It had only been two hours since the CO announced that the barrier was coming closer to St. Petersburg, and kicked off the plans for evacuation. The entire base was on high alert, everyone scrambling to gather whatever was necessary, from munitions to spare toiletries. Yon-Soo couldn’t help but be reminded of that base he and the guys visited on the DMZ; the panicked atmosphere, everyone on their toes. He also noticed there were several buses and trucks being started up and checked for maintenance before being sent out, most likely to help out with civilian evacuations.

“What do we do first?” Firebrand asked, confused.

Porter took a second to collect himself as he replied in the calmest tone he could muster, “First, we need to pack our things. Get the essentials: weapons, ammo, food and water. Next, we have to get ourselves one of the armored trucks. Top priority should be evacuating as many civilians as we can and escaping the city before the barrier closes in.”

“Alright then,” Yon-Soo nodded with agreement. “Let’s get started.”

The three men and one pegasus stallion got to work. Yon-Soo helped Firebrand put a large pair of saddlebags over his back, and packed them with plenty of extra ammunition, a few grenades, and medical supplies. He and Hyong-Jin packed their own backpacks with food, water, and their favorite weapons. Porter carried the team’s spare ammo and weapon parts, all the while triple-checking everything to make sure nothing important was left behind.

“Alright, are you all ready?” Yon-Soo asked. He really tried not to show any fear in his voice, but couldn’t help himself. This was the first real fight he was now participating in, since that day at the DMZ trying to help hold off PER and Royal Guards from seeping into South Korea. Back then, he was a scared rookie way in over his head. Now, he was well-trained, a teacher himself, and all that he learned would be put to the test today.

The other three nodded, and ran outside. The warm and sunny weather felt like a betrayal of the atmosphere, but thankfully, it could allow for easier driving. One of the maintenance crew spotted them and motioned for them to come over to him.

“Alright,” the cadet said in thickly accented English, “I know that the Commander of the base gave you your own armored vehicle, Lt. Stanley. As of now, you have to have a maximum of nine other soldiers with you, and begin working immediately for evacuation procedures. Are you familiar with the protocol?”

“Yes, one hundred percent,” Porter answered firmly. “I’m already bringing Sergeants Park and Kang with me, along with Firebrand here. Any other soldiers will be welcome additions. Anything else, Cadet?”

“No. That’s pretty much all. Your vehicle number will be 8402-Romeo. Good luck out there.”

“Thanks, Cadet. Good luck to you too.”

The group quickly went off to find their transport. The armored trucks, Tigrs, were mostly built for transport purposes. They were large green monsters with what almost looked like a tent in the back, and an open back to allow for easy entry and exit. Several trucks were already leaving in different directions, getting ready to transport goods and civilians out of the city.

“Alright guys,” Porter announced to them, “we need to start our work. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Yon-Soo, Firebrand and Hyong-Jin nodded in unison. They had to wait until the rest of their squadron came before they could start the truck.

And immediately, Hyong-Jin had to suppress the urge to throttle something violently.

Markov was one of the soldiers in their squad, and it seemed like the feeling was mutual.

“Oh come on!” Hyong-Jin spat in Korean. “Whose bright idea was that he come with us?”

Yon-Soo had to wonder the same thing. He had to hope whoever put them together either didn’t know of the fight or had a very, very good reason.

Porter could sense what was going on, and immediately gave a warning look to both Hyong-Jin and Firebrand to let them know that any friction between them and Markov was very strongly discouraged. He started, “Alright, everyone here knows what our present mission is. Get in the vehicle, and Yon-Soo will be driving us to our designated areas to help evacuate as many people as we can. If any enemy sentries show up, do not hesitate to shoot. That includes any traitorous humans that allied themselves with the PER, Newfoals and Celestia’s Royal Guards. Show them no mercy! Are you ready?”

“YES SIR!” every soldier saluted before they entered the back of the Tigr. As Markov passed Hyong-Jin and Firebrand, they gave each other a look stating not to get in the other’s way.

“Alright,” Yon-Soo breathed in and out, trying not to let the excitement and anxiety get to him. “Let’s go.”

He flicked the ignition toggle, a measure introduced due to several soldiers complaining that a battle was the worst place to lose your keys, and started it up.

The whole municipal area was in chaos, to put it mildly. Sirens were blaring everywhere, and local law enforcement was having its hands full trying to get everyone it could to leave the area in as orderly a fashion as possible. Yon-Soo noticed several buses were being filled to the brims with scared and confused people, and there was even discarded items lying around on the streets, when their luggage was too heavy to take with them.

Porter announced to the squad, “Okay, this is the Kalininsky District. Population is around 470,000. So far, anyone that hasn’t already left is going to need help, or at least convincing to get out when they still can.”

Hyong-Jin asked, “Why wouldn’t anyone want to get out before the barrier hits?”

“There’s always someone,” was the offhanded reply of a soldier named Khan Aitmatov. He was one of the oldest Russian soldiers in the squad, and looked experienced enough to have fought for the country while it still belonged to the Soviets. “Probably anyone that has lived here their entire lives. They’d probably rather die here than leave.”

“And those will be the hardest,” Yon-Soo solemnly had to agree. “And what if the enemy shows up?”

Porter simply said, “We stay vigilant, and if anyone sees enemy sentries show up, we have to get our weapons immediately and go to position. They’ll inevitably be armed with ponification serum, and we’ll have to protect every civilian we can. We cannot hesitate to shoot, especially if they’re newfoals. Now let’s get started.”

Yon-Soo went along with Porter and Markov to one small neighborhood to escort civilians out of there. It wasn’t too hard - they were mostly families and young people living here, and had already packed their belongings. They just needed help being escorted to their busses. So far, things seemed to be going a little smoothly.

Yon-Soo sighed as he watched the chaos continue to unravel around him. One woman was having a hard time trying to choose what things to bring with her. Markov had a headache trying to get her to hurry up if she didn’t want to miss the bus. Porter meanwhile looked somewhat paranoid; Yon-Soo couldn’t blame his friend. After all, the enemy could always use this chaos to their advantage, especially if there were PER members sneaking around.

“Ack, Mommy!” a small child’s voice called out. “I dropped Anna!”

Yon-Soo saw a little girl struggling against her mother’s grip, as they were trying to catch up to the rest of the line some police officers were escorting. Yon-Soo ran as fast as he could, about to grab the girl’s doll, but he wasn’t sure which one was “Anna.” There were more than a few children’s toys, from stuffed animals to dolls, scattered across the road, as well as discarded clothes, books, what looked like plates and kitchenware, and various other items. He felt his stomach drop at this sight. These people were being forced out of their homes, their lives completely turned upside down, and everything they knew and loved was being destroyed, all thanks to Queen Celestia and her barrier.

“Yon-Soo!” Porter barked out, “Stop dilly-dallying, and get back to your work!”

That shook Yon-Soo out of his reflection, and he resumed his duties, making sure every housing complex was empty. As he looked around, he then noticed his radio began crackling, and a familiar voice coming from it.

“Hello?! Yon-Soo? Porter? Can either of you hear me? It’s me, Firebrand!”

Yon-Soo picked his walkie-talkie up and immediately replied, “Read you loud and clear Firebrand. What’s going on?”

“Um, Hyong-Jin and I are having trouble. Some people are refusing to get up and evacuate the city.”

Yon-Soo frowned; he had a feeling this was going to happen at some point during the evacuation. He quickly replied, “Just wait for us. Porter and I are almost done with our sector.”

“Alright,” Firebrand said in an uneven tone. “We’ll try, but Hyong-Jin’s getting pretty worried right now. These people here are a rather stubborn bunch.”

Yon-Soo quickly ran back to where Porter and Markov were. They were helping to load what looked like the last bus. It didn’t escape the former actor/model/pop singer that the thing looked overstuffed with passengers.

“Guys, Firebrand just called me. He says that he, Hyong-Jin and their squad are having trouble with some people refusing to evacuate the city with them.”

Markov spat, “You’re going to trust him? For all you know, he could be setting you up for a trap.”

Porter tried to keep his frustration in check, but it was next to impossible right now. This whole situation was already stressful enough as it was, and Markov’s attitude towards Firebrand was the last straw. He gave Markov a glare that could make the freshest milk turn sour, and a hard tone that could rival steel.

“Markov? Not the time. There is a very fine line between wanting to be prepared for the worst, and going on baseless paranoia, and right now, you’re in the latter. I don’t care if your whole family was ponified or whatever, but Ambassador Heartstrings would not have kept Firebrand as her bodyguard and let him go to stay with us if she didn’t trust him with her life or ours. In the short time I’ve known him, Firebrand is a loyal, strong, and friendly pony doing what he does because he believes in the right thing, and I will not have you, or anyone here, make accusations against him with no basis in fact. Are we clear?!”

Markov shrank back, clearly looking like he would piss himself. He meekly answered, “Yes, understood,” as he grabbed his equipment.

As they exited the district, Yon-Soo whispered, “You really came close to really losing it, Porter. I’ve seen you get frustrated, but you still held it in.”

When the other man looked at him with slight surprise, Yon-Soo had to roll his eyes as he added, “Hey, I’ve known you for about a whole year now. I know you well enough to know you are good at keeping your cool, but even you have your limits, and while Markov was pushing it, I know that’s nowhere near your limit.”

Porter sighed and said, “Well I had to reprimand Markov for his attitude, and no one can afford me, of all people, losing their temper.”

Yon-Soo solemnly understood that one; no good could come from losing one’s temper, especially on the battlefield where the enemy could exploit it. The three men went through the Kalininsky district, which was almost completely evacuated. It was very eerily quiet, the only things left now were empty buildings that had been homes and places of work for the thousands of people that lived here a mere day ago, and the discarded possessions scattered across the streets.

Yon-Soo picked his walkie-talkie up again and turned it on, asking Firebrand, “Hey Firebrand, Porter and I are done with our sector. Things went pretty smoothly for us. Are you all still having trouble?”

“Yeah. For the most part, they’re pretty old people. Said they’d rather stay here and die than leave everything behind. But there is something else that’s worrying me.”

Immediately, both Porter and Yon-Soo knew what he meant.

“Shit!” Yon-Soo exclaimed, motioning to run now. “Enemy coming your way?”

“Unfortunately, yeah. They’re quite far away, but I can tell they’re pegasi, and they’re pulling pretty big carriages up in the sky. Most likely Royal Guards carrying unicorn and earth pony troops as well as spare potions.”

“Fuck…” Porter whispered with utter dread. He immediately composed himself and said into the walkie talkie, “Don’t worry, Firebrand! We’ll get there ASAP!”

The run felt way too long for Yon-Soo’s liking, but they finally made it. Firebrand and Hyong-Jin’s assigned district was for the most part empty, but there were still several busses waiting at the exit points. They were either empty or only had a few occupants. He had a very bad feeling about this, especially given the info Firebrand just gave them, and it seemed like the other soldiers and local law enforcement officers shared that sentiment.

A familiar red pegasus waved at them and the soldiers approached him.

“What’s exactly going on right now, Firebrand?” Porter asked him quickly.

As they began walking, Firebrand replied, “Well, it’s the fact that most of the people living in this neighborhood are pretty old. They all said they were born here and would prefer to die here. Hyong-Jin and the others are trying their best, and although a few did listen and packed their things, the rest just won’t move a muscle.”

Markov angrily said, “Don’t they realize that they’ll get ponified if they don’t leave?!”

“We tried to tell them that,” Firebrand replied impatiently, “but they’re a real stubborn bunch. Oh, I really have a bad feeling that this is only going to get worse.”

“You and me both,” Yon-Soo quipped grimly as they entered the building. It was a rather large, but nice looking nursing home for the elderly. Most of the medical supplies were already taken out of the place, and Yon-Soo didn’t see any medical staff or caretakers on duty. Those people most likely already left at the first evacuation call.

The main room Hyong-Jin was in looked like a recreational room, with some TVs showing the live news of the St. Petersburg evacuations, a large bookcase of books and board games, and tables and sofas. Several of these people were indeed elderly; a few were even in wheelchairs, and Yon-Soo noticed one man just staring blankly off in the distance.

“Look, ma’am, I know you’ve lived here your whole life, but you wouldn’t be dying here if you don’t leave. Most likely, Celestia’s soldiers will be coming here any moment now and convert every person here!” pleaded one of the Russian cadets, a short man by the name of Sergei.

“For the hundredth time, I don’t care,” said the old woman. “And besides, most of us have already lived out our lives. Yevgeny over there is 89 years old, confined to a wheelchair and has severe dementia. Do you really think evacuating him is worth it?”

“But don’t the rest of you have families?” Markov cut in. “I don’t think any of your kids, or grandkids would be happy if you all died here.”

The old lady sadly sighed as did many of the other residents. An old man then replied, “We know, but the truth is, most of us have already discussed these matters with our families. They were sad, but respected our wishes. I’d rather meet my maker on my own terms.”

The air in the room was solemn, and Yon-Soo had to admit, these people had a point. They had already lived their lives out and were ready to accept death.

Porter said, “Well, then let us help you out. You don’t have to die sitting down. A squadron of Celestia’s guards are coming, and I’m sure you’d all prefer to die as yourselves, correct?”

Most of them nodded, and another old lady said, “I’ll take some down myself if I have to. Don’t be afraid to shoot me if a potion hits me.”

“I promise,” Markov said, saluting. “We’ll protect y-”

It would have been simply rude for the universe not to respond to a challenge like that, at such a crucial moment.

CRASH

The first squadron of Royal Guards had just crashed in through the roof, a fairly small number, but they were armed with a lot of serum.

“There they are! First batch of humans ripe for salvation!” a Royal Guard pegasus with a deep green coat boasted. Another pony, a unicorn, magically tossed some liquid at the group of soldiers. They dodged it in time, only for it to drech Yevgeny.

And it was here that Yon-Soo saw a downright nightmarish event that would haunt him for a very long time. Sure, he had seen it on TV before, like Eun-Hee’s ponification at that ill-fated press conference in Berne, but not up close and in person like this.

Yevgeny’s whole body twitched and his bones popped as they rearranged themselves. Blue and white fur grew out of his skin, and his fingers… Dear God, his fingernails grotesquely fused into each other, turning into hooves as they blackened and spread across his hands, looking unpleasantly as if whatever the hooves were made of was eating his hands. He cast his neck back in a silent scream as his neck swelled with muscle and liquid from God-only knew where, as his face lengthened as if it was trying to escape from his skull. Yon-Soo swore that he’d seen far too much of old Yevgeny’s jaw as his face slowly turned into a pony’s muzzle. It only took a few seconds for him to be fully transformed, but every soldier in the room felt as if it had taken hours.

The newfoal that took the man’s place stared bright eyed at the world as he cheerfully said, “I feel reborn! Thank you so much, friend!”

BLAM

And just like that, one shot to the head was all it took to cut this newfoal’s life short. Everyone stared right at Hyong-Jin, his hands shaking as he held his pistol.

“You monster!!” screamed another Royal Guard. “We saved him! We gave him a new life and freed him from his diseased body! A disease that, by the way, you apes can’t even cure!”

“Some cures are worse than the disease!” Markov yelled.

“SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!!” the North Korean screamed in rage. “YOU DIDN’T SAVE HIM AT ALL! YOU’RE NOT SAVING ANYONE HERE!!”

“Well we have more potion. You’ll see the light so-”

Another gunshot rang in the room, and the guard slumped to the floor, a new hole between his eyes.

“Not today! Everyone, fight!” Porter yelled out as his rifle leveled to another and let loose another round.

And the battle commenced.

Yon-Soo immediately unlocked the safety on his assault rifle and pulled the trigger. The familiar old confidence and adrenaline rushed through him as he fired at the unicorn, who jumped and dodged out of the way, trying to outrun the bullets or deflect them with magic. This one was pretty tricky though, and unfortunately, it seemed that he had a dirty trick up his sleeve.

Immediately, Yon-Soo felt a tug at his gun. Realizing the unicorn was trying to take it away from him, he screamed, “Guys, be careful!”

“Way ahead of you!” yelled Markov, who shot at the same unicorn, only for another to put a shield up around his friend.

“Shit! They’re not going through!”

“Keep shooting! It’s bound to break under the pressure!” Porter yelled out as he tangled with an earth pony soldier.

Meanwhile, most of the old people had to take cover under tables and behind the sofas, shielding themselves from any stray potion bottles from touching them. Firebrand was fighting the pegasus leader, viciously pounding his hooves into the latter’s face.

Yon-Soo just kept his grip hard on his rifle. Markov and Sergei kept shooting at the shield, and from the likes of it, that thing seemed to be cracking under so many shots.

“Keep going!”

And with a loud crack, the shield shattered, and Yon-Soo decided to fire a few rounds of his own. Several of the bullets tore right through the unicorn’s body, and shattered several vials of the potion as well. But it was far from over.

Porter and Hyong-Jin were both trying to fight off the earth pony meanwhile. He was surprisingly fast despite his stocky build, and had the renowned strength of his race to top it off. He simply ignored several 5.56 rounds, and dodged most others, a surprisingly easy task given that the two of them were essentially panic-firing. He held a vial of potion in his mouth, and apparently decided to stop playing around when he threw the bottle right at Porter.

“Porter, look out!”

The serum spilled out all over Markov’s neck and arm as he pushed Porter out of the way. Things seemed to go in slow motion right there. The potion quickly took effect and Markov was screaming in pain as the conversion process took hold.

“No, please, don’t let it be like this!” he screamed in horror as his body rearranged itself. “NO! NO! OH… GOD NO!” he held up his hand, falling to the ground as his bones rearranged with audible cracks. “AAAAAAAAAH!” he screamed at a higher pitch than anyone thought possible as his fingers fused together, his nails blackening and turning into hooves.

Yon-Soo, without even thinking, reached for his pistol and aimed right at Markov’s head. He choked out, “I’m sorry,” before pulling the trigger.

It was the most disturbing thing he’d ever seen, looking at the corpse of someone half ponified, but the look of relief on Markov’s now dead eyes gave Yon-Soo some comfort.

Still, he had just shot a person.

Not a PER agent, or a newfoal, but one of his own fellow soldiers. Sure Markov was a jerk at times, but he still was a man that fought for mankind. And maybe they could have become more friendly with each other; Markov warming up to Firebrand, and all of them being friends and comrades...

He barely registered the rest of the fight going on, as Firebrand helped Porter and Hyong-Jin dole out a much needed beatdown on that earth pony, and a couple of the old people pitching in, one lady using a chair to distract one of the unicorns before another soldier shot him dead.

He barely noticed when one of the other pegasi on the squad tried to ponify an old man, he only said, “I was born a human, and I’ll die a human,” before taking the gun he had swiped off from Markov’s corpse and shooting himself right in the head.

Everything just didn’t seem to matter now.

“Yon-Soo! Yon-Soo, snap out of it!” Porter said at him.

“Porter, I…. I... I killed him. Not a PER member... or a newfoal, but one of my own fellow soldiers,” Yon-Soo whispered, shaking slightly. “I… I can’t…”

Porter grimly replied, “And Markov’s probably not going to be the only one you’ll have to do that for. We need to get out of here right now. More of them are coming, I’m sure of it.”

“What about the rest of them?” Firebrand asked, pointing a hoof at the elderly people trying to recover from the excitement.

“We’ll be fine,” said the main old lady, shaking the dust off her clothes.

“Are you still going to stay here?” Porter asked her.

“Yes. But we won’t go down without a fight. I just wish there was some kind of weapon we can use.”

Sergei spoke up, stammering, “There is one thing you can use. We have some C4 charges. Just wire them up, push a button, and blow them all up sky high.”

“But what about them?!” Hyong-Jin asked angrily.

“It would be suicidal, I know,” another old man admitted. “I’ve seen enough war and bloodshed over my life however. I would prefer to die with honor, as myself, than as a slave of a tyrant.”

“But -”

Porter cut in, “Let them do it. It’s clear they’ve already made their minds up a long time ago, Hyong-Jin. Nothing we try to say to them will change their minds. We can at least grant their wish. Sergei, you’re an explosives expert, right?”

“Um, yes. Bombs, missiles, you name it and I can help,” the baby-faced soldier replied.

“Alright. How quickly can you set up the C4 charges?”

“Enough to level a good portion of this building? Well, with you guys pitching in, I’d say seven minutes.”

“Okay then. Let’s hurry up, and then get moving. More sentries will probably show up here, and I want us all out of here as soon as possible. Let’s move!”

They all sat in a circle, most of them praying to God in their last moments. For salvation, for their families to be safe, for those soldiers to survive and stop the Solar Tyrant, and for this war to end soon. It would only be a matter of time when a scouting party would try to investigate this location...

And not a moment too soon. A small group of Royal Guards came in through the hole in the roof and looked less than pleased at what they were seeing.

“What happened here?! How did this squadron fail to ponify a bunch of elderly people?” a unicorn asked angrily, his glare moving over to the small group before him.

“No matter,” an earth pony said. “They’re defenseless; I haven’t seen any of the humans’ military around here. It’s a good thing we have some spare potion with us.”

“As if,” one of the old ladies spat. “We may be old, but we’re not weak. We were born humans and we will die as humans.”

The old man next to her, on cue, took out the switch for the bombs and said, “Pray that the Heavenly Father will show you the mercy we won’t.”

Before anyone could make another move, he pushed the button.

Off in the distance, the soldiers could see the explosion of fire and debris launching into the air. The C4 worked well, and thankfully, those elderly men and women took a few of those bastards down with them.

It still was sad though, but Yon-Soo knew now was not the time to grieve. “We have to get going,” he said. “There’s going to be more of them coming soon, and they’ll most likely try to target civilians still trying to get out of the city first. We’ll have to hold them off for as long as we can.”

Porter smiled, “You’re definitely getting the hang of this, Yon-Soo.”

“Hey, I only learned from the best,” Yon-Soo said, but there were tremors in his voice.

“Alright then! Let’s get moving! Let’s get our spare equipment and start sending a message out to the Tyrant - do not fuck with the human race!” Hyong-Jin declared, fired up.

“RIGHT!” everyone else stated in unison.

“The shit’s definitely hit the fan now,” Porter groaned.

Indeed it did. The whole area was in chaos, because as soon as they reached their armored truck, it seemed like things had started without them. Police officers were decked out in riot gear, carrying shields and small rifles. Thankfully, it looked like the last few busses were getting filled up.

“Well, we can’t be slow,” Firebrand pointed out. “We better help them!”

“Shit! They’re already here!” Sergei exclaimed when he noticed several Royal Guards charging at whatever soldiers and cops were in the area, attempting to get through them to get at the frantic civilians.

“Come on! We can’t be sitting ducks!” Hyong-Jin pointed out as he locked and loaded his rifle to go.

And so they went in. Firebrand (and a few other human sympathizing ponies) flew up, trying to take out the pegasus guards while Porter, Yon-Soo and Hyong-Jin rushed to help protect the last remaining civilians. Those pegasi were not going to be deterred however, as containers of potion began falling down like rain.

“Everyone, shield yourselves! Take cover!!” Porter screamed out. The police rushed to their aid, holding their riot shields up to protect them.

But it wasn’t perfect.

A good amount of people had been drenched in the liquid, and the conversion process kicked in immediately. Several people screamed in pain and fear, some of them converts, others horrified witnesses.

“Kill the newfoals!” a police officer barked out. “Don’t let them be added to the Queen’s numbers!”

Yon-Soo rammed the butt of his rifle into the face of one of the newfoals, smashing its nose in. That barely did much to stop at, as it kept yelling, “For the glory of Equestria!!”

He focused on trying to protect whatever unconverted civilians were left, and pushed the last ones into a bus. The driver was quick as he immediately shut the doors and drove off to escape. Spotting a unicorn about to prepare a magic spell to stop that bus, Yon-Soo, without a moment’s hesitation, drew out his pistol and began shooting at the enemy soldier. Thankfully, that unicorn was too focused on the bus to notice Yon-Soo, so he was unable to raise any shields or try to take Yon-Soo’s gun away. Three bullets was all it took to fell that unicorn, who screamed in a combination of surprise and despair as the bullets tore through him before he fell over dead.

Yon-Soo felt a rush of pure adrenaline going through him. He’d done plenty of crazy things when he became rich; indulging in a couple skydiving adventures, driving expensive sports cars and fast motorcycles, and even his training had all given him that euphoric sensation. But that all paled compared to this right now. He knew he was just as vulnerable as the others around him, but he could feel it course through him, guiding him and helping him.

“Take that!” Firebrand snarled as he punched his forehooves into his opponent’s stomach with enough force to send the guard reeling back, clutching his belly as he tried to steady himself midair. The crimson red pegasus had many bones to pick with these guys, and wasn’t about to be merciful.

He quickly looked down below, noticing the last bus was leaving, and he couldn’t help but be relieved. At least most of these innocent civilians managed to get out before getting ponified. Still, he wanted to go down to help his friends, especially Hyong-Jin, who was on the outer parts of the skirmish. He seemed to be chasing after what looked like some royal guards escorting some newfoals, but they were in a tense looking standstill. Worried, Firebrand flew down to help.

“Hyong-Jin, what are you doing?” Firebrand asked him, confused. As far as he was concerned, following that group would be tantamount to suicide.

“I’m trying to go after this group to kill the newfoals,” Hyong-Jin explained.

Suddenly, one of the earth pony Royal Guards said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Firebrand. I always knew you were an idiot, but a collaborator with the dirty apes? I never would have pegged you to be that stupid.”

“Wait, what?!” Hyong-Jin asked, “You know these assholes?”

The newfoals looked somewhat agitated now, clearly wanting to do something to the dissidents against their Queen. One asked, “How about we show those two the light?”

“We will,” another guard said. “But you all should go to the portal station. Rest up in the paradise of Equestria, and then you can help us save these people.”

“With pleasure,” a green unicorn newfoal chirped happily as it and the others quickly ran to the nearest conversion bureau portal station.

“No!” Hyong-Jin quickly aimed at them, but one of the guards, a unicorn, quickly used magic to take the gun away from him. Before Firebrand could respond, the earth pony tackled him to the ground, pinning him down in such a way that he couldn’t flap his wings to escape. The third guard, a pegasus, then similarly tackled Hyong-Jin as well, pinning him down.

“Let him go!” Firebrand growled. “He, and the humans have done nothing to deserve this!”

“Oh Firebrand,” the earth pony pinning him down tut-tutted, “don’t you see that we’re helping them? It’s the good work of harmony that we’re spreading to these misguided folks.”

“What you’re doing isn’t harmony! It’s just stomping them out!” Firebrand retorted before screaming in agony when the guard began to push down hard on one of his wings.

“Don’t worry, Fires. You’ll see the light soon too. I’m sure everypony back home misses you. We’ll even let you back into the Royal Guard, but only under… certain conditions,” the earth pony smirked. “But I do recommend that you don’t push your luck.”

“Enough talking,” said the pegasus. “Agent Moss, get out some potion for this human.”

“With pleasure,” the unicorn smirked, as he took out a bottle of potion from his saddle bag. As he approached Hyong-Jin, he said, “Open wide now.”

“NO!” Firebrand screamed in horror. ‘Not like this, please…’

Hyong-Jin screamed and struggled, yelling out curses and insults at the royal guards, who just laughed, knowing once he was converted, he would sing them praises and thanks for “uplifting” him.

‘Please, someone help us, it can’t end like this,’ Firebrand desperately thought. That unicorn was getting closer, and that potion would basically kill Hyong-Jin if it even touched him.

“You’re not converting anyone on our terms!” a familiar (and very welcome) male voice called out.

“Wha-” the unicorn asked, and then his body was riddled with bullets.

Before the guards could react, shots rang out. Sergei aimed right at the earth pony pinning down Firebrand, while Porter took out his pistol and began shooting at the vial of potion, destroying it. Hyong-Jin began struggling against the pegasus on top of him, and Yon-Soo took this opportunity to jump on the pegasus’ back, who immediately flew up, thrashing.

“Get your filthy paws off me, you dirty ape!” the pegasus growled angrily as he tried to shake Yon-Soo off. The Korean soldier was not about to let go of the pony’s neck though.

Yon-Soo quickly grabbed onto the pegasus’ left wing as tightly as he could. If he could do it just right…

A sickening noise that sounded like a mix between a pop and a crack came from his back, and the wing was now bent at an odd angle, and the pegasus screamed in anger and pain, trying to flap his good wing to keep himself afloat.

“You filthy beast! You popped my wing out!!”

The two of them were now spiraling out of control, the pegasus barely able to keep his balance with Yon-Soo’s added weight adding more stress on him. Yon-Soo wasn’t about to jump though; they were too high up, and the fall would easily kill him.

“Yon-Soo! Jump and I’ll catch you,” Firebrand yelled from down below as he flew up to them.

‘Here goes nothing,’ Yon-Soo thought to himself. He closed his eyes, let go, and jumped.

And true to his word, Firebrand did catch him. It hurt like Tartarus as he rammed into Yon-Soo, catching him in his two front hooves, but it had to be better than smashing against the ground. Although the fire red pegasus was strong, he still had a hard time carrying Yon-Soo as he tried not to fall too fast as they descended. Thankfully, they were able to land gently enough, whereas the pegasus guard ended up falling right into a nearby dumpster. The other two guards were dispatched thoroughly, but their group of newfoals were nowhere in sight.

“You two okay?” Sergei asked them, cautiously checking the dead guards’ bodies.

Yon-Soo held his head, trying to steady himself. He felt very dizzy as he groggily replied, “I’ve been better, but I’ll manage. How about all of you?”

Hyong-Jin got up, breathing heavily to calm himself after that ordeal he just went through. “I’ll be okay, but I hope I never have a close call like that again.”

Porter meanwhile was pulling the now badly injured pegasus guard out of the dumpster, trying not to wince at the stench of rotten garbage that covered him. Aside from his now dislocated left wing, the pegasus also sported some bruises from his fall, as well as a limp right hind leg. He was still conscious, but barely, and weakly struggled still.

“Why?” he coughed. “We came to you with the perfect gift, and you respond by killing us? You know that all you’re doing is proving the Queen right. You are nothing but violent savages, and you’ve proven right here exactly why you need ponification.”

Firebrand, before anyone could respond or stop him, suddenly flew out and tackled the guard, punching at his with his forehooves.

“SHUT UP!” the fire red pegasus screamed. “You call them bad, but you drove them to this! You aren’t helping them, you’re hurting them! You’re nothing but a hypocrite! If Celestia told you to eat her manure, would you?!”

Firebrand didn’t care that the guard was bleeding heavily, or that he was knocking some teeth out. He hated this pony, and wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. It felt good to let himself go...

“Firebrand!” Hyong-Jin barked out in shock, as he, Sergei and Yon-Soo all tried to pull their friend off the injured guard. “What are you doing?!”

Firebrand physically calmed down enough to not accidentally hurt anyone, but emotionally, he was fuming. “I am giving this gelding exactly what he deserves! He’s always been a self-righteous flank-hole, and it’s about time somepony gave him a taste of his own medicine!”

Porter then said, “You know him.”

It wasn’t a question.

“There’s something you’re not telling us, huh, Firebrand?” Porter questioned further.

Firebrand sighed, his wings and ears drooping as he looked down at the pavement in shame. He really didn’t want to admit he had kept some secrets from his new friends and moreover, he didn’t want them to think less of him now. But he knew that there was no way he could weasel his way out of this. He would have to be upfront and hope for the best.

Firebrand took a deep breath and firmly replied, “Look, I promise I’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re done here. But please, trust me when I say that I am completely on your side. I really am.”

Everyone was silent for a moment until Hyong-Jin said, “I trust you, Firebrand.”

Yon-Soo seconded that, and couldn’t help but smile at that. Hyong-Jin had come a long way from hating ponies indiscriminately to fully supporting Firebrand. He couldn’t help but wonder if a part of that was because Hyong-Jin himself had been on the receiving end of similar mistrust.

Sergei groaned and admitted, “I wish I could say no, but I just know deep in my gut that Firebrand is telling the truth. And my gut feeling is usually on the dot.”

Porter nodded, silently agreeing with them. In the time he had known Firebrand, he knew that the pegasus stallion was a dedicated and true friend. He had no reason to sell them out. Hell, that beatdown Firebrand gave to the Royal Guard was too raw, too vicious, to be faked.

“Alright Firebrand,” said Porter, “promise us you’ll be honest and tell us everything when we’re all done here and reached a safe zone, alright?”

“Absolutely will.”

Sergei pointed out, “Um, what about him over there? He’s still, miraculously I must say, alive. What do we do with that guard?”

That guard was certainly in pretty bad shape; aside from his other injuries, Firebrand had knocked a couple of his teeth out, his face covered in numerous contusions, and he was spitting up blood.

“I say we kill him. He’s a liability to us,” Hyong-Jin said.

Yon-Soo shook his head and argued, “He’s technically our prisoner. Who knows, he might have useful information.”

“We’ll have to put down to a vote then,” Porter said. “Those in favor of just getting rid of him here and now, raise your hand.”

Predictably, Hyong-Jin and Firebrand voted yes on this one.

“Okay, those in favor of taking him prisoner, raise your hand.”

Yon-Soo, Sergei and Porter had to agree on this one. That guard was a prisoner, and he was one of Queen Celestia’s soldiers; he could have some information.

“That decides it then” said Yon-Soo. “Anyone got rope or something to keep him from escaping?”

“Eh, not sure we’d even need to. He’s really in no shape to even try,” remarked Sergei as he picked the broken and bleeding pegasus into his arms and slung him over his shoulder.

Both Firebrand and Hyong-Jin frowned in disappointment, whispering their sentiments to each other.

“I hope they know what they’re doing.”

“You and me both.”

The rest of the fight was going on strong, human soldiers trying to keep the Royal Guards and Newfoals they had acquired at bay. They managed to get back to the truck unscathed, and had to replenish supplies and place their prisoner in.

“Put him in the back of the truck, and then join us out there, got it?” Porter said to Yon-Soo as they decided to be safe by tying their prisoner up.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We even tied him up, just for good measure,” Yon-Soo replied as he gingerly placed their prisoner into the back of their armored truck. For good measure he grabbed some spare ammunition, some grenades and a couple extra pistols. It never hurt to be prepared.

“So now what do we do?” asked Firebrand.

Porter replied, “We have to hold the line. Try to drive the Royal Guards away, keep them from getting past city limits. We retreat as soon as the barrier is about to touch the city.”

“Makes sense,” Hyong-Jin nodded. He then clicked and loaded a fresh magazine of bullets into the new rifle he just took out and announced, “Time to lock and load.”

“Take cover!” yelled Yon-Soo as he ducked behind an abandoned car as newfoal pegasi were trying to drop potion bombs on them.

“See the light!” a unicorn newfoal exuberantly shouted as she charged at Sergei. “We’re going to save you all!”

“Like hell!” Sergei growled as he shot at its legs. The unicorn fell from the blows but it was still trying to walk at him, its face still twisted in that glassy eyed smile.

It was downright frightening. He had seen plenty of the news videos and other sloppily recorded civilian tapes on the Internet, of how the newfoals were literally like the zombies he saw in those movies and TV shows. But to see it in person was downright nightmare inducing.

It just wouldn’t stop, even as it left behind fragments of bone and great puddles of blood.

“Why won’t you join the herd?” another newfoal asked Sergei. Its voice seemed to be genuinely sad he and the others were denying the ponies’ “gift.” But what really unsettled him was that this newfoal was a child. A lot smaller than the usual pony. Sergei really did not like the idea of shooting a child.

BLAM

One shot to the head was all it took to kill it. Sergei saw that it was Hyong-Jin, and wasn’t shocked if he had to be honest with himself. He couldn’t let himself be held back. He got himself together and got back into the fight.

“Come on! Keep them back!” a police officer yelled. “We can’t let them get out of this area!”

Meanwhile, Yon-Soo and Porter had each other’s backs, the former shooting at the Royal Guard pegasi before they could dive bomb the men, while the latter shot at the newfoals. Unicorn newfoals weren’t proficient at magic, while the pegasus newfoals could barely hover. But the natural born ones weren’t so stupid.

“Watch out!” Firebrand yelled out from above. “The unicorns are gonna try to steal your weapons and fire them against you!”

“Gotcha!” Porter replied, as he and Yon-Soo ducked behind an abandoned car. It looked like a couple unicorns already did this, having taken some guns and firing them wildly at the soldiers. Anyone unlucky enough to not be able to get to cover in time got incapacitated. Yon-Soo caught several of those shot were now vulnerable to getting doused in potion, transforming into newfoals before they died from their gunshot wounds. By the time the last newfoal fell, they found themselves alone in a corpse filled street, the only survivors of the last wave.

“Shit! What do we do now?!” Sergei asked, trying to reload his gun.

Porter quickly looked around and said, “Follow me inside! Move!”

Yon-Soo closely followed Porter as Hyong-Jin and Sergei covered their backs while they ran towards an apartment complex. “What’s the plan?”

“We stay indoors; being outside is suicidal with all the open air and flying enemies. Inside, at least we have chokepoints and killzones to work with. It will also give us some cover from any potion bombs from the air or stray bullets. We will also have an advantage of getting the first shots off from off the ground,” Porter explained as they ran up a flight of stairs.

“Ah, I see then!” said Sergei. “Element of surprise! Plus the unicorns might not even be able to shield themselves from our shots!”

“Precisely, or at least until they figure out where we are at. Then we worry about getting out,” Porter confirmed before he and Yon-Soo kicked a door open, running into the empty apartment room. It was a mess to put it simply; there were discarded clothes, toys and books all over the floor, disorganized furniture, and even some unfinished food on the table. Porter took his place near one of the widows and motioned for Yon-Soo to take the next one. Hyong-Jin looked out the door while Sergei checked the other rooms.

“Weapons up, single or burst shot. Don't waste ammo needlessly, get your sights on the target and take them down. Firebrand will take care of the pegasi on top, since these newfoals can't fly for shit, so it will be a cakewalk for him. He’ll also be a diversion and lead them away from our position until we are made. Are you ready?” Porter asked.

“Ready as ever,” Yon-Soo replied, as he unlocked the safety on one of his guns and began shooting at the wandering newfoals as they entered the killing fields.

It helped out a lot, as several newfoals were shocked as they tried to figure out where the shots were coming from. As soon as they were about to look at their direction, Yon-Soo and Porter hid, taking cover from any pegasi that could try to look for them. Firebrand was fast though; he was able to provide enough distractions for any pegasi newfoals, plus he had many other advantages for them.

“Guys, I see a whole bunch of newfoals coming in from the east! They’re apparently being drawn to the noise! Damn, a whole bunch of Royal Guards are with them!” he yelled through the radio.

“I’ll be careful!” Aitmatov yelled. “Melnik and I are holding out, but just barely; the fuckers just won’t die!” There were several heavy booms from what was almost certainly a shotgun, too rapidly to be a pump-action, so probably a Saiga. “No no, scratch that. They die pretty well.” He fired again. “There’s just so! Goddamn! Many!” he roared, every word punctuated with a shotgun blast.

“You’ll never get us, you zombified pigfuckers!” yelled one other soldier, opening fire with his Kalashnikov.

Yon-Soo had to admit, that was a pretty apt comparison. The newfoals didn’t care one bit about their own survival, and just kept coming. But as dangerous as they were, the Royal Guards were even worse; they could actually fly, control their magic and knew their strength.

“Take down the unicorns; casters are top priority,” Porter instructed as he sighted a Royal Guard unicorn as he walked into the view, who was busy barking orders to the surrounding newfoals. A single squeeze of the trigger and the round flew true on target. However, instead of a bloody mess, a golden shield burst into view, causing the round to ricochet off and slam into a newfoal’s eye, killing it instantly. Porter stared in shock, actually lowering his rifle somewhat to stare. “Well fuck me sideways…”

Yon-Soo also noticed this and growled, “What the hell is going on?!”

“Oh no! Those are done already!?” Firebrand said with a mixture of dread and fear over the radio. “I’ve seen these before - Enchanted shields! Guys, be careful down there! The PHL have been receiving word of new armor being used by the Royal Guards! Unicorns don't have to cast spells for themselves anymore! I didn’t think they’d do it so quickly though!”

“Well they can’t be invincible, right?” Hyong-Jin asked through his own. He was getting restless, not wanting to stay at the door standing guard.

“I wouldn’t know! I’m not a unicorn, Hyong-Jin!”

“Wouldn’t hurt to try though,” Yon-Soo said as he took out a 7.62mm AK-107. It was larger and heavier in his grip, and he was slightly unaccustomed to the weight, but it would be a lot more effective than his current assault rifle. He had some experience with these kinds of guns, but Yon-Soo generally preferred his lighter 5.56 assault rifles and pistols.

But now wasn’t the time to wax poetic on weapons.

“Steady… and go.”

He fired three rounds at the shield. The recoil wasn’t too bad, thanks to to the rifle’s balanced recoil system. And it seemed to at least do something if the cracks appearing on the shield was anything to note.The unicorn looked around startled for a moment before glaring at the the apartment complex. He gave a single bark and the newfoals rushed the building in droves.

“Shit! It’s not working!” Sergei exclaimed as he tried to ward off the pegasi from trying to break into the windows.

Yon-Soo fired a few more shots, and soon, the shield cracked open, allowing for some bullets to go through and get not just the unicorn, but also the ponies near him. Yon-Soo had to swallow some vomit at how disgusting the aftermath was. Those rounds ripped right through the ponies’ bodies like they were balloons filled with red paint.

“The shields fell but I’m sure we’re not out of the woods. More are coming up,” Yon-Soo breathed as he hid from the windows.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got company,” Hyong-Jin confirmed in a shaky voice, when he pointed to the stairs in the complex.

Porter turned to Yon-Soo and asked, “Mind if you give me a few of the grenades you grabbed back there?”

“Not at all. Firebrand and I will handle things from this end,” he replied before getting back to his shooting.

Porter nodded and motioned for Hyong-Jin and Sergei to follow him down the hallway. Just to be safe, he took out one of the grenades, pulled out the pin and dropped it down the stairwell.

An explosion ripped through the stairwell, cries of surprise and death echoed out, along with a clatter of hooves.

Several ponies came out of hiding, most of them unicorns and one earth pony.The unicorns were obviously newfoals and the earth pony was clearly their leader, and they all looked eager.

“Take one and engage!” the earth pony yelled as he charged for Porter.

Hyong-Jin took on the unicorns, who immediately tried to steal Hyong-Jin’s gun from him. Thankfully, he had anticipated this, because he had the sense to load an empty magazine into the weapon, watching as the unicorn looked confused as to why nothing was coming out of the contraption. Hyong-Jin took the opportunity to take out his XK5. The pistol carried 45s instead of the normal 9s, and he unloaded his entire magazine into the newfoals. The first two shots slammed into the shield, which was far weaker than the elite guards’ shields. It shattered on the third shot. The unicorns barely had time to react when Hyong-Jin used the remaining bullets to kill off one and injure a second, and then he grabbed another fully loaded pistol and went after the other three as they just simply tried to grab their potions and convert him. Their fragile bodies were torn to pieces by the bullets, barely able to croak out before slumping to the ground lifeless.

Sergei was tangling with the rest of the unicorns in his own way, dodging spells and potion bottles, ducking behind the walls and other apartment rooms’ opened doors. These newfoals were probably changed a long while ago, since they seemed to possess some rudimentary magical knowledge. But they were still not really trained soldiers. Sergei remembered early close quarters combat training - gauge and use the environment to your advantage. He had several objects everywhere to use as distractions. Time to put the training to good use.

Porter meanwhile was having the toughest time. It was known that earth ponies, to compensate for their lack of magic and flying abilities, had greater physical strength in addition to their closeness towards nature. This stallion was no slouch, almost like a quarterback mixed with a raging bull and the fact that he was a Royal Guard only made things harder. The only advantage Porter had was being just faster enough to cut the tight corners of the hallway. He ran into one of the already open apartments to take a moment to breathe.

And while that pony had brawns, Porter had brains, and technology.

The pony ran into the room after Porter, and didn’t even realize what was right under his hooves.

The grenade Porter dropped on the ground as he ran exploded, and the Royal Guard couldn’t even scream when the grenade ended up not just shattering his limbs right off, but also breaking the floor under him, causing him to fall right into the apartment one floor below. Porter stepped out of hiding and looked at the enemy stallion beneath him, and felt a stir inside of him.

On the one hand, he felt a genuine animosity towards the ponies still loyal to Celestia’s cause, if only because of how despicably on-board they were with the whole “covert and assimilate all humans” in a way that would make the Kybermenschen look fiercely individualistic. But on the other hand, he felt a twinge of pity for them.

Enough to make him know that they were soldiers, just like him. Not enough however, to let him spare their lives. The stallion was clearly not in good shape any way, barely crawling and refusing to acknowledge he was severely injured; his forelegs were nothing but bloody, burnt stumps now, and the explosion of shrapnel had affected him quite adversely.

Best to shoot him and put him out of his misery. One from his simple pistol right in the head was all it took.

Hyong-Jin came in yelling Porter’s name out.

“You okay? I heard the explosion and got worried!”

Porter took one last look at the earth pony guard and replied, “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself alright enough. What about you?”

Hyong-Jin proudly said, “Well, I managed to pull a fast one on that unicorn that went after me. Tried to take my gun, but it was empty. While he was distracted, I took out another loaded gun and shot him till he fell.”

“That’s good. What about Sergei?”

“Ah crap…”

This wasn’t going as planned. Sure, he managed to get rid of those unicorn newfoals by pushing a bookcase into his path, distracting them long enough for Sergei to blast him to bits with a shotgun, but now Sergei found himself being relentlessly pursued by another, recently arrived group of newfoals. They kept shouting, “Join the herd!” and “Welcome your salvation!” as they doggedly went after him.

He had dumped a whole magazine of bullets from a 5.56 assault rifle into some of them, but whatever newfoals he either missed or actually dodged were coming at him with unparalleled determination. Even the injured ones were ignoring their blood loss, broken bones and whatnot to come at him. And there were more from what he could see.

“Sorry, but that’s not in our plans!” Yon-Soo’s voice came out before the South Korean soldier rushed to Sergei’s aid, accompanied by Firebrand. Yon-Soo was still equipped with his heavy duty AK-107, and though he wasn’t this model’s biggest fan, he had to admit, this thing got the job done. The newfoals he focused on were literally torn to pieces as he shot at them.

Firebrand focused his own energies on the others, flying at a fast enough speed to slam each of his forehooves into two newfoals and driving them into the walls. He rammed into them with such force, he could feel their organs rupture under his hooves. A few good kicks for the rest, and Sergei was able to put a bullet from his pistol into their heads.

“You guys holding up alright over there?” Aitmatov asked over the radio.

“I thought you were ponified!” Yon-Soo replied, both feeling shocked and relieved no more soldiers were lost.

“Melnik and I, we don’t die so easily,” Aitmatov said. “I have to admit, it was a challenge-”

“SUBMIT YOURSELF TO CELESTIA!”

“Sure. Bullets first!” Aitmatov spat, firing some large-caliber weapon, either a shotgun or a pistol, it wasn’t entirely clear. There was a wet gurgle, and the area around him fell silent. “Anyway, we’ve been holding out. Not exactly well, but...”

“Aw, piss,” some mare groaned.

“What? What is it?” Hyong-Jin asked.

“That,” Aitmatov sighed. “I don’t think I have enough bullets for that. Dammit, my grandfather was in the Great Patriotic War; this is something that even Stalin would pale at.”

“Continue…” the mare said.

“Long story short, he was given a cigarette, a papasha, a couple drums of ammo for the thing, and was told to wade into enemy lines while smoking, as if the bullets couldn’t touch him,” Aitmatov continued. “He was expendable, and told as much when he signed up. At least he had a fucking gun, though. That thing out there doesn’t even have the honor of being like my grandfather; it’s just a wall of meat meant to kill themselves to overwhelm us.”

“I can’t believe this! Celestia has got to be either insane or stupid, or both!” another soldier with Aitmatov hissed, this time a woman. “She claims that ponies are better, perfect and peaceful, yet she uses the newfoals like they’re just disposable cannon fodder?!”

“What a motherfucking hypocrite,” Aitmatov spat, and no one could find it in themselves to disagree.

Meanwhile, Firebrand checked out the window and paled instantly. Yon-Soo couldn’t really figure out how ponies managed to change the color of their faces if they were coated in fur, but upon looking out the window, he abruptly realized that he had far more pressing matters to attend to.

“Oh crap. Porter!”

“Yeah?”

“I think we have a problem,” Yon-Soo said as he pointed out the window as Porter walked next to him.

Hundreds of ponies, the majority of them newfoals, some not much older than children by the look of how small they were, rushed down the street towards their position.

“Fucking hell,” Porter muttered as he turned to run, grabbing Yon-Soo by his collar. “Run!”

“Where?! The only exit leads down to the street!” Yon-Soo pointed out, Sergei and Hyong-Jin rushing to meet them. Porter looked out the nearest window, seeing it facing another nearby.

“Follow me! Firebrand, scout ahead and look for a ride for us!” Porter yelled as he rushed towards the window and jumped through. The others watched as Porter jumped the small gap into the next building before they followed.

The horde of newfoals rushed the building, only to see the last human jump into the next building.

“They’re in the next building!” one yelled out as they swarmed after them. “After them! Let Celestia’s light grace them with Harmony!”

Porter rushed down the hall, seeing the open window lead to a balcony. A newfoal pegasus landed before him, potion in mouth and ready for him, only to be punched aside by Firebrand. It screamed, clutching its jaw, before Hyong-Jin put a bullet in its skull.

“There’s so many of them!” Yon-Soo yelled as he jumped the gap, holding position as the others rushed by him as he fired in the general direction of several more newfoals that followed behind them. “Just where did they come from anyway?!”

“Well we can’t be sitting ducks!” Hyong-Jin replied as he threw a grenade at them, watching the red mist from the explosion, extremely satisfied.

Porter continued to lead the group building by building, quickly making their way down halls and offices to next building in line. For once, Porter was glad of to be in the old part of town as the buildings were practically sitting next one another.

“Damn it, at this rate, we might as well just shoot ourselves!” Sergei exclaimed as they jumped into the next building, following Porter as he lead them upstairs to the roof “I’d rather die than be ponified!”

“You won’t have to worry about that! I know the fastest way you guys can get back to your truck and get out of here!” Firebrand said over the radio.

“That’s great Firebrand, but how do we get there?!” Porter asked as he scrambled over to the next rooftop with the rest of the group.

“From where you are, go north, and then when you get to that blue building with the ice cream cone at the front, turn left from there. I’ll meet you guys and cover you as you get to the Tigr!”

“Got it! Come on, we need to get there fast!”

Yon-Soo quickly took out his 5.56 assault rifle and began shooting at the pegasi circling above him, all of them uncomfortably similar to birds of prey looking for their next meal. ’If we don’t get out of here now,’ he realized, ’I don’t know if we ever will.’

Porter grunted as he jumped off to the lower level, rolling across the roof before jumping back to his feet, his weapon up and barking once, the diving newfoal slammed into the roof next to him with a bullet to the skull. The others jumped down with him as he made his way to street, seeing a delivery truck near them. Porter swallowed and jumped off the roof, groaning as he slammed onto the truck before making his way off and onto the street. He raised his weapon and fired several more rounds at the diving new foals as they tried to get his men, Firebrand rushing through their group and laying waste to them for the ones he didn't get to.

They bolted down the street as if hell itself was on their tails, which it very well may have been, taking brief pauses only to fire off brief, spasming bursts at the general direction of the newfoal hordes heading for them.

They might have dropped magazines on the way to the ice cream store, fumbling in the process of reloading, or they might have just expended that much ammo, but either way, by the time they got within view of the truck, it felt like they were lighter by several pounds of ammunition.

All except Firebrand, who spent an unfortunate amount of their mad dash to the truck wishing that he had a gun he could actually fire.

“Thank God the Tigr has been untouched,” Porter sighed with relief. “Is our prisoner still in there?”

Yon-Soo gasped out, “Yeah, I see him. He’s awake, but there’s no way he’d be able to escape. Come on, let’s get inside.”

Yon-Soo took the driver’s seat, and thankfully, there was a spare key in one of the compartments. Porter rode shotgun, and immediately reloaded his rifles, while Hyong-Jin kept watch over their prisoner.

With 20 yards of open space to the Tigr, Sergei rushed over to the heaven sent weapon mounted on the roof, just behind the driver’s seat. He scrambled to get on top of the Tigr with the AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher beckoning to him. He remembered the thing from back when they’d been fighting Chechens; dear God, it had simply obliterated any position they turned it on.

“Yon-Soo, get us out of here. The rest of us will cover!” Porter said as he rolled down the window and began aiming.

“Gotcha!” Yon-Soo replied. He quickly started the Tigr, and took off like a race car driver, hitting a couple newfoals in the front along the way.

Sergei quickly loaded a new drum of rounds onto the crew served weapon and pulled back the charging handle to load the first round. He heard the others scramble inside just in time to see the first group of ponies rushing out of nearby building. He smirked as he aimed at the door and depressed the trigger.

Pomf pomf pomf pomf

The first four rounds sailed over head and through the open door. The newfoals didn’t even have time to get further than the doorway when it exploded, shredding them and the newfoals inside, blood and viscera spattering all over the ceiling and covering the windows. Sergei roared, aiming at the building’s wall, and emptied every round in the AGS-30’s massive drum magazine in its general direction. As the huge truck pulled away, the grenades exploded against the wall, reducing it to rubble over the course of seconds, leaving great craters in the ground and scorch marks on the pavement. Somewhere nearby, a newfoal was blown up, literally blown upwards, sent flying about five meters up, the stumps of her legs trailing blood. Newfoals attempting to leap out the windows were shredded by the explosive payloads.

A Royal Guard, a pegasus this time, jumped off the roof, flying at them, and smirked at Sergei as one 30mm grenade impacted against the shield of his enchanted armor.

Unfortunately, there were two things he should have known. First, the force of an explosion has to go somewhere, even if you don’t get burnt up, so he had the wind knocked out of him as he somersaulted backward through the air. Second, one grenade impacting against a force field doesn’t really matter when you have a lot more to fire, so there wasn’t much left of him when another 30mm grenade pulped his foreleg into a wet stump, and another destroyed everything below the neck.

“...Gross,” Sergei said approvingly. “Firebrand! There any more drums for this thing down below?!”

“Yeah!” Firebrand yelled. “There’s also this huge shotgun!”

“Pass me another drum, then! The mag for this thing is running dry!”

“They’ve really gotta get us ponies guns of our own to use sometime soon, though!” Firebrand yelled up, as he carried the drum up in his mouth, spitting slightly as soon as Sergei had picked it up, trying pointlessly to get the metallic taste out of his mouth. “I don’t really like being a mobile ammo pack!”

“You see that?” the captured royal guard pegasus yelled. “That’s all they see you as. That’s all you’ll be to them! You’re just a-”

“Stop insulting my friend,” Sergei heard Hyong-Jin snarl, “Or I’ll decide that you were trying to break into the truck and I use this shotgun.”

“Who would, Firebrand?” Sergei asked, yelling unnecessarily down into the Tigr. He would later find out that when Firebrand had said ‘huge shotgun,’ he had actually been talking about a 23mm Ks23 shotgun, so it was no surprise that the captured royal guard pony decided it was best to just shut up.

“They're closing in on us!” Hyong-Jin yelled as he kicked off a newfoal hanging off the back, unloading his weapon at the chasing group.

“Shut up shut up shut up!” Yon-Soo yelled as he took a tight corner, the entire vehicle tilting to the side before landing back on all four tires. The sound of cursing echoed over head and the pistol rounds going off as Sergei was forced to use his pistol to get rid of the newfoals on the roof.

“Must go faster, must go faster. Go, go, go, go!!” Hyong-Jin kept yelling as he shot at whatever newfoals were hanging around the back of the truck.

“I KNOW! Stop backseat driving!!” Yon-Soo yelled as he stepped on the gas, trying to make the truck go faster. Despite the newfoals’ persistence, they seemed to be getting some distance, and in the rear view mirrors, they were becoming smaller and farther away.

“Keep going! They may be far away now, but they’ll try to follow us!” Sergei noted from above.

“I know!” Yon-Soo replied, trying to focus on the road ahead.

“Oh, shit!” Sergei yelled. Vials full of potion were being dropped from the sky by the faster pegasus fliers. Thankfully, the truck’s speed meant that their shots missed them, but it was enough to get Sergei to bring out his rifle to shoot those pegasi with extreme prejudice while Firebrand had to fly up and catch the potion bottles and throw them away.

“We can’t keep letting them follow us!” Yon-Soo pointed out, trying not to cringe when the front of the vehicle hit a newfoal head on, reducing it to little more than a smear of blood. “If we’re driving to a safe zone, we can’t have them follow us there and put more people at risk of being ponified!”

“I have an idea,” said Porter. “It’s a bit risky, but we have to take those hordes out any way we can.”

Porter then reached for the radio, quickly thumbing the microphone and speaking into it. “This is Tigr Unit 8402-Romeo, we are going north-northeast out of the Kalininsky District, travelling at 60 kph on Route Charile Golf. We have fliers and runners on our tail and need immediate assistance from any listening units. I repeat, we need immediate assistance, we have High Priority VIP on board and a horde of newfoals following us.”

“We read you loud and clear, Unit 8402-Romeo.” Porter sighed in relief at the response, reaching back and slapping Hyong-Jin on the back with joy as the voice on the other end said, “We have you on screen now. Watch the skies, because we’re going to make it rain. ETA 15 seconds.”

“Copy that,” Porter confirmed as he set the microphone down. He then turned to everyone else and said, “Alright, guys, we have to keep them off our backs till air support arrives, which is damn quick. Keep driving as fast as you can, Yon-Soo.”

“Uh... Porter…” Yon-Soo called to him, his eyes no longer trained on the road but in the sky. Porter looked back to see several planes racing straight towards them.

Very familiar planes.

“Oh fuck. Floor it, Yon-Soo!!” Porter yelled as a squadron A-10 Thunderbolts lined up with them. “Whatever you do, don’t let up on the-”

Whatever Porter said next was lost in roar of the multiple GAU-8 autocannons and rocket pods. Sergei and Firebrand, who had landed on the roof seconds earlier, had the clearest view of the destruction. One moment they saw an entire horde of flying and stampeding newfoals, the next they saw them fly apart and get burnt to a crisp from either supersonic rounds or missiles, practically vaporized by the intense volume of fire. Firebrand’s jaw dropped like a ton of bricks at the utter destruction being dealt. The Thunderbolts unleashed everything they had as they made their pass, not only killing the newfoals, but destroying everything else as well.

Nearby houses, cars, and the road itself simply ceased to exist after the punishing amount of firepower rammed into the stampede of newfoals and Equestrians. It was clear that even if the barrier would be eating the city in a matter of hours, there wouldn’t be much to consume anyway.

Sergei and Firebrand ducked back into the Tigr, the former saying, “Yon-Soo, whatever you do, don’t-”

“I know, I know!” Yon-Soo yelled back before letting out a scream as he kept his foot planted on the gas pedal, wanting to get away from the carnage as fast as possible just as much as the rest of them.

“Unit 8402-Romeo, you are free and clear. No more tail chasers for you to worry about.”

“We will cover your exit. Regroup with your units,” another voice piped in, a heavy Russian accent filtering through. Porter looked up to several dozen Mi-24 Hinds making their way towards the city. Several of them started opening fire on the destroyed street, no doubt in Porter’s mind that they were taking care of survivors.

“Damn, we saw and heard that shit from here,” Khan Aitmatov said over the radio. “Guess there is no kill like overkill, huh?”

Porter said nothing as he looked in the side mirror. The city was lost, and hopefully, just about every human resident was evacuated and whoever remained was not in danger of being ponified now. Porter closed his eyes as the first missiles and artillery began to fall, explosions ripping the Kalininsky District apart.

Yon-Soo wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or not. It was one thing to be filming an action movie with explosions and stunts and all that. It was something else to actually be in the action for real. He took the radio and said, “This is Yon-Soo Park on the Tigr Unit 8402-Romeo. Where’s the closest safe zone to drive to?”

The officer on the other side replied, “Well, the main safe zone and new base of operations has been moved to Yekaterinberg, but since it’s still more than a day’s drive away from St. Petersburg, we’ll be setting things up temporarily in Nizhny Novogorod. You have a GPS, correct?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Enter in the address for the Nizhny Novogorod State Medical Academy. From there, you’ll be able to rest, have shelter, and regroup with the rest of the forces from St. Petersburg and Moscow.”

Porter entered in the address and groaned. “Fourteen hours?”

Sergei was similarly frustrated, but he had to cut in, “I know, it’s far, but at least it also means we’re far from the barrier too. And hopefully, far from any Equestrian forces.”

“He’s right,” Firebrand pointed out. “And I would love to go drop him off as soon as we can.”

Their prisoner was glaring at them. If looks could kill, they’d be ashes, but everyone in the truck had seen far worse things than him since the start of the war. They instead decided to ignore him, though Hyong-Jin still kept the shotgun as a threat.

Yon-Soo quickly looked at the GPS instructions and prepared himself for the long drive to Nizhny Novogorod.

They survived... but at what price?

Author's Notes:

First off, a big thank you to Redskin122004 and Doctor Fluffy for helping out with the action scenes! I was having some trouble with the finer details and stuff with weapons, and they were amazing helpers! Love you both! (hugs)

Gore and ludicrous gibs galore too! Doc Fluffy and I had tons of fun with the descriptions. I'm still debating how to use Doctor Fluffy's Russian OCs, so any suggestions would be appreciated. And try to spot the shout-outs! I'm trying to put in more to pad out the TV Tropes page, because I'm like that.

Next chapter will have the guys resting and recovering, some crossovering with the main story and a bit with the European side story, details on Firebrand's past, and their next mission! Stay tuned!