Twilight opened her eyes, her entire body felt sore in combination with a splitting headache.
"Welcome back to the waking world, sunshine." Someone said to her right, turning her head she found that Tyler was sitting down next to her and eating rations.
Looking out the window she saw the sun had already set, "How long was I out for?" She asked the ODST, sitting up despite the fact that she felt like crap.
"About six and a half hours. We've been dragging you along looking for a safe spot until you woke up." He explained, "After that wave hit us you started screaming and thrashing about as if you were burning from the inside out, Lucy was having serious doubts about if you'd wake up without professional help."
Twilight was silent for a moment, she remembered her magic reserves being drained due to the shield she had cast being hit and afterward the shockwave immediately overcharging it to a point where she fell unconscious. "Where are the others?" She finally asked.
"They're out on overwatch, we've been rotating shifts to get small bits of rest." He said picking up his helmet and activated his radio, "Zero one Charley to Alpha and Bravo, zero one Delta has awoken."
"Roger that Charley. Bravo return to the safehouse." Mack's voice came over the radio.
"Copy that, I'm en route. Bravo out." Lucy answered. She came walking into the room moments later followed by Mack. "How are you doing, Sparkle?" Mack asked the pony who had gotten up and was stretching out.
"Feel like crap, magic reserves are fine but my horn is still recovering from the fluctuations of magic levels I experienced. All in all, just a regular day in a war zone." Twilight answered while levitating her sniper rifle experimentally.
Mack nodded, "City's gone to hell. A second fleet arrived and started mopping up the remains of the homefleet. The ONI HQ got blown up, possibly to deny the covenant the asset, and the city is being flooded by enemy elements." Mack told the alicorn, "we were hoping to use the darkness to bug out of here and link back up with other UNSC forces."
He grabbed a paper map from his backpack and a marker, "These routes have been overrun by grunts in the past hour." He marked a few streets red alongside the ones he had already marked red. "We're going to cut through the city to the coastal highway towards the shipyards and hopefully hitch a ride from there. Move out in five."
Tyler re-packed the few things he had taken out of his backpack while Twilight checked the ammo count on both her weapons, fifty rounds for the rifle and seventy for the suppressed magnum. Satisfied with the amount of ammo she attached the weapons to magnetic clamps on either side of her barrel. Putting on her modified helmet she activated its systems again.
"Can anyone hear me? This is Captain Veronica Dare!" The team's radio came to life again.
"This is alpha three, Captain. What's your situation?" Mack immediately responded, the other three members of the team rushing outside as well.
"My beacon is active - need immediate assistance! Someone, please respond!" The captain continued, not having received Mack's transmission.
"Dammit." Mack swore while putting a new waypoint into his visr, "We're going to assist the captain. Sparkle, can you fight?"
"Yes, sir." Twilight responded, she only felt slightly sore by this point but her horn would need some serious rest before she would be able to cast anything more complicated then levitation.
The squad exited their temporary safehouse onto the street, traveling down towards the beacon the group took out a few grunts who were sleeping. "Is that beacon coming from the underground around the city's data complex?" Twilight asked as she traced the signal to its location.
"Looks like it." Tyler answered, "last reports we heard there was a high concentration of drones around that location."
"So the quick buggers then." Lucy grunted, checking the remaining ammo for her assault rifle. No-one replied to Lucy's comment but they all shared the sentiment. Moving down the street under the cover of the darkness the night provided the team made quick ground towards the elevator that connected to the underground complex, Tyler being at the front of the group turned the last corner and stopped.
"We're late to the party guys." He said as the rest caught up to him, the courtyard in front of the building that housed the elevator was littered with corpses from a previous engagement. Mack ordered the squad to spread out and investigate,
"Bodies show signs of bullet wounds, SMG rounds to be specific." Lucy noted as she looked at the wounds on one of the corpses.
"Then more of our guys have come to that distress signal." Mack said, "Get to the building, we might be able to catch up to them if we hurry up a bit."
They quickly made their way to the large building that contained the entrance to the sub-levels. When they arrived at the elevator shaft they found it pried open with the lift being somewhere down on a sublevel, "I can fly you over to the cable so you can rappel down." Twilight said as she saw the drop down.
"What's the fun in that?" Tyler replied, Twilight could see the grin on his face from under his helmet. "Tyler if you..."
"GERONIMO!" He shouted as he made a quick sprint towards the shaft and jumped, grabbing the elevator cable that was hanging in the middle of the shaft. By that point Tyler had stopped his fall Twilight was doing breathing exercises to slow her heartbeat down. Lucy looked down at her fellow ODST and turned to Twilight, "Is that offer still standing? Not everyone of us has a deathwish."
Twilight nodded and unfurled her wings, a few beats later Lucy was also hanging from the cable followed by Mack moments later. The three humans slowly slid down the shaft followed by the alicorn who had been carefully flapping her wings in the shaft to avoid hitting the cable and the wall. Finally having reached the level of the shaft where the elevator got stuck, Twilight set down. "Sub-level seven. The beacon is coming from level nine." Twilight said as she checked the location of the beacon again.
Mack nodded and made a hand signal towards one of the doors, The group making their way into the hallways found nothing short of a massacre. Bodies, both human and alien, littered the floor. Checking the police officers they came across for any signs of life. "Poor bastards never had any chance with their weaponry." Lucy observed as she picked up a low caliber pistol from one of the dead officers.
"Whatever they were down here for I'd bet my hide that that captain knows more." Twilight responded as she respectfully closed the eyes of the deceased humans as she passed them. They made their way down to a large open shaft that led down a level, a couple of drones lay dead on the ground. "Guess the other guy made it at least this far in." Tyler commented before jumping in, making a roll on impact with the lower floor. "More bodies from drones down here." He reported as the others also went down the shaft, "He's taking all the kills from us at this rate."
Rolling her eyes Twilight moved ahead into the once again similar hallways of sub-level eight, but instead of the usual silence she heard the faint sound of gunfire from somewhere up ahead, "You guys hear that?" she asked.
"Sounds like fire from an SMG." Mack said as he also picked up the sound, "We've almost caught up with our guy. Let's move!" The squad began running down the shaft towards the gunfire, passing bodies of brutes, grunts, drones and jackals alike they finally heard someone talking.
"WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The voice of an AI came from up ahead, followed by the voice of a man.
"Go ahead trooper, raise the stack." He said as the group heard a data-stack rising from the floor. Moving into the circular room that had the hole towards sub-level nine they found an NMPD officer alongside an ODST. the trooper immediately had his weapon trained on the squad of new arrivals as they entered but lowered it as he saw they were fellow operators.
"More re-enforcements! you guys mind going ahead for me? I'm not as heavily equipped as you are." The officer asked the ODST's.
"Hell yeah! you guys have been clearing the route for us, taking all the fun out of it." Tyler responded, nodding to the other ODST who nodded back and jumped down the shaft at the same moment as Tyler.
"Well you know what they say." Lucy said, "Feet First!" She said as she also jumped followed by Mack and Twilight. As all the ODST's landed a door opened revealing a swarm of drones.
"You hear that? Buggers! Down at your level." The NMPD officer shouted before he noticed that there were also drones on his level. "Oh no! They're up here too! Coming out of the damn vents!" He shouted as the Data-stack closed up again, "Get back! No! Ahhh!" They heard him shout before the opening completely sealed.
"CRIME DOESN'T PAY!" The AI announced as the squad eliminated the drones.
"What the hell?!" Lucy said, "Did the AI just kill the guy?" She asked, scared at the prospect of an AI that might or might not want them dead.
"It did." Mack answered, "Just another mystery to add to the list of things that need answering."
Making their way to the beacon's location they found themselves in a familiar hallway again only this one was frosted over as the cooling was put on overdrive. Up ahead they could hear Brutes mulling about, spreading out they readied their weapons for the inevitable engagement. Shouldering the Sniper rifle, with some support from levitation magic, Twilight took aim at the first Brute that showed its head. Pulling the trigger an ear-deafening bang rang out through the hallway as the sound had nowhere to go. The brute's skull caved in on itself as the 14,5 mm round impacted on the head of the alien, the other packmates that were with the brute charged forward but were cut down by the combined fire from the other ODST's who were waiting in an ambush for the large apes.
"All targets down." Tyler reported from up front. The others moved up with him down the hallway, "Buck? Who knows if he can hear me but... I'm sorry. I should have told you more about this mission, more...about everything." The radio came alive again with the voice of the captain.
"Dammit, we need to hurry up. She sounds as if she's about to get hit." Mack said as the group picked up the pace once again, crossing through a couple of hallways they found a swarm of drones led by a brute. Firing another round from her sniper Twilight dropped the large beast before switching to her magnum to help take out the obnoxious drones buzzing around the room.
After having cleared the room the squad went up to the door that the aliens were trying to break through, "WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The AI called out, opening the damaged door. Moving through the small hallway that lay behind the door the lone ODST took point with Mack, Twilight and Lucy following after and Tyler covering the rear. They came up on another closed door and took defensive positions facing the way out as the lone ODST knocked on the door twice. A few seconds passed before the door opened, a female standing in the opening with a drawn pistol.
"It's you! I thought..." She said before eyeballing the other ODST's her eyes stopping at Twilight, swirling her pistol around to the pony as she Identified it as an alien. Twilight having none of it used her sniper as a bat and hit the little firearm before the captain could fire it at her, pulling her pistol she aimed it at the captain.
"WHOA, Chill out everyone!" Mack shouted as he jumped in between the two soldiers, "We're all on the same side here."
"Are you sure we can trust it?" The captain asked Mack, "I've got a tier one asset here that I can't afford to lose."
"She's been with us since reach with another one of her species, Ma'am. We fought together in New Alexandria, I'll vouch for her character any day." Mack told the captain who relaxed a bit until she heard the sound of drones coming from the hallway. "Inside! Now!" She shouted, all the ODST's rushing inside as the captain closed the door behind them.
"This way, and stay quiet!" She ordered, picking up and holstering her magnum, "Some idiots blew the building at the top of the shaft. Woke the whole hive." She explained while she led the group into the AI core, walking up to a window. "Down there? That's the Superintendent. The AI that runs every system in the city. My mission — ourmission, is to secure the Superintendent's data."
The view showed drones buzzing around in the room up ahead, "Problem is, there's only one way in from here...right through the hive. It would've been suicide to go alone, and I was hoping for more backup. I guess you guys will do the trick just fine."
She walked up to the door that led down the hallway to their destination, "You guys good to go?" She asked one final time.
"Let's get this done with so we can get out of this forsaken city." Lucy said, the captain nodded and opened the door. Charging through, the group took out a few grunts and jackals. quickly making their way through the hallway towards the end of the hallway into the large chamber they had seen before. The entire roof was plastered with some sort of hive structure the drones had made. Captain Dare led them up a level in the chamber and moved towards their ultimate objective, about halfway there buzzing started coming from the hive.
"The bastards spotted us!" Lucy shouted as she opened up with her assault rifle.
"Just run!" The captain shouted as the squad ran after her picking off any drone who came to close for comfort. Twilight saw a red drone landing on a catwalk ahead and aimed her sniper at it, after firing her shot she saw it ripping through a shield that was projected around the drone, killing it instantly.
"Red ones have shields!" She reported as they ran past the corpse.
"Shouldn't matter that much now, we're almost there!" Dare shouted back, "There! That door!"
The group rushed in, the door closing behind them. "God I fucking hate those buggers." Lucy said as she reloaded her rifle, "Anyone need a medic?"
No-one answered as none of them had any wounds that needed treatment, Dare took point again and the team made their way into another large room just as a phantom started flying away.
"It won't be long before they smash through that door. Let's take them out, now!" She shouted as the group split in two, Twilight remained on the high ground while the other five approached the brutes that had been dropped off. Firing her first shot at one of the brutes the group began their familiar routine of having Twilight blow out the shield while the others took down the brute with overwhelming firepower.
That was until the brute chieftain charged in.
Being the only hostile still alive Twilight fired a round into its chest but to her surprise, the thing didn't even as much as flinch as the bullet bounced off the energy shield. The rest of the squad tried to get away from the chieftain but the large alien was already in the midst of swinging his gravity hammer.
A sickening crunch later, Tyler's body hit one of the support beams. Twilight's world slowed to a crawl as she saw the body falling limp, aiming the sniper in between the eyes of the brute she pulled the trigger. This time the bullet had its intended effect and downed the shield before penetrating into the brute's skull.
With the last enemy down Twilight attached the rifle to her side and jumped down towards Tyler's motionless body. Lucy was already at work stabilizing the ODST as the alicorn arrived, "I need your biofoam cannister Twilight." Lucy Told Twilight who immediately passed her cannister to the designated medic, "His left lung has collapsed and he probably broke every rib on that side of his body as well but his vitals are stable right now." Lucy said, putting a valve on Tyler's chest over the left lung to draw out false air so the unconscious ODST could breathe.
Grabbing the downed ODST by a handgrip on the back of his armor she dragged him along to the door.
"WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The AI said as it unlocked the door. The group continued through the hallway towards the main AI core, Twilight stayed close to Tyler as he got dragged along by Lucy. Having reached the end of the hallway they finally entered the AI core
upon entering the main core the power to the lights went out, everyone lit up their flashlights and activated their nightvision. The core itself seemed to be missing some components as something had buried itself into it.
"Don't shoot!" Dare told everyone as they had already raised their weapons at the hole in the core where an alien had just poked out its head.
"We've seen them before on other ops, but we've never gotten this close." she continued, the others lowering their weapons as Dare put her own magnum on the ground.
"Why should we trust it? Unlike Twilight it's with the covenant." Mack asked the captain.
"Best we can tell? They're prisoners, or slaves. Either way, they don't like the Covenant any more than we do." Dare explained as she walked forward, the floating alien came forward to meet Dare, "I spotted this one in the tunnels, watched it access comm lines, cameras, traffic control, you name it. Eventually, it holed up here"
Dare removed a metal piece that got stuck to the alien from its body, "ONI calls them engineers, we think they're some sort of biological supercomputer. If I'm right, this one's taken the Superintendents data and combined it with its own."
"Everything we need to know about the Covenant, what they're looking for under the city is right...in...here." She finished as she patted the engineer on its head. An alarm went off and the engineer floated over to a console, activating a camera feed that showed brutes landing in the large room next to the core.
"Damn! Buggers must have raised the alarm." Dare said as the camera panned to the door outside of the data core, revealing another ODST.
"Buck!" She shouted into the comm.
"Veronica? Where the hell are you?" The ODST replied, looking around his immediate area to see if he could spot her.
"Data Center, but we're coming out." The captain replied, motioning the others to take point.
"We?" Buck inquired.
"The rookie and another ODST squad along with another asset. Whatever you do, do not. I repeat, do NOT shoot anything pink." She replied
"Whatever you say, just come on!" Buck answered, eager to get out of the underground.
Dare picked up her pistol again, "Those Brutes are here for the Engineer. They'll kill it if they get their chance." She turned to the engineer, "You. Stay behind me. Okay?"
The rookie activated the door and the growing group exited the door, Tyler being dragged along by lucy at the back of the squad alongside the engineer. "The Engineer still has shields, but they won't last long in a firefight. Take point, clear a path to Buck." Dare ordered.
Killing a couple of brutes and other aliens over on their way to buck wasn't too hard, Lucy had switched to tylers SMG so she could shoot bursts with one hand while Twilight had ditched her pistol in favor of Lucy's Assault rifle.
"This is our exit Troopers. Head through the door." Buck shouted as the group arrived at his location, quickly heading through the door they sealed it behind them, "About this uh, asset. Feel free to fill me in whenever."
"Not now, Buck!" Dare replied as they moved through hallways to find a locked door at the end.
"Door's locked, Damn!" Buck swore as he found the door.
"Don't worry, we have a key." Dare said as the engineer floated to the door and went to work.
"I've seen hundreds of these things today! Why is this one so important?" Buck asked while he waited for the engineer to do its job.
"This Engineer knows what the Covenant is after. If I could safely capture more of them I would. What they know can win the war!" Dare replied, Buck simply replying with "Oh."
"You haven't...killed any of them, have you?" Dare asked.
"NO!" Buck replied but after a small pause added, "Well, maybe one or...two."
"Nice job." Dare said sarcastically. "How was I supposed to know?" Buck replied as the engineer finished working on the door. Up ahead where sleeping drones, ignoring them they headed to an elevator at the end of the hallway. After entering the elevator buck took off his helmet, "Whew! Lord, that thing stinks. Kinda reminds me of my-" He didn't finish his sentence as a fist hit him straight in the face.
"What was that for!?" He asked the captain.
"Abandoning the mission." Dare replied.
"What mission? You dropped off the grid! My squad was scattered-" Buck got kissed before he continued further, making the scene really awkward for everyone else in the elevator. "And that?" Buck asked as Dare released the kiss.
"For coming back." She answered.
After Dare finished her sentence she realized that the entire elevator was awkwardly trying to ignore the pair.
"You guys did good, no doubt. But we're not out of this yet." Buck said getting back on track, the elevator doors opening behind him. The group moved out into the street on their way to the shipyards.
"Captain, how about you hang back? Let us clear a path." Buck said as he turned a corner.
"Agreed. I'll stay with the asset, give it close cover." Dare replied, Lucy staying close to the captain as she was also dragging along Tyler. Coming up on a square that was being guarded by brutes alongside grunts and jackals they began a quick but ferocious firefight.
"Where are we going exactly?" Dare asked Buck, who was leading the way.
"Waterfront Highway! Fastest way out of the city." He replied as they made their way through the streets as quickly as they could. Finding another elevator at the end of the street in a building. "Sit tight. We'll need the alien to power on the switch." Buck said as the engineer started working on the elevator door, opening it moments later as it wasn't really a challenge for the alien.
The elevator opened up top on the highway, Covenant cruisers swarming in the sky above.
"When did this happen?" Dare motioned to the ships as she clearly hadn't seen them yet.
"They were starting to arrive when we went underground to find you, captain." Mack replied.
"And you waited until now to tell me that?" She raged.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we were a little busy. Making sure perfume over here didn't take a round and blow us all up!" Buck said, pointing at the engineer who made a sad sound and floated off towards a large nearby vehicle.
"Eddie Buck, always thinking with his gun. You haven't changed one bit!" Dare shouted at Buck. Twilight meanwhile was trying to stop herself from shouting at the two superior officers.
"Me? What about you? Oh, so full of big ONI secrets, couldn't even give a guy a yes or no answer!" Buck continued.
"ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted, "I've got a friend here that needs medical attention and you two are screaming at each other with your personal problems. We have a mission to complete!"
"At least someone gets it." Dare muttered, A cruiser exited slipspace above them. "We need to move. Now. Were you too busy to plan our exit?"
"I stole a Phantom. Yes. Thank you. I hid it in the shipyards down the highway. But I only have room for two, so...that thing's gonna have to sit on your lap." Buck replied, still annoyed at the captain.
Dare looked at where the engineer had been and realized that it wasn't there, "The Engineer, where did it go?" she asked, everyone looking around trying to spot the floating alien. The engine of the large vehicle the engineer had flown int revved and a tentacle from the engineer motioned for them to come over to it.
"Keep me covered. And try to keep up." Dare told Buck as she ran up to the vehicle and climbed in. Twilight and lucy also got in as mack took the wheel of a warthog that stood nearby as Buck climbed onto the turret and the rookie jumped into the passenger's seat.
In the large vehicle, Lucy and Twilight started working on making a more thorough scan of Tyler's injuries.
"He's cracked pretty much every rib on the left side of his body as well as a few on the right." Twilight mentioned as she scanned the ODST's ribcage.
Lucy nodded, "You get up top, I'll keep him stable for the moment."
Twilight hesitated for a moment, "Twilight, up top. Now." Lucy said with a commanding tone, reminding Twilight that she was, in fact, a corporal and outranked her.
"Buck, Scarab!" Dare shouted from up front as Twilight was climbing to the roof.
"I see it. Must've dropped out one of the cruisers. Just keep driving, it hasn't spotted us." Buck replied, Twilight opened a hatch on top of the vehicle and put down the bipod on the sniper.
"How the hell did you make it down this highway in one piece?" Dare asked from below her.
"There weren't that many Covenant last night!" Buck said as he blasted a group of grunts with a shot from the gauss cannon mounted on the hog.
Driving down the highway further they eventually came across a scorpion tank which the three ODST's on the hog commandeered for their own.
a bit further up an assault carrier came drifting out of the clouds, "Assault Carrier! Ten o'clock high! Look at the size of that thing!" Buck shouted.
Twilight spotted the glassing beam starting to power up, "It's targeting the City!" She shouted, the carrier starting to glass the city in the distance.
"Damn it, no! They're gonna burn this city and then glass the whole planet! Covenant bastards! It's just like Reach all over again!" Buck shouted at the sight, Twilight and the others sharing his sentiment.
"We made it out of there. We'll make it out of here. You can do this, Buck." Dare told Buck in the hope of motivating him.
"Right. Yeah. Okay." He replied activating his long-range radio, "Mickey, you read me? Change of plans. You're coming to us."
"Sky's kind of crowded, Gunny." His squadmate replied over the radio.
"There's no other way. Covenant just wasted the highway. We're gonna keep rolling as far as we can. Get airborne, fly the Phantom to my beacon." Buck told him.
"Understood." He replied cutting off the communication again.
Twilight meanwhile was firing her sniper at various targets on the bridge, knocking out shields or straight up killing them. looking out over the water on the side of the highway she saw a disturbance starting to come from the water, "Oh ponyfeathers." She said as she saw a purple walker rising from the water. "THERE'S A SCARAB!" She shouted down at Dare.
"We're going too fast, I can't stop!" She shouted back while the scarab was charging its main cannon. Twilight jumped back inside and closed the hatch behind her. Tumbling down the stairs she suddenly felt the vehicle heat up immensely as the scarab fired, smoke coming in from everywhere as the plasma burned through components.
"Veronica! Talk to me!" Buck shouted through the comms.
"The asset...it's all right." Twilight heard Dare replied from next to her, jogging down to the cargo hold to check on Lucy and Tyler she found that there was only a small amount of smoke in the cargo bay.
"Tyler's still stable." Lucy said as she spotted the alicorn.
"Get your injured man ready to move, we're bunkering down until we can be extracted by the rest of alpha-nine." Dare Shouted down into the cargo bay. Twilight and Lucy dragged Tyler out of the vehicle towards an open courtyard where the other ODST's and the engineer were already present.
"We should hold up in that building at the back." Buck pointed out, the rest swiftly agreeing. Dragging Tyler to a safe spot in the back with the engineer Twilight and the others geared up with any weapons that lay scattered about. "Phantom inbound." Twilight reported as she saw a dropship headed their way.
"It's not our guys." Buck replied, chambering a bullet into his assault rifle. Brutes coming from the dropship quickly got killed in a hail of gunfire as the group had all the ammo they needed. They killed the occupants of three phantoms before the covenant sent in mechanized reinforcements, "Wraith on the highway!" Mack shouted.
"Ah, hell." Lucy swore, "brute jump pack inbound! One of them is a chieftain."
"WHAT!" Twilight shouted, unseen to the other ODST's black smoke started forming around her horn. "The same type of motherbucker that hit Tyler?" She asked.
"The one and only" Mack replied, looking at the the alicorn. "O, fuck." He swore as he saw what Twilight was doing. While the others opened up on the brutes Mack charged the pony standing besides them. "LAY STILL." He ordered, Twilight tensed up for just long enough to allow Mack to slide an inhibitor ring over Twilight's horn, cutting of the magic flow to her horn.
"What was that for?" Lucy asked but then saw the ring on the ponies horn, "Oh that. Nevermind, how about you two pick up a gun and help out!"
Mack immediately picked up a rifle and started shooting but Twilight sat motionless for a moment, she had tried to use dark magic...
Again...
Disgusted with herself she clumsily picked up a SMG and helped finish off the last brute.
In the distance a new phantom appeared,
"Whoo-yeah! Line 'em up boys!"
Bucks squadmate called out over the radio as the phantom bombarded the wraiths into oblivion.
"Everyone get to the parking lot!" Buck shouted as Lucy once again dragged Tyler along, going up the gravity elevator into the phantom.
"Are those two safe?" An ODST asked as he pointed at Twilight and the engineer.
"As safe as an ODST and a floating ball of methane can get." Buck replied.
The ground shook as a CAS carrier exited slipspace almost on top of them, the engineering froze up with fear and refused to move. With some 'careful nudging' the group managed to get the engineer into the phantom and took off.
Twilight looked back at the city as the CAS started glassing, a tear rolling from her eye.
"You okay Twilight?" Mack asked as he sat down next to the pony.
"No, I am not. I tried to use dark magic again and the little filly that was my responsibility might be somewhere in there." Twilight replied, pointing at New Mombasa.
"Scootaloo is smart and has the ability to fly both with vehicles and by herself. She'll be out there somewhere and after she gets in touch with command it'll only be a matter of time until she gets back to us." Mack comforted his squad mate.
"I hope you're right, I wouldn't know what to tell Rainbow if I lost that filly." She sobbed, her head beginning to feel heavy.
"Just get some rest Sparkle, we'll wake you when we get somewhere safe." Mack said as he stood up to check on Tyler. Twilight lay down on the floor tired from a day of running, being knocked out for six hours didn't really give her any serious rest so it didn't take long for her to drift asleep.
Now she just had to explain all this to Rainbow.