Warning beeps sounded from behind her head, heralding the arrival of another attempt on her life. On her right was the impregnable black wall of the space station, while on her left was a vast sea of emptiness. Shelby grinned wildly as she yanked the flight-stick back; this is what she lived for. Her craft twisted upward, and she caught the brief flicker of an explosion against the wall behind where she had just been.

Shelby glared at the responsible android before bringing her starcraft around. The robot pilot must have known what she intended; it began to power way from her. Her hands tightened on the controls, no way was she letting that thing escape her. She rammed the accelerator forward and placed her thumb lightly on the missile’s trigger. Everything tightened to focus on the fleeing foe, letting all the unimportant distractions fall away. There was only her, and the enemy fight in front of her.

Static erupted in her ear, and Vincent’s voice growled, “Hey, don’t stray too far. If they wanna run, let ‘em. We’ve got to stay here and keep ‘em scared off.”

“Ugh, alright fine.” she groaned. She was forced to watch as her target powered away. “Next time, you ass.”

Turning her craft around, she eased into position beside her fiancé. They resumed tight flying circles around the entrance to the hanger Jaze and his pony friend had vanished into almost an hour ago. Shelby stared at the sealed airlock, wondering why they had been unable to raise their wayward companions. They must have been too far inside the station, well out of comm range. Either that or they had been killed.

Shelby shook her head to clear it of those horrid thoughts. No way would Jaze let himself die while he still owed her a beer, and that unicorn was there to make sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid. No, they just had to still be wading through a maze of corridors. Shelby knew that soon enough they would reappear, more than likely with some silly quip. Except for the one dark corner of her mind that kept trying to force images of defeat into her mind.

It wasn’t hard to find the reason for her dark thoughts; she had never been more bored on a mission in her life. Ever since getting here, they hadn’t seen more than a few scouts like the one she had chased off. And none of them seemed to want to do more than look or fire a friendly rocket before going on their merry way. It was more than frustrating. Her foot tapped against the bottom of the cockpit as she continued waiting for… something, anything to break the boredom that had settled over her.

“Hey Shelby, look sharp!” Vincent called out, “Bogeys coming in at one o’clock high.”

She looked up and into the vast expanse of space to see five more of the Cye fighter-craft moseying in on their position. None seemed to be in any particular hurry to engage the pair of humans perched outside their base, a fact Shelby noted with a smirk of pride. The androids seemed content to hover just off the black wall, inching their way forward.

Anticipation of a fight brought shakes to her limbs, and she wished for nothing more than to dart forward into their formation. They were such easy targets, clustered so closely together with no momentum for dodging. Her hands tightened on the Thundercat’s controls; it was almost like they were mocking her, daring her to attack. A dare she sorely wished to take.

Her craft began edging towards the Cye above. The computer acquired a lock on the lead enemy fighter, and she let her thumb hover over the launch button. She knew that as soon as her missile left its home to find the target the rest of the Cye would attack, but the temptation was almost too strong to overcome. In fact, she welcomed the coming struggle if it broke up the waiting.

“Shelby…” Vincent muttered in a familiar, cautious tone.

It was that tone; the tone he always used right before something bad happened. Her eyes darted about for a moment before she triggered her own comm. “Yeah, what?”

“Something don’t smell right.” he remarked quietly.

He fell silent, she assumed to check his instruments. Shelby followed suit, throwing in another visual scan of her surroundings. Still, nothing was showing up by sight or machine. With the exception of the contacts right off the nose of her ship, there didn’t seem to be anything. Then what could Vincent be feeling? He wasn’t usually wrong about things like this; in fact his intuition had saved them far too many times in the past for it to suddenly fail now.

She glanced out the protective bubble of the canopy at her lover’s plane. “I don’t see…”

Her voice faltered and her mouth hung open as one of the hangers a few hundred meters further up the station opened. Light stabbed into the void, and Cye pilots poured out in groups. All the moisture left her mouth as she watched the enemy pile out into space. There were far more than she was comfortable with already, and they just kept boiling out of the opening. She stopped counting after hitting fifty, though thankfully they ceased appearing shortly after. The massive force of enemy fighters grouped into a tight formation and turned as one towards the pair of humans. The group that had been just above her suddenly turned around to rejoin their fellows, whatever they had been hoping to accomplish done.

There was no time for thought as the group attacked all at once. They flew straight at the pair of humans, a few losing rockets as they powered forward. Shelby twisted her craft down and away from the missiles while only just holding back a primal growl. Enemy fighters swarmed around her; everywhere she looked was another one looking to turn her into wreckage. She rammed the accelerator forward, and she found herself mercifully outside the androids’ tightening net. Their huge formation blotted out the stars above her. Vincent was still somewhere in that swirling mass, but his craft wasn’t visible between all the Cye’s. She knew he was alive, but not for long if she kept floating around doing nothing.

Bringing her fighter back up towards the mass, she waited impatiently for the computer to acquire a lock. As soon as it had, Shelby fired a missile into the fray. Smears of smoldering metal were her reward as the explosive landed a direct hit against one of the fighters. But her victory was short-lived; several of the androids immediately turned to face her.

“Aaaaaaaaaah piss.” Shelby remarked dryly. Her hand yanked the flight stick to the side on instinct. A small river of lead passed through the spot she had just occupied, sending a slight shudder through her at the close call. But even as she dodged one attempt on her life, the console behind her head lit up with several warning screeches of enemies locking-on.

Another quick jerk of the stick pulled her into a steep climb as she snarled. She glanced around for a moment, searching hopefully for Vincent amongst the sea of bogies. There only seemed to be more of the robots’ crafts, but no sign of her love’s amidst the chaos. Her search turned frantic as she continued to see no indication that he was still alive. The comm seemed like a good idea, but she was loath to distract him with talk, if he could even hear her. Or worse, confirm her growing fear.

Her breath left her lungs in a relieved sigh as she caught sight him silhouetted against the brief flicker of light of one of the multitudes of enemy craft turning into a fireball. Her craft seemed to turn on its own, and she took off into the fur-ball where she had last spotted the other Thundercat. The flight computer chirped, showing a lock on one of the craft in front of her. The android’s plane couldn’t have been more than a hundred meters off her nose, practically right on top of her. She thumbed the launch button on the flight stick, and the missile took off on a stream of exhaust towards its target.

There was no hope of the robot dodging. It exploded as she blew through the cloud of debris left behind into the mass of Cye fighters, several smaller chunks of wreckage pinging off her hull. Surrounded by the enemy, she didn’t have long to wait before another craft entered her sights and was dispatched with a burst of chin-gun fire. The console behind her screamed as an enemy pilot settled in behind her.

She pulled hard on the flight-stick into a steep bank just in time to watch a missile streak off into space. Silently hoping it would hit one of the other androids and save her the trouble, she rolled her craft over and looped it up behind the thing that was on her tail. As ever, the robotic pilots were slow to react, and she scored a quick kill with another missile. She barely had time to admire her work before another pair of the enemies’ craft settled in behind her.

“Wanna get behind me?” she mocked with a grin, “Fine, let’s go robo-boys.”

Pulling into a tight turn, she hoped to quickly lose them so she could continue her search. But these two seemed to have been upgraded; they stuck close at her tail. She turned and twisted, but to no avail. They may as well have been attached by a rope for all the good her efforts to shake them did. But that was no reason to give them an easy shot. Each time one seemed to be making a move to shoot her down, she twisted and wove between the other aircraft to avoid the incoming rounds.

Dodging wasn’t going to pull her out of the fire, however. Try as she might, there seemed to be no ridding herself of her followers. And even as she dodged around another android, several of the Cye’s fighters settled in around her like a school of sharks after wounded prey. She was completely cut off from escape. Everywhere she looked was filled with another close up view of one of the enemies’ craft. No help could come from Vincent; he was embroiled in his own fight somewhere amid the tangle of starcraft. Her fist slammed into the side of her cockpit; this wasn’t how she had imagined it ending. She was supposed to die on a mountain, not waiting for her friend to blow up a huge space station. Shrill beeps sounded behind her as the pair of androids to her back took careful aim.

“Looks like ya could use some help.” a familiar voice called out through the comm.

The pair of fighters behind her suddenly ceased to exist, and were replaced by a quartet of human craft. Major Reynolds, that cocky smile evident in his voice, crooned, “See? I told you that you Marines should just stay on the ground. Leave the flying to real pilots.” Two of the Thundercats rocketed past her into the enemy’s formation. The fighters flew dizzying circles through the mass of robotic pilots, destroying several of them before guiding Vincent out of the center of the press of androids.

Shelby relaxed back into her seat as relief washed over her. “Thanks a ton, Major. That was getting to be a little hairy.”

“No kidding. I lost two of my pilots to this mess.”

His voice was blank, but Shelby could just hear the tinge of sadness behind it. As the other pulled up beside her, she whispered, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Meh.” growled the Major, “They were idiots anyway. I told ‘em to back off, they wanted to keep going. Got themselves blown up for it too.” He snickered, “Do you know how big of a pain it’s going to be to explain that to their families? And the gorram paper work!” He paused for a moment before grunting, “Okay, enough chatter. Better go help the rest of the group before we lose them too.”

Major Reynolds’ fighter jumped forward into the fray, weaving through the clumsy androids with practiced grace. Shelby decided to just let the Major have his way, silently shaking her head. She turned back to the fight happening just off her nose in time to watch another three of the androids’ craft disintegrate. Vincent and the other two were holding their own, but Shelby still felt a flutter in her stomach as she watched the deadly ballet.

She began to join the rest, but paused as a small, tired voice groaned into her ear amid a rush of static, “He-hello? Is anypony there?”

Her hand pressed to the side of her helmet as her brow furrowed. Shakes took over her limbs as she asked, “Trixie? Is that you?”

“Yes!” yelled the unicorn mage, relief flooding her voice. A hitch in the pony’s voice developed as she continued, “We’ve got the bomb set up; it can go off at any point. Jaze is hurt pretty badly as well; he is unconscious.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Reynolds chimed with a worried tone creeping into his voice, “Did I just hear that fricken’ thing is armed? Then why the living hell are we still around here?”

“Trixie, where are you two?” asked Shelby, ignoring the Major’s panic.

“We are back in the hanger we came into, right by the door leading back out.”

Shelby’s hand rose again, but she just managed to stop it from slamming into the side of the cockpit again. She asked as her throat dried, “Look around, is there anything in there that looks like it could open the door?”

Several tense seconds passed, each one driving her heart rate up. Her fingers drummed on the accelerator as she waited; every passing second made her drumming grow swifter. The walls of the canopy, which had always seemed so safe, were beginning to close in around her. The very air seemed too thick to take in properly, and it sapped all the moisture from her throat as it made its way into her lungs. At least the combatants seemed to have forgotten her while she awaited a response.

“There is nothing!” Trixie cried, her voice a screech.

“Ah dammit.” Shelby growled in return, “That’s just great. Okay, move away from the door; we’re gonna blast our way in!”

“That will take too long, and I already mentioned that your weapons probably would not dent this beast.”

“Then what should we do?” Shelby snapped, “I’m not leaving you two in there.”

The pony paused for a second before asking, “How close are you to the hanger?”

Shelby raised an eyebrow, but answered anyway, “Not too far, and I can get over there quick enough, why?”

“I need you to be close, but not right outside the door. Hurry, there isn’t much time left.”

“What are you doing?” Shelby asked. When no answer came, she let out a growl, “Damn pony; give me more to go on than that!”

She brought her craft around and guided it back to the hanger they had found open, though it was staying resolutely closed. There seemed to be no change, nothing for her to know what was going on. The drumming against the accelerator lever resumed, now accompanied by her foot tapping against the floor once more. She stared out the glass of the canopy, but still there was nothing. Each passing second set her head spinning around faster, until she spotted it.

Against the outside of the space station was slight distortion, like the ripple of heat over sand. A bright pink bubble appeared around the distorted area amid a brilliant flash, and suspended in the center were a pair of figures. Light glinted off the metal plates of Jaze’s gilded armor, and next to him was Trixie. They flailed weakly in the lack of gravity, until disappearing with another flare of lavender light.

From behind her head blasted a wave of heat powerful enough to worm through her armor, accompanied by the strong smell of singed hair. She twisted in her seat just in time to watch Trixie and Jaze appear with another bright flash and fall into the passenger seat. The unicorn heaved with her legs to move the bloodied lump of an assassin into the chair. Shelby’s breath caught in her throat as she viewed the many wounds and rends in her friend’s armor. Droplets of his blood smeared against the seat as the pony worked, and his eyes flicked under clenched eyelids while his face contorted with pain.

Shelby removed her helmet and turned fully around, her voice only just audible, “What happened?”

“We can talk later; fly now please!” Trixie pleaded, “He needs a doctor and that bomb is going to explode NOW!”

Without another thought, Shelby spun back around in her seat and jammed her head back into her helmet. She triggered the comm and screamed, “We gotta go, the bomb’s due to go boom any second!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Major Reynolds replied. “Alright lads and lasses, you heard the lady, let’s make like birds and get the flock outta here!”

“With ya there!” Shelby cried as she yanked the flight stick away from the station, adding, “Let’s go, minimum safe distance people!”

She rammed the accelerator to its maximum, and the Thundercat thrummed with power as it exploded forward. The space station fell behind, growing further away with each moment. None of the enemy craft gave chase, and instead began pulling back towards the station. The rest of the human fighters fell in beside and behind her. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she couldn’t resist looking back towards the doomed station.

It still resolutely remained intact. Shelby gritted her teeth and demanded of the unicorn, “How much time was actually left when you left the stupid nuke?”

“If I remember, about five minutes or so, maybe a little less.” replied Trixie.

“And that was?”

“Three minutes ago. But Carn should be trying to defuse the warhead even as we speak.”

“Wh-wha-WHAT?!” sputtered Shelby, “Then we’ve gotta go back and stop him!”

“Trust me Shelby; I have already taken care of that.” The pony’s smug grin could be felt without having to turn and see it.

Shelby’s face scrunched, but she caved in, “Fine, if you say so. But if that bomb doesn’t go off…”

“It will, just go.”

“Right O then, we’re on our way to the Vigilance.” Shelby announced. She switched off the comm and turned her head to look into the back seat of her plane. Trixie was pressed against the side of the cockpit, holding herself several inches off the Colonel. Shelby met the pony’s worried gaze, a pleading look filling the expressive lavender pools. She offered the unicorn the best reassuring smile she could, and added, “Don’t worry; they’ll have docs there to take care of the idiot bleeding all over the seat. He’ll pull through; everything’s going to be fine.”

Trixie nodded, turning her attention back to the young man passed out beneath her. Shelby just caught the glimmer of a tear as it disappeared into azure fur. She wanted to offer more assurance, but she knew it wouldn’t help. Instead, she looked forward to where the Vigilance was just becoming a dot against the thousands of other dots of both ships and stars, growling to herself, dammit, can’t this bucket go any faster?

“That’s right, run! Take your fool of a lover and leave you stupid equine! It’ll make it sweeter when I find you hiding in whatever hole you crawl into!” Carn screamed, blood thudding in his skull.

That foolish boy and his damned pony were long gone. Pain bloomed in his chest, following the chunk of metal lodged under his ribcage. He stared down at the mix of fluids leaking from the wound, his breathing coming in short, shuddering pants. Everything seemed to hurt at once, but his newly missing eye screamed at him from the empty socket. Anytime he refocused his remaining eye, he could feel the muscles pulling against nothing. This was the second time he had lost his sight to them, there wouldn’t be a third. He would see to that personally.

His hand came up and reached into the stab, grasping the broken blade of his sword and pulling it out with a swift yank. The pain that accompanied its leaving barely registered as a flicker on his face as he stared at the makeshift stake. A small smirk tugged at his lips; even this had failed to stop him. He could easily have this damage repaired. It was a sign that he was right, that he would prevail. He even had the enemy’s trump card in his grasp; nothing would stop him. Even so, the pain thudding through his body, from everywhere at once it seemed, put a scowl on his face. The pup had managed to do more damage than he had thought.

The tramp of metal feet brought his eyes up to the multitudes of Cye troopers pouring back into the station’s train hub. One stood right beside him, and an intelligence brushed his consciousness. The presence was vast and comprised of many different Cye units connected, while a wealth of information threatened to overwhelm his limited senses. Each unit sent him what they saw, and they in turn could look through his eyes. The contact sent a thrill running along his spine, as it had every time since his rebirth.

The image of the unicorn that had fled with the young Colonel perched atop her back forced itself into his mind, the presence turning questioning. The thought of those two set his stomach ablaze. His eye gave a particularly painful throb as a hand clenched into a tight fist, his grip tight enough to make his fingernails dig into his palm. But as much as he wanted to, there was no way he’d be able to kill the pair, especially that pony. And he had to be the one to do it; he was owed the satisfaction of killing them himself.

“No, don’t chase them.” Carn answered aloud, “We will deal with them later. They won’t be able to leave this station; we can hunt them down at our leisure.”

He turned to the Cye that had retaken positions around the control station for the many hangers and trams, a thought occurring to him. He waved a hand at the androids and added, “Send a group of our pilots to remove those two clinging to the side of the ship. No reason to leave them there waiting for their friends; that would just be cruel.”

No sooner than he had spoken the words than did one of the troopers begin entering commands into the console. The selected Cye units marched towards one of the working tram platforms, boarding the vehicle as soon as it arrived. Just a few seconds after he had given the word, the androids had disappeared on their mission.

Once he was sure his orders were being followed, he looked down at his chest once more. Though the blood had slowed to a slight trickle, it was still going to need some attention. He removed his jacket, grimacing at the torn fabric, and tore a long strip to tie over the wound. His hands shook as he stared at his ruined clothing, growling a curse at the boy who had destroyed it. It was something he planned to make assassin pay for, dearly.

He turned back to the bomb just a few feet away. It sat there, silently clicking past the four minute mark; another testament to his foe’s foolishness. He knelt next to the weapon, gently touching the casing on the nuclear device. It was far beyond his skill to stop the actual explosion from taking place, he knew that. Instead, his hand moved to the timer. He gripped the timer’s plastic case and gave a yank, easily pulling the top half off and exposing a neat roll of wires of various different colors bundled together.

He snapped his fingers, and the discarded blade of his sword was placed in his outstretched palm. A quick tug at the plastic ties binding them, and the wires sprang apart for him to work with. His steady hand splayed the wires further as he silently counted each one and followed it to its destination. Every wire had to be cut in the proper order to interrupt the power without triggering a failsafe. A simple enough task, made interesting by the world-ending bomb set to go off should he mess up.

Rolling his shoulders, he pulled the first wire in the sequence out and sliced through it with the bit of broken blade. When nothing happened, he selected another wire, and another, swiftly working down to the last three. The end was tauntingly close. Carn’s heart skipped a beat as the warm glow of satisfaction grew in the pit of his stomach. He gave the timer a quick check; there was still over a minute left before detonation; more than enough time.

An android tramped over to him. Again the presence touched his mind, and the image of the pair disappearing from the hanger, followed by a view of several of the humans’ fighters retreating. He turned his gaze up to the trooper staring down at him, his heart suddenly still. His mind refused to acknowledge the information being sent to it, but the robots couldn’t lie. Nor would they have a reason to do so. That damned unicorn had proven yet again that he should stop underestimating her.

A scream of rage reverberated off the walls, and Carn felt his world slip away into a white-hot surge of rage. When he came to, the android lay scattered around him in various pieces, with the last half of his broken blade lodged in what was left of its chest. The first half was nowhere to be found. He turned back to the bomb and saw it enter the last half a minute of its countdown.

“Leave them.” he growled at the androids already moving towards the trams, “And bring back the other pilots. We will have the humans give up each one of them when we crush their pathetic fleet.”

Once again, rage boiled through him. He imagined everything he would do to them after all resistance had been crushed; maybe he would show them what it was like to have their eyes destroyed for a change. He knelt and grabbed the next wire, yanking it from its connector with a quick pull. All that was left was the infamous red and blue wires. Humans were nothing if not predictable. Snagging the red wire with a humorless smirk, Carn gave it another quick yank.

The timer gave a loud beep, and the grin slid from his face. It shouldn’t have made a noise, there should have been no power. Something had gone wrong. His stomach tightened into a ball as it sank into his boots; knew he had done everything right. In his hand, the wire had begun to shimmer slightly, as well as its brother still attached to the timer. His eyebrow rose as the wires swapped colors, resuming their true hues and revealing his mistake.

The unicorn, again; no one else could have done it. “Clever girl.” Carn remarked dryly. Her smug features flashed before his eyes, and he could only smile as her visage burned into his mind.

The room had become unbearably hot. Every breath sent another spike through his battered lungs, while sweat rolled off his brow and back in rivulets. He turned to the explosive, and he could swear he saw it glowing. Energy hummed through the area around the bomb. His eyelids slid shut, only to have an intense light blast through them as an unimaginable heat engulfed everything around him.

“Hey! Get out of the way!” yelled a voice from behind. Applejack pressed to the wall as a stretcher loaded with a wounded pony blew past her. Several more ponies were forced to dive out of the way as the volunteer nurses wheeled an injured stallion into one of the many rooms dotting the hospital’s hall.

She stepped back out into the hall after they passed, giving the hall a quick check. She seemed to have spent more time in the long corridors of Ponyville’s hospital in the past few days than she had ever done in her life. And in all that time, she had never seen the hospital be so full. Patients were being moved all over the place, while the doctors and nurses alike forced aside anypony unlucky enough to be in their way.

A few gurneys lined one side of the hall, skipping the doors to each of the patients’ rooms. The opposite side of the hall was left clear, and several doors to various storage rooms were spaced evenly down the wall. Humans and ponies peeled themselves off the sides of the corridor to continue on their way, everypony looking ready to fall over but still bearing a determined gleam in their eyes. But even as Applejack watched, one of the earth pony nurses leaned against a wall and passed out. The exhausted mare was soon lifted onto one of the waiting beds and wheeled off.

The ground floor she was in was cool to the point of giving her shivers even through her fur, not helped by the usual intensely clean smell had being replaced by a scent she had come to know well. The stench of blood was particularly bad in the wake of the gurney’s passing. Her face twisted with disgust, but there was really no escaping it. The odor was clinging to her armor, her coat, everything. She wanted, needed, a good, hot bath to rid herself of the repulsive metallic smell, but a nagging voice had brought her back to the hospital to help where she could.

Or at least, that had been her plan before everypony turned her aside. Her teeth ground together as she continued down the hall. Before, she could always find some way to help anypony that needed it. She had done her job; there was nothing left for her to do, and she knew that she had to let everypony else do theirs. But it didn’t leave her feeling any better.

Giving the floor a quick scuff from her hoof, she continued down the hall. No destination was set in her mind, but she had to keep moving. As before, her grimy Guardspony armor caught more than a few strange looks, a few of the nurses even stopped to ask her if she was lost. But Applejack turned each of them away as politely as she could manage, even if her answers got snappier with each utterance

Up ahead, she could see a break room littered with couches and vending machines. Her hooves turned to lead while her legs became pudding-filled sacks that almost failed to support her. She drew level with the room and peeked inside. Nopony had taken up residence in the rest area; a perfect place to stop and think. Applejack dove onto the nearest couch as soon as she entered the room.

A long sigh escaped her as she settled against the soft cushions; it must have been a year since she had sat down, and she couldn’t even remember what sleep was. Her eyelids immediately began to sink as she relaxed into the sofa; nothing had ever felt so comfortable. The sleepless nights and long days of fighting finally overtook her, and she did nothing to stop the advent of sleep.

“Hey,” asked a bemused voice from above her, “mind if I sit here?”

A scream began to rise in her throat, there were plenty of other seats that wouldn’t require her to move, but the familiarity of the voice choked off her anger. She cracked an eye, and almost immediately her eyes sprang wide open as she stammered, “OH! D-Dmitri! What’re you doin’ up?”

She curled her legs under her and allowed Dmitri to sit next to her, catching a groan of pain as he settled to the couch. The young man’s face had turned gaunt, and he looked ready to fall asleep himself. He was dressed in a muted green short-sleeved shirt and pants, the bandages on his leg just showing through the material. His hand gently massaged the wound as he leaned into the cushions, seeming like he didn’t notice the motion.

The human’s head fell back onto the back of the couch as he answered, “The staff needed help, so I got off my lazy butt to help where I could. But now it’s a matter of actually treating people, so I’m not much good anymore.”

“Sounds ‘bout righ’.” Applejack remarked, “The human ships up there’re keepin’ most uh the Cye offa the planet. The rest’re gettin’ picked off by them fighters, so’s not much use in me stickin’ around the trench. Needed to get away a bit, ya know?”

“I can understand that, for sure.” Dmitri muttered. He pressed the back of his fist to his mouth to stifle a yawn before continuing, “So, is it over? There’s nothing else coming right?”

“Ah couldn’ say.” she admitted. Her hoof rubbed at her eyes, and she added, “Last Ah heard, Jaze’d gone up to figure out what we was gonna do ‘bout the big thing that has e’erpony all worried up in space. Ain’t heard nuthin’ since then, Ah’m afraid.”

“Damn, hoped you’d have some good news to report.” responded the Marine with a lighthearted tone.

Despite his attempt at humor, Applejack couldn’t make herself laugh. Her head sunk down to rest on her forelegs, and she whispered, “Wish Ah could too.”

“Oh come on, don’t do that!”

“Do what?” she asked, her brow knitting together as she fixed him with a single eye.

“Start acting like it’s your fault there was less than great news. I’m not one to shoot the messenger.” Dmitri smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, “Besides, you told me there was no more fighting planetside. That’s great news; gives us time to regroup.”

“Yeah, Ah guess yer…”

Her voice faltered as a commotion rang through the halls. Ponies and humans alike ran past the door to the break room, barely taking the care not to bump into each other in their haste. The elated yells filtering through the air only served to stir her curiosity further. She looked up at the young man to see her confusion mirrored on his features. They both rose from the couch and dove into the rush of bodies pushing them towards an exit.

Applejack frowned as her mind churned over what could be happening. Besides the rush to get outside, there seemed to be nothing wrong. They ran out into a wide lobby, large windows looking out into the calm darkness. She glanced out a one as they dashed by, but the night still looked as it had before. Although, silhouetted against the lawn, she could just make out several figures staring into the skies.

The entire group soon burst into the night, and Applejack immediately turned her eyes upward. There seemed to be no difference anywhere; it was the same stars she had seen on countless nights, and the multitudes of glowing dots representing the battling ships in orbit still moseyed around. As strange as it was to see, the dozens of beings around her wouldn’t be watching that, it had been going on for too long to keep its novelty.

She turned to look at the blotch of stars that had been blacked out by the thing over her home, and noticed a faint glow somewhere near the center. As she watched, the radiance brightened until it began to rival the moon overhead, and just continued to grow. She squinted at the station; it didn’t seem to be moving, and nothing looked to have moved closer. Her stomach roiled dangerously as her mind jumped through anything the giant construct could be attempting.

The light, that before had grown so steadily, suddenly turned as bright as the sun. Applejack brought a hoof over her face and twisted away, and she heard several others cry out in pain as they followed suit. An instant headache formed deep in her skull, and spots swam lazily in her vision. The light eradicated the shadows around her, turning night into day for few, brief moments before it cooled back into nothing.

As quickly as the brightness had come, it was gone, and darkness reclaimed its rightful territory, a welcome relief. Deathly silence held court over the hospital’s front lawn, even the group’s breathing seemed to have stopped. Applejack blinked rapidly to clear her vision, all the while rubbing a forehoof to her temple. She stayed still for fear of bumping into somepony nearby, but there seemed to be no movement from the group at all. Her ears turned up and twitched around, searching for any sign she was still surrounded by living beings. The only comfort she had was a calm breeze tugging almost lovingly at her mane.

From the stillness behind her, laughter crept through the air. It began softly, but soon grew into the manic laughter of relief. As the fit reached a peak, the voice screamed towards the sky, “That’s for Earth you metal bastards! And for every other planet you destroyed!”

“Is it over?” whispered a stallion as the first voice resumed its laughter; a few nervous voices joining it.

“That… it couldn’t…” a woman cried out, “It’s just like the old stories, stories from Earth! ‘And in the skies another sun was born, ripping apart all in its path as it grew, until even the very ground was scorched and torn asunder by its fury.’ That was a nuke! They used a fucking nuke!”

Hushed, almost angry whispers broke out into a low buzz. Every human in the group seemed to be engaged in the argument. They gravitated towards one another and began to talk in earnest. Applejack couldn’t catch more than a few disjointed words, but each one spoke of the horror of. A shiver that reached to her core ran through her as the hushed conversations grew louder.

Applejack felt a hand land on her shoulder, and looked up to see Dmitri. His face had twisted into equal parts fear and anger, and he kept throwing glances. He leaned close enough to hiss in her ear, “I knew they’d think of something, but damn, I never thought about a nuke. They shouldn’t even be any to use!”

“What’s a nuke?” she shot back, glancing around. Many of the humans nearby had begun to look angrier, and the tension rolling off them was enough to make her fur stand on end.

“What’s a…” Dmitri began incredulously, before slapping his forehead, “Crap, I forgot, you’ve not dealt with human history. Long story short, nukes are most of the reason humanity nearly killed itself all those years ago. They’re supposed to be banned. So what the hell is the ECN doing with one?”

“Whatsit matter if’n it saved our hides?” she asked.

Utter silence greeted her question, the conversations dying out as the humans turned to look at her. Chills ran down her spine as pools of anger glared at her from every direction. They looked ready to tear her apart, and several began to close in on her. A few ponies pressed closer to her sides, and she felt Dmitri’s hand give a quick squeeze at her shoulder. She forced herself away from those nearby; the last thing she wanted was for somepony else to get hurt for her.

She plastered a smile to her lips and called over the crowd, “Ah don’t know what makes y’all hate these nuke things s’much, Ah ain’t had the pleasure of growing up knowin’ ‘bout ‘em. But alls Ah kin see is that it blew up that thing up there. So’tuh me, that seems purty good. Ah’m jus’ glad we had something to fight back with.”

Angry voices began shouting at her in a nonsensical jumble of words, though the humans just managed to keep their anger from boiling over into physical blows. Applejack felt her whole body quake at the sight of all the humans glaring at her. Several looked ready to kill, and like they could go off any second. She had never seen anypony get so upset over an opinion.

One man yelled out over the crowd, “But if there’s nukes still in use, what else are they hiding?” Murmurs and shouts of agreement followed the statement, along with cries for answers. Applejack looked from one angry face to the next, and her heart began to race. Whether it was fear or anticipation, she couldn’t be sure.

“Quiet!” Dmitri barked in a commanding tone. The crowd followed the order almost instantly, and Applejack could see why. The young man stood ramrod straight with his arms crossed and his feet planted firmly in a wide stance. A fierce glare set his gaze alight that made each one of the unruly people he turned it on shiver slightly. Even in his simple hospital clothing, he cut an impressive figure. All eyes turned to stare at him, waiting breathlessly for his next words.

Dmitri took a second to gaze around the group again before continuing, “Get a hold of yourselves. AJ’s right here; we shouldn’t be mad because someone used a weapon. I would have rather had that bomb than not.”

“But what will happen now? How many more of those damnedable bombs’ve they got stashed away?”

“Yeah!” cried out another indignant voice, “They could use one to destroy any colony that didn’t obey them. They’d be unstoppable with weapons like that!”

“They already could, if’n they wan’ned to.” Applejack fired back. The eyes turned back to her, but now she could only find curiosity and fear. She swallowed hard and cleared her throat to continue, “They’ve got all kinds uh ships and soldiers; if they wan’ned to take over anythin’ it wouldn’ be too hard.”

“But…”

“Enough!” yelled Dmitri over the crowd, “You’ve all got work to do, or did you forget the people you left unattended to stand out here? Everyone with something better to do should hop to it!”

Grumbling amongst themselves, the crowd disbanded and returned to the hospital. Soon, Applejack was alone with Dmitri on the front lawn. She let out a quick huff of air and allowed her legs to collapse. The ground felt just as comfortable as the couch before, and her eyes were already beginning to sink. Every inch of her body was still shivering. Their angry faces stuck in her mind and swam in her vision. The humans had turned on her so fast; she had never seen anything like it.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Dmitri cooed reassuringly as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up as he gave a smile and added, “That’s how people are. They’re scared, and lashing out. Once there’s an official statement from the ECN they’ll calm down.”

“Didn’t ya do the same thin’?” asked Applejack tiredly, only half joking.

The young man laughed, “Yeah, and I’m all better aren’t I?”

“Ah guess so, huh?”

She let her chin sink to the ground and curled her legs underneath her body once more. Sleep threatened to overtake her once again, but she couldn’t stop glancing around. She hadn’t been afraid of the dark since she was a filly, but now the comfortable night was full of danger. Every shadow turned into another hateful face, each gust of wind an angry voice. Even as tired as she was, her mind refused to close down.

Dmitri knelt next to her as his arm gently wrapped around her waist. He heaved her back onto her hooves and chortled, “I don’t think it’s a great idea to pass out on the front lawn, milady. Someone may step on you. Let’s get you back on one of those comfy couches, and I’ll sit with you until you wake up.”

Applejack couldn’t hold back a yawn. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof, the other barely supporting her, and murmured, “Tha’ sounds nice. Thanks Dmitri, fer yer offer and fer stickin’ up to the crowd for me.”

“Nothing more than any gentleman would do.” assured the young Marine.

He was bent double, never taking his arm off her back. The only thing keeping her up was a hand on her side. She leaned against him, and sighed, “Then Ah’ll do the only righ’ thang and take ya up on tha’ offer.”

The hands turned her towards the entrance to the hospital, but she couldn’t resist one last look up into the sky. The patch of stars that had been covered for so long was clear; whatever pieces of the station that were left were floating amongst the blackness between the bright points of light. A weight that had settled on her so long ago lifted from her shoulders, and a slight smile graced her features. For the first time in awhile, she felt that the end was near.