Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Twenty A: Battle Equestria

“This is Crusader Squadron! We're punching into the atmosphere now coming to reinforce Equestria. Heads up Jet! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!”

“Solid copy aunt Scoots. Alright you roughnecks! You wanna live forever?” A zealous round of cheers rang out in the cargo bay of the NGJTF dropship as Jet pumped his hoof, “Good! Blossom take us down!”

“You got it boss! Incoming AA! Brace for evasive!” Blossom threw their dropship into sharp turns and maneuvers to shake off the missiles fired at them from the surface, “Damn! This sector was in friendly territory when we just did the briefing!”

“Crusader One! Run some wild weasels over those SAMs!”

“Already done! Splash five SAMs! You're clear to land JTF!”

“Got it! All hooves dismount! Once we hit the ground we hit the ground fighting!” the dropship hovered over the town of Ponyville and dropped them off into the heat of battle over the nearby airbase. Jet was the first to touch down and he ran in to cover his team. They were now all fully clad in their new Aegisalt body armor and they looked more menacing than before with their dark yellow and green tints coupled with the added design of the armor, “Blossom! We got an enemy tank pushing up the road!”

“Roger! Clear my backblast!” Blossom shouldered her RPG and let loose a rocket into the side armor of the Pulsar tank. The enemy armored vehicle shot out an intercepting bullet from an advanced APS system which shot down Blossom's rocket. The turret of the tank turns towards her, “Oh shit!”

She froze as the vehicle locked her up. Nelly rushed forward with her sword and deflected the tank shell with a new molten plasma coated sword. Nelly rushed back and forth dodging machine gun fire as she leap onto the tank and used her earth pony strength to bend back the barrel. I quick slice with her rotor blade sword, now augmented to cut through armor, chopped off the machine gun of the enemy tank, “Blossom! Hit it again!”

“Eat a tandem warhead Pulsar scumbag!” Blossom launched another rocket which penetrated into the tank. Nelly grappled away to continue the fight somewhere else as the tank cooked inside from an internal fire which spewed from the loaders hatch.

“Good job Nelly!” Jet pushed up with a friendly IFV-6c Panther as cover, “Prelude! Get up on that air traffic tower and provide some sniper fire!”

“Got it boss!” Prelude grappled up to the ATC and planted himself in a good position, “Enemy tanks are still rolling up!”

“Mac! Send down my Titan!”

“Mine too!” Tough yelled into his radio as well.

“Copy! Standby for Titanfall!” Mac punched in his keyboard commands and sent down their mechs.

Jet slid under his and the robot gently picked him up and placed him into the cockpit.

TRANSFERING CONTROL TO PILOT. CAUTION: YOU ARE HEAVILY OUTNUMBERED

“Just the way I like Susan...” Jet held his Vortex shield up as multiple tank shells were stopped by the force field. It suspended the munitions and Jet fired them back at one of the tanks, destroying it with a volley of its own fire, “Gotcha!”

“Jet give me some cover fire!” Ghale grappled to a tree and deployed his wingsuit. He pulled himself upwards to glide right on top of a tank. He deployed his parachute right at the last second and found himself on the turret of the Pulsar armor. A quick buck disabled the machine gun and forced the commander out of his hatch. The Floran tanker shot at Ajay with his handgun to no effect as Ajay returned with a swift stab from his kukri. He pulled the pin on the dead commander's grenade and let the body fall back into the tank before hopping off, “Tank's down!”

“Let me give you a piggyback!” Tough grabbed him off the tank and shouldered him on his robot. Ajay continued the fight with his L-CAM LK108.

“Jet! I've got control of a Lodestar drone that just entered the AO!” Rush reported in, “Giving you guys some CAS now!”

Rush linked his tablet to the high flying Lodestar drone above. The stealthy triangle shaped unmanned attacker was armed with a full rotary bay of anti-tank missiles. On his HUD Rush could see through the drone's IR camera and saw the massive force of tanks rolling in to capture the airfield.

“RUSH! Where's that air support?!”

“On it Jet!” Rush started to frantically launch missiles from the drone. He had to double up on the tanks due to their APS but they were making headway in the counter attack.

“Advance! All troops push up!” Jet yelled from his Titan's loudspeakers as his robot mimicked his hoof signals, “This is Jump Jet of the NGJTF! We've recaptured the Ponyville Airbase and pushed back the Pulsar armored assault!”

“Colonel Rolo here! Thank Celestia and Luna you guys are here! We were about to be overrun by those alien freaks. My reinforcements are inbound! Once you're done mopping up I need to speak to all of you ASAP.”

“Will do Colonel! Congrats on the promotion!”

As the fighting died down at the airbase Rolo gathered them all for a quick briefing on the situation.

“As you all know the Pulsar have pushed us back to this airbase. Had you not come along we would have lost this facility. Currently we are at the front lines of the Battle for Equus and this base is the only foothold we have on this country. The Crystal Empire is holding off for now and they are sending reinforcements to help us. What I need you all to do is to get our royalty our of Canterlot. It's gonna be a tough fight getting you guys up there but I see Crusader Squadron has attained air superiority over the region. However, Canterlot itself is heavily fortified and the enemy has already set up surface to air missiles and anti-tank defenses to deter any attack into the city. Our satellites are capturing some rather horrific images on the streets of Canterlot,” Rolo flashed a few images on screen taken from orbit once the attacks had struck.

“Sweet mother of Celestia. Those Pulsar soldiers are executing civilians!” Jet noticed the death squads that roamed the streets. Prelude began to worry and panic swept over him.

“My mother! My mother and sister live in that city! Luna please help them!”

“We're trying our best Prelude. Stay calm. There is one FOB still left operational in the capital and it's the Royal Guard Academy within the castle walls. They are holding out for as long as they can but they can't hold out any longer! I'm afraid to ask this of you, but I need all of you to go in and rescue them. Firebrand is there as well and his troops are barely keeping the line.”

Blossom started to cry, “Daddy? My daddy? WE HAVE TO HELP!”

Jet turned to Tough, “Wait, wasn't your mother suppose to perform a song at the Gala tonight?”

“HOLY SHIT! You're right!” Tough's heart fluff puffed up in searing rage, “NOBODY LAYS A FINGER ON MY MOTHER!”

“Rainbow was also suppose to perform an airshow as well at the Gala. This isn't right... It's like the Pulsar knew everything. I think they're targeting our friends and family to cripple our morale! EVERYONE LISTEN THE FUCK UP!” The whole room started to die down from panic. Jet was boiling with rage, “Is this how the finest spec ops team of Equus acts?! LISTEN UP PEOPLE! The more we panic the more shit is gonna hit the fan! So unless you all stallion and mare the fuck up we can't get shit done around here! Are we clear?”

“Yes sir!” Nelly was the first to jump up knowing her mother and father were safe and not on Equus, “Come on ladies! It's literally make your mommas proud time!”

“I love my momma!” Tough pumped his fist, “Who's with us?!”

“YEAH!” They all gave their cheers.

Simon went up to his father and sighed, “So, aren't you concerned that I might be sent off to my death?”

“Simon, with that attitude you disappoint me. I've always had my confidence in you son and dammit boy you are gonna get out there, kick ass, and make a name for yourself in this whole fucking universe. No pressure right?”

Simon smiled, “That's the tough love I remember. Thanks dad.”

“I mean it, go kick some ass. Lightning Crash should be waiting for you in the Mohawk! He's always gonna get you to the OA.”

“Roger that Colonel Rolo. NGJTF! Move out!” they all piled into the stealthy variant of the human Merlin helicopter remanufactured by Equus called the CH-49 Mohawk. The blue coated dark maned pilot looked back into his cargo bay.

“What's up? My name is Lightning Crash.”

“With a name like Lightning Crash you sure you don't want me to fly? I've got a high score in helicopters and everything,” Blossom offered to help.

“Trust me, you will always get into the AO while Lightning Crash is flying,” their pilot reassured them as they took off and followed a nap of the earth approach into Canterlot City from the north mountainside, “AA defenses should be their weakest here and this baby's got stealth. We're going dark, entering cloak mode!”

The Mohawk's hexagonal panels shifted into a shimmer that reflected off the other side of the helicopter. The aircraft was now completely invisible and in the cover of dark. They all waited inside the helicopter as they approached the city now lit up by fire, smoke, and anti-aircraft fire. As they neared the castle a loud beeping could be heard in the cockpit.

“Pilot!” Blossom looked out the window to see a surface to air missile launched right at them, “We're being locked on!”

“Brace for impact!” Lightning Crash yelled as the missile hit the tail rotor of the helicopter. The warning alarm became much louder and the soldiers inside started to panic, “Just hang on! I can manage this!”

“BAIL OUT!” Jet yelled, “BAIL OUT!”

“Not on my watch! I got this!” Lightning Crash kept the chopper flying even without a tail rotor. He was using his leftover forward speed to correct for any torque cause by the main rotor, “We're gonna touch down right inside the castle walls! It's gonna be a bumpy landing!”

Crash slowed the helicopter into a landing approach and with his drop in speed came the uncontrolled spiral of the helicopter. Without the back rotor to counteract torque the Mohawk started to spin violently as Lightning Crash barely hit the side of a building and tore off the main rotor. With a deafening screech of twisted metal the chopper slide to a stop as it crashed into a guard tower. They were all shaken inside the helicopter as they gathered themselves.

“You all alive?!” Jet exclaimed through the winding down sound of the torn up engine.

“I think so, everyone looks like they're squirming,” Ghale reported in, “Hot damn that was a landing...”

“And you doubted me for one second,” Crash took an MX rifle from under his seat and climbed into the cargo bay, “Like I said: when you fly with Lightning Crash you will always make it into the AO. Chopper might not make it, but you'll always make it into the AO.”

“Glad you were our pilot then. Squad dismount! I want a full parameter around this heli now!”

“Yes sir!” Nelly was the first to exit the crashed helicopter and grapple onto a rooftop, “Jet looks like we're clear! We've landed inside the castle walls and I see a lot of friendly tanks holding off the main Pulsar attack.”

“Good, no time to waste. We're breaching the castle!” Jet grappled away to Nelly and the rest did the same. They left Lightning Crash behind.

“Hey! What do you want me to do?”

“I dunno! Camp that tower over there or something, provide some overwatch while my team enters the castle!”

“With an iron sighted MX?” Crash sighed, “Fine.”

Jet broke through one of the stained glass windows of the castle that depicted Discord and roped into the room, “NGJTF! We're here to rescue you!”

“Oh don't bother,” a chuckle came from Celestia's throne. It was a familiar voice which made Nelly smile.

“Uncle Discord!” she looked about the room trying to find him, “Where are you?”

“Surprise!” one of the broken stained glass panels animated to life with the chaotic magic of one mashed up chimera. Discord pulled himself out of the glass rather comically as Nelly gave him a hug, “OH! Easy on the hugs! I forgot how strong you were!”

“OH! SORRY!” Nelly let go, “I see you hid inside the window huh?”

“Oh you know me, that's always a favorite spot of mine to spy on some Celestial shenanigans. Her and I always have such excellent prank wars around here. Such a same these Pulsar,” Discord mockingly mouthed that word, “have put an end to that bit of fun I was going to have tonight at the Gala! Why don't I come along to raise all sorts of Tartarus on these degenerates! It'll be fun!”

Nelly and Jet looked to each other with devilish smiles on their faces and nodded before simultaneously nodding, “Hell yeah!”

“Oh splendid! Here, let me get into my battle gear for you!” Discord morphed into a human soldier wearing all black armor with a pyramid symbol on his chest and shoulder patches. He breathed in a whiff of some unknown substance, “I tell you Tree Hugger makes the best 'herbal inhalants.' Pardon my getup I haven't worn this since I first met Picard.”

“So uncle Dissy. Where are the others?” Nelly asked affectionately.

“Follow me,” Discord led the way as the NGJTF proceeded. As they made their way downstairs throughout the castle several firefights could be heard below them. They stumbled upon some entrenched Pulsar troops which saw them coming and opened fire. Discord crossed his arms and his head morphed back to his original form, “Tsk, tsk.”

The bullets and plasma bolts that impacted his body turned into nothing more than marshmallows and soda pop. Discord shrugged it off.

“Oh let's be civil here,” with a snap of his fingers the guns of the enemy troops turned into giant flowers and peace signs, “Fight with peace! Not with your barbaric weapons my dears.”

“Should we gun them down?” Nelly asked Jet.

“Nah, Discord's got this. I don't even think we have to waste a single bullet.”

“GET ON THE GROUND!” the Equestrian soldiers surrounded the now defenseless Pulsar troops as they surrendered the officer pony looked to Discord, “Thanks for the support Discord!”

“No problems! I take it our friends are locked up safe?”

“You bet Mr. D! I see you've got the NGJTF with you! Go on down to the safe room. Firebrand and the others are waiting for you downstairs!”

“Much appreciated,” Discord teleported the NGJTF and himself to the basement of the castle right next to Colonel Firebrand.

“I tell you! I need more reinforcements dammit! We've already lost four major battalions and we're on our last legs held up at the castle! Where are?” Firebrand looked behind him to see Blossom staring right at him, “AH!”

“DADDY!” Blossom hugged her father and noticed her mother embrace her as well in a rather panicked state.

“Blossom my baby! I was so worried,” Ink Rose kept crying. Blossom comforted her mother.

“It's okay mom. We're gonna get you out of here!” Blossom looked around the sheltered bunker. The two Princesses were all the way at the back and she pointed them out to Jet.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Jet bowed as he was graced by their presence, “We're here to rescue you! Tell me, who else is in here?”

“We've managed to recover most of your family members. I foresaw that the Pulsar was going to attack them personally but I never expected them to attack this quickly from a loss. I thought it was impossible.”

Jet looked back to see Cross' mother and father, Tough's mom, Rush's mother and father, and Prelude's mom as well hidden among the crowd of alicorn royalty and foreign diplomats of Equus, “Damn, and they picked a good time to ambush all these HVTs as well.”

“We have Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Cakey, AnY, Princess Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Puzzle Piece, Eliyora, Prime Minister Pipsqueak, Princess Pristine of Prance, Persian Poetess of Saddle Arabia, and the Fire Rose couple here,” Luna reported to Jet, “However we have not confirmed the whereabouts of Queen Chrysalis, Princess Cadance, Princess Skyla, or Shining Armor.”

“My mom!” Jet looked around in a panic, “Where's my mother and the other Wonderbolts?!”

“We don't know either. But please, do what you can to get us back to friendly lines,” Princess Celestia pleaded, “All of our lives are at sake and Equus needs our leaders at this time of need.”

Jet was filled with a sense of duty, “You got it! Colonel Firebrand do we have any MRAPs left?”

“Quite a few in the castle garage, Ifrits, Striders, and Hunters, all of them plus a few APCs, and a Kuma MBT.”

“Everypony proceed to the garage! Keep your heads down and let us do the fighting! NGJTF take point! Royal Guards at the rear!”

They fought their way underneath the castle courtyard as the last remnants of the defending force were routed. As they made their way to the underground garage they were all directed into the armored vehicles.

“Simon! Take the driver of that Kuma! Tough I know you used to be a tank commander so take point with your MBT!”

“You got it boss!” Tough climbed into the tank and looked to Simon, “Ready to bust through Simon?!”

“You bet!”

“Ajay you take the loader of that tank. Prelude, take the gunner! I'll be in the number two Hunter MRAP! Nelly will drive the Strider at number three, Blossom sticks with her parents in vehicle number four, Rush you're on me! See if you can link up with any drones operating in this sector!”

“Got it sir!” Rush saluted as he led his parents into the safety of an APC, “Be safe mom and dad...”

“You too son,” Puzzle reached out as the cargo door closed on his vehicle. Rush piled in with Jet.

“Jet, I've got a good link to a MQ escort drone helicopter. Parked on the castle helipad. I'm taking her off!”

“Good! Slash where are you? Slash!”

“Sorry sir! I just happened to see a nicely stashed Vertibird on a truck bed. No missiles, but it's got gatling lasers!”

“Good eyes! Alright we roll out! Open the doors and break through!”

“Shell loaded!” Ghale rammed in a 120mm HE shell.

“Prelude, aim right at that door! The moment it opens we fuckin nail them with everything!”

“Copy,” Prelude kept his hooves at the trigger. As the garage doors slid upward the tank's massive gun opened fire along with the autocannons, grenade launchers, and machine guns of the convoy. The Pulsar troops waiting at the entrance were smoked.

“Push forward!” Jet exclaimed as he revved up his MRAP to plow through the dead bodies and barricades.

In the number four Marshal APC Blossom lacked a gunner for her automatic cannon. Her father stepped up to the plate.

“Dad what are you?”

“Where do you think you get your explosive genes? Just hand me some Armor Piercing Incendiary will you?”

Blossom felt around the with her magic for the clips of ammo to give to her father. She levitated it up to her dad and he loaded into the massive 40mm Bofors autocannon, “You bet!”

“I've got a Pulsar APC on the right! Blossom you just keep driving!” the massive thuds of the Marshal's cannon rang out at a brisk pace. The shells made impact with the enemy hovertank with white hot sparks as the shells penetrated the thin armor, “He's on fire! Just the way I like it!”

Tough was fiddling with some switches in his Kuma tank, “HA! Got it! Our APS is up!”

A small turret mounted on the top of the tank next to the machine gun spun up. It was an active protection system meant to shoot down any incoming missiles or tank shells.

“Just plow through! Just plow through!” Jet kept driving as small arms fire dinged their convoy. Rush was having a hard time in the back.

“Jet! I can't take off with those SAMs still up! Do we split off to search for them or stay with the convoy?”

“I would like that as well. I can't take off either with my Vertibird if those missiles are still up!” Slash was still back in the hangar trying to pile in soldiers to save, “Get your asses moving and man the miniguns!”

“Damn!” Jet made his call as he drove his MRAP off the road, “You guys go on! Rush and I will destroy the SAMs. Rush you know how to use that missile launcher on top?”

“Yeah! I wasn't cross trained for nothing,” Rush took his place on the turret of the Hunter, “Stop! I see one on thermal sights!”

“Hit it!”

Rush fired the wire guided missile from his armored turret. With a slight right hand curve the missile exploded the emplaced missile silo, “Target down! Two more left!”

“Tough how's the convoy?”

“Holding stable Jet! Prelude! Bearing 0-8-7! Enemy tank! Load SABOT!”

“SABOT up!” Ghale rammed in a high velocity shell into the gun breech of the tank.

“One the way!” with a press of the trigger the magically enchanted depleted uranium dart shot out of the cannon at over 1,900 per minute. While it would normally have phased through the plasma shielding of the Pulsar tank with enough force to liquify any remnants of the crew there was something odd about the new vehicle. It had an add on armor kit that completely absorbed the high velocity projectile, “NO PEN!”

“WHAT?!” Tough was rocked inside his tank as the enemy fired their SABOT shell. It tore a massive hole in the side of the turret and nearly took his head off. Inside the tank all their ears rang as the jagged metal scrapped together as the turret tried to turn, “AHH! Prelude our turret ring is knocked out! The gun can't turn!”

Jet and Rush finished off another SAM turret. Rush tapped Jet on the shoulder, “Jet! Tough needs help!”

“Fire your next ATGM at that prototype tank! Ram that missile up his ass!”

“Got it Jet!” Rush loaded in another missile and aligned his crosshairs to the engine of the tank, “Now this is my party cannon!”

The missile fired and guided its way into the back of the tank. The plasma shield once again deflected the explosion of the warhead and the tank turned into the direction of Jet and Rush.

“JET!” Rush screamed, “It's aiming at us!”

“NO!” Jet screamed in horror as the massive muzzle flash of the enemy tank cannon engulfed his vision. There was a flash of light as he shielded his eyes.

“You're not dying on my watch...” Discord teleported them out of the MRAP and into cover behind Blossom's APC, “Let me handle this!”

“GO DISCORD! WOO!” Jet pumped his fist up as he stepped forward from behind the APC. With a snap of his fingers Discord tried to cast a spell on the tank. It did nothing as the hovering menace lurched forward with a deafening whine.

“WHAT?! My magic!” Discord looked in surprise as the tank shot the APC filled with all the Equus leaders.

“CRAP! They took out our wheels!” Blossom turned out from her driver seat and shouldered her RPG, “EAT MORE HEAT YOU PULSAR FUCKS!”

Another rocket impacted the tank. It did nothing.

“Holy crap! What is this thing made of?!” Blossom jumped behind the APC as the smaller jeeps formed a barricade to the tank, sacrificing themselves to save the Princesses and VIPs.

“All of our soldiers are getting chewed up by that thing!” Jet yelled through the machine gun fire and burning vehicles. As he peaked from cover he saw even more of the same prototype tanks rolling in, “HOLY SHIT! They've got us surrounded!”

Tough and his crew recovered from the shell shock, “FUCK IT! We ram it and shoot it at point blank!”

“I'm with you on that one buddy,” Prelude brohoofed Tough and took his place back at the gunner seat.

“Load SABOT!”

“Gun ready!” Ghale announced as Simon drove the tank into the enemy prototype and rammed it at full speed. The hovering vehicle flipped onto its side and Simon backed away to give Prelude a good shot at its underbelly.

“One away!” Prelude shot the cannon and it blew a hole into the thinly armored part of the tanks belly. The turret popped off with a burning fizz as bits of crew and metal flew out in a dismembered mess, “GOT EM!”

Meanwhile Nelly did her best to calm down the others pinned down, “Stay calm everypony! They can't hit us if we stay behind this wreck! Just keep your heads down while we deal with this!”

“Nelly it's not looking good! More prototypes rolling in!”

“Shit shit shit shit!” Nelly enabled her own shields as she rushed forward to combat the tanks in melee. Her plasma sword was the only reliable weapon that could cut through their armor as it bypassed the energy shields coated on the enemy armor. She hopped from one to another doing her damned best, “Dammit I can't take out all of them my love! AH!”

Her shields gave out as she was hit by a machine gun round. She fell to the floor and was bleeding out.

“NELLY!” Jet grappled onto her body and moved it into cover, “Dammit! Stay with me squeaky... MEDIC!”

“I'll heal her wounds! You buy us time!”

“With what? I can't use that sword!” Jet wasn't an earth pony with massive strength to weld such a weapon.

“Fine! I'll deal with them! Besides the bullet only hit her in the thigh and sent her into shock. I've already stabilized her,” Discord slithered away and took on a demonic form to scare his opponents, “Come on you ignorant degenerates! See if you can kill me!”

Inside the tank the crew merely laughed. The Hylotl gunner of the tank looked back to his commander, “Is that the one Mr. Burry? This Discord we keep hearing about?”

“Oh yes. Let's show him our little surprise,” Alson smirked as he loaded in a belt of Violium ammo into the machine gun, “Cut. Him. Down.”

With a burst from the coaxial machine gun the bullets tore right into Discord with everyone watching him hold the line. His eyes widened as they turned into a lifeless shade of grey as his mangled body fell. Without another word he was dead. One of the most omnipotent beings in all of Equestria was now dead at the hands of the Pulsar Militia.

Princess Celestia and Luna looked in horror, “NO! This-This can't be! Discord is our true immortal Ethereal being!”

“WAS your true immortal Ethereal being!” Alson popped out of his hatch, “Surprise mother fuckers! Now I would kindly suggest you put down your guns.”

Another squad of Pulsar Troopers ambushed them from cloak mode. They aimed all their weapons right at the crowd of Equus HVTs and told them all to get on the ground.

“Princess what should we do?” Jet looked back at Celestia as a sullen look cast over her face.

“We've... Lost...”

“Hahahaha!” Alson cheered, “Such victory! Much celebration! Wow! I did not expect to find such a bounty of stupid little ponies to fill my fridge tonight! Troops, um, don't bother bagging up that mangled 'thing' I'm sure it wouldn't taste very good.”

“Mr. Burry, what do we do with our new hostages?”

“We need them alive for now of course! Their meat should be a lot tastier fresh.”

A beeping came from Rush's headset as he stood on two legs with his hooves up.

“Rush what are you doing?” Jet whispered to his friend.

“Saving our asses,” a loud helicopter rotor could be heard in the distance as Rush crossed his arms and the MQ drone autonomously flew in and engaged the Pulsar troops. This bought them some time to react as the NGJTF killed off the uncloaked troops and scrambled back into cover.

“HOT DAMN RUSH!” Jet cheered.

“That's not the only thing.”

“This is Slash! Sorry I was late to the party!” A Vertibird came in streaking past the convoy as its micro nuclear missiles destroyed the enemy tanks, “Turns out this thing did have missiles!”

“Jet! Alson Burry is getting away!”

“Rush you guard the civilians! I'm going after him. Slash! Ajay Ghale! You're on me!” Jet grappled onto the Vertibird as it came down for a low pass. Ghale did the same and they were pulled into the troop bay.

“I see him! He's not getting far,” Slash piloted the small tiltrotor right next to the road to give Jet and Ghale a shot. Jet took his place on a minigun and unloaded.

“Who's the small fry now! Get some! Get some! Come on get some!”

“I'm gonna try something stupid,” Ajay jumped from the aircraft and used his wingsuit to glide right onto the jeep. He punched out the door and pulled his handgun to kill the driver then kicked Mr. Burry out of the passenger seat as he hijacked their jeep, “I got it!”

“Good! Slash put me down! It's time we get this guy...” Jet hopped out of the half-plane as the injured Alson tried to reach for his handgun in pain. With a mighty crunch from Jet's hoof Alson's hand was broken before he could reach his weapon. Jet savored this kill, “Any last words you son of a bitch?”

Alson merely chuckled unphased by his statement, “If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

“Fuck you!” Jet took his B3 Wingman revolver and blew Alson's brains right into the road. As he let go of the body a new sense of zeal washed over him as he announced over the radio, “WE. GOT. HIM!”

“No way...” Tough put a hoof to his earpiece.

“ALSON IS DEAD! I repeat! Alson Burry is dead! We've won the war!”

“We-we did it!” Rush cheered on as reinforcements arrived to secure the sight, “And hello Crystal Empire reinforcements!”

As a cloaked sniper was about to take a stab at Rush an Alicorn soldier who looked a little bit like Shining Armor and Princess Cadence drop kicked the enemy soldier, “Name's Flurry Heart! You can call me Princess if you like but Lieutenant would be more my style.”

“Good work sweet heart! This is Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire! Our forces are here to take back Canterlot!”

“Solid copy dad,” Flurry stood up and shouldered her Navid magnum machine gun, “What? Can't a Princess kick a little flank?”

“Thanks for the save,” Rush was helped up by Flurry and looked around as another convoy of Crystal Empire tanks rolled in to secure the peace.

“Anytime.”

“This is Colonel Jet of the NGJTF. We've won this. Mission complete!”

“JET!” Cross yelled from the radio, “You have to get out of there! There are two confirmed ballistic missile launches from Stalliongrad and Neighpon headed your way!”

...To be continued...