We walked through the icy streets as a group, spread out to scan the area for any threats, supplies, or survivors. Vogel was in front as always, his knowledge of being up front and center keeping him prepared for whatever may poke out; the rest of us stood a few leg lengths apart, Stone and Tera standing together, Rose and I making our pair on the other side as well. Star fell behind, keeping away from me, the one that she deemed ‘Psychopath’. We didn’t want to leave Tera behind alone at our home, and Stone felt like grabbing a few more rounds for his toy. Vogel was far more understanding of it than we were, some type of unspoken friendship they must’ve already made as we made our way into the city the day before.

Rose held the map up with her aura before me, allowing me to track the paths through the streets to our destination. “Vogel, take a left up ahead. His home will be a few kilometers down from there. Can’t miss the place, it’s a total shithole that’s probably completely blown over. I’ll grab the key from inside, and we’ll get outward to the facility, of course it would have to be on the other side of the city.” The griffin simply nodded to my commands, his head moving to watch the gaps between fallen buildings and crumbling homes, turning us between them.

Tera kept her head rather low and somber to the sight of another fallen city from the betrayal from our own leaders, the green glowing from the detonation site in the mountain range seeming to get to her even more so here, more than likely from the elevation. Our eyes quickly scanned the shadows as they danced around, until everything slowly became more dull and blurry. Our pace universally slowed down as everything had become obscured, the situation soon becoming clear, our sight less so. Fog was rolling in, and our chance of keeping track on our path become much lower, almost to the point of stopping entirely. Vogel, the determined bird-brain he was kept us going forward as a much closer group, confident in his navigation skills and directional sense to take us to our destinations.

The white cloud filled our streets, rolling through the destroyed buildings and over the caved in rooftops. Visibility dropped quickly, going from being completely clear to only a couple of meters of actual sight, and even then the mist distorted the shapes and colors of objects near us. I called out to everypony, calling them to group up even closer around me. When we all stood shoulder to shoulder, we kept moving on. Vogel stayed in front of us all, but kept his wings stretched out to give us something larger to look for, even when he was a mere meter before all of us. “Keep your eyes open for it, Vogel. Shouldn’t be too far now, you could probably smell the stench of that place, even through your mask.”

Our pace was slowed down immensely, almost to that of a slow stroll while we tried to navigate the fogged streets. Vogel groaned as he almost walked into the door, waiting for me to give him confirmation on the home. Here it was, even more decrepit and disgusting than before. He looked around between all of us, then lowered his head and spoke through his mask. “Don’t suppose either of you have seen Star?” Our heads whipped around, trying to see if she had simply slowed beyond us and was lagging behind in the cloud. Nothing.

“Well fuck.” Everypony (and Vogel) looked over at me, knowing that we couldn’t remove our masks to call out to her, and our voices were already muffled enough. A single breath of the air, and your mind becomes irrational. Jacks and Shadow both drank the water, I could only assume many of the ponies we encountered had been exposed, Star was even exposed when.. He? She? First landed down on top of the clinic. There had to be documentation as to how exactly it worked. Rose tapped me on the shoulder, expecting me to continue on as opposed to fall deep into thought as I had. “Oh, Sorry. I was thinking about how the toxins seem to have different effects on us. And that-” We froze as I could hear the shrieking that I had encountered on my way back home. “Owl!”

Tera and Stone both knew exactly what I was talking about, leaving Stone to buck open the door rather quickly for us to pile inside, and shut the cracked door behind us. We kept our masks on, gazing out the windows with our weapons at the ready, just waiting to see the massive creature try to eat us all alive. I knew we all shared the same fear as Star’s head hit against the window with a splatter, the rest of her body flying up and off with the owl. “Luna above.. Star’s down. Clearly.” Unrest and nervousness was the only thing we experienced together now, the dark and rather creepy house didn’t help out much either. As the self-proclaimed leader, I pulled them all away from the window and tried to speak as clearly as I could.

“There’s nothing we could do about that one. Feel no guilt, and mourning will wait until we’ve finished this operation. Understand, all? I can’t let a death, as brutal as it may be, hinder us from supplies we so desperately need to survive.” The pale light lit up the dust and debris floating in the air, and reflecting off the lenses of my mask. I stood tall and proud, showing no sign of weakness or regret to any of them. “Vogel, scout around the basement. I’m not going back down there, ever again. Stone, Tera, you two go and search the upstairs. Rose and I will stay on the ground floor.” My head turned to the hanging lantern by the door as it always had rested there, giving me a light source as I ignited it with the turning of a knob.

Dark, filthy hardwood flooring and pale brown walls surrounded us, as well as a large stone fireplace. Rose focused her energy on the fireplace, lifting old, rotting wood from the small basket near the stone structure, and flicking it on with a spark of her magic. The warm fire was inviting, but disturbing to me. My father swore he was going to throw me in there at times. “Look, everyone. We’ll have a memorial for Star when we get home. There’s just no time out here.” Even with my attempts to assure and calm things, Tera still showed grief in her stance. She barely knew Star, and was already showing signs of distress. The kind-hearted mare didn’t belong in a world like this.

Flames licked the dark stones encasing the foyer, lighting up the room around us. Not a thing had changed, the same wooden furniture was scattered across the room from a drunken rage, blood stains on seemingly all of the walls, and a massive crimson stain in the middle of the kitchen floor. Chills went down my spine as I could feel the warmth of the stain creeping around my young hooves all over again. Never again would I be pushed over, never again would I just bow to oppression. Take that, father. “Alright. Vogel, take the lantern because you will need it most. Rose, can you make us a torch, honey? And Tera, you should carry one too.” Each of them followed my orders to the letter, Rose and Tera both levitating a chunk of the burning wood for light as Vogel held the lantern up with his wing. Off we went, exploring the creepy house.

The hoofsteps (and.. pawsteps?) faded as they went on, Vogel making his way down to the basement from the kitchen, the other two going up the stairway that lit up with the fire. Rose looked around at the room, walking through the plain rooms until she stood above the massive blood stain in the kitchen, gazing down at it. “This is where you shot him, Angel? You’d think they would take the time to at least clean this up.” She was right, but didn’t know the entire story. “You’re right, Rose. But, the party that took over started to lose their battles. He was tense from diring situation, our materials to make rifles started to fall down to nil. I remember him saying that they didn’t even bother to count the dead anymore. We held our ground in battle, shredding through their numbers with only losing a few of our own. Technology only does so much against constant hordes of mindless soldiers.”

She lowered her head, staying still and silent for a moment. Her covered shoulder soon leaned against my own as she spoke again, asking question after question as to exactly what happened here when I was merely a filly. Rose herself wasn’t Germanian by blood, she was from Veneigh to the south, and hadn’t even considered living in Germaney until she enlisted. I’m glad she stayed. “Well Rose, I can tell you exactly what happened, how it happened, and why it happened.”

“We were starting to fall economically behind, and a certain.. We won’t name him, weaseled his way into power. He was charming, had plans to restore everything. Even get us more land to farm and settle so we could expand outward. It was only a year later when we started to build up our military power. Just so happens there was also a special program for the young, where we would be taken out on actual skirmishes and campaigns. Just so happens that my father, one of the highest ranking and most brutal officers threw me right into it. Here I was, this tiny little filly with a helmet on my head, and pistol on my belt. I was just barely starting to understand how my pistol even worked, and I was already killing our enemy alongside the highly decorated soldiers that so bravely fought for a broken cause. Only seems like a few weeks later the one who shall not be named was executing the Earth Ponies as he deemed them inferior for not having wings or a horn. My father was transferred to control one of the new camps that went up for them. He.. he executed so many of them for no reason.” Before I could continue on, Vogel called up to us. My wing went around Rose’s side as we slowly made our way into the basement against my will, her comfort easing me into relaxing myself once again.

The stone walls were covered in spider webs and dust, leading us downward in near-spirals to the chamber that rest beneath the house. Massive steel beams supported the stone structures, the red banners hanging from the walls, their white circles and symbol making me sick just from the sight. Vogel stood near a steel table, looking over the documents that lay scattered across them. Massive weapon chests and racks lined the empty spaces that weren’t covered in the banners or propaganda, every single space holding a weapon. Cages were in the corners, blood stains and cracks in the bars made them look even more dark, just until I saw the silver pod with a single window built into it, tubes and wires going from the sides into the floor. Rose pointed over to it, and I lowered her hoof down with my own. “Gas chamber.”

Vogel held up a set of papers, then slammed them down on the table. “Don’t keep secrets, Angel. Says here you were in battle far before you said you ever were back when we first met. Why would you keep this secret from us? What did you have to gain?” I snarled and pressed my mask right up against his own, almost pushing his head back.

“Ever hear of something called traumatic events? Perhaps being pulled from the loving arms of your abused mother to be sent out to war? How about knowing that innocent ponies were being murdered in your basement? Just seeing all these weapons and those fucking cages, do you know what that does to me? Have you even considered that!” He jumped back, putting his talons out in front of him. “Angel your eye is changing again, don’t go all crazy on me now..” Green, glowing rings wrapped around my hooves, Rose channeling herself to keep me restrained until I calmed myself, feeling the dark cloud that was creeping on my mind slowly draw back. I let out a deep breath to gather myself, slowly sitting before giving my head a little shake. “Let’s just pick this place dry and move on. I’m certain the key will be in those files, somewhere. I’m taking one of these guns with me as well, I’m just not feeling this one anymore.” The green rings slowly dissipated, but Rose stayed right beside me as I browsed the weapons collection.

Everything from massive heavy machine guns to the most simplistic of pistols lined themselves across the racks, boxes and boxes of munitions underneath each of them, labeled clearly and brightly. “Shotgun shells here, Vogel. Looks like magnum loads. Fully loaded magazines for your SMG.. oh now look at this beauty.” I pulled a rifle from the rack, seeming to grab it from a time capsule. The dark-stained wood was smooth and completely clean, lacking any damage or even handling marks on the stock, or beautifully blued steel. The straight bolt handle slid smoothly with my wing and hoof, making for a quick to use and fire rifle. I watched as I slid the steel scabbard off the bayonet, gazing upon the saw-toothed spine and razor edge it had. “This is mine now, objections?” They both shook their heads while grabbing up the ammo, Rose pointing out an odd looking tube near the ammo near the empty space in the rack. My wing lifted it up, then the carry case and round projectiles that slid over the end of it. “A rifle grenade launcher.. This is mine too.”

I started to play around with the rifle, checking the function in every way I could, except firing. It felt good in my hooves, just until I saw the markings on the receiver. They disturbed me to see them again, but it was just a stamp on steel. It had clearly never been used, and that meant no blood stained into the fibers of its being. For now, anyway. I slung it over my back next to the other rifle, and started to drop the clips of ammo for the other rifle, replacing the empty spaces from me taking the new rounds for this rifle, and stuffing them into my pouches. I was loaded up, and ready to take down an owl.

“I don’t want to be down here anymore. Find anything useful but isn’t that heavy, and bring it along. I’m heading upstairs to see what they’ve found. Oh, and Vogel, find that key. With all of those documents here, I’d be willing to wager you could find all kinds of useful information here.” And without a second thought, I left the horrid sanctum and returned to the ground floor, my eyes going to the old wooden stairs my mother used to be shoved down. My wings dug into the wall as I made my way up them slowly, thinking that his ghost would push me down the stairs or something. Isn’t that a bitch of a fear.

When I reached the top of the stairs, my eyes scanned the hanging landscape paintings and old floral wallpaper that he somehow approved of. The fine and obviously expensive wooden furniture rested up against the wall, spaced out to fit in between each of the three doors. My eyes went down to the last door in the hallway, seeing the dark wood held open by a pile of books. Into my father’s room I went, feeling the shivers go down my spine as more of the banners were hung, and his uniforms still hung in the open closet. Stone and Tera dug through all of the drawers and cabinets, looking for anything of interest. That’s when the whispers started in the back of my head. “That bed is where you were forced into existence. You know he beat her into unconsciousness before taking advantage of her.” I couldn’t do anything but swat at my head, trying to do it without the other two looking.

I could swear this place smelt like evil itself, even through my mask. The blood of the innocent was almost stained in these walls, and all over the red banners he so dearly followed. There was nothing to keep me in this room, other than Stone holding up a picture of me as a filly. I knew it belonged to my mother, and I came closer to him as he stood near the closet. “Is that you, Angel? It’s strange to see you that young.” I didn’t care much for his remark, but I wanted to find more of my mother’s. My hoof almost pushed him aside as I dug through the closet, almost tearing through the clothing above as I pushed the dust away, and shifted through the cardboard boxes on the floor. Item after item belonged to my father, until I pulled out a single box that didn’t reek of his stench. Aside went the top, and in it was piles of pictures, every single one being of the young and smiling Angel. At the very bottom of the dusty pile was a amulet that had a white gold chain, leading downward to a single oval shaped sapphire, the marking of Luna herself right in the center. I didn’t hesitate to put it around my neck.

The black edges around my vision became clear as the amulet hugged my chest. It felt almost as I was more warm inside, even with my much thicker coat and clothing piled on. Tera simply watched in amazement as I stood up, taller and more proud than before. I could feel the spirits intertwining within me, until becoming a single entity. Both of my mothers were with me now, and let me know exactly what I needed to do to this place. “Stone, Tera. Go to the basement and grab ammo if you need it. Grab the others. I’m going to burn this place to the ground.” They didn’t question nor hesitate with my orders. They both made their way to the stairs, leaving me alone in the room. I waited until I could hear their hoofsteps at the bottom of the stairs, then I began tearing up anything and everything I could. My wings slashed into the curtains, the bed, even all of the clothing in the closet. Dyed fibers fell around me like the snow outside, leaving me to make my way down the hall, and to the storage room that was meant to be my bedroom.

I bucked open the door, and looked around the rusted metal and dusty cloth that laid everywhere, until the white canister caught my eye. My wings lifted it up and rotated it around, showing me the aging label. ‘Kerosene.’ I poured it out as I walked, listening to the beautiful sound of liquid hitting the floor, the shimmer on the floors caused by the eagerness to burn this monument of hate to the earth. The liquid soaked into the cloth I shredded in my father’s room, and washed the walls clean of his disdain that lingered. When I stepped back out into the hallway with the spilling fuel, I could just hear Rose shout up to me. “Angel! What are you doing with that? You’re going to kill us all!” She couldn’t be any further from the truth. “No, Rose. I had them come and grab you. I’m burning this place to the ground, but with all of you outside. Head on out so I can.” Vogel laughed defiantly, but lead the group outward, just until Tera shrieked at the sight of the head rolling in the snow.

Down the stairs I went, soaking them in the fuel until reaching the kitchen. The white can was feeling lighter now, until I finally emptied it out on the stain in the flooring, and making a trail to the door. They all stood and stared at me like I was insane as I reached into my pouch, and got out my lighter. I flicked it open, and spun the wheel with my wing to spark the fuel. The flame hypnotically danced in my eyes before I lowered it down, and watched the trail ignite. Back into my pouch the lighter went, just in time for me to watch as the kitchen caught ablaze from the fuel. “I’m done here. Let’s get to the compound. Vogel, lead the way.” The griffin nodded, and took a second to flash the key before my eyes. It wasn’t a second later we had moved on, leaving our friend’s corpse, and my fillyhood home behind. I felt a sense of relief in my very soul as I turned my head back to see the exterior walls being licked with glowing flame.

Not a single peep came from any of us as we walked onward. I wasn’t sure if it was from the grieving of losing one of own, or that I had just lit up the house we had been exploring for a way to assure we would be able to eat next week. Grocery shopping, wasteland style. Vogel kept his heading, even in the mist and smoke that flooded the area. We all had confidence in his navigation abilities, especially since he was originally deployed in the jungles. I wanted to get in his head and ask him everything I could, especially since we heard that was one fight we simply wouldn’t win. “Hey, Vogel! If you’re going to talk about keeping our pasts unclear or just completely hidden, why haven’t you told us more about the jungles?” He stopped moving to my comment, only taking a second to flutter his wings.

“You have a point, and we are still a little bit away. Well. If you really are that curious..”

“Vogel! Get the fuck up here, we’ve got ourselves a tunnel!” The griffin ran up past his squad mates, dodging low-hanging vines and creeping vegetation. Shadows from the canopy cloaked many of the dark trees, making for a rather dark scene. All of the ponies lined up were covered in olive drab uniforms, black rifles laying across their backs with thick, heavy vests all over them. Their helmets were especially worn, and all seemed to have their own markings across the covers. “Born to Kill”, “Not so fortunate, son” and “Peace!” Vogel stood before his squad leader, the dark-coated stallion hiding his eyes under a drooped, wide brimmed hat. “Listen up Vogel, we’ve got a tunnel right under that set of vines. Jump in there and clear it out.” The Sergeant tossed a flashlight to the griffin, and pointed down to the pit in the jungle floor.

Down the griffin went, only a beam of light revealing the tight, low tunnel. He slowly crawled through it, pistol in talon as he drug himself across the cold dirt floor, and down into a sanctum dug within the earth. Make-shift beds covered the room, each filled up with a wounded zebra, and a single medic tending to them all. Lanterns and candles lit the dirt, and so did his pistol flashing as he pumped the medic full of bullets, then changed out his magazine. Vogel pointed the pistol at the wounded that dared move, the numbers advantage clearly not in his favor. Without a second thought, he started to crawl out backwards with his pistol before him again, just until a pineapple shaped ball of steel rolled into the sanctum from a powerful and precise throw.

“Well Vogel? Come on now, my ponies want some good news.” His Sergeant yelled at him as he crawled out of the tunnel before the ground shook under them. “Oh you know. Some kind of hospital, one that’s a grave now.” The griffin smirked as the leader tossed him a shotgun, and another grenade to fill the gap on his belt. He couldn’t help but smirk as he looked down the line, just until the bullets started flying through the thick jungle. Anypony who didn’t drop to the dirt was dropped with a bullet, the source of the machinegun fire seeming to come from nowhere as the leaves tore and bounced in every direction. As the firing stopped, the griffin was the only one left moving.

He slowly crawled closer to the pile of corpses, pulling their limp bodies over his own as the sound of steps moved closer in the dirt, the pack of zebras showing themselves. Their dark camouflage hid their bodies as they walked, but left their faces bright and clear. Whatever language they were speaking to each other, Vogel couldn’t understand a word. His mind was racing, the only thought being to hold as still as possible. Rifle after rifle were being pulled away from the corpses, just until they gave his shotgun a tug, only to stop rather quickly as they saw the frame. The haul was pulled along with them, either in bag or slung across their backs as they disappeared into the dark jungle.

“My commander wasn’t sure how to feel when I got back to base. It was a four day walk through the middle of enemy territory, and a week from there in neutral zones. Can’t remember how many vines I cut open just to get a quick sip of water to keep going. All I had to prove what had happened was a pile of bloody dog tags.” Rose and I had no idea how to respond. Stone and Tera had new respect for Vogel, but didn’t know him as well as us. Needless to say, we all wanted to know more about his combat experience. I was the first to gather enough courage to say anything to him.

“So that’s why you’re always on point, Vogel? Why you were the pointman for us too? It certainly explains the helmet.. And shotgun.” He just gave a quick nod, and kept walking forward. His little adventure with water gave me a thirst, but not for any clear liquid. It made me almost feel like biting into the first living thing I could see. “Angel? Angel, sweetheart?” A set of hooves wrapped around my neck, causing the group to stop for a moment. “Love?” All eyes were on me now as I could feel my body swim within itself, until I regained control, and feeling.

“Yes, yes I’m here, I’m uhm.. I’m just a little dehydrated is all. Let’s keep going.” I don’t think any of them believed me. Rose stayed closely against me, acting as a support as we kept moving on, the decline in elevation taking the sting out of marching on. And of course, where would I be without Rose? She is my support when I am weak, my light when I stumble through the dark. I would be so lost without her, even if Vogel was leading us to a tall, chain link fence. It was just as decrepit as I imagined, all the way down to the scattered razor wire. This was the place, even if the cracks in the thick concrete walls showed signs of weakness is such a large structure that seemed more bunker than anything else.

Sandbags were broken open on tall walls, the machine guns still pointed outward to the perimeter. The only problem was that there were soldiers behind them, dressed in complete military regalia. We all lowered down, speaking to each other in whispers as we avoided sight from the turrets. “Is anypony else seeing that? This must still be a functioning base, but.. Something doesn’t feel right.” All eyes were on me as I then pulled binoculars from my pouch, and held them up to the lenses of my mask. Their uniforms seemed wrong, their lacing wasn’t correct, the way the pants were rolled at the bottoms to keep from being stepped on with boots.. They had to have gotten these uniforms from living soldiers. “Impersonator. My bet is on them either liking the gear, or it’s some kind of trap for anypony looking for help. We have to stop this.” Nodding was the sign of consensual agreement. “We all have tents as our standard gear, we should camp out here until nightfall, and some of the fog clears up behind us. Stone, you wouldn’t happen to have a tent in there, would you?” He rustled through his pack and pulled out a shelter half, showing frustration to the lack of a full tent. I couldn’t help but toss him the rain cloak I had in my personal items, letting him make a second half out of it. The stoic stallion was smiling under that mask, I could tell.

Vogel had his own tent, Tera and Stone were cozily fitting into their own makeshift tent, and Rose was stuck laying on me as my tent was only meant for one. We didn’t mind at all as we laid so close, our attempts to get too close thwarted with gas mask filters clinking in the way. The day passed us by, giving us all time to rest and relax in ways we so dearly needed. Everything was silent, save the occasional gust of wind that would blow the loose snow up against the sides of our tents. The light clouds went dark, and cast the deep violet tones across the snow. It was time for us to strike.

Rose was the first out of my little cocoon, and out I crawled after her. She started to go around and tap on the walls of the other tents as I took down and folded up the material because latching it onto my pack again. The others stumbled around as they went to take down and pack up the tents, Stone tossing me my rain poncho back. It neatly folded up, and went right into the side pouches that lined my bags.

“Alright. We can’t use much light if any, it will reflect off the snow. We’ll need to find a way to get past those turrets, but still see our way in..” My wing reached into my pack once more, moving side the items to grab out a signal flare, examining it for any signs of damage. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll launch it off of the rifle grenade device on this rifle, and send it up in the air, but it’ll be heading off to the other side. That will give us a few seconds to get close enough to get in there with just enough light.” As nopony (and griffin) else had any better ideas, they nodded in consensus.

“Well then get moving down there, I can see better in the dark so I won’t have as many problems getting down there. Get moving, friends.” Vogel took point as always, leading the group down the hill in the low-light conditions. I screwed the launching device on the end of my rifle, then loaded in the flare. My wings opened the bolt, and slid a blank round in to keep from blowing the flare in my face. As the group laid low near the fence, I could just see the machine gun barrel slowly moving to their position in a sweep. It was time. I reached out with my wings and struck the flare, lighting it up before sending it flying through the night sky, the crimson light glowing like a burning comet across the dead sky.

I could hear the muffled shouting from the other side of the decline, the barrels and ponies behind them lighting up as the red fire flew above their heads, my friends moving up closely to the wall. Now it was my time to get close, and enter the building with my squad. I fumbled to sling the rifle across my back as I trotted down the hill, kicking up the powdered snow behind me. The red light that flew above head was no longer visible, leaving everything a dark blue or gray. My eye started to glow as I ran through the dark, revealing all obstacles to me before I jumped, and slid up against the wall next to my squad. I gave them a quick nod, and Vogel stepped forward with his shotgun, aiming at the steel doors. The muzzle attachment came off of my rifle, back into its pouch as I prepared, loading it up fully with live rounds. It’s time to party.

We all nodded to each other, going up the line until Vogel got our signal, and he prepared to open the door. First was the code, starting with me. I whispered it up to Rose, then to Tera, from there it went to Stone, and to Vogel. He punched in the code, and watched as a little green light popped up under the keypad, a slot opening up the key. The griffin pulled the key from his pocket and slid it into the slot, watching as the heavy steel lock on the door clicked, until it jammed up just a second away from popping open. I cursed everything out beneath my breath, until Vogel simply grinned as he saw the lock, and began to follow his normal routine. The barrel of his shotgun held up just a breath away from the door, before it blasted open the lock with a single shot. He quickly racked in the next shell, and kicked open the door for the rest of us to charge in. Vogel went in first, taking position behind wooden crates, Stone moving up beside him, Tera had no clue what she was doing and stayed outside as we charged in past her, almost knocking the poor mare over. Rose jumped in and rolled to the other side of the crates, staying adjacent to them as she hid behind a forklift. Last was myself, and the stumbling mare beside me. I almost grabbed Tera as I ran in, and dove behind a set of barrels directly in front of the doorway, telling her to keep her head down as my rifle rested on top of the barrels.

I watched as stumbling, filthy ponies dove behind whatever they could to our grand entrance, many of them wearing their torn, and clearly stolen military uniforms. Vogel took the first shot, his shotgun roaring before clicking as another shell racked in, the spread of pellets appearing to be like a hive of very, very pissed off hornets digging into nest intruders. Screams came from the metallic catwalks and concrete pathways that lead into an open sanctum, the burning barrels scattered across the scape for light flickered, sometimes even belching out more flames onto the olive uniforms as the wounded would stumble onto them. Tera shivered and shook as they returned fire on us, bullets hitting into the stack of barrels, sparking them up with each hit. The forklift, sparking up even worse, the boxes and crates simply shredding and splintering to their fire.

“Rose, trade me positions! I need you to keep Tera from melting down, okay? Vogel, smoke this place out, we need to advance!” It took them a few moments to respond to me, part of it very easily being a part of the constant ringing in our ears. I jumped over to the forklift, waiting for the smoke grenade to leave Vogel’s belt, and fly onward into the maze of halls. As he threw out the canister, I waiting for the distinct sound of it popping, then I sent Rose to the barrels. Clear halls turned white in mere seconds, the fires burning in the barrels even seeming to disappear in the mist that kept all eyes from seeing us now. I took a breath to relax my nerves, and looked over at Rose. She was down, speaking to Tera in a manner that seemed almost too calm, an odd sight for any non-combatant such as Tera to see. The rest of us were used to odd conversations to keep our heads in the right places. Leave it to the field medic to know how to treat any wound.

Each of us took a breath as the hail of bullets ceased, taking the only moment we believed to have to reload, and brush the debris off of our clothing. Tera had finally come back to her senses, but was still horrified. I began to worry if she hadn’t been sent into shellshock from the storm of lead that was directed to each of us. When we all nodded to each other once more, Vogel vaulted over the crates and took point once more, leaving us to come out of our cover and follow him one by one, leaving me at the tail end as we hugged the cold, concrete walls. We attempted to be as quiet as possible to avoid being heard, and fired at through the artificial concealment that kept us from death’s cold door. Vogel took a left, sending us up a ramp to a sandbag fortification, a large steel door making for the back wall of the set up. We didn’t know it’s purpose for certain, but whatever that was sealing, nopony wanted us in there. It didn’t stop us from taking cover in the sandbags with Rose and Tera behind the rest of us, Rose’s makeshift clinic accepting new patients once more.

Vogel and Stone took cover under a pillbox made from the burlap bags, my own tastes being in a small wall with a few murder holes cleared through it for my rifle to cleanly clear, and fire without obstruction. It wasn’t long until just that had began to happen. The flickering light flooded the chamber once more as the white smoke cleared into thin air, showing us all the flanks of a rather disorganized and clearly green set of raiders, the perfect shooting gallery for Angel and friends. I steadied myself with my rifle resting in the opening, making for the most steady platform I could achieve before letting the round fly. My wings instinctively manipulated the bolt handle, sending the brass case flying out as a new one loaded into my chamber. Only one round was needed, as my target had become a perfect window to the blood stained wall behind him with a hole of that magnitude blown into his side.

The firefight continued on, concrete debris and dust falling down around us with pouring sand mixed into the chaos of colors and violence. Vogel and Stone unloaded into our enemy, keeping them down as they dove behind whatever they could to take cover from the onslaught of suppression and death we slung at them. I felt oddly at home with bullets flying over my head, and my shoulder feeling the impact of the wooden stock pushing against it as it roared out at the muzzle, and dropped whatever my sights aligned on. My heart was beginning to race, sending me into a full combat mode as I had warmed up into it once again, everything seeming to just turn to my training and instinct to survive; much like I had gone into auto-pilot.

Even after the rounds stopped flying at us, I could just feel my wings twitch with excitement at the trigger, only to jump up with the rest of my body as Rose set her hoof reassuringly on my shoulder. “Angel, Love, you’re okay. You’re with me again.” I didn’t understand why Rose spoke to me like this, but I didn’t take the time to find out. We had survived what we assumed to be the first wave, and once again we took the time to load up and take inventory. Vogel, as usual, popped open his bottle as well and sipped up whatever was left in the bottom of the glass container. My eye still scanned the area before me, searching for anything and everything that may move, or try to attack us. “Angel.” The white mare’s hooves wrapped around me, only for the cloth veil to cover her magnificent coat.

“Yeah I’m.. I’m here. Just looking for anything out there.” She only seemed more worried with my response. “Angel, I’m afraid all of this fighting is going to break you down. I saw it back in the field when we fought the zebras, and I see it now while we fight our own.. Our own kind.” The fighting was also getting to her it seemed, but this time it was different. It was our own blood, our own land, our own friends that we once knew, gone crazy from a dirty spell that cleansed the world of almost all life. I just wanted to find the actual soldiers, and any food that may be here. A little more rest wouldn’t hurt at all either, only if it wasn’t on one of those Celestia-damned cots that always put a kink in my flank.

We stood as one, scanning the area together this time with the others, nodding to each other in agreeance to move on, only with Tera reluctantly being pulled along with us. We stepped closer to the aftermath of our firefight, stepping over the torn open and bloodied corpses of those who would once greet us as we walked down the street. Half of Germaney had turned into those ghoulish freaks, and the other half found themselves dressed up in stolen gear. What was it that Vogel said was written on helmets quite often? “Not a fortunate one” was it? I could consider us all lucky just to have survived the blast, with all things considered. Vogel jumped to lead the line once again, taking us to the other pathway that made up for the main chamber. He peeked his head around, and quickly pulled it back as a burst of flames blew around the corner. “Flamethrower! Fucking move it!”

While the others scrambled to get back near the sandbags, I moved as quickly as I could to get the rifle grenade launcher on my weapon once again, preparing it with all necessary steps before daring to peek around the corner. Even then, I didn’t dare get turned into a charred hide from some psychopath. My rifle aimed up at the wall across from me, the grenade jumping up and away from the gun, off of the wall, and down in the danger zone that was so close to me. I could just hear a mutter before it exploded, and sent a red paste past me. “Not anymore.” I didn’t think Vogel was actually that afraid of fire.

He took us around the corner, stepping around the remaining bits and burning oil that had survived the explosive, the walls painted crimson and burnt black with death itself. I was glad to have this mask on to keep that horrid stench out. Tera was the most disgusted, as she had never seen such a mess made before. We rushed by the scene rather quickly as she started to heave. The hall took us down to another large door like we taken cover before, our eyes scanning it for any signs of danger before taking a look at the little keypad. A shared shout of the word “Fuck” was in order. Vogel groaned, Stone.. Was Stone, Tera was still trying to shake the sickness, and Rose took a moment to rub her belly as it growled at her. I stepped up to the pad and took a look at it, observing the numbers closely before kicking up some dust around with my hooves, and letting out a deep breath through my mask.

The dust and dirt brushed up against the pad, showing me small spots of grime of use on certain numbers. 1-2-3-4 showed the most wear, so I started to punch it in. 1, 2, 3, 4.. “Error, password is too short.” I rolled my eyes as the little box spat it’s disapproval at me, just until I had tried it again. 1, 2, 3, 4..5. “Access Granted.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes again, only more exaggerated this time. Rose couldn’t help but set her hoof on my side as the large steel door started to open with metallic whines, her voice almost muffled out completely by it. “Typical Soldiers, correct?” Because being the prized special operations squad the late Princess Luna had sent out on multiple stronghold sieges, complete area capture, rear line disruption, so on so forth were better than the typi-.. Dammit Rose. So much for being humble.

We didn’t bother to stack up in any special way, or even get in formation as the door opened wide for us all. Instead, our weapons were up and at the ready, all of our muzzles instantly pointing at the iron cells full of gagged and tied ponies, blood and bruises cover their famished bodies. Standing before them, was a single pony caked up in blood, the ragged uniform on his back showing sets of medals across his chest, and chevrons all the way up his arm. The sickly blue color of his coat and dark gray mane stood out against the green uniform. His yellow eyes shot open wide as we had so many barrels pointed at his head. “Back the fuck off of the cages, General.” Vogel took point, not only with orders, but also in formation. The burning barrels dimly lit our pathway up to the metal walkways and painted catwalks, concrete rubble showing shreds of propaganda posters that once lined the walls.

The blue stallion just watched as we approached, his lack of a gas mask surprising us all, though this area did seem clear of any severe structural damage. “I said back away!” Vogel was pissed now, his short temper nearly sending him flying at the General.

“Ease yourself, griffin. These ponies are traitors. I told them all to not dare let in any civilians from the wasteland out there. Instead, they opened the doors for them all to get in here before the snowfall. We had many of them brought in, despite my very clear, very direct orders to not them all in. We ended up with everything from small foals to the elderly. A waste of Celestia damned supplies, I tell you.” He spoke with authority, almost as if he were better than us. HIs tone wasn’t going to fly with me, and I wanted him to hear everything I had to say about it. I took off my mask, and watched as his expression and tone changed very, very quickly.

“C-Captain Angel! My greatest apologies, you know that it was merely to save all of our soldiers, you know? When they all started to get exposed to the air we had to lock them out, an-and these ones in here were upset about it! They said there would be some kind of cure, but that’s a steaming pile of horse apples!” I let him rant on for a moment before cutting him off, my ears tired of hearing his pathetic pleas.

“General Ironhoof. How oh how have the mighty fallen. I remember when you inspired your soldiers to help the citizens of our great nation, and you told them all that by signing on that last sheet, they would be willing to sacrifice themselves for others at a moment’s notice. For charges of being a selfish, hypocritical, position-abusing pile of waste, I personally sentence you to execution.” His eyes went wide, and he begged for his life as I started up the walkway to set myself up at his location. He turned flank and started to run the other way, only for a large and pissed off griffin to block his way. Rose and Stone both went to the edge of the walkway, keeping him from trying to vault over and away from my wrath. No such luck for you, General Fuckoff.

He dropped down and started begging with more remorse, only for my wing to lift up his chin for him to look in my eyes. “You betrayed so many of them. No wonder we saw so many of those radiation filled ponies, their very flesh melting from bone. I think that death by me is too quick, too easy.. Vogel, we take him outside. We lock him out there. All of their lives could’ve been kept.” We left Rose, Stone, and Tera to unlock the cells, and unbind the survivors as Vogel and I drug the kicking and screaming traitor back to the entrance. Our masks securely went on as we neared the open door, the toxic air already seeming to have an effect on him. He coughed, choked, even spat blood from his maw with his eyes going bloodshot. It didn’t stop us from booting him out into the snow, and locking the doors up behind us. Wasteland justice at it’s finest, no matter how gruesome or brutal it may seem.

Rose, Tera, and Stone already had the cells open, and each of the ponies inside freed from their binds. I watched as ponies of all colors, species, size, gender, and shape walked free in the large room, some shaking and staying put as others had started to look around, and break into each door they could to find the ration stockpile. One stood out to us all, a rather young colt that seemed out of place among the older ponies, most of which seeming to be soldiers. I walked up to the young, gray colt, his dark blue hair sticking out of the ragged, black cloak that he wore. “You there, colt. How did you get here?”

He jumped and turned to face me, his eyes even seeming to be unique. He was heterochromic, one eye orange while the other was a cool purple. The colt seemed nervous at first, but spoke in a softer voice. “I-I’m Storm Breeze.” Tera made her way over to him, and tilted her head, sitting by him before softly speaking. “I’m Tera, and this is Angel. We’re here to help you.” I was surprised, and impressed that Tera had come right out and spoke to him without any signs of anxiousness. The colt seemed troubled still, his front hooves crossing as he looked down. Instead of staying in my full combat gear, I stepped away while giving Tera a nod as she seemed far more fit and apt to speak to the colt.

I watched as many familiar faces passed by, each of them seeming to stop just to breathe, trying to forget the whole experience, even if their bruised bodies and bloodied lips wouldn’t heal instantly. My forehoof wrapped around one mare in particular, her soft yellow body jumping up from my touch, her orange mane falling on my hoof. “A-Angel! Oh my sweet Princesses don’t you sneak up on me like that!” She turned rather quickly, wrapping her own hooves around me as her green eyes closed. “Hey Daff. How’s the shoulder?” Her eyes lit up as she brushed aside her mane, showing the brutal scar that shredded up most of her left shoulder. It certainly looked much better than it had when she first got the wound. The poor mare didn’t even see it coming.

“Heads down, everypony. It’s only a matter of time before they assault us once again. Luckily for us, their supplies are low and they will be using anything and everything they can.. Be expecting a lot of stone weapons. Fucking primitive bastards are too savage to even make their own weapons.” Jacks openly taunted the stripes as we sat behind the wall of concrete and sandbags, razor and barbed wire covering the fields before us. We were relaxing as much as we possibly could, Rose even taking the time to fill in a journal entry in her brown book. I watched the bare horizon, until a bushel of flowers sat on the edge of our line. Behind it, a yellow mare in her olive uniform, a bouquet of flowers wrapped up in ribbons showing up as a patch on her arm.

“Those are some nice flowers, Private. I’m amazed you found them out here.” She seemed surprised to my comment, almost blushing as she sat behind her rifle.

“Oh why, thank you Captain! My mother is in the hospital back home and I figured I should send her at least something.. I wish I could be with her right now.” Even if the reason she had made them was less than ideal, she clearly had talent. I wanted to learn more from her, mainly just to impress Rose. Of course, my skill with flowers was limited to handing bits over a counter. I wanted to speak to her more, but the all too common sound of battle cries erupted on the horizon. “Stripes!” It didn’t take us any time to get loaded up, and in position.

We focused on our sights as the rows of stripes came charging up to our lines, the ones with weapons being quickly dispatched, as the ones with mere clubs and stone weaponry were secondary targets. I couldn’t help but look down at the flowers after each shot, hoping that they wouldn’t get blown to shreds from a stray carbine blast, or a tossed stone from one of the savages. Clip after clip of ammunition charged into my rifle, I watched as any devil in my sights fell, as well as the two others behind them in their tight, random lines. They didn’t have weapons, but they certainly did have numbers, enough to outpace our machine gunners with their reloads. The zebras gained more and more land, getting uncomfortably close to our lines in between the bursts of deadly fire. Rocks and sharpened sticks began to pierce into the burlap sacks filled up with sand before us, so many landing so close to the flowers. Why was I so worried about those damned things?

I couldn’t help but let out my own cry as a show of power and hatred against my enemy, the yellow mare joining in first. Her cries of rage soon turned into pain; however, as a barbed stick dug into her shoulder, Rose and I both dove down to her position as she squirmed and cried in pain, my wings quickly grabbing the flowers, and setting them near the mare as I held the position. Rose started to communicate to the mare as she inspected the wound, relaying everything to me. “Her name is Daffodil, the wound is piercing through her entire shoulder. Administering painkillers before moving onward with wound stabilization.” Here we were again, plugging up the gaps in weaker lines in our downtime as opposed to taking out train tracks, assassinating some leader.. This felt like busy work if anything else for a team of our caliber. Nonetheless, I was glad that one of the best medics in all the lands was treating this gifted flower mare.

“Hey Daffodil. My name is Angel, this is my wife, Rose. She’ll make sure that you get home alright, understand? It looks like you’ll get to be closer to your mother than you expected. I’ll see what I can do to get you in the same room as her.” She weakly smiled as I made sure my hot brass flew past her, as opposed to on her. Rose smiled as I tried to keep her patient distracted from her wound, and the charging lines of zebras that were coming for blood. Maybe coming out here wasn’t so bad after all, even if it wasn’t quite my pace. It was certainly something else to be working alongside our standard infantry out in this war, and learn their stories.

Not that it mattered anymore, as most of them were killed in the blast of balefires.
It’s a rare case to come across those that you see once on the battlefield. Just like they always said..

“In war, you see ponies, but not ponykind.” It was something that weighed heavy on my metal heart, especially in her case. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to her mother, and if she had seen her one last time before the world as we knew it became a product of battle, and hate. And that young colt, where was his family? Had they survived the blasts, or was he an orphan from the start? There’s a strange sensation that fills my body when I think of the broken faces I see all around me. Was there even a fucking shred of hope in this Alicorn-Forsaken wasteland? What happened to all of the sweet, smiling faces and proud soldiers that I saw on the daily when I was back home to rest?

What the fuck were any of us thinking?