War Was All We Knew.

Chapter Eleven

If there's two things that I didn't expect when I joined the COG, it was when I had to become an Onyx Guard and then escort Chairman Hoffman into a world of colored talking ponies. Not fighting any surviving Locust, not getting attacked by Stranded, but this. What I am doing I hope will end up in the history books, once we start making them again...

(Master Sergeant Willis Janson expressing his opinion on arriving in Equestria.)

***

Ponyville town center.
Five Minutes after Chairman Hoffman's arrival.

Hoffman and Celestia stared at Pinkie as she stood over the remains of her wagon. She was still staring in shock after Dizzy had ran over it in his Rig and was unresponsive to anything that her friends were doing to bring her around. As for Marcus, he was standing by the Grindlift Rig and waiting for it's driver to descend from his beloved machine.

"Hey Dizzy! Are you coming down?"

"Yeah I am Delta, keep your pants on."

"What did he say?" Celestia asked. Baird gave her his smirk and looked up at the Rig.

"That's Dizzy for you, he says stuff like that."

Celestia stared as Dizzy descended from the Rig and swaggered over to Marcus giving him a polite tip of his hat.

"Welcome to the big suck, Dizzy," Marcus said. Dizzy gave Marcus a small chuckle.

"Nice to be back with the old squad," Dizzy replied.

"What about being in a world of talking horses?" Baird asked him.

"That isn't how I expected to meet you again. I was kinda hoping that we'd be celebrating or something."

"Mhmm, I know that feeling," Cole added. Anya walked over to the Rig and looked up, sitting on top of the massive machine was what appeared to be a large cannon sitting on top where the mechanism that once deployed Grindlifts once stood.

"Dizzy, what is that you have up there?"

Dizzy looked up and saw what Anya had asked about and in response he smiled.

"That there is a Pounder Light Artillery cannon," he said, "It's a little something that we had fitted a short time ago to the remaining Grindlift Rigs. Turned Betty into a sweet little killer."

"Little being an understatement," Baird muttered.

"When'd the COG start making mobile artillery?" Marcus said.

"About time when we started repopulating the South Islands," Bernie replied, "We sent a lot of Gears back to Tyrus in order to scavenge and secure the remaining weapons and vehicle depots. In one we found a large number of light artillery pieces and Grindlift Rigs, after a little improvisation we ended up creating what is now in front of you."

"You test any of them yet?" Cole asked.

"The guns yes, not while they're on the Rig."

"Maybe we can fire off a few shots after everyone gets settled in," Baird said.

Ponyville town hall.
Ten minutes later.

"Nice of you to allow my forces to roll into town," Hoffman said to Celestia. As he walked with her through the halls of the town hall.

"It's nothing," Celestia replied, "I wanted my little ponies to see that your race is as peaceful as ours."

"We're not entirely peaceful, we just know how to act around civilians. Regardless of race or species."

"I understand, Chairman. My race too is not as peaceful as it seems, currently we too are at war. For the past few months we have been fighting Queen Chrysalis and her swarm of Changelings. My armies are capable of holding off her attacks but recently a lot of my brave Guards have been injured badly in the fighting, I'm worried that I may have lost some of my Guards."

"Hm, I know how that feels. But I've had to lose almost ten times as many troops, you don't know how much loss I've experienced."

Celestia let out a heavy sigh and placed a hoof on Hoffman's shoulder. Hoffman's hands dropped from behind his back to his sides as he let his shoulders slump forward slightly, he looked up and saw Celestia was offering him a look of comfort and sympathy. Hoffman regained his posture and continued down the hall, Celestia picked up her pace to keep up. Hoffman didn't speak for a while but then he drew breath and spoke.

"Princess Celestia, do you want to know something?"

"Do tell me, Chairman Hoffman," Celestia replied.

"Have you seen what is left of our world?"

"Yes, sadly. I have seen what is now left of your planet and I mourn for your losses."

"If only there were a way to fix the damage," Hoffman sighed.

"I believe I have a way to help," Celestia said, "But only if you will help me."

"There's always a catch," Hoffman thought, he stopped walking and turned to face Celestia. "What are you proposing, Princess?"

"I hope you do not mind me saying this, Chairman, but you know how we are at war?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Well, I propose that if you and your army help us out, then I shall have my best ponies, pegasi and unicorns go into your world and help you rebuild."

Hoffman rubbed his chin as he stared at Celestia. He nodded a couple of times before placing his hands behind his back.

"Princess Celestia. I would accept this offer, if you had proof that your kind could rebuild planets."

"Trust me Chairman, allow me to show you that we can help you. I promise that I won't disappoint you."

"Very well," Hoffman said, giving Celetia his hardened stare. "I'll accept your offer but I warn you, I'm very hard to convince."

"Thank you, Chairman. Please follow me."

Hoffman followed Celestia outside to a small garden that sat outside of the town hall. Standing around it were a few Onyx Guards and several ponies. The garden was no more than ten square feet big but looked very pretty, in it was a mix of flowers and fruit plants. Hoffman approached the garden and plucked a strawberry, he examined it closely before eating it and nodding in approval. Princess Celestia walked up next to him and stared at the Onyx guards, one of them appeared to be holding a large metallic object with a tiny flame coming out of the end in front of a large opening. It seemed to have a large disk on one side and what looked like a small shield in the center of the object. Hoffman then turned to Celestia.

"So how are you going to be fixing up our planet?" he asked her.

"Simple, I will have my student tell you. Twilight."

Twilight Sparkle approached Hoffman and held out a hoof to him, which Hoffman shook without hesitation.

"Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you, Chairman Hoffman."

"Likewise Twilight, I heard that there's a way to save my planet from being rendered uninhabitable."

"Yes, there is a way Chairman. But we need to show you that we can repair botanical damage, no matter how major it is."

"Well then you'd better show me how good you are. We've got a lot of damage to repair."

"Okay then," Twilight said uneasily, "Shall we get on with the test?"

"Yes, all this talk isn't going to help me get the planet back to the way it was."

"So what test have you planned out?" Twilight asked.

"See this garden here?" Hoffman said as he pointed to it, "I'm going to simulate what we did on the day we used the Hammer Of Dawn. We don't have the satellites here, so we're going to use this Scorcher instead."

"Wait, what is a Scorcher?" Celestia asked.

"It's the device that Onyx Guard is holding there," Hoffman said, pointing to the Guard with the Scorcher in hand, "Basically, it's a flamethrower."

"What is a flamethrower?"

Hoffman, looked at the Guard holding the Scorcher and nodded once. The Guard nodded back and stepped forward with the Scorcher raised and aimed at the garden. Without a moment's hesitation, the Guard pulled the trigger and a jet of fire shot out of the Scorcher and incinerated the entire garden within a few seconds. The ponies who were in the crowd were staring in shock and amazement at the now blackened ruin of the garden. Hoffman placed his hands behind his back and span on his heels to face Celestia and Twilight.

"So, you think you can fix this?" he said. Celestia and Twilight looked at each other before going back to staring at Hoffman. Twilight stepped forward and spoke

"Yes, I can do this. The spell is easy to do for someone like me."

"Very well," Hoffman said, "Show me."

Twilight took a deep breath and lowered her horn down at the charred and smoldering garden, as she stared at it the garden her horn started to glow slightly. Hoffman and his Onyx Guards stared in amazement as the dull light on Twilight's horn slowly intensified until it sparked and shot out a beam of purple energy that engulfed the garden. Hoffman watched as the ruined plants slowly began to rematerialize and regrow. Hoffman ran the palm of his hand down the side of his face as he stared slack jawed at the newly revamped garden that now contained much larger and more amazing flowers and fruits.

"So then Chairman," Celestia said, smiling slightly, "Are you convinced now?"

"Yeah, more than now. So then onto the matter of these Changelings."

Sweet Apple Acres.
Fifty minutes after Hoffman's arrival.

Pinkie sat in the back of the newly built barn and stared unblinking at a spot on the wall. The barn still smelled of sawdust, paint and Lancer chainsaw fuel. She didn't really care about anything though, now that her prized party wagon had been crushed underneath the massive metal monster that was known as Betty. Pinkie shifted her weight on the small chair she was sitting on and tuned out the noise of Gears and ponies coming from from outside, it had been a half hour since she last spoke but she didn't care, no-one understood her loss. She gave a heavy sigh and hugged herself. The sound of dull thumping footsteps emanated behind her, Pinkie held her breath and didn't turn around. She had a feeling who it was.

"Hey Pinkie," Dizzy said as he walked up to her. Pinkie didn't reply so he continued. "Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for crushing your little wagon. To be honest, I did see it but the brakes of my old Rig were shot so there wasn't a lot I could do. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just say so and I'll do what I can. I promise."

Pinkie looked up and then felt a hand on her shoulder, she huffed and placed her hoof over Dizzy's hand.

"Thank you for apologizing," she said. Dizzy smiled and crouched down next to her.

"It's just something I wanted to set straight, also, I brought you this."

Pinkie looked up and saw that Dizzy was holding a mug of Apple Cider up. She looked at the mug then at Dizzy before taking it, she looked at the mug again before smiling at Dizzy and then hugging him. Dizzy chuckled and hugged back.

"You're welcome, Pinkie."

"So what's everyone doing outside?"

"Why don't you come out and see?"

Pinkie got up from her stool and followed Dizzy, careful not to spill her cider, she stayed close to him as he made his way towards a large crowd of Gears and ponies. Pinkie wasn't sure what was going on but it sounded like something big was happening, she then jumped when a loud cheer erupted from the Gears.

"Dizzy, what's going on?"

"Well, a lotta Gears were getting bored from sitting around and setting up the temporary barracks. So Cole had a nice idea, we'd set up a Thrashball game, Onyx Guards against Royal Guards."

"What's Thrashball?"

Dizzy's only response was a smile.

"Why don'tcha come and see?"

Pinkie kept up her pace and tried to see though the mass of ponies and Gears. The more they made their way through the crowd, the more she could see what had been set up. A large, fenced off Corral had been taken for the use of a Thrashball field. It seemed as if the game had been going for a while because the two teams didn't consist entirely of Onyx and Royal Guards. A lot of large stallions had taken the place of the worn out Royal Guards and most of the Gear's team were regular Gears who had ditched some of their armor in favor of the warm climate. Pinkie kept up with Dizzy until he managed to find Delta squad.

"Howdy Delta, how's the game going?"

"We're up by six points and only need one more point to win," Bernie said, "Thanks to our star player out there."

"Who's that?" Pinkie asked.

"The Cole Train," Bernie replied. Pinkie looked out to the Thrashball field and saw Cole standing in front of a group of Gears. In front of them were several very buff and large looking stallions and Royal Guards. So far, the Gears had possession of the ball and were sizing up the opponents for the final run to end the game. The ponies shifted uneasily and waited for the Gears to make their move. Cole then stepped back, grabbed the ball from the Gear handing it to him and charged forwards. The ponies hesitated for a split second and then charged at the Gears, Cole was planning every move he did and was ready for each of the stallions that tried to get the ball away from him. One pony jumped at Cole but he easily ducked under him and then shoved his way past three ponies that tried to tackle him from the side. Cole almost stopped when two large pegasus Royal Guards stood on their hind legs and spread their wings to create a barrier but instead, Cole crouched lower to the ground and sprinted at the two guards. The guards had little time to react as Cole ducked under them and used his body weight and kinetic energy to crash head-on with the guards and send them flying up and over him. Cole then ran to the end of the Field and slammed the ball against the ground which caused the Gears to shout and whoop with admiration, they had won. The Gears all rushed the field and picked up Cole as he pumped his fist in the air, the ponies all gathered around and applauded him, not caring that they had lost.

"No one plays this game like me! Nobody!"

Cole was then lowered down so that he could shake the hands of the Gears and the hooves of the ponies. Much to his surprise, even Marcus came over and shook his hand.

"Good work Cole, this helps our relations with the ponies."

"By beating in a game they barely know?" Cole asked quizzically.

"No, you showed them that they have nothing to fear from us."

"I like the sound of that," Cole said happily.

"Still keeping up to your reputation I see, Cole," a familiar voice said. Marcus and Cole span around and saw Sam, Jace and Clayton Carmine making their way over to them.

"Heyyyyyy, Sam," Cole said as he walked over to her, "Nice to see you guys back here again."

"Likewise big fella."

"So how was staying here?" Jace asked.

"Not too bad," Marcus said, "It was a little tricky gaining their trust at first but it's worked out."

"Yeah, me and Baird helped out a family ponies build a barn," Cole said.

"How'd that turn out?" Carmine asked.

"Okay. The only thing is that we owe the Apple Family two workbenches."

"Lancer accident?" Sam asked. Cole nodded in reply.

"Well, so long as you didn't hurt Apple Bloom," Carmine said. The squad looked at Carmine quizzically.

"When did you get so protective of the filly?" Sam asked.

"I always was," Carmine replied, "Her, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I dunno why but I really love those kids."

"I don't blame you," Jace said, "Anyone could get attached to these guys."

"Carmine!" a small and excited voice yelled.

"Speaking of which."

Carmine span around and saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo running over to him. He knelt down and embraced the three fillies as they hugged him. Even with his helmet on, the squad could tell he was smiling.

"Hey kids, you miss me?"

"We sure did," Apple Bloom said.

"We're so glad you're here," Sweetie Belle added.

"Are you gonna go again?" Scootaloo asked.

"No, not this time," Carmine said, "I'm staying here for good."

The Crusaders smiled and hugged Carmine even tighter.

Just as the three fillies let go of Carmine Dizzy and Applejack walked over to them.

"Ah see that you've become attached to mah sister," Applejack said to Carmine.

"Goddamn, I love her accent," Dizzy said. Sam chuckled and turned to Marcus.

"Hey Marcus, where's Anya and Bernie?"

"In the town I think. They took some Gears and is looking for Hoffman so that we can set up a HQ in the town hall, we need a place for CIC to be set up."

"Sounds like a plan," Jace said.

"What about Baird? Where's he?"

"Same place he's been for the past hour," Cole said, "He's with some of the engineers making some sort of new vehicle. He's not telling me what it is though, he'd said that he'd show it to us when it's done."

"Hopefully it'll help us fix up Sera for when we get back," Marcus said.

"Hey, anyone else know if the relay stations are set up?" Jace asked.

"Yep, we managed to set up about five so far," Carmine replied.

"Sounds a good enough reason to try out the new Moonshine I've been making with Applejack here," Dizzy said.

"You've been making Moonshine with her?" Cole asked.

"Actually, it's called Appleshine," Applejack said, "Ah couldn't let Dizzy's skills go to waste, not with a hat like that."

Cole, Sam, Carmine and Jace chuckled. Marcus grunted and looked around, He spotted something over towards the town but the sun was behind it and casting a silhouette. Suddenly, Marcus's gut feeling kicked in, something wasn't right. The strange object had now grown in size and was now covering the town in a massive shadow, then a large group of smaller object appeared from behind it and were now either flying around the town or landing in the town center.

"Hey, Applejack."

"Yeah Marcus?" she asked.

"What the hell is that thing over in the town?"

"Ah don't know, it's hard to see when the sun's behind it."

The large object then raised an appendage into the sky and a plume of fire shot out of it followed by a ground shaking roar.

"What the fuck is that?!" Jace yelled.

"DRAGONS!" a terrified scream rang out followed by an uproar of terrified ponies running for the apple orchard.

"Dragons? What the hell are dragons doin' here?" Cole said. But he couldn't get a reply from any of the ponies. Only Pinkie, Applejack and the Crusaders stayed with Delta and the confused Gears.

"We gotta get into the town, Twilight and the others are there," Applejack said.

"Wait, shit!" Marcus said, "Hoffman's in there!"

"Along with Bernie and Anya," Sam added.

"Holy fuck, we gotta go save them!" Carmine said. Marcus jogged through the panicking ponies and made his way to the Gears. Several Gears were putting on their armor and loading their Lancers as Marcus made his way to some Onyx Guards.

"We gotta get to the town, Chairman Hoffman is in there," Marcus said to the Guard Captain.

"You don't think I fucking know?" the Captain replied, he then turned to the Gears and Guards. "Everyone load up and get to the town! We're gonna go save our Chairman and show these talking ponies how we Gears truly fight!"

Most of the Gears let out a battlecry and followed Marcus, Delta squad and the Captain as they charged to the town.