After dealing with Applejack and Fluttershy I catch up with the others. True to what Storm said, no one seems to notice or care about our group walking down the street with our weapons and armor. Though I find the number of lingerie wearing hookers (and clients buying) a little disturbing. I have to remind myself not to stare down any alleys constantly before I see another stallions cock. After walking several blocks and taking several turns we find the edge of their territory. We can tell this due to the lack of hookers and the number of overly armored guards.

"Well.... we need to go four blocks that way." Twilight tells us as she rolls up her map. We all line up on the edge as several guards begin to eye us.

"OK we don't have time for that." I tell everyone as I flare my hands. I drop us down for several meters before going forward. "What the fuck is up with that city?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know." Twilight says as we share a glance and shiver.

"Seemed fine to me." Purple Edge says with a slight chuckle. Everyone pauses to look back to him, making him blush a bit. "You know... attractive mares and stuff..."

"Edge, do what you do best and keep to yourself." True Will says as he pushes forward. Edge shrinks back as we all turn to move on.

"Fucking mercs."

...............................................................................................................................................................

A few hours and kilometers later we finally find the eastern gate to Jasper. I take out the Daminus Clavis and feed some energy into it before slamming it against the door. The sound of rusted metal screeching against rusted metal fills the tunnel as the gate fights to pull up. It takes awhile, but when it finally get high enough for us to squeeze under, we don't like what we find.

"What the fuck is that?" I ask aloud.

"It looks... like..."

"An egg." Snow bound finishes as she pulls an arrow out and starts poking one of them. The entire entrance to the city has been taken over by pale white, slimy, pony sized eggs.

"Oy Ghost!" SteelClaw calls out.

"Yeah?"

"Ye got enough 'slposives ta break us in?" He asks with a toothy grin.

"Don't, I'll get us in, save your explosives for later." I tell them as I set Daminus Clavis on my back and think of the best way to get through.

"Do we really want to go this way though?" Twilight asks. "If these are eggs, then whatever laid them is probably still here. I don't want to mess with anything...."

SPLLSHH

"EEEWW!" All of the girls, and Purple Edge, scream as the gate jolts up, allowing the eggs to fall through. They were only set waist high, so they don't fall that far out.

"Well... now we can get through now." I offer. They all give me a look before Twilight starts levitating the eggs out of the way. We walk inside to the power generator room and take a look around. There are a couple more piles of these massive eggs filling the edges of the room. Patches of the walls and floor are missing, but they don't look as if they're bullet holes. Oddly enough, there are a few lights on in the room. Just enough to show our way around.

"I don't like this." Dust Devil says as her eyes dart around.

"Rarity, SubtleShift, come with me to the sub generators, the rest of you wait for us out front." I tell them. We head to the stairs and take them down to the sub generators. As we descended, I could feel something wrong. I could quit put my finger on it, but... I feel more... energetic

We reach the bottom of the stairs and freeze. The generators are on fire. Well, soul fire at least. Great, white flames jet out from all of the generators and fill the room with a blinding whiteness, forcing us up another level.

"What the buck was that?" SublteShift asks, making Rarity roll her eyes at his crudeness.

"One of you try lifting something, anything, with your magic." I say, getting odd looks from them. "I just want to see something." Rarity eyes me a bit before looking over to a nearby workbench. Her aura takes over it and...

THWAP

... it shoots straight up into the air and buries itself in the concrete ceiling.

"Oh dear."

"Well it seems the generators here are being over powered to the point of bleeding the energy into the air." I guess as Rarity and SubtleShift share a glance. "If I had to guess, anything archaic will be stronger and longer lasting while being easier..."

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW

An eruption of gun fire fills the room from above. We all take off for the top of the stair case, pulling my rifle out just as I step. Giant creatures, having three main body parts and six legs, are falling from the ceiling to attack our group. Twilight has put her aura shield as she frantically looks for her Medi-gun. A few of the others have been separated from her shield and are fighting off the advancing creatures.

"RARITY! Go and assist that group, SubtleShift watch her back!" I yell as I open fire on them. My bullets bounce off their skin, barely causing a scratch on them. OK, FMJs aren't going to cut it here. I look over to Rarity and see her struggling to hold her gun right, fighting the new found energy. I draw my trench knife and push it to the first enchantment as I run towards them, finding it easier to do. SteelClaw notices me as he tries to pry his battle ax from the creatures massive mandibles ans tries to keep their focus on him.

"COME ON YA SPECCY LIL' GITS! COME AT ME YA YANKERS!" He yells as wrestles with the beast, only to be lifted into the air when it looks up. It slams him back on the ground with total ease, forcing his grip from the weapon. Purple Edge and Ghost try to help him up, but had to keep their focus on the other creatures. The creature steps over him as I finally close the distance, slamming the knuckles of my weapon into the backside of it.

The explosion sends the beast flipping into the air until it slams against the back wall. Almost instantaneously, all of the other creatures back off from all of our people as the massive vine-like things on their heads begin to whip back and forth. I look around as their beady black eyes stay fixed on me, trying to gauge my next move.

"Get up SteelClaw." I tell him.

"Y-yea." He mumbles as he gets to his feet, grabbing his weapon along the way.

"Alright, nice slow movements, we're heading into the city. Follow closely." I tell them. I take lead as I begin to step towards Twilights shield.

"Why're their antenna movin like that?" Steelclaw asks.

"Dunno." Purple Edge says with a shrugs but then chuckles. "Maybe somethings bugging them..."

"Too soon." Snow Bound says quickly, giving a glare towards Purple Edge. Rarity runs to our side, finally levitating her gun properly, and sticks close to my side. I glance back to the downed bug and notice that its antenna are still moving...

"I think they can communicate." I tell the others as we hit our half way point.

"Are they smart enough for that?" Snow Bound asks.

"Lets hope..."

RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

From above several more creatures fall around us. These ones dwarf the others in size and carry mandibles easily four times their own. I try to rush the one before me, but it backs away as the two beside it try to out flank me. I go for the one on the right as Rarity opens fire on the other, her massive energy bolts burning deep holes into its body.

"WE NEED TO RUN!" I yell before running forward and punching the closes bug, sending it flying back into another one. The others take off past me as I turn to face the rest of the massive creatures. They wave their antenna around as they look to one another before running around me. "DA FUCK!" I yell as I try to attack the one to the left, only to have it jump away from me.

"AAAAAAHH!" I spin back to see SteelClaw being drug back by one of the creatures, its large mandibles digging into his stomach. He tries to break the creatures grasp with his battleaxe, but is losing the fight.

"HOLD ON!" I yell as I try to save him, but was too late. Several of the creatures moved on him and began to tear him apart. Blood sprayed all around them as limbs begin to be tossed about. I glance back to see the others have made it to Twilights shield, so I move back to join them. "Lets go, we need to get to the P.C.H."

"But what about..."

"We can't do anything for him!" I snap back at Snow Bound. "Lets go." Without another word I move down the highway. I warned them that this could happen. But we can't dwell on that right now. We need to get to somewhere safe... somewhere... "Over there." I call out as I point off into the city.

"What's that?" Rainbow asks as she hovers beside me.

"Its a monorail, and luckily it looks operational. If we can get to it we can make a straight shot for the P.C.H...."

"Right, Dash and I will go check it out. The rest of you start working on getting there." Dust Devil says as she jumps up beside Dash.

"I don't like separating..."

"We'll be quick about it. Fly there, check it out, and be back. No problem." Rainbow assures me. I think about it a bit more before nodding to them. They give a quick salute before taking off...

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

"Oh that can't be good." Storm says as we all turn back to the dome.

"Lets not deal with it then." I say as I toss him an archaic grenade. I pull one out myself and twist the cap off before tossing it through the door. A wall of blue flames erupts from within the smaller dome and bursts through the door, nearly reaching us before stopping and imploding back inside. "Let get moving."

"Shouldn't we say something?" Ghost says.

"If you want to, then go ahead." I say as I turn towards the dome. He takes a few steps forward before taking a deep breath.

"SteelClaw was a good griffin. He fought for his friends and we're grateful for that.... may he rest in..."

THUD

From above a massive winged creature drops upon Ghost. Its round head has some kind of long, narrow mouth that looks like its for piercing. The center part of the body is thick and furry and has two large grey wings that look fuzzy. The back third of the body lays flat on the ground.

"GHOST!" Everyone yells as we move to open fire on the creature. Simultaneously, the creature rears its head back slams it into his back as he tries to crawl away. He lets out a pained scream as we fire on the creature, our rounds punching into it with total ease. It falls over and twists around in pain as we continue to shoot it.

THUD

THUD

THUD

Three more fall down onto Ghost and begin fighting over his body. I rush forward, firing, in an attempt to free him, but two of the creatures take flight, bringing Ghosts lifeless body with them.

"NO!" I yell as I thrust a hand forward and send a beam of soul fire at them, turning one into ash. I take aim at the last one as it tries to fly away and send a couple rounds into its back. It drops Ghost and tumbles onto a building. "FUCKING DAMMIT!" I yell as I watch him fall between some buildings.

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW

I look over to see Dash and Dust Devil racing through the air as they fire at the flying creatures. They fight their way to us as we all form a circle to fight anything that comes our way. I take a look up and notice one of the flying creatures land on the major dome and practically blend right in. With all of us together, the creatures back off.

"OK, we stick together then. Lets get moving before anything else..."

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

"Want to summon something else?" Storm asks me

"Everypony hold on, I'm going to teleport us off this road." Twilight says as she flares her horn. A flash later we find ourselves in some alley on a completely different part of Jasper. "Oops. I guess the extra power sent us father then expected." She says sheepishly.

"Alright, stick together and move fast. We need to get to that monorail..."

"Why doesn't Twilight just teleport us there?" Snow Bound asks.

"I can't teleport us somewhere I haven't been before. Not to mention the way its working now, I'm not trying that again. We could end up in some wall or in the air... it's just not safe." Twilight tells her.

"We'll teleport only for emergencies. Now lets get going." I say as I begin to trot down the road, heading for the exit up ahead. Everyone sticks close to one another, keeping their heads on a swivels as we look for anything hostile. Remnants of a war that was once here still remain. Bullet holes. Scorch marks. Large craters. All dotting the roads and buildings. I try to keep my focus on spotting enemies, but it's fairly obvious the fight here was intense.

The sound of something big moving behind us makes us pick up the pace. We make it down the ramp and head straight down the deserted street. An uneasy silence has taken over the city. Everyone seems to have tensed up due to this. We know something is coming, the not knowing is driving us crazy.

"It's too quiet." Rainbow Dash states.

"Would you rather have something loud trying to eat us?" Storm retorts.

"No, I just... I'm getting antsy."

"Me to." Snow Bound offers. "When things get quiet, they usually turn noisy."

"I don't think this kind of talk is going to help anypony right now." Twilight offers.

"Twilight?" I ask as I come to a stop.

"Yeah?"

"You need to teleport us right now, something is following us." I say as I look down an alley and see a massive shadow move away. What ever it is, it's BIG.

"If you say so." She says as she closes her eyes and focuses. The aura on her horn glows for a bit as she tries to perfect the spell, but when we flash away we end up somewhere random again.

"Maybe we should just send all of the fliers to out objective." Purple Edge suggests. "Fly there, grab it and come back while everypony else hunkers down somewhere safe."

"You forget that there are flying creatures as well, don't you?" Dust Devil retorts. "Whenever we separate we get attacked. We need to stick together, safety in numbers and all."

"Well..."

"We're sticking together, that's final." I tell him. "I'm the only one who can read the files, Twilight's the only other medic and Rarity has the only other weapon that can deal an effective amount of damage...."

"Hey! What about me!" Pinkie demands, sounding offended.

"Oh... well... who else will keep up... laughing?"

"You're darn right I do!" She says as she canters off down the alley. Everyone chuckles as we follow after her. When we catch up with Pinkie Pie the sound of metal tearing stops us all in our tracks.

"GET INSIDE!" I yell before flaring my hand and slamming it against a wall, punching a hole for us to enter. "MOVE!" I walk in and come to a stop when we find Fluttershy and Applejack standing before us. "Applejack? Fluttershy? I thought..."

"We're here to help!" Applejack announces as we stand to greet them.

"NO TIME FOR THAT!" Rarity yells as she turns and opens fire through the hole.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

"Oh...that sounds big." Fluttershy mumble as the building begins to crumble around us.

"GET MOVING!" I yell as I flair my hands. "WE NEED TO GET TO THE MONORAIL!" Before anypony could move the building around us is lifted up by a gigantic creature, surrounded by an army of lesser creatures.

"The... the... the queen." Fluttershy stutters as the gigantic creature tosses the top of the building aside.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

From the side comes another gigantic creature. This one has hundreds of yellow legs going along it's long red body. Its head has two massive mandibles coming out with thick brown antennas just above them. It rears up and roars again as it lunges forward and grabs the other creature by the neck. All of the lesser creatures automatically turn and begin to attack the multi legged creature as it wrestles around.

"... I'LL TAKE IT! LETS GO!" I yell as I lead everyone out the front door and head for the monorail. The city is alive with due to the two massive creatures fighting behind us. From every alley, building and all over the dome creatures begin to stir. Some try to get away from the action while others rush towards us.

BANG

PATPATPAT

PEWPEWPEW

PEPEPEPEPEW

Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity and I all take turns firing at any of the creatures that were unlucky enough to get in our way. I ran forward and took care of anything on the left as Rarity blasted away at the front, leaving Twilight to pepper anything to the right. Fluttershy stayed behind us all as she took quick, and precise, shots at anything above us or too tough for us to kill quickly. She was also sure to follow up on anything she shot to make sure it was dead. A little time consuming, but we didn't have time to tell her otherwise.

The others either kept their fire concentrated behind us or I just didn't notice them firing. After who knows how many blocks of constant firing the monorail station comes into view. It's just a platform above the street beside the tracks, but it looks amazing to each of us. The monorail was down the track, but we made the run to it in a matter of seconds. I stopped by the back door and did an ammo check on my rifle; four shots left. It's been fun, but it's revolver time now.

"OK, I'll open the door. You three get ready to shoot anything that comes out there, the rest of you keep watch for anything that comes at us. Ready?"

"Ready!" They all said at once as they took their stances. I grabbed the handle and took a deep breath before pulling it open. After a few seconds of silence Storm rushed in, followed by Dash and Dust Devil, before calling clear. I jump up and keep my revolver at a ready stance as I look around the cart. Metal seats take up the sides as tinted windows cover the sides.

"Alright, get inside and shut the door, then take five. DD, come with me to the front to check on the drivers compartment."

"Got..."

"Actually, can ah come with ya instead?" Applejack asks as she steps forward. I stare at her for a moment before nodding.

"Take a rifle and meet up with me over there." I tell her before pulling the door open for the next compartment. I make it through the next two compartments with no trouble. I make it the last door as Applejack comes through the last set of doors, falling on her face as she struggled through. "You alright?"

"Yeah." She grumbles as she gets up and trots over. "So..."

"Hold your thoughts till we get this thing moving." I tell her as I pull the door open, keeping my pistol ready for anything. The conductors room is small; only having room for a spinning chair and all of the black panels on the dashboard and walls. I move over to the dashboard and check it for power, but with no luck. "Alright, time to put all of those electronic classes to work." I say as I sheath my knife and kneel down.

"Miles...:"

"Lets take a look." I say as I pull the panel down and set it aside. The insides look... good, considering the circumstances. I can tell the power relay has rusted..."

"How do ya deal with knowing yer dying?"

"..."

"..."

"What?" I ask her as I look back., caught completely off guard by her sudden question.

"Ah'm sorry, but.... Granny Smith was diagnosed with Alzheimers an ah fear she may be goin soon." She tells me as she removes her hat and covers her mouth, her big green eyes tearing up.

"You have my condolences Applejack. I can't imagine Granny Smith going, she always seems so strong." I tell her as I sit before her.

"Yeah, it's why Shy an ah were fighting earlier..."

"I figured."

"But... ah was... ah don't what ta do Miles. She had a breakdown before we left an... ah didn't know what ta do. Ah don't know what she's feelin..."

"Applejack."

"Ah had ta explain it to Applebloom, she nearly lost it. She's been the mother fer the house an.... we all depend on her so much..."

"Applejack."

"Fluttershy and Big Mac were apparently fightin an ah.... ah feel so alone Miles. Ah don't know what to do!"

"Applejack!" I yell, getting her to stop and look at me. I just raise an arm and motion for her forward. She breaks down in tears as she practically leaps into my arms, hugging me tightly as she lets all of her worries flow from her eyes. I just rest my arms around her as I stroke her mane a bit, waiting for her to calm down before talking.

"Hey you guys hun..." Purple Edge says as he peers inside, but stops when he sees us. "Uh... I'll just go." He says before pulling back. Applejack breaks the hug and backs off to wipe her tears away.

"Sorry about that..."

"Don't be. Losing family is tough. Do you really want to know how I deal with... my problem?" I ask her, getting a serious nod in response. "I don't."

"Huh?"

"I don't. I don't deal with it. I... I just keep it from thought. Worrying about won't achieve anything, only make matters worse. Yeah every now and again I have to face it, but I push through and move forward. Sometimes that's all you can do. Don't treat Granny Smith any differently, at least to her face."

"But... what if she asks about somethin that ah can't answer?" She asks me as she puts her hat back on.

"What could she possibly ask that you couldn't answer?" I ask, getting her cheeks to burn. "Oh..."

"It's not like that! It's... well, there was this... stallion..."

"OK, you're my friend, and I care about you and this problem, but I..."

"It's not like that." She tells me flatly. I quiet down to let her speak, that was a close one. "Well, I met him awhile back, fairly recently actually, an.. well, he tried puttin some moves on me and failed. It was cute, lame, but cute. But, it got me thinkin about how alone ah was. Ah know ah have friends that care about me an mah kin, but ah don't have anypony ta... connect with, iffin that makes sense."

"It does." I tell her, getting a small smile from her.

"Yeah... well, ah don't know. Granny and ah got onto the topic somehow and ah.. well... lied."

"You lied to granny?"

"AH DIDIN'T WANT TA! It jus... she was askin if I was 'active' an I couldn't tell her the truth! Ah was too scared to!" She practically yells.

"Applejack, I know you to be an honest person, but lying to her now will only make things complicated later. Especially with her condition. You need to go to her and talk about these things, even if they'll upset her. She loves you, so she'll find a way to make things better for you."

"Ya really think so?" She asks nervously.

"For the ones we love, yeah. I think she will. Now enough about your sex life, we need to get this thing moving." I say as I lay back to work on the power relay. "Wanna help?"

"Sure, don't know how much help ah'll be though." She says with a chuckle as she lays beside me. She'll be OK, I just wonder who the lucky guy is.

HI Guys! Welcome to my head! Anyway, twitchy tail, knee shake, twitchy left eye, and twisted tongue. Its fairly light, but its there. Remember that combo?

Shout out to Gage for picking the creature that saved the day! Thanks for reading, sorry for the delay( if you follow by post).
Brony on!