January 24th, 2030.

The wind swept through Golden Lock's mane as the sky chariot approached the ground. The vast ugly city was spread out beneath them and had gotten larger and more foreboding as they approached. The devastated masonry and streets littered with debris were approaching fast as the sky chariot searched for their designated landing site.

This London, as the barbarian apes called it, was a ruin. Even at it's prime Golden Lock knew it would have never compared with the shining beacon of civilization that was Canterlot, or the elegant metropolis of Manehatten or even the comely neighbourhoods he had been raised in back in Vanhoover. No this city is and always was a ruin, it merely needed their righteous crusade to reveal it.

They had lost sight of the grey and brown river that had lazily flowed through the broken edifice to the last of humanity. Choked with debris and a few corpses the river was already beginning to overflow as the ruined remains of the Flood Barrier were clogged with the copious amounts of waste that now collected around them, pushed towards it by the declining flow of water.

The sky chariot touched down on the broken roads alongside dozens of similar copies. Beside him Joyous Dawn clambered off and checked her weaponry. She was an exceptionally large mare who had apparently been slender and fragile before she bulked up for the military. Her coat was ash grey and mane a subdued greyish blue. Her cutie mark was hidden under the golden standard issue barding they all wore and Golden Lock had never dared to check further. Mares had berated stallions for less, or worse, taken it as a sign of interest. He had never met the mare before today but he had been told to entrust her with his life as she would be doing the same with him. Steeling himself Golden Lock joined her on the ground and checked his weaponry. Their unit was still forming up and waiting for the signal to attack. This assault would be the beginning of an epic siege that would flatten this city and provide Equestria with the victory that would turn the tide in this war. For years now the humans and the traitors that had thrown away their equinity had defied them from this ruin and now Golden Lock would be a part of their ultimate defeat.

“Alright form up,” an officer shouted, his vibrant red and gold plumage denoting him as the unit's captain. “Look lively. These buckers can be crafty and they like to catch you from a distance,” he warned.

Golden Lock swallowed hard, his gulp apparently audible as Joyous Dawn glanced at him sideways with a look of silent contempt before rolling her eyes and turning her face forward again. Golden Dawn was afraid and he knew it. He had never seen a human before but the newspapers depicted them as horrific demons, blundering across the landscape destroying and devouring everything in sight, even one another. Apparently they sacrificed those they captured to their bloodthirsty rulers and their evil sky god and they then used the corpses of those they killed to build disgusting shrines before committing other unspeakable acts to the dead. Those converted he had the awkward displeasure of speaking to described their previous lives as humans as a living Tartarus, trapped within an unholy shell capable only of feeling hatred and acting through violence. Converted were creepy and just didn't seem right. However they had made clear what the rest of Equestria already knew. Humans were a race of monsters and it was Equestria's, and now Golden Lock's, duty to save them from their horrific existence with the potion or scourge them from this world with steel and fire.

His unit had finally formed up into a phalanx. Golden Lock and the rest of the unit raised their spears on a single order barked by the sergeant and held them ready in their magical grip. Their orders were to make their way down this street to meet up with another two groups in some kind of pincer movement. Apparently the humans must have something important here. Why else would the Empress order three units to attack it?

The sky chariots also prepared to depart, leaving for their base of operations, far away beyond the barrier, in a land that had once been called Dutsland or Ducheland or something like that, according to what Golden Lock had heard anyway. It was probably a tiring job but the pegasi pulling the chariots never showed any sign of wavering and that amazed Golden Lock all the more. He still struggled carrying all of his equipment sometimes.

Suddenly a sound like rain appeared and the chariot closest to him came crashing down. The pegasi that had been carrying were shredded by lightning fast shot that came rocketing at them with impossible speed. Golden Dawn was stunned into immobility as small fragments of those pegasi fell down on him. He hadn’t seen anyone die since his great grandmother and that had been a peaceful event, like falling asleep, this was violent. Several more chariots were also torn from the skies by the endless torrent of small metal projectiles even as the rearmost made it to safety. Golden Dawn's unit scattered as they rushed to avoid the falling chariots, some seeking cover from the enemy fire.

“REFORM THE LINE. REFORM THE BUCKING LINE,” the sergeant screamed even as he ducked down to avoid the attacks that were now being directed at them instead of their transports.

Training eventually overruled fear and the terrified unicorns retook their positions, the foremost line quickly erecting a magical shield like they had been trained to do. However Golden Lock could see them struggling as the humans continued to fling their weapons at them. How could humans throw something so small with such speed if they didn't have magic? The government must have lied to them, the humans had to have magic if they could do something like this.

“Company ADVANCE,” the sergeant shouted and the entire unit slowly began to march forward as one, spears level as they prepared to meet whatever was sent at them.

As they moved up the wrecked street, metal projectiles bouncing off the shield at the front, the unit picked up momentum. The sound of armoured hooves tramping on the ground became louder and louder and Golden Lock grit his teeth. He was actually in a battle, ponies had just died in front of him less than a minute ago and now he was running towards an army of monsters that wanted to kill him. He strengthened his magical grip on the haft of his spear and tried to focus on the pony in front of him. He glanced up and saw the shield had become a wall of ripples as the horrible human weapons bounced off of it in an endless wave.

Then he saw one of them pass through the shield. Then another and another, the shield was failing, the ponies generating it were too tired or distracted to maintain it and the human weapons would finally be able to reach them, reach him. The unicorn in front of him suddenly screamed and toppled forward, falling to the ground and Golden Lock saw the shield dissolve and fragment as the complex interlocking spell that had generated it break down. Suddenly the air was filled with small zipping objects that looked like metal mosquitoes with the speed they moved. Ponies across the unit collapsed as holes were punched in their armour and bodies. Golden Lock saw the pony to his right crumple forwards, her face shredded. He wanted to stop but he knew that the momentum his unit had built up would cause the ponies behind him to knock him over and trample him to death. Clenching his teeth even more he ignored the body and kept going.

More ponies fell around him as they closed in on the source of the attacks. There was a barricade blocking the entire street. This was their objective, it had to be. There were humans behind it. Golden Lock stared at the foe he and his fellow soldiers were supposed to fight. They were giants, close to the size of minotaurs, and they were covered in thick grey and black skin. They had no eyes just a large grey void where Golden Lock assumed they should have a face and in their hands were short metal staves. He could see the small metal projectiles shoot out of these staves at an impossibly quick rate, one of the humans quickly stopped, picked up a small box, stuck it to the stave and then began shooting again. Golden Lock raced as quickly as he could, the weight of his armour no longer mattering. He was running on adrenaline now and nothing mattered more than reaching that barricade. If he reached, cleared it, he had won and he would be safe.

He heard a scream and felt hot fluid, probably blood, splash along the left side of his face, he risked a quick glance behind him and saw Joyous Dawn had fallen to the ground with several large holes in her head and forelegs. He turned back just as he saw the hooves of his comrades come down. Trying not to imagine what would happen to her and the bodies of all the other ponies that had fallen he pressed further forward, willing his legs to gallop harder.

He approached the barricade, the small metal bugs flying around him, there was nothing left but the short wall of wood and metal that had been piled in front of him. Part of Golden Lock told him to slow down but it was too late, he kept running, ignoring everything else. He collided with the barricade, jarring everything inside him, he swore he heard a loud clang from his armour striking a large square of corroded metal but it was probably his imagination. All he could hear was inaudible shouting, the bangs of human weaponry and the endless pounding in his ears which had only gotten louder with his collision. There was a second of clarity as he checked to see that did indeed still have his spear in his magical grip and then began scrambling at the wall.

His left forehoof found a hold on a solid slab of wood in a matter of seconds and he hauled himself up. He stood on top of the wall for an instant and felt a sharp pain in his left foreleg. He didn't need to lock to confirm that a human must have hit him with one of their weapons, he could feel it inside his foreleg even as the pain eclipsed it. There was a human in front of him. It had no recognisable face and therefore no expression but he could feel the surprise and fear that it must have felt at seeing a pony climb their defences. Golden Lock pounced on the creature and knocked him down. He didn't have enough force for his foreleg tramplers to kill it instantly but the human did fall backwards and begin flailing about, its thick forearms clumsily trying to gain purchase on anything around it. Panicking Golden Lock raised his spear again, entirely focused on the human he now had helpless before him and prepared to bring it down. Suddenly the human lashed out, hitting him in the side of the head with it's metal stave.

Golden Lock's helmet took most of the force, keeping him from losing consciousness but his ears were now ringing louder than ever before and his vision blurred for a second. He bumped into something that shouted and moved away from him but wasn't sure if it was another human or a pony. He checked to make sure that he still had his spear, just as he had been trained and looked back to where the human he had previously downed was. His vision was engulfed by the huge grey monster looming over him, stave pointed threateningly. Golden Lock knew that whatever the human was trying to him with the stave would kill him and so he charged again. He heard another bang, a sound now familiar to him and felt more pain, this time in the upper part of his barrel, but that didn't matter. He hit the human as hard as he could, ramming into him and at the same time his spear also impacted with the monster.

The human fell backwards and Golden Lock just stopped. The creature still had Golden Lock's spear embedded in its neck, just below the grey ovular slit where a face would be on a minotaur. Something in Golden Lock snapped, he had just killed a human, a terrible monster that Equestria had been at war with for years, and he had just killed one of them. Laughing at his accomplishment, his vision blurring slightly for a second again and his body wavering from the pain of his wounds, he tried to pull the spear back out. The body stirred slightly and Golden Lock panicked. He stabbed the spear down again and the human stopped moving. However he had to be sure. He violently pulled the spear back out, gore stuck to the blade and dripping down onto the human's rubbery skin. Then he shoved it back into the hole he had made, jerking the corpse with the strength and then he did it again, and again, and again, hitting harder with every strike. Blood seeped out of the massive tear in the human's hide, now massive thanks to Golden Lock's actions. He had to kill it, make sure it would never rise again, it was his duty.

Laughing harder with every strike his entire world shrunk down to the body in front of him as he ensured its death once and for all. He didn't know how long he was taking with this task, nothing else mattered. He was preparing for another strike, raising his now very dirty spear yet again when suddenly there was a loud unnatural roar and Golden Lock was catapulted backwards.

Golden Lock's world erupted into agonising pain, worse than any he had experienced before. He had been thrown back into the brick wall of one of the ruined buildings, in the middle of the street the last wisps of a fireball were dissipating. His fugue broken Golden Lock calmly looked down to see what was hurting him so much. His barrel and right foreleg were covered in small metal fragments of varying size that had embedded themselves deep into his flesh. His armour which had once fit together so neatly was shattered by the force of either the explosion, his impact with the wall, or both.

He could feel himself bleeding out, there was no strength in his limbs, all Golden Lock could do was slowly slide down the wall until he was lying on the ground completely. The rest of his unit were still trying to storm the barricade, which was slumping over and sported a number of holes. There were not that many humans, a mere handful of the rubbery figures were there, slowly backing away as they fired their metal staves at the charging ponies. A few more explosions were set off by humans throwing small black objects at the advancing ponies but none of that mattered to Golden Lock. His vision was fading and he couldn't hear anything. There was a mild ringing in his ears but even that was being drowned out by the pounding in his ears that was slowly growing weaker. No what caught his attention was a series of posters on the wall on the opposite side of the street.

They were obviously made by humans but they looked so similar to the ones put up back at home. One depicted what he presumed to be a human with its apeish shape, dressed in ridiculous finery and sporting a stern expression. The fact that it had pinkish skin as well as a face made him pause and ponder whether this was a human being shown. It didn't have the vacant grey oval or the rubbery black skin that all the others he had seen had. Maybe this was one of their rulers, like an alicorn. They probably looked different. Beneath the alicorn human was a single word, “FIGHT”. There was another poster that covered it up slightly, this one must have been fresher, it wasn't as worn or tattered but still showed sign of wear and damage. It had three ponies on it. One was the face of the traitor Prince Blueblood, sporting a look of grim determination whilst on his left was a mare with a grey coat and a blonde mane. Golden Lock tried to make out the third pony but his vision was beginning to blur and it wouldn't go away like before. All he could make out was the caption beneath them, written in large bold letters it read “WE FIGHT FOR A FREE EQUESTRIA”.

Darkness was creeping in on Golden Lock's vision and everything was going very cold. He struggled to stay awake, trying to read more of these posters but it was too late. The darkness faded out the light and then everything went quiet and he knew nothing more.

Author's Notes:

Another interlude Chapter guest written by a friend of mine: RoyalPsycho is best known for having done a bunch of amazing alternate history maps on DeviantArt, which is the profile I've linked to in his credit. Go check him out. :-)

He's also the other half of my beta team for this story, and he's helped me develop a lot of ideas for future elements, as well as helping me flesh out the Equestrian army and the whole propaganda machine they have.

Normal service will resume shortly :-)