When the end came for Equestria, it came on a beautiful day just like any other in Equestria, the factories were booming, the birds were chirping, life was like it had been since the War of New Equestria ended. Then, just after noon, it came suddenly. Canterlot was hit by an orbital strike from a Gloriian Man O' War craft's Large Mass Acceleration Cannon, utterly obliterating the city and instantly killing Celestia, Luna, and many of the elite of Equestria, included the Parliament. The massive Gloriian invasion fleet descended from the Heavens, destroying the anti-spacecraft batteries before the desperate defenders could man them. Within hours, the overwhelming invasion had taken or destroyed every major city in Equestria as the disorganized resistance of the unprepared military crumbled before the onslaught and several million Gloriian troops landed on the surface of Equestria, sparing none. It has been three weeks since the start of the invasion, and millions of Equestrian civilians have died at the hands of the Gloriians, intent on making sure Equestria will never again pose a threat to Glory by wiping the nation from existence. The once proud Equestrian military has been shattered, but not yet annihilated. However, organizing has proved difficult, as any large groups discovered are quickly destroyed by the special forces of Glory, the Magniitium Legotiums, while the much feared Elatiians, heavily armored soldiers trained from birth, overwhelm any dug in position, all while the regulars of the army, the Riigula, burn Equestria to the ground to flush out resistance. The situation is bleak, but it may be possible to, if not win, survive. Cloudy Dusk sat upon his perch in the Whitetail Forest, one of the few forests intact from the Gloriian campaign. He had couldn't sit on the top branches for fear of Gloriian Sabre fighters and Appilaciian helicopters flying overhead. He looked down at his rifle, a captured Gloriian GEAR-18 Pulse Energy Assault Rifle his father had gotten a hold of in the New Equestria War (the Gloriians call it the Ciilonii war, but it's New Equestria dammit! Even if we lost!) and modified into something a pony could use. It was no doubt antiquated by Gloriian standards by now, but the Pulse Energy weapon was still ahead of Equestrian weaponry. Capable of killing even just by hitting near the heart or brain, the weapon would leave almost no trace of impact, and could even go clean through light cover. Sighing as he hopped down from the tree, gliding to forest floor, he began, once more to wish that he had been able to convince his squad to leave Ponyville behind, he knew that they wouldn't be able to mount a proper resistance in the city, especially once air power was lost. He needed to find a way to organize a resistance without attracting the attention of the Gloriians... The last thing he needed was a PEW bolt in the head or an Elatiian's fist going through him, or the many other choices the Gloriians had at disposing of them. Tasimperii Janii Overius of the 4th Army Group approached Legarrius Varrian in his office in the captured Equestrian city of Manehatten. "Orders from the Priimimperii, 8th Magniitium is to drop on a town in northern Equestria called "Neighgra", then to go north to the so called "Crystal Empire". I think you know while command has chosen your legio for this job Praetarius. No survivors. There will be diivalegio of Elatiian reinforcements when you reach the Crystal Empire's capital"
Clean Sweep flew through the forest at a breakneck pace, trying to return to shelter before he was spotted by a fighter or helicopter. He had just finished bathing. Suddenly, without looking where he was going, he flew right into a military pony on a perch.
Legarrius Varrian nodded to his Tasimperii, overlooking at a large map of Neighgra as he prepared to take the offensive role of obliterating the entire settlement from existence before putting the killing blow in the conquest for the Crystal Empire. He pointed at three different sentry's positioned at the town in the southern area, and to a large church tower in the east that provided an overlook for the rest of the town. He put his finger on the map and traced it across from the west, stopping in the center of the town. "If all goes according to plan, the 8th Magniitium will arrive in this 'Crystal Empire' within the next two days." Varrian told the Tasimperii.
The Tasimpeii nodded, "Make sure it's done. The 41st helicopters will take you to the town at 1300 hours." He informed Varrian before walking out of the room. Cloud yelled as he was laid flat by a speeding object, getting up slowly from the ground with a small grunt, he looked over at the crashlanded Clean Sweep, pulling out his GEAR and aiming it at Clean, "Who in the name of Celestia are you and what in Equestria where you doing flying that hard into me?!" he demanded
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Clean Sweep shouted as he put up his hooves to shield himself from the strange weapon, "The name's Clean Sweep, and I'm sorry, I didn't watch where I was going. You have to be fast when you're trying to stay out of Gloriian sight."
Cloud slowly lowered the gun to point at the ground, "No, moving fast makes you more likely to get caught, especially flying near the treeline as you produce more heat, allowing for thermal imagery to spot you easier. It's best, if you have to move, to trot on the floor." He cleared his throat, moving his wings in a swift to holster his weapon, "Private first class Cloudy Dusk." he said to Clean Sweep, "Im surprised a civvie like you managed to make it out here."
"Sorry, common misconception," he replied. "To be honest, I'm just as surprised as you are. I thought I'd be dead by now."
Cloudy nodded, "I should be dead myself, but I knew holding the cities would be a death sentence, so I ran to try organize a resistance. Our best hope is to just make them think they've already destroyed us enough and make it not worth it to keep fighting."
Clean Sweep nodded and said, "You're a good stallion for that part, Mr. Dusk." He then glanced at Cloud's weapon. "Say, where'd you get that weapon?"
"My parents fought in the New Equestria war, father captured it from a Gloriian Riigula and modified it so that he could fire it." Cloudy responded, "I believe it's called a GEAR-18?"
Clean Sweep's jaw dropped. "So you mean to tell me we finally have a way to kill these guys?" he said.
Cloudy facehooved, "They've never been invicible, unless they were Elatiian. We almost won the New Equestria war, remember? It's just one of their weapons. What I don't know however, is if it CAN kill an Elatiian..." he muttered
About half a mile from there as a group of ponies walking as a group. They looked like refugees from the last attack against Equestria. There were several workers, soldiers and doctors. Between them was a young beautiful unicorn mare. "We... are running low medicine." She said to a doctor. "Some might not make it to thr mext city..." she added, then saw a pair of ponies talking. She trotted over them to ask for help. "Uhm... hello. I am a medic from a refugee group. Do you have any medicine you can spare? We are running low on them." She said clearly worried.
Varrian saluted before leaving the room. Soon enough, Varrian walked out into the open to inspect his forces, all lined up and in formation of the highly infamous 8th Magniitium's. Absolutely ruthless, fine-tuned with a drive for absolute excellence while being some of the finest group of soldiers below the Elatians themselves. Absolutely nothing would stop them from accomplishing their objectives. Nothing. Varrian wasn't just born for the military, he was born specifically for the 8th Magniitiums. The elite spec-ops division was considered to be the personification of the Legarrius himself. If there was one thing that set Varrian apart from any other commander, was that he got **** done, and then some... The Legarrius took a deep breath of fresh air, before releasing it out with an equally deep sigh as a smile creeped onto his face. This was the last time he would be breathing fresh air. Because within a few hours, Varrian and the 8th Magniitiums was going to set the horizon on fire....
Cloudy was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the large group and was trying to think of a response when suddenly he heard an odd noise in the background. His eyes widened as he realized what it was, "RUN, RUN NOW." he yelled to those present, "APILACIIANS IN BOUND!" he turned and spread his wings, taking off as fast as he could. Meanwhile to the untrained civilians, not a sound could be heard, making Cloudy look absolutely insane for a short time. But soon, he was proven right as the helicopters got closer with the distinctive almost buzz of the twin main rotors of the Apilaciians filled the ears of the ponies below before machine guns began pumping lead through the tree cover at the group, killing two ponies from the medical group instantly and everypony else sure to follow as the helicopters above circled above, using thermal imagery to track down the ponies, unless they found cover soon. (Apilaciians look like a mix between Ospreys and Apaches)
Lullaby heard what he said and she then hesitated for a moment before running away. She was too far from the civilian group, so she decided to follow the other two. She ran as fast as she could, making a spell on her to run faster. Since she was not used to fighting, she used this spell a lot. The civilians also heard it and they moved away into the closest forest to take cover, but they lost track of Lullaby.
The apiilaciians chased after the larger group of ponies, cutting them down before leaving the area to refuel. When Cloudy no longer heard the buzz of the dual rotors, he landed and collapsed onto the forest floor, panting from exertion, wonderng if any of the civvies lived.
"Mr. Dusk, I don't think there were that many civilian survivors," said Clean Sweep solemnly, "unless you count, well... her," he added as he pointed to Lullaby.
