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                        War Stories                        
                    -by darkendpheonix-                    
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                          Cobalt                           
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Cobalt
Cobalt
Magical explosions were going off all around magic bolts flying past the cover and hitting close to them.
"We're surrounded!" A shadowy figure shouted barely audible over the explosions," We need to get out of here!"
"Don't worry we will but we need to find a way out first!" Cobalt shouted back.
A giant magic bolt hit above them causing a concrete slab to break off and fall towards the two ponies.
"Watch out!" Cobalt yelled as he pushed the shadowy figure out of the way being seemingly crushed under the slab of concrete.
Two days earlier
The room is dark on the left wall is a row of lockers and opposite of them is four bunk beds. Two fairly large stallions walk into the room.
"I'm telling you he killed at least twenty with it." Said the younger of the two.
"Binary I've told you once I'll tell you a thousand more there is no possible way to do that." Responded Cobalt.
Binary puffed and rolled his eyes. Cobalt barely acknowledged this and continued to his locker.
He opened it to find it unchanged. A suit of steel armor, A dark green duffle bag, and a picture of his family on the door.
"Why do you wear steel armor?" Binary asked, "Why not the standard gold armor?"
"In my opinion it looks more menacing." The same answer he had always given and it was never going to change.
The door behind them flung open and the general stood in the door.
"Saddle up boys Were moving out!" He yelled.
Both grabbed their armor and put it on. There was a single battle chariot witch seated two ponies in it. Cobalt and Binary both got on and turned towards the general standing just outside the chariot.
"Once you land you are to look for our three missing troopers one pegasus  and two unicorns. This will be a twelve hour flight so rest up on the way." He said.
The general hit the back of the chariot and it took off towards Manehatten.
About halfway through the flight an explosion was heard and the chariot shook. Both the unicorns opened there eyes and jumped up.
"What was that?" Binary asked.
"We're under attack!" Cobalt shouted back.
Almost immediately after another explosion went off causing the chariot to go hurdling towards the ground.
"Brace for impact we're going down!" Cobalt shouted.
They both strapped into the seats of the chariot and held tightly. Only moments after the chariot crashed into the ground shattering into nothing but broken boards and splinters. Cobalt slowly opened his eyes and looked around at the wreckage.
"Uhhhg. My head." he groaned, "Wait. Where's Binary?"
He searched the wreckage but had no luck finding him.
"Binary!" He shouted, "Binary where are you!"
he noticed a board move up and a familiar grey stallion crawl out of the wreck wincing in pain.
"Shut up I'm not dead yet." he said with noticeable pain, "Can't say the same for our pilots though. Now get over here and help me up."
Cobalt walked over and helped up binary unable to not look at the bodies of the pilots and feel sorry for them.
"We need to find a place to barricade ourselves in while we recover from the crash." Cobalt said trying not to show pain.
Binary nodded and walked a few feet before Cobalt started to walk in that direction. Before they left to go find a place they checked their radios
"Busted." binary said with a sigh
They then immediately left to search. After a bit of searching they came across a small building its sign illegible from burns and wear. They barricade a door and the windows leaving the back door open in case they need to leave fast. Binary offered to take first watch but was denied seeing that he had the most injuries from the crash.
A few shifts passed and Cobalt was about to wake up his brother for his shift when a magic bolt flew through the boards on the window next to the door and hitting the wall behind Binary.
"Shit!" Cobalt shouted as he hurried to wake Binary up, "We need to move now!"
They both got up and ran towards the back door going straight into an ally way. They both looked left and right trying to decide which way to go. A group of strange looking ponies jumped out on the left side.
"Go right!" Cobalt shouted.
They ran to the right having to duck and weave to dodge magic bolts. When they finely made it to the end of the ally they were forced to take cover behind the rubble of a building. Magical explosions were going off all around magic bolts flying past the cover and hitting close to them.
"We're surrounded!" Binary shouted barely audible over the explosions," We need to get out of here!"
"Don't worry we will but we need to find a way out first!" Cobalt shouted back.
A giant magic bolt hit above them causing a concrete slab to break off and fall towards the two ponies.
"Watch out!" Cobalt yelled as he pushed the shadowy figure out of the way being seemingly crushed under the slab of concrete. He had barely made it into the next building with Binary. They both got up and dusted themselves off.
"Are you alright?" Cobalt asked.
Binary nodded and then looked around.
"Where are we?" He asked, "Did we escape?" He continued not giving Cobalt any lime to answer.
"We escaped to the next building but not for long." He responded looking for the nearest door.
They continued through the only door not filled with rubble and walked for a few minutes.
"What were those things?" Binary asked
"For being so cocky you sound pretty worried." Cobalt responded getting a glare from binary, "There changelings the things we've been fighting for a few years now."
After saying that Binary's eyes Shrunk in fear and he stood still for a few moments. A changeling crept out of the shadows and watched for a few moments and listening to the conversation.
"Hurry up kid don't want to be left alone now do you." Cobalt said in a cocky voice.
The changeling crept up a bit more and charged up its horn aiming for Cobalt. Binary noticed this and jumped in front of the blast sent by the changeling. Binary fell to the ground and Cobalt turned to fire an magic bolt at the changeling. He fired three times only hitting it once but hitting it in the head. He quickly ran to check on his brother. He picked him up off the floor and looked into his blank face. When he turned him over he noticed that the magic bolt from the changeling had hit him in the back of the head.
Cobalt sat there for a moment motionless with Binary in his hooves. 'It should have been me. How could i let this happen' is all he could think to himself for the moments he just sat there. He got up and said to himself
"I have to go. Don't worry though you will not have died in vein my brother."
He hesitantly left the room and made it out of the building squinting at the almost blinding light. He heard the flapping of wings and rushed into the next building to avoid the changelings. When he looked out of a window he noticed that the changelings were carrying a cage. It held the three troopers that he and his brother had been sent there to get. He let them pass far enough to leave the building and began tailing them. After following them for what seemed like hours the changelings entered a building that seemed to be the most ravaged out of all the buildings left standing. He went to the side avoiding changelings as he crept up to the building. When he came up to the side he crawled through one of the windows and looked around the room for a door. When he found one he slowly walked through it and searched the dark halls for the room the troopers had been kept in. As walking the halls he heard what sounded like a leader addressing their subjects. He snuck up to the room where the voice was coming from and peeked into the room. He saw what looked like a large changeling hovering over the rest speaking to them. He slowly crept past the room and continued his search for the troopers. He came up to a room that actually had a door on it so he opened it to find the cage in the far end of the room.
"Guys." He said in a hushed voice, "Guys over here."
The second call got their attention causing them all to jump up in surprise.
"Lt. what are you doing here?" The mare unicorn asked.
"I'm here to get you out of here." He responded.
Cobalt levitated his combat knife And broke off the lock with the bottom of the handle.
As the three troopers were exiting the cage a changeling walked past the door and noticed the group. As it started yelling for help Cobalt ran up stabbed it in the throat and pulled to his left cutting through half of its neck leaving its head dangling.
"Move now!" Cobalt commanded as he ran out of the room.
The three troopers followed right behind him running through the halls killing only a few changelings along the way. A group of ten changelings gathered behind them and gave chase. The group of four ponies turned a corner and ran up to a very unstable looking staircase.
"Hurry up!" Cobalt shouted at the three, "We need to get out now!"
They all sped up and rushed down the staircase. Just before the last set of stairs the male unicorn trooper caused the stairs to fall out from underneath him.
"Shit!" The trooper yelled as he crashed through the stairs.
Cobalt immediately ran down to him and helped him up.
"Get up!" Cobalt yelled, "There's no time to lay on the ground!"
After helping the trooper up the group continued towards the exit of the building.
As they stepped outside they took cover in an ally way almost filled with rubble. Changelings poured out of the building and stopped to look around for the escaped troopers. Cobalt jumped out from the ally way and fired at the changelings only hitting a few.
"Run get to the building at the far end of the street!" He yelled to the troopers.
They did as he said and ran towards the building. Cobalt did not notice a changeling charge up his horn and fire a bolt at him hitting him square in the chest. His steel armor absorbed much of the blow but he was still pushed back a couple of feet. Cobalt started running towards the building wincing in pain from the blow to the chest.
"Do any of you have a working radio to contact headquarters?" Cobalt asked the troopers.
They all shook their head  no making cobalt rethink his plan.
"There is a radio tower not too far from here I would say about twelve blocks." The pegasus said.
Cobalt looked relieved and happy but that expression quickly left him as a volley of magic bolts hit the building. He looked out the window on the right to find the tower.
"Follow my lead." He said looking confident.
All the troopers nodded. Cobalt ran out of the building and went to the right  while firing magic bolts at the changelings hitting a few. The unicorns did as he did as the pegasus flew in the direction of the tower. The changelings a bit disoriented from the attack stood there for a moment allowing the group of ponies to get a few block head start.
After recovering the changelings ran around the corner to follow the group unleashing a volley of magic bolts towards the group of ponies.
"Take a hard right!" Cobalt commanded, "Then follow me!"
They all did what he commanded and took a right entering a building. Dashing through the halls and rooms he led the group to the back of the building and out the first floor window. Looking to the right cobalt noticed the tower was close to them.
"I think we lost them." The pegasus said with a relieved sigh.
Cobalt nodded and walked towards the tower. Once they reached it they all looked up.
"So who will be going up?" Cobalt asked the three.
They all looked at the pegasus.
"Fine I will go." He said a bit annoyed.
The pegasus flew up and did a bit of searching before coming back down.
"Good news is we have a radio..." he said, "Bad news is it needs power."
Cobalt told him to go grab it and bring it down. After he did they walked up to the nearest fuse box and flipped it on powering the radio.
"This is Lt. Cobalt. I need immediate evac for four ponies in Manehatten." He repeated this message five times before getting a response.
"Copy that Lt. but the only place we can have an LZ is in the main square." The radio operator responded.
"That will do." Cobalt responded.
The male unicorn looked a bit confused. "Where is the main square?" He asked
"About a quarter of a mile so not that far." The pegasus responded, "Haven't you been to Manehatten before?"
The unicorn shook his head no.
The group set out for the LZ and arrived in what seemed like ages. They sat there for a food fifteen minutes before a patrol of changelings flew past and noticed the small group. They Immediately started to fire at the group. They all got into cover and started firing back.
"Where is that chariot it should be her by now!" Cobalt yelled
Moments after saying that an armored chariot flew towards the group and landed behind them and opened the back. The group of three troopers backed up towards the chariot and got on still firing at the changeling hoard. Cobalt started to get on when he was hit in the leg which caused him to collapse to the ground. The troopers started to get out to help him when he shouted.
"Get out of here now! If you don; you'll be killed!"
They all got back onto the chariot and told the pegasus to leave. They closed the back and flew off towards HQ. Cobalt tried to stand up and fight but fell to the ground in pain. When he looked up he saw the large changeling standing over him with its horn glowing green. He closed his eyes and accepted what was about to happen. All he felt was a brief pain and then nothing at all.
The End