Chapter 26: Battle on the Home-front

Chaos.

That's the only word I could use to describe what was happening. There were sirens going off across the city while weapons of every type were handed out, be it bullet or energy based. People everywhere were panicking, trying to get to a ship to be evacuated before the fight. The sky was alive with the sound of thousands of fighters and drop-ships as they soared overhead, taking away civilians and setting up perimeters around the earth. I turned to Luna to see her mouth agape, staring at it all.

"If this wasn't such a bad turn of events... I'd say just how amazing this looks." She said to me as she watched the fighters leave the atmosphere. "You can't possibly lose with this much help... can you?" She asked, looking me in the eyes.

Sighing, I shook my head. "Honestly, I don't know. We're unprepared. This is like trying to barricade a door with a twig."

"Jake!" Shouted the general from behind me, getting me to turn and stick up a salute. "You have proven yourself a very capable soldier in this last week, so see to it that this next assignment is done just as good." He said as I rang out a 'Yes Sir'. "Your mission is to protect the Princess here. If we make it through this we sure as hell need her on our side. Remember, we need to hold out until reinforcements from Xeron get here without being shot down!"

Nodding I turned to Luna and motioned her closer.

"Alright Luna... no matter what happens down here I need you to STAY CLOSE!" I said as I grabbed a Plasma Rifle and some grenades off a rack of weapons being wheeled by. "If you can do that, nothing will touch you." I said getting her to nod.

I ran back to my ship as fast as I could, noticing the absence of all the guards, and ran through the door.

"Sir, I've supercharged the armor for you, and did the best I could to track how far out the ship is. It should be here within the next hour." Lucy rang out as I quickly suited up.

After pulling the armor on I quickly started the ship up and flew it back to Luna, carefully landing it beside her and the General. Shutting it down, I quickly left the ship to see the surprised face of the General.

"Jake, that armor... is that..." He began as he looked at my setup.

Nodding, I let the face-plate retract. "Yup, and the stuff is working beautifully."

"Hmm... well alright but take care of it! And for god sakes don't die! I need to go overlook the preparations now so get that ship somewhere safe! We can't afford to lose Lucy either." He said as he began to turn around.

"Wait sir!" I said getting his attention. "What about... Project Decadence?" I asked in a low voice.

Scowling, the General answered. "That damned thing... what about it?" He asked as I bit my lip.

"Don't you think we should use it? It'd give us an edge." I said getting him to shake his head.

"Maybe. But only as a last resort. Too much could go wrong. It's still Highly in the prototype stage." He said as I nodded, getting him to run back to the building where we spoke to the Council.

Turning to Luna I motioned behind me. "Alright Luna let's go." I said as we both walked to the ship.

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I had placed the ship somewhere safe a few blocks from where we were as we currently waited outside, watching the sky. We stood outside the building with many other soldiers. The building still currently held the council, who had refused to leave Earth. Something about being born on the planet and dying on the planet. Besides them there were still millions of civilians who had not made it off the planet, due to lack of time. We'd only managed to save a few million... and we had to hold out hope that we would somehow pull this off.

A few moments of silence passed by, before one of the soldiers pulled his helmet off and walked up to Luna. I looked him over and nodded to him, moving out of the way so he could talk to her. He looked no more than nineteen years old...

"E-Excuse me... Ma'am." He asked politely as Luna smiled.

"Yes young one?" She answered back, getting the kid to blink as he still found it hard to believe she could even talk.

"Is what the Council told us true? Are you really going to aid us in this war?" He asked getting Luna to smile warmly.

"Yes, it's true. We'll do all we can to help you in this fight. You are no longer alone." She finished as the kid smiled a bit.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, he looked at the ground. "Things have been especially hard the last few years on all of us. We've barely held our own against the Verix and this is a godsend to us." He said as he gave a very slight bow. "I promise we'll fight to the death to keep our new allies safe!" He said loudly as he raised his gun into the air. "RIGHT BROTHERS?!" He shouted, getting all of the soldiers around us to raise their guns in agreement. "FOR OUR NEW ALLIES!" He shouted again.

"OORAH!"

I smiled at Luna's expression of pure surprise before turning into a smile of her own. Suddenly a message rang out over my radio, so I turned it up for us all to hear.

"Attention! Scans have picked up the Starstreaker! It doesn't look to be accompanied by anything..." Said the voice, confused.

"Stay on high alert! Watch for any movement!" Shouted back the General as a reply.

There were many moments of silence before the voice spoke up again.

"Sir there doesn't see-" The voice was cut off by a sudden loud static.

"Report scout 3 do you copy?" The General said out again.

"ZZZZzztt -LDIERS FOCUS FIRE O-" The voice cut out again as I turned to Luna. "SIR THE'RE HERE! THEY WERE CLOAKED! I SPOTTED A TOTAL OF TW-" He cut off again at the sound of an explosion as silence followed suit.

I stared at the sky, waiting for something to happen as the General began shouting into the microphone, alerting all of the ships overhead to prepare for the attack.

Silence.

No one dared speak.

No one dared move.

No one dared breath.

...

...

...

...

...

*BOOM*

The ear-shattering sound of an explosion filled the air as we all covered our ears to drown out the sound. A few moments later, when the ringing stopped, we looked up, and gaped at what was before us.

Two Verix battleships each about half the size of the Starstreaker stood above the planet, looking down at us.

"Oh my god..." I said as I stared up at our end. "This... this is impossible..." I said as I shook my head. "We... we can't..." I stumbled over my words as I looked over to Luna, seeing the fear evident in her expression as she watched the scene before us.

"Alright boys! We've got two Omega class warships over the planet! Let's get to work!" Yelled the general through the radio. "I want every drone up into the air and attracting enemy fire! Pilots, do what you can to try and take out those engines!" The General finished as I caught my breath.

'No. No we have to try... no matter the odds...' I thought as I stared at the two behemoths. 'Even if the odds are staggering...'

I watched as thousands of small unmanned ships left the planet and quickly soared past the pilots hovering over the atmosphere. All of the ships began to make way to the enemy as small openings opened on the sides of the Warships. Out poured hundreds upon thousands of Verix fighters from within the two monstrosities as they soared over to our own ships.

Then all hell broke loose.

The sky lit up in every color imaginable, as ships were torn asunder from each other's weapons, a few passing through our defenses before being gunned down by our AA weapons.

"So much destruction." Luna whispered beside me. "And for what cause?" She asked no one as she turned to me with a look of sorrow. "This burden should be nopony's to bear."

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I placed my hand on her shoulder and began pulling her along with me as we hid behind a building, as did the rest of the soldiers as they scattered around the perimeter, readying themselves for the inevitable. The ships overhead continued to come full force down to the planet, some slipping through the defenses of the AA guns and landing somewhere nearby. The sounds of explosions, shooting and screaming could be heard a few moments after we lost sight of the ships. Then suddenly one of the ships flew overhead, and was immediately shot down by one of our drones, causing it to spin out of the air and crash directly into a building.

Within moments Verix fighter upon fighter started to pour out of the wreckage where we quickly opened fire on them as they took cover anywhere they could.

*Swoosh* *BOOM*

A small explosion rang out as one of our soldiers fired a rocket at them, breaking some of their cover. I turned to some of the soldiers who were reloading and nodded to them.

"Alright! You all keep this place under control! I'm going to escort our package to a safer area! Godspeed!" I yelled out as the man gave a salute as he leaned back against the wall.

Turning to Luna I placed my hand on her cheek. "We'll be okay, you just have to trust me... alright?" I said getting her to nod. "Alright follow me!" I said as I turned and ran down the alley with Luna close behind.

At the end of the alley we passed by another soldier who had been watching this end to make sure we didn't get flanked.

"It's quiet sir, no sign of any Verix headed this way. They must be trying to get into the Council's building. Hell if I know how they figured out it was this one though." He said as I nodded and walked past him, scanning the area.

I let my helmet close around my head as I walked across the open street, watching for any signs of movement. I stayed low, as did Luna, as I listened to the havoc going on all around the city.

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Everything after that became a haze. I'm not sure when the first Verix showed up, or how many shot's I've absorbed, but I know it's in the double digits. I wasn't even sure how long we'd been fighting. Minutes? Hours? It's all just meshed together into one blurred memory. I do know my armor had died a long time ago and was currently sitting beside me in a heap.

'Those batteries were super-charged... meaning at the very least we've been fighting for a few hours now... combined with the many lethal shot's it's saved me from' I thought to myself.

Currently Luna and I were held up in the remains of an old church that had it's roof caved in as we were being shot at by a squad of Verix soldiers. I took a small look over the edge of the window before quickly ducking as plasma singed the spot I had been.

"Fuck! I'm counting at least twenty!" I said as I gave another look. "No shit scratch that, thirty!" I finished as I blindly fired some shots out the window, hearing a screech of anger in return. "Luna! How are you holding up?!" I asked as I looked over to my right to see her against a wall next to a window, taking shots out of it with her magic.

"JUST PEACHY!" She yelled back as she fired another shot, scoring a hit as the head of a Verix exploded in a shower of metal and blue liquid.

"GREAT! YOU HAD ME WORRIED!" I yelled back as I pulled the pin from a grenade and let it fly.

*BOOM*

The grenade exploded followed by yet more metallic screams as I took another look. We'd easily killed more than a hundred of them but they just kept coming and coming, never seeming to give up.

"We can't stay here! We'll be overrun!" I said as I fired another few shots out the window.

Suddenly the sound of engines screamed past us overhead, followed shortly after by a series of explosions as dust flew up through the window. Immediate silence and the sound of faraway warfare greeted me as my ears rang. I shook my head and cautiously looked out the window to see the scattered remains of the Verix who had pinned us down.

"I thought you might need some help sir!" Lucy's voice rang out overhead.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled out as I stood up and raised my rifle over my head. "I had it under control!" I said smiling.

"You'd be lost without me sir!" Lucy responded back as the ship landed just outside the church.

"Come on Luna let's go! I need to talk to the general, grab my armor for me!" I said as Luna grabbed my armor with her magic and jumped out the window as I followed suit.

I watched as she ran into the open door of the ship and threw the armor onto the floor, before turning around and gasping at me.

*BZZZZT* *BZZZZT* *BZZZZT*

"AHHHH!" I screamed out as I fell to the ground, pain surging from my back and right leg as I squeezed my eyes shut.

"JAKE!" I heard Luna scream out as the sound of her magical beam fired off, obliterating whatever was behind me.

I felt the flesh on my back and leg sizzle as I writhed on the floor in pain before I felt myself become weightless. A few moments later I felt myself placed on cool metal as I opened my eyes. I slowly pushed myself off the ground only to be held down by Luna.

"No! Your badly hurt! No more fighting!" She said as I shook my head.

"No... I've got to talk to the general." I said as I shakily stood up. "Lucy! Bring us to the Council building! Quickly!" I shouted out as I felt the ship lurch forward.

I almost fell before Luna quickly stood beside me, supporting my stance as I threw my arm around her to keep upright. A few moments passed before the door opened up revealing the Council building just below us and the fight going on between the Verix fighters and the soldiers I had been with earlier.

"Get on my back! Hurry!" Luna shouted as I did as she said.

I quickly got onto her back and before I even had a chance to grab a hold of something, anything, she jumped out of the door. I quickly latched onto her mane for dear life, deciding now was not the best time to question how an ethereal mane was palpable. She nosedived straight down towards the fight before spreading her wings at the last second and evening out. We glided forward towards the doors of the building as plasma fire soared past us, but one finding it's mark on her hind leg. She let out a muffled scream as the plasma burned into her leg, tears forming in her eyes.

Within moments we landed outside the door, almost tumbling upon impact as she put pressure on her leg. I quickly jumped off and moved towards the door as we both supported each other. We burst through the doors and fell onto the floor in a heap as gasps were heard all around us. I looked up to see all the members of the council, the General and many other guards staring at us in shock. The general ran over and helped us both to stand, looking us over.

"Oh my god... you both need to get to the infirmary. Come I'll-" He started before I cut him off.

"No, sir. It won't matter if we don't do something now." I said as I sighed. "We have to fire Project Decadence." I said as he flinched.

"Whats... project Decadence?" Asked one of the council members.

Sighing, the general placed two fingers on the bridge of his nose.

"Project Decadence... it's... a secret project of ours." He said guiltily. "A whole planet turned weapon." He said getting everyone in the room but me to gasp.

"How long has this been going on without our knowledge!" Yelled out another member. "This... this is unacceptable! You cannot keep information like this from us!" He said aloud as the general turned around.

"Well it's the only chance we've got now so we might as well use it!" The general shouted back. "It's in early development stages but... it does work. We've only got one shot though before it needs to recharge." He said as I raised an eyebrow.

"How long does it take to recharge?" I asked getting him to grumble.

"A few days..." He said solemnly.

A few moments of silence passed by before I spoke up. "Then we should take careful aim, shouldn't we?" I asked, smiling.

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Location: Planet Sirus

Perspective: Project Decadence Scientist

"Alright boys look alive! I just got word from Earth's General! They're under attack and need aid!" Yelled out a soldier up on one of the catwalks.

I gasped at this information.

'Earth is under attack?!' I thought to myself in a panic.

"I want this weapon primed and ready to fire on my command! Follow these targeting coordinates exactly or we'll risk hitting earth! The Coordinates are-"

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Location: Planet Earth

Perspective: Jake Carson

I hobbled outside with the aid of Luna and looked up into the sky at the two Warships, and the nearby fighters that were still battling each other, but the Verix's fleet being constantly replenished.

"How will we know when it's fired?!" I yelled out to the General behind me.

*CRRRRRRACK* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

An ear-shattering sound was heard as the two Warships were gouged straight through the center by the same purple beam. It passed straight through them completely unhindered, decimating the two ships as it tore through their hull. The remaining fighters left in the air were quickly taken down by our pilots and AA guns, as I heard cheering start to roar through the city.

'I can't believe it...' I thought to myself. 'We actually fucking did it!'

I smiled as I turned to Luna and pulled her into a huge hug before giving her a huge smooch on the lips. I quickly pulled away and raised my fist into the sky at the Warships as they were tearing apart at their own instability.

"HAHA! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR MESSING WITH EARTH MOTHER FUCKERS!" I yelled out in pure ecstasy as I pranced around, completely forgetting about my wounds as I was caught up in the moment.

I turned to Luna to see her blushing like mad, with the General beside her with his mouth hanging limply.

I slowly lost my smile as I looked between them. "What?" I asked as I felt the pain come back with a vengeance.

I doubled over in pain as I let out a grunt as I leaned over before being caught by Luna and helped to stay steady.

"Thanks..." I said smiling.

"No problem." She said, smiling back warmly and still slightly blushing.

"Alright you two... I think it's time you both got to the medb-" The general began but stopped as his eyes locked onto something in the sky. "Oh... lord have mercy on us." He said as he stumbled back.

I slowly turned to see what he was looking at, and to my horror I got what I was looking for.

And oh how I wish I hadn't looked.

High above the atmosphere, covering almost our entire vision of the sky, was more Warships revealing themselves... ten more in total.

"Twelve..." I said quietly. "Over the radio... he was gonna say twelve... not two..." I said with defeat in my voice as I felt the burns in my back and leg worsen.

I could feel my eyelids getting heavy as I stared up at the ships as the pain worsened.

'Maybe I'll pass out before this all happens... then it wont haunt me as memories in the afterlife...' I thought as I fell from Luna's support and onto my hands and knees.

"We... we can't fight this. It's over... we can't win." The general said aloud as he slowly took off his hat and held it against his chest.

I strained to look up at Luna to see her deep in thought, before she looked up at the ships, then closed her eyes and began whispering words to no-one. I could tell it was straining her as she did so, before she finally stopped and looked down at me... before walking forward into the open street.

"L-Luna! What are you doing! We need to evacuate!" I shakily yelled to her as I watched her go.

I let myself lay on the ground and rolled onto my side, as I felt myself get even weaker and harder to stay conscious.

The last few moment's I remember, is Luna's horn lighting up, and her strained cry that followed.

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Perspective: Luna

I strained to cast the spell as it fought against me due to the large distance it had to cover, and the pain it caused me. I looked around at all the soldiers watching me with worried looks on their faces.

'I must do it! An entire world is counting on me! I can't let them down without making this try count!' I bellowed out into my thoughts as I surged more power forward into the spell.

"AHH!" I screamed out as I cast the spell as it struck the ground with an obscene amount of force.

I fell to the ground, breathing heavily, but I watched as the runes on the ground flickered and lit up, before forming an oval shape in the air with a rippling reflection in the center. A few moments later, she emerged.

Celestia stomped out of the portal, and looked around at the death and destruction around her with a mournful look, before locking eyes with me before I finally blacked out.

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Perspective: Celestia

As I stepped through the portal created by my sister, the first thing I noticed was the death all around me. Bodies lay everywhere I looked, along with buildings completely destroyed or on their last legs. Then I turned my vision back ahead of me just in time to see my sister collapse onto the floor due to the stress of casting such a spell so far away. I quickly ran up to her and looked her over, immediately noticing her wounded hind leg. I looked up to see another human looking at me curiously and hopeful.

"Um... hello! I'm General Chase and I'm in charge here!" He said as he ran up to greet me. "You two must be related." He said as he noticed my opposite color theme.

"We're sisters..." I said as I looked down at her. "Please, get her to safety." I said as he nodded and waved down a pair of field medics who took her away on a stretcher. "So... where are the one's who did this to her?" I said with seething anger.

He slowly pointed into the sky, where I turned and looked up, seeing the flying monstrosities overhead.

"Why do they just sit there? Why won't they attack?" I asked angrilly as I could feel the temperature rise a few degrees around me.

"I-I think they're... taunting us. They know we don't have the reinforcements to stop them. So they're enjoying their victory." The General said solemnly as I shook my head.

"Well you have your reinforcements now. My name is Celestia, keeper of the sun. And I need to ask you a favor." I finished as he quickly shook his head and saluted.

"Yes ma'am! If your not joking I'll run to hell and back naked to get us out of this!" He said back as I smiled and nodded.

As I did, more ponies came through the portal as I immediately recognized the first one as my arch-mage from Canterlot, the second one being Twilight and the third being Shining Armor. They were followed by seven more unicorns who quickly came through the portal and waited farther back. The three ponies ran up to me and and waited for me to say what to do next.

"Alright..." I began, looking back at the General. "I need you to get these ten ponies situated evenly across the planet, as soon as possible. I don't care how you do it... just get it done." I said with authority as I looked up at the ships flying outside the atmosphere. "And get the rest of your soldiers out of the air!"

"Yes Ma'am! HEY YOU GUYS! YEAH YOU PILOTS! GET OVER HERE AND GET TO WORK!" He yelled off to the distance as he ran off.

A few moments later many of those floating ships neared us and set down in front of us as I turned to the Arch-mage, Twilight and Shining Armor, who were currently looking in stunned awe at the creatures around them.

"You three go prepare the others in those ships over there!" I yelled pointing to the floating pieces of metal, causing them all to shakily nod and run off to the others.

I turned to the nearby human soldiers, one who was holding onto a small piece of rectangular metal and pointing it at me, smiling.

"I suggest you all move back a bit, unless you think you can handle the heat..." I said slowly as they all backed up.

I could feel my fur begin to give off heat, as it began to sparkle a bit, slowly turning the area around me hotter and hotter. My mane began to change from it's normally pristine look and multiple colors, into a raging inferno of hot flames. I let out a slow breath of pure heat as I fully transformed into my Goddess form. I slowly opened my eyes, which had turned pure white and were glowing with power as I stretched my wings as fire trailed along with them before they were fully spread out.

"Alright your friends are at their designated-" General Chase began but stopped as soon as he saw me as I turned to look at him. "Positions..." He finished as he stumbled back a bit.

"Good..." I said as the ground rumbled from my voice.

With a great flap of my wings, I took off into the air at terrifying speeds towards the sky and towards the ships in the distance. I watched as their sides opened up and out poured millions of small dots, all flying straight at the planet.

'I suppose they are done waiting...' I thought to myself. 'So am I...'

It's been millennia since I had allowed myself to take on this form and use this kind of power. A long time ago I had perfected the art of my Goddess transformation. Luna had as well but... after her incident with Nightmare Moon she has sworn to never use it again. But now I could finally use my power that I had stored for so many countless years. To cut loose on my enemy for the sake of the greater good... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kind of enjoying it.

I stopped as I left the atmosphere and looked down at the planet below.

'Now'

My thought rang out to the minds of every being on the planet, and after a few moments I watched as beams of magic shot up from different parts of the world below, forming different sections of a shield before all coming together and forming one giant orb around the planet. I turned to see the enemy fleet stop in their tracks as they surveyed the new change.

Taking this shock as a chance to attack, I began to gather power on my horn, and reached out to this planet's sun as memories flashed back into my mind... back to when I was but a young mare.

'You see Luna...we control the moon and the sun because it's our special gift!' My voice rang out in my head as I remembered sitting on a balcony, my young sister beside me.

'But Cele... how do we do it? What makes us different than the ponies who moved them before us?' Luna asked back as she snuggled up closer to my side.

'Well... you see... those unicorns only pushed the sun and moon along. We do something much more special!' I said as Luna listened in awe. 'Each sun and moon has a soul... we reach out to it... and we speak with that soul, and ask it for the strength we need to continue!' I finished while Luna looked up at the moon with new-found love.

'So... we don't force it to do anything... we just ask it to help us with something we cant do alone?' Luna asked as she turned to look me in the eyes.

I leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek. 'Yes Luna... that's right'

As the memory ended I quickly thought back to the state of my sister upon arriving to this planet... and who had caused it.

I opened my eyes as I felt the connection to the sun solidify, and willed it to help me with this fight.

And watched as beams of pure fire mercilessly sliced through every Warship, tearing each one into pieces as the smaller ships melted into nothing almost immediately just from the heat radiating from the beams themselves.

"BEHOLD THE ENDLESS MIGHT OF THE SUN AND SUFFER IT'S WRATH!"

I shouted out in anger and I obliterated every ship in the area as rage coursed through my body, willing me to continue.

Author's Note

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