//-------------------------------------------------------// No Hope -by OnEye- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Foothold lost //-------------------------------------------------------// Foothold lost The screams of agony echoed through my ears as my brethren died side by side with me, as we open fire towards the Equestrian air force. We were holding out against the Equestrians, deep in the ruins of an ancient city that was built into the mountains. Equestrian canon and rocket fire rippled through the air before impacting the city. Slowly but surely they're pushing us towards certain defeat, it was bad enough that we lost two hundred miles to them within a month; not to mention the casualties of over two million men. Despite us taking all that land from them within a day and a half. Bolts of lighting and fire flew over the walls from the unicorns, as the pegasi surveyed out positions and barraged us giving us a hard time to handle the situation at hand. Everyone knew it wouldn't belong till they reached the gates, by then we would supposedly lose the city to them within an hour or less. That is why we're trying to reopen the gate way to our world to escape and hopefully make sure that our world wont be invaded by them for our failed invasion. PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT "Die. Die Die!" exclaimed the soldier next to me, as he opened fire onto a Pegasus that got into his sights. He was able to hit the Pegasus in its wing bringing it down quickly. Before he could gloat another Pegasus swoop down at him from the behind, snatching him up as it headed out of the city and dropped them to over a hundred meters to his death. I took aim at the Pegasus who had killed my brother in arms and once I was sure I got a good shot I took it. PHAT 'There one less, hundreds more to go' I thought to myself as I watched my enemy's head flung back as my bullet hit its mark. Suddenly I heard someone yell, to head to the walls and that the ponies had reached the main gate. I picked up my rifle and ran towards the walls hoping that I could obtain a better location to thin out the ranks of the enemy forces. I quickly ran up the ramp to the top of the walls, passing two or three of my dead or dying brothers in arms. >PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT My rifle echoed as I targeted the land forces that were pushing up, although it didn't do anything against their magical shields. I could at least say I tried. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, followed by the roar of the gate way connecting our worlds together. "Fall back to the portal!" my commanding officer ordered. Out of a flash I was knocked to the ground off from the wall by a Pegasus as it was shot dead by another brother. Pushing the lifeless corpse off of me, I grabbed my gun and began opening fire relentlessly at the Pegasus. PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT I looked back at the portal there was only five brothers protecting it against the Pegasi, who were flying around them trying desperately to bewilder them. Then an explosion coming from the main gate took us by surprise, they had breached our defenses completely. Slowly we were either escaping or dying off in open combat, there were no more than twenty of us when I realized what would have to be done. Someone would have to destroy the gate way so that the ponies wouldn't invade our home world. I pulled myself up from the ground and began my journey to the gate to stop its transmission to Home world. As the last of the guards fell to the enemy or retreated, I unclipped one of my explosives and tossed it towards the beam that kept it supported. I ducked and hid behind nearby crates hoping they were enough to shield me from my explosive. Suddenly a massive explosion commenced sending a powerful shockwave throughout the ruins. Barely looking over a crate as I laid up against it, I confirmed that the gateway home was terminated. Turning back I held a woeful smile on my face, they couldn't get to our world. However at the cost of me losing the only chance to return home and to forever be trapped in a world where they hate us with a passion. Well, shit. An hour and a half had passed and I waited there praying that they would leave the area soon, so I could scavenge necessary supplies to finish my last mission. Which I plan to follow out. Then came a voice that took me by surprise, "Princess Celestia, we have the fortress secured" The Princess, as in the leader of the enemy and one of the main threats to our operations, here of all places? I glanced over the crate and spotted their leader, she was at least my height without the horn. Her mane was a vibrant of colors, similar to that of a rainbow. Her fur coat was white, giving her the look of a goddess. She looked innocent based on the colors of her body, however as it is always said 'looks can be deceiving'. "Any enemy survivors?" she inquired, of the high-ranking officer. I griped my rifle and held it closely as I listen carefully to the conversation. The officer shook his head. "No your majesty, just like all the other battles they'd fought till the end. Even the ones that should've surrendered continued to fight" the officer explained, looking around the battle site. "I see... well then, this is troubling. It seems that we failed to capture one of these alien invaders alive" she paused for a moment, deep in thought "Do you know if any of your troops have found any aliens without their bodysuits?" she questioned. "They must've not been able to remove our battle suits, makes me wonder what do they have in mind for those suits. Possibly to reverse engineer our tech even more to improve their race's technology?" I whispered to myself, as I checked my rifle's counter to identify how much ammo I had left. None. Just perfect, must I add. "Negative your majesty, all the corpses of the invaders have yet to be identified without their suits on. That is assuming they are suits and not their actual bodies like some of my men believe" the officer informed, suppressing a cough. I turn my gaze to a nearby weapon, that laid next to a fallen brother; that was just across from me and the crates. Then a thought came to me, a real tempting offer. Should I stay still and possibly obtain means to escape or risk the orders my company was given and try to neutralize one of their leaders? Both seemed the right choice specially obeying orders, however me as an individual wanted to do a significant blow to the enemy's military and political structure than destroying their capital and killing non-militants. I began to slowly crawl over to the weapon. As I reached for the arc-thrower when it hit me that this wouldn't be enough to kill this 'Princess'. The most if possible would cause her entire nervous system to go numb and/or she'll be come partially paralyzed if I was lucky. However despite it most likely doing nothing much, I prefer to show them that they allowed their leader to get harmed. As I grasped its handle I turned my head to face the Princess, I quickly spotted her magenta eyes staring at me. Like pure instinct I raised the arc thrower at her, and yelled out, "Rot in hell!" Pulling the trigger the bolts of electricity hurled its way towards the Princess. However the officer jumped in the way of the shot, blocking it from its original target. As it hit the officer the electricity burned through him, while his armor redirected some of the energy back at me. I could feel needles all around my body, as most of the damage was taken from by my suit. Then somebody shot the arc thrower, causing the device to backfire and caused me to take on all the electric energy. My suit could not take any more electric energy, causing me to instantly fling back in pain as I continue to hold the trigger; unable to let go of it. My cries for it to stop was finally answered as the damaged weapon was removed from my hand, I continued to cry out in pain for my whole body felt like it was burning. Darkness engulfed my vision as the voices of the enemy surrounded me. Celestia's Pov I was communicating with Lt. HonorShield as we discussed our approached on the last invader hoofhold in Equestria. Lt. HonorShield is a young and promising tactician, up around the fourth best I've seen in my lifetime. However he still has some work to do to match Shining Armor, who is currently cleaning up the invaders that is located near the Crystal Empire. "Are you sure, that is the best way to do so?" I questioned, wanting to be certain that there was no other way to limit deaths from our side and hopefully capture one of these invaders. "This is the only way to defeat them quickly and limit lives of our troops, I honestly believe that they will try to leave soon so we have to strike before they leave. This may be our only chance, your majesty" Lt. HonorShield replied. "Very well, I'll send word to my sister immediately" I replied, knowing that Luna would like to know how the battle will commence, while she is currently running the kingdom by herself. I walked out of the tent and walked over to mine to sleep for the night, before the battle starts tomorrow. The rich fowl oder of the bodies from the recent battle mixed along with the burning stench of my little ponies, disgusted me as I approached Lt. HonorShield. "Princess Celestia, we have the fortress secured" he informed saluting. "Any enemy survivors?" I asked him, hoping that we could finally capture one of these invaders and learn who they are and why they attacked us. Lt. HonorShield shock his head confirming my fears "No your majesty, just like all the other battles they'd fought till the end. Even the ones that should've surrendered continued to fight" he replied looking around the battlefield. No doubt he felt that we've lost despite kicking them off our land. "I see... well then, this is troubling. It seems that we failed to capture one of these alien invaders alive" I expresses pausing for a moment, before inquiring another important topic. "Do you know if any of your troops have found any aliens without their bodysuits?" I questioned, hoping at least we could study the biology of these invaders. "Negative your majesty, all of the corpses of the invaders have yet to be identified without their suits on. That is assuming they are suits and not their actual bodies like some of my soldiers believe" Lt. HonorShield informed, suppressing a cough. From the corner of my eye I spotted movement and turned just enough to spot what was the cause. My eyes widen as 'one of them' was still alive and was crawling towards one of his weapons. Before I could react it looked into my direction as it grasp the item. It felt like time stopped for a brief second as we stared at each other before it jumped up in the air, yelling in its alien dialect "Squalent abductis infernum". It sent towards me a barrage of lighting magic. At first I thought it was going to hit me so I made a force field, however Lt. HonorShield jumped in the way of the magic. He growled in pain as the magical energy coursed through him. However some of the magic that came from the weapon of the invader shot back towards the invader with little to no reaction. Then one of my ponies shot the weapon with his magic, causing all the lighting magic to impale the invader. The invader at first started moan in agony, before being flung back by his own weapon as he screeched in horror. This lasted for a few moments before I stepped in. I grasped the weapon with my magic and pulled it with great force from the invader's hand. The invader cried out for a few more seconds before going limp. "Is It dead?" asked a random pony. As I stepped over to it to observe the invader, I notice its chest slowly rise and lower a few times before I made the connections. "Guards I want this invader bound and shipped off to Canterlot's Research compound immediately, gather everything from the invaders as well" I commanded, stopping my hoof down. I turned over to Lt. HonorShield, who was supported by another guard. "Are you alright Honorshield?" I inquired, hoping he wasn't too injured by the invader's magic. "I'm fine your majesty, just doing my duty" he replied with a weak smile. He was lying about being fine, as usual. "You didn't have to sacrifice yourself like that Honor, I had a force field already set up to block the attack. I know it was your duty to protect me, however it is my duty to insure that no pony would have to get hurt. Now come let us head to Canterlot, with our new guest" I explained as a chariot landed nearby. "Of, course your majesty" he replied as we walked over to the chariot and boarded it. Within a few moments we took off to Canterlot. As we flew to Canterlot I looked behind us where the invader was being escorted by another chariot. Part of me was glad to have finally capture one of these invaders, who had caused Equestria nothing but trouble since they had arrived. However the other part of me is afraid that theses invaders were only a small fraction of the whole race, and that the horrors that they caused already is just a whiff of what they could do. I just hope that they will never return, ever again.