> The northern incident
>  by Trigger_Finger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: The team
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As the Equestria Games approaches Celestia had the royal guards out in full force just to make sure nothing went wrong. 

Of course this made every-pony happy, well except the royal guards who generally complained about having to be on duty around the clock. 

However none had it as bad as Shining Armor and his squad. Though he was technically a prince and one of the head coaches for the upcoming games he had still volunteered to be on patrol. 

Shining was paired up with Sergeant Major Johner and his squad. They were stationed closer to the Crystal Empire yet at the same time there base was still over twenty miles away from any sort of civilization. 

All in all it was a pretty bad set up but Celestia had deemed it an important spot to guard though a lot of the team members thought otherwise. 

[center*          *          *]


The icy cold wind howled outside. The exterior temperature was negative 37 degrees Celsius but with the wind-chill it felt like negative fifty. The extreme conditions would give frostbite to a pony in a matter of seconds if they weren’t properly clothed for the elements. 

It was dark outside though it was usually always dark in this spot of the wilderness due to the location it had in the 
northern most arctic part of Equestria. 

On a barren snowy plain of the arctic sat two buildings. One was a small storage shed with a basement that housed the generator room while the other was a larger complex base that was shaped much like a capitol H. 

Inside the base there were many rooms and a basement complex which was much larger than the top section of the base. Inside one of the rooms sat three stallions: Sunburst, Lilac and Golden Shield.

Sunburst was a red unicorn with the cutie mark of a yellow sun. He had a short choppy mane that was blue. He also had lime green eyes. He was relatively strong, as most of the royal guards were, and was rather keen and intelligent.

He sat at a small coffee table and played chess with his best friend Lilac.

Lilac was also a unicorn with blue fur and a red mane but his mane was silkier than his friend’s and he let it flow freely. His cutie mark was a lilac flower. He looked almost identical to Sunburst except their manes and their cutie marks were different. Even their eyes were almost identical.

The duo had joined basic training together and had literally never been seen apart since. Every-pony had begun to say Sunburst and Lilac then Sunburst-n-Lilac then one day some-pony said Sunflower and that became the nickname for the duo.

Lilac moved his queen piece and took Sunburst’s Rook. “Checkmate” he said and Sunburst simply sat there in confusion. His jaw opened slightly then he stood up smacked the chess board off the table, scattering the pieces all over the room.

“Goddess dammit Lilac, what the buck! You’re cheating, I know you are” Sunburst yelled. There was nothing really better to do and he had been losing to Lilac all day so he was a little more than steamed. Though the two were the best of friends they still squabbled like siblings.

Golden Shield looked over to the two squabbling team members. Golden was a Pegasus with golden fur and a bleach blonde mane that he kept very tidy. His cutie mark was a shield with five golden stars around one large star. His eyes were crystal blue and some-ponies called him ‘Prince Charming’ due to his looks.

“Hey, hey! Knock it off you two” Golden ordered and the two stallions playing chess looked over to him with humored faces.

“Oh shut up Prince Charming. You’re not in charge here” both Lilac and Sunburst said at the same time. Golden Shield stood up to his full height in anger.

“Yes I am. I outrank you two so I’m in charge here” Golden said with heavy agitation in his voice. He always hated it when the two questioned his authority. The group began to have an argument in the closed room about who was technically in charge.

Elsewhere in the basement of the complex stood Pippy. He was young and spiteful, doing anything he was ordered to without question. He was a Pegasus and was on the smaller side of things. Though what he lacked in terms of strength he made up for in sheer intelligence. 

The others always said he could have chosen to be a scholar or something but he still chose to be a royal guard and was almost denied due to his physical before a certain stallion took him under his wing.

Pippy had brown and white fur, much like a dairy cow, with the cutie mark of a pencil and eraser. He had never really known what exactly it had meant but figured it had something to do with his intelligence. His eyes were a dark hazel and went well with his face.

In front of him lay Reese, an older more gruffly stallion who had taken him under his tutelage. Reese had seen Pippy in basic training and immediately knew that he was special.

Reese was paralyzed from the waist down due to a carriage accident when a drunken taxi driver was about to hit a mare and her newborn foal. Reese lept out, pushing the mare aside and was struck by the carriage in the process. He had saved the mare and foal’s lives but was then paralyzed with no hope of ever walking again.

Reese was an older stallion whose mane had greyed considerably. He had a scraggily beard that he usually shaved once a month. His fur was dark brown and he had the cutie mark of a wrench and hammer. He had dark blue eyes that usually reflected light and gave an icy cold look to them.

He lay in his wheelchair, which reclined, and was working under some heavy machinery. “So the coolant lines go directly from the radiator to the engine distributor which in the process cools the engine with coolant” Reese informed Pippy in a rather high pitched old stallion voice.

Pippy nodded as he paid close attention to the wise old stallion’s teachings. Above them on the stairwell stood Star Dust.

Star Dust was an ex-Shadow guard who had been kicked out of the Shadow guards due to her immature and ignorant attitude. She always questioned her orders, even if it was from Luna herself, and never took her job seriously enough.

She had night black fur and bat like wings. Her cutie mark was that of a shooting star that had a trail of star dust behind it. Her eyes were green and cat-like, almost the same as Nightmare Moon’s.

She held a razor sharp knife in her hoof and dangled it about while she made primal noises. Pippy paid her no mind, knowing that she was trying to make him lose focus on what Reese was teaching him.

Star Dust made a high pitched animal noise that sounded like a squealing monkey and tossed the knife downwards. It stabbed into Reese’s hindleg but he didn’t notice due to his handicap.

Pippy noticed the sudden blur of motion and looked over to see the knife stabbed into Reese’s leg which now bled somewhat. He then looked back up to Star Dust with irritation.

“Goddess dammit Star Dust. You ignorant filly” Pippy said with anger coursing in his voice.

Star Dust laugh hysterically. “Oh come on Little Pip, Reesy don’t seem to mind” she said, making a pun about Pippy’s size and name. Reese stopped working on the machinery and slid his reclined wheelchair out from underneath the machine then pulled the back rest upwards.

He looked up to Star Dust then down to his leg and noticed the knife stuck in his leg. He curled his lips in anger. “Goddammit Dusty… you bucking bitch!” he swore in his cranky old voice and Star Dust just laughed.

“Oh come on Reesy. You can’t even feel it” Star Dust laughed and Pippy pulled the knife from Reese’s leg. “You mind giving that back?” Dust asked then Pippy smiled and snapped the knife between two pieces of machinery.

Star Dust’s eyes went wide with rage and she began to yell in frustration.

Elsewhere in the complex in a room sat a large brute of a stallion who was known as Bear. He was probably the most feared of the entire group due to his silent nature, only speaking when he deemed it appropriate or absolutely necessary.

Bear was a unicorn and had white fur with an oil black mane that was cut in a flat-top style. His eyes were purple and if you took the time to appreciate him, his eyes were heartwarming. He had a cutie mark of a rose though it was always concealed by his armour due to his shyness about it.

Bear had learned an art known as Two-legs, in which a pony walks and fights while standing on their hindlegs. He preferred to use blades rather than the royal guards’ general spears but always carried obscene amounts of knives with him yet he never used swords.

His largest weapon was a machete with a three foot long razor sharp blade that he kept in a back sheath. He sat on the leather couch on one side of the room and tossed his knives into a dart board on the other side of the room which was over twelve feet away. Yet despite this distance he always got bulls-eyes. 

He would pull the knife out of the board with his magic then toss another into the board. He spun a large bowie knife around on his hoof almost like he was juggling it with one hoof then took the blade by the tip and gave his wrist a flick.

The knife propelled across the room just as the door beside the dart board opened. The stallion entering the room screamed and ducked just as the blade stuck into the board beside his face.

The stallion who had entered the room was known as Firefly. He was a pegasus and had fiery red fur with a mane that matched his fur though his mane and tail had streaks of yellow in them. His eyes were blue and didn’t go along with his fur colour very well. His cutie mark was that of a small flame.

He was somewhat intelligent though he was a bit of a pyromaniac and generally liked to tot with fire. Despite his lunacy with fire he always knew when it was and wasn’t appropriate and never let it get in the way of getting his job done. 

“Jesus… Bear what in Celestia’s name are you doing?” Firefly gasped as he looked at the rather large knife that was now protruding out of the dart board. He had a zippo lighter in his hoof which he flicked open and closed several times just by flicking his wrist, which made a clicking sound every time the lighter closed or opened.

Bear grumbled to himself. “Practising” he muttered coldly in a thick Russian accent, not really wanting to talk right now. 

Firefly examined the knife without touching it, knowing that Bear didn’t like ponies touching his knives. “Practising? For what? Ursa Majors?” Firefly asked, curious as to why some-pony would need such a large knife, it was literally impractical. Bear simply nodded as he pulled the knife out of the dart board and levitated it back to himself. Firefly simply gulped, he was happy that Bear was on his side.

In another room sat Doctor Hoofington Jr. though every-pony just called him Doc Hoof or just Doc. He was a unicorn and was the doctor and researcher for the group. His cutie mark was a syringe with a red cross on it.

His fur was purple and his mane was green which didn’t blend well together. His eyes were a nice shade of tangent blue 
and could ease a pony’s worries just by looking into their eyes with his own.

He was writing down some reports while he sat with a cup of warm coffee beside his paperwork. He was so grateful that there was a heating furnace in the base or he’d be quite aggitated about not having warm coffee in the mornings, or was it the afternoon.

Doc looked over to the clock in his office to see that it was 6:34pm. He looked out his window and sighed. Oh how he missed Canterlot and the warm weather. The team had been here for only a few days and things just weren’t going very well.

The team members constantly bickered with each other. No-pony really socialized and above all else it was cold outside. Actually cold was putting it lightly, it was ridiculously freezing, so cold in fact that a pony could get frost bite just from stepping outside for only a minute without proper clothing on.

He sighed to himself and took another sip of his warm black coffee before continuing his paperwork.

In another room sat both Shining Armor and Johner. Johner was the second in command of the squad and held the rank of sergeant major. He was different from the others in the fact that he was neither a unicorn nor a pegasus. He was just an earth stallion.

Of the entire group he was easily the strongest and had charcoal black fur. His cutie mark was not present however. He had simply never earned one but that didn’t bother him. His mane was a matching black and his eyes were a beautiful brown.

Johner had a knack for firearms, though they generally weren’t issued to royal guard ponies due to their violent and destructive nature. Usually ponies either had to use mouthpiece firearms or battle saddle weapons if they did manage to operate a firearm but not Johner. He had perfected a battle stance that he called Two-legs in which a pony stands on their hindlegs and can fight even though ponies aren’t meant to walk and fight like that.

Though at first Celestia was rather cautious about firearms she allowed Johner to equip his squad with the deadly weapons. It proved invaluable during the changeling invasion on Canterlot in which Johner’s squad was the only squad still fighting the changelings, even after they had complete control of Canterlot.

Johner’s and his squad had inflicted heavy causalities on the changelings with the weapons that the creatures just couldn’t defend themselves against and were sparred when Shining and Cadence’s love spell flung them out of the city.  

He later met Twilight Sparkle about two weeks after she had become a princess. They had met when Johner saved her from a runaway carriage. The carriage had nearly crushed Twilight before Johner lept out and snatched her from underneath the crashing carriage.

The two quickly became infatuated with each other and started dating. It was first love for both of them but the relationship went rocky rather quickly and only two months after they started dating they broke up.

In the two months’ time the two had become extremely close and shared many things with each other but in the end they were just too different. Twilight was a princess and a librarian where Johner was a soldier and nothing more.

Due to this fact Shining wasn’t too fond of Johner. The breakup had broken his sister’s heart even though it was Twilight who broke up with Johner.

Johner had a thermos of hard apple cider in front of him which he constantly drank from. Shining despised Johner when he drank while on duty. “You know that you shouldn’t drink while on duty. Your drinking was probably what led to the break-up between you and my sister” Shining told him scornfully.

Johner just sighed. “Yeah… whatever” he replied softly, not really giving a damn.

Suddenly the outside door burst open and a horrid creature staggered through the door. Johner immediately realized who it was and snapped out his Desert Eagle from his chest holster, managing to hold it in his hoof, and pointed it at the creature.

Shining pushed Johner’s hoof away, knocking his aim away from the grotesque figure. “Johner, stand down” Shining ordered then looked over to the figure standing in the door way. 

She had trouble just standing and collapsed in the doorway. “Johner quickly, shut the door and get her to Doc Hoof” Shining ordered and Johner followed his order.

Johner quickly stood up and rushed over to the doorway, which was letting cold air gust in. Johner slammed the door shut and picked up the unconscious body of Queen Chrysalis.

> Chapter 2: No-pony's home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Shining stood beside Chrysalis’ still unconscious body that lay on a medical table. Johner thought to himself about why he suddenly cared so much for this hideous creature. Wasn’t he married?

Doc Hoof came back with some medical reports. “Well she checks out. She’ll live but it’s absolutely crazy… how in the world did she survive out there. And on top of that where did she come from” Doc Hoof muttered.

Shining let out a sigh of relief and Johner put his hoof on the captain’s shoulder. “Why do you care so much for her anyway? Didn’t she try and ruin your marriage, take over the world and pretty much almost succeed in doing so?” Johner asked and Shining was speechless.

Despite all those things he couldn’t just throw her out, she would surely die. “I… I can’t just throw her out” Shining stuttered and Johner rolled his eyes then checked the time.

He looked back to his commander then sighed. “Well… I’m off to bed. Doc wake us if she comes around” Johner said then trotted off to his room. Shining gave the doctor a nod then he too left, leaving Doc Hoof all alone with the unconscious changeling queen. He gulped fearfully. He had heard terrifying stories about this certain creature. 

Elsewhere in the base Star Dust played her flirtatious attitude with Golden Shield. Golden repelled her advances for the most part, being rather turned off by her actions. 

“Oh come on Goldy, just once” she pleaded playfully as she wiggled her rear, presenting her hindquarters to him. He looked away in disgust.

“No! I will not become involved with a team member. It’s not right” he said in a very righteous voice. Star Dust grumbled to herself and forced herself upon Golden who quickly pushed her away.

While Star Dust tried her luck with Golden, Firefly was dicking around in another room with his zippo lighter and a super soaker. He taped his zippo to the pump handle and filled the water gun with hazardously flammable fluid then proceeded down stairs into the basement and tried out his new toy.

He pumped the handle slide several times, putting pressure into the air tank of the super soaker, then extended the pump handle to its full length. He flicked lighter flint until the zippo had a constant flame emulating from the emitter.

He squeezed the trigger and a fourteen foot spray of flame spat out from the super soaker. Firefly knew what would happen if he held the trigger too long so he only held the trigger briefly each time and continued to squeeze off deadly flames from his improvised flamethrower. He got a devious smile and continued to blast out flames from his super flame soaker, pretending that he was battling fierce enemies on the battlefield.

Johner sat with Lilac and Sunburst. He had taken out a thermos of his own specialized hard cider that he had made himself. He poured some into glasses for the two younger stallions.

A bitter look spread across Lilac’s face as he tasted the beverage. “Oh goddess! Johner, what the hell do you put in this crap anyway, battery acid?” Lilac asked and Johner simply chuckled.

“Yeah, it gives it a real kick eh?” he replied and then drunkenness bestowed upon the two younger stallions.

“Oh lordy, lordy, lord… this stuff is reaaaally… good stuff” Sunburst slurred. Obviously one cup was too much for the stallion. Lilac on the other hand just swayed his head back and forth, looking at the half empty glass of cider.

He reached his hoof forwards to grasp the glass but in his set of intoxication he ended up knocking over the glass, spilling the contents onto the table. Lilac continued to sway then simply fell over and onto the floor.

Johner chuckled. “Well I think you two have had enough” he said and stood up then proceeded to his room. He was originally going to go straight to bed but saw the two arguing about something and decided to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, Pippy trotted to his room and opened the door to his room only to see Star Dust and Golden Shield intertwined together. His jaw dropped and he gasped. They were making love, on his bed!

“St... Golden… what?” he stuttered in shock then the couple both gasped and looked back to him. Golden would never do this, not with Star Dust at least. 

“Uhm… hey Pippy” Golden said in a very shocked voice as he scratched his head and tried to think of something more appropriate to say.

Pippy just stepped back and gulped. “Uhm… it’s okay. You can have my bed for the night… just uhm… yeah” he replied then dashed away. Golden scowled to himself then looked to Star Dust who was on top of him.

“I told you this was a stupid idea” he muttered but then she silenced him as she pressed her lips up against his and they continued the dirty deed on Pippy’s bed.


*          *          *


Hours past like nothing and in the small medical room Doc Hoof ended up passing out while he sat watch, waiting for the queen to wake up.

His face rested on the side of her bed and he drooled slightly. He had taken off his glasses and set them on the nightstand beside the medical bed. 

As the seventh hour of the morning approached Chrysalis literally shot up and screamed. “NOOOO!” she screamed in absolute horror. The scream awoke Doc immediately and he was stunned to say the least. Just last night she had nearly died and now she awoke before he did.

Chrysalis looked to Doc Hoof and screamed. “No! Get away from me! Get away!” she screamed. Doc Hoof tried to calm the frightened queen.

“Ma’am… just calm down. It’s okay, you’re safe” he said soothingly but his soothing voice did nothing to calm the screaming queen. As Doc tried to coo her she grabbed a medical kit and threw it at the doctor. 

It smacked him in the face and he stood up. He grabbed his glasses from the table and looked to the frantic queen.

“Ma’am please just let me” Doc began but then Chrysalis blasted him with her horn, catapulting him across the room and crashing his body into a filing cabinet. She turned to run then a powerful punch connected with her face and knocked her out.

Doc rose to his feet in a daze then looked to see Bear standing over Chrysalis’ once again unconscious body.

Bear smirked. “Next time just do that… less screaming” he told the doctor who nodded attentively.

Bear picked up the unconscious changeling and tossed her over his shoulder and proceeded to trot out of the room. Doc Hoof gasped. “What are you going to do with her?” he asked in fear that he might just toss her out into the elements. Bear looked back to him.

“Interrogation” Bear replied then continued to trot away.

A few hours later Chrysalis came around and her world was a blur. Something big and powerful had knocked her out cold. As her vision focused she saw several figures standing in front of her. Three to be exact.

She began to scream in horror and fear again but then one of the figures grabbed her mouth and held it shut. She continued to muffle screams of horror but then soon calmed down from her lack of oxygen.

The stallion released his grasp on her mouth and she gasped for oxygen. “Please…please don’t hurt me” Chrysalis sobbed and Shining kneeled down to eye level with her.

“Hey Chrysie… long time no see huh?” he asked and Chrysalis gasped as she realized who it was.

“Shining… Shining Armor… how… why?” she stammered, not quite remembering how she got where she was.

“You crashed through our door last night and collapsed. You’re lucky you’re even alive” Shining told her then her thoughts slowly returned to her. She had been running, but from what she couldn’t remember.

“I… was running… running away” she told him then noticed that her hoofs were bound around her back. “Why am I tied up?” she asked and Shining chuckled.

“Well for starters you once tried to take over the world and for seconds you freaked out last time you woke up and Bear had to knock you out… sorry about that” he told her. She nodded then Shining continued. “So… what exactly happened?” he asked and Chrysalis tried to remember what had happened, why she was so frightened.

“My home… our base camp… we were attacked… I was the only survivor. I ran… ran for so long” she said in an exhausted voice and Johner untied her hooves, releasing her. She brought her hooves up in front of her and felt around her wrists.

“What attacked you?” Shining asked and Chrysalis tried to remember but couldn’t. She shook her head.

“I… can’t remember… I just don’t know” she replied fearfully then held herself tightly. Doc Hoof gave her a heartwarming hug to comfort her and she looked up to him with her rather pretty green eyes. “Why…?” she asked, trailing her sentence off in confusion.

“You need comfort and I’m here… to comfort you” he replied. Johner rolled his eyes.

“Looks like love at first sight to me” he replied as the two gazed into each other’s eyes. “Hey queen, where’s this base of yours?” he asked and the question broke the duo’s gaze.

“About six miles north of here… it’s just a small little base camp” she told him and he nodded. Johner looked to Shining.

“Feel like taking her out for a spin?” Johner’s asked and Shining sighed. “Yeah thought as much. Okay Chrysalis, show us where this base of yours is” Johner told the queen and she gasped in horror. She didn’t want to go back, not now, not ever.


*          *          *


In the end Chrysalis stayed back with Doc Hoof and Reese while the others went to inspect this base of hers. They had grabbed a map and Chrysalis had shown them were her base was.

The group left in an APC vehicle that had been fitted for arctic warfare. It had infrared vision scanners rather than the regular vision cameras. On the roof was a 25mm auto cannon turret that had a .50 caliber Browning machinegun mounted to it.

Though these sorts of vehicles were highly despised by society, due to their warlike nature, Johner had persuaded Celestia into letting their squad have one.

The vehicle rumbled along through the snow with ease as the wind whistled outside. Inside the crew cabin was well insulated and heated by a small electric heater that ran off the battery, keeping the crew inside rather warm.

“Yo Sarge… I think I see the base” Firefly commented and Johner got up and looked at the readout screen. It did indeed look like a small base camp. Johner pointed to Lilac.

“Operate the auto cannon. Firefly, drive around the base in a complete pass then stop just at the front doors” Johner ordered and Firefly nodded, doing as he was told.

As the vehicle drove closer Johner flicked on another monitor and looked at the base. He gasped, it was in terrible disrepair. It literally looked like the base had been abandoned for ages. Snow had piled up on the walls and frost completely covered the windows.

Firefly drove the APC around the entire base and there wasn’t any sort of pony or sign of life in clear sight. “Christ… what the hell happened here” Shining muttered as he too looked at the vision readout screen which displayed the base in infrared vision.

Lilac looked around while inside the turret housing. “I got a bad feeling about this one” he muttered then Sunburst chuckled.

“You always got a bad feeling about things” Sunburst laughed. Lilac got out of the turret housing as the APC came to a stop.

“Yeah well, when you don’t make it I’ll be sure to write to your parents” Lilac chuckled.

“Alright enough Sunflower” Johner ordered. They all slipped on their arctic commando gear which consisted of tight thermo gear underneath a flack of body armour then heavy exterior clothing. The entire group had helmets with combat recording cameras and a face mask to protect their faces from the elements.

“Alright I want a clean deployment this time” Johner said and Firefly activated the back ramp door which opened with a humming sound.  

The entire group except Pippy got out. They had decided that Pippy would stay with the APC which they left running to make sure it wouldn’t fail them if they had have turned it off.

The group rushed up to the front blast door and Johner went to open it but it had a password lock. He cursed to himself then pointed to Firefly. “Firefly, run a bypass” he ordered and Firefly quickly pulled out a small hoof held device and hooked it up to the password terminal.

The device, which was called a Trespasser, quickly unlocked the blast door which opened with a large amount of stress.

“Lights on” Johner ordered. The group was using battle saddles equipped with MP5s that had flashlight attachments. The interior of the building was pitch-black and the flashlights pierced the darkness like swords.

The entire group had battle saddles except Johner who preferred to use his Two-legs combat style and held the MP5 in his hooves. Though it was more difficult to operate it, this style offered him more maneuverability in the close quarters of the building. 

From what Johner could tell the building was built somewhat like their base so if he was right, which he was nearly certain he was, there would be three hallways and a large basement.

“Sunflower: check the far hallway. Bear, Firefly: check the rooms. Shining: you and I will check the basement” Johner ordered, though it should have been Shining giving the orders.

The group quickly followed his commands. Sunburst and Lilac proceeded to the far hallway and began to search it for any signs of life. Everything was frosted and the wind howling like it was didn’t help in their search.

Lilac motioned for Sunburst to slide open one of the doors and as he did Lilac entered the room, pointing his sub-machinegun into the room. The place was just as barren as the outside arctic plains.

Shining and Johner entered the basement which was also frosted completely. It was like it had been sitting for over a decade without any-pony giving residing here. Johner broke off an icicle which had formed on the heating furnace. “Jeeze… it’s like this place hasn’t been used in ages” he muttered and Shining gulped.

“Yeah… something just doesn’t feel right” Shining muttered. Their voices could be heard by the others via headset and Lilac chuckled.

“Told yah so” he commented then Sunburst smacked him in the back of the head. “Oww, hey what the heck man!” Lilac hissed and Sunburst motioned for him to be quiet. Lilac rolled his eyes and the duo continued their patrol silently.

Bear and Firefly walked through from room to room. Firefly let out an uneasy groan. “Man… this stuff just doesn’t seem right… it’s like… like no-pony has ever been here since the place was built” he muttered then Bear grabbed him and jerked him back. 

“Hey! What the buck!” he scowled silently and Bear pointed to a hole that had been blasted in the floor. Firefly gave him an appreciative nod then knelt down and looked at the blast hole to make sure he got video footage of it then the two continued on.

Suddenly Bear’s motion tracker flickered and beeped. He looked down to the motion tracker which was incorporated into his battle saddle. 

All the team members’ cameras had direct live feed to the small monitors inside the APC which Pippy watched intently. He quickly turned his attention to Bear’s screen.

Firefly spoke for Bear who stayed silent. “Uhm captain… we got movement… far room, first hallway” Firefly spoke into the headset and the two stalked their way through the hallways and to the door where the motion tracker indicated the motion was coming from. 

As the two got closer, Bear’s tracker beeped more frequently and loudly. ‘God I wish I could turn off the sound on this thing’ Bear thought to himself and motioned for Firefly to ready his battle saddle.

Bear slid the door open and Firefly pointed his gun into the room, only to reveal it to be empty. But the motion tracker continued to beep. The motion apparently was coming from the closet on the far end of the room. 

This time it was Firefly’s turn to open the door. ‘On three’ Firefly mouthed silently and Bear nodded in response. ‘One…Two…’ Firefly mouthed.

He ripped open the door and they both yelled “THREE!” but were shocked to see no-pony inside. Instead there was a hole in the wall that allowed air to blow through violently. The powerful gusts of wind were blowing against a shirt that was hooked up inside the closet that had triggered the motion tracker.

Bear grabbed the shirt, stopping it from moving and as it stopped so did his motion tracker’s beeps. He rolled his eyes.

“Uhm sir… we have a negative on movement. Continuing on, over” Firefly said into the headset and the others all sighed. 

Eventually they all regrouped in the middle connecting hallway. Johner spoke, “Place is dead. Some magical blasts here and there but other than that, no signs of life” Johner said.

Shining nodded. “Well… I don’t plan on sticking around here much longer” Shining said and the others nodded then they all proceeded back to the APC. Pippy opened the rear loading ramp and the group entered the vehicle.

“So what’s up?” Pippy asked as the loading door hummed shut behind them.

Johner shrugged as he replied, “No-pony’s home”

> Chapter 3: Natural love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The group entered their base, wind blowing against their backs with great force, and managed to shut the door behind them. 

Reese rolled up to them in his wheelchair. “So… what did yah find?” he asked and Shining was speechless.

“Whatever happened there… happened a long time ago” Johner informed him then they all went to the mission debriefing room and downloaded their mission recordings into the main computer.

For the next several hours they looked over what they had all seen, looking for clues they may have missed and asking Chrysalis if she remembered anything. Nothing seemed to jog her memory however.

As they watched Bear’s footage of the closet incident Johner saw something that caught his attention. “Whoa… hey… wait, wait-wait. What the buck is that” Johner muttered and pointed to what looked to be a black cat on the top shelf of the closet.

Bear looked as well while Reese pressed the pause button on the recording. It was nothing really interesting so Reese pressed the play button and the recording continued. Nothing particularly eerie happened but Johner looked over to Bear.

“Guess it was the cat making all the motion” Johner muttered. “How the hay did you miss the cat?” Johner asked and Bear simply shrugged. The recording continued and Chrysalis let out a sigh of relief. She had thought something would have jumped out of the closet. 

She nestled herself into Doc Hoof’s chest and Shining looked to Doc with a raised eyebrow. Doc simply shrugged.

Suddenly the cat’s head began to shake slightly and Johner looked forwards. Its eyes changed from the regular green cat eyes to a blood red. Suddenly the cat’s head cocked to one side and its mouth opened irregularly wide.

Reese scrunched his nose. “That’s one heck of a yawn” he muttered then almost gagged as the cat’s lower jaw split in two and a it began to shake violently. A long snakelike tongue ripped out of its face just as Bear and Firefly turned away.

Johner shook his hoof. “Wait-wait, no turn ba… turn back… dammit” he cursed then looked to Bear. “How the hay did you miss that?” he asked and once again Bear shrugged. The group heard sobs of fear coming from Chrysalis and they all looked over to her.

Doc Hoof did the best he could to comfort her and Shining simply sighed to himself. Weird how such a nightmarish creature could be frightened by another nightmarish creature.

The recording soon ended and Johner yawned then looked to the clock in the room. It was late in the evening and he was sort of exhausted from the day though he hadn’t done much. “Well that was sure creepy but it’s not gonna interrupt my sleep any time soon… night” Johner said then trotted off with his gear still on.

The others soon proceeded to do the same and all went about to do their own things.

Shining sat alone by himself in the parlour with a picture of Cadence and himself from the day of their marriage. How times had changed since they first met. Things were so stressful these days and the upcoming Equestria games didn’t help at all.

He opened the refrigerator with his magic and levitated over a can of soda pop. Though he didn’t care all that much for soda he did fancy a tasteful beverage every now and then but absolutely refrained from alcohol. 

Elsewhere in the base Star Dust toyed with Golden Shield again. “Oh come on Goldy, you did it last night” she teased and Golden Shield blushed. It wasn’t his intention to become infatuated with the mare but his more primal side had taken the best of him the night before and he didn’t want to give into that lustful feeling again.

“No… I can’t” he told her and she giggled as she stepped closer to him. Golden Shield was stricken in shock as she began to nibble on his ear.

“Oh come on. What else are we going to do up here?” she asked seductively and he gulped. Star Dust pushed his body back and onto a bed then quickly pinned his body with her own. “I knew you couldn’t resist my feminine charm” she giggled.

In another room sat Bear with his large machete. He slowly slid the blade along a wet stone and sharpened the blade to a ridiculously sharp edge that you could literally use to shave body fur off, without even trying.

Firefly walked in and saw Bear with his machete then gulped. “Hey Bear… whatcha doing?” he asked fearfully. Bear always scared the living hay out of him. 

Bear raised his machete and let the light from the overhead bulbs gleam off the precise blade. Firefly gulped. “Sharpening your… knife eh” he said as he felt goose bumps form on his body.

“Do you… mind if I sit down… Golden Shield and Dusty took my bed” Firefly asked and Bear let out a gruff grunt as his reply then nodded. Firefly nodded then sat beside the stallion who was sharpening the blade to an even greater edge, if that was even possible.

Firefly grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the fridge that stood beside the couch and popped open the cork top. “Wanna drink?” Firefly asked his bulky friend. Bear simply winced and looked away. “I’ll take that as a no… more for me, right?” Firefly chuckled then swilled back a gulp of John Doe whiskey. It had a bitterly sour taste to it that made Firefly wince a little in disgust.

Lilac had offered to play Sunburst in another game of chess but he turned down the offer, saying he had better things to do. Sunburst quickly trotted over to the computer, which wasn’t hooked up to the internet due to the fact that they had no cable or satellite connection from where they were.

Sunburst quickly turned on the computer and played a chess game against the computer AI. At first he thought he was winning. Sunburst had taken the computer’s rook, its queen, both Bishops and a knight along with numerous pawns. 

However just as Sunburst thought he would win a game of chess for the first time since he could remember, the computer suddenly moved its remaining rook and the screen read ‘Checkmate, Play again: Y/N’.

Sunburst curled his lips in anger and looked over to a bottle of wine. He opened the wine bottle then poured the liquid contents into the modem. It crackled and sizzled as it short-circuited then simply died. Sunburst smiled, the computer had won the battle but he had won the war.

Lilac simply chucked from behind his steamed friend. “You could have just lowered the difficulty you know. I had it set on very hard” Lilac chuckled and Sunburst groaned. ‘And Lilac profits from the war’ Sunburst thought to himself.

Pippy was receiving more tutelage from Reese but due to the long hours of the day he soon dozed off. Reese looked over to the young stallion and smiled. He himself had never had a child but if he ever did, he hoped they would be like Pippy.

Reese picked up the young stallion in his forelegs and rolled his wheelchair out of the basement then to Pippy’s room. He set the young stallion onto his bed and covered him up as best he could.

Reese smiled as he looked both ways then leaned over and gave Pippy a kiss to the forehead. “Goodnight kid” he whispered then rolled his wheelchair out of the room and shut off the lights behind him. A tear had formed in the gruffly old stallion’s eyes which he quickly wiped away

Johner had decided to take a shower just before he went to bed. He slipped off his clothes and got into the shower but not before turning on the shower radio. However it had to play his own tapes due to it not being able to pick up radio signals.

That didn’t bother Johner however, he just figured this way there’d be less commercial interruptions between songs. 

He slipped in one of his favourite tapes just as he got into the shower and cranked the radio right to its maximum volume. The musical beats of the tune echoed in the washroom as Johner washed off his body. His fur drooped down with wetness and splashed about in the bottom of the shower as water soaked into his fur

Johner smiled to himself, sometimes kick-flank music and a hot shower was a good way to just forget about life’s problems.


Whoa Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



Whoa Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



Black Betty had a child, bam-ba-lam



The damn thing gone wild, bam-ba-lam…


Johner smiled to himself. He simply let his problems drain away like it was getting washed off his body and would get sucked down the drain of the shower. He reached out of the shower and grabbed his thermos, taking a large sip of homemade cider before returning to showering.


She said “I’m worryin’ outta mind” bam-ba-lam



The damn thing gone wild, bam-ba-lam



I said Oh, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



Whoa Black Betty, bam-ba-lam…


Elsewhere sat Doctor Hoofington with the still fazed Queen Chrysalis who he kept company. She looked to him with the faintest of smiles. “Thank you… you are so kind and affectionate. Most ponies think I’m hideous” Chrysalis said. The comment made Hoofington gulp shyly and blush.

“Well maybe the others… just haven’t seen your inner beauty like I have” Hoofington replied and his comment made Chrysalis blush in return. The two stepped towards each other and in an act of sudden passion, Doc Hoof wrapped one of his forelegs around Chrysalis’ neck and began to make out with her.


Oh, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



She really gets me high, bam-ba-lam



You know that’s no lie, bam-ba-lam…


Chrysalis allowed herself to fall under Hoofington’s grasp and he led their bodies over to medical table as they continued to make out. He set her body down on the table and crawled on top of her. Hoofington ran his hooves up and down Chrysalis’ sides, making her moan in sheer pleasure from the bodily contact.


She’s so rock steady, bam-ba-lam



And she’s always ready, bam-ba-lam



Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam



Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam…


Chrysalis began to run her hooves up and down Hoofington’s back. She wrapped her hindlegs firmly around Hoofington’s back as he pulled away from the kiss and began to trail sloppy wet kisses down her neck.

> Chapter 4: It hits the fan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Hoof snuggled up beside Chrysalis and pecked a kiss on her cheek. The sign of compassion made her sigh in happiness. Some-pony had finally loved her for who she was.

“I love you and I’ll always protect you” Doc told the queen. She felt warm, loved and content. 

As she rested in his embrace she remembered the horrid video footage of the cat. The memory made her shiver in fear but then something jogged in her memory. She remembered, everything.

“NO!” Chrysalis cried out. The sudden outburst caught Hoof off guard. Chrysalis lept off the table and began to shriek in 
fear.

Hoof soon followed her but she tried to push him back. “Chrysalis, honey what’s wrong?” Hoof asked soothingly but his simple talk wouldn’t calm her. He tried to embrace her in a loving hug but she kicked him back against a filing cabinet.

“GO! RUN! GET AWAY!” Chrysalis screamed. 

“But Chrysalis… I love you” Hoof pleaded, thinking this was her way of breaking up with him. Chrysalis let out an ear piercing shriek as she lept up to her hindlegs and held her head in pain with her front hooves.

Doc tried to soothe her by comforting her but she once again swatted him away, screaming for him to leave at once. Hoof tried to get close to her again but this would be the last time her made that mistake.

As Hoof went to place a heartwarming hoof on the frantic changeling queen, she ripped her hoof away from her face and grabbed him. He gasped as he realized her beautiful green eyes had gone blood red.

“Chry… Chrysie?” Hoof asked but his voice was soon cut off by a gasp of absolute horror as her lower jaw split open in a grotesque display. Her tongue slithered out like a snake’s then she chomped her razor sharp teeth around his throat and shook his body, only holding him by his neck with her powerful jaws.

In another room Sunflower heard the commotion. Lilac looked to Sunburst with a disgruntled look. “I guess we should go see if he’s okay” Lilac said, figuring that he’d probably just done something stupid, like cut his hoof with a scalpel.

The duo exited their room and began to trot down the hallway when suddenly Doc Hoof’s blood ridden body smashed through the clinic door. His body lay lifeless on the ground, blood pooling around his body and staining his fur.

The duo gasped but were then struck in fear as the now mutating Chrysalis exited the room. Her head was shaking violently as he upper jaw also split open. It was like something from a hellish nightmare but it was for real. 

Both Lilac and Sunburst screamed as Chrysalis charged at them but at the last possible moment they were saved. 

As Chrysalis lept at them, her jaws snapping, Bear collided with her and smashed her body against a wall then knocked her out with a brutal punch to the head.

“Why no-pony listen to me. I say punch her out, less problems” Bear chuckled but his humor was cut off as he realized Doc was dead. He gave a moment of sorrow for his fallen comrade but then the nightmarish Chrysalis swatted him against the opposite wall with a kick.

Bear grunted and rubbed the back of his head. “Okay bitch, you want to play rough? We’ll play rough” Bear said and pulled out his ridiculously sharp bowie knife.

Chrysalis quarrelled towards Bear but as she lept at him he drove his knife blade right through her throat. The force of his power swing knocked her away and to the ground but she simply got back up like nothing happened.

Blood gushed from her throat but it didn’t faze her in the least. Bear looked over to Firefly. “We need something to shoot her with” he told Firefly, who nodded in response then galloped off. Bear turned back to Chrysalis but was taken off guard as she tackled him low and hard, smashing him through a door leading to the parlour.

Chrysalis lifted her head up to chomp down on Bear’s throat but he was already countering her. Like a flash of lightning, Bear unsheathed another knife and slammed it into her side, penetrating her heart.

Chrysalis screeched in pain but then went to chomp at Bear’s throat again. He quickly shifted his head to the side and missed the gruesome bite. He pulled the knife out of her side then stabbed her again but this time in the bottom of her chest then slid the knife downwards, cutting her stomach wide open.

She screeched again but still went on to bite at Bear’s throat. He had one last idea. He grabbed one of her wings and gave them a pull as he tossed her body away. He quickly got to his hooves just as Firefly entered the room with his improvised flamethrower.

“Alright amigo, say hello to my little friend” he laughed and set off his flamethrower. The flames spat out and caught onto Chrysalis who shrieked in fury and anguish. Firefly let off the trigger then hit it again, so that the flame didn’t backfire into the tanks.

Chrysalis screeched then in an act of desperation broke through the wall behind her, engulfed in flames. Firefly let off the trigger and looked to Bear with a smile as he waved his flamethrower back and forth.

Firefly walked out the hole in the wall created by Chrysalis as he began his search for her. “Come here little bug. The exterminator is in the house!” Firefly taunted. The liquid dripping from the nozzle quickly caught fire and fell to the floor.

Elsewhere Chrysalis rolled on the floor and put out the flames on her body. Her skin quickly began to split, revealing her true form. She started screeching again and then a door opened on a room. Pippy had been woken from his sleep when the commotion started. He gasped as Chrysalis went to pounce on his. He quickly turned around a corner and ran.

Chrysalis crashed into the wall, missing Pippy’s body by mere inches. Pippy screamed in fear then burst through another door as Chrysalis lept at him again like a rabid animal.

Pippy continued to scream as he entered the shower room, musical tunes filled the room. 


Baby do you understand me now



Sometimes I feel a little mad



But don’t you know that nobody alive



Can always be an angel


Pippy could her Chrysalis’ primal hissing and screeching from the hallway as he tried to hide. “HELP!” he cried out and Johner came out from his shower. His fur was dripping wet and his mane was down. He raised an eyebrow. The loud music had drowned out the commotion from outside so he hadn’t heard the ruckus.


When things go wrong I seem to be bad



But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Johner chuckled. “Sleep walking again kid. Bah don’t worry about it, we all have our moments” Johner chuckled then suddenly Chrysalis burst into the room. Johner grunted in disgust but then caught drift of what was happening.

“BUCK!” Johner yelled then grabbed Pippy and quickly pulled him into the showers, which were still running. Chrysalis lept at them but missed them thanks to Johner’s quick movements.

Johner pulled back the young stallion to where he had been showering. “Trust me kid, I’m not gay” Johner said in a gruff voice as Chrysalis entered the showers. Water splashed against her burnt skin and she hissed gruesomely.

“What-the-buck” Johner scowled as he grabbed his thermos and quickly cocked the handle. A secret handle sprang out and Johner triggered it. A thunderous BOOM echoed in the shower room and Chrysalis’ body was propelled back as 10guage magnum buckshot riddled her body.

Johner simply stood there with his still smoking thermos. He had hidden a 10guage short barrel inside the thermos. The barrel was barely thirteen inches and the whole idea was a concealment weapon so it was really a onetime thing.

Johner mumbled to himself. “Perfectly good cider wasted” he muttered to himself. All his remaining cider that had still been in the thermos had been propelled out of the bottom when the gun went off.

Johner walked over to Chrysalis’ now motionless body and poked her with his front hoof. She didn’t move and he looked back to Pippy who was standing under the shower spout. His body had become soaked as well and Johner chuckled.

“She’s dead” he said bluntly then chuckled “You stay in there any longer and your skin might prune” he laughed just as the others entered the room. Firefly had his blowtorch ready but when he saw Chrysalis’ dead body he flicked off his zippo. Johner looked to the others and chuckled. “I have no more cider” he laughed as he waved around his destroyed thermos.

> Chapter 5: Not good, not good at all
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  They all sat there and looked at the two bodies now on body stretchers. Johner placed Chrysalis’ body on the helicopter floor just as Lilac started the cargo helicopter. They hadn’t been able to determine what had happened, due to Hoof’s death, so they simply decided to send the bodies to the Crystal Empire for an autopsy.

Sunburst lept into the co-pilot seat and they began to take off. Johner watched them take off then looked to Shining Armor. “What the buck do you think got into her anyway?” he asked and Shining shrugged.

“Not sure. She did try to take over Equestria but was never bloodthirsty. Maybe it was personal” he said and Firefly raised an eyebrow.

“Personal? Did you see her? I blasted her with a flamethrower and Bear stabbed her in the heart yet she still galloped around like nothing was wrong!” Firefly exclaimed. Shining let out a defeated sigh as they all began to trot back toward the base.

“I just don’t know what to tell you Fire… I just don’t know” he replied.

In the helicopter Lilac flew the helicopter with precision. “Alright… next stop Crystal Empire” he said and began to tilt the helicopter forwards for better flight control. There was a bang and a clang in the back cargo area.

Lilac looked to Sunburst with an irritated look. “Can you go tie down their bodies better? I don’t think Shining would approve if he found out that their bodies fell out of the helicopter or something” Lilac said and Sunburst nodded then proceeded to the back of the helicopter.

Sunburst entered the cargo area but no longer saw the bodies. “Uhm Lilac… where’d Johner put the bodies?” he asked.

“In the back there… can’t you see them?” 

“No… there’s nothing back…” Sunburst trailed off as he noticed a trail of blood on the floor. He knelt down to get a better look at it. He simply shrugged as he stood back up but then jumped back as he was startled by Doc Hoof.

“Gah!... ugh Doc!” Sunburst said with heavy irritation in his voice then thought about what was happening. “Hey wait Doc… you’re dead… so how are you” Sunburst began but was cut off as Doc Hoof pounced forwards and bit at Sunburst’s throat.

Lilac was holding the helicopter steady so that Sunburst didn’t fall or something but it sounded like he had fallen over, multiple times. “Come on Sunburst, hurry up already” Lilac called out then the cargo bay door slid open.

Lilac turned around to scold his friend. “Well what the buck took yo…” Lilac trailed off as he saw Doc Hoof’s bloody face split open and a grotesque tentacle-like form protruded from the split.

Lilac quickly reached for his pistol, which was holstered at his waist, but was too late. The creature lunged forwards and the windshield of the helicopter was sprayed red with Lilac’s blood.

Johner went to close the door but then noticed the helicopter had started to twist and spin. “SHINING!” Johner yelled out and Shining immediately rushed to his side. Shining gasped as he quickly tried to grasp the crashing helicopter in a levitation spell but he was just too late to do anything.

“GET DOWN!” Johner yelled as he pulled Shining’s body back and tackled him to the floor. 

Just as the helicopter was about to crash a lone figure jumped out.

The helicopter collided with the APC vehicle and erupted as its fuselage ruptured. The explosion nearly rocked the entire base and caught every-pony’s attention. 

Fire from the explosion illuminated the night and both Johner and Shining both looked in horror at the crash. Johner groaned, “Oh we are so bucked” he cursed.

Golden Shield grabbed a fire extinguisher along with Pippy and they both proceeded to put out the flames.

Johner helped Shining to his hooves and they both shook their heads from the travesty of the crash. Shining looked to Reese, “Call the empire… we’re getting out of here” Shining ordered Reese who quickly wheeled himself away.

The fire was soon put out, thanks mostly to the snow and extreme conditions, and the team gathered in the communication room where Reese was dialing in for the Crystal Empire.

“Empire-1, Empire-1, this is Goldbird-6, do you read” Reese said into the radio set. He repeated himself several times then listened closely. He looked to every-pony else and motioned for them to be quiet.

“Empire-1, Empire-1, this is Goldbird-6, do you read me, over?” Reese asked again then suddenly there was some static. Just as Reese figured it was interference, a terrifyingly nightmarish groan sounded from the radio set. Reese took his face away from the headset and looked at it curiously.

The sounds coming from the other side of the line seemed like it was from a ghastly horror movie or something. “Deaaaath… Deeaaaath is waiting” the voice groaned, prolonging some of the words.

Suddenly the line simply went dead. Johner sighed. “Well okay, that’s gonna buck up my sleep” he muttered and looked to Shining. “I don’t give a rat’s behind what you say, I’m opening the armoury doors and getting myself a shotgun” he said and trotted off. 

Shining hated guns, mostly due to their deathly nature, but right now he was on the same page as Johner. Every-pony followed Johner who busted open the armoury doors. 

Most of the high-grade weapons, like the M4A1s or the M16A4s were in the APC and were destroyed in the crash, but the armoury still housed a pretty impressive armament.

Johner handed out weapons for the others. Bear holstered a S&W Model 29 but holstered it, he decided to stick with his blades. Firefly grabbed an old M2 flamethrower, Golden Shield equipped himself with an M1 Garand, Star Dust had an MP5A3 while Pippy received a P90 sub-machinegun.

They all equipped battle saddles as Johner went to hand a G36C to Reese but he refused it. Johner shook his head, “Come on Reesy, ain’t no time to play ‘I don’t believe in violence’” Johner said but Reese simply laughed.

Shining Armor grabbed the assault rifle and loaded into his battle saddle. Reese pulled off a barrel from his wheelchair and soon began to assemble a weapon. In the end it turned out to be an M79 40mm grenade launcher.

He pulled out a grenade belt and wrapped it around his chest as he loaded a grenade round into the barrel with a shoomp. “I like to keep my big gun handy… for freaky creatures like that Chrysalis thing” Reese chuckled and Johner grabbed an SPAS 12 from the armoury cabinet. He loaded eight rounds into the tubular magazine then four shells into the spare folding stock shell holders.

“I like to keep this handy… for close encounters” Johner said as he slung the shotgun around his back then locked up the cabinet so nothing could take any weapons. “Alright… I’m hitting the sack. I’ll see you all in the morning then we can sort this mess out” Johner said and they all began to trot away.

Firefly trotted down the hallway to his room and kept admiring his new toy. “Oh baby… oh baby you and me gonna have some fun” Firefly said and opened the door to his room. 

As he looked up from gazing upon his magnificent weapon he was disgusted to see that Star Dust and Golden Shield had taken his bed again. “Oh come on! Can’t you do that in your own room… and for Celestia’s sake Golden, would you wrap it before you tap it? You’re gonna get her pregnant!” Firefly scolded then quickly slammed the door behind him and began to storm towards Golden’s room.

‘Two can play at this game’ he thought to himself as he rounded a corner. He gasped suddenly as he saw Lilac standing in front of him. “Christ!... jeeze Lilac, don’t sneak up on a stallion like that… you’re gonna give me a heart att… hey wait a minute” Firefly muttered as he remembered that Lilac was in the helicopter crash. He slowly reached his hoof forward and ignited the torch’s pilot flame.

> Chapter 6: The darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Firefly went to trigger the flamethrower but suddenly Lilac’s face split in two and the tentacle beast purged from his body. It spat a load of acidic saliva into Firefly’s face which immediately affected his right side, burning his face and blurring his vision.

Firefly screamed out in pain and the others immediately rushed out to see what the commotion was about. As the creature spotted the group it immediately retreated. Firefly was pushed down by Bear so he would be out of the line of fire and the others began to fill the hallway with lead death.

Gunfire echoed in the base and brass casings bounced and chimed off the floor. In seconds the group ceased fire but there was no body, no blood, no evidence that they had even hit anything.

Shining pointed to Bear. “Check it out” he ordered and Bear immediately went to investigate the scene while the others examined Firefly’s wounds. Firefly groaned in utter pain as Shining examined the caustic wounds.

“He’ll live, but he might have some pretty bad scares” Shining said just as Bear returned. Shining turned to Bear, “Anything?” he asked but Bear shook his head.

“Well… looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight… and I was just about to hit the sack” Johner said sarcastically. Shining shook his head from Johner’s poor choice to make a comical entry.

Shining looked to the others. “Okay… we gotta do something about this…” Shining trailed off as the lights flickered off. “Reese… what the hell’s going on?” Shining asked fearfully. The emergency red lights came on.

“The power’s out… maybe a fuse is blown or… or it cut the power” Reese said. Golden Shield started to panic from the whole ordeal.

“What do you mean ‘it’ cut the power? How would it know what to do?” Golden asked frantically. Reese simply shrugged.

“Well… it’s probably just a fuse. I’ll go take a look” he said and began to wheel himself away when suddenly Firefly put a weakened hoof on his chair.

“You ain’t goin alone old stallion” he said groggily. Reese chuckled from the young stallion’s bravery. Firefly stood up, medical gauze now covering the majority of his face thanks to Shining’s somewhat decent first-aid treatment. Firefly flicked the flamethrower back on.

“Got a vendetta with that thing. Eye for an eye, know what I mean?” Firefly told them. Johner chuckled.

“Then the whole world would be blind” Johner said as he scratched the back of his head. Reese and Firefly made for the exit and the others looked to one another as they flicked on lights on their battle saddles.

“Alright: Golden Shield, Star Dust, I want you two patrolling the west wing. Shining, Bear: the east. I’ll take the middle with Pippy and we wait for Firefly and Reese to get back.

Golden Shield was obviously not impressed with the idea. “What!? Are you crazy? That thing’s gonna wait for us to split up and when we do it’s gonna come back and then it’s gonna kill us!” Golden said frantically, fear literally coursing through his voice.

Johner grabbed Golden by the collar of his jacket. “You listen here Golden and you listen good. I don’t need some prissy little colt-scout buckin us all over cause he doesn’t want to put his neck out on the line. We’re all in balls deep and the only way we’re getting out is if we pull each other out. So suck it up and let’s do this” Johner said and Golden gulped then nodded.

They all began their patrols just as Firefly and Reese entered the storage shed. Firefly looked to Reese and nodded. Reese looked to him with a smug look, “Cover my flank, anything comes through that door… torch it” Reese said then began to fiddle with the fuse box.

As he continued to screw with it, Firefly stood watch, the pilot flame on his flamethrower flickering about in the cold gusty wind. “Hey old stallion… you got that thing fixed yet?” Firefly asked as his motion tracker flickered then beeped.

“No just give me a second… sweet Celestia, it looks like something just ripped the fuse box apart” Reese muttered to himself. The blips on the motion tracker informed Firefly that the motion was getting ever closer, and at a very fast pace.

“Okay Reesy, now or never” Firefly muttered as he readied the torch. Reese continued to fidget with the fuse panel. “Twenty-five feet… Twenty… Fifteen” Firefly said and Reese frantically began to jury-rig the fuse box.

“Oh… this thing is impossible… oh wait” Reese said as he began to convert energy flow from exterior air flow controls to the lights. 

“Ten… man, they’re right on top of us” Firefly yelled frantically as the motion slowed. “Nine… Eight… Seven” Firefly said. “Six” he muttered and Reese spun around. Six feet away meant it was inside the room but there was nothing.

“That can’t be right… it’d be in clear view” Reese said.

“Hey man, it’s reading right okay” Firefly said, almost in absolute fear. Reese grabbed the motion tracker and took a look at it. The tracker read motion just over five feet in front of him.

One of the wooden floorboards creaked and moved ever so slightly. Firefly gasped. “Oh no… it’s underneath us” Firefly whispered as he slowly and cautiously crept over to the floor board that had moved.

In a flash of motion Firefly booted down hard on the floorboard and snapped it. The disfigured body of Lilac screeched and hissed at him. Pointing his M2 flamethrower straight down into the hole, Firefly ignited the blowtorch and engulfed the hideous creature in sizzling hot flames.

It lept up and knocked Firefly back towards Reese. Its body now entirely engulfed in flames, the creature immediately rushed outside into the cold and both Reese and Firefly pursued it.

The creature began to roll around on the ground in agonizing pain as Firefly squeezed off another spray of liquid flame that encased the creature in more burning hot fire.

The creature squealed then turned its face tentacle to Firefly and spat at him again. Firefly moved his face to the left and dodged the acidic spit. “HA! Stupid creature, I won’t fall for that one ag…” he began but was cut off as the acidic spit, which had connected with one of the fuel tanks, set off the highly flammable fluids inside the fuel tanks.

“Get do…” was all Reese managed before the M2’s fuel tanks erupted in a ball of flame that engulfed both their bodies. Their screams were drowned out by the terribly powerful gusts of winds from the artic plains.

Inside the others continued their patrols. “Man… what’s taking them?” Golden said in fear. Star Dust gave him an irritated nudge.

“Shut-up, they’ll be back just you…” she trailed off as Golden’s motion tracker flickered. “That must be them” she said and Golden looked to his tracker.

“No… it’s only one… oh shit” he said as he cocked his M1. 

“It’s them… they’re probably just so close together that it’s only picking up one signal” Star Dust assured her very close friend as she tried to radio for Reese and Firefly. “Hey Reesy, Firefly? You two reading me… guys?” she asked over the headset but Johner answered instead.

“I have a bad feeling about this… every-pony regroup in the middle hallway” Johner ordered and they all agreed then rushed for the middle hallway. As Star Dust and Golden made for the rendezvous, a hideous creature burst out from a wall and stood in their way.

“BUCK!” Golden screamed as he fired several shots at the creature. Multiple 7.62x63mm rounds slammed into the creature but the bullet wounds didn’t faze it at all. The mass of grotesque tentacles simply charged at Golden Shield and tackled him through another wall.

Star Dust screamed as she held back the trigger on her MP5. 9mm bullets sprayed through the air and several clipped the beast but failed to stop it. As it crashed through the room she heard the gurgling screams of Golden.

She cried out from the loss of her loved one and rushed to the others who were waiting for her. As she met them she was already in tears. “Golden… it got Golden” she sobbed and Bear grabbed her then put her behind him.

The horrific screams of Golden could still be heard as they echoed through the hallways, sending shivers down the spins of the entire group.

Johner pumped a round into the chamber of his shotgun. “Whatever it is it’s about to die… hard” he muttered as they all proceeded towards the source of Golden’s screaming.

> Chapter 7: From underneath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  They all rounded the corner but by the time they got to Golden it was too late. His body was gone and all that was left was a room filled with gore.

“Jesus…” Shining muttered and Star Dust began to sob even louder. Shining and Johner stepped into the gore filled room and examined it thoroughly.

Johner noticed a hole in the floor. “Hey captain! Come check this out” Johner mentioned and Shining trotted over to him. Johner pointed to the hole and pointed a beam of light down the dark depths with his flashlight.

Shining gulped. “Well… I guess we know how it got in” Shining said fearfully. Johner nodded.

“Yeah but it doesn’t look like just a hole that was dug. Look closer, it looks like a hallway or something is down there… like something has been digging an underground passageway or something” Johner mentioned.

Shining took a closer look to see that he was indeed correct. Something had been building an underground passageway, but to what he wasn’t sure. Shining let out a sigh of discomfort. “This is bad… really bad” Shining commented and Johner nodded.

“So captain… any ideas?” Johner asked with a sigh but Shining shook his head. “Well then, guess we’ll just have to blow this place up” Johner commented and Shining gasped.

“We can’t do that. This is a half-million bit base right here. We’d be in so much trouble if we” Shining began but Johner cut him off.

“And if we don’t then we all die. I don’t know about you captain but I plan on living to see the sun rise… though I’m not exactly sure why I care that I live. It’s not like I have anything to go back to” Johner told Shining who nodded.

Pippy gulped. “So… what do we do? I mean, how do we do it?” he asked and Johner thought for a moment.

“Alright, this thing, this… whatever it is, likes to get us while we’re alone or split up. So we all stick together, get the blasting mats and dynamite from the armoury then rappel down there and blow this place to kingdom come. Agreed?” Johner asked and every-pony nodded.

They all rushed to the armoury without any sort of problem but as they stocked up, Bear brought up a good point. “What do we do after we blow up base. We are over three days trot from any sort of civilization” he commented and Johner shrugged.

“We’ll deal with that when it comes. If this thing gets loose then all of Equestria will be in danger” Johner told him and he nodded. Star Dust gulped as she handled the TNT.

“I don’t know about this. We could all die” she commented and Shining nodded then gave her a nudge.

“Then we all go down in history as merits. Either that or no-pony finds our bodies. In that case then we’d be listed as MIA” Shining said with a slight chuckle.

Johner raised an eyebrow. “Getting a sense of humour eh?” Johner asked and Shining shrugged.

“Must be hanging around you too much” Shining laughed as they loaded the last of the dynamite. “Alright, if we blow up underneath this place then the generator will rupture and take the rest of the base with it” he told them and they nodded. 

Johner handed the detonator cords and plunger to Star Dust who placed them in her pack. They all nodded then rushed towards the hole leading to the cavern below.

Johner pulled out some rappelling gear he took from the armoury and fastened the rope around a beam post to keep them secure while they descended.

“Ladies first?” Johner asked and Star Dust gave a slight giggle.

“Age before beauty” she replied.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. I’ll have you know that I’m only twenty-four” Johner chuckled as he fastened the rope to his chest harness and began to rappel downwards. It was a long descent and Johner guessed it was probably a good fifty or sixty feet drop.

He set down and ignited a red flare then tossed it down the cavern. “Alright, coast is clear” Johner yelled up to the others who proceeded to descend one by one. First Shining, then Bear and finally Star Dust.

Johner looked up to Pippy who was looking fearfully down the hole. “Come on Pippy” Johner called up and Pippy gulped. He was somewhat afraid of heights to say the least.

“Uhm… Johner… maybe I should stay up here. You know, to keep watch” Pippy stammered and Johner rolled his eyes.

“Kid if you stay up there alone then that thing is gonna get you. And besides we’re not coming out the way we came in” Johner called back up.

“Gah… I’m afraid of heights” Pippy said, disgraced with himself for being afraid.

“Hey kiddo, don’t worry about it. Think of it this way: it’s not high up, you’re simply going below ground level” Johner told him but it did nothing to ease his friend.

Pippy began to breathe heavily as he began to ready himself for the descent. He began to slowly creep into the hole and descend downwards. Suddenly the tentacle beast appeared at the top of the hole and hissed at Pippy.

Pippy screamed in fear and quickly began to zip down the hole. “PIPPY! SLOW DOWN!” Johner yelled but Pippy paid no mind, he was scared so much that he couldn’t think straight.

When he was at about twenty feet, the creature cut the rope line and Pippy fell the final twenty feet without any support.

He slammed into the ground and cried out in pain. Johner immediately rushed to his side and examined his hindleg which was twisted then swore to himself. Bear rushed up to their sides and looked upwards but couldn’t see the creature anymore.

“Is he okay?” Bear asked and Johner nodded somewhat.

“Yeah… kind of. His hindleg is broken and he won’t be able to walk” Johner informed him. Bear dropped all his gear except his machete and bowie knife then lifted Pippy onto his back.

“I owe Reese this much. He saved my flank once, long story” Bear said and Johner nodded. They all began to gallop into the tunnels to place the explosives but moved much slower due to Bear having to carry Pippy.

Star Dust grunted to herself. “Hey no offence, but I say we ditch the cripple” she told the others and Johner shook his head. 

“No-way. We stick together” he told her and she rolled her eyes. “HEY! We can either do this together or we all die alone” Johner yelled at her for even contemplating to leave a fellow guard behind.

After a few minutes of galloping they came to a stop in a large tunnel way. Johner and the others quickly began setting the TNT. “Okay, we set the TNT but remember to get the detonator cords ready. I have a feeling that this is gonna be real close” Johner muttered as he taped the dynamite sticks together.

Finally they finished and Star Dust hooked up the detonator cables then as they rushed off she let the spool of wire unravel. Suddenly, horrifying screeches filled the hallways. It sounded like they were coming from many creatures and not just one.

“I have a bad feeling about this” Shining said and Johner nodded.

“Yeah me too… me too. Alright this way” Johner said but Star Dust placed her hoof on his shoulder and stopped him.

“How do you know?”

Johner rolled his eyes. “Just follow me” he ordered and the group began to rush off. The screeching seemed to get closer and the group reached a dead end with a ladder going straight up a shaft then it cut off into a small room where there was another ladder going to what looked to be the top.

“Go… GO!” Johner yelled and the group immediately began to rush up the ladder. Bear turned to Johner.

“You go before me. I will only slow you down” Bear told him and Johner rolled his eyes but went anyway. Despite Bear being weighed down by Pippy he was easily able to keep up with Johner as they scrambled up the ladder.

As they all reached the first floor they looked down to see the tentacle beast screech then scurry up the shaft after them. Johner curled his lips in anger. “BUCKIN GO!” he yelled and they all began to rush up the final ladder: first Star Dust, then Shining followed by Johner and finally Bear who had Pippy on his back.

The creature lept into the room then hopped up onto the ladder and scurried after Bear and Pippy. Pippy squeezed off a burst with his P90 and several 5.7x28mm rounds ripped through the creature but failed to stop it.

“Bear! Hurry” Pippy yelled and Bear furiously tried to outpace the creature but to no avail. He quickly glanced back but as he did the creature spat at him with its acidic spit. The spit acidized on Bear’s face and made him yell out in pain. His grasp on the ladder bars slipped and they began to fall down but Pippy grabbed one of the bars as they fell.

Pippy yelled out in exertion, he would be unable to hold both their weight for much longer. “JOHNER!” Pippy screamed. Johner looked down, took a deep breath, unholstered both his Desert Eagles from their chest holsters then curled his hindlegs around the ladder bar and simply fell back, supporting himself with his hindlegs.

Johner began to trigger the mighty handguns which spat out the high-powered .50 caliber AE rounds at the tentacle beast as he yelled out in anger. The creature shifted side to side then reached up and grabbed Bear’s hindleg with a tentacle, holding him with a vicelike grip. 

Finally Johner took an aimed shot and a lone round slammed right through the creature’s skull. Its face became expressionless then it fell back but in its death state its tentacles remained curled around Bear’s hindleg, further increasing the weight strain on Pippy who cried out for help. 

Screeches could be heard from the bottom of the cavern and Johner spotted more of the beasts below. “Great… and I thought there was only one” he muttered as he holstered both handguns then reached down and grabbed Pippy’s forelegs.

As he tried to curl himself up he realized that it was just too much weight, even for him. “Hey kid… you gotta… lose some weight” he grunted jokingly as he groaned in extreme effort. “Bear… cut that thing down” Johner ordered. Bear sighed to himself and very solemnly pulled out his machete then began to cut away at the harness around his chest.

Johner noticed his cuttings. “HEY BEAR! NO BEAR DON’T!” Johner screamed but Bear knew that it would still be too much weight for Johner to carry them both. “BEEEAAAAAR!” Johner yelled.

Bear spotted a group of beasts crawling up the shaft and cut the final harness restraint and his body fell but then jolted as it was held by a lone rope, connecting his body to Pippy’s.

Pippy cried out. “NO BEAR. PLEASE DON’T, WE CAN MAKE IT!” he cried out but then Bear looked to them as a tear rolled down his face.

“Goodbye, friends” he said and cut the final rope. His body fell past the sublevel floor and down the shaft, knocking down several off the beasts with him. Not a single scream could be heard but they all knew that the creatures were devouring Bear’s probably still living body.

“BUCK!” Johner yelled then easily curled his body back up with Pippy now on his back. Pippy grabbed around Johner’s shoulders as Johner raced back up the ladder.

At the top Star Dust gulped as she realized that the creatures would soon be upon them. She tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked. Shining give me your pistol” she ordered and Shining willingly gave her his Berretta M9. She smiled then turned the gun to its former owner.

“Nothing personal” she commented then shot Shining in the shoulder, knocking him back in pain as the 9mm round slammed through him, shattering his shoulder blade .

“BITCH!” Johner yelled and she laughed maniacally then quickly exited the door, locking it behind her. Johner quickly reached the top of the ladder and helped Shining to his hooves.

They both tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. “Oh Celestia dammit!… STAR DUST, OPEN THIS DOOR. DAMMIT, DO YOU HEAR ME, OPEN THIS DOOR!” Shining yelled but she didn’t listen. 

Star Dust was breathing heavily. ‘That was way too close for comfort’ she thought with a sly smile. Back in the shaft way Johner banged on the door but then looked down to see the tentacle beasts swarming about below them. He looked to Shining and sighed in defeat

> Chapter 8: Don't let me be misunderstood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Johner stepped back, the door was mostly wood and flimsy materials. He pulled the trigger on his SPAS 12 several times. The door was blown apart by the buckshot and Johner proceeded to kick the rest away then rushed into the next room.

They were in their building, but they had never seen it like this before. “Shining… where the hay are we?” Johner asked as they rushed into another room. Shining shrugged, he too had no idea. It was like the place had just appeared out of nowhere in place of theirs.

“Shouldn’t we be in the east section of our base” Johner asked and Shining nodded. They should be but this place looked nothing like there base. It was completely frozen over, just like Chrysalis’ base.

The layout was the same but everything looked… aged, seriously aged and completely frozen. They rounded into another room where Star Dust was waiting for them, already having her MP5 directed at the doorway.

Johner and Shining immediately pointed there weapons at her but Star Dust simply laughed. “Ah-ah-aah, I don’t think so. If you kill me then there’s a very likely chance that when I fall I’ll accidentally trigger the detonator plunger, killing us all” she laughed. 

Johner grunted in anger, “I’ll take that chance, as long as those things are killed in the process” he muttered and she laughed again.

“You won’t. You still have a lot to live for” she laughed. Johner was about to squeeze the trigger on his shotgun when Shining placed his hoof on the barrel and pushed Johner’s aim away from Star Dust who in turn laughed insanely. Johner gasped at Shining’s sudden motion.

“I have a wife to go home to, and on top of that she’s pregnant with twins. I need to be there so I can’t let you kill her if it risks us dying” Shining said and Johner grunted. Why all of a sudden did he need to live so badly that they couldn’t take the chance? Shining motioned with his eyes for him to look beyond Star Dust and he quickly glanced over to her then spotted what Shining was motioning for him to see.

Just behind Star Dust, a massive tentacle beast lurked in the shadows. Its drool dripped on the floor and Star Dust slowly turned around in fear then screamed as the beast lunged at her and grabbed her in its tentacles. It squeezed her tightly, breaking literally every bone in her body but also crushing the detonator into pieces.

Shining and Johner both rushed out of the room and galloped to the exterior of the building. Outside the building fared no better, the place looked like it was older than Celestia herself.

The wind howled and blew against them. Johner quickly rushed them into the storage shed and grabbed some spare arctic suits for Pippy and Shining. “What about you?” Shining asked but Johner shook his head.

“I gotta detonate that dynamite or this will have all been for nothing. Get faraway and don’t get close to the base until it goes up in a ball of fire” Johner told him as he unhooked Pippy from his back and suited him up. Shining placed a hoof on Johner’s shoulder.

“I can’t let you do that. You’ll die” Shining told him but Johner just nodded and hooked Pippy up to Shining’s back. “JOHNER! I can’t let you do this alone” Shining yelled but Johner just chuckled.

“If we all go then we’ll all die. At least this way you two can tell the story of what happened here. You have your wife and soon to be foals and Pippy has his whole life to live” Johner said as he began to load fresh shells into his shotgun.

“And you have Twilight!” Shining exclaimed and Johner chuckled.

“No I don’t… she’s her own mare. We never really clicked, you know?” Johner asked rhetorically. He pondered the thought for a moment then pulled out a small little flip open box and gave it to Shining.

Shining looked at the tiny little box and gasped as he realized what it was. Johner smiled solemnly, “Tell her something tragically romantic like… oh I don’t know, my last thoughts were of her or something” Johner chuckled sadly then pumped his shotgun.

“I’ll tell her you always loved her deeply and it broke your heart when you two separated. You know she still loves you?” he asked and Johner sighed and he looked to the ceiling as tears rolled down his face.

“Well I…” he trailed off as he got choked up with emotion. “Be seeing you Armor” Johner said sadly.

“Sparkle” Shining replied and Johner raised an eyebrow. “My last name is Sparkle. Armor is my middle name” Shining informed his friend.

“Shining Sparkle” Johner said with a chuckle. “It has a nice ring to it… Daisy” Johner said, revealing his real name, as he reached out his hoof. The two shook each other’s hooves, for the first time ever realizing one another’s true names.

Shining nodded as Johner smiled. Johner grabbed a large battery and placed it in his packsack then trotted back towards the base complex. Shining quickly rushed out into the blizzard to get away from the imminent explosion.

Johner kicked down the door to the base entrance and entered. He walked over to his old room then busted open the door to his room and grabbed his iPod. He cranked the tunes to his favourite song, the song he had listened to when he first fell in love with Twilight.


Baby do you understand me now



Sometimes I feel a little mad…


Johner entered the hallway just as three tentacle creatures burst into the hallway. Johner pulled the trigger three times on his shotgun. Each shot reporting the death of a tentacle beast as the 12gauge buckshot riddled their bodies.
But don’t you know that no one alive can always be an angel
When things go wrong I seem to be bad…

A tentacle monster lurked out of Bear’s room and Johner swung his SPAS 12 towards it then triggered another shell. The shotgun boomed in the hallway and sent the creature crashing back against the wall. Its body slumped just as Johner walked past it, the smoking 12guage combat shotgun in his hooves.


But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Johner slowly walked down the hallways as a musical solo began and several creatures burst from Golden’s old room. As Johner began to trigger off the remaining rounds in the shotgun, the creatures fell to the ground as they were struck down by Johner’s shotgun. Johner’s shotgun receiver locked open, signalling that it was empty.

Johner began loading fresh rounds into the gun then pumped it. As he pumped the eighth shell into the chamber he shoved one more into the tubular magazine to give him an extra shot in case he needed it.


Baby sometimes I’m so carefree



With a joy that’s hard to hide…


Johner entered the middle hallway where several tentacle beasts swarmed, some even clinging to the roof. Johner filled the hallway with a relentless stream of hot lead that ripped apart the horrid things.


And sometimes it seems that all I have to do is worry



And you’re bound to see my other side…


Johner loaded fresh rounds into the shotgun so that he wouldn’t run dry at a bad time. He continued down the middle hallway then a larger beast burst from Pippy’s old room. Johner triggered his shotgun and again the base was echoed with the iconic gunshot from the mighty shotgun. The creature’s head tentacle was blown clean off and Johner simply walked past it as he loaded another fresh shell into his shotgun.


But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Johner turned right at the end of the hall and entered another hallway. There were several of the nightmarish creatures in this corridor which Johner quickly dispatched. Red 12guage shells bounced off the frosty floor and smoke emulated from the ends of each one.


If I seem edgy I want you to know



That I never mean to take it out on you…


Johner booted down the door to the room with the ladder leading down to the subterranean caverns. He unfolded the SPAS 12’s folding stock and used the arm hook to effectively hold it with one hoof as he descended down the ladder to the depths below.


Life has its problems and I get my share



And that’s one thing I never meant to do



Because I love you…


As Johner descended a hellish creature began to scurry up the ladder towards him but Johner simply pointed the shotgun barrel downwards and squeezed the trigger, filling the shaft with a wall of buckshot that knocked the creature down.


Oh, oh baby don’t you know I’m human



Have thoughts like any other one…


Johner reached the midlevel floor and looked upwards. Several of the creatures looked down at him and he pointed his shotgun barrel straight up and triggered it several times. The blasts blew off several of the creatures’ heads and also managed to chip away at the ice in the shaft way. Johner reloaded his shotgun then began to descend the second ladder.


Sometimes I find myself long regretting



Some foolish thing, some little simple thing I’ve done…


As Johner reached the bottom of the ladder he lept down and quickly acquired his first target. He began to relentlessly trigger the shotgun, cutting down several of the terrifying creatures.


But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Johner walked along on his hindlegs as he reloaded the shotgun. Tentacle beasts swarmed down the hallways but 
Johner would quickly dispatch them with a blast from his SPAS 12.

A musical solo began again as he reached the tunnel way were they had placed all the explosives. He could hear the screeches of the horrid nightmare creatures as they tried to find him.

He pulled out the battery from his packsack and placed it on the ground near a large cluster of dynamite sticks. The musical notes began again.


Yes I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Several of the creatures entered the hallway and Johner began to hip fire the shotgun, spraying deadly pellets of buckshot into the creatures, killing them and knocking them back into the others. He quickly ran out of ammo but that was fine, they were dead but he could hear more coming his way.

He quickly cut the detonator cords and peeled back the plastic cover to reveal the inner wires. Johner, or Daisy, let out one final defeated sigh of regret then smiled as tears flowed from his eyes. “I love you Twilight” he whispered then pressed the wires to the terminals on the batteries just as the final notes of the song played.


Yes I’m just a soul whose intentions are good



Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…


Outside, a little further away, sat Shining and Pippy. The explosion was massive and rocked the ground around them. Shining let out a saddened sigh.

Pippy looked to his commander. “How do we get home?” Pippy asked and Shining’s face became expressionless as he watched their camp go up in flames. He looked back to Pippy.

“Maybe we shouldn’t” he said with no expression whatsoever.

“So… what do we do?” Pippy asked with a mixture of concern and curiosity in his voice.

Shining looked back to the flame engulfed camp. He looked back to Pippy. “Why don’t we just wait here for a little while… see what happens” Shining offered tiredly as exhaustion began to set in, that and the temperature rise given off from the flames got his body cozy but it wouldn’t be wise to fall asleep here, not with the climate the way it was.

Pippy nodded solemnly, saddened that they had given up after all they had been through. Even after they had technically succeeded and lived through it, they would still perish in the end.

Shining pulled out a bottle of wine and offered it to Pippy but he shook his head. “I don’t drink” Pippy informed Shining who chuckled then brought the bottle back to himself.

He popped open the cork top and raised it to his sticky wet lips. “Neither do I” he whispered as he took a drink from the bottle. He took the bottle away and once again offered it to Pippy who this time accepted the offer and took a large drink from the bottle. Shining gave a faint smile as he slowly leaned his head back against a pile of snow and closed his eyes.

The ever fading warmth of the flame engulfed camp put him at ease as he settled down and closed his eyes. He held Johner’s proposal ring box in his hooves, inside the box he had written on a piece of paper ‘For Twilight Sparkle, from Johner. He always loved you.’ Shining had written it in case some-pony one day found their bodies.

The fire from the base continued to flicker and illuminated the cold dark winter plains of the arctic. Pippy continued to have a drink from the bottle as Shining let out one final, defeated chuckle and then allowed himself to be consumed by fatigue