[Tock.]

Breakfast was awkward. Really awkward.

First, Curry Paste's Lunch Spot was owned by the pony that got the massage at Lomi's, and he was talking to Crest about proper preening procedures, and both of them kept giving me strange looks while doing so.

Second, the whole gang was there and we all had trouble looking at each other. Baton kept looking around, Lilac was staring at the same spot on the menu, Stocker was rubbing Aria's shoulder, and she could not take her eyes off of the floor, and Wilhelm was reading a book. Still in his combat gear. Armor, weapons, all of it. Even that metal box he had on his back was pressed between him and the wall. Then there was Burst Fire. I thought he left, but he was still hanging around, head on the table and complaining about how bored he was.

Thirdly, none of us apparently could afford a good tip so Wilhelm told us to forget the food and just get drinks, instead.

“If you can't tip, don't bother ordering food,” is what he said.

So, there we were, unable to order anything, sitting around a table with a psychopath, a brute of a goat, an overly timid goat, a bored guy, another psychopath, a turncoat aristocrat, and me, an exile. It was a boring morning so far, and when my stomach growled I shrunk myself a little bit. Nobody noticed or cared, though.

Then the door to the Lunch Spot opened. Its hinges squeaked and the metal banged against the wall. The commotion got all of our attentions, and I saw Bongo and the Major walking in, with the former grinning and the later stern. When they reached our table, Wilhelm stared at both of them with his natural, unpleasant look.

“What took you so long?” said Wilhelm.

“Nothing. You just got here early,” said the Major.

“No, you're late,” said Wilhelm.

“Early, late, who cares? We're here!” said Bongo. He took a seat next to me and pat me on the shoulder. “How's it going, Stalker?”

“It's Exile.” I said.

“Exile?” Bongo looked at Wilhelm. “You said he was Stalker.”

“He is a stalker,” said Wilhelm.

“No, I'm-” Wilhelm looked at me, and I slouched in my seat. “Never mind.”

“Well, let's just forget nicknames for a moment and look at the big picture,” said Bongo. “Major Pie has got forty five guys ready to go. Everybody knows everything, so they know what needs to be done. Plus our spy said that RBT-91 is lightly guarded and it looks like you got a few extra hooves with you, so this whole thing should be a breeze.”

“Good. Everyone here knows everything, too,” said Wilhelm.

I hesitantly raised my hoof, and everybody looked at me.

“I... I don't know what's going on.” I said.

For the most part, everypony's expressions shifted to that look you get when you realized you forgot to buy the ammo you really needed when you were at the trader's.

The whole group looked at each other, and the Major sighed and rubbed his forehead while Bongo looked at Wilhelm, his expression of shock clear, even with his sunglasses on.

“You didn't tell him about the military operation to retake RBT-91 from Republic Sixty One?” said Bongo.

“It slipped my mind,” said Wilhelm casually.

Bongo looked at the rest of the group. “None of you guys told him about what was going on?”

The group muttered all kinds of excuses, with Wilhelm distinctly saying: “I'm old. I forget things.”

“Wow. You guys are dicks,” said Bongo.

Yeah, things took an overly dramatic turn for the worst, and them forgetting to tell me that I was drafted into their military operation didn't help things any. So, Bongo, being the sweet zebra he is, sighed and turned to me, and gave an explanation of what was going on.

“Okay, Exile, here's the gist of it. RBT-91 is a radio broadcasting tower station place thing that used to be under our control. It was a booster that basically helped us stay in contact with other Movement outposts and a whole bunch of military stuff that you won't understand. Long story short, it was taken over by Republic Sixty One with the help of some mercenaries called Sentries for Hire, led by a real jackass named Rocket Power. They've held it for a while, screwing us over and all that, so now we're taking it back. We got you guys, forty five soldiers from various outposts and Major Uppity over there to do it. Failure is not an option. So, you're in? Good. Glad to hear.”

My tongue didn't want to work, after that, so I just stared at Bongo while the Major rolled his eyes with a deep sigh.

“Does this wimp even have any military training?” asked the Major.

“I don't think any of us at this table have any, except for what? Two?” said Baton. “Good news is that the wimp doesn't know how to die.”

The Major frowned. “That's comforting.”

Bongo chuckled and patted the Major on the shoulder. “Relax, Major, you still got forty five guys to help you out, plus I can vouch for Wilhelm and Baton. They are freaks of nature and will probably take the place by themselves if given the chance.”

Baton grinned and puffed out his chest. “Well, I don't like to brag, but-”

“We are wasting time. How soon are your troops ready to leave, Major?” said Wilhelm, completely killing the light mood that was just starting to poke out.

The Major smirked and said: “As soon as I give the order.”

When Major Pie said that his soldiers were ready, he was not a lying. They were all camped outside, and all of them were in groups of five and had white bells painted on their armor with some sort of symbol in the bells. The one I remember the most is a white bell that had a howling black wolf head in it, and that was because they had a dog with them. It looked well fed with its good build and decent fur, but it also had armor and pouches all over it with the gold star painted on its vest. I didn't ask about it, though.

We did our last minute check ups, I got some looks because of my crappy armor, and Lilac had the gold star on her armor X'd out just so she would stop getting unpleasant looks. I stuck with Baton, Lilac and Burst Fire, but they migrated to Wilhelm's entourage, so I kept myself in the back. Major Pie did one last sound off thing, a speech of some kind that I didn't listen to, and then started the march.

Nothing eventful happened, but it was a full day of marching that left me worn and panting like the dog they loaded with pouches. By the time the march was over, the sky was starting to darken, and the terrain was rough and loaded with boulders, concrete slabs, and skeletal remains of buildings and ponies alike. There was also a dried up river with scattered rusted boats that we traveled next to.

During the trip, the Major sent one of the groups ahead to clear out the surrounding area. They were wearing cloaks and had scoped rifles with mufflers on their barrels, and they were gone in no time. After they left, we were ordered to stay down and quiet, and we must have stayed that way for around thirty minutes before one of the cloaked guys returned with the all clear.

We traveled some more and reached our destination minutes later, using the rubble, ruins and shrubbery as cover, which the hiding was made easier by the dimming light. But even with the sun setting, I could see our destination plainly.

To be honest, I thought it would be smaller, but it was a good size at five stories with a radio tower full of satellite dishes sitting on the roof. The tower was reinforced, the walls were stained with dirt and ash, and bullet holes and other shrapnel damage ruined the masonry. All of its window were boarded up, its front door had been replaced with a gate of some kind, and machine gun turrets lined the roof with a few soldiers patrolling it. And lastly, the front of the building looked like a solid rectangular block that was popped out of the main building.

I mean, I always thought that radio stations were supposed to be small, but RBT-91 was big, and I was surprised that it was not reduced to burnt sticks like the houses around us. But, I digress.

We all sat there, hunkered down in our cover, breaths held tight and unicorns ordered to not use their magic. While we waited for the next order, one of the wolf soldiers knelt in front of their dog, whispered to it and gave it a pat on the head while it licked his face, and then he sent it off.

Me and Lilac both watched the dog running off, and we both exchanged confused looks when it disappeared from sight in the opposite direction of the station. Another few minutes later, the dog reappeared way off from where it started, and it began barking and wagging its tail as it ran full speed to the radio station. I didn't know what was going on, and all my questioning looks were either met with a knowing smile, a tense scowl, or concern.

I looked back at the dog and saw that it had reached the gate and was now pawing at it. It would get on its hind legs, scratch at the gate quickly, get down, run in a circle a few times, bark some more, and then go back at scratching. After a few more cycles, the gate opened up and a pair of Sixty One soldiers came out, aiming their weapons in the landscape and dog. When nothing seemed suspicious to them, one knelt down and pet the dog. Next thing I knew, there was a flash of fire and debris, and the whole front entrance was gutted, spraying twisted metal, chewed up concrete and body parts everywhere. The explosion shook my bones and the land, and I swore up a storm and jumped back while one of the wolf soldiers returned a detonator to his pouch.

The fire brought light to the evening, and debris rained down as alarm bells went off. Shouts were heard, and with the place in disarray Wilhelm and the Major ordered smoke and gunfire.

Canisters were thrown, and they popped open to cover the landscape in a colorful fog, and controlled gunshots went off in the distance. Very quickly soldiers on the roof of the station were picked off, and in seconds, there was nopony on the roof, everything was covered in a thick haze and Wilhelm ordered us to run.

So, I ran.

I ran and ran and ran, almost tripping over the uneven terrain and the random plants protruding from the ground. But despite us clearing them out the first time, Sixty One sent more soldiers on the roof and they started shooting down at us with a mix of automatic weapons and explosives.

Debris flew up around me and bullets whizzed by me and the silhouettes of other soldiers. My heart raced and my lungs and legs burned as I felt the air get pushed aside and the flying bits of ground bounce off of me. I cursed and ran faster when a round almost got my head, and when I saw one of our guys get his limbs blown off by a rocket, I ran even faster.

It was the longest minute of my life, running from the ruins to the facility's wall. My legs felt like jelly, my lugs burned, my throat was cracked and I tasted copper. I almost collapsed to the ground when I slammed into the wall with other unfamiliar Movement soldiers, but I felt relieved when I saw Baton, Lilac and Burst Fire make it on the other side of the former gate. I also felt a little bit better when Aria found a spot next to me with Stocker behind her.

I flashed a nervous smile and her, and she did the same, but then Wilhelm managed to squeeze his way between us and somehow was able to look me in the eyes while doing it. My smile went away and I gulped.

“How's it going?” I asked.

“Shut up,” said Wilhelm.

Not seeing a need to argue about manners, I looked back at Baton, only to realize that a Movement soldier with an SMG had found a spot in front of me and was poking his head in the hole. He quickly pulled back when a hail of gunfire tore through the air and busted off parts of the jagged hole.

“Twelve tangos. Center. Fifty meters. Standard weapons. Sub-par barricade,” he said.

“What?” I said, completely confused and amazed with what he said and how fluid he was able to say it.

Wilhelm nodded in response to the soldier and barked something at Stocker in Ibexian, and the big guy flipped his helmet on, turned his cannon, and slid into the doorway. His body jerked and a puff of fiery smoke popped from his cannon, deafening me and probably everybody else, leaving just ringing in our ears. One split second of a whistle and an explosion with a lot of screams later, Stocker slid back in place and shouted for us to pour in.

The survivors of the run ran into main lobby of the facility. In front of the stairway was a crater and the remains of the Sixty One soldiers and their barricade of concrete blocks and filing cabinets. The air stunk of mold and cooked flesh, and the survivors were shot on site, but we didn't get to advance very far, for charging and roaring down the stairs were a whole lot of sadists, wearing their cheap armor that barely covered their overly tattooed, sickly bodies, and brandishing weapons too advanced for them. Mostly. There were quite a few that had crappy weapons.

These sadists rained hell down at us. With an open lobby, there really was not much cover from the hail of gunfire, so the dirty tile quickly got pools of blood, and red was sprayed all over the walls and more bodies fell from the bullets breaching their armor.

I honestly do not remember how many sadists there were, but we were swarmed, and when the sadists got to the bottom of the stairs, it was all brawl. They leaped at us with their bladed boots, bit us, stabbed us, one even threw a flaming cocktail that consumed a few of our guys in a horrible, glesh melting flaming death. They screamed and thrashed in agony with bits of armor and flesh falling off, and the sadist died laughing when he was shot to pieces by Lilac and another Movement soldier.

The fire spread a little bit further, and the bullets continued flying, but we fought on. Lilac stayed close to Baton, and fired off controlled shots while he liberally used his ammo and used his club to pop the skulls of anypony that got too close to him. Burst Fire stayed by the doorway, taking potshots, and Aria was healing the injured with her insane supply of potions and was being guarded by Wilhelm, who was just as vicious as Baton. Then there was Stocker. He was taking a lot of damage, but that didn't stop him or his bullets from tearing his opponents apart. And when some sadists jumped on him, he just dropped on his back and rolled around until they fell off before stomping or ramming the survivors. Then he went back to shooting, using his cannon to blow apart a few closely packed sadists making a run to Wilhelm's back.

“Come and get some, motherfuckers!” screamed Baton.

I could barely hear him over the buzz of his quad-weapon, and the lead ripped into the team of sadists, jerking their bodies sporadically, ripping off chunks of unarmored flesh and spraying the walls with blood. As he stood there, wasting his ammo in a shooting frenzy, I dove behind a customer service counter, propped myself, and unloaded on the sadists.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Two sadists down and one injured, soon killed by one of our guys.

Gunfire was directed towards me, so I ducked down and tried to shield myself from the shrapnel of brick. But right as the sharp rubble stopped falling, I heard what I could only describe as a yowling cat, and then a sadist tackle me.

My vision was knocked into a blur, my weapon out of my hooves, and my face unfortunately covered in slobber from the sadist's rot infested mouth. I swear I smelled ass on his drool, and when he brought his bladed boot up for a stomp, the blood of his last victim dripped on my face.

He brought the boot down and I tilted my head to the side just in time to avoid having my eyes gouged out, but he did slice my cheek and the top of my shoulder. I screamed from the hot pain, and I felt my muscles get pulled when he lifted up his boot. My face and shoulder throbbed, and my body became sticky with my own blood, and when he brought his hoof down again, I deflected it, cutting my hoof in the process, and then I rolled him off and when the sadist tried getting up, I slammed his face against the shelves of the desk. The old wood shattered, his face got cut up, but he still laughed, and did a reverse head butt on me right in the muzzle. I heard something crack and I yelped and fell against the wall, clutching my pouring wound, and then he lunged at me.

I dove out of the way, and his bladed boot stabbed the brick wall, but he pulled that out quickly and took a swing at me. I fell back, thankfully next to my shotgun, and when he jumped at me again, I snatched it up and pulled the trigger, striking him in the chest right as he was about to stab me.

Blood and bone splattered all over me, and I lay on my back, crying from the pain, but I lifted my head when I heard a gurgling and sick laughing. The sadist was trying to get up, despite the hole in his chest, and every breathe squirted blood from his maw, but I wasn't going to wait for him to die. I got up with the help of my shotgun and limped over to the injured sadist. I then sat on top of him, shoved the shotgun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger. His head jerked and blood and teeth splashed up at me while the floor got a circle of red.

I pulled away from his twitching corpse immediately after, panting, sweating and shaking, and after I wiped the blood and sweat from my face, I started to reload my shotgun, wincing with every motion. My heart was racing and my hooves shook to where I could barely keep my weapon steady. I swear I almost swallowed one of the slugs I was holding with my teeth when someone screamed something and then exploded. After the explosion a smoking torso with only a partial leg left bounced off the counter with a wet noise and landed on top of the sadist I killed.

I screamed and backed up as quickly as I could while the blood seeped towards me, heart beating to a blur and lungs tight from lack of air. Seconds later, Baton yelled something with Burst Fire, and I fumbled with my last shell and sealed the chamber before swallowing and looking up.

I had the shotgun in my hooves, but I was unable to keep myself steady despite me using the counter as a prop. I fired off a couple of rounds at the sadists and got a lucky hit on one that was running for cover. I had to duck down because his buddies shot at me, but when I got up again for another salvo, I saw them get gunned down by Wilhelm, and there was also somepony in a full suit of armor aiming down at us from the top of the stairs.

This armored pony's helmet looked like it was once a round robot of some kind, and their armor consisted of multiple pieces of metal overlapping and attached to each other by leather straps. They had spikes on their shoulders and claws on their hooves with a blade somehow tied to their tail. Whoever this guy was also had wing shaped boosters on his back and an automatic shotgun and a rocket launcher on his sides. The launcher also had a green light on top of its fat barrel.

The light went directly over me, blinding me for a moment, and my muscles just locked as I got a very horrible, gut wrenching feeling that I was about to get shot by a rocket again. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl after that, from the distant voice of Aria screaming for me to get down, to the puff of white smoke and the ever growing black ball heading right towards me. Though, when I blinked, I heard a thud and a muffled explosion, and right as my eyes opened, I saw haze past a translucent bubble. The gunfire was also muffled, but when the smoke cleared, the counter was nothing but a bunch of burnt, jagged pieces of wood sticking out of the floor and its remains were scattered all over.

The metal monster was nowhere to be seen, and I collapsed on the floor, feeling like my heart had turned to stone and my throat stuffed with mud. The shield disappeared and I heard Burst Fire ordering some soldiers not to pursue, and then Baton stomped towards me, furious as can be while Aria ran next to him, much to Wilhelm's displeasure.

I couldn't look at them, though. I was too busy shaking and staring at the remains of the counter. I didn't even look at Baton when he punched my shoulder. I was grateful that it was not my sliced shoulder.

“Why the fuck didn't you move? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” said Baton.

I felt his spit on my face, but I still stared ahead, unblinking and my hoof stroking my watch. A moment later, I felt Aria put her hoof on my shoulder and she asked me if I was alright, but I didn't answer her, either. Not verbally at least. I'm pretty sure I nodded, and I did accept the potion she gave me, which stitched my injuries in no time.

Anyway, Baton snorted again and went over to Burst Fire, asking: “Why do you think he left so early?”

Burst Fire said with a shrug: “Maybe he got bored.”

That didn't amuse anyone.

“We aren't here to solve mysteries, only retake this place. Which is going to be difficult, considering what we got left because of terrible Intel,” said the Major crossly as he reloaded his rifle.

“Well, I guess the bright side to all this is that Rocket Power only killed one of us this time,” said Stocker as he approached the two. Consequently, he got a collection of glares and a chorus of unenthusiastic and sarcastic mutters very quickly.

“That is not a bright side,” countered Wilhelm sharply, now walking next to Stocker. “We still need to go further into the facility. They will be waiting and regrouping, so we must act quickly and split up and take them out from multiple positions.”

“You mean like doing a two man team thing where we shoot at them from different sides or something?” I asked.

Wilhelm just looked at me, and I immediately shrunk back while Baton rolled his eyes and the Major stepped forward to throw his two cents on the matter.

He said: “Just a problem with that, Wilhelm. We don't have the ammo or the ponypower to do it. We can probably hold the entrance, but that won't stop them or the reinforcements from killing us.”

A low growl rumbled in Wilhelem's throat. “How did you become a Major?”

The Major narrowed his eyes. “You mind running that by me again, goat?”

Wilhelm pointed at a corpse. “There's a gun.” He pointed at another corpse. “There's another gun.” And he pointed at yet another corpse. “There's another gun. We have plenty of weapons we can use and salvage for ammo.”

“And what about the ponypower?” countered the Major. “We lost a lot of good soldiers just taking the entrance!”

“Your stupidity continues to amaze me in every terrible way there is,” said Wilhelm. “As Stalker and I said, we will have to split up into teams of two and wear out their defenses in small engagements.”

“That only works for large scale operations, dumb-ass. These are confined halls. They can be setting up traps and will be able to pick us off one by one unless we get reinforcements!”

“The nearest outpost is six hours from here and they cannot spare any troops,” said Wilhelm. “The nearest that can spare is two days from now. If we retreat, this place will only be more fortified upon our return and those that died will die for nothing.”

“So, are we running or staying?” asked Lilac.

“We need to retreat,” said the Major.

“We are staying,” said Wilhelm.

“You're going to get us all killed!”

“Then you can run with your tail between your legs, but we are staying!” said Wilhelm. He looked at us and the ten surviving soldiers in our group, and then back at the Major. “I will not have these deaths be in vain. More will die unless we finish this now, but if we die, here, then at least we will die as warriors and not as cowards.”

The Major narrowed his eyes and stepped close to Wilhelm, looking down at him with a glare that froze me, but appeared to have no effect on him.

The Major said: “I'm taking my soldiers with me. If you want to kill yourself and your family, that is on you, but I will not let my remaining troops get killed by your madness.”

Burst Fire then stepped forward and said: “Well, Major Pie, you can take your boys back with you, but I'm going to be staying if Baton's staying.”

“Me and Wilhelm got unfinished business with this place, so I won't be going anywhere,” said Baton while reloading his weapon.

“I'm staying with Baton,” said Lilac.

“Me and Aria will go where Father goes, as always,” said Stocker.

Then Wilhelm's trio, Baton, Lilac, Burst Fire, the Major and his ten soldiers all looked at me. At the same time. It was in no way nerve wrecking or had any peer pressure whatsoever.

“Uh...” I looked at everyone with rapid flicks of my eyes. I really wanted to go with the Major and get back to Orange where its safe. But I also didn't know him that well. Now, Wilhelm creeped me out and tried to kill me, but Baton did protect me from him, as did Stocker, and Aria did check on me and fix up my back. Plus, there was the other adventures I had with Baton and Lilac. And keeping me from getting blown up was nice, too.

I was terrified. Beyond terrified, actually. But despite me feeling afraid and sick and sore, Baton and Lilac were kind of like a family now. I would have been dead for a long time if not for those two, and without Stocker, I never would have met Baton. And Lilac did help a lot at the Skyfall Hotel and Burst Fire did save our lives and take us to Bongo. I wanted to be safe and have a home, that part was undeniable, but I wanted to be with people I knew and trusted more.

“I'll stay.” I said.

With our group's decision, the Major snorted and Wilhelm frowned at me, but stayed silent.

“Fine,” said the Major. “If there is a divine power, your fate is in their hoofs.”

He then ordered his soldiers to retreat, and within a minute, the Major and the soldiers were gone, leaving just me and the group to stand in the middle of a bloody lobby. There was a moment of silence, but it passed when Burst Fire spoke.

“I'm surprised nopony's tried to kill us, yet,” he said.

“Don't jinx us,” said Baton. He then turned to Wilhelm and spoke. “So, now that we're short an army, what are we going to do?”

Wilhelm thought for a moment, and then looked up at the ceiling. “We'll go in from above.”

All of us looked up at the surprisingly intact ceiling.

“You can't be serious. How are we supposed to go in from above?” asked Lilac.

“Climbing,” said Wilhelm, and when everyone but his kids and Baton looked at him, he added with a hint of smug: “Its an ibex thing. I wouldn't expect ponies to understand.”

“The climbing won't be too bad. These types of places always have a maintenance sections and a door to their roofs,” said Baton. “All we gotta do is get up on the roof, find the roof door, and then go in and shoot them in the back.”

“But what if they welded the door or have it guarded or something?” I asked.

“They wouldn't weld it shut. They need to keep the radio tower operational, so welding the door shut won't do them any favors. But if we do come across any obstacles...”

Baton looked at Stocker, and the big guy chuckled and loaded his cannon.

“That's what I'm here for,” he said.

“And if there are any guards on the roof, I'll pop 'em,” said Burst Fire.

“This plan seems to be better than you're other one, Wilhelm,” said Lilac, looking at the said ibex with a teasing smile.

“We will need a distraction so we can sneak in,” said Wilhelm, completely ignoring Lilac. “We need somebody who is not well known in our group, but can be a pain in the ass for anybody and completely expendable.”

Then he and everybody else slowly turned their heads to me, and my heart sunk quicker than a cement block in a river. My ears drooped, my eyes widened and I took a step back, going dry in the mouth as they continued to stare at me. Then Baton got an unnaturally large, toothless, purely maniacal smile, and I knew right then and there that I was screwed.

Minutes after the nice group meeting, I was walking down the hall with sadist armor made out of metal and bone, which hid my watch, and I covered myself with more mud and blood since mall cop armor wasn't sadistic enough.

Lilac was wearing a crude slave collar with a fake inhibitor ring on her horn, and was just a few steps ahead of me. Truth be told, I actually got a little bit excited when I put the collar and leash on her, and in a bizarre way it was fun leading her around, having that control and occasionally jerking the leash to see her react. The glares she gave me weren't as fun, and when we really got close to our destination the panic overtook the fun.

“This sucks. This really, really, really sucks.” I said, my voice distorted from the chain leash in my mouth.

“Exile, can you please stop complaining? I kinda need your head in the game,” said Lilac.

“This plan is stupid, though."

Lilac glanced over her shoulder impatiently and said: “You didn't offer anything.”

“I was dumbstruck by this. Are you guys purposefully trying to get me killed?”

“I'm not, but we all know Wilhelm is.”

We rounded a corner after that and came into view of a barricade, and we stopped when a pair of soldiers in Sixty One combat armor ordered us to halt. Their barricade was made out of concrete slabs, and actually had an automatic machine gun turret aimed down the hall with boxes of ammunition beside them. The door they were guarding was modified with metal plates with the gold star painted on it, and the guards looked antsy. Needless to say, I was really glad that they did not shoot us on sight.

“State your business!” said one of the guards.

Me and Lilac were both silent since I conveniently forgot how to speak and Lilac, being a POW, was not allowed to. Though, I did find my voice when Lilac tapped me with her hind hoof after the second guard repeated the first with more force.

I swallowed and put on my best sadist impression. “Is there where I get the good stuff?”

The guards looked at each other, and then back at me.

“What?” said one of them.

“Good stuff,” I said. “You know, money, booze, drugs, n' shit. I got a mare here that I wanna trade in.”

“Are you armed?” asked the turret guard while the other spoke in his radio.

“What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I'm armed! I'm sadistic!” I said.

“Approach slowly. No funny business or you're both dead, got it?” said the second guard after he was done with his radio speak.

I approached with Lilac still in front, and right when I started walking towards them, the ticking returned. I really hated that noise and its horrible timing, and when we were a few paces away, we were ordered to stop again and the ticking was loud enough to be very, very annoying.

“That is a Movement soldier. Where did you find her?” said the second guard.

“Uh, I found this cute mare here, wanderin' 'round all 'lone 'n stuff and figured I'd bring her back here fer some fun 'n stuff,” I said, my ear from flicking from the ticks and tocks.

The guards stared at me, and I stared back, trying to smile as sadistically as possible, but my face was hurting from the mud stinging my cuts and my mouth felt like it was about to dissolve into sand from how dry it was. Add in how fast my heart was beating, how hard my legs wobbled and how sweaty I was, and I was certain I would be getting a bullet to the face before I mummified myself with sweat induced dehydration.

“I took 'er gun and put that horn ring thingy on her, too.” I added.

“What tribe are you a part of, sadist?” asked the Republic Sixty One soldier.

“Pardon?”

The gazes of everyone became a whole lot more intense and both me and Lilac stiffened, and I quickly jerked on Lilac's chain leash, forcing her into me, and I pressed my hoof blade against her neck. She yelped and started whimpering when I really dug the blade in there.

“What the fuck did ya say t' me, ya fancy piece o' shit!?” I yelled. “I bring ya guys prime pussy and yer all like 'der, where'd ya come from?' I gotcha y'all a fuckin' mare t' fuck till the clouds go away and y'all asking dumb as fuck baby questions!”

“Holy shit, man, chill!” said the turret guard.

“Chill? No, you chill! I might as well take this bitch back to my tribe and do our fertility ritual shit with her or somethin'. Ball be praised, assholes!”

Lilac spoke slowly and lowly out of the corner of her mouth: “Too much in character.”

“Shut up!” I snapped, and gave her a tug on the collar that made her choke and reel further into me.

Then the door flung open and another stallion came out, his voice booming and the ground shaking with his steps.

“What is going on out here?” he said.

Me and Lilac both gulped at the stallion -who just happened to be Rocket Power. Now that he was closer, I could see that his suit of armor was covered scratches, patch jobs, and old blood and grime, with a damaged shield and lightning bolt symbol painted above his heart. He also had a strange scent, like a rotting corpse and daisies.

“Sir, this unidentified sadist approached us with this mare and threw a hissy fit, sir!” said the second guard.

Rocket Power looked at us. “That's Waltz's girl. Where did you find her, sadist?”

“In the halls. I had to slit some drugged up unicorn's neck to get her, but I got her,” I said proudly.

“Are you saying you killed Baton Armor?”

The two guards exchanged skeptical looks, and I realized that I made a serious blunder, but I tried to hide the anxiety with a mad cackle.

“Baton? Shit, I don't know names. All I know is that after my boys were slaughtered I found Miss Pretty roamin' with a Mister Ugly in the halls, and I killed Mister Ugly and took the girl and brought her here as some kinda compen-somethin'-thingy to make up fer getting knocked out by a goat shootin' a rocket at me.”

“Compensation,” said Rocket Power bluntly.

“Say what?”

“Compensation. That's the word you're looking for.”

“Oh... So, can I come in with her and have some fun with you guys? Like snort some booze or chug on powder? Maybe share some tail?” Lilac looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I glared at her. “Don't look at me like that.”

Rocket Power was silent for a moment, but I didn't know if I should be grateful or terrified when he ordered the guards to let us in. The guards reluctantly obeyed and I smacked Lilac's rump and barked at her to move. The smack made her yelp, but she moved, albeit with a lot of grumbling and murderous stares aimed at me involved. I was going to get it good if we survived, but for now I had to stay in character, so being a jackass was the way to go. Plus, it was kind of fun, so it was worth it in a way.

After we got past the barricade, Rocket Power ordered us to halt, and then he waved over a pair of unicorns who wore similar armor as his with the same symbol on their chests. The unicorns took Lilac's leash, as per his orders, and then he whispered something to a pair of nearby earth ponies, also wearing the same armor with the same symbols, and they nodded and started forcing me back into the hallway.

Lilac and me both exchanged quick looks, and I forced a chuckled as I looked at Rocket Power, despite the two earth ponies escorting me away. The barricade was reopened upon Rocket Power's orders, and me and the two escorts went out into the hall.

“Shouldn't I be getting a reward for getting Waltz's girl back?” I asked.

“You will get your reward when you bring back Baton's head,” said Rocket Power. “It should be easy enough since you slit his throat.” He then looked at the barricade guards and said: “Do not let them back in until they have Baton's head.”

My demeanor sulked and my body locked in place. I could not believe my miserable luck, but then again, what did I expect to happen? The plan was retarded from the start.

Anyway, I got a jab in my flank, and that snapped me out of my frozen state, and when I was ordered to move, I did just that. I started walking and stayed ahead of my escorts. The ticking got fainter the farther I got from the barricade, but now I was dreading what they were going to do to Lilac, and I was only thinking of one word by the time we rounded the corner.

Shit.

Footnote: Perk Gained.
New Perk: Quick Recovery-- It only costs you 10 AP to stand up after being knocked down.

Author's Notes:

Meh.