Tactical Retreat

Canterlot City,
East Gate, Front lines,
1400 Hours

Reloading another clip into his M14, a changeling delta ranger leaned over the top wall and fired at the gryphons below. Downing two soldiers, he had to duck back into cover as automatic fire tore chunks out of the wall he was hiding behind. Hearing a metallic clang, the changeling watched as the double silver bar insignia was torn from his uniform, and flung back over the other side of the concrete wall he was upon.

"Captain? Are you hit?" Came the voice of a nearby marine to his right. An orange pegasus with a sly smile upon his face. Staff Sergeant Möbius. In command of the 14th Armored Cavalry. "It would be a sad day should I have to take command, Vel'cona!" He yelled as he primed a grenade; throwing it down over the wall before hunkering down. After two seconds, the detonation was heard, along of cries of agony.

The changeling simply shook his head. "In your dreams, Möbius! As far as I'm concerned, I have tactical command here. Cut off from FOB Foxtrot.. I'm the highest ranking official. Who's your daddy now?" He teased, winking a cerulean eye at the soldier. Vel was special ops, normally the one causing chaos behind enemy lines. But today was different, he was fighting in the front. So far, he was the one leading the defense at the front lines. The paratroopers caught them by surprise, and to make matters worse, the gryphon vanguard had arrived. Lines of enemy armor was battering the thick walls to the city. T-72's, mixed with T-90's. It wasn't good. They would get through eventually.

Thankfully their air was unavailable, or the walls would have been gone. Quick to act, Captain Spitfire and her team took to the skies in the infamous F-22/A raptors. Engaging the enemy jets would hold them off.. for now.

Moving back from the front of the wall, Vel made his way over to the Staff Sergeant.

"We will lose this wall, Möbius." With a sigh, the Captain pulled out a map and laid it on the ground in front of them. Pointing at the eastern gate, he pointed out the troop displacements. "No matter what, those tanks are going to punch through. We are cut off from the rest of Equestria.. Long distance communications are down. We need to pull back to the secondary defense line one hundred meters back. I need your armor here now, Möbius!"

The orange pegasus nodded and reached down to his radio, "All units, all units, this is Staff Sergeant Möbius. Fall back to the secondary defensive line." Looking up and down the wall, he watched as ponies began to pull back off of the wall. "Echo company.. where are you? We need armored support now!"

Meanwhile, Vel'cona signaled for the rest of his team to regroup to him. "We are falling back from the wall to the second defensive point, one hundred meters west of here. There we will regroup with the rest of the 14th. Akula, you take point. Move out." Patting the grey unicorn on the back, Vel gave his three man squad a brief smile as they filed past him while hunching low. First past was rifleman, and medic, 'Akula'. Adept in the field of medical treatment. His magical skills were exceptional. Second was Lance Corporal 'Vulture', the demolition expert of the squad. The youngest as well. A small, and rather skinny midnight blue earth pony with intelligent sapphire eyes. While he lacked a menacing appearance, he made it up with his exceptional explosive skills. If one thing was for certain, Vel would never want to piss him off. The third member of their squad was the newest member to his small unit. Private 'Ryan'. Straight out of sniper school, the stallion was the best shot out of the group. He was deadly with a sniper rifle.

"Vel? ..Vel.. come in, Vel!" Came the voice of the last member of his squad. She wasn't present, as she was coordinating the rest of the Delta rangers deeper within the city. "Holly? We're falling back from the east gate. It's going to fall. What's going on? What's the situation at the castle?" His voice betrayed his worry as reports coming from that area mentioned that several groups of gryphon commandos had landed in the heart of their city. He also watched them drop from the sky.

"Captain.. I.. I'm so sorry. We lost the castle. And.. Pyriel? He's dead. The Princess' position and fate is unknown.. Captain? Vel?!" It almost felt like a sucker punch to the stomach. It was as if time slowed. So many emotions ran through the changeling's mind, that it made him freeze. First, the gryphons waged war against them, and now.. his best friend was killed. Curling his fist in anger, he ran towards the edge of the wall, bringing his M14 to bear. "You invade my home?! You kill my friends.. you kill my people?! Well, I got news for you! FUCK. YOU!" Looking through his red dot sight, he lined it up with the head of a gryphon tank commander. Pulling the trigger, he felt the recoil hit his shoulder, and watched with blind rage as it's head snapped back before falling back into the T-72. Bullets began to pepper around Vel as they fired back at him. Turning to his left, he shot another soldier in knee, then swiftly executed him with another shot to the head. Right now, he didn't care what happened to him. His only thought was to kill. To slaughter every last gryphon.

At least until they started to run away. Where they actually scattering from him? Did they win already? Looking over at Möbius, who was still barking orders into his mike, Vel smiled and gestured towards the gryphons, and armor that were pulling back. "Hey! Möbius! They're falling back!"

Suddenly, his smile faded as he noticed why they were falling back. A SU-35 was flying straight towards him, then pulled up after firing two missiles.

Möbius looked up and widened his eyes as he watched the jet fire it's payload before banking up. Turning to Vel'cona, he snarled as the changeling stood there. "Captain! GET DOWN!" Getting up, he ran towards the changeling, and football tackled him in the side off of the wall as the explosive payload hit the concrete walls. In a deafening explosion, the blast propelled the two back even further as heat rushed over their airborne bodies.

Hitting the ground with a sickening crunch, Vel'cona rolled several feet before laying still. Feeling blood overflow from his lips, he watched as the entire eastern wall collapsed, along with a loud cheer from the opposing forces. The last thing he remembered was being dragged before he blacked out.