Gunfire. Explosions, the rain of dirt on the ground. The occasional zap of a laser or hard THWAP of a bullet striking the ground echoed through her ears. The problem was that it sounded distant to her; while that should’ve made her panic, she couldn’t bring herself to care. After all, she felt like she could just float away. Her eyes were transfixed skyward, on the phantasmal stitchwork tracer rounds and laserfire made across the patchwork quilt of the midnight sky. The world lurched and rumbled as artillery shells struck nearby--and again, more closely, as she felt herself being moved. She could barely feel anything.

‘Co… stay… me,’ a voice said. It was muffled as all hell, the smooth sound seeming to slide over her ears instead of into them. ‘Come on.’ It came, again. ‘Stay with me, girl.’ Male? Sounded male. Why was she here, again? She blinked, and her eyes started searching again. Whatever had dazed her had been nearly bad enough to give her a concussion. Her senses were returning, slowly.

The way her leg felt, she wished they had stayed away.

The world came crashing back into focus as the pain of the compound fracture broke into her mind, piercing a line straight to her belly and forcing her to full consciousness. Bodies were everywhere, shattered vehicles were strewn about, and Black Hand were swarming the GDI defensive line trying to hold a road that connected the Canterlot and Ponyville Blue Zones.

Before she could even ask what had happened, laser fire burned a hole into the pony still trying to keep her awake, splattering smoking bits of his chest and organs all over her armor and that of the medic right next to him.

“Keep your heads down! I’ll handle this!” a male voice cut through the cacophony created by the battle. As soon as his declaration ended, a male pegasus landed in the midst of the Black Hand closing in on the wounded mare. His saddle looked like it had been modified extensively, and the rifles on either side of his body were obviously a larger caliber than those used by regular infantry which he used to great effect by placing four well-aimed shots into the vulnerable necks of each gryphon he could see. His armor looked much more well-worn and scuffed up than hers which, up until today, hadn’t seen combat yet, and if she had to guess as to what caused those scuffs, she’d bet her entire paycheck that it was the very weapons that he was dodging at the moment.

Flash Sentry ducked past another Black Hand, bucking his helmet off as he came up before his HUD got a positive lock on the gryphon’s chest and fired. The two GDM light machine guns opened up and punched through the armor after a few seconds of sustained fire. With his latest target on the ground, the former Crystal Kingdom guard trotted over to the wounded mare.

“You alright, kid?” he asked without looking away from the battlefield.

“What do you think!? I have a compou-”

“It’s a casualty treatment question to keep your mind off doc here patching you up. Are you alright?”

“Uh… y…. yeah… yes, sir.” she replied with a bit more respect in her voice.

“I’m marking our location. Another medic and my team should be up here any minute now.” Sentry stated before a Nod militant’s head disappeared in a cloud of vapor.

“Make that any second now; on your five, 50 meters, Captain.” another male cut in over the radio. He was obviously from Trottingham, given the accent and what the red-maned mare saw on her HUD afterwards only confirmed it.

“Pipsqueak!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed, almost causing the medic that was patching up her fractured leg to shove the splint into her flank.

“Deadeye now, actually, luv!” the young stallion called back before switching over to his ‘serious voice’, “Havoc, we got a trio of Noddies coming up along up on your blindside. Want the honors?”

“Cap’em, squirt.” Flash replied with a slight grin as a trio of shots rang out, “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Comin’ up behind you, 20 meters left, sir!” another stallion shouted.

The stallion was a monster of an earth pony, also sharing Pip’s Trottingham accent and was missing an eye. His coat was a light shade of brown and his mane, a darker brown, was cut nearly as short as his tail. He was missing his right eye and emblazoned across his armor right below his neck was the name “Gunner”. The name was fitting given the dual rocket launchers strapped to his saddle.

Next to him was a smaller pony, a unicorn, with the name “Hotwire” written on her uniform. She had a toolkit strapped to her flank that made it look like she had just raided a RadioBarn. Her coat was a darker blue and her shortly styled mane was as jet-black. Beside her, another unicorn with three grenade launchers strapped to his body, a set of black and red goggles that clashed hilariously with his teal coat and blonde mane, and the name “Patch” tattooed on his neck on the right side with the Germaneigh flag tattooed on the other.

Finally, on Gunner’s other side, another pegasi trotted along. She had a black mane as well with a violet coat and sported the same modified rifles that Flash Sentry had on himself. Her armor was light compared to the others and seemed to favor mobility over protection. Despite that, there was enough armor plating for the name “Sakura” to be stenciled in.

“Nice of you to drop by! I was afraid I’d have to do this by myself and lie on the after action reports again.” Flash quipped as the rest of Dead 6 trotted up and got to work.

“Not on your life, ‘Avoc!” Gunner sniped back as he let loose with his launchers. 50 meters down range, an Ursa Tank’s treads shattered on the right side. Taking a moment to find a new target let Gunner get a glimpse of what their situation truly looked like. As he saw it, this battle couldn’t be going any worse.
_______

From Lieutenant Colonel Zeek’s perspective, the battle couldn’t be going any better. Equestria is a land covered in hills and mountains which, for a tank commander, presents interesting terrain advantages and disadvantages. One could hide tanks behind them but couldn’t really climb over them to engage an enemy that had anti-tank weaponry unless the point was to commit suicide by exposing the tank’s underside. Likewise, parking a tank atop a hill was a good way to have everyone and their mother shoot rockets at you. For Colonel Zeek, this was not a problem.

“How’s it looking there, sir? Are we actually gonna get to shoot at something today?” asked a mare with a pale-pink coat and red mane, looking at her tank commander from atop the crew compartment of their tank.

“Maybe. Maybe not. The boys from the 12th and 38th are giving GDI absolute hell.” replied the Colonel, not even looking away from the battle. The sight of a pair of tank commanders getting sniped while outside their cupolas sent a shiver down his spine. The Ursa was a good tank, a fast downscaled version of GDI’s Predator. Unfortunately, this also meant it didn’t get as many toys as a Predator would, like external cameras. “Be ready to move out, but I think we’ll end up staying on standby rather than breaking the line.” That said, the old gray-maned, yellow-coated stallion got up from the ground and climbed back up into what Nod commanders were referring to as “Ezekiel’s Wheel”. He had no idea who Ezekiel was or what was so important about his wheel.

GDI’s defensive line was more than just “in trouble”. It was, however, also a perfect example of the recent horsepower problems GDI was facing at the moment. A critical road connecting two blue zones had been left under the care of what amounted to a glorified garrison. A single battalion, 800 ponies and their vehicles, to guard a couple dozen kilometers of road. The Nod force facing them was a full infantry battalion of a thousand troops, just to strike the GDI line, backed up by two motorised infantry battalions of 500 troops and 60 varied vehicles each in reserve ready to rush in should Murphy decide to show up, as well as an armored battalion of 40 Ursa tanks and aerial support helping in the assault just to put the nails in the coffin.

To put it lightly, were Celestia a goddess that actually did anything with her powers, it would take an act of a god to save the GDI force guarding the road. The fact that they’d lasted as long as they did was a miracle in and of itself.

Sitting on the commander’s chair onboard his Ezekiel’s Wheel, Lieutenant Colonel Zeek grumbled at that fact. The brigade’s commanding officers had been informed Dead Six had been spotted in the area. However, given the size of Nod’s current force, they’d be nothing more than a nuisance. And should they actually manage to halt the assault, then it’d be time for the 1st Stealth Tank Battalion ‘Zeek’s Chop Shop’ to take the stage.
________

“Get ready to pull back to the final defensive lines, we can’t hold here anymore!” Flash barked out as his team continued to unleash everything they could on the Nod onslaught. When he gave the order, his team tensed as the incoming fire intensified. Somepony out there must have either heard Havoc’s order or could sense that the GDI lines were near the breaking point. Apple Bloom had been propped up with her rocket launcher and sidearm in order to provide minimal cover fire after her leg had been patched up and she was doing the Apple Family Name proud. Barely old enough to enlist when she did, she had proven herself through a few skirmishes before the Brotherhood had fully mobilized and, despite her injury, was giving as good as she got.

“Gunner, grab the mare and get her out of here!”

“Tryin’ not to get ‘it as is, ‘Avoc!” the massive stallion replied. “Only way we’re gettin’ all the survivors out is if that Nod line vanishes!”

“Well we aren’t that lucky, so just grab her and ge-.” Flash began before a priority transmission hit his earpiece and that of every GDI pony on the battlefield.

“Havoc…?” Patch muttered with a raised eyebrow and a massive grin plastered on his muzzle.

“You heard Sky Admiral Dash! EVERYPONY HIT THE DIRT!”

Mere moments after his voice echoed across the battlefield, the front line of the Nod advance disappeared in a massive cloud of fire, smoke, dirt, and blood. After the initial shockwave, Apple Bloom swore she heard the subtle roar of artillery fire from kilometers away… only it was in the air and there weren’t any artillery companies left in that theatre. Before she could really let her mind work through the confusion, more fireballs caused swathes of terrain to simply vanish and the booming crack of artillery continued.

“What in the hay is that!?” the young mare finally screamed over the din.

“That’s the GDA Double Rainboom, kid! Freshly armed and sent out to make Nod hurt anywhere, any time!” Sakura shouted back as yet another blast hit the hunkered down Nod battalion. Once the artillery stopped, both sides refrained from firing. The GDI troops waited just in case the artillery began again while Nod was waiting to see just how many more shells the damn Kodiak was going to throw at them.
_______

The answer was none, but came not from the ground troops or the Kodiak herself. Their answer came in the form of four squadrons of ORCA fighters swarming towards the area. Before the Nod attack helos could bear down on the incoming wave, missiles impacted over half of them while the rest had to break formation to survive the barrage.

“Where the hell did those launch from!?” a Gryphon pilot barked over the comm.

“Traces put them coming from that damn Kodiak!” a grey, cross-eyed pegasus replied. Without hesitation, she pulled her helicopter back around and sped towards the incoming ORCAs, “All craft on me! With that airship in the air we can’t win so we’ll buy the ground troops some time to pull back!”

Derpy saw a dozen or so green lights pop up on her HUD showing her that what was left of the air cover was following her lead. Quickly, with rehearsed skill, the helos formed back up on the black and red attack copter with bubbles painted on the tail and met the ORCAs headon. Down below on the ground, GDI was now pressing their attack and the remaining Nod troops were pulling back. Black Hand members were holding where they could or providing cover fire, but with the Double Rainboom in the area and GDI pilots already strafing any Nod soldiers they found out in the open, everyone wearing red and black knew that if they stayed there, they were asking to die for Kane very prematurely.

That was until SAMs started swatting ORCAs out of the sky at an alarming rate and even impacting on the Double Rainboom’s hull. Green explosions knocked GDI craft out of the blue while shell casings from the point defense guns on Rainbow Dash’s flagship began to litter the decks in an attempt to shoot as many of the missiles down as they could.
_______

“What the- what just happened?! Where did those ORCAs come from?” roared a young, enraged purple drake, seeing casualties at the front suddenly spike.

“Sir, a GDI Kodiak aircarrier arrived out of nowhere! Radar didn’t pick it up until it’d fired and launched its craft!” an aide answered, eyes slaved to the monitors feeding him information from the battlefield.

“Which one? The Goddesses? The Discord?”

“No sir. It’s the Double Rainboom.”

For a long, agonizing moment, Spike’s aides saw, felt, their commander turning completely red with rage. For a tortuous second, they even feared he would burn them all alive. Instead, he just let out a roar.

“THAT RAINBOW-MANED BITCH! GET ME ZEEK ON THE HORN! NOW!”
_______

“Yes sir. Yes. Consider it done, Brigadi-”

“Belay that order, my dear colonel.” another voice cut over the comm.

“My lord…?” Zeek asked as the face of the Messiah popped up on the screen next to Spike’s.

“There’s no reason to let GDI know that our stealth tank technology exists just yet. Have your tanks shut down their Lazarus shields outside GDI sensor range, and then engage in a covering action. They’ll think that your forces are just a dedicated anti-air tank, not a stealth weapon.

“It will be done, sir. In your name.”

“Good luck, and good work.” Kane told the elder stallion before cutting all the feeds, leaving Spike with just a black screen and his thoughts.
_______

As the feed cut out, Spike growled and smashed the screen in front of him with a swift punch. Before the war had started, he would have been hard-pressed to even dent the tempered glass that made tactical screens so durable. However, ever since Twilight Sparkle started needing to test the effects of tiberium on dragons and he had volunteered, his physique had gone through a drastic change.

Nearly 8 years ago Spike had an issue with “Greed Growth”, first making him twice as tall as any pony while still keeping his ‘cute’ proportions. The result had been him looking much like a lanky teenager before the growth got out of control and he went on a rampage. This new form of growth, however, was much more refined. His chest was broader, his neck not nearly as long as his former ‘teenage’ self. His arms and legs actually had muscle to them courtesy of the tiberium treatments and the way dragon biology reacts to crystalline structures, and his claws were now deadly weapons of war that he had yet to truly test in the field. He still had not developed wings yet but the spines on his back had grown significantly to match his new height. While he was still growing, and he probably always would now for all he knew with how tiberium evolved on its own, he was more than happy to be a good head taller than the average pony.

His uniform was one of Rarity’s creations; a closed jacket in Nod’s colors that had protective spells should a GDI mage try and send a curse at him and the decorative rank of a Brigadier General along the shoulders. His pants were equally protected from magic and he had long appreciated the fact that he now had pockets that didn’t rely on him stuffing things in the gaps between scales. The practice may have been pain free back when he was younger, but as he grew and his scales got significantly denser, it was now very uncomfortable to do with anything larger than a key card. At his request, his feet were left uncovered. There was no reason to hide his talons whether they be on his hands or feet and if he got into an untenable situation, he didn’t want to have to ruin boots just to attack with his full arsenal.

“I trust you understand exactly why I took personal control of the situation, Spike.” Kane mused

“Yes, I was able to figure it out after you explained it in front of me.” Spike muttered with a huff that caused him to snort out a puff of smoke.

“Well, we couldn’t have GDI learning of our stealth tech during an operation that was only supposed to be a distraction.”

“WHAT!?”
__________

Twilight Sparkle was nearby, preparing a carryall to take Spike to General Rarity’s latest victory when she heard her former assistant arguing with a floating holographic Kane that was being emitted from a crystal on Spike’s wrist. She didn’t bother even trying to stop Spike from acting a little more respectful and simply sat back, starting to enjoy the show as he walked aboard.

“You mean to tell me that that entire brigade was just a diversion!? My troopers, my soldiers and pilots, all those units under my care were just a distraction to keep Rainbow Dash busy!?”

“That unit was not just a distraction, dear Brigadier.” Kane’s hologram replied as the Carryall shot into the air, “You needed to learn an important lesson, one that every military commander must learn if he is to be effective in the long run.”

“And what might that be…?” the drake murmured with a scowl.

“Defeat, Spike. Until today, you’ve had a spotless battle record. Your commanders have always brought you victory on the field, but today was different even if it was somewhat staged and relied partially on GDI being predictable. You’re having your confidence tested, and your ego deflated before it gets dangerously big.”

“Why do I need to have my confidence ‘tested’!? My spotless record gave troops a morale boost! Any time I command a battle personally, militia work as devoutly as Black Hand Vanguards, now word will spread that the ‘Invincible Slavik’ is no longer invincible.”

“This is exactly why, Spike. You’re taking this loss horribly. Imagine what would happen if this had happened during a critical point in the war instead of a lull in the fighting? The only two major engagements happening this entire month were your battle, and General Rarity routing Prince Blueblood’s armored division.”

“Well at least she finally got some payback for that dance all those years ago…” Twilight muttered with a tinge of amusement, only to receive a piercing glare from her former Number One Assistant.

“I would have liked to know from the beginning that at least that my troops were to be a distraction for Rarity’s force. Then I could have prepared for when the Double Rainboom showed up. Derpy barely got 6 of our choppers out of there alive and we suffered 60% casualties on the front once Havoc got involved.” Spike growled.

“Flash Sentry was there?” Twilight asked, “I thought his commando unit was busy running counter-intel ops near our false compound at Appleloosa.”

“I may or may not have found a way to sneak it to GDI that a major offensive was on the way and needed their assistance, thus making sure that the full ‘might’ of GDI was bearing down on Spike, and away from Rarity’s battlefield. It worked, obviously, but now we have a sulking dragon to deal with. Twilight, please get him in fighting shape by the time you land, he’s needed in top condition for when he links up with Rarity’s forces.”

“Of course, Kane.” she said with a friendly nod.

“In the Name of Luna, sister.”

“In the Name of Luna, brother.” the former Princess of Friendship smiled before looking back at Spike.

“He used me.”

“He taught you, Spike. If he had used you, he would have let that your entire brigade get killed and GDI would be marching towards another phase line. Instead, he used a tactical move to ensure that Rarity’s forces wouldn’t get wiped out facing one of GDI’s heavy hitting units… even if it was in command of the most incompetent stallion in Equestria.” Twilight told the young dragon.

“So I’m just supposed to suck it up in the next 2 hours and pretend like I didn’t just get my record marked red with a few hundred dead Nod troops… I know that no commander will ever have a casualty-free battle, but it’s… it’s hard to deal with when you know they died just to buy someone else some time, that they were never supposed to even win.”

“I’ll admit, the decision wasn’t carried out the way I would have done so, but it was in Nod’s best interest as a whole. And you did need to… well, lose, at least once before continuing on. Smooth seas never did make a skilled sailor, after all.”

“War is never a smooth sea, Twilight.” Spike retorted, “I’ve had more than my fair share of ‘stormy weather’ these past few months. Look at the Second Battle of the Crystal Kingdom! My Colonels barely kept that line solid once I got involved.”

“Then take these lessons to heart, Spike. We’re not asking to you forgive and forget, we just want you to learn and move on.”

“It’s going to be a long time before I fully trust Kane again, Twilight…”

“Understandable, but would a heart-felt thank you from Rarity make this blow a little less harsh?” the purple alicorn asked, causing the like-colored dragon to perk up a little bit.

“Maybe.”
________

As the carryall approached the battlefield, Spike ordered the side doors open and took in the view. ‘Hydra’ class surface-to-surface missile launchers were laying down suppressing fire on what few GDI ponies were able to retreat while the occasional detonation of a Predator’s engine or ammunition magazines cooking off dotted the massive battlefield. From what Spike had learned, Rarity’s 3rd Special Operations Division had met Prince Blueblood’s 1st Armored Division in open field. If the 1st Armored had been under the command of literally any other GDI commander, they would have at least held the line against Rarity’s forces. Instead, the GDI division had suffered 95% casualties with nearly a 90% fatality rate.

Spike let a slight grin play across his muzzle as the Hydras fired again, catching one of the few remaining Predators in the open. The tank took two missiles to the turret, popping it off and causing the chassis to detonate as the turret went flying. Halfway across the battlefield, an attack VTOL, one of the prototype ‘Venoms’, strafed a routing squad of ponies. About 10 minutes later, Spike gave Twilight a respectful nod and stepped off the transport. He smiled a little more as he felt the dirt between his claws, the heavy smell of carbon in the air and the familiar, comforting smell of smoke. To most that scent would be hard to deal with, but when you happen to breathe fire, it’s like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t until a voice that Spike dreamt about on a regular basis called to him that he was broken from his train of thought.

“Spike? Is… is that you…?” Rarity asked as she and her personal guard walked over. He turned to smile at her and gave a short bow towards the uniformed mare.

“That it is, m’lady… Twilight’s tiberium research has yielded some… unexpected results in me.” Spike replied, gesturing to himself.

“I… can see that, darling… you’re… you’re growing up.” the white mare muttered, with a tinge of something in her tone that Spike swore was pride.

“In more ways than one, my dear Rarity.” he retorted playfully while tapping his temple. “I see you had a resounding success here against General Blueblood.”

“I’d hardly call this a success. He overrode the orders of his colonels no less than 20 times during the battle. By the time they all received solid orders, my forces were already routing them… you no doubt saw my hoofwork on the flight here, yes?”

“The after-action report said 20,000 dead, captured, or wounded, but seeing it in person tells so much more than a scroll ever could… especially with that display from the Hydras on the way in. Did you kill Blueblood too?”

“I was ordered to take him prisoner for now, Kane believed that after you found out that he used your current unit as bait for Rainbow Dash you’d want a little present to make up for it.” Rarity told them as they started towards her field command tent. Once inside, Spike noted with a feral grin that the unit flag of GDIs 1st Armored Division was hanging behind Rarity’s desk which was practically covered in various trinkets and trophies taken from the battle.

A piece of Predator tank armor that he assumed Rarity would run tests on later, a helmet from a GDI heavy trooper that had a single, precision hole burned through the center of the visor, and of course, Prince Blueblood’s armored chest plate. The plate was the standard ‘decorative’ flak that all GDI officers wore into the field, complete with enough ribbons and medals that Spike knew the pompous brat didn’t rate.

“I thought you fought Prince Blueblood, not Generalissimo Sangre Azul, Rarity.”

“My thoughts exactly, darling.” the unicorn quipped as she gestured to the most important part of the tent, a large screen hooked up to the mother of all communications arrays. With that put together, Rarity could get any signal anywhere with little to zero time lag and view it in crystal clear quality. If Spike was still his old self, he would’ve swooned at the thought of watching hoofball on that.

“The screen? What’s so important about it…? Well, besides the obvious tactical benefits.”

“Not the screen, darling. What’s on the screen.” Rarity told him before she willed the screen on with her magic. It flickered to life and in amazing quality, Spike saw a bruised and bound Prince Blueblood strapped to a medical table. His uniform, or at least what parts of it weren’t currently being held as a trophy, were in tatters and his flank was already badly cut.

“Am I just watching or will I be allowed to make him pay for the Gala all those years ago?” Spike growled. His spines were already flared a little bit as well before he felt a hoof brush under his jaw.

“Spikey Wikey… you’re going to help me break him, and after we break him, I want you to show me just how powerful your dragonfire is. After all, I wouldn’t dream of denying you something we both want.” the white mare whispered, as she moved her mane to the side. The gesture was something that she only did in front of friends or by accident given the condition of her face, and even then she rarely did so.

“You know you were beautiful regardless of crystal infection, but when you talk like that…”

“Yes...?” she asked with a hint of a smirk on her muzzle.

“You’re drop-dead gorgeous when you’re in your vendetta mood, m’lady.” Spike told her, gently brushing a claw across the infected side of her face gingerly before looking to the screen again. “So where is he being held?”

“Medical tent A-4. We were expecting many more casualties on our part and set up too many aid stations, so he’s being held in there.”

“Shall we?” the young drake asked with his most alluring tone. His reply was a gentle kiss before the mare of his dreams put her mane back in place and sauntered out of her command tent. General Spike “Slavik” The Dragon of Nod followed alongside her ever faithfully.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, over the past two months I got back from deployment, got married, and moved from one side of the US to another. Anyway, here's chapter 6! Enjoy.