The skies were clear from clouds, just like those above the ocean, it truly was the most wonderful of sights.
The turquoise skies blended with not even a hint of harshness with the lilac and mango clouds ahead, the subtle mauve gently contrasting against the burgundy that hung upon the sky.
I watched as the sun slowly drifted across the sky, everything was warm and peaceful, happy beyond words.
I was flying, normally that didn't seem special at all, but right now with the wind rustling my feathers and the sun gazing overhead, it felt wonderful. I was carefree and there was nothing to do.

The hills were covered in lush, green grass, the trees all had leaves and the mountains felt homely.
There wasn't anything more wonderful in the entire world.
I could live like this forever.

Then a rumbling noise came from below, as I looked down I saw the earth shatter and crack open.
A purple mist came pouring out of the earth, a rainbow coloured gunk protruding behind, slowly but surely making its way up.
Large circular bays opened from the corner of my eye, and as I turned to them, I saw missiles begin to launch, their streaking trails going off into the distance as they flew away.

A large explosion followed, and I looked behind me to see the cause.
Manehattan fell into a blast of destructive force, the sky turning green and yellow as the missile fell on the outskirts.
I recoiled in horror as the flames expanded in all directions.

I began screaming in terror, my voice not my own. Looking down I could see the rampant wasteland as it turned to grey, dark, dismal destruction. Nothing lived, but somehow, we survived.
The sky grew dark as clouds come pouring over the skies as if the sun itself wished to see no more.
The world would now learn the true horrors of war.

Forgive us, for we have sinned. The world now prepares to be rid of us,

I slowly opened my eyes to find that my vision was completely blurred, but then I began to notice.. her?
Alone stood a midnight blue... I couldn't believe what I was seeing, a midnight blue alicorn?
She looked at me with a nod, and softly spoke.
"Yes."

That was all she said, before slowly disappearing, beginning with her hoof and slowly moving upwards to her horn.
She didn't create a sparkle like Cherry with her magic... was.... was she even real? Was I still dreaming?
Gently I felt her muzzle brush against my ear and my heartbeat stopped for a moment, as she began to whisper.
"I am real. Indeed. Now back to sleep with you, You shall come to no harm."

I felt her hoof softly yet assertively push me back down onto the bed, and I had no choice but to comply. I laid there in disbelief and shock, for as her hoof pulled away, a gentle kiss was pressed against my head.
I had to be dreaming still. I just had to be.
But as I looked around me, everything was normal again. It was still night time, but I could tell the skies hadn't changed, the world around me was still rubble and stone as I had always known it to be on the outside, and Cherry still lay in bed next to me.
Which begged the question, what had just happened?

Slowly I felt a drowsiness overcome me, and I fell back asleep.

The night passed without another incident, without any further vivid dreams, without anything else strange.
When I had asked Cherry if she had any strange dreams or experiences during the night, she simply shrugged and told me I was having a weird dream, and asked if us Stable ponies could even have dreams, being kooked up in a metal box all our lives.
I huffed at that remark, I got out plenty and had lots of fun! She just giggled at how easily she could tease me at times.

Cherry laid in bed and wiggled her rump as she called out to me.
"Crimsoooooon. I'm hungry, oh, I'm more then hungry, I'm starrrrrrrrrving."
There was a teasing in her voice and when I looked at her, the smirk across her face was huge.
"Get me something to swallow?"
She winked at me as she said those words and I felt a shiver of joy down my spine... no, I couldn't, she wasn't well enough yet, I had to put that behind me.
I sighed and grabbed a few apples out my saddlebags, chucking them over to her and she looked at me.
"Apples huh?"
I just looked back in response. "Yes, apples."

We ate together and enjoyed making a mess of ourselves all over the bed. If we couldn't have messy fun in other ways, damn it, we were going to have messy fun somehow!
I kissed her cheek and got up, stretching my wings out. "So. Time to train the newbies in proper gun handling I suppose."
"Oh, you so aren't doing that without me." Cherry retorted. "What do you know about guns anyway, hmm?"

I looked at her and began to mock her, to perfect success. "My gun loads a 12.9x99mm round, firing at a speed of roughly 880 meters a second, the impact from this can tear a limb clean off, or made the torso explode if the conditions are just right."
She simply looked back at me in utter astonishment, barely able to speak.
"Where.... where the hell did you learn that?"
I gave a proud laugh. "What, you honestly think I didn't go through rigorous firearms training? Tank isn't the only place with guns in Four Ridges. Hell, where do you even reckon they came from in the first place?"
She sat there, mindlessly staring at me.
"The Stable has its own supply of guns, ammo, firearm training range... and besides all that, I've also been on the specialist training course that is run by the Tank Merc Group."

I smiled, and slowly it seeped into her. I was far from tame, naive or stupid. I was a trained force of destruction, and I'd already shown the willingness to prove it.
"Oh, and my gun?" I continued on, to further confound her.
"Fires a .40 Spike&Whooves 10x22mm cartridge. Capable of killing a pony through hydrostatic shock faster then blood loss..."
I just gave her a 'do I need continue' smile and she shook her head. I had won.

She refused to speak another word to me all morning after that, which I probably deserved to be honest. Guns were what made Cherry feel special to herself, I understood that, but I also couldn't just sit there and let her believe that I had no formal training, when I had standard, adept and specialist training under my hooves.

I casually trotted out up to the roof and took a look around. Realising what a perfect guard post this could be, I realised just how much hard work we'd done over the last day.
We'd turned this slum into a village with the physical capacity to defend itself and now I was going to give them the gift of training. Maybe if they'd just had proper gun handling training and practice, they could become a self sustainable town worth recognition, rather then "that place over there" as Pockets had made it seem.

Truly, the longer I sat upon the roof, the more I came to realise just how sturdy that wall would be.
Flying opponents would find it no challenge, admittedly, but then no wall would prevent me, or Maisy, from simply flying over unless it had defences designed for such an occurrence or a roof to stop us.

Off in the distance there was a swarm of creatures scattering about.
They looked absolutely disgusting even from this far away... they had ten legs and what looked like a whole bunch of eyes all bunched together. Eugh. Worse? They were headed this way.
Still... this would possibly provide adequate firearms training, and make good use of the wall around us.

I jumped off the building and began to fall, plunging down to the ground, I closed my eyes.
I heard the screams of a bystander who had just made their way out of their house... and opened my eyes and pulled up in the nick of time.
Swooping, soaring, rising through the sky, I had such speed that I felt like lightning, and not wearing my armour for once only made it feel all the faster.

"WAKEY WAKEY COLTSHIRE COMMONS, TIME FOR GUNS TRAINING 101!"

That got their attention. At first it was just dribbles of them walking out of their houses, but quickly it became bunches, and within a matter of minutes the entire town was rallied outside to find out why I'd given them all an early morning wake-up call.
The residents were mostly grumpy about having been woken up, but by my pipbuck the time was now 7:50 so they could just go buck a duck and get over it for all I cared. This was going to be done my way, if they liked it or not.

I felt a weird sense of nostalgia as I landed in front of the crowd on the top of a building and spoke to them all, it was just like being back at Tank.
"Citizens of Coltshire Commons. It is time for you, my little ponies, to get proper, informational and practical firearms training. Each and every citizen who is not required to tend to the severely injured - or not involved in some other ultra essential task must come with me for training.

Three ponies began to sneak away, but I cut them off and stood in front of them before they knew it.
"So, What's your excuse for not wishing to be attending my firearms courses?" I asked, knowing it'd most likely be some lazy response.
The brown buck simply looked both ways before hanging his head down to the ground. "I... uh... I don't have an excuse."
Sighing, I began to explain myself.

"Every adult buck and mare must get this training, because with it you can defend yourselves, without it you are helpless and weak." The brown buck went to interrupt me, but I continued with confidence. "No matter who you are, your being capable of hitting a target at 20 feet matters. Do YOU want to be the only pony left capable of shooting back, being responsible for fighting the last raider left when you remember 'oh wait, I don't know how to use a gun' and get yourself, and everypony else killed? Thought not. Now, listen to what to what I have to say."
He whined, but stepped back to the crowd. The other two followed suit.
"Good." I muttered to myself as I flew back top the building to address the crowd once more.

After giving everypony proper firearms handling training, making sure they knew about safeties and proper ammunition handling, I made sure they knew proper maintenance of their weapons.
It was shocking how little these ponies knew, it explained why eight of them had been so badly injured during the last raid, with however many others dead.

It was tough, but over the course of the morning everypony managed to get to grips with it, and Maisy had come out of her house and made sure none slacked.
Once they all seemed confident in themselves, and I felt confident in them myself, I walked up to Maisy.

"Maisy, there's a whole herd of... creepy crawly things headed this way from the east. Do you mind going out there to see what they are? If they're not too dangerous, tease them over this way, if they're here, let me know somehow. If they're very dangerous, don't get yourself hurt. Please, don't get hurt."
She smiled and picked me up before rubbing her cheek to mine. I giggled and hugged her.

She jumped into the air and took off. I turned to the crowd.
"Now it's time for some real training. I'm going to make two groups. Group A is short range firearm users, you'll be with me. This goes to anyone who uses a pistol, shotgun or assault rifle. Group B is intermediate to long range guns, which means hunting rifles and sniper rifles, you'll be with Cherry Sundae. Group A on my left, group B to my right."

Thankfully it wasn't hard for them to sort themselves out into neat, orderly groups with a 70/30 split between A and B. I liked that, because it meant they'd not only learned proper discipline while under my 'authority' but also that the town had a perfectly reasonable ratio of short and long range users.

I led group A over to the wall and had them all line up along the defences, to which they came to realise just what a wonderful piece of work they had done.
I smiled. Group B then followed me to the roof of the apartment, and waited atop of the building while I went back inside to grab Cherry.

"Cherry baby?" She looked at me with a distasteful look, I'd really upset her.
"I'm sorry, I know guns are your thing and I apologise. I really am sorry, and if you feel ready, I'll make it up to you tonight."
I saw her eyes light up for a moment before she shook her head and pulled a sour face.
"No, Crimson. You're not winning my forgiveness over that easily."
I smugly looked at her as I walked over and licked along the edge of her ear. Her face became even more scrunched up before giving in with a tiny moan as I began to nibble on the tip.
"Crimsoooooon! Nooooo! Hmph! Fine. You win... tonight."

The idea had me excited, but I had to focus. Back to what I came in here for...
"Cherry, I have something else that will cheer you up!" I smiled huge at her and headbuttered her side until she got out of the bed and hit me playfully.
"What could that be then? Hmmm?"
"You have a group of long range gun users to instruct waiting up on the roof for you."

Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide, she was happy once more.
"REALLY? REALLY REALLY REALLY?" Her voice bouncing around the room as she jumped.
I grimaced at the thought of her doing so much so soon, but she then calmed down.
With a kiss onto my cheek, she whispered into my ear. "Thank you. Now, lets get to work."

Cherry made her way onto the roof and began to giggle as she looked into the distance. Confused, I took a look myself.
Then I saw what had made Cherry fall onto the floor laughing.
Maisy had found a partner to... mate with.
I just looked at Cherry and shrugged.
"Well, it's not like she's exactly got no need for that I suppose" I quipped, and Cherry just looked at me with a grin.

Slowly making my way off the side of the building, and allowing myself to simply fall sideways, I laughed as I heard somepony gasp at my actions. Obviously they'd forgotten pegasus ponies can only fall to their death if they can't work their wings. Far from the case with me.
Slicing through the sky like a bullet through fabric, I brought myself over to the wall.

The disgusting creatures were a lot closer now, and just as I reached them the creatures had come into view from the wall, coming over the rolling hills. I could see clearly now, they definitely had ten legs and a whole bunch of eyes, black fur. Euck.
"RAAAAAAD SPIDDERS!" One of the mares screamed.
I asked. Why did I ask? "Rad...spiders?"
"Dangerous, poisonous, tough buggers. We need to kill them all, or they'll infest the area."
I smiled. what was the problem with that? they had a wall now!
"Oh. And they can climb... vertically, even hang off ceilings. To make it worse? They have no problems eating ponies if they catch you.
...Great.

The volley began with Cherry taking the first shot, and the rad-spiders skull exploded. Hollow point bullets? She had loaded them up in preparation for Maisy if things went bad with her, now I thought about it.
A few seconds later, the ground began to explode as poorly aimed bullets hit it, and not the intended targets.
It took them a good half minute, but after a few tries they started to hit their targets, with varying degrees of efficiency.

Pop... Pop... Pop. CRACK.
You could always tell when Cherry had decided to take aim because the biggest of them all would explode with stunning accuracy each and every time, the sheer sound of her gun alone completely outclassed anything that the others were using.
Though I was worried. There was still another twenty spiders and they were getting awfully close.
I raised one hoof into the air.

"Volley round one. Ready. Aim. Fire at will with the tempo to my feet." I began marching on the spot, and the clattering of assault rifles filled their air.
Split second bursts cracked the spiders limbs apart, but they continued coming. The sound of my hooves clanking on the stone wall gave the militia something to focus on, and everyone kept calm to the best of their abilities.

"Volley round two. Ready. Aim. Fire when in range."
The sound of pistols took over from the sound of the rifles from atop the apartment building. They were far too close for the long range group and if they had missed, it could've easily been a pony that died, rather then a rad-spider.
Though the bullets from their 32. calibre and 9mm pistols seemed ineffective, the two ponies with a .44 revolver and .45APC automatic pistol tore the spiders a few more holes.

Six spiders left, but they were now at the wall.
"VOLLEY ROUND THREE. READY. AIM." I shouted at the top of my lungs and pulled out my own shotgun. I looked around at the four other shotgun wielders as the people will assault rifles pulled out whatever melee weapons they had or simply made their way to safety.
The first one to climb up saw my barrel pointed right at its eyes as it stared over the wall... I saw it blink in the last second of its life as buckshot scattered through its brains and the purple goo covered the floor below.

One by one, the loud clangs of shotguns going off devastated the remaining spiders.
Coltshire Commons was safe once more. The last two spiders began to flee, and I ordered my group to cease fire.
I flew up to Cherry, and simply winked at her.
"You take left, I'll take right. Deal?"
She was smiling like it was her birthday. I took off once more and flew up to the rad-spiders, casually landing in front of them.

"So uh, I heard you're about to die?"
I heard the two hiss at me as I slipped into S.A.T.S and pulled out my shotgun. The rad-spider flew back a few feet from the impact and the other exploded as it brought its front legs up to grab me.
I simply yawned at the sight, before checking they were definitely all dead.

Two remained alive, crippled, but alive. I gave them swift mercy from their pain with a knife I had borrowed from one of the mares,
They were no longer a threat, and Coltshire Commons had proven itself capable of handling an assault from 30 odd rad-spiders that would've massacred the village had it not been for our help and training.

While the corpses of the rad-spiders were collected, mayor Gut-Rot approached me.
"Crimson. What you did earlier? That was completely out of your authority. However, I cannot thank you enough. Not only are we properly armed, defended, and trained now, but we've experienced some combat and seen our own skills and capabilities. Thank you."
Nodding my head in a gesture of gratitude, I took a look at the honest smile on her face.
"You're welcome mayor. Just... remember Four Ridges if you even hear of any water talismans, okay?"
"Of course Crimson, We'll hold our end of the bargain up. Now... there's something I want to..." She paused for a moment, obviously trying to find the proper words. "I'm not entirely sure about this, but there's something I want to offer you the chance for."

Her eyes had a worried look, they weren't focused on me but nor were they focused on anything in particular.

"Crimson. There's a reason why I came out here with the doctor, to found this village. It wasn't just to have my own place though, it was actually something completely different."
I looked around and smiled before suggesting that if it's a long story, that she's more then welcome to come round to our temporary room in the apartment.
She nodded and smiled at the offer for some rest.

"So, As I was saying earlier. This village was never founded with the express intention to become a town. It was originally only a camp, which became an extended stay. You see, originally this was only an expedition into the hospital, because there's something... special, about that building."
The look on my face must've said it all, before I could even utter a word she continued telling me the story.
"There was, and still is, security inside the complex."

Cherry asked for me. "Security in the complex? In what form? Territorial? Hostile and actively scanning the whole building? Passive toward you?"
I had to admit, Cherry asked all the right questions and didn't try to rely on chances to try get an answer.

Mayor Gut-Rot just looked down and sighed before continuing. "Territorial, hostile but not actively seeking us out. It seems that the part of the complex we reside in is open to the public, or has it's security systems set to be passive unless under threat. We're not sure, We've never come across any security in the first section."

There was something that the mayor wasn't telling us, I knew it, but I didn't know what it was.
"What's in there that led you to make camp there, mayor." I looked at her with piercing eyes, trying to pry it out of her.
"Well... uh...."
"Mayor. For you to have set up an expedition, to make camp, to extend that into a village? There's got to be a reason. What did you find?"
She gave her secrets up to me without a fight.

"Medical equipment and supplies. Not just a little of it, and not civilian grade either. Pre-war military grade medical hardware and chems were here aplenty in this first section even. There's supposed to be more of it down below, but the only buck to ever make it down there died while fighting machines. His partner fled, came to Coltshire town, and I just happened to be sitting at the bar as he told us all."

"So, you're chasing down ghost stories." I quipped. Cherry let her trademark giggle out while the mayor simply rolled her eyes, I apologised. "I mean, you heard of it from a guy who had his partner ripped to shreds by robots? So there's a skeleton down there, lots of robots, and god knows what else?"
She nodded.
"It's off limits to most... but if you're able to get down there in one piece, you're welcome to see if there's any water talismans. If you manage to shut down or neutralise the security while you're down there, that would also be a big plus."

I looked cautiously at the mayor. "Why hasn't Maisy been sent down there?"
"Maisy?" She looked at me with shock.
"Yeah. Maisy looks like she could handle herself against a few robots. Why did you never just ask her old owner to go down there with her?"
The mayor just laughed. "She's afraid. Absolutely terrified of machines that shoot lasers. Not so much a sparkle cola machine, but sentries, turrets, anything like that. They're not natural and they turn her into a bigger wuss then my pet radbit."
That was good to know. Never expect Maisy to go up against any mechanical enemies. I sighed.

We'd spoke to the mayor for a while longer before she took her leave. We discussed everything from the general running of the village to the bandit problem they'd had as of late with the zonkey and his crew. Apparently they'd refused to pay settlers taxes to him and he'd tried to burn down their houses during the night.
They caught the arsonist as he began to burn down one of the houses and simply shot him right there and then. Ever since, the bandit had been out to kill them all for their "insolence".

Cherry wasn't keen on the idea of me going down the "hallway of doom" as she had so eloquently named it, but she knew it was better it being me then her with her current state. If the machines caught me, I could simply fight back, or even fly away, herself though? She was still unable to run, and even too much walking at this point in time would probably exhaust her while she was still recovering.

We had just finished discussing it and were simply enjoying some very gentle and calming cuddles when somepony ran up to our room and knocked on the door frantically.
"Come in." I hadn't been too keen on it, but I still kept my eyes closed and just enjoyed the relaxation.
I opened my left eye just in time to see the poor mare blush.
"I..." She was panting like crazy and I simply smiled at her.
"Breathe dear, breathe."
"I... I've been sent by... the mayor... the town is under attack..."
My other eye opened and I looked to Cherry.

"You, get on on that roof. I'm not allowing you to get up and close. Besides, your talent lays on your long range capabilities."
Cherry nodded at my commands and telekenetically grabbed her rifle from across the room.
"You, message mare. What gun do you use... wait... you were group B right?"
She simply nodded.
"Follow Cherry Sundae. Make sure nopony gets on the roof. Assist her in any way she asks."
"Yes sir."

I got myself out of bed and put on my armour double time. If someone wanted to attack the town, I would make good use of it as real combat training. Packing a new magazine into my 10mm and loading in three shots for the half spent shotgun, I prepared myself for the fight I was about to be engaged in.
I looked down at my grenades and thought about it for a moment... packed them onto my sides and had a brilliant idea.

The broadcaster switched on, the pipbuck screen giving me a range of options to choose from.
Scrolling down to "Tank Merc Group HQ" I clicked and began to speak.
"This is Crimson Wings of Stable 58, repeat, this is Crimson Wings. Do you copy?"
Nothing but silence and the crackling of static filled the room, Cherry looked at me in confusion.
"This is Crimson Wings, calling Tank Merc Group HQ. Do you copy?"
"We hear you, what's up Crimson?""Track my pipbuck location. I want support fire on a waypoint when I give the signal. Serial code H54-V"
"Got it."

I smirked at Cherry as the serial code processed into her mind, her eyes went wide with dread before looking out into the distance and smiling just as she had when she'd gotten the chance to take a chunk off the mountainside.
With a red flash before my eyes, I fell to the floor as she had me pinned and began to kiss me over and over.
"I LOVE EXPLOSIONS!"

I had floated down to the front-line from the apartment to speak to the mayor, who was in the middle of giving everypony a prep-talk.
Maisy sat behind the wall out of view of the enemies, hopefully they hadn't seen her.
I saw them on my E.F.S, the thirty or forty red ticks that filled up the entire northern facing part of my compass.
This was going to be a wild ride.

Just as the mayor was finishing up her speech, a lone pony with a ragged mane and bruised up and cut face with a burst lip and bruises all over her body slowly walked over to us.
The shame and pain in her walk was obvious even from this distance. One of the long range ponies raised their hoof, they all followed by raising their guns.
"HALT" The mayor shouted. They lowered their guns.

She took one look at the pony through binoculars and her face turned white.
"No... it can't be. That's... that's... oh my god. They.... It's Sugar Strand."
"Sugar Stand? You mean. MY Sugar Strand?" one of the bucks shouted from across the wall.
It was amazing to see his emerald green body just fly through the air so fast and before I knew it, he was already standing next to the wounded mare.

I looked to the mayor.
"Want me to go collect them. bring them here?"
The mayor simply looked back at me with a questioning look. "Can you collect them both at once?"
I knew the answer. "No."
"There's your answer then" She replied. "Unless you can get them both at once, I know him, and he won't leave without her, and he's too valuable to leave out there."
I sighed and looked down... to which I saw Maisy.

Should I? If I brought Maisy into view, it could agitate the attackers to attack early. The element of surprise would be lost. No. it wasn't worth it.
I looked at the mayor.
"Prepare the gates, this is going to be a speed essential mission. Get Doc D over to the hospital and ready for an extreme patient."
Mayor Gut-Rot nodded over to the grey buck by her side and he sped to the hospital. She nodded to the gate-keeper and he prepared himself.
I unfolded my wings.

If there was one thing I could never do without, it was speed. I loved the way it brought my mane through the air as it rippled like fire, and my hooves only felt too good at high speeds across the dusty, dry mud.
Within moments I was at the pair and simply grabbed Sugar Strand and threw her on my back.
"NOW, GATE. GO." I shouted at him. He was a fast pony on his hooves, but I had the advantage of wings.
Still, we reached the gate at the same time.

A shot smashed against the wooden gate as I went to go through, I hesitated for a split moment but then ran inside and the gate shut immediately after me.
We were safe, but hostilities had begun.

I turned the broadcaster back on and contacted TMG HQ once more.

"Crimson Wings here. Begin tracking now. Set my current location as endgame."
I had the sound of hooves tapping a keyboard. I didn't need a reply, that told me that they had began tracking.
"Location fixed. Target designation: endgame, confirmed. Moving howitzers within range as we speak."
I smiled. If we were to fail the defence of this town, we were going to make sure as hell they couldn't get a secure base of operations.

I looked back to the north as the emerald green pony took Sugar Strand off towards the hospital.
The red ticks were closer, filling up a broader area of my E.F.S. I had to act now.
"Mayor. Hold the fort, I'm going hunting."
She looked at me and began to speak as I hurled myself into the air, wings stretched and rocketed up into to sky.
I broke into the clouds and felt a static discharge. Damn that didn't feel good!
I lowered myself back down but none the less, I wasn't getting shot at so I supposed I that they'd lost track of me.
I hovered above the would-be second line.

Again, I spoke into my broadcaster.
"This is Crimson. Locate my current position and mark as secondary line of fire."
"Got it... and got it. Secondary line of fire confirmed."

I had two out of my three positions marked now. I just had to-
A bullet clipped my armour. They'd spotted me!
I broke into a dive and released all my remaining grenades at once into the mass.
Pulling up and barking into the broadcaster to mark my general location as primary firing line, I began to guesstimate the amount. It looked closer to fifty then anything.
More then I had expected....
Another shot pinged against my armour, and I felt my ribs ache from the force.

"Location confirmed. Howitzers are ready and waiting on serial code repeat."
"Twenty shells, primary target. Serial code H54-V."
"Target confirmed. Shells away."
I looked over in the distance, towards Four Ridges.
There was suddenly a flash that even in broad daylight could be seen from here.
I flew back to the village as fast as I could.

"DUCK AND COVER!"

Seemingly out of nowhere a high pitched whistling sound came as the shells came ever closer to the range.
Everypony looked at me as I frantically sped towards them, none of them taking my advice. I hadn't blamed them.
It had taken another ten seconds before the shells hit home, but the ground vibrated with a deadly force which shook the wall - thankfully it withheld the shock waves of the explosions with no sign of damage.

"Crimson. This is HQ. Launching second volley now."

Another five shells flew from the sky and crashed into the ground in front. Amongst the dust that had filled the air like a curtain, we saw raiders charging us and firing wildly in our direction.

"HQ, target third volley for secondary line. Send the fourth back to the primary line of fire. Prepare a fifth volley for endgame but do not, repeat, do not fire unless emergency authorisation codes are given."
"Affirmative. Next two volleys to be fired as planned, prepare a fifth for endgame but do not fire without emergency authorisation."
I knew I'd have to pay out my ass for this when I returned, but the professional nature of those guys was amazing and the ability to call fire support at a time like this was beyond any price.

The snipers began their rounds. Only one pony dropped but another two were definitely hit though, and slowed down. Still, it would've been nicer if they'd died, as morbid as that was.
Another five hits to the ground from the hooves of Luna's wrath, the dust was higher and closer. The marksponies were beginning to complain, but I ignored that.

My E.F.S told me that five raiders were getting close, and there was still the majority of their force untouched by the bombardment.
I readied my shotgun and stamped once onto the ground. Assault rifles and SMG's were raised to bare fire upon anyone who came out from the clouds of dust that had completely engulfed the entire battlefield, only leaving us twenty feet between the wall of dust and the wall of stone.

They all came at once, and in unison my shotgun, eight assault rifles and three SMG's ripped through them.
Blood stuck to the floating dust and for just a moment hung in mid air before slowly falling under its own weight.
I hadn't been in S.A.T.S but with how the blood sprayed, it sure felt all the same.

"Last volley, out. Endgame is being prepared now. Good hunting Crimson. We'll collect the fee from Stable authorities."
'Stable authorities'... my mother was going to be worried sick. My poor mother. I'd give her a call later in the day or something, just to explain it to her.
For now, the last of the bombardment was about to hit and the real fight was going to begin.

I jumped down and stroked Maisy's mane.
"Hey girl. You gonna be ready for when I call you?"
She nodded at me and unsheathed her claws.
The sheer size of them scared me, let alone how sharp they were.
I was so damn glad that Maisy had taken a liking to me already, I really didn't want to be on the wrong side of them.

The last of the shells hit just as I jumped back onto the wall and I watched as my E.F.S told me a good portion more enemies had dropped off the radar.
The shelling technique hadn't removed as many as I'd hoped however, and it seemed like it would still be a fierce battle.

The dust settled for good, and once more the marksponies began their volleys.
The gentle pops of 32 calibre hunting rifles and .302 snipers were suddenly outmatched by a roaring crack from behind.
The body of a heavily armoured raider exploded, sending metal shards into the crowd around him. I turned back and looked up to the roof of the apartment with a smile.
Thirty odd ponies left it seemed. Ten charged at once, eight of them making it through the long range group and four of them through the hail of assault rifle bullets.
I nodded to the other four shotgun users and we jumped down from the wall. This was our time to shine.

I slipped into S.A.T.S and raised my shotgun, bringing two shots crashing into the face of the raider opposite me.
He fell limply to the ground and I slipped out of S.A.T.S, charging forward gun in mouth and jumped onto the back of the next raider, who of all possible weapons, had a pool cue.
The poor fool had no chance to survive as I pressed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

One of us got sliced by a raider wearing armour with knives welded onto it all over, but the pony next to him fired both barrels at once and the raider was staggered. I rushed to the injured pony and picked him up in my hooves and slid the shotgun onto the hook on my armour.

"You, you're going to the hospital. You've done a good job but I'd rather keep you alive."
He just nodded with a disappointed look, but I just carried on once he was on the other side of the wall.
Flying back over the armoured raider had managed to push the other shotgun pony back as the two remaining defenders were handling others elsewhere who had made their charge.

I slipped on my helmet and called through to the skies.

"SHOTGUN USERS, RETREAT."

They all looked at me and made a break for the gate as I held off the armoured pony the best I could. His swipes were vicious, but clumsy and easy to dodge.
Upon hearing my call, another fifteen raiders had charged us. I flew up into the sky and saw the remaining forces begin to retreat. These were obviously the disposable troops, but possibly also drugged up to all hell.
It was time.

I took my helmet back off and whistled. Maisy jumped out from behind the wall, but none of the raiders took notice. They either knew death was unstoppable or they were too drugged up to care.
Maisy roared but they still ran towards her.
What followed was a bloodbath.

None of the attackers had managed to lay a hoof on Maisy, even though they all wore armour just as heavy as the knife user, her claws simply tore through it as if it was made of plywood.
Their screams of agony as she threw them into the air only to land on the ground, all their bones broken, was horrific.
I got flashbacks from when I had dropped Cherry.
Was that the sound she would've made? Would she have lived at all?
At that moment one of them sliced my face with a three bladed gauntlet and I cried out in agony myself.

My cheek was torn apart by the slice, but the attackers shrieking as Maisy ate him alive from behind put mine to shame.

The battle was won. We hadn't lost any ponies but four more were injured, not including Sugar Strand.
Though to have fought and won against such an amount was astonishing. We had done it. We had held the town against an aggressive force that would've previously had no trouble raping, killing and enslaving every pony in the vicinity.
We had won.

Now that the battle was over and it was safe, I looted as many corpses as I could.
I was still allowing a reasonable amount for the town but taking first pickings for myself, as was reasonable.
I hadn't managed to restock in any appropriate ammo, but we did find out that during the shelling that we had scored a critical hit to them, killing their medic.
Looting his corpse I found twenty-five healing potions, and I was quick to bag nine of those for Me, Cherry and Maisy.

In terms of food we didn't find a lot, but we did get enough to allow everyone a nice celebratory feast of sugar apple bombs, snack cakes and sparkle-colas all round.
That was a truly wonderful evening, the mood was calm and happy, joyous even. The village had overcome its biggest test of faith, and not only that, nopony died during its defence.

There was a real atmosphere in the air, that maybe after all the village had been through, that this was the beginning of a new era of safety and prosperity.
The celebration went through late into the night, and we all enjoyed the spoils.

Cherry and I had spent the evening partying, despite a severe lack of energy which we both shared. She still wasn't up to full strength from her chest and lung wound and me from the new 'scratch'.
Cherry was quick to reassure me that even if it scarred she'd still find me handsome and that it'd just add character, but I personally was a bit worried. Still, there wasn't a lot more that I could do then use a healing bandage on it.
Anyway, if Cherry didn't mind it I suppose it didn't matter for now.

As we walked into our room in the apartment I noticed the mayor had taken the liberty of leaving us a note on the bed.

I picked it up with my wings and flicked it tort, Cherry just nudged my side and told me to go on and read it.
"Dear Crimson and Cherry." I began to read aloud.
"Due to the efforts you have put into this town, I have decided you deserve a repayment of sorts."
Cherry interrupted me. "Repayments? Really? What of?"
I just rolled my eyes as I continued to read.
"As such, I bestow upon you a gift. In the draw on the right hand side dresser, you will find a key. This key is to the stairwell that leads to the upper roof penthouse. The one with the glass roof."

I just looked at Cherry. She looked at me back.
Slowly her face changed from confused to shocked to overjoyed.
"YOU'VE SEEN INTO THAT, WHAT'S IT LIKE? IS IT NICE? OOOOH! I WONDERED WHAT WAS ON THAT UPPER ROOF!"

I turned my attention back to the letter.
"This is yours to keep. You are welcome to stop by whenever you wish. Your items will be safe as there is only one key - So don't lose it.
Yours sincerely, Mayor Gut-rot.

P.s. I've made sure to have clean bedding we found in the storage of the suite applied to the bedding in preparation for you. Enjoy yourselves..."

Cherry's eyes lit up and her mouth hung agape for a moment before smiling smugly, opening up the dresser with her magic and then... using her magic to place the key under her tongue?
What the hell?

"A little... taster of what's to come. You want the suite? Come get it Crimson!" ...Or I think that's what she said. She spoke a lot clearer then then me with a shotgun in my mouth either way.
She wiggled her flank at me and all of a sudden it was all to clear.
Tonight was going to be fun.

The wind blew against the windows and made a slight whistling sound, waking me up during the middle of the night.
I looked at my pipbuck to see it was only 3:33am. Why did I wake up at such a weird time? I just shrugged and decided I felt refreshed enough for a little walk, especially after the night of fun.

I put my armour on and grabbed all my gear. I hadn't spent a lot of time out in the wastes, but it was already starting to feel natural to wear it and the matter of fact was the more I was used to flying around in it, the better.
Opening the latch on the roof door, I walked through into the brisk cold of the early morning breeze.
As I stepped out the door shut behind me, and the latch fell back into place.

Seemed I wasn't getting back inside until later in the day, so with this behind me I decided that maybe now would be the ideal time to go check out the 'corridor of automated death' I had been so told about.
It was only a short flight over to the medical facility, especially with the ability to simply glide there from up this high.
Opening up the door and slipping through was easy enough now the town was safe, they didn't feel a need to lock it like they had previously.

I was just walking along by all the beds when I accidentally tripped over a kid. Looking behind me as I got up, I went to apologise before noticing it was Dust Buckets.

"Hey, Sorry there Dust Buckets. Didn't see you there. What're you doing in here at this time in the morning?" My voice filled with a softness that comforted the poor colt, after having been knocked over.
He just looked at me and rolled his eyes. "I'm spending the night with mum, she's the head doctor here and I didn't want to be home alone. It's scary being alone sometimes."

I just nodded. I remembered being a small colt myself, sleeping in my own room was frightening at first. At least I had the safety of the Stable and mum was never further then the next door over.

"Uhm, anyway, I'm just back on my way back to bed, just needed to use the potty."
D'awwww, he still referred to it as the potty. Cute kid. He scampered off and I resumed course for the door.

When I found it, I was a little annoyed by the size of it. The door wasn't just like a blast door, it was a blast door.
Designed to keep ponies outside perhaps? Or was it to keep the dangers inside? Either way, it was stiff and heavy, but I soon got it open with a little more noise then I'd hoped to make.
Thankfully none of the patients had woken up however, so I wasn't going to have to apologise to any tired and cranky ponies.

I placed my helmet on as I walked through the door, the last thing I needed when trying to be stealthy was the helmet clanking on its latch hook and giving my position away with every movement I made.
I knew that stealth was going to be my biggest ally down here, as even with my shotgun and pistol, I didn't much fancy a shoot-out in the middle of the night with a bunch of automated security turrets and Goddesses knew what else that I might find.

Step by step the sound of my hooves was minimised by my ability to hover, gently flapping only the edges of my wings to give me a lighter, quieter touch.

Green triangular symbols with an eye were imprinted on the walls, I had no clue what they were but they seemed to do absolutely nothing so I didn't give them a second thought.
What I did find interesting however, was a particular symbol on a doorway ahead. It was the symbol used on the old world military flags, the two princesses circling what looked like the sun and the moon rolled into one. Definitely a military base, though that was almost assured even before that finding.

I pressed my hoof against the door to open it when I heard a clicking sound from behind me.
I slipped into S.A.T.S to try help me think as I went to turn around, activating in time as my head came to view the spectacle.
Dust... Oh god. The turrets were lowering themselves ever so slowly but I could still see them go down ever so gently, the clock was ticking even now.
Dust Buckets was halfway down the corridor and looked as if he was about to say something, but the turrets were sure to spot him.

I slipped out of S.A.T.S.

"DUST! NO!"

He began to shout back to me "Crimson! Not in here! it's not-"
That was all he managed to say.

Before I could even spread my wings to speed towards him the turrets took aim and began peppering the air with their bullets.
I saw Dust's foreleg explode in a red mist as he was hit by a barrage of bullets from the turrets.
I smashed into him at full speed and took a few bullets to my back as I did, no doubt I had just saved him from being shot even further, though I yelped in sudden pain as they smashed into my back plating and one bullet pierced through into my side.

Suddenly as I lay there, a robotic sounding voice came out of the ceiling from somewhere I couldn't quite pinpoint.
"Error. Friendly fire detected. Processing information... officer wounded in friendly fire event. Commencing shut-down of turrets in sector A."

I shook my head and looked down. Dust Buckets was laying there unconscious but alive, barely. His breathing was shallow and slow, he needed medical attention right now.

"DOCTOR DIRTHOOVES. DOCTOR."

I cried out for her, it woke everyone up and someone began to moan about the sudden noise until they saw the blood all over myself and the colt, whom was now missing a leg.
I picked him up and flew off to the emergency table, pulled the latch on my helmet to be able to speak normally again and tried not to panic... as if it was something easy to do.

Wrapping the colts wound up in the nearest clean rag I could find, I proceeded to tie a tourniquet around the shoulder to try stem the bleeding.
I grabbed four of the towns healing potions from their stock cupboards and poured one straight onto the wound.

Doctor D ran up to my side once she'd realised where I was and her voice turned to that one of sheer horror "DUSTY. OH GOD. DUSTY! MY DUSTY! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
I simply threw two healing potions to her and nodded over to the IV drip, she was shaking but quickly realised what I had meant and did her best to pour them in without spilling a drop.
I slid the needle into Dust Bucket's remaining forelimb, just looking at the wound in horror.

I then sipped the fourth potion myself, and felt the pain ease and the blood stopped running down my side.

Shaking at every moment, the doctor turned to me. The shock was evident in her eyes. "Wha- wha- What happened to my Dusty? How did this happen?"
I looked down at the ground.
"I went to explore the turret defended corridor. I didn't close the blast door behind me in case I needed to get out fast. Dusty had just been awake to use the toilet and was supposedly going back to your side when I bumped into him as I walked in."
"That... that doesn't explain this though!"

She began to cry and I lowered my head further.

"He... He must have followed me. I made it all the way to the door without being noticed by the security, and I was just opening it when I heard the click of the turrets coming out. When I turned around I saw him half way through. He was trying to tell me the area isn't safe when the turrets opened fire on him. I tried to save him. I.... I tried. Goddesses. I tried."
I broke into tears myself as I continued.
"I tried. But by the time I'd manage to reach him, his leg was already blown off. I took a few bullets myself which would've hit him as I grabbed and flew with him out of the corridor. I'm so sorry. I tried."

Her bursts of choking as she tried to breathe subsided for a moment as she began to speak.

"Crimson. Look- Look at me."

I looked up. Her hoof connected squarely with my left eye with such power that I was thrown to the floor. I thought I'd felt my eye socket crack under the sheer force, but the healing potion I'd drunk would take care of it if it had.
I just laid there and accepted the blow. I wouldn't try defend myself or stop her unless she tried to take my life.
Instead, she just fell on top of me in bursts of agonising tears.

"I... I... I'm s- s- so so- sorr- sorry Crimson."
Her tears warm and salty dropped against my still tender slice wounds from earlier. Now I'd have a black eye on the left and three slice marks on my right. What a sight.
She began to speak again once she'd choked the tears away for a moment.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you did what you could."
I just laid there and didn't speak a word or make any sound. I had no right to.
"I know you couldn't close that door." She continued "And you couldn't have known he was there. It's not your fault."

I breathed deeply as she got off me and walked back to the table. Her son laying there, a leg missing.
I rose to my feet, shook my head and huffed with a very angry tone.
"Those... fucking... turrets."

The doctor just looked at me as I stormed up to the corridor. The turrets sat there still, just watching me.
"YOU FUCKING TURRETS" I cried out as I slipped into S.A.T.S and lined up three shots for each of the two turrets.
They only took two shots each, but it felt good shooting the connection joints that they hung from all the same.

I ran to the door and bucked it as hard as I could, it flew open to show a large circular room with a big screen on the far wall.
In a fit of rage I sped in, uncaring about any threats that were hidden to my sides. They could all come at me at once, I would take them all apart piece by piece.

I stepped through the door, the metal clangs of robotic hooves surrounded me as I saw they spotted me.
Four protectaponies flanked each side of me, one by one they approached.
Their metal hides so familiar yet so different, so twisted and wrong. How anyone could design a robot to imitate the look of a pony was beyond me.

"You mother fuckers. You want at me? Fucking come at me. After what you and your security system did to him?"

They just looked at me though. Instead of shooting me as I had just shot their turrets, they simply looked at me.
It was almost as if they were waiting for me to make a wrong move... one more step, that would be it.
I would take one more step and they would decide I was too far into their territory, too far away from the door to be able to get out before it closed.

Sealing me in and entombing me to a fast, or slow death. That was how they were going to end me, that was going to be the way they won this fight no matter what, I just knew it.
It didn't matter to them, they could wait forever, they'd already waited over 200 years for this moment.

I reloaded and aimed my shotgun at one of their heads, but it didn't react. Slowly, I holstered my gun.
A green light came on in the corner of the monitor in front of me, It's emerald glow shone from behind. I turned around as fast as I could to see what it was coming from, dodge the incoming attack,
The camera stopped with the green glow.

"Please turn around for full confirmation of status... Please turn around for full confirmation of status... Please turn around for full confirmation of status..."

Obliging the mechanical call I turned around just to see what it would do, and the green beams went up and down the zone around me once more.

"Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel. Would you care to sign in via DNA confirmation?"
The protectaponies that were previously standing around me waiting for action had just bowed their heads before getting back to their aimless wander. I was utterly and truly perplexed.

I didn't know what to do, but the monitor began showing me diagrams of a hoof going onto a circle on the computer. Looking down I saw it and placed my hoof onto the DNA scanner.
A pinprick jabbed me and took a bit of blood suddenly.

"Fucker. As if you haven't taken enough of my blood with that turret system." I muttered to myself.
The computer hummed furiously as it tried to process the blood, before coming back to me in its robotic voice.
"DNA unlisted. However, your uniform shows your rank as Lt.Colonel. Our databases show that Lt.Colonel Waters is now deceased. Accepting your application for entry to database. Please state your last, then first name."

I blinked in shock. Really? It was going to accept me as it's leader just like that? I grinned.
"Wings, Crimson."
My authoritative tone spoke power into the machine as it beeped in return.

"Welcome, Lt.Colonel Wings. Would you like your complimentary duster?"
I looked at the machine. Complimentary duster? Well... why not I suppose?
"Sure."
As soon as the word left my mouth, one of the metal pony things walked over to me with a package on its back.
I looked at it.
..They had honestly gift wrapped a box and put a bow on it for me.

I undone the bow and ribbon carefully with my wings, undone the wrapping paper and opened the lid with my mouth.
Inside sat a brand new real brahminhide reinforced leather duster coat, which when I slipped on, fit me perfectly in every way. How the hell they'd done that was beyond me, and I could've sworn a strange way that it had reminded me of Zardoz somehow. Strange, wild lands these wastes were.

"Look, command console. Who, or whatever you are, I need to come back later today. I've got stuff to check on, such as the child shot by your security."
"You mean the turrets you've rendered inactive, Sir?" The robotic voice asked in return.
"Yes."
"Understood, Lt.Colonel Wings. Would you like us to shut down all security systems to this zone?"
Without even a heartbeat between the end of that sentence and the start of mine, I answered back. "Yes."

I'd walked out to check on Dust Buckets. Doctor D was still crying, but she gave me a hug and apologised further for hitting me. I simply motioned that I understood and carried on out of the building.
Flying over to the apartment I tapped on the glass door at the penthouse suite and woke Cherry up so she could let me back in.

We sat down and talked about what had just happened. Her face was filled with horror and dismay at the accident but also with confusion and wonder about the tales of being turned into a lieutenant colonel in the old equestrian armed forces. She had found a little humour in that.

I simply laid across the bed and looked at her as I began to cry again over Dust Buckets.

"Cherry. God. Cherry. It was awful. I didn't mean... I didn't know... I tried..."
She put her hoof on my mouth and turned the rest of my words into jumbled rubbish.
In the softest tone I'd heard from her in a while, she spoke to me. "Crimson. I understand."
I continued to cry, the pain from what had just happened still overwhelming me.

I looked up at her as she stroke my mane softly.
I began to beg through the tears. “Please... Please don’t leave me.” I needed her right now.
"Crimson. I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

Her words struck me speechless as she whispered them again before kissing my ear.
"I love you."

Footnote:
Level up!
Perk unlocked! Charming devil!
You gain +5 to both speech and barter with this perk! You charming devil you.

50 Small guns attained.

Footnote:
Cherry Sundae level up!
Perk unlocked! Trained instructor!
You have the ability to train other ponies thoroughly in your primary tag skills.

50 Lockpick attained.
55 Small guns attained.

As promised, I'm going to keep advertising the fact that the head picture came from WavemasterRyx, who can be found:http://ask-the-waves.tumblr.com/ !

My best friend Mel gets love for being amazing, supportive and keeping me going. <3
I know you don't want me to write anything soppy, but fuck, I love you and you are the air that I breathe, you are my guiding light in the darkness and you are my reason for staying strong amongst the weak. I love you.

Thank you both Kkat and Somber for both writing amazing stories that have inspired me to write. Without you two, there would be a massive hole in my world, and I don't know how I would've filled it otherwise. Thank you.

Lastly: Thank you to all of my readers. You keep me going with your compliments, your views, and the sheer interest this is getting.
If It hadn't gotten any interest at all, I wouldn't be realising this chapter now. Thank you so much, I love you all.
I'll keep doing my best to give you top quality chapters as often as I can!