The Hunter and The Hunted

by SmittyE

First published 5th of May, 2015

Cloud Dasher never was the smartest of ponies. Discharged from the Canterlot PD for reckless endangerment. Things have been going down the drain. He now offers his skills to the highest bidder. He may be a bit over his head, however.

"A smile can get you far, but a smile behind a gun can get you a lot further." - Al Capone

The job is simple; find and kill the mare, and get out. Payment was already in order. That was how it started at least. Now it's blown up and become a cross Equestria ponyhunt. Cloud Dasher is now the cat in a deadly game of cat and mouse, but will he make it out alive? With all that's at stake, it's his hardest job yet.

art by a good friend of mine. http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Caelus+Streak

REWRITTEN UNDER THE NAME Red skies..

Small Deals and Loose Ends

Author's Notes:

Welcome to the, by far, longest thing I've written in my actual writing career.

The radio crackled and buzzed, with a faint sound of jazz music coming from it.

'Come fly with me, let's fly lets fly away.'

All of this guy's songs were played nowadays; it's the only station I could even get a signal from. It'd been a long year since I was fired. Armed with the excuse of 'Reckless Endangerment', they were quick to usher me out. I stood up to get a beer as the song continued.

'If you could use some exotic booze there's a bar in far Bombay!'

"What a joke," I said to nopony in particular.

I live alone of course -- only perk of this is that I don't need to trot far to hit the fridge. I was disappointed on finding what was in the fridge: three empty bottles of beer and one rotten bowl of carrot soup were all of its contents. I was out of money; no chance I'd be eating anything tonight. It was then that my weariness caught up to me. It was one AM and the light of dawn was hours from coming up in the eastern skies. I fell towards the couch and landed almost perfectly. It wasn't long until me and rest met once again.

She sat across from me, the same silver mare. Moonlight Surprise was her name. I'll remember that until the day I find one more to replace her. It seems that stallions love not with their heart, but with their eyes. We were having a typical conversation, but as soon as I was able to respond, it was done.

'You're all dressed up to go dreaming. Don't tell me you're wrong.'

It was the same stallion from every other song on that radio, Golden Tongue. Sure he was getting a bit old, but I guess he still had it in him. It's also one of the few things, besides the alcohol, that made those long nights bearable. After all, I'm just that one pony built to do somepony else's dirty work. That's just what the world had it for. You start off fighting and you end up being the same one you were out to kill.

That's the simple beauty of it: at first you think they're just monsters then, after a while, you see it in you, it'll slowly become you. Even when it is your sole job to stop them, you can be them. The real monster in this world isn't hiding in your closet, it isn't hiding under the bed; the real monster is inside you.

All of this groping and moping will not get me anywhere. I pulled myself up off the couch, hungry and malnourished. I still live in this apartment, practically unfurnished. As soon as I pulled the door open I found a letter sitting just beyond it. Stamped and sealed, on the side lay my name: Cloud Dasher.

'It's going to be one of two things' I thought to myself.

'A contract, or another bill' The thought of the latter sent more shivers down my spine.

Closing the door, I sat back down on my couch and opened the envelope. Inside rested a sheet of lined paper, folded to fit the envelope. It had to be a contract. I rushed to unfold it and suddenly something fell out. I picked it up,only revealing the item to be a 100 bit bill, fresh with Luna's face on it. I turned my attention back over to the paper; it was a contract.

"Hello Mr. Dasher," I read aloud.

"Due to the course of recent events, I need your expertise again."

I stopped there, I knew exactly who this was: Crimson Vision. Crimson always had a knack for getting on the bad sides of ponies. That's probably what he's done again. As long as he pays well, I honestly couldn't care less.

"Please, meet at the typical spot, the bar across from Sugar Cube Corner. I'll be waiting at noon."

The note then ended; Crimson never signs off. It's rare for him to do so, honestly. So I guess this was away. I walked over to the small coffee table just past my couch/bed. There lay my jacket. It was a brown jacket, made out of fake leather. It's been mine ever since I was in the PD, and it'll be mine until it doesn't fit anymore. On the other end of the room lay a small table, more like a nightstand, I got on discount. Atop said nightstand lay my knife. It was an automatic combat knife, deploying its blade from the handle forward rather than rotating. It was the ideal weapon to carry. Small enough to be clipped in the inside of my jacket, and large enough to deliver the killing blow.

Clipping it to a small flap on the interior of the jacket, nopony would ever know I carried it. I then exited my door, entered the elevator, and left the building. I was 4 miles from the location. It was then that I started running. It took me 30 minutes to reach my location, but sure enough, I could see Crystal's yellow coat and white mane in the window of the bar.

I opened the door and sat down next to him. He had noticed me and ordered a shot of scotch. It took the bartender a few seconds to get to me; some mare was ordering a stirred vodka ponytail. He dealt with her, and then dealt double to my client and I. We were regulars, so he knew we both wanted one.

"Now about this deal, what's going down?" I started.

"Well, somepony’s been watching my marefriend lately..."

"Let me guess, you want him gone?"

"Oh, dear Celestia, no! I just want him dealt with... discretely."

"Alright, fine, fine how you want it done?"

"Well, to get it going, the buck's name is 'Carmel', he's been at it for a while so he just needs a bit of roughing up."

"Well I need the money first. It's a formality for Celestia's sake you know that!"

He chuckled at that. After all, when you've been working with one stallion for 6 months you learn the ropes. Though ponies don't exactly write books on hit-pony services, he'd at least know that I needed that cash. He pulled out a money clip. On the front was a hundred dollar bill. I quickly snatched it from him.

"Hey, don't you need to do the job first?"

"I'm checking to see if you're bullshitting me. This looks like it's got twenty on the clip and there's no way you're paying me so much."

I grabbed the first bill and pulled it off; the rest were fifties.

"You know, ripping me off wouldn't be smart right? Though I’ll do it. You're lucky you're a prime client. Or I'd have you dealt with by now..."

He shuddered at the thought. I'm easily bigger than this good for nothing broad and wouldn't hesitate to sock him with swollen hooves had I not checked.

"Well, you said it'd do right?"

"How much is in the clip? Be honest this run and we won't have an issue."

"1,050 bits I swear!" I could easily hear the fear in his voice. Can't quite say I blame the stallion.

"Well, where is this creep? He'll be out of sight by dawn of tomorrow."

"Well, he lives in the old Warren district, a few blocks down from Acorn Crossing."

"Where that library was?"

"Bingo."

It was on, but I'd need to wait first. I took my shot of Scotch and walked out the door. I needed gear, and that hundred would cover it. First, though, I needed food. Luckily this meeting was just across from Sugar Cube Corner. The food at that bar is shit, but the drinks are cheap. So I crossed the not so busy street, ponies looking at me as I crossed; I stood out like a green hat with a orange bill.

I didn't return their glances; I don't want a single one of them. The last thing I need is for them to notice me. It was then that I entered Sugar Cube Corner. Behind the counter lay Pinkie. She was energetic as she always was, though I swear that chick needed some fucking meds to keep her from bouncing off the walls.

"Oh hayo! Welcome to the corner! You want cupcakes? I love cupcakes! What about pancakes? Punch? Muffins? Oh what about the Marzipan Mediterranean Marewell Mega-cake? I've been dying to give somepony a slice!"

I stopped listening; I didn't care any longer. You have to stop caring to keep your sanity around her. I just thought quickly and got the cheapest thing on the menu.

"I'll take a Griffish Muffin please." I said quickly. I didn't want to stay with her long.

"Oh are you sure? What about the Marzipan Mediterranean Marewell Mega-cake?" she said quickly. I just shrugged as she picked up my order.

She bagged it quickly and put it in her jaws, handing the bag over to me. I threw my bill down on the counter,and she looked at it with confusion.

"Big spender, huh? Then why didn't you just-"

"Oh spare me the lecture and give me my change, mare! Should I have to ask you again?"

She gave me a weak whimper and threw down the correct change. The muffin was only one bit. I scooped it into my pocket and ran out of the building. I dashed down to the fabric store (not the one in the center of town, what that chick sells is expensive as hell). It was a shanty building just outside of town, so I ate my muffin on the way there.

I dashed past the library, then I stopped. I turned around and slowly began walking back towards the wreckage of what once was the Ponyville library. Passing the 'monument' that looked uglier than modern art, I looked for the caramel fellow, or at least his cottage. It was then I looked back at the clip I had kept (for Crimson didn't actually ask for it back) and inside it was a picture of the buck. Guess he didn't ask ‘cause he wanted me to keep it.

Well, I looked at the picture of the buck, He had a full set of brown hair on a caramel colored body. His cutie mark was a set of three horse shoes. This motherfucker could've been anypony in ponyville. I walked down the street, looking for any sign or at least a cutie mark mailbox. Something I could use. Then I found it. 1428 Acorn Crossing, his home address. His cutie mark was stamped on the door to make local delivery easy. I then trotted back, being careful not to attract attention. The last thing I want is to be recognized by the same buck I'm supposed to deal with. I kept moving on at a steady pace out of town.

It took a solid 10 minutes to reach the store, but it was worth it. Truth be told the 'fabric store' really was a thrift shop. It was exactly what I needed though. A place with cheap clothes and with ponies that wouldn't ask why I needed what I got. I opened the door and went inside.It was warm, just the way I like it. Trotting on over to the headgear department, I was surrounded by caps, hats, beanies and more. What I needed, however, would take some digging. I dug in the box that said 'Wool and fabric' on it; this was where ponies normally dropped these of.

On the bottom of the box, I found it.

A black balaclava. It didn't have a mouth hole and allowed enough space for glasses. Perfect. I don't want this colt seeing anything on my face. I walked back over to the counter, and behind it was a small mare. She was a volunteer at the shop, just doing her dues to the community of course.

I slapped the balaclava down on the table.

"That's going to run you a quarter a bit sir!" she said happily. I pulled one of the bills that that Pinkie chick gave me and slapped it down. I then got 75 cents of pocket change. I put 2/3rds of it in the tip jar. Walking out of the store satisfied, I noticed a small rip on the top of the mask. It was nothing a bit of work wouldn't fix.

Just a few blocks away lies my favorite store, and unofficial supplier. 'Rock Solid Pawn and Gun' was a small pawn and gun shop just in the downtown ponyville area. They sell all that you need from combat gloves to shaving cream. I already had a pair of gloves, which were just an attachment to the hoof that allows non-unicorns to fire firearms without having to shove it in their gullet. What I needed was a little more sinister.

I opened the door and saw Rock Solid sitting behind the counter with his brother, Rock Bottom. They specialized in keeping their mouth shut if I paid for what I buy.

"Back again? What you need this time son? I'm guessing a box of 45’s?" Rock Bottom said. It was typical for me to buy ammunition here, but my job this time had little to do with death.

"Not quite, you got any baseball bats around here?"

"Not quite, why?"

"Don't ask, if you don't have a bat, then what do you have?"

"We sell firearms and firearms accessories..."

"No no no not that, I need something a little less... lethal"

"Ohhh, I gotta hammer, will that do?"

"Guess it'll have to, how much?"

"5 bits."

"New or used? Eh doesn't matter, it's a deal."

I slapped six bits down on the counter.

"Sir, I think you're overpaying."

"No, the other is for one simple request. If anyone asks, I wasn't here."

"Simple enough. Deal."

He took the whole set and came back with a small rubber mallet. But something else was in his brother's hand. Rock Solid was holding a crowbar.

"In case you need this..."

It was ominous, sure, but I guess I'd take it. After all it was in rough shape, so it would have to be worth the one bit I paid extra. putting both in a large interior pocket of my jacket, I left hastily. Now all I needed to do was wait. So I went home, turned the radio on, and sat there cleaning my new gear and fixing my mask.

The time was 11:26 PM. My balaclava blended perfectly with the night, something I'd be sure to thank Luna for. I stood there at Caramel’s door. In my down time I worked up my routine and met with my client, who gave me a picture of his mare. She was a beige pony with a good rack of blonde hair and a brown hat. She was obviously a farmer based on her cutie mark. I ran through the plan one more time. If it all went down right, it'd only take 3 minutes. If he was a fool it'd take 10. I got the courage, knocked on the door, and awaited the answer. I heard hooves on the other side.

"I'm comin, I'm comin!" he called.

He wouldn't be talking for a long time.

The knob began turning and I readied the crowbar. As soon as it was open I swung hard into his groin. He screeched and collapsed in a ball of tears as I kicked him in the ribs. Running inside and slamming the door shut, I was sure to lock it.

Beating him more and more with the crowbar, I felt each rib give in and break under the pressure. It was then the crowbar broke. I pulled the hammer out. He coughed blood as he tried to get up and retrieve something from another room. As soon as he ran, however, I swung hard into his leg. It clotheslined him and broke his leg.

He screamed in agony only for me to hit him with the hammer again. I saw the blood build up and he was barely conscious. I turned him over and stomped on his jaw, knocking all his bottom row of teeth out, then I hit him in the groin with the hammer to keep him down. Lookin’ that dickless buck dead in the eyes, he was horrified and in a ball of tears. A pool of piss lead up behind him.

I threw that mare's picture in the pool.

"If you're caught with her again, I'm coming back motherfucker. I'm not warning you."

"Who-" he began to mumble.

"Who are you?" He finally said.

"Me? I'm your worst nightmare." I said, hitting him in the face with the hammer.

He was KO'd. I picked up my blood soaked crowbar and its head, which was on the other side of the hall at the front of his house. Then I put it in my jacket, not before wiping it off on his clothes of course. Blood rusts metal after all. Then I picked up my hammer and did the same. If one cannot care for his tools he cannot care for himself.

I exited through the back door quickly. I needed to get out of here ASAP. I'm sure the neighbors heard that. So I jumped his backyard fence and rushed towards the pawn. If the fuzz is showing up I need to look like I had nothing to do with it. I used the location to my advantage and walked down the street, balaclava hanging gently out of my outside jacket pocket.

Sure that Balaclava had some blood on it, no big deal; It'd wash off easy. So I still walked down the desolate road. There were no lights in Ponyville, so I made haste by memory. As soon as I reached the door to my apartment, I noticed something was off. I felt something under my hoof. I stepped up to see what it was, and it was a letter. No ordinary letter. Another job? Maybe. It got a bit of Caramel's blood on it from my hoof, but whatever. I opened the door and found sleep awaiting me patiently at 12 AM.

The New Deal

Waking up proved to be a chore. Slogging my head upwards to realize that my left hoof was already dangling off the edge of the couch feeling slightly painful, not only that I had slept oddly with a hoof dangling, but also that I had a serious headache. Last night had been a ruckus, but I got paid enough to live for another few months. That's all that matters: a steady cash flow.

Speaking of cash the envelope at my door rested on my nightstand, alongside where I had tossed the tools of the trade from the night prior. I trotted over to it gently; that is, after falling out of my couch and landing with an amusing thump. The envelope was a mere 5 feet away, so it didn't take much to reach it. Once I was at it I noticed something rather peculiar. The address was in Latin.

'Savare Vitas'

I knew enough of the language to know exactly what it meant. Savare Vitas is a infinitive phrase meaning 'To save lives'. It's now taken up by the six new government officials. Ironically, I really see no life saving purpose for them, other than to keep countries from nagging at each other over trivial problems. To be honest, I think this might just be a coincidence: there's no way any governmental body would need the assistance of a pony like me, especially if they have control of the defense forces and Equestrian Secret Society.

Whatever. I ripped the top open with my mouth. The contents spilled all over the floor.

'Wonderful job, Dasher, this is exactly what you need' I thought to myself.

Ignoring my sarcastic alter-ego, I proceeded to pick up the first part of the contents. It was a photo. The mare in it wasn't too bad in the looks department, though she did look about middle age. She had aged well. Her dark purple mane, save for a few random streaks of colors here and there, and her pinkish coat; looked innocent enough. Only problem though: there were other pictures of her.

One showed her cutie mark, resting on her flank lay an equality sign. Though her special talent may be math, she didn't look the type one bit. On further examination, something wasn't right about the way that mark sat. Something was off; it was as if she had tried to attach a crooked cutout of the sign and painted over it to make some almost convincing illusion that it was hers. There wasn't any way.

The next picture confirmed my suspicions. In the next photo she was drying off with a towel, and there the real mark showed. It was actually a star, leading behind it a solid line of light blue. Why would shy lie about her mark? What's so detrimental that she would need to paint over it so that nobody would identify her? I had a feeling I knew what this buyer wanted done.

I dropped that; it was the last image of her. On the floor was 5 pages of papers, all of different ages and subjects. Something else had gotten a firm grasp on my attention though. Looking just above the papers was a large money clip. The clip was full to the point of breaking, so I pulled the money out first in hopes to keep the small steel clip for a bit longer.

Counting the money methodically, my suspicion rose with each dollar. Every bill was a 500 Bit Bill, stamped on the front was Celestia's face. I kept going until there was none left. About two minutes later I finally got to the end, there was fifty bills in clip. And even more odd, the bits were fresh. 25,000 dollars of fresh bits.

I couldn't say no to whoever this was, I wouldn't care if this chick was trying to have me end the world if there was more payment to it.
So I went to the papers. The first one I picked up was a full report on her. The mare's name was 'Starlight Glimmer'. It showed an image of her face from all sides, or should I say of the front and then one on the left side. The section where her cutie mark was located showed two, one was the prompt equality symbol, the other was the one I saw earlier.

Skipping straight to the chase I read about her. Born in Canterlot, she has a degree in Government and Civil Engineering; a good mix for a leader. She had attended the school for gifted unicorns, so she was definitely an aristocrat. She disappeared until 12 years later where she would rule over a small town under a communist-monarchy. She escaped arrest from government officials and is still at large.

I flipped through to the next set of notes, this one was jotted down with gibberish. It was on things like quotes from her. Some of them were methodically taken by someone who had the hoofwriting of a secretary for Celestia herself. It wasn't important, though it did contain a small map leading to different areas.

The next sheet would have a list of associates, and a price next to each one of their names and pictures; I saved that one for later. The second to last sheet would be another one of those, and the names went on and on. I tucked those into my jacket pocket, which I was still wearing, and I also took that moment to remove the hammer and broken crowbar from my large breast pocket.

Looking at the final sheet, it was stamped and closed with a 'For Cloud Dasher's eyes only' stamp. Under it had the same Latin quote. I opened it carefully and saw it was a formal note. I read the contents quietly to myself.

'Dear, Mr. Dasher.

I have been keeping a close eye on you lately, and I must say I disapprove of your 'business' you've been running for the past half-year. It's very... unusual of a change for a police officer in the safest city in Equestria. Though I'd hate to say it I might just understand why ponies need ponies like you. I have a job I need you to do. The pony in the mail I've sent you (along with an up-front fee, as a formality) has been reaping havoc on my mind lately. She was the leader of a Fascist movement that me and my associates were supposed to suppress. She escaped unharmed. This will not happen again.

I have suspicion that she has been restarting this life in another part of Equestria. This has left me to one issue though: where? The last town she was building was not on the map, and I have good reason to believe this one won't be either. I need you to find her, and I need you to kill her.
Meet me tomorrow at 5 PM outside the friendship castle. I'll be waiting.
Should you complete this task we'll wipe your record clean and give you legal immunity.
Very well,
Twilight Sparkle.'

To be honest, I didn't know what to say first. I knew that with the up front charge this would have to be a big job. Bigger than anything I've seen honestly: I've never been assigned a politician in my life, much more the head of an enemy resistance movement. This should pay well. I got my leather jacket on and headed out the door, knife in pocket.

Getting there was easy; just walk towards the giant ass building on the far northern end of the town. It stood out like a bad joke in a professional act. There was a straight road leading down to the castle; ten minutes down there and I would arrive. I began my quest walking out towards the building and down said road. I passed all the normal monuments, all the normal offices and houses. Then I reached my destination.

At the front of the castle was a line of Equestrian Royal Guards, all anticipating my move. Standing at attention, in the front of the formation stood Equestria's newest princess, Twilight Sparkle. A purple on purple pony, most would consider it an honor to be anywhere near her. I, however, found this occasion completely horrid. Stepping towards her she gave a command.

"Guards, at ease. Parade rest!" She shouted, and instantly all the guards halted and stood in a handsome position reserved for parades.

"You'll need to forgive me for the guards, you just cannot let your guard down." She said with a smile on only one side of her mouth.

She was in formal wear, as she bore her crown upon her head; It was too cliche. The halls were clean as can be, not a spot in sight. This is until I reached the destination she wanted me to be with her at. It was a planning room. What got my attention wasn't the massive map in the center, it actually was the gigantic tree practically growing out of the top.

"I see you're very... organic with your decor?" I said softly, making sure not to create an echo down the hall.

"Well, this was a gift from some close friends. It really spiced the place up."

"I'd assume so," I said, looking back behind me. The hall was striped to the core.

We walked over towards the map, where there was a large chair, one that seemed too out of place, seeing as it was smaller than the rest of the thrones and had no mark on it. She must've bought it just for guests.

"Now I assume you read the letter, no?" she said, putting on glasses to help her better read the map.

"Yea, honestly I wouldn't imagine being here."

"Well, someone of your aptitude, as sick as it is to call it that, should have privacy when discussing plans."

"Speaking of plans, how do you want her dealt with?"

"Any way you see fit. I just want her gone."

"Room to be creative? Sounds nice."

"Now the last time I had made contact with her was on the mountains right about here."

She pointed to the far northeastern section of the map. There was a newly added town that wasn't there on the map I was given. Perfect: following outdated directions. Needless to say, that must've been the town she was running, simply dubbed 'Our Town'. It made sense for it to be some form of Fascist/Communist government to have a leader have full control over a town and still claim it to be 'shared'.

"Now, she ran into a cave and never returned. It's a possibility there is another hole she could've used to exit. The names on the other sheet of paper are people who are followers, people who also need to be dealt with. I've put a price over them if you feel inclined to hunt them down."

"You really don't want this cancer spreading, do you? For the princess of friendship, you're awfully unfriendly to these ponies."

"Well, yes, but under our constitution it states that I may do anything necessary to protect others; this is necessary."

"If you say so," I said with a shrug.

"Now, find them and eliminate them with extreme prejudice," she said.

I left the building with a clear set trail on what needed to be done, and walking down the road I thought of what they asked of me. Did they, or she, really want me to do this? Did she have Celestia's consent to do so? If so, then why not just have the Royal Guard go after them? Why so discrete?

I took a left towards an alley. It may not be safe, but it'd take me closer to the bar faster then taking to the road. Halfway through, I heard somepony step on a bottle, or more like swing it. I swiped around to see a dirty unicorn, levitating a broken bottle. He meant business. And so did I.

"Listen, punk, I don't want to take your life, but I got no problem doin’ it, kid. Just drop your bit pouch and we won't have any trouble."
He sounded like he was from Manehattan, not an issue though. They never are tough fighters.

"Thats ironic, seems like you're already in a bit of trouble," I said ominously.

"Oh really? How so?"

"Simple."

I spread my wings and flew towards him. He tried to thrust the bottle, but instead the bottle ended up hitting the wrong end of my hoof. The bottle shattered into pieces. Just as quickly as it started, I used the force of the initial launch to fly into his breast. He coughed something incomprehensible. Soon enough, he was back to talking.

"You piece of shit! Listen, son, this is a stickup. Drop the fuckin bits!" he yelled.

"Not happening,"

This time I pulled out my knife, and flying towards him again I pressed the button. The blade had flown out from the handle and stopped right where it was supposed to. I pushed it hard into his heart, blood spilling on the ground. I pulled upwards towards his throat, but instead it was stopped by the collar bone. He then tried pulling something out with his magic. All too fast I found he was grabbing his shotgun.

It was a short sawed off. I pulled out the knife out and stabbed his hoof. It had impaled his arm all the way between the bones. He screamed and instead of focusing on levitating his shotgun, he dropped it. I used this gained time to fly over to his left, kick off the wall and stab him in the neck. He was down for good.

I left the shotgun there; it had broken as soon as it had hit the ground. Instead I turned around and walked towards the bar. I trotted in at a sturdy pace so that I could be out of sight before the crowd shows up. Finally reaching the bar, I entered and sat at the seat by the far end of it. I ordered 3 scotches and downed them all. After that it was straight home. I had some work to do.

Author's Notes:

Sorry but the last two chapters were really short, but the story is picking up I promise! just tell me what you think and I'll be sure to read and respond!

So the hunt began

It all starts with a push. Waiting at home, I turned the radio off from the Jazz station, and finally got a signal from the news, or at least sort of a signal.

'And now for the public crime watch.'

The narrator's voice wasn't particularly exciting, but I did expect another 3 minutes of fame.

'We've had a spark in violent crime lately, starting with a home intrusion at 11:30 PM. Suspect broke in with a crowbar and hammer, proceeded to beat down the owner whilst spewing threats. The subject is still at large. The police are offering a 1,000 bit reward for any information on the suspect.'

Well that was short. Looks like you'd need to kill a lot of ponies to get a look on the paper today. That's how society is; I'd need a massacre to get noticed. Looking back at the list I was given, that made another point. If I were to kill this whole list, there's easily over a million bits in cash going to me, but what's more is there were a lot of ponies on this list.

That wasn't an issue for me, if I get the cash then I have no problem finishing this job once and for all. Sitting back down and listening to the evening report, which was on something about Mr. Filthy (very fitting name should I be asked about it) buying out a general auto parts company. Can't compete with a monopoly, or with a rich man hungry for more money. I guess that's how it is. Well, looking back on this, I'm hungrier than he'll ever be.

Literally: I haven't eaten anything since that muffin. Still gotta apologize to that Pinkie chick for the incident. Stress must've caught up to me I guess. After all, this job just creates more tension than anything else.

Throwing myself towards the fridge, I opened it to find the same rotten soup, but a new six pack of beer. It pays to work, and it sucks to suck. Someone's gotta eat the dirt for someone else to make the cash. Guess that's how it goes. Everywhere I go it's always the same song and dance.

Opening the first beer I could find, it was a Milhawkee's finest. At least that's what the can said. I honestly don't believe the finest would be my bar’s discount brand. Either the cheapest bar in Equestria sells the finest booze or the 'finest' was lying. Looking back over to the radio, they had spent an awful lot of time on Mr. Filthy's new accomplishment. I took a large gulp of my beer when somepony decided to knock on my door.

I put the beer on the floor next to the couch and hovered over to the door; whoever was behind it was very patient to have not knocked again. As soon as I got to the door and opened it, it revealed a different story.

"You're Cloud Dasher, right?"

"Yea. What's it to ya?"

"Princess told me you lived here, she wanted to give you this."

He handed me yet another sealed envelope. This time with the Royal Celestial Stamp on the front.

"Well is that all?"

"Well no, she also wanted me to tell you good luck."

"No need, get out."

He scurried off after that, he was no doubt one of the many royal messengers. Poor ponies who had nothing to do with their lives but polish the shoes of royalty I'd assume. Well he was sent here on a mission and got probably 20 bits in return. Still a better paycheck then what I got (and still get today actually).

Opening the envelope showed how much Princess Sparkle wanted that chick dead. It was an Equestrian Secret Service spy report on Starlight. This time, however, gave me the location of somepony I'd never seen on that list. His name was Fancy Pants. Fancy Pants was an aristocrat in the south central area of Canterlot. His job: be rich and get richer. He was a prime example of what being born in the right family meant.

I remember the buck too. One night maybe 3 years ago I was on night duty. He called in at 4 AM with a missing filly report. It wasn't given by the head so it wasn't anything too bad, we just needed to keep our eyes out for some filly who had run off. If it had come from the warren then it was real trouble, foal-napping to be exact.

I trotted to his house, walkie talkie in my glove to report back any sign of the filly. I kept moving without noticing a thing. It was then that I got to their house, around 4:10 AM, and they acted like it took me days. They were yelling all sorts of insults, as if I was being a bad officer or something. Whatever, I'm not the parent that can't keep an eye on a filly.

They gave me what he looked like, where he had last been and where he said he'd be heading. They told me that he was headed to a friends house down the road; only two blocks to be exact. Lazy assholes, can't walk fifty feet for the sake of their own son. Whatever, I just hoped this wouldn't become a wild goose chase.

I pulled my MP3 player out and put the earbuds in, the first song that came on was not my favourite but it'd do. It was Slim Shady's 'Criminal'

'Some poines ask me... Stupid fucking questions. They think that cuz I say somethin’ on record that I actually do it. Damn if you dumb enough to think that then I'll kill you! You know why? cause I am a Criminal!'

I sort of sang along with the last line, after all I could completely relate to him at that point. After all I just did get a stupid fucking question. I kept listening for 2 minutes until I finally got to the house. At least I was at my favorite line.

'windows tinted on my ride when I drive in it. So when I rob that bank I can just run out and dive in it. I'll be disguised in it. If I really cared I would be back in five minutes, after being identified by the eye witness. Then I'd kill the Private I and the 9 kittens. Fuckin puppy is lucky I ain't blastin his ass yet!'

Yea, don't want to talk to a bunch of angsty teens while listening to good rap, unlike them. They listen to Lil Payne and shit like that. Bitch's only good for bein’ doctor suess. Well, I walked up to the door of the considerably large mansion. Knocking on the door, I got a near immediate response from the parents.

"Oh Mr. Officer, please don't tell me my son is in trouble again!"

She was fucking terrified.

"No, I came to ask if you've seen Mr. Pants’ son, so have you?"

"Oh my yes I have, he's upstairs with my son. Am I in trouble?"

"May I see them?"

She let me in the house and led me up to the third floor, I could hear the Lil Payne blaring through the door. I opened the door to find the two teen ponies, both had a blunt in their mouth. Fuckin classic rich kids. They didn't know I was there yet, better take advantage of that.

"Mr. Pants, you're parents want you home NOW."

I was loud to try to get him to subdue immediately, after all marijuana only makes you dumber. Maybe I didn't think this through.

"Oh fuck! It's a cop!"

Shit, part of my job is arresting drug users. How could I have forgotten that. He ran towards me, and I pushed him back. I tried to make him just thud to the ground but something far worse happened, he flew backwards and I heard the window begin to shatter. Reacting solely off of instinct I gained from my few short years in the royal guard, I ran towards him. He was already out, and I fell with him.

Grabbing him, I pushed him towards the house. He landed safely on the second floor balcony. I, however, landed flat on my back on the hard concrete. I felt my rear left leg break, and heard at least three ribs break. The blood swooped over my head, and all over the sidewalk. I blacked out then. Still don't know what happened after. All I remember was waking up in the hospital.

"Doctor, think he needs any more morphine?"

The voice came from my right and belonged to the warren. Respectively I was happy he cared. Or so I thought.

"No, he'll be fine. Leave him in the cast for a few months, the ribs needed to be put back together though. Also, he's awake, if you need a word with him, do it now."

I was now fully conscious. I felt all the pain, and all the leather restraints on my other legs and across my neck.

"Listen, Officer Dasher, we don't have any choice."

"What do you mean?"

"What we mean is this, Mr. Pants is threatening to press charges. We need to get you out of here."

"Press charges? Their son was the one that they wanted back home! I got him there... at least I think."

"You think correctly, he had a minor cut from the glass though."

"And that's worth a lawsuit?"

"Listen, we don't have a choice. All I need to say is you're fired, and it's not my choice. By the way, here's your bonus."

He threw down a check, worth for about 600 bits. It was double my normal payment. He then walked out.

I would be back on the streets a few days after, but not with nearly enough money to live in Canterlot for much longer. I found that apartment in Ponyville and have been there ever since.

I woke back up from my trance then, looking at the picture of the stallion and his fancy double bar mustache. He hadn't changed one bit. The price next to his name on the paper was massive: 30,500 bits for him to be dead. It had another note next to it as well. On the paper Twilight wrote something personally to me.

'Sent you this to start you off on the right hoof. Fancy is a big supplier and funder of Starlight. He might know some other ponies that aren't on the list.'

It was on. Revenge is a bitch.

It was then I heard something slide; it came from the door. It was actually coming from under the door. It was a bulky envelope. This one had to be a contract other than this fancy pants jerk. I opened the envelope to get a very distressed handwritten letter.

'Dear, Mr. Slasher' I stopped immediately. This pony must've just heard of me.

'We, I am speaking on behalf of me and my fellow members, need a job done. We found that you were apt to do that. Mr. Filthy has been founding a rival of ours. We are the Bloods. Filthy is giving money to the Crypts, and I will not tolerate it. Kill him and you can take whatever you like in that motherfucka's house.
Sincerely,
The Bloods'

I never wanted to work with a gang, but someone as rich as filthy would mean a lot of money. Perhaps I could give a return address and deal with these low life's after I'm done. I'm sure they have enough to spice up my life. Getting the gear back together, I decided I may need something a bit... different for this job. I threw the broken crowbar out and kept the hammer, this time for utility purposes rather than leg breaking.

Clipping my knife, this will certainly see some action tonight, for I'm willing to bet that someone as rich as him has got some guards; I'm also willing to bet they're Crypts. Well I guess that's a win-win.

Grabbing my wallet, or should I say money clip with 950 bits on it, I walked on over to the pawn. It was bright out today, roughly eighty degrees. What could go wrong? So I trotted down to the south end, balaclava still hanging out from the side pocket of my jacket. When I arrived on location, it was 1 PM sharp. I walked in the door to find that only Rock Bottom was there.

"Where's Solid?"

"Oh, he's out with a sickness, nothing major."

"What a shame. Say, I got another job. And the crowbar broke by the way."

"Well it was in rough shape, so what do you need?"

"I need a Prussian Issued Nagant Revolver, suppressor and stock included."

Bottom reached under the shelf, looking for the right revolver. He had all types of weapons down there, Smith and Weston 500s, .44 mags, .357 mags, taped up Saturday Night Specials for only 70 bucks, but on the end of the shelf was the one I wanted.

"She's a Nagant 1895 revolver, built to fire the 7.62x25mm, she's easy to compare to a .38 super used by our Griffish neighbors. It is an internal cartridge so that we can keep all the gas inside that we can. She's also the only revolver that can be suppressed do to its unique firing operation. She's 400 with attachments and pure leather holster. Sure you want it or would you like somethin’ else? She's just a bit old, that's all."

"Lets see what else you have. I'm looking for something that I can carry even after this."

"Well, lookin’ for something small or big?"

"Medium, Glocks would do me nicely but they're expensive."

"Well, we have a solution."

He pulled a handgun out from under the rack, which looked like it was chambered in .38 shells, which is a nice round.

"This is the Taurus M85S .38 special revolver. She'll do for now, and she's cheap too. So just use it and sell it back, or better yet keep it for yourself. She's a 6-shot revolver that is so small she could fit on your hoof. Now she's also built to be used by both glove and mouth, so if you are ever caught off guard she'll do you well. There's so many of ‘em nobody would even know it's gone."

"How much?"

"She's 200."

"I'll take the M85."

I flipped out 2 100 bit bills on the desk, he signed no paperwork. He knew what I was using it for and didn't want any part of it (other than the money). We said our goodbyes, and I went on the march towards the house. I stopped by Pinkie’s, apologized (which she accepted) and got that cake she wanted me to eat all so bad. I needed something to wash down with the beer I left at home.

As soon as I had gotten home, I put down the cake and began to eat and drink. I needed to wait until 11:30 to do the job.

The cake was almost gone by the time 11:20 rolled around, so I got my weapon and loaded a chamber of .38s. I grabbed my hammer and knife, along with a few other goodies I had picked up that could make life a bit easier and marched on.

Since the last crime, the police have been on a scouting period later on at night, though I doubt they take it seriously. Ponyville is a laid back city, that is unless you were near the princess's castle. In that case you can't take a step without finding at least one policepony. So I walked quickly until I got to my destination.

When I was there I saw a mansion of considerable size: 5 floors, long on all ends, fountain out front but most useful, a gigantic master bedroom on the middle room at the top floor. Those aren't what caught my eye. What grabbed my attention was that there was a booth just outside the gate, and it was manned by a well awake security pony.

'This shouldn't be too hard, I have a plan anyway. Just move in and take him down quietly. Then I can move around and continue as it should.' I thought to myself.

I walked by the dark end of the booth, which was a blind spot of his. The pony inside was smoking a cigarette, giving me all the more of a reason to end his life early. I felt the urge to shoot him, but it just wasn't worth the sound. I pulled in a small black saddle pack I had taken with me to find a plastic bag I got. I then knocked gently on the door.

Being him, he walked out with a gun drawn. It's another .38, so I might as well grab it for ammo (and use if it's better than the one I got). As soon as he exited all the way, I slammed the bag over his head, kicked him in the groin whilst turning him around, and tied the bag shut. I threw him in the bush while I heard him struggle for his life. He would suffocate to death soon and no longer be an issue.

I used that moment to press the button that controlled the security cameras. There were hundreds. Rather than locate them all and cut the wires like my plan originally was, I just shut them all off from there. Why wasn't that my plan from the start? After they were all down I heard something coming from behind the booth. No doubt another guard.

This time she spoke.

"Silver Horizon? You alright? I heard something over here and was wondering if you're okay."

She cannot live. Only problem that I have is not being able to knock her out of breath through usual methods. She was then crossing towards the door. I pulled my next object out; it was the broken glass from a bottle I had in my fridge. I put tape over it while I was there so it wouldn't cut my mouth.

On that note I put it firmly in my mouth and waited for her. She then walked through the door, giving me my chance. I rushed towards her and stabbed her straight in the eye. It was all too quick for her to scream. I punched her in the jaw two times, and she was down. I pulled the shard out and stabbed it into her neck. It broke then, so I decided to leave it in her. Pushing her body in the corner locker of the room proved to be good for hiding her body. Outta sight, outta mind.

Trotting out of there way to nonchalantly, I waltzed over to the other guard. His back was turned, and he was wearing a similar balaclava that I was. Irony is a bitch. Well this is for cramping my style.

I then had thrust my leg into his back, throwing him to the ground. I then got on him and grabbed a nearby rock. Hitting him repeatedly with the rock, his brains slowly leaked out of his head. I kept on it until the grass was red with blood. I then dragged him over behind a tree. The last thing I wanted is a passerby seeing a dead body and calling the cops.

I then continued with my plan, the guards dealt with. I moved towards the phone line; I didn't want to give this buck a chance at grabbing help. Approaching it I pulled my knife out and opened it. Then I cut the wire that led to the phone... and the one to the water heater. Cause fuck yo heata, bitch.

I stepped towards the basement window. Rather than just being a window, to me it was a entrance. I broke it with my hammer, the glass shattering on impact; didn't look like anypony heard. I stepped in hoof first on the glass. Luckily I was wearing boots, or that wouldn't have ended well. I used my left hoof to reach into my bag. I had my glove on so I could actually grab things with the mechanical fingers on them. I finally grasped the next weapon on my list, a piece of string. And not just any string, but a pocket saw.

I couldn't risk bumping into a guard with my firearm; if I shot them, that would just lead to issues. Issues I'd much rather not have. Because they're issues, that's all I needed to know to understand I'd be castrated and hung for what I've done already. Walking towards a door, I opened it and was greeted by darkness... again. I turned on an L shaped flashlight I had attached to the armband of my saddlepack. It was then that I saw a small strongbox. It probably had some money in it, so I just picked it up and dropped it in my bags.

Walking further down revealed animal heads of all types. From Cockatrisses to dragons, he was a hunter. I swear I saw a buffalo down there; does that make him a murderer? Or does it mean he supports genocide? Eh, whatever. Still going to kill him no matter what he believes.

I kept moving towards the stairs that rested on the other end of the room. The stairs had a different color on their walls. The walls in the basement itself was a greenish color, but the stairs was a dark red, blood red. I walked up them, and the wall was covered in images. Some of his daughter, his wife, and a few of him. I kept moving till I got to the top stair, but then I heard voices.

"Hey, this is where we heard that window right?"

"Yea, I'm pretty sure it was from the basement. Filthy demanded we check it out."

I ran over and hid where the door would stop. Or just beyond it so they could fully extend it. This was not successful. The door opened outwards, just revealing your neighborhood home intruder with a pocket saw ready. We exchanged our glances for a few seconds, then their eyes went down to my jacket. I looked down to see some blood on my collar.

"Oh yes: that. I'm very messy when I work you see. It's one of those jobs."

Rather than stay and chat, they swung a bat at me. I dodged and hit the swinger in the groin with a solid upper cut. Then the other was just stunned, so I grabbed him by the throat and began to saw; it didn't take long to get through the windpipe. When I did blood poured through the veins on his neck.

"You son of a bitch!" the other said as he ran at me.

I moved out of the way, and he flew down the stairs. As soon as he started to fall I pushed him further down. As he rolled I heard a snap and he grew unresponsive. His neck dangled the wrong way as it was caught in the stair's safety bar.

"Have a nice flight, asshole," I said, walking up to the next flight of stairs.

I kept moving up, and there were no guards. The next floor, however, confirmed different. A guard was about to move down the stairs, probably investigating the sounds down below. The pony’s breath made her sound feminine, so I could tell it was a mare. I put a nail down on the last stair. It was something I originally brought in case Filthy was less than compliant with me. Well, it has a better use now.

She stepped on it and right when she was about to scream I got to work with the saw. Cutting her windpipe was easier than the last. Blood poured down the stairs from her arteries. I kept moving, knowing that Filthy slept on the top floor from examining the building earlier.
I kept moving, and there was one guard outside of Filthy's door. I had to quickly dispose of him, so I wrapped the wire around his neck and pulled inwards, effectively cutting the windpipe. I then softly opened the door to see Mr. Rich, terrified at what he heard. Staring at me.

"Whatever you came for, you can just take it! Just leave me and my family alone!"

Under his arm was his daughter, and behind him was his wife.

"Oh, it's fine, really. I just need a few questions answered."

"Whatever you want! Just don't hurt us!"

"Alright, what does the name Starlight mean to you?" I said, pulling the .38 out from the pack.

"Nothing, I have never heard of her!"

I could see it was a lie. I shot his leg. The filly ran to the other room as he collapsed.

"I'm sorry son, but I'm going to need to ask you again. What is your connection to Starlight?"

"I fund her. She needed money. Kid, I know you like money, how about 1,000,000 bits if you leave now?"

It was a lie. I kicked him in the face into the window, which cracked against his head. Blood soaked where he was. His wife ran after his daughter.

"Who else funded her?"

"Fancy, Fancy funded him."

Tell me something I don't fucking know.

I grabbed my hammer and walked to the room his wife ran. It was a fancy bathroom. She screamed as I put my hoofs on her legs and dragged her into his main room. I noticed the filly was cowering in the tub but I'm not touching her unless it comes to it.

"How much does your wife cost you?"

"You motherfucker! Lay a hoof on her and you'll fucking regret it!" he screamed.

"Not an answer." I broke her leg with the hammer.

It was then that he reached under the desk to his right and pulled out a Colt 1911 A1. He fired two shots but I ducked and felt them fly over my head.

"You know, gunplay ain't nice."

I pulled my .38 out and shot his wife in the stomach. I then pushed her back in the bathroom as I heard every tear and scream. I turned back to him and shot him twice in the chest. He would die later that night. Well, I can't let the filly live. She looked like a spoiled bitch anyway. And I guess I don't need that saw anymore, it's going to rust soon...

After doing that deed I decided I needed to at least wash my face. After going over to the sink I put the water on it's hottest setting. I put my hoofs in and... it was cold. Fuck.

When the police arrived that morning, they saw a gruesome sight. But the one that caught their eye wasn't the beheaded thugs, or the guards. Oh no, it was the beheaded filly, hanging by her legs from the top floor. They never found who did it. They blamed it on a gang raid though.

That same morning, I washed the blood off of my hooves while I listened to Golden Tongue singing “Come Fly With Me.” I already listened to the report on the Rich massacre. I'd report later and pick my money up.

Author's Notes:

Well now THAT'S a chapter. Lets face it, I don't think they'll be missed. By the way if anyone is wondering the knife Dasher carries is a Microtech Halo V. It's a pretty good carry knife from my experience with it, just check the law where you are before lookin into one. Well I'm puttin it in full swing now.

Always calm before the storm

I sat back on my couch thinking about last night. What motivated me to do something that... grotesque? It'd never leave my mind. I, for the first time in years, felt regret.

I couldn't get it out of my head: the screams of not the mother, no not the father, the worst one was the filly. I was again sucked into the moment.

"What did they do!" she screamed.

"They didn't answer."

"But-"

I wrapped the saw around her neck, and she had cried something incomprehensible. In my own drunken rage I didn't think about how I did this: I pulled tighter, but I wanted to make this last... for whatever fucking reason I did it slowly; ever so slowly. The blood didn't seep through the wounds, but gradually trickled down. She continued to scream and cry until Ifelt the windpipe and neck against the saw, but I didn't hesitate. I kept on pulling until the neck gave way, decapitating the filly; the severed head rolling off the body.

It was over like that. My gaping hero complex had finally gotten the better of me. I always looked at myself as an anti-hero, but now that I see what I truly am: a monster; a villain in the finest right. I walked back to the fridge, and inside it lay another six pack, bought fresh right after I got all her blood off my hooves.

I grabbed two beers and downed them both in under a minute each. It wasn't enough to wash it out. It couldn't wash out the pain. I couldn't do it anymore. Was I done? Am I done with this job? Is this time to give up?

No, I needed to finish this. Now part of this isn't for money, it's for revenge. I grabbed two more beers and chugged them quickly. I stumbled down the road, no jacket this time. At least I remembered the clip. It was time for revenge.

I walked into the window right next to the door at the pawn, which grabbed the attention of Rock Bottom. He stared, horrified at what he saw. I then waltzed through the door. It was then I finally got a grip on myself and at least tried to push through this state of abuse.

"Son, you alright?"

"Shaken, but not broken."

"Well, that's not entirely true. You've been working an awful lot lately; anything going down?"

"More than you may know. I'm trading in my .38."

"Well I'll be. Thought you'd want to hold on to that."

"Guess not, but it's more of a trade."

"Oh?"

"I saw that the sawed off on the shelf is 140 bits, and I'm trading it in. Give me all the shells I can get with the rest. Whatever is the most brutal you have."

"That will be the flechette. She's all yours"

We both slammed down our weapons, his a wooden stockless sawed off shotgun. Mine the Taurus M85S revolver. Fair trade. He pulled three boxes of flechette and one extra box. This one was birdshot. I was fine with that, as birdshot is just a slightly more lethal flechette.

"Well, is that all?"

"Yup."

"Well, I need to ask, did you have anything to do with the incident that happened last night?"

"Don't ask."

"I see."

I put the shotgun under my arm and walked home, turning faces in the streets. But as soon as I got home, I pulled the shotgun up to my face. Not the barrel, but the side of the shotgun. I looked at what it said on the side, if you're going to own a weapon know what it is.

'Mossberg 500. 12 GA. Proudly made in Equestria. Armory Lane, Fillydelphia.' was inscribed on the side. The mossberg 500 is a good shotgun, but I much preferred the 590 I used back in the PD.

I put on some fitting music from my MP3 player while I got the shotgun ready for my next move. The song was 'Why'd you bring the shotgun to the party?', couldn't be better.

'Oh he's so alone, afraid, the kid your mother made sittin’ in that room like loser with all that drool. You think, then you get so paranoid with all the drugs they filled you with then BOOM. Make you feel like a man? Oh BOOM. Not the size we understand. If you want to start a way you better know what you're hittin’.'

I pulled the pump back, giving me the classic click sound. Music to my ears. A buckshot shell flew out of the chamber, so I picked it up for later and pumped it back and forth until it was unloaded. Previous owner left it fully loaded with buckshot defense grade shells. I'm looking for something a little more cruel for this occasion.

I cleaned the spaces between the pump and the main shotgun's frame. If I had the ramrod I would've cleaned the barrel, but I didn't have such luxuries.

'You turned the TV on, watch it if you dare. You see a politician and you start to pull your mane. They talk about demons but there's really nothin’ there. You wanna tell em what you're thinkin’ but you think they fuckin’ care? So BOOM, you think they hear you now? So BOOM, making noises in the crowd.'

By that time the mossberg was ready. I had more preparation to do though before I were to make my next move. I put it away and laid down on the couch. I guess revenge could wait: it was too rash... too short and too ill advised. It was time I had a talk with Twilight about this... problem she had.

She greeted me with a smile... or a fake one at that. I walked in with her as we went to the normal meeting room.

"So, you had some questions?"

"Yes. What happened with this Starlight chick?"

"Oh, that's simple. She ran a settlement in a secluded region of Equestria, one that wasn't even mapped. When we tried to subdue her, she fled through a tunnel, making us unable to get through with the chase. I don't feel comfortable with her still being around. So that’s why I got you. Anything else?"

"Yes, now you see I would imagine you had some control and authority in military actions, or at least on the homefront. So I did some research, and it turned up that you actually do have a position where you can command search warrants and arrest warrants. If that's the case, why not just send the ESS after her? I'm sure a 500 pony chase would be much more effective than a had-been off on the side of the road. So what's the big deal?"

"Well, that's where things get complicated. Celestia frowns upon the use of unnecessary violent force, and claims that it should only be used when the nation is in peril. Well, she said that she's not a state of national security so she stated me not allowed to hunt her down. So I looked for someone else that could. Now you see, I looked at the crime reports and noticed an unusual trend. For months you had been doing this job and had built up quite a reputation with people in this business..."

"Wait, people know who I am?"

"One way or another... yes."

"Well that just ain't right."

"You see, I was pointed in your direction. You were just what I needed. Invisible, smart, experienced, and motivated by money. That's all that mattered."

"So here we are?"

"Yes."

"Well that's boring. I expected more explosions, shooting and crap."

"Life isn't always what you expect. Anything else?"

"No, that's all."

I walked home, after all I already know that tonight wasn't going to be my night. Getting hungover wasn't ever fun. At least I forgot about last night. As soon as I reached home I opened the box of flechette and birdshot, loading the first 7 rounds to be flechette and the last one to be birdshot. Ironically, it makes the last shell loaded the first shell you fire, seeing as that one goes at the top of the tube.

Flechettes are nasty shells. Rather than the typical shotgun shell, which fires pellets, flechettes fire raw shrapnel. The ones in this specific box were nails and broken down sheets of metal. So in other words a whole lot of little nails flying downrange to bleed your target to death. The birdshot, however, was just a buckshot with smaller pellets allowing it to have the power of a 10 gauge.

Pumping the shotgun loaded the birdshot into the chamber. It was ready for tonight. Walking over to my pack, I pulled my other .38 out. It identified itself as the famous (or infamous depending on who you asked) Smith and Wesson model 10 'Victory'. The victory model was built originally for police use but was adopted into gangs soon thereafter.

I opened the cylinder, which revealed it to be full with .38 hollow tip rounds. These expanded a lot faster on contact and were banned from use by military occupants and police ponies due to them being too powerful. Well, looks like I got six of ‘em. I also got that box of .38s I bought the other day. I filled my jacket with boxes of ammo and sat on the couch, watching television. Nothing was on, but I didn't care. Needed something to pass the time.

Author's Notes:

I feel this story may be developing pacing issues. So yes I understand that this chapter isn't the most eventful but it's made to put things on a more rational tone. The next chapters will be much longer. I need to make these last if I want this story to go on.

Paradise Lost

I sharpened my knife carefully. The return address on the letter that was just next to my sharpener led me to an automotive repair center. Cars were not common in Ponyville, after all I can gallop across the whole town in just under 15 minutes. I guess when somepony has an accident they need somepony to give ‘em a hoof. This time, I'm giving them more than just a hoof. It's a hoof paired with a 12 gauge flechette shell pumped out from a mossberg 500 defense shotgun.

I pulled my gloves over my hooves, and they fitted nice and tight. The way I would want them too. Rather than wear a saddlepack (for it had my cutie mark on it), I made the investment in a military grade backpack; no more ruffling to the sides I guess. I put my shotgun and the .38 Victory in the pack’s biggest rearmost pocket. The shells would go in another. I cooked something up earlier that day as well. It was in a paper bag on a taped together shell.

A traditional shell loads pellets, and a flechette loads nails. What would happen if I put some highly flammable substances on a small arrowhead and stuck it in the shell? It didn't leak, for I taped it all the way over. That would rule explosion out of the question; the last thing I want is a melted barrel... or worse.

Shotguns aren't rifled however, so I do have one worry on the topic of accuracy. I'll just need to do this in close proximity. This brought something else to my attention; I needed a plan. Well, it wasn't actually necessary, but more of a formality. It's like 'Hey motherfucka, I came to shoot your porch up and rape a bitch, and I'm all out of porch.' Guess that's the plan.

It was 10:20, only one hour before the traditional showtime. Well, to be fair, I could leave now, it's not exactly a regular hit I'm doing. That and justice doesn't wait; and neither do I. Getting up I bagged the specialty shell; I'll use that only if I need to. Putting that in a special pocket for easy access, I clipped the knife to my jacket. I also grabbed a trusty automatic lockpick of mine. Never failed me and won't fail me now.

I exited my apartment and put my balaclava on out behind the complex. Seeing as it's not 11 yet, the police are still on patrol. Walking through the alleys, I stepped on bottles, plates, and broken shit. I swear I saw at least 20 rats along the way. Then I finally made it to the building. It was a shanty two floor complex with no sign. It had a few garages in the back. Shockingly, it didn't have a guard.
I pushed my lockpick in the front door, applying pressure to the handle, which let out a small click.

click
click
click
click

The door was unlocked. I opened it gently to see the first guard. He was sitting next to the desk. Three other ponies were behind the desk and appeared to be concealing something behind them. There was another pony behind the counter, staring me down.

"What's your business here, sir?"

"Oh nothing, you're the Bloods right?"

"Are you the crypts?" He was pulling a small revolver from a drawer.

"Oh no."

"Then who are you?"

"Oh, I'm something much worse."

I pulled his head over the counter and pulled out my knife. The guards were too shocked to jump into action, giving me time to pull out my knife from under my coat and put it against his neck.

"Any one of you move and he's dead!"

They did nothing, that is until one jumped over the counter. I pressed the button and the knife ejected into the pony's neck, his blood spraying on the floor. I threw him at the three guards behind the counter. It was then I felt it. It was like a large swing... wait it was one. The guard hit me in the head again with a piece of pipe that he had behind him. The other three would be up soon, so I needed to deal with him quickly.

I grabbed his arm with my glove and pulled it around behind his back, then I pressed downwards. He was thrown to the ground, giving me the chance to grab the pipe he dropped and bludgeon him with it. Just like bludgeoning a fish, he died on the third hit. The second and third guard had jumped over the counter. One of them rushed me and I just clotheslined him with the pipe. He coughed and fell to the ground while the other one tackled me. He pinned me down on the ground and punched me in the face, and he kept doing this until I would have been knocked out.

Rather than play by his rules, I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the hoof with it. He screamed and jumped off. I ran through my pack and grabbed my .38 special. I first turned around and shot the guard I clotheslined. He was still on the ground and whimpering, but the hollow point shell ended his pain fast. His head was torn off in one shot. I turned around to the other pony and shot him in the chest. It left a gigantic cavity in his chest, one where I could see even the inside of his rib cage.

He toppled down after a few seconds. The pony I had stabbed was gripping for his dear life by putting his hoof over the gash in his artery, but I wouldn't let him do this for much longer. I hit him in the face with the end of my handgun, effectively knocking him out and letting that sweet red blood trickle on the floor. Walking up the stairs, I must've alerted everyone in the building. I stopped halfway up and opened the cylinder of my revolver, only two shells were used and I could tell which ones. I gripped those shells and pulled them out, replacing them with two full metal jacket .38s. The next four unlucky ponies would be meeting a gruesome end. The last two would at least have a small chance.

I continued up the stairs, that is until I spotted another pony trying to run down it. He had just crossed the corner and it was then that he caught sight of me. He pointed the handgun he had in his mouth at me. So I just dealt with him quickly and shot him in the leg with my .38. This must've been hollow tip because his leg was torn off and he toppled down the stairs. At first that seemed like a good idea, that is until the body knocked me down the stairs.

As soon as I had hit the ground, I got back up and holstered my .38 and pulled out the real show stealer. The Mossberg was heavy in hoof, didn't ever have to fire it, but I already knew what it'd do (that is if it were any similar to the Mossberg 590, which is practically just a Mossberg 500 with a stock and extended barrel). I marched up the stairs, shotgun drawn. I finally went up the last step to realize that the next door was closed. It was too cliche; I already knew what was behind it. A table set up with three or four ponies behind it, armed with some form of automatic/semi-automatic weaponry.

I put the shotgun up to the door and fired the birdshot through the door. I heard the screams of a pony, and I also knew that this door was weak after that, so I bucked it down. The door broke in half and I saw one pony laying on floor. He was bleeding out with an AKM laying next to him. The Prussian Assault Rifle was a beauty. It was re-polished with a wooden stock; guess that's my next take home. I stepped forward and the next thing I heard was a shot ring out. It was so quiet it had to be a .380 APC, a .38 special round modified to fit in the chamber of a semi-auto handgun.

I rolled over and ran out towards the shooter, who wore a leather jacket just like mine. Well, time to give another pony a lesson about not cramping my style. As I jumped at him, I pumped the shotgun downwards and swung the shotgun hard into his eye on the upwards swing. He screamed and backed up. I then fired a flechette into his head. Rather than just turning to mist like a normal shell would do, his head was filled with nails and shrapnel.

He screamed and rolled on the floor. The nails were far too deep to be pulled out of his head. It was probably a good 3 inches in his skull. He then grabbed the nearest thing he could, but his hoof slipped off. I was now almost done. I heard ponies pull things up by the door behind me. So rather than be friendly and give them the chance, I fired the rest of the tube in my Mossberg into the door. Blood seeped from under it and the door fell off it's hinges. The air was stiff with powder smoke. In the room I fired lay 4 dead bodies.

Their bodies were rattled with nails and metal. Their firearms were all broken. No use picking those up. I ran through to the next room, loading the specialty shell. As soon as the next door was open, I was in a office. Then only one shot rang out... but then the firearm it came from was thrown at me. It was a heavily decorated browning high power.

"LEIF WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

"I DON'T KNOW CORKSTER! HE'S GOING TO KILL US!"

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Wait, you're not a crypt?"

"No, I'm the asshole you hired to kill their founder, and consequently you as well."

They were shaking, so I decided to lighten the mood... if that's the right way to say it.

"Now, you have a safe in this room. Where is it?"

"Under the des- wait how did you know we had a safe? Much more that it was in this room?" said the one on the right the green one. If I remember his name, it was Leif.

"Well it's too cliche, you're a body shop with a paranoid owner... or owners. You probably only did that because you don't trust banks with your money. Now you there... Cork? Yes, Cork, unlock the safe now."

"But I don't know the code!"

"Lies, all lies."

I fired the specialty shell into his chest... or at least tried. Instead of firing the way I wanted it to, it sprayed fire on both of them. They were screaming in agony as they burned to death, their coats slowly charring away. Soon enough their bodies would join that char. One of them had a unique injury. Cork was pinned to the wall by the arrow. It had impaled him entirely and stuck into the wall.

I ran behind the desk and opened all the compartments. Inside all the compartments I found 2,000 bits, a bondage BDSM magazine... wait, so they were lovers? Is this romantic? No, this is just fucking disgusting. To continue that list, I also found a box of 9mm shells, I didn't need them, and the code to the safe.

I was appalled at how easy the code was. The paper read Right 4, left 2, right to 0'. Of any code, they used it to be 420. My Celestia did these ponies grow up after high school? Hell I don't even think they've been to that prison they brag about. I opened the safe and found what I needed.

Inside it was filled with 4 suitcases full of bits, but something else in it as well. A Prussian AK74M assault rifle, complete with a composite folding stock. It fired the 5.45 rifle round, not many were bought so I didn't need to worry about shortage. It had 10 boxes of the ammunition inside the safe with it. I stuffed all the boxes into my pack and folded the stock to let it fit as well. Then at the bottom I noticed something else.

There was a letter within the safe, buried deep inside

Dear Leif,
It's been many years since we've worked together. Somehow it feels like it was just yesterday. I ask yet another favor from you, I need to you spread my word to the people of Ponyville. First, however, we need Mr. Rich dead. I don't care how you do it, just get it done.
Sincerely,

Starlight.

Well, fuck.

Level Headed

"You mean to tell me what!" Twilight yelled in the planning room. She was more furious then I'd ever seen her before. It took that one letter form Starlight to set her off. She was now in a full blown tantrum, that is until she calmed down a minute later.

"Well, in order for the word to spread, she probably has connections in the Equestrian government as well."

"Wait, what in San hell makes you think that?"

"Well, for one, the money you acquired came strait through from the Equestrian Treasury. It was fresh with no stamps on it. That means that nopony had used it before they had gained access to it, giving the user a clean slate on whatever that pony purchased."

"So this could only be acquired through connections to the department of treasury?"

"Exactly, now the only way for somepony to not leave to Canterlot and get this would be through another local politician. A politician with access to the Equestrian Treasury so that they could put it in Ponyville's local economy. The only one I know of that can do that is..."

"Is? Wait don't tell me... this isn't going where I think it is, is it?"

"Mayor Mare? If so then I believe it is."

"Well, we need more evidence. It may be out of character for me to say this but, here it goes, we can't just go around and kill ponies because I'm a hired gun!"

"Well, never thought you'd say that Cloud. Listen, if you need more info just hear me out. The firearm you acquired along with most of the other ones in the building were taken from Ponyville government issued arsenal. The one kept for the Police Force as a impound for confiscated weaponry. So in short, the only pony who can access those with no record would be Mayor Mare. It's likely now that their weapons, which were confiscated, are now back on the rack there."

"So you mean to tell me that Starlight is having a Ponyville politician either bribed or convinced into supporting her so loyally that she would break the law to begin a uprising?"

"Well, uprising may be a bit ahead of it, but there's no doubt that she was trying to cause some turmoil. Something big enough that, should she intervene, she would be able to control Ponyville."

"Then she'd work her way up?"

"Right."

"Now another question: What makes you think these two low-lifes didn't ever go to Canterlot for anything? It's within 30 miles from where we are now."

"Its the security, the strictest background checks are conducted at the Canterlot security outpost. That is just before the entrance to the city. Anypony caught without valid proof of their Identification and background validity would be brought in and questioned. If proven to have lied, they'll be discharged and banished from Canterlot."

Guessing that's new procedure, I never got to do anything as fun as that in my time. All I ever did was yell at kids and drug dealers, get yelled at by the drug dealers parents, then get yelled at by the kid. Then I'd have to bring the kid in for resisting arrest. Because fuck that kid.

"So, let me guess: You want her dead and you want it to be quick, clean, and during work hours no?"

"That..."

"That? That what?"

"That was precisely what I was thinking..."

Well, glad to see I still had it in me.

"Well, I have a rule about politicians..."

"And that is?"

"100,000 up front, your money back if it fails."

"Big spender huh? Well I'll see what I can do. I have treasury access after all, I don't think they'd notice 100,000 missing."

"There we go!"

Wait... She has treasury access too?

"Well I can't do up front, just see me later on today, here's some payment for your future endeavors."

She handed me a 5,000 bit check, this should cover some supplies I'd need. I had a fancy idea this time, something a bit more classy. Something a bit more fun. It'd also be a bit more expensive but whatever.

"By the way..."

She looked back surprised, she was about to walk out the room.

"It won't be done in working hours."

I exited the building and made a dead bolt down out of the castle area, through a few alleyways, and all the way to the other end of the city. It was away to another pawn shop visit with Rock Bottom! I ran past sugar cube corner, not before rushing in and quickly buying muffin. Rushing out I ate my meal on the way.

ding ding ding

The bell above Rock's door clanged and clattered, Rock looked up and stared at me. He was judging if I was on something this time; which he could tell I was not, so he adjusted from his position of discomfort into a more comfortable position.

"So, what you need this time?"

"Well, I got something special for you."

I slammed the AK-74M down on the table. Rather then jump into action like I expected bottom to do, he just stared in awe. Expensive weapons like these don't come through him often, and when they do they aren't built for war. To be fair this firearm was probably 1,000 bits only because of it's advanced forged receiver and it's more advanced 5.45 round. It does, however, take special gear to get what I'm looking for on this.

"Well I'll be damned. That's a AK-74M! Please tell me this isn't a Czeck PNAP!"

"Well it ain't, this is a Prussian import. She's built for use by the Prussian military and is now in my hoofs."

"Oh my... Now that's a rarity! Now here, I'll tell ya what. Let me put a few rounds out on the range, and I'll give you whatever you came for free."

Well, that wasn't a hard choice.

The range was just behind the store. It was a safe range at that. Some glass bottles at the end with a curved hill just behind it to stop all incoming fire. It would do.

He attached the 30 round mag to the bottom of the receiver, it made a gentle click sound as the mag release pushed itself into it's loaded position. Using magic, Bottom pulled the lever on the right side of the firearm to chamber the first round. He then rested the firearm against a wall, getting the perfect sight image when he fired on his target. Slowly, ever so slowly did he pull the trigger. Then, we heard it.

He went deaf for a few seconds. That was hardly the most amazing part though. Most of the dirt on the wall went soaring in the air. The vibrations from the firearm's sound wave swiped the walls clean. That had to have been the forged receiver. We took it inside and replaced it with a standard AK-74 receiver (which were incredibly common in Equestria, whereas obtaining the firearm whole would be impossible) and tried it again.

No dust this time, but another bottle lay shattered against the hill, split in half with deadly accuracy.

"Say, it doesn't look like this thing has had the automatic spring taken out of it, what do you say we give it a go on auto?"

"Don't see why not."

He pulled upward on another lever, just below the charging handle. Then he fired in short, controlled bursts. With a 650 RPM it's difficult to hit anything if you fired any faster. He handed it back to me as we walked inside.

"So, what did you want?" He said looking at me.

"Simple, I want a AK universal rail system attached on the receiver, then I want a Kobra sight and a PKO sight, on top of that I want a AK-74M fore-grip on this."

"That all?" He said, looking at me like an impatient waitress.

"Nope, I also want a PBS suppressor on this, you got that?"

"Yea, all the way back in storage."

He ran back to the backroom and came out with a few boxes. Each labeled for their continents. One was a Fore-grip, Prussian built of course, Kobra sight, a Prussian bulit Red Dot Sight, and a PKO, a Prussian built x4 sight, the last was the suppressor, with a hefty price tag at 500 bits.

"Well, you have a nice night."

"How'd you know it's tonight?"

"Just a hunch."

I walked out of the store satisfied. Marching all the way back to my apartment at a ten speed, I was eager to attach these. I passed the bar to see Crimson in the window, probably at his usual antics. I didn't care, I just need to get home.

As soon as I got home, I sat down and cracked open a beer. Looking at the firearm, it was time to get these attached.

11:20 rolled around far too quickly, and sitting from my little area on top of a building close to the mayor's office, I knew that the pony I was looking for was still there. I didn't want to risk getting caught, and breaking into a government building would be suicide. Rather then enter as I had originally planned, I set up the fore-grip between two bars on the roof. This held it steady as if it were on a tripod. It was then I saw some movement below.

It was a guard, stirring up outside what appeared to be an energy drink. I looked down at him, my gun barrel made a little glint... and he saw it.

"Fuck, Cloud he cannot live! Think of the mission! Kill that motherfucker!"

He was about to investigate when I fired one 5.45 round just below what I thought to be his helmet. I heard it make impact with the can he was levitating, but then I heard him fall. A pool of glistening liquid came from where he was. Target eliminated. Now for the real star of the show. I readjusted for a second, that is until I noticed the window open.

Inside wasn't mayor mare, it was some sort of secretary. Enough of this stealthy bullshit, she is somewhere in that building and it's only a matter of time before that body is found. Flying down from the building, I was at the front of the building's edifice. I unclamped the PKO off the rail hinge with my teeth, then I clamped on the Kobra sight. Looks like it was a wise choice to purchase this little thing. I waited three seconds, just to listen and see if I heard anything from the other side.

Then, the door opened. I, and the body, were hidden from sight. Then all that changed. Mayor Mare walked out with hood on, slowly walking her way home. I hit her in the back of the head with the rifle and she dropped like a bag of potatoes. I dragged her body through alleyways and parking lots until I was in the everfree forest. I walked deep into the forest with Balaclava on and flashlight pinned to my jacket.

She awoke tied to a tree. She would've screamed, but the rope in her mouth was far too thick for her to get any words out. She couldn't see me, probably because I was on the other side of the tree, smoking a electronic cigarette. I put on a fake German accent.

"So you don't know me, but I'll just say I know you."

She muffled something I couldn't understand as I walked around the other side of the tree. I had the balaclava rolled up to my mouth to allow the e-cig to properly smoke. She couldn't see me, and even if she could I had my flashlight shining in her face, she was blind to the night. I, however, could see her clearly.

"Now, I gotta little game for you." I said, blowing my smoke in her face.

"You see, you've been funding somepony by the name of 'Starlight Glimmer'. Ring any bells?"

I pulled the piece of rope off, all she did was scream. Rather then let her I just slapped her across the face with my hoof. She fell flat against the tree. I pulled my knife and put it to her leg.

"Now you're going to tell me: did you fund Starlight Glimmer?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Wrong answer."

I stabbed the knife in her leg, but only the tip.

"Now, tell me, did you fund starlight?"

"No, you'll never get away with this!"

"That's not what we're talking about here."

I pushed it deeper in her leg, she almost screamed. That is until I slapped her with my free hoof.

"Now listen here Mare, I am going to love every second of this! I'd hate for you to give me the right answer. Now that'd just ruin my..." I looked at my watch "Morning, yes it's 12 AM. Now tell me, what do you and starlight have in common, and why did you fund the bloods?"

"You really are persistent aren't you, you little bastard?"

"Oh how interesting. Tell me more." I pushed the knife halfway through her leg, any further and she'll never walk again.

"Now, I'm almost at the tendon in your knee, should that get severed by this knife you'll never walk again. As a matter a fact you'll be paralyzed in this leg all your life. So tell me why and you'll at least be able to walk out of here."

"Fine! Starlight funded my campaign! Do you have a fucking idea how hard it is to be a politician in a city as unimportant as Ponyville? Do you know how needy these little runts are? OF COURSE YOU DON'T! ALL YOU DO IS TAKE TAKE TAKE AND YOU NEVER GIVE" I thought about that for a second "NOW LISTEN! WE DON'T GET ENOUGH REVENUE FROM TAXES TO EVEN KEEP THE STREETS CLEAN! SO THEN I HEARD OF THE BLOODS! THEY OFFERED ME A CUT OF THEIR CASH IF WE GAVE THEM ACCESS TO THE ARSENAL!"

She stopped there, in a ball of tears. She knew what she did wrong. Soon enough it turned into a full weep. She was balling all over the place. I sort-of felt bad for her. Nah actually, I can't feel bad for anypony.

"So I did it, I also gave the leader a rare gun if he gave me a cut in their business."

"You mean this one? By the way you might need to find a new outlet." I said, raising the AK-74M to her head. She began crying again.

I hit her in the gut with the barrel, she coughed up some blood. Nothing too bad.

She looked up at me, blood pouring from her mouth, I just kicked her in the face. Her head bled in the pressure between my hoof and the tree. It was like kicking a water balloon, but instead of popping it just sortof bled out.

"Now, about Starlight, what happened?"

"She promised a cut in her town's revenue, she never told me how." That's all I needed.

"Live or Die?"

"What?"

"Live. or. die"

She was confused, but then I dropped the AK-74 and pulled out the hammer. With it, however, I pulled a cut piece of pipe.

"Oh god please no! I want to live!"

"Corrupt politicians only care for themselves." I said, placing the sharpened part of the pipe on her chest. I pulled the rope back up in her mouth.

"You see, with life comes death, and with death comes room for life. You, are part of that. Regardless of who you think you are."

I slammed the hammer down against the pipe, it stabbed through the ropes, but not into her. She was terrified, thrashing through her restraints and trying to scream through her gag.

"Now, one who takes their life above anypony else's must be dealt with, the justice for that is death. You deserve death. Ironic, all you want is to live. I bet you wouldn't risk your life for a single pony in that town. What a hero."

I hit it again, this time it broke through and stopped against her sternum. The blood trickled down against her coat, her tears were fresh against her cheeks.

"Now, each blow is for each sin, committed by your pen. Say, you ever heard that the pen is mightier then the sword?"

I hit it again, the sternum didn't budge.

"Well I beg to differ, the pen is only mightier then those who abide by it."

I slammed harder, her sternum was crushed by the hit. This time the pole broke through her lungs, for it was a little left of the heart. She coughed up blood, then she gagged. I pulled off her restraint to reveal that she coughed up part of her lung. Must've gotten caught in her windpipe when the lung broke.

I hit it again, no restraint to stop her from screaming. The yell was all too real. I hit it again and again and again. She was blacking out, and the rod was all the way through her, and partially into the tree.

"Well you see, you could've avoided this. The bloods could've just been a bunch of low-life thugs with nothing better to do. Oh but no, you needed that money. You wanted that money so bad that you took it to the expense of your own town to get it. Now look where it led you." I walked off and left her there.

I didn't go back the way I came, I was almost certain somepony called the cops and they were on their way right now. I stepped on the leaves and sticks on the ground, they just crunched under my hoof. It was wet out and that didn't help my situation on comfort. Then I saw the lights. Police were walking along the trail.

There was one squad of them, so it was just a minor recon. If I just bypass them there's no way I'd make it back to my apartment before getting stopped on the street, I needed to buy some time. If they simply didn't return, that'd give me a hour... I pulled the AK-74M up, the Kobra still on it. I sighted it in for 20 yards. There were only four there so I wasn't too concerned. I fired the first shot into the head of the pony on the rear. I saw the light just fall and face straight down on the ground. One of the others turned back, I shot him in the chest.

He collapsed on the ground, he'd die in a matter of minutes. I fired on fully automatic in the general direction of the last two. The first one fell down, he certainly got hit. Can't say where though. The second one went down with a thud, can't say how he fell cause one of the rounds hit his flashlight and broke it.

I slipped through and made it safely back to the apartment. I ruffled through my jacket to find the tape recorder I used. I had the full interrogation on record. I plan on exposing this bitch as an example. They'd never know it was me.

Author's Notes:

Well, that was sadistic. Never really liked that Mayor. She always seemed a bit corrupt. By the way I'm going to be out this weekend, so no updates from Friday to Sunday (sorry but I got a life too). Also this is one of the last parts to occur in Ponyville, so say goodbye!

New Light

I woke up on my couch at 9 A.M. Later then usual granted, but it was a long nights work. Hearing a knock at the door, I jumped up and hovered over to the door to see who it was. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by a distressed mare.

"Now, tell me what THIS means to you!" Twilight said, shoving a newspaper in my face.

'Ponyville times: Special addition. Massacre continues, newest victim is Mayor Mare, alongside her security detail. She was found impaled in the woods by a led pipe, autopsy says it wasn't self inflicted. The hunt for this monster continues'

"Sounds fun, oh by the way I wasn't originally going to do that. I sort of had a urge because I found a random pipe on the way into the forest."

"Well listen, you're being hunted. If they find you, they find me! Do you know what happens if they find me?"

"Execution?"

"Worse, now listen: So far this is just Ponyville local news. Since they don't think it's you, I believe I may be able to get you out of the city and into Canterlot with a fake ID."

"When'd you think of that?"

"This morning, here you're leaving NOW!" she handed me a fake ID, but she also placed something else in my hoof. This was a small gemstone.

"What's this?"

"Use it at any time to contact me, it's sort of like a automatic letter delivery system. Just don't let anypony find it."

Smart enough, as soon as she said that she was off. She actually teleported to parts unknown. So I immediately grabbed my bags, filled it with all I'd need. Which would be a lighter, a deck of cards, the gem, and my weapons plus the handheld sharpener. She was right, I couldn't stay here long anyway. Putting my money clip in my pocket, I had a full stash of 500 bits left. It'd do me well for a bit.

I opened my fake ID to see who it said I was. "Stargazed Sky". Well, I can't say I didn't notice the pun. Another money clip fell out, and then broke on the floor. It was the post payment she owed me. 25,000 fresh printed bits. Then looking over at my nightstand, I noticed that I had forgotten another important item: the 5,000 from last night.

I shoved all the money in my pockets (of course the 25,000 was in hundreds, but my breast pocket was deep enough). As soon as I was out the door, nopony would know me. I waltzed my way on down to the train station, picked the first one moving to Canterlot (which was a coal train, they told me not to board it but they don't tell me what to do), and boarded it. Away I was. Hunting Fancy Pants wouldn't be a challenge. The buck probably lives in the same five story mansion he did three years ago. His son is probably 17 now, just about ready to leave the house.

'You ready for this?' I thought to myself, as the train began pushing off the loading dock. It steamed and hissed as the smoke built up from the rear. This wasn't one of those cute and cuddly trains either, this was a cold boxcar. Wooden interior with metal floor. To be fair it was first class compared to the coal and stone cars that were behind it. On it were other freeloaders.

'Yea, it's showtime as soon as I'm there.'

Well that'd be a while, looking at my watch I could see that it was 10:30 AM already, time really flies when you're running from the pigs. No offense to pigs, just that these cops really are nosy sometimes. Guess that's what it's like, it feels like I have Bin Laden on my ass already. Hell I haven't even gotten into a real confrontation with them yet.

"Hey! Ponyville PD! Stop the train! We gotta search warrant from Mayor Fillion himself to search this train!"

Just my luck.

They opened the car before mine first, I was the second boxcar after all. I heard the heavy footprints, the crying of babies, but then I heard the freeloaders inside it get thrown out the door. Up next was this car. I hushed everyone around, drawing the twelve gauge. It was still loaded with flachette. I pulled it up to the door. This door didn't open like the last, must've been a older car.

Rather then just slide like a normal boxcar, it just swung backwards towards me. I was out of sight from the police. I heard them throw everyone off quickly. This wasn't a search at all. If it was they just sucked at doing it.

"All clear!" The officer said.

The door slammed shut, I was the last pony inside. Then the train started back up and I was on my way to Canterlot.

It took about two hours to get hauled to Canterlot. I spent the whole time reviewing my fake ID.

'What's you're new name?'

"I'm Stargazed Sky"

'Where were you born?'

"Manehattan, I was part of a family of six but then was orphaned and sold from Canterlot to Ponyville."

'Why are you coming back in a boxcar?'

"Had to visit a friend and didn't have any money."

I was ready.

The train had screeched to a halt at the background station, time to get validated. Or at least time to find a way around getting validated... There were plenty of ponies there. There were mares, fillies, colts, donkeys, and even cows coming through. One buck caught my eye, and I knew that was the one I needed to get to.

I pushed and pulled through the crowd as soon as he got validated. He looked exactly like me, just a different eye color. I was maybe twenty feet away from him when he stopped. Now's my only chance at getting this right. I pulled my revolver out from under my jacket and put it to his side, it was out of sight of everypony else, so I didn't need to worry about witnesses. He shivered a bit and I whispered in his ear.

"Listen kid, if you want to get out of here alive you'll do exactly what I say. Don't turn around, don't look at me, just drop that card."

He did exactly what he was told. Then he bolted to the guards room. I picked his validation card up and scurried all the way over to the train I was on, it was already moving. Flying all the way to it, it was already picking up it's 30 mile an hour pace, soon I wouldn't be able to catch it. I pushed harder, and harder, and harder. Then I was level with my stop. I lunged forward and right, which landed me in with a roll all the way into the car. I was on my way into Canterlot.

It wasn't much longer until I was at the main perimeter guard station. They let the train through with no search. Something struck me as odd as soon as I was off the train. I didn't get that 'super secure' background check, so I just dashed to the nearest empty loading hangar and exited the Canterlot Train Station.

As soon as I was out of the general vicinity, I noticed exactly what was wrong: I dropped the fake ID and the other bucks ID whilst trying to catch the train again. Well I didn't need it anyway, the validation process was already completed (sort of) and now all I needed to do was not get thrown in jail. Considering the vastly superior police force in Canterlot, that might be an issue.

I hunted down a place to stay in the city, it had been a while since I was here. I found another apartment complex, this one was a full condominium and it wasn't half bad. But they asked too much, there was no way I'd spend 500 for a each night for a room here! Going to the downtown Warren district of the city gave me another hope. The Ghetto wasn't patrolled by police as frequently, and better yet there were cheap places to stay. For 15 bits a week I could rent a one room hotel in the Warren. I wasn't going to be here long, but I don't plan on wasting my money on a fucking condo. I payed the mare at the front, opened the door, and lied down for a rest. I had set my watch's timer to go off at 11:10. Fair enough.

Author's Notes:

yep, another chapter on personal life. I'm going to crack down on how often I do these, just that I knew I wouldn't be here this weekend and I just had to add something.

The shotgun two step

I woke up ten minutes before schedule. Looking at my watch's alarm, I had apparently set it too early.Better early then late. I'm after Fancy, but nopony knows me in this town. I should probably keep it that way for a bit. I pulled my .38 out from the bag and placed it in a shoulder holster. Strapping said holster over a button up white collard shirt. It was as fancy as I was getting. I pulled a pair of jeans on and pulled my hair a bit back.

In this town if you don't walk the walk or talk the talk, you're fucked. So I walked to the bar in the ghetto area of the town. It was a few blocks down the corner, so it wouldn't be an issue. I passed a few general stores, a run down pawn shop with a sign outside it. 'Remember! We buy anything you're selling!' Well I'll make a trip over there later. I didn't see it's name, it didn't have a neon sign.

Pulling around the bend just behind the pawn brought me over towards a small restaurant. It's not a bar, so I just walk right on past. Looks like this place is different then what I remember it to be. I guess it was further down then I remember. Much farther.

It was on the last block of the Ghetto. It now was a night club and bar, rather then just a bar. Not the most family friendly place, but who cares. I walked through the door to find the sounds of robotic music and even more robotic ponies. This is what they do with their lives. Most probably born rich and squandered their shot. Now all they do is live like they did back in Junior High. Sad, truly.

I waltzed on over to the bar section, the mare on the other end was wearing leather and lace, pulling tight against her body. It sent a certain jolt of energy that I hoped nopony noticed. Even if they did I wouldn't care.

"Hey honey, never seen your ass round here." She started, she wasn't from around here either.

"Well, I'm sortof new here, any pointers?"

"Well first off" her eyes wandered downwards

"Lookin's free, everything else is going to charge ya."

"Brilliant. Just what I needed to hear. Also two shots of scotch."

She giggled at that, waltzed on over to the other end of the bar. She gave a bit of a look back at me and flicked her tail, giving me a pretty decent view. She walked back down with two shot glasses and a bottle of brandy. That wasn't the most awkward thing, now that I thought more formally about her, I think I knew who she was.

She looked up at me, and it hit her the same way it did me. She sort of blushed, sort of squeaked.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Yes yes I see, Midnight was it?"

"Well that was a nickname..."

"Oh? Your real name is?"

"Well, it's Octavia."

A million memories flooded back to me. We worked in the PD at the same time, a matter a fact she was the first chair at the royal balls (that is if she wasn't ordered on guard duty to them). She assumed a more formal position when the company was together. Her normal jobs were things like responding to disturbance calls, hit and run, and other domestic incidents. Whereas I'd get missing children and pretty much everything else that came on past 7 PM.

She was a stunning mare in her own right, a dark black mane with a grey coat. She was in when the incident happened. We didn't work hoof and hoof all that often, and the only time we did was when things got far too out of hoof for me to handle. She was a dead shot too, I remember times where she shot handguns out of suicidal ponies mouths. She had a knack for things like that.

She was a true professional. The only questions I had just were things like 'What are you doing here?' and 'how much for a night?'

I went with number one.

"So, what brought you to this shit hole?"

She looked around hesitantly, then downed a shot, not before pouring me one to down as well.

"You'll need more to get this story. So those days after you jumped out that window, the PD went to hell searching for a lawyer that was even going to have a chance against Fancy Pant's dream team of lawyers. It didn't work. They almost immediately won the reckless endangerment sue."

"What was their conditions?"

"They wanted the warren fired. He left Canterlot and probably won't return. I left after that, I didn't follow him so I decided to stay. I regret it now. The new Warren isn't letting me back in even after I showed my aptitude to them. They deemed me too 'unfit' to be in the force. Rumor has it that Fancy has some say in the Law Enforcement by bribing the new warren. Probably why he is still in."

"Well, can't say I saw this coming. Or you."

I looked back down, she blushed. She was one second from slapping me across the face when she looked up. Somepony was standing on the rails.

"Listen, they sell me out and this guy has been on it for a while now. I haven't actually worked with him, but he now has the money. You get me out of this and I'll do whatever you want."

"Wait, wouldn't that be exchanging rape for rape if that's what you're shooting at?"

"Well, you're not him." I looked up at him and instantly saw what she meant.

He was a fat, brown on black zebra. Gold glasses with a gold necklace, on the necklace read the word 'Playa'. Classic. It was almost too cliche for me to believe. I looked back at Octavia.

"Listen Octy, I'm not going to work with you, but I am going to get you out of here. What I got in mind isn't a good idea but it's an idea nonetheless."

"Well then don't keep me waiting."

I turned to go but then I heard something else come from her. I turned to see what it was.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Well, saving a mare from a prostitution ring. This isn't going to be a normal night, especially with my idea.

"Yo bitch!" I yelled up to the Zebra.

"Ay bitch what you want motherfucker!"

Guess he didn't know how to take a joke, he's pissed now. It's just his ego, he'll grow a new one sometime soon.

"Well I got a deal for you wannabe, you think you're hot shit cause you got that grill? Then I'm your polar opposite cause I'm cold even when it's 20 degrees below freezin. So I gotta challenge bitch. Me, you, on the stage. It's a rap battle bitch!"

What was I thinking. I used to do this to mock the drug dealing teens on the street. Guess all those years of listening to rap and pissing off blue blood boys are paying off.

"Oh it's on bitch! By tha way, I'm undefeated in this bitch!"

I walked down with him, we threw our insults all the way down.

"Yo gimme a minute, I need a drink for I kick your fuckin ass!"

He didn't take kindly, he shouldn't. He went on stage and got to yappin.

"YO YO YO IT'S BDAWG UP IN THIS BITCH!" He earned probably two ponies cheering for him, the rest of the crowd wondered who the fuck he was.

"WELL WE GOT THIS TAN BITCH OVER THERE, HE CHALLENGE YOURS TRULY TO A RAP BATTLE!"

This got the crowds attention. They were the party going type so I'm sure they were interested.

"Okay umm cloud, what did you do?"

"Remember that joke I had with the dealers back in the day?"

She stared at me dead in the eye, a strait face as she tried to figure out what I was saying.

"No, you did NOT do that!"

"It's for you."

"What do you need?"

"First, three shots of scotch. Second: how much are you charging him?"

"Well, it's 1,000 a night. I'm the cheap one they say. They're all assholes though."

"Alright, thanks."

I took my shots and walked down to the stage.

"AND BITCHES AND PLAYAS THIS IS THE RICH TAN BOY THAT CHALLENGED THE REAL OG BDAWG!"

The crowd laughed. I can't believe I'm really doing this.

"SO WHAT YOU GOTTA SAY BITCH!"

I took the mic out of his hoof.

"Well, for one we gotta get some stakes up in here. We gotta 2,000 dollar bit bet I win against your broke ass."

"What you talkin bout motherfucka?"

"Oh you know, you too poor bitch? It's fine we could play for twenties. Less you like the cheap hoes."

He was furious.

"Oh it's on! 5,000 bits on the winner!"

That was all I had in my pockets. Well it's going to have to do. We threw our money in backstage and he got first say.

"Yo this bitch look like Mr. Rogers, he don't even got 50 dollars. He challengin me? A real OG? Good try but look bye while I say good bye to your girl after tonight. The time is right looking real nice while I get my knife to dice. Fuckin bitch thought he'd chow like rice. This is the mice fice in the back of a rap pack yak on lak tak yakity tak now at the same time I take a lyrical acrobat stunt while I'm practicin. I'll be able to break a table on the back of the fagot and snap in half."

The crowd went wild. I swore I heard some chick yell out his name in the back. But it was my turn now.
He was out of ideas, and he couldn't think fast because those few sentences took up his whole 2 minutes. I already thought of my line.

"YO this bitch think he's makin it out like a real G, but he's the one who's livin in the back of a van with the HIV!"

This earned a laugh from the crowd

"Now you see you wanna think you're a real G, one that matches up to me. But what you don't know is you cried in the back of a cop car like you grabbed a glass shard. Man bitch I'm takin up your number thinkin you still don gotta new line?"

The crowd was paying some attention to this, I needed to grab them again. Then I saw six thugs walk onto the stage. No doubt his.

"Now quit acting like Seth, cause you def. That guy didn't say you were cool he just thought you were foxy. So get outta my proxy. So go fuck yourself and suck my dick, but I think with my dick so go blow my mind! Come on and swallow my pride! You'll be lucky to even see me if I let you get in the side of my humvee! You can't look it like the pills you went a took it, you see you think that those six dicks are pussies! I can't look it on who took it but I got the shot bar so let me pray like Allah Akbar! Lets go to my very own illegally owned metro in the bad area with a car drop. Now while you dream of changing places I have been changin faces. Bitch you couldn't fill these shoes, even though you got no shit to lose! You can't afford my ford, so just walk out the door before I let you loose like that fuckin four cords."

I was refering to Octy with that last one, four cords was a nickname because of her mane style that she wore made her look like she had cello strings in her hair.

"No you see I don't beat box I just moon walk all over the beat like no street. Now god with your army get on me I'm armed with a firearm so large my entire arm might as well be a fuckin firebomb. I'm not the fuckin fire marshal, I just burn your house down cause you ain't nopony's fucking idol! Now if you don't like when I rap on the mic and you hate what I'm like, you might just wanna be a fuckin quarterback and take a hike. Cause bitch I'm throwin up and I can feel it comin failures something I can barely stomach! I'm allergic to you just like Adolf was to Jews, so when you see me on the street you gon leave with no teeth! Now I can lift myself up when I'm down and out without a doubt I'm my own best friend, you are just a guy with fuckin yes men! You're just another target for me to shoot you on the strip with my AK on a refillable clip."

The pony I was against shook his head to the DJ, who then cut my beat.

"Oh fuck the beat I can go acapella so fuck you, your dogs and that place you live called your trailer. I know I'm not a zebra, I know I'm a bum who looks like he lived in a trailer with his mom. Well fuck it I'm outtie, tell me something they don't know about me."

I tossed him the mic, and he didn't catch it. He just let it fall and break. The DJ ran out with another mic and got it hooked up, not before announcing the vote.

"Now if you're voting for 'BDAWG' make some fucking noise!"

There were a few ponies who were shouting, on further examination they were the same six ponies that went on stage with him. All fucking yes men. Guys who can't disagree with the ring leader.

"Now if you're voting for the new guy, make some noise!"

I went def in my left ear, and Octavia was shouting behind the counter. Her boss was next to her as well. She pulled the leather off and threw it in his hoofs, he didn't know what was going on until I saw it. She swung her leg hard into his testicles. I heard the crack from where I stood. The rest of the crowd had quieted down a bit, which gave me the window to hear it in the first place.

I scooped the money up in my jacket, grabbed her under my right arm and walked through the door.

Two blocks down, I heard a voice.

"AY BITCH!"

Shit, same guy I was against. He can't be happy.

"I get it, you wanted to be a rapper but nopony signed you cause you suck. That right?"

I turned around to see him with a .357 in my face, the other thugs with bats and whatever else they could grab. They must've not used their head enough to see the firearm blatantly sticking out of my holster.

"Yo motherfucka we don't want nothin with you, just drop all yo money and get the fuck outta here."

I handed Octavia my knife, she wasn't defenseless. She pressed the button instinctively and then closed it.

"Well, I'd hate to turn this around on you" I pulled my .38 out from it's holster. They were blind to it at first. "But I'm going to ask you to put everything you got on the floor."

He turned his firearm sideways, though it's meant to look threatening, the real meaning behind it is that he doesn't want to shoot me.

"Yo get moving before I pop one in yo ass."

"Oh that's not happening."

I fired a shot into his neck, he began chocking and coughing up blood on the street, then the thugs ran at me, I fired as many shots as I could. Most missed, but one caught the closest thug in the leg, he fell to the ground in pain. Octy went to work with the knife. She put it against the side of a thug with a pipe and pressed the button. He screamed something as he twisted towards her and swung hard into her ribs. Something cracked there.

This wasn't a conventional fight, this was a brawl. Anything goes. Then I got hit in the face with a two-by-four that another buck was carrying. Rather then stay stunned on the ground, I pushed my body upwards with one leg and threw the other in a direct snap to his jaw. The kick landed right on the lower plate of the jaw, that soft spot that makes the jaw just rattle.

The jaw, instead of rattling, broke in two. He backed up and started trying to close his mouth. Due to the injuries he couldn't do that. I got up off my ass and rammed him. Rather then just tackle him, I kept pushing him until he met the corner of a building hitting his head. He was out cold. Looking at Octavia, she was on the floor, getting hit again and again with the pipe. I ran at him and punched him across the face.

Octavia began stumbling up, slowly like a hurt deer. She grabbed the knife in her jaw and ran towards me, not at me though. She ran right past me.

'What the...'

She ran past me and stabbed something behind me. I looked back to see the fifth buck with my knife in one eye and out the other. He looked like a dead fish. She pulled the knife out and he fell down. I turned back to the matter at hand. The other pony was recovering from the punch. So rather then wait, I swept his feet out from under him. I beat him with my hoofs until he stopped protecting himself.

After that I heard the sirens. Guess it was time to get out of there. We rushed over to my apartment, as soon as we got through the door she thanked me a thousand times. Well or at least tried, she was panting and coughing throughout her speech. She needed some help.

She seated herself on the couch, not without me asking of course. I reached under a cabinet and grabbed a first aid box. Walking back over to her, poured hydrogen peroxide on a strip of gauze and began my long way down. She had a laceration just under the eye, no doubt from when she was struck with the pipe.

"You're lucky you know. If that pipe hit you in the eye you'd be blind."

"Yea, you know me."

I giggled as I applied the gauze. She didn't flinch at all, she was used to pain. I grabbed the medical tape and taped the bandage on. It was secured tightly to her face, that wound should be gone in a few weeks. The next one was a little worse. It was a cut on her ribs. Looks like nothing broke, but she had a serious cut between two of them. It didn't require stitches though, so it was right up my alley.

I got some more gauze and tape out. Dampening yet another surgery grade bandage in peroxide, I put this one against her ribs, she grunted at this one. Guess she isn't the almighty I remember her being. Well whatever, we all got a breaking point, this was not hers. I taped it on and she adjusted to the new weight. The bandage under her eye was fizzing, good that I put that on or it'd get infected.

I put another strip of gauze in peroxide, and applied it to a less serious wound on her forehoof. I continued the procedure until there were no wounds that didn't need tending to. The legs would be done by tomorrow morning. Until then I picked her up.

"What are you doing?"

"Carrying you to bed, I don't want you messing up the leg bandages by walking."

"This isn't the Cloud I remember?"

"A lot's changed, you'll see very soon."

I prefer to sleep on the couch, so I carried her to the bedroom and lied her down. She got under the covers and began to rest. On the way out I turned the lights off. The alarm clock signaled that it was 12 AM. As soon as I noticed however, Octavia had said something.

"I'm glad you came."

"I am too."

For the first time in years, I was truly happy.

Author's Notes:

Well finally a happy ending. we got a new character this chapter as well, looks like we're going to have some fun in Canterlot ...

The afterparty

I woke up later in the day, at 12 PM to be exact. I heard the grill sizzling, shooting my eyes over to the Kitchen revealed it was Octavia cooking a batch of bacon. Nothing sinister, I'd assume that until she tries to hang me with bacon, cause 'Questria. I gave it a moment to see if she had removed the bandages, after all I wouldn't want that grease to get in her cuts. Bacon infection kills millions... I think that's a thing.

She turned back at me.

"You took a hit to the head last night, it actually gave you a minor concussion."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well for one, you fell to the couch as soon as you could and slept until 12, that's a start. As for two, you were so dead asleep I had the time to wrap the gash in your head."

I put a hoof up to my head and by god she was right. She was good with her handywork as well, not a single missed... stitch.

"Wait, you fucking gave me stitches!"

"Well sorry! Listen, it wouldn't stop bleeding. It was that or staples an-"

"And you didn't take me to the hospital?"

"Well no, you'd get arrested and so would I."

"That doesn't change anything. Why the fuck would you even think about this?"

"Well for one, it was about 2 inches apart and 1 inch deep, yea you needed that. The guy who hit you with that board got you with the corner, not the raw side."

"Wait how did I not bleed out?"

"I got up a few minutes after to get water, and I saw the blood puddle."

I looked back on the floor, sure enough there was a thick brown spot on the carpet. I didn't have any questions on where it came from.

"Well, so then you got this from where? I don't recall the first aid kit having a needle and medical thread."

"Well there's the other thing, you sorta left your wallet on the table. I had to make do."

I groaned, this couldn't get much worse.

"How much did it cost. For the love of god I'm starting to regret this choice."

"Well, for starters the needle was part of a .50 cent pack of sewing needles. The string on the other hand is medical grade dissolving stitches, they cost twenty bits for the length I needed. It took about five stitches so it was 4 bits a stitch"

"Wait, you said these dissolve?"

"Well yea, should be gone in 2 weeks."

Two weeks, the original plan was to have fancy dead by tomorrow. There goes that.

"Cut them out."

"I'm sorry what?"

"Cut the stitches out, I have important work to do."

"Can't you just wait?"

"Two weeks? Hell no."

"Dammit are you persistent. Fine I'll get it wrapped in gauze, but if you bleed out I'm going to send you right to the hospital."

She grabbed my knife and cut each stitch off. I could feel the pull on my skin as each one gave way. It became apparent that Octavia overreacted when she saw my open wound, for it certainly was less then an inch deep. Hell if it was that deep this would be in my skull. Thank god that's not the case.

"There, I'll get the gauze."

She rushed to the other end of the room and scooped up the gauze and the peroxide. She then ran all the way back to me, pouring a bit of peroxide on the gauze as she moved. Then she taped the gauze to my head and wrapped it in medical grade tape. She wanted this secured.

"If it doesn't need stitches... sorry for that by the way... this should be done in a few weeks, but in 5 days you can remove the bandage."

"Still too long but whatever, oh and by the way Octy, don't do that again."

"My apologies."

That's all it took for me to forgive her for stabbing my head ten times with a needle and sowing it together. Well it was time to stay here for five days, then get to removing the bandage.

Author's Notes:

cute little chapter for y'all... to be fair at least she didn't wait for the stitches...

Day One

Removing the bandage proved how wrong Octy was about the severity of my wounds. It had only been two days and the wound had already been cleaned up. Not gone, but more of closed. It was now a fine scab just on my forehead. Brushing it with my hoof didn't make it bleed, so I wasn't scared of going out the house.

Walking down to the pawn nearby, I thought it be a good place to stop. It wasn't too far down the road either, just a few blocks and it'd on the left. As I got closer to the building I saw the sign I had seen the night I got reunited with Octavia. This time the name of the pawn was visible.

"Moss pawn and gun"

Well, it won't be as discrete as Rock's pawn, but it'd do. As soon as I had trotted through the door, I heard a loud ring. There was a small bell above the door. Over the walls lay posters, cameras, and all other types of junk that runs through a pawn. On the far end, however, was the counter. Behind said counter were racks and racks of brand new or gently used firearms. I trotted over to the mare behind said counter.

"I'm guessing you're Moss?"

"What?"

"The sign? Normally pawns are named after the owner."

"I'm sorry I just work here sir..."

Well shit.

"So well what are you looking for?"

I took a quick look at what they had, I needed something that they wouldn't notice was gone. I looked for the most generic firearm I possibly could, one that if I threw in a river nobody would be shocked.

"I'll take the .38 you have just under the desk."

She reached under and grabbed the handgun with her mouth. She gave me the price after dropping it on the table. No regard for firearms safety.

"That's going to run you 120 bits."

"Really? What is it anyway?"

"Just your average Saturday Night Special."

"Well it'll do."

I put down a hundred and one fifty, then walked out the door without grabbing the change. She's probably not going to see me again so I might as well give her a tip. I walked back towards the apartment, which took probably fifty seconds. The time I got to the apartment showed that Octy was on the couch, watching TV.

That wasn't the abnormal part. Not the part where she was watching TV at least. But it was something about how she was sitting. Her legs propped up behind the couch, head against the floor, hoofs in a bag of chips, it was like she was trying to sit upside down. Rather then bother her, I just walked past her. I'd bring the revolver up later, she was busy right now.

As I entered the bedroom, I noticed that Octavia had made the bed. I always took her for a organized pony so it shouldn't surprise me. Guess that's what happens after you sleep on a couch for almost a year. I sat down on the bed and threw the new revolver on the night stand.

Pulling it close to my eye, I inspected the barrel. There were minor scratches on it, but it professionally sawed. By which I mean someone brought it to a gunsmith and had the barrel replaced. There wasn't any gunsmith's name on the side of the barrel, so it wasn't done by a lone gunsmith. Maybe the previous owner took it to a specialized gun store and had their gunsmith do it? I can't think of many gunsmiths that fully tamper with the firearm's vital parts, other then to replace them of course.

I opened the chamber, which revealed that it was clean. Not that it wasn't dirty, but that it was empty. After all, last time I bought a used firearm I got 8 buckshot shells free. I then took a look down the barrel. Anypony that has owned a firearm has been instructed specifically NOT to do this, but I had to see how clean this barrel was in order to judge if I needed to clean it out or not.

The interior of the barrel was filthy. The grime and dirt were deep within the barrel, housed snug in the rifling of the barrel. As much as I wanted to, I didn't have the supplies to clean it. Lets just hope she doesn't ever need to use it beyond 10 feet. The accuracy is probably awful because of that dirt.

I closed the chamber by swinging the handgun to the right, which made the cylinder swing to the frame. I spun it with my hoof to make sure that it would lock in place. The name of the firearm was scratched out, but it looked like a colt. I walked out of the room and placed the .38 in my bag, or at least would've if Octavia didn't spot me.

"What do you have there?" She said. Her face was quizzical and her head cockeyed.

"Well, guess there's no hiding it."

I lifted the .38 up to her view, not before dropping it in her hoofs.

"You already know how to use it, but I thought you'd need something for yourself."

"Well I didn't ask..."

"You didn't need to, I knew you'd need it."

"Well, thanks."

It was over as soon as it started, so she went back to watching TV, this time in a more normal position. Rather then watch it with her, I walked back over to the bag. I grabbed my leather jacket and my .38. Putting the jacket on first, I then threw the .38 in the pocket of it.

The door was less than obedient when I tried to close it. It just squealed shut, and it didn't actually close. As soon as my hoof was off it began moving back open. I ran back and closed it again, then I kicked it for good measure. This just resulted in a crack forming in the door. Well at least it closed.

I walked away from the building, and this time in the opposite direction of the pawn. Not many taxi's run through the Ghetto. The Drivers are either too scared to get jumped or just no money to be made here I guess. I walked a good 7 blocks until I was outside of the Ghetto, which led me to the busiest road in Canterlot. Taxis used to run through here often, and my bet is that they still do.

I almost sat down on a bus stop bench, that is until I heard the snore. I looked at where I was about to sit, and on the bench was a rugged pony. She was dressed in a beanie cap and a thick winter coat, there were some rips in her pants but they were nothing major. She didn't have a home, I always have guilt for them. But then I saw what was sleeping under the bench.

He was young, a filly actually. Brown coat and orange mane. I could hear him whimper inside the box that he probably called home. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Excuse me. ma'am?"

She slowly woke and looked at me, she didn't look angry, but just annoyed.

"What do you want?"

"Well, you could use this more then me."

I handed her a twenty bit bill, she quickly grabbed it out my hoofs. She shoved it deep into her jacket. The thing she forgot to do, however, was thank me. By the time I looked up a taxi was on it's way. I waved through the air to see if the driver would stop for me, which he did. Stepping into the back I was sucked into a comfortable seat. It was a type of seat made to make you feel at home, one that would make you feel that you were taken care of.

"So where you headed?" said a thick Prench accent.

"How far am I from Brookshade?"

"Can't say the distance, but it'll probably cost you less then fifty."

"Well, that's where I'm headed."

He put the timer on as soon as I said that and started driving. He didn't turn the radio on so I took the time to pull my MP3 player out.
It really made the ride go faster. I was there in no time.

As soon as I got there he listed the price.

"That's gonna run you 43 bits."

I pulled my money clip and handed him a fifty, he gave me the change and I was on my way inside Filthy's neighborhood.

Brookshade is filled with mansions, probably because it was so close to the Equestrian senate building that all the senators would live here. Fancy was no senator, he was a movie producer. Above that, he was a genius. He released a movie that everyone knew how it would end, yet still he made billions in the box office. It takes some brains to market that.

He married Flour Dis Lee, a Prench model. She probably married fancy because he could provide the lifestyle she craved. That and it gives you some real status to be married to Fancy Pants. If she got married to him, then she would definitely be 10 times larger then she was before.

Walking all the way down to the end of the neighborhood, I looked for what I remembered to be Fancy's house. He lived in the last cul-de-sac on the main road. He had the biggest house to, so there was no way I'd be able to miss it. I was almost at the last one, so I took a cut through one of their neighbor's houses.

Now I didn't go inside their house, I just walked towards their backyard in a attempt to get a good view at the windows in the back of Fancy's house. I sneaked through some underbrush, pulling not my firearm but my MP3 player. It doubles as a camera, though it's not excellent it works.

In his backyard were two fillies, one of them was a young colt, the other a young mare. I took a picture where they were both in the shot, then looked through the windows. After passing a dining room with some fancy furniture, a kitchen and a bathroom (I would not want to use that restroom). Then in the kitchen I saw movement. I quickly adjusted my head (and MP3) back to the kitchen, and inside was Flour Dis Lee. She was just walking through but I had time to snap a picture.

Then in the very top floor, third one to be exact, I saw Filthy in his office. It was a similar setup to the one Filthy had. I took a picture of him, he was looking in my direction. I jumped below the bush to make sure that he didn't see me, hopefully I was done in time. Crawling over out of sight, I was sure not to make any noise. I ran out of the neighborhood unnoticed, got in a cab, and headed home.

Breaking and entering

'Many years ago, I used to write. It was long before I was a member of the Royal Guard, and longer than the PD or what monster I am now. I wrote fiction novels, none were ever published but none had anything to do with each other either. They were philosophy you see, about how I saw life. It's all changed now, I live a different life. In those years I had still lived with the church.'

In those days with the church all I had done is write. It was my prison you see. The novel I wrote was about that. It was about two brothers living in a village in a far away land, one anti-social and hated by all who saw him. He was cursed to do wrong in all his life, if he were to pull water from the well it would turn to dirt.

His brother, however, was loved by all he knew. He was a friendly and hospitible pony. Everything he did, he did it right. One day, the son murdered his perfect brother and was exiled from the land. Roaming the wastes his dead brother would visit him each night.

In the end, he realizes he never had a brother. He had killed himself. His brother was actually just a part of him, and by killing a part of him he himself was dead. In the end he is thanked by his brother for setting him free and never seen again. It made me realize that when there is murder, there is intent. When there is intent, there is reason.'

'It may be the one thought that keeps me going.'

"Umm, Dasher?" Octavia interrupted my thoughts.

"Yes, Octavia. What is it?"

"You've been stareing at your knife for a while now. Is everything alright?"

She was right, I was sharpening my knife before I had begun to think. Getting it ready for tonight. If I were to repeat what I did to Filthy than I want to make it a lot cleaner. Guess I got lost in thought.

"Yes, my apologies. Just been thinking that's all."

I pulled the Microtech knife back into itself by pushing the blade downwards and then pulling the long band on the bottom. The blade retracted into the handle, ready for use.

"I see, what about?"

I looked at Octavia, what should I tell her?

"It's nothing really, just thinking about before."

"I see, you were a royal guard isn't that right?"

"Yea, I was."

"What happened about that?"

A million memories flashed in my head. But one as clear as day.

"Sit down Tavi, I have a story for you."

She sat on the bed beside me, and I could feel the matress press down with the pressure of another body on it.

"Long ago, I was a different stallion. You already know that. I joined the Royal Guard to escape a life I was trapped in."

"What do you mean 'Trapped in'?"

"I lived in a small village, one with only a thousand others. I was the son of a priest and expected to surpas him when he died. I never wanted to live the rest of my life sitting in a temple, worshipping a god that I didn't believe exist. I stayed there until I was seventeen. Until I was old enough to join."

"So you ran."

"I didn't run, I set myself free. Once I had completed training they wanted to ship me out, they had let me choose my MOS."

"You didn't sign open contract?"

"No, it's always a trick. I wanted to get a job I'd like, not one I'd learn to hate. I chose to be a Designated Marksman. It was available to only me out of my platoon."

"Why you?"

"I had an exceptional score on the marksmanship test, so they armed me with a M14 EBR and a list of other weapons they would normally have in the arsenal that I was allowed to select and sent me on my way. The list was the M16A4, M4A1, MK18, M14 EBR, M21EBR, M39 EBR, M40A3 SR, SR25, the M45 handgun, and the M92 FS. Each of them were better at their own thing really. The M14 was for mid range along with all the other EBRs (Enhanced Battle Rifle) I was assigned to be able to use. The SRs are Sniper Rifles, you know what those are for, and everything else was for close range sustaned combat."

"You carried all those at the same time?"

"What? Hell no! What made you think that?"

"Oh nothing."

"Oookay then... Well back to the story, when I arrived I had first chose the longest ranged rifle in my arsenal. It was the M40A3. I loaded a magazine of .308 into the rifle and moved to a perch I was ordered to. I had a clear view of the road, after a few hours I saw a griffon approaching the road to our Forward Operations Base."

"Wait, you were in Griffonia? During the liberation of Kuwania?"

"Yes, that's where I was. Now the Griffon moved towards us without hesitating, he was carrying a backpack on him. What was in it I didn't know and at the time didn't care to know. We went by standard procidure and fired a warning shot far from him. It was procidure to try to get him to stop after he passes a certain sign on the road. It worked and he just stopped and stood there. I had the crosairs on his chest but I cold see him thinking hard about something. It was a look in his eyes. We sent a small shock trooper squad to approach him and escort him away. As soon as the door opened to let the squad out, however, He spread his wings. Out of the bag fell an object, which flashed a light in my face, so I fired."

"You killed him didn't you?"

"The round ripped a hoofball sized hole through him, going through the neck and severing connection between the spine and the brain. Upon further examination of his bags they found 10 grenades strapped togather by a string around the pin. What had fallen out was a picture in a frame. Within it was an image of him sitting next to a female griffon. She was smiling, and he looked like the luckiest man around."

"So you killed him."

"What do you think?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Since then that's the only time I've felt remorse for my target. Although whenever I am about to do my job, he comes to mind."

"And you are doing it again tonight?"

"I guess so. I don't want to take the risk of being caught on campus, so I'm going to do something else."

Before she could ask the clock struck 11. It was time for me to leave. I walked out the door, and tried to close it. Something stopped the door so I turned around. Octavia had put her hoof between the door and the frame, she was stareing at me. Almost contemplating. She slowly closed the door.

"See you cowboy."

"Wanted dead or alive huh."

I as soon as the door closed, I walked to the highway and made haste. The same taxi was there just as I asked him to earlier that day. He flashed his lights to let me know it was him. I hopped in the cab, and he floored it down the road. He did exactly as I payed him to do as well, no licence and another cab following. One was for the entrance and transport, which is the one I'm in. The other one was a distraction, I'd need it later.

We were pulling into the neighborhood already, I looked through the back window and gave the other taxi the symbol. He would head to the front gate and start honking. My taxi would pull me to a road that leads parrallel to the one we're on, this is to reduce suspiscion and allow the second taxi to do what he was instructed to.

The cab came to a stop and I had a clear view of the driveway. I pulled the promised check of 1,000 bits out and handed it over to the driver and exited the car. As soon as I was out he left and went around the corner. He was out of sight... perfect.

I sneaked on over to the grass just outside the very corner of their driveway, there were bushes that I could hide next to so I used them to my advantage. The taxi was there was well, waiting for my signal. I waved it to him and he started honking his horn. Not like a normal honk, but just a honk that went on and on and on. What happened next was exactly what I wanted. The guard who was posted at the gate walked to the taxi... and outside of his security camera's vision.

I could hear him reporting a taxi to the other security guards in the house. I was willing to bet there were probably about 20-30. As soon as he gave the all-clear and said he was going to get the taxi to leave.

"Hey buddy, quit it with the horn. We don't have a problem here do we?" He said, putting a hand on his belt.

I gave the taxi driver the classic 'honk your horn' signal reserved for truckers. The driver snickered and complied. Which caused the guard to just get more irritated. He was about to draw his firearm, time to intervene. As soon as it was out of the holstier I grabbed his hoof and pointed it upwards, punching him in the jaw and throwing him in the bushes while I was at it.

He was disoriented but not dealt with, I punched him in the throat and threw the headset off his head. If another guard tuned in and heard this the whole plan was fucked. The other issue, however, was that the guard wasn't dead yet. I grabbed his firearm and got to work, bludgeoning him to death with the handle of the weapon. It was made out of cheap polymer, so it broke as soon as he died. The handgun's magazine and magazine catch were the first to fall out.

Then I dropped it and it all fell apart. The slide, barrel, recoil spring, sear, and trigger mechanism just fell out the firearm. That is why I don't buy from the company he buys from. The company is HiPoint, they're cheap but with a reason.

Throwing his body on the other side of the bush, and I threw the remaining parts of the firearm in the bush itself. He was the only gate guard, so I slipped across from where the camera was looking unnoticed. They put it facing too far forward and not enough down, so I could just hug the wall and remain unnoticed. There was a button that opened the gate, which I didn't press. Opening the gate would be too obvious. I climbed up one of the trees, which took a bit and one of the branches did fall off, but it got me over the fence.

As soon as I was over, I spotted 5 other guards. One was Standing on the balcony, I'd need to be careful about him. Another two were talking to eachother just at the door. One was sitting in a chair on the far side of the lawn, and the last one was walking the perimiter. The one in the chair would be the first to go.

I walked the perimiter, out of sight of the guard who was doing the same, after all he was on the other side of the lawn.
I made sure he didn't see me coming, if he did he'd surely alert everypony else. So I went carefully. As soon as I was behind him I pulled a peice of high resistance fishing wire out from my pocket. It'd do the trick just fine.

I wrapped it around his neck quickly and proceded to turn his head rapidly and violently until it had broken his neck and windpipe or he had been strangled to death. His neck snapped on the third thrash. I threw the body in the container next to him. Not before taking his jacket and hat off, I needed those. I put them on over my jacket and waited for the guard.

As soon as he approached he looked at me suspisciously.

"Hey buddy, I wanna talk to you." He said quitely

I didn't repsond

"Hey asshole, when I talk to you, you respond. get over here now."

"I stood up and raised my hands, he told me to get on the ground. I had no intention of doing such. As soon as I felt his handgun against my head, I set my improvized plan into action.

I swung my leg hard into his groin. He wouldn't be screaming any time soon. I swung all the way around and delivered a solid round house kick to his face, he was down. I could tell right away his nose was broken, and the jaw was barely being held togather by the skin. I pulled him into the same basket the other guard was in. Rather then leave him there, I pulled the rope again and wrapped it around his neck, pulling it tight against the neck until I felt the life drained from his body. He was gone.

I then saw my shadow. Odd seeing as it's the middle of the night. Wait, I'm in a flashlight! I turned around to see the two guards who were by the door looking at me.

"What are you doing over here? Who are you?"

I didn't respond.

"Hey, I said who are you!"

I didn't respond.

"Oh what you think you're too good to talk to me."

"No, I just don't talk to the dead."

They seemed puzzled, but then the guard with the flashlight recieved a punch in the jaw, the other recieved a microtech knife to the artery. Blood poured out of his neck and all over the jacket I had put on. Some was on my face and in my hair, not much but if any was seen when I make my escape I am in big trouble. I pulled it out of his neck and thrusted it into the temple of the other pony. He was dead before he could even get a good look at me.

I ran up to the porch that they had stationed in the far back of the front lawn. It was just a wooden porch, nothing special about it. I didn't see it when I was scouting because I never got behind the wall. The guard had his back turned to the incidents that just took place, but he was about to turn around, I rushed to the porch and stood just behind the railing. Putting my knife at the ready, I bit into the back of his collar and pulled him down, stabbing his throat as he leaned back. He wouldn't live. I pulled his body over the ledge and made way to the door.

I stopped just outside it, maybe I was thinking about what I've done. Maybe I was thinking of a plan. I still don't know. So I went onwards.

Author's Notes:

some help for some of you non gun nuts:

M16A4: American modernized assault rifle built off of the M16/AR15 platform. Using a forged stamped receiver it is the standard issue firearm in the US military. Firing the standard 5.56, it's the workhorse of the USMC and US Army. Most, if not all, M16s are used in Semi-Automatic and three round burst, sighting the issues with gas release and barrel heating.

M4A1: The classic M4A1 is a carbine model designed on the AR15 platform. These are most commonly used by the United States Marine Corps due to their considerable firepower and their excellent durability. Most US Marines are in love with the 1980 classic rifle. They are so popular in the US that demilitarized variants of the carbine can be baught (Designated to be the AR-15, though Smith and Weston modifies them to create their M&P series AR-15s). They fire the 5.56

MK18: A smaller variant of the M4A1, the MK18 is used by the US army as a carbine. It has an irregularly small barrel size so it can be used by paratroopers. I am not the most familiar with it seeing as, unlike all the other weapons on this list, I have never gotten the chance to operate one. They fire the 5.56 that the US Army has made standard for assault rifles and carbines.

M14 EBR: The M14 was first invented in the 1950s to replace the M1 Garand. The Garand was used in WW2 as a battle rifle, but by the time Korea broke out it was too outdated in comparison to the Soviet SKS Carbines that the Russians had used. They needed a better replacement so they chose to use the Springfield M14. The original M14s were made with wood and standard gun metal. The modernized EBR (Enhanced battle Rifle) Variants do not use wood, but rather a polymer frame and adjustable stock. They also come with full auto capabilities. They fire the 7.62x51.

M21 EBR: A longer ranged sniper rifle variant of the M14. I have never gotten the chance to operate one but I suspect it fires either the .308 or the 7.62x51.

M39 EBR: Modernized M21, practically the same save for the barrel and polymer frame.

M40A3 SR: The M40A3 is .308 bolt action sniper rifle utilized by the USMC and US Army in the 1990s and was used in desert storm. It has since been replaced by the M40A5. It is simply a modification of the Remington 700, I have fired the Remington 700 but not the M40 variant.

SR25: This is a modern semi-auto sniper rifle that has been dubbed the 'AR-10' and the 'SR-110'. Fires a 7.62. I have never operated one. I based the design off of the SR-25 E2 ACC design that is non standard and sold to civilians... totally not trying to hint anything.

M45: The M45 is a nonstandard US used 1911 model manufactured by colt firearms. It operates the same as the other 1911s built by colt and was rejected from standard issue for price problems. As the name indicates, it fires the .45. I am a proud owner of a M45.

M92 FS: First introduced to the US in the early 80s, this 9mm handgun has become a standard for nearly 30-35 years in the US military arsenal. it comes in many variants but the US military prefers the FS model.

That is the longest description ever. Just remember I like keeping things realistic so I did it for you

Two sides to every coin

Once inside, I found myself in a long corridor. My hoofs rested gently on the soft red carpet, which was good in combination with the white paint on the walls. The corridor was lined with suits of armor. Between each suit of armor was a pillar, probably more of decoration then to support the building from collapse. At the far end of the hall there was a staircase, seemingly made out of a very expensive granite. The carpet seemed to go up the stairs all the way until it reached a wooden dual doors.

I took it upon myself to take a long stroll down in the general direction of the doors. I watched each set of armor, something was weird about them though. It was as if they were watching me. It was more then a feeling, something was off about one thing. One of the suits of armor I had passed was missing a arm piece, which I didn't think much of. I wouldn't be thinking about that for much longer.

Somepony swung said arm hard into the back of my head. I fell straight to the ground and slammed against the floor, I would've slid but because of the carpet I rolled instead. I still had my eyes open, and I could see my attacker. He clearly had some issues with performance enhancement drugs, I swear he had muscles on his muscles. His uniform barely fit him, probably did that on purpose, and in one of his hoofs was the helmet. He ran towards me to swing again, I would not let him.

I swung my leg upwards, with my knees bent, and extended the leg with all the strength I could. It made impact with one of his legs he was running with. He flew past me and slammed hard against a suit of armor, which crashed into all it's pieces on him. He got up only to receive my hoof in his jaw. He was thrown back down by this, so I grabbed my knife and went to work stabbing the bastard while he was on the ground.

I went for the jugular first, I didn't want him screaming or alerting anypony else (if the suit falling hadn't already). After I was done with that I stabbed through the left temple. He wouldn't be living for much longer. I got up and wiped my knife off with his pants, it didn't leave as much of a stain on there because they were black. His shirt (and mine too consequently) had been made a new shade of red. I tore the shirt off my body and threw it over him.

It covered his face nicely, I didn't like the spine chilling expression it left. His face was as if he was about to scream but just couldn't find the power within himself to do it. I walked towards the door again, resuming my initial approach. The fall must've done something to my knee, I couldn't walk straight. With that in mind I limped over to the door, the stairs were the only problem.

Halfway up I collapsed, nearly rolling down the staircase. Lifting my pants revealed the full extent of the damage, the leg had a laceration on the calf. Above it was another nasty cut, they were probably both from when I jumped into a pile of shiny sharp objects to beat and stab the life out of somepony. Normal day in the office. There was no turning back now, so I went onward.

My head throbbed as I kept on, it was more then the pain in my leg that was getting worse and worse as my 10 foot journey up the stairs progressed. It was bleeding bad, next cloth I find I'm ripping a part off to help stop bleeding. As that thought came to me I reached the door.

At this point my vision blurred for a second, which probably had everything to do with that hit back there. I stopped for a second to get my bearings, I can't go back and if what I think is happening is happening I needed to do this quick. I flung the doors open, they both slammed into something hard. There was a guardpony standing in front of the door, just staring at me. He was as confused as I was.

A small pool of blood came from under the door, must've slammed it on somepony.

"Well, this isn't a good time to get acquainted isn't it?"

He shook his head as he stared, thinking of what to do. The solution came quick to him when he Flung himself at me in full force. He swung a hard left hook at my jaw, which missed by a foot. I swung hard into the guardpony's nose, which broke on impact. He stumbled back and began crying, so I grabbed his head and slammed it against my knee. It wasn't enough to take him down, but it was close.

I punched his jaw upwards and swung both hoofs down hard into his face. It was sent to the floor and the guard was out cold. I kept moving on, I already had an idea of where the bedroom was. I walked up the stairs, stabbing each pony I saw without any remorse. When I got to what was obviously the bedroom, I kicked in the door. Fancy and his wife shot up from their bed, staring at the blood soaked pony that stood before them. They were about to say something when a .38 special flew through their head and chest.

My work here was done. I made my way out of the mansion, and found the taxi waiting for me at the pickup zone. As soon as I sat down my vision began to blur as soon as I sat down.

"Just take me to the apartment complex just off the highway."

He must've taken a guess with how vague that was. He took the right guess at that and took me to my apartment. I thanked him for his work, he drove off, and I stumbled into my apartment. I collapsed on the floor just after closing the door.

There was a knock at her door, the ponies she's in charge of always knew to knock first.

"Come in already."

Starlight was impatient with all the recent deaths in her ranks, all high ranking officers at that. It was certainly unsettling for her. She secretly hoped that the pony at the door had some new news.

"It's Fancy."

"Let me guess..."

"He's dead ma'am, and for once we think we know who's behind this."

"Took you long enough, have at it."

"His name is Cloud Dasher, sources say he was hired by somepony to take these bucks out. That pony must be onto our case."

A million thoughts ran through Starlight's head at that moment, but it was time for a decision not a memory.

"Send a strike team, you have a location of where he lives?"

"Apartment in the downtown Canterlot area."

"Send them. How long did it take for you to acquire this information?"

"One week after Fancy's death."

"Brilliant."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for not updating this in a while , I have either been busy or trying to write other stories. Since all the other ones aren't going over well, I decided that I loved this one too much to let it go. You'll see more of Cloud Dasher soon!

Twist of fate.

I flung up from the couch, uncertain of how I got there. All I knew is that my back hurt like hell. Like somepony were to hit it with a hammer repeatedly until it was about to break. It was then I realized it was because I still had my backpack on. Octavia was sitting on the pillow next to where my feet were.

"How did I get here?"

"You tell me, you blacked out near the door."

The memories of last night flung through my head. Was it really last night though? If I blacked out I could've been out for days.

"How long has it been?"

"One week. You sure did take a hit where ever you were."

"Damn right, I have a knack for it."

She giggled at that, but watched me out the corner of her eyes. She was more interested in me then the TV. Monitoring my condition? No, it was something else. I caught her gaze and she looked away, back at the TV.

"Well hey, I'm not ready to die yet. I still got a score to settle."

"Sure you do, you just get some rest."

"As if one week wasn't enough?"

"Touche."

I got up, rolled onto my hoofs, and walked over to the fridge. There was a bottle of wine just next to it, aged by 8 years. I wasn't a fan of wine but I knew Octavia was. I opened the fridge and grabbed a beer, it was the last one there. From there I popped it open as I walked towards Octavia's bedroom.

To be fair, I payed for the place but Octavia slept there, which I was fine with. I pulled the gem Twilight gave me out, pressed on it, and I saw her face.

"What is it Dasher?"

"Well it's about the jobs, how am I getting paid?"

"I'm putting the funds in a checking account, actually I still gotta send you the check book."

She called for somepony named 'Spike'. He came back to her and blew some fire type thing on it. Normally that would burn it, but instead the book plopped down in front of me.

"Your current balance is 75,000 bits. Anything else?"

"Yea, about this Starlight chick, I'm getting to the bottom of it so don't worry."

She hung up on that, so I reached into my bags, I was wearing them when I was knocked out so I didn't need to worry about where they were placed. Octavia didn't take them off, so I didn't need to do much searching for them. I pulled my knife out and put it on the table, I'd run it under some warm water soon. I had finally gotten to the case I had found at Filthy Rich's house. I pulled the hammer out too.

Hitting it on the top wasn't fruitless, it was made of wood and I could instantly see the cracks. The gold lock, however, wasn't budging. That isn't a problem, once the top has caved in and it's off it's hinges it shouldn't matter what lock is on it. I kept hitting it, the lock clacked against the case the whole way through. It gave in soon after.

Out of it poured letters and notes. All of them from Starlight. One of them caught my attention however. It was from a month prior to when I had killed him. It spoke of all sorts of things like how 'Our Town' was prospering under the influence of Starlight and how the residents enjoyed their seemingly endless freedom and equality.

Something felt more interesting though, it gave the location of 'Our Town'. It was in the far North Western end of Equestria, I could get there by car, if anyone knew where starlight was it was them. I noticed a small glint at the bottom of the case, I wanted to see what it was. Emptying the case revealed a Smith and Weston HRT knife, a single bladed fixed combat knife. I put that in my pocket, the microtech was better but it's always good to have a backup. Under it was a colt 1911A1 handgun, it came complete with an extra loaded mag and a box of .45 hollow point shells.

I felt somepony breathing down my neck, I turned around to see Octavia looking over my neck. She stared at the rare firearm for a minute, then looked at the map.

"When do we get moving?"

"As soon as we get a car." I responded.

We both looked up, seemingly hearing the same thing. Hoof-steps, on the roof? I pulled the handgun close to me, and carried the extra magazines in my jacket.

"Ocatavia! Get in the closet now!"

She complied almost instantly, and I watched the windows. I had no idea what was going on but it wasn't good. I heard something clip on the roof, then they slid down. The first pony came in with full body armor by rappelling through the window, I fired a shot into his chest, it penetrated. The first mag must've been loaded in normal Full Metal Jacket, because hollow point would never have penetrated that.

He fell to the ground, rolling on himself. Then I heard a window break from the living room. I ran through the bedroom door and fired three shots at another pony, this one not wearing a helmet. One shot hit in his lower jaw, the other two penetrated his chest and leg body armor. He fell to the ground in a heap of blood. Then I heard a bang at the door, I flew all the way to the kitchen, which gave me a good amount of cover from the door.

Said door was ripped off the hinges by a rubber sledgehammer. I fired the last two shots in the magazine into the ponies chest, but they didn't penetrate. This bitch was in full riot armor. He lifted a hefty semi auto shotgun and fired three sells just over my head. I ducked under the counter, which blocked all the pellets. He kept putting covering fire down to keep me down while I reloaded the handgun. I took this time to grab the wine bottle. I had an idea and it wasn't a good one.

The armored pony walked past the counter and entered the kitchen, he put the shotgun to my face. This helped me more then him. He pulled the trigger, but was surprised when the shotgun didn't fire. He was stunned, now was the chance. I swung my hoof towards the shotgun and flung it out of his hoofs. It flew against the wall. I then grabbed his head and slammed the armored headpiece against the counter. The back of his helmet had no armor.

I smashed the bottle against his head and stabbed him in the back of his knee with it, effectively crippling him. I threw him on the ground face first. he tried crawling for the door, but instead he was met with a full magazine of .45 hollow point shells to the unarmored part of his vest. He was out cold.

Outside was a parked van, nopony in the drivers seat. I pulled Octavia out of the closet and we made out way to the van. Once inside, I pinned the map to the dashboard, it was time to get some answers.

Author's Notes:

Told you there'd be more

On the road again

The car wasn't in the best of shape. It was an automatic ford van that clearly needed a tune up on it's transmission. The part previously listed had trouble changing gears. The suspension was a problem as well; the van rocked back and forth at any speed beyond 55 MP/H. I had to keep at 50 MP/H as I left Canterlot through the North gate. Passing through it only required a small toll.

"Who were those guys?" Octavia broke the silence.

"My guess is as good as yours, my bet is they're mercs. They were armed far too well to be some gangster or thug on the block."

"So you mean someone is paying to kill us?"

"Well that's what I do. I don't find it odd that somepony else does it to."

"Well that's not what I meant. I meant that who would be hiring them?"

"Somepony that knows I'm onto them, and the only pony I'm onto is Starlight. I'd guess they were hers."

I pulled up through a toll booth; I put the change in the booth's box. It slid down into the slot, and the electric gate was raised. I drove through at a solid rate and made my way through to 'Our Town'. It was quite the ways away, so I'd have to stop in the neighboring cities for supplies. The first (and probably only) city that we'd need to head through was Whinnyapolis.

Whinnyapolis is famous for it's coffee, which the mayor of Whinnyapolis makes very clear in most of her speeches. I've never been so I've never really cared. The people of Whinnyapolis look up to her though. It'd explain how she's served 5 consecutive terms in office. All I know is she doesn't look half bad. Knowing nothing about Whinnysotian politics, I'd probably vote for her because of that.

Octavia was bored to hell in the car, we had driven two hours and were 4 hours out from Whinnyapolis. She passed the time by turning on the radio or rummaging around the ex-owner's stuff in the back of the van. It was practically a house, they had a bed in the far back and a microwave attached to the back car charger port. Wasn't exactly a luxury vehicle, but it'd do for them. The fact they only had one bed would have some issues though. Did they take turns on who got it and the others just slept in the seats? Beats me.

The radio was playing classical music; Octavia's choice not mine. It calmed her down a bit after that shootout at the apartment. It did a number on how the stress she was under. Unfortunate I know, but I think after a while she'll get used to it. I sure as hell did.

I heard the sound of a pump shotgun in the back; in a fit of fear I threw the car into a swerve to the right, through 2 lanes of traffic. I barely made it to the edge of the road without hitting a car. I looked back to see Octy on her head; her tail touching her nose. She looked up at me, and I looked past her at the Mossberg shotgun that was in the back.

It wasn't one of the cheap Mossbergs, it was a 590 twelve gauge shotgun. The Mossberg 590 is their full length model of the Mossberg 500 sawed off, both of them chambered in 12 gauge unless modified to fit the 10 gauge. Something wasn't right about it, it was far too new for some mercenaries to have acquired.

"Hey Octavia, pass me that."

She managed to get to her hoofs and grasp the firearm in her mouth, she pulled it over to me in the drivers seat.

"Not even a warning. No sorry?" She was more then irritated.

"Don't pump a shotgun without warning me, you're lucky I didn't pull my handgun and shoot first."

"Good point."

I pulled my attention to the weapon.

"Well this is odd."

"What?"

"The etchings. Look at them."

"Well I'll be..."

The etchings never lie; they were put in by the factory itself.

'Property of Griffonstone law enforcement.'

I couldn't piece it together. Did Griffonstone have something to do with this? They had to, nopony else would be able to access a police issued armament. It was even harder to believe they could pull a standard issue firearm off the rack unnoticed. Something wasn't right. I had a flashback to a night in Ponyville, just soon after I had gotten the contract.

"Well, never thought you'd say that Cloud. Listen, if you need more info just listen. The firearm you acquired (along with most of the other ones in the building) were taken from Ponyville government issued arsenal. The one kept for the Police Force as a impound for confiscated weaponry. So in short, the only pony who can access those with no record would be Mayor Mare. It's likely now that their weapons, which were confiscated, are now back on the rack there."

Twilight had said that.

If Starlight had connections in a town as normal as Ponyville, it'd be easy for her to have connections in a rundown shit hole. She promised them twenty bucks and they'd be all over it. It makes a lot more sense than Mayor Mare's reason. She just wanted some money for herself.

"Octavia, you're a good driver right?"

"Well I'd like to think that I am. Want me to take the wheel?"

"That'd be nice; just follow the map."

She switched seats with me, and I stood in the back. The shotgun was in pristine condition. Not even a scratch lay on the barrel, trigger, or stock. It certainly wasn't new though. A quick inspection of the barrel revealed that there was quite a bit of wear from firing. My guess: they just are good about cleaning their weapons on everything but the barrel.

I put the Mossberg in a seat next to me, I wanted to see what else they had packed. I threw some civilian cloths off to the side, a case of 12 gauge shells, and some bathroom supplies. I stumbled across something irregular though, a set of pictures. It had one of Octavia, I couldn't tell what she was doing but it was her. The picture was taken from outside the windows, so these guys must've been watching us. Keeping that in mind, I folded that up and put it in my pocket. Under it was a picture of me, it was from a group photo when I was in the Royal Guard. It featured me in my OD Desert camouflage and a thick layer of Kevlar. I wasn't wearing a helmet in the shot but I was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses. My face was circled in red highlighter.

I folded that up and put it in my jacket as well. I'd tell Octy about this when she wasn't driving. I pulled through the next item in the bag, and they were firearms. The next thing I removed was a Walther PPK semi-automatic handgun. This wasn't the original one, the original wasn't chambered in the .380 APC. I put that back in the bag, I'd let Octavia carry that. The next few items were just ammunition, family photos, things like that. I threw the family photos out the window.

"What were those?"

"Junk."

She didn't ask any questions about that. There were other things in the bag like combat boots and vests, I would sell what I didn't need. I moved to the next bag; it was obviously a rifle bag. I unzipped the bag and immediately jumped back. I didn't pull it out of it's case. It was a Remington CSR Collapsible Sniper Rifle. Firing the .308 this rifle was excellent at long range warfare. Above all else; it can be folded to fit in a jacket. It was the perfect weapon.

It was fully collapsed, barrel and hand guard removed from the rifle and in their respective places. Anypony else would probably dismiss it was broken, but I knew better. The barrel screws in to place on the receiver, whereas the hand guard clips onto the receiver and stays in place. It came complete with a hefty scope on the edge of the rifle bag. The scope appeared to be a x12 zoom optic. I couldn't tell yet, I'd find out when we get a place to stay.

I placed the rifle back with respect, it was gorgeous. There was one final bag in the back, it was a lot smaller and easily a handgun bag. I unzipped the front and a handgun fell out of the case. I picked it up to confirm that it was something far better then the M1911A1. This weapon was a Glock 22 Generation 4. This was the .40 Smith and Weston variant, so I had nothing to worry about on stopping power or mag capacity.

I placed it back in the case. Opening another pocket revealed that it was filled to the brim with bits. Never can get too much cash. I'm willing to bet that this was their paycheck. I checked the side pocket of the bag, and out fell a garote wire. Strong, dependable, and silent, the garote wire is a perfect choice for what I do. I put that in the same pocket as the pictures.

About 45 minutes had elapsed from when we had switched seats. Octavia had since changed channels. Now the radio was playing hard rock songs. I recognized the song playing now as 'Make me want to die' by the pretty reckless. Not a bad song.

"Hey Octavia, I thought you only liked classical?"

"What? So I can't have other interests?"

"You sorta give off that impression..."

"Well things aren't always as they seem."

She sounded irritated on that note, so I stopped talking. I was tired, so instead of advance to the front seat, I moved to the bed in the back. I closed the blinds, and was met by a nightmare.

"It's all your fault." It was dark, I couldn't tell who was talking. I'd like to say I recognized the voice, but I couldn't.

"What do you mean? What's my fault?"

"Everything." I could hear it get closer.

"Well start somewhere!" I reached for my handgun out of fear, but I touched an empty holster.

I was introduced to a blinding light. I closed my eyes to avoid adjustment, but eventually I opened them. All I saw was the filly from Filthy's house. Dangling upside down, no head or neck, blood pouring from her lifeless body. I heard the voice again.

"And it's all your fault. Think about it each time you pick up your gun, each time you pull the trigger. It is all your fault."

I felt something breathing down my neck, I turned around and saw Mayor Mare, gaping hole where the pole once was. She too was bleeding, but much more she was rotting away. Her skull was partially visible, and the maggots had already started their work.

"It is all your fault."

I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I tried again and again. Nopony would hear me. I then found myself in a familiar landscape. The mayor quivering at my knees, while she was tied to the tree. I could see every inch of fear in her eyes. This time, however, I felt it as well. I put the pipe against her, but I felt it against my own chest as well.

"Ponies like you could only care about yourself." I heard myself say.

"It's not true! You don't understand! It's not like that!" They were all thoughts.

That was when the first swing happened, I could feel the thrash against my chest. I felt every bit of fear as I hit the pole further and further. I felt the pain as it slowly impaled my body. I wanted it to stop, but the pain never did. This was my hell, it is my prison. As soon as the pole impaled me I awoke.

I screamed as loud as I could, Octavia had stopped the vehicle. She had obviously done it long ago, because she had been shaking me. Trying to awake me I see.

"What was that?"

"Just a nightmare Octavia, you get back to driving."

She did as she was told, we would be in Whinnyapolis in one hour.

Author's Notes:

Well sweet Jesus that was boring. Well I hope that nightmare made up for it. Sweet dreams

Grand entrance

"Sir you're going to need to step back."

That was the first thing I heard when the van stopped at the border of Whinnyapolis. Unlike most toll booths, this one was run by members of the Equestrian National Guard. Odd, I always thought that the transport authority was doing well. We were just outside of Whinnyapolis, maybe a mile or so out from the city.

"Sir we're just passing through." Octavia said to the mare behind the blast proofed booth.

"I don't think you understand ma'am, we aren't asking you to leave. We're ordering you to leave. This area is off limits to anypony lacking papers."

"One moment then."

Octavia leaned towards me, I had shifted from the bed to the drivers seat.

"What do we do?" She whispered at me.

"I have an idea." I spoke in a whisper.

I leaned towards the driver side window so that the guard could see me.

"Ma'am, we are under orders from princess twilight to enter this city. We need to pass through to get to a recently secured location."

"Yea sure you are, and I'm getting paid six figures. I'm going to need to see some documentation of that."

Well fuck.

"Ma'am I can't present you with that information, but you will need to let us past this outpost."

She clenched her glove around the trigger of the rifle, which was a standard M16A3 Assault Rifle. She angrily walked over to the radio, probably going to ask about me or something. I took a quick look around the area, I saw no snipers, no MG nests, and no other guards. This was too easy. The only thing in my way was a wooden gate.

I switched seats with Octavia, then pulled the car into reverse. Slamming on the gas, I backed up 100 feet. The mare had run out of the booth at this point and raised her rifle.

"Exit the vehicle civilian!" She screamed. Yea right that was going to stop us.

"Octavia, duck."

She didn't question my command and put her head under the dash. Bracing for impact.

I put the car in it's max gear and floored it towards the gate. The mare opened three shots into the windshield. They spurred between me and Octy, although they did send glass into my face. I felt the blood flow down from my forehead. Before long, she had jumped out of the way of my van and ran to the radio. The van slammed into the wood fence and ripped it into shreds.

At this point the windshield had turned into a spiderweb of cascading cracks. I didn't look back, I just kept flooring it until I was in the city proper. Seeing as cracked windshields aren't preferred by 9/10 doctors, I bucked the windshield until it flew off of the car. Octavia had been cowering the whole time, can't say I blame her. The van was reaching 95 MP/H, it's top speed. That was when two Whinnyapolis police cars turned their lights and sirens on, they must've been trailing me since that radio signal got out.

"Octavia take the wheel!"

"Bu-"

"Just do it!"

She reluctantly swapped seats with me, giving me the chance to pull my 1911 out from it's holster.

"Just listen, don't yank the wheel and don't make any sudden stops, you got that? If you need to do either honk. Do you understand me?"

She nodded, that was all I needed right now. She probably thought I was going to open the window, instead I ran to the back. The glass in the back windows were relatively easy to break, they shattered into a million pieces. I put both my hoofs through the broken glass, gloves and all, and fired a shot at the police car.

The first shot hit low, ricocheting off the car's hood. I fired a second shot, this time it was even lower, it made impact in the left headlight. Octavia honked once and I grabbed whatever I could get a hold of. We must've gotten in the city because it was a straight shot to it from the post.

My guess was correct, we switched from a two lane highway to a full four lane freeway. We were surrounded by buildings on all sides, as if they were trees growing out of the urban landscape. I pulled my attention to the cars again, I fired another shot at the windshield. This one made direct contact. I saw the driver's partner duck, the shell went right past his head. He leaned out from his window with a Glock in hoof.

He fired in two shot bursts, not that it was fully automatic or anything but he just had a good eye. The first shot went low and penetrated the aluminum exterior of the back door. The shot didn't hit me, however, it just rattled around. He fired another two shot burst, this time they went through the other window. The van lurched in a sharp left, which threw me into the wall I was leaning against, then the van lurched to the right to correct he course. I flew face first into the other wall.

I pulled myself upwards. I was face to face with the rucksack I wore back in Ponyville. I pulled the zipper open and dug for something that would make this all too easy. I found it.

I pulled the Ak-74M out from the bag, stock collapsed. I unfolded the stock and set it onto fully automatic. I had taken the PO sight off, so there was nothing to worry about when it came to range. I rushed back to the window, where another two shot burst awaited me. This time one missed but the other grazed my head. I could feel the pain rushing through my skull, I didn't know the extent of the wound but it couldn't be good.

I opened a full auto burst into the windshield, blood splattered all over the drivers side window. The car he was in spun out to the right and then flipped onto it's right side. The officer was crushed under the weight of the vehicle. Then the next car pulled up, it was obviously trying to make a pit maneuver in an attempt to stop the van. I emptied the mag into the vehicle, which filled the front seats and windows with blood. Their car kept moving, as if nothing had ever happened. I watched it drive on.

It was almost an eerie sight to see, it didn't last long. The car slammed into a pole, which it promptly knocked down. The police car was totaled, and the crew was dead. I made my way to the drivers seat, only to find Octavia in a bloody mess. Blood flowed from her ear down across her face, she cried as she drove on. She never stopped once.

"Octavia get in the passenger seat now!"

She didn't respond.

"Octavia!"

I grabbed her and rolled her into the seat, I felt the van decelerate as we switched. I jumped in the bloodied drivers seat and kept moving.

I looked back at Octavia and then back at the road. In the middle of the road was a parked truck, I swerved to avoid it but flew into a roll. I was sent flying through the missing space where the windshield once was, Octavia stayed in the car. I blacked out as soon as my head hit the pavement.

Author's Notes:

Fighting against the tide

Author's Notes:

Thanks to birdy for editing this story! Without him this wouldn't be nearly as good as it is now! Also: I'm back baby

I regained consciousness slowly. The room I was confined to was what appeared to be part of an apartment complex, but if it was it had since been abandoned. I pulled tightly on my right hoof, but it went nowhere.

'What?' I thought to myself.

Something was against the hoof, as I looked towards it realized that I was strapped down with plastic zip tie restraints. They're cheap little things, but still sturdy. If I had my knife I could cut through them. It was then I noticed that I was actually on a bed, and on the other side of the room rest my rucksack. It was too dark to see anything else.

The door flew open and slammed against the wall, the light pouring through it blinded me. Once my eyes had adjusted, I was face to face with a pony I'd never seen before. He was a rugged looking pony; heavily built and stronger than a ox. I didn't know what to think at first, so I started thrashing in my restraints. They didn't budge.

He cleared his throat.

"You're lucky we got to you first you know." His accent was heavily tainted with a Teutonic feel. He must've been German.

"What do you mean?"

"You mean Equestria didn't tell anypony about the lockdown? Makes sense, they wouldn't want any panic."

"Start from the beginning, where's Octavia?"

"Don't worry, she's fully conscious."

"And her condition?"

"Good for a pony that got shot four times."

'Four? But there was one in the ear? Where were the rest?'

"Well listen buddy, we're friends here. That is as long as you don't do anything with them."

"Who is this them?"

There was a pause between this, he must've been thinking of how to explain this.

"You see, things aren't normal around here. The Mayor has sent National guard forces to secure the borders around the city."

"This is an issue how?"

"You probably already noticed, but they aren't letting anypony inside of the city or outside of the city. They've cut most access to the outside world, so we really have no way of reporting this to anypony."

This couldn't be good.

"Well if it's of any compensation, this sounds like top level corruption. I happen to be the go-to pony for this."

"I already know who you are, Cloud Dasher. I have some idea of what you do based on how you got in here. We need your help."

"Who's we?"

"The resistance is trying to break the Mayor's hold on the city, giving us the chance to instill a new pony that would lift the restrictions."

"So let's get this strait, you want to overthrow her?"

"Eyup."

"Sounds good enough, I'm going to need some things though."

"And those are?"

"My restraints, I need them gone now."

"They aren't fully tightened you know..."

I pulled backwards and what he said revealed to be true. My hoofs and legs slipped out of the restraints nicely.

"Well, what are the other things you needed?"

"Simple, my weapons."

"They're in the bag."

I approached the bag and kept an eye on the pony, if he tried anything I'd be in real trouble. I opened the bag and pulled out the Glock, it was scratched and dinged, but it still looked like it'd work. The other weapons were all broken. The AK-74 had snapped in half, alongside the 1911 ripping from barrel to the trigger. There was no getting those back in working order.

"You already noticed that only two of your weapons had survived."

"What?"

"Look deeper."

At the very bottom was my switchblade, in perfect condition. I put my leather jacket on, which was in the bag as well, and slipped the Glock through a shoulder holster and the knife in a pocket.

"What do you need done?" I asked.

"First thing is first. There is another resistance movement. They support some 'Moonlight Shimmer' chick. At least I think that's what her name was. They are opposed to us, we need them to be dealt with before we can make a secure move on the mayor without the rest of the world knowing the struggle."

'He must be thinking of 'Starlight Glimmer'. What would she be doing in the picture? Could it be the same as Ponyville?'

"Alright, so you're using the blackout while it's still useful?"

"Exactly, we can't let the Equestrian government know of this or they'll just throw more stallions into the city and overrun us."

"Wouldn't they do that when they find out that they mysteriously have a new mayor?"

"Don't worry, that's covered."

He was about to go through the door as he turned to his way out, but then stopped. He did a about face and looked at me. Then he threw down a folder.

"This is where you start. I'm Yegor by the way."

He did another about face and left the room. Well that was over, and now it was time to find Octavia. Where could she be? This is definitely an apartment complex, so sweeping room to room would be a easy way to do it, but it'd get me a lot of unwanted attention. I took the mag out of the Glock, it was fully loaded save for two rounds. Perfect.

I opened the door and was led to a living room/kitchen. I stepped out of the apartment and walked down the long, shady, dirty hall. It was barely lit and smelt like piss. I used a cloth to cover my mouth as I moved through. I heard a scream come from a door. More importantly, it was a mare's.

I stepped back, then ran towards the door. My shoulder braced forward, when I made impact the door fell to the ground. I looked up through the cloud of dust that it had created to see a familiar face. Octavia lay strapped to a couch in a similar manner as to how I was. Only difference was how Yegor treated her.

His hoof was raised, and Octy's face was covered in blood. They both looked at me, Yegor spoke first.

"Listen, you want to see her alive again? You better do that job."

Octavia had her turn.

"Help." It was a weak cry, one the German pony couldn't understand. I take Octy over a stranger any day.

I ran towards Yegor, who had then punched Octavia in her shot ear. The blood leaked through the bandage that was over it. He had signed his death warrant. I tackled him off of Octavia, and through the wall separating the living room from the bedroom. We landed on the floor next to the bed.

Before I could get back up, Yegor was already throwing swings into my head. He knew he was on the losing side of the fight unless he could roll me over, that wasn't happening. I grabbed him by his neck and threw a solid swing into his groin. Then I pulled him onto his rear. He was sitting upright, holding his precious parts. I threw a kick straight into his face, he flew back into a nightstand. I grabbed him by his neck and threw a solid hit into his nose, which broke it.

I threw another swing back into his groin, then one more into his ribs. He stumbled backwards, trying to get away from me. I ran after him and punched him in the throat, which made him cough some blood out. Throwing another two punches into his mouth, he lost one tooth. I kept at him with hits to the ribs until I could feel at least two ribs give in under the pressure.

I pulled him back to his feet and wrapped my hoofs around his neck. I wasn't going to kill him yet, I ran him into the kitchen and slammed his face against the fridge. He tackled me and ran until I hit the door, I flew out of it and then through the next door into the next room.

In that room he had kept pushing me until I slammed my back against a brick wall. I felt the pain rush through my spine, and before I could think he was throwing swings into my ribs. At this point I was sick of him.

I pulled my knife and stabbed him in his right hoof. He stumbled back and screamed. I then kicked him in the face. As soon as he was on the floor I pulled my Glock and fired a shot into his head. He lost the upper half of his head. His brains were splattered across the room. I ran into the room Octavia was in, where she was more then happy to see me. She hugged me and kissed my cheek, which I wasn't expecting. With a little blush I picked her up and carried her over my shoulder, we had to get out of here. I already heard voices coming from the floor under me.

We had to have been on the top floor. So I ran past the room where Yegor's body was and kept moving until I reached the staircase. It was on the far end of the hall, it only led downward. I had my Glock in my other hoof, so I was ready to kill any motherfucker that attempted to move up em.

Two shadows just passed through the stairs, I fired two shots into one of their chests, he flew down the flight of stairs, the next one was already on the top. Standing directly next to a fire extinguisher. I shot the red container, which sprayed it's contents all over the pony, who shot what sounded like a shotgun in the air. I ran into the smoke with my knife in my mouth. As soon as he was less than a foot from me I rammed the knife through his head.

He was dead, lifeless at the blade of my knife. I kept running down the stairs, but as soon as I was on the lower floor I kicked the body down the flight of stairs. This was followed by a set of screams in German. I waited by the stairs, but then noticed something in the corner of my eye. A open door leading to a kitchen, if that body stalled them long enough I could get an edge...

I ran toward the kitchen and placed Octavia in a safe area, then I pulled a bottle of water out from the fridge and emptied it on the floor. Then I rushed and grabbed some baking soda and vinegar. I filled the bottle halfway with vinegar and wrapped a lot of baking soda in a paper towel. Then I poured a nearby box of nails into the bottle. I placed the paper towel in the area where the cap would be and re-screwed the cap back on. As I approached the exit of the room, there were four ponies, all clad with shotguns. They all fired at the same time, but I was already behind a fridge, I shook the bottle.

As soon as it fuzzed, I threw it in the face of one of the gunners. It instantly exploded and sent nails flying in every direction. I had built a homemade fragmentation grenade using the pressure buildup from vinegar and baking soda. The hall had been a bloody mess, and wounded screams could be heard from the outside of the building.

The bodies had been found the next day, but nopony spoke of it. Crime was normal in this city now. I sat on the couch of a much nicer apartment, reading the mission briefing that I was given by Yegor.

Erratum

"How many more need to die Starlight!" Starlight's assistant slammed her hoof down on the table. Natasha certainly wasn't the most patient pony, but she knew how to get a point across.

"We've lost too many officers! Filthy, Fancy, even the fucking mayor! How many more ponies need to die! Yegor's trap didn't even work!"

"Wait, what happened to Yegor?" Starlight said curiously.

"He was shot, and his stallions slaughtered. Next pony he's going to be after is the Mayor of Whinnyapolis."

"What makes you so certain that he'll go after her? She's practically useless and her job is already done."

"Because he's determined. There is nothing more dangerous then the will to win."

"Fine, we'll see what we can do."

Pulling the first sheet out of the folder, I noticed that it was a set of emails between the mayor and Starlight. Starlight was going under the alias of a stream of numbers. Smart, but if you have insight you already know what she did. She was promised a large sum of money if she were to cut off Whinnyapolis's terms of communication to the outside world. It must've worked because there was no news from Whinnyapolis for months now.

I threw that on the coffee table, then pulled out the next sheet. It was supposed to look like official police documentation on their rival gang, something wasn't right about it. It just seemed to be... too informative. They had everything, and I mean everything about this gang in fine print. That leaves the question, why didn't they do a bust on them? They didn't need me if they knew all this.

"Something isn't right about these."

"What is it?" Octavia said out of the kitchen, which too was connected to the living room I was in.

"Well for one, the police report seems to have been altered in the points regarding their affiliation with Starlight. It my just be a coincidence or a bad officer wrote the report. It's just off. Lastly, something tells me that Yegor wasn't who he said he was."

"I'm pretty sure I understand that..."

"Well there's more to it, there's no reason this gang would have affiliation with Starlight, there are a few thousand police officers in this city, there's no way a gang like this could overthrow them. The whole thing is off, it just can't be tr-." I stopped right there, in awe at what I saw.

"Cloud? You alright?"

I didn't respond.

"Cloud!"

"Serve and protect."

"What?"

"Serve and protect. That's what's on the badge of the Manehattan PD, not the Whinnyapolis PD."

"What do you mean?"

"They used the wrong stamp and signature on this report! The entire thing is fake! There's no way that this can be true unless it was written by the MPD, which it wasn't! It says on the report that it was filed by the Whinnyapolis PD, not Manehattan. This is as phony as a 3 bit bill!"

At this point Octavia was over my shoulder, reading the paper carefully.

"There's more." she said

"What?"

"Typos."

"What? Where?"

"Near the bottom, they misspelled Whinnyapolis, it has two N's, not one."

Sure enough it was right there, Whinyapolis. I reread it to make sure our eyes weren't playing tricks, and they weren't. I walked to the restroom, pulling my zippo out as I went there.

"What are you doing?"

"Ashes to ashes."

As soon as I was in the bathroom, I lit the paper on fire and watched it burn in the toilet bowl. It burned out quickly, leaving a small black stain on the bowl. The stain disappeared as soon it I flushed it. It was as if it never existed.

"Why'd you do that?"

"If anypony finds it, then my entire job is in jeopardy. I can't allow that to happen. I burned it to make sure that nopony could ever read it."

"Makes sense."

I trotted towards the fridge and pulled out a beer. I then walked over to the couch and turned on the TV. There were no channels, just static. The signal must've been cut. Whatever, it was the same with the radio.

"Octavia, I'm going to get some rest. You take the couch tonight."

At this she groaned, the couch was far from her favorite place to sleep. It'd have to do for tonight. I am not going to rest just yet, I need answers. I pulled the gem out from my bags and pressed on it, Twilight's face appeared in the image.

"Make it quick Cloud."

"What do you know about the Mayor of Whinnyapolis?"

"Why are you in Whinnyapolis?"

"I go where the chase brings me, now what do you know?"

"Well, she's not the nicest pony. She never married to spite against social norms, instead she just has a boyfriend that she lives with. She's known as 'Mrs. inhospitable' due to her emotional instability. She's been accused of taking bribes many times, the worst of which came from the possibility of her being bribed to lower police raids on gangs. Why?"

"She might be working with Starlight, were you aware that Whinnyapolis has been under military quarantine for the past three months?"

She was silent.

"Were you?" I said to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently the Mayor has cut all access to the outside world. I didn't know about it so I guessed you didn't know either."

"Should I tell Celestia?"

"Not yet, I'll tell you when."

"Fine, not sure how much longer she can keep it a secret though."

"Don't worry, I work quickly."

"Anything else?"

"Watch your back, Starlight might be catching on."

"You got it, I'll see you later Dasher."

I hung up on that, how could she keep this lockdown that secret for this long? It just didn't make sense. I lied down on the bed, and was met with sleep.

Author's Notes:

Yes, the title is Latin. Yes, I do love Latin.

Red Light Flat Line

I woke up the next morning with a headache, that was the least of my worries though. I needed a few more answers from Twilight. I pressed the gem and she appeared once more.

"Back so soon?"

"I'm afraid so, forgot to tell you last night but Yegor had given us forged police documents."

"I see, well how did you know they were fakes?"

"They used the wrong motto for their police force."

"Makes sense. Now what else is it?"

"The gang they wrote for it seems to add up with everything but their affiliation with Starlight. So I need to ask you something: Who was Yegor?"

"I'm not sure to be honest, he's not big in the crime syndicate. There is one thing though, I didn't learn about you from somepony else. I learned about you because you were suspected in plenty of violent crimes in Ponyville. I assumed you were behind them and sent a scout to watch you. He overheard your conversation with Crimson, which let me know you were in business."

"Then, how did Yegor know who I was. Better yet, why did he say I had built up a reputation."

"The answer is pretty clear Cloud, just think."

I gave it a second, then it clicked.

"Yegor is, well was, one of them."

"Exactly."

"Then, I must be creating quite the ruckus in her ranks. Killing off her primary funds must've crippled any advancements in her political party. A party without money is like a car without gas."

"Yegor must've been setting you up for something."

"I'm guessing this 'gang' that he set me up to kill wasn't another gang. It probably was just a large group of ponies that would be ready to kill me as soon as I popped my head from the hole."

"That's exa-" She was interrupted by the guards punching through the door.

"Princess, we have 20 armed ponies attempting to take the castle! We lost contact with perimeter guards. What are your orders?"

She lifted a hoof to her chest and gave a deep breath.

"You rally all remaining guards in this room for a counter attack, move me to the safe-room."

"Yes your majesty!"

They did as they were told, ushering her out of the room, and rallying 30+ guards in that one bedroom. They flipped tables to set up some cover. That was when 5 masked ponies crossed the door, the guards opened fire on them. Blood and chunks of flesh splayed against the walls and bodies fell to the ground. The five were dead. Then the rest of the masked ponies rushed the room, shotguns ready.

They opened fire and multiple guards fell in a pool of blood. The terrorists didn't have the numbers to beat them, though. They were overwhelmed by M16 and M4 fire and were quickly cut down. The room was painted red.

"Rally the wounded on the patio for medevac! One squad on me for the princess! One more squad move to the bottom floor and gain control of the perimeter!"

The gem cut off, and I was in awe. I underestimated the strength of this group. I knew that they had the potential to manipulate gangs and small town politics, but I never once thought they could have the ability to train soldiers to storm fortified locations. I needed to get my act together and fast.

There was one thing worse, one that stuck in my head long after the shock was gone.

They're on to me.

12 hours before initial attack

"We did research, does the new princess have anything against you?"

A million memories rushed through Starlight's head, Natasha's statement was unnerving to the leader of the Equestrian Communist Party.

"What about her?"

"We have reason to believe that she is paying Cloud Dasher to kill our funds."

"Before you continue, what information do you have?"

"Just after each one of ours died by his hoofs, a large sum of bits would be transferred from Twilight's banking account to Clouds. They tended to be of prices like 30 thousand to 60 thousand."

"When did this start?"

"It started just after the death of Filthy Rich and Fancy Pants."

"That bitch."

"Excuse me?"

"I want her dead! Bring me her head on a silver platter!"

"Your wish is my command."

Present hour

"Octavia, we have an issue."

She was sitting on the couch, trying to get some rest.

"What is it?"

"Twilight's mansion has been breached."

She shot up at this, a mix of emotions in her eyes. Awe, confusion, and shock.

"Is she dead?"

"No, the guards stopped the terrorists advance with a counter offensive. It worked."

"How do you know this exactly?"

"Me and Twilight keep in touch."

With that a bit of envy flashed through Octavia.

"It's professional."

With this she calmed down, but there was an awkward sense of distrust in the room. It flowed entirely from Octavia, it was something about her attitude once I had said that. It had all changed.

The silence was broken by a knock on the door.

I walked towards the door and looked through the peephole. Surely enough, there were five ponies. They were all wearing masks, each more silly then the other. A bit of humor goes a long way, but these punks definitely weren't looking for a joke. They were armed.

In each of their hoofs were a handgun. The weapon could be identified as a Sig Saur P228, the 9mm variant of the Sig P2 series. They knocked once more. I needed to make a split second decision, and I knew just what to do.

"Octavia, go behind the wall that separates the hall from the kitchen, stay there until a pony passes."

She did as she was told, which was odd since she got shot last time she did. I pulled my glock and readied my knife in my jacket, the third time the pony knocked, he received 3 .40 S&W shells to the chest. He fell out cold. The ponies all backed up, and one of them said something incomprehensible. He pulled a small sledgehammer out from his backpack.

"Octy I'm coming!" I yelled as I ran down the hall.

As soon as I rounded that corner I saw Octavia holding a kitchen knife in her mouth, she was ready to kill. The door burst down with a bang, and the ponies boots could be heard throughout the apartment. As soon as the first rounded the corner, Octavia rammed the knife through his windpipe and out his artery. Another pony ran towards her, as soon as I went to help I was cloths lined by a shotgun stock.

I was thrown to my back by the shock of it, and the mare who had hit me had the shotgun's barrel directly in my face. Rather than wait, I swung a punch at the shotgun's side. This threw the weapon out of my face, though the shotgun went off and it did make me def in my left ear.

Without the ability to hear, I swung hard into her jaw, then kicked her in the stomach while she was down. Before she could get up I grabbed her by the throat and pulled her to the door. With her head between the frame, I slammed it shut on her head twice. She wouldn't survive the trauma.

Looking back over at Octavia let me know she needed help. She was getting kicked on the ground by two stallions. Such gentlemen, they sure know how to hit a mare. One of them pulled a revolver from under his sport's jacket, and at this I charged him with knife at the ready.

The stallion had the 5 inch blade delivered through his leg, causing him to limp backwards and miss the shot. The other pony looked over at me and threw a solid elbow to my face, I was thrown to the ground instantly by the force of the elbow against my face. The world spun around me, and he got on top of me. He threw a few swings to the head, which I took well, and then put his arm around my neck. I was choking.

'No, not yet. You're not ready to die.'

I reached for whatever I could, and I found nothing. As I was about to black out I heard another shot. The pony on my back stopped for a second, then another shot rang out. He fell off my back. I looked and saw Octavia, revolver in her mouth, she felt no remorse for them.

She fell to the floor, in a ball of tears. Not for the ponies that died but over the shard of glass in her leg.

I brought her over to the couch, stitched it back together, and we locked eyes. It wasn't normal, but it was peaceful. As if all the troubles in the world, all the sins I've done, all the pain I caused, just rolled away. She locked her arms around me, and I did the same to her. I kissed her forehead gently, and pulled her onto the couch.

For the first time in years, I felt mercy, love, and true joy.

Author's Notes:

and nothing sexual was done

Run

Author's Notes:

I have nothing to say, here is a conversation from my Skype.

[6:45:28 PM] SmittyD: nein
[6:45:33 PM] SmittyD: I don't like dubstep
[6:45:38 PM] SmittyD: I like Rap and Rock
[6:45:40 PM] the_weasel5: u dick
[6:45:44 PM] Im Pancake: im with u bro
[6:45:49 PM] Im Pancake: no im with smitty
[6:45:53 PM] Im Pancake: i like rock n rap
[6:45:55 PM] SmittyD: u prepubescent 8 year old prick
[6:45:57 PM] the_weasel5: dicks
[6:46:07 PM] SmittyD: grow a pair and get a voice
[6:46:20 PM] the_weasel5: u r a whore
[6:46:27 PM] Im Pancake: hey weasel
[6:46:31 PM] Im Pancake: u
[6:46:33 PM] Im Pancake: need
[6:46:34 PM] Im Pancake: 2
the_weasel5
[6:46:35 PM] Im Pancake: grow
[6:46:36 PM] Im Pancake: a
[6:46:38 PM] Im Pancake: focking
[6:46:40 PM] Im Pancake: pair
[6:46:41 PM] Im Pancake: of
[6:46:42 PM] Im Pancake: ballz
[6:46:43 PM] SmittyD: at least my dad didn't fuck me in the ass when I was 5
[6:46:48 PM] the_weasel5: I have one I can show u
[6:46:51 PM] SmittyD: oh
[6:46:58 PM] SmittyD: do it
[6:47:05 PM] SmittyD: DO IT THE PATRIARCHY DEMANDS IT

The drive was awkward for both of us. It all escalated really quickly from the start of the fight. The good news is that nopony was hurt to bad. That is, nopony important was hurt to bad. Octavia was silent in the passenger seat of the two door Ford we had acquired from the side of the road.

"So who now?" Octavia broke the silence.

"I was thinking about the Mayor. This has to involve her somehow."

"And that is?"

"Well, Starlight has proved her tactic before. Maybe she's doing the same thing in Whinny that she tried in Ponyville."

"Ponyville wasn't under lockdown was it?"

"Exactly, you wouldn't know. In order to keep things quiet she had to force the entire city in seclusion. Isolate them from the whole world and nopony would think to ask questions. Equestria thinks they have bigger problems like the spreading of friendship. I would love to be the first to say they're wrong."

"That... leaves nopony else to hunt for. There's no way that the mayor is the only pony involved in this shebang."

"She isn't, Whinnyapolis has been in a small economic depression because of the lockdown, but they still have the money to keep police officers up and working. I have an idea of how she got the money."

"And that is?"

"Hoity Toity. I did some research on Twilight after the incident in our last safehouse, Hoity Toity has been involved in organized crime before. It wasn't ever proved but it was a rumor. Problem is that Hoity Toity probably has something to do with Starlight's party."

"What makes you so sure that Hoity has anything to do with this?"

"Simple, he has money that nopony else in this city, and maybe even the country, has. If there's one pony Starlight would target first; it'd be him."

We passed by a row of houses, about the size of a garage. Coming up on the left would be one that was vacant, we'll use this for the hideout for now. We need to lay low until the event with Twilight all blows over. We pulled into the driveway, which was cracked to the brim. The house was in awful condition. Boarded windows and metal gates sprawled on every entrance. It doesn't have the style points, but it rocks the charts on defense.

We exited the car and approached our new stakeout. There was no entering for us, so I searched for a key. Most owners have some cliche that they use to keep an extra key if they get locked out. I checked under the door, none there. I checked next to the dead flowers out front and there was none there. I checked under the doormat, and surly enough there were the keys.

I put the key in the lock and turned it, the metal gate screeched open. We switched to the next key, which was for the door. The front opened quietly. The entire house was one room, the kitchen consisted of a microwave and fridge. The bedroom was a small matress thrown in the corner, and the living room was non-existent.

Octavia walked to the couch, which was in the dead living room. She laid there, thinking.

"Any information on Hoity Toity?"

"I have an idea of where to start..."

12 hours later

"I found him." Octavia called from across the house.

"How'd you find him?"

"He had an advertizement in an old newspaper, it included a business address. If my guess is right, there has to be a manager there."

"What would he even be able to tell us?"

"He has to get his paychecks from somewhere. All his orders are made here so his paycheck is logically paid locally as well.

"Then looks like I'll give it a shot. What's the business hours?"

"Monday to Saturday, 9-5."

It was Monday morning, 12:40 AM. Looks like I have company tonight.

8 hours later

I had picked up some supplies I needed from the Hoof Depot down the road. A hammer, a crowbar, and some heavy duty metal wire. I needed one more thing though: If I was going to do this I needed to eliminate any threats before they know I'm there. I cannot afford to kill the target and have an entire building in chaos and on my ass. I opened the door into the local pawn and gun, they'd have something I'd need.

That is I thought they would.

Since the lockdown weapons have been completely banned from all ponies in the city, I managed to smuggle one in. The pawn and gun had since been abandoned, it's weapons ransacked. There were no more AR15s, AKMs, Shotguns, or handguns on the wall. There was one thing that caught my eye though.

There were some weapons that weren't taken, and I was pleased to see what it was. It was a small 'North American Arms .22 Magnum'. Most ponies would've been discouraged from buying the small handgun because of the fact it had been labeled .22, but don't be mistaken. The .22 magnum is a deadly shell, it's capable of incapacitating a 200 pound buck, and a shot to the head would certainly be lethal.

I pulled it out of the case, it was small and thin. Next to it was a derringer, chambered in the .45 it's a deadly choice when used in close quarters. I put both handguns in my jacket pocket, and then stuffed as much .40 S&W, .22 Mag, and .45 I could in my jacket. Once I left, I walked back home. In one hour we would be ready.

When I got home, I loaded all my weapons. I only had one magazine for the glock, which held 15 shots. The derringer held two, and wasn't remotely useable past 4 inches. That's a good and bad thing though, good in the fact that the bullet travels slower, allowing for more expansion. More expansion= more power. A shot of the .45 would blow a baseball sized hole through the area shot. The bad news is that it only had four inches of range.

I loaded the .22 Mag, which wasn't useable past 4 feet. I loaded the longer .22 rounds into the chamber of the revolver. It would be a great last resort weapon, I'll be using the derringer for the same purpose. The primary firearm of my choice would be the Glock. Speaking of that I had started loading said Glock. The ammunition for the Glock was the brass core FMJ rounds. They were cheap, powerful, and lethal. That's all I needed.

Once they were loaded, I had thirty minutes. I removed my knife sharpener and went to work with my knife. I had 10 minutes. With that time we drove over to the location.

I proved to be an office building, 5 floors, It was a complete square. Nothing special. I entered the building calmly, passing the no weapons zone sign. The straddle in my jacket of three firearms helped keep my confident. The hammer was affixed to my belt alongside the wire. I kept a Electronic cigarette in my mouth while I walked towards the elevator.

"I didn't know you quit smoking?"

"I didn't tell you?"

"No, you didn't."

"Well I figured that this saved money and kept the nicotine, win win."

We entered the elevator and I blew the smoke out. Octavia coughed for a bit, she still wasn't used to any smoke entering her lungs. I don't normally let the smoke go in my lungs, I just let it hang in my mouth for the flavor and then blow it out. The elevator door went to the top floor, that floor was reserved for Hoity's company. It was the group of ponies that did all the tech work, answering phones filling out orders that stuff. I walked passed all the cheap stand up walls until I got to the only real office.

Like any executives office, it was entirely glass. It had blinds, so that's going to work. I also bet that the office was using soundproof glass, that should remove most of the noise, but when that shot goes off there's no doubt this place will be lit up like a Christmas tree.

We opened the door and he was on the phone.

"What are you doing here? No not you honey, two ponies just-"

Octavia pulled the blinds down.

"What are you doing really? Get out of my office!"

I pulled the glock to his face, and motioned for him to hang the phone up. Octavia motioned for him to not say a word.

"I'll call you back."

He slowly put the phone down, and we kept the weapon to his face.

"Whatever you want, you can take it!"

"Oh well that's convenient. What about Hoity Toity's home phone number, home address, and family information?"

"I can't answer to the last one, but surely there's something you want other than that."

"Not quite."

I walked behind him, took a puff from the ECig, and smashed the hammer against a leg on his chair. He collapsed on the ground, and I put my leg on his chest. Swinging the nail puller end of the hammer down towards his knee, I broke it in one swing. I did the same to his other limbs, and one to his groin. I pulled him towards the corner of the room so that he wouldn't be able to call for help.

"Do you have any documents on his location?"

"He's away! He's not in town! Listen I'll give you anything you want if you just let me live!"

I already had all the information I needed, I walked back towards the desk. I flushed through it until I reached his information. I went through his computer, nowhere did it state that he was out of town. A call like this would put the company on overdrive, but there was nothing.

"You lied to me. You know what happens to ponies that lie to me?"

He quivered.

"You weren't living anyway."

I raised the handgun to his head.

"NO GOD PLEASE N-"

The shot put a quarter sized hole through his brain. This wasn't hollow point like most of the ammo I've used, so these shells would be less bloody.

"Octavia, I have Hoity's address. We'll go tonight. We can't let the news spread."

"Understood."

We left the room, I was immediately rushed by a Zebra, he was big and bulky. I ducked under his tackle and threw him over my back. He went right through the glass window that was inside the office. Octavia was taking two at a time, dispursing punches evenly between the two untrained ponies. It was then I took a swing to my body, it wasn't anything serious. I turned around to see a small nerdy buck, I used the momentum of my twist to throw a powerful left hook to his jaw. He went down hard. Another one ran to me, and I swung directly into his stomach and upwards into his nose. He flew onto a desk and tried to get back up.

I grabbed him by the tie and pulled him down, stabbing him in the throat with a pencil. The next pony ran to me and broke a board against my head. There were too many to mess around. I pulled the glock and shot him twice in the chest and once in the head. He fell to the ground. Jumping on top of the desk, I put rounds out at the office ponies that were coming to me.

The room was red when I had fired the last 12 rounds of my magazine. A security guard ran up to that room when it was over. In his hoofs was a 9mm glock. He fired two rounds at me. I ran to the left and went directly at him in a zigzag pattern. He fired the whole magazine but was unable to hit me. Octavia had taken cover at this point. She had made it through beating the two ponies senseless rather well.

When I was less then a foot from him I tackled the pony to the ground. He got on top and started punching my in the chest. He was at my bottom hoofs at that point. I grabbed the derringer and put it to his head. I pulled the trigger and it removed half of his head. Another security pony ran up with shotgun in hoof. I got up and tackled him down the stairs. I fired the last shot into his lower abs as we fell. He slammed against the wall, creating a serious crack in the wall. Octavia ran with me.

I ran downstairs and kept moving until I was at the front door. Outside was a squad car. The other one must've belonged to the ponies that I had just taken down. I pulled the NA Arms .22 Mag out, but hid it in my sleeve. I'm not letting them take me just yet.

"Octavia, stay behind the counter, this will get bloody again."

"Doesn't it always."

She got behind the counter and waited. Walking outside with hoofs up, the police wouldn't know that in one jacket sleeve there was a revolver. They came close for the arrest, once one of them put his hoof on mine, I spun it further then the hoof should go and pulled it downwards. The officer's arm was broken. Wrapping my arm around his neck, I pulled the revolver out and emptied 3 rounds into his chest. He fell dead. I put the last one to the hostage's head and fired it into his jaw. It must've stopped in his brain because, although he was dead, the shell never exited the body.

We went home that night and took showers. Then we studied the documents we had acquired.

Shots Fired

"There's nothing on his home address. There is something else though."

"What is it?" I replied to Octavia, she was sitting on the couch, whereas I was laying down on the mattress.

"The executives are in another building. This one is a skyscraper in the Victorian section of the city. They own the entire top floor of the building, it's their 'think tank' if you would."

"Think they will know more?"

"It's our best bet."

"Well, lets lay low for a bit, they're bound to be on edge."

"News doesn't spread fast in this city, I don't think they even know about the massacre."

"Good point, need anything?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

I walked over to the kitchen, that was where my rucksack was. Inside it there was the glock and my other weapons. I pulled my knife, I needed to sharpen it. As soon as the button was pressed, however, the knive's blade broke in half. I stared in awe as the blade touched the ground. It clattered until it met it's demise.

Octavia was at my shoulder, just as surprised that the knife I had carried for 5 years just kicked the bucket. Even more, however, I needed a new knife. I threw the micro-tech in the trash and contemplated my next replacement. The S&W fixed blade broke in the crash, so I couldn't use that.

It came to me later, the pawn must have had some form of knives for sale. Knives are a less expensive alternative to guns if somepony knows what they're doing behind one. I pulled the glock first, might as well get the other chores done. I pulled the empty magazine out and loaded it to the brim with FMJ shells. I'd prefer hollow point but that wasn't an option right now.

Once that was done, I loaded the NA arms .22 Mag. I went one chamber at a time, the shells were ridiculously long and slim. The weapon was loaded. Then came the derringer. It took a matter of seconds to load, I just turned the safety on, pulled the loading lever towards the handle and then pulled the barrels upwards. I loaded the .45s into the slot and then placed the barrels. I put the loading lever back where it belonged.

I put the Glock in a holster, the derringer in my boot, and the .22 in my jacket pocket. It was in order of which I would use first. The derringer is only for last resort really. I headed out and walked down the road, passing multiple restaurants, all of which were closed, and a toy store. The toy store had long since been robbed and cleared all the way; it was truly a depressing thing to see. Ponies killing other ponies for things for their fillies to play with. Some ponies are desperate, and I'm one of them.

I stared in the window and imagined the fights that broke out, and the store before the lockdown. By the end of my daydream it had turned into a full riot. When it was all over, all I could see was a reflection of myself. I shook it off and walked back to the abandoned pawn. It was just down the road.

Passing more restaurants and shops, all abandoned of course, I saw the pawn. I went through the same door that I had kicked in to enter the first time. As I entered I moved to the back of the store, where it was labeled 'Military Surplus'. MilSurp weapons are almost always dependable, and almost never fail when you need it.

I looked through the knives, there were Ka-Bars, all fixed bladed. I didn't need a 7 inch fixed blade. I kept moving until I was out of the organized area where those were available. In the far back end, I found something beautiful.

It was a MTech Equestria ballistic rescue combat knife. Complete with a 5.5 inch blade, it was a automatic that served all the purposes I could need. It had a wire cutter, seat belt cutter, bottle opener, half serrated blade, tanto blade style, and a window breaker. I snatched it off the shelf and ran back towards the exit, which was where I was met by fate once more.

"Hoofs in the air!" A voice shouted.

It was a police-pony, wielding a shotgun. He was with 4 other ponies. They too were armed with the same shotgun.

"Turn around! No sudden moves!"

He came closer.

"You're under arrest under direct orders from the Mayor."

"Who might that be?" I interrupted. "I'm not from around here."

"That's Mrs. Whinnyson."

"Oh what a fitting name, she has to bark up to Celestia for public aid because the city is practically bankrupt, no?"

"Excuse me?"

I was testing the waters, I wanted to see if the police were informed in any way of her position in this.

"Well you know, funding is everything. It pays you after all."

He got closer.

"You may be right, but you're under arrest."

So it does have something to do with funds.

"Maybe we could work out a deal?"

"Not happening, put your hoofs behind your head."

I was facing him, I never really did follow his order to turn around. That should've been a big warning sign for him and his crew. Guess he hasn't dealt with anypony armed and dangerous. He was almost face to face with me, and I made the move.

I fell to my knees, reaching a hoof into my boot. I whipped the derringer out and shot him in the throat. The hit clearly broke his neck, but he wasn't dead. He would be soon, he was chocking on lead. The others were stunned, which gave me the upper hand. I ran towards the pony closest to me and tackled him. As we were flying I put a round into his face. A quarter sized hole was put through his forehead, but a silver dollar on the back.

One of the police got a hold of the situation and fired a shot, he missed. The spread went right over my head. I ran towards the one that shot, who pumped his shotgun halfway, and pulled the NA Revolver. I fired four of the five shots into his chest. His body armor blocked it. He pushed me back. I quickly regained balance and he missed yet another shot, then I put the last shell into his right eye. It went almost all the way through his skull but stopped against the back of his head.

He fell to the ground, rolling and screaming in pain. The last two were shooting rapidly, and it was then I felt it. Five pellets spread across my chest... but I wasn't bleeding? It took me a second, but then I noticed what was going on. I laughed about it for a bit as they kept shooting and their shells kept bouncing off of my jacket.

"You really loaded non-lethal rubber slugs in the shotguns for a arrest? Are you fucking serious? Policework at it's finest everypony!" I shouted as I slowly approached them. The shots that did hit me pushed me back a little and stung like a bitch.

I grabbed the shotgun out of one of the ponies hoofs and shot him in the neck with it. The rubber shell probably broke his windpipe or disabled it long enough. He would be dead from suffocation soon. For the last one, he fired a shell into my forehead, and everything began to blur. I pulled my glock and shot him twice in the chest. He fell to the ground slowly, and slowly died. I heard each dying breath as he begged for his life.

I walked (note: Stumbled) back to the house that afternoon. As soon as I was in I passed out on the mattress.

Author's Notes:

#Headtraumaforthewin

Now I noticed a lot of guys who read the whole thing don't give this story a like. That's like buying a cake and not eating it! If you made it this far give this baby a like !

How do you guys like the new knife? It's actually based off of the knife that I just got in the mail from a order form Offroad power gear (props to them, if you're in the market for a new combat knife or defense knife, or just really anything badass check them out). Here's a link for you guys

http://www.offroadpowergear.com/collections/knives/products/tactical-folding-speed-dagger-package

The one that is used in the fic is the one in green, for that's the one that I own and that's the one I can talk about and still be right.

Now I noticed a lot of guys who read the whole thing don't give this story a like. That's like buying a cake and not eating it! If you made it this far give this baby a like!

The warning

There was something pressing against my chest, I didn't know what. My eyes were shut, so logically there would be no way for me to know. I pulled the strength to open my eyes, I had a splitting headache from the fight. I looked down at my chest, I wasn't wearing my jacket. Odd, I could've sworn I had collapsed with that on. More so, there was a big ball of black on gray hair hugging my chest.

How I didn't immediately notice this I don't know, but it was Octavia. She must've gotten tired of sleeping on the couch. A blanket was pulled just enough for it to be on her neck, which would be about the midpoint of my abdomen. I stayed for a while, thinking about whether to get up or just let her rest for a little longer.

"Hm, you're awake?"

"Yup, how did you know?"

"Your breathing pattern changed."

"You've been listening to my breath?"

She blushed at this.

"Not exactly. My head was against your lungs, so I could feel when you inhaled and exhaled."

Well, can't say I saw that coming.

"How long have I been out?"

"A day since you came back, you had a strange lump on your head. Mind if I ask what that was?"

"Oh it was nothing really."

"Nothing? It was enough to put you in a coma for an entire day and night. Doesn't sound like it was 'nothing'."

"Okay fine, I had a little run-in with the fuzz, they aren't going to be an issue."

"What did they hit you with? The bump's gone now but it was a clear circle."

"They didn't exactly hit me, they more of shot me."

"In the head? I have a hard time believing that."

"They were trying to arrest me, and apparently they loaded 12GA rubber slugs. The ones they have for riot control."

She was silent for a second, confused by what I had just said.

"Wait, don't they realize that you're probably the most dangerous pony they have ever seen?"

"Well, I'd like to say they won't be seeing anypony again. Or at least out of the right eye."

"I won't ask."

Well that was a relief. I pulled my body up, gently pushing her to the position I was in. She rested gently against the pillow. I couldn't help but look back, as if to check if she really was going back to rest. She watched me as I put the jacket on and sat down at the table in the middle of the house.

I pulled the documents out, just to see if there was anything I could spot that Octavia didn't. Surely enough I scanned the whole thing four times. There was nothing, just the address to the next building. It was in the rich district of town, so I'd assume that this was their planning area. There was no way they didn't have Hoity's whereabouts.

I packed the weapons. Octavia was already up. She had packed the broken blade of my microtech.

"Why are you using that?"

"I found that it could be modded to work on a kitchen knife handle. I take this over that any day."

"Mhm."

I cocked the glock and put it in the holster, then I heard another noise from Octavia.

"What is it Octy?"

"Well it's nothing."

"Sure didn't sound like nothing."

"Fine, don't take this the wrong way. I've been wondering lately. How do you live with yourself anymore? What keeps you going? This isn't even remotely personal to you. Starlight did nothing to you and for a few bucks you're willing to serve her head on a fucking plate? I just don't remember this being the you I knew."

This caught me completely off guard, normally I'd just let her think but this was a serious question. Leaving this unanswered and she'd surely leave the entire thing. I don't exactly need her, but I felt to attached to let her leave. Think fast, and act faster.

"Well Octavia, you want the truth and I'll be glad to give it to you" I walked over to her "I fight because I know that if I don't, somepony else will have to. That pony won't be nearly as capable as I am, and that's a fact you can't deny. I was built for this fight and I'm not going home until she doesn't have a head to be on a plate. There's more to it as well. This is personal" I put a hoof on her cheek "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you that I could've prevented."

"Cloud, this land isn't yours. In Equestria's eyes you're a monster." She placed her hoof on my cheek as well, it was warm. Not to hot, not to cool. It was just right.

"They may not like me, they may not know why I do what I do, why I kill who I kill. There's one thing I know for sure though. If it wasn't for ponies like me, they wouldn't be alive."

"Still, you fight for ponies that would kill you. How do you do that?"

"I don't care what they think, I care if they're safe."

"How do you know if Twilight isn't using you?"

That shocked me, I never thought about that.

"She felt the need to tell Celestia, guess I'm doing a big favor for the world."

She accepted that and embraced me. It was quick and short.

"Just don't get hurt out there."

"You too."

We pulled up to the front of the skyscraper. It was just what it sounded like. It looked like it was about 20 stories. It'd be a shame if something happened.

"This is it huh."

"Looks like it."

We entered the front door, there was a no weapons sign in the front. No metal detectors though, which was good news. I walked directly across the fancy lobby and into the elevator.

"What floor did the docs say they were on?"

"18, it's the top floor."

"Convenient."

I pressed the 18 button, but another pony was closing in on the elevator fast. He got in before I could hit the door close button. He had a keycard on him.

"Hey, does the 18th floor need a key?" I asked the smaller pony.

"Yea, what's it to you?"

"Oh nothing, just didn't expect it."

The elevator was slow... I had time.

The elevator stopped on the 18th floor, the pony that was on the elevator with us was currently on the roof of the elevator. Strangle marks would surround his neck. That didn't matter, I just needed that keycard. It was to the meeting room. There was a receptionist in the lobby next to the elevator. She didn't even look at me while I passed. I didn't fit in, but that wasn't what mattered.

I walked to the very end of the hall, past all the offices separated by glass walls. The door to the conference room was closed, a red light flashing next to the handle. I didn't even need this keycard to enter it, I have a window breaker that would tear their shitty glass door down.

I swiped the card, heard a ding, and entered the room. All the executives looked up at me, and an officer was next to the door. Octavia shut said door quickly so that nopony heard what was about to unfold. They room's occupants stared, they didn't know what I was doing there. They obviously didn't get the news.

I motioned for Octavia to move to the back end of the room, she followed. She was behind the pony at the center of the table.

"Officer, please show them to the door. I don't even know how they got in here."

"As you wish."

As soon as he put his hoof on me I swung my hoof into his gut and threw a solid knee to his nose. He was back up and getting back to his senses. I pulled the knife and swung it open. His throat met the blade of my knife and it's serrated edge. When I pulled out his windpipe flew out. It must've gotten caught on the grooves of the serrated blade.

The room lit up with screaming. So I slammed one of the ponies heads against the desk. He was knocked unconscious. It wouldn't last long. I silenced the room by yelling that if one more pony made a noise they'd all die. They listened to the dot.

I walked to the mare by Octavia and began the hunt.

"Where is Hoity?"

"You're getting nothing from me!"

"Well you clearly don't know, the name tag says you're the executive of another company."

I motioned a backwards hoof to Octavia. She pulled the knife and smashed the window behind the mare. I pushed the chair towards the open window after punching her in the stomach. She fell off the edge, screaming the whole way. Once she hit the ground I heard a car alarm. Hopefully that wasn't ours.

The entire room quivered in fear. I can't blame them. I put my derringer to the head of the next pony.

"Now's your turn. You either cooperate or you die."

"Fine what do you want!"

"Where is Hoity!"

"I don't know his address, but I do know where somepony that might is!"

"Where is that pony!"

He stared at the stallion at the end of the table. He met his gaze. It was as if it was a silent goodbye, or worse. He raised his hoof and pointed at him.

"He knows. Just let me go please!"

I looked over at her, and walked towards her very slowly. As I went behind the pony I just spoke to, I raised the derringer and fired it into the back of his head. His brains spilled all over the table and onto the ponies on the other side of the room. I as I passed the next pony I did the same. The other one was to make a point.

"So sir, were is your boss."

He looked up, stuttering at the sight of me. I pulled the NA Revolver and shot him in the testicles. He lost one, the .22 mag isn't big enough to brake both.

"Tell me damnit! Tell me or I'll break your other one!"

"He's in the industrial district! He does daily inspections on his production line! Just please stop!"

I shot his other testicle.

"When does he do this!"

"He does it every day from 12 PM to 5 PM!"

"Good boy, see that wasn't too hard now was it?"

I looked up, Octavia grimaced at what I did. It was difficult for her to watch the horror that had just unfolded.
It was hard for me to look at it, too. It had to be done... I think. Well whatever we got what we needed. I ran for the door, breaking through the glass and went down the elevator. Down on the bottom floor there were 4 police ponies talking to witnesses about the 'suicide' that had happened.

I calmly walked past them, whereas Octavia looked shaken by the events. Whatever she'd get over it soon. One police officer looked up and met a gaze with me. Tapping his partner's shoulder, he alerted the others of the fact that I was here. I pulled the glock and fired it in their direction while running. None of the rounds made contact. They chased after me until I made it to my car. One of them pulled their weapon and fired two shots into the rear windshield. Both of them missed.

I kept driving, the two squad cars following close behind. I needed to lose them. I took a sharp turn off the curb and drove on the sidewalk. Then I handed the glock to Octy.

"Just take shots at them, you'll need to aim ahead of them."

She nodded and put her body through the sunroof. I heard a sturdy pace of shots. No shots were returned by the police, but none of the shells were hitting. Then another shot came out and went right by Octavia's chest. She quickly ducked back into the vehicle and handed the weapon back to me. There was still 7 shots left, and I didn't plan on leaving with those in the mag.

I rolled the window down and turned directly towards one of the police cars until I slammed against it's side. Head to head with them now, I put all 7 shots into the vehicle. The driver was critically wounded, and the passenger was unresponsive. They slowly went into a lane of oncoming traffic and got hit head on by a orange truck.

I pushed the car to it's limits, but the police were faster. They were catching up to my rear window, I needed them gone now.

"Octavia hold the wheel and drive back to the house! I have an idea! It might not be a good one but it'll have to do."

"What are you doing?" She shouted at me.

"I'm saving your ass!"

I used the window breaker on my knife to shatter the sunroof. I dropped my firearms in the back seat, I wouldn't need those where I'm going. Climbing on top of the sunroof, I thought to myself if this was a good idea. It certainly wasn't, but I'll do it anyway. I jumped from my car onto the cop car and landed on their hood. I almost rolled off but I grabbed their siren lights. They were falling off under my weight, so I needed to do this quick.

The car swerved and pulled, trying to get me off the roof. That wasn't going to happen. I pulled myself over to the driver side, knife in my mouth. I pulled it back in my hoof and shattered the driver side window with the window breaker, then I grabbed him by the hair and threw him against the steering wheel. I couldn't see exactly what I was doing but I had an idea. I pulled the door open and flung the unconscious driver out of the vehicle. Then the door was slammed on my hoof, which nearly broke it. The wheel was pulled to the right side of the road, so I knew he was maintaining that seat.

I thrashed the blade downwards and got some resistance. Then the car swerved for a bit and regained stability. I jumped from where I was down to the step next to the door and kept stabbing the officer in the neck. I pulled the door open and threw him too out the door. He rolled until he got run over by a car.

I used this vehicle until I got to a place to dispose of it, which was an alleyway. From there I walked home. I was ready for the next step in the plan

Author's Notes:

Surgeon general does not recommend car jumping badassery if you are pregnant or nursing.

No seriously that was fun to write. Expect another car jumping scene in the future!

The wake up call

Octavia was at the home, glass of wine in hoof, as I entered. The door must've been left unlocked because I was the one with the key.
She didn't seem to notice me, so I made my presence known.

"I'm back and in one piece in case you were wondering."

"Well that's a relief."

She wasn't exactly doing her best right now, I'd just leave her to it. That's how it was going to be today I guess. I took a quick look at my watch, it Hoity must've left the factory an hour ago. He'll be getting the news soon though, I need to be careful when I approach him. He'll have as many bodyguards as Celestia herself after what went down earlier today. I'm ready to get whatever I need from him. I just need the right time and it'll be shooting a fish in a barrel.

It wasn't long before things would get out of hoof again. The city had gone to hell because of those two and it was my job to fix it, at least that's how I see it. If I need to scrap a few innocent ponies to do what must be done then so be it. Life goes on whether they live or not. Life always goes on.

I poured myself a scotch and sat next to her. We had a view out the window. The whole city was ours to see. All the skyscrapers, all the apartments, and much more. It was something majestic really.

"What did he do to you?"

"Excuse me?"

"In the office, what you did was awful. You know that as well as I."

"I need to do what I ha-"

"Don't give me that! That was unnecessary and you know it!"

"Well it's done now, what can we do about it?"

"Change for next time."

I was a little confused by this.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that if you are to torture anypony else like that, you can consider me gone."

It was a fair trade. That and it was a serious threat.

"Fine, it won't happen again."

"Good, that's what I like to hear."

We watched the nighttime sky over the city together. It was as if there was a blanket over the whole world, hiding all the light. It was the perfect overcast of clouds and spots in the sky, only adding to the serenity. There were lights on in some of the buildings. Not a star in the sky. It must've been normal for these ponies not to see stars, they are always awake. For me, however, there was no appeal to that.

Octavia moved back towards the bed, and laid there until she eventually fell asleep. As for me it was my turn to sleep on the couch. Which I did. I woke up to a nightmare.

Upon waking up the next morning I was at the shock to see one thing: Octavia.

She was laying on the floor. What was she doing there? I walked towards her to have my question answered.

Her knife was in her neck, obviously self inflicted. The blood was spread across the floor, on the table was a note.

"Quite a mess you've made, haven't you?"

I read it quietly, it was repeated to me by Octavia. I looked up to see the body standing on it's hind legs. I screamed, I couldn't make out what I was trying to say, whether it was cry for help or a cry for mercy. It was then I had woken up.

Sweat was heavy around my neck and chest. It was almost hard to think about again. I had been jolted awake by Octavia.

"You were practically screaming, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, they're just thoughts."

"You were thinking about yesterday weren't you?"

"I guess you could say. What time is it?"

"12:30 PM, why?"

Immediately after asking that, she understood.

"I'm not coming on this one..."

"Why not?"

She gave me a face something between 'You've got to be kidding me' and 'Please kill my dog and feed it to my children'.

"Oh, right."

"Yea, that is right."

I left the house and locked the door, I want Octavia to be as safe as possible. There was no way for her to leave the house, and that was just how I wanted it. Sure I'd be in for a shitstorm when I get home, but I'd rather her be safe than her be dead. The glock was still in the back seat. I didn't need anything but it and my knife. I already had my knife on me, with just some minor scratches from the day prior.

I loaded a magazine in to the weapon and got moving to Hoity's factory.

Upon arrival the first thing I noticed is that it was probably the most unsafe factory of all time. The cheap iron sheet walls had long since rusted, leaving them sharp and dangerous to any worker in the area. Maybe this was all because I had parked next to the loading bay. I doubt it, Hoity Toity always looked like a cheapskate when it came to anything but cloths.

I stowed the Glock under my jacket, and clipped the knife to the inside of a pocket. I made my way over to the front door, which was not in any good condition either. I pulled the door open and entered the building. There was a mare behind the counter. She was busy reading some newspaper, on the front cover was a police sketch of me. I hastily exited the premises so that she wouldn't notice me.

I entered the 'Employees only' area and kept moving. I caught a glimpse of Hoity in a office on the second floor. It actually was the only room on the second floor, so I wouldn't need to do much in order to access that once I'm past the industrial area. I walked by factory workers and inspectors until I had gotten to the stairs that led to the room. There was only one window in said room, and it was right next to Hoity's head.

Once I was at the door, I took a deep breath and grabbed my knife. remembering what Octavia said, I'm going to start trying now. I opened the door and it was all eyes on me. There was another pony in the room. A fat stallion with a large mustache. He had a similar coat to me, only difference was that he had a black mane. He was as silent as Hoity at this moment really.

I walked right past Hoity and looked right into the eyes of the other pony. He looked at his desk, which had the same paper the receptionist was reading. He looked back at me and back to the paper. I smashed his nose with the window breaker on my knife and put my Glock to Hoity's head.

"You know who Starlight Glimmer is?"

"I'm afraid not!"

"No, you're afraid I know otherwise."

I pistol whipped him on the face.

"You know who she is?"

"Well not personally, I know her name though. She was mentioned by the mayor."

"When and why?"

"We were having a conference and she needed to increase tax cuts for some project including 'Starlight'."

"What was this project?"

"It was an urban development project, some sort of new city that was being developed."

"Well, that explains a lot. What do you have to do in it?"

"I just give the mayor a portion of my profits!"

"Don't you already do that?"

"Excuse me?"

"Taxes, don't those go to the governor?"

"Well... yea. I didn't ever really think about that..."

"Well looks like you had the raw end of that deal."

"Listen, Mr. Dasher. I know who you are, lots of us do now. We now have a common enemy. Just fol-"

I slammed his face against the glass, shattering it on impact. Lifting his legs above his head, I threw him out of the window. He landed in a combing machine. He was crushed under the weight. He died soon after.

I ran my way out of the building, I could now confirm that there was a new city in development, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

I started driving, and then that's when I heard the sirens. I pulled onto the wrong side of traffic. The police were discouraged from following, but they did keep alongside me on the right lane. They shot a few shots at me, recognizing my identity. I pulled the glock and went to work shooting at them as I navigated through the weaving lines of cars. Some of them skidded, others played chicken. One of the officers to my right rear ended a SUV, driver obviously wasn't paying attention.

The car stopped where it was. There was another two vehicles following. I pulled my way onto the right side of the road. Now was time to lose them. I pulled off on the closest turn I could and then pulled my way off of that road and onto another. It was two right turns. I took the next left turn I could, this put some distance between us. The officers didn't follow. I drove my way home, when I arrived the house was exactly as I left it.

I opened the door, Octavia was watching TV. Wait what!

"Octavia, how did you get the TV to work?"

"It just turned on now. It's some emergency broadcast."

I looked at the television, and on it was an image of me. It was the same sketch as before.

"If you see this pony, do NOT attempt to approach him. He is armed and highly dangerous! Contact local authorities if you have any information on him."

The TV shut out right then.

I needed to get out of this city as soon as I finished my work.

Political ties and political lies

It didn't take long for me to get a good idea of what the mayor was up to with Starlight. Starlight had made a deal somewhat similar to a war bond. With war bonds, when somepony lends money to the country during a war, they get what they paid and a bit more when the war is over. She was promising that if the mayor of Whinny paid her a cut of taxes, she'd return the favor and a bit more when her city is developed. Something told me there was more to it. Why did she feel the need to put the entire city in the black?

There wasn't much of an idea to it. Maybe it was blatant abuse of power that she didn't want getting out? She reminds me of Mayor Mare, she wants to do well but she just doesn't know what to do. She wants the place she's funding to grow, but instead it's probably just going to slap her across the face. She is a target nonetheless.

I underestimated Starlight in the beginning, but that's not going to happen again. She had the power to corrupt entire cities, but only be convincing one pony. Power like that is only possessed by a few ponies, she was one of them. Now I just needed to establish a routine for the mayor. I needed to know where she was, what she was doing, and where she did it.

If I could know these things, locating the town would be easy. I just needed to start somewhere...

The government building of Whinnyapolis is a sturdy brick building. Rather classy as well, with it's gold plated roof. You couldn't miss it, that is if you knew where to start looking. There surely had to be a block glorified for the Government. The thing is that she may not be there. With the way the government of this city is looking, that building would be a death trap. Civilians everywhere, wanting to know what happened. Wanting to know why. Why had their lives all gone to shit like this?

The radio came on, out of nowhere. Somepony had control over it.

"These are dark times indeed" The voice was female "They don't need to be this way though. Look into yourselves, do you want to see the ponies you love living in here? The reason why you live like this is because of the corruption of your own, twisted, sideways, misguided government. They don't take you into priority, they don't care about you! They don't care about Equestria! They seek for their own benefit! Tell me: Why hasn't Celestia done anything about this? Why hasn't she intervened in this hell? Why hasn't she spread 'Friendship' here? Your answer is simple: She doesn't care. The profit of the city isn't worth saving it. You, however, can do what she has not. You can save yourselves. Follow the light. Follow the bright! Follow Starlight and fight the good fight!"

The radio cut off. Things became clearer with that said. Maybe, just maybe, the governor wasn't in control. There was no way that she would've let this happen. Something hadn't been right from the start. This was it.

"Octavia, did you hear that?"

"Crystal clear."

"I have an idea of where she is."

The government building was, surely enough, an ancient ruin. That can't be all to it though.

"Why are we here again?"

"Octy, remember our issue with the Prussians about 30 years back? You weren't alive but I'm sure you know the gist of it."

"They threatened us with megaspells and we had a whole standoff. Yes I'm familiar with it."

"Yea, well in most government buildings, such as this one, they had bomb shelters installed. They did have radios with broadcasting capabilities."

"So you're saying that it came from here?"

"Good of a guess as any. It's secure, it's safe, and it's got radio tools."

The door as gone, so we just walked through the gaping hole. The sound of radio static could be heard well throughout the area. There were spots on the wall where pictures once were, they were long gone. I stepped on something under me. Upon further inspection it was a picture frame. Inside it was an image of the Whinnyapolis mayor and Celestia. Somepony had written on the image.

'Where are you now?'

It was written in red marker, just over Celestia's face.

'He's got a point, why hasn't she intervened yet?' The thought was unnerving. Something more important had to be going on.

All doors were open or non-existent. That is all but one. The door was locked shut, it had to be it. I braced my shoulder and made a beam line at the door. The first hit had no avail. I ran back and tried again, repeating the process until the door had finally broken off it's hinges. I was thrown down a flight of stairs.

I broke the fall by grabbing the hoof rail. At the bottom of the stairs was another door, this one was blast proof. One problem, however, was that it was open. The radio static was louder then ever in this hallway. I took the first step down the stairs. The hoofstep echoed throughout the building for what felt like forever. A shadow shifted in the room, looking at the door. It looked back and continued doing whatever it was.

I took it a lot slower than before, making sure not to make a sound. Halfway down I heard a crack. I looked down, a shattered bottle lay under my hoof. I wasn't cut, but I had alerted the shadowy figure. It ran towards the hallway, I pulled the Glock. The pony had crossed the corner with a Tokarev TT-33 in hoof. It was certainly an unusual handgun, Prussia hadn't produced it in years.

I shot a few rounds in the pony's direction. It fell to the ground. We both rushed towards it. On the floor lay a dying mare. She bore a Olive drab BDU, along with a pair of Olive Drab pants. It was a perfect uniform. That wasn't what caught my eye, it was the symbol on the uniform. A red star with a golden hammer and sickle.

It can be immediately recognized as the symbol of the Communist party, one ponies everywhere were familiar with. Knowing Starlight's political views, she probably knew where to find things like this.

"Where's Starlight?" I said to her, pressing my Glock to her temple.

"Kill me you pig!"

I hit her in the head with the weapon, she lost a tooth from the hit.

"Where is she dammit!"

"Listen you Equestrian pig! You'll get nothing from me!"

"That's great really, now where is she?"

She chewed on something, and the life was slowly pulled from her.

"It's all over now, so it's fair game. In the North, there's a city, it's name is-" She was cut off by a fit of coughing. She died after.

Cyanide, how classic.

The radio came back on.

"Natasha? Natasha come in? This is Bolshoi one, I repeat this is Bolshoi one."

I picked the radio up.

"Natasha is out at the moment, this is her assistant. What is your status?"

"Natasha had an assistant? She mentioned one but I never heard from him."

"Well that is me, now what is your status?"

"What is the code?"

"One moment please."

I put a hoof over the phones receiver and rumaged through all her belongings at the desk. In the very last drawer was a sticky note.

'Tsar 1642'

I repeated it into the radio.

"We're bringing the force, we're approaching Whinnyapolis now. Consider Operation Rising storm complete. Consider Operation Sundown done. Our evacuation force is out to pick you up, they should be there any moment now."

"Understood, over and out."

The radio crackled and soon enough returned to static. I looked over at Octavia, she had the Tokarev in her hoofs, pointed at the door. She was terrified, around her neck she wore something I never knew she had. I hadn't seen one in a long time.

A cross.

"Octavia, I didn't know you had one of those?"

"One of what?"

"The cross, you never were religious."

"Well, sometimes I need forgiveness. You need it to."

I couldn't really disagree. I still had my cross in my pocket.

A car pulled up, it was running on Diesel fuel. It was left running, the ponies who were exiting the heavy vehicle were not planning on staying long. The hoofsteps followed soon after. I counted at least 5 sets of hoofs. They were weighed down by armor. Not heavy armor, nothing advanced. The first pony to clear the corner was dressed in the same uniform as Natasha, and he saw the body. He was about to say something when Octavia swung a fist into his throat. He suffocated on the floor. I pulled my knife, flipping it to the point.

"Lisnyesky? Give me a situation report!"

"We got nothing here commander!"

"Artyom?"

No response.

"Artyom? What's in the bunker?"

Artyom must have been the pony we killed. With the realization of this, I braced by the door.

"I'll check it out commander!" Another pony said. He made haste in the direction of the stairs, he spotted the bodies and stopped before me or Octavia could do anything.

"They're dead sir!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean they're dead sir!"

They all ran to the stairs. I put the knife in my left hoof, and the Glock in my right. As soon as I heard them get to the first stair I motioned to Octavia to move from cover. We both spun from cover and emptied a magazine down the range. One of my shots made contact with a riflepony, who fell to the ground. Octavia had dispatched the rest with deadly precision, she didn't fool around with trick shots. She went for the body. She shot the rest 2 times each, she had used all her rounds.

She searched Natasha and found three more Tokarev magazines, upon loading one in she was ready to fight again. I walked up stairs and picked up one of the rifles. They were all AKMs, 7.62x39mm rifles built in Prussia. I pulled all the magazines I could and hauled them with me.

We got to the car and sped back to the home, we needed to get out of this city as soon as possible. As soon as we were there we gathered our belongings, that was when it started.

There was a whistling in the air. Octavia stopped and listened, she never heard that sound before.

I had known the sound, I knew it all too well.

"Octavia get here now!"

She didn't hear me, she was confused by the noise. She was still, like a stone statue.

I grabbed her by the waist and dragged her out. The shell made impact with a nearby building. Half of the house we stayed in was obliterated. The smoke filled our lungs and the screams of ponies could be heard everywhere. I pulled Octavia into the car's passenger seat and drove off as ruble fell from the sky like rain.

I looked over to her, concerned on her health, she had cuts on her head and chest. The cross was still there, wrapped around her neck. I never stopped once, speeding through and around traffic. EMT and police cars passed by, they were probably too late already. I kept going, not looking back. More shells rang in and I could hear them in the distance. As I was driving, as luck would have it, I heard it. It was coming in fast, the whistle. The shell made impact with a nearby building, the force pushed my car on it's side. I kicked in the windshield and made my way out. Octavia was bleeding heavily, she would make it. I dragged her out and carried her on my back.

We made haste for another building, survivors of the previous strike were waiting there.

They all had the same question.

"Why us? What did we do? Who is this? What is going on?"

They were kind, letting us in. Soon enough 2 Mi-8 helicopters passed over, loaded to the brim with ponies. They weren't Equestrian.

Surely enough sirens went off, and the artillery continued. I made my way building to building, Octavia on my shoulder and Glock in my hoof. I passed ponies, all suffering alike. The streets were hell, rioters being shot and blown to bits alike. I looked over my shoulder to see another artillery shell hit the building with the survivors. None of them would possibly survive.

The shelling stopped an hour later, and that was when the infantry started giving support.

The streets were filled with UAZ trucks, all filled with ponies. They would flood out and secure buildings. Some civilians were fighting back, I passed a destroyed UAZ. It was set ablaze by presumably a molotov cocktail.

I kept walking until I passed by a group of police ponies. They were under fire by the Communists. They stood no chance. They cowered behind the engine block of a car. Soon enough a RPG rung out in their direction. They died on impact.

I kept going, that was when they spotted me. The ponies that launched the RPG were armed primarily with AKMs, but even more scary was the BTR-80 that they had with them. The APC turned it's turret towards us and opened fire with it's main MG. I ducked under the window of a brick building, the shots could penetrate the brick. I kept crawling with Octavia on my back as shots flew through the wall. They ran out of ammo, so I fired a few rounds blind through the window. As soon as I got to the next door I was hit in the head with a wooden stock.

I awoke with my back against a brick wall, Octavia next to me. There were a few ponies next to me, they were blindfolded.

"Cloud Dasher, I see."

The voice was accented, Prussian accent clearly.

"Hm, you guys must love me." I said back.

"I guess you could say that."

He fired a shot into the head of the first pony in line at point blank range with a Nagant revolver.

"You've been quite troublesome wouldn't you agree?"

He shot the next one.

"After all, it takes guts to do what you've done."

I stared at him, the barrel was now to my head. It was covered in blood from the last two, and I'm pretty sure some of their brains were on my face. He walked by me.

"Consider it a warning." he said, raising the barrel to Octavia's head.

"No, you can't do this!"

"What can't I do?"

"You can't kill her! You're a murder and you know it!"

"Oh isn't that ironic? What do you call yourself hmm? A modern vigilante? A hero? Oh no, you're hardly that. More blood has been spilled by your hoofs than mine my friend."

"That may be true, but none of those I killed were innocent!"

"What about the filly?"

I was silent.

He pulled the hammer back, I was at my wits end. That was when a shot rang out. Blood spilled everywhere, over me, over Octavia, and him.

"Sniper!"

His head blown in half. The Communists were confused, looking frantically for the gunpony. Another shot was fired, this one entered the chest of another pony.

He fell to the ground screaming. His blood spilled on the APC. The sniper fired another shot, which made a direct hit on another Communist.

The pony with the RPG was frantically looking for the sniper, he fired a shot into a nearby building. The sniper's fire stopped.

Then another shot went right into that ponies arm. He fell to the ground in a fit of screaming. Another shot was fired into his head. The brains spilled all over the street. That was when a green pony with a white mane ran from the building behind me. That APC was in for a shock.

It turned it's turret at him and fired, but it missed every shot. The green pony stuck a triangular shaped charge onto the back of the tank and pulled a pin. He ran back towards us and jumped through the window. The APC was trying to get a shot on him, that was when the APC bursted into a ball of flames.

The once superb fighting machine was now a coffin made of molten metal and flames. A pony crawled out of the top of it. He was on fire. Running in all directions and swatting himself, the flame wouldn't put out. The anti tank grenade must have been placed on a fuel tank. The pony was charred to a crisp.

The door next to me swung open, and two ponies in full Equestrian military armor grabbed us and pulled us into the building.

Author's Notes:

I suddenly want to hear the song 'City' by 'Hollywood undead'. I think it's pretty fitting for this chapter. You know in the original prompt Octavia dies, but a friend of mine thought that was too cruel to do to y'all. See I'm a nice guy... right?

Start of a new era.

I was thrown to the floor, at the hoofs of a pony I had never seen. I reached for my Glock, only to find myself disarmed. I still had my knife however. I pulled that instead.

"Wait! We're on your side here!"

I was hesitant, is he a friend or a foe?

"I'm Celestial Wishes, I saved your friend back there."

I guess that'd have to do. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, it was the pony who destroyed the APC.

"That was hell back there, what's going on?" He had a Prench accent, unusual considering that there weren't many Prench ponies in this country.

"It's Starlight, she's made the first move." Celestial said.

"Wait, you know who Starlight is?"

"Yea, we've been on her case for a year now. It's a personal issue."

"Well, looks like we have some even ground."

"Wait, you're the other guy? You've costed us quite a bit of trouble. I like that."

It certainly was a confusing sentiment, but it'd have to do for now. On Celestial's back I noticed a glint, it wasn't quite a long barrel like I thought it'd be.

"Tell me, Celestial, what rifle is that?"

"It's a Remington 700, why?"

"Sure as hell doesn't look like one, what is it?"

I meant what I said when I said that. The rifle he carried was far too advanced to be a Remington 700 hunting rifle. It had a full APS rail system. Even more unusual was the odd barrel length, it only went 5 inches past the furniture of the rifle.

"Well first off you're probably talking about the rails. That was a quick modification from some parts I had gotten a long time ago. The scope is a 3-12x50 optic. The barrel was just sawed short."

"So the rails were on there to lighten the rifle, you jury rigged your own sawed barrel?"

"Yup, that sums it up." he said with a shrug.

"Well that leaves one last question, where's Octavia?"

"If you're talking about the mare, she's still unconscious."

"Well, where is she?"

"She's literally right behind you."

I turned around, he wasn't lying. She may have been in bad shape but she was still breathing. A cough escaped her mouth.

"Well, now she's not."

She got to her hoofs and barraged us with questions, all of which were easily answered. I looked at the other pony, the one who killed the APC.

"And you are?"

"Clashing Helm. I'm the 'mad bomber' of the group really."

I could tell, on his armor was a whole set of explosives. They ranged from Grenades to a M203 launcher strapped to him by a one point sling.

"Well, if you two are here, who pulled us in?"

"That'd be me."

The voice came from another doorway, I swung my head to see a rugged zebra.

"I'm the support gunner. Before you ask, we know who you are and what you do. Pretty sure it was made clear by Celestial when he said his little comment."

On his back was a heavier choice in weapons, an M240B Machine Gun.

"Before you ask the name's Defiant Visor."

"Well, glad to see we have an Equestrian operations team here. Celestia does care after all."

"Not quite." Said the mad bomber.

"What do you mean?"

Celestial answered it for him.

"We aren't soldiers, just well funded."

"By whom?"

"Whoever pays the most, we have a bit in common you and I." This time it was the Zebra's turn to respond.

"Who's that again?"

"She never said, sent one of her friends along to give us what we needed."

"I see."

The sniper looked through the window, and put his rifle away. He replaced it with a Vz.61 Skorpion. It was an ugly Czeck machine pistol but it did the job well for a sniper.

"Hey guys, enough talk the Commies are closing in."

"You heard the stallion, get going. We'll be moving for the northern border, it should have the least infantry resistance due to the the wide open areas, but it'll have the most artillery shells in it. Just don't linger around." Defiant yelled this in perfect monotone, he probably was the leader.

We went and cleared room to room, The pony to go first was always Helm. Helm was armed with a Sawed Off Double Barreled Shotgun. Behind him was Celestial. The line went with the Operators going first. I followed back, knife in hoof. Octavia followed unarmed. We could hear the clatter of hoofs in the building we had just left.

We pushed a set of lockers over the door, they wouldn't be following us. We kept moving until we had gotten out of the building. As soon as we were out we ran across the street, there was a riot going on. Looting of stores was already in progress along with a full blown police counteroffensive. The police had no chance at suppressing the riot. They had no chance at beating out the communists either.

We kept moving past the hopeless situation. The only force that could intervene would have to be the Equestrian Military, I'm sure they were aware of this by now. It was 5 PM when we got to an automotive repair center, it wasn't too far from where we were but we were nowhere near the Northern Border of the city. We had a long way to go. We were legging it all the way there.

We stayed in the auto repair shop for not even 10 minutes before the Communists came in. The other ponies were talking, and I was comforting Octavia.

"Cloud, will I die here?"

"Listen Octavia, I'm not going to allow that to happen. I've risked my life once for you and I'll do it again. Just keep moving with me and we'll make it out alive."

"Why? Why do you save me?"

I thought for a moment, why do I help her? I remembered something my father once said.

"When you save somepony once, you can't help but do it again."

She accepted this, and that was when the banging started. It was a loud, steady, metallic bang. It came from one of the garage doors for trucks to get serviced. That was where the rest of the team was sitting. They jumped to their hoofs, weapons at the ready.

"I'll set up the bipod against a car, Helm work on rigging an explosive to something! Celestial you get in a point for an ambush, I'm going to suppress them while you flank them. You two over there, try not to die!"

The orders were simple enough, I had Octavia position herself in another room. She couldn't be hit in that area, so she was safe. I hid in a fort of boxes, they weren't bulletproof, but I didn't plan on hiding through the whole thing. I pulled my knife out and waited. Helm had dragged a few gas cans to the garage door, with no detonator. What was he doing?

I figured it out soon enough. The door exploded, then erupted in a fit of fire. The communists had decided to use a breaching charge to blow through the garage door since it was too thick to be hit down with what they were using. The commies couldn't enter through there, so I heard hoofsteps coming from a hall leading into the garage. They ran in the open, and that was when I heard the roar of the M240B.

It had a slow and steady bark, one that couldn't be mistaken. There was a fit of screaming, then a yell to get in cover. A round passed through a box next to my leg, luckily I wasn't hit. The sniper had begun his flanking tactic and crossed past the line of fire. He had almost reached the ponies when he was shot at by a burst from an AKM. He wasn't hit but he did jump behind the engine block of a truck. A set of three ponies ran into the garage, they too were communists.

It was an MG crew, two ponies to carry the MG, and one to load it.

The weapon of their choice was a SHVaK 20mm cannon. The bark of that weapon was much louder than the M240, and soon enough no fire from my friends came. It wasn't that any of them were hit, but hey were suppressed. I got a motion from Celestial to kill it. That was exactly what I did. They were just next to the boxes, so I jumped from the stack with knife in hoof.

The loader looked back, surprised by his death. I slammed my window breaker against his skull, then swung the knife hard into the chest of the MG gunner. He coughed up blood and continued to fire in the air. His eye's were locked on me as I stabbed him two more times in the chest, I pushed him to the ground and the MG toppled on top of the third crew member.

I slashed into the third crew member's chest and neck, it effectively killed him. That was when the loader's hoofs wrapped around my neck. It was a rear-necked choke. He pulled me backward with a hard thrust, causing us to topple to the ground. I lost my knife in the fall. I'm not going out without a bang.

I swung my head back, hitting him in the jaw. He didn't let go, he was a persistent bitch. He threw a swing with a free hoof into my ribs, I rolled over, now he was against the ground. I did another headbutt, this time his arm slipped. I bit hard into his forearm, just above the hoof. Blood poured out from it. He backed up as I searched for my knife. It managed to end up in the head of the MG gunner. I reached for it but instead got a hit in the groin. I fell to the ground, getting myself back together.

The loader was sitting on my chest, a knife in his hoofs. He raised it up and began to swing down. Instead of making contact I swung my legs up and wrapped them around his face. Swinging the legs down, his head slammed against the pavement. I now had the upper hand. I jumped to my hoofs, and he did at the same time. He charged at me, knife forward. I grabbed his knife hand and threw a swing into his stomach. Then it was time to throw two more.

I picked my knife out of the gunner's head and swung hard, trying to get a slash at him. He parried it with a swing and dove at me. I dodged his tackle and lifted my knife. He was split open from chest to stomach. He landed on the floor, bleeding out. He tried getting one last look at me, but as he lifted his head I slammed my hoof into his temple.

The rest of the communists had been watching, horrified. That was when a steady stream of lead when downrange from the M240B. Two of the ten's heads were taken off, four more were fatally wounded. They got back in cover, pointing their rifles at me. I ran to them in a zigzag motion, causing them to miss. One of their rounds nearly skimmed me, but I didn't notice it. I jumped off of the head of one of the ponies and dove towards one of the one's in the crowd.

I tackled him and stabbed him in the neck while we fell. As soon as he hit the ground I threw a swing into the jaw of the pony next to him whilst giving the pony behind me a solid kick in the face. I then spun around with a leg in the air, kicking both ponies. They were down for a few moments. I used it to my advantage and threw a kick in the face of the other pony. There was now one standing.

'Wait, what's the weight against my leg?' I thought to myself.

I found it out soon.

I pulled my Derringer out from it's leg holster and fired a shot into the head of the last standing pony. I fired the other shell into the leg of one of the ponies who was regaining control. Another pony I kicked was standing up, Tokarev in hand. I threw the Derringer at him, effectively knocking him out.

The last one I stabbed twice. I did the same to the other. The force was done for, which made them one less problem.

We had regrouped and assessed the situation. No casualties, no wounded, no remaining hostiles. Helm searched the group for shotgun shells and grenades, both of which he had found a considerable amount of. He picked up 7.62 rounds for both Celestial and Defiant. They gladly accepted the gift as a token. We left the weapons there. Carrying enemy weapons would be a fine way to get killed by whatever security force comes in to clean this up.

Octavia was shaken, but not dead. The room certainly was bulletproof, for a fine number of shells had bounced off the door.

Now we just needed to head north.

Author's Notes:

Horray for new characters! Horray for better fight scenes as well.

Northbound

The Northern exit was a good ways away, we were actually on the southern side when this happened. The South was a ghetto, primarily consisted of apartment complexes and housing projects. It had gotten the worst of the shelling, which was a smart move by the communists. The Equestrian Royal Security Force (ERSF) pride themselves in Close Quarters Combat. They needed to level the playing field, knowing that Equestria wouldn't take lightly to this.

I moved with my MP3 player in my ears, watching the serenity of the destruction.

'My body doused in ash with two empty cans of gas, the only evidence they had was a police sketch of my mask.'

I tend to be picky on my choice in music, I like to pick what I relate to most in the moments. Nothing was more perfect. The city had gone to hell real fast. We passed by a sign of the ensuing anarchy. A young mare, being beaten on the ground by two thugs. It seems that whoever picks the gun up first wins now.

'It's hard at times they ask when you have to face the facts after the darkness fades to black. They're villains who pillage and kill by the millions! Ponies die for lost cars!'

She was shot on the ground. I reached for my knife, but was restrained by Defiant Visor.

"Some fights aren't ours, I'm sure you understand."

"No, that's not how it works!"

I thrashed out of his arms. Song still playing. I ran at full speed at one of the thugs, who consequently was searching the body. The other one was in the car. I grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head against the bumper of the car. The other thug exited the car. Once he was halfway out, I slammed the car door on his body. He shrieked and tried to get back in.

I slammed it again on his leg, then I opened the door. I pulled his head out and slammed the window breaker just under his nose. His upper row of teeth were destroyed. The other thug ran at me, I grabbed him by the head again and broke the window against it. He fell limp.

I slowly walked back to the group, they watched the whole thing.

"Well, at least we know we have the right Cloud Dasher..."

"Yea, you have the vigilante killer?"

"Guess so."

We kept moving, and I thought about that statement. It just passed my mind with no second thought. It's just a title, it's not who I am. We kept moving, this time Celestial had his Remington out, he was compromising rate of fire for range. It's a smart choice when you play a support role in the team.

We had only moved two blocks, the wreckage was everywhere. We suddenly changed direction.

"What are we doing?"

"We need to move a bit West, if we can get on the highway we should have a quick way out of here since there's no buildings to clear."

"Wait, wouldn't the Commies be there as well?" Celestial called out from the middle of the group. Defiant was quick to answer.

"Well they shouldn't, I'm willing to bet that the highways are jam packed with abandoned cars."

"Sounds fine to me."

We still moved to the west, we had to go through an office building. It was vaguely familiar, something about the way it was. Well maybe not that, it had taken a direct hit from the artillery shell. It was just how it looked. I didn't figure it out until we passed by the bodies. It was the first lead we had on Hoity. It was a old reminder of what I could do now, simply a relic. Half of the body had collapsed, splitting it in half. We could see the top floor, and on there we saw the blinds still drawn on that stallion's office. A big red blood splurge on the window.

Something about it frustrated me.

"Hey Cloud, didn't you do something here?" Helm had spoken out.

"Well yea guess you could say that. We needed information and they had it."

"If by 'get information' you meant massacre ponies, then I guess you did it right." Uttered Defiant.

"Hey what would you do?"

"I'd only fight targets that posed a significant threat. Those ponies were just scared, and you didn't need to scare them."

I thought about this, they were moralistic about their approach to Starlight. Meanwhile I could care less.

"Well we get the same results in the end right?"

"Well first off we were on our way there when that happened. We just planned on asking a few questions and leaving."

"And if he lied?"

"He wouldn't have a reason to, unlike you we don't kill everything that walks."

Defiant had a point, but this didn't help my anger. I had my hoof on my knife each time he spoke.

"Well we can't undo what we've done."

"Got that right."

"Hell, the way Cloud does this is much more fun." Helm added.

"Heh, one too many is never enough."

We kept moving West, towards I-34N. I-34 is a northbound highway that is intersecting upon I-35W, which heads West. We were actually walking under the skybridge of I-35W. Why we hadn't walked on it was beyond me, it looked fine from what I could tell. That was it looked fine until we passed by a pawn shop.

The whole skybridge was obliterated beyond the point of repair, it was a smart move by the communists. If that transport route had been open to the Equestrian Royal Security Force, they would be through the city in a matter of minutes. With that leveled there was no coming through that way without being bottle necked.

The rubble had crushed a small house at the bottom. It was more of a cottage, but it had been crushed nonetheless. I still had music playing, and I didn't even notice.

'My flesh will feed the demon.'

Couldn't disagree.

'I've been chosen to pay with my life. Madmen they find what mad is, turning witches and saints to ashes. Rising masses marching to find heretic blood.'

It fits my life now. The world will stand against me, and from their end I don't blame them. All they know is that I kill, they don't know why. They probably think it's a grudge against the rich or something. In truth, I've been fighting these ponies all along. They'll still want my blood, and I don't blame them.

We had moved past the cottage and I hadn't even noticed. I just kept walking forwards. It was then that I noticed that we had gotten to the intersection between the two highways. There was more to it though.

"We need to move to the other side of the bridge." Defiant had said.

"Wait, why?"

"There's an exit ramp on that side of the road, it leads right onto the main highway."

"Sounds good."

We moved across the street, which was blocked by a 18 wheeler truck that had since flipped. It had taken a house with it. As we moved on, we spotted the exit and ran up onto it.

There we looked eye to eye with death itself.

Author's Notes:

If anyone's interested in the song Cloud is listening to in the beginning, it's 'City' by Hollywood undead. I felt it fit this portion of the book.

Also the second song is 'Heretic' by Avenged Sevenfold. That really just fits the whole fucking book to a tee.

HAPPY 25TH CHAPTER Y'ALL

yes it's intentionally on a cliffhange

Battlefield Blues

The convoy consisted of 2 BTR-60Ps and a IS-2. They were dated sure but they beat everything we carried. The Iosif Stalin 2 went in the front of the formation, crushing all cars in it's path. Behind it were the BTRs, they simply followed in it's wake. The BTRs had a 20mm cannon mounted on the top, whereas the IS-2 had a 122mm main cannon paired with a top mounted 50cal MG. They were truly terrifying.

"We can sneak around them if we're quiet enough, its our only hope!" Helm whispered.

"Looks like you're right, we move on the left lane. Lets go." Replied Defiant.

The plan went to hell fast. Halfway through sneaking the gunner on one of the BTRs spotted us and opened fire. MG fire riddled the cars we were sneaking behind, we thought we were safe behind the engine blocks. We were wrong. A shot penetrated right through the engine block of one of the cars and went right next to my head. We went moving behind the BTRs, for the guns couldn't fully rotate. We took fire the whole way, every shot missed.

Once behind the convoy, I spotted a food truck. I knew what to do.

"Hold up, I gotta plan. It's not a good one but it'll work!"

"Well then go do it!" Defiant yelled back, he was putting down MG fire over the heads of the gunners in the BTRs, although he did remove the head of one of the gunners, one was still alive.

I ran to the food truck and kicked the door in, nopony saw me go there so I was safe from the wrath of the IS-2. Inside was exactly what I needed; Water bottles, vinegar, baking soda, and paper towels. I got to work.

As I exited the vehicle, I had strapped the bombs to myself. No, I was not going to do a suicide bombing. I plan on living past today. The bottles swashed as I ran, They were filled with rubble as well as the explosive compound that I had in it. The rest of my team was taking fire from the BTRs. They laid on the ground, they BTRs couldn't hit them without the shell bouncing off of something.

Octavia had stuck close to me, I hadn't even noticed her. I ran on the other side of the road, nopony noticed me. As I neared the first BTR I pulled a water bottle off of me. Payback's a bitch.

I grabbed onto the handle to the rear door and climbed until I was just below the top of the doors. I shook the bottle three times, then I threw it in the vehicle. The bottle exploded and threw shrapnel in all directions, blood sprayed from the tank as screaming engulfed all sound. I jumped off of that and ran to the next one.

The crew had been staring at the vehicle, which now was on fire. Once they caught sight of me they opened fire. I ran behind the engine block of a car and waited for a cap in the shooting. As soon as there was I poked my head out and tossed another homemade grenade into the vehicle. This one didn't explode.

My stomach sank to the bottom of the pits of hell as the soldiers fired again. That was when one held it up, in an attempt to throw it back at me.

The force of him reeling his arm back detonated the explosive. Bodies flew from the back door, and the pony holding the grenade lost his arm. The door opened, a pony riddled with shrapnel rolled out of the vehicle, begging for mercy. I kept moving. Now it's time for the IS2 to get what it had coming. I hid behind the other BTR and watched it. That was when I noticed something odd.

It's turret was rotating somewhere, as if the angle was changing. Then it hit me, like a filly wondering why the baseball was getting closer. I ran from the BTR just in time. The IS2 fired a 122mm AP shell into the engine block of the BTR, causing it to explode. I tackled Octavia, who had been following me the entire time, behind a truck. I was cut across the face by a piece of the shrapnel.

The IS2 probably assumed we were dead and moved on to the group again. I ran towards it with four of the bottles taped together. As I approached I looked over at where the group was, they had retreated. All but one.

Defiant Visor had set his M240B up atop the food truck, he kept a steady bark going at the IS2. He wasn't trying to kill it, but to buy time. He wanted to die. He knew it was over.

I ran towards the tank, it isn't too late to stop this. That is, it wasn't yet. The IS2 fired into the food truck's cargo bay with a high explosive shell. that half of the highway was engulfed in a massive explosion. I never felt so mad in years.

I ran towards the tank with all the fight I could muster, and the IS2 was scared of it. They turned the turret directly at me, loading another shell. They fired it at me, but the shell instead went right by me and went far off the edge of the road. I kicked off of a car as they loaded another shell. One this one fired it hit a car off to my right, the car was wrecked.

I didn't stop there, I jumped on the tracks, in an attempt to get me off they backed up. I jumped onto the top of the tank in time to not get crushed. The commander exited the tank with a Tokarev in his hoof. He pointed it at me and fired twice. Both missed. I dove at him, grabbing his face. I slammed it against the tank and didn't stop for another ten hits. He was limp, so I slammed the hatch on his head and continued until I heard the neck snap. I shoved him back in, the crew was all rushing to their weapons, waiting for me to enter.

I threw the four grenades in and ran off. The tank caught fire as I was running. It was a weird fire at first, as if a volcano had gone off inside of it. That was when it exploded. The turret was entirely removed from the tank, whereas the tracks had broken in half. The once green on red paint scheme was now a solid brown and black. Smoke filled the air where it once was. The smell of phosphorous filled the air.

I slowed down, I was panting like a dog. I waited there for a minute, Octavia patted me on the back gently.

"Real natural tank killer huh?"

"Seems that way, where's the other guys?"

"They ran to an exit ramp, they're waiting. Lets go."

We walked the road, switching sides on where Defiant's grave lay. Something made me miss him. I kept moving like I was supposed to, the exit ramp was coming up on my right. I approached them slowly, I hate being the bearer of bad news.

I saw both of them, they didn't notice that they had lost their zebra friend.

That is, all but Helm.

"Hey, where's Defiant?" He asked, his face quizzical.

"Yea, where did he go?" Celestial hadn't figured it out either.

It hit them both at the same time. Celestial fell to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes. Helm held his ground firmly, but I could tell he wasn't taking it well.

"How is this happening?" Celestial screamed through tears.

"He died saving you two, that's what matters." I said reassuringly.

"What happened back there?"

"The IS got a hit on him, he's dead."

There wasn't much time left for this. I could hear a thousand hoofs marching in our direction as we spoke. I broke the window to a ford fiesta and hotwired it.

"We don't have time! Everypony get in now!"

They followed to a tee, Octavia got shotgun whereas the other two got in the back. We sped off down the exit and kept heading alongside the highway. That was when we saw the troops. It was a platoon of Communists. They saw us and immediately raised their rifles. The hail of fire was too much for the car, We all ducked under the dashboard to keep from getting shot. The car made impact with some of the ponies in the group, we ran them over with a large group of massive thumps.

That was when a shot penetrated the front right tire. The vehicle spun out of control until it came to a stop. We call busted out of the doors and commenced firing. There were probably thirty ponies left after we ran over about twenty. Celestial handed me the Vz. 61.

"Listen Cloud, she's gotta high rate of fire, keep her on semi."

I nodded and set the firearm onto semi-automatic. Celestial set the Remington 700 up off the side of the trunk and fired a shot. It went right through the neck of one of the soldiers and into the throat of the one behind him. Celestial bolted the rifle and took another shot. This one missed by an inch, but still made impact with a target.

I got the Vz ready and fired a shot towards the crowd. It sure as hell wasn't accurate but it'd do for now. It fired the underpowered .32 shell, so none of my shots were lethal. That was when a shell bounced off the hood and nearly got me. I ducked under the engine as the commies moved up on me. When the rounded the car I switched it to full auto and unloaded the entire magazine into the chestplate of one of the communists. He fell to the ground coughing up blood. He won't be living much longer, I grabbed his AKM and swung the stock right into the face of his friend. It shattered his nose and jaw.

I then switched it onto semi automatic and fired a 7.62x39 into the chest of a oncoming communist. He fell to the ground dead. That was when my ears started ringing from the sound of a 12 gauge shotgun. I looked over to see Helm, double barrel in hoof. Two communists were riddled with pellets.

He reloaded the shotgun as he kicked one of the communists. Once he was loaded he flipped the shotgun upwards, closing the breach. He blew the head off of the pony he kicked and then shot the leg off of the one that had commenced fire on him. That was when I felt it. The pain was unbearable.

I fell directly on the ground, screaming to myself. Celestial had since picked the Vz up off the ground and engaged in CQC with the oncoming hoard of Communists. I got up in front of the mirror, a portion of my left ear was gone. It was the very tip of the left ear.

The pony that inflicted the wound was pointing the barrel at Octavia. She swung her leg into his knee, and then her hoof into his face. He was thrown back. I shot him in the head while he was on the ground. There were only three ponies left, and they were heavily armored.

They carried shotguns on them as well. When the moved up I started opening fire. All my shots bounced off their armor. Celestial fired a round into the chest of one in the middle, who stumbled backwards. At first we thought he killed him. We were wrong. He got back to his hoofs and kept a solid approach towards us as he regained control of the shotgun.

They opened a synchronized hellfire of pellets downrange. Helm had readied a satchel charge and threw it over the fiesta. It slammed against the face of one of the juggernauts and then it exploded. He was thrown backwards, his helmet painted an ugly shade of red. That was when they put suppressing fire against him. Celestial fired another shot at the facemask of one of them, it bounced.

I ran around the corner. Knife in hoof. They didn't notice me, so I grabbed one by the back of his facemask and pulled his head towards the windshield of the car. It slammed against the windshield and shattered it. He got up, unharmed. I kicked the shotgun out of his hoofs and threw a solid front kick to the face. The force pushed him back onto his face, but he got back up with no injuries. I picked up another AKM from the ground and put it on fully automatic.

Once he had been facing me, I emptied the magazine into his facemask. It was cracked to high hell. He couldn't see shit. He threw a few swings, none of which made contact. I weaved under one of them and kicked him in the side of his leg. It broke the leg. He got on his knees as I slammed the windowbreaker against his facemask, which shattered it. He grabbed his face, screaming bloody murder. I stabbed the knife through his hand and into his eye. He pulled his hands off, eye bleeding. I stabbed him in the face a few more times until I hit him in the forehead with the windowbreaker. His skull cracked.

I looked over at Helm, who was beating the shit out of the other one with his facemask and chestplate removed. He got up, shotgun in hoof, and fired both barrels into the jugg's chest. He was blown in half.

We grabbed another ride. It was time to get moving north again.

Biting a bullet.

Author's Notes:

before you start: A shemagh is a Arabic scarf/hat/mask/what the fuck isn't this thing. You see a lot of operators wearing them. I own a desert tan one and can assure you of the magic it is.

Speaking of magic: Yes, Cloud Dasher has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from lots of incidents. Next time he sleeps expect more Yaks.

it's official: these scarfs are fuckin awsome

We drove for 15 miles, slowly. It took us nearly an hour because we needed to slow down in the area. We peeled off of the road and onto the sidewalk a few times in order to keep from hitting both lane traffic. I could feel the weight of the knife against my chest, it was just in the jacket pocket.

There was a large sign approaching in front of us. 'Metro system- 15 miles on right'. The metro system was a halfway mark out of the city, if we can make it past there then we would have nothing to worry about. That was when the car broke down. The accelerator gave out, but the brakes didn't. I steered the vehicle off to the sidewalk and slowly applied to breaks in order to avoid a spin out or a roll.

Once the vehicle was safely stopped we exited and were out on hoof. We did flip the hood but it was no use, the radiator was blown to hell and leaking fluids all over the engine. There was no way we'd get it working. We followed north through an ally. It was a dark, dank, and disgusting alleyway. That didn't change as of now.

Now it was filled with white body bags.

Most of the body bags were now brown and red from blood and rotting flesh.

As we passed I stubbed my hoof on something. Looking down I found a dead child. She was a small filly, only about three years old. Her head was cracked and bleeding, she was long dead. Out the other side of the head revealed the true extent of the damage, a 7.62 had penetrated the entire right side of her skull.

She probably got the cut on her head when she fell.

I picked her up and rested her gently on what I could only assume was her parents. May she rest in peace and may the Lord have mercy on her soul.

As we left I swore to myself that anypony that brings harm to the innocent is a enemy. All enemies will be killed. As we exited the alleyway I saw why they were there.

It was a makeshift hospital. The nurses were overwhelmed with war casualties. That wasn't the worst of it, they had no trained surgeons. Anypony with the money to leave did so long ago. I recounted the past 12 hours, so much had happened. In twelve hours my entire life had been turned upside down. That was how it was going to be.

The nurses were currently working on a amputation of a pony's front left hoof. He had been severely injured by shrapnel, to the extent that his hoof was only connected by the bone. The tool of the trade they used was a bloodstained hacksaw.

He was awake, screaming and kicking. They had leather restraints to hold the limb still. Each time they sawed he screamed louder, we could hear the bone snap when they finally got through the bone and stitched it together. He would still be in pain for a long time, worse off he'd soon die from infection.

There's no way they cleaned that saw, so he couldn't have lived. We stayed the night there, sleeping through the screaming. It all reminded me too much of Yakyakistan.

It was cold, I was dressed in a summer type uniform, and my canteen froze shut. That's a pretty good summary of what happened there. That wasn't the highlights of my memories though, what I remembered clear as day was the medical hall. The medical hall was on the far eastern end of the Forward Operation Base, it also was the only heated area of all the area.

Entering it would bring what, compared to the outside temperature, was a tropical vacation. Your little 'vacation' would consist of seeing the wounded, dying, and dead, ponies you think of as brothers. It really was a fair trade considering the fucking weather there. I wore a Yakyaki shemagh scarf, wrapped around my neck and pulled up over my mouth. The smell was still evident.

Rotting flesh.

It isn't a pretty smell, never really was meant to be. I walked towards the medic, who was operating on a patient. It was yet another nasty maiming by Yakyaki traps. The pony in question was impaled in two legs by lead pipes. It fractured at the knee for one, as for the other it went through the bottom of his hoof and exited out the knee. He probably stepped on one and fell on the other.

"Be honest doc, will he live?"

"Shh, he's awake."

I looked at his eyes to see he wasn't lying. He was frantically darting his eyes around the room, all his hoofs were in leather restraints. As for the mouth? The mouth was gagged with a shemagh.

"Why? Why is he awake?"

"It's hard to get supplies up here. In short it's the same reason nopony has any ammunition here."

He was right, the mountains were easy ambush points for the Yaks to get to our convoys.

"So what are you going to do with him?"

"Oh that's simple, we pull."

"Wait, what do you pull?"

"What do you think? We pull the polls outta his legs. Not like he'll be using them anymore but we have a hope that they didn't fuck up the nerves that lead to the brain. If that happened we'd just amputate them."

"Well, how will you pull them out? They're pretty far in there..."

"And that's why I'm glad you're here..."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"You see, I'm not exactly the workhorse you are. Would you kindly grab the poll facing vertically, yes the one in his knee, and pull on it while I hold the leg more secure."

The pony on the bench shook his head frantically, he couldn't imagine that this was happening.

"Will this save his life?"

"Will it do any good to leave the polls in his legs?"

"Point well taken."

I grabbed the poll and waited for the doc to give me the word. Once instructed to pull I made a hard yank upwards, the poll didn't budge. The pony restrained made a sound that would scare the devil himself. Not even in tartarous would there be pain like this. I gave it another pull, this time he screamed.

We both looked at the patient in unison, he had broken through the mouth restraint.

"Don't do anything to him Dasher! Knocking him out would not be good for keeping bloo-"

I didn't let him finish. I slammed my E-Tool shovel down into his face. I didn't use the edge so he wasn't dead, just unconscious.

"I don't care if that kills him, at least he won't be awake through this."

I grabbed the poll and positioned my hoof against his chest. Pulling upwards with all my might I could hear a tearing sound coming from the knee. The pull flew out from the joint and clattered against the floor. I put it to the side and got to work on the foot. Halfway through pulling that out I was interrupted.

"He's gone Dasher."

"You mean he's-"

"Take what you want, none of it can go to waste."

"What do you mean take what you want?"

"Well, per say" The doctor removed the dead ponies watch "I really did need a new watch."

"You..."

"Me? I'm what?"

"You're a monster!"

"Monster? Oh hardly! I'm just resourceful. Something you clearly know nothing about."

"Of course I know nothing about robbing dead bodies! Who do you think I am?"

"I think you're a old church boy that ran away because daddy hit him one too many times. Does that sum it up?"

I punched him across the face. He was knocked unconscious instantly. At first they tried to apprehend me and I let them. I had nothing to answer for. I had attacked a murderer and I feel no remorse for his kind. He would also be brought in, seeing as I had brought quite a bit of attention to him. He was discharged under unsaid terms. I was let off.

I woke up with a headache. It isn't uncommon for me to have that happen once I dream. I hate dreams like that. I never want to be reminded of Yakyakistan. As I got up I found a pillbox of painkillers next to me. I took four and downed them one at a time with no water. The pills were small, so there was no real need for any liquid. Once on my hoofs, I noticed something. Sitting just across from me was a set of gear. Something I hadn't seen in years.

A set of new gloves, a plate carrier OD green pattern vest with the word 'Merc' inscribed on the front in stenciled letters, a set of coyote colored boots, a Cz75, and a black baseball cap. There was a note next to it.

"Dear Associate,

You haven't seen it, but the world has it's eyes on you. What you did to the enemy's morale is devastating. You were caught by the press many times during your fights and the Equestrian society looks at you as the masked hero. They never got a look at your face.

You may wonder who I am, but an introduction is something I am unable to do right now. I have supplied you with the gear to get you out of that leather jacket and into something more protective.

By the way: You always did look pretty decent in one of those scarfs. Take one on me.

Seeing you soon,

Your guardian angel.'

I looked up and noticed the same pattern shemagh that I wore in Yakyakistan laying on top of the vest. I first emptied the contents of the jacket, which was my knife, a folded picture of starlight, and a few notes that I picked up along the way. They fit nice and snug in the inside of the vest. All but the knife.

The knife had a clip, and an unknown potential was to be able to use this with MOLLE straps. So I clipped it on my right side. I put the hat on, it fit well. Then I wrapped the shemagh around my neck. it looked nice, but now for the new gloves. Once those were on it was far more comfortable to fire.

Speaking of firing, now it was for the Cz75. I picked that up and checked the chamber, fully loaded with hollow points. I put it in a holster that was on the side of the vest. Then it was for the boots.

The boots were just the right size, I put them on and got to waking up the rest of the team

Blast Mastery

We got moving that morning. My leather jacket was inside my rucksack, I'd need it when winter comes. The Cz was straddled nicely around my thigh, it's glint caught the eyes of Celestial, who I learned was a Czeck weapons enthusiast.

"Where did you get that might I ask?"

"I found it, why?"

"How? How did you find it?"

"Well you see, I woke up and it was, well, there."

"Well... that makes no sense whatsoever."

"Well it happened, deal with it. It's also how I got the vest."

"You killed somepony didn't you?"

"Well yea, you've seen me do that..."

"No, I mean for the vest. You killed somepony over a vest and then robbed a dead body."

"I found it, that is the only answer I need and all the answers you are entitled to child!"

He was silent at that, there really isn't a way to respond to this.

"Well we have other good news!" Helm's voice rang out from across the room.

"What is it?"

"Well, remember how you made that grenade out of cooking supplies?"

"Yes..."

"That got my thinking..."

"Well that's not good at all."

"Shut it. Now what if I took the igniter out of their broken grill, acquired two wires, and a bottle of 90 proof alcohol in a spray bottle."

"This isn't going where I think, is it?"

"Well you see, I thought to myself; If the chemical reaction of a spark to a flammable liquid such as high concentration alcohol is an explosion, why not just utilize a PVC pipe and make a pressurized bomb?"

We were silent. Something couldn't work about this. It just wasn't meant to be.

"That's... interesting to say the least. How's it detonated?"

"Well you see, there are two screws in the bottom of a water bottle, which has 90 proof alcohol inside of it, with a PVC pipe connector on top of it. Then I fill the pipe connector with nails and other goodies. The primer is a tin can with the bottom attached to the igniter attached to a plate. Once that plate is stepped on, the ignition will create a spark that flows through the wire, then into two nails on the bottom of the bottle, then into the alcohol. You know the rest."

"So it's a pressurized landmine..."

"Guess you could say that."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you know these things?"

"I dunno, why do you?"

Good question. Why do I know this? Oh wait.

"Because I was a Royal Marine, why wouldn't I?"

"Because it wasn't your job in the Royal Marines?"

Well shit.

We had hotwired yet another car and taken it through the city, the subway wasn't that far, since most ponies didn't take the normal roads as an exit to the city. Most used the highway and jammed it to high hell. Once we had gotten to the subway, which only took fifteen minutes by the unused roads, we were greeted by a mass of Royal Marine Humvee's.

"What's your business here?" Asked a mare, who seemed awfully familiar... wait.

I flashed back to the moment I got here, the mare I nearly ran over.

"Well we're just leaving the city ma'am." Octavia said, not realizing who she was.

"Well I'm going to need to ask you to exit your vehicle." She raised her M16 at us, just like before.

We sped off and rammed through both lines of Humvee's and down the stairs that lead to the train. If we could make it to that train we could get out of the city quickly. Ponies on both sets of stairs darted towards the walls to avoid the oncoming vehicle. Some weren't so lucky. We ran over a small group of ponies that hadn't reacted quick enough. As the vehicle made impact with the security posts, it was halted. It wasn't going fast enough to plow through it. The pony that had been managing the post was barely missed, he had already pulled a Glock 19 out from his belt.

"Exit the vehicle!"

We spoke among eachother, then we nodded in agreement.

Helm emptied both barrels of 12 Gauge buckshot into the officer's face. His head was blown off. We poured out of the car and hid from a hellfire of shots. They ringed off of the car's engine block and the other objects around us. We heard them hit through the windows and soon enough the windshield shattered at the sound of a 10 Gauge shotgun.

Somepony was a tactical breacher, and they knew exactly how to deal with us. I heard the pump of a shotgun, coming closer and closer. I made a bolt to the train, Celestial followed while Octavia helped Helm fight off the oncoming onslaught. Once onboard, we got the plan rolling.

"Celestial you get the train's electrical power back online! We need to get en route to the northern gate of Whinnyapolis!"

Helm already knew his orders, he was to divert shots from us until we got power online.

The breacher passed by the car, and got a buckshot in the chest. He wasn't quite dead yet, so Helm shot another one into his head.
He used the weapon's break action to reload it, then placed two more shells in. That was when the lights on the train leaped back to life. It was as if we had shocked the metal giant back to life. Now it was under our control.

Helm ran towards the train, firing both barrels as he ran. He didn't hit anypony, but for him that wasn't the case. He recieved a shot to the leg right in front of the door. As soon as he was in the train lurched forwards and trugged along.

"Get on that train! Don't let him get away!"

Their orders were quickly followed as 3 ponies got on the train from the rear entrance. I could see them through the window. They hadn't seen me yet. I pulled the collapsed demolition pony behind a seat to keep him safe. He dropped something from his hoof. It was a tin can, with a water bottle attached to it by a 5 foot length of wire. The wires were connected by electrical tape.

"You know what to do Cloud, just set er up and wait." He said between breaths.

"Listen, this isn't your last breath! You'll make it!" Octavia had said above his screams.

"Octy! You watch him while I deal with these bastards!"

She nodded. Gently and gracefully. On that I ran into the next car, I needed to stop them there to minimize the possibility of Octavia or Helm getting harmed even more. I set the mine up at the door of the car and waited at the end, Cz75 in my hoof.

"This ones clear!" I heard from the car behind it.

Then the door opened. A pony kicked the tin can over, which didn't detonate the bomb. I got up, raising the handgun to the first pony's head. I fired a 9mm hollow point into his face, which almost blew his head in half. He fell to the ground, then the pony next to him opened fire as the breacher moved of. This was a suppression tactic, the pony with the shotgun would attempt to take me out while the other suppressed me. As soon as the breacher's shotgun came into view, pointed against my head, I swung my hoof into it's side.

The shotgun was thrown from his hoof, then I shot him in the leg, then through his head. The pony utilizing suppression had finally learned the one downside to the tactic; if it fails you're out of shots. She pulled the trigger on her MP5K to get a click. Throwing the weapon to the floor, she took a step back and drew her sidearm. Unfortunently for her that was where the mine was. She kicked the button, causing the explosive to detonate.

Half of the car was blown off, the rest was engulfed in flames. I got up and broke down the door separating the two cars. I shot the car connector when I was inside, and the flaming boxcar was left behind in a burning inferno.

"He didn't make it Cloud."

I looked at Helm, he was pale. The shot must've bled him out. He had the most peaceful look on his face, as if he was glad it was all over. I pulled his eyes shut, that was when a book fell from his hoofs.

'The cookbook' It was an interesting title.

I opened it up and found hundreds of explosive blueprints, it was all of Helm's work. It was sad looking at it really, I felt that it was his own silent goodbye. There were notes on the edges of every chapter, including one of the last ones (which it was open to) which consisted of the grenade I had built.

Over it read 'Cloud's tank killer'

I went to Celestial and broke the news to him. He excused himself as he needed to rest. In the room where he sat, same car as Octavia, he cried. He had now lost everything.

Everything but me.

Author's Notes:

Well that's depressing. Also the explosive listed works as well, I use it for airsoft. You're welcome.

The claws of life and death.

Author's Notes:

Bear in mind that everything between the header rows is told in third person. The song is badass, just saying.

Now that we're halfway out of the city, what do you think?

The train was cold. Almost all power was restored, all but the air conditioning. Although I had my vest on, I still felt the need to throw on my leather jacket. I did this by simply tossing it over my torso as I sat on the driver's seat of the train. The engine had taken a beating from the explosion, so I wasn't putting it on full throttle. Had I done that there would be a good chance of the engine either breaking itself or simply setting fire. Neither of which was a good thing.

My two rear hoofs were not cold at all, this is thanks to the thicker materials the new boots were built out of. These were not Summer type boots and that's for sure. I didn't really mind though, I needed them right now. The gloves were simply extensions of the hoof, they provided no warmth. I had both arms through my jacket arm slots, but I wore it backwards as if it were a blanket.

A 9x19mm round fell out of one of the pockets and made a ping against the ground until it clinked towards it's own demise. I picked it up and loaded it into the Cz. Checking the magazine, I had used a lot of shots in that fight. I pulled the last remaining box of 9mms, I loaded 12 more rounds into the mag. The mag's max capacity was 15. I fired all but three shots.

I looked ahead and saw nothing but darkness. I took this time to pull my iPod out and put it on shuffle. The song that played was 'Little Black Submarines' by 'The black keys'

'Little black submarines, Operator please. Put me back on the line.'

I found myself singing along to the rusty old voice, and even swayed to the acoustic guitar in the background. I saw the intercom button and plugged my iPod into the slot. Then I played the song.

'I told my girl I'd be back, operator please, this is just wrecking my mind.'

Octavia looked up at the speaker of the train, the audio quality wasn't the best, but it sure as hell beat nothing at all.

'I shoulda seen a glow, but everypony knows, that a broken heart is blind.'

It was exactly what she needed. She had sobbed herself to sleep, this wasn't the life she wanted. Sure, following Cloud was certainly something she loved to do, but she never expected this. She couldn't get the screams out of her head, the deaths out of her mind. It all sent a chill down her spine every time she thought about what she'd done. No, not what she'd done, but what they had done. It was too much for her to bear.

She placed Helm's shotgun to her temple, slowly pulling the trigger. Very, very, slowly. Cloud, through the security camera, could see this.

The guitar riff picked up as he ran to her car.

'Oh little black submarines, operator please! Get me back on the line!'

The door to the car had locked when Celestial closed it to render control to me. Rather than sit and wait on my ass, I bucked the door down.

'Told my girl I'd be home! Oh operator please! This is tearing my mind!'

I ran through the car, only three cars were still connected. That includes the main car that I control the train from. I made a sprint to the other door and broke it down on impact. Octavia still had the shotgun against her temple, silently waiting for death. It was as if she was just contemplating it. I pulled the shotgun from her hoofs.

"Octavia what are you doing!" I shouted at her.

"You mean what are we doing! Cloud this is getting us nowhere! We forced Starlight's hoof and forced her to invade Whinnyapolis! Now they're all dead! They're dead because of us Dasher!"

"Hey you hold that for a second! She had that invasion planned from the start!"

"Oh yea? What makes you think that?"

"Well for one to mobilize that large of a force on such short notice would take some serious speed. That type of speed is only obtainable by weeks upon weeks of planning and training. She must've had those forces on their way long before we were there."

She nodded at the possibility of this, then lunged at me. She held me firmly in her arms as she cried a river.

I held her in my arms, she probably didn't believe me and that didn't matter. What matters is that she's alive, she may not be doing so hot, but she's fine. I walked to the front of the train with Octavia in my arms. The song had just ended. It all happened so fast. Once in the front, Octavia lied down on the floor and fell fast asleep.

I looked at the train's speedometer, it read that we were moving at 40 miles per hour. Our location should be coming up soon. I saw a light at the bottom right of the tunnel. Octavia wouldn't get much sleep, I pressed the breaks and the train lurched forwards. She was shaken awake as she slammed head against the chair. We both got up as it stopped right on the line with the train station. There was a camp set up, Equestrian Marines were lined at the station.

At the sight of us they raised their rifles, almost ready to fire.

"Exit the vehicle with hoofs raised!" Came through the station's intercom. They must've gained full control of the section.

I ignored him as I approached Celestial.

"Celestial, you still have that Remington?"

"Yea, already one step ahead of you." He responded, levitating an AP round in the air.

"I'll give the signal, you just wait out back."

He did as he was told. Octavia would stay safe, for there was no weapon for her to use, by hiding in the front of the train. I approached the front door, they didn't recognize me from what my 'Guardian Angel' said I was. I guess that was all about to change. I put the leather jacket on.

The Marines raised their rifles, unsure of who's side I was on. I wasn't on theirs, I have my own agenda and it's not one they're following. Not yet at least. The attack on Whinnyapolis has sent a great message to Celestia. Celestia wants whoever did this to have their head on a plate. That, however, is my job. I must beat her to the punch.

"Drop your weapons!" The NCO of the group shouted. Not to the Marines, but to me. I wasn't letting that happen. I walked slowly towards the guards, each of them braced for a fight.

"Don't take another step civilian! We will fire!" He yelled again.

I kept walking. He kept shouting.

That was when I heard a rustle behind me, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of one of the Marines attempting to flank me. He's going for a takedown and wasn't alone. I slammed my back, hoof against the ground, a shot rung out in the air and took the head off of the pony behind me. As soon as I heard the body hit the floor I took a sharp turn backwards and swung a hoof into his accomplice's face. He stuttered backwards, trying to regain balance, I dove and tackled him as a barrage of shots went out.

They went over my head as he hit the floor. The rifles were semi auto and the group was getting another shot. I pulled the accomplice in front of me, making an effective human shield. They didn't fire. I put the Cz75 to his head, and then stamped my hoof. Another shot rang out, it went through the head of the NCO and into the chest of the pony next to him. The line opened up on three round burst. Every shot hit the poor bastard, but it didn't break through the body due to the armor absorbing much of the shot. The round did go into his chest however.

I used the opportunity to move backwards while Celestial put more shots down range, killing each target with deadly precision. I dove over the broken window into the train, the lifeless body of the other pony rest against the outside of the train. I needed to deal with the others fast, but as I got up I saw Helm's body. Something was so peaceful about it, which didn't fit who he was at all.

A 5.56 round went through the wall of the train and blew Helm's head off.

His brains were spread all down the train, Celestial saw this as well and couldn't contain himself. He charged towards the line of stallions as they reloaded, one of them drew their sidearm and fired three shots, two missed. The last bounced off his chest plate. Celestial swung his rifle into the chin of the pony with the sidearm. He was knocked unconscious and then killed by a stomp on the throat.

The pony next to him was quick to go in for a stab, a knife in his mouth as he charged Celestial. He used his levitation to rip the knife out of his mouth, cutting the sides of his lips as he pulled, then he threw it into another pony in the line. Celestial wasn't one for showing off, so now wasn't an exception. I jumped from cover while the guards were distracted and opened fire.

I had loaded AP, I knew this because one of the rounds penetrated the helmet of a riflepony and blew a quarter sized hole through his head. I kept moving, emptying my magazine as I ran. I took 5 ponies down and suppressed two more before I body slammed a pony lining up a shot at Celestial.

His rifle flew from his hoofs, I pulled my knife as we fell and stabbed it through his neck, then I swung a leg to my right in order to break another Marines leg, it was successful and he fired three shots upwards. I went to work beating him down with bare hoofs, once I realized this wasn't knocking him out I stabbed him through the throat with the knife. He gurgled as he chocked on his own blood.

I grabbed his sidearm and emptied the magazine into a small crowd of the last remaining Marines. It took two of them out. The last one turned around, rifle to my head. Then I heard a serious roar of fire. It sent my ears ringing, I couldn't even hear him scream over the sound. It was loud enough to make me def for a few seconds. Once I looked back at the pony, he was riddled with blood on his uniform.

As he fell, Celestial stood behind him with the Vz.61 in his hoofs. There was something off about him though, he was giving me this glare. Something wasn't right about it. He didn't drop the weapon.

"Celestial, it's over now, you can put it away."

He didn't put it away, but adjusted it to my head.

"It's not over."

"What do you mean?"

"You. They died because of you."

I couldn't speak, what was happening?

"If you never showed up they wouldn't be dead, you'd just be a sidenote in our lives. Defiant wouldn't have needed to cover us, Helm wouldn't have gotten shot, we would've just left here in one piece."

"What do I have to do with Defiant's death? He died covering YOU, saving YOU, in what part did he do anything to protect me?"

"In the part where he stayed while you did your stunt, we could've gotten out and left you ya know. Oh but no, he couldn't do that. He didn't want to see you die, oh no not yet. This is where it all happens."

He slowly pulled the trigger, then I swung my hoof against his firearm, causing him to shoot everywhere but me. I tackled him and slammed a hoof against his horn, effectively disarming him. He was relentless and I'd give him that.

He managed to get me off of him and got to his hoofs at about the same time I did. He leaped towards me in an effort to get a jump-punch on me, I weaved to the side and threw a right hook into his ribs, he coughed something out and started getting back into a fighting position. We circled around eachother, he was an offensive fighter, so I needed to be defensive until there is a gap in his swings. Then I break his pattern.

He threw kicks in rapid succession, left hoof and then the right, coming closer as he did so. I backed up each step he took. I caught a sight of Octavia, staring at what was going down through the train's glass. She had no way out since I locked the doors to her car from the outside to keep anypony but us from getting in.

That was when one of the kicks made contact. It hit my lower right shin. I jumped back, since I didn't do anything to block it. The shin hurt like hell but I was going to live. He dove in for a tackle, and I grabbed his head and twisted it up and right. He swung around and tried to throw rear swings with his elbows in an attempt to get me off of him. One of them made contact and out of instinct I grabbed the wound. He then grabbed a metal pole and swung it upwards into my face. I felt it impact with my forehead and I flew against a support column.

He threw a kick towards my face, but I moved out of the way so that it made impact with the column. I lurched towards him and picked him up from under his legs, making sure he didn't have an angle of attack on me. He threw swings into my spine but they did nothing. I charged towards the other support column and slammed him against it. The tiles fell off of the support and crashed on top of us. I threw straight kicks to his face again and again until I decided he was no longer a threat. He was bleeding from his eyes, jaw, and nose. The nose and jaw was certainly broken, and he was missing a few teeth.

He fell to the ground, unconscious or dead I couldn't tell. He was neutralized nonetheless, that's what mattered. I checked his sniper rifle, the breach was broken. There was no way I could repair this. I dropped it on the ground and unlocked Octavia's car. She tackled me and cried in my arms.

"It's time to go Octavia." I told her softly.

God's gonna cutchya down.

I walked Octavia out of the bloodbath that once was a train station carefully. She was terrified, more than I'd seen her since I pulled her out of that club. She was silent as we marched on. We just kept walking, it was almost gallant. Almost. The ponies we had to thank for our lives were dead, dead and gone. I kept marching.

She was under my shoulder, crying to herself. I listened to my iPod as I walked on.

'Stand tall for the beast of Equestria, stand tall of a pony next door. Stand tall for the beast of Equestria, for they can't live on the government's dime.'

It was quiet, which gave me some time to think. Well it WAS quiet until the guitar riff came into play. I marched to the top stair, Octavia pulled herself out from under my arm and stood tall. She was beautiful in the light of a new day, but out ahead we had another sight. There was a gate set up around the top stair, and behind it was a set of three more Marines, they probably thought the shooting was coming from far away, seeing as they were tending to a massive crowd of ponies.

"You are hereby under the Equestrian Quarantine, and disbalance of population will result in immediate questioning."

It had already begun. They were putting the rest of the city under martial law in order to prevent a communist advance. They didn't have the time to evacuate, not yet. Should they try now the Communist artillery (or air force, whatever came first) would strike down their motion.

I pulled the leather jacket on, taking my vest off and putting it in my backpack. Something slipped out of the side of it. A balaclava. A million memories rushed to my head. I had an idea.

I pulled it over my head and moved on. One of the Marines turned around and saw me, he went in for a tackle, but instead I dropped low and thrusted upwards when he was over me. He rolled down the stairs. The other Marine noticed the noise and turned around, I swung my Cz75 upwards into his jaw, then the pony with the megaphone caught sight of me. He dropped the megaphone and got into a fighting position, then was hit in the back of the head by Octavia. He fell to the floor and I stepped on him as I picked up the megaphone.

The crowd was in awe at what they saw. I was their masked crusader, their hero.

"Freedom isn't free, if you want it you gotta fight for it." The crowd nodded, and was silent.

"The Communist oppressors seek to destroy that freedom! They seek one thing and one thing only: Power and control. The soldiers are being manipulated to do somepony's dirty work. Who am I? I am the voice of reason, the voice of peace, the voice of freedom. If you want peace you better brace for a war. This war is one we fight together. It is no longer everypony for themselves, we fight for eachother! Take whatever you need and run them out of your city! Out of your country!"

The crowd bursted and rushed the gates, they were looking to fight the communists and that's what they'd do. I pushed through the crowd and avoided getting trampled by the stampede. Once out of the way the streets were empty, and that was when a shot rang out. It hit a window behind me, so I jumped through where that window once was.

Another shot came from the distance, it was a sniper obviously. I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, that was until I saw a flash come from the third floor of the building across the street from me. I swapped the leather jacket and balaclava out for the vest, I ran as a shot went by my face, Octavia was pinned down behind a car, a shot bounced off the hood as I ran, Octavia stuck low to the ground.

"Third window on the left!" She screamed as a round went right through the driver's side window. I was already at the door when another shot rang out. I opened the door and was greeted by a grenade coming down from the stairs. It was a spiral staircase with no separation between floors, so it was possible to throw something directly down. I ran out the building and covered right by the door, when the grenade went off I re-entered the building.

The are was scorched, the wallpaper was on fire and there were holes all over the building's walls. A crater where the grenade once was had been visible I ran past it and up the stairs. I had to jump from the third stair to the base of the next flight due to missing steps. As soon as I landed on the pad, I took fire. It was fast, too fast to be an assault rifle. The rounds rang all over the area, one of them bounced off of my vest, I had ran along the stairs, the sniper was unable to get a clear shot on me. I got to the pad of the third floor, and aimed directly at the pad that had a clear view on me, a black maned red pony passed by with a MP9 in his hoofs and a Mosin Nagant on his back. He turned at me, but I had already pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

It clicked, he lifted the MP9, and it too clicked. He dropped the machine pistol and went for the rifle, I had thrown the Cz75 at his face, it slammed a little low into his chest, fazing him a little. I climbed onto the rail and jumped towards the rail of the floor he was on. I grabbed the floor and climbed until I was at the rail's edge. He swung at my face, and I dodged right and wrapped my arm around his. I pulled downwards, snapping it in half.

He threw another swing with the unused hoof, it hit me right in the face, I let go out of shock. I quickly grabbed the guard rail for the second floor, jerking it nearly off of it's proper position. It creaked backwards, but I heard the sound of a magazine drop from the floor above me. He was reloading his MP9. The bars fell off and I used the force I had built up to fling myself back onto the third floor pad.

Trudging on up the stairs I recieved a burst of fire. They missed by a little bit, just a little high that's all. I got on my face and crawled up the stairs as he kept firing. I ran at him and grabbed him by the neck as soon as he was outta rounds.

"God's gonna cut you down son!" I said through gritted teeth as I got on top of him. I pinned him, putting extra pressure on the broken arm. He screamed like hell but I threw solid punches to his face as he was there. Once he was barely conscious I pulled him to the edge of the rail. Then I threw him off. When he hit the ground blood sprayed all over the scorched room. Octavia was behind me, she probably came to help right as I was about to go for the first hit.

She said nothing as we walked down to the third floor. Once we were there we did a search for any clues. The door that lead to the third floor was just one big, long, empty room. On the third window down the line, there was a table and chair. On the table was a image of me and Octavia, alongside five empty shells and two spare magazines.

I picked the images up, they were on top of a document. I picked the document up and read through it.

It was a contract. 6,000 for me to be dead. They really did want me out of the way. I re-read it and it gave a location of meeting and a number to call. I stuffed it away and went moving out the building, that was when I noticed that the pony I had assumed dead had moved to the far end of the room.

I walked towards him, he just looked up at me, covered in blood.

I pulled his phone out. I dialed the number and put it on speaker.

"You're going to tell her I'm dead, do you understand?"

He spit in my face. I put my knife against his leg.

"Or I'll bleed you like a dog, are we clear?"

"Crystal." He said in a heavily accented voice. Prussian.

The phone was picked up.

A feminine voice responded. It was probably Starlight's.

"Is it done?" She asked.

"It is." The pony responded.

"You know where to go."

She hung up.

I was a little confused. I pressed the knife into his coat.

"Where are you meeting?"

He spit in my face again. I stabbed him in the throat, I could figure it out myself. We made our way out of the building, leaving the body there.

Aggression.

Starlight waited patiently at the meeting point she'd arranged for her contract. It was half past twelve noon when she realized something wasn't right. The meeting time was originally set for twelve on the dot, he was late. It wasn't like him to take his time when money is on the line. As she sat there, she contemplated the chance that exiting Whinnyapolis would be much more difficult with all that's happening.

The waitress for the coffee shop walked past her, dropping off a menu as she moved. She asked no questions. It is Starlight's town after all, and she knew that whatever she was doing was important. The mare quickly moved far away from the scene, continuing her work inside. She wanted as little to do with Starlight as possible. One wrong word and she could cut her rations, or worse.

After all, she couldn't really imagine an easy way out. It's a city gone to hell after all. She didn't blow her composure as she thought of the worst. What if he hadn't survived? Well this wasn't exactly the worst case scenario, since she wouldn't need to pay him if that was the case. She heard a vibration from the phone on the table, she flipped the phone open and went to the recent text tab.

'One recent message, from tourist 2 Read now?'

She used the arrow keys until it highlighted 'yes'. Once she confirmed her choice, she was stunned.

'You're next'

She read it once, no twice. This can't be right. That was when another text came through, this time an image.

'Image from tourist 2 Read now?'

She was hesitant, but slowly complied. Once she pressed yes she was greeted with a horrific sight.

Tourist 2, or so she called him, was nothing. He was beaten down, limbs mangled, and blood pouring from a gaping wound in the chest. She threw the phone in a fountain.

"She's going to be onto us more than ever now." I started with Octavia. We were since out of the city, now that the civilian center was clear we really had no issue with abandoned cars, insecure zones, and other problems. Looks like the communists had gotten the memo that this place wasn't shelled though. We could hear the shells landing in the city even though I had put some ten miles between us.

"Well it's not like she knows where we are? Does she?" Octavia was a little shaky on asking the question. As if she didn't want the answer.
Which she probably didn't.

"She most definitely doesn't." I said, handing the map over to Octavia. I had marked down the location of this 'Our Town' place on it and made my way steadily over to it. It'd be a 12 hour drive, and after 4 hours it was 10 PM. I needed to stop somewhere. I slapped the vaporizer in my mouth and took a puff. It'd been a while since I'd gotten a fix. There was a problem this time though, it was empty. I got some weird sizzle sound and then a solid nothingness.

I put it in my pocket and kept driving, we had reached a bar and I was eager to get a shot of whisky in place of the vaporizer. I puled off to the nearest parking spot and walked into the door leading into the dingy place, Octavia waited in the car. Rightfully so, too. The place really was a shithole. The tables smelt sorta like rotten milk, upon further inspection my hoof would stick to the top. I had to thrust to get it off of the gritty table. I waltzed my way over to the bar portion, which is when I came to the conclusion that this wasn't only a bar, but a cafe as well. The health rating was nowhere to be seen.

I doubt they got any good reviews on any travel website.

I sat in the seat directly in front of me, I was between a hearty batpony and a zebra. Both of which were probably two to three times my size, and they didn't like my company. They were the regulars, and I could tell by the way they spoke. On the other end of the bar was a mare, she was mostly undressed. Marketing herself probably, no she was obviously marketing herself. I was the only one in the bar that hadn't screwed her probably.

"Hey honey, gimme a kiss!" I heard from my right, it was the zebra.

"Don't you know you gotta pay first?"

"Well yea, figured you'd be fine with this young buck."

"Looking's free, everything else is gonna charge and you know that."

"Oh come on! You can't handle me!"

The mare looked frantically for support, but instead she was surrounded by perverse criminals. The zebra better learn to count his blessings.

Said Zebra stood up and marched over to the mare; the batpony followed slowly behind. The zebra was just a little smaller than the bat, but he still rolled along with it.

"Listen honey, we can't really pay our dues right now. Whatchya say we get a room though?"

She looked frantically at me as I calculated my move. The life of a vigilante isn't always easy, but the bar reminded me of the one back in Ponyville. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on down there. Probably the same old, the vice mayor was still filling in for the deceased Mayor Mare. I didn't feel bad one bit.

The talk in the corner that I had stopped monitoring had erupted into a shout. A knife was drawn and held by the batpony while the Zebra demanded favors. Statutory rape and assault with a deadly weapon, just enough to justify some action. I can't kill them yet, I'm still rather unknown around here and I'd like to keep it that way until I have a target. The bartender wasn't doing anything to stop the incident, and other patrons at the bar were in fact urging the dynamic duo on. It was up to me. I looked at the bartender sternly, he probably was expecting me to say he saw nothing. That wasn't the case.

"You gotta roll of quarters?"

He looked stunned for a second.

"Son, you're not right." He spoke slowly.

"Don't worry, you'll get them back and some more."

He reached under the bar and came back up with a roll of 25 cent quarters surrounded in red striped paper. I picked it up with my glove and made a fist. Having a fist full of quarters increases the strength of your punch tenfold because your fist has a sturdy base to swing on. I kept the gloves balled as I approached the two. The bat was the first to notice my presence. He turned the knife towards me while the Zebra tried to peel the mare's shirt off. She was putting up a fight with him when she noticed me as well. I nodded to her.

She swung hard into his groin with her left knee, knocking the wind out of him. The batpony turned his head to see the commotion, and when he turned his head back he was greeted with a right hay maker to his temple. I heard a crack as I hit him; I must have either broken part of the temple or hit low and broke the jaw. It was the latter, there was no blood on the sight which indicated that he had not gotten any injuries protruding through the skin. Though there was some in his mouth, I had probably screwed his teeth up bad. The zebra was still on his knees, so I pulled his head back and slammed it into the bar's edge. He wasn't knocked out by this.

I grabbed him by the mane and dragged him towards the door, I didn't want this to erupt into an all out bar fight. I threw him out the door, and he had recovered from the low blow. He was now on his rear hoofs with his front two up in a boxing position. Octavia watched, not horrified but entertained. She knew how this was going to end.

He threw a hay maker, it resembled the one I used against his bat buddy. Only problem was I saw it coming, I lifted my right hoof and caught it at the forehoof, effectively stopping the punch in it's tracks. Half a second after I blocked it I followed up with a roll over his arm, he didn't know what was happening. I twisted the arm beyond it's normal point and spun in a circle. His arm was pulled behind him. We were back to back. I had the advantage though. Another pony ran out of the door and tried to grab me, in response I swung a leg upwards and into his jaw, then bucked both legs into his face. He fell back.

It was a matter of time before he recovered, I needed to finish the Zebra off quick. I wrapped my unused arm around his neck and pulled that against my back. At the same time I pulled his arm against my shoulder. His arm snapped as he was thrown over my shoulder. I stomped down on his face as soon as he hit the ground. That was when I was tackled by the pony I had bucked. He kept running as he lifted me up, and I threw swings into his back. None of them were effective enough to hurt him but it was worth the effort.

He slammed me against the back of a SUV and proceeded to hit me in the stomach. I felt like throwing up, so I bit his ear. At first he didn't respond because I wasn't trying too hard, then I jerked my head upwards. He screamed as he pulled away, half of his ear was in my blood soaked mouth. He screeched as he stumbled backwards, half an ear missing from his head. I spit it out in the dirt and stepped on it, assuring infection should he try to get it reattached.

There was no way he'd recover, so I just ran towards him and shoved him to the ground. He was rolling in a pool of blood. That was when the remainder of the bar flowed from the doors; they gathered in a circle around me. Time slowed down as the cheering crowd departed, on the other end of the line was a massive bulky pony. He was five times my size, standing tall at six foot seven, I had to look up to see him eye to eye even from the distance we were from each other. He stepped up and got into a fighting position. The crowd filled the space that he came from.

I quickly assessed the situation, then in a split second made a full plan to decimate the opposition. It was a risky move but it'd have to work. If I were to fight on his terms I'd be a dead pony. He stepped close and threw a hard hay maker, which I ducked under and shuffled to the other side of the ring. He turned in part and looked me in the eye.

I unrolled the coins and looked him in the eye, it was tense for a second, then I tossed the coins near his face. He blinked as I ran towards him. He threw the exact swing I imagined, a stray right hook, and I blocked it in part with my forehoof. At the same time I threw a close slug to his lower abdominal muscles. He flinched, giving me a chance for the next wave of attacks. I raised both hoofs in the air, and swung them hard into his ears. The result was a heavy migraine and temporary loss of hearing. All sound would be replaced by a ringing noise. I tossed a weak hook into his jaw. It wasn't meant to do any damage. He hadn't quite gained his thought back yet and threw a feral right hook. I weaved under and hit the side of his ribs. This was only going to weaken them. I swung my leg against his, knocking him off balance. I weaved back through his left side and swung a direct hit into his ribs, then a strong hook to his jaw. He stumbled backwards. The jaw certainly was done, but I needed a little more on the ribs. The swing to the jaw did it's work on weakening it. I threw a sturdy kick into his sternum, he was thrown into the crowd, landing on a few ponies.

Physical recovery should take about 6 weeks, mental should be 6 months, capacity to fight; irrecoverable.

The crowd dispersed as I drew my knife. I wasn't going to kill him, I just needed the threaten enough ponies to make a window to the car. To my surprise everypony in the parking lot ran into the bar. I went back into the bar as well and slipped the bartender a 100 bit bill.

I slipped back into the car, Octavia was waiting by the passenger side door.

"Well that was something else."

"You don't know the start of it."

We drove off, in search of a place to stay.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took me so long to update, I've just been busy lately. Hope you enjoyed good ole fashion Cloud Dasher .

Fresh Start

We drove for another hour, the bar probably was now a cesspool of cops. That's one thing I wanted no part in. They'll most likely just dismiss it as another bar fight. After all, that's all it is to me. That is all it should be to them.

We kept a straight path past a small town, there were no lights on. It was late at night and there was no need to have them in the first place. Not many cars came round these parts, we were in the rural northern area of Equestria. Most ponies that lived up here were doing one of four things: Holding onto old world values like a true Amishpony, living small, poor as fuck, or living off of practically enslaving other ponies by forcing them to work as farm hands for 7.25 an hour. To be fair I was still trying to figure out what 'Our Town' was in amidst of all the other options it had. Considering it's communist routes it was probably the last one, just with no 7.25.

We were approaching a pharmacy, following the speed limit we'd passed a few seconds ago. They sold vape refills so I had Octavia stop there. When the car stopped in the parking lot I got out and pulled a fifty bit bill from my jacket. I'd left my combat vest in the trunk, I wouldn't need it for a bit. Once I was in the pharmacy I saw an elderly pony behind a bar type counter, above it was a sign. It read 'Vape Pen Refills' just above it. They only sold one flavor: Cigarette. Guess you can't have everything, I always liked the 'monkey piss' flavor just so that anyone who gets a whiff of it knows it's bad stuff without me telling them it's got the highest nicotine dose.

Only problem was they sold it through a individualized bottling sequence. Rather than be rational and sell the bottles pre-filled they filled them all there to prevent theft. It was smart for security, but certainly not for time and practicality. I handed him the fifty and asked for 3 bottles worth of the liquid, he complied. The juice slowly dripped from the machine into the bottle.

This is gonna take forever, might as well make it last. I don't know much about this city I'm hitting up and I'm going to be there pretty soon, might as well ask a local what he knows.

"Hey, do you know anything about this city here?" I said, handing him the map. He levitated it and studied it carefully.

"Oh you mean Ruthsville?"

"Ruthsville?"

"Yea, that's where you put the red circle. You labeled it 'Our Town' for whatever reason. You from there?"

"Well no, just visiting."

"Then what about that town makes it 'Yours'? Locals down there don't like outsiders, especially not of the likes of you."

I guess that's a compliment.

"Well, we're headed there to get away. Whatcya know about it?"

"I know a plenty things bout it. It's a rather new town and the second farthest northeast. Only city further is New Griffinstone. That place got turned around from being a utter shithole to a pretty decent place lately by some ponies. They were certainly out of place in a city full of griffins I'll tell you that. If it were up to me I'd have those griffins workin my farm."

One thing I forgot to mention, the northeast is the most racist portion of Equestria.

"Well that's a sentiment. Now, about Ruthsville, what do you know about the locals?"

"It was originally occupied by only 50 ponies, mares and fillies included. Now it's a place of sanction for ponies running from the battle of Whinnyapolis. They all came down this road long ago, lookin just like you. They all had some tale about the 'Masked Legend' and the 'Death Bringer', some Pegasus with some combat experience. I call bullshit on all their stories, either the militia ain't got no training or that guy's a god on earth."

"I'd rather believe the latter. The death bringer is a serious name you know."

Death bringer? I could go with it...

"Bullshit, now really any other questions? Your vape's almost done."

"Yea, what do you know about Starlight Glimmer?"

He looked me in the eye, something between a look of shock and terror. It was as if I had found a nerve, and just cut it. It was obviously the worst thing I could've asked.

"We don't like to talk bout her. You follow?"

"I'm not sure I do. What do you know about her?"

"Don't tell anypony I said this... lean in close."

I leaned in to his mouth. He grabbed the collar of my jacket.

"The bitch is alive. Don't believe what anypony says. They like to think she died in that cave. They like to think that she will never return. Her reign of terror is now a shadow but it still lingers. We don't like to talk about her."

I looked him in the eye once he let go, there was a tear in his eye as he stared the security CCTV camera down. He was being watched and he knew it.

"We aren't free in these parts and you know it." He said. He switched vape bottles and filled the next one. I swapped out the juice in my old pen and blew a puff. Then looked him back in the eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm here to shine a light on that shadow. I've come this far and I won't back down. I know that she lied to you about her identity to gain absolute power over you and your friends but that is no longer the case. I'm here to stop it."

"You can't do it and you won't try. You know what she did to me? She took my son. My baby colt, just a year old, and she killed him. Found his cutie mark. It wasn't equality, so she stoned him."

"You're wrong. I'd like to make myself clear, I'm the death bringer. I'm the masked stallion. I'm here to bring you your life back."

A tear was in his eye. He looked a little closer, then said one thing.

"If what you say is true, kill that bitch. Make no mistake she must pay."

I left that place with a new point of view and we drove on. I fell asleep in the backseat after puffing my pen.

When I awoke it was daytime, and I was still in the backseat of the car. It took me a moment to remember how I had actually gotten there. My vape pen had fallen on the floor, my glove fell off with it. The glove still held the pen like a cigarette, lightly caressing it between the middle and index finger. It was a gentle motion, one I've been long since accustomed to.

The dream I had was something weird, but I couldn't remember it even if I tried. I reached down and put the glove back on, moving the mechanical fingers around, flipping the pen between them. I had gotten it back to my index and middle finger and took a puff. Just thinking, what I had done to get here.

I got back into an upright position in the car, Octavia was not in the car. It would've been odd, but we were parked outside of a motel. It was freezing and I could see not only the smoke from the vape, but my breath as well. I threw my jacket on and moved towards the office of the motel. I needed to find the room Octavia was in. Sure it'd be suspicious for me to walk in and ask, but I could explain.

It got a helluva lot easier to explain when I entered. The lobby was empty. All but a little bell on the receptionist's desk. A small sign hung above it.

'Ring for service'

Well, didn't take much thinking to know what to do. I tapped the bell three times, no response. I tapped it three more times, and then again no response. I proceeded to spam the button until finally an angered receptionist rounded the corner from the staircase behind me.

"I'm here, I'm here. For the love of god stop ringing that bell!" She sure had her panties in a knot.

"Well, it's-" I looked at my watch "10:18 AM, when do you get on for work?"

"None of your goddamn business that's when. "

"Oh boy I bet you get all the good reviews online huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a receptionist, start acting like one."

"You mean to tell me that I am supposed to act a certain way?"

"Yes actually, that's exactly what I mean. Receptionists are supposed to be kind to guests, something you clearly aren't good at."

"They don't pay me enough to be 'Kind'."

"Mhm, and they didn't pay me enough to sleep in the middle of the snow in a foreign country while everypony else froze to death. You're pretty well off compared to the rest of the world you know."

She was silent to this, not really pity (which wasn't what I wanted, I just wanted her to shut up), and listened.

"A grey mare came in here last night, I'm looking for her. What room is she in?"

"You know I can't tell you that right?"

"You know I don't care. Now what room is she in?"

"22 A, it's right down the hall."

Trying to get rid of me I see. Nothing new to me.

I took the way she pointed me to, the rooms labels were rotted. It was awfully out of character for Octavia to pick such a shithole to live in. I can't remember how many bits I had, but it was enough to get a place nicer than this and still pay for other stuff. I got to twenty three, realized I went one to far, and turned around. Once I got to room 22, I knocked on the door.

I could sense a presence on the other side. I have a knack for this sort of thing. Shame I didn't have a knack in school otherwise I'd be a lawyer. I never really did like paperwork though, so actually I don't know. The door's lock clicked, so I gently opened the door. I hate it when people crash through a door that's unlocked.

"It's unlocked." I heard from Octavia's mildly British accent. She was sorta loosin that accent since she'd lived in Equestria for a good 8 years.

The door really was unlocked, I walked in with ease. That is with ease until I was slammed on the back of the head. When I woke up Octavia was standing over me with a look of concern and amazement.

"What the hell was that for?" I screamed.

She grabbed my mouth.

"Shh, don't be too loud. You'll get us some unnecessary attention."

"Well that's not too much to ask." I mumbled out.

"Well, you want an explanation, here it is."

She held a brick up, and pointed towards the open door. There was a little rod placed through the top of it, it was built so that when the door opened the brick would be dropped on whoever entered. Clever, that is if she remembered to disengage it when I came.

"So why the motel?"

"I don't like sleeping in cars."

"Well yea, of course."

"I especially don't like sleeping in cars with stallions."

"You're acting like there's a problem with sleeping in the same bed as me?"

She got a little red to this, to be fair if she got red at all then I'd notice it through her coat.

"Well on the down note, we have a new competitor in the ring for Starlight."

"How'd you figure that out?" I was awfully confused with the sudden change of topic. Ten bucks says she doesn't like thinkin about me.

"I did some digging. It's a gang of 10 ponies, I think you know them."

"How so?"

"They're your old crew."

Lion

I couldn't sleep that night, the thoughts alone were horrifying. Something about seeing them again made me want to disappear. What I did to them wouldn't be forgiven, it hadn't been long enough. After the PD and before the hitpony shit I was something else, I was a thief. Oh but no, I wasn't one of those low lives. Sure I wasn't proud of it (nor am I proud of what I do now), but it's not something that you forget soon.

"What do we do now?" Octavia asked.

"Well, that's one helluva question."

"didn't expect you to know of your head but still, that's really unnerving."

"Knowing them they don't have a damn clue we're here yet, they weren't ever too good at grabbing locations. They may know that we're somewhere in the region but it's impossible for them to already have gotten hold of this location. They were amateurs at the time and probably still are now."

"Amateurs at worst then."

"I guess you could say that."

"Then what are they at best?"

"I dunno, havn't seen them in forever." I was really nonchalant about this, considering my life was on the line once again.

I looked around for a minute. I wanted to get back into the old traditional ways of doing things. So that was where it lead me to believe that I needed a new rifle. Something a little different than an AK or M16. I turned around, Octavia followed. We walked out the door and down the hall, I'd been in there for 15 minutes, probably spend 8 of them knocked out. As I passed by the receptionist, she shouted at Octavia.

"Where's the money for last night?"

"Up yours too bitch." Octavia was feeling snappy today.

"Oh I'm sorry, you have something to say?"

"Yes, you have a satisfaction guarantied poster on the wall, start paying attention and you wouldn't be working in a motel."

The mare tried to chase us out but we were already driving off.

"Where to?" Octavia asked, she probably wasn't fond of that motel and it wasn't like I'd feel comfortable returning to it.

"We're going into this 'Ruthsville' place. I need to see what it's like."

We drove on with that in mind. It was a short five minute drive, the signs were a blur. When we go to the town border I stopped the car, staring at the sign.

"What is i-" Octavia noticed what I was looking at.

Dangling from the tree, was a dead body in a noose.

Author's Notes:

Short little chapter, I've been busy with work but knew that everyone needs a little Cloud Dasher

Options

Octavia's hoof was over her mouth, which really surprised me for some reason. Maybe I'm the only one so used to the boots and blood that end it all. It became daily. Before I used to only see death and violence on a monthly basis, but now it was nearly daily. The thought actually rotted me to the core. I died a little inside. A tear rolled down Octavia's eye, and she looked at me.

"Don't worry, it won't be us."

It was then I noticed something...

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." It was the only words that I could say.

The stallion hung by the post, wasn't just anypony. It was an old pony, and I knew just who he was. The old stallion from the gas station. I took a puff of my vape as I stared at it. There wasn't much I could do. For some reason, I was happy for him though. He was with his son. That's what matters in the end, that he's not alone and not in pain.

We drove on in silence. Octavia was probably shocked about just seeing the body, after all she never spoke to him like I did. As soon as I got towards Ruthsville, I sped up past the signs. They all had similar messages.

'No refugees allowed.'

'Leave or die.'

I just enjoyed the sound of silence as I passed on by. There were tents along the side of the road, stretching for miles. They were the refugees. The cars began to pile up, so we got out and walked. We walked for a mile, my rucksack full of our belongings. Halfway towards the gate I heard another set of hoofsteps behind me. I turned around and there was a pony I'd never seen, in his mouth was a pipe.

"Drop the bag..." he mumbled.

"Unlikely." I didn't turn around and continue walking, I knew that this pony meant trouble so I put the rucksack on Octavia.

"I don't think you heard me right, drop the bag..."

"You're all the same you know. You all think that by some miracle that if I simply put you down somepony is going to come back to take me out."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand soon."

He charged at me, cocking his neck back, I waited until he was close enough to swing. If I charged in at him while he charged me he could clothesline me. As he swung downward I dodged to the right and made a jab into his nose, just above the pipe. His mouth opened to make something like a scream, but he was too shocked to get a word out.

"You got no technique!" I screamed.

I threw a right hoof jab into his chest and a left hook to his temple.

"Or you're probably somepony that thinks he's Pure Pain! Oh you're more like Red Mist!"

I swung directly into his right eye, bruising it into a purple/black color. He stumbled backwards, so I grabbed him by the neck.

"Do you even know who these boxers are that I'm talking about? Any red blooded Equestrian should know them!"

That was about when I shoved him backwards into the bumper of a car.

"Even if you did you'd still be in trouble!"

He tried to duck, so I caught him with an uppercut. He was almost out cold.

"Boss..."

"Yea what about em?"

"He'll never let you get away with this..."

"You see what I mean, you thugs are all the same. Y'all think that there's some magical power protecting you from getting hurt, then when you finally get it put to you then you get a whiff of truth and don't want to learn anything."

"No... You don't understand..."

"Oh?"

"Master Golden won't let you get away..."

Somthing ticked inside me, I think I knew who he was talking about.

"You men Golden Ore right?"

"You... you know him?"

"What's up with the fucking 'master' shit you got going on? He's the last guy I'd EVER call the master of anything."

He stared at me with a bit of terror and a bit of fury, couldn't make it out. I just stepped on the wrong end of his knee and broke one of his legs.

As we walked away, Octavia barraged me with questions.

"Who's this 'Golden Ore' guy?"

"Long story, he's the reason I left."

"Left what?"

"My old crew."

She was silent, guess she thought that I'd see them a lot later if I'd ever see them at all.

"We used to run jobs together. The group was Me, Rock Solid and his brother Rock Bottom, then it was Fire Ember. I don't think you ever met any of them but two of em are the guys that brought me to Ponyville and put some work on my plate. So one thing leads to another and we're trying to rob a small time mob bar. It was nothing special, just a warehouse in the middle of nowhere that apparently had a portion of their earnings in it. So we tried to nab it quietly. On the way out we got spotted and Ember got shot a couple of times. We left his body there and kept going, we needed money somehow. That was when Golden came along."

"What'd you do then."

"He thought he was better than what he really was, he ran around like he owned the group and when we said we weren't going to do something he acted like a baby. He couldn't handle his ego I think. So we split and left it to him. When you say 'my old crew' you're just referring to Golden since the Rock brothers are close."

"I guess that'll explain enough for now."

"What more is there to explain?"

"How we'll get in Ruthsville."

Author's Notes:

I kept you waiting way too long, work is hard.

The death bringer.

It wasn't a good idea, but it was an idea nonetheless.

"Thank god you can make a shadow that blocks me from view."

"What are you implying?" Octavia responded. I could've worded that better.

"Well, if you weren't standing here everyone would figure this out. Just don't let that happen."

"Are you saying I'm fat?"

Oh god, the trick question.

"Yes, yes I am."

Never, EVER, give the enemy the answer they expect!

She made a noise somewhat like a tisk and minded her own business. When she turned around, I was in my combat plate carrier vest over my leather jacket and straddled my weapons at my sides. My boots were thick and the balaclava hid my face perfectly. It was time to play death once again.

At first nopony noticed me walking through the crowd. Not until I got to the front. There was a gate, it was built quickly and the unevenness of it showed that well. The ponies manning the stations were armed, Equestrian Royal Marines. They looked down at the crowd. Telling them to go away, until they saw me.

"Foreigner drop your weapons!"

The immediate change in tone caused a bit of panic, but when the ponies in the crowd saw me something about them changed. They seemed more calm, as if something was fixed.

"I said drop the weapons!"

I put my hoofs up as two Marines came towards me, one with an M16 and the other with a zip tie. They fell for it. The first one tried to zip tie me, his mistake. As soon as the zip ties were about to be put on I shoved him to the ground, the pony behind the M16 didn't see it coming, I dodged under his rifle and swung into his gut. He coughed something as I drew my Cz75 and shot him in the chest twice. The other pony was getting up when I put one in his head.

The guards opened fire.

I grabbed Octavia and pulled her to the shadows. Ponies screamed, some cried, and others just gave up. There wasn't much of a reason to keep struggling. We set up boxes by the wall, and once we had a staircase we made our way into the town. Well, it only took like six boxes, the wall wasn't that high. All I really could think about is what was so important to the guards that they'd kill civilians for it.

I looked off on the other side of the wall and it made a little more sense, the place was in total lockdown. They probably thought that it would be the next target of Starlit Glimmer. It really was likely. I jumped down onto the other side of the fence and took the gear off, stuffing it into the rucksack. If anypony were to see me I'd hate for it to be with the balaclava.

The place was scary and surreal. It was a one street town with houses lining all sides. At least, that's what it was. Now it was a entourage of tents, varying in shape and size, all across the stretch of land. They were probably using the town hall, which was at the end of the road, as a command point. The guess could be backed up by a few things including the guards and the fancier vehicles surrounding the building.

What I needed to get to was the cave, problem is there are two in the area. One was labeled 'the vault', I had a good idea what was there, and 'freedpony cave'. I jumped off the wall, I needed to do things one step at a time. First things first: I needed to get out of sight.

Being seen in my gear would be sure to spark some unwanted attention, so it was imperative that I saw to it to be taken off. Once it was off I straddled my knife to my waist, I suspect that they'll have some form of weapons bans in place (considering martial law and stuffs) so it'd be important to have the literal edge on any aggressor.

I used the alleyways to keep out of sight, I guess some things don't change. I put my headphones on and hit on a random song, it was just so that if I ignored guards they had the illusion that I'd normally respond. The song that came on was 'No Pasaran' By AK47. A Prussian band that was relatively unknown in Equestria.

It gave the city a weird depressing tone to it. It's not like it didn't already feel like this, but it just got worse with the song. I was slow along the streets although I was careful not to arouse suspicion that I wasn't from around here. The military and police were already headed towards the wall, the sound of gunfire had calmed down dramatically.

There was an inn ahead, maybe I could get my head straight. Although I didn't have much money I was pretty sure that the economy here was absolute shit. So as I entered the inn, paid my dues, and rested in a cheap motel.

The next day wasn't quite as hectic as I thought it'd be. It was a slower, slice of life type speed that I wasn't quite used to. I almost forgot how calm and blissful the life of a normal person is. I walked down the road to try to find a place to see what's what in this place. I couldn't get really close so I just dumped my Cz75 in a dumpster, I would need to abandon that sooner or later. It wasn't much longer before I would wind up in another bar.

"Hey, you're not from around here are you?"

That broke the silence of the pony to the right of me. Octavia was on my left, she just wanted a beer or two.

"I guess you could say that. What's it to you?"

"Well I'm sure you heard, that guy showed himself Yesterday."

"Who's 'that guy'?"

"What are you living under a rock, the death bringer came and fucked a few guards up. Ironically no guards died but most had to be sent to infirmaries far away for bullet wounds."

Looks like I need to work on my skills.

"Sounds harsh."

"Hardly! I can't wait for this war to be over."

"I guess, but are you really blaming Equestria for keeping you safe?"

"When you put it that way it sounds a little crazy..."

"Look at something from all angles before you make a judgement, sometimes you only think the bad guys are bad because somepony told you."

He was silent again, it was only then that it occurred to me that I had no idea who this voice belonged to. I looked over and found a small, slouched over pony in a beanie and plaid jacket. He was a classic hipster. It always kinda bothered me when somepony that couldn't do anything tried to criticize everypony that made it possible for him to be sitting where he is.

"So where are you from?"

"Ponyville, you?"

"Well what makes you think I wasn't always here?"

"The voice, you're from the south."

"Nice guess, Appleousa."

"So the west huh?"

"Yea, and you're from Ponyville, you wouldn't happen to know my cousin would you?"

"Maybe, what's her name?"

"Applejack."

"Oh we have an..." I flashed back to the time I beat the shit out of Caramel "On and off relationship."

"Oh interesting. What do you mean."

I nearly killed somepony for cheating on a client of mine for 1,000 bits.

"Oh we saw eachother here and there. Never really thought much about it."

"Well I'm Braeburn, she ever talk bout me?"

"Well, no not that I know of."

I don't know what he was expecting but that really put him down.

"Eh win some loose some."

"You're acting like a mare turned you down, is there something I should know?"

"Well we aren't technically family..."

yes you are

"What are you getting at?"

"I always thought we had something..."

"Okay you got problems."

"Staying in the same goddamn place for weeks will do that to you."

"No, being into your cousin will."

With that he left the bar. Well that happened. It wasn't like it should concern me but damn I felt concerned. I couldn't even sleep that night. Damn I think that guy is Satan himself or something.

Rough Riders

It was half past twelve and my mind had finally wandered off the encounter from earlier. Things have certainly changed, like I remember when the jobs were month to month but now it's turned into a near weekly thing if I'm lucky. Lots of ponies think I enjoy what I'm doing but to be honest, they couldn't be farther from the truth. It's like I said long ago; at first you hate the monsters, at least until you see that the real monster is inside of you.

I just do what I feel is right, and in this world there is no space for black and white. Everything is grey, and with that in mind everything is only a matter of perception. I guess I have a different view because I'm more accustomed to death, I'm a little closer to it so to speak. I know I might die on even the easiest of jobs but when you think about it you only have a few options. The options are pretty clear with what they depict to.

You either live on your knees, accepting evil for what it is.

Stand and speak out, but never act.

Or act, change the world, and make it better for the others.

Those are my options.

I looked back around at the clock in my endless monologue, it had only been ten minutes. I closed my eyes, and waited to go to sleep.

I woke up to a bang, it wasn't a friendly knock on the door but at least it wasn't on mine. It came from the motel room next door.
I peeked out the door quietly, whatever was going on couldn't have been good. There were what looked like five or so ponies in uniform, back to back against the wall, on the front of the formation was a pony with a Personal Defense Weapon, something like an MP5. In front of him was a breacher. The breacher straddled a shotgun on his back and a battering ram in his hooves. He contorted his body to the side and swung against the door. Causing a deafening scream from the door's hinges.

Once the door was dealt with the pony behind the breacher threw a flashbang in and the group stormed in one at a time, the breacher going in last.

"GET ON THE FLOOR!

"HOOFS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

"WE HAVE TWO MALES IN CUSTODY."

"HE'S GETTING UP!"

There was a burst of gunfire, which ended with the shotgun blast.

The silence was deafening.

They pulled some buck in cuffs with a brown bag over his head out the door and into a SWAT van. They then dragged the dead corpse of Applejack's cousin, don't think I ever got his name, out the door. His face was blown in half, brains dripping from the shotgun's blast to the upper head. One of the cops turned, I thought he noticed me. I jumped back into my room and closed the door. There was a streak of yellow on his waist.

He had a taser, not that it mattered now but it upset me at the time. Bad policework, only thing is this looked intentional. The SWAT van, the target, the timing, something wasn't right. As soon as they were gone they just left the body there. I guess there was no point in 'law and order' in this town because they didn't even wait for a doc to come out and pronounce the poor bastard dead.

I walked over, there had to be a reason behind this. It was obvious that they didn't originally intend to kill him but I guess trying is only an end to a mean.

He still wore his leather vest, it was sorta like jacket I wear. I reached in the pockets, searching for some idea of what was going on. I got a pack of cigarettes, a picture of Applejack, and a few other trinkets. As I gave up I looked back over the body, there was something wrong...

I picked up the pack of cigarettes, it was opened but not through the right hole, instead he just peeled it off the lid. I opened it up and walked into my room. Almost all of the contents were exactly as advertised, all but one.

A rolled up piece of paper was in the cigarette pack. I unraveled it and was confused at first, until it hit me like a right hook.

From the ground

The note led me into a particularly desolate stretch of land on the far eastern end of town. It was in an alleyway between two buildings, one a liqueur store and the other some kind of clothing shop, the clothing shop was long abandoned but the booze store was doing pretty well. I wasn't surprised by this, because some things just never change no matter where you go. It was dark between the buildings, partially due to the musky air and partially due to the direction the buildings faced. There was a wooden door that was affixed to the liqueur store, I looked down on my automatic knife, affixed on the inside of my jacket, which was just the way I liked it.

knock twice, two second intervals between each knock. The note in the cigarette pack only had enough space to have that on it, so I followed instructions.

Knock

one one thousand

knock

two one thousand

The door didn't move, but it sounded like something swung open. I turned around, apparently the brick wall behind me was just a cut out. it was close enough to the building to play it off as if it were never there, so long as nopony touched it. Pretty smart should you ask me. The pony who answered the door straddled a shotgun in her hooves, pointed at my chest.

I slowly reached into my pocket, until she motioned for me to put my hooves up, which I did. Two ponies came out from behind her, both armed with knives. They walked around and checked my pockets, they threw the knife to the ground and turned me over to search the front. They pulled the cigarette pack out of my pants pocket. This really didn't look good.

"It's not what it looks like I swear."

"Where'd you get this?" The mare said, staring at the note and cigarette pack.

"News didn't reach you?"

"What news?"

"Whoever had these cigarettes got hit today. SWAT got to em. I don't know what it's got to do with you and I really don't care. I'm just doing my job."

"Your... job?"

"I guess you could say hobby, it works either way. I get paid in the end though."

This was going nowhere.

"Who are you?"

"Would you like the nickname or the real name?"

"I think you know the answer to that... Make it fast."

"Cloud Dasher, I think it goes without saying you'd know me by my other name from what I understand."

"And that other name is?"

"The death bringer."

They were silent, but still. It's like a shockwave when ponies get an answer they don't expect. I took this time to pull my balaclava off the ground and put my knife in my pocket, I put the balaclava on and stared the mare in the eyes.

"I'm here to help, I don't know much about what you're doing but from the looks of it so far you're knee deep in the same shit I am."

"Get inside."

"And so you're the what again?" The mare wasn't quite good at explaining herself.

"We're the Northern Shield."

"Alright yea yea it's coming back, what're you trying to do?"

"We want to take Equestria down and put this country to it's former glory! The glorious Democratic Republic of North Equestria of course!"

The... Democratic Republic of North Equestria? Who are these ponies?

"So you're a rebellion wanting a free state?"

"Exactly. I'm sure you've always fought, always yearned for a nation of the free! A home for the brave! Because of the brave!"

"Well if you put it that way I guess you're right."

"Would you help?"

"Give me some time, I need to look this over. What's your surplus look like?"

She showed me over to a room, there was a closet about ten feet back and fifteen feet wide with AKs all along the walls. They were from varying dates, some as new as 1992 whereas others were dating back to 1961 and 1954. I could already see the S models in one corner. It went along until you had the Romanian models, the Bulgarian, and even the U's. What they had the most of was the AK74N, an older wooden model of the AK74MN.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

"Well, it's something else I'll tell you that."

"What is it then"

terrifying. Who are you supplying?

"It's..."

"It's what?"

"It's meh."

She was a little stunned, to be honest she must've spent a fortune on this stockpile and I'd be sure to make sure that the money is well spend if I join up with these ponies.

"By the way, I've never seen that flag, what's it for?"

"Which one?"

I pointed to the corner, where a flag of a silver sword, surrounded by red hung.

"Oh that, that's our flag for the DPRE."

"Mind if I get a picture of it?"

"I don't, spreading the word of the chosen one is my duty!"

The chosen one? What is she even talking about?
I made my way out the door and said nothing about them after I took that picture. I only spoke to twilight through the gem.

"They're who?"

"They call themselves 'The Northern Sheild' or something. I found it through Applejack's cousin?"

Applejack flung herself from the background?

"Really! Which one!"

Goddamnit.

"The one that wanted to have sex with you..."

Silence, silence all across the board.

"So... none of them?"

"I think his name was Braebern or something. I can't remember."

"I think I'm going to be sick." they said at the same time.

"Oh well he's dead now don't worry."

They were silent.

"You're joking right?"

Looks like the news didn't hit them either.

"Oh, well yea he kinda got killed by the police, most likely has something to do with the Northern Shield."

Applejack was half shocked, half mortified. Guess I was the worst pony to tell her. She slowly stumbled off screen.

Twilight spoke.

"You weren't serious were you?"

"Wish I was."

"Well that's unfortunate. She wasn't supposed to be here now anyway, she just arrived."

"That makes one day ruined. Anywho what do you know?"

"Well they're not on the list, what'd they say to you?"

"They said they're overthrowing Equestria to rebuild some 'Democratic Peoples Republic of North Equestria'."

"I don't think we've ever had a time where we were that..."

"She looked like she had quite the arsenal as well, plus she had some weird flag, I got a picture of it if you're interested."

"It's not a silver sword with a red background is it?"

My blood ran cold, how'd she know? Where had she seen this before?

"Well yea why?"

"Get out of there as soon as you can. Don't believe a word they say and don't do a thing they tell you."

"Why? What's going on with them?"

"They're with Starlight."

It hit me like a freight train. I looked back at what she said.

Overthrow Equestria! Build an Empire! Make a fair and free nation!

The Democratic Republic of North Equestria.

The reason it was 'Our Town' on the map wasn't because that was Ruthsville's actual name! They just never knew what to call it! That's all they heard it called! Maybe they never asked for it's name? I don't know, but maybe this was once the Democratic Republic of North Equestria.

That's why they never heard of it.

"I told you about their weapons right?"

"Yea, that's the worst part, they're stocked up enough to arm the whole town."

"Well look at it, that's probably the idea."

"Looks like they succeeded. Listen Dasher, you must help the guards hold this city at any cost! I don't care what you need to do just do it!"

"Your wish is my command."

She hung up at that.

I sharpened my knife against a rock, it was only time to wait.

Author's Notes:

Just some help for this chapter for people who don't love the glorious AK Rifles (rest in peach Mikhail Kalashnikov)

S= Stands for 'Shortened' In Russian, refers to a folding stock of any kind (whether it's an underfolder, steel side folding stock, Romanian Wire Stock or anything else it will still have this designation either after the AK in the name or at the very end of the name, for instance 'AKS74M or AKMS)

N= Stands for 'Night' in Russian, this refers to a mount for a Russian style optic on the side of the rifle. It will come at the end of the name (For instance AK74MN or AKM0N)

M= Stands for 'Modernized' in Russian. This designation is given to models that were originally produced/invented when wooden furniture was still commonplace on Russian weapons as it indicates their switch over to plastic parts. Newer Russian weapons will not have this designation (Weapons that will not include this are ones with wooden parts or post 1991 weapons such as the PP19, PP2000, AK12, AN94, AEK941, and MP443. Weapons that WILL have it are things like the AK74M and the AKM THE AKM IS A HUGE EXCEPTION, IT WAS MADE IN 1950 AND DOESN'T REFER TO IT'S FURNITURE BUT THE METHOD USED TO MAKE THE RECEIVER. AK'S PRIOR TO 1950 WERE MADE OF MILLED STEEL, BUT AFTER THE AKM THEY ARE ALL STAMPED AND RIVETED. .

U= Stands for 'Carbine' in Russian, refers to weapons that have a full size version but are shortened to meet PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) requirements for length. They are things like the AKS74UN (Never call an AKS74UN which is all short AK74 models an AK74U. That is incorrect.)

Dissolution

The first thing I heard that morning was a knock on the door.

"Octavia, who is it?"

"I'm not sure, but she really seems impatient."

"Open it then, if it's not the police it can't hurt us."

Octavia opened the door, only to get the question if I was there.

they know my name? Who is this?

She let the anonymous pony in, entirely unaware of yesterday's happenings. Before me, more like standing on the other end of the couch I slept on, was the mare from yesterday. This time she was dressed formally, with an unfamiliar uniform.

"How's the town treated you?"

"Fair enough, only seen a few ponies die so far so it seems pretty alright."

"Is their death a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I'm not sure, depends on who it is really. How'd you know I was here anyway?"

"A little birdie told me that you were somewhere here..."

She has spies, they must have followed me last night. Perfect.

"I assume you're here to see if I've decided to go along right?"

"No."

What was she here for then?

"Interesting. What's it about?"

Her eyes changed a bit, it was subtle but noticeable, just enough to be seen. Her eyes went from being a normal mares to looking something like a cats eyes, a long narrow oval in a sea of black.

"You wouldn't happen to be in contact with Twilight would you?"

My blood ran cold, something was up.

"Excuse me?"

"You were talking to her last night were you not?"

"How would you know this?"

"That's an easy question." She got in my face.

She was so close I could feel her breath on my nose, gently rolling down my chest.

"I see everything."

"Well you clearly don't, because I'm not in touch with Twilight."

She didn't cringe like I expected but instead smiled.

"Lies."

"What?"

Her face was curled into a maniacal smile, something straight out of a nightmare. My blood ran cold as those eyes, those feline eyes, pierced my skull. I was frozen.

"You, like me, have something to hide. You were talking to Twilight last night, you even referred to her by name. I'm just trying to crush the next lie you had that you were talking to Octavia, she had left a few minutes before you used that gem."

I was silent, this bitch was fucked in the head. She just wasn't right.

"What's it to you?"

"Oh I'm sure you know."

"So is that all then?" I was desperate to end this while I was ahead.

"Oh not in the least! We wanted to say that we gladly accept your proposal to join."

I proposed to join?

"I'm sorry I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't agr-"

"We don't care. You're with us whether you like it or not. That's how it works around here. You ARE the death bringer, I'm sure you know what's good for you right?"

"I know I said that but how do you know I'm not lying?"

"Oh you remember your friend?"

"Which one?"

"The gas station of course!"

"I don't know an-"

You're shitting me.

"He said you were coming, so we had an example. Capishe?"

I was speechless.

"Well by the way, we brought food for our new guest turned member! Here you go!"

It was a bunch of muffins, they didn't look half bad.

"A member of our group baked these! I thought you'd like to give them a try! One of them is mine though!"

I looked through them, one of them was literally the most depressing half-assed muffin I've ever seen. It looked like it was literally waiting to die.

"Well that's all! I'll be out now!"

She left as quickly as she came. The room was silent, Octavia was the one to break it.

"That bitch is crazy..."

"You don't say. She's a henchpony of Starlight it looks like, and I don't think she's in it for a good reason."

"Are any of those ponies in for a good reason? You've gotta be joking."

"Well I'd be lying if I said I was, it's natural for ponies to want to do good, at least for most ponies. Filthy probably thought he was doing something right for his family, making a better world for his daughter so that she wouldn't need to do what he had to do. Fancy probably was pressured in by his co-workers. I think that because one of his own guys, Hoity Toity, was in for the power. By looking at this one in every three are in for the worse. The ponies I've killed to get to them simply were doing their job and they knew that dying was a possibility in their line of work, they just wanted to make ends meat."

"And where does that put you?"

The silence was deafening.

"It makes me the median. I'm only here to bring justice, and sometimes good ponies do bad things. Just like the evil ones, they get the same punishment."

I couldn't believe myself, I'd never felt so empty.

"Yo Octavia, want the depressing muffin? It kinda wants to die."

Octavia giggled, it was the first time in weeks we'd ever been light hearted with each-other.

"Pass it over."

I slid the box across the table. Something wasn't right, time seemed to slow down as she took that bite. There was a metallic flash from the muffin. It was too late.

She screamed in pain, the razor stabbing into her gums, splitting them in half. Blood sprayed all over the floor, I grabbed her and ran out the door with her on my back. Blood left a trail going all the way down the town until I reached the infirmary. I ran through the tent doors, a military doctor immediately recognized the urgency and pulled her to another room, a tear streamed down Octavia's cheek as they pulled her away from me. It all happened so fast.

"You must be 'Cloud Dasher' are you not?"

I spun around, in the tent's doorway stood a pony in a uniform, five stars bored across his chest and a full lapel rack on his chest. He was well built, and well toned as well. He was in his middle years, probably fifty to sixty years old. It showed in his brown-grey eyes, and his fur was ruffled with patches where less fur grew, as if retreating from a foreign evil. I knew better, those were battle wounds. He received skin grafts.

His face was pelted in two colors, the pale-brown fur (similar to that of my own) and another of a dark leather brown. The rest of his fur was as I saw, or at least could see due to his green military dress uniform.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Fifth Level Lieutenant Brigade, Iron Brigade. I run the 75th Equestrian Royal Marines and Tank-killer brigade. You were a veteran, I'm sure you remember the wars in Yakyakistan where I lead the fronts."

"Your name was familiar, you were the one that lead the charge on the Yakistani capitol no?"

"That's the one, you're not mistaken."

"That's a relief. How'd you know me."

"It's hard not to know about 'The Death Bringer', or in the east they like to call you the 'Lone Soldier' and 'The Last Fighter'. I must say if we were in any other circumstance I'd execute you and your friend, but things have changed. You are in touch with twilight through the communication gem are you not?"

"How does everypony know about that!"

"Beats me how anypony else would but I am too, and she told me about you. You and your friend... what's her name again?"

"Octavia."

"Oh yes that's right Octavia yea. Have been given full legal immunity, she wouldn't release why but I'm assuming you're taking full advantage of it. Killing members of my brigade certainly was a feat that I'd normally punish with death or life of imprisonment but she talked me out of it."

"What do you want?"

"I want your help. I'd first like to ask though..." A pony handed him a field report, which was freshly typed "How did she get a shaving razor in her skull?"

"Muffins."

"Oh I see, care to illuminate?"

"I would not, but I'd like to point out that you're awfully kind for somepony that's asking how my friend nearly died."

"There's speculation that she's more then a friend but I'm leaving that decision up to you."

My face flushed, this guy really did his homework.

"Well whatever what are you here for?"

"Oh that's a simple question. I'm looking to see if you would like to help us purge the city of scum?"

"Scum as in?"

"Unruly policeponies, such as the ones that killed your temporary neighbor."

Are they implying that wasn't them?

"Those ponies were bribed, we nabbed em off the streets a few hours after that incident. They're also trying to build a Democratic Republic of Equestria."

"So they're with them?"

"It'd appear so, are you in to help?"

"It's part of my job, I'm here to crush Starlight I might as well crush her friends too. I know where to start."

It was 11:00 PM on the dot, Octavia was still recovering. They had to sedate her, and if this goes wrong I won't be back when she wakes up. From when I was here last there were 6 ponies all-in-all. That probably changed since last time, that or they think I'm their puppet. I pulled my knife and rounded the corner to the alleyway, thee were two ponies with AKs on each side, they stopped me.

"What's your name?"

Before they anticipated it I stabbed one of them through the artery and out the other side of his neck. Blood sprayed from the artery that shouldn't be touched all over his friends face, I punched him in the gut, then when he was bent over I swung my leg up into his jaw, he fell over. I opened his unconscious jaw and set it up with mouth open against the curb, it was is if he was gently biting it. He was only out for a second but when he woke up he realized it.

"NO!" He screamed for his life.

I stomped down on his head. His jaw bent all the way down to his adamsapple and his neck bent all the way back, he was still alive but blood spurred from his now open esophagus, all over the concrete. The other two heard the curbstomping and opened fire on full auto, I dropped to the floor, knowing all the shots would go above my head, I was conveniently next to the previous body with my knife. They approached cautiously, until they were right at my head, they put the barrel against me.

I stabbed upwards into his groin and pulled out quickly, smashing the window breaker against his head. His skull cracked, I heard the safety click go to full auto behind me. Spinning around I kicked his weapon into the darkness and threw a hook to his face. He fell like a sack of apples. I stabbed him a few times for good measure. The false wall opened, and there stood a pony with the shotgun that the mare was carrying earlier.

I ran towards him and wrapped one arm around the shotgun, ensuring it couldn't be used during the fight. The buck fired a shot out of fear, which missed because of my grab. I swung my body weight towards the real wall and slammed him against it, then I punched him in the throat with my free arm. He collapsed in a fit of tears, and I stabbed him a few times in the lungs to make sure he wouldn't regain his breath.

I rounded the corner into the office, which was empty. There was less guards then I anticipated. I drew my knife, and as soon as I entered the armory a hellfire of rounds flew through the door. No doubt it was that mare who was working for starlight.

"Hey listen! It's just me! You're guys overreacted out there and I needed to set it straight!"

"Like hell!" She opened another burst into the room, figuring she was using a drum magazine (as it would be senseless to waste that ammunition otherwise) I reached for the nearest thing I could, which was the chair, and threw it in. She opened fire and got tunnel visioned on what had come through that in the split second I had I decked her to the ground. She was thrashing the whole way, trying to get my off her.

"That razor was a dirty trick!" I shouted, she was strong enough to keep me from using my knife.

"You shouldn't be resisting us! Starlight said you'd come to your senses!"

"Come to my senses? Don't bullshit me you should know what happens when you fuck with me!"

I pushed the knife further down towards her as I used my leg to push something over from close behind me. I felt it gently, a handgun. It was small but she wasn't wearing any body armor so it'd work. She resisted well, and even rolled over hard enough to get on top of me. She slammed my hand down in the process and I dropped the knife.

She let go to punch me, and I threw a slap to her face to push her off, which worked.

We both saw the handgun at the same time, a small Makarov. Time stopped for a second, and then the race was on. She ran for the weapon, but I clothslined her, which left her on the ground coughing. I picked the small handgun up and approached her. Instead of killing her, there was things I needed.

I slammed the grip of the pistol against her arm, breaking it instantly.

"Where are the rest of this group!" I shouted.

"What are you talking about!" She said through sobs.

"Don't bullshit me mare! You know damn well that there were six ponies here last time I came! There's four now! Where are the other two!"

"They're at a bar I swear!"

"Which one! Give me a location or I'll blow your brains out right here you dumb bitch!"

She whimpered as she gave me a response.

"It was where we found you!"

"Good enough, how many more are there!"

"What!"

I slammed the grip against her skull, which bled down her face.

"How many others are in this town!"

"I don't know!"

"Bullshit!" I slammed it against her head again, which painted the once soft pink face a dark red.

"I really don't!"

"You have to know something!"

I lifted the handgun, then she screamed.

"Fine! I'll tell you just get off me!"

I did as she said, keeping the piece pointed at her center mass. She stood up shakily, she was dizzy from the blood loss.

"There are other alleyways like this one... all over town... I don't know where all of them are but one is close to your motel..."

She fell to the ground, unable to stand up straight.

"Good enough."

"Will you let me live?"

"Do you not remember?"

"Remember what?"

"I am death. I know no mercy. Among other things I am a professional, it is not me that kills but my will to live that does alongside justice."

"What do you mean?"

"I am death, destroyer of worlds."

I shot her in the head, blowing her brains across the desk she leaned against.

"Blows your mind huh?"

I walked outside, the Lieutenant was there with an ambulance, one of the thugs in a stretcher on an oxygen tank.

"Well no wonder they call you the death bringer."

"My work isn't done."

"Excuse me?"

I walked to the ambulance, and the pony's eyes filled with terror. I stared him down, for a few seconds, he wasn't a threat anymore.

"Let me talk to him when he can talk."

"The stab wounds he got were mostly absorbed by the ribs, he'll be good to talk in a few days, best case scenario tomorrow morning."

I looked at my watch, it was 11:40. Guess I'll check back in a few days. I walked away and back to the motel to get some rest.

Author's Notes:

Revenge is a bitch eh? So are muffins. Fucking hate those things I swear. No Octavia's were harmed in the making of this chapter

I think

Hunting.

"He did what!" Starlight was infuriated with her subordinate, or at this point the better term would be 'Insubordinate'.

"Well, he nearly killed me what was I supposed to do! I was damn lucky to get the illusion up in time!" The mare spoke up.

The mare in question, though she was the same one that Cloud thought he killed, still was in one piece. She looked around the room, almost conveying her point that she'd rather be anywhere but standing before Starlight. It said yet another thing that she shouldn't have uttered.

"What made you think it wasn't him! He even said his name!" Starlight yelled at her... insubordinate. "Whatever, what did you tell him?"

"Well, I told him there was another bugout near his motel, that was it really."

"What do you think he'll do about it, do tell me."

The sarcasm was almost as the word itself translated to, the tearing of flesh.

"Personally I think he'll not follow it and step right along, it's not like what I said revealed anything."

"I think you should take a look around for a second. Get your head around something."

"What's that?"

"The fact that if he takes what you said seriously he could easily find another weapons cache."

"Like where?"

"He probably already found it."

And thus, the meeting ended.

Her breathing had steadied, it was the anesthesia. Her mouth had a gentle slit running diagonally across her mouth. I could only notice her scar because of the stitches, but it'd soon look like just another crease in the flesh of her lips. I looked down at her, the Makarov in my jacket pocket. I trusted nopony anymore, there wasn't a single pony that was who they said they were.

The doctors said nothing, there wasn't anything to say. So I walked through the open tent doors and went along my way, all the way back to the motel. It wasn't a long walk, but when I got there I finally noticed something, it wasn't much but it got my attention. Admittedly much more than it should.

'There's a weak spot in the drywall...'

When drywall is put up anypony can easily slice off layers of the stock and make it thinner, in which case lowers the price and durability. Looking at it the pony who filled it in was on one of two things, a serious budget cut or was hiding something. I knocked on it, gently as to insure that it didn't break.

The weak point went a lot farther than it should, which ruled out it being a repair as the rest of the drywall in the apartment was much thicker. It went from corner to corner, and it was shaped oddly, I knocked gently to see if I could confirm this. It sounded hollow. It didn't go far however, most likely only slightly between the layers of drywall that separated me from the room next door, which since the recent incident had been empty.

I lifted my knife up to my right ear, the window breaker facing the wall.

One swing

I swung hard at the greenish tinted wall, which slammed a hole directly through it and clunked against the wood that held the two layers of drywall together. I pulled my hoof out, ripping white shards of wall out and onto myself. I was coated in a whiteish tint as I kept swinging. It got so thick that I had to pull a rag around my mouth and nose to breath.

As soon as I could get a pony sized hole in through it, I entered with a flashlight.

I guess to anypony else, who'd definitely be out of touch with the situation, I'd look paranoid. It paid off however, I walked through the crawlspace, there were newspapers on the ground and signs that somepony had been here. Those signs were things like empty soda cans, beer bottles, and food wrappers. The wrappers crunched under my hoofs, whereas I avoided the bottles. Once I reached the end it was nearly pitch black save for two streaks of light, almost gentle in appearance, from both sides of the drywall.

I turned my flashlight off and crouched down to see where the light was coming from, it didn't fully register what I was looking at until it was too late.

You have gotta be kidding me...

On my left it looked through the eye of a pony in a painting that was in my room, giving a clear look at my couch. Although the eyeglass could be rotated, the dust indicated that it hadn't been for a long time. I turned around to the other.

The other room was a mess, brown stains on the walls and police lines everywhere, the officers must've not been on duty right now as nopony was there. They had bigger concerns and had already searched the place clean. The lines where the bodies were was visible to me, as the lights in the room was on. I pulled back from the peephole.

"Well. That explains a lot actually." I said to nopony in particular.

I looked around, there had to be some things I missed. There was a space where the dust was uneven, it looked like it was where a lawn chair was. The empty squares on the wall must've been where pictures at one point where. I looked around and found a glimmer in the distance, I shined my flashlight on it, an Yugoslavian M70 was against the wall, complete with an extra magazine and the weird 'Sorta like an AK yet not at all' hoofguard.

I picked up it, it was unbalanced thanks to it's under-folder style stock. It fired the standard 7.62x39, which was in my opinion the perfect intermediate carterage for unarmored opponents. I slipped the magazines into my jacket pocket and found my way out. That was when I slipped on something and tumbled into a wooden support beam.

I pulled myself up, a cut running across my cheek from the sharper end of the unusual rifle's stock. I looked back at what I slipped on, it was a note. I picked it up and pulled away.

There was no time to waste, that is before a noise complaint goes through. So I covered the wall with a bookshelf in order to keep anypony's prying eyes from noticing the hole in the wall. I also made a point to put tape over the left eye of the painting on the wall, just for good measure.

I sat on the couch and read the note to myself.

'Target: Cloud Dasher/ Octavia Melody.

Sex: Male and Female

Age: 25/28'

Well they already got something wrong, I'm 23 and Octavia is 22. Nice try.

'Aliases: The death bringer.

Possible connections: Multiple gang relations/Equestrian Government.

Height: 6'3 and 5'5

Weight: Unknown

Reward: 50,000$'

I skimmed over the biography of the targets, seeing as they were probably completely off. Once I got to the mission details I continued.

'Stop by 930 Hare Street for further instructions.'

Well that was easy, I hadn't been on Hare Street as far as I was aware so I guess it's the next point on my map.

I folded the stock under the rifle and put the magazines and rifle in my rucksack, the time was coming.

Author's Notes:

Well, I like to make it a point to only make Cloud Dasher use weapons that I've owned/fired/handled before, which is why I picked an AK as weird as the M70 from Yugoslavia. I've fired a couple and am currently investing in one so the way I see it is that they're almost exactly like an AKMS except for the fact that they have a different handguard, pistol grip, and have built in grenade launcher sights hint hint nudge nudge

7.62 Attitude

The magazines were loaded, which saved me some money and time. I had music from my MP3 player, working to the beat of the music. This time it was a slower pace song, something I wouldn't fight to but just relax with.

"I shall fear no man but god, though I walk through the shadow of death."

I popped the dust cover off the AK, just checking the condition of the bolt carrier and the other internals.

"I suffered through the years, and shed so many tears. Lost so many peers and shed so many tears."

The bolt carrier was doing well, which was expected since it was surrounded by the metal gas piston, the gas piston was a different story though. It was cracked under it, it wasn't safe but it wasn't large enough to harm me either. The most that could happen would be it heating up enough to burn my glove against the trigger. I just put some electrical tape over the part where my glove would make contact with it and the problem was solved.

I pulled the entirety of the gas piston out of the receiver, then pulled the lever just under the rear sight upwards. It clicked into place and I pulled the upper hoofguard and piston cover off. That was about when I pressed the button just under the muzzle break and twisted it clockwise. It came off after some work. Then I pulled the cleaning rod out, which didn't take too much work because I'd already removed the muzzle break. I used the end of the cleaning rod to push the lever on the lower hoffguard upwards, which released the plate keeping it in place.

Once that was off I could see the rust on the barrel, this was obviously black market. That made sense because they probably bought these in large numbers and didn't want Equestria knowing of it. I put the rifle back together and fiddled with the safety and trigger to see if it was where I wanted it. That was when the black market nature of the weapon was confirmed.

I pulled the fire selector lever down halfway, and it stopped in place. I stared at it for a second, to anypony else this would've been normal, to somepony who knew what this meant that's a different story. This was full auto, it must've been imported illegally. I confirmed it's full auto capabilities when I pushed the lever down one more notch, with AKs one notch is full auto, and two is semi. It clicked right where it should, which is just above the trigger.

I locked the rifle back onto safe, then threw the other two magazines into my plate carrier as I wore it under my leather jacket.

The clock read 12 AM, it was time to rock and roll.

There had to be a trend with how Starlight set up the munitions dumps, it'd make no sense for her to put it out at random. Remembering how we did it in the Equestrian Marine Corps gives me the idea that they're placed like this so that one: they can get reinforcements out quickly, 2: they can get supplies through one sector to another discreetly, and 3: To have multiple areas covered with no blind spots.

The trend had to have been with where they were located, they couldn't have just used any building without gaining attention, it had to be done with a vacant building so that nopony would suspect anypony to be in it. That was one lead, they also had to have a diversion, since the first one had that fake door, there's a possibility that the idea was taken up by others. The-

It hit me, a baseball bat to the back of the head. I was too damn caught up in the monologue to really realize that three ponies were trailing me. They started to kick while I was down, I had my ribs guarded pretty well by the plate carrier so they didn't really get far. That was about when one of them kicked the AK magazines.

His hoof started bleeding profusely as he screamed, those AK mags are harder then a bag of hammers. The other ponies looked at him and one started to run, I got up and punched the screaming buck in the face with a right haymaker. He did a limp noodle and collapsed onto the concrete. The other pony then ran with his friend, they were making it easy to follow with their talking. I decided to follow them indirectly, taking alleyways and keeping out of sight, which gave me some hope that they were Starlight's and they'd go over to their hideout.

They look a walk right along the street and kept moving in the same direction. It didn't surprise me when they ran past the last place I shot up. They went north on Hare street, I must've been going to where he came from.

As the addresses got higher one of them went closer to the left side of the road, then one broke off right. He was probably a diversion, since they most likely noticed I was on their tail. The one I was still on ran right between the alleyway, giving me another indication. There was a bang on the door as I approached where he was.

I unzipped my leather jacket, the M70 was on a one point sling with the stock collapsed. It was a lot easier to conceal than I thought. I grabbed the underfold stock and pulled it down, and in turn up later, until it snapped into place. Then I pulled the buttplate down so that it made a steady base for me to rest it against my body.

"You've gotta let me in! Forget the code it's him!"

"Who's him? Slow down just one thing at a time."

"We don't have time! Just let me in and lock the door!"

"What?"

I rounded the corner and looked at the two stallions, they both went silent. One of them was a white on white pony with some type of snow themed mark, the other was a fluffy haired blue pony, for some reason he reminded me of Pinkie. I couldn't put my hoof on why.

"And you must be?"

"Oh I'm that him guy, it's a weird name if you ask me."

"Could I get a name or something?" The blue one was really pushy, I didn't like that.

"The death bringer is good, so would you mind stepping away from the door?"

It didn't register with the blue one, which had something to do with why brains wasn't his cutie mark. I put the balaclava on and raised the M70 to both of them.

"Step away from the door!" I shouted.

They cooperated, probably about to plead for their life or something.

"Hey listen, I know this isn't too convincing but we have nothing to do with that crazy bitch."

Well they confirmed that they did have something to do with that crazy bitch. This was going to get interesting.

"Why should I believe you?" I made a point to deepen my voice, it sounded a bit more threatening. Well, I don't think it did much since I'm the one with the gun.

"Hey, we were the original ponies that lived here!"

"Oh spare me the lecture."

"Wait we can prove it!"

"Alright give it a shot, who came here to get Starlight out in the first place?"

"The princess of friendship and her five friends."

So far so good.

"What was Starlight's fake cutie mark?"

"An equals sign! Like the math one!"

Alright I guess that does it.

The room they led me in was smaller than the one I expected. It was similar to the last bug-out but different at the same time. The layout was the same but the rooms were smaller and set up differently. It was like they were the same but just... off.

"Well this is where we've been living for the last month. Military took our homes so you know."

"Times of war always sucked, what's new."

I had to address the elephant in the room, they were awaiting it anyway.

"Why would you fight for Starlight, of anypony?"

"We didn't choose to, the truth is we were there when she first started with the food strikes. She wouldn't bring any food into the town if we resisted her."

"Scorched-Earth Tactics. I'm familiar with them."

"It didn't stop there, she has outposts set up all over the town, pretty much in any alleyway there's a group set up. There should be a symbol on the door to show what's what."

"That is?"

"Well, the symbol is a little weird. It's a star followed by a blue streak."

So it was her cutie mark, guess that's easy enough. I'll look for it when I leave for some reference.

"You never told me your name?"

"Cloud Dasher, I'm more then positive that you've heard that name."

"I guess you could say you're famous with Starlight."

"And you are?"

They all nodded between eachother, I guess it was a no.

They gave me a map of where the rest of the cache's were, and I got to see the symbol as well. I wasn't surprised that she'd use something like that, hidden in plain sight. I stopped by the medical tent, and spoke to the surgeon. Octavia had been released.

She was waiting for me, leaned up against the door, her eyes were completely black from the painkillers they jacked her up on. I pulled the door open and led her to a bed, she fell asleep instantly. I wish it were the same for me.

I cleaned the M70, and pinned the map to the wall. I was careful to cross off the ones that I had been to and the one they were at. I marked what should be the one the other buck ran to, according to the ponies that were in the last cache they were the only ones that didn't want to fight, so I'll let them live. They were so kind as to turn over their ammunition and weapons. Something I insisted they didn't do.

I fell on the couch and awaited sleep, but it didn't come.

You won't ever bring me down.

I woke up on that couch a little late, and by a little I mean I woke up midday. It was a knock on the door, and whoever it was wasn't patient. I looked through the peephole, which they probably didn't know was there since they were geared up. Balaclavas, Magazine vests, and M4s. It wasn't the police, they didn't have any designation. I decided to play along.

"One minute please!" I said in a fake accent, which really threw them off.

I waltzed on over to the couch, where the M70 was, and clicked it onto full auto.

They knocked again. My guess was that as soon as I opened the door they'd open fire, so I put a full magazine through the door. On the other side two armed ponies fell from the second story of the motel, one landed on a car, clinging to life. The other slammed against the concrete. They were bleeding fast. Everypony in the complex was outside, some screaming and some staring. I grabbed all their attention when I walked out with my vest on. I pulled a magazine out of the admin pouch of my vest (I stored the magazines there since I didn't have any proper magazine pouch) and pushed the magazine against the back of the other. The first flew out and off the edge of the building and clacked against the ground, the second secure in the rifle. I rocked the bolt and folded the stock, making my way down the stairs.

Everypony stared as I walked down. They were silent, a filly cried softly in the background. I shot the one on the concrete in the back of the head, which removed half of it. The other one looked down from the bent hood of a white SUV.

"Here's the deal, you tell me what you know and you'll see a hospital, fair deal?"

He nodded as he coughed up blood. The rounds I put in him only hit the legs, save for a few stragglers that hit his ears and scraped his body. He probably had the fact that I aimed the for the center of the door instead of spraying horizontally.

"Can you speak?"

"Sorta..."

Well that's good, don't want to do the 'one snap for yes two for no' treatment.

"I'm guessing you're with Starlight right?"

He shook his head no. Which didn't make much sense.

"Who else then?"

He stuttered, the blood loss and shock might've been getting to him.

"His name, Torn Banner..."

"Who's this 'Torn Banner' buck huh?"

He didn't answer, he was staring up.

I couldn't put my hoof on it, but I've heard that before... Somewhere... It made me think about Yakyakistan...

"Who is he!"

"He's... He's the prophet..."

He coughed blood once more, One of the shots must've broken a rib and hurt his lung. The ambulance sped around the corner, almost hitting a pony that was crossing the street. Once the EMTs were out they managed to get him on a stretcher, and his friend in a bodybag. They questioned me, and when asked to remove the balaclava I refused. As I was answering what my name was, which was not what I wanted to do while wearing a balaclava, a gunshot sounded from inside the ambulance.

It was followed by three more, and then a final one followed by silence. The EMTs rushed to the ambulance and opened the door, the body of two EMTs fell from their position in the back of the van, one of the windows was shot out and cut the EMT's hoof. I walked towards there and peeked in. It was a mess of white and red, blood and brains. The pony's mask had a large red hole going both in and out of it, and it looked like a bag full of some semi-liquid substance. I knew better.

The police arrived soon after, they must've first thought it was an accident. Now they knew better. I grabbed Octavia and made my way to a new motel. Something wasn't right. Torn Banner? I've heard the name somewhere. My gear was in the back seat of the car as I drove, Octavia spoke for the first time in a while.

"What happened out there?"

"Same old, we have a new player. Some buck named 'Torn Banner'. I'm getting a weird feeling about him."

"Sounds like another problem."

"He already tried to kill me, so I'm pretty sure he's gotten the word that I'm kicking Starlight's ass and he wants me gone."

Whether he was an enemy or friend of Starlight I didn't know. All I knew was that I had trouble coming.

When you said anything...

"I know I said that I'd do anything but I don't think I can do that and you damn well know it!"

Iron Brigade understood the request well, but didn't want to follow through with it.

"You did say anything, and I do need a place to stay."

"What happened to the shithole on the far end of town?"

"I didn't like the wall, the art, and the toilet paper."

"What's wrong with the toilet paper."

"Had some weird picture of a foal staring at me while I took a shit. I decided it was satanic and shot it 5 times."

"What? You shot it five times?"

"It was speaking to me, it wanted me to praise the dark lord Satan and surrender all my bedsheets to the dark goddess."

"You're... insane..."

"Well if Yakyakistan doesn't do that I'm not sure what will. So you're taking me in whether you like it or not."

"Says wh-. Oh wait that's right you have legal immunity. You'll stay in the bunker."

"You already set up a bunker?"

"No it was here when we first came, long story. Down the first three flights of stairs and it's the door at the end of the hall on the left."

He wasn't lying, there really was three stories below ground in Starlight's old house. The first story down was being used as troop housing, as it was a long corridor with rooms lining the hall. In each room they could fit ten to twenty bunks. I guess I could say they're going to be here for a long time. The second floor was used for MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) specific jobs, such as radio communications. I could hear the shouting through the door and it echoed down the hallway. As I walked down that hallway there were things like rooms for non commissioned officers and even mechanical works. The mechanical works was working on a backup generator and water filter.

The third floor was dark, there wasn't much power going to this level. That probably was one of the reasons for the backup generator. There was two lone lights, one of them had a prison sign under it, another had a intelligence surveillance officer's symbol on it. I stuck to the left end and scraped my hoof against the wall until I hit a door. Although I passed over many doors, I knew that none of them were bunkers. Bunker doors are much thicker and generally made of concrete or steel.

Octavia hugged close to me, making sure to not break off. My hoof slammed against a barrier, no doubt this was it. I grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as I could, which made it budge just enough to pry my hoof between it and force it further. This gave just enough space for Octavia to slip in, which she helped push the door while I pulled. It swung open, smashing my face against the concrete wall.

I woke up on the bed, Octavia staring down at me. I guess this meant I was fine.

"You should really stop getting concussions."

"That's a helluva good morning."

"It's not morning anymore, you've been out for three hours."

"Oh, well then what work do you have?"

"Well... I need to find out how to cook MRE's, they gave us a box of them."

"Open it up, pour water in the bag, slip the MRE in. Let sit for an hour. Anything else?" It was surprising that I still had that down by memory. I just remember eating my entire platoon's ration of the 'Southern Style Gravy and Chicken Biscuits' MREs.

"Uhm, okay... Well I turned the AK over to the quartermaster. The armorer said that there were no outside weapons allowed."

"I have a job for you, get me another rifle, if not give me a hammer."

"Why a-"

"Just do it!"

I fell unconscious again, with an overwhelming migraine it was almost peaceful. This time I didn't have a PTSD filled dream but instead though of home. Long ago with my family, I was a church colt. I still remember those words my Dad told me.

'Be a true Stallion, love good, help the weak, and hate evil. These are what makes Equestria what it is. Sometimes we need to fight evil to keep the good safe. There's nothing that God ever said against death, as the Lord once said: 'There is no greater act of love and kindness than to lay your life for the love of others'. This is what we live for my son.'

I woke up, his words still dangling in the back of my mind. It only brought a thought I dared not think ever since I left that home.

'Is my family proud of me?'

I couldn't think of an answer. On one side I had that memory, I'd never let go of it. On the other, however, did I really do the right thing? Have I brought shame to them? Did I hurt them? It was hard to believe, but I think I did what they wanted. It wasn't bearable to think of what must be going through their minds. A little piece of me died.

I think there still was a way for me to find them.

I pulled that gem out of my jacket pocket, I could feel it poking my spine.

I pressed it, and Twilight came up in front of me.

"What do you need?" the entirety of her 'council ' was there, and Applejack wasn't too happy to see me.

"Hey AJ tell Crimpson I said hi will ya?"

The whole group looked in at her, nopony dared say a word. I broke the silence.

"Hey, I was wondering if you could put other ponies on the screen, is that possible?"

"Well they'd need to be here, why you ask?"

"I want to see my family."

"I'll need their names."

"Mist Dasher and Circular Karma."

"Well the second's an ironic name, since I'm pretty sure they're both church ponies right?"

"Spare me the lecture on my family, you know where I can find them?"

It didn't take long, she was talking with her associates back and forth. It didn't even take a minute.

"We're pretty sure they're at their home in Canterlot. If you want us to get their address we can assure you the safe delivery of their letter with the princess stamp should you use it."

"I don't ha-"

"Oh yea that's right, you'll need to borrow Iron Brigade's. I'll explain the situation to him."

"Well that's awfully kind..."

"Well you're doing me a big favor, just keep that in mind."

"Alright, speaking of favors do you need anything else for me."

She looked from back to forth among her friends, applejack took her hat off. Something wasn't right. The saddest of all of them was Twilight.

"Well you see, there's a reason we're all bunched up like this. There's a pony on our trail."

"On yours or mine?"

"Both. The assassin you killed was the second of three, one recently was captured. The captive is number three. We're trying to get Starlight's location using him. The first, however, was assigned to you. She was last seen in your area."

"She wouldn't happen to also be a high ranking official with Starlight would she?"

"Yes..."

"And Starlight hasn't gotten word from her for a while?"

"So far we can't confirm but tracking transmissions from radios she hasn't made a peep."

"Sounds about right, she's dead."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I shot her in the head just about a few days ago, she stuffed a shaving razor in Octavia's muffins."

"Are those two incidents... related?"

"I guess. It was inevitable but the razor made a bad situation worse."

"Oookay... Well then you see she was spotted leaving the city unharmed."

"Yea I never did really make an effort to get anything but her eyes memorized, what does she look like?"

"She is a blonde on white pony, her cutie mark is a heart."

"Ohh yea that's why she was red when I last saw her."

"Well that's a little graphi-"

"To be fair there were white spots."

"Okay if that's all I'm hanging up!"

"Yea that's good, ring me this time tomorrow."

She hung up without a goodbye. I guess it was the first time her friends thought she was capable of something like that. They never knew what power did to ponies. Even the good are turned evil. In the end there is no right or wrong. Which really threw a wrench in my dad's religion...

Author's Notes:

Yea, I made a bible reference deal with it.

Lost in streets of cobblestone

Dusk Quill wasn't too keen on being sent back to Ruthsville. Her recent failure at persuading Cloud Dasher to think otherwise wasn't what weighed on her mind. What really kept her awake was the reprimands by her officers. They were to see to it that she didn't leave a small room for a week, partially because of security and partially as a punishment. This isn't something she was keen on.

She did, however, see to it that Torn Banner kept doing his work in Yakyakistan so that the deal between the yaks and Detrot could be seen to effectively. Torn Banner wasn't exactly the brightest of ponies, and held strongly to his religious beliefs. Ironically part of it was killing ponies, yet they were his main tool to success. How he convinced them was anypony's guess.

Her guess was that, since they're just tools, they must be disposable just like those under her.

What she didn't know, was that everypony is expendable.

The only thing Octavia could acquire for me as a hammer, a screwdriver, and a toothbrush. Oddly enough I think the toothbrush would be just as if not more effective than the screwdriver, just with a little practice. Sure my good old dad was a church pony, but he spent 8 years in the penitentiary. He taught me not to fight fair, but fight to win. Win no matter what. That is how I've lived this long. If I gave a damn about honor then I wouldn't have made it half this way.

"You're not mad about the toothbrush are you?"

"No not quite, you got it for hygiene right?"

"Yea what else would it be for?"

"Nothing, just wondering."

I picked up the toothbrush and walked on over towards the concrete wall. I turned on my MP3 as I went so I could have a slow pace to work to.

'Hello darkness my old friend.'

I stroked hard against the wall, watching the paint strip from the toothbrush.

'I've come to speak to you again.'

I worked through the whole song, sound of silence. The best goddamn duet I've seen so far. When I was done it was a razor sharp plastic edge that could be concealed in my hoof. It worked alright. There was probably work for me upstairs, just a gut feeling. As soon as I opened the door I got knocked in the face. It wasn't hard so I just kinda stood there staring at the officer. He was trying to knock on the door when I opened it.

"You need me..." I said, his hoof against my nose.

"Yes sir, General Brigade demanded you in particular."

Guts never wrong.

I walked up the three flights of stairs and all the way over to his office.

"You remember that bust you made the night I found you?"

"Yea I remember it. What's up?"

"We can't find the pony you killed in the office. We suspect she put up an illusion before you left, a powerful unicorn is capable of optical illusions so it seems likely."

"Well, where is she now?"

"We have a feeling she won't be here for a while, if ever. We are, however, having a situation come up in Detrot that needs tending too. I'll keep you updated."

"Well I'm staying here for now, I'm not a fan of leaving work undone."

And Whinnyapolis left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Then stay for all I care, just tell me when you leave."

Sounds like a plan. I moved through the door that led to the streets. Starlight's old home was set up in a manner that gave it a grim, menacing look. It looked like it watched over you, towering above your head. I kept walking, my next target location was a set of shacks set up outside of the town, getting out and through the crowd and finding the right tenements is the big challenge, I wasn't particularly worried about the opposition.

Once I got to the gate I just flashed my I.D., which had literally nothing on it but it made me look a little important. The guardsponies didn't pay much attention and let me through.

"Money for a poor soul! God will judge your faith my son!"

I kept walking.

"May god throw you in hell!"

I heard a lot of that as I walked past the beggars, the whores, and the thieves. I didn't expect sympathy. I unzipped my jacket, My plate carrier blended pretty well, even though it was a completely different color. I followed the tenements until I got the the final back row. I only remembered this by the small symbol of the star above the door. This was the right place.

I knocked on the door, and I waited a few seconds until it slowly opened.

"You're not one of her guys are you?"

He couldn't see me, as I was hiding where the door opened into. Which caused a weird awkward silence.

"Who's she?"

"Dusk... you with her?"

"She ran the gaggle of a communist party in Ruthsville right?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Then I'm not with her. I killed er."

He was a little stunned, then finally closed the door and stared at me, holding my hoof from where he hit it with the door.

"Well looks like your wrong, she's sending signals soon."

"What makes you think she's dead?"

"I blew her brains across a table and laid her out. I guess that's proof enough."

"Looks like you fell for it to."

"What's it?"

"She is an expert in magic, she can project illusions so vivid you can't tell if they're actually her or not. You shot one of those, and more than likely she crawled out in the process."

Well that makes no sense.

"It makes perfect sense."

Did I say that out loud? Shit.

"Well I've never seen that before, alright whatever and I'm guessing you tried to leave when you could but got stuck with all the ponies crowding the streets?"

"Yea that's about right."

"Huh, why don't you just go on your own one at a time? It's not like you need to take everything you own. That's what the refugees are doing anyway."

I heard something behind me, it was getting close. I stood up, swinging around and catching a bigger pony rushing me with a knife. I hadn't expected it but I pivoted out of his swing. It went low and right, I used the momentum to draw the hammer and slam it against the top of his head, which knocked him cold.

The pony that was sortof friendly for a communist stood up and drew his handgun. I threw the hammer at him, which slammed against his gut. From there I jumped onto the table and kicked him right in the face. He fell backewards as I pulled the screwdriver and stabbed him about ten times in the chest. Then I stabbed him a few more times for good measure.

A pony had just entered the door, we stared at each other for a few seconds, this really couldn't get much more awkward. She walked away slowly. I didn't follow. I just stuck around and picked up what I could, the pony's handgun was a shit iver johnson, which suprised me that it even worked since it's well over 100 years old.

I kept walking through the place, it was practically clear. This was a good indication that they meant what they said about leaving, I didn't feel bad about offing them, since they swung first. That's just how it is. There was no weapons other than what I saw so I made my way out.

a banner once united

I couldn't help but think about the days prior. Who was this Torn Banner? I could tell he wasn't a yak (although the accent of the pony who said the name first indicated otherwise) by the name, and he's obviously not a big fish in this game since he hasn't shown his face yet. There's something about him that doesn't sit right with me, and I couldn't let it go unfinished. Something was going to happen, I knew it. If this guy was a Yak, things weren't going to be pretty. I still remember what started that war, and I wasn't ready to go back into it.

8 YEARS AGO. EQUESTRIAN MARINE CORPS 24TH RECON DIVISION SECOND SQUAD.

LOCATION: TYBRISS MILITARY BASE, 2 KILOMETERS SOUTH OF YAKYAKISTAN

TIME OF DAY: 1630 HOURS

MARINE IDENTIFICATION SERIAL NUMBER: 1BD33QT521

NAME: CLOUD DASHER.

RANK: LANCE CORPORAL, E3.

BLOOD TYPE: 0-.

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: DESIGNATED MARKSMAN, RIFLEMAN.

I'll never forget that time, or that place. It was just after lunch, 1630 or 1640 in military hours, which translates to 4:30 PM. It'd been a slow day, and the Yaks were restless. It was Winter, which was just starting. The Tybriss military base was relatively new, seeing as it was constructed a mere 10 years before. This was because of the rising of radical ideology with the Yaks, one that called for a much more strict, violent set of rules. I didn't care much for them, I was only here for the money.

I read through my bible, which had an ironically fitting line for what was about to happen, and what would change my life forever.

'There is no greater love in the eyes of the Lord than to lay down your life for the good of your friends.'

It was John 15:13. I still remember it to this day, if nothing else. That was when the alarm sounded.

ALL ACTIVE COMBAT PERSONNEL REPORT TO COMBATATIVE POSITIONS, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

I was caught a bit off guard but I grabbed my M16A3 (it wasn't current issue, but it worked. The Equestrian Defense portion of the military was heavily underfunded so I was always stuck with old gear), and trotted my way along to the northern gate. This was the one that led to Yakyakistan, so if things were going to shit I knew it'd start there. I heard yelling, some from our Yakistani translator and others from our own stallions. They ordered a crowd to get back, this made me hurry my pace.

When I got there, the whole situation changed. We had set up Support Weapons in a half-circle around the entrance of the gate. It was a containment tactic used to keep ponies from going in or out an entrance. There was a banging on the gate, the translator stood on top of it and yelled to the crowd.

"نحن لا نريد أن يضر بك!" (Pronounced 'nahn la nurid 'an yadurr bik'. Translates roughly to 'We don't want to hurt you!')

It was about that time when the first round got fired, it was from the other side and it hit the guard post. It was a near miss for the pony operating the booth. The translator and NCO both got down from the wall.

"Shoot on sight." He said as he walked past, his face looking to the ground.

This was bad, and that was all I needed to see to know. I charged my rifle and held it pointed at the door. As soon as the guard moved away from his post, probably retreating to help secure the perimeter, all hell broke loose. A molotov was lobbed over the wall, landing on the line of Machine Gunners. We already had medical and fire there so they were sprayed down before things got too bad. They were hauled off and replaced in under a minute.

The ground shook with the stomping of hooves, and they weren't ours. Something was being raised above the the walls, I changed my rifle's position to look at it. I couldn't make it out at first but it was a flag. The Yakistani Flag. Then, the shaking got intense, and we heard engines.

"Combat engineers! Set up locations!" the NCO screamed.

A team of ponies carrying satchels ran towards the front gate and set up anti-Personnel and anti-vehicle mines in a triangular formation, with the anti personnel mines being on the sides and covered in boxes of nails to maximize the shrapnel effects. The anti tank mines were set up in the triangle, this was so two could take the tracks and the one under it would get detonated by the explosion under the tank.

Two of the three pony team ran back, the third pulled a portable welder out of his satchel and hooked up the oxygen tank and the metal line. He started at the top, welding the doors together. They were a solid brick of 133mm of steel. There was no way they were getting through this as soon as it's welded. What we needed to do was hold them off until we could get reinforcements in.

Halfway down the door, the engine's sound was deafening. I had no idea what it was until then. A machinegunner in a guard post on the other side of the complex screamed at us.

"It's a fucking T-72!"

I turned and looked back towards him, that was when their assault started. The tank fired an APHE through the steel, which blew the pony to bits and sent shards of molten hot metal into the defensive line, I ducked just in time to get a massive chunk of metal into my helmet. I got back up and the anti-personnel mines went off, killing a solid 10-20 yaks. They kept coming, running past the piles of dead, maimed, and broken bodies of their comrades. I got sight on one running directly towards me.

I did something I'd never do again.

I hesitated.

He slammed hard into my vest with a knife, which did nothing but throw me to the ground. I rolled him over and punched him in the face. I didn't stop until his breath was almost gone. I never thought this would happen. In less than an hour my whole life turned upside down. The Machine gunner on the other side went to work with his HMG, suppressing targets that were where the 1st defensive line originally was. They were all dead, maimed by the tank.

Then we heard a deafening shot ring out from the other side, dust kicked up even from the other side of the wall, and the guard post took a high explosive shell right to the front. My ears were ringing and I took my eyes off the fight for a second. The yak rolled me over and slamed his hoof into my jaw. Knocking me off of him. I couldn't stand, I'd never taken a punch like that before.

He was trying to get on top of me when the NCO stood up. He put his M9 against the Yaks head, and blew his brains all over my face. The NCO brushed his handgun off on the Yak's cloths, reinforcements had arrived just in time. We now had full air support, it came in the form of an AH-64D Apache Longbow. The AH-64D strafed the front lines for the Yaks, killing most of the opposition. The T-72 tried to shoot it's top mounted machinegun at the helicopter, who took the punishment easily. The AH rolled around, locked on, and fired a hellfire directly through the hull of the T-72, throwing metal all over, and killing the crew. The Yaks retreated, firing MGs at the AH-64D, who got the green light to chase them and take the kill.

The yaks retreated in a large truck convoy, and fired light machine guns and other small arms all the way. The AH-64 picked the trucks off one at a time with the gunner, who fired his 30mm auto-cannon at the convoy. The trucks weren't armored, so they blew up right when the first HE round hit them. The AH-64 decided it had enough after flying 7 hours, and running down to three quarters of it's fuel, and strafed the convoy from the front, killing most cars and leaving the survivors crawling through the desert providence with a trail of blood behind them.

The pilots were awarded the 'Equestrian Hero's Cross' and other awards. Thus the war started. I fought for 8 more years, making my mark in the cold mountains and hot deserts.

In the far off providence of Punjab, there was a yak among ponies. He stood out like a bad joke, but yet all the Yaks of the land knew his name. His name was whispered in fear, and by his followers shouted through the streets. He sat down with his members, two priests (both guilty of manipulation) and a rich businesspony named from far away. He was a friend of a friend, or a supporter of Starlight Glimmer in shorter terms. He wanted land in Equestria for manufacturing labor, a cause that was aligned with the Torn Banner code of Honor.

The feared one spoke first.

"You've come a long way, Equestrian." His voice was fake, for he lost his real voice long ago. He was now stuck with a machine in his throat that did all the talking for him.

"Indeed I have, I'm from Whinnyapolis actually." The businesspony said in turn.

"I see, has her plan taken effect?"

"Yes, I fled the country but if all goes well I'll have all the land where the ashes of Whinnyapolis stands."

The feared one was disgusted with this. There are two things that he hates: Self-Appreciation and Greed. This pony had both.

"I see, and what does she have planned for the rest of Equestria?"

"That's to be divided between the nobles that backed her."

"What is of those who didn't?"

"I knew you'd ask that."

The businesspony waved in, and two suited ponies came in. In their hands was the mayor of Whinnyapolis.

"We're in control of Equestria now. You are our tool whether you're feared here or not."

The ponies wrapped an electric extension cord around her neck, despite her screaming.

"You. Belong. To. Me."

They slowly tightened the extension cord, she cried under hushed whispers.

"And if you disobay Starlight."

They began to strangle her. As they did they threw her to the ground and kicked her. Her face turned from white to red, and red to purple. Her blood vessels in her eyes popped, turning them into thick red balls. She passed out, but it didn't stop there. They worked until she stopped breathing. From there, They dumped the body down, the extension cord still around her neck.

"Do you understand me?"

The feared one looked the businesspony in the eyes.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Prince Blueblood. I'm sure you've heard of me?"

"I don't affiliate with Brats."

"What did you just call me..." Blueblood was furious.

That was when the gunshot sounded. Blueblood screached and rolled on the floor, shot in the groin.

"I'm doing everypony a favor."

Blueblood's men surrendered, and were subsequently taken out of the room. Blueblood threw up all over the floor, and was on the verge of passing out.

"My name, is Torn Banner." The feared one said.

"You... You're dead." Blueblood whispered.

"No, I'm God."

Blueblood was stoned within the hour. His men crucified alongside him. This sent the very message that he wanted to starlight.

She isn't in control anymore.

Author's Notes:

Looks like civil war is breaking out, dis gon be gud . So lets have a count off of our new character here:

1: Self obsessed (irony)

2: Egomaniac

3: god complex.

4: pretty much a terrorist who owns his own religion

Dis gon be good.

A banner now broken

I was sitting on my bed, talking to myself and thinking about my past when the news reached me. There was a multitude of bangs at the door, and when I opened it Iron Brigade was staring me in the eyes. He was so close I could feel his breath on me.

"Looks like you did a lot to em." He opened up the conversation.

"Who's them?"

"The rebels in Whinniapolis, they surrendered around 3 A.M. this morning. They were hunting down traitors and so half of their force defected over to Equestria. Needless to say we aren't going to hurt them since it's against the Equestrian Organic Life Policy, which states that we can't torture captives. Now this did lead up to something interesting, they're part of the Tehreek-e-Jaferia Yakyakistan. It's a militant extremist group that's been around for a while but has worked primarily under the radar."

"Wait, Yakyakistan?"

"Apparently so, Starlight's just a pawn in the game. Not only that but also she's also being held hostage by the looks of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you see, we did some more research into Starlight. Before the incident in Whinniapolis got out we couldn't investigate her since we had no probable cause. Well because of that we got full access to her personal encrypted files. She has pretty much nothing to do with anything you've been hunting down. What's been happening is a double."

"You mean that someone is taking her name as an alias since she already quarreled with Equestria before?"

"Looks like it, though the thing about it is that we can't confirm it, but we intercepted messages between two Starlight Glimmers, one of which asking ransom to release the other's identity . We can't put a finger on who this is but we think they're TJY since they do a lot of identity theft."

"Then why didn't she go to the police?"

"Because you're after her, all of this started after you got assigned to do Twilight's dirty work. Meaning that either you getting assigned to kill her is related or that it's all a nasty coincidence. We're working on clearing her of all charges and going after the TJY, problem is we'd need to invade Yakyakistan and you know first hoof how that ended."

A few dots were getting connected, why was her trail so easy to follow? Why would the rich support a communist that hates all inequality? It was like pieces of a puzzle fell together, and I realized in the grand scheme of things I'm not in control, God is. My job is just to bring the ponies in the wrong to him a little quicker.

"Take me to her and clear her charges if you can, you got her personal information you must've been able to track her."

"That's a funny thing for you to say: She's only just on the other side of that mountain that she ran through, there's a little place down there and we already snooped it out. She's completely harmless."

"That's a relief."

"Your job here isn't done though, there was somepony here to recruit all these ponies into fighting for Starlight number two. Which means that somepony must have some information on the terrorist. There's only one last safehouse we know of for these ponies and I suspect he's in there, all the gear you'll need is in the armory, we've already talked over with the armorer on what you need and we got a greenlight to give you tools."

"Understood, what're the tools?"

"Remember what you used in Yakyakistan?"

"The M14 EBR and a MK18 Mod 0."

"Well we picked those, but ultimately we're not in charge of you so take what you need."

This was it, the last one. Nothing to hold me back. I had strapped my vest on back in the bunker, packed my MK18 on my back and my M14 in my hooves, it'd been days since I took off my gloves, and it felt weird to touch things again. But that didn't matter since I had them on once more.

Everything was green through night vision I had on, but I was too far away for it to be of any use so I turned it off. My gear was in good condition. That was what I needed it to be like. I thought about everything I did to kill Starlight, and now how all of the sudden I need to help her. It was crazy at first but it clicked, it was my job to save lives and Starlight was a candid for saving. I uttered a phrase I never thought I'd say for a long time.

I'll get you out of this Starlight. You'll see.

The location I picked was perfect, this had much to do with the fact that the target building was between two hills and that it was in a open field. There was a flag to judge my wind, but it stood still. The location I stood in was a grassy depression in the ground that gave me enough space to deploy my bipod, it also had a few rocks in it so that my suppressor fit in with the background in case anypony came by.

I was about 400 yards away from the location, it was outside the wall, but it was big. It was a two story slum, about 100 feet across and back. The bottom floor looked empty from what I could see through the window, but there was one guard on the ceiling. I took two deep breaths, and held the third. Time slowed for a few seconds, memories flashed through my mind of me behind this rifle.

The lives I took.

The lives I saved.

The families I split.

And the ones I kept together.

I raised it about a millimeter above the targets head, I was aiming for his upper chest, he was facing me and was wearing no armor. I could, however, see a weapon on him. I slowly pulled the trigger, looking down the scope was something I hadn't done in years. The shot rang out and surprised me, I watched the tracer move for a quarter of a second and make impact with his chest, blowing out the other side. The wound glowed from the phosphorous that the tracer left inside his chest. He was rolling but too shocked to speak. He rolled off the roof and smashed into a garbage can.

The sound echoed through the night, not of the rifle since I had slapped a suppressor on it but the sound of the garbage cans. It was like the world went silent. I remembered something from the EMC, 'if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Prepare for everything.' I lived by that quote for the longest time, it hadn't hit me since Yakyakistan. I kept the scope looking at the door, the door opened up and a pony with a AK walked outside, as soon as he was out of sight from the windows, not near the door, and away from the building, I took the shot. It struck him in the chest and he fell to the ground, but he was still conscious. I shot him once more in the head.

His brain matter was splattered across the grass, but nopony would notice. 400 yards is an easy walk for me, so I approached in a bit of a jog, making sure not to attract any attention. I stepped on twigs, leaves, and other nature-y things on the way there, which alerted some wildlife but not enough to get anypony to notice me. As soon as I got to the door, I slowly pulled it open, then I peaked through.

Two ponies, armed with newer AK models like the 74M, were playing poker, while a third dealt. There was an empty chair and I could assume who it's occupant was. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a pony watching TV, he was on the news. I needed to make sure not to make a ruckus in here. I opened the door a bit more and stuck my MK18 through. It too was outfitted with a suppressor but this time it had a Aimpont Comp M4 scope on it. I looked through the red dot sight and found the target, it was the dealer. I needed to take three short and controlled shots into each one to make sure that it didn't alert the pony watching TV.

Then, as if planned, he looked up and we met eyes. He stared, at first in confusion and then in horror. I pulled the trigger and a round flew through his chest. Both of the ponies looked over at him, and they both took a 5.56 to the body. One was out cold whereas the other was gargling on his blood. I must have hit his lungs.

The pony watching TV must've heard that, he turned around and we met eyes. I put three shots through his torso, one of which went right through and hit the TV. He stumbled back and fell to the floor, propped up against the wall. I moved through the carnage, checked the corners, and kept moving.

I got to the stairs that led up to the second floor. There was movement directly above me. I think they heard me. I moved up the stairs slowly, the rifle raised up to my eye. I pulled the fire selector onto full auto as I walked up the stairs. There was no door on the top of the stairs so I was just aiming literally into the next floor. A pony walked by and my heart stood still. He just walked by, and I thanked god that he never looked towards me.

As I walked upstairs there was four ponies all sitting on a couch, looking towards another television set. I walked towards them slowly. One of them turned towards me and I raised my rifle. I shouted in a voice I used to reserve for the EMC when I needed to throw somebody down.

"GET ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW!"

Two of them fell right on their face, one of them threw his gun down and raised his hoofs. The last drew on me. I shot him twice in the chest and once in the head. The two in the chest stayed in his body after bouncing off bones and the one in the head went straight through, making a clean hole through the middle of his face. I kicked the guns away from the ponies and zip tied their hooves to eachothers back to back so they couldn't move. There was a door near the other end, and I could hear the pony stacking furniture behind it.

There might be a window to that room, which means that they might try to climb out of it. If they do I can't imagine the pony going far since it was a whole story drop. I slammed my body against the door, it didn't give in, so I looked for the door handle. Once I found it I shot it off, and slammed my weight against the door, which still didn't budge.

Well time for last resort. I shot full auto bursts into the other side of the door and then shot a few bursts directly through the door. I pulled the door off the hinges and jumped over the desk that the pony pushed over the other side.

The pony was a young mare, roughly in her twenties, who took a round right in her lower back. It wasn't lethal if I got somepony here within the next 20 minutes. rounded up the new prisoners and carried the mare over my back all the way over to the infirmary.

Author's Notes:

I think I might be making a bad move with this little detail, but the terrorist organizations name I used is a real terrorist organization based in Pakistan.

Yes I'm insane, but I like my details.

I'm probably a serous fucking idiot for doing this but I honestly don't give a shit, don't tread on me.

The TJY

"You really scored big time on this one." Iron Brigade sat in the infirmary, looking through a glass pane window at the mare.

She was a small and petite young mare, eyes resting gently against her head. Her lips were closed halfway, save for the tube that kept her breathing. She was in the Intensive Care Unit, which kept her in a controlled environment. She had gotten the lead removed from her back and was on her way to recovery, so long as nothing went out of hoof.

"What'd she know?"

"Well she hasn't woken up yet, but we expect her to soon enough. The others, however, defected from the TJY back in Whinnyapolis and were seeking refuge when they were recaptured by a group of pro-TJY militants and were being held hostage. You came along just in time to see to it that they weren't executed. The one you shot is a different story, he was what we like to call the 'Muscle'..."

"Yea I know what you mean, the guy that just looks scary to keep hostages in check."

"Precisely, he wanted to look tough and pulled some shit before you off'd him. That's what I heard from the captives."

"That's correct. Could we get names of these ponies though?"

"We have four confirmed names, the mare's is not known at the time. We have Jafieer El-Taferie, Ali Babar, Yasin Elihamir, and Jezrail Tabriz. They're all Yakistani names, but the ponies aren't yaks."

"They could've changed their names in order to get into the organization, that or they were born in Yakyakistan."

"There's another problem with that, they're legal citizens and the names are their birth names. Three of them are immigrants from Yakyakistan and Neighstanbull."

"Where's Neighstanbull?"

"That's in Turkey, it's north of Yakyakistan and borders Prussia across the Red Sea."

"Sounds like I need a geography lesson."

"I'm a fighter not a teacher, quit wasting my time. Now as for the fourth, he's an Equestrian. He's also the only one fluent in Equestrian so you can talk to him."

"When can I talk to him?"

"Don't worry about that, but there's something else I need to tell you. Follow me."

We both walked outside and he led me far behind the building until we hit the concrete wall around the city. He looked around viciously, he was legitimately scared. This wasn't right, I could feel it building in my chest. He knew what he was about to say was going to get him in trouble just as well as I knew.

He looked me in the eyes, his face pale, and his eyes bloodshot. It was like he had taken a strict dose of Cocaine.

"Don't trust Twilight. There's something she isn't telling us."

I processed this for a second.

"What do you mean?"

"I've followed you carefully Cloud, ever since you were still in Ponyville I watched you. You couldn't see me but trust me, I see everything."

"Well, what do you mean?"

"She is lying to you Cloud, I just know it."

"Well what is she lying to you about?"

"Starlight, the information we got a hold of pushed Twilight to make me stop researching the case. She doesn't want us to know something. What she doesn't want us to know probably has to do with why she wants her dead."

"Wait, how'd she react when this happened?"

"Something changed in her. She looked at me like a cat looks at it's food."

That woman with the muffins came to my head instantly. The look she gave me. It was unnatural.

"She isn't right, keep an eye on her."

"Alright."

We moved back inside, where a group of his own men were waiting for him. They gave him the information on the four captives, the one that spoke our language wanted to speak. His cell was close to the bunker, which prompted me to stop by and see Octavia again.

I knocked on the door, and she forced the concrete block open. When she was me she was speechless. Her arms wrapped around me and she wept.

"I thought you were dead."

"I've been dead for years now."

"I can tell. Death's too scared to tell you to get in the ground."

We said our goodbyes and I promised that we'd be back to hunting down terrorists soon. It's a weird promise to make. Once we got to the cell, however, all that emotion faded. There was an audible cry coming from the cell. I opened the door and there was a orange on red pony crying in the corner. His lips were tight sealed, as if he had nothing to say.

I walked towards him.

"What's your name son?"

"My name?"

"Yes, you know your name don't you?" I was being very gentle with this pony, he was on the verge of breaking.

"Ali Babar. Yes, Ali Babar, that's my name."

"Did you forget your name?"

"They don't call me my name..."

"What did they call you and for how long?" I sat down, holding a water jug in my teeth.

"They called me 'Degenerate', they called me that for 3 years. I forgot my name, my family, my children, everypony."

I spread my wing and wrapped it around his shoulder. Captivity is something I never could get used to seeing no matter what side it was on.

"You know, in the end there is no good or evil, no right or wrong."

He stared at me, confused and dumbfounded.

"There's only different perspectives. When dictators kill their people, they think what their doing is right. That's because the path to hell is paved in good intentions. So tell me Ali, why'd you join the TJY?"

"They wouldn't kill my family, I have two daughters and a wife, do you know how they're doing?"

"Lemme check." I stuck my head through the door and looked at the guard.

"What do you know about his family?"

"He says he has two daughters and a wife, the daughters are Ayun Babar and Zoreed Babar. The wife's name is Guljan Babar. That's all he's said."

"Do you know if they're alive."

The guard looked down at me, then called for Iron Brigade. Iron walked down and looked from me to the guard.

"What do you need?"

"Is Ali's family alive?"

"Bad question, no. Their death record were confirmed that they were hung two years ago in Yaziber."

"Well, thanks."

More like 'Well Fuck'

I walked back into the room and sat down, he was chugging the water. I brought a whole gallon in and it was gone.

"I'd hate to tell you, but you never should've trusted a terrorist organization."

"What do you mean? Where are my daughters?"

I looked up to the light on the ceiling, a tear streamed down my cheek.

"It's a bad time for rain." I said quietly.

"We're inside sir..."

"Is that so?"

The tears wouldn't stop, and soon enough he caught on.

"Where are my daughters!" he screamed.

"I'm so sorry Ali, they're dead. They got killed in Yaziber by the TJY."

He was silent, then the tears came down.

"No... They wouldn't do that..."

"I'm sorry, but they would. Ponies aren't always who they say they are."

His head fell between his legs, and the tears dripped to the ground. I couldn't remember the last time I cried.

"He was my brother! How could you do this to me Mohammad!"

"Wait, who's Mohammad?"

"He..." He sobbed between breaths "He's the TJY leader, the head of it, he goes by the name 'Torn Banner.'"

I was confused, then the lines started to connect. The ponies that knocked on my door.

"I'm so sorry, I know the name and I won't rest until he's dead."

"No! Don't kill him!" he shouted so much it cracked his voice.

Why would he defend him? He killed his family, ruined his life, lied to him and put him in this mess. He was just trying to save his family, but got lied to in the process.

"Why not?"

"If you did that, my family would've died in vain. Killing him will give the sect a new leader, one potentially much worse than him. Just bring him in."

Dead. Or. Alive. That was how it was. That was what I was looking at. I was fine with it.

But in the end, I'll have his fucking head on a stick.

I walked out of that, my eyes bloodshot from crying. The guard was about to close the door when the seemingly immobile prisoner ran to the door and tackled the guard. He fiddled with the holster until he could get the handgun out.

"KILL ME!" He screamed, it all happened so fast.

"JUST KILL ME!" He screamed again. I was the only one around and the guard was out cold. I did something I hadn't done in years.

I hesitated.

He put the gun in his mouth, and I screamed as I ran towards him. It was too late. He put a shot through his head. He wasn't dead just yet. He had maybe 30 seconds at best. He spend that time looking at the ceiling as the pool of blood built up on the floor. I ran towards him, but it was no good. There was no saving him.

He said one thing, one thing to me.

"Thank you. I can be free."

Author's Notes:

I really didn't see the need to ponify the name 'Turky' since I'm more then positive that there are Turkies in MLP.

A fix of 5.56.

"What I say, children of the banner, is the words of God. There is no other profit other than the Torn Banner." He shouted from the patio of the embassy.

It used to belong to Great Griffon but it'd long since been abandoned. When the political turmoil began leaving was the smartest course of action. They were the first targets by Torn Banner, this is mainly because Yakyakistan has a long and brutal history of foreign rule. They were sick of it.

It started with threats, nothing the embassy wasn't used to as it was in a very volatile country. Then it escalated very quickly when a bomb detonated on the Eastern wall, a hole that still remains today. They stormed the place but the ambassadors got out just in time. Now, whoever controlled that embassy controls the whole region.

Torn Banner was the current property's occupant, and he made that very clear.

The crowd cheered from below, whether it was out of fear or anger or belief was anypony's guess.

"In the second year of the one true God, we are now the owner's of the Earth! We cleanse it of the filth, of the dirt, of the agony that was once your lives! My faithful sons and daughters, bask in the light of eternal life by going through the eternal darkness! Take up arms to rip the unfaithful ones limb for limb! Hang them by the streets!"

The crowd cheered once more, there were gunshots through the crowd yet it didn't phase them, as it was them simply firing upwards.

"Let us start a new wold, one where there is a real God! One where you live for me!"

The crowd shouted in unison.

"Long live the Torn Banner!"

"Thank you my faithful sons and daughters, I will lead you to the promised land which was taken from us years ago, and is now occupied by the unfaithful. We struck fear into their hearts at Whinnyapolis and we will not stop until they acknowledge that their time of judgement has come! Let us bathe in the blood of the unfaithful, for a bath in flames makes the soul new!"

He retreated from the cheering crowd, and laid down on a small couch. It was barely big enough for him. It wasn't that he was a large pony by any means, it was that the couch was just plain small. It was a wine red color, which stuck out against the white walls. His eyes were cold pale grey, as if he'd been dead for days. His smile sent shivers down his most trusted follower's spines, yet they still followed him as he were a god.

He looked nothing like his two brothers, who'd both gone to Equestria. He was a solid olive on the coat and a dark grey on the mane. It was hardly an attractive look.

"My Lord, as a sheep to your grace I have news for you."

"What is it?"

"Your brother, he's been captured."

"I have no brothers, I am the Lord. I have no family."

"My apologies my Lord. Somepony that claims to be your brother died in custody under the Equestrian military."

"What is his name?"

"Ali, Ali Babar."

A million memories flashed back in his head as he thought of his brother. He couldn't let them see that he knew him.

"I've never heard the name, is that all?"

"No, the target you search for is still at large. Cloud Dasher has caught on to our diversion."

"He knows about the double?"

"Yes my Lord, this is entirely my fault for underestimating Cloud Dasher. Shall we deal with the double?"

"No, I want to see this Cloud Dasher. If he wants to play God we'll wait for him to meet God."

I woke up in a daze, at first I couldn't even remember my name. It slowly, however, came back to me. Probably had something to do with the bottle of pills and the syringe by me.

'Torn Banner, what are you hiding?'

Octavia walked out from in the kitchen and stared at me.

"Everything okay?" I asked, she was pale as if she'd seen a ghost.

"You are supposed to be asleep."

"For how long?"

"Two more days."

Two days? How long have I been out?

"Why?"

"You fainted and slammed your head against the concrete, you've been in a coma for three days and the sedatives were supposed to keep you out."

"Whoever gave me the sedatives is a fucking idiot."

"I can see..."

"No you really can't, why'd you let them give me sedatives? I was knocked out not shot."

"Well that's another thing, you suffered a severe laceration on the head, they needed to stitch you up and remove chipped concrete from your skull. You really hit the ground hard you know."

"Well what can you say, I still have emotions."

"Why do you say that?"

"You know about the incident that happened outside?"

"They wouldn't tell me."

"That's for your own good. Now don't bring it up."

"Alright, Iron had something to say to you for when you're awake. You should go see him."

"Sounds about right."

I walked towards Octavia, she just stared up at me into my eyes. If he sent me away she's coming with me. I walked up the three flights of stairs and entered Iron's office. He looked over at me, stunned as to me being awake already. I knew what he was thinking and sat down.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"It's about Torn Banner?" He said slowly, he knew I was probably really touchy on this.

"Give me a time and location and I'll be on the first plane out of here."

"Well glad to see you're eager as always. Well he is confirmed in Yakyakistan, but take a look at this."

He turned the computer over to me, it was a picture of him. Green coat, grey hair and grey eyes. Enough to give me the chills.

"He's a real psychopath, thinks he's God. He's convinced much of Yakyakistan that too somehow. Well he wants you dead now."

"I already knew that from... previous experience."

"Good, we're on a similar page. Here's what's up though: Twilight has given you permission to follow his scent down into Yakyakistan, but she can't confirm safety. Due to the proximity of the civil wars there Equestria is deploying. She wants you to take advantage of that to do some dirty work."

"Alright, and about last time we talked, what is Twilight not telling me?"

He leaned in close to me, I could feel his breath on my nose.

"She hired you for a purpose, she might hire you for something much worse later. She wants power and she'll do anything to get it. Behind those eyes is a ruthless politician that has no shame about how she gets her way. She didn't tell you this but you know who won on a landslide for Ponyville mayor office?"

"Who?"

"Take a fucking guess. Who killed the only other candid in Ponyville?"

You've gotta be kidding me... I never thought about that job like that.

"Was it really worth it?"

"Listen Iron, thing's have changed since Ponyville. The whole shit turned me around. I'm not who I used to be. This isn't about money, this is about protecting others. That's what I was trained to do and I'm not turning my back on it."

"Glad that you've changed. But Twilight wants power, and to her you're just a tool. Just like every tool, when she doesn't need you anymore, she'll throw you away. Be careful around her."

"I got that." I gave this some thought. If it came to it I'd off anypony that meant harm to somepony I loved, but if it's her would I?

I can't afford to hesitate again.

"Now listen Cloud, those sedatives are still doing a number on you, you might want to get some rest."

"Will do."

I shut my eyes when I lied down against the bed, and every time I do I'm greeted with memories I'll never forget.

"Roger that 22-20, proceeding to mark waypoint Alpha 3."

7 YEARS AGO. EQUESTRIAN MARINE CORPS 24TH RECON DIVISION SECOND SQUAD.

LOCATION: 2 KILOMETERES SOUTH OF HYDERABAD. EQUESTRIAN CONVOY NUMBER 22.

TIME OF DAY: 0800 HOURS.

MISSION DETAILS: CONVOY NUMBER 22 (Codenamed 'Regiment 53') IS TO MOVE TO HYDERABAD, CARRYING HUMANITARIAN SUPPLIES TO CIVILIANS AT GRIDSQUARE CHARLIE 5. UNITS ARE DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS CONVOY.

MARINE IDENTIFICATION SERIAL NUMBER: 1BD33QT521

NAME: CLOUD DASHER.

RANK: LANCE CORPORAL, E3.

BLOOD TYPE: 0-.

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: DESIGNATED MARKSMAN, RIFLEMAN.

I was speaking through the radio in one hoof, wearing military class gloves, and in the other controlling the wheel. I was at the rear of the convoy. We were carrying cargo to Hyderabad to counterbalance the HuA (They're still around but much smaller, they go by the name Harkat ul-Mujahadeen), who had been starving out the city for a matter of weeks. There was a anti-HuA cell there that they were trying to drive out.

"Recon Squad 22-20 reporting to Regimental Squad 22-09, we have no resistance in the hotzone, it's quiet." The crackly voice came in through the radio, but this was unusual. The hotzone was a direct pass through HuA territory. There was no way that they hadn't gotten shot at yet.

"Roger that Recon Squad 22-20, keep moving to the next Waypoint, ETA 30 minutes until we hit the rally point." We were separated to keep our profile low, we didn't want to attract attention but I didn't have a clue that they were going into the hotzone before the mission.

"Regimental Squad 22-09 we have an adult male standing in the middle of the road, we've halted."

"Roger that Recon Squad 22-20, keep a 100 foot distance, if he breaks it give him a warning shot."

"Solid copy Regimental Squ-" His microphone cut out, then when it came back in the vehicle was filled with screaming."

"Regimental Squad 22-09 we are taking fire from the northeast! Our top gunner is hit, he isn't going to make it! We're 2 Clicks south of you, we need immediate assistance!"

"Roger that 22-20, on our way!"

We swerved the convoy around, there was one Humvee and one MRAP, both with mounted M2 Brownings. We sped across the desert off the road for 2 kilometers, which was a short distance. We could hear the AK's distinctive sound as we got closer. We saw the convoy on the lower end of the road, they were being attacked from the direct front. The adult male's dead body was sprayed across the road from a 50 cal shot.

The M2 had been recovered, though the first gunner was dead. It's slow and study bark ripped through the noise.

"This is Regimental Squad 22-09, we've reached your location, opening fire direct front."

"Solid copy just get them off me!"

We swerved in front of the Humvee, where we saw two units shooting from the cover of the armored doors. There was a dead body of an Equestrian soldier behind one of the doors, his blood sprayed across the window.

As soon as we hit a stop we opened up fire with the Browning, which cut directly through their cover, killing those behind it. We heard engines coming from the front. We needed to get out of here before they arrived with reinforcements. We gathered the dead Equestrians and threw them in the back, we counted two stallions and one mare.

When we sped off enemy reinforcements had just arrived, they turned around to begin pursuit. I was in the direct middle of the convoy, the wounded car in the rear, and the MRAP in the front.

"22-20 I'm giving you the mid, hand me rear!"

"Roger that 22-09!"

He veered off to the side and we hit our brake hard, throwing us in a position to swerve the car into the opposite direction. We were facing the truck dead on, in reverse at that.

"Take the wheel!" I screamed at the pony next to me, and he didn't think for a moment. I got up and strapped myself into the rear gunner position. A shot ringed off of the armor plate as I did.

There was a Prussian machinegun mounted to the car, and he was trying to tear away at us. The armor window cracked into a spider's web, but didn't break. I sighted in the browning, the truck was within 20 yards from us.

I got the sight picture ready, and gave myself a second to get it onto the car's windshield.

Then I gave it a full burst.

The car swerved in a circle, blood scattered through the windshield and flying out the side window. I didn't stop firing as the barrel grew to glow a bright orange. I hit the rear gunner in the back, blowing him in half. Parts of the car were flying off of the vehicle until it tipped over and rolled into a corner. A pony crawled out, but gave up and rolled over. We could hear his screams. He was mission both his rear legs.

We halted the convoy and regrouped. Then completed our mission on delivering food to the civilians. I'd never seen true desperation until that day.

Author's Notes:

Welcome to war, war is hell.

Retrieval.

"You know you'll need to go right?" Octavia said to me, she knew about the issue's relation to Yakyakistan.

It was a little disturbing of a thought, the things that happen there always turned sour very quickly. I looked down for a second, staring at the floor, if they're coming here then they're looking for a fight. If it's a fight they want, I'll give it to em. I'll just never get used to the dynamics of that place.

"Yea, it's become pretty clear to me what needs to be done. If we don't intervene sooner rather than later things will get nasty."

"You aren't going to go... are you?" She looked me in the eyes, I was lying down on a bed and she laid on top of me. I didn't know what to say.

"I don't want to, but I don't back down from what I need to do."

"Then just come back in one piece okay?" She laid her head down on my neck, gently kissing my throat. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes, the last thing I want to do is go back.

Morning came quickly, I had slept all night without problems. Octavia had rolled over to her side of the bed and was sound asleep. I got up and got dressed, putting on my white T-Shirt, blue jeans, and gloves. I stared at the jacket for a moment. I just stood there, thinking, for maybe a solid ten minutes.

It's been through so much...

It was the first thought that came to mind, and I looked back. There was visible wear and tear from the years of abuse, blemishes from blood, water, or maybe both. There were marks that had been caused by car crashes, brawls, fire fights, and all other types of activities. Yet it still stayed strong. It still was mine.

I snapped out of my haze and put it on, then walked up to the offices where Iron Brigade was. He had news for me.

"Orders came through, we're proceeding the investigation into the other Starlight, you have orders to capture and protect the real one. She's in a shack 3 miles west of here, it won't be hard to find. I'm letting you borrow my Ford Explorer for the drive, it's my personal car so don't do anything stupid."

"Mhm, so is it just outside the cave or what?"

"It's the first building on the left, you won't miss it."

"What about weapons? Any possibility of hostiles?"

"We haven't had targets in the area for quite some time, but we've supplied you with an older weapon we've captured for security reasons, it's in the passenger seat."

"Sounds good, I'll be on my way."

I turned around, then got shouted at.

"You forgot something."

I looked at him, then he tossed the keys my way. I caught them and walked out the door. Once outside, I unlocked his car and grabbed the Submachine gun in the seat. It was a hefty Mac-10, a .45 machine pistol that's meant to be concealed. I hit it in my jacket, then got thinking.

I need this to be quick and clean, the chance of an ambush in those caves is way too real. I can't abandon the car and fly over since Starlight is a unicorn.

I opened the door to the drivers seat and climbed inside, the SUV was bigger than I thought it'd be. This is probably because I never drove a Ford Explorer before. I turned the key and the engine roared to life. It sounded way more powerful than it actually was, not that I minded but it just felt a little weird. The door to the building burst open, which made me do a doubletake. Octavia had caught wind I was leaving and they didn't tell her what. She jumped in the passenger seat.

"You're not leaving without me, you know that right?"

"I figured as much."

I drove out of the city westwards, making way to the caves. It was easy to get out of the town, and since the surrender the ponies at the front of the town were since gone. This left the streets in a state of advanced urban decay. It was still easy to drive on but I was weary on turns. Once I got out and onto the mountain road we began an uphill climb.

It didn't last long, there was only about 200 feet open before we hit the caves. That was when I turned on the headlights. Everything save for the inside of the car was dark, and only the way in ahead was illuminated. This was a problem for me, somepony hiding in the cave would easily know where we were. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and floored it. The RPM meter sped up to 5000 RPM and I went 80 MPH, it wasn't safe but given the circumstance I needed to get out as soon as possible.

Once I got out, I was going 90, and I was too late. I had gotten false information on where the house was.

I plowed right through Starlights house at 90 miles an hour in a ford explorer. The car got lodged in her living room, but was surprisingly undamaged save for a few scratches. This probably had a lot to do with the wood construction. Starlight was stareing right at me through the drivers side window. I had miraculously missed her, and she just sat at a table with a cup of coffee. I rolled down the window for what felt like an eternity.

"No time to explain. Get in the car."

"Oh no you have some serious explaining to do!" She shouted in response.

I pulled the mac from my jacket and pointed it out the window.

"No really get in the car."

I pushed the button on the dash which remotely opened the automatic door.

'huh that's actually really neat.' I thought to myself.

She dove inside it and we closed the door. I backed my way out and made haste back through the caves. This time something was different. In the headlights I saw a group of ponies standing on the other side.

"Well this can't be good."

I slowed the car down to a stop, that was when they raised their weapons. I slammed on the gas and went right through their lines, running a few over. I got off the road, where gunfire was coming from the woods, then got to the urban streets. The ponies didn't follow me there, it was too close to the town for them to do anything.

Once I got back into the town, I got to the base and put the car in park. Iron Brigade stared in disbelief and anger.

"What did you do to my car!"

I looked out the window and saw blood all over the bumper.

"That was there when I got in..."

"No it wasn't!"

"I swear it was!"

"No it really wasn't! Oh and what about the broken headlight!"

He was indeed right, I had smashed a front headlight.

"Oh that, yea what about her house not being right in front of the cave's end?"

"How fast were you going?"

"Somewhere between 90 and 100 why?"

"Why the hell were you going so fast!"

"We had contact in the cave."

He frowned and facehoofed.

"I knew I should've sent you in a humvee."

Author's Notes:

I actually feel bad for Iron Brigade. Driving without a headlight is a felony you know.

Making ends meet.

News had just come through, which shocked the whole nation. There was a new alicorn, a child. I wasn't concerned about it but others were, especially Iron Brigade.

"You know this is the first time in history there's ever been a child alicorn!"

"Yea, that's all?"

"What do you think? The crystal empire has only been a thing for roughly ten thousand years!"

"Huh, sounds about right. It disappeared for a while right?"

"Yea, then it suddenly reappeared. We had secured the city when some random dragon came out of nowhere and completed our primary objective."

I walked downstairs, small talk was going nowhere. As I walked down the second set of steps, however, the crystal started ringing. I answered it and Twilight came on the reflection.

"You got the news right?" She was impatient.

"Yea, you're an aunt?"

"That's one thing, but there's a ceremony that we need to attend."

"We? You mean you right?"

"No actually, we have to go to the crystal empire to have the baby's crystaling done."

I thought for a second, I never heard of that. I had kept walking and just gotten into the bunker when I continued talking.

"What in san hell is that?"

"Honestly we don't know, spike broke the vase that had the images on it when he tried to put it down."

"Classic, no really though what is it."

"I wasn't joking. We have no idea other then we need to be there."

"And you want me to come because it's pretty much on the border of of Yakyakistan?"

"With the Manehattan attack we can't be too safe."

'You never can. If you just realized that the land only a few miles north of there is a deathtrap you're blind or dumb. Maybe both.'

"Alright, and how do you want me to get back? I'm a solid two day drive from you?"

"Already figured out, we're teleporting you to me. Your friend isn't coming."

Octavia heard that and yelled something incomprehensible.

"Alright, do it now, but I'm taking them with me."

"Fine, if you insist but you'll need to pay for their train tickets."

"You realize you've made me a millionaire from killing ponies you don't like right?"

"Oh yea I forgot about that. Just grab her and whoever else and tell me when, you'll be in my library."

"Well that's easy."

I called for Octavia and Starlight. They both showed up, I grabbed them and suddenly appeared in a massive library. I recognized it from roughly six months back. Sitting in this room thinking about killing Fancy Pants and Filthy Rich, man how times change. I looked over at Twilight, who had her eyes closed. There was somepony behind a massive stack of papers, who it was was anypony's guess.

"Hey Twilight, we're kindof here, you can open your eyes."

"You can't blame me, I'd never tried this spell before."

"Wait, what'd happen if something went wrong?"

"I thought that you'd get mixed up in translation or something. Whatever who'd you bring?"

"Two friends."

"Perfect! I was just teaching Starlight about friendship!"

Wait... what.

"You look shocked, what's wrong?"

Starlight was right behind me, what is she talking about. The stack of papers fell and there was another Starlight with her head on a table. The hair was the wrong color, I instantly knew who was real.

"Wait, how long has she been here?"

"About a week why?"

"That's not Starlight."

The other Starlight's face looked up at me.

"Kill me. Friendship is Bullshit."

"Gladly."

I put a bullet through her head, spilling red liquid all over the books. Twilight was horrified, until we checked the body.

"Yep, that's a changeling alright."

"Why are you so calm!"

"You know what? I have no idea."

"Whatever it's creeping me out! Stop."

The other five bursted through the door, spike was already in the room and things had happened to fast for him to register.

"Twilight we heard something are yo-"

They stopped, staring at the red mess.

"What is that..." Applejack broke the silence.

"If I told you I spilled red ketchup all over the walls would you believe me?"

"What about the pony on the ground?"

The changeling was indeed still alive. Didn't matter to me.

"If I told you she was there when I got here would you believe me?

"No. We wouldn't."

"Well that sucks. No like really I was hoping you would. Anywho little Twililly Coyote over here is fine, she's shaken not stirred."

"That's not making me confident, you know that right?" Rainbow Dash said, keeping her eyes on the rolling Changeling. The Changeling had managed to roll herself into a sorta roll in the paper. The Changeling is now going to be called the 'Burrito Burger' from now on, as she is essentially a big blob of meat between a long rolled piece of paper.

"Well so are we off to the Crystal Empire or something?"

Everypony in the room but Twilight looked at me, shocked to the core.

"Is HE going with us?"

"Yes, gotta problem with that?" I said, trying my hardest to be salty.

"Well... considering you just shot somepony in our home I do have a itsy bitsy problem with it."

"That's too bad, I have so much money I can tank the entire countries economy with a single check. I'll do it don't make me!" In all fairness I could probably fund a militia for a third world country at this point. It's getting ridiculous really.

"He is coming, he's our security."

"I feel REAL secure as he just shot somepony."

"Well that pony was a changeling, the real starlight is here."

"Yep, that's me." Starlight said, raising her hoof.

"Oh yea about that, Starlight wanna live here?"

"Don't have anywhere else to go, might as well."

"We have one condition though, you gotta study friendship."

"Fair enough. What's the first assignment?"

"I'll tell you on the train."

"So the rumor of a new alicorn was true after all." Torn Banner sat in the bedroom of the embassy, it was originally nothing much but he'd managed to get lots of furniture in to turn it into a palace. It worked relatively well, considering that most of the houses were in ruins from the years of poverty and civil war.

"It appears so. This gives us an opening to strike, but we'll need to mobilize forces."

"His crystaling is soon, there are many travelers coming to see it. We'll get in through there. Now as for your report, Starlight is deceased?" This question was more rhetorical, but yet it was answered anyway.

"Yes, he was shot."

"That's a shame, I had a lot of hope in him."

"In all reality we were biting off more than we could chew, Twilight was about to give him a mission to meet somepony that he never even knew. Apparently the big bad communist wolf did have friends."

"It's better to go out in glory than to die in shame, yes. Speaking of which, you're dismissed."

Without hesitation the officer left his room, only to be bagged and stoned in the courtyard. Doubting God was a crime in their country, punished by death.

While he was being stoned, the officer said one thing. The final thing he yelled was a warning, but also a curse.

"Fear the religion scholars! They are teaching lies so they can hang loose with the rules! Be wary as they are blind to God and his ways. If you follow them you too are blind! When a blind man follows another blind man they both end up in a ditch!"

He was stoned right then. And thus the battle of the Crystal Empire began.

Author's Notes:

Yes, I like bible quotes.

unhinged

There's a long train ride from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, roughly 12 hours. We had bought 1st class tickets, one room for each of us, while we went there. While I heard Twilight and her friends having what sounded like a good talk, and Octavia learning not to despise Starlight in the other car, I maintained the Mac-10.

I couldn't do this as effectively as I'd like to, but it worked. There was Silicone lubricant in the janitorial hall, which I promptly stole, and some metallic rods that would fit in the barrel tightly. I tore some cloth I found and tied it around the rod. From there I dipped it in silicone and got to work.

I pulled off the stock by just overextending it, then unscrewed the body screws which held the receiver together. It was a two piece assembly. In the top half there was the bolt, a fixed block with a notch that was the firing pin. Then, just next to it, was another small notch that would latch onto the rim of the shell, we called it the 'Extractor'.

I sprayed the silicone on the assembally and the springs that made the extractor function, then I took the bolt out by pulling to forwards and unscrewing the charging handle. It was time to clean the barrel, which I was willing to bet would be absolutely filthy. I stuck the silicone soaked rod down the barrel until it came into where the bolt was, the once orange rag was smeared in black powder stains.

I pulled it back forwards, I wasn't going to get it much cleaner than that, at least not with the same rag. I pulled the rag off, closed the bottle of silicone, and stuffed the mac in my rucksack.

I laid down on the bed that was in the corner of the car and stared out my window. That land that seemed so far away was so close now. I could feel it. We'd boarded the train at night, this was so we'd get there during the day, and I could already recognize how much closer the sun looked from Yakyakistan. It shocked me for a bit, almost reminding me of what it was like.

'I'm not going back. Not yet.'

I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

The thing that woke me up was a knock at my door. I wasn't even under the covers, or undressed, so it didn't take long to answer it. It was Twilight.

"Mind if I come in?"

She pretty much forced her way through the door when she asked, which confused the hell out of me but whatever.

"What's it about?"

"It's about how close we are to Yakyakistan, you think it's safe to go.

'Why the hell didn't you ask BEFORE you left? Hell no it isn't'

"It'll go alright, more ponies are killed by falling coconuts than terrorists a year, let alone in our own country."

'That was an outright lie'

"Thank you so much, that puts me at ease."

Not me.

"Don't get too comfortable, we gotta keep on edge. So what did you come in here for, just to ask this?"

"No actually, I wanted to tell you that we mobilized the National Guard to the Crystal Empire. You probably won't be needed so you can enjoy yourself."

'Yes because I'm comfortable with a bunch of teenagers with guns doing dirty work.'

"Alright, I'll stick with you."

"That's good to hear, any questions?"

"Yea, how far are we?"

"Two hours, wanted to stop you before we were there."

Huh I'd slept for 7 hours. I reached under and put my rucksack on my bed.

"That'd be all then."

Twilight left as quickly as she had appeared. Odd, considering she had a habit of overstaying her welcome. I unpacked the rucksack and recounted my gear. Then put it back away. I spent the next two hours staring out the window, we had already passed through Canterlot I could tell. Now we were only greeted by long dark tunnels cut out of mountains and snow. It wasn't really heartwarming. I hadn't seen an environment like this for a very long time.

Once we pulled into the crystal empire, things became oddly warm. Just about 75 degrees, it was perfect temperature. It was like an oasis in a never ending sea of white. We stepped off the platform, where I noticed the new defense secretary, 'Shining Armor', standing close to the rails. Oddly enough he wasn't standing right.

Twilight and her brother had an odd conversation, he was a father now and it was obvious the stresses were getting to him. Fatherhood isn't what it's made up to be. Honestly in the first few months it's hell, but in the end you don't regret it. Like my dad said to me; 'I asked a friend for advice and he told me not to put you near a window, it'd tempt me to throw you out.'

Makes sense now that I look at it. We brought him off and I trailed behind the group, watching their every move. The arrival of a princess practically on the Yakyakistan border is sure to set off some bells and whistles. I kept my hoof close to the MAC while we waltzed into a city too close to hell. Ponies stared, not at the princess but at Spike, some ponies even knew his name.

"Hey Spike, you wouldn't have happened to have saved the crystal heart before have you?"

He looked at me with this impressed face, ready to brag about his accomplishments.

"Why yes I have, twice!"

'That calls for two cases of impeding justice and impeding a military investigation. Under normal circumstances he'd be arrested and given somewhat 5 years in a federal pen. Lucky you're a kid.'

"Interesting. I guess they like you here then?"

"That's right, I'm a celebrity here!"

We walked right by a massive crystal statue of Spike holding a heart. It did him no justice as he looked like a child in that too. I almost felt bad. He wasn't old enough to realize it but they won't be changing that statue when you get older, so in their eyes you're still always a kid. They didn't care much more, just about what you did.

We kept walking, Starlight had a mission to do from Twilight so she split off. I didn't get the details on the job but from what I knew she needed to meet some old friend of hers. This was a good time to talk to Twilight about something I had on my mind.

I pulled her off to the side when I was ready.

"About Starlight, why did you give her a spot in your home? Not the real one but the changeling, if you didn't want her dead you could have said something?"

"I figured that the Starlight that you were chasing was the fake, since the one that was with me had been here for quite some time so I let you continue the chase."

"Then why did you want her alive?"

"If she's alive, I get more praise for the arrest. I'm sure you understand."

"Sounds right, keep an eye out though, we can't say for sure how many others are going to be around here."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't looked at a map? The country within 3 miles of us is Yakyakistan, where most of these terrorists came from."

She was silent, it hadn't occurred to her just how dangerous what she was doing was. She isn't used to bloodshed it and showed, the brutal logic of it is too simple for most ponies to comprehend. She was getting her first dose of it.

"Play it smart, you're in an active hotzone. Follow my lead and you have a lower chance of something happening."

She nodded, finally realizing where she was.

The truth untold.

Author's Notes:

Filler chapter, enjoy the look at war from the opposite end of the spectrum.

On a non-story related word: I'm going to be out almost all week at a military simulation/shooting competition, so next chapter is going to take a while.

In Yakyakistan, the deal took off without words. Nopony spoke when Torn Banner made his appearance in the Yazquaital mountain, just on the border of an old military base, which had since had reinforcements put in place. Everypony knew their job, it had been rehearsed time and time again. In the eyes of God, or in this case somepony who thinks he's God, Alicorns are an abomination. In his eyes ponies are meant to have one power, or none at all, and to have both is a disgrace against all of ponykind.

The forces lined up were primarily Yaks, it was the first time in history that a Yak bowed to a pony. Torn Banner could make it happen. He knew just what to say to make them work on his side. The same couldn't be said about the harsh winter wind, however the draped tarp gave them some shelter. They had marched days to get here, and they weren't about to back down.

Torn Banner spoke to the youngest of the group first, a custom that was first taken into account about a hundred years ago. The young Yak was roughly 20 years of age, and had barely started his military career as a gun-for-hire when he learned of Torn Banner. He was persuaded by his talk of the return of God, and how all who don't fight for him are against him. It convinced him as soon as he heard it.

His name was Jafeer Bin Hadavi, or Jafeer the son of Hadavi.

"Hadavi, this is your first time facing death, how do you fair?"

Jafeer didn't quite know how to respond, in all honesty he did have serious questions for this stallion, but he knew better than to ask.

"Fighting for God, a noble cause to die for."

"Indeed it is, may I bless you in your hour of death!"

He went on to the next pony, with their names memorized he asked the same question, and responded the same way. It wasn't until he reached the third Yak that things changed. Mohammed Al Aidid was the youngest of them all, the limit for recruitment was that you at least had to be 18 years of age, but Mohammed lied to get his way into God's kindgom.

Mohammed was 16 years old, a schoolboy who ran from home despite his parents warnings. He wanted to fight for God and he possibly got his wish. Now, however, he knew that he wasn't built for fighting. He had suffered harsh injuries and disease on the march to the mountain and was ready to turn back or, better yet, kneel over and die.

"Mohammed, this is your first time fighting as well, how do you fair."

"My Lord... I'm scared."

Torn Banner kept his smile, his calm complexion, and his cold stare. It was as if all time stopped, Jafeer wanted to look at the kid but he knew otherwise.

'Does this child know the price for blasphemy!'

Mohammed bursted into tears and feel to his knees.

"I just want to go home!" He shouted to nopony in particular.

"You will my son, your true home is my kingdom, close your eyes and you'll see it."

Jafeer, as well as the others, knew exactly where this was going.

Mohammed, ignorant to the brutal reality of what he'd said, obliged.

"Now give it a second, you'll see it soon."

The knife seemed to have come from nowhere, but upon further investigation Torn Banner had it in his hooves all along. He was waiting for somepony to slip up as a way to weed out the faint of heart. Mohammed gurgled as his eyes shot open, the knife had gone into his lungs and he couldn't speak through the shock of it all.

"Oh what little faith you had." Jafeer mumbled aloud.

But it was then for the first time, Jafeer saw Torn Banner for who he really was. It didn't shock him, but it answered the one question he had.

'I knew it from the beginning, there's no God if he cannot forgive his own kind.'

He kept watching forward as he heard Mohammed's dying muffled noises, the blood had filled his lungs and now it looked like an old silent movie. He couldn't make a noise as blood seeped from his mouth. He finally gave up.

Mohammed's body would be dragged off the mountain, as a way of sending him to hell. Everypony loved Torn Banner for it, but Jafeer saw him for who he was. It wasn't just disgusting, it was down right despicable. Jafeer said a silent prayer, hoping for the death of all who loved Torn Banner, and they went to war.

Initial assault.

LOCATION: TYBRISS MILITARY BASE, CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY ARMY TENTH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

TIME OF DAY: PRESENT DAY, 1300 HOURS

OPERATIONAL ORDERS: TMB IS TO PROTECT AND FACILITATE TRADE MOVEMENT AND REGULATE GROUND TRAFFIC FROM YAKYAKISTAN INTO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE.

OPERATIONAL HISTORY: 2 PRIOR ENGAGEMENTS, 19 CASUALTIES.

Nothern Star had just gotten into the National guard and was very quickly deployed to assist the tenth army division in their effort to regulate the flow of immigrants from Yakyakistan. It was a hasty move, but not unexpected with the birth of an alicorn. Royalty in town meant that now all the guards were on edge, and Tybriss was no exception.

'Just after two months, and here I am.' He thought to himself, eager to get into a fight.

In the beginning a fight is the last thing anypony wants, but as they train and train they learn to crave conflict. They learn to bask in it's every swing, as that was what they were born to do. However, most of the ponies in the Equestrian military had no place in a fight, as there wasn't much fighting unless it was a wartime. The Tenth Mountain Division had just gotten back from fighting in Whinnyapolis, where they were deployed to hold the line and eliminate artillery positions alongside the 30th Armored Calvary Brigade.

The national guard was envious, but they knew it just wasn't their job. They were in not just to guard, but to look good. They were showponies. Most of them were right out of high school and hadn't seen bloodshed in their lives. The tenth mountain division was similar, but a little more experienced, although they had sorted out the friendly fire issue they encountered in Whinny.

Northern Was, ironically, placed on the southern border of the camp, overlooking the empty road that led to the base. Nopony in Equestria would even dare go to Yakyakistan so there was no reason to even have a guard on there. With that thought Northern Star turned around, looking at the battered camp. There were spots of discolored sand and concrete where the first attack had happened roughly eight years ago. They fixed it to the best of their abilities, but it still didn't look natural. It gave an eerie reminder to all stationed there that they could be a kilometer away from death.

He knew plenty of ponies had made their name here, whether it was etched into the casualty list or during the last two fights in Tybriss's short history. He didn't think he'd be one, nor would he want to. To him having your name on a wall is fine and dandy but when you think about it your name is in a casualty list, you're either dead or wounded.

The traffic was minimal today, Yaks had no interest in the birth of an alicorn from what they were concerned. All it meant was publicity for the parents, although the parents were already royalty the fact remained that their personal image could always be put in question. Through all the thinking, he started to realize that things had turned to an eerie silence. It was as if it were about to storm.

He turned around, to stare at the quiet rumble of the Yakistani engines, they were waiting for access to Equestria. It was probable that they were refugees, but one by one they were all turned away. There was a road that now went from one side of the base all the way back to the gate that led to Equestria, where another inspection was to take place. The road was covered in both sides with razor-wire and concrete to prevent anypony from running into the base while they passed through.

Northern stared down that road, that is until the silence was broken.

"IED!"

As soon as he yelled it the explosion erupted across the base, easily taking out the whole northern wall. He was unsure through all the dust that had been kicked into the air, so he waited for it to settle. He hadn't had his goggles on so his eyes took the shitstorm head on. He wiped them down and slid his goggles onto his face so he could slowly open his eyes.

The dust turned the world into a thick brown and white fog, but without sight he bolted his rifle and got into a firing stance, he waited for his target.

"This can't be real, this just has to be a dream!" He said to himself, but this was when he regained his vision and hearing. He knew all to well then that this was reality.

The IED had much more effects on the base then he'd predicted, he thought it'd take the north wall but they'd reestablish control and start rebuilding within the day, this was ruled out. Half the base had become a crater, the streets littered with bodies of both Equestrian soldiers and Yaks. Rubble still fell from the sky, but Northern was protected by the roof above his head. He heard cinder blocks clunking off the metal overhead roof and plummet to the ground, where they'd break on impact.

The reality had finally kicked in. He could hear the screams of ponies all over the ground. There was a massive convoy of trucks moving towards their position, but the radio building was still intact. That was their only hope of help.

LOCATION: OMEGA 3 COMMAND CENTER. 15 MILES WEST OF TYBRISS MILITARY BASE

TIME OF DAY: PRESENT DAY, 1308 HOURS

OPERATIONAL ORDERS: OMEGA 3 (Call-Sign 'Beaver 3') IS TO BE THE CENTRAL VEHICLE AND GROUND COMMAND CENTER FOR THE NORTHERN DEFENSIVE UNITS OF THE EQUESTRIAN EMPIRE AND THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE. OMEGA 3 IS TO HOUSE THE C2 (Command and Control) UNITS AND ELSSEC 1-3 (Equetsrian Legionary Squad Sections) AS WELL AS AIR AND ARMOR SUPPORT AND AUXILIARY UNITS.

OPERATIONAL HISTORY: 360 YEARS OF PREVIOUS USE, MODERNIZED 8 TIMES. 0 CASUALTIES 156 IN MEDICAL BAY. 3 UNITS IN METAL WARD, 1 ON SUICIDE WATCH.

Things had kicked up a storm as soon as this happened. It'd only been reported a minute ago and we'd already sent a C2 blackhawk to the area to try and get radio comms and commander visuals up. things were getting dirty real fast. Iron Brigade's appointed first sergeant wasted no time getting air and ground support units mobilized. They were little over 15 miles away so it would take them 10 minutes normally to get there, but this was an emergency. They didn't care about wasting gas so they moved as fast as they could.

The base had brought in the big guns, 8 AH-6 little birds armed with two rocket pods and two minigun racks, a paladin artillery unit and 5 M1 Abrams tank units. The helicopters would arrive first, their primary role was to destroy bridges and some of the lighter armored trucks. The artillery had orders to pound away at heavier targets and possible stationary units if they were given the coordnates by the air units. The tanks were there to deal with possible heavily armored units and to maintain security after it was over. Trailing behind was an UH-1 Huey carrying a 16 stallion ELSSEC squad which would deal with infantry units and clear the excursion zone. The whole force was put together in a matter of minutes.

The plan went smoothly in the beginning, the AH-6s arrived roughly 6 minutes after they were deployed. The Yak trucks were having a difficult time getting through the battered checkpoint since the IED had ruined the road and made it uneven. Some of the larger five ton trucks looked close to tipping, one having had its two front wheels off the ground. That was the first target for the AH-6s.

The AH-6 leading the team was piloted by one of the few mare pilots the base had, Staff Sergeant Crystal Haze. She was methodical about her runs, slowly approaching the target at too high an altitude for the small arms to reach her. Once she was over the signaled the initial strike.

"All air attack units, bump one."

The group of units threw their cockpits up about 45 degrees and then dipped them directly downwards, this tactic was called the 'Bump'. The bump put their helicopters into vertical flight so that they could attack units directly below them. All of the eight AH-6s opened up into the middle of the convoy with a rocket barrage. The dust kicked up high enough that the fireteam had to stop the barrage early.

"All air attack units, resume level flight." Crystal said into her microphone.

The units followed orders to a tee. They were still in their delta formation when they were level with the ground, they advanced forwards as bullets ripped from the dustbowl. After a ten second level flight she ordered the team to go for another pass. The C2 blackhawk caught it all on camera and streamed it back to base.

At the first strike, the command team was in awe. Their unit effectiveness had been vastly underestimated by even them, which is what caught them off guard the most. There was some cheers, but the most of the command was still barking orders.

"Good run Omega Unit 52, go for another pass in on a salvo. Use evasive maneuvers how copy?" Knightly Daze said into his microphone, he was assigned to be in charge of the base while Iron Brigade was out and this was what he'd trained for all his life.

"Roger that Omega HQ, we're headed in for another pass at the ground convoy, we have minimal anti-aircraft weapons in sight and shouldn't take any losses over." Crystal's voice came through clear in the intercom.

"Roger that Omega Unit 52, keep up the good work, over."

"Solid copy Omega HQ. Beginning strafe run."

The microphone broke off contact for a second.

The paladin team had stopped three or so miles away from the target location. They loaded HE ammunition into the 155mm gun. The ammunition could be used up to 18.5 miles away and was computer guided/assisted. The first round was already loaded into the weapon and the fireteam was ready for orders. The first ones came in from Crystal's co-pilot.

"Fireteam Omega Unit 99, load HE. Launch full artillery salvo on gridmap coordnates 'Alpha, 2-8-9-0-8, Delta 6-8-9-2-5' how copy?"

The fireteam used the computer in the vehicle to see on GPS where that was through the C2 Blackhawk. It was smack dab in the front of the convoy on a technical that was hiding between two buildings. The strafe runs could get the technical so they needed something guided.

"Roger that Omega Unit 52, firing full salvo on target. Impact ETA is 5 seconds over."

The gunner rotated the turret to 49 degrees north-east and angled the barrel at an 140 degree angle, this was supposed to lob right on top of the target, if it was off the gunner could change it's course on the computer. He gave it a two second count and then fired the round. The shot made everypony in the vehicle's ears ring, but he wasted no time jumping to the computer, the shell had already surpassed 2000 feet and was getting ready to begin dropping. Once the round tilted downwards, the gunner clicked on the target. This sent a laser from a satellite in space down onto the target, which the artillery shell would pick up and follow the light trail. The only downfall was the laser could be seen with NODs. The gunner, however, had a serious doubt that anypony would be wearing Night Optic Devices in the middle of the day or that a militia in the middle of nowhere had the money for them.

The shell's camera adjusted it's view and began rocket assisted propulsion to speed up contact time. It slammed right onto the truck with an ear cracking TWABAM.

Crystal watched the shell fall, it was right next to her helicopter as it started using it's jet propulsion and it made her deaf for a few minutes. The helicopters were zooming by at an incredible speed, cutting down forces that tried to move out of the vehicles. They were low on rockets and started resorting to the miniguns. They had a fast paced sound that was pleasing to their ears, but not to anypony on the wrong end. The minigun shot what looked like a laser at the ground convoy, tearing vehicles to shreds. Technicals that had taken days to build were being turned into Swiss cheese by the auto-cannon. Some would explode after enough rounds ran through the engine block.

The miniguns, however, had a serious downfall when mounted on the little bird attack helicopters. It was ammo capacity. They were running dry fast and had to fall back, that was when the message went to Crystal from her co-pilot.

"They have AA Rockets on the 3 o'clock!" He shouted at her.

They were turning to the right, meaning he would be in their guns in a second, but she couldn't spot them.

"Could you give me a landmark? I do-" Just then the rocket ripped right through cockpit of the aircraft. It exploded on impact. The helicopter spun wildly without a pilot or copilot until it slammed against a hillside. The helicopter did a role as all the rudders were being thrown in the air.

They were both killed instantly.

All went silent in the command center when that happened. They were in awe, it was as if their worst nightmare had come true. Then the second of silence was broken.

"We have a little bird down in the Yakazail Mountains!"

"Roger that, which little bird?"

"Crystal, come in Crystal! We can't get Crystal on the line!"

"It was Unit 52, we lost Crystal."

The air blew up around them.

"Open fire with all you got, make em pay."

"Roger that, with pleasure!"

Crystal was an idol, it hadn't gotten through that the happiest and most cheerful person in the base had just gone down in a blaze of fire.

The helicopters regrouped in a now 7 unit delta formation and went right down the main road. The rockets flew in the air at the helicopters, but they used flares which redirected the lockon guided missiles to them. There was AA Guns as well, but they were in too heavy of a mist to be noticed. The helicopters opened fire, a blaze of orange lines went right into the base, there was explosions, screaming, and blood in the air.

They flew past right into Yakyakistan, where they caught a glimpse of a retreating five ton truck. They showed no mercy. It was gunned down with hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the helicopters until it was a mess of burning metal. The helicopters went back around, only to make an awful discovery: they had only attacked half of the convoy. They got tunnel vision on the bottom half they started with that the other half passed right through the road unharmed.

Jafeer stared at the mist that the Equestrian helicopters brought onto the base, he was sure it was nothing but a pile of rubble now. That was when they saw the explosion in the air and the helicopter fall. Most of them got up and cheered, but not Jafeer. He whispered something to himself.

"We've awoken the sleeping bear... my god."

He knew the gravity of this situation, now it wasn't up to god it was up to Equestrian what happened to them. The kept moving unscathed, then they heard the sirens. Equestria was evacuating the Crystal Empire and moving them back. They weren't going to let that happen. Jafeer sat in the last truck, looking back at home as he thought of what he'd just become part of.

I ran back to get Twilight, she was already packing.

"Just leave the stuff! We gotta go now!" I screamed, the sirens said it was severe weather but I knew exactly what was happening. They were moving APCs into the city streets, it was obvious that another attack had taken place. This one was big, and they planned to kill the royalty.

"It's just a blizzard, what do you mean?"

"Don't you see! It's an attack, just get going!"

I grabbed her and her stuff and shoved the whole group in a car, some were dumped on top of each-other, there was smoke coming in the distance from where Tybriss was. I had a flashback, remembering that NCO that saved my life. He died later in that war, I'm not letting that happen in vain.

"Whats that?" Twilight and her group asked.

"That's an airstrike, war's coming and you gotta get out of here."

"What do you mean an 'airstrike'?" Rainbow Dash was the least in the loop about the military, whereas Applejack instantly understood.

"When an enemy brings in armor or a large number of units, we bring in aircraft to cut them down."

Rainbow Dash laughed, then stopped to think.

"Wait, you mean to tell me there's an army coming here?"

"Army isn't the right word, more like a group of really pissed and religious church boys."

They all stopped laughing, Applejack broke the silence.

"He's not kidding, I think I saw an explosion in the sky."

I looked in the rear view mirror, a puff of smoke was being trailed to earth. It was, without a doubt, a downed helicopter.

"You need to get out fast, Twilight I'm taking you to the train station, you'll be able to get out."

Twilight was emotionless, she had never seen bloodshed. We had already gotten to the train station, but it was smoke.

'You've gotta be fucking kidding me...'

They'd detonated an IED at the train station, there were bodies of ponies strewed about the area. Everypony in the car but me and Octavia stared in awe. Me and her were used to this by now.

Twilight and Pinkie threw up out the window when a truck emerged from the smoke, it had an old Prussian heavy machine gun mounted on it.

I threw the car in reverse and slammed it. The technical fired it's slow machine gun, who's rounds bounced off the ground and went just over the car. I swerved into a corner and kept moving backwards.

"Octavia take the wheel!"

"Roger that!"

She stepped over me while I drew the mac and grabbed the wheel as we switched seats. I was now in the passenger seat and Octavia swerved the car around so we were driving forwards.

The technical rounded the corner and slammed on it's gas. It was faster than our car so it was catching up. The gunner was angling the gun down.

"Everypony get down!"

They all followed my order, dropping to the ground. The technical drummed up fire into the rear window, which went in all directions. We were lucky to have no been hit. I leaned out the window with the mac and opened up a full magazine in full auto. The rounds bounced off the hood of the car and eventually hit the windshield. Nopony in the vehicle died and the HMG was about to open fire again when we swerved onto the main road. The National Guard Bradley APC was in the road, we swerved around it, which caught the crews attention.

Then the truck swerved out to be greeted by a mass of 25mm Auto-Cannon rounds from the Bradley, which caused the car to loose both it's right wheels. The Machine gunner was thrown off of the car and into a brick wall. He broke through the building and landed face first into the other side. The car crashed through and flipped over.

We drove back through backroads until we were safe.

Author's Notes:

And here comes a new act in this story:

Cloud Dasher and the Equestrian military VS the TJY. Time to grab popcorn .

Also: I like military vehicles. If you haven't noticed yet.

Digging in.

Iron Brigade was moved out of his current position and sent to the east as soon as the bird went down. The news came in as a shock, which literally sent him packing. There was no train ride there, he was flown in using a dual engine Chinook alongside the 271st Combat Search and Rescue team. Their first stop was Omega 3, this was to get his less experienced officers off of leading a defense force. After they were done with that the Chinook would swoop to the crash site in an attempt to recover any bodies or living units and destroy any electronics. There was an intense firefight going on in the remnants of Tybriss where the remaining forces of both sides were fighting it out.

Iron Brigade landed safely onto the 3rd TARMAC of the base, things had gone to shit real fast. The base was in high alert, most of the vehicles had been mobilized to the city and what hadn't been sent there was on it's way to Tybriss for infantry support. Things weren't looking good for the Omega 3 command. There was a blatant defensive hole in their plan, there weren't any vehicles to defend the base in case things really got out of hand. The most they had was a few helicopters, one F2 Phantom, and some defensive towers armed with heavy machine guns.

The sirens were on full blare, which urged Iron to rush to the center of operations. He ran through the halls of the barracks to take a shortcut, where ponies were in a scramble to get their gear on and ready.

'They're not going anywhere! They are all we got to defend this place!' A voice screamed in Iron's head.

Once he arrived at the command center, things didn't look better, ponies were yelling at eachother and practically falling over. They'd had no combat experience, whereas Iron was a seasoned veteran.

"All command personnel on deck, render attention!" He screamed louder than anything in the room, ponies all turned and stared.

"This is a defensive operation, I relieve the current First Sergeant from his duties and am now taking control as the head of this operation. What we do here is going to make history. How we act will determine how it is written. Just remember what you've been trained to do. None of you have had combat experience but now is a good time to get some. Ready units along the defensive perimeters and lock down the gates. No unit is to go anywhere without my knowledge."

He looked at the screen to see the familiar grainy footage taken from a C2 blackhawk, in the image was Tybriss military base. Things weren't looking good for them, the thermal imagery on the other screen showed what looked like a solid 300 hostile units headed from Yakyakistan with nothing to stop them now that there was no Tybriss. Not only that, but Tybriss was engaged in a balls out gunfight. The tracers were flying in all directions, there was radio communications going fluently through them, keeping a line in check.

Iron Brigade got on the line with them.

"This is General Iron Brigade, command of the Equestrian land armed forces. What is your situation?"

A hazy, zoned out but panicked voice came through the other side.

"This is Private Star, Northern Star. We're taking heavy machine gun fire from the northern route! We've lost at last 30 guys on my location! The NCO's are dead, we're pretty much shooting blind!"

'Well you're doing real damn well for shooting blind'

"Keep the fire going, you have roughly 300 units headed south towards you and we're working on getting units into your location, keep tight."

"Sir, we lost a helicopter."

"I know, keep fighting."

If there was one thing Iron knew, it was that nothing was more demoralizing than seeing a helicopter get shot out of the sky.

"Sir, when is rescue coming?"

"We cannot take you out of that zone, you're in a vital spot and we need to hold it to cut reinforcements off. You're staying there."

"I'm gonna fucking die here!"

Iron knew this feeling, he knew it too well. He'd fought in two wars, one in Yakyakistan and another in Mexicolt fighting a warlord. It was hard to fight it, but he couldn't pull the kid out. All he could do is say what he wanted to be told when he was on the ground.

"Hey listen, if you die would you want to die sitting in a corner or with your hoofs on a rifle making sure those motherfuckers paid for each life they thought they could take?"

The radio went silent, and so did the room, Iron didn't realize that this was on the intercom and that everypony in the base could hear it.

"Like hell I'll kill every one of those bastards."

A cheer roared from room to room, the ponies were in a need for a morale boost, so maybe this was exactly what they needed.

"Good, get in the fight."

"Sir, units are low on ammunition, requesting Combat Search And Rescue to bring some?"

"CSAR is unarmed but the bird is carrying ammo, he'll jettison it as soon as he lands."

"Roger that Omega 3. Northern Star out."

The conversation didn't do all that much for Northern, of anything it probably made the situation worse. Seconds turned to days as he kept his eyes peered down into a pile of rubble. There were Yaks on the other side, if he saw movement he'd fire. He stood there for minutes, he'd managed to get a few survivors on the same corner, since his old guard post got hit by a RPG he was down on the ground 20 yards away.

He kept his eyes on it so long he didn't hear the rudders of the AH-6's coming in for a strafe run. They fired in a direct line along the
end of the rubble that Northern Star was watching. He saw blood and limbs fly from behind cover. It was like a scene from a war movie. That was when it dawned on him that this wasn't a movie, this was real life. He was in the shitstorm for real.

Author's Notes:

Yea I'm just gonna stop it with the filler for now.

Convoy 129

The car we'd gotten had taken a serious toll, but it was inevitably alright. The rounds fired from the truck were apparently old and rotten, causing it to not even have the penetrating power to go through the aluminium frame of the car. It could break the window and some ponies (Applejack in particular) had glass lacerations. They're nasty gashes, plus they bleed a lot. These mares hadn't seen much blood in their time, at least all but applejack. She managed to keep her calm while we pulled behind the Bradly. The crew chief jumped out, asked to see hooves. When he saw the seven ponies heaped in the back things changed quickly. He pulled all of them out, except for me. I got out and cooperated.

Octavia was indifferent to the National Guard, but these were armored cavalry units. We were thrown into the back of the Bradly, where a squad was sitting in all the benches. We stood near the back, there was hardly any room. They all looked at us, one of them recognized me. I saw him before too, and I knew where. Yakyakistan, 5 years ago. His name was Bronze Star, long lineage of soldiers and he wasn't exempt when he had the torch handed to him.

I remember him from the time he spent cracking jokes with me when we finally got out of the freezing cold area of Yakyakistan and finally made it into the deserts. We went from wearing parkas to pulling guard duty in gym shorts and a tee shirt. We had a commander we worked with, Red Shine, who would get on our shit if we did. I wanted to apologize for getting him in deep shit (since if we did anything he'd get in trouble with the brass) but he died before I could. I remembered Bronze Star saying that he'd never re-enlist. Way before he got into his first fight, and when he did he was quiet about the topic. It was odd seeing him again. Especially here.

He stayed silent when we nodded, soldiers are like wolves. We recognize one of our own. There were some soldiers that didn't give off the feeling and then there were those who you just knew were legit. It wasn't an honor thing, it was a logic thing. Ponies who've been through their baptism of fire automatically recognize another. Probably how me and Octavia got it off so quickly had something to do with that. That and the fact that she literally was forced into poverty.

Oh the irony, how things change.

The intercom came on, it was Iron Brigade's voice. He must've gotten back to the main HQ and is now relaying orders.

"Our enemy has decided that a full offensive was a good idea, they're wrong. We're going to show them what the real force of the Equestrian military. We didn't finish the fight last time in Yakyakistan and I'll be damned if they try to finish it in Equestria. They've pulled a flanking maneuver using the remnants of their units in Whinnyapolis. The situation isn't looking good, but we've already mobilized air and ground support. Air cavalry and Ground cavalry are on their way in an ETA of 20 minutes. You will not be returning to Tybriss. They've taken that out of our options. We're making them pay for every life they took. Kill em all."

The APC sprung to life as it turned around. It ran over the car we were just in. While all that was going on a medic was working on the wounds he could. I could tell the job was to kill off the resistance that took down the train station and (most likely) had a foothold in the southern block of the city. I knew what I'd do.

"Yo Star? You still remember me?" I shouted across.

"Hell yea I do, how'd I forget?" He had a flat Boston accent, which fitted his physique well. He was a black on yellow pony, it made him look like a long strip of caution tape. Ironically he looked nothing like either of his parents, his dad was a Brown on Black stern pony whereas his mom was Pink on Purple. Nopony knew where he'd gotten that look.

"Well we're back. I don't need to give them my DD214 to show them that I'm going to fight here."

"Go for it buddy, but you got a gun?"

I raised the mac and looked down the open chamber, there was a round in the mag and one in the chamber. How many were left in the magazine was anypony's guess.

"I have two shots."

"Well take mine." He shouted back, handing me his Beretta. I instantly remembered my training, it was almost instinct.

Well, I never was fond of using both my hooves, I prefer accuracy. I can't complain.

"Just don't break it." He giggled across. Reminding me of the last time I used his handgun.

"What does that mean?" Octavia asked.

"I'll tell you later tonight."

The 2 minute drive felt like an hour.

"DEPARTURE DOORS OPEN!" Came through the intercom, then all the lights turned red. The doors swung open and we were greeted with the immense fighting that was blocked out by the noise proof cabin. I rushed out with Octavia, but told the medic, who was currently working on Applejack in amazement that she hadn't taken a head injury, to keep the others here. Last thing we wanted was dead royalty.

The rounds seemed to be coming from all directions, something I'll never forget. It gave this feeling of calmness amidst insanity. I pulled the Mac, there was a small barricade where I could confirm at least one pony. I rushed towards a downed truck that was flipped towards its side, it was coincidentally where Bronze was. The squad was working away at the units ahead with slow methodical bursts from their M16s. The APC couldn't provide support, it had to pull out to avoid RPGs. Speaking of the devil one flew right over the truck and slammed into a street sign, punching right through it until it hit a building.

The squad kept up solid communication. Telling eachother everything.

"Reloading! Mag out!"

"Roger cover fire!"

When one would reload, the other would take on his target. Half a second later he'd be back online and ready to roll.

Then I saw movement in a small apartment complex behind Star.

"Star, we got movement in the building behind you. They're yaks."

"Roger!"

We both turned and ran to the front door. I braced my shoulder and rammed right through it. Bronze jumped through the window in room next to me. I saw him through the open door. He raised his M16 and looked for targets. Room clear.

"Looks fine to me, you sure you saw something?"

It was awfully peaceful here, so even if that wasn't the case at least we had some quiet.

"I saw movement."

As if staged the yak peeked his AK around the corner and fired a short burst. He obviously wasn't an experienced fighter. he was probably forced into this. A round ringed off my plate carrier, which threw me the floor after knocking all the wind out of me. Star already was on the counterattack, he rushed through an open door in his room and took a right turn. This put him facing the Yak from his right side. The yak looked over, he was on heroin, a common drug that these fighters were bribed with.

The dangerous thing about it was a few things, it made you violent, but even worse it made you feel no pain. The yak swung his rifle to Bronze Star, who put a three round burst his target's chest. The yak stumbled but didn't fall. Bronze had enough of it, he clicked it onto semi auto and unloaded the entire mag one trigger pull at a time. The yak only went down when one round rung through his neck. I had gotten back up and only saw the pool of blood. I heard the metal clack against the ground, it was the empty magazine. I got up and pulled my mac, rounding the corner to check if he was still alive, the yak didn't look like a yak anymore but his heart was still beating. He was already in shock and would bleed out soon.

That was when we got steps on the floor above us. I motioned to Bronze to not shoot until we knew who it was. We both went up the stairs with our weapons drawn. I led the way, Star had his hoof on my shoulder behind me, and without my knowledge Octavia behind him. She'd picked up the AK from the yak. The feel of it was unfamiliar to her. It made her uncomfortable having the heavy and unbalanced weapon shouldered.

A yak walked around the corner, I shot him three times with the Mac, which clicked on the fourth shot. I didn't have any extra magazines so I just dropped it and pulled the handgun. The yak stumbled backwards and then fell to the front. Looks like there was at least one not jacked up on heroin.

We cleared the two story building, there was no more of them. The back door was open so it'd explain how they got in.

The fight had died down when we ran out. The bodied of dead Yaks and Ponies were piled in the center. It was a way of getting a body count of how many of Banner's men had gotten killed in the mess.

There was one injury, a shot to the arm, that the medic who kept the others still was working on him. It wasn't a serious hit, it had just bounced off the bone and gotten lodged between the two bones in his hoof. It was odd, but he managed to get it out. That soldier was evacuated from the vicinity. The sector was clear. Apparently there was vastly less ponies than we'd assumed that were at this location. Twilight was there, since she was put in charge of defense it became standard that she be here. She saw the wounded soldier and held back tears, She'd never seen anyone hurt like this. It was surreal to her, almost as if she didn't understand it.

The bodies that were piled was an even harder sight for her. She was always taught that bodies should be buried, but these ponies just threw them in a heap and poured gas on them. When they lit it on fire she was irate. I calmed her down then asked her a question that had been on my mind during the entire fight.

"Where's the national guard?"

Author's Notes:

You have a new character: With a very angst-y character design. Yep it's intentional.

Oh also: Prepare for all out war, things escalate from here.