Chapter 5
[REDACTED] Pt.2

The day after a swarm was stopped was always the quietest one, the Changelings were always busy regrouping and figuring out how many casualties they had. We were usually busy with the same thing, though we always had fewer bodies to recover. The Anti-Swarm Cannon always scared the shit out of me, the sheer amount of magic that it could unleash could blind and deafen anyone dumb or unfortunate enough to look directly at it.

We were going to drop a bomb on them, not one of those little ones that one Pegasus could strap four or five of to his or her chest and drop. It was huge thing with five cables attached to it, the five Pegasi with the largest wingspans were going to fly it over the forward nest and kill one of the minor queens who had been coordinating the offensive actions against us. Her destruction would leave thousands of Changelings without direction and take the pressure off our front lines.

A unicorn lowered this creepy glowing blue crystal into the core of the bomb. It tapered to a blunt point at both ends and was almost as wide as a watermelon at the middle. It had to be at least half a meter long. The unicorn was wearing this strange helmet with a visor and had thick gloves, he reassured everyone that the magical radiation was only powerful enough to harm Unicorns who couldn't shield themselves. I think we should've had someone else handling this thing if that was the case.

After he lowered it into the body of the bomb and had it sealed, the five biggest Pegasi in the desert got themselves strapped into harnesses and hooked up to the bomb. Patches grinned from his position at the head of the formation, the cable was securely fastened to the harness and ran between his legs. I recognized two other Pegasi who were on Patches’ weather team, they were hooked up directly behind him on either side of the bomb. Behind them were two others I don’t remember seeing before that day. One of them worked in the supply department I think, he looked ready to shit himself.

“Think you can keep the bugs off us?” Patches teased as he flexed his wings. The flex slowly turned into a stretch and he ruffled his feathers. The other two weather Pegasi from his team both shared his confidence and were used to flying combat missions against the Changelings. The other two were definitely not used to it, but we needed wingspans.

“If they get too close, just hide behind that massive ego of yours. It should be enough to shield all five of you if you position it just right,” I said with a grin.

“I’ll do what I can,” he replied with a shrug and a smile. He was pretty calm for a guy who would be at the front and center of the formation where the most enemy fire would be. It didn't seem like the usual acting tough or excited to keep morale up, he just seemed genuinely happy. The bombers were all wearing the lightest vests and helmets available, other than wingblades, they were unarmed.

I heard a whistle blow and the first group of twenty fighters took their positions. They were all moderately armored and armed, taking a good balance of speed, agility, and durability to whatever resistance would be waiting. The fighters took off and flew ahead to the front lines to secure the approach.

A second shrill blast of the whistle signaled the next movement, a group of a dozen more heavily equipped fighters took a formation ahead of the bombers. I was in that group, as another dozen lightly armored and armed interceptors took up positions between my formation and the bombers I could feel apprehension clawing at the back of my mind. I liked my fights 20 meters above the ground or lower, this mission was going to be executed at an altitude of over two kilometers.

A blast of air from behind that staggered a few of the smaller Pegasi signaled the takeoff of the bombers. The response was automatic, my group took flight as well and maintained a slower pace to maintain a defensive formation ahead of the bombers. I could hear the straining of the cables as they were drawn taut and the bomb was lifted into the air. I chanced a glance back and the sight resembled what I think it would look like if a brick was tied to several balloons. The thing wobbled dangerously as the bombers worked to time their wingbeats and stabilize the bomb.

After a minute or two of adjustments, they managed to stabilize the bomb and started climbing. If there was one thing those guys could do very well in the air, it was climb. They actually outpaced us halfway up and we had to adjust our speed to compensate. Once we reached the 2 kilometer mark and stopped climbing, the cables actually went slack as the bomb continued climbing a meter or two.

“OH SHI-” The cables went slack then taut and let out a series of dull twangs as the bomb fell and yanked the five Pegasi down. Patches was laughing, that crazy fuck was laughing.

A few of us dove to help them and ended up stopping after just a split second of flying back to them. They managed to stop their descent and climbed more slowly to the operational altitude. This time they managed to stop climbing without throwing the bomb and losing altitude.

“Y’all alright?!” The team leader of the interceptor group called to them. The little purple Pegasus almost seemed out of place up here. He had a tiny frame, small wingspan, and lightweight armor. However there was little argument against him being the fastest and most agile of the interceptors.

“We’re good!” Patches shouted back as he flashed a thumbs-up. The team and bomb were stable and the groups were in position.

The interceptor team leader flew above everyone else and struck his signal flint, the sparks were extremely bright and rained down at least two meters before disappearing. They were impossible to mistake as the glinting of sunlight on wingblades. At this altitude there was very little chance the enemy could see the signals being sent, thus buying us some time to advance unopposed.

I looked ahead to the first group of fighters, little black specks in the distance with gleaming outlines. One speck flew higher and the same shower of sparks could be seen as an exceptionally bright glint in the distance that fell before vanishing.

At that signal, my group advanced until we could clearly see the first group. The bombers were managing a fairly quick pace considering their payload, I guess it helped that they weren't climbing anymore. We were over the front lines on the ground before the first group began to advance into enemy airspace.

“You look a little nervous Rustwing!” I could hear Patches calling. “What’s the matter?! Don’t like it this high up?!”

“You got that right! I like falls that I can survive!” I called back as I looked down at the defensive lines we had carved through the sands. They just looked like little lines dug in the sand with toothpicks from this far away.

“Just think of it this way!” He called, I could see that big shit-eating grin on his face. “You’ll have a long time to wave goodbye if you fall!”

We were maybe a third of the way to the target when the first group was engaged by the Changelings. The sight was unsettling, there were maybe one or two hundred drones swarming up to attack the twenty fighters. Even after the swarm had been destroyed, they had countless defenders ready to throw themselves at us. The fighters had an altitude and armament advantage over the Changelings however, and they definitely took advantage of it.

As far away as we were, I could hear the cracks of rifles being fired and see puffs of smoke coming from the fighters holding their position. Specks fell from the black swarm climbing toward them as Changelings got picked off by the powerful rifles.

Once the groups were about 20 meters away from each other, the fighters dove into the swarm. We were getting closer and I could make out groups of color mixing into the black and green as the maneuvers they executed allowed them to carve a swath through the swarm. Dozens more Changelings plummeted toward the sands below.

One of the fighters was caught in the swarm, he had a Changeling holding onto each limb with more grabbing at his wings. I felt my blood run cold as some of the fighters turned to help and got blocked by a wall of Changelings. There were several cracks and puffs of smoke as they fired at the wall blocking them. Several more Changelings fell, but not before they broke the wings of the fighter they had captured and dropped him. I could hear him screaming as several Changelings dove with him to block the fighters who tried to catch him. Thankfully they managed to fight through them to catch him and started to fly him back toward friendly territory, but the Changelings had just removed three fighters from the battle by injuring one.

The cracks of rifle fire were louder now, we were maybe two hundred meters away from the fight and Changelings were breaking off the swarm to attack our group. The interceptors fell back slightly toward the bombers while my own fighter formation loosened. Our advance did not slow, we did not falter, and several of us opened fire. Favoring blades and heavy traditional armor myself, I had no rifle to join in the chorus of fury that tore into the enemy. However when the Changelings finally closed to melee distance, I was more than ready for them.

My gauntlet blades were drawn before the first Changeling hit me. It was almost easy punching through it, we were both flying right at each other. I had reach, a sharper blade, and thicker armor, he had chitin. Their armor is weakest at the joints, the stomach, the neck, and the collarbone. I think I felt his collarbone snap as my blade passed through his torso and cut him open. I had just enough time to see his expression change in the corner of my eye before he fell from my view.

Another one was flying on a course right over me, I didn't have enough time to reach up and stop him. I did a quarter roll and stuck my wing up as far as I could reach. My wingblade sliced into the Changeling’s chitin and got stuck halfway through the chest, locking us together. The opposing momentum we both had yanked us into a spin and we immediately began losing altitude.

“GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. ME!” I shouted as I kicked at the creature. Ichor flowed freely from the wound as we plummeted toward the desert below. It felt like no amount of struggling could get me free from this weight stuck to my wing. Panic crept into my mind as I furiously kicked, stomped, and pulled on my wing. I flexed my wing toward myself as hard as I could, rotated and planted my hooves on his chest, then kicked away as hard as I could. A sickening squelch reached my ears as my wing was freed and flung ichor in a wide arc.

I quickly recovered from the spin, halted my descent, and began to fly back to the group. The Changeling’s corpse plummeted toward the sand, leaving a trail of ichor in its wake. As I approached the fray, I could see the interceptors zipping around the bombers. They knocked any Changeling who got too close right out of the sky. One changeling tried to attack the bombers from directly below, the turbulence caused by the air they displaced to stay aloft sent it spinning out of control toward the ground.

When I rejoined the group, I met a new nasty surprise. A bright green bolt of energy surrounding several shards of clay impacted my chest. The shards of clay shattered into dust on impact with my armor and the energy bolt dispersed, thankfully the spell was only there to give the objects momentum. I was lucky I only got hit by a clay flak, they use all sorts of junk, some of the most dangerous stuff they throw at us is their own chitin or scraps of metal.

“Flak! They've got flak teams!” I shouted toward Patches’ group.

“ROGER THAT!” Patches bellowed back. A Changeling managed to evade the interceptors and charged right at him. Since he was only armed with wingblades, and his wings were busy keeping the bomb in the air, Patches used his giant hands to ruin that Changeling’s day. He grabbed the thing around the throat, caught its swing and disarmed it, then proceeded to break its arms one after the other.

“Quit struggling you little shit!” He screamed at it as he turned it around. I've never seen Patches so angry. “This is for Hail Bolt you scum!” He grabbed the Changeling’s right wing and ripped it off with a single yank. The Changeling was like a doll in the hands of an angry child, it was just getting torn apart. It was trying to cry out in pain, but every time sound started to escape its muzzle Patches squeezed its throat again.

“Let’s see how you like this when it happens to you!” Patches tore the Changeling’s other wing out and dropped it. The drone tumbled end over end, screeching as it plummeted toward the ground. Another Changeling dove to help it, and got shot by one of the fighters for making the effort.

Several more bolts of flak flew toward the bombers, they had no options but to take the attack and the armor they were wearing wouldn’t be able to protect them from chitin or metal projectiles. I didn't think, I just reacted. I flew in the way and took as many of the hits as I could block.

“Good job ego!” Patches called to me, it was an odd contrast to what he had just been doing.

“Learn to fly!” I called back at him as he laughed.

“How much farther do we need to go?!” One of the weather Pegasi called.

“Just to that pillar!” Patches shouted and pointed to a lone structure jutting from the ground. It had to be at least a kilometer away and the Changelings must have realized our plan because the Queen’s guard Enforcers had come out to fight.

The Enforcers were terrifying creatures, they stood anywhere from eight to twelve feet tall. The queens make them by using mutation spells on their strongest soldiers, and they’re extremely effective. Their chitin was much thicker than a drone or soldier’s and their bodies were drastically different. While a regular Changeling has two legs, an Enforcer has four powerful legs. They also had an elongated torso with four arms. They have larger wings to compensate for their larger bodies as well.

A group of four Enforcers was flying through the battle, each armed with a different weapon. The beasts acted as if nothing was happening around them, they were heading straight toward the bomb. They must have thought they couldn't be harmed by the fighters because they didn't even bother to stop and help Changelings who were losing fights.

One of them got attacked by three different fighters when they realized he was ignoring them. Their rifles didn't seem to be able to pierce his armor, but the impacts would still be painful to the tissues beneath the chitin. His advance stopped as he swung his axe wildly at a small white Pegasus who flew between the him and the sun. Every chance he got, the Pegasus would kick the Enforcer’s face then zip away before getting hit.

The other three Enforcers ignored this completely and continued toward the bombers. The flak stopped firing as well, they didn't want to risk hitting their elite soldiers. A bright yellow Pegasus with white spots on his coat who I knew as Megawatt flew up beside me.

“Rustwing! Let’s hit and disarm that one!” He pointed to the nearest Enforcer armed with a massive spear. His rifle was slung onto his back and in his right hand was a short sword.

“Alright, top speed!” I yelled and we dove toward him. I flapped my wings to propel myself down toward him as fast as I could manage. The wind whipped at my face as I closed the distance, I could just barely see Megawatt’s obnoxiously bright coat out of the corner of my eye keeping pace with me. We slammed into the spear, grabbing it as we did. We twisted into a barrel roll to the left and yanked the weapon right out of the Enforcer’s hands.

If he had been ignoring us before, he definitely wasn't anymore. He turned and roared at us as we spun away with his weapon, his hands flailing after us as he tried in vain to retake his weapon. The damn thing was heavy! I had enough on my plate keeping myself aloft! I let the damned thing go, after losing a meter or so of altitude, Megawatt let go as well. Dropping the spear seemed to piss the Enforcer off even more as he abandoned his mission to chase Megawatt and I.

As we flew away, I noticed the group of fighters fighting the first Enforcer. Two had landed on his back and were trying to chop his wings off. The chitin frames on his wings were too thick for them to cut through, thankfully that little white Pegasus was still distracting him. One of the Pegasi on his back finally gave up on hacking and stuck the blade on his rifle through the membrane of the wing and used the buzzing flap of the Enforcer to strip the wing from the frame. It was very effective and the other Pegasus followed his example, causing the beast to fall from the sky.

The Enforcer chasing us caught up, Megawatt drew his sword and I prepared my gauntlet blades. Even the joints of an Enforcer were tough spots to damage, but the two of us would be able to out maneuver him and hit a weak spot somewhere. At least that’s what I hoped.

I managed to dodge his hands when he made a grab for me and left him open for an attack. Megawatt swung his sword at the Enforcer’s neck but only managed to hit the beast’s shoulder as it had seen the attack coming and had blocked. It then swung out with two arms and backhanded Megawatt, he must have been knocked out by the impact because he flipped end over end and didn't recover.

I dove after him but was stopped very suddenly by something wrapping around my leg. I was then face-to-face with a very pissed off bug. He opened its mouth and let loose a deafening roar. I probably could have fit my entire head in his mouth, then I realized he was going to try just that. I jammed one of my gauntlet blade into his mouth and leaned back to avoid his bite. He immediately withdrew his face and roared again, this time splattering ichor all over me. I would have taken comfort in the knowledge that I wounded my enemy were I not firmly in his grip.

His grip also got decidedly worse as his bottom hands grabbed my arms to hold me in place in front of him. The hand holding my leg released me and he proceeded to punch me in the head and chest. The impacts to my chest knocked the wind out of me even with the armor I was wearing, the punches to my head made my vision blur slightly. I seriously thought this thing was going to kill me.

“Hey bitch, thought you got rid of me?” Megawatt said as he floated up next to the Enforcer, his rifle pointing right at its eye. The Enforcer had just enough time to look away from me before his face disappeared in a cloud of carbon and fire. I didn't see any exit trail of ichor or debris so I assumed the round got stuck in the chitin on his skull. I felt his grip vanish as his arms slackened, he must have been stunned by the force of the impact. I took advantage of the opportunity and kicked and flapped my wings to get loose.

It was good that I got free when I did, because his wings stopped flapping and he dropped like a rock.

“Holy shit, I thought you missed his eye when he turned his head!” I gasped and forced my lungs to fill back up with air. Flying was getting really difficult.

“Nah I adjusted just a bit. You gonna make it? You took quite the beating!” He asked me as he reloaded his rifle.

“I’ll make it, what about the other two?” I asked as we turned toward the bombers.

One of the Enforcers was bogged down swatting at the interceptors and the other had made it to Patches. He was doing what he could to block the giant hammer it was swinging at him, but he was taking a lot of hits.

“Going slack!” Patches yelled to the other bombers. They all started working a lot harder to keep the bomb afloat as Patches tucked his wings in close to his body. He ducked and his left wing snapped out faster than I thought possible at the Enforcer’s head, it managed to move two of its four hands up to block the attack and I could hear the dull thwack of the impact over the din of the fight. The Enforcer’s head snapped back like it had been shot by a cannonball and shards of chitin flew from its face and hands.

Surprisingly it stayed airborne and drew the hammer back for another swing. Patches was losing altitude though and the Enforcer wasn't going to be able to hit him. He grabbed one of its legs and swung himself around behind it. He took a moment to punch it in the back of the head to distract it before circling it again. When he finished his maneuver his cable was wrapped around the Enforcer’s waist.

“DROP!” He yelled to the rest of the team as he flew until the cable was taut.

The rest of his team obeyed and dropped, the weight of the bomb pulling down forced the cable back into a straight line. The Enforcer was sliced cleanly in half. Patches was flapping his wings as hard as he could and yelling trying to keep the bomb afloat. Thankfully the rest of the team took flight again before they lost too much altitude.

“Holy shit that was brutal!” Megawatt called out as the interceptors managed to bring down the last Enforcer. They were all over the thing carving into it with their blades where they could find a weak spot. A group of them managed to strip its wings right around the time another one managed to put a spear through its neck.

There was a moment of calm around the bombers and interceptors at the fall of the final Enforcer. Then the flak started flying their direction again. The Changelings must have set up extra flak teams while the Enforcers made their attempt at stopping us. Megawatt and I knew the grim reality of the situation and flew to intercept as many of the projectiles as we could. It was up to the forward group of fighters to stop the flak teams and they were bogged down by the swarm.

Unfortunately we couldn't block everything they were throwing at us, nor could we handle everything we were getting hit by. Megawatt took some metal shards to the arms and face and had to bug out, I couldn't understand what he was saying but he headed in an odd direction. A particularly large projectile flew past my head, the shiny surface hinted that it was chitin but it looked like a single, large projectile, not shards.

That projectile hit the back-left Pegasus in the bomber formation and exploded. Chitin shrapnel from the blast hit the back-right Pegasus and the front-left one. The one who got hit directly went completely limp, he fell in an arc as the cable and harness kept him attached to the bomb. He ended up swinging limply underneath the bomb. The back-right Pegasus took the majority of the shrapnel and wasn't doing too well after taking the hit either. He was struggling just to keep himself aloft and the cable was slackening.

Several interceptors flew up to help them, a trio disconnected the unconscious bomber from his harness and started flying him back to our airspace. Another two were helping the severely injured Pegasus with his harness. The front-left weather team Pegasus who had been hit by shrapnel refused to relinquish his harness and continued flying as his injuries were minor and his wings were largely untouched. After evacuating the bombers, two interceptors hooked themselves into the harnesses but couldn't produce half of the lift that had been lost. They were all struggling to keep the bomb in the air. I couldn't let them get hit by another one of those, even if it meant taking the impact myself. The mission couldn't fail, not when we were this close to the nest.

Then I saw it, another of those shiny black projectiles. One solid mass surrounded by an acceleration spell. I swung my arm in an attempt to deflect it, my blade just barely managed to hit it and push it off course. The damned thing must have been pressure sensitive because it blew up right in my face. The roar of the battle was replaced by a shrill ringing and all I could see was a black and green cloud. As soon as I cleared the cloud of shrapnel and energy I realized something was terribly wrong.

The world was spinning… No, I was. I couldn't feel my left wing… I turned my head to look at it and saw a chunk of chitin sticking out of it just below my wingblade. I reached out and grabbed my wing, forcing it to stabilize. After recovering from my spin I started gliding back toward the front line, I would only be a liability in a fight in this shape.

My hearing slowly came back as I drifted toward slightly less dangerous airspace. I guess this was the one good thing about being that high up, I had a long time to drift back to the ground and would probably make it back to the front lines or farther.

I had almost made it back when a pair of Pegasi flew up to greet me. Medics. Thank the Sisters. I was getting light headed, probably blood loss after drifting so far. I don’t remember what they said but they helped me fly back to a medical tent they had set up.

I looked back at our objective once we landed. The swarm was a little black smudge in the distance. That very smudge suddenly vanished in a blinding flash of light that was followed by a column of sand and dust. The pressure of the shock wave made it all the way back to us, but was relatively weak by the time it did. The explosion was pretty damn loud though. I’d had enough of explosions and loud noises for one day.

“This will help with the pain,” one of the medics said as he stuck a needle in my wing. I wasn't in pain, I didn't feel anything. They got me on an IV and started a blood transfusion. I heard muttering about blood loss. The groaning of the wounded. The screams of the dying and living alike. I wanted it all to stop. Was I screaming? I was laying in a cot, almost unconscious when I heard another voice.

“MEDIC! WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIC NOW!” It was Patches. In his arms was one of his weather team, they were both soaked in blood. The other Pegasus gurgled and coughed. Who was screaming so much?

Tap tap tap.

The medics swarmed Patches and his friend. The screams of the dying. The cries of the damned.

Tap tap tap.

////////////////////

“You sure are a noisy sleeper Alex,” Patches was leaning over me and tapping on my helmet. “How did you ever manage to fall asleep in this stuff?”

“A healthy dose of paranoia helps,” I said as I stretched and yawned. “How long was I out?” I asked as I looked around, the sun was out but it didn't feel like morning.

“Two or three hours,” Patches replied with a shrug. He took a few steps away and squatted in front of the couch to talk to me. “Sunset’s in an hour or two, dinner will be around then too. I’m guessing its been awhile since you've had a good meal. You were out like a light,” he said with a soft smile.

“Yeah, just like old times huh?” I more said than asked as I sat up and let my hooves touch the floor. We used to take naps after pretty much every meal or at every opportunity when we were stuck out in that desert. “So is there anything interesting going on besides the impending meal or were you just tired of me talking?”

“A bit of both,” Patches’ voice actually cracked a little. He must have heard enough to know what I was dreaming about and had his own experience. Judging by the look in his eyes he was still reliving parts of it. “Also, we might have some visitors,” he said calmly.

“Ah shit really?!” I jumped up off the couch.

“Nonononono! Not hostiles, visitors,” Patches rose and gestured to the door. “Thought I saw one of my deer friends about a half an hour ago. I used that wing trick and could hear two of them in the woods. They’re cautious but they should show up soon,” he finished with a smile.

After twenty minutes or so there was a knock at the door. It was [DATA EXPUNGED] and by the time I realized it the [REDACTED] had ended. Patches walked up to the door and opened it to reveal a pair of white-tailed deer, a buck and a doe. They quickly stepped inside and Patches closed the door.

Unlike the greeting I received, Patches actually inspected the two of them for bites. It was a pretty quick check and after he was satisfied he swept them up in a hug.

“I’m glad the two of you are staying safe out there!” He said cheerfully. “Hope the two of you brought an appetite!” He set them both down and stepped over to me. “This is Alex, long time friend of mine,” he held his hands out as if he were presenting me to someone.

“Hello Alex,” they both said. The doe a little more enthusiastically than the buck.

Patches made the same gesture at the two of them. “Alex I would like to introduce you to Daisy and Bryon, just a few of the deer I've met out here,” he glanced at the window.

“Hello you two,” I waved a little, the situation felt a little awkward but it was good to see more friendly faces.

Patches ended up doing another brief patrol of the area while I got acquainted with his friends. After he was done he came back inside to cook some dinner for everyone. The deer asked strange and prying questions, I’m not sure if it was just them or a cultural difference but they seemed to want to know everything about me...

Author's Note

Probably some typos and stuff. For some reason I can't write before 10pm. Also This part of the story looks like it's gonna be four parts instead of my original 2-3. Here's hoping you enjoy! Have a happy apocalypse and stay safe out there!

Edit: Ok yeah I made a lot of mistakes holy cow pies...

-Jake