//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Gather, Everypony! // Story: Bounty Hunters // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// Halcyon tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt especially heavy. All she could see were blurs. There was a small flickering fire nearby, and she could feel the heat of it on her face. There was dust in her eye lashes and on her face. She tried to wipe them away, but her arm felt like lead. She still wiped away the ash though, and now she could see more clearly. She was inside a concrete cave of some sort- no, not just concrete. It seems there were remains of cars here too. It was a small area, the cave being only about a meter wide. She looked around, and found no escape path. There seemed to be an aircraft of some sort overhead, covering the little crater in the ground that she was in. She tried to move, but found that there was something on her back. She looked to her side, and found Blaze, unconscious and his arm dangling over her back. Halcyon sat down, gently laying Blaze's arm down. She remembered now- he saved the both of their lives. She and Blaze did have a some-what romantic history, but that faded quite quickly during an incident years ago when Princess Celestia was almost assassinated. Now they were alone again, and the radio was dead. There was no way out, and they were trapped down here with a small fire. At least she got to spend her last few minutes with the one stallion she loved, and at least it was warm. She took off her helmet- it had dents in it already, and the once polished shine was gone. Setting it aside, she placed her rifle down next to it and tried to find a comfortable position. Hearing Blaze moan, she quickly got to his side. He had a trickle of blood sliding down his forehead, so Halcyon took his helmet off. His orange hair was matted with blood, and she did her best to clean the dried blood out without hurting him. "I'm so sorry I dragged you into this." Halcyon said quietly, hugging him close. Blaze's eyes opened the slightest, and he smiled. "I'm just glad I can be with you." he said. Halcyon's heart melted, as if consumed by the fire. She buried her face in his shoulder, not wanting to cry but not wanting to hold back either. She felt Blaze's arms close around her back, pulling her closer. There was no fear in the inevitable. It was warm here, with the fire and all. It was nice and cosy, but the scenery could improve. And most importantly, they were together. Shuffling down beside Blaze, Halcyon rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you." he whispered, kissing her on the forehead. "Love you too." Halcyon smiled gently, returning the kiss on his cheek. Now to wait for their oxygen to burn up in the fire, and fall into eternal sleep. * "Ground team is nearing the landing zone!" Rainbow yelled. "Wait a sec, aren't we missing some ponies?" "Halcyon and Blaze. I don't think they made it- a transport crashed onto them." Shining Armor sighed. "They were good soldiers. "At least they had each other right?" a royal guard named Starshine said. "Couples to the end..." "Damnit." a different royal guard known as Storm rubbed a wet eye. "The two were nice. Now come on, we don't have time to waste. Let's finish what they tried to finish." "Rainbow, provide overhead... Stay alive, everypony." Shining Armor said. "Coming round for a sweep." Rainbow said. "Scoots, clear the air space will ya?" "On it." Scootaloo said, flying towards a squadron of enemy jet fighters. "Cover your ears!" Rainbow yelled through gritted teeth as she dived for the ground troops heading for the royals. She felt the familiar sensation of bending and twisting air pressure, her front hooves stretched out and bending the fabric of sound. The ponies on the ground watched as the rainbow colored blur sped up to the enemy ground troops in less than a second, and covered their ears. Rainbow timed it exactly right, setting off a sonic rainboom dead center. The blast and waves of rainbows took the enemies clean off their hooves, screaming as their eardrums ruptured. The friendly units merely tripped over themselves, and were left with ringing ears. "They're disabled! Charge!" Storm yelled, scrambling to his hooves and running forward, taking down a number of science faction ponies. "Captain of the Wonderbolts speaking to ground units- I heard you needed help?" At first Rainbow thought she was hallucinating, but then she saw the figures dressed in blue zoom past overhead, leaving a trail of thunderclouds in their wake. She quickly shook her head, clearing it. She may have stopped pursuing the dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, but it still didn't change the fact that they were awesome. "Good to hear another friendly voice Captain Spitfire." Shining Armor said. "Mind keeping the transports and fighters off our tail?" "Not at all, captain." Spitfire addressed Shining Armor. There was a swarm of transports escorted by jet fighters not too far away, flying towards their location. "Show them what we've got boys." Spitfire said. They weren't armed, but taking down an aircraft would still be easy. Plus they weren't used to flying with a few kilos of armor on, so they decided to just wing it. The Wonderbolts sped over to the swarm in tight formation, then spread out to circle the swarm of enemies. Spitfire flew above, heading straight for the sky. Her teammates below were keeping the swarm herded in one tight ball, and haven't sustained any injuries at all despite all the missiles and bullets hurled at them. Spitfire spread out her wings, stopping miles above the actual battle. She then streamlined, turned around and came back down, her mane and tail trailing behind her. Rainbow saw the fabric of reality bend around Spitfire just like it would before she performed the sonic rainboom. She could hear the screeching of the wind through the mic. The other Wonderbolts suddenly turned away from the transports, and with a bright flash all disappeared. Rainbow heard rumors of that trick before in Manehatten, but never thought they were true- the Wonderbolts can go from zero to three hundred thousand kilometers per second in less than zero point five seconds- faster than light speed(though maintaining that was a different matter). Right now they were probably somewhere miles away- no wonder not even the bullets could hit them. Spitfire's blue and orange form reached the center of the swarm, stretching the sonic bubble with her. It was huge, and engulfed the entire team of twenty aircraft. The jet fighters were fast enough to escape, but the transports weren't so lucky. Spitfire suddenly made a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn, heading back to the sky, also breaking away from the sonic bubble. The bubble closed around the transports, sealing them in. Spitfire then came back down again, this time shattering the sound barrier, a trail of flames left behind her as she sped straight through the sonic bubble. The bubble imploded, taking all the transports inside with it in the largest fireball any pony had ever seen. Everypony felt the air around them being sucked away as the fireball consumed all the oxygen, drawing in the gas. And then it broke apart, releasing a massive amount of air and blowing everypony off their hooves. The jet fighters that didn't make it out in time were blown away, their engines spluttering and all their systems going offline. Rainbow and Scootaloo were both tumbling through the air, having lost their sense of direction. Rainbow stretched her wings out, and the wind slowed her down. She finally stopped spinning, and hovered there, searching for Scootaloo. "That was awesome." Scootaloo said, flying down next to her. "Where'd they go?" Rainbow frowned. "Never mind. Take care of those fighters-" But they didn't need to, as there was a bright flash and the Wonderbolts quite literally plowed through all the remaining jets. "How...?" Scootaloo gaped. "Something happens when you enter light speed... Maybe invincibility is one of them." Rainbow shrugged. "Dash!" Spitfire suddenly appeared in front of them. "Good to see you, Spitfire." Rainbow said. "You can have fun on the ground. Me and the guys'll take care of the skies." Spitfire said, winking. "Although, it's your choice." "Not much fun up here since you guys came." Rainbow said. She might enjoy causing havoc with her childhood heroes, but they'll just take down all the targets before she could lend a hoof- so, why not. "Have fun on the ground then." Spitfire vanished back into battle with a flash. "Just need to dispose of this first." Rainbow muttered, shrugging off her armor. Tuning a knob to the right frequency, she threw it down at the ground troops. The armor self detonated through a spell, sending enemy ponies flying. "What should I do?" Scootaloo asked. "Get a gun." Rainbow said. "Octavia- gimme my sword." "Wait, wha...?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Firing." Octavia was in the car, probably giving reports of enemy sightings. Somehow it was perfectly fine when they found it at the airport, so they used it as a communications relay. Right now it was hidden underneath Cloudsdale, the gravity inverted. A loud bang came through the mic, and Rainbow looked in the direction of Cloudsdale. Then the metal canister came screeching down, and she caught it in her hoof. "What is that? Sword? What? I'm confused." Scootaloo rubbed her head. "Don't worry. Just get a gun. Oh yeah, and look away." Rainbow said, flying towards the enemy ground troops, her sword already unfolding. The first science marine to spot her yelled out, but before he could really say any words his head had already started falling towards the floor. And when it did finally touch the ground, Rainbow was long gone. The science ponies swiveled about, pointing their guns at anything that moved. All they saw was a rainbow-colored flash, and then two more of their stallions crumbled to the floor, blood gushing from their sides. One of them screamed and started shooting everywhere, but he too fell to the floor in halves a second later. Now the fear was starting to set in, just like Rainbow wanted it to. Fear will throw them off guard. Fear will make them panic. Fear will make everything a lot easier. "Retreat! Re-" Rainbow dashed out from behind cover, her blade raised at neck-level. She ran past the yelling stallion, her blade slicing through. And before any of the stallions noticed, she was hidden behind a car again. "Where is it? WHERE IS IT?" the stallions seemed to be driven mad, firing at the smallest noise- although the background explosions did their part too. "She changed." Scootaloo said for the thousandth time, gulping. "Rainbow- are you doing this?" Shining Armor asked. "Yep." Rainbow whispered. "You're under arrest." he said flatly. The killing style was an exact match to those of the massacres. "Sad." Rainbow said, coming out of cover again. To Shining Armor, all there was was a rainbow flash and the stallion standing there seconds ago was in two pieces, still in the process of falling to the ground, accompanied by a large amount of blood. "Oh dear- was that...? I can't believe it..." Cadence shielded her eyes from the cruel massacre scene. "That little pegasus at our wedding did this?" "I don't know why, or how. But she changed." Shining Armor said gently, laying a hoof on Cadence's back. "Area clear. Ground team, you may proceed to LZ." Spitfire reported from above. "Cruel job, Dash." "Yeah, thanks." "Alright. Pilot, get us on the ground." Magnum said, smiling. "Good work everypony. But we've got a mighty load more to go." "Shining Armor! Can you set up a shield? They're readying the missile silos on the barricade. I see the turrets are coming back to point at us." Rainbow said, looking up. Shining Armor closed his eyes, his horn starting to glow. A second later a shield formed over them, temporary cover from the missiles and lasers above. "Damn. We need to take care of that barricade." Storm said. "Somepony will have to go in- but we need a more detailed plan first. Come on ground team, say bye to the princess and we've got more work to do." Starshine said, clicking his rifle. * Halcyon abruptly woke up to the strong smell of smoke, coughing and spluttering. "Oh god, I'm in hell." she muttered, but then noticed she was still in her tomb. Looking to her right, Blaze was still there, his chest heaving. Maybe there was a way out. By looking at her watch, it had been an hour already- the smoke must've found a way out- and possibly it was a way out for them too. She quickly got up, tracking the smoke and seeing where it would go, allowing it to lead her. She found a small hole in the roof she didn't notice earlier, excitement boiling in her chest. She rushed back to Blaze. "Blaze! BLAZE! Get up! We might make it!" she tugged at his arm, and with a moan he opened his eyes. "Wha-?" "Come on!" Halcyon dragged him over to the hole in the roof. It was too small to climb through, so they'll have to start digging. She got her rifle, and started chipping away at the soft rock. It was painfully slow progress, but there was still hope. With the help of Blaze and a bit of their unicorn power, they finally dug through the debris. But then it wasn't over- the barricade was still up, Equestria still under attack. Halcyon quickly gave Blaze a kiss. "Come on. We need to check if the princess is alright-" "Unit twenty three- is that you?" a fuzzy voice came through the mic. They had signal again. "Storm! What happened? How's the princess?" "On her way to Canterlot. Our ground team has been dispatched to the eastern sector of Fillydelphia. We're heading over now. Glad you're still alive. Is Blaze with you?" "Yup. All safe and sound- for now. Where should we meet you?" Halcyon checked her rifle. "We're too far off I'm afraid. Squad seven is close to your location, contact them and provide additional support. Good luck. Storm out." "Right. Halcyon, out." Halcyon kept her rifle in her hooves. "Squad seven?" "Hello unit twenty three. This is squad seven's commander." a voice said through the mic. "My partner and I've been trapped under some rubble for an hour or so. We can't regroup with our team." "Well in that case, welcome aboard squad seven." the commander said. "We're fending off the attack around X36 and Y48." "On my way." Halcyon said, hanging up. She turned to Blaze. "So what are our co-ordinates again?" * The white unicorn slowly peeked over the edge of the cliff, looking down at her old home. The barricade loomed over it, showering Equestria with doom. She moved aside a strand of blue hair, her red eyes watering. "Miss?" a soft voice asked behind her. "Time to head back." "What point is there? I've got no friends there." "But you have your life there." her hired servant said. "Come on, you've got to retreat and get to safety. Let's not let the past get in the way, yes?" "Past? My friends aren't my past." the unicorn sighed. She may have left long ago, but Equestria needed her- no matter how small the contributions she could make, Equestria still needed her. She was outside the barricade, safe and sound. She hid from the dark all these years. But now it's time to plunge back in. Octavia is still in there, with all her other Canterlot friends. "Withdraw all my credits from my account." the unicorn said, determination rooted in her heart. "I'm not leaving my friends to die." "But miss-" "Hurry up. We won't have much time." Vinyl Scratch said. Octavia didn't leave her when she was bleeding to death. Then she won't leave her, either. "Get me my plane. I'm going into Equestria."