“Shields !” I shouted, the watches magic wielders moving forward and bringing up energy shields of their own with practiced speed, “Bolters forward”. The watch ponies moved up, covered by the unicorn’s shields and levelled their crossbows.

Fire belched and spewed from the surrounded ponies accompanied by a horrible symphony of ear splitting noise the likes of which I had never heard. The scene before me held me in a freezing iron grip of shocked immobility. Whatever the spinning tubes were, flames erupted from the ends, spraying shards of death straight through the shields, though the watch ponies, as if they were nothing more substantial than air itself.

Mares and Stallions, ponies I had called my colleagues, my friends, ponies I had worked with for years, were turned into chunks of flying meat, organs and bone. Most stood stock still in shock, unsure of what to do. This was no magic, this was like nothing any of us had ever seen before. I took stock of the situation and gave my
commands, my heart hammering in my chest, “Retreat, officer get your ponies out of here, now. Bolters lay covering shots”.

Pointless.

The screams of the wounded and dying spread a fear through the watch as effectively as the fire wielded by the white mare’s group. Viscera and crimson flying gore mingled with the shocking white of shattered bone rained down around me.

“SIR !”, a foreleg grabbed my barding and pulled me face to face with watch sergeant Heather, “We need to get out of here !”. The panic was unmistakable in her voice. Order had broken down utterly and ponies were running for the doors, slipping on the gore of their fallen comrades. Wounded friends were kicked and trampled in the headlong rush to get away from the scything death sweeping through the warehouse behind them.

“Get everyone out ! Get them out !” I yelled running for the door. The door that was blocked with panicked watch ponies, all trying to jam themselves though at the same time. I roughly kicked one of the ponies aside, a young stallion, not much more than a colt. He stared at me with eyes wide in terror, “Get a grip of yourself watch pony.”, I pointed a hoof at the rest now looking at me rather than the door. They were all breathing hard, some with dark spots down their sides oozing blood.

“Watch sergeant.”
“Sir”, Heather snapped a salute.
“Get them out. Take them to the assembly area and contact the militia, we’re going to need every pony we can down here.”
“Yes sir”.

Pulling and prodding the ponies into a more orderly evacuation, the experienced sergeant of the Manehatten Watch, filed the ponies through and out into the night. I didn’t doubt that once outside they would run for all they were worth. It didn’t matter though, so long as they were safe.

I turned back and picked up a loaded cross bow that had been dropped in the panicked scramble to escape. I hadn’t used one since basic, but I was still a reasonable shot. Magicking up a bundle of bolts from a quiver, I ran for the cover of some crates. I kept low, I’d quickly seen how little protection these afforded to the weapons wielded in this building tonight, but I had to do something, anything, to take their attention away from my ponies.

Using the stacks of boxes and crates to hide my movement, I snuck around to draw a line of sight on the five ponies. Keeping slightly behind the large mirror, I hoped the shimmer from its eerie surface would help keep me from being spotted. The group was still covered with the mares magical shield, the glow brightest to the front covering her comrades from any retaliation, there hadn’t been many but I could still see the odd spark of a bolt ricocheting off its surface. I could only pray that the shield was weaker at the rear and my bolt may have some hope of penetrating. “Luna, guide me”, I thought to myself as I took aim and squeezed the release lever.

My heart sank as the bolt skipped harmlessly off the shields surface. “Fuck you then”, I muttered as I pulled the quiver open to take another bolt. Maybe I should have thanked Luna that the ponies under the shield hadn’t notice the bolt strike and turned their weapons on me.

All their attention instead, was focussed on cutting down the fleeing watch ponies, sickening grins on their faces whilst they did their grisly work. The bastards were enjoying this, drool dripped from the tube wielding black ponies muzzle, eyes wild with excitement.

Held in my magics grip, I emptied the bolts onto the floor looking for what I prayed would be there. It was. I re-cocked the crossbow and place the faintly glowing green tipped bolt into position and rested it on a box to help steady my aim. These bolts had been developed by our magical research team to combat shields, following previous run-ins with underworld unicorns. Good old Speak Easy, next rounds on me buddy.

I levelled the crossbow at the big bastard, bringing my eye to the sights and trying to control my breathing. I aimed for the bulk of his body, hoping that even some deviation in my aim would hit him and if not kill or incapacitate, at least divert his attention from those still trying to get out. I slowly exhaled and squeezed the release lever. The crossbow bucked as the heavy bolt left on its journey.

The flight of the projectile seemed to take an age to travel towards the shield, all the while I gritted my teeth willing it to strike true. A flare of bright green light appeared for an instant on the shield and disappeared as fast. Abruptly, the roaring, whining noise stopped as, with a cry, the large buck fell to the ground. One of his colleagues moved to aid him whilst the others, the white mare included, turned to face their attacker. Oh crap…that was me !

“There !”, she shouted levelling a foreleg in my direction. “Oh bollocks, time to move !”, I said out loud and ran for the metal gantry steps I’d noticed earlier as I’d move into position.

Metallic ‘pings’ and thuds resounded around me as I ran, splinters flew from the crates stinging my sides and flank. I was glad of my watch training that night. Leaping up the stairs several at a time, I took the corner along the gantry like sombre himself was after me. My rubberised hoof covers gave me exceptional grip on the gantry as well as covering the noise I made. This high up, it was virtually pitch black and the fiery blasts from the weapons the ponies were using was blinding them, helping me avoid a swift and bloody end.

I recalled the floor plan of the warehouse in my mind. There should be an office up here, the door open, ready for....

I tripped on something at the end of the metal gantry, catching myself from heading muzzle first over the railing to the floor below. Looking over my shoulder I found myself looking into the glassy eyes of one of the snipers assigned to provide the rest of us with cover. A neat hole in his forehead had ended his life. No time to mourn him now I thought and pushed at the steel door to the office. Locked. Locked from the
inside ! What the fuck ! There were three snipers assigned to this area, the door was to have been unlocked, what the hell had happened ?

I would worry about that later, if there was a later for me. It was looking decidedly unlikely I would ever get out alive, holes were being blasted through the gantry floor by the wildly firing ponies below, their anger now focussed solely on yours truly. I backed towards the railing and reloaded another infused bolt into the crossbow. Shooting blindly towards the flames, I was rewarded with a shriek from below. “Kill him ! Kill him now you fools, what the hell are we paying you for ?”. She had a nice voice for a homicidal maniac.

The beautiful white mare dropped the shield. Her magic yanked the saddle pack and tube-thing from the big guy, now no longer moving I noticed, and hoisted the whole lot into the air. The open end of the tubes swinging up and towards me as that terrible whine began again. “Oh fuck me fucking sideways !”, I cursed as I fumbled for another bolt.

It was too late. The whining roar lanced fire toward the gantry and cut through it like a hot knife through butter. The steel groaned and I felt it move slightly, giving me a sickening feeling of imminent gravitational pull. Looking frantically around in the flashing orange light, I saw a line of holes in the side of the office wall, the side of the office wall window that was. I shot the last bolt towards the mare and flung the heavy crossbow at the window, shattering it. Fear and adrenalin pumping through me, I ran and leapt, eyes closed tight and crashed though the broken glass into the office beyond.

I didn’t have to wonder what had happened to the snipers any more. The body of one cushioned my fall as I rolled off, shaking the glass from my barding. I was bleeding

from multiple lacerations but that was of little importance when faced with getting back to my team alive.

A lantern sat on the floor, still lit, reflecting a low glint from the padlock on the…inside ? of the office door. In surprise, I looked back at the sniper ponies. Each had a hole in the back of their heads, a corresponding one on the front. Poor bastards, they hadn’t stood a chance, I’d doubt they’d even seen their killer. No sign of any bolts by the wounds, it must have been one of the magical fire weapons. Which meant, my mind racing, that there must be at least one more of these fuckers here somewhere.

A loud rattle reverberated through the room from the far doorway. The frame illuminated by an orange light which flashed in time to the noise beyond.

I sidled up to the door. I sure hoped that the recon-team had oiled the hinges on this one properly. Thankfully, opening it proved to be an easier task than the last one. Whoever had taken out the snipers hadn’t expected anyone to come in through here and had been so pre-occupied making their own cacophony, they hadn’t noticed the crash of my unceremonious arrival.

On the outer balcony, a black cloaked earth pony panned fiery death into the sky, a staggered line of piercing light reflecting from the surrounding structures. I flinched
as a bolt suddenly embedded itself in the door I held open with a loud ‘thunk’. ‘Fantastic’, I thought to myself sarcastically, ‘escape magical murdering ponies to be shot by my own bloody team !’. Pushing the thought aside I drew my combat knife with a silken smooth movement that even my old instructor would have been impressed with.

Hooking my foreleg under her neck I pulled her head back, drawing the blade sharply in and across her throat. She let out a startled cry, a huff of air and her eyes went wide. I couldn’t look at her. There were parts of this job I hated and hurting other ponies was top of the list for me, but taking the life of another ? “I’m sorry” I whispered, feeling her body become heavy and limp. I let her slip to the floor and stepped up to the railing before a voice crackled over my TED, “Cap ? Captain Fairlight is that you ?”

Blaze’s voice blasted through my ear so loud I thought my eardrum was bleeding, “Blaze ? I’m on the outer gantry, west side. Tell your team to stop shooting dammit, its me !”.

“Stand by one”, came the reply. Blaze was Dawn’s second in command of the flying squad.

I went to head down the metal steps and paused. A metallic clinking sound called my attention. I turned to look at the still figure of the mare, her throat open to the night air, steam lifting from the wound. Her eyes stared up to the stars with the same glassy stare I’d seen in the sniper ponies. She didn’t deserve my compassion, I thought callously, her and her damned compatriots had murdered my friends, left them bleeding and dying in a cold, dark, warehouse on an all but forgotten dock side. They didn’t deserve that. Something inside me though….damn it, it was still wrong.

I pulled my gaze away to the device on her back. It was hard to make out but I would have a better look later. Three buckles cinched the pack to her back and I hauled it up and off, taking the connecting cable and bit with it. “Come on Cap, you’re a the last one we gotta haul flank !”.

“Celestia fuck me sideways Blaze”, I yelped in surprise as the light grey pegasus seemed to materialise in front of me, “I nearly shat myself !”.
“All a part of the service sir. Come on now, lets get the flock outta here. Jingo, take the capn’s toys and get back to the station lickety split. Tingles, you grab that side……”

“Whoa hey !” I exclaimed as the two Pegasi grabbed me and hauled me into the air. Oh Celestia, bloody vertigo, I’d have to have words when I got back. Back. Back to….what ? Oh goddesses, no.

“All teams have been pulled out Cap, army boy’s are on scene. They’ll take care-a things.”

“Blaze”, I asked “Where’s Dawn ?”. There was a long pause. I wondered if Blaze hadn’t heard me, then I noticed the glint of starlight in her tear filled eyes. “She didn’t make it Cap.”

I didn’t reply. My mind was a blank, I kept hearing the screams of pain and fear in my mind, kept seeing the flashes from those terrible devices. Ponies I had shaken hooves with only this morning, I would never see again. Except to bury them. I had to get back to the Watch house, had to get back and find out how every pony was, make sure every pony who needed medical help had it, make sure we knew…..knew who we had…lost. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, flapping wings blowing icy wind onto my sides.

Some pony was responsible for the horror of this night. Some pony had to pay for this, and I would make sure to collect…..in full. “I don’t know who you are yet” I whispered to the night sky as we sailed out over the rooftops heading for the city light of Manehatten, “But I promise you, I will find you…”, we began our descent to the watch house, “And I will kill you”.