Chapter 15: Unexpected Adversaries

August 8, 2558
1300 hours
Canterlot
Canterlot Castle

Despite the fact that the training exercise was able to successfully “warm up” an entire company of marines, Lasky had decided that it had taken far too long. In the interest of time, given that he was expecting the changelings to arrive soon, and in order to fill the ranks as quickly as possible, he had to cut the training exercise out. He concluded that it really wasn’t that hard to get used to this planet`s gravity anyway.

Lasky also wanted to make use of as many of the Infinity`s 6,021 marines as possible, so despite the fact that half of Gypsy company had lost last night`s combat training exercise, he would have the whole company deployed anyway along with Shadow company in just a few days, along with 500 marines, or about half a battalion. He then had Gypsy company`s original responsibility of patrolling both Cloudsdale and Ponyville put into the hands of the other half of that battalion (another 500 marines); the two half- battalions would switch off active duty and guard duty every three months. An air wing of around 900 pilots, both naval and marine, would guard the skies above Cloudsdale, Ponyville, and Canterlot as well as support ground troops on the front lines if need be.

Visible human military presence in Equestria was now greater than ever before.

Inside Canterlot castle however, the princesses were still worried, for the changeling threat had moved ever closer to the borders of Equestria.

“During that training exercise, the changelings had moved quite some distance towards us,” said Luna as the three walked over to a large table with a map on it.

“*Whistle*They`ve been busy,” said Lasky in amazement.

“And that is not all,” said Luna as both the table and her horn were surrounded by a dark blue aura.

When Lasky looked back at the map, he saw that it had changed.

“We believe that they`re poised to strike into the Mild West next,” said Celestia. “That`s why that arrow is there, because we know that they`ll take that route. Appleloosa is Equestrian territory, so there`s no reason why they wouldn’t attack there first.”

“They could be attacking it right now for all we know,” said Luna. “The time is nigh.”

“I'll send a few scouts their way,” said Lasky. “In the meantime, I'll also prep my first deployment of marines to head for Appleloosa.”

“Sound`s good,” said Celestia.

“It`s a good thing I took out that training exercise.”

“…Captain Lasky! Come in!...” came the voice of the Infinity`s A.I. from Lasky`s wrist communicator.

He brought it up in front of the two princesses before responding.

“Go Roland,” he said.

“…Sir, we`re picking up movement just north of Canterlot…”

“Can you identify?”

“…Uh, I'm not sure what they are, sir. They look like a combination of lions and eagles, and they`re about five miles outside the capital and closing fast!...”

Lasky looked up at the princesses and saw almost immediately the looks on their faces, telling him that they knew what was coming.

“Griffons,” said the two alicorns gravely.

“Roland, dispatch two pairs of F-41`s to intercept,” said the ship Captain.

“Aye sir, but that`s not all, we`re also picking up heat signatures to both the east and west, and these we can identify.”

“What are they?”

“They`re both pony-like creatures, and they`re armed with what look like crossbows. The ones in the east are heading south to Stalliongrad by land, and the ones in the west are headed for Manehattan by sea.”

“Son of a bitch, it`s a three pronged attack. Looks like the changelings had some allies.”

“Four F-41`s are headed your way, sir. They`ve been ordered to engage on sight.”

“Good, now call up two more marine battalions; have one deployed to Manehattan and the other to Stalliongrad.”

“Aye sir.”

Lasky disconnected and turned back to the princesses.

“It must be Gildedale and Germaney,” said Luna. “If we lose Manehattan, it will be a devastating blow to our economy and industry.”

“And if we lose Stalliongrad, we`ll be effectively cut off from the Crystal Empire,” said Celestia.

“Then it makes sense why they`d be targeted,” said Lasky. “Because both are strategic cities.”

The trio walked outside onto a balcony. Above, the Infinity was now quite literally buzzing with activity, as the F-41`s that had taken off and the pelicans carrying dozens of marines each flew around the massive ship like bees around a hive, before the pelicans broke off in opposite directions towards their targeted cities while the strike fighters continued to circle.

. . .

August 8, 2558
1300 hours (ten minutes earlier)
Canterlot

The mane six and Fireteam Icebreaker decided to have one last little get-together in Canterlot before deployment. The city had also been fortified with more men as well, for Lasky had assigned another battalion of around one-thousand marines to reinforce Castle Company and the Equestrian Capital.

The group was eating lunch in one of Canterlot`s many fancy restaurants, exchanging stories and becoming ever closer with each other.

Suddenly, Gunnery Sergeant David Alvarez stood up and addressed all six ponies.

“Hey guys, I just wanted to thank you all for sticking around last night to watch us on those screens,” said gunny. “I don’t think you guys really understand this, but it really meant a lot to us that you did that, and again we all just wanna thank you for that.”

“Oh, you`re most welcome darling,” said Rarity. “It`s what friends are for isn’t it? We`ll generously give up any amount of time necessary for each other.”

“Thank you,” said gunny before sitting back down and turning to his teammates. “You know, I actually didn’t even know that they were going to do that, did any of you?”

“Not really,” said Marcus. “I had a hunch when I saw those TV monitors before going inside the forest, but I never actually thought that that was what they were doing.”

“Well, you know. Big brother is always watching,” said Shifty with a mouth full of sandwich before swallowing and putting a hand in front of him in defense. “I'm kidding.”

The group shared a hardy laugh that dissipated as they heard shouts in the room, along with, “What in Celestia is that?!” and, “What`s going on?!” among the bewildered faced of the ponies in the restaurant.

Outside, they could see ponies standing in place with their eyes fixed on the sky, and marines doing the same with their guns.

“Let`s get out there Icebreaker,” said gunny to his men.

“Wait! But I'm not done with my sandwich!” said Shifty as his teammates rushed for the door.

“Shifty! Outside, NOW!” Sergeant Alex called back to him.

“Shit,” the private said to himself before he placed his sandwich between his teeth. “Grd dongit!” came his muffled voice as he grabbed his DMR and sprinted after his squad.

Outside, the Fireteam saw what had disturbed the peace, for in the distance coming towards them was what seemed to be a massive flock of giant birds. As they came closer, while every human remained baffled as to what they were, every pony helped them out with the identification.

“GRIFFONS!!!!!!” yelled everypony before scattering in pure panic.

The mayhem was short-lived however, as four F-41 strike fighters screamed overhead, seemingly just a couple hundred feet above the buildings, straight for the enemy flock.

“Holy horseapples! Whoa!!!” squealed Rainbow Dash as she and her five friends ran out of the restaurant to join their human companions, speeding aircraft unsurprisingly tickling her fancy.

The four planes split into two groups, a flight leader and his wingman in each; one went right and the other went left, forming a pincer. Each aircraft then unloaded their pair M6088 ST/MMP “Medusa” missiles, each hitting their target with precision and hurling shrapnel out to other griffons, knocking them out of the sky. They then followed up by flying straight inside the cluster while firing their two M1075 machine-linked autocannons with deadly accuracy.

As the F-41`s completed their pincer and regrouped to come around for another pass, the marines on the ground all cheered as nearly fifty griffons fell out of the sky. The celebration, though morale boosting, was short-lived as the troops came to realize that the griffons had numbered around five hundred, and were still coming, confirming that they were indeed hostile.

“Are those AA-guns operational?” said a nearby lieutenant colonel, the commander of the battalion guarding Canterlot, to one of his nearby radiomen.

“Yes sir!” the marine subordinate responded.

The officer then picked up the radioman`s receiver and said, “This is Lieutenant Colonel Mathew Adams to all AA-gun emplacements! Engage! Engage! Engage!”

M71 Anti-Aircraft Guns roared to life in the distance, firing high explosive incendiary/armor piercing ammunition straight into the flock of griffons; what followed was a grim spectacle of griffons being tossed around like ragdolls, crashing into one another and/or blowing up into multiple, flaming body parts.

In ten seconds flat, the once menacing cluster of griffons was now in burning shambles. Most griffons went straight down at a near ninety-degree angle, not even making it to the cliff at the edge of the city; these were the ones that had presumably died instantly. The rest were seemingly barely alive as they appeared to struggle, and fail, to keep themselves airborne, and came crashing towards the city, knowing that, with their backup now dead or burning-to-death, capture and imprisonment waited for them within, assuming they survived the impact.

“Incoming!!!” yelled Ogden as one such missile came barreling towards them. “Get down!”

He grabbed Rainbow Dash, pulled her to the ground, and shielded her with his body, the rest of Icebreaker doing the same to the other five ponies as the griffon blazed just feet above them to crash down just ten feet behind them.

As the dust settled, the interstellar dozen got up and slowly approached the once majestic winged creature. Icebreaker moved ahead of the mane six in a semicircle, their guns raised as they closed in around it.

It began to stir, confirming that it was still alive. Icebreaker then halted their advance just feet from the griffon, their guns still trained on it. She was lying on her side, appearing to try to sit up; the pain was too much however, as there appeared to be shrapnel and burn wounds all along the right side of her body, her right wing broken and burning.

“Wait! It can`t be,” said Rainbow Dash in recognition before running past the marines without warning.

“Rainbow! Don’t!” Ogden shouted at her as every marine reflected the same thought on their faces, stunned at the mare`s sudden decision.

But the cyan pegasus didn’t even appear to acknowledge his presence as she slowly knelt in front of the griffon.

“No…no, no, no,” she said softly, her eyes becoming misty as she lifted the griffon`s left claw and looked into her eyes. “G-Gi-Gilda? Y-your wing…”

As Ogden came up beside Rainbow with his assault rifle still pointed at Gilda, he asked, “You know this one?”

She nodded.

“Awkwaaard…” said Shifty.

Suddenly, Gilda coughed, then spoke in a very hoarse voice, “Rainbow…”

“Yeah?” the pegasus responded, her mouth forming a small smile.

“Heh, long time no see friend…”

Dash wiped some tears from her face.

“Same,” she choked.

“Dash…” she said as she suddenly pulled out a small, one-handed crossbow with a fire-tipped arrow on it from under her arm. “I'm sorry.”

“Wha-?” said Rainbow before Ogden tackled her out of the way just as Gilda pulled the trigger, sending the arrow past her and Jenkins.

Straight into Sidney`s stomach.

The private recoiled a little at the impact, before aiming his DMR and sending two rounds into Gilda`s stomach and one through her skull.

“NO! NOOOOOOOO!” screamed Rainbow as she shoved Jenkins off of her before running towards Gilda’s corpse. “Oh no, Celestia please! NAHAHAHOOOOOOO!”

Suddenly, Sidney felt a white hot burning sensation burst through his lower torso; as his gun clattered to the ground he looked down at the projectile that had hit him to find that the head had gone through his fatigues.

The mane six, minus Fluttershy, who was now on her side covering her eyes and softly screaming, watched in horror as he collapsed onto his back, clutching the arrow in his stomach and screaming in agony. Sergeant Alex ran over to him and knelt beside him.

“Medic!” he shouted as he put a hand on Sidney`s shoulder to keep him still. “Mediiic!”

Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be any around.

Then, Sidney stopped screaming and started taking quick, deep breaths before speaking.

“Sarge,” he said, the tone in his voice clearly showing the pain he was still in. “Sarge…”

“Shh, save your breath Sidney!” said Alex. “Save your strength.”

“Sarge!” he said forcefully as he grabbed the NCO by the collar and pulled him in. “G-Get…Fluttershy!...”

Alex looked over at the butter-yellow pegasus. He then looked back at the private, nodding in understanding before leaving his side to get the young equine.

. . .

August 8, 2558
1400 hours
Canterlot Library (Twilight Sparkle`s Previous Home)

Fluttershy was at a loss; a wild mix of emotions was swirling around in her head, and she could barely concentrate with a mind so flooded.

The city was in lockdown, and the group had taken refuge inside Twilight`s old library.

The creature before the butter-yellow pegasus had ended the life of another, and now she and a marine medic who had shown up on the way here were now tasked with making sure that he recovered. She had become good friends with Sidney, and would try all she could to save his life, but she now found herself questioning whether or not he deserved an extended life at all.

Had she…made a bad friend? Was there such a thing in this universe?

Sidney was on a wooden table which had been covered with food ready to eat, but was cleared rather untidily for him as there was food now littering the floor around the makeshift stretcher. He seemed to take notice of Fluttershy`s grim demeanor, and turned to everyone in the room.

“Mates?” he said. “Could you give me and Fluttershy a moment please?”

In wordless understanding they proceeded to leave, until the marine private and the yellow pegasus were the only ones left in the room.

“Ok Fluttershy, what`s wrong?” asked Sidney. “I'm sorry I killed her, but what else was I supposed to do?”

“You could have talked to her,” she responded rather assertively. “Asked her why the griffons were attacking. You could’ve just taken her prisoner; she`d still be alive at least. Did you ever think of that?!”

“To be honest, I don’t think she was in the talking mood, and most fighters would die before giving any sort of information.”

Fluttershy remained silent. The look on her face clearly showed that she wasn’t convinced.

Seeing this, Sidney tried a different approach.

“I don’t like killing,” he said, pausing to let that sink in. “I really don’t. None of us do.”

This surprised Fluttershy, and the marine could see it, as she was now making eye contact with him for the first time since he got here.

“But, if you don’t like it, then why do you do it?” she asked. “And how do you do it so easily?”

“Because I've been doing it for quite a while now,” he answered. “It`s my job, and at this point, it`s as easy breathing. Can you imagine what it`s like to live a life where every breath you take gives you so much guilt? Each one feeling so morally wrong?”

“You poor thing,” she said as she put a hoof on his chest. “Why would you take such a job?”

“I had no choice. Well, at least at the time I didn’t think I had one, for we all felt that we had a moral obligation to join. I thought, as well as everyone else, that if I didn’t join, Earth would be doomed. Me, one man. To this day I can`t believe how naïve I was.”

“Why would you stay?”

Sidney`s eyes began to tear up as he pointed at the door.

“Because of them,” he stated flatly. “Combat will change you. In combat, marines don’t fight for flag or country, or even for the friends and family we grew up with our entire lives; in combat, marines fight for each other, for the complete strangers we were put together with. So yes, we`ll pick on each other from time to time, but we will all remain loyal to each other.”

He then looked back at Fluttershy, tears now flooding his eyes.

“And I'm speaking for all six of us when I say that we`ll always act like we enjoy killing,” he said. “But the truth is that we never did.”

Fluttershy, tears flooding her own eyes now as well, embraced Sidney in the warmest hug she ever gave.

As they embraced, on the other side of the door, a young, cyan pegasus began to tear up as well, having eavesdropped on the conversation.

To avoid openly sobbing in front of her friends, she quickly flew into another room, a rainbow-colored trail outlining her exact path.

Without a word, Jenkins immediately stood up and walked towards the door. Shifty followed right behind.

Upon reaching the door, the PFC placed a hand on the private’s chest without turning around. He took a quick peek behind him just to see who it was following him before looking away again.

“Shifty,” said Jenkins without facing him. “I can handle this. Okay?”

Shifty looked back at gunny, who nodded his head upon eye contact. The private then turned back to Jenkins, giving him a quick pat on the back and a nod before heading back.

Without another word, Jenkins opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was dimly lit; the room was filled with isles upon isles of books. It was clearly another subsection of the library. In the corner, Rainbow Dash sobbed hysterically. Jenkins approached her without a second thought.

“Rainbow?” said Jenkins as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Sh-she’s gone!” she choked. “She’s g-gone!”

“Ssshhhhh! Sshhh! It’s okay!” said Jenkins as he embraced her in a hug, trying to comfort her. “It’s okay…”

“No it’s not!” she squeaked. “My best friend is dead and I don’t know if I should be mad at you or not for it!”

“Your friend tried to kill you. What else could we do?”

“I don’t know! I don’t even know what’s real anymore…”

“Rainbow, I’m sorry, but we did what we had to. Gilda was just following orders, and that made her a threat.”

The both sat there, holding each other tightly for another minute or so. Rainbow’s sobbing gradually stopped; she became quiet, but her eyes remained misty.

“*sniff*I hoped you’d never see me like this,” she said.

“That’s alright,” said Jenkins. “That’s okay. We all have a little pride, a little ego, but every so often it needs a shrink. I could tell from the start that you weren’t perfect, yet you were trying to make yourself look that way.”

Dash looked into Jenkins’ eyes, her own eyes reflecting a mix of sadness and annoyance.

“No one’s perfect Rainbow,” said the marine as he stroked her mane. “Not even me. Yeah, I’ll admit it; in fact, our species has a saying, ‘we’re only human.’ We say it to remind ourselves that, while we may be pretty awesome, we’ve still got our limitations.”

The cyan pegasus broke eye-contact, now looking at the floor.

“Look on the bright side Dashie,” said Ogden, hugging her tight again. “A private experience like this only brings us closer as friends.”

She looked up towards the bookshelf in front of her, registering what he had just said.

“I’ve lost friends too,” he continued. “And believe me, it was hard, but for each one that passed, I made another one. And in a way, it’s like that love never died.”

Rainbow started to cry again.

“I think I’ve made that new friend,” she said, confirming for Jenkins that these were now tears of joy. “Thank you.”

About a minute later, the two of them reentered the room where the rest of Icebreaker and the mane six minus Fluttershy sat.

“Is she feeling better?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow and Jenkins in unison.

They looked at each other upon doing that, then chuckled.

“Come on guys,” said gunny solemnly, pointing at the door to the living room. “I think we’ve given them enough time.”

He reentered the room with every man and pony following suit right behind him. The yellow pegasus then quickly collected herself upon seeing them.

“So how`s he healing up?” Shifty asked the butter yellow pegasus.

“Very well,” she responded. “His bodily fluids extinguished the fire on the tip rather quickly. From there, all I had to do was remove the arrowhead without causing any further damage, and then simply utilize some of that, bio-foam I think it’s called, to clear up the wound.”

“Good job,” said gunny as he patted her on the back. “We’re gunna need him for the fight ahead.”

“And it’s a good thing he knew to stay alive,” said Sergeant Alex. “’Cause he knows that the only person allowed to kill him is me.”

Sidney exchanged a hearty laugh with everyone in the room at that, glancing at Fluttershy to make sure that she still understood.

Thankfully, it seemed that she did.

. . .

August 8, 2558
1415 hours
Canterlot Castle

“I knew griffons weren't fond of us,” said Celestia. “But I didn’t think they`d go this far.”

“And what about Germaney and Gildedale?” asked Luna. “Why are they attacking us? What did we do to them?”

“I don’t care what the politics are behind all this,” said Lasky. “What I wanna know ponies, is if they`re gunna come around for another attack; I didn’t just put the city into lockdown for no reason.”

“Trust me, they won’t,” said Celestia. “If there`s one thing we know about griffons, it`s that they`ll always avoid forces stronger than their own.”

Lasky took a moment to look at the Griffon Kingdoms on the map.

“Well then,” he said. “I guess we don’t have to worry about them for now, and if they try to come back, we’ll be ready for `em. Besides, we`ve got three other adversaries to deal with right now, so if you don’t mind, I'm going back up to my ship. I can handle this kind of thing much better from up there.”

. . .

August 8, 2558
1430 hours
UNSC Infinity Bridge

“That`s better,” said Lasky as he approached the hologram table, the princesses gathering around it with him.

“Now you can command this war a little more directly,” commented Roland, appearing beside the table. “Instead of having to tell me what do from the ground, you yourself can do it right here.”

Lasky gave Roland a quick look of slight irritation before getting right back to business.

“So what`s the situation?” he asked.

“The griffons have been pushed back,” Roland responded. “The Gildes have already taken half of Manehattan and the Germanes nearly have all of the city of Stalliongrad. The changelings are still a long ways off from the Equestrian border, so I’d recommend taking care of those already in country.”

“Alright, then we’ll deploy that half-battalion, along with Shadow and Gypsy companies, to Manehattan. Send our reserve tank battalion to the outskirts of Stalliongrad.”

“Why the outskirts?” asked princess Celestia. “Why not send them straight in to beat back the invaders?”

“Because that’s what they’re expecting,” said Lasky. “They expect us to meet them head on in a close-quarter battle. What they’re not going to expect are hundreds of tanks to be dug in around the city, surrounding it and cutting them off from reinforcements and supplies. They’ll be starved into surrender.”

“And if they do not?” asked Luna.

“Then we move inside and fight. At that point, they’ll be a lot less battle-ready, due to a lack of food and supplies. Point is, I want to make a close-quarter street fight a last-resort.”

“But what about Manehattan?” asked Celestia. “Will you avoid it there too?”

“I’m afraid not. The land surrounding Manehattan isn’t flat like it is around Stalliongrad. For this, we’re going to have to go inside the city and fight toe-to-horseshoe with the Gildes and push them back into the sea. From there, our airpower can keep them at bay, as they won’t have to worry about any collateral damage out there.”

The princesses nodded in understanding before Lasky pushed a button on the holo-table.

“1st Tank Battalion, get to the outskirts of Stalliongrad. Wait until they’ve almost completely moved inside the city, then surround it and lock it down.”

“Aye, aye, sir!” came a voice from the table’s speakers.

Lasky then began working with the holo-table’s functions in order to switch communication between battalion commanders.

“Now let’s get those 500 plus marines to Manehattan,” he said.

. . .

August 8, 2558
1500 hours
Canterlot Square

A few pelicans had come to pick up any marines-to-be-deployed that were in Canterlot at the time. One such vehicle waited in Canterlot square to pick up Fireteam Icebreaker as well as a few other squads in the battalion that were in the area at the time.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” said Jenkins. “For now at least.”

“I’ll be waiting,” said Rainbow softly before the two of them hugged.

“Let’s go Jenkins! Come on!” shouted gunny from inside the pelican.

At that, he gave her another kiss on the cheek before darting inside the vehicle.

Rainbow held the spot on her cheek as the aircraft closed its ramp and rose into the air.

The cyan mare then lifted into the air as well as the pelican began to pull away.

A tear ran down her cheek.

“I’ll be waiting,” she reiterated, watching it go off towards the western horizon.

And she kept watching.

And watching.

And watching.

She watched as her friends flew off to war…