The sea outside Manehattan harbour was calm, the waters clear and the wind was almost non-existent. The sound of the waves and seagulls was soon joined by another, less natural noise that approached an area of sea far away from the city.

With the roar of engines a flock of five UIP orbital transporters descended un-noticed onto the patch of ocean, the boxy craft slowing down to a hover through the use of the four large thrusters mounted on the sides, two at the front and two on the back. The heat from the engines belonging to the navy-blue craft caused huge updrafts of steam where they sat over the water, the white clouds hiding most of the crafts from view.

With a droning hum all five transporters opened their lower doors, the sounds of magnetic clamps releasing followed by five splashes as large objects were dropped into the sea. Seconds after this was completed the transports began to pull back up into the sky, their bay doors closing as they departed into the upper atmosphere. The steam from the engines blew away in the wind that had picked up, the concealing fog lifting to reveal five menacing dark-grey ships floating firmly in the water.

The UIP naval battle group consisted of a Buccaneer-class Destroyer, two Hydra-class unmanned Frigates, one Dugong-class missile cruiser and finally the largest ship out of them all, the Nelson-class heavy cruiser that was serving as the command ship for the group.
Senior-Captain Edward Teach stroked his black beard as he observed the departing transporters from his command chair, the bridge around him bustling with activity as his grey-clad crew organized and checked sensor, communications and weapon systems. The large windows that dominated the room were in fact display screens, much like the ‘windows’ on the starships hanging in orbit. Why the military forces of old surrounded ships with armour plates yet put windows made from glass around the bridge Teach still couldn’t work out.

Through the front window, the large screen four metres tall, Teach could see the triple-barrelled Plasma turret on the foredeck swivel one the spot and raise its barrels to the sky as the weapons operators tested its functions. To his left he spotted the silo doors of the Dugong open and close while the surface-to-air missile turrets mounted on the back and front pivoted in their mounts. The Dugong was two thirds the size if his own ship, followed by the Buccaneer which was five metres shorter than the missile cruiser. The Hydras were the smallest vessels, the artificial intelligence controlled scouts a third of the size of the Nelson.

Teach reviewed his mission brief, his orders to seize or destroy any shipping in the harbour and the surrounding area to prevent enemy re-enforcements and supplies from reaching the city that could just be seen on the horizon. Two fleets exactly the same as his were each assigned to the other two native cities which they were tasked with assisting, Teach not caring about the wider political reasons. He had his orders and he was going to carry them out despite the reported resistance that they would be facing.

Wooden ships weren’t much of a match against heavy plasma batteries, railguns, laser cannons, torpedoes and all manner of missiles and rockets that were scattered around the fleet.

Still, a chance for combat was a chance for combat; it wasn’t often that sea-going vessels saw action when they were stationed aboard Planetary Assault Cruisers. Most of the work tended to be done before they were deployed. It didn’t help that only a small number of planets actually had large oceans that warranted such measures.

Teach was broken out of his thoughts by a message appearing on his command screen that was mounted on the left side of his chair, the captain briefly glancing at the contents, indicating that the fleet was ready to commence operation, before brushing a stray hair off his light-blue uniform and pushing an icon on the touch screen. His microphone that was mounted on his ear piece synced with the fleet’s communication systems, Teach immediately being greeted with the chatter of ship communication staff and the two captains under his command.

“Attention all ships,” Teach commanded with a slight accent that on Terra would be referred to as British, “move to your indicated co-ordinates, your orders are to destroy any shipping highlighted and if necessary assist local ground forces once we secure the harbour. Full speed ahead.”

At his order the fleet moved forward as one, the two Hydra frigates roving ahead of the larger ships to utilise their extended sensor suites to pinpoint potential targets. The fusion-powered turbines allowed the smaller ships to reach speeds in excess of fifty knots. The larger ships, powered by antimatter reactors due to the increased power demands of their larger weaponry, followed behind averaging forty knots.

As the frigates approached the city, the buildings now clear in sight, a multitude of enemy contacts were detected in and surrounding the harbour. Most of the ships were roughly the same size as the Hydras, when Teach looked at the detailed scans he saw that they were incredibly similar to the ships used on Terra in the late Seventeenth century. Instead of cannons which he had expected he saw that they still mounted ballista and catapults, granted some of them were quite impressive in size but he was certain that primitive iron bolts and rocks would do little against hardened metal plating.

Tapping orders into his command console he ordered the hydras to pull back to the main fleet, the AIs controlling the vessels responding and obeying without question. While he was confident that the two scout ships alone could probably destroy the entire enemy fleet he wasn’t going to deny his subordinates a chance to actually put their years of training to use. His eyes rested on the picture of the largest enemy vessel, a wooden battleship almost the size of the Dugong which was adorned with multiple large ballista and catapults. The weapons were currently firing into the city, Teach able to see the crumbled remains of buildings and fires that had obviously been the result of the pounding from the enemy ships.

The battleship was decorated with extravagant carvings and statues of creatures which he had been informed were called ‘Griffons’, one of the hostile factions that he was tasked with destroying. The decorations and size of the vessel combined with the detailed sails sporting artistic images of regal looking griffons led the Senior-Captain to believe that it was the ship belonging to the enemy admiral, no doubt someone of high importance. Teach decided to do what any UIP commander would do if faced with such a conclusion.
He was going to blow that ship up first.

Smiling a little to himself, Teach touched the icon representing the enemy battleship and typed in his desired commands, his orders relayed to the missile cruiser traveling alongside his own ship. The majority of the crew on the bridge spared a glance out the port window as a lone white missile streaked up into the sky from one of the silos on the aft of the Dugong.

The projectile quickly shot out of sight; however Teach could still track its progress on his display as it headed towards the space above the targeted ship. His communication channel was quiet save for the reports of the weapon officers on the Dugong in charge of the fired weapon, the officers calling out the ETA to impact. Teach also noted that a small number of the enemy vessels were approaching them from the harbour, the human ships having sailed well into visual range.

The Senior-Captain paid them little mind, the Hydras had already moved forward to meet them with their twin duel-barrelled railgun turrets and rocket batteries armed and ready. Instead Teach observed as the cruise missile angled down towards the oblivious battleship, the human holding up his white-gloved right hand to the ceiling as his mouth curled into a small smile.

“Three, two,” he counted down as the missile descended down towards its target.

“One.”

He clenched his raised hand into a fist as the missile struck the battleship in the middle, the wooden vessel becoming completely consumed in the white hot explosion as the plasma-warhead of the cruise missile detonated, the huge dome of bright blue explosion lighting up the harbour as the water around the impact area vaporised into steam from the extreme heat.

The glow died out after a few moments, absolutely nothing left of the once-grand flagship. The bridge crew reacted as expected; aside from small glances towards the explosion they continued to monitor their stations and input information, just another day in the office really.

“Engaging targets,” reported the monotone voices of the two Hydras over the communication net, Teach switching his attention to the forward display of the bridge. He was just in time to catch the sight of a medium-sized brig split into multiple parts as explosive railgun rounds from the left hydra tore it asunder, the heavy wooden hull no defence against the hypersonic projectiles.

Shapes that appeared to by Griffons flying up from the wreckage attempted to get clear of the battlezone, however the rapid-fire quad-barrelled anti-air railgun turret on the aft deck of the hydra that had destroyed the brig opened up with precision, griffon bodies exploding in the air as the storm of metal projectiles tore them to shreds. The weapon was not meant for shooting down small flying organics however, isolated groups of griffons fleeing at full speed towards the burning city in the face of the devastation.

The second and third brigs that had been traveling with their fellow to intercept the human fleet both tried to turn and head back towards the harbour where the rest of the griffon ships, numbering thirty-three now, were all moving to put up a defence and prevent the alien fleet from accessing the city. All of the ships were smart enough to spread out; evidently the explosive death of their flagship highlighted the danger of grouping up.

The two retreating brigs had a strong wind propelling them forward, the ships desperately trying to outrun the second hydra that was chasing them down. Their efforts were vain however, sail power was no match for the twin fusion driven turbines that provided the hydra with nimble speed. The AI ship strangely decided against picking the two off from long range, the frigate powering forward to place itself in between the wooden brigs.

Iron bolts were launched from the two griffon ships from their deck mounted ballista to little effect, even the ones coated in tar and set alight failed to have any lasting impact on the agile hydra. The large stones thrown from the heavy catapults located in the middle of the brigs inflicted slightly more damage, the rocks slightly denting the armoured plates of the scout ship. The hydra continued despite the attempts to halt it, time seeming to slow down as its four railguns turned towards the port brig while the boxy rocket launcher turret sitting in the middle of the ship right in front of the command tower aimed at the starboard vessel.

The pair of twin-linked railgun turrets opened fire; the unfortunate port brig received four railgun slugs directly to the area below the water line in less than a second, the explosive heads in the shells not arming due to the close proximity. This didn’t matter that much, with four massive holes punched in the brig’s starboard side as well as the large exit wounds in the bottom of the ship water flooded in. Griffon crew abandoned the ship, ignored by the hydra as the brig immediately listed to the side. The starboard brig however was far less fortunate than its comrade.

With high-pitched squeals the rocket turret peppered the brig with a volley of short-ranged, armour piercing munitions. A flare of flame erupted from the back of the grey launcher as the turret it was mounted in swept across the entire enemy ship’s length.

The swarm of rockets all penetrated the hull of the stricken vessel before their warheads activated, small explosions sending timber and splinters flying into the air while crew were either incinerated or torn apart by the explosive weapons. The hull of the ship ruptured, more than half of the vessel gone once the rocket volley had subsided and the screaming of the weapon had died out. The second brig quickly sank, no survivors flying up from the wreckage as the ship was consumed by the hungry seas.

Teach paused to wonder just why the hydra’s computer had decided that closing with the two brigs instead of destroying them from maximum range was the best course of action. Sometimes he wondered just how much emotion the apparently ‘dumb’ AIs could feel, he knew that self-aware AIs were only common in the more secretive UIP departments but still the hydra had seemed to almost gain… enjoyment from the explosive destruction of the ship it just neutralised. Teach shrugged to himself as he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, it still had been more restrained than what some UIP commanders were rumoured to do.

The main enemy fleet was now in range of the larger ships main guns, the fore-deck turret of his own ship targeting a fat supply vessel sitting behind a wall of numerous sloops and larger frigates as they faced the oncoming human fleet with their ballista pointing at the harbour entrance. As the triple-barrelled turret pointed its weapons up into the air with the tips of the barrels glowing with an ever-increasing blue light Teach sat back into his chair and raised the cup of tea that had been sitting beside him to his lips.

‘Now to sit back and enjoy the show,’ he thought as the plasma turret discharged its weapons along with the heavy railguns mounted on the destroyer and the anti-ship missiles that skimmed along above the ocean that had been launched from the missile cruiser.

General Mahubi Prasad observed the armoured assault from the comfort of his command room in the large Judicator command tank. He was sharing his space with one other, an Equestrian Lieutenant by the name of Quick Strike. The Pegasus mare was the Equestrian leader for this assault; apparently none of the higher ranking pony officers were willing to actually fight at the front. Quick Strike had been chosen when her commanding officer had sent her in his place to kindly ‘give her the opportunity to taste what higher command is like’. To be honest Prasad didn’t mind, he intended to be doing most of the commanding anyway and he’d rather have an junior officer rather than one of the Equestrian Nobility blathering in his ear.

He actually didn’t mind the equines that much, sure they were military virgins with an irritating upper-class and they lacked any sense of proper modern military doctrine but apparently they had been at peace for hundreds of years, that was something that the human General could respect. The Equestrian’s peace achievement was not helpful at this current time however; even now the Lieutenant was shaking in her armour at the prospect of combat.

“Nervous?” Prasad inquired as he shifted in his seat while going over sensor data regarding the enemy forces. He knew that the question was rhetorical however he hoped that some conversation would calm his equine counterpart down.

“A little sir,” the Lieutenant answered shakily, however Prasad noticed that she seemed a little bit relieved at his efforts to talk to her. “Are you sure that we’re safe in here?” the mare continued as she subconsciously tried to flex her wings in the limited space, Prasad guessing that most of the flight-capable equines would not likely be fond of enclosed spaces.

“This machine has enough armour plating on it to build a house, we’re perfectly fine,” Prasad reassured, “and don’t call me sir, for starters you’re not under my command and secondly in this operation we are equals as the commanding officers. Just call me General.”
Quick Strike nodded at his terms, the Equestrian letting out a breath as she tried to relax.

There was silence for some time; the rumble of the tank surrounding them was accompanied by the occasional clinking of Strike’s golden armour. The mare still had her helmet on despite suggestions by the General that taking it off would give her more room to move around, the guard citing that it was required for uniform purposes. Prasad silently questioned why she was so concerned about uniform regulations when she was the depths of a command tank with no-one else from her army to see her but he didn’t voice this, the Lieutenant seemed to find comfort in adhering to the protocol set by her nation so Prasad let it go.

Prasad’s display screen was constantly filling with new information, the large holographic touch-display taking up most of the space in the room. Reports were coming in from the scout Foxhounds regarding the enemy positions, Prasad activating the communication system inside the room so that Quick Strike could also hear the reports.

“-tiple infantry forces dug in around the perimeter at section two-seven-three-B, I can see earthworks and bunkers facing out with at least five primitive projectile emplacements scattered around the area, can you copy Mastiff-Lead?” A young male voice questioned with detached professionalism.

“Copy Mastiff-Two,” an older male voice responded, “emplacements marked and noted. Mastiff-Five and Four do you also have eyes on emplacements?”

“Affirmative Mastiff-Lead,” a female voice responded to the lead Foxhound’s query, “four emplacements containing bolt-throwers confirmed, wait-“

Quick Strike jolted back in her seat as a loud clanging rang out over the communication channel. A second later the retort of a laser-cannon firing followed by a distant explosion sounded. There was silence for two seconds before the female Foxhound pilot spoke again.

“Correction Mastiff-Lead, there was five emplacements but now it’s back to four, forces should be advised that hostiles are utilising optical camouflage near wooded areas.”

“Mastiff-Lead confirms, all forces pull back to the designated positions. What are your orders Command-One?” Prasad activated his headset, Command-One was the designation given to him while Quick Strike was Command-Two.

“All units await for incoming air support,” Prasad ordered as he entered in the emplacement positions to the data network, relaying their locations to the wing of naval strike craft assigned to his attack. “Once aerial munitions have been delivered all armoured units push forward and break through the cordon. Infantry and mechanised follow behind to secure the road and corridor, artillery and support move up to assist in the securing of the area and Foxhounds move to positions as per graph seven-A to protect the flanks.”

The Commander received affirmatives from all the unit leaders, the assault slowly approaching the enemy line as they waited for the strike craft to arrive. Prasad checked his display, the airstrikes would hit in fifty seconds. He quickly turned to The mare sitting to the left of him.

“Fifty-seconds to the airstrike, anything you want to say to your troops?” Each of the transports, whether it was the wide tracked crawlers or the APC’s at the front with the tanks were all fitted with communication speakers in their holds. Quick Strike nodded quickly, Prasad hastily activating the mare’s headset that was awkwardly sitting on her head; the human-intended device had been loaned to her so that she could give her troops orders.

“Royal Guards of Equestria,” Quick Strike started, all around the army forces Equestrians looked up at speakers located in APCs and Transports as the voice of their Lieutenant. “As you just heard we are about to commence our assault, you all know what will happen in we fail,” Prasad doubted that they would, the airstrike was now only thirty second away.

“You also know that we are assisted by humans, I want you all to put aside any past grievances until we finish our mission,” Quick Strike continued, now only twenty seconds left until the strike. “Remember what you are fighting for, I wish you all luck and valour in the upcoming battle. That is all.” Prasad’s display showed the six dots that represented the ‘Starfire’ strike fighters approaching rapidly just above five-hundred feet. The human gave the Equestrian beside him thumbs up at her speech as the roar of fighter engines increased in volume.

The sonic booms of the super-sonic craft flying overhead were drowned out by the detonations of the plasma-warhead toting ground-attack missiles that had been launched before the fighters’ arrival. Prasad observed his display, white flashes of energy on every reported emplacement representing the volatile payloads of the missiles eradicating all traces of the defences from the face of the planet.

Prasad waited while Quick Strike examined the tactical map with awe, the General waiting until the glow of the warheads faded from the screen.

“Command-One to all forces, commence the attack. Weapons free.”

The two officers could hardly feel the tank they were in commence movement, the behemoth advancing forward on its four treads in the middle of the spearhead. Five Legionary MBTs were at the fore-front of the assault, the tip of the spear. The Foxhounds strode along the flanks while the rest of the twenty-five tanks surrounded the numerous support vehicles, transports, APCs and artillery units. Prasad had neglected using the artillery in this attack; he was planning to use it in the main attack on the city itself.

The General tapped a few holographic icons in front of him, the tactical map moving to a smaller projector by his right side while the main display changed to a view of the surrounding area as viewed from the turret. The Equestrian swivelled around in surprise as she noticed that every single wall of the room they were in had changed as if they had nothing between them and the outside air. As she looked behind, Quick Strike could see the human tanks behind their own, out to the sides she could see the tall ‘mechs’ in the distance and as she looked back towards the front she could see the twin barrels of the tank’s turret below her. The Pegasus felt like she was standing on the top of the tank turret itself.

“This is amazing!” she exclaimed, the soldier’s fear giving way to excitement as she observed the view.

“You get used to it,” Prasad commented as he went over his command data, “I remember this one time when I was sitting in my tank all safe and sound. I hear a boom and look up just in time to have the sight of an incoming shell fill my vision. Luckily it didn’t pierce the armour but still it was a nerve-wracking experience.” This curbed some of the Equestrian’s excitement, the Pegasus returning to her seat to look out the front of the tank.

She jumped a little as one of the tanks in front of them fired its railgun, the munition creating a small boom as it left the barrel of the tank. Out in the distance on a hill Quick Strike saw an explosion bloom into life, the first soon joined by four more as the rest of the tanks in the lead fired their weapons. She glanced towards the human general, Prasad not paying attention to the display instead he was focusing on the small map that was at his side.

Quick Strike jolted a little as the view surrounding her changed, the turret on top of the tank rotating to aim at a field burning with small spot fires. It was a little confusing for the pony, she knew that in reality she was sitting in a room in the very middle of the tank’s main body but her mind kept on thinking that she was on the turret.

A large crater was carved in the earth; Quick Strike guessing that it must have originated from the ‘air strike’ that Prasad had been talking about. The forms of Minotaurs could be seen fleeing back towards the city, a few of the braver ones charging at the approaching vehicles with large axes and hammers. Strike quickly looked towards the tanks in the lead, none of the machines aiming at the rapidly approaching minotaurs.

Strike was just about to point this out to Prasad before she remembered that even though the beast she was riding in was a command tank it still possessed weapons, the mare noticing that the two grey barrels were aiming at the group of approaching enemies. The ends of the weapons suddenly seemed to widen to double their original width, the barrels themselves pulling back into the turret halfway.

“Why are they doing that?” Strike questioned, Prasad guessing what the pony was talking about.

“Adjustable-bore laser cannons, by shortening the barrels and increasing the width you end up with a shorter range but the shots contain more energy. When they hit they cover a much wider area then a longer ranged, more accurate shot.”

The General’s explanation was punctuated by the two weapons discharging with a strange electronic ‘blam’ sound. Two bright blue bolts left the barrels to impact amidst the charging forces, a bright flash kicking up dust and debris into the air. Quick Strike felt sick in her gut as she looked at the aftermath of the explosion, almost all of the minotaurs were gone and replaced with a steaming crater of blackened earth.

The tanks ahead of them all rotated their turrets towards the hundred or so soldiers fleeing back to the city, the bulls jumping over abandoned barricades and defensive walls in their haste to escape the pursing human war-machines. Quick Strike looked around and realised that the retreating troops seemed to be the only enemies left alive. The pegasus was turning towards Prasad to comment on how quickly they had broken through the cordon when she caught sight of red beams flickering out from the guns mounted on the top of the tanks’ turrets.

Her eyes widened in horror as she saw minotaurs fall to the ground under the hail of beams.

“They’re retreating! Why are you still shooting!?” the mare shouted at Prasad. The General looked away from his map as he faced the confused pony.

“Where are they running to?” he asked, Quick looking towards the front display while trying to avoid looking at the massacre in front of her.

“Towards the city,” she answered, the General nodding at her before returning to his plans.

“Exactly, towards the city that they are trying to take over, the city where right now your comrades are fighting for their lives and the lives of the citizens in the city. We kill them now and it makes everything easier, letting them leave the field of battle only gives them time to regroup or re-enforce forces inside the city already. It’s not pretty or honourable but it is efficient.”

Quick Strike thought about the General’s explanation, while it sickened her to shoot fleeing enemies in the back she could also understand his reasoning. Maybe these humans weren’t evil, maybe they just did things in the quickest and most efficient way possible. The mare shook her head at these thoughts, the ill-feeling in her stomach strengthening. She just tried to justify slaughter, she must be a really bad pony to even think that murder like could be excused. She tried to block the scene out of her mind; however the nightmare kept playing over and over in her head.

It became too much when she began to insert sounds to the images, her imagination conjuring up death cries and pleas for the killing to stop. She began to heave, the images too much to handle for the in-experienced officer. Prasad noticed his counterpart’s distress, the general quickly handing her a boxy container marked ‘waste disposal’ attached to a tube leading into the floor. The mare grabbed it and vomited into it as soon as it was received, the armoured column halting in the middle of the devastation in preparation to deploy the troops.

Prasad waited for the mare to finish, the pony breathing deeply as she tried to catch her breath. Obviously the Equestrian wasn’t too comfortable with his methods, unfortunate but as long as it didn’t affect her ability to command her own troops he could work with it. Turning around Prasad opened the hatch in the roof leading up towards the turret, the General preferring to oversee the unloading of the infantry with his own eyes.

He looked back at the pegasus, the mare shakily getting up to follow him as he climbed up the ladder through the hatch. Hopefully getting her out into the open air would do her some good.

They were a long way from the completion of their mission and they couldn’t afford to have any slipups.

“Right then, everyone listen up!”

Chalmers spoke into his communication system, his voice transmitting to every single soldier under his command whether they were human or pony. Unlike the other assaults he had no Equestrian officer to share duel command, meaning that he was in charge of pony troops as well as the UIP forces. They had stopped just out of sight of the city; all of the enemies were in the city itself so they had so far gone un-detected.

“Here’s that plan of attack. Vipers, you move out first, deploy your assault teams on rooftops and engage any positions that may hinder an infantry assault. After that provide support to ground forces as you see fit. You may depart now.” Chalmers received affirmatives from the three gunship pilots, the combination-helicopters flying towards the city with a menacing thumping. Each Gunship was carrying twelve UIP Army Commandos, the soldiers tasked with harassing the enemy with sniper fire and heavy weapons from the rooftops as the rest of the force advanced on the ground.

“I along with the Foxhounds will move into the city first to soften up resistance, Legionaries will escort the troop carriers and APCs to the city edge and then provide support from outside the city. Carriers will offload their troops and infantry you will advance into the city alongside APCs. Artillery-Captain Ludwig, you have some different orders.”

“Yes Commander?” responded an older male voice as the artillery leader replied to his Commander.

“Set up positions on the hill just outside the city at sector D-twenty-one-twelve. Your orders are to target any threats outside of the city, the risk of collateral damage if you fire into the city is too great. The rest of the support section will accompany you as well, apart from Cloud-trimmers Three and Four who will advance into the city to provide air cover.”

“Understood sir,” Captain Ludwig acknowledged, Nigel’s command map showing that the majority of the force’s support vehicles headed to the allocated hill. The exception was two of the ‘Cloud-trimmers’, the ‘Icarus’ type anti-air tanks moving up behind the ten Legionary tanks that Nigel had been allocated. The squat, flat-topped tan machines were surrounded by light armour plates with a large hexagonal turret on the top. Each of the anti-air machines had two rapid-fire railguns on each side of the turret, looking much like quad-cannons from earlier Terran warfare. In addition to this each Icarus had a boxy SAM located on the top of the turret, four surface-to-air missiles in each launcher.

Satisfied that everything was in order, Nigel checked his weapons systems one last time before glancing towards his tactical map. Five Foxhounds, Echo One through to Five, formed up beside him each with different weapon load-outs.

“All forces move out according to your orders, Echo with me.” With those words Chalmers moved forwards, the five Foxhounds with him striding alongside him as they closed on the city with the rest of the force following the mechs. Trusting his unit officers to be able to handle themselves Nigel switched to a communication channel reserved for important tactical information only, vastly decreasing the number of voices sharing information and statuses. It was the most relaxed he had been for a long time.

‘Now that I think relaxation,’ Nigel thought as the city grew closer, ‘what ever happened to that annoying priest?’

“You are now blessed loyal servant of the Lord and Empire, go forth into battle and bring victory.”

High-Confessor Dietrich Von Schreiber removed his armoured hand from the commando’s helmet, the soldier standing back up from where she had been kneeling. The trooper retrieved her dark-grey gauss rifle from where she had placed it on the floor prior to receiving the blessing, the gun matching her heavy grey armour. She was taller than Dietrich in the large armour suit, the protective battle-plate much thicker and plentiful compared to standard UIP infantry armour.

“Thank you, Father,” the soldier acknowledged as her thin eye visor stared into his, the crimson band a stark contrast to her dull armour. The bottom parts of the helmets that the troopers were sporting had two outcroppings on the side of the chin area, making the helms appear like twentieth century gas-masks with a single optical band instead of large eye visors. The female soldier sat back down in her seat with her eleven other squad members, Dietrich already having blessed them before.

The only exception was the purple armoured bat-pony watching the proceedings with interest, the stallion having been assigned to the team to serve as a guide and liaison between any on the local forces if they had managed to survive. Each of the three Viper loads of special-forces had one Equestrian with them for the same purpose, all of them from the Lunar Guard as they were considered more suitable for the task. In reality none of the pegasi had been willing to board the human gunships, the ponies seeing them as metal boxes that flew unnaturally. Dietrich approached the pony who was sitting down with his back against the wall leading to the front of the craft, the stallion constantly flicking his wing-mounted blades out and back in.

“Would you like me to bless your weapons?” Dietrich inquired, the stallion giving the priest a wary gaze.

“No thank you, that won’t be needed,” the pony replied, Dietrich sighing in his helmet. He had been told by the Admiral to not try to convert the Equestrians for now, the priest had only agreed due to the condition that once the conflict was over he could preach as much as he could.

“If that is what you wish,” the High-Confessor conceded, leaving the equine to his own company. He walked back to the exit ramp of the gunship, passing soldiers checking sniper-rifles, assault rifles and assorted heavy equipment. A slight shuddering could be felt, the gunship firing its nose cannon at a target down in the city. Dietrich spotted a row of Aerial-Infantry-Deployment-Systems on a rack next to the ramp, the High-Confessor getting an idea of how to find more converts without breaking the Admiral’s deal.

The thirteen soldiers sharing the hold with him watched on as he picked a pack off the rack and attached it to his suit’s back, the magnetic clamps securing the sleek grey device firmly on.

“High-Confessor, what are you doing?” asked the commando squad leader, the man putting his rifle down on his lap as its cleaning was forgotten. Dietrich did not answer him straight away; instead he ensured that the device on his back was interfaced properly with his suit and that all of his things were secured safely on his person in preparation for his plan.

“Simple,” Dietrich replied, “I’m going to do my heavenly duty.”

With that he slammed his hand down on the hatch release button, the rear ramp of the gunship lowering quickly allowing air to rush into the hold. The commando captain started to stand up to halt Dietrich but the priest had already jumped out of the gunship into the city below. The soldiers all stared in surprise at the open ramp, ignoring the pilots of the Viper who were asking just which moron opened the ramp early. The hatch began to close; clanging shut which cut off the rushing wind.

“Should we go after him?” the bat-pony asked, the captain turning his head to face the pony as he sat back down in his seat and picked up his rifle to resume cleaning it.

“No, we have our mission and it does not include chasing down rogue priests.” The soldiers all resumed the pre-battle activities that they had been doing before the High-Confessor’s sudden exit.

“Besides,” the Captain continued, “I’ve heard that in order to achieve the rank of High-Confessor priests have to serve four years in active warzones, I’m sure that the good Father will be fine.”

Bronze Shield huddled behind the makeshift barricade with the remaining members of the city garrison as they listened to the griffons forces outside in the street throw out insults and threats. The fifteen ponies, five unicorns, six pegasi and four earth ponies all were wounded in one way or another, ranging from simple cuts to the pegasi corporal slumped in the corner against an earth pony private, his left wing almost completely torn off.

The unicorn lieutenant looked down to his side and counted six crossbow bolts, all the remaining ammunition he had. The other unicorns under his command had run out long before, expending their bolts to keep the griffons from gaining entry to the small tea shop that they were holed up in. The five griffon bodies piled in the doorway stuck full of bolts were the owners of most of the expended ammunition. No effort had been made to retrieve any; the griffons’ own archers had maintained a constant vigil on the doorway. Bronze was thankful that they had managed to block off the two large store windows with tables and chairs before the keen-eyed archers had arrived.

“Sounds like they’re going to make a move soon,” Storm Front, a sergeant and second highest soldier, observed. Bronze turned his head to focus on the pegasi mare pressed up against the side of the doorway. Her golden armour was stained with blood, both hers from numerous talon and spear wounds and that of griffons who had met their end at the Sergeant’s fore-leg mounted blade.
“They figured out any other threats yet?” Bronze asked from behind the shop counter, the mare swivelling an ear towards the outside street before shaking her head.

“No, just the same ‘we’re going to kill you’, ‘we’re going to eat you’, and of course ‘you’ll have a fun time as slaves, ponies’ that they’ve been shouting for hours. All of the intelligent griffons must be in every other part of the city except this one.”

“There’s such a thing as an intelligent Griffon?” one of the other unicorns joked, weary chuckles coming from guards scattered throughout the store.

Bronze didn’t laugh, while he encouraged the small morale boost he knew that it was only a matter of time till they were over-whelmed. They had already been incredibly luckily to not have seen a minotaur yet, one of those could probably wade in and kill them all easily. A part of him knew that his troops were also fully aware of their dire situation, all of the soldiers having lost hope of rescue.

He still wondered if there were any other holdouts like this one in the city, the garrison of two-hundred was one of that largest in the country. He doubted it, the attack had come in fast and caught them unaware. The garrison Commander had been one of the first killed and messengers had just barely managed to escape the city before the combined forces of minotaurs and griffons took complete control.

The worst part had been the civilians; the occupying forces had rounded them up and shipped them off to who-knows-where while the guards cowered in their makeshift hideout. They had been tempted to rush out and attempt to free them but they wouldn’t have achieved anything anyway, the odds were just so against them that there had been no chance. Bronze could still hear the pleas of ponies as they were placed in chains, some of the garrison had even been capture and hauled off.

Why they were taking captives Bronze didn’t know, all he knew was that with the griffon’s history he hoped that it was for simple labour, not some of the other uses that live ponies could be utilized for.

“Get ready,” Storm warned form the doorway as guards hid behind upturned tables with spears and swords pointed towards the door, “sounds like they’re coming in again!”

The guard’s warning was validated by the sound of griffon war shrieks rising in volume and proximity. The clatter of metal armour and weapons grew ever closer, Bronze leaning out with his crossbow pointed at the door in his blue magic field. This attack seemed like the one that would finally crush the little resistance that they had mounted. All the ponies braced to receive the charge, the heavily wounded pegasus already having been dragged behind cover by his earth pony caretaker.

The ponies all flattened their ears at another, far more intimidating noise however. A steady roar grew louder and louder, the griffon shrieks dying out as the noise increased.

“What is it Storm?” Bronze asked, the mare risking glance out of the doorway into the sky. He became concerned when the mare did not pull her head back in immediately, also of note was how not a single crossbow bolt had been fired at her.

“I… I honestly don’t know sir,” the mare stammered, still looking outside, “I think it’s a… black minotaur flying on fire.” Bronze did a double take, had the mare snapped under pressure?

“Oh my Celestia…” an earth pony stallion breathed as he peered through a gap in the right store window. Bronze left the counter and moved up, his crossbow still held at the ready as the rest of the guards except for the earth pony guarding the immobile pegasus followed him to the door and windows. Bronze looked outside as the roaring reached a crescendo, the unicorn sticking his head out next to Storm’s, his eye’s widening as he looked at the source of the roar.

Just like the pegasus had described, what looked like a black minotaur was descending from the sky on a tongue of flame that was spewing from somewhere behind it. The creature’s armour, or at least what Bronze assumed was armour, was decorated like a religious temple with alcoves, decorative red lines of what looked like text written in blood and a large book attached by silver chains to the waist of the figure.

A weapon that seemed to be a kind of a green glowing mace was attached to the other side of the creature’s waist on the right, Bronze turning away from the mace as a sudden pain flared up in his head. A long tube was at the back of the being, the creature’s head possessing two glowing-red eyes and a grey-grille where a mouth should be. As the Equestrians observed the strange sight the griffons in the street numbering over fifty strong all backed away from the centre of the cobbled road, the flame dying out as the ebony figure touched down.

“Greetings heretics!”

A electronic voice originated from the biped, one hand opening the book while the other gripped the shaft of the infernal mace.
“I am High-Confessor Dietrich Von Schreiber and come bearing glorious news; I have journeyed here for the purpose of saving your souls from eternal suffering! Rejoice! Rejoice for the opportunity that you have been blessed with!” the figure unclipped his mace through some method and help it into the sky, griffon and pony alike shielding their eyes from the weapon. “You have two choices, either repent your sins of slavery now and vow to never stray from the righteous path or choose divine salvation by my hand!” The griffons all looked extremely confused, the soldiers all looking towards each other for some kind of guidance.

“That’s a human you idiots!” Bronze glanced up to spot a griffon officer, if his ornate light-plate armour was an indication, flying down into the square with two more soldiers beside him. A earth pony beside Bronze gasped, so this was one of the humans that had been quickly demonized by the Canterlot guard forces. “Kill it, kill it now!” the officer barked as he pointed a claw towards the human.

Spurred into action at their officer’s order, the closest griffons charged towards the biped with various weapons raised and war cries on their lips. The human, who Bronze assumed was some kind of religious figure, seemed to not be threatened in the slightest.

“Prepare yourself to enter paradise!” the human chanted as a flurry of crossbow bolts were fired at him, the metal projectiles bouncing off the metal plate as a faint blue sheen briefly flashed when the bolts hit. The five griffons moving forward towards the creature hesitated at this, the human however surged forward with his mace raised.

“And thus it is written that those slain by a holy hand shall forever achieve eternal peace!”

As the human chanted he swung his mace at an oncoming griffon, the hybrid raising a round metal shield to block the blow. The human’s weapon didn’t bounce off the shield or even smash it aside, no, it fully melted the projection as it passed through to smash into the griffon. The Equestrians and surrounding griffons winced as the mace vaporised a large chunk of the griffon’s yellow-feathered chest, a terrifying wail ringing out as the human’s weapon exited out the other side taking most of the warrior’s ribcage with it.

“Hallelujah!” the human shouted joyfully as the dead griffon hit the ground with a smack, “Yet another redeemed soul welcomed into the embrace of eternal bliss!”

None of the combatants moved, the human’s brutal attack coupled with his disturbing rhetoric really off put everyone watching. The biped didn’t stop however, his steps almost seeming to flow as he advanced on the next griffon.

“Kill him!” once again the griffon officer repeated his order, this time however there was a hint of desperation in his tone, “he can’t fight us all at once!” Most of the griffons surged forth in a swarm as the human dispatched another of their number with a blow to the head.
Looking at the approaching heretics Dietrich realised that he was most likely going to be overwhelmed, his armour was strong but even that would not save him from the sheer numbers. His neural link sending a command to his suit, Dietrich activated the system intended for just such circumstances.

As griffons surrounded him, their weapons and talons putting more and more strain on his energy shield protecting his armour Schreiber felt numerous needles pierce his skin near his spine, a potent mix of stimulants, narcotics and secret holy chemical mixes flooded his bloodstream. Time slowed for the High-Confessor, the griffons hitting him with hammers, swords and maces of their own slowing down to a crawl as his heart pounded faster and faster. His pupils widened to extremely large sizes and his vision was replaced with a sea of colours and shapes that vaguely resembled the heretics assaulting him as bright red blobs. He noticed fifteen other shapes, these ones coloured green which showed that they were not heretics but neither were they faithful.

His conversion of them could wait however, the priest had his mission and time started to flow normally once again as the dim of battle was replaced with an angelic chorus in Dietrich’s ears. With his chemically enhanced strength he wrestled his mace from the heretic holding onto the weapon’s blessed shaft and with a wide swing tore through bodies and armour, the wails of the dying turning into holy hymns as the red blobs turned blue and soared to the heavens leaving their earthly bodies behind.

The Equestrians watched in equal parts awe and terror as the entire front wave of griffons facing the biped were thrown back into the air, some of the more unfortunate actually hit by the head of the green mace instead of by the bodies of their comrades. Bronze tried to comprehend how the human possessed such strength as another group of griffons were annihilated by a second sweep.

“There are no breaks on the salvation train!” the human cackled with an insane voice, far from the practiced preaching that he had been spouting before. “Embrace it my brothers and sisters! Embrace the freedom of death as I deliver unto you the ultimate kindness!” With almost fevered joy the human left the griffons attacking him from the back to pounce upon those griffons on the ground who had not been killed, the human bringing his mace down upon their heads as they struggled to get up.

The griffons who had continued to attack him, around twenty left alive, began to waver as Dietrich turned his attention to them. As the priest swept through their numbers with a deadly grace he continued his rants.

“Yes! More will be saved! I bring you mercy and compassion children! Give yourself unto the Lord and in return be granted serenity for eternity!” The human shoved his mace into one of the griffon archer’s face, the weapon sliding through the back of the head with ease as steam issued forth from around the shattered skull. This sight broke the griffons, the warriors wisely giving up their attack to flee into the air while the priest held out his still-opened book towards them as he jumped in the air.

“No! You are not yet cleaned of sin! Return so that I may help you!” An angry squawk drew the attention of the High-Confessor, the human turning to face the griffon officer who had stayed at the back of the battle. Fleeing into the skies were the two soldiers who had been escorting him, the officer moving to follow them away from the insane biped. He made it into the air, quickly ascending as Dietrich chased after him.

The human was too late; the officer was just above mace range as he headed away from the ‘saviour’. Dietrich in his drug fuelled frenzy let his tome dangle by his side as he dropped it to remove the morbid black tube from its housing on his back. The Royal Guard watched from the store as the human held his mace in one hand with the tube in the other, his claw wrapped around some form of trigger. A bright yellow glow appeared at the end of the skull-headed tube as the priest aimed it towards the griffon officer getting further and further away.

“I grant you fire now so that you are spared from the eternal flame pits of Hell!”

With a hiss-whoof a scorching pillar of flame expelled from the barrel of the tube, the inferno chasing the officer as he tried to escape. His efforts were in vain, the very tip of the fire caught the lower half of his body. He shrieked in agony as he plummeted back down to earth to crash into the middle of the cobbled road fifty metres away from where Dietrich was standing. His broken wing ignored, the griffon desperately tried to beat out the flames ravaging his hind legs as the priest slowly walked towards him. The hybrid shrieked in torment and fear as the flames began to spread higher and hire, more flesh and fur blackening as Dietrich halted ten metres away from him and aimed his flamethrower down at the wailing officer.

“And with holy intent I burn away your heresy and grant you absolution.”

As he stated these words his weapon spewed forth another extended burst of flame, the fires utterly engulfing the griffon as the officer’s dries were drowned out by the crackling of the conflagration. After holding the trigger down for four seconds Dietrich released it, the billowing flames ceasing as soon as they began.

There nothing left of the officer apart from a pile of black ash sitting in a pool of molten metal, the white hot fires having reduced him to almost nothing.

The guards had seen it all from the store, the soldiers completely shocked at the devastation that the High-Confessor had wreaked. Bronze stared at the human, his heartbeat quickening as the biped turned and seemed to stare right at him.

The unicorn ducked back around the side of the door, pulling Storm back with him as the rest of the guards retreated from their peepholes in the hopes that the human would not notice them. It was in vain however, the damage had already been done and the guards all sheltered behind cover, Bronze and Storm taking up positions behind the counter.

Bronze raised his crossbow to point at the door, he knew that it would most likely prove a fruitless gesture considering what the human had weathered from the griffons but they had come too far to be saved from the griffons only to be wiped out by the creature that had un-knowingly rescued them. His soldiers all followed his example, spears and swords aiming towards the door as the heavy footfalls grew louder and louder.

The ponies all held their breaths as they awaited the human’s entrance, they knew that this fight was going to be the hardest that they had faced so far. After five seconds of silence save for nervous breathing from his troops Bronze leaned forward as Storm looked over the top of the counter at the door.

“Where is h-“ Storm’s question was cut off as the right store window smashed in, the furniture blocking it thrown aside as the human ploughed through it effortlessly.

“I have come to bring you salvation!” the human declared as he stood in the remains of the shattered barricade while guards scrambled back from him with their weapons forgotten. Bronze fired a bolt in one last attempt to stop the human, the metal projectile merely bouncing of the blue energy barrier that flared up at the impact. The unicorn gulped as the biped raised his fire-creating tube towards him, the tip glowing with intense heat which distorted the air around it. He was just barely aware of the Storm sighing in resignation beside him as the human started to depress the trigger.

Dietrich was just about to grant reprieve through cleansing flame once again before his vision wavered, the blurs and blobs dissolving back to his normal vision again. The priest halted his trigger finger as the mind-altering cocktail of drugs he had dosed himself with wore off, each dose only enough for five minutes to prevent fatal side-effects to the user. Images of un-initiated souls faded away to reveal terrified equine guards, far from the heretics that Dietrich had believed them to be. The priest shook his head to clear any after effects of the drugs, the human lowering his flamethrower away from the two specific ponies that he had been aiming at.

“My apologies,” Dietrich stated, causing the two equines in front of him to look at him in fearful confusion, “I was not myself for a while there, please forgive me form any distress that I have caused.” The priest re-attached his weapon to his back, spreading his palms out as he rotated around the entire room to show the guards that he wasn’t going to hurt them. One of the ponies that he had been about to burn stood up shakily on his hooves, the unicorn stallion glanced around at the other equines before facing Dietrich.

“Why are you here? You humans are supposed to be our enemy.” the stallion asked, a pegasus mare glaring at Dietrich from behind the shop counter.

“Don’t you know?” Dietrich replied as he brushed some dust off his armour, “your Princesses have employed the assistance of the Empire I serve; as we speak a combined force including your fellow soldiers are assaulting this city.” The guards all were incredibly relieved to hear this news; re-enforcements had arrived after days of waiting.

“Oh, thank Celestia!” an earth pony praised as he stood up from behind the table he was sheltering behind. Dietrich opened his book and looked at the unicorn he had been speaking to, the pony seeming to be the one in charge.

“Indeed, would you like me to bless you before we leave this place for safer ground?” Bronze smiled nervously at the human, given what he had seen he was unsure as to what form this ‘blessing’ would take. He realised that the human did have a valid point about moving and most of his troops needed professional medical care.

“No thank you, I think it would be best if we moved straight away,” the priest stared at him for a few moments, Bronze beginning to wonder if the human was going to go crazy again.

“They are your troops,” the human responded while putting his book away, “if you wish to go out un-blessed then that is your choice.” Dietrich walked to the broken window and peered outside. “It seems clear outside, moving now would be a good choice before they have the chance to organise a counter-attack.” Bronze nodded at the statement before looking towards the table sheltering Maple Field and the wounded pegasus she was guarding, Steady Hail.

“Fields, get Hail up on his hooves and moving.” The mare tried to wake the pegasus however no response was received and as she sat the pony up everyone could see the bloody wing stump wrapped in bandages, the white cloth thoroughly soaked with blood. Maple Fields franticly pressed her ear to her comrade’s chest, the mare relaxing as she detected a heartbeat.

“He’s alive,” she informed, “He won’t be moving anytime soon however, we’ll have to carry him.” Two of the other earth ponies moved over to help, however Dietrich stopped them as he walked over to the injured guard.

“Allow me to carry your fellow, he will be much less of a burden to me and will leave you with more troops able to fight off any attacks.” Storm Front moved to block the human from accessing the wounded stallion, her wings spread put to the sides in a gesture for him to halt.

“No,” she denied as she glared at the High-Confessor, “I don’t trust you with one of us, from what I’ve heard from other guards and seen today you humans are monsters so no, I won’t let you carry him.” The Priest and pegasus Sergeant stared off, Storm gazing at Dietrich defiantly while the priest’s expression was hidden under his helmet. Bronze walked over in-between the pair, the unicorn deciding to step in before Storm provoked the biped any further.

“Storm, he does have a point,” the Sergeant gave him a surprised look, “now before you say anything he’s right. If he carries Hail then that frees up three of us, there are still griffons everywhere in the city so we need all the advantages we can get.”

“But what if it’s a trick to get us to lower our guard!?” Storm shot back as she waved a hoof towards Dietrich.

“He could have easily killed us before,” Bronze reminded, Storm’s defiance deflating at the mention of how close Dietrich had come to killing them. The mare’s wings returned to her sides as she hesitantly stepped aside to allow the human access to the maimed guard.

“Fine,” she huffed before shooting Dietrich with a final glare, “but if you betray us I’ll kill you myself human, do you understand?” Dietrich doubted that even the pegasus herself believed her threat, never the less he attempted to waylay her concerns as he bent down to pick the wounded equine off the ground.

“I swear on my faith that I only tell the truth regarding my motivations,” the High-Confessor assured as he placed the pegasus he was carrying across his shoulders, his armour making the weight of the armoured equine easily manageable. “Your comrade shall be treated like one of my own.”

The priest gestured towards the door, the weary Equestrians cautiously starting to move out of the shop. Dietrich Von Schreiber took a moment to shift the pony he was carrying to a more comfortable position for the equine as he followed the Equestrians outside into the corpse-filled street, the eyes of Storm and the earth pony soldier who had been guarding the pegasus fixed on him the entire time.

“Mecha-Chalmers used Plasma Cannon!”

Nigel shouted out gleefully over his mech’s speakers as he shot a group of minotaurs and griffons with his mech’s plasma cannon, the blue bolt of energy engulfing the unfortunate soldiers with superheated energy. A blackened crater in the road was left in their place, the weapon designed to engage armoured vehicles grossly overpowered for infantry engagement.

“A critical hit, it’s super effective!” he laughed.

As the barrel of the recently-used cannon cooled Chalmers checked his tactical map, the holographic display showing in all of the forces in the city. His escort of Foxhounds had all gone a different route, the scout mechs able to nimbly traverse the streets engaging any targets they saw. The tanks had all secured the outskirts and the artillery had been bombarding any enemy forces approaching the city with energy shells.

All of the infantry had been unloaded apart from a few squads of mechanised loaded into APCs, the mechanised soldiers tasked to push into the city to secure strategic points such as suspected enemy supply dumps and possible locations that any Equestrian garrison forces were still occupying. The three Vipers had all reported successful deployments of commandos; the only irregularity was something about a ‘flying priest’ that Chalmers dismissed as a communication error.

Already the infantry had made impressive gains, the combined harassment from the mechs upon the enemy forces and the support from the gunships had allowed them to push deep into the city. Chalmers guessed that it wouldn’t be long until it was back under Equestrian control; so far no casualties had been sustained by UIP troops or the Equestrian guards thanks to careful advances and surprisingly seamless communication between human and equine officers. Nigel was thankful that he had received a bunch of guards bright enough to save their differences until after the battle.

Satisfied that everything was going according to plan Chalmers moved forward down the main city road, his mech crushing benches and lamp posts as it walked by. Nigel was taller than most of the buildings apart from a few high-rise hotels and apartment blocks, this city of Baltimare was not the metropolis that Manehattan was but it still was a decent size compared to other equine cities. Nigel held his lance out in front of his mech while he kept his ranged-weapon arm at the ready. He had so far refrained from using any rockets or missiles, not much point apart from entertainment from saving city if he blew it up in the process.

A large amount of life-forms appeared on his scanners, all of them centred in a space that was marked as a community park. The proximity to the docks lead Nigel to believe that they were likely to be captured Equestrians waiting for transport; no doubt they would be guarded by large amounts of griffons and minotaurs. He checked the location off all of the units he had, none of the Vipers were free, the Foxhounds were engaging forces to his east and all of the other forces would not make it in time for his planned attack.

‘Hold on,’ Nigel thought as he peered closer at the tactical map showing the rooftop of nearby high-rise close to him and the park, ‘that may just be exactly what I need.’

Green Chime shifted in her spot on the grass, her chains clinking as she stretched her legs. The grass-green unicorn and the rest of the hundreds of ponies part of her ‘group’ were all huddled in the park surrounded by multiple griffons and minotaurs always yelling at them to ‘be quiet’ and ‘don’t move’. The mare sighed, she had quickly gotten over the shock of being taken from her tea store in the centre of the city and bound in chains after seeing how the invading beings treated ponies who refused to follow orders.

She did not want to be beaten to near unconsciousness only to be thrown on the ground and left there until the time came to be loaded onto a ship.

Where ponies were being taken had been made know through the griffon’s jeers about slavery, the griffon territories was the destination of large cargo ships carrying the already taken Equestrians. The minotaurs seemed to not be interested in taking slaves, they were more concerned with wealth.

After the first lot of ponies had been punished for trying to fight back everypony else just either sobbed or followed every instruction to the letter to avoid having their coats decorated with black and blue bruises. Green Chime had been waiting for days for her fate to arrive, the griffons having kept her and many others in the city as the amount of ponies they were taking was too much for the ships they had brought with them. She flicked her brown short-cut mane, she was happy for them to take their time before taking her away.

A new fleet had arrived in the morning, Chime able to see their masts from where she had been lying. The griffons had gotten them up and had begun to move ponies to the docks when loud explosions had boomed out from the city outskirts. The griffons and minotaurs had hurried the prisoners back to the park as some really fast objects had flown overhead leaving more booms in their wake.

Under threat of death they had all been told to stay put, every pony chained to one in front and one behind as they all kept still in the park. As the minutes passed the hybrids guarding them had grown more and more nervous as the faint sounds of more explosions and other strange noises grew louder as time passed. More and more soldiers had arrived from the docks to head into the city, however none came back.

Her ears picked up along with the rest of the ponies in the park as more sounds of fighting, this time in the harbour itself, reached them. Their guards all looked towards the sounds with concern as some griffons took to the skies to get a better look. As Green Chime turned her head back around she caught a flash of tan behind a large hotel, a strange object almost as tall as the building it was next to peeking out from the side.

It had two large metal legs, a large torso and a strange head with lots of red lights. It was all tan and seemed to be covered in a huge amount of metal. One arm held a massive grey spear and the other was hidden behind the hotel. Chime tried to figure out what it wanted but the thing didn’t give her a chance as it ran out towards the park at a speed that seemed incredibly fast for something that big.

The thing’s footfalls immediately drew the attention of the guards, the griffons and minotaurs all scrambling for cover in alarm as the towering metal beast raised its left arm fitted with all kinds of black tubes towards a makeshift guard tower sheltering ten griffons and five minotaurs that the invaders had built to keep an eye in their prisoners.

The Equestrians all flattened their ears down as a scream emitted from the largest barrel, a blue bolt that was so bright it hurt to look at rocketing out of the tube towards the guard tower. A massive explosion and a wave of heat was created when the bolt hit, completely destroying the wooden tower and all inside.

The beast then turned its tubes upon guards outside the area holding the prisoners, lots of smaller red bolts tearing up the ground and guards as they landed amongst them. A few of the smarter soldiers ran amongst the captives, hoping that the bipedal war machine would not be willing enough to fire on the prisoners. Chime squealed in surprise and shock as a burly minotaur lifted her up with a blue-grey arm around her neck in front of his chest. Chime tried to fight back with her bound hooves as the minotaur unhooked her collar chain attaching her to the other ponies like his fellows were with their prisoners but with her legs still shackled it didn’t even bother him.

She quickly gave up even trying these ineffective moments when a large axe was held against her throat.

“Shut up and don’t move!” the minotaur holding her growled as his grip got tighter, Chime finding it difficult to breath as she tried to suck in as much air as she could through the hold. It looked like several other griffons and minotaurs had the same ideas, each one grabbing a hostage as the giant rotated towards them. Chime heard a male grunt of pain then a loud slap to her right, she found the minotaur holding her turning to face the source of the sound allowing Chime to see a white unicorn with a neon two-tone mane receive a second slap from the griffon holding her hostage as the solider grimaced in pain and anger, red hoof marks on the griffon’s underside.

“Knock it off, they’re of no use dead!” the minotaur holding Chime ordered, the griffon ceasing his slaps of the unicorn. Chime noticed that the unicorn seemed dazed by the assault, her red eyes unfocused and a small trail of blood leaking from her mouth.

“Attention Griffon and Minotaur forces!” a male voice boomed out, everyone focusing their attention on the giant. “Release your hostages and surrender, failure to do so will result in your execution!” all of the hostage carrying hybrids started to back away to the road leading towards the docks.

“No, you listen here!” a griffon officer carrying a pegasus stallion in his talons yelled back as he hovered off the ground, “You obviously want these ponies alive, if you try to stop us we will kill them!” to emphasise his point the officer raised his sword towards the stallion’s neck.

“And just where do you think you’ve got to go?” the metal giant boomed back as the hostage-holders continued to move backwards, the seven holding ponies joined by thirty others who were the sole-survivors of the creature’s attack.

“Here’s how it’s going to work!” the officer called back, “we are going to the docks, we are going to board a ship and we’ll leave with these hostages! You shoot and they die, you follow us and they die! I heard that you’re working with the Princesses and they would not let you kill their ponies!” The griffon sounded smug as he yelled the last part. His smug smile dropped however when instead of a calm reply that he had been receiving from the giant so far he was answered with chuckling laughter.

“Oh, you think I care about what the Princesses think? That’s pretty funny right there. You are correct however in saying that I do not wish to kill any Equestrians, more of a personal choice really.” The hybrids continued to move back, their backs towards the road surrounded by houses and stalls. “I also don’t need to kill them to kill you.”

“Is that so Beast?” the officer responded as they continued to move backwards, “and just how will you do that? We hold all the cards in this situation.” The laughter from the giant rang out again at the officer’s reply.

“You may hold all the cards,” the giant answered, “but you went and dropped the soap, breaking the first rule of prison and leaving your rear exposed.”

Multiple hisses of air followed by wet squelches from behind followed immediately after the statement, Chime finding herself covered in moisture as the Minotaur’s grip around her relaxed and she found herself falling to the ground.

Chime landed heavily on her side as more hisses and screams filled the air along with the Giant’s booming laughter. She winced as her body gained a few bruises and for some reason her mouth tasted all coppery. She jolted as a large blue thing in metal thumped down right in front of her, the mare at first unable to figure out what it was. Her eyes widened as she saw spurts of red fluid spew out from the top, the pony realising what was in front of her.

It was the body of the bull that had been holding her, minus most of his head.

Chime almost threw up, the pony gagging as she tried to backpedal away from the corpse. The chains binding her legs hampered her, she was only able to put a few hooves between her and the body before she gave up and turned her head away.

This proved to be a mistake; she had turned towards the direction that the hissing sounds were coming from just in time to see three griffons and a minotaur have large holes torn in their bodies as they tried to run down an alley away from the street. As the bodies dropped eleven beings could be seen advancing towards the carnage, one bat-pony Lunar Guard galloping next to ten, grey-metal bipedal creatures the sizes of minotaurs with objects grasped in their claws pointing towards her.

With hisses the objects seemed to spit something out, Chime realising that they were not aiming at her but at a lone griffon who was the last creature in the street remaining. The unlucky hybrid had no time to even scream before he danced backwards as holes were blasted in his chest and head. The bipeds kept on firing for a few seconds, the griffon unrecognizable due to the amount of flesh that had been blasted off him. The hissing sounds stopped and the ravaged body fell to the street with a wet splat.

“There’s a few down here!” the bat-pony yelled as the mare stopped and pointed towards another alleyway with a purple metal-clad hoof. Two more grey bipeds sprinted up as the original ten continued forwards to where all the hostages lay, the new bipeds holding larger objects than their counterparts. They skidded to a halt at the mouth of the alleyway as multiple sets of heavy footsteps grew fainter, the two bipeds bracing themselves as they pointed their weapons into the alley.

Rapid ripping that sounded like the tearing of paper boomed out as the weapons seemed to kick in the bipeds grasp, lots of tiny bangs and screams echoing out from further into the alley. The grey creatures continued to spray the alley with death for five seconds before a single griffon soared into the sky in a desperate attempt to escape. The bipeds raised their weapons and opened fire again without hesitating, the griffon simply disappearing into a red mist under the hail of fire from the two loud weapons.

Suddenly there was silence in the street save for the occasional whimper or sob. Chime watched as the grey bipeds and Lunar Guard moved amongst the bodies, weapons pointed towards the ground. Sporadic sounds of their weapons discharging followed by wet splats signalled the deaths of any hybrid survivors, the grey creatures going about the task with methodical precision. Chime watched the proceedings with horror before metal hooves grabbed hold of her.

She whimpered as the bat-pony mare pulled her away from the minotaur body beside her, the guard dragging her to the side of a house. The night guard sat her up so that her back was against the cream-coloured wall, the mare looking at her in concern.

“Are you hurt?” the guard asked, Chime managing to shake her head. Chime looked over to where she had been laying, the grey creatures helping up the other hostages who had all survived.

“Don’t look over there, look at me instead,” the guard advised as she moved Chime’s head away from the scene with a hoof. As the mare pulled her hoof away Chime saw fresh blood coating the purple metal.

“Am I bleeding!?” Chime asked desperately, the bat-pony shaking her head as she turned around and with a foreleg waved over one of the bipeds before she faced Chime again.

“No I don’t think so; it doesn’t look like your blood now that I’m a little closer. We’ll get a medic to look at you just in case however.” The guard must have noticed the terrified look that Chime gave the approaching biped, the mare placing a comforting hoof upon her chained forelegs. “Calm down, the humans won’t hurt you.”

Chime briefly though about how she had heard the name ‘human’ somewhere before but couldn’t place it, she soon forgot about trying to remember however when the creature arrived and crouched down in front of her as it opened a case that it was carrying.

“Righto then, let’s have a look at you young lass,” the creature stated in a male voice with a strange accent. Chime didn’t speak as the biped withdrew a dark-grey cloth from his grey metal case, the night guard patting her on the back in an attempt to comfort her. “Please close your pretty brown eyes for me,” Chime complied, shuddering as she felt the slightly damp cloth on her face. She sat there with her eyes clenched shut as the human wiped her entire face.

“So, I’ve already met Corporal Sweet Dreams beside you, how’s about you go ahead and tell me your name then?” The human continued, Green Chime swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Green… Green Chime,” she stammered as the cloth was briefly pulled away, only to be replaced with a fresh one.

“That’s a pretty name you’ve got there, it’s a shame that this had to happen to you,” the strangely friendly-sounding human commented, Chime unable to believe that a being that had just killed numerous creatures was acting so nice towards her. It was incredibly confusing.

Chime only nodded as the human finished cleaning her face, the biped removing the cloth.

“You can open your eyes now.” Chime did as instructed and was met with a grey faceless head with a single red line where eyes should be. “Okay now,” the human continued as he moved a metal claw up to her left cheek, “tell me if this hurts.”

The human’s talons pressed down on her cheek firm but gently, the digits not sharp like Chime had been expecting. The cool metal traced her face, roving up to her forehead before lowering to her torso. The night guard kept patting her on the back as the human’s claw made it to her left die and ran over the spot where she had landed when the minotaur had dropped her.

“Ow! It hurts right there,” Chime reported, the human using his talons to feel the flesh around the area on the side of her stomach.

“Just a bruise, apart from that and a few other minor ones you seem to have escaped un-scathed.” The biped packed up his case, having not needed to use any of the strange devices and objects that Chime could see inside. He stood up as gave her a pat on the head as he picked his case off the ground, “good luck to you.”

With that he jogged off, heading to the park where Chime could see even more bipeds, these ones tan, and Royal Guard rushing from the surrounding areas accompanied by strange metal machines that moved around on eight wheels.

“Dreams!” a female voice yelled out from the street, Chime spotting a grey human holding up something that shined in the sun. The human threw the item and it was caught by the bat-pony with a leathery wing, revealing it to be a set of large keys. Chime was about to suggest that they use her magic to levitate the keys, levitation the only spell that most unicorns including herself knew but the Lunar Guard proved the dexterity of her wings as she used the limb to unlock the chains that bound Chime’s legs together.

“Thanks,” Chime said as she shakily stood up with the guard’s assistance.

“Come on,” Sweet Dreams replied as she started to walk towards the park and the rest of the forces, “all civilians are going to be evacuated out of the city for the time being and taken to Canterlot.” Green Chime hesitated, the mare gazing at the humans and the large giant in particular. The giant was currently silent, however Chime could see it sweeping its weapons over the buildings to the sides.

“Uh, can I just stay here?” Chime asked softly, Dreams looking at her with a questioning look.

“Are you afraid of the humans?” the guard asked, Chime hesitating at the query.

“A little,” she responded as she stared at a group of ten tan humans kick down the door of a house before rushing in, “but while they scare me a little now after speaking to one when I look at them I just feel…”

“Confused that they don’t seem evil?” Dreams finished for her, Chime nodding her head as the night guard sighed. “Have you heard of the name ‘human’ before?”

“I have,” Chime answered, “but I don’t remember where from.”

“I’ll tell you where,” Dreams responded as the two sat down, “you’ve heard the name ‘human’ before because we were at war with them barely a week ago.”

“What!?” Chime exclaimed, “I didn’t hear anything about a war!”

“The Princesses didn’t announce it to the public, but you remember the Canterlot Castle attack and the fire a few days later?” Chime nodded her head.

“The ones caused by changelings that had been hiding in the city?” She replied, remembering reading a newspaper saying that the changelings responsible had been imprisoned.

“Kind of, those are the incidents but it was humans, not changelings that caused them. In fact,” the guard pointed with a hoof towards the giant, “the leader of the group that were at war with us is in that machine right there.”

“How do you know?” Chime asked nervously, what Dreams had just told her coupled with the laughter and jokes that the giant had made before did not raise her opinion of the humans. In response to her question the bat-pony smiled a little bit.

“The commandos,” Dreams nodded at a grey human ordering a group of tan ones around, “told me when we were in the back of the Viper,” the guard noticed the look of confusion that Chime had. “One of their flying machines,” she explained, “they were rather detached to me at first; instead focusing on their pre-battle checks but after a time we started to talk. They were actually pretty friendly towards me; they told me a few things. Most of it was about the humans that attacked us, the Internal Security Agency. Apparently they’re some kind of intelligence agents or something like that, I didn’t get much else. All I know is that the ISA is considered scary even by other human military.”

“Why?” Chime questioned.

“Simple, they said that it was because the ISA knows everything about you and that most of their operatives are a little unhinged.” Chime shivered at the reminder.

“I got the unhinged part,” both mares looked towards the giant machine, below it ponies were being loaded into the wheeled machines as guards and humans oversaw the proceedings.

“Well, if you keep to yourself they’ll leave you alone for the most part,” the bat-pony informed as she got up. “Most of the humans I’ve talked to don’t even seem to hate us like I used to think, they’re just soldiers following orders. In fact it’s almost like they don’t even think that we’re worth the time to fight, something I don’t mind.” Dream turned towards Chime who was still sitting on the ground, “come on, as soon as you get to Canterlot you’ll be safe.”

Chime left the ground and followed the guard, the mare sparing one final glance to the tall giant before sighing and focusing on the ground at her hooves as she trotted along.

She didn’t know what to think of the humans anymore.

“Colonel Straken, we have the latest reports from the front!”

UIP Army Colonel Tabitha Straken turned towards the junior officer leading the team manning the tactical communications of the makeshift command centre that had been set up on the ground floor of the native equine castle. Her piercing blue eyes, pitch-black hair and angular features excluded a hostile aura as she observed the room once again, the Colonel liking to run a tidy war-room. All of the UIP army officers were clothed in olive-green dress uniforms with armour vests, a few other UIP officers from other departments with uniforms ranging from black uniforms of the special divisions to the fully-armoured suits of the Shock-trooper commanders.

They were occupying what used to be a conference room, the room the largest space apart from the throne room. The two Equestrian Princesses and numerous members of their command staff watched on from around the room as she waved a white-gloved hand at the young man who had addressed her.

“Carry on Lieutenant,” Straken ordered with a cold, commanding voice that had seen through many a successful battle co-ordination.

“Force Manehattan reports nighty-percent of target city under complete control with total naval domination. Casualties are minimal with no deaths and forty-five Equestrian guards and five UIP personnel heavily wounded but stable. The Equestrian guard forces already in the city have sustained twenty-three recorded deaths with one-hundred-and-seven wounded. Enemy casualties are in the five-hundreds.”

Straken turned towards the Princesses as the white one, Celestia, let a few tears fall as her sister comforted her. The Colonel scoffed under her breath, unnoticed by the rulers but a few of the pony officers heard it and glared at her. Straken didn’t care, she was not known for her compassion and in her opinion the Princesses were far too soft to be rulers.

The UIP’s methods tended to be brutal but efficient, if the Princesses were unwilling to sacrifice the lives of their troops for their citizens’ safety then they should just let the UIP handle everything, a suggestion of hers that had been politely rejected by the rulers multiple times, the Alicorns citing that the sight of the guards would give the citizens hope.

In Straken’s opinion all the in-experienced equine troops did was provide the Griffons and Minotaurs with soldiers unprotected by power-armour to slaughter. She did grudgingly grant the equine soldiers she had spoken to that they were willing to fight for their people at the risk of their own safety, it was just that they were outmatched by the more physically superior hybrids that came with brute strength or sharp claws before even picking up a weapon.

“Colonel?”
Straken realised that the Communications Officer was staring at her, she must have zoned out.

“Continue,” she ordered, the blond officer not skipping a beat as he obeyed the command.

“Commander Chalmers reports that the city of Baltimare is under complete control, no friendly forces have suffered any casualties apart from the local garrison which appears to have fifteen-percent dead, fifty-five percent missing in action and thirty-percent wounded. It seems as if most of the guard was captured and transported to Griffon territories, the few remaining survivors were holed up in makeshift defensive points. The Commander reports that search-and-destroy operations have commenced to root out any remaining hostiles as well as warning that hostiles attempted to use hostages.”

“Interesting…” Straken responded as she went over the information. Hostages would complicate matters, there was no doubt in her mind that the Princesses would prefer to have their subjects enslaved then killed. Straken would normally order her forces to engage the slaver filth anyway despite collateral damage but for some reason unknown to her the Admiral and Commander Chalmers had stressed that Equestrian casualties were to be minimised. Tabitha herself thought that conquering these equines would save a lot of time compared to trying to remain diplomatic.

“Urgent communication from Fillydelphia.” a Communications Technician reported in a steady voice.

“Put it on screen,” Straken responded, the large holographic projector sitting against the wall coming to life as the back wall of the room lit up with an image of a city skyline. The view shifted, everyone in the room watching as the camera, appearing to be mounted in a soldier’s helmet, glanced down at the roof of a tall building before panning to show a group of grey-armoured commandos set up with long rifles looking over the side of the building.

“Come in Command,” a heavy female voice spoke over the communications net.

“This is Colonel Straken,” Tabitha responded, “report trooper.”

“Confirmed Command,” the female soldier continued as she lay down on the grey metal roof, “we seem to have had a rather worrying development occur.” The soldier looked through the scope of a set-up rifle, the video feed switching to show the scene through the magnifying sights.

Down below in a clear area that looked like the city centre was a mass of Equestrians and a horde of hybrid soldiers. What was concerning was that a large amount of enemy soldiers were separating a large number of the ponies and corralling them into a fenced area made from scavenged metal poles and girders. Aiming at all the fenced ponies were multiple griffons wielding crossbows, a single ballista that had been missed by the pre-battle airstrikes also pointing at the prisoners with a heavy iron bolt loaded.

“Murphy strikes again,” was all Straken said, the Coronel going over what to do in her head. Glancing at a tactical map on another wall showing the three cities she saw that there appeared to only be a small number of UIP infantry in the immediate area, along with the commando unit providing the video feed. She didn’t have many options unfortunately, the commandos could attempt to neutralize the enemies before any hostages were killed but with the large amount of enemy troops it was unlikely. It was the only choice remotely possible of saving the lives of the equines she was tasked to protect.

“Princess Celestia,” the alicorn broke her gaze from the holo-screen to stare at Straken, the Princess shaken at the sights she had seen. “It seems that our only option is for the commandos to engage the hostile forces. There is a high chance that some of your subjects will di-“

“No!” Celestia yelled, shocking her sister and military officers as she advanced on Straken, “I will not have any more of my ponies die!” Straken stared down the distraught Princess; the Colonel had tackled more intimidating enemies in her life-time. She could understand the ruler’s distress but giving the Hybrids what they wanted was not an option in her eyes.

“If we do nothing then they will be carted off to slavery, a fate worse than death,” the Colonel calmly retorted, “some of your subjects have already died and more will die, this is war.”

Celestia maintained her stare before dropping her head to the ground, the Princess far from her normal, regale image. Princess Luna moved to her sister and threw a blue wing over her back, as Celestia mumbled out a reply.

“Do what you have to do.”

Straken turned back to the screen, the commando leader not having said a word during the conversation. Just as she was about to order the commencement of the operation a polite cough from behind drew her attention. She turned, the Equestrians and other UIP officers also looking towards the source of the cough.

A UIP officer clothed in a undecorated black uniform stepped out from the corner of the room where he had been lurking unnoticed, the elderly man’s steel-grey hair and large moustache contrasting with his piercing green eyes. The only hint of his identity was the small silver badge pinned to his chest, a human brain cortex surrounded by words in a foreign script.

Straken for the first time during the operation felt a twinge of fear, recognizing the figure as an officer with the infamous UIP Psionic Warfare Unit. The menacing officer bowed politely before Celestia, the Princess looking at the new arrival with unease. Could the Alicorn detect something about the officer that she couldn’t?

“I may have a solution to our little hostage problem,” the officer’s voice caused shivers to run down Straken’s spine, the Colonel not wincing like everyone else in the room, instead she glared at the PWU officer as he merely smiled at her. He made her feel uncomfortable and out of control and she hated him for it.

“What do you mean?” Celestia inquired with a twinge of hope, the old man smiling is response.

“Those are your orders Epsilon; fulfil the parameters at all costs.”

“Affirmative,” a high-class, refined voice that would not be out-of-place in a royal courtroom replied.

James Roberson, Agent Epsilon as he was known by the PWU, closed the communication link as he checked the energy clip on his silenced gauss pistol. The weapon’s colour matched his thin black armour, the only burst of colour coming from the dull blue armour plates covering his groin and chest. His helmet was just a coal-black faceplate, the same screen technology that was used with the windows of starships allowing him to view the outside world as if he was wearing nothing at all.

Holding his gun out in front of him with gloveless brown-skinned hands, James moved out of the storage closet filled with cleaning supplies into the apartment building that he had been occupying for a day, having infiltrated the city long before the attack plans had even been made. He had been awaiting orders from his handler, his patience finally being rewarded with an assignment.

He stalked through the hallways of the building with his gun at his side, the sounds of war in the distance. James wasn’t concerned with the fighting, he had a specific reason for being here and that reason had just come up. He checked his HUD, his destination the city centre twenty minutes of walking away. This would be too long however, so James exited the apartments and stood in the front gardens of the building. One second his was standing still, then is a flash of faint blue light he disappeared from sight.

He rematerialized right behind a wooden fence, the sounds of distressed equines and numerous squawks and bellows becoming audible as his teleportation completed. He peered at the top of a nearby hotel, his HUD picking up the signals of twelve UIP commandos and one bat-pony guard watching the activity in the city square. He doubted that they had been informed of his presence, he doubted that even Admiral Montgomery himself knew that the fleet was harbouring a Pysops Assassin. James checked that his gun and combat knives were all accounted for, a neural command causing his ‘Silence’ suit’s clocking to activate causing the soldier to turn completely invisible.

Hidden from sight Robertson left the cover of the fence, the soldier quickly strolling towards a group of griffons and minotaurs that wore armour of command officers. He passed chained equines on the ground, both civilians and captured guards from the city’s garrison lying down on the cobbled area. They must have been awaiting transport; however the UIP naval forces deployed into the sea had effectively blockaded the port and destroyed a large amount of hostile shipping.

He ignored the distressed ponies, his target, the largest minotaur officer with a black coat was ordering his troops while he stood next to the makeshift hostage area. Multiple soldiers armed with crossbows aimed at the ponies held inside, the large ballista also pointed at the thirty incredibly upset equines inside. As James approached, his foot-falls silent and his form invisible the minotaur commander’s speech was audible.

“… and if the filth advance we announce the demands, the Princesses’ would never risk harming their ‘little ponies’ so they’ll have no choice but retreat.”

“But Stonewall,” a griffon dressed in ornate plate armour gilded with gold responded as his claw tapped the hilt of a sword with a gem-studded hilt, “what of the humans?”

The minotaur snorted, the three griffon guards and the griffon officer stepping back while the two normal minotaur soldiers held their ground by their commander’s side.

“The humans have been reduced to Celestia’s playthings!” the minotaur scoffed. “They will not kill any ponies for fear of incurring their pony overlord’s ire, as pathetic as it maybe!” James smirked under his helmet as he stood beside the bull, what he was about to do reminded him of an old squad mate back in his days as an ISA soldier.

“Oh really?” he asked, the solder stepping around the creatures as they whirled around to look at where his voice had been.

“What manner of trickery… High Peaks!” the bull faced the griffon officer, “How did you do that!?” The griffon’s reply was cut off by James once more, the soldier having moved to the other side of the confused minotaur officer.

“Listen well, Bull,” he spoke, once again dodging the creatures as they tried to spot him.

“What the…” a minotaur soldier breathed as they all stared at the empty patch of air. James had once again made his way behind the creatures.

“My name is Epsilon,” the cloaked soldier informed, slipping in-between the guards as they spun around once more. He leaned right next to the minotaur leader’s right ear and withdrew one of his knives, the ten-inch dark-grey blade remaining sheathed thanks to specific construction materials.

“And I be killing.”

With these words he jammed the knife into the bull’s left eye socket and into the brain as the creature jerked his head back at the sound of James’s voice in his ear. The spray of blood interrupted his cloak field for a brief instant, the air shimmering as the red fluid gushed out from the ravaged wound. Robertson shut the stealth off completely, he had gained the attention of every single creature in the square.

All part of the plan.

As he form became clear and the dead minotaur slumped to the ground the griffon officer yelled out loudly in surprise.

“Human!” the griffon pulled his sword from its scabbard and pointed it at James, the shocked guards doing the same. A faint blue glow surrounded James’s armour, not one of the creatures noticing it in their alarm.

“Ten points for Captain Obvious,” James remarked dryly, High Crest searching the surrounding area most likely searching for any more humans. The griffon found none, looking towards the human armed with a simple knife he stared at him confused.

“Only one of you? You must be mad!”

“There only needs to be one of me,” James remarked confidently, the griffon officer actually looking like he agreed for a second before glancing down towards the dead bull’s body.

“You’ll pay for what you have done,” the griffon spat as he gestured towards the hostage prison, “surrender or we’ll kill a hostage, then we’ll kill you.”

“Get stuck in mud and die of exposure,” was the human’s response, his posh voice only infuriating the officer more. The griffon grinned maliciously as he clicked a talon and pointed at a griffon archer before facing the human once more.

“Kill one of the hostages!”

The officer smirked as he waited for the sound of a firing crossbow, however after five seconds with no pony death scream he frowned and looked back towards the nominated soldier.

The griffon was frozen, his claw almost pulling the trigger as the crossbow was aimed at a terrified brown earth pony stallion closest to the fence. There was visible sweat on the griffon’s body, the officer glaring at the soldier.

“Shoot him you Featherbrain!”

“I can’t General!” the soldier wailed, “I want to but I can’t move!”

Soft laughter came from the human, everyone turning to look at the biped who was now glowing a noticeable blue from crisscrossing electric blue lines that had appeared which covered his entire suit.

“Oh, excuse me,” James apologised with a wave, “I just thought that you pathetic excuses for soldiers would have managed to kill a single unarmed hostage without failing.”

“Shut up! I’ll show you!’ with his screech the General made a series of signals with a talon, every crossbow armed griffon and minotaur raising their weapons towards the hostages. The ballista as well was pointed towards the ponies as the officer once again waited for them to fire.

Nothing happened.

Turning around, the griffon saw that these troops as well were unable to move, the ones crewing the ballista also trying to fire the weapon t no effect. The officer shot the blue-tinged biped a glare as he leapt forward with his sword pointed at the laughing human’s head.

“I’ll kill you myself… what!?”

The officer had halted a bare inch from ramming his gleaming sword into James’s face, the human giving him a slow clap as every griffon and minotaur in the square found themselves paralysed. James started a slow clap that built into full blown applause, the Griffon General’s eyes widened as far as they could as he stared at his unresponsive body.

“Oh no, you most certainly will not,” James informed, “my death is not in the mission parameters, we’ll have to postpone my demise if that’s the same with you.” The griffon’s eyes looked at the human with fear.

“What’s going on!?”

“It’s simple,” James replied as he began to pace back and forward in-between the multiple frozen guards. “Using my special talents and training I’ve invaded your minds so to speak, preventing you from killing anything. Well, any Equestrians that is.”

One of the griffon guards frozen beside the General suddenly lunged forward and buried his spear into the neck of a minotaur guard, the only movement from the bull was his mouth moving as he gurgled on his own blood. The griffon who had attacked was paralysed once more, the soldier hyperventilating as he stared into the eyes of his comrade who he had just murdered.

His pain at having no control over his actions was lifted shortly after, a light puff of air from James’s raised pistol sending a metal slug into his brain which freed him from the torment of the psychic control.

As the body fell, pulling the slain bull’s corpse to the ground with it James turned his attention back to the griffon general who, if he had not been under paralysing psionic, would have voided his bowels then and there.

“Well, I’d love to chat some more but I have a timetable to keep so I have to finish this,” General High Crest found himself falling to his knees, the griffon kneeling before the human as his sword was moved towards his exposed neck while his head tilted back.

“What manner of demon are you?” the General stammered as his own talon shakily pressed the blade of his sword to the feathers on his neck. James placed his gun back into his holster as he patted the General on the head.

“I’m just a soldier,” he replied stepping back as, with a slice, the General drew his own sword against his throat, the body falling to the cobbled ground. James glanced up to the hotel housing the bat-pony and the commandos, the soldiers having been instructed to not interfere.

“Kill the rest,” James ordered over the communication system, high speed gauss rounds cutting down helpless hybrids where they stood. Making sure that he maintained the mental control, James checked his suit’s status, the psionic-enhancer systems all green and running well-under safe levels. If it wasn’t for the armour his abilities would not be nearly as powerful.

It wasn’t long before almost all of the hostiles had been eliminated, the equestrians watching all staying still on the ground in pure terror as dead bodies hit the floor. Just before the last creature fell a shadow moved over the city centre as his communication system burst into life with rapid reports and chatter. James looked up, pausing for a few seconds before looking back down towards the pistol at his hip.

‘I might need a bigger gun…’

Chalmers was relaxing in his mech listening to Bach as he reclined in his seat, waiting for the forces below him to finish loading up the final batch of Equestrians into the transports. He probably should be paying attention to the surrounding area but everything had been cleared so nothing could go wrong, he might as well take a well-deserved break.

His calm enjoyment of classical music was interrupted as rapid radio chatter erupted for his comms system. Chalmers had just enough time to register the word ‘Dragons’ before a gigantic force slammed into his mech, Nigel being thrown around in his chair as the mech fell to the ground with a crunch. The walker had landed on its back facing up, thankfully it had not crushed anything or anyone underneath it when it had toppled over.

Chalmers shook his head, a loud roaring accompanied by the sounds of numerous weapons fire filling his cockpit with noise. His view screens were still working, glancing out he could see a massive blue dragon perched on top of a high-rise building as lasers and APC cannon shells peppered the beast’s hide causing it a large amount of pain. Chalmers noticed that it was opening its mouth and aiming at the APCs full of Equestrians as well as the pony and human troops next to them. Remembering that dragons could apparently breathe fire Nigel decided that he would have to act quickly.

“Hold your fire, this bitch is mine!” Chalmers called out over the speakers, the UIP forces immediately ceasing their attacks. “Hey, wannabe Godzilla!” Nigel taunted, gaining the focus of the dragon, “I’m going to smack you silly for touching my ride!”

With those words Nigel used his energy lance as an aid while he made his mech stand up, racks of boosters firing on the back legs and torso to assist him to his feet. The Dragon glared at him as the mech stood tall once more. Chalmers raised the tip of his lance towards the beast; the mech’s other arm by its side.

“I’ve got a lance, some tunes,” as Nigel said this he put on a musical piece titled 'The British Grenadiers' over the speakers, “and I’m all ready to kick your scaly arse!” Both fighters squared off as British marching music played, the APCs and troops using the distraction to evacuate the area.

“Is that what you think human?” The dragon, a male, spoke, “the griffons promised me and my children all of the gems that we can find once they take over Equestria, your death is needed for that to happen so prepare yourself for destruction.”

“Very well, just call me Saint George,” Nigel stated as he pushed his mech forwards the dragon lifting off to charge at him with its mouth open wide.

A rush of flames enveloped the mech, and while they would give normal troops and maybe APCs trouble the mech was designed to operate on a vast array of planets including volcanic-strewn wastes so the heat shielding held firm. The inferno did however block Nigel’s view, the Commander thrusting his lance out in front of him in the hopes of impaling the dragon.

He was rewarded with a screech of pain, however when the flames cleared he saw that dragon un-harmed save for a large gash down his side, the wound not life-threatening.

“Want to try that again?” Chalmers mocked, the dragon’s yellow eyes narrowing in rage as he charged towards the mech.

With the clash of claw on metal the dragon rammed the mech once more, however this time Nigel was ready for the attack and he braced with the help of the thrusters at the back which activated to keep the mech upright.

Nigel strained against the controls as he fought against the dragon, the two were locked in a grapple for a few moments before Chalmers noticed that his mech’s left arm, the one with the ranged weapons, was left free. Smiling, he placed the barrels of the arm right against the dragon’s underbelly; the beast smirking as he slowly forced the mech back towards a high-rise. Just as he was about to slam Chalmers against the building Nigel spoke up.

“Well, it’s been a good fight,” Nigel stated to the confusion of the dragon, “but I’m afraid that I believe that you just don’t have the stomach for it.”

Right after he said this he fired all of his guns at once, laser bolts, beams and plasma shots all tearing into the dragon’s soft hide as the beast roared in agony. It reared up with its wings as it tried to fly away, in doing so placing its chest right in the path of a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.

“Goodnight, sweet prince,” Nigel farewelled as he fired a huge anti-tank rocket right into the dragon’s left shoulder, the explosive detonating and tearing off larges chunks of flesh as well as peppering a wing with shrapnel.

The dragon let out an ear-splitting wail as it plummeted to the ground, smashing down in a heap atop of a water fountain. It moaned pitifully as dark crimson blood pumped out of his many wounds, Nigel placing on of the mech’s clawed feet upon the fallen creature’s neck as the music reached a crescendo.

“People never learn, tangle with me and you’ll lose your head.”

Chalmers pressed the mech’s foot down, a sharp claw slicing through the dragon’s neck and severing is head from its body in a spray of gore. Chalmers moved his lance down and with some careful manovering it was raised back up, the dragon’s head firmly stuck on the point.

‘Well, I just liberated a pony city while driving a mech, killed a dragon and mounted its head upon a pike,’ Chalmers thought to himself.

‘It’s days like these that really make me love my job.’

Author's Notes:

Well, that chapter was a bit of work but it's released finally. We find that the UIP is a mixed bag of people, some sane, others not so sane.

Can anyone tell just who this 'James Robertson' might be, who does he seem to act like? Readers who have read the latest chapter of Nigel M Chalmers, Emperor should be able to get this one.

Also, his taunting while cloaked is a very silly reference that I doubt people will get, if you do then you need to aquire a better taste in skyrim machinima.

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I do intend to go back over the entire fic and edit it obsessivly once it's done, some of those earlier chapters need some polish.