Nigel awoke suddenly, his hand reaching towards his handgun as he quickly stood up from his position against the wall. He un-holstered the gun and held it at his side as he observed the surrounding room, searching for any intruders. Bleak Horizon was sleeping soundly in the bed, a stuffed yellow dragon toy clutched in his hooves. Nigel quietly inspected the empty wardrobe and bathroom, finding nothing out of place. Even though he found nothing he kept his weapon ready, having learnt over the years to trust his instincts.
Nigel tensed and pointed the pistol at the door as something knocked on it softly, the Commander only lowering his gun when the knocks repeated themselves in ISA code, only taught to ISA personnel. He carefully approached the door, unlatched it and opened it to reveal Sergeant Boland standing outside, the rifle in his hands held at the ready.

“You felt it too?” Nigel asked, the Sergeant nodding as the Commander left the room, closing the door behind him as he left.

“Something feels out of place,” Boland confirmed, “I don’t know what, however I believe it would be prudent to not take any chances.” Nigel checked the time displayed on his HUD, local planetary time reading as three o’clock in the morning.

“Agreed, rouse the others including the changelings. My gut has never been wrong and it’s better to be safe rather than sorry.”

“Should we awaken the Equestrians?” Boland inquired, glancing towards the four rooms at the opposite end of the corridor. Nigel thought about the idea before shaking his armoured head.

“Not just yet, let’s avoid getting them involved at the moment. You start with the changelings and I’ll handle the Corporals, assemble downstairs in the lobby to discuss the situation.”

Boland nodded, moving towards the three rooms containing the changelings while Nigel began with the neighbouring room, knocking on Corporal Stevens’s door in code. He waited and he heard no response he repeated the series of knocks, still no results showing. He pushed on the door, finding it was unlocked and Nigel poked his head into the dark room. His helmet optics picked up the slumbering form of the corporal in the bed, Nigel shaking his head in disbelief as he also noticed Corporal Wind Slash sleeping heavily beside Stevens.

“He just doesn’t learn, does he?” Nigel muttered to himself. He entered the room and moved over towards the bed, poking Stevens in the naked ribs with an armoured finger.

“Piss off,” Stevens murmured as he moved a hand to swat away the Commander’s finger. Nigel sighed and grabbed the corporal’s hand in his fist, the pressure he exerted prompting Stevens to jolt upright. Corporal Stevens reached towards his waist where a sidearm would be stored normally; sub-consciously attempting to pull a gun only to stop when he saw just who had attacked him.

“Commander, what the hell are you doing in my r-” Stevens asked only to be interrupted, Nigel putting an armoured finger to the Corporal’s lips.

“Keep it down, don’t wake the pony.” Nigel whispered, the Pegasus mare sharing the Corporal’s bed thankfully continuing to sleep despite Steven’s raised voice. At the Commander’s whisper Steven’s slowly looked beside him, his face dropping as he spied the mare lying next to him.

“I’ve got to quit drinking” he murmured.

“Probably a good idea,” replied Chalmers, “now kit up and meet downstairs, my Pyscho Sense is tingling.” With these hushed words the Commander departed the room to inform the other humans, Stevens sighing as he carefully got out of bed.

“When isn’t it tingling?” he muttered, shooting the sleeping mare a look before tip-toeing into the bathroom where his armour was stored.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nigel nodded at Stevens as the Corporal entered the lobby, the soldier fully armoured and armed. Stevens had his rifle in his hands and his infernus gun locked to his side, the rest of the wraiths ignoring him, Corporals Smith, Jacobs and Murray all pre-occupied with eyeing every entrance. Stevens took up position next to Smith, the pair guarding the heavy door leading outside.

“What’s going on Commander?” inquired Nestor, the changeling looking around nervously at the humans as they all trained their various weapons on possible entry points. Mirror and Reflection were sitting down with him behind the reception desk, Nigel reasoning that if anything happened then it would be the safest place.

“I feel like something big is about to happen, my gut’s telling me that something’s going to go down.” Nestor looked at the Commander with curiosity in his blue eyes.

“You’re going through all of this trouble because of a hunch?” the changeling questioned, Corporal Murray shooting Nestor a glance from his position by the front window.

“Believe me changeling, when a soldier has a bad feeling about something it always pays to take care. You never kno-“

Murray stopped talking and every wraith in the room tensed, a siren resembling an air raid warning sounding from far away. The group all held their breath as the lone alarm was soon joined by more, glows of fires appearing from the city-outskirts.

“Attack warnings,” Reflection said, the changeling peering over the reception bench, “the same kind sounded at Canterlot when we invaded.” Nigel stared out of the window with a confused look hidden under his helmet. He thought that he was the only one who wanted to set fire to pony cities?

“What’s all the noise?”

The humans and changelings looked back behind them, Warm Hearth and her daughter emerging from a door towards the back of the room. The two Earth ponies froze, the flames from the burning buildings casting flickering light through the window.

“Something’s attacking the city,” Nigel answered. “I suggest you and your daughter take cover with our friends here” Nigel said as he gestured towards the sitting changelings. Warm Hearth looked at them nervously, before once again looking outside. Spring Clean moved without hesitation however, the grass-green mare sitting down next to Mirror. Her time in the bar serving the group had eased her fears of the changelings, after all they weren’t that scary compared to the human soldiers. Warm Hearth soon sat next to her daughter after deciding that the changelings were not the most worrying threat.

“Nigel, what’s happening?” Bleak Horizon asked as he shambled into the lobby, the unicorn colt rubbing his eyes with a hoof. His yellow dragon toy was on his back, the colt letting out a yawn as he stumbled over towards Nigel.

“The city is under attack Horizon,” Nigel answered as he crouched down in front of the colt, “I want you to stay here with Nestor and the others okay? I’m going to go and see who’s causing trouble.”

Horizon looked towards Nestor, the changeling giving the colt a friendly wave. Horizon smiled at him sleepily, the colt ambling over towards the changeling. Horizon lay down beside the changeling, the colt showing the curious Nestor his new dragon toy that Nigel had bought him that day. Warm Hearth however looked at Nigel in worry at the mention that he was going outside into the burning city. She had grown to like the human Commander, Chalmers proving to be quite entertaining and courteous. The fact that he acted so fatherly to a colt that was not his own impressed the mare greatly, the innkeeper having received a brief explanation as to how Horizon came into Nigel’s care from the Human named Boland the previous night.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked, “I’m sure the guards will be able to stop whatever is happening.” Warm Hearth looked at Horizon, the colt slowly becoming more energetic as he talked with his changeling friend. “What about him?” she asked, turning back to look at Nigel, “Surely you’re not going to leave him here?”

“I’m certainly not going to take him with me,” Nigel responded, “and as for the guards I don’t think our four have even woken up so I’m not going to place much faith in them.” Nigel walked to the door, the sound of the sirens growing in volume as he opened the Inn door.

“Boland, Jacobs and Murray stay here and guard everyone, try and wake the Equestrians as well. I’ll contact you if we need backup; don’t leave this building unless we call you.” The two Corporals and Sergeant nodded, Jacobs heading upstairs to wake the Equestrians. Nigel stepped out into the street, gun at the ready.

“Stevens and Smith on me, let’s find out what all the commotion is about,” Chalmers ordered, the two soldiers joining him outside. Boland shut the Inn door behind them. Nigel pointed towards the centre of the city, screams of terror accompanied by war cries sounding the loudest in that direction.

“Here I was thinking we were the only ones burning down pony cities,” Nigel started as he strolled towards the city centre with Stevens and smith in tow. He activated his left wrist blade, the sword sliding out and glowing with blue energy.

“I bloody hate it when people copy my ideas; time to teach someone a lesson that will really cut them deep.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well well well, it looks like the Minotaurs decided to follow our example.”

The three humans were observing a fight between five pony guards and three Minotaurs, the three large bulls easily holding off the ill-prepared Equestrians. The guards were a mix of Pegasi and Earth ponies, the flight-enabled ponies hovering in the air while the Earth ponies attacked from the ground.

Pony spears either bounced off the bulls’ heavy metal armour or were merely ignored when the occasional spear did sink into flesh, the bulls seemingly feeling little pain as the ponies continued to stab away. All three bulls were armed with warhammers, the large blunt weapons only failing to hit their mark because of the guards’ agility.

Stevens and Smith were in cover behind a yellow brick building, a furniture store judging from the wooden sign hanging above the door. Nigel however was not concerned with such trivial matters such as stealth, the Commander standing in the middle of the street with his hands clasped behind his back.

The tide of battle soon changed however, one of the bulls landing a solid hit on an earth pony guard, the Equestrian letting out a cry as the hammer hit it on the side of its armoured torso. The guard collapsed to the ground, the pony groaning in agony as its legs twitched, the bull turning to deal with the rest of the guards. A Pegasi guard, distracted by the defeat of its comrade received a glancing blow to a wing, the bones breaking as the mare screamed. The pony dropped like a rock, hitting the ground hard as the bull that had struck her laughed. The Minotaur bent down and picked up the crying guard by the neck, hosting her up to eye level.

“Stevens head right and Smith go left, I’ve got this here” Nigel ordered, raising his pistol as he watched the Minotaur grasping the struggling guard while preparing to crush the mare’s head with its hammer. “Search and destroy, leave no hostiles alive. Might as well enjoy this while we can” Nigel finished with joy, the two Corporals heading in their assigned directions.

Nigel walked towards the melee, the brown-furred Minotaur holding the pony starting to swing its hammer as the three remaining guards watched helplessly while the other two bulls had paused to view the impending kill with glee. The mare stared at the approaching hammer with tear-filled eyes, her doom unable to be prevented.

Chalmers smiled as he shot the brown bull in the head, the Minotaur’s skull exploding like a rotten watermelon as the super-sonic round detonated inside of its brain. The lifeless body flopped to the ground with the mare following soon afterwards. Nigel stepped forward into the light, pony and Minotaur alike staring in astonishment at the armoured biped.

“You know,” Nigel began casually as he twirled his handgun around a finger, “I hate Bullies, they really milk my patience.”

“Human” the largest Minotaur, a head taller than Nigel in his armour spat as if the very name of Nigel’s species was unpleasant. The Minotaur glared at the lone human, the Equestrians forgotten as it sized the new creature up. The ponies all backed away from the two bulls as the Minotaurs stepped closer to the Commander, the two injured guards whimpering as they were pulled behind some crates spilling out of a cart by their compatriots. As the staring match between the two bulls and human continued the guards all took cover, protecting their injured while nervously watching the foreign warriors.

“Well, you got the name right so that’s a start,” complemented Nigel, the large Minotaur leader snorting in disgust.

“I was I had never heard of such a filthy creature,” the black bull replied, “especially one that has to fight its battles from range like a-“

“-Coward?” Nigel interrupted, the bull narrowing his eyes at yet another pun. The bull raised his hammer in warning, the human’s constant up-beat mood getting on his nerves. Chalmers smirked to himself at the reaction, re-attaching his pistol to his hip.

“Fine, we’ll do things your way,” Nigel conceded, putting his armoured fists up in a boxing pose as he shifted from foot-to-foot.

“Come at me bro.”

The bull let out an excited bellow, rushing forward and swinging its hammer in a wide arc as the other bull and Equestrians watched on.
In his haste to splatter the human the bull over-swung, the human’s taunting having got to him. Nigel jumped back, narrowly avoiding the hammer before grabbing the bull’s large horns with his hands. The bull tried to strike with his hammer again however Nigel did not give him a second chance, the Commander’s armour assisting him with bringing the bull’s head down onto Nigel’s oncoming knee.

With a sickening crack the human’s armoured knee shattered the bull’s nose before Nigel let go of the bull’s horns, the Minotaur bellowing as it dropped to the ground. As the bull held onto its ruined face with his hands letting out growls of pain Nigel raised his armoured boot above the Minotaur’s head, the bull facing the ground.

“That’s what happens when you’re too headstrong.”

Nigel brought his boot down upon the Minotaur’s head driving it towards the cobbled ground. The bull uttered a final bellow before his skull cracked like a nut, Chalmers lifting his foot only when the corpse ceased twitching. The human turned towards the last bull, the tan Minotaur open-mouthed at the fate of its leader.

“Your turn” Nigel informed the shocked bull as the human stepped over the Minotaur leader’s body, his hands rubbing together in preparation for the next fight. The bull almost pissed itself, dropping its hammer as it turned and ran down a darkened street, right past the Equestrians hiding behind the crates. Nigel followed the retreating Minotaur, stopping next to the terrified guards as he drew his pistol once more and lined up the back of the fleeing bull. Nigel looked downwards as he turned his head to face the huddled ponies, his gun still held in his hand outstretched.

“He may outrun me, but can he outrun bullets?”

Without breaking his gaze Nigel rapidly fired three rounds, three squelches and a agonised scream confirming that he had hit the target. He lowered his gun, re-holstering it as he pulled a HE grenade from his suit.

“I like my steak well done” he commented as he tossed the grenade down the street, an ear-splitting explosion following as a ball of flame lit up the darkness. The ponies all had their hooves over their ears following the sound of the explosion, Nigel checking the street to make sure the bull was dead. The absence of a body and a blood-splattered crater was good enough proof for him, the human turning back to the Equestrians. The two injured guards were whimpering but conscious, Chalmers convinced that their wounds weren’t fatal. He started to walk down the street in the same direction the bull had tried to run, hands once again clasped behind his back.

“Wait!”
Nigel halted and looked back towards the guards, the injured Pegasus mare having raised her head to look at him.

“Thankyou” the mare said, Nigel shrugging nonchalantly.

“Win-win situation, you get to live and I got to kill three mythological creatures” Nigel said as he resumed his walking.

“Try not to die!” he called back, the guards thanking Celestia that human was content to leave them be, the biped disappearing into the shadows.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

‘Shlick’
Smith withdrew his bloodied knife from the Griffons neck, the human lowering the body to the floor as he cleaned his knife on the griffon’s feathers. He had followed the creature inside the plain double-story house, his sensors picking up a mass of life forms above him on the second floor. He unslung his rifle, checking to make sure the underslung shotgun was loaded before carefully making his way towards the wooden staircase, sticking close to the cream-coloured wall.

The corporal ascended the stairs, rifle butt against his shoulder as he pointed the weapon in front of him. As he edged up the stairs a heavy smack followed by a cry of pain sounded from a doorway to the left on the upper floor. Light spilled out of the open doorway, shadows dancing on the far wall. Stevens paused as he reached the door, hiding to the side of the frame as laughter from at least three different voices accompanied by crying sounded throughout the building. Satisfied that everything was good-to-go Smith swung out into the doorway, his rifle pointed at the face of a very surprised griffon wearing light-chain mail.

Four griffons total occupied the room, two pony mares and two foals huddled in the back left corner. A grey stallion was curled up on the floor in the middle of the circle of griffons, a gash on the left side of the pony’s face spurting out blood. The griffons all noticed Smith, the ebony-armoured human standing out amidst the bright colours of the house. The wraith took a second to scan the faces of the griffons, the Commander’s orders firm in his mind.

Corporal Smith pulled the trigger of his rifle’s under-barrel shotgun, the heavy solid slug that exited having been designed to bust open heavy doors. Needless to say, the griffon’s face did not provide much resistance, the heavy projectile blowing out the back of the hybrid’s skull before passing through the opposite wall leaving a large hole the size of a pony’s head through which the night sky could be seen. As the body tumbled to the floor Smith unloaded a rifle burst into the closest living griffon, the larger creature’s heavier breastplate unable to prevent the multiple bullets from entering its chest. As the corpse fell against the wall, blood erupting from its beak and chest wounds the remaining two griffons rushed Smith while drawing swords.

The first oncoming griffon received a rifle barrel to the eye, it’s screams silenced as another burst from Smith annihilated its brain. The second and last however managed to hit Smith in the arm with its short sword, the weapon failing to pierce the tough armour but the force of the blow caused Smith to drop the rifle.

The griffon tackled the Corporal to the ground, the five ponies watching in fright as the griffon attempted to claw off the unknown creatures face with its talons. The creature appeared to be unfazed, steady reaching down towards a black object attached to its side. The Equestrians were afforded a perfect view of the creature grabbing the object with a claw and placing it against the Griffon’s unprotected stomach, right before multiple loud bangs filled the room as blood sprayed from multiple holes that were blasted in the griffon’s back.

Smith pushed the fresh corpse off as he stood up, holstering his pistol and retrieving his rifle as the ponies huddled together, the stallion joining the mares and foals in the corner. The griffons had not seriously damaged the Corporal’s armour, the damage limited to the external surface in the form of light scratch marks. He looked over towards the ponies after he had picked up his weapon.

“Are you seriously injured?” Smith asked the stallion, the grey Pegasus shaking his head slowly. Smith nodded, his orders were to eliminate any hostiles, not help any of the local populace. He walked out of the room heading towards the stairs, leaving behind four rapidly cooling bodies in the destroyed room. He paused for a second before descending the stairs to glance back into the room, the ponies refusing to move from their corner.

‘Probably for the best’ he thought, leaving the house in search of more enemies.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

“Fuck you, Arsehole!” Stevens yelled as he booted a minotaur in the crouch, the bull yelling in pain before Stevens inserted his wrist blade into the Minotaur’s eye socket. The energised blade easily cut through the back of the bull’s skull, the heat from the blade causing the remains of the creature’s brain to boil. This did not concern the bull, already dead as Stevens continued to kick it after it had fallen to the ground.

With a final boot Corporal Stevens let the battered body be, instead searching the massive battle for another target. All around him pony guards were locked in combat with Griffons and Minotaurs, the ponies on the back foot. Bodies of injured guards littered the surrounds, a surprisingly few amount of ponies having actually died. Stevens attributed this to the fact that the Griffons and bulls tended to not finish a wounded adversary, prioritising pony guards that were still able to fight.

It wasn’t just the ponies who had taken losses however, dead griffons and minotaurs also were lying in the streets, a particularly large pile where Stevens had made his entrance. He had managed to put down a fair chunk of the enemy before he was pulled into the melee, Stevens guessing that there were at least one-hundred combatants fighting it out in the city centre. The large park the battle was being fought on provided no cover, with swords, spears, hammers, axes and talons being the primary weapons used.

Stevens jumped on the back of a white bull about to decapitate a fallen pony guard, the minotaur having no time to react before Stevens slashed its spine open with his blade causing the minotaur to drop the axe it was holding. He then finished the bull with a precise stab between the ribs where e its heart was located, the Minotaur shuddering before it expired.

Stevens hesitantly offered the fallen Earth pony guard a hand, the guard reaching out a hoof which Steven used to pull the stallion upright. The pony gave the human a brief nod, grabbing its spear with the crook of its hoof before it re-joined the fray. Stevens stuck up his middle finger at the Stallion’s back; he was only helping these ponies because their assistance would help him achieve his objective.

A mighty bellow roared out across the battlefield, Stevens turning towards the roar to spy a gigantic Minotaur sporting heavy metal armour wielding a massive spiked mace. The Minotaur must have been at least a head and chest taller to Stevens, it must seem like a giant to the small ponies. A scream sounded as a pony stallion was flung through the air towards the wraith after the huge bull smacked the pony with the mace, a spiked point piercing the pony’s armour and penetrating it’s chest.

Stevens failed to doge the incoming Pegasus, the guard colliding with the Corporal’s armoured chest sending both of them to the ground. The guard was sprawled on top of Stevens, the only sign that it was still alive was the pained whimpers it uttered weakly. The human didn’t get a chance to attempt to remove the guard, an orange-feathered griffon moving to thrust a spear downwards into the pony’s back.

The corporal moved to counter the blow with his gauntlet blade before the griffon’s head exploded in a mist of red, the retort of a rifle echoing throughout the park. Stevens attempted to locate the source of the shot to no avail. He resumed his attempts to extract himself from under the pony as shots continued to ring out.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Nigel removed his rifle’s sight from the space were the griffon’s head used to be, Corporal Stevens appearing to be out of danger. Chalmers spotted his next target, a large armoured Minotaur bull bellowing out war cries while holding a bloodied mace. From his elevated position concealed on top of a restaurant overlooking the park Nigel had a perfect view of the large Bull’s throat, a squeeze of the trigger sending a bullet to its destination. The projectile entered the creature’s neck, the resulting detonation causing the bull’s head to separate from its body.

“Bullseye” Chalmers chuckled, shifting his attention to other targets. His sniping had tipped the odds of the battle in favour of the Equestrians, many guards being saved by the accurate shots. The large bull must have been the leader of the attack, his death causing bellows of despair to rise from the remaining enemy which consisted of mostly Minotaurs, almost every single Griffon dead or dying. Like a dame breaking its banks the Minotaurs turned and fled, their morale shattered at the death of their leader.

Nigel lowered his rifle scope, figuring that the remaining Equestrians would be able to handle the fleeing creatures. He jumped off the rooftop he was occupying with his suit enabling him to complete the jump, the Commander heading towards his subordinate who was still struggling to remove the wounded guard. Nigel could have left him but the battle was not yet over, sounds of fighting still ringing out from the city outskirts.

No doubt the three humans would have a busy morning ahead of them.