Author's Note

Sorry procrastination and videogames are my only excuse though I finally decided to finish the chapter enjoy.

Chapter 12: Clean Up

Chapter 12: Clean Up

Tristan

All in all the first training session went as well as I could have hoped. After finding out what they knew already I found most only knew the basics of military discipline if only barely, some caught on quickly to what I was teaching them then there was the ex Royal guard. The Royal guards knew the basics and knew them well, as well as some combat training but as expected it was shy of what the Equestrian military was capable of during the Chaos War. In the ranks of the Cultists I spotted some that stood out from the rest. Ones that helped out their peers in various ways from correcting stance, to staying with some of the cultists that were lagging behind during cardio encouraging them. I kept them in mind before ending training for the day and getting some rest myself. There was no disturbance from the room across from me.

I watched the sun peek over the horizon quickly illuminating the sky. Soon I would go to three major cities in Equestria to make sure that things went as planned but what does. It was an hour later I was summoned to the dining room to eat with Nightmare. We did not speak at all, there was no reason. In another hour I found myself on a chariot made specially for heavy loads. Half of me was afraid that I was going to fall and the other half told me that I had dropped to Delta Halo in a drop pod while under heavy fire and another time dropped from space with nothing but my armor to protect me. It was then I started to realize how much the soul fusion would affect me and how it had and would change me, the implications scared me.

The ride was uneventful, taking several hours. We arrived in a city called Manehattan where I was greeted by a couple unicorn cultists bowing to me. The unicorn mare on my right spoke up, “Greetings Demon we were given word of your arrival. It is an honor to meet you.”

I waved the mare off the honorifics, having done nothing but annoy me. “Then you know why I’m here so speak up.”

This time the unicorn on the left spoke up, this one a stallion, “The guard here is either dead or imprisoned and the populace is passive going about business as if nothing has happened with a few small riots sparking up on occasion. Nothing we can’t deal with.” The stallion reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. “Here is a report of everything that has happened thus far.”

I took the scroll and the pair both bowed and backed off. I entered the chariot ready to head off to the next city. Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, Dodge Junction, Vanhoover, Baltimare, and several other towns and cities were quite the same with no large issues with the population. It took two days to visit every one of the towns and cities to get their reports including rest for the pegasi piloting the chariot.

The final stop was a city in the sky called Cloudsdale, quite literally a city of clouds. When we arrived a unicorn gave me a gold necklace saying it was to let me walk on the clouds. Of course my brain fought the idea and it was several moments till I stepped off the chariot, and much to minds dismay I actually walked on the clouds, the sound my boots made sounded like I was walking on stone. More sure of myself, I got to the point of my visit, the ponies in charge of securing the area had their hands up in a salute and they were sweating bullets while quaking in their armor.

“At ease,” the cultists broke the salute but their nervousness still showed. “Report.”

I waited a full minute till one of the cultists spoke up a tan pegasus mare with an orange mane and tail. “The pegasi are fighting back under the lead of a group called the Wonderbolts, an elite unit in the royal guard, and as such they actually have proper weapons training, weapons and very good discipline.” Then a stallion walked up to give me two scrolls that I took. “The first scroll you have contains details we know on the Wonderbolts and their leaders, the second is the report of events so far.”

I stood quietly reading the information on the unit. The biggest thing of note was their leader Spitfire and her second and third in command Fleetfoot and Soarin. According to the report they were the most dangerous of the unit.I paid special attention to the dossiers of the leaders, learning as much as I could in a short time. Spitfire used a longsword, Soarin a battle axe and Fleetfoot used twin daggers. According to the report the leaders of the Wonderbolts received magical enhancements to increase strength, endurance and speed. Aside from information on the rank structure of the unit there was little more of use in the report.

I gave the scrolls back to the pegasus mare. “Have your fastest flyers take this to Canterlot and get it to the Queen.” The mare nodded and called forth some of the ponies under her. After a brief discussion the cultists took the scrolls and took off. “Now get everyone that can fight ready to march out in ten minutes.” The mare saluted before walking off. I did the same entering a nearby building as I waited for the attack to begin.

It is the moments before deployment that are the most nerve wracking as your mind thinks of how everything could go wrong, the people that will inevitably die under your lead and what led you to this point in the first place. After fighting for so long and my dual experiences it was hard to imagine the person I once was. How I used to be some random person of no real significance, then one purchase later I was in the body of a fictional super soldier and wanted to go home, over a thousand years later I ended up helping a coup of the Equestrian government and finding home was the one place I could never see again. At the time it was a lot to take in, now it is just one of many things on my mind.

A cultist was sent to notify me that the group was prepared for the attack. I got up with a sigh and walked outside, a few hundred cultists in various states of armament looked up at me as if they expected a speech or rallying cry fit for legends. What I gave them was neither, “Follow and give each other room to fight. Pegasi take to the air, earth ponies, surround a unicorn group and protect them, unicorns ground as many of the enemy as possible.” My orders were obeyed as they adjusted their formation to my specifications.

I wordlessly grabbed my rifle and moved forward towards the large wonderbolts base. As expected enemy pegasi took to the air, I leveled my rifle and fired at the first one I saw, the burst putting three holes in the target’s lightly armored chest. The battle had begun.

My goal was to fight my way to the leaders and kill them, they would be on my level at least with strength and speed. As I advanced more and more wonderbolts would charge me in a futile attempt to end my life. The world around me moved in slow motion as I saw ten or so charging pegasi come towards me, rage etched onto their faces. I noted I did not have enough ammo in the assault rifle’s magazine to take care of them all and reloading was out of the picture. I put the rifle on my back and raised my hands in preparation.

The first enemy arrived trying to put a sword in my neck, I ducked, took their hand and threw them into two of their comrades with enough force to rip the first attackers arm off and cave in the chest cavities of the two unfortunate enough to be in front of the living projectile. The others came as expected. I caught one and broke his neck and stabbed another with my combat knife. During the fight I only suffered a few hits that resulted in my shields flickering and the death of the defenders.

Behind me the cultists fought surprisingly well, something I partially attributed to the formation I put them in, though they were still taking heavy casualties. I moved up towards the fort-like base the leaders were most likely holed up in. Over twenty to forty minutes later I was in front of the fort, my armor having gained a couple of new scratches when the pegasi managed to get through the energy shield. I walked in a hail of bullets meeting any in my way.

Another ten minutes of walking through the fort, I had finally found the command room where the Wonderbolt leaders resided. I kicked in the door and wood splinters flew forward, two guards rushed at me intent on running me through with their spears though all they got for their efforts was a magnum bullet to each of their heads, spraying a pink mist as the high caliber explosive rounds detonated inside their skulls. This act stunned the leaders long enough to let me speak.

“Surrender, I will not kill you and further bloodshed will cease, don’t and you three will die and the rest will surrender anyway. I have no desire to kill anymore then I must, we are both just following orders and that is respectable, now make your choice.”

I watched the leaders look at each other with a nervous determination clear on each of their faces. The leader of the group spoke up, “You can tell Nightmare Moon to fuck right off Demon.” Spitfire drew her longsword and the others followed.

“I have no time for this.” Time slowed, as they charged I fired three magnum rounds one into each of their heads turning the inside into paste the deaths quick and painless. Once I was out of “Spartan Time” I looked at the three corpses in front of me and shook my head, “You three thought I would play by your rules? Now look where you are.” I dragged all three bodies outside, the battle having already stopped. The shock on their faces when I threw the bodies of their leaders out of the fortress door. “Guard, spare those who surrender and kill any who resist.”

The remaining pegasus forces made no move to fight just staring at their dead leaders then at me as if it was some joke. Even some of the Nightmare cultists looked at me as they corralled the prisoners' whispers could be heard around me. “Who is this stallion?”, “He killed the Wonderbolt leaders quickly and with no other injuries but a hole in each of their heads.”, “A demon indeed.” Eventually I ignored the whispers and walked to a chariot waiting to take me to Nightmare and entered, the flight group nodded and took me to Canterlot.