Convergence

“Anvil this is Thor, moving in all teams, we are hot and ready for action…”

“Hawk team here, preparing to enter the portal, all wings, commence entrance run on my mark…”

“We are clear, landing troops in designated areas…”

Nickelson sat in the command room of Nellis Air Force base, listening in on the radio chatter of troops moving through the portal.  He smiled wickedly, though on the inside, he smoldered with hatred.  Who were those fools to think that they could possibly stop him?  The defection had been expected, but not so large of one.  They would all have to die.  There could be no room for error.  Not here.  Not today.

<(^)>

“Our only hope is to destroy the portal.”

Princess Celestia eyed the assembled officers as she made the statement.  There was Alex, James, and Jonathan, of course, all seated at the middle of the table to her right.  General Stronghorn and General Skyrider sat immediately to her right and left.  Two more humans, one named Joseph and another named William, had joined them from the defectors, they sat across from their fellow men.  Finally, Colonel Starblink sat at the far end of the conference table, next to Luna.  Celestia watched him closely.  Starblink appeared… distracted.

“The portal proved impervious to damage,” William remarked.

“We had a scientific crew working on it.  They tried scratching at it, to get a sample of what it was made out of, and they couldn’t even dent the thing.”

“I wouldn’t expect such a magical object to come to any harm by conventional means.”

The Princess spoke once more, her regal voice filling the room.

“The power of the enchantment upon this stone is great.  I can’t imagine what kind of work it took to create the portal in the first place.  Our best chance of destroying it is to use the power of the Elements of Harmony.”

Luna narrowed her eyes.

“Though we do not doubt that the elements could immolate the enchanted stone, would that not be the third time that the bearers were exposed to such powerful magic?”

Celestia nodded.

“It would be… but that is a topic for another time.”

Joseph now spoke;

“If these Elements things really can destroy the portal…  Can we try and make sure that all of us humans are on the other side first?  This world is great and all, but I’d still like to go home at the end of the day.”

Celestia smiled.

“Of course, we will ensure that all who wish to can return, but I fear that task may be difficult.  We will have to push your kinsman back through to your world, then the rest of you can follow.  We will shut the door behind you, so to speak.  Once your back in your world though… you’ll be on your own.”

“I well understand the risks, Princess,” Joseph looked around, “but once back in our world, we’ll be able to draw some attention from the public.  Then Nickelson… the president… won’t be able to touch us, at least not without getting burned.”

“Um, I uh… hate to rain on the parade, but… how are we going to fight off the other humans?  It seems like we should worry about that before we think about getting all of you home.”

Starblink let out a small sigh of relief as he finished the statement.  It felt good to finally get his mind off the white Alicorn, at least temporarily.

“We know that the enemy is advancing… and a few scouts reported that there is increased traffic around the portal.  Right now, we are hoping that the humans will be reluctant to fight each other, and if it does come to fighting,” Celestia hesitated for a moment, “All we can do, is do what we can.”

“Although…” She turned to Jonathan, “That project that you have been obsessing over, how is that coming?”

Jonathan sat up, now a part of the conversation.

“Very well, actually.  The assistants you gave me are all hard workers, and we’ve managed to make about four hundred pounds of the stuff.  It is an older explosive, from our standards, so we’ll have to be clever about using it, but it still packs quite a punch.  I just wouldn’t expect it to do much damage to a tank or something.”

“Yes… But I think that I may have something in mind for it…”

General Stronghorn smiled.

“By the way, what did you say it’s called again?”

Jonathan grinned.

“Black powder.”

<(^)>

“First platoon!  Your primary objective is to spot targets for the humans long range weapons!  Keep in the air, and use any clouds and smoke that you find to keep hidden.  Once you have a target, you will mark its location on one of these…”

The speaking colonel held up a piece of paper, which Swiftwing recognized as a map.

“They’re magically linked to maps in the human’s vehicles, anything that you put on here, it shows up on the other maps.  So no drawing on the job, or we’ll find out about it.”

There was a nervous round of laughter among the assembled pegasi troops.  The colonel held up a new object.

“This is the latest and greatest in military technology.  At least for us, that is.  This is similar to the crossbows that you all fired during training, with a few major modifications.”

He tapped the saddle to which it was attached.  It was strapped forward, and off to the side.

“You can fire the weapon while still flying at maximum speed, as a result of this saddle mounted design.  Also, this thing over here…”

He turned the saddle around, showing the other side.  A small gem was embedded in it.

“Serves three purposes; first of all, it makes you look really nice.”

More nervous laughter.

“Secondly, it acts as a counter weight to the crossbow, so you won’t fly lopsided.  However, I think that you all know, we don’t typically use precious stones as counter weights, so that brings us to the third purpose.”

The colonel paused for a second, catching his breath.

“The gem stores energy for a spell that was cast on the crossbow.  Now, I’m no unicorn, so I don’t know exactly how it works, but what I do know, is that as long as you’re wearing it, you’ll be able to shoot the bow just by thinking.”

A few of the soldiers raised their eyebrows at the revelation.

“You have to be very deliberate in your thoughts when you want to shoot…  So that way you all don’t end up skewering each other.  But that’s not the only thing the enchantment does.”

The colonel slid the saddle onto his back, and turned to a bull’s eye set up a few yards away.  A burst of arrows swished through the, slicing into the target.

“Every time you shoot,” the colonel turned back to the assembled troops, “another arrow drops from this container here...” He motioned towards a small wooden box on the saddle, which hung over the crossbow.  “And is loaded onto the crossbow, and the string is drawn back again.  You can maintain a rate of fire of up to five arrows per second, and fire a total of twenty five arrows.  How fast you fire is determined by your thoughts.”

There was stomping of approval among the assembled troops.  The colonel smiled.

“I thought that you guys might approve.  All of you will be issued one before you leave this briefing.”

The colonel’s eyes narrowed.

“Use them wisely.”

<(^)>

“Eighteen contacts, twelve hundred meters, about to engage forward unit.”

The voice was hushed, and its owner was looking through a pair of high powered binoculars.

“Hold your fire, wait and see what they do when they encounter the ponies.”

Two men lay prone in a cluster of bushes, both observing the movement in the distance.  A platoon of soldiers was advancing on a bunch of Equestrian troops, who were hiding in some trees.  One of the soldiers spotted the ponies.  The distant crackle of gun fire filled the air.

“Contacts are hostile, mark, officer, front left formation, twelve hundred yards, M4, fire when ready.”

The second man tightened his grip on his sniper rifle, lining up the designated target in his scope.  The cross hairs centered over his head.  Sorry buddy.  A sound like a clap of thunder filled the air as the man squeezed the trigger.  He reached forward, grabbed the action, and loaded a new round into the chamber.  The original target stumbled backward, lacking a head.

“Priority target, third man on the right, eleven hundred seventy meters, LMG, take him out.”

The rifle swiveled to face the new target indicated by the spotter.  Another clap of thunder, and another clean kill.

“Two targets, advancing on the right flank, M4s, twelve hundred meters, fire when ready.”

The sniper turned to the new targets.  He squeezed the trigger, and then slammed a new shell into the chamber.  He was about to take the second man, when a pegasus jumped into view, and slammed a knife into the surprised soldier’s neck.  The man fell to his knees, clutching the handle of the blade.

“Uh oh…”

The spotter muttered, and then produced a radio from a chest pocket.

“Baseplate, this is Artemis, enemy armor is moving up on our position, requesting heavy fire support.”

There was a hiss of static, and then the words that every soldier dreads.

“Negative Artemis, no fire support is available at this time, please report on the nature of the armor.”

The sniper fired another shot as the conversation took place.

“Three main battle tanks, and five lightly armored vehicles, over.”

“Copy that Artemis.  See what you can do about the light vehicles, and then move to position two.”

“Solid copy.”

The ponies that had been trading arrow for bullet, and not with much success, began to fall back as the vehicles pulled up.  Any numerical advantage that they may have had was lost on the armor.

“New target, high priority, lead Humvee, eleven hundred meters, fifty cal, moving at thirty miles per hour, wind from the east, four knots.”

The rifle boomed again, and the gunner of the Humvee in question slumped back in his seat.  Another shot, and the front window was shattered by a fifty caliper round, sending the vehicle careening into a tree.  The Sniper fired three more shots, all finding their targets, before bullets started to fly past him.  The two men grabbed their equipment, and ran while crouching through several thickets of underbrush, moving to a new location.

<(^)>

“Glad we got some more fuel.”

“You can say that again.”

James urged the F-15 to climb, the fighter making its way past the clouds.  He took a moment to reflect on the heavenly scene.  You couldn’t tell there was a war going on from up here.  James sighed.  He wished that he could dive into the clouds, and stay up in the sky forever.  But that was never going to happen.  He sighed, and then looked behind him.

“Weapons ready?”

Jonathan responded without looking up from the controls.

“Everything we have onboard is ready to go, which is good, because I have the feeling that we are going to need all of it.”

“Considering the fact that we are about to throw ourselves into a fight in which the odds are some ungodly number to one… yeah, I think that your right.  You at least made sure they got everything with the black powder set up correctly, didn’t you?”

“Everything should work out fine, and if it doesn’t, then I guess we’re all screwed.”

“Or at least seriously set back.”

“Were you always this optimistic?”

“I don’t know, maybe it just comes from hanging out with multicolored ponies.”

A voice broke into the conversation.

“Striker one one, this is Baseplate, do you copy?”

James made sure his helmet was completely secured, and then gave his answer.

“We copy you loud and clear Baseplate, what’s up?”

“The first few engagements have broken out.  One group of armor is to far north for the current plan to work out.  We need you to neutralize.  Sending you the coordinates now.”

“Copy that Baseplate, this is Striker one one, moving to engage.”

James gently tugged on the stick, and the powerful F-15 rolled over, banking North.  The jet covered the distance with ease, and the target group was soon in sight.  A small convoy was moving up a dirt road.  James eyed the handful of APCs and Humvees.  From behind him, he heard Jonathan’s voice;

“Target acquired, locked in.”

James finger tightened around the trigger.

“Dropping.”

There was a soft click on the outside of the jet, barely discernible over the constant hissing of the wind over the wings.  Two long, black objects released themselves from the jet’s wings.  Silently, they made their way down to the earth.  The bombs impacted the middle of the convoy.  The explosion tore the vehicles apart.

The crew of the F-15 watched the fire ball.

“Baseplate, targets are down or no factor, continuing…”

Warning bells exploded in the jet’s cockpit.  James instinctively slammed the stick to the side, acting on instinct, not thought.  A missile zipped past the jet, going high by a few yards.

“Striker one one, be advised, we have multiple bandits entering your airspace.”

Jonathan swore in the back seat of the plane, and James grunted out his reply.

“We noticed baseplate, we’re taking fire from enemy aircraft.”

Small triangles began to appear on the Strike Eagle’s radar.  James pushed forward on the throttle, and began to climb.

“Hostiles are holding at twenty thousand feet and coming fast, at least five marks, probably F-16s.”

Jonathan spat out the tactical data as James focused on maneuvering the aircraft.  Another missile zipped past, barely missing the banking Eagle.

“We can’t keep getting lucky like this man!”

James shouted while yanking on the controls, his body pressed into the seat by extreme G-forces.  He rolled the plane once, positioning it upside down.  Below them, two F-16 falcons soared past, before splitting up and banking back around.

“There’s… to… many…”

James gasped, hardly able to speak.  The plane leveled out, and then hit on its after burners.  The Strike Eagle shot back towards the South.

“Baseplate, this is Striker one one, we are being pursued by multiple enemy fighters, we can’t take ‘em on, and we’re leading ‘em to you.  Can you engage with Anti air?”

“Affirmative Striker one one, lead them in.”

James rolled the Eagle through a cloud bank, and dove for the deck.  Behind him, the five Falcons shrieked, their engines screaming.

“Striker one one, increase altitude, we need a better missile lock.”

James wasted no time with a reply, and merely pulled back on the controls.  The F-15 shot sky ward, and so did its pursuers.  A volley of white contrails sprouted from the ground.  Behind them, the F-16s rolled, popping flares, evading the missiles.  Jonathan watched from the back seat of the Eagle as two of the Falcons were consumed with flames, and the remaining three broke off, seeing it futile to fight while being targeted by anti-air.  A chute came from one of the downed planes.

“Baseplate be advised, two bandits are down, and the rest are bugging out, one confirmed chute.”

“Copy that Striker one one, please stand by for next assignment.”

<(^)>

Swiftwing eyed the bridge.  It had been well fortified, with nearly four hundred ponies, and about three dozen humans.  A few of what the humans called “Machine gun emplacements” had been erected on the near side of the river, ready to pummel anything that came across.  Or at least, to give an impression that anything that came across would be pummeled.  Swiftwing looked at the barrels strapped to the bottom of the bridge, barely visible among all the supports.  He grinned slightly.

He then turned to the flowing water.  The Maressippi river flowed clean through the middle of Equestria, effectively separating the country.  It had only three crossing points in this area; and only one by the end of the day.  The bulk of the friendly human forces had been concentrated on the center bridge, the one chosen to remain standing.  The other two bridges had been laden with several hundred pounds of black powder, and a few explosives that had been found in the supply trucks.

In the distance, Swiftwing could hear the rumble of engines.

So it begins.

He flapped his powerful wings, taking him skyward.  He alighted on a low floating cloud, about four hundred feet above the raging waters.  The first of the invading forces could be seen plowing over a hill, about a thousand yards from the bridge.  Swiftwing nosed into his saddle bags, careful not to trigger the crossbow, and bit onto his map.  He dropped it on the cloud, and then used his forelegs to spread it out.  The map showed the whole battle area in great detail.

Swiftwing plucked a quill from his pack, and dipped it into a jar of ink.  He carefully started marking the path of the enemy’s advance.  He waited a few moments, until he heard a faint whistling noise.  A shell rocketed past, and buried itself in the ground near the enemies.  Another followed, closer this time.  Swiftwing folded up to map, and slipped the quill and parchment back into his pack.  He then flapped his wings once more, making his way through a series of clouds, until he found himself slightly behind the enemy formation.

He carefully alighted in a tree, and began to take out his map once more.

“Hey!”

The shout came from just below.  Swiftwing looked down, and his jaw dropped.  How had he not seen that?  A human pointed a rifle at him from just below the tree.

“Hands up!”

Swiftwing jumped backwards, and the soldier fired.  The shot blew off a small branch to his right.  He jumped behind the tree, and held his breath.  Swiftwing could hear the man moving beneath the tree.  Silently, he slid a dagger from his pack.  He heard footsteps slowly rounding the tree.

Swiftwing tightened his grip on the dagger, the lethal point gleaming in the sun light.  He breathing came quicker, and his heart pounded in his chest.  Slowly, he saw the shadow of the enemy soldier come into view.  The rifle pointed into the tree.

“Aha!”

The man came fully into view, and raised the rifle.  Swiftwing launched himself at the man, dagger clutched in his hooves.  The rifle went off again, and Swiftwing felt something nip at the tip of his ear.  Then he plunged the blade into the man’s neck.  Blood splattered on his hooves, and the blade sank deep.  The rifle dropped loosely from the man’s grip, and his hands reached to grasp at the hilt of the dagger.  Slowly, he dropped to his knees, and then fell to the ground.  He kicked once, and lay still.

Swiftwing stared at the droplets of blood that now covered his coat.  His heart felt like a sledge hammer was pounding inside him.  He turned his head from the blood to the lifeless man.  He slowly sank to the ground.

“No…”

He groaned slowly, staring at the body of his enemy.  The dead body of his enemy.  The body that had been living, until it had been killed.  The man that had been living, until he had killed him.  Swiftwing groaned again.

<(^)>

The tanks advanced across the bridge, firing into the defenders.  A shell rocketed in, destroying one of the advancing vehicles, but it hardly dented the advance.

“We can’t do this much longer!” A soldier cried, his rifle giving off heat waves from constant firing.

A unicorn charged forward, its horn glowing.  He released a bolt of magic at the bridge.  For a second, the battle seemed to hesitate.  Then the world exploded.  The bridge tore itself to pieces, explosions rocking the entire area.  The enemy vehicles in the bridge were annihilated.  The forces on the far side of the river stopped, staring at the smoking remnants of the bridge.  A mighty cheer went up from the defending forces as the remaining enemies retreated.

Joseph Allen smiled at the destruction of the bridge, but then looked over towards the center of the battle, more than a mile away.  It had been agreed that the center bridge would be left intact.  Joe frowned as he saw the raging firefight.  He hoped they weren’t going to regret that decision.

<(^)>

The M1A1 tank that was the center piece of the Equestrian defense was struck by another shell, and smoke poured from its engine.  The hatch popped open, and the crew spilled out.

“Run for it!”

The men and ponies in the area flung themselves to the ground as the tank exploded.  General Stronghorn, fighting at the front with his troops, cursed the bad luck.  He then turned back towards the enemy.  The hostile troops were beginning to spill out onto the near side of the bridge.  He cursed again.

“Fall back!”

The assembled troops turned to him, startled.

“Everypony, retreat!  Fall back!”

The soldiers began to turn and run, bullets whizzing through the air around them.  Stronghorn saw the humans charging across the bridge, firing wildly into the retreating forces.  He grunted, and his horn began to glow.  Nopony, not even bucking aliens, messes with my boys.  Stronghorn began to walk forward, climbing a small hill.  Around him, men and ponies ran, jogged, and limped to safety.

Stronghorn reached the top of the hill.  The light from his horn was almost blinding.  He felt like something had suddenly hit him in the shoulder, but he ignored the pain.  He was commander of a beaten army.  But, no matter what, Stronghorn was getting his boys home.  He released the pent up energy in his horn.  It blasted forward, hitting a Humvee as it crossed the bridge.  The vehicle was thrown backward, its occupants screaming.

Stronghorn cast about for a new target, panting from exertion.  Few unicorns possessed such strength.  Suddenly, Stronghorn realized that he was not alone at the top of the hill.  He turned to the young colonel that stood beside him.

“Get out of here son, you already gave everything that you could.”

The old General had sweat pouring down his face.  The earth pony colonel stood beside him, not budging.  He looked the General in the eye.

“With all due respect sir, we haven’t given All that we could yet.”

“We?”

Slowly, the General turned and looked behind him.  About a dozen soldiers, human and Equestrian alike, stood on the hill.  The General nodded.

“You know, that none of you boys have to do this.”

The colonel smiled.

“And you know that neither do you.”

Stronghorn grunted, and turned back to the advancing enemy.  They were pouring from the bridge now, a veritable torrent of enemies.  Stronghorn and his group stood directly in their path.  Bolts of magic, arrows, and bullets were flung from the hill, bearing down on the attackers in a glorious array.  Stronghorn watched as one of the ponies standing beside him fell.  Then a human was nocked aside, and blood spurted from the wounds of a pegasus.

His horn glowed, and once more, he cast a powerful beam at the invaders.  A platoon of soldiers was knocked to the ground, merely to have more take their place.  Stronghorn felt another bullet rip into him, splattering blood on the ground.  He cared not for his own wounds; he felt only those of his troops.  The number of defenders on the hill dwindled, as more and more fire rained down upon them.

Stronghorn saw the colonel that had first join him, already bleeding from a dozen wounds, stagger and fall.  The general realized that he was alone.  His horn began to glow once more, and he felt more impacts bloody him, from his hooves to his now ragged mane.  His voice contorted, he offered one final shout:

“Get… out… of… my… COUNTRY!”

His horn cracked; and a massive volley of energy rocked the land scape, throwing everything within a hundred yards into the sky.  The smoke gradually cleared, and the attacking soldiers peeked out from behind their cover, or picked themselves off up the ground.

On the bloodstained hill in the center of the battlefield, lay the smoking body of General Stronghorn.

<(^)>

Princess Celestia quietly rolled up the scroll, letting out a deep sigh.  She turned towards the guard at the door.

“Sergeant, please tell colonel Starblink that I wish to see him immediately.”

“Yes, your highness.”

The guard quickly left the room.

Princess Celestia turned back to the map of her kingdom, removing several of the markers indicating the locations of the Equestrian military.  She then looked at the positions of the enemy.  They were painfully close to Canterlot.

The world seemed to have turned against her, first posing a deadly threat, and then stripping away her highest ranking officer.  She turned to a drawer, hidden under the table.  Her horn glowed softly, and out floated the medallions and ribbons that indicated the rank of general.  Celestia tried to picture them attached to Starblink’s uniform.

He is ready.

The thought sounded in her mind.

He just doesn’t realize that yet.