TORNADO POV

The magically enhanced DSR-50 glowed as I held it in my hands, ready to take the shot. The Potioneer Ship was getting closer, flying through the valley, the very look of it making it feel like the promise of death; the rape of innocence.

Hell, was anyone innocent any more?

Aiming for the propellers seems like the best idea, if I can hit the main one, the whole ship should go crashing down to the bottom of the valley, destroying it. I just hope that this rifle’s bullets are strong enough for it.

“Now!” Commander Alex Pritchard’s voice spoke through my earpiece. I lined up the shot a bit in front of the propeller so the bullet will hit the target exactly on.

I pulled the trigger, the DSR-50 letting out a small explosion as the bullet flew through the air, I saw the Potioneer Ship’s magic shield light up as the bullet impacted it but then it cracked and shattered as the bullet passed through. Through the scope I saw the wood of the pole holding the propeller shatter and splinter, but not snapping, the bullet staying lodged inside.

It was enough though.

The impact had stopped the propeller from magically spinning, producing the power that was keeping them up in the air, the ship tilting dangerously to the side before colliding with the mountain to its right. Ponies came off of it in droves, and through the scope, I saw the Sun Tyrant herself.

Oh boy was she pissed.

She turned her head and was staring right at me. I froze under her fiery glare, I was paralysed with fear. She smirked and sent a huge ray of yellow magic right for me, there was no escaping that. I would die in a matter of seconds.

As the magic burnt me to a crisp, I knew I had done my part. It was all up to them now.

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COMMANDER ALEX PRITCHARD POV

,.,.,

I peered out of the window at the Potioneer Ship, I saw its magic shield crack and break and then it crashed into the mountainside, so I guess the rifle worked and Tornado had sot out the propeller.

I didn't expect what happened next.

A huge blast of magic was heading right for Tornado, there was nothing I could do, nothing anyone could do. The magic incinerated him, and the DSR-50 most likely too, in a matter of seconds. Only one pony was capable of doing something like that.

Celestia.

She definitely was ballsy, appearing on the front lines, but now our magic defying sniper and its owner are gone. Dead.

“Sheiße,” I heard Heinrich say about the huge magical death ray. There was no chance in hell Tornado could’ve survived something like that. No way.

“Snipers, now!” George said through his radio and I saw Pegasi drop from the sky, not enough though. If we didn't pull something out of the hat soon, we’ll be wiped out in one go.

“We should activate Big Betsy,” An officer suggested.

Big Betsy was our tank. We’d modified it to have increased stopping power and now could be the only time to use it.

“Very well,” I said, “go and get it, shoot down the big groups of Pegasi,”

“Yes sir.”

The Pegasi we at the front lines now, Heinrich and Anne were busy listening and commanding desperately into their comms. I really hoped Jack was safe. I picked up my Walkie-talkie.

"Jack! How's the evac going?" I yelled into my walkie-talkie as I stared from the command center at the battleground below,

"Okay," I heard him reply, "just one more hotel to clear!"

"Which one?" I asked,

"Les Bruyères," came his reply. I looked out the large window to see a Pegasus squad land on the roof of Les Bruyères and start to get in.

"No don't! Pegasi have entered the hotel!" I yelled,

"I have to, the people need me!" Jack yelled back,

"No, I forbi-" Jack cut the connection. I sighed in annoyance and slight fear and grabbed my rifle to follow him in.

"Heinrich, you're in charge until I return!" I yelled and ran out the hotel, starting down the road. A bit down the road a Pegasus landed in front of me, brandishing a Potion Launcher,

"Hello!" She said cheerfully. She was a Newfoal, eyes glassy and grin wide, but I could tell that she was one of the more intelligent ones.

"Um, hi?" I replied,

"You've been a naughty human, killing my friends," her cheerful smile darkened as she approached me. Or perhaps it was always that dark. As soon as that Potion touched her and raped her mind into this twisted abomination against nature.

"Sorry?" I said, trying to buy time as I fumbled for a weapon, my rifle was slung over my shoulder, not much chance of getting that without her firing at me.

"You're lucky I'm forgiving and generous. Accept Princess Celestia's gift!" She aimed at me and I jumped to the side, Potion appearing where I was standing a second ago.

"Son of a bitch," I cursed,

"Language!" She giggled and fired again, I just managed to roll out of the way and stood up, firing my rifle and watching the bullets miss their mark.

"You know, you're not very accurate," She fired again and I sidestepped, now I was more focussed and not panicking so my aim had vastly improved.

"Give up!" The Newfoal said in a sing-song voice just before I fired a few more rounds and saw the bullets fly into the pony's body, who fell backwards, dead.

"How's that for not accurate?" I spat on her carcass. It was for the greater good, she had died when she was ponified, I merely put down a walking sick mockery of a life form.

I continued on to Les Bruyères. From what I could see Jack had entered a few seconds earlier and I could hear him shouting as I stepped in.

"Alright everyone, follow me, we're getting out of here!"

"Help!" I heard someone yell in a heavily accented voice, "we're stuck! Second floor room 209!"

"Accept Celestia's gift!" A pony shouted, "trust me when I say it'll all be better and you'll understand once you take it!"

"Fuck off!" Came the reply followed by a burst of gunfire.

Jack dashed up the stairs and I followed. He got up there before me and dashed round the corner, gun cocked and loaded.

"Ah!" He cried out and I heard glass shatter. Rounding the corner myself, I immediately starting firing at the blasted horses. I recognised one of them. The Purple Menace, Twilight Sparkle.

The Menace put up a shield around herself and the Newfoals with her before my barrage of human created death hit her. She smirked and pointed to the floor. I followed her prompt and looked down.

There was Jack, awkwardly laying in a puddle of Potion. There was my final relative, dying before my eyes, changing into one of those sick fucks.

"No! Jack!" I cried out. The last of my family.

"Alex," Jack choked back, "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be, it's not your fault, I love you." I sobbed,

"Listen, when I become one of them, don't hesitate. Kill me straight away. It may talk with my voice and try to convince you its me, but it's not. Kill me, promise me you will." He started to wince as the Potion took hold.

"I promise," I said, a tear rolling down me cheek and splashing onto this chest.

"I'm scared..." He trailed off and writhed in the puddle of Potion as he changed into a pony. Before I could give him one last act of mercy and put him out of his misery, I remembered about the Purple Menace. She helped the horse that was once my brother to his hooves and before I could shoot any more, she teleported away with him.

I couldn't even fulfil his final wish.

"I'LL MURDER YOU ALL, YOU HEAR ME CELESTIA? I'LL RIP YOUR HORN FROM YOUR HEAD AND IMPALE YOU ON IT!" I screamed in rage, "I'LL BUTCHER YOU LIKE THE COW THAT YOU ARE AND EAT YOU FOR MY SUNDAY LUNCH ROAST! YOU WILL PAY!" I stomped out the building and down into the front lines. Seeing me fighting on the front lines boosted the morale. Seeing me, storming out the building, rifle set to automatic and dropping Ponies everywhere whipped up the men into a frenzy. I saw Big Betsy roll out from L’Ours Noir and it immediately blasted a rocket into the sky, exploding a large group of Pegasi. Dismembered body parts rained down onto the Newfoal ranks.

Big Betsy’s barrel turned and fired again at the swarms of Pegasi, creating huge holes in the Pegasi infested sky. Any pony that tried to land on the front line was torn to pieces by machine-gunfire and the snipers were dropping important targets area.

“Zis looks exactly like ze Bureau massacre,” I heard Heinrich whisper down the comms. He was right. We were going to be overwhelmed.

The army landed on the slope below us and were no doubt setting up Potion Mortars. If they did, then we were all in danger.

“Big Betsy!” Heinrich yelled out and I turned to see the tank take huge hits of magic and Newfoals rushed towards it, undoing the hatch and getting inside.

“Fuck me sideways and upwards and downwards,” I muttered. It seemed like the end of the line.

Three loud booms rang out, almost shattering my eardrums and the side of the mountain seemed to explode. Huge chunks of rock raining down onto the ponies below us. A similar thing happened on the other side of the mountain.

Of course, the Avalanche bomb traps!

The army had seemed to have disappeared, but it too had taken a fair chunk of our soldiers with them, teleporting them away to be ponified no doubt. Like my brother.

Like Jack.

From the rubble, the Great Dictator herself emerged, hovering in the air.

“Sweet Jesus and mother Mary,” Anne murmured.

”HUMANS!” she yelled at us, “CAN’T YOU SEE WE ARE HELPING YOU?, ASK ANY NEWFOAL, ASK YOUR OLD COMMANDER, HE KNOWS OF OUR SALVATION AND EVEN HE, ONE WHO GREATLY OPPOSED ME, WANTS TO HELP YOU ALL SEE LIKE HE HAS, EVEN ASK HIM RIGHT NOW!”

“Oh no,” Heinrich murmured into my ear.

The Solar Fuck levitated a male unicorn to her side, he was wearing pony armour and carrying a Potion dart gun. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was my brother. I knew it was Jack.

“Keep it together,” Heinrich muttered to me.

“EURF!” The Newfoal addressed us in Jack’s voice, “DO YOU NOT SEE HOW FUTILE THIS ALL IS, ALLOW PRINCESS CELESTIA TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELVES, PLEASE. AND ALEX!”

The Newfoal turned to face me. I was so shattered, my mind was still dealing with that here Jack was, now my enemy.

“ALEX PLEASE, END THIS MADNESS. THEY’LL LISTEN TO YOU. I’M YOUR BROTHER, ALEX, WE CAN FIND MUM AND DAD AND BE A FAMILY AGAIN! JUST ORDER YOUR MEN TO STAND DOWN!”

Heinrich was yelling something in my ear but I wasn't paying attention to him. It was as if Satan himself was standing in front of me, ready to make a deal.

Maybe it would be better if I drank it, maybe this whole time I was wrong and Celestia was right. Maybe I should just give in, doing that would end this war, save so many lives. Everything I wanted was contained in that vial of sparkly purple liquid.

All I want in life for the price of my soul…

My thoughts turned to Jack, he was smiling at me, holding a vial of Potion and making promises that everything would be perfect as soon as I took the Potion.

I remembered Jack’s last words: Kill me straight away. It may talk with my voice and try to convince you its me, but it's not. Kill me, promise me you will.

I saw through the lies, the Newfoal that was Jack, his smile, it had the same unnerving wideness like every other Newfoal, his eyes were less glassy but you could see that his left eye was slightly twitching against his will.

I ripped out my earpiece and Jack’s smile widened. Celestia looked at me, smiling motherly, levitating a vial of Potion into my hand.

“JACK!” I called to him, “THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY, I KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW, I COULDN’T HAVE FIGURED IT OUT WITHOUT YOU, THANK YOU!”

“YOU’RE WELCOME, NOW DRINK ALEX, DRINK AND WE CAN BE A FAMILY AGAIN!” He yelled back.

That was all the confirmation I needed. This was not Jack, not even a hint of Jack remained.

I looked into a gondolier where I saw a sniper was, looking at me in betrayal. I winked at him and he took up his rifle again.

I raised the vial to my lips and Celestia grinned in victory.

Which soon broke when I dropped the vial and it smashed on the rocks below.

“NOW!” I yelled and the sniper shot at Jack.

Celestia threw up a shield around him, protecting him, but it got my point across. No, I will keep on fighting you. Mum and Dad would want me to, Jack would want me to.

I will never submit.

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