::> 15:35pm, Canterlot Time…

::> Location: Zebrica, Forward Camp Oxford Delta…

“All assets: operation is go! I repeat, operation is go! All squads, board your dropships!”

The Commander’s voice boomed across the camp, sure to be heard by all the guardsmen around. Action began to take place, every human knowing it was time to fight. They scuttered about quickly, boarding their respective vehicles.

Abel ran up the ramp of his ship, but stopped. He turned back and looked at the snowy landscape, watching his fellow humans as they prepared for war. The man then looked down at his rifle, seeing the ammo counter at full level, then turned, the ramp closed behind him. He paid no mind to Annah and Morrison, just opting to quietly sit down on one of the unnocupied seats and lock his armor to it.

He glanced at the other two, faces hidden behind masks. A strange feeling began to creep in, one that Abel had not felt very often before. His mind raced with thoughts, memories of battles past that took their toll. Once again he stared at his rifle, remembering every battle that left a little scratch on the weapon’s finish. If he thought hard enough, perhaps he could list them by name, but it was not time for that. He chose to prepare himself mentally, for the path ahead was not completely clear. The weather prevented orbital scans from revealing what was ahead, thus relying on different methods to set a path. But the part that seemed to make everyone uneasy was the enemy itself.

“Gods,” he thought to himself. Certainly the vision he had had on that old temple made him realize that this was indeed reality. Although many others has serious doubts about the war, he knew better, for he knew exactly what they were at war with.

“Pilot,” Morrison said, standing up. Abel and Annah looked up at him as he spoke, “ETA on our combat zone?”

“Two minutes, Lieutenant,” the pilot replied through the intercom.

“You guys ready for war?” Annah asked, brandishing her rail pistols. “I sure am, just can’t wait to see if the whole thing isn’t a waste of time.”

“You still don’t believe it?” Abel asked, looking down and softly shaking his head. He frowned before his faceplate and looked back up at the woman. “You still don’t believe me?”

“Look,” the Raider began, “I don’t know what the hell happened at that temple, but…” She placed her pistols on both sides of her hips. “ I want to believe you, Corporal, trust me… But I’m just not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?” Abel unhooked himself from his seat and stood up. “This world is all fucked up already! We’ve seen cities made of clouds, for fuck’s sake!”

Annah stepped up to the man and grabbed him by the collar. Abel looked down at her, surprised by her suddenly aggressive behavior. “This world’s too fucked up for me to believe anything anymore! And I’m still your superior, you dipshit Corporal, show some respect!”

Done scolding Abel, the Sergeant pushed him into the wall before walking back to her spot. Abel gritted his teeth, dusting himself off and frowning behind his mask. “Yes ma’am…”

“Are you two done hugging?” the pilot asked from the intercom. “I’ve got a visual on the city of Zephos.”

“What does it look like?” Morrison asked.

“It’s a frozen hell down there, sir,” the pilot replied. “I see some… Ice creatures, moving about. They don’t seem to have spotted us yet.”

“Copy.” Morrison reached over his back and grabbed his rifle. “Touch us down.”

Abel gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on his rifle as the shift in the hum of the engines signalled the ship lowering itself. He stepped in front of the hatch as it opened up, allowing a gust of ice cold wind to seep into the troop bay. Abel started counting as the ramp lowered.

As soon as the ship touched ground, he leaped forward into the open, his boots digging into the frozen sand. Annah and Morrison followed suit. The three immediately aimed their weapons, scanning the area around them as the ramp closed, followed by the dropship taking flight again. “I’ll be circling around the area, team. Keep in touch.”

“Copy that,” Morrison replied.

Abel looked around, at the supposed frozen hell, living up to its name. A few tall buildings pierced the mists and disappeared into the heights. “See anything?” he asked, looking at the abandoned buildings that surrounded the three.

A group of dropships flew overhead, heading deeper into the city, followed by a nearby growl. Abel gritted his teeth, looking for the source of the noise. His visor locked on to a sizeable creature made of ice peeking around the corner of one of the buildings.

“Look at that thing…” Morrison muttered.

“Still don’t believe me, Sarge?” Abel asked, training his rifle on it, but was caught off when a shot pierced through its head, sending shards of ice everywhere.

Abel looked behind him at Annah, steam coming off of the barrel of her pistol. “It’ll take a little bit more than that, Corporal.”

Abel frowned, then looked up as a cacophony of howls echoed throughout the area. His motion sensor began to pick up several signals. “We’ve got incoming!”

In but a single moment, gunshots began to go off. Icy creatures began swarming the squad, the flash of the gauss weapons accompanied by their deafening bangs. Abel kept steady, quickly switching between targets as they appeared, prioritizing the closest ones.

Shards of ice flew everywhere with each shot that connected. Abel reached over his hand, grabbed a grenade and tossed it. It landed on the head of a demon, who stood confused for exactly two seconds before the explosive went off, absolutely decimating it and three others.

By that point, the creatures had surrounded the squad, gaining a foot onto them with each demon that fell to their shots. “They’re swarming us!” Annah exclaimed.

“We have to break through!” Morrison yelled. “Get to the rest of our forces!”

Abel, having heard Morrison, pumped his rifle and aimed it at a group of creatures, firing an explosive shot into them. The shell detonated in contact, blowing a hole in the swarm of ice. “Go!” he yelled as he began to sprint, his powerful muscles combined with the suit’s carrying him through the opening, followed by his two squadmates.

“We have to get to the city center!” Annah yelled. “Shouldn’t be too far!”

Together, the squad began their mad sprint through the frozen city of Zephos, followed by the swarm of demons behind them. Abel reached over and grabbed his last grenade as he ran, dropping it behind him in hopes of buying more distance between them and the swarm.

They rounded a street corner, noticing a discernable, loud thumping sound approaching.

“You three need help?” a man spoke over the radio as a combat walker blew through an entire wall, crushing an ice demon under one of its legs.

The three looked up at the walker’s cabin. “Light them up!” Annah yelled.

Abel began to shoot, watching as the walker released a gout of blue flames from a port on its main gun. The demons screeched in pain, melting under the vicious fire and the gauss shells directed at them.

“Follow me!” the walker pilot relayed. “We’ll clear this city in no time!”

::> 16:42pm, Canterlot Time...

::> Location: Unknown, West of the Changeling Lands…

The wind howled loudly, along with an orchestra of echoing sounds that repeated themselves through the caves and tunnels over and over. Nothing but torches lit the darkness that encapsulated the visage. A small rock fell down a series of steps, bouncing until it reached the bottom. A single, hooded figure stood atop the structure. Behind it was the entrance to a fiery cavern with rivers of lava flowing freely all through, exposed until they retreated back into the molten folds of the earth.

This figure stood vigilant, watching the tunnels that lead to their vantage position, then cleared its throat, feeling the ashy phlegm in its mouth, product of the molten rock itself. Their eyes scanned the tunnels, catching that one light that seemed to flicker from further out. They stood there, watching as the light grew brighter, until a caravan of changelings could be seen, carrying with them a torch to illuminate the way.

The one up on the steps nodded itself, watching not the changelings, but what they carried with them.

Soon enough, the changelings reached the stairs, plopping down onto the ground, tired from carrying a slab of stone, with a human chained to it. The changeling carrying the torch, and wearing a hood just as the one atop the stairs, stepped forward. “Master Degara, we bring to our Lord the gift that was promised…”

Degara cleared his throat, then spoke with a raspy voice, “How many were lost, Asoden?”

Asoden looked down, grimacing. “Two warriors, Master… B-but they were nothing more than just that!”

“Quiet, Asoden…” the older changeling said, prompting Asoden to nod quickly. “How difficult was it to capture this… subject of ours?”

“Extreme amounts of magic were required, Master,” Asoden began. “We also enchanted the slab and the chains, as was told.”

“And where is its armor?” Degara asked.

The changeling frowned, looking down in shame. “A h-human with armor would have… would h-have proved much too difficult—!”

“Quiet, Asoden…” Degara calmly ordered. “You will anger our Lord…”

Asoden nodded quickly, then bowed.

The old changeling looked over his shoulder. “Bring it to the offering table,” he stated.

“You heard Master Degara,” Asoden said. “Just a few more steps, and you will get to witness something that only a select few have ever seen.”

Degara began a calm walk, slowly making his way into the cavern beyond the gate. The changelings, on the other hand, began a painful trek, their limbs barely holding the weight of the stone and the human combined. As soon as they had made their way up the steps, they were assaulted by the heat and the contaminated air inside the main cavern, only making the last part of the journey an arduous hell.

The whole group walked past rivers of molten lava, following a road that led to a stone table surrounded by four, tall stalagmites each with a red orb on its tip. The changelings finally reached their destination, sliding the slab with the human on it onto the table, then falling to the ground, breathing heavily, a thousand yard stare in their eyes.

Asoden stood next to his master, Degara, who nodded to him. Both then lowered themselves to the ground, facing down with their eyes closed.

“Lord Scorious!” Degara began. “We bring to you the gift you desired!” The orbs atop the stalagmites sparked, sending jolts of lightning from one to another. “A live human, for you to decipher...” The sparks concentrated in the middle, soon turning to a massive ball of fire. “It is our plea that you bring forth the extermination the human race, which we vow to aid with!”

“With this…” a disembodied voice, deep and thunderous, spoke up, “I can wipe them off the face of this planet!” The ball of fire grew in intensity. “Let us see… What is it in you that makes you so strong?” Sparks began to fly off of the orbs, striking the human, who woke up and gasped.