"Stand fast, guards! Stand fast!" Shouted Captain Sidewinder with magically amplified voice as bolt after explosive energy bolt battered against the shields covering 'The Bastion', Equestria’s most famous fortress. that have held back countless waves of hostiles throughout the history, from the horde of diamond dogs in a time before history, the Swarm of changelings, and now, the warped, Chaos ponies.

Not once have The Bastion failed to protect Equestria from harm both Foreign, or Domestic.

Every attack on it has been repelled, broken and routed. It has the best Shield specialists on the duty, rumored to be able to handle anything thrown at them, even by Celestia herself!
The bombardment stopped, and for a moment there was silence. Unicorns panted, Guardsponies darted their eyes around to see where the next attack will come from.

"Hah! Is that the best the Daemon Princess of Lies can come up with!? Pathetic!" Sidewinder taunted.

Then there was a distant whistling. A white burst of cloudy smokes exploded above their shields, flowing down gently, pulled by gravity.

"What's this? They decided to attack us with Smoke and Clouds!? They're right! She truly has gone mad!" Sidewinder laughed as the odorless clouds descended upon them. The others were starting to feel a little less tense, thanks to their Captain's continuous taunts at the enemy.

Sidewinder felt something in his eyes then, he reached up to wipe it to see what it was, and it was tears. That was strange, why is he tearing up? He tries to wipe his eyes some more but found himself suddenly losing his balance. He had to quickly place his hoof down, his legs spread out in a steady stance, and he tried to keep himself standing as he felt a tightness in his chest. His nose started to run and his mouth began to drool. He didn't understand what was going on, and the proud captain struggled just to keep standing, as if he were a newborn foal. He looked around, seeing his prized Legion of Guards begin to collapse. Some curled up, some convulsed in pain as their eyes watered, their noses ran and their mouths drooled.

Sidewinder tried to blink the tears away, tried to call a spell to memory, but nothing came to him, He couldn't even blink. The nerves in his eyes had fused, forcing him to look on as the ponies under his command moaned and groaned in agony. As pain the likes of which nopony could even imagine assaulted their every nerves, he lost control, soiling and wetting himself like a foal. Around him, so did the others.

It was agonizing. He couldn't move anymore, his legs were locked in the stance that he took as every nerve in his body rapidly decayed and melted down or fused to his muscles. “What kind of weapon is this?”, he thought to himself. “Something of such cruelty..”

"It... It t'aint fair.." He managed to choke out his last words as he felt his throat squeeze. His lungs pushed out the last of his breath.

Captain Sidewinder died, standing his ground. Despite the inconceivable pain of having every nerve in his body destroyed, despite seeing his entire legion died drooling and soiling themselves like mewling foals, despite the faces locked in anguish, the proud captain died standing his ground.

At the other end of the battlefield, beside an array of use a better adjective large artillery pieces, Twilight lowered her binoculars and smiled a pleased but sadistic smile. She muttered under her breath.

"Where is your Goddess now?"

Author's Note

This one was almost uncomfortable to write. And was even more vivid in my mind.

Thoughts?