Third person, Ponyville,

Friday, May 15th, 2014…

The woman walked along casually through the early morning streets of Ponyville, trying to avoid the watchful eyes of possible law ponies. However, to her utter surprise, there didn’t seem to be any in this town.

She was told this was where the man was. Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought to herself how he could be watching her this very second through a rifle scope, and she wouldn’t even know it.

With a deep swallow she swiftly snuck down an alley between two houses, praying she didn’t look too suspicious. She was wearing her usual getup, cargo pants and a tank top, her handgun holstered at her side for all too see, though most ponies didn’t know what it was and paid it no mind.

She walked back out onto another street, keeping a watchful eye out for the man she was after. “If he’s hunting me… then I’ll just make sure the hunter becomes the hunted,” she muttered to herself, in her mind believing him to be some NATO agent sent out to kill her.

“I wonder if he’s in joint efforts with this world’s special forces?” she asked herself. She knew now she was in a completely different world, but she wondered if perhaps he was working with this world’s elite tactical unit, whatever they were called.

Realizing she had no idea where his home was, she opted to ask a pony. Mingling along in the most casual way she could muster, she paced up to a mobile wagon home that doubled as a stage.

There was a blue mare whose mane and tail were a lighter shade of blue. She wore a magician cape but lacked the hat for the moment as she washed it. “Ahem… uhm… excuse me?” the woman asked, catching Trixie’s attention. “Uhm… do you by chance know a… hairless monkey?” she asked, seeing as how that’s what most ponies addressed her as in the bars before she’d shoot them dead in an outburst of anger.

“Hairless monkey? Well… not to Trixie’s knowledge,” she replied in third person, stunning Kianna.

“Uhm… ahem… hmm… uhm, he… it, is, uhm… it looks like me but bigger and more… masculine,” she stated. Trixie knew in an instant who she meant.

“Well of course Trixie knows Burdy. He is a wonderful man and saved Trixie from her dreaded brother, Tristan! He also saved the entire town from his wrath!” she announced and Kianna rose an eyebrow.

‘I have no idea who Tristan is… but this guy is definitely some kinda special operations agent if he saved an entire town. By the sounds of it, he might even be CIA,’ she thought to herself. “Uhm… right. Do you know where he lives?” she asked curiously.

Trixie nodded. “Of course Trixie knows, Burdy is Trixie’s protector. He lives with Twilight Sparkle in the tree library,” she motioned her hoof at the library not far away. Kianna nodded.

She reached down for her gun. ‘If this guy is protecting her, then maybe she’s part of his team or something,’ she thought to herself. Trixie watched as Kianna reached for the gun. At the last minute however, Kianna moved her hand into her cargo pants’ pocket and retrieved a small pouch of bits, handing it to the mare.

“What’s this for?” Trixie asked curiously, opening the pouch and being surprised to find at least twenty bits.

“I’m uhm… a lawmare, err… well, I’m obviously not a mare but, I work for the law,” she lied through her teeth.

Trixie believed it through and through. “Oh dear… is Burdy in trouble?” she asked worriedly but Kianna shook her head, waving her hand in casual way.

“No-no, not at all. I just need to have a word with him is all,” she replied, relieving Trixie of her worry. ‘She’s probably not part of the team or she would’ve tried to apprehend me already… better not waste a shot and screw up my element of surprise,’ she thought to herself quietly as she gave the mare a modest wave and moved towards the tree library.

Reaching the home, she slowly leaned up against the wall beside the front door. Unveiling her handgun, she cocked back the hammer on the Smith and Wesson 629 performance center revolver.

The six inch barrel was weighted to properly balance the gun out. Kianna fidgeted her hands a bit on the synthetic black grips of the revolver, believing it to be a little too large and uncomfortable to be a combat weapon, but alas, this time she wanted something that’d down him first hit.

She spun out and kicked open the door, swinging the revolver from side to side as she did a visual scan and checked her blind spots. Satisfied, she entered the home in haste. Quickly moving from room to room she cleared the house in under a minute’s time, but was shocked to find it empty. A shiver went down her spin. “Maybe he knew I was coming!” she gasped and shivered a little more violently as she pondered the thought of whether or not he had booby-trapped the building.

Looking around, she noticed the place was an absolute pig’s sty. Food dishes were left out and flies were landing on the plates. Mice dumpling were everywhere on the living room floor, hinting that perhaps at one point there was food left out.

She looked around further. “What kinda fucking library is this?” she asked aloud to nopony in particular. De-cocking the hammer on her revolver, she opted that perhaps he had known she was coming, maybe a scout had saw her approaching the town. “Fuck… this guy’s probably got a whole goddamn team…” she trailed off and left the premises…

Burdy’s perspective…

I awoke peacefully, a warm embrace of light beaming down on me. As my eyes opened and they adjusted, the whole room seemed to be fogged in a holy aura of light. As I stood up, I was expecting to find myself a little dazed but instead found myself perfectly fine.

I stood up with a stretch and a yawn. There was this feeling… a feeling of… serenity I guess. I looked around. The room looked rather basic. Just a bed, a nightstand, a closet and a window. I tried to look out the window but all I could see was a fog of golden clouds, a warm fog of basking holy light hazing over them.

“Uhh…” I groaned, rubbing my eyes as I walked towards the door.

“Good morning sweetie,” came an all too familiar voice. I spun, only to see my mother sitting on the side of my bed.

“M-mo-mom?” I gasped. How’d she get here without me knowing? She hopped off the bed and onto all fours.

“Yes honey?” she asked, reaching me and hopping to her hind legs so she could plant a kiss on my cheek.

I snuggled into her warm embrace and sighed. “I love you,” I whispered and she leaned back. I felt a little cold for some reason and tried to snuggle a little closer into her but it didn’t really work.

She leaned away from me. “Do you really?” she asked and I felt a shiver rattle my spin as I felt even colder. I nodded but things seemed to get even colder as the bright holy light died out and was replaced by a luminous darkness.

My mother spoke again. “Well if you love me so much, why did you fail me?” she asked and I felt my heart sink a little.

“Wh-what?” I stuttered and she stepped back, my world feeling even darker. Her eyes changed to a dark purple, almost black.

“You left me for dead! You screwed up and now all of Equestria is doomed because of you. I needed you, and you let me down. I'm ashamed to have you as my son,” she said in a voice not of her own… it sounded vaguely familiar and I know I’d heard that voice before…

“M-mom… I… I tried my best,” I whimpered. The walls on the room cracked and shatter apart. A hail of cold rain blasted me, chilling me to the bone.

“Well your best wasn’t good enough, now was it?” she said angrily and I fell to my knees.

“Pl-please… mom, forgive me, I tried!” I cried, tears flowing from my eyes.

“You’re a disgrace of a child and a failure to me!” she yelled. I swear I could pin-point that voice…

I grovelled up to her but she simply turned her head away. The rain pouring down on me was chilling. I tried to pull her into a hug, still on my knees but she simply pushed me away. My heart was breaking.

‘No god… please… don’t let this be,’ I prayed to myself, my heart sinking and my world going black…

I awoke with a scream, icy cold water chilling my body and immediately waking me to my full attention. “GAH!” I screamed, scrambling away from the stream of water, only to find another blasting me from a different angel. I squirmed around on what felt like smooth tile flooring. The water was pooling a bit and was almost colder than the water. I frolicked on the ground, my vision a complete blur.

Cold water poured down on me from what I believed to be all sides. I scrambled towards where the floor felt like it took a dip, and escaped the cold rain, only to find myself in an equally cold puddle that felt as if it were draining.

I blinked several times, wiping my eyes to try and clear my vision. However, despite my efforts, I found that the complete left side of my vision was an aquatic blur, as if I was deep under water.

I tried to clear my eye but it did no good, and my vision was still poor. I closed my left eye and found it better to see with that eye closed. Things immediately cleared to perfection as my right eye adjusted to the dim lighting.

I was in some kinda shower room… like one that would be in a change room. “He’s up,” said a familiar masculine voice, followed by a shocked gasp.

I spun in the puddle to see Derreck standing by Lassie, the latter of whom appeared to have just gotten up. “Huh? Oh right…" she trailed off from her sudden shock then looked over to me. "Evan!” She gasped, rushing over to me and taking me into an embracing hug before shivering.

“Damn… sorry about the cold water… I think you ran out of warm water about an hour ago,” she mentioned. Derreck paced over. The left side of his face was beat up a little, scratched I think.

“Winterized pipes,” he punned and I just snickered.

Lassie squeezed me tighter. “Oh my goddess… I thought I had lost you,” she whispered, then shivered again. “Come on, let’s get the hell outta this puddle,” she commented and I followed her out of the shower room, leaving the nozzles on, figuring that’d be the least of anypony’s problems.

I tried to open my left eye again, only to find the same results: a blur. I closed my eye again with a sigh. Derreck pulled out an eye patch made of black leather and handed it to me. I slipped it on. I will admit, it felt weird at first, not having the use of my left eye. My vision was way different and I had no peripheral vision on my left side whatsoever.

Derreck slipped a similar eye patch on his left eye. “I damaged my eye falling off the castle…” he muttered. My dream came back to haunt me and I shivered. I had failed… dismally at that. Memories of our battle with Freeze resurfaced and I remembered who the snake in the grass was.

“Discord!” I snarled and Lassie nodded.

“Yeah… he’s a little… tied up in class right now,” she commented and led me over to the corner of the cold change room. Funny, I had once considered the running water cold, but the rest of the place seemed colder, making me skip along to keep my bare feet off the cold ground.

Lassie had our clothes laid out and a towel for each of us. Derreck and I quickly dried up and slipped on our clothes which at first were just as cold as the rest of the place, but soon warmed up due to our body heat. I hugged myself and rubbed my hands against the opposite forearm o create friction heat. "Damn it's cold," I muttered.

Lassie stood up to her hindlegs and examined my face, specifically my left side. “Damn… I really wish we had gotten a picture of you before you messed up your eye… you look old,” she commented and I just shrugged.

“Just because I have an eye patch doesn’t make me look old,” I stated but she handed me a mirror. I looked, only to be astonished that the sides of my hair had really started to grey, badly. My facial features didn’t look all that different other than the eye patch.

“Damn…” I trailed off. I had grey hair beforehand but only a little and it wasn’t really noticeable unless I let my hair grow more than two inches, and was only at the very sides of my hair. This ran along the complete side of my hairline, right to the back.

Derreck spoke up. “So what about Discord?” He asked and Lassie led us out into a hallway.

“This place looks like a school or something,” I commented, seeing a bunch of doors labelled with what course the room taught. Lassie nodded and spoke briefly to answer my suspicion.

“It is… or was, a high school. I guess Freeze didn’t take it as that much of a threat, and didn’t freeze it completely. There’s only two frozen ponies in this place that I could find, and I think one was the principal,” she commented.

Derreck spoke up. “The other?” he asked.

“Janitor,” she replied, pointing down the hall at a pony with a janitor cart full of frozen mops and cleaning materials. She led us into the science lab where Discord was chained down to a chair.

“How doesn’t he escape?” I asked and Lassie spun a pair of hoofcuffs in her paw.

“Magic resistant. He can’t escape the chains, trust me, he’s tried already,” she commented then snickered and tossed me the hoofcuffs. “You could do some crazy bondage with some of the stuff in here,” she mentioned in a sexual tone.

It made me wonder why exactly there was hoofcuffs in a science lab in a high school. We reached Discord and I noticed he had a lot of scratches and bruises, probably from Lassie beating him because of what he had done. “Ahh… Burdy, so glad to see you’re alr-“ I cut him off with a fist to the face that knocked his chair back.

He groaned then muttered. “Okay… I deserved that, fair enough.” I pulled his chair back upright.

“My friend’s call me Burdy,” I stated, holding him upright with my left. I hammered a sucker punch to his gut with my right, knocking the wind out of him. “You call me Burdick,” I told him and he gasped for air.

“Pl… plea,” he kept trying to suck air and I stepped back. Derreck’s bone claws extended and I winced as I saw how brutally vicious it was when they spread his wrist and knuckle bones apart to come out. It made me cringe just from the sight, forcing me to caress my own wrists.

“I say we gut the bastard right here then kill off Freeze,” Derreck stated. My dream resurfacing and building the fury in my heart, I nodded.

“Yeah… I’d say that’d be acceptable,” I agreed sadistically.

“Wait… just wait,” Discord pleaded and Derreck brought the bone claw tips up to his chin, forcing him to lift his head high to avoid getting sliced.

“Oh… last words?” Derreck asked snidely.

Discord gulped feverishly. “It… it was for Fluttershy,” he stated and Derreck lowered the claws slightly.

“You’ve got five seconds to get me interested, or I’ll make your death even more painful than originally planned for wasting my time,” he stated and Discord quickly began.

“You can’t kill Freeze,” he stated. Derreck spoke up.

“Three seconds,” he stated.

“Wellyoucankillherbuttheneveryponywilldie!” He sputtered out.

Derreck raised an eyebrow. “How many seconds was that?” he asked. Lassie and I both shrugged, having not kept track of the time. He turned back to Discord. “Say that again, but in further detail.

“Yes, you’re right… you can technically kill her, probably easily if you planned it out… but if you do, her magic will disperse,” he stated and Derreck shrugged.

“So won’t everypony just return to normal then?” He asked but Discord shook his head.

“No, the ice and water will remain. Her magic doesn’t allow her to simply create water and ice out of thin air, she simply freezes it. That cannon of hers holds water vapours that she turns to ice. That’s why it’d take weeks, probably months, for her to freeze a city like Baltimare on her own. She’d have to carry around jugs of water. That cannon has an internal heater that keeps the water heated in vapors, so that her capacity for ice is larger, and lighter,” he stated.

I groaned. “Okay… so what are you getting at?” I asked.

“If you kill her, the ice will remain. Eventually the storm clouds will disperse and Celestia’s sun will beat down on the city and start to thaw things out,” he stated. Derreck Lassie and I all shrugged and said the same thing in unison.

“So?”

“Have you ever put an ice cube in warm water?” he asked and we all nodded. “What happened?” he asked and Lassie answered.

“It melted,” she replied and he rolled his eyes.

“I meant… it cracked due to the thermal shock of slow thawing… now imagine what would happen to a pony that was frozen…” he stated and the three of us sighed while dipping our heads. Derreck brought his claws closer to Discord once again.

“Okay bub… so why did you stab us in the back?” he asked aggressively.

“I told you already, for Fluttershy,” he stated and Derreck brought his claws even closer. Discord swallowed. “Freeze can use her magic to unthaw things in an almost instantaneous moment, skipping the thermal shock… so I made a deal with her. I bring you to her alive, and she releases Fluttershy,” he stated and I tilted my head with an annoyed look.

“Well… you brought us to her, so where’s Fluttershy?” I asked and he shook his head.

“Well… we didn’t quite capture you, so she didn’t release her yet,” he replied.

“And you’re still willing to believe that after it’s done, she’ll release Fluttershy?” I asked and Discord shrugged.

“Some chance is better than no chance,” he told us. Derreck retracted his claws, the wounds between his knuckles healing up. It just made me shiver from the look of it. Even his knuckles and wrist bones returned to normal.

“So whatta we do?” Derreck asked.

“Dunno… if we kill her, then everypony dies from being split in half,” I stated but Discord spoke up.

“Well, some might not be cracked. They’d just die of hypothermia,” he spoke up and we all glared at him.

“That’s not reassuring,” I snarled and he immediately became silent once again.

Lassie spoke up. “So how do we know they’re alive anyways? I mean, they’re all frozen ice cubes for Celestia’s sake,” she mentioned, bringing up a new topic that Discord quickly answered.

“Well indeed, however much like a cockatrice’s magic to turn a pony to stone, her magic perfectly preserves a pony in ice, so if they were to be somehow resurrected, they would be as they were before,” he stated and I pointed to my bad eye.

“So what about this?” I asked.

“You were thawed out too slowly. In fact you’re lucky to even be alive. You see, when you face was frozen, the ice froze deep, almost to your brain,” he commented and Derreck snickered out a pun.

“Brain freeze.”

Discord didn’t pay him any mind. “When you were thawed, the ice melted but due to your healing factor, the water in your eye remained trapped. Namely in your eye’s anterior chamber… hence the reason it probably seems like you’re trying to see underwater when you have that eye open,” he mentioned.

“What about the rest of the ice that would’ve thawed in my body?” I asked.
“Probably evacuated through your body pours from your healing factor or your body diluted it, difficult to say really,” he stated. “And that is why you cannot kill Freeze… there needs to be an instantaneous thaw to avoid everything,” he said. I groaned and flopped my head into my hands.

“But… even with the instant thaw, wouldn’t Fluttershy’s eyes be damaged just like mine?” I asked but Discord shook his head. That didn’t even make sense but fuck it, half the things that happened in this world didn’t make sense to begin with.

I groaned and flopped down in what I presumed to be the teacher’s chair. “What the hell are we going to do?” I sighed.

Lassie barked to catch our attention… heh… funny, her barking was almost as strange to me now, as when she started talking. “IDEA!” She said aloud in a voice that mimicked Rarity’s. We all turned to her.

“Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do,” she said, pulling up a projector. She tried to pull down the projector screen but was a little too short. “Uhm… a little help here?” she asked. I walked over and tugged down the projector screen.

She flicked on the projector and slipped on a slide that showed a tombstone that read ‘R.I.P. Freeze’. “First, we kill off Freeze,” she stated and Discord went to intervene. “Shut the hell up! It’s my turn to talk!” She yelled angrily and we all kept quiet. She put on another slide. This one showed a little stick figure that looked like Discord above the water.

“THEN! Discord, if you’d be so kind and not stab us in the fucking back again,” she said, turning to Discord who simply nodded in response. “You’ll create a typhoon of super-hot water, but try to make it not really super-hot, just super-hot enough that it’d instantly thaw a block of ice,” she commented.

“Then!” she slipped on a new slide, showing a giant tornado looking thing hitting the city with a magnifying glass amplifying the sun rays, “Discord, you’ll wash the hot typhoon right through the city while using your magic to amplify the sun rays to keep it hot, and it’ll thaw everything instantaneously, skipping the thermal shock!” she announced, knocking over the projector while she flailed her forelegs into the air with a cheer.

The projector smashed on the ground and we all simply looked to her. I blinked. “Uhm… where’d you think of that?” I asked curiously, probably asking what was on everyone’s mind. She shrugged vicariously.

“I saw it on a movie once… except for the magnifying glass part. I knew if the typhoon was out of the water for too long, it’d get cold,” she mentioned.
Discord spoke up. “That’s crazy. That’d never work, the water would have to be boiling... probably steaming hot... are you out of your goddess damned minds?” he gasped and Derreck rose an eyebrow while looking to him.

“Some chance is better than no chance right?” he replied, much to Discord’s frustration. I thought about what Discord said… he was right, this was a bit on the crazy side, but it was the best we had.

“I uhh… I just have to do something first…”

Third person, Freeze’s super-secret hideout…

Discord slithered into the main throne room where Freeze sat idle on her throne. “Bring me good news draconequus,” she said gently, swishing around her slushy alcohol.

“He’s going to a church to pray. He’s slightly injured, his left eye is damaged and no longer works,” he informed the cold mare. She took a sip of her drink then set I down before standing up slowly.

She held her hoof to her chest and let out a faint exhale. “That man…” she trailed off and loosened her robe, revealing many scars from bullet wounds. “His weapons left me weak… and nearly killed me. His one shot just grazed my heart. If the battle had’ve heated up further, I would’ve probably melted,” she punned terribly. Discord simply nodded as Freeze grabbed her battle suit. “I have made some modifications to my armor,” she commented, slipping into her thicker suit.

Discord watched as she grabbed the cannon, now larger and more rigid looking. Her armor was largely refurbished, sporting larger plates of ice. “It is heavier and severely hinders my mobility… but is thick enough to stop enough of his shots to allow me to freeze him,” she commented. “If I had’ve made it any thicker, I wouldn't be able to even jog,” she commented and Discord nodded.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked curiously.

“So you know you joined the right side…” she trailed off and leaned closer to him. “And so you don’t get any second thoughtssssss,” she hissed out the last letter, spraying his ear with a faint mist of ice.

He lept back and rubbed his ear attentively. Freeze stepped forwards and huffed on his ear, thawing it just as quickly as it had been frozen. “Now go, I’ll be along shortly,” she ordered.

Baltimare church…

In the main cathedral, a man knelt before a giant cross, his hands cupped together in front of him as he prayed to his lord. His damaged eye covered by an eye patch and his right eye closed, he made no observations of the building as he prayed in silence and in peace.

The door swung open and four heavy ice boots clunked into the room, the clunking echoing for all to hear. The man simply continued to pray. Cannon strapped to her side, Freeze continued along, a little curious as to why he hadn’t swung around to face her. She gritted her teeth, believing that perhaps he didn’t perceive her a large enough threat to pay her any mind.

Freeze stopped a few yards away from the man, whom finally opened his remaining good eye. “Have you come to repent?” he asked, with little expression in his voice.

Freeze lowered her brow slightly as she stood to her hindlegs and readied her freeze cannon. “I am here… to send you to your doom… where you will freeze in hell,” she stated. The man looked up to the holy cross before him, which was decorated with icicles.

“I suppose anything is possible to those who believe it to be so,” he commented back. He slowly stood up and turned to face her. The inside barrel of the freeze cannon began to glow while swirls of energy became ever present in the weapon.

In a window high above that looked down upon the cathedral floor, a larger man peered down, the sights on his SVT-40 lined up with Freeze. In the last moment, the gunshot echoed in the church, and the bullet slammed into Freeze’s side.

Her body shook and she was spun slightly to the left. Derreck fired again, slamming her in the back with a 185g full metal jacket round. The armor, much like Freeze had built it to do, stopped the round. Derreck fired three more rounds in quick succession all striking her in the back and tumbling her forwards and over a row of benches.

“WHAT?! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!” She gasped, looking up to see the man. She ducked just as a bullet chipped away at the bench seat in front of her face. She slowly rolled to the side then stood up and fired a freeze blast at the windowsill.

Derreck swivelled away from the opening as it was continuously blasted. From the entrance of the building, a rifle was hefted up by a pair of paws. The sights of the SKS, nicknamed Applebloom, lined up with freeze. The first shot cracked off and took Freeze by the side and made her flinch from the pain of the impact, despite it not actually penetrating.

She turned to see the canine standing on her hindlegs, rifle in her forepaws. Firing three more consecutive shots, she hammered two shots into Freeze’s chest, the third clipping the shoulder pauldron of her armor.

Freeze turned her freeze blast towards the canine who immediately rolled out of the way. Now focusing on the pooch, Derreck again took several pot-shots on the mare. Mean full-sized rifle shots hammered her, staggering her to one side.

Turning her attention back to Derreck, she fired again. The man on the ground floor had already taken cover behind the cross, avoiding the conflict. Derreck’s rifle ran dry and he rolled to the side just as a freeze blast struck the window he was at.

He slipped another magazine into the gun and pulled back on the bolt, then let the receiver slam shut. Down below, Lassie used Derreck’s distraction as a chance to pop off more shots at Freeze.

Her rifle too ran dry and she was forced into cover as she reloaded as fast as she could manage. Freeze turned back to where the canine had fired at her from. “Bitch,” she swore loudly, though truthfully addressing her namesake as a female dog.

“Her name! Is Lassie!” Yelled Derreck from up high, again returning fire on Freeze. Her armor began to crack under the constant stress of being struck by armor piercing rounds.

She once again turned to Derreck and fired, but he had again rolled away. Lassie stood up and fired viciously, even aiming high on her last two shots, one bullet clipping Freeze’s ice helmet which shattered on the left side, revealing part of her face.

Freeze staggered to turn back to the dog and fired, but Lassie rolled quickly, dodging the ice blast. Derreck gripped a rope that was attached to the ceiling of the building, something he had done prior to the fight.

He gripped it tight, wrapping the rope several times around his left forearm. No Name in his right hand, he hopped through the windowsill and swung down in a long arc. Without aiming, he fired from the hip. Shots plinked off the ground, only two shots hitting Freeze.

As Derreck finished his swing, he set foot on the windowsill of the opposite side of the church from which he had started from. Turning back, he saw Freeze turn to him. Burdy grabbed the rope while Derreck reloaded. With his M590A1 in hand, Burdy swung down in a similar fashion Derreck had. As he reached the bottom of his swing arc, he fired a blast of 000buckshot into Freeze, but only got one shot off due to the pump action on his shotgun.

Freeze was kicked back from the blast, but rather than follow him with her gaze, she looked to the giant cross with astonishment. There, hid a second Burdy. “How… how the hell is this possible?!” she screamed and the body near the cross shape-shifted back into its true form, Discord’s form.

Her eyes went wide as she stood up staggeringly. “FREEZE IN HELL DISCORD!” She yelled, ready to freeze the draconequus. Just as she was about to blast him, Burdy swung back down and blasted her again, again knocking her to the ground. Her armor cracked apart, having attained far too much stress from the firefight.

Burdy swung back up to where Derreck was. Handing him the rope, Derreck slung No Name across his back then grabbed Burdy with his free arm. The duo swung down together and dropped near the bottom of the swing.

Sliding across the slippery ground, Burdy slung Nightshade across his back and reached for his leg holster. Derreck unslung No Name and readied her for action. Lassie readied her rifle.

Freeze stood up and looked around in a daze. Burdy let out a roar of anger, face wrinkled from his furious expression. The sonic boom of the bullets from Belladonna flashed a brilliant circular muzzle flash every time he triggered a round.
The heavy 300g bullets tore into Freeze, blood oozing from the tremendous exit wounds. Her cold healing abilities tried to kick in, but as Lassie began to chip in with her rifle, Freeze’s healing abilities were strained beyond their limits. With the last shot in the magazine, Burdy targeted the freeze cannon and fired. The jacketed slug slammed into the cannon and it erupted in a hot fume of water vapors. Freeze let out a pained scream as she stumbled from the eruption.

Derreck finalized the assault with his SVT-40, pumping shots right through her with the full-sized semi-automatic WWII rifle. Freeze collapsed on the floor, blood spilling out of her as her body’s advanced cooling heal ability tried to kick into effect. Her helmet slipped off as she dragged herself across the ground.

Derreck, Lassie and Burdy all began walking towards her…

Burdy’s perspective…

Discord joined us, Violet in his claws. Discord stepped in front of us, still facing Freeze as she staggered to her hooves. “This is your only chance Freeze, release this city from your cold grip, or else!” He ordered and Freeze simply laughed, spitting blood on the floor that immediately froze solid.

“You think your threats send shivers down my spine?” she punned. I wanted to laugh but this was serious. “You know as well as I do I’m the only one that can save your beloved Fluttershy,” she commented and Discord was slightly hesitant, I could tell by how he went a little rigid.

“Th-that doesn’t matter anymore. We have a plan,” he stated and Freeze simply laughed hysterically as she studied herself.

“You think, even if you manage to save them, that the world will just accept you? You know as well as I do that they’ll just blame you for it,” she said and Discord didn’t answer back.

“Tell me Discord… how many times has Rainbow Dash and the others accused you of something without evidence to support it? They simply say it was you just because you’re you… because once evil, always evil,” she stated in a feminine Austrian accent. Damn this chick for stealing a bunch of good one-liners.

Discord stood, an eerie silence filling the space between all of us. He racked the pump on Violet. “You’re right,” he said then turned to us, shotgun leveled at me. “I am evil.”

“UGH!” I gasped, trying to raise my handgun in time. It was no use, he had gotten the drop on us. Without warning however, he quickly spun, shotgun held only in his right lion paw and muzzle just inches from Freeze's head.

He blasted off a shot that blew away Freeze’s head in a mist of cold blood and brain matter. “Just not you’re kind of evil,” he remarked. My jaw dropped in awe. I walked up beside him, the barrel of his, err, my shotgun, still smoking. He dropped it to the ground with a sigh.

“That… was a wicked one-liner,” I told him with a pat on the shoulder.

He shook his head. “I… I don’t know how you do it… killing… taking one’s life. It’s traumatizing,” he said softly, looking down at Freeze’s deceased body.

I pointed out the door. “Hey, we can reconcile later. Right now, you gotta get out there and do your thing,” I told him. He immediately nodded and flew off. Lassie stood up beside me as I slung yet another shotgun across my back.

“You think he was contemplating it? Turning on us again?” She asked and Derreck spoke up before I could.

“Yep… but I understand now why he did it…” he trailed off and we all nodded. We all knew really. His bond with Fluttershy pushed him to do things he might not usually do. “But I guess he saw the light,” Derreck finished.

We all stepped outside and saw a huge typhoon flashing towards us. “Better hold your breath,” I muttered. Just as it neared, my right eye clenched shut and my body tensed.

The impact was pretty heavy and tossed my body across the ground. The water was extremely hot, almost enough to burn me severely, but as quickly as it hit me, it left. I felt my body flushing through the now warm water. After a few seconds, I felt my body washing up against the stairs of the church.

As I opened up my eye, I looked up to see the sunny sky. In the beautiful clouds, I swear I could see a cloud that looked like Twilight smiling down at me. I laid my head back with a sigh and lifted the eye patch slightly and looked, only to find my vision still an absolute blur. I rolled my good eye and put the eye patch back on.

My clothes were soaked… actually, there was still at least eight inches of water on the ground… maybe a twelve… but at least it was warm water. I rolled onto my side then stood up, along with Derreck and Lassie. We all looked to the bright summer sky a sparkling spew of rainbow dust following the draconequus as he flew through the air.

Derreck stretched his arms out to the side and basked in the warm sunlight. “Damn… that feels good,” he said. Lassie stood between us then shook like a dog, water splashing at us.

We just blinked and both looked down at her. She looked back up at us. “What?” She asked innocently, before a smirk crossed her face. Derreck and I heaved her up between us, carrying her in a way that would look like something from a family portrait.

I looked over to a pony whom had a camera. “Hey buddy, can you take a picture of us?” I asked and he looked over with a stunned look. Everypony was a little shocked and unsure about what was going on. He lifted his camera but before he took the picture I stopped him. “Wait… hold on a second,” I ordered.

Seconds later, Discord returned and stood behind us in the middle. “Okay bub, take the picture,” I said. He flashed the picture and waited a moment for the old style camera to spit the photo out. He gave us the picture and after a few moments, the picture developed, rather well too.

We looked like… a dysfunctional family. Two grown men, a talking dog and a dragon goat. I looked to them, “Well guys, we better get outta here before someone realizes who we are…”

Hours later...

I sat in the driver seat of the battle truck. Derreck was in the back cleaning and drying the firearms. Lassie stood up and came over. “Hey, so listen,” she said, rubbing the dash in an affectionate way. “When you were out, I was thinking about what you said,” she said, trailing her index paw digit across the dashboard, towards me.

“About what?” I asked, paying her actions no mind.

“The truck,” she said sensually, trailing her index paw digit down onto the steering wheel.

“What about it?” I asked. She stopped her paw on top of my hand and gave it an affectionate rub.

“Well, I was thinking… maybe we should name it Juggernaut,” she opted. I rose an eyebrow with a warm smile.

“Oh really? Why that?” I asked.

“Well I dunno. I thought about maybe naming it just Truck, but Juggernaut really suits it well,” she said and I chuckled.

“Okay… Juggernaut she is,” I said and Lassie leaned back.

“Hey!” She gasped and I looked to her.

“Hey what?” I asked back.

“Why does it have to be a she?” she asked and I shrugged.

“Well… I dunno… just because,” I replied. “Cadence is a she, so why not?” I said and Lassie spoke again.

“What, is Cadence a lesbian?” She asked and I was taken aback by her comment. “Seriously, this truck should totally be a dude, then your two trucks could get married and have little truck babies,” she joked and I just laughed.

“Okay-okay-okay… just go sit back down would yah?” I laughed and she gave me a dog kiss to the cheek. I looked up to the sun visor where I had pinned the photo of us. I looked back to them and a warm feeling entered my body.

Discord stepped into the front cabin, sitting down in the passenger seat. “Listen… I’m really sorry Burdick I-“ but I cut him off.

“The name’s… Burdy,” I told him and he rose an eyebrow.

“I thought only your friends called you Burdy?” he asked and I looked to him with a sly Arnie smile. He nodded with a slight smile. “Thank you… I’ve… been meaning to apologize… for what I did. It wasn’t right… and was really stupid,” he said and I just laughed.

“I understand why you did it… as long as you learned something from it, then I say let bygones be bygones” I replied and he blinked.

“Just… just like that?” he asked and I nodded before motioning back to Derreck.

“Just don’t ask him for forgiveness… he’s a little rough,” I laughed quietly. He nodded.

“I am truly sorry, I-“ but I cut him off by putting a CD into the player of the truck. Derreck and Lassie looked up to the speakers in the back. I just shook my head. Inside, this thing really didn’t feel like a combat vehicle.

A musical base started and Discord looked to me. I nodded with a slight smile. “Just listen to this song and you’ll understand what I’m talking about… though you might only be able to understand the last three things he says,” I joked. This was such an awful song in my opinion… well maybe not awful, just goofy, but it kinda fit our situation.

I bobbed my head to the musical notes, ignoring the lyrics since I couldn’t understand much of what Sting was saying. As we puttered along back to Ponyville, I pulled out a piece of paper and pencil then used my knees to drive through the open fields while I constructed a note to Twilight.

Dear Princess Sparkle,

I learned, or perhaps a friend of mine learned, that even though friendship can be a wonderful thing, it can also be the fall of one’s actions. One must understand that sometimes the right decision is not the easiest made, and sometimes a decision is very difficult thing to make. Sometimes it can feel like it’s a choice between one you love, or the lives of many, and the decision is not an easy one to make because either way you feel bad. You might make a bad choice, or a selfish one, but as long as you learn from that mistake and do the right thing, the sun will shine in the end. And afterwards… stanum buhmah cunada, aluhmahplovam, we’re startin’ up a brand new day!

Yours truly,
Burdy