The horns of war sounded, reverberating across the frozen battle field. Both sides charged out in preplanned formations to allow their side the best chance for victory.

Anthony was out the gate before the horns sounded, but he had a job to do. His enhanced body and power armor got him to the location with zero delay. The Spartan was at what he wanted to be the F.O.B., him picking it as the best location to defend should it come down to it. He looked over and found that Shining was slightly distracted by the assault in the air. When Shining refocused, Anthony got him his orders.

“Captain, I need you to create a bubble under which our forces have a place to enter. We need them protected from Blackwing’s siege weapons,” Anthony ordered to Shining Armor.

“Yes sir!” Shining Armor replied, following his orders. Anthony turned away, knowing that his orders would be carried out. Anthony quickly got into a foxhole he dug out the night before. He had multiple locations so as to give him a strategic advantage in the battle. He pulled out his sniper rifle and waited.

He was looking at the battle above him, watching the two exchange bright blows. He was waiting for the word. And he got it.

“…changelings go to war, we bring only the very best. Now!” Chrysalis yelled over the radio.

Anthony lined up the shot in a millisecond, looking down his sight. When he had the shot he pulled the trigger, firing the taser round out the chamber. It was the only taser round he had, and he didn’t want to kill Nightmare Moon out right. He knew that it wouldn’t work. Blackwing would have protected her from death at least once.

He watched the round hit and the electricity course over and around Nightmare Moon. He had to turn down his radio when she screamed, but he knew that it would prove useful.

“Good luck, Chrysie,” Anthony said, standing up from the foxhole and going over to Shining.

“You too,” chrysalis replied, turning off the channel. He shook his head, but he didn’t dwell on it. He had a war to fight.

“Shining Armor, I want you to keep this position. It will be our F.O.B., so don’t let it get captured. Medics will be up soon to prepare for the wave of wounded to come. Good luck, and stay safe,” Anthony said, knowing that Shining’s location would not even see battle. But he didn’t tell the unicorn that.

I need you safe, for my child. I can’t risk anything happening to you. Anthony thought.

“Yes sir, and come back safe,” Shining shouted.

“I’ll try,” was all Anthony said, turning and ran off to another location. Anthony knew that coming back safe wasn’t a concern, but wining this battle was.

Anthony ran for a few seconds before arriving at the second foxhole. He had dug this one out of a hill, so if the snow melted he would still have a place to attack from with some covers. He got in and leaned his sniper on the edge of the hole, setting up the magazines next to his hand for faster access. He looked down the sight when he was suddenly blinded.

If it had not been for the visor he would have had permanent damage. He looked at the location in the air and magnified it, seeing it was a creation of both Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon. He also knew that it might hurt when it exploded, so he ducked down into the hole and prepared. The heat and force from the explosion was less than he predicted but still bad.

As the Spartan looked out of the hole to see Blackwing’s forces push into the changeling army. The now muddy ground from the flash melted snow was not helping the matter. He lined up a shot on a griffon that looked to be a commander and squeezed to trigger, and was rewarded for a click and the gun not working.

“Shit, jammed,” he said, pulling the escape open. He pulled out the magazine and found a layer of mud had seeped into the barrel. He cursed his bad luck and went to work cleaning it out as quickly as he could. While he was doing this, he knew the changelings were losing forces left and right. He had the gun apart, cleaned, and put back together in record time, slamming the magazine back in.

“Take two,” the Spartan said to himself, looking down the sight and lining up a target. He squeezed the trigger and smiled as the familiar kick hit him in the shoulder and sent a round flying into the head of a griffon commander.

He fired two more shots consecutively, alerting the enemy force of his location. He smiled as he knew it would bolster morale and get enemy to shrink for the changelings. But now he had half an army converging on his location, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He hammered in a new mag and went to work taking out high priority targets. He kept reloading and emptying until he was almost swarmed, and that was time for a change in tactics.

He placed the now empty sniper in the foxhole and pulled out his assault rifle, flipping the setting to full automatic. He aimed at the mass of diamond dogs, griffons, and ponies and depressed on the trigger, firing all 32 rounds into the mass. Each round hit home and either killed or wounded and enemy. He pushed the lever back and pulled the mag, it quickly followed by another mag into the holder. The lever was pushed forward and the deadly spray of rounds continued.

He repeated this process until he again ran out of ammunition. Forgoing the rifle and having to move away from the foxhole, Anthony pulled out his shotgun. The battle front got close to him, but its size was but a fraction of the first product. He emptied the first load-out, dropping a dozen enemies. All that remained was a pair of griffons and a unicorn, all in armor that was ill suite for projectile weapons.

Anthony flipped the shotgun around and held it by the barrel, whom then ran up and used the butt end of the boom stick as a club. He upper-cutted the first griffon, its head bending back at a ninety-degree angle. Death was instant. The second griffon swung its sword at the Spartan, but he grabbed the blade and crushed it in his hands. The griffon was frozen in fear as the blade was yanked from its grasp and a new one was hilted into its face.

The unicorn must have been under a powerful spell, because he charged at the Spartan with a sword in his magical grasp. Anthony didn’t want to deal with him, so he pulled out his pistol and just shot the unicorn and re-holstered his weapon. He noticed the changelings had cleared the enemy force, so Anthony walked back to the F.O.B. He didn’t make it.

Dragons started to fly over, the two groups coming from Blackwing’s camp and Canterlot. Anthony could feel the morale of the changeling’s drop to none, knowing that they would be unable to deal with them. The Spartan did the only thing he could; prepare to go out with a bang. He pulled out his Spartan Laser and connected its power supply to his suits fusion reactors.

He took aim at the dragons as their forces merged, but something unexpected happened. The two groups started to fight each other, and not lightly either. Anthony could see the larger dragons from Canterlot rip apart the smaller dragons from Blackwing’s army.

The dragons must have sensed something on these dragons. Good, then we actually might have a chance at this. Anthony thought, watching the dragons move over the armies and then disappear. Anthony knew that at least they didn’t have to worry about air strikes.

He detached the laser from the power supply and continued on towards the Forward Operational Base. He was about to be in Shining Armor’s view when he took a look at the changelings. He saw a massive force, one larger than that of changelings could dream of. He knew where he was really needed. Anthony made it his mission now to make it to the front of the changeling army.

He finally got to the front and looked at the scared changelings. He knew now was not the time for fear, but the sheer force moving forward was enough to worry a Spartan. It was speak time, and they needed it bad.

“You shall not halt,” Anthony announced. The Spartan stood in front of the changelings, his voice being projected by his suit.

“A force of numbers and weakness is no force at all. We may not have the numbers, but we have something we are fighting for. We are fighting for freedom. We are fighting for the right to do as we please. We fight, because only we have the courage to fight. The fight, not for freedom, but a maniacal tyrant tells them to. There is no honor in this, only a pitiful excuse of a will. Do you wish to be under that same tyrant’s rule?” Anthony asked, waiting for the response.

“No!” the response was more than he could have hoped for.

“Then keep pushing, for nothing is impossible if you believe to be possible. Now let’s show these tyrannical forces why the changelings are not to be trifled with!” Anthony announced, pulling out his sword and charging into the enemy mass.

Lerooooooooooooooy Jenkins!! Anthony thought, seeing on his motion sensor that the changelings were right behind him.

The two armies hit like a pair of waves, each crashing over the other. The only thing going through Anthony’s mind was the swish of his blade and the spray of blood all over the battle field. His blade cut over the faces of Diamond Dogs, earth ponies, griffons, pegasi, and unicorns, its thirst for blood never being sated. Axes, maces, magics, spears, and swords bounced off of his shields and then armor as the shielding failed from the combined arms.

The battle was fierce, and the Spartan hardly noticed when Shining Armor called him on the radio.

“General, we have a bogie moving on the edge of the field. It appears to be Target Bravo, over,” the voice said, snapping the human out of his blood rage.

“Understood, I’ll see where the fucker’s going. Over and out,” Anthony replied. Anthony moved out of the fray, using a mix of invisibility and speed.

He moved in the direction that he could only guess at, hoping to end Blackwing’s reign before it got off the ground. And he was lucky as he spotted Nightmare Moon, Blackwing, and Queen Chrysalis. He started to calculate the best plan of action and then executed it.

He got close and waited for the right opportunity. And got a bit of conversation in it.

“I was going to remove you from the fighting, permanently,” Chrysalis said, Anthony hearing the fear in her voice. He saw the guards take a defensive stance and silently saluted them for their bravery.

“Ha, and what do you think you can do against both of us?” Nightmare Moon asked, Anthony picking this time to announce his arrival.

“You’ll have to fight this one alone, Night-Bitch Whore,” Anthony shouted, shotgun aimed at Blackwing’s chest.

“Ah, human. I was wondering when you would find me. What has taken you so long?” Blackwing asked, trying to get under Anthony’s skin.

“You know, kicking ass and taking names, and yours is next on the list,” Anthony said, the tactic working.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Blackwing inquired.

This. Anthony thought, firing his jetpack and hit Blackwing with his shoulder. The two went careening off towards the battle.

Blackwing landed on the ground first, his arms flailing around as the Spartan fell on top of him. Anthony then proceeded to hit Blackwing over and over into the anthromorph’s jaw. Anthony went in with a right hook when Blackwing grabbed it.

“Not so fast, human,” Blackwing said, his jaw resetting. “I don’t think you honestly know what is going to happen to you, do you?”

“I know what I’m going to do after I kill you,” Anthony said, trying to force his hand down. An under-hand blade swished out and was inches from Blackwing’s face.

“So you think,” Blackwing commented back. “Now human, you get to die.”

Blackwing threw the Spartan away, Anthony hitting the ground with a shaking force. Blackwing walked over to Anthony and grabbed him around the neck. The powerful foe lifted the one ton Spartan with one hand as though he was a rag doll. Blackwing pulled out a blade and held it to the Spartan’s throat.

“Any last words?”

“Ya, fuck you,” Anthony replied, being defiant even in the end.

Blackwing was about to try and sink the blade into the human’s throat when a bright flash of light and energy consumed the world.

Author's Notes:

hope you enjoyed these. and yes i had to make a cliff hanger. now it might take a while before i post the next chapter, i am writing two different stories.