Broken Skies

Screech and Bullet Monkey were sore, but they, alongside the battle damaged company trailing behind them, fell upon the meeting site, where they were told to regroup and formulate a way in to the Griffon territories, unknowing to them it had already been taken by "other" reasons.

"Jesus tap-dancing Christ and his merry band of Snowmen, my back hurts." complained Screech.

"Walk it off pussy." retorted Bullet Monkey.

"Whatever. Shouldn't the others be here by now?" asked Screech.

"Hold up, what is that?" Bullet Monkey said, pointing to what seemed to be a boot.

"Is that... a boot?" Screech commented. "Come on, lets take a look."

The duo walked up to the boot, noticing a small trail of blood, red blood to be exact.

"Red blood, oxygenous..." Screech commented, his helmet's HUD beeping at signs of possible danger.

Suddenly, a soldier of what appeared to be the Snakeheads rushed out of the pale white snow.

"Run, run for your lives!" the soldier panicked.

"Woah, woah, slow down. What happened?" asked Screech.

"Bullfrogs, thank God! It came out of nowhere, just screaming and hollering while spitting fire!" the soldier said.

While it was rare for a soldier of the legendary Snakeheads to be packing it into the blind, this seemed to one of those occasions where there was no excuse. This man had a look of horror, his face scorched and blackened, his armor melted and dented.

"What, what is it'?" asked Screech, being interrupted as a very loud and ear numbing noise boomed overhead.

A shadow cast over the tundra, lacing it in black as a scaly creature zoomed past.

"Motherfucker, if that is a dragon I swear..." complained Bullet Monkey, gawking at the massive figure before him.

The massive, scaled figure swooped down over the battered company, sweeping its general area with blisteringly hot fire. Melting snow, ice, and scorching the ground below, the mighty wail of the great beast of myths reverberated in all of the soldier's ears.

The infantry and their vehicular escorts opened fire with their weapons, the bullets breaking upon impact, but making visible impacts on the dragon.

"What does thing thing have on it, nanomeds?!" a soldier shouted.

"Just keep shooting it!" ordered another.

Then, the tanks had managed to adjust their weaponry enough to hit the dragon as it swooped overhead, making numerous sweeping passes with scorching heat.

"The Creedance is too far off helping evacuate nearby cities, they are at risk of being attacked by these Griffons, keep firing until the tanks can move their autocannons into range!" Screech shouted.

The massive scaled beast swung by for another breath of flame, but the twenty millimeter cannons had begun to release their payload, each of the shells making a visible hit in the dragon's powerful skin. Thankfully, the flying lizard had appeared to be pretty weak after the first two volleys, sending the creature down into a inescapable crash course with the ground.

"Eat it, ya bastard." a soldier snidely remarked.

The dragon hit the ground, sending snow, scales, and spatter of blood onto the ground and the surrounding area.

"Beasts..." the dragon said, under its breath.

The company watched as the dragon slowly died, giving the battered army a quick rest before they could make another push.

          "So, Princess, the deed is done. We shall aid in the defense of your kingdom, as long as you supply us with your fire sands." the Minotaur said.

          "Indeed it is. Now, is there anything else you wish to ask?" Celestia inquired.

          "Well, there is one thing..." the Minotaur had asked, with the other ambassadors displaying similar interests.

           A large cargo ship coming out of the massive metal beast above, came landing down upon a pre-fabricated airbase. This airbase was very conveniently placed a reasonable space outside of the great mountain city of Canterlot, unloading its bipedal passengers. The stamping of boots was very definite, and the group marched into the great city. Ponies stood by, watching as the soldiers were led through by an officer.

"What are the humans doing here?" cried many.

"I knew it, they have come to take our land!" shouted more.

Fear and passive feelings of remorse fed through the Canterlot streets as the soldiers coursed their way over to the front of the palace. It took a bit, but Princess Celestia had managed to get to the soldiers, with an unresponsive Blueblood trailing behind.

"Auntie, no!" Blueblood said. "I'm not done doing my papers!"

"Hush, child!" Celestia said in a surprisingly demanding tone, turning to the officer afterwards. "What is going on?"

"Princess, we have received reports of a possible hostile alien attack on the palace. We were sent here to defend accordingly." the officer said.

"But you have only a small handful of guardsmen, how could you possibly defend with only about five hundred?" Blueblood questioned.

"You have not yet seen the wonders of human technology, my friend." the officer said in a stern reply.

"How? Your weapons are blunt and appear to be useless at attack range!" Blueblood said.

"These are not weapons of melee, but can be made into them. Our weapons are primarily ranged, however." the officer said.

Suddenly, an all too familiar noise boomed from the airbase.

"YOU NEED TO GET YOUR CIVILIANS OUT OF THEIR HOMES, NOW!" the officer shouted, suddenly sounding very demanding.

"Why are you shouting?!" Blueblood said, unknowing of the coming dangers.

"MOVE, NOW!" a soldier shouted, taking the Princess on a path to the safe zone a few miles away.

Sounds of the ack-ack rolled away in the background, sending a handful of jets in the background tumbling down. Friendly aircraft roared overhead, assisting in the defense of the city as dozens of royalty were pulled into the streets and out into a nearby pre-fab bunker. The citizens were cranky, but they did not complain as numerous homes were sent burning or exploding in their faces.

"IS EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR HOMES?!" shouted a soldier on his megaphone.

"Canterlot is being pounded to hell!" shouted a soldier into his radio. "We need to get the Princess out of here!"

"Copy that, sending armed evac to your location, over." said a communications expert in the Grahm.

That was when the Griffons poured in. It appeared to the previously unknowing soldiers that the Griffons were collaborating with the Witches, and chose a very decisive strike on the Pony capital. Griffons charged at the spread out groups of human defenders, bewildered by what was occurring. Griffon warriors were being ripped to shreds by the deafeningly loud rifles, and the heavy weapons soldier firing away with her M2 Browning. Yet, they still charged onwards, not losing any of the zeal they had previously.

"Why is there so many?!" a recruit said.

"Don't lose faith soldier, you're a Triple Seven!" reassured a corporal.

The Kangaroo buzzed forwards, equipped with a twenty millimeter cannon under the nose for protection. It was trailed by another three kangaroos,two refitted with attack weaponry and one with transport uses.

"Lucky Two-One, this is Hermes 1-1, we are on approach, ETA five minutes." the squadron leader said.

"Copy that!" the radio soldier said in reply.

"Evac is incoming, ETA five minutes!" the radio operator shouted.

"Get the civilians ready to pack it up!" ordered the officers, firing away with his carbine.

Out of seemingly nowhere, the Princess teleported out of the bunker, and beside the soldiers.

"Where is Luna!?" the Princess screamed.

The Royal Palace shook with fury as rockets and other explosives jiggled the massive castle. Luna was currently huddled up in a corner, covering her head as she shivered with fear and dismay.

"Celly, where are youuuu!" Luna shouted in a broken voice. The massive loss of life and sudden violence rocked and battered her mind. She never knew the horrors of modern warfare. "Celly please, come out!"

Luna beckoned and cried for her sibling, akin to her younger years.

"Princess, is that you?" a familiar voice shouted.

"Shining? Ambassadors? Anypony?!" Luna screamed.

"Its all of us! We need to get you out of here!" Shining Armor replied, still not yet in sight.

Cadance trotted her way over, spotting Luna in her decimated state.

"Are you alright?" Cadance asked.

"Yes, yes, lets go." Luna said quickly, wishing to escape the horrors.

The group made it to the front of the palace at long last, stepping off of the stairs and onto the floor of the outside ground, glad to be free of the hellish things occurring inside the palace, just to see the destruction outside of it. Then, as if one rocket was specifically aimed for them, one zipped by at lightning fast speeds, bashing into a nearby, weakened pillar, sending it and the rest of the frontal supports of the palace tumbling down in a flurry of gust and destruction. Luna was however, the closest to the shower if debris, flinging a massive chunk of marble down onto the poor alicorns rearward half.

She screamed in dreadful agony as the pearly white marble that once decorated and held up the palace from the front crushed, shattered, and obliterated her leg to point of no return. That was when the evacuation came.

Luna whimpered, even more broken than before, "Please, make this horror stooooop!"

"LUNA!" Celestia shouted in dismay. " Just wait, the humans are here! They can help!" Celestia continued, in a feeble state of voice.

"Cel-Celestia!" Luna cried. "Move the p-pillar with your magic, I can-can't feel my le-legs!"

Celestia rose up, using her zeal and powerful alicorn magic to try and lift the pillar from her sister's body, sadly doing very little to help Luna from her predicament.

"Its no use sister, I am to-too weak to as-assist.." Luna managed to push out.

"No, I wont leave you here to die!" Celestia said, her heart aching.

"Its okay, Ce-Celly, just.. end... this war.." Luna said, her voice fading.

"Princess, if you will allow me..." the officer asked.

"Yes, end her suffering." Celestia meeped.

The officer raised his handgun to deliver the coup de grace, saying quietly a passing away rite.

"May you rest in peace..." the officer said, pulling the trigger.

The pony citizens stood by and watched the ordeal as one of their beloved leaders passed away before their eyes. The massive loss of life stunned them all. What was once their immortal leader, is now a mere corpse below a pile of debris. Ambassadors from the other countries watched with weary souls, Cadance and Shining Armor were stunned, and soldiers from both the Kangaroos and the defense garrison lowered their heads in respect to the deceased leader.