I grabbed Tera and started to throw my gear on as quickly as I could, rushing through every step as I could see Stone knocking our door down. He had smelt it too, and we knew that we had to get out of here before the entire place burnt to the ground. Tera screeched as she fell on her face while starting to throw her gear on, only be to pulled to her hooves by my wings.

“Are you okay? Come on we need to get moving, avoid the river outside and try not to be frozen up out there, go go!” I then threw on my mask and checked Tera for her gear, then myself. I lead the way through the hall, seeing the smoke seeping down from the floors above. Our only option was to dive out of the windows, and hope the snow would stop us before we rolled into the flood. I bucked a window out, then looked out, seeing the pile of snow and feeling the heavy gusts of wind, the snow feeling like razors even through my uniform.

I took a deep breath, then jumped out, aiming for a deep pile of snow that had formed just within minutes. The white, toxic material surrounded all but my head, leaving just enough for me to dig myself out with my wings. Tera, then Stone jumped down next to me, both dropping down into the mound next to me. They then dug themselves out, leaving the three of us being whipped and beat by the snow and wind, doing everything we could to avoid the raging river of black water that tore through the street.

Once again, I was leading us through the complete white out, feeling Tera grab onto my tail to keep herself from getting lost, Stone assumably doing the same thing to Tera. Just the sound alone was enough to deafen me, but not enough to block out the sound of a raging flood next to me. My only guide was the sound of the river, and the way the snow felt under my hooves. The only thing that stopped me from moving forward was running into another pony, one that fell over, but I could hear her shriek through some type of mask. There was no time to stop and ask questions, so instead, I just grabbed her hoof, and wrapped a wing around her. I could tell somepony else had grabbed onto our train as well, just until I ran face-first into a door.

I simply kicked the door open, and fell inside with five other ponies behind me. The door was promptly shut behind us, and on went the lights. My eyes wandered around the shelter, seeing cheesily painted walls and tables surrounding us, as well as a white counter in the front of the area. This was a quick in and out style of restaurant, the red and white tile scheme proving this even further. Next, my attention went to the new ponies we had picked up, three more to be exact. Tera and Stone moved over to me, wiping the snow off of their masks while staring at the ponies we had picked up, their clothing seeming to be basic winter clothing with hazmat masks on. I just gave Stone and Tera a simple order, board up the windows with the tables and make sure it was structurally sound, knowing we would be here a while.

I pointed my rifle at the three others, but then slowly put it back over my shoulder once I identified them. A stallion, a mare, and then a young colt. This was a family.

“My name is Angel, that’s Stone and Tera. Who are you?” I sounded as neutral as I could, wondering how they could get such masks. The stallion stood up in front of his family, and gave me a response. His voice was deeper than most, and he was clearly still rather youthful for having a family.

“I’m Cloud. My wife is Silver, and my son is Green. We had to move when our house was almost completely blown over, if we would’ve stayed in our cellar we’d all be frozen to death. Buck are we lucky to have come across you..”

I just nodded to him as the mare was tending to the colt, comforting him while Stone and Tera finished boarding up the windows, then nodded to me as everything seemed to pass. I took off my mask, and took a breath. The air feeling crisp, yet cold in my lungs. Stone and Tera followed suit, then the family we had rescued. Cloud had a short white and blue mane, his yellow coat showing through. Silver was a deeper gray with a stunning platinum mane, the curls in it enough to make a mare jealous, and their colt seemed to be in good health. His coat was a mild green, and his mane green and short. Looked like a normal family to me.

They had small saddlebags full of items, the colt’s being mostly toys and blankets while his parents carried around the food and water, though their son did appeared to be older in age. Tera was shy from the new family, not really making eye contact to the family. I then took a look at their eyes, Cloud having gray eyes, Silver with blue, and Green had golden eyes. All three of them had horns sticking from their head, something that proved to be quite useful out here.

I took a deep breath and sat my things down on one of the remaining tables, then sat on one of the chairs. Tera stayed close to me while Stone started to speak to the family, explaining the situation of things and how we might be here a while. The walls didn’t seem to be vandalized, and the power still worked, so I assumed there would still be some food here. Instead of just sitting around after thinking such a thing, I made my way to the kitchen, searching through the storage that was hugging the edges of the stainless items.

The freezer still had bread and other vegetables in it, the walk in refrigerator seeming to still have plenty of good apples in it, both whole and chopped, some even turned into applesauce. This was comforting, even more so now seeing the sign to the restrooms was still hanging up, now all we had to do was figure out sleeping arrangements. As harmless as this family seemed, I wanted to stay away from them at night, as I just didn’t know enough about them. Something didn’t seem right though, a normal family out here in the wasteland? We’ll see.

Tera seemed to get along just fine with them, even if she was extremely shy at first. Stone was just as cautious as I was, the both of us generally sticking to the back of the little cafe. Our food stocks here seemed to be okay, if we rationed everything out we could stay in here for about a week without eating into our previous food stores, something we weren’t so sure about saying anything about. Water was a different story, as we had multiple sinks that seemed to still spit out clean water whenever the valves were turned. I had my tent and emergency blankets that I had grabbed from the initial supply cache we were given, and if I put them together right, I could make a decent sized tent. Of course, I could make a much larger one to fit us all, but I wasn’t about to start tearing apart cloth and sharing a tent with strangers.

Stone would keep watch through the large break in the wall that gave this place an open kitchen, seeming to just be casually watching the snow pile up against the door, and occasionally Tera as she would play around with their foal, rolling around his toy train cars on the floor. It was adorable, but I wasn’t so approving. Just more of a reason for me to get this tent built up faster, and to get her in the back with us. Once I threw together a rather neat mess of rope and canvas as well as reflective cloth, I waved for Tera to come back and join us. I had the dark canvas tent facing outwards to block any view from those out in the dining room to take a look in, and the reflective facing downward into the interior to keep us warm through the nights.

“What is it Angel? I was having fun with their son, he’s such a cute foal.” She seemed confused, but then her eyes shrunk down once I had told her there was something extremely off with this family. My response was in whisper, with some things spoke out at normal volume to keep any suspicions from arising.

“Look, Tera, there’s something wrong with that family. Something isn’t right, okay? I just don’t trust them at all, and I know when to trust somepony. You have to remember trusting the wrong pony leads to death, especially in my cases before. Here I am, still alive.” Stone simply nodded at her as I explained my thoughts, and then she sat, but then nodded back to me.

“You’re right, there is something that.. I’m not sure. I just think foals are so cute and.. And.. ever since I lost mine I uh.. Uhm..” A tear started to well in her eye, and my wings wrapped closely around her as I pulled her under my makeshift tent, carefully stroking her back as she cried into my shoulder. Stone simply shot me an understanding gaze, then sat at the entrance of the tent. I carefully rolled out a few sheets of cloth I had into bedrolls, laying beside her as she had a complete meltdown. I had no clue she was a mother once, I was even more confused considering she didn’t seem straight, especially with all things considered. Either way, I was comforting her as we were being snowed in.

Morning came rather soon, catching me off guard as I had opened my eyes to the dusty clock hanging up in the rear of the cafe. Tera’s mane was a complete mess, sprawled out across our bags that were makeshift pillows. Stone was at our hind hooves, lying sideways at the entrance of our tent with one eye open, keeping watch as we slept. He alternated eyes, resting each side of his brain separately. I just gave him a little shove with my hind hoof, watching him jump up for a moment, but then as both of his eyes shut when he saw I was awake. I simply crawled away from Tera, and over the now snoring Stone to keep watch. The family out in the dining room was bundled up together, seeming stacked up on top of each other with their thick, winter gear. Many ponies could get away with a scarf and hat, but on our side of the mountains, you needed the extra warmth. The entire door was covered in snow, practically sealing us inside. Now I had to start planning for a way out, one that didn’t involve being crushed from the weight or suffocated for that matter.

Everything felt so dull, and dark, especially cold. I knew that we couldn’t start up a fire because the smoke would suffocate us all, but I wasn’t certain if this place had an electric heater. So, I started to look around for a dial to see if we had such a luxury, and with some luck that I clearly didn’t have, I came across the little adjustment dial. I let a sigh of relief as I let my cold wings turn the dial, then I let a bigger and deeper sigh of happiness as I felt the warmth blow against my thick, canvas and cloth uniform.

Down I went, sitting in front of the small vent before me to take in all of the warm air. I felt like a filly again as I nearly rolled around in front of it, then I thought about how this was something we didn’t even need to think about before the bombs. I could just feel eyes prying at me now, their son, Green, had woken up and was watching me. Once again, I had that strange feeling in my gut, and shivers down my spine. He simply grinned, and stretched out a pair of membranous wings. I was right, this was a family of bat hybrids, something that always gave us troubles before the bombs, and apparently after now as well.

I simply stood and stretched out my own wings, in which he tucked his away and crawled behind his parents. There was no chance at all I was going to let this by, as only a select few bat ponies were allowed in our cities. We had to screen and test them to be certain their more primal instincts were in check, as many were known to attack those who wandered out of the city limits too far. Since things had changed, I could’ve just shot them all and stretched his wings for the others to see, but I knew Tera wouldn’t be appreciative of that. All I could do was tell them about it when they woke.

I stood guard near the entrance of the kitchen, feeling the heat blowing into our area as well, but not nearly as well as it was out there. Stone’s snoring quieted down, and Tera wiggled around on our makeshift bedding. They both felt it, and seemed to be more comfortable with their rest. So, I grabbed my rifle and leaned it up against the counter that was right next to the entrance. My eyes stayed locked on the pony pile, watching for any subtle move that would give me sign to some kind of attack.

Perhaps I was just paranoid, or maybe even just a little too on edge, but I wasn’t about to risk anything after seeing what I had. It felt like hours before Stone had gotten up, and gently tapped his hoof down next to me. I turned my head to him, and spoke in whisper.

“Their son is a bat pony. Or, a bat unicorn. If all three of them are, we need to do something, and now. Come with me, I’m going to look for wings.” I started stepping forward before he could even respond, but I could hear his damped steps behind me. He couldn’t keep the pace and remain quiet, but it was better to have him watching my back, even if he was falling behind. I looked over my shoulder to see him giving me a nod, and I carefully went to work to pull aside their winter bardings.

Underneath the thick winter jackets and scarves were indeed, sets of wings. I just turned and shot Stone a glare, one filled with both anger and despair. We were trapped in a building with bat unicorns, a whole family of them. I jumped back and carefully hopped until I reached our tent, and grabbed my rifle, loading it up before I stepped back into the main room. Then, I yelled out with my barrel aimed at their heads.

“All of you, get up right fucking now! Let’s go get up!” I could just see the fear in the their eyes as they scrambled to their hooves, Tera also jumping up and starting to shriek. “So, all of you are bats? That really would’ve been good to know a while ago, especially considering your kind has been giving us troubles for awhile now. Now I understand that you’re a happy little family, but I’m not going to let you live. Close your eyes and count, bats.”

Cloud jumped in front of them, his wings stretching out as he was standing before his family. I could just hear Tera crying out behind me, Stone was being.. Well, a stone. Then, Tera started to shout out to me. “Angel don’t do it! Please please don’t.. Don’t kill them! What did they ever do to you?”

I didn’t even move as I gave her my answer, my rifle pointed right at Cloud’s heart. “I suppose you haven’t been to the capital for a while. There were some serious issues of bat ponies coming from the forest and terrorising our citizens. For a while many of the recruits for the military would be posted in the city just to keep watch for bats until we needed more reinforcements out in the field. The amount of assaults and rapes reported, and more than likely otherwise, were becoming far too high for anypony’s comfort. The most crime we had before were things like some foal throwing a paper pegasus into somepony’s soup. Since there aren’t laws anymore, and I don’t need to worry about rules of engagement..”

Tera went silent, and the family cried out as I shot cloud in the heart. He fell over, his legs twitching and his breathing becoming dry and stale, until I heard a rattle coming from his muzzle. The blood started to pour out of his muzzle, his wife holding their child behind her as she now stood up in front of me. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, before she had fallen next to her stallion. All that was left was their child, who then also fell over. I lowered my rifle down, and slung it over my shoulder. Stone simply nodded to me, and Tera was just staring at me. I slowly walked up to her, then wrapped my hooves around her.

“I’m sorry Tera, but bats like them killed my sister. Back before I was noticed by Jacks, my squad leader. I was at a rifle competition and.. And I caught his eye. I signed up as quickly as I could knowing that some of the soldiers were dropping these bats. Her name was Moonlight, and.. And they murdered her. I pictured the faces of bats on the targets as I shot them. I didn’t miss.”

She had seemed to quiet down, and Stone simply looked over at me with sorrow in his eyes. I knew that he wouldn’t show it normally, but this was different. I was already numb to it all, and didn’t even feel the urge to cry. There was nothing I could do then, but now, I could do whatever I wanted. Right now, I wanted to be rid of the bodies.

“Stone, come help me carry the bodies to one of the restrooms. Tera, please look for some towels or something my dear, there’s a lot of blood we need to get up.”

Tera was still shaky when we returned, still wiping off the blood from our clothing. She just stared at me, demanding an explanation as to why I just gunned down a family. I sat near her, then sat a hoof on her shoulder as I spoke in a somber, soft voice.

“Tera, sweetheart. My sister she.. I was seventeen. She had recently gone into a really nice university, going onward to become an artist. She was caring and loving and.. She was beautiful. Her coat was the softest white you would ever see, and her purple eyes were to die for. Then we started to argue about a couple of things and.. She didn’t want to speak to me anymore. She said things, I said things.. We even got violent at times. So, we just went different ways and I started to do competition shooting. A year later and I actually got my way up to the finals and.. Well. My mother called before I went out to the shooting area. She told me that.. That..”

I felt myself choke and lower my head, giving a sniffle as Tera wrapped herself around me. She sighed but stayed close, trying to quiet me, but to no avail as I forced myself to continue.

“She was found dead and there were signs of.. Of sexual abuse. They had caught the bat bastard as he was walking away from the scene. Couple of soldiers walking home from the bar. I went out and shot my heart out that day, hitting every single target as fast as I could, and I didn’t miss a single shot. That’s when Jacks came forth and started to speak to me. He was impressed in my shooting ability, and from there.. I became a soldier. I felt the need to help those in the way I had been helped, even if it was just justice, and not prevention.”

Tera had started to cry again, and Stone even lowered his head down. I knew that what I did wasn’t justified, but at least my friends understood. I felt like I was starting to slip with all of my recent choices. Slaughtering an entire group of innocent ponies, leading my friends into a burning hotel, then killing a family just because they were bat ponies. The wasteland was starting to change me, and I knew that. All I could do at this point was try to keep my head, and not bring any harm to my new friends or my squad back home. I wish I could see them again soon.

“I just want to get out of here and get back home. Hopefully the blizzard wouldn’t have hit there, and maybe the blackwater hasn’t taken over everything. That’s a horrifying thought..” Tera slowly pulled away and sat next to me, Stone simply started to look around for food. I didn’t care for what he found, being little trays of extremely processed and frozen foods that looked close to spoiling. He didn’t seem to worry much as he started to heat everything up, but the smell.. Oof. I’ve eaten some questionable things in ration cans, but that just didn’t seem right. I prefered the rations that I had stored up in my pack, and split some of the food with Tera who didn’t seem to eat much.

Everything was oddly silent, the only noise was the occasional buzzing of the food storage areas that came and died out in only a few seconds. The lights were dull and didn’t seem to give us any hope as we could just see the mountain of snow piled against the door. So, I decided to take a look at the door to see if there actually was any way out of here, instead of hopelessly sitting around. What I found was a crack in the glass, only a mere hairline crack that ran the length of the door.

“Tera, Stone, I need you two to start looking around at the windows, see if you can still hear the wind or not. I think we can get out of here.” They slowly got up and rolled their eyes, but walked around to each of the windows seeming not really to care as much as I did. My hoof trailed up the crack, watching as it grew in size just as I put pressure on the glass. I wanted out of here, and if we could leave and head back home, I would be happy.

I heard back from Stone first, followed by the soft voice of Tera. “I’m not hearing anything out there. Sounds like.. Is that a river?” Then Tera gave her peace. “Yeah that sounds like a river. Here though, the closest river is still a distance away?” I knew that there was indeed a river, but it wasn’t normal water. So, I let them know exactly what it was. “That’s blackwater. Tainted, so much so it will melt your flesh just to the touch. Pack up, let’s get out of here.”

They both seemed surprised, yet interested in going with me. I didn’t waste any time packing up my makeshift tent, putting everything neatly back into my packs before slinging my rifle over my shoulder, my mask going right up where it belonged. My friends followed suit, packing up and putting on their gear, followed by their masks to finish it up. I looked back at both of them, then turned and gave the glass door a buck. The glass shattered, and dumped the mountain of snow that was outside, inside and all over the bloodstains on the floor. I felt relieved to see the crimson stains disappear.

Forward I went, climbing up the slope until I stood tall on the mound that once held us in, the blizzard had come to a stop, but there was now a roaring river of blackwater that melted through the snow. I knew that we had to avoid it with every last step, and I was going to make damn sure they wouldn’t fall in. I wouldn’t fail again. “Come on out. Follow me, and avoid the river. Why is everything so dark?” I looked up at the sky to see just how dark it was, a storm brewing from above. “We need to move quickly. I fear they’re going to do this again.”

Tera and Stone crawled up the slope, and stood beside me. I looked to be sure that both of them had solid ground under them before I took a look around, finally picking a direction and moving that way. Everything felt even more hopeless as we were now higher up off of the street, unable to see some buildings entirely, and many of the doors were also sealed. I couldn’t help but wonder who else could be sealed up inside buildings like we were, just hoping for a way out before they would starve to death.

Every step sent chills down my spine as I could just feel how slick this much thicker, denser snow was just as slick as ice. This was meant to freeze out that river, but had failed. I could only imagine what the pegasi above would do next, and I knew I wasn’t trying to stick around to find out. My wings soon stretched out before me, tapping on every surface before me as I stepped down on it, being sure I wouldn’t slip into certain death. Of course, that was before I saw a bullet hit the snow before me, and sent me diving backwards with my friends.

“Dammit! Looks like we aren’t the only ones that tried to get out. Stone, I want you to suppress that shooter as I peek, alright? Tera, you keep your head down.” Stone gave me a nod as I lifted up, my rifle in position as he quickly followed my move, our sights locking onto the figures down the street. They were covered in thick armor, headlamps shining directly at us. Steel Rangers, the ones that I once thought to be the heavy hitters of our forces, ones we would work with. Now they were just typical defaulted raiders.

“Aim for their eyes.” I muttered to Stone before adjusting my aim, and pulling back on the trigger. My rifle roared as I watched the ranger on the right fall down to the snow, going completely still as Stone started to open fire. He let round after round out, hitting the muzzle cap, then the ear protectors. The Ranger stepped out of the way before letting a lightshow of lasers out of the weapons that were attached to their side, melting right through the snow, and my hoof hold. Tera scurried away back the way we came, hiding behind the corner of the large building we just passed. Stone was holding onto the melting snow for dear life, making his way over to the building Tera took refuge behind. I, on the other hoof, was not nearly as fortunate.

I could just feel the bare surface beneath me, the lack of snow and the amount of chills I felt didn’t seem as though they could go together, until I could hear, and feel the black water completely cover over me. In just an instant everything was completely black, and I could just feel myself being whisked away in this deadly river. Everything was silent, and I couldn’t feel anymore. I knew this was it, and I was gone. There was nothingness, until I could hear the Princesses speaking to me from over my shoulder.

“You aren’t making this easy for us, Angel. I know that you were caught by surprise, but we can only do this so many times. You see, Angel, both of us have perished, and have been gone for awhile now. It’s merely by the sheer magical ability Alicorns possess that we can still bring you here, to us.” I turned, and let a sigh as they both stood there. Celestia was standing in front, her sister standing beside her. They didn’t seem disappointed, or angry at all, if anything they seemed worried for me.
Luna spoke up this time, being the mother to me she always was. “Angel, we saw what happened in the shelter, and in the cafe. It’s one thing to have a misunderstanding, another to go and kill the only survivor just because you didn’t want your friends to find out. The family in the cafe though.. Angel, I’m afraid for you. I know what happened to your sister, and yes, I did always try to keep my Royal Guard away when we spoke, but there was no need for such a thing to have happened. Daugh-” She was cut out by a different voice, one I had never heard before. It was soft at first, but then rose as I watched the Princesses practically fade out into the darkness around me. It sounded dark in nature, seeming to echo on its own with every single word. I thought it was my own thoughts because it sounded like me when I was angry, but the echo was different.

I could just hear it scoffing in my ear. “Oh Angel, poor little Angel. Taking a bath in the taint. Completely ruining yourself in a single motion, oh and the best part.. The best part is that you can never truly get away from it. Or me now, for that matter.” I was swatting at my head to get whatever was making the cruel statements away, but it simply got louder, and louder. “Oh are you really trying to do that? How pathetic. You won’t ever be rid of me Angel, I’m in your head now.”

Celestia was pointing her horn at me, attempting to cast a spell while her sister went teary in the eyes. I could tell I was slipping out of this realm, and away from the ones that cared for me more than any other pony to ever live, or to have lived. I tried to scream out to Luna, the one who mentored me, who was there to train me, and send me off to war. I loved her, and I wasn’t about to just be pulled from her. “Luna! No, no what is this thing! Where am I going, please! Mother where am I going?!” I could just feel the frozen air blowing against me as my eyes opened, and I could see this dreaded wasteland once again.

My wings and hooves moved as quickly as they could to tear the current filter I had plugged in out, and to screw a fresh one in. I took a deep breath, and stood to my hooves, wobbling as I could just feel the freezing air blow against my soaked clothing. My eyes quickly moved around, trying to figure out just where I was. Through my right eye, I saw dead, broken trees surrounding me, and through my left.. Nothing. I could only see black through my left eye, but I couldn’t feel any blood.. Or anything other than the cold, for that matter. My eye kept spinning around, until my mind finally processed everything. I was in the middle of the southern forests, far away from my friends. Perfect.

The only thing I knew for sure was that the black river that had brought me here was still roaring near me, this merely being the point that it had chosen to let me go. My spirits dropped to nothing almost instantly, as I was now stuck in the middle of a frozen forest, soaking wet, and blind in my left eye. My mind finally started to reboot itself it seemed, my thoughts now going right to surviving. I made my way underneath a tree, and started to sort through my pack that held my survival items. The first thing that came out was my reflective blanket, the item wrapping up around me as I looked out into the distance, seeing the river that so highly contrasted against the white snow, and the dead, blackened trees that were cracking and dry, even with all of this toxic snow to drink from.

My eyes started to feel extremely heavy as I just sat there, under this dead tree with a blanket wrapped up around me. I was exhausted, and just needed to rest. Everything was cold, wet, dead.. And now I was going to adorn this dead tree with my corpse. For the first time in years, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. They pooled in the bottom of my wet mask. I closed my eyes, and heard as the world went silent, and the feeling of the cold went away.

§§§

“Don’t be too shy now, Angel. You have to remember that this is for the both of us now.” I felt the brush begin to run down my mane, and eventually my wings as well as it was held up by a plume of blue aura. Princess Luna sat behind me, checking every last hair in my mane it seemed, and every last feather on my back as well. She carefully folded them back up, and sat them neatly against my clean uniform, not wanting to ruin her hard work. I could already hear the royal horns blaring just outside, just through the set of deep red curtains. My stomach turned and twisted as I sat there, taking a few breaths as I cycled through my notes.

“All that you need to remember is that we’re not going to give up, and we will fight to the very last soldier. Because together-” I chimed my own voice in with the Princess’ to match our lines, being certain that I had it right. “-We are the strongest. Together we are the smartest, fastest, and best that this great land has ever seen., and because of this, we will never surrender! We will be victorious!”

I stood up and smiled, turning around to see her in all of her royal glory. She stood tall, smiling affectionately at me before bowing her head for a brief moment. Her dress was more like a highly decorated uniform, one that only the highest ranking of officers would wear. Medals hung from the chest, long strands of braided and knotted ropes and even decorative shoulder pads covered her black clothing. All I could do was return the nod, and I began to walk out to the curtains, taking a final breath, and then stepping out to see Princess Celestia as she slowly bowed her head, using her wings to show the way to the podium.

The beautifully finished white and gold accents around the deep, redwood stage. Crimson curtains hung to my sides as well as behind me, only to be completely outshone by our flags and war banners that lined the entire building. All I could see at first was the blinding light as I looked outward at first, until the massive lines of red chairs and all of the ponies that filled them, not a single seat seeming empty. The very front row was filled with my squadmates, Jacks, Candy, Rose, Shadow, and even Vogel sat before me, Rose seeming especially excited for the occasion as I stood before the waves. My eyes scanned the entire area, then gazed back out into the crowds as I could hear the horns coming to a halt. Up to the red wooden podium I went, my muzzle leaning forward to the microphone as I let my voice begin to flood the room, something that I was not used to at all.

“Ponies and Griffins of the lands of Equestria, today I greet you all as a leader, a symbol, a friend. I, like you, am going to deploy to fight in the war that has consumed us all. It was not my mother’s choice, or my idea originally to go through training, and prepare myself to go into combat. It was the loss of my sister that lead me to truly show my rifle skills at the Germaney Rifle Match, and it was there that Jacks, a very brave stallion, came and spoke to me about enlisting for a greater effort. When I told my mother, she was shocked, afraid, and even disapproving of my choice to be consumed by this war, but with time, I convinced her to support me fully. Now, I’m one of the few that simply do not exist in all of our papers, so don’t be telling any striped devils that I’m working out there!”

All I got was a mild laugh from the crowd, some of them seeming more impressed than others to my horrible humor. I knew that I shouldn’t even be doing this, as a single mistake would lead to my team behind hunted relentlessly. They did; however, need to be shown that there were a few of us that had no reason to be out in the field, but I had decided that it was the better choice.

“For this, my friends of Equestria, I salute you all. All that you need to remember is that we will not give up, and we will fight to the very last soldier. Because together, we are the strongest. Together we are the smartest, fastest, and the best that this great land has ever seen, and because of this, we will never surrender! We will be victorious!” I felt myself jumping up as I spoke out my final words, letting out a sigh of relief in myself as I made it through the speech without tripping over my words, or simply fainting on stage. All I could think about was how much we would be hunted, but at the same time, they needed to know that we were not going to give up, no matter the circumstance.

I gave a final bow, and then stretched out my wings as far as they could go before making my way back to the curtains, stepping through them to the squeeing Princess on the other side. She lifted me right off of my hooves in her ball of aura, cradling me up in the air while happily grinning. “Angel, sweetie, that was beautiful. I am afraid that you may in more danger as you go out into the field, so I will erase any record of you, and your friends as I said I would. I don’t think we can do this many more times, if at all. As much as it really boosts morale, it’s dangerous for the both of us.”

My eyes shot open as I heavily drew breaths, only to see the dead trees still surrounding me, and feeling the snow starting to freeze to my blanket, sending shivers through my body. I gazed up at the clouded out sky, and then up the black river I had just been taken here by. There stood the city, farther away than what I could walk without any issues. There was no more hope to have, not a single shred of reason to try to walk through the frozen wasteland. I couldn’t help but begin to cry out, using my energy on something so foolish as to express sorrow this way. That’s it, Angel. You’re not going to make it out of this alive.

I just wanted to close my eyes and feel more of my dreams take over reality, to take me as far away from this as I could go. My eyes shut once more as I just let out a sigh, not caring to even attempt to move again. Of course, that changed once I heard screaming coming from the river. I shot my eyes open once again, only to watch poor souls crawling out of the river, their flesh and bone exposed to the outside air. How did I survive this, and how do I stop these rivers from spreading?

My shaky body slowly stood, the blanket shifting around until my wings stretched out and held it on, as closely and tightly as I could. I felt ill, more so than I ever had before. Everything was cold, then hot, and sometimes it even felt like I was merely floating across the snow. The sound of the river and screams only got louder as I made my way through the maze of dead trees. My eyes went down to the ground as I stepped closer, and closer, everything to the left side seeming more and more distorted as I still couldn’t seem to get any real sight from it. I was terrified.

Through the broken and rough branches I could see a single pony laying on the snowbank, her clothing completely soaked through and blank. She seemed to be completely encased in the dark fluid, at least, what was left of her. Her hind legs were missing almost completely, and her front legs were torn up, burnt, even looking to be chewed off in some places. I didn’t feel any true emotion when I saw her laying there, as just knowing what it was calmed me. Until I could hear whispers in the back of my head, instructing me what I should do.

“Oh Angel, isn’t she just beautiful? Look at her body, poor thing. She must’ve been attacked. She’s suffering, Angel, and you need food, and you need to warm yourself up. It wouldn’t hurt if you used her body to warm yourself. Just crawl inside, cuddle in. Maybe enjoy some of her warm blood.”

I cringed at the things I was being told, but it was right. I was going to freeze out here, especially with the lack of dry space to build a fire. There was nothing else I could do, so I stepped closer to the mare. The liquid that covered her body melted in the snow she laid on, leaving just a small imprint in the ice. My wings stretched out, letting go of the blanket as I slowly pulled her away from the side of the river, watching as it left a black streak, until I pulled her under a large tree. I didn’t want to look at her as she took shallow breaths, just barely being alive. My wings stretched at what seemed to be against my will, the bladed ends slowly dragging up her gut, until she stopped breathing. The crimson liquid flooded out of her.

I set my rifle and bags aside as I shut my right eye, not even having feeling in my left eye anymore. I kept my mask away from the corpse as I slowly pulled out the organs, even going as far to cut into some of her ribs to allow for me to crawl inside. My back pressed against her first, and I almost puked in my mask as I kept sliding back, filling up her corpse with myself to keep warm. Everything felt so wrong, the way I felt her body encasing around my clothing, and fur. I kept my mask out of the flesh, keeping my new filter dry. My clothing was made even more wet, but this time, with the blood of this soul that gave me warmth.

I just wanted to close my eyes as I felt horrible about myself, until I could hear the soft whispers once again. “Take a drink, Angel. Just hold your breath and fill your mouth, then put your mask back on and swallow. You’re hungry, aren’t you? All of your food is sitting in your soaked bags, sitting on the ice. You need to eat now, Angel. Go on.”

I grit my teeth until pushing down on my ears with my hooves, soaking them with even more blood. It was right though, the zippers on my bags were probably already frozen shut. There was no other options. I took a deep breath, and removed the mask from my face. The frozen air hit me hard, feeling as if it froze my tears in place, sending more chills through me. My head turned, and I reached out of my cocoon to grab her hooves, and bit into one of the existing wounds, filling my maw with her hot blood. I quickly pulled my mask back over my face, and started breathing through my snout. I didn’t want to swallow the ichor, but I could hear the whispers once again.

“So close, Angel. Swallow it. Fill your belly up nice and full. You’ve already made it this far.” I just felt the tears flowing once more as I swallowed the blood, bit by bit as the metallic flavor flooded my maw. It felt so warm and nice as it went into my stomach, yet I felt sick and broken once I thought about what I was drinking, and what I was doing. Yet, when my maw was now empty and only traces of the blood remained, I felt comfortable. I was alive, warm, and fed. There wasn’t anything else that I needed to survive right now.

My eyes shut once again as I laid in this body, feeling the blood surrounding me, filling up the cavern that I sat inside. I felt cramped in this small space, even with being built much smaller than others. Either way, I didn’t know how much longer I could spend in here; my only concern was freezing once I crawled out of this shell. Either way, I was going to have to do it either way.

“Get your fucking head down!” My eyes shot open as I laid flat in a mud hole, Jacks screaming at me as bullets whizzed over our heads. He took his radio and started to yell into it, Vogel and Shadow yelling out to us as Rose stayed balled up to our backs. Candy was laying down as much fire as she could, keeping the striped devils down as we tried to get our bearings. I reached down into my belt and pulled out a grenade, yanking out the pin with my teeth before using my wing to sling it out as far as I could. Two seconds passed, and I could hear the explosion with screams coming behind it.

We started to get our hoof-hold back in the fight, and we finally peeked our heads up to fire alongside Candy, laying the fire down into their position. Shadow and I took precision shots, shooting through the dirt mounds and piles of scrap steel to drop our targets. Candy let her machine guns roar and spit out lead as fast as they possible could, Rose lifting up her head to watch as Vogel and Jacks started to move forward, tossing out smoke grenades and even explosives into the Zebra trenches. I stood up after they started getting closer, standing to hit the targets in the rear, watching as they fell over with holes appearing in their body.

The lightshow in the air lit up the night and the trees that surrounded us, turning the gray grass below green as our muzzle flashes put out light. I could just feel the cool breeze, this normally serene area turned into a blood-soaked warzone by the very presence of the stripes. I wasn’t having any of this. My eyes went ahead to Jacks, and Vogel as he jumped down into the trenches, his shotgun blasting away our enemies with ease. Jacks kept his eye sweeping the trenches, Candy come up to stand beside him. I wasn’t going to just sit back with my scope this time, I was going to get right in the middle of everything. My wings slid the scope off from the top of my rifle, and slid a bayonet to the muzzle as I dove into the muddy trenches.

Jacks didn’t seem too pleased at first, his words barking at me as I dove right into the bloody mud hole, my boots sinking into the viscous mixture of water, dirt, and remains. My head stayed down as I held my rifle by the action, making my way through the maze of wood reinforced walls, seeing the fresh blood running down the pine planks. Vogel’s weapon kept roaring on the other side of the trench, some of my squadmates weapons occasionally roaring out as they fired into the trenches. My path was clear, however, as I saw a striped devil at the end of this mud pit, her eyes not trained on me until I let out a cry, charging right at her with my blade point aimed right at her chest. She tried to jump back, but failed to move out of the way as the blade jabbed into her gut, my eyes gazing right into her own while I twisted my rifle, hearing her scream before I pulled the blade out of her, watching her fall over and whimper in pain.

The adrenaline in my body started to thin out, leaving me standing above a bleeding zebra, her crimson life dripping from the edge of my blade. Jacks let out a chuckle behind me, looking down right at me before he spoke out.

“You must hate them as much as I do. Glad I got you to join in with us back at the match, even if the Commander was weary at first. I’ve gotta give it to you though, you certainly have what it takes. I’ll put in a request to have you up at the rank of Captain before we even get home from this campaign. Keep up the work Angel, I’m proud of you.”

I couldn’t help but crawl out of the corpse. Her blood stuck to me, some of the clotting ichor even sticking to me, stringing itself as I pulled away from her. It felt like it was pulling me back into her, back into the warmth. Instead, I cast myself on the ice, and back into the freezing air. My legs were weak, and my body freezing as I gathered my things, keeping my head down as I started to walk through the snow, stumbling around while leaving red stains everywhere I stepped. There was no reason for me to leave my warmth, my best chance of survival, but if I was going to have dreams like that; I wasn’t going to stick around.

My body hit into the brittle trees as my vision was blurred, adding to the extra difficulty of just trying to see with one eye. I didn’t feel anything now, even as my body slammed into the crackling wood. My legs just didn’t want to hold me up anymore, but my mind wasn’t about to just stop. Every step took even more out of me, and I still had a few days of walking ahead of me, just to get back to Stadt. I wanted to be home with Rose, Vogel, and Star, even if they did burn one of the last things I had from my mother. They didn’t know, and couldn’t. I still didn’t want to think about it myself, as I could never say anything without her permission.

There was so much about this new world that took so much more of out me than any battle had, any campaign or wound. I felt this way even more as I swore hooves wrapped around my head, and covered up the lenses on my mask. I could just hear the voice again as I swatted at the hooves around my head, only hitting myself as I tried to do so. “Relax, Angel. Just let me have a little fun.” It felt like my breathing was almost stopped instantly, and time began to slow. The feeling of the cold air blowing on my clothing stopped, leaving me with only my hearing.

I felt like I was dreaming at first, hearing the snow crunching over what I could only assume to be my hooves. Or, I hoped they were my hooves. I could see once again through this dream-like state, though I couldn’t move myself at all, just showing I was still held back by the voice that took over of my body. This is something I didn’t mind, as I was cold, tired, and hopeless beyond belief. Of course, this was the same voice that would have me crawl into a corpse and drink her blood. Her word was what I took at face value, and it seemed to pay off. Especially when I let myself sleep, knowing that my body was going to keep going regardless.

My mind finally rest, or at least, the part I owned. This voice was new to me, but I wasn’t in any state to fight it. If anything, I had already accepted my death.

I gazed back through my own eyes after my period of rest, just to be horrified at what I saw. I stood above a fresh corpse, a filthy stallion with his throat spilling out blood. His clothing and hood covered his face, and hid his appearance from me. My head spun around to my own control, showing me the dark room around me. Old picture frames hung crooked, the glass cracked and covered in blood. The glass fixture above me was dripping down the crimson substance onto my hood, and down my mask. A bed sat in the corner, basic wooden frames with a filthy mattress laying crooked across it, covered in filth and blood.. And Luna knows what else.

My wings were now in view after my head spun around in this bedroom, more of the blood dripping from them. I didn’t know what happened, and I was wanting to find out. My hoof lifted up, just to have the sticky blood stringing to it. I turned, and left the scene, unaware of who I had just killed. The door fell open to my command, leaving me standing in an open hall, gazing over the edge into the main room, cracked and broken wooden banister spindles lining the entire other side. Onward I went, avoiding the doors as I went straight to the stairs, going down into the main room with grimey, dirty carpets, and torn up furniture.

Every step I took left a trail of blood, the crimson ichor still stained in every single last thread of my clothing, the blood still sloshing around in my boots. However, I wasn’t cold, or hungry for that matter, and the voice was quiet now. What else could I need? I checked through my items, the zipper moving freely without ice as I sat in this dark, empty house that seemed to hold up. Everything was accounted for, down to the last bullet. Whatever came over me certainly didn’t feel the need to fire a single round. My packs went back where they belonged, and I put a new filter in my mask just to be certain I was prepared to go back outside.

The door squeaked open as I pushed it open slowly, cold air blowing into the house with flakes of snow piling into the doorway. I stepped outside, closing the door behind me (out of habit, I suppose) as I stepped out into the snow, looking around to examine my surroundings. The large, metallic building surrounded me once again, the black water flooding right in front of the home. This was Stadt again, of that I was sure, and I needed to find my friends. I searched for any landmarks, and with a slow scan of the area, I could see the hospital standing in the distance.

Snow crunched under my blood-soaked boots, leaving a trail of red hoof prints at first, before they eventually came clean from the icey pathway I walked. Once again I felt the cold air blowing on the blood soaked clothing I wore, nearly freezing my hairs together and clothing to my fur. All I could do now was make it back to Stone’s home, and just hope that they made it back themselves. The hospital guided my way back to the main street I came in on, and then to the brick housing where Stone would hopefully be found. Hopefully.

Every step was far too loud for my liking, but I didn’t have time to gently finesse my way across the snow, my primary concern was on getting somewhere warm, and getting clean. I stayed close to the sides of the crumbling buildings, walking down the edge of the streets to stay out of the way, and reduce my chance of being spotted by anypony else that felt like I needed to die, or any ghoul that wasn’t shot and frozen over in the ground, or still looking for some pony chow. That thought wasn’t the most comforting thing I had with me. More and more of the rubble piles were completely buried under the much deeper snow, leaving only the tallest and sharpest in my path.

The brick buildings looked as they had seen many better days, as the snow blocked the main entrance, leaving on the windows to break into, if you could climb up a little. I didn’t have many problems hopping up, and letting my freezing wings push the air down beneath me, boosting me to the window which I broke in with my hooves. I rolled into the fresh pile of glass, groaning as I landed on a rather nice dining table, until it splintered under me. An odd pressure pushed on my chest, until I released the thick flak jacket was holding a wooden spike, one that would have pierced into my heart. Funny how injured areas always seem to be the targets for more abuse. I just gave the wooden spike a quick chop with my wing, not bothering to try to pull it out just yet, my main focus still on getting up, and out of this plain room.

The walls seemed darker on this floor, perhaps being painted a few shades darker for variety, or for the fact that I still couldn’t see from my left eye. Every step in here echoed, leaving me even more aware of my surroundings, almost as if everything felt sharper, and cleaner, even if I did feel as though my sight was impaired. Just until I began reading the small print on the side of the last remaining decorative table, and from a considerable distance. Thoughts began to race through my head, nothing making sense anymore. Better vision, enhanced hearing, and that voice.. What did that tainted water do to me? Jacks and Shadow both showed me what it could do, so why hadn’t I suffered the same fate? I felt as though my body was changed, and for the better, though my thoughts changed as I went on autopilot, and ended up hitting the filter of my mask to Stone’s door.

There was no response at first, until I could hear the metallic clicking of a weapon behind the door. I couldn’t help but yell out to him, as the mask I wore, and the door both would muffle me out too much. “Stone! Hey, it’s Angel! Open the door!” The clicking stopped almost instantly, and instead the door opened up. There he stood, his eyes full of surprise, and a fresh burn wound across his lower left jaw. I wanted to reach out and examine the wound, but it appeared to have already healed over, which left even more questions. If he had some kind of technology to close wounds, where did he get it?

“Stone, was that from the Rangers? When I fell into the river?” He just nodded, and moved aside to let me in. Then he started to speak as he saw just how bloody I was.

“Gone for a week and.. What happened to you, Angel? We both thought that we lost you back when you fell in the river. And uhm.. You don’t look very clean. Just saying. No offence.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my mask off, letting my bloody mask hang from my neck as I wasted no time going to his restroom, my goal the bathtub. “Where’s Tera, by the way? And you said a week? I remember waking up in a forest and then.. Well.. needing to make a pony skin sleeping bag. I kept hearing this voice, and.. And then everything went dark for a while. I woke up in a home not too far from here.” He seemed surprised, but at the same time, he showed off just how stoic he could be, even while letting some emotion through.

“I’ve never heard anything like that before, but I guess you’re just somepony that isn’t going to give up anytime soon. Tera is in the room, resting her eyes. She got burnt as well, but not quite as bad as I was. Go on, clean up. Be sure to wash your clothing and packs in there too, and please, clean off your rifle. I know it’s in good hooves, but a little cleaning off won’t hurt it. Oh, and your left eye is a little fucked up. Might want to take a look at that.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I stepped onto the tiles of the bath room, careful to take my boots off while standing in the bathtub to let the blood drain out.

I started with washing my belongings, leaving the contents of my bags out on the tile floor to keep them dry. Bag after bag, thread after thread, splash after splash, I stained the water red more than once, and that was just with scrubbing out the blood using antiseptic I had in my medical supplies. The bags and clothing were balled up and sat in the sink, left there to wait for further attention. As I was filling the bath tub with hot water, I could just hear the door nearly come off the hinges as Tera came jumping through the door. She squeaked out while pouncing on me, nearly knocking me off-balance. “Angel! Oh I thought you were dead! Ow..ow..”

I looked down at her front right leg, seeing the burnt, scarring flesh that stretched up her leg. My eye widened as I sat, carefully examining it for any deeper damage. There was permanent damage in her flesh, leaving me to just wish Rose were here to take a closer look, and give any needed measure. All I could do was give her a painkiller, and wrap it up snuggly with any rapid healing item I could find in my bag. Her head was down the entire time, watching my hooves as I treated her wound. Then she looked at my eye, and jumped back while gasping.

“Angel! Your eye it’s.. O-oh sweet Celestia..” Up to the mirror I went, finally taking the time to move my mane aside, and get a look at what my eye truly looked like. I saw what used to be silver and white, completely black. There wasn’t even as much as a pinprick of white in the middle of it all, not even pointing out the way the black traveled the vessels surrounding my void.

“No wonder I can’t see out of it. There’s.. No, it’s still there. Just, not what it needs to be.” I couldn’t just break down and try to pull out my own eye, but I was wishing for nothing but that. My eye was infected, something that couldn’t be shown to anyone back home. “Tera, while I clean myself up from all of this blood, could you perhaps make some kind of patch to put over this? I know you’re a woodworker, but I need this eye to be covered.”

She sadly nodded and stepped out, leaving me to close the door behind her for privacy. I stared at the dusty mirror, just looking at myself, and the dark eye that marred my face. No words could describe how I felt about this, and what Rose would say. Damn I wanted to be home. My head lowered as I made my way to the bathtub, stepping into the hot water, only to see the water around me turn dark red in seconds. I wanted to flee from the water, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. My head sunk below the water, only delving me deeper into the crimson waters.

Tera came back in as I was draining out the water, flicking out water from my mane, only to mop up the red droplets with the towel of questionable cleanliness. She lifted up a black eyepatch with her magical aura, presenting it to me with a soft smile across her face. My wing reached outward, carefully examining it before giving her a smile, and holding my mane back. She carefully fit the patch around my head, until it held securely, and comfortably on me.

“So uh.. How do I look?” I gave Tera an awkward smile of reassurance, only for her to roll her eyes and give me a cute giggle in response.

“You look like a pony with an eyepatch, what else do you wanna know?”

We sat around Stone’s table, heating up our rations while speaking about things that had occurred when I blacked out. Stone actually started to show emotion again, especially when he pulled up an extra seat just to seat his rifle as well. Tera and myself both chuckled at the action, leaning closer to each other for comfort as he would give the weapon an occasional pat. When the hissing of the heaters for our meals silenced themselves, we tore open the black packets and dug our plastic utensils into the preserved food. Every bite was a treat, but I couldn’t help but feel something was missing from it, even after I worked my magic to make the meals leagues better.

“Hey Angel, so you.. You did what to stay warm now?” My eye moved over to the mare as she leaned up against me, her eyes full of curiosity with Stone giving me a similar gaze. I continued to chew for a few moments, and then swallowed. I trusted them both, and knew that Tera would knew if something was wrong.

“Well.. I just kept hearing whispers, and.. There was a body, washed up from the river in the woodland area like I was. She was already gone, there were bite marks on her legs and wounds all around her body. I pulled her up under this tree, and I could just hear that voice going and going, and then.. I cut her open. I crawled inside, and I stayed there.”

Both of them were silent as I finished, the confirmation of my story almost sending them both into shock. I just wanted to be home again, even if this place had every luxury that was reasonable in this wasteland. Power and clean water, of course the sheer amount of rubble and debris could be used as a negative, but everything here felt more comfortable. I dreamed of this for my home. When the land was dark and we had all become tired, Tera and myself retired to the room over. Nothing had seemed to change, until I saw the pile of wood shavings on the floor, a sign of Tera keeping busy, and entertained here.

“What are you working on, Tera? I see all of the shavings there, and I know just how talented you are with woodworking.” She just smiled and rolled her eyes, flopping over on the sofa, leaving just enough room for me to take a seat next to her.

“Oh you know, just a couple of little wooden figurines. I don’t know what else to carve, and you’re a pretty good model to work with!” I smiled to myself while leaning into her again, staying close, and warm. “I’d love to work on your rifle, if you’d let me. I can see a couple of little spots on the wooden part that aren’t quite perfect.”

My eyes rolled as I snickered to her comment, already closing my eyes as I comfortably laid back. “As long as you’re careful with it, and don’t compromise the integrity of the weapon, then go right ahead. Just, please, run anything you want to do by Stone first. This was his father’s rifle, after all.”

I felt her shift around for a few moments, until I could hear her snoring just a few minutes later. I silently chuckled to myself, not wanting to wake her now as she seemed so comfortable, even if this sofa wasn’t the softest thing I had ever sat on. The room was comfortably warm, and was even better with Tera leaning up against me. She didn’t move much as she rested, and I wasn’t far from sleep myself, until I let myself pass from my conscious state to complete sleep.

“Angel! Angel get the fuck up, let’s go let’s go!” My eyes shot open as Vogel shook me in my sleep, his eyes full of fear as I just watched the globe land beside us, the green substance inside just waiting to come blowing out. My wing quickly wrapped around it, and flung it back the way it came, only for it to explode in the air with a ball of green flames.

“Fuck me.. What a way to start the day!” I sat up and grabbed my rifle, crawling my way up in the mud. His feathers were dripping the brown slop, shotgun smoking in talon. I had become so used to the sound of gunfire it didn’t even bother me even more, something that I found comfort, and fear in. Rose came diving through the mud pits, her white coat stained brown and green, not to mention her poor uniform. Then, she started shouting out to me, staying near me as I saw Vogel stand and fire into the distance, Candy and Jacks not far behind Rose.

The dropped down into different craters, dropping down into the mud once more from their advancement. Gunfire tore through the air once more, the exchange of fire and explosives tearing up the otherwise peaceful meadow, felling trees and blowing more holes into the ground as the rain fell around us, but no matter how much it rains on a battlefield, it will never wash away the blood.

“Stay still, Angel.. You were thrown by that spell bomb, I’m surprised you didn’t eat up this mud! Alright, alright, let me just give you a check over, okay?” I smiled while letting my hood splash down in the mud, keeping my mane from more of the liquid dirt. My eyes shut again as I felt her warming spells around me, almost relaxing before she started to shout again, her own weapon beginning to spit out fire across the grass. “You look just fine, love! Now get out of the dirt and let’s get home safely!” Her smiled warmed my heart, and sparked a flame in me to get up, and start dropping stripes.

I jumped up and pulled my rifle from the mud, falling forward on the edge of the pit to take aim, using my wings to wipe the mud from my scope. Rose kept her head down behind me, staying close to me as I looked out at the concrete boxes that rested before us, our flags and markings either burnt up, or marked over. “Re-take the bunker and free our prisoners.” That was our reason to be here, and that’s just what we would do. My eye focused on the slits in the concrete, gazing at the stripes behind their weaponry before their heads disappeared, and red clouds appeared in their place.

My rifle made metallic clicking each time I chambered in a new round, only to send another into the pillboxes before us. I cheered as Candy set herself up, and started to spray at the structure. Vogel and Jacks jumped up, and started to make their way up to the concrete structure, tossing out canistered that bursted into smoke to cover their approach. I lifted up and stood watch on the sides of the bunkers, focusing on anything that moved.

Round after round, I dropped more of the stripes as they tried to get sneaky and hit our friends from the side. Each kill only brought more joy to me, as yet another enemy of our great nation fell to my hooves. As I held the sides, Vogel tossed a grenade into the slit of the bunker, both him and Jacks lowering and covering their heads as the inside of the structure rocked, the heavy steel door around the side staying shut. Jacks then pulled a red canister from his belt, tossing it in and quickly moving out of the way with Vogel, a burst of flame igniting the inside of the bunker. Screams echoed out as the victims inside as they pounded on the door, finally cracking it open, only for two, melted piles of blistered flesh come crawling out of the structure, the smell.. Oof.

I watched as Vogel, perhaps the greatest pointman the military had ever seen, pulled the door open as it was unlatched, his shotgun roaring inside as he gunned down and survivors, but leaving the burn victims laying in their own burning state, screaming and crying out in pain as the flames burnt into the very far edge of their flesh. Once Jacks entered behind Vogel, the rest of us got up and quickly made our way to the bunker, Candy setting up her machine guns once again to hold the entrance, the rest of us wandering inside. A line of shotgun shells, blood, and burning zebras lined the floor, a true bloody display to how much we loved our nation, the great Equestria. Even a griffin was willing to fight, and die on our behalf. It was an honor to work beside him.

The papers and flags inside were completely burnt to a crisp, black stains of carbon and smoke left behind from the quick burning canister grenade, white phosphorous. I kicked over one of the living zebras, listening to him scream out in pain as my boot sunk into his structureless flesh, almost like kicking a pile of rubber. When my boot pulled back, I watched as the skin stuck to it, leaving me to kick it off against the wall of the bunker. Rose looked down at the bodies and survivors, seeming disturbed, but understanding to the situation. I could feel as my rifle was disturbed, her pure green aura wrapped around the scope of my rifle, and carefully unmounting it, her words following after. “That isn’t going to do you much good here, Love. You’ll want to use the iron sights.”

I warmly smiled at her, shooting her a wink as the scope then went into the steel container I had especially to protect the fragile item. “Thanks, Love.” She returned a warm smile, turning to watch the rear with Candy as Jacks and Vogel move forward. My radio began to gawk at me, calling for my attention. The edge of my feather hit the small button on the box I had strapped to my shoulder, and answered the call.

“Welcome to Happy Burger (trademarked), how may I take your order?” My response was a scoff, then a lower voice coming through.

“Yeah yeah Angel, very funny. I’ll take.. What, a number nine or two.. Er.. No, fuck that. You’ve got hostiles moving up on you. I don’t think they know what happened, looks like a returning patrol. Let the others know, I’m taking aim. Preparing for the engagement.”

“Thanks Shadow. I’ll get those two number nines ready for you when we meet back up.” I clicked off the radio, and shouted out to Jacks as he moved deeper into the structure with Vogel. “Jacks, we’ve got company! Prepare yourselves!” He started to shout back over gunfire, his words muffled out by the echoing roars. I assumed that he heard me, and now my attention went to Candy at the door. “Candy, Rose, we’ve got company. Set up, they’re coming now.”

Rose stood beside me, staying close as Candy dug herself in, laughing as she dug through the moist earth with her short shovel, giving herself enough of a pit to rest her machine guns on the grass before her. She grinned while checking her munition supply, lowering her head down as she prepared herself. “Don’t you two worry about me, I’ll keep this locked down.” Candy’s sweet voice made the scene all the more unbelievable, but we knew this adorable mare meant business. Rose tossed her a small medical pack, just as a precaution before she started to walk with me, following me to a forward position in the concrete hole. The barrel of my rifle rested on the edge of the rifle port, facing out to the group of stripes that marched our way, Vogel and Jacks in the pod next to us.

Rose reluctantly aimed her short weapon out of the small window, focusing on her sights with me. “Movie binge-a-thon when we get home?” She smirked, and let out a puff of air before focusing again. “Yes Angel, I feel that’s appropriate. Let’s get home safely.”

We listened for the first round, and on the signal of Shadow letting his rifle report to us all, we unleashed hell onto the group. The zebras started yelling out at each other as they dove down, the lack of cover in the meadow leaving them exposed to our fire. Shadow tore them in half with his massive rifle, Candy turned them to ribbons with her machine gun, Vogel let his buckshot pepper them in hot shot, Jacks emptied magazine after magazine, and Rose letting her cute PDW spit out lead. The symphony of gunfire was music to my ears, especially when my own weapon spit out hot lead.

The crowd that stood before us was reduced to piles of blood and flesh in the field, staining the green grass red. Once our weapons silenced, and the groans of the dying had stopped, we took a moment to hold aim. No more weapons were discharged, and not a single zebra whined from bullets shredding them apart. Birds had began to sing over the scene, and the flowers started to sway in the wind, their vibrant colors contrasting against the grass. A war zone in the middle of a peaceful area, nature returning to its standard routine.

Rose and I both saw this paradox, this backwards scene that would make anypony’s skin crawl. My wing carefully wrapped around her, and my head lowered down. “I used to come here as a filly, usually with friends on one of their adventure trips. We laid in that meadow, chased the butterflies, even ate a few apples and popsicles. Now it’s just stained in blood, like the rest of our beautiful land. We’ll push them out, Rose. Then.. then we’ll find a way to start our own family. I’m not going to ever let you go, Rosie.”

My eyes opened to the sight of a blank wall before me, and the few strands of Tera’s mane that stuck up from her moving in her sleep. I felt comfort, but also despair as I missed my wife back home. There was never a time we were apart this long, and all I wanted to do now was forgive her.

“Tera, sweetheart. Wake up, we’re going to take a trip with Stone. I’m taking us back to home, back to the Capital City.” The mare stretched out, her eyes just barely opening with a “Huh?” She wiped her eyes and gave me a concerned, yet excited gaze, hopping up and off of the sofa to stretch her entire body now. I followed suit, standing to stretch my legs and wings out, watching as Tera yawned after stretching herself out. “So we’re leaving today then? Like now?” She seemed concerned, but also excited to venture outward, and a three day walk was certainly a way to see farther out into the wastes.

“That’s right, today. I’ll need to talk to Stone about it, but I think that it would be best if we did. Go ahead and bathe, you might not be able to for a bit.” She blinked a few times, then nodded before slowly making her way to the bathroom, leaving me to go out into the hallway, and knock on Stone’s door. He opened the door and looked at me with my messy mane, the rifle across his back. “Stone, I think we should leave today. Head back up to my home, and meet up with my other friends. If we do, it’ll take us a few days to get there, but it’s essential for me to get back there now.”

He just scratched the back of his head, looking around the inside of his home for a moment. “Yeah I’ll come with, I guess I should probably bring my supplies with us. I’ll see what I can put together to bring it with us. I hope it’s better over on your side of this wasteland.” Stone still didn’t show me much emotion this morning, but I knew I could find a way to crack into his shell. He turned and gave me a nod as he slowly shut his door, leaving me to return to the room next to his, and gather my items.

I could hear Tera splashing around in the tub as I checked through my bags, accounting for every ration packet, every bullet, every single bandage that I had. My rifle was next, as I took it apart, piece by piece to the very last screw until I had a pile of steel and wood sitting before me. Each part was lifted up by my steel feathers, wiping them clean of any grime, then coated in a thin gel lubricant to keep it as smooth as it could be. With joyful and smooth clicks, the weapon was put back together, ready to be loaded and used once again. I started to arrange my items, and began to put on my uniform and gear to prepare for the long walk ahead of us.

We stood together, bags and clothing piled on as we stood in the final hallway that kept us from the frozen world outside. Stone tied ropes to his bags, pulling behind a sled that was covered in crates and personal items, a blue canvas cover tied down over the sled. I looked over at both of them, and then put on my mask, checking the filter to be certain it was screwed in as tight I could get it. Tera followed, then Stone, all of us standing in our full gear, ready to step outside. I was first into the freezing air, crawling through the window, and standing on the mountain of frozen flakes that piled up beside the building.

The others stood beside me, following my lead as I began north, trying to keep my footing on the slick surface, and from sinking into other areas. Every step was a gamble on this surface, you’d either slide forward, or sink down. Of course, we all started moving a whole lot faster when we heard screeching coming from behind us. Stone turned to look behind us, and I knew that his words weren’t of a joking demeanor. “What in the fuck is that thing?! Owl! Fucking massive owl!”

My head jerked back to see the massive beast in the air, watching as it stared down at us with its massive yellow eyes. We ran down the hill as quickly as we could, losing our step and sliding down most of the way until we scrambled to get up, stuck beneath a street light that was just barely holding itself up. My rifle was ready this time, but so was the beast. It was the largest owl I had ever seen, being at least the size of my bedroom back home, not even counting the massive wing span. White and blue feathers covered the monster, an almost eye pleasing arrangement, until the talons came out. If somepony would have said that it had swords for talons, I’d believe it.

Stone and I both started to open fire on the owl, Tera diving down behind us and cowering as we emptied out our weapons. None of the bullets seemed to even phase the beast, every single shot seeming as though they just stuck into its feathers.

“Stone, these aren’t doing anything! Its feathers are like a ballistic vest, we need to aim somewhere weak.. Its eyes!” Both of us aimed for the glowing yellow eyes as it swooped down at us, forcing us to dive out of the way of the massive talons that took the streetlight, and tore the steel structure from the very ground. The light was lifted up, and pulled behind the owl before it simply let go, dropping the pole into the frosted streets. Tera held onto my leg as Stone and myself were now loaded again, just waiting for the monster to swoop back around.

It dove for us once again after flipping around in the air, screeching out again, then going silent as we both emptied out or rifles once more. I watched as its eyes seemed to burst through my sights, the crimson fluids spraying from them as it began to spin, crying out before it went beak first into the brick buildings we came from, toppling the building over with the force that it impacted with. We just stared as the building fell over, dust and green particles flying into the air as the beast gave a final scream. I could just feel Tera pulling on my hind leg, her muffled voice taking my attention.

“Angel please let’s go! I don’t want to get eaten by one of those things!” I couldn’t help but smile at her through my mask, slinging the rifle back over my shoulder as I helped her up, giving her a tight hug before nodding and readjusting the hood over her mane. Of course, we all started to move a whole lot faster as heard another cry from the beast.

Next Chapter: Chapter 7: Reconciliation Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 7 Minutes