It is Halloween, and the Crusaders, the Rainbooms, and some others have gathered at Sweet Apple Acres for a sleepover. However, ghoulish events will conspire to turn their evening into a fight for survival...
Based on the Battle of Rorke's Drift, and loosely inspired by 'Something Sweet to Bite'.
It was Halloween in Canterlot, that very night that celebrates the insane, the ghoulish, the horrifying, and the sorts of things that puritans rail against every year. And, if the author is to give his honest opinion, they would rather avoid to ensure a lack of fear and scares. But anyways, you didn't come hear for my opinion, you came for a story. Halloween was roughly analogous to Nightmare Night in Equestria, and Ponyville had a record of a few odd ones, as that festival was entirely based around fear of the evil form of one of the ruling Diarchs of Equestria (at least, at the moment). There was no Nightmare Moon in the Equestria Girls universe, but Canterlot had its own fair share of horror stories and ghosts, and most people had a fair share of skeletons in their closets. But that is a matter for later. Our focus shifts now to the farm on the edge of town.
Sweet Apple Acres had a number of traditions that it followed during Halloween, one of which was to have a party and invite the children of Canterlot to have some fun, fun which included apple bobbing, making caramel apples (not to be confused with the person, who was from elsewhere in the country and most certainly was not being cooked), and there was all the usual trick and treating, a most tragic distortion of a charitable activity. The Apple Family had invited their close friends over, and in amongst the usual residents of Grand Pear, Applejack, Pear Butter, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Bright Mac, and Granny Smith, were close friends and other such relations.
As the sun started to set, Apple Bloom stepped out of the farmhouse and looked out upon the fields to see the lights from the large party that was going on in the centre of town. Canterlot always hosted a Halloween party that had the biggest names and best DJs in the business, including one local Vinyl Scratch who marketed herself as DJ Pon-3 for the most part. Due to their responsibilites at the farm, the Apples had not gone, and the kids who had been there earlier to have fun and partake in the traditional activities that the Apples had on offer were now probably down there. Applejack had invited her friends over for a sleepover, and Apple Bloom had done the same. It was a good thing the farmhouse had plenty of space, and the younger kids were all down in the basement, where sleeping bags and activites had already been prepared for them should they get bored in the night. The Rainbooms, of course, were upstairs as that was where they could fit them.
"Enjoyin' the Sunset, cuz?" asked a voice behind Apple Bloom. The girl turned around to see none other than her cousin, Babs Seed, dressed as a redcoat from the late 19th Century.
"Yeah, it's nice," Apple Bloom replied. "But nowhere near as much fun as spendin' time with family or friends."
"I suppose this did rather bring us together," the New Yorker replied, her eyes firmly fixed on the concert going down below. "I wonder what they're up to down there?"
"Ah wouldn't know," Apple Bloom sighed. "Scoots is a little sad her mom couldn't come up tonight. She'll be helpin' out down there."
"Sounds fun," added another voice, that of Sweetie Belle. "Of course, I prefer being up here. Between you and me, I find Halloween a little scary."
"That's the entire point," Scootaloo retorted, by this point coming over to join the group. "I mean, why did Cozy Glow choose going down there to being up here with us? She went to that party last year!"
Apple Bloom smirked. "Well, Ah thought it were fancy dress tonight," she said. To reinforce the point, she was currently dressed as a cowboy, complete with stetson and (fake) revolver. "Ah'd have thought you'd have wanted ta come in that fancy frock o' yers from the Fall Formal."
"Shut up, OK? That was one of the most humiliating nights of my life!"
"Rumble seemed to like it," Sweetie Belle replied, noting Scootaloo's anger at that embarrasing incident being brought up. It seemed they had touched a very raw nerve, so Babs intervened to change the subject.
"So, what movie do yo guys wanna watch tonight?" she asked. "How about Ghostbusters? That'd be fun!"
"That's not really a horror film," Rumble said, having headed over to where they all were. "How about The Woman in Black?"
Sweetie Belle went pale. "No thanks," she said. "I got enought nightmares from all the anachronisms!"
"Or what about Goosebumps?"
"That could work," Button added. "Why not a scary video game medley?"
"Or Doctor Who?" Pip interjected quickly, with a grin. "That's always good for a scare."
Diamond Tiara had joined the group by this point, dressed as a (admittedly very modest) witch. "What about Shed 17 as a film option?"
"NO!" everybody else chorused loudly.
"Well, that puts that possibility down," Silver Spoon sighed. "Are we going to agree on anything today?"
Suddenly, bright flashes of light were visible in the distance, and bangs could be heard as lights of various colours flashed furiously below.
"What in the?" Bright Mac called, running outside and seeing the commotion. "What's makin' all that light?"
"Probably some light effect from the show," Scootaloo answered.
Some more percussive bangs were heard, which went on for a few minutes, followed by screams. Lights and other flashes flared up, when suddenly, all fell silent. Blobs could be seen running about, and all hell had broken loose.
"Does anybody have any idea what happened down there?" asked Grand Pear. "It's like gunfire down there!"
About 15 minutes later, Bright Mac suddenly noticed the blobs getting closer, and a dust cloud rising as something approached Sweet Apple Acres. He waved his family members and the friends back indoors, and waited for the dust cloud to get closer. It was then he could finally see what was approaching.
Nearing his position were assets from Canterlot City Police Department, or CCPD for short. Mostly consisting of heavily armoured SWAT units, several squads approached that looked like they had taken a beating, with damaged uniforms and helmets that needed some repairs. Behind them came some machine guns, and a few mortar teams, as well as a pair of Stryker armoured vehicles that sounded like they were on their last legs. They had holes in some of their armour plating, as well as their engines sounding like they were on the verge of failing, straining like they would explode. The lead vehicle came to a stop, and a familiar face to the family got out. Police Commisioner Swift Order looked as bruised and battered as the rest of his men, his face covered in grime and blood on his armour. He walked up to Bright Mac. "I wish we met under better circumstances."
"How can Ah help ya, sir?" Bright Mac asked.
"Is the farm available?" Swift Order asked in response.
"There's only us here, what do ya-"
"We need to fortify it immediately." Swift Order turned back and began barking orders. "Mortar Team 1, get on that silo! Mortar Team 2, take position behind the shed over there! Stykers, position with the frontal armour on the road, and offload the infantry squads!"
The police units began moving about as fast as they could, with the infantry knocking over carts and trucks and setting them up as defensive positions. "Move, move!" shouted one Sergeant. "Caine, Gorman, get those trucks over and make cover!"
"Machine guns, position inside those windows to give yourself an arc of fire! Let nothing escape the killbox!"
Applejack suddenly overheard the commotion, seeing men and vehicles running about, and ran outside. "What's goin' on, pa?"
"Get back indoors and barricade yerselves in," Bright Mac replied. "Get the weapons from the basement and arm yerselves." He looked back to Swift Order. "What happened down there?"
Swift Order looked back to him. "We got attacked. Something arrived in the middle of the part whilst we were on riot watch, and it and several others of these... things started killing the festival goers. Eating them, hacking them apart, slicing them in two like a zip being undone, one person was even boiled alive in caramel oil."
"Good God," Bright Mac replied.
"We barely got out alive with the kit we got. For all we know, Canterlot is gone. We are the only military or police prescence in this area, and as such we need to hold the line until reinforcements arrived. I've got confirmation that General Grogar and an armour colomn are on the way, and the Marines under Captain Sombra are proceeding here as fast as they can. But they won't be here until dawn."
Bright Mac nodded. "We have ta hold the line. Ah volunteer ta fight alongside ya."
Behind him, he saw the Crusaders, their friends, the Rainbooms, and even his own mother take defensive positions in the farmhouse, all weapons trained on the fields in front of them. Bright Mac grabbed a rifle, and took position behind some logs.
As Swift Order and his men looked out into the distance, he could see a massive cloud of dust heading their way as the enemy approached. Leading the enemy forward were a trio of what he thought had once been humans. But humans they were no more. One of them appeared to have tentacles coming from where his mouth and teeth had once been, and his hands were gnarled and grey, the skin seemingly sloughing off of them like a courpse would be. The officer next to him had an equally mucky appearence, being surrounded by a strange green gas. The third was seemingly made entirely of metal, his fist covered in strange mechanisms and all of those mechanisms were coloured in green and other lurid colours.
The enemy troops were even stranger. They had a mixture of humanoid and alien shapes, but all of them seemed to be made of sweets or even candy. There was no skin to be seen on them at all, and a few of them seemed to distort in shape from just being looked at.
A few still looked to be made of rock. "Sir?" asked one of the Sergeants. "What the hell are these things?"
"Hell if I know, Merrick," Swift Order replied. "But they are an enemy, like any other. I recommend the use of excessive force against them."
The officer with the tentacles raised his hand. "Attack," he gurgled. And with his motion, all hell broke loose. The enemy officers pulled back, and the other creatures surged forward. They raced forward, their voices letting forth horrific screams well into the night, and as the sun was setting, it created a horrific scene.
Just then, one of their number at the front fell. Smoke came off the sniper rifle used by Rainbow Dash. "Gotcha!" she yelled. "I'll be damned if any of them get in."
As if to answer, the first of the Heavy Machine Gun teams suddenly opened up, bullets thundering out of the windows of the barn and raking the enemy front lines with bullets.
The first of the enemy closed on them. They looked like the type of sweets you suck on to break down, and now it became clear why they were standing out front. The bullets simply bounced off of them as they closed at terrifying speeds on the defending lines.
"Switch to grenades!" bellowed one of the sergeants up front. "Caine, get a grenade out there!"
"Roger that, sir!" the private replied, priming a grenade and then throwing it. It landed in the midst of those things and exploded, the shrapnel flying into their casings and blowing them to pieces. The rubble began to land all around the defenders, and they saw it was made of... candy. Very hard candy.
"Bring down mortar shells!" Swift Order called, as he continued to coordinate the defence with precision and professionalism. "Griffin, rounds on coordinates two, alpha, zulu, niner, how copy, over?"
"Rounds on coordinates two, alpha, zulu, niner, solid copy. Firing!"
Behind them, the first of the mortar crews got to work, as a thumping sound denoted that a mortar shell had left the tube and it arced through the air down towards the enemy. It hit the ground and exploded, blowing more of the enemy to pieces as they tried to cover the ground toward the Police and the defenders in the farmhouse.
Suddenly, the field changed completely. The enemy suddenly started firing projectiles, which soared through the air and started to hit the defenders. The police were in cover, and wearing armour, so were for the most part OK, apart from one or two who got taken out of action. They were dragged to safety by their comrades to prevent any further injury.
Some others were not so lucky. A blood curdling scream could be heard coming from one of the upper windows of the farmhouse, and Rainbow Dash toppled from the top window and fell to the ground, her body riddled with these strange projectiles. Seconds later, Pinkie Pie joined her, as explosives suddenly were fired at the structure to try and clear it, bodies being blown out of it at horrifying speed and landing on the floor.
Swift Order clicked what was going on. "They're intentionally targeting the civilians!" he shouted. "Strykers, take the heat off!"
"Yes sir, engaging." Both of the Strykers immediately opened fire, the roof mounted machine gun raking the enemy lines with fire. The combined fire, followed by another barrage of mortars, saw the foe decimated with bullet holes and shrapnel, armour demolished and flesh torn by the explosions. Yes, these things had flesh, which was at the same time fascinating, as it indicated they were living creatures, but was also horrifying, as it meant you began to ask questions about what these things were.
After a few more seconds of fighting, including some of the enemy briefly breaching the line only to be pushed back, the battle was over. The enemy suddenly began to pull back, undamaged units simply abandoning their dead and wounded as they vanished back into the dustcloud.
With the battle seemingly over, the troops began to reassemble their defences and try to rebuild. Weapons were reloaded as medics moved in to try and treat the wounded.
"How many did we lose?" asked Swift Order, in a state of surprise at the fact the enemy had seemingly given up so easily.
"Three from the frontlines are KIA," replied the medic. "We got two who are wounded, I'm afraid, and need medical attention. They're in no fit state to fight. It's worse with the civilians, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are dead, and Diamond Tiara is severely injured. The others are still able to fight, but that attack has cost us a little."
"I don't think that was meant to break us," Swift Order replied. "They were testing the water, and they will be back, I'm sure of it. Treat the wounded, and get them back into the fight. We need to hold off another wave at least."
In the burnished ruins of what had once been Canterlot, the Candymare stood in the centre of her conquest. She was a horrific creature, to describe her politely, a being seemingly made of multiple strains of skin awkwardly stitched together. She wore a dress seemingly made entirely of candy, and on her legs was dried blood. Her teeth were razor sharp. Mangled bodies lay all around the square, and the entire courtyard sounded to insane laughter and eating, as a slow, broken down version of the 'Candyman' song continued to play.
More troops were shuffled to the front lines as she saw the three commanders of the previous assault return, their expressions featureless as always. "Report," she said succinctly.
Jackpot was the first to speak. "The probing attack succeeded in briefly breaking their lines, and we did inflict casualties on their opposing forces. But we were unable to dislodge them from their defensive positions as had been hoped."
"That was not the purpose of the attack, Jackpot!" Blaze Strike informed him. "We were deployed to establish the enemy positions and figure out appropriate means of undermining that line. In that sense, our reconnaissance in force has succeeded, as we now know where to hit them where it hurts."
"Concurred," Iron Fist agreed. "We must now strike whilst we can and ensure we can catch them without having a chance to repair and rearm. Every second is vital, and the light has now faded completely."
"Carried," the Candymare replied. "Renew the attack as soon as you can."
Bright Mac could barely believe what he was seeing ahead of him. How, in all seriousness, had this happened to his home town? He had hoped for a fairly quiet life on a farm, which had been partly disrupted by all the strange magical occurences that had been happening over the last year or so, but nothing too crazy had happened (discounting She-demons, living forests, and other horrors to great to mention). But now it seemed madness had found them and was not prepared to let them go. He poked his head over a pile of rice bags to see that the sun had set and there was the loud ominous buzzing he had heard a few hours earlier. Holding his rifle closely, he prepared to aim when the dust cloud came in again.
"Searchlights!" called Sergeant Jones. These were swung into position from makeshift towers to illuminate the enemy positions, revealing a much smaller force approaching from the front than had been seen in the last attack. The one with the metal hand was there from the previous assault, but there were two more. One of them seemed to be made of fire, and the other was... oddly normal, they had to say. The only thing notable about him was his normalness, and that was all there was to say.
"Attack!" went the cry, and the enemy lines surged forwards. This time, there were more of the bubbly ones, and they had thick plating to the front as well, which threatened to be a great problem on the front lines to the troops.
"FIRE!" Swift Order called. "Switch to Armour Piercing!"
The resulting fury of fire was deafening. The armour piercing rounds thundered out of the massed assult rifles and machine guns, and smashed open the armour of the enemy at the front with impunity, leaving piles of dead and wounded all over the place. The mess was considerable.
"If they thought that they could break through with such a small force, they clearly weren't paying attention last time!" one of the policemen commented.
He soon wished he had eaten his words. Screams suddenly echoed from one of the mortar teams as the mortar tower toppled over, smashing into the ground and throwing the crew all over the place. More of those things, like the ones from earlier that could throw projectiles, started to throw projectiles all over the place, hitting the front lines from the rear. Swift Order waved and aimed his rifle. He fired at two of the creatures and blew them down. "Get this line turned around!" he bellowed. "They're hitting us from behind!"
Several of the police swung around and began to fire upon the enemy. Barrage after barrage and bullet after bullet pummelled the enemy lines, and they began to disintegrate and fall apart under the sustained fire. The enemy began to vanish into thin air, but not before another projectile flew through the air and hit Swift Order in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, but soon got back up to resume firing.
The Strykers began to move forward toward the enemy line to drive them back, and they began to falter, fleeing back beyond the back of the farm and gradually dissappearing off toward the fields behind Sweet Apple Acres.
Swift Order waved the medic forward to check the wounded, forgoing medical treatment to ensure the safety of his own men. "Report!" he called.
"The attack was repulsed sir," one of the Sergeants explained. "The enemy assault was relatively light but came from two directions which was somehow not spotted. Hence the demolished mortar tower."
"Get it rebuilt," Swift Order replied, waving some other troops over. "What of casualties? Wounded, any dead?"
"Ten wounded, including yourself," the medic replied, glancing back to the mortar crew. "One of our mortars is now out of action, but the men themselves are able to fight, just not as effectively."
"We'll put them onto the back lines and in heavy cover," Swift Order replied. "We also need to make sure we don't get hit from the rear again. Station half of our forces to the rear of our lines, and split the remainder on the side and front. It will lead to a thin frontal defence, but otherwise we have the strength to hold thanks to the civilians and the farmhouse. I just hope it will be enough." He glanced into the distance, as he heard the loud chanting and laughter of the enemy in the distance.
"What do you mean that a flanking attack didn't work?" the Candymare demanded to a somewhat awkward looking Iron Fist. "They had all of their power focused to the front, so how could they possibly have attacked your forces coming in from their rear?"
"Maybe smashing down that mortar tower wasn't the best of ideas!" Burning Embers said sarcastically. "Thanks to that stunt, the enemy knew exactly where we were and focused fire accordingly!"
"We did wound Swift Order," Iron Fist said quietly. "His ability to command his troops has been reduced somewhat."
"And yet he still lives," the Candymare replied, still sounding irritated. "All right then, it is clear that something else is required in order to ensure that we break through this time. We need to focus attacks, not split up or do other silly things." She looked to Jackpot. "You said that they had civilians inside the farm house, right?"
"Yes, indeed," Jackpot replied. "And I think I know just how to hit them where it hurts in that regard."
"Very good," the Candymare answered. "Rally the troops and launch another wave as soon as you can."
Iron Fist stepped forward. "You heard the General. Get into position and launch another attack, immediately!"
Inside the farm house, Scootaloo cowered underneath a box, scared at what was going on. The civilians, such as herself, had not been playing an active role in the defence of Sweet Apple Acres, after what had happened to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Diamond Tiara. She could scarcely believe it herself. Her own idol, dead. Permanently, finally, totally dead, and never coming back. Ever, forever condemned to reside in the skies with God and the many others who had gone there of the centuries.
"Are you OK?" Rumble asked her. The concern in his face was telling, as he glanced at her clearly in distress.
"To be frank, I've had better days," Scootaloo replied to him. "What did we do to get caught up in this madness?"
"I have no clue," Button Mash told them. "But the perimiter just got tripped, and the enemy are closing in once more."
"It's just like Rorke's Drift," Pipsqueak said quietly, as he looked out of the window as yet another wave closed on their position.
"Who's drift?" Sweetie Belle asked him, briefly peeking her head up at the oncoming foe, before ducking down again out of sight.
"Rorke's Drift was a battle in the Zulu wars," the boy replied. "One hundred and fifty British soldiers held off more than four thousand Zulu warriors. It was made into a very famous film about 50 years ago, starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker."
Around them, the defensive guns opened up once again as the enemy closed in. Machine guns roared, and rifles clattered as mortat shells exploded all around them. The kids, as well as their siblings, were carrying weapons of their own for defensive purposes, just in case the enemy should get into the farm house, which was unlikely. Or so they thought.
Shouts and screams suddenly echoed from a neighbouring room, followed by gunfire and several loud explosions. For a few moments, the voices of those such as Granny Smith and Big Mac could be heard, until the voices also went silent.
The door in front of them was suddenly smashed open, and a creature that was completely white suddenly lumbered toward them. The door behind them opened, and Rarity emerged holding a pistol in her hands. She fired twice, and the creature went down. "I must say," she said, "that although this work is most unladylike, if it is what we must do to stay alive, so be it."
"Keep up the fire, y'all," Applejack added. Little did she realise that this was the last thing she would ever say. Moments later, she screamed as a tentacle punched through her chest, and was torn out a moment later. Her body fell limp and lifeless to the floor. Rarity swung around- and took a shot to the face which looked like a fragment of candy. More of the ones capable of shooting projectiles lumbered into the room, firing indiscriminately and hitting several more of them, Scootaloo included, before Babs Seed and Apple Bloom burst in from another room with shotguns, and opened fire, killing the creatures that had attacked the room and successfully taking them down in a hail of shot and tiny metal balls.
"Targets repelled from the other side of the farm house," they heard Fluttershy say over the radio. "We took some heavy losses, though. The army outside seem to be having trouble, too."
And indeed they were. The foe were running amok across the front and northern end of the compound. Squads Delta and Machine Gun Team One were taking an absolute battering from the onslaught of the foe, and it seemed they would not last long.
"Supporting fire!" Sweetie Belle called, grabbing a rifle and firing upon more of the monstrosities outside. "This is for my sister!"
A horribly wounded Scootaloo pulled herself up, and picked up a weapon. "For Rainbow Dash, and for Mom, you bastards," she growled, firing shots off at the enemy.
It took several more minutes of sustained gunfire before the enemy was successfully driven back to its staging point. But the assault had been absolutely brutal. As ever, Swift Order took a report from the medic, who checked over the wounded and the dead.
"My condolences sir," he said, "but it's mostly dead. Most of the civilians have been killed, and many members of the police fire teams have sustained heavy injuries. At this rate, without increased troop numbers or reinforcement, we will not survive another wave."
"Start putting the wounded and the remaining civilians onto the front lines," Swift Order ordered, as he looked out over the countryside ahead of him where the enemy were slinking off. "God knows how we will survive this night. But we must hold the line, or all is lost here, for everyone."
Surveying the chaos all around him, Swift Order wondered how on Earth they would hold for the next wave. Speaking of which, the complete lack of enemy activity rendered him suspicious. Where could they be, and what were they planning next? He checked his watch in frustration. It was now two in the morning. All about him personnel were moving sandbags and trying to get the searchlights running again, but it was a difficult and thankless task. The enemy surrounded them on all sides, and this made planning an effective defence very difficult indeed, as they couldn't fully commit to a defence of one side for fear of the enemy assaulting them from another direction. This would catch them off guard and unable to properly respond to a threat, and that threat and possibility had to be avoided no matter the cost. More civilians had fallen in the defence of this farm, and Swift Order had no intention of letting their sacrifice be in vain. This farm had to be held, and it had to hold until morning, which was now only five hours away, and then the army would be here. Then they would be relieved.
Assuming they were still alive, of course...
"Multiple successive attacks, and yet they still hold?" The Candymare demanded to a somewhat chastened Iron Fist. "We have the numbers and resources to break them! Logic should dictate to them that they only logical course of action is to surrender to us and let them take us prisoner!"
"That," said Jackpot, "is what I fear is the problem. They are human, and hence are not rational."
"What do you mean?" the Candymare asked him, looking him with a steely glare in her eyes. Jackpot stepped back and shook a little. They all feared her greatly, and this was something that at least united them.
"Humans are not rational and feel fear. Fear is an emotion that makes a man desparate, and the desparate man is the most dangerous of all. Furthermore, they have hope in that the army is coming, alongside the marines, and they feel that they have something worth fighting for. If the situation was hopeless, they would have folded completely. But it is also said that those without hope will fight to the bitter end, as they have absolutely nothing to lose. It is for these, small, albeit important reasons, why we have not broken them. They still have a cause to fight for, and they will defend their colours to the very end."
"Then we shall give them a show of force that shall break their spirits and shatter their optimisim," the Candymare grinned. "Ready a fresh assault. I shall lead the attack in person, and these pathetic humans shall give in to us and see the superiority of the Candy army!" She looked at her officers. "Of course, you shall also follow. March forth! March forth! These fools can only break before our might! Into the night, onto the fight!"
It seemed as if only a few minutes had passed, the way that time seems to flow slowly in times of intense tension and terror, before the siren suddenly sounded again. They were under attack yet again, but the enemy force seemed different this time. They were lead forward not by the previous field commanders, but a being seemingly made of multiple strains of skin awkwardly stitched together. She wore a dress seemingly made entirely of candy, and on her legs was dried blood. Her teeth were razor sharp. It was the enemy commander.
"Sir," said one of the men, "we have a confirmed sighting on the Candymare. That is the enemy leader. They must be confident of victory if they are sending her out front."
"Then it's about time we rained on their parade," Swift Order replied through gritted teeth. "Mortar team! Light them up!"
The first barrage of mortars flew into the air and smashed into the enemy lines, inflicting horrific casualties on the foe before the shielded ones deployed their shields above the enemy forces to block the mortar shells, tortoise style. The fire proved to have rapidly become useless, and the machine guns opened fire once more despite the fact that many of the crew members had sustained horrific injuries. The bullets flew through the air and tore open more enemy troops, who simply opened fire, taking down several of the remaining soldiers and knocking them onto their back. With a moment to spare, the enemy breached the compound and demolished the makeshift outer wall that had been built and stormed into the complex, and they were upon them.
Swift Order, despite his injuries, drew his revolver and continued firing upon the foe as they got closer and closer. Bright Mac lunged forward and swung his rifle butt into the approaching foe, knocking it to the floor whilst his wife finished it off with a shotgun shell. Facing up back to back, surrounded like they were in a gunfight as the enemy closed from all directions, Pear Butter and Bright Mac never ceased firing even as the foe continued to close on them.
And then it hit them. A burst of candy hit Bright Mac and tore him clean open, and he collapsed to the floor, deceased. Pear, barely able to react, swung about to see who had fired- only to be stabbed through the chest by another monstrosity. It flipped her over, and laughed. "We will prevail," it snorted.
"Really?" Pear replied. "Go... ta... hell... ya... bitch." With the last of her strength, she pulled the trigger on her shotgun, unloading both barrels into the monster, blowing its head clean off.
Across the compound, the sound of gunfire and violence echoed, the two cousins fighting back to back, only to pause when they saw Scootaloo be beheaded by another of the creatures. This pause was enough to give the enemy an opening. Candy pelted them, wounding Apple Bloom and killing Babs Seed outright.
Their job done, the enemy retreated. Apple Bloom looked about her at the devastation, and despite her wounds, ran over to her dying mother. "MA! NO! IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!"
Pear raised her hand to comfort her child. "Ah'm proud of ya, Apple Bloom," she gasped. "No matter what, Ah will always love ya. Ah'll see ya in heaven." And then her body lay, still and cold, lifeless as the void.
The farm that hour sounded only to the noise of fire, the dead, and the sobs of the last of the Apple family.
Swift Order pulled himself over. "How many?" he asked.
"We only have 10 men combat effective," said the medic. "It'll be a miracle if we survive to morning."
Swift Order looked out over the terrain. "Where are they?" he asked. "How much longer?"
No sooner had the clock struck 07:00 then the enemy launched another wave into the fray. The foe closed upon the few remaining survivors with incredible ferocity and smashed once more through the boundary walls that had been hastily reassembled with the hope of holding the enemy back. That hope rapidly diminished given how quickly the foe broke through and swarmed into the compound. The broken, charred ruins of Sweet Apple Acres, once such a place of happiness, family, and friendship, was almost totally gone, a few charred barns and broken buildings to denote where a farm had once been.
"OPEN FIRE!" Swift Order bellowed, and those few, those poor, broken few, retaliated. They had little left to loose, except, perhaps, their lives, and as a result they fought harder than a thousand men could ever have fought a foe so numerous and violent. Shotgun shells and bullets roared out in the night as the survivors fired off what rounds they had remaining into the advancing hoard, killing a few and partially stemming their numbers, but it was of little effect. There were just too many of them to be properly slowed down, and they poured onwards into the night like creatures possesed. The Candymare marched at the head, intent on claiming her prize.
And then the foe were upon them in the rought and tumble, brutal swirl of melee. The mortars fired off their last shots and tried to support as they could, but with the foe so close to their compatriots, it was almost impossible to aim and hit without hitting the enemy and their allies at the same time. Switching to rifles, they tried to support as best they could, but aiming was equally hard in the mass of bodies.
And they soon got hit by enemy fire, knocked down and incapacitated by the firepower of the foe. Sweetie Belle and Rumble fell during that last fight, fighting as they did until the end with fire in their hearts and power in their limbs. But fall they did. Soon, it was so bad that there were only three of them left in any combat worthy state; Swift Order, Apple Bloom, and Sergeant Jones. The foe closed in for the kill as they fired off their last rounds, and then Swift Order drew his combat knife and charged into battle, swinging and stabbing and hacking his way through the foe.
Until the Candymare got him. She grabbed him with one of her tentacle like limbs and held him aloft, as the other two survivors were dragged into the centre of the farmyard. "We have won, pathetic humans," she said. "This land forever belongs to me, and the human race has known its final day. You shall fall like wheat, and your bodies shall be processed for the war effort to fuel our warriors."
Swift Order coughed, and laughed in her face. "Oh, really?" he asked, looking behind him as the sun rose. "Joke's on you. The cavalry's arrived."
And just then, his radio lit up with comms traffic.
"Commissioner Swift Order, do you read, over?" asked General Grogar from the cupola of his Abrams tank. "We're here. The cavalry's arrived." Seconds later, he pointed ahead into the town. "Attack!"
The tanks began to rumble forward, machine guns blazing and cannons firing as shells and bullets swept the enemy aside. The foe, totally unprepared for this unexpected attack from the rear of their lines, fell like dominoes as fire tore through them. Shells toppled buildings which fell upon the enemy, crushing quite a few of them under masonry, concrete, and metal and ensuring they moved no more. It took them a few minutes of fierce fighting, but the endurance of the tanks made the engagement laughably one sided, and before long the town was cleared with the foe cleaned out and the causalties for the US Army nonexistant.
"Colonel Sombra, how is it on your end?" Grogar radioed his fellow officer in the Marines.
"You wouldn't believe the number of enemy's there are out here!" Sombra replied over the radio. "They're packed in so densely that my men aren't even needing to aim! We're going through them like a knife through butter!"
Several AH-1 Cobra gunships flew over the battlefield, unloading rockets into the Candymare's army, which began to break and fall apart under the sustained fire. Explosion after explosion blew the foe into tiny pieces, and machine gun fire picked off whatever remained of the foe.
With the attack run completed, several UH-60 Black Hawks touched down and unloaded Marines directly into the heart of the fight. They marched forward and opened fire, clearing those foes still in the compound. Those few who remained alive began to retreat- only to be fired upon by Grogar's tanks. They had caught them in a pincer, and were now squeezing them until the pips squeaked.
The Candymare looked about baffled. "What?" she asked. "How?"
Swift Order smiled as he was given the opening he needed. Adjusting his knife, he stabbed it straight into her, the blade cutting clean through her and out the other side. "Something you'd never understand. Teamwork, cameraderie, and friendship. These are forces no army or amount of force can overcome. You've failed, and the world will know of your failure." With an effort, he pulled the knife out, and the Candymare exploded into a mass of candy pieces and chunks of gore.
As the Marines and Army arrived in force to help the wounded free, Grogar walked over to Swift Order. "You put up one hell of a fight, Commisioner," he said. "I didn't think anybody could hold out that long against such overwhelming odds."'
"It hardly seems appropriate to celebrate," Swift Order replied. "We lost so many today, and this town is in ruins. It's gonna take a lot of rebuilding."
"That we have time for," Sombra added, walking over as his Cobra touched down on the compound ground. "But for now, let's be thankful that we are alive."
"Phew," Apple Bloom said, as she whiped her brow and sat back from the table. "Now that were an intense battle." Before her sat a table covered in models and scenery items, and behind her, on the kitchen divider were trays covered in even more models, with one tray marked as deceased. There were many models on that one, and that was the result of five waves.
In case it isn't clear what has just been revealed, the whole battle never actually happened. In reality, the entire engagement was nothing more than a table top wargame, played out using miniatures on the Apple Family's dining table. This had lasted most of the evening and night, and now they were only just beginning to pack away.
Pear, in the meantime, was busy admiring the miniatures on the trays. "You girls sure did a good job makin' and paintin' these models," she said. "They look so lifelike!"
"Well, we don't do things by halves," Rainbow Dash replied. "We each did a handful to ensure that we would finish them in time. Of course, I wouldn't have so uncool a demise as shown in that session. Shot off the balcony in the first turn? What a poor turn of luck!"
"The third wave was especially bloody," Rumble noted. "I've never seen that many failed armour saves in such a long time! Though the Candymare must have taken very heavy casualties in that battle."
"Speaking of which," Cheerilee asked, looking over the table in mild concern, "how did you get the likeness of Swift Order and the members of the Canterlot City Police Department?"
"We just used generic police miniatures," Sweetie Belle explained. "In fairness, one SWAT unit looks fairly similar to another in this day and age."
"That was an interestin' way ta spend the time," Bright Mac admitted, "but given how late it is, Ah suggest we get off ta bed. See y'all in the mornin' for All Saints Day!"
And so, off they went to bed, with not a trace of candy monsters or any other horrors besieging their dreams, or anything, for that matter.
Brynna Drummond-Babs Seed Michelle Creber-Apple Bloom Claire Corlett-Sweetie Belle Madeleine Peters-Sweetie Belle Blake Swift-Button Mash Graham Verchere-Pipsqueak Chantal Strand-Diamond Tiara Shannon Chan-Kent-Silver Spoon Bill Newton-Bright Mac William Shatner-Grand Pear Stephen Lang-Swift Order Steve Blum-Policemen Ashleigh Ball-Applejack, Rainbow Dash Helena Bonham-Carter-The Candymare Peter New-Enemy commanders Tabitha St. Germain-Rarity Andrea Libman-Fluttershy Felicia Day-Pear Butter Doc Harris-Grogar Jim Miller-Sombra
