A blaring alarm awoke him from his sleep, making him shoot up too quickly and smashing into the bunk above him. Groaning, he rolled of the bed, looking around at the surrounding bunks, a red light bathing the room. All the soldiers in each bunk were either rushing to get up, or looking around in confusion. He was the former, quickly jogging towards the door at the end of the long aisle of bunkbeds, each containing a pair of ponies. Deftly dodging, the confused soldiers that were waking up, he made it to the end of the aisle, following the other soldiers that were acting through the door.

He moved into the new room, this one being much wider than the previous cramped room. Looking to the right, he spotted his locker, weaving his way through the organized chaos of the dozens of soldiers running to their respective lockers. Reaching his, he opened it quickly, grabbing his gear and putting it on. After equipping himself, he grabbed his rifle, checking it was loaded before hurrying out the final door to the outside.

Chaos assaulted his ears, as he observed several helicopters taking off and heading off into the black night sky. He quickly followed a group of fellow soldiers, looking on as soldiers began to head towards vehicles and their commanding officers. Something was definitely wrong. He stopped in his tracks, sniffing the air.

"Smoke?" He said in confusion, pulling his mask down, he sniffed at the air again. Yep it was definitely smoke.

The sound of metal hitting dirt drew his attention to a soldier in front of him who was looking at something behind him. Looking at all the other soldiers in front of him, he noticed that they were all looking behind him as well. Confused he decided to see for himself. His rifle joined the other on the ground as he gazed upon it, the blaring yellow glow bathing the entire base in light.

Canterlot was burning.

Vinyl looked on from her bedroom window, staring silently at the once great city of Canterlot as it burned. She then flipped her gaze downward at the roaming creatures below, noting their dismissal of the destruction of the capital. The distant, yet still clear, cracking of stone revebrated form Canterlot, a large chunk of the outer wall falling off into the dark abyss of the ground below. A faint sound then made it's way into her ears, being different from the scratching and growling of the creatures and the sounds of destruction form Canterlot.

Cracks could be heard echoing over the vast plains of Equestria, almost impossible to hear if you weren't paying attention. Looking off to the right, she could see faint flashes of light flying out across the plains before disappearing into an ominous dark shadow that slowly enroached upon the flashes, smothering and snuffing them out. She looked up as she spotted a large flying object, it's exact nature unclear due to the dark night sky. She did however notice small lights positioned on it, being the only way she had noticed it in the first place. She took off her shades to get a better look, scarlet eyes widening in realization.

"It's a helicopter"

Quartz watched in horror as those...things, swarmed into the base, the metal fences that were supposed to halt unauthorized personnel being overturned from the sheer numbers. Any that were left on the ground did their best to fight back, shooting like hell before being surrounded and piled on. He spotted a couple of trucks make it out, and even a tank, yet none slowed done for the screaming soldiers behind. He turned back ahead to the soldier sitting in front of him, the chopping of the helicopters blades filling his ears.

Checking his rifle out of habit and needing something to do, he continued to do this, occasionally glancing up at the pony in front, who had chosen to simply gave a thousand yard stare, his black pegasus wings occasionally ruffling in between the straps of his backpack. While normally he would attempt to strike up a conversation he knew this particular soldier very well. His name was Thunder Wing, and he was a mute, having never spoken as far as he knew. He had heard several rumours about why he wouldn't or couldn't talk ranging from fighting in the Griffon War to him just not wanting to.

Any thought of calm dissipated immediately as the sound of glass smashing came from the cockpit, followed by a guttural scream as a sickening crunch came from the cockpit, the helicopter suddenly lurching to the side. Quartz grabbed onto nearby seat, clenching it so hard his hands began to hurt. Something suddenly shot through the open side door, smashing into the floor. It slowly got up, pulling it's lips back in a snarl. Standing before him was a pegasus, the ruins of a white shirt covering his torso. Blood covered every inch of him, his mouth in particular, while his tattered wings twitched sporatically behind him.

He screamed, charging at Quartz before dropping to the ground following a quick crack. Blinking in shock he looked at Thunder who had raised his rifle, smoke pouring out of the end. The door to the cockpit slammed open, the pilot dropping onto the floor, growling unnaturally. Another pegasi similar to the previous one charged out, this time moving for Thunder. She didn't get the chance however, as the lack of piloting caught up to the helicopter, resulting in it begin a quick descent, followed by uncontrolled spinning. The pegasus and pilot were sent flying out the open side door, having not grabbed onto something to hold onto.

The world span, his vision not being able to focus on one thing for long. Attempting to look out the door, he caught a final glimpse of the quickly approaching ground before they finally collided with it...

A boom sounded out through Ponyville, drawing the attention of Lyra and Cheerilee, causing them to look out the window. They had already seen Canterlot, but a new fire had appeared near the outskirts of Ponyville. They both looked at each other in worry as every one of those things screamed as they sprinted towards the new fire.

He pulled Quartz deeper into the forest, the sounds of the inevitable horde coming closer. He just had to get far enough. He just had to get him out. He just had to survive.

Author's Note

I know I said this was going on hiatus but I had an idea and wrote it. Sadly I fear this is a low quality chapter so I apologize in advance. I do not need people in the comments complaining about how the story is going. I would appreciate grammar mistakes being corrected as well as spelling ones.

Live long and taco.