The last soldier

"So, according to your research, if she gets to the city, she will move from the coast and to the Summerstorm Festival. Right?"

"Sure it is! As Chrysalis consumes large amounts of love to keep herself living, she will go to the festival, driven crazy from hunger. This is the biggest event happening in this year, so she would probably notice it."

Our train is arriving to Manehattan. Even from the outskirts of it, everyone can see its skyscrapers, an enormous bridge, and its wide streets. And after some time of rolling into the city, the train stops at a huge trainstation.

"Alright, listen up, everyone! Pack your belongings and roll out!"

And while everyone packs up, me and Spike are going to the cargo compartment of the train to get our offroader out.

"Hey, Spike?"

"What's up, Sid?"

"What is the Summerstorm Festival, anyway? Twilight has told me that it's held in Manehattan every year, but didn't really tell me, what it is."

The little dragon chuckles a bit.

"You see, Manehattan is quite a big city, and it's hard to keep a good weather control all across it. So, in this particular time, pegasi from Cloudsdale come, and give citizens a good show, while it rains like at the end of world. Sometimes even Wonderbolts take part in it."

"And citizens like it?"

"Well, pretty much yes!"

"Ugh... I prefer dry and hot weather myself."

As we get into the car, I quickly familiarize myself with the controls. After that, I turn the ignition on, and the machine starts its engine. As it's very loud, Spike is shocked a bit.

"Woah! That's too loud!"

"Don't complain, that's not a limo!"

After a minute of warming up, we're rolling out from the train and meet with others. As Rainbow Dash decides to stay in the air, everyone else get inside the car. Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight are sharing the back seats, while Starlight, Applejack and Pinkie are holding on to the rollcage. And, as everyone gets in, we start our way into the Manehattan. However, after a few minutes of driving, I stop the car.

"Why did we stop?"

"Rarity... There's noone around."

I get out of the car, and look around. And there is nobody on the street! As this makes me nervous, I take my helmet and tactical vest from the cargo bay.

"I don't like this..."

"Cider... Something tells me that our enemy is here. We are late."

That statement downs my mood a bit. I can even feel my right eye twitching from nervousness. However, I am still full of confidence.

"Alright, it's too early to panic. If she's around here somewhere, it will be easier to find her... Rainbow, Twilight -- you'll do air recon, while the rest will go in a car to the festival, as the most probable point of... HER appearence. If you can make sure that you'll be able to find us in case of anything, of course."

"Let's do it! Come on, Twilight!"

As Rainbow and Twilight ascend above the city, I nervously take the RPD and ammo belts. I go back into the car and lie them down near myself, just in case.

"Alright... Rarity, show us the route. Everyone else -- look out for anything strange."

A very heavy silence is being torn apart by the sound of a car engine, as we ride down the streets. I've seen a few of abandoned cities during my army service, but Manehattan leaves a very different feeling. Usually you see ruins, dust, trash... But not a clean, enormous in size and absolutely empty megapolis. And everything looks so clean and shiny, that I even have to put on my goggles with colorfilterfilter. And the heat is very intense, too -- even in a car with no roof, everyone's literally being cooked up. The tension is so strong, that the surroundings even look surreal. Heat waves flow upwards from the hot tharmac (or whatever these ponies use to build their roads), and even with goggles, it's really hard to focus on the surroundings. However, at some point a loud sound of breaking glass shatters the reality, and my reflexes kick in. I push the gas pedal to the metal, and with a burned rubber, our car shots forward. As I look at the rearview mirror, I see that something's fallen from the third floor of a nearby building. And that "something" was big and black.

"It's her! E-e-ek!"

I can barely hear Fluttershy's voice, but I immideately realise that we've finally found our enemy. So, I hit a handbrake, and with screeching tires, stop the car.

"GET OUT AND COVER! SPIKE, TAKE THE AMMO BOXES!"

"On my wa-a-ay!"

While the little dragon is struggling with heavy pieces of metal, I lie down behind the car and load an ammo belt into my RPD. As I take a sneak peek from behind our improvised cover, I can see HER advancing. As there is no time for admiring her look, I put the machine gun on a car's bonnet and start shooting towards our enemy.

"It's Chrysalis! Everyone, stick behind me!"

"We need to get Twilight and Rainbow!"

As I start shooting towards Chrysalis, I slightly hit her in the leg. She almost falls down, but manages to create some sort of a greenish barrier with her magic, that deflects the rest of my shots. Right after that, she speeds up towards us, like she's not ingured by the bullet. I start to shoot again, and she stops, creating a forcefield for another time.

"Listen up, everyone! I will provide cover, while Fluttershy speeds away to find Twilight and Rainbow! We will distract Chrysalis, but I don't know, for how long! Fluttershy, do you understand?!"

"I-I... *gulp* I'll do it!"

"In three! Two! One! GO-GO-GO, MOVE!"

I look from the cover and release a considerable amount of bullets towards covered Chrysalis, so she couldn't get up. Behind the shots, I can hear a flapping of the wings, and I start to shoot in bursts, to save ammo. However, it gives Chrysalis a bit more time to maneuver, so she tries to advance. Checking that Fluttershy has gone from everyone's sight, I stand up.

"Pinkie, AJ, listen up! Starlight and me are going to cover you, while you'll run towards her into close combat! Rarity, take one ammo belt from the box! Spike, lay the boxes into the car! On my mark!"

I take a quick look at everyone. Pinkie and Applejack are standing in low-start stance, Rarity's struggling with the belt, Spike gathers the metal to trow it into the car, and Starlight comes near me, charging her horn.

"FIRE!"

Me and Starlight start to shoot rapidly into the queen, stopping her in a middle of the street. Bullets and energy blasts are literally ripping the air, while Applejack and Pinkie charge towards our enemy. Spike and Rarity, however, lie low in the car behind the rollcage. As Starlight continues the magical barrage, I get in the driver's place, and start the engine. After that, I offer a hand to Starlight.

"Come with me, if you want to live!"

After helping her, I start with a burned rubber, and head after our earth ponies. As they drag attention of the changeling, Chrysalis uses a large amount of magic to stop their punches and kicks. Finally, she lifts them up with her green aura.

"I'VE BEATEN YOU TWICE, FOOLS! NOW, YOU WILL..."

However, the queen didn't finish her cliche speech, as I ram her with the car, sending her skyward. After a few seconds of flying unconcious, however, Chrysalis manages to regain her bearings and stabilise herself with her insect-like wings. As we pick up Applejack and Pinkie, she immidiately dives, sending lightning bolts towards us.

"Now, who's this? An enormous hairless monkey? Ha-ha-ha!"

I rev up the engine, sending the car speeding down an empty street. The blood boils inside me from anger, while all sounds in the world -- magic blasts, explosions, engine's roar -- melt into a symphony of hatred. As I hit the handbrake, the car turns around, and I engage the rear gear. After that, I take the machine gun in my free hand and with all my strenght lift it to face the queen.

"WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT? YOU'VE LITTERALLY SIGNED UP YOUR OWN DEATH WARRANT!"

As I pull the trigger, more and more shots cause the queen to stumble. However, that just stops her barrage, but not the pursuit. Everything looks like in slow motion -- I can literally hear, how an empty bullet cartridge zings from the metal parts of the car, how Starlight charges her horn and shoots another magic blast... But then, an ammo belt comes to an end. As I hit the handbrake again, I roll the car around, and make it face the wide prospect. And Chrysalis starts her magic barrage for another time.

"Cider, I think that she's angry as Cerberus! Do you have a plan?"

"Starlight, dear, would you please shut the fuck up and shoot the damn thing? We're waiting for Twilight's support, after all!"

When Chrysalis starts to shoot again, I turn to a wide street, that looks almost as wide, as a highway. Though, the road itself is not really good -- on its surface, we see a lot of burned cracks. As I can't dodge all of them, I strenghten my grip on the steering wheel.

"Everyone, hold on to something, we'll have a rough ride!"

As I push the gas pedal harder, I feel how magical shots from Chrysalis nearly get us. However, after a few seconds of speeding up, I recieve a powerful kick from the suspension of the car, as we make our way through the damaged street.

"I wonder *OUCH* why this street *OUF* is in such bad *OW* shape!"

"It's the street, where the festifal's been held!"

When I hear Rarity's statement through all the noize, something clicks in my mind. Because all the street damage definetely has to do something with the changeling, who wants us out of her way. As I take a look a bit farther, I can see a green light, emerging from the ground. I push the pedal like mad, going through the holes in the ground, ashes and... Green slime.

"Spike, reload my machine gun!"

While I praise to anyone, so Spike wouldn't break anything, I can feel the car's wheels overspin in green sludge. Rapid handling changes from understeer to oversteer and back don't really help, either. It takes all of my reflexes to just keep the car on the road. Good thing that Starlight basically works as a living turret!

"Machine gun ready, Sid!"

While Spike's shouting, only 100 meters remain to the source of the light. I've been so busy keeping the car in control, that I see the light source only when we get to it.

The whole wide of the street looks like a giant insect nest. Pillars of things, that looks like pods, with green liquid, and what's way worse, ponies inside. My eyes begin to sting, literally being hurt by the sight. And, Chrysalis immidiatelly uses my distraction -- one of her magic blasts hits me, and I knock out.