"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."--Voltaire

X-ray was slumped on the dirt, completely unconscious. Everything felt as if it he was trapped in a void of black. There was absolute silence until the commando thought he heard someone say his call sign:

"X-ray!"

The voice was muffled but X-ray realized all of a sudden that he wasn't dead.

"X-ray!"

There was the voice again. This time it was more audible.

"Please wake up."

He couldn't tell who the voice belonged too. Then again, it sounded like the odd French and British accent that belonged to a certain white pony.

"Don't be dead, oh heavens don't be dead!"

X-ray could definitely tell it was Rarity. Now that he was awoken, he felt all of the pain in his body resurface. It was so intense that he couldn't even let out a groan.

"Twilight I think he's gone for good!"

X-ray desperately wanted to stand up, check on his friends and figure out what happened. However, it pained him even to open his eyes.

X-ray tried to overcome the torture inflicted by the elements of so-called 'harmony'. He felt like he wanted to lash out at the ponies for nearly killing him in the worst way possible, but he remembered how they were just as confused as the rest of Shadow.

In the heart of the moment, X-ray forced his eyes open. His vision was blurry however. The symbols on his HUD were a blue mess and a white blob stood in front of surrounded by green stood in front of him.

He tried to breath in for air, but could only inhale in small amounts.

It didn't take a genius to know that the white blur infront of him was Rarity. Due to his shades, the unicorn wouldn't be able to tell he was awake.

He heard a sobbing. Not just from Rarity, but the rest of the Mane 6. They really thought Shadow was dead and it was all their falt. The masked soldier wasn't about to let the ponies deal with this type of trauma. He didn't know about the rest of Shadow, but at least one getting out of the situation alive would habe been much better than none.

Suddenly his vision cleared up. His HUD was flashing critical. All of a sudden, a projection of his body played on his HUD. The projection read that there no visible external damage while almost every muscle had been sprained somehow and his bones were receiving tension as if they were bruised.

He used sensory commands to wipe the body diagram clear from his hud. Despite his vision being clear now, he still couldn't flex his arm or say anything to get the ponies attention.

He checked the rest of his HUD for anything important. Miraculously, his HUD read all of his weapons, grenades and equipment were still with him. They had hung on to the magnetic plates quite well.

He slowly felt the tension ease up on his arms, it wasn't much, but it was something. Slowly, he reached for the white sobbing unicorn and took her hoof.

Suddenly Rarity stopped crying and gasped when she felt the hand on her hoof. X-ray was able to raise his head slightly and faced the unicorn.

X-ray tried to mouth, "I'm fine" but his COM only flashed static. Rarity raised an eyebrow at him, still heavily breathing though. X-ray positioned his bandanna and used sensory commands to recalibrate his mic.

"I'm alright Rarity." assured X-ray.

Rarity hugged his head tightly in relief, despite the fact X-ray's body was exploding with hurt upon contact and Rarity getting the typical mindfuck from being near a human.

X-ray used his head to nudge Rarity aside. The rifleman turned to check up on the rest of Shadow. They couldn't be dead, not like this.

Twilight was near Scarecrow's body, trying all the spells she could think of to get the commander back on his feet. She reached over and placed a hoof on Scarecrow's bandanna-

-until a hand snapped at the alicorn's hoof and almost squeezed it to death.

Twilight screamed causing Scarecrow to shoot his head up and realize what he was doing. Scarecrow let go of the purple pony's hoof and placed a finger on her mouth.

"Twilight, please don't touch our masks." half joked Scarecrow with a hint of concern.

Twilight nodded and smiled. "Thank goodness you're alright! I thought me and the girls killed you." she cheered.

"Oh please, like a cartoon pony would claim the life a 23rd member." remarked Scarecrow.

"Scarecrow, what's you're status?" radioed X-ray.

"X-gay, I thought I'd never be glad to see you." muttered Scarecrow.

"How are your vitals?"

"There aren't any cuts on me, I'm not infected or anything, but all my muscles are sprained, my joints have been weakened and my heart is pumping slightly slower than usual. You?"

"Ditto."

The two now-awake counter terrorists turned around to face their remaining squad-mates.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were on opposite ends on Overwatch's head.

Fluttershy was trying to find various spots on Overwatch's body that would startle him awake, but so far, she got nothing. She even resorte to bucking him awake, but her hooves were weak and she couldn't breach Overwatch's shield/barrier.

"Come on Mr. Sniper! Wake up!" pleaded Pinkie. She was violently shaking Overwatch's head despite the mass of his skull and bullet proof shades compared to Pinkie's hooves. The party pony hoped she hadn't accidentally snapped his neck.

Pinkie placed her fore hoof on top of Overwatch's masked face. "How many fingers am I holding?"

".........."

"Good you're awake!"

"I don't think Overwatch was answering." insisted Fluttershy. "I also don't think getting him to talk is the best way to see if Overwatch is alright." she added.

A moment later, Pinkie and Fluttershy's vision blurred a bit and felt their brains rock back and forth.

The sniper tiled his head up and gave a groan.

"Overwatch, what's your status over?" yelled Scarecrow from across the canopy.

Overwatch gave a thumbs up despite the pain in his hand.

Rainbow Dash's voice broke the silence.

"Come on. You stupid. Bi-ped. Wake. Up!"

Rainbow Dash was hopping up and down on Scorch's chest trying to force him up. Much like Fluttershy however, all Rainbow Dash was doing was setting off sparks on his chest as his barriers flickered. It would take the rest of the day just to get his barriers to 79%.

"Come on sugarcube. This ain't yer time." whispered Applejack into Scorch's ear. 'Assuming he has an ear under that hood' she thought.

"Cold."

Rainbow Dash stopped jumping and flew up slightly above the air. With her mouth hung open.

"Cold."

"Gosh darn it, he's alive!" awed Applejack.

Suddenly Scorch started chattering and vibrating.

"I'm so cold." groaned the demo man.

"Hang on Scorch! I'm coming to save your sorry ass." assured Scarecrow.

He tried to stand upright but pushing himself up was impossible. Slowly he rose to his full height and once again towered the ponies All of a sudden, his legs shivered and he collapsed.

He tried to stand up and walk forward again, only to fall violently down on the surface, causing a small crater in the ground.

"It's no use you brainless bitch!" spoke up X-ray, still lying on the ground.

Scarecrow wasn't going to let his friend freeze to death. He forced his body to grab one of his pyro grenades and crawl towards Scorch.

The ponies watched as Scarecrow dragged all four 4 of his joints to the shivering Demo Man. Even though Scorch was only a few meters away from his commander, crawling towards Scorch felt like an eternity.

Scarecrow finally reached the demo man, and lit up his pyro grenade. The commander was extra careful not to set on 'explosion mode' but instead light it up so it could act like a match.

Scarecrow held the open flame towards the freezing demo man. Slowly, Scorch's body began to calm down as he felt the heat rays dance on him.

"Warm, so warm." whispered Scorch.

The demo man tried to reach for the pyro grenade to hold it closer, only for Scarecrow to snap his arm back and hold it behind him.

"Remember what we said about you and pyro grenades?" quizzed Scarecrow.

"I'm not allowed to use them or unless I want the 'incident' leaked and have me discharged." chanted Scorch.

"Very good." nodded Scarecrow. The commander held the flame closer to Scorch. Soon the demo man's HUD read that his body was no longer suffering from near hypothermia.

Scarecrow closed the flame on his grenade and slumped back. The 4 counter terrorists turned to face the ponies.

"Oh my gosh, this is bad." moaned Rainbow dash.

"I can't believe this happened." sobbed Fluttershy.

"Ah..Ah don' know what ta say except....wow." muttered Applejack.

"Just calm down girls, everything is going to be fine!" assured Twilight.

"How is everything going to be alright?" yelled Pinkie, struggling for breath.

"Twilight's right." beamed Scorch. "The 4 of us are fine. Sure we're messed up a bit internally, but we-"

"We're not talking about you!" interrupted Rainbow Dash. "Thanks to Scarecrow, the elements of harmony are gone!"

X-ray snapped. "That's why you're worried!" Even though he was on the ground, he still was able to scare the ponies.

"Those FUCKING elements almost killed us and had not Scarecrow destroyed those pieces of shit, we would have been done for! Now you're upset because we didn't fucking die?"

"You don't understand." pleaded Twilight. The ponies recoiled as they felt their minds exploding from stress.

"OH I UNDERSTAND! Those elements aren't preservations of harmony! They're God Damn WMDS just like-"

"X-ray." snapped Scarecrow. "What happened with the elements wasn't intentional."

X-ray remembered and chastised himself for forgetting that crucial fact.

"Fine, but seriously? We're near dead and you're worried about those hunks of junk?"

"The elements aren't junk." countered Rarity. "The elements are the most important thing to the history of Equestria!"

Scarecrow wasn't going to regret what he did in a billion years, but he listend.

"The elements weren't meant to kill you." explained Twilight. "The elements of harmony were forged by Star Swirl the Bearded before the founding of Equestria to help combat against threats-"

"Like us?" hissed Overwatch.

Twilight's eyes widened "No. No! The elements became important to Equestria because decade after decade, many discordic beings attacked the country and the ponies of the purest heart would gather them and fight off threats. They're the most efficient way to protect our country."

"You won't need the elements as long as we're here Twilight." assured Scorch. "If anyone tries to harm you and the rest of pony kind, they'll be dealing with us."

"Ah'm sorry, but shootin' things won't be enough nor should it be an option for the things we face." puffed Applejack.

"Then why did the elements decide it was valid to kill us?" questioned Scorch. "What they were doing; torturing and breaking us to death was anti harmonious to me."

"You don't get it!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "The elements were the most powerful magical things in existence. We thought they were unbeatable. They were a sign for hope! Now that Scarecrow's destroyed the elements he's-"

"Conquered harmony." nodded Scarecrow.

"Yeah!" yelled Pinkie. "If the elements aren't powerful then we don't what is."

"We always thought the elements were going to preserve peace in Equestria forever." whimpered Futtershy. "Looks like we were wrong."

"It's not just that." sighed Twilight. "The elements were important to us in a personal level. They were a bond that signaled our Friendship. As we grew closer together, so did the power of the elements."

The atmosphere was silent for a while. Shadow found themselves slumped to a rock side by side, lying on their backs.

"You don't need any pieces of jewelry to keep your friendship if we don't need masks or hood to keep ours." said X-ray.

"What's important is that you'll still care for each other and do your best to protect society even if the road to do so will seem more difficult. That's harmony." added Scorch.

"I...just don't know how I'm going to tell this to pony society." shook Twilight. "I'm an alicorn princess and the element of magic. Ponies actually worship me! If they found out what we've done, then there'll be panic. Ponies won't be able to grasp the concept that the elements are gone. My relationship with society will be ruined for ever."

"It wasn't your fault Twilight. Or any of your ponies fault. You lost control of the elements." piped up X-ray.

"I still can't understand how we lost control of the elements." remarked Rarity.

"When we were about to cast the teleportation spell, I just lost all contact with my necklace." added Fluttershy.

"The elements couldn't just act on their own!" explained Twilight as she placed a hoof on her chin. "Although I read that if some huge chaotic threat that had to be taken out no matter what was around, the elements would override the bearer's desires and stop at nothing to quell the chaos."

"Twilight." said Scarecrow slowly. "Who do you think would have more disharmony in them than a group of violent, cynical, foul mouthed assassins?"

"You're not evil." insisted Pinkie. "Chrysalis, Sombra, Discord and Nightmare moon were way worse than you."

"Have they killed? Have they swore? Have they psychologically tortured their victims whether it was intentional or not?" questioned X-ray.

The ponies didn't know how to respond to such a statement. They reflected on how their adversaries and based on their encounters with the humans, questioned if they were truly malevolent at all. Discord may have driven the Mane 6 apart but he was just a trickster, Chrysalis just wanted to take care of her population, Sombra may have been a harsh dictator, but he never did kill or torture the crystal ponies. Their enemies didn't even resort to mild controversial acts like racism, profanity and drug abuse.

And without being having bad intentions at all, Shadow surpassed the worst of Equestria in disharmony.

"But y'all are soldiers. You're supposed to do good right?" asked Applejack innocentally.

"Yes. But that doesn't change the overall taboo of our acts." explained Scorch. "Also, humans are a bit more...liberal when it comes to things that would be considered....not safe for work."

"But your not evil right?" gasped Fluttershy.

"If we were evil, we would be running to town and start hanging foals and burning the elderly." muttered X-ray.

"You know, I think violent thoughts weren't really helping your case." beamed Rainbow Dash.

"Still, how are we going to explain the elements?" said a worried Rarity.

"We'll take credit and just explain the situation honestly." proposed Scarecrow. "I'm sure everypony would understand."

"Can we focus on getting back to town?" piped up Overwatch.

The ponies and humans silently agreed.

"By the way, how long have we been knocked out?" questioned Scorch. "What time is it."

"It was around 8:35 pm by the time the elements decided to fuck us up." answered Scarecrow. He tried to hold his arm up to check his wrist computer. "Right now, it's 7:47 am and we've been up for twenty minutes or so."

"We woke up half an hour before you 4 did." said Pinkie. "We were trying to wake you up."

"By the way, this place looks different." noticed X-ray. "I don't remember this clearing nor these set of rocks to be here."

Rainbow Dash flew up in the sky. She looked closely and could see in the faint distance, where a pile homes.

"Hey I can see Ponyville from here!" pointed the rainbow maned pegasus.

"That doesn't make any sense. We were more than 20 miles away from the settlement last night." awed Scarecrow.

"Hey do any of you remember some white flash before we passed out?" asked Applejack.

"You're right." nodded Twilight. "The feeling of that blast was awfully similar to a teleportation spell as well." Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. "That must mean-"

"The teleportation spell the elements of harmony were supposed to cast worked!" cheered Pinkie.

"Well at least we got something." shrugged Scorch.

"Has the pain stopped?" asked Fluttershy.

"NO!" said Shadow uniformly.

"Can you walk?"

"NO!"

"Can you get up?"

"NO!"

"Our conversation about the elements was a nice way for us to forget that the inside of our body feels like it's gotten ripped to shreds." remarked Scarecrow.

Overwatch nodded to that statement.

"Which reminds me." spoke up X-ray. "Twilight, my first aid kit fell out of my utility belt while I was crawling here. Could you get it for me?"

Twilight turned around to face a red bag (obviously non Epona origin.) with a cross on it. Twilight complied to X-ray's request and used her telekinesis to try lift the bag.

For some reason however, the bag was double the mass she estimated it to be, forcing her to double her efforts on the kit.

The bag landed on X-rays lap. The commando unzipped the bag to find a series of medical appliances inside like bio-gel that released a helpful bacteria that would detect and seal wounds, disinfectants which also rid the body of any kind of poison, universal blood transfusion kits, bio-tissue which also cauterized any type of wound.

X-ray found what he was looking for, grade A pain killers. He took 4 out of the sac and handed one of each to his squamates. The members of Shadow slipped the pill underneath their bandannas and swallowed them.

"What were those?" asked Rarity.

"Painkillers." replied Scarecrow. "They'll end inside pain on any level but our HUD is estimating another few hours of trauma before we'll be fine."

"We don't have a few hours." nagged Applejack. "Ah told my folks ah'd be home last night tops!"

The other ponies made similar remarks. Remarks the squad couldn't care less about.

"You know for a pony that's supposed to be the alicorn of the imaginary concept of magic, you don't seem to know a lot of so-called spells." stated Scorch.

Twilight snarled. "What do you mean! I might not know everything, but I sure as heck know a lot of spells like reverse gravity or duplication and-"

"So where was our healing spell?" questioned X-ray. "Or the 'wolves piss off' spell or the 'make a bridge out of kinetic energy' spell?"

"Well I could cast those." remembered Twilight. "But the thing is...I kinda forgot I had those."

"Who calls themselves the element of magic and forgets all the magic they know?" snarled Overwatch.

Twilight formed a tear in her eye. A second later, she felt another invisible knife stab her in the brain.

"Okay, I'm sorry that was mean." apologized Overwatch. He meant it.

"Must I remind you all that we can't be sitting around here all day. We need to get to Equestria!" piped up Rarity.

"Don't worry silly!"

Everybody and everypony turned to face Pinkie Pie. Behind her was a large wooden cart that was powered by 6 strong wheels.

Rainbow Dash was shocked "Pinkie how did you-"

"While Shadow was healing themselves, I used my sugar induced super speed to knock down a bunch of trees and find a group of wheel shaped rocks which I carefully crafted into a horse powered cart." giggled the party pony.

"Wow Pinkie, you can work really fast when motivated." complimented Scarecrow. The counter terrorist turned to face the Mane 6. "Can we keep her as a bio weapon?"

"NO!"

"Hold on." pointed X-ray. "Wouldn't it take the 6 of you just to drag one of us a few meters ahead before collapsing?"

"Well you are heavy." pointed out Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know why, but for some reason I feel that cart isn't strong enough to support us." added Scarecrow.

"What do you mean? The dimensions of the cart are solid to hold all 4 of us." countered Scorch.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling that cart is lighter than what it should be."

"Yeah and ah don't think we'd still be able to push you around in dat cart." nodded Applejack.

The 4 humans turned to face Twilight.

Twilight started to tremble and sweat. "Why are you 4 looking at me?"

"We're waiting for you to say you will cast a force inversion spell on us that will reduce the pressure our body is supposed to exert on external objects." answered Scorch.

Twilight blushed "Oh sorry. Guess I forgot...heh...heh."

Twilight's horn lit up and the alicorn cast a spell that she used to help her walk on clouds on each commando. She had to do it one by one because they each required a tremendous amount of energy alone. When she was done, she had gotten tired.

Soon the squad felt the force they placed on the ground was becoming less apparent. Now the hard part was getting to the vehicle.

Shadow couldn't stand up yet so they got on all fours and started to crawl to the cart. The ponies in the mean time fastend the ropes on them.

"Fucking hell, we've been reduced to quadrupeds." gritted Scorch. The commando faced the Mane 6. "No offense."

The ponies rolled their eyes or either gave out a sigh.

Finally, Shadow reached the cart and climbed on top. To their amusement, the cart did not break down.

"So this is what it must feel like to be a pegasus on clouds." stated X-ray as he noted how much more solid everything felt.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this." whined Rarity as she tied the ropes around her.

"Quit your bitching and pull like the horses you are." joked Scarecrow.

Author's Notes:

So yeah, the elements are gone. Good luck Equestria!

And yes, I'm addressing the issue of Twilight forgetting her powers.