Eos stood there, frantically looking at me as I tried to make sense of what she had just said.
"So, wait up. You're telling me Selene has-"

"Been hit! Yes! You... you need to go rescue her, please Crimson!"

My eyes widened as it struck me, the one of the leaders of this revolution was in a dire situation and it was upon me to help them out, lest they die and thus, the revolution with it. "Fuck. You're shitting me, right? Titan didn't have his gun, did he?"

Almost screaming at me in panic, Eos made it more than obvious she wasn't kidding at all. Her breathing was panicked as she looked from one end of the hallway to the other, making sure every other pony was getting ready as fast as they could. "No, no he didn't! Please, you need to go there right now and save them! Please! Crimson, please!"

Before she could continue, I put my hoof to her mouth in an effort to calm her as I nodded. "Of course."

With all the noise, Cherry had woken up and walked up to my side, rubbing her eyes in confusion. "What.. what's going on Crimson?" Her voice was tired and she didn't seem too happy to be woken up so early, but there was no anger.

"Selene was hit while out with Titan. Word got back she's wounded and they all need our help, it's a rescue mission."

"Fuck! Let me guess, I suppose your plan is to rush out now when you can't even fly yet and somehow save the day, huh?" She asked with a heavy sigh following it up. I could tell she wasn't liking the idea of it at all right now, but there was no other choice in my mind, we had to do this.

"Yeah, pretty much. They need us to go out there and save them. What else are we supposed to do? Sit back and do nothing while they die on the spot or get caught and executed a little while later? I'm not letting that happen if I can stop it."

"What about your promise to me, Crimson? What if I tell you I'm not going to let you go? You need more rest, you can't fly yet can you?"

"That doesn't matter, I'll get there somehow all the same. Besides, I've had to fight on my hooves without flight and succeeded in the past, I can do it again."

Cherry gasped in shock and looked angrily at me. "You have not! Sure, you didn't die, but you were rescued by Maisy and some strange sword wielding pony! How can you tell me that's you 'succeeding' if you're coming back in a state that's next to death?!" Her glare tried to pierce through me, but now wasn't the time. If this had been some other matter, if it had been something like just going out for public relations... but no, this was too important to give in on.

Without a moments pause, I gave her my response hoping it would disarm her. "I still lived, didn't I? Besides, Maisy will be there the whole time now. With both of you by my side, I'm sure as hell we'll make it work and do better."

At this point, Eos tried to speak but Cherry cut her off before she could begin to do so. A sour tone of voice came from her lips as she spoke, showing her dislike of the idea from that alone. "I won't be. You need to heal."

Eos stamped onto the ground, staring down at us both. Looking back at her in sudden shock, I found myself speechless as she stood confident.
"We have a shot of hydra you can have. Looking at the state of your wings, it'll be enough to get you flying again, but don't expect to carry anything more than your armour and weapons. Maisy will have to carry Cherry, though Styx will have to be left behind. I just hope that Titan can hold out without his gun."

Looking at Cherry, I smirked. Now she had nothing she could use to argue with. "So, now I'll have my wings back, what's stopping me from going out and doing what I need to do, what we need to do?"

She looked at me defiantly as she considered everything, still showing disapproval in her face. "Oh, so much of a difference. You still can't go out without me, Crimson. You promised. You'd still need rest! A shot of hydra would heal your wing, sure. However, that doesn't change the fact you only came back yesterday on the verge of death."

"I was on the verge of death? My ass I was. I was battered and beaten, sure, but I hadn't been wearing my armour. Nor had Titan been wearing his, or using his gun. If we were properly equipped, we would have been fine back there so now we're prepared, we'll be fine. Besides, are you saying you won't go out with me? They need us."

Turning her face back to Eos, Cherry pouted and whined. She was clearly losing this argument and she knew it, but she still tried to deny the fact all the same. "Can't you send anypony else? Please?"

Eos shook her head. "I'm sorry, but everypony I can possibly send is already en route or preparing right this second to leave as soon as they can. Everypony. I didn't just rush to you and think you two alone would be enough to handle the situation, nor would I dream of asking just the two of you. The difference is that we have to ask you two as a favour to us, not as a command."

At this point, Cherry huffed and then looked back at us both as if she'd just had an idea. "Well, do you even know their exact location? Without knowing where we're heading, I refuse. I'm not walking out into the city with no clue of where I'm going only to get lost and walk into an ambush... even if Maisy will be flying us there."

Upon this, Eos bowed her head and began to sob, quietly admitting she didn't know.

Turning my whole body to Cherry, I looked at her with disappointment for how she was acting. This was far from the kind of behaviour I had expected from a special forces soldier of the Tank Mercenary Group. "Cherry, they need you. Now get your ass in gear and get prepped, we're heading out."

Cherry looked at me before looking down at the floor and mumbling. "No."

"Cherry," I began. "That wasn't a request. This is an order as the son of the Overmare and your target of protection, I hereby no longer insist, but demand you accompany me for my own safety, if nothing else."

Breaking down into sobs, Cherry replied. "I just want you to stay safe Crimson! I don't want you to get hurt! Every time you've been out in Coltchester you've come back badly hurt, how do I know this time won't be the same? How do I know it won't be worse?! I know what we've got to do is important... but you're important to me Crimson! You're important to me."

Her response made me sigh and frown, I could understand her worry. It wasn't easy to let somepony you cared about go off into the danger zone, but that was life out in the equestrian wasteland. Lifting her face up gently, I wiped her tears away with a wing before pulling her to my chest and whispering into her ear. "Cherry, I love you and I promise you, I won't be as long as you're with me. We need to go out though, we need to protect the others. Like Eos said, she has a shot of hydra I can use. We'll be fine, but the others won't be unless we help them now."

Embracing me tightly, she whispered her apologies for being so stubborn.

"It's okay, I promise. Now let's get ready and head out, yeah?"

With another quiet sob, she whispered an almost inaudible 'yeah'.
Taking her close to my side, I kissed the top of her head and brushed her cheek with the tips of my feathers, causing a small smile to creep up on her face.
Looking back to Eos, I gave a nod. It wasn't just my turn to be the pony who came over the hill with the firepower and gear required to save the day, no. It was my duty.

"You go get the medical supplies, all that you can spare, including the hydra for me. Me and Cherry will be getting geared up and we'll meet in the main entrance, okay?"
A glimpse of hope and happiness filled Eos' worried eyes as she walked off down the hallway with a rushed pace, no doubt thankful that I'd finally convinced Cherry we would do this.
As she turned off into the medical wing, I smiled. With any luck, she'd pack some extra med-x too... just in case.

Turning back to Cherry, I was surprised to see my armour already floating in front of me.
Standing there with a determined look upon her face, Cherry used her magic to slide my armour on for me, careful to avoid tugging at my still tender wing.

"So, what's got you putting my armour on for me?" I asked, curious as to why. "I mean, you've never put my armour on me before."

"I'm just trying to take care of you, Crimmy. Besides, isn't it a little more intimate when I do it for you, help you out?"

Her soft smile as she looked at me was filled with nothing but love and worry about my safety, the second I could tell from the wrinkles in her eyes. Still, it was very intimate having her put my armour on for me. Carefully she pulled on the straps, making sure it sat tight on my body before giving it a small hit to be sure it wasn't moving anywhere.
While the hit hadn't moved my armour from my body, it was enough to knock me off balance and into the wall.

"Hey!" I complained suddenly in the confusion of the moment. "What the hell was that for?"

"Just testing it was tight enough." She said with an angelic look on her face. "You know, got to be sure that it won't go flying off if you get hit in hoof to hoof combat and all."

Frowning as I regained balance, I watched her strap her own reinforced barding on. "Was it really necessary to hit me that hard though? Really?"
Turning to me, she had a very matter of fact expression on her face before she nodded and mouthed the word 'yes'.
Sighing, I shook my head as she smiled back at me.

"Besides." She said while smirking. "If I don't make it a realistic hit, how am I to be sure it'll do the job when it comes to being hit even harder?"
Having no comeback for that, I gave up and let her win this one, much to her approval.

Just as we were getting our weapons together and counting what little ammunition we had left for them, something we'd have to see to after the fight I supposed, Sandstorm woke up and got out of bed.
Walking up and opening the door, he looked at us both in horror.

"W... w... where are you... where are you going?" He asked, his eyes already starting to fill with sparkles from the oncoming tears that I just knew were coming.

"We're going on a rescue mission, Storm." Cherry confidently announced to the child. "We're needed elsewhere."

Sandstorm shook his head in disbelief, fear etched in his expression. "But... I need you! I need you though!"

"I'm sorry." I gingerly motioned for him to come to my chest before the waterworks could go into full flow. "We're needed elsewhere right now. You remember Titan? The alicorns? They need our help, we can't let them down."

"But... if you go, I'll have nopony... again."

'Oh no, shit' went through my mind at that precise moment. We must've seemed like right assholes at this moment, saving the poor colt only to then disappear off somewhere.
Before a moment could pass, the thought of Eos flickered into my head and I'd remembered how close they had seemingly grown already.
Brushing my hoof through his mane, I spoke to him once more.

"I'm sorry that we have to go, there's just no choice for us. However, I promise we'll both be back, promise. In the mean time, Eos is still around, I know she's going to be stressed out like anything right now, but if you're a good pony and promise to her that you won't expect to play any games, I'm sure she wouldn't mind spending some time with you."

"Yeah, Crimson is right. We'll both be back before you know it, Storm. Like he said, Eos is still here, perhaps she'd appreciate somepony to spend some time with as much as you would?"

Looking up at his with his big, sparkling eyes, Sandstorm broke out a small croaking whisper of a voice as he tried to hold back the tears. "You... you promise you'll be back for me soon?"

"We promise." Cherry and myself said in union, a small smile filled my face as I held her hoof with mine.

"And Eos will let me sit on her lap?"

I chuckled a little at that one, though I knew I shouldn't have. "Well, I can't promise you that one, but you can always ask. I know she enjoys spending time with you, so maybe. Maybe."
With energy that only a child could truly muster, he pushed himself off my lap and bolted out the doorway before either of us could say another word, calling out for Eos in his hopeful little voice.

Walking off into Maisy's 'quarters' now we were fully suited and booted for combat, I carefully walked up to her and stroked her impressive mane as Cherry waited in the doorway.
"Come on, baby. Maisy baby" I cooed. "It's time to wake up Maisy baby. Come on girl, we've gotta go somewhere."
Slowly the lumbering beast that was Maisy got up from her sleeping position and yawned, bearing her sharp teeth for all to see.

"Whoa, that's a scary sight. Quite the pet you have there - Crimson was it?"

Turning around to see the pony whose voice I didn't recognise, I saw a soft yellow earth buck with flame orange hair leaning up against the wall, two large light machine guns strapped to either side of him with the use of a battlesaddle.

"Yeah, that's me. May I ask who you are? Don't think we've been introduced."

"No, no we haven't. Not you to me, anyway. My name is Dawnstar, my friend behind me is Umbra. I'm Titan's lieutenant."

Raising my brow, I looked at him with curiosity and disbelief. "So, if you're his lieutenant, why aren't you already out there, rushing to his aide?"

The pony whom I presumed to be Umbra stepped toward me before Dawnstar reached out with his hoof.
"It's fine, Umbra, it's a valid question. As for why we aren't out on the frontline already, we were only told just now. We needed time to prepare just like you have. Which on that note, I've been told you'll want some more tens and twelve's for your pistol and shotgun respectively, right?"

"If you've got any, we could also do with some nine millies for Cherry's SMG. How much this gonna cost?"

"For you? Nothing. Titan's orders were always clear that if there were ever a situation like this to arise, ammo is handed out freely to all combatants going out on the mission. My last job before heading out the door was to let you explicitly know and give you some of what we have. Titan said good things about you, said you're a sure shot and despite not being the toughest, you're a good fighter. If that's what boss says, I'll believe it. Now, the satchel that Umbra is carrying holds the ammo, take what you need and leave the satchel somewhere before you go out the door, please."

Taking the pack from Umbra, I couldn't even get a second look at the pony I just spoke to before he'd already started galloping down the hallway, issuing a command for all prepared units to follow his lead.
Looking into the pack I saw the ammo he'd given us, just like he'd said. It was filled with all sorts of types, but thankfully it was organised enough to not be an issue.
Poking my head around the corner, I called out a thanks to him. No reply came back however, too far away to hear I reckoned.

With the others gone, my focus returned to Maisy who was now looking at me with a smile on her face as Cherry stroked her ear with a hoof.
"You two look all set, you've told Maisy of what's about to happen or something?" I asked.
Before Cherry could even answer, Maisy herself nodded and unsheathed her claws as if to show me she was ready for action. Without a word, I nodded back in acknowledgement.

As we took what ammo we needed out of the saddlebags that now sat on the floor, Eos walked up to me and lowered a second set of saddlebags onto my back before strapping them tight with her magic.
Was it me or was it 'everypony go and put Crimson's gear on for him' day today?

"Those saddlebags have all the medical supplies we can stand to spare. It should contain enough to get Titan, Helios and Selene back on their feet no matter what's happened to any of them, even if they've all been hit by the time you arrive. It also has enough supplies for a field medic to do the job."

"Has anypony whose going out there got any medical skills besides me then?"

A surprised look struck her face, shocked at what she just heard. "No. Wait, you have medical skills? You're a leader though?"

Grinning was all I could do at this point. "A leader has to know how to handle themselves and the ponies around them, right? Besides, it's never too late to learn and I got a medical textbook not that long ago, gave me some more idea of what to do. I mean, I'm no medical doctor or anything, but I've been taught enough to handle the majority of injuries occurred out on the battlefield. Also helps I got some one to one training with Doc Dirtyhooves back in Coltshire while looking after Cherry."

Without the blink of an eye, I lowered my head down into the bag and picked out the hydra as if to prove a point. Placing it in my hooves as I lowered myself to the floor with my back against the wall, I stretched out a limb as I held the needle in my mouth, popping off the cap so I could inject it.
Cherry gave me an inquisitive look as I instinctively ran the cold metal against my coat, finding the perfect place for it to be inserted. Slowly and surely, like always, I found the spot.

Without any hesitation, I pushed the needle into my foreleg and bit on the end, injecting the strange concoction deep into my veins, speeding through my system. The feeling was strange, very strange. Instead of the warm fuzzy feeling a shot of med-x gave me, this gave a cold feeling of pure energy like a healing potion but stronger, much stronger.
Within a matter of seconds I felt my wing moving, repairing itself before our very eyes. It didn't feel 'right' to have it change so much within so little time, but it wasn't bad.
Before I knew it, the damage to my wing was patched up completely, good as new. Without a second thought, I put the empty syringe back into the bag and closed it up again.

"Okay, well be careful. If you think you're trained enough, feel free to be the one whom patches my sister. Now, please hurry, I fear for every moment that she is not receiving the aid she so desperately needs."

"Okay. Stay safe Eos, and don't worry, we'll rescue them, all of them. Just keep an eye on Sandstorm for me, keep somepony with him, he needs it right now and so do you, by the looks of things. Now, mind giving me some clue as to where we're going? You never did say. I know you don't know exactly where they are, but you must have some idea of where they could be? Coltchester is a city after all, too much to search randomly."

Facehooving in pure embarrassment with her cheeks burning red, Eos shied away from me for a moment. "Oh yes, of course Crimson. Here, lend me your pipbuck and I'll mark the locations."

Raising my eyebrow, I began to ask slowly. "Locations?"

"Yes." She replied. "Locations. There's five major radiation hotspots in 'Industrial', which is the south-east side of Coltchester. The whole south-east side of Coltchester is in itself, radioactive to a small extent, though it won't make you sick to stay there for even a few hours. It's the water that's dangerous to a normal pony such as yourself, it carries the radiation a lot stronger than the air. In Industrial, there's five key points where we feel safe enough to bathe in the warm fuzzy glow and become stronger thanks to our unnatural... trait. I don't know which they went to however, so the best I can do is to mark on your pipbuck the location of each and ask you check them."

Taking it all in the best I could, I watched as she plotted the locations on my map. They were a fair distance away, but I knew we could make it in time. We had to make it in time because there was no choice to do anything but make it in time.
I wasn't going to let this be another Platinum, not another screw up that cost so many precious lives. Not again.

Then she looked up to me, a new look on her face. Her eyes were deep with worry, but something was different about it this time. She was still worried about Titan, I could tell, but there was more to it all now.
"Crimson?" She asked quietly, not waiting for my response before she spoke again however. "There's... just one more thing. Industrial? It... it's home to a lot of ghouls. Try not to hurt them, they're good ponies still, just like Titan is."

Without another word said, I motioned for Cherry and Maisy to head off towards the front door. I gave Eos a look, a look that told her all she needed to know. She gulped as she looked into my eyes, practically pleading with me to be just without a word said. I was prepared, ready to kick some fucking ass.

"Maisy!" I called out as I sped through the sky, her wings beating near mine. The force of the gusts made me feel a little off balance, making me so very glad she was carrying Cherry and not me. "When we get close, I want you to find a nice suitable rooftop for Cherry to sit atop of. Failing a rooftop, see if there's any high-rise buildings in the area and put her on the best platform you can. Just make sure she's somewhere safe, got it?"

Turning her face to mine, she gave a small roar and nod that told me she understood and would do that. I couldn't have been any more thankful to have such a wonderful pet, such a wonderful friend. "Thanks Maisy. Love you."

"Hey!" Cherry shouted. "You're supposed to say that to me!"

Grinning from ear to ear, I blew her a kiss the best I could while still flying as fast as I could without losing Maisy. Despite the size and power of her wings, my build was still a lot more agile and made for speed but even then I had to make sure I didn't fall behind.

"That still doesn't cut it, Crimson!"

Rolling my eyes as I laughed, I turned my head to her once again. "Oh, okay. If you're oh so insistent on hearing those words I've told you so, so many times before..."

"Don't be sarcastic!" She snapped back as I chuckled.

"I love you, Cherry. You are my heart and you know it. You're the first and only pony I've ever opened up my heart to, whom I've shown who I am willing to let in and the only pony who will ever see every side of me. I'd do anything to give you all that you want. You know I'm just teasing with the rest of what I said and I know you do. Now, mind on the mission. Is there anything else we can do to help ourselves, you reckon?"

With a moments pause Cherry thought about my question, before obviously getting a bright idea. Her face lit up as she leant in closer to me, still hugging tight on Maisy's back.
"Yeah, actually. Seeing as you have more control than me, do you mind using your broadcaster to transmit to Alpha and Bravo? I don't know how close they'll be yet, but they said they should be around some time in the morning. Might be good to check if they could be any assistance, even if they arrive late to the party."

Looking at at her beautiful face, I couldn't help but appreciate what a brilliant idea she'd just had. Smart, sweet and stunning all in one, how was she single before me, I wondered.
Bringing up my left foreleg to mess around with my pipbuck as I continued to fly along, I messed with the dials to get an encrypted message to the special operative groups.

"Alpha, Bravo!" I shouted down the pipbuck, hoping they could hear me over the sound of the wind that flushed between my body and leg. "This is Crimson, I've got Cherry and my manticore Maisy with me, but we might need some assistance from you. What's your status?"

Despite it being the early hours of the morning, a response came back from my pipbuck only moments later, a confident nod from Cherry as it did.
"Crimson, this is Freight Train of Alpha. We read you loud and clear. What's going on? I don't hear any gunshots from your end?"

Shaking my head instinctively, despite the fact it couldn't be seen, I began to reply. "No, no gunshots yet. There will be soon however, very soon. Shit has gone down, our source for a water talisman is in danger. We're required over at Industrial which is on the south-east of Coltchester, think you can make it there any time soon?"

"South-east side you say?" Freight train mused. "Hm. Okay Crimson, you get to your location and give us some kind of signal, we'll be there double time."

At this point I heard the sound of "Freight train's" hoof hitting the ground as he began to command his troops. "Listen up!" he began, a strong and confident voice bellowed through the pipbuck, even though that wasn't his intention. "Cherry is going to be in danger, we've got to go and secure the area she'll be in. Remember, we don't screw up when it comes to our own. To make things even more pressing, Crimson is going to be there too, so we have to make sure he doesn't get hurt. Double fucking time it, colts. South-east side of Coltchester, now!"

A loud 'Sir yes sir' followed after from multiple voices, and the sound of a pony about to speak came through again.
"Okay Crimson, we're set and we'll be there as soon as we possibly can be. Don't worry, we're not far out."

Knowing that we had the two groups moving on our position was highly comforting and I could tell Cherry felt the same way from the look upon her face.

Flying towards the region of Industrial, I could begin to see it in the distance. Smoke filled the air both from factories put back into use but also from what looked to be fires that lit the morning streets.
Some of the fires were intentional, contained in unused coal carts for the poorest ponies, zebras and donkeys that lived below. Others were wildly spreading, however. At one point, a whole group of houses were burning down as the bodies of the dead lay at their steps.

Cherry gave a grimace every time we came upon such a location, though as we travelled it became apparent that it wasn't unintentional or even one sided.
From what I could tell at the height we were at, both civilians and coalition forces had experienced losses as fighting had erupted amongst the chaos.

"Crimson." Cherry began in a very upset voice. "What do you think caused all this? Surely they've not just gone house to house... right? They... no-one would do that! No-one who is trying to rule the place, anyway. It just doesn't make sense. Why would anyone attack randomly?"

"I don't know," I began, trying my best to soothe her. "but I have a feeling it wasn't unarmed. I didn't just see normal ponies and zebras down there... I saw some in uniform too."

Her eyes snapped to me. "You saw it too? I mean, I saw the uniforms but I didn't know what to make of it. I just thought that they'd have died from the odd pony who shot back or something, nothing organised."

My focus swept back down to the floor as she said that, taking note of the bodies. That was when it hit me and I looked at her with a sinister grin upon my face. She was right! These ponies, zebras, even donkey's weren't organised... they were disorganised!
Without a moment's thought, I pulled my forehoof up and began to mess around with my pipbuck again, much to Cherry's confusion.

"This is an open broadcast to all frequencies, intended for the region of Coltchester." I began, the smug look on my face growing with each and every moments pass. "There is a coalition force in Industrial, killing civilians and burning down property. I am urging all ponies, zebras and donkeys who are fed up of the DZC to come to Industrial and kick some fucking ass. Repeat, the DZC are indiscriminately attacking anyone. This is beyond acceptance, we cannot stand by as we watch our neighbours be killed and wonder if we will be next! Stand up for yourselves, if you have any combat skills, fight!" I let the communication pause for a moment as I smiled at Cherry. "And if you want a reason to risk your life? If you want to know who I am to ask your help? I am The Executioner."

"Crimson!" Cherry shouted at me almost instantly after having finished the broadcast. "What the hell is going through your mind? You're calling everyone to their slaughter!?"

"No, I'm calling all willing and able bodies to join the fight against the aggression of the coalition against the citizens of Coltchester. Remember the Anarchists you saw, the ones I've been told about? Well, if all they care about is fucking up the coalition, they have their chance now. Besides, we're going to need every hoof helping us out that we can possibly get for this rescue. The more attention that goes elsewhere, the better, right?"

"Yes..." Cherry looked at me, a serious tone of voice as a new worry was etched into her eyes. "But we'll also have to deal with increased soldiers now, if there wasn't already. Leaders of the Peoples Liberation Army of Coltchester and The Executioner in the same place? That's a high stakes target, Crimson."

Thinking about what she had said, she had a point. Just as I was about to refute her point however, a shot sped past me flying up into the air. Looking down at the ground, I saw a pair of zebras with a rifle each who were dressed in the uniform the zebras seemed to prefer.
Before I could take it in, another shot whisked past and threw my focus from moving fast onto full combat mode.

"MAISY, FLY AHEAD. I'LL CATCH UP!" I screamed before slipping on my helmet, now was the time for the fun to really begin.
Maisy didn't respond in any physical way, but followed my command all the same. Cherry began to freak out, but there was no time. It was only two zebras. Two zebras and one of me... I didn't like them odds, it was too one sided. There was no chance for them.

"YOU JUST FUCKED UP, FUCKERS!" I screamed through the helmet, their death was imminent as I swooped down towards them, pulling out my shotgun from the side holster as I did.

"Kill the monster! Get The Executioner!" One of them cried as he tried to aim his rifle. Thankfully it seemed like they had single shot capability only, though even then I didn't fancy being shot up too much.

Dodging the best I could in presumption that he was about to fire again, another shot sped past me, narrowly missing my side as I swept back in for a clean angle. These fuckers had the balls to go for me while I was airborne, they were too stupid to live it seemed.

"GOODBYE!" I shouted as I toggled S.A.T.S and plotted two shots straight for the heads of my targets. As the computerised aiming system confirmed the targets and gave me a good chance of hitting, I went back into reality.
The beat of my wings hit once more before I was within optimum range, barely over a ponies distance away from the pair.
The sudden speed I'd reached them at must have shocked them both because neither seemed prepared for what had just happened, though it was too late now.
The first shot hit its mark perfectly, blowing the face off the first zebra with ease. Within a split second I was holding the shotgun between my hooves and aiming for the second soldier, firing instinctively.

The second shot hadn't been as lucky as the first however, skimming past the face of my target and instead taking out the rifle he held with both hooves and his mouth. 'Shit' I thought to myself, realising that he'd now had enough time to react, and react he did.

With the nimbleness I'd only seen zebras pull off with ease that they did, he was already turned towards me before I could think about my next move. As fast as a flash of lightning, his hoof came smashing against my shotgun, dazing me as my weapon fell to the floor out of reach. Again another hoof flew at me, hitting my shoulder plate and bouncing off, both of us having been mildly hurt by the blow.
Looking at the foe who now stood on his hind hooves, I quickly made a mad dash for my shotgun. Instead of reaching it however, I fell to the ground under the weight of the zebra who'd jumped atop of me.

Instinct told me to roll, roll and get out from under the attacker. However, as I tried, he stomped on my chest plate as fast as he could, knocking some of the wind out of me. Again he climbed atop of me, though this time I was face up. There was no way I was going to do this without help, so I hit into S.A.T.S to try and figure out a weak spot on my opponent.

Looking down at my forelegs, I saw Forgiveness, still securely attached to my right hoof. However, with the way he had me pinned down and one hoof to the side of my head, there was no chance I'd be able to grab it and slice him in any meaningful way before he could stomp on my head and do some real damage.
My pistol on the other hoof was again, useless. The close range of the encounter and time it would have taken to get a shot meant the same outcome, perhaps worse even. No, there had to be something else I could do to avoid getting a slamming to the face.

That was when I noticed the one fatally poor misfortune he had, the one weakness in his armour that gave me all I needed to have.
I plotted the strike and slipped back out of S.A.T.S, pulling my legs back.
Time went back to normal as my perception was no longer augmented, but it was all over for him.
As the zebra raised his hoof for a critical strike, I kicked my legs for the same cause. Thankfully, I was faster than him.

His body fell limp onto mine, his cries of agony loud as his hooves sped towards his groin, my hooves returning to their normal position. Quickly I rolled him off, next to his dead friend.
Instead of going straight to my gun, I took the moment to catch my breath and consider what had just happened. I'd felt sorry for the zebra in a way, though he had been the one to seal his own fate after all. His groin was just an unfortunate price to pay in the remaining seconds of his life.

Without the immediate threat of hoof to hoof combat taking up my attention, I took a lot more care in how I executed my attack. The zebra still lay there on the ground, gently rocking from side to side as I stood above him, victorious as I was.
There was only one thing I could do for him now, and that was to give him mercy from the crippling pain he felt. Without hesitation, I drew my blade from its sheath and prepared for the killing blow.

The hilt of my weapon cracked against the side of his skull with the sudden force, his body falling limply to the ground without a sound coming out of his mouth. No longer he cried in pain, only the silence of merciful death remain as the blood gushed onto the concrete below.

Unfortunately for me though, my victory was short lived as I felt a bullet smash against my side. Thankfully it was too low a calibre to pierce through that time, though it was still enough to knock me off balance and onto the floor as I wondered what had just happened.

"FUCK! WHO DID THAT?!" I cried out in confusion and anger. Nopony should creep up on me! I was meant to get off scot free from fights!

As I poked my head up, another bullet came flying past over me, causing me to drop back down. My shotgun was now on the floor on the other side of the two bodies as I used them for cover as grotesque as it was, the blood pouring out of them rapidly as I laid beside them. Just as I went to poke my head up again, a large crack came from above and with a heavy thud, another body hit the floor.
Looking up, Maisy slowly circled over me with Cherry's rifle slung off her side.
Love, that was what I felt for that wonderful mare right now. Always there to save my ass when I needed it most - and I loved her for it.

Trotting over to my shotgun, I picked it up and reattached it to my side holster once more before spreading my wings and taking flight. Hovering just in the area for a moment, I looked at the other zebras in the area, none of them wearing the armour that marked allegiance to the coalition however.

"THAT, MY ZEBRA FRIENDS." I shouted, thanks to the helmet. "IS WHY YOU DON'T FUCK WITH THE EXECUTIONER. NOW I MUST GO, MY PEOPLE NEED ME."

With that, I took flight again and made my way up towards Cherry and Maisy who waited for me above.
Within a matter of seconds, I was up alongside the pair as I looked at Cherry's disapproving face as she frowned.
"Was that really necessary, Crimson? To kill him despite the fact you'd already incapacitated him?"

Taking my helmet off before I spoke, I gave a slow nod. "Yeah, it was. He was in terrible agony, it was relief for him. Why, would you rather have another enemy around so when you think you're safe and out of trouble, there's some zebra waiting around the corner just waiting to take a shot at me or even you as revenge for me having smashed his bollocks to nothingness?"

"Well, you make a point. Still. I don't like the idea of it. Every life taken is a life that can't do better, that can't heal the wasteland and repair it." Cherry said with a sigh, reluctantly accepting what had just happened. It was obvious she would never let her ideals die and I held deep admiration for that. Being able to feel that way about the people who ran this place...

"Well, look." I retorted, trying to remove the glum look that stained her face. "If we find someone who isn't wholly hostile, we can try work things out with them. If we can reason with them and make them see what they're doing is wrong and hurting so many, we can hope they'll change. However, that zebra down there fired on us unprovoked. All I was doing was protecting myself and protecting you, both of you."

Cherry pouted as Maisy began to fly forward again, towards our objective as we spoke. "I know. It just feels like we should try harder."

"We can in the future, I promise." The sincerity in my voice was clear and true. I really did want to help Coltchester, but nit-picking about every single soldier we would have to kill on the way would get us nowhere. "Tell you what, if we get the water talisman somehow and Four Ridges is secure, we'll see about helping out Coltchester with proper support, okay?"

Cherry blinked in shock at me, a small smile across her face. "You mean it?"

"Of course." I smiled back as her face lit up, a beautiful sight to behold. "No matter what."

Her eyes darted back and forth however, thoughts running faster through her mind than I could even imagine. "But, Mayor Sunburn would never allow for it... protocol is that we never go aggressive on a settlement unless it's known to be a raider settlement."

Raising my eyebrows, I looked back at her. "And the attacks on Coltshire Commons and Town weren't raiding party attacks?"

"We'd need more than that though, we can't simply police the whole of the equestrian wasteland simply because some small village attacked another one, we'd end up attempting to wipe the majority of settlements off the map based off rumours and small mistaken identity skirmishes. We'd need a reason." She retorted, the frown slowly working its way back upon her face.

"Kingcakes, Pocket Change and the others aren't a reason?" I asked in return, her eyes lighting up as I said it. "Like I say, no matter what. I will find a way, as long as I survive. My cutie mark may be my wings, for good reason too, but if it wasn't them I'm damned sure it would be something to do with the fact I'm capable of talking to just about anypony around and getting them at least somewhat agreeable. No matter what, we will help Coltchester, somehow."
Cherry smiled at me and said nothing more after that, choosing instead to focus on what was immediately ahead of us.

As we continued to make progress, the sights we came across got worse and worse. Though the residential homes were now becoming scarce as we put what had become known as Slumside behind us, there was still signs of battling forces having clashed in the streets below.
Spears, pipes and even the occasional gun littered the streets, small fires occasionally lighting up the streets, otherwise only lit up by what little rays came with the dawn of the day.

In the distance the near constant sound of an ongoing gunfight was becoming clearer with each passing minute as we came closer to the first of our targets.

Suddenly with no warning, my pipbuck came to life with the sounds of intense firefight over the radio which I'd kept active since my broadcasting, just in case we'd needed to hear anything from the squads.
"-peat, this is Titan, calling all units to converge on my p-"

"Whoa, did you just hear that, Cherry?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, doesn't sound good. Do you think you could tune your pipbuck to hear that more clearly?" She asked with an uneasy look on her face.

"I doubt it." I replied. "I could try, but I think it's more an issue on his end. My radio has been turned on and waiting this whole time, I doubt that it would have cut off both ends like that if it was my end."
A frown grew on my face as the reality that things were getting more and more dire with each passing moment dawned on me. We had to get down there and help out as fast as we could.

Before Cherry could respond, a burst of shots came up at us and drew our attention away. We were very close to the first target as it was so I supposed this might have been the assaulting force.
"Maisy!" I screamed at her in shock before looking at the layout of the factories below us looking for a good position. "Get Cherry on that rooftop and get down there! I'm going in now!"

Another burst of fire skimmed past me as I grabbed my helmet and put it back on, preparing for the fight ahead. Trying to take note of what was around us, I saw at least ten of them. A mixture of ponies and donkeys fought against a small ragtag force that held the loading-bay door to a factory. My best guess was that the assaulting force was DZC by the look of their armour and defending force was PLAC.

Sweeping down for a better look and to be sure before I dedicated any of my fire onto one side, another burst of assault rifle fire clipped my armour and knocked me out of the sky and through a window of a nearby factory.
Smashing through the intact glass had hurt to be sure, but thankfully my armour protected me from any further harm from jagged shards.

Picking myself off the metal walkway that hung above a lot of machinery and back onto my hooves, I knew who the enemy was now. No PLAC member would've shot at the one with wings, though the DZC sure as hell had a hatred for me by now it seemed.
Looking back through the window, I noticed a small banner being held by one of the donkey fighters in heavy armour that looked exactly like one I'd seen previously while fighting zebras. Now there was no way I couldn't be sure, my sights were set upon that group.

Without warning however, a whole slew of bullets flew past me, hitting into the brickwork below and some passing through the window and into the metal roof above. Ducking as fast as I could, I knew they were trying to suppress me and prevent me from firing back, smart.
Quickly I rushed to another window while crouching out of sight of the enemy to peer through to see their location, though only moments after I did the firing changed from the first window to my new one.
Damn fuckers had a keen eye, that was for sure.

Moving back, I hid between the two windows where the wall had no sight on me and hoped they weren't hiding some high explosive heavy weaponry from view.
Taking a moment to think about where I was at and what I could do, I assessed my choices. Trying to sneak up to other windows had proved to be a useless endeavour as the enemy would quickly catch onto where I'd moved up to, especially if I began to fire.
Looking around the room I saw a pair of windows on the opposite side, though I guessed that if I simply crashed through those and went over the building they would just focus fire on me once more.
No, that was no option to me. There had to be something else.
Grenades would have been wonderful here, easily thrown either by my wings or tail I could've snuck up under a window and simply blind-thrown it out towards the enemy, though I'd already burnt through my whole supply.

Down below the sounds of fighting ravaged, the friendly forces being pushed back inside with me as they kicked the door below me open and ran inside, taking cover round the corner. Instinctively I aimed my weapon down at them and began to talk.

I barked at the sudden intruders, hoping they were the friendly force and not the DZC having made a dash for the door.
"WHO GOES THERE!?"

"Fuck, someone is in here! We're Anarchist forces. Who are you?" One pony replied with fright riddled in her voice.

Taking my helmet off so I could talk normally, I addressed the scared ponies below. "Anarchist? I'm Crimson Wings, The Executioner. Looks like we're all trapped in here now. You got a plan to get out of here alive?"

"We... no, we don't. We were hoping this place would provide us cover, perhaps an alternative escape route. We were on route to the main fighting spots when we were caught by the patrols."

"Patrols?" I asked in curiosity. "You mean this is more than one group?"

"It was." She replied between shots, though she was a unicorn and kept her gun in her magic, her focus went to shooting back as she could. "One patrol noticed us, called in for help. Another came, though we've wiped their worth out. What's left is a mix of the two, what remains. Trouble is, we lost most of our personal gang in the process, which is why they've continued to push on us. We're down to four now."

"Have any of you got smoke grenades?" I asked expectantly. Usually the Anarchists had some of them, from my experience.

"Not any more, sorry. We used what we had to cover our retreat, which was when we got pinned down here. Did you have a plan?"

Looking at the solider down below with a deadpan expression on my face, I sighed. "Well, I would have. If one were to go off in here, no doubt they'd move on up and allow for some real damage to be done with a double surprise attack. Never mind. I'll see what else I can organise, you lot just keep their focus for a moment, will you?"

"Uh, what?!" Another shouted back. "I don't like this idea! I'm not a bullet sponge and nor am I some throwaway! I have a life to live!"

Rolling my eyes, I stared down at him from above as I stood as confidently as I could. "Don't fuck this up and you'll continue to live the life you want to lead. Now, keep their focus on yourselves but don't get reckless. Give me one moment and be ready to draw their attention on my signal."

"But!" He shouted back, frustration full in his voice showing just how unsure he was of what was going on

"Just shut it and do as he says, Clay. If he has a plan, it's better than what we have. Now get back to shooting back at those fuckers!" The female screamed back at him. I smiled and nodded to her as she looked up to me with a small smile before pulling up my pipbuck and selecting an encrypted connection to Cherry's pipbuck.

"Cherry, you ready for a big bit of target practice?" I said coolly as I peered out of the window slightly before ducking again.

In her unsure voice, she spoke back to me. "Sure, but I can't get a clean shot of them just yet. You'd have to drag them out into the open slightly, somehow. I suppose you have a plan?"

"I do and that's fine, send Maisy down to the floor just as soon as this message ends. I'm relying on you both here."

"Okay, well I'm set up and Maisy is by my side, she's heard every word and looks ready for the task. I just hope you know what you're doing, Crimson."

With a confident chuckle, I gave her my reassurance. "I do... trust me."

Slipping on my helmet, I spoke.
"NOW!"

The ponies below me looked up in shock for a moment before taking the hint and jumping into the doorway, firing with all their guns at once. The squeal of somepony getting hit was heard on the other side of the road as I prepared myself... and flew straight through the window on the other side of the building. Gunfire came back at the crew inside the building and though I couldn't see them, I hoped they'd all gotten into cover already.
With a bloodlust filled roar as she moved in for the attack, I caught Maisy speed down to the ground in the corner of my eye before I turned around.

The zebras in heavy armour were now running towards the doorway where the Anarchist forces hid, fleeing from the sight that stand before them.
With a loud crack, the first skidded down to the floor and tripped the other over under his dead body while Maisy turned her focus to the lightly armoured ponies who started at her, shaking and frozen in place.

Going as fast as I could, I flew over the building and up to the now recovering second donkey.
It was too late for him though, for as soon as he picked himself off the floor my shotgun was pointed between his eyes.

"GOODNIGHT." Was the last thing he heard before blood sprayed against my helmet and onto the floor behind. His body crumpled under the weight almost immediately, another one dead. Another threat gone.

With a large swipe, an enemy pony was thrown against the wall. Blood began gushing from three large incisions across his chest, staining the leather armour he wore to a deep red while the others began to finally shoot back at her.
Without fear, Maisy leapt forward from the dying pony below her, attempting to strike at another before narrowly missing as he rolled out of the way.

Galloping forward with my shotgun hanging in my mouth, I charged across the road towards the next hostile. Bullets began to spray across the floor in front of me, though I leapt up into the air while spreading my wings and began flying towards the target. I wasn't going to make this easy on them.
Behind me the Anarchists began their last push, running out of the factory and firing wildly at the retreating opposition.

Another loud crack from above, another body dropped. Shooting to my side and a swipe from the other side. There was only two left now and within seconds, it would be all over. I wasn't going to have that let me slack however, as I chased after the last two ponies running for their lives.
Putting away my shotgun in favour for my pistol, I took aim by going into S.A.T.S.
One clean shot to the back of the head was lined up and as I came back out, I fired with precision that I couldn't normally achieve otherwise.
The bullet flew with what seemed almost to be Celestia's blessing as it hit the target perfectly, throwing his body face first down to the ground, dead.

The last enemy was nothing of my concern any longer, the Anarchist's would take him out.
Instead, I turned to Maisy and gave her a big hug for the help she'd given. At first she was taken back by the fact somepony had just walked up to her and gripped her, but then she realised it was me and wrapped an arm around me in return.
Looking up at her after taking my helmet off yet again, I whispered a thank you into her ear before ending the embrace.

"Watch over here for a moment longer, will you? I really do doubt Titan is here, but I've got to be sure." I muttered before putting my helmet back on before heading off to check the factory.
The sound of her wings lifting up filled the air and I knew she wouldn't go far, she just didn't want to be a sitting target was all. Who could blame her?

As I walked into the industrial building, I looked around. There was no signs of Titan or anypony else, much like I'd figured. Still, there was no harm in spending a mere few seconds just to check the building for anything of value, right?
Large machines that did things that I had no clue of filled the large room I'd just been in, it looked like it was a production line of sorts.
Glancing over the rest of the room, there was a few terminals, but none of them seemed to be powered on and I sure as hell wasn't going to waste time with further exploration and trying to make centuries old technology power on if I had no clue what purpose it had. I was on a mission to save Titan, Selene and Helios. That came first and foremost.

Stepping out of the factory, I gave a quick nod. "Nothing here, Maisy. Go and pick up Cherry, I'll be up there with you in a moment."
Immediately she followed orders, flying off to where Cherry had been sniping from. She really was too good to be true, sometimes.

"So, where do we head off to next?" Cherry asked as she flicked the hair out of her eyes, the cutest look upon her face as she did.

"Well, the closest place from here on the map seems to be the marker on the building labelled 'Dumb-Bell Steelworks' on the map. Aside from that, we have 'Macintosh Armoury', 'Icy Robotic Industries' and 'Orion Offices'. You feeling lucky about anywhere in particular on that list?"

"Well, seeing as the closest place from here is the steelworks, I suppose the best place to check out would be there first. Right?"
Nodding in approval, I agreed. The steelworks probably wasn't the right place, knowing our luck, but it was a good choice all the same. At least it was close, which meant that we wouldn't have to worry about going too far to reach it, hit or miss.

With that, we continued our journey to try and find Titan. I'd attempted to get radio contact from him again, but there was nothing but static coming through at this point. Whatever was causing it was also slightly messing around with the tracking systems of my pipbuck too, though there was no time to worry about that. We had to focus on finding him instead of why we couldn't get proper contact with him.

Making haste, we went into the direction of Dumb-Bell Steelworks, hoping for the best.

"FUCK!" I shouted as the bullets sprang past the top of my head, the zebra narrowly missing me.
"YOU CAN'T JUST LET US IN PEACE, CAN YOU? I found myself screaming at the zebra ahead, his eyes squinting at me as he tried to aim his rifle again.
With skill and agility, I jumped into the air only to purposefully fall down to the ground, entering a roll as I did. The fucker hadn't expected that now, had he!

"CHERRY, ANY CHANCE FOR SOME COVERING FIRE?" I asked frantically, hoping for some support.

"None! Sorry Crimson! The risk of hitting you or Maisy is too big! Besides, I've got my own issues right now!" She shouted back to me as she ran from cover to cover, hoping not to get shot at herself. This really, really wasn't ideal.

Sighing, I ducked behind another piece of concrete moments before the shot was made, harmlessly ricocheting off.

"Mortem ad intrusor!"
"[Death to the intruder!]"

With all the rage inside of me, I found myself suddenly bursting out in frustration.
"LOOK, STRIPE. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU. COME OUT INTO THE OPEN SO I CAN BUST YOUR SKULL, AND FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, SPEAK EQUESTRIAN!"

Upon this, the zebra fumed and raved back, obviously extremely pissed that I'd insulted him during a shoot-out. "FINE, YOU DIRTY PONY SCUM. YOU WANT ME TO SPEAK EQUESTRIAN? I'LL SPEAK YOUR DIRTY LANGUAGE SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME AS I KILL YOU."

It was then that I noticed it might give Cherry a chance to give me the support I needed if he would come out into the open, "YEAH, YOU FUCKIN' WANNA, COME AT ME YOU CUNT. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU SHITS SHOOTING ME THIS MORNING.

With blind rage the zebra erupted, throwing his rifle to the side after unloading every bullet in my direction. "RIGHT PONY, HOOF TO HOOF TIME. IF YOU'RE A COWARD AND HIDE FROM BULLETS, LET'S SEE YOU HIDE FROM HOOVES."

Now was the time.
"CHERRY? SHOOT NOW!

"I can't! I just can't! I'm sorry Crimson but the ones focusing on me just aren't letting up! I've got too much heat to snipe right now!" She cried out with a touch of shame in her voice. Damn I would have loved her help in this right now! The sound of her 9mm SMG ripping through thin metal to punctuate her point as she ran around another corner, chased by two zebras.

Taking the shotgun off my side, I began to reload it as fast as I could, though the zebra was quickly approaching and there wasn't much room to fly around with all the walkways. Instead of being able to fully load the gun, I was only able to get two shells in it before he was upon me.
Looking straight into the eyes of my foe, I jumped out of my cover as he went to buck, hitting the wall instead.

"Ha! Good move, pony. Cowardly move, loading your gun! Well I say no more!" He shouted in response to my evasion, a grin across his face. "It will be by my hoof that you are captured, that your reign of terror and uprising shall fall!"

He was right about something, it would indeed be by his own hoof that something should fall, but I was certain it wouldn't be me. Running down the hallway made of machines and wall flanking me on each side, I began my preparation... I just needed the right moment.
Like expected, he followed me, chasing after me like a hellhound going for a radbit. I had to admit, he was quick and it was hard, but I managed to stay just ahead of him despite his best effort.

"Stop running, fight me like a stallion!" He called. I ignored him however... I was almost there.

Turning the next corner, I found myself staring at the other two zebras. A pair of females stood before me, previously having been intent with going for Cherry, now they stared back at me, a grin upon one of their faces as she ran towards me from across the hall. That wasn't planned, that wasn't planned at all!
Instead of panicking however, I did the ballsiest thing I could imagine. I ran at her.

The smile upon her face dropped as she noticed the shotgun pointing right at her, the grin on my face making it all too obvious just what I had planned. Instead of giving her a chance to react though, I sprinted towards her and then purposefully fell onto my back as I reached where she stood, sliding along.
Two shotgun blasts ripped through her, one shooting into her stomach and the other between her legs as she stood on her hindhooves in horror and pain.
Falling down onto her face, she bled profusely from the new holes in her body. That however, meant I no longer had any shells loaded into my shotgun and we still had one opponent each for myself and Cherry.

"You... you monster! You truly are a sickening monster! What stallion would shoot a mare... there!?" The male cried out, obviously feeling empathetic towards his female counterpart in fear for his own biology. "You shall suffer for your sickening act!"

Suffer? I didn't think so. Not until I found myself unable to free my legs immediately after having them slide under some machinery, anyway.
That was when shit hit the fan and I realised how much trouble I was in... or thought so.
Within seconds, something began to come to life on the other side of the room.

"Dumb-Bell security system, reactivated. Initialising protocol..."

The security system! However on earth that had been tripped, I didn't know, but thank Celestia it did. Looking back above me however, I realised time was too short. The zebra stood above me, an evil smirk across his face.

"Trapped, pony? Good. Wouldn't want to you to miss out on getting your punishment for what you did to Sharikaa."

Gulping in fear, there was nothing I could do in time. A hoof struck down onto my helmet, dazing me as my head crashed against the floor through the metal covering. Thankfully, the helmet was designed to take such hits by the look of things as I was still alive and awake with the zebra buck recoiling in pain.

Trying to pull my legs free was useless right now, I just wasn't going anywhere no matter how hard I tried. Instead, I focused on pulling out my pistol, though my aim was completely off as his strike had left me dizzy and the single shot I had managed to fire harmlessly hit the light above before the gun was kicked out of my mouth.

"Stupid, stupid pony. I told you, hoof to hoof. Now you die."

With barely enough time, I rushed my forehooves to cover my face as his blows struck down repeatedly. Time and time again he hit me though through a mix of my armour and legs, I was at least protected somewhat. Still, with each blow I found the pain excruciating.

"CHERRY, HELP!" I cried out, partially in agony and partially in desperation. I wasn't going to survive without something saving me now.

Something came, something by the name of the security robot which had reactivated only moments before.
"Security breach detected in Factory Floor A. Striped intruder detected. Use of lethal force: encouraged. Equestrian Army personnel detected, protect the Equestrian Army personnel at all costs. Alerting all military units in the region of security threat level high alert status. Calling backup to extinguish traitorous forces."
With that, the zebra turned around to see a flash of red light blasting at him, going straight into his eye.

In pure reaction, I recoiled in disgust at the bloody mess that fell to the floor, the zebra squirming as he screamed in absolute pain, his eye having been disintegrated by the blast. Before I could do anything more, another set of blasts came from the robots gun that protruded from its chest, firing straight into the head of the crying zebra repeatedly until he no longer moved.

Looking at the machine in a mixture of horror and admiration, I did nothing.
The robot had killed my attacker, put him out of his misery too, but it hadn't even the tiniest bit of empathy for the way it simply killed. Now I began to understand Cherry's ideals a little better.
Killing somepony, or some zebra in this case, without any touch of personal regret or thought was an act only a machine or monster could do. Despite it's words, the machine had shown no true emotion, it was simply an automation that ran on the code which told it what to do and nothing more.
Still, I couldn't find it in myself to hate what the robot had done or feel anything like that. It was doing it's job and the performance of the machine was superb.

Rolling on towards me, the robot gripped me in its claws and gingerly pulled me out from under the machines, to which I was extremely grateful for.
Taking off my helmet so I could speak normally, I began to thank the robot.

"Thank you, security robot. You really saved my life just now." I blushed after having said that, realising how silly I must have looked and sounded. Instead of responding, the robot began to spin around.

"Immediate threat detected. Danger levels high. Another intruder remai-zzzz" That was all the robot managed to say, not even being able to fully rotate before it fell to the floor, smoking.
The lights on its faceplate went out with a dying sound emitting from the unit.
Above stood the other female zebra, rage clear in her face.

"You... you kill Shamai with the use of a robot and... and leave Sharikaa for dead, bleeding from her marehood? May there be no peace in your death, vile being. YOU WILL SUFFER WHAT SHE DID!"

With that, I found myself thrown against the wall with a powerful kick, my head smashing into it first and causing me to momentarily black out, waking up with the mare kicking both hooves into my chest, causing me to double over and writhe in agony.
Unable to move, I was rolled onto my back where the zebra stood at my hooves, raised up on her hind legs.
A truly demonic look upon her face as she began to spit her anger at me. "Now... now you feel the pain she felt."

Instead of crushing me under her hoof however, her eyes went wide as blood began to squirt from her throat, an invisible blade turning red as it began to be covered in blood.
The body of the zebra mare collapsed down atop of me all the same, but no longer with the force of an intentional blow but instead, limp from the lifeless body having no support.
Blood covered my face and made its way into my eyes, stinging me sorely as I continued to find myself unable to move under how my chest burned from her strikes.

Only a moment later, the body was rolled off of mine, Cherry looking at me with wide, crying eyes.

"CRIMSON!" She cried out fearfully, the tears dropping on the floor as she looked at me. "Oh Crimson! Oh no! Are you okay my love? Speak to me! Please tell me you're okay!"

Coughing up a mixture of blood and phlegm, I slowly nodded my head. I couldn't be sure whose blood it was with how much had already poured onto and into me, but from how I felt, I couldn't be sure it wasn't at least partially mine.
With what effort I could muster, I spoke through the pain I felt. "I... I'm f... fi..."

"You're not fine!" She cried out. "You're so covered in blood and I can't even tell how much of it is yours! You can barely speak! Oh shit... quick, where's the healing potions in your bag?" She rapidly exclaimed.
With both her magic and her muzzle she searched all my bags at once until she found a healing potion, quickly unscrewing the top and pouring it down my throat without giving me a chance to object.

Slowly a warm feeling filled my throat and my aches and pains felt somewhat better and my ability to breathe became a lot easier, though it was still harder than it should have been. Still, that would get better as time went on and gave the potion a chance to really work it's magic, I knew.
Looking up at the love of my life, I reached out my hoof. Without any need to say a word, she threw her head against my chest and began to sob, my grasp around the back of her head holding her close.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Crimson. I should have been faster, I should have protected you better. I almost lost you there, all because I was too careless!" She quietly muttered between sobs. "It's my fault, I'm sorry."

I shook my head and spoke the best I could as the healing magic continued to help me. "No." I began, interrupted by a cough. "It's not your fault. You did well, you did what you needed to. I made a mistake, it was my fault."
Looking at her, I realised just how much she didn't want to lose me. I didn't want to lose her either, but right now, it seemed almost like this had been some kind of personal demon to her.
"I'm alive still, aren't I?" I muttered, trying my best to counter her tears. "Don't mourn my death until it really happens, I couldn't bare to lose you while I'm still alive."

Wiping away her tears with my wings, she sniffled at me and looked down at my bag. "You've still got another seven potions, do you think you'll want another for this?"

I considered that, did I? The pain was terrible and I wouldn't be able to fly, perhaps not even walk right now. However, the medical supplies were supposed to be for Selene and the rest if they needed them, not wasted on me.
Before I could tell her that they would be best saved for somepony else though, Cherry had already begun to unscrew another cap, gingerly pouring it down into my mouth before leaving a small drop in the bottle and taking it away from my lips.
As I looked at her in confusion, she took the bottle and poured what was left into her mouth before leaning in and kissing me, exchanging a mix of our saliva and healing potion.

My heart pounded as her tongue rubbed against mine, the sensation healing us both, both physically and emotionally.
The tender touch of her hoof against my cheek made them burn but my face leant in closer, begging for more of the moment as we sat on the floor, up against the wall.
As she pulled back, I looked into her eyes and watched her lids flutter as she blushed herself and before either of us knew it, another passionate kiss was shared.

Feeling my body grow stronger, there was certainly something else that grew tougher as our lips met and tongues ran alongside one another. Looking at her like this, in this environment, I knew what I wanted deep down, and I knew it was wrong.
Right or wrong, that didn't stop me from wanting it though, slowly I wrapped my forelegs around her and rolled her onto a clean patch on the floor, though I still wasn't at my full strength. It was obvious the same thoughts were running through her mind too, the glint in her eye as she lovingly looked up at me, eyelids barely open. This was no place nor time for such an act, but our bodies begged for it.

Passionately I leant in for another kiss, this time along down her neck. Cherry's gasp of pleasure whispered into my ear along with her soft moaning, only succeeding in making my passionate fires burn hotter.
Looking down at her as she looked up at me, we both wanted this. We both needed this.

Instead, Maisy gave a roar, peering at us expectantly through some windows high above. She was right, this was no time to give in to our primal urges. We had to go and rescue Titan and the crew, no matter how much we wanted to spend even fifteen minutes making love beside the bodies of two zebras who'd tried to kill me only minutes before.

"You, me, as soon as we get back to the HQ?" Cherry began to whisper into my ear.

"Yeah, sounds nice." I replied, a huge grin on my face.

Her eyes rolled at me before she gave me an extremely serious look, then began stroking my cheek with her hoof while giving me bedroom eyes. "Oh, that wasn't a question, or an offer. That was me telling you."

Maisy gave us another roar before flying down to the main door and began to wait for us, impatiently it seemed. Stepping off to the side, I allowed Cherry the chance to get up with my hoof as a help off the floor. With a kiss to my cheek, she sealed the deal before trotting up to Maisy and wiping her cheeks completely before looking back to me.

"I'll just be one sec, babe. The pain is quite bad and I think I'm going to need a med-x to get through this even after all that. You don't mind waiting a moment, do you?"

She wrinkled her nose up for a split second before nodding and smiling back at me, her graces granted to let me feel the wonderful relief of my beloved med-x.
Rummaging through my bags, I found a syringe of what I was after and quickly located a good spot to insert the needle. Within seconds I was biting down and feeling the rush of fuzzy love flowing inside of me as the world seemed just a little bit brighter, lighter and easier to handle. My aches and worries began to wash away as my body regained its full potential.

Feeling somewhat revitalised, I trotted back over to Maisy after having put the empty syringe back into the bag and recollecting my guns.
The steelworks had turned out to be completely empty of any sign of Titan, making me regret us having even bothered to check it. However, it was still a point of interest we'd needed to be sure to tick off our metaphorical list and at least we had done it now. On the bright side, at least I would be getting sex as soon as we got back!

As Cherry climbed onto Maisy's back, I began to question how lucky I'd been though. "Cherry?"

She looked back at me and muttered in response. "Mmm?"

"Do you know what caused that security robot to reactivate at that critical moment? I mean, that seemed a little too good to be true, there's nothing I can think of that would have triggered that... unless me sliding under the machinery somehow damaged it and set off a proximity scan for hostile intent? We'd been going at the gunfight for too long for it to simply be that, I think."

"Oh!" She now happily responded. "That was me! I saw a big 'press if in case of security breach' button but I wasn't capable of stopping to press it until after you took down the first zebra mare, seeing as I was being chased and stopping would've gotten me surrounded. You taking down that first one gave me the chance I needed to take the gamble of it still working properly... and it paid off."

Laughing to myself, I gave a small nod. "I can see why you're a special operations force member. You get the job done however you can without being reckless and you care about the ponies around you. As soon as we get back home, after all this is done? I am making you mine, for good. I can't let somepony like you slip away."

"Somepony like me?" She asked with a massive grin on her face as she blushed.

"As in, there is nopony else like you that I've ever known of, ever." I replied with an even bigger smile on my own face.
Before anything more could be said, Maisy pushed off and flew up into the air, leaving me to play catch up.

We were getting closer and closer to the third point now, though it was getting creepy. In the last two points, there had been smoke coming from the areas of interest, just like this one - that wasn't the issue though.
On the way to the previous two locations, there had been ponies, zebras or donkeys shooting at us along the route.
In the previous two locations, there had been gunfire to go along with the smoke and fire.
In the previous two locations, there had been dead bodies littering the local area too. However, instead of just a few dead bodies like before, there was... unbelievable amounts. Bodies of Anarchists, PLAC members and DZC soldiers littered the street ahead of the Orion offices.

Looking at the sight ahead of us, I had an extremely uneasy feeling about it all. This wasn't right at all. Surely there'd be something... someone... but instead, there was nothing but death.
The lack of noise was disturbing, as weird as it sounded. In the background there was faint mechanical sounds of what sounded like rolling wheels, but I couldn't be sure.

"Cherry, what do you make of this?" I asked, unsure of my own perception. She'd always seemed to have a more keen eye.

"I don't know, Crimson. You're right if it strikes you as odd, which I'm sure it does. I've seen things like this before and usually it's an ambush... but if it is, well, there's no signs of an ambush."

I looked at her in confusion, slowly muttering what she'd said. "Signs... of an... ambush? Wait, what?"

She nodded and proceeded to explain. "Yeah, signs of an ambush. Look, trust me on this one. I've set up my share of ambushes and foiled just as many. There's always some kind of sign... something that doesn't feel right but still tries to be inviting. This? This doesn't feel right nor does it feel inviting. It feels wrong and cold. It feels empty. It doesn't feel like an ambush, but it doesn't feel good either."

"Are you sure?" I asked, confused about her logic but choosing to trust her anyway. She was the one with field experience and if she was sure, I'd put my trust in her.

"Yeah, certain. You thinking of checking it out then?" She asked, quickly adding the second half on.

"Yeah." I simply muttered before looking both ways before stepping closer, expecting something to happen.
Instead of anything happening though, there was just the continued sound of machinery and... something moving about. It didn't sound organic however, so I assumed it to be something like a busted terminal in need of maintenance or some such.

As I entered the building, I saw it was spectacularly clean. There was very little furniture around and even less rubbish strewn across the floor, causing me great cause for concern. Cherry was right, this couldn't have been an ambush because no ambush party would take care to clean up a building for their set up. Most buildings in the wasteland were already wrecks that were collapsing on themselves anyway, so to clean it up would defeat the point in trying to hide anything different about it.

Slowly a strange sound of what resembled air being forced through a mechanical set-up grew closer and closer in origin as Cherry stepped into the building with me.
Maisy waited outside once more, her frame again too large to fit through the doors which were just that little bit too narrow for her. With a whine, she sat down on the ground outside.

"Don't worry, Maisy baby." I tried to soothe her. "I promise we'll be in and out really quickly, by the looks of things. It doesn't look like there's a lot to check here, so it should be a quick one."
Again she whined, but accepted the fact she couldn't do anything else and instead, took guard of the front entrance.
That made me feel a lot more comfortable, knowing at least we wouldn't have anyone sneak up from behind us.

Looking through the hallways, the rooms were filled with pristine rows of computers attached to the desks, all turned on and functioning properly. Walking into the first room, I spared a glance at one of the screens. There was a lot of internal mail messages between the foyer and 'back room' computers, though none of them seemed all that important. However, there was one thing in particular that caught my attention.

">Message to all staff:

>Please remember, as a member of Orion Offices Official, you are required to wear your nametag at all times! Please remind visitors to remain in the main reception room until addressed and given a 'visitor' badge.

>Please remember that visitors are not to exceed the ground floor unless granted permission to go into the higher levels by the floor manager from above. Please remind visitors that they are not to attempt to exceed past their 'unlocked zones' for both their own personal safety and the safety of our work.

>Please remember that under no circumstances are visitors or non essential staff (Grade III and higher) ever to attempt to gain access the basement.

>Please remember, your work with us is helping the war effort and top secret! Speaking about your tasks to anyone outside of the company will have you fired and reported if you are caught. You have been warned.

>Please remember... to have a good day!"

"Wow" I found myself saying aloud. "That... is a weird set of rules. Huh. Wonder what's down the basement?"

"Want to find out?" Cherry asked, a lockpick levitating inside a doors lock that had a sign on it reading; 'Basement, no unauthorised access.'
Looking at her in a confusion, I gave her a glance as if to say 'why'.

Picking up on my expression, she bit her lip and looked at me in a very sultry, alluring manner. "Oh, I was just thinking... I don't think I could wait until we get back for some fun... not at least without a small little bit of relief. Just... a touch? A lick? Please?"

Grinning from ear to ear, I gave in. "Oh, okay. If you're up to giving in return, then yes."

She looked at me, shooting a surprised expression on her face. "Giving in return? I was thinking about tasting you, but if you want to give me a service first..." And with a wink from her as she smiled, I found myself trotting at a speed what was almost galloping as the door opened up.

Turning her face back to the door and down the stairs that followed, she froze. Her body trembled before she span on the spot and began to scream at me. "RUN! GO GO GO, FUCKING RUN!"
Before I could understand why, she was already passing me and grabbing me around the neck with her magic as she did. Not even seconds later, the sound of a minigun beginning to spin filled the air from the direction of the stairwell.

Without a thought, I chased after Cherry. Whatever could freak her out like that definitely wasn't good, but I didn't get what it could've been.
Initially my thought went to Titan with the sound, but then I realised... Titan didn't have Styx with him.
Cherry sped out towards the foyer to find it filled with three robots floating in the middle, all looking towards us with glowing plasma pistol attachments readily aimed and prepared to fire.

At once, they opened up on us. Thankfully however, plasma turned out to be a lot easier to avoid than a laser seemed to be, leaving me with little doubt that we would have been fucked if it had been the red lasers like the robot before. Still, as one of the blasts skimmed my metal armour it left a burning sensation as it suddenly found itself superheated from the plasma burst, burning my side momentarily.

"GET OUTSIDE CHERRY!" I screamed at her. "I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU. JUST GET OUTSIDE!" I continued.
She did. She ran outside and got behind a piece of cover from what I could tell, to which I was thankful. However, unluckily for me, the door slammed shut with a thick piece of metal barring my exit moments later, blocking my escape route.

"CRIMSON!" I heard her cry from the other side.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, I'LL FIND A WAY OUT... SOMEHOW!" I bellowed in return, hoping it would calm her down even the slightest bit. I knew she was worried about me and I knew it wouldn't really help, but it was an attempt all the same.

"Sentinel defence unit: online. Government intruder detected. Government spies have attempted to access high level security systems, purpose unknown." A large, intimidating voice called from down the hallway from where the mingun sound came from. "Protocol... exterminate government officials: active."

"Oh, FUCK!" I shouted, ducking to dodge another blast of plasma that came my way as one of the floaters made their way through finally. I tried to reason with the AI systems, hoping it would override their security protocols. "All I wanted was to have a quickie with my marefriend! I don't want your secrets!"
Unfortunately, it seemed to make no difference if I just wanted to have a quickie or steal all their pre-war secrets and bits. Cherry had activated their security measures and that meant their primary directive was now... to kill me.
Great, just great.

Looking around the room as fast as I could, I saw that there was no obvious escape from the trap I'd just managed to get myself into. Thankfully however, I did recall seeing windows on the upper floors and if I was lucky, they wouldn't be locked down like the front door was. There was only one issue... my E.F.S was now filled with blue and red bars.
With no other option, I ran towards my right, away from the impeding death of minigun and plasma bolts.

Making my way across the empty stretch as fast as I could was one of the scariest things I'd ever done as plasma blasts were fired in my direction, barely missing me each time. Again I couldn't be anything but glad that least they weren't using lasers.
Behind me, the minigun of the larger robot began to fire, strafing the room. Immediately I dived for cover behind a metallic desk, looking for my next piece of cover once I had the chance to move once more.

"Any and all Equestrian Army officials will be exterminated. Please stand still and await your time." The robotic voice called out, hoping I'd simply give up.

Me? Give up? No fucking way! The very fact that the fucker had even dared to consider saying such a thing irritated me to the point of giving me enough reckless courage to get up and out of cover.
"You want me to go easy? I'll go easy on you!" I screamed out before popping my head up to take a shot at the oncoming floating robots.

I didn't need S.A.T.S for this, the floaters were close enough that with my shotgun it wasn't an issue. Six shots went into each of them.
With the first three shots, I found their body armour was too strong for conventional attacks to do much use, however, attacking the parts that made them float seemed to be a whole lot more destructive towards them.

The first robot took all six shots before it fell, the second took four but I added an extra two just to be certain it wouldn't continue to chase me. I had more than enough to worry about with the sentinel, if what I'd previously seen on sentinels was enough to go by.
Turning back to the hallway, I began to run yet again before the monstrosity could catch up and pepper my location with bullets once more.

Speeding towards the door ahead of me, I turned and bucked it as hard as I could, breaking the locks on it without much hassle. Thank Celestia, I thought.
Running up the stairs as fast as I could manage, I came to a door.

'Level I personnel and authorised visitors only.'

"Authorised visitors only huh?" I began to mutter. "How about you authorise my fucking hooves!"
With that, I gave the door a kick... and another kick... and another.
This time, I wasn't so lucky. The door didn't budge and down below I could hear the mechanical beast looking for me, searching the rooms below.
Time was running short and I needed to get in there, fast.

"If there's anypony in there, I'd advise you let me in right now before I fucking blow this door down!" I called, hoping for some kind of response... perhaps there would be some maintenance robots who would let me in?
There had been blue bars around the area, after all.

"Password, please." Then a new, raspy voice asked from the other side of the door.

"You what?" I asked in shock, not having expected to be asked for a password.

"Password, please?" The voice repeated itself, a more empathetic tone leaked through the raspy sound.

"I don't need no fucking password, let me in! Otherwise you'll have more than just me to deal with, you'll have this fucking sentinel too!" I barked, hoping that maybe it would win over the source of the sound on the other door.
This time there was no response however, the voice remained quiet. Moments passed and the sound of the sentinel grew closer and closer, I knew there was only seconds left before it looked up the stairs here.

Slowly yet suddenly, the door began to open. Before I'd even had a chance to look inside and have even some idea if I was walking into some kind of trap, I jumped through the door and slammed it back shut behind me.
Taking a moment to breathe, I saw what had helped me... it was disgusting.
Beside me stood a ghoul, his face rotten and falling apart, strips of flesh peeling off or completely missing. An extreme odour I somehow hadn't noticed before emanated from his disturbing body, his mane completely missing.

"You tripped the security system, Officer?" He asked with what I guessed was supposed to be a small smile, though I could hardly tell by looking at him, not that I'd wanted to.

"Yeah, well, my marefriend did. We saw this place was empty and we were desperate for a quickie. This place seemed the safest place to go."

"Despite all the bodies outside?" He asked before letting out a chuckle. I grimaced as one of his teeth fell out as he did, causing him to laugh harder before slotting it back into where it sat.
Now THAT was fucking gross and completely uncalled for.

"Yes..." I groaned as I looked at the walking corpse before me. "Even despite all the other corpses. We saw how clean the building is and assumed nopony had been in it for at least a century."

"More than that, young'un. Anyway, now you've ticked off the security... well, you're screwed without some real support coming. That won't stop until you're dead now, me too now that I've helped you, I'd think."

Looking away from the ghoul and out towards the corridors ahead of me, I noticed how unclean they were. A stark contrast between the floor below and this one. Though, I shouldn't have been surprised seeing as I'd actually met something other than robots on this one.

"If you're looking to get out of here, you'll have to work your way up the building to find the fire hatch on the roof... or jump out of a window. Though being the pegasus you are, that's not so much an issue for you, is it now?"

"No, no it's not." I replied slowly. "Now, tell me where I go to get out of this place."

"Get out?" He laughed again. "Kid, I just told you. As for the route to go? Oh, I would tell you, but more robots await down that route... and my old colleagues. I stay here as a guardian, preventing them from getting loose. My job as the janitor, see? And unless you're going to tell me that you won't be giving any of them an escape route with you, I can't take that risk."

I looked at the pony, his ragged blue overalls did certainly look the part for a janitor. Still, none of that mattered. What mattered more was why he was acting like this.

"What's your stake in all of this? What reason do you have to stay here and make sure they don't get out, huh?" I spat at him, what could be his motivation?

"Oh, that's easy." He calmly chided, before being interrupted by the loud crunching sound of the stairs behind the door as the robot began to climb. "But it'll have to wait for a moment. You want to live? Fine, I'll help you live, but you've got to either kill all the feral ones along the way or I refuse to grant you access to higher levels."

Kill the feral ghouls, gain access to the roof, get out? Sounded like a mother fucking plan to me! With joy, I nodded.
"Sure, anything else I should know?"

"Yeah. You'll also have to kill the robots, all the non maintenance ones. I've got the maintenance ones under my hoof, but the rule enforcers? They're dangerous and they'll shoot me on sight if they know I'm helping you... which as soon as we pass any security camera, they will. So, guns ready, pegasus?"

"Wings, and oh yeah. My pistol should do fine for the moment."

Now the ghoul began to run, at a surprisingly quick pace which I hadn't expected from something so old and damaged. Bare bones were exposed at his ribcage and ankles, yet he still managed a quickened pace that would put any normal old age pony to shame. The radiation had a large part to play in that I guessed, as my ticker clicked at me and warned me of my increasing intake. I would definitely need to down a rad-away after all this was done, no doubt about that.

"So, any feral fucks on this floor we need to take care of?" I asked, trying my best to sound casual while saying it but knowing that there was nothing at all casual about the way I said it.
Despite my attitude, which even I knew wasn't the best to have right now, the janitor shook his head. "None, nor combat bots, thankfully. The threat is all on the next two floors."

Impatiently, I looked at the ghoul in front of me. "Well if that's the case, how about we hurry the fuck up head on upstairs then? Besides, like I asked before, what is your slice in all of this? Why prevent the feral ghouls from getting out if you're a ghoul yourself?"

"Because." He began, but immediately paused as we rushed along, trying to find the next staircase. "I've watched them rip apart those who hadn't turned insane. I've seen them killing the others and eating the bodies of the dead. I don't want to unleash that on anypony. I had a hard enough time facing the guilt when I didn't rescue the ponies I used to work with, when I was too scared and instead chose to hide in my locked room. I don't want to have to face that guilt all over again over somepony who I don't even know. The ponies in this place mistreated me badly, but the ponies outside? They didn't cause the war, they didn't end the war. They simply live because it's our nature to reproduce no matter what state the world around us is in."

Thinking about what he'd just said, I supposed he wasn't so bad. It still didn't mean that I liked him, he had just admitted to letting ponies die despite the chance of being able to help them, after all. Still, he had enough respect for the truly living not to risk the damage they could do on the local populace and I had to give him some credit for that. Though the fact he was helping me stay alive was my biggest reason to trust him... for now.

"Now, what might your reason be for hating us ghouls so much?" He asked with a questioning tone. "Just bigotry or do you have some sad story to tell?"

"Long story short?" I replied. "Not even weeks ago I found a group of children being led away from here by a mare who was trying to do the best thing for them. Before they could find safety however, they were targeted by a group of feral ghouls. One was raped by the fuckers, in front of my fucking eyes. In front of my very fucking eyes. Now, you want to imagine why the FUCK I would hate the bastards?" I found myself catching my breath after the outburst, a saddened look in the eyes of the janitor.

"I... I'm sorry to hear that, Wings." He slowly mumbled in response as he slid the key into the door and began his ascent up the stairwell.

"Yeah, well, won't change a thing but thanks all the same." I replied with reluctance. I didn't like thinking about that incident, not one bit. Still, I couldn't change the fact it had happened and that it had changed me, I just had to deal with it was all.

Making my way up the stairs, I heard faint growling sounds as I reached the top. The janitor nervously took one look at me before beginning to ask a question. "Now, before we go any further, are you absolutely sure you're okay to do this? You can turn back and try to find another way out if you need to, but I don't think I know of any other ways, though I know there was always a lot of secret passages in this place. There's a chance you'd be able to find one and maybe get out, but I won't make any promises on that one."

Loading my shotgun in the moments of peace I had, I nodded back at him. "Ready as I'll ever be." I pronounced confidently. "How many do you think I'm looking to go up against?"

Taking a moment to think, he rolled his eyes to the top of his head as he muttered to himself, counting. "Four combat rule enforcers, twenty odd feral ghouls on this floor, There shouldn't be any more than one, perhaps two ferals on the top floor and I know that there's only one robot up there. The reason why there's so little up there is because the top floor was access only for the elites in the company, though I managed to fool the system with a executives badge that I'm an all-access member of staff."

"Okay, well, lets do this."

With that, he swiped the card and the door opened. Staring at me were the faces of three feral ghouls, jaws hanging as they waited for our arrival. Before any of them could make the slightest of movements in reaction to the door having opened, I was already in S.A.T.S taking the putrid sight in.
Their teeth were cracked and broken, ribs showing clearly and their heads covered in bite marks, one with its eye pierced open and having stayed that way ever since.

Three shots were lined up, my trusty pistol in my mouth already just waiting for me to finish confirming the plan on how I would blow each and every last of the fuckers brains out across the wall behind them.
As S.A.T.S came to a close, it was all done before the blink of an eye.
BANG BANG BANG.
Blood stained the walls, the three bodies crumpling under their own weight, one having even been thrown back by the sudden force, leaving the messed up sight of her genitals on show.

Normally I'd never shied away from looking at genitalia unless it was on a filly or foal. Normally it had never been an issue however it looked, it was all the same more or less and as long as it was clean, it was good for some fun.
Now though? Now as I glanced down at what was on show of the dead body, I felt revolted and the physical urge to be sick filled my stomach.
Quickly I moved on around the corner, happy to be away from what I'd just seen.

In the distance, five more ghouls ran at us as my 'friend' stared at them with wide eyes and shook in fear.
He was going to be useless as a combatant, I could tell. Reluctantly, I threw a hoof around him and pushed him behind me, extending my wings to block him off from the ferals.

Without grace they charged at me, barking their anger as a wild dog would've. It was sickening to watch what used to be ponies reduced to what they were now... what they had become.
With the best of my ability, I lined up my shots on the moving targets, shooting as fast as I could manage to line up another shot.
The first two shots dropped two with ease, though the third shot slammed into the chest of one and did little to slow him while the fourth and fifth shots completely missed the target.
With a sixth shot another one dropped but it had failed to kill the bastard as it smashed through one of her hind legs, ripping the bottom half off completely.

Before I could get a seventh shot off though, I was forced to roll as one of them came within hoofs reach.
Little more than my natural agility and the fact they were walking skeletons kept me safe as I went under their legs, confusing the wild animals. Quickly I put my gun back into its holster and drew Forgiveness, not that these monsters had any concept of any such ideal.

With a growl, one of the larger of the pack jumped towards me. Crouching down I held the knife in my mouth waiting for the most opportune moment... then it came.
Just as it came within range, I lunged at the beast with my knife securely cracking into the skull, spilling blood and brains everywhere.
Getting some over me, I tried not to shudder and instead focus on the rest of the fight. Another hit me as hard as it could, smacking me to the floor.

Looking up at the face that stared back down at me, I sliced its jaw apart instinctively, removing most of the threat that it was.
Without even realising that it no longer had a jaw, it attempted to bite me only to find that the worst it could do was lick me and give me some disgusting flavours of odour on my face... right before my hoof penetrated into its ribcage and threw it down onto the floor away from me.

Now it began to get dangerous however, really dangerous, as one of the four robots had joined the party with another three feral ghouls in tow. Admittedly, the robot was blasting away at them in response to their attacks to its joints. Deciding I'd had enough of the zombies and robots, I pulled myself off the floor and behind a desk, I grabbed my shotgun and peeked around the corner.

Three... two... one... I jumped round the corner once more, blasting away with the shotgun. Five shots in, the first robot fell down onto of one of the feral ghouls, crushing its skull to nothing and another had fallen with the blast to the face.
With that, two of the other robots turned to face me, one charging its plasma pistol and the other it's razor saw spinning fast enough to slice through a pony with ease.

Recoiling in fear of the blade, I fell back on my haunches. Looking at the oncoming horde of enemies, I felt weak and helpless. There was no way, no way I'd manage to fight all them now. My guns were going to need reloading any moment now and with the robots around...
I looked around the room, desperate for another answer. I knew I couldn't fight back against these odds, I'd finally gotten myself into the deep end way too far and nothing could save me now.
I was trapped.

Falling into a pit of despair, I didn't know what to do. The robot advanced as I stared at it, lost in my own thoughts, when suddenly a feral ghoul jumped into it with full force, knocking it off balance onto the floor. I didn't know why the feral ghoul would do that, perhaps it thought it could eat the metal, but it didn't matter now.
I'd lost and as much as I had thought it before, I really was going to die as I couldn't see any other way out but through... then it happened.

With lightning speed, a pair of feral ghouls had spotted me hiding in the corner behind the desk and jumped atop of me. Before I could even react, they began beating their heads into my armour, trying to bite me. Struggling under the weight of two of them combined, one pinned me under all of his hooves and bit on my uncovered ear, causing me to scream in pain as his teeth pierced through the skin. His hips bashing against mine as he tried to attack me further... my mind broke.

Visions of Platinum in this very same position and situation filled my mind... and before I knew it, I'd rolled over and crushed the skull of the beast below me.
My eyes wide, my breathing heavy... there was only one thought left in my mind.

"I AM NOT PLATINUM!"

Dashing towards the first robot, I grabbed its plasma gun and kicked the machine as it jolted around, trying to shake me off it's side. Blast after blast splattered into the faces and hides of the monsters that plagued my nightmares.
Rage swelled up inside me as I watched them scream, the plasma wasn't enough. Using all my strength, I threw the robot down to the ground using my hooves, cracking the body armour and killing the machine as it crumpled into itself.
A battle-cry of my own came out without having even thought about it as I smashed my hoof into the face of the first ghoul, sending my limb through its skull.

Turning around, I saw the last remaining robot fighting the fuckers off with its saw blade before I ran up to it, ripping the weakened machines arm off completely. Somehow the blade kept spinning though, still somewhat connected to the robot. It didn't matter how, what mattered to me was that blood was spilt. Three more ghouls ran at me seeking blood, only to meet a swipe across all of their faces at once.
That wasn't enough though, they weren't in pieces yet, I thought.
Using the blade while I could, I slammed it into a ribcage of one the vile monsters before completely slicing the head off the next. The last I tore the front two legs and horn off of before something forced me back down to the ground.

When it screamed at me, I bucked it off of my chest and pulled out my knife, aiming straight between the eyes with a lunge. Instead of hitting between the eyes, I had managed to lodge my knife straight through the socket, jamming it in tightly.
Moving onto my next weapon, I pulled out the shotgun and ended the robot properly before turning back to blasting the remaining fuckers in the face. My grunts of anger getting louder with each blast, with each one falling to the floor until I ran out of ammo, simply dropping my shotgun.
Pulling out the pistol, I unloaded what few bullets I had left in it. Two zombies left, I thought to myself.
Two zombies and no bullets loaded.

Spinning on my hooves as the last zombie charged me, I bucked it against the wall. The fragile frame of the zombies and my enraged state lending a hand, its still live body slammed against the wall with force enough to cause a great snapping sound.
Speeding up to it, I gave myself no chance to find out what it was. Instead, I bucked it once more with a clean hit to the face, causing its skull to explode between my hoof and the wall.
Now there was only one.
Only. One.
And it sat at the edge of the stairwell, in terror.

Yes, I thought., The last one would die with ease, seeing as it was immobile from the fight. I could take my time and savour this kill.
Savour this kill? ...That... that wasn't me, I thought. I didn't kill for joy, did I?
Closing my eyes for a moment, I opened them back up before going into S.A.T.S and examining the last remaining soul.
Slowly as the anger drifted away from me, I came to realise... no, that wasn't a feral ghoul at all.
It was immobile out of fear and feral ghouls knew no fear... that was the janitor.

Killing all the robots and feral ghouls was a necessity, but the janitor? Sure he'd made his mistakes, but he...
...He didn't deserve to die.
He was willing to help me, he offered to take me through to safety, the only escape route he'd known. If I'd killed him then I could no longer class myself as any better than any of the leaders of the DZC, could I?
Not if I killed him no reason, I couldn't.

Coming out of S.A.T.S, I sighed before walking over to my dropped weapons, slowly picking them up and surveying the area around me. What had previously been simply a little disorganised was now looking as if a whole raider army had passed through, desks upturned and all over the place, pieces of robot and pony strewn across the floor like some kind of sick decoration, and at the head of it all sat a pony too frightened to move.
A pony, not a mindless beast. A pony.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, slowly regaining composure. "I... I was forced to relive the event that traumatised me, but instead of watching it it felt like I was living it myself... in her place."
The buck frowned before slowly walking over to me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. "It's okay. You didn't hurt me and you somehow managed to take them all out, despite the odds. As scared as I am, I'm still living and right now, so are you. You ready to get out of here then?"

Nodding as I reloaded my guns in preparation, I took another deep breath before sighing again. "Yeah, sounds like a damn good idea. I don't want to be here any more. Not around all this, not with what I just..."

"Turned into?" The old buck asked in the friendliest way I he could.

"I was going to say done." I retorted. "But yeah, that."

Carefully stepping over the mess I'd left behind on the floor, we slowly made our way over to the final door. He opened it with ease and began to walk up the final flight of stairs, before turning to face me half way up.

"There's just one thing you ought to know... when we get into this next room? Don't try fight the robot, you won't win."

Looking at the ghoul in a questioning manner and raising my eyebrow, I spoke slowly. "Why? What is so tough about that robot that I could take down four of them, but not this one?"

He gulped as he looked at me, rubbing his front hooves together and then began to look down at the ground. "The truth is, I know more about the tunnel system than I let on. I'm not a janitor as such... not in the way I may have made it seem. I'm a mechanic, so instead of cleaning up the floor I'm the one who would be fixing up the robots and ensuring all the secret lifts were working at all times, just in case."

Looking at the old pony with my brows furrowed, I couldn't help but feel slightly agitated with him that he hadn't been wholly honest about his previous occupation, though I supposed it was still close enough. "Go on, what of it though." I asked, irritation clear in my voice.

"And... the sentinel... the one you were running from?" He took another gulp after he spoke, he looked as if sweat would be gushing from his face if he were any normal pony right now.

"Yes...?" I asked, increasingly impatient with his ability to stagger his answer.

"As soon as we open this door, it will know. Not only that, but it will use a special tunnel lift designed for the executives to hide in the basement where there's a small, under equipped miniature Stable built in the foundations. Well, I say Stable, in reality it's more of a vault. It's where all the databases were kept too, and that sentinel was guarding it all. As soon as we enter through this door, we've got less than a minute to run through, find the escape hatch and begin getting out before I reckon it'll be in here. Two minutes if we're lucky, but my guess is it has moved back to the vault by now and that location is exactly where the lift is..."

Facehooving, I didn't know what else to say. "Oh fucking great. So you're telling me that we're going to enter a room where the robot may or may not be waiting for us to open the door as it is, but that even if it's not there straight away, we have to find the escape route before it arrives in the room with us? And you say it could take a minute if we're unlucky?"

"Well, actually." He nervously spat out. "A minute is my optimistic hoping that some of the systems will have rusted and cause the lift to move slower, that or the weight of the robot is enough to slow it down. Back in the day, I had it running so it could take five ponies no more than forty-seven seconds from basement... to here."

Looking at him flatly, I guessed we had no choice. "Okay, great. Just fucking great." I spat out. "Go on then, swipe the card, open the door and be ready to run. Any idea where to look for the escape hatch?"

"None at all."

Could this day get ANY better for me?
With that, he swiped the card and opened the door... only to find... no.
Letting out a breath of hesitation, the robot wasn't waiting for us, thankfully.

Immediately I ran out and looked around, hoping to find the hatch. Then I turned around once more after having caught something out of the corner of my eye.
There it stood, silently waiting.

My eyes widened suddenly as I looked at it, the reality dawning on me as fast as it possibly could. There was only one reaction other than turning around and running that I could do, and I did it. "OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

The old buck turned to me shouting 'What?!' before a missile flew past our faces and into the wall behind us.
Running as fast as I could, I made as much distance as I had available before turning the corner to begin a game of cat and mouse. There was no way I could take that robot down alone, it would've required Maisy's claws or perhaps Cherry's anti-machine rifle, but Maisy was frightened of robots as it was and Cherry wasn't here.
Instead, I had to... "RUN!"

Bullets began to spray the walls, clanging against the metal reinforcements it seemed to have. The fact that the missile hadn't even managed to make even a small hole told me that breaking a new hole was out of the question on those, but the windows probably weren't half as strong... hopefully. Celestia I hoped they hadn't any magical talismans protecting the windows or something.

"WHAT DO WE DO, WINGS?" The old buck screamed out, too frightened to think for himself as rolling death followed behind us not too far away.

"I'VE GOT A PLAN!" I screamed in return, trying not to run out of breath as I did. "BUT IT RISKS ONE OF OUR LIVES AND MIGHT NOT WORK!"

Running around the corner, I found myself face to face with my accomplice, his whole body shaking and eyes almost falling out of their socket in pure terror. He looked at me and gulped before quickly blurting out what he had to say. "Look, I've lived long enough and if I die, this will be my redemption. Not just for this, but for everything. What is it?"

"These windows, are they especially protected? Magic wards or such?"

"No, no. Not that I'm aware of. They're bulletproof to small arms fire though... why?"

Looking at him straight in the eyes, I wasn't sure if I was about to say this or not. As he looked back at me however, I could tell he was a stallion of conviction and he was being honest about being willing to risk his life for this chance. No doubt we would only have one shot at it.

"One of us needs to stand in front of the window... and wait."

"Wait?!" He shouted in surprise. "What?!"

"Yes, wait. Wait until the robot either shoots a missile or opens up with its minigun. Just long enough to smash the windows but not get hit. The real trick is getting out of the hole it makes without getting hurt after." I said hurriedly, hearing the wheels turn around the corner. We had less than seconds to decide.
With a breath, he stepped out into the open, no longer behind the wall we had taken to hiding behind. Looking straight at the robot, he spoke slowly.

"Missile test, activation code H-3-X-0-R."

The robot stopped in its tracks before lowering its minigun and powering it down, only to raise up its other limb and begin speaking to itself.
"Missile test code, accepted. Targeting systems, online. Weapon preparation systems, online. Missile reloading systems, online. All systems nominal. Testing missile, now."

Looking at the stallion, his eyes were closed. A loud sound emanated from the robots arm and a missile began to fire. My whole world seemed to slow down as it did, the ghoul... no, the stallion standing there, unflinching. Opening his eyes, he looked to me, confidently. Realising he was giving up his life to ensure that the missile hit its target, I didn't know what to do. Perhaps this building was all he had and leaving it would be taking his whole world away... perhaps he didn't want to give up what little left he had of the old world. Instead, I chose to believe that despite his affliction, perhaps he was doing this for me. Perhaps.

A second later, he was gone. Glass flew everywhere, spewing onto the street below. Taking no time to mourn his loss, I made my way out through the gap he'd created for me, making sure his death wasn't in vain.
Slicing through the air, I looked at the building I'd just managed to escape from... something that wouldn't have been possible without the help of that ghoul. Without the sacrifice of that pony.
Letting out a sigh as I looked at the building, it was never meant to be that. We were never meant to get anyone killed in there, we'd just gone looking for Titan and the other two.
I knew it was wrong to think it that way, but now I hated the Goddess damned Donkey fucking Zebra Coalition even more than ever. They'd been the ones who ultimately led to this. They'd been the ones.

Before I could continue with my self pity party mixed in with regret however, I found myself regretting something new! Bullets swept through the air barely missing me as I hovered in one space, reminding me that the sentinel was still around and still very, very angry with me!
Flying to the front of the building over the top, I finally had the bright idea to put my helmet on.

"Cherry, are you still there?" I called out, hoping on my life she would be. If she wasn't, I didn't know what I'd do.

"Huh, Crimson?! Is that you Crimson!?" I heard her sweet, sweet voice call out. Damn I was glad to hear her voice.

Hoping she'd be my saviour, I begged for her aid the best I could while wearing the helmet. "I'm going to need some support, Cherry. Be ready to shoot your rifle! I NEED SUPPORT!"

With that she laughed hysterically, though I could tell there was a pinch of nervousness in it all, Still, why the hell was she laughing about this? "Support? Don't worry, we've got you covered." We? Maisy was scared of robots though?

Flying over the top of the building as fast as I could, I saw what she meant. Behind her stood what seemed like army of sentinels for all the firepower they were carrying.
Instead of simply having their limbs carry their weaponry, they also had shoulder ports that now had even more extensive weaponry attached.
Looking closer, I began to realise. These were the ones I'd met before, the ones whom were having a picnic.
Gulping between terror and amazement, I glided down to my lover before looking at the robots up close in astonishment.

"Lieutenant Colonel Wings. For your raid on the zebra forces whom had taken encampment at the steelworks and for your single hoovedly assaulting the suspected zebra sympathisers of Orion Offices, our crusader mainframe has seen fit to promote you to Colonel. Wear your new title with pride, Colonel."
With that, all of the robots saluted me just like before and a surreal sense of pride washed over me.
Then the sound of the offices front door security shut out locks hissed as the metal barricades rose again, revealing the sentinel rolling down the hallway to exit the building.
Looking on in fear, I began to shake.

With a booming voice, the robot next to me who'd just informed me of my 'promotion' began to call out orders for his unit. "Never stand down troops. For we are Ultra Sentinel Hunters!"
Not even seconds later, the sounds of their weapons arming filled the air.
Stupidly the rogue sentinel continued its charge, revving up the minigun attached to its arm.
Before it managed to fire even a single bullet however, eight missiles and countless lasers flew towards the mech, causing the whole room to fill with black smoke. Even still, despite the damage done, the robots continued to fire their lasers into the doorway, causing a fire moments later before finally stopping their attack.

Turning to me, they spoke as one. "Celestia provides, Luna protects."

Repeating the phrase, we all saluted as they began to roll into the building. I didn't question what they were going to do, I didn't want to question what they were going to do. I just wanted to get as far away as possible, to try and forget all but the heroic sacrifice that made it possible for me to live.

Taking off my helmet, I turned to Cherry. "So... where did Maisy go?"

It had turned out that Maisy had flown off somewhere upon sight of the heavily armed sentinels. Part of me couldn't blame her for it either. Admittedly she had seen them before, but I guessed that robots didn't look all that individual to her and the fact they were more heavily armed than before made a big difference, friendly or not.
I'd never been able to get the story of why she was so afraid of robots out of anyone in Coltshire Commons, though it really didn't matter right now. Fact of the matter was she was hiding somewhere again and with how drained I felt after all that, it meant that we were walking no matter what.

Cherry looked sad that she'd been unable to help me during my time trapped in the building, but it was for the best. A small part of me felt guilty that I had lost all control in there, though another part of me wouldn't have had it any other way. Killing those things in such a mindless way was liberating for me, being truly able to take out my rage. On the other hoof, it was also disappointing that I would give in.
If I couldn't control myself, how was I supposed to be the leader Four Ridges deserved?
Letting out a sigh, my lovely Cherry Sundae stroked my cheek with a hoof before stopping me and wrapping herself around me.

"Crimson, it's okay. I don't know what went on in there and with the way you're acting, I won't ask. I know you had a fight, the blood, the gore... there was so much of it on you, that must have been something horrible in there."
Her eyes pleaded with me to open up, but I had no idea if she'd still love me if I told her.
She hadn't been around the last time I'd lost my mind and she hadn't been around this time... but I was scared what she would do if she had known.

"I'm sorry." I muttered as I looked down to the ground in shame. "I just... I don't want to lose you, I'm scared I would."

"Crimson." She murmured sadly. "I love you, you wouldn't lose me. It would take you mindlessly killing innocent ponies with no regret or care to lose me and I refuse to believe that's what happened in there. If there was raiders and you went a little overboard, I'd be upset, but you wouldn't lose me. Come on, you trust me, right?"

Giving out a little nod and taking a deep breath, I prepared myself and was about to tell her. As soon as I opened my mouth though, the words failed to come out and I was struck unable to say a thing. Letting out another sigh, I didn't try again.
Her face filled with defeat, my own with shame.

A few minutes later, I spoke once more.
"I'm worried, with all that just happened, all the places we've been... how do we know Titan is still alive? It's been so long and I don't feel like I physically have the energy to carry us both right now. I'm sure I could try, but with how I'm feeling so low and drained... that's even if he is still okay." I gave a little pause, looking down at my pipbuck as I did. "I haven't even heard anything over the radio from him since that disrupted broadcast."

Cherry shook her head. "I know, I'm worried too. We can't give up though, he's counting on us. Selene, Helios, Eos, all of Coltchester even. They're all counting on us, Crimson. I'm not going to give up, you got me to see that I was being selfish before and now it's my turn to make you see how stupid you're being if you're thinking of just giving up on them. We've still got two locations to check, remember?"

"I know, I know." I muttered. "It's just that every place we've checked so far has been worthless. It feels like a lost cause. I-"
With that, I was interrupted suddenly by the sound of my radio coming to life. The crackling static and gunfire in the background filled our ears as a broadcast began.

"This is Titan, again, this is Titan! I'm calling all P.L.A.C members to the Macintosh Armoury! Repeat, I'm calling ALL P.L.A.C members to the Macintosh Armoury! I'm in need of immediate assistance!"

My eyes shot wide as I looked at Cherry. Titan was alive!
The smile on her face grew larger as I regained my confidence almost instantly as I looked at the map, we weren't even all that far away! Still, we had to be quick. If Titan was in dire circumstances, he couldn't be waiting around for us any more than he had to.
Immediately she brought her hoof up and began to play with her pipbuck before speaking into it.

"Bucks, you hear that broadcast? Macintosh Armoury, get there, now!"

There was no response from the other end, but the smile on her face told me she didn't need one. She obviously had enough confidence in the rest of her squad to not worry over a formality like that.
She turned to me again and looked me in the eyes before giving me a small kiss, much to my pleasure.
"You ready?" She asked. I nodded in return, ready as could be now. With that, she set the pace as she galloped ahead.

Finally, the armoury was in sight and I couldn't help but smile at Cherry as she smiled back at me, we were going to make it in time! Suddenly, a cracking sound came from my left side, closer to Cherry than myself. Immediately we both skidded across the ground, myself jumping into the air to see what had just happened when another shot rang past, barely missing Cherry as she ran for cover.

Spotting the pony levitating a hunting rifle, I called out a warning to Cherry. "Rifle on the roof of that building!"
Looking down at him, he turned his aim to me as I pulled out my pistol. Sweeping through the air I dodged another shot only to be stuck on the chest by a follow-up shot. My armour deflected the blow but still it knocked me from the air down to the ground in shock. Med-x continued to flow through my veins, making the pain a lot more bearable however.

As I stood up, another shot pierced into my side, causing my rump to begin bleeding. The shooter was a damn fine shot, but now it was time to die. Before I could get back into the air though, a dark figure flew high above me, slamming down onto the rooftop above.
There stood Maisy, ferocious as always as she began tearing the pony limb from limb, literally.
Blood and guts came flying from the roof and with what caused me both disgust and worry, she flew down with a leg in her mouth before swallowing it without a care.
Now I was really glad she was so damn loyal to me as I realised just how little chance I would've had in fighting her all that time ago.
Still, she was on our side and with her help, I now felt even more confident we could do this.

Cherry ran out from behind the corner of a wall and climbed back atop of Maisy's back and gave me a salute. "Airborne sniper patrol at the ready, sir!"
The way she'd said it couldn't help but make me giggle slightly, despite the sight I'd just witnessed. It was a good thing she hadn't seen it, a damn good thing.

Jumping into the air, I led the charge with Maisy on my wing. Though we were within sight of the armoury, we still had to travel some distance. Occasionally somepony or donkey would shoot at us - some of them would immediately stop among realising we weren't DZC though others would continue, trying to take Maisy down when I would dodge.
That was always their mistake, for Cherry or myself would always end their lives with a clean bullet to the face before they'd have a real chance.
Maisy had taken her fair share of hits, but amazingly never flinched nor falter in her mission of escorting Cherry.

As we reached the complex, Maisy flew up high and placed Cherry on a tower next to the complex that had unprecedented view of the battlefield. Flying down to the fortified entrance, I opened the doors and walked in.

[Song: The man with a harmonica - Muse]

Entering the foyer, the place was filled with bodies and blood. Dead ponies bearing rifles aimed towards the door looked determined even in the last seconds of their life, that dedication etched in their faces as one last 'fuck you' to the DZC.
Though I hadn't been with them long, I noticed that I had come to recognise one or two faces, though I wouldn't have been able to recall their names had I even known at all.
Nevertheless, they were brave ponies who had stood their ground until the very last breath, courageous to the moment that they were no more.

My heart wept as I walked along solemnly, the sobering moment drew me back as I whispered my apologies for breaking their peace. If Cherry had been here with me, seen this sight... I wouldn't know what to tell her. I didn't know what she would do.
Instead, it was just me. The sounds of gunfire raged outside still and Maisy's call of anger ripped through the air as she found herself in another fight, no doubt. Instead of going out to see though, I had to continue, deeper into the facility.
Titan had called us all here, the odds were that he would've retreated for a more dependable position for going on the defensive with.

Taking what I could in, I finally noticed a blood trail of drips moving from a pool of water where a smaller pool of blood lay on the ground, growing cold.
Without hesitation, I put my helmet on and began to run alongside the blood trail, following where-ever it would lead to. My hopes were that Selene was still okay, still alive.

As I followed the trail I was led into a hallway, doors either side were busted down and broken in half. Gunshots had scarred the walls, a fire-fight had been here not long before from the still potent smell of the rounds used. Rushing up to the doorway ahead, I heard voices, voices of zebras speaking in harsh tones.
In response, I crept up to the door and pushed it further ajar, looking through.

There three zebras stood, two looking exhausted as they continued to try kick a door open, another one standing in the open and impatiently ordering them to get it open faster. They all wore the mark... the mark of their very deaths.
Using my wings to hover lightly off the ground, I made my way to the commanding zebra and pulled my pistol from its holster before pushing it to the back of the zebras head.
Before he could react, his blood was splattered on my face, I didn't care.
As his body hit the ground, the two other zebras stopped their attacks on the door and slowly looked up at me in fright. There I stood on my hind hooves, my pistol in my mouth and my shotgun in my hooves.

I didn't even need S.A.T.S for this, the range was so close that I could hear their whimpering clearly. Without hesitation, I shot my pistol, the bullet going through the eye of the first zebra and dropping them instantly.
Then my shotgun rang out. Once, twice, three times. On the fourth, the second one dropped dead, their chest looking as if a small explosive charge had been attached to it.

Standing there as I put my guns away, the door opened slowly. A green glow came from the room behind and slowly dropped as they looked at me, the wounded alicorn laying on the ground panting softly and Titan looking nearly beaten himself. They all stared at me in shock before a small grin came across Titan's face.
Standing there I took my helmet off slowly and dropped it to the ground as they watched me in awe. Their cavalry had come to save the day.

"You came." He whispered.

"Of course I did." I muttered back. "You're all too important, I couldn't let you down."

Without another word, I ducked into the medical back and pulled out a healing potion before throwing it over to Titan.
Before it could reach his hooves, a green glow encapsulated it and unscrewed the top, assisting him in getting the drink down his throat.
Looking at Helios, I smiled before rushing over to her sisters side and pulled out a bandage.

Assessing the damage she'd taken, I was shocked. She'd been hit through the side of the neck, though it looked like despite being critical, she could hold stable. Still, there was no time to lose. Wrapping the bandage around her neck I pulled it as tight as I could without hurting her or cutting the circulation too much.
Then I put my head back into the bag as Helios began to speak.

"Is she going to be okay? Can you save her? Oh Goddess, please be able to save her."

I didn't answer. Instead, I pulled out a pair of syringes. First of all I put the hydra into her and squeezed hard once the needle pierced through her thick hide, it was tougher than usual but that wasn't enough to stop me from doing it. Squeezing hard, I felt her tense as the cold fluid worked its way into her system, hopefully repairing the damage.
Putting the syringe into the bag once more I looked at the next one... med-x. A part of me wanted more of it, especially for the annoying burning pain that I felt in my rear.

Dismissing the temptation, I shook my head and picked it up in my mouth before stroking Selene's cheek, causing Titan a visible amount of discomfort that I would do such a thing.
Slowly her eye opened up and focused on me as I prepared to slide the next needle into her, another tensing in pain as it did.
A sigh of relief as she shuddered came from Selene's lips as I pushed the next injection into her, the painkiller numbing what I could only assume was extreme agony from the way she was before.
For how she handled it, she was a brave mare. She was a brave mare indeed.

Once again she opened up her eye as I stroked her mane gently, causing yet more displeasure to appear in Titan's eyes though he said nothing. As she focused up at me, she smiled and began to whisper something that I couldn't make out. Moving my head down closer, I tried to hear her.

Now I was close enough to feel her breath against my cheek, her scent in my nostrils and almost taste her neck. Again she spoke, this time I could hear it. "Thh.. Thankkk you."

Pulling back my head and looking down at her with a smile, I whispered back. "You're welcome. Now, you want to get back to the pool of radiation or something? I heard my pipbuck clicking back there. Radiation is good for you, right?"
She gave a small nod, but nothing much else.

Suddenly a large explosion rang outside and hoofsteps filled the air, rapidly approaching.

"TITAN!" A voice called out. "TITAN! THEY'RE BREACHING!"

Looking at him, he hadn't even got a gun or even his armour and even still he wasn't at his best. He went to move forward but fell down as he began to walk. Swearing under his breath, I could see him struggling, trying to get back up.

"No." I commanded.
He gave me a defiant look and tried to stand up again, only to struggle to hold himself up before falling back down. A look of shame filled his eyes.
"You are not going anywhere Titan. Not past that radioactive pool, anyway. Stay here, I will defend us."

Moments later, a whole crew of ponies rushed in. My shotgun was raised up at them until I noticed they didn't wear armour of the coalition, but instead wore whatever they could find. Looking at me, they bowed their heads.
Lowering my gun, I smiled. "Okay, what's the situation?"

One looked back up at me and noticed my guns were no longer aiming at him, only then she began to speak. "Mister Wings? Is Titan okay? What of the goddess alicorns?"

I nodded. "They're fine but they won't be if we're not prepared. Now, what is the situation? How long do we have until they're rushing in here?"

Looking at me nervously, she began to think about it before blurting her answer out. "Five minutes or so, I reckon. There's more of us and and and..." She began to stutter before I held a hoof up, her friend continued for her.

"And there's a lot of reinforcements of ours and theirs coming. Scouts have said heavy donkey fighters are coming, which means we're fucked without something special planned though. They'll take a while to get here, their armour slows them down a lot... thank Celestia."

"How armoured are we talking about?" I asked in return.

"About as armoured as a full Steel Ranger, sir. They have their own suits of power armour that was specifically developed for them. They're not that different really, they just don't have big explosive weapons is all. That was a pony only feature and the only time they'd be using that is if they managed to capture a suit of it."

Armoured as a Steel Ranger huh? That would cause issues. I thought about our odds and without some serious back-up, we'd be screwed before long. There had to be something else we could do.
Bringing up the broadcaster of my pipbuck, I called the squads yet again.

"Alpha, Bravo. I need a sitrep on your ETA until you reach the armoury. Can you comply?"

A moment passed with no response before a reply came through. "Crimson, we're about ten minutes out. Perhaps fifteen, how copy?"

Ten to fifteen minutes? Better than half an hour I supposed. I just wish they were capable of fulfilling that tmeframe for certain. "Solid copy, see you then, stallions. Meet you on the battleground."

As the call ended, I opened broadcast with Cherry. "Cherry, what's the situation out there? How long do we have until reinforcements from both sides arrive?"

"From what I can see, we've got a lot fewer forces moving from our side, but they're a lot closer than the coalition soldiers. They've got a lot of forces though and the trail goes on for quite a distance. Just a good thing that they're moving in formation, not freely. I'm not sure about this, Crimson. I think our best chance is to get out while we can, if we can."

Grunting in frustration, I looked over my shoulder at the wounded Selene and battered Titan on the floor behind me. Helios by herself wouldn't be enough to get the two of them out of here, we really needed Selene or Titan to get their strength back first. "Not an option, I'm afraid. Selene is wounded badly but stable now, it'll take her some time before the medical care I've given will really kick in properly. As for Titan, he can't even stand up properly right now, let alone flee. We're in this one for the long term."
Thinking about our options, an idea came to my mind. "What about Maisy, is she still doing fine?"

"Yeah, she's still going strong. She's been patrolling the perimeter, caused a few fights to break out and ended a few more. She's been hit some more though, Crimson. I'm not sure how much more punishment she's going to simply be able to shrug off before she starts really getting hurt."

Damn, that wasn't a good idea. If we lost all our heavy support we'd be screwed... wait... heavy support! Another idea came into my head, I was on fire!
"How are you doing, Cherry? Can you cope up there?"

"I've had to move from where Maisy originally left me into a apartment complex, the tower just didn't have any proper cover. Thankfully Maisy gave me a lift there, so I'm doing fine for the moment. The building seems secure and I can't imagine that I'll be of any issue. So don't worry about me, I'll be able to handle myself. You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Okay, I've gotta go. See you after the battle, babe."

With a chirp in her voice, she ended the conversation. "Seeya Crimson."

There was one last thing I had to do... going into my broadcasting system, I made another broadcast... this time to the military network of Coltchester.

"This is Colonel Wings. Calling all active support units to the Macintosh Armoury. Repeat, calling all active support units to the Macintosh Armoury. Your assistance in pushing back a zebra legion attack is required."

Titan looked at me in confusion as I finished the broadcast, slowly picking himself off the floor and managing to stay off it this time. Never before had I seen his grey coat like this. The muscles straining but slowly getting stronger as he walked up to me carefully.
The look in his eye told me he was with great appreciation for what I was doing.
"Colonel now, huh? I thought you told me you were a Lieutenant Colonel. There is a difference, you know."

Looking back at him with a smug smile, I informed him of my promotion. His jaw dropped as I told him of the shortened details, leaving me feeling quite proud.

"You... well, the sentinels took out another sentinel for you?"

"Yup." I gleamed back happily. "It was damn exhausting and intense, I was sure I was going to die."

He rolled his eyes at me, letting out a small chuckle. "Anypony else and they would have. You've got a knack for getting lucky, it seems."

"Yeah, now you get to the radioactive pool of water before-"
I was too late. I was about to say before anyone else arrives, but as I began my sentence the shouting of the DZC forces began.
My face scrunched up as I put my helmet back on, anger filled my veins. No matter what, they would not be getting past me.

Two soldiers busted in, guns at their sides. They were wearing armour. They were also breathing. They were breathing, anyway.
As soon as they entered the door, two blasts from my shotgun rang out, they hadn't even seen it coming.
Stepping outside, I saw the rest of them.
Eight soldiers stood there, wondering what was happening as they spoke amongst themselves. I could see them but through the darkness they couldn't see me.
Wiping my muzzle on the dead soldiers wounds for effect, I walked out of the doorway, blood dripping from my face.

Before any of them could raise their guns, a familiar loud crack rang out from a nearby building, piercing through the skull of one soldier and zipping through the side of another as it passed with ease, taking out two of them with ease. Six remained.
Hitting into S.A.T.S, I planned six shots with my pistol.

The first shot fired, slicing into the brain of another soldier. They began to panic as their numbers dwindled so suddenly, though it was no use. Another shot from my pistol bounced off the helmet of my next target, but still proved enough to knock the zebra onto his haunches, stopping him from being a threat for a moment. The next two shots missed as the zebras began to react, but the last two hit into the lungs of my fifth target and neck of the sixth.
Not even a second later, the zebra who sitting on his haunches had his head explode as Cherry fired again, two remaining.

Now they had the time to react, I had to dive out of the open doorway as they fired wildly in my direction, trying to find cover from the 'mysterious shooter' to their side who hadn't been me.
For a moment the firing stopped, though I hadn't heard Cherry fire so I knew they must have both been around somewhere.
Poking my head from around the corner, a bullet screamed past and smashed into the wall, barely missing me.
In pure reaction I pulled my head back, trying not to get shot.

Again, there was silence. A stand-off had begun as the enemies sat behind cover, watching my position. Cherry didn't seem capable of hitting them from her angle and I couldn't see them without risking taking a bullet to the head, something I didn't want to risk in the slightest. Now it was a waiting game, it seemed.
...Or not, as suddenly a grenade rolled my way.
Noticing the threat that posed, I used my tail to throw it back in the direction it came from, causing screaming from the unwitting zebras who obviously hadn't cooked it.

With the sound of their fleeing, I turned back around the corner and opened fire, most of my shots missing but one cracking into the back of a mares legs and breaking her bone with ease.
Seconds later, the grenade exploded next to her, killing her outright. The other zebra had been close enough that the shockwave should have killed him too, but I wasn't going to take chances.

Flying out from my cover, I saw the wounded soldier on the ground pointing his SMG at me.
Spraying up into the air with no care about where he was targeting, I found myself quickly evading stray bullets as most of them went completely wide.
Quickly he ran out of ammo for the gun, his time was up.
Landing next to him, I sliced his throat as not to waste ammo.

Looking up from the now deceased corpse, I noticed it. An army, but it wasn't my reinforcements. It was more coalition.
Rushing as quickly as I could to find cover, bullets clanged against the floor below me where I had been only a split second ago.
Getting behind some concrete rubble, I found a moment of safety from the large force.

"FLANK! FLANK!" They called, my heart pumped as hard as it had when I was trapped with the sentinel.
Five ponies ran off to my left, another five across the street to go to my right. Ten donkeys in standard armour rushed forwards. Without a better place to hide, I'd be dead in seconds.

Looking back at the facility I'd just exited, I considered my options. Out here I had the open space and though I had to be more aware of my situation, I could also have more freedom of movement and line of sight.
Inside I would find more cover, though I would also be stuck in hallways which meant that fire would be focused on me with much more ease.
Just as I was about to make my decision, I heard screaming from both sides.

From what seemed like nowhere, smoke poured out and filled the streets. Ponies rushed from where the coalition soldiers had gone to, but they weren't the same ponies from before. Instead, they wore rag tag armour or nothing at all. Instead, they were zebras. Instead, they were friendly.
A bloodbath erupted in the middle of the street as a chaotic mixture of coalition, Zebras United, Anarchists and PLAC soldiers fought.

Grenades flew past from end to end, explosions filling the air and smoke making it thick and hard to breathe. Where the hell all these reinforcements had just come from, I wasn't sure, but I was extremely glad they had.
Flying into the air to get a scope of just what was happening, I began to see how truly large this battle was going to become.
The news that the leaders of the PLAC must have hit every corner, because everyone armed with a weapon seemed to be either here or on their way!

Fear filled my stomach as I was forced to swerve bullets being aimed at me as usual. Sweeping down to a rooftop, I began to watch it all unfold.
The coalition army marched its forces down the highway that connected all of Coltchester together while insurgent forces streamed in from all directions, including from under the coalition forces.
Looking around, I saw Maisy on the front, leading the charge against the weaker armed coalition forces.

No longer could I sit up here, watching the others fight and die for me. I had been the reason they came here in many cases, I couldn't be the type of leader who would let them die so I could remain safe.
While that was an option for the alicorns, it wasn't for me.
Getting back up onto my hooves, I sped down to the floor and used the momentum to fly as fast as I could as quickly as I could.

Pressing my wings to take me faster, I screamed past the last line of defence and went straight up towards the front line which had now been pushing the coalition back towards where the highway met the industrial zone. As I came close, I pulled out my shotgun and prepared to fire.
Using S.A.T.S was a waste here, my speed to fast and I wouldn't have had the time or focus to check my shots anyway.
Instead, I manoeuvred around the air in as many different ways as I could manage before making strafing runs with my shotgun, hoping that the thick concentration of coalition soldiers would allow for some hits as I passed overhead.

Missiles began to fly from the back of the coalition lines, scaring the shit out of me as they left trails in their wake.
Smashing into buildings either side of the insurgent forces, it did little good however. The buildings had been built to withstand what the war could throw at them and though the walls themselves fell apart, the reinforced structuring behind them held strong.

Still, where the hell had they managed to get that kind of fire-power?! I climbed into the air to get another clear view of what was to come, only to notice that the armoured donkeys that were previously mentioned were coming, and they were carrying wagons with them which held portable missile launchers!
Looking at the weapons, I knew they had to be taken down before they could do any real damage... but how?
None of our troops seemed to have any heavy weapons to counter such a thing, they were going to be ripped up out there!

Despite the fact it would reveal my location, I decided it would be best to warn everyone about the presence of such a threat.
"INSURGENTS, BE YOU PONY, ZEBRA OR DONKEY. BE YOU P.L.A.C, Z.U.C OR ANARCHIST. THE COALITION HAVE MOBILE MISSILE LAUNCHER PLATFORMS EN ROUTE, FALL BACK AND FIGURE SOME WAY TO TAKE THEM DOWN!"

It was no good though, the battle raged on. Instead of taking heed of my warning, the insurgent forces continued to fight, continued to die, continued to kill. Some of the coalition soldiers not actively fighting on the front line took shots at me, though after having dived down once more and rolling through the sky as erratically as I could, I'd managed to lose them behind a large industrial complex along the road.
Landing to take a breath, I closed my eyes for a moment.

As I opened my eyes once more, I found a group of zebras staring at me, shocked and shaking as they held their gun up. My muscles tensed, unsure what to do until I realised they weren't wearing coalition armour. Were they scouts sent to infiltrate I wondered? I couldn't be sure, though the fact they hadn't shot at me had been a good thing so far.
Slowly, they lowered their weapons.

"You.. you're The Executioner, right?" One asked. I nodded in return, causing the young zebra to calm even more.
"Good. We're a part of the ZUC, which usually means we're not allied with you. That doesn't mean we're against you though, and if we can work together to throw a punch at the DZC, we will."

Taking my helmet off to speak, I paused for a moment before I did. Taking in their faces, I smiled at the group.
"Thank you, I appreciate that. Truth be told, I'm not particularly aligned with any group per se, I'm just working with the PLAC to get something I need - and no, it isn't any part of Coltchester under my control or such. It's something much, much different."

"Well, as long as you're not here to take what is ours, we have no issue with you. Now, you said there was incoming mobile missile launchers, right? Are they on the highway still?" I nodded, needing no verbal answer.
"Okay. Our plan is to blow the struts... but if that doesn't work, what do you think about dropping some C4 onto the top of them?"

Looking at the young zebra in shock, I was... astounded. "C4? You seriously have some fucking C4?"

He shot me back a look of disapproval. "What did you expect us to have, little filly bubblegum sticks? Smoke grenades like them Anarchists? Of course not. We've been saving this for the opportune moment, and this seems like it. We might not be hitting their fancy schmancy hotel, but we'll be fucking them over all the same. You in or not?"

The sound of the missile launchers began to scream and the tops of buildings began to crumble, avalanching down to the ground and causing mass panic down on the main road where the majority of the fighting was going on. Looking back at the missile launchers, they had to be taken out and these kids had the best plan going. Reluctantly, I was now listening to their plans and taking orders from them, it seemed.
"Okay, I give in. Let's do this. What do you want me to do?"

The brave colt looked back at me, a smile across his face. "I need you to distract them, keep the coalition away from us. We'll be sneaking around, looking for the best place to place the charges. Trouble is, none of us are experienced in this... so thinking about it, are you?"

Thinking about it indeed, nor did I. Though I did know somepony in particular who knew explosives...

Speaking to Cherry, the topic had gone down a route I didn't enjoy but knew had to be explored.
"Look, I don't like the idea any more than you do but there's no other alternative!" I pleaded, hoping she would see sense.

"You can't trust a load of kids with C4 Crimson! It's too dangerous! And what about you, what if they accidentally blow you up mid air because they think you've dropped the C4 when there's still some on you? It just won't work either way, they wouldn't know the fracture points like someone with experience would. It would have to be somepony like me handling them to make that work!"

My mind paused and the conversation went quiet... suddenly, she realised what was going through my head.
"You want me to go do it now, don't you?"

"What!?" I recoiled in horror. Admittedly the thought had passed through my head, but I would never have asked it of her.

"I know what you're thinking, I know it's essential we stop that barrage. Look, I'm not all that safe sitting in a building right now. If that missile barrage commander notices where I'm at, I'll quickly become a sitting duck. You need to come and pick me up, take me to where the stash is and defend me while I do this. Maisy is too large, she'd make it obvious."

"What about you though! That... that's a damn dangerous proposition!" I didn't like the sounds of this at all.

"Who would you rather trust, Crimson? A bunch of kids who admit to having no experience with this kind of situation, or a full grown mare who you have seen destroy an entire mountain face and sculpt it to her needs with ease? Crimson, you have no choice but to come pick me up because if you don't, I'll be making my way to where you're at right now on hoof."

Nervously, I began to disagree. "No... you wouldn't! You couldn't! I haven't even told you where I am!"

A sense of confidence that only a mare who'd just won an argument was conveyed in her tone as she spoke, putting dread into my heart as she did. "Crimson, are you an idiot or something? Don't answer that, I know you can be at times. Anyway, have you already forgotten I've been tracking your location for years now? I know exactly where you are, it's on my map."

Looking down at my pipbuck, I realised she was right. Sighing in defeat, I had no choice. She was right. The colts hadn't the proper training to pull this off and I couldn't have let them risk their lives to attempt it anyway. Instead, I looked at them in the eyes as I spoke.

"I'll be right back, you lot stay here. Cherry is right, she'll be able to make sure the job gets done and on top of that, her magic can hide her a hell of a lot better than any of you can. I'll be back in a moment. If you need to go, leave the C4 hidden in the bushes there, got it?"
In unison, the colts nodded. Spreading my wings, I rose up into the air.

Flying through the sky above the battlefield, insurgent forces were really getting their asses kicked now. One of the buildings had been entirely toppled, turning what was previously a clean road into a messy mountain of scrap metal, concrete and broken glass. The environment they were fighting in had entirely changed but that now began to suit the insurgent forces some more.
Slowly the coalition climbed up the heaps onto to have sharp-shooters pick them off one by one and firebombs thrown at entire squads.
The battle raged and dead bodies littered the ground on both sides. No matter what happened today and what outcome this would be, everyone had lost.

As I approached Cherry's building, the crack of her rifle sounded loud. I couldn't see the battleground she was aiming at, it was behind me now, but I had no doubt she would have hit her target.
Hovering up to the floor I'd seen her rifle poking from, I took off my helmet and called her name.
"Cherry, Cherry, you there?"

"Yeah, give me one second.. there's one more..."

A near deafening roar emanated from nearby as she fired again. Only then did she run towards me and point to the ceiling, shouting something about the roof.
Flying up to the roof, the ringing in my ears began to fade and I heard someone running up the stairwell. Seconds later, she busted the door open and looked at me with a smile.

"Sorry, all good now." She muttered as she kissed my cheek and climbed on top of my back before calling out her battlecry. "NOW, CHARGE MY STEED!"
Her steed? I'd give her my seed in a minute if she said something like that again, I thought.

Flight was a lot harder now I had the extra added weight of Cherry on my back, but I still did my best. As we were half way along, some bastard fired a rifle at me, hitting my chest and causing us to drop into a dive as the pain took over.
As we plummeted towards the ground, I felt Cherry's grip tighten around my neck as she stifled a scream of horror.

No. I was not going to let my marefriend die because of me, especially not like this.
Doing my best to ignore the pain, I regained control and gained some speed because of it, using that to fly away from the battleground and towards our mark instead.
As we reached there, I saw three adult zebras wearing coalition armour where the kids were previously waiting.
Their guns were raised, and looking where they were pointing, the children ran for their lives.
My eyes went wide and I sped towards them, but Cherry stroked my mane and whispered into my ear. "They're mine." She said.

Blowing the anger through my nostrils, I let her have this chance. If she wanted it, she could have it. Dropping her just before the zebras ahead, I flew up and hid atop of the building like I had before.
Watching from above, I was close enough that I could see and hear them laughing about what they were doing, my blood boiled with righteous fury. I wanted them to suffer for daring to shoot children.

Crouching as she made her way over to them, Cherry snuck up to the offending zebras. In a move that I didn't expect from her, she pulled out her SMG and called out their attention, my eyes went even wider than before as she began to spray at them as they turned. Their bodies hit the floor with a communal pool of blood quickly building up, they had got the best they could have deserved.
Jumping on down to where she was, I looked at her, still shocked.

"You... you normally..." I began, unable to think straight.

"They were shooting kids, Crimson. You're right, there's times for mercy and there's times for justice. Some acts just don't deserve anything but justice. This is one of them."
Nodding in agreement, there was nothing else I could say. She was right, this did deserve nothing but justice. I just supposed that what I saw as fit for justice and what she saw was different.

Quickly grabbing the C4, I loaded her up. "Now what?" I asked, needing to see what she had planned.
Instead of answering straight away, she looked out at the highway and it's supports. Rubbing her chin with her hoof before muttering something to herself, I could tell she was working away inside her head to figure out the best plan of action.

Slowly she turned to me, nodding to herself. "You need to guard me at that location." She then pointed to one of the struts, far away from where the road met the ground but just before where the missiles were planted down at. "That's the best point to blow up, probably the weakest too seeing as it curves there. So, I'll go plant the C4, you stick around, I'll tell you once I'm done and it'll be set to blow after thirty seconds. That makes enough time for us to head out, doesn't matter where to, just get going. Got it?"

I nodded. "Okay, let's do this!"

The approach to the strut had surprisingly been free of trouble, though we still kept our wits about us and travelled slower than usual. I had offered another lift, but she declined on the basis that I'd need every ounce of strength I could muster to get away in time and being worn out from carrying her would only risk my life.
Still, as I watched out for as many directions as I could, Cherry got to work.

"Almost done, just a second longer Crimson." She murmured to me, focused in her work. "Got it. Pressing the charge now, Crimson. GO!"
Wait... why was she already passing me? To my surprise, she'd already managed to bolt away from the demolition and ran as fast as she could. Getting my act in gear, I began to do the same in the direction I was already facing.

Running between piles of rubble that covered the road, I began to wonder how long I had and if I was a safe distance away. Seeing a building, I decided to be behind it was probably the best idea.
Or not... as I went around the corner, a group of coalition soldiers armed with melee weapons looked at me.

"GET HIM!" One of them screamed as they all turned towards me, angry looks upon their faces.

Shit.
Turning on my hooves, I made for the other direction, back out in the open blast zone of the demolition. Damn did I hope I was far enough away from the-

The blast from the charges blew Crimson from his hooves, onto the ground a few feet away. Fortunately for him, so had the coalition soldiers been in the blast radius.

Slowly my eyes opened, I was being dragged away by something... the world seemed dark and my vision was blurred, my head pulsing heavily. It was a struggle to stay awake and my eyes shut once more as I passed out.

Again I woke up, what had only felt like seconds later but must have been minutes. I saw the battleground, it was moving away from me. Familiar voices from back home filled my ears, but I couldn't tell who.
Instead, I just knew that I wasn't dead. I didn't know why though, I didn't know where I was going or who was dragging me.
It didn't matter, my eyes shut once more. The battle was over for me.

---o---o---o---

Footnote:
Level up!
Perk unlocked! Military Commander!
Military robots will now come to your aid if they are in the nearby vicinity, this applies to all government approved security robots as well.

50 Medicine attained.
(73 Small guns attained)

Footnote:
Cherry Sundae level up!
Perk unlocked! BOOM!
Your ability with explosives is beyond uncanny, it's unnatural! You can tell where is the best place to use planted explosives and thrown explosives do more damage.

50 Explosives attained.

Footnote:
Maisy level up!
Perk unlocked! CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP!
You can (quite disgustingly) eat just about anything that's organic and smaller than you! This restores some health, but may make anyone who sees you do this (to their species) hostile to you if they see you doing this.

:|
Thirty... fucking... thousand.
Thirty thousand words and then a little.

:|

Do you realise how much effort I put into this chapter? God, I hope you do. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad with this, not at all. I'm just saying is all. I'm surprised it lasted this long.
A standard Project Horizons chapter is 21,700 words.
The longest PH chapter I can recall was 28,752 words without commentary, this is 30,739.
No, I'm not saying the quality is anywhere near that of Horizons. However, this marks a personal achievement for me in that I managed to write a single chapter that's so long.

I tried to make the combat different than usual. I tried to kick Crimson's ass at times. I tried. I swear I tried.
If you want, berate me. If you think I've done awful, let me know and I promise I won't try something like this again.
However, if you think this chapter is amazing in any way, PLEASE let me know. PLEASE.
Be it your first time commenting or that you comment regularly, the amount of effort I've put into this is insane.

I don't know how people like Somber or the guy who writes Murky do it all the time with such frequency.

Well, it's coming up to Christmas and I can promise you there won't even be a whisper of an update until after then. I'll do a little writing before, maybe, but nothing will be released aside from my blog, so I'll say it here too:
Merry Christmas and happy new year if I make no news before then.
I hope you've all had a wonderful year and I wish you another good one.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Arcus Audicus for being such an amazing fan and friend,
I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to Katarn for being my go-to guy with anything I need to talk about involving the story.
I'd ALSO like to dedicate this chapter to Joey for being my unofficial editor who lets me know of grammar issues he finds.
Heh heh heh. Try this one on for size, Joey.

Anyway, as well as that, people of note: Camobadger for reading from chapters 11-16 in a single weekend to catch up with my story! He's a great guy and a great author, you should check him out!

Also of note, Epic doughnut, regolit and Noakwolf for always being so free about chatting with me. I'd honestly love it if everyone felt they could.

Lastly, I dedicate this chapter to everyone who reads Broken Bonds.

THIS HAS BEEN KIPPERSHY, YOU'VE BEEN READING BROKEN BONDS.
HAVE A GOOD NIGHT EVERYPONY!