The tremendous roar of rifles filled air, and slugs whizzed from the defenders to the Cye and back. No matter how many of the androids fell, there seemed to an infinite amount to take its fallen brother’s place. Humans were being felled all along the line, and the medics were having trouble getting to and from the front to pull the wounded to safety. A few brave unicorns were using teleportation spells to get in and out, but they were quickly getting exhausted. The cries of the dying were drowned out by the ever present sound of guns.

Jaze pressed his back to the wall of the trench, narrowly avoiding a rain of bullets filling the air just above him. He clutched his rifle close to his breast and waited for the rounds to move on before jumping up and continuing to pour fire into the enemy before him. Between the hundreds of assault rifles and the large machine guns, the Cye were falling by the hundreds. But there were thousands more to destroy.

Shelby was kneeling next to the Colonel, cursing loudly and trying to remove a shell casing that had gotten lodged in her rifle while Vincent pulled a gray object the size and shape of a small orange from his belt, pressed the button on top, and lobbed it at the advancing androids. There was a brief crackle of electricity and several of the terrible machines fell, the EMP cutting through them and destroying their systems.

“Come on, stay with me dammit!” Jaze looked down to see Sands pressing a battle dressing to the large wound on another Marine’s chest, “You’re gonna be fine. Just don’t close your eyes! Don’t you close those eyes!” The young pilot yelled out, “Where the hell is the medic?!”

“Um, I-I might b-be able to help, if you want me to.” a quiet voice broke through the din of war. Jaze and Dmitri turned to see Fluttershy standing behind them, concern filling her large eyes at the sight of the wounded human.

“If you think you can, do it.” The Master Sergeant stepped away from the wounded Marine to allow the quiet mare closer. She took a small, white bag hanging from her side and knelt next to the Marine. After a minute, the Colonel heard sniffles coming from next to him and looked down to see that the Marine was still, though the yellow mare still worked to save him. The assassin gently pulled the silently crying mare away and shook his head before kneeling and closing the fallen soldier’s eyes.

“He’s gone!” Jaze yelled over the gunfire, “There’s nothing more we can do!”

“But, h-he was ju-just a-alive,” the pegasus mare sobbed, “m-maybe…”

“I’m sorry, but he’s gone! We have to keep moving; we can cry later!”

“Hey Jaze?” crackled the voice of the cyan pegasus watching from the clouds above, “I think we have a problem…”

“I think we have a problem.” Dash stared down at the mayhem of the battle, and she felt dread clawing at her stomach. How are we supposed to stop this? she wondered.

“What’s going on Dash? How many more are there?” Jaze called back over the radio, and the cyan mare could just hear somepony else sobbing in the background over the sounds of battle.

“They are stretched from where you guys are all the way to the forest. But that’s not what I was talking about.”

“Well, spill it! I don’t have time to talk!”

“Okay, geez.” the athlete huffed, “I can see a bunch of big… things.”

“Things? What kind of things?”

“They look like big spiders, with only four legs and two arms.” Silence greeted the hasty description, a silence that stretched on and on until curiosity got the better of the speedy pony, “Do you know what they are?”

“Heavies.” the Colonel’s voice breathed, a note of despair creeping in.

Shelby suddenly wrenched herself around to stare at her commanding officer, “Did you say heavies?”

“That’s what it seems like.” Jaze put his finger back to the comm unit in his ear, “How many are there Dash?”

“Bout dozen that I can see. Might be more though.”

“T-two dozen?” the assassin stuttered, his face turning pale with sudden fear. Shelby and Vincent’s faces mirrored their leaders at the bleak news.

“Jaze,” Shelby whispered, “That many heavies… We can’t hold this line.”

The Colonel gave a grim nod, “How long until…” He did not have to finish his question, for the ground began to lightly shake from something large moving closer. The soldiers fighting in the trench searched for the cause of the quakes, and slowly a lumbering figure appeared from the crowds of androids.

The thing’s body looked almost like a human torso without a head perched atop four widely spaced legs. One of it “arms was actually a huge cannon designed to wreak havoc on an entrenched foe while the other was a high caliber rotary gun. The thing bore thick armor plate over its entire body, and it towered over the Cye clustered around it. If anything was unfortunate enough to be under one of its massive footfalls, the behemoth did not slow or change its path, only crushed whatever stood in its way. The technical name for the monster was a heavy weapons platform, but most combat personnel simply called them…

“Heavy!” screamed a panic-stricken Marine, “It’s a fucking heavy!” The large automaton turned to one of the heavy machine guns tearing into its smaller brethren. The beast raised its large cannon and took careful aim at the gun emplacement. With a loud thud, the weapon sent a shell rocketing towards the helpless Marines attempting to run away from the death trap they had found themselves in. When the shell hit, the gun was obliterated along with the soldiers standing too close to the blast. All that was left was a large crater.

“Colonel!” a Marine yelled as she dove for cover, “We gotta fall back!”

“If we try to run, that thing is just going to cut us down to a man!” another called back.

“But we can’t stay here!”

“What’ll we do?”

“We’re all gonna die!” One foolish soldier attempted to break and run only to be nearly torn in half from the number of bullets poured into him. The Marines were threatening to crack with fear from the new threat.

“We can’t run.” Jaze growled, “We try it now and we will end up just like that poor fool.” The Colonel pressed his finger to his ear and spat into his mike, “Everyone, concentrate your fire on the heavy! Maybe we can wear it down!”

“Colonel, this is Overwatch. I have a plan, but you’re prolly not gonna like it…”

“Twi, give me the rifle.” Stacks’ voice was calm despite the sudden appearance of the hulking death machine.

“What’s this little thing going to do against that!” the unicorn cried, pointing with the gun towards the destructive machine.

“There’s a sweet spot just under its arm.” explained the sniper, “It’s the main vent for reactor that drives that metal monster. One shot in the right spot and pow, no more worries.”

“Well if it’s a big vent, I can hit that.” the librarian proclaimed proudly.

“Didn’t say it was big,” Stacks admonished, “You gotta put the bullet in the slits of the vent cover. Not much leeway to play with.”

“Come on Twi,” Sis nudged the unicorn with her boot, “just give the rifle to my bro. He’s used to putting small things in a hole anyway.”

“Please, let me try at least.” the purple mare begged.

The Lance Corporal let out a heavy sigh, “Fine, but you aren’t going to have much time.” He put a finger to his ear and called out “Colonel, this is Overwatch. I have a plan, but you’re prolly not gonna like it.”

“Well?” the assassin called back, “What is it?”

“I’ma need you to make that thing turn to the side and lift its arm. Then we can take it down.”

Silence, then, “That’s a tall order Overwatch. You know it only lifts its arm when it’s getting ready to shoot right?”

“Yeah, that’s the ‘prolly not gonna like it’ part.” the sniper admitted.

“Are you sure you can take it out?” Stacks looked over at the unicorn lying next to him. She sighted down the scope of the long barreled weapon held magically before her and gave a grim nod.

“Yessir, I’m positive. One hundred percent.”

“One hundred percent.”

Jaze drew in a deep breath and let it out in a huff, “Guess we don’t have a choice. Which way does it need to turn?”

“Doesn’t matter, but it prolly be best to get it to use its big gun. That takes a little longer to fire.”

“Alright, I’m going to make it turn for you. As soon as you take it out, fall back to the second hill. This line is lost.”

“Roger that sir, Overwatch out.”

“Jaze,” Vincent spoke the name with a rising, questioning tone, “just what the hell do you think you’re going to do?”

“What I always do.” The assassin gave a sideways grin, “Something really stupid.”

“You want some back up?” Sands asked from his position on the trench floor.

“No, this one I’m going to do alone.” The Colonel let out another heavy sigh, Dammit, why do I always pick the crappy jobs?

With that thought in mind, the assassin took off down the trench to where the gun emplacement used to be before the friendly machine remodeled. When he arrived, huffing and out of breath, at the newly formed crater, the silver-eyed man drew his rifle and fired a few quick rounds into the metal horror’s side. As hoped, it turned from firing its cannon into the entrenched humans and readied its rotary gun.

Jaze dove to the bottom of the crater to avoid the stream of projectiles pouring from the large gun, cursing the whole time, “That’s the wrong gun dammit!” When the river of lead ceased, he cautiously poked his head from his makeshift foxhole to see something both gratifying and terrifying; the large gun was raised and pointed right at him.

“Okay Overwatch!” he yelled worriedly to no one in particular, “Now would be a really good time to do some magic!”

“There it is!” Stack yelled excitedly, “Do you see it?”

Twilight did not bother with a response; she merely stared through the scope atop the rifle. She forced herself to relax and look for the vent. There, just under the metal monster’s raised arm, a small metal grate with tiny slits was just barely visible. It’s all geometry, the unicorn told herself, adjust for wind, gravity, and…

With a magical squeeze of the trigger, the gun sent a piece of lead screaming for its target, and the librarian silently prayed for the bullet to find its mark. The scarred sniper heard the shot and focused his binoculars on the bullet’s intended target. He saw a tiny stream pass between the slits of the vent. The reaction was immediate and violent; the large android’s legs kicked as if in pain and it fell to its side, crushing the other robots unfortunate enough to be near it. The metal behemoth slowly lost power, and its limbs gradually stopped moving.

“Hah!” the young man yelled, jumping wildly “Take that you metal bastard!” He stooped and mussed the monster’s killer’s purple mane, “That was a damn good shot Twi! Now let’s get outta here!”

Twilight stood, her whole body finally feeling the tension of the last few seconds. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her legs nearly buckled from the sudden weakness that hit them. She looked back to the large robot laying on its side and realized that she was the one that had taken it down. Nopony else, just her.

“Did I really do that?” the librarian asked confusedly.

“Yeah, ya did good kid.” Doc assured before slapping her flank, “Now get moving! I don’t want two a’ the best snipers I ever saw getting’ shot up cause they wouldn’t move their asses!”

“Doc’s right,” Sis stated, “time to leave.”

Stacks took the long rifle and slung it over his shoulder while Twilight retrieved her assault rifle from the ground next to her and Sis, already making her way down the hill, waved for them to hurry up. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Doc started running towards the second defense line.

“Where are you going?” asked the scarred sniper.

“I’m sick of babysittin’.” the older man yelled while he ran, “Gonna go get me a piece a the fight! Don’t worry ‘bout me, I’ll be just fine!” He disappeared around the hill, making a beeline for the trench.

“Is he going to be okay?” Twilight asked apprehensively.

Sis waved a hand dismissively, “Oh that ole fart’ll be fine. But we’re not gonna be if we stand here till the Cye come asking for a date.”

“Right, let’s get set up at the next post.” Stack’s started jogging away from the fight, “Com’on Twi, let’s go!”

Shelby stared at the fallen behemoth and gave a low whistle, “They did good, you have to admit.”

“Yeah,” Jaze breathed, winded from his most recent dash through the trenches, “but now it is time to fall back.” He tuned his comm into the pegasi flying above and spoke quickly, “Dash, what are the rest of the heavies doing?”

“They seem to be falling back,” the cyan speedster replied, “and forming into a line.”

“Alright, that’s good to know.” He switched his comm back to the command frequency, “Alright everyone, we have got to leave while we can. All support personnel, fall back to the second line. We’ll keep you covered.”

The Colonel took up his weapon once more and started firing at the advancing Cye troopers. Soon, all of the Marines were up and firing, while every equine climbed out and started running for their lives towards the second trench. Their hooves ate up the short distance, and they were soon safe from the rounds buzzing through the air.

“Okay group one, it’s your turn. Get the hell out of here!” Roughly one third of the remaining humans turned and climbed out from their protective trench and made a mad dash for the next. The humans ran bent over to try and avoid being shot in the back, but even so many of the retreating Marines were brought down when their robotic enemies began raking them with gunfire. Most of the first group managed to make it to the second trench and joined the ponies in preparing for the onslaught of androids.

“They’re good!” Shelby yelled from behind the Colonel.

“Second group, go!” Jaze yelled into his mike. Another third, made to leave the trench, but most of the Marines were laden with their wounded comrades. The assassin slammed a fresh magazine into the receiver in his rifle, knowing full well there would be no more ammunition until he made it to the safety of the second line.

“Clear!” Shelby yelled.

“Alright people, time for the rest of us to run!” The silver-eyed human turned and jumped from the trench, running as fast as he could while bent double to make a smaller target. This was the most dangerous run, for the fleeing Marines no longer had the heavy machine guns to distract and pin the enemy. The Colonel kept his eyes fixed on the trench ahead and tried not to think about the hundreds of thousands of guns pointed at his back.

There was only about twenty yards between the trenches, but it felt like a mile. The Colonel’s heels dug into dirt and propelled him towards safety. He could feel bullets kicking up dirt next to his legs, but he pushed the thoughts from his mind. Behind, the sound of the androids firing at the running humans filled the air. The Marines already ahead in the ditch fired over their comrades’ heads to try and stop them from being mowed down.

Just as the enemy was beginning to dial in on the fleeing Colonel, he dove into the safety of the second defense line. This trench was much more heavily defended, with far more heavy turret emplacements and a series of passage ways leading back to the final trench. The assassin’s breath came in short gasps from the run through a killing field and he put his hands on his knees to steady himself. A water bottle entered his field of view; he looked up to see Fluttershy offering the liquid with a smile still managing to cling to her face.

The young man took the water with a grateful nod and turned to look back at the lost ground. It pained him to watch the Cye storm over the bodies of the slain in pursuit of their prey, but it pained him more to see just how many lives had been lost, a number on the order of two hundred souls either dead or too wounded to continue the fight. He took some fresh magazines offered by a passing supply pony and took up a firing position. This next fight, he thought resentfully, is going to be much bloodier.

The fighting at the second line was heating up; it had been nearly an hour since the humans had retreated and everyone was beginning to tire. Jaze longed for nothing more than to put down his gun and sleep, but it was not meant to be. Instead, the human warrior knew that he had to keep going, and that he could never back down from this fight. Everyone in the trench was determined to hold this line as long as possible, and were willing to give all they could for it.

Despite the countless casualties, the metal wall of the Cye continued to throw themselves against the humans’ guns, just waiting for them to run out of ammunition. No matter how many fell, the androids just kept pushing. Despair was beginning to set in on the weary human defenders as they realized that the vast number of foes was soon to overwhelm them. If something didn’t break soon, they would be over run.

A Marine next to Jaze stood up and immediately caught a bullet in the throat and splattering the assassin’s face with a crimson spray. The middle-aged soldier fell, clutching his throat in a reflex response, dead before he hit the ground. The Colonel brought his gun to his shoulder once more and fired a wild spray into the oncoming horde. Again, the only thing keeping the androids from steam-rolling over them was the heavy machine guns placed all along the trench. The heavy guns continuously chewed through the ranks, a hot lead wind that only paused long enough to refresh the ammunition in the weapons. But it they may as well have been draining a lake with a bucket, for their foes simply stepped over their allies to be shot down themselves.

Jaze fell back into the trench, and took a moment to wipe his gritty eyes. He snagged a few magazines of armor piercing rounds from a supply pony making her rounds and shoved one into his gun. He swept his gun back and forth along the front of the enemy, cutting down several androids with each pass and dropping back into cover before they could land a shot. He thumbed the release on his gun and let the nearly empty magazine fall. Another supply pony was making rounds and collecting the spent magazines to take back and have refilled and stored for the final line. The soldiers were slowly beginning to wear down, and the Cye troopers were creeping closer.

“Jaze,” Dash’s voice suddenly sounded in the Colonel’s ear, “it looks like those big guys are moving up again. They will get there very soon.”

“Good to know, it means we can take them all out at once!” the silver-eyed human called back.

“How are you going to do that?”

“You’ll see, Armand out.” The human leader once more switched his mike over to the command frequency, “Alright people, it’s time to fall back!” As before, the supply troops fell back first, followed by two thirds of defenders and the wounded. It took much longer, however, because the Marines were moving back through the connecting trenches and not able to run. The Colonel spent several minutes searching through the defenders still holding the line before he finally gathered Shelby, Vincent, and Dmitri together

“Jaze, do the heavies mean what I think they mean?” Vincent yelled over the bark of his rifle.

“If you’re thinking they mean there is a manu-plant somewhere nearby, then yeah!” the assassin yelled back, once again changing magazines.

“Any guesses?” Shelby called.

“I would bet it is in one of those ships,” Sands hollered and pointed to the sky, “I don’t think they’ve had enough time to build one planet side!”

“You might be right!” Jaze shouted, “But all we can do for now is keep fighting and see if they will show us where their plant is.” The ground began to quake again, and the four conversing humans peeked over the rim of the trench to see a long line of the metal heavy weapons platforms slowly moving towards them.

“Aw crap!” Sands cried and pointed to the metal beasts, “More heavies! We stay in this trench and we’re screwed!”

“Jaze! We’ll be faster if everyone goes over the top and makes a run for it!” suggested Vincent, “We won’t be so bunched up either!”

Shelby snickered “Oh hell! Sounds dangerous, it’s got my vote!”

“We stay here and we’re dead sir! So let’s do it!”

Jaze took one more quick peek at the advancing metal wall, “Fine, let’s go.” He pressed his finger to the comm in his ear, “All personnel left in the second trench, we’re going to go up and over before the heavies get too close. Just jump out and run as quickly as you can, you’ll be fine! Now move!”

Without further hesitation, the Colonel put his hands on the chest high lip of the trench and scrambled out. He felt his rifle banging against his back as he ran for the last defense line in a dead sprint. Just ahead of him, he could see Shining Armor and the three hundred unicorn soldiers frantically waving the retreating Marines on. The Guard Captain’s face registered shock and horror at a sight from the second line. The silver-eyed human threw a glance over his shoulder and forgot to keep running. For there, exposed to the enemy fire, was Fluttershy dragging a weakly struggling Marine by the collar of his uniform.

Jaze risked a glance back towards the trench before turning around and running as fast as his terrified legs would carry him to the yellow pegasus mare. He felt bullets hiss through the air around him and even felt a few graze the golden armor, but the only thing on the human’s mind was getting to his friend and getting her away from the Cye.

As he neared, he heard a gruff voice ordering the shy mare away, “Dammit! Leave me and git the hell outta here! Should’a stayed with the damn snipers, but I’m too much a’ stubborn old goat! Now leave me and git the hell away! I ain’t no good now anyhow!” When the Colonel drew level with the yelling Marine, he took one look at the standing man and scoffed, “What the hell?! Why is the goddamn COLONEL trying to save my sorry ass?!”

Ignoring the man’s continued protests, Jaze looked down to see that the older man had taken several bullets to his legs and was unable to run. The assassin grabbed the man under the arm with one hand and unceremoniously threw him across the pegasus’ back, who gave a quick look of relief and gratitude before turning and running back towards the final line.

The Colonel made to follow, but turned in time to see a horrid sight; the heavies had made their way to the front. The human quickly turned and bolted, screaming curses as he desperately ran for the safety of the trench. There was a loud explosion nearby, and suddenly the dark-haired man found himself looking up at the sky with no recollection of how he got there.

He could not make himself get up and was only able to flop over onto his stomach and rise to his hands and knees before dizziness set in and he collapsed again. No matter how much he tried, he could not make it to his feet. Blackness began to edge into the assassin’s vision, and he could hear bullets hitting the ground all around him. The scarred man let his eyes slide shut, waiting for a round to find and end him.

Suddenly, he felt himself leave the ground and his stomach land on something hard. His silver-eyes edged open to see the ground flashing past, driven along by black hooves attached to long white legs. The young assassin looked to see what was supporting him and saw purple armor. It took several seconds for the stunned man to realize who had come to his rescue.

“Shining…” he started, then yelped when he was suddenly bucked off the stallion. The hard landing in the bottom of the ditch managed to bring the assassin to his senses.

Shining Armor jumped into the trench next to the taken aback Colonel and looked at the human, “If you have some plan, now would be a very good time for it!”

“I… Thanks, I didn’t think you cared.” Jaze stammered.

“Don’t think too much of it; I just thought you might still be useful! Now do you have a plan?”

“Yes, it just happens that I do.”

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“We have to let them get closer!”

The Cye troopers rolled over the recently vacated trench and continued after their human prey. The horde of androids, the large heavies at the front, marched for the final line and the weary Marines defending it; the resounding sound of their metal feet filling the air. Shining Armor’s gaze switched between the advancing foe and the madly grinning human next to him. The Guard had seen how frighteningly destructive the large robots were, and could not see why the foolish human was letting them get closer.

Just when the large ones were level with the trench and the Captain thought all was lost, Jaze yelled into his mike, “Alright, everyone get down! Control, roll out the welcome mat!” Shining Armor was about to ask what the human meant by “welcome mat”, when the world before the trench exploded in front of his eyes.