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.