Equestria's last hopeby GlazingBronyChaptersThe BeginningTrainingOperation bag and tagLoosing EquestriaThe BeginningPepper comet awoke. He was a white unicorn with a silky smooth black and green mane and tail. His cutie mark consisted of a small sack which looked like a money sack. He looked over to his alarm clock. "Uuurgh" he sighed and sunk his muzzle back into his pillow then after a minute or two he dragged himself out of bed. He lived by himself in a small, but cozy apartment in Ponyville and worked in Ponyville's Magic and Science College. Teaching young ponies what else, science and magic of course. He went into the kitchen and using the magic from his horn put bread in the toaster, got a glass of water and grabbed a newspaper and sat at the table. "Let's have a look." As he started flicking through the pages. "Nope. Nope. Boring. Nope. There's never anything interesting in this, why do I even bother reading it?" He mumbled to himself. "Oh its eight o'clock, I better get going." He grabbed his case and left. When he arrived at the college, the headmare called him in. She was a pink earthpony with a yellow mane and tail. "Mr Comet, I'm really sorry but due to recent cuts..." She stopped and pepper could see the regret in her eyes. "... we have to let you go. I'm sorry." " no this can't be!" Pepper replied. He didn't know if he was more angry than upset. She looked at him. "I'm sorry but it's come from higher up, there's nothing I can do to change it." Pepper looked towards the floor. " okay I'll gather my things and leave." "I'm sorry but there's really nothing I can do." She said feeling very sorry for him as he left the room. He walked the short distance down the corridor to his classroom. He began to pack his things into a cardboard box when he came across his mug. He picked it up. It read "Equestria's best teacher." He could feel anger building inside but managed to hold it in and finished packing. When he was done he took one last look around and then walked back to his apartment. He got back to his apartment and threw his box on to the floor and dived into his bed, burying his muzzle in the pillow once again. He rolled over and turned on the TV. It was Daring Do, his favourite. But it was suddenly interrupted by an emergency broadcast. Princess Celestial appeared on the screen with a determined look on her face. "My loyal subjects..." She began. "... Our kingdom is currently in great danger. The zebra's have declared war on us because they want our land to mine for resources to build their war machine and take over the world." Pepper looked at the TV in disbelief. "We will not stand for this. I am asking you, my loyal subjects, my friends, to stand with me and fight for what is ours. We will be victorious." Then the broadcast ended. The Daring Do film resumed. "Okay" pepper said to himself. He went to bed early that night and awoke the next morning and marched down to the recruiting office. He wasn't surprised to find himself in a very long queue, with more still lining up behind him. After about an hour and a half he found himself sat in front of a Sargent of Celestia's royal guard, "Name?" Asked the guard. "Pepper Comet" Pepper replied. "Family and spouse?" "Deceased and none" "Okay can you step over here please?" Asked the guard. Pepper stood up and walked over to the guard. The guard took Pepper's size and weight. "Okay your all good. Report back here tomorrow morning at eight o'clock." Said the guard. "Okay" replied Pepper as he walked out and went home. That night, for dinner, he had a huge tomato, lettuce, cheese and cucumber sandwiche. He had packed his bag with the basics, his wash kit, spare clothes and some personal belongings. He went to bed that night feeling proud. When he woke up the next morning, he had a decent breakfast but began to feel a bit nervous. He headed to the recruiting office. He then went home to pack. When he arrived there were loads of troop air wagons wait, they were quite large and could fit up to 20 ponies in the back. They were light blue with loads of white blotches all over to act as camouflage for when they were up in the sky. Everypony was gathered around saying their good byes to their loved ones. Pepper on the other hoof didn't have any loved ones, so he just awkwardly stood there. He was noticed by a red Pegasus with brown hair. He had a long range rifle for his cutie mark. He walked over to Pepper. "Hi, my name's argyle." "I'm pepper comet." Pepper replied. "Do you have no pony to say goodbye to either?" "Nope" " well we could stick together and look out for one and other if you want." Argyle suggested. "I like that idea... thanks." Pepper said with a more cheerful mood and they smiled to each other. They got in the front air wagon and as they sat down a whistle was blown and everypony began to board the wagons. They set off to their next unknown destination. TrainingThey finally came to a halt, after 2 hours of traveling. They got out the back of the wagon and were unaware of where they were. A drop ship flew over the camp. They were told to walk through the main gates which were very large and black with pointed spikes at the top. To each side was a wire fence with barbed wire on top. "Good morning ladies." Shouted a pony from the distance. " I am captain buck." All the recruits looked towards him. "Come on,let's go, we don't have all day, I have one week to train you. It seems impossible but it's direct orders from the princess." He stated. All the recruits started to walk over with their luggage. "First I will show you to your accommodation, okay? Let's go." He said as he started to walk down, what seemed to be the only road, but it soon became evident that many roads branched off from it. They stopped at the first road to branch off. "On both sides of this road is the accommodation blocks, you lot will be staying in the second block, okay?" They all went into the block, which was two stories high and from the sky looked like a large square with a square cut out in the middle with benches which served as a recreational area. Half the ponies were told to wait down stairs, while captain buck took the rest, including pepper and argyle, to their rooms up stairs. There was four corridors with four rooms on each corridor, each room holding twelve ponies, making 48 ponies per corridor. Buck lead everypony around assigning them to the correct bed space. When they got to the last corridor up stairs, he assigned pepper and argyle to bed spaces opposite each other. "You lot will be known as eight platoon." Captain Buck said as he walked out to deal with the ponies on the ground floor. It didn't take long for everypony to pack their kit away. At one o'clock a very deep voice shouted. "Everypony out here now!" Everypony rushed out of their rooms and stood in the corridor. "Shut up! I am Sargent Cross, you will all be known by your last names, each room will have a designated corporal and you start training tomorrow. You will all be stood on this Line as you are tomorrow at 06:30 hours for breakfast. Now let's go get your kit." He took everypony in eight platoon to the 'stores', where all the equipment is kept. It wasn't far down the road. Inside they were sized and went to a counter and received two boxes of their things. The unicorns no problems, as they could just lift their boxes to carry them back to their platoon lines with their horn. The pegasi and earth ponies had a little trouble but still managed to get their things back to their lines and packed everything away into their lockers. The next morning they woke up at 06:00, put their uniforms on and were stood in the corridor for 06:30. Sargent Cross came up and took them down for breakfast. When they were done, he took them back up to their platoon lines to show them what equipment they were given and how it worked. "This is your MK IV heavy combat armour..." Which looked like a big bulky metal suit "...This is a heavy but awesome peice of kit, it has automatic healing and radiation potion injectors. These can be replaced with any potion you see fit. It has a battle saddle that can hold a variety of weapons. The legs of the suit also have boosters so you can jump about ten feet in the air." Everypony seemed really interested. "The helmet..."Cross continued. "... Displays a lot of information on the screen. It tells you your vitals and any problems you may have with your body. It has a chemical detector and has a built in Geiger counter to detect radiation in your area in the event of a nuclear attack. It has a compass, crosshairs to show where you are aiming and some other fancy bits." Everypony looked around, amazed by this peice of equipment. He pulled out the next peice of equipment. "This is your MK VI light combat armour." Which didn't consist of as much metal as the heavy armour, but still seemed decent. He went on for another two hours explaining the equipment. When they were finished, he got them to get into their light armour and took them to the armoury. When they got there they were given two standard 5.56mm assault rifles to attach to their battle saddles. "Cool, these are awesome!" Pepper said to argyle. As they were taken across the road to the ranges. For the rest of the day they were improving their firing skills in different positions with weapons from the pistol to the rocket launcher. The next day they did the same thing but with the heavy armour, using bigger and heavier weapons as well as the ones from the day before. Durning the week they learned a lot and on the 7th day they were issued with their military ID's and became official soldiers of the 'Equestrian ground fighting force (EGFF). Pepper looked to argyle. "Now the real fun begins." Operation bag and tag8 platoon woke up that morning. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining with no clouds to be seen. They were taken down to breakfast as normal, but afterwards, were taken to a large room with what looked to be about 200 seats and a large stage at the front with a huge screen behind it. They sat in one of the middle columns of seats. Pepper turned to Argyle, he looked back at pepper, both with the look of curiosity on their faces. "I wonder what they brought us in here for." Pepper asked himself, not realising that he had said it out loud. "I'm not sure, your guess would be as good as mine." Argyle whispered unsure wether they were supposed to be talking or not. "Maybe they're sending us to buck some zebra flank." He whispered back, trying to hide his excitement. "Calm down war is not fun nor is it a game." He thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by Argyle. "I doubt it, we've just finished training." There was a deep voice that echoed through the whole room. "I am Major Flash." He had a calm tone but you could see in his face that this was serious. "I'm sure you are aware of our current situation that we have with the zebras at the moment. Our intelligence suggests that there is a zebra living in the Everfree Forest. She is believed to be friendly but she may have changed her mind. Your mission is to go and get her before the zebras do." A picture of Zecora appeared on the screen behind him. "This is Zecora, known in Ponyville for being mysterious and creating a lot of spells and magic, so stay alert. You will all be taken to separate drop of locations via dropship. Three groups of twelve, or sections one, two and three will secure the area of the forest surrounding her hut. Four section, you will be going to the hut to grab her, okay?" "That's us, we get to go in." Pepper whispered to Argyle still struggling to hide his excitement. Argyle sighed. "Shhhh, your gunna get us in trouble." Flash continued. "Then when she is secure, you will take her to the castle where she will be handed over to princess Celestia. Any questions?" He asked his audience. "No... good, you deploy tomorrow. That's all, your dismissed." The next morning came and pepper had the biggest smile and was so excited. He was wearing his Mk VI light combat armour with a assault rifle on the right side of his battle saddle. The were all given four full magazines of thirty rounds and the team medics carried the medical supplies in saddle bags. The boarded the dropships, the were big, not huge but relatively big. They were light blue with white blotches to try to make it blend in with the sky. They got in through a sliding door on the sides which had a mounted machine gun on each side. " you ready for this? Argyle asked Pepper. "Are you kidding, I can't wait!" He replied, eyes wide and a bigger smile than earlier. He looked like he had spent the whole night drinking Apple Cola. Argyle was a bit scared of his response, but he knew Pepper was harmless. Or so he thought. The flight to their drop off point took a while, Pepper didn't say a word the whole trip, he just sat in his harness wide eyed. They eventually landed. They got off. "Hay Pepper!" Came a voice from inside the dropship. Pepper turned. "Yea?" He noticed one of the pilots was looking at him. " when you get her radio in and we will pick you up from the hut, okay?" The pilot shouted to make sure he was heard over the roar of the load engines that had been built by the department of science. Pepper nodded. " okay." He replied, seeming to have calmed down now. They moved through the forest until the were not even ten meters from Zecora's hut. "Is everypony in position?" Pepper asked on his radio. "Team one in position." "Team three in position." ... There was no reply from team two. They all waited for team two to get in position. Then, after a minute which seemed like ages they replied. "Team two in position, sorry for the wait gentlecolts." "Okay, team four moving towards the target." Pepper moved his team towards the hut. "Sparkle, Twist, you're both coming in with me, the rest of you, cover the surroundings." The three ponies bucked down the door and Burst in, rifles ready to fire. "Don't move Zecora!" Pepper demanded. "I will obey, what ever you say." She rhymed. "Sparkle, Twist, check the rooms. Argyle get in here and secure her." Pepper ordered. Sparkle and Twist shortly returned. "There's nothing suspicious here." Twist added. Pepper nodded. "Okay, good." He walked out the hut and threw a smoke grenade on the ground which bellowed out purple smoke. Two minutes later the dropship had landed in front of them and the loaded Zecora on then got on themselves. "Buckle up, next stop, Canterlot Castle." Said the pilot. They lifted of the ground and the engines rotated from vertical to horizontal to power it through the air. They were soon joined by the other three dropships. The flight was quiet, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky. BANG! The was a loud explosion as the last dropship dropped out of the sky in a giant fireball like a tonne of bricks. "We have two zebra dropships on our rear!" Explained the pilot, looking very panicked. "Well let's have them then!" Pepper was more than angry at this point, he just lost twelve of his platoon. BANG! Another ship was destroyed. "Kill them now!" Pepper shouted getting even angrier. The second, or now rear dropship banked right, swinging round behind one of the zebra ships and fire a long burst of 20mm high explosive rounds into its hull, ripping it to pieces sending it straight into the ground below. "Yea, that's what I'm talking about!" Pepper cheered, but as he did the second zebra ship dived from above firing at the rear ship, shredding its wings. It exploded and tumbled to the ground. But the pilot was still alive as it fell. "Mayday, mayday. DR3 is hit. I repeat we are hit. We're goi-...". Silence. Peppers ship was the only one left. Pepper watched it fall to the ground, then looked up to see that the zebra ship was right behind them. He could see the zebra pilots face. They looked each other in the eye. "Warning, missile lock detected!" Came a voice from the ships A.I system. The ship jolted but managed to stay up, smoke bellowing from his ship, the instruments stopped working and fluid was spraying out off pipes. "Warning, missile lock detected!" The A.I repeated. " deploying countermeasures. Countermeasures not functioning." Warning incoming mis-..." The ship jolted again. All power was lost. They dropped from the sky. Zecora began to mumble chants to herself and nopony seemed to notice. Pepper looked through the cockpit window as the ground crept closer and closer. At the last second a pink sphere surrounded her, Pepper, Argyle, Sparkle and Twist. The ship hit the ground and came to a halt just out side Ponyville where a small number of six platoon were patrolling. They had seen it fall from the sky and rushed to the crash site, unaware of why it had crashed. They pulled Pepper our first and as they did so, he awoke. "Where is it?" He mumbled, still dazed and vision blurred. His head was spinning. "Where's wh-..." He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was ripped to shreds by the zebra ship. Peppers face was sprayed with his blood. He wiped his eyes and dragged himself to his hooves. The othe soldier ponies had began to fire back, but were obliterated by a hail of small rockets. He scrambled to find his rifle, picked it up in his mouth and opened fire. Bullets bounced off its hull. The ships canon turned to face Pepper and opened fire. "Argh!" He jumped to the side and burst through the door of a near by house. He looked through the window to see a rocket coming towards the house. It hit and exploded. Rubble went everywhere. He got up to find that the zebra drop ship had landed and four zebras had got out and moved to the wreckage. One zebra poked his head in through the side. BANG! A shot echoed as the zebra dropped th the floor. The othe three got in and dragged out Twist, who had fired the shot. Pepper watched in horror as they put Twists own weapon to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through one side and out of the other. "Nooooooo!" Pepper shouted as loud as he could, but instantly realised the mistake he had made. "He's still alive. Kill the pony scum." Commanded one of the zebras, and as he said it a hail of bullets hit what was left of the house that Pepper had taken refuge in. Pepper scrambled to his hooves and scurried to the back of the house. The back door was locked. He bucked it down with all the strength he could gather. He galloped round the back of the house and stopped at the end of the wall. He could see the wreckage and it wasn't to far. "If I'm quiet then they won't notice me." He thought to himself as he began to sneak towards it. He looked inside, there was blood everywhere. The was a cough. Argyle woke up. "Where are we, is everypony okay?" He asked, still dazed. "Don't worry about that yet, come on." Pepper dragged him out and put his rifle in his battle saddle. The zebras were moving towards the house. One turned and saw them both. "Their behind us." One of the zebras shouted. The turn and began to shoot at Pepper and Argyle. Argyle fired back, but Pepper noticed the Zecora was still breathing. He dragged her out and pulled her behind the wreckage where they had taken cover. The zebra ship began to take off. Pepper and Argyle simultaneously ran out of bullets. "So this is the end?" Argyle commented. The zebras crept closer and the ship came round ready to fire. Then came a hissing sound. "What's that?" Pepper questioned. BANG! And rocket had hit the zebra ship. Then BANG! A second hit. It jolted to the right then fell to the ground exploding in a huge fireball. The out of nowhere another dropship appeared and its canon opened up on the three zebras. The ship landed. "Get over here!" Came a familiar voice. The three of the trotted over. It was Major Flash. "You look like you've been to the moon and back comet." He commented. It took him a moment to realise he was taking to him as everypony was known by their last name. "Tell me about it." Pepper replied getting on board. "You lot took your time." "Yea sorry about that." Flash responded. "Well at least we got Zecora." They began to take off when there was a loud sound. Argyle looked. "What's that?" He asked as a dropship came into view. But it wasn't a normal one. This one was a lot longer and wider. It had four engines instead of two. "That's a cargo-ship. It can carry a large amount of cargo or troops wherever they're needed." Flash replied. "Now it will be bringing a small team to recover our fallen brothers and the ship so they can be transported back to a work shop." "Ah, makes sense. I'm gunna get some sleep, let me know when we get to the castle." Pepper shouted trying to be heard over the engines. Argyle nodded at him and Pepper closed his eyes. Loosing Equestria"ETA, 30 seconds!" Announced the pilot. Pepper woke up, looked around then realized where he was. They were approaching Canterlot castle. "Here we are." Captain Buck announced looking at Pepper who then turned to face Argyle. Argyle was cut in several places all over, his coat was matted with a mixture of sweat and blood and he didn't smell good either. Argyle looked back at him and threw him a weak smile. they landed quite hard with a loud THUMP! "Let's go, the princess will be waiting inside for us." Buck announced as he jumped off the dropship taking Zecora with him. They walked through a giant set of metal doors guarded by two unicorn guards armed with what looked like power lances. they were silvery in colour with what looked like a spring that coiled around the main body of it. It also had a sharp blade on one end and the whole glowed with a ghoulishly green light. "I've never seen anything like that that, must some magical weapon of some sort." he thought to himself. They arrived in a large room. it had a walkway that went straight down the middle of the room which led to another smaller set of double doors. there was large pillars placed at regular intervals along both sides of the room and in between them were beautiful stained glass windows showing the history of Equestria so far. The next room was a lot smaller and only had one plain window with metal bars across it. There was a table in the middle of the room where princess Celestia was stood. They all bowed before her. "Thank you my loyal subjects." she turned to Zecora. "It's nice to see you again." "It's nice to see you too, how may i be of service to you?" Zecora replied in her usual rhyming manner. "I had you picked up for your own safety, as you saw on your way here we aren't the only ones who are interested in your company." Celestia explained. "Yes i saw, but i knew you were coming before." she continued to rhyme. "however, you are aware of our situation with the zebras, so you can imagine why we brought you in." Celestia continued. Zecora looked at everypony, then down at the floor. Everypony looked at her in confusion. She began to chant words that made no sense quietly to herself. "Zecora, are you ok?" Celestia asked and within moments Zecora was gone. "what the..." captain Buck turned to the princess. "she's used a teleportation spell. Find her!" she ordered as guards began rushing around. Argyle tried opening the door they had came in through. "It's locked" he said. "stand back!" announced the princess. her horn began to glow and she fired a beam at the door. however it just reflected back at her, missing her neck by millimetres. "I have an idea" Argyle commented. "Go on..." Buck encouraged. Argyle went over to the window and placed a rectangular object on the floor. "Excuse me princess, could you cover use with a safety shield or something please?" he asked. "Um... Okay." she replied unsure of what he planned to do. He detonated the explosive destroying the wall. They made there way over to the hole in the wall, but were halted by the fact that there was a big drop to the floor. A really big drop. "Okay, me and the princess could fly you both down to the floor." Argyle suggested. but as he did so, a zebra dropship appeared with its cannons pointed at them. The cannons spun up and began to fire. As they did princess Celestia managed to raise her force field just in time. The rounds bounced off. but this was a zebra dropship and spells were standard. these were no normal rounds, they had been casted with extra strength and power. the field began to crack. "I can't hold it much longer." Celestia announced, her face was straining, going red as she struggled to hold the field. Buck pushed the three of them out of the way as it was about to break. A long burst of rounds punctured his armour, piercing his body. Blood sprayed everywhere. the shooting stopped and he dropped to the floor. "no!" Pepper rushed over to his body. the ship had turned around and began to move to find its next victims. Celestia got her balance, her horn began to glow. the dropship stopped in mid-air then started moving back towards them, surrounded by her magic. She dragged it close enough for Pepper and Argyle to jump on board and kill every zebra. they threw the bodies out the side and gained control of the ship. Celestia got on board then slid the side door closed. "What now?" Argyle asked. "We take the princess to her bunker, but any zebra we kill on the way are a bonus." Pepper replied looking at the princess for conformation. her only reply was a nodd. "Do you know how to fly one one of these though?" Argyle Asked. Pepper looked at him, giving him a sinister smile. There's a first time for everything." Pepper said. Argyle looked very worried at this point. Pepper pressed some buttons an moved the joystick. the dropship shot forward. A zebra ship flew past in the opposite direction. Pepper swung the ship around and gave chase. He looked for the trigger for the cannon, but instead found the button that fired plasma rockets. A missile from each side of the ship flew past the coppit and punctured the rear of the zebra dropship. Nothing had happened. Pepper was confused. there was a sudden bright green flash as the missiles exploded without a sound. the ship and its occupants were engulfed by green goo, melting everything inside and it dropped to the floor like a rock. "AWESOME!" Pepper shouted, overjoyed by his new toy. "We need to create weapons to counter these zebra weapons and we need to get everypony into the stables before we loose a lot of innocent ponies." Princess Celestia announced. "But we need to get you to safety first." Argyle stated. Pepper hadn't even noticed they were talking. He was too amazed by this weaponry and was ready to kill more zebras with it. Their journey to the bunker saw no more zebras. They headed to a giant metal door hidden in the side of a cliff that the princess had pointed out. "Royal bunker, this is Pepper Comet. We are approaching with the princess, open the door." There was no reply. He repeated himself. Still no reply. Then a hail of gunfire came from one of the bunkers air defence turrets that had appeared out from the side of the cliff. "They've taken the bunker." Argyle spoke in disbelief. Pepper swung the ship around but the rear was shredded by the gun and broke apart from the dropship and it began to fall out of the sky. "Not again!" Pepper shouted in anger. Princess Celestia wrapped him with her telekinesis and flew out the side of the ship, followed by Argyle. They stretched their wings and glided softly to the ground.he felt sick to his stomach. "Warn me next time you plan to do that." Pepper commented. She looked at him and giggled. "Where are we now princess?" questioned Argyle. "We're not far from a place called Sweet Apple Acres, i know the pony that owns the farm personally. Im sure she can help us out." she commented. "okay, lead the way princess." Pepper said still feeling uneasy. They followed the princess for awhile but they soon saw fields after fields of apple trees, in the centre of it all was a beautifully painted red and white barn and a small house next to it. when they got to the barn, Celestia called out. "A.J!" "Just a moment" replied a voice from the barn. A few moments later a orange pony with a yellow mane and three apples for a cutie mark appeared from behind the door. She instantly bowed for the princess. "Thank you, we are in some trouble, zebras are taking over, our transport has be shot down and my body guards here.." she said as she looked at Pepper and Argyle with a smile "...have lost their weapons in the crash. We were wondering if you could help us?" "Sure thing princess, i can help Y'all. Just follow me." the orange pony replied. they followed her back into the barn and down into the basement. there was along corridor that ended with a metal door with a hoof pad. The orange pony out her hoof on it and the door opened. they walked onto a balcony which over looked a large room. The room was well lit and was full of machines, ponybots, conveyor belts, working ponies, work benches and a lot of weapons. Pepper rubbed his eyes. "Whoa this place is awesome!" He commented "Thanks." the orange pony replied. "Get me an assault rifle and a sniper rifle with a battle saddle." within minutes she had been given what she had asked for. She gave the assault rifle to Pepper which he held with the magic from his horn and fitted Argyle with the battle saddle and fitted the sniper rifle. "im sorry princess, but i don't have any transportation for y'all, but your free to stay the night." "That's okay, thank you and i'm afraid we must go on." "Thats ok, now if y'all will excuse me, i have prototypes to build." the orange pony replied and trotted off. They turned around and left the way they had came in. They had been traveling for a while, when they met up with a platoon of soldiers from the Luna guard. When they saw the princess they all bowed. "Thank you, we need your help." she said to the closest pony. "you're going to have to speak to major Pip your majesty." the soldier pony replied pointing a hoof to a tent. "Thank you." she addressed him. "You two best wait out here." she told Pepper and Argyle as she went into the tent. Pepper turned to Argyle. "Who was that orange pony at that barn? And what was with the weapons factory she had?" Pepper asked, keeping his voice down. "I'm not sure, maybe you should ask the princess." Argyle suggested. "Good idea." As he spoke the princess came out with a depressed look on her face. "What's wrong princess?" Argyle asked. she looked at him. "We are loosing the war. We are loosing thousands. Princess Cadance and her husband Shining Armour are dead. We are loosing Equestria." They looked at each other shocked. They then turned to face the princess. "No we're not!" called a voice from behind. They turned around, stood there was major Pip with his soldiers behind him. "Its not lost until we are gone, and we're still here ready to fight!" he continued. princess Celestia looked up at him and nodded. "Okay, we need to get everypony into the stables, radio whoever's left and allocate them a town to get ponies into the nearest stables." she announced. One pony began talking with lots of other ponies over the radio who began working immediately. "We move in a minute, we have a stable in Ponyville to fill." she looked over to the radio pony. "Let Apple Jack know that she needs to get to the Ponyville stable." the princess added and the radio pony nodded in acknowledgment. Their journey to Ponyville didn't take long and they started getting ponies into the stables as soon as they got there. Pepper look at the princess. "Excuse me, princess?" he asked. "yes Pepper." she replied. "Who was that orange pony and what was with that weapons factory under her barn?" "Well, her name is Apple Jack and she is in charge of the weapons development department which works alongside the department of science, and yes that was her weapons factory where the best most advanced weapons are made, the the one you have now." "Ah, i see." he replied. Hours had passed. The radio pony approached the princess. "Reports back say that all the stables have now been filled and ours only has a few ponies left to go in." "Good" she replied. Argyle approached them. "Where have you been?" Pepper asked him. Argyle looked at the princess. "I've just been with major Pip and he says that the zebras plan to attack us." Argyle explained. Princess Celestia ordered the stable door to be shut. She looked to Pepper. "we must hold them back." she said. "Of course." Pepper replied. She turned to major Pip who had just came over. "Start setting up defences and get in touch with Apple Jack, she should be here by now." Celestia ordered. "We've tried but had no reply." "Well keep trying." she demanded, getting quite stressed with the whole situation. soldier ponies began rushing around setting up the defences. "Don't worry, we'll take Equestria back and win the war." Pepper reassured her. "I hope you're right." Hours had once again passed. silence. nothing but silence as they waited for the attack. The atmosphere felt eerie. But they soon got what they were waiting for. BANG! there was a loud explosion close to Pepper. He dropped to cover. "That was close!" he shouted. BANG! Another explosion, a little closer this time. Then silence again. "What is that?" Pepper looked into the distance. he looked to his left, and right, then forward again.he saw a flash from the distance then, BANG! The explosion destroyed the front of a house. He looked again. "Incoming, five zebra hover tanks and a lot of zebras on hoof. Take cover!" Pepper shouted. BANG! Explosions were going off everywhere. Pepper was the first to return fire. "Take out those tanks!" Argyle ordered. Two unicorn soldiers picked up a rocket launcher with the magic from their horns. They went to the second floor of a house and looking out the window, they fired a missile hitting the lead tank. BOOM! It went up in a ball of colourful flames. "What have they got in them tanks?" Pepper asked to himself. the second tank stopped, aimed the turret at the two unicorns with the rocket launcher and fired. The building was destroyed taking the two unicorns with it. Princess Celestia was firing magic beams from her horn, taking out a few zebras, when she was stuck by a zebra sniper and she fell to the floor. Argyle was flying above and saw the sniper. Using his rifle he shot him through the head then saw the princess. "The princess is down." The four hover tanks and hundreds of zebra soldiers were closing in. The Luna guards were being taken out one by one. "Looks like it's the end pal." Pepper looked down as Argyle landed next to him and the princess. "Theres still hope." princess Celestia muttered. there was a roar from behind. a large drop ship flew over and then explosions started going off left, right and centre. Three or the Four remaining tanks were destroyed and they lost a lot of zebra soldiers. The drop ship landed in front of Peppers position. "It looked like y'all needed a hoof!" came a familiar voice. They saw it was Apple Jack as she jumped out of the ship. "We're so glad to see you!" Argyle was relieved, they had a chance again. Around fifty ponies poured out the back of the ship firing lasers, bullets, rockets, fire, everything they had. they destroyed the last tank and the majority of the remaining zebra soldiers. What was left seemed to give up and surrender. They were captured and everypony grouped up ready for a second wave. A second drop ship landed. A beautiful figure jumped out and galloped over. "Princess Luna!" Pepper shouted. "Where is my sister?" she asked. Pepper blushed. he had always had a huge crush on her. "She's over there." he lead he to Celestia. Princess Luna was carrying a black box. Her and Celestia had a quiet word. They opened the box and pressed a button each. They didn't look happy. there was a loud rumbling sound and the ground shook. "That can't be good." Pepper looked around for the source. "There." Argyle pointed a hoof to the sky. There were loads of balls of light heading towards the sky. "Princess, whats happening?" Pepper asked. Celestia looked at Luna who then replied. "We have confirmed that a large number of nuclear spell missiles have and are estimated to strike the whole of Equestria." Pepper looked up, then back down. Hearing a similar rumbling noise, he looked up and watched as many differently coloured balls of light fell to the surface. there was a bright light that forced him to look away for a moment, looking back he saw a cloud appear. It was very high and resembled the shape of a mushroom. He watched as a wall of dust and debris crept closer and closer. he closed his eyes as hit hit him and everything around him.
The BeginningPepper comet awoke. He was a white unicorn with a silky smooth black and green mane and tail. His cutie mark consisted of a small sack which looked like a money sack. He looked over to his alarm clock. "Uuurgh" he sighed and sunk his muzzle back into his pillow then after a minute or two he dragged himself out of bed. He lived by himself in a small, but cozy apartment in Ponyville and worked in Ponyville's Magic and Science College. Teaching young ponies what else, science and magic of course. He went into the kitchen and using the magic from his horn put bread in the toaster, got a glass of water and grabbed a newspaper and sat at the table. "Let's have a look." As he started flicking through the pages. "Nope. Nope. Boring. Nope. There's never anything interesting in this, why do I even bother reading it?" He mumbled to himself. "Oh its eight o'clock, I better get going." He grabbed his case and left. When he arrived at the college, the headmare called him in. She was a pink earthpony with a yellow mane and tail. "Mr Comet, I'm really sorry but due to recent cuts..." She stopped and pepper could see the regret in her eyes. "... we have to let you go. I'm sorry." " no this can't be!" Pepper replied. He didn't know if he was more angry than upset. She looked at him. "I'm sorry but it's come from higher up, there's nothing I can do to change it." Pepper looked towards the floor. " okay I'll gather my things and leave." "I'm sorry but there's really nothing I can do." She said feeling very sorry for him as he left the room. He walked the short distance down the corridor to his classroom. He began to pack his things into a cardboard box when he came across his mug. He picked it up. It read "Equestria's best teacher." He could feel anger building inside but managed to hold it in and finished packing. When he was done he took one last look around and then walked back to his apartment. He got back to his apartment and threw his box on to the floor and dived into his bed, burying his muzzle in the pillow once again. He rolled over and turned on the TV. It was Daring Do, his favourite. But it was suddenly interrupted by an emergency broadcast. Princess Celestial appeared on the screen with a determined look on her face. "My loyal subjects..." She began. "... Our kingdom is currently in great danger. The zebra's have declared war on us because they want our land to mine for resources to build their war machine and take over the world." Pepper looked at the TV in disbelief. "We will not stand for this. I am asking you, my loyal subjects, my friends, to stand with me and fight for what is ours. We will be victorious." Then the broadcast ended. The Daring Do film resumed. "Okay" pepper said to himself. He went to bed early that night and awoke the next morning and marched down to the recruiting office. He wasn't surprised to find himself in a very long queue, with more still lining up behind him. After about an hour and a half he found himself sat in front of a Sargent of Celestia's royal guard, "Name?" Asked the guard. "Pepper Comet" Pepper replied. "Family and spouse?" "Deceased and none" "Okay can you step over here please?" Asked the guard. Pepper stood up and walked over to the guard. The guard took Pepper's size and weight. "Okay your all good. Report back here tomorrow morning at eight o'clock." Said the guard. "Okay" replied Pepper as he walked out and went home. That night, for dinner, he had a huge tomato, lettuce, cheese and cucumber sandwiche. He had packed his bag with the basics, his wash kit, spare clothes and some personal belongings. He went to bed that night feeling proud. When he woke up the next morning, he had a decent breakfast but began to feel a bit nervous. He headed to the recruiting office. He then went home to pack. When he arrived there were loads of troop air wagons wait, they were quite large and could fit up to 20 ponies in the back. They were light blue with loads of white blotches all over to act as camouflage for when they were up in the sky. Everypony was gathered around saying their good byes to their loved ones. Pepper on the other hoof didn't have any loved ones, so he just awkwardly stood there. He was noticed by a red Pegasus with brown hair. He had a long range rifle for his cutie mark. He walked over to Pepper. "Hi, my name's argyle." "I'm pepper comet." Pepper replied. "Do you have no pony to say goodbye to either?" "Nope" " well we could stick together and look out for one and other if you want." Argyle suggested. "I like that idea... thanks." Pepper said with a more cheerful mood and they smiled to each other. They got in the front air wagon and as they sat down a whistle was blown and everypony began to board the wagons. They set off to their next unknown destination.
TrainingThey finally came to a halt, after 2 hours of traveling. They got out the back of the wagon and were unaware of where they were. A drop ship flew over the camp. They were told to walk through the main gates which were very large and black with pointed spikes at the top. To each side was a wire fence with barbed wire on top. "Good morning ladies." Shouted a pony from the distance. " I am captain buck." All the recruits looked towards him. "Come on,let's go, we don't have all day, I have one week to train you. It seems impossible but it's direct orders from the princess." He stated. All the recruits started to walk over with their luggage. "First I will show you to your accommodation, okay? Let's go." He said as he started to walk down, what seemed to be the only road, but it soon became evident that many roads branched off from it. They stopped at the first road to branch off. "On both sides of this road is the accommodation blocks, you lot will be staying in the second block, okay?" They all went into the block, which was two stories high and from the sky looked like a large square with a square cut out in the middle with benches which served as a recreational area. Half the ponies were told to wait down stairs, while captain buck took the rest, including pepper and argyle, to their rooms up stairs. There was four corridors with four rooms on each corridor, each room holding twelve ponies, making 48 ponies per corridor. Buck lead everypony around assigning them to the correct bed space. When they got to the last corridor up stairs, he assigned pepper and argyle to bed spaces opposite each other. "You lot will be known as eight platoon." Captain Buck said as he walked out to deal with the ponies on the ground floor. It didn't take long for everypony to pack their kit away. At one o'clock a very deep voice shouted. "Everypony out here now!" Everypony rushed out of their rooms and stood in the corridor. "Shut up! I am Sargent Cross, you will all be known by your last names, each room will have a designated corporal and you start training tomorrow. You will all be stood on this Line as you are tomorrow at 06:30 hours for breakfast. Now let's go get your kit." He took everypony in eight platoon to the 'stores', where all the equipment is kept. It wasn't far down the road. Inside they were sized and went to a counter and received two boxes of their things. The unicorns no problems, as they could just lift their boxes to carry them back to their platoon lines with their horn. The pegasi and earth ponies had a little trouble but still managed to get their things back to their lines and packed everything away into their lockers. The next morning they woke up at 06:00, put their uniforms on and were stood in the corridor for 06:30. Sargent Cross came up and took them down for breakfast. When they were done, he took them back up to their platoon lines to show them what equipment they were given and how it worked. "This is your MK IV heavy combat armour..." Which looked like a big bulky metal suit "...This is a heavy but awesome peice of kit, it has automatic healing and radiation potion injectors. These can be replaced with any potion you see fit. It has a battle saddle that can hold a variety of weapons. The legs of the suit also have boosters so you can jump about ten feet in the air." Everypony seemed really interested. "The helmet..."Cross continued. "... Displays a lot of information on the screen. It tells you your vitals and any problems you may have with your body. It has a chemical detector and has a built in Geiger counter to detect radiation in your area in the event of a nuclear attack. It has a compass, crosshairs to show where you are aiming and some other fancy bits." Everypony looked around, amazed by this peice of equipment. He pulled out the next peice of equipment. "This is your MK VI light combat armour." Which didn't consist of as much metal as the heavy armour, but still seemed decent. He went on for another two hours explaining the equipment. When they were finished, he got them to get into their light armour and took them to the armoury. When they got there they were given two standard 5.56mm assault rifles to attach to their battle saddles. "Cool, these are awesome!" Pepper said to argyle. As they were taken across the road to the ranges. For the rest of the day they were improving their firing skills in different positions with weapons from the pistol to the rocket launcher. The next day they did the same thing but with the heavy armour, using bigger and heavier weapons as well as the ones from the day before. Durning the week they learned a lot and on the 7th day they were issued with their military ID's and became official soldiers of the 'Equestrian ground fighting force (EGFF). Pepper looked to argyle. "Now the real fun begins."
Operation bag and tag8 platoon woke up that morning. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining with no clouds to be seen. They were taken down to breakfast as normal, but afterwards, were taken to a large room with what looked to be about 200 seats and a large stage at the front with a huge screen behind it. They sat in one of the middle columns of seats. Pepper turned to Argyle, he looked back at pepper, both with the look of curiosity on their faces. "I wonder what they brought us in here for." Pepper asked himself, not realising that he had said it out loud. "I'm not sure, your guess would be as good as mine." Argyle whispered unsure wether they were supposed to be talking or not. "Maybe they're sending us to buck some zebra flank." He whispered back, trying to hide his excitement. "Calm down war is not fun nor is it a game." He thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by Argyle. "I doubt it, we've just finished training." There was a deep voice that echoed through the whole room. "I am Major Flash." He had a calm tone but you could see in his face that this was serious. "I'm sure you are aware of our current situation that we have with the zebras at the moment. Our intelligence suggests that there is a zebra living in the Everfree Forest. She is believed to be friendly but she may have changed her mind. Your mission is to go and get her before the zebras do." A picture of Zecora appeared on the screen behind him. "This is Zecora, known in Ponyville for being mysterious and creating a lot of spells and magic, so stay alert. You will all be taken to separate drop of locations via dropship. Three groups of twelve, or sections one, two and three will secure the area of the forest surrounding her hut. Four section, you will be going to the hut to grab her, okay?" "That's us, we get to go in." Pepper whispered to Argyle still struggling to hide his excitement. Argyle sighed. "Shhhh, your gunna get us in trouble." Flash continued. "Then when she is secure, you will take her to the castle where she will be handed over to princess Celestia. Any questions?" He asked his audience. "No... good, you deploy tomorrow. That's all, your dismissed." The next morning came and pepper had the biggest smile and was so excited. He was wearing his Mk VI light combat armour with a assault rifle on the right side of his battle saddle. The were all given four full magazines of thirty rounds and the team medics carried the medical supplies in saddle bags. The boarded the dropships, the were big, not huge but relatively big. They were light blue with white blotches to try to make it blend in with the sky. They got in through a sliding door on the sides which had a mounted machine gun on each side. " you ready for this? Argyle asked Pepper. "Are you kidding, I can't wait!" He replied, eyes wide and a bigger smile than earlier. He looked like he had spent the whole night drinking Apple Cola. Argyle was a bit scared of his response, but he knew Pepper was harmless. Or so he thought. The flight to their drop off point took a while, Pepper didn't say a word the whole trip, he just sat in his harness wide eyed. They eventually landed. They got off. "Hay Pepper!" Came a voice from inside the dropship. Pepper turned. "Yea?" He noticed one of the pilots was looking at him. " when you get her radio in and we will pick you up from the hut, okay?" The pilot shouted to make sure he was heard over the roar of the load engines that had been built by the department of science. Pepper nodded. " okay." He replied, seeming to have calmed down now. They moved through the forest until the were not even ten meters from Zecora's hut. "Is everypony in position?" Pepper asked on his radio. "Team one in position." "Team three in position." ... There was no reply from team two. They all waited for team two to get in position. Then, after a minute which seemed like ages they replied. "Team two in position, sorry for the wait gentlecolts." "Okay, team four moving towards the target." Pepper moved his team towards the hut. "Sparkle, Twist, you're both coming in with me, the rest of you, cover the surroundings." The three ponies bucked down the door and Burst in, rifles ready to fire. "Don't move Zecora!" Pepper demanded. "I will obey, what ever you say." She rhymed. "Sparkle, Twist, check the rooms. Argyle get in here and secure her." Pepper ordered. Sparkle and Twist shortly returned. "There's nothing suspicious here." Twist added. Pepper nodded. "Okay, good." He walked out the hut and threw a smoke grenade on the ground which bellowed out purple smoke. Two minutes later the dropship had landed in front of them and the loaded Zecora on then got on themselves. "Buckle up, next stop, Canterlot Castle." Said the pilot. They lifted of the ground and the engines rotated from vertical to horizontal to power it through the air. They were soon joined by the other three dropships. The flight was quiet, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky. BANG! The was a loud explosion as the last dropship dropped out of the sky in a giant fireball like a tonne of bricks. "We have two zebra dropships on our rear!" Explained the pilot, looking very panicked. "Well let's have them then!" Pepper was more than angry at this point, he just lost twelve of his platoon. BANG! Another ship was destroyed. "Kill them now!" Pepper shouted getting even angrier. The second, or now rear dropship banked right, swinging round behind one of the zebra ships and fire a long burst of 20mm high explosive rounds into its hull, ripping it to pieces sending it straight into the ground below. "Yea, that's what I'm talking about!" Pepper cheered, but as he did the second zebra ship dived from above firing at the rear ship, shredding its wings. It exploded and tumbled to the ground. But the pilot was still alive as it fell. "Mayday, mayday. DR3 is hit. I repeat we are hit. We're goi-...". Silence. Peppers ship was the only one left. Pepper watched it fall to the ground, then looked up to see that the zebra ship was right behind them. He could see the zebra pilots face. They looked each other in the eye. "Warning, missile lock detected!" Came a voice from the ships A.I system. The ship jolted but managed to stay up, smoke bellowing from his ship, the instruments stopped working and fluid was spraying out off pipes. "Warning, missile lock detected!" The A.I repeated. " deploying countermeasures. Countermeasures not functioning." Warning incoming mis-..." The ship jolted again. All power was lost. They dropped from the sky. Zecora began to mumble chants to herself and nopony seemed to notice. Pepper looked through the cockpit window as the ground crept closer and closer. At the last second a pink sphere surrounded her, Pepper, Argyle, Sparkle and Twist. The ship hit the ground and came to a halt just out side Ponyville where a small number of six platoon were patrolling. They had seen it fall from the sky and rushed to the crash site, unaware of why it had crashed. They pulled Pepper our first and as they did so, he awoke. "Where is it?" He mumbled, still dazed and vision blurred. His head was spinning. "Where's wh-..." He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was ripped to shreds by the zebra ship. Peppers face was sprayed with his blood. He wiped his eyes and dragged himself to his hooves. The othe soldier ponies had began to fire back, but were obliterated by a hail of small rockets. He scrambled to find his rifle, picked it up in his mouth and opened fire. Bullets bounced off its hull. The ships canon turned to face Pepper and opened fire. "Argh!" He jumped to the side and burst through the door of a near by house. He looked through the window to see a rocket coming towards the house. It hit and exploded. Rubble went everywhere. He got up to find that the zebra drop ship had landed and four zebras had got out and moved to the wreckage. One zebra poked his head in through the side. BANG! A shot echoed as the zebra dropped th the floor. The othe three got in and dragged out Twist, who had fired the shot. Pepper watched in horror as they put Twists own weapon to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through one side and out of the other. "Nooooooo!" Pepper shouted as loud as he could, but instantly realised the mistake he had made. "He's still alive. Kill the pony scum." Commanded one of the zebras, and as he said it a hail of bullets hit what was left of the house that Pepper had taken refuge in. Pepper scrambled to his hooves and scurried to the back of the house. The back door was locked. He bucked it down with all the strength he could gather. He galloped round the back of the house and stopped at the end of the wall. He could see the wreckage and it wasn't to far. "If I'm quiet then they won't notice me." He thought to himself as he began to sneak towards it. He looked inside, there was blood everywhere. The was a cough. Argyle woke up. "Where are we, is everypony okay?" He asked, still dazed. "Don't worry about that yet, come on." Pepper dragged him out and put his rifle in his battle saddle. The zebras were moving towards the house. One turned and saw them both. "Their behind us." One of the zebras shouted. The turn and began to shoot at Pepper and Argyle. Argyle fired back, but Pepper noticed the Zecora was still breathing. He dragged her out and pulled her behind the wreckage where they had taken cover. The zebra ship began to take off. Pepper and Argyle simultaneously ran out of bullets. "So this is the end?" Argyle commented. The zebras crept closer and the ship came round ready to fire. Then came a hissing sound. "What's that?" Pepper questioned. BANG! And rocket had hit the zebra ship. Then BANG! A second hit. It jolted to the right then fell to the ground exploding in a huge fireball. The out of nowhere another dropship appeared and its canon opened up on the three zebras. The ship landed. "Get over here!" Came a familiar voice. The three of the trotted over. It was Major Flash. "You look like you've been to the moon and back comet." He commented. It took him a moment to realise he was taking to him as everypony was known by their last name. "Tell me about it." Pepper replied getting on board. "You lot took your time." "Yea sorry about that." Flash responded. "Well at least we got Zecora." They began to take off when there was a loud sound. Argyle looked. "What's that?" He asked as a dropship came into view. But it wasn't a normal one. This one was a lot longer and wider. It had four engines instead of two. "That's a cargo-ship. It can carry a large amount of cargo or troops wherever they're needed." Flash replied. "Now it will be bringing a small team to recover our fallen brothers and the ship so they can be transported back to a work shop." "Ah, makes sense. I'm gunna get some sleep, let me know when we get to the castle." Pepper shouted trying to be heard over the engines. Argyle nodded at him and Pepper closed his eyes.
Loosing Equestria"ETA, 30 seconds!" Announced the pilot. Pepper woke up, looked around then realized where he was. They were approaching Canterlot castle. "Here we are." Captain Buck announced looking at Pepper who then turned to face Argyle. Argyle was cut in several places all over, his coat was matted with a mixture of sweat and blood and he didn't smell good either. Argyle looked back at him and threw him a weak smile. they landed quite hard with a loud THUMP! "Let's go, the princess will be waiting inside for us." Buck announced as he jumped off the dropship taking Zecora with him. They walked through a giant set of metal doors guarded by two unicorn guards armed with what looked like power lances. they were silvery in colour with what looked like a spring that coiled around the main body of it. It also had a sharp blade on one end and the whole glowed with a ghoulishly green light. "I've never seen anything like that that, must some magical weapon of some sort." he thought to himself. They arrived in a large room. it had a walkway that went straight down the middle of the room which led to another smaller set of double doors. there was large pillars placed at regular intervals along both sides of the room and in between them were beautiful stained glass windows showing the history of Equestria so far. The next room was a lot smaller and only had one plain window with metal bars across it. There was a table in the middle of the room where princess Celestia was stood. They all bowed before her. "Thank you my loyal subjects." she turned to Zecora. "It's nice to see you again." "It's nice to see you too, how may i be of service to you?" Zecora replied in her usual rhyming manner. "I had you picked up for your own safety, as you saw on your way here we aren't the only ones who are interested in your company." Celestia explained. "Yes i saw, but i knew you were coming before." she continued to rhyme. "however, you are aware of our situation with the zebras, so you can imagine why we brought you in." Celestia continued. Zecora looked at everypony, then down at the floor. Everypony looked at her in confusion. She began to chant words that made no sense quietly to herself. "Zecora, are you ok?" Celestia asked and within moments Zecora was gone. "what the..." captain Buck turned to the princess. "she's used a teleportation spell. Find her!" she ordered as guards began rushing around. Argyle tried opening the door they had came in through. "It's locked" he said. "stand back!" announced the princess. her horn began to glow and she fired a beam at the door. however it just reflected back at her, missing her neck by millimetres. "I have an idea" Argyle commented. "Go on..." Buck encouraged. Argyle went over to the window and placed a rectangular object on the floor. "Excuse me princess, could you cover use with a safety shield or something please?" he asked. "Um... Okay." she replied unsure of what he planned to do. He detonated the explosive destroying the wall. They made there way over to the hole in the wall, but were halted by the fact that there was a big drop to the floor. A really big drop. "Okay, me and the princess could fly you both down to the floor." Argyle suggested. but as he did so, a zebra dropship appeared with its cannons pointed at them. The cannons spun up and began to fire. As they did princess Celestia managed to raise her force field just in time. The rounds bounced off. but this was a zebra dropship and spells were standard. these were no normal rounds, they had been casted with extra strength and power. the field began to crack. "I can't hold it much longer." Celestia announced, her face was straining, going red as she struggled to hold the field. Buck pushed the three of them out of the way as it was about to break. A long burst of rounds punctured his armour, piercing his body. Blood sprayed everywhere. the shooting stopped and he dropped to the floor. "no!" Pepper rushed over to his body. the ship had turned around and began to move to find its next victims. Celestia got her balance, her horn began to glow. the dropship stopped in mid-air then started moving back towards them, surrounded by her magic. She dragged it close enough for Pepper and Argyle to jump on board and kill every zebra. they threw the bodies out the side and gained control of the ship. Celestia got on board then slid the side door closed. "What now?" Argyle asked. "We take the princess to her bunker, but any zebra we kill on the way are a bonus." Pepper replied looking at the princess for conformation. her only reply was a nodd. "Do you know how to fly one one of these though?" Argyle Asked. Pepper looked at him, giving him a sinister smile. There's a first time for everything." Pepper said. Argyle looked very worried at this point. Pepper pressed some buttons an moved the joystick. the dropship shot forward. A zebra ship flew past in the opposite direction. Pepper swung the ship around and gave chase. He looked for the trigger for the cannon, but instead found the button that fired plasma rockets. A missile from each side of the ship flew past the coppit and punctured the rear of the zebra dropship. Nothing had happened. Pepper was confused. there was a sudden bright green flash as the missiles exploded without a sound. the ship and its occupants were engulfed by green goo, melting everything inside and it dropped to the floor like a rock. "AWESOME!" Pepper shouted, overjoyed by his new toy. "We need to create weapons to counter these zebra weapons and we need to get everypony into the stables before we loose a lot of innocent ponies." Princess Celestia announced. "But we need to get you to safety first." Argyle stated. Pepper hadn't even noticed they were talking. He was too amazed by this weaponry and was ready to kill more zebras with it. Their journey to the bunker saw no more zebras. They headed to a giant metal door hidden in the side of a cliff that the princess had pointed out. "Royal bunker, this is Pepper Comet. We are approaching with the princess, open the door." There was no reply. He repeated himself. Still no reply. Then a hail of gunfire came from one of the bunkers air defence turrets that had appeared out from the side of the cliff. "They've taken the bunker." Argyle spoke in disbelief. Pepper swung the ship around but the rear was shredded by the gun and broke apart from the dropship and it began to fall out of the sky. "Not again!" Pepper shouted in anger. Princess Celestia wrapped him with her telekinesis and flew out the side of the ship, followed by Argyle. They stretched their wings and glided softly to the ground.he felt sick to his stomach. "Warn me next time you plan to do that." Pepper commented. She looked at him and giggled. "Where are we now princess?" questioned Argyle. "We're not far from a place called Sweet Apple Acres, i know the pony that owns the farm personally. Im sure she can help us out." she commented. "okay, lead the way princess." Pepper said still feeling uneasy. They followed the princess for awhile but they soon saw fields after fields of apple trees, in the centre of it all was a beautifully painted red and white barn and a small house next to it. when they got to the barn, Celestia called out. "A.J!" "Just a moment" replied a voice from the barn. A few moments later a orange pony with a yellow mane and three apples for a cutie mark appeared from behind the door. She instantly bowed for the princess. "Thank you, we are in some trouble, zebras are taking over, our transport has be shot down and my body guards here.." she said as she looked at Pepper and Argyle with a smile "...have lost their weapons in the crash. We were wondering if you could help us?" "Sure thing princess, i can help Y'all. Just follow me." the orange pony replied. they followed her back into the barn and down into the basement. there was along corridor that ended with a metal door with a hoof pad. The orange pony out her hoof on it and the door opened. they walked onto a balcony which over looked a large room. The room was well lit and was full of machines, ponybots, conveyor belts, working ponies, work benches and a lot of weapons. Pepper rubbed his eyes. "Whoa this place is awesome!" He commented "Thanks." the orange pony replied. "Get me an assault rifle and a sniper rifle with a battle saddle." within minutes she had been given what she had asked for. She gave the assault rifle to Pepper which he held with the magic from his horn and fitted Argyle with the battle saddle and fitted the sniper rifle. "im sorry princess, but i don't have any transportation for y'all, but your free to stay the night." "That's okay, thank you and i'm afraid we must go on." "Thats ok, now if y'all will excuse me, i have prototypes to build." the orange pony replied and trotted off. They turned around and left the way they had came in. They had been traveling for a while, when they met up with a platoon of soldiers from the Luna guard. When they saw the princess they all bowed. "Thank you, we need your help." she said to the closest pony. "you're going to have to speak to major Pip your majesty." the soldier pony replied pointing a hoof to a tent. "Thank you." she addressed him. "You two best wait out here." she told Pepper and Argyle as she went into the tent. Pepper turned to Argyle. "Who was that orange pony at that barn? And what was with the weapons factory she had?" Pepper asked, keeping his voice down. "I'm not sure, maybe you should ask the princess." Argyle suggested. "Good idea." As he spoke the princess came out with a depressed look on her face. "What's wrong princess?" Argyle asked. she looked at him. "We are loosing the war. We are loosing thousands. Princess Cadance and her husband Shining Armour are dead. We are loosing Equestria." They looked at each other shocked. They then turned to face the princess. "No we're not!" called a voice from behind. They turned around, stood there was major Pip with his soldiers behind him. "Its not lost until we are gone, and we're still here ready to fight!" he continued. princess Celestia looked up at him and nodded. "Okay, we need to get everypony into the stables, radio whoever's left and allocate them a town to get ponies into the nearest stables." she announced. One pony began talking with lots of other ponies over the radio who began working immediately. "We move in a minute, we have a stable in Ponyville to fill." she looked over to the radio pony. "Let Apple Jack know that she needs to get to the Ponyville stable." the princess added and the radio pony nodded in acknowledgment. Their journey to Ponyville didn't take long and they started getting ponies into the stables as soon as they got there. Pepper look at the princess. "Excuse me, princess?" he asked. "yes Pepper." she replied. "Who was that orange pony and what was with that weapons factory under her barn?" "Well, her name is Apple Jack and she is in charge of the weapons development department which works alongside the department of science, and yes that was her weapons factory where the best most advanced weapons are made, the the one you have now." "Ah, i see." he replied. Hours had passed. The radio pony approached the princess. "Reports back say that all the stables have now been filled and ours only has a few ponies left to go in." "Good" she replied. Argyle approached them. "Where have you been?" Pepper asked him. Argyle looked at the princess. "I've just been with major Pip and he says that the zebras plan to attack us." Argyle explained. Princess Celestia ordered the stable door to be shut. She looked to Pepper. "we must hold them back." she said. "Of course." Pepper replied. She turned to major Pip who had just came over. "Start setting up defences and get in touch with Apple Jack, she should be here by now." Celestia ordered. "We've tried but had no reply." "Well keep trying." she demanded, getting quite stressed with the whole situation. soldier ponies began rushing around setting up the defences. "Don't worry, we'll take Equestria back and win the war." Pepper reassured her. "I hope you're right." Hours had once again passed. silence. nothing but silence as they waited for the attack. The atmosphere felt eerie. But they soon got what they were waiting for. BANG! there was a loud explosion close to Pepper. He dropped to cover. "That was close!" he shouted. BANG! Another explosion, a little closer this time. Then silence again. "What is that?" Pepper looked into the distance. he looked to his left, and right, then forward again.he saw a flash from the distance then, BANG! The explosion destroyed the front of a house. He looked again. "Incoming, five zebra hover tanks and a lot of zebras on hoof. Take cover!" Pepper shouted. BANG! Explosions were going off everywhere. Pepper was the first to return fire. "Take out those tanks!" Argyle ordered. Two unicorn soldiers picked up a rocket launcher with the magic from their horns. They went to the second floor of a house and looking out the window, they fired a missile hitting the lead tank. BOOM! It went up in a ball of colourful flames. "What have they got in them tanks?" Pepper asked to himself. the second tank stopped, aimed the turret at the two unicorns with the rocket launcher and fired. The building was destroyed taking the two unicorns with it. Princess Celestia was firing magic beams from her horn, taking out a few zebras, when she was stuck by a zebra sniper and she fell to the floor. Argyle was flying above and saw the sniper. Using his rifle he shot him through the head then saw the princess. "The princess is down." The four hover tanks and hundreds of zebra soldiers were closing in. The Luna guards were being taken out one by one. "Looks like it's the end pal." Pepper looked down as Argyle landed next to him and the princess. "Theres still hope." princess Celestia muttered. there was a roar from behind. a large drop ship flew over and then explosions started going off left, right and centre. Three or the Four remaining tanks were destroyed and they lost a lot of zebra soldiers. The drop ship landed in front of Peppers position. "It looked like y'all needed a hoof!" came a familiar voice. They saw it was Apple Jack as she jumped out of the ship. "We're so glad to see you!" Argyle was relieved, they had a chance again. Around fifty ponies poured out the back of the ship firing lasers, bullets, rockets, fire, everything they had. they destroyed the last tank and the majority of the remaining zebra soldiers. What was left seemed to give up and surrender. They were captured and everypony grouped up ready for a second wave. A second drop ship landed. A beautiful figure jumped out and galloped over. "Princess Luna!" Pepper shouted. "Where is my sister?" she asked. Pepper blushed. he had always had a huge crush on her. "She's over there." he lead he to Celestia. Princess Luna was carrying a black box. Her and Celestia had a quiet word. They opened the box and pressed a button each. They didn't look happy. there was a loud rumbling sound and the ground shook. "That can't be good." Pepper looked around for the source. "There." Argyle pointed a hoof to the sky. There were loads of balls of light heading towards the sky. "Princess, whats happening?" Pepper asked. Celestia looked at Luna who then replied. "We have confirmed that a large number of nuclear spell missiles have and are estimated to strike the whole of Equestria." Pepper looked up, then back down. Hearing a similar rumbling noise, he looked up and watched as many differently coloured balls of light fell to the surface. there was a bright light that forced him to look away for a moment, looking back he saw a cloud appear. It was very high and resembled the shape of a mushroom. He watched as a wall of dust and debris crept closer and closer. he closed his eyes as hit hit him and everything around him.
