Out of bullets, let me give you a hoof sandwich! - Applebits

I was shocked at how badly Lightning was hurt by the shotgun slugs as I did my best to heal him. My horn now had an over glow to it as his wounds glowed in synchronous. He moaned as Shadow Star pulled off his armor and smiled down at him before pulling her nose from his when she noticed I was watching. I smiled between grunts and gave a nod as the wound sealed and I collapsed.

"You okay App?" Lightning asked groggily as he stood up.

"Yeah, just a tad tired." I said panting.

"Okay." he said turning back around to Shadow.

"I'm glad you are okay Dark, but who is the foal?" she asked him.

"Crimson Flower, she was born into her dying mothers hooves under my protection." he looked down for a moment before looking back around to me, "My last orders before assuming that Tempest went KIA was to protect two reformed raiders." he added frowning.

"What happened?" I asked with a worried expression.

"The town was filled with ancient zombies, Temp stayed behind to ensure their destruction, his marker disapered from my EFS a couple days ago." he replied, unable to look me in the eye as I began to tear up.

"And the two ex raiders?" I asked.

"One turned into a zombie so I had to kill her, the other died a few minuets after giving birth, she lived just long enough to give a kiss to her foal and a name before passing." he said closing his eyes.

"Damn this wasteland, damn it all." I whispered under my breath before I got up and stormed off.

Behind me I could hoofsteps from Bulls Eye and Gladius as they returned, but I didn't turn to greet them, I just walked over into the camps bar and grabbed a bottle of red wine and tossed my helmet at the wall with such force that it embedded itself into it. I gulped down the wine and cried my eyes out, probably not the best idea I've had, but at least I won't remember anything from today later.

"First Defense, now Tempest. Who's next, Bulls Eye, Lightning?" I raged as I pulled more wine out of the wall behind the counter and began chugging it all down.

Bulls Eye walked into the bar and stood behind me, watching me become even more enraged as I got even more drunk. I moved a few bottles into a row and grabbed a pistol from the other side of the counter. Aiming it at the bottles I shot off two rounds before the mag was empty, I did manage to destroy three of the bottles though I have no idea how. I threw the pistol at the fourth and final bottle but missed terribly before I noticed Bulls Eye.

"This would explain why I never saw you drunk." he said, raising a brow at me while I swayed to and fro.

"Shut up Bulls Eye, I'm..." I hiccuped, "not in the mood."

"I can tell ma'am." he said looking at the shattered glass everywhere.

"Why you, botherin, meh?" I said as I began to lose even more speech control.

"Wanted to tell you that we move out in five." he said before looking at the door.

"Buck it." I said slamming myself into a chair and falling back instantly as it broke under my half ton armor.

"You okay ma'am?" he asked. stifling a laugh in the process.

"Shut your pie hole, my don't you look..." I once more hiccuped, "splendid."

"Ma'am, you are intoxicated." Bulls Eye said as he picked up a light brown bandanna.

"Ohohoho, am I?" I said completely drunk now.

"Very." he said placing the bandanna on his head and walking out of the bar.

"Huh, your loss handsome." I said before trying to turn, just to land smack on my horn. "Owwwwwwww!!!"

I rubbed my horn with an armored hoof as I got up and stumbled out of the bar. Everything was spinning as I was walking, and the slaves that we had killed were walking around. I greeted each one by name before walking, more like almost falling, to my friends.

"Why howdy everypony, sure is a nice day eh?" I said with a country accent I hadn't had since I was a filly growing up on the farm.

"Um, Applebits?" Lightning said, he had strapped his armor back on and was looking at me as if I had just walked out of a space ship from one of those corny holo tapes.

"What is it feathers?" I asked as I leaned off to my right side, though to me I was still standing upright.

"She is so drunk it aint funny." he whispered to Shadow Star who had been standing next to him, but all I heard was, "Hey beautiful."

"Ohohoho, so charming." I said flattered as a waved a hoof at him and sat down.

It was then that I caught sight of Gladius coming over to me from my left. What I could see was not the ghoul pony that had saved us, rather I saw him as a strapping younger stallion that seemed almost glowing in the light. Although he had some weird red liquid on his body at odd places that I couldn't quite place, and as he drew but a few paces from me I smiled at him happily. "Howdy there Gladius, yer lookin as fine as ever. Though ya got some Kool Aid or somethin all o'er ya." I said, looking into his eyes and trying to rise to walk over to him but almost falling a few times.

Before I could do anything though, he was pressing me to a wall and I couldn't help but giggle at how playful he was being. "So rowdy ya are partner." I whispered. "Ah like that."

In my eyes, Gladius was giving me a smile before he wiped his lips of some of that liquid; but to the others who had seen it normally he had slammed me hard into the wall of the building behind me and was now deeply frowning with his muzzle stitches removed. Without knowing the truth, I leaned forward and gently kissed his lips before giggling again as I thought he was blushing with his eyes slightly wide. In reality, his pupils had narrowed and a vein in his forehead was dangerously close to popping; but I was right about the blushing.

What happened to me next was actually was a smack back into reality. Quite literally, I could feel the sharp pain that made me cry out as his hoof hit me across my cheek so hard it made me see stars. With my eyes still uncertainly on him, I could see the anger now that I had mistaken and that was when for the first time he spoke. More so it was like a shout, echoing across the nearby wasteland with such intensity my ears were ringing and I felt like I was back in my first day of Basic.

"THERE AIN'T NO DRUNKS IN MY CORPS YA BUCKING FAILURE! YA THINK YOU'RE DESERVING TO BE A RANGER LIKE THIS? YOU HAD BEST RETCH THAT VILE LIQUID OF HELL UP RIGHT NOW OR AH'M PERSONALLY GOING TA BEAT IT OUT OF YA!" His voice though thunderously loud, was clear and strong; it had a slight southern accent to it that only accentuated his demand in my eyes.

For good measure, he actually bucked me once in the gut and left me laying on the ground. The wine had tasted good and smooth going down, but now it burned like fire in my throat as that single, powerful buck into my stomach forced it to make a reappearance all over the ground beneath me. As I managed to raise my head from the stinking muck, I was again staring into his eyes; his muzzle stitched shut again with his gaze holding such contempt and anger at me before he shook his head and offer me a hoof. I took it, still aching horribly from the immense headache his voice had given and the immense pain of my gut at his buck and the forced throw up that resulted.

Feeling slightly sick but now much more stable, I couldn't recall anything that I'd just done previously, and what more I might have done had he not intervened. I was blushing now, in embarrassment upon the fact that I had become drunk. Gladius looked down upon me after evidently snapping me out of it, with a look of disgust before expression turned into an emotionless mask except for the almost unnoticeable blush now. His blood once more made an appearance as he began to walk off to the east of the town. "Follow me. I take you all to home."

I took notice that he didn't even glance at the others, didn't want to hear whatever they had to say I guess at what had just transpired. Instead he just set off down a broken road. Glaring at the others, they didn't dare speak either as I placed my helmet back on and began to try and follow him rather unsteadily.

I could easily tell the others lagged behind us just to talk out of earshot about what had just happened, though I just did my best to ignore them and try to focus on wherever Gladius was taking us.

A few hours had passed and I found myself continuously glancing behind me at my friends, Shadow walked with the foal on her back and her two sisters on either side of her flank, while Dark Lightning flew above us feeling much better than when I had healed him up. Bulls Eye had caught my continuous glancing and had walked a tad faster to catch up with me.

"No more wine for you ma'am, ever." he said, before giving a smile.

"Okay, so what did I do while drunk that has everypony worked up?" I asked looking straight at him.

"Well, lets just say you don't, want to know." he snickered.

"Tell me, please, so that if I did something I shouldn't have that I can apologize to whoever I did it to." I requested giving him a stern gaze from behind my visor.

"Don't say that I didn't warn ya ma'am." he responded before coming closer to me and whispering, "You kissed the ghoul."

I instantly blushed inside my armor and looked down to the ground before looking up slightly to Gladius. I then looked back to Bulls Eye who was the last pony I remembered before getting bucked in the gut by our ghoul friend. Looking at him I noticed how gentle his eyes were, I then wondered why he had come into check on me. I gave him a nod and he walked away over to the other side of Gladius as my mind spiraled out of control. I was ripped back to reality when I saw a huge alligator like beast, its only real difference being size, take a snap at Gladius.

I cut lose a solid stream of fire from both of my mini guns as they merely deflected off the beast. Bulls Eye lined up a shot of his AT cannon and let the beast have it square in the jaw, but all it did was piss the thing off worse.

"Damn, how do ya stop that thing?" Bulls Eye yelled to nopony in particular.

"No clue, bullets maybe?" Lightning said as he streaked passed and unloaded twenty milometer rounds from the cannon on his back, "Eat shit and die!"

I fired until I ran out of ammo, but I did absolutely nothing to the beast as it lumbered towards me, charging a stunning spell I shot it with my horn, only for the damn thing to gobble me up. Out side of its jaws I could hear Lightning and Bulls Eye still shooting it, though Bulls Eye was now trying his luck with the shotgun since he was probably out of ninety milometer rounds for his cannon. I decided that I was just going to bash its tongue till it let me out, which was working until it tilted its head back and I fell into its gut. I used my suites headlamp and found myself inside of the beasts stomach, smiling I levitated my last grenade out of my saddlebags.

"You should chew your food, cause you never know when they'er packing heat!" I yelled as I pulled the pin and held it against the back of the stomach.

It exploded and I saw the gloomy wasteland sunlight as the beast roared it last. I galloped out of there and far away from it before several more of them approached me.

"Oh no you don't, I am not your lunch!" I yelled at them before running back up to Bulls Eye who was staring at me as though I was dead, "What never seen a pony covered in guts before?" I asked.

"No, just didn't expect you to come out that end." he chuckled in a reply.

"You got any grenades by chance?" I asked as the giant gators got closer.

"No." he replied looking worried.

"Horse apples." I replied looking back to the beasts approaching us.

Before I could begin to think up any sort of plan beyond the first beast I'd slain, it was Gladius I saw who leapt into them. His strange stance that he had used against Cotton Candy resuming when he landed on his hind legs in front of the first. His hoofs up, guarding his sides; I watched as the first of the gators attacked him. He deftly deflected it, knocking the beast aside like it was nothing more than a tin can. The second that came at him, as it's jaws snapped to close around him I was prepared to charge in to save him when I saw he had pressed both one of his hind legs at its bottom jaw and his left foreleg against the roof of its mouth. Watching him, he seemed to be able to keep the gator from closing its jaws almost with an ease; in fact he was spreading its jaws apart further and further now as I saw him turn his head and look to Lightning. His gaze was intense and caught my friend's attention immediately as the ghoul made a chopping motion with his free hoof and nodded to the gator.

I could tell Lightning understood, for he spread his wings out with the bladed edges prepared before diving sharply toward Gladius. The result was instant. As Lightning glided past, I saw the gator begin to split in two before I saw Gladius lift the top half off with ease and haul it back before tossing it almost like a missile into the previous gator he'd knocked away. Now two more were dead, and Gladius was looking at the remaining group of maybe six with an intense concentration. Almost an aura seemed to consume his being, barely noticeable; but it was the color of his blood and matched his eyes as he took off towards the group. As he reached the first gator, I couldn't help but blink in surprise as he slammed his hoof straight through its lower jaw before hauling back and slamming a hoof as hard as he could into the roof of its mouth. The effect was the same as when Lighting had cut through, only much more bloody as the entire upper half exploded in bone and chunks of flesh.

Even Lightning had paused, in slight awe of the sheer strength presented before he snapped out of it and made another dive and slashed two gators to bits from their insides as Gladius seemed to be just there before him to wrench their mouths open. Finally, Bulls Eye and I jumped into the fray as we too snapped out of our stupor. Helping in the same way Gladius had, though wondering how he did it so easily as we had immense trouble keeping their jaws from clamping shut. Gladius finished the last one, actually leaping into the air and using his wings to rocket him back down to the ground before bashing straight down into the last gator's skull as Lightning chopped ours to bits.

Panting underneath my armor, I withdrew back to the rest of our group with Bulls Eye just as Lightning touched down beside us. Everypony was now looking at Gladius, myself included. He was still standing amidst the remains, his eyes closed; breathing heavy. His stitched wounds glowing brighter than before and some of them bleeding and creating a pool of darker blood in the ruins of the gators' skull.

Soon, his breathing calmed; the aura around him faded as did the glow with his injuries before he opened his eyes. Stepping out of the foul pool and flesh, he walked slowly back to us just as Bulls Eye spoke up. "What was that Gladius? I've never seen a pony do what you've done nor look like that."

Gladius looked at Bulls Eye before shaking his head as his blood spelled out. "Top Secret. Cannot say. Sworn by Princesses."

"The Princesses?" I said, asking the question everypony was thinking about this ghoul.

"You mean you knew the Princesses? Like, before the war?" Lightning said.

"Don't have time. We just go before more gators come." Gladius spelled out, his eyes expressing that now wasn't the time to talk. "We must go, to home. Now."

Turning quickly, I watched as he marched off once again and was across the river before we could speak. "What the buck is going on with this ghoul?" Bulls Eye muttered before following him with Lightning setting off into the skies again.

I took to following, not saying another word as the rest of our group followed behind. All the while, I was now wondering just who and what this ghoul was and I wanted to know more about his past.

Author's Notes:

Okay so I figured a bit of humor was needed since the last few chapters have been a roller coaster of emotions, one even got me to tear up without knowing it (A Different Turn of Events). Now we know what happened to Tempest but they have no idea. Also working with my fellow author on this (having his pony in the main group and crossing his head cannon with mine (though he did create his stuff in this fic for this fic) has been exhilarating, though I must admit I let him write out the parts for Gladius seeing as I don't know the character well enough to write, for him like I do when it comes to Dark Lightning (Delta's OC) since he is based off of my actual friend.

Now for the chapter recap that I have taken to doing-

In the beginning of the Chapter Applebits got drunk as a skunk, which I admit was pretty funny. Then Gladius actually un-stitched his mouth to scream at her. And then she was eaten by an unfortunate radagator (not mentioned by name in the chapter because no one knew what to call them. Oh and Gladius is really strong evidently, but do not worry. NO PONY IS WITHOUT A WEAKNESS.

Next chapter we are going back to Tempest and Arnold Ponegator.

Stay Brony Everypony!