I only had a few seconds before the bullets would begin to fly. I eyed the two tommyguns I had held in my magic, aiming one at the basement stairwell and one down the hall directly across from me. I saw the doors on the far end flip open, followed by a shriek from what appeared to be a cook.

"Get back in there!!" I shouted at her, waving my gun in her direction.

She took the hint, just as a burst of gunfire came at me from my right. I heard a bullet nick the tommygun I had aimed in that direction, and with a quick readjustment of my aim, I pulled the trigger. The sound of glass shattering and the shouts of several ponies down that hall announced the danger that was approaching me, but I could barely hear them over the ringing in my ears.

I looked down the hall across from me just in time to see a pony rushing down the stairs, a modded shotgun held in his hoof, an earth pony. He had an extra grip grafted onto the gun, and the trigger was moved forward so he could hold it easier with one hoof. Shame he didn't get to fire it.

I pulled the trigger on the tommygun I had aimed down that hall and watched as a hail of bullets tore up the wall next to him, then tore into him. His eyes were wide and his gun went flying out of his hoof as several stray bullets hit it, the metallic clatter only making the ringing in my ears even worse alongside the sound of gunfire. He collapsed and tumbled down the stairs, a pitiful and throaty groan the only thing heard from him before he fell still and silent.

My enhanced senses weren't perfect. I could hear better, but that's a double-edged sword where gunfire's involved. Gunfire is loud enough without your hearing being so sensitive that you can hear a pin drop on a carpet. I needed to find a chance to turn it off, but with my attention being divided between two different directions, that chance wasn't going to come easily. I needed a good distraction.

The strategy I used against Nightmare Moon seemed like a good idea.

I quickly backed up and pulled my tommyguns back towards myself, my magic grabbing hold of the ammo crate and pulling it into place in front of myself, acting as a makeshift barricade for any incoming gunfire. I was about as ready as I could be, so I lit my horn up and crafted two compact, but potent balls of pure white light. I sent one down both halls, then ducked down and covered my eyes with one of my forelegs while flattening my ears against my skull.

Just before they went off, I focused my magic and braced myself as I flipped the switch on my hearing once more. Instantly, a feeling of vertigo and being off-balance hit me like a train, and I had to take deep and calming breaths to fight off the urge to vomit. Everything sounded muted and dulled, and I knew it wasn't because of the flashbang spells I'd just cast. Did I mention my enhanced senses weren't perfect?

All of my tests made it clear that such extreme shifts in one's senses will have drawbacks, though those drawbacks are far more extreme when you're going from enhanced senses to a lesser, more natural level. Try as I might, I never could work out the drawbacks and find a way to negate them. All I could do was minimize them as much as possible.

Thankfully the loud and blinding flash hadn't gotten to my eyes, so when I felt stable enough, I quickly stood and pushed the crate aside with my magic, taking up my previous position right at the edge of the right hall. I heard a thud around the corner and took a peek, only to hear several more thuds and small cries of pain as a unicorn tumbled down the basement stairs. Guess he must've been in the middle of coming up after me when I set that flashbang off. I took the chance to aim one of my tommyguns down the stairs and pepper him with bullets.

I was still fairly dizzy, and I'm sure my aim was garbage, but when you have a nice big crate of spare ammunition at your side, you don't have to worry so much about being conservative. Instead, I held the trigger down and sprayed bullets down the hall, doing the same to the one across from me, until the cartridges ran out. Unlike the ammo drums in the crate, the guards only had the normal cartridges in them. Time to really make these guns scream.

I snatched up a few drums and dropped them next to myself while floating two into the air, pulling my tommyguns back behind cover as several bullets were fired in my direction. It sounded like they only had pistols, down the right hall. The ponies in the stairwell at the end of the hall across from me were being far more cautious.

I was in a very bad position. While I had clear line of sight to that stairwell at the end of the opposite hall, I had no line of sight at all to the one just around the corner, and I had targets approaching from both directions. If the guards in the stairwell opposite me managed to pin me down, or get any shots off, I wouldn't have time to check on the right hallway. That would leave me way too close to some of them for my own comfort. All I could do without taking the risk of giving up my ground was to hunker down and move the box to a more strategic position next to me, so I'd have something I could safely duck behind if things really went bad for me. As it stood, I was preoccupied randomly spraying bullets down each hall and slamming new ammo drums into the two tommyguns whenever they ran out.

You don't truly know how long thirty seconds are until you've gotten bullets flying past your head, and you know you just need to hold out long enough. You start counting those seconds as if your life depends on it, and believe me, it makes time feel like it's taking ten times as long to tick by. I was burning through ammunition, but considering I had an entire crate of the stuff, I wasn't afraid to use it. I kept my pistol close and limited the use of it. It went from my main method of execution to my last resort, should my position wind up getting compromised.

It felt like it took forever for Gadget to make her move. It was getting to the point that I thought maybe I'd miscounted or she'd actually gone and stabbed me in the back, but a sudden tussle and the slam of several bodies caught my attention, despite the gunfire. I heard two guards shouting in alarm before several gunshots rang out...and then one of the guards got thrown clean down the stairs head-first.

I heard him scream in panic, and I glanced over just in time to see Gadget run down the stairs while he landed on his side at the bottom. She jumped halfway down the stairs and slammed all three of her unoccupied hooves and the entirety of her body weight down on his side, and I was certain that she'd broken him in several different ways. He groaned this terrible, guttural kind of grunt while weakly trying to roll over onto his back, but a quick shot from her pistol splattered his brains all over the floor.

She was smiling again. Grinning, actually. Well, halfway between a smile and a grin. I knew right then and there that it wasn't just a show in the arena. She was like me. She enjoyed the killing. I could respect that, even if her methods needed a little...tact.

She rushed over just as a hail of bullets rained down in my direction, splintering the stone and wallpaper on the corner I was taking cover at. Guess they found some better firepower. She took up the same position on the opposite side, and I took the chance to toss her one of the tommyguns.

"That wasn't thirty seconds!" I shouted at her over a fresh blast of bullets.

"Really, Canterlot?!" she shouted at me while giving me this dirty look. "I just saved your ass!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't give you shit for it!" I responded, grinning and peeking around the corner to see where they all were. "I have an idea. Buy me a minute."

"Yeah, sure, got it!" she said, holding the tommygun in her hooves while peeking around the corner. "Не возьметё, сучары!"

I had no idea what she just said, but I assumed it was some kind of taunt, or insult. The sudden rapid emptying of the drum I'd already put in the gun still made my ears ring, but it did at least give me the time I needed to step back and concentrate. That stairwell leading into the basement gave me the perfect opportunity to buy both Gadget and myself plenty of time, but I needed to get the force behind the spell just right. I couldn't just pop this one off and expect it to go well, especially in such close proximity.

Calculations and equations ran through my mind while I evaluated the brief glimpses I'd gotten of the hallway itself, specifically down the stairwell leading to the basement. Everything had to be just right for this. My horn began to glow brighter and brighter as three pulsing balls of raw force built up and floated off of my horn, each one at a differing level of power. Each one had a different purpose, and I needed this to go off without a hitch.

"Gadget, give me covering fire!"

"Got it!"

The hailstorm of bullets from her tommygun sounded off, the gun just barely peeking around the corner, spraying death all over every inch of the hallway. I rose up onto my hindlegs and pressed the butt of the gun against my wither, turned the corner and cut loose as well, but hitting them wasn't my focus. Instead, I glanced down the stairwell, then down the hallway, and got the final calculations of distance I needed. Without hesitation, I sent the three balls of force right where I needed them to go, and ducked back behind cover.

"Get back and cover your muzzle, Gadget!" I shouted out to her, hunkering down and resting a hoof over my snout and clenching my eyes shut.

I waited for her to mimic my actions before setting them off. I sent one directly into the middle of the T-section at the other end of the hallway, then sent the other two down the stairwell, one floating down under or at least close to the bottom of the staircase while the other flew further forward, out of my sight. As soon as I felt they were where they needed to be, I set them off.

My calculations were, thankfully, within the margin of error I'd established for them. All three went off all at once, and a heavy cloud of shattered concrete and debris filled the air as the stairwell collapsed along with a large section of the hallway that was supported by a pillar or two down there. I could hear more of the floor collapsing out from underneath the guards, if their shouts and screams were any indication.

I took the opportunity to grab the ammo crate along with my tommygun and dart across to where Gadget was, doing my best to keep my nose covered by the fur of my foreleg and my eyes squinted enough to keep the thick dust out. It wasn't an ideal solution in regards to minimizing collateral, but there was no way for them to get to us now without taking the long way around. You know, if this whole 'no pegasi' thing applied to all of the guards in the building.

A quick push of my magic got the air circulating around us, and I made the air flow back into the demolished hallway, taking the cloud of dust with it. Couldn't just sit around and wait for it to dissipate, y'know? We had a pony to kill.

"Holy shit, Canterlot...what the fuck was that?" I heard Gadget ask, now that all the noise had died down.

"A spell of my own design. Came up with it after seeing grenades in action," I muttered, giving my pistol a quick once-over before picking up four ammo drums from the crate and stacking them on each other. "Can't exactly create shrapnel from nothing, but raw kinetic force? That's something low-level magic can do, as long as you know what you're doing."

Of course, what I didn't tell her was that doing something like that leaves a really big magic signature behind, which isn't a good thing if you want to hide who you really are. Those explosions left a nice, big mark that said 'Property of Twilight Sparkle' to anyone that got to it before it dissipated enough, and knew what they were looking for. All they'd need after preserving the signature is someone that was exposed to my magic enough to identify who it belongs to.

"Keep them busy here," I told her, stepping back to put some distance between myself and the collapsed hallway. "Anyone grows balls big enough to warrant trying to make the jump, you neuter 'em."

"You going to fight Ruby by yourself?" she asked, glancing back at me.

"Against my better judgment, yeah."

"Well, good luck with that," she muttered, frowning at me. "I will be up to help you if I can."

"You say that like I'd need your help to deal with a single pegasus," I responded, holding up my tommygun. "Have a little faith in me."

I turned and took off running, the four ammo drums I'd stacked being held together by my magic as they floated through the air. It was dangerous to take her on one-on-one, but it was even more dangerous to leave my flank open to an unwanted surprise. I had two tasks: clear the entire upstairs area, and then deal with Ruby if she didn't already make a run for it. Honestly, she'd be pretty stupid or far too overly confident in her security if she didn't leave.

I wasn't counting on having cover, so I had a barrier up before I'd even reached the top of the staircase. Good thing too, since the moment I poked my head up a few inches past the floor, someone took a few shots at me. I'd taken the time to pick up that interesting modded shotgun that one guard had before I filled him full of holes, and I took aim with it and fired on one of the guards that hadn't gone running downstairs. I suppose the loud and rumbling collapse of a section of the building was enough to get them off their flanks.

Maintaining the barrier was taxing, while under fire. It takes a certain level of focus, and the repeated impact of high-velocity metal on it was akin to getting your ears flicked while you're trying to do a math equation entirely in your head. More of an irritant than you think, in other words. Dangerous too, particularly when they have rapid-fire weapons like, say, the tommygun I had that was currently pouring a storm of lead down the hallway, shredding three guards that were stupid enough not to duck into one of the side rooms. All of those bullets hitting your shield at such a rapid rate? You better hope you find cover fast, you'll burn through your reserves trying to maintain it lightning-quick.

I rushed down the hall, firing upon anyone that dared to peek their head out of the rooms. I didn't have time to be choosy, and I'm sure that by the time I made it to the opposite end, I'd probably at the very least tagged a few staff members, if not outright killed them. Unfortunate, but what can you do?

With them dealt with, I scanned the hallway more thoroughly, and identified one of the only doors that hadn't been opened to let one of the ill-fated guards out. It seemed just as non-descript as the others, but it lacked glass on the side and seemed much more private. I wasn't sure if it was what I was looking for, but everything was worthy of investigation. I pressed myself against the wall next to the door, and got another flashbang spell ready.

I had never fought a member of the Armada. All the things I knew about them, I'd only read in books and heard from other members of the Royal Guard. They weren't quite as exclusive as the Wonderbolts, but their specialized training definitely separated them from your average Royal Guard contingent. Unlike the Wonderbolts, they didn't exist mainly to make the Equestrian Air Force look good. They existed to deal with a very specific threat.

As a precaution, I stood stock-still for a moment and tampered with my own head again. This was going to be disorienting.

As soon as I flipped that switch, a high-pitched ringing kicked off in my ears, to the point that I couldn't hear anything else. I felt the same way you do when you're wearing headphones and the volume's at maximum without your knowledge when you hit play. You know, that swelling sensation that makes you panic and yank the headphones off immediately because it feels like your eyes are going to pop out of your sockets? Just imagine feeling that, plus a sharp stinging sound, but no way to get away from it.

That whole 'heightened senses' thing wasn't meant to be turned off and on like it's no big deal. I was really stressing my sense of hearing out right now, and I had to wait for the ringing to go away before I could get over the brief sensation of vertigo it caused. It only took a minute after that for me to acclimate once more.

I could hear her in there. She wasn't moving much, but she was breathing pretty fast. Her heart was racing...and given how those two things combined made her seem very panicked, I had to wonder why she hadn't left already the moment things started going crazy downstairs.

My magic encompassed the door, and with a firm rush of force through my telekinesis, I ripped it off of its hinges and tossed the door into the room before sending the flashbang spell in after it. I quickly ducked away from the doorway and flattened my ears against my skull, covering my eyes and my ears with my forelegs in hopes of mitigating the damage the spell would do to me.

I could only be thankful it worked. I was anticipating her ability to block my magic, but she hadn't gotten around to it just yet. Fortunate for me. I heard her scream and fall to the floor, and I took the chance to rush in, my barrier up and my tommygun at the ready. I didn't take the time to check to see how much ammo was left in the shotgun, so I didn't plan on relying on it. Instead, I just took aim with it and fired.

What I hadn't seen was that she'd flipped her desk and taken cover behind it. I pulled the trigger on my tommygun, and the rapid-fire noise almost made me miss the strange, low bass-like rumble that began to vibrate the air. I saw something get thrown over from behind the desk, and I knew that it wasn't just some standard grenade.

While it would certainly explode and litter the area with lethal shrapnel, the distinctly-shaped and carved stone covered in a dim red hue was unmistakable. It was one of the Armada's key tools in dealing with rogue mages. While it had similar traits to nullstone, it was far less expensive, rare, and time-consuming to produce, though it was certainly close to being as regulated.

An Armada Shroudstone.

I immediately moved to retreat out of the room. It was only a second after I'd dove out of the room that the stone burst with a high-pitched hum, the resulting explosion barely more than a firecracker, but everything I'd read about them told me that that was deceptive. Every piece of the shroudstone began to emanate that dim red hue in a kind of smoke-like haze, normally barely obscuring one's vision. I was not a normal pony, however. I was a mage. We see the world differently.

Mages like myself see the world the same way everyone else does, but with more additions. We see wisps of accumulated magic in the air, we see the true vibrancy of the magic coming from the horns of other unicorns. We see when they reach out with their telekinesis to grab hold of something. To an untrained pegasus or earth pony, it's invisible. Not to those of us that mire ourselves in that magic, and explore the secrets it holds. It's not something we can just stop seeing.

Unfortunately, against someone trained in the ways of the Armada, this was more a detriment than anything else. I couldn't see a single thing through that thick haze, and if I remember correctly, it wouldn't clear up for hours without some kind of outside influence. I could still hear her though, and she was on the move. The loud crash of glass signaled her escape, and I pushed myself to my hooves and ran through the shroud that was spreading through her office.

My magic faltered the moment I entered the shroud. It was safe to breathe, but my horn was almost throwing a full-on fit! I felt a dull ache build at the base of it, and my grip on the shotgun failed by the time I made it through and rushed over to the window. Just another effect of the shroud. Now do you see what I meant about them being trained to deal with mages like myself?

I didn't have the ability to grab my shotgun from out of the expanding shroud, nor did I have the time or intention of going back to get it with my hooves. I needed to give chase, if she didn't already take to the air and disappear. Then again, I don't think I would've if I were her. Being up in the air is a good way to get shot down with no second chances.

I weaved a quick spell despite the remaining ache in my horn, encompassing myself in it and peeking out the window. It was too dark, and I couldn't see much of anything with the way the office was illuminated. My eyes were too adjusted to the brighter conditions inside the building to make her out anywhere!

I barely heard it before my reflexes kicked in. A loud, explosive boom of a gunshot that made me jerk away from the window just in time to avoid a cluster of shotgun pellets that riddled the rim of the window and gouged chunks out of it. I took a moment to unscrew the silencer from my pistol and stow it in my pocket before taking a few blind shots with it out the window, in the general direction of where I heard those shots come from. Of course I didn't hit anything, but I didn't expect to.

I leapt out of the window and fell to the ground slowly, a good distance away from the building, the glow beneath my body carrying me safely down. Despite this, my hindleg still almost gave out on me, and I came to the realization that I'd pushed my bad leg further than I should've. I'd been doing a whole lot of walking around for long periods of time the last few days, and it was really starting to catch up with me.

I threw up my barrier as soon as another shotgun blast rang out. I heard multiple pellets ping and bounce off of my shield, and I took several more shots in the direction it came from. I unleashed the tommygun liberally, making a smooth sweeping motion in a ninety degree arc in hopes of hitting her, but I heard nothing.

That was when the shrouding began.

It started with a thick, heavy burst along with a hard flap of wings. I immediately adjusted my aim and fired, but she was already out of the way, and that shroud was beginning to encroach upon me at an alarming rate. I had to move. I kept my shield up and bolted to my left, clenching my eyes shut to speed up the transition between a well-lit interior and a darker, semi-moonlit outdoor area.

I heard the shells being loaded into the barrels of a shotgun nearby, and the heavy flap of wings. It didn't sound like her wingspan was anything to scoff at, and that would certainly help her spread that shroud around even better. You may have been under the misconception that the anti-magical properties of the shroud that stone caused were alchemical, but that stone is a product of pegasus ingenuity back when the three tribes were at each other's throats constantly. They found a way to counter our magic so effectively that we learned to fear the flap of wings in the sky. Well, my ancestors, anyway.

I didn't get far. Another blast rang out, and I had to stop to plant my hooves when the pellets hit my shield again. She was behind and above me just a little, if my hearing could be depended upon. I didn't bother turning around, I simply rotated my tommygun and fired. There was a bark of pain, and something dropped to the ground.

"Oh, you little fuckin'-!"

I quickly spun around and fired with my pistol and my tommygun, but my bullets found no purchase. Pegasi are slippery, they are fast, and they have very sharp senses. They need to in order to fly so fast through the air while keeping track of ground targets, the landscape, trees, stuff like that. It's just how their brains function. It was the main reason that I knew, if I wound up fighting her hoof-to-hoof, I would lose.

Another sudden hard flap of what sounded like a single wing sent another plume of that red shroud my way, and I tried to continue to run. However, all I saw when I turned to run was the barrel of what appeared to be a foreleg-mounted double-barreled shotgun pointed right at me. It was very similar in design to the average hoofblade you'd see a Royal Guard using, but it had clearly been modified to her specifications to be a firearm rather than a melee weapon...not that it wouldn't work great as a gauntlet. In true guard fashion, it also functioned as a metal shoe for her hoof. Lucky me.

Another blast of pellets riddled my shield, but I held firm despite my situation. I didn't want to imagine what that shroud would do to my shield, but I was in no rush to find out. I pushed forward and slammed my shield into her, forcing her back a little. She spread one of her wings and gave a hard flap to propel herself backwards, and before I could fire my gun, another plume of her shroud billowed out from her wing and covered my shield.

Immediately, I felt my shield giving way. It was blocking the shroud from reaching me, but I knew that wouldn't last. Even worse, the shroud behind me was covering the area, and rapidly cutting off any means of escape. The building was to my left, and the only way out was to my right. I was like a panicked rat in a maze. There was no time to think about my situation, I just needed to go.

I couldn't afford to lose my tommygun amidst all of this. I held it and the ammo drums close, settling them firmly on my back and darting to my right, determined to get away from her shroud. She was in front of me in seconds. I hadn't heard her reload, I doubt she had time to do so, but I still had to be careful about her pointing that thing at me. A melee weapon I could deal with, but a shotgun was a serious problem if my shield ever broke down on me. I didn't have any cover out here.

My eyes had adjusted well enough, but all I knew about where I was was that I was a short distance away from her office building. We were standing in the street, only a few street lamps illuminating the area around me. I couldn't hear her wings flapping, she was somewhere, probably back in her shroud, hiding from me. I quickly turned and took aim at that growing red mist and unloaded what remained of the current ammo drum in random patterns through it, sending a few ponies down the street running away screaming.

It was only a matter of time before all this racket attracted the attention of the police. I needed to make a serious decision as to whether or not I just ran now or-

She wasn't in the shroud. I knew that the moment I felt my shield fail and saw stars in my vision from the clean sucker-punch to my jaw, my pistol flying out of my hoof and clattering across the street. How the fuck did she sneak up on me?! Perhaps I was a bit more panicked from the shroud than I thought, if I wasn't paying attention that much. Either way, I did manage to stay on my hooves, and reflexively I rose up onto my hindlegs and caught her next swing, pulling her towards me and sending her face-down into the ground.

She twisted and slipped her foreleg out of my grasp before I could break it, and rolled onto her back. I got a good look at the fancy red dress she was wearing, clearly having planned for a night on the town before my arrival. Her lips were a lovely shade of cherry-red, and her mane, despite having been flashbanged, launched through a window and slammed to the ground, was expertly coiffed.

I threw myself on her in hopes of holding her down and pinning her wings, but she saw me coming. Even worse, the reason my shield collapsed became all too apparent mere seconds later as that shroud quickly encompassed us and obscured my vision. I managed to pin her foreleg, but I could no longer see her, and I was right on top of her! I was fighting her blind in that stuff, and no amount of trying to shake it away was making it dissipate.

The impact to my snout made my head snap back, and I cringed in pain. I could taste the blood in my mouth, a nasty mix of salt and copper, and the dull ache in my horn began to return full-force. The world up-ended on me as she flipped me off of her, my back hitting the ground in a roll, and I quickly tried to force myself back up onto my hooves, my tommygun and the ammo drums for it clattering across the pavement, my grip on them completely failing under the influence of Ruby's shroud.

I tried to make a run for it, but she landed on my back and wrapped her forelegs around my neck, forcing me up onto my hindlegs and pulling my head back at an awkward angle, cutting off my air supply. On reflex I tried to grab her with my magic, but all that resulted in was my horn sputtering magic violently and the dull ache at the base of it escalating drastically in intensity. If I could've breathed, I would've groaned in agony.

"Who the fuck are you, huh? Some street mage thinks she can take Ruby Red on?!" she growled in my ear, tightening her grip. "You fucked up, little filly!"

Yeah. Yeah, I did. I really did.

"Gonna hafta get a new dress 'cuz of you! Fuckin' up my evening," she huffed out at me, twisting my head back a little further. "Who ya work for, huh? C'mon, let's hear it!"

I gulped down desperate lungfuls of air as she loosened her grip just a little, my nostrils flaring with every inhale and exhale. I gritted my teeth and tried to blink away all the red in my vision, but there was no way for me to get away from her shroud. She had me for now.

"Gh...th' fuck does it matter?" I rasped out, trying to swallow. "Gonna kill you."

"Hah! That's rich, the unicorn thinks she can take me-"

I didn't bother letting her finish. In a single motion, I moved my bad leg back between her hindlegs and reached back with my forelegs, grabbing hold of her mane and throwing my entire body forward. I used my hip as leverage and tossed her over myself, hoping my grip wouldn't fail me right then and there. I heard her cry out before hitting the ground with a loud grunt, and I made a run for the office building. I had lost my weapons, and she held complete advantage over me. There was no choice but to retreat now.

I needed to get back to Gadget.

Gunfire sounded off behind me as I exited her shroud and ran for the same back door I'd entered from previously. Despite the pain in my horn, I threw a shield up and deflected several bullets before they could hit me. A quick glance back let me see her holding my tommygun in her hooves, a fresh ammo drum loaded into it. Considering those things were hundred-round magazines essentially, she didn't seem to feel any need to be frugal with her ammunition. She had it in one hoof, the butt of it braced against her wither so she could walk and aim more effectively.

It was only then that I noticed one of her wings was broken. Must've been the lucky shot I got off on her earlier.

Unfortunately for me, that was when my bad leg decided that I'd done enough for one day. As I stepped down on it, it caved under the strain, and I stumbled enough in my run for Ruby to close the distance. The rapid impact of that tommygun against my shield threatened to make it collapse, but she ran out of ammunition before I gave up. I managed to put a little distance between the two of us after she ran out, but without all four of my legs to keep me going, it was easy for her to catch up with me once again.

Just in front of the doorway, I heard a firm flap of her wings and felt that shroud crawl over my shield again. I was already worn down and exhausted from struggling to keep it up to begin with, and it fell apart in less than a second. The red haze blinded me once more just as she tackled me to the ground and slammed her armored hoof down on the back of my head, pounding my chin against the pavement.

I tried to force her off by rolling over, but she situated herself perfectly. I got onto my back, but she'd raised up just enough so that my rolling body didn't throw her. All it took was a little adjustment, and she was on top of me again, pinning me down. My forelegs raised up in defense of my face, and I felt that armored hoof come down hard on one of them, the impact almost making it feel like my foreleg had been broken in place of my face.

I had to keep my guard up. This was the worst-case scenario I could think of, short of her reloading her shotgun and blowing my head off in a big chunky spray of equine giblets. Hit after hit rained down on me, and eventually she broke my guard long enough to slam a hoof down on my face and bounce the back of my head off the concrete beneath me. The world spun and everything went black for a moment, my head lilting to the left against the ground while the world around me dulled in sound.

Another hit, and another. I was amazed I was still conscious. I put up at most a feeble attempt to block her strikes, but when you're punch-drunk, you don't really have full motor control. People tend to underestimate just how debilitating that is.

I heard the heavy clomp of hooves coming from...somewhere. A guttural roar, and suddenly the weight was off of me. I rolled to my side and coughed a few times, spitting blood from my muzzle and struggling to get to my hooves. I heard a scuffle behind me, and I turned to look, but there was nothing there that I could see. Just the red shroud. I must've looked like a blind drunk, the way I was stumbling through it to try to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

I caught Gadget's scent in the air, along with Ruby's. A loud cry sounded off from Ruby, followed by one of her wings flapping wildly in the air while the other twitched uselessly. I really must've gotten a good hit in on it earlier, if she couldn't even use it. I couldn't see this of course, but the distinct sounds her wings made were all the 'visual' I needed.

I heard Gadget almost roar out into the air before slamming Ruby down with a bone-crunching thud. The crack of Ruby's skull sounded off along with a sharp, loud cry of agony, followed by a low and keening groan. I heard the stomp of hooves accompanying loud cries from Ruby, and I could only assume that Gadget was trampling her. I drew closer and closer to the source of the sounds, and when things fell quiet, I twitched my ears this way and that trying to detect where they were.

"Canterlot, what is wrong with you? Is it this red mist?" I heard Gadget ask, suddenly next to me.

"You can see it too? Then how'd you see her?" I panted out, blood dribbling from the corner of my muzzle.

"What do you mean? It is just, the air has a strange color to it," she said, taking a step closer to me. "Are you okay?"

"M'fine," I said, though I could hear the nasal tone of my voice. Snout was definitely broken. "Just can't see anything."

"She blinded you?!"

"If I can get out of the shroud, I'll be fine," I clarified, taking a few deep breaths only to choke on some inhaled blood from inside my muzzle. "Where's-?"

I got the answer in the form of a choked gurgle a short distance away. I couldn't see her, but I could hear the stuttering of her breaths, and her slow roll onto her side. I walked slowly and carefully over, but even standing directly next to her, I couldn't see her at all. I could hear her trying to crawl away, albeit very slowly. Gadget must've done quite a number on her.

"You piece of shit traitor!" she rasped out, the metal of her gauntlet scraping at the pavement. "I gave you everything you wanted!"

My ears flattened as several shots of Gadget's pistol rang out. Four in total. I could still hear Ruby's heart beating, but it was slowing down and becoming more and more faint by the second. It occurred to me right then and there that I was pretty much at Gadget's mercy, if she decided to cut-and-run. It wouldn't be hard for her to do...but then, it also seemed like she didn't understand the nature of this shroud outside of how it messed with your magic.

"My horn hurts...sheesh Canterlot, you sure you are alright?" she asked, a hoof touching my wither. "Eyes seem fine, but your muzzle is busted up."

"I'm okay, I promise," I muttered, ducking away and glancing around in vain. "I still can't see. This shroud's going to keep lingering for a while. We need to get back into her office and gather up any papers and documents we can find."

"Why is the shroud a problem? I can see through it just fine."

"Because you're not a mage."

"...Okay?"

"I'll explain later. Cops have to be on their way," I said, pointing in what I thought was still the general direction of the office building. "Get me back in there so we can grab what we need. Then we're leaving."

"Sure, sure. Uh..." she said, tapping my wither. "You need help finding the door?"

"Please."

She guided me inside and away from the shroud in record time, and while my head hurt like a wendigo storm had been set off inside of it, I was mostly okay. Beaten up, battered and bruised thoroughly all in the facial region, but that was no big deal. Wouldn't be the first time. I almost tripped on the tommygun she'd dropped rushing out to help me. I picked it up in my magic and took it with me.

"How'd you know I needed your help?" I asked, rubbing the side of my head while we made our way back upstairs.

"I did not know," she said, shaking her head. "I went upstairs to see what was going on, all I found was an empty room and some red mist. Then I heard gunshots outside and I ran back downstairs so I could get outside, and there you were, getting your ass beaten on the ground."

"Well...thank you, regardless," I muttered, peeking into her office. "She would've caved my skull in eventually if you hadn't helped me out."

"Not a problem. You are my new boss after all," she said, stepping into her office. "So, just files and documents?"

"Any paperwork you can get your hooves on. I'll keep watch out here," I said, holding the tommygun in my hooves instead of my magic. "Just make it as quick as you can. We don't want to be here when back-up or the police arrive."

She did as I asked. Honestly I wasn't paying too much attention to the noises coming from inside the office. I just had my focus on the hallway, and anyone that might get gutsy enough to come our way. It was actually relaxing compared to what I'd just been through. It was only when I began to hear sirens off in the distance that I rushed both of us out of the area, with a nice heavy stack of folders and papers held securely on Gadget's back via her magic.

I had to avoid main streets given my current condition. I didn't want to attract any attention from any authorities. Gadget acted as a good brace for me whenever I got woozy or my hindleg decided to act up, and she didn't complain even once. Surprising manners, for someone like her.

"So...have a little faith in you, huh?" she said, the sarcasm in her voice all too evident.

"You can shut the fuck up." I grumbled in return, leaning my weight against her again to keep myself steady.

Author's Notes:

Well, R.I.P. in pieces, Ruby Red. We knew you...well, not at all, pretty much. Shame, really. She had potential. Ah well, more fuel for the fire!

I had a bit of assistance with the Russian/Gradios that appeared in this chapter. Special thanks to fatalerror328 and Stoned while writing!

Music I listened to for this one...well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyV0GLebbK0