As Tartarus Breaks Loose

by Thranx

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Death, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Changelings
Length: 5455

As the Great War pierces deep into Equestria, the Changeling onslaught seems like it would never stop.

The Great War is going smoothly. Vanhoover, Tall Tale, Applewood and finally the prize of Western Equestria, Las Pegasus has fallen. Army Group South has conquered it all. Western Equestria is now under Queen Chysalis' army.

Now their sights fall upon the Equestrian South. All lay before them is the flat desert terrain. Perfect for their doctrine of mobile warfare. No more of those urban combat, hill fighting, forest battles and river crossings. It should be easy. At least that's what they thought.

They were wrong.

Set in Equestria at War

Published 2023-07-15 16:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-07-15 16:50:00 UTC

Triumph in the West

The city was now theirs. The fighting was over. The last pockets of resistance had surrendered three hours ago. The jewel on this side of Equestria was now the property of Queen Chrysalis. Cimex sat on a pile of rubble looking on the buzzing activity down in Main Street. Plumes of black smoke could be seen in the distance, acrid smell filled his nostrils and specks of ash fell on his uniform. Somehow the sky was still blue, a curious juxtaposition. He looked on as fleets of trucks drove down the streets, Panzers parked on the side, medic trucks heading to the nearby field hospital and changeling soldiers walking about on the pavements on each side of the street.

Cimex sighed. He was tired, but happy. All the non-stop fighting for three straight months for nearly a thousand kilometers from the border to Las Pegasus had finally come to an end. No more mud, no more forests and now no more urban sprawls to battle in. It seems he was not the only one feeling this way. As he surveyed at the scene before of him, it was somewhat confusing to say the least. Some were singing and celebrating their hard-earned victory; some were helping the wounded with the medics; some were walking around exploring the battered city, some were putting out the fires, and others, like him, simply soaked in the atmosphere. So many things happening at once, it was chaotic. However, this kind of chaotic atmosphere was a lot different from the chaos three hours ago. Strangely enough, it was calming. He couldn't put his hoof as to why. Was it because he could not be shot in the head? Or was it because there is some semblance of organisation in the chaotic situation before him? Or perhaps, was it both?

"Both perhaps," he muttered to himself and nodded. "Yes, both."

He looked at his watch; it was half past one. His stomach rumbled, he sighed. He did not want to get up, however his stomach needs feeding and it was lunch anyway. "No time like the present, I suppose," he grumbled to himself. He stood up, straightening himself and walked to the nearest mess hall.

After his lunch, he went about doing menial tasks assigned to him throughout the evening which mainly consisted of lugging crates upon crates filled with miscellaneous items. Some were medicine, some were ammunition and some were not even crates to begin with, fuel barrels were common, rubble was second. The metropolis had just gone through a battle pieces of ruins here and needs clearing after all. The Royal Engineers were hard at work fixing broken roads, readjusting railway lines, clearing debris at the Las Pegasus Naval Base, building new supply depots and repairing the captured ones. While the Logistics Corps would begin transferring supplies. The supply line must be maintained, after all. Without it, Army Group South could go nowhere.

Cimex stood on one of the many overpasses stretching throughout the metropolis. He set his gaze on the outskirts of the great city and beyond. Since this was the highest overpass in the city. the only obstacles to his view was a few skyscrapers which was nothing more than nuisance. This was not Manehattan or Fillydelphia where skyscrapers were jutting everywhere. Las Pegasus was a place of entertainment, not a place where ponies would move to like the metropolises of the Eastern Seaboard. It was a place for creatures to have fun and promptly leave, be it in an intoxicated or a loaded manner. Whatever happens in Las Pegasus stays in Las Pegasus, as the saying goes.

He chuckled at the irony of that statement. Upon the city's conquest by the Heer, it was sacked and looted. The Entertainment District were stripped clean of anything valuable. The once bustling city of hedonism and indulgence was reduced to smoldering ruins. All that's left were rubble, a ghost town, and the smell of burning buildings; and that will stay in Las Pegasus.

But that did not matter, once again another city had fallen to the the Queen's onslaught. One step closer to toppling the wretched Equestrian Diarchy. One step closer to reverse the humiliation of Canterlot, one step closer to victory and finally one step closer to return home. Cimex smiled to himself, he was proud to be a part of this historic moment. One day, changeling nymphs back home will listen with awe at the journey he went through. They would constantly ask for details, looking for tales of glory and valor. He took out a picture from his chest pocket, it was a picture of a small changeling nymph, barely a year old. One day. One day, I'll tell you. He stared at it for a while and then put it back in his pocket. For now, he has a job to do. Someday he will, but that will not be today.

He broke his gaze and watched his surroundings as a few armored columns passed by him, heading out of the city along with some changeling soldiers marching out. It was a vanguard force, he figured. All the changelings working stopped to see their comrades marching out of the city and once again into the fray. Many of them began to cheer for them, wishing them luck and glory. "Don't hog all the glory!" he heard some of them said jokingly, followed by a series of laughter.

He smiled, it was these rare occasions that made him join the Heer in the first place, the camaraderie between strangers but were put in the same box. A journey they would go through together, even if many of them were of different units, they still work for a common goal. More than one million changelings all wearing a single pair shoes. A connection so large for a large group of strangers. A connection he valued second only to his family. He did not shout nor laugh, but he did wish them luck that went unheard by the rest. For him, that alone was enough.

Minutes passed as the last of the convoy finally left his sight. He still stared at the now, dots of soldiers heading southwards before going back to his work as the cheers faded, the rest followed suit. It was mundane, really. Yet, it was peaceful. The chirps of the birds had returned after the battle in the city had subsided. Along with a few changelings talking, are the smell of trees from the local park became more prevalent as more of the burning buildings were put out, they invoked a sense of calmness. He decided, for now to enjoy the mundane tasks given to him, mundanity means peacefulness and he would enjoy it while he still could. For in two days, he would also march out southwards with his unit.
Once more into the chaos.

But he knew not of the new kind of chaos he would face soon. One that might turn the tide of the war.

The Southward Thrust

Rockville, a very unassuming city, in Cimex's opinion. Famous simply for its proximity to the former home of the Element of Laughter and the site of a rather curious university, the Rockville Institute, famously known for exclusively offering courses tied to its namesake. The "Rocktorates", as the graduates and rectorate were affectionately called, added to the city's charm. They had a knack for finding humor even in the most peculiar situations. It was no wonder why the Element of Laughter fit her bill. However, regardless of amusement or charm, the city still lay on the path of Army Group South- Center.

As his unit, part of the Army Group South- Center made their way to Appleloosa, they could not help but appreciate the strangeness of the Mild West. The vast Equestrian South, a sprawling map with patches of green amidst a sea of yellow, dwarfed the familiar Equestrian West. Rockville, situated just fifty kilometers from Las Pegasus, already provided a glimpse of the untamed frontier. Tumbleweeds rolled and warm air embraced them, a stark contrast to Cimex's frigid homeland of Ditrysium.

The warm winds, however, strangely reminded him of home. Back home where the sun rarely shone. A changeling's diet consisted of hot stew mixed with small erots of love to keep one warm and cozy. The warm winds touching his chitin somehow reminded him of sitting next to the fireplace during winter back home. Back with his family. He shook his head. Get yourself together, back to the task at hoof, he chided himself.

Amidst the deserts and plains, their objectives stood clear. Army Group South had been divided into three separate armies after the conquest of Las Pegasus. Cimex's unit belonged to the South-Center, tasked with securing Appleloosa. Horston and Dodge Junction awaited South-West and South-East, respectively. That was the mission they had been briefed on, a strategic push into the heart of the Mild West.

"Fire!"

Cimex watched as changeling artillery bombarded the rock-obsessed city as his unit marched closer to the frontlines. Loud howitzer fire and changeling officers barking orders filled the atmosphere. A distant whirring made him turn his head upwards as bombers flew overhead each about to jettison its payload on the suffering city. He dropped his head and looked forwards, to the battered city, he could see exploding anti-aircraft rounds above the city, along with plumes of black smoke. It seemed the city was on its last legs. What was left to do was to charge into the city and clear the garrison. A simple solution, yet it comes with a bloody execution.

Cimex stood behind a tank with other soldiers as his unit prepared to charge. Beside him was a sergeant, holding a whistle with his magic, waiting for the bombardment to end and blow the whistle to signal the advance. He glanced next to him and saw rows of tanks arranged in a straight line with changeling soldiers stood behind them, all were preparing for the attack. Then, the bombardment stopped, all that was left was a whistle blow. Just as the sergeant was about to blow the whistle, he was interrupted by a shout.

"We surrender! We surrender! Stop the attack!"

Cimex looked around as with other changelings confusedly waiting for new orders as a changeling captain shouted back.

"Walk out of the city unarmed! You will also surrender all available equipment! Any signs of resistance will be shot on sight! You are given thirty minutes! Failure to comply will resume the attack! Do you accept these terms?" After a few seconds, the equestrians responded.

"We agree to the conditions!"

Cimex looked to the city as droves of Equestrian soldiers marched out unarmed. He shielded his eyes as the sunset blinded his vision a little and observed the soon-to-be prisoners-of-war. Many of them looked exhausted, some were still waving white flags. As he observed them, he heard someling approached the captain. He wore a black uniform, different from the grey uniform of the Heer. A Queen's Guard.

"Why did you accept their surrender?" the changeling asked the lieutenant.

"So we don't have to waste lives and ammunition, that's why," the captain curtly responded.

"The nearest POW camp is back home, a thousand kilometers away! Our trains are better used for transporting more soldiers and tanks! Not transferring these ponies!" the Queen's Guard spat.

"So what do you propose? Let more changelings die? Not when the Equestrians gave us this city on a silver platter!" the captain raised his voice a little.

"They are outnumbered and outgunned! We would roll them over easily, instead, we have to manage this!"

"And lose our initiative? Our time? Our ammo? Our soldiers?!"

"Yes! The ponies can barely stand on their four hooves, their frontlines are cracking everywhere as we speak! We don't need initiative, we've already won! They have nothing! We have everything! We can replace our losses and they can't! I say we shoot them now!"

"No, killing prisoners will only embolden them. Also, as I recall, all operations on the front falls under the jurisdiction of the Heer, not the Queen's Guard. So I say, you should mind your own business and tell Lacin that we know what we're doing," the captain retorted.

The changeling glared daggers at the captain. "Fine, you win," he turned and stomped away. The captain sighed and muttered, "Bloody Cardo and his buggers.". He wiped the sweat on his forehead and turned to the soldiers watching the commotion and shouted, "What are you looking at? Get back to your stations!" All changelings including Cimex scrambled back to their respective sections.

Night has fallen and Rockville was secured. The prisoners were handed to the Queen's Guard to transport them away from the front. Likely to a work camp. Cimex's unit was not involved in securing the city so he was stationed outside of the city.

Cimex lay still as he stared at the ceiling of his tent. He could not sleep as he was sweating bullets. I thought Rockville was arid! Why am I sweating this much? he thought to himself. He concluded that it was probably the small tent that caused him to sweat this much. To Tartarus with this. I'm going for a walk, he decided. He got up and put on his uniform and trotted out of his tent. He checked his watch to see that it was half past twelve. He looked around to see rows of tents and walked to the edge of the camp.

Upon reaching there, he saw two changelings from his unit, Sergeant Carapace and Corporal Maxilla and trotted towards them. The former was staring at a campfire while cleaning his pistol and the latter sat in front of a box and had her back facing him, he did not see what she was doing, but it looked like she was doing something on top of the box. As he arrived, he greeted the sergeant.

"What are you doing here, Sir? If you mind me asking,"

The sergeant looked up and replied, "Oh Cimex, it's you. Take a seat. Both of us can't sleep, too hot. So we're just getting some fresh air. I take it the heat's bugging you too?"

Cimex nodded, "Yes, sir,"

He chuckled, "What did I tell you, you can drop the formalities. We're comrades, aren't we?"

"Yes, sir—uh, I mean Carapace," Cimex stumbled before he sat on a log. He glanced to Corporal Maxilla and asked Carapace, "What's Maxilla doing?"

"She somehow got herself a broken radio. An Equestrian one at that. And thought she could fix it," Carapace snorted.

"I know I can! I've done this plenty back home," Maxilla replied without looking back. "Just needs some tweaking, is all. I'm almost done," she added, followed by a short moment of silence. "Aaand, we're done!" she exclaimed. She turned to them both and showed them the radio she put on the box. She grinned, "Now, let's see what this bad boy can do,". She tuned to an Equestrian channel, only to be greeted with static.

"Aw, come on! Why won't you work?" she knocked the radio a little before the static gave way and finally they were able to hear something.

"... because I was afraid—static—sary, no longer!" the radio buzzed. Cimex and Carapace turned to Maxilla.

"Okay, that's not my fault. That's bad signal. Way out of my control," she defended. Carapace conceded as he tilted his head a little and the three continued to listen.

"—order there can be—static—val! Without—static—ship! All shall be sa—static—and I ask—static—dience—static—shared sacrifice!" Then, the signal died, followed by a static then silence.

"Well, she sounded angry," Carapace remarked. Cimex had to agree with the sergeant, the voice was clearly a female and her voice was clearly laced with hatred. Meanwhile Maxilla opened the radio to check it.

"Damn, the battery's dead. I forgot to ask for batteries. I'll ask Coccyx if he's got batteries tomorrow," said Maxilla before she turned to Carapace and Cimex. "So, now what do we do?" she asked.

Carapace shrugged as he continued cleaning his pistol and Cimex said nothing. Maxilla sighed, "I was hoping to listen to some music, guess I'll just sit here with both of you." Silence followed before Maxilla broke it, "Equestrians have some good music, you know,"

The two other changelings did not reply before Carapace inserted his gun in his holster and stood up gaining Maxilla's and Cimex's attention. "Get some sleep, you two. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day," he said before he walked away. The corporal and private traded glances.

"I'll put out the fire," mumbled Maxilla as she stood up.

"I'll help you," Cimex replied as they worked together to put out the fire before returning to their tents. The heat persisted well throughout the night.

Closer to Tartarus

The summer sun was not a happy sun, Cimex concluded as he jumped into an empty foxhole. He took his canteen and guzzled it until it was empty. His water had ran out. It was a matter of time before his energy was sapped entirely or collapsed to dehydration. He heard bullets whizzed over him as he clutched his rifle with his magic and opened the cartridge to reload. He had burned through half of his ammunition since the battle began. It had been days since his unit reached Appleloosa and the resistance was unexpectedly determined.

Unlike Rockville, whose garrison was made entirely out of demoralised and shattered remnants of the forces in Las Pegasus and surrendered right after a bombardment. The garrison in Appleloosa were tenacious. They were equipped with the best weapons the Equestrian arsenal could offer and many of them were experienced from the prior border conflicts with the buffalo tribes. However, most importantly, they were stubborn. They fought tooth and nail for every inch of land the changelings took. None of them surrendered.

The weather offered no respite too, the sky was clear and the clouds were scarce, every changeling would stuck out like a pillar in the middle of the desert because of their black chitin and grey uniforms. Whereas, the Equestrians wore desert camouflage rendering them almost invisible. The sun shone too bright, it blinded everyling. Changelings were nocturnal beings, they lived in the darkest caves beneath the surface, far from the shining sun. To be exposed to sunlight this much would severely hamper their vision, the lack of clouds exacerbated the situation to the next level. However, they all pale in comparison to the heat. Cimex felt his entire body was only short of burning to a crisp. Unlike the sun and the sky. The heat did not leave when night fell. It only lost a little of its vigor. Only a little. It was unbearable. It was relentless. Many fail to acclimatize. Many fell to heatstroke and dehydration and many of whom did not made it.

Cimex was glad he was not on the list.

He shook his head and grounded himself back to reality. Right now, Appleloosa was on its last legs. At the cost of heavy casualties, the Heer had cornered to final remnant of the garrison in the City Hall. Cimex peeked from his spot facing the City Hall and saw changeling soldiers swarmed the battered building. Taking the cue, he climbed out of the foxhole and joined the charge. He opted not to fly in favor of using his surroundings for cover instead of flying to reach the building faster. He quickly rushed up the stairs and entered the building. His comrades had already cleared the entrance.

"Cimex, let's clear the second floor!" Maxilla called from a stairway nearby.

"Right, coming!" Cimex replied and joined Maxilla as she aimed her submachine gun up the stairs.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She grabbed a grenade and threw it over the stairs before it exploded.

"Let's go," she said as both of them went to the second floor and jumped behind a pile of sandbags.

Cimex peeked over the sandbags, and a bullet hit the sandbag in front of him and ducked back into cover.

"You're not gonna get away with this, bug!" he heard one of them shout.

"Yeah, we're gonna bring you down with us, you hear?!" he heard another one shout.

"As if," Maxilla snorted. "I'll provide suppressing fire, you try to get closer and lob a grenade in that room." Maxilla got up and began shooting her MP-10 in rapid succession.

Cimex quickly got up and ran to a pilaster ahead. Only moving to another once Maxilla finished reloading and resumed firing. After about fifty meters, Cimex believed he was close enough and took out his grenade and threw it in the room.

"Grenade!" he heard them shout before the sound of explosion followed by silence.

Cimex moved carefully to the door frame of the room and poked his head in the doorway. There, he spot a motionless Earth Pony on the floor and a unicorn who was thrown against a wall by the explosion. He approached the Earth Pony and observed his injuries. He was bloody, the shrapnel got him. He was as good as dead. Then, Cimex turn to the unicorn who was still conscious. He approached the unicorn slowly, his rifle pointed at him, ready to pull the trigger at the first sight of caution.

"You bloody parasites, you got me," the unicorn did not look at him. He was focused on the wound on his chest.

"Surrender, please. For your own sake. I don't want to kill you," Cimex said.

The unicorn lifted his head to meet the changeling's gaze. "Surrender? To you? Never" he spat.

"Please, we can treat you. You just have to surrender. We can give you mercy if you surrender. Please," Cimex pleaded.

"You—argh!—you speak of mercy?" he began. "Where was your mercy when you intruded Princess Cadenza's wedding, huh?!" he spat. "Where was it when you stomped the deers? Where was it when you crossed the border, captured and killed our kin? Where was it, huh?!" he stood before falling back to the floor.

Cimex froze before he breathed, "I'm sorry."

"You deplorable bugs, you truly are the most disgusting creature Faust has ever created. You invade us and you say you were sorry? What a disgrace. Shameless." he said. "Not to worry, she is coming. Just you wait," he chuckled.

"Who? Who's coming?" Cimex questioned.

"I don't need to tell you who, you—cough—parasite! She's coming and she's furious," he laughed. "But not to worry, I'll spare you from her wrath," he sneered. Cimex's eyes widen as the unicorn's horn glowed and grabbed a pistol as he aimed it to him and began to pull the trigger.

BANG!

The unicorn slumped as a bullet went through his head. Cimex turned back to see Maxilla stood there with her smoking MP-10.

"You alright?" she asked as she approached him.

"Yeah, thanks," Cimex thanked her.

She turned her head to the dead unicorn. "Bloody lunatic."

"He is one, alright," Cimex agreed.

"Come on, let's rendezvous with the others," Maxilla patted his shoulder. "Lieutenant's gonna debrief and we're getting to have a good rest." she turned away and left the room.

Cimex stood still as he stared at the dead equine before Maxilla called him.

"Hey, you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, give me a sec," he replied and recomposed himself before he walked out of the room.

As it turned out, there was no rest. The lieutenant ordered them to build fortifications to dig in. It seemed the Equestrians would not let up. Scouts reported heavy enemy presence about to surround the city. Some say they outnumber the changelings three to one, rumors went as high as five to one. But Cimex could not confirm which was which but what he did know was that they outnumber his comrades.

Cimex heard someling collapsed next to him as he was digging a trench. He along with others glanced at the changeling before medics quickly brought him away.

"What are you looking at? Keep working! We're against time, here!" he heard a changeling shout.

The sun was becoming more hostile as they day progressed, in a span of hours after the battle, hundreds of changelings collapsed due to heatstroke, dwindling their numbers further. To make matters worse, water was becoming scarce, with the city's reservoir and the oases around poisoned, water was prioritized to the dehydrated which left the able changelings at the front more vulnerable to the heat. It was a never-ending cycle of destruction.

Cimex did not like it one bit. He always wanted to feel the warmth of the sun. To finally be away from the frigid tundra back home. But not like this. This was not the temperate climate that he wanted. This sun was scorching and this sun could kill. However, as much as he wanted to complain, he knew it changed nothing. So he brushed his thoughts away and resumed working.

"Artillery, incoming!"

Cimex did not think, he immediately jumped into the unfinished trench along with the others as a loud explosion blasted somewhere a little farther from his position. This was followed by more and more explosions as more rounds began to land like rainfall. He quickly put on his helmet and took shelter in one of the underground shelters and began to pray to the Hive Mothers. O Blessed Hive Mothers, please don't end it like this, he prayed. Hoping for a miracle that would save them.

His prayers went unanswered as the bombardment seemed to intensify and the ground shook harder. For thirty minutes he sat there praying while others became more hysterical and began to cry wildly, some begging to return home, some prayed for forgiveness and some had lost hope, they sat frozen and uncaring as their gaze became empty. Morale had hit rock bottom, the sun and the enemy had shattered it. No one wants to fight.

Thankfully, after hours of fear and terror, the bombardment ceased and the shelter withstood the violent shelling. The changelings cleared the shelter to find out that night had fallen. A quick glance around and Cimex could see how fortunate he was, many of his comrades did not even made into the shelters and many more were buried alive after the supports gave way to the intense pounding.

He recovered from the shock as another soldier shoved him a shovel, "Quick, we gotta dig 'em out!" he shouted. Cimex rushed after the soldier and saw many soldiers digging a collapsed bunker. He began to dig as he heard the previous soldier voice cracked as he muttered, "Please, I can't lose them. They all I've got." Cimex could not help but sobbed a little too as he dug faster.

However, as he dug, he heard a distant noise. He stopped digging and looked to the others. It seemed that others heard it as well as they also stopped digging. He and the others looked around, they deduced that the sound was coming from a single direction. It was coming from out of the city. It was a battlecry.

It was an attack.

"Enemy attack! To your positions!"

This was not fair.

As the Tables Turned

Army Group South Headquarters, Las Pegasus

Three days later...

"Larynx explain to me what's going on," the Hivesmarshall said as he looked on the map displayed on the table.

"Well, General Uptrich's West Army had lost half of its strength after an Equestrian counterattack in Horston. They are requesting to fall back. We can send a message to Admiral Mimic to give naval support while they retreat. General Zellix's East Army had achieved their objective to secure Dodge Junction and are awaiting further orders. Though we received reports of large amounts of equipment being transferred on that front by the Equestrians, we should expect a counterattack," Larynx explained.

"How about the Center?" the Hivesmarshall glared at the map.

Larynx sighed and took a deep breath, "General Murx's Center Army is encircled at Appleloosa three days ago. They are requesting help. From what information we could get before the communications were cut was that they lost 75% of their strength. Though, General Elvir is requesting permission to relieve them. What do we do?"

The Hivesmarshall stared at the map for a full minute before he asked, "Are the railways still busted?"

"Uh... yes sir," Larynx blinked at the question before he replied, "Every railway throughout our portion of Equestria is still unusable. With the rising temperatures, the railways buckled under the heat and bent, because of that, a lot of our supply trains derailed or are suffering from mechanical problems. The Queen had ordered the Logistics Corps and the Royal Engineers to focus on Army Group Center's rail network over us after they failed to take Canterlot." Larynx explained.

"That complicates things," the Hivesmarshall mumbled before he continued, "Send a message to Admiral Mimic to support General Uptrich, order General Zellix to retreat and tell him to burn everything. Without trains our retreat will be sluggish. I want him to destroy every bridge and block every road as he withdraws."

"How about General Murx?" he heard one of the generals asked.

The Hivesmarshall took of his cap and put it on the table before saying, "Tell Elvir that he did not have the permission to engage. Tell him to burn down Rockville and pull back to Las Pegasus. I cannot send three Panzer Divisions to death. They're too valuable." The room went quiet as the staff process the order before the he broke it, "As for General Murx, I can only offer him and his army prayers." A moment of silence passed before he put on his cap and continued, "Pack up, HQ will be relocated to Vanhoover. Larynx, get me Hivesmarshall Trimmel. Dismissed."

"Hivesmarshall Trimmel," he heard him spoke on his telephone.

"It's Pharynx, how bad is your front that you somehow convinced the Queen to prioritise your rails over mine?" Pharynx asked.

"Oh, it's you. Everything's going south. Everything's collapsing. We were stopped right at the gates of Canterlot when she came out of the blue," Trimmel hissed.

"Who?"

"Don't know, Vaspier is sending agents to collect more information. Reports say she's an alicorn made of fire and straight up burnt all our lings to crisp. Ponies really like her. I thought there's only four of them," Trimmel replied.

"You're pulling my leg," said Pharynx in disbelief.

"I would love to but now is not the time, I'm serious. Chrysalis is prioritising my rails because I personally talked to her that we need to get away from her and entrench fast." Trimmel replied.

"What about Synovial then, how's Crystal City doing?"

"Synovial lifted the siege and pulled back because his southern flank was exposed when my army was shattered," Trimmel bluntly replied.

"Oh," said Pharynx before he went silent for half a minute before asking his last question as he is forming his words, "Do you think all this has something to do with the sun?"

"Impossible. Celestia wouldn't let that alicorn take her sun. It's just some heatwave, an annoying one at that. One that might cost us this war," snorted Trimmel.

"What if she's her?"

"What, are you crazy? Celestia is a goody four-hooves, she's not that alicorn," said Trimmel incredulously.

"What if she's not as 'goody four-hooves' as we thought?" Pharynx quickly replied. "Her sister was Nightmare Moon once." He let the sentence hang.

The line went silent for a full minute before he finally replied.

"I don't know,"

Down in the dark sewers of Appleloosa, Cimex stopped and bandaged his wound. Thankfully, the bullet only hit his right hoof rather than any critical parts. However, he was tired. He had not drank in two days. He knew that the sewage water around him would kill him if he drank it. It was unsanitary. But he needed to be hydrated as of now. He needed as much energy as he could get. So, he submerged his head and started to guzzle the murky water.

After a few minutes, he laid back on the wall as his breathing slowed down. Suddenly, he saw a ray of flashlight around a corner about a hundred meters away from him. "He's near us, I can tell. I swear when I get that bug, I'll get him good," a voice said.

"Please, not now. Give me some time to rest. I just want to go home," he lamented. He took his rifle and turned off his flashlight before retreating deeper into the sewers. Away from the light, away from the enemy and away from the Sun.