Broken Skies

The victory at the impasse was of course, not without a cost. Deaths on the human/pony side had rocketed up to a strong one hundred dead, and the morale had dropped significantly from the mourning of many.

"In honor of the deceased, we perform this hasty memorial. Arms up!" ordered the colonel.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

A volley of seven guns rang.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

Another.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

The final volley ended.

The other countries' own forms of memorials for their own began as well, and the event would end not long after. Still, they had to advance and make their first attack on Griffon territory. The war was in full swing.

-Back at Canterlot-

"Princess, another victory for our soldiers!" reported Shining Armor.

"Very good, I just hope the humans don't drag this on for longer than it should." replied Celestia.

"Princess, at this rate, the war should be over in a short time., faster than any recorded war of the past!" replied Shining.

        "Yes, but, how? Their weapons and technology are superior to any on this planet.  They came from space, for the Creator's sake. Who knows what things might follow from their intrusion..."

        --------------------------

       The Canterlot nobility strutted about, commerce and various conversations indecipherable amongst the noise. Bartering, trading, and the clicking of bits on counters was all that could be heard in the echo of voices. Still, the ever menacing view of the Icarus-M class Hybrid, along with its escorts, stood at full stature before the mountain city.

       Even after the two continuous victories, the nobility still had their doubts about the humans and their allies.

       "Do they at least understand basic economy? And what is with their uniforms, they look ridiculous!" wondered Filthy Rich. "I bet they can't even do a job better than a single Royal Guard."

         Then, as if a loud droning noise had arrived, two large black blobs streaked across the sky, unleashing a hail of small black dots, opening what appeared to be rectangular, ribbed cloth.

       "Attention citizens of Canterlot! What you are witnessing above you, is a drill. No need to panic, I repeat, this is merely. A drill." said a human walking down the streets of Canterlot, shouting into her megaphone.

       "What form of drill is this? You aliens don't even possess wings!" said a noble.

       "This, is HALO jumping. A method aerial entry into an area, and a very simple method of offensive ground control. You exit by jumping out of a plane, or a flying vehicle of a sort, free falling a set distance down, and finally releasing a parachute, a cloth used for slowing down the fall to a survivable speed." Informed the human.

        "That sounds like a terrible thing to practice!" said a random pony.

        "Don't worry, this is only an exercise done by those willing and capable." relayed the human.

        "So, you do this, as an improving test? You humans really are crazy!" shouted a royal.

"Don't panic, you ponies have biological wings. How have they not broken off at the speeds some of you get to?" retorted the soldier.

The ponies reeled back at the thought of their wings suddenly snapping off, but relieved at the remembering that the soldier had said 'some'.

-Canterlot Castle-

"Princess, allies from other countries wish to speak with you." reported a guardsman.

"Ah, yes, let them in. Do you know what it is?" replied Celestia.

"No ma'am." said the guard.

"Well, continue with the gates." ordered the Princess.

The guard trotted off at a brisk pace to the front gate's sentries, ordering them to open the front door.

As soon as that order was sent, the great polished wooden barriers creaked open, revealing the pearly insides to the ponies and the delegates of other countries.

"So, this is the inside of the Royal Castle?" said a ram.

"Wow, it really does look better from the inside." commented a minotaur.

"Indeed." added in a avian.

"Welcome to Canterlot everyone." bid welcome the Princess, also having woken up Luna for this occasion. "Pray tell, what has prompted you to come to the castle at this time?"

"Well your highness, these, 'vistors' to our world, alongside the recent discovering of your war with the Griffon empire, we wish to ask you something. In private." said the avian.

"Oh, well, come inside, I shall have the staff prepare you a meal." said Celestia.

"That won't be necessary your majesty, we only wish to speak with you." winked the minotaur.

"Celly, I don't understand their mea-" peeped Luna.

"Shh, I know what they are trying to say." replied Celestia. "Please, follow."

The small group of emmisaries and royalty went off on a short trip.

A trip, to the War Room.

"Sir, you might want a look at this!" pipped a young cadet.

"What is it, cadet?" replied Jarvis.

"It-its the Salem Witches!" reported the recruit.

"What?" said a surprised Jarvis. "Their next predicted attack was in the Maroonis system!"

"That isn't the real problem here sir, its, they are on FIM-Delta, and to make things worse, they have arrived with the largest recorded fleet!" said the cadet.

"Why here? Why not somewhere more strategic, like in Stereven?" asked Jarvis.

"No idea sir, all that we know, is this fleet is well over a thousand strong!" replied the cadet.

"Mother of God." plainly said Jarvis.

"So Screech, anything new from HQ?" asked Bullet Monkey.

"The Witches." said Screech.

"What about them?" asked Atom.

"They are on the planet, and the orbital fleet is well over a thousand." blandly said the team leader.

"Alright, that should take the battle fleets a good month to get here." said Atom.

"Lets hope we aren't dead by the time they get here." said Bullet Monkey.

"No matter, lets get moving." ordered Screech.

The trio, along with the massive army of three combined units, began their trek into the snowy tundra of the Griffon Empire.

"Sir, we can't hold off these loyalist dogs any longer! We have to evacuate what we have left!" suggested a Changeling rebel.

A rebel general stabbed a charging loyalist with his iron sword. "Quick, get the Lord out of here! We can hold them off, just get him to the humans!" replied the general.

"Yes, sir!" said the trooper, running off to go retrieve the king.

The general watched the young Changeling run off into the distance. "Alright everyone, we die here. Take that in with pride, it will be your last. Ensure the Lord gets help from the humans. Only the Creator can assist us now."

A massive droning noise came from the catacombs in front of the small group of nine.

"Hold your ground, don't let loosen your armor! LET OUR SOULS BE THE LIGHTS IN DARKNESS!" shouted the general.

A swarm of black chitin charged towards the tiny bits of red and purple on the rebel horns, and the clashing of swords commenced almost immediately.

"Alright , how long until your fleet and the rest can get here?" asked Jarvis.

"A month at best, surprise attacks can slow progress." replied the fleet commander Haggard.

"Copy, we will do the best we can to hold out." replied Jarvis.

The Admiral then paced about in the bridge of his command ship. He only had so many spare units he could spare to hold off the incoming threat, only worsened by the coming assaults on Griffon territory.

"Sire, our scouts have found the humans at this area. Shall we begin the assault, or shall we try and get some meatshields ready before our insertion?" asked a Witch.

"No, we need to keep our presence as low as possible. The humans are bound to have already found our presence here, our fleet is already quite hefty. We should try to get these 'Griffons' to do some of the dirty work." replied another.

"Right away my liege." snapped a Witch.

Music pumped and rolled in Atom's headset.

"How do you listen to that music?" asked Bullet Monkey.

"Easy, expand further than rap." quipped Atom.

"Oh, don't know how bad that was, but it seems an inferno is roaring." added in Screech.

"Shut up!" quickly defended Bullet Monkey.

The trio argued over which music choice was better, while the companies kept their march onwards strong. Winter clothes and gear were distributed among the soldiers beforehand, and the weather reports of the trek was very rough. Some soldiers even chipped in, saying how the winters of Russia couldn't compare.

"Freezing my nips off out here." commented a soldier.

"Hey, better than being stuck on a boat." replied another.

"Pretty boat sure don't suffer from heater problems." retorted the first soldier,

As the comments went on, footsteps among the snowy tundra were muffled beneath the treads of tanks, the engines of vehicles, and mulching of boots hitting snow and ice.

"Target in sight." reported a Witch.

"Copy, fire at will." replied another.

"Roger that." said the first.

The Witch pulled the slide on her rifle, nodding to the mixed genders of soldiers behind her.

"Open fire." ordered the Witch.

She pulled the trigger on her rifle, the sights trained upon a Bullfrog.

A bullet cracked, its powerful cartridge flying out of the barrel. Its spinning kept it on direction, sending it towards the target.

"I'm just telling you guys to open your music choices outwards to accept other things, whats so wrong about tha-" said Atom, being interrupted.

"Shh, you hear that?" said Screech.

"Yeah, it sounded like a gunsh-" A bullet smashed through the shield and armor Atom was using, ripping apart his skull and sending bones, blood, and brain matter all about the white, pearly snow, caking it in a deep crimson. Atom's head was now a small, empty nub, veins of blood stringing out and spewing tiny amounts of blood in an orderly fashion.

"No!" shouted Screech.

Screech's heart sunk deep. The loss of a childhood friend and comrade in arms did a heavy toll on his morale, the wound being dug deeper with the fact that Atom's birthday was coming up the next day.

"C'mon Screech, no time for mourning!" tugged Bullet Monkey.

Screech knew he had to move, but his feet just couldn't pick themselves up. Good thing he had his legs do it for him!

Pulling Screech behind a tank, Bullet Monkey started to raise his weapon and fired away at various directions, not knowing where the gunshot came from.

"We need to get moving!" ordered Screech, trying his hardest to ignore Atom's corpse.

"On it!" replied Bullet Monkey.

The now-duo sprinted off to a vehicle nearby, hopping in and ordering the driver to push on at an accelerated rate.

"All units, push onward! I repeat, push onward! We need to keep moving if we want to meet up with the others!" shouted Screech, into the radio.