John, or Mac as his friends liked to call him, once again stood with a knife by yesterday’s prey. Over the excitement caused by the flying ship, he had not found the time to work on it further. In any case, he believed it was a joke they had tried to pull. How could it be possible that a balloon could lift an entire ship? Even the biggest zeppelins could only hold small cabins. He had come to the conclusion that they had smoked something on the roof without telling him, or they were just pulling his leg.

Not wanting to have anything to do with gossip at that point, he had headed right after breakfast to the butcher's section a few buildings away to continue with his real task. He wore old rubber boots, a thick white apron over his old uniform, and carried an improvised mask made from an old towel. He tried to keep his work environment as sterile as possible. However, with the lack of a water filter and cleaning materials, there was only so much he could do. Therefore, Mac was quite certainly this room would fail every health inspection, although it was likely, at the moment, one of the cleanest places.

“At least the summer is done,” he groaned as he began to cut the skin from the animal. It had hung overnight by the heels, and most of the blood had already seeped from the body. He would have to work quickly if he wanted to prevent more of it from going bad. He split some muscle fibres and exposed the shoulder joint. He would need the saw for this. He stuck the knife in the wooden board that served as a base and turned to the back room. Among other things were the tools he would need to disassemble an animal. He understood why so many Germans became butchers, as they had invented the sausage, or least he thought so.

Mac tore the towel from his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead to avoid wiping it with his sleeves and having to wash his hands again. The difficult iron door gave way to his pushing and the small light from the room went out into his work area. Fortunately, the light worked without electricity. A small bang sounded from outside the door, followed by a second bang, more softly than the first. Instinctively, he reached for his M9, which was behind in his pants. It had interfered with his work more than once before. The single source of light outside was a small roof light from Perspex, which was covered with some snow of the night. The vague light did not reveal too much.

"Who’s there?" he called and freed himself from the apron, as it would only hinder him. Because it was still quite cloudy, the few remnants of sunlight was all but negated. “I am armed and will shoot.” Mac listened into the twilight and finally heard steps, only they did not come before him but from the alley behind the building. Now he also knew what the quieter bang had been: the back door. Somebody had found their warehouse here, and if it was one of the gang of youths, they would soon receive a visit. He had to catch up with the spy at all costs. Those kids had the numerical advantage and the weapons. As bad as they would be with their weapons compared to trained soldiers, they would have the balls to attack them and keep at it.

Mac went to the door, pressed the handle, and ripped it open with all his strength. His head looked around the alley and he spotted a small form going around the corner before it disappeared. He tried to be quick and quiet, even though that worked against each other. He got around the corner to see another form disappear. This form was going at quite a pace. With the third bend, he would have almost run into it if he hadn’t slowed down, as it came to a halt. Quickly, he got a view of his surroundings. Around him were many apartment building in the city. Many of the windows had been broken, and rubbish lay scattered. It reminded him of Chicago, where his uncle and aunt had lived. Above him wafted a tarpaulin, which made it possible to see from a window. Should they want to lure him into an ambush, it would be more difficult.

“~There you are. What’s the situation?” he heard a voice ask in a language he did not understand. Given where they were, it was likely German.

"One was in the butcher's shop, but that wasn’t their warehouse. They only have the animals they caught there. They seem to live in the McDonalds." The voice was younger, higher. Either a girl or a small boy. Even if he did not understand what they had said exactly, he had recognized the name of the restaurant. They now knew where their base was. This was not good at all.

"Are you sure that they are in there?" came from the first voice. He needed to to think fast. Could he take on both of them if he needed to?

“Yeah. I saw them disappearing in the old MCD. They came out again after a few minutes. They had one or two rifles and pistols. Nothing we can’t handle.”

Come on, he thought. Tell me something I can work with.

"We’ll gather in K and simply get rid of them. We have more people here, and we need the food. The bastards have hoarded everything for themselves.” Now there were three, and all were likely armed. His chances were looking slimmer by the minute. He listened further and suddenly other voices were to be heard, one even sounding like English. Unfortunately, he was too far away to understand it.

"Micha! What are you doing?” Apparently the three had heard something and seemed worried. He heard some footsteps, and it seemed that they walked away, because they became quieter. Now Mac trusted himself to take a risk and sneak a peek, and he saw his assumption was correct. Quickly he followed them, pressed himself against the houses and applied his knowledge from basic training. He moved in such a way to make as little noise as possible.

"Did they fall in paint? What’s wrong with them?" He stood directly around the corner of a house and listened in. Apparently they had bumped into somebody of interest.

"I think everything is alright, huh?" That was definitely English, as he had understood the speaker more than clearly. Apparently he was also not alone and had a companion. Mac heard like weapons being drawn. Either he had answered their question wrong or the members of the gang did not understand English.

"Holy… speaking horses! Do you think we can eat one? We haven’t had meat in a while," said one of the teenagers, obviously excited. Whatever they had found had put them in a good mood. Normally, whatever put their enemies in a good mood spelt trouble for them. If the other survivors had food or anything of value, no doubt the gang would try to take it.

"Maybe we should ask them." There were a few seconds of silence. “What are you? Some kind of mutant animals that broke out of a lab or something?" At least one of them understood German, even if he didn’t speak it.

“Yeah, and you’ll get superpowers if I bit you.” He had not heard the question, but apparently the answer was about Spiderman. “We come from the planet Melmac and need to speak to you leaders.” They had probably also asked where they had come from.

“Now listen to me, you wiseass. Either I have an answer at the count of three or you and your friend over there will both have something else to worry about. At least after we’ll have some meat to eat.” The voice sounded pissed, and he heard the cock of the weapon being pulled back. Mac fingered his own. Would it be worthwhile to intervene? “One!”

“No matter what I say, you will not believe it.” The stranger had realized it himself. They wanted his belongings and his life.

“Two…” Mac recognized a countdown if he heard one, even in German, and he quickly came to a conclusion. These were at least three of them and the two strangers who spoke English. If he intervened, it would be three against three. The enemy of my enemy was my friend, and so he believed. Since both parties did not see eye to eye, this could be their chance to even things up a bit. If they could contribute food or weapons, it didn’t matter if they were trained or not. Every person had one or other useful abilities. He took a deep breath and turned around the corner. All three backs were turned to him. The closest belonged to a young boy. The others were teens and two of them had on a weapon belt. That meant that it was a bigger calibre. One of them was in a little squat and looked downward. Had they attacked the person already? In any case, they were still a threat to him, and he knew what to do. Up to now, they had avoided shooting at them to avoid a bigger conflict, but now they were trying to kill someone.

“Okay boys, fire up the grill. Three!” That was the signal he had waited on. His weapon had been quietly waiting to be fired, both hands grasping his weapon, his breathing slow and steady, his aim unwavering at his target: The head of the young person squatting down.

Several things happened at once. First there was a shot, but instead of a shield building up in front of me, the weapons were wrapped in a light blue aura. The next thing I heard from was a kind of battle cry from above, and I was somehow pulled to the back. That all happened in a second. The aura belonged to Armor, who now pulled my tail in front of the shocked teenagers. What shocked them was not the magic, however, but the hole in their leader’s head. Blood spurted onto my face from the mouth of the dead guy before he slumped onto the ground. I looked over him to the shooter. He was practically a giant with red hair. He wore an American uniform and held a M9 in his hands as he focused on the next of the group, the guy in the cap. He did not seem to have realized yet what had happened completely, because as we went past, his hands were trembling. The next shot came, and my ears rang for a second time. The bullet struck him in the shoulder and he fell to the ground, his cap falling down as he screamed in pain. That made me wonder where the first cry had come from, and I looked just in time to see Rainbow tackling the other guy with the MP5 with her hooves and disappearing with him through a nearby shop window.

"Drop your weapon!" called the shooter, who had not even noticed that the third had disappeared. I heard the AK dropping to the ground as Armor finally succeeded to dragging my paralyzed body one store further away. It was a shop for exotic food, as the smell of spices lay in the air as I took in my first real breath.

“Dammit… now we’re stuck in the middle,” Armor hissed and tried to catch a glance of the situation outside. "But it's better they attack each other than us." I was still reeling at the thought of the bullet flying through the head in front of me, having missed me only because the shooter had shot in an acute angle due his size. Practically in the back of his head and out his chin again.

“Shit… shit shit shit,” I muttered to myself. This had turned from a simple reconnaissance mission to a combat zone. At least the others were safe “Report!” I yelled as into the radio as I pressed the button. There was no answer, only another shot that rang out. First there was one, then other. I immediately thought of Rainbow alone with one of those guys, trying to charge at him while he had one of those weapons. I could imagine how it would turn out.

“Be right back,” I said quickly. I hoped I wouldn’t land in a wall or any other solid object. My body was compressed to the size of a pea for a split second, and with a bang and slightly singed fur, I reached my destination. It was a clothing store for children, the items scattered across the floor.

“Rainbow!” I cried, and heard a moan from the corner. I immediately rushed to the source and found the pegasus laying on the ground, dazed but unharmed. A crack in the wall showed me why. She had to have smashed her victim against it. I saw said person on the ground as well, completely knocked out and probably nursing a few fractures and broken ribs.

“Did I win?” She moaned again and tried and sit up.

“Yeah, everything’s good.” I freed him from his weapon and threw it over my own neck, before I pulled the belt tighter. Now I levitated on me, right next to my saddlebag. I would be reluctant to use it, but it was better than if he had it. Rainbow began to shake her head and take in her surroundings. “How come you didn’t warn us though?”

“Huh? He came from this store. When Star and I saw him, it was already too late.” In that case, it was a good thing they had remained silent.

“Where is Star?” I had noticed the pegasus hadn’t entered the battlefield. More shots sounded off.

“He went back to the Celestia to get reinforcements.” I only nodded and moved closer to her. “Hey, I’m fine! Some privacy please.”

“I’m going to teleport us to Armor, so hold still.” This had been only my second teleport. Now I understood why Twilight was one of the few who knew how to do it. Few seemed to know about the magical waves that existed everywhere, probably because it was a secret of the alicorns. That meant she had probably learned that move from Celestia. I saw that Rainbow was not comfortable with my proximity, but I moved closer anyway, and we were back a moment later.

“You okay?” Armor entered my field of vision.

“Yeah, we’re both good.” Rainbow moved away from me and stretched limbs. “Only my legs hurt a bit.”

“We have to go back through the illusion. Any word from Julian?” I shook my head. In the background were more shots, but they were more quiet than before. “Get ready, it’s a short distance away. Can you teleport again?” I could only shake my head again.

"Just with Rainbow was already too much. I haven’t had any practice with it before. We would land in the middle of the street if I tried to teleport all three of us." I could see that Armor did not like that answer, and neither did I for that matter. Running through crossfire was not a pleasant thought.

“Mac is down there! We have to go over the edge and in!” The voice from outside quickly got our attention. A few moments later, a few American soldiers jogged past the window, none paying attention to us. They were too focused on helping their comrade. One guy was a coincidence, but it seemed as though there was an entire company here and brought me hope that there was still another camp that existed and was home to civilians. I rushed to look outside at them as they rushed down the alley where the shots had come from. Still on the ground were the dead leader and the AK. Next to him was another puddle of blood, which must have been from the other other kid, lining up with my theory that he was still fighting.

“The coast is clear! Now or never! I cried, startling the other two and ran across the street. Halfway down, I paused and waved at them to hurry and join me. As both passed me, I saw other teenagers with weapons approaching. The boy, who had dropped the AK, had called reinforcements after the soldier let him go. I did not intervene again and went through the illusion.

“Light! I was so scared!” AJ threw her hooves around me, followed shortly by Trixie.

“What went on? Why did no one report?” Armor asked around.

“My radio went dead,” Julian called from somewhere in the background. “My battery is finished, and Light has the extras.” That was technically true, even though I was down to the last one myself. Nevertheless, I levitated out of the saddlebag to him.

“What do we do now?” Trixie asked after we had reassured each other and had a moment to clear our heads.

“We should help the Americans,” I interjected before Armor could say anything. “I mean, one of them tried to help me. Furthermore, there could be another survivor’s camp with the Americans. Even the English soldiers had said they were here.” That a counter argument did not come from Armor was a good sign for me.

“Do you really want to get involved here?” AJ asked carefully.

“Sure, that’s why we’re here,” Julian spoke up, having finally succeeded in placing the battery in the device. “Rainbow and I can fly, and we have three magical unicorns. I think we can work it out.” Up until now, I had not thought to check something.

“Armor, could you create a shield a bit further down there?” He nodded and did as I asked, curious as to what I was up to. I pulled out the gun and fired a volley at the shield. As expect, it held firm and repelled the bullets to the left and right. Up until now, I had not been sure whether or not the shield would actually hold against the bullets. Armor seemed to understand my test and came to a decision.

“Trixie and Applejack, you wait here for the others and pass on what’s going on. Julian, you and Rainbow will act as our aerial reconnaissance. Tell us if anyone is approaching from behind, no matter the uniform. We don’t want a repeat of what happened. Give a headset to them." Rainbow gave hers to AJ. "Light, you try to take them out. I want to avoid killing. Deaths only means there will be ponies with the wish of revenge. I will keep the bullets away from us.” He looked around and saw we were ready.

“Go!”

Author's Notes:

Translated and edited by JBL