Politics, in the eyes of many average citizens who are looking in from the outside, is often seen as a some sort of melodrama, a television or web series or consisting of slow facial zooms, camera pans, fourth wall breaks, and funny one-liners. Yeah, all of this seems like what you would be accustomed to seeing when you think of mainstream politics. Or if you're more of a cable whore, you'd see people getting their heads lopped off, their families slain before their eyes, their friends getting shot, or their adversaries getting molten gold poured over their heads as families fight to claim sole proprietorship of the much-heralded iron throne. Perhaps all of that strikes a nice-sounding chord with you.

However, not every mind is tuned to understand the majority of the political world. Understandably so, most of it is quite boring. Not everyone has the patience to turn their TV to CSPAN and watch a slightly grainy feed of several old, monotoned people sitting in a room arguing over what bathroom we can use and where we can send our illegal immigrants. They would much rather find out who we're sending our soldiers to or launching our missiles at, because VIOLENCE. We love the shit out of some violence, but we can't really stand bullshit that pertains to our everyday lives. After so many minutes, you'd go to sleep waiting for them to get to your topic of interest. They much rather find out from some 'reputable', by that I mean paid off $o much you $tart to $ee dollar $ign$ in every $entence, third-party source who can simplify the words and jargon used in many of the halls consisting of our legislative branch of power.

Thanks, Obama.

We often blame everything wrong on the one in charge of the executive branch, because they EXECUTE things. See that word, EXECUTE? It means to carry out or to initiate a set of orders, plans, or a course of action. Of course everyone is more drawn to the second definition; to carry out the death sentence of a condemned person, group of people, peoples, or a nation. Without this branch, things can't really get done. You can't just have a kingdom with no king and expect shit to carry on like normal, there's an hierarchy that needs to be established. Hell even with a king, president, führer, emperor, shogun, czar, or a prime minister, there's drama abound in the rankings. Revolutions have not come with peace, but rather with purge, violence, or an abuse of power. You see these things when you read between the lines of their rhetoric and become informed of how to stand for or against it.

But everyone's too busy letting others translate things for them, placing blame on certain elements of the opposition when it is a lack of cooperation that leads to dysfunction. And for a thousand years, this dysfunction has punished an assortment of individuals of all ranks, now including myself. But I have to wonder...

Nah. I just need to keep my mind off of random shit.

Around three hours have passed since I've said my speech. Walking back and forth through the lobby, I took an observation of the murmurings of the guards placed under me. Their tones seemed brighter, yet highlighting some of the concerns they have of this assignment. But it went without saying that they understood the context to which my speech was made. They even seemed relieved in knowing what I was going to do, except for one discerned individual that I called my friend.

Rainbow Dash, shortly after chewing me out yet again, took her briefing files and dismissed herself. Unfortunately, I had too much of a soft spot for her to treat her like the others. She was the one who guided me through the first few weeks of basic training and giving me words of encouragement. Of course, that love is long gone. And in it's place was an angry mare who didn't like what I was doing to keep others out of danger. I understand that she may have a personal reason for why this is so, but I don't quite understand what it is. Perhaps I would be filled in later.

That is if she can open up to me before the old grit-and-grind.

Shining took leave also, deciding not to taint the atmosphere with his experiences and stories. The both of us knew that if they started babbling on about how this assignment would be now that I'm leading, he'd probably share a bit of his experience, lowering the morale by a substantial amount. Senator Count was more than eager to see that happen. Yet as the time continued to roll on, he grew disinterested in seeing the other guards so optimistic. He, too, took a leave of absence. The reporter also followed him, and didn't give any concern for the mood of the guards or their thoughts.

Twilight seemed a bit worried that Rainbow Dash yelled at me, but she seemed very understanding of her. So of course, her words were directed towards me. "You know, there was an instance where one of the girls tried to do too much and spread herself thin. Eventually, she ended up being so tired that she started performing badly in all of her tasks."

Hard working to a fault? Applejack. "Okay, and?"

Twilight grabbed my wrist with her magic and proceeded to escort me up the stairs as she spoke. "What I'm trying to say is that we've seen what happens when somepony tries to do too much. I understand what you're doing, but I also understand why Rainbow Dash feels the way she does."

"That being?" I asked.

"I won't tell you. You'll have to get it from her. If you talk things through, you might find that it becomes a little easier for you to understand how she feels about this. And I know that you won't change your mind."

"How are you so sure?" I jokingly asked.

"Because you're stubborn." She answered flatly.

By that point, Rarity came trotting out of one of the other halls and saw Twilight pulling me along. Without hesitation, she marched towards us and looked to her friend. "My goodness, Twilight! Whatever did he do to deserve such belligerence?"

Twilight glanced back at me as she answered her question. "He knows what he did."

Rarity gave Twilight's horn a light tap before she used her own magic to politely return my hand back to me. "If it is something deplorable, then a good scolding should be more than enough. Don't resort to bringing harm to him. His wrists are very precious and I don't think it would be wise to tug and pull on it in such a way to cause accidental spraining."

"Rarity, he's fine." Twilight responded nonchalantly. "I know what I'm doing, and I'm obviously not harming him."

The unicorn mare rolled her eyes and turned her attention to me. "Now Nondis, what are you doing later this evening?"

I was going to answer her, but Twilight found it appropriate to speak up for me. "HE will be getting ready for his assignment tomorrow. That means he'll be sleeping in EARLY, so that he can get on that train ENERGIZED and READY to take on his assignment."

"And what do you intend to feed him for dinner?" Rarity questioned. "I don't recall you doing much in the way of running a kitchen."

Twilight then grabbed my hand with her hooves as she stared back at her friend. "We are eating delivery tonight. Meaning that my shortcomings in the kitchen are well-documented, doesn't mean that I will allow for OUR dinnertime to be impeded by an outside element."

Rarity was about to throw a few words Twilight's way, but then a third voice broke between the two. "A dinner party with Nonny! That sounds like a load of lively laughter and loving bonds."

The three of us turned to the side to see a pink head peering from behind one of the pillars. For some odd reason, I couldn't help but sigh with relief. The pink party pony pounced towards us and paused her advance as she pranced in place.

"It might not be a total bonanza... because of time constraints, but I know that throwing something together in honor of our best friend is the best thing ever! Maybe we should have it together, OH, and with Non-Non's human friends too!"

The last supper, huh? Well Jesus, guess they're expecting me to visit you soon enough... if you exist.

Twilight seemed a tad flustered at Pinkie's suggestion. "Seriously? Pinkie, what I meant to say was─"

"It'll also be a great way to make up for some of the lost time back on Friday night. Everypony's already waiting in the other room for you guys. C'mon, let's get moving!" She cheered to the two mares.

Rarity shrugged her shoulders and became complacent at the offer. "Well I suppose a small little soirée would be more than appropriate for this occasion. I can agree to that."

Twilight, begrudgingly, trotted on ahead. "In that case, I guess I can sacrifice one of our evenings to share it with our friends. I'm sure it'll be fun anyhow."

Suddenly, the tension that seemed to clog the hallway had all but completely dissipated. With a light breath, I could finally relax a little and move forward. But as I took one step forward, Pinkie's tail jettisoned it's way into my path, becoming something akin to a wall of cotton with the stopping power of brick. I looked down to her and asked. "Okay, just what the hell is your tail made of?"

She turned her head to me, no longer looking towards the two mares who walked the hall without even looking to each other. "You may not know what you're doing, and that's fine for the time being. You got bigger things to worry about right now. But you really gotta sort this out Nonzie."

I gave her a long sigh. "Yeah, well it's a lot harder than it looks."

"I know." She responded. "I just wish I could've warned you sooner."

"Warn me about what?"

Pinkie shook her head with pity. "That the two of you would separate before this was all over."

...Okay. I tried to downplay her statement. "Well, I don't think we're quite to that spot just yet."

"Non... Even Shining knows the two of you are breaking up." Those words caused me to jump with surprise as she continued on. "But I knew that Twilight wasn't one to let go easily. She's caught in between trying to keep you to herself and not be that close to you. It's a funny thing, you want them to back off but you don't want them to leave you. You're ready to take independence for yourself, yet you have fears of being forgotten once someone better comes around."

Something inside of my chest sank as her words phased into my thoughts. I understood everything she was telling me. "Pinkie─"

"You are who you are, Nondis. But being too complacent in your situation won't help. I understand that you two can't pull off of each other in the public sense, but I think you two need to come to a definite answer before it's all over and done."

Honestly, hearing all of this coming from Pinkie was slightly harrowing. "What if I say something that ends up hurting them?"

She looked at me with a sad grin. "Then let them be hurt. You didn't have any issue when you did it to me. I'm still hurting now, knowing that I was never your choice. And it's so bad to where I'm hoping you see that I'm still willing to let you in if things go wrong. But I love you enough to not become a distraction. And I'll be happy dying that way."

Okay, I think my heart just skipped several measures in the sheet music. "Pinkie, don't say stuff like that."

"Nope. As my friend, you're gonna have to deal with it." She said as she swept her tail out of my path. "Hopefully you love me enough to come back after this and complain some more. Now let's get in there and get some grub."

While I walked, she pranced beside me cheerfully. On her face was a bright smile as she hummed carelessly. But there was one thing that I noticed as we made our way. Her smile slowly faded as we got closer to the dining hall, her bouncing fell to a light bounce, eventually to where she was walking. When we finally reached the door, she grabbed my hand and smiled. "I look forward to walking with you again. I wanna throw a huge party for you when you get back. I wanna be able to hug you, me and all the others. Before we go in this room, you promise me that we'll be able to do that."

It was her way of saying 'come back alive'. Though I was going into some really questionable territory, I had confidence in knowing that not all of it was truly undiscovered. But once I went into that mountain, I was going to be marching with my back turned towards the firing squad. No telling that I might just come out of it in one piece, but I don't like the thought of dying.

...At least I don't glorify it like I did in middle and high school.

Still, I didn't want to just simply say that I was uncertain. Even if I know that death is a strong seventy percent chance of occurring, I'm not gonna let her see that in me. I won't let anyone see me like that. When we leave this world, we leave on our own. But not everyone has to see your conflicts, put on a front and fight. Swallow up, stand up, chin up, man up. I'll try my best to not be a liar. "I promise." Even if that was a lie, I would be happy in having the image of everyone smiling burned into the back of my mind. I'll carry that sin to my grave, and will accept whatever judgement awaits. Pinkie didn't seem to mind it, so neither will I. A soft whisper was all I got from her as she opened for the both of us.

"Thank you."

The dinner was pretty lively, everyone conversed with one another openly. It wasn't so much of the dagger-throwing that happened back in the hall, but some playful banter was exchanged. Meanwhile, there was a bit of sadness in the air due to Rainbow Dash deciding not to attend. Fluttershy offered to retrieve her, but she returned alone. Cadance was discussing a few things with me and how I was going to be celebrated once I had returned successful. And she even offered me a prominent position in the Imperial Crystal Guard if it didn't go so well. Alex gave me some advice on decision making in critical situations while Stanton had me run through some old hunting/survival tips we knew from when gramps took us out to the wild for deer.

Melanie didn't say much except that she was proud of how strong I had become and would look forward to having us throw a party at the frat house when I came back. Rickey gave me a few tips and pointers on the C-4 while Cliff had given me some words of encouragement. After the dinner, I left the hall and arrived back into the guest room I once stayed in. But before I could get settled, Twilight dragged me out and had me sleep in her bed... our bed being that she appropriated my mattress. I stared at the clock as the lights eventually went out.

In the darkness of the room, I couldn't help but to let my mind wander. Several life questions were raised, and among them were concerns over past events and future circumstances. Not once have I even told my parents about this place, of course for a good reason, but it would be better in terms of trust that I did. Maybe when I gut up the courage to do so, I'll somehow drag them here. And probably Vanessa too since Alex's been regularly visiting.

Yet even more thoughts came up about what Pinkie had said to me about my situation. At this point, I really was confused on what I wanted. And it wasn't helping that Pinkie is trying her damn hardest to make herself seem desirable. But when she said that she'd die loving me enough to not become a distraction, it ended up contradicting her intentions. Because of her words, I'm finding some trouble sleeping.

"Hey, Nondis."

Well, I guess I'm not the only one who has trouble sleeping. "Yeah?"

Twilight rolled over to face me as she used her magic to move some of the covers off of her. "Can you... forget what I said to you last night?"

"...About the running away thing?"

She paused for a moment before answering me. "I should've never offered that. It was out of desperation, not out of logic."

I shrugged as I acknowledged her request. "What are we talking about again?"

She didn't quite catch my humor, shoving me in the back. "I'm serious!"

"Twilight, you're too serious. My response was meant to be a way of acknowledging your request without making a reference to the aforementioned topic."

She groaned lightly. "I see..." For a while, she just stared at me silently. Next, she stretched out her hooves to my shoulders. "...Are you unsatisfied with me?"

"Twilight─"

"I need to know." She said abruptly. "I know that I have issues cooking, and that's my fault because I was so used to Spike doing all of that while I studied and stuff. So I got used to not really being in the kitchen. Is that what you don't like about me?"

"At least I can trust your cooking. If Spike cooked for me now, I'd be suspicious." I answered, causing her to turn away. It seemed that she wasn't very fond of my comment.

"...I'm sorry for what he tried to do to you. If I had known that it was him, I would've did something."

"His choice, not yours." By that point, I was already tired of talking about the little bastard. Then again, it was kinda my fault because of my stoking the topic. "I'm pretty sleepy."

Her lengthy silence indicated that she realized my desire for a change of subject. "Right... So... Are you and Rarity... you know?"

"What?" I asked.

"...Seeing each other?"

"I haven't had the time to address that. So no."

Her voice seemed a little lighter when she heard my answer. "Well, I guess that does takes some time to sort through."

"What about you?" I threw back at her. "You tired of my being in your castle yet?"

She turned over to look at me again. "You're always welcome to stay."

"But that's not answering my question. Are you tired of me?"

She groaned with thought for a moment. "I don't know. I know that when I say certain things about you or when you say certain things about me, they don't seem to carry so much weight like it once did."

"Do you think that's an indication of our feelings towards one another?"

"I don't want it to be."

"Do you still want to break up with me?"

This time, she wasn't so quick to answer me. "I don't think it's fair for me to have you suffer because of what feels natural. So I don't want you to deal with any more pain."

"You just dodged my question. Do you want to or not?"

She drew a heavy breath as she gave her response. "Do you want me to be honest?"

I rolled over and tried to look at her face to face. "I can't tell the difference between you putting up a front or being honest. So I need to hear it from your lips."

She then rolled me onto my back and climbed on top of me. Shifting the covers off of my body, she nuzzled my chest while using one of her wings to draw the outlines of my body. "I want you to suffer."

That answer definitely warranted a lot of concern from me. "So are you being serious or are you just playing around like usual?"

"I want you to keep guessing."

I was not up in a fit of raucous laughter over her joke. "I am not amused."

"Well don't you think you already know the answer to a question like that?"

"So you are breaking up with me, for good, right?" I asked, being firm.

She lightly smiled, as if realizing that her 'joke' had gone awry. "Nondis... Really, you don't have to be like this."

"I do apparently." I said as I tried to sit up. "I'm tired of games. I'm tired of you taking advice from the "love guru" who probably tried to have her now-husband under so many fucking restrictions that he upped and fucking lost his mind over it. Shit like that is the number one reason why he's so fucked in the head."

While I had immediately realized that I had just quietly exploded and revealed some sensitive information, Twilight looked at me oddly. "What are you talking about? My brother is messed up because of what he had to go through, not because of Cadance!"

Before I decided to spill more personal information, I cut myself and the topic short. "You're right. Not everyday you get to see your subordinates palmed under and turned into a pink and red paste. I forgot, I'm sorry."

Twilight grew incredibly quiet for a time. Much of the time, she stayed on my chest just staring blankly at me. The look on her face showed that she had a lot to say, but she refused to let herself release any of them. Eventually, she found the activity of her limbs and removed herself from me when she spoke. "Forget it. Maybe we're just bad for each other right now."

"Of course we're bad for each other right now. I'm going on a mission that's life-or-death, and here you are teasing me while saying that you want me to keep guessing whether or not our relationship is on or off. I'm putting my neck on the chopping block and here you are shoving a broom up my ass. Do you think that's fair or funny? Relationships aren't a game, Twilight. They aren't something so easily brushed aside."

"I could say the same to you! You wanted a break from me, even when you KNEW that I was going through a hard time!"

"You were being completely irrational!"

"And I said I was sorry! Was that not enough?"

Again, I didn't feel like dwelling on a subject. It was long past my time for rest. I pressured her for an answer one last time. "...Are we finalized?"

Twilight groaned with frustration. "Stop asking me that, you already know the answer."

Since she likes me to keep guessing, I suppose the only way to make her see the failure of her logic is to apply it. "Okay then. Nice to know that my ex-girlfriend has put the finishing touches on our relationship. Guess me dying isn't too much of an issue for you now?"

Twilight jumped out of the bed and walked towards my side, staring me down. "Now don't you dare think I would be so callous to think of any harm coming your way wouldn't affect me! I love you too much for that to happen!"

The two of us stopped arguing for a moment and noticed that we were being frequented. Twilight teleported to the door and opened it up to see Cadance standing in the way. She looked towards her younger sister-in-law with concern. "Twilight, I heard you two arguing down the hall. What's going on?"

The purple princess gave her a slow reply. "I...Nondis and I... It's like..."

Cadance, usually championing her fellow royal, walked in the room to confront me. "What is the issue?"

I got out of the bed and stood to answer her. "What's my issue? I'm tired of these psych-1 student mind games. And Twilight is sitting here trying to advertise the fact that we're going to break up, so now I decided to push her to make the decision about it BEFORE I go out here and maybe get myself killed."

Twilight then rebutted. "So is it wrong for me to have you as mine until this is all done?"

"Not if you're going to be dangling our relationship in my face. I'd much rather know if this is all for naught than to go out here and die for something that was probably on the way out anyhow!"

Cadance then used her magic to levitate Twilight out of the room. "Okay, then you can leave that thought to yourself. Twilight and I will be together while you mope and brood over what was already explained to you."

"Thank you. Goodnight." I snapped back at her, just wanting the late-night circus to end.

The pink princess quickly left the room, slamming the doors shut. I shook my head and started to get myself settled. But then murmurs from beyond the door started to draw my curiosity as both of the princesses' voices were suddenly raised.

"What did you say to him?"

"I just told him how I felt! I didn't say anything demeaning or anything like that!"

On that note, I stuffed the pillow over my head and drove myself to try and sleep. It was obvious that I was getting more upset over this more than I should at the moment. I understand that I'm frustrated and that I'm looking for definite answers to all of my questions right now. But shouldn't I have a right to know?

I want you to suffer... You know, if I die, those words will probably be the last thing I remember.

~Day 1~

I woke up to what appeared to be an overcast of clouds and fog. Not much in terms of sunlight mainly due to the fact that it was so early that it hadn't cut beyond the horizon. Yet the sky was a dark blue, indicating that Celestia would probably raise it within an hour. The clock read 4:45, just fifteen minutes before my alarm clock went off. I got up anyways and preemptively disabled the alarm and unplugged my phone from the wall. I also flipped the switch on the golden alarm clock to prevent the bells from going off. Following that, I hopped in the shower, got a quick shave, grab a pastry from the fridge and went towards the portal room to stock up on inventory.

I had already decided on what I would be taking. The sword was an automatic choice, being that I needed something in case my ammo ran low. Next I grabbed an M16 with the mounted grenade launcher, suppressor, and twelve magazines of subsonic ammo. I also grabbed a Smith and Wesson 629 with .44 Magnum rounds, a Remington 870SP with a bandolier carrying fifty slug rounds, my new M240 with five-hundred tracer rounds, an armored vest, a bowie knife, a duffel bag full of C-4 and medical supplies, twenty roadside flares, night-vision goggles, an iron skillet I borrowed from the kitchen, a map, a compass, two crates of dynamite, a cigarette lighter, a chocolate eclair, and a week-old issue of H-FASHION! magazine.

I don't think I packed enough. I'm still missing something.

That's exactly it.

By the time I had finished gathering all the materials, I couldn't do much but breathe after seeing the small hill of shit I'd be packing to the train station. I wasn't going to be able to do this alone. I suppose I could grab a unicorn guard or two and have them tote some of this stuff with me. The more guards, the less time it takes to get this stuff sent out. Looking at my phone, I could see that the time had changed to 5:18 a.m.. I was actually ahead of schedule, considering that our departure time was set to be at 0630 hours.

No thanks. Miss 'I wanna keep you guessing' is already playing games with Cadance. And I'm not up for it right now. Whatever she wants to do, it's obviously trying to keep me in the frog of her hoof. Not playing that game again.

Where are the guards located?

I walked into the hall and saw two guards coming off of their shift change. They obviously seemed a bit tired, but I couldn't let them clock out just yet. I ran down the hall and confronted the two yawning guards. "Gentlemen, coming off your shifts?"

The two guards gave me their best salute as they masked their fatigue. "Yes sir. What do you need?"

"I'm sorry to throw a bit of overtime into your schedule, but I need you two to make something happen for me."

The two guards nodded with approval. "Whatever you need, sir."

"Follow me, please."

It took us about thirty minutes to get everything from the castle, halfway across town, to the train station to the southeast. There, the guards who attended yesterday's debriefing were all conversing with family, friends, and loved ones before their departure. But as I arrived with my cache of weapons, I saw another face that I wasn't too fond of. And unlike the others, he seemed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He turned to me with the largest smile I've ever seen him wear as he and his assistant stood by the window, seemingly waiting for the train to roll up.

"Why good morning to you, Captain. I trust your night has been quite peaceful."

Oh God, he a morning person. For fucks sake. "What do you want?" I deadpanned.

"Oh come now, don't be so cranky. After this assignment, you'll be more likely to experience all the rest you'd like." He joked as he continued to smile brightly. As one of the bathroom doors swung open, I could see yet another face that drew my ire. Spike walked from out of the bathroom and turned to the group of guards. As I was watching this, he continued to ramble on. "Even though you might not place them in danger's path, you will be the one in to take the brunt of it all. Why I believe that your strife will only shape to be a vainly effort, considering that you will be charging the forest alone. It's only a matter of time now."

"You can kiss my whole ass." I grumbled before turning my attention to the two guards that helped me get all my equipment here. I gave them a salute before they dismissed themselves back to the castle for punch-out.

"Aww, what's the matter? Is there an issue brewing between you and your fiance where you couldn't be bothered to show up with her under your wing..? Perhaps I worded that incorrectly, I meant to say 'you being under her wing'. We already know who's the inferior one in that relationship."

I ignored him and turned to his assistant. "Yo, Single File, what time is this train supposed to be chugging in?"

The assistant didn't say anything, but Spike did. "It's supposed to arrive by 6. It's going on about 5:50 now."

Funny how the guy who actually tried to kill me has a better rating with me than the guy who wants to see me die. His political career is going to be so fucked when I get back alive. "So we've got ten minutes before we start loading up."

Just as I said that, I noticed that one pegasus who had helmet issues yesterday. He still had that helmet on his head. I walked over to him and interrupted his conversation with what appeared to be his parents. "Excuse me, ma'am, sir, me and the private need to have a quick chat."

They weren't so easy on allowing me to chew out their son. "Excuse me, I understand that you are the commander of this operation?" The mother asked.

"I am." I quickly confirmed. "But if you─"

Then the father came roaring in at full force. "So I take it that you will be sending our child to death just like the last one did? Hmm??? I suppose that seems to be the order of things."

The mother then piggybacked off of her husband's statement. "You were even promoted by that no-good Shining Armor! Well I'll have you know that in spite of his being a prince, I will never recognize him as such, nor will I ever recognize you! Not even a month into your graduation from basic training and suddenly you're captain of the guard? I don't know if there could be a more inept choice!"

"Inexperienced and untested. You send our son to die while you run away! Is that what your plan is this time, captain!?" The father spat ferociously.

I don't even know where these guys came from but they already giving the arimaspi a run for their money. "Ma'am, sir, your son is in violation of safety dress code protocol number twelve; section one, subsection c. He needs to report to a barracks and get his combat-ready dress situated for the safety of his own person. Any further harm to the head or neck would be seen as a negligence in dress-code application as well as a mark on my record."

The father was unmoved. "Already playing the blame game? Deflection and lies will get you nowhere!"

The mother then provided an argument, albeit a foolish one. "That helmet would be more than optimal for his protection! He should be very capable of combat. And furthermore, any trauma would be absorbed by the helmet, and the extra roominess would allow for a hit or two to not affect his head in any way!"

I simply placed my hand on the helmet and turned it around on his head, covering his face completely. "Blinded, no sense of awareness, presents a danger of bodily harm to friendlies... seems legit." I shifted the helmet back to normal and gave it a knock. "His head's like a fucking clapper in a bell, one good knock and his shit gets rung."

Before the father could argue it any further, I could hear the whistle of a train in the distance. As I looked outside of the window, I could see a pillar of smoke gradually making it's way to the station. The train slowed to a stop as one more whistle indicated it's arrival to the station.

Senator Count chuckled at me. "Well, I suppose one final trip to the barracks wouldn't help you at this rate. The train's already here, it's time to load up."

With every bit of restraint, I turned back to the two parents and forced myself to smile. "Ma'am, sir, I can only try to bring your son back. I say 'try' because I know what kind of business we're caught in. But I can assure you whatever your son will face won't even be that bad."

The father grimaced at me as his voice reached deep. "You say that. But you fail to understand that the last one who said that came back with our daughter's blood on his hooves. If there is any semblance of something awry, you send my boy home. This is all we've got left, do you understand me!?"

I knelt down and looked him in the eye. "With all due respect sir, I too have a father. Now he doesn't know that I'm here in this world, but if he does find out, then I would be on the first ride smoking outta here. So it's my duty to keep them safe and keep myself alive with all limbs attached. And if I can't come out of hell alive on my own, what makes you think that I'd be dumb enough to send any of these ponies there? I'd die before any of them would. You remember that."

When I got off of my knee and stood back up, I could see that everyone had been watching our conversation. Even the families of the guards all took observation of my words. Some seem more confident, others seemed slightly optimistic. Slowly, the room began to empty out and the few bystanders that stood in the room quietly watched as all the guards filed into the train. As each of them filed in, I had felt something bump into my leg. Looking down, I saw that Rainbow Dash had walked past me, ignoring that I had existed. Following her was a stallion with a similar mane but with a powder-blue coat and yellow eyes.

"Sorry. My little Dashie can be a bit brash at times."

Oh, so he must be her dad. "Nah, I'm used to it."

He gave me a nervous smile as he handed me some saddlebags with Rainbow's cutie mark on it. "Now inside of here are a few things that she likes, a few other things she needs, and a thing or two to keep her... you know." I nodded with an awkward smile of my own. "Rainbow's wings often stiff out on her due to her constant flying, so she needs to apply her wing balm every morning. Stiff wings won't make for a good lift, I'll tell you what. Then in this compartment are a few apple fritters that one of her friends made for her. And in this compartment is her personals. And this compartment is for her... safety devices. Don't want to be a grandfather too soon." Condoms, oh boy. "And also, here is where she keeps her diary and photos of her and her friends."

I know that he has more to tell me about her bag, but I felt that it would be better if I had took it to her instead of getting this lengthy report of where she stashes her condoms and wing balm. "I'll be sure to take this to her, sir."

He grabbed my pants as he continued on. "Oh, and please do let her know that there's going to be a few days of high winds in the region. Don't want her veering off course into danger."

"Sir, I'll be sure to tell her."

Again, he continued. "Be sure to make her brush her teeth every morning, noon, and night. Make sure that she stays loose in the air. And remind her to write me every day she's away. If she can't write me, you write me and tell me how she's doing. She reads a lot of Daring Do, so be sure to keep her books safe, it's in the other bag in the back compartment."

"Sir, we have to leave─"

"She's all I've got left." He whimpered, quickly bringing me to a silence. "I want her to be happy. Please bring her back to me."

I couldn't say much after him. I only nodded and walked off towards the train. But as I was turning off, I had noticed Single File perusing through my inventory. I decided to take advantage of this. "Since you're so interested in that stuff, why don't you help me get it on that train?"

By then, he dropped what he was holding and quickly walked off. However, a few bystanders were courteous enough to help me get it all loaded onto the train. I had located Rainbow and given her the saddle bags, which she rudely snatched out of my hands. A few more parents came to me to talk with me about their young guards being sent with me. Even a few husbands and wives were aggressively finding my ears as I tried to explain to them that I would try my best to get them back home safely. Meanwhile Senator Count stood by on a wall and chuckled as he looked at his pocket watch.

"I guess you finally see the weight of your success... or failure. I would sure hate to see you betray all these young lives at your disposal." He said, emphasizing the concerns of the citizens.

"Well their lives are on me, you're right about that much. So if I die, then they come home?"

"Whatever you want to decide. Personally, I have no time for you."

I decided to tease him further. "So what would you do if I were to come back with each and every one of them alive, racked with so much gold that they could literally raise the GDP of the nation by a full percentile point?"

He rolled his eyes as he continued to look at his pocket watch. "I seriously don't have time for you monkeys. Take off." He muttered to me in a low voice.

I walked up to him and whispered into his forked ear while lightly tugging at the other. "Well I'll be sure we'll have all the time in the world together when I get back. Because once I get back with success under my belt, I will be sure to unbuckle it and give your career the fuck it so desperately whores for. And when you're done losing your status, your job, your support base, and your political assets, I'm gonna keep going. I won't give a shit how red raw your asshole gets, I want you to feel every fucking inch while your lunch gets shoved right back in. At least then you'll say you had seconds... Good day, mate."

He didn't move or say anything after that. I did, however. I grabbed whatever wind was at my back and every chip on my shoulder and marched into the train. As I boarded, I could see the wood of the platform become scarcer as more and more ponies started to show up. Fellow guards all poked their heads out of the window as the family and friends waved towels and hooves at us while the train gave a final whistle to indicate our pulling off. All the guards posted at the station, including the two I borrowed from earlier, gave a salute to the train as we started to pull off.

While the world shifted past us, I had started to see that a much larger crowd had waited for us along the line. It was like all of Ponyville was waiting for us to come by. Among the crowd were some familiar faces. The Cake family waved with their aprons in the air. Zecora bowed her head in reverence. Filthy Rich and his daughter waved as we passed. Spitfire showed up in full ceremonial dress, giving a salute to the train along with several other Wonderbolt members. Then I saw Shining standing beside his wife, who waved at us with napkins. Pinkie chased after us, and the others were all waving towels and signs showing their support.

Sunset, Rarity, and Applejack all raised a banner telling us to 'Stay safe, y'all', Applejack holding the 'y'all'. Fluttershy stood by with a bouquet of flowers and tossed it towards the train, only to be caught by Rainbow Dash. She then freaked out that it was Discord and dropped the bouquet altogether. Even Celestia and Luna stood by to see us off to our mission.

While that thought seemed to have moved me a bit, I knew that my focus couldn't be on that. Instead, I had to immediately plot on how I was going to get each of these thirty lives back home safely. Then my relationship can take a front seat.

It may seem cruel, but Twilight's not important right now. Our lives are.

Back at the train station, Senator Count closed his pocket watch with a sigh of relief. As the lobby started to clear out, Spike watched Rarity from a distance as the young assistant walked beside his superior. "Well, the dirty deeds have been done. I couldn't do much, but I do believe it will be a hindrance to his objective if he finds that some of his devices are malfunctioning."

The senator hummed as he took in the status report. "Single File."

"Yes sir?"

The senator then glanced over to his assistance as he quietly asked him. "Did you ever send out those documents?"

"Sent and waiting for the arrival of the cadaver."

The senator chuckled lightly as he used his magic to grab at Spike, prying him away from the window. "Good. While his human friends will be vying to give him a proper resting place, we will have legislation passed to have him examined for future scientific research. It will be a message sent to the other monkeys waiting around, and an even more powerful statement made to the royals."

"I believe what we may find would probably be revolutionary... and quite disgusting." Single File replied.

Senator Count then looked to the young dragon while he spoke to him. "Hmm... Princess Twilight is a purveyor of magical and scientific research. I wonder... Would her curiosity be piqued in our future endeavors?"

Spike didn't answer him as the assistant grimaced a bit, seeing the expression on the dragon's face. "Don't you honestly think that would be classified as overkill, sir?"

"Of course not. She's always up for learning new things. This will be no different."

Hours have came and went as the train continued to clatter along the tracks. The contingent of guards seemed to be in eased spirits while a few remained cautious. Rainbow Dash was still giving me the cold shoulder while conversing with the other guards. But whenever I came around, she just angrily stared at me without saying a word, even when I sought a direct response from her. I guess she's not going to warm up during the first few days. I knew what I was getting into. Even walking towards some of the other conversations, I could hear a variety of concerns.

"What would happen when we find what we're looking for?"

"I'm more worried what they'll do to us while we're trying to escape."

"Didn't you know, the last group barely stepped hoof into the mountain before getting slaughtered."

"I would really hate to get lost in that mountain."

"Nopony's ever mapped it out, even the captain gonna have a hard time if he doesn't know where he's going."

"What if he takes us with him to the forest after our stop in Appleloosa? Won't we be caught along with him?"

Thankfully, I heard something more than just concerns, signs of optimism, signs of hope. It eased me to know that there was much more than dark murmurings of doom and gloom. Truthfully, I needed to hear it.

"I don't think it will be all too bad. I saw the captain drag some stuff here, I guess he'll be using all of it to get us to the mountain!"

"It's probably the human weaponry the papers talked about."

"I heard the weapons were so strong that it broke a sword's blade right off the hilt!

"I even heard he fought off fifty changelings with just a sword and a brick!"

"You mean that huge sword!?"

"Nah, one of ours. A sword like his would probably make the brick seem useless in comparison."

And of course, I saw this part coming.

"Yeah, a sword like that makes it seem like he's compensating for something he's a little short on. It'll probably make any dick seem useless in comparison."

A groan of disapproval sounded throughout the train. "You fucked up the joke, dude. You're not supposed to talk about the dick directly, it's supposed to be implied."

And the conversation quickly took a turn for the humorous.

"What about you, your dick too small? Seems like you're the only one making that direct comparison."

"I am WELL ENDOWED, thank you very much. You can ask my girlfriend."

"So I take it that your girlfriend is your right wing?"

"Nope, she's your mom."

And eventually it took a turn for the raunchy.

"I bet your dick isn't even that big."

"Yes it is!"

"Okay, put up then. I wanna see it right now."

"You can't just ask to see my dick in public."

Then Rainbow jumped in the conversation. "Okay, how about this. If it's big, Sunny Skies get you off. If not, you'll just have to bear with the embarrassment of being called shorty."

"Fuck that, you AND Sunny Skies get to blow me!"

Rainbow replied. "Sorry, I don't do desperate for attention."

"This coming from somepony who wanted to be in the Wonderbolts, a troupe of show-offs."

"Oh please, you'd be desperate to eat me out right fucking now."

"Right, like that'll ever happen!"

Rainbow stepped out of her seat and walked towards the stallion and flicked her tail at him while looking at him seductively. "Buck up and eat, or shut up."

The stallion jumped out of his seat and ran towards her, tongue dragging from out of his mouth as she hovered just above his reach. The entire train erupted with laughter as the stallion fell over and landed on his back. One of the mares walked up to him and whistled. "Wow, you are just short on 'average', eh Downburst?"

"Hey, pegging is a pretty hot thing. Maybe he'd get off on a prostate exam."

"GO TO HELL!"

Okay, I think I had enough fun on someone else's expense. It's time to step in. "Okay, okay, you got what you paid for. Don't dig too deep into it."

Downburst, while quickly jumping back to his hooves and hopping back into his seat, offered an immediate subject change. "Hey captain, you have all kinds of crazy tools. In what ways would you use them to the benefit of the mission?"

"Jumped off that bitch real quick, didn't you?" I asked, gaining a chuckle from everyone on the train.

"Well I'm just trying to focus on the assignment unlike these slack-offs here."

"You started it, shorty!"

While everyone gave a quick chuckle, I went on to describe the function of each of the weapons. "Basically, I'm gonna be taking the one-shot approach. In my world, one-shot or one-hit is a term we use in gaming for overkill. Pretty sure you've heard of the phrase curb-stomp." Everyone seemed to recognize it as a few murmurs all indicated a confirmation. "Well, I myself am going to be following the one-shot strategy with the double-tap rule, meaning that I hit a second time to make sure that whatever I face is indeed dead. And in most cases with the weapons I'm using, it will only take a few shots to put them down, from virtually any distance."

"So you'll be attacking them, but not from head on?" Sunny Skies inquired.

"Exactly. Getting too close will be taxing in a fight against multiple targets. My initial objective is to take down as many from a distance before the real grunt work begins. I will be scouting the area for any paths, grounds, and outposts we'll be using. And then by moving ahead, I will infiltrate the mountain and do what I can to scout out the path that would quickly lead us to our precious cargo, the jackpot if you will."

"But what about the arimaspi? Won't they be in the way of your doing that?" Downburst questioned.

"Well they can try. But again, I'd be thinning them out by then. And also, I'll be planting explosives along the way to keep them from getting in the way of the retrieval party. These explosives will be placed at the mouths of any cavern not leading to our overall objective. Upon your arrival, they will be detonated, and our path will become clear enough to where we can pick off any stragglers without incident. A group of thirty of us can overcome one or two of them at a time. Another bonus objective I will by completing is a matter of thorough detail. I will be studying them when given the time to do so and pinpoint the quickest method of eliminating our opposition to maximize our efficiency."

"Will you be taking any of us with you?" One of the guards questioned.

"Not this time. I insist in getting each and every one of you home, because your families and loved-ones are all jumping down my throat about it."

Then Rainbow brought up a key question. "So what happens when you run out of ammo? Have you ever thought that far ahead?"

"Well by then I would be well on my way out of the forest. And I packed enough to last me a good while, so─"

She interrupted me again. "Then who's to say that something goes wrong with your tools or if there's more arimaspi than you can handle all on your own? Not all kills are instant."

"I'm sure they have a very huge target plastered in the center of their faces. So it wouldn't be too hard to─"

She carried on with a relentless barrage of questions, each one bringing up valid concerns. "So what happens when you get wounded? What's your means of communication once you're in the forest? What do you do once you're inside of the mountain and it's too dark to see? How do you counter their attacks in the dark since they're capable of seeing in the dark? What do you do if the arimaspi corners you? How can you maintain a perfect balance of rest and combat when there's no others to take your shift? How do you defend yourself in the dead of night? How are you going to get any rest when you're constantly on the run? How will you call for reinforcements?"

After she finished, I answered all her question via lightning round response. "Med bag has all my needs. This train has a wireless com-link and a radio transmitter that will allow me to maintain contact in the open spaces. The roadside flares we used during the Queensave operation will be more than enough to illuminate any space. Night vision goggles. Step one: Shoot one down, step two: Repeat step one. Hide in the brush and avoid open areas to maximize defensive efficiency, side arms will answer all needs from there. Sleep. See answer to question two."

Rainbow didn't seem too happy about my answers. "See that's the problem. You're far too shortsighted. You're going into enemy territory with a bluff, who's to say that they won't have any traps lying in wait? You're gonna get yourself killed and we won't know anything about it until they one day just leave your body outside of town for the whole population to see. Then what?"

"Well I wouldn't be worried about that if I'm dead, now would I?" Probably the most harrowing answer I could give anyone. There wouldn't be a 'then what' or a 'next' should that happen. Just the thought of it brought my morale down a few points. Despite my sarcastic response, there was a significant amount of weight behind it. "It's true that I'm going in with a bluff, but behind that bluff is some pretty huge advantages that I have, skillsets I've always had since I was nine years old. I also have the tactical and technological advantage where the element of surprise would even fall victim to. My element of surprise lies in my ability to barge into this situation head-on, followed by an arsenal capable of wiping out a small army. You should know this, you've seen me and my friends clap over two-hundred changelings in twenty minutes or less."

The train had gotten deathly silent. Rainbow didn't have anything outside of a non-verbal response.

"Rainbow, if you let me protect each and every one of you, I will personally walk you into that mountain, grab our shit, and get out without one goddamn minute to think about it. I want ALL OF US to live. I wanna live, and if I don't do that, I'm not going to send you into a hell I can't conquer. I am not thinking in terms of glory or accolades, I'm thinking of a smart way to minimize our casualties and maximize our efficiency. If you don't let me do my job, then I would've failed all of you. Let me lead you, let me try the water before we all jump in. Let me lead by example and not by order. I already told all of you, we're all going home. Let me do that, please."

Guard all over the train took off their helmets as they all looked to me. Even the young private, who's helmet was too big, removed his and rested himself beside it as I spoke.

"I know I can't do this on my own, but I know that if we play our best hand first, they might pull something better. Then it will become a battle of attrition, one we can't win. We could always try a scorched earth approach, but that is a war you don't wanna fight. The arimaspi are very intelligent creatures, ones we can't just simply bring our best at. And they have no moral code when dealing with the fallen of their adversaries. They specialize in psychological warfare, not in the mental realm that the changelings operate in, but the art of intimidation. And I can give that back to them."

I walked up to Rainbow Dash and spoke to her directly.

"It's not that I don't need your help. It's not that I don't need you all to help me in the overall. But it's that I don't want any of you to see what I have to do to achieve the desired end. I am afraid that I become something akin to a monster to you if you saw me like that. The hell I'm going into is not one created by them, but one I'm going to provide. You, my friend, don't need to see it. You've seen enough."

The next sound we heard was from the engine car just ahead of us. "Next stop, Appleloosa station! Appleloosa station!" The engineer hollered loudly through the speakers. I looked out of the window to see the country-western town slowly approaching. I then looked back to the guards that all followed me and spoke softly.

"When we get into town, you all will remain on standby until I return. Rest up, ease up, do whatever you want until I get back. Enjoy yourselves, because once I get back... You will be seeing a very ugly result. Do you copy?"

I turned my attention back to Rainbow Dash. "You are second in command, so I expect you to keep them safe until I come back. If I don't come back and I don't respond in four days time, you get them all on this train and you take them home."

She raised her voice at me for a moment. "But─"

I quickly cut her off and remained firm on my instruction. "Normalize, file it, burn it, return to base. That is THE order. Do you apprehend, corporal?"

From there, she raised no further questions. "...Yes sir."

An hour after we landed at the station, we all reviewed our files and underwent a final debriefing before my departure. I continued to stress that their orders were to stand by until I gave a notification to do otherwise. After that, I went through a few of the local inns and locked up a few rooms for the guards. Unfortunately, it was too many of us to stay in one hotel, so we broke it down into four different groups. It honestly wouldn't have mattered if I placed them in separate housing based on gender, they were adults and they were going to do adult things while I was away, even if they had to sneak to do it.

And from what I gathered on the train, Rainbow Dash wouldn't really care about that stuff either.

As far as my room was concerned, I had a presidential suite allocated to me because of my significant height amongst the ponies. Also, the beds in the suite would be equivalent to the one I slept in when I first came to Equestria. I also ordered a futon of a similar size so that I could sprawl out.

I really hope I find this tribute because this shit was worth a small fortune.

Finally, it was about my time to depart. Before I loaded up on the train, I went through a quick weapons check to see if things were in working order. The last thing I wanted to happen was for my life to be unceremoniously cut short because my weapon wouldn't fire.

And wouldn't you know it, some brave soul jammed newspaper deep into the barrel. Although bullets run through paper like it's nothing, I know how hard paper gets when you fold it past a certain amount. And whoever jammed the barrels had a significant amount of strength to pack the paper in so tightly. Going through every weapon I had, I found that a few of them had the same issue. Wow, somebody had me set up for the okey-doke. Thank goodness none of this shit was loaded, or else cleaning them would be just as dangerous as holding a bowl of molten copper with your bare hands.... Now that I think about it, Single File was awfully curious about these weapons. I didn't have time to ponder on it. The cleaning process took me a whole forty minutes to get done, placing me damn near an hour behind schedule.

After that, I grabbed my gear and made off to the train.

Not too long after that, the engineer and I were already outside of the city limits. I had started to load my weapons as well as getting my mind set to face off against the wilderness of the Arimaspi Forest. Along the way, I could see stampeding buffalo wearing what appeared to be garments similar to those worn by Native Americans and the distinctive tribes. But after a while, the land started to slowly transition from an arid climate to a scene of rolling hills as far as the eye can see. The mounds were a beautiful assortment of orange, gray, red, yellow and white. Eventually, it turned a bit craggy, and the land seemed to cast shadows all over the rails. Trees started to show in sparse amounts, dotting the mountainside until a tunnel swallowed us in it's darkness.

It wasn't a short ride either, for around two minutes, I couldn't even see my hand placed just in front of my face. For a while, I had to use the backlight of my phone to see what was going on in front of me. When the ride through the darkness came to an end, a bright flash of light caused me to shield my eyes for a brief second so that they could adjust to the levels of luminescence. Upon looking to the right, I could see a huge mountain in the distance. On the top of it was a skull that seemingly had one eye socket. It was quite distinguishable from a considerable distance, it had me thinking that the arimaspi I was going to face were nothing short of titans standing at almost fifty meters tall.

God knows they couldn't be that big... could they?

A green canopy stood a consistent ten meters out from the rails, I could probably guess that was for maintenance purposes. Looking to the left of the train, I could see a good seven meters before a sudden drop. The distance between the chasm and the rails varied in some spots. At my most comfortable, I was at least looking at another fifteen meters. At worst, I'd be staring straight into the bottomless chasm just two meters away. There seemed to be some retainer wall to keep the train from falling, but much of it was so rusted that holes formed. Some of the stone that they used to reinforce the steel had become so weathered that the steel was supporting the crumbling material. Even the rails we rode on sounded dirtier than the ones that lead back into town.

I also know that Caramel had even told me that these were the very rails that lead to the gates of Tartarus itself. He called it the railway to hell, and five years ago that place and this one seemed very similar to one another. I could already see the relation. The grade leading into the forest wasn't so sharp to prevent an exit, but it would prove to be difficult for an amateur engineer to escape. Even as I continued loading my weapons, I couldn't help but to subconsciously pray to a god I didn't believe in. To be honest, that was something I needed to help me fortify my mind for the shit I was going to face.

In speaking of facing, one arimaspi waited along the side of the tracks, watching us pass by.

Here I was thinking I was going to be facing some fuckers the size of Ferris Wheel at the state fair, instead I'm just looking at some creatures who seem a little easier to take down. Then again, I still wasn't too fond of the smashing thing they'd like to do. And from what I saw in that flashback of Shining, I wouldn't like to experience it first-hand.

As I was staring at the creature, who stared back at us, the train started to slow down. Looking in the distance, I noticed that the mountain was pretty close in relation to what I thought it was going to be. It seemed like I would be traveling a whole five miles to get to it. The engineer hollered from the front. "This is as close as I can get you! It's going to be hell out there considering where we are! I suggest you hurry up before they start swamping us!"

"How long will that be!?" I asked, gathering my weapons and equipment.

"Forty-five seconds, tops!"

Oh shit... Not much time to introduce myself. I guess I'll have to do it the Vietnam way: Fire upon drop-off. Cocking my shotgun, I screamed back to the engineer. "That's plenty of time for you to steam up that other engine, right!?"

"No good! I need you to buy me some time!"

"I just cleaned out my wallet today! Damn, greedy bitch!" I joked as I noticed that the number had grown from just one to seven that quickly. I was only on here for ten seconds! These guys will be rolling deep if I wait any longer. As the conductor ran past me, I hollered back to him. "Get your ass in there, start that engine, and clutch it!"

"Ain't gotta tell me twice!" He hollered as I ran to the door and hopped off the train to come face to face with one of the hairy guys. Immediately, I froze in place as it stared back at me, looking down at me. The single eye that towered above me glared down as the creature's claws were raised slightly, almost expressing curiosity and amusement in the new creature that stood before it. It's horns were adorned in gold bindings with pearls dangling off the tips, it's wrist coated in gold bracelets, it's silver mane bound with golden sleeves, a ring affixed to each finger, and it's teeth a few shades lighter than it's massive yellow eye.

How exactly would Cliff say it?... These shits is BIG.

The engine from the outbound engine hissed, alerting the seven arimaspi that stood idly by. One flexed and started to charge at the train, causing me to flex in return. The shotgun in my hand quickly found elevation and I squeezed the trigger, hitting the one before me dead in the center of it's chest. It fell back with a mighty screech and a heavy thud, causing the one that charged in to look back to it's fallen comrade. It then glared at me and growled fiercely, causing the others to follow suit.

I regained my bearings and cocked my shotgun to eject an empty shell. With a slight turn, I aimed for one of the creatures' eyes and sent another slug flying. In a fraction of a second, it's eye exploded and blood was sent forth in an eruption of flesh and bone. The creature instantly fell lifeless. After another turn to face another one of the creatures, I cocked once more and fired another round. This one landing a blow to the creature's throat. It fell back, grabbing at it's neck in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.

By then, the other four all made a dash for me. Claws brandished, they charged in to cut me down. I took a quick pivot to down one of the creatures, causing for another one of them to fall over it's body. I sent another slug into the leg of another, causing it to collapse and roar loudly. My final shot was a direct hit to the last one standing. A powerful blow to the chest left it standing motionless for a few seconds as the blood trickled, then streamed out from it's body. It collapsed to the ground, landing onto the one I left wounded. The arimaspi that fell over rose from the ground, swiping a claw at me. Using the shotgun to defend myself, I held off the attack. While I stood my ground, I obtained a good look at the massive hook-like claws that could've cut my arm off.

It's claw reared back to make another swipe, but I drew my sword in retaliation and parried the blow. I dropped my shotgun to man the blade for better protection. Another swipe came in from my left side, causing me to hoist the blade to protect my left shoulder. After a well-placed parry, I countered with an overhead swipe, cutting deep into the creature's arm. The arimaspi stepped back while I took the offensive. I slashed at the creature, slicing into the flesh of it's unscathed arm. Still carrying some momentum from that swing, I turned the sword inward for a precise thrust upwards to it's jaw. The blade pierced as far as the bottom of it's eye, but the creature sagged from the impact, causing it to sink further onto the blade until it's brain was taken by it.

I yanked the sword out from it's chin, causing a small shower of blood to fall all over me while I tried to escape from the creature's dying weight. Finally free, I sheathed my sword, picked up the shotgun and started reloading. However, I had time to only load one due to the creature still screaming, possibly alerting the others to come by. I walked over to the ailing creature and planted one round into the side of it's head. It fell quiet at last.

Clearing the chamber, I pulled rounds off of my bandolier and loaded the shotgun as quick as I could. After I was reloaded, I switched to my M16 and watched after the train. A rustle from the bushes indicated that there was another one coming. As soon as it's head popped through the lush greenery, I sent a burst of rounds into the creature, hitting it's chin, neck, and upper chest. I released another burst for it's head, two rounds lightly grazing it's left cheek before a round hit an inch into his eyeball. The arimaspi stumbled, landing on it's face before sagging over. I slammed my hand on the train and hollered to the engineer. "How much more time do you need!?"

"Give it a few more seconds!... GOT IT!"

A loud and powerful hiss spilled from the undercarriage, causing me to jump back from the train. Slowly, the train inched towards the way we came, the engineer popped his head out and spoke.

"You don't want a ride back, sir!?"

"I got eight of em! Tell that to the troop back home! I'll ring you when I'm ready to leave!" I said as another roar came from within the forest. I looked back to see two more arimaspi running towards us. I took a quick aim and fired a burst of rounds at it's chest and abdomen, causing no slowdown. I made a quick switch to the revolver and put a few more rounds inside of it's chest, causing it to eventually slow to a halt. The other creature took notice of the fallen and tended to the one still holding it's neck to stop the bleeding. I turned back to the engineer and yelled. "Change that up, I got ten of them!"

"Sir, I count nine─" He began before I pulled out the shotgun again and sent chunks of the last one's head flying into the trees. The driver grimaced and quickly corrected himself. "Ten it is!"

"Good! Now get that ass MOVING!" I screamed before the train finally kicked into gear and increased it's speed. It started off slowly, but then started to roll quicker.

Another roar came from within the forest, only this time it sounded like there was more than one. I heard about three different roars before the shrubs parted ways to reveal yet another four. I shook my head with disbelief and exhaustion as I cocked the shotgun.

"Fourteen and counting..."

It's only been six hours.

One day has already made me feel like I've done nothing but undershot every objective I sought out to complete. It's like I've done so much and come so far, only to look back and realize that I only made a quick venture across the street. It was similar to the feeling of my first day out in Ponyville. And what makes me feel so unaccomplished is the fact that I was dropped off just five miles from the mountain.

And here I was just three miles in.... and six miles north.

That's right, the mountain I was so close to had in fact become even longer to get to because of the constant waves of arimaspi that came hunting after me. And all throughout my advance, if you could call it that, I was running for cover and dodging creature after creature after creature. I stumbled and fell so many times that my ankle had become sprained because of so much running, pivoting, fighting, tripping over plants and rocks. My shoulder started to ache from the constant recoil my body endured for such a long period of time. I was dirtied in mud and blood, some of my clothes had started to stick in places unimaginable. Every step I took felt like I was barefoot in a swamp, despite my wearing boots. Now I understand why gramps was so anal about his socks coming up missing.

The sun is setting and I'm still sitting here against one of these trees like I have the luxury to rest, knowing damn well that I don't. It was only fifteen minutes since I gave myself some much-needed downtime. Unfortunately, that was all I could afford. Cries from the forest beyond reached my ears, telling me that there were more than a few of them coming. Fuck dammit, how many did I take out already?

Just thirty-one.

I ran into over sixty of these bastards and they keep coming for me. I only managed to bring an end to half of them. By most standards, that would be an achievement all on it's own. But compared to the changelings, who I fought against in a blinding adrenaline rush, these things are the real deal. And it wasn't like I could take the gold from their bodies, I didn't have the time nor did I have the strength to lug around so much metal. I was already toting enough shit.

I just finished up an ammo check. My shotgun rounds numbered in the lower twenties, indicating that I was relying too damn much on it. My revolver still had plenty of rounds, so I can share a few of those. But the reports and muzzle flare would be more than enough to give away my position, and these guys had some amazingly keen ears. My assault rifle had enough to last me a trip to the mountain and back, if I didn't encounter a whole army along the way. Although I knew that the machine gun back on the train would probably be a godsend, but that was too much weight for me to pack. And this goddamn claymore was starting to get heavy as shit.

All I could feel is pain and exhaustion. The fatigue of fighting for your life and surviving in the wilderness for over five hours did nothing but tax me up to this point. And it wasn't like there was some mystical hotel around the corner or a campground I can lay my head down and recover all of my health at. Even though I went up against creatures you'd see in an JRPG, I wasn't given the amenities of such. There's no save points, there's no instant potions, there's no superpower sword art that I can use to one-shot these guys and earn gold and experience points, and I'm not a unicorn that can cast spells. No knockouts, no continues, no life waters, angel's plume, or phoenix downs, or restarts. I was going to be deader than Aerith if I screw up.

But that didn't matter, not compared to what I was doing. Looking down at my improvised ankle brace, I tilted my head back to look to the green canopy above. With an exasperated sigh, I thought about the lives I didn't have to compromise to get here. I imagined each of their faces, all wearing bright smiles as they all made fun of how I looked right now. I even went so far as to imagine the faces of the parents who all urged me to protect them.

Even when I personally felt like this was all for nothing, I leaned back to the words my grandfather spoke of on the rare occasions when he'd tell of his ventures in Vietnam. My hell was different from his, and much less harrowing. Even looking to Shining's dilemma, my situation was far better than his at the time. In fact, it was around twenty-five of those monsters that wiped out thirty-seven ponies out of the forty-one that came here five years ago. I managed to get here on my own and sleep over thirty of them. So if I managed to accomplish those feats, then why did I feel so... inadequate?

It's felt like I was missing something.

...Here they come again. Here's hoping I can make it through the night.

The light of the sun has since long died off. I wandered through a dark forest full of nightly creatures of varying species. As I passed through, there was much chatter among the woodland creatures, and upon my approach, their dialog would be placed on hold until I had staggered off. Obviously I couldn't contribute much to the conversation, but I could at least listen to them. Because much like how I walked through here, there are much bigger things stomping about. So the quieter the forest became, the closer they were.

I had to commend myself in making the purchases I did way back when. Walking through the forest with night vision goggles helped me immensely in trying to avoid arimaspi encounters, but they didn't save me worth a damn from the massive redwood trees I kept bumping into. There was the possibility that I could use a flashlight, but then I'd give myself away before I could even get into the mountain. But the silver lining is that I managed to fight my way back inwards, meaning that I was now 3.6 miles northeast as opposed to the original 6.3 miles away from the mountain.

But the bad news was that my body was giving me signs that I needed rest before it started to shut down on me. So yeah, sleep, have to get that squared away. However, that was much easier said than done, arimaspi are still warm on my trail. And my only hope to avoid a confrontation was to hide away in one of these bushes. And yet there was a risk of one of these monsters sifting through here and crushing me like a small bug.

My luck wasn't too terrible though. It took me another hour, but I managed to find a hollowed-out tree that seemed to be an old outpost of some sort. Goes without saying that there could've been some ponies who made use of it five years prior. Upon a further inspection, I could confirm that was indeed the case. Left inside was a empty packet that used to house an MRE as it cooked, a few empty pouches, and a dirtied set of plastic utensils. I stuffed my materials inside before I crawled in, doing what I could to make myself comfortable. And to my surprised, I was barely able to fit my entire body plus my materials. I guess that could be chalked up to some dearly departed soul who managed to dig this outpost. Whoever you are, thank you.

You just gave me a place to sleep on my first night in hell.

...In speaking of MRE's.

Ugh... my neck... my back... my shoulders are burning.

The fatigue of yesterday's roundabout started to show in the form of bodily aches and pains. Also it didn't help that I was in such a cramped space for over six hours, in what could be the most uncomfortable condition that humans could ever sleep in. It also didn't help that I had a tree root up my ass. But considering how things are for the time being, I suppose that they could be a hell of a lot worse. I could be missing an arm, a leg, or worse. Not to mention that the sprain from yesterday wasn't too terribly serious where I needed to keep off of it for a few days. Now that I think about it, there's a lot that could've gone wrong.

But my complaints are pretty much of the first-world variety for now, nothing too traumatizing.

...That's not good.

Grabbing the revolver, I quietly snuck my head outside of the opening. I tried to make sure that not just my movements didn't indicate any rush, but also my breathing. Slowly and quietly I crept out of my hiding hole and saw a creature resembling a lion with bat-like wings and a scorpion's tail. For a moment, I was washed with relief. "A manticore." I whispered to myself. But that relief was short-lived as it's eyes managed to lock directly onto me. It's tail raised high into the air as it started to growl and walk slowly towards me. Without hesitation, I drew my gun and cocked the hammer back. With my sights lined for the center of it's mass, my trigger finger grew twitchy with every step he took.

But then, it stopped walking towards me. It looked up at the tree and roared angrily, expressing some form of dissatisfaction. It was only a second before my question of 'what was he complaining about' found it's answer. And in a mere second, a large hairy body came leaping from above, landing directly in front of me, standing on it's hind legs while beating on it's chest. With a mighty shriek, the arimaspi responded to the manticore in a display of dominance over it's territory. Screaming and howling, the two continued their debate, leaving me to be an observer of the exchange. However, the manticore started to gradually back off, drawing off of the shouting match by lowering it's tail and grumbling instead of roaring.

The arimaspi snorted proudly before the manticore slunk off into the shrubbery. After the display of dominance, I nodded quietly in acknowledging what took place. It would appear that the creatures here have an understanding with one another. If something bigger and badder comes around, they'll eventually sod off out of fear of getting their shit wrecked. But there is a bit of a contest between the two, seemingly to say that there is a debate over prey. And it would also appear that they have a mutual relationship in terms of predatory relations, similar to that in our world. If one species is hungry while the other is not, the species that is hungry will eat. But if both species are hungry, the larger one has priority in the pecking order.

Obviously, it was hungry enough to debate for whoever wanted me. But that debate went on for long enough to change my revolver to a shotgun. The creature slowly turned back around to glare at me with it's solitary eye. It's teeth showed a gruesome smile while it panted.

Correction: While it laughed at me.

The very thought of this creature expressing laughter sent a instinctual shiver down my spine. Not only was the arimaspi aware of my presence, but it was smart enough to laugh in seeing me, it was sentient. Suddenly, the added context of what happened to Shining's company five years ago became even more harrowing, the macabre scenery of the arimaspi playing with their bodies like bloodied ragdolls... and laughing. They weren't just intelligent creatures, they were fully aware of what they were doing and they had no shame in their game. That means that they were very aware of what Shining was doing, what they had planned, what they planned to do. That ambush wasn't something that came out of nowhere, it was a completely orchestrated feint.

It was a lure of false security, and they sent one to bite into their forces and lure them out of hiding. And just like that, they were brought to their front doorstep, ready to be slaughtered. That means the ones they saw trying to kill themselves, they denied them the opportunity on purpose. The one that stood before me hid in the tree, knowing that I was here.

Two more fell from the tree, landing in various blind spots. The others fell in places where the roots and the trunk of the tree hampered my view of them. They were there, and I was in the center of this deadly triangle. My turning for them was going to end up being a distraction, an opening for this other guy to drive it's claw deep into my chest cavity, making me the newest Christmas ornament on their tree of bodies. Given their intelligence, I wouldn't be surprised if they took my anatomy into consideration and made me into the star that they'd set on the very top.

In short, I got shafted.

My heart was just going, Usain Bolt speed, while the adrenaline in my body throttled through my veins. Even the smell of the forest was overridden with the scent of blood. The muscles in my arms and legs all loosened while I held my shotgun, the pain throughout my body was given a temporary reprieve as the creature walked to me.

Raising my shotgun to meet with it's head, I kept it in my head to make for the tree, not for the opening ahead. If I was gonna have to fight three on one like this, I was gonna have to keep it funneled tight. The arimaspi snorted before it made off into a dash for me. I responded with a quick trigger pull and was rewarded with an instant stop to the monster's advance. But in doing so, I alerted the other two to come from around the back end of the tree and run for their fallen comrade. As they both tried to inspect the body, I quickly cocked the shotgun and fired off one additional round into the one that appeared from my left, hitting it in the side. The other took notice of what I had done and charged for me, so quickly that I didn't have time to line up a third shot. Making a quick retreat for the tree, I crawled inside of my little hole.

While I was thrown off of my mental balance, I watched as the creature roared and planted it's hand against the tree, pushing it enough to lift some of the roots I sat on. Reacting with a significant amount of panic, I lined my barrel the best I could to the creature's face and unleashed another shot. I knew it was a bad shot once I heard it shriek with pain. It released the tree and fell to the ground, kicking and screaming over what seemed to be the loss of it's eye. Yet the feeling of the tree turning over didn't stop. Instead, it was completely ripped off the ground by another two arimaspi that stood behind me.

Out of the sides of my eye, I could see all of my equipment flying in several places. My sword was sent flying towards another part of the forest while my medical bag, also filled with C4 land amongst the kicking arimaspi. My other weapons landed several feet in different directions. I cocked my shotgun once more to chamber another slug and sent it flying into one of the creatures, killing that one instantly. However, it was misfortune that I was dealt an empty barrel. "Oh shit." I felt my entire body move on it's own as I made a mad scramble for the revolver in my waistband. But before I could pull it out, I was quickly scooped up from my leg and sent rolling into the bushes.

I eventually came to a stop, groaning from the pain I was dealt. Looking for my revolver, I couldn't find anything more than 'Rarity Fashions®' on my boxers. But at the very least, my sword was about ten feet away from where I landed. Looking down, I confirmed that my legs were still attached and ran for the sword. But barreling towards me from behind was the arimaspi who sent me flying. I had to cautiously navigate my way through narrow-planted trees and tight brush to weave my way to the massive blade. While the creature turned for a bypass on all my methods of derailment, I was given the second enough to grab my sword and bat off whatever claw came my way.

In my doing so, I was thrown off balance and sent collapsing to the ground. The creature's hand then tried to slam down upon me, causing me to prayerfully point my blade upwards and close my eyes for the eventual case of my attempt failing to stop anything and bringing an end to everything I am.

Sights of my father punching me quickly jumped in the back of my eyelids, the image of my mother hugging me tightly as I watched my grandfather being put into the ground, the moment I first rode a bike, the time Alex threw a punch to protect me, the moment where Stanton made his first touchdown in a park football game, the image of grandma taking care of her horse on the ranch in Wimberley, the moment Shining drilled me under a raincloud, that one heated exchange Twilight and I had in the table room, the time she and I first shared our first time together, the moment Pinkie danced on me, when Rarity kissed me on the cheek while I wore one of her dresses, the moment Chrysalis called me a murderer.

All of these things, the very voices, they all flashed before me as I felt the massive weight being brought onto my chest.

God, please don't let me die.

Rainbow stood at the train station, quietly looking at the clock, watching the seconds go by. Tapping her hoof impatiently, she groaned with boredom as she looked to the train engineer standing beside the caboose with a bloodied hand print smeared on it. With another grunt, she rolled her eyes and broke her vocal silence. "Hey," She shouted to the engineer. "When do you think Nondis will radio you!? It's been a whole day and he hasn't said anything."

The stallion shrugged. "Beats me. I'm just glad that I got out of there when I got the chance. Poor fool got swamped as I was leaving the stop, it's a miracle he even took on as many as he did when I was there."

Rainbow grew anxious the more she looked at the bloodied hand print. "You should've did the smart thing and got his ass out of there!"

The engineer remained unfazed. "Ma'am, if you saw what I did just yesterday, you would have a lot of faith in his ability of self-preservation. He was mowing those damn monsters down left and right. He shouldn't have any problems, really."

The rainbow-maned pegasus drew a breath of relief in hearing the engineer's words. "So, no problems, huh?"

"Yeah," He started with a devious smile. "Unless we're talking about having his legs broken, or him being knocked into one of those redwood trees, or him being smacked against the rocks, or him getting trapped in a corner while five of the bastards start tearing him limb-from-limb."

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING ME!" She shouted vehemently.

The engineer chuckled heartily as he made fun of the mare. "Relax, it's only been one day. You're making it seem like he's dying out there, which he isn't. He's got everything going for him, and I doubt he's in any present danger that will end his life."

"How am I supposed to trust you!?" She questioned.

"I dunno, you do it." The engineer rebutted with a shoulder shrug.

Rainbow let loose a cry of disdain while she yelled with enough force to cause his mane to become swept in a breeze. "You are the worst thing since the Flim-Flam Brothers, I swear! It's like you expect me to magically trust any word that falls from your mouth like it's rain from the sky!"

The engineer cringed a bit as he ended up being bombarded with a small amount of spit from her yelling. He wiped his face off, but not before noticing something sitting behind her. "Well I don't mean to spit on your worry parade, but what's that in the sky?"

As he pointed to the object of his curiosity, Rainbow quickly recognized it from previous endeavors. "Huh, looks like Cherry Berry's hot air balloon."

"Who's Cherry Berry?" He asked.

"Some pony in Ponyville we rent the air balloon from."

Her response caused him to scratch his head for a second, he took a moment to think about what she had said to him, the direction in which it came from, and pieced it all together. "Okay, so if it's an air balloon from Ponyville, which is due north of here, then how is it coming from the south?"

The two paused for a moment to look at each other before Rainbow Dash bolted high into the air. She sliced through the air with such an intensity that a cone of sound started to form around her body. When she approached the balloon, she saw a yellow, scrawny unicorn stallion with a brown, disheveled mane. As he floated through the air, he cleaned the lens of his camera while humming an upbeat tune. The cyan pegasus quickly called out to him. "Hey! Hey you! What are you doing coming from the south! Airspace south of Macintosh Hills is strictly forbidden!"

"It's only forbidden because the establishment doesn't want to do the dirty work and peep around for valuable information!" He called out with a cocky attitude. "But forbidden territory is where I thrive!"

"I mean it's off limits!" Rainbow clarified, hoping to get through to him that he was coming from a restricted area.

"It's only off limits when you don't have a press pass, lady." He responded while holding up a laminated badge that dangled from around his neck. "That's how the world works. See, the difference between you and I is this: you follow the establishment and all of it's stupid rules the royals set up. I am a purveyor of information, a rebel against the establishment, a voice to the voiceless, questioning the authoritarian system and it's guidelines, inner-workings, and figureheads."

Rainbow quickly glanced at the camera and it's expensive-looking lens he was wiping earlier. "You're a paparazzi, aren't you?" She deadpanned.

"You know it! Digging up the juiciest of gossip is my numero uno!" He shamelessly confessed.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Look, this place is still off limits. We have an operation going on─"

"The big op involving you, an element bearer, and the captain of the guard? Oh yeah, I got the innie on that one. And I mean the scoop is HUGE BABY!" He declared, pulling out a manila envelope of photos.

Rainbow looked inside of the basket he rested in, seeing a opaque trash bag covering what seemed to be a pan. She also noticed an unusually strong scent coming from within the bag. She immediately concluded that he had taken some pictures of whatever took place down below. "Seriously, I'm gonna have to ask you to park it. This balloon's gotta come down for inspection of sensitive material."

The stallion opened up the envelope while shaking his head at her. "Lady, if sensitive info is what you're pushing for, then I'll give you the insider on the captain that will break headlines on every page in the nation!"

The mare started to become impatient, more than she was initially. "Park the balloon or I clip you out of the sky!"

"Check this out!" He said, pulling out a set of pictures and then giving her the set. She sifted through the first three before her expression fell from annoyed to almost complete melancholy. He continued to ramble on as she looked at the images. "I call it, 'fairy tale ending'... or maybe 'immanence', maybe 'silent will'... I don't know, title pending."

Slowly, she felt her heart crumble away into nothing as the view from above showed a human leaning against a tree, wearing a transfixed grimace on his face. His body was bloodied while a deep gash showed in his arm. A small stream of crimson leaked from his arm to his upper torso as he fearfully placed a sword upon his chest, pointing upwards towards an arimaspi that threatened to strike him down. In her mind, it was something that she never saw from him. She heard him scream in horror once before, but never saw the visual expression the human was capable of expressing. Her chest grew tight and icy, her mind already having difficulty processing the image and thought of her friend being brought to silence. "Nondis..."

"Yeap, that's the juice right there! That face right there, that's the face of every mare in his fan club." The stallion said as he looked at Rainbow's face. He wasn't entirely concerned with the mare's emotions, rather he was looking at the perceived numbers on his next paycheck. "Dig this headline: 'Quenched; Captain of Royal Guard Lively Flame Burns Out'. Maybe that's too long. Oh how about this: 'Snuffed; Captain Nondis' Final Moment!' with a question mark at the end."

Throwing the photos back at him, she followed up with a powerful grapple and suspended him just a few inches above the basket floor. "Where is he now!?" She urged loudly.

He used his horn to telekinetically move her hooves out of the way and place him back in the safety of his basket. The stallion then collected the photos and placed them back inside of the envelope. "Lady, I can only tell you to wait until he shows up on that hill over yonder, at least what's left of him. But let me let you in on this, miss: Wherever he is, he won't be for long. Maybe you'll find his corpse, but not much of his being. You get me?"

"No." She spat venomously, trying to make a grab for the envelope. He magically swiped it just outside of her reach before hugging onto the envelope in an enormous fit of greed.

"Hey, hooves off the merch! This here proof stays with me until the papers send it. And being that Appleloosa is just down there, I guess this small dust town can be the first place to break history. The death of the first human to set hoof in the Equestrian E.U.P. Guard. I'm gonna be so rich!"

Rainbow tried again to snatch the envelope from his possession, but continuously failed. Each of her concurrent attempts slowing down to a desperate crawl before she eventually stopped and let herself sink a few feet in the air. "This can't be real."

"Oh it is.... And I'm gonna need twenty bits for that disclosure."

Sorry this one took a while to write. I didn't have much time to myself lately because of working reasons. I can safely say that a new chapter will quickly (what is quick nowadays?) succeed this one.

Also, the beginning rant, that was written way back in late October.

Now for a minor explanation because some parts would cause a bit of controversy, so spoilers in spoiler text: There was a misunderstanding that took place and there is a fissure that's grown because of it. No more spoilers... Okay, maybe one. Misunderstandings usually lead to things taken out of context.

As I am writing this now, I've already got a one-thousand word start on the next chapter. So I should be well on my way to releasing it before New Year's (barring no more interruptions).

Also brownie points for those who realizes who the paparazzi is a reference to before the next chapter gives it away.