It was surprisingly silent out by Post 12 despite the intense fighting taking place just a few kilometers away. The echoes of combat could still be heard at this distance, yet they were overpowered by Private Shoelace’s high-pitched whistle as he surveyed the battle from atop the guard tower.

“Boy… sure am glad they decided to stick me back here.” he said as he put down his binoculars, turning from the giant drake that saturated the scenery to look at his partner. “Wanna switch now Rocky?”

Receiving a shrug as an answer, his partner’s face sank deeply on one of those newfangled smartphones that he’d managed to smuggle onto post with him, which was enough to make Pvt. Shoelace shake his head as he went back to looking over the battlefield. That is, up until his helmet’s radio started beeping.

“Post 12, Post 14 here. We think we saw some movement down southwest but the view of that area’s not that good from here. What can you guys see?” came over the radio, prompting him to take a look at the area south of his tower.

“Post 14, you sure you saw something? I’ve got a clear view from up here and there’s nothing there.” he answered back, waiting for a reply. A reply that never came. “Post 14?” he asked once more, and once more received no answer.

“Hey Rocky, is your phone working fine? Any signal problems?” he then asked, turning to his partner who answered with a head shake. If that was still working, that meant that Nod wasn’t using some jammer or something to stop communications. Which meant that either there was a problem with the radio, or Post 14 had been-

Pvt. Shoelace never got to finish that thought as a missile impacted one of the tower’s wooden walls, detonating a nanosecond later and vaporizing its occupants.

Three hundred meters to the north, behind the area the guard tower was meant to keep watch over, a Stealth Tank’s Lazarus shield readapted to its surroundings after the missile launch disrupted the cloaking field. Inside, Lieutenant Colonel Zeek listened to the redundant yet always welcome report from his gunner.

“Target destroyed.”

“Good, good.” he replied, contacting the rest of Darius company. “All tanks, form on me after you confirm the destruction of your targets.” he ordered, his helmet’s HUD displaying confirmation blips arriving from his tank commanders acknowledging the order. Looking over a map of the area on one of his monitors, he turned to his driver. “Marble, take us to the rendezvous point.”

Travelling in an Ezekiel’s Wheel was the closest thing to safety one could get to in this damnable war, next to surrounding oneself with an army and moving as a single giant blob. And even then, a lucky artillery shell or well-placed missile could still ruin your day. Such worries weren’t much of a concern within a Stealth Tank, making it an excellent mobile command center for small units.

“Anubis, Balthasar, Cyrus, report.” he ordered, waiting for a reply from his majors. If everything went well, they’d be giving GDI a bloody nose right around now. Then again, in this war one didn’t simply do that without getting punched back.

“Anubis reporting, we’ve had to spread out due to Commander Slavik’s… I don’t know what to call it, but GDI’s birds are making our job easier by focusing entirely on him.”

“Balthasar here. We’ve been unable to punch through their Mammoths’ armor but we managed to disable a few by taking out their treads. We’re down two tanks however. Damn rear armor is better than a Predator’s front.”

“Colonel, Captain Cork speaking. Major Payne’s tank got too close to a Mammoth’s shells mid-flight. Cyrus company is down four tanks but their Predators are now hesitant to move outside their Mammoth cover.”

Colonel Zeek cursed GDI’s new heavy tanks under his breath before readdressing his COs. “Anubis, continue swatting flies and support commander Slavik as needed. Balthasar and Cyrus, disengage their tanks and focus on the mechanized infantry bringing up their rear.” he ordered, his HUD once more receiving three blips confirming his subordinates’ acknowledgement. The presence of Mammoths in unprecedented force demanded a change of plans.
________

“Phoenix-3 is down!”

“Roger that, do you see a chute?”

“Chute is good. Repeat, I see a chute!”

“We’ll pick her up later then. Focus ladies, we have a monster to put down!”

Phoenix Squadron, also known as Celestia’s Pride, was the best ORCA unit in the GDIAF and under the command of Colonel Spitfire. Despite this, they were getting their flanks handed to them by a giant purple-and-green dragon shouting out the name of a former fashionista and using his wings to send her pilots tumbling through the air when he wasn’t swatting at them.

The SAMs coming out of nowhere weren't helping.

“Viper squadron, follow us in and target its head!” she ordered to their sibling squadron.

“You got it Spitfire.” came Soarin’s reply, him being in command of the Vipers.

“Alright ladies. Our targets are the wings. Turn them into cheese and Viper squadron will get a clear shot at its big, ugly face!*”

Anyone focusing on the two ORCA squadrons couldn’t be faulted for thinking their run was a choreographed act, their synchronization of movement giving away the hours spent practicing maneuvers. As Phoenix came within weapons range, Spike’s wings presented themselves nicely mid-flap. The volley of rockets and bullets from the three ORCAs wasted no time in impacting the comparably-soft skin covering the monster’s massive wings, shredding them and provoking a guttural roar from the beast.

Following their run, the four ORCAs from Viper squadron dove in to attack, launching their own volleys from straight above and targeting Spike’s head. Well, most of them anyhow. Viper-4 appeared to have opted to target as much of the drake as possible, her weapons fire flying off in every direction.

“Viper-4, cease fire! Lightning Dust what the BUCK do you think you’re doing?!” came Soarin’s enraged voice over the radio.

“Relax, I got this in the bag!” answered Lightning Dust, accelerating ahead of her fellow Vipers, focusing her target unto the top of the beast’s back, and as she kept approaching the ground she changed it to the lower back, the base of the tail, the tail’s midsection, the tail’s tip, and she pulled up to even her flight she still had the trigger pressed when Phoenix squadron passed right by her reticle, coming for the monster’s second wing.

“AH! MY ENGINES ARE GONE! I CAN’T CONTROL IT!”

“PHOENIX-2 IS HI- GAH!”

“PHOENIX-1 GOING DOWN! MY COCKPIT WON’T OPEN!”

“... oops.” was all Lightning Dust managed to mutter out before the enraged dragon flapped his wings back and sent her now disabled craft down with Spitfire’s entire squadron. Fortunately for her, her cockpit’s mechanisms were still working and she was able to eject. Unfortunately for Spitfire, the ORCA then proceeded to crash right on top of her own ruined craft. Lightning Dust never managed to utter out another oops, though. The moment she landed in a heap thanks to Spike’s wing gusts, the Nod platoon she had landed next to cuffed her and threw her onto the nearest retreating truck.

“Hey, come on! Let me go ya creeps! Where’s this thing heading to, anyway?”

“Why, we’re going to my personal carryall to get it ready for my... escort, who you just tried to kill. Speaking of, I’m intrigued as to why you suddenly turned on your allies.”

“I di… they got in my way….” the teal pegasus murmured.

“Oh? Bloodthirsty ambition, is that what you’re telling me, darling?”

“...yes?” replied the teal mare, uncertain as to what her captor was talking about.

“Then you’ll go far in the Brotherhood, darling. Unless of course you want to rot in a prison, or be sent back to GDI for a court martial and a firing squad. So, tell me miss….?”

“Lightning Dust, ma’am…”

“Miss Dust… how would you like to fly a Venom?”
________

“SABOTs loaded!” announced Corporal Mash, reading the display confirming the autoloader has done its job.

“Target its center mass.” ordered Big Mac, reading his own displays detailing how the battle was going. The initial surprise regarding the monster’s sudden appearance had faded and his forces had regrouped, prepared to continue the assault. And once more the world turned into noise and shaking.

“Target hit. No penetration.” came Corporal Mash’s voice over Big Mac’s earpiece. Their ear protection, made to stop them from going deaf after the first time they fired the Mammoth’s cannons, made communication without radios impossible.

“Load SABOT, continue firing at target.” Big Mac ordered once more. If they were going to get this battle over with, they’d have to take down the beast. While tempting, ordering every tank to focus fire would result in all other Nod forces being free to fire upon them.

“All Mammoth’s focus on the Apple Pie’s target. SABOT, center mass. Predators, keep Nod’s forces pinned and wait for the order to advance once the drake is down.” he commanded to the 2ndHA. Confirmation of his orders came in the form of a deafening barrage focused on the singular monstrosity which had halted their advance. The ORCAs had shown it could be hurt, now the Mammoths would show it could be crushed under their treads.

It was at this moment that his onboard magical EVA unit let him know GDI artillery and missiles had stopped firing on Nod forces.

“What? EVA, situation.”

“Artillery bases are under attack by an undetermined number of Nod forces. Rear-guard mechanized infantry engaging undetermined number of Nod forces. Unable to determine composition of either force. Units closest match is to a previously-encountered type of anti-air tank. 68% chance of encirclement if the situation is not rectified.”

“67.799 repeating, EVA, don’t round up. Regardless, never tell me the chances.” said Big Mac before sending a division-wide message. “Fall back to base camp. Predators, reinforce our infantry units and then proceed to base to secure it against attack. Mammoths will bring up the rear of the retreat.” he commanded before giving his driver the order to reverse.
________

Spike roared once more at the reversing GDI tanks, claws clenched into fists and ruined wings flaring once more. The behemoth was about to take the fight to them again when he heard the voice of a mare speaking in his head. Her voice was soothing and for some reason, he just couldn’t stay angry at her words. Spike slowed his advance to a halt, let out another, substantially weaker roar at his opponents, and turned towards the Nod lines as he began to shrink.

By the time he was back to regular size, Spike was barely conscious, had multiple cracked and chipped scales, particularly in his chest, his wings had retracted back into his body, and his spines were limp. As he dropped to his knees and was about to faceplant into the dirt, a green magical aura surrounded him and held him aloft. He didn’t resist when he saw that a carryall was nearby and he was lifted onto a medical cot that had been placed aboard. Once he had been let down gently, he started looking around in his groggy stupor, his eyes only going wide when the mare who had lifted him aboard sat next to his bed.

“R..Rarity… but… bu-”

“I had a shield around us before the missiles hit, but our communications gear didn’t survive the impact.” she replied. To her surprise, the drake who had just fought an entire GDI armored division to a standstill with his bare claws started to tear up.

“I… I thought you… I thought…”

“That you had lost me? Spikey, you’ll never have to worry about that.” Rarity told him before she moved her mane to the side. Spike’s eyes widened again that not only was she revealing the tiberium-scarred portion of her face, but she had a genuine smile gracing her crystalline features as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I promise.”

Spike smiled back at her and nodded as a unicorn medic began to sedate him. He thought he said something about how bad his chest hurt, but he couldn’t really tell with how much magic was being channeled into knocking him out. Quietly, the young battle commander drifted off into sleep, content with his newest memory of the mare of his dreams smiling, her face unobscured as her lips chastely found his.
________

Three Days after the Spike Incident

Ever since Fluttershy had become the Supervisor and highest ranking pony in ZOCOM, she had done her best to reform the organization and had changed it from a simple idea of dedicated tiberium cleanup to an entire branch of GDI’s military almost singlehoofedly. Under her careful watch, sonic weapons and tools had been introduced, refineries had been updated and turned into nearly-perfect tiberium cleanup facilities, and the Blue Zones had been established. ZOCOM was a force for good in the world and a symbol for GDI citizens that the war against Tiberium could be won.

Now, however, Supervisor Fluttershy’s heart was being crushed by necessity. She never wanted a war, especially a war against her closest friends. She wanted ZOCOM’s ponies to be able to do their job, for tiberium to go away, and for life as usual to resume once the crisis was over. All chance of that died the day that Kane made his first broadcast, and with Shining Armor standing next to her, the final nail in the coffin of her hopes was being hammered in.

“Supervisor, we have to militarize ZOCOM fully. We appreciate you helping Sky Admiral Dash’s aerial forces with the updated ORCAs, but we need to hold the ground as well.” the blue-maned unicorn said, “We need your latest projects to be turned over to GDI proper for use across the board.”

“Major Armor, you want me to give up two of our best tools against Tiberium for you to use on other ponies. You have to understand my restraint… if that’s not too much to ask…” the yellow pegasus replied quietly.

“Yes, but the Ion Cannon Arra-”

“Ion Projection Satellite. It’s a tool to surgically remove tiberium fields, not living beings.”

“Regardless, ma’am, I have my orders. The mobile refinery project and the ion satellite permissions and all relevant information are to be given to me for transport to General Ironsides. If we’re lucky we can start using the Ion array within a day or so but the reclamation vehicle…. that will be difficult to get ready in a hurry.”

“I’m sure your ponies will be plenty motivated… everypony is when it comes to adding… adding bodies… to this awful, awful war.”

“None of us wanted this, ma’am.” Shining Armor told her, his expression falling slightly as his thoughts drifted to his sister for a moment, “But if we’re going to end this and bring everypony back into the fold, then we need the tools and ponies that ZOCOM has.”

For what seemed like hours, Fluttershy looked at Shining Armor, then her desk, and back between the two multiple times as she weighed her options. She knew he was right but the last thing she wanted to do was hurt ponies, or be the cause of others being able to cause harm even if they were Nod. She especially didn’t want the Ion Projection Satellites to be aimed at Twilight, Pinkie, or Rarity, but in these desperate times, desperate measures had to be taken. The yellow mare walked to the safe on her back wall and quickly used her wings to unlock it. With a sigh, she grabbed all of the folders inside with her mouth and placed them on her desk.

“In these folders you will find everything you need…. and maybe a little more. That top folder… my research teams have been working on a special project that was supposed to help ponies survive in red zones. To help them protect themselves against visceroids and… and feral mutants... but it may help…. help… help on the front lines…against Nod...”

Shining Armor gave her a respectful nod and began to say something before noticing the tears streaming down her face. He closed his mouth, backed away, and slowly exited her office as his mother, ever the faithful steward, came to the crying mare’s aid. Twilight Velvet gave her son a reassuring nod and a small, weary smile as he kept backing out the door. He nodded back with a slight grimace. Everypony knew this had to be done, regardless of personal feelings on the matter. Once out, he breathed a sigh of something that he couldn’t quite classify as relief or exasperation and looked at the project folders he had levitating in his magic next to him.

“Let’s see here…. mobile refinery…. Ion cannons… and…” he muttered as a third folder that Fluttershy told him about came to the top of the stack, “Project ZONE Trooper…?”
________

One Month after ZOCOM Militarization

ZOCOM’s projects were brought into the fold of GDI’s R&D wing with lightning speed and within two weeks, all of the prototype armor suits that had been in ZOCOM HQ were transferred to a testing facility in what was left of the Baltimare Blue Zone. Half the zone had already been bombarded during the opening weeks of the war and more than a few segments of the city had to be closed off by sonic fences to keep tiberium fields caused by crystal seed rockets from spreading. Nod raids on the walls to test the defenses or just to remind GDI that they were out there were all too common and the city was mostly evacuated except for a few thousand ponies and the abnormally large garrison outfitted with the best weapons GDI could muster. Despite this, Baltimare was heavily defended, nearly as much as Canterlot proper, and for good reason.

Baltimare looked out across Horseshoe Bay which was, at least for now, home of GDI’s aquatic navy. While Cloudsdale was in charge of keeping Rainbow Dash’s air force up in the sky, Baltimare, under command of General Stalwart Shield of the GDI Marine Corps, was the heart of GDI’s Naval, Marine, and Special Operations assets despite its beat up appearance. It was for this reason that Apple Bloom found herself on a carryall heading there after receiving a notice of “Selection due to Exemplary Service”, which she believed was the work of those commandos she worked with at the Battle of Hollow Shades. Her leg had already healed up fine thanks to some unicorn doctor and the other survivors of her squad were back in action. She missed them, and even regretted not being with them right now, but this was an opportunity that her sergeant, family, and just about everypony she knew wouldn’t let her pass up. Apple Bloom continued to let her mind wander before the pilot’s voice cut in over the noise of the Ox’s engines.

“Alright everypony we’ll be hitting the tarmac in five, make sure your gear is already on your back and that you’re ready to run; given Baltimare’s status this will be a dropoff under combat conditions. Once the ramps lower, you will all have 60 seconds to get off my bird.”

A chorus of chatter mixed with rustling bags sprang to life once the comm system cut out and Apple Bloom did a triple check of her armor, rifle, and ammo before even worrying about her bag. Despite being one of Ponyville’s biggest agricultural providers, Apple Bloom had gotten used to her more basic lifestyle before the wealth really started to pour in. Unlike the rest of the carryall, which was filled to the brim with unicorns except for her and maybe three other earth ponies, the only possessions she bothered to carry were her wallet, a few pictures of her friends and family, and Granny Smith’s old bandana. Whenever possible, she wore it with her uniform but for official business like this, it was tucked away.

The Ox landed and all 50 ponies aboard offloaded in record time. Once the aircraft lifted off once more and the platoon of ponies was corralled into an auditorium, they were ordered to sit down, keep it quiet, and wait for further instruction. Most of the other soldiers began whispering amongst themselves immediately or looking at their timepieces impatiently but the former farmer simply sat back and relaxed while she could. Her nap didn’t last long though, it was barely 10 minute before a pegasus in an officer’s uniform walked onto the stage and belted out “Attention on deck!”

Now, Apple Bloom was GDI Army, specifically a rocketeer who was retasked as a riflemare after her injury, but regardless of branch when you heard that command, you got on your hooves, stood at attention, and stayed that way until you received the proper order. Apple Bloom sprung to her hooves along with the rest of the room as a unicorn with a dark green coat and bright blue eyes walked onto the stage next to the pegasus. She had four stars on the shoulders of her uniform.

“At ease, everypony. As you probably know, I am General Stalwart Shield, GDI Marines and commanding general of the Baltimare theatre of operations. You have all been selected, chosen, or volunteered to join this program as the trial group of a new special operations corps of fighting stallions and mares. Those of you that are not dropped from training will be comparable to our Commando teams. Mares, stallions… you are about to embark on the journey to become the power-armored hoof of Celestia herself, and if you make it through training, I will have the honor of being the first to address you as our new secret weapon against Nod and the Tiberium menace. Welcome to the Zone Trooper Training Academy.”
_______

The platoon was ushered out into a mustering area by a dozen sergeants who began screaming at the top of their lungs the moment General Shield had left the stage. Each had the ZOCOM emblem, one of an eagle with its wings stretched to the sky and a lightning bolt in both talons, plastered on their shoulder pads and at least half of them had the GDI Marine Corps phoenix, globe, and anchor marked over their cutie mark. Everypony hurried their best to follow orders and all those that messed up were treated like recruits. Apple Bloom didn’t mind though, it was just a new experience and she was going to tackle it head-on like her sister or brother would. After all, the Apple Family name was a famous one in GDI and had so far produced nothing but exemplary soldiers and officers, Braeburn excluded.

The day lingered on and they got their first view of the armor they’d all be fitted for later in training, but one thing started to nag her in the back of her mind. One pony in her squad, a yellow earth pony stallion with a blue mane and scars all over the left side of his face. His ear on the same side was also mangled badly and the Z.T.T.A. drill instructors seemed to avoid him and actually treat him, a corporal, with more respect than each other. For the most part, Apple Bloom pushed her curiosity to the back of her head and continued on with the initiation.

That night as everypony began falling into their freshly made bunks, Apple Bloom was lucky enough to be bunking next to the stallion that had caught her attention earlier. Plucking up what courage she could, the young mare finally acted on her curiosity and spoke up.

“Ex...excuse me, ah don’t believe ah ever caught yer name and since we’re in the same squad’n all…” she started before he perked up a little and looked her over, almost like he was scanning her.

“Name’s Jet Deck, you must be Apple Bloom.” he replied with a slight grin.

“How’dya kn-”

“Famous family, apple-based cutie mark, and I’m not the only one who has the platoon spreading rumors.” he told her with a slight shrug.

“Oh, uh… well, nice ta meet’ya, Jet Deck. Now, ah know it ain’t exactly polite ta ask, but… well, ah’d rather hear it from you than one o’them rumors. So can ah ask ab-”

“My scars? Yeah, you can. Glad you were polite about it unlike the others, just don’t be spreading it around, word’s already going to travel fast enough as training goes on.”

“Right… so, uh. Where’d ya get’em?” Apple Bloom asked him. Jet Deck let out a small sigh, even with mental preparation and somepony being polite and courteous about the whole issue never made it any easier to talk about, though he was sure it would make its way through the platoon within a week after he accidentally blew up at that one unicorn mare on the Ox. Slowly, with as much conviction in his voice as he could muster to keep it from wavering, Jet Deck looked Apple Bloom square in the eyes and answered her question.

“I got them at the First Battle of Macintosh Hills”

It took a moment for Apple Bloom to make the connection. “Battle of Macintosh Hills? But then that means-”

“Yes.” he said as a blinding blue light outside of the complex shot up from the ground and lit up the night sky like a hundred bolts of lightning, “I’m a survivor of the Blueblood Massacre.”
________

“Did you see that?!” a Shadow operative exclaimed, though he was hardly the only pony to do so. He was dressed in civilian clothing and walking along a street in Baltimare when a bright blue, blinding light shot up into the sky. All around him, other ponies were wondering what had just happened. With a short glance to his ‘wife’, both Shadows bolted down the street looking for their apartment, as did most of the ponies still out at this hour.

“What in Kane’s name was that thing?” the other Shadow asked as soon as they were sure the apartment was secure.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to check all the channels. Something like that can’t be a coincidence. You two saw it too right?” the first Shadow asked. The other two members of the team who were on ‘apartment watch’ both nodded silently then went back to keeping an eye out the tinted windows. With a small huff the first infiltrator began scanning all channels, seeing if anything had happened anywhere that he had the clearance to check, yet nothing had shown up yet.

“Just file a high priority report.” the team leader ordered. “With any luck, command will be able to sort this all out.”
_______

500 kilometers northwest of Baltimare at the foot of Foal Mountain, a Nod army was stationed under cover of disruption towers and enough SAM sites to discourage even a Kodiak from flying in their airspace. An entire armored corps, a unit that was quickly becoming a rarity in Nod’s army after stealth technology caused a doctrine readjustment, was waiting for orders to strike any of GDI’s coastal cities as well as conduct interdiction operations in enemy territory. Despite the advancements of the Initiative’s military, there were still large swathes of land in yellow zones that could only be patrolled part-time by Kodiaks and were otherwise left to Nod or mutants.

The pony in charge of this particular corps, Nod’s 1st Armor Corps, was Lieutenant General Trenderhoof, or if you were calling him by his operational name, “Seth”. The tan unicorn had been called from his quarters due to a priority message from the Messiah himself and was galloping as hard as he could to the his office. Once there, he bowed before the large screen that dominated the back of the room where Kane was waiting.

“Rise, brother.” the earth pony ordered, his voice smooth, calm, and surprisingly soothing.

“What do I owe the honor, my lord?” Trenderhoof asked as he slowly stood back up.

“30 minutes ago, GDI christened their new Ion Cannon Array. From a control center in Baltimare, they wiped out the entire Dodge Junction garrison.”

“But that garrison had near-”

“13,942 ponies, gryphons, changelings, buffalos, and zebras, as well as Brother-Lieutenant Colonel Iron Wind of the Black Hand. You will be part of our reply. Slavik is already recovered and heading up a retaliatory strike toward the Crystal Kingdom. You are to mobilize your entire corps and some tertiary units and take Baltimare while he is busy up north and take the city on the first of next month. Shadows will provide you intel to work with while building up a strategy. You will seize all GDI assets and give no quarter to military personnel in the city and its outskirts. Civilians are to be protected at all costs and allowed to resume their lives normally once we assess their faith.”

“It will be done. I’ll mobilize immediately.”

“Be careful, Seth. Now is not a time for Blueblood tactics while we have the initiative.” Kane added with a slight grin before the feed cut. Trenderhoof let out a sigh once the screen was off before letting out a chuckle himself. Ever since the Massacre, the name Blueblood had become synonymous with tactics meant to bring glory and fame to the commander while putting troops through unnecessary risks.

Once he had composed himself, Trenderhoof jumped over his desk, didn’t bother sitting in his chair, and punched in the command codes for a full mobilization into his EVA. An hour later, all of his division commanders were seated across the room from him with incredulous looks on their muzzles as Lieutenant General “Seth” Trenderhoof outlined how one armor corps was going to take GDI’s second-most heavily defended city right out of the eagle's talons.

Author's Notes:

*We here at Team Sol Verde do not share the views of Colonel Spitfire and believe that Battle Commander Spike "Slavik" the Dragon's chiseled jawline and green eyes are actually quite attractive.