“You know, what Barley was sayin’ makes perfect sense right ‘bout now,” Blue commented, slowly backing away with Shriek as the wave of grisly faced thugs marched closer and closer. “It’s a trap, so we should leave. Get word to another guard patrol in the city or somethin’. Like, right about now would be a good idea for that, right?”

“And leave Barley behind?” Shriek asked. She caught sight of her teammate duking it out with the criminals’ leader, Scarlet. While her attacks with her multiple daggers would prove a threat to most ponies, Barley’s surprisingly quick reflexes and movement caused him to avoid most of her slashes and cuts. His mouth was wrapped around his hammer’s handle, jaw clenching hard to keep it in place. With one dagger stab to his right he’d duck to the left, flare out his wings to pick up some air to soar around the mare, then come in for an attack with a mighty blow of his hammer. It was all so fast and smooth for one of Barley’s size and body dimensions that you wouldn’t have expected to see such a sight more than once in your lifetime. “That isn’t going to happen.”

Blue shrunk before the first thug that popped into view. He was a stallion with a wretched facial complexion that only came from living in filth and never bathing most of one’s life. Though he did make up for it in pure intimidation, stench and muscles.

“M-maybe w-we should—” Blue was interrupted as Shriek let out a furious warrior shout that nearly exploded his ear drums. Jumping with her wings giving her extra lift, she descended upon the group of mooks like a lion to its prey. “—get backup…”

Much like a lion, Shriek was ferocious with her attacks. The claws from her gauntlets extended out with a quick flick of her hooves, three sharp metal claws curved to a wickedly sharp point and razor edge. With ease of movement she dodged one goon’s swipe of his axe at her head, the edge of the weapon just barely peeling the paint off of her helmet. Then with one rapid strike she knocked his weapon out of his mouth, and with her other hoof she grabbed him by the scruff of his dirty jacket and propelled him over her shoulder to crash into several of his companions.

All in all, she had already taken out up to four or or more bad guys in less than five seconds. And from the smile on her face and nod for the others to come at her, she wasn’t even breaking a sweat yet.

Glancing at one another, two mooks nodded and charged at her at the same time, circling around so one came from her left and the other from her right.

Shriek didn’t even look at either of her attackers. With a quick hop she sprung up in the air, just as the goons were within grabbing distance of her. Then with her back legs she kicked both of the back of their heads together, slamming their faces together in a gritty mash of broken noses and knocked in teeth.

“Blue, are you going to help anytime soon?” Shriek asked, kicking the throat of the next goon to get within her striking area. As he choked on his trachea, Shriek grabbed him with her claws and threw him at the crowd of thugs. “Because I can’t keep them off forever!”

“I… I… I…” Blue’s lips quivered as he hung onto his spear to keep himself from falling to the ground as his entire body shook underneath his armor. The mob of bad guys who hadn’t directed their attention to Shriek now stared at him. Their hungry eyes spoke to Blue immediately. He was easy prey. He was next. And most important of all...

He was screwed.

“I’m outta here!” Blue shouted, snapping on his spear with his teeth and running down the alley as fast as his hooves could take him. He was sure he could hear Shriek yell out ‘coward!’ behind him, but he wasn’t sure. His heartbeat was pumping so loud in his ears he couldn’t even hear himself breath.

The sound of following hoofsteps from the criminals stuck on his trail for some time, but Blue was in a death run for his life that did not slow down one bit. Flying off of walls, sliding across alleyways and even soaring across rooftops, Blue was not about to stop until he was positive his life would be safe.

Finally, after some time had passed and the thundering roar of hooves behind him died out, did Blue finally come to a rest. Heaving in and out gasps of desperately needed air, his spear dropped from his unclenched teeth, falling with a thud to the ground. His legs were sore, his heart threatened to explode out of his chest and he felt like collapsing to the ground from pure exhaustion as the adrenaline wore off… but at least he was alive.

And that was the important thing, right?

His teammates’ lives were at stake, and they could very well be dead by now, but at least he was alright. He wasn’t dead, like they probably were. He managed to survive. To get away safely. Just like always.

So why was he crying?

“Oh dear Celestia… mom and dad were right,” Blue cried into his hooves, crawling into a ball as another sob wracked through his body. “I ain’t a guard. I ain’t a good pony like Shriek or Barley. I’m a… a coward! A no-good coward who couldn’t even stick it out to help his friends!”

This wouldn’t be the first time he’d run away. From his responsibilities, from his friends, from the ponies who cared about him. Except now, he felt actual guilt over it. A painful, intense guilt that stabbed him in the heart and twisted deeper and deeper into him until he thought he’d surely cough up blood.

“What do I do?” Blue asked himself, squinting hard through the strain of tears. “How can I fix this? How?”

Blue shifted his gaze to his spear. The weapon he was assigned to when the squad was formed. Each squad needed a spears-pony, a hammer-pony, and a claw-pony to function to the best of their abilities. Each weapon worked in conjunction with the other, depending on the user’s ability to work with their squad. Its purpose was to draw on one another’s strengths and use it to their advantage in battle. A battle he currently abandoned to save himself.

And for once in his life, he was tired of thinking only about himself. That had gotten him nothing but grief and heartache over the years. But this time, his team needed him. Shriek and Barley needed him.

“And I’ll be damned if I don’t give my best shot at helping them,” Blue said, finishing his thought. Wiping his eyes and grabbing ahold of his spear, Blue stared up at the night sky. He smiled up as the moon shined down its benevolent light down upon him.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Back In Business, Baby! Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes