Chapter 7
Scamp awoke with a gasp as she sat up quickly, wincing from the sharp pain her her midsection. She looked down to see bandages wrapped around her stomach and chest.
"What?" She said aloud in a groggily voice, confused as to what was going on. A glance around revealed she was in a small room with a bed and a mirrored dresser.
In the mirror she saw a horrible looking pony staring back at her, their color drained from their fur. It took her a moment to realize it was her that she was staring at.
With a grunt she climbed out of the bed and stumbled to the only door in the room. She pushed it open and half stumbled through it into a living room.
"Scamp!" Calypso yelped as she ran over and helped support her, "You should have called for me, you shouldn't be moving with those injuries!"
"I'm fine, Cal," Scamp responded in a weak voice.
"You most certainly are not!" Calypso scolded as she lead her to a couch in the room, a TV broadcasting a newscast about the weather.
Scamp let herself be laid on the couch, coughing from the pain in her chest. "What happened? Where are we?"
"We're in a cabin forty miles outside of Manehattan," Calypso responded as she pulled a blanket up over Scamp, ignoring her first question.
"Oh dang," Scamp replied softly, staring at the TV screen blankly.
Calypso left her and went back to what she'd been doing, cataloging their gear and supplies.
An hour passed like this, with Scamp blankly staring at the TV and Calypso repeatedly going over their gear.
"Breaking news!" A stallion on screen suddenly said, as the news switched from sports to a solemn looking pony. "Shocking video has been released by the OEA regarding one of the city's most decorated SWAT teams, Echo."
This caused Calypso to run over and stand by the couch, her eyes glued to the screen. Scamp slowly sat up, eyes wide as everything came back to her.
"According to reports; two days ago, Echo Team, SWAT's most prestigious unit, were caught on camera attacking OEA Enforcer's."
The screen changed to a video of six ponies dressed in Echo Team's uniforms walking up to a group of Enforcer's who seemed to be arresting two ponies who looked suspiciously like Greg and Shadow Breeze.
"Echo Team? Why are you here? We're just finishing up arresting these two terrorist, we have it under control," one of the Enforcer's said as he approached the six Echo Team impostors.
"We'll be taking those two," the lead impostor said in a rough voice, like Parker's.
"Sorry, sir. Order's are to return them to OEA," the Enforcer responded as he turned his back on them.
"No, I'm sorry," the Parker imposter said as he shot the Enforcer in the back, and the other members of the team also opened fire, killing all the Enforcer's before they could react.
The video cut back to the newscaster, who looked absolutely mortified. "As you saw, Echo Team, the very team that stopped both the Nightmare and the Storm King, killed OEA Enforcer's unprovoked in order to free two known terrorist."
A collection of headshots replaced the newscaster, showing portraits of ponies with the OEA symbol behind them. "These are the brave stallion's and mare's who were mercilessly gunned down without warning." The screen then switched to picture's of Echo Team, with 'Deceased' plastered across Dew's, Jace's, and Parker's portraits. "Three members of Echo Team were killed in a shootout with OEA, but Sergeant First Class Calypso, Sergeant Dribble, and Sergeant Scamp are still at large. They are to be considered armed and dangerous. If you see them, report them immediately to OEA or the police."
The news broadcaster was replaced by another message that was giving details of the three and the two Bronies they'd helped.
Calypso kicked the table in front of her and walked over to a chair and collapsed on it, hooves on her face as she shook with anger.
Scamp just stared at the screen, shocked by the lies they'd just witnessed. This would cause them to become the most hated ponies in Equestria, and there was nothing they could do about it.
The front door opened and Dribble and the Bronies came in, carrying food.
"You won't believe the shit they just played on the radio!" Dribble yelled as he threw the food on the floor in anger, absolutely seething.
"They broadcasted it on TV!" Calypso snapped, so angry tears were running down her face.
"What now?" Shadow Breeze asked sheepishly, ears back.
"No idea!" Dribble yelled, walking to a chair and falling on it, crossing his forelegs and staring at the ceiling.
Scamp looked at her two friends and then to the two lost looking Bronies. She let out a hiss of pain as she stood up and walked around the table in front of the couch to stand in front of everyone.
"Look guys," she started, trying to sound confident. "We're just going to lay low for a few days, we'll figure something out."
"Yeah, good plan," Dribble mumbled, his usually easy going nature seeming to be nonexistent now.
Scamp looked between her friends, unsure of what to say or do to fix things. Her eyes drifted over to a table which held their gear; the blood soaked uniforms catching her attention.
'Don't you burn us.'
Parker's word slammed into her, causing tears to flow down her face as she stared at the mess of bloody gear.
"I..." she started, but her voice caught. A wave of nausea hit her as she swayed slightly. Then suddenly, her demeanor changed as she thought of the events that lead to this mess.
"Fuck!" She screamed, startling everyone, as she started slamming her hooves down onto the coffee table, breaking it to pieces as she cursed and cried out.
No one stopped her, they just watched in silence.
Once the coffee table was nothing but broken pieces of wood, she collapsed to her knees, crying loudly.
It was all her fault.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Calypso finished replacing the bandages on a sleeping Scamp, the other ones ruined when she reopened her wounds during her breakdown.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jero asked as he laid on the floor where the coffee table once stood.
"Yeah, if she'll just stay down she will be," Calypso said with a sigh, looking like she hadn't slept in two days. Which was probably true since she was the one who had to look after Scamp.
Dribble walked into the room, also looking like a wreck. "I just checked the internet, they've rounded up our families for questioning," he said grimly, dried tears on his face.
Calypso paused for a moment, but then resumed her work. "We expected that."
"They'll be fine, normal procedure is to just detain, question, release, and observe," Dribble said as he sat at the table with all their gear on it.
"Nothing about any of this is normal," Calypso deadpanned back.
Greg, on the other hand, didn't seem to be listening to them all as he sat in the corner, still reading Lance's book. Jero was happy Greg had had it on him, as he was sure Scamp would have been upset to also lose it.
Jero stood up and walked over to Greg and sat down next to him on the couch. "So?"
"So what?" Greg asked, not looking up from the book.
"What's our plan? We can't just stay here, it's already been two days."
Greg sighed and sat the book down, looking serious, "If you want my opinion, we need to get to that prison, break in and teleport him out."
"It's not that easy," Dribble interjected from across the room. "They have an anti-magic field around the facility that spreads out at least twenty miles in all directions. And before you ask, no we can't disable it. It was set up by the Queen, and only she can remove it. Which she won't. If you still want to save that jackass, you're going to have to do it without magic. And that ain't going to happen. So just drop it, you've already caused enough damage as is."
A frown grew on Jero's face as he listened to Dribble, his mind drawing blanks on how to help Lance.
"Hey!" Greg suddenly snapped, hopping up and stomping towards Dribble. "I know you're mad at what happened, but don't take it out on us!"
Dribble jumped up and head butted Greg, hitting him in the snout. "Hey, jackass! Don't you forget what we lost because of you!"
"Both of you, quit it!" Calypso commanded, stepping between them. "We can't be fighting each other right now!" She turns to Dribble, "We made our choice, and we paid the price for it. There's no changing that now." Then she turned to Greg, "It's because of you that we're all still alive, and we'll forever be grateful. But you need to calm down. Okay?"
Greg took a step back, wiping blood from his snout. "I'm sorry."
Dribble sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry too, I'm just so stressed out right now."
"Then let's make a plan," Calypso suggested. "We're not doing anyone any good just sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves."
"You still want to help them save this Lance guy?" Dribble asked in surprise.
Calypso just sighed as she walked back to Scamp, "Honestly? What else are we going to do? We can't go back to our old lives right now, and probably never will be able to. We're outcast now."
This seemed to not sit well with Dribble, but he walked over and sat in the chair by the couch with Scamp. "Yeah, I guess you have a point." He did not sound fully on board with the idea.
"So where do we start?" Jero asked as he and Greg also walked over and sat down with them.
"First," Calypso began, "we're going to get Scamp settled, then we're all going to sit down and seriously talk about everything we know. We'll go from there."
This seemed to placate everyone as they turned to the TV and stared at it, not really watching it. Calypso continued her work on Scamp, adding an I.V. drip to her foreleg.
ooo000<^>000ooo
"No no no!" Dribble yelled as he jumped out of his seat, startling everyone awake. It was now nighttime and everyone else had fallen asleep where they'd been sitting.
"What?!" Calypso yelped as she sat up from her position on the floor and looked to Dribble. He was staring wide eyed at the TV, and when she looked, she understood why.
On the screen showed a live broadcast of the Queen addressing a crowd of ponies, and behind her were a group of ponies.
Their family members.
"Scamp, wake up!" Calypso yelled, shaking Scamp awake.
"What?! WHAT?!" Scamp screamed in a panic before her eyes landed on the TV. It took her a few moments to realize what she was seeing. "Mom?!"
"Accused of high treason!" The Queen all but roared, giving a speech to the gathered ponies. "These ponies, these traitors, have been aiding and abiding the very same terrorist who have been attacking and killing your family members!"
"We have to do something!" Scamp grunted as she tried to get up, but Calypso held her down.
"There's nothing we can do," she said, tears on her face.
"I can teleport and grab them," Greg offered, jumping up and looking to prepare to teleport.
"Don't you dare!" Calypso ordered angrily, causing Greg to flinch. "This is a ploy to get us to act. If you teleport there, then you'll be falling into their trap, and everything will have been for nothing!"
"But your family?" Greg asked, looking conflicted.
Calypso turned to the screen where the Queen was reading off their charges. "I know."
Scamp, the drugs in her system making her emotions flare, cried raggedly as she watched the screen.
"I am hereby revoking their rights to a trial, as they are no longer citizens of Equestria," the Queen bellowed, getting a thunderous applause from the gathered crowd. Behind her, the gathered ponies stood solemnly; some crying, others staring blankly ahead.
Scamp saw her mother, standing near the front, head held high.
The Queen seemed to bask in the praise of the ponies around her before she continued, "We shall commence with the execution!" The crowd went absolutely crazy at this, cheering and whistling.
"No!" Scamp cried out as the Queen turned around and stared down at their family members. Time seemed to slow down as Scamp watched as her mother turned to the Queen and stepped forward.
"This isn't the Equestria we all grew up in! Nor the Equestria the Princesses created!" Her mother yelled, almost drowned by the crowd.
The Queen didn't acknowledge her, instead, her horn flashed almost violently. All the ponies before her screamed in agony as they all seemed to internally combust, burning to ash almost instantly.
The crowd loved this as they only grew louder.
"Holy fuck, this is not the Equestria we know at all," Greg said, his body shaking from adreline.
"That's nothing like the Twilight I know..." Shadow Breeze said in a daze.
Dribble walks away, kicking a chair into a wall as he walks past it. He went outside and slammed the door, his wails of agony could be heard by everyone else.
Calypso got up and walked over to her medical bag, grabbed a syringe and walked over to the other couch. She stuck it in her leg and injected herself. She laid back, crying as she slowly put herself to sleep, not wanting to deal with anything else right at that moment.
Scamp could only stare at the screen as the Queen smiled back, the camera staying on her face almost as if to mock them.
She tried to get up, but everything hit her at once and she collapsed into the floor, unconscious.
ooo000<^>000ooo
"I don't like it here," Jero said, rocking back and forth on the floor next to Scamp as she slept on the couch.
"No shit," Greg said as he threw a blanket over Calypso while she slept on the other couch. "Like, what the fuck?!"
Jero clinched his eyes, shaking. "What can we even do here? Twilight's a tyrant that can kill a pony in an instant, and Lance is in a place that we could never even get near let alone break him out of."
"Well we're not giving up, if that's what you're thinking," Greg snapped, seeming even more determined now than he had been before.
"Then what are we going to do?!" Jero yelled, his calm nature falling to the side in his anger and desperation.
"We're going to kill that cunt and save your fucking friend, that's what we're going to do," Dribble said in a cold voice as he walked back in through the front door.
"But how?" Jero asked as Dribble walked up to the table covered in gear and started shifting through it.
"I have no idea, but we're going to do it, no matter what. They've taken everything from me," he shook in anger as he picked up his vest. "My wife and daughter were on that stage."
This shook Jero to his core, as he hadn't realized that kids could have been a part of the crowd he saw die. He hadn't looked too hard to be honest.
"So, kill Twilight and free Lance?" Greg asked, walking up next to Dribble watching him gather his gear.
"Yep, once Calypso's awake, we'll actually make the real plan. But no matter what, Queen bitch dies."