“Shuh-Shining!  Oh Celestia, Shining!”  Twilight sobbed from the ropes keeping her secured to the barricade.  Tears flowed down her face as she bucked against her restraints.  Applejack and Rarity were trying their best to comfort her, while Fluttershy stood nearby, comforting a soldier as he held his crotch and tried to fight back tears.  

“Suh-sorry for what my friend did, she’s very distraught,” she said to him quietly.  “It looked like it hurt.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” the soldier replied, trying desperately to hold on to a brave face despite the overwhelming jets of pain wracking his body.  “Compared to my first week of Basic, one buck to the groin ain’t that bad.  Though I really hope the doctors can track down my left nut.”

“Oh…uh…I do too,” Fluttershy said, looking over at Applejack in confusion.

“Ah’ll explain when ye’re older, sugarcube,” she sighed, stroking Twilight’s mane.  Just a few yards away, Rainbow Dash stood by Uris, Miller, and Vance’s side, keeping an eye on the rooftop.  She hadn’t told Twilight about Cadence and Shining’s restraints, nor did she have any intention of doing so.  “Gosh, this is terrible,” she sighed, her voice quivering as she peered through the set of field binoculars she’d been given.  

“It’s a fucking nightmare, is what it is,” Uris added, kneeling by her side as she handed the binoculars off to him.  “I mean, it’s killing me just sitting here, watching the bastards stand there and rub this shit in our faces.  I can’t even imagine what it’s like for Twilight.”

“You best stow those emotions away for now, son.  They have no place on the battlefield.”  Vance said stoically, stepping into the conversation.

“Y-yes, sir.”

The aging Marine nodded his son’s way and turned to Miller.  “How much time do we have until our boys get a clear shot?”  He whispered, eyeing the crowd of ponies watching the rooftops anxiously.  “We could be looking at a full-scale riot if this isn’t resolved soon.”

“Too early to tell,” Miller sighed.  “My snipers are in place, but we’re talking about a half-dozen shots that need to be lined-up and timed perfectly!  If just one of those rounds misses…”

Suddenly, their radios all crackled to life, and a familiar voice sounded over them: “Hello?  Hello?  Testing, one two three…”

“Who in the hell…” Miller started.

Vance just grabbed his own radio and nearly tore it off his uniform in lifting it to his lips.  “Swarm!  You crazy bastard, where the hell have you been!?”

“Oh, Vancey!  So good to hear your voice again!”  Vance’s radio (and only his radio) replied.  “Terribly sorry, but there’s a bit of a situation developing abroad that needs a lot of my focus.  Had to leave before I could even grant y’all a right and proper goodbye.”

“I-is that the commander?”  Miller gasped, recognizing the voice from a half-dozen intelligence briefings.  “How is he only talking to you?  We’re on the same frequency!”

“Oh, my dear Miller,” Miller’s radio responded.  “You should really work on your ability to question the world around you if that’s the only question on your mind.”

“Some things are better left unexplained,” Vance replied before returning to his radio.  “Well Swarm, it’s good to hear your voice again, but we have a bit of a situation developing here too.”

“Yes, I know,” the semi-omnipotent being on the other side grumbled.  “I obviously underestimated the enemy in your little neck of the woods.  I thought you could handle it, but Mr. Armor being thrown in the mix…complicates things.”

“Wait, you know Shining Armor is up there?”  Rainbow Dash asked.  “Just who are you, anyway!?”

“Like the man at your side said, Ms. Dash,” Uris’s radio replied.  “Some things are just better left unexplained.  Besides, answering that question would require at least a fundamental understanding of basic electronics and nanotechnology.”

“Look, Mr. Swarm,” Uris said, somehow unshaken by the fact that a semi-omnipotent being was having a private conversation with him over a radio that couldn’t possibly be on a private channel.  “We could really use any help you can give us.”

“Ask, and you shall receive, m’boy!  Now, as I said, the situation developing here requires nearly all my focus, but I might be able to send a little something your way.  Why don’t you keep an eye on the building with all the bad guys in it, hmm?”

Confused, the helicopter pilot scooped up his binoculars and peered through them, keeping the radio pressed to his ear.  And then his jaw dropped.  “Oh, you’re a maniac,” he said to his radio.

“Man, why does everybody keep saying that?”  Uris’ radio asked.  “That was a rhetorical question, by the way: I know damn well why everybody keeps saying that.”

As Uris watched, Vance and Miller quickly followed his gaze with their own goggles, their jaws dropping in unison.  “Oh my God, he can’t be serious,” Miller said.

“Believe me, he absolutely is,” Vance grumbled.

“What?  Who is this guy?  What’s going on?”  Dash asked.  Uris just handed his binoculars over and crouched down beside her, directing her gaze to one specific window on the building’s top floor.  She blinked and adjusted her sights on it, eventually making out a man in a leather jacket and plain blue jeans, one hand grasping a radio while the other waved enthusiastically back at them.

“Oh, no way,” she said as every human’s radio crackled to life.

“Sir,” a new voice said.  “This is Bravo-Two, reporting in.  We just received word not to open fire until the…uh…”

“What is it, private?”  Miller asked vacantly, still in shock.

“We just received word not to open fire until…until the ‘pretty pink pony princess sings.’  W-we believe it was the Commander, sir.  He said…”

“Just follow those orders, son,” Vance interrupted as he watched the man in the leather jacket suddenly leap out the window and grasp the bottom of the balcony, hoisting himself up and onto the rooftop.  “And trust me when I say that everything’s under control.”  

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