My Little Paintball: Rise of the Griffon Kingdom

Chapter 12: Mechanized (Paint) Warfare

-Ponyville, Equestria-

Bronze Star popped up, took aim with his paintball rifle and fired wildly into the swarm of oncoming griffons. "Get some you birdbrains!" To his satisfaction, several griffons' visors were splattered with paint by the end of his barrage.

"Private Star! Get down!" Rarity shouted from her position, crouching behind the wall.

The young pony didn't need to be told twice. Bronze bolted to the floor of the defensive wall as paintball fire zipped overhead. "These griffons are giving us zero room to move!"

"We can't stay here!" Applejack shouted while pinning her Stetson hat to her head with a free hoof. "We'd be surrounded and overrun!"

"But where would we be able to go?" Night Assault asked as he put a new magazine into his paintball gun. "Those feather heads have us pinned!"

Roseluck shook her head. "We gotta hold out. Hopefully reinforcements are on the way and if not... then we fight to the end, right?"

The griffons kept up the paintball suppression while the pony's words sank in.

"You know what? Yeah!" Hyper Strike agreed. "If I'm going down with this ship, may as well go down with you crazies."

Rogue Shadow gave a quick chuckle and gave his brother a jab on the shoulder. "Takes one to know one, brother," he said and cocked his paintball gun. "Let's go down in a blaze of fury, everyone."

Meanwhile

Gurren E.D. Artren continued his suppressive fire on the squads that had taken cover along the wall. Shoot. Pull back bolt. Quickly push bolt back to chamber another round. Shoot again. He'd been keeping up a steady stream of sniper fire for the past few minutes as the attacking griffon squads harassed the EPC troops from the air.

The griffon gave a low chuckle. "Это легче чем я думал. (This is easier than I thought.)" He pulled the trigger again, but to his disappointment all he heard was a click from the trigger. He detached the sniper rifle's magazine and reached into his armor's side pocket to retrieve a fresh magazine.

That's when he saw it. The glint from the armor had caught his eye while he was shoving in the new magazine. Gurren E.D. knit his eyebrows in confusion at the sight of the tank as it traversed across the field. He put the rifle's scope up to his eye to get a better look at it. The rectangular tank body moved along atop the massive treads while the ungodly-sized gun pointed ahead. A familiar figure stood up from the open tank hatch.

Gurren E.D. Artren lowered his weapon and ground his teeth in frustration. He hadn't expected his rival's squad to arrive so soon. "Гурен. (Gurren)," he muttered under his breath. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and took off into the skies. If Gurren and his squad were in play, then so was his.

Meanwhile

Some called it devastating. Others called it a derpy-looking refrigerator on treads. Katyusha, as a certain squad of three Russian-speaking mercenaries had named the war machine, rolled across the open hills of Ponyville's outskirts. The 152-millimeter howitzer gleamed in the sunlight while the thick treads rolled over everything in their path. Gurren Artren was standing up through the open tank's access hatch with an anxiously confident grin on his face.

The redesigned KV-2 howitzer tank, complete with paintball weaponry, chugged its way towards the squads of griffons.

Human Gurren looked down at his crew in the depths of the tank. "Готовы?!(Ready?!)" he called to his squad mates. The subsequent answers of "Да" widened Gurren's grin into a smile. "Грифон Гурен, видешь враги? (Griffon Gurren, do you see the enemies?)"

"Да! Могу стрелять? (Yes! Should I shoot?)"

Human Gurren looked at his crew through the open hatch. "Да! Устранить как многие вы можете с одного выстрелам! (Yes! Eliminate as many as you can with one shot!)"

After several moments, Griffon Gurren had zeroed the target area and had his claw over the trigger. "Готовлю! (Ready!)"

Human Gurren waved an arm towards the griffons and shouted, "Стреляйте! (Fire!)"

The 152 millimeter paint howitzer opened fire with a K-THOOM as a huge shell filled with paint shot from the howitzer's barrel and careened toward the unsupsecting griffons.

Gurren's eyes tracked the paintball shell as it soared through the air. To his elation, the blob exploded at the foot of Ponyville's wall and sent paint skyward into the griffon ranks. A couple dozen griffons' undersides were instantly coated in bright yellow oil.

Human Gurren pumped his fist victoriously. "Отлично! Давайте с автоматом, товаривши! (Excellent! Let's go with machine guns, comrades!)"

Meanwhile

The sound of a whirring propeller filled the midday sky as the Blank Flank soared towards Ponyville. The three-person biplane chopped its way through the air as the three fillies inside of it prepared themselves for their attack. While its yellow fuselage, orange wings, and white tail were not the most suited for camouflage, it brilliantly displayed the girlish design.

The wind shot past Scootaloo's face and through her mane as the canvas-winged aircraft shot through the sky. The pegasus filly's eyes stared determinedly past paintball machine gun's sights and put the griffons in the sight's aperture.

Scootaloo looked back over her shoulder at her two passengers. "Ready back there?" she called over the engine.

"No!" Sweetie Belle shouted from the middle seat. "And I still think this is a ridiculous idea!"

"Oh come on, Sweetie! This is gonna be fun!" Applebloom shouted from the rear as she put the paintball feed tube into the mounted AK-style paintball turret. As soon as she connected the feed tube, she yanked back the bolt and let it lurch forward. "But I still think that fighting 'em on the ground would be more exciting!"

Just wait and see, Applebloom, Scootaloo thought with a widening grin. She looked down out the side of the open cockpit to get a good look of the action. While the tank was providing support, it didn't stop the griffons' advance completely. That's where we come in. "Ready, girls?"

Applebloom thrust a hoof into the air. "Yeehaw! Let's do it!"

Sweetie Belle clutched her markspony rifle and shuffled farther back into her seat. "Let's make it quick!"

Scootaloo pulled on the stick and turned the biplane over as the Blank Flank began its dive on the enemy.

Meanwhile

"Is that a tank that just fired?" Bronze Star said, hearing the tank shot and subsequent explosion of paint beneath them.

"Whoever it is, I ain't complaining!" Applejack yelled as she cocked her paintball shotgun. She quickly reached over the wall just in time to see a griffon charging her position. Before the surprised griffon could react, Applejack pulled the trigger and gave the griffon a face-full of paintball pellets.

"Nobody said anything about tanks!" one of the griffons could be heard from the other side.

"We can take it! It's not like they have much better to throw at us!" another answered.

That's when everyone heard it. It was a low buzzing from above, and it was getting closer.

Everyone looked up to see a contraption with wings atop and below the main body diving towards them. Before anyone could react, the front of the machine opened fire with its twin paintball machine guns.

"What the-!" Velvet exclaimed as she dove onto her stomach. Paintballs could be heard thwacking agains the ground and several griffon bodies, but none touched the ponies on the wall. The aircraft pulled up before it could slam into the ground and shot away from the griffons. "Okay, can somepony explain to me what the buck is going on!"

"I think we just got some air support as well," Rarity assumed looked back up over the wall. To her surprise, a detachment of griffons separated from the main group and went after the aircraft.

"Whoever the pilot is, I'm gonna buy them the alcoholic beverage of their choice when this is all over," Night Assault said with a grin.

Applejack squinted after the plane to see the rear gunner opening up on the pursuing griffons. Her eyes widened at seeing a familiar yellow filly in the gunner's seat. "I don't think they'll be getting any of that stuff, sugarcube," she said with a smirk. Go get 'em, Applebloom.

The farmpony was yanked back into reality as a paintball whizzed by her muzzle. "Whoa!" Applejack quickly shot back behind cover.

Amidst the paintball fire, a timid voice spoke up. "Is it safe to come out, now?" Fluttershy's head poked out from behind the door to Butterfly Squad's tower. A pair of paintballs smacked into the wooden door. With a squeak, Fluttershy quickly closed the door again.

By this point, several griffons had landed on the wall where Diamond Squad had been no more than an hour ago.

Velvet looked to her right to see a griffon swing open the door to the other outpost. "We've got a wall breach!" She took aim with her paintball gun and fired several shots, one of which splattered on the griffon's chest feathers. The door was promptly closed by the remaining griffons.

"You guys focus on the griffons outside," Rogue Shadow ordered as turned to the door. "Hyper and I will take the griffons inside the outpost!"

"Roger dodger!" Hyper exclaimed as he leapt to his hooves and charged up his chainguns. "Come on, everyone! Let's push these griffons all the way back to the Griffon Kingdom!"

Meanwhile

"Get these guys off our tail, Applebloom!" Scootaloo shouted as she flew the plane from side to side in an evasive maneuver.

Applebloom let off a burst of paintball fire from the turret before looking back to respond. "Your flying isn't making this easy!"

Sweetie Belle kept her rifle's sights on the griffons behind them as she spoke. "I have to agree with Applebloom! These moves you're pulling are not doing us any favors!"

Scootaloo let out an exasperated sigh. "Do you want to be easy targets or these griffons?" A trio of paintballs zipped past her only to get chopped up in the propeller.

Sweetie Belle fired off a couple shots before replying. "Well no, but-"

"Then let me do the flying and you do the shooting!" Scootaloo pulled the stick to the side and spun the plane in a barrel roll.

"Aim for the gunner!" one of the griffons barked to the rest. "Then we get the pilot!"

Not on my watch, Applebloom thought as she put her eye to the gun's sights. Her hoof tightened around the trigger as she put the lead griffon in her sights. With a short pull of the trigger, a burst of paintballs shot towards the group. The leader spun away from the paintballs' path only for the griffon behind him to get splattered in orange and yellow.

Can't evade like this forever. Gonna need to mix it up a bit. "I'm gonna try something, guys!" Scootaloo called back. "Hang on!" She pulled the stick all the way back. The Blank Flank turned skywards and began to climb. The three fillies were pulled into the backs of their seats as gravity tried to claw them and the plane back down to earth.

"We got them now!" another one of the griffons shouted confidently.

The biplane's speed slowed until the plane was hovering in the air.

"Scootaloo, what're you doing?!" Sweetie Belle cried while the trio of griffons flapped towards them

The pegasus filly looked over her shoulder to see the griffons were within shooting range. "Gotcha." She pulled the stick to the side and pressed the same-sided pedal for the rudder. The biplane tipped to the side and quickly found itself pointing downwards. "Watch this filly fly!" she exclaimed as she slammed the throttle forward. The plane dove towards the surprised griffons. Before they could evade, Scootaloo put them in her sights and pulled stick's trigger. Paintballs battered the griffons before the biplane shot past them. Scootaloo pulled the stick back and let the plane level out several hundred feet above the ground.

"Woohoo! Yeahaha! That was awesome! Right, girls?" Scootaloo looked back to see her friends' reactions. If Sweetie Belle hadn't already had white fur, she would have looked incredibly pale while Applebloom's face of yellow had a faint hint of green.

"Please don't do that again," Sweetie Belle said shakily.

Scootaloo faced forward and rolled her eyes. Heh. Chickens.

-Canterlot Castle, Canterlot-

Sergeant Foaley stood at the edge of one of Canterlot Castle's balconies and looked down at the Ponyville battlefield from the view of his spyglass. If there was one word to describe the chaos he saw, it would be just that: chaos.

A raven flew onto the balcony's bannister and cawed in admiration of the view.

Foaley felt the need to do a double take on the raven's appearance. Does that bird have three eyes? Before he could closer inspect the bird, it turned away from him.

"How goes Ponyville's defense, Sergeant?"

The soldier pony turned around and stiffened his stance as Celestia walked toward him. After giving a brief salute, he replied. "The defense is going better than anticipated. The ponies in that town have guts and innovation the likes of which I have never seen."

Princess Celestia rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Good, good. I take it our reinforcements have arrived?"

"Moments ago," Foaley responded. "Although I must ask one thing."

"That being?"

"Did we commission a tank and air support to be sent there as well?"

Celestia furrowed her eyebrows at the question. "What?"

The sergeant offered her the spyglass. "See for yourself, your Highness."

Celestia's horn glowed as she took the spyglass with her magic and lifted it up to her eye. Sure enough, a box-like tank chugged its way towards Ponyville with machine guns ablaze while a biplane zig-zagged in the town's airspace. She let down the spyglass as a dumbfounded look found its way onto her face.

"My thoughts exactly," Foaley commented. "You ever get the feeling that some ponies take this thing a bit too seriously?"

Celestia's gaze shifted to meet Foaley's, an amused smile spreading across her face. "Aww, but Sergeant, that's part of the fun."

"Sister?"

Foaley and Celestia turned to see Luna standing in the balcony's doorway.

"Ah, Luna," Celestia greeted. "The coordination of the reinforcements was a success. The griffon advance on Ponyville has stopped in its tracks."

Luna smiled at the news. "Very good. I must report that I will be taking an expeditionary force on a mission into the Griffon Kingdom to gather intelligence. I shouldn't be long."

"So soon, sister?" Celestia asked concernedly. "But there are still defenses in need of coordination here in Canterlot."

"Sergeant Foaley can oversee the defenses, can he not?" Luna looked to the army pony, who gave her a salute.

"You can count on me, Princess."

Celestia gave a reluctant nod. "Very well, Luna. Be careful."

"You need not worry, Celestia. I won't be out for long." With that, Luna turned and left through the same doorway.

Foaley waited a few moments before speaking. "Should I keep tabs on her?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes in thought. "No. We have bigger plans that need attending to."

The crow flapped its wings and flew up into the clouds soon after the discussion ended. As it broke through the cloud cover, the feathers body disappeared in a white flash. Discord stood on the cloud and snapped a bubble pipe into existence. He placed it in his mouth and puffed contemplatively.

"How goes your search?" Discord asked as he directed his attention to a nearby miniature cumulonimbus.

The cloud by his side opened its eyes and sprouted a pair of mismatched arms. "How'd you know I was here?"

Discord let out a chuckle. "You'll have to try better than that, my student. But my question still stands."

The cloud pooled together until it resembled a female draconequus whereupon it melted away to reveal Trimmer standing next to him. "I've found that there's a third party. I don't know whether they will remain observant or if they'll act directly."

Discord began pacing back and forth along the cloud. "Everything is tied to Celestia. Whatever she's up to is causing a lot of questions to arise." Discord's face suddenly broke into an elated grin. "And you know what we do with complicated plots, right?"

Trimmer interlaced her fingers and cracked her knuckles. The resulting sounds were a mishmash of animal sounds and musical instruments. "We mix in some chaos," she said with an anticipatory grin.

I've been playing way too much War Thunder lately. Although I don't think letting it affect my writing is a bad thing... Anyway let's give a round of applause for the brave soul those who've submitted OCs! By the way, let's welcome the new member of that bold group:

-RunicBlade

Thanks for reading and putting up with my shenanigans, everybody. I know haven't been the most timely writer lately, but I'd just like to thank you guys for your support. Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and send in those OCs!