The City of Smoke

"How much longer", Swift asked, anxious to get to town faster than the speed that we were already heading. "At this rate, we'll be invading Canterlot when we are all in our eighties". Though I've been getting annoyed with Swift whining, he's partly right, we need to get to Canterlot as soon as possible to start this thing, we robbed a military base, they'll be on alert. But Euestria has yet to be completely industrialized, so the time for guards to be positioned ready at Canterlotwpuld take a while, but I don't want to take my time and let them get to that city first.

"He's right, we need to get there quicker", I added for Swift. "The guards will be all over the p,ace trying to get to Canterlot, if we want to attack, we need to get there before reinforcements show up".

Cobalt sighed, "alright. Sapphire"?

Her ears perked up, "yeah"?

"Hand me the radio so we can call Long shot to start in a little bit, and to send somepony in a cart to pick us up", he held his hand for Sapphire.

"Alright, here you go", she set her pack down, dug through it and pulled out a radio. "Call her up". Cobalt thanked her and took it, tuning to the frequency that these guys used to talk to each other without anyone else knowing about it. Once he was done, he pulls the part of the radio with the mic and held the button.

"Dead-eye, come in", that was the code name we agreed to give to Long Shot for when we're conversing in the radio, even if the freuencie's private. We can't risk anyone listening in on us and knowing our names. "We need a cart to pick us up to get to your position quicker, how copy, over"? It was long moment but the radio made a crackling sound that someone makes when they're taking to you.

"Copy, we'll have one sent for you, where are you located at?".

Cobalt looked around and answered. "We're about 80 miles away from Canterlot, due to being tracked down we had to torch our cart to get them off track, we've been taking the forest near the road". We waited a moment until we heard the crackle again.

"Wait for about two hours we'll send some fast runners for you with a cart, then get over here as fast as you can". She sounded pretty nervous, probably from hearing that we were probably being tracked down.

"Looking forward to it, we'll see in town", and with that, he hung up and gave the radio back to Sapphire and she put it back into the pack. "Let's go guys". I nodded and kept going. Of course, we were going to get picked up but it's always good to meet him halfway so you're not a dick making them walk that far.  Let's think about how I could approach this. I could one, try and find a way to snipe her. Two, I could use artillery to smash the castle. Three, I could just charge in there with the whole battalion and take her out. All of which seem very tempting but I need to consider my consequences for each of my actions, in each of these plans. Am I going to die, or am I going to live or am I going to suffer a life-threatening injury, who knows? But one things for damn sure, one of us is going to be able to walk out of this and the other one will be buried 6 feet under.

Four Hours Later......

About two hours into the journey we hopped into a cart that Long Shot sent out for us.  We just spent a couple hours now doing nothing but pondering what may happen. We could all just die, we could all live, or some of us may die, and some of us may live. Nobody said it but I could see it in everyone's eyes, in the facial expression and in their body language.  It was so obvious that it had actually hurt a little bit. But alas all journeys come to an end and we saw Canterlot in our sights. I had a weird feeling that, I don't know, something that goes unexpected may happen. I stared at it for a long time and I stared at it well, taking a mental picture of the soon to be city of smoke.

"Alright, we're nearly at the city, make sure that you drop your weapons by the road around here. Don't worry we have guys to pick up your weapons we to take them inside the city unnoticed. We just don't want to get spotted before this little fiasco gets going", I nodded understand completely. After a few minutes we stop by the side of the road and threw our guns out where a couple guys came over to pick them up. We then entered through the main entrance to the city and headed towards the rendezvous point where we would meet up with Long Shot. She was waiting for us and greeted us as we hopped out of the cart, "glad to see you guys made it out unscathed".

I turned to her, "yeah but let's not count our chickens yet we still have to assault this city". She nodded and got the rest of them out of the cart.

"My guys will be giving you some rifles, a handgun, a knife, the bare essentials to the raid", she pointed towards where her guys were standing by the table with tons of guns on top of them, tons of knives, and tons of pistols. It was heaven. There were even a few hand grenades.  I smiled a really goofy grin right then. I almost couldn't believe that I was able to make all of this possible just with a simple message through a radio. Amazing how words can get one really riled up.

"And for you Bill, we have some Pevlar", she pointed to a small locker that was open. I looked in and there was a lightweight black Kevlar vest. This would fit nicely right over the black tactical clothing I already have on me. I picked it up and examined it, it said 'pevlar', but that was fine, it still worked the same as Kevlar, name change or not. I tried it on and put it over and in through my shoulders, it was a perfect fit. I smiled and thanked her, I'd need this going into the castle, I was bound to go into CQB mode when I was in there. "No problem, you're going to need this where you're going".

I walked back to my team and quickly explain the essentials to the plan and was basically going to go down. They seemed to be in a mixture of emotions. That was pride, nervousness, anxiousness, and a little bit of fear. "Up until this moment it's been amazing being your leader and I hope that we can continue this kind of relationship up 'til the end, whether it's here or 'til we die of old age. Either way I'm looking forward to Dying  beside you guys if we have to. Remember even though we fight for our values, what's important in the battlefield is that we fight for the person next to us right then and there", they seemed in a better state then they were before and smiled a bit and I brought my hand out to shake each of theirs. "Swift, it's been an honor".

He took it and replied, "no, it's been one for me, helping you to make change". I nodded and reached out for Sapphire. She took and we exchanged glances that two soldiers make when they've come to understand one another through fighting. I reached out for Onyx, he took it and man did he have a real tight, firm grip.

Razor reached out for mine, "thank you for bringing me back here with my sister Shot". So they were siblings. "But unfortunately, I have to stay here with her during the attack". I didn't whine, it's understandable, he has to be here for his sister so he can protect her and can make sure she doesn't get hurt. I then reached out for Cobalt.

"I think you're one of the most qualified leaders that ever led me into battle". I smiled of gratitude and he kept going. "It's not everyday that you can successfully break into a military base and get out alive". I chuckled a bit when he said that. It's true.

"Long Shot", I called out.

"Yeah?", she called back.

"When exactly do we head out?", she glanced at the map of the city and towards the clock.

"About an hour from now. We're still waiting a bit longer for anypony who can show up with us so we can have as many hands in deck as possible". That was smart, but I looked at the map and saw huge guns drawn on the map.

"What're those for?", I didn't think we had that kind of weaponry that she drawn out.

"Those are the artillery guns that. Celestia has set up here in an effort to stop any kind of force that tries to get into town. I kept giving her my attention, I could see where this was going. "But we are already here, so she failed already. But what we plan to is to take the guns redirect them and fire in the castle when you give any sort of signal to fire". I pondered this for a moment, intrigued that we could use artillery guns to fight if her part of the plan worked. Overall, it sounded like heavy damage would be done and the castle could probably collapse on us if we were to call it in too early.

"Fuck it, sounds good to me", she nodded and gave the go ahead to all teams to get geared up and to head to their positions. She walked off and I gave the same order to my team. We loaded our rifles, handguns, sheathed our blades, I picked up a machete that they had and sheathed it on my back with one of those sheaths that they make for your back. I strapped on a knife to my tactical belt and got extra magazines for my handgun and rifle to make sure I was stocked up. After I had everything I grabbed a few grenades just in case I'd have to clear a room or two.

"Let's go", Swift patted me on the shoulder. "Shot said we're needed at the center of the city, just a little ways from the castle". I followed him and he led me with the team to a door. "This leads to the alleyway, she said once we're out we have to run as fast as we can while everyone else made it to their posts. Also that when we hear gunshots by the big guns, that when we start the final assault". We all nodded and got ready to run like we've never sprinted in our lives before. "Everyone ready?", Swift asked as he grabbed the door handle.

"Let's do it", Coblat answered. Swift opened the door and we ran as fast as our legs could take us, me being a human, I can't go as fast as pony can, but I was going pretty fast and kept up with the team. We left the cover of the alley and he ponies at the middle of the street stared at us with confusion and fear, shouting scared shitless as we kept going 'till we reached the center. Right now, that was the goal. Then, as we reached the center, gunshots could be heard and guards could be seen. Dressed in dark yellow WW1 German uniform types of clothes and raised their weapons. But we were quicker and dropped them.

"Those are just the drones, the real soldiers will come eventually, use the advantage we have 'till then", Onyx shouted. We then raised our rifles and fired a few shots into the air to scare off anymore of the civilians that may still be in the vicinity. Anyone who hadn't booked it yet was gone. I heard the cracklings from the radio and held it up.

"Bill, we have control of the artillery, we're going to level the front entrance to the castle. Make your way there and call us to hold when you're there. If you need to fire again near your position, just radio in", It was Shot's voice. "Get that bitch".

"We're on our way there right now", I replied, then putting the radio back on my vest and called out to my team. "New orders, time to go for the castle":

"Already?", Cobalt was surprised. "Didn't think we'd already have control of he artillery". We ducked hearing a shot crack by heads. "Sniper!". We ducked behind a close by fountain and laid on the floor. I fumbled for my radio and pulled it out.

"Shot!", I yelled ducking as a shot nearly took my head off. "We need assistance"!

"Where?", i took the map out of Swift's pack and read it. "Grid 3642, fire there, that's where the sniper's at"! I didn't get a reply, but I heard loud booms and looked up, there they were, these large looking shells flying above us and landing on the building I marked. The whole roof and part of the building shattered and rubble was and sent falling to the ground. I stood there mouth shaped at what I just saw, "Holy shit". But we couldn't stick around, the sniper was down. I got up and started jogging down the street. "Come on, we got to go".

They got and kept up a similar pace as me. Things went to shit real fast, whole Goddamn place was a war zone, there were the buildings that Shot destroyed with the guns and you could constant gunfire in the distance at all directions. "We need backup at the main entrance to the castle ASAP, we are taking heavy fire and have lost most of the platoon that I was sent here with".

That wasn't Shot, I picked my radio up, pushed the button and talked to the man, "where se you and how long can you hold out, we are nearly at the castle".

I heard gunfire through the thing before a reply came through, "I'm about 40 feet from the stairs that go into the castle behind some sandbags, the remainder of us can probably hold out for maybe 10 minutes, HURRY THE FUCK UP!!!".

"Don't worry, we're about five minutes away from you, hang on", I put back into my vest and shouted at my team to double time it. Those men were probably dealing with the main group of men, the ones guarding Celestia. Of course it wouldn't be easy to get in right away. Those drones of hers would die for her without any real reason. It makes sense that the castle would be her strongpoint. She lives there for fuck's sake! I kept taking the alleys to avoid running into any of the locals or guards until we got to the rendezvous point. I reached the end of probably the 12th alley we've ran through, killing 30 guards all together on the way, and leaned up against the wall. I peeked around and saw the team of only four struggling to hold their ground. I looked around their position and saw bodies everywhere by them. Must be the men he lost.

I picked up the radio and switched it on, "we're approaching from the southwest. Hold your fire to the southwest".

I waited a moment before the radio came crackling again, "alright come on over". I signaled my team to move. "Am I  glad you guys are here". We sprinted and I slid I to cover behind the guys we were reinforcing.

"What's the status?", I asked wanting to know what's going on so far.

He fired a quick burst form his rifle and ducked, "we came here to secure the main entrance to this shit castle with a platoon of men. Unfortunately we ran into heavy resistance and I lost almost everyone".

I nodded ducking my head even lower when I heard a bullet hissing by my head, "alright, I'll call in the artillery to level the main gates and we'll move in".

He shook his head up and down rapidly, "whatever works man".

I grabbed the radio and tuned in to Shot's frequency, "Shot, come in".

I waited before I heard her voice coming through, "what do you need"?

"We need another strike at the main gates to the castle at grid 6804 now if we're going to be able to move into the castle in one piece", I said with urgency in my voice

She came back through the radio, "Alright, sit tight, well have some shells loaded and fired momentarily at the grid. Standby".

"Looking forward to it", I responded and put the radio away. "Alright well have support in a moment, hold this position"! We kept firing at any and all guards far and close. A coupe times when we had to reload a guard nearly stabbed Swift with a bayonet charge. Luckily, I pulled out my M9 and fired repeatedly at him snd he rolled into the floor collapsing as he stumbled forward. The stallion that we can e to help however, got knocked down onto the grkind by some guard with a baton. He's been knocked cold for a while but he's alive. Then the loud booms came we looked up and saw three shells overhead and landed all around the entrance. One landed at the actual gate, shattering it to pieces.

I reached to my radio to thank Shot, "Thanks for the assist". We got up and went up the stairs, there were bodies everywhere, all mangled up and arms and legs all twisted in what would usually be impossible to bend in that direction. But they were dead, they didn't have the see themselves like this. Holy fuck.

"No problem, get that bitch from us and end this, would you?", she replied.

I looked behind me and moved my lips for the radio, "sure thing, I'll see you in the other side. If things go wrong, level this place to the ground".

There was a long pause, "you know what you're asking for right"?

I sighed, "yeah, I know. Don't worry about it. If it comes down to it, i want you to do it. And send someone over to help out a stallion by the main entrance, he's out cold by some sandbags". I turned off the radio and went in with the rest of my team, gun firing in the distance. I scanned the area, if I wasn't going to level this place. I might've have actually found a way to live here. This place is nice.

But I shook my head softly and cursed at myself. This is exactly how she controls ponies, she makes sure everyone is busy making money to survive and take care of their properties and families. Well, that's all about to end. I led everyone through the main lobby into the nobles waiting room they have just above the first floor. I started mouthing down a countdown, 'three, two one', and I kicked down the door for them to clear out. Cobalt went in, followed by Onyx.

"Everyone down on the ground and put your hands on your heads", Cobalt raised his voice slightly so as to not have us heard and caught. "You", he pointed to a stallion that when I got a better look, was Fancy Pants. "Get over here". He pointed to another one, it was that quote on quote prince BlueBlood. "You too".

"Alright", Cobalt got out a couple of handcuffs. "Hands behind your backs". They did so and Cobalt grabbed them and shoved them out for the door. We all stepped aside and they both nearly fell. He walked up to them and pointed his gun towards the exit. "Head out, and the first pony you see dressed in black, you turn yourselves in to them. If you don't we'll have to look for you and kill you. Which we both don't have want, right"?

They nodded rapidly and Cobalt grinned, "good now get the fuck out is here". They ran away like headless chickens out the door. I almost bursted out laughing but I kept myself under control. We needed to keep moving. We went up probably one of the longest staircases that I've ever been on in my life. We kept our guns raised up in case someone was stupid enough to bump into us. While we were clearing out each room, we had the constant rumble of the shells hitting the area near the castle. My guess was that Shot was taking care of anyone who tried to get into the castle to stop us. I stopped moving, this was way too easy.l clearing out the castle so far. Either they were just letting us, or they're hiding out somewhere.

"Guys come on through here", Onyx shouted to us in a whisper tone. "This door probably leads to th-", he didn't get to finish as he was ripped apart by machine gun fire, he fell back onto the floor clutching his stomach which was filled with holes.

"ONYX!!!", I reached out and reached out for him but was pushed back by Swift. "What're you doing, we have to help him"!

He kept dragging me away front the dinfire and shook me by the shoulders, "he CAN'T be saved! He has a stomach riddled with lead"! He brought to a safe distance away from he shooting. As I looked back at Onyx one last time, he looked up at me reaching out for help, but was cut down by another wave of bullets.

"NO!!!", I yelled at the top of my lungs, but it wouldn't bring him back. I just had to accept it, one of the best ponies, better than some of the people from America, died. Sapphire took the lead seeing as I was a bit shook and Cobalt was watching the rear.

She found a shattered window, probably from the shell blasts and pointed to the outside, "we can hook up and go around over them from the roof". That actually wasn't a bad plan at all.

"Let's do it", I agreed sounding a little bit better. "Rappel and we'll follow ".

She nodded and brought out a grappling hook from the pack and leaned out. "Swift, help me out; hold me so I don't fall over".

He sounded nervous but did it anyway, "ok, sure, go ahead". He brought his hands and held her close by the waist.

"Alright here we go", she threw the hook upwards and I heard a loud clunk, signifying that she made the pitch. She tugged on it firmly to see if she could hold on; it didn't fall, so she was good to go. "I'll head up and drop the rope for you guys". She climbed up and in a few moments the rope came back down and landed in front of Swift.

"Up you go Swift", Cobalt said grabbing and handing it to him.

He breathed in a bit deeply and I swear I saw some sweat running down his forehead, "ok, I can do this". He climbed out the window with the rope hooked up with his tactical belt and climbed up. We waited a minute before the rope came down again.

"Your turn hotshot", Cobalt said handing it to me. "I'll cover you". I took the rope, hooked it up and climbed out, I nearly slipped. I'm not used to climbing off the sides of buildings everyday, you know. I unhooked it and dropped it for Cobalt.

"Come on man", I shouted. "Your turn". I saw the rope being grabbed and going inside, then Cobaltncame out with his hands grabbing for anything to help him climb up. He grabbed the ledge and started to pull himself up. But loud crack was heard and Cobalt stumbled, I raised my rifle, saw a sniper on the pillar across from us and shit him and down he went falling like a stone in a river.

I turned my attention back to Cobalt, he took a shot to the stomach and was struggling to pull himself up. "Hold on!", I reached for his arm and grabbed it. It took all of my strength, but I pulled him up and he was on he roof. I examined the shot, it went clean through, that's one of the things I don't have to do. I checked to see where the bullet traveled. It just scraped him. But there was a piece of flesh missing from where it should be. "You're going to be fine, bullet just grazed you".

I pointed at Swift, "get a medkit". He pulled out his pack and handed me antibiotics and bandages. I took out my canteen and handed Cobalt the pills, "take these". He took the pills and drunk some of water. I then told him to sit up as I bandaged his side.

I wrapped the bandage all the way around him and went around a few more time to make sure it as snug on him, "alright itll hold for now". I helped him to his feet and he limped all the way across the roof. We reached a window on the pillar he sniper was firing from and found it opened. 'Must've seen us and left the room he was in', I thought to myself as I climbed into the room first to make sure it was clear. It was so I whistled out the window for them to come in. They each got in and Sapphire helped Cobalt down slowly as to not hurt him more then he already is. I opened the door with a map of the castle hanging by the door. I turned back, "Sapphire,I need to end this. Take Cobalt with you and leave to get medical attention for him. Swift you're on point with me, that's an order".

She opened her mouth to argue but shut it instead, "good luck Bill". She turned to Swift and hugged him,"you too. Both of you come back". We big nodded and said our farewells. She turned left instead

of right and she was gone along with Cobalt. It was just me and Swift again.

"Come on, let's finish this", he patted him on the shoulder and led the way. He followed close by and I halted in my tracks. There were footstep sounds, Swift could hear them too. He nodded to me as I picked out a flashbang from my vest and gentoy opened a crack on the door. I pulled the pin and rolled it inside and shut it quickly.

A loud bang could be heard and I kicked he door open for Swift. He pulled out his rifle and took down about ten guys. "Nice job Swift", I walked past him to inspect the room. This is the room that had the machine gun and tore Onyx apart. And there was a throne here too. Oh shit.....

But before I could react quick enough, I was knocked down onto the floor and smacked Swift so hard that it sent him tumbling down. "So...it's been you this whole time bill? I should've known, the way you kept such a private life". I looked up, expecting to see Celestia, but I didn't, instead, I saw Celestia and Luna standing over us. With the angriest looks I've ever seen.

"Do you know how much damage you've caused", Luna started with a hateful tone. "I'll tell you how much... enough for most of our tax money to spent in rebuilding.

But I just laughed and looked up at them, "is that all you're really worried about, you're fucking mone-". I wanted to say more but couldn't as Celestia stomped on my face to shut me up.

Celestia took over, "Even if you killing Discord helped me out more than you know, you still cause around millions of bits worth of damage and burned down two million's worth".

I laid face down on the ground steadily switching the radio on as she talked.

Luna spoke up again, "well this charade was fun, but it's time to end this game, our allies the Gryphons are nearly here".

I laid up facing them and pressed the button on the radio, "Shot... do it."

A loud crackling came out and I could hear her, "copy that, artillery strike inbound"!

Celestia stood there with her mouth agape at what she had just heard. Luna however was confused and angry, "what was that, what did you do"?

I heard loud booms and the whistle of the shells falling down forward is from the outside. I looked up at them grinning, "it's over you fucking greedy whores. You LOSE"!!!!!!

Then as time began to slow down, I was knocked up into the air from then last and flew to the other side of the room and hit my back on the wall. Swift flew at the princesses and was fighting them in mid-air. But they all fell down with a loud thud. I looked at Swift he was no more than twenty feet from me and I looked in between the princess and me. My M9 was laying on the ground next to us. I slowly started to crawl groaning inpain from the shock of the blast. I looked around me while I crawled and saw that the throne had been torn apart and the floor beneath was cracked and some of it fell to the floor below us. How we didn't fall bewildered me. But I couldn't worry and Luna was slowly recovering and saw me going for my gun. She started to get up but I grabbed it and pulled the trigger. Her head blew open and she collapsed onto the floor. A massive pool of blood draining from her.

"NO!!!!!!", I turned to see Celestia kick me in the face; making me lose my grip on the gun and let it go. She took out the mag and released the bullet chambered in the gun. "No; I won't shoot you; I'll beat you to death". She reached down and picked me up to slam me onto the ground. I gasped for air having all of my breath knocks out of me.  I grabbed her hand as she brought it down to hit me and I clobbered her good on the nose and she stumbled back stunned. For a mare she's pretty damn strong. Swift and was behind her reaching for the gun and the bullet, but Celestia was quicker and kicked him in the face. I knew why I had to do; though, it wasn't going to be fun. I jumped on Celestia and held onto her from her back and she clawed at me trying to get me off.

"Get the gun!", I shouted making her nearly trip all around the room. Swift grabbed the gun,  chambered the one bullet and raised it up to us fighting. "DO IT, SHOOT HER!!!!!!". H hesitated but pulled he trigger and Celestia fell forward clutching her stomach, mouth opened in shock, and fell face first onto the ground. I stood there feeling immense pain in my leg. When I looked down I saw that my leg was bleeding and the pain was too much. I fell on my back and screamed in agonizing pain. Swift saw this and he gun shook in his hand before he dropped it.

He got up and picked me up onto my feet, "I'm so sorry man".

I waved it off. It was ok, he did his job, Celestia was dead. It was over now.  "It's fine, let's just get out of here before the whole damn place collapses". He nodded and put my arm over his shoulders and walked me out of the castle through the main gates. There were still some of Long Shot's men going in to secure the building as we walked by one of them stopped by and nodded his head in approval, sensing that we did what we sought out to do from the beginning. I saluted him and we kept going down the steps and found a medic in standby for the injured.

"Help!", Swift shouted. "We got a stallion down!". A medic came over and put my arm over his shoulders and led me to a stretcher. Where he and Swift both hightailed me over to the relics station that Shot had set up. Speaking of the devil, here she comes.

"Look who it isn't", she smiled softly seeing me injured on a makeshift bed. "How'd it go?".

I looked back at her sore with pain, "about as well as could be expected".

She nodded, "I'll take over command until you get better. Alright?". But I shook my head. "But you're too inju-".

I cut her off, "I don't need to lead anymore. I've done my duty. I just want to go home".

She nodded and turned to leave. "If you ever need anything, give me a shout". She turned and left the tent, and that was he last time I ever saw Long Shot. In person I mean, I've seen her in photos after that rising up to being the first democratic leader of Equestria. But that was later. Right now she was a friend that I helped, and I was a friend that she helped.

"So this is goodbye, huh?", I turned to see Swift wearing a disappointed look on his face.

I smiled at him, "just for now. When I get out of here and feel better; we're going to get shitfaced drunk"!

He chuckled a bit and stood up, "damn right man. I'll see you later".

I laid back and stared at the ceiling above me for he longest time and sighed. I honestly though I was going to die. But I didn't. I was going to see the new world soon. I'll be sure to advise along Shot on her decisions though.

I closed my eyes and let the feeling of peace wash over me, knowing that when I get I'm going to fuck the shit out of Rainbow and father Scootaloo.

It all worked out...... For the Better......