working with GDI.”

The news left Chrysalis in a stunned rage, unable to speak even without Steelwing pondering quietly next to her, keeping his wings ready to clamp against her muzzle. Luna’s eyebrows quirked up from the news and when her new EVA confirmed it, all she could do was sit back on her hindquarters in astonishment.

Twilight looked as though she might cry, as if this new threat was the key to lasting peace with her former homeland, a look somewhat mirrored by Rarity but not with the same intensity.

Kane however, no one seemed able to read. His expression hadn’t really changed since they were pulled out of Canterlot Castle by an Avatar. Yet, without turning, he inadvertently made a decree that would change the war as much as the Alien Invasion did.

“Well…” Kane announced, his voice oddly cheery as he continued, “It looks like GDI is going to get their precious truce after all.”

Desperate Measures

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Chapter XXIV - Desperate Measures

It had been hours now since the so-called ‘first contact’ took place. Apple Bloom didn’t quite know or care the exact number. All she did care about at the moment was the fact that these aliens were actually pulling back. Despite the valiant efforts of both armor and infantry, the air force had been the one responsible of pushing the aliens back fully. Kodiaks had more than proven their worth this day, especially the Crystal Fury, as they put every weapon and air wing at their disposal to good use.

Comparisons between the damage reports coming in from the Kodiaks and the information from the GDA Canterlot’s black box which Dead Six retrieved almost a year prior helped clarify the mystery of the attack on that ship. Despite how badly a newly-classified Planetary Assault Carrier had damaged the GDA Canterlot the previous year, Spitfire and every other Kodiak captain proved to these aliens what happens when you face one of the aerial behemoths in open combat without an ion storm to cover you. Railguns tore into carriers and the floating artillery pieces the aliens brought with them. Alien fighters proved no match to the veteran pilots behind the joysticks of Firehawks, and the ponies of the GDIAF all went above and beyond the call of duty to defend the capital.

One pilot in particular, Flight Lieutenant Scootaloo, managed to get the single biggest kill of any Firehawk in the battle, despite losing her fighter in the process. After alien anti-air managed to shred her control systems and short out her EVA, she punched in a collision course for the nearest alien carrier. With all armaments aboard primed and ready to detonate, she ejected and watched the fireworks as her bird slammed into the propulsion systems of the skeletal airship. The detonation spun it around violently, sending it careening into another carrier before internal explosions completely obliterated the first and knocked out whatever kept the second one afloat.

Despite landing hard, the orange pegasus felt elated that she managed to cause that much damage with a locked out Firehawk. Her day only got better as her rescue team consisted of a Zone Trooper and a Nod Commando that she recognized the moment she saw them.

For the first time since the war had began, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were reunited.
_________

“Strange seein’ em run so fast after the hell they put us through…” Apple Bloom murmured.

“Even aliens know when they’re beat, and those…” Jet Deck replied, smirking as he pointed at the Kodiaks above the Blue Zone, “Are extremely good at showing why you shouldn’t mess with GDI when we have air support around.”

“Only you don’t have that many of them left, and I’m sure these… things… aren’t going to always attack where you have half your air force concentrated.” Sweetie Belle retorted, “We’re going to have to win this on the ground too… and that isn’t a pretty sight.”

“Didn’t look good from up in the air.” Scootaloo said, wiping her brow as she spoke, “Seems more like Tartarus on Earth down here. Hard to believe this was a Blue Zone only this morning.”

“We’ll rebuild, we always do. But first we kick some alien butt until they don’t want to mess with Equestria anymore.” Apple Bloom told them, giving a tired but confident smile. The smile was surprisingly infectious, getting grins and even a few worn-out chuckles from the surviving Zone Troopers.

It was almost enough to make her forget how few of them were left.

When the battle began, the Wolverines had 42 Zone Troopers leaping into action and taking the fight to Avatars and Ursas alike. By the time the fighting with the aliens had come to a close, only 10 remained, and not a single survivor had managed to avoid getting injured. Tripods, air strikes, and an unfortunate ambush by those buzzing flying blades had reduced their numbers like no other enemy could, and now Apple Bloom and Jet Deck were in charge of barely a squad instead of a full platoon.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo didn’t get off much better. Last Scootaloo had heard, Sky Stinger was shot down and hadn’t been able to eject in time. His Firehawk crash landed in Canterlot proper and while rescuers were on the scene, there was no news of his survival. Vapor Trial was understandably devastated. Sweetie Belle’s Shadow squad escort had been cut in half by a lucky shot from a tripod before a Kodiak brought it down, and her own armor had almost been fused to her fur from how close she was to getting evaporated by the very same beam.

“EVA shows a cooperative rally zone a few clicks interior, we should get moving, see about meeting up. I’m sure General Shield will want to see how many of her Troopers are left standing.” Jet Deck stated, his voice surprisingly void of emotion. He had his helmet back on, and the yellow farm mare was sure that the staggering losses were already beginning to get to him.

“Roger that… let’s move everypony, no sense standing around here watching the aliens run away.” she added, her own helmet closing around her muzzle once more and the HUD springing to life before her eyes. Ammunition was down to 2%, thruster fuel was completely expended, suit power was still above 50% though, and a silent thanks went out to GDI Magic R&D.
____________

The losses that day for both sides were staggering at best. What the Wolverines had gone through, almost every unit in Canterlot mirrored. Those who suffered comparatively light casualties had only lost 40% of their combat capable troops, while some units were completely wiped out. Officers on both sides, from the lowest of lieutenants to generals, had all suffered injuries as well. Applejack was already at a field hospital, Big Macintosh was on his way to the same hospital on a stretcher. Both Apple family officers were the only survivors from their ruined tanks.

As for the fabled and storied divisions they both lead, they existed on paper for the time being, but not even the EVAs had a clear picture of how many of the 2nd Heavy Armored or 1st Armored Divisions had survived what would end up being the largest armor engagement of the entire war.

Rarity’s 3rd Spec Ops Division had suffered heavily before being able to withdraw from the alien landing zone, if you could call hundreds of wormholes opening behind the Nod lines an LZ. The Black Hand served admirably as well, but nearly every unit that Sister Pinkie had to send into the fray came back with their numbers halved at best thanks to superior alien firepower and the fact that these things lacked the one thing Black Hand were experts at breaking; Morale.

The aliens did not show fear, mercy, or any other emotion recognized by soldiers, and to a military branch that depended heavily on their imposing reputation, it was like going into battle without a weapon. When the war began, Black Hand troops numbered in the tens of thousands, with the majority of their numbers being griffons. The Battle of Canterlot was a crippling blow to the branch, leaving only a few thousand survivors to be reconstituted into a heavy-hitting alternative to the Nod Shadow Corps. Despite this, it was also a boon in disguise. Now only the best Nod had to offer both in skill and in the faith could be selected to join the Black Hand, and while their numbers were decimated, their fearful reputation only increased.

Both armies had thrown the best they had at each other in what could have been the last battle of the war, but the arrival of the aliens had changed everything in ways both sides never truly comprehended until well after the First Tiberium War was over. For the immediate future, both factions were content to lick their wounds, keep an eye on each other, and wait for the reports to come in about the new alien threat that seemed to target scorpions and eagles indiscriminately.
___________

Both sides went about securing their positions in their usual fashion, with GDI pulling into defensive positions, making sure automated and manned emplacements were repaired, re-armed, and in some cases had their crews replenished, and with speed that even surprised Kane and Ironsides alike, Canterlot’s perimeter was secure once more. The Blue Zone as a whole, however, would never be properly defended until years later.

With security usually comes complacency, especially in the heart of GDI territory, but the few officers that managed to stay out of a hospital, or at least still had access to their EVAs from their hospital beds, quelled all thoughts of relaxation before they managed to manifest in the minds of the beleaguered garrison. Despite all this, Kane’s statement to the Brotherhood Council held true, and General Ironsides soon found himself in a tent at the edge of the Blue Zone erected in the middle ground between the GDI and Nod lines, sitting across from the Messiah himself. Guards were left outside, and none of either councils were invited to this meeting, not that there was much left of the GDI War Council.

The initial fighting that Celestia started off escalated and caused a firefight in the throne room, and while plenty of Ironside’s branch heads made it out, there were still casualties. That mixed with the fact that the entire battle had been sparked by the Royal Sisters having another family feud left Kane and Ironsides with a similar notion that royalty and “upper-class” ponies had no place negotiating a necessary cease-fire.

“Honestly after the Princess lost her mind and went after you, I’m surprised that you want this meeting at all… aliens aside, that is.” the grey unicorn deadpanned as he looked up from the coffee that had been provided.

“We have aliens attacking both of us and while the Elements of Harmony may not be meant for warfare, we’re both still ponies. Working together for the greater good is in our nature no matter how much we fight it.” the brown earth pony replied, taking a sip from his cup. Both stallions had forgotten when they’d last slept and while coffee from a GDI field ration wasn’t the best tasting in the world, it had a kick to it that could make a mule jealous.

“I wish certain officers remembered that… not that it matters, I’m pretty sure your Black Hand managed to axe a few on their way out of the throne room.”

“A lot of earth ponies still harbor resentment for the Canterlot Elite… unicorns in general, really… calling their messiah low-born for standing up for them didn’t exactly help the issue, General.”

“I can see why that would ruffle a few feathers…” Ironsides replied quietly, sighing softly before looking up at his counterpart, “There’s a reason that before the other races got too involved with the war, ponies were calling the Brotherhood a rebellion. Some even referred to the initial fighting as the start of Equestria’s Civil War, but that’s not why we’re here today. As much as I’d like to rectify the sins of my peers, most of them have already met their ends at the hooves of your soldiers, but until we get these things off of our planet, that needs to stop.”

“Agreed, though I hope you realize that as soon as these… visitors are off world, hostilities will resume.” Kane said, “Your monarch will not compromise, you’ve seen that, and until GDI stops considering the crystal that Nod is embracing as a cancer that needs to be exterminated… the fighting will resume once the planet is secure.”

“Are you saying that the moment we know they’ve left you’ll resume hostilities?”

“Not the moment, no… I’m hoping we can agree to the terms of an… alliance, as much as my followers detest the thought.”

“Your non-pony followers.” Ironsides corrected with a half-smirk. He knew that had Chrysalis been here she’d be fuming, and that most of the dragons couldn’t care less. The griffons however, were a bit of a wild card. Many saw the first days of GDI as Equestria abandoning the planet to save itself, like someone pushing everyone out of a lifeboat to keep it afloat even with the knowledge that those in the water would drown. Some however, had many good memories of working with Equestria, and saw the current unofficial truce as a chance to see what happened to old friends.

“You’d be surprised how many displaced earth ponies want blood nowadays, and the only thing keeping them from breaking this truce is the aliens.”

“Which brings us back to hammering out this alliance, which sad to say, is simply an alliance of convenience, and more of a promise not to get in the way of each other than anything else.” Ironsides retorted. Even when he was well rested and didn’t have an entirely new war to worry about, his tolerance for political chess was non-existent, but with literally the entire planet on the line, had it been on a numerical scale, he’d be in the negatives.

“And a suspension of the Crystal Kingdom Ultimatum.” Kane added, smiling as he saw the older stallion try to pick his jaw up off the floor.
___________

When Applejack first heard of the treaty, it was right after she punched a griffon medic in the beak and had to be magically restrained by a nurse. The field hospital she was in hadn’t risked moving anyone, and all the proper hospitals in Canterlot were at maximum capacity with GDI wounded. Because of that, along with the mingling that had happened with the arrival of the aliens, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and the surviving Zone Troopers were being treated alongside Black Hand, Nod militia, and even a few Marked of Kane that were in need of repairs.

Despite this, Applejack managed to stay coherent enough to not only apologize to the medic she’d sucker-punched, but hear the biggest news she’d heard since Twilight’s defection.

“We’re… we’re not fightin’ each other anymore…?”

“For the time being, yes…” one of the Marked replied, a young mare that looked to be Apple Bloom’s age, only all of her legs were replaced with cybernetics and her voice was synthesized.

“Because of aliens… right… missed that part.” Applejack sighed, her gaze returning to her brother still asleep on a hospital bed. Apple Pie was a complete loss, and he was still badly burned in some places. She didn’t envy him in the slightest, especially considering the letters he had to write now that his entire tank crew was KIA. Luckily, she was distracted from these morbid thoughts by the arrival of a team of Zone Troopers and Applejack recognized the mare at the head of the group instantly.

“Apple Bloom!” she called out, causing her little sister to perk up in her direction. Once eyes met the younger mare smiled ear to ear and rushed over as quickly and carefully as she could. Applejack hadn’t seen her sister since the formal graduation ceremony for the Zone Troopers, and hadn’t had a chance to talk to her when they entered the Canterlot throne room in what seemed like years ago, but now here she was, alive, well, and only a little roughed up by the hellish day the entire planet had been through. Even with the armor in the way, Applejack hugged her sister close, ignoring how uncomfortable the metal made it. Her brother was alive, and her sister was fine, those two facts alone made this entire mess better.

“EVAs said you’d been hurt…” Apple Bloom muttered, looking over her bed-ridden sister as he smile began to falter, “Didn’t think I’d see you like this…”

“Just a few scratches, sugar cube, I’ll be right back and in the fight faster than your suit can jump you around a battlefield. Same with Big Mac.”

“I saw his Mammoth get slagged… it… it wasn’t pretty… none of this mess is…” the younger Apple replied quietly, her voice getting softer and softer as she kept staring at their brother. The only problem Applejack had was that it was soon apparent that her sister wasn’t looking at Big Mac, but through him.

“Apple Bloom…?” she asked, and sadly she got no response until she put a hoof to her sister’s shoulder. Once she did, Apple Bloom jolted slightly, head whipping around as if looking for contacts, only for her to lock eyes with Applejack again and start calming down.

“S...sorry, sis…”

“You holding up ok, Apple Bloom? You were… starin’ at nothin’ there for a bit.”

“I’m ok, solid. If flak hits the burners again I’ll be ready, nothing to worry about.” the younger earth pony replied rapidly, her breathing slowly going back to normal as she sat next to Applejack’s bed, “I’m just… we just…”

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to, sugar cube… it’s ok.”

For a few moments, Apple Bloom felt like taking her sister up on her offer. It would have been easy to just forget what happened, to forget and move on from so many casualties like the generals who lorded above them and made all the life and death decisions. But Zone Troopers were different. As far as she knew, there was still only one active platoon of Zone Troopers while the rest finished their training, and their chain of command was just Stalwart Shield, so any decisions and losses fell on her and Jet Deck. These losses weren’t like at Macintosh Hills so long ago, the initial suggestion to help the Mammoths was hers. The blood was on her hooves as much as Jet Decks, and no one could tell her otherwise.

“I got almost all of my unit killed, sis…”
__________

"You what!?"

“Signed a truce, Chrysalis, please try to listen better in the future.” Kane quipped, his expression surprisingly neutral for the news he’d just given the Brotherhood Council.

“Without the consent of the rest of the Council?! You’ve overstepped your bounds!”

“And this is exactly why no one who wears a crown on either side was allowed at the proceedings. My initial goading of Celestia was meant to make those in attendance hear what the ponies of GDI are unwilling or unable to say…” he told her, matching her stare with one of his own, “Your input was not requested or necessary, and made the situation worse, so I will give you one, and only one, warning… do not cross me again Chrysalis, there are plenty of queens waiting to take your place.”

“You wouldn’t dare…” the changeling matriarch growled, her stare intensifying as if she were trying to kill him with a glare.

The entire room went silent, and the apprehension filling the bridge of the Everfree was practically a fog that was permeating everyone aboard. Luna felt frozen in her seat, tense and waiting for Chrysalis to make a move. Steelwing was similarly unable to move, and the few Black Hand survivors that had been transferred to keep the Council safe were tensing as they waited for Kane to reply.

The Messiah didn’t give an order, he didn’t look around, and he didn’t flinch as Chrysalis continued in her attempts to intimidate him. Instead, he stared right back, as if fighting will power with will power, and before long, he slowly lifted his hoof and pointed to her empty chair.

“Sit down.”

“I will no-”

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear?” Kane interrupted, “I said… Sit. Down.”

The command sent shivers down the spine of everyone within earshot, and Chrysalis was visibly shaken. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, slowly pulling back from her standoff with Nod’s messiah, and without another word, she found her seat. She didn’t know what exactly caused her to back down, to the day she died she could never place her hoof on it, but it was like just his very presence was… forcing her to sit.

It was like she was in the presence of a god.

The feeling wasn’t restricted to her alone. Steelwing felt the same presence, and Luna could swear there was something oddly familiar yet off with his natural aura. She couldn’t place her hoof on it, but for all she could tell, maybe some of her magic had rubbed off on him. After all, he’d been in extremely close proximity when she made her transformation.

“Now then, back to business… unless anyone else has an objection to make about fighting these visitors?” Kane said. Silence answered him, and he continued with his signature smile, “GDI will be the powerhouse in taking on these aliens, their aerial navy is still leagues ahead of ours, especially with the loss of the Barricade. We will be providing intelligence and surveillance on alien movements, bases, and operations and will hide GDI staging areas from their view. When the time comes, after our forces weaken targets, GDI will send their own to deliver the killing blow.”

“You’re using them.” Steelwing observed, chuckling slightly, “You’re using them as cannon fodder while we recover.”

“Exactly. They will do most of the dying, and we will be stronger when the aliens are pushed back. GDI will be hard-pressed to fight on after we let them ‘heroically’ take the brunt of the invasion. Regrettably, this will mean we have to make concessions.”

“How bad a situation are we looking at?” Rarity asked.

“Any Nod territory not under the protection of a Disruption Tower Network is considered forfeit. We simply cannot fight these aliens in a fair fight, and anyone caught out in the open would be on the receiving end of weapons that even GDI has trouble standing up to. Until this alien threat is completely removed from the war, we’re going to have to become reclusive.”

“A step back, to be sure… but doable. Not to mention we can focus more on the areas we have locked down properly.” Spike said, rubbing his chin as he called up the tactical map on the table they were seated at, “We’ll be giving up over 40% of our territory though, sir, but what’s left we can still stage harassing operations in against GDI once the aliens are dealt with.”

“Assuming we can deal with them…” Rarity interjected, “You’ve seen the same casualty reports as I have, and that was with half of the GDI Air Navy engaged. The only way they’d be able to mount an effective resistance would be if they had access to the… You didn’t.”

“I did.”
__________

Stalwart Shield had been lucky enough to only get away with a few scratches and a bad bruise from the entire invasion offensive. Because of this, she was General Ironsides’ only branch commander capable of walking without assistance that was actually in Canterlot. Admiral Jet Set had been killed in the initial throne room skirmish and the newly promoted Admiral Carcharodon was still aboard his ship in the Celestial Sea. Little contact had been seen out there and what little there was, the fleets were able to quell surprisingly fast.

With a sigh, the tired unicorn continued to walk around the War Room, looking at feeds and tactical data, and tried to piece together the whole picture. What she could see was a mess, and it only got worse as she looked over it. The offensive in Canterlot was a diversion, and these things had used the offensive to hit Cloudsdale. While the city was still standing for now, the drydocks had been completely wiped out and were now a heap of scaffolding and a few keels on the surface a mile below the cloud line.

“How many got out…?” she whispered to the lieutenant manning the station she was observing.

“Three Kodiaks had their engine pods installed and ready for flight; they made it out, but two of them were heavily damaged. The other was Crystal Fury’s sister ship, and she had some basic point defense weapons installed with a drydock EVA.” the stallion replied, “Five incomplete Kodiaks were lost with the drydock… nothing the air force could do for them.”

“Damn…. Spitfire isn’t going to like that… only other shipyards are Baltimare and ZOCOM HQ…”

“They’re en route to Baltimare, ma’am. ZOCOM HQ’s drydock facilities were all being used to get Crystal Fury up and running as quickly as possible, and just in time, too.”

“Amen to that. Well, given my command post is about to have three new gifts, make sure the EVAs keep me up to date personally on their whereabouts.”

“Aye ma’am, I’ll punch in the coding commands now.”

“Thank you…” Stalwart said, patting the lieutenant gently on the shoulder before her attention was diverted to the War Room doors bursting open. “Attention on deck!”

“At ease and back to work, everypony, we have a lot of work to do.” Ironsides replied in stride, his brisk pace carrying him to the main display where Stalwart Shield was waiting for him. Once there, his magical aura levitated a data crystal into the proper slot and the holo-globe that usually showed tiberium infestation levels switched to a strategic map. The usual yellow and red areas were there, but a new addition, large areas covered in purple, were added to the mix.

“What am I looking at, sir?” she asked.

“Dr. Dancer has already given me a list of priority targets that we need to hit.” Ironsides replied before magically pressing a few keys on the table projecting the holographic globe in front of the two officers. Once he did, a dozen of the 29 highlighted areas started flashing slowly, and the corresponding satellites nearest to them began blinking as well.

“Dr. Moon Dancer? Head of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit?”

“The very same, she’s been a very busy mare in the past few hours, as has her department. Had these aliens approached from orbit, we would have had a reaction system in place that would have given us at least an hour of warning… no one expected those wormholes, though.”

“No one expected Princess Luna to…” Shield began before cutting herself short, what had happened with the Lunar Princess was technically still classified, despite plenty of Zone Troopers bearing witness to her betrayal.

“Have that unfortunate accident, I agree, but we’re stuck with both realities, and right now your reality is preparing to deal with these 12 sites.”

“I take it you want me to take them before breakfast tomorrow?” Stalwart quipped, only to get a small laugh from her superior.

“Actually, I want you to do cleanup operations on them while we recover. One Kodiak should be enough to keep your armor intact, and hopefully the upcoming Zone Trooper companies can fill your ranks as well, but right now, your main mission is to ensure that there aren’t any survivors wherever ECU and ZOCOM hit hard.”

“How hard are we talking? Mammoths barely stand up to their walkers and my Zone Troopers went through nearly 80% casualties… all KIA.”

“ECU has been granted the necessary equipment to take on the aliens, and Kane agreed to a suspension of the Crystal Kingdom Ultimatum.. I also believe Zone training is about to graduate a few companies of new Zone Troopers, correct?”

“Three, yes. We’ll be back up to nearly 350 Zone Troopers available for deployme-wait. The Crystal… you’re kidding.” the unicorn mare replied, a wide grin breaking out across her muzzle, a smile that Ironsides matched in a rare open smile.

“The aliens are going to wish I wasn’t. Nukes are off the table and the Ion Cannon Array is ready to remind the world why GDI owns the skies. Prepare your division for sweep and clear operations in AOs hit by Ion strikes, and get Sky Admiral Spitfire on the horn, Crystal Fury is going to be your guardian angel until Project: Titan fills out your depleted roster. Dismissed… and be careful.”

Reassessment

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Chapter XXV - Reassessment

A flash of light descended from the heavens, and had anypony been dumb enough to not have their helmet on already they would have been blinded by it. A kilometer away from the epicenter of the blast, located at the very edge of its effective radius, alien ‘infantry’ disappeared in a flash that atomized both the aliens themselves and the Tiberium field they had seeded, all in the same instant. Another klick away, the troops of the GDI strike force that had been slowly advancing towards the invaders’ latest base let out a cheer, even if they knew exactly what was waiting for them.

The ion cannon’s beam was devastating to all unshielded buildings and infantry that these aliens, or “Scrin” as ECU had officially designated them, fielded. This left their vehicles and aircraft damaged but intact once their shields were disabled, and as far as anyone could tell, permanently thanks to the ion disruption left behind by the attack. This left wounded walkers, crippled Planetary Assault Carriers, and listing hover-tanks going head-to-head with Mammoths and Predators with Kodiak Support in a scene that had been repeated several times since the Battle of Canterlot nearly two months prior.

Zone Troopers still hadn’t been put back into service.

“All units, fire and advance.” the Regimental EVA announced, and without fail every tank on the line obeyed. While she couldn’t lead every assault personally, Stalwart Shield was involved in every operation from the newly repositioned GDI HQ in Baltimare, and she’d be damned if she didn’t have armor cams running along half the monitors in her office during the onset of these engagements.

The Scrin still held massive swathes of land, most of Canterlot included after they landed an asteroid seeded with tiberium in the middle of the city. And while GDI could keep them contained with these precision strikes, the Ion Cannon Array was restricted by how quickly the armor could get to the battlefield. Regrettably, the Crystal Fury was the only Kodiak active that supported landing armor on a battlefield instead of being strictly air and artillery support. This left Nod to harass and reconnoiter the invaders along the outskirts of their own territorial gains while GDI lumbered around the planet rather than risk their carryalls being intercepted in the air by the newly-designated “Stormriders”.

With a sigh, Stalwart Shield shut off the main feed, ceding battlefield control to the general on site as she leaned back in her chair. EVA had cut most of the feeds as it became increasingly clear that the Stalliongrad was doing its job of keeping the skies clear for Brigadier General Shard and that the aliens were, once again, abandoning the area. If it weren’t for Scrin units suddenly deactivating once overwhelming force was confirmed, she’d feel better about their gains, but every time they wiped a base off the map, another one popped up in a Red Zone where they couldn’t touch it.

Like clockwork, a new cluster of Scrin structures popped up in a red zone and she dismissed the alert. EVAs categorized the data, her orderlies slotted it into the “Not Yet” folder, and she found herself walking out of her command room with a resignated sigh. The bunker she had been relocated to was no longer in the same compound as her office, though she rarely used the damn thing these days. Instead, she had given it and the Baltimare War Room to General Ironsides for use after GDI HQ had been relocated to her city. This meant that she had a half-kilometer hike from her new nerve center to get back to the old stallion on the rare occasion that he needed her in the same room during an operation.

This was not one of those times, but she felt it necessary to take a walk and get some fresh air. Across the road from her bunker she saw a second bunker, quite similar to hers. Just erected a bit more hastily and with a Nod flag pinned to the side. She had to stifle a laugh at the sight. She’d fought tooth and hoof to keep Nod out of her city in what seemed like decades ago, and here they were camped within the walls of the Baltimare Blue Zone like they were allies from Germaney or Great Britmane.

The earth pony guarding the almost-ramshackle defensive structure gave an almost-casual salute until the pegasus next to him elbowed him in the ribs. With a wince, the Nod guard followed his GDI escort and saluted the Marine general properly, only cutting it when she returned the gesture.

“Make sure to keep them on their hooves, Corporal, we might put some discipline in the Noddies before this alliance is over with.” she called out, getting a hearty laugh from the pegasus and a nervous chuckle from the earth pony, though she didn’t pay it much mind as she continued on her way.

Nod soldiers and personnel were allowed in the city to a certain capacity, but she was thankful that their vehicles weren’t permitted within the walls. The last thing she wanted to see was an Ursa tank rolling down her streets, or Celestia-forbid one of the newer models Nod had rolled out since the invasion, dubbed the “Scorpion”. She was fine with Nod soldiers being outnumbered, outgunned, and surrounded in her city, but the only treads that would roll down her streets should belong to the sweeping eagle.

Stalwart Shield walked without purpose or direction, enjoying what few good sites remained as she continued on, and despite the fact that HQ was only a half a click from her bunker, she ended up walking nearly ten by the time she realized where she had been going. She was surprised when she found herself at a fence that encircled a 100 acre grassy field lined with headstones. A few meters ahead was the gate that led into the Defense Initiative Memorial Cemetery.

“Might as well visit…” she murmured to herself. After all, the war, while not at a standstill, had left the planet in a strange, deceptively calm state as GDI fought the aliens as carefully as they could, and Nod avoided open conflict altogether.

She made her way through the gate, giving a polite salute to the guards waiting there before she started towards one particular portion of the graveyard. While not completely empty, she passed very few ponies on her way to her destination. Jet Deck and Apple Bloom didn’t notice her as she walked past the portion of the cemetery dedicated to the Zone Trooper Corps. Eight old graves were at the head of over 30 fresh ones, and while she had wanted to give her condolences to the two troopers, she felt it best to let them find comfort in each other.

It took nearly 10 minutes for her to find the grave she was looking for, and when she found it, there was already a pony standing in front of it. He was a massive, maroon-colored earth pony with a dark green mane wearing a Nod uniform. His collar had a single barbed triangle, the Nod equivalent to a single star on a brigadier general. The most notable feature was the Black Hand emblem on his shoulders.

“I didn’t expect you to visit… you must be very busy these days…” Hyperion said without looking up from the headstone.

“I get away when I can, I don’t have to micromanage every anti-alien operation…” Stalwart replied as she walked up next to the Brotherhood brigadier, “I’m more surprised that you’re here… you haven’t visited his grave since you defected.”

Hyperion’s blue eyes met those of Stalwart Shield, and he let himself smile briefly before sidestepping closer to her, a gesture she reciprocated without hesitation. For a while, the two simply stood there, their eyes both fixed on the simple grave before them. A simple rectangular slab of marble with the GDI emblem engraved into the top of it, and a simple epitaph etched into the center.

“Brazen Shield…” Hyperion murmured as he had so many times before.

“Major General… GDI Army.” Stalwart continued.

“Honored Soldier…”

“Beloved Husband…”

“And…” Hyperion Shield finished, “Devoted Father….”
____________

If Ironsides could use one adjective to describe his schedule, it would be “packed”. Every day he was giving his input on some project or deployment, and with Princess Celestia no longer involved in the military decisions stacked on top of his severe shortage of senior staff, he was practically running GDI by himself.

That was why he found himself walking alongside Filthy Rich, an earth pony entrepreneur who had managed to spearhead the Flim Flam Scandal and get both of those double-dealing unicorns put behind bars where they belonged. After Filthy opened the lawsuit and GDI was given ample proof that the brothers were selling arms and supplies to both sides of the war, justice was quickly met and under the guidance of the stallion who caught them, their vast resources were put to good use funding the GDI war machine.

It was because of that, and because his only daughter had been killed in action, that Ironsides found himself able to tolerate a civilian with no military merit walking through one of the most secure research and development facilities on the planet.

“I take it you’re well aware of Project: TITAN’s current deadline, Mr. Rich?” Ironsides asked, though it seemed more like a statement than an inquiry.

“From what the project lead has told me, the staff are a little too aware of the deadlines they have to meet, not that I mind, they’ve been keeping things surprisingly close to the projected budget.” Filthy Rich replied, his calm demeanor off-setting the tenseness Ironsides felt as they walked through the various security checkpoints to reach the factory testing area.

“How far in the hole are we going with this new-fangled experiment, anyway?”

“We aren’t. I’ve been covering any overages personally… I have the funds, and if anything is going to keep another parent from losing their child, it’s keeping the GDI coffers full.”

“I’d say I’m surprised, but two of my best officers speak very highly of you. Lieutenant General Applejack considers you a close family friend.”

“And the bond has only gotten stronger since the war started.” the earth pony retorted lightly, a weary smile breaking across his muzzle as they reached the last checkpoint, “The Rich family funded the initial Predator Project, and I plan on putting every bit I can into GDI until this war is over.”

“I’d say your resolve is surprising, but you’re one of the only self-made billionaire earth ponies in Equestria’s history… now then, ready to show off your new toys?” the grey stallion asked, gesturing to the door in front of them.

“Oh they’re ready. And ahead of schedule too. Once Nod is out of the city…” Filthy told him, smiling as they entered the testing bay, “We can really put the Titans through their paces.”

Ironsides did his best to not let his jaw hit the floor. In front of him were 20 massive mechs shaped like ponies. Each one, even the few in the rear of the area that were still having their weaponry installed, was over 7 and a half meters in height. The armor looked tough enough to shrug off attacks from an Avatar, and the flanks and shoulders housed missile pods. The most distinctive part of the design was the cockpit. While the rest of the design resembled a pony, the neck was surprisingly short, and the head was more like a flat slab of armor than a pony’s skull. Flanking both sides of the ‘head’ were railguns that seemed to match the Predator’s main armament, and the armor a meter on either side of the centerline was raised by a few feet, showing where the crew would reside in GDI’s answer to the Avatar.

“How many…?” Ironsides asked.

“The 20 you see before you… after that, if successful, they’ll replace the Predator Tank on the front lines, at least until the Predator refits make it through R&D.”

“That’s… well, they’re certainly tall enough. How many to crew them?”

“Four ponies, standard tank crew. Driver in the cockpit where you can see the tinted blast-glass, commander in ‘nerve center’ located right behind the pilot but behind a half-meter of armor, and two gunnery crew on either side of the turret, one pony per cannon. Predator-grade railguns can fire much faster than their Mammoth counterparts, and the missile launchers should keep curious aircraft or light vehicles from getting too close.”

“And ground targets?”

“If she doesn’t step on them, the ‘head’ of the Titan has a better range of motion than a pony would, and with the improved recoil compensators, the head won’t move when firing… and that’s if the belly-mounted MGs don’t cut them to shreds first.”

“This is to replace the Predator? What’s the next step for the Mammoth?” Ironsides asked incredulously. While he didn’t have any reservations about replacing the aging Predator tanks with these new metal monsters, the thought of Project: TITAN pumping out a full armor replacement for standard and heavy armor seemed an improbable goal to reach.

“The Mastadon Project still isn’t past the initial stages, but if the Titans live up to the expectations we’ve placed on them, we should have a Mark 2 Mammoth ready to crush any enemy it’s pointed at… that one won’t replace the Mammoth, though. Nothing will, to be completely honest.”

“Agreed… but not for lack of trying… well… shall we see what she can do?”

“We’ve got a team already inside the lead Titan, and while we can’t get them up to a full gallop in here, she can trot. Sergeant? Go ahead and pop the locks.”

“Roger that, sir, prepping Broadneigh Protocol.” came a reply over the nearby PA system. Shortly after, what little scaffolding was left around the nearest Titan Walker pulled away and the mag-locks on the joints switched off. Straight legs bent as they took the full weight of the combat chassis with ease, and after a few seconds of the pilot getting used to the feel, the walker took a few easy steps towards the catwalk where Ironsides and Filthy Rich were standing.

In succession, the missile pods extended from their armored loading bays on the four joints where the legs met the torso, rotated a full 360 degrees, and then retracted. Shortly after, main turret rotated around completely, then showcased its ability to engage air and ground targets by targeting the ceiling and floor before looking back at the two ponies on the catwalk.

“Consider me impressed. As soon as Nod is out of the city, they’ll get their proper test before being given over to General Shield.” Ironsides said, smiling widely at Filthy Rich, both of them completely unaware of the small surveillance bug on the wall next to them.
_________

“Well…” a tinny voice murmured, “Looks like GDI has a new toy to play with..”

The voice’s owner was an ill-tempered changeling queen who was relaxing almost comically on a throne made of tiberium in her personal palace deep in the Mareajevo Yellow Zone and a fair distance from Temple Prime. Her personal EVA was projecting various spy feeds from across the planet, filtering those of greatest interest based on a criteria that one of her drones had plugged into the machine. For all her bluster about changeling superiority and the divine right of her rule, even Chrysalis had to admit that without a select few drones she considered completely loyal, she’d be no better than the Ladybugs she sent to their deaths to keep her claim to the throne unopposed.

“A pity they weren’t ready for the peace conference… it would have been fun to see them fight that purple harlot’s machines.” she muttered.

Princess Twilight Sparkle… the very thought of having to work with that pony made her exoskeleton crawl. Working with ponies at all still filled her with ire even all these years later, and answering to an earth pony didn’t do anything to soothe her infamous temper. The fact that he had that damnable lunar whore playing guard-dog when she wasn’t keeping his bed warm only made her anger turn to unbridled fury.

Steelwing was the only member of the council that she didn’t completely hate, though the more he cozied up to Kane, that blue bitch and her purple groupie, the more she was regretting ever allying herself with that sad excuse for a ruler.

“He’d be better as stuffing for a pillow…” she thought, her mood only souring as she let her train of thought chug along.

The fact that Nod was the Changeling’s only option to survive this war was the only reason she hadn’t kicked off a Brotherhood Civil War by assassinating that blowhard “messiah” and replacing Nightmare Luna with one of her more loyal Minor Queens. Steelwing couldn’t be trusted either, and even if she did stage a massive coup, then she’d be fighting GDI by herself and a civil war, on top of the fight against the aliens.

“Wait a moment…”

The aliens.

“Maybe not the only option… EVA, bring up all the feeds and information we have on the aliens.”

“Of course, your majesty.” the AI replied, the throne now completely surrounded in a sphere of holographic displays. Aliens in the yellow zones that hadn’t been engaged by GDI, Red Zone surveillance from pirated Sky Sentry satellite transmissions, even the occasional frontline camera’s view from a Nod strike on alien patrols that wandered too far into Brotherhood territory.

From the onset of the invasion, the Brotherhood Science Division had seen the aliens thriving on tiberium, and as far as they could tell, they ran on it. With their arrival, changelings were no longer the only species on the planet who could live amongst tiberium formations with literally no harmful side effects. Even dragons had to control their consumption based on their size unless they wanted to risk overexposure and a death similar to Discord’s.

“They live off of it… consume it like a pony consumes hay….” the changeling monarch mused, “And all sources theorize… a hive mind. Well now isn’t that an interesting little convenience?”

“Orders, your majesty?” the EVA asked.

“That alien right there… the one moving on its own instead of with a pack. I want more information on that particular type of these things… this is a changeling-only assignment, and any information will come directly to me, not that purple bookworm, not her guardian demon, and definitely not Kane.”

“Cannot comply, withholding informati-”

“Override Code Cassius Delphi 327, authorization…” she began, her voice no longer her own and her form shifting to that of an earth pony, “Theory.”

“Override accepted, Kane.”
_______________

“Zone Trooper. The very name strikes fear into the hearts of Noddies the same way they wish the name Black Hand terrified us.” General Stampede stated. He was on a stage set up with a half-dozen GDI banners behind him, though he went without the podium as he orated. “You’re the best GDI has to offer, the power-armored hoof of Ironsides himself! A fighting force so powerful it took aliens from a different world to make us bleed. Not Nod’s griffons, not their dragons, and not their Black Hand. Celestia-damn aliens.”

His audience, a mixture of officers and staff non-commissioned officers seated behind him, and nearly 400 Zone Troopers standing in formation, fully armored, in front of him on a parade deck. Training had been stepped up after their success at Dodge City, on top of all the other operations where Zone Troopers had either turned the tide or won a battle out-right. With plenty of volunteers and candidates to choose from, many of whom were Dead Six candidates, the Zone Trooper Corps was quickly expanding into the branch it needed to be.

These three companies were the start of that, having completed an intense training regime that made almost 150 of the original class wash out of the program. Even then, one particular pair of ponies, two yellow earth ponies with the Zone Trooper insignia on their shoulders, couldn’t help but wonder if they were up to the same level as those they had buried mere months ago.

“Mares, gentlecolts… you’re the best we have, and you will be called upon to take the biggest burdens, the most hazardous of assignments, and every mission the assholes with the stars on their shoulders label impossible.” Stampede continued, “You will not bring everypony back, but I know in my heart you all will give as good as you get, and that as long as your suits still have power, as long as there’s one Zone Trooper still standing, none of GDI’s enemies will be able defeat us… I’m proud to have so many of you with us, even if you’re technically under the Marine flag… though I believe I’ve talked enough. To close out our ceremony, I’d like to welcome the senior enlisted member of the Zone Trooper Corps, and your new battalion First Sergeant. First Sergeant Jet Deck!”

Deck inhaled slowly as his rank was being spoken, only exhaling as he stood up and walked over to the GDI Army Branch Commander. With salutes exchanged, and his host having found his seat, Jet Deck looked over the mass of troopers he was now in charge of.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, everypony. We’re GDI’s first and last line of defense. We’re called upon to make the pre-emptive strikes and to hold the last line in the sand. You’ve heard it drilled into you that we’re the best there is. That only Havoc and his team are better, and they have to use our armor sometimes. You’ve been told that GDI R&D has made us the impervious metal hoof of Celestia and that her providence makes us invincible…. I’m here to tell you that you are not. Every single pony in this ceremony is mortal. I almost died twice after the Blueblood Massacre from wounds alone. I almost died during the Battle of Baltimare. Gunny Bloom and I buried over 30 Zone Troopers after the aliens attacked, out of our original 50 from before Baltimare.

“We, are not, invincible. Never let anypony tell you otherwise, even if it’s an esteemed general or Celestia herself. That kind of thinking got Blueblood killed. It got everypony I knew before the Zone Troopers killed, and it gets Confessors killed all the time… I will try to bring every single one of you home when the war is over... I know I won’t be able to. But I promise each and every one of you that I will die trying if that’s what it takes to bring one more home.”
___________

The ceremony closed shortly after. Major Blizzard, formerly of Easy Company, dismissed the battalion and the troopers dispersed to their respective barracks. Trooper detachments weren’t deploying for another week while ICB got a better picture of the alien deployments and shuttles were prepped for orbital transit.

Only three ponies stayed behind, Major Blizzard, Jet Deck, and Apple Bloom. For a moment, the trio were silent as they looked at the now empty parade deck emblazoned with the GDI eagle. It wasn’t until the older of the three managed to gather his thoughts that the silence was broken.

“An interesting way to speak to them, First Sergeant.” Blizzard said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Too many dead heroes in this war already, and I don’t need them throwing themselves at enemy fire like they can’t be hurt.” Jet Deck replied, “All three of us have learned that lesson the hard way.”

“Blueblood, I know… surprised to meet another survivor, given how few of us are left. Are you one as well, Gunnery Sergeant?”

“No, sir.” Apple Bloom answered, “I was at Smokey Mountain that day fighting against Spike.”

“Bad business both of those…” the Major replied quietly, “Look… I’m not going to pretend to know what you two have been through. Hell, most of my own unit made it out of the Massacre and Canterlot alive, if incapacitated, thus the transfer. I’m in command, there’s no question about that, but we all know it’s NCOs that lead when the chips hit the fan, and that is especially clear with such an experimental unit. I’ll be relying heavily on you two these first few months, especially with how spread out the surviving Wolverines are.”

“You can count on us, sir.” Jet Deck said, a smile actually forming on his muzzle as his new commanding officer spoke. For once he was sure he wasn’t getting another Blueblood, even if he shared the dead stallion’s white and blonde coloration.

“I know I can. You’re a Fightin’ 400 member, and you’re an Apple. I couldn’t ask for better battalion staff to have fighting with me. And I expect every officer as deep in the shit as the rest of us when the time comes. Until then, enjoy some R&R, Celestia knows you both need it. EVA will update you on muster orders when they come down from somepony with a shinier collar, and then we can get to work making these aliens hurt.”
_____________

The past two years had worn on Director Fluttershy more than most ponies. The few friends she had that hadn’t defected to Nod at the start of the war were now either crippled or constantly throwing themselves onto the front line of this dreadful war. The tools she helped create to save the world were being turned into deadlier and deadlier weapons of war, and even if they were the enemy right now, her friends would never have a chance to be friends again if her creations killed them first.

“Director? We’re ready for you.” Twilight Velvet said, interrupting Fluttershy from her thoughts. She didn’t know it, but Velvet had been standing in the door for nearly five minutes, worriedly watching her boss as she stared through her paperwork instead of at it. Fluttershy looked up slowly, giving a tired smile as she walked over to her secretary. She could only imagine how this war was tearing her and Night Light up, even with how long it had been since Shining Armor was announced KIA.

“Thank you, Velvet…” the pale yellow pegasus whispered, “How’s the latest construction project going?”

“Well, the team wasn’t too happy with the sudden change of armament, but once Ironsides leaned on them, they got back on track… still feels strange, fighting aliens with sonic weaponry.”

“Nopony expected the tiberium containment projectors to work on them, it was more of a last ditch effort from what the reports say, but all we can do now is put that knowledge to good use against the invaders… and eventually Nod…”

“Sonics aren’t that effective against ponies or griffons, but dragons and changelings have tiberium in their diet now, so we’ll eventually see what happens.” the magenta unicorn replied, “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

“A hope we both share. If anything, this truce proves that both sides can live together without having to…. Having to be rude to each other. The less use the new tank gets in combat, the better.”

The remark got a rare smile from Velvet. Even though Fluttershy was her boss, and even though she had no relation to the family, the younger mare was practically a daughter to her these days, and even as the conflict tore the world apart, the head of ZOCOM continued to take the polite approach even when talking about the Brotherhood.

“She was designed for peacetime anyway… we shouldn’t have to use it against Nod, but we both know that once it’s done, Ironsides gets his hooves on it… but that’s neither here nor there. The team is ready to show you their progress, and their EVAs are already linked up with mine. I can put it on the big screen if you want.”

“Please.” Fluttershy said, trying to relax in her seat but failing miserably as a dirty earth pony appeared on the wall in front of her. He was bright red with a green mane, and she could make out various scars and burn marks that she knew were from construction, not combat.

“Director Fluttershy, good to see you. Glad you could take the time to look at what we’ve started building for you.” he told her, his excitement barely contained.

“The… pleasure is all mine. Now, let’s see the progress you’ve made on my mobile refinery.”

“Well, we’ve got the main frame down, and refinery facilities are already being fitted in.” the stallion said as half of the screen was filled with camera feeds from the factory, giving Fluttershy a real-time view of the construction process, “But we’ve actually come up with a new name, considering the project team helping us build the darn thing.”

“What could you even call such a monster?” Velvet asked, her jaw somewhat agape as she took in the vast structure.

“Well, given we’ve got Mammoth engineers working on this baby, it’s a ZOCOM project, and the chassis is basically a reworked and expanded mammy anyhow… ladies, say hello to the Mammoth Armed Reclamation Vehicle, or as we’ve been calling it, the MARV.”

Crouching Eagle, Sweeping Scorpion

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Chapter XXVI - Crouching Eagle, Sweeping Scorpion

The Supervisor was never a pleasant mind to deal with, and the various Foremen present didn’t make the situation any better. Threshold construction was delayed, Ichor harvesting was going normally and yet not fast enough for The Supervisor’s liking, and the indigenous populations were organizing resistance together despite all projections and probabilities.

And then there was the Overlord.

“I said I wanted a progress report, Supervisor.” the Overlord’s voice boomed in everyone’s skulls as he shared his thoughts, “Excuses and interruptions are not part of that report. You will let the Foremen finish, and then we will listen to The Overseer.”

“I…. yes, Overlord.” the glowing head representing the Supervisor in the Overseer’s mind replied, mouth tendrils closing and brightness dimming in shame.

“Good… now then, Foremen-912, I expected faster construction in Ichor-heavy sectors, explain the delay.” the Overlord ordered. Sheepishly, another glowing head took prominence in the Overseer’s view. Unlike the Supervisor’s insectoid head with tendrils coming from the mouth, the Foremen had a more subdued appearance during these conferences. Instead of insectoid, they looked more like automatons with no discernible mouth. With their large forward-facing eyes and brighter colors, it was clear that they were better for their duties as construction workers, not soldiers.

“Overlord, localized resistance continues to strike at construction sites with orbit-based energy weapons. While we’re aware that they have little effect on military forces in immediate proximity, construction efforts will continue to be delayed while the indigenous population poses resistance to our harvesting operations.” the floating head stated. Its voice was without emotion or inflection, holding a mechanical quality to it that always made the Overseer wonder if there really was any difference between the Foremen and their AI Assistants.

“Overseer-29, report on indigenous military response.”

“Overlord, our initial diversionary strike was devastating for the local population. Intelligence gathered by Traveler-59 proved immeasurably useful and all but one of the indigenous facilities capable of producing capital ships were neutralized within the first hour of the invasion. Orbital defenses are holding against all strikes we make due to the…. Magic, that the equine species possesses.”

“Magic? Clarify.”

“Equine species, sub-species C, has a conical extension from the cranium with properties that Traveler-59 has yet to discern.” the Overseer explained, “With this power, they’ve created shields similar to our own technology for their heavy vehicles, capital ships, orbital installations, and even some population centers. Requesting permission to begin Rift Operations in proximity of Planet Designation E-359 in order to combat orbital threat.”

“Calculations?”

“Mission hindrance with all orbital facilities still active still holding at 42%, disposal of facilities will decrease operational hindrance by up to 25%.”

“Very well, Overseer.” the Overlord stated, his voice rumbling with satisfaction as he literally absorbed the data being sent to him, “You will have your Rift Permissions. Use them wisely, but something else is troubling your thoughts; explain.”

“Kane is here.”

“Impossible!” the Supervisor exclaimed. “Entity known as Kane disappeared after unauthorized activation of only remaining Sol Threshold, 19!”

“Genetic markers are too similar, as is the indigenous response to ichor harvesting and military operations. Despite variances in physical form, entity known as Kane is present on this planet.”

“Observe his movements, and contain him if possible.” the Overlord replied, “Military operations are now secondary objectives, gathering data on Kane and completing the archive is now our primary goal. Do not disappoint me.”

And with that, the Overlord cut out, leaving the Overseer and the Foremen alone in the Hub. Without ceremony, the Overseer disseminated orders to them and then retracted from the Hub until finally he was back in his body. With little effort he stood up from the command chair he had been plugged into and the cables retracted back into the base of his skull.

Like all servants pressed into service of the Overlord from the various worlds that the Scrin visited, Overseer-29 was explicitly built for the purpose that the Hierarchy had for him, and 29 was built to lead armies that conquered and destroyed entire star systems. Metal claws lead to cybernetic, digitigrade legs and metal joints that were fused seamlessly with his few remaining organic parts at the waist. These plugged directly into the armor, which fused with his chest and had replaced his original shell before processing. His arms were cybernetics as well, with his right arm leading to a hand with five digits and two opposable thumbs, and his left leading to a bundle of tendrils that could interface with the ship’s systems.

However, his eyes were still his most prominent feature. They gave off an eerie blue light similar to certain parts of his armor and other cybernetics, drawing the view of those in person and in the Hivemind away from what was left of his original face.

“Organizer, link to all Hive Minds.” 29 ordered tonelessly. As he spoke, the tendrils that composed his left “hand” snaked out to the nearest console and with a jolt, his consciousness was coursing through the Hive Mind that was the Scrin Military presence on this meager dust ball. He was about to give out a new string of orders when he felt a tingling at the back of his mind.

“Not a Hive…. Not a Foreman…” he thought, exploring the disturbance, “You’re much more than that, aren’t you…?”

“AREN’T YOU!?”
______________

Luna recoiled as if she had been struck, but did not open her eyes. Whatever was leading the alien invasion force was mentally more powerful than she had anticipated, and what little she’d been able to glean from his subconscious was useless. In the dream realm, she stood back up and shook her head clear, scowling. The question was practically burned into her skull now and she could feel the residual presence of this “Overseer”s mind.

“Yes…” she murmured to herself as orbs representing dreams began to drift by once more, “I am much more than your drones…”

Luna held her scowl as she sifted through dreams and nightmares alike. The sheer number of nightmares that the population had since the first town was consumed by Tiberium was staggering, even for her practiced hoof. Ever since the invasion started, that number had tripled. Even so, true dreams were rare these days. Almost everyone fighting the war was sleep deprived, and their spheres nothing but darkness as their minds either could not or would not properly process the horrors that this global conflict put them through on a daily basis.

One sphere however was always active. One pony constantly plagued by nightmares as the war went on and as her psyche began to falter. She was never a creature of conflict and something this persistent, this destructive, was beyond even her worst nightmares when the sacred crystal first made landfall.

“Celestia….” Luna growled, peering into the sphere but not opening the doorway to it.

The nightmare was the same as always; Equestria gone, the planet ravaged, and only tiberium remained. Canterlot lay in ruins at the bottom of the mountain, the castle that Luna had previously called home seeded with green crystal and littered with bodies from both sides of the war. Luna was about to pull away when a laugh caught her attention, and soon after, magical blasts started crisscrossing the smog-filled sky. Upon closer inspection, it looked like Celestia was in a fight for her life against Nightmare Moon, and she was losing badly.

“Some things never change, do they?” the Night Queen mused, and despite her own wishes, eased into the dream and enjoyed the show from the sidelines, invisible to Celestia as the Solar Goddess continued to fight her age-old enemy.

“I’ll never let you take me!” Celestia cried out, “You may have taken our world but you shall never make me falter!”

“If you’re going to have a nightmare about me, sister, you should at least use me as I am, not as you fear.” the real Luna answered, banishing her other self with a whim, and making the weary Celestia jump in surprise. With little effort, the setting of this titanic battle faded away and soon enough, Queen Luna was face to face with Princess Celestia in the Canterlot Gardens.

“How dare you call me that… you are not my sister.” Celestia seethed.

“We both know that’s not true. You know full well that I am not Nightmare Moon, you can see it plainly before you that I am not that monster that still haunts the minds of Equestria even to this day. The sooner you accept that fact, the sooner we can return to the true mission of Nod… and your GDI, even if you’ve handled it poorly.”

“And what mission is that, ‘sister’?”

“The whole reason I founded the Brotherhood; to save the planet.” Luna replied, “That was the initial point of my research division when GDI’s charter was signed, was it not?”

“And yet here you are, the queen you always wanted to be, spreading a cancer in your wake as your subjects blindly follow a mad earth pony like he’s some sort of god.”

“Is that not how the Brotherhood sees you, sister? A goddess with absolute power and authority who abandoned the world while they suffered. The goddess who ordered the only research that could save tiberium-infested ponies to be burned.”

“Never going to let me live that one down, are you, Luna?” Celestia sighed, “Tiberium is not like Discord, or Scorpan, or any of the petty villains of the world. Compromise with it only delays an inevitable end. It doesn’t avoid it.”

“You really still believe that, don’t you?”

“Can you prove me wrong? These aliens we fight, they literally live off of tiberium, they can’t survive without it. That is the road your Brotherhood is taking.”

“It’s preferable to ending up like Discord, Celestia, like thousands of griffons, diamond dogs, and ponies that now lay within tiberium tombs in the red zones.”

“And your Brotherhood can help them?”

“We can safeguard the living from tiberium better than you can, sister… Twilight can protect us better than anypony, and you already forced her to choose a side.” Luna retorted, causing Celestia to visibly recoil as if she’d been struck. Had Luna not blown her cover, she would have feigned sorrow or remorse for making such a comment, but the time for false affection was well and truly past.

“I had forgotten how cold you could be.” Celestia finally whispered.

“Necessity has made me many things, but I’ve always been blunt. The war has simply made me more honest with myself.”

“This form… this… is honesty?”

“I couldn’t stand idly by while you ruined any chance we had of a lasting peace just because Kane hurt your precious ego, Sister. And whether you like it or not, everything he said is true.”

“I did not kill Equestria, Luna!” Celestia barked.

“Not by yourself, no, but history will remember what caused half of the Element Bearers to defect… no amount of censorship will hide the choice you made that fateful day… the world will feel its effects long after this war ends, no matter who wins.”

“Being political with me, Sister? Why not say what you want to say if you’ve become more honest? Say that when your Brotherhood wins, I’ll be blamed for starting the war.”

“That would depend entirely on Nod winning, and even to this day, I am not completely certain of victory.” Luna retorted with a rather coy smile, “Time and time again, the ponies of GDI surprise me by pulling victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat, and almost always when it matters most.”

“You say that as if I have something to do with it.”

“We’re both too old to believe in something like divine intervention, and even if we did…” Luna trailed off, her tone taking a morose turn.

“The only one who could do it without evidence is a statue in Braylin.” Celestia finished quietly.

A moment of silence followed, spontaneous as it was and yet based on a feeling of unspoken respect towards their old enemy, and erstwhile friend.

“Regardless of who emerges victorious, sister, I want you to remember that our goal is the same. Even if our paths on the matter have differed.” said Luna, feeling the morning approach on the waking world.

“I just wish for this nightmare to end.” said Celestia, and with a flick of her hoof, Luna granted her wish.
__________

“Commander, we’re getting some strange readings.” the ops officer of the Ion Projection Satellite Independence stated.

“How strange?” the station’s commander asked, trotting over to the operations console.

“It’s like there’s an entirely new source of gravity just a few hundred meters from our position… but there’s nothing out there, just a minor distortion on visuals.”

“Distortion…” Commander Lancer muttered, galloping to the nearest viewport. Much to his dismay, there was indeed a distortion just off of their position in orbit, and it was growing at an alarming rate. Before he could even react, the station lurched violently, sending him muzzle first into the glass. By the time his vision cleared from the impact, the distortion was now a massive black mass where empty space was supposed to be, and the glass in front of him was cracking.

“Dear Celestia…” were his last words before the glass broke and he was sucked out into hard vacuum, mere seconds before the entire station followed him into the rift in space.
__________

The view from the Harmony was enough to make more than one intelligence officer swear under their breath as everypony in the briefing room watched a black hole appear from thin air and swallow up the Independence piece by piece. Metal plating was ripped from its frame, which in turn was warped soon after, and the high resolution available from the feeds made it all too clear that most of the “debris” being sucked into the vortex were ponies desperately grabbing at support beams, loose wires, and anything that could keep them from being swallowed up by the massive, spatial maw that had appeared before them.

The entire process took roughly 20 seconds, but it seemed like 20 hours for everypony watching. Once those seconds were up, the station was simply gone and the vortex disappeared as quickly as it had materialized.

“InOps is calling it a Rift Generator.” Stalwart Shield finally said after the footage repeated a few times. “ECU pinpointed an energy surge in a red zone that coincides perfectly with the destruction of the Independence… the Scrin seem to have started taking GDI seriously.”

“Troubling to say the least.” Ironsides growled, tapping his desk and getting the video to freeze, “We need a solution.”

“That’s a whole other story, sir.” one of the intel officers replied, bringing up a datapad and placing it on the main desk. Once it made contact, the global map that was on the pad projected itself on the table, “The energy surge’s location is in the middle of the San Palomino Red Zone… even if we could get Zone Troopers dropped right on the location, they’d never make it back to friendly lines.”

“And a Kodiak would draw too much attention and fire. We can’t spare three for a Fleet Action through enemy territory.” Stalwart added, scowling at the map, “EVA, any word on troop composition in the area from the Brotherhood?”

“No valid data, General. Sky Sentry surveillance feeds provide the only relevant information on the San Palomino Red Zone.” the AI stated.

“Meaning we’d be going in blind… complete suicide mission.” Ironsides said with a sigh that was followed by nearly a minute of rather tense silence. He finally spoke up a few moments later, his scowl still holding firm on his muzzle, “Consider this an open invitation for any and all ideas. The longer that machine is in operation, the longer our ability to strike at the Scrin is in danger.”

“Hyperion.” Stalwart said quietly, getting a raised eyebrow from her superior.

“Pardon?”

“Brigadier Hyperion, Brotherhood of Nod… I think he might be the answer we need.”

“And the fact that he’s your son has nothing to do with this decision, right?” Ironsides asked, leaning forwards in his chair.

“We’ve both seen his record with Nod, his tactics, his current assignment…” the green mare explained, “... what if we use him to launch a joint operation with Nod?”

“Quite the risk you’re willing to take.”

“If we can get enough troops on the Everfree, it can ferry a strike force deep into the Red Zone, land a decisive blow that knocks out that rift generator, and if Nod wants to double cross us, we’ll have plenty of ponies on board to do some serious damage to Nod’s only remaining airship.”

“And you’re willing to put your Zone Troopers on the line over a your hunch?” the grey stallion asked.

“I’d be willing to go myself, sir.”

Ironsides nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair as he looked back at the map, as well as the frozen video of the Independence simply ceasing to exist. He slowly rubbed his chin, knowing full well that Stalwart could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought things through.

It took nearly 10 minutes, but the old, grey stallion finally gave a simple nod to his most faithful branch commander.

“Make contact with Nod High Command… consider this my endorsement of your gamble, Stally.”
____________

Mantis trotted along the red-lit hallways of the Everfree with a bit more pep in her step than usual. A new offensive against the aliens was in the works and she got to participate. Hyperion was the overall Nod commander for the assault, and Maud Pie had command of the ship itself, but her swarm was going to be dropping in with the Zone Troopers on the first wave. It would be her first real chance for glory since her promotion to Ladybug and she was all too eager to prove herself as an officer.

For now though, she had another task to take care of, one that involved her oldest friend in this war. Once close enough, the sensors outside of Hyperion’s door recognized her, opened up, and she let herself in. The owner of the room was in front of a mirror, making sure his combat uniform was fitted properly when he noticed her barge inside.

“It’s usually polite to knock first.”

“I thought you liked it when made myself at home.” Mantis said, finding her way to his desk and claiming his chair for her own.

“In Mareajevo where the officers’ quarters are apartments, not crew compartments…” the stallion quipped, glancing over at her once he was sure his collar was straight, “What brings you here this time, anyway?”

“Given I’m your XO, it’s only fitting we meet our GDI counterparts together Hype. Or would you prefer not to be seen with me?”

Hyperion didn’t give her a reply other than to raise an eyebrow at her as he turned around. He was satisfied with his appearance and now only had to deal with his wonderfully belligerent executive officer. Without breaking the stride of his turn he walked over to her, leaning down to look her in the eyes. Most ponies would have been intimidated by his sheer size, but this little stare down was a regular ritual of theirs.

“What happened to meeting at the aircraft elevator?” he asked without looking away.

“Your room was closer than the lift, figured we’d enjoy a nice walk through a dark hallway before making nice with our guests.” she replied, matching his gaze and getting a grin from the usually composed stallion.

“One of these days you’re going to blink.” he finally said, “Come on, we have some Zone Troopers to meet.”
______________

The Everfree. The ship that had killed the Double Rainboom, created from scratch from the very mind behind the original Kodiak designs, Princess Twilight Sparkle, just without Rainbow Dash to influence their construction. She was the flagship for the Brotherhood of Nod’s fledgling aerial navy and even with the Scrin and Sky Admiral Spitfire doing their best to blow it out of the sky, she still refused to die.

And now Jet Deck was on a carryall orbiting it, waiting for landing clearance so that he could go through with General Shield’s crazy plan. Jet Deck had been hesitant about Nod soldiers and staff being allowed in Baltimare to begin with, but seeing the Everfree moored at one of the newly erected Sky Docks above Horseshoe Bay was troubling in ways he couldn’t quite find the words for, even if General Shield was sending Major Blizzard with enough firepower to blast the damn thing out of the sky from the inside if the Noddies got a little too uppity.

“You alright, son? You seem a bit off.” Blizzard asked, getting a slow nod from his First Sergeant.

“Just feels weird working with them after fighting for so long, especially given who they say the commander of the Everfree’s garrison is.” Jet Deck replied, his eyes never leaving the viewport.

“Brigadier General Hyperion… I’ve heard of him. Never lost a battle that he’s had command of from onset to finish, and he’s the only reason that any of Nod’s troops made it out of Baltimare alive.”

“Despite my best efforts.”

“I read that part too. Quite the career you’ve made yourself in such a short amount of time… I’d dare to say some of the younger troopers are envious.”

“They just want a piece of the action after being cooped up in class for so long… and they’re going to get it.. Flight Lieutenant, how soon?”

“On approach now, hold on.” the pilot replied and the aircraft answered soon after. The carryall banked gently towards the Nod airship, leading the way for the dozens of transports trailing close behind. Besides the Zone Trooper compliment being brought on board, an entirely new armor battalion created from the remains of various other units was being assigned to this Expeditionary Strike Force. Predators, Timberwolves, the new Pitbull Recon Vehicle, and even a platoon of Mammoths gifted from the Second Heavy Armored while Big Macintosh finished his recovery.

The sight would have usually caused the stallion on the primary flight deck to grab his sidearm, give firing orders, and take cover before firing on the transports himself, but now he was actually going to be depending on the troops they were bringing aboard his ship. The first transport touched down gently, a soft landing for such a monumental moment, and the side hatch opened up as soon as the landing struts were on the deck. Following the touchdown, Zone Troopers in full armor, with the exception of the three ponies at the front of the group who were lacking their helmets, disembarked and started moving towards the griffons waving them over.

The three at the lead however walked up to Hyperion and Mantis.

“Brigadier Hyperion. These certainly are interesting times.” Blizzard said once they were face to face.

“Major Blizzard. I’ve heard a lot about you from General Shield. I believe you also served with my father.”

“I did, but those are stories for another day.” the old stallion replied before gesturing to Jet Deck and Apple Bloom, “You’ve never personally met my First Sergeant and Company Gunny, but you were on opposite sides at Baltimare.”

“Sir.” Jet Deck replied, giving a slight nod to the larger earth pony.

“Sergeant… do you mind me asking whether or not my handiwork is responsible for those scars?”

“Blueblood, actually.” the trooper stated, suppressing a grin as Hyperion’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t think anyone was left on the GDI side from that.” Mantis interjected, “Minor Queen Mantis, pleasure to be working with all of you.”

“Likewise, ma’am.” Blizzard replied, “It looks like your flight deck officers have things handled here, shall we head to the command center for the briefing with the rest of your staff?”

“Right this way,” Hyperion said with a nod, turning towards one of the personnel elevators, “We have much to discuss.”
______________

Red Zone maps tended to be quite different when compared to maps from any other region on the planet. While a normal map would show differing terrain elevations, varying types of terrain, along with strategic assets such as known settlements and natural defensive positions, a Red Zone’s map was a solid block of green, with different shades of it at points. Then again, given the holographic technology available to both Nod and GDI, it was likely that this was just the standard template for this particular area.

Apple Bloom’s hunch was proven correct as various markers were overlaid across the map itself, marking it with arrows and red dots at various points.

“Intelligence on the San Palomino Red Zone is limited, at best. The enemy’s troops composition is unknown, their active defensive positions and fortifications are unknown, and their current location is at best being guessed at.” began Major Blizzard, signaling to the holographic map in the middle of the room.

Those within it represented a varied selection of commanding officers from both Nod and GDI, each of them professionals who would have killed each other without hesitation merely weeks ago.

“We will go over the agreed-upon details for this operation in a moment, but first our Brotherhood friends have asked to carry out a PSA for us. Brigadier, the podium is yours.” said Blizzard, taking a step back as Hyperion stepped up towards the hologram. A single image appeared over the map, one familiar to all those present. A visceroid.

“I don’t believe I need to tell you what this is.” said Hyperion, looking around at the inquisitive GDI faces. “A visceroid, a mutated and deformed remnant of what once was a flesh and blood being. Could have been a rabbit, could have been a pony, but right now it’s just a mass of flesh with teeth.”

“Sir, are you implying we should worry about that?” asked a tank platoon lieutenant. “Because I can guarantee you, they ain’t getting any bites past our treads.” he finished, getting a chuckle from a few other GDI officers.

“Oh, it’s not those which you should be afraid of. That is just what you’re familiar with.” said Hyperion before the image of the visceroid disappeared, being replaced with images of black animals with tiberium growths on their backs and claws, a jellyfish-like creature floating around in the air, as well as a giant hole in the ground with what appeared to be giant teeth protruding out of it while being surrounded by barbed, orange veins all around.

“These, on the other hoof, should be your main concern aside from the aliens.”

“These black animals are referred to as Tiberium Fiends, a catch-all term for animals which have been able to, for lack of a better term, adapt to the effects of Tiberium infestation. As far as our scientists have been able to determine, they exist entirely off of Tiberium radiation, yet at the same time show elevated signs of aggression to non-Tiberium lifeforms. Their claws have been observed to pierce through light vehicle armor, and they tend to travel in packs. Any sighting is to be reported so as to avoid or eliminate them before they become a problem.”

“The second creature is known as a Floater. As the name implies, it floats through the air by propelling itself using a Tiberium-based gas. Said gas is extremely corrosive and possesses highly mutagenic properties. Although your Zone armor should protect you from it, avoiding the gas is to be the preferred course of action. Report any contact with it to ensure the integrity of your armor is maintained. Vehicles are to avoid it at all costs however.”

“Finally, Tartarus’ own asshole. This, believe it or not, is not just a hole in the ground. Named the Veinhole Monster by our most creative of research teams, the danger this being represents comes from its ability to deny terrain to vehicles. With sufficient care, infantry can safely traverse the vein-covered terrain. Under no circumstances however are vehicles to attempt to travel over such terrain. The veins react violently to pressure, actively lashing out against the source of it with enough force to outright break armored plating. In the worst case scenario, sufficient pressure applied over a large enough area will trigger some sort of devouring frenzy on the Veinhole itself, causing it to violently retract its veins into the central maw. Any personnel and vehicles caught amongst the veins when this occurs can be considered lost.”

With that, the map was overlaid with the known positions of veinholes, vein fields, and the known travel routes of observed fiends and floaters. The markers indicating them covered a disturbingly large portion of the map.

“With that, we can proceed unto the operational plan.” said Hyperion, before giving the stunned GDI officers a slight grin. “Oh, and welcome to a Red Zone.”

Bug Hunt

View Online

Chapter XXVII - Bug Hunt

Long stretches of boredom interrupted by short bursts of terror. Jet Deck couldn’t honestly remember where he’d read or heard that, but that sentence was proving itself ever more true as the weeks dragged on and on. Three major engagements in two months, and while there were no real casualties from them, the GDI personnel aboard the Everfree were still getting a little stir-crazy from the lack of active combat. The Scrin weren’t the only ones who didn’t know how to react to GDI sneaking around behind enemy lines with their heavy troops instead of bulldozing over them from the front either. The tank crews themselves had to continuously refrain from carrying out standard offensive actions, instead needing to follow the lead of Brotherhood tankers given their vast experience with hit-and-run tactics.

To say this didn’t go over well with them would be a bit of an understatement.

One fight had broken out between a griffon and a pony, with the only thing keeping the incident from escalating into a political clusterfuck being the timely intervention of two ponies, one GDI and one Nod, who outranked both offending soldiers and moved them to the Everfree’s gymnasium so they could spar. Hyperion and Blizzard both praised the NCOs and, with grudge matches officiated by both sides, tensions due to the two factions working together soon became a thing of the past. Sort of. Uneasiness still plagued GDI personnel, but now it was because of being stuck in the air and unable to fight instead of fearing punishment for putting a smug changeling in their place.

Despite all this, what managed to get Jet Deck’s gut in a twist more than anything wasn’t anything that Hyperion or his garrison had done, but who he had come face to face with on the bridge merely three days into the mission. The encounter still nagged at him over a month later, and yet he couldn’t get that pony’s words out of his head.
_______________

He had been taking a message from Major Blizzard to Hyperion. The EVAs hadn’t synced up properly yet and he needed the message taken by somepony who not only had access to the bridge, but could answer the former GDI Marine’s questions if necessary. It should have been a simple delivery to the brigadier general, or at least his changeling executive officer.

No one told the GDI complement that the Everfree had a passenger that was being ferried back into Nod territory.

No one told Jet Deck that Kane was on board.

“General, Major Blizzard said you wanted this but the EVAs hadn’t…. Hadn’t been able to coordinate with each other yet.” Jet Deck announced as he had entered the low-lit room, his speech only faltering when he noticed who was chatting idly with the stallion he had been sent to find. The Zone Trooper had been present as a guard during the peace talks, he had seen him and heard him speak, but his words were directed at other ponies supremely more important than Jet Deck would ever be. This was… different. Like the first time seeing a school teacher at the grocery store, or running into them while walking home on a weekend. But instead of just glossing over the trooper, Kane took immediate notice and stared at him with that wicked smile he always wore during speeches.

“And you must be the hero of Baltimare! Jet Deck if my memory is as good as I hope it is.” Kane said, his tone calm, yet it filled the Zone Trooper with energy.

“I.. uh… yes, sir, that is my name, but I’m hardly a hero… I was just doing my duty.”

“Indeed you were, and have done since. I must say, it’s so nice to see Earth Ponies as heroes of GDI instead of just the cannon fodder for unicorns like they were at the start of this horrid conflict.”

“... sir…?” Jet Deck asked, doing his best to keep his composure.

“Surely you noticed how unicorn generals threw earth ponies at the Nod front lines to no avail? After all, you’re a survivor of the Macintosh Hills… you saw first-hoof what happens when unicorns run a war instead of earth ponies, or the Apples.”

“I… never put much thought into it, sir. I’ve just been trying to keep my troopers alive until the war is over.”

“As you should.” the Messiah of Nod replied with a smile, as if he had personal stock in the well-being of Jet Deck’s Zone Troopers. As if Kane truly cared about every pony in the way that Celestia and Luna told the public they did.

And Jet Deck believed him.

“But I believe you have a message for our dear brother here, I won’t keep you any longer… keep up the good work on the field, First Sergeant, and keep your Gunnery Sergeant close. Apples seem to be made of good luck on the field, and I’d hate to see the most iconic duo in GDI meet disaster.”
__________________

He had to shake his head as the meeting came to the forefront of his thoughts again. Weeks later and Jet Deck still couldn’t get that damnable bald stallion’s words out of his head. His presence was different than the peace talks, like actually looking Kane in the eyes seemed to mess with his head, his very thoughts.

“Action Stations! Action Stations! All GDI and Nod senior staff to the briefing room!” the ship’s EVA announced, derailing Jet’s train of thought and none too soon. The only time both sets of staff were called in was to get ready for a strike, and if it was the target he was thinking of, they’d need everyone on the ship to get this done. Without ceremony he bolted towards the nearest lift while ignoring the warning klaxons that had started to blare. Announcement after announcement rang through the ships hallways as he found his way to the large briefing room. Apple Bloom and Major Blizzard were already there, keeping his seat ready, and the majority of the GDI officers and staff NCOs had arrived too. Nod personnel trickled in with the same intensity, most running to their seats when they managed to get into the room. Despite the seemingly slow response from the Brotherhood, the entire ready room was filled up within 10 minutes of the call to action stations, and everyone was more than ready when Hyperion and Mantis walked up to the podium.

“Good evening everyone, I know you're all wondering why we’ve called you all up here, but I assure you, questions will be answered all in due time.” Hyperion said, “To start things off, I’ll be blunt; we’ve hit a roadblock that will set us back, and it’s a big one. EVA, screen one.”

The collective gasp from the audience in that chamber was almost loud enough to hear on the flight deck as an image of a warped version of Cloudsdale filled the screen at the front of the room. The Kodiak Shipyards were slagged, many with hulls still trapped in their berths, and the once proud towers that made up the rainbow factories were warped as their production had been shifted to making ionized clouds. The pride of GDI Aerospace Engineering Facilities had been turned into a factory for ion storms, and there were plenty now in the way of the Everfree.

“Delay is at least 8 days while we work our way around the storms. Usually I’d be one for flying over them but ionizations spikes tends to travel vertically out of the storms instead of horizontally. The only safe course is a detour… until then, hopefully everyone stays on high alert. We don’t know what the buggers have waiting for us on the approach to what used to be Cloudsdale.”

“Any updates on what’s waiting for us in San Palomino?” a Nod officer asked from the back.

“Not as of yet. Our prestigious GDI allies have yet to get reliable information from their satellites, once again, courtesy of the aliens being clever bastards that they are. We’re still flying into this mess blind.” Mantis answered, getting a groan from everyone in the room and more than one murmured “useless” comment from the GDI staff. If there was one consistent thing that GDI and Nod could agree on, it was that intelligence provided by GDI’s non-special forces was garbage.

“What about targets of opportunity?” came another interjection, this time from Apple Bloom. Hyperion raised an eyebrow at her comment, stifling a chuckle as he looked over the devastated Cloudsdale again.

“There is one target in range, but I would not advise hitting it… Scrin presence in the area is heavy, and we don’t want to lose anypony before we hit the Rift Generator, now do we?” another mare added.

“Agent Gray… nice of you to join us.” Hyperion replied, “Though if you would be so kind as to fill us all in, I believe your GDI compatriots would be appreciative.”

“Of course.” the mare said, trotting almost leisurely up to the podium. Agent Gray, or as the GDI and Nod troops called her, the Resident Spook was part of the GDI Special Intelligence Division. The kind that up until the aliens hit, no one knew even existed. Her uniform was black, decorated only by the ECU patch on her left shoulder and the bars of an army captain on her collar. Her fur and mane matched her name, with her mane being only a few shades darker than her coat. Despite her odd coloration, it was her eyes that everyone found the most unsettling, as they were the same color as her fur, and no one knew if that was due to surgical changes or if it was natural.

“At the moment, there is a large Scrin base that is acting as an impromptu anchor for Cloudsdale.” Agent Gray stated, “Multiple structures, most of them housing localized singularities, are clustered together within a defensive perimeter extending out 0.25 kilometers from the epicenter of the base. The point of this base is to protect Cloudsdale from attack, not the other way around; any response would be limited to what the base can produce or call in via the singularities.”

“Any way we can call in an ion strike? Maybe a nuke?” Jet Deck asked.

“Storms keep coherent ion strikes from hitting their target, and unless the Everfree has a ballistic missile aboard, the Brotherhood doesn’t have any silos close enough to get a strike in past their point defense.”

“How do yo-... nevermind.” Mantis started, shaking her head as she quieted herself as Gray continued.

“That being said, a small force could drop in, leave det charges, and cripple the facilities. Scrin get put on high alert and looking in the immediate area while we slip away to the primary target. The team would be separated until we came to pick them up again, but it would draw attention away from our primary target.”

“Are you suggesting a primarily Nod force, ma’am? Y’all ain’t the best at stealth.” an earth pony in a Shadow uniform spoke up, getting barely-stifled chuckles from the other Shadow officers in the room.

“No, GDI would provide overwatch.” Gray responded, gesturing to a unicorn in standard infantry fatigues, “I believe our snipers were more than capable of making you keep your heads down before the Scrin arrived, correct?”

“Y… yes ma’am.”

“Good.” Hyperion interjected, regaining control of the room, “If there aren’t any objections, I believe the senior staff need to consult on this hypothetical course of action. Dismissed.”
______________________

The officers and staff NCOs dispersed quickly, new and desperately needed direction spurring them into action, though Agent Gray was almost lethargic as she found her way back to her quarters. Hyperion and Blizzard had given her and Mantis an hour to gather what they could before reporting to the bridge to plan this operation and she had work to do.

Once in her quarters she tapped her desk twice, releasing a pulse of light as her desktop EVA unit scanned the room. Once happy with the results of the scan, she brought up the screen and waited as the connection searched, stabilized, and eventually put up an image of a stallion with his face darkened completely by shadow.

“Agent Gray calling Handler Ten… code phrase: justification.”

“Authenticated. Good to hear from you agent, I take it you have not been compromised?” he said, his voice garbled by the masking software.

“Plans are proceeding properly, I should have Nod committing some Shadows to this operation and the first detachment of GDI troops will be off the ship within a day. I’ll try and get more off before the beacon is put to use.” Gray replied.

“Don’t hesitate if there are still friendlies aboard, Alpha Target is worth whoever may still be aboard.” the shadow stallion ordered.

“What about our resident war heroes? As much as I hate to say it, having the surviving Wolverines live through this would be more useful than them being martyred.”

“Save them if you can, but your orders remain… get it done, agent.”

“Acknowledged and understood, signing off.”
______________________

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, Hyperion, I don’t know how InOps got a damn operative onto the rosters.” Major Blizzard growled, “I don’t know how Nod does intelligence but for some reason our spooks never ask permission or forgiveness.”

“I’d say that sounds dangerous but that seems to be the standard of the intelligence community on both sides.” Hyperion replied, “Regardless, it’d be best if we all kept closer tabs on her.”

“Agreed.” Jet Deck chimed in, “I don’t know about all of you but I prefer InOps when it’s behind a desk or a readout on my HUD.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, we have more important things to worry about at the moment.” Blizzard interjected, “InOps has pointed out a dozen separate targets for this little scheme to draw troops away from the main alien base. We may not like dealing with them in person but when they get an assignment, they put in good work.”

“I’ll have the Archivists confirm the data on the other sites.” Mantis added, “Trust is a two-way street, after all, and we aren’t going to plan an entirely new offensive without data from both parties.”

“Have you already managed to get confirmation on the Cloudsdale base?” Hyperion asked.

“On the way here, their information was good and with Nod topographical data attached we’ll have as close to a perfect planning map available for us as possible.”

“Then it sounds like we’ll all be busy for the next couple of hours. I suggest everyone get to their work.” added Hyperion, getting brief salutes from the “Council” as the crew had begun to call it. As both Blizzard and Jet Deck left, he turned to Mantis once more. “Any news on your little side-project?”

“Intercepted, but barely. GDI InOps uses insanely sophisticated magic to hide the fact that communications are even being transmitted. We have something, but their encryption is mostly magic-based as well and I’ve received word from the Archivists that some of the hexes GDI tends to use can act as silent alarms to let the parties involved know their calls were snooped on, or even fry the machine trying to decrypt it. I’m still waiting for a response on how to proceed, but for the time being I’ve quarantined what we have into an isolated computer.” replied Mantis, giving Hyperion a glance before staring back at her console.

“Not much to work with then, but it’s something. Let me know what you’re able to find out with the Archivists’ help. We can trust Major Blizzard to a degree; professional soldier, only wants to get the job done and finish this war. A spook though? I can’t really say I trust our own.”

“You’re not just trusting Blizzard because he worked with your father, are you?”

“Part of it, I’ll admit, but not all of it. At the end of the day, he and all those aboard who are loyal to Ironsides are still heretics.”

“Heretics… it’s been a while since I’ve heard you use that term… suddenly feeling the faith again?”

“I use the terminology that doctrine demands, whether I spend every morning praying to Kane is another question entirely… one you know the answer to.”

“Never hurts to ask, especially with someone as devout as Sister-Battle Commander Maud at the helm of this floating beast.” Mantis replied quietly, “She’s been… surprisingly peppy lately.”

“She still spouting out about her divine visions?” Hyperion asked just as quietly.

“Yes, they seem to be ‘coming to her’ with more frequency. A bunch of nonsense if you ask me but we’re still keeping her under a discreet watch.. Any more visions of the ‘horned god’ walking with Kane will be kept under wraps for as long as we can keep them.”

“At least it’s not affecting her ability to command just yet. Small miracles and all that.”

“For now. Let’s hope it stays that way...” Hyperion’s XO said, “I should get to work, I’ll report in when the Archivists get back to me.”
______________________

Despite the tedious nature of planning an operation, actually getting down to brass tacks and selecting a roster for the mission was just the shot in the arm that the ground troops aboard the Everfree needed to break the cabin fever. Practically everyone who fit the mission team requirements was volunteering and everypony was getting their gear ready just in case they were lucky enough to get the call.

Among those preparing were a pair of unicorns; one was slightly diminutive and sported a light blue coat with a hazel mane. He normally looked small compared to most ponies but his partner made him look absolutely tiny and meek by comparison even if the latter couldn't be further from the truth.

“Mags all prepped, Magnum?” his partner asked, getting a nod in reply as he used his magic to bring over their rucksacks for her to inspect. The magenta unicorn smiled as she looked through, moving things around carefully with her hoof before she gave a satisfied nod. Usually unicorns were overly dependant on their magic to do even a mundane task such as this, but for Fizzlepop Berrytwist, magic was still nearly impossible to properly use with her broken horn.

Tiberium had brought Fizzlepop back to Equestria, cutting her post-Storm King world tour and Grubber’s life short. Once back in ‘safe’ lands, she signed on with GDI and was one of the few ponies to go into the war with pre-existing scars. Magnum was a much different story, he had avoided enlistment when the war started and even after his hometown was hit by Nod, tried his best to avoid the fighting. It wasn’t until he was nearly killed at Baltimare that he had finally had enough and joined up. Turns out Tempest and Magnum had more in common than just sticking to false names, and their abilities to work a sniper rifle were almost unparalleled.

“R&D said this new model is pretty nasty back when they issued them to us… been wanting to try it out on some Celestia-damned aliens already.” Magnum murmured as he continued to look over their weapons. Crazy missions called for crazy weapons, and an experimental leap in sniper rifle technology was definitely the right sort of crazy for these two.

“I’unno, Mags…” Tempest teased as she started checking the fitting of her armor again, “I always enjoyed the intimacy of a .50 round. Felt like sending a little letter to the poor bastard in our sights.”

“I hear that.” her teammate replied, cracking a rare smile as he looked over the coils and wiring to look for any signs of damage, “But it should be fun to feel like a Zone Trooper for a few rounds.”

“From ‘Dear John’ to ‘To Whom It May Concern.” the scarred unicorn said, a grin forming on her muzzle as she retorted. That grin soon spread to a full-fledged smile as her earpiece buzzed. Magnum knew exactly why it had, but he felt like asking anyway. If there was anything Tempest enjoyed, it was being humored when her hunches were right.

“So… we just get the call?”

“Lock’n load, Magnum.” Tempest said with a wink, “The Old Man wants the best snipers on the ship and he just tapped ’em.”
__________________

Across the ship in the Brotherhood armory, similar situations were playing out as a more significant Nod force was preparing for this mission. Two fulls teams of Shadows were inspecting equipment, preparing weapons and ammo, and going through the proper religious rites. Even with GDI aboard, proper rituals were observed by most of the Nod crew, devout or not.

One of those who refrained from the usual pre-mission sermons was Sweetie Belle. While not completely opposed to the whole religious aspect of the Brotherhood, Sweetie had seen Nod’s inner circle early on and being in regular contact with Rarity kept her from donning the rose-tinted glasses that many of the disenfranchised had already put on.

“Not participatin’?” a female voice chimed in, making Sweetie jolt slightly. When she saw who it was, she relaxed considerably.

“I’m not really one for the sermons Bloom… not every member of Nod is a zealot after all.” she replied, nudging her friend gently in the side, “What about you? How’d you even get down here?”

“Ship’s not that hard to navigate after you spend a few months on it… that and I didn’t want that briefing to be the last time we saw each other before you head out.” Apple Bloom told her.

“Think I’m not going to make it?”

“Anything could happen. For all we know, after the attack on the main target, your little team could be the sole survivors just because you weren’t there for it.”

“Pretty grim way to look at it, AB…” Sweetie Belle whispered, looking over to her friend only to see that she was staring through the congregation instead of at them. “Apple Bloom?”

“Hmm-yeah? Yeah, what’s up?”

“Blanked on me there.” the white unicorn told her, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “Are you ok?”

“I’m… yeah, I’m solid, just…. Thinking.” the earth pony replied, shaking her head clear, “Buried a lot of friends after Canterlot… almost buried Big Mac… most of’em, last thing they heard from me was orders or swearin’... guess I just don’t want my closest friends to only remember a stuffy briefing room if I bite it too.”

“Could always just remember you covered in tree sap after a cutie mark attempt.” Sweetie teased, getting a rare smile out of her fellow Crusader. For a few minutes they simply stood there in relative silence, both of them thinking back to happier days before the Everfree’s EVA interrupted.

“All personnel attached to Operation: First Strike report to Launch Bay 02 for final briefing.” the automated voice announced, getting a sigh from both mares.

“Duty calls…” Sweetie Belle muttered, “Make sure you’re waiting for me when they pick us up, ok?”

“You got it.” Apple Bloom told her, hugging her friend close, “And if I’m not… well, take care’a Jet Deck for me.”

The statement made the Commando pause, her eyes going wide for a moment. Sweetie Belle hugged Apple Bloom tighter after that, only pulling away to look one of her oldest friends in the eye. While her features were the same farm pony she befriended what seemed like a lifetime ago, her eyes were different, like they belonged to someone else. The shine that Sweetie remembered for all this time was gone.

“We’re both making it back in one piece.” Sweetie Belle finally said with a surprising amount of conviction in her voice, “I promise.”
_______________

“InOps Connection…. Confirmed.” Gray stated.

“Archivist Connection confirmed as well.” Mantis added.

“Then it’s about time we started.” Hyperion said, “Ladies, gentlemen, your target is a Scrin base 3 clicks from Cloudsdale, working as a ground-side anchor for Chrysalis’ Taint.”

Like clockwork, every member of the strike team that had been herded into the hangar bay began stifling laughter. The nickname for what Cloudsdale had become spread quickly, so quickly in fact that it was rumored that Hyperion and Mantis started spreading it themselves. Those in Nod didn’t refute the rumor when questioned by their GDI counterparts, given the hostility that still remained between Chrysalis and any changeling that had even a slim possibility of replacing her.

“Targets are simple, but destruction is not your only objective. Reconnaissance and intel gathering on these aliens structures is just as important as destroying them.” the general continued, “The more we know the better, so our Shadows will have recording gear that will send everything and anything they find out in that base to the GDI teams providing overwatch. Lieutenant, have you picked your teams?”

“Sir.” Sweetie Belle answered, “I will be working with Shadow Team Qatar, but all four teams will be under my command.”

“Good, how about you, Agent Gray?”

“Sniper teams Bravo, Epsilon, and Zeta will provide overwatch, operational command of all three teams falls to Staff Sergeant Tempest Shadow.” the agent replied, nodding to the unicorn standing slightly forward of the rest of the snipers, “Code name, as per usual, will be ‘Guardian Angel’.”

“Fitting… Shadows, you’ll be Dagger but when it comes to every other name, you’ll be deciding that after being dropped off.” Hyperion told the collection of ponies and griffons, “Now then, onto specifics. Given the sensitive nature of this mission, you will all have a fair amount of operational freedom, this is me telling you to get the job done by any means necessary. You disembark the Everfree in 30 minutes, travel time is 45, and after that you will create your own rendezvous after the mission is complete.”

“You will be staying in the field until the attack on the alien superweapon is complete, so to mitigate the amount of gear you will be taking into the field, GDI personnel will be setting up shop 5 kilometers from your drop point underneath a disruptor array. By the time you finish your mission, they should have the base set up.”

With that comment made, the third ‘leader’ among those sitting in the hangar bay finally spoke up. He was an earth pony, similar in size and build to Big Mac but despite being built like a shock trooper, his uniform had the distinctive patch of ZOCOM on the shoulder.

“For now we’re merely calling it alpha base, but we’ll come up with something better once we make landfall. My teams should have an area cleared and cleaned within the first few hours, and by the time the Shadows and snipers get done having fun with the bugs, we’ll have a field mess and rudimentary barracks set up for use.” he said, giving a polite nod to the combat troops next to his team, “We may prefer blowing things up, but we combat engineers build as well as we destroy.”

“Duly noted.” Hyperion replied, “If there aren’t any other questions or announcements, then consider this my official statement of ‘don’t die’ and ‘good luck’. I won’t offer any slogans this time around; this is a dangerous assignment but it could be enough to make our primary target less difficult. In the end, your primary goal is to draw alien attention away from the Rift Generator, and I can’t think of anyone better to do it than a few Shadows and a Commando with explosives. Go ahead and get the carryall loaded with equipment, and be ready to dust off in half an hour… good luck everyone, dismissed.”
_______________

“Staff Sergeant? A word with you please.” Agent Gray said, pulling Tempest’s attention away from the team loading up on the carryall.

“Sure, ma’am, what can I do for you?”

“You’re aware of your orders as overwatch, but I have a… secondary set of orders for you.” Gray said, her voice lowering in volume as she continued, “Onomatopoeia, legate, maelstrom.”

“... authenticated.” Tempest whispered back, her eyes narrowing, “What does Enigma have for me?”

“Zeta contingency is going into effect…” Gray ordered, “If it isn’t wearing an eagle, it doesn’t come back from this mission.”

“Yes ma’am.” Tempest replied.

“And be sure to be… discreet. Put the Scrin to good use. But if the aliens aren’t a viable option, all means are authorized. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

Murphy

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Chapter XXVIII - Murphy

On the best of days a Red Zone had two minor ion storms, a light sprinkle of radioactive acid rain, and a few minutes of sunshine. Today was not one of those days. While the cover of an ion storm was optimal for Shadow insertion, getting the trio of GDI sniper teams on the ground via carryall was a nightmare. Were it not for pure dumb luck, the carryall would have been stranded with the engineering team setting up alpha base.

Once Tempest’s sniper team had hit dirt the carryall pulled away and disappeared as her cloak engaged, the last bits of her hull vanishing from view just as she turned towards the eventual location of the GDI forward operations base.

“Comms check.” Tempest said as she looked around. Nightmare didn’t even begin to describe the landscape they had been dropped into. What used to be cacti formed the basis of Tiberium spires ranging from 2 to 20 meters into the air while the red sand that used to distinguish the San Palomino from other deserts of the world was little more than vitrified ground that cracked under their hooves. Ion storms were devastating out this far into a red zone, so it didn’t surprise Tempest that what little ‘ground’ wasn’t converted into Tiberium had been scorched to glass by the storms.

“Epsilon here, no contacts.” their team leader replied.

“Zeta checking in, we’re condition green.” the other sniper team chimed in.

“Bravo is up and running.” Magnum added, more for the sake of the other two teams than for Tempest.

“Alright, that’s everypony with an eagle, LT?”

“Shadows are all accounted for, EVAs are synced, and the Op is live.” Sweetie Belle stated calmly, “Move carefully. Radio silence unless it’s the hourly checks. Once we’re in position we’ll set up shop and see how much ammo we’ll be wasting on the bugs.”

“Confirmed” came a synchronized reply from the other Shadow teams, almost as if their EVAs were replying instead of their users. The replies from the GDI teams were a bit more sporadic, but the message was all the same; every pony, griffon, and diamond dog was ready to do their part to push the Scrin off their world.
_____________

10 kilometers was not much of a march for Shadows or GDI soldiers; a hike like that across relatively flat terrain usually took an hour to pass through. The obstacles the strike force was facing made Tempest unsure on whether they’d get it done within eight. Within 30 minutes of landing, a flight of Stormriders had screamed past on what the teams could only assume was a patrol. The snipers could only assume that this meant that Nod stealth tech was as notorious with the aliens as it was with GDI, not that they could blame them. Having the advantage of knowing where Shadows were on the field was something everypony was still getting used to. The Shadows on the other hand were having to adapt to having teammates who couldn’t disappear into thin air, though their GDI counterparts weren’t completely inept at being unseen. Sweetie Belle had to admit that she was surprised as to how well they worked without the same technological advantage that she or her Shadows had.

While Shadows and Nod Commandos could simply vanish and move to safety, the armor that the sniper teams depended on for survival in the Red Zone were painted ahead of time, with the team getting 10 minutes to personalize their armor once they hit the ground. Whenever Stormriders screamed overhead, they managed to blend into the landscape in a way that made early-war Shadows look like amateurs.

“They’re learning.” Sweetie Belle caught herself musing on more than one occasion, though whether she was talking about the snipers in general or GDI as a whole was still up in the air even to herself.
_____________

The hours spent moving toward the objective passed by without incident and without anyone blowing their cover as the joint strike force made their way to the overwatch position labeled by their respective EVAs. Tempest was quick to move, giving out silent hoof-signal commands to her teams and watching them move carefully to their various vantage points. For now, she would take up position with Magnum at the primary launch point for the Shadows.

“We’re a few minutes behind schedule but nothing worth worrying about.” Sweetie Belle said, crouching next to the sniper team.

“Surprised it’s not a few hours with how many of those damn Stormriders we had to dodge on the way here.” Tempest replied quietly, “We’ll keep an eye on things from up here but I highly suggest we stick to radio silence once you get airborne.”

“Use status update lights. Flash yellow if we need to hide, red if we need to break cover and get back.” the unicorn Commando answered, nodding her agreement to Tempest’s suggestion, “If we need to activate the failsafe I’ll shut my status light off.”

“Failsafe?”

“If my team is incapacitated down there, that base still needs to be wiped out.” Sweetie Belle told her, “I’m already giving you the detonation codes just in case… well, if chips hit the fan, when it comes to the survival of our planet, mission comes first.”

Tempest tried not to turn her head, but at the moment she was glad that her helmet was obscuring her face. She had her own mission to complete, and Sweetie Belle had just handed her the tool to do it. Usually she’d feel no remorse about doing her duty, especially when it came to crippling Nod whenever possible, but she had to admit that facing aliens definitely put the entire war into a new perspective.

“Duty is duty…” she thought, “I can sort out moral complications when they’re all dead.”

“Link confirmed… detonation codes copied. Access granted.” the two EVAs stated in unison.

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am.” Tempest finally said, looking back over at her Brotherhood counterpart, “I’m sure this will be a textbook operation and we’ll all be enjoying a drink back on the Everfree in a week.”

“Here’s hoping, Staff Sergeant, here’s hoping…. Alright Shadows, wing up. Time to introduce our guests to some Brotherhood hospitality.”
_____________

The one thing Sweetie Belle considered to be the greatest perk of being a Shadow operative was the fact that anyone, of any species, was granted the ability to fly. Even when going straight into the jaws of death itself, she could enjoy what many winged races took for granted as she felt her glider wings carry her through the air. As the rest of her teams got into position, she activated the micro-boosters in the glider pack she had requisitioned for this operation and the rest of the Shadows did the same. Usually reserved for takeoff, the powerful, muffled fans mimicked a jet turbine, except they relied on battery power and were mostly there just to provide enough thrust to get their users in the air or to allow them to gain altitude during tricky maneuvers.

Without a word to her operatives, Sweetie Belle highlighted the various targets on their HUDs as well as staggered countdown timers for each team. Like the well-oiled machine that the Shadow Corps was, each team peeled off. Silently gliding towards their first targets in the alien base.

Unlike GDI or Nod architecture, the Scrin seemed more haphazard and organic. Arches would disappear at the apex, leaving an impossible angle for the arms that should have lead to them collapsing on each other, and spires that should have needed support wires just stood defiantly against the laws of physics. It was unsettling to say the least, given Nod explosives training was tailored to target GDI structures and there was little intelligence available on alien buildings other than what GDI managed to get while blasting them from orbit. InOps had provided potential structural weak points for the structures based on the results of live combat against active bases, but to the Sweetie Belle and her Shadows it looked like they were being told to just place explosives randomly.

Despite this, as well as the substantial garrison that was plain to see, they all moved in and silently landed in their respective operation zones.

The words “disperse, plant, RV, 90 seconds” flashed across the visors of her Shadow escort and the five invisible agents all bolted for their targets with explosives in hoof. Each packet of explosives was contained in a photo-reactive shell made of the same material as their stealth suits to keep enemy garrisons from removing them during long operations. In this scenario, it was a precaution against unknown alien technology. This was the first Shadow or commando infiltration into an alien base, and Sweetie Belle spared no expense on requisitioned gear to make sure it was a successful operation.

90 seconds came and went, and her team was already heading to their second set of targets. All across the base the other teams kept their pace with hers and planted pack after pack on what they could only hope were structural weak points and fracture lines. So far the alien troops had left them alone, seemingly unable to detect their presences. It was only as Sweetie Belle was getting to her fifth target that fate deemed to throw a wrench in the plan as she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

Among the various alien workers and ‘soldiers’ milling about, a single figure stood out. Bipedal, armored, and sporting glowing eyes that seemed to pierce whatever they glanced at, Sweetie Belle ducked behind the nearest wall and hoped that he couldn’t see her.
_____________

Progress was slow but steady, and Overseer-29 was more than happy to have the Supervisor out of his business. War was far removed from mining security and the further he could keep that pompous insect away from his operations the better. Data streamed across his vision as he walked through the camp. Units for base construction and units for base defense scurried about, avoiding him whenever possible as he strolled about, taking stock of the state of affairs and issuing orders as needed. This inspection was far from ideal but things were running smoothly enough that he wasn’t going to execute anyone today.

“Foreman-9587, shore up the defense line on the eastern flank.” he ordered, his voice echoing slightly while transmitting immediately to his underling, “Enhance disruptor output by 30% as well, no more interruptions by indigenous energy weapons.”

“Order confirmed, complying.” came the emotionless reply, though only he heard it. A small smile graced his features, though obscured by his facemask so that no one saw it. That smile soured though, as his eyes caught movement and he snapped his head to focus on it. Nothing was present where he looked but he wasn’t entirely convinced. He didn’t get where he was by being lazy.

Deliberate steps took him forward and, unbeknownst to him, the equine he saw was already close to panicking.
_____________

Several thousand light-years away, a single unit of the Scrin hive started moving. Limbs stretched, its eye blinked open, and its bulbous, somewhat cracked, body started to shuffle slightly as it shook out of its hibernation. A single tone had woken this alien from its slumber and within moments; it jolted from its little alcove and sprinted towards the wormhole at the end of the hallway. All across the walls identical aliens were sleeping, awaiting the day that they would be called to service, within the safety of the vault where they were all stored.

The four-legged, single-eyed alien soldier stepped through the wormhole, instantly appearing across the galaxy on a planet designated for ichor harvesting and indigenous species subjugation.

“Orders?” the Prodigy asked in its usual chittering language.

“Possible enemy stealth presence in the base.” the Overseer casually remarked, “Identify and kill them all.”

“Acknowledged and complying.” the Prodigy replied, blinking out of existence and reappearing a few hundred meters above the base. As it began its free-fall, it cycled various spectrums of vision, working through several dozen in a few seconds before one managed to notice the aforementioned enemy units. With another blink it disappeared and reappeared, this time back on solid ground and between two portal generators. Here the enemy infiltrators, properly identified as Nod Shadows, were hiding.

At first the Prodigy acted as though it couldn’t see the dragon fledgling, two changelings, and earth pony that were holding position. No need to give away that their stealth technology was ineffective. Instead it reached out with its mind, touching the thoughts of the entire team and following the threads of consciousness back to their source. Unlike the way the media of this world and many others portrayed mind control, there was no violent convulsion or a fight to keep control, and victims didn’t realize they were under control until they were killing their fellow soldiers.

Phantoms projected into the minds of the Shadows manifested violently and the alien commando took perverse pleasure in the bloodbath that followed. With the larger brain came independence, and while no two Prodigies or their lesser cousins the Masterminds were the same, they did all share one common trait; a thirst for violence.

The dragon slashed the pony across the throat, ripping at her comrade’s windpipe and tearing into it while screaming about having to cut the alien out of him. At the same time, the pony she was eviscerating was firing wildly into her chest. If not for the Prodigy having control of their minds, they both would have collapsed from their grievous wounds. For now, it was content to watch them bath in each others blood.

The changelings were a different story, and the Prodigy took perverse pride in what it managed to do with them. Movements were mirrored perfectly as both Shadows took out their combat knives and began carving into their counterparts. Piece by piece, the alien made the two changelings cut into each other, leaving piles of green viscera, muscle, and organs splayed around them. It wasn’t until their bodies couldn’t even stand on their own and the Prodigy had locked the equipment showing their vital signs to “green” that the psychic alien abandoned its artwork, leaving four ruined corpses splayed about in puddles of blood and shredded armor as it moved on to its next set of targets.

“How many?” its latest master asked.

“Four teams within the perimeter, one has been eliminated, transmitting coordinates of outside threat gleaned from infiltrator minds.”

“Good, hunt down the two teams farthest from me, the final one is mine.”
_____________

“Please tell me you see him.” Sweetie Belle whispered. She had already told Tempest to stow the complaints and, rightfully so, this new alien sighting was more than reason enough to break radio silence.

“I have eyes on him.” Tempest replied quietly, her sights resting squarely on the Overseer’s armored chest, “Or it, I guess… it’s moving towards your previous position.”

“Acknowledged… keep us posted and get the failsafe ready, this looks like we’re one wrong move away from everything going south.”

“Noted.” Tempest replied again, her tone neutral as she readied the detonation codes. She had watched patiently, watching as the small strobes that showed where the Shadows were continuing to scurry around like mice avoiding a room full of cats. Only one team had finished their objective and were holding position at their rally point. None of her teams could get eyes on the four-member team, but radio silence was still holding and their status lights had not changed. This new bipedal creature on the other hand was making Tempest nervous. His movements were too coincidental to be pure chance, and if the path he was taking was any indication, he could see the invisible Nod troops in his base.

“Shouldn’t we say something…?” Magnum asked.

He never got an answer, and Tempest never heard his voice again.
_____________

Once more, the Prodigy had its eye on a team of Shadows. This time they weren’t nearly as condensed as its previous prey, though all that meant to it was that the canvas was bigger. Trotting along much like the equines of this world, the Scrin commando surged forward, again pretending that it didn’t see the Nod Shadows in its presence. Unlike the previous piece of artwork it had created, this time the Prodigy was feeling more... experimental, especially since the team it was facing was much more diverse than the previous set of corpses.

Another dragon, a griffon, a diamond dog, and another earth pony, and the opportunity to work with all these species at once was something the Prodigy would not pass up. Once more, threads of thought gave way to the minds of those the alien wished to command and, with the gentlest of manipulation armatures, it put the four infiltrators into a single-file line in front of it with the dragon taking the lead. No command was needed, no order was necessary as the Prodigy’s thoughts were made reality, and the young dragon knelt in front of the alien with his back to it.

Tendrils extended from the small base between the Prodigy’s forelegs and bulbous, Tiberium-enriched head and peeled open the Shadow’s armor. Shortly after, it peeled back its scales, muscle, and even piece of its skull with surprising ease and care. Ever so gently, the alien brought forth a squirming larval worm and started fusing it to the dragon’s head, only letting go of them both when the larva began testing out the limbs of its new host. While small for now, it would only take a few days for the young Prodigy to fully subsume the host in which its parent had so lovingly planted it. The native felt everything throughout.

Slowly the dragon stood, tears still drying on its face and blood still seeping from the recent insertion. He moved aside, making way for the next victim to be introduced to what it was like to be part of the Scrin. Shadow after Shadow was put through the grim process, letting out silent screams of pain as manipulator arms dug into them like they were marble blocks being chiseled out by a master sculptor, and Shadow after Shadow emerged from it reborn as part of the Hive. Each host body was entirely self-aware, yet they could not fight the greater intelligence that had been implanted into them. They were prisoners within their own bodies, merely along for the ride as these juvenile aliens tested out what their new homes were capable of.

Unfortunately, at least for the Scrin infant, the griffon did not survive the implantation. The Shadows, now fully aware of their situation, could at least feel some relief knowing that their teammate did not have to live out the rest of her days as a slave to the aliens, but sorrow panged in the Prodigy for a moment. It was the briefest moment of sadness for the dead larva, but that moment passed faster than a lightning bolt in an ion storm, and the griffon’s uniform was removed and its transmitter rigged just like those of the previous team. The two corpses now bound to each other were quickly disposed of by the Disintegrator-class plasma weapon imbedded in the alien commando’s eye, and their ashes soon flowed away with the wind.

“Second team disposed of, sending new initiates to handle isolated member of team three.” the Prodigy announced as it watched dozens of Stormriders take off from the nearby gravity well emplacements. It would have smiled if it had anything resembling what the equines equated to a mouth.

“Come children.” it said, getting excited chittering sounds from the mouths of their hosts, “There is one more set of these infiltrators to play with.”
_____________

A series of explosions ripped through the cliffside, sending Tiberium shards flying through the air. Sweetie Belle wasn’t easily distracted when in the middle of an operation, yet this sudden attack caught her attention better than any det-pack could. Before she could even ask for a status update, screams started filtering in over her team comm channel and one of her Shadows flat-lined.

“Moth? Moth!?” Sweetie Belle cried into her comm only to be answered by static and another Shadow going dark. Team Qatar’s newest addition after Whirlwind had been killed in Canterlot.

“They’re both gone, ma’am!” Brutus answered, “Teams Cygnus just jumped them and tore them apart like goddamn Buzzers!”

“Gather at the final RV and get ready to lea-shit!” she started before a beam of plasma interrupted her. She barely dodged the blast but the shockwave from it hitting the ground near her sent her flying into a nearby wall.

“You shouldn’t be here.” the alien told her, his voice booming as though it was amplified through her helmet speakers, “But I suppose I could use the entertainment.”

Sweetie Belle didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply and opened up with her suit’s integrated laser pistols. To her horror he shrugged off the beams as they scattered harmlessly off his armor, and things only got worse as she found out that Brutus had disobeyed her orders. In a matter of seconds, in a moment that seemed to last years, the diamond dog she had been fighting with since the Siege of the Crystal Kingdom deactivated his cloak and tried to tackle Overseer-29. The burly Shadow only managed to get his paws around the alien’s outstretched arm after the alien’s razor-sharp claw tore into his torso. Red blood painted the Overseer’s armor plating as he tossed the Shadow aside like a broken toy.

“Continue bombarding the snipers, no survivors.” he casually added as Stormriders continued to scream by overhead. Sweetie wanted to call to Tempest or to any of the other Shadows, but the fighting escalated and she was too busy dodging plasma and swings of this monster’s razor-tipped appendages. She barely had time to get a general warning to the other Shadows and an order to finish placing det packs before the alien managed to swat her into another wall, cracking it.

“Your planet is property of the Scrin, equine…” the Overseer stated, “Your planet will be seeded, the ichor will be harvested, and the aberrant will be contained.”
_____________

Smoke covered the area and threatened to clog Tempest’s helmet filters. Plasma continued to stream in and, much to her dismay, Magnum and three other snipers were showing as KIA on her roster. Alien fighter-craft continued to strafe where her snipers had been, and the only surviving member of her strike team was pinging his status as wounded.

“Pull back to the safe zone at your own pace…. Dress your wounds, get back alive… I’ll handle things from here.” she ordered.

“Copy that… good luck sarge.” the pegasus replied between violent coughing fits.

“Yeah… luck…” the magenta unicorn whispered to herself. Without another word, but with a silent prayer for forgiveness, Tempest sent the detonation codes out on all team channels and turned away from the base.
_____________

“Codes recognized, Sierra Beta Alpha Five Zero Niner. Detonation confirmed Lieutenant Belle.” Sweetie Belle’s EVA chimed in her ear. The white unicorn couldn’t reply, or even give a counter-command. The shock of her codes being activated, as well as the fact that the Overseer had her by the neck, kept her from speaking. Tendrils meant to interface with the alien’s command network were attached to her armor, gathering as much data as he could before the first explosion rocked the base and broke the connection. Despite their size, Shadow det-packs were insanely powerful, with enough force to disable or destroy a Mammoth tank outright; more than enough to cause a shockwave capable of disrupting the impromptu data mining connection and sending both the Overseer and Sweetie Belle to the ground.

Explosion after explosion, chained from the outer edges of the base towards the center, continued to go off and kept both combatants on the ground. But while the Overseer was thinking of escape routes and combat contingencies, Sweetie Belle’s mind was in another place entirely. Her Shadows had already been killed by the detonations or by Scrin forces, and she had already started coughing up blood and couldn’t feel her hind legs. Despite the pain, the pressure waves, and the fires getting ever closer, her thoughts lingered on two ponies.

“Apple Bloom…. Scootaloo… I’m sorry…” she thought, memories of her youth flashing before her eyes as yet another detonation rocked her broken body. Tedious yet rewarding work on the Apple Farm, hair disasters at Rarity’s boutique, Sweetie Belle and her friends walking away from a misguided zip-lining attempt completely covered in sap and pine needles. If she hadn’t been coughing up blood, she would have been laughing at all of these wonderful memories of an innocent time, a time before the war… before Tiberium.

Light from the combined detonations was blinding her now, but despite the overwhelming pressure and bloody heaving, she managed to keep a small, sad smile on her face and let out her final, defiant words.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders….. forever.”
_____________

“New data burst coming in from the strike force, ma’am…. InOps and field EVAs are transmitting.” a changeling reported to Mantis. He was surrounded by monitors, red lights, and a handful of other changelings with cybernetic implants embedded in their skulls.

“Give me a picture, I want to know why that grid went dark so quickly.” she ordered with a scowl.

“Coming up momentarily.” he replied as data streamed across his screen, “... all Shadow Teams KIA… all but two of the GDI snipers KIA as well… target neutralized, detonation authorized by... by Commando Lieutenant Belle, also KIA. Alpha base construction is 75% complete, survivors should rendezvous by the time construction is completed.”

“Send the report up to Hyperion and Major Blizzard… and update the rosters.” Mantis told the operations officer, her expression moving from irritated to somber as the news truly hit her, “Prepare a proper letter for General Rarity as well… she needs to be informed that… that her sister has become a martyr. In the name of Kane.”

Retribution

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Chapter XXIX - Retribution

The wonders of tiberium had made budget constraints a thing of the past for GDI and Nod, and the fact that refineries could pump out just about anything that both factions needed both in the field and domestically was a miracle that could not be understated. For Spike it was a welcome miracle as he continued to watch Rarity tear her Mareajevo office apart, right down to the support columns.

For the first hour he tried to get a word in edgewise to no avail, even with Twilight trying to get a call in from her lab in the deepest sub-levels of Temple Prime. Neither of these worked, so Spike settled for keeping the unicorn general contained so she didn’t go around making Ironside’s day a good one by killing most of the Nod leadership.

Her hair was wild, unable to keep its usual form and cover the tiberium-infested portion of her face. Her hooves were dented and bloody from how many times she had attacked the wall or kicked through a monitor, and her mascara was running horribly as tears flowed as freely as her mourning screams. It wasn’t until almost three hours into her breakdown that Spike was finally able to calm her down long enough to restrain her without hurting the mare.

“Shhh…. easy now, Rarity…. Breathe...” he whispered, holding her close while keeping her eyes away from the fast-approaching medics and engineers that had been waiting outside.

“Sh-sh-sh-she… she…. She’s gone…. My little Sweetie Belle is GO-OOW!”

Before Rarity could begin another raving episode, the lead medic injected a very powerful sedative right into her flank. Normally she would slap anyone who got that close that wasn’t Spike, but her thoughts soon went blank as she passed out in her dragon’s arms.

“We’ll get her patched up sir, though with… this reaction… will she be able to lead?”

“Take her to Princess Twilight’s lab; have the medical team go there as well, I’ll be assuming direct command of her unit until further notice.” the dragon replied quietly, steel behind his voice as he cradled the crazed unicorn, “Move.”
_____________

If Rarity’s office was the definition of chaos, then the bridge of the Everfree was the epitome of order. Despite receiving the bad news that the initial strike against the Cloudsdale base was met with a 90% fatality rate, the collected officers kept their minds focused on using the blood-earned lessons to focus on achieving their three-month long objective: wreck an alien superweapon.

“We’re looking at better security than what our previous attack found, but there is a significantly lower amount of air support here. Estimates put an aerial response within 30 minutes, but with wormholes… well, shave that down to 30 seconds.” Mantis stated, gesturing to the holographic map of their target and the surrounding area being updated in real time. Usually an operation like this would be planned days or weeks in advance. However with the aliens apparently adapting quite well to joint Nod-GDI attacks, none of the officers aboard wanted to risk planning with old information. Hyperion leaned in with his front hooves on the table, with Blizzard mirroring the motion along with many of the other officers, regardless of uniform, pacing around the area. Some murmured amongst themselves while others looked at their personal EVAs and took a closer look at various parts of the map, reviewing roster assignments, and keeping the comm system searching for Brotherhood reinforcements that High Command said were somehow in the area.

“Might be time to go at this one with the GDI playbook.” Blizzard finally replied, having his EVA project his available forces in a standard assault formation, “Mammoths and Predators lead the way, Everfree keeps the skies clear, and the Nod troops work shoulder-to-shoulder with GDI infantry.”

“Oversimplified, but possible… GDI has a tendency to work best when they’re steamrolling enemy positions.” Hyperion added.

“We’ll be the broadsword. Send a dagger force against the flanks and with any luck we’ll be able to turn their lines in on themselves long enough to get charges or a few railgun shots on that damn Rift Generator.”

“Can we depend on your Pitbulls to integrate with the buggies we would be sending to the flanks?” Hyperion asked, getting a nod in reply from the older officer.

“Unless each one of those buggies has laser weaponry, there’s no way they’d pack enough of a punch without the Pitbulls.” the zone trooper officer said, “Scorpions, Predators, and Mammoths will form the main assault force with infantry holding back. A detachment of Zone Troopers will ride into the fight with the flankers, Timberwolf APCs will keep our recon vehicles company and maybe get in a few good shots while they’re at it.”

“We can add some firepower if necessary.” another voice interjected, one that Hyperion recognized immediately. Even before the old coot’s form solidified on the holotable, he was already glad this was who High Command had referred to.

“Zeek.. it’s been some time.” Hyperion stated.

“Stealth required radio silence, but we’re in a safe zone. For now at least. My battalion has been busy behind Scrin lines for the past few months. If the Everfree would be kind enough to offer my boys a lift back, we can put the last of our ammunition to good use against our bug friends.”

“How many tanks do you have left?”

“45.” the holographic stallion replied, “Lost 12 of my tanks out here in the red zone harassing the Scrin as best we can. Send us the pincer deployment areas and I can have my battalion split in two to secure the area and wait for your troops.”

“Any objections?” Hyperion asked, getting silence in reply, “Very well then. Zeek, we’re transmitting now; keep tight-beam contact with us when you can. We should have a designator for you by the time we-”

“Hammer and Sword.” Mantis interrupted, getting a chuckle from Hyperion and a raised eyebrow from Major Blizzard.

“Those names will work.” Zeek said, “If you all don’t have an issue with her choice of names, that is.”

“A little overdone, but accurate…” Blizzard quipped, “Jet Deck will be in charge of the troopers on the flank. Assuming neither of you object, I’d suggest that I keep operational command of Hammer, Mantis take Sword, and Hyperion have theater command with Sister-Battle Commander Pie. As for air support, I’ll see about getting a Firehawk strike on painted targets.”

“Unit rosters need a bit of shuffling but that will be acceptable. We still have the element of surprise so preparations can take as long as needed.” Maud stated in her usual monotone, “However, I would suggest that the assault begin within five hours. Weather reports have an ion storm hitting the battlefield in ten.”

“Duly noted.” Hyperion replied, “Hammer Actual, Sword Actual… let’s get this done.”
_____________

Brotherhood and GDI technology were not built to work with each other. However, with a common foe threatening scorpion and eagle alike, engineers on both sides of the tiberium doctrinal lines found a way to make things fit. One of the smaller cargo bays had been converted into an armory for GDI’s Zone Troopers, specifically to provide the necessary equipment to get them suited up and armed for combat. Zone armor, while a marvel of engineering, wasn’t the easiest piece of equipment to strap onto a pony and so specialized arming bays were designed to assist with this based on the version used in the project’s prototype phase at the beginning of the war. These days the technology had been perfected, or at least as much as they could given the limitations of the times, and what used to be a thirty minute process was now 45 seconds.

That short processing time was a boon given the word that had just come down from on high. Jet Deck and Apple Bloom were already in the specially designed fatigues meant to be worn beneath the armor and shortly after, they had roused every trooper from naps, showers, and throwing rocks at each other. Within minutes they were fully armored and barking out for their troopers to follow suit.

One pony in particular took to getting ready with particular vigor, a grey mare with a close-cut silvery-mane and the obvious surgical scars that showed she had her eyes enhanced before trooper school. Her armor was still relatively fresh with no real signs of scuffing or burning like the few veterans of the Trooper Corps had, and the name stencilled into her flank was still in pristine condition.

“You’re staring again.” Jet Deck whispered, getting a small shudder from Apple Bloom as she tore her gaze away from the rest of the company.

“I knew her growing up.”

“The gray one?”

“Yeah.” Apple Bloom replied quietly, “Silver Spoon, her and Diamond Tiara were… troublesome fillies back in the day before I got my cutie mark, good friends after that though.”

“Tiar-oh, Captain Tiara? Filthy Rich’s daughter, right?” the yellow stallion asked, quirking up an eyebrow, “Isn’t he funding half the war personally?”

“She was, and not that much.” she responded coldly, “Silver, Scoots, and Pip, wherever he is, are the only ponies my age left alive from Ponyville.”

“You… gonna be ok this round, Bloom…? I know the news hit you har-”

“I’m fine, Jet, really.” she told him, looking over, “Aliens took my best friend… I’m just glad I’m getting a chance for some payback. I’m solid, you know that, so don’t worry about me, and worry about getting the rest of these newbies back in one piece.”

Jet Deck was about to protest, for all the good it would have done, before he felt her nudge his shoulder and give the first smile he’d seen in days, no matter how small it was. He smiled back, giving a slight nod before pulling up his EVA.

“Whatchya doin’?”

“Transferring Corporal Spoon’s squad to your flanker team. They may be green but in the two engagements they’ve participated in they’ve performed with distinction. Should be a good fit for your side of the pincer.”

“You’re an ass, you know that?”

“If you minded you would have left me by now.” the stallion quipped, getting a slight scowl from his partner before it transformed into a resigned smirk. She may not have been the same since hearing about Sweetie Belle, but she was right about being solid. He knew she was more than capable of holding her own and staying steady as a mountain when chips hit the fan.

“I’ll prep my pincer, talk to the troops and all that... meet up in 10?” Apple Bloom asked, though it felt more like a statement than a question.

“Major Blizzard should be down here by then, yeah, we’ll get the full brief out to the rest of the troopers and go finish what we started in Canterlot.”
_____________

“I say again, all armor crews are to button up immediately, drop is imminent.” Blizzard announced as he walked the line. At the front were the four Mammoths, all with their engines running, hatches locked down, and turret locks released. The massive tanks had to make a box formation given their size and how relatively thin the deployment bay of the Everfree was compared to a Kodiak, but they still made it work. Behind the behemoths stood 80 Zone Troopers in formation with a company of Predators behind them, and scattered along the sides of this impressive formation were the other 220 GDI regular infantry outfitted with ZOCOM armor suits.

Blizzard usually would have expected the Brotherhood formation to look haphazard in comparison, but he was glad to see that Hyperion had plenty of his father’s discipline instilled in him and, by proxy, his soldiers.

Scorpion tanks were escorted by a handful of Black Hand, as well as proper Nod soldiers. No militia was allowed on the Brotherhood airship, and the battalion at the Everfree’s disposal was made purely of veteran, professional soldiers that had all seen combat before being selected for duty aboard ship. However, despite the initial segregation, once the armor was in place, GDI soldiers spaced out properly along the edges of the formation from the start of the GDI line down to the final Scorpion tank.

“Hammer Actual to Command Actual, all heads are ready, round is in the chamber.” Blizzard stated.

“Sword Actual to Hammer and Command. Carryalls in position, flankers are ready to disembark.” Mantis chimed in, her face popping up on Blizzard’s HUD next to Hyperion’s.

“Strike leaders this is Command Actual…. Board is green, commence assault.”

No reply was needed. Instead the older soldier looked out as the massive door of the deployment bay slammed open. All pretenses of stealth were being thrown out the window to give Sword the necessary smoke screen, and Blizzard was more than happy to go charging into a fight the old-fashioned way. All down the bay, every unicorn and changeling that could use magic channeled their energies as they ran forward, and the tanks moved with them.

The Everfree couldn’t land without a proper dock, and being on her own she couldn’t risk getting close enough to the ground for enemy armor or infantry to try a boarding action, so the task force put their biggest advantage against the aliens to work. As the Mammoths finally reached the end of the ramp, magic encased them and instead of falling like rocks to the ground 50 meters below, they continued moving forward while descending at a safe speed. Behind them, the Predators and Scorpions followed suit, spreading out from the initial egress to form the battle line with the supporting infantry floating or flying alongside them.

By the time the last tank hit the ground, a battle line of four Mammoths, 16 Predators, and 28 Scorpion tanks was formed, with Blizzard leading the charge as he and the rest of his Zone Troopers galloped ahead of the armor. Each tank and the infantry supporting them kept pace, not stopping as the Everfree now free of her deadly cargo began lifting back up to proper air support height and began spewing Venoms from her flight deck.

Side by side, Zone Troopers, Black Hand, and infantry from all walks of life charged the alien defenses, firing as they moved from cover to cover. The smell of ozone and the cracks of railguns filled the air as lasers and contrails struck forward, almost as if they were carrying the momentum of those who fired them, and the shields protecting the base shuddered and failed.

The ferocity and suddenness of the attack delayed the Scrin reaction, but they were not ones to lay about and leave a challenge unanswered. Plasma began lancing out at the attacking force, Stormriders surged from mid-air portals only to be intercepted by Venoms, and the battle was well and truly joined.
_____________

Sword had hit dirt shortly after Hammer had gained the Scrin’s attention, with cloaked Brotherhood carryalls having the honor of giving the combined assault force a combat drop before peeling back to the safety of the Everfree. Timberwolves with the upgraded “Guardian” point defense system, Nod Buggies, and the fresh off the testing field C-66 Pitbull Recon Vehicle.

Pitbulls were a new addition to GDI’s arsenal, with the first 20 in service being attached to the Everfree for anti-alien operations. Built like a stocky, closed-cab truck with a next generation sensor suite, they were originally meant to be an answer to Nod’s skirmisher doctrine. They were quickly proving themselves against the aliens across all theaters thanks to their high mobility and surprisingly heavy armament.

That armament was busy swatting Stormriders out of the sky, and the ludicrously equipped missile launchers mounted on the back of the light recon vehicle were working overtime, with the rear-mounted 80mm auto-loading mortar putting in work as well. Alongside them, the Nod Buggies were swerving about, dodging fire as best they could while harassing any alien infantry that so much as glanced in the direction of the pincer, all while the APCs kept pace shortly behind.

This mixed bag of light armor, or in Nod’s case no armor, was split evenly down the middle with Zone Troopers latching onto whatever vehicle they could hop onto like they were extra plating. Despite their impressive speed, even a Zone trooper couldn’t gallop at the speed of a Pitbull without jet assistance, and fuel was to be preserved until the two flanking forces were inside the alien perimeter.

Ammunition on the other hand was in generous supply and was spent in an equally generous manner. The Zone Troopers under Jet Deck’s command were happy to gun down anything in optimal firing range.

“90 seconds until first burn, troopers! Prime targeting solutions and prep the boosters for bounce!”

“First Sergeant this is Brigadier General Zeek, holding fire until your troopers are ready to boost.” Jet Deck heard over the comm.

“60 seconds, sir, ready when you are.”

“Missiles are primed, chaff pods are up, and EVAs are synced. Fire is go on your signal trooper.”

Countdown timers ticked down as the scattered plasma fire began to pick up, and once it hit zero, the sky was filled with hundreds of contrails. EVA targeting kept the missiles from impacting the Zone Troopers who had launched off of the pincers in force, and with explosives and power-armored ponies all mingling in the air together, the targeting systems that the aliens had for air defense couldn’t keep up. As armored ponies jumped into action, the atmosphere began burning, and the Everfree reminded everyone on the battlefield of her origins as the GDA Canterlot.
_____________

Normally the largest laser weaponry available to the Brotherhood was Obelisk-class, used on Avatars and on their namesake the Obelisks of Nod that protected important installations. The main ship-to-ship weaponry of the Everfree had been upgraded shortly after the Battle of Canterlot, and now sported the only models of laser to have an output more powerful than an Obelisk. As such, they required an appropriate name when they were finally classified.

All four Kane-class laser batteries opened fire on the alien base, shredding what little shielding was left on the various buildings around the compound after the initial armor volley. Three portals that GDI InOps had identified as vehicle summoning bays simply disappeared under the sustained fire, and what appeared to be some form of construction device with multiple manipulator arms was turned to dust.

“Effective fire, four targets destroyed, calibrating for second volley.” the gunnery officer announced, his tone neutral and dispassionate. Maud preferred to have her bridge crew share her mannerisms in combat, if not in their personal life, and found it kept things from becoming hectic and chaotic aboard the massive airship.

“Return fire inbound, EVA identifying surface-to-air alien weaponry…” another officer announced, not wavering as the ship rocked from the impacts, “Tiberium shard weapons. We have minor infestations on the outer armor, sending containment drones.”

“Secondary set of primary targets identified, ready to fire on your command.”

“Erase them.” Maud ordered, using her most passionate vocabulary as the left corner of her mouth quirked up roughly one micrometer. Holy fire rained down from the sky through the grace of Kane and she considered herself honored to be the one to command such blessed weaponry.

“Two targets down, two heavily damaged. Preparing third salvo.”

“Status of GDI orbital and air support?” Maud inquired, glancing at her EVA while surveying the main map in the center of the bridge. The electronic voice that she had grown fond of replied with only a single word.

“Imminent.”
_____________

Major Blizzard, despite all odds, was enjoying himself today. The assault force had managed complete surprise and, despite the withering fire hitting Hammer the hardest, they were still able to fire and advance just as planned. Mammoths would let off a salvo just before the Scorpions and Predators added their weapons to the mix, creating a deadly one-two punch that the infantry could move with. Instead of using foxholes or barricades, GDI infantry unicorns were using a tactic that had been plaguing Nod troops whenever GDI went on the offensive; magical barriers.

Each unicorn, on average, had enough magical strength to keep a magical barrier up in front of two fireteams complete with firing slits that could be closed at will. The only downside to providing such heavy cover from incoming directional fire was that air support and indirect weapons like mortars could decimate units if they couldn’t anticipate where they would land. Even then it was exceedingly rare for a single unicorn to be able to stop a mortar shell or air-to-ground missile on their own and survive.

Luckily for Major Blizzard and the rest of Hammer, GDI was bringing the big guns today. As promised, Firehawks were quick to join the fight after they entered the AO. At the onset of the engagement Venoms were keeping Stormriders off of the ground forces, but they lacked the firepower to properly down the alien aircraft in a timely manner. Firehawks were simply the superior aircraft on the field and the newly reconstituted Phoenix and Onyx Squadrons tipped the balance of air power in GDI and Nod’s favor.

“All air forces, this is Phoenix Lead. Updating your EVAs with incoming ordinance trajectories.” Scootaloo stated over the comm, her EVA doing most of the work as she danced around the battlefield in her new Firehawk.

“How big are we talking?” a Nod pilot asked.

“Orbital assistance inbound, brace yourself because these bad boys will knock you around.” she replied, smiling as her HUD started showing exactly what was coming. All around her, aimed at the outer alien defensive line, red tubes starting at the ground and extending to the heavens sprang to life, showing her exactly where not to be in a few seconds. As she continued to weave about the battlefield gracefully, the ordinance she had prepared for finally arrived.

10 metal rods 20 meters long and only a third of a meter in diameter screamed through the atmosphere at far past terminal velocity. Fired from an orbital station after many months of gathering dust in their tubes, these projectiles had been fired from railguns instead of just letting gravity do the work. While the Ion Cannon Array had picked up the nickname “Celestia’s Wrath” on both sides of the Tiberium War, this form of kinetic bombardment had picked up a similar moniker among GDI troops privileged enough to watch them in action.

“Ironsides’ Calling Cards are on the way, I say again, rods in the air!” Scootaloo announced, getting an almost jovial affirmative from Major Blizzard on the ground. She could see the impacts from her place in the air, but on days like this she wished she could see the fireworks from ground level.
_____________

Captain Sandhorn let out a whoop as the ground shook and the orbital strike obliterated the first line of alien defenses, not that anyone outside of his Predator tank heard it. Sandhorn had managed to put in some good work at Dodge Junction, and then ended up being the only member of his crew to survive Canterlot. As luck would have it, he ended up in the expeditionary team formed by Blizzard and was now paying the aliens back for every ounce of blood they’d taken.

Old Proverb belched fire and smoke once more, sending another railgun-assisted HE round down range into a Scrin fighting position as he watched his detonation join the masterpiece of destruction that the orbital strike had created. Kinetic rounds required no warhead, as gravity and a little assistance from magnetic rails was more than enough energy to annihilate anything it landed on. His crew had a saying that if grenades were a message to a party, and their tank firing was “to whomever it may concern”, these pieces of orbital artillery were easily a letter addressed as “Dear Grid Square”.

“Target hit, won’t be seeing anymore plasma coming from that turret.” the gunner announced, cackling slightly and letting her hoof dance behind the firing stud. Apple Cider was a lesser known member of the Apple Family, but she was an Apple all the same and Sandhorn was happy to have the blue mare aiming Old Proverb’s main cannon.

“Or anything around the damn thing.” Sandhorn quipped, giving Cider a friendly nudge on the shoulder, “Plenty of targets up and the Old Man is ordering a push. Ahead full and keep up with the the Zoners.”

“Copy that Cap, pushing up.” the driver announced. He was a young pegasus that went only by his nickname “Gearbox”. He was younger than your usual armor corporal, much to Sandhorn’s dismay, but the green stallion could drive and drive well, much to the surprise of everypony during their first training exercise.

“Ammunition is at 72%, sir.” their loader announced as he slammed another shell home magically. A scarred white unicorn, presumably of the same lineage of Prince Blueblood but if the dead unicorn prince was the image of vanity, Sergeant Nails was gruffness personified. You couldn’t tell his mane was blonde because he shaved it and his tail down, stating that they just got in the way in a tank, and his white coat was permanently marred by scarring and burn tissue that he refused to let be magically erased.

“Received, just means I need to find targets faster for you lugs.” Sandhorn told him, smirking back at his loader and getting a grim chuckle in return. While they surged forward, he brought up the tactical map and checked in on the battle as a whole, smiling slightly as he saw the progress that Sword was making into the alien compound. Another few meters and they’d be within firing distance of the Rift Generator and they could all get the hell out of this red zone.

“Expect a little turbulence, alien guns gutted the terrain pretty badly.” Gearbox said, giving an unseen grimace from his seat as the armored beast joined the surge of metal and immediately dipped in and out of a plasma crater. Everyone heeded the announcement, bracing appropriately as the 70-ton MBT rode the terrain like a skiff on a rough ocean.

Cider wasn’t idle while the tank was moving though, and compensators built into the turret kept the guns steady as she let loose another HE round and the coaxial .50 caliber MG into the steadily deteriorating alien defensive line. Despite this, the aliens still kept pumping return fire into the armored advance and plasma continued to spatter against the hull of the Old Proverb, melting inch after inch of tempered armor.

“Load up, alien AT looking straight at us!” Sandhorn barked, but before he could bellow out for Gearbox to evade or for Nails to get AP loaded, the gun aiming straight at them was bisected by a Scorpion laser.

“That one’s on the house, Sandy.” came a familiar voice over Sandhorns headset, “Think you can spare one of those lovely armor-piercing ‘fuck you’ rounds into that MG nest harassing my boys at your 2 o’clock?”

“Copy that, Kane’s Hoof.” Sandhorn replied, suppressing a laugh as he did. Kane’s Hoof was commanded by Brother-Captain Quarry, his brother who had defected when the war started. Pure chance had lead to them both being on the Everfree, but not to them both being tankers. It seemed armor ran in his family’s blood regardless of what side they chose.

Diligently his tank returned the favor, pulping a plasma machinegun and the bipedal aliens manning it, but before the victory cheers could be let out the infantry that Sandhorn had just saved disappeared in a flash of plasma that was all too familiar to him. He knew what had taken the shot before he even got back on his scopes, and his hopes of a quick victory died with another squad of soldiers.
_____________

Annihilator Tripods had devastated GDI and Nod forces alike at Canterlot. Their only competition in the war were the Mammoth tank and the Nod Avatar. However, the monstrosities facing this cooperative assault were different than those anyone had seen before. Where the standard variant had one massive eye, this one had 4 extra ones above it, and while the other was spindly, almost skeletal, this version was obviously heavily armored with tiberium-tipped legs behind its energy shields.

After the war they would be designated as the Reaper Tripod, and they were all too effective at their job. Within moments of them wading into the battle, dozens of soldiers and three tanks from Hammer were wiped out, with only a Firehawk strike managing to down one before it could flash-vaporize another GDI platoon. Hammer was brought to an abrupt and bloody halt as they started going toe-to-toe with the massive walkers. Sword on the other hand was met with less numerous but just as effective force on the flanks. One tripod even had the gall to fire up at the Everfree after two Mammoths had stripped it of its shielding, and though it melted through the thick armor plating with ease and even managed to rupture a missile battery, it received a Kane-class laser strike for the trouble.

Rumor has it that Brother-Brigadier General Hyperion muttered “Mine’s bigger.” directly after killing the tripod, although no sources can confirm this as fact.

Despite support from the Everfree, the assault was stalled on all sides. And despite having the least amount of contact to worry about, Sword was taking the worst of the alien counterattack. While Mammoths could shrug off a hit and Predators that weren’t completely cored by the plasma beams could at least fire back, any Pitbull or Nod Buggy caught out in the open simply vanished if the alien walkers managed to score even a glancing blow.
_____________

All through this carnage, Apple Bloom was boosting around like a beast possessed. The missiles that Zeek had so kindly donated meant her troopers weren’t caught out in the open, but facing tripods again wasn’t on her list of things she felt like dealing with. Her engines were already running hot from weaving around the original defenders, but now with walkers porting in she, along with every other Zone Trooper, was pushing her boosters to their limit. No way in hell was she going to let herself or anyone else get caught in the open like at Canterlot.

“Spoon, burn on me and land 5 meters right!” Apple Bloom barked, Silver Spoon replied instantly, following her lead and jumping through the air in sync with the more experienced trooper. They both landed, made their shots, and jumped again all in the span of 5 seconds. In another 5, they made it behind a ruined portal for cover, panting slightly as other Zone Troopers followed the same attack pattern. Another laser leapt forth, impacting another tripod and stripping it of its shields long enough for another team of the power-armored ponies to jump in and try put it down.

Apple Bloom screamed when one of them vanished in a puff of vaporized titanium and the pony next to them slumped over, his armor overheating and glowing from being so close to the beam.

“NO!” she wailed, leaping back into the fray as the dying tripod looked over at her. In a vain attempt to fire, it raised up its last functioning weapon arm, only for Apple Bloom to jet through it and land on its eye. Railguns cracked and pierced the strange alien alloy protecting its optics, making the damn thing howl like it was alive. She continued pumping rounds into it until the husk stopped moving, screaming at it as if it alone were responsible for the entire invasion. It wasn’t until another set of contrails hit one of the damaged arms that she looked up and saw the team she had been leading personally. Silver Spoon had thrown in a salvo just to be safe.

Apple Bloom looked at her, then to the stallion laying on the ground screaming obscenities at the aliens as a medic began tending to him. She knew it was Jet Deck before the beam even got close to him, but hearing him shout out was more than she could take.

“We have a job to do, everyone! We’re endin’ this now!” the yellow mare barked over an open channel. She didn’t care if only Sword heard her or if her voice carried all the way to Hyperion’s EVA. Her troopers were quick to reply, shouting out war cries of their own as they charged with her and lived up to their reputation. An armored hoof slammed against the alien counter attack, shocking the alien defenders like a cavalry charge of old and leaving them open to the rest of Sword.

Tripods fixated on hitting Hammer or annihilating the Zone Trooper offensive were met with deadly salvos from the Stealth Tank battalion, while mortars from the Pitbulls and laser fire from the Everfree continued to pummel the area into submission. GDI and Nod alike bled and died as they continued to push the alien line back until finally, Corporal Silver Spoon got a laser designator onto the Rift Generator. Seconds after, another dozen Zone Troopers added theirs to the mix and Apple Bloom let out every GDI soldier’s favorite phrase.

“Bring the rain!”
_____________

“We have your designators, standby and hold onto your teeth.” Lieutenant Joy stated matter-of-factly. She was nowhere near the battle, in fact she wasn’t even on the planet. Far above the engagement, the same Orbital Defense Station that had kindly fired its railguns into the fray was preparing another volley. Usually the railguns could pinpoint one of its titanium rods onto a target the size of a Scorpion tank, but in this case GDI and Nod both wanted to make sure that when this superweapon was destroyed, it stayed dead.

Pinpoint targeting and EVA coordination tied in through the laser designators being used by the Zone Troopers meant that they could get their targeting grid from aiming at an area in a matter of meters to a matter of centimeters. The turrets all aligned, each one syncing up to a different designator and letting the EVAs set the firing timers. Once more, overkill was suggested and agreed upon. 20 rods would be hitting the Rift Generator simultaneously with the timing and precision that only an EVA could provide.

Lieutenant Joy barely felt the vibrations through the station as every gun they had fired on one target, but it was enough to bring a smile to her face.

“Payload released, enjoy the show.”
______________

Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon, and every other Zone Trooper in Sword was thrown to the ground when the Rift Generator came apart. The wormhole it was providing stability for collapsed in on itself as the stabilization arms were ripped apart by the sheer kinetic power slamming into them, and parts of them even managed to get sucked into the portal before it essentially ate itself and disappeared. Shortly after, Scrin units started dropping where they stood or falling out of the sky. Whatever was commanding this base did as many of them did in the past and deemed the entire area a lost cause.

The units that didn’t shut down disappeared again, walking or flying into portals the same way they had entered the battle, and by the time Apple Bloom was done sprinting to where Jet Deck was still being treated, the battlefield was strangely quiet. Only the fires still burning, the thrumming of engines and jet boosters, and the distant roar of Hammer bellowing out their victory was left to fight the silence.
______________

Even in the middle of a combat situation, regular engineering procedures were followed, and that included maintenance. One particular griffon had the illustrious duty of checking as many of the conduits running power from the main generators to the weapons systems continually and compensating or making repairs whenever necessary, and had been getting into the guts of every major junction at least twice since the battle began.

However as the power requirements began to dwindle and the signs that the battle was coming to a close were making themselves known through the systems, she made her way to an unassuming junction box and carefully pried it open. With the small panel exposed, she put in a seemingly unimportant device no larger than a matchbox, but flinched slightly when she armed it due to her EVA vibrating to indicate an incoming transmission. With a sigh, the griffon enveloped herself in green magic, showing her true changeling form for the briefest moment before she transformed into a gray unicorn mare in a GDI InOps uniform. She put on her best smile, activated her masking software so the EVA wouldn’t show her location, and finally answered the call.

“Agent Gray here, what can I do for you Major Blizzard?”

Home Stretch

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Chapter XXX - Home Stretch

The Granny Smith was once the lead tank of Applejack’s armored division, with enough armor kills to cover an entire side-plate and three times that in infantry kills. The Battle of Canterlot had seen the tank taken out of the fight, her armor slagged from a laser detonating a shell after it was chambered. Now the storied vehicle was scrubbed of all paint and lined up in a staggered formation outside the Baltimare Blue Zone.

GDI had some of the best hardware recycling technology available, the mandates of the Tiberium War making it a necessity. Predator tanks that could be salvaged were repaired, given new crews, and sent out to the front lines to fight off the never-ending wave of enemies that the Global Defense Initiative increasingly faced as the war dragged on.

Tanks that were not capable of being repaired and refurbished, simply too damaged to be salvageable as was the case with Granny Smith, were sent to the Baltimare Special Weapons Development Firing Range where they would continue serving GDI in the only way they now could.

“Alright, you’ll be firing on the move this time; no slowing down, no stopping.” the newly instated Director Filthy Rich stated calmly from his observation bunker, “This is a test of the targeting software, not your ability as pilots.”

“Copy that director, we’re ready to go when you are.” the commander replied, “Team’s been itching to get live-fire practice.”

“This is the first week we’ve not had any Noddies in our city, gentlecolts. If they hadn’t been around I would have had all of you out here months ago… now then, let’s show our honored guests what the Titan can really do.” Rich told them before gesturing casually to the orderly manning the signalling system.

“You want to replace my tanks with this new-fangled tech?” Applejack asked, looking over at her family’s longtime business partner. She wasn’t completely healed, and still required a wheelchair to get around, but her last surgery would be soon and she had demanded to be kept in the loop for the duration of her recovery.

“At the very least I want them to supplement them. I’d rather have a proper response to the Avatar that doesn’t require us to keep Mammoths with every Predator unit.”

“Understandable.” Big Mac added. While still recovering from injury, his weren’t nearly as bad as his sister’s and he was able to stand on his own as they watched closely, “These look a fair bit more mobile than my boys in the 2nd Heavy.”

“And they can buck an Avatar like an apple tree.” Rich interjected, smiling as the Titan in question began moving. With surprising fluidity of motion, the mechanized quadruped started forward at a trot. Within seconds it was at a gallop that surpassed what any Predator could do without removing its safety limiters, and moments after it had began galloping at full speed it leapt into the air and let off a round from each of the side-mounted railguns on its turret of a head.

“Rounds are off by half a meter, director.” one of the techs in the bunker with them stated, “Variances are still within acceptable range though.”

“Half a meter is the difference between a dead tank and dead dirt.” Filthy Rich replied, getting a chuckle from both Apple siblings flanking him.

“Impressive though, even with the gyroscopes.” Applejack added, “Wouldn’t mind getting my hooves on one of them for one of the test drives though.”

“I’ll stick to Mammoths, sis.” Big Mac retorted, “May not be too low to the ground but it’s a smaller target than that… they gonna give’em all shielding?”

“Yes, sir.” the tech replied, “Spark reactors will allow for mammoth-strength shielding, but it’s mostly to keep the Titans from relying on their armor to shrug off small arms and infantry anti-tank weapons, speed will be their main asse-”

“So yes, thank you lieutenant.” Big Mac told him, smirking at the nervous stallion before letting his gaze fall back to the Titan still conducting its test. Even if he didn’t approve of branching away from basic tank doctrine, he had to admit that even he was impressed with the mech they were watching. He’d never admit it to his sister, but this first impression wasn’t disappointing him in the slightest. GDI had been playing a deadly game of catch-up with Nod’s technological advantage, only keeping pace due to magic and only stalling the tide of scorpion tails through sheer air power.

“And now we have the answer to the Avatar just standing…. No…. galloping and almost battle ready…” Mac thought, a hoof rubbing his chin where Canterlot had left a fresh scar.
_________

“How soon until we can use’em against the aliens?” Big Mac asked.

“If we get this software issue patched properly? Days. Weeks at most.” Filthy Rich told him, though the collected officers were unaware that they had an audience. The lieutenant who had been rambling beforehand didn’t know that one of his buttons was a listening device, and that the rank insignia on his collar was the transmitter to a satellite network that GDI had previously failed and continued to fail to shoot down.

Half a world away, Queen Chrysalis was enjoying the Titan exhibition as much as the GDI cronies sitting in that bunker. Each bit of data that streamed through her personal fortress usually went straight to Mareajevo, but given her most recent actions that connection had been severed. Nearly three months of data had been kept from Kane and his damnable queen, and despite a small snafu early in her plan to end the war on her terms, everything was going according to her schemes.

“My my, quite a few strides since the last time I checked up on you, you peasant hick.” Chrysalis growled. Her disdain for the Element of Honesty, as well as the other Bearers who stayed with GDI was only outstripped by her hatred for Twilight and her pet abomination Starlight, but even those all paled in comparison for the sheer loathing she had for Luna.

Celestia, however, was off of her list for the time being. There was no sense in hating the insane, even if they refused to believe they had cracked at all.

“How is that solar hag doing anyway…?” the changeling queen wondered aloud, switching through the feeds until the princess she had bested twice now was in the center of the screen. Celestia was a shell of the being that had single-handedly thrown the Brotherhood out of Canterlot city proper, and now restricted herself to her quarters when not giving speeches to keep morale up.

“Hmm… and here I was hoping for a proper rematch…” Chrysalis mused, smirking at first and then scowling as her feeds brought up a certain lunar queen. In contrast with her sister, Luna was taking to her new role as the second public face of Nod with confidence and pride, even at the price of causing GDI recruitment to spike.

“You’ll be a memory soon enough anyway…” she said to herself, tossing the monitor away with the sickly green glow of her magic and instead bringing up the mouthpiece for her personal comm system. “Team Chrysalis, I’d like a personal update.”
_________

“Things are going smoothly. We have the target in sight and they haven’t spotted us. We’ll move to engage once it peels off from its unit.” the Shadow Team leader replied quietly.

“And you can guarantee that you’ll get the Mastermind alone?”

“They operate by themselves; what happened to Sweetie Belle’s team was an anomaly.” added in the Shadow Team’s Second.

“Very well...” replied Chrysalis, her grin almost audible through the microbeads in the team’s ears “...isolate the target and establish contact. Do not fire unless fired upon or I’ll personally make you wish you were larvae again.”

“Yes my Queen! We will not fail you!” the squad leader retorted as the line was terminated.

The creatively-named Chrysalis Squad, the Hive Queen’s personal Shadow team made up entirely of changeling Shadows loyal to her, kept their eyes on the target in question. A six-legged creature with a single, massive bulbous form which held the entirety of its body as well as its disintegrator cannon.

Surrounding the creature was a small force of alien infantry apparently on the hunt. They would most likely fire upon contact, meaning that the Mastermind would need to be encountered while alone and brought to dialogue before it could either call for its cadre or kill them all psychically.

It didn’t take long for the Mastermind to split itself off from the rest of the hunting party. The aliens appeared to have been given their orders and the Mastermind was once again showing off the anomaly of free will that as afforded to the Scrin’s most elite infantry. Whether it knew they were there or not, the Shadows were thankful that it seemed to be heading straight towards the ambush zone, only stopping as it got far enough away from the other aliens to, theoretically, be out of immediate reinforcement range. Before it could run off, the four Shadows leapt down, landing in front of the alien commando and disabling their cloaking devices.

“Hold fire, don’t shoot it!” the lead Shadow ordered loudly, almost too loudly but thankfully they didn’t catch the attention of the rest of the Scrin in the area. In response, the other three Shadows all retracted their weaponry, standing down as visibly as they could and hoping not to get shot in the process.

At first, the Mastermind regarded them curiously. It could sense their intent; for once one of the indigenous species on this insignificant rock wasn’t hostile. It chittered out an inquisitive statement, quirking it’s “head” slightly to the right.

“We have a message from our queen to your… commander.” Chrysalis Team’s commanding officer stated, retracting his helmet and bowing slightly for the Mastermind.

With little ceremony, the alien reached forward with its mind, taking hold of the changeling but not conquering his mind.

“You wish to discuss terms…. Your species thrives on the precious ichor as we do…” he heard the alien say, though it was using his voice inside his head, “You wish to join the hive.... Not just ambition…. Ascension.”

“Three of you return to your Queen.” the Shadows’ leader stated, his voice distorted and his once green eyes now giving off a purple aura, “I will have this gift update you on exact coordinates and time for a meeting with the Overseer. Betrayal will result in annihilation, now go.”
_________

Victory against the aliens wasn’t a usual affair for the Brotherhood. Unlike GDI’s ability to absorb their fire and return it in kind, Nod had found their match in the Scrin menace. Their militia waves broke completely before the aliens’ razor swarms, and any mechanized units sent out lacked the firepower to decisively eliminate alien vehicles while also missing precious centimeters of armor needed to survive incoming plasma fire. The Brotherhood thus found their biggest strength to be their mobility and stealth, their armies purposefully giving ground in order to lure the aliens into field-scale ambushes whenever possible.

It wasn’t always that the Brotherhood could punch the Scrin in the face, which is exactly what made this victory so damn sweet for Hyperion.

“Four squads wiped, with three more needing reorganizing. Effectively two under-strength squads once they’re reconstituted.” said Hyperion as he read the Nod casualty reports from the last battle.

“Those damnable tripods… minimal losses in terms of infantry, courtesy of our armor, but we’ve got multiple Predators in need of heavy repairs. Three unsalvageable. I hear your Scorpions didn’t fare that well either.” Blizzard stated as he looked through his own figures.

“Better than expected actually. We’d projected higher armor casualties due to the Scrin’s ability to deploy air assets almost immediately. Your birds really pulled their weight well.” Hyperion replied as he marked down necessary maintenance orders for their recovered Scorpions.

“Not sure Phoenix Flight will appreciate it, but I’ll pass the compliment along. That said, the Mammoth crews send their thanks for bailing their sorry flanks out of the fire. Always nice when the big guns have bigger guns backing them up.”

“That alien dared shoot at my ship. We showed it some discipline, that is all.” added Hyperion as he kept reading his current report. It was then that realization hit him, making him look up to his GDI counterpart. Both of them could swear they were looking at a mirror as their expressions were practically the same.

Within the situation room only the sounds of consoles occasionally beeping could be heard, up until they both, in an almost choreographed fashion, sighed profusely.

Blizzard was the first to break the silence.

“... So... Kane intends to continue the war even if we kick the aliens off the planet?” he asked.

“You know the answer to that already.” Hyperion replied, causing Major Blizzard to sigh once more as the older stallion rested his head on his hoof.

“I was afraid of that.” Blizzard said. “And I’m guessing you’ll go along with it if the chromehead asks you to, correct?”

“You’re asking things you already know the answer to.” Hyperion stated flatly once more.

“Damnit.” Blizzard spat out before regaining his composure. “You’re as much of a thick-headed mule as your old man was.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, that’s what kept him alive as long as he did. Besides, it’s not like GDI doesn’t have their own plans to resume the war as soon as the Scrin are dealt with.”

“I’d call them contingencies more than anything. Ironsides was given full authority over GDI after all, which includes the authority to negotiate a peace deal. With Princess Celestia no longer in command, a logical compromise could be reached.” Blizzard said, leaving Hyperion with little more than a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not sure what’s gotten into you you old colt, but you are aware that this whole ‘alliance’ is little more than one of necessity, yes? It’s been that way from the start.” Hyperion stated, his gaze turned cold.

“... I’ll be honest with you Shield. Even if it’s one of convenience, this alliance has seen our troops shed blood together. Even in our last operation, our troops managed to cooperate in a manner that would make observers wonder if they were really two different armies. Call me old fashioned, but I find the idea of fighting comrades-in-arms, as temporary as they were, rather distasteful.”

“He who stands with me shall be my brother.” Hyperion said, causing Blizzard to blink. “My father used to say that before he became a statue.”

“That he did…” Blizzard added. “First time he said that was, I think, after we finished our deployment to the Griffon Kingdom to help fight their insurrections. Didn’t get it myself, at least for a while anyway. Always assumed he meant his fellow Marine, Army grunt, et all. It wasn’t until years later when King Steelwing invited veterans of the war to an anniversary celebration that I understood what he’d meant, as our brothers mingled with the same griffons they’d fought side by side with during that conflict.”

“I can understand the feeling. However, what we feel has no bearing on reality. If the order is given-”

“Give it a damn break, will you?” Blizzard interrupted. “Do you really think fighting until we’re all dead is going to get us out of this mess? Once the bugs are dealt with, we still have the planet turning the wrong shade of green to worry about.” he said as he realized he had stood up, leaning forward enough to be practically on the table, “And no matter how devout you are, there’s only one species native to our world that can survive if the entire planet goes tib.” he practically spat out.

Hyperion’s reaction was non-existent, as if he was waiting for his elder to continue.

“... I’ll be firm here, I’m tired of this war. Too many dead heroes, too many wasted lives, all so we can decide how to deal with a glowing rock. So let me ask you a favor here. Not as a GDI soldier nor a fellow office in this war. Just as a friend, both yours and your father’s… consider ending this all before we both end up in Baltimare’s memorial cemetery.”

Hyperion was quiet for quite some time, looking over at his GDI counterpart and then back to his reports multiple times. As much as he hated to admit it, the old stallion was partly right. GDI and Nod could work together, even with the severe difference in doctrine, and with Celestia out of the way things could change.

“Blizzard… I thi-” Hyperion started before the entire ship lurched violently to port, “Report!”

“Multiple carriers inbound, intercept course.” the EVAs replied first, only for the biological crewmen to confirm.

“Evasive maneuvers.” Maud interjected, her voice echoing through the ship’s intercom system “All hands…. Action stations.”
_________

“As much as this is going to sound like heresy, I don’t give a damn about OpSec for this project anymore.” Ironsides growled at the collected stallions in his war room, “Scrin are still pushing at key areas even without their damn black hole machine working and Nod is falling back across the board…. Again…”

“We only have one battalion, we’d be putting single companies, maybe even single platoons on fronts that require a battalion of armor support.” General Stampede replied, “We can do it but not without blowing the lid on our anti-Avatar program.”

“We have bigger problems right now. If projections are anywhere near accurate, the aliens are more concerned with Kane than they are with us. I don’t care if the Titan crews have to gallop their mechs to the front from Baltimare, the units we have ready are getting live-fire training on the front lines.”

“Luckily they’re not dependent on fuel, but the crews will still have to stop and rest, eat, water the trees...” Big Mac added, “For every 16 hours on the move they’d have to be sitting ducks for 8.”

“Then set up RZ points for them to stop at, designate FOBs for them to use as cover on their way to the front. I don’t care how you all get this done, just get it done. We’re too far into this damnable war to worry about adhering to doctrine like Nod’s Confessors. We’re GDI, we make it work!” the older stallion shot back, “We hurt the enemy, they’re going to try hurting us just as badly, and if we want to have any chance of surviving Nod’s advance after the aliens are gone, we’re going to need to improvise a bit.”

“No need to stick to the old Celestia-era doctrine anyway, old man.” came the familiar canter of General Stalwart Shield, “We’ve got a fresh batch of Zone Troopers out of training finally, we could use them as escort during the trip. They need to be deployed same as the Titans, and unless the Sky Admiral is able to lend us a few dozen carryalls, we’re looking at a convoy, Nod style.”

“EVA, timetable projections.” Big Mac ordered into his foreleg, watching the computer crunch numbers in rapid succession, “A lot can happen in four days… but it’s better than the seven it would take to muster, fuel, and load up that many carryalls.”

“Most flights are already scheduled as well.” Spitfire added, “We always have a few dozen scattered around just in case, but unless you want to grab birds and leave every Quick Reaction Force grounded until the move is complete…”

“Four days.” Ironsides stated, looking over the collection of officers, “96 hours from this meeting adjourning, I want Titans and Zone Troopers on every active front and turning the tide. Then when Major Blizzard gets back, we can deploy his forces and consolidate Titans as needed instead of spreading them out to fill as many gaps as we can.”

“General? Incoming communique, sir.” one of the technicians announced, “It’s Major Blizzard.”

“Speak of Tirek…” Ironsides mused before gesturing to to the stallion at the comm station, “Go ahead, put him through.”

“It’s patchy, but that might just be ion interference… coming throug-holy Celestia.”

“That’s putting it mildly, everypony.” Blizzard stated.
_________

“As you can see, it’s a verified shitshow out here.” Blizzard told them. He was fully suited up, as were the rest of the Zone Troopers and GDI personnel that had survived. Tanks, APCs, and trucks were all scattered about like die thrown onto a table and pieces of the Everfree were still falling from the sky. GDI and Nod personnel were helping each other out of lifeboats, moving vehicles, or collecting dog tags and piling bodies up for burial or burning, and the GDI officers in Baltimare could see it all via Blizzard’s armor cameras.

“What the hell happened!?” Ironsides barked through the major’s helmet speaker.

“Everything went FUBAR, sir, no idea how. One minute we’re flying back after mission accomplished, the next we had a half-dozen alien carriers hitting the Everfree. We thought they couldn’t see us but I guess they have something… well, had something at Cloudsdale to detect Nod stealth tech. Time from first contact to the order to abandon ship was less than 10 minutes.”

“How many survivors?”

“Quite a few, actually but we’re still getting a head count. All of my Zone Troopers that didn’t get axed during the battle managed to make it to their suits, as did a fair portion of the GDI regulars we had. Crews are already getting their vehicles ready to move since we’re going to have to take the long way back.”

“Once EVA has a casualty count, update us again. Until then your orders are to survive and get back to friendly lines by any means necessary.” Ironsides ordered.

“Copy that, General, we’ll get home… even if it takes us a few months. Blizzard out.” the zone trooper officer said, shaking his head slightly as he walked back over to his Nod counterparts. Everyone who had made it off of the Everfree alive was in hazard gear, with the exception of the changelings among them who could thrive in a red zone.

“Let me guess.” Hyperion stated, “Get back to friendly lines, preferably alive.”

“I take it you got similar orders?”

“Slavik isn’t pleased that this happened but it was a risk we all took taking a carrier this deep into a Red Zone…. Sister Pie isn’t taking it well though.” the younger stallion told him.

“I wouldn’t either if the official report was ‘sibling went crazy, drove airship into giant ion cloud factory during combat maneuvers.” Blizzard added, “How about you, Mantis, any other insights?”

“Nothing I didn’t have before.” she said, “One minute we’re barely outrunning those carriers, the next Maud was rambling on how the ‘Horned God’ put a paw on her shoulder and said ‘well done’. It doesn’t make sense, unless she completely cracked in the face of losing her ship.”

“I’m not familiar with any deity with horns, unless Nod got a new religion to go with the whole Kane is Messiah thing you have going.” Blizzard replied, “Was she… cracking under pressure?”

“It’s possible, the only goddess we have is Queen Luna, and even then she discourages us to swear by or curse in her name. Kane may be touched by the divine but he’s a messiah, not a fully-fledged god.”

“Yet.” Mantis added with a smirk, causing both male officers to roll their eyes.

“Is navigation still online at least?” Hyperion asked, getting a nod from Blizzard.

“Wounded are being loaded up in the APCs, anyone who can walk will be hoofing it back, trucks will be used for supplies, tanks… well, everypony can ride on them but if we get ambushed again, they’ll need to dismount fast or we’ll be using ponies as ablative armor.”

“Even the Brotherhood doesn’t have the troop numbers to pull that off.” Hyperion murmured, shaking his head wearily. They had a long walk ahead of them through the most treacherous terrain on the planet, possibly in their solar system, “Well, we might as well do this right. Blizzard, there won’t be a rush to this but please let me know when your troops are ready to move. We don’t want to leave anything behind that could help us survive the trip east.”
_________

To claim that all races of the world were equal was the height of madness. The plebians of the Earth Pony caste were the lowest of the low, nothing but serfs whose only purpose in life was to serve their betters. The only creatures lower than them were the subterranean diamond dog barbarians, practically mindless creatures whose only useful skill was digging tunnels. Even then, they’d focus solely on finding shiny rocks instead of useful materials or metal veins.

The Pegasi and Unicorns were a step up, yet still pathetic creatures. One could pretend to fly, in reality barely avoiding gravity’s embrace, while the other performed parlor tricks and dared call it magic. The griffons themselves were little more than barbarians capable of flight. Practically wild beasts instead of civilized people.

Truly the only species capable of great feats of magic, flight and general grace were the Changelings, with Chrysalis herself being the greatest of them all. Even Nod’s pervasive surveillance of all their territories was no match for a Changeling’s simplest ability, to be able to assume the form of a bird and fly undetected through the heavens. Even that was an unnecessary precaution as their detection systems were already barely able to pick up a Changeling’s graceful flight.

However, and even Chrysalis had to admit this, when the Scrin arrived on their world it was a wake-up call that while she may be the epitome of greatness and creation’s magnum opus on their world, she was only the most superior being on their world. The mere existence of the Scrin proved that there was life among the stars and that her and her kin were no longer the superior race.

That could not stand.

With that in mind, Chrysalis had realized the aliens’ mistake. GDI and Nod intelligence confirmed that the Scrin were mining the Tiberium on their controlled territories and seemingly transporting the ores off-world via their wormholes. While it would probably burn-out the minds of the incompetents running both organizations, it didn’t take her any effort to put two and two together. The Scrin had obviously infested the planet with Tiberium to use it as a resource node from which to mine it. Given that the rock depended on organic matter in order to spread, using a life-bearing planet like theirs was a good investment.

The foolish xenos failed to take into account the existence of a species capable of adapting to the Tib however. It was obvious that they had intended for the crystal to kill off everyone on the surface, but the Changelings would survive even if the entire planet turned into a solid slab of Tiberium. But of course, surviving was no longer the priority. Ascending beyond their current forms, now that was the goal. Not merely adapt to the Tib but become greater through it.

And then rub Kane’s low-born face in it before removing his head from his shoulders. Getting to throw it at Luna’s face afterwards would merely be a bonus.

If the majestic flight of the Changeling race had any disadvantages, it would be its speed. A dedicated jet-based transport would have definitely been better but also far more obvious and detectable to ground-based radar. To have to waste so much time on the simple act of getting from one place to another was beyond shameful.

After a long, dreadful, prolonged five-hour flight, the Scrin’s slave, the so-called “Mastermind”, was located exactly where the Shadow team said it would be. The black-clad Hiveguard descended first, their solidly-built Black Hand-manufactured armor gleaming as the light of various nearby crystals reflected off of them. Upon landing, they arranged themselves in proper honor guard formation, flanking the future landing site and subsequent walking path of their Queen. With the greatest of regal and glory, the Dark Empress of the Changelings descended from the heavens and graced the unworthy ground with her touch.

The Dark Queen proceeded onwards, her Hiveguard bowing as she honored their very existence with the privilege of her being before them. As she passed them, the each Hiveguard Elite would ascend once more and follow her very step from above, showcasing the power of the Changeling legions with their Queen’s very steps. It was not before long that she stood face to face with the Mastermind.

“May our royal presence grace you, oh honorable Mastermind. Please do us the honors of summoning thy master.” she said, her arcane magics flowing around her to establish who was the true superior here.

With little ceremony, and mere seconds after Chrysalis had made contact with the Mastermind, a wormhole opened up directly in front of her and Overseer-29 stepped out. He didn’t bother with his own honor guard, electing merely to have a handful of Masterminds join him by blinking in around the guards Chrysalis had brought with her.

“You are the monarch of terrestrial species designation E-027?” he asked, his voice grating their ears slightly.

“... I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, yes. I take it you’re the envoy that the Scrin have decided to escort me to your Overlord? I won’t speak to a mere middleman.” she sneered.

That sneer was short-lived. The moment she stopped speaking, the Overseer blinked as well, phasing slightly and reappearing directly in front of the arrogant insect and grabbing her by her throat. His grip was tight enough to strain her exoskeleton and her guards were already being held in place by the Masterminds psionic abilities with laughably little effort.

“You will submit your species for assimilation into the hive willingly or I will forcibly commence the process, starting with you. Violently. You will comply.”

Betrayal

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Chapter XXXI - Betrayal

Military movements, even in the Brotherhood of Nod, tended to be rather massive and noticeable collections of personnel and vehicles tasked with security and mobilization of assets and logistics. Even with the use of cloaking technology, prior to the arrival of the Scrin, GDI Intelligence would be able to hazard guesses as to where the Brotherhood might strike based on surveillance data regarding supply movements. In the same manner, Nod would always know where to strike or retreat based on their own information involving GDI’s supply situation.

When it came to changelings, all this flew out the window.

If the changeling race had an advantage over all others, it would be their ability to pass unseen even in the most obvious of environment unless their opposition was specifically scanning for them. Officers supplanted by operatives could request supplies to be moved somewhere sensible yet unimportant for the greater war effort, and troops themselves could either pass as civilians, other troops, or outright be undetectable by hiding themselves as the local fauna.

The Brotherhood’s decision to split up the old changeling swarm’s forces into smaller task forces or support elements for their main units could, in this manner, be considered to have been a foolish decision as it prevented the coordination and insertion of large formations within GDI lines. And yet, this had been done out of necessity.

Nod High Command had never been under any illusions regarding the political situation they found themselves in. While pony-based forces made up the bulk of their armed forces, the Brotherhood was not reliant on them at all and instead made use of all its diverse assets to the best of their abilities. The diamond dogs had seen their underground realms practically annihilated by the subterranean growth of Tiberium, and as such were wholly dependent on the Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the buffalo were in it for revenge against a government that, as far as they were concerned, cared not for their well-being and left them to die. The same could also be said of the griffons, their ancestral ally having essentially abandoned them to their fate while helping seemingly more ‘convenient’ friends across the world. The dragons for their part were in it for the promise of battle and glory, and little else.

So what of the changelings, quite possibly the only race on the planet to have not only benefited socially and economically but seemingly also improved biologically with the arrival of the Tib? At first glance, their association with the Brotherhood of Nod was a simple one. Self-defense against GDI, who sought to expunge Tiberium from the world as well as all the mutants it had brought forth. As far the changelings were concerned, that included them.

Yet within Nod, it was nowhere near as simple. All because of one member of the swarm.

Queen Chrysalis

From the start she had attempted to assert the Hive’s superior position both as a rising power and a nation with vast reserves of willing, dedicated, and sometimes fanatic drones. Allowing her to bully the other members of the Brotherhood into submission would have done little more than turning Nod into Chrysalis’ own personal army for world domination, an objective anathema to the Brotherhood’s ideals. As such a compromise was reached, granting the changelings entry into the Brotherhood on the condition that all represented species would hold an equal voice within High Command regardless of their individual power. The collective will of Nod came first, always. With this in place, the swarm’s contributions to the Brotherhood were splintered, never allowed to form changeling-only formations with the sole exception of deep-infiltration Shadow teams.

As the war progressed and the Scrin’s arrival shifted the balance of power significantly, the swarm began gathering its forces once more little by little. A replaced officer here, a quartermaster there, a Confessor over there, with time the swarm’s splintered units reformed into consolidated formations under the Brotherhood’s noses.

The movement of troop formations from frontline duties to second-line and even rearward positions to recuperate wasn’t a strange or outlandish one, particularly in the Brotherhood where new troop formations were constantly created to fill gaps, and the latest batch of rotations was no exception. On paper it was simply the movement of a few infantry, motorized, and mechanized battalions to the rear. Given the large variety of forces involved, Nod wasn’t in the habit of specifying the species composition of a unit unless the racial element involved played an important part such as dragons in a shock formation.

Likewise, given the often rag-tag nature of Nod’s militia-based military, it wasn’t unusual for troops to go missing for a while only to reappear drunk on salt, or knocked out after fighting themselves or other units. This did not change even within the forces stationed at GDI locations, making the sudden disappearance of various changeling militia elements go unnoticed for a while.

It had been almost a week since the Queen’s fateful encounter with the Overseer. Her demeanor upon her return to base had been a complete opposite from her departure, with her expression of perpetual bashfulness and arrogance replace with one of deep, almost sorrowful contemplation. It was upon her arrival that she gave her own chain of command their most challenging order yet.

“Climb the Peaks of Peril.”

The code was transmitted to all relevant field commanders.
____________

Contrary to popular belief, working the Sky Sentry surveillance network that GDI had put in place with its orbital defense grid was not some action-packed, constantly-tense assignment like the propaganda movies were already painting it as. There wasn’t some massive screen on a giant wall in some top-secret bunker in the middle of a Red Zone, nor was there a general or staff officer prancing about between rows of monitors as the war unfolded. Instead, the satellite hub that housed the world-wide spy network looked more like a hardware store.

Tiered rows of work stations circled a single conference room table that was usually either empty or had an unfinished game of cards on it for crews that arrived and were waiting to start their shift, or were playing friends on opposite time tables. Each station had a single pony behind the controls of their specific camera or drone, along with a trio of screens to give them feedback, status updates, and the video feed proper. EVA, for the most part, made sure that the cameras were looking where they were supposed to via micro-adjustments, but the Ponyville Raid had forever tainted GDI’s willingness to depend completely on AIs.

Because of this, life in Sky Sentry was almost, without fail, a tedious, boring assignment where the most exciting part of the day was clocking out and hitting your bunk. The only times where things seemed to be getting interesting were when someone on duty got to witness a war-changing event like the birds-eye-view of the Battle of Canterlot and the Scrin invasion, or watching the Nod-GDI joint strike force taking down the Rift Generator.

For Lieutenant Spearhead, it was just an average day on duty. He had been in Canterlot when the war hit home, and the fighting had crippled his wings permanently. Still wanting to fight, but with his medical treatment keeping him from the front lines, he was transferred up to Sky Sentry and, despite being rehabilitated, took a shining to his new assignment and stuck with it.

“Morning everypony.” he said as he found his way to his station. Each station was responsible for several hundred square kilometers of the planet, observing passively unless something flared up. Magical enhancements on surveillance technology meant they could zoom in on a parasprite if they wanted to, but unless an active conflict that wasn’t foreseen by GDI HIGHCOM flared up, everypony sitting at his desk spent their 8-hour shift staring at blips on a screen.

A few murmurs of reply came back by the time he finally relieved the pony from the shift prior to his, and by the time he sat down at least one pony had spilled coffee on their uniform.

“Pretty standard day, EVA?” he asked, chuckling at the sight of the stallion two tiers up from him frantically waving his wings to cool down the searing liquid.

“Affirmative. No anomalies reported from the previous user report. No current anomalies developi-.... Standby.”

“... standby?” he asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Situation developing, please adjust camera focus to Grid 9611.” EVA said, only for the EVAs of half the room to chime in with the same status update.

“What the hell…?” one of the other ponies managed to mutter, zooming in. Spearhead mouthed the same as he brought his own system to bear on the grid that his EVA brought attention to. He barely got a look at the situation on the ground before he was flagging down the reporting officer on duty and got her over to his station.

“Well I’ll be damned….” she whispered. Without hesitating, she galloped to every other station reporting an anomaly, her disbelief never quite disappearing even as she reached her own desk and rang up GDI High Command.

“War Room, what have you got for us?” one of Ironsides’ aides answered.

“I’m sending an encrypted report via the EVAs but I had to get this news to you as soon as possible. We’ve have confirmation that, in at least 30 separate grids, Nod forces are fighting each other.”
____________

Even in a clear-cut battle between GDI and Nod, the chaos of combat was enough to cause deadly levels of confusion among ground pounders. Usually the only way some soldiers could get their bearings once everything went pear-shaped was by seeing which way the tracers were coming from given that GDI refused to use laser weaponry.

Now that was thrown completely out the window as lasers lanced out to meet each other and the faithful of Kane and the Cult of Chrysalis spilled each others blood. Troubleshoes had managed to survive the first combat deployment of GDI’s Mammoth tanks, Dodge Junction, Canterlot, and even one of the nastier skirmishes after he was rebuilt. Now he wondered if it would be another member of the Brotherhood that finally managed to kill him.

“Gunny, what the hell do we do!?” one of the younger soldiers screamed as yet another violent salvo of laser fire slammed into the disabled Scorpion they were hiding behind.

“Pop grenades if you have them, then suppress and hope a unit next to us takes the opening.” the massive stallion ordered, sighing as he double checked his power packs, “If not, we’re dead anyway so we might as well take some of these traitors with us!”

If Troubleshoes had given the order just a few seconds earlier, it might have succeeded. Instead, those under his impromptu command were cut down as soon after they popped up out of cover. A Venom had been passing over, strafing the position on its way to hunt down its former brothers in arms in the air. Before it could fully pull away though, it exploded violently as flak tore into the barely-armored fuselage. Shortly after, the cracks of railguns joined the grim symphony that was being made on this battlefield and Troubleshoes could see Zone Troopers jumping in and hitting Chrysalis Loyalist forces.

Never had Troubleshoes been so happy to see a GDI Kodiak Escort Group hit a battlefield, though his thanks didn’t last long. Moments after his once-mortal enemies had started pouring fire into the traitors, he got to his hooves and joined in, and laser once again met laser on the battlefield.
____________

“It’s happening all over the planet. Anywhere that Chrysalis personally had changeling troops stationed… they’ve all sided with her. Plenty of the changelings have stayed loyal to you, or at least the Ladybugs leading them, but… it’s a nightmare out there right now.” Twilight stated, scowling almost as hard at the holographic map laid out before her as the other two in the room were. Kane and Luna were not happy at this turn of events and both wore it plainly on their muzzles.

“And the source of her newfound confidence? She was brought to heel shortly after Canterlot and even she wouldn’t be stupid enough to pull a stunt like this without a trump card.” Luna demanded.

“We think she joined forces with the Visitors. In some of the areas where the traitors completely overwhelmed loyalist forces, Scrin units made landfall within seconds of them declaring victory and didn’t slaughter Chrysalis’ forces.”

“She found a new master. Worms like her always need one, whether they want to admit it or not.” Kane growled, “She’ll be found, and she’ll be punished accordingly.”

“How bad?” Twilight asked.

“She may have just lost the entire war for the Brotherhood.” Kane replied bluntly, “We could have bided our time, let GDI take on the Visitors and wear themselves out before rising again from the grave to cleanse our enemies in a holy crusade… now… that entire contingency is in jeopardy.”

“We had plans for her betraying us, for a splintering of the Brotherhood… but to go against her own planet… that was not expected.” Luna added.

“We need the Redeemer operational as soon as possible, Twilight. How soon?”

Kane’s questions usually got a stern, almost scolding response from the Princess of Friendship. Despite his status, and that of Queen Luna, she was still their ace in the hole in regards to staying ahead of GDI in technology and they all knew it. While she never imagined that they’d match what she let loose on the planet with techno-magic hybrids, she still felt a bit of pride at maintaining the technology for an army that was mostly full of non-unicorns.

This time however, she wore a wide smile that Kane hadn’t seen since she had gotten her hooves on a working Kodiak.

“A few days at most… in the morning at best. The last kinks to work out have been… rectified since the last experiment.”

“You didn’t run out of Sirens, did you?” Luna asked as the schematics for the massive walker appeared.

“No, no… I mean, not really. Only one is left clinically alive, but that’s all we need. If Sonata was left conscious, she might try interfacing into the Redeemer’s systems from the inside and the last thing we need is a Siren at the helm of that… beautiful creation.”

“She was the last one to be tested?”

“She’s the only one I left alive. Aria and Adagio were too strong-willed, and their neural paths didn’t sync up well enough to the Rage Inducer. Sonata on the other hoof, had only a mere 2% deviation compared to the 35% dev-”

“In the morning, we test it.” Kane interrupted, “Field testing. I expect Chrysalis will be making a move on Temple Prime with her new friends soon enough, I want the one project she didn’t have at least some access to waiting for her.”

“And what about a pilot?” Luna inquired, looking at the schematics that Twilight had brought up on the table.

“I have someone in mind.” Twilight answered, “More accurately, I have someone in mind, and a mind in mind. LEGION, if you would.”

“Of course, Twiley.” the AI replied, bringing his chosen physical form up next to the Redeemer hologram. Despite being the mind of Shining Armor, his avatar was that of a Black Hand Zealot, armor and all.

“Your AI program…” Luna whispered in shock.

“A pleasure to finally meet the both of you in ‘person’. I’ve been busy helping keep the Marked of Kane effective in the field, but as of roughly 37 days ago, I’ve been helping my sister optimize the Redeemer Prototype. Sadly, the prototype will be the flagship of the line, as well as the final model. There’s not enough time, nor are there enough supplies that haven’t been compromised to start mass production.”

“Chrysalis?” Kane asked despite already knowing the answer, and the AI simply nodded in reply.

“For now, we have to assume that the only assets we have that are not compromised are ones where we have the planet surface secure and cloaked.” LEGION added, “Unless of course, the three of you have a different set of requirements to apply to my analysis.”

“That won’t be necessary, LEGION.” Kane told him, “Get that prototype ready for combat, the sooner the better. Twilight, if you have any other pet projects or prototypes to throw at that traitorous hag, now is the time to prepare them. Temple Prime is going to be ground zero for the end of this war, whether Chrysalis knows it or not.”

“Might I ask how you deduced this?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s where I would make a statement if I were a showy tart like Chrysalis, and if GDI has any brains about them, they’ll try to finish us off once the would-be queen is fully contained.”
____________

In all her life Chrysalis had never felt more alive than she did this day. The Overseer had granted her powers beyond those of a mere Changeling Queen, and her followers were similarly enhanced as the fighting had spilled from the ground into the air. Her swarms had overwhelmed the outer defenses quite easily, but she was pleasantly surprised to find the crew of the GDA Hope were putting up a fight. After all, what good are enhanced abilities if you never get to truly use them?

Tiberium shards burst from her shoulders down the hallway towards the GDI fireteam stalling her personal guard in the hallway. Though she no longer considered them her personal guard. She barely had a sense of self other than pride and wanting to advance her people’s future.

All other thoughts were of perpetuating the Scrin Empire.

One of the ponies holding the line took a shard to the neck, dying before she hit the floor and thankfully unable to scream as the crystal started changing her body. Her squadmates replied with renewed fire, cutting down as many drones as they could in hopes that they could stall the boarding parties long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

They never did, and eventually Chrysalis threw enough bodies into the carapace-grinder to overwhelm the team that had delayed her. One did leave her a parting gift though, a live grenade thrown just as the pony lobbing it lost a significant portion of his barrel. The detonation threw Chrysalis and her guards into and through the ceiling, causing her to land hard on the floor one deck below the hallway she had just been fighting in.

With a sickening crack, she returned to her hooves, casually looked over the cracks in her exoskeleton, noted that some of her carapace was missing in certain places, and shrugged as she flew back up through the blast crater.

“My Queen, we’ve breached the door they were guarding… it’s of little importance, a mere supply area.” one of the surviving drones stated.

“Arms? Ammunition? Armor?” Chrysalis asked, attempting to quirk up a brow before noticing that it was missing.

“Laundry detergent, they were fighting tooth and nail over a hallway that leads to the barracks, which are now empty, and a laundry supply closet.”

“Trying to throw us off by putting up a last stand at every turn…” the Changeling queen trilled, “Admirable, but a wasted effort. Move up the hole in the ceiling that these lesser beings were kind enough to make for us, we’ll continue fighting until this ship drops on top of those fools still loyal to Kane.”
____________

“It’s hard to believe but we have Changeling forces, no longer loyal to Kane, fighting with the Scrin against us and the Brotherhood.” Fancy Pants stated from his position at the War Room conference table. He was rarely there, and despite Canterlot being a half-infested tiberium field, ICB was still located in the capitol. However, he made the rare visit when things of a world-changing nature were about to happen or were in progress.

“And the Scrin?” Ironsides asked.

“From the looks of it, collecting scraps. Sky Sentry shows them mostly on cleanup duty. It’s as if our excursion into the Red Zone was more costly than they let on… it’s possible hitting the Rift Generator caused more damage than was expected. They were pushing hard in the immediate aftermath, but it’s looking like that was a bluff until they could get Chrysalis and her little rebellion up and going.”

“And now they’re using her to regain lost ground… or possibly cover a retreat.” the older stallion muttered, “How’s the Brotherhood faring?”

“Badly. Changelings were, against Kane’s better judgement, one of the backbones of the Brotherhood, and now with a civil war focused mostly within his own faction, he’ll be lucky if he can conduct a war after he puts down the would-be queen.” the Intelligence Director replied.

“And our troops in cooperative theaters?”

“Holding. Chrysalis is mostly focusing on pure Nod units but she’s not shying away from hitting our troops. Three Kodiaks have already repelled boarders with the Hope working on kicking them off the deck.” Spitfire replied, though her position at the table was fulfilled by a magical projection of her still onboard the Crystal Fury.

“We’re also containing what few outbreaks in our own territory have happened.” Stalwart Shield added, “Looks like Chrysalis was more concerned with a successful coup than taking the fight to us this time around, though it would appear she sees any joint operation as a fair target for her aggressive outbreak.”

“We’re looking at the Brotherhood fracturing in ways we never thought possible, sir… we may need to consider that now, as the Scrin and Kane are on the backhoof, is the time to end both threats once and for all.” Fancy Pants chimed in, though once he was done saying his piece, the room went silent as Ironsides looked from his personal datapad, to the feeds all around him, to the collected branch commanders, and back to his datapad.

This ritual happened three times, each time showing steady, calculated motions that he was notorious for since he was Lieutenant Ironsides all those many decades ago.

“All of our troops in the field are to disengage… pull back from Nod zones. Hit Scrin targets hard, but leave the Brotherhood to fight its own civil war. I want Sky Sentry to get a bead on every Nod missile silo and have Ion cannons ready to target them, and I want Scrin units in the open wiped out via orbital strikes as well.” Ironsides finally said, coldly, “When the smoke clears and a winner in the Nod Civil War is declared… we turn the survivor to ash. Chuck.”

“Yes sir?” General Stampede answered.

“Deploy the Titans… all of them.”
____________

It had been five days since Ironsides had first ordered the Titans out of the factories and to frontline units. They had reached their units in four, but remained inactive until needed. Ironsides had agreed with Applejack and Big Mac about keeping them from facing Nod or the Scrin until the time was right. Every Titan crew was standing by upon arrival, and most expected at least a few weeks, or in some cases a few months, until they could put their machines through their baptism by fire.

The fact that the call came in less than 48 hours after arrival was beyond all of their expectations.

All across the GDI lines, the same scene was played out dozens of times over as a collective battalion of Titan Walkers prepared to do their duty. Ponies galloped at full speed to their walkers, others were making sure ammunition and rations were properly loaded. Tank crews that were to support the mechs were topping off ordinance, making sure spark chambers were still in good condition, and in some cases making sure their hull paint was properly dried.

One by one, unit by unit, the newest weapon in the GDI arsenal went active and stood proud amongst its treaded brothers-in-armor, declaring to the world with a simple affirmation that war for Equestria had once again changed forever.

“Titan ready!”
____________

A few hundred miles away in Mareajevo, a similar, yet completely different, scene was playing out. Twilight had done her work and done it well. Kane had asked and now he was to receive, and he was watching the whole thing in person.

In the same bay that he had seen the advent of the Marked of Kane, a whole new weapon of conquest had been prepared to bring his wrath to the world. While Avatars were shaped vaguely like dragons, this new walker was much more utilitarian in design. No head to speak of, just a large torso seated on four massive, identical legs. Its arms were bulky, armored, and shared a similar design doctrine as the Black Hand’s personal armor, with the right arm housing a massive array of three Obelisk-class lasers.

While Luna questioned the need of having the left arm house a claw for manipulating items, Twilight assured her it was a necessary design function just in case the pilot wanted to start throwing Predators at GDI formations.

The pilot in question had been hoof-picked, trained, and selected for this task well ahead of the building of the Redeemer. He had been refined through battle, and sent into the most difficult places in the War with few exceptions. And now, he was smiling inside of this monster, operating a metal behemoth with LEGION interfacing directly with his brain.

Spike smiled as the scaffolding fell away, fuel lines and ammunition conveyors pulling back as he booted up the massive mech’s systems. Despite being so large, the cockpit was surprisingly claustrophobic, though he didn’t mind. His helmet gave him all the external information that he needed to be appraised of, and Sonata Dusk in a stasis tank directly behind him, had her brain wired directly into the Redeemer’s relevant systems but kept well in check by LEGION. His gauntlets, belt, and boots fed movement data to his new command center, and before long, Kane, Luna, and Twilight were greeted with the sight of a walker twice the size of any Avatar shaking off the dust from manufacturing and giving a boast that made even Kane feel goosebumps.

“The Redeemer Has Risen.”

Armored Advance

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Chapter XXXII - Armored Advance

“Targets at bearing 097 and 099, positive ID as the ones the Predators softened up.”

“Ammunition loaded up?”

“Affirmative.”

“Send the pain.” the mech commander ordered, smiling as twin railgun rounds tore through the two enemy walkers dead center. Tiberium stored in their reserve capacitors detonated from the force of the rounds ruining the control nodes and compounded the detonation, sending Scrin infantry and light armor flailing through the air, only to be picked off by GDI troops on the ground once they landed hard.

“Targets destroyed, two more rounds in their chambers.” the senior gunner announced over the intercom, getting a silent yet tired smile from the commander of this mechanized marvel. Shortly after they had reloaded and began searching for targets again, a beam of light pierced the sky and landed somewhere on the horizon, sending a shockwave through the whole line.

Today was the third day of pushing on all flanks. Ion cannons were working overtime and lancing out to meet alien redeployments across the globe, smiting them almost as quickly as their wormholes deposited them in red zones or even in the middle of Nod Civil War theaters. Ironsides had made it extremely clear, to Kane and to the troops in the field that any alien force was a fair target, and while Nod’s “messiah” wasn’t keen on ion strikes in his territory, more often than not the Scrin arriving in Nod’s back yard was backing up a sect loyal to Chrysalis.

Nuke silos were also being lit up like candles whenever GDI had an excuse. Anytime a silo was deemed lost to the Cult of Chrysalis, an Ion cannon would smite it, removing a threat to all sides given Chrysalis had already managed to launch a missile early in her rebellion. The only reason it didn’t level its target was because Kane, Luna, and Twilight had all the command codes to every missile in the Brotherhood’s arsenal and the moment that nuke was in the air, Kane himself deactivated the warhead.

That warhead was now thruster up in the dirt in the main courtyard of Temple Prime, and while many would consider removing a nuclear warhead that close to their capital building, the fact that Chrysalis managed to have a near constant guerilla front on Kane’s front doorstep kept either side from getting in and dismantling or reactivating the warhead.

As the Titan began advancing again, the signature crack of dual railguns going off caught the commander’s attention. Heavy armor had caught up with the main push, and he could recognize the Mammoth to his Titan’s direct right. On the side of the tank was an emblem of an apple carved to look like a skull, and a name stenciled on that reflected the commander’s former nickname before military service.

“All units this is Brigadier Macintosh, 2nd Heavy Armor is moving to supplement and I’m taking command of this front. Brigadier Hardcase and his XO have been evacuated and are in stable condition.” Big Mac said, getting a flood of affirmatives from the various unit commanders before he continued, “Updating engagement parameters as well. Scorpion tails are back on the menu if they so much as blink threateningly in our general direction.”

Again, the flag officer received affirmations that his orders, or more accurately Ironsides’ orders, had been acknowledged by those that were now under his command. As if in reply, many tanks and even some infantry let off a salvo or sustained burst of automatic fire into the retreating aliens. While working with Nod had been a much needed respite even if it took alien invaders to cause it, many in GDI still held close the wounds that the Brotherhood had inflicted upon them, some as early as the first days of the war.

“General, the aliens are cutting and running but we have contact on the other side of their staging area.” Big Mac’s XO stated from his spot at the modified Mammoth’s internal command center.

“Friendly?” Mac asked before looking down from the command couch and seeing for himself, “What the hell are GDI eagles doing mixed with Nod scorpions like that?”
_____________

His work never ceased, and even now the Overseer was waist deep in reports from across the planet. The indiginous species hadn’t known it, but while they were hitting the Rift Generator they managed to knock out the nearby Signal Transmitter and Relay Node that was still under construction. The only thing that kept the entire assault force from going cold and deactivating on the spot was the fact that he hadn’t transferred ichor dispersion responsibility from his flagship in orbit.

The foreman who put that many high value targets in close proximity to each other had already been shoved out an airlock by the Overseer personally.

And now he had been given orders to disengage on all fronts, seed as much ichor as possible, let Chrysalis capture Kane if viable, and then come home. Capture of the one known as Kane had failed but his Mastermind teams, as well as his own probing of the Changeling Queen’s mind, managed to get significant data on him, more data than was acquired during the campaign that saw the Overseer join the Scrin.

Why the Overlord felt that more knowledge on a single sapient was more important than an entire conquered world eluded the Overseer, but it wasn’t his place to question the Overlord openly.

“How long until the seeding missiles are ready?” he asked, but his response was just a dozen foremen chittering away and more data flashing across his eyes. Had he his original mouth, he would have scowled. For now, exasperated growling before muting all of them would have to do. Once again, an operation was being halted and scrapped at the whims of the Overlord with no regard for the effort or material already put into it.

Lives were of little consequence to the Overseer but to have a blemish, even one ordered, sanctioned, and fully endorsed by the supreme ruler of the Scrin Empire was intolerable.

“Prepare ichor deposits for insertion into fully saturated biomes, ignore partially or fully cleansed territories.” he finally ordered once he reached the main viewport of the bridge. Looking down, he was once again hit with the urge to scowl. All the Overlord had to do was grant him access to a world cracker and he could end this wretch of a resistance once and for all. He could even seed the asteroid field that would emerge with ichor afterwards and they would have a stable mining operation set up for the next few centuries at minimum.

Instead, he watched as missiles with ichor lazily arced towards the planet, only to then watch many of them get intercepted by the equine’s damnable orbital defense grid. Not a total failure, as enough made it into red zones to cause fresh infestations, but not nearly the result that the Overseer wanted.

“Prepare another salvo… keep up regular launches until all of our forces are evacuated from the planet.” the Overseer glared at this miserable rock of a world with the hate of one denied their rightfully deserved glory. “And commence activation of the Hexapod.”
______________

While Big Mac and the 2nd Heavy Armor Division were busy pushing the western theater, and with Ion Command tasked to capacity with hitting Nod silos and shooting down any missiles the Scrin tried launching towards the planet, Sky Admiral Dash was sitting in a hospital bed. She wasn’t even awake for the first few months when they stabilized her and grafted her new wings on. Her hind legs were amputated shortly after, and she woke up a few days after her new ones were installed.

Still, she was bed-ridden despite her own protests of being perfectly capable of getting behind the joystick, or at the very least back on the bridge of a Kodiak to take the fight to Nod. The only saving grace was that her EVA was keeping her up to speed and that Spitfire was more than willing to cede her temporary position as head of the GDIAF the moment Dash was out of the hospital and back in the fight.

Therapy had been slow but entirely successful, and at this point she felt like she was being kept in her room just in case something happened to the Crystal Fury, not that anything short of an alien ambush could take it down. Still, her thoughts drifted to the blue sky outside, as well as the occasional sight of Orcas or Firehawks streaking past in her window that she was luckily enough to be sleeping next to, or the nurse levitating a dozen scalpels with her magic.

“Wait.” was all that Rainbow Dash could think before the nurse, now changing to her true form, flung the makeshift blades at the rebuilt pegasus and the two other ponies sharing the room with her. She reflexively pulled her wings around her, causing the medical instruments to bounce off, but her roommates hadn’t been as lucky with both of them clawing at their necks in a vain effort to stop the bleeding.

After the failed attempt, Dash felt the wind get knocked out of her as the assassin charged the bed-ridden flag officer, only for her target to return the favor as mechanical legs sent her through the opposite wall. The changeling didn’t get any respite as the mare who was begging for some action finally got her wish granted, and once again mechanical limbs found purchase and cracked the would-be assassin’s exoskeleton, causing her to scream.

Not wanting to deal with the sound anymore, Dash decked the wounded changeling and knocked her out cold, smiling for a moment before remembering that there were ponies bleeding to death behind her. Diving for the panic button on the nearest hospital bed, she did her best to figure out who looked worse and then got to work trying to stop the bleeding with what they had on hoof.

The fact that the doctors who arrived barely made mention of the unconscious changeling in the hallway was a small blessing as they got to work and Rainbow Dash was allowed to move away from the scene. She busied herself shortly after, keeping a hoof on the assassin’s neck until security could arrive to take her into custody.

“Are you harmed, ma’am?” one of the doctors finally asked as the other two were stabilized.

“I’m good, a little sore from, ya’know, kicking ass, but it was nice to stretch my new wings for once.”

“Good, we’ll do a final physical and then call for an armed escort, Ironsides will want to know that you’re fit for duty again.”
_____________

The scene at the hospital was being acted out again and again all throughout Brotherhood and GDI territory, though with GDI medical facilities the assassination attempts seemed to be restricted to high-ranking officers or anyone else with a lot of pull in GDI. Nod hospital massacres were less calculated and much more messy, with some changelings taking the “easy” route of simply planting explosives or incendiary devices throughout them and setting them off from a safe distance.

Others sacrificed themselves for the glory of their new Scrin masters, usually at the direct order from the Overseer. The effect was immediate, with GDI pushing harder and Nod having to direct more forces to defend interior sectors once thought safe. And while this transpired the Overseer was able to pull his assets off the planet with limited resistance, at least until the ion cannons intervened again.

All the while, as the world witnessed the war being pushed completely out of the blue zones and into the yellow zones, Kane was fuming. It was the first time that Luna had seen him express anything other than smug confidence or calm authority. Even before when he was merely Professor Crystal Theory, he never got heated, and rarely got excited. To see him like this was new, if not intriguing for the Night Queen.

“I want every missile site we have left locked down and ready to fire, I don’t care if we have to detonate them inside the damn silos when GDI or that traitorous insect rolls over them, they are now asset denial weapons!” he barked, sending the various holograms representing what was left of his command staff scrambling. The table where they all had been “sitting” changed back into a representation of the globe, showing nothing but unit icons pulling back, with the majority of them heading straight towards Temple Prime.

“With any luck, Chrysalis will try and claim more of our nuclear arsenal and bring GDI’s wrath upon her… if only Twilight could have gotten the ion disruptors out of prototype, we wouldn’t be in this position.” Luna added, causing the earth pony to glance back at her and nod silently.

“It was that or the Redeemer.” Kane replied, “Which also means we can’t deploy it out of the protective perimeter of Temple Prime without Ironsides and his damnable satellites picking it off from orbit… EVA, updates on the traitors in the immediate area.”

“Troop strength still estimated at a single battalion, but local forces have not been able to pinpoint their command post. Garrison commander hypothesizes that they are receiving orders directly from the Scrin commander in orbit.” the AI stated emotionlessly, “All forces capable of converging on Temple Prime are doing so, and are expected to wipe out traitor forces in the immediate area before digging in for the inevitable GDI strike.”

“They wouldn’t dare.” Luna interjected, “Even with Chrysalis playing right into their hands, GDI doesn’t have the forces to take Temple Prime without their ion cannons to back up a strike force.”

“Troop estimates before GDI intervention in the Nod Civil War saw roughly one third of all Nod troops following Chrysalis. Defections are not restricted to changelings, though non-changeling defections are rare.” the AI continued, “GDI intervention is indiscriminate, one half of all Brotherhood pre-treason forces are facing GDI’s full strength and alien-backed traitor forces. Likelihood of a GDI offensive on Temple Prime is absolute.”

Luna’s confidence shattered as the numbers streamed across the table while Kane’s EVA continued on. In one fell swoop, Chrysalis had undone all of the lunar queen’s work. It was possible to hold to a stalemate, maybe buy some time with negotiations, but after Canterlot…

“We hold them here, or we lose everything.” Luna murmured.

“We will lose the current iteration of the Brotherhood, yes, but those that survive and stay faithful will lead us to a new dawn.” Kane retorted, that strange aura that Luna had felt after Canterlot making itself known again to her, “It might be years, even decades, but so long as the sacred crystal is on our world, the Brotherhood will never die… I will never die.”
_________________

Railguns lit up a ridge line along the Macintosh Hills, sending Brotherhood and Traitor forces alike flying in one direction while their limbs went another. Stalwart Shield noted the carnage with impersonal professionalism for all of three seconds before another salvo, this time from the Titans, lit up the armor that had been supporting the opposing sides. Something about burning Scorpion tanks always made her smile.

What she didn’t expect was the cascade of explosions that lit up the survivors as they began to retreat, each one giving off the tell-tale signs of being a remote explosive rather than launched ordinance.

“Evenin‘ General, mind if we join this dance? Nod has some VIPs in that convoy that Ironsides wants us to get confirmed kills on.” came a distinct Trottingham-accented voice over her command frequency.

“I wasn’t expecting the Dead Six to be joining us. Update your markers and we’ll hold back as much fire as we can while you work.”

“Dead Four now, actually, but thank you. We won’t be long, just need an eye from each of them.” Gunner interjected, his tone much more morose compared to Pip’s unbridled optimism.

“Copy that, where’s Havoc?”

“Prepping for Ironsides to put all his cards on the table. Can’t say more than that.”
_________________

Bordering the transition between a red zone and a yellow zone and thus subject to ion storms and acid rain that was standard for red zones, Mareajevo was inhospitable to most GDI troops on the best days with the best weather. Today was not one of those days, but Flash “Havoc” Sentry wasn’t most GDI troops. Ever since the Titan Deployment Order he had started his own operation against Brotherhood interests in the region. Stealth tech was still Nod’s forte but GDI R&D hadn’t been resting on its laurels during the war or the truce, and he was wearing a captured Shadow uniform.

It had a few extra toys added in of course, courtesy of whatever Dr. Dancer was able to get working from alien and Brotherhood technology, but that came with a degree of limited functionality. He had ditched the artificial magic crystal that was supposed to let him use limited telekinesis within a day of hitting dirt. Now it was the power source for the mother of all remote detonators sitting in his saddlebags, and he knew just where he was going to plant it.

His primary target, Temple Prime, was a hot zone while Traitor forces continued to engage the garrison, especially with a nuclear missile sitting in the middle of it all. If Dr. Dancer was to be believed, his crystal power source mixed with an ion strike would be more than enough to not only level the entire area with an output close to nuclear devastation, but clean up the residual radiation within minutes of the explosion.

Havoc didn’t give a damn either way, and was more than happy to turn Temple Prime into an irradiated ruin that no one dare try to use after the war was over.

The pegasus couldn’t dwell on those thoughts for long, though, as his EVA picked up movement to his direct rear. He was still invisible to all but the most powerful sensors, but he still moved out of their projected path before taking a moment to identify who was stumbling upon him.

Three Black Hand, sweeping through in search of traitors to Kane for the second time that day. Flash couldn’t tell if they were picking him up or if it was a coincidence that his approach to Temple Prime was mirroring their patrol path. Given he had passed a group of corpses in Nod garb with the scorpion tail painted over with a changeling horn, his bits were on this trio, a griffon and two ponies, hoping to get lucky a second time in catching a guerilla group in the open.

“Not so easy to win when you have to face your own stealth tech, is it you big dumb bastards?” Havoc thought, smirking as the griffon stumbled over a grouping of roots and almost fell flat on his beak. However, as soon as he righted himself, the ground beneath them exploded.

The GDI commando covered his eyes before rolling behind a nearby dead tree, hoping to avoid getting any shrapnel in his armor and compromising the stealth panelling. Almost as soon as he found cover, he noticed more flickers of air moving towards the blast zone. Their cloaks deactivated and he noticed the tell-tale marking of Chrysalis’ faction. They moved towards the crippled Black Hand troopers with an almost arrogant air about them, something they quickly learned to regret, though they didn’t have much time to regret it.

The Black Hand were known as fanatics for a reason, and these changelings wouldn’t live to remember that. Each loyal member of Pinkie Pie’s “elite branch” primed and detonated every grenade they had, as well as the power packs for their laser rifles. The explosion was so fierce that Havoc felt the heat from behind the tree he’d managed to hide behind, only for the trickle of “green rain” that started afterwards to startle him to the point of jumping.

Three Black Hand, nearly a dozen changelings, all Nod in Havoc’s eyes and luckily, all dead.

“EVA, mark this location, I want to avoid it on the way out. Chances of both sides investigating is going to skyrocket now that there’s a crater full of bodies and armor.” he said, only realizing that he was justifying himself to an AI after he had finished talking.

Ironsides had even warned him of the threats posed by going on such a deep range mission alone, but he mostly ignored them, as well as all of the military shrinks who tried to tell him he was handling the dismantling of his team poorly. He had told them all exactly where to put their medical opinions and got back to work winning a war against the bastards that nuked his home.

“Confirmed, Captain Sentry.” the EVA replied, only for Sentry to glower at his radar. More contacts on the way, no doubt to investigate the explosion. Taking lessons learned from fighting Shadows, he melted back into the landscape, moving quickly and carefully through the yellow zone that Kane called home.
_________________

Miles away from where Havoc prepared to wage a one-pony-war against the Brotherhood and its High Command, a wormhole of unprecedented size began to form at the center of a yellow zone. Had any GDI instruments been able to pick it up, they would have registered that it was easily double, if not quadruple the size of the wormholes that Planetary Assault Carriers tended to transport themselves through. If any soldier from either side of the conflict had been nearby, the reverberating noise that this wormhole emitted would have ruptured their eardrums at best, and shattered their bones through armor and liquified their organs at worst. The screeching didn’t stop as a single, massive leg found its way out of the tear in space and time, only to be followed by six more.

Standing at over 50 feet in height at the tip of its horns, and letting out another bone-shattering screech, the Scrin’s ultimate ground weapon began treading through the landscape at what seemed to be impossibly fast speeds for a being that size. Each step of its spindly legs left a crater that soon filled with Tiberium, and even though it had warped in miles from the nearest indigenous frontline, it managed to reach one within minutes.

Nod and GDI troops opened fire immediately, temporarily putting aside their differences to engage the gigantic death machine running towards them. However, many panicked outright at the mere sight of such a monstrosity. Lasers and railguns were aimed and discharged at the massive walker, but none of their primitive weapons scored a hit. By the time the projectiles had crossed the distance, the Hexapod had simply disappeared in a flash of light like a hologram switching off.

Only to appear behind their lines right in front of the panicking troops that had chosen to run.

The monstrosity rose up on its hind legs as tendrils began protruding from its vaguely skull-shaped face, and along with them, some sort of energy field began making itself apparent. Ponies, griffons, dragons, armor, infantry, none of it mattered to the Mastermind that was merged with the Hexapod’s brain as everything in the vicinity was deconstructed at the molecular level and consumed by the behemoth these inferior lifeforms had been unfortunate enough to encounter. Their pitiful escape attempts were but in vain. Any aircraft that attempted to intervene were carved to pieces as the walker hurled hundreds of tiberium shards at them, shredding their airframes and sending them plummeting to the ground in flames.

Any armor that tried to fight back found discs of plasma the size of a scorpion tank being hurled in their direction, bisecting or decapitating the sturdy vehicles as if they were butter in front of a heated blade.

Within minutes, four battalions in total from both sides of the Tiberium War had been broken down to their most basic components and turned into fuel for the six-legged nightmare the Overseer had released upon the world.

With its tanks now full, and its bloodlust slaked for the time being, the Eradicator scanned its immediate surroundings, getting its bearing before honing in on it’s primary target. One being was responsible for the Overlord calling this campaign short, and the Overseer was curious as to whether or not this Kane could make the same claims of immortality as his human counterpart.

With another roar, the Eradicator Hexapod began its journey, spreading ichor ever further with every step it took towards Kane’s most holy of sites.
_________________

Another double crack of railguns sent tremors through Big Mac’s Mammoth despite the inertia dampeners working overtime to compensate. Mac didn’t mind though, the fact that he could feel the results of his tank doing Celestia’s work made him ecstatic.

The fact that he was getting some well deserved payback on the aliens while he mopped up Nod forces was just the icing on a wonderful Welcome Back cake.

“General, we have Nod trenches up ahead.” his tank’s commander announced, “Looks like they’re Brotherhood, not Chrysalis.”

“Are they mingling with those GDI contacts we picked up on long-range?”

“No sir.”

“Then roll over’em. Infantry can mop up the puddles.” Big Mac replied, getting a morbid chuckle from the rest of the tank crew as he put his eyes back to the scopes.

Standard rules of engagement for GDI was to shoot first, identify the remains later. It was a policy that had saved many lives when dealing with the Brotherhood and even more when the aliens got involved. But now, for the first time since pushing his Mammoth to meet up with the flank pushing west, Big Mac had to restrain his troops from engaging a Nod unit. Up ahead, at least as far as he could tell, GDI troops were fighting with Nod troops to put down a retreating alien force. What caught his eye however, was when the Noddies he was chasing tried to link up with them, the Nod troops helped the GDI troops gun down or capture the lot of them.

“This is Mac to all units… somepony confirm that I’m seein’ what I think I’m seein’.” he broadcast on an open channel, though the response was far from what he was expecting.

“This is Brigadier General Hyperion Shield, formerly Brotherhood Strike Force Everfree, on station and ready to assist.”

The Chaos of War

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Chapter XXXIII - The Chaos of War

Another crack of a Zone Trooper’s railgun punctuated the engagement that Major Blizzard had found himself in. Alien and Nod troops slugging it out with followers of the Cult of Chrysalis, all wrapped up neatly as the 2nd Heavy Armored Division rolled over loyalist forces who were in the way. If not for Hyperion’s change of heart, Blizzard was more than confident that this bloody mess would have been a drawn-out slugfest that would have kept Brigadier Macintosh held up for days, if not weeks.

Instead, the old stallion was happy to watch as Apple Bloom carefully flung herself at her older brother. Reunions were happening all over, with many of the defectors having family or friends among the GDI tankers.

One stallion in particular was still on call with Stalwart Shield and Ironsides to see about getting his troops a change of uniform. The thought of Hyperion, one of the Black Hand’s finest, wearing a GDI eagle again was more than enough to get a chuckle from the major, even if it was only to make sure that Hyperion and his unit didn’t get hit by friendly fire.

What took that smile right off his face though was his First Sergeant walking through the carnage.

“Jet Deck, what exactly do you think you’re doing out of medical?” Blizzard asked, causing the younger stallion’s head to snap left to look at him.

“Truck was crowded, sir. Worse wounded than me needed the space and my suit is still working, so I can still fight… or at least walk.” Jet Deck replied, standing still as if rooted in place as Blizzard made his way over.

“And what exactly, was the last status update the doctors gave you about your condition?”

“Can’t regrow the skin out here in the field. Already past the point of no return since we made landfall.” Jet replied, “I can get magic-based medicine once we’re back at Baltimare.”

“Doesn’t hurt to use your armor, does it?”

“I’m…” Jet began saying, but his hesitation got the better of him as he finally let his helmet pull back, “I’ve got at least two inches of gauze and bandages over the raw spots under my uniform, sir… it’s annoying, but it’s not life threatening, and my suit can keep me more comfortable than a hospital bed ever could.”

“Alright, you’ve left me only one real option.” Major Blizzard told him sternly before letting a hint of a grin flash across his muzzle, “Get the company in order, I expect Ole Stally will be redeploying the lot of us soon enough. EVA has some of our strike forces closing in on Temple Prime, following in behind Chrysalis’ little coup.”

“Think Ironsides will let us have a crack at Kane’s temple?”

“Only if you get the company in order quickly enough, First Sergeant.” Blizzard replied, smirking all the while as Jet Deck saluted and sprinted back into the collection of ponies milling about, shouting orders and insults all the way.
_____________

The uniforms had changed while Rainbow Dash had been recovering, at least for the Air Force. The old sky-blue pattern camouflage that she had been accustomed to was traded out for a digital pattern that matched the color of the hallways and bulkheads that the crew of the Crystal Fury called home. It didn’t have the same “pop” that Dash had enjoyed, but she had to admit that even her Admiral’s BDUs felt and looked better than before.

She could say the same for the bridge of the Kodiak she was standing on as well. Completely reworked layout, reinforced consoles, and none of the bridge had high-traffic conduits, transformers, or couplings which meant no more exploding consoles during intense combat. As far as the Sky Admiral was concerned, whoever designed that particular deficiency in the older models of Kodiak should be fired.

“Admiral on deck!” one of the officers in the room belted out, saluting as the sky-blue pegasus walked through the threshold into her new “office”. Everyone but Spitfire sprung to their feet and rendered a proper salute.

“Admiral Spitfire…” Dash said, barely containing a shit-eating grin, “Should I consider this… insubordination?”

The still wheelchair-bound smirked back, slowly pulling her aviator sunglasses off before gently smacking Rainbow Dash in the shoulder.

“Of the worst sort, you’re gonna have to fire me and take your old job back.” she added, getting a laugh from the rainbow-maned admiral standing next to her. The laughter subsided a little before Rainbow actually embraced her former mentor for a moment.

“Heard you were in a bad way before I… well, y’know.” Dash told her, “What about you? Why haven’t you gotten replacements yet?”

“With you out of action, I was the only officer capable of getting this sorry bunch combat ready. No time for surgery, no time for recovery.” Spitfire answered with a sigh, “But with how the war is looking, it looks like I’ll be waiting until the fight is over to get myself back on four hooves.”

“I got the message too… EVA, patch me into ship Comms.”

“Connection secured, ma’am.” the AI replied.

“All hooves stand to and prepare to redeploy! ‘Ole Ironsides has given us the prestigious assignment of spearheading the newest offensive as we push Nod back up the asshole it came from! As of this moment, I am planting my flag on the Crystal Fury, and Helm is going to set course for Temple Prime! I want everypony at action stations and ready to bury Kane in his precious temple, yesterday!”

“Helm, set course, Comms, make sure we have secure links to any other Kodiaks heading towards Temple Prime.” Spitfire ordered, “Ops, I want a status update for the Sky Admiral ASAP.”

She was answered by various affirmations, with ponies now scrambling all over the ship. She had diverted from a combat zone for resupply mere hours beforehand, as well as to pick up the freshly recommissioned Sky Admiral Dash who was now grinning at the disabled officer.

“Spitfire, you’re still in charge of the ship.” she said, holding up a hoof.

“I’ll take the captain’s chair over an Admiral’s Desk any day, ma’am.” Spitfire quipped, tapping Dash’s hoof with her own, “Now let’s go kill us a Messiah.”
_____________

Three Days Later...

Chrysalis hobbled forward to the top of a hill that gave her a good view of Temple Prime and the surrounding area. Usually she’d be worried about skylining herself in case there were Shadows watching, but at this point she was practically daring Kane’s assassins to try and kill her, or at least what was left of them. Her coup had castrated the Shadow Corps, with more than half of the active Shadows when the civil war started being changelings loyal to her, and now Kane was having to defend his most sacred site with Black Hand and GDI-esque tactics.

Even now as she used magic to levitate a pair of binoculars in front of her, Black Hand and even some militia reservists were digging in while the occasional artillery barrage bombarded the approaching Chrysalis loyalists. She didn’t really care about casualties at this point, drones were easy to make, and the Scrin would bolster her losses after Kane was contained.

The mere thought of that earth pony made her carapace crawl uncomfortably, even without the damage to it after she was thrown unceremoniously off of that Kodiak with her personal guard. She put those thoughts from her mind though, she would be victorious this time.

“Kane will be captured and his alicorn whore will die a painful death…” the changeling Queen thought, seething as another barrage made the ground shake. “And this world will follow soon after.”

“Your majesty, all units are in position. We are ready to begin the assault on Temple Prime. It will be costly with our current numbers, though. We should wait for further reinforcements before attacking.” a drone stated, bowing as he approached her. Shortly after, Chrysalis used her magic to spear him through the throat.

“The final assault on Temple Prime. I have no use for those who lack confidence. This attack will succeed, and the war against Kane ends today.” Chrysalis sneered before looking at her assembled staff, “Begin the attack.”
_____________

The opening salvo of the Battle for Temple Prime was fired by a changeling infantry platoon armed with laser rifles and a single grenade launcher. With how chaotic the EVA network was, they were the first ones to get the order to attack. A few seconds after, the rest of the line opened up as well. Stealth tanks, Scorpions, a handful of Scrin walkers and hovertanks, and every aircraft in Chrysalis’ arsenal surged forward as well, advancing in staggered formations to try and throw off Nod targeting software and the gunners holding the line.

It failed spectacularly as SAM sites opened up and began clearing the skies almost as quickly as Stormriders and Venoms screamed into range, and more than a dozen tanks found themselves on the receiving end of Obelisks lining the various defensive lines that the garrison had been able to put together. For now, the battle was in Kane’s favor as Chrysalis’s ocean of pawns slammed against Temple Prime’s defenses, but not even a legion of Black Hand could hold off several divisions indefinitely.

However, one squad potentially could hold the enemies of the Messiah at bay until the entire planet turned to tiberium twice over. At the center of this massive back and forth between defenders and traitors was Sister Pinkie Pie, now more manic than ever after the death of Maud, leading her hoof-picked, most devout brothers and sisters in the Black Hand unto the breach every time Chrysalis’s forces managed to get within flamethrower range.

All others found themselves under almost constant laser fire as the founder of the Black Hand spent more heat sinks and power cells on her own weapon than the rest of her team combined, shouting all the while.

“COME ON YOU PARTY POOPERS! I’VE GOT ENOUGH PARTY FAVORS FOR EVERY ONE OF QUEEN MEANIE’S UNINVITED GUESTS!”
_____________

The ceiling shuddered once more as the battle above ground continued to escalate. Dust from the cross beams coated Havoc for a moment before his suit compensated and he was once again invisible to the naked eye. He had managed to get underground via an access hatch near one of the SAM sites, and had for the past 72 hours, been prowling around in the tunnels beneath Temple Prime prepping the entire damn thing to blow.

“EVA, who’s shooting at who up there?”

“Chrysalis Loyalists have engaged Temple Prime’s defenses.” the AI replied, getting a chuckle from the commando.

“This day just keeps getting better and better…. Distance to last ion disruptor?”

“Primary route, 172 meters… alternative route available.”

“Clarify.” he whispered, ducking behind a stack of medical supply crates as a pair of Nod soldiers ran by with a stretcher.

“Cutting through the nearby medical bay will cut distance by 50 meters. Chance of detection increases by 78%.” the EVA stated without emotion.

“Only if I leave survivors.” Havoc snarled, making sure his weapons were at the ready.

“Captain Sentry, shooting of injured enemy combatants is agai-”

“Override Code Havoc Mu Lambda, remove all ethics protocols from future calculations.” Havoc ordered as he rounded another corner, barely missing a dragon’s tail as he peeked inside the medical facility his EVA had mentioned. It was different from the standard field hospitals, or even the fully built up facilities he had seen in Nod bases throughout the war.

“Sweet Celestia, it’s a bucking research lab, not a hospital.” Sentry thought as he looked on with legitimate horror. Ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, every species that fought for the Brotherhood was there, with freshly wounded being injected with tiberium-based serums or having machinery installed so they could become Marked of Kane.

At the center of it all, pacing about as she looked over status reports, was one of GDI’s most wanted Nod officers. Her indigo mane was still frazzled, her tiberium-laced skin showing signs of self-inflicted wounds either from scratching or blunt force, and her eyes held an almost insane look in them that sent a chill down Havoc’s spine.

“She doesn’t look as good as she did in the PR broadcasts…” Havoc mused, sizing up his mark as Rarity gestured to the wounded drake that had just been brought in. The young reptile was quickly dumped into a vat of liquid tiberium rather unceremoniously and a chart was hung next to his tank.

“Low chance of survival, start preparing him for Marked transition.” Rarity ordered, tossing her own datapad onto a nearby desk as she looked back at the main door, directly at the still cloaked Havoc.

“Can she see me?”

“Only 12% probability that she does, Captain Sentry, you are still invisible.” the EVA replied just in time for Havoc to duck behind the doorway as laser fire peppered the opening he had left.

“Who do you think designed the Shadow Suits, interloper!?” Rarity screamed as her pistol let off another burst of pure-white laser fire, this time at the wall that Havoc was hiding behind. The metal heated instantly, with the third shot piercing it and singing the commando’s neck.

The cloak failed soon after, and his reply was to toss a flashbang into the hospital-turned research lab. With Rarity shielding her eyes, and the minimal security staff doing the same, Havoc rushed into the room and put down the two guards with quick, precise headshots that shattered their helmets. Rarity never stopped firing, and her wild shots managed to throw Havoc off enough so that his third silenced burst only clipped her neck.

The mare who designed every Nod uniform, and the architect of GDI’s biggest military loss before the Crystal Kingdom, went to the ground flailing, her magic never relinquishing her pistol which was still letting off laser fire as quickly as she could let it off. Only when Havoc put a hoof on her neck did she finally drop the pistol, glaring up at him.

“Technically, I should arrest you so we can put you on trial for war crimes…” Havoc said, putting just enough pressure on her throat to keep her from trying to get back up, “But in the event that I can’t detain you, I’m auth-”

“If you’re going to kill me, then get it over with you brutish oaf!” she snarled, her tone still as manic as ever. “Enough with the boasting, do it! Do it!”

“.... EVA, scan her.” Havoc muttered, completely taken aback by his prey’s attitude. This sort of behavior was typical of Black Hand, not the meticulous mind that surgically murdered Blueblood and his entire division.

“Target is mentally unstable. Extreme mental duress has advanced her previously latent tiberium infection. Full crystallization of the brain within three months if untreated.” his EVA replied, “With treatment… terminal levels of infestation within nine months.”

“She’s already dead.” he mused, looking back at Rarity before kicking her pistol away for good measure. “Almost takes the enjoyment out of putting down one of Nod’s most brutal leaders.”

“Enough of this!” Rarity barked, her magic flaring and sending Flash careening into one of the auto-surgeons putting metal wings on a griffon. His vision flashed white and his HUD did the same, but his onboard systems were still working and before he even got back to his hooves, he was shooting at the Nod general. His target refused to take cover, barely flinching as bullets peppered her body, and her magic still holding her sidearm even as she collapsed on the ground and fired off one final laser blast.

By the time Havoc got back to his hooves and managed to take in what all had happened, the Butcher of Blueblood was slumped against a tank of liquid tiberium, her blood mingling with the green, highly reactive substance, and a single laser had burned through her temple.

“EVA... patch me into HIGHCOM, full encryption… let them know that General Rarity is officially KIA…” Flash Sentry ordered, panting as he started shutting down the medical equipment and planting demolition charges, “And tell them that Havoc is moving onto the final target, ETA, imminent.”
_____________

“General Rarity just went dark.” one of Kane’s aides announced, “We have an infiltrator in Transition Lab Alpha, they’re wearing a Shadow suit.”

“Security, get a team down there to handle it.” Luna ordered, only for Kane to laugh lightly.

“By the time they get down there, the commando will be gone, and they will be walking into an empty room at best, a deathtrap at worst.” Kane retorted. “Belay that order, deploy more security to the ion disruptors.”

“You think this Shadow will go after our only defense from GDI’s ion cannons? What sense would that make?”

“Call it a hunch, my dear, ever since Chrysalis decided to throw her lot in with the Visitors, we’ve taken more than enough precautions to keep her loyalists out… if anyone managed to sneak in, it’s either a new traitor, or a GDI commando.”

“Quite the hunch…” Luna replied, but she soon relented and turned her attention back to the holographic map of the Temple Prime battlefield, “We should be able to hold her long enough for what few units couldn’t make it back in time to hit her army from behind.”

“And then her latecomers will hit us from behind.” Kane added before gesturing to the far edge of the map, “And that’s if that oncoming wave of blue doesn’t roll over all of us first.”

Silence soon fell upon the Brotherhood’s two leaders, with the hum of consoles and the light tapping from keyboards being the only sounds present. Luna continued to mull over their situation, while Kane seemed almost apathetic to it all, regarding the ever-steady flow of their enemies pouring into view with an almost bored expression.

“I am going to join the fight.” Luna finally stated, “I know you cannot impact much in regards to combat, but I… I can do more than enough to tip the scales in our favor.”

“I agree.” Kane stated before his EVA chimed in. With minimal chittering from the AI, Kane finally smiled again, “In fact, I believe your presence will be necessary. It would appear that an old friend of ours has decided to take matters into her own hooves now that the finish line is so close, and her pride is still on the line.”

“What, exactly, do you mean?” Luna asked, only for Kane to answer her by inputting a short command code into the table they were looking at. Alongside two of the icons representing Kodiak air carriers, a cutie mark shaped like a sun popped up.

“By your leave, my queen.” Kane said, giving a slight bow as he got out of her way and let the Brotherhood’s queen sprint from the room.
_____________

The defenses were cracking, little by little. Even with her casualties mounting at astronomical levels, Chrysalis could see the obvious signs of the defending Nod loyalists losing their footing. No matter how many times her generals told her she was seeing things, or that she was refusing to acknowledge the facts, that this assault had already been mostly spent and was running out of steam, she knew that this attack would finally end Kane once and for all.

Even as proximity alarms for their command post began blaring, she held fast. Nothing could beat her beautiful, superior race, especially after they had graciously allowed the Scrin to assimilate them.

“Someone shut off those damn alarms.” she barked, only to notice that there wasn’t anyone left to shut those damn alarms off. Her tent was deserted, her staff either running for the front or abandoning the mission entirely.

“What the f-” was the last thing to come out of Queen Chrysalis’ mouth, and the last thing to go through her mind was the rest of her body as two rounds from a Mammoth’s main guns tore through the tent.

The first confirmed kill of the GDI advance on Temple Prime went to Major General Rose Shard’s command-variant Mammoth Tank, the aptly named Long Time Coming. Shortly after, the entire rear of the traitor line erupted as Predators, Mammoths, and Kodiaks all followed suit and bombarded what was left of the decimated changeling army into oblivion.
_____________

As all hell broke loose on the ground below, two alicorns met above the battle lines. While Luna looked upon her sister with mild disdain, Celestia’s eyes burned with a fire that could only be described as vengeance.

“You’re late, sister.” Celestia spat.

“Fitting that only at the end do you finally accept me as I am, Tia. Shouldn’t you be tending to your garden while ponies die in your name?”

“I am done hiding behind Ironsides.”

“You mean he’s done holding your leash.” Luna retorted with a sigh, “Why are you really here, Tia?”

“For you.” Celestia answered, “We can still end this without further bloodshed. Kane is the face of the Brotherhood but he listens to you… convince him to surrender, and we won’t raze Temple Prime.”

“You really believe that if you win here today, that we will simply… fade away. Do you honestly believe that the Brotherhood will die here?” Luna asked harshly.

“I believe that if you force us, we will annihilate Nod, once and for all.”

Before Luna could reply, the ground in front of Temple Prime split open, and Kane’s trump card was raised onto the battlefield. Once the massive service elevator had deposited the Redeemer onto solid ground, it began lumbering forward as missiles streamed from its shoulders. Luna, almost amused at the timing of the display, looked back at her sister and smiled.

“A little present from your former, most loyal student, dear sister. I believe you’ll find that the Redeemer will live up to its name as we come back from the edge that Chrysalis, not your precious GDI, pushed us to.”

Celestia was quick to retort, but was interrupted as the translucent dome at the top of the Redeemer began glowing red. Soon after, the entire mech was glowing a dark red, and a faint musical tone could be heard. Even Luna’s composure broke at that, for she knew exactly what was about to happen. Besides herself, Kane was the only other one able to authorize the use of the Rage Generator.

“Behold, the will of Kane!” Slavik boasted as the energy his walker had been building up discharged in all directions. Celestia and Luna were both directly above the Redeemer as it sowed unrest into the already chaotic battlefield, and even alicorns were not immune to the song of a siren. Their bodies were outlined to the troops below as the Crystal Fury took aim at Temple Prime with her ion cannon, only for the disruptors to dissipate the deadly energy before it could impact the structure. Luna barely brought her own magic shields to bear when a pillar of flame impacted it. Celestia, now giving into the effects of Twilight’s new doomsday weapon, was out for blood and Luna was the sole target of her wrath as she came screaming into this brawl between goddesses.

“We end this today, Sister!”
_____________

With its work done, the Redeemer took once more to wrecking anything in its path, laying waste to GDI formations faster than many could react. Lasers and missiles lanced out to meet the offending heretics while some were busy fighting each other. Not as many as Spike had hoped, but that was to be expected when one of the biggest battles of the war was the field test for the Rage Generator.

Units were also spaced out to the point that it lost its effectiveness, with many GDI infantry units taking pot shots at each other only for mere moments before going back to laying down fire on the troops the Redeemer was protecting. The massive mech took strides forward as it kept battering the GDI attackers with more laser fire from its arm cannon, striking anything that he fancied as more and more data streamed across Slavik’s eyes.

His gaze caught movement soon enough, as well as an anomaly. GDI forces were firing at something coming in from the Redeemer’s left flank, and the reply was plasma. Soon enough, the rumors that had started circulating through Nod High Command were proven true and a six-legged monstrosity blinked into existence on top of a platoon of Mammoth tanks, implaling two of them and throwing them at the Redeemer. Both heavy tanks found themselves bouncing off the Redeemer’s arm plating as Spike brought up his left arm to shield the main chassis from the impact, only for both vehicle to detonate shortly after being deflected.

“LEGION, I need as much information as you can give me on that thing.” Spike said, though by the time he finished his sentence, LEGION was already streaming information directly into his mind. In reply to the impromptu game of catch, the Redeemer leveled its main guns on the Scrin walker and opened up, causing it to screech in defiance and start sprinting towards the first thing that had ever managed to hurt it.

Spike was ready, and as soon as the Eradicator blinked out again, he was already swinging his arm backward as the torso of the Redeemer followed suit. LEGION had run through all the likely attack vectors, and when the Hexapod blinked back into existence, it caught the Redeemer’s fist directly to its face.

Another scream rang out as the Hexapod, now with wounded body and pride, threw itself at the Brotherhood’s most powerful weapon. Scrin chitin met Brotherhood armor and both walkers began to brawl on Kane’s doorstep.
_____________

While titans clashed on the ground below, Gods clashed in the sky above Temple Prime. As the Crystal Fury, Stalliongrad, and Ponyville continued to shell the beleaguered defenders and Chrysalis traitors with indiscriminate fury, Queen Luna and Princess Celestia had once again been brought to direct blows with one another. Magical blasts leveled acres of terrain, each strike aimed at each respective monarch, with both alicorns doing their best to end this fight quickly.

Luna had forgone all niceties, as Celestia was more manic now than she had been back in Canterlot, and neither of them were going to hold back. Both fought with the ferocity of their causes, both fought to save the planet from the green crystal, but only one would ever be able to prevail. They both knew this, both knew that this could only end one way, and now Luna and Celestia were both hellbent on being the victor.

While magic of navy blue and flame orange continued to arc and meet similarly colored magical shields, the Nod Air Force was making as valiant a last stand as they could. Venoms, Firehawks, Harpies, and ORCAs all clashed above Kane’s final bastion, with stray rounds, lasers, and even spoofed missiles careening into the battle of goddesses taking place in their midst.

Occasionally, a railgun would take a shot at Luna, only for the round to deflect off of her shields and scream towards the ground with reduced speed but with more than enough momentum to pulp a light tank if it slammed into it from above.

The opening declaration from Celestia aside, words now were also no longer necessary between the two sisters. Despite their magics making the earth beneath them tremble with their respective furies, after the initial verbal jousting there was nothing but quiet between them.

Luna would have been content to stay silent throughout the rest of this duel, but even goddesses expressed pain. A shining light pierced the sky, the Crystal Fury once again using its spinal-mounted ion cannon to test the defenses of Temple Prime to no avail as the beam of blue energy dissipated a kilometer out from the holy site. However, collateral damage was not to be ignored with a weapon of such caliber and both Celestia and Luna had been caught in the bleed of the beam, as had a swarm of Harpy attack helicopters that Luna crashed through. Both Princess Celestia and Queen Luna landed behind Temple Prime, near the border it shared with a Red Zone, their magic spent and their bodies ragdolling all the way down. Luna came to a steady halt after rolling along with the wreckage of the helicopter she had slammed into, but Celestia was far less lucky, halting abruptly on a bed of tiberium.
_____________

Luna tried to get up but her body failed her. She tried to see the damage that had been done but the moment she saw the strips of metal sticking out of her barrel and legs, she knew that it was only a matter of time before she became one with the celestial body she held most dear. Her eyes hadn’t failed her yet, and while she was not eager to face death, she was at least glad that she wasn’t facing it alone. Kane was galloping towards her as fast as he could muster, and Celestia wasn’t too far away despite being impaled on various tiberium shards.

“My Queen.. You’re-” Kane started, but Luna cut him off.

“Not long for this world, it would appear…” she murmured, giving him a pained smile as her blood began to pool around her wrecked body, “I need you… to continue the vision.. Continue our mission. You were right, Professor Theory…”

His old name caught him off-guard, making him recoil as if struck, but only for a moment as he once again took his place by Luna’s side.

“So long as you live… the Brotherhood lives…” Luna continued, her labored breaths keeping her from saying too much each time she tried to take in more air, “Generosity is gone, and I fear Laughter will not survive this day... you must keep Nod alive if our world is to survive. Promise me… promise me you’ll continue our work.”

“I promise, Luna, your sacrifice will not be in vain, and although we will meet defeat today, the Brotherhood will live on for decades to come.”

“Good… good…” the Lunar Queen whispered, finally letting her head rest against the surprisingly soft soil.

“Is it true, then?” Kane asked, “That you’ll merge with the moon upon… expiring?”

“I can already hear her calling to me… while this body will be gone, I will live on, so to speak. Every time you look to the moon, I will be there, watching over you.. Watching over Nod… may the Brotherhood… never… perish...”

Luna’s last mortal thoughts were of the earth pony before her, and as her body began to slowly flow away with the wind like dust, Kane gave a respectful bow. By the time he finally raised his head, all trace of the Lunar Queen was gone.
_____________

Celestia coughed, blood painting the green crystals in front of her as she felt the pervasive crystal corrupt her very DNA. She could barely see Luna as she faded away with the wind, and as much as she tried to muster one last attack to strike Kane as he stood by and watched, her waning strength failed her.

With little ceremony, Kane looked back at the terminally injured alicorn, scowling slightly for a moment before his signature grin took hold of his muzzle again.

“Celestia, Celestia, Celestia… you really should have just… played along with Twilight’s little cure. Then the nudges I gave the world would have amounted to little more than a border skirmish along the blue zones.” Kane said as he walked over, but as he talked, his voice slowly became one that wasn’t his own. It was familiar to the Solar Princess, but…

“No…” was about all Celestia could murmur before a zipper started opening along Kane’s spine. What came out of that zipper was an all too familiar form of someone she knew to be dead. Mismatched horns, a snake-like body, a paw, a hoof, claws, and those damning yellow eyes, all the tell-tale traits of the only draconequus that Celestia had ever known.

“Yes, actually, dear Sun Butt.” Discord replied, “And yet no… because you are most definitely not dreaming.”

Peace To The Fallen

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Chapter XXXIV - Peace to the Fallen

“H… how….”

“How am I alive?” Discord mocked, leaning against the tiberium shards that Celestia had been impaled on before snapping one of the crystals off and popping it into his mouth like a piece of candy, “Tiberium might as well be chaos magic in physical form. Celestia, did you really think that I would try the whole statue routine a third time?”

Celestia didn’t reply, having been reduced to coughing fits. Discord, with a twinge of pity in his gaze, snapped. Her pain was gone, but her body was still failing. She could feel her body becoming crystalized, but there was none of the agony usually involved with the transformation.

“Don’t worry, Celestia, the world is still in good hooves, they just aren’t in your hooves anymore.” the Lord of Chaos stated, waving to the sun goddess as her body began fading in much the same way her sister’s did. However, unlike Luna, as Celestia’s body began to flow away, the sun’s color began to change. By the time Discord’s third guest arrived, the sun was the same color as the tiberium crystals that had killed her.

“What have you done!?” Twilight screamed, only for Discord to shrug and pick up the now empty body of Kane, fold it over a clothes hanger, and put it into a floating wardrobe that disappeared as soon as it had arrived.

“I? Little ole me?” Discord asked, “Why, I’ve done nothing. At least to the Princesses, or at least what’s left of them. Today.”

“You’re supposed to be dead! How could you betray our trust like this! Was… was this entire war your plan? Some sick plot to take over Equestria?!”

What little amusement the draconequus had gotten from Twilight’s screaming was short lived, and with another snap, they were both back in Kane’s private office. Twilight found herself with a plastic mask of a bat on her face that she quickly ripped off and tossed aside while Discord was sporting a nurse’s outfit and clown makeup.

“Do I really look like a guy with a plan, Twilight?” he asked as the skirt, shirt, and makeup melted away into nothing, “I may have nudged Nod here and tapped GDI there, but the war? That was Celestia, all I did was encourage Luna to make the Brotherhood as the ever-brilliant Professor Crystal Theory… who as luck would have it, suffered a ‘nearly’ fatal heart attack shortly after being put on Luna’s staff.”

“You manipulated us all from the start! We- we mourned you!” the purple alicorn shouted, and once more Discord was happy that the walls were soundproofed.

“Indeed, I pulled strings on both sides, but to be completely fair, it wasn’t that hard. Ironsides had a stroke before the war that he nearly died from as well, except he actually did and like my role with Kane, I’ve been having so much fun playing his opposite; the gruff, grizzled veteran in charge of an impossible war.”

“How could you do this to us? We were your friends.”

“Friend. Singular. You all knew full well I only truly became friends with the one pony to accept me as I am, and she conveniently isn’t out there.” Discord retorted, waving a paw and causing all of the monitors in the office to spring to life. Each one told a different story of the battle outside. Spike was still wrestling with the Eradicator, Pinkie Pie was limping along, rushing a Mammoth tank on hoof only for one guard’s helmet camera to cut out once the tank fired on them and be replaced by that of another one. As the survivors tried to bring her broken body back to friendly lines, a Firehawk strafed the area and the feed cut out entirely entirely.

“As luck would have it, Ironsides cut MARV funding and pumped it into the Titan program. Fluttershy is safely back at ZOCOM HQ, watching this lovely chaos from a safe distance… honestly Twilight, I’m surprised you never figured it out sooner. You didn't notice how out of character Celestia was acting?"

"You... you cause... how?! You can't affect Alicorns."

"I couldn't affect Alicorns, but with chaos in physical form worming its way throughout the planet? I haven't felt a power boost like this since before Sunbutt and Moontush turned me into lawn furniture. Besides, Celestia wasn't my only hint. I made my presence known through Kane multiple times, and even fully revealed myself to Pinkie Pie’s sister on occasion when being Kane was getting boring.” he told her, chuckling all the while, “Why, I even name-dropped myself during the battle at Canterlot, rather randomly as well.”

“You used us.” Twilight spat, “Why should I care what you think of my deductive skills.”

“Because we’re the last of a dying breed, so to speak.” he quipped, floating over next to her on a hospital bed, IV drip, heart monitor and all, “We are two of the last three immortals left alive on this planet.”

“Four, Cadance is-”

“Comatose, as she has been since you hooked her up downstairs with no chance of ever waking up. When Temple Prime falls… and it will fall, given your boyfriend is about to place his last demolition charge and disable the ion disruptors, life support will fail and you will be the last adult alicorn left on our little ball of dirt floating around in the void.”

“You’re a real bastard, you know that?”

Discord merely laughed, disappearing in a flash of light only to reappear wrapped in a hooded black cloak and sitting in an odd high-backed rotating chair.

“Yes yes, give into your hatred my dear, watch as your pitiful little brotherhood is crushed beneath the might of Celestia’s empire.” he teased, “Or you could do what I’m doing, and take a well-needed vacation.”

“Vacation!?” Twilight replied incredulously, “Really!? You almost killed the planet, left millions dead, got two of the most ancient beings on the planet killed and the only thing you can say is that you want to take a vacation!?”

“Why, yes.” Discord deadpanned as yet another flash of light deposited him back on the floor next to his luggage, “Our time on this world is effectively over, it’s only fitting that we disappear for the time being, let the mortals sort themselves out now that things are finally ready for them.”

Twilight looked at him, then back to the monitors. The battle was getting more intense as both factions seemed to become aware that Luna and Celestia were gone. The Redeemer was proving its worth while beating the Scrin walker with its own front legs after having ripped them off. GDI armor was pushing in an unrelenting advance, and the Kodiaks that had been Nod’s bane since the war started, were steadily upping the intensity of their bombardment to the point that not even the defensive Obelisks lining the perimeter could stand before them.

“I made my choice when tiberium made landfall, Twilight.” Discord stated, all humor gone from his voice, “Despite your accusation, I did not call Tiberium to our world, and we aren’t the first world, the second world... we’re not even in the first one thousand planets to have the crystal arrive. The moment it landed, our world changed forever, and while you, Luna, and Celestia may not have seen it, the writing on the wall was clear as day for me.

“The Age of Gods and Monsters is over, Twilight. It’s been over since Appleloosa was assimilated. Tiberium jump-starts any technologically stagnant society, or kills it. The real Kane knew this, and as much as it still pains me to buy into friendship… I rather like Fluttershy. So I did what I could to guide GDI and Nod into familiar territory, but contrary to what you may believe, the most I ever did to affect the war was to prolong it. A habit I’ve gotten quite good at as right now, I’m wasting your very valuable time. But I think that’s enough explaining to the audience my motivations or lack thereof… you have a choice to make, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Whether or not to kill you isn’t that hard of a choice, Discord.” Twilight growled, her horn already glowing.

“If you think you can hurt me, by all means, try. But a word of caution… the more chaotic a world, the stronger I am, and what is more beautifully chaotic than a world-wide war?” Discord asked, that eternal smirk cutting the Princess of Friendship as deeply as his words were. His question was punctuated by another snap, this time instead of monitors surrounding the duo of immortals, it was gateways similar to the ones Twilight had seen before her ascension. Each one told a different story, each one showed a battle currently happening somewhere, and each one highlighted his point. Lives taken or saved at the flip of a cosmic coin. A decision here could save a hundred lives while the same decision there could end thousands.

“Stop playing around and tell me.”

“Oh fine, be a party pooper.” he grumbled, “You can reveal to the world that Kane was in fact Discord, Lord of Chaos and amateur tardigrade rancher, but you would most likely kill any chance of Nod returning from the brink and leave the planet solely in the hooves of GDI… or you can keep our little secret; keep the Brotherhood’s spirit alive, and maybe reclaim a throne or reinstate the divine royalty. Maybe even restore that status quo you love so much.

“The choice is yours to make, Purple Smart, but I would suggest choosing quickly.” he finished, gesturing over his shoulder to the camera feeds again as a tremor shook the entire temple. In time with the tremor, the Crystal Fury was charging up another ion cannon blast. Before Twilight could retort, Discord (now dressed in an odd black and red uniform with four pips on the collar) disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts, an impending ion strike, and Discord’s final words before departing.

“See you when the second tiberium war kicks off, Princess.”
____________

Twilight was sprinting as fast as she could, using her magic to augment her abilities as she found her way back to her lab. The structural integrity of Temple Prime was already compromised by Havoc’s sabotage, but without their last line of defense from GDI’s ultimate weapon, it was only a matter of time before the whole damn thing came down on top of her. A contingent from her personal security was already working in the lab on asset denial, but it wasn’t until she was in the lift that she let herself take a moment to center herself.

That peaceful moment died as soon as the elevator door opened.

A carryall was already being prepared in her personal hangar, and the princess was now scrambling to get as much of the most important pieces of her work into travel cases while two Marked of Kane were moving her pride and joy. The circular, fully self-sufficient stasis chamber still had the hastily scrawled duct tape label on it, though the ink had faded in the months since it had been sealed.

“Be careful with her, if Kane does not survive this day, she will be the future of Nod.” Twilight ordered as her niece was carefully transported, “EVA, copy all files on Project NYX to my personal datapad and then purge every archive in Temple Prime. The rest of you, burn it all, leave nothing for the enemies of the Brotherhood.”

As one, the Marked who weren’t on moving details got to work using built-in weaponry to burn papers, destroy computers, and purge what few test subjects were left in the heart of Nod’s R&D division. As they got close to finishing their task, the power flickered and half of the ceiling came down in a tangle of rebar and wires that was only stopped by Twilight’s magic.

“Status!” Twilight shouted as she tossed the debris aside.

“Crystal Fury has fired her ion cannon at the Scrin walker and the Redeemer, impact with Temple Prime was collateral. Intercepted GDI communications indicate that they are planning to use an orbital ion strike on Temple Prime.” the AI responded, “GDI units are pulling back to minimum safe distance, ETA to ion strike, seven minutes.”
____________

Spike spat out a cracked tooth as he ripped off his gauntlets and unhooked himself from what was left of the Redeemer’s cockpit. The ion strike had ripped the massive walker’s main weapon off and slagged the two legs on the right side. Slavik considered himself lucky though, given the state of the Eradicator. After the sound beating that he had given the alien monstrosity, the ion blast was the final nail in the coffin.

Two legs and a cored husk of a body were all that was left of the Hexapod, and Spike considered it a saving grace that those GDI dogs prioritized it over him.

“LEGION, you there…?” he finally asked as he slid down what was left of the Brotherhood’s most powerful weapon, his spines tingling at the feeling of the odd, tiberium-colored sunlight on his scales.

“Barely, sir. Systems are down, I’m transferring what’s left of me to Twilie’s escape craft.” came a quick reply, though it was strained as if the processing power necessary to answer was painful.

“Send her my beacon, I’d rather not have to walk to get away from this disaster.”

“She said to hold on.”

“Hold-”
_________________

“- on?”

“Spike, please help get Flurry Heart aboard.” Twilight said to the disoriented dragon. He was now standing in her hangar instead of on a blasted battlefield next to the building-sized wreckage of a mech.

“How did you… we’re inside the Temple, you can’t teleport inside Temple Prime.”

“Havoc disabled more than just the ion disruptors, all of our defenses are down. Now please, help get Flurry Heart situated so we can leave.” Twilight repeated, pointing to the carryall as she levitated another set of boxes towards the aircraft.

“Where’s Rarity?” Spike asked, causing Twilight to drop what she was levitating. Her reaction was all Spike needed to know the answer, but before he could shift into his monstrous form and destroy Temple Prime for GDI, Twilight gave a completely different answer.

“Humdrum Radiance Winter Wrap-Up.” she said. Before Spike could so much as utter another word, or transform into the raging monster that Twilight had fashioned him into, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground unconscious.

“Starlight, get him aboard as well, carefully please... it’s time for us to leave.”
______________

Rose Shard was breaching all protocol by opening up the top hatch of her Mammoth and sticking the top half of her body out of it. She still had her helmet on, as well as the face mask necessary to pop seals in a yellow zone, but she wasn’t going to miss this show or let the monitors do the watching for her.

Nod was broken, and Chrysalis’ coup had been completely mopped up by GDI forces. Those who couldn’t be at Temple Prime were either still under siege by other GDI units, or were still busy fighting amongst themselves near the red zones. Alien activity died with that monstrous walker that had picked a fight with Nod’s trump card and even orbit was secure for now, which was why HIGHCOM was having an ion cannon position itself directly above the monument to Kane’s hubris.

It was usually suggested that all personnel wear the polarized goggles that came with their helmets when looking in the general direction of an ion strike, but Rose Shard’s eyes could handle it, a quirk she had found out the hard way soon after Celestia had granted her the gift of new sight.

“EVA, give me a countdown, I want to savor this.” Shard ordered, smiling under her breath-mask as the number 60 appeared on the top-left corner of her HUD and began counting down. GDI had managed to pull back to a safe distance for the most part, with many bunkering down in tanks and APCs or hitching rides on Hammerhead attack helicopters to get out of the blast zone. No one knew how this would go, but with disruptors no longer keeping GDI from bringing the hammer down, everyone was eager to find out.

At 30 seconds, the ground around Temple Prime began crackling with energy, with loose rubble, rocks, and even bodies beginning to float a few inches off the ground. Shortly after, eight beams of energy made impact with the ground and began carving into the earth as they spun around and closed in on their target. The low-power beams barely made a dent in the thick armor of Kane’s temple, even when they converged at the center of the structure, but shortly after they shut off, the final pulse came down as soon as Rose Shard’s HUD countdown hit zero.

Pure, blinding light filled the shattered battlefield, coming down at the center of Temple Prime and causing it to balloon almost comically as it seemingly tried to contain the blast. The effort was futile though, and moments after the final pulse had made contact with the ground, the temple exploded.

By the time the light faded and the smoke cleared, all that was left of Temple Prime was the foundation, a few support beams mangled beyond recognition, and a nuclear missile warhead down in the dirt, snapped in half at the engine.
______________

Zone Troopers of the famous Wolverine Battalion would have the prestigious honor of finding the only survivor of the Temple Prime Ion Strike. After days of sifting through wreckage and bodies, Corporal Silver Spoon managed to find a single diamond dog alive amongst the rubble and he was taken to a hospital immediately.

Officially, no one wearing a Nod uniform survived the orbital strike. No carryall escaped at the last minute with a heading that put it going over the North Luna Ocean. No Stealth Tanks were left unaccounted for, especially not the one belonging to General Zeek. No diamond dog survived to tell the tale of watching Kane in all his divine glory meet the blast of GDI’s dreaded Ion weapons with a smile on his face before disappearing in the blinding light, and Havoc was never a participant in the Battle of Temple Prime.

Unofficially, holdouts continued to revere Kane even after GDI broadcast that he was dead, though only a handful of them continued to fight, and at least three of them got to meet Havoc in person before disappearing off of Stalwart Shield’s tactical map.

Shortly after Temple Prime fell and Kane was killed, Ironsides succumbed to his old injuries. The day General Ironsides died would be credited as the day the Tiberium War ended and peace was finally restored in Equestria. This left Stalwart, as the highest ranking member of the military left besides Chuck, in command of all GDI forces on the planet, and he wasn’t going to take the job even under the threat of court martial.

The head of state was yet to be determined.

The reclamation of all overseas GDI holdings and member nations was a different matter entirely. Separated from the main continent, the member-states of Prance and Germaney had been unable to hold their frontlines and had been fighting a running war in their homefronts for months. Saddle Arabia in turn would also need to be retaken by force, its legitimate government having long fallen and the scorpion tail flying high over its own royal palace.

What few changelings had survived were rallying behind Thorax, who had miraculously managed to keep his head on his shoulders for the entire war. With the counsel of his brother as a guiding hoof, it was becoming apparent to both GDI and the Brotherhood that the Changelings were done fighting and would isolate themselves until the skirmishes finally died down. The griffons on the other hand, were a different story depending on who you asked. Half of them wanted to avenge their fallen king who “heroically” hid and died in a bunker underneath Temple Prime as it was destroyed. The other half were tired and just wanted a place in the new regime they all saw on the green-tinged horizon.

Despite all of this, Stalwart Shield’s attention was focused almost solely on one pony. He had woken up a few hours after being treated for his injury during the Fall of Temple Prime. A close call with an Obelisk had almost cut her family line short.

“EVA, another update on my son, please.” the old mare requested.

“There will be some scarring, but he will reach a full recovery once his prosthetic is installed. Commander Mantis is keeping those who remained loyal to her and Hyperion during their defection in line, and they have made a camp of sorts just inside the walls of Baltimare. Many who have given up the fight are making similar settlements just inside the other Blue Zones that remain.”

“Make sure anyone willing to renounce Kane is welcomed back with open hooves, we’re not making Celestia’s mistake again.” Stalwart ordered with a slight sigh, “And start pulling as many of our troops back into the Blue Zones as possible, no need to risk somepony dying of infection with the war already over.”

“We might also want to make sure they get to work plowin’ fields if they’re gonna be living with us again.”

Stalwart looked up from her map to see Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and even Director Fluttershy standing in her doorway. All three mares looked exhausted, with Fluttershy looking worse than the Marine had ever seen the yellow pegasus before.

“I take it you have some friends left in the civilian world that can get a jump on that front?” Shield asked.

“I do, though I might be joinin’ em soon after… Nod’s gone, the holdouts are gone… it might be time for this old mare to retire.” Applejack added, “But not before we figure out who’s in charge of this clusterf-”

“Mess.” Fluttershy interjected, causing Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes, “We need to figure out who is in charge of this mess, Applejack.”

“How about you, Sky Admiral, looking to retire anytime soon?” Shield inquired.

“Maybe… the three of us are still coming to terms with… with Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie dying.”

“Twilight is MIA, not KIA.” Fluttershy stated.

“Just because one carryall got away doesn’t mean it was hers, Flutters… and with no princesses, or even members of the royal family left alive to rule… though that might be a bit of a silver lining to this stormcloud. I don’t think anyone could imagine Blueblood being King of Equestria.” Dash replied.

“Why not give you three joint power? Even if the other half of the Element Bearers are no longer with us, the country still looks up to you.” the older mare said, but the reply she got was all three of the mares in front of her either shaking their heads or making a disgusted expression.

“Crowns aren’t aerodynamic.”

“I’m just a simple farmgirl.”

“Oh I… I couldn’t. ZOCOM was enough, we need… well what about you, general?” Fluttershy asked.

“This old gal is not politician material, I’m afraid, and given Chuck wouldn’t even take this post, I doubt we could convince him to trade his helmet for a crown… if we even keep the old system, that is.”

“You mean… not have a prince or princess in charge.” Dash said incredulously, “Like… a minister? Governor?”

“Not just yet. To be completely frank, I’ve been putting thorough thought into this since Chrysalis’ little coup made it apparent that we could actually win the war. I was thinking something that could mix the old and the new, something that will make sure none of the survivors of this war feel alienated to the point of reviving the Brotherhood ever again.” Stalwart told the collected Element Bearers, only for Applejack to ask what was on everypony’s mind.

“Do you have a candidate in mind?”
_______________

“Abso-fucking-lutely not.” Rose Shard deadpanned, “I am not running for… for public office of all things. Even if I did, my place is helping the surviving crystal ponies find a new place to live, getting them help, making sure all of the POWs have been brought home… I can’t run a country.”

Shard was still in the middle of packing her things when the call came in, and the last thing she expected to see was the entirety of GDI’s surviving High Command staring back at her. Admiral Carc had taken over the Navy, Rainbow Dash was still holding her position with the Air Force, General Stampede had been granted his fifth star and command of the Army, and despite acting as Supreme Commander for the time being, Stalwart Shield still held her status as Commandant of the Marine Corps. Rose on the other hand was wearing civilian clothing with all of her uniforms already neatly folded, sealed, and stowed for her impending trip.

“Rose, just give it some thought at least.” Applejack said, “Please, your unit is already being dismantled to shore up other units at your request, and you put in for resignation two days ago.”

“Yes, resignation, so I can retire from running the lives of tens of thousands of ponies and instead help the few hundred Crystal Kingdom survivors. I’m not resigning so I can take on an even bigger responsibility. I got saddled with a division because everyone else in front of me died or defected, not because I was gunning for it. Why not you or one of the other Elements of Harmony? Why not your brother? Why not any of you?”

“We’re not retiring just yet.” Stampede answered, “And High Command has already made a decision about our role to play in whatever government succeeds the old one. We can’t have our head of state be active military. Distrust is still running rampant and tensions are high, last thing we need is for someone with stars on their collar to put a crown on their head and tell Nod’s survivors to bow.”

“I don’t know Chuck, you’d look good in a tiara.” Rose teased.

“We haven’t found one that matches my eyes.” he quipped back, “I also don’t feel like I have the flank to pull off the ornamentation that usually comes with the position, not with how the sun makes things look these days.”

“Why me? I’m a footnote in the action reports of the war, I have no royal connections, my own kingdom is still irradiated, and half of what I’ve done is still classified courtesy of ICB.” Shard asked, only for a long and rather awkward silence to follow.

“To be completely blunt? You being an earth pony is part of it. Stigma against unicorns is at an all-time high right now, and for good reason.” Fancy Pants finally answered, “More earth ponies died at the orders of unicorns and pegasi during the war than during the entirety of pony history before Equestria was founded… having a pegasus or unicorn on the throne will just send a message that nothing has changed.”

“There’s a reason everypony called it the Equestria Civil War in the first months of the conflict, Rose, and now we have a chance to make sure that something like this never happens again.” Fluttershy said quietly. “You don’t have to accept, you might not even win the election if you do. But out of all the hundreds of officers resigning now that the war is over, you’re our first choice. You’re who we think has the best chance of winning.”

“Wait so I’m not even taking the job? I’m just… campaigning for the job?”

“Voter turnout at Equestria’s first ever Royal Election is expected to be upwards of 70% of the adult population.” Fancy Pants added, “So far only two candidates have put in their bids for the office, both of them unicorns with ties to whatever’s left of Canterlot’s old high society, and I know full well what your feelings are about taking orders from unicorns again.”

“You’re an ass, Enigma.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”
______________

Ten Years Later….

A large earth pony stallion strode forward through marble halls. His right eye was an obvious prosthetic, and the scarring on the right side of his face gave away exactly what caused this injury. The irony of this pony in particular having a wound from a Brotherhood of Nod laser wasn’t lost on him or his wife.

Despite this, the stallion used this disfigurement to his advantage, and his presence was felt by any and all in his path, guards included. He still didn’t like being in Canterlot, even if he was the GDI Marine branch commander. The caste system of the past was gone but not forgotten, and even with the planet’s decimated unicorn population no longer being held as near-royalty, he was still viewed as second-class by entire swathes of the Canterlot population. His past was the main reason for that, and while he couldn’t blame them, he was hardly the only GDI officer that used to fight with a scorpion tail on his shoulder.

Kane had never resurfaced despite his more avid believers saying his return was imminent, tiberium’s threat to the planet was ever present but mostly contained, and GDI was no longer suffering under the rule of an increasingly unhinged royal alicorn. With Nod all but destroyed at the end of the Tiberium War and the Scrin threat still nagging at the back of everyone’s minds, it only made sense for such a renowned military mind to put himself to good use with the only unified faction left on the planet.

“General, good to see you here.” another stallion stated, interrupting his thoughts. Yellow fur, iconic scarring, and a silver eagle on his collar.

“Colonel Jet Deck… I didn’t expect to see you here. How’s the missus?”

“In good health and still running new ZT boots around like chickens on the farm.” the Zone Trooper responded, smiling at his former foe, “Though I imagine that with a meeting like this, Apple Bloom will be back on the front with me before long.”

“The Queen called you in too?”

“Sky Admiral Scootaloo and General Hook are also in attendance, Fleet Admiral Carc too.” Jet replied, his smile fading into a more serious expression, “She doesn’t call us all in for nothing, though…. something big has to be happening.”

“I got the same read… guards seem a bit more on edge than usual, and that’s not just because a former Noddie is running around with a sweeping eagle…” the larger earth pony replied, chuckling slightly before gesturing towards the large double doors down the hall. With a simple nod, both stallions made their way to them and gave the proper return salutes to the guards who opened the massive doors for them.

Inside the throne room was a collection of GDI officers surrounding a familiar table. Faint green sunlight continued to filter in through the stained glass windows, though all of them had been replaced after the war with heroes of GDI’s stalwart defense of Equestria, and even a few commemorating valor displayed by those in the Brotherhood. No longer were the Royal Sisters immortalized in the capitol outside of libraries, and the surviving Elements of Harmony had requested that their contributions before the war to be reserved only for books as well.

In contrast with the pristine condition of the windows, the throne, and even the floor, the officers and the table they sat at all had their fair share of scars from the war. This included an earth pony seated at the head of it wearing a small headdress and the silver ornamentation of Equestria’s queen. She had scarring around her eyes, and the fact that she was serving her third consecutive term as queen was hardly the most interesting thing about Queen Rose Shard. Upon entering the room, the queen took immediate notice of Jet Deck and the stallion accompanying him, smiling slightly as she greeted the maroon-colored earth pony.

“General Hyperion Shield… it’s been too long. Please, take a seat and we can begin.”

Author's Notes:

In March of 2015, I asked my friend "What would it be like to see tiberium on Equestria?"

With an answer of "Only if we make Kane be Discord", we set out on a project bred of boredom and a want to deconstruct a world we hold dear. 4 years later, here we are at the end of it all. It has been an insane journey, and while we never expected anyone to enjoy our story, the fact that even one person besides our writing team liked it is one of the best rewards we could have hoped for while making this passion project born purely of boredom on a guard tower in the middle east.

We at the Green Sun Team just want to say thank you to everyone who stuck with us, and while we don't have any immediate plans to write up Green Sun 2: Electric Boogaloo, if we do decide to drive ourselves insane with another multi-year, 100,000+ word project, we hope to see y'all in the next adventure.

Peace through power you magnificent bastards, and remember, KANE LIVES!