The Lunar forces marched into the city. The rain was refusing to let up. Sensors were erratic and visibility was down to only 50 feet. Artillery and mortars were set up in the rear of the formation while tanks and troops in the front. Sparks from wires flew in the night as the rain impacted the exposed electronics.

Constellation or Constance as his friends called him trotted through the city. His weapon close by, he turned and surveyed an alley. It was empty. He carried with him his standard Lunar energy rifle, capable of putting a blast up to 400 yards away without compromising accuracy; he also carried two energy grenades, a standard med kit, food, tools, and a side arm. Standard issue for most of the Lunar troops.

A Gunship flew overhead. The searchlight watching for movement like an eagle hunting for its prey. Constellation looked ahead. Something was moving. What was it? He brought his binoculars to his eyes. Some shapes moved in the night.

FFFFUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH

BOOM

A reaper class energy bolt crashed into the gunship. The pilot was dead and the ship began to lose control. It spun through the air before impacting a high-rise and firmly embedding itself in the brick. The once fearsome craft burned with a blue flame in the night.

More shots rang out as Constellation dove for cover. His partner’s scream was silenced as he took one to the head. Both sides now shot into the darkness ahead. Explosions of grenades rang out, screams of the wounded or dying rang out in the night. The artillery began firing. Tanks brought their huge guns to bear; spitting fire at their enemies.

The ground war had begun.

***

John was sleeping. Sleeping being a relative term; more like unconscious. He was hanging over a railing on the second floor of Vinyl’s club overlooking the dance floor.

Vinyl hung over the dance floor in a tangle of wires and cables hanging from the ceiling. Again she was more unconscious than sleeping.

The club was a mess. Cups and other litter lined the floor. Rouge holograms danced up and around Vinyl’s perch. Lights flickered on and off. The clock read 10:30.

John slowly slipped from his position and fell, landing on a couch before bouncing and landing on the coffee table. He awoke with a jolt. He looked around, what the hell happened last night.

Vinyl rolled over and fell, hitting the dance floor with a thud.

John looked over at the white unicorn. He stumbled over to her, shaking her to get her to wake. Slowly her eyes opened to reveal the two red orbs in her skull.

“Hey. Wake up,” John said.

“Eh? Wha?” She said scrabbling up on her hooves.

“What’s up Scratch?” John asked, “What the hell happened last night?”

“Uh, I, let’s see here,” she said grabbing her shades and pulling them over her head, “Oh, I remember! We were testing out the track and I guess we went a little crazy.” She grinned.

“Well I guess we know the playlist is good for Friday, right?” she laughed.

“Yeah. Ow my back,” John said, rubbing his back, “I guess I hit that table harder than I thought.”

“What table?”

John nodded behind him. Vinyl looked over. The glass holotable was cracked in three places. There was a slight depression along the cracks. Vinyl trotted over to the table and pressed the ‘on’ button. The program sputtered before flashing off.

“Oh I can fix this,” She said. Her horn glowed and the table’s cracks began righting themselves. The program jumped back on the table; perfect.

“Here,” Vinyl said, “Let me see your back.”

John pulled up his shirt. His back was bruised and battered from the impact.

“I know a few healing spells. Let me see here.” Her horn glowed and suddenly the pain in John’s back disappeared.

“Wow, that’s so cool. Thanks,” John said, amazed.

“Don’t mention it!” Vinyl beamed.

Both their stomachs growled.

“Wanna get some breakfast?”

“Sure, just let me fix this.” Vinyl’s horn glowed again and the club instantly fixed itself. The litter instantly disappeared. The wires righted themselves. Soon everything was just as pristine as the day John first saw the club.

“Sick,” He said as they walked out of the club. They headed over to a Café. They were almost at a table when something impacted John in the side with a loud thud.

Rainbow Dash got up, rubbing her head. She looked over her body. Nothing broken, good.

“Ow,” She said. She looked over at the object she just collided with. John lay on the ground, with his head in a shattered flower pot. He was unconscious.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh,” She yelped. Vinyl stood with her hoof over her mouth, suppressing a grin, looking over at Rainbow.

“I don’t even know what to say,” She laughed, “Ya know, he fell from a second story balcony this morning and didn’t break a thing but this I’m not so sure of!” She flopped on her back looking over at John with his head in the pot and laughed.

“Come one DJ,” Rainbow groaned, “Help me get him to Twilight’s. She’ll know what to do.”

“Ok, Ok.”

They carried John’s unconscious body over to the library. They kicked open the door.

“Hi Rainbow, And Vinyl! Great to see you, you never stop by and-Oh dear Celestia, what happened?” Twilight rushed over to the two.

“Ya know Twi, He’s a lot heavier than he looks,” Rainbow said. They flopped his body on the couch. Rainbow turned to leave.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Vinyl asked sternly, “You knocked him out, so you stay with the rest of us.”

Rainbow’s face depicted fear and embarrassment. Her ears dropped.

“Bu bu- what if he’s mad at me when he wakes up?”

“I don’t know but what were you doing that made you crash into him like that?”

“I was, uh, I was-hey what’s that?” Rainbow rushed for the door only to be suspended in midair by Twilight and Vinyl.

“OH NO YOU DON’T,” they both yelled, “YOU”RE STAYING.”

Rainbow was flopped down onto a chair, “STAY.”

Twilight walked over to John and examined him with her magic.

“Well, you did a number on him. He’s got two broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a concussion; probably from hitting the ground with such force.”

“Well it was more like a flower pot,” Vinyl suppressed a grin, “He must have a pretty hard head to completely shatter the thing.”

***

Do you know what’s about to happen now? Those creatures are going to kill everyone.

Not everyone. Those who will be needed will survive. This darkness will end.

But you’ve failed to mention to him that there is a chance of his death as a result of this fight.

If he does, he will accept it. At that point nothing else will matter to him other than the mission. He will fix it. And when he does, please go easy on EM. This who thing isn’t totally her fault. Even you couldn’t see this coming.

No I could not. But either way, this war must end.

***

A loud screeching sound could be heard above the battlefield. A heavy artillery shell streaked across the sky before impacting a cluster of Lunar troops and exploding in a flash of yellow light. The six ponies that had stood there before were completely vaporized.

Shots streaked through the streets. Tanks moved up and fired their massive guns. The Lunar forces did the same. Fire Spirit and his spotter moved to the top of a heavily damaged building. He looked down at the battle below.

All across the city, similar ground battles were occurring. The two militaries met in the streets and proceeded to slaughter each other. Fire Spirit set up his sniper rifle. It was the heavy Radiation class rifle with and effective range of up to one mile.

He set up the bipod and sighted through the scoop. His spotter found a target. A pony wielding a small rocket launcher, loading the next round. Fire Spirit saw it too.

“Shift right two degrees, and up five.”

Fire Spirit fired. The focused blast of yellow energy impacted the pony directly in the chest. Blood spattered against a nearby wall and all over his cover as he died.

“There,” his spotter said, marking a new target. A gunner on a heavy cannon about 5000 feet away, “Shift up five degrees, to the left three.”

“I got him.” He fired. The shot traveled the 5000 feet and shot through the control board and into the controller. The gunner’s shot went wild; impacting the top of a business tower. Debris and stone from the building fell onto the combatants below.

***

Constellation dove into an alley way. The rubble fell, splattering combatants on both sides. He jumped out from behind the corner and aimed his rifle. The dust still hadn’t settled. Shots were being fired into the cloud in hopes of a lucky kill. Constellation fired his rifle. A scream was heard followed by a thump. He’d just killed another pony.

How? What? He killed somepony. Who was he? What was his name? Where did he come from? His face drew a look of horror. He fell back into the alley, holding his head. His rifle fell to the ground with a clatter.

“AAAHHHH!” he screamed as the battle raged around him. He felt terrible. He never wanted to be in a war. He was a simple construction pony, drafted last year. He’d managed to avoid any real battles for as long as possible. Why had he shot into the dust? Was it instinct? Self-preservation? Ha! He’d just murdered a pony in the name of self-preservation. He was stained; guilty as the rest of them.

A shot louder than the others rang out. Constellation felt an impact and a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down. Blood. He was shot. He smiled. His act rectified. His judgment was near. He looked up for where the shot came from. A glint on one of the high-rises gave his savior away. He gave a quick salute before the darkness over took him.

Don’t fret young one. It’s not your fault. You’re free now. Your journey, all your journeys are only just beginning.

***

Fire Spirit brought his rifle down. That was strange. He’d normally never felt anything when he killed another. He’d stopped feeling by the end of the first year of the war. He’d become a war machine, a harbinger of death. But that soldier had looked at him. Directly at him. He had a hole in his chest, he was dying, yet he smiled at him and gave a salute. Like a symbol of brotherhood. Why? Why had he been happy to die? What had happened to him? Who was he?

His thoughts were interrupted. A fighter flew by followed by its pursuer.

“Hey,” his spotter called, “time to go.”

“Yeah,” Fire Spirit agreed. They both go up and moved up to the roof. They were up for rotation. Time to get back to the ship.

“Janus 1 2, this is grim reaper team five, requesting extraction.”

“This is Janus actual; your ride is on its way reapers. Activate your homing beacons when you’re ready; Janus out.”

***

The condor heavy transport picked up the sniper team and quickly headed out of the city. Beneath them that battle raged on. The team felt lucky to be leaving the battle zone. The headed to the cockpit. In front of them a large part of the Solar fleet rose from the ground to meet the rising Lunar fleet. The two fleets would again converge over the city, leaving only a few ships to manage ground operations.

The sniper team felt happy to be leaving the violence and to be getting to a safe and sound place. They had no idea how lucky they really were.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9. Fireworks Estimated time remaining: 29 Minutes