"My turn."

Alex was currently surrounded by Winchester's soldiers at the Royal Castle in Canterlot. Alex went there to steal some sensitive CIA documents about his imprisonment, which were now in his possession. Now for the tricky part;

Getting out alive.

Alex pulled out the .44 Magnum that Vinyl had modified for him, which he now called the .44 Scratch, in honor of the mare who had gone through the trouble of fixing it and revamping it. He raised the new weapon in the direction of a cluster of soldiers, pulling the hammer back as he found his targets.

BZZZZZOW!

The weapon produced at least thrice the recoil of the original gun, even when using 4 grains of magic propellant. The iron bullet burst out of the gun, producing a visible sonic boom, and it left a thin trail of lightning behind the projectile. As for the soldiers, they were blown away, all 5 of them, dead. Leaving only the still-echoing sound of something similar to a gunshot combined with a dubstep bass drop.

Alex ran as fast as he could down the hallway containing the corpses of his attack, with more soldiers firing their weapons, making a slight plink every time a bullet hit his armor. Firing another round of the .44 Scratch. Killing more and more soldiers.

Where could Alex go? Soldiers were pretty much everywhere, occupying each hallway as Alex continued to move. Trying to head towards the main entrance. It wasn't the best way to go, but he was running low on options. More soldiers popped out from the direction of the entrance, blocking Alex's path and shooting at him. Alex fired the .44 Scratch again and again in attempts to thin out the crowd.

Where else? Maybe there's a back exit of some type. But again, soldiers occupied the halls of the castle. How many soldiers were there in this damned death trap? Alex reminded himself to flip off Karis if he survived this. It was about then that Alex figured he should try going out through a window.

Nope. Bad plan. Celestia would be pretty mad if she found out that Alex jumped through one of the very expensive windows. Sure, he could pay for it, but that would drain the wealth in Alex's pocket dimension entirely.

Where else?! Alex was starting to worry. These A-Holes were everywhere, all of them shooting their weapons at him.

Ow! A bullet punched through the armor! It must've worn out since these guys were firing at him nonstop. The wound wasn't serious. It hadn't even broken the skin!

Alex reloaded his .44 Scratch for what was quite possibly the third or fourth time. The weapon blasted away many of his foes in just a few shots, but the sheer firepower was proving tiresome for Alex, and downright painful, this thing could break something!

Pulling out the SCAR, he fired a grenade out of the launcher into a group of soldiers, blowing them back to the Stone Age. He fired about 11 rounds into the next group in front of him, slaughtering them. Alex then ran towards a long staircase. He figured it was that or die down here. He ran up the stairs, closing the wooden door behind him. As Alex ran up the stairs, he saw more of Winchester's men.

"HVT spotted going up the stairs!" One soldier reported.

Alex shot him first, right in the neck, blood oozing out of the wound and choking him to death. The other soldiers returned fire, a few more rounds piercing through his weakened armor. The hot red metal burning him from inside his chest and leg.

Alex looked out the window and saw something that made him wet himself a little.

A large, blue hued energy wave, coming right for him!

Alex leaped out of the way as the energy obliterated everything behind him in a blaze of dubstep. Looking down, Alex noticed a group of soldiers, kinda far off from the main party, with a large speaker connected to it.

Alex ran for his life as the beam followed him. Shooting and killing a couple more soldiers, Alex looked up the staircase. Damn, how high up was this?!

From there, one of two things happened;

1: The soldiers broke through the wooden door, and were ganging up behind him.

2: Another beam shot out behind another group of soldiers further up the stairs

Alex had to think about this, he could retreat, but what good would that do? Or he could fight his way up, shoving the soldiers into the beam.

He went with the latter.

Alex charged for the soldiers, the men shot him with pistols and machine guns, while Alex kept Sparta-kicking, uppercutting, or whatever he could to throw the soldiers into the beam. Then, for some reason, the beam stopped.

Using this opportunity, Alex sprinted up the stairs, occasionally turning around and shooting them, until...

The SCAR blew up in his face. His one untouched souvenir from the Militia was destroyed right in front of him, the projectile blowing up the barrel of the gun. Desperate, he threw the gun at the soldiers, hitting one in the leg as the others kept shooting, further weakening the armor.

Alex came across a locked door, shooting it with the .44 Scratch, he smashed the door open. Alex got a pretty good view of the concert from up here, but he was cornered.

The soldiers ran through the door, Agent Winchester falling in close behind.

Alex could end this right now! He aimed the .44 Scratch directly at Agent Winchester's neck, a more painful way to go, cocked back the hammer, and-

*click*

No ammo!?

*click*

*click*

*click*

"... Well, this is embarrassing." Alex muttered.

The soldiers and Winchester fired another torrent of bullets at Alex, forcing him to run towards the railing and leap off the edge, screaming bloody murder on the way down.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Out of practically nowhere, a cyan blur picked up Alex before he could reach terminal velocity. Alex looked to the left to find out the identity of his savior.

"R-Rainbow Dash!?"

Alex was horrified. She had been the one to follow him up the mountain to fight that dragon. He hadn't seen her since that day. Alex then noticed that she wasn't flying him back up the castle perch to turn him in, if not that, then what?

Alex had another moment to rest. Looking at the vast plains intersecting north of Ponyville and west of Canterlot. The sun was just beginning to set as the day prepared for the arrival of the night.

Rainbow lowered him to about ten feet above the ground.

And dropped him.

The impact sent more pain to his wounds and tired muscles. Grasping his leg, he staggered up to find Rainbow glaring at him.

"What the hell was that?!" Alex asked in disbelief.

"I should be asking you the same thing! Killing four of your kind in front of everyone, attacking the castle, not telling us anything!" She stared daggers at Alex, who was still very afraid of what would happen to him.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe there are some things you shouldn't know? For god's sakes, show some restraint!" Alex retorted.

"Alex! You've been hiding something since you got here, I can tell! There's no use hiding what you did in Bohemian Grove!"

So Winchester fed her false information. He did kind of see this coming, but he started to get angry at the suggestion that Winchester lied to them, and she believed it.

"Do you honestly think that's what happened," Alex began, growing more and more enraged by the second. "Do you really believe that I would do this?" His voice started to shake.

Rainbow's eyes widened, she had gone too far.

"Alex..."

"I had nothing to do with that damned massacre! I would've had nothing to do with the Militia if Winchester hadn't gotten desperate!! And I NEVER WOULD HAVE COME HERE IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THOSE PSYCHOPATHS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!"

Enraged, he opened the pocket dimension, stormed inside, and went out carrying the file on his case with the government.

"YOU LIKE READING ADVENTURE BOOKS!?! WELL READ THIS!!! IT'S NON-FICTION!!!!!" He finished angrily. Dropping the folder on the ground and kicking it to Rainbow.

She seemed astonished that this had gotten him so angry. Alex had released his repressed fear, anger, anxiety, pain, everything. Everything he had felt the past month and a half. He had been through hell, back, and into hell again.

By the time she had gotten to the details on Die Glocke, she was trembling. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel bad for her. Now she would know all about him. As she turned the next page, he knew this was probably the worst part.

"Full details on the interrogation of Alex Walker... Electrical shock...waterboarding...forced removal of molars..." He heard Rainbow read out loud, reading off everything that Winchester did to him. She occasionally looked up sympathetically at him. Tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

By the time Rainbow finished reading the file, she looked like she could barely stand, falling into a sitting position, stunned.

"Winchester and the FBI came to my house the next day, a neighbor reported that I looked like the police sketch of one of the Militia's men. The Feds killed my parents and burned my house into a pile of ash. He did it for the reward money. $50,000. That was the value they placed on our lives." Alex himself was starting to shake.

"That sick bastard Winchester tortured me for weeks. Then, once they seemed me worthless, they were about to execute me..."

"S-Stop!" She pleaded.

"...if it hadn't been for the militia, I would have died. I was forced to fight for the Militia after they rescued me, but they manipulated me. If I did what the militia told me, I would have died. So, yes, next time I saw these people hunting me down, I lost my shit, WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU DO!?!?!"

Both Alex and Rainbow sat in silence. Now Rainbow understood his pain, his fear, all of it. Though he wished he didn't have to go about it like that. He now moved into a laying position, hardly having any energy to move. He just revealed his darkest secret to Rainbow Dash, and in one of the most cruel ways imaginable.

Despite his tiredness, he got to work removing the armor. The chest plate was shredded and mangled. He threw it inside the pocket dimension like garbage, then, he got to rest of the armor. And chucked it all in the pocket dimension, he also took the file from Rainbow and placed it inside there as well, neglecting to notice a few pages had been torn out.

Upon completion of his work, he took out the small bottle of alcohol and some bandages and started tending to his wounds, feeling the painful sting as he dabbed some on one of the cloth bandages, and crudely wrapped the bandage on top of the wounds.

The sun set behind them, and Alex sat down. What would happen to him now that someone knew the truth. Would she help him, or hurt him?

Rainbow walked up to Alex, tapping him on the shoulder.

"I...I didn't know it would be that bad... I just...I'm sorry." She said in a low, respectful tone.

"Don't be. You had nothing to do with it, I was wrong to treat you like that." Alex said back to her.

She sat down next to him, watching the sun set in an explosion of orange, pink, blue, and red.

"Hello, Mr. Walker." A voice sounded behind them. Alex turned around to see an Alicorn as dark as the night itself, she looked sypathetic.

"Princess Luna?" Rainbow questioned, bowing.

"How much did you hear?" Alex asked.

"I didn't need to hear very much. Your mind may be an enigma, Mr. Walker, but you cannot hide from your fear forever." Luna told him.

"I've noticed." Alex said, referring to his confrontation with Rainbow.

"I admire thy resolve. Not many ponies have such will."

"What are you getting at here?" Alex asked.

"As thine sister hath said, the fight is your own, but you are not alone." Luna said

"What do you mean?" Alex questioned.

"I believe Ms. Dash can answer that." Luna says.

"After you left, I found these weird guys inside the forest, they killed Winchester's soldiers really quickly. and when they got shot... they didn't die.. They just... 'Respawn'." Rainbow reluctantly admitted.

"How did Luna find out?" Alex asked Rainbow.

It was Luna who answered.

"'Twas simple. Rainbow told Twilight, Twilight told Celestia, and Celestia told me."

"Do you think they will be any help?" Alex questioned.

"They have already been acquainted with Rainbow, and she seems to have told them about you." Luna informs.

"Good, there's just one more tiny little detail I need to clear up." Alex said.

----

"Karis!" Alex yelled "I'm not dead!"

Karis walked out of the spider hole, looking indignant.

"What the hell are you thinking?! Don't attract attention!" She yelled.

"Too late." Rainbow Dash walked out from behind some bushes. Karis responded by holding Alex's mouth, pointing her M1911 at the mare.

Alex moved out of the lock, pointing her gun away from Rainbow.

"Calm down, she's with me." Alex says.

"Why are you here?" Karis asked.

"We found some people outside the Everfree, Alex said you should be able to help him." Rainbow said.

"I think you may know something about it." Alex said.

Karis seemed to understand what was going on.

"Project Immersion was a CIA test on certain video games, seeing how test subjects would work together. I pulled some strings, and had the CIA pull in a team that had been dominating the youtube charts for about 4 years now." Karis explains.

"Oh, god... You don't mean..." Alex says.

"Yes. Them. They work well together, but lack any sense of professionalism, I had a friend of mine send them here to see how they would fare in this situation." Karis replied.

"Who are we talking about?" Rainbow asked.

"You'll find out in the morning, meet us back here at 0800." Karis said.

Rainbow saluted, then moving to Alex, spoke to him.

"Again, I'm sorry, about everything." She said, hugging him.

"It's not your fault. Rest up, we have a long day ahead of us." Alex comforted,returning the hug. It still felt awkward. But, he actually felt slightly better.

Rainbow flew off, and Alex and Karis went inside the spider hole again.

"Did you complete the mission, at the very least?" Karis asked.

"Yep, how do you think I have Rainbow helping us?"

Karis gaped.

"So you just... told her everything?"

"Yes. It's just...I hate this. I hate all of this." Alex admitted, tired.

"I understand. We will get you through this, Alex. Just trust me." Karis comforted.

"Okay, okay, enough with the pity party." He gruffly laid down on the cot, still uncomfortable as all hell, but it was better than sleeping on the ground.

"One more thing, Karis." Alex said

Karis turned her attention towards Alex, who lifted up both middle fingers, looking really mad at her. She just sends him out to do this crap without another thought? What kind of crap is that?

"My point being that you really do suck." Alex scowled.

Karis stared him down as she put on a pair of brass knuckles.

"Ah, crap."

Author's Notes:

Well, boom, third or fourth major chapter in the story and possibly the darkest, as you find out why Alex was framed.
I also figured he should have like a mental breakdown as he's telling Rainbow everything, to me, he was starting to look too much like a Mary Sue type character, god knows what that would do to my reputation, am I right?