//------------------------------// // Two Birds One Stone // Story: War Pony // by CreeperZone //------------------------------// After they had packed, reloaded and rested, Hopeful and his crew yet again found themselves traversing the snow-capped landscape. The only thing differentiating this journey from any other was their unusually happy moods. “... and at the last second, BANG BANG BANG, they all fell and then their grenades went off, blowing them up all around us!” Quick recounted the battle as exuberantly as he could with gestures and sound effects, excitement beaming off of him. “Yes, we understand, Quick, you're a hero. But would you mind not walking so close darling? You still reek of blood.” Glisten held her nose as Quick hopped around. While most of them ditched their camouflage, which protected them from the blood splatter, Fury and Quick's clothes were drenched. Quick stepped more to the side. “As blindingly awesome as I am, the real hero here is Hopeful. Not just his excellent command, but he's also the one who found the base, after all.” “Please, Quick, you give me too much credit. I was about to give up before whatever that thing was blew away the clouds.” Hopeful watched the skies, wondering if it was around. “You guys saw that thing too?” Basalt asked. “The big, wispy, glowing thing.” “I thought that was just the sunlight bouncing off the clouds in a weird way. I mean, when's the last time we've seen proper sunshine like that?” Quick added. “I've heard of many-a-creature from books and such. Manticores, Hydras, Ursas, but I've never read anything about a snow-ghost,” Glisten said, trying to think of more monsters. Fury sighed aloud. “Can you stop talking about this like it was a living creature? It was shiny snow in a blizzard. Nothing more to it.” “Well, Darling, it seems to me like you lack imagination,” Glisten smirked. “And it seems to me you lack realism,” Fury retorted. Hopeful piped up, “You two, no bickering. Basalt, you got the time?” Basalt took out a small, standard issue pocket watch. “Three hours till sundown, sir.” “We've got an hour left to search before we gotta go back. Keep your eyes peeled, everypony,” Hopeful spoke aloud to everyone. “What exactly are we looking for again?” Basalt asked him. “A patch of cloud that's darker than normal. They'll be setting up tents and weapons and we should be able to see their shadows,” Hopeful answered. They kept trotting along, side-by-side, searching for the Pegasi and chatting. But after a while, as their legs grew weary, they took rest at the roots of a dead thicket. They split their last rations and Quick and Fury went to try and wash out some of the blood out of their uniforms using the snow. The temperature began falling as the sun lowered. The adrenaline of the battle had faded away and the shivers returned to the ponies. They lit a small fire to huddle around, warming themselves to prepare for the rest of the journey. Fury came back to sit next to the fire carrying his jacket in his mouth, he dropped the soaked jacket close the the flames to heat it up. Glisten looked around to see if Quick was coming back too, Fury then said to them, “He's nearly done, and he said he wanted to talk to you, Hopeful.” Hopeful lifted up his head from staring at the waving flames in confusion. “Why?” “He didn't say.” Fury lifted up his hooves, pointing them into the fire for warmth. Hopeful reluctantly stood up from the fire and trotter a short way to where Quick was scrubbing his jacket off a tree trunk. “Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of wool?” Quick smiled. “Not really,” Hopeful said as he got closer, looking over his shoulder at the fire then back at Quick. “Really fucking hard.” Quick stopped scrubbing to show a light pinkish red staining his jacket. “You didn't bring me away from the comfort and heat of the fire to talk about laundry, did you?” Quick stood up and threw his jacket onto his shoulder. “I wanted to see how you were doing. Before the fight you got pretty fucking angry. I won't lie, I was somewhat concerned, but you seem to be coming back to your regular self. So really I just want to ask how you're holding up.” “Alot better  actually. I will admit that fight was a huge relief, you know... After what happened...” Hopeful let his head fall down. Quick walked up to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Wicker would be proud, just like my brother would be proud of me.” “She would, yeah... you're right.” Hopeful nodded. “We still got work to do though. There's still Pegasi flying up there and we gotta fix that. As my father used to say, ‘only good kind o' Pegasus is a dead Pegasus.’” Quick gave him a hearty hoofshake. “We should go, we're shedding daylight.” “Yeah  go get warmed up, I'll join you in a bit...” Hopeful then watched as Quick trotted back to the group and was welcomed back in delight. Hopeful took a breath and leaned a hoof onto a nearby tree, he dropped his head downward and sighed. “You're doing the right thing, Hopeful.” He said to himself in reassurance. “She would be proud.” “So, there it is...” Hopeful watched through his binoculars as a flurry of shadows crossed the sky in the distance. A machine gun was cocked behind him and shortly after, the other gun too. Hopeful spoke silently, almost to a whisper. “We're doing this one by the books. Quick, I want you on offensive fire. Fury, defensive.” The two of them nodded to his order. Hopeful looked over at the two mares building the mortar. “Basalt and Glisten, once you're done assembling it we're gonna start by focusing on that large shadow over there.” He pointed up at the clouds where a very large dark patch stood, and slightly getting bigger as things were brought there by the Pegasi. “From the looks of it, it's a couple of tents, or maybe they're building a cannon. Either way it's our target.” Glisten and Basalt finished putting the mortar together and began aiming it. “Alright, on my mark we clear those clouds up and begin firing. We need to do this fast if we want to get them all this time. Fury, keep your eyes open. If they don't get shot down by Quick, I want you to make sure to get 'em before they get close. I don't want to be killed by a falling corpse. “Ready with the mortar?” Basalt nodded with her eye in the sight, right on target. “Make sure to account for the wind, it's picking up again.” “Yes'sir,” she said, gently tilting the mortar to the right. “Well, if everyone's ready...” Hopeful crawled down onto his stomach and equipped his rifle. “FIRE!” A ground pounding thud blasted as smoke popped from the mortar and the shell pierced the sky. The clouds were swirled in a beautiful fluffy cone and a burst of fire which lite up the sky like the morning sun. Revealing what looked like cloud-brick buildings and ponies on the other side, the gap in the clouds landed just before their target, giving Quick a perfect area to rattle his machine gun into. Quick sprayed his gunfire. At this distance, it was difficult to see what was going on up there, but as Pegasus after Pegasus fell, it became quite clear their plan was working perfectly. Hopeful watched through the iron-sight of his rifle, smiling at his troops’ performance. Fury saw several shadows scatter around. He started taking them out one by one, starting with the closest ones and making his way to the further Pegasi, taking several shots for each one until they fell. The Pegasi rained from the sky. Splats of blood were seen in the distance, dotting the landscape. Hopeful, though pleased, became worrisome. As he counted Pegasi after Pegasi, there seemed to be far more then they saw escape from the military camp. Hopeful thought to himself, “This can't be another base, can it? Why would they have two so close to each other?” Hopeful laid down his rifle and inspected the clouds with his binoculars again. He tried to find what their original target actually was, “It can't be...” he whispered to himself. He could no longer find what was causing the large shadow. As bullets kept whizzing by, mortar shells were shot at a constant, tight pace and more and more Pegasi kept hitting the dirt. The Pegasi began retreating. Several small flight groups could be seen flying directly away from them. As Hopeful saw them escape, his attention was grabbed by something even further away. Where the Pegasi were flying was an immense, brooding storm. Hopeful gasped at its size, the wind thrashing so quickly it formed together into a supercell. A supercell that began swallowing up the clouds and snow as it became coated white with them. Its size and power could be heard and felt from where they laid. His astonishment was interrupted by Basalt shaking him on his shoulder. He shook his head and turned around to look at her. “Hopeful, what do we do now? They're flying away and they started a twister!” Quick marveled in horror. “How the fuck did they make that so fast?” Hopeful stood up. “They didn't.” “What do you mean they didn't? Who the fuck else controls the weather?!” Quick shouted over the loudness of the winds. “They couldn't make something that big that fast. Something else made that thing... And we're going to use it to our advantage.” Fury stood up to face Hopeful. “What the hell makes you think they aren't controlling it? And even if they aren't, how are we going to use a fucking storm against Pegasi!?” “Firstly, I have fucking binoculars and I can see it's not them!” Hopeful walked up right into Fury's face. “And second, we're going to use it ‘cause they can't go through it, can they? If they did, they would end up dead, or a minimum of breaking a wing. So they're gonna have to fly away from it. They certainly ain't flying this way to us so they're gonna scatter to the left and right. All we have to do is go there and shoot 'em down.” Glisten looked up from the mortar. “Darling, I believe you're forgetting, we can't outrun a flyer.” “We can in this fucking weather.” Hopeful grabbed his helmet and held it to his head from the fear of it blowing off of his head. “Quick and Fury, both of you run in opposite directions for a few hundred meters or so with your machine guns. Hopefully you'll be able to pick the rest of them off. We'll all meet back up where we set up camp earlier.” “Whatever you say. Hope you're right about this,” Quick said as he pulled his gun out of the snow and began running to the left. “I doubt it. There are Pegasi in that twister. Maybe not the ones we we're shooting at, but there are still some in there.” Fury picked his gun up. “But if you want to waste time with this, then I guess I'll see you all at the rendezvous.” Fury turned and galloped the opposite way. “So you're absolutely sure that storm isn't the Pegasi..?” Glisten asked before seeing Hopeful throw his binoculars at her hooves. She stepped a hoof on it and slid the strap around her head as it flapped in the air. She lifted it up and blinked her eyes, adjusting her sight. Hopeful watched her reaction of terror. Her head edged back, eyes widened and ears flinched down. She zoomed the binoculars in further and then let out an “Oh my...” before jumping back and letting the binoculars fall and hang around her neck as she put a hoof against her muzzle and shut her eyes, holding back the urge to vomit. “What? Whatcha see?” Basalt hopped up. “Umm... Nothing darling... Just a pony getting ripped in half by a flying tree...” Glisten returned the binoculars. “I believe you, but now what are we going to do?” “Split up, try get any Pegasi Fury and Quick miss. First, we're gonna need to disassemble that mortar.” “Yes, Sir.” Basalt saluted then kneeled down and began packing up the mortar. “But, Sir, umm... where do you think all the rest of those Pegasi came from? You said only twenty or so escaped, but there seems to be at least a hundred up there.” Hopeful peered through the binoculars and watched as Pegasi struggled to fly against the high speed winds, they were so far away that even the binoculars struggled in showing detail due to the growing blizzard. “It could be another military base... although those buildings were made of cloud and not metal... I honestly don't know...” Hopeful jumped as he heard rattling echo in the distance. He brought up his rifle to the front of his chest, “If I can trust you two to pack that mortar, I'll be off.” Basalt lifted her head from what she was doing to salute, “You can count on us.” Then the tube of the mortar fell on its side as she let it go. Glisten sat down to help, “You can count on one of us at least...” she said, giving Basalt a sly look. Basalt was taken back, insulted. “And what's that supposed to mean, Miss Fancy Glitter?” This just confused Glisten. “Did you mean that to be an insult? You said it like it was, but it did not sound like one.” Hopeful rolled his eyes. They both saw and apologized, quickly returning to dead-eyeing each other. “Be at the rendezvous in twenty minutes.” Hopeful began trotting slowly through the snow in the direction of Quick's gunfire. As he went off, he shouted over his shoulder with a smile, “AND NO KILLING EACH OTHER!” Basalt jokingly replied, “No promises!” After a hearty jog, Hopeful found decided to lay down where he ended up, nearly halfway between where Quick was and where Basalt and Glisten were. He dug himself into the snow, with a shiver he aimed his rifle up at the skies. The distant rattling kept on banging in irregular patterns. From the distance, he could see the tornado not just moving closer to them, but growing as well. Every few far off shots was complemented with a Pegasus flying to the dirt, far away like specks of mud being cleaned from the white sheets of the clouds. Hopeful aimed his rifle and watched for any Pegasi coming his way. After a lengthy wait, he saw a pegasus, flying underneath the clouds to not deal with the winds above them. Hopeful raised his rifle, took a breath and shot it out of the sky, cocking the bolt-action like clockwork. “One.” The Pegasus never saw it coming as Hopeful lay in the snow like a cold-hearted, unseen assassin. Another Pegasus flew not too far away from the one Hopeful had shot. It tried to push through the clouds to fly above them, but alas, on its way up it was shot in the wing, causing it to nosedive. Again like clockwork. “Two.” And again... “Three.” ...it continued... “Four.” ...like clockwork. Then a silence, for a brief moment. Hopeful stared, with cold, dead eyes. Still looking. Nearly a minute later, a whole group of them flew in his direction, with ten or so Pegasi shadows blending in with each other and the ever-darkening cloud as the sunset drew nearer. Hopeful knew he wouldn't be able to get them all, but he didn't care. He wanted as many as he could get. So he shot the last four shots in his clip in sequence, “Five, Six, Seven, Eight...” As far as he could tell all of his shots missed, his last one was aimed directly above him as the Pegasi whooshed past him. He dropped his head down to reload his gun. He popped the empty clip out and from his belt he took out a new clip and slipped it into the top of the rifle. His spine then flinched as he heard the sound of his nightmares once again. A screech. Right above him. He winced at his own stupidity, he shouted at himself in his own head. “FUCK, WHY DID I REVEAL MY POSITION, FUCK, I SHOULDN'T HAVE GOT GREEDY, I SHOULDN'T HAVE... FUCK! FUCK... FUuu...” The noise became loud enough he could feel the bomb looming over him, but a gust of wind came from behind in a swoosh, brushing along his mane, the screeching stopped. “Huh..?” He raised his head from between his hooves. Slowly. Ever so slowly. His head shuddering and body trembling. His breath left his mouth in with a frosty white fog. He arose onto his shaking hooves. In front of him were skid marks scraped against the snow and unearthed the dirt beneath it. At the end of those skid marks was something Hopeful wished he never had saw again. There stood a pony, a Pegasus specifically. She had a yellow coat, covered in patches of snow. Her mane was a smooth, golden colour. Although it had been made humble with the passage of time, it had lost its flowy complexion and instead looked rough and ridged underneath her steel helmet. She was making it too her hooves after her impromptu landing. She was holding something gray and shiny, Hopeful put two and two together and figured she was holding the bomb that nearly ended his life. Hopeful watched in awe as she opened her wings powerfully, spreading them far and wide, and like a majestic hawk she pounced into the air. “HEY, GET FUCKING BACK HERE!” Hopeful cocked his newly loaded rifle and shot at her as she made it only a few meters into the air. “ONE!” The bullet whizzed by her, shocking her, she turned her head and locked eyes with Hopeful and they exchanged enraged stares. Then she blasted away, directly upward. Faster than any Pegasus Hopeful has ever seen. Hopeful kept shooting, but even he could not hit such a swift and nimble target. “TWO, THREE, FOUR!” He shot one last round just as she touched the cloud, holding dearly onto the bomb in her left hoof. The bullet pierced her armor and shattering her shoulder-bone. The impact force spun her in a circle and begin falling. “FIVE, BITCH!” She regained control from her spinning nosedive, using the speed of the fall to propel herself forward and away from Hopeful. He jumped down onto his back, facing away from the tornado and towards the Pegasus. She was making her escape, again nearly at cloud cover, this time much further away from him. He panicked at the thought of her escape and shot two of his rounds, “Six, seven... shit.” Both shots missed as she weaved back and forth against the winds. Hopeful pushed off the snow and flipped over onto his stomach, he took a deep breath, inhaling the blisteringly cold air into his lungs. With his last shot, he felt the adrenaline flow through him, the feeling of fire in his heart and pure concentration made time slow for him. He saw every flap of her wings, she was only getting faster and would be gone in only a few seconds. He had the shot lined up. Hoof over the trigger. Slightly hesitant. He found himself tearing up with anger. Her voice echoed in his head. “...its nothing personal...” He clenched his eyes shut. He dismayed the though with a shake of his head. Opened his eyes, now flowing with tears. With the flick of the trigger, he sent his last bullet careening at her. “Eight... Huhhhh...” Hopeful dropped his head into the snow with shut eyes, breathing heavily. His ears perked up, the hushed screech of a Pegasus falling in the distance made him smile. He raised his head to see the explosion he was expecting from the bomb she was holding. But once he heard the thud of her body hitting the cold earth hidden behind a hill, no explosion erupted. The sound of the ongoing storm muffled any other noise and consumed the atmosphere. Hopeful wiped his eyes with the side of his leg, and stumbled up onto his hooves. “What the fuck?” He tried to walk forward, collapsing into the snow, feeling weak. He tried once more, forcing himself up. He gained pace and starting making his way up the hill that the Pegasus landed behind. He began running until he reached the top, tripping and sliding down in the snow a few meters. Standing himself up against the ground with his quivering hooves, his injured leg almost collapsed before he rolled over to sit on his behind. Snow covered him, stuck inside his clothes and helmet. His jaw shook and body shivered powerfully. He threw his helmet off to the side and looked out, trying to find where the Pegasus landed. He found himself sitting at the edge of a short drop. Beneath him lay a broken Pegasus. The bullet had gotten her in the side, spilling blood all around her. The impact of the fall disfigured her body; her ribs were smashed, a bone of one of her legs had been broken, shattered and poking through her skin. The wing she landed on was crushed completely into the dirt, leaving feathers around her. Her other was still trying to flap in a meaningless last effort. Her helmet had fallen off in the landing and some of the joints in her armor stabbed into her and made blood seep through small gaps in the metal sheets. She limply winced on the ground. The hoof she was holding the bomb in was empty, and a small, messy, bloody trail led away from her and beneath Hopeful where there seemed to be a short cave. Hopeful scooted to the very edge before hopping down, landing on his side and then standing up. He tumbled toward the Pegasus. Once he had gotten close enough he could see her cutie mark. Three small suns, each with a smile on its face. Standing above her, she looked up at him in hatred. Her jaw quivered, chest inflating and deflating trying to catch a breath. Blood dribbled out of her mouth as she pushed herself to speak. “Fufufff... Fff... Fffuck, Y-yyy... Youuu... Heartless-sss... Ba- bastards...” Her eyes swelled up in tears. Hopeful looked down at her, enraged. “You kill my wife and daughter, in cold blood, and you call me heartless...” He placed the tip of his bayonet onto her throat. Unfazed by his threat, she replied. “I-iiv'e done... Aa-a lot of shit... I-ii... I re-regret... Bubbu-but never like wh-wha... What you just did...” She looked directly into Hopefuls eyes, inciting a small flicker of fear. “Kill... Me... Already...” she said as loudly and angrily she could. “What have I done that could even POSSIBLY compare to you murdering my family?!” He pressed the blade against her neck. “Mmmu-murder… ering a ff-few dozen.” Blood soaked her slowly blinking eyes. Hopeful raised his head, face covered in shock and realization. He inspected his rifle, it was splattered with blood. “Did... Did we attack..?” “An-nn, innoce-cennt-t, civ... civilian town, and you kn-nnew... You fuffu...fucker... Don't you dare lie.” She coughed violently several times, blood oozing out of her mouth. “I-I... D-did I just...” He felt the surge of tears bursting up again. He spun and chucked his rifle behind him. It landed in the snow with a crunch. “Why..? Why did you retreat to a town? Not a military base?” “We di… didn't go there to retreat… We went th-tthere to evacuat-tte it… What, didn't-tt think... of… that..? T-ttipical fu-fucking ant... now finish y-your damn job and JUST, KILL, ME-EE-eee... And leave...” shouting took a lot out of her, making her take a moment to catch her breath. Hopeful turned back to her and looked at the bloodied trail leading from her hooves. He walked up right beside her. “What were you holding? That wasn't a bomb was it...” She glared at him as he said that. She gestured to him to come closer, which he reluctantly did, leaning down beside her. While he wasn't looking, she brought her wing to her side reaching down to something. She shouted into Hopefuls ear, “I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER!” And with a flick of her wing, she brought out a grenade, holding it straight up. Hopeful's eyes jumped, he instinctively turned and kicked the wing holding the grenade with his hind leg and and threw himself backwards and while he fell the explosion launched him outwards, rolling toward the cave. He stared up at the sky, on his back. Feeling the freezing, looming of death that he barely avoided. Looking up he saw the Pegasus that was still in the blast radius had been killed. Her corpse even more horrifying than before as parts of her flesh were blasted off, revealing bone. Hopeful sat, terrified. His head shaking, he eased it down to rest in his blood covered hooves. He never had felt so full of fear and confusion. He opened his eye and brushed the trail beneath him with his hoof. He found himself sitting next to his rifle, which he wrapped around and behind his saddlebags without thinking. He began making a thorough inspection of the dirt as he saw hoofprints between the blood and cleared snow. He saw they were small, but the shock had left his thoughts a scramble and he could not grasp what it was. Then he heard something from behind, something more fear-invoking than a screecher bomb, something more intense than a machine gun rattling at his side, something that Hopeful heard every night in his nightmares. A young, tired, scared voice came from behind him inside the cave. It was very gentle and innocent, quiet as a butterfly. “Mommy..?” Hopefuls spine shot up, mouth open. With great caution he turned his head, leaning on a hoof to see behind him. A filly, she stood at the edge of the cave entrance, only poking out a curious little head. She had a grey, shiny coat and mane. Her cheek had a streak of blood across it. She looked the same height as SugarCoat, she most likely the same age as Sugar when she was killed. She saw Hopeful and was terrified. She ducked her head down behind the corner. Hopeful stood straight up. Walking up to the shadowed entrance, he could hear her shiver and whimper as she hid, frightened for her life. He gently moved forward, placed a light hoof onto the cold stone edging the entrance. He leaned his head in and saw the filly. She covered her face with her wings, trying to conceal herself. Keeping back her cry's as best as she could. Hopeful stood a hoof into the cave, the step echoed loudly. The filly screamed. “AAAAAAA!!!” It was unbearably high-pitched, so much so that Hopeful had to cover his ears. She crawled backwards until she reached the stone wall behind her, she climbed against it and covered herself with her hooves. “P-Ppplease d-d-dd, don't hurt m-me! I-I, I didn't do anything-inggg...” Hopeful ran up to her, his fatherly instincts rushing back to him as he watched this little filly plead for her life. “I'm not here to hurt you, I'm... I'm here to help...” She saw him get closer and tried to curl up into a ball, “NO! Yy-You're one of the bad ponies! You hurt mommy and now you're going to hurt meee-eee...!” Her hooves were soaked in tears. “No, I-I...” Hopeful could not bare to see her cry, he ever-so slowly lowered a hoof to her shoulder. “I'm not here to hurt anypony.” She flinched down into the ground when she was touched, expecting to be hit. But as nothing happened she opened an eye to look at him. Her head shook at first, slowly calming. “You're n-nn, not one of the bad ponies?” Hopeful took a look at himself, knowing what he was about to say was a blatant lie. “No, I'm not one of the bad ponies.” He sat down and tried once more to comfort her, this time she let him place his hoof on her shoulder. “Y-you're a Pegasus?” She smiled, blissfully full of relief. Hopeful panicked, “Ugh... Y-yes... Yes! I am, I'm here to help you.” Something in his stomach churned as he said that, it almost disgusted him on a primal level, yet he found that disgust quickly turned back onto him as he began hating himself for what he had done to the Pegasi. He was no better than them, if not worse. The filly sat up and gaped at him, “But where are your wings?” Fear began returning to her expression. Hopeful knew there was no going back now, “Ugh, their... Their under my clothes.” This still had not put her at ease, “Bu-bu, but that's the bad pony clothes.” “It's... It's a disguise! I'm trying to hide from them... The... The bad ponies...” As much as Hopeful hated referring to his friends and his race like that, he agreed with the statement more every time he heard it. “But why don't you just fly away?” She had stopped trembling, but still wisely cautious. “I, I can't, my wing is hurt... I got shot...” He turned his side to her, showing his bloody overcoat. While it was Pegasus blood, it surely wasn't his own. “I... I got shot too.” She raised her left hoof, whimpering. Hopeful saw there was an entrance and exit wound from a M1 Gallop rifle round in the center of her leg. “Here, let me patch you up.” Hopeful turned to drop his saddlebag on the ground, as he searched through it to find his bandages she screamed again. “AAAAAA! You are a bad pony! That's a gun! You have a gun!” she fell onto her back. Hopeful jolted up out of his saddlebag and saw his rifle that he had dropped along his bags. “No, no! That's just part of the disguise! It's not even real!” He went and picked up his rifle swiftly. “It, i-it looks real. If it's not, then prove it!” she raised herself up slightly. “Uh...” Hopeful looked at the one-hundred-percent real gun in his hooves, he then remembered earlier, “Eight... Eight... EIGHT!” He thought to himself, realizing the gun was empty and he had not reloaded it since. “Look, of course it's fake! It doesn't even shoot!” He pointed the gun at the ground, clicking the trigger several times. The tiny filly sighed, she looked up at Hopeful. “I'm sorry mister, I get easily frightened... My mommy taught me how to be safe... She told me to hide in here and not make a peep and wait until I can't hear nothin' from outside... But I became scared when I heard the boom so I peeked out... I'm sorry...” “It's fine, don't apologize. Let me just bandage you up.” He brought out a roll of combat bandages and crouched down beside her. She squeed in pain when Hopeful first touched the wound, but became calm soon enough. While he bandaged her Hoof, he tried to reassure her as much as he could. “I'm going to get you all healed up, then bring you home. Don't even worry SugarCoa-” Hopeful shook his head and held back a wave of emotion, the filly raised her head in curiosity. Hopeful quickly tried to make up for his slip up, “I think I meant to ask you what your name was, little filly.” Sheepishly she replied, “I'm... I'm Shine, Celestial Shine.” “That's a beautiful name Shine... Very beautiful.” Hopeful felt the tears swell up as he bit of the end of the bandage. “Now Shine, we're going to have to get out of here, its... it's not safe for a young filly...” “Mommy can fly me away! She could help you too!” The filly stood onto her hooves, testing her bandaged leg. Hopeful glanced over his shoulder at Shines mother's corpse, laying in the burnt snow. It was just as revolting as when earlier. The scent seemed to also have attracted a crow, as one was pecking on her crispy flesh. Hopeful lowered his head. “I'm sorry, Shine...” She twisted her head from side to side, confused, innocent. Her eyes became watered, her vague smile melted into a tormenting frown. “Bubu-but mm, mm... Mommy?” She collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. Hopeful reached down and wrapped his compassionate hooves around her. Lifting up the weeping filly to his shoulder, for her to cry on. He hummed a song to her, the song he always sung to his daughter to comfort her. He stood up, picked up his bags and walked out with Shine as she balled her eyes out. He stepped around her mother's body, hiding the horror from Shine with his hooves, and began walking into the distance. “Let's get you home.” Hopeful had been walking for ten or so minutes. Celestial Shine had fallen asleep on his shoulder as he trudged along. Tired, cold and confused. Hopeful had no idea what he was going to do. Although one thing he knew for certain, he would not let this filly die in his care as long as he lived. He had taken off his jacket once she fell asleep and wrapped her in it, keeping her warm and more importantly her wings concealed. Without his jacket, the weather was far harsher than he ever remembered, but every shiver and painful step was worth it. He eventually stumbled onto the small patch of trees that they had set up camp at, and currently acting as their meeting place. As he walked up to the fire pit he found he was the first to arrive. He set down the filly, peacefully asleep beside the fireplace and stood up to go search for sticks and branches to act as firewood. As he walked in the general direction in which he came, picking up sticks in his mouth, he spotted a pony running up to him. “Hopeful! You were right! We got 'em all!” Quick Draw, very excited, galloped to Hopeful. “Did you see any of that?! I mean wow ri-” He became curious about Hopefuls condition. “What happened to your helmet, and jacket? Did a Pegasus take them? Did you get into a hoof fight?” Hopeful dropped the sticks and put a hoof onto his forehead, trying to speak through a migraine. “I just... It's been... I-I dunno... It's complicated.” Quick looked over at the fire pit, seeing the filly. “Hopeful, is that a child?” “As I said... it's very complicated...” Hopeful squinted his eyes at the headache he was developing. Quick sprinted up to the fire. Hopeful ran after him in a panic. “Don't worry about her! I found her in a cave, she's hurt. I'm gonna bring her back and try find her a home.” Hopeful put a hoof in front of Quick, blocking his path to her as they stood around the fireplace. Quick pushed Hopefuls hoof away, “Chill out, I just want to see her.” He crouched beside her and watched her as she gently snored in her sleep. Hopeful became frozen in the spot, he didn't want Quick to know she was a Pegasus but he also knew that Quick would know something's up if he acted suspicious and tried to stop him. “She's...” Hopeful felt his pounding heartbeat as Quick inspected her, “She's adorable.” Quick said standing up, letting Hopeful release a sigh. “Whats her name?” Hopeful shook his head, trying to remember, “Sh-sh... Shine, her name is Celestial Shine.” “Well she looks cold, better get this fire started, and maybe then you can tell me how in the heavens you found her.” Hopeful shook from the lack of heat, “Yea... lets.” “Didn't you drop a bunch of sticks over there?” Quick pointed. “Yeah, let me get them...” Hopeful hobbled to where the sticks were, slowly arching down to pick them up. Quick shouted to him from the fireplace, “Hey, my lighter is out. I'm gonna use yours.” Hopeful raised his head, patting the side of his chest where he kept his lighter in his pocket. The pocket in his jacket. He turned around and saw Quick, a shocked expression on his face as he stared unblinking at the filly with a newly exposed wing. Quick turned his neck to reach for his pistol. Hopeful galloped, through the pain. Jumping onto Quick, leaving both of them rolling in the snow. Quick tried to get to his hooves and reason with Hopeful in a cold, angry tone. “That's a Pegasus, Hopeful! How the FUCK did you not notice?” His reached down to pick up his pistol. Hopeful attempted to reason back. “Are you really going to shoot a filly? Are you a psychopath!?!” Hopeful stood up with him. Quick holstered his pistol. “I can snap her neck if you don't want to waste the ammunition.” Hopeful was disgusted. “It's only an innocent little filly. She's done nothing to you! She can't even defend herself! Don't you care in the slightest?” “Hopeful, they killed my brother in cold blood, he was just as young. DO YOU THINK THEY CARED?!” Quick walked up nose-to-nose with Hopeful. “And do you want to stoop to their level? If you kill her, you’re no better than them.” Hopeful kept blocking his path as Quick tried to walk around him. “ITS CALLED REVENGE, HOPEFUL! THEY FUCKING DESERVE IT!” “But she doesn't. She didn't kill your brother.” Hopeful placed a hoof on his chest, trying to keep him away from her. “Hopeful... I want you to think about what you're doing right now... Do you really want to defend a Pegasus?” Quick shoved Hopeful to the side, “Now let me deal with this.” He drew his pistol at Shine. Hopeful leapt in front of Quick's gun barrel. “If you want to kill her, your going have to kill me.” Hopeful looked Quick dead in the eyes, so fearlessly Quick could see the fire in them. Quick shook his head. “Come on! How many Pegasi have you killed today? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred? And you can't kill one Earth Pony?!?” Hopeful could see Quick become conflicted, he switched between anger and shock rapidly in rotation. Over the hill, Basalt Glisten and Fury walked together, seeing that Hopeful was being held at gunpoint, they charged towards them. “That's what I fucking thought.” Hopeful slapped the pistol out of Quick's teeth, launching it to the side. “You're dismissed, Private.” “What is all this? Quick why were you pointing a gun at Hopeful?” Basalt ran in front and asked Quick. Quick replied in anger, “Hopeful’s a fucking traitor! He’s stopping me from killing that Pegasus!” Hopeful turned his head to see Celestial, she had been awoken and began crying. Hopeful reached down to pick her up. “Come on, we gotta go.” She swiped away his hooves, petrified. “Yu, yu-yu you're a bad pony!” She began trembling again, seeing his lack of wings. “We don't have time for this, honey...” Hopeful attempted to grab her again, yet again swatted away. “I SAID WE HAVE TO GO, SUGERCOAT!” The stress had brought Hopeful to his breaking point. The filly began Hollering and screaming, Hopeful grabbed her much more aggressively, holding her down on his shoulder. He looked at the other four, Quick glaring at him, Basalt and Glisten riddled with confusion and Fury, watching with his stone cold, unmoved expression. Glisten took a step forward. “Darling, what's the meaning of this?” Hopeful shouted over the screaming filly, “We'll talk back at base.” He then turned and Hopeful began humming a song, the song he used to sing to his daughter when she was scared. “Hopeful, you know I'm never gonna shoot you.” Quick said, holding back his rage. Hopeful turned to face Quick, holding the filly as close to his chest as he could. “So I'm sorry... for this.” Quick said, before pointing a hoof behind Hopeful, shouting the word of his nightmares. “SCREECHER!” Hopeful felt the tingle down his back and instinctively he began turning his head to look behind him, wide-eyed at the clouds. Quick, using this as a distraction pulled up his rifle, and in one fluid motion, thrusted it forward at the filly. The bayonet slid into her head. Quick lifted her up, hanging from the end of his gun like a loose towel and threw her unmoving body into the snow. Hopeful felt this happen, turned around and tried to grab the filly before she was thrown off. “NOOOO!!!” He then stood, frozen like an ice sculpture, staring down at the filly he had let down, the filly he had let die. Moments passed, silence from everypony. This continued until Quick walked up right beside Hopeful and spoke. “This was the right thing to do, this is what Wicker would have wanted.” Hopeful crossed his eyebrows, infuriated beyond reasoning, he slammed a punch directly into Quick's face, throwing him off balance and stumbling backward. “DON'T SAY HER NAME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” “Hopeful, calm down. Let's talk!” Basalt walked up to Hopeful and put her hoof on his shoulder. In a split second, Hopeful twisted his hoof back and slapped Basalt, causing her nose to bleed and knocking her to the ground. He then charged Quick Draw, who tried to plead. “Hopeful look what you did to Basalt! Think about what you're doing!” Hopeful however did not stop, he pounced onto Quick, knocking him onto the ground and sitting on top of him. He began punching Quick repeatedly, who tried to block himself but was no match for Hopeful’s strength. “YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE FUCKING DOING!” “Fury, stop him!” Glisten nudged Fury for him to do something. Fury tried to run up, but as Hopeful saw Fury run out of the corner of his eye, he reached and pulled out his pistol from his shoulder holster. He aimed the pistol at Fury and shouted at him, “STEH DHE PHUCK OOT OPH DHISH!” Fury stopped in his tracks, then slowly started backing away. Hopeful slammed both of Quick legs down and held them down with both of his. He looked at Quick's disfigured, bleeding face. He was coughing blood and missing teeth, his eye was bruised and blood covered his face, he stopped speaking and began sobbing and gargling on his own blood. Hopeful taught about shooting him, but that would be to fast of a death for him. So instead Hopeful restrained Quick's legs while bashing his face with the but of his pistol. He swung at him. And swung again. Blood being splashed out with each hit onto the snow. Glisten screamed out, “HOPEFUL, STOP! THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!” But Hopeful kept hitting. He could feel Quick's last breath escape his lungs as his body grew still and lifeless. Hopeful then stood up, dropped the gun and began kicking his head in, fracturing Quick's skull and eventually collapsing it entirely. “DIE, DIE, DIE!” Then he fell back, sitting next to Quick. Looking at the damage he has done. He looked up to see Basalt with a bloody nose, pointing a rifle at his forehead. “Captain Hopeful, you are under arrest on charges of high-treason.” He fell onto his back, looking up at the cloud-cover, whispering to himself. “I'm sorry Joyful... Wicker... SugarCoat...” He began to cry. “I'm so sorry.”