“Hello? Hello? Anyone left out there? Over,” the radio said. We were all astounded, we thought no one else made it but us. The BBHS leaders, Lyra and Bon Bon were wide eyed. Jack was quick to respond,

“Yes, receiving you, over!” He called into it. An excited laughter came from the radio,

“Thank God, where are you? How many of you are there? Are you armed? Over,”

“So many questions!” Lyra muttered.

“Gimme that,” I said, taking the radio, “We’re in the Alps, we call ourselves the European Unified Resistance Fighters, there's about 10000 of us. Plenty of guns, and yourself?”

“We’re in the Amazon Rainforest, last time we counted there was 4700 of us. We don't have as much guns but we have more then enough to hold our own. Have you been discovered?” The person asked us,

“Yes, unfortunately, and we have no doubt that they're coming soon to potion us. However we have come into contact with a group of pony allies,” I replied,

“What? Please confirm, did you say you have pony allies?” The voice was startled,

“Yes,” I confirmed,

“Don't trust them,” He was talking in a hushed tone, “Celestia’s tactics, she would send native Equestrians to our camps and they claimed they were our friends, then they would get our leaders completely off-guard and destroy the camp. Don't trust them.”

I gave a glance over to Lyra and Bon Bon, slightly expecting them to whip out Potion Launchers and ponify all my command and I.

“Have you been discovered?” I asked our newfound friend,

“As far as we can tell, yes. Pegasi flyover caught us completely unaware, do you have any transportation means?” He asked,

“No, why?” I asked, confused,

“Damn, if we could meet…” he trailed off, “my name’s Chief Simon McLoud, I’ll be on the radio this time every day,”

“Commander Alex Pritchard, good to know we’re not alone. Out.”

I dropped the radio and turned to everyone in the room. Jack and I exchanged glances with each other but now we had something else to deal with. The BBHS.

“Listen, Lyra, Bon Bon, I'm still not sure we can trust you but I'm willing to give the benefit of doubt,” I said, “you're probably going to run into some abuse if you show your faces and you may even be mistaken for the enemy and killed so I’d prefer it if you stayed in this hotel. The 5th and 4th floors are free to use, should be enough for the lot of ya. Stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Okay, we’re rapt to find you, we haven't seen human's in ages,” Lyra said and her group of ponies trotted out of the room.

“Jack, I want to start evacuating now. Take the non-fighters down to Saint Martin de Belleville, then come back up by yourself, got it?” I asked,

“Yes, but why now?” He questioned,

“I have no doubt an army is coming for us, get the sick, children and elderly away from the warzone,” I commanded,

“Got it,” he confirmed and ran out the room. “Heinrich, you and Anne will be in charge of the bulk of our men on the front lines, George King, you're in charge of the snipers. You, you, and you,” I pointed to more officers, “go help Jack with evacuating. I’ll be in my room if there’s any trouble,” I left the room and walked down the hall, opening the door to my room and collapsing onto the bed. I forgot how stressful this job was, I quickly fell into the embrace of sleep.

We were staying at home, I’d guess we’d be court marshalled if the army actually had time for it, but no. With Celestia’s forces constantly terrorising us and the Divine Authority destroying cities like Leeds and Birmingham in mere minutes many of us had abandoned the military to spend time with our families. My brother, Jack, had also deserted. I still had pall my gear: my rifle, handgun, grenades and all that. There was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” my mother called and I heard the ding sound as the door opened. Then there was a scream and the sound of glass shattering. Robbers? Raiders? Jackers?

I grabbed my rifle and ran downstairs, Jack close behind and Dad following up at the rear. It was a ponification squad, helping a Newfoal to her hooves. The Newfoal looked up and saw us,

“there they are!” The Newfoal said happily, pointing to us, “show them the way like you showed me!”

It spoke in my mother’s voice.

“No…” I heard Dad whisper and before the ponies could get us, I smashed the nearest window with the butt of my rifle and jumped out, not caring for the cuts and scratches I had.

“GET IN THE CAR!” Jack yelled,

“WHAT ABOUT THE KEYS?” I shouted back,

“I GOT THEM, JUST GO BOYS, GO!” That was Dad. I ran across the stoned driveway to our Renault Clio. I hopped into the shotgun seat and Dad got into the drivers seat, Jack sitting in the back.

The ponies were following, one unicorn even tried to keep the wheels from spinning by magic but human technology declared itself superior and the car shot out of the driveway and down the road.

“BOSS!” Heinrich yelled, snapping me out of my sleep and I made my way into the planning room.

“What?” I grunted,

“A Potioneer ship has appeared on ze horizon. Zis may be ze end for us,” Heinrich said,

“Don't worry, I have a plan.” I replied, “but I’ll need to speak to Lyra and Bon Bon first.”

,.,.,

LYRA HEARTSTRINGS POV

,.,.,

“You want what?” I asked for conformation,

“I want a unicorn to take this DSR-50 sniper rifle and enchant it so it can shoot through magic shields, don't tell me it's impossible because I know the HLF used captured unicorns to do it,” Alex demanded,

“You’re crazy if you think that’ll shoot through one of Celestia’s shield spells,” Bon Bon scoffed,

“I don't need it for one of her spells. There is a Potioneer ship on the horizon, approaching us right now, do it, or I'm sure I could hand you over to Celestia and earn us a bit of freedom,” Alex threatened,

“You wouldn't,” Shockwave glared at him,

“Try me, humans are evil, liars, and make war, do they not?” Alex quoted Celestia,

“Fine, I’ll do it. But don't expect it to work well,” I said, “I haven't used this magic in a long time,”

“Do you want to help or no?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow,

“Can it, I'm concentrating,” I said, closing my eyes and feeling the magic run through me and into my horn,”

“That's some weird voodoo shit,” I heard Commander Alex mutter as I cast the enchantment onto the rifle,

“Not voodoo,” I murmured, “magic,” I finished the spell and felt significantly drained. The DDR-50 or whatever it was called was glowing with thaumatic energy, the human sciencey term for magic.

“Thanks,” Alex replied and picked up the rifle, “I gotta get this to Tornado, stay put in here, got it”

“Got it.” I confirmed, “good luck,”

“I don't believe in luck,” Commander Alex said and shut the door behind him.

,.,.,

COMMANDER ALEX PRITCHARD POV

,.,.,

I was panting for breath as I dashed out of the hotel and along the road down to where I had stationed Tornado, our best sniper, who got his name for managing to kill several ponies with his rifle in a snowstorm and remain undetected. The Potioneer Ship was lazily approaching and I could just make out hordes of Pegasi spelling out of it, passing through its magic shielding.

“TORNADO!” I yelled, he emerged from his hiding spot,

“Commander, what is it?” He asked,

“Tornado, this sniper’s been modified to shoot through magic shields. Aim for the propellers of the airship and take them out. The ship’ll crash into the mountain and we’ll just have to focus on the Pegasi,” I commanded,

“Yes sir, easy pickings,” he grinned and slid back into cover,

“Jack, you might want to hurry with that evacuation,” I said into my radio.

,.,.,

PRINCESS CELESTIA POV

,.,.,

It's bucking freezing up here.

That was my main thought as the airship Her Benevolence, sister ship to the Divine Authority crawled through the air to Les Menuires, the location this EURF are camped out at. Probably just another HLF breakaway that managed to hide successfully. This group is the largest, the ones in the Amazon and the Rockies not nearly being as big.

“Your Majesty, should we begin sending out the Pegasi?” Captain Thorn asked me, he had replaced Shining Armour when I found out Shining Armour was secretly feeding information to HLF camps.

“Yes, begin the assault,” I declared and hundreds of my airborne subjects, armed with Potion, took to the skies over the Alps. This ship would be the safest place, it's magic shielding being in the same level as the Divine Authority, no human weapon not enhanced by magic will be able to break its shields.

Another disturbing thing is the disappearance of the BBHS, they slipped off of our notice when we found the humans. At least humans can't help being human, they deserve salvation and perfection, the BBHS are just misfits, traitors, they don't deserve anything.

They will burn in my wrath.

Next Chapter: Co-Commander Jack Stewart Pritchard Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes