My Little Realities: C17 - Offensive Strike

My Little Realities: C17 - Offensive Strike

>we ride
>AT DAWN
>honestly though it's pretty fucking early
>fifty unicorns, fifty earth ponies and seventy five pegasi (pegasus? pegasususus? You have to ask them...) were all waiting in perfect formation outside the library
>all kitted out
>the unicorns had flame units and were in charge of close range support
>they were also trained to reload the punt guns held by the earth guard ponies
>the earth guard ponies were big, muscular fellows that easily carried both guns and cartload of ammo in oversized saddle bags
>a single two-p0ny team could deal a whole lot of damage like this, and with fifty of each, you are confident that you'll be able to cut through whatever resistance they might encounter
>you were worried about longer ranges, but the pegasus team would be able to provide close air support and warm up whatever resistance they could find ahead
>the pegasus had saddles full of apple-sized flash explosives
>everyp0ny was ready within the hour
>the Echo Hotel, you and the escort force was marching out before the sun was completely out of the treeline
>Rainbow Dash taps you on the side
"they're here" she says
>you see another ten pegasi fly in formation and land
"here's my hoof picked best, they're all aware of what's going on and they all have good eyes and quick wings"
>hunh, Rainbow was on time for this.  Impressive.
"Okay everyone, we don't want to bunch up but we can't lose sight of anyp0ny at any time.  You all need to keep a strong visual on your partner and the main force.  Watch your line of fire."
"Sir yes sir!" reply the ground troops
"Pegasi, I want most of you to remain near the treetops, we'll have Rainbow's scout team fly ahead and meet up back with you.  I want the scouts to find enemy forces and report their location back to us, so you fast-movers can light them up"
>you hope "pegasi" is the right term
>Rainbow's scout team limber up
"Aye aye!" reply the pegasus air support, looking eager to get some action
>you're still impressed at how quickly the Princesses and the R&D team managed to assemble what looked like an effective force on such short notice, on top of the new weaponry
>you hope they can keep their cool with the unfamiliar gear
>they do seem to learn quickly, and operating the guns was made to be simple.  The unicorn would open the action by working the breech lever; the lever also re-cocked the hammer.  The spent shell is ejected by a spring loaded ejector, and the unicorn just needs to shove a new shell in and close the action.  The earth p0ny would then aim and bite down on the left or right bit to fire the left or right gun
>hopefully, it would work out, with the unicorns capable of providing a very deterring fire with their flame units
>you did have a good feeling about this
"OSCAR MIKE, let's do this"
>pretty much everyp0ny looks at you a little confused
>goddamn it, you really need to have them learn their NATO phonetic alphabet
"MOVE OUT" you yell again
>the pegasi take off, 8 of the scout party take off and gets some altitude, their wide V formation covering as much land as possible
>the remaining two circle close to the main, low flying unicorn air support force, ready to relay information to and from the ground force, the air support and the scout team
>the ground force adopts a lozenge formation around you and the Echo Hotel
>given the time, you would have liked to train the ground forces yourself, but every second wasted, more roots were grown
>you'll have to trust the ponies, as they seem to trust you to lead them like this
>your nerves are holding up, somehow
>or they've already snapped a long time ago, hard to tell
>you're carrying your Fort .308 and Glock 20, you've also given guns and ammo to the six ponies at your side
>they can't really operate them, but you do kinda need them as pack mules
>you feel sorry for calling it that, but who knows what you'll all face.  You brought a complete fuckton of loaded mags for the Fort (all of them), your 450 Rigby with all your ammo, your 338 with a few hundred rounds, your 590 with a hundred slugs and 000 buck, an SR25 and six loaded mags...  You may not know what is up ahead but you will hopefully not be undergunned
>if only you had a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
>if only you had a motherfucking Gustav, man
>even with solid rounds
>that cunt practically doesn't even need an HE shell, it's a hundred and fifty fucking thousand foot-pounds of "FUCK YOU" at the muzzle
>a good twelve times more power than the respectable .50 BMG
>hnnnnnnng....
>you curse your time frame
>if you survive this, you swear you'll have the R&D team work up a prototype somehow
>getting back on track
>you're all making pretty good ground
>nothing so far
>scouts report nothing visible ahead
>you all march through the lush forests and fields, going past the canyon formation
>you spot a pegasus fly in the distance and meet up with another
>the latter flies off
>the former swoops down to convey you the news
"Sir, we've located the entrance to the cave.  The scout party is positioned near the clouds above it.  We can see very little, the trees cover whatever could be below.  In any case, we've seen no proof of enemy movement below"
>a fair ways to go yet
"good work.  I'm going to have you fly back to the rest of the scout party, and take half of your team lower, closer to the treeline.  Pull back at the first sign of trouble and come back to direct the air support for a strike"
>he nods and takes off
>a few minutes pass
>you hold a steady pace
>through the trees, in the distance, you do see the opening of the cave that leads to the underground cavern
>if only we had tanks
>tanks would have an unheard of relationship with the forest
>because you don't think the ponies have ever seen a house-sized mass of fuck you rolling through trees as if they were twigs
>there aren't many things in Equestria that would give that few fucks about anything
>oh well.  Make do with what got
>this is the part where the forest gets quiet and some birds fly off, signaling all of your impending doom
>it's pretty much what you're waiting for
>the scout pegasus comes flying back, almost crash landing
"Sir, sir we have root sign...  We have root sign the likes of which Celestia has never seen... they are hidden everywhere...  they're in the bucking trees...  They are the bucking trees..."  he manages to gasp out between breaths
>he starts to calm down physically but he's obviously upset
"We lost Quick Wing and Ruffled Feathers, it was the goddamn trees…  It’s how we were able to see them.  Wing got snatched right out of the air, Feathers alerted us and they got him too...  We think they're about five minute's walk from your position"
>you spot Rainbow Dash comforting Fluttershy, the yellow quiet has been having the most difficulty with this situation
>you wonder how your six ponies will handle this, emotionally, when they start seeing ponies die
>for better or for worse, Rainbow Dash didn't hear about the sacrifice of Ruffle and Wing, but soon there might be immediate casualties
>you see one of your scouts fly off to organize the air support to coordinate strikes with the scout team's information of the root positions
"stay frosty everyp0ny, things are going to get difficult.  Just keep this formation, watch each other's backs and stay in contact" you say, just loud enough so that they can all hear you
>they all seem on edge but focused
>you feel like it's going almost too well for a less than ideally trained group of multicolored cuddly little equines
>that probably means ambush
>if they can hide in the trees...
>this could be a weakness
"Dash, what's the wind like over the trees?"
>Rainbow shoots up, flies for a few seconds and drops back down
"the wind is coming from the direction of the cave, towards us"
"Fuck.  That's no fucking good"
>it actually wasn't too bad, as it would keep all of your scent downwind, away from the roots
>but for your little plan, it was useless
"what's up Anon?  What's wrong with the wind?"
"I'm thinking if the Roots are hidden in the trees, we could start a fire, and burn a passage to the cave"
>Fluttershy seems to whimper upon hearing you
>sorry about your trees Shy, but it's them or us
>Dash looks at you, confused
"Uhhh, Anon...  You do know the pegasi can control the weather right?"
>AHA!  It's pegasi!
>wait
>weather control?
>your eye twitches
>magical fucking ponies
>you give up
"Dash, get your scout team or whatever you need to give us a good tail wind"
>she wastes no time giving the instructions to the nearest scout that flies off, making a formation with some of the air support force
>the effect is almost immediate
>you pretty much feel it through the trees
>a strong wind rises, shaking leaves
>fucking ponies
"All right you four legged buckets of awesome!  Flame units on!  I want short bursts going away from our flanks, form a channel that we can take all the way down to the cave! Light it up with magic if you have to!  I want you all to conserve flame fuel, if you get to half your tank, move back and let another take over!"
>the unicorns move with coordinated efficiency, laying swathes of glue-like flame
"Get the air support to take out the bigger trees in the way.  Have them blow us a road through these trees so we can trot down to that cave" you tell a low-flying scout
>the winged p0ny shoots off and within seconds, sharp explosions shake the ground ahead
>well, you didn't expect your whole force to make it to the cave undetected, so if the roots know you're there, why remain subtle?
>and subtle you aren't
>the explosions are coming with drum-like consistency
>the pace is relatively slow, as the fire spreads outwards from the carpet-bombed path like wings of death
>the wind is pushing the fire outwards, towards the cave, but it isn't going that fast
>can't really rush this kinda thing more than it already is
"Flamers, I think that's good, we started a pretty decent fire!" you yell
>the unicorns halt their fire as the flames take a life of their own
"keep up that tail wind" you say, encouraging the pegasi
>it's almost pretty
>who are you kidding, it's beautiful
>the massive fire going outward from your flanks, the walking flashes and concussions laying waste to the path in front
>the ponies don't seem to share your taste in scenery
>most of them look disgusted
>Fluttershy is crying
>the tailwind is giving you good air to breathe, thankfully
>hopefully it's giving the roots some hell
>you begin to see trees shake and shapes move, shadows shift in the trees the fire hasn't reached yet
>you pick up shapes in the shadows with your left eye
"EVERYP0NY, BE ON ALERT, KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED, THEY ARE COMING" you yell
>the concentration is palpable
>the land units are practically synchronized in their steps, staying equally spaced out but not far away
>Celestia wasn't kidding, these are the best
"stay close together, girls" you mention, trying to comfort the six ponies that were even more out of their element than usual
>you for some reason, are mentally calm even if you have a good adrenaline rush going
>you've felt this before, being calm and collected in a situation that could kill you in the next five seconds
>like that time you were navigating your car in the middle of a snowstorm with fast oncoming traffic, passing a schoolbus and feeling your wheels on the very edge of their traction, slipping ever so slightly, knowing full well that if you fucked up by an inch or if the snow caught your old balding tires just right, you'd be lucky to escape paraplegic
>you hope your nerves can hold like this, or that your insanity can maintain itself well enough to go through with this
>you're glad your visor hides your face; you do not know what the ponies would think of your toothy grin right now
>you are worried about how good the progress has been
>your do have the upper hand, with the walls of fire, path of explosions and solid perimeter defense
>not to mention air support
>a bright blue beam rips through the sky, narrowly missing one of the air support pegasi
"CALL THEM BACK, GET THEM CLOSER TO THE TREETOPS" you bellow over the noise
>your nearby low flying scout sprints through the flying formations, barking out your orders
>an instant later, more of the burning blue beams are seen, cutting through the sky where the pegasi were moments ago
>fucking root bug AA, it's like the weapons on the seed ship firing at Rainbow Dash
>you turn to your last close flying scout
"get another from the scout team and five from the air support group.  Tell them to fly straight up as fast as they can go on my mark, we'll give you covering fire.  If you can get high enough, you may be able to say down some suppression fire with your air support.  If you can pull that off, we can get more air support pegasi to come up and help you out"
“SIR YES SIR” she replies, frantically
>the little pegasus goes off
“ON MY MARK, I WANT THE OUTSIDE PERIMETER SLOW FIRE INTO THE TREES.  WAIT UNTIL YOUR FIRST BARREL IS RELOADED BEFORE FIRING YOUR SECOND”
>you glance at the scout pegasus and his air support escort
>you quickly look around, making sure the ground troops heard you
“MAAAAAARK!”
>rolling, moving punt gun fire cracks out, almost a constant flow of lead from the overlapping guns
“AIM FOR ANYTHING THAT MOVES, AIM FOR THE SPOTS WHERE THE BLUE BEAMS CAME FROM” you yell at the very top of your lungs
>you repeat this a few times
“SLOW AND STEADY FIRE”
>you join them
>you fire your rifle into the fray
>there aren’t even any completely visible Root bugs yet, but you’re sure that this is getting their attention, if not injuring or killing a few
>blue beams fire towards the still-rising pegasi
>you see where it was emitted between the branches
>your Fort rifle is caught by your single point sling as you grab the 338 from Applejack’s back
“Applejack, cover your ears”
“HWHAAT?” she yells over the cacophonous noise
“COVER YOUR EARS AND CLOSE YOUR EYES”
>she sits on her haunches and presses her hooves against her ears
>you use her shoulder to support the heavy rifle
>you remember where the beam came from, between the trees, under the branches
BAAAAOOOMMM
>the muzzle break is great against recoil but you just gave pretty much everyp0ny tinnitus, if they didn’t have it already
>you fire three more in the direction of whatever emitted the last beam
>you have this rifle set up on a 200 yard zero so for this kind of work, it should be very close to point of aim
>you shove your hand in Applejack’s saddlebag, grabbing a fistful of cartridges
>you see two more beams fire at the pegasi team, now pretty high
>you fire the 338, simply shoving rounds through the ejection port
>no time to reload that mag
>the scout and air support team seem to have made it up high enough to present too small a target
>you push the 338 back under Applejack’s saddle straps
>you raise the Fort from its sling and let off a few more rounds in the treeline
>things are getting pretty hairy out there
>the Roots are getting pretty cocky
>trying to run and leap through open spots in the fire
>attempting to circle around from behind
>working their way down the sides of the carpet-bombed path where the fire hasn’t reached yet
>or plain POPPING OUT OF HOLE-TRAPS
>FUCK
>you empty the rest of your magazine in the crafty little fucker that was hiding in his hole trap
>thankfully, the bombing has been effective at exposing or killing some of the hole traps
“EVERYP0NY, STAY ALERT FOR AMBUSHES COMING FROM TRAP HOLES, THE ROOTS HIDE IN THEM”
>your throat is going to be sore tomorrow
>the earth ponies are getting pretty handy with their guns
>you almost burst out laughing when you start seeing the teammate unicorns open up hole traps with their magic only to flame the everloving fuck out of it and close it up again
“Twilight, it would be really awesome if you could provide some support somehow…” you say, looking back at the ponies behind you
>Twilight nearly jumps out of her skin
>they’re all bug eyed and looking kinda shellshocked
>huddled closely, barely keeping up with you and the main ground forces’ pace
“We should help, we should help, we should help…” you hear her mutter
“Twilight!” calls Pinkie Pie
>the unicorn seems to snap out of it
>they both nod at each other
>Twilight aims her horn towards a few Roots who were ballsy enough to just sprint through the flames
>Pinkie pie grabs Twilight by the neck and…  Tail?
“SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE P0NY”  shrieks out Pinks
>she’s working Twilight’s tail like a Gatling
>the purple unicorn rains violet beams on the Roots, each beam punching holes through their chitinous flesh
>Rarity rears back and growls, her horn glowing
>she magicks a flame-weakened tree, pushing it over, using it to crush some Roots that were sneaking up
>well somep0ny is getting into the spirit of things
“KEEP UP THE FIRE.  AIR SUPPORT, JOIN THE OTHERS IN HIGH ALTITUDE” you command
>more than anything right now
>more than your nerves, more than your ammo
>you hope you don’t lose your voice
>well, maybe “ammo” is a little more important but you really hope you can keep this up
>as the bulk of the pegasi fleet dive straight up, more Root AA beams fire into the fray
>the beams cut through the rising ponies, striking one
>a massive explosion results, as the enemy fire detonates the saddle bag full of flash powder bombs
>the detonation sends a few more ponies down, thankfully none were close enough to explode
>horror paints across the faces of the six fillies behind you
“Stay focused, we can’t let their sacrifice go to waste by stopping here” you quickly say
>Twilight shrugs Pinkie Pie off and starts using her magic to turn roots into paste against the ground, or trees
>the dust cloud created by the detonation provides some cover for the main air support fleet
>within seconds, they begin relentlessly bombing the brains out of the outer perimeter
>you sincerely hope their aim is true from up there, because DANGER CLOSE
>at their altitude, they do take less AA fire, along with the fact that their weapons are disrupting and destroying the enemy beam emitters
>you all slowly press on, and the resistance does not let up
>the searing hot blue beams begin raining through the trees and Root bugs, their numbers never faltering, get closer and closer, leaping over their fallen kin
>the outer fire teams begin rotating, giving respite to the earth and unicorn ponies that have been firing practically nonstop
>a good number of unicorns flank the earth ponies, delivering flames to Roots that make it past the shot fire
>it’s not long before a scream rings clearly out, over the deafening noise
>a Root, hidden by his trap hole, had grabbed an unlucky unicorn and dragged it back into the hole, severely mangling it in the process
“AAAAAAAAAARGHHH…  AARH…  BUUUUUUCK YOU”
>a geyser of flame erupts from the trap hole as the unicorn incinerates his enemy and himself
>Roots sprint and leap their way past the immediate perimeter
>watching your line of fire, you fire off a handful of rounds in each, but even in the throes of death, the last one manages to flay a p0ny
>it almost looked like a slow motion view of a rat thrown into a blender
>you all keep up the pace, following the wake of the explosions from the air support fire
>you unclip the 590A1 from Rarity’s back and jog forwards, sending buckshot and slugs into the nearest Roots
>the ground forces intensify their fire, indiscriminately sending pounds of lead and dousing flame
>you jog through the fray, commanding them to conserve ammunition if possible
>all finally arrive within shouting distance of the cave entrance
“Pinkie Pie.  Gimme the four-fifty”
>everyp0ny stops
>so do you
>even the air support bombing seems to go quiet
>you’re going to need a bigger gun
>why didn't you track down a Gustav before leaving earth
>why
>why
>why