We lost.

Thunderfall stood above us, a black stallion bigger and tougher than me by far, even more so than Ironbright. His cohorts flanked him on either side. And we lay on the ground, bloodied, riddled with bullets, not dead but defeated.

“What should we do with them?” one of them asked Thunderfall.

He turned his head, considering his options. He spoke in a deep bass. “Take the mares, of course.”

They began to surround my friends. I tried to rise, to help, but Thunderfall placed a hoof on my neck, threatening to snap it. Each struggled, but the mares were eventually bound by ropes. They fought even as they were dragged away.

They looked at me in turn as they passed through the doorway and out of my sight. Ironbright was defiant and strong as ever. Cloud Chaser was trembling in fear, flailing as she panicked. Her captors hit her to make her stop, laughing as she fell limp, dazed. I could hear Rosemary hyperventilating, tears streaming down her face. They begged me to save them. But I couldn’t.

I heard the stallions begin to push them around, and my friends give calls of resistance, trying to fight their attackers off. But it wasn’t enough.

“What should we do with him?” one of the remaining underlings asked.

Thunderfall paused before answering. “He’s worthless.”

I felt the hoof on my neck press until there was a loud snap.

Even though I awoke in a panic, once it faded I couldn’t say I was surprised. With my emotional state the night before, I was practically asking for the Blackheart to give me a nightmare.

I wished my fears didn’t revolve around my friends being raped so much, though. After these dreams, I felt like I would soon become accustomed to their voices sobbing the word ‘no,’ begging for their assailants to stop. Perhaps that was part of the Blackheart’s plan.

As I laid back down, my mattress soaked with sweat, I wondered if I was crazy. Maybe these nightmares were coming from the horrors of the wasteland. If I was wrong about the ominous gem’s powers, I would surely lose my sanity in time, becoming crazed with the nightmares, seeking out the gem’s destruction. I would have no peace until that happened.

“It should be destroyed anyway,” I thought. “There’s no justification for keeping it.”

All in all, I suppose it didn’t matter. I wasn’t in any position to do anything about the nightmares now. All I could do was try to wake up, and prepare for the fight ahead of me.

The dream took its desired effect as I got up from my bed to find a bath. We wouldn’t be lingering around the tower. By tonight Thunderfall would be dead, or we would be. Or worse, as my dream reminded me. There was always worse. Could we really stand up to him? Did we even stand a chance? Or would my friends be led to a terrible fate by my insistence, my sense of justice?

More than ever I felt like a foolish pony. My thoughts still lingered from the night before, and I felt terrible for the things that roiled within me. But I was foolish for thinking that this would go off without a hitch. Of course there would be casualties. We weren’t flawless soldiers. We weren’t killers. How could I allow them to go into this fight knowing what might happen to them? It wasn’t worth it. No matter how many ponies it would save, it wouldn’t be worth their lives. Their freedom.

I stopped in the hallway with that thought lingering. I knew what my friends would say, because I knew what I would say. If it were the other way around, I would tell them that it was worth the risk. My own fate didn’t matter. What mattered was trying to help others. I knew they must be afraid. I was afraid for them as well. But they had probably known all along how they might end up if things took a turn for the worse. And they hadn’t hesitated once to come here.

But I didn’t feel proud of them. I felt ashamed in myself for doubting them. For thinking that I knew best for them. They were the mares in the wasteland. They were the ones who would be victimized and abused. Just as my dream showed, I would most likely be killed in all scenarios. But their bodies belonged to them, and if they chose to risk themselves, then I had all the more respect for them.

They were the heroes in this story. Not me. And for once, I was happy not to be the center of my own world. I basked in the glow of these mares’ courage and strength, far more than any stallion I had ever met, and that empowered me.

“Celestia bless them,” I thought.

My good mood was cut short once I reached the baths. They were guarded, and there was a fee. Forty caps. I still had to pay to get my armor repaired, and the rest of my money would be going to health potions and food to get me back to Stable Two or New Appleloosa or wherever I ended up after this. I couldn’t spare a single cap. My poor mare friends would just have to endure me. I didn’t smell yet, but my face was sour again.

I decided to just find the others. I had been the one to sleep in this time around, so they were eating breakfast together in the marketplace. Things seemed to get remarkably quiet when I sat down, but Ironbright slid a bowl of cereal toward me with real milk and strawberries. Celestia could bless her doubly. This must have cost a fortune.

When the silence became too thick for me, I asked Ironbright where the repairpony was to get my armor fixed.

“How many caps do you have on you?” she asked.

“Two hundred.”

She shook her head. “You could get it fixed, but it would almost clean you out.”

“I can’t afford to go out with holes in it,” I said. “I’ll make do.”

“Let me look at it,” Rosemary offered. “If you can buy me a hammer or something I might be able to patch it up”

“Are you sure?” I asked her.

“You’ve seen my heating spell that I use to make campfires. I can probably heat your armor and seal the holes.”

I gave her a look but conceded. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Ironbright spoke in between gulps of water. “I hope Life Bloom sold you some good spells.”

“I got a better telekinesis spell for cheap,” she said. I think Ironbright rolled her eyes.

Cloud Chaser looked at Ironbright. “Is he ever going to get that fancy armor you have?”

“He’s an alicorn, so it’s tricky to fit. We have helms that allow for horns but not suits that fit wings. He’d have to have it custom-made. He’ll get it one day.”

The silence returned. Somehow, I knew that Ironbright had found out about my kiss. I wondered what she thought. If she was disappointed in me. At least Rosemary was staying civilized and not giving me the cold shoulder like I knew she wanted to. Rosemary was like a mother bear, and I knew I had upset her by hurting her precious little cub.

This caused me to take a closer look at the two younger mares. It was obvious that Rosemary had maternal feelings toward Cloud Chaser. She was an orphan, and Rosemary had given a lot of time and resources to ensure the pegasus’s safety and well-being. She worried about leaving Cloud Chaser on her own and got upset when somepony hurt her. I didn’t find it hard to believe that Rosemary truly felt like a mother figure to Cloud Chaser.

And despite her prickly nature, I had to give the little unicorn credit for that. At such a young age, that was a big responsibility to undertake, but a very noble one. I was duly impressed by her kindness.

I took Rosemary back to my room to give my armor to her, giving me a chance to talk to her alone. I knew that she was probably still mad at me, but I thought I would be able to smooth things over.

But of course, I had no idea what to say. I had to say something, though. I looked at her, walking quietly at my side, not a trace of fear or anxiety on her face. I wonder how she did it.

“Are you sure about this?” I blurted out.

“Patching armor can’t be too much different from patching clothes,” she answered.

“No. About Thunderfall.”

She sighed. “It has to be done. We all know that.”

“But what if we don’t win? Do you know what will happen to you?” She stopped to look at me, trying to understand why I was talking like this.

“Of course I know. But aren’t you afraid of what might happen to you?”

“Dying is easy compared to what they would do with you and Cloud Chaser.”

She shook her head. “We saved those mares at Greave’s. They have lives now. They can heal. But if they died…”

“You’re not afraid?” I asked quietly.

She responded just as softly. “Of course I’m afraid. I’ve never… I can’t imagine how horrible it would be to have a stallion do that. But I’m more afraid for you and Cloud Chaser.”

“Me?” I asked.

She was able to look up at me, but only for a brief moment. “Yeah. You…” She exhaled with frustration. “Sometimes I just don’t understand you. I don’t know why you do the things you do.”

“I never meant to hurt Cloud Chaser,” I interrupted her.

“Really?” she accused.

I turned away this time. I couldn’t lie to her face. “I… I would hate myself forever if I pushed her into something like that.” That was the truth. I didn’t tell Rosemary that I wouldn’t have done it, because I know I could have. Easily. But I would have regretted it.

She smiled slightly. “I think you need to stop worrying about it. She’s just as confused as you are.”

“I’m not confused,” I corrected. “I just…” What I was about to say would be an awful lot of opening up. And I knew how that went. But Rosemary looked at me again with her big, motherly eyes and all the feelings I had experienced last night welled up within me. They wanted out. They weren’t meant to be bottled up. “I just hope that I would have been the stallion I hope I am instead of the stallion I know I am.”

“What do you mean?”

Why did she have to make this difficult? I exhaled, releasing all defenses. “I knew what I wanted, deep down, somewhere. But I’d like to believe that I would have resisted for her sake.”

“Are you serious?” she asked. I nodded. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want that?”

There was a lot of awkwardness now, as we danced around discussing my sexual desire directly, but Rosemary had managed to push past it and make a very good point. Why did I want it? It wasn’t just for the sheer pleasure. It wasn’t something that I needed satisfied, like hunger or even an itch. Those might have been factors, as I’m sure they are for every stallion, but they were small factors. There was something else. But I didn’t know how it related to sex. Why did I want that specific thing from Cloud Chaser? Or any mare, for that matter?

“I don’t know,” was all I could say for myself. I felt ashamed as it left my lips.

Rosemary looked like she wanted to say something, but she was at a loss for words, just as I was.

We reached my room shortly. She stood awkwardly outside the door, looking at her hooves while I retrieved the armor. It wasn’t actually my room, so I don’t know what she was afraid of, but I hauled my hundred-pound burden off to the room she shared with Cloud Chaser so that she could work on it.

We knew it would take a few hours, but it was hardly past ten. Now that it occurred to me, I had no idea what the plan was regarding Thunderfall or even how to find him. So I was off to find Ironbright, who hopefully had it more together than I did.

She was in her room, sorting out packs of supplies for each of us. Both of the beds were neatly made, and I was reminded of Midnight. She had been staying with the paladin. I still had no idea why she left.

I knocked on the door frame with my hoof to signal my presence. The gray mare looked up. “Do you need anything?”

I didn’t want to start out by letting her know that I had no idea what I was doing. So I satisfied my curiosity about Midnight. “You were staying with Midnight. Did she say why she left?”

Ironbright shook her head. “She must have somepony she knows in Friendship City. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be headed there alone. She’s from Fillydelphia, I think.”

“Do you think she’s alright?” Personally, I was worried for her. She seemed to have a knack for getting into trouble.

“Friendship City is a short flight. She probably made it last night and is someplace safe.” Ironbright seemed confident in this.

I walked in to sit down on the other bed across from her. She didn’t look up from sorting out health potions. “Is that all?” she said.

She knew it wasn’t. “How are we going to find Thunderfall?”

“You can thank Life Bloom. He knows almost as much about what goes on as DJPon3 does. Said that the guards have been keeping an eye on him because of all the armed ponies that he controls, but of course they won’t do anything about it. Once they realized that he wasn’t trying to ruffle any feathers, it officially became not the tower’s problem. I’d bet that he’s even sold to the more corrupt stallions here.”

“With all of the rules they have about living here, I doubt it,” I said. “And rich ponies always gossip. You’d never be able to hide one.” Ironbright cocked her head as she considered my point. I understood that she hated being here, but despite its flaws, it was a good haven and a regrouping point. It would never be a home for either of us, though.

“At any rate, my old friend,” she spat the term, “was kind enough to give me directions to his hideout. Said we’d be in for a doozy. Patrolling guards, snipers, the whole nine yards.”

“So how are we going to get in?”

“Very carefully,” she said. “I imagine we’ll be ready to go this afternoon.”

“Wouldn’t we have a better chance of making it in the dark?” I asked.

“If we were all Cloud Chaser and had fancy zebra armor, maybe. But we’re not. We have me, and I’m a lot more accurate when I can see who I’m shooting at. Night vision isn’t as perfect as you’d like it to be.”

Ironbright seemed adamant about this. Again, as with Rosemary, I hoped she knew what she was doing.

The only party member I hadn’t talked to yet was Cloud Chaser. But after last night, I knew that wouldn’t go well. Rosemary had said she was confused. I would give her all the time she needed. I wasn’t even in a position to explain myself, let alone mend what I had broken.

Leaving me with nothing to do once I left Ironbright’s room. There were plenty of things I liked to do for fun, but I didn’t have a book to read or friends to pass the time with. I felt like I should be practicing with my sword or guns or something, but our weapons had been confiscated by the clinic when Ironbright and I went in for treatment. I ended up heading back to my own room. I tried not to stress. I did my best to relax. But even when I decided to just give up and go to sleep, I couldn’t even do that.

So I lay awake. Thinking about Thunderfall and my nightmare. About what could happen. I played the scenarios out in my mind like a reverse daydream, ending with all worst-case scenarios instead of me being the hero and getting the mare and all that crap. Instead, I only thought about murder, rape, and death. No wonder it was hard for me to sleep. I was already in a nightmare.

The hours passed as I slipped into a doze every once in a while, my active mind preventing full sleep. When Ironbright stopped by to wake me and hand me my bag of supplies, it was too soon. My morale was at an all-time low, and I felt far more tired than I should have. Ironbright sensed this.

“Ebonmane,” she told me. Then she sighed. “I wish I had more time to train you.”

Her tone sounded like my death was a certainty. “What do you mean?”

“I haven’t prepared you for a mission like this. I know you can kill, and you’re obviously not afraid to die, but I know you’re afraid for the rest of us.”

“Is it that obvious?” I asked.

“Who wouldn’t be?” she said. “But the best I can do is tell you not to be. A good soldier worries about himself first, no matter how crazy and wrong that may seem. But we want to see you get out alive and well just as much as you want the same for us.” She sighed again. “The past couple fights, you’ve been near suicidal. And it’s saved lives. But promise me you won’t pull a stunt like that again.”

“I’m not going to sit and watch any of you die or get captured,” I told her.

“It’s different this time. You…” she couldn’t look at me. I had never seen her soften up like this. “You’re so young…”

“I can handle myself. I can make my own choices.”

“No,” she said firmly. “I won’t have it. You still have so much to live for.” I had never thought Ironbright could speak like this. She was always so tough and businesslike. But she was reprimanding me like my own mother would have if she knew what I was about to do.

“This is worth it,” I found myself saying.

“Ebonmane… You don’t know what you’re saying. This is the first time you’ve ever left home. The first time you’ve ever killed a pony. You just got your first kiss last night. And when you were telling Hibiscus Tea how you wanted a family… Promise me you won’t throw that away.”

I knew she was trying to tell me how much she cared. I knew she was trying to protect me. But as much as I appreciated those things, I didn’t need to be protected. We were supposed to work together, and if that meant that one of us would sacrifice, there shouldn’t be any second thoughts.

“No,” I told her. She looked furious for a moment. “If I die, then I won’t know what I missed out on, will I?” Ironbright’s face dropped in a moment of disappointment, but I continued. “I knew this was crazy from the start. But I’m ready. I’ve been ready. I’ve been waiting for a chance to make a difference like this my whole life.” The words were flowing out of me, and I was speaking from a part of myself that I hadn’t felt stirring in a long time. “I know it’s stupid, but all I ever wanted to do was save ponies. I know that’s not right for me to want, but this time, I can actually help. I can fight to make the lives of others better. No matter what happens, as long as I’m doing that, I can die happy.”

I couldn’t believe those words were coming out of my mouth when I was wallowing in fear and anxiety just moments ago, but I had spoken them in a strong and sure voice that I didn’t even know I possessed. I felt so tall.

“That’s not the only thing you want, though,” she told me. “You want more. And we, your friends, want you to have those things. You deserve the life, the family you’ve always dreamt of. Don’t you want to know what it’s like to have a foal? Or even to get married? Or to tell a mare that you love her?” If Ironbright was the crying type, there might have been tears in her eyes. But instead, her voice’s strength was matching my own.

“How many of those things have you experienced, Ironbright?” I came back.

I could tell she wanted to punch me for back talking her. Her jaw set as she processed what I had just said. But she had no answer. And I was thankful that she met me as an equal, deciding to turn away and leave my room instead of pulling the commander card and yelling at me.

Ironbright and I travelled in silence to Rosemary’s and Cloud Chaser’s room. There, the mares helped me put on my armor one more time. One last time, as Ironbright suited up next to me. I was pleased to see that Rosemary had done a pretty good job fixing the holes. We strapped our packs to our flanks next to our weapons. One health potion, a syringe of Med-X, and a grenade each. But there was one more thing in my pack that I don’t think the others had.

It was a set of tiny yellow pills. I had two. “What are these?” I asked Ironbright.

“I sent Rosemary out to get those specifically for you. It’s Buck. That way, if you have to go melee, you might stand a chance. But it can be addictive, so you get one dose. Make it count.”

After Littlepip’s heart-wrenching struggle with addiction, drugs were something that the parents of Junction Town were very strict about forbidding. But if these pills could be the difference between life and death…

I looked at each of my friends, my face a mask of uncertainty and doubt. I saw the same expressions on their own faces. But at least we weren’t alone in our fears.

Ironbright’s face disappeared under her fearsome helm, and just like that it was time to go.

We retrieved our weapons from the guards on our way out. I made eye contact with each of the mares on a regular basis. Ironbright gave me nods. Rosemary gave weak smiles. And Cloud Chaser looked at me like she had forgotten me, but knew that I was somehow still important to her.

All of this was left behind as we marched down the streets of Manehattan. No more fear. No more doubt. No more uncertainty or strife. No more misunderstandings. No more pain. No more abuse. No more rape.

But there would be a little more death. And there would be no more Thunderfall.

According to Life Bloom’s information, Thunderfall occupied a three-story building that was part of a block that had remained mostly intact. It had been some small apartment complex, so we could expect lots of rooms with lots of ponies to hide in them. This didn’t seem to faze Ironbright.

Rosemary protested when the ranger suggested that Cloud Chaser go out ahead to scout for the building, but Cloud Chaser was off before the unicorn could stop her. I knew that the snipers wouldn’t be stupid enough not to look for a pegasus, but the towering structures that crowded every street would provide endless cover for her. We sat and waited for her return.

Not only did she find the location, but she had managed to see that the snipers were on the second floor. “Good work,” Ironbright commended her. “When we get closer, I’ll need those eyes of yours.” I could tell Rosemary was dying imagining what dangers Ironbright might put her young orphan through, but she kept her mouth shut.

I focused on my breathing during the walk. In my previous battles, I hadn’t had much time to meditate before my guns were out and ponies were dying. I had always been motivated by adrenaline or impending death or both. But this was deliberate. This was planned. Adrenaline and frayed nerves would not serve me here. If we were to survive, we had to listen to Ironbright perfectly. I needed to have a cool head. So I breathed deeply, steadying myself, quelling the rising panic within my heart.

Thunderfall’s apartments drew nearer with every step until they were around the corner from us. Ironbright pinned us all to an intact wall and spoke in a low voice. “Cloud Chaser, describe everything about the building you can remember to me.”

“Umm… It’s black?” I could see Ironbright rolling her eyes behind her helm. Cloud Chaser continued. “Three stories tall, like Life Bloom said. It’s not very big. There are a lot of windows, but I saw ponies poking out through curtains in each one on the second floor. There are buildings around it, so they probably don’t have snipers on the other side. Other than that, there’s one door, but I didn’t see any ponies guarding that on the outside.”

“Roof access?” Ironbright asked. Cloud Chaser shook her head. “How many snipers?”

“Four.”

Ironbright nodded solemnly. “Rosemary, have you tried out that new spell Life Bloom gave you?”

“The telekinetic grip? Yeah, um… I can’t do it,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t exactly have time to practice.” She took a deep breath. “We’ll save the grenades, then. Here’s the plan. I’m going to go out alone to attract the snipers. I’ll start firing. After that, count to four, then sprint for the doorway. I’ll cover you. Once you’re inside, you three should shine in close-quarters hallway combat if Ebonmane leads. Fire around his flanks, and watch the doors. Once I get inside and we clear the halls, my guns should be able to rip through any closed door. We can chuck grenades in rooms that we’re unsure of.”

“What about captured mares?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“They’re not going to be on the first floor. Too easy to escape. Once we hit the second floor, clearing the rooms is going to be the biggest problem. I’ll just have to kick the door in and look.”

“Or I could fly out one widow and peek in them as I go,” Cloud Chaser suggested.

“No,” Rosemary finally spoke up. “That’s way too dangerous. We’ll just have to be careful.”

“She’s right,” Ironbright agreed. “My armor’s tough. Unless they have armor-piercing rounds, I’m not going down anytime soon.”

“Where do you think Thunderfall will be?” I asked.

“On the top floor,” she answered. “Hiding like a coward.”

There was nothing more to say. The plan was set. This was it. Ironbright exhaled.

Then her guns started whirring.

She leapt out, and from behind the corner, all we heard was shattering glass. A second later, loud cracks of sniper rifles rang out, but Ironbright’s barrage didn’t stop.

I counted out loud, trying not to picture what was going on out there.

“One. Two. Three. Four!”

My heart raced faster than I did around the corner. Ironbright’s bullets peppered the walls and windows on the second floor, passing over each one, going back and forth so that the snipers couldn’t poke their heads up. All I could see of them were the barrels of their long rifles. Rosemary and Cloud Chaser were behind me as we passed Ironbright. The door hurtled toward us. Fearless in my heavy armor, I put my shoulder to it as we reached it. It nearly came off its hinges.

I could see several stallions of all shapes and sizes scrambling, running around the halls for the guns. Anyone not in chains was a foe. My pistols came out and I used SATS to identify targets who had their guns handy. I took out one with a hail of bullets, firing rapidly toward another as I came out of the spell to score my second kill quickly. My sword was in front me as I charged ahead. Clearing the hall was the first priority.

I barreled over the startled guards, cutting them down quickly with my blade. I heard Rosemary and Cloud Chaser’s guns fire from behind me, and in a matter of seconds the hall was clear.

“The doors!” I called out. The hallway wasn’t bare. There was one door behind me, two open areas at the other end, and another door in the opposite wall. The one closer to the entrance drew my attention. I kicked it open. A small bathroom. Fortunately, no pony was in there.

There was a deafening explosion that came from the other areas. I turned to see that it was a common area, maybe a kitchen. Rosemary held a grenade within, fighting against any other unicorns who might have tried to return it. I don’t think any of the appliances worked well enough to explode, but I jumped around the corner, SATS ready. Three weakened ponies and two dead ones. My pistols took one effortlessly. The other two returned fire, but they didn’t get too far as my friends finished them off.

The second open area was a living room. No ponies were in that room.

Ironbright was inside now and giving orders. “One sniper down. Now up!” she commanded. We burst through the third door to find a set of spiral stairs cast in black metal leading to the other floors. We headed up one by one, Ironbright first, me second. Ironbright was certain that we didn’t need anypony bringing up the rear after the carnage we had just wreaked.

“I’m taking my Med-X,” she informed us. Her suit administered it to her automatically. “They’re all going to be behind cover, and as soon as we open that door, we’re going to be eating lead. I’ll go in first and take the shots. Ebonmane, Rosemary, get grenades around any corners. Cloud Chaser, watch the rooms we pass and get anypony trying to come out.”

Ironbright wasted no time kicking the door down. She was unloading before she even had time to see what she was shooting at. A hail of bullets met her. A lot of it clanged against her armor, direct hits not finding purchase. Shotgun blasts from closer managed to punch through, but she never flinched. I was awed.

Rosemary and I took our positions at her flanks, and I targeted the closer ponies, bringing down one of the unicorns carrying a shotgun. Rosemary’s gun was more accurate at a distance, and she focused on the ponies hiding around the corners. She didn’t have any luck in taking them out, her fire barely missing them as they ducked out, only to jump back.

There were four smaller halls we could turn down, and Rosemary and I only had two grenades. Ironbright knew this and she charged down to the first set of two. I knew her guns couldn’t rotate to face both side halls at once, so I followed her. She turned down one and opened up, taking shots in the back from another shotgun. Without regard to my own safety, I dove and began firing in SATS. I took him out before he could point his barrels at me.

The ponies further down the hall realized that we were preoccupied, and they stuck their heads out to fire. Ironbright and I both took bullets in the side, me ducking my head to protect it. I felt the bullets sting my back and flanks, but my armor sloughed off a lot of the damage. I could still stand. I was still fighting. One of our shooters was not so lucky. His head exploded as Rosemary put a slug into it, his assault rifle clattering to the floor from his magical grip.

They ducked back down their halls, but we had grenades for them. Rosemary and I simultaneously levitated ours out, pulled the pins, and tossed them down either end. I saw Rosemary’s grenade come back out in one of their magical fields, but Rosemary’s soon engulfed it, forcing it back. In terms of magic, she was a hulk of a unicorn. Two explosions rocked the halls, but there was no way anypony was walking out of those corridors.

“These rooms are empty,” Cloud Chaser informed us.

Things seemed quiet for a moment. “Where are the mares?” I wondered out loud.

“Maybe Thunderfall doesn’t keep them here,” Rosemary suggested. I turned to her as she spoke. She was bleeding from her shoulder. When did that happen? Why didn’t she take her healing potion? I guess she was alright, but still. I had been hoping that Ironbright and I would be the only ones to take bullets. But that was wishful thinking, and I knew it.

“There wouldn’t be these many guards for just him. He’d have to keep his income protected. We might find them on the next floor,” Ironbright said. The stairs were behind us, but we were looking at the four doors at the end of the hall.

“The snipers were in there,” Cloud Chaser said.

“Why didn’t they come out? They could have caused some real damage during that scrape,” Rosemary wondered aloud.

“They’re protecting something,” I said what we had all concluded.

“Wait here,” Cloud Chaser said. She moved to go back downstairs.

“No,” I told her, pulling on her tail with my magic. “We stick together.”

“Ironbright, didn’t you kill one of them?” she asked.

“Yeah, the furthest left, standing outside.”

“I’m going to get that rifle. Those rooms are separate. If you walk through those doors, you’re going to take bullets that you can’t shrug off. You need a distraction.”

“It’s not smart,” Ironbright agreed.

“If I have a sniper, I can shoot back and fly at the same time.”

“But what if they knocked down the walls on the inside?” I asked. “It would create a sniper’s nest out of those four rooms. You would be shot at as soon as you went to get the rifle.”

“It’s not a nest,” she said simply.

“Why not?”

She smiled. “Where are the mares? They should be on this floor. I’m going to bet they’re with the snipers. And no stallion wants to be watched while he’s being serviced.”

We were all taken aback, and Cloud Chaser used this time to sprint down before we could stop her.

“She’s probably right,” Ironbright concluded. But then something occurred to her. Her voice turned dark. “Get those doors open. Quick.”

She didn’t wait for us. We didn’t bother with the one furthest on the right, because that sniper was dead. I opened the next from the right. Empty. Ironbright opened the next. Empty.

Rosemary opened the last one. Bullets met her immediately, tearing at her chest and throat. She dove away from the door, in too much pain to even scream. The sniper bullets had done a number on her, and her potion shook in her magic field as she brought it out. I helped her open it and get it down. Her wounds closed, but not completely. She would have to be careful for the rest of the fight.

Ironbright stood in the doorway now, and a stallion spoke to her. “Don’t move, or they die.”

The bullets had stopped, so I got behind Ironbright to look at what was going on. Three stallions, two earth ponies with battle saddles and a unicorn, sat with their gun points touching the heads of three scared, ragged mares.

Shit. We couldn’t do much in a hostage situation. And it was only a matter of time before the ponies upstairs came down to see why it was so quiet. And then we’d all be dead.

“Easy,” Ironbright said. “If you let them go, we’ll let you go. No need for you to die here.”

“We’re not the ones dying, ranger cunt. You are.”

Ironbright laughed. “You think I give a shit about them? Casualties happen. It’s about the operation. Their sacrifices will be noted.” Super sun-shits. Ironbright, what were you saying?

“She’s bluffing,” another one said. “If that were true, you would have started firing.”

Ironbright didn’t have to say anything more. Two of their heads exploded in a split second. Rosemary, on the other side of Ironbright, took out the third before he could even realize what was happening. The room had become a blood bath, but the mares were safe.

Ironbright went to them, kneeling as they jumped away from their captors’ bodies. I looked out the window. Cloud Chaser was hovering outside, holding a sniper rifle in both of her forehooves. I smiled at her. That had been one hell of a shot. And Rosemary was faster than I thought.

“Are the other prisoners on this floor?” Ironbright asked them. They could only nod. “Get into the next room over and stay quiet. It’s empty and clean. Once we’re done upstairs, we’ll come down for you and take you to Tenpony Tower. If we’re not down in twenty minutes, leave without us.”

They thanked us and went into the next room. Cloud Chaser flew in through the window. After that, we began to sweep the floor as quickly as possible, opening all the doors. There were no more stallions left, but we did manage to find almost twenty more mares, all frightened and haggard, but glad to see us. They went to wait with the others.

Ironbright spoke again. “Ebonmane, you’re going to have to do what I did for this next floor. I’m out of Med-X and I used my potion, but I’ll cover you. Cloud Chaser, stay in the back. Rosemary, take my grenade and stay with Cloud Chaser. Just get them to take cover. If one grenade won’t cover what we need, you might have to use your buck, Ebonmane.”

“How come you don’t have any drugs, Ironbright?” Cloud Chaser asked as we headed up the stairs.

“Because they’re expensive, and I don’t need them. If I were to buy any for me, it would be something really heavy, like stampede or something.” Before I opened the door, she stopped me with one last note. “The fact that they didn’t come down means they had time to set up a trap. Be ready for anything.”

“Then why aren’t you going, Ironbright?” Rosemary asked accusingly.

“I’ll be alright,” I silenced her. I injected the Med-X and exhaled to calm my nerves. With a roar, I reared and kicked the door down.

A storm of bullets crashed into me, but I only felt thuds against my skin. The Med-X had rendered me numb, and I couldn’t tell the difference between a bullet tearing me apart and one that glanced off my armor. Without the drug, I would have been in too much pain to return fire. But I kept my head up. This floor seemed smaller, the halls forming a cross shape. Big stallions with assault rifles in their battle saddles were giving me everything they had. I brought up my SATS and unloaded. Three died. I even managed to catch a grenade before it landed at my hooves, flinging it back. It exploded before it could reach them, but they flinched long enough for Ironbright to come up beside me and take over.

Ironbright’s rapid fire made short work of the ones in front of us. Rosemary brought out the grenade to fling it down one end of the hall. Still fearless from my Med-X, I drew my sword after I reloaded and stormed the other hallway. One swing hacked off the head of the pony cowering around the corner, my blade sinking into the wall. My SATS hadn’t recharged, but with semi-auto on my pistols, I emptied my clip before the other stallion waiting could let off more than a shot with his shotgun.

“Ebonmane!” Rosemary called. I turned to her, but there wasn’t anypony other than us left.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“What’s wrong? Look at yourself!” I looked down. There was no way I should be alive. I was a pulpy mess.

I quickly drank my healing potion before the Med-X wore off and I went into shock. I was still covered in my own blood, but I would live.

We searched the rooms on this floor. They were bigger than the ones previously, but we found no other ponies. It appeared that this was the floor that the soldiers lived on. Cloud Chaser wasted no time in looting, but didn’t have much time to really search and find anything of use.

The door at the end of the hall was saved for last. It was obvious that beyond it would be a much larger room, or maybe a system of rooms, like the penthouse. Thunderfall would be there.

“I’ll go first,” Ironbright said. “It’s all going to come down to speed. We’ve only got one health potion, so get in close if you have to. Make every bullet count.”

She kicked down the door.

A series of short clicks sounded. Then a huge, thunderous explosion, but there was no fire.

Ironbright toppled to the ground. Beyond where she stood, I saw three stallions. One of them was a unicorn, the light fading from his horn. He was yellow with a blue mane, and a black thundercloud was his cutie mark. Thunderfall.

I brought my guns up, but the other two stallions were waiting for us. They were armed with battle saddles, each one carrying powerful-looking shotguns. Thunderfall himself levitated a complex assault rifle. They were point-blank range, but they weren’t shooting. If they did, we’d be dead.

“Ironbright!” I called.

“EMP,” Thunderfall explained. “You rangers never expect it.” He sauntered up to her, already gloating, and I could see him better. He would have been a handsome stallion if he wasn’t so Celestia-damned fat. His belly almost reached his knees, and his flanks and neck jiggled with every step. How a pony could find enough food to be fat in the wasteland, I would never know. But he was disgusting.

And he wore a PipBuck on his foreleg.

“Clever,” Ironbright retorted, turning her head. I was just happy she was alive. But the tables had turned now. She was immobilized.

Suddenly, I felt a crushing grip around my throat. My weapons were knocked out of my magic. Before I could even fight back, I was being dragged toward Thunderfall. He wrapped a hoof around my neck as his magic released, but his gun was pointed to my head.

“You really make this too easy,” he said. “Super telekinesis, if you were curious.” Rosemary and Cloud Chaser still had their guns trained on Thunderfall. But with me hostage, they couldn’t do much.

“Let him go,” Ironbright spoke from the floor, her voice now muffled by her broken helm. “We’re the ones you want.”

“Surrender? Sounds like you’re one step ahead of me,” Thunderfall said.

“No,” I told them. “I’m not worth it. Finish this bastard.”

Thunderfall’s super telekinesis crushed my throat again. “Don’t even think about it. One move and he dies.”

“What’s the point?” Ironbright called from the floor. “If you capture us, you’re just going to kill him anyways. What use do you have for him other than a hostage? But once you kill him, you’re dead. We might die, but so would you, and you won’t accept a lose-lose situation, will you?”

“No,” I thought, looking at Rosemary and Cloud Chaser. “Just shoot him and run. The other two will kill me, but you can get out and find cover. You can win this fight. It’s worth it.” But I couldn’t tell them that. I could only hope they could read my mind.

“You make a good point,” Thunderfall said. “But he might be more useful than you think.” Then he spoke to me. “I’ll make you a deal. Tell them to drop their weapons. If they surrender, I’ll let all of you live. They’ll be captured, and instead of being under my control, I’ll put them under yours.”

“Why would I want that?” I said.

“Think. After all of this, I’m going to need more fighters. And you’ve already proven how strong you are. Plus, if you guard them, you can make sure that no pony touches them. I’ll even give you some input as to where they’re sold. Some stallions just want brides, not slaves. This doesn’t have to end badly.”

I wasn’t buying it. Not for a moment. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you just blow my head off, so that when my friends are done with you, in the time it takes you to get down to hell, I’ll have already paid off the demons to rape you for eternity to see how you like it.” I fully expected those to be my last words. I wanted them to be worth it.

He just laughed. “You know, you’re a lot like me.”

“We are nothing alike,” I spit at him.

“Oh? I was a stable colt like you, once. Escaped with a couple of mares, too. I had such a crush on one, but her sister wouldn’t allow it. But once we were out in the wasteland, fighting for our lives against raiders, I started to see the opportunity. No matter how many times I saved their lives, they never gave me so much as a thank you. I was never enough for them . Too fat. Too weak. But I began to see how power worked out here. And power, my young friend, lies with who carries the guns.”

“You’re nothing but a monster,” I told him.

“Am I? Then tell me this. Are you really travelling with these pretty young things out of coincidence? We’re both stallions. Be honest with me. Which one do you want? I can give her to you.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“The little red one looks like she’d be good in bed. But you’re a little ranger, aren’t you? Tell me you’ve never wanted to fuck your commander, just for revenge for all the hell she’s put you through. Or maybe you’ve got the hots for that cute pegasus.”

“Shut up!” I roared at him.

“She’s the one, isn’t she?” he smiled at me. “Oh, how many nights have you laid awake thinking about her?” Cloud Chaser looked at me, and the blood boiled in my veins. “Trust me. It might seem wrong at first, but it’s worth it once you’re inside of them.”

“That’s the difference between you and me,” I said. “I’d rather die than do that to them.”

“So high and mighty. But even if you didn’t have a gun to your head, could you really look them in the eyes and say that you’ve never thought about it? That you never wanted to? No matter what you tell them, they’ll never believe you.”

“Of course we would,” Cloud Chaser said. “He’s the best colt we know.”

“But you shouldn’t. Because he’s just like me. I can see it in his eyes. And I know you’ve seen it, too, little one.” He turned to me again. “Don’t they say something about protesting too much? Made a few wrong moves, did we big guy?”

“Shoot already, you fat piece of shit. Get it over with.”

“Not until you surrender. You hold the key to their fates.”

I looked at my friends. Each of them looked back at me, full of worry. This could be the end.

And it would. Perhaps I could convince them to surrender and find a way to escape later. Hadn’t Rosemary told me earlier that being raped was better than dying? My goal here should be to survive. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Thunderfall was messing with me. If I was going to be a soldier of his, he would have to break me some way or another. I’m sure he had a plan for that, and I knew it would involve me committing or witnessing the rape of my friends. And even if I could protect them, Thunderfall would be encouraging me to have my way with them the whole time. I could already see them chained to the floors, looking at me as I came in with fearful eyes, knowing that their lives and bodies were in my hooves, and that I could take whatever I wanted if I felt like it.

My friends’ eyes all stared at me. I met each one. I knew they didn’t trust me.

I was like Thunderfall.

But I wasn’t willing to stay like him.

With a roar, I shoved him, picking up my sword in my magic. I knew I would be dead before I could swing. I felt the eyes of his gun on the back of my head.

There was a bright flash of light. I closed my eyes.

After a second of being alive, I opened them. Green lightning was racing across Thunderfall’s body, each of his fat limbs spasming in pain. Rosemary stepped toward him, pumping more of her electricity into his body until his heart stopped. Then he dropped to the floor, dead.

Rosemary was panting, but her gun was still pointed at one of the other soldiers, Cloud Chaser having the other in her sniper’s sights. They looked at each other. Rosemary’s horn glowed again. They dropped their weapons.

“How…?” they asked.

“Lightning comes before thunder,” Rosemary answered. I could see Cloud Chaser smile.

Ironbright, still lying on the floor, still managed to be in control of the situation. “Leave. Both of you. Find new towns to live in. Get jobs. Forget about all of this.” They ran.

Cloud Chaser and Rosemary hugged me tightly, and I held them in my forehooves. I was alive. We were all alive. We had done it. And for once, there was nothing to say.

When they released me, I went to Ironbright on the floor. “My suit just needs a power-on signal from your PipBuck, not a full reboot. Shouldn’t take too long. Not even an EMP could cause any permanent damage.” I knelt down and found the plugs. Within a few minutes, she was standing.

“Rosemary, how the hell did you do that?” Cloud Chaser said what we were all wondering.

“I… I don’t know,” she answered.

“What do you mean?” I asked her. “How can you not know how you did a spell?”

“I could ask the same to you, mister healer,” she retorted. “I was just trying to do the super telekinesis that Life Bloom taught me to knock his gun away, and that’s just what came out.”

I just shook my head. There was no explaining it. We would just have to accept it.

Cloud Chaser was duly impressed though. “That was the most badass thing I have ever seen. And when you said that thing about the lightning I could have kissed you.” Rosemary just rolled her eyes.

As we headed downstairs to fetch the other mares, Cloud Chaser went on a full looting spree, and we couldn’t stop her no matter how hard we tried. She ended up getting into Thunderfall’s private safe. Two thousand caps, and a lot more on the dead raiders. Even split four ways evenly, I almost had enough money to buy a small house.
Ironbright opened the door that the former captives were hiding in. “All clear,” she told them. “Let’s get you all on your way home.” They filed out one by one. As they passed us, they thanked each one of us. Some gave us hugs, but I looked each one in the eye. Despite how miserable their bodies looked, their eyes were full of hope. I couldn’t help but smile.

We made it outside. The sun was beginning to set. Ironbright gave orders. “I’ll lead the way. Ebonmane, why don’t you guard the rear? Cloud Chaser and Rosemary, you help any stragglers.”

The going was slow, as a lot of them hadn’t walked too far in a long time, but it warmed my heart to see Cloud Chaser and Rosemary doing what they could to help the weaker ones, Rosemary yelling at Ironbright to slow down for them. The tower rose ahead of us by nightfall.

“Isn’t the tower security going to be pissed if we try to get all of these mares free rooms?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“I’ll just have to have another talk with the captain,” Ironbright said. I could tell she smiled as she did so.

When we walked up the steps with twenty mares though, I could tell that even the guards were surprised. Ironbright marched right up to them. But she didn’t have to say a word. “DJPon3 said that you would be coming with a bunch of mares. He has rooms waiting for them.”

“Well, you can tell DJPon3 that they aren’t leaving my sight. I won’t trust them to a stallion who won’t show himself,” Ironbright responded.

The guard looked like she had challenged the Princesses. But he led her and the mares into the tower.

While they filled the elevator in groups of five, I waited with Cloud Chaser and Rosemary. We were tired, and I personally knew that I was disgusting, covered head to hoof in blood and sweat, but I was too overjoyed to be self-conscious.

Ironbright ended up coming down just as the last group was coming up. “They’re in good hooves,” was all she said. Her tone discouraged question.

“Well, we did it,” Cloud Chaser said. “So… what now?”

“Back to the inn,” Rosemary said. “I don’t care how many caps you got off of those soldiers, they won’t last a lifetime. You can go back to working for me.”

“Please. I could buy the inn if I wanted.” Rosemary looked like she was about to reprimand her, but Cloud Chaser turned to me. “What about you Ebonmane?”

I sighed. “I’m a knight now. I’ll probably have to go through formal training or something.”

Ironbright spoke up. “I can buy you a week or so before then. You should at least tell your family about this. They would be proud.”

I nodded. Cloud Chaser spoke in a quiet voice. “Are we… are we ever going to be together again like this?”

The thought cut deeply at my heart. But Rosemary silenced all fear. “Of course. We may never fight again together, but we’ll be in New Appleloosa, and rangers travel all the time. You’ll always have a room waiting at the Jade Dragon. You can tell us all about where you go.” Rosemary smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I had been so worried that this would be the last time I would ever see them. But she had solidified our eternal friendship in that sentence. We would never really be apart.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Ironbright suggested. “We’ve earned it.”

We agreed. In the elevator, I smiled all the way up. But when it opened to the hall and we walked to our rooms, my smile left me.

“What’s wrong?” Rosemary asked.

I tried to process my feelings as I thought of what to say. “I should have died,” I said.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You should have surrendered,” Ironbright replied. “We would have made it somehow.”

“Yeah. What were you thinking?” Cloud Chaser asked.

They all looked at me. “I don’t know,” was all I could say. I lowered my head to avoid their eyes.

“Did you believe him?” Rosemary asked.

I nodded. Cloud Chaser laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s not,” I told her. “I mean… when we… kissed,” I said it in such a quiet voice I could barely hear it myself, “you seemed so afraid of me. And I realized that… I was afraid of me, too. Of what I could do.”

“You wouldn’t, though,” Rosemary said. “You know that.”

“But you don’t know that,” I said firmly. They all stopped and turned to me. I blushed under the weight of what I had just admitted.

Rosemary just stamped her hoof. “You’re being a stupid stallion again. If you were going to hurt any one of us, you would have done it by now. But you’re good. And you know it now, because you decided that you would rather die than hurt us. But we knew all along.”

I was finally able to look at them. They smiled back at me. Even Ironbright nodded in agreement.

I nodded back, my smile returning. I would never accuse Rosemary of being a bitch ever again.

Ironbright’s room was the first we stopped at. “Well done, everypony,” she said as she removed her helmet, her mane matted with sweat. “You could all be rangers, someday. I’m proud of you.” She looked at me as she said that last part.

Rosemary and Cloud Chaser’s room was next. “You’ll stop by the inn if you’re in town, right?”

“Of course,” I told her.

She smiled warmly. “Good night, then.”

Cloud Chaser was about to follow her, but turned her head back. “Hey, I know I said I would give you an answer after this was all over and…”

“It’s okay,” I told her. “I’m alright.”

“I just want to talk about it sometime,” she said. “You deserve more than a ‘no.’”

I nodded. “It’ll be a good talk. Don’t worry.”

She smiled back, looking relieved. Their door closed, and I was alone.

In my room, I peeled my armor off, my eyes grazing over all of the wounds I had acquired. But it was all worth it to see those mares free, to know that the sex slave trade all over would be shutting down in a matter of time.

But that wasn’t what made my heart feel so light, lighter than Celestia’s golden sun. It wasn’t that I felt like a hero. It wasn’t that I was a white knight who had saved so many ponies from a dark fate, resisting even my own demons to do so.

It was that now, in the end of it all, I had friends.

I went to bed, bloody, dirty, and tired, but warm and happy on the inside. No nightmares would touch me tonight.

Before I drifted off, though, I went to my window and opened it. “Littlepip?” I asked aloud. “I did it. And I get it now. I understand all the things you were saying about friendship, all the things that you learned from the ministry mares. If you’ve been watching, you might have been worried about me. You might still be worried about me. But I’ll be okay. I… I didn’t do perfectly. I couldn’t save everypony, and I wasn’t a perfect friend. But I kept going, and I think I owe a lot of it to you. To what you taught me. So thank you.”

I laid my head on my pillow, but I could swear I could hear Littlepip’s voice in my dreamless sleep: “I had nothing to do with it.”