The Quagmire of the Black Crusade

Aife flew without care, whizzing by the various buildings. Spells, aimed to hit her, radiated heat as they flew by. She knew if her mother and father could see her now, they would be in awe of her flying. Even fit for the Northern Tribe's Royal Guards. Red and pink hair waved underneath her helmet as she riddled an enemy machine gun nest with bullets. Aife counted each kill. Or would it be re-kill, as weren’t they already dead? A few undead on a roof peaked out, dead. An undead unicorn fired a gross green spell at her? Aife dodged with a twirl and flung a grenade in the undead mares window. Aife had counted at least ten, maybe even more at this point.

She checked her ammo and recalled her orders. Blah blah, stay in formation and target any dead guys. She was already getting low on ammo, she reloaded, and a bullet whizzed by, scrapping her wing. “Ow! Hey,” she shouted out as she quickly drove downwards to get momentum and then swinging upwards with a hail of bullets towards the undead enemies. “Watch where you creeps are shooting!”

A small group, with an undead griffon, collapsed as the bullets made their mark. On the griffons back was a bazooka. No doubt for use against her armor. Aife wondered if that kill earned her extra points. After all, it was lucky that they had shot at her. Or was it unlucky? Aife pondered while mindlessly dropping grenades and firing bullets on enemies below. She was thinking about what she would have for breakfast. She saw the grenade she dropped blow apart various undead. Only, she was interrupted when another Pegasi flew nearby her.

A black eye patch, a mean frown, and a mane of various shades of red. Her coat was a light orange. Aife sighed, it was Spice Song.

“Aife, what in horse apples are you doing? I said stay in formation!”

Aife sighed as the angry hoof of Spice Song pointed towards a blown open roof. The pair landed in the attic of the house. Other pegasi followed, taking their own rest or checking equipment. A few were injured, electing to stay and nurse they injuries.

“But Spice Song, did you see me! I took out at least fifteen of them so far, even a few heavy weapons. Oh, and then one even had a-.”

“Aife focus! When I give an order, listen to what I say! You can count your kills-”

One of the ponies, with a glowing magic radio, appeared nearby. The small contraption, roared for a brief moment before a thin line of magic flew into the machine from outside. It glowed, and then out came orders. “Sorry to interpret Spice, but these are-.”

Spice Song sighed, “don’t worry, Cloudy Sprinkle, relay the word.”

“Enemy tanks and an undead counter recon are inbound.”

Aife turned her head sideways, “That’s weird Cloudy, the barriers are still up-”

Cloudy sighed, “Do you even read the intel report? It’s undead pegasi and griffons. Specialized undead for countering aerial infantry.”

“Oooh…”

Spice Song, the 12th’s leader, thought for a moment. Her eye patch blocking Aife’s view of what she was looking at. “Orders are orders. I want squad 1 and 3 leading, is Morning Haste injured.”

Morning Haste, a pegasi with a blue coat, spoke up from the care of a nearby medic. The wound leaving her right hoof bloody. “Yes, ma’am, it was a pretty unlucky hit.”

“Well, have Summer Quick take over team 3 then.” Spice Song turned, racking her gun, “let’s go ponies.”

As they took flight, Aife noticed the dark figures in the air opposite of them. Other squads from 12th Recon were engaging already, and soon their squad was in the fight. Dodging and weaving, Aife was struggling, but still keeping her speed. A few undead pegasi quickly engaged her, missing, and with a clean dodge she took them both out. A few allied pegasi supported her, and their formation caused the breaking up of the enemies. Only a strong, armored, undead griffon broke through the formation. Chaos broke out as enemies appeared from all around. Gunfire and close quarters fighting broke out, with Aife taking down a few more undead ponies, only to be rammed into from her blind spot. Unable to maintain control, she and the undead griffon who rammed her crashed into a building.

Everything was hazy, but Aife was able to rise. Struggling, she leaned on a wooden beam which had fallen nearby. She looked for her gun, but was unable to find it. The undead griffon, black as night, and with flesh and bone showing, stood up. One of the creature's wings were bent the opposite direction. The griffon was armored like a knight. The black, glimmered in the limited light from outside. He reached up and put his wing back into place harshly. The crack made Aife jump. All Aife had was a knife, which she took hold of in her mouth promptly. She spied movement on her right through the opening the two had made in the roof.

“Ah, little pegasi, it seems you need to look both ways. I thought the living were supposed to be smart?”

Aife back up, letting the griffon get closer to the opening in the wall. She spoke, sounding silly and hard to hear. The hilt of the knife in her mouth. “I dee, u kawsh mumto we.”

The griffon laughed, then coughed painfully, “What? Say that again, scared little pony.”

In front of the opening now, Aife spat out the knife and shouted at the griffon. “I did, you crashed into me!”

Before the griffon could respond, a surge of bullets from a submachine gun came from the opening. The undead griffon’s armor managed to block some, but not all, and he struggled to keep moving forward. The undead griffon turned, only to be met with another hail of bullets, and he fell over, dead.

Aife smiled widely as the pegasi landed inside. The pegasi then double tapped the corpse with a few more shots. “Ah, hay yeah! Just on time, Summer! That was the leader of those Dread knights, just look at that armor and his size too!”

Summer Quick, a yellow and pink pony, snorted. A coupe pegasi behind her, nodded and flew off to rejoin the aerial combat. “More importantly, Aife, what does the oh so great Northern Flyer have in terms of kills?”

“Twenty one.”

Summer’s eyes widened at Aife’s count. She reached into a bag and pulled out a potion with a red cross on it. She handed it to Aife. “Twenty one? You're not lying, are you?"

“No, of course not. On Celestia’s name!” Aife said while gesturing her legs in a strange way. She then popped the lid of the potion.

“Well, if that’s true, then Swift Leaf is behind.”

“Oh, and what does he have.” Aife put emphasize on he, as she found Swift Leaf annoying, more like Slow Leaf, she thought to herself. Drinking the sweet tasting potion. It reminded her of cinnamon buns.

“Only ten when I talked to him. Seems you're not just an airhead, but a skilled airhead.”

Aife stuck out her tongue at Summer. As she walked towards the opening of the building, they both noticed a light armored vehicle driving beside the building. It stopped suddenly, with the hatch opening and an orange griffon peaking out. He called over to them, “You ponies ok? Medics are on the way up from the rear, but the battle's nearing its end, one last push, it seems.”

Summer and Aife both looked at each other.

“Shall we Great Northern Flyer?”

Aife teased her, hesitating, “I don’t know, you did call me an airhead.”

“A skilled airhead,” Summer said as she took off into the air.

The Great Northern Flyer was quick to follow her, “drop the airhead and I may sign your gun when I get famous.”