We stand united 1x1 Maple Bat

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

'Embers attitude is something I recognize from someone else. So at least I know her motives are meant well.' he thought.

He then started to fire some magical blast from the air straight the group infected, all the creatures could do from down there was growl and shriek at them.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia fired a golden colored ray of light at some of the infected generating a explosion to kill a few when it hit the ground.

Ember fired off a few shots from her bow taking down a few of the infected herself. "Who needs stinking magic anyways." She mumbled to herself as she fired another arrow.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"To be honest, i never really prefer magic either, if i could acquire a firearm again, i would love to see if my sharp shooting skill hasn't gotten sloppy." Jack said as he was able to overhear her mumbling due to his cat ears.

He suddenly paused attacking as he noticed movement far into the distance, suddenly lots of enemy fire was raining towards them from down below, but the attackers were hard to see due to the snowy fog that was around the terrain.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Seeing the enemies fire Celestia put up a barrier and moved Jack closer to it protecting him as well. "Well this is your chance to get one of those weapons." She said lowing to the the ground. Ember had to block her face with her gauntlets she equip her Lance and readied herself to charge into battle. Waiting until she could see them before moving to engage them.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack nodded as he waited for the right moment.

He saw movement between the parts where the fog not movement, but it was very faint.

"I can't get any closer at the moment, they are using the fog as a way to mask themselves while they fire with potshots at us." Jack stated.

"This is risky, because i don't know with how many they are, let alone what kind soldiers they brought, i only saw some feint of movement of regular soldiers, but i doubt that is the only thing they brought." he said he shielded his eyes from the snowy wind.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia and Ember both took a defensive stance moving to a more elevated . "Then wait for them to come here" Ember said slamming her shield into the ground planting it as cover holding the Lance with her claws. "We've got no other choice. If we attack them now we'll lose this position. It's easier to defend than attack after all."

Celestua nodded in agreement. "If we lay low they'll come looking for us and then we can attack them. It's a odd but efficient tactic."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Agreed, but we should, but we also have to stay ready, they might be trying to draw us out by additional means." Jack said.

His eyes narrowed his eyes.

"Hold on, I hear movement."

Suddenly lots of small creatures started heading towards, they looked like mutated scorpions, but there were like hundreds of them chasing at their position, while being followed by the ranged enemies, shooting at them with a strafing kind of attack.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia fired back at the shooters with blasts of magic. "I won't let you take us or Equestria!" She said full of zeal. "I'll show you the power of all Equestrians!"

Ember picked up her shield switching it for her lance. Blocking the bullets. She wasn't sure how to respond to the smaller creatures so she went to breathe fire over them to set them on fire.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack saw a lone soldier strafing to the left side, who was looking around.

Jack took the opportunity to sprint straight at the soldier and kick it straight at the leg, making him collapse.

He then drew the blade and stabbed straight through the chest of his enemy.

One of the smaller scorpion creatures tried to jump on his back, only for Jack to grab it and make a roll, using that amount of force to crush the creature straight into the ground killing it.

Jack then looked at the enemy soldier and picked up his rifle, only to look for something further, and found what he was looking for.

"Combat injections, just what i thought, these are going to be useful." Jack muttered to himself as he injected himself with one full of adrenaline, using the same method his mentor taught him to.

Jack then started to sneak straight towards the enemies.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember had roasted a bunch of the scorpions. "Phew that'll do." She planted her shield again picking up her lance again She charged taking down more of the creatures. Stabbing them with the heavy weapon. She was barely affected by the weapons weight.

Celestia was moving the sun hoping to bring some sight to them. Since the sun's rays could cut through the blizzard just a bit. Once it was in position She charged a few more blasts to attack the shooters with.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack moved up to a hill, as he now had multiple targets in his sight.

He started firing upon the enemies, taking well place shots.

When the enemies where under fire, they started to fire back, wich forced Jack in turn to quick take cover behind the hill.

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia saw gun flashes and fired magical missiles at those, Helping jack out of his predicament.

Ember had been working hard on the creatures there where only a few left She spewed fire to kill the rest of them moving back to the defensive position ready to help Celestia if she needed it.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack waited for another opening, when he saw Celestia firing at them, the enemies got distracted, wich he then used to his advantages as he advanced behind them, and started firing his entire magazine straight the enemy group, making getting hailed with suppressive fire.

Only a few enemies remained. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember, Now that she was able to see quickly took down the remaining enemies charging them with the lance. Afterward she collected her shield and one of the enemy rifles. "Hey kid." She said refrencing Jack "come 'ere Show me how this thing works."

----------------------------------------------

Luna and Flurry were looking for the temple. Luna saw something and flew down to it followed closely by flurry. "This is it..." She said looking into it. She hesitated to walk inside it.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack took a deep breath so the adrenaline effect could wear down.

He then walked up to Ember.

"Since you already know how to use a bow it shouldn't be hard for you to learn."

"First make sure that it loaded, once you reload with putting a new magazine in it, pull the bolt to chamber the first round, in most of these weapons, the bolt will automatically rechamber after each shot. But when you hear a certain click, it means the weapon is empty."

Jack then aimed his weapon at a rock.

"To fire, you pull back this small trigger on the weapon, some weapons things on top of it that are like small binoculars or telescopes, but most have these thing called an ironsight, that little thing at the end indicates where your aim is. But you will also have to keep the direction of the wind in mind, because bullets travel at a much higher speed then arrows and crossbow bolts because of the gunpowder that ignites in the weapon itself. It is for some weapons like this one possibly to keep firing by holding the trigger, but it can create lots of recoil, but for you that shouldn't be much of a problem." Jack said as he started to hold his breath, and after 5 seconds, he fired a single round, that went impacted straight into the rock..

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember observed his demonstration "Right let me try." She copied the way he was holding it but it was a bit loser, She fired the weapon and lost her grip when the weapon kicked. and she dropped it. "I'm guessing I did something wrong then..." She said really confused.

Celestia put the sun back where it was supposed to go and picked up a enemy weapon too examining it. Removing the magazine to see what exactly is fired from the weapon, She saw they where some sort of metal but wasn't sure exactly how this all worked.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"It takes a while to get used to, but you will get there. One good method is how you hold the rifle, hold the stock of the weapon against your shoulder, but also try to use your other hand to grasp a bit further along the weapon, when you the fire, your weapon will get a kick, wich means that when you fire, the weapon kicks back, the more heavier and powerfull firearms tend to have a bigger kick then others."

"Tough i know one thing Ember, you should be able to handle the kick of those weapons really easily as you normally already wield very heavy weapons, for me it still rather difficult to handle bigger weaponry because of my light weight, meaning i would get fall over rather fast when firing the more heavy weaponry." he explained.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I'm used to all weapons kid. Not just heavy ones." Ember picked up the weapon again. She shifted how she was holding it, Treating it as if it was a heavier weapon she fired it again not dropping the weapon this time. After seeing that result she fired multiple shots trying to get used to the weapon. "Alright I think I got this... How strong are these things anyways?" She wasn't sure how or what to test it on.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"They are really strong, where arrow sticks in someone's body, a bullet goes straight inside the body, or even through should it gather high enough velocity and force."

"But it would also depend on the bullet" Jack said as he held up a bullet from one of the magazines.

"These are pretty strong, but there are weapons out there who hold larger and stronger sized bullets, which is capable of even going straight through concrete."

"But like a sword would need to be sharpened and cleaned, these kind weapons also require maintenance from time to time, which requires it to be dissembled and cleaned, sometimes even replace the parts. Knowing how to handle such weapons is good, but knowing how to disassemble and reassemble them is always a good thing to know if you are keeping one of these because after a very long time they might malfunction, or get jammed," he explained.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember collected a few of the similar magazines putting them in her bag then using a smaller pouch put a bunch of the bullets into it. After she thought she got enought she looked at Jack "Guess we should find the temple now then? Or should we stay low for now?" She asked "I'd say we go find the temple Luna and Flurry are in danger if they wait outside it too long." She added

Celestia walked over dropping the weapon she was examining having no idea what she was looking at. "I agree with Ember here. It is dangerous for then to stand out in the open like that we drew the fire for them but now its not on us so that means it could be on them."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"You guys are right, but something still bothers me, from the way they attacked, this was not just some patrol, this was a directed attack as you could see a pattern in their attack strategy, but the thing I don't understand is why they were with such low numbers. Small strike teams would have this number but think about it. When we were on the train they were attacking us with a massive strike force, yet this attack paled in comparison to the previous one, it could mean there could be more coming. It is hard to say, but it just seems so unlikely." Jack said.

"If i may voice my oppinion, we should perhaps just a wait a bit longer, to make sure they have no left overs of this attack, and i doubt they would attack Luna and Flurry, because what i know from their way of operation, should they find any sort of treath during their patrols, they tend to draw numbers from other nearby patrols as well for the attack, so i think our stragety has worked out because essentially we are their main target now, wich means the chance that they have spotted Luna and Flurry is really low from with how many damage we have caused among their ranks. Tough it is up to you guys what you would prefer, i am merely saying what i think could work."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember nodded agreement. "You're probably right we risk getting spotted and if we do we'd be bringing a fight to them making things worse. Best we hope they're ok and stay here for now. Make sure they stop patrols for now." She said looking at another of the enemies weapons.

Celestia took the position as well laying in the snow. Had her hair not been aurora colored and wavy she would have just looked like armor in the snow. She grabbed a book out of her armor's carrying compartment and began reading it to pass time till the blizzard cleared.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"Ember, could you get some sort of fire started to keep us warm while we wait?"

"I am going to scout a bit ahead, there could be a chance they are using some sort of tunnel or transport nearby. If that is the case, then i might as well try to block off their entrances." Jack suggested

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember nodded, "I would, although, I don't have anything to burn... No wait yes I do." She reached into her bag and pulled out some logs. "Forgot I was carrying these." She built a small fire and lit it with her fire breath. It lit rather quickly even though there was a blizzard, after it warmed her she laid down. "You go ahead and scout ahead We'll wait here."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack nodded as he walked forward, he was walking for a what seemed 3 minutes, until he saw something, at first glance it looked like a big rock of ice, but as he walked closer, he noticed something different about it.

'It is a spiral metal object, and it is big, perhaps it was a method of transport? Even I haven't one of these things before.' Jack thought as he inspected it from a closer view.

He touched the metal.

'It would seem this thing has landed not that long ago, it must have been here for a few days at the very most, it even looked like something was inside of it, I can still smell it despite all the cold.' Jack thought with a grimace.

Suddenly he heard loud stomping nearby, he quickly took cover behind one of the rocks, and when he looked, he got surprised.

It was a creature that stood about 13 feet tall, it had massive muscles, but was clad in some sort of metal armour, the same material used for the big object that Jack had inspected a few moments ago, the creature had presumably been a cyclops before it got converted.

'I have never seen this strain before, it must be one from the new conversion process.' Jack thought.

The creature started circling around the big object, its golden eyes were lurking all around.

'I have to take it out, no matter the cost.' Jack thought as he started sneaking around, once he was at a safe distance, he started firing at the creature, but the bullets did not do much harm because of the armour the creature was wearing.