Sunset put her head down and threw herself after Rainbow Dash as she put on a burst of speed. She stayed right on Rainbow's heels as their run took a sudden detour from the road to the treeline behind Canterlot High and across the athletics track. They hurdled the hedge together, sprinting across the grounds to the statue.

"Ha!" Sunset slapped the corner of the stone podium as she passed, looking back to see Rainbow Dash touching the edge as well, grinning. "Ok, I'm willing to concede a tie."

"I won and you know it!" Rainbow Dash said, stretching as they turned to head back inside.

"With a head-start!" Sunset let it go with a laugh, taking a deep breath to recover from the workout as they made their way inside to the lockers. "Pinkie invited everyone over for breakfast, should we take her up on it before class? I mean, it's a Friday, why not?"

"Sounds awesome to me." Rainbow Dash grinned at her playfully. "You're getting fast, you notice that?"

"Hey, you whipped me into shape."

Sunset caught Rainbow's workout clothes as she threw them at her so she could wash them later that day, pulling on the new outfit she and Rarity had put together. Rarity had finally forced her to retire her old jacket, and gifted her a new, lightweight one, trading black leather for a soft olive short-cropped number with orange chevrons on the sleeves. She sat herself down and pulled on the rather nice leather boots that went with it, running a finger along the matching chevrons Rarity had affixed to them. Those had taken even more convincing: before they had been modified she was sure they would have more Applejack's style.

Her old jacket had needed a break. She loved it, but she had beaten the crap out of it in the past few months.

The two girls made it to Pinkie's house, discovering they were the last to arrive. Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy had formed an efficient little assembly line in the kitchen to churn out a frankly unhealthy number of pancakes, and Applejack was trying her hardest to figure out how the Pie's fancy new coffee machine worked, nose buried in the owner's manual. Sunset quickly came to her rescue.

"So, everybody ready for tonight?" Rainbow Dash leap-frogged her way onto a stool, rocking back and forth. "I got an upgrade just for this!"

"I'd say we all have, what with our little shopping spree. I was surprised you didn't buy anything in Cloudsdale, dear, they had a fabulous selection there. Even Fluttershy got a brand-new rifle." Rarity hung her apron on the hook, stacking herself a plate of golden pancakes.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, getting in line for her own food. "Meh. I had something in the mail. And it. Is. Awesome."

"At least tell us it can mount a flashlight, though. Y'all gonna be feeling pretty silly if it doesn't." Applejack teased, blowing across the top of her coffee mug.

"Oh yeah! Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie nearly vaulted the counter as they all sat down, prompting Rarity to gasp and grab the syrup before it could be knocked over. "Oopsie! Anyway, Flutters, how's it work? Is it cool? I don't even know what it is!"

Fluttesrhy blushed, taking a gulp of orange juice to buy some time. Sunset rolled her eyes.

"Way to pay attention, Pinkie. It's a SIG 550, and I'm sure it works fine."

"It's... nice." Fluttershy confirmed. "It actually shoots farther than my old bolt-action. I'm just... it's so new, I'm afraid to break it..."

"Tell me about it." Sunset wiped her mouth and sat back, glancing at the clock to make sure there was no rush for school. "This stuff can get expensive."

"Oooh... good food." Rainbow Dash burped quietly into her fist. "Whew. Well, I'm set when you are!"

"Good golly, Rainbow, this ain't a competition!" Applejack said, looking at Rainbow's empty plate.

Rainbow made a rude noise, poking Applejack in the belly. "Says the girl who ate three more pancakes than me, in the same amount of time!"

"I'm bigger than you!"

"Everyone's bigger than me, and you're bigger than everyone!"

"Point Rainbow Dash." Rarity noted.

Sunset laughed at the antics, standing up. "Come on, girls, let's clean up and get to school."

"Leave some for Marble!" Pinkie added, already halfway up the stairs to get her school things.

Sunset tailed the blue Mustang as they passed the Cloudsdale city limits. She had put the top of her convertible up, and they had shuffled who was riding with who since last week. Being roomier, Flash had more people in his car, while Sunset had Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and their extra gear with her.

Sunset glanced over in surprise as Pinkie turned off the radio, checking behind her to see Fluttershy napping in the backseat and Pinkie looking... concerned.

"What's up, Pinks? Everything ok?"

Pinkie gave a small smile, stretching in her seat. "I was gonna ask you the same thing, silly. You got your thinky-face again."

"Do I now?" Sunset signalled and pulled onto the exit ramp. It wasn't much farther now.

"What's on your mind? I'm all ears."

"It's just nerves." Sunset assured her. "I've always gotten a bit shaky before doing things where I'm gonna be judged. Presentations, cheerleading, dimensional invasions..."

Pinkie giggled, stretching in her seat. "Heh! I think that's the first time I've ever heard you joke about that, Sunny. I think this is gonna be fun!"

"I do to! I mean, we've come a long way since plinking each other in the woods in the middle of nowhere." Sunset took the last turn to Easyglider Field, giving the brakes a sharp tap to jostle Fluttershy awake. "Morning, sunshine! Can I get a 'hell yeah?'"

Fluttershy gave a quiet moan as she came to, stretching herself as Sunset finished parking. "Mmmmmou can get a... something. Sorry, I can't think of anything not-mean..."

Sunset grinned as they all got out. "Good you got some rest. Let's suit up!"

They gathered around the back of Flash's car, pulling their respective backpacks, cases and gear-bags out of the trunk. Sunset shrugged off her jacket and hefted her thick vest over her head, strapping the three-layered velcro flaps down tight and adjusting the thin shoulder pads. Next was her old leather belt that she buckled high on her waist, over the top of her shirt and pants. The cloth rigging for her holster and spare pouces dangling loose for a moment before she clipped those around her legs securely, and she popped open her padded gun case.

Her pistol took in its holster high on her hip, radio, grenade, knife and the rest of the pouches were quickly filled with magazines, spare ammo and glowsticks, eventually leaving only the loose sack for used magazines on the back of her belt. She swung her jacket back over the top of everything and yanked her gloves on, lastly picking up her short-barreled AK, clipping the stock's sling-pivot to the handmade catch on her right shoulder. She dropped it, letting it hang under her jacket.

All around her, the other girls were doing the same. Fluttershy adjusted her kneepads and scarf, Pinkie Pie helped Applejack get her arms through the camouflaged backpack carrying their supply of spare BBs and snacks. Rarity zipped up her thick jacket, carefully tucking her hair inside the hood and making certain her leaf-print bandanna had not been knocked askew.

Rainbow Dash grinned at them as she tightened her gloves. Her shoulder-holster had a new gun in it, her Sigma had migrated down to a leg-holster, and her black-and-silver Fillydelphia Falcons jersey was obscured by a new rig holding...

"Are you girls ready to rock?" Rainbow asked, drawing the twin-barreled sawn-off shotgun from its sheath on her back and popping it open to check that the chambers were empty.

Fluttershy fiddled with the low-power scope on her new rifle. "U-umm... hell yeah, right?"

Sunset's energetic grin fell off her face when Flash straightened up from the other side of his car, snapping on a jet-black military helmet. And wearing a black military vest. Over a black sweater and sweatpants. With black goggles and a black mesh facemask dangling from his hand.

"Really, Flash? Freakin' really?" Sunset rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Did they not have any other colors? Or any color at all?"

Flash rolled his eyes, strapping the mask and goggles to sit on top of his helmet. "Jeez, you look great too. It's a night game, though, so I got every reason-"

"To be the only patch of absolute solid darkness in the entire forest? Yeah. Sure. Great. You don't even look cool. You look like a stagehand with a utility-belt fetish." Sunset shot. Applejack gave a chuckle, but Flash wasn't just going to take it.

"Yeah? And how well do you think you're gonna blend in, Coppertop?"

"Watch me. If I don't want to be seen, they won't see me." Sunset said disdainfully. She pointed a finger over her head and twirled it in small circles, signalling to rally on me as she turned toward the entrance. The rest of them fell in behind her.

There were quite a few new people in the waiting area, but it was difficult to make out faces with the setting sun glaring around inside. Thankfully, Blazer's gear was unmistakable under its coating of patches.

Sunset waved as she joined them. "Gentlemen. Pathfinder. We made it."

"Hey!" Pathfinder punched at Sunset's shoulder, smirking. "We're about to get briefed. E.C.S.F. and S.F.F. are going to form the OPFOR faction."

"Cool. What's the competition?" Sunset took a seat, kicking her boots up and scanning the room.

"Tough." Pretty huffed. "New Lunar Defense and Cabin Strategic are INDIE... but worse, the chumps from Shining's old school are here as BLUEFOR. Team Crystal Spear. No offense, Shiny."

"Hey. I resemble that remark." Shining deadpanned.

Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. "Aww, they're Crystal Prep? Buncha tryhards... wait..." she did a double take, "you're Crystal Prep?"

"Graduated with honors, my little sis goes there too." Shining spun his shield on it's edge. This one was covered in a thick layer of duct-tape so it would conform with the game's rules and he'd have to peek around it, instead of having a transparent piece of blue plastic to parry shots with. He nodded over at a small mixed team of males and females in matching dark purple gear, similar to his own. "Like everything, they take this stuff very seriously."

"I know Crystal Prep's reputation, but with good play we can beat anyone, I'm sure of it." Rarity said firmly.

Pinkie Pie poked Sunset in the side, directing her attention over to the other, larger group. "Check them out, girlie."

Sunset scanned the remaining teams. Combined, Indie would be a bigger force overall, but Pathfinder had explained that they would have their weapon selection limited to a single primary weapon each, and no extras. As such, she didn't see anything out of place, but Pinkie seemed concerned.

"What about 'em?"

"The Cabin guys. They seem really not-serious. I bet they're goooood."

Sunset looked again, closer, as she translated Pinkie's dissimile. The mish-mash gear and plain colors did not seem all that interesting, but the simple casualness of the group made them stand out. Sunset reached over and tugged on Flash's sleeve.

"Hey. How scared of those guys should we be?"

"Depends." Osprey interjected, and Flash went back to loading his pistol magazines. "If they want a clean trade and we give it to them, we can probably wipe out blue no problem with their help. If it goes weird... just fight hard, because they are damn good at being the underdog. Looks like Rush is leading, he has his stupid hat on."

Sunset noted the tall adult in the distinctive floppy 'boonie hat' and nodded. A leader identified was a prime target identified.

Any further pre-game strategy was brought to a halt as a dark and imposing member of the Crystal Spear team stood up, banging on the wall to bring all attention to him. The chatter died instantly, and Sunset felt the chill fill the room. She knew respect from fear when she felt it, and her eyes narrowed. Tall, ash-skinned, muscular, with a wild mane of black hair and perpetual glare, his uniform matched the rest of his team save for a red arrow painted on the top of his helmet; either a spear or stylized horn. Altogether not the kind of person one would like to encounter in a dark alleyway. Or anywhere, really.

Sunset would not be intimidated. In fact, she just acquired the prime BLUEFOR target.

"Greetings, and... welcome..." His voice was deep and grave, matching his appearance, and anything but welcoming. "Since there are some new faces, we will be a little more thorough with the briefing. I am Rex Sombra. I will state the Rules of Engagement. Then we will begin."

"He seems fun." Rainbow Dash whispered. Applejack fistbumped her under the table with a chuckle.

Rex continued, ignoring them. "INDIE will begin holding one BLUEFOR hostage and wants the silver briefcase. OPFOR will begin with the briefcase and wants both the hostage and to keep the case if possible, but may trade. BLUEFOR will attempt to rescue the hostage. Any questions."

He didn't wait for anyone to say or do anything, and continued right along.

"We will be using a medic system. If you are hit, drop prone and call for a medic. Each team will be assigned two medics that can 'revive' you with a thirty-second countdown. Everyone else can be use 'first aid' with a one-hundred count to revive. You may also tap out of the game, permanently, if you do not think you will be revived, or if your entire team has been wiped out. The game will begin in one hour, and will continue until both the hostage and briefcase are clearly secure near one of the designated safe zones, all members of other teams have been eliminated, or the sun rises. No speaking to other teams until the round has begun. That is all."

There was a great scuffling as everyone stood up, pushing back chairs and gathering gear. Sunset shifted her backpack and made to go, but stopped as Blazer held out his arm. She watched as the Crystal Spear team filed down the stairs, looking around for the holdup.

At the back of the room, Rush held up his rifle. Slowly, across the room with varying degrees of fumbling, everyone raised their weapons above their heads. Pathfinder gave a solemn nod to Sunset's team, prompting them to join in.

Rush reached up his free hand and chambered his gun. "Alright, everyone. Let's see a clean game! Good luck! Have fun!"

"DON'T DIE!" The room roared back, followed by a chorus of clacking and clicking as they all armed their weapons. Sunset found herself grinning at the camaraderie.

"Don't die!" Pinkie added gleefully, a full second late.

It got a chuckle out of the room.

Pathfinder took control of the group immediately as they arrived at the small clearing in the trees. A worn and mossy park bench at right in the middle, and a lone and utterly out-of-place streetlight illuminated the area in flickering yellow light as sun's light faded almost entirely. Applejack set the silver briefcase down on the bench as Pathfinder signaled them to gather.

"Ok, the plan is to steal the hostage if we can, trade as backup. Cabin Strategic is normally not that bad and NLD is pretty chill, but we're gonna need intel."

Sunset stepped up. "Fluttershy and I can scout. We have comms, and we're both pretty good at not being seen."

"Ok," Pathfinder nodded. "Head north toward the main compound. Blazer, Osprey, swing south to try and spot any Crystal players sneaking up on us, be ready to fall back and regroup. Applejack and Pinkie Pie, you two guard the package, the rest of us are gonna move north slowly to a attack position. Let's go!"

Sunset rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, stepping away from the group with Fluttershy.

"Flutters, you hang back and focus on the forested area around the market compound. We don't just want to know what INDIE is doing, we want to know if BLUEFOR is about to hit them and what they see."

"I copy," Fluttershy nodded, pulling her hood up and slipping into the undergrowth, "I'll... umm... I'll be in touch."

"Same." Sunset

She knew she was overextending. She could tell by how hard her heart was pounding.

Sunset stepped silently over a fallen branch in the night, eyeing the bright lights compound ahead of her. She could see several members of the INDIE team moving between buildings, with two static lookouts.

Sunset pushed the switch on her earpiece, whispering into her hand to keep the sound from traveling. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"This is Rarity. I hear you, darling."

The quality was bad, but clear enough. Sunset peeked around her bush again.

"INDIE has the main arena almost entirely locked down. Shifting guard patrols, lots of light, no real predictable approach. We couldn't push a team in without them seeing us. We'd have to sneak people in one-at-a-time to keep from being mowed down."

"Sounds wonderful. Can you see Fort Efoff?"

"Negative." Sunset reported. "They're strongest defense is at the east end of the market. Noone in the tower, though."

Rarity was quiet for a second before he came back on. "Pathfinder says don't count on it staying empty. I bet they're gonna kill the lights, then move the hostage to a more secure location. There's really only the Fort, one of the storage containers or the lemonade stand if they're playing risky. It's too early for anyone to attack, but if we can disrupt the hostage movement we'll have an easier time negotiating a trade.

Sunset nodded to herself, watching as a pair of INDIE New Lunar Defense moved close to the edge of the arena near her position, still well out of earshot. She kept her rifle sighted on them, screwing her left eye shut. "Understood. Flutters?"

"Here." Fluttershy whispered.

"I might be about to become a bargaining chip. Try to get a good angle, and if it get's loud start dropping people." Sunset said. Rarity would have to take educated guesses for what she was about to do, but Sunset knew if she explained it in detail she would be told "no" and the situation would go to hell. And she was about to have to move fast.

"Oh, dear."

"Don't forget, we're using Pinkie's code-phrase. 'This is random, but-' and we'll come running. Good luck." Rarity added.

"Thanks." Sunset's heart was pounding as she watched the lights start to turn off through the compound. She opened her left eye, avoiding looking at any light directly. "I'm about to need it."

The last section of the Market area went dark, and Sunset cracked a glowstick, throwing it off toward her left. Barely able to see and completely light-blind in her right eye, Sunset broke out of cover and padded across the no-man's land between the trees and the southern edge of the arena. Ahead of her, flashlights started to click on.

"Hey, over here! I had movement!" an INDIE player called out. Sunset's adrenaline spiked, but she knew she hadn't been seen. She would have been shot at, but the guard was probably looking at her now-active glowstick. She reached the buildings and huddled in a shadow.

She was in.

She quickly glided along in a low crouch, less worried about being quiet and more concerned with speed and avoiding INDIE patrols in the small area. Sunset could not take on twenty other players. She had to get farther behind their lines for her plan. The market stalls did not break up line of sight as well as she thought, either.

Without warning, the stall she was moving by got brighter. She dropped to her knees and tucked herself as best she could behind a piece of plywood.

"Stand up!" Someone barked. Sunset tensed up so badly she nearly hurt her back. The light faded, and she realized she hadn't been discovered.

"Turn that way, no looking around, no talking. March." said the voice.

Sunset had stumbled onto the hostage and their guards. She grinned, swooping out of her cover at a crouch, one hand holding her carbine to her side, the other brushing the ground for balance as she moved as quickly and quietly as she could closer. She caught sight of one INDIE as he was turning around, moving to join the sound of several more.

Sunset picked up the pace. She needed to get past the rear guard, and he was starting to lag behind.

The group was moving north, toward the Connex boxes, but were forced to take a winding route because of the dense market stalls. Sunset peeked, making certain no one was looking her way, and practically sprinted up behind the rear guard as they approached the road, reaching around and covering his mouth with a hand.

"Mmph!"

"Ssshsh~" Sunset whispered. "Sleep."

The INDIE player nodded, slowly lowering himself to the ground in front of a mocked-up lemonade stand. Sunset rushed ahead as quietly as she could, right up to the rear of the group as they broke out into the wide Main Street dividing Market and Storage.

And stood up straight, walking with them as they crossed.

This is not good for my heart, Sunset thought. She raised her gun, matching the rest of them in their low-ready stance as they paranoidly checked up and down the street. She checked herself. After all, it would be terrible if her new squad got ambushed. In the middle, a larger player in a Crystal Spear uniform walked casually, ignoring the pistol practicality poking him in the back.

The hostage-team moved into the storage area, three immediately herding the BLUFOR player into one of the smaller open trailers and sat him down on a truck tire. Sunset stepped smartly in after them as a flashlight beam swept across the group, illuminating everyone.

Somehow, nobody noticed her.

"Hostage, face the back. Alpha-Two, move down a few buildings so you have a good angle across the entrance, careful about ricochets," one of the INDIE members ordered. Sunset couldn't identify anything distinctive about him, he had pulled up his hood and facemask made him just as generic as the rest of the team. "Spooky Boot, you're the hostage guy for Alpha-One. Rush should be off to negotiate soon, but knowing him we'll be here a while. So get comfy."

Sunset leaned against one of the walls, carbine casually across her chest so that it at least partially covered up her grenade. There wasn't anything she could do about her sidearm, though. She was counting on them seeing it soon.

Her earpiece crackled, but whoever was on the other side was unintelligible.

Another flashlight lit up the alley outside, and Sunset got a good look at everyone present. Directly across from her, leaning against the opposite wall, was a young-looking boy with a scarf in the place of a facemask, watching out the door. 'Spooky Boot' was facing away from them, pointing some kind of machine-pistol at the back of the hostages vest. The hostage was more interesting.

His helmet had a long red triangle on it. Sunset leaned to get a closer look as the light outside faded slightly. Large build, ashen-black hair out the back of his helmet... Yep. The BLUFOR leader is the hostage. What is he thinking?

Distantly, outside, she could hear some commotion, and a few voices shouting, but no one shooting. Lights began to dance across the arena more rapidly. A search? What for- oh. I left a body.

"What's going on out there?" Spooky asked calmly.

"Hey..." The other guard in the trailer with her shifted, standing up properly. He was looking right at her.

He squinted, indecisive, as he looked her up and down. "Hey, we didn't get to bring a sidearm, right?"

"No? What's up, Jester?" Spooky said, not taking his eyes off his charge.

"Yeah, yeah. You're not supposed to have that. Only... oh." Jester raised his rifle fully, and Sunset heard a click of a safety being turned off. "Guys? Guys, I think there's an OPFOR in here."

"What?!" Spooky very nearly turned around, but a stir from their hostage stopped him. "Face the wall. I did not say move, so help me..."

"I'm turning on my light. Taco, get Rush! This isn't Inky!" Jester clicked on his flashlight, flooding the trailer with bright light directly in Sunset's face, she shielded her eyes and stayed leaning against the wall casually.

"There's an OPFOR in here!" Someone outside confirmed.

By the time Sunset's eyes adjusted, no less than four rifles were pointed directly at the center of her vest.

Sunset smiled at them. "Hi."

"How the hell did you get in here?" The leader of the hostage team, still unidentifiable, growled.

Sunset shrugged. "I just wanted to take a look, been here the whole time. Is Mr. Rush around?"

Someone swore quietly as the hostage gave a rumbling chuckle. The leader of the hostage team clicked the radio on his vest, not taking his weapon off of Sunset as she smirked.

"Sir, we have a OPFOR in the hostage room, one of the new girls. How advise?"

Sunset could hear the voice outside of the trailer, approaching up the street. "Tell her 'the manager will be with you shortly!'"

"The... the manager will be with you shortly, miss." The hostage-leader repeated, confused.

The much more distinctive boonie-hat wearing leader of the INDIE team practically skipped inside with them. Rush clapped his hands casually, rifle hanging loosely in front of him "Wa-hey, everyone, quite the party. Hey, do you see that?" He pointed at Sunset's vest. "That's a grenade. It will kill everyone. Everybody out, Spooky stay, Taco stay."

There was an organized shuffling as they moved out of the room. The hostage-team-leader stayed, allowing Sunset to identify him as 'Taco.' Rush nodded. "So, miss, what in the name of tossed salads are you doing in the back of my moving van?"

Sunset decided she like him. "Oh, just making sure things are being done right. Nice and clean, smooth trade. Sound good? Oh, and sorry about Inky. You got him up, right?"

A confused mix of emotions crowded across Rush's face as he sputtered. "Tha- what?! That was you! He was in the middle of my camp!"

"So was I?" Sunset suggested, then changed the subject, "So how about I take the big guy off your hands?"

Rush glared suspiciously. "You have the package?"

Sunset nodded. "It's safe."

"Where?"

"Safe."

Rush reached up and lifted the corner of his goggles, rubbing his eyes for a second. "You... you just stay here, I have to go deal with something else right now. I'll trade, you can tell your team that we want to trade and we can do it at Fort Efoff."

"Ha, no." Sunset shook her head. "We're not coming in here. Figure something better out."

"Fine." Rush turned and started out. "I'll be back in a second, Taco... get this shit under control."

Sunset reached up to her earpiece as Rush ducked out. Taco stepped forward back, settling back against the wall with his rifle unwavering on her chest. The radio had been on the entire time, in case anyone from her team had gotten close they could hear, but she didn't want anyone to know that. "Sunset to Pathfinder."

She waited a moment while Taco glared at her. Nobody answered. "Sunset to OPFOR, come in."

Nothing. Taco's eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Friends not answering? What's the range on that thing, fifty meters?"

Sunset realized she was in incredible danger. If he hits me, I'm not getting a respawn and my team is gonna have no idea...!

She bluffed.

"It goes quite a bit further th-hey! Rarity!" Sunset interrupted herself, lowering her head like she was listening to her earpiece. "Loud and clear. ... Yeah, we're doing a fair trade, Rush is about to come back to negotiate... Yeah, I'm good. ... Update in ten or you kill everyone, got it."

"She's bluffing." Spooky said, still not turning around. The guy was disciplined.

Uh oh.

"Yep." Taco shifted carefully. "Should we kill her and just tell Rush she made a sudden movement and scared me?"

Spooky shrugged.

Sunset's brain was going absolutely wild as she planned and double-planned possible escapes. She could try and diffuse the situation, force the bluff harder...

Or do the "Rainbow Dash Method."

Sunset relaxed her shoulders, letting out her breath with a sigh. She's have to be fast. "Yeah, bluffing. I'm just gonna steal your hostage."

"Wha-?"

Sunset threw her left arm up, slapping the muzzle of Taco's rifle toward the ceiling. She jumped forward as Spooky spun around for the first time. Taco's rifle popped and a plastic BB bounced off the ceiling.

Sunset didn't move her AK from where it was hanging across her chest. She just pulled the trigger for a second. Shots bounced chaotically inside the cramped space making Spooky flinch away as she wormed her free hand inside of Taco's guard, trapping his weapon between them. She sidestepped, putting him between herself and Spooky. Sunset was just in time.

*FtBWRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-t-t-tup!

Spooky's machine pistol sprayed wildly until the propellant cooled and puttered out, sending pellets everywhere as he reflexively pulled the trigger. Sunset winced as she used Taco as a human shield, and breathed a sigh of relief when somehow nothing touched her. Taco's stance went limp. There was no way he had avoided that storm. She peeked around him, bringing her rifle up and drawing her knife. Spooky was wearing a vest but she'd rather not shoot him at this range.

She didn't have to.

The hostage was standing, a rubber knife much like Sunset's own bent against Spooky's shoulder, and Spooky's face fell.

Sunset aimed at Sombra as he rose to his full height. She would not be intimidated. He was just a bigger target.

"What the hell happened in there?!" Someone yelled outside, flashlights were coming on, lighting up everything. Sombra glared down at her.

"I hope you have a plan, little girl," he rumbled.

"Of course," she lied, fumbling the velcro off of her vest

She turned and pitched her grenade outside. There was a muted bang and cries of surprise and pain.

"RUN LIKE HELL!" Sunset grabbed Sombra's arm and dragged him after her, the dust the grenade had kicked up a haze of blinding white in the glow of the flashlights. Sunset hooked a hard right, releasing her rifle to press her earpiece. "FLUTTERSHY!"

"Seen! Going loud."

One of the INDIE players saw them the moment they burst from the dust, but he never had a chance to fire before he winced and slapped the back of his neck. Sunset dashed past him, still dragging the BLUEFOR hostage by the wrist he was holding his knife in.

"Come to the Fort." Fluttershy said. The chaos around them shifted as three more shots came in in quick succession, and the people present realized they were taking sniper fire.

"You're insane!" Sombra yelled. Sunset silently agreed as she grabbed her rifle one-handed, pulled it up into her shoulder as she pulled Sombra along, and fired two long bursts of automatic fire into an NLD player coming from the main road. He threw up his hand and dropped to a knee.

Their dash for freedom started to attract fire as they went. Sunset gasped out instructions as they shifted their path back into the connex boxes. "Goal is the Fort, you don't die if you make it, simple."

Sombra stopped short, and Sunset's arm reached the maximum it could stretch very quickly. She jerked to a halt.

"Why should I? You capture me and you win."

"Sunset? I lost sight of you." Fluttershy said through her earpiece.

Sunset could hear INDIE coming toward her quickly. Keeping a firm grip on her hostage's arm, she pulled him into one of the open trailers then drew her pistol and shot him in the center of his vest. Twice. The second time was spite.

Sombra's mouth could be seen hanging open behind his mask.

"Well. Hope someone finds you, and I personally hope we find you first. Sit down, settle in and shut up. Fluttershy, hostage is down, repeat, we are leaving the hostage. Fall back and regroup, I'll meet you at the west treeline."

Fluttershy's confusion was audible. "Oh... ok..."

Sunset stepped out and closed the door most of the way, leaving him air as she jogged away. She ducked away from a sweeping flashlight and moved as fast as she dared through the maze of containers. She tailed a group of four INDIE that were moving vaguely in the right direction, relying in their instinct that since they had just been in an area, it was safe. She really wanted to shoot them in the back to remove them from the equation entirely, but that would just draw everyone to the commotion. They split up as they reached the edge of the arena and Sunset jogged out between them. She knelt in the bushes just outside of the light, making sure the light wouldn't catch her hair.

"Fluttershy?"

"Behind you. Sorry."

Sunset had a quiet heart attack as Fluttershy stood up, revealing herself. Sunset had nearly stepped on her.

"Sweet Cel- ooh, I did not need that." Sunset beckoned for Fluttershy to follow. "Let's go."

They moved carefully through the forest, and Sunset tried to get Rarity twice more. Her nerves heightened as she got no response. Fluttershy slowed their progress as they approached the clearing.

"What do you think happened to them?"

Sunset opened her mouth to voice her concerns. She never got to.

Someone else answered.

"The same thing that's about to happen to you."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Notes:

There we are. The tenth chapter of Sunset's little side-story. Took way too long. I hope you all enjoyed the ride, thank you for reading. Thank you for making this what it is.

~ Verbose Mode