Mareajevo, Temple Prime
One Month After The Raid on the GDA Canterlot

“Melted by plasma? We’ve barely begun testing proof-of-concept designs. We don’t even have weapons like that in the field yet! Did Miss Sakura or Shadow Team Darius find anything to hint at what did it?” Rarity murmured to the screen in front of her.

“I’m telling you, Rarity, it’s… strange. No sign of who or what caused the damage, but it definitely wasn’t GDI.” Twilight Sparkle replied, “Anyhow, no point wasting time thinking about that until we can get some more test results. How’s the siege going?”

“Oh Spikey Wikey is having a blast with this entire vacation.” the white unicorn told her, “GDI keeps trying to get some reinforcements in and we’ve managed to harass them all the way to the Crystal Shield each time. Even the Kodiaks they’ve brought in are having trouble operating thanks to those delightful stealth upgrades you requisitioned for my Venom squadrons.”

“Was the least I could do.” Twilight quipped, “Just keep Spike safe, physically and mentally. I’d hate for him to have another breakdown like at Macintosh Hills.”

“Oh I’m handling him just fine. Your suggestion was… appreciated, but not necessary. He’s grown into quite the fine drake and honestly, I feel safer at night with him so close. We also don’t have to worry about red tape and politics interfering with our teamwork like poor Hyperion has to deal with.”

“Understood… just stay safe, alright?”

“We’ll be fine, mom.” Spike interrupted as he entered the small communications tent adjacent to Spike and Rarity’s main Command Center.

“You better behave, young drake. Now then, I need to get back to work unwrapping the nice gift Sakura bought for me. I’ll get back to you in a couple days.”

“Ta-ta, darling.” Rarity ended, smiling fondly as the feed cut. With the way the war was going, she was lucky Twilight and Pinkie Pie were still safe despite the latter’s position. Conversations like this were one of the only things keeping her sane, present company excluded, and she treasured each one.

“Another GDI unit is probing our picket line and Princess Luna’s intel says no more reinforcements will be slotted for Shining Armor.” Spike told her, “If we’re going to draw them out of that damn shield, now is the time.”

“Hmm… you’re right. Time to give them a little teaser before the big show. Shall I call up Zeek?”

“Yes… and I think it’s time we give our newest teammates some time to stretch their legs. EVA, get me in contact with Colonel Glimmer.”
_____________

During King Sombra’s Return, Princess Cadance’s Crystal Shield had covered the entirety of the Crystal Kingdom. However, as time passed and the population grew, the city became an official Blue Zone. The shield was no longer meant to protect the entire province, but instead just the city center which immediately surrounded the castle.

While this allowed Cadance to hold the shield up longer, it also meant that Shining Armor had a Blue Zone Containment Wall to protect. Defenses along the perimeter were standard for Blue Zones after the Battle of Baltimare with significant Guardian Cannon and Watchtower anti-infantry emplacements, but most had been disabled or run out of ammunition by now. Predator tanks had to be placed along key positions on top of the wall, as well as in front of it in areas that Hydra or air strikes had cracked or destroyed portions of the wall and its defenses.

Infantry support was becoming an issue too. Food stockpiles were already approaching critically low levels. Even with the current rationing orders, food and ammunition were nearing the red. Shining Armor’s only saving grace was that his ponies were giving as good as they got, and that there were nearly twice as many Nod graves out there as GDI.

“Movement detected, Sector 37.” EVA’s signature synthetic mare voice stated, rousing Shining Armor from an uneasy sleep at one of his forward observation posts.

“Do we have a set of pony eyes on said movement, EVA?”

“Opening channel to Major Sunburst, sir.” The EVA replied, getting a thankful sigh out of Shining Armor. Sunburst was the Kingdoms “Crystaller” for years now, and once the war had started, he had put his encyclopedic mind into studying tactics, warfare, and all other aspects of running an army. Though many thought he would have been better suited in an R&D lab, Sunburst had chosen the tacticians path and it had accelerated his career far faster than even General Ironsides thought possible.

“This is Sunburst, Major General. EVA’s right, there are a lot of scorpion tails out there.”

“Probable target?”

“Section Gamma, broken wall segment closest to the roads again.. looks like they got new infantry armor though. Lighter than Black Hand but definitely a new model.”

“Understood Major. You’re clear to engage. Mobile Reserve Force Echo is in position to reinforce you as needed, just be sure you come back in one piece, we can’t go about losing our ‘best wizard’, now can we?”

“Got it, sir.” replied Major Sunburst with a grin at the small jibe, the two-star general’s EVA ending the transmission once orders were confirmed. “Alright ladies, looks like they didn’t want to throw militia into the meat grinder this time. Let’s hit’em hard and make sure the rest of the Kingdom remembers why Fifth Battalion is full of the baddest bastards and bitches in the land! Who are we?”

“The Fightin’ Fifth!” Rang a chorus of replies all over the battalion comm channel.

“Damn right. All companies, your greenhorns are on chaff duty, Echo Company is on reserve detail… the rest with me!” he commanded as his EVA unit sent out each trooper’s orders and assigned positions along the wall to their helmet’s HUDs.

Squads of crystal ponies fresh out of boot camp, the horns on their helmets literally painted green by the unit’s veterans, scrambled to their designated positions, heads low and eyes glued to the sensor readings being fed into their HUDs. Arguably one of, if not the most, important part of the defensive network that surrounded the Crystal Kingdom, mobile sensor arrays were positioned all over the perimeter with overlapping detection fields. Without these, Nod’s infamous stealth tanks would be able to operate without fear of detection all over and around the Kingdom’s defenders. Unicorns and Crystal Ponies assigned to Anti-Stealth Magical Disruption Deployment Duty as Sunburst had named it after coming up with it, or chaff duty as all troopers called it, would be tasked with firing magical bursts with an effect radius of around twelve meters at areas where the sensor arrays told them cloaked units were located, disrupting their stealth fields and leaving them vulnerable to GDI’s signature application of overwhelming force.

“Heartbreak here Sunburst. Let me know when you want me to show these Noddies how high-explosive shells look like up close.” said the tank commander tasked with guarding the hole in the wall.

“Make it 500 meters, Heartbreak. Hold position at the opening and shell them when they pass that range.” replied Sunburst, checking his remaining ammo. Two magazines full, with one more with half a dozen rounds. Hopefully this would be quick. “As for all of you bastards, hold your fire until they get within 200 meters. Don’t waste your ammo shooting like crazy or I’ll personally make you reshelve the entire Crystal Archive!” With confirmations coming in over the radio, the battalion waited for the first shots to be fired.

It didn’t take long for the loud report of the Predator’s main cannon to register, a high explosive round landing in the midst of a group of unusually-tall Noddies once they were within the 500 meter limit.

“Positive hit, Heartbreak! Great shot!” said Sunburst over the radio, looking at the scene through a pair of binoculars. His momentary joy turned into confusion, then absolutely horror as the Nod troops who had been caught in the explosion… stood up again. A few of them were missing limbs, with some missing whole chunks of their central mass, yet kept moving closer. No sooner did his training supercede his surprise and disbelief then he heard the sound of superheated gas and air moisture burst into a thunderous crack; the classic report of Nod’s laser weapons.

Major Sunburst wasn’t a stranger to the sound of laser fire and being on the receiving end of it, but this was an overwhelming onslaught unlike any he’d ever experienced. For a moment, he would have sworn that every Noddie out there had their laser rifles pointed at him. That retrospectively-optimistic thought was laid to rest as Private Goldtree’s upper body exploded into a cloud of mist and ash under a constant laser barrage just as heavy as the one he was taking cover from behind the reinforced concrete battlements.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON OUT THERE?!” he yelled into his mic as he saw Goldtree’s legs topple over, hearing the blasts from the Predator’s main cannon hit targets without the volume of fire his troops were receiving diminishing one bit.

“They ain’t staying down, Major! Lots of ‘em are almost to the wall!” replied commander Heartbreak, barking coordinates to her crew followed shortly by the report of the cannon firing again.

“Almost to the wall?! How?! They couldn’t have covered that distance so quickly!” he said angrily before his EVA interrupted him.

“Alert. Cloaked units detected.”

The moment EVA said that, Sunburst turned to look at where the nearest squad of boots had been positioned. Almost as one, they emerged from cover, half of them shooting at the enemy or providing cover fire while the other half charged and fired magic bursts at the areas their HUDs told them to. It was almost immediately that laser fire found them with the kind of precision Sunburst couldn’t believe Nod infantry was capable of.

Moments later, a large explosion rocked the battle and he knew Heartbreak was gone.

“EVA, CALL IN ECHO NOW! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS” commanded the major, spotting one of the Nod attackers somehow getting onto the wall. Raising his weapon, he took aim to take down the treacherous rebel. However, he hesitated upon seeing the Noddie’s face.

“... Starlight?”

Next thing he knew, the world turned into momentary pain, then darkness.
_____________

“EVA, report. What’s going on out there?!” said Shining Armor, alarm clearly in his voice.

“Contact lost with Major Sunburst. Unable to reestablish contact. Unable to contact any member of his personal guard detail.” answered EVA. “Contact established with Fifth Battalion, Echo Company. Opening channel with Captain Rose Shard.”

“Captain Shard, talk to me. What’s going on out there?” asked Shining.

“Not looking good, sir. Our EVA unit was feeding us data from the sensor array at gamma moments ago. Was. We’ve got plenty of red at the wall and who knows how many stealth tanks are passing through.” answered Shard, the sound of her Timber Wolf’s engine roaring faintly in the background.

“Understood. ORCAs are en route to assist. Determine the enemy composition but do not engage.”

“Roger sir. We’re reaching the wall now!”

A few slow, tense moments passed in the outpost Shining Armor was at waiting for the lieutenant reply to come.

“Command, Echo here.” came in the response.

“How’s it looking there, Shard?”

“It’s… It’s a massacre, sir. There’s nopony left...”

There was a heavy silence in the air after the grim news were received.

“There’s more sir.” added Shard. “Nod’s forces are retreating.”

“Good work on that, at least.”

“It’s not me, sir… they’re just… up and leaving. We’ve done nothing to make them pull back but every step forward my mares take, Nod’s taking five back.”

“Hold back at the wall for now, we can’t afford an unnecessary offensive right now.”

“Copy that, sir…” Captain Shard murmured, stomping her forehooves in frustration. “Alright ladies, shore up defenses and dig back in, we have more ground to cover and the Major wouldn’t want us getting too comfortable!”
__________________

Teal eyes shot open and Sunburst attempted to use his magic to reach for his sidearm. He noticed right away that he couldn’t, courtesy of a inhibitor ring placed around his horn and the bindings keeping him strapped back first to a table. Nod insignias on some of the medical equipment he could see only confirmed his immediate suspicion that he had been taken prisoner.

“Well buck…” he muttered to himself, wrestling against the bonds half-heartedly in order to test them.

“Oh… language, Sunburst, language… no need to let such coarse words ruin what’s supposed to be a lovely reunion.” A surprisingly calm female voice chided.

From his vantage point, he couldn’t see who was talking to him, but the voice couldn’t belong to who he thought it did. The mare who had walked back into his life all those years ago and helped with the “Flurry Heart Incident” was KIA fighting for Nod nearly 6 months ago. The blow had hurt, both because of their slight falling out when sides were chosen, and again when he found out that the helmet camera who had recorded her death belonged to a pony in his unit.

However, when the table angled up and Starlight Glimmer walked into view he didn’t even care that she was covered in black and crimson armor.

“Starlight…? You’re… you’re alive…?” He whispered in disbelief, as if he was afraid that speaking too loudly would scare this apparition away. Starlight replied by putting a hoof on his chest, confirming that she was in fact alive and well, and that he wasn’t dead as well once the pressure became uncomfortable.

“Yes, I’m alive.” She told him, giving a genuine smile, not that of a captor or mortal enemy, but of a friend, companion, and maybe even a lover, “I’m alive, I’m… well, mostly put back together, and you are my guest of honor right now.”

“You’re… how? I saw the footage, that magical blast severed…”

“Three of my legs and shattered the bones in the fourth, yes, but everything else on me survived and those blessed enough to be marked by Kane are given a second chance to serve the Brotherhood.”

“Cybernetics… intel has always thought Nod had them what with the Fallen Princess on your side, but they never knew that you had anything this advanced yet.”

“The who?” Starlight asked, an eyebrow rising.

“Twilight Sparkle, the Fallen Princess. Celestia and Luna may not have taken away her title, but most of GDI regulars call her that.”

“Lovely, I’ll be sure to let her know of the affectionate nickname she’s getting for saving Equestria. But enough about that… today is about you.”

“Is that why you have me bound so tightly to a table?”

“Oh hush, dear, that’s just in case and because I always liked seeing you in cuffs.” Glimmer teased, brushing her tail across his muzzle as she turned to bring up a viewscreen. With a small burst of magic, it sprang to life showing an aerial view of the entire Crystal Kingdom battle area. Statistics ran up next to various areas of the map, showing force strengths, troop counts, and other various tidbits of data.

“We outnumber you 5-to-1 and outgun you 4-to-1, we have the necessary technology to wipe out the entire garrison and take both of those Kodiaks out of the sky. In about 10 minutes, give or take 5 thanks to how hectic this entire situation is, we’ll be striking inside the city… after that, and after your commanding officer replies by attacking us and leaving the shield, we wipe him out and the Kingdom will only have a minimal garrison left.”

“Your point being? Even if your predictions were correct, which there is no guarantee that they are, you’d never make it past the shield.” The GDI Major replied, shaking his head, “You’d need to harness the same amount of magic that fuels Celestia’s abilities to move heavenly bodies to even harm that shield.”

“We have that covered, Sunburst, which is why I took you prisoner.” Starlight replied with another playful grin before stepping aside. Through the doorway, a purple and green dragon that Sunburst recognized immediately appeared.

“Slavik…”

“I see my nickname actually gets circulated in GDI. Excellent.” Spike mused, “Major, you are going to make a message for the survivors inside the Kingdom. It will be a very simple affair that if they surrender, they’ll be spared. Anyone who wants to join Nod will be allowed to, anyone who doesn’t will be treated fairly as a POW or refugee.”

“The alternative?”

“They all burn with their city.”
__________________

“EVA, status on the collection of the battle footage at the Wall, sector 37 section Gamma.”

“All available footage has been collected for review, General. 78% of recording were from the Wall’s automated security systems. Few helmet cam storage units were recoverable. Acquisition of Section Gamma’s sensor logs has also been completed.”

“Thank you EVA. Please display the sensor recording on my left monitor and the video footage on my center and right.”

The magical construct did as instructed, displaying the requested footage on Shining Armor’s setup. The sensor recording started at 10:06 AM and was synchronized with all of the footage recovered to ensure the Major General had a clear idea of what had transpired a few hours ago. The grid on his left display showed all units, aircraft, and structures detected in a two-kilometer radius from the sensor array itself.

The Mobile Sensor Arrays were developed in response to the ever-increasing threat of Nod’s devastating stealth units to serve as a sort of super-radar. It focused all its power on constantly scanning a relatively-small area with sweeping scans of a large portion of the EM spectrum, succeeding in something regular radars had proven woefully inadequate to do throughout the conflict. They’d so far proven their effectiveness in ensuring the defense of GDI’s perimeter wasn’t swept aside by a wave of cloaked forces, but the latest threat Nod had thrown their way didn’t seem to bother with even the pretense of stealth.

That by itself was… troubling.

A few minutes passed while Shining watched the brutally-short battle, which he had come to admit wasn’t even deserving of the designation - “slaughter” would be more accurate.

“EVA, rewind to 10:08:67. Display footage of the Predator’s destruction.” He commanded, his magical aid doing so immediately. The sensor recording had picked up multiple stealth units on approach, almost 28 in total. Had the outcome not been Nod’s forces retreating soon after their victory, this could very well have been the beginning of a successful breakthrough by the Brotherhood. Instead, 4 stealth tanks decloaked, destroyed the vulnerable Predator, then disappeared and retreated. The other vehicles never showed themselves and were completely lost when the sensor array went down.

Which could only mean one thing.

Alarms began blaring, turning the forward outpost building Shining had chosen as his temporary base into a wailing cacophony box filled with nothing but red lights.

“Incoming transmission from Colonel Dew.” said EVA in her characteristic monotone timbre

“On screen!” The Major General commanded.

Instead of Colonel Morning Dew appearing on his screen, Shining Armor got the generic background image of the GDI insignia most of the organization’s computers had. Seconds later, only static came through the speaker.

“Colonel, report.” He commanded, but the static continued. “EVA, are we being jammed?”

“Negative. The connection with Crystal Command was successfully established and is currently stable.”

At that moment, a pegasus in full GDI combat armor stormed into his office, followed soon by a squad of similarly armored and armed troops.

“General, we’re here to escort you to the bunker!” Reported the pegasus.

“What?! What’s going on lieutenant?”

“The city is under attack, sir!”
__________________

To say Sergeant Timber was on the verge of panic was beyond being an understatement.

“HQ isn’t answering, sarge! What do we do?!” Yelled a crystal pony, almost completely prone and visibly trembling.

He’d seen them. He had only heard rumors and second-hand accounts of them and what they did, but by the Sun Goddess he had seen them himself.

“They took out the MG! They’re crossing the courtyard!”

The pitch-black armor, their devastating weaponry, the griffons and dragons amongst them.

“Sarge, something’s happening on Pillbox Del- BY CELESTIA, A TANK JUST CAME OUT OF THE GROUND!”

They had swept aside their defenses, pushed through his troops like they weren’t there.

“We gotta go now Sarge! Come on, get up!” He heard someone say, feeling his uniform being pulled.

What were those monsters? Those… he couldn’t really call them tanks. Tanks had cannons, they travelled OVER land, they were something he could fight.

“Forget him! We go or we’re dead! Come on!” Said someone else, the sound of gunfire being briefly replaced by the sound of boots running.

What came next wasn’t the sound of gunfire once more, but instead the monstrous sound of a grinder breaking through the Earth. The floor beneath Timber gave in, and as he screamed on the way down, all he saw was the deadly maw of the Devil’s Tongue.
__________________

Everything was going on perfectly.

Their strike force had managed to destroy a large number of buildings the GDI dogs had commandeered to use as offices and barracks for their officers and troops and now potential GDI reinforcements were delayed by the very shield that was supposed to protect their city.

From atop a crystalline highrise which itself was atop a probably-fancy hotel, Brother-Captain Nimbus supervised the offensive against the Crystal Palace while escorted by his personal guard of fellow gryphons.

“Nimbus here” he talked into his helmet’s communicator, “all platoon leaders, report.”

“Archon Platoon has cleansed GDI’s presence from our rear, Captain. It will be some time before they can advance against us from there.”

“Excellent work. Board your transports and reinforce Bathomys Platoon’s assault on the Crystal Palace.”

With a confirmation pip on Nimbus’s helmet, Archon’s platoon leader signed off and was replaced by his counterpart. “Bathomys Platoon reporting, we’ve surrounded the lowermost floor of the palace and those new flame tanks have created a firestorm on the surrounding buildings. GDI’s infantry won’t be able to bother us unless they want to pre-cook themselves for us.”

Nimbus chuckled at that. “Good work Brother-Sergeant. What is the status of GDI’s defenses around and at the palace?”

“They’ve got maimed squads trying to stop their advance with unicorns putting up magic shields to protect infantry from our fire. A number of Timberwolves and at least one tank have been spotted.”

“Understood.” Answered Nimbus before inputting the information into a wrist-mounted computer “EVA, probability of mission hindrance?” He asked before a reply appeared on its small monitor.

“Zero percent. Incoming message from General Slavik.”

“Put it through, EVA.”

“Nimbus, pull your troops back, we’ve baited the trap well enough and I need Cadance’s shield intact for the next phase of the attack.” Spike ordered, getting an absolutely flabbergasted expression from the gryphon before Nimbus nodded slightly.

“Recalculating… one hundred percent.” The EVA chimed in as Spike cut the feed.
__________________

By the time the alert had been lifted and Shining Armor had returned to the city proper within the shield, Nod’s forces had been long gone. That didn’t stop lieutenant Rock Hoof from having his squad follow Shining Armor’s every step.

“I’m really against this sir. The palace was THE warzone just minutes ago. There could be explosives or Nod may have left a sniper in wait or-”

“Save me your objections, lieutenant. It’s blatantly obvious we’re not any more safe under the shield than outside of it.” Replied Shining, impatiently tapping on his personal pad as they traveled to Crystal Command HQ, the palace itself. “EVA, have you managed to reach Colonel Dew?” He proceeded to ask his personal assistant.

“Colonel Dew has been confirmed KIA outside Barracks 12.”

“Dammit… Patch me into Colonel Bright.”

“Colonel Bright has been confirmed KIA while leading the defense of the Crystal Palace.”

The General withheld a furious roar before taking a deep breath. “Alright… alright. Get me Major Treble.”

“Major Treble has been MIA since her command bunker was overran. Believed to be KIA.”

A thought… a terrible, terrible thought crossed Shining Armor’s mind at that moment.

“EVA, display a list of all senior officers within the city at the time of the attack and their current status.”

As ordered, a list was immediately made available. Out of 188 senior officers at the beginning of the siege, 35 were listed as mission capable. The rest were either dead, wounded, or missing in action. According to the timestamps for the casualties, a little over half of them had occurred during the current raid.

“By the Princesses… they decapitated most of what remained of our command structure…” said Shining, turning back to his EVA unit. “EVA, let all brigadiers know we’ll have an emergency strategy meeting at 1600 hours on the dot in the Crystal Palace’s War Room.”

“We’re arriving at the palace now General. My boys and I will get out first and form a wall around you.”

“Do what you must, lieutenant.”

__________________

The mood at the Crystal Palace was somber, almost desperate. The palace’s staff had worn worried, if composed, expressions since the beginning of the siege, but now the mood had become one of hopelessness. Shining paid no mind to any of that though, moving into the Throne Room and straight to his wife, the Crystal Princess.

“How’re you holding up…?” Cadance asked quietly, her own EVA projecting the casualty counts on the wall in front of her.

“I figured I’d be asking you that, dearest…” Shining murmured back.

“I’ll hold, don’t worry about me. It’s you we need to look after, especially with… this.” She replied, motioning to the list of names they’d be engraving on a memorial later. Usually Shining Armor would have some witty reply about how he could tough it all out, but if he was being completely honest with himself, he had never dealt with this sort of loss before. The initial battle for the Kingdom a year ago had been costly, but nothing like this siege.

“Incoming transmission… location unknown…. Source… Brotherhood of Nod.” Shining’s EVA stated, interrupting his train of thought.

“Put it on the big screen.” The white unicorn ordered, his face going from grieving to anger the moment Spike’s head appeared.

“Hello, Uncle. How are we feeling today?”

“What do you want, Spike?” Cadance asked as her husband composed himself.

“I want this little siege to end before I have to kill all of you. I pulled my forces back after their initial subterranean assault because what we did this afternoon was a message of its own. I can strike your city at any time, in any place, and I also have the capability at my claws to destroy the shield with a single attack… and I don’t want to use that attack. The moment I do, this war turns into a superweapon race, and the last thing Equestria needs is for our two factions to start slugging it out on that large of a scale.”

“You’re bluffing. Why would you care about bloodshed when you’ve already helped send tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters-in-arms to an early grave?!” Shining barked back.

“You can ask Auntie Tia about why we continue to fight, Shining, but my plea still stands. Please don’t make me unleash Tartarus on your Kingdom… just lay down your arms, pull the shield down, and I promise anyone who wishes to join Nod can do so, and anyone who wishes to stay loyal to GDI will be treated fairly as a POW. If you refuse… I will leave nothing but a crater where the castle is.”

“EVA, cut the transmission.” Shining spat, his whole body shaking a bit with rage as the feed went back to a rotating GDI emblem. For what felt like centuries, all of the senior staff simply sat there, looking at their Theatre CO and wondering what was going on inside his head. Cadance was even speechless and despite wanting to go console her husband, was frozen in place.

Whatever nerve Spike had touched was a big one, and she had never seen Shining Armor like this before.

“Friends… if he’s asking for us to surrender… practically begging us to, that means he’s licked. Something changed and he can’t sustain the campaign… if we’re to break the siege, now is the time. I want four of the divisions ready for a full counter attack in three hours and my personal Mammoth at the head of the column. We’re breaking the Brotherhood line.”
_______________

Crystal Kingdom Outskirts
1930 hours

“I can now confirm, Slavik, that GDI has committed the majority of its forces to breaking the siege. Their Kodiaks are on approach and they intend to rain death on us all.”

“Good job Zeek. It’s… regrettable, but they’ve made their choice. Proceed with the plan.” Said Spike, his face on the screen being as perpetually menacing as ever.

“In the Name of Kane.” replied Zeek, the transmission ending a second after. Despite his promotion to Brigadier General, Zeek continued to command his forces from within a stealth tank, making use of one of his old Mk. I tank. With stealth technology having been successfully miniaturized and warheads having been made more powerful in order to make them smaller and launchable from the new Mk, II stealth tanks, plenty of space had been repurposed on the large and bulky Mk. I to assist him in commanding his forces on the field.

“Alright mares and gentlecolts, let’s not let Slavik down.” He said to his crew, getting a quick cheer out of them.

“Division” he began, addressing all stealth tanks under their command, most of them being the newer Mk. II variant with the unit commanders making use of the older Mk. Is as their beloved brigadier. “Today it is us who shape the fate of this city. Slavik’s trap has been set, and it is up to us to spring it. Each battalion will expend its munitions and make a full retreat to friendly lines. Our job is not to stop GDI’s charge, but to merely delay it and draw those lovely, oversized flying bricks into spitting distance of the shield. We do that, and Slavik will ensure this siege is over. In the Name of Kane.”

His message to his troops complete, Zeek activated his command controls and displays. His battalions were all fully stocked and prepared for this operation, and morale was at an all-time high. The 1st Stealth Armored Division, famously known as “Zeek’s Ghosts” within the Brotherhood and infamously referred to as the “Ghost Division” within GDI, had made its official debut with this siege and had played a key part in preventing further reinforcements from reaching the besieged city. And now they would ensure this battle ended in complete Nod victory.

The plan was simple enough. Each battalion would move out one after the other. The lead battalion would fire all its warheads directly at the enemy’s front, their regular guided munitions replaced with unguided HE rockets. The following battalions would do the same, circling around the enemy’s flanks and then retreating once all munitions were expended. Once all three battalions had fallen back, Zeek’s own battalion would then uncloak and fire upon the Kodiaks, the warheads of his tanks having been originally designed to penetrate the heaviest of armor which was usually found in Mammoths and then detonate within the targets. At such close range however, hitting the Kodiaks was not only possible but guaranteed.

Slavik would then have full reign to destroy GDI’s forces himself.

Accessing the division channel once more, Zeek uttered the only word his troops needed to hear in order to commit all 120 of their tanks to battle.

“Advance!”
_____________

As always, the valley looked clear. In another time, Shining would have believed there was no war simply by looking at the horizon.

That was just a dream now.

The Brotherhood had a painfully good grasp of cloaking technology, allowing them to hide their entire army. That’s why he had requested the Kodiaks join the attack. No amount of stealth would protect them from grid-by-grid creeping barrages followed by advancing Mammoths.

“The Starswirl and Goddesses report they are ready to fire.” Said one of Shining’s officers, keeping the General updated from the HQ at the palace.

“Roger that. Let’s get this started then. EVA, open a channel to both ships.” Said Shining Armor. Once the channel had been opened, he took a deep breath and gave the order.

“SHATTER THEIR SKIES!”

With a roaring boom audible even inside his personal Mammoth, both Kodiaks let out the first barrage into the pre-designated target areas. The armored forces would advance to the bombed area while the Kodiaks blasted the next grid. By Celestia, they would break out of this siege and reconnect with GDI forces on the other side of the Brotherhood blockade.

“Incoming fire!” Yelled the driver as he drove the massive beast of metal forward.

A rain of rockets fell upon the ragtag corp-sized GDI force. Timberwolves and infantry units were hit hard by the unexpected attack, but the high explosive warheads failed to do much to the armored behemoths except knock out a few tracks here and there.

“Report. Where did that come from?!” Demanded Shining, EVA answering within a moment.

“The rocket barrage appears to have originated a kilometer and a half ahead of us. Sensor scans of the attackers appear to indicate stealth tanks.”

Of course it was the damned stealth tanks.

“Forward. I don’t care what they try to hit us with, we break through!”

“Alert: Enemy forces are on our flank.” Said EVA. A moment later, more rockets came from the leftmost flank, this time impacting multiple tanks with enough HE warheads to knock them out for good.

“Dammit, this is already going to pear-shaped. EVA, have the rest of the corps advance, we will take care of this.”

With that, Shining Armor’s forward force turned towards their flank, seeking to engage the rapidly-disappearing Nod forces. However, it was too late. They were already gone.

“Alert: Enemy forces are on our flank.” Said the construct once more. Shining immediately turned to his command display, seeing stealth tanks firing from his OTHER flank. They’d just bamboozled him successfully.

“Very well then. This is how they want to play. All units, ignore enemy fire and break through their lines!”

With a set of replies from his unit commanders, Shining rejoined the charge, smiling at the appearance of the Goddesses right on top of his forces. That smile disappeared as EVA’s latest alert came through just as missile trails flew overhead.

“GDA Goddesses is under fire. Shields are down.”

This was not going as planned at all.
_____________

Spike let out a heavy sigh as he saw all of the pieces come together. GDI was moments away from being within optimal strike range, and he already had the launch codes punched in.

All he had to do was push the button.

“Spike…? Are you doing well…?” Rarity asked quietly as she sat down next to him.

“I’m about to unleash the power of a star on Equestria…” Spike replied, “It’s humbling. I’m about to wipe out tens of thousands of ponies in a single movement of my claw… just a couple of muscles flexing and I wipe out an army.”

“They gave you no choice, darling, you warned them, you warned all of them.”

“I know… but that still won’t put my conscience at ease, at least for a while.”

“GDI Counter Attack will reach optimal range in 10 seconds.” Spike’s EVA announced. With another heavy sigh, the young dragon reached over to his command console, verified the command codes and closed his eyes.

“I am become Death…. Luna forgive me.”
_______________

“Codes have been received, my lord. The launch sequence has been initiated.” Kane’s personal EVA announced, though he was already up and moving towards the observation deck before it had started talking. He knew full well what was already being put into motion.

“Open up the blast shields.” Kane said with a knowing grin. In reply, the protective metal plates in front of him retracted back into the walls, leaving only bullet-proof, magically shielded glass in their wake. The view was already spectacular on a regular day, showing vast tiberium fields being cultivated and harvested by changeling workers as far as the eye could see, the capital city of the Brotherhood slowly but surely expanding as the surrounding fields were cleared.

But today was a special day in Mareajevo.

Warning signs and security forces had cleared the courtyard to Temple Prime hours before and had successfully prevented anyone from going back in. As if commanded by a god to reveal the gates of Tartarus, the ground opened up, revealing a cylindrical chasm with but a single object within. A great spire rose up into Kane’s view, the red scorpion tail on its nose glistening proudly under the light of the early dusk.

“Launch is commencing.” An automated voice, not an EVA, stated getting yet another smile from Nod’s messiah as the first ever Sombra-class missile ignited its engines and shot up into the sky.
_______________

“All units report ammunition expended sir. GDA Goddesses disabled.” Reported Zeek’s EVA.

“Absolutely beautifully done. Inform all units to retreat to friendly lines.” Zeek ordered. With surprising, almost practiced grace, Zeek’s tank broke off, invisibly followed by multiple others out of the combat zone back towards the predetermined ‘safe zone’.

“Uhhh, Brigadier… what’s that?” Asked lieutenant Ambers, Zeek’s unicorn gunner.

“What’s what?” He asked.

“That light in the sky, sir. Getting really close, really fast.”

“... I believe that’s Slavik’s surprise.”
____________________

Spike scowled at the display on his wrist as the icon representing the missile continued to close in. Zeek’s tanks had already entered the safe zone and every unicorn in the theatre was busy putting up a protective barrier around Nod’s area of operations. After the small triangle made it past the rear phase line, he looked up and watched the streak of light heading straight towards the Crystal Kingdom.

“EVA, make sure everyone has their eyes closed until after the initial detonation…” Spike muttered, crossing his arms as he continued to track the missile. It wasn’t until the proximity alarm in his earpiece went off that he closed his eyes and covered his face with his arm.

Three seconds later, the world became nothing but blinding light, scorching heat, and deafening pressure.

Author's Notes:

This one's for you, Eben, I'm sorry you weren't around to read this chapter and that you'll never see the series finished. You were my brother-in-arms, and my friend. You'll be dearly missed.