The Lima barrier steadily moved forward, the farm buildings and wheat being steadily vaporized as it progressed. The pony guards moved steadily behind it, killing any surviving humans that had not evacuated when the order came down. These people had hoped to ride out the storm in there homes, not realizing the ultimate result of failing to heed the repeated warning given by the UN and Peru's government. The Barrier continued to move steadily, at a pace of half a mile an hour.
The Human soldiers, marked as part of the UNSC, United Nations Security council, or Frontline, a private military corporation, were setting up on the city limits of Lima. Elements of the Lima SWAT were also present, asked to assist the PMC and UN forces when the barrier fell. A mile wide battle line, composed of entrenched Butcher Tanks and large numbers of infantry, remained fixated on the approaching barrier and the forces behind it.
The barrier continued to approach, larger numbers of guards joining the ranks of the ones already at the front. Their steel spears and golden armor were glistening in the afternoon sun, gleaming brightly. Some dripped with the blood of those unlucky enough to be caught behind the barrier.
The Barrier soon came within the firing zone designated for heavy artillery. In the nearby mountains, the Artillery regiments had finally finished setting up. The heavy artillery, was a collection of UN Plasma launchers and Frontline tactical laser cannons. Intermixed with them was numerous MLRS and Self Propelled guns. The Artillery spotter, a mild aged man with a mustache, dressed in the uniform of a UNSC officer, held a handheld radio up to his ear. A gruff voice came through, relaying the order.
"Fire at Will."
The man took the radio from his ear, dropping it on a table. He grabbed a whistle, and raised his hand, keeping the fingers together. A tense second passed, and all of a sudden, the officer pointed his hand at the barrier and blew the whistle. After what seemed like a mere millisecond, a series of deafening roars sounded all across the mountainside, as a massive wall of red, blue and orange rose from the San Antonio district.
The roar made it all the way to the battle line, and to the barrier, both Human and Pony alike flinching at the unimaginably loud noise. Only mere seconds after the sound, the artillery fell from the heavens, parting the clouds and smashing into the barrier with fiery explosions. With each impact, cracks formed in the barrier. After a whole minute of artillery bombardment, the sheer force of the attack finally destroyed the Lima barrier. Like glass, it shattered into billions of tiny pieces and rained down on the Equestrians. Though the fact that the barrier was magic, prevented it from having any sort of physical effective on the pony guards. Many of them were now nervous, some were scared.
The advance of the ponies halted for a moment, before a loud "Charge!" suddenly flew from the back ranks of the guard. The ponies instantly broke into a charge, their spears held out as they rushed towards the entrenched human forces.
The UN commander shouted out a "Fire!", and the line of human troops sent a torrent of Laser fire and bullets soaring through the air, cutting down dozens of ponies in seconds. The survivors took cover behind farm buildings and equipment. Those who took to hiding behind cars and equipment however were not as lucky as those who where wise enough to hide behind actual buildings. Lasers and bullets would often strike fuel tanks, setting them ablaze and blowing the cars, and those near them, to hell.
Despite the shock and sheer ass kicking the human forces had delivered to the ponies in a matter of three minutes, now they had partially recovered. The Unicorns began to fire back, using there magic capabilities to fire laser-like projectiles at the line. Several infantry men were unlucky, stupid, or just in a bad place at a bad time, as many of them were cut down by the magical beam weapons.
The exchange of fire continued, neither side trying to advance. Laser and bullet alike tore through the meager golden armor of the ponies easily, the bodies being mutilated as metal and laser tore them apart. As the battle dragged on, casualties racked up on both sides. While the humans had managed to use there technology to their advantage, they had yet to develop an effective counter to magic other than gunpowder and energy weapons. Almost an hour in, the pony forces began to retreat from their positions, the ones in the back running first, then the ones in the center, then the ones up front started running. many were gunned down snipers and infantry men, some were even more unlucky and butchered by the appropriately named tanks, as there canister shells tore through entire groups of them, and others were incinerated by HE projectiles.
It seemed to the UN commander that they had won, but before he could order the troops to go after the guards, he was blinded temporarily by a bright flash of light. The entire line was blinded for a moment, as a blinding white light appeared and vanished in almost an instant.
When his vision finally recovered, he looked towards the source of the light, expecting something completely different from what he say. He had thought he would of seen a mushroom cloud, thinking that only a Shiva could create such a light. He was wrong.
Very, Very wrong.
In the distance, a massive army of Equestrian guardsmen, possibly in the hundred thousands, was marching towards the Lima Line. Banners symbolizing Equestria waved above them, and Pegasi warriors were soaring over the immense army, heading straight for the line.
A tank gunner, who had been inside the tank when the detonation occurred, poked his head through the hatch and gave out a loud and angry scream.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! SHOOT THE FUCKERS!"
This time, the entire line fired. Tanks and Infantry alike were now unleashing a renewed barrage of fire against the ponies, but now they were met with stiffer resistance than before. Much stiffer. Unicorns fired back with there magic beam weapons, purple, blue and white lances of energy erupting from the advancing ranks of pony soldiers. Unicorns held magical barriers in the front ranks of the Equestrian guard, there shielding absorbing the immense punishment. Many however broke, exposing entire sections of the pony force to fire before the shields could be replaced by other unicorns.
The Pegasi were coming up close, spears of there own held in throwing positions.
In the back of the line, held in entrenched positions, were numerous men with MPADS(Man-portable air-defense systems) began to lock onto their choice targets. Other men where manning entranced Rapid Launch Flak guns. Once the order came down, the AA unleashed its fury.
Explosions filled the air, as missiles streaked and collided with the pegasi, atomizing many of them instantly. Others, who got caught in the flak, were not as lucky. many of them were killed by the explosions, or got knocked out, hitting the ground at, in some cases, terminal velocity.
Shrapnel shredded them, and within only a couple of minutes, the pegasus forces were wiped out almost entirely.
The Front rank of the pony force was now only have a mile out, and they were now rushing full on against the Human line. The Commander of the joint forces gave the retreat order. The units in the back of the task force were the first to retreat, packing up all the heavy equipment. Then, the forces on the front fell back. The landmines they had planted prior to the battle would serve to slow down the ponies long enough to get into pre-established positions within the city.
As the infantry and tanks high tailed it away from the line, the commanders set thermite to any of the devices that remained. Ponies had been observed to try and take and use human weapons and equipment in the past, one great example being their failed attack on American Samoa. They would not allow such a thing to happen here, as they were already disadvantaged. As they ran from the base, fleeing by speeder, Humvee, or foot, the explosions from the bombs and fires caused by the Thermite tore through the prefab structures that made up the fire base, melting anything inside.
Several minutes passed. The troops had regrouped and consolidated at the lines. The Ponies had only moments ago ran into the mine field, and hundreds of them were blown asunder by the land mines. This had halted there advance for a moment, but after about 7 minutes of clearing the landmines ahead of them, they were now advancing again. They would soon enter into Lima, and when they did they would start splitting up and trying to route the humans from the city.
An entire area of the city was deserted, by design.
Command had anticipated a flash assault like this before. Several instances of this had occurred. Its how Australia lost Sydney at the start of the war, so because of this they had ordered the forces sent to this area to set up fixed positions in the city for if we had to fall back from the line on the city limits. The force of three thousand soldiers and around 45 tanks were now spread out through the northern and western portions of the city. However, a collective force of a thousand were set to the east and west. They would swing to the south and close off the escape for the ponies. Command had something special in mind for dealing with this particular force of them.
The Artillery regiment had been ordered on standby, waiting for coordinates from the spotters they had with the forces in the city.
They were told of a plan to bring them into a area designated for a massive shelling by artillery, both land based and sea based.
Elements of Peru's navy were waiting off shore in destroyers, prepared to bomb the shit out of the inner city once the enemy was within the attack area and the order was given.
At 4:00PM, the enemy entered the city. It was not until 5:31PM that they actually encountered any fixed positions. After fifteen minutes of battle, the side forces finally made their sweep to the south and launched their attack. Within 20 minutes, the route of retreat for the ponies was cut off by nearly 900 soldiers.
In the city center, a group of demolitions specialists had placed enough plastic explosives to bring down a block worth of skyscrapers in a group of large high rises. They even went so far as to include the Lima Trade Center in their work. Once around 40,000 of them had entered the area, tallied by troops in the nearby smaller buildings, they blew the charges.
The deafening explosions boomed across the city, and the sound of steel supports and concrete shattering was accompanied by the collapse of many of the city's skyscrapers. The plumes of dust rose high into the air, blocking out the sun. As the buildings fell and collided with the ground, they killed countless ponies. Entire high rises, going as high as 70 floors up, smashed entire blocks worth of Equestrian guards.
This was when the bombardment began. The five Peruvian destroyers opened there bombardment, sending High Explosive shells into the city center, hammering the trapped pony forces. The Artillery regiment in the San Antonio district was now adding their fury to the now growing inferno in the city center.
Minutes passed as the explosions rippled through the area, and then hours. The artillery barrage died out, stopping at 11:34PM.
The forces of the UN and Frontline began pushing into the deeper city areas, where the bombardment had leveled most of the area.
The Pony forces had been mostly devastated. Thousands of them were dead, and the dying were put down.
However, once the smoke had finally cleared, a barrier was spotted. This one was not expanded however, so it was deemed a lower priority issue. Pony forces trying to make it to the Barrier were hunted down by the forces of the Humans, slaughtered by the Butchers and the infantry that followed them. Soon enough the forces in the city reported at least 50 thousand dead hostiles. However, there casualties had racked up to. Just like before they had lost a great number of soldiers, be it to there own artillery miss firing, or from a pony's spear or beam.
Intelligence from a drone's fly by, provided by the Peruvian military, was that a pony deity, specifically an Alicorn, had survived the barrage and established a barrier that spanned a 4 block radius. The Alicorn, was a dark blue with black and blue regalia. An Alicorn Princess. Command had not anticipated the arrival of an Alicorn on the battlefield, and thus they were not prepared to deal with this level of a threat.
The Peruvian Navy was now leaving, their ammunition was depleted. They also sent word of the approach of the primary barrier. This one was moving fairly quickly, 14 miles per day. That was bad news.
Lima was in its direct path, and if the enemy was not eliminated here, they would have no choice but to carpet nuke the entirety of coastal Peru, and launch a nuclear attack against the barrier.
The combined force of UN and Frontline troops consolidated at what was designated grid square 5, just outside the barrier. There forces hammered it with artillery and AP, eventually breaking it down and causing it to shatter like the larger one. The Surviving pony forces, all 24,000+ of them, fought to protect the Princess. They fought valiantly, but in the end the effort was futile. The Humans had lost nearly 2500 soldiers, and the ponies 24000+.
A brief firefight erupted between the forces of the UN/Frontline, and the princess and her surviving guards. They were all put down. The princess however was dealt with differently.
A sniper fired a AP round from a dragoon class sniper rifle, scoring a lucky shot and taking off the Alicorns horn, effectively stopping the use of magic. Another shot blew holes in both of her wings, and the solders quickly restrained her. However, the barrier was now to close.
UN Command ordered the forces away from the Peruvian coastline, into the Brazilian Amazon. Luna was brought with them, taken to a Military base in Europe days later.
The Attack was launched only an hour after the forces in the area were away from the AOE. The North American nuclear arsenal was turned against the barrier. 30 Nuclear weapons were launched from Texas, Nevada, and California. Mere minutes after launch, they destroyed the entirety of the Peruvian coast and a Lima as a whole.
Five nukes was all it took to irradiate the Peruvian coast, the other 25 were directed to the barrier, cracking it along there impact points.
After the twentieth nuke hit, the barrier fell. The last 5, impacted into the pacific ocean. The fallout if carried straight into Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and lower Brazil. DECON units managed to decontaminate effected areas, but deaths and cancer rates rose regardless. A cloud of steam also covered the area for several weeks.
Equestria was deeply effected by these events, sparking the opening of the Equestrian Civil war, fought between the Loyalist faction, loyal to Celestia and Luna, and the Separatists, who sought to return to Equus, their original homeworld, and give up on the war of Conversion.
And Despite the ultimate outcome of the battle, with the Destruction of most of Peru's coastline and the total annihilation of Lima and Peru's other coastal cities, this battle was considered a Pyrrhic victory. With the capture of Luna, they now had a valuable source of information they could exploit, and hopefully this would allow mankind to win their war for survival.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading.