Sins of Harmony
Volume 1: Balance of Power
Chapter 28, Broken Apple, Fractures.
March 27th, 1005 ANM
Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres
Shortly after midday.
"Lift!"
A pair of guards worked with Twilight to lift another smoking wooden beam from the ruined house, while the Pegasi focused their wing power to create mini gusts to put out any fires.
"Alright! Get that one next!" One of the Guard Unicorns called, but Twilight paused as she heard a helicopter behind her.
Overhead, a tiltrotor helicopter, much like the one that attacked Canterlot, hovered near the ground, as a shape leapt out to begin running towards the burning wreckage.
"Keep going! I can handle the heat my end!"
A familiar dark purple dragon had run towards the fiery house ruins, right into the flaming wreckage, and began lifting rubble and throwing it back with his enormous strength.
Guards viewed the dragon with caution, but Twilight urged them: "The Apples might be under there still, keep going!"
Immediately, the Unicorns moved more beams out the way, while Razak excavated from the other side.
"Keep an eye out for that yellow dragon." The co pilot said, while the Pilot was listening to radio calls.
"No need. He's going after the artillery group to the East, along with some others." The Dingo replied. His copilot than leant forwards, calling into her radio:
"Base, we need any info on the dragons that's new. They're attacking specific targets now."
North camps
Varkan looked at Smoulder, who had heard the radio call herself also.
"Find that Yellow Dragon, and any others helping him in a more organized manner, and find out what you can." Varkan growled.
"So much for the plan." Smoulder commented. She took off fast, keeping in her small form. The shrunk forms of dragon agents would help them be attacked by friendly fire, on top of friendly designation on radar systems.
"Sir! We've got word, a flight of dragons is headed for the town's South side" A Komodo officer said. While Varkan was not fully in charge, his position as Hephaestus leader made him on par with some of the Oceanic Commanders.
"Organized, or more usual rabid ones?"
"Rabid, by the looks sir. They're fighting each other as they head there. The train station and markets are in danger."
Varkan thought to himself. Razak, Kynok and Lucius were all in the West, with Razak helping the locals and the other two watching for more attacks from their tiltrotor's passenger hold.
Smoulder had just set off to find the anomalous dragon.
Cal'vel was busy fending off rabid dragons before they reached the town.
The various changeling soldiers, Al'kur included, were moving to reinforce the South artillery.
That left Ohmen, who was concealed in town, Faral here at camp, and himself. Caarim was a resource that, given the organized dragons among the rabid, he couldn't spare for now.
"I want a copter ready to leave in 4 minutes. " Varkan said. He ran to the tents, where he had his own personal gear in place.
He made the call Ohmen to meet him at the Train station, ready for a fight. He saw Faral and Caarim nearby, in a different tent:
"What is it?" Faral asked, alert as ever.
"We have no reinforcements to spare to the South, its up to us to fend off a flight heading to the train station and markets." Varkan said.
Caarim had lightly read Varkan's mind, and said to Faral: "Right, 4 minutes to be ready. Good luck."
"I'm ready now. Varkan, I'll be there for you." Faral said, her tone excited for the battle. She ran off to the soon-to-be-ready copter, while Varkan pulled out his personal combat gear.
Cutting edge technology, personally tailored to suit him and his 'needs' in combat. He would be prepared for the dragons, and anything else he feared might happen today.
Within 5 minutes, the copter, a fast non-tiltrotor light transport, was ferrying them across the town, headed south.
5 minutes from their arrival, with Ohmen waiting at the station already, were the 6 rabid dragons, fighting themselves as much as they would destroy the town if they could.
Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres
"I hear them! Get that last beam up!"
The guard Unicorns made to magically lift the large wooden beam, but Razak beat them to it. With a small grunt, he pulled the 20 foot long support beam away, rolling it off the pile of walling and roof tiles.
As the beam rolled away, a red pony, covered in dust and some debris, was uncovered. Twilight recognized the green apple mark immediately.
"Big Mac!"
Her purple magic gently eased him out, and his full form was set on the ground, the cooling rubble around them. A guard checked his state:
"Breathing's fine, but he's out cold."
Twilight would have sighed, but a weak groan was heard, and she saw a trio of coloured ponies under the rubble.
Razak shifted more rubble, watching as the last of the 3 was lifted out. The smallest of them, a young yellow filly, was groaning as she was set down. By now a medical pony had arrived, and was checking them all.
"Its going to be okay Applebloom." Twilight said quietly, as the filly's only damage was a concussion and a fractured front leg.
The medical pony politely shoo'd Twilight back as she magically loaded the young filly onto a stretcher.
Turning around, Twilight saw Big Mac had already been loaded, his somewhat burnt form having taken a greater beating. His left flank was burnt somewhat, he had a mild concussion, and his right shoulder had been fractured and dislocated.
Applejack was coming to, her dislocated rear leg having been replaced quickly by a medic pony. Her neck was burned somewhat, and her head had been bleeding slightly from a small slice she took inside the cupboard during the blast, but all that with the dislocated rear leg, along with a head bandage, meant she was lying on the stretcher, awake and recovering already.
Granny Apple lay on her own stretcher, a medical pony examining her, readying bandages for the fractured front leg and burns to the old mare's back.
A shuffling of more debris caught the Alicorn's attention, as the Dragon, Spike's reluctant brother, approached her.
"Was there anyone else in there?" Razak asked urgently.
"No, that's all of them. Thank you." Twilight said.
Razak smiled, but he saw something that made him pause. He looked down briefly, saying: "I, I'm sorry."
Twilight turned around, but felt her heart briefly stop when she saw the medic shaking her head hopelessly over Granny Apple. She'd discarded the bandages, and Twilight saw her slowly pull out a body sheet to place over the stretcher.
The other guards lowered their eyes in sadness. The first civilian casualty.
Twilight approached Applejack, still lying on the stretcher. The orange Mare had seen it, but she was deathly quiet, her breathing shallow.
At that moment, all Twilight could think was how Big Mac and Applebloom would take it, and how Applejack had been the only one conscious to witness the sudden death of Granny Apple.
East Ponyville, wheat fields.
From the ground, guards assigned to Ponyville watched as a lone dragon, a less rabid one that had somehow got this far without going further, was hit by the large cloud from a nearby missile.
The sedative and cure gas worked fast, as within 20 seconds the Dragoness began to quickly tire. Its movements began loose, and it slowly lost height. It was a slow descent, as it was big enough to not be fully knocked out, though it would be on the ground for a few hours, drowsy.
A nearby Komodo soldier, acting on orders from the nearby artillery, called out:
"We've got a second one, younger! Its going to be out cold from the blast, so be ready to catch it!"
The guards were ready, as the patches of overcast cloud openings revealed another missile streak towards a smaller dragon, this one half the size of the previous.
A burst of vapour engulfed it a close range, and within a few seconds of flying out of the cloud, it began to slow, gravity taking a hold.
Working together, the guards' blue magic engulfed the dragon. With no fighting, the dragon was more easily affected by the magic, as its form slowed to slump to the wheat field below it with minimal impact.
Another dragon saved, but those that were cured were the minority at this point.
A roar sounded, as a distant missile, a high explosive, detonated beneath a rabid dragon over the everfree forest. The creature span as its underbelly and wings were shredded, crashing into the forest in an impact that it clearly wouldn't be walking away from.
A faint rumble sounded suddenly, large shadow swooped down, larger than the other dragons. This one, a female, but of large build, was dark grey with orange highlights over its eyes and wings.
"Its going after the artillery!"
Gunfire erupted from the artillery platform right as a missile was launched nearly vertically. The missile arced upwards, only being able to launch at 80 degrees at most. The dragoness bellowed as she folded in her wings, taking the missile head on.
An explosion hit her head on, but cheers were silenced before they began as the dragoness punched through the cloud, her skull smoking, but having only been angered by the high explosive designed to take down aircraft.
The Dingo soldiers fled the artillery, right as the dragoness spread her wings before impact, crashing her talons right on top of the vehicle like a sledgehammer. Beating her massive wings, she bellowed in a deep hiss:
"It takes more to kill me!"
She picked up the artillery piece in her arm, herself stood on two legs at 150 feet tall, holding the nearly 30 foot long artillery vehicle like a basketball in hand.
Roaring slightly, she hurled the artillery vehicle over the heads of the guards, who tried to catch it. The vehicle was too heavy and fast as it arced over their heads, and the blue aura covered artillery vehicle smashed into the town, taking out 2 houses and damaging a third when it finally slid to halt.
Luckily no missiles were detonated, but as the dust rose from the crushed houses, the death toll was on their minds.
Turning, the guards fired spells at the dragon in rage, herself hissing as they itched her hide like bug bites. The Dragoness noticed the Komodo nearby, but paid no heed to that one alone.
A warmth built in her gut, and she prepared to fire.
An explosion hit her back, causing only mild damage, but she turned, mid charge, to unleash her fire on her attacker.
A set of claws, and a dark red blur, slammed into her, driving her to the ground painfully as the Fire Drake clawed at her neck. Fire burst skywards as the dark grey dragoness was floored, sliding to almost hit the guards and komodo trooper nearby.
Turning, the Dragoness swung her tail at the Fire Drake female, but the Fire Drake, fully sized, leapt over it, and let loose a stream of fire.
As it hit, the Dragoness bellowed as the fire that hit her was hotter than any normal dragon fire. Wincing, she saw the Fire Drake, somehow, change size as she charged, and pulled out weapons that had been on her form but unusable when she was bigger.
Rising, the Dragoness shrieked as a punch from the somehow diminutive, yet still as strong Smoulder, caught her in the head. Rolling over, the Dragoness struggled as a scale on her back neck was ripped out painfully, and a long blade stabbed into the tissue.
Roaring in anger, Smoulder yelled: "One more move and I'll stab you right through your spine! Why aren't you as affected!?"
"We are better than the others! Born better, made better! And you slave yourself to others to survive, disgracing your kind!" The Dragoness spat.
Smoulder glared, but as she prepared to thrust the long sword deeper, she noticed something on the dragoness's neck.
"Fine." Smoulder thrust the sword, the Dragoness's much larger form beneath her own shrunken one shuddering briefly.
"Thank you." The Unicorn guard leader said as Smoulder leapt down from the giant Dragoness's corpse.
"I never knew they could get this big." The Komodo trooper commented in awe.
"They can't, and found this on her." Smoulder said in confusion.
She pulled out a piece of machinery, saying: "This, was attached to her neck."
She subconsciously felt the eerily similar implant equipment on her own neck, saying: "I've got to get this back to the camp."
Quickly, she took off again, saying: "Shore up the other artillery nearby!"
The Fire Drake flew off fast, the mysterious neck device still in hand. The Unicorn guards heard a crackle on the Komodo's radio, saying attacks were happening in the South of Ponyville now.
Ponyville, sky overview.
Discord had already briefly flown high above Ponyville, looking at the carnage as the battlefield began reaching the town at last.
Ponies were rescuing survivors as more houses came under threat, and he had already seen what happened to some houses in the East of town, and tragically, Sweet Apple Acres.
He looked around, and saw a familiar figure landing at the Train station in a helicopter, and a flight of dragons a few miles out from the south.
Discord didn't trust the plan enough now that things had begun going wrong. He concentrated, and teleported to where he could get help.
Canterlot, Royal Palace.
Early Afternoon
Boardroom
By now, the city was sealed, a magic bubble, albeit stronger than the one the Hephaestus group penetrated, was surrounding it.
It was seemingly much, as only 3 dragons had directly attacked the protective sphere, but had quickly fled or been dealt with when a flight of guard pegasi and Oceanic fighters patrolling the area attacked back.
It was obvious where the brunt of the fighting was to be now.
Celestia, along with an alert Luna and the Equestrian war council, oversaw the situation as it unfolded.
As Celestia was churning through papers, receiving updates quickly from her military leader, General Hardhooves, concerning the situation across Equestria. Trottingham, the Crystal Empire, Cloudsdale and Canterlot were stable.
But Ponyville, there were developments.
A flash appeared in the boardroom, where Discord appeared hovering over the map of Equestria. He said:
"Celestia, Luna, its getting worse. We need powerful magic users, I don't think the plans from the Oceanics are enough. Some of the Dragons are organized, attacking precise targets!"
Celestia looked at Luna, who was in agreement. Overwhelming force was never too much in the case of defence.
"General Hardhooves, you're in charge, I'll trust in your judgement and strategy." Celestia said to her military leader. A old but gruff looking dark green Pegasus, he saluted as the two Princesses teleported out with Discord immediately.
Teleporting outside, Celestia and Luna had embarked on their chariots, deciding to bring their elite guards with them, as they sent Discord on ahead to help how he could.
Celestia and Luna hung their heads briefly as they'd heard how one of the Element bearers had lost their grandmother in an attack already, and so unexpectedly.
Ponyville, south end.
As the helicopter hung back to be ready with support from above, Ohmen came out of hiding as he yelled to some running Ponies:
"Get to shelter, anything underground if you can!"
He changed form, his more upright, longer front legged form with fingers, and his mutated black scales and fragments of grey pony hide and brown mane.
Standing in the station plaza, he saw Varkan run up with Faral, pointing to 6 dots in the distance:
"6 inbound. All rabid, no surprises like we've had already."
"Any reason for the precision in some places?" Ohmen asked.
"No, but Smoulder may get an answer, I sent her after a certain one or any that show similar 'control'." Varkan replied coldly.
Faral cracked her knuckles, flexing the compact hydraulic suit she had beneath her combat gear, as did all advanced agents in the Hephaestus group that specialized in combat, excluding any size changing dragons.
"Are you ready?" She asked. Faral was the go to expert on combat tactics, even if she wasn't the strongest. Varkan, having lost his wings, became more dependant on her teachings than he had before. He too had a hydraulic skeleton beneath his gear.
Ohmen said: "I've got metal ready. Lets see how the genetic therapy programs worked on us all."
Varkan said calmly: "I've fought, and beaten Celestia herself. I'm skilled at magic opponents." He looked in the distance at the rapidly approaching 6 shapes.
"This however, I'm a little worried about."
"If you die, what a way to go out. The last true wyvern, dead in battle against a rabid dragon." Faral commented, clearly relishing a chance for a fight.
"I'm not going to die." Varkan said. His fear had vanished, replaced with cold truth.
"If only I had your confidence." Ohmen said. He had plenty of metal within his reach, yet he felt little confidence.
These were dragons, so if he still had his magic fully he'd be worse off than now. This was a varying magic resistant threat, so more physical counters were needed.
But the numbers, and strength of each single dragon, spelt ill will for the poor town.
The 6 dragons drew closer, and the battle raged around the town's edges, creeping in at places.
As usual, please review/critique as you would.
Also, to user Y0UR MOTHER, who proposed to me a Hephaestus Company drop out OC character. I said in a private message that I had such a character in the pipeline for a sequel.
However, my story calls for more than one such Hephaestus Drop out character. If you have a fleshed out backstory for such a Hephaestus Drop out character, within the context of the established timeline of this world, one or more would do, and I can choose one to adapt, please message me the details.
It will pay off in the sequel/later stage of this story. Hint, the strange device Smoulder found on that one, more conscious big dragoness, similar to the size altering ones on her, Cal'vel, etc.
