Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long to come out. I was aving exam at school and so I postponed the writing. The contents wrote in different time might be a little different due to my stress level.
Still though, enjoy! And thanks for all your support!

Chapter 3 - First Invasion

On their way back to Canterlot, Eclipse, as the calm and patient colt he was, kept silent on their return flight. The Shadow Realm Soldiers and the Equestrian Soldiers, however, started chattering as if they were long lost friends. The difference in life between the two-nation’s residence was so significant, that they’ve got a lot to talk about through the overnight flight back home.

“So I guess we are allies now?”

“I wouldn’t deny it.”

One of the Shadow Realm soldier suddenly decided to say something for himself, “ Your Royal Highness, and you folks in Equestria. I wanna apologise.”

“Hmm? What’s the matter?” Eclipse asked.

“I was actually in the invading force of the mountain base a week ago. I was the one who killed those innocent soldiers.” He replied, with a regretful tone.

Eclipse breathed in deeply, held it for a bit, and slowly breathed out again.

“It’s not your fault, soldier. They’re gone now, and there is no sense in regretting anymore. You were just performing you duty. We got a common enemy now, and we should focus on them, not our pasts.” Eclipse said.

By the break of dawn, they had all landed in the Canterlot castle. Shadestep and Lunar had arrived back at the castle at the throne room. Eclipse headed in the throne room, just as everyone were expecting him.

“I’m back. Now what’s this about?” Eclipse growled towards everyone inside.

“Calm down, Captain. It was a mistake, but we don’t have much time for this yet. Multiple races are attacking our nation from all direction, and we need outer support force immediately. Your position had been restored, and you will be in charge of leading the air force.” Celestia commanded.

“Right, as long as you don’t have me killed this time… What’s the plan now?” Eclipse replied, as he stepped nearer to the conference table. On the table lied multiple documents of different attacks from various location throughout the nation. Eclipse picked up a few and started reading.

“Manehatten had already fallen. We cannot afford to lose the two remaining major eastern coast cities.” A soldier reported.

“I can lead a team to weaken the enemy infantry and try to intercept them before they reach Baltimare, but apparently, there are dragons nearby too. Both of them are aerial forces, one with extreme nationalism, one can spit fire from their mouths. I can try aerial combat with them, as long as the two race remain hostile to each other, we can head in and finish off weaken enemies.” Eclipse suggested.
“How much chance of winning do you think you have if you were to carry out the assault at Manehatten?” One questioned.

“Tiny, to be honest. The only way we can take them down before they strike Baltimare is to let them kill each other off as much as they can. If I just fly in a team, even with assault helicopters and other support units, we will have a high chance of losing it. We’d be damn lucky if we can even get out of there alive if we were to carry out the assault like this. ” Eclipse analysed, he scratched his head as he felt the anxiety of the mission.

“We’ll go in with them.” Shadestep interrupted, as he heard Eclipse’s analyzation. “I’ll assign two teams in support, each team with around 40 flyers.”

“That should help, as long as we stay defensive and hold our ground…”

“Alright then, go on with your plan, Captain. Whatever you think suits the situation. Just remember, we cannot lose the city.” Celestia commanded.

“Roger that. Alpha Team, Bravo Team, be advised, we’re moving out!” Eclipse ordered as he ran outside of the castle and met up with the rest of the team.

Upon his return to Cloudsdale, there was quite a neat surprise for him. As he landed, the soldiers saluted to celebrate his return. They didn’t have time to arrange a party because of the war going on, but if they had the time to prepare, they would surely make it happen.

“Alright then gentlecolts. Listen up. We cannot lose Baltimare. The griffons and the dragons are both proceeding towards the city, but we still have enough time to intercept them.”

“The griffons are absolutely loyal to their nation and will fight until their very last breath. Breaking their will to yield or submit is practically impossible. The dragons, although always boasting about their powers, they are not that organised, comparing to us and the griffons. They can, however, breath fire and roast anyone standing in your way in an instant. Since their clans are rather obsolete, I wouldn’t expect to encounter much enemy aircrafts, if not any. Everyone Understand?” Eclipse announced loudly, as he checked on his teams.

“Hurrah!” The soldiers responded. They hopped onto the planes and choppers efficiently and uniformly just like how they were trained to do so. Eclipse clipped himself on the outside of the chopper and held on, as he would be the first to leave the plane. Their plan was simple to understand. They would split up and interfere with the enemy movements, even if they fail, as the two races fight, they would take the benefit of weakened enemies.

This is the first mission Eclipse carried out as the Head-Commander. He was responsible for everything going on in the battlefield. Before, he was so used to be commanded, the commands of his Captain Windspear, the orders of his big brother Shadestep… Now he found out that being the one in command wasn’t the most pleasant and enjoyable job after all. Without Windspear by his side, he could feel the struggle of assigning teams and units in the mission. Windspear seemed to handle those commands and orders easily. Things are always easier watch than done, after all.

Eclipse tended to take tasks without company. Although being in a team, he would still be responsible for the one-man mission, infiltrating enemy bases, stealing intelligence… Something like that. His independence and courage often blessed him in some of the most dangerous missions the team could offer. As his mind was overloaded with many things, the tactics, what should he expect to encounter down there, the unit arrived at the east coast, seeing the major city of Manehatten looked like a mess, he knew this would be interesting, if not life-threatening.

Eclipse detached from the chopper as he released the strap on him. The other teams got in position as well, some jumped out of the chopper to provide support fire while the others quickly landed with the choppers. Eclipse stretched out his wings as he fell through the sky, giving him thrust to dash forward. He picked a building that he can provide overwatch to the team, but it’s easier said than done. Most of the buildings here are either on fire, collapsed or severely damaged. As he flew around the city, he saw more and more dead bodies, broken vehicles and damaged infrastructures. The city was pretty much a wasteland, a ruin by this state.

Eclipse promptly landed on a rooftop he saw fit with a dive and front roll. As he got into position, he scanned around the area of operation with a pair of binoculars. The coast guards were barely holding the griffons off as a barrage of mortar shells went flying towards them. With the modernised combat tactics of the Air Force, taking out the artillery batteries were relatively easier for the deployed units. However, coordinating two teams from two realms at once had proved to be very challenging for the new apprentice commander.

Eclipse instructed the two teams to sweep the streets, clear out the buildings and take out any hostiles, while he continuously switched position from building to building to assist the team. After some harsh target practice with Windspear and all his previous sniping missions, he had became an elite sharp-shooter himself, which proved to be very effective on the battle field, as enemies fall from the air to the ground one bullet at a time. The remaining coast guards retreated back towards the team as the Wonderbolts and the Shadow Realm Army advanced. Some of the members stayed behind the backlines to assist the Coast Guards and treated the wounded. Their counter attack seemed to be very effective, as the enemies’ defence line slowly backed their way to the harbour. Some of the griffons fled back to the sea, some was captured by the teams. Those who were captured refused to provide any information to the team, and most of them sent themselves back to heaven with the pull of a trigger.

Just as they thought they had regained control of the city, multiple aircrafts entered the air space and started firing at the team. Those hinds and birds seemed to be ally aircrafts by the look of them, as they had the same colour and patterns as the allied ones.

“To all aircrafts in this air space, this is Alpha 0-1, check your fire! Check your fire!” Eclipse yelled through the radio as those aircrafts’ gun torn through their grounded forces.

“Hah, coward! Eat this, dweeb!” The response from radio was a mock that sounded like a griffon. They had apparently raided their weapons against them. The minigun on the helicopter promptly spun up and started spewing out streams of 20mm bullets that went spraying at the Air Force.

Eclipse ducked down promptly as one of the guns went aiming at him. He stretched his artificial wing as he slowly backed into the building step by step. The wing wasn’t made to withstand any caliber higher than a 7.62mm assault rifle round, and would surely be punctured, broken or at least heavily deformed by anything more powerful than that. Those .50 rounds would cut through his wing like a thousand-degree glowing hot knife through butter.

And yet, out of those bullets that did make contact with his improvised ballistic shield, they didn’t rip the wing apart or penetrate it. Dents started to form on the blades, however, which could lead to poor aerodynamics later on, destabilising his flights.

Eclipse didn’t want to push his luck any further, so he sheathed his wing and ran inside the building. The building should buy him sometime to think of how to deal with those griffons and their attack helicopters. He jumped down from levels to levels, hoping to reach the ground floor as quick as he can. He had no anti-aircraft weapons, anti-material rifles, or any explosion of any sort with him to take out the choppers. Requesting a fire mission or calling in air support wouldn’t be fast enough. They’d be torn to pieces before those birds get knocked off the sky.

As he leaped down to the ground floor, he saw multiple wounded soldiers entering the building, both the Shadow Realm team and the Wonderbolts units. Some entered the building on their own, some was assisted by a partner or two, some were crawling on the floor and dragging their severely injured body inside. More and more soldiers fled into the buildings and other shelter nearby. Nothing explosive went off near the troops yet, which he was grateful, as one well-aimed rocket could take dozens of lives of his team.

“Looks like those daft punks haven’t figured out how to fire a rocket yet, but I bet they’d know soon.” Eclipse mumbled to himself, concerned. With nothing explosive to take those flying horrors down over in a safe distance, he would have to take one for the team and destroy those aircrafts close up.

He called up the two experienced lieutenants that he trusted, and gave them a very brief and vague instruction. They will have to break the choppers in close range with a pistol and combat knife, which would be tremendously challenging and risky, as no one in recorded history had attempted to use such technics.

With no previous experience to base on, it would be an ultimate test of agility, speed and faith. Eclipse and his lieutenants hopped out of their shelter and flew up with a powerful leap. The griffons, as expected, started firing at the pegasi. Eclipse dodged the flying lead bits and clipped himself onto one of the choppers. The two lieutenants also managed to hold on to the choppers. Those over-confident griffons thought those veterans could be get rid of easily, and they swung their flying machines round and round to fling the pegasi off. Eclipse looked at the rotor blades, and realised it would be too risky to just shove a knife into the rapid spinning blades. With some quick thinking, he had come up with a better idea.

“Cover their view and crash them together!” Eclipse screamed at the top of his lungs to his lieutenants, hoping that they could hear his command. The noise from the rotor wings were just too loud, but those vigilant pegasi still managed to carry out their task.

Eclipse pulled out his knife and grabbed onto the frame of the cab’s window of the chopper, and he stabbed his knife with monstrous force through the glass on the window. The knife didn’t go through the window entirely, but still managed to be embedded deep in the window. He used the knife as a gripping point and cover the griffon’s vision with his body, making him lose control of where he was going.

For that moment, those choppers, with the pilots pretty much blinded, started to spin and flung around in circles like crazy until eventually their distance with one another became smaller and smaller. Eclipse looked behind him, seeing those choppers getting nearer and nearer, got ready to let go of his knife and detach from the choppers right before they collide and burst into balls of flame.

In Eclipse’s perspective, time seemed to slow down. Everything seemed to be running on a slow-motion video as his gifted quick reflex ability kicked into action. Just as he see the moment comes, he warned his lieutenants, “Down, now!”

As he let go of his grip and free fell off the chopper, the other two pegasi also hopped off as he commanded. Right as they fell away from the spinning flying metal birds, those choppers crashed into one another with a deafening ‘bang’. One of the chopper instantly burst into a giant fireball and fell straight downwards. Another one’s started spewing out thick black smoke after the collision, as it continued spinning out of control and eventually went head on to a building.

Eclipse stretched his wings to slow down his descend and softly landed on the ground once again, and so as the two pegasi. Just as they returned back in the building they were hiding in a few minutes ago, they could hear more choppers inbound as the loud rotor wing engines neared them. Those were allied aircrafts, but who knows if they were like those choppers they just took down, that were controlled by enemy forces?

“Alpha 0-1, this is Valkyrie 2-2, we are arriving at the extraction point, over.”

“Copy that 2-2, make it quick. Alpha 0-1 out.”

“Alright colts, get your flanks on board! We’re getting the hell out of here!” Eclipse directed the wounded units to board the choppers hovering at the landing zone, while keeping an eye out for any threats that might take them by surprise.

The scenes of the exfiltration were really shocking for Eclipse. As the soldiers board one by one, the wounded, the dead, soaked in blood. He was getting used to seeing dead stallions on the field, but it still haunts him every day and night in his dreams. Some struggled to get their brothers-in-arms on board, which Eclipse assisted.

He hopped onto the chopper at last, after everyone was on. No one seemed to be chasing them, which he was grateful. Losing over 1000 soldiers in just 2 hours, simply thinking about it was enough to send shivers down Eclipse’s spine.

Back at the barracks, he sat back down on the chair in his office as usual. He groaned as he read information about the current civil war, report after report. So much had happened within a few days and it had haunted him night after night.

Out of his expectation, there was a knock on the door. It was quite late in the day already, those guys should be sleeping already.

“Come in.” Eclipse sounded.

The door opened slowly as a pegasus stallion stepped inside with a salute gesture. Eclipse raised his head and moved his eyes from the report papers to the sergeant. He has a light blue coat and a black mane. He was in a set of formal Royal Guards plated armour, the golden one with silver stripe on it, for Royal Guards officers and high rank sergeants.

“A Royal Guard huh? What do you need?” The Royal Guards and Wonderbolts weren’t really associated normally, but they did have some joint operations since the war began.

“Sir, my name is Sky Lannister. I was told to notify you about my brother’s funeral. His remains had already been sent back to Neighagra Falls region.” The stallion replied.

“Sky Lannister? Sounds familiar… Where have I heard of this name…”

“Oh that yes, I am Sky Striker’s younger brother. And my parents told me to find you since you two used to be great teammates, according to what Striker said.”

“Oh yes, Master Sergeant Sky Striker… That was an unfortunate tragedy. I’m sorry for your lost, Lannister.”

“Thank you sir. My parents wish to see you right now and to prepare for his funeral.”

“Why are we heading there right now anyway? Like the middle of the night? It’s not very far from here, and even if it is we can always take a plane ride.”
“It’s actually some family traditions. We hold funerals at dawn, for we hope their souls to be greeted by the first break of light in the day to a better place, if you don’t mind that.”

“Oh why should I? If it’s the little thing I can do for my brother in arms, then that’s that. I still have his sergeant badge, his shotgun and his coat. Pains me to see it, but I’m sure he’ll need them, even in his afterlife… And these belong to your family now, anyway. What are we waiting for? Let’s move.”

Eclipse got up from his chair and grabbed his rifle on the rack behind him and some blank shots from the drawer. He led Sky Lannister to his old barracks and took Sky Striker’s belongings with him, and handed it over to Sky Lannister.

“You wanna take a plane, a helicopter, or just fly there? You must be tired after your routine today.” Eclipse asked Sky Lannister.

“Doesn’t matter sir, whatever suits you.” Sky Lannister replied with a humble tone.

“We’ll take a chopper then. Come on, hop on. The seat next to mine.” Eclipse started the engine of the little bird chopper and put on the headset. Sky Lannister hopped on next to Eclipse with a slightly clumsy leap.

After Sky Lannister had settled down, Eclipse flew the chopper straight towards Neighagra Falls. It wasn’t a very long flight, which only took about half an hour. During their flight, they decided to have a little chat, mostly about Sky Striker and the invasion that day.

“Sir, I heard that he was a great teammate, as Captain Windspear said, is that so?”

“Don’t call me sir, call me Eclipse. We’re pretty much a family now, in arms, at least.”

“Right then. Eclipse, got it.”

“So about Striker, he was a really considerate member of the Alpha team, under Captain Windspear’s command along with me. He always had the biggest smiles on his face no matter what happens and would always stand up for the team, especially to protect them when facing threats. He was strong, as a soldier, both physically and mentally. I didn’t even had time to say a goodbye. You see, the Shadow Realm Army Commander told me it was his fault for Alpha Team’s death, but I always think that there are something more than that. Those in the Shadow Realm barely engaged us at all, maybe a soldier or two that decided to actually fight back and shot to kill. The Shadow Realm ‘invaded’ Base Frostbite because they were searching for me, and me only. They didn’t plan to hurt anyone.”

“So you are saying that his death was not caused by the Shadow Realm?”

“Just a hypothesis though. I’ve seen those warriors in the Realm, they are merciful and forgiving, they only had a confirmed kill number of 10, which didn’t include the Alpha team at all…”

“Someone else was up there in the mountains that day?”

“Not sure. Maybe I’ll find it out one day. Sigh. It was such a waste for a good stallion to just… die like this. His body was covered in fatal wounds, I’m not even sure which one did the actual kill. It still haunts my dream whenever I tried to get some sleep. He was a good guy, not only as a fighter, but an actual stallion. For me, even if I can’t avoid his death, I’d at least hope that his death was quick and painless.”

“If I had to guess, it would be the damn griffons. Those bastards have damn sharp claws, sharp eyesight, and even sharper beaks. They scavenged our weapons and used them towards us. Even the Royal Guards’ defence out there got torn apart by their attacks.”

“So those stolen choppers at Manehatten this morning… Well, that’s kind of a big conclusion, don’t you think?”

“Like I said, I’m just guessing. They’re the closest to the Crystal Mountains that can actually fly there in a short amount of time.”

“Fair enough.”

“How’s Captain Windspear? I heard he was also injured in the operation.”

“He broke his legs, really badly. He retired right after that day and made me the new Head-Commander. I was with him upon landing, but the rest of the was KIA at the moment I reached them, including your brother.”

“Honestly, upon seeing my brother’s remains, I was pretty damn sure those griffons was somewhat involved, if not actually triggering the invasion itself. Those slashes on them looked like claw marks to me.”

“Maybe they’re bayonets, maybe they’re claws. Whatever the truth is, it requires investigation. If those damn griffons are proved guilty, I would put those bastards head on a spike.”

Time passed as they talked on and on. It was somewhere around 2 to 3 am by the time they landed. A few ponies were already down near the waterfall.

They exited the chopper and approached the ponies there. With the lights from the chopper, they could see their faces clearly.

“Mom, dad, I got Captain Eclipse from Cloudsdale.” Sky Lannister spoke.

“Oh yes, hello there Captain, I am Striker and Lannister’s father. Thank you so much for attending Striker’s funeral, I hope this didn’t mess up your routine? I mean, the war is going crazy right now…” One old stallion turned towards Eclipse and shook his hoof with Eclipse.

“Oh no no no, it’s okay. It’s the least I can do for my old friend. So are we waiting for sunrise?”

“Uhh yes. We hope he soul can walk in the shine of dawn. This tradition has been in practice for at least 20 generation in my family.”

“That’s some history. Actually I have got the rest of Striker’s belongings from the barracks. Now that he isn’t able to obtain his new badge of office, I think you would be suitable to talk the honour?”

“Oh no, I’m no fighter, at least for the last 30 or so years. Give it to Lannister. He still got a long way to go, and he is a great warrior at least in my eyes.”

Eclipse smiled upon hearing that. In the dead of the night there wasn’t much light, but the full moon tonight had shined upon the lands, and Eclipse can see fairly clearly under the reflection of the moon.

He turned around and pinned the badge on Lannister’s armour. He can’t actually pin it, so he just hung the badge over on a strap on his armour.

A slight reflection of sunlight from the break of dawn shined on the glorious badge of office.

“Now, you are the older brother. His honour passes onto you, Lannister.”

“Thank you, sir.” He saluted upon accepting the honour.

Day break had arrived as the horizon started to brighten up from the daylight. It went from total darkness to a light purple colour.

They proceeded towards the waterfall, where a bunch of logs and twigs stacked up on top of each other in the pond of water underneath the fall. Striker’s body was on top of the pile.

“So, cremation? That’s kind of unexpected. I thought that you bury the dead like how the rest of Equestria.”

“The fall has been the crematorium for the honourable colts and fillies for over a century now. Their ash would flow back into the ocean with the running stream from the waterfall, while their soul walks the path of the dawn to their final destination of eternal rest and peace.”

“Should we include his coat or not? You can keep it if you wish, or let Striker take that with him.”

“It pains me to see the holes and slashes on this coat. His blood, my blood, stains this coat. Include it, It would make all of us feel better…”

Eclipse flew up to the pile and carefully fitted the coat onto Striker’s body. He took one last look at his old friend before he came back down. The wounds were covered up with some cloths, mostly just to make his final appearance in his life less visceral and leave him with the dignity and respect he deserved.

Eclipse finally returned down as he saw a tiny face of the sun rising up from the eastern horizon. Since the lumber pile was away from the waterfall itself, it was actually dry. His father lit a touch and tossed it towards the pile. The husk and the twigs on the pile caught fire almost instantly and Eclipse found himself staring at his best mate’s burning corpse as it got engulfed in thew flames.

Eclipse took out Striker’s shotgun. Although cleaned with soap and water, it still had some obvious taints of blood on it. He loaded it up with the blank shots he brought with him, and took out a few spare rifles from the chopper and handed those the family.

“Normally this would only happen in large occasions like a victory in war and something like that, but given that he deserved such respect, I guess we can do a small-scale salute here. Just wait for my signal and fire your weapons at the sky.”

Eclipse waved a hoof as the signal for everyone to fire their rifles. It was a small scale 21-gun salute for Striker. The loud bang of perfect gun fire synchronisation echoed in the mountains, sending birds flying off into the distance.

“And for this shotgun, you can hold on to it. Keep it as a memory.” Eclipse handed the shotgun to the father and took the rifles back.

“And Lannister, you are more than welcome to ‘compensate’ our lost of your brother in the Alpha team, if you wish so. I’m sure General Shining would approve as long as I give the word. That is, if you want to. Feel free to find me if you want to.” Eclipse told Lannister before taking off once again and flew to the distant sky.

“May Striker’s spirit guide your path.” The father said with a sigh.