“Aw crap,” That was the most underwhelming response I could have gotten from Flag. While we waited for my father, I caught everypony up on what I found, and updated Flag on what he missed. Flag sat on his haunches while I fixed up Steelhooves. I found the tools to fix him in the armory, and the parts we scavenged from the various robots laying around.

“Flag, I’m sorry about this, I really am.” I didn’t dare look away from my work, how could I face him? I saved his life now, but what if a month from now the cancerous cells appear.?

“Kid, it was risk it, or I die. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll take my chances with the cancer.” Flag shrugged, “how did Rose take it?” I flinched, and that gave Flag his answer. “Haven’t told her huh? Well maybe I’ll tell her after we get out of here. Right now, we got more important things to take care of.”

“Yeah, speaking of,” I put down my tools and turned on the short burst. “Trapper, how’s it looking out there?”

“Good!” He practically yelled into the receiver, “well, as good as can be, the curtain is moving, but it’s not in a hurry.”

“Copy, any signs of my father?” I grabbed the final part I needed for Steelhooves, while I heard Trapper jog around the roof.

“Uh, nothing south, or west, or, oh hey wait! Here they come, due east!” Trapper’s excitement was good news. They weren’t coming in badly beaten.

“Alright, thanks trapper, now keep your eyes on that pink cloud.” I instructed while I closed up Steelhooves maintenance hatch, I patched myself over to Lemon next. “Lemon, my father is coming, he’s south of our position, think you can go meet him outside?”

“Sure, I finished raiding the armory anyways, all that’s left is small arms and non-battle saddle weaponry.” Lemon sighed and cut the transmission. She returned shortly after, doled out munitions and outfitted Rose and Trappers battle saddles with magical energy rifles.

“Alright, now that were done here, let’s meet my father and get the hell out of here.” I activated Steelhooves and filled him in on the situation. He agreed evacuation was our best option. We left Security Operations, I had thought about bringing the Ultra Sentry bot with us. But it turns out his programming wouldn’t allow him to leave Security Operations. Having much higher security and complex systems, hacking it would be a time-consuming endeavor. Not worth it with the cloud coming for us. So, we shut it off and got ready to leave.

When my father arrived, he asked for a full debrief, I told him of our attack and our subsequent capture of our target. With Flags life hanging on by a thread, I told him I myself went to retrieve the Hydra potion. He wasn’t happy, as expected, but he did respect my decision and commended me for the way I handled things. He did not agree with me leaving my team, but seeing as I didn’t leave them defenseless, I was forgiven. With my report given, we started our march north, we didn’t have a clear destination. Colonel Starfire had yet to issue further orders. While we moved through the streets, we met up with a few other platoons who converged on the North Highway. Much of everypony was hauling wounded in repurposed wagons. With Bronco Base destroyed, we had no other place to get them to.

Thinking of Bronco Base, I felt my ears fold down and my lips pull down in a frown. “Sir, how many Rangers did we have at Bronco Base?” I turned to my father, he walked silently besides me.

“Two, were down to twelve of us. Our tactical advantage is evaporating with every casualty.” Damn, we really needed reinforcements. But could I convince the council to let me send a message to Stable 29? It seemed very unlikely, especially with their adamant need to keep everything a secret. Things weren’t looking good, especially if we all died here. Two regiments and every Ranger taken down in one fell swoop. Fuck, the enemy commander was a cunning son of a bitch!

“Come on, this ain’t no parade, were out in the field! Hop to it soldiers!” Steelhooves floated around the other platoons. He seemed to arm-strong ponies into tighter formations, when he noticed a wagon lagging, he had the puller switch with another. That everypony was listening to the shouting robot was interesting on its own.

“Where’d you find him?” My father looked to Steelhooves, I detected something akin to amusement. Even with his helmet down, I think I was getting better at reding his physical responses.

I opened my helmet and looked to him, “Steelhooves was in the armory back at our target.”

“Steelhooves?” My father looked back to me.

“Yeah, I thought I’d give him a proper Ranger name.” Great, why am I feeling all self-conscious now?

“It’s a good name, a soldiers name for a clear soldier. Heh,” my fathered chuckled. Mom will never believe me when I tell her. He chuckled twice thanks to me, I must be funnier than I thought.

“Everypony listen up, this is Colonel Starfire, I set up a temporary command at Meadowbrook pharmaceuticals. Evacuation is starting soon, I want everypony to find the tallest buildings, get your wounded up and prep them for immediate evac.” The colonel paused, I could hear another voice softly talking to her. “We got a Vertibuck inbound for officers, but I will be staying until everypony has been air lifted out of here. The first batch of wounded with me will be leaving. Colonel Starfire out,” she cut the transmission and we soldiered onward. The once long column of soldiers started breaking apart, skyscrapers were climbed, and even smaller buildings were occupied for their flatter, longer rooftops to lay out the wounded. I had chosen my place deliberately, Glimmering Sun Headquarters. Our platoon, a mixture of Rangers and Equestrian regulars, hunkered down and moved the wounded upstairs.

With everypony busy, I took Steelhooves to Doctor Sanguine’s office. Considering the signs pointed to the corner office with the view, she was the mare in charge here. I entered her office to find it had been the site of a battle. Bullet casings littered the floor, but there were only four bodies. One was a teal Unicorn in a lab coat, she was slack against her office chair, a hole burned on the head of the chair. I didn’t need to look at her face to know how she died. The second corpse, partly sticking out beside the desk, was a Magenta unicorn. A male, he wore a black suit and red tie, and by the way he died, I could tell he was laying on something.

I moved his body aside and snatched up two memory orbs. Just like back at the other office, they were blue and swirling with magic. The final two bodies were just security, which means, the shoot out here had something to do with these memory orbs. I looked back to Doctor Sanguine, she was sitting in front of her terminal. I did my thing, moved her body aside and hacked her terminal.

[INSERT PASSWORD: MIRROR POOL]

[ACCESS GRANTED]

[WELCOME DOCTOR SANGUINE]

Down to business, find useful data and maybe, just maybe, a way to help Flag if Hydra ends up giving him cancer. Two messages, one outgoing and one received, and security footage. Well I can’t deny I’m curious as to what the hell happened here. I clicked on the footage first, a tab opened, and it played the security footage.

“Oh? I wasn’t expecting you here so soon, I had thought we would meet at the-” Doctor Sanguine was instantly silenced. A beam of energy vaporized a hole through her head. Then the Magenta Unicorn showed up, magical energy pistol floating before him. He walked around the desk, crouched behind it and disappeared for a while. He floated out several folders labeled classified in bold letters. He floated out two memory orbs and some audio logs. From out of nowhere a Zebra Commando materialized into existence. The pony didn’t shoot, or tried anything for that matter, just stared blankly at the Zebra.

“God damn traitor!” Steelhooves waved his pincer indignantly in the air.

“Good work, your services will no longer be needed.” The Zebra looked behind to the entrance, then he quickly shoveled everything on the desk into his saddle bag, well except for the memory orbs.

“Doctor Sanguine! Are you okay? Security reports an energy spike in your office!” The Zebra threw his cloak over his head and disappeared again.

“Return to yourself and defend yourself against these attackers. 0 4 6 3 0 8 12 21 0 6 0 0 6 7.” The Zebra uttered the numbers and the Magenta Unicorn blinked confused.

“What? Where? Oh Celestia, Sanguine!” The Unicorn put the gun down by the desk and moved to the slumped over doctor. The door was bashed open, “Doctor Sanguine!” the security ponies cocked their guns and pointed at the offending Unicorn, “Hooves in the air!”

“What? I didn’t, it wasn’t me!” The Magenta Unicorn brought his energy pistol to bare. “I-I will defend myself, please don’t do anything rash!”

“Take him down!” The left security pony fired his side arm. The shot hit the Magenta Unicorn and he went down. As he fell, he fired and turned one of the guards to ash. The other Security pony raised his gun to finish off the attacker, but a burst from a rifle killed him. The Zebra appeared again, while the bleeding Unicorn hauled himself up on the side of the desk.

“W-what?” He feebly let out, the Zebra fired another burst from his rifle and the Unicorn went down for good. As he fell his hooves dragged down the memory orbs with him. As soon as his body hit the floor, loud sirens started blaring in the background. The Zebra looked up, he drew up his cloak and ran out of the room as he disappeared into the ether.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered aloud.

“Agreed Sir,” Steelhooves was as surprised as me, Magenta there had been a sleeper agent. I could only imagine what valuable data that Zebra ran off with. I frowned, the numbers I heard were the trigger to his brainwashing. Why did he leave these memory orbs behind? Maybe it had been the one act of rebellion from his subdued conscience. Or maybe mistakes had been made, it didn’t really matter now, I closed out of the tab and started on the first message.

To E.S.A Colonel Cosmos: I have received the report from your Lieutenant from Launch Site Osiris. With the prototypes loaded, we are prepared to evacuate our staff to Stable 45. I will head to Osiris in a few hours.

From Doctor Sunburst: Sanguine, we hit a snag in the prototypes, well, to be more precise we hit a major problem. We might need to resort to the backup plan, but I have a theory, one that I will investigate after we evacuate the Empire. Also, please contact Mister Quarter, he had been instructed to return here but he hasn’t reported in. Last I heard he might be headed your way, but I don’t know why. If he does go to see you, please hurry, we don’t have a lot of time.

Why was a Glimmering Sun employee talking to an Equestrian Space Administration Colonel? Then there’s this place, Launch Site Osiris. Were they going to space? Why was a genetics company going to space? That made no freaking sense, and that’s not mentioning Doctor Sunburst knowing the Megaspells were coming. God damn this place was infuriating, how many more secrets are the council keeping? Like the Pink Gas wasn’t enough, what the hell was Project Do-Over, what was Glimmering Sun doing that involved space travel? Screw them, after this mission I’m going to confront them, either they tell me what’s going on, or they can just blow my damn head off. I refuse to work for them further if they don’t at least give me some transparency.

I sighed, took the memory orbs, and went to find my friends, Steelhooves hovered silently behind. Flag had gone to the rooftop, Lemon was helping to move the wounded, Rose was treating wounded with the other medics, and Trapper was sitting by himself in a corner. I went to speak to him, he looked bummed out, well we all were, but he seemed troubled by something else as well.

“Trapper, you okay?” I sat next to him and opened my helmet.

“No, I lost our radio, now I’m just dead weight.” Trapper kicked the ground, glaring at it, as if it was to blame for his misery.

“You didn’t lose it, we got caught in a tricky situation, it’s not your fault.” I gave him a pat on his back.

“Maybe, but it doesn’t change the fact I can’t even do my job as a radio pony.” Trapper snorted and looked away from me.

“Hey, I need every abled soldier at my disposal, if you can shoot, you aren’t useless. As I recall, you shot plenty of those robots.” I nudged him for good measure.

Trapper let a small smile spread on his muzzle, “thanks, felt good to know I helped out.”

“Good, so don’t let losing the radio get you down, were going to be okay.” I gave him one more pat and left to find Lemon. When I saw her, she had just finished help get some wounded ponies on stretchers.

“Hey Lemon,” I walked up to her, she looked towards me and opened her helmet.

“What’s up?” her horn glowed as she hovered two bottles of sparkle-cola out of her saddle bag.

“Hey where’d you get this?” I took one and popped the cap, just as a habit, I tossed the cap into my saddle bag.

Lemon did the same, floating over the cap into her bag and taking a sip of her cola. “Security Operations, I ripped open the machines there.” She gave me a sheepish grin.

“Nice, but what I wanted to talk about were these.” I took out the two memory orbs.

“Are those new ones? They look like the ones from Shimmering Sun.” She raised a brow at them.

“Different ones, this are the second set to the first two.” I put them down between us.

“Well, if you want to look at them, this isn’t really a good time. We have no idea how long these things are.” Lemon nudged them with her hoof towards me. Damn, she was right, but I was itching to know what was inside. If I was lucky, dirt I could use to get the Council to be on the level with me.

“Yeah, I guess your right, still, I kind of want to learn more, something fishy is going on with Glimmering Sun. Or happened at this point.” I leaned closer to Lemon, making sure only she could hear me. “I want dirt on the Council, something I can use to level the playing field, because for now, bomb implanted on my head wins any argument I could come up with.” I snorted, “I want answers, and some god damn transparency if they expect me to endanger my team for them.”

“I understand, I’m as frustrated as you about this, but we can check it out after were out of this nightmare.” Lemon tapped my shoulder, gulped down her Sparkle-Cola and returned to helping wounded.

“Wait,” I rolled the memory orbs to her, “keep them on you, I can’t access them, seems better if you keep them.” Lemon nodded, scooped them into her saddle bag and went about her business.

I went to talk to Flag next, I had questions I needed answering about his incoherent ramblings. I found him at the northern end of the rooftop, he was providing overwatch for the forces down below. We were running out of room up here, so the other platoons were moving farther north to find another good rooftop.

“Flag, I gotta ask you something.” I sat down next to him, I took a deep breath, contemplating how to ask this. I didn’t want to sound like a whiny child to Flag, he had already done so much for me. But now I was starting to think, was he doing it because he was my friend? Or was he doing it because he thought I couldn’t handle things on my own. If it was the latter, why give me command in the first place.

“What’s up kid?” Flag didn’t look away from the road.

“When you were wounded, you said you didn’t want me to come in this expedition.” I gritted my teeth as the words left my lips. Damn it, why did saying it out loud hurt me?

“What do you mean?” Flag’s helmet turned slightly, as if giving me a sideways glance, for all I knew maybe he was.

“You said, your son is coming, then you said she’ll be devastated, then said to leave him.” I looked to Flag, my expression betrayed the growing fear inside me. Was I really a burden to Flag? He said we were friends, I didn’t think I would be a burden. Damn, with him being wounded, I had completely let this feeling pass me and fester while I focused on saving him.

“Did I say that?” Flag still didn’t look at me, but he was standing still, like a statue really.

“Listen kid,” Flag turned to me.

“I’m not a kid!” I shouted at him, everypony nearby looked towards us. I hoped my father didn’t hear it, damn it why was I becoming so emotional. I felt tears sting my eyes, shit why am I so damn weak!

“Valiant,” Flag turned to me fully, his voice was serious, the voice I only ever heard in battles. “I wasn’t talking about…I didn’t mean you weren’t ready, I was just.” He was at a loss of words. So it had been a lie, he wasn’t my friend, I was just a charge my father dumped on him.

Flag sighed, “Valiant, I promise you,” he paused and opened his helmet. I looked to him, he reached out and hit the emergency open on my helmet. I was about to look away, but he put his hoof to the side of my face, forcing me to reveal my watery eyes. His lips parted in a trademark Flag smile, a smile that said everything was fine and to keep cool. “I promise you, I never thought, or told your father that you weren’t ready for this expedition.” He took his hoof away and placed it over his heart. “What I said was from a long time ago, and I think its about time you were told.” Flag looked over my head, I turned to see him staring at my father. He was talking with some other officers about one thing or another.

“I’ll do this, I’ll have Lemon rummage around my head, have her find a specific memory that you honestly deserve to see. I’ll have her put it in a memory orb, and you can decide to look at it or not. Sound good?” Flag stretched his hoof out to me. I looked at him for a moment, and damned if I didn’t want to agree.

“So, you don’t think I’m not ready?” I looked to him with hope rising in my chest.

“Valiant, nopony is ever ready when it comes to battle, truth be told, your old stallion and I expected we’d be fighting once we got here. Nopony is ever ready for that first engagement, no matter how much training you receive, ponies are always affected by their first battle, one way or another.” Flag gestured towards the other ponies around us. “Trust me, when everypony first had to fire their guns, they pissed themselves a little.”

“Even you?” I gave him a half smile.

“Nah, I was just born cool.” Flag smirked in return, and we both laughed.

“Alright, I’ll trust you, and I know I’m sounding needy, but, are you really my friend Flag, or are you just here because my dad told you to?” I got to my hooves and shook hooves with him.

“You and me? we are friends, I was the one who told your dad to let me bring you along. When you were being mister popular and we were looking down at you, I told him you were ready to stand on your own four hooves.” Flag’s words reminded me of that day at Ironshod, when everypony crowded around me and I saw their expressionless helmets stare me down.

“So when you gave me command?” I felt my smile widen across my muzzle.

“I believe in you kid, your actions speak louder than words, and I know you can make a hell of a leader. I trust you, like I trust Heavy Arms. So, don’t think for a second, I ever or will ever doubt you. I got a gut feeling you can do this, and my gut hasn’t steered me wrong yet.” Flag patted my back and turned to provide overwatch again.

“Thanks Flag,” I turned around, Flag just waved a hoof dismissively in classic Flag fashion.

Feeling better, I went to speak with my father, maybe see what our next move was going to be after we got out of this place. As I walked towards him, I heard rotor blades from far off. I stopped to stare at Meadowbrook, as from the horizon a Vertibuck flew to the rooftop. Good, more would be here soon, and we could get the hell out of here. I went to stand by my father, he gave me a nod and we both silently watched it make its landing. After a few minutes, the Vertibuck flew up and flew back the way it came.

As it flew away, I noticed something. North east of our position on a rooftop, I saw figures move and look south towards the Vertibuck. What platoon was that? One of them hoisted something over their shoulder. Oh shit, those weren’t ponies! The Zebra fired a missile streaking towards the Vertibuck.

My radio instantly lit up, “incoming!” The Vertibuck Pilot shouted and jerked the bird up, the missile just barely missing its mark. The Vertibuck banked right as the missile turned to follow it. From the sides near the tail, the Vertibuck spewed flares, they cascaded down away from them. The Vertibuck jerked forward, the missile ignored the flares and almost impacted the side of the bird. “Shit, I can’t shake it!”

Everypony that could, piled against the side of the roof, watching with bated breath. Some leaned forward, as if hoping that would spare their comrades from the missile. None dared to speak as the missile went for another strike. The Vertibuck gained altitude, but the missile matched the altitude. The Vertibuck jerked left, the missile adjusted itself before impact. The right rotor exploded into fire and shrapnel. “Were hit! I can’t control it, were going down, Sky Carriage Zero One is going down!”

The Vertibuck started spinning in place, burning smoke swirled above it as it lost altitude alarmingly fast. Several ponies gasped, Lemon came up to me, helmet open and hooves to her mouth. She was utterly horrified, there were wounded in that Vertibuck.

The bird kept spinning, it was impossible to tell where it was going. Spiraling down it finally slammed against the side of a building. The remaining rotor tore into the glass before breaking apart. The tail snapped off on impact, tumbling down below. From the cockpit an explosion blasted out fire and carnage.

Lemon was right, this was a nightmare, and it looked like we weren’t going to wake up anytime soon. My radio once more burst to life, Colonel Starfire barked out orders, but most of everypony here was simply staring at the destroyed Vertibuck. The simple fact of seeing wounded ponies killed before their very eyes drained them. I looked around, everypony was dejected, some teared up, others just sat on their haunches, faces blank, they had given up. I looked to Lemon, she had a vicious snarl on her face, a look I had worn, but never truly seen on another. Hatred, pure and unfiltered, and only blood would satisfy that hatred. I took a deep breath and got on the radio. “Mam, please repeat previous orders.”

“Tch, I have, everypony snap out of it damn it!” The Colonel took a deep calming breath, “I’m cancelling the evacuation momentarily. I want 8^th regiment to march east and secure several positions to assure a clear path for Vertibuck Pickup. 12^th regiment will begin sweeping any building above twenty meters, set up observation points if necessary. Once everypony is in position we will restart evacuations, and finally I need a squad to secure what I believe to be the Zebra staging area.”

I looked to Lemon, gave her a firm nod, she returned the gesture. I turned around and saw my team gathered before me. Steelhooves, silently floating nearby rotated his arms to bring his plasma caster up. Everypony, even Trapper had an aura of resolve and purpose around them. I nodded to them and hailed Colonel Starfire. “Colonel, this is Sergeant Valiant, I volunteer my unit to secure the Zebra staging area.”

“Valiant? Very well, I have another unit in mind to join you as well.” The Colonel gave a soft chuckle.

“Mam, it’s not necessary, we can handle it ourselves.” I rather not have another set of ponies to worry about.

“I wasn’t asking soldier, I need enough ponies keeping pressure on them. If they intend on dying here with us, they got another thing coming. Meet up with the team, lets see.” I could hear hushed voices arguing about something. “North of here, by a Rarity for You store.”

“Understood, we’ll head out immediately.” I ended the transmission and sighed, “we got company on this one, another team of ponies.”

“We’ll try to slow down for em,” Flag, always calm even at this desperate time winked at me. I couldn’t help the small smile, it was comforting that one of us could keep their spirits up.

“So long as we teach those Zebras a lesson, I don’t care who comes” Lemon grumbled. She closed her helmet and stood up. “I’ll be downstairs waiting.”

“I’ll see what supplies I can scrounge up, meet you all down stairs.” Rose nodded and went to talk to the other medics gathered around.

“I’ll head down, see if Lemon is going to be okay,” Trapper nodded to me.

“Thanks Trapper.” I opened my helmet and gave him a grateful smile.

“Well, that leaves one thing to take care of.” I sat on my haunches and closed my helmet.

“What’s that?” Flag sat down next to me, Steelhooves simply floated to my right side.

“Figuring out how long we have until the Pink Gas screen catches up to us.” I hailed Colonel Starfire, I hoped she had an answer for me.

“Valiant, what is it, I have my hooves full, so make it quick.” I could hear several ponies talking over one another on her end.

“The gas cloud, do you know how long we have before it gets here.” I heard ponies quiet up at that.

“Three, maybe four hours? If we cut it close, five hours at most, and that’s with the gas nipping at our hooves.” That didn’t give me hope we could evacuate everypony in time.

“Thank you, I’m heading out to the rendezvous now.” I cut the transmission, gathered my self and got ready to go.

“Valiant,” my father called out to me, I nodded to Flag and Steelhooves to go down without me.

“Sir?” I waited for him to stand before me.

“Be careful out there, don’t get bogged down in the fighting, remember this is just to bide time. Once we have everypony out, I’ll have you picked up.” My father put his hoof to my shoulder. “Sempre Invicta son.”

I smiled beneath my helmet, I put my hoof over his and nodded, “Semper Invicta father.” We parted ways and I reunited with everypony down below.

“Let’s go!” I started with a light jog, everypony followed suit. Five hours at most, that was pushing it, I needed to get these Zebras under control in three hours at most. We arrived to Rarity for You in thirty minutes. The store had seen better days, the display windows were broken, and the clothes were tattered and dirtied. The other team wasn’t anywhere in sight, without a radio we were kind of screwed on long range communication. I entered the store out of pure curiosity, it was big with stairs leading to another floor. I poked around the first floor, looking for anything that might catch my eye. I only found some moldy fabrics and a price scanner. I moved on to the second floor, all I found was the manager’s office. Inside was generic as offices went, desk, filing cabinet, and cheesy motivational posters on the walls. The terminal was working, so I sat down and hacked into it.

[ENTER PASSWORD: FABULOUS]

[WELCOME MISS SASSY SADDLES]

There were several records regarding the running of the store, some typed up schedules for employees and messages. Well, I had time to kill and who knows, maybe I find some super-secret data about a doomsday weapon! Or just stuff about running a store, you know, the likelier option.

From Rarity: Sassy, darling, I got so many new designs I shipped out to the Empire. I know you’ll just love them! Which reminds me, have our employees wear the merchandise. They’re also welcome to one free ensemble! Anyway, now that shop talk is out of the way, I hope everything is fine up there darling. I certainly miss seeing you around Canterlot. But I couldn’t have picked a better pony to handle our stores in the Empire. Do write whenever possible, I shall do the same, well permitted my Ministry allows the time.

To Rarity: Oh Rarity the new design are fabulous! Everything will be displayed prominently at the front! I will have my staff choose outfits before opening tomorrow. That said, I do miss our time at Canterlot. But those were…simpler times, yes, that’s an appropriate term as any. The lack of fighting here is almost unnatural. But I digress, that’s enough talk of less than pleasant things, I’ll try to be in town next month. I have some shipping I need to take care off, lets catch up over tea if we can.

From Rarity: Oh darling, I feel too much time has passed, I will clear my schedule in advance. We simply must catch up in person! Though it might be sooner than you’d expect, there are some Ministry affairs to take care off in the Empire. With the Empire now in the war, several projects require my personal touch up there. I’ll make a trip this week. I’ll try and drop by if the time allows it, but with all those meetings. Well, let’s just say sleep will be more of a suggestion than a need. Well I’ve bored you enough, goodbye darling.

Well, that’s not particularly useful, but interesting that Rarity knew the manager here. I logged out and returned to join my friends outside. Everypony was where I left them, in a general circle forming a perimeter around the entrance. I looked at the time in my helmet and groaned. I was in there for thirty minutes, where the hell was this team? We already wasted an hour, you’d think they’d hustle it up here with their lives on the line. After another five minutes, they finally arrived, and to make matters worst there was a Ranger leading them. While that wasn’t bad, the Ranger in question wasn’t a fan of mine, he was the same one that called me out at Ironshod.

“Valiant,” The Ranger, armed with a machinegun and grenade launcher opened his helmet. He was a dark blue stallion with dark green eyes.

“Spokes,” I gave him a curt nod, this was going to be a long mission. Okay a short mission, but it was going to be long in my head for sure.

“Colonel Starfire has pin pointed the Zebra position north of here.” Spokes pointed his hoof north, and I gave him a nod. Not mincing words, we marched to our destination. We took the highway to make good time. We traveled in a general wedge formation, Spokes team consisting of six other ponies brought up our right, my own brought up the left. Spokes and I awkwardly took the center and jogged silently side by side. We arrived at our destination shortly taking cover about a block from our target, just out of sight of the Zebras we could spot outside. when I gazed at the building, my E.F.S did its thing slapping a name on it.

[CRYSTAL EMPIRE HISTORICAL MUSEUM]

The museum was four stories high and had fortified positions on the southern end facing us. The front entrance was wide open, several groups of Zebras were gathered on the court yard. They even had a camp, four red tents in total, they were set up in parallel at either side of the path leading to the entrance. There were no fortifications that I could see outside the museum. Though looking through the broken windows on the fourth floor, I saw two heavy guns set up on either side of the main entrance. A frontal assault would be suicide for everypony here. Those heavy guns would tear right through Ranger power armor, just like at Ironshod. Though from our position just south east of the museum, I could see an abandoned cargo wagon. It was placed perfectly to allow a pony to climb unto the fire escape. The wagon looked like it had crashed against the wall, probably during the chaos of the Megaspell attack.

Then there was the building facing the Museum. From our end I could see a loading dock where wagons would unload cargo and its shudder was wide open. There was a sign above the loading dock, ‘Feather Weight’s Sofas!’ it was faded but still legible. I could hear the gears turning in my head, and I could feel a plan formulating already. “Alright, I think I got a plan.”

“Or we could just garrison a building and shoot it out.” Spokes grunted.

“Or,” I couldn’t help the condescending tone, “you could listen to the plan of the pony that took Security Operations with four ponies.” I glared at him behind my helmet, he just grunted and shut his muzzle up.

“There’s a wagon crashed on the side of the museum,” I pointed a hoof for them to see. “Two of us can sneak around the side and climb to the roof. Everypony else can garrison the sofa place there and cause a distraction.” I pointed to the loading dock, “When the infiltration team gives the signal, we attack from the roof down in a pincer maneuver.”

“Fine, who’s going on the infiltration team?” Spokes shrugged uncaringly. This guy wasn’t about to let a grudge go it seemed.

“I’ll go,” Lemon stepped up to me.

“I can accompany Lemon, i-if she’ll let me,” Trapper moved next to Lemon.

“Sorry Trapper, it has to be two Rangers, I’ll go with Lemon.” I nodded to her, Trapper pursed his lips and nodded back at me. “Alright, lets go Lemon, everypony else get into position and good luck.”

“Valiant,” Spokes called out before I could leave.

“Yeah?” I kept my tone neutral this time.

“Everypony is counting on us,” He opened his helmet, his dark green eyes were lit with a burning fire of determination. He wanted to save everypony here as much as me, as much as all of us really. “Good luck, Semper Invicta.”

I gave him a firm nod, “Sempre Invicta brother,” I turned without another word and left with Lemon in tow. The museum laid between four intersections at each corner. Lemon and I took the bottom left, hiding behind the abandoned wagons as we crossed the street. We reached the upper left intersection, taking cover by a sandwich shop. I peeked around the intersection, the northern end of the museum looked about the same. Except it lacked all the security, I could spot six awnings and underneath them laid several Zebras. From the northern entrance, teams of two Zebras at a time would exit, or enter with Zebras on stretchers.

“Shit, there’s a whole camp of them here too. Except its all wounded.” I looked to Lemon, her helmet turned to me expectantly. Right, my plan, my lead. Well, we could start the attack now, but that might mean abandoning the wagon climb. I sat on my haunches and put my hoof to my chin. Something had to give, being spotted early wasn’t an option. I peeked again, the road as always had wagons littered on it. I guess sneak and hope for the best it is. “Stay low, hug the wagons and stick close.” I got in a low stance and tip-hoofed my way between wagons. Each step was carefully considered, and each frantic sprint across exposed ground a gamble. We were lucky the wounded took precedence, otherwise we’d have more idle heads to spot us. With more luck than I thought possible, we made it to the eastern wall. The Wagon had marred the once pristine white walls. The front of the wagon was charred, and the blackened corpse of a pony was slumped in the driver’s seat. I hopped on the wagon first, my hooves clanking against the warped metal. I flinched at the sound, but remembered it was probably louder to me than it really was. Lemon followed close behind until we made it up the fire escape. We stopped just short of the final set of stairs to reach the roof, I checked my weapons, and looked to Lemon.

“Ready,” she hissed under her breath, she sounded impatient, her revenge was just ahead I suppose. I don’t blame her, but after Meadowbrook, the flames of anger that once fanned my revenge had dimmed. Still, I can’t deny the want to kill Zebras wasn’t still there. I doubt it would ever leave me.

Murderer

The voices hissed as one, I shook my head, now wasn’t the time to lose it. I took a deep breath, letting it out through my mouth. Just had to keep calm, remember the task at hand. Save the lives of my fellow ponies, that was the point of this mission.

Whatever you say killer

The voices cackled with fading laughter, I shook my head and contacted Spokes, “were in position, light em up.”

“Understood,” he cut the transmission, after a few seconds explosions broke the silence. I saw to pilums of smoke rise into the air from the southern courtyard. I ran up the stairs, and holy shit! There were way more Zebras than I thought! The red lines on my E.F.S had been tightly packed, I couldn’t count them, but there had to be at least fifteen of them! I fired two missiles and revved my minigun. The rooftop exploded into a flurry of fire and movement. My missile killed four Zebras at the center, and I started cutting down more of them with my minigun.

Lemon came up next to me, her grenade launcher spitting out grenades in a frenzy. They detonated around the sandbags on the south. The Zebras there were blasted into bits off the roof. The surprise attack devastated them, the cluttered red lines on my E.F.S were down to five. I ran for the rooftop access, my minigun spat hot led on three Zebras who made a break for the access. They were torn asunder, gore is all that remained. Lemon’s machinegun cracked rhythmically killing the last two Zebras that feebly tried to fight back. With the element of surprise still on our side Lemon and I charged down the access and burst through the fourth floor. The room was filled with smoke, the southern end was blackened, and the heavy guns were destroyed. I took stock of our position, we were on the far side of a walkway around the four walls. The center of the museum was hollow with a model of the crystal castle dominating the center. The model’s spire was the only thing visible from the fourth floor, and a wooden barrier about chest high framed the walkway.

I ran up to the edge, my E.F.S started filling with red bars as down below the Zebras scrambled. A group of Zebras looked up, pointed their rifles and fired. I pulled back, a bullet just barely grazing the side of my helmet. The tremor that followed was nothing compared to a solid hit. Still, my skull rattled in place and the edges of my vision darkened.

“There!” Lemon pointed to the far-left side of the room, there were some stairs leading down the next level. We ran to them, as we reached them several Zebras skidded to a halt just down the first flight. Lemon’s machinegun tore into them, she painted the wall behind them red as they were felled. I jumped over the right railing, my minigun revving up. The tiled stairs below my hooves cracked on landing. A score of Zebras backpedaled right in front of me. I hosed them down, the wooden barrier behind them splintered to pieces, their bodies cut to ribbons. I stepped out to the third floor, a hail of bullets impacted me from both sides. Each bullet sent quaking pain all over my body, two groups of Zebras had set up at both ends of the stairs. I fell, covering my head with my hooves. My medical unit warmed me of the threat of cardiac arrest from the sheer force of trauma.

From the stairs, Lemon in all her steel-clad fury slid out next to me. She willed her machinegun to aim back while her grenade launcher aimed forward. The Zebras scrambled to move, but it was too late. Her weapons eviscerated them all. Several red lines blipped out of existence on my E.F.S, but they were easily replaced with more.

“Valiant!” Lemon helped me back to my hooves, the potion injected into my system stitching back my torn insides. On the other side, just left of the castle, several Zebras propped up against the wooden barrier. Too many, far too fucking many, I pushed Lemon back up the stairs. I gritted my teeth and Lemon let out a pained grunt as they lit up our flanks with automatic fire. I fell just around the flight of stairs. My body made a sickening splattering sound as I landed on the gore we left behind. I was just inches away from a mangled Zebra head. There was a huge hole on the right side of the face. Its one remaining eye stared unblinkingly at me. my breath started coming in short gasps, I couldn’t get to my hooves, they were shaking too badly, the armor around my legs rattled as the plates clattered against one another.

Murderer

The head spewed the word at me. No, it didn’t, it was in my head. I closed my eyes and tried to take big gulps of air. “Shit,” my voice shook with each shudder.

“Valiant please not now!” Lemon hopped over me and leaned out firing down the flight of stairs. I took a final steadying breath and got back up, that was too damn close.

“Sorry, come on, there’s too many, we’ll retreat to the rooftop and use the access as a choke point.” I ran up, Lemon fired off a few more shots before she came up after me.

“Est!” several of the Zebras shouted. The flimsy wooden barrier was ripped apart by automatic fire and forced me to the ground. I looked to Lemon, she had run out just a little too late, a round impacted her on the side of the head. My heart seized in my chest as she crumpled to the floor, as if somepony pulled her legs right from under her.

[UNCONSCIOUS] LEOMON

The status update sent a wave of relief through my body, she wasn’t dead, thank Celestia she wasn’t dead. They had us pinned, they could swarm up any second, if I didn’t act now, we’d all be dead. I got back to my hooves, then I stood up on my hind legs. I crossed my forelegs in front of my face to avoid a headshot. The Zebra’s fired on me hitting my exposed midsection. The pain that followed was palpable to say the least, but my missile launched swiveled down towards them. I fired, blindly I might add a six-missile barrage.

“Curro!” One of them shouted, but only three of the missiles struck the Zebras. The rest exploded against the crystal castle model. I had thought the castle was made up of something else, but when the missiles exploded it shattered into jagged crystal pieces raining down on the Zebras below. I could only hear screams as I fell back on my haunches. I opened my helmet, and promptly threw up blood on the ground. Everything hurt, there wasn’t a single part of me not throbbing in pain. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and never get up. But I couldn’t, too much depended on me fulfilling my mission.

I got back up, wobbled my way to Lemon, and threw her over my back. I took a few seconds to gather my strength and ran to the rooftop access. The moment I returned outside, I saw the chaos stretch before me. Flag was on the Feather Weight’s Sofas rooftop. His machinegun’s barrel glowed red as he fired down below. Spokes stood next to him, his weapons as well rained death on those below. I ran to the sandbags, placing Lemon down on her side against them. I peeked at the lower floors of the Sofa store. From the windows I could see Spoke’s ponies and Steelhooves fighting to keep the Zebras from overrunning their position.

I looked back, behind Spokes and Flag, I could see a fleet of Vertibucks. In the chaos of air lifting two Regiments, some of the Vertibucks were shot down by Zebra Anti-Aircraft Missiles. To make matters worse, the pink cloud curtain was significantly closer to Meadowbrook than when we left. The fuck happened to having hours? As if fate finding my question worthy, it answered, explosions of Pink gas erupted around more parts of the city. With that I came to a horrible realization, the Zebras here were prepared to die and take us with them. The huge force of them here, the AA teams, they were prepared for death from the very beginning.

“Damn,” I turned back to the rooftop access, I could hear them coming up the stairs. I was exposed, the sandbags only covered from one side. The inside was wide open. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep these bastards at bay. I revved my minigun and waited for the first unlucky bastard to come up. From the access, two Zebras with shields up came out. The two spread apart to let two more fill in the ranks. I ran at them, not about to let them create another of their tanks. I fired a missile, the Zebras lowered their shields, expecting this and shot a curtain of automatic fire. They shot the missile right out of the sky! The explosion gave us both a brief smoke screen of cover. I fired into the smoke, only to have my bullets returned to me.

I gritted my teeth, and ran through the smoke, and in that short span of time, they had formed a six-shield phalanx. I burst through the middle. I fired my minigun and caught at least five unprepared Zebras coming up the access. I turned right and bucked the Zebras right behind me. I heard my metal hooves throw the Zebras off balance. The Zebras now facing me fired their rifles, I put a hoof up and charged through them. They dispersed, as I expected they would. I revved my minigun and fired spinning as I did. Their automatic fire tore me up, but I returned the action tenfold as I cut them down. But from the access more Zebras poured out, they brought their rifles to bare, but before they could fire they were killed apart by machinegun fire.

Lemon was up, she must have awakened when I attacked the phalanx. “Valiant get over here!” her horn glowed and the sandbags behind her were wrapped in her magical sheath. I ran back to her side, and turned to see a repeat of before, two shield Zebras coming up, then parted to allow another two to expand the phalanx. Lemon lifted the sandbags to create a square securing us on all sides.

The Zebras, six across stepped forward as a secondary rank filled out. I fired my remaining five missiles, all spread in a wide area, the zebras fired but only destroyed two. The rest erupted right behind them tearing them apart. “Concentrate your fire on the entrance, keep their heads down and use controlled burst!” I pointed to the access and fired my minigun. After a few seconds, I stopped, Lemon followed up, and we repeated the process. Despite our constant barrage, the red lines on my E.F.S didn’t seem to diminish. Just a sea of red threatening to swallow us whole.

“Valiant! On your left!” Flag yelled over the radio. A group of Zebras was outflanking us, they took the building’s rooftop to our left. My missile launcher thankfully reloaded quickly, I fired a six-missile barrage at the right building. The missiles arced up before slamming down on the Zebras. The rooftop exploded into a fiery mess. To my great relief the rooftop caved-in, they wouldn’t be flanking us from there again. I looked right, passed Lemon who fired a string of grenades at the entrance. To make sure they didn’t flank us on the right, I fired the last of my six missiles caving the right building’s roof. With our sides secured I was able to turn my sights back on the access.

“Valiant I’m running low!” Lemon cried out while she ducked for cover. I quickly took over for her, firing into the access. I didn’t dare tell her my missile launcher was empty.

“Just hold on a little longer!” I was honestly talking out of my ass, I was a breath away from freaking out. I hope Spokes radio pony had called for evac.

“Valiant, I got two Vertibucks inbound!” Spokes called over the radio. Thank freaking Celestia!

I ducked and let Lemon take over, her grenade launcher thudded in a steady beat launching grenades. I peeked from cover, revving my minigun for my turn. Before we could switch, from the fire escape Zebras climbed to the roof. One was wielding a familiar rifle.

“Get down!” I threw myself over Lemon, the anti-machine rifle thundered above the gunfire. The sandbags burst open right above us. Celestia, they were persistent! I revved my minigun and fired at the bastard. Only for my bullets to meet a four-shield phalanx. Fuck me, why were they so damn fast?

Lemon popped up and fired her grenades behind them. They hunkered down in their shields, but they weren’t the target, the grenades exploded destroying the fire escape. I heard several of them yell as they fell with the structure. Lemon shot a few more grenades before switching to her machinegun. The grenades exploded near the front and back of the little shield tank they created around themselves.

“I’m out of grenades!” Lemon fired short burst keeping them ducked behind their shields. I fired into the access. Rather than creating their phalanx, the Zebras held at the door. “I’m out of ammo!” Lemon yelled and looked to me. that small lull in fire was all the Zebras needed, the Anti-machine rifle Zebra poked out from cover. The world was filled with the deafening roar of the rifle. I couldn’t react, I just froze in place. But nothing happened, I looked down to check myself, nothing, I looked to Lemon, but she was fine too. The Zebra on the other hoof had its top half blown clean off. His guts and blood covering the shields and his comrades.

Flag that magnificent bastard! I looked back, resisting the urge to open my helmet so he could see my relieved muzzle. As I expected, I could see his anti-machine rifle baring down our general direction. He saw me, gave a quick nod and returned to fighting the Zebras below.

“Valiant!” Lemon snapped me back to attention, I turned, and several zebras pour from the access. All pretense of order had vanished, some with blades in their mouths, others rifles in hooves, they all rushed out against us. A mad dash through no mans land? This was it then this is how I died? No, my heart thumped against my chest and there was fire in my veins. I don’t want to die here, and I won’t let my friends die here with me! I fired my minigun, mowing them down in scores! It was a killing field, they were torn in half, their limbs cut off, they refused to back down even as they climb over their dead. Celestia above they charged with murderous haste! Lemon panicked, looking around for something to use as a weapon. Her horn glowed, and she started flinging sand bags in desperation. I poured on the pressure, my minigun glowing red as rivers of blood I was creating.

[OVERHEAT]

Shit, the barrels stopped spinning, the metal a bright crimson hissing out smoke in protest. Lemon stepped back, her flank touching the sandbags. This was it, due or die! My heart was pounding in my ears, the still fresh scars from the commando blades tingling all over my body. Those damn blades were going to burn right through our armor. I expected twenty seconds before my minigun could be fired again. No, it was too late already, I lowered my stance and pushed out! I struck out with my forehooves smashing two Zebras in the jaws. Blood and teeth burst forth as the crumbled before me. Lemon rammed her sharp horn blade right through a Zebras torso. The zebra with a sword in its mouth dropped it as he gasped out. She caught the blade in her magical grip and stabbed another Zebra through the throat.

Three Zebras piled on me, one grabbed one of my forelegs. A mistake I didn’t let it regret, the powerful servo motors let me fling the bastard off the roof. The other drove his knife below my chest. I gritted my teeth, the metal gave, and I felt the blade dig into my flesh. I smashed him with my head, he crumpled his helmeted dented inward. The other I flung off the roof like the first. Just then more jumped on me and I struggled to keep throwing them off. Lemon as well was floating up the Zebra swords and killing as many as she could. But they crowded her, and I heard her scream as two blades were jammed into her back.

“Lemon!” I tried to move to her, but more Zebras grabbed at me and blocked my path. I willed my minigun to fire. Thank Celestia when it fired and tore through the mass of bodies in front of me. The zebras fell back diving to the ground as I strafed the area before me. “Lemon!” I moved to her side shooting off her attackers. More Zebras dove for me right then and there. I tried turning to them, but they managed to knock me off balance. I was down, they went for my legs. I bucked sending them tumbling over one another. Lemon, took the blades embedded in her and flung them at her attackers

Just then, a hail of bullets rained down over the Zebras, the roar of gunfire was overshadowed by the sound of rotor blades. “Keep your heads down, the cavalry is here!” The pilot, good old Flak Magnet roared over the radio. Yes! Sweet Celestia we were gonna make it!

The Vertibuck finished off the Zebras on top, they retreated into the museum. Not that meant they were done. I saw rifle fire bounce off the Vertibucks armored plating as it hovered over the edge. I could make out a second Vertibuck hovering down to pick up everypony on the Sofa shop. “Get your asses in here and let’s go!” Flak opened the side doors and Lemon and I hopped in.

“Were in!” I opened my helmet, grinning at Flak.

“Let’s get out of-shit! Anti-machine rifle!” Flak’s copilot looked off to the right. I looked out the door, a bloodied Zebra laying on the pile of dead pointed the rifle at us. The rifle fired, the Vertibuck jerked right. I slipped, everything felt painfully slow. Like I had somehow activated S.A.T.S, I slid out of the Vertibuck, Lemon slid as well, but she was caught on the door opening. She reached out, her helmet opened to show her wide frightened eyes. The tip of our hooves barely clanked together. Her horn glowed, and I felt a bit of resistance, but it broke in less than a second. Everything snapped back to reality as I fell on my back into the courtyard. The armor broke the fall, nothing broken, and I barely felt a thing. Still I laid there, with Zebras rushing around me. The Vertibuck picked up altitude and moved away from me.

I got back to my hooves, no Zebra stopped me, everyone of them was too busy running off somewhere. “Valiant Hold on! Turn this god damn thing around!” my radio crackled to Flags hoarse yells. I closed my helmet only as an afterthought, my mind was just a fuzz right now.

“Areas too hot, Pink Gas is about to fill the damn place!” Flag’s pilot shouted back.

“Lookout!” an explosion knocked the Zebras and me down, two blocks down, the ground had exploded upward. A huge pink gas cloud erupted from below, swallowing everything in its path.

“Valiant run!” Lemon cried over the radio. Something snapped inside me, and I turned and ran with every fiber of my being. I burst through the museum, the Zebras inside were rushing to get out. In their panic they started crowding the door.

“Get out of my way!” I fired my minigun, I cut a bloody swath through them tearing them to chunks. I ran out the northern exit through the wounded camp. In my mind, the images of the Ponies and Zebras underneath Meadowbrook flashed by. The melted bodies and their terrible expressions of pain. I slid to a stop and turned, there too many, far too many wounded. Their comrades ran by them carelessly, I watched the still conscious ones cry out, their hooves reaching for their comrades. They were ignored as the Pink Gas encroached all around us.

Save us!

The voices whispered in my head, I shut my eyes and let out a shaky breath. I could only think of one thing. I revved my minigun and fired. It was not quick, it was not painless, and it was bloody. I tore through the wounded, every cot I could strafe with my gun. They screamed as I tore their broken bodies apart. Maybe if I had my missiles, maybe that would have been better. The cloud came up to the museum. I turned my gun on the wounded on the left, I took aim and fired.

[MUNITIONS EMPTY]

This was it, I took a step back, the cloud started coming out of the windows. I turned and ran, I shut off the outside speakers to silence the desperate screams. I followed the Zebras, they weren’t just running like chickens with their heads cut off. They were heading somewhere, and in far greater numbers than anticipated. Within the chaos I thankfully remained unnoticed. The Zebras found any entrance to the subways and went down below, I followed suit. I entered a huge station, taking the stairs leading me down in leaps. The entrance was wide, but by the sheer volume of Zebras coming, we’d be stuck in there like rats in a narrow tube. I used my armor to my advantage, despite my limbs aching for a break, I pushed forward ahead of everypony here. I ejected the minigun and my missile launcher. I won’t lie, that felt like I dropped part of myself. But they were dead weight at this point, light and fast was the current objective.

Everypony hopped down onto the rails, the subway carts nowhere in sight. Some Zebras noticed me, but with death nipping at our heels, nopony seemed to care. I pushed ahead, passing several empty platforms. By this point, my lungs were threatening to kill me. But my will to live outweighed their complaints. After passing several more platforms, I found a light at the end of the tunnel. Well to be exact it wasn’t so much the end of the subway. More like a cave in had happened, the light of the surface broke through and some Zebras were waving over their comrades. When I neared the tunnel, the rails gave way and my hooves clanked against solid metal. The walls as well were solid metal, but they looked like some had shaved them down with a file. This metal tunnel was several meters long, just what the hell was I running on?

The thought fizzled out of my mind when the light of day grew almost blinding, I ran and came out the other side. I ran a few meters before stopping. I was smack dab in the enemy camp. Thousands of Zebras, too many for my E.F.S to make individual lines. A red blob crowded the E.F.S, and they all stared at me. Slowly they started encircling me, I lowered my stance, a feeble act of defiance. So, this was it, escape Pink Gas, die by Zebras, life was too fucking funny for its own good.

I’m so sorry Strider, I failed you.

Well, if nothing else, I’ll go down fighting. For everypony that died, for every Ranger these bastards killed. I would not cry, no more crying for me. I was going to die a soldier, a Knight of Applejack’s Rangers. Flag believed in me, my team all believed in me. They are safe, that’s all that matteres now. I took a deep breath, and a serene feeling came over me. This was good, this was a good death, no regrets. I did something right, Trapper was on his way of being a better pony. Without me, Flag and Lemon could report everything to my father. Maybe my father would still help, or maybe they could return home.

I felt tears sting my eyes, mother, I wish I could see her one more time. I wish I listened to her. No! damn it no regrets, you did good, you saved lives! Die with that in your heart! I steeled my nerves as best as I could. “Come on then, come and get me!” I pushed off, but something clattered near my hooves. A dark cylinder, it opened and emitted a blue electrical discharge.

EMP!

“Aaaghh!” I crumbled to the ground, the shock seizing up the armor, my display flickered in gibberish and I fell to my side. the shock had finally done me in, my body shut down on me. Darkness creeped at the edges of my vision. As unconsciousness creeped in, I noticed I was facing the way I came. The tunnel I ended up exiting? Well it wasn’t so much a tunnel, but more like a massive hole made into the city walls. Holy shit, they found a way through the walls!

Hooves stepped before me, they were wrapped up in bandages, not a hint of the coat or hooves visible. The bandages had strange writing all over them. The symbols were like the ones in the Zebra terminals. From the wrappings, wisps of black smoke flickered into the air. The wisps were like black arid smoke from a burnt husk. I shifted my eyes, to see the entire body was wrapped in these bandages and clad in elaborate golden armor. The Zebra, for it could be no other, looked down. There was a chain around his, or her neck tucked inside the armor chest plate.

“Legatus quid enim faciam cum eo?” A Zebra in more elaborate armor from the regulars walked up to the bandaged one. Whatever he said, the bandaged Zebra looked down to me, one eye was cerulean blue, the other a piercing red.

“Accipies eum servum forum.” He paused, I could see his black lips barely peek from the bandages, they pulled back in a cruel smirk. “Premium et famulorum arcessas.”

“What…the…fuck…” Everything faded into black.

Level Up: 9

Perks Added: Racing Horse: All that running has got you into a fine-tuned machine! You can now run farther and don’t get winded as easily.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, but here’s the next chapter. If anyone is wondering, they’re speaking Latin. I figured when modeling Zebras with the Romans, lets go all out. I’m super excited for the next chapter. I will also have a few treats for you in this arc. Which I have lovingling come to call Pax Romana. Anyways, enjoy and please drop a review leaving your thoughts and questions. I love talking with you all <3.