"In the long run, we are all dead." John Maynard Keynes

It was an incredibly busy day in the Canterlot Train station. Ever since the attack on the city, a few misplaced citizens had to endure moving to other cities to stay with friends and family due to their own homes being destroyed by gauss fire. Others were visiting Equestria's capital to check up on the refugees.

Many ponies who were living in foreign countries like Zebrica and Moositamia, mostly diplomats, were being forced back into Equestria once they were marked as the enemy. The races of the alliance had now cut off contact with Equestria permanently. All foreign workers and traders were being shipped back.

The ponies who were deported from these nations returned with stories about how their kind was being persecuted as heretics and warned of an attack on the 23rd of June.

Royal guards were watching the train station like a hawk, waiting for the first sign of trouble that came form refugees, surprise attacks from the alliance, or Shadow squad.

Suddenly, all the noise made from the on goers in the station were silenced.

The elements of harmony, accompanied by Spike and the princesses made their way towards their train.

As expected, many ponies bowed on the sight of the alicorns. Others however, refused to get on the ground with a skeptical look in their eyes.

The group of ponies finally made it to the their train.

"Well everypony and everybody, we are here." announced Celestia.

Without seeing it coming, the members of Shadow squad uncloaked. Upon seeing the realistic humans for the first time, many of the animated ponies began clenching their heads as they tried to observe the incomprehensible sight before them.

The members of Shadow unholstered their weapons and simply shook their heads to the panic.

Luna levitated a series of ten tickets and trotted towards the ticket master.

"Her highness Twilight Sparkle is to be accompanies by these 4 humans to the Crystal Empire. I do not mean to cause trouble, but would it be well if the train could take off a half hour earlier?"

The ticket master tries to collect himself. "Oh yes. Of course your majesty." The stallion looked to his right and nearly fainted when he saw Shadow staring right at him with their vacant masks.

"Alright." spoke up Scarecrow. "We head to the Crystal Empire, find whatever remains of the archives, and disable the barrier. No distractions. Got it?"

The ponies gave nods of understanding.

"Once the barrier is down, the UTF will be able to send ships to reinforce us. The alliance will have no choice but to piss off." stated X-ray.

"But like I said, what makes you think Cadance is going to let you tear her domain apart?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"She will have no choice. Trust us." assured Scorch.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "So are we going to hop in or what?"

"Just give us a moment." requested Scarecrow.

The masked counter terrorists turned on magnetic vision with neural controls. Their shades glowed blue and they began tilting their heads left and right.

"Scanning, scanning, scanning, we're good." finally nodded X-ray.

"Well, I guess this is it Twilight." shook Spike.

Twilight bent down and kissed the dragon on the cheek. "Don't worry Spike, I'll be fine."

The small dragon gave a small grin of relief.

"Do I have your word that our ponies will be safe?" questioned Luna.

"Of course." assured Scarecrow. "Although whatever threat dares to face us will be put down immediately by force. We're sorry, but now is not the time to worry about individual lives when a species is at risk."

"We understand. Just avoid those situations when you can." pleaded Celestia. "Good luck everyone."

"Don't worry princess! We'll get it done." cheered Applejack with a confident smile.

The Mane 6 and the humans entered train. Spike meanwhile hopped on Celestia's back and took off with the princesses.

Shadow had to crouch in order to avoid their head getting hit by the roof of the train. The gang was supposed to be directed to a VIP section that was dedicated for the use of nobles and royals.

One thing Shadow should have done however was cloak. The moment they entered the train, the ponies who were sitting passenger either fainted or were thrown into a state of disarray.

A large number of Equines had second thoughts and immediately left the train. The vehicle was still rather packed however.

The VIP section stood at the middle of the train for reasons Shadow didn't know. Apparently there was a lot less noise coming in and it somehow offered the best view. For once, the humans didn't feel like questioning the logic.

The group sat down on their seats. Shadow had to be extra careful however not to apply too much pressure to the seats or else they could risk breaking them.

"Have to admit, these chairs are comfy." complimented Scorch as he took of his rail gun from the plate on his back.

As if on cue, the engines of the train roared to life and it took off.

No one said a word for a long hour.

---------

The train ride had been rather uneventful up to that point. Overwatch was busy drawing something on his notebook, X-ray was playing a game on his tablet, Scorch was asleep and Scarecrow was staring out the window.

The ponies meanwhile were too anxious about the situation that laid before them to have a proper conversation. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie would tell a joke once in a while to lighten the mood.

Much to Rarity's dismay, she didn't receive any of the first class treatment from the VIP section since a large number of the stewards had either bailed or refused to enter section because of Shadow.

"Darlings, could you please do that thing where you turn invisible so the lunch cart won't hesitate coming in?" begged Rarity.

"If that's okay with you." whispered Fluttershy.

Shadow didn't even bother listening to the statement.

"I'm good thanks." muttered Scorch like a robot.

Twilight rolled her eyes and tried to get a conversation starting. "So, does anyone have any thoughts as to what we'll find in the Crystal Empire?"

"It's a data archive." reminded X-ray. "That says it all."

"But you humans speak multiple languages, how will you understand what the ancient humans even wrote?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

"Our anthropologists and linguists have recorded all languages from the simplest symbolism of the Paleolithic times. I'm sure translation won't be an issue." debunked Scarecrow.

More silence passed.

"So that alliance huh?" joked Applejack.

"Yeah. Dragons, Hydras and Griffins. Totally not overkill." fake laughed Pinkie Pie.

"Oh please, you haven't seen overkill until you've seen a UTF starship." countered X-ray.

"Speaking of starships, what were to happen if we theoretically didn't get the barrier down?" asked Twilight.

Another round of silence passed.

"Then we'd be fucked. Totally fucked." blurted Scorch.

"Could you please use a different terminology?" begged Fluttershy.

"Then Equestria and the 4 of us would be fucked, totally fucked."

"To be fair though, the whole clone thing is rather genius." admitted Twilight.

"Yeah! Imagine how easier things would be if we cloned you and raised an army?" laughed Pinkie Pie.

"That would be a horrible idea." shook Overwatch.

"Just because the pool would create a physical copy of us with our strength and agility, it wouldn't mean the clone would retain the same memories, knowledge or personality we have." debunked X-ray.

"The clone would either be standing still in a vegetative state, or would be reduced to animal instincts and start going on a predatory rampage." noted Scorch.

"That is a horrifying thought." gulped Rarity.

"I could still send the clone back to the waters from where it came." glared Twilight.

"If it didn't kill you first." denied Scarecrow. "Besides, if the pool takes literal copies of a figure, the mask and armor would be organic and loose all properties. So, it cloning would be useless unless we had the budge to create a million pairs of recon armor."

X-ray took note of Twilight's previous remark. "By the way, what ever happened to those Pinkie Pie clones?"

"You mean the ones our pink friend created when she got lonely?" chuckled Applejack.

Twilight explained how they got rid of the Pinkie Pie clones by making them watch paint dry. When a Pinkie would stop watching, Twilight would vanish them back to the clone pool.

To the ponies, it was a harmless and effective plan, to Shadow, it was something entirely else.

"So what you mean to tell me, is that you killed them?" asked Scarecrow.

The ponies gasped loudly.

"How dare you accuse Twilight of doing something like that!" yelled Rainbow Dash.

"I never killed those Pinkie Pie clones, weren't you listening?" puffed Twilight.

"We listened, and from what we can understand is that you killed them." pointed X-ray.

"Just because that's the only way you brutes know how to handle a problem, doesn't mean everyone else thinks like that." scolded Rarity.

"Girls, those Pinkie Pie clones were fully living and sapient." explained Scorch. "When Twilight used her magic to vanish them into the clone pool, she essentially ended their ability to live. She killed them even though no blood was spilled."

Pinkie Pie's mane deflated. "That can't be true!"

"It is." shook Scarecrow. "Do you even realize how dangerous that plan was considering you could have easily hit the right Pinkie and kill her?"

Twilight's pupil's shrunk. "This can't be happening. How could have I been so blind?"

Rainbow Dash wasn't about to let her friend go down like this. "Come on! You guys would have killed if you were in the same place."

"While our job is to disperse acts of civil unrest, we're not entitled to decide the fate of dissidents." countered X-ray.

"In the situation where you were, your whole philosophy of the greater good would persuade you 4 to shoot the clones due to all the trouble they were causing." defended Rarity.

Scarecrow thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. You still killed those Pinkie Pie clones when they technically didn't do anything wrong."

Twilight's mane split and she started to pale.

"What do you think Overwatch?" asked Scorch. "Overwatch?"

There was no response from the sniper who was too busy with his art.

"Hey what are you even drawing?" asked X-ray.

Overwatch's attention was finally grabbed. The sniper looked up. "I'm just drawing this buffalo out the window."

"BUFFALO!" yelled the elements of harmony.

Scarecrow raised an eyebrow and looked outside the window. He saw a faint dot in the distance, which clarified once he zoomed in on his HUD. Sure enough, there was a large, but still diminutive, buffalo charging towards the train.

"Huh, another animal from Earth." muttered Shadow's leader.

"Guys, I think the Buffalo is going to charge the train." guessed Scorch.

"Why the hell would he do that?" muttered X-ray. "Animals have at least some form of sentience on Epona. There's no way a buffalo would have any reason to ram this vehicle."

Overwatch zoomed in on his HUD. "Holy shit, there's more. I didn't even think Buffalo lived in the northern part of Equestria."

Shadow's HUDs started reading multiple incoming lifeforms. In the heart of the moment, the dots on their motion trackers turned from grey to red. Shadow's commander turned on communications on his wrist computer.

"Blackjack, how many Buffalo are we looking at?" radioed Scarecrow.

"You're looking at about 30 hostiles. No more, no less." signaled a communications officer from the starship.

"I think now would be a very good time to point out that the buffalo are intelligent like us ponies." called out a shivering Fluttershy.

"Fuck." muttered X-ray. "Take a closer look. They're wearing clothes."

While the Mane 6 crowded into a corner, Shadow further observed the incoming cattle. They noticed that Buffalo were being led by a figure wearing a regal headdress made up of feathers. The other buffalo were wearing a less ornate set of feathers on the right side of their heads.

"If I'm not mistaken, I think these buffalo may be based off of some Native American tribe." theorized Scorch. "Their headdresses match up."

Scarecrow put two and two together. "But if they were affected by Native Americans, that means they were attacked in the past, which means that their part of the alliance-"

"Which means they're after us and the ponies." concluded Overwatch.

"But there's no way they can ram the train." muttered X-ray. "Based on their movements and mass-"

"This isn't time for one of your gay little speeches X-ray." gritted Scarecrow.

"I'm just trying to say, that unless they magically gained speed, they would severely injure themselves the moment they impacted the train."

X-ray spoke too soon.

Suddenly, the Buffalo were beginning to move faster and faster. The rate at which they revealed themselves across the horizon increased rapidly.

The moment after, Shadow squad and the Mane 6 began to hear cries of panic coming from the other ponies across the train.

Springing to action, Shadow loaded their rail guns and cloaked. The Mane 6 peeked outside the window in panic and observed the Buffalo getting closer and closer, moving faster and faster.

The invisible Scarecrow opened the window to the back of the compartment.

"Twilight, try to keep everypony inside safe and calm." ordered Scorch's disembodied voice.

The purple alicorn nodded and led her friends to the the passenger sections.

Still invisible, Shadow squad used their magnetic gloves to climb the outside of the locomotive and help get themselves on top.

The masked counter terrorists stood and raised their weapons. The Buffalo were getting closer.

"On my mark, we uncloak." radioed Scarecrow.

Shadow waited, and waited, until-

"Mark."

The 4 commandos uncloaked and revealed themselves to the charging buffalo.

Upon glimpsing the incomprehensible nature of the non animated humans, the bison began to clearly suffer from migraines which slowed down the pace they were charging at.

Now that their acceleration had decreased, ramming into the train would no longer be as effective. Instead, the Buffalo used their newfound speed to circle the locomotive.

Scarecrow cursed. He hoped he didn't have to do this.

"This is colonel Scarecrow of the United Terran Federation armed forces! I am ordering you to stand down, or face immediate execution!"

The leader of the Buffalo, chief Thunderhooves eyed the 4 commandos standing on top of the still moving train.

"We will not surrender after what you're kind has done to us human!"

A Buffalo slammed his body onto the side of the train. The train slightly jerked to the left, causing Shadow to loose balance for a moment.

"We are warning you! Seize all hostilities immediately." ordered Scorch as he regained composure.

"Why? So you can call in your friends to reign hell on us from orbit?" yelled Thunderhooves, followed by mummers of approval from his allies.

This time, two Buffalo rammed the side of the train to little effect.

"Keep trying, you aren't strong or fast enough to take down this locomotive." challenged X-ray.

Thunderhooves put on an arrogant grin. "Don't worry. Our Zebra allies have managed to brew a special potion for us that increases our movement speed tenfold."

The Buffalo started ramming the train one by one. The ponies inside started screaming bloody murder.

Shadow diverted some of their suits' power to magnetize their boots to keep them grounded.

"We humans have no quarrel with your people! Leave now, secede from the alliance, and your race will be spared." suggested X-ray.

"Hear that!" exclaimed a Buffalo with a heavy Native American accent. "If the humans don't get what they want, they'll kill us all!" Numerous Buffalo laughed to the statement.

One by one, the potion enhanced bison started hitting the sides of the train with enhanced kinetic energy.

"Shadow, fire shots to scatter them." ordered Scarecrow.

X-ray, Overwatch and Scorch complied. One by one, they fired gauss rounds not at the Buffalo, but at ground near their hooves. It was rather hard to do so however, considering how fast the train and Buffalo were moving.

Luckily, the shots managed to get a few Buffalo to move away from the train, but it did not stop them from coming back for another attack.

Scorch pointed in the opposite direction. "FUCK OFF!"

Thunderhooves ignored the swear and slammed his body onto the side of the passenger section, causing a dent to appear in the train's walls.

"You leave us no choice." growled Scarecrow.

The leader of Shadow raised his gauss LMG, aimed down the sights on the side of a buffalo, and fired. The 2 gauss rounds moved faster than the combined speed of the train and bison.

To Scarecrow's surprise however, the gauss bullets managed to blow two holes into the Buffalo's chest, but did not kill him. Instead, the buffalo fell to his hooves, still breathing.

Scarecrow fired another shot onto his target's face. Only now the Buffalo fell.

X-ray received similar results. He fired a burst from his carbine from the top of the train onto a Buffalo below which only caused it to falter for a bit before slamming its body into the train.

X-ray cursed and fired a gauss round that blew off the Buffalo's hoof and caused the creature to finally collapse.

The scrawny commando then pointed his railgun onto the face of a Buffalo that was just about to ram his side of the locomotive. X-ray fired a bullet that went straight through the buffalo's skull, but did not kill it until a few seconds of impact.

The demo man readied his rifle's grenade launcher, used his vantage point to his benefit, and aimed it in the middle of two Buffalo. Right before he could fire the projectile, a Buffalo slammed his body onto train with a strong force.

The resulting impact caused Scorch to loose balance of his grenade launcher the moment he pulled the trigger.

The rifle grenade did not impact the 2 Buffalo as intended, but rather arched to far end of the convoy. Luckily for Scorch, the stray rifle grenade did manage to hit a Buffalo directly.

The explosion ripped open the Bison's chest and blood and body parts started pouring underneath.

Overwatch was having a far more difficult time. His sniper was useless in the close quarters situation and his PDR did not have as much of an impact as his comrade's rifles.

The marksman realized that burst fire was useless at this point. The sniper moved forward across the shaking train, being kept in balance by his magnetic boots.

He headed to the front side of the train and spotted a Buffalo attempting to take out the front. Overwatch aimed his PDR onto the charging Buffalo. The sniper could have sworn he fired more bullets that intended, because the Buffalo's midsection was littered with holes leaking blood.

X-ray meanwhile, primed a frag grenade, let it cook for a few moments, and threw it onto the charging bison convoy.

Before the explosive could even hit the ground, it detonated in the air. The force from the grenade was able to knock a Buffalo off his hooves.

Not wanting it to get back up, X-ray aimed his sights onto the unconscious Buffalo's head before it could get out of sight. X-ray fired a single shot from his rail gun which thankfully managed to split the quadruped's brain in two.

All of a sudden, the Buffalo started to move away from the train and onto the side.

As they retreated, Scarecrow aimed his LMG and fired a 5 round spray at a Buffalo's lower body. While a round missed, Scarecrow succeeded in blowing off every last hoof.

"Hold you're fire! I think they're retreating." called out Scorch.

The members of Shadow lowered their gauss weapons. Sure enough, the Buffalo were beginning to stray away from the train, but were still moving in the same direction.

Just as luck finally seemed to be on their side, the Buffalo turned around and started to move back towards the train once more. The quadrupeds started to move faster and faster as they gained kinetic energy.

"They're going to knock over the train!" screamed Scarecrow.

The Buffalo were moving far too fast like a bullet for Shadow to properly react. Scorch managed to fire a round from his grenade launcher that directly impacted a Buffalo, splitting its body in two and causing blood and body parts to fly everywhere from the explosion.

It did nothing to stop the other Buffalo from slamming the train with its horns and ripping a hole in the locomotive.

This time, the convoy had generated enough kinetic force to cause the train to start tipping. At this point, enough damage had been made to the locomotive for the engineers on board to keep the vehicle moving.

The train finally stopped moving and was easy prey for the Buffalo. The squad heard the ponies screaming hopelessly on the inside.

Shadow needed to keep the Buffalo away from the train at all costs. They continued to stand on the top of the train and unloaded everything they had.

The convoy meanwhile, kept ramming the train continuously. Now the entire right side of the vehicle was visibly damaged with deep impact craters.

In order to keep the creatures at bay, Scarecrow primed a pyro grenade and threw it directly at closest Buffalo towards him.

The pyro grenade detonated immediately on impact. The helpless Buffalo was lit on fire and started screaming in pain. Scarecrow observed his scorched victim finally collapsing, some parts burned to the very bone.

Overwatch had second thoughts about his weapon choice and concluded his PDR wasn't going to be useful in this situation. The marksman turned to his gauss sniper and used the crosshairs on his HUD to engage.

He lined up his weapon on an incoming Buffalo's head and fired. The sniper bullet traveled at immense velocities and blew a hole through the Bison's head, allowing one to see the organs on the inside.

Scorch had only one more rifle grenade remaining and he was going to make it count.

The demo man knew he couldn't just fire at a Buffalo right next to the train however. He could end up risking the destruction of the locomotive.

Instead, Scorch turned to a pair of Buffalo that moved away from the train in order to gain speed for another assault.

Scorch fired his grenade launcher which traveled a considerable distance and managed to detonate in the middle of his two targets.

While the demo man did manage to knock both Buffalo of their hooves, he only succeeded in killing one. Scorch turned to rail bullets as he desperately finished off the wounded Buffalo before it could get up.

Despite their efforts, Shadow's attempts at subduing the Buffalo were almost at vain.

Finally, the remaining Buffalo rammed the train with all their might, and the locomotive began to tip over.

"Secure the train now!" roared Scarecrow.

Wasting no time, X-ray and Overwatch jumped down from their vantage points and onto the undamaged side of the train.

The two counter terrorists immediately diverted all power with neural controls to their magnetic gloves. As the magnetic force increased however, X-ray's and Overwatch's barriers and HUD disappeared in order tom compensate for power.

Thankfully, opposing magnetic force from their gloves was so powerful that in managed to keep the midsection of the metallic train (and by extension, the rest of the locomotive) from turning over.

Scarecrow and Scorch remained on top of the train. They knew that their friends' efforts would be in vain unless they could keep the charging Buffalo away. Furthermore, an additional magnetic force was necessary in order to fully pull back the train to stability.

Scarecrow lit up another pyro grenade, but did not throw it until a significant portion of them were away from the train.

The masked commando's pyro grenade set up a wall of fire that blocked the midsection of the train from the Buffalo, with a few space for the two to stand. A few of the bison caught fire, but simply managed to duck, cover and roll the flames away.

Scorch and Scarecrow immediately jumped to the ground in between the fire and the train and readied their magnetic gloves as well.

This time, they used an attracting magnetic force to pull the train towards them.

Inside the train, Twilight used her telekinesis to help reinforce the commandos in their efforts.

Working from all sides, the 4 commandos and Twilight managed to use their magnetic telekinesis to secure the train. Overwatch and X-ray managed to push it forward while Scarecrow and Scorch pulled it towards them.

The Buffalo meanwhile, only encountered a slight change of plans. The wall of fire only meant that they couldn't attack from one side.

Thunderhooves led the convoy around the train and decided to hit it from the other end.

The Bison gained speed and moved into a 'U' pattern around the train. Upon turning around, the group spotted X-ray and Overwatch adjusting the train.

Unfortunately for the two counter terrorists, their HUDs had disappeared due to focusing too much energy on their gloves. They could see the Buffalo coming.

Twilight's friends all the while were watching the commandos and alicorn prevent the train from tipping. Just when they thought they had a minor victory secured, Pinkie Pie watched in horror as the Buffalo closed in on Shadow.

"LOOK OUT!" yelled the ponies.

X-ray turned to the left and saw a charging Buffalo only a few centimeters away from him.

Before he could respond, the Buffalo slammed his body onto the Counter Terrorist's right army with kinetic force. X-ray couldn't have his barriers turned on, so he was sent flying.

Overwatch was slightly luckier and managed to roll to the side before a Buffalo could hit him with its horns. The marksman drew his PDR and sprayed a 2 round burst at the back of the Buffalo that attempted to hit him.

Overwatch desperately moved his gauss PDR from left to right in the hopes of finding a target. Unfortunately, the Buffalo were too many and were moving far too quickly.

A Bison managed to ram Overwatch on his left, but since the sniper had his barriers turned on, it was to little effect.

The marksman turned to his aggressor and shoved his combat knife into the Buffalo's skull. Even that strike did not kill said Buffalo however.

Instead, the Buffalo screamed in pain and thrust its body upwards, exposing its neck.

Overwatch took the opportunity to fire his remaining rounds onto the Buffalo's throat, letting it trickle blood and severing it's head in the process.

While he was only rammed 20 seconds ago, it felt like an eternity for X-ray.

The counter terrorist couldn't even describe the pain he was feeling at his right arm. Worst still, his barriers hadn't recharged and a Buffalo was about to ram into the passenger section of the train with its horns.

Thankfully, X-ray was left handed. With his uninjured arm, he drew his rail SMG and fired a burst of bullets at the charging Buffalo before it collapsed.

The Buffalo who had floored X-ray started speeding towards him.

In turn, the commando turned the direction his SMG faces and unloaded a few more rounds of his ammunition onto his attacker.

When he thought it couldn't get worse, X-ray's motion tracker read yet another Buffalo heading towards him with remarkable velocities.

Right before he could turn around, the Buffalo smashed into X-ray's right side, adding more pain and sending the commando flying towards the train. Ironically, X-ray's body had made a worse dent than the combined efforts of the Buffalo.

X-ray got up and saw his rail smg on the dirt away from him. To his horror, he watched the Buffalo that attacked him stomp the weapon into pieces.

Right when the Buffalo thought he had X-ray defeated, the commando drew his rail pistol. X-ray fired two rapid shots on each eye of the Buffalo and blinded it.

X-ray finished the job by unloading a gauss round at the Buffalo's brain.

Overwatch meanwhile was facing heavy opposition. Rather than attacking the train, the Buffalo were attacking him.

Twilight however was using the distraction to use a repair spell she had learned to start putting the train back into a workable condition. If Shadow could distract the Buffalo for a few more minutes, the train would be back to normal.

The marksman's barriers finally gave up when a Buffalo rammed him on the back with intense kinetic force.

Overwatch got to his feet and observed a Buffalo gaining speed to strike him.

Suddenly, a shots rang and stopped the Buffalo dead in its tracks. The left side of the Bison was ripped open with the digestive system leaking out.

Scorch and Scarecrow materialized on the top of the train and were firing on the Buffalo from their elevated position.

Overwatch used the distraction to load his last PDR magazine into his railgun.

The sniper spun a rapid 180 and fired 2 shots and the skull of another Buffalo, causing it to explode like a burst watermelon.

Scarecrow and Scorch hopped to the ground in order to divert the Buffalo's attention towards them instead of the train.

Scorch was pissed that he had to use bullets. He aimed his SCAR Z onto a charging Buffalo and was about to fire until-

"STOP!" called out a young and feminine voice.

Scorch took the distraction to kill the Buffalo he was aiming at. He was about to take out more, until Scarecrow placed a hand on his back and ordered him to stand down.

The ponies heard the cry from inside the too.

"Oh my." gulped Fluttershy. "It can't be."

Every Buffalo had stopped what he was doing. From the middle of the carnage crept a small, female Buffalo calf.

"It's Little Strongheart!" yelled Twilight. "Maybe she can turn everything around."

Little Strongheart, tears in her eyes from all the dead Buffalo, trotted towards her father.

"Father! What is this madness?" she cried.

"Father?" said the active members of Shadow at once.

Chief Thunderhooves, who had managed to avoid getting killed, trotted towards his daughter.

"My child. How did you get here so fast?"

"You left some of the adrenaline potion in your quarters." informed Strongheart. "I also a know a thing or two you don't about short cuts."

Thunderhooves felt slightly embarrassed from being outsmarted by his own daughter.

"Surely you know it is not safe here."

"It is not safe here because of your misdeeds!" scolded Strongheart.

"Misdeeds!" spat Thunderhhoves. "Do you know what those beasts are?"

"I know what they are. Humans." stated Strongheart.

"Then why do you chastise me for trying to defend our race?" questioned the leader of the Buffalo.

"We didn't need to be defended until you joined this alliance." whined Strongheart.

"What do you mean?" hissed Thunderhooves. "If we stop now, what will prevent the humans from annihilating us?"

"Put two and two together father!" screamed Strongheart. "If the humans wanted us dead, we would have been killed a long time ago. It only took me a moment to realize that the humans are not after us."

"It's true. We never had anything against you." called out Scorch.

"But now because you have attacked them, lives have been lost for nothing!" exclaimed Strongheart. "This isn't about protecting our race, this is about revenge!"

"You are misguided." countered Thunderhooves. "Humans are unpredictable and chaotic."

"Look at them! They've stopped attacking for crying out loud." pointed Strongheart. "If you leave them and the ponies alone, then they will stop. No one has to die."

"Clearly you do not understand human nature." shook Thunderhooves. "Now run."

Strongheart was about to protest until-

"Resume the attack."

Scorch, Scarecrow and Overwatch readied their weapons and opened fire as the Buffalo sped towards them.

Their combined gauss fire managed to take out two of the bison before they approached the commandos.

Overwatch drew his sniper and hip fired a shot at an incoming Buffalo, but it merely shrugged it off as a flesh wound. Overwatch attempted to fire another round, but the Buffalo moved to fast.

The bison struck Overwatch at such immense speed that that it was enough to knock out a significant portion of his kinetic barrier.

The Marksman regained composure and was about to fire until Chief Thunderhooves struck him from the back, sending him to the dirt and disabling his barrier.

As Overwatch was grounded, another Buffalo stared him down with malevolent intent.

Overwatch was about to fire his sniper while on the floor, but the Buffalo brought up its fore hooves and slammed them into Overwatch's knees.

The sniper let out a cry of pain and dropped his sniper. He needed his barriers to get back on now.

The Buffalo floored his hooves once more, and beat Overwatch's legs further. The sniper's knee guards began to crack.

Even though he couldn't move his legs, Overwatch still had control of his arm. He drew his PDR with one hand and opened fire on the Buffalo's face.

All the while, the ponies, except for Twilight who was busy with repairs, were watching with horror as Shadow failed to repel the rapid moving Buffalo.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile noticed that a Buffalo was speeding towards the direction they were sitting at.

"Everypony run!" yelled the Pegasus. The passengers rather to the other side of the train as the Buffalo created a massive dent in its walls.

Scarecrow heard the cries for help and faced the Buffalo that was beating the walls of the passenger section down.

Scarecrow aimed his rail LMG and fired a gauss round or two until the Buffalo fell. The Bison's blood painted the windows of the locomotive red, to the discuss of its occupants.

The counter terrorist spotted another red dot moving towards his potion.

His instincts kicked in, and Scarecrow spun to the left to take out the Buffalo, until he noticed his HUD reading there was no ammunition left in his LMG.

Instead, Scarecrow switched to his shotgun and waited for the Buffalo to approach him.

Right as the quadruped was about to ram him, Scarecrow fired his shotgun. The close range weapon propelled a series of gauss slugs forward which crushed the incoming Buffalo's face and caused it to leak bone and brain matter like a pinnate exploding candy.

Scarecrow turned left and fired another shot to a passing Buffalo.

The Bison went down easily even with half its chest leaking blood like a fountain.

The Buffalo struggled to stand and was finished off by another discharge from Scarecrow's shotgun before it was a second away from bleeding out.

Shadow's leader took note of the dwindling number of Buffalo that remained.

Another Bison attempted to strike Scarecrow from the left, but the counter terrorist barrel rolled and managed to dodge the attack.

Scarecrow attempted to fire another round from his shotgun, but Thunderhooves managed to strike him from the back. The chief of the Buffalo had been drawing so much kinetic energy that Scarecrow's barriers were nearly depleted.

Scarecrow attempted to stand, but the Buffalo he attempted to attack approached his position and floored him onto the ground. The impact finally drained Scarecrow's kinetic barrier.

The foolish Buffalo however, did not attempt to finish him off, but rather turned towards the train.

Scarecrow looked up and saw the horrified expressions of elements of harmony as they were about to be rammed.

The counter terrorist used magnetic telekinesis to pull his shotgun towards him and leaped in between the train and Buffalo.

Scarecrow fired a blast from his railgun which finally killed the Buffalo.

Unfortunately, the momentum of the Buffalo's body still sent it flying towards the commando.

The horns of the of the Buffalo's body did not manage to penetrate Scarecrow's chest piece, the impact produce by the corpse was so powerful that it threw Scarecrow off the ground and broke his vest anyway.

Scorch meanwhile retook position from the top of the train. To his anger, a small group of Buffalo had realized it was far easier attacking the easier side of the train, which was unguarded and already damaged.

Two Buffalo were extremely close to smashing the train into oblivion, prompting Scorch to act.

The demo man fired a shot onto the Buffalo in the front, causing it to collapse and trip the other.

He then aimed at the Buffalo struggling to stand blew off its head with two well placed rounds to the neck. Scorch used the moment to reload another gauss magazine onto his rifle.

Chief Thunderhooves knew he was the only one left now.

Fueled by the lust for vengeance, Thunderhooves started drawing as much kinetic energy as he could as he approached the train.

He did not ram the train however, instead Thunderhooves leaped life a frog straight at the perched demo man.

Scorch turned around and his irises widened upon seeing the enraged expression of the Buffalo leaping towards him.

Scorch's reflexes kicked in, and he barrel rolled to the right while Thunderhooves impacted the ground with immense force to cause a crater.

Scorch attempted to engage Thunderhooves from the top of the train, until he realized his SCAR Z was not in his hands. He realized he had dropped it while dodging Thunderhooves' attack.

Spotting it on the ground, Scorch leaped to the dirt and sprinted towards his rail gun before Thunderhooves could smash it.

Luckily, the weapon wasn't damaged. Right when Scorch was about to open fire, Thunderhooves was already speeding towards the demo man.

Scorch side stepped to the left and narrowly missed the sharp horns of the Buffalo. Thunderhooves however, managed to thrust his side to temporarily disorientate Scorch.

Thunderhooves was moving faster than ever. The Buffalo used his potion fueled agility to make a sharp turn and go for another attack.

The counter terrorist raised his railgun in response, and prepared to unload a series of gauss rounds at his attacker.

Scorch pulled the trigger, but only one bullet rang from his SCAR. Said Gauss bullet nearly struck Thunderhooves in the side, only for the bison to dodge it at last second.

Only now did Scorch realize that his rifle had been set to semi auto with Thunderhooves pushed him to the side.

The ponies meanwhile were observing the event from the windows Twilight was trying to repair. They watched in horror as Thunderhooves was only a few inched away form the masked demo man.

Just when Thunderhooves thought Scorch was done for, the demo man immediately fell on his back, causing the Buffalo to harmlessly brush past the commando.

Thundherhooves spun around and left a dent in the ground.

He was just about to trample Scorch when the demo man, still lying on the floor, extended his right hand and exposed his wrist computer.

Scorch simply tapped 'valid' on the device to everyones' confusion.

Suddenly, Thunderhooves felt a coming from his chest. The Buffalo looked down and saw a metallic explosive strapped on the bottom of his body that was blinking red.

Right before Thunderhooves could react, the explosive detonated.

There was only silence as Scorch got back up.

The demo man turned around to observe what had befallen him.

Thunderhooves was dead. His entire body was covered in burn marks and his chest had been ripped open, leaking blood and organs. It was a surprise that the Buffalo wasn't blown to pieces.

Scorch used magnetic telekinesis to retrieve his SCAR. He then faced the train. The locomotive had been largely rough housed from all those impacts. However, its condition was better than he thought. Twilight had used her magical repair skills effectively.

"Scorch!" yelled Twilight's voice.

The Mane 6 approached the demo in a rapid manner.

"Are you alright?" gasped Rarity.

"Me? What about you? Any civilian casualties?" responded Scorch.

"Thankfully no. Just a few bruises on a few ponies." informed Rainbow Dash.

"You guys did a mighty job protecting us." thanked Applejack. "Twilight was able to repair a whole lot of the train with her magic."

Scorch was reminded of his comrades. He brushed past the ponies and sprinted towards the other side of the train where his allies still lied.

X-ray, Scarecrow and Overwatch weren't dead, or else they would have disappeared from Scorch's motion tracker and a notification would have appeared.

On the other side of the train were numerous Buffalo bodies. Everyone had to admit that had Shadow been even slightly careless, they would have easily been rammed to death.

Scarecrow's body was the first Scorch found.

The demo man knelt next to his friend. Scarecrow's chest piece was cracked and he was only taking small breaths.

"It hurts to breath." groaned Scarecrow as the Mane 6 moved towards his position.

Shadow's leader got up and started coughing.

Scarecrow pulled down his bandanna and spat a trail of blood. Realistic human blood. The ponies couldn't help but feel even more revolted at the sight of non Eponan blood. It had looked far more disturbing.

Scarecrow placed a hand on his chest as he struggled to get a hold of himself.

Then there was X-ray. The rifleman was still slumped on his back. The right side of his black recon armor was slightly torn. The arm piece which barred the UTF logo and the socialist symbol was shattered.

"What's your status?" coughed Scarecrow.

"Can't move my right fucking arm." muttered X-ray. "Good thing I'm left handed."

"Won't that affect your ability to perform in combat?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"More or less." shook X-ray.

Scorch offered his hand to X-ray who pulled himself up.

X-ray shivered and clutched his injured arm. He started cursing in Armenian.

Finally, there was Overwatch. The sniper was still lying on his back and he was still gritting his teeth in pain. His knee guards were broken and parts of his trouser were covered in dirt.

Fluttershy flew towards Overwatch and looked down on him. "Oh my. Are you okay?"

"I can't move my legs." growled the sniper.

X-ray scanned Overwatch's body. "Relax. No bones are broken. You should be able to move soon."

Scorch took the liberty of picking up Overwatch. He thrust his arm on the marksman to help him walk.

"By the way, I'll need a few more minutes to repair the train if that's okay." piped up Twilight.

"Go ahead." groaned Scarecrow. "The sooner the better."

"By the way, I'm all out of PDR ammo." noted Overwatch.

"And my SMG got smashed." added X-ray.

"I'm out of rifle grenades." complained Scorch.

Scarecrow pulled his bandanna back up. "And I'm only down to one LMG mag."

Twilight looked at her friends with weary. If Shadow ran out of ammunition, their crippled state would make them incapable of engaging further threats.

The group was just about to walk towards the train, until they heard a sobbing voice.

Shadow tilted their heads and observed Little Strongheart, crying loudly at the sight off all dead Buffalo.

The calf was conflicted. At one hand, she knew her father was acting purely out of revenge. On the other, hand her father just died a twisted death.

"Poor dear, she can't go on like this." sobbed Rarity.

Scarecrow was still applying pressure to his stomach. "You're right. She's faced too much trauma."

X-ray knew what he had to do. With his free arm, he raised his rail pistol, which still had one chambered round.

Fluttershy's mouth dropped. "Don't tell me you're-"

"It's for her own good." whispered X-ray.

After a minute of hesitation. X-ray aimed his gauss pistol at the head of the crying Strongheart, but did not pull the trigger.

Scorch started giving growls of frustration. He continued to lead the limping Overwatch towards the train.

"Come on!" coughed Scarecrow. "We have to keep moving."

Author's Notes:

Republished. Now Twilight plays a role, fixed the error regrading Nigeria, and now the Shadow's weapons do more than damage.

By the way, is this fic pissing people off? It's been getting more dislikes than usual with little to no likes.