Chapter 14: The Assault
As quickly as they were deployed, Shadow's airponies reached their objective. The journey had taken them through marshland and forest, but they found the small black encampment finally. The walls were black and organic looking, with a single command tower in the middle of the camp. Several other smaller buildings littered the inside and outside of the encampment, black and organic as well. Everything was camouflaged with leaves, but still easily visible. They arrived at the perimeter of the outpost, ready for combat.
Signaling with his hoof, Shadow moved his force above the clouds. Everypony kept relatively quiet, as Shadow peeked over the edge of the cloud, staring down into the abyss below.
He could see the faint movement all around the camp. He knew that the legionnaires were there. Below, the foot soldiers moved tirelessly. A thin white line formed in the underbrush. As silence gathered, the entire task force breathed one last time before the battle. With a single, sharp whistle, carnage was begun.
A mass of unicorns emerged from the bushes, heading directly for the unsuspecting defenders ahead. Shadow watched from above as a sea of white met a sea of black. He signalled for the air support to swoop low, and begin runs on the enemy positions, bucking and grabbing enemy defenders. At first, the enemy defense was poor, and uncoordinated. Within a few minutes, however, it all changed.
Several squadrons of changelings quickly were in the sky, following strafes by Shadow's combatants. The air turned into an all out brawl, just like the ground. Although the changelings all had proper training, the few RAF flyers were more than capable of handling the enemy, and turned the tide in the air against the enemies within a few minutes. The ground and air battle raged on for half an hour. Shadow pushed his wings to the limit, attacking targets following his allies whilst performing taxing moves to avoid being hit himself. Finally, the enemy air support broke apart, with the small remaining force retreating to the ground or fleeing aimlessly. The enemy ground force began to take heavy casualties, forcing a tactical retreat by two hundred metres.
As the last enemy aircolt plummeted to the ground, Shadow signalled for the others to begin attacking the enemy troops. As they once again began their runs, Bravo force mobilized, beginning a flanking manoeuvre.
Shadow and the Alpha Air Support buzzed the enemy troops, smashing air and hooves down on the heads of the infantry. The scene was not for the faint of heart, and Storm knew this all too well. With the renewed Air Support, Alpha began their advance again, regaining the lost two hundred metres, and reaching the walls of the encampment. The battle seemed like it had been won, and Shadow's heart soared.
A loud horn from afar quickly changed all this.
"Air Strike!"
Shadow heard the cry from below and glanced up. A sea of black cascaded over the edges of the clouds. Taking evasive action, Storm found himself flying for his life. Changeling shock troopers began raining down around him, hitting the unsuspecting forces below. Their speed was so great that large explosions resulted from the impact, engulfing several ponies at once.
Storm glanced behind him, and noticed that several members of his squadron were missing. He quickly did a count and memory check. His heart jumped into his throat. Dash was gone.
As he became distracted, Shadow began flying straight and level; a mistake he quickly regretted. A single changeling smashed into him at full speed, knocking him out of control, and sent him crashing to the ground. Everything went dark for Storm for a few moments. He regained consciousness seconds later, being partly buried in the mud and muck of the swamp. Forcing himself to his feet, he began running to avoid the enemy bombardment.
The air was cloudy with dust and ash, and the battle was noisy. Storm's senses were almost overloaded completely. As he began to lose hope, he spied a Rainbow coloured object in the distance. He pressed on, and found the object in a crater, created by one of the changeling shock troops. It was Dash, lying dazed on the ground. Shadow slid into the crater, and sheltered his head as another trooper landed nearby.
"DASH!" Shadow cried out, dragging himself toward her.
A groan was the only response.
Upon further inspection, he saw she must have been hit hard. She was lying flat on her back, her mane spread out across the dirt below her. Her fur was muddy and singed, and her expression was dull and blank. Shadow shook her a few times, causing her to slowly regain awareness.
"Shadow, what's going on?" Dash yelled after a few moments.
Storm replied, "We're being bombarded by the enemy, Bravo and Alpha have been decimated."
Hearing hooves above, Shadow hopped up to the edge of the crater, rapidly scanning the area around him. A faint aquamarine shape only a few metres away caught Shadow's attention.
"Soldier! Get your flank in here!" he shouted, recognizing the telltale Legion armour.
He watched the legionnaire turn around, digging his hooves into the mud. Rushing towards the crater, he galloped at top speed. It was all in vain.
As he reached the edge of the bowl, a beam of green light came from nowhere. The legionnaire fell into the crater, rolling limply to the very bottom. Glancing down, Storm swallowed back fear and emotion at the sight; the once living Legionnaire now had a black mark on his forehead where the bolt had hit. He was dead.
"Okay… okay, think Storm, think," Shadow muttered nervously, clambering his way back to Rainbow.
Flopping down beside her, he found himself unable to think straight. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to calm his nerves. Dash turned her head to Shadow. The two met gazes, and Storm found himself shocked. She had a look in her eye he never would have thought to have seen. Not from her.
"Shadow," she whispered, "I'm scared."
Swallowing, Storm felt his heart sink. He knew the look she had. Everypony in the military had gone through it. In the dust clouds around him, he spotted the tell tale black ghosts of the fog, coupled with the stomping of muddy hooves. A feeling of fear swept over Shadow, chills running down his spine.
Storm immediately took the opportunity, fearing the worst, "Dash, if we don't make it... I want you to know... I like you... a lot!"
Dash's face softened slightly. Another hit nearby sent a piece of shrapnel directly into Storm, catapulting him across the foxhole. Storm lay on his stomach, and looked up to see several troops closing in. He then glanced to his side, seeing Dash, now beside him, her eyes filled with utter terror. Shadow's world darkened. He thought quickly about life, and his friends and family. Then he thought about her.
Bolting upright, Shadow flung himself back to the mare's side, peering over the edge of their apparent foxhole. Swallowing, his let out a deep breath, turning to the cyan pegasus.
He leaned in close, and stated, "Rainbow Dash, as long as I breathe, no harm will come to you."
He stared intensely at Dash, his face serious. Dash nodded back slowly. An insect-like cry sounded out, very near the two ponies. Time seemed to slow down in this dark hour as Shadow glanced around once more. He then looked back at Rainbow, and gingerly swiped a strand of her mane behind her ear with his hoof. Without a thought, he quickly but softly pressed his lips against hers. The two shared a fleeting moment of euphoria.
Shadow quickly recoiled and stood up straight, ready for combat. Rainbow Dash found her mind racing. The battle cries and sounds of explosions and small magic fire were overwhelming. On the other hoof, she couldn't tear her eyes off of Shadow. In his tattered Wonderbolts uniform, he looked courageous and valiant.
Storm felt the opposite. He watched as five changelings quickly closed in on him. Shadow took a deep breath, and placed his flight goggles over his eyes. Pushing away all fear, he felt himself slowly slipping into the 'zone'. His own terror fought back, but as he glanced towards his injured comrade, he overcame his fear. Shadow was a stallion of honour, and he intended to make good on his promise.
"You are Shadow Storm," he murmured to himself, watching his adversaries skulking in at the edges of his view, "You are a soldier. You do not feel emotion. You do not feel fear. You do not feel pain. You are a warrior."
The changelings no longer masked their presence. Shadow charged head first into the nearest changeling, sending him flying backwards. A second changeling closed in from behind, but a quick buck to the head knocked him out cold. Two more closed in, surrounding Storm. They attacked simultaneously, attempting to pounce on Shadow and dig their fangs into him. Storm quickly dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. He counterattacked with an uppercut to one of the changelings. The other changeling staggered toward him in a dazed manner and made a futile swipe at Storm with his fangs. Shadow dodged and quickly swiped the changeling's legs out from under him, finishing his adversary off with a swift, hard strike to the face.
Shadow glanced behind him for a split second, and whipped around. The remaining changeling was closing in on Dash, as she attempted to defend herself, though it was in vain. The trooper flanked around her and began a pounce from above. Shadow launched himself with all his force, intercepting the changeling in mid air. The two landed, both with the breath knocked out of them. The shock trooper raised his fangs in the air, and ready to stab Storm in the face, but was met with a quick bash of hoof. The changeling staggered backwards, only to be met with a follow up strike, which knocked him out.
Shadow stood up and glanced about, and noted that the bombardment had stopped. He quickly slid into the crater beside Dash.
"Can you walk?"
Dash attempted to flip over, using her wings to balance her. She cried out in pain, as one of her wings, which appeared dislocated, flapped in an odd manner. She lay back down, and shook her head, breathing heavily from the pain. Shadow frowned, and immediately took a position above Rainbow, and began to drag her out of the foxhole. A sudden sharp whistle stopped Storm, as he glanced around. A sudden din began, and the sound of hooves deafened the pony.
'Those aren't changelings!'
A line of white appeared on one side, and began quickly approaching. Shadow reacted immediately, and jumped into the crater beside Dash. The white quickly became distinguished as unicorn ground forces. They rushed around the crater, filling the battleground with whirring shapes of white dotted with blue blasts of magic fire.
Shadow stayed silent for a few moments, and then yelled, "Medic!"
Two legionnaires, one with the tell tale red cross on his armour, halted and leapt into the crater. The two began medical procedures on the Dash, with a bit of help from Shadow. The rest of the unicorns passed, and Shadow remained with Dash for the remainder of the battle. As the two medics lifted her out of the crater, Shadow followed, and checked around for the remaining missing aircolts.
Storm shook his head, as he identified the bodies of several of his comrades. Another was injured, who Shadow promptly assisted and summoned a medic for. As Dash and her medical assistance gained distance, Shadow rejoined them, leaving his other squadron mate in the hands of two more medics.
The two medics carried Dash on a stretcher, hurrying away from battle.
Shadow asked one of the medics, "What's your name soldier, and who are you with?"
"Corporal Steak, Philly sir, 47th Infantry regiment. Under the command of Colonel Crystal and Gallop."
"Gallop?"
"Colonel Gallant Gallop sir," the medic responded.
Shadow lingered for a moment.
'That's not possible.'
