The last soldier

My body hurts. It hurts so much that I can't even tell, why I am still alive. As I force my eyes to open, I see only a hot tharmac.

"Apply bandages here and here... Yes, like that. Wait... He's awake!"

I hear a familiar voice and a flapping of the wings. Something forces my body to lift and carefully lie on the ground. After that, I see a few faces.

"Flutter... Sh-shy... Twilight... S-spike... You are here, finally..."

"Yeah-yeah. Now, hold still..."

While Twilight mumbles something, I can see myself covered in purple aura. I can feel the pain fading away, and finally start moving. When Twilight finishes with the painkilling spell, I get up and look over the surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"With the help of Applejack, we've dragged you and your gear away. Others are distracting Chrysalis right now. However, we had to abandon the car, sorry about that."

I take a sneak peek from behind a corner of the building. Under the sunset, I can see a pillar of green light, emerging quite far away down the street.

"Well, I guess we're heading there. Spike?"

"I've brought your rifle, machine gun and a couple of ammo boxes."

"See, guys? Spike is a credit to team!"

As I pick up my gear, I open my IFAK and take a few painkiller pills from it. After taking them (just in case that Twilight's spell fades away too quickly), I strap my AK-74 to my back, take the RPD and head out, hiding behind an empty buildings. Others follow me pretty quick, and even scared-to-heart-attack Fluttershy isn't complaining.

"I'm gonna fight them all, a seven nation army couldn't hold me back..."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"No, Fluttershy, just one good song came in mind."

"You sing on marches?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Usually classic hits or frontline art."

A picture of my squadmates came in mind. A lot of them were playing different music instruments, some had a good vocal characteristics. And of course, everyone could handle a guitar -- classic, what can I say.

As we are getting closer to Chrysalis' nest, the green light becomes more and more blinding. As I put on my goggles, I measure an approximate distance to the infected area. After that, I gather the team together.

"Listen up. I can't hear any magic blasts or anything. There are two variants -- or our friends are in big trouble, or they have managed to hide. So, I think that we should make a small sabotage to get Chrissie's attention. What do you think?"

"It depends on what you're planning to do. Any ideas?"

"We go there, and open as much pods, as we can. We will release these ponies, encourage them, and we'll kick that fat ass of a queen!"

Everyone in our gang smiles in agreement. And so do I, until I take a quick look to the street...

"Now quiet. She's over there."

We take a look from behind a corner of a building and see Chrysalis flying above the street. Her horn is glowing with acid green aura, as well as...

"She's taken everyone out! Look, they're floating behind!"

Spike's voice shows a considerable amount of nervousness, as there is a good reason for that -- behind the queen, covered with the same acid green aura, float Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity, all being unconscious. I turn my head back and see a very unfamiliar picture.

"Um, Fluttershy... What are you doing?"

Fluttershy's face fills with so much hatred that I can even feel it. Something rings in my mind, telling that it's not good.

"She harms my friends so much... And all I can do is to squeak and hide..."

Pegasus's palms curl into fists, and I can even see some veins, bulging from inside. I share a worried look with Twilight. But, I didn't have a chance to say anything, as now-not-so-shy Fluttershy literally shots into the sky.

"CHRYSALIS! I'M GOING TO GET YOU FOR THIS!"

Realising, how bad the whole situation is, Twilight sprints after the pegasus, followed by me. As we go from our cover, we can see Fluttershy speeding towards the queen.

"Twilight, you get our guys! Me and Spike are going to distract Chrysalis for a while!"

"Got it!"

As me and Spike are getting closer, more intense the battle becomes -- until now, I would never say that Fluttershy can punch and kick like a true fighter, using her advantage in agility. So I stand up, and start shooting towards the queen. As she notices me too late, several bullets hit her -- two of them hit her in the stomach, and one accidentally hits her horn.

"GAH! You... Filthy creature! You will pay for this!"

Distracted by a sudden headache, Chrysalis releases our team from her magic grasp. In the meantime, Twilight catches everyone with her own magic and manages to teleport away, leaving only me and Spike. Realising, that we have not much time, I charge towards the changeling, filling her body with bullets. Some of them hit her horn again, making it fall from her head and causing the queen an enormous suffering.

"A-A-AH, MY HORN! U-U-UGH!"

Releasing the rest of the ammo belt towards the changeling's body, I take a quick look at Spike. His jaw hangs open, and eyes look as wide as saucers.

"Woah... You've torn her apart."

"Not yet! Give me an ammo belt."

After loading the belt into the machine gun, I cautiously come to the changeling. I can see that some sort of green and glowing blood comes from her wounds, as she lies on a hot tharmac. But, also I see a devilish grin on a queen's face.

"Fool... You think, you can get through this? Now you're dead wrong."

After speaking these words, Chrysalis' eyes start to glow. As I start feeling nervous, I quickly run a few meters away from her, but that doesn't really help -- a few seconds later, the ground cracks and I fall somewhere deep and dark.

I find myself lying on something cold and dusty. As I try to get up, I feel a zap of pain in my left arm.

"Fuck... That hurts..."

After a couple of minutes of struggle, I finally get up. As I look around, I only see the darkness around myself. A great wall of black nothing -- that's the first association. After a quick search through the pouches on my vest, I finally find a flashlight and a lighter.

"And let there be light..."

As I turn the switch on my flashlight, the space in front of me fills with light. After a quick lookaround, I see my armament a few meters away. After picking it up, I continue to look around. And I see, that I've fallen into some sort of an underground hangar.

"Need to get out of here. That queen wouldn't be waiting."

I start to make my way through the hangar. Must say, that it has literally enormous proportions -- it's high and wide enough, to fit a row of...

"Artillery. Well, fuck me."

My flashlight catches a piece of something, made of metal. As I come closer, I see that it's a towable cannon on pneumatic wheels. And not just any cannon -- 45-millimeter Soviet anti-tank gun from World War Two. As I look around a bit, I can even see an ammo box nearby. As I open it, I see the shells of different types -- armor-piercing, high-explosive, and even projectile.

"That's ridiculous. How in the actual..."

The whole situation reminds me about Ponyville and the garage, where we've found our car and the machine gun. But this place looks much, much bigger. Weaponry and vehicles stand in lines, being preserved by the hangar itself and the dust. Normally I would ask myself, why all this stuff lies here, in a middle of Equestria. But right now I am too much amazed. As I continue to walk, I see more machinery and weaponry -- mostly, artillery guns, but also offroaders, trucks and tractors. And everything is in a good shape! But the most epic thing, that lies here, is a howitzer. Like, a very big howitzer on a crawler self-propelled chassis. The B-4.

"Holy mother of Joseph... I want to shoot from it."

After a quick look around, I climb onto the howitzer's chassis. The 203-millimeter barrel looks just enormous, barely enough for its massive shells, that lie on a crane mechanism. I can even read the writing in Russian -- "Maximum weight -- 150 kilogramms". As I jump on the ground, I see a few fuel tanks a bit farther. And an idea pops into my mind.

"Well... I will definetely become deaf."

After filling the chassis' tank, I get to the driver's seat. After kickstarting the engine with a curved starter, all the mechanisms begin to move. The crane loads an armor-piercing shell into the barrel, while I get myself familiar with the contols.

"Pretty much like tractor driving..."

Feeling the blood literally boil from adrenaline, I put on my headphones -- to ease an effect of the blastwave, and to turn on something motivating. And, when the music kicks in, the howitzer begins to move.

"What shall we use to fill the empty spaces,
Where waves of hunger roar,
Shall we set out across this sea of faces,
In search of more and more applauds?.."

The howitzer slowly moves through the hangar, thundering with a force of a million metal parts. As I turn on the headlight, I can see the farther wall with an opened exit. As I go there, I can see that it's some sort of a tunnel, that's a way narrower, and turns left and right from time to time.

Pretty soon enough, I can see a green shining from behind one of the corners. As I drive the howitzer there, I can see that the source of the light is a giant weird-shaped crystal, placed in a middle of a big concrete chamber. I can see, how its light goes upwards, through the holes in a ceiling to the sky. And on top of that construction sits...

"Hello there, monkey. Looks like you've made your way through the six feet of dirt, didn't you?"

I hear the queen's voice literally inside my head. That shocks me, and I hit the brakes. As I take a better look at Chrysalis, I notice that she's not wounded at all, and even her horn is on its place.

"Shall we buy a new guitar?
Shall we drive a more powerful car?
Shall we work straight through the night?
Shall we get into fights?"

As the music bangs in my head, I am astonished by the synergy of the sight and the song. Somehow it's very depressing, but yet, a very beautiful alliance. The dark, pulsating energy of the Throne meets a metal beast, that will show its strenght. I think, that's a bit of poetic...

"You cannot kill me, until you destroy the Crystal Throne. I bet you knew about it, since Celestia has provided you with information. Nice piece of junk, by the way."

Awaking from stupor, I push the gas pedal and the howitzer starts to move towards the Crystal Throne. The only thing I see on the queen's face is a smirk.

"Looks like you're an idiot, don't you? I am invincible, while being near the Throne. You can't beat me, ha-ha-ha!"

I stop the howitzer about three hundred meters away from the Throne, so the barrel would face it for a direct shot. After that, I release the hydraulic brakes and take a triggering lever into my hand.

"Leave the lights on,
Drop bombs,
Do towns of the East,
Contract disease!"

Suddenly, Chrysalis becomes airborne and charges towards the howitzer. The green aura emerges all around it, lifting the gun up for a few meters. And, while I still have a chance, I pull the lever. As I do so, an incredibly powerful shot sends me and the howitzer back from recoil. Everything happens like in a slow motion -- first, I almost break myself from hitting the control panel too hard, then I see a fire, coming from the gun's muzzle. And after that, only music in my head continues to exist.

"Bury bones,
Break up homes,
Send flowers by phone,
Take to drink,
Go to shrinks,
Give up meat,
Rarely sleep,
Keep people in pets..."

These few seconds look like an eternity. I can even see, how the queen's face changes from smirking to fearing. As the shell flies by, the blastwave from its speed sends her a few meters away from the Throne.

"Train dogs,
Race rats,
Fill the attic with cash,
Bury treasure,
Store up leisure,
But never relax at all!
With our backs to the wall."

When the shell finally hits the Throne, I can see it shatter to pieces from an impact. After that, the fuse inside the shell initiates, and all one hundred kilos of metal and explosives tear the crystal apart. I can even see, how the shattered pieces of concrete, metal and stone are flying in different directions, bringing the death to our pair of me and Chrysalis. Our fight finally comes to an end. I applause in my mind to the genius of a Soviet high-explosive engineering, and smile...