In the slowness of S.T.A.T. I could see how helpless I was. I could attack, but I doubt I would live long enough to even splatter my own blood on Thorn. But at least I can run, it cost two action turns to sprint, but I would be able to get more distance before they would turn to shoot us as well. Under Brush had hooked a hoof over my neck, probably to stop me form running to June when Thorn had struck her, making my choice easier. Hydrangea would not loos her mother if I could do anything about it.

Selecting the option to sprint, a map with green line and an arrow at the end, appeared in my vision to mark were I wanted to go. The map didn't have much detail to it, but it did tell me enough of what I wanted to know. Selecting as far as it can go, just ending around a corner, I entered the end button.

Before time even had finished retuning to normal, I had already turned around and galloped away, dragging Under Brush with me. Each second was long, like time had yest sped back up. The sound of the gunshot had made my ears rind in protest, muffling my own hoof steps to me. It was not until we rounded the corner that the cold stillness had broken once more with the sound of cracking thunder drowning out all sound for a few seconds. There was no need to check to see with my own eyes, the five security ponies were all dead, they didn't stand a chance.

Looking over to Under Brush, I could see it in her eyes, she was in shock. I would have been too, but the time in S.T.A.T.'s had at least given me time to proses what had happens. The only problem was that I had no idea what to do next, other then running away, but how far could we go before we hit a dead end. Which Ironically means that we were going to die.

"We need to get moving, we need to hide." I pushed at her, she looked back at me. Her eyes had moved from shock to that of rage.

"No, they have power armor. Which means they have E.F.S. So they will find us no matter were we go." I slumped. We were outnumbers, out gunned, and had no place to hide.

"There has to be a way, something that can help us." I still had some hope, but it was quickly failing me.

"I KNOW YOU TWO ARE STILL HERE. SURRENDER NOW, AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE SPARED." Thorns voice echoed. I knew it was a lie, that or she had a worse fate for us.

Under Brush had scratched her chin with her hoof before a wide grin formed on her face. Slowly she got herself ready to gallop, and waited for me to do the same. She didn't need to tell me to follow her, If she was going to do anything other then wait for them to come to us, I was going to do it to. "Now" Under Brush jumped foreword into a gallop, and I did the same, but with a lot less grace. My hooves hit the ground with force, doing my bests to keep up with her, but with every turn we made she was further ahead of me.

I was almost out of energy when we finally stopped, panting heavenly as I looked around. We could not have gotten far, the warehouse was large, but not that large. Steping closer to Under Brush, my E.F.S. went crazy. The compass would not stop turning, and read and yellow bars were everywhere. Under Brush opened the side of a wooden crate, waving me to follow her.

I had entered a small hidden room. It had a cooler box, an ashtray filled with cigaret buds, and a trash bin that looked like it needed to be emptied out real soon. "can we hide here?" With the E.F.S. on the fritz here, it was a possibility. But I knew the answer was going to be a no, if only it would provide us a few minutes before they found us.

"No, we fight." opening up the cooler box, and in her magic she pulling out a soda bottle filled with a clear liquid. "We have the home field advantage, so were going to use it." she ripped up a nearby cloth sheet with her magic, shoving it into the bottle until the rag plugged the bottle up. "Slowtrot!" she pointed to a ladder. "I need you to clime up three levels. There, look for the top of a stable door. When you find it, undo the cables holding it in place, and wait for me to call you, and then push it."

I simply nodded, climbing up the ladder. This hole spot reminded me of the hidden base I had as a foal, but so much cooler. It didn't take long to find the stable door, well the top of it. There were a hole heap of ropes holding the thing to the shelf, and two notes of paper hanging from one rope. 'Do not touch the ropes, it took all day to get this thing stand up the last time it fell over.' 'Why in Tartarus are we storing a stable door here in the first place, who ever sent it here sould be fired!' I went to work undoing the ropes.

"Well there you are cowardly traitor!" I turned to see a pegasus hovering in her insectoid like power armor. With a battle rifle pointed at me, I could see her lick her lips. "Tell me were your friend is, and I'll make your death quick."

More time I could buy Under Brush, the more likely she could stop Thorn. "I don't know, we got separated." think dammit, think. But nothing came to mind, nothing at all. Frozen, the mare was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"wrong answer. but it doesn't matter, we will find the bitch soon enou..."

* Foosh*

A flaming bottle hit the side of the pegasus head engulfing her head in flames. She screen as she crashed to the ground.

Under Brush as there waiting for her, crowbar in her magic. "Found me." She swung the crowbar like a golf club, the pegasus muzzle giving a loud wet crack. Under Brush swung two more times, each time with the same wet crack.

Taking the battle rifle from the pegasus, she dragged the body in front of the stable door, before running off.

I spent a few seconds stunned, Under Brush scared me a bit there. Returning my attention to the ropes, I moved at a panicked pace. I was nearly done before I heard the sound of heavy steps on the floor, I had no doubt it was the other power armored pony. Untying the last rope, I quickly jumped behind the stable door, laying as flat as possible, before the light from his lamp found me.

"come out cowered!" assholes were shooting at ponies armed with nothing but batons, and they call us cowards. My own anger was bubbling to the surface, only head in check by my fear of the walking tank. "Zephyr!" the loud hoof steps rushed closer to me, stopping just below. "Fuckers! I will make them pay for this!"

"SLOWTROT NOW!" Under Brushes voice echoed as she yelled.

I placed my front hooves onto the stable door, and pushed with my back legs. With a creek and a pop, the stable door slowing tipped over, I fell in between it and the shelf as the big round gear keeped moving foreword.

"OH FUCK!"

*WHAM*

The sound was deafening. The shelf on the other side collapsed when the top of the stable door hit it on it's way down, covering the hole area in parts. Looking down, the stable door was nearly flat on the ground, the number 512 clearly displayed. For a second I wondered if their were actually that many stables out there.

Rubbing my ears, I looked over to see a hyperventilating Under Brush. I felt like doing the same, but whatever was interfering with my E.F.S. was making me more paranoid. Worrying me about the next navy pony that might show up to finish us off. "So, what's next?"

Under Brush shook her head and refocused onto me. "we need to seal the stable and warn the others. The door to residential will be lock locked, but I doubt it would take them long to get passed it." she pulled out a 10mm pistol, and slid it over to me. "follow me!"

Quickly and silently as we could, we ran to Security. In the distance was a large double door, larger then the stable door from before, but more like a normal door. Under Brush lead me to to service door a little further away, so to avoid attracting the attention of the navy ponies inside.

"Fuck, the systems locked. This sould only take me a few minutes to work around, keep an eye out." Connecting her pipbuck to a terminal next to the door, she go to work tapping at the terminal.

My eyes shifted around warehouse, every shadow caused me to point the gun at it. Every little creek made me nearly press the trigger. Not that it mattered just yet, Under Brush showed me how to use the safety, so right now the gun wouldn't go off until the safety was turned off. Taking a deep breath, I put the gun down, with the pipbuck's magic I could quickly get it back into firing position if I needed to. I but what I realy needed was to calm down before I did something stupid. "So were did you learn to fight like that, were you in the military?" I keeped my voice low, I had only saw two power armored ponies, but there could always be more, and I wanted to hear them coming first.

"Ya actually. I was part of Celestia's Royal Guard for a spell."

I was impressed. When I thought of the royal guards, I always thought of the stuffy stallions that never smile." So how did you end up in Stable-Tec?"

Under Brush sighed. "Things just change. The royal guard were just that, guards. Our training was top notch, but it was all about protecting equestria, not fighting wars. So when we were called to war, I turned in my armor. It was not a popular thing to do, but most of the ponies that thought it was disregardful didn't live long."

That's rough. "That's rough."

"It was not all that bad. I spent a few years working in privet security, and patrolled what is now Zebra town. That's were I met Zaan, and we ran away to start a family."

"so you weren't trained for war, then what were you trained to do?"

The door oped up, and a wall of cool air hit the back of my main.

"If your talking about fighting, we were trained to fight monsters. Be creative on our hooves, ensure that all civilians are safe, and when possible, force the beast to flee back to it's home. Now let's go Slowtrot, we have a monster to fight... And a friends to avenge."

So as it turns out, the royal guard had two common ways of fighting. One was to move as a group, forming a wall of armored ponies. The second was to trick their opponent to expose themselves, and strike at the week points. There were only two of us, and I was no fighter, but I did make good bait.

*Bang*

The 10mm bullet harmlessly scraped across the armor of the navy pony, but before they could counter attack, I was already out of their line of sight. Tactical S.T.A.T. was good for hit and run attacks, to bad the 10mm pistol was not. Jumping for cover, I did my best to covered my ears as the two navy ponies turned the corner to shoot at me.

*BANG* *BANG*

looking over the box I had hid behind, both navy ponies were dead, their brains no-longer in their heads. Under Brush was at the other side of the hallway, with a battle rifle resting on a box and in her hooves.

"Are you okay Under Brush, that thing was even louder then at the shooting range."

She shook her head, and pulled out a small vile. "It's nothing that a little bit of healing potion can't fix." poring a drop in each ear, Under Brush took a deep breath and sighed. "To think being a worried parent would pay off in firing rifles at other ponies."

Looking down at the two ponies, they were beyond any helping that a healing potion could do, no pony could fix dead. Looking ay the bodies, my stomach finally gave up.

After waiting for me to unload the cake and just I had earlier, Under Brush had me help loot the two bodied quickly: Two 10mm pistols, two battle rifles, along with two apple like grenades. "Didn't Musket Ball say that thees battle rifles were not in use anymore?"

She affixed a navy battle saddle onto me, placing the two extra rifles on ether side. I didn't like the feeling of having guns attached to me, but I wasn't going to complain. "The ground troops get all the new guns, thees rifles are probably the surplussed that were given over to the navy. It was the same in the royal guard. The guards that worked among the civilians would be given the newer gear because it was more likely to get used, where the the guards that worked in the palace had older equipment. The armor I had was actually over a hundred years older then me, but it was so well taken care for you'd never know by looking at it." After cleaning it off, Under Brush placed a bit in my mouth. "now let's get going before their friends show up."

Taking most of the ammo, Under Brush lead the way. We darted from one hiding spot to the next. Other then the noise from the battle saddles, I found myself a little better at seeking then I thought I was. Our rout avoided the main tunnel and would take us thru the brig before we got near the room with the stable door. This the hole area of the stable reminded me of a few old police movies: were the police station was gray, solid, and a bit unfriendly.

Stopping at the door, I saw three red lines in my E.F.S. and a ton of blue line. "I think they have some of our ponies in there."

"I don't know, they aren't hostile. not yet." Under Brush pulled out a grenade.

"No, sorry, I mean they are coming up blue in my E.F.S. that means they are listed as allies to my pipbuck."

She put the grenade away. "right, that has more advanced programs. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way. Slowtrot, use your S.T.A.T.'s to shoot the one on the left, I'll take the two on the right."

I wanted to say no, or ask to find another way to do this, but time was not on our side. "right, I'll... I'll do my best."

Under Brush gave me a worried look. "I'm sorry about this. I'll get you somewhere safe when we get the stable door closed." She reached out to the door button with her hoof. "Ready!" she pressed the button, and the door open with a soft hiss.

"Hay Clap Bang, about time you got here! we have been wa...." Time slowed to a crawl, and Three navy ponies stood before us, and they all were cute mares. The one that was talking was a unicorn with a sea blue coat and a bright pink main. The second was a pegusi with a grass green coat, and a pail green mane with a red streak. The last was an earthpony with a cream wight coat, and a blond and brown main. The third one was on my left, so I picked the chest to targets twice, it being the most likely part for me to hit.

S.T.A.T. took over, moving my body to aim at surprised mare. The battle saddle meant that I just needed to be pointing in her direction before firing. The crack of the rifles were deafening as two shots from each rifle fired at the mare, with only three of the bullets making contact.

When time returned to it's normal flow, I saw that my target crumpled onto the ground bleeding out. The two that Under Brush shot at were clearly dead with part of their skulls gone.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had run over to the mare I shot. "I'm so sorry. Under Brush, is there a healing potion nearby!" The mare spat blood in my face, and smiled with teeth covered in blood.

"Don't start.. start acting all innocent now... you traitors. You.. stripe lovers are all the... the same. Act all ni...nice, but in the end your still a... a traitor." the mare gasped, her hoof trying to hook onto something, but avoiding me. "papa, I did g..good didn't I." with that, she let out a long breath and passed out.

Quickly looking around, I saw a box with the marking the Minasty of Peace and galloped over there. Under Brush Tackled me. "Slowtrot, we don't have time for this." she paused to look over at the mare I had Shot. "And it's already too late to do anything."

I didn't struggle, I just let my body go, hoping it would just melt onto the floor. "It was too easy, it was just to easy to do." She let me go. "I just selected her, and then I killed her." I could feel my hole body shaking, and see my vision blur from water in my eyes.

"Just sit down Slowtrot, I can handle everything from here." Under Brush held some keys in her magic. "I just need to check on them first."

I was going to sit at the desk, but it was covered in the blood of the Unicorn mare, so I chose to sit under it. There were over a dozen security ponies, they were battered and bruised, but from how they were moving around, non of them were severely hurt. A mare burst out into tears after Under Brush talked to her, the others looked right pissed.

"We hit the armory, and then seal up the stable. That sould stop any of their reinforcements." A stallion spoke up with a deep voice.

"No, we don't have the time." Under Brush said as she pushed a battle Rifle into his hooves. "I'll take a team and hit the control room, we can use the guns we pick up. You and the rest can head to the armory, if were lucky, they will be too focused on me to see you coming."

The other security ponies picked up the rifles, pistols, and a grenades that were available. Attaching on the battle saddles they has savaged, and placing ammunition were it can be easily hoofed into the guns. Under Brush had come over to get the guns from me, along with the battle saddle. "It's going to be okay Slowtrot, once we have the door closed, we will come back for you, so just sit tight and stay hidden."

I believed her, she was far better at this then I was, reminding me about heroic tales of the royal guard I was told about as a colt. Now that I think about it, I did at one time want to become one. But as the war grew, my belief in heroes shrank. Now looking at Under Brush as she organize the others, I could feel a bit of that belief in heroes returning, and now that she had here fellow security ponies with her, I knew they could pull this off. All I needed to do was sit tight, and wait for them to return.

Hiding until everything was over was easier to do then I thought it was going to be. Joining them would only slow them down. The security ponies knew more about fighting then I did, and they had all the guns and bullets now. for a simple pony like me, it was better to just get out of their way.

Not long after they let, I turned on a radio that was on the desk, and slid back under. The music was more from Sweetie Belle, signing a brilliantly sad woeful melody, matching my own feelings. In this room was me, and three corpses, one I had shot myself. Down the hall was two more body's, that I had acted as bait for a trap. Down into the warehouse was the two power armored ponies, both flattened by the stable door I pushed over. And along the main path was June and the security ponies, if only I had remembered sooner, they might be alive.

The soft hiss of a door opening and drew my attention away from the music. Remembering what happened to the last pony who spoke up when the door opened, I stayed quiet and hidden. My heart pounded heavily in my chest, threatening to give away that I was here.

*Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump*

Though my heart did beat loudly, who ever had entered into the room was louder with each step. But it was strange, each heavy step sounded similar to that of the steal ranger, but didn't have the same clop feel to it. I tried to concentrate harder on the sound, but the radio was drowning out any details.

The radio was turned off. I held my berth. The sound of metal scratching along metal made my spine shiver in protest. A metal claws appeared in sight, slowly warping itself around the edge of the desk. I knew, I have been found. the desk was going to be flipped, and I was going to be shot.

"All available troops, the stable ponies have mounted a counter attack at the stable door, request reinforcements. Repeat. All available troops, the stable ponies have mounted a counter attack at the stable door, request reinforcements."

"This is Talon Leo Thunderfeather, I'm on my way." the voice was deep and maniacal.

*Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump* *hisss*

"You stay there little pony, I'll be back for you later."

The door hissed shut, and the room turned quiet.

There was was no sound but my own beating heart.

No sound as I was still trying to hold back my own whimpering.

Who was I trying to hide it from, I was alone now, no pony would hear me scream, wimpier and cry. It was not the three corpses in the room, they were dead, the dead don't care, their dead. I was the only pony I could hide it from, and that was beyond stupid.

"Or your going crazy." opening my eyes, Thorn was sitting in front of me... but she was younger, and looked different. "you sould realy start breathing now. Unless you realy want to die because you forgot how to breath. Not something you want on your tombstone."

I let out the breath, which only lead me to hyperventilate. "Wha.... what!"

"Got to love pipbucks, so full of secrets. Phobetor thinks she knows so much, but she missed me every time. Then again I am a tricky pony, always loved fooling others. I just had to hide in your soul, and she just fucked right on by, none the wiser." looking closer, she did look like Thorn, but had the same jade streak in her hair that I had in mine, and her coat was more pinkish. Also she was turning translucent. "Ah.. bloody hell, time to go. To make a long story short, a peace of me, well her, Thorn, is now a peace of you. Strange, Phobetor was so close to being right about what happened, but so very wrong."

I stood up, hitting my head on the top of the desk I was under. "Ow... the fuck is going on!" she was gone, but yet I knew she was still there.

"Almost forgot, you might want to help that security pony. You could die in the fight, I know you will die if you stay here. And well I don't like the idea of waiting for a griffin to come back and kill me, well you."

The room was quiet again. Nothing had changed, the three dead mares were here, and so was I. But yet I felt calm, scared shitless too, but I was not shaking, or crying.

"I must be loosing my mined to even consider the options." but consider them I did.

"So that's it then. I can stay here and hope that Under Brush wins. I could run and hide in the stable, hope they don't look for me. Or I could try to help Under Brush." three paths, each one offered death, two involved me waiting for the dice to role my fate. The last option would be like playing roulette, but the weal was a gun, the ball was a bullet, and the bet was is life. "Fuck it, you win."

Under Brush and the other security ponies had taken all the guns in the room, so I had only my hooves, and a pipbuck. One can cave a pony's head in with a pipbuck. I bonked my own head with the pipbuck, suppressing the murder pony in my head. With nothing left in the room but regrets, I pressed the button to the door, it opening with another hiss.

Gunshots echoed throughout the the halls, and between them were screams. This felt less like a safe stable, and more like what I could only guess, a battlefield.

Yep, this was a insane mistake. I had not gone far before slipping on some poor ponies blood. There was no body to tell if it was a security or a navy pony that die, but there were a bunch of bloody hoof steps leading in one direction. Among the hoof steps was a patter distinctly not a hoof print, and taking a rout up a nearby flight of stairs.

Checking my pipbuck, it gave me three routs to take to get to the stable door. One taking me to the main tunnel, something we were avoiding. The second was the same direction as the hoof prints. The last going up the stairs, It being an easy guess that the hoof prints... claw prints belonged to Leo.

I knew Under Brush could take care of herself, far better then I could take care of myself. But that griffin, had to be a griffin, was going to be a problem, I just new it. "Definitely insane." I took the stairs, hoping I didn't just make a big mistake.

The cracking of rifles, and the pops of pistols only grew louder as I got closer to were the stable door was. Much of noise came from an open doorway, along with the feeling of fresh damp air. The air in the stable was clean, cleaner then the air in Applewood, but it also happened to be dry, and stale.

Taking a peek, as I was not so suicidal to just jump into a gun fight, I saw the biggest mettle gear in my life. The door to the R&D stable was far larger then that of the one I pushed over in the warehouse, big enough that a pony could drive a tank through it. A large group of navy ponies were all over the ground floor, firing at Under Brushes group, keeping her from getting to what I guessed was the control room. Looking over the balcony was a griffin completely encased in black painted power armor, holding onto a minigun in his, hers, its claws.

Under Brush may be able avoid the shots from the navy ponies, but not from Leo. From the Griffons position, Under Brush and the two other security ponies would not last long. Looking around for a solution, but nothing presented itself to me. The griffin placing the minigun on the rail, and it's motor revved up.

I hit S.T.A.T. hoping that this time I could do something. Checking each option quickly, as I knew time was still moving. Most options came at best %15, at worst %5.

"Don't think about hitting to solve a problem." the area behind the kneecap lit up on the griffin. "Because you will not. But you can make the fight far more chaotic with one well placed strike."

The murder pony in my head did not make me feel any more confidant, but if there was a pony who could turn this situation around, it was...?

"you can think of names later."

Right, luckily the griffin was close enough for me to perform a navy buck on it. Time slowly returned to normal as my body moved with a strength I doubt I could do on my own. The minigun fired just before I made contact, it sounding like a chainsaw on magical rocket fuel. My hooves hit the back of the griffins kneecap, pain shooting up my back legs in protest of kicking the steel clad griffin.

As the griffin fell to one knee, the minigun did not stop firing, but the griffin did loos it's grip of it with one claw. Unable to hold it up with just one claw, the minigun turned downwards, raining bullets onto any pony on the ground floor for a short few seconds before the griffin dropped it.

"Big mistake" I could feel the anger from the maniacal voice of the griffins helmet. "Which leg do you want me to pull off first,"

A bullet ricochet off the griffins helmet, but Leo didn't even pay it any attention. Slowly stepping over to me, I hit a wall backing up. Another bullet hit the back of Leo's helmet, then another bullet hit the shoulder of the griffins armor. The griffin loomed over me, on claw in the air.

"Ready to die pony?"

"I, I... Don't think I am!" I turned S.T.A.T. back on. If I was going to live through this, I was going to be smart about this.

"I say go crazy. The griffin has grenades, pull the pins."

Wait I can't do that, I'm not a unicorn... but my pipbuck has levitation.

In S.T.A.T. I selected the pins of two grenades in the levitation, and and to run away. when time resumed, the pin floated between the two of us for a split second before my body bolted off.

*BOOM*

I tumbled from the shock wave, rolling hoof over head until I slid to a stop. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I got back to all fours, my body hurting all over. It was something I would have to remember, that I would need to run faster next time I set off a grenade like that.

"Not good enough little pony" Leo still stood there, unfazed by the explosion.

Oh fuck me with Celestia's solar powered horn, this griffin is so going to kill me.

Another bullet hit the griffin, but this time Leo stumbled a little, and buzzing nose came from the armor. "now die" He growled. Before I could even blink, Leo had puled out a pistol, and shot me. My left shoulder exploded in pain.

I didn't scream, or wimpier, I just slumped over onto the ground. I was not dead, but I had never been shot before, and by tartarus did it hurt. Stunned by the pain, I just stayed on the ground.

*Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump*

"I'd say sorry little pony, but you made this personal"

*PING FIZZZ*

"Fuck!."

*Tap* *Thump* *Whoosh*

I opened my eyes, having to wiped some water out of them before I could properly see. Leo was gone, which meant I might live. Checking myself, the bullet had hit me in the shoulder, blood was poring out slowly bit constantly. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before, and though there were a few times I had hurt more, that was for a split second, this pain was not going away any time soon.

The gun battle below was still going on, and taking a look I could see that the other security ponies had joined the battle, pushing back the navy ponies. But the navy ponies also had reinforcements, turning the stable doorway into the battle line.

The room was suddenly bathed in a yellow flashing light. The hissing of steam, and a loud buzz going on and off drowning out all but the gunshots. The Stable door moved, and any navy pony still in the stable fled outside, one unlucky pony tripped, and was crushed by the massive door like he was nothing. In place, the stable door completely blocked any fight from continuing, filling the with an uneasy quiet. for a few seconds. with the sound of something powering up, the door pushed itself shut with the sound of metal grinding on metal.

It was done, the stable had been sealed.

I tried to get myself back up on all fours, but my bullet wound spiked in pain whenever I moved my left leg, and the pain from the grenade blast didn't help. So I slumped back to the cold metal ground. It felt solid and safe, so I just closed my eyes to take a little nap.

*Smack!*

My eyes shot open with pain, and a bottle was shoved in my mouth. Above me was a yellow unicorn stallion in security barding. "Kid, that was a real dumb stunt you pulled there. And I'd hug ya for it if I didn't think that you might have a collapsed lung." much of the pain faded away, though the bullet wound still hurt, the pin was far more dull.

The Stallion helped me up, and after a few steps I felt good enough to move on my own. Healing potions are awesome. "so is everyone ok?"

The stallion sighed. "we lost nearly half of us in that fire fight alone. Those military ponies are damn good shots, if the fight lasted any longer then it did, we'd be all dead by now."

We were heading to the control room from what I could guess. I didn't know the stable as well as they did, but we hadn't gone down stairs. "So is Under Brush ok?"

"I heard she got hit, but it wasn't so bad to keep her from fighting. she should be just around the corner."

Around the corner I saw blood splatter everywhere. There were a few dead navy ponies on the floor, and one security pony. I stopped when I saw a served leg on the ground. It was mangled at the end were it cam off, and it still had a few clean patches of a powdered blue coat to it. It was Under Brushes leg!

Bolting further in, I saw two security ponies frantically bandaging up another pony. It was Under Brush. One of her back legs were gone, as well as the other back hoof. From the looks of her bandages, she had taken other injuries that looked far worse then mine. "Oh no. no, no, no, no, no."

Under Brush smiled when she saw me. "Good to see that the griffin didn't kill you. But damn, I want some power armor now. Damn bird didn't die, even after I shot it in the head three times." that was her, of coarse that was her.

"Are you going to be ok?"

"Don't know, use that pipbuck there and tell me." she coughed up blood, it oozed from her mouth.

I put my left hoof gently on her, and activated the medical scan. When it was done, I took a look at the pipbuck. The screen of the pipbuck turned into a wall of text, with a lot of words I didn't understand, probably about inside pony parts. But I did understand one thing that the pipbuck was telling me. 'immediate sugary is required, or patient will die.'

I looked to the other security ponies, two more had joined us. "We need to get her to a doctor now, or she's going to die."

The yellow stallion sighed once again. "I can see that." the magic from his horn lit up, and levitated a healing potion into Under Brush's mouth. "the problem is that I doubt we can move her, and the damn soldiers busted up our radio. So were going to need a pony to go get a doctor for us."

"Right, Lifebeats sould still be in residential, I'll go get him!"

"Hay wait now! I didn't mean you go get a doctor, you don't even work her."

I didn't feel like listening, not with Under Brush coughing up blood. "I'm the Stable-Tec R&D courier, and we don't have time to wast." I was off, bolting down the hall, so careless with my steps I more slid down the stars then ran. I didn't have time to worry about my own safety.

I had galloped faster then I had ever ran before. My lungs burned in protest, but they didn't get a say in the matter.

It wasn't until I got to were everything went wrong that I stooped for a moment. Six ponies were on the floor, in a pool of blood. Five security ponies, and June. My anger began to boil when I saw what Thorn had done to her, Junes left foreleg had been cut off, and left on the ground mutilated. Her pipbuck was missing.

I didn't have time to cry, or to swear vengeance. There was a life that could still be saved, and longer I stalled, the less likely Under Brush was going to live.

Galloping around the pool of blood, I made my way to residential. I could only hope Thorn hadn't stated killing everypony inside.

Footnote:

Quest Started: End of Time.

Level up: Level 2.

New Perk: High Ho Silver, Away! - You’re a fan of cardio and sprints, especially if said sprints are done away from

the direction from which the bullets are flying. Your ground movement speed is increased by %10 in light armor. This perk can be taken up to two times, and its effects stack with other movement speed increasing perks. Does not affect other forms of movement.