What happens if you throw MLP and many other fandoms into a blender? Well, this, of course!
Following an attack on the Friendship Festival, Equestria finds itself under siege from enemies both within and without their dimension. Twilight and her friends, as well as allies from home and abroad, must find a way to stop the attack and restore peace to Equestria.
This idea came to me after watching the movie and seeing crossover potential all over the darn place.
Written to celebrate the 1st anniversary of MLP The Movie.
The voice rang in his ears as he slowly regained consciousness. The whole city had been hit by some sort of explosion. Storms were whipping round the region and tearing anything in the area into tiny pieces.
The assault on Canterlot had so far been going well. STALKER had been deployed for a special operation, which had 3 objectives;
Assassinate the Storm King
Recover the Staff of Sacanas
Liberate those held captive by the Storm King
They had been flown in by Helicopter, touching down in the commercial zone and fighting their way up through the streets. They were largely deserted of the enemy goons, however. There was some sort of punchup happening nearby which had drawn their attention, not to mention some of them seemed to be on fire.
They had passed a number of cages filled with ponies. Poor bastards, they were effective slaves, and for what? Storm King wasn’t exactly short of those. No, this monster would even make slaves of foals! That was why he had to go down.
But something unexpected had happened. A large explosion had sounded just as they had breached the Palace of the Two Sisters. Some sort of twister had emerged, sucking practically everything into it, including tanks deployed in support and several enemy divisions. Truly the enemy was callous.
The storm had also damaged the structure, not that Canterlot was in good structural shape at this point anyway. Ruined buildings filled the area all around, and most others had been pulled down or converted into bunkers.
A chunk of fallen masonry had hit Logan, and he was now buried under it.
Logan found himself looking up, into the face of his brother, David, or ‘Hesh’ as he was nicknamed.
“Logan!” he repeated. “You OK? Let’s get this rock off you.” He moved to one end of the rock, and started to lift, but to absolutely no effect.
“I’ll get the other end,” spoke one of his teammates, Merrick. With both of them lifting, they got the masonry free in no time.
Elias, the squad leader, looked at them. “Alright boys,” he said. “We’ve got a target to take out. Logan, you OK?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good.” Elias resumed speaking. “Now then, most of the enemy force has been whipped up by this storm, but there are still Federation soldiers in the building. We need to fight our way to the throne room, and there we will find the Storm King.”
“Bastards killed enough of us,” added Keegan. “Nobody will miss him when he’s gone.”
“Which is why you mustn’t miss your shot. Let’s move!”
Captain William Collins
86th Airlift Wing, 37th Squadron
Collins came two in the cockpit of his crashed C-130. The storm had brought it down on the city itself, which had knocked him out.
He looked to the left, to see his co-pilot dead. “Shit,” he said. He climbed out of his seat, and looked back, to see most of the ponies and troops loaded aboard still alive. “You ready?” he asked.
“Let’s make a difference!” shouted one of them, a feisty mare with yellow fur.
“Harris!” shouted Collins. “Open the rear ramp.”
“Roger sir,” Harris answered. He threw the lever, and the ramp dropped.
The place was a mess. Roads were crumbling, buildings had collapsed, and the shattered wrecks of battle tanks were everywhere. Canterlot was the enemy’s last stronghold, and they really were throwing in everything to protect it.
Collins disabled the safety on his M4, and locked it into his shoulder. Streets were empty, and there was not a site to be seen. Never hurt to be cautious though. He had to make it back to his family on Earth, they were counting on him. He moved forward slowly, taking cover behind the wreck of an Abrams. He signalled to move up.
Logan Walker
Logan and Hesh moved into position next to a fallen column, ready to engage. “Enemy force, 5 men, 200 metres.”
“You are free to engage.”
Logan looked down his sights. Lining up a headshot, he breathed out and squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out, making contact with the enemy soldier and dropping them.
Looking around them in absolute surprise, the foe dived for cover and returned fire. Bullets pinged off of the rockwork and walls, shattering glass and embedding themselves in the terrain.
Hesh landed two more shots, and Logan finished off the last two. The last room had been cleared. They stepped forward, and with great apprehension, pushed open the door to the throne room.
Capt. Collins
A shot suddenly rang out, knocking down one of his men. “Get to cover!” Collins shouted.
The others wasted no time in complying with the order. Diving to the floor, most of the squad opened fire. The two pegasi took to the skies, loading their rifles and providing flanking fire.
It was then that the tank rolled in. A T-90 rolled across the courtyard, firing its cannon at a building behind them and toppling it. Machine gun fire racked the ground, causing the squad to run for cover inside.
Collins shook his head. He then spied an AGM-148 Javelin launcher in one of the nearby Humvees. And it looked to be in good shape too. He sprinted to it, dodging the bullets that were flying all around him and dived into the vehicle.
Pulling the launcher free, he ran back to a nearby courtyard and took position on a balcony.
The weapon locked on with an audible ping.
Collins pulled the trigger, and the rocket surged forward. He dived to the floor and watched. The rocket flew upwards, and began its downward run.
“Please don’t let that be a dud,” he prayed. The rocket hit home, smashing into the enemy armour and blowing the fuel tank. This triggered a chain reaction with the ammunition cooking off, destroying the vehicle in a massive explosion.
Collins wiped the sweat off of his brow, and went further into the city. There was a cluster of cages apparently unaffected by the storm. In them were ponies, all crying for mercy. He switched on his radio.
“Command, this is Skytrain 4, over?”
“Skytrain 4, copy, thought you guys were fragged, over.”
“We have a large contingent of captured ponies near my position. Real mixture of ages and races Sir, over.”
“We’ll deploy a cleanup team to get them out, over.”
Collins was about to stop when suddenly he heard a sound, like crying. “Hold. Command, I've got a tone. Sounds like a young girl, over?”
“Check it out, but remember, stay alive, out.”
Collins followed the path around into another courtyard. This one had a solitary cage. In it was a small orange filly, with a purple mane and tail. She was sobbing quietly to herself.
He stepped closer, took a look in the cage and spoke. “It’s OK, my little pony, I’ll get you out.”
The pegasus looked up at him. “Are you American?” she asked, in a voice which was weirdly familiar.
Collins looked gobsmacked. “Scootaloo?” he asked. “What the hell did they do to you?”
Logan Walker
“Contact, 2nd floor balcony!”
Merrick lined up his sniper rifle, and fired two shots, taking out two targets. “I’ve still got it,” he said.
Suddenly, Elias received a call on the radio.
“This is General Shining Armor, do you read, over?”
“Loud and clear, over.”
“The storm is getting worse. We will not be able to reinforce or extract you at this time. If you cannot complete your mission, get the hell out of there, out.”
Elias could see the Staff sticking through a stained-glass window, energy coursing out of it and destroying anything it came into contact with. “Objective sighted!” he shouted. “Merrick, can you get a shot?”
“Negative, risk of collateral damage.”
Elias was about to order the shot when suddenly he saw a group of 6 ponies and a dragon form a conga line trying to recover the staff. His attention was distracted when a man ran past him, heading the same way.
“Stop!” he shouted. He fired off some warning shots, and the man ran to the right. “STALKER, pursue!” he cried.
After a chase down a corridor, the man swung around.
“I believe we got him,” called Keegan.
Then, another explosion rocked the building. The structure toppled, tilting the balcony and causing it to fall away from them.
It was a truly glorious day in Equestria. The sun shone, the sky was (almost) completely clear, and everywhere you looked happiness abounded. And there was good reason for this happiness, for it was the day of the Friendship Festival, when Equestria’s most prized commodity and export was celebrated in all its glory.
Canterlot, the capital, was absolutely packed. It was full, and I mean FULL, of ponies of all species, colours, trades, and nationalities. The reputation of this festival was such that even foreign dignitaries did attend at times (though that time when the Griffon King had attended had nearly ended badly, as some of his delegation got drunk and ended up in a brawl with ERA troops). Nontheless, it was a happy occasion.
Canterlot was a truly massive city. Built upon a cliff edge, it had towering spires, streets full of half-timbered homes with thatched roofs, and wide thoroughfares to allow carriages through. There was also a railway station that got horribly crowded due to the fact it only had one platform.
On this most auspicious of days, Spike the Dragon was doing a supply run of important papers. He ran through the crowd, jumping off of objects and pushing through the throngs of ponies.
“Excuse me!” he shouted breathlessly. “Dragon on the move! Important Princess documents coming through!”
Nearby, two ponies were having a chat. “Wow!” said a white mare with red mane. “Everypony from here to Saddle Arabia is here!”
“I know, filly,” her friend replied. “We almost couldn’t book a stable!”
Up above them, two pegasi were also having a conversation.
“Princess Twilight must have her hooves full with this giant festival!” said the first, with lavender fur and purple mane.
“Are you kidding?” said the other, a yellow mare with brown mane. “She’s smart and organised, and cool under pressure! There’s nothing she can’t handle.”
Above the city, dominating the skyline, was a massive castle, constructed entirely of white brick, with stained glass windows and vast, vaulting roofs. The roof itself was plated with gold, such so that when the sunlight hit it (which occurred at least once every 24 hours, assuming a certain somepony wasn’t trolling people), it glowed brightly, a glorious beacon to all below.
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Princess of Friendship, Equestrian Royal Family
October 6th, 007 SLR
Twilight sat there in the room of stained-glass windows, reflecting to herself. Eventually, she snapped out of it. “Oh, my goodness, I can’t handle this!” she exclaimed. “Nothing is working! I just need to get it together.” She started pacing up and down the room frantically. “Just go in there, and ask! This is your Friendship Festival! Everypony’s happiness rests in your hooves!” She sighed in frustration.
Spike suddenly appeared from behind her, entering through the door. “OK Twilight, got all your charts and graphs.”
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here Spike! I’m just so nervous about this meeting!”
“Whatcha talkin’ about?” Spike seemed perplexed.
Twilight sighed. “I’m about to ask the 3 most Royal Princesses a huge favour! What if they reject me?”
“It’ll be fine,” Spike said reassuringly. “Just remember the most important thing.”
Twilight gave him a manic grin. “Smile?” she suggested.
Spike shuddered, remembering a certain incident with Pinkie Pie. “No,” he said. “Just remember that you are a Princess too!”
“Right!” Twilight exclaimed cheerfully. Lighting up her horn, she opened to door to the throne room of the Castle of the Two Princesses (which, given there were now 5, was in dire need of a rebrand).
It was constructed of blue marble, with Doric columns every 12 feet. Tapestries lined the walls, and there were stained glass windows (what else?) between each column. A massive window sat above two thrones, in front of which was a podium, with two ramps leading down to the floor. Two murals, representing the sun and moon, stood above the thrones. And in the centre of the chamber, 3 of the 4 other princesses of Equestria stood, ready to hear Twilight’s suggestions.
Princess Celestia
Princess of the Sun and Diarch of Equestria, Equestrian Royal Family, Raiser of the Sun, Saviour of the People, Etc. Etc.
Celestia smiled as she saw Twilight approach. It had been so little time since she had sent the Unicorn to Ponyville, and look how far she had come! Amongst other things, she had saved Equestria countless times, saved Luna from herself, stopped Chrysalis, prevented time from being re-written, and countless other claims to fame to lengthy too list here.
Twilight spoke up as she entered the chamber. “Good morning Princesses!” she called. “I have an idea that will make the Friendship Festival the most wonderful celebration Equestria has ever seen!”
“Yes Twilight,” Celestia said, in her level tone of voice which permeated nearly every thought, word, and deed of hers. “We are very excited.”
Cadence spoke up to her left. “Ponies have been arriving from all over this morning!”
Luna cleared her throat. “I’d like to think it is us they have come to see, but I get the impression that Songbird Serenade is the star attraction!” She turned her attention to Cadence. “Which reminds me, who is looking after Flurry Heart given you are here and Shining Armor is overseeing security arrangements?”
“We got a foalsitter,” Cadence replied.
“Right,” Luna answered, not entirely convinced.
“Anyway!” said Twilight. “Serenade is indeed the ‘mane’ event, if you’ll excuse the pun. And to make it extra special, I need your help!”
Spike suddenly appeared, wheeling in a massive whiteboard. On it was a diagram of the stage which had been built in the centre of the city.
Twilight suddenly launched off into a hopelessly complex mathematical equation. “Songbird Serenade's performance is not scheduled to start until after you begin the sunset. And based on my precise calculation, to get the very best lighting for the stage, Princess Celestia, I was hoping you could make sure the sun stays about 28.1º to the south, and, Princess Luna, if you could raise the moon 62º to the north at the same time, it would reflect the sunlight on the other side and really frame the entire stage perfectly!”
“I...”
“But wait!” Twilight interrupted, to prevent anybody else from butting in. “There's more! Cadence, if you could use your crystal magic to create an aurora above the stage, the sun and the moon will shine through it and create a truly amazing light show!”
Spike leaped on top of the whiteboard. “Presenting Songbird Serenade!” he exclaimed. It would have been perfect, were it not for him falling off it a moment later.
“So,” Luna started, sounding hopelessly confused. “you're saying you want us to move the Sun and the Moon for the Party.”
“Well, I’d do it myself, except I don’t have your magic.”
Celestia sighed. “Twilight, each of us uses our powers to serve Equestria in our own way. You are the Princess of Friendship. You have all the magic you need.”
“So, that would be a no?”
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Twilight stepped outside, a bit saddened her request had been turned down. Outside, she could see the preparations being made ready for the event.
Rainbow Dash blasted through another cloud. “Woohoo!” the blue pegasus cheered. “Sky’s cleared and ready for the festival!”
Pinkie Pie was busy blowing up balloons. Unfortunately, she filled one with far too much air, and it flew away from her at incredible speed. She charged after it, barrelling past Fluttershy and her chorus of birds. “heads up Fluttershy! Runaway balloon!”
Fluttershy sighed. “I don’t think the balloon’s out of control, Pinkie.”
Meanwhile, Applejack wandered into the square, pulling a huge cart with a giant barrel attached to the back. “Hey ya’ll!” she called. “Anypony up for some free samples of mah family's apple cider?”
Pinkie Pie flew over, completely oblivious to this fact.
No sooner had she said this, then Rainbow had grabbed a mug of it. “Thank you!” she called, returning the mug 4 seconds later. “Loved it!”
Rarity, meanwhile, was humming as she affixed gems to the side of the stage.
“Wow, Rarity,” Applejack said. “It’s a fine job you’re doin’ there. Course, it might not be finished till after the festival.”
Rarity snorted. “Applejack, darling, anypony can do ‘fine’. Twilight asked me, so clearly, she’s going for fabulous, and fabulous takes time.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “Fabulous takes forever!” she laughed. Suddenly she flew forward and attached the remaining gems in a roughshod and chaotic fashion. “But awesome can get done in four seconds flat! Faster if I do my Sonic Rainboom! Ain’t that true Scootaloo?”
“Sure is Dash!” yelled a voice in the distance.
Rarity looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. “Don't you dare, Rainbow Dash! It looked wrecked enough already!” She started working on getting the gems correctly aligned.
“Oh come on, it’s fine!”
“If you were raised in a barn!” Rarity snapped. “Sorry Applejack.”
“None taken. Especially since Ah don’t live in a barn.” She paused. “Mah family just happens ta have a barn. Which Ah was born in. And..spent most of Mah formative years...”
“Raised in a barn!” Rainbow called.
Twilight spoke in order to break the chaos up. “OK, just 218 things to go and we’re ready.”
“Hey Twilight!” they all called together.
“Hello Spike!” called Rarity.
“Uh, hey Rarity,” Spike replied. He kept quiet the fact that he had a crush on her.
“How’d it go with the other princesses?” Applejack asked. “They like yer idea?”
“I bet they loved it!” exclaimed Pinkie.
Twilight sighed, and looked down. “Notg exactly. They think I can make today brilliant without their magic.”
“And they are absolutely right,” Rarity cut in. “This festival, or at least this incarnation of it, is your brilliant idea, and you’re up to the task!”
“But what if I’m not?” Twilight despaired. “What if Songbird Serenade hates the stage? Or nopony makes a new friend? If this fails, then who am I?”
Pinkie leapt into action, seeing that Twilight was on the verge of an existential crisis. “Twilight, look at me!” she cried. “This will be the biggest celebration Equestria has ever seen! As the Princess of Friendship, you cannot fail! This day will define who you are! The pressure is intense!” She suddenly shoved herself directly into Twilight’s face. “It's almost too much for any single pony to handle!”
Suddenly, Pinkie regained her composure. “But you have us, so stop worrying!”
Before Twilight knew what was happening, she was sucked into the air.
Twilight emerged looking a complete and utter mess. “Pinkie!” she yelled.
“Oopsie!” Pinkie laughed. “Guess my cake mortar needs fine tuning.”
Suddenly, a pair of security ponies pushed the crowd aside. “It’s Songbird Serenade!” somepony cried.
Songbird looked over with a smile. “Hi, I’m looking for the pony in charge. I need to do my sound check.”
Twilight lugged herself forward, looking mildly embarrassed. “Ms. Songbird Serenade? I was just going to check on you.” She laughed. “I’m Princess Twilight, and I’m sorry about the mess. I’m not normally-”
“Caked in cake?”
“Heh heh.” Twilight extended her hoof, and covered Serenade in cake!
“You have visual on buttercream?” asked one of the guards.
“Visual confirmed. Go for cleanup.”
The moment was suddenly interrupted by a rumbling sound, and black smoke in the sky...
“Those aren’t storm clouds!” Rainbow replied. “That’s exhaust from a twin-reciprocating steam compound turbine.” When everyone looked at her in confusion, she replied. “What? I can know stuff!”
A massive black airship emerged from the blackness. It had a motif of glowing blue eyes with ominous lines marked down the sides of the machine, and was festooned with propellers. In truth, it looked like somebody had taken a normal boat and attached a balloon to it.
“I bet those are the clowns I ordered!” Pinkie exclaimed.
The airship descended upon the courtyard, dropping with all the grace of a speeding rhino. It knocked over several columns, and flattened a balloon stand, demolishing it, and sending a balloon flying towards its landing point. Touching down, it vented steam in every conceivable direction, before the drop ramp came in, crushing the balloon.
“Ryan!” cried a voice. “NOOOOOOOOOO!”
The access door to the airship slid open, and out stepped a small, fat creature carrying a box. Placing it down on the floor, it transformed into a megaphone, and the creature started speaking.
Luna could not believe this creature’s rudeness. Why did he just land his airship (badly) in the middle of HER courtyard?
“Ponies of Equestria,” began the fat one, with a pronounced lisp spoken with an exceptionally annoying voice. “We come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the almighty, STORM KING!” As if on cue, banners dropped showing an incredibly ugly horned creature, posing as if he were part of a shampoo advert.
Almost everybody in the crowd looked terrified. Applejack was one of the few who was not.
“And now,” the fat creature continued, “to deliver the-”
“I can introduce myself, Grubber,” came a male voice over the intercom. A figure stood at the door. What was he? Luna couldn’t quite make him out. Was he a centaur? A dragonequus?
The figure began to descend the steps, and everyone gasped at it.
The figure was a tall, monkey-like organism. He had pale flesh and sunken eyes, and where a muzzle should have been, a pair of... air holes? He also had lips, set just below them. His build was massive, and it was almost impossible to guess his age. He could have been 30 or 50. He wore a black bandana over his scalp, and was dressed in grey/black combat fatigues.
“WHO ARE YOU?” Celestia boomed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, causing shockwaves to echo through the plaza and ponies to cover their ears. The figure, however, didn’t seem at all phased.
“Heh, I’ve dealt with shoutier people before,” he said casually.
The princesses relocated in front of the figure, looking him directly in the face. “I know what he is,” Twilight spoke up. “He’s a human.”
“What’s a human?” Cadence asked.
“They live on the other side of the portal,” Twilight explained.
“I’m not from that world,” the figure answered her. “But you are correct. I am human.”
Celestia leaned into his face. “I asked, WHO ARE YOU?”
The figure snorted, still totally unaffected, and pushed her face back. “I need some breathing room,” he grunted. “And, to answer your question, the name...is Rorke.”
“What do want, Mr. Rorke?” Cadence asked. “If you’re here for the Festival there’s plenty of room.”
“Thank you Miss Interrupted, but I’m not here for parties.” Rorke turned to address Celestia. “On behalf of the Storm King, and of the Federation of the Americas, I demand Equestria surrender immediately and hand over all of its natural resources and population. This, or suffer destruction.”
Luna laughed. “You really think you can destroy Equestria? We have our allies, and furthermore, there is only one of you, and thousands of us.”
Rorke laughed in return. “Oh, such an idiot.” He raised his volume. “I’ll take it then that you reject my demands.”
“Yes, we do,” Celestia answered. “NOW LEAVE THIS PLACE!”
Rorke sighed. “Lady, you don’t achieve much by shouting at people.” He stepped back. “LIGHT THIS PLACE UP! SHOW ‘EM WHAT WE GOT, BOYS!”
Rorke
Commander, FOA Military
October 6th, 007 SLR
It was always the same. The idiots never seemed to know when to quit. When to surrender. When to fight. It had been just the same with the USA, and now he would give this group the same treatment.
“SHOW ‘EM WHAT WE GOT, BOYS!” he bellowed.
More airships arrived in the airspace over Canterlot. The first two rumbled forward, ready to disgorge their lethal cargo. It soon became apparent something was wrong, as they were suddenly blasted out of the sky by energy weapons.
Rorke looked up, and saw two massive cannons covering the city. “Dodgy intel,” he growled. “Orbital, I have two anti-ship guns covering target Epsilon, call down LUNA on their position, repeat, call down LUNA on their position, how copy, over?”
“Mensaje recibido y entendido señor, sistema de disparo de ciclismo ahora”. The response crackled down the radio.
“Excellent,” Rorke laughed. “Watch, as we turn your own weapons against you!”
Two beams of blue light roared down from the sky, impacting the guns and blowing them into tiny pieces. Wreckage rained down all over the city, destroying buildings and nearly flattening the landscape.
“Secuencia de disparo completa; ¿Confirmar la destrucción del objetivo, sobre?”
“Roger that,” Rorke replied. “Deploy the second wave!”
A swarm of airships touched down, and unloaded a horde of tall monsters armed with shields and massive staffs. They ran about, knocking tables over, demolishing awnings and generally causing chaos.
Princess Luna
Luna found herself on the frontline of war once again. She switched on her radio. “General Armor, do you read, over?”
“Loud and clear, over?”
“What is the status of our assets in the field, over?”
“We have a squadron scrambling from Las Pegasus now, and two more from Cloudsdale-wait, squadrons are down, repeat, squadrons are down, over.”
“What?” Luna exclaimed, as a monster charged her. She kicked it with her hind legs as hard as she could, sending it flying into a building.
“Cloudsdale airbase has fallen, there are Russian tanks rolling all over it. LUNA satellite network is in enemy hands, and several key cities have fallen to the enemy, over?”’
“We need outside help,” Luna said grimly. “Out.”
Suddenly, another airship exploded above her, followed by another as the hydrogen gas ruptured and burnt them to a crisp.
Luna looked behind her to see that an AA gun had opened up, with three fillies crewing it. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Anti-Aircraft Gunners, yay!” they shouted, blowing another airship out of the sky.
Rorke waved his arms and shouted something. A group of strange metal machines suddenly flew upwards, with barrels and fireworks attached all over their superstructure. They were being piloted by more of these ‘humans’, and unloaded barrages of rockets into various buildings, and blew massive holes into roads.
But it was the final barrage which horrified her most. One of them flew at the AA gun, and unloaded its entire payload into it, destroying the gun utterly and sending the CMC flying.
“Oh no,” Luna whispered. “ERA, deploy the garrison. Detach one unit to Search and Rescue, move the remainder in front of the civilians. The enemy is launching a frontal assault.”
“Roger that, deploying now.”
Ponies clad in heavy armour and carrying melee weapons charged forward. Some were unicorns, and opened fire on the creatures in front of the courtyard. More of them were pouring through the city gates, and charged straight at the ERA.
Most were bowled straight down by the sustained fire. Luna switched her horn over to full-auto fire mode, and started saturating the area with bolts of energy. With all 4 princesses sustaining such a bombardment, the frontal assault was soon blown away.
Rorke
“They are now out front,” Rorke smiled. “Perfect.” The AA guns had been flattened by the Mi-24s, and the frontal attack had been thrown back-for now.
“How is this good?” Grubber asked.
“Because it is what I anticipated. BM-21s, open fire!”
Down below, a group of lorries with rockets mounted to launch sleds moved into position. The batteries elevated.
“Цель подтверждена. ОГОНЬ!” An incredible roar started up as the engines on the rockets kicked in and flew upward into the air.
The soldiers of the ERA looked above them, to see a hoard of shrieking death rain down upon them, each impact blowing a hole in the ground and reducing a Guardsman to a bloody mess. A cloud of smoke and haze hung around the sight of the battle, which made it hard to see. But when it cleared, it was clear all was lost.
Rorke grinned. “Now for phase Two.” Pulling on a pair of thermal goggles, and grabbing a shotgun, he charged.
His targeting array picked up the one closest to him, Cadence. He pumped the shotgun, and fired.
The percussive bark of the shell was all Cadence heard, before an indescribable agony hit her whole being. It was like touching an eel for too long, and she collapsed onto her side, shrieking in pain.
Rorke was on top of her in an instant. “Quiet, My Little Pony,” he said mockingly, before jabbing a needle into her and injecting sedative. “I hope your husband doesn’t mind as he’ll be a widow before too long.”
Cadence gasped out a few last words to Celestia. “Can’t...fight...it...” she gasped, before passing out.
Celestia then tried to shout something to Luna. “Find the Queen of the Hip-!”
She never did finish the sentence. A .50 Calibre revolver round to the foreleg put paid to that. Celestia collapsed on the floor in agony.
Rorke jammed another needle into her. “Have a nice night,” he said.
“Go...to...Tartarus,” Celestia snarled, before fainting.
“My dear, I’ve already been,” Rorke smiled.
Luna kicked another of the monsters off of her, and took to the sky. Rorke drew his revolver and kept firing, missing with each shot. He pulled again, and there was a loud click. “Well, I’m out of ammo,” he said casually.
Luna thought she was home free, and safe from him.
Tragically, a SAM missile put those hopes on hold.
Luna fell from the sky, crashing through the roof of a Carousel, and came to rest. She saw Rorke approaching, and got up, shooting him with a blast of her horn before running for safety, flying off from the edges of the city. Rorke spotted that Twilight was still in the city. An easy target.
“Two down, but one got away,” Rorke laughed. “Too bad. I’ll have to take you as compensation!” He grabbed a needle gun, and fired.
After the smoke cleared, he smiled. “That was too easy.” He frowned when he saw what he had hit. “Way too easy.” He hadn’t hit Twilight at all. He’d hit a pegaus with lopsided eyes!
“Damnit!” he roared. “You lot, go and find her!”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight could not believe it. How could this man have taken down 2 Princesses and wounded another? She knew she had to escape.
“Luna!" She cried out. That creepy man was wandering over.
“Two down, but one got away,” he laughed. “Too bad. I’ll have to take you as compensation!” A dart flew in Twilight’s direction, but she dodged it and ran, leaving her crown behind.
“This way, ya’ll!” Applejack shouted. Twilight and Rainbow dodged two more of the monsters and arrived at the bridge that marked the city’s exit.
But their triumph was to be short lived. A monstrosity made of metal rolled onto the bridge, and pointed a colossal arm at them. It resembled that machine that Cheese Sandwich had cobbled together at a party. But it had a turret that looked like a pudding basin, and a multitude of other arms.
Twilight blasted it with her horn. The impact punched clean through the front armour and caused the vehicle to explode. This, combined with the machine’s weight, caused the bridge to collapse, taking Twilight and her friends with it.
They fell into the water, and went over a waterfall, with the wreckage going with them.
A soldier jumped over and looked down the ravine. “Targets neutralised,” he said. “No way they survived that fall.”
The girls found themselves at the bottom of the waterfall, thoroughly drenched. “Everypony OK?” Applejack asked, fishing her hat out of the water.
“I think my bottom’s on backwards,” Rarity said, clearly disoriented.
“We just got our cupcakes handed to us by the worst party crashers ever!” Pinkie cried. “We should take them to a basement and give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Rainbow Dash visibly cringed at that statement. “Never mention that again!” she shouted. “But we gotta go back there and fight!”
“You saw what they had access to!” Spike exclaimed. “If that man could take out the Princesses, he’d hand our flanks to us no problem!”
“Not to mention the CMC!” Rainbow shouted. “I hope they’re OK.”
Suddenly, there was a burst of static on Twilight’s radio. “Go ahead, over?”
“Twilight, this is Luna, how copy?”
“Luna! You’re OK!” Twilight then remembered the correct sequence. “Solid copy, over.”
“The situation is dire. Our only remaining city not under enemy control is Las Pegasus. We are withdrawing all our assets there, over.”
“What about our allies, the Griffons, over?”
“They won’t be able to contribute effectively. They’ve got Storm King’s troops in their own backyard, over.”
Twilight’s heart sunk. “Then it is truly as bad as you say, over.”
“I’m going to Las Pegasus to rally our defences and contact our allies. In the meantime, I want you to find the Queen of the Hippos, over.”
“But Luna-”
“You are relatively unknown outside of our borders. If you can find her, and remain undetected, then we are saved. Luna out.”
Twilight groaned. “She can be extremely stubborn.”
“We can’t go back.” Applejack spoke up. “If they can take the Princesses out so easily, we need help!”
“Luna just gave the order to find the Queen of the Hippos.”
“Hippos?” Rainbow asked. “Seriously?”
“I’ve heard they’re surprisingly graceful for their size,” Pinkie said, quite out of touch with the scene that had just passed. “But I hear they’re always hungry.”
“Hungry?” asked Spike.
“Hippos?” echoed Applejack.
Pinkie looked exasperated. “What's with the blatant product placement, guys?”
Spike shook his head. “Pinkie, you are so random. Whoever heard of a game called Hungry Hippos? It sounds completely ridiculous!”
“They are somewhere south, in the badlands,” interrupted Twilight, getting everybody back on track.
“That means we’ll have to...” Fluttershy began.
“Leave Equestria. Yes, we established that several minutes ago.” Rainbow Dash peered into Fluttershy’s face. “Did you not hear the radio message earlier?”
“I’m not even packed!” Rarity exclaimed.
“I understand you’re scared,” Twilight reassured them. “But nopony else has to go. I have to find the Queen. It’s our only hope.”
“You’re not getting all the glory!" Rainbow called. “I’m comin’ with ya!”
“We got ya back!”
“Yes indeedly!”
“I’m ready to save Equestria!”
“Yay!”
“What are we waiting for?” Spike said. “Let’s go?”
And off they went, on hoof. “Who wants to play I-spy?” Pinkie shouted.
There was a collective groan from the group.
Rorke
Rorke surveyed the ruins of Canterlot with pride. They had successfully taken many prisoners, and were now using them to rebuild the ruins of the city and fortify it. He waved his arm with disdain. “What a waste,” he grunted. “They use that power on partying, when they could use it for a weapon.”
“Sir!” shouted an aide. “We have updates from our other divisions in the field.”
“Fill me in, Hartsley,” Rorke replied.
“We have successfully taken control of all key military targets. Cloudsdale and Trottingham are under our rule, and the LUNA array is still held.”
“Casualties?”
“Minimal at most sites. It’s as if they had no idea we were coming.”
“One of the benefits of attacking on a National Holiday, I suppose,” Rorke replied. “Any response from our allies?”
“Russia has moved 5 more divisions to Equestria, the Federation is fortifying Appaloosa, and the Storm King has contributed more forces.”
“Enemy movements?”
“Most military forces have pulled back to Las Pegasus. I’m sorry to report that the Wonderbolts eluded us, slipping away in the confusion surrounding the siege.”
“Well find them and destroy them,” Rorke told him.
“Yes sir. Oh, and sir, the Storm King wishes to speak with you.”
“Put him on the line,” Rorke groaned. “The sooner I get this over with the better.”
He stepped into the throne room, past 2 cages. The first of them held Cadence. “Hello there,” he said. “You’re quite the beauty, aren’t you? He paused. “If I were a pony, I’d consider taking a roll in the hay myself.”
“Shut up!” Cadence snarled, and tried to fire a bolt of magic. It was absorbed by the cage.
“Well, well, so much for the Princess of Love,” Rorke snorted. “You’re here for the long run, so keep quiet.”
He walked over to Celestia. “Isn’t it pathetic, that we could bring your little country to its knees. You really need to increase your military budget.”
“Our allies will aid us!” Celestia snapped. “The Americans-”
“Tried to stop us, and failed. Oh, that reminds me, time for your nap.” He threw a switch in the centre of the room, which added sedative to their blood.
Suddenly, the display in the centre of the room flickered into life. In it, was the Storm King. Or rather, the side of his head. “Which way do I look?” he asked.
“To the left,” Rorke said. Storm King turned to the left. “No, the other left.” After a while, the Storm King could finally be seen.
“How did it go?” the Storm King asked.
“We took control of the city, but they put up a heavier fight than we expected.”
"Details, details. Did you get the magic?”
“Two princesses eluded us it seems. Luna was last seen headed towards Las Pegasus, and Twilight’s location is unknown.”
“Do not forget your objective,” Storm King reminded him. “I need all 4 to make this stick work.”
“The Staff of Sacanas,” Rorke corrected him. “A MacGuffin if I ever saw one.”
“I’ll need it to become world powerful. And when you do get it to work, I’ll put you in command of my whole military, and you can have your revenge on the Ghosts.”
Rorke nodded. “Your will be done.”
Storm King vanished. Rorke stepped away. “Ready my ship! We go in search of Twilight!”
The attack came so suddenly that nopony could have anticipated it.
One moment all was quiet on the ground, the next explosions filled the air. Turret grabbed his phone and contacted other members of bass personnel. “What’s happening?” he asked.
“Large enemy force has hit the ground to the north. We have enemy Armor and gunships swarming all over, sir!”
“Defensive units?”
“Extremely limited sir. Most units were off-duty for the festival.”
“Hold the perimeter, ensure the enemy don’t get through.”
Iron Will
Tank Commander, Thunder 3-3
LUNA Command Centre, Appaloosa Plains
The enemy tanks rolled upon them like a swarm of insects. Hundreds of tanks charged across the plains at their position. They fired upon the defending tanks in a furious cannonade which threatened to sweep the defenders from the field.
It was very apparent to Iron Will that the defence tactics would not work. So, he decided to do something radical. Something crazy.
“All units, form up on me!” he shouted down the radio. “We’re going on the attack!”
The 5 tanks lumbered forward, joined by several APCs and IFVs. The APCs discharged smoke from their launchers to mask the positions of the larger forces. The enemy force rolled into the smoke, unable to see a thing through the thick clouds of dust being thrown up by their own vehicles.
They slowed right down in the terrain, having to navigate blind as their targeting systems were struggling to cope with the weather.
It had worked.
Suddenly, one rolled up next to Thunder 3-3-and took a shell at point-blank range to the rear armour. The resulting explosion scorched Thunder’s paint, but little else.
Nearby, another 3 tanks were felled by a pair of IFVs, dancing around the enemy tanks effortlessly and dodging fire, whilst shooting vital points, holes, or fuel barrels to destroy the enemy tanks.
In all, the enemy lost 10 tanks to 1 defending. It seemed to be working, but the tactic only worked should the cloud stay.
Tempest Shadow
Officer of the Storm King Military
Field Commander of 13th Division
5 miles north of LUNA Command Centre
Tempest Shadow looked at the tactical displays in front of her. So far, the assault was going well. The enemy had tried some inventive defence tactics, but that was to be accepted. Fear makes a pony desperate, and a desperate pony is the most dangerous foe of all. Besides, what was the loss of 10 tanks compared to the hundreds she had in reserve?
“General,” spoke her aide. “Reports state that the 1st Armoured Battalion is falling back in the storm. Do you want us to reinforce?”
“No,” Shadow replied. “Pull them back to the rally point, and get them repaired and ready for battle. This requires an alternate touch.”
She powered up the radio, “Airships, move into position over that storm. Ready to set engines to full power.”
“Ay, Ma’am! As you wish!”
As the response was given, the engines shuddered and roared into life, and massive aircraft shaking as it moved forward. It took the airships 5 minutes to reach their destination, and once into position over the target, set their rotors to run at full speed.
Iron Will
Iron Will couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The dust was being sucked upwards by the airships, which in turn was opening them up to attack! He grabbed the radio and issued the order. “Retreat!” he called.
The tanks reversed away, with their frontal armour facing forward to reduce damage. It was a fatal mistake. Hinds soared in after them, and they now had a clear line to the target.
The tanks were sitting ducks.
Tempest Shadow
“This won’t be a battle for much longer,” Shadow laughed. “Let the cull begin!”
The Hinds obeyed, discharging their rockets into the retreating tanks. The barrage destroyed 3 of them. The last surviving tank raised its main barrel, fired...
...and scored a direct hit on a Hind, bringing it down. The tank joined it in the afterlife momentarily.
Shadow took another sip of her tea. “I tire of this little game. Fly the troop transports directly over the base and deploy.”
Another group of airships flew into the facility, the tanks rolling through the front gates of the facility and gunning down anypony who got in their way. The ropes were deployed, and the infantry fastroped into the buildings.
Brass Turret
Brass Turret became aware of firefights taking place along the corridors, and drew a weapon for himself. He moved quickly into the tunnel, and set up behind a box.
The opposing forces quickly found him. It sounded like they had quickly cleared the base area, and were approaching the control room.
One of them rounded a bend. Turret pulled the trigger and dropped them. Two more ran around the corner and started to lay down fire. A hail of bullets slammed into the box, causing Turret to pull back...
...and run right into Tempest Shadow. She pinned him to the ground, Turret being absolutely stunned at her strength.
“Brass Turret, I presume?” she asked.
“You won’t make me talk!” he snapped back.
“I don’t intend to,” Tempest laughed. Her broken horn crackled, and suddenly all went black.
Tempest Shadow
Federation troops cleaned the bodies off of the consoles as Tempest looked around her newest conquest. This was really too easy. Were they so stupid as to believe an enemy wouldn’t attack on a public holiday?
“Señora, estamos listos para recibir órdenes de cocción de nuestras unidades aliadas”. The soldier informed her.
“Excellent, open the channel,” Tempest informed him.
“Entendido, señora.”
There was a brief crackle on the radio, and then the channel opened. “Rorke, I take it things are going well in Canterlot?” Tempest asked.
“Orbital, I have two anti-ship guns covering target Epsilon, call down LUNA on their position, repeat, call down LUNA on their position, how copy, over?”
The officer on the weapon itself took over. “Mensaje recibido y entendido señor, sistema de disparo de ciclismo ahora”.
With that, he hit a few buttons on the console. Lights switched on upon the screens above, and a panel illuminated, showing the satellites above and their charge status. It took approximately 15 secconds for the weapons to charge completely.
The countdown clicked past. 15, 14, 13, 12-
“Is there any way you can hurry it up?” Tempest demanded.
“Señora negativa, si hacemos algo, ¡el satélite podría explotar!”
The timer at last finished counting.
“Iniciar secuencia de disparo!” the officer ordered.
The visual showed two beams of light arcing towards the planet's surface, striking the ground somewhere near Canterlot.
“Secuencia de disparo completa; ¿Confirmar la destrucción del objetivo, sobre?” The officer asked, radioing Rorke.
“Roger that.”
The soldiers in the room cheered at the success.
Tempest snorted. “Such a powerful weapon, so easily turned against them. I pity them, honestly, I do. We’ll wash over them with ease.”
Twilight staggered over the sand dunes, her eyes heavy and encrusted with sleep. They had been going nonstop for several days now, and they seemed to be no closer. The matter was not helped by that fact that Twilight had absolutely no idea which way to go, which was an obvious drawback when the fate of her entire country depended on this mission.
Pinkie Pie was acting crazily, which to be honest was not much of a change. “There’s sand in my everything,” she panted. “Heh...saving Equestria...” She suddenly saw a skull, and picked it up. “Oh look, maybe this guy knows which way to go!” She peered at the skull in confusion. “Didn’t I see you pop out behind a door once? What’s that? We’re lost?” She laughed crazily, then fell over.
Rainbow Dash was not impressed at the slow pace, her wings dragging in the sand. “Seriously, Twi?” she asked. “We could have just flown ahead to establish the route?”
Nobody took any notice.
Spike groaned. The long distance wasn’t doing his tiny legs any favours. “We could be going in circles,” he groaned, utterly oblivious to the fact that his moaning wasn’t helping. “Endless sand...nothin’ for miles but sand...and this rock...and this cactus.” As if to emphasise the point, he pulled a cactus out of his scales. “And this road,” he added. “This road...”
Twilight perked up. “A road?” she asked. “Where there’s a road, there’s a...”
Suddenly, the vista opened up before them. A vast port was glimpsed, with docking facilities for airships and conventional boats. It was built on a vast cliff, reaching up into the sky above them. A nearby sign read; ‘Welcome to Klugetown, population 3,0002,999 2,998.’
“Whoa!” was all Spike said.
“Cool!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“What is that?” Applejack asked.
“It’s a city!” Pinkie cried. “We are doing it, you guys!”
Rarity smiled. “Well, you know what they say,” she said. “Where there’s a city, there’s a spa!”
“Who says that?” asked Rainbow. “Besides, this is a port, so it’s unlikely to have such facilities.”
“How’d you know that?”
“I grew up in Cloudsdale!” Rainbow exclaimed. “The biggest dockyard in Equestria. Hell, it’s where they build most of the fleet!”
Applejack frowned. “Yeah, where the hay has the navy been?” she asked. Turning to Rarity, she commented, “’Case you forgot, we’re on a mission ta save Equestria.”
“I can multitask!” Rarity coolly replied.
Klugetown had seemed impressive at first, but it rapidly transpired to be a dump. The buildings were old and collapsing, the streets were narrow and dark, and the town was inhabited by strange fish creatures. Everywhere you looked, some sort of business was being done, mostly of the illegal variety. Well, illegal in Equestria at least, but this wasn’t Equestria.
Birds squawked in nearby cages. The owner of the stand laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ll let you go!” he laughed.
“To the highest bidder!” added his fellow.
Another vendor was selling his tat nearby. “Hey, Storm King bobbleheads!” he shouted.
“You with the horn, ya sellin’?” another shouted at Twilight.
Fluttershy shimmered away from the birdcages, just as a massive pile of barrels tumbled out of a cart and hit the floor.
“Let me help you with that,” Twilight remarked, and put the barrels back into place.
“No magic around my merchandise!” the vendor bellowed.
“Sheesh, he’s rude,” Rainbow replied.
The Main 6 didn’t know it, but a mysterious cat-like figure was watching them from the shadows, a red coat wrapped around him. “Very interesting,” he said to himself.
Twilight looked over to the others. “OK,” she told the others. “We’ve got to stick together. Be careful who you talk to, and try to blend in-”
A loud noise interrupted her. “CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?” bellowed Pinkie.
Twilight groaned loudly, but not before Pinkie continued, “CAN ANYPONY TAKE US TO THE QUEEN OF THE HIPPOS?”
“You want somethin’?” demanded the fish creature with the monstrous chin. “You gotta give somethin’!”
“How about a grateful hug from a ponyfriend?” Pinkie offered.
That didn’t work, so she continued with ‘How about this comb I’ve never used? A picture of my sister Maude? These breath mints? Seriously buddy, let me help you!”
Twilight ran over. “Pinkie, you can't just take off!” she said angrily. Clenching her teeth, she added “and you don't need to announce to every..."
“Relax Twilight, I got this!” Pinkie was about to launch into a reprise of the earlier song when suddenly the crowd intensified.
“How much for the giant gecko?”
“Who are you calling a gecko?” Spike snapped.
“Spike isn’t for sale,” Twilight deadpanned.
“I want that fancy purple hair! I’ll give ya two storm bucks for it!”
Twilight froze. This place was under the Storm King’s control!
Rarity spoke up before Twilight could. “Two storm bucks?” she screeched. “It’s worth more than that!”
Before anypony could speak, the scene descended into pandemonium.
“Gimme that pink one!”
“I'll take the blue one!”
“No! I want the blue one!”
“I need that lizard!”
“I'll take that picture of your sister!”
“I want all seven for my collection! “
Suddenly, the cat fellow entered the scene. "Back up everyone,” he said smoothly, dropping in from a nearby rooftop. “Y’all are in some serious danger! Now,” he said, looking in their faces, “you didn’t touch any of them, did ya? Just look at those colours! You think that natural?” He paused and looked grave. “They’re infected with...pastelis colouritis.”
Applejack looked incredulous. “Now you listen here fella, there ain’t-”
The catman jammed his tail in her mouth to prevent her from speaking. “Don’t worry, don’t worry,” he reassured everyone. “As long as you're not covered in purple splotches, you’re fine.” Poking his tail in a paint pot, he covered one of the fish creatures in the spots, and stepped back. “Uh-oh.”
“What do I do?” the fish creature shrieked.
“Enjoy your last moments and don’t touch anyone. Because parts will fall off.”
The fish ran off screaming, as did everyone else.
“Well, all right,” said the catman.
“You are awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
He simply nodded.
“And quite charming!” Rarity added. Spike turned purple with envy.
“Capper’s the name, charming’s my game,” he smiled. “So...to the hippo’s then?”
Pinkie laughed, but Twilight looked concerned. “I don’t think we should trust him,” she said.
“We could definitely use a friend out here!” Pinkie laughed.
“You know what,” Capper continued, “cotton candy here is right. And, if I do say so myself...”
Presently, they arrived in Capper’s hideout. “Welcome, My Little Ponies, to My Little Manor.”
“Is that another Hasbro franchise?” Pinkie asked.
Everybody looked at her in confusion.
“Ooh!” exclaimed Rarity. “A sort of a roco-hobo-Bohemian hodgepodge.”
“Apologies for the state of my litter-box. I wasn’t expecting guests.”
“So many fun breakables!” Pinkie laughed.
“Whoa!” Rainbow said, reacting to a teapot. Applejack simply laughed.
“Y’all sure you want the hippos?” Capper asked.
“Yessiree!” Pinkie exclaimed. “The Queen of the hippos!”
“Not the lions, the tigers, or the bears?”
“Oh my!” Fluttershy chimed in.
Pinkie looked over. “I’m supposed to do the 4th wall breaking around here!”
A short while later, Capper set an old record playing. “Stop playin’ me!” he laughed. “A Sonic Rainboom? That’s not a thing!”
“I’ll show ya!” Rainbow laughed.
“No thanks, I’d rather not have it messin’ up my apartment.” Suddenly, Rarity used some thread to repair his coat, and add two buttons to it as well. “Whoa,” was all he said.
“Here you go,” she said kindly. “I do apologise, if I were back home, I would do something truly fabulous!”
“What’s the catch?”
“Nothing. Consider it a thank you!”
“We’ve been looking for the wrong queen!” Twilight called. “We need the Queen of the Hippogriffs, not Hippos!”
“Oh, the Hippogriffs!” Capper exclaimed. “Trouble is with that, nobody knows where they are!”
“Says here they are right on top of Mount Aris,” Twilight added.
“That mountain out the window?” Pinkie asked.
A faint blob of rock could be seen through the thick mist produced by the nearby swamp. Capper faultered. “Objects in windows are not always what they appear,” he said sheepishly.
“Let’s go!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Hey!” Capper called. “You need an airship to get to Mount Aris! I can get you that!”
“We’ll be fine on our own,” Twilight answered.
She opened the door...to see a most unpleasant figure on the other side.
The Mi-24 touched down in the centre of Klugetown, and Rorke and 5 men got out. Suddenly, a crowd of fish people surrounded him.
“What do you want?” one of them asked.
“Yeah, we know the sorta shit you humans pull!” shouted another.
Rorke gave a hand signal. One of the soldiers kicked over a market stand, causing several of the creatures to run in fear.
“Co-operate with me, and I’ll stop demolishing your livelihoods!” he shouted.
“Señor, ¿está seguro de que vinieron por aquí?” one of the soldiers asked.
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Rorke smiled. “This doesn’t need any violence, I just need to know where 6 horses went.”
“Or you’ll get thumped!” Grubber added.
One of the creatures lumbered over to him. “You’ll think we’ll fall for this again?” he bellowed, rearing up to his full height over the man. “I don’t know what kinda scam you and Capper are workin’, but poison or no posion, you gotta pay!”
If Rorke was worried, he didn’t show it. He simply kicked the creature in the leg, knocking it back. Jumping on it, he drew his revolver and put it straight at the creature’s head.
“One false move and I blow your fucking brains out!” he growled. “Where is this Capper?”
“He’s in his room, up in the windmill!” the creature begged. “Just let me go!”
Rorke smiled. “I’ll let you go alright.” He laughed as he pulled the trigger, decorating the street with the creature’s brains. “I’ll let you go to heaven.”
He stepped back and motioned to the other soldiers. “Get the rest of the group on the ground!” he called. “This place needs to be taught a lesson! You can’t just hide fugitives in a town and expect no reprisal!”
“What sort of reprisal?” asked another of the creatures.
Approximately 50 soldiers were unloaded from the Hinds, and stepped toward the commander. “¿Cuáles son sus órdenes, señor?”
“10 of you, come with me. The rest...purge the town, kill everything in sight.”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight went to open the door...and was immediately confronted by an ugly mole creature.
“Here’s Verko!” he laughed.
“Nopony’s gonna get that!” Pinkie cried. “That film isn’t even a concept here!”
“What?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“That line was simply put in for the benefit of those far away reading this on their computer screens!”
Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, you are so random.”
Verko snorted. “These ponies had better shoot rainbow lasers out their eyes if you’re gonna settle your debt! Brought the big cage especially!”
Twilight looked back. “I get what you mean Pinkie. How could he possibly know what happened in the human world against Sunset Shimmer?”
“Because the author wanted him to!”
IF I MAY GET BACK TO THE STORY, PINKIE...Rarity gasped. “You were... going to sell us?”
“I knew it!” Twilight shouted. “We gotta get outta here!”
At the door, there appeared Rorke. He had a loaded shotgun in his hand. “You’re even more stupid than I thought, Twilight,” he said. “You should never trust strangers. In fact, given the conduct of your friends, you shouldn’t trust anybody at all.”
Verko didn’t seem at all intimidated. He simply stepped into Rorke’s face. “I don’t see many of you in these parts,” he laughed. “So, what do you do?”
A loud roar from the shotgun more than answered that. Verko was gibbed into many tiny pieces that flew through the window at the back, and splattered the Main 6 and Capper in blood.
Rorke shrugged. “One down, many more to go.”
Suddenly, the Main 6 jumped out of the window and sprinted along the ledge.
Rorke roared in frustration. “Havoc 1-4, pursue. I want those ponies reduced to mincemeat!”
“Сейчас мы занимаемся.”
As Twilight ran along the ledge, one of the metal birds from Canterlot appeared. As they mounted the windmill, it opened fire. A stray bullet caught the rotation housing, causing it to fall free.
The girls held on for dear life as the sails rolled down the street. The sounds of gunfire echoed through Klugetown as the soldiers of the Federation did their messy work.
The girls jumped off the sails and ran as they disintegrated. The bird from earlier flew level with them and fired off its fireworks into the ledge and the building behind them. Flames and explosions roared behind them with the force of the barrage.
They jumped to safety in one building, and ran to the other end. But just as they reached the edge, the bird flew upwards, and spooled up one of its arms. Twilight put up a shield to deflect the oncoming barrage.
It never came.
Suddenly, the bird exploded in a shower of red and orange. The wreckage fell downwards. Twilight looked up and saw another of the birds. It was a different shape, and painted black. Written on the side were the words US MARINES.
“US?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight’s heart filled with hope. “Our allies have answered the call!” she cried. “The Americans are here! Let’s get to that airship!”
Sargeant Paul Jackson
1st Marine Battalion
Airspace near Klugetown
October 12th, 007 SLR
The Black Hawks thundered over the landscape, loaded with US troops. Inside one of them, Sgt. Jackson was manning the M134 bolted to the side. The unit leader, Lieutenant Vasquez, was briefing them.
“Listen up Marines!” he shouted. “We don’t leave our allies behind! Intel confirms that Twilight Sparkle and her friends are somewhere in Klugetown, and Rorke is tearing the town apart trying to find them. In addition, he’s decided to do a little cleaning up.”
He pointed to a display behind him. “Cobalt 1-1 thru 1-5 will perform combat drops into the town. We are providing air support from 1-6. Get your asses in gear and support our Marines!”
One of the others, Private Ryan, spoke up. “Damn, no sooner do we leave one desert we get stuck in another.”
Jackson shrugged. “At least we’re not chasing another power crazed madman again.”
“Alright boys!” shouted the pilot. “We’re moving into the combat zone. Good luck!”
What Jackson saw below shocked him. The Federation moved through the streets, the ground running red with blood. These people clearly had no regard for life at all. What had they done to merit such brutality.
A loud jolt put him back to his senses.
“What are you waiting for, a written invitation?” Vasquez bellowed. “Get into gear and put some lead into them!”
“Yes sir!” Jackson answered, and pressed the trigger down. The minigun spooled up rapidly, sending a hail of lead down into the street and mowing the foe down.
One of the units on the ground radioed in. "This is Anvil 1! We have large numbers of hostiles in a nearby building! Can you supress?”
“On it!” Jackson replied. “Pilot, get us around! I need a bead on the large building with the clock!”
“Moving her round!” the pilot answered, the huge helicopter lurching as it did so. The other machines were pouring down fire and dropping troops into position.
Ryan aimed with his M4, and fired off a shot. It hit an enemy with a missile launcher and knocked him down.
“Good shot!” called another soldier.
Jackson spooled up the gun again, and let rip another volley into the building. The storm of bullets flew through the windows, trails of blood flying out of the soldiers within. Moments later, the building was quiet and still.
“Vasquez, we have a new target,” said a voice over the radio.
“Go ahead, Overlord!”
“Princess Twilight and her friends have been sighted, but an Mi-24 is chasing them. Can you assist?”
“We’re on it. Pilot, get on that Mi-24!”
They found the girls soon enough. A giant set of sails from a windmill was bouncing down the street and getting dangerously close. A fragment broke off, flying straight towards the Black Hawk.
Jackson spooled up again, the bullets reducing the wood to splinters.
“Woo!” cheered the other troops.
“You saved Private Ryan!” shouted one.
“We have bigger priorities! Get on that Hind!”
The smaller, but more manoeuvrable, Black Hawk flew round behind the Hind as it fired into a nearby building, reducing it to rubble. Suddenly, they saw Twilight and company jumping into a nearby building.
“The Hind’s flying round the other side!” The pilot called.
The Black Hawk positioned perfectly. Jackson chose his moment...and fired.
The hail of bullets struck the rear rotation mechanism, but also breached the fuel tank. The Hind went up in a massive explosion of red and orange flames, and a cloud of black smoke as the wreck dropped like a stone into a building below.
“The Princess is safe!” a soldier cheered.
Twilight Sparkle
The 6 friends set off as fast as they could for the docks. They charged up a flight of stairs and ran for the dockside.
An airship was about to depart, so the girls jumped upwards and grabbed onto a rope that was dangling down. The rope suddenly began to reel in, so the girls ran up it.
But it then snapped, and Pinkie fell.
“Pinkie!” Twilight cried. She feared her friend was indeed gone.
Until the bird from earlier appeared, with her on board. The man at the gun smiled, and saluted.
Twilight flew over, and grabbed Pinkie Pie. “You’re late!” she called.
“Sorry,” the gunner replied. “We got a bit held up. Now go! We’ll handle the rest!”
Twilight flew up and onto the airship, and they were safely away.
“BEST ESCAPE PLAN EVER!” Pinkie cried, before they were suddenly lassoed behind some nearby crates.
Rorke
Rorke and his men stood at the dock. As soon as the Princess had got away, the Americans had vanished. However, this showed something. If the Americans could mount an attack of this scale, it showed they were better equipped and organised than he thought.
But that was irrelevant. Tempest had successfully captured Luna, which meant he only had to focus on Twilight. And Golovich and the Storm King could deal with the US.
“Which way were they going?” he asked Capper. Well, asked is the wrong word. It was much closer to a demand.
Capper looked around. He noticed the buttons on his jacket, and something deep and moral started up within him. “You see,” he said, “they went east, toward Black Skull Island.” He then began walking the other way. “So glad to have been of service.”
The soldiers blocked his route.
“Your fate is up in the air Capper, figuratively and literally,” Rorke told him. “When we get Twilight, you can walk free.”
“Yeah!” Grubber added. “Specifically, it’s in an air-boat!”
Rorke facepalmed. “I explained that two seconds ago. Let’s get moving!” he shouted, and motioned his men to board the airship.
Twilight and her friends huddled behind a pile of barrels. Everywhere around them bells clanged and steam engines let off a foul stench. A member of the ship’s crew, Boyle, belched as he walked past.
As Rainbow Dash visibly gagged, Applejack spoke up. “Whadaya think, Twilight? Should we just ask them ta take us?”
Twilight looked in disbelief. “Did you put the last day in your short-term memory, Applejack?”
Applejack looked at her. “Ah don’t know, Ah’ve forgotten.”
“Last time we trusted somepony they tried to sell us!”
Alas, for reasons of plot, Boyle moved the box that was hiding our heroines. “Uh, guys?” he asked. “Come check this out!”
Another sailor, Mullet, stepped over. “Looks like a pack of stowaways.”
“What are we supposed to do with stowaways?” asked Lix Spittle.
Squabble squawked, though nobody was entirely sure why.
“We tie them up!” Boyle cried. Applejack visibly cowered.
“We clip their wings!” Lix suggested. Rainbow suddenly looked defensive.
“You touch my wings, I’ll whack ya so hard you’ll taste boot polish on the back of your mouth for a month!” she yelled defiantly.
“No,” Mullet said. “We scar them...emotionally.”
Another member of the crew stomped over. She had a prosthetic leg and clanked loudly when she walked.
“What say the book, Captain Celaeno?”
Calaeno opened up a huge book she was carrying. “Storm King’s rulebook says...throw them overboard.”
On cue, a gangplank extended. It was an incredibly long way down. But just before the pirates could grab them-
“We do as Storm King tells us or suffer his wrath.”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Twilight groaned. “Still going overboard!”
“Nothing personal,” Lix told them. “Still, there’s pudding!” she added, before dumping another load of slop into Rarity’s bowl.
“You weren’t always delivery workers, were you?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah,” Calaeno said, sounding down. “We used to be much more adventurous.” She pulled back a banner with the Storm King’s face on it, revealing skull and crossbones.
“I met that guy in the desert!” Pinkie cried.
Rainbow Dash gasped in excitement. “You used to be pirates?”
“We prefer ‘buccaneers’”, Mullet told her.
“Buccaneer is just an alternate word for pirate,” Rainbow told them. “It comes from Prench, namely boucanes.” When Twilight looked at her, she added, “What? Scared I’m showing you up in obscure knowledge?”
Squabble squawked again, though what good that did was anybody’s guess.
“You birds have a choice to make,” Rainbow told them. You could let some cloven-hoofed Storm King tell you what to do,” she flew over and pulled down the Storm King banner, “OR you could be awesome again!”
Grubber was on the deck of the airship when he saw a vast explosion. “Oh, that’s so cool,” he said.
Rorke looked over. “I think we just found our fugitives,” he laughed. “Switch course, ramming speed!”
The huge airship lumbered over toward the freighter nearby. “We have target locked," the weapon officer informed him.
“Fire!” Rorke ordered. “That ship is unmanned. This’ll be a cakewalk!”
“I like cake,” Grubber said.
“Shut up.”
The grappling hook flew from its mounting and slammed into the enemy ship. It then slowly reeled in, allowing Rorke and a few Storm Beasts to jump onboard.
“What do we have here?” he asked coolly. “Those aren’t regulation uniforms Calaeno. Where are the fugitives?”
Calaeno looked at him, coldly. “That’s Captain Calaeno to you, Rorke,” she replied coldly. “And we have no fugitives on board, just oil, coal, and Storm King merchandise.”
Rorke looked most displeased. “I’ll be generous,” he said. “I’m gonna count to three. If you don’t give them up, we’ll send this ship to the bottom.”
He paused.
“One.”
Nobody moved.
“Two.”
Still nothing happened. It seemed nobody was going to break.
Rorke opened his mouth once again. But he never did manage to finish his next word.
A blast of bullets and several rockets slammed into his ship. Rorke looked up and saw 4 F-22s fly overhead.
“Goddamn Americans stick their noses in the wrong places,” he growled. “Get the PAK-FAs up here, show them who’s boss!”
Bishop led the fighters of Warwolf Squadron in on the target. The rocket impacts made little effect on the heavily armoured airship. “Damn!” he growled. “Guts, do we have anything heavier?”
“Negative sir,” his wingman replied. "I could call up the Warthogs if needed.”
Bishop’s IFF suddenly pinged. “USS Ronald Reagan, check those aircraft, over.”
“Copy that Warwolf,” replied General La Pointe. “Bogies are PAK-FA fighters, bearing Russian markings. Be extremely careful, those fighters can outperform yours.”
“Understood sir,” Bishop answered. “Boys, form up. Enemy fighter approaching.”
The first PAK flew over and rolled, getting in behind Warwolf 3. 3 immediately airbraked and performed a Pugachev Cobra, getting in behind them. Locking on, he fired a missile into the back of the fighter, destroying it.
Bishop performed an Immelmann in order to get behind another aircraft, but found himself boxed in by the two remaining fighters. Chasing one, he went into pursuit, but it rolled 180 degrees and dived underneath him, ending up on his 6.
Luckily, Guts formed up behind that one, and fired a missile into it, destroying it.
The remaining PAK suddenly started a dive. Bishop took the bait and flew downwards, noticing his speed gauge rapidly creeping upwards. He punched through the sound barrier, but his altimeter was reading as only having 100 feet left. The display started to beep, indicating a target lock.
“Come on, come on!” he said.
At last, his display went green, and gave a continuous ping. Bishop punched the fire button and all 4 missiles streaked out, impacting the foe and tearing it apart in a ball of fire.
Bishop pulled back on the stick. He pulled out of the dive with only 5 feet remaining. “Princess Twilight, can you hear me?” he asked.
“Loud and clear, over.”
“Your airspace will soon be clear. I’m bringing in Warthogs to bring that craft down.”
Bishop flew over the airship they were supporting. Rorke was on the deck, gesticulating wildly.
The seasoned pilot pulled the trigger. The bullets slammed into the deck and sent Rorke flying off of it, falling toward the sea.
“Thank goodness for that,” he said. In the corner of his vision (and on the aircraft RADAR) he could see the Warthog’s begin their run, only to get blown out of the sky by AA fire.
“Damn!” He switched his radio back on. “Twilight, the Warthogs are down. You cannot move from your current position, over.”
“Give me that!” he heard a voice on the other end say. "Hi, this is Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt 6. I’ve got an idea...”
Rainbow Dash
Element of Loyalty
Airspace over Iron Ocean
October 13th, 007 SLR
Rainbow looked back at her friends. “I have to do this,” she said.
“That stunt led them to us!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Yeah, well this one will un-lead them from our position,” Rainbow answered. She took to the air before anypony could stop her.
Switching channel, she radioed Bishop. “Yo, Bishop, you there?” she said.
“This is Warwolf 1, over,” he replied. "We haven’t flown together since the Harmony War.”
“That was two years ago, but you saved my butt,” Rainbow answered. “So, I owe you one.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I need to reach 7673 miles an hour in order to punch through that thing without bouncing off. I need to position myself at about 30,000 feet in order to get enough speed up. Can you escort me there?”
“This sounds like one of your crazy plans, so therefore it’ll work. Warwolf Squadron, form up on me!”
Rainbow initiated her dive. The speed slowly built up, the front of her hooves slowly changing colour from blue to white. The Mach cone formed around her, as a loud boom indicated she had broken through the sound barrier. Still her speed rose. Mach 2, Mach 3. Flak exploded all around her, but still she accelerated through it. They wouldn’t be able to hit her anyway.
A missile flew at her, but she rolled over and dodged it. Stupid thing was a heat-seeker, confused by her speed.
She hit Mach 8. Then Mach 9.
Seconds before impacting the hull of the airship, she shouted down the radio, “EAT THIS!”
She slammed into the hull at the exact moment a loud explosion alerted the world to the oncoming spectacle. An aura of multiple colours exploded out from within the airship, the explosion tearing it to pieces. The parts began to fall down towards the ocean, Rainbow flying triumphantly in a circle, and slowing down. She landed safely on Calaeno’s ship.
“Woohoo! Was that awesome or what?”
Twilight just shook her head.
“So, no ‘thanks for saving my butt, Rainbow?’”
“If YOU hadn’t done that Sonic Rainboom in the first place, there would have been no butts in need of saving!” Twilight thundered.
“Your friend sounds pissed.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow replied. “Take a chill pill, Twi. At least we can get to mount Aris now.”
A loud explosion rocked the ship. Twilight looked over and saw a volley of missiles streaking up toward them.
“There’s an enemy fleet down there!” she called.
The radio cracked. "Princess Twilight, do you read, over?”
Twilight grabbed the headset from Rainbow. “Who is this?”
“This is Captain Elias Walker, Task Force: STALKER. We have control of the LUNA array. Do you have any targets for us?”
Twilight looked down. “Captain, I have quite a few for you.”
Elias sighed as he looked over the terrain from his Black Hawk. It was a fine mess that he and his men found themselves in. First fighting against the Federation in the ruins of the world he once called home, now here they were, another world away, liberating an ally from the Federation’s onslaught. Nobody had come to America’s aid after ODIN devastated the country. Equestria now faced a similar threat in the form of LUNA.
He wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Elias looked back at his men. Some of the finest soldiers that the Army had ever turned out. Two of them were his sons, David, or ‘Hesh’, as he was nicknamed, and Logan. The other two were Merrick, a veteran sniper, and Keegan, who was hard to pin down. An excellent soldier, yes, but not much for interaction.
The radio interrupted his thoughts.
“Come in Scarecrow, over,” said the voice.
“What ya got, Overlord?”
“We can confirm that the array is lightly guarded. We are inserting you at an access tunnel below the site. Move through the tunnels, and take control of the facility.”
“Thank you, sir, we’ll prosecute the target.”
“Excellent, Overlord out.”
Elias turned to the others. “Alright boys,” he began. “We need to do this quick. Intel states that the satellites are charging up to fire. We have only 15 minutes to prosecute the target and retake control.”
The display shifted to display an image. “We also have a kill order on Tempest Shadow. She is third in the enemy’s chain of command, below Rorke and the Storm King.”
“Rorke?” asked Logan. “Didn’t he fall off a plane or something?”
“That bastard never seems to die,” Hesh added.
“We kill him as many times as we need to,” Merrick finished. “Now let the Commander finish speaking!”
“Thank you, Merrick. Taking Tempest down will cripple the enemy war effort in this sector. We need a victory, given the recent loss of Princess Luna.”
“20 seconds!” the pilot shouted.
Keegan looked around. “Load up,” he said. “We ain’t got time to stand around.”
The Black Hawk put down, and the squad unloaded. They headed for the access tunnel, and soon found themselves under the facility.
Soldiers ran around the corridors above them, apparently oblivious to the fact that they were there. Hesh looked back.
“Intel was off,” he whispered. “There’s way too much activity here.”
Elias considered his options. They could go all out and launch a full-scale assault on the control room, or they could sit quiet and wait for a perfect opportunity to strike.
Eventually he made up his mind. “We split up,” he said quietly. “Logan, Hesh, go to the east of the control room. Merrick, Keegan, you’re with me. We wait, and breach together.”
“Yes sir,” they all replied.
As they turned to go, Logan spoke up. “Dad?” he asked.
Elias turned his head. “Yes, son?”
“See you on the other side.”
Elias nodded. Sometimes, actions spoke louder than words.
Logan Walker
Logan and his brother emerged from the tunnel in a server room. It had a number of screens with the names of cities on them.
Hesh activated his helmet camera. “Dad, you getting this?” he asked.
“Those are the largest cities in Equestria and beyond.”
“It looks like a list of targets for the LUNA satellite.” Hesh paused, then continued speaking. “Appaloosa, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, Trottingham, Manehattan, Rockville, Dodge Junction, Baltimare, Griffonstone, Hippogriffia...the projected casualties exceed 5 million!”
“This is why Tempest must be stopped.”
“Roger that.”
Hesh looked over. “C’mon, Logan!” he said. “Let’s go.”
The two brothers moved along a corridor and hid behind a crate. Soldiers passed by them as they waited for them to clear. The way cleared and the two continued down the corridor.
They then reached a junction, full of soldiers.
“We’re not sneaking past that lot,” Logan remarked. “Keegan, crash the lighting.”
“Understood.”
Suddenly, the lights went out. The enemy stumbled about in confusion.
Logan and Hesh activated their strobe lights and opened fire. Caught in the crossfire, most of the enemy were felled by the bullets, but a few got their weapons and returned fire. But due to the lack of light and disorientation of the strobe lights, they couldn’t see what they were shooting at and as a result missed badly.
Logan and Hesh were not so inaccurate. Every round rang true, the report of weapon fire returning a dropped foe. When the lights came back on, the carnage before them was awful. Everywhere on the ground were bodies in various positions, some with their eyes open, others closed, some missing limbs and a few without heads. Blood was covering the floor and dripping through the tiles into the drainage ducts below.
“Targets down,” Hesh calmly reported.
“Roger that.”
Presently, they reached the control room. “We’re in position,” Logan radioed.
“Roger that, place breaching charge.”
Hesh pulled a breaching charge out of his backpack, and placed it on the wall. He removed the handle and moved his index finger over the button. “Ready”.
“3, 2, 1...go!”
Hesh pushed the button down.
Elias
In that moment, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
The door burst inward as he, Merrick and Keegan charged through. Logan and Hesh entered from the other side.
He drew his revolver, and fired into the first enemy he saw, sending him flying back. He aimed at another, and fired to similar effect, sending him flying down the corridor in a deadly game of tenpin bowling.
Keegan knifed another, and then sprayed into a crowd of foes, knocking them down in a hail of metal and blood.
Merrick took out another with his pistol, and was about to fire again when...
...Tempest jumped out of the shadows and landed on Elias.
“You picked the wrong day to fight me, My Little Human,” she growled. “Now you will die.”
Elias shoved her back, but it was no use. She was too strong, and her weight made him unable to move.
Her horn charged, about to end Elias’ life...
...when a sniper bullet smashed into the side of Tempest’s skull, shattering it and covering the floor in brains and gore.
Her lifeless body fell to one side, her fate a consequence of her hubris.
Keegan and Merrick lifted the corpse off of Elias, and he got up, snapping a photograph of the body.
“Command,” he said, “I can confirm Tempest Shadow is down, I repeat, Tempest is KIA.”
“Thank God,” the voice replied. "She’s killed enough of our men as it is.”
“We have control of LUNA.”
“Excellent. I have received a report of heavy AA fire from La Pointe. You may have targets.”
“Understood sir.” Elias switched chanels and spoke again. "Princess Twilight, do you read, over?”
“Who is this?” came the reply.
“This is Captain Elias Walker, Task Force: STALKER. We have control of the LUNA array. Do you have any targets for us?”
“Captain, I have quite a few for you.”
Elias motioned to his men. “Get on the consoles!” he called.
The co-ordinates trickled in. Each satellite was manually locked onto a different target.
“Charging sequence initiated, 15 seconds.”
Elias had never known 15 seconds feel like such a long period of time. The timer ground slowly onwards, as if reality itself had designs against that of humanity and ponykind.
At long last, the clock reached zero. “FIRE!” he ordered.
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight shuddered as another missile shrieked past her. A loud explosion echoed below the airship, a fireball erupting below.
“Another hit like that and we’re done for!” Calaeno called.
Twilight closed her eyes, fearing the worst.
Then, suddenly, a stream of pure, blue beams thundered down from the heavens. The bolts streaked downward and impacted with the seas.
Explosions echoed below and metal was hurled into the skies, the tearing metal and ionised air adding up into a glorious symphony of destruction.
Below them lay the twisted ruins of the Federation fleet, positioned to threaten them and ensure they never reached the aid they needed. But the dreams of an entire nation were shattered that day. Its fleet was vanquished, lying below the seas and swimming with the fish. And Rorke was nowhere to be found, blasted off the deck of the airship.
Now nothing would prevent them from reaching Mount Aris.
“Elias, the targets are down. Thanks for the help.”
“No problem, Your Royal Highness.” The radio shut off.
Twilight turned around. “Set us down on Mount Aris!”
Captain Calaeno had dropped the Main 6 off on the top of the mountain. After the epic battle in the sky, it was the least she could do for them. But as they looked around them, it became apparent that something was badly wrong.
The city of Hippogriffia was in complete and utter ruin. Buildings had been levelled, foundations were broken, and rubble filled the streets. Weeds grew up amongst the paving stones, and the city had a distinct air of neglect to it.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” Rarity asked.
“Hello?” Applejack called. “Anypony home?”
Nobody answered. Twilight was the next to speak. “This reminds me of Cherneighbyl.”
“Where’s that?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“It’s in Yakyakistan. They were testing a Megaspell Reactor there and it went wrong. The area is completely uninhabitable.”
“Here, hippgriffies!” Pinkie yelled, completely oblivious as always to any other conversation. “None here, or there! This place is a ghost town!”
“G-ghost town?” Fluttershy asked, visibly scared. As if to hammer the point home, strange music began to echo through the air.
“It’s coming from over there!” Twilight called. The girls slipped under a collapsed archway, and arrived in a vast chamber after a short meander through a tunnel.
The chamber had a vaulted roof and twin Hippogriff statues on either side. Set against the back wall were hieroglyphics, and the centre of the chamber was marked by a vast pool.
A figure was visible in the water in the centre, when Pinkie dislodged a paving stone.
“What was that?!” cried a surprised voice, and suddenly they dived into the water.
Pinkie ran forward. “Hey, wait up!” She jumped into the air, and dived into the water. “CANNONBALL!”
“Pinkie!” cried Twilight, and ran forward to pull her friend out of the water. Pinkie surfaced with no difficulty.
“She’s gone!” the pink mare replied.
“Twi,” asked Rainbow. “Any particular reason we’re standing in the water? I don’t think any of us can swim!”
There was a loud clang, as if the plug had been pulled out. “Now what?” Twilight asked, clearly exasperated.
The water turned into a whirlpool, and the girls were sucked in. “I hate adventures,” Rarity groaned, as they were sucked under.
Beneath the blackness of the seas, there was no air at all. Twilight fought for air, but it was all for naught, and everything went black.
Eventually, she did reopen her eyes to find herself and her friends surrounded by air bubbles.
“Way to leave it to the last second Twilight!” Exclaimed Pinkie.
“I didn’t make these bubbles!” Twilight replied.
“Then who did?” asked Fluttershy.
Suddenly, a yellow object swam past them. Assuming it to be hostile, the girls closed in. “Hello?” asked Twilight. “We’re looking for the hippogriffs.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” asked the object, in a sing-song voice.
“Please,” Twilight implored, “the Storm King invaded our land, and we need their help alongside that of the Americans.”
“The Storm King? The Americans?” the voice asked. The object closed in, turning out to be a seapony with yellow fur, as well as blue fins and mane. “I’m so glad I found you guys! I’m totally taking you to my Mom!” With that, she grabbed Twilight’s hoof and off they went.
“Does she have an idea where they may be?” asked Twilight.
“She may have a pretty good idea! But if the Americans are here, then the tide has truly turned!”
Down and down they went, deeper and deeper into the ocean. After they had been travelling for what seemed like days, the figure turned back to them. “We’re almost there!” she cried. The sight that rewarded them more than justified the journey.
It was a vast underwater city, with buildings lodged into the rockwork, and a vast dome hanging from a rock ceiling. The dome was constructed of steel and strong glass, and glowed purple like a gem.
“Welcome to Seaquestria!” their guide told them.
The Main 6 could only open their mouths in absolute amazement at the sight that lay before them.
They swam up an access chute and into an airlock, which closed behind them. The pressure reading slowly changed to read SAFE PRESSURE: YOU ARE CLEARED TO PROCEED. WELCOME HOME, PRINCESS SKYSTAR.
They arrived in a vast chamber. Sat before them was a vast throne. In fact, the entire room was a double of the throne room in the Palace of the Two Sisters. Before them on that throne, sat a light pink seapony with purple fins and mane. She had a gold headdress on, and was laid back in a causal manner on the throne.
“Mother!” Skystar called. “Look what I found!”
Applejack looked over to her friends. “Skystar’s a mighty funny name for a seapony.”
“Is it another shell?” the figure asked. She sounded bored, disinterested. “Because I am telling you if it is another she-” She awoke, and looked at the 6 ponies before her with fright. “Princess Skystar!” she snapped. “What have you done? You know outsiders are forbidden here! Guards!”
Seaponys equipped with harpoons swum at the Main 6, holding them at bladepoint.
“No, Mom! It’s not like that!” Skystar tried desperately to defuse the situation. “The Storm King is trying to destroy their home as well! They also know the Americans!”
Twilight spoke up. “We need to find the Hippogriffs. Do you know where they are?”
The figure laughed. “I’m Queen Novo. I know everything.”
“It’s such a good story!” Skystar cried.
“Don’t you dare tell them!” Novo boomed, her voice like acid.
Skystar simply ignored her, and continued. “A long time ago, the hippogriffs lived on top of Mount Aris. But then the Storm King showed up to steal their magic. But the great Queen Novo hid that magic from him, and hid underwater. So, we were the hippogriffs...but now we’re not!”
Novo finpalmed. “Oh, for Faust’s sake,” she moaned.
“Wait a minute!” Applejack interrupted. “When the Storm King showed up, instead of contacting other nations and asking for help, you just ran?”
“We didn’t flee!” Skystar insisted. “We swam in order to flee!”
“If you’d just contacted us, we’d have helped you.” Applejack looked at the others. “We probably wouldn’t be in the mess we are now if they’d done that.”
“How did you flee?” asked Twilight. “Hippogriffs don’t have fins!”
“Can we show them?” Skystar asked, seemingly on a permanent sugar rush. “They’re our first visitors in ages! Can we, can we, can we?”
Nov sighed. “Seeing as you won’t stop asking until you do, it can’t hurt to see if it still works.”
Novo swam past a chandelier made out of a jellyfish. A great arm dropped down, revealing a pearl which Novo took in her front flippers. With a flick of what was once her wrist, 7 streams of light shot out of the orb and toward the Main 6 and Spike.
A strange tingling sensation washed over their bodies, but when it had finished, what a sight they beheld!
In place of their hind legs and tails were flippers, and the ability to breath underwater was added as well. “These fins are divine!” Rarity cried.
“Hey Applejack!” shouted Rainbow. “Race you to the coral!”
Pinkie Pie floated over to Fluttershy. “Come on, try it out!”
Suddenly, a giant purple pufferfish floated past them. “Is that who I think it is?” asked Fluttershy.
“Guys?” the pufferfish asked. “What...is...happening?” He inflated, like a spiky beach ball.
“So cute!” was Fluttershy’s helpful observation.
“This is amazing!” Twilight cried. “With it, we could transform everypony at home into something to face the Storm King!”
“Or it could end up in his claws, or worse the humans could steal it!” Novo thundered.
“But-!”
“I’m sorry,” Novo told her. “And I’m sorry about your home. But my priority is to protect my subjects. And I don’t trust the Americans either. Last I heard, whenever they ‘liberate’ someplace, they take its technology too. Imagine the damage they could do with this sphere!”
“But we’ve come all this way!” Twilight protested. “Do you really want to just stay below the surface and miss what’s happening in the world out there? Besides, the Americans helped up stop Tirek!”
“And they ignored our call for help!” Novo thundered again. “Besides, I am happy to stay down here, safe and sound, then risk danger up there!”
A strange red creature appeared, and made some noises before swimming off again.
“OK,” Novo sighed. “Time for my seaweed wrap.”
Applejack looked in disbelief at the others. “So, we've just wasted an entire week, for NOTHIN’?”
“You could stay with us!” Skystar merrily suggested. “I have so many things that we can do! We can make friendship bracelets out of shells and... picture frames outta shells and... decorative wastebaskets out of shells... Oh, I have so many projects that involve shells, haha! Now I have someone new to share them with! I mean, aside from my friends, Shelly and Sheldon. Right? ‘Shelly’? ‘Sheldon?”
Confused at her rambling speech, the girls simply nodded.
“I’m afraid we cannot stay,” Rarity told her.
“We have families back home,” Applejack explained.
Skystar’s face fell. “Well, if you must. You probably have your own friends back at home. I’ll get Mom to change you back.” With that, she swam off, dejected.
Pinkie looked back. “I know we have to go, but you saw how sad Skystar was!”
“We don’t have ti-”
“No, Pinkie’s right.” Twilight’s interruption surprised the others.
“What?” Rainbow asked.
“We still need a plan to get back to the surface,” Twilight explained. “A few minutes won’t make a difference. And if anypony can cram a lifetime of fun into a few minutes, Pinkie can!”
She paused. “So, go and show Skystar the best time ever!”
“I won’t let you down!” Pinkie cried.
“I’m counting on it,” Twilight said to herself. She glanced up at the pearl, with a smile.
Skystar
Princess of Seaquestria
Seaquestria
October 13th, 007 SLR
Skystar sniffled sadly. “Oh well,” she said. “It’s probably for the best.”
The object approaching them had a shape like a cigar, and a variety of attachments, a stub popping out of the top, and a number of arms attached to the top.
“Unknown vessel, you are entering Seaquestria Seaspace. Power down immediately and state your purpose for being here.
“私たちは私たちが望むものを取る。運命はそれをそうしました.”
Bubble was perplexed. He had never heard this language before. “Please repeat, over,” he called.
私たちは私たちが望むものを取る。運命はそれをそうしました.”
Bubble switched his radio to Queen Novo. “Your Majesty, do you read, over?”
“This is Queen Novo, go ahead.”
“A large vessel has just entered our waters, and is refusing to power down and respond to comms. Advise course of action, over.”
“Board the vessel.”
“Ay, as you wish.”
He swam out of his hatch and over to the vessel...
...only for the deck cannon to shoot him directly.
Twilight Sparkle
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked one of the guards.
“An unknown vessel just entered our seaway and fired upon a soldier of ours. We are launching an attack.”
Twilight swam forward and took a good, long look at the vessel. “I know what that thing is,” she said.
“Well, what is it?” Novo demanded. “And how the hell did it get into our waterways?”
“It’s a human vessel,” Twilight answered. “An I-400 Submarine. Those things have 8 torpedo tubes and multiple deck guns. It must’ve found a way to sneak in.”
Novo glared at Twilight. “No,” she said coldly. “YOU led them here. I knew something was up!”
The guards flew at the machine with spear and harpoon. A single charge was fired at the monster’s hull...and bounced clean off.
“これは簡単すぎる。準備が整った魚雷！”
Two objects flew out of the front of the submarine and smashed into the dome, causing it to collapse. Fragments of metal and glass plummeted toward the ocean floor.
As the submarine closed in, it opened a hatch, and out swam a pair of humans clad in diving gear. They swam over to the ruins of the dome, and up to the pearl.
Electrical vines extended down to try and trap them, but they had clearly prepared for this. Whilst one hung below, the other pulled out a knife and stabbed the jellyfish holding it. The man-o-war ceased its struggles, and lay still.
The second diver grabbed the pearl. He turned around and was immediately faced by several guards.
But he drew a pistol modified for use underwater, and fired 5 bullets. Each rang home in a deadly blast that cleared his path.
Swimming back onboard, the hatch to the submarine closed, and the vessel swung around, ready to leave from whence it came.
Lieutenant Commander Richard O’Kane
Commanding Officer, USS Tang (SS-306)
Water surrounding Seaquestria
October 14th, 007 SLT
The USS Tang powered silently through the water, navigating around rocks and obstacles. O’Kane had been on patrol in the region, hunting Federation supply vessels. They had heard explosions from a nearby cavern and followed.
Slowly, their target came into view. It was a monster of a ship, an I-400, and was making off with something. Radio chatter that had been intercepted said something about a pearl, and it seemed that it was a crucial artefact.
“All crew, prepare to engage,” he said.
“Ay, Lieutenant!”
“Load frontal torpedo tubes, prepare to fire.”
“Sir,” said his aide, “No submarine has ever killed another underwater with torpedoes.”
“That’s why we are gonna be the first.”
“Torpedoes loaded.”
“Fire!”
The twin torpedoes streaked out of the submarine and sailed toward their target. “30 seconds!”
The huge, lumbering submarine simply couldn’t move out of the way. The torpedoes smashed into the target. A great jet of flame opened up as the I-400's hull snapped in two, and the wreckage fell toward the ocean floor.
“Dispatch the diver!” Kane ordered.
Twilight Sparkle
Well, this was a dramatic turnaround. It had seemed just as the enemy sub was escaping, another had appeared and stopped it. And now a diver had appeared, swimming toward it with all their might. They looked to be smaller, almost like a child. They swam into the wreckage, and emerged with the pearl. They then swam back to their own vessel.
But this vessel didn’t try to run. It turned, and sailed toward the group gathering before the wreckage of the dome. The diver popped out again, and held the orb to Queen Novo.
“Ma’am,” they said, over the radio, “I believe this belongs to you.”
“How do I know that voice?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Novo was furious. “This mess is all your fault! If you had never come to Seaquestria, this whole fiasco would never have happened!”
“It’s hardly our fault that your defences were inadequate. Besides, we just saved your asses.” O’Kane was blunt, but to the point.
“Seaquestria lies in ruins!” Novo thundered. “Skystar, this is why we don’t let outsiders into our home!”
She looked at Twilight. “I was considering providing military support. But since you are clearly in league with the humans, that will not happen. You don’t deserve to be one of us. And that boat can go as well!”
Suddenly, the waters began to churn and swirl, and all went black...
Twilight heaved air into her lungs as the crew were washed ashore. The operation had been an absolute disaster. Queen Novo had shown she was unwilling to assist her own allies.
Applejack coughed as she came ashore. “What in tarnation was that about?”
Twilight looked at her. “That was the Japanese wrecking everything! They sailed in and created this mess!”
“The Queen was about to say yes!” Pinkie cried. “Unless you never wanted her help, and instead just used it as a smokescreen to seize the pearl!”
“Pinkie, are you stupid?” Twilight asked. “I didn’t plan for some subs to sail in and blow the place to pieces!”
Pinkie wasn’t buying it. “We’ve been dragged around by you the whole time, giving us orders and acting out of touch. Why wouldn’t you orchestrate such a thing to take a valuable artefact?”
“Uh...guys?” Rainbow asked.
Nobody payed any notice.
“We can’t just muck about!” Twilight thundered. “You guys seem more interested in repairing the coats of con-artists, smashing through ship hulls, dancing with fish and jumping on things than, you know, SAVING OUR COUNTRY!”
“So, you don’t trust us?” Pinkie asked. “is that what I’m hearing? Because that’s not how friends work.”
Twilight blew a fuse. Initiating the Royal Canterlot Voice, she roared, “WELL, CLEARLY I PICKED THE WRONG FRIENDS, DIDN’T I?!” She flew off, in a rage.
Rarity spoke up. “That went well,” she said.
Dash shouted over them. “The diver’s waking up!”
There was a cough and a splutter from the diver’s equipment, and they motioned upwards with both hands. Dash put her hooves on the gear, and lifted upward.
She gasped when she saw who was under it.
“Scootaloo?”
Richard O’Kane
Onboard USS Tang, Iron Ocean
“That’s right sir, Queen Novo assumed we were behind the attack.”
“She’s unbelievable. If we encounter her again, tell her we are cutting all diplomatic and economic ties. That should get her to co-operate.”
“Understood, Overlord. Out.”
O’Kane looked around the Command Deck. “I can’t believe she’d be so ungrateful!” he said. “We save them, and she responds by just chucking us out! It’s totally ridiculous!”
“Sir,” said his aide. “We have a ping on our diver. They’re on Basalt Beach.”
“Surface and proceed to pick them up.”
“Aye sir!”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight sat on a rocky outcrop overlooking the beach, seeing her friends talking to the human.
“Twilight?” asked Spike. “Are you OK?”
“No,” Twilight sobbed. “I’ve failed Equestria. There’s no way to save the country now.”
Suddenly, a loud bang distracted her attention. “Twilight!” Spike called.
Spike was under attack from one of the monsters. Twilight charged up her horn...
...only for a man to drop down, punch her in the muzzle, and chain her foreleg to a rope. It was Rorke.
“You really make it too easy for me, Twilight!” he laughed. “When we’re done, there ain’t gonna be no Princesses...cause we’re gonna destroy them together.”
The winch started up. Twilight looked down in horror as Spike vanished into the distance, surrounded by more of those creatures.
Rainbow Dash
“Whoa!” exclaimed Rainbow. “So, there’s a double of me as well?”
“Yep!” Scootaloo replied. “There’s doubles of all of us, I think. We don’t have magic in our world, but technology and electricity double pretty well.”
“So, how’d you get here?” asked Applejack.
“My dad is a pilot in the Air Force, and they needed folk who had prior experience with magic. I was the perfect volunteer.”
“HELP!” shouted Spike, running down the hill. “Twilight’s been taken by Rorke!”
“How on Earth are we gonna get her back?” asked Fluttershy.
“There’s no way we can fight those things,” Applejack added.
“We have the entire might of the US Army,” Scootaloo mentioned.
“And,” said a familiar voice over a cliff, “a group of mighty heroes who could handle this easily!” Who should it be, but Capper!
“Look what the cat dragged in... himself.” Rarity was not pleased.
“These heroes have taken the toughest towns, beaten the fiercest soldiers and picked their way out of the toughest situations I have ever known!”
“Relax,” Applejack said coolly. “He’s talking about us.”
Suddenly, an airship flew in and touched down on the beach. Forward sprung Captain Calaeno and her crew, ready to do battle!
“We are ready to assist you,” she said. “The Storm King shall terrorise these lands no longer!”
Suddenly, light emerged below the waves. Out of the water flew Skystar, returned to her hippogriff form.
“I’m here!” she exclaimed, in her sing-song voice. “I’m so grounded, but I decided that we needed to do something. Problems won’t go away if you ignore them.”
Another loud whoosh emerged from the water, and there surfaced the USS Tang. O’Kane popped his head out of the hatch.
Twilight fired once again into the cage. Nothing happened.
“It’s not gonna work,” said a familiar voice. That of Rorke. “You’ve been trying to break out of that cage for hours. It’s designed to drain your magic so I’d advise you just give up.”
“What’s in it for you?” Twilight asked. “What do you get out of all this?”
“You have a lot of nerve,” Rorke replied. “I like that. I imagine you think I’m doing this for money, or power.”
“Are you?”
Rorke stayed silent, then turned to face her. “No. This is about revenge.”
“Revenge against whom?”
“Men who claimed to be my friends.” Rorke shook briefly as he remembered that day. “It was a long time ago, far, far away. But I saw who they truly were. Why they must die.”
Rorke
Caracas, Venezuela
July 8th, 2015
They had done it.
The mission was complete. They had eliminated the target.
Diego Almagro was the latest dictator to face the wrath of the USA. Now, however, they were in a mess. A stray bullet had damaged the chopper and it had crashed into a building.
Now Rorke dangled over fast-flowing water, held up by the hand of his friend, Elias.
“It’s breaking apart!” shouted Merrick. “We gotta move, now! What’re we doing here, Elias? We can’t save him!”
Rorke looked up into Elias’ eyes, fear apparent in his expression. “Elias,” he gasped.
Elias was clearly wracked by guilt. But he released his hand.
Rorke plummeted toward the water, and certain death. “ELIAS!!!!”
Then he fell under the waves, and all went black...
Twilight Sparkle
October 15th, 007 SLR
“They left you for dead?” Twilight gasped.
Rorke nodded. “I was missing for two weeks. Then the Federation found me. Before I knew what was going on, I had been detached to the Storm King’s army and we had the capital of Equestria in our pocket. This shows only one thing. You can only rely on yourself.”
“We could work something out!” Twilight cried. “Negotiate!”
Rorke sighed. “Your words fall on deaf ears kid.” He pulled a lever and the cage began to elevate until it was positioned on the top deck.
Before them lay Canterlot. It had been rebuilt into a fortress, with mighty guns protecting all angles. Troops patrolled the city, and ponies were trapped in cages, ready to be used as slaves.
Rorke laughed. “You see kid, you and I are just alike. Just like me, your friends failed you.”
The airship touched down in the courtyard and dropped its ramp. “Careful with the merchandise!” Rorke called. “It took a lot of effort to get this one, and I don’t want it broken!”
4 of the creatures lugged the cage into the throne room. Celestia and Luna were lying in theirs, and Cadence looked to be out cold.
“We’re back!” Rorke laughed. “Put the cage down over there.”
Twilight’s cage was placed opposite Cadence’s.
“This truly shows how mighty we are. We have put your capital down, and your army is in ruins. It’s only a matter of time until-”
“Don’t do this,” Twilight said. “Don’t give the Storm King-”
“The magic?” he asked. “I have nothing to lose from my angle. The instant this genie is out of the bottle, I will be unstoppable!”
“Don’t you mean we?” asked a voice behind them.
Forward stepped the Storm King. He was every bit as hideous as he was in the pictures.
“Of course, my Lord.”
“Excellent!” the Storm King lumbered forward, the Staff of Sacanas in his hand. He peered into the cage, and asked, “What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight flatly replied.
The Storm King laughed. Then he turned to Rorke. “How is this one not on sedatives yet?”
“She won’t be a problem.”
“Good.” The Centaur marched away and looked around. “I don’t like this place. It’s a little too...cute! It needs remodelling, and I shall have that at last!”
He slammed the staff into the ground, forming an image on the floor of the throne room. Twilight screamed in pain as the energy started to flow out of her...
Logan Walker
Upper Canterlot
STALKER’s Black Hawk touched down and offloaded the troops. Logan and Elias were out first, followed by Hesh, Merrick and Keegan.
“Remember boys,” Elias told them. “We need to stop the Storm King. Only then can we liberate Canterlot. Let’s go!”
They pushed through the streets, being aware of a sudden fight in the square which seemed to have drawn off the bulk of the troops.
Everywhere were cages filled with ponies. Logan honestly felt sorry for them. Here to spend the rest of their lives as slaves.
“Not on my watch,” he growled.
They snuck into the palace with minimal difficulty. It was lightly defended, and the few stragglers were picked off with ease.
Rainbow Dash
Lower Canterlot
Rainbow Dash and the other remaining ponies hauled a carriage loaded with a massive cake. On top was Spike, acting as an ornament.
Capper was out front, and raised his voice to speak to the guards. “Excuse me?” he asked. “I have a delivery for the Storm King.”
The guards were not convinced, and lowered their spears.
“Alright then,” Capper said. “One of you guys go tell the boss, because I don’t want him missing out on his desert.”
After 3 seconds, the guards cleared, and the carriage was let through.
Unfortunately, this was where things started to go wrong. Pinkie had a ridiculous grin on her face, which attracted the ire of one of the creatures.
“Pinkie!” Applejack snapped. “Quit lookin’ so happy! You ain’t foolin’ nopony!”
“Oh!” Pinkie cried, who then made a ridiculous looking frown.
But who should ruin things but Grubber. He jumped onto the cart and took a huge bite out of the cake.
A large eyeball stared back.
“Guards!” he shouted.
“Our cover’s blown!” Rainbow called. “Engage!”
Who should burst out of the cake, but the pirates and Skystar!
The pirates charged into battle, bowling foes over, sending troops flying and thoroughly making a mess.
Applejack lassoes them together, Rarity hurled fabric. Cupcakes flew through the air like missiles. Shells slammed into their targets with lethal accuracy. On the other hand, Fluttershy helped several out with stress issues.
“The way is clear!” Rainbow radioed. “Captain Collins, you can commence airdrop!”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight collapsed on the floor as the last of the energy drained out of her. An explosion hurled her out onto the balcony, and the Storm King stormed forward, with his newest toy.
Twilight staggered to her feet, and tried to raise her wings. She got no response from them.
She looked at her sides in horror. The staff had not only drained her magic, but her biology too. She had reverted to being a Unicorn.
Rorke stepped outside as well, keen to see the spectacle.
The Storm King seemed happy. “Let’s see how this works!” he cried. He pointed the staff, and the sun rose. He lowered it, and the moon rose. He spun the staff around, and sun and moon alternated at dizzying speed.
“Woohoo!” he cried. “I can control the day and night. I will be truly unstoppable!”
Twilight looked at Rorke, who simply shrugged and stepped after him.
“Sir,” he called. “Will you grant me my revenge?”
Capt. Collins
Airspace over Canterlot
Collins flew in, ready to drop the troops into battle when his aircraft’s instruments started playing up.
“What the hell?” he asked. “Command, the sun and moon are alternating uncontrollably. It’s messing with my aircraft’s systems!”
“Try to get the HALO drop completed, over.”
“Roger that, over!”
Then, a vast storm started up. The blast hit his plane’s engines, and they fell toward the ground.
“BRACE FOR IMPACT!” he cried. The aircraft slammed into the floor, and all went black.
Rorke
“No.” The Storm King told him.
“What?” Rorke asked.
“All I needed you for was to get the staff. When I had that, I no longer needed you. You are just a loose end.”
Rorke stepped back in shock. All of this, for nothing? He drew his pistol, only to get knocked back by the Staff and smashed through the stained glass. He flew through the air and collided with a pillar.
The Storm King laughed. “It’s time to end this!” he cried, and slammed his staff into the ground.
A vortex started up, drawing in all that was in the vicinity. Troops, rocks, aircraft, all was sucked in. The storm struck the Palace, and the roof collapsed...
The voice rang in his ears as he slowly regained consciousness. The whole city had been hit by some sort of explosion. Storms were whipping round the region and tearing anything in the area into tiny pieces.
The assault on Canterlot had so far been going well. STALKER had been deployed for a special operation, which had 3 objectives;
Assassinate the Storm King
Recover the Staff of Sacanas
Liberate those held captive by the Storm King
They had been flown in by Helicopter, touching down in the commercial zone and fighting their way up through the streets. They were largely deserted of the enemy goons, however. There was some sort of punchup happening nearby which had drawn their attention, not to mention some of them seemed to be on fire.
They had passed a number of cages filled with ponies. Poor bastards, they were effective slaves, and for what? Storm King wasn’t exactly short of those. No, this monster would even make slaves of foals! That was why he had to go down.
But something unexpected had happened. A large explosion had sounded just as they had breached the Palace of the Two Sisters. Some sort of twister had emerged, sucking practically everything into it, including tanks deployed in support and several enemy divisions. Truly the enemy was callous.
The storm had also damaged the structure, not that Canterlot was in good structural shape at this point anyway. Ruined buildings filled the area all around, and most others had been pulled down or converted into bunkers.
A chunk of fallen masonry had hit Logan, and he was now buried under it.
Logan found himself looking up, into the face of his brother, David, or ‘Hesh’ as he was nicknamed.
“Logan!” he repeated. “You OK? Let’s get this rock off you.” He moved to one end of the rock, and started to lift, but to absolutely no effect.
“I’ll get the other end,” spoke one of his teammates, Merrick. With both of them lifting, they got the masonry free in no time.
Elias, the squad leader, looked at them. “Alright boys,” he said. “We’ve got a target to take out. Logan, you OK?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good.” Elias resumed speaking. “Now then, most of the enemy force has been whipped up by this storm, but there are still Federation soldiers in the building. We need to fight our way to the throne room, and there we will find the Storm King.”
“Bastards killed enough of us,” added Keegan. “Nobody will miss him when he’s gone.”
“Which is why you mustn’t miss your shot. Let’s move!”
Captain Collins
Collins came two in the cockpit of his crashed C-130. The storm had brought it down on the city itself, which had knocked him out.
He looked to the left, to see his co-pilot dead. “Shit,” he said. He climbed out of his seat, and looked back, to see most of the ponies and troops loaded aboard still alive. “You ready?” he asked.
“Let’s make a difference!” shouted one of them, a feisty mare with yellow fur.
“Harris!” shouted Collins. “Open the rear ramp.”
“Roger sir,” Harris answered. He threw the lever, and the ramp dropped.
The place was a mess. Roads were crumbling, buildings had collapsed, and the shattered wrecks of battle tanks were everywhere. Canterlot was the enemy’s last stronghold, and they really were throwing in everything to protect it.
Collins disabled the safety on his M4, and locked it into his shoulder. Streets were empty, and there was not a site to be seen. Never hurt to be cautious though. He had to make it back to his family on Earth, they were counting on him. He moved forward slowly, taking cover behind the wreck of an Abrams. He signaled to move up.
Rainbow Dash
More goons suddenly appeared. Calaeno and her men swung around. “Head for the castle!” she shouted. “We’ll hold them off!”
“Let’s go!” Rainbow shouted, and off they went.
The courtyard, in spite of the storm, was still guarded. “Uh oh,” was all Applejack said.
“Hang on a minute!” Capper said. “Isn’t that a dragon?” Picking Spike up, he tilted him forward and fire roared forth. The flames cleared the courtyard in moments, and the Main 6 quickly breached the courtyard.
But with the storm, they couldn’t enter the palace itself. Just then, Pinkie remembered that she had left something in the city.
The pirates wheeled her cake mortar into position, and wired up the firing sequence.
“Range!”
“750 metres!”
“Elevation!”
88 degrees!”
The massive gun elevated to the correct setting with a roar and groan on the motors.
Capper looked over. “We’ve only got one shot at this.”
Pinkie and her friends were crammed inside. “Who’s excited?” she yelled.
“FIRE!”
The weapon fired, triggering a loud explosion and a jet of flame roared out of the end of the gun. The girls flew through the air, slammed straight into the Storm King, and causing the staff to get jammed in a window.
Logan Walker
Logan and Hesh moved into position next to a fallen column, ready to engage. “Enemy force, 5 men, 200 metres.”
“You are free to engage.”
Logan looked down his sights. Lining up a headshot, he breathed out and squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out, making contact with the enemy soldier and dropping them.
Looking around them in absolute surprise, the foe dived for cover and returned fire. Bullets pinged off of the rockwork and walls, shattering glass and embedding themselves in the terrain.
Hesh landed two more shots, and Logan finished off the last two. The last room had been cleared. They stepped forward, and with great apprehension, pushed open the door to the throne room.
Capt. Collins
A shot suddenly rang out, knocking down one of his men. “Get to cover!” Collins shouted.
The others wasted no time in complying with the order. Diving to the floor, most of the squad opened fire. The two pegasi took to the skies, loading their rifles and providing flanking fire.
It was then that the tank rolled in. A T-90 rolled across the courtyard, firing its cannon at a building behind them and toppling it. Machine gun fire racked the ground, causing the squad to run for cover inside.
Collins shook his head. He then spied an AGM-148 Javelin launcher in one of the nearby Humvees. And it looked to be in good shape too. He sprinted to it, dodging the bullets that were flying all around him and dived into the vehicle.
Pulling the launcher free, he ran back to a nearby courtyard and took position on a balcony.
The weapon locked on with an audible ping.
Collins pulled the trigger, and the rocket surged forward. He dived to the floor and watched. The rocket flew upwards, and began its downward run.
“Please don’t let that be a dud,” he prayed. The rocket hit home, smashing into the enemy armour and blowing the fuel tank. This triggered a chain reaction with the ammunition cooking off, destroying the vehicle in a massive explosion.
Collins wiped the sweat off of his brow, and went further into the city. There was a cluster of cages apparently unaffected by the storm. In them were ponies, all crying for mercy. He switched on his radio.
“Command, this is Skytrain 4, over?”
“Skytrain 4, copy, thought you guys were fragged, over.”
“We have a large contingent of captured ponies near my position. Real mixture of ages and races Sir, over.”
“We’ll deploy a cleanup team to get them out, over.”
Collins was about to stop when suddenly he heard a sound, like crying. “Hold. Command, I've got a tone. Sounds like a young girl, over?”
“Check it out, but remember, stay alive, out.”
Collins followed the path around into another courtyard. This one had a solitary cage. In it was a small orange filly, with a purple mane and tail. She was sobbing quietly to herself.
He stepped closer, took a look in the cage and spoke. “It’s OK, my little pony, I’ll get you out.”
The pegasus looked up at him. “Are you American?” she asked, in a voice which was weirdly familiar.
Collins looked gob smacked. “Scootaloo?” he asked. “What the hell did they do to you?”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight thought she was dreaming when she saw her friends. “Thanks for coming back,” was all she could say.
“Uh, guys?” Rainbow shouted. “We’ve got an active superweapon! Might want to deal with that first?”
Lightning from the staff began to demolish the structure.
“We have to get control of the staff!” Twilight cried.
“You got this!” Pinkie yelled.
“No, we got this!”
They formed a conga line and floated toward the staff. But the wind blew them off course, and the Storm King lunged for it as well.
Logan Walker
“Contact, 2nd floor balcony!”
Merrick lined up his sniper rifle, and fired two shots, taking out two targets. “I’ve still got it,” he said.
Suddenly, Elias received a call on the radio.
“This is General Shining Armor, do you read, over?”
“Loud and clear, over.”
“The storm is getting worse. We will not be able to reinforce or extract you at this time. If you cannot complete your mission, get the hell out of there, out.”
Elias could see the Staff sticking through a stained-glass window, energy coursing out of it and destroying anything it came into contact with. “Objective sighted!” he shouted. “Merrick, can you get a shot?”
“Negative, risk of collateral damage.”
Elias was about to order the shot when suddenly he saw a group of 6 ponies and a dragon form a conga line trying to recover the staff. His attention was distracted when a man ran past him, heading the same way. Rorke.
“Stop!” he shouted. He fired off some warning shots, and Rorke ran to the right. “STALKER, pursue!” he cried.
After a chase down a corridor, Rorke swung around.
“I believe we got him,” called Keegan.
Then, another explosion rocked the building. The structure toppled, tilting the balcony and causing it to fall away from them.
Rorke began to fall into the abyss...
...but was caught by Elias and Logan.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rorke shouted.
“Many years ago, I made the mistake of letting a friend go! I won’t let it repeat!” Elias replied.
The men hauled Rorke up, and put him down. “What’s going on in there?”
“The Storm King is trying to recover the Staff. If he does that, we’re all dead!”
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight floated desperately toward the staff, but the Storm King was getting dangerously close.
He jumped for it-but was hit by a round from a Sniper Rifle and was hurled out of the window into the storm.
Twilight grabbed the staff, and fell toward the ground.
The 6 friends headed out onto the balcony, looking over the restored land. It had taken a lot of effort, but at long last the war was over.
Or so they thought. The Storm King lumbered out of the gloom, with a gigantic axe. He swung it down...
...only to be hit by bullets from Rorke’s revolver.
“Eat this, you bastard!” he shouted. He slammed into the Storm King, and knocked him over the edge. They fell together, and a loud splat confirmed the worst.
There the Storm King lay, his body mangled and reduced to ruin.
And on top of it, was Rorke’s, who had made the ultimate sacrifice.
It was finally over. The Storm King was dead. But there had been heavy losses along the way, and Rorke had fallen too.
“Did it have to end this way?” asked Fluttershy.
“He gave his life to stop him. That’s pretty darn noble,” Applejack said.
Twilight said nothing. She activated her horn, and lifted Rorke’s body back up. “He deserves a second chance,” she said. She cast a new spell, and watched as the energy flowed into the lifeless body.
The injuries healed and knotted up, and before long the body before them was living and breathing again!
Rorke looked around them. “Excuse the mess,” he said. “At the very least, let me clean up.”
They walked into the throne room, and placed the staff back in the center. All the energy that had been stolen flowed back into the world, the damage restored. Canterlot was reborn to its former glory, and best of all, Derpy was de-stoned! The Princesses were woken from their slumber, and were let out of their cages to begin anew.
That evening, Spike took a microphone. “Ahem!” he called. “Ladies and gentlecolts! Get ready for a little...Songbird Serenade!”
“To celebrate the fact that we’re all still here,” Songbird added, “give it up for Twilight and her friends!”
They were all there. Many of the soldiers who had helped liberate Equestria had been invited, and the pirates had turned out too. Capper was there also, sporting a new jacket courtesy of Rarity.
“Way to go guys!” called a stallion with a beard.
Cadence, Celestia, and Luna bowed before Twilight, who returned the honor.
Everybody was happy. Rainbow and Calaeno shared a hoofbump, and Skystar suddenly saw a figure descend from the sky. “Mom!” she cried.
“You are so grounded!” Queen Novo laughed.
Just then O’Kane appeared. “Just to inform you Queen Novo,” he said, “for your conduct toward us when we saved you, the US is cutting all economic and diplomatic ties. Thought you’d like to know.”
The look on her face was priceless.
Twilight suddenly noticed somebody was missing. Rorke was standing at a balcony, looking away from the concert and over the land.
She trotted over to him. “Hey, what’s up?” she asked.
“I suppose that’s one good thing about Equestria,” he said. “The parties.”
“I hope you choose to stay,” Twilight said. “More friends are definitely welcome.”
“But can I fit in?” Rorke returned.
“I’m certain you can.”
The soldier smiled. “I suppose there is something I can do.” He switched on his radio. “SHOW ‘EM WHAT WE GOT, BOYS!”
The BM-21s from before opened fire, but they fired not rockets, but fireworks! All were amazed at the beautiful scene which accentuated the concert perfectly. Songbird Serenade even showed her approval.
Blue, red, green, the sky was lit up with a glorious array of color.
Pinkie bounded over. “Nice touch, Rorke!” she called.
He shrugged. “I trust you guys, so I think I am at liberty to tell you my first name.”
They all leaned in close. “Gabriel,” he whispered.
Pinkie bounced up and down. “That’s an amazing name!” she cried.
Logan Walker-Peter New David 'Hesh' Walker-Brandon Routh Thomas Merrick-Jeffrey Pierce Elias Walker-Stephen Lang Keegan Russ-Brian Bloom Captain William Collins-Brad Pitt Yellow Mare-Kelly Sheridan Harris-James Macavoy Command-Glenn Morshower Scootaloo-Madeleine Peters Shining Armor-Matthew Frances Spike-Cathy Weseluck Mare in market-Rhona Rees Apple Cobbler-Sabrina Pitre Clear Skies-Tegan Moss Other pegasus-Sabrina Pitre Twilight Sparkle-Tara Strong Princess Celestia-Nicole Oliver Princess Luna-Tabitha St. Germain Princess Cadence-Britt McKillip Rainbow Dash-Ashleigh Ball Pinkie Pie-Andrea Libman Fluttershy-Andrea Libman Applejack-Ashleigh Ball Rarity-Tabitha St. Germain Code Red-Adam Bengis Songbird Serenade-Sia Vinny-Sam Vincent Whinnyfield-Michael Dobson Party Favor-Sam Vincent Grubber-Michael Pena Rorke-Kevin Gage LUNA weapon operator-Kamar de los Reyes Apple Bloom-Michelle Creber Sweetie Belle-Claire Corlett ERA Officer-Matthew Francis BM-21 Commander-Boris Kievsky Soldier looking over waterfall-Gideon Emery Hartsley-Michael Caine Storm King-Liev Schrieber Brass Turret-Stephen Lang Iron Will-Trevor Devall Tempest Shadow-Emily Blunt Tempest's aide-Michael Dobson Pig Creature 1-Richard Ian Cox Pig Creature 2-Michael Dobson Vendor 1-Andrew McNee Vendor 2-Vincent Tong Pushkin-Vincent Tong Capper-Taye Diggs Mori-Peter New Louise-Nicole Oliver Vera-Nicole Oliver Deer Creature-Michael Dobson Verko-Brian Dobson Mi-24 pilot-Andrew Divoff Lt. Alberto Vasquez-David Sobolof Pvt. Ryan-Matt Damon Sgt. Paul Jackson-Mark Wahlberg Overlord-Bruce Greenwood Boyle-Max Martini Mullet-Mark Oliver Lix Spittle-Nicole Oliver Squabble-Frank Welker Captain Calaeno-Zoe Saldana Lt. Colonel William Bishop-Paul Mercier Lt. Gutierrez-Phillip Anthony-Rodriquez Princess Skystar-Kristin Chenoweth Queen Novo-Uzo Aduba Bubble Blower-Richard Ian Cox I-400 Captain-Tadonobu Asano Lieutentant Commander Richard O'Kane-Liam Neeson USS Tang Crew-Michael Dobson, Garrison Keilor O'Kane's aide-Taylor Kitsch
Singing Voices Rebecca Shoichet-Twilight Sparkle Andrea Libman-Fluttershy Shannon Chan-Kent-Pinkie Pie Ashleigh Ball-Applejack and Rainbow Dash Kazumi Evans-Rarity Sia-Songbird Serenade Kristin Chenoweth-Skystar Taye Diggs-Capper Zoe Saldana-Captain Calaeno
Songs Ponies got the beat-Performed by Rachel Platten We Got this Together-Performed by the Main 6 and Peter New I'm the Friend you Need-Performed by Taye Diggs Time to be Awesome-Performed by Ashleigh Ball, Zoe Saldana and Company One Small Thing-Performed by the Main 6 and Kristin Chenoweth Rainbow-Performed by Sia
