Chapter Ten: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Midnight Wind
* * *
I pumped my legs as quickly as I could. The soft thumping of my hoof strikes were muffled by the dirt road beneath me as I bolted down the streets of Renaissance. Ruined and smoldering houses lined either side where ponies were fighting fires or trying to find loved ones buried in the rubble. I tried to push the horrid sights aside. Only the image of leaving Scarlet behind burned in my vision while I made my way toward my objective.
I don’t know what suddenly overcame me but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I was worried. A lot more worried than I had ever been. The way she looked at me, the feeling I felt that gripped my chest when I met her eyes; I just hoped she was okay. She was the only pony I had out here that seemed to have an ounce of care for my existence. I was growing to have a whole lot more for hers too.
Buck, you’d think I had enough with galloping, but nope, let’s have the town besieged before I figure out how to fly on my own, I complained in my head as I raced past bloodstains in the road and fluttered my wings over craters from the rocket barrage.
When the road came to the northern gate, I quickly spread my wings, flapping like Scarlet showed me and leapt over the enormous wooden walls. I wobbled as I glided past a guard tower, scraping my hooves on the timber siding and kicking off the railing to realign myself. A pair of startled guards quickly ran over and pointed their rifles at me.
“Hey, watch it!” a mare shouted from the gate tower, she lowered her gun when she noticed my wings.
“Urgent-message-for-Aurora-sorry!” I blurted as I shot by, flaring my wings and landing on the dirt road on the other side.
I grunted and galloped on, plowing straight into the tall grassy field off the path. I kept my course northwest while I struggled to remember the directions from Angel’s map. I really, really, hoped that these ponies wouldn’t shoot the blue pegabat running toward them from friendly territory.
When I reached the edge of the pine forest, I slowed to a brisk canter and looked around for any signs of the flanking team. Nothing seemed to give away their location, but Angel’s map said they would be right here-
*KA-POW*
I jumped when the telltale report of a Neighmington 700 rifle resonated from behind me. I whipped around and saw… nothing.
“Target down. New target, east on the berm,” a familiar northern Braytish accent sounded from…on top of me?
“Visual,” a similarly accented young voice responded.
The sound of a bolt racked somewhere in a tree above my head and a shell tumbled down, landing right in front of my hooves.
“Same windage, elevation naught point four up,” Aurora’s voice calmly said.
“Naught point four up,” Ballpoint replied, “on target.”
“Send it.”
*KA-POW*
The mighty roar of the .308 round split the air and I finally saw the muzzle flash through the branches. The sniper team was perched in a tree far above my head. Bat ponies, we like our ambush spots apparently.
“Clean hit, looks like it entered the bastard’s right shoulder,” Aurora reported.
“Hey, I have a message for Captain Borealis,” I called up to the two ponies.
“Shite!” both ponies cried from above, followed by a thump behind me and the sound of a pistol chambering.
I whipped around to see the barrel of some sort of gun before me, it had what looked like a sausage attached to the front. I remember Scarlet told me they made guns quieter when she was complaining about the lack of gear at the Armory. The pistol quickly lowered and I saw Aurora was the one behind it.
“Bloody moon… Midnight what the buck are ya doin’ out here? I almost shot you.” Aurora returned his sausage pistol to its place in his leg holster.
“Captain Angel sent me to give you a message,” I replied and reached back into my saddlebags, pulling out the folded parchment and letting Aurora take it in his hooves.
Aurora sat down on his flanks and opened the paper. I took a moment to look up at Ballpoint as he read. The black and white thestral was prone along a tree branch far above us. It was odd for a thestral to have such a light colored coat, but he was only a colt, maybe it’d darken up a bit when he finished puberty. Regardless, I thought Ballpoint ‘Pen‘ was quite a fitting name.
“Luna-dammit, Ballpoint, we’re moving into town to cover the northwest sector. It looks like the Daylight took control of Command Avenue. We need to prevent them from flanking us instead. They’re only about thirty strong now. Looks like they lost nearly half of their force during that slaughter in the fields,” Aurora informed us.
“Aw hell, and I was just beginning to enjoy pickin’ off the rocket ponies,” Ballpoint’s young voice cracked from above me. I really wondered how a colt could become a lieutenant in the guard.
“That’s too bad laddie we’re going to cover what remains of the Night Watch. We’re still at a quarter of our own because of that bloody Railtown fiasco,” Aurora sighed.
Ballpoint groaned as he strapped his rifle to his back and glided down next to me. He looked me over briefly, “Didn’t you have two feathered flappers?”
“Long story,” I knitted my brow, I didn’t have it in me to explain this to everypony. “Weren't there supposed to be more of you?”
“There were, until North got shot and Mythic took her back to the medics,” Ballpoint spat. “We’re dropping like flies out here.”
“Which is why we’re repositioning,” Aurora confirmed. “Midnight, you’re sticking with us for now so watch our backs. Try not to give us away.” He stepped off on a brisk canter toward town.
“Wait, if you cared so much about stealth, why were you just randomly firing off into the night without a sausa-... suppressor?” I quickly caught my nickname for the fancy gun stuff.
“Oi, first mate, it wasn’t random,” Ballpoint yapped, “Me shots were right on target every single time,” he boasted as we crossed the tall grass. “An’ second, when we’re past a certain distance, my bullet is the only thing they’ll hear before their stupid cultish lives are taken away. The gunshot practically fades into the forest before the bullet reaches em’.”
He’s got the gun knowledge like Scarlet and the cocky attitude like me… is this colt our son or something? I thought to myself. Then I realized what that entailed and shook my head of the thought.
“Okay, okay, ‘writing-utensil,’ I get it. Let’s go defend Renaissance.” I was not willing to argue with somepony so much like myself. I knew I would never win.
We continued into town, passing beneath a hastily raised gate. The two guards from earlier gave me a look but I just kept my head down. Aurora directed us onto a road that ran parallel from the main street, Command Avenue. He quickly spread his wings and flew two stories straight up one of the buildings, followed by Ballpoint.
I sighed, Okay, leave the flightless bird behind.
I looked around for an alternate way up. Without a running start, flight wasn’t exactly possible for me yet. I was in no mood for slamming into walls and falling on my flanks. I soon spotted a fire escape ladder with a steel grated landing. I guessed before the war, this Renaissance Faire was open to more ponies than just us fliers. But, I had never climbed ladders before and I had no idea how to do it.
I trotted up to the rusted-out rungs and experimentally placed a hoof on the bottom one. It seemed stable enough so I put my weight on it and began to slowly inch my way up.
By the time I reached the top, I was thoroughly exhausted. My heavy breaths blew in the frigid air as I inched my way over the shingles of the triangular roof. Since I could fly, I never really had to climb anything. Ever. So this wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for me.
I crawled my way slowly to Aurora and Ballpoint who were surveying the battlefield from the rooftop. Below us was the front line of the battle.
It reminded me of the images I saw in my ‘History of Equestria’ textbooks; The Battle of Stalliongrad. Ash was raining down from the nearby burning buildings and sprinkled the ponies who were entrenched behind cover.
On one side, Night Watch guards were prone against the rubble. They would occasionally prop their guns up and take a shot, only to quickly duck back down from a hail of automatic fire.
A few hundred hooves up the street, the Daylight were fortified behind their own rubble, taking cover behind two houses that made up the intersection. They would occasionally lean out from either side and return fire only to duck back too. It was a stalemate.
“I’ve got eyes through a window in the hospital. Looks like their leader is the one with the plume on his helmet,” Ballpoint spoke as he peered down his scope. The rifle was propped on the crown of the rooftop we were laying on.
I perked my ears at his comment. Hopefully Scarlet made it through the building before the Daylight took it over.
“Hold your fire, lad, we don’t want to give away our position. We’re smack dab in the middle,” Aurora spoke softly, he was using a pair of binoculars held up in a hoof strap.
Ballpoint let out an irritated grunt. He continued to peer down the scope and I could see he was grinding his teeth against the trigger plate. The colt was just itching to shoot. He finally spat out his firing bit and let his rifle rest on the rooftop, “Okay, sir, then what do you suggest we do? Wait till they run out of ammunition?”
“Nope, we’re going to the demolished headquarters and we’ll try to see if that old ham radio still works. We’ll contact our sister town, Rafael, for support,” Captain Borealis explained, dropping his hoof and turning to his subordinate.
“Aw, bloody tartarus, the last time we contacted those arseholes we owed them four thousand caps for their ‘services,’” Ballpoint moaned.
“Nothing’s free in the wasteland, Ball. I just hope they’re not too busy with that cloudship parked overhead their base. But take a look lad, there aren’t too many options about,” Aurora gestured around us.
The headquarters at the end of the road was miraculously still standing. Half the building was caved in and the top floors were exposed to the night. The radio tower had crumpled over and laid suspended on the rooftops across the street. The flames that previously engulfed the building had subsided, leaving only the charred and smoldering husk of a building.
“Wait, what’s Rafael again?” I asked looking between the two, there were too many damn factions in Transylvania.
“Let’s get movin’ then,” Ballpoint groaned and rose to his hooves, completely ignoring my question as he slung his rifle across his back.
“Right,” Aurora nodded and they both glided down the road behind us. Once they landed they cantered off toward the back of the headquarters.
“Hey wait!” I cried as I inched my way back down the steep slope of the roof, gulping as I looked over the edge.
I shuffled my wings nervously. It wasn’t that high up, but without Scarlet’s help, I wasn’t too sure about gliding down a narrow road. I spread my wings and prayed.
I lept off the roof and ungraciously tumbled down in a ball of screams and flapping, landing harshly on my back and staring at the night sky far above.
Buck this crap, I should have gone for the damn hospital mission, I sighed, hoping to Luna and all things holy that Scarlet was okay.
Scarlet Rose
<><><>
I should have taken the messenger mission… I thought as I ducked behind yet another hospital curtain.
I made it all the way through the lower floor of the hospital only to find that the bloody building was absolutely filled with Daylight soldiers. They seemed to be patrolling the area for no Luna-damned reason at all.
A group was mumbling in a nearby corner, hunched over a levitating map illuminated by their head torches. I was surprised to see a few unicorns among their numbers, but it didn’t faze me. Equestrian ponies were all the same anyway.
One of the ponies was trotting around as if he was thinking to himself, his helmet was tucked on top of his saddlebags and I could finally see one of their faces. He was a middle-aged stallion with a red coat. He had short white hair and a white beard to match. The scarring on his face made him look just about as menacing as I imagined these monsters should have. I hoped whatever pony did that to his face got away with it.
They didn’t seem to notice me yet so I continued in the shadows and ducked behind curtains, hoping to find the staircase leading up. It looked like the rocket artillery destroyed the power leading to the building, leaving the interior pitch black. Nopony could see a thing.
Well, the soldiers couldn’t. I could see just fine. Unfortunately that didn’t mean I was silent, nor did it mean their stupid hoofheld torches weren’t still working.
Ugh, here he comes again. This is the third bucking time, I internally groaned as I ducked even lower behind a bed. The pondering soldier came to a stop before my curtain as he began to mumble incoherently to himself. He had a small torch mounted on his fancy armor, powered by some wiring that led down his back.
I needed to act quickly. If he decided to turn my way, the torch’s white light would easily silhouette me against the curtain. I seriously doubted this buck would overlook a ‘bat pony’ shadow in the corner.
I couldn’t just shoot the bugger, a suppressor only did so much. The report of my carbine would grab every tosser’s attention in the building and then they’d all rush downstairs…
That’s not a bad idea, actually.
I slumped my shoulder and let the carbine slip off my back and into my hooves. I slowly lowered my head and grabbed the firing bit, bringing the gun up on the mattress. If I was going to make some noise, I may as well make it worthwhile; I carefully moved the fire selector to ‘auto.’
I peered down the iron sights and lined them up with the torch light on the other side of the curtain. I took a shallow breath, waiting for the soldier to sit still but he was too busy trotting about like a supervillain plotting his next move.
I lifted a wing and tapped the bed rail with the claw.
The stallion paused and the torch light turned my way, momentarily blinding me through the curtain as he inspected the sound.
Gripping the bit tightly, I pressed the pressure plate, feeling it click beneath my teeth.
*Crack crack crack crack*
The gunshots were muffled by the device on my barrel but the supersonic bullets still rocketed through the air with their sharp report. The bullets easily tore through the fabric and embedded themselves into the soldier who was standing behind it. The bastard let out a cry of pain as four bullets hit his upper chest. He wasn’t going to make it far.
I flinched as I heard the shouts of ponies upstairs and all around me. The sounds of galloping hoof stomps resonated throughout the small interior as everypony came rushing down the stairs. Soon torch spotlights all began to convene on the laying form of the soldier I just shot. I noticed his helmet had rolled off to the side, it had a funny blue plume on it. Nopony seemed like they knew what to do.
I took advantage of the confusion and flapped my wings as hard as I could, rising above the hospital curtains. I clung to the dark ceiling and bolted over the group of soldiers inspecting their slain comrade. The contrast from their bright torches was probably too much for their earth pony eyes, but they sure as tartarus heard my flapping wings.
“Assassin!” I heard somepony scream as the torches began to spotlight everything around me.
I’m not a bloody assassin! I grumbled internally as I reached the staircase on the far side of the room. Their spotlights did no justice, nopony had the bright idea to look up.
I pumped my wings twice and nimbly flew up the stairs, alighting at the top and fervently looked around. This room was much like the one downstairs, with hospital curtains and beds lining each side, but it was well lit by a row of windows along the length of a wall. At the very back, illuminated by the dim flames outside, sat a large steel cabinet with a pretty cheap looking padlock on it.
I quickly undid my mane, holding my bobby pin in my mouth, and cantered over to the cabinet with a toss of the red hairs from my eyes. I knelt down at the padlock, carefully pinching the bobby pin in my teeth as I tried to mimic what Aurora had shown us. I moved it about, shook it, raked it, even spit on it and shoved it back in. It was like trying to please a bothered mare; nothing bloody worked.
My ears perked and swiveled back as I heard hoof stomps moving below me. A bead of sweat ran down my brow as I jerked the bobby pin around, trying to undo whatever ‘pins’ Aurora was talking about inside the blasted contraption.
A soft click rattled my teeth. The bobby pin broke.
“Oh buck this,” I spat the broken pin out and grabbed the firing bit of my carbine.
I shoved the barrel against the lock and pressed the trigger.
*Crack crack PING PING PING WHUMP WHUMP*
Luna’s-fat-flanks! I mentally screamed and quickly let go of the carbine. It fell back down on my chest by the sling.
I forgot the blinking thing was still on ‘auto’ and the recoil not only made me shoot off the lock, but also punch bullets through the cabinet and up the wooden walls.
I checked over my shoulder. None of the soldiers made it up the stairs yet, but I knew they soon would be after that stupid stunt. I whipped the cabinet open and began shoving anything that wasn’t broken into my saddle bags. Once I grabbed everything I could, I quickly turned around…
Only to notice a line of torch lights on me.
I froze before the soldiers, each of them pointing their rifles directly at me. My scarlet bangs slowly fell before my eyes.
I blew them aside awkwardly.
“Grab her,” a unicorn mare ordered.
Just as two of the soldiers stepped forward, a rapid ‘chomping’ sound filled the air outside.
Everypony in the room, myself included, stopped and looked out the windows. My eyes rapidly adjusted to the dim light and through the billowing smoke of the nearby buildings, I saw a formation of two thestral ponies burst through the acrid cloud. They were pulling up out of a dive and gliding towards the hospital’s second floor.
The rapid ‘chugging’ grew louder and soon the window by the soldiers exploded in a hail of glass and wooden splinters, followed by meaty ‘slaps’ as the soldiers were torn apart from an incoming barrage.
The volley of bullets zoomed through the window and walls, tearing chunks out of soldiers before easily penetrating the floor and out the back of the hospital. A few of the bullets had tracers on them, leaving visible lines of smoke in their wake.
Shell casings rained onto the roof and through the shattered windows. One of the smoking brass cases rolled and stopped at my hooves. I recognized what caused this incredible carnage. The chugging roar of the Brownie M2 .50 cal machine gun. A weapon made for shooting at chariots and other light vehicles, not ponies. Though, it obviously did a pretty good job against ponies.
I stood in front of the cabinet, my legs still shaking as the adrenaline began to subside. All of the soldiers were splayed about; missing limbs or cut in half. Their body parts were a scattered mess in front of me. Some of the torches were still working and randomly illuminated parts of the walls or ceiling. I was saved by a brutal miracle.
I’m not telling Middy this ever happened… I gulped as I slowly began to trot over the bodies.
I scrunched my muzzle and tried not to look down at the horrendous sight. I tried my best not to lose that apple I ate on the way here. But just as luck would bloody have it, I felt my rear hoof glide on the slick blood, causing me to lose my balance and trip onto the severed torso of one of the soldiers.
I let out a disgusted scream and shut my eyes as I rolled off the torso onto the stinking blood. I felt my stomach twist from the pungent rusted smell in my nostrils. I slowly rose to all fours and snapped my eyes on the stairs, quickly bolting down and out the back door I came in.
I took a massive breath once outside. The air out here was cleaner, albeit filled with the smell of burning wood. I looked down at myself. I was miraculously unscathed but my jacket was drenched in blood and Luna-knew-what fluids. I tore off the jacket and tossed it aside, shivering in the cool night air. I’d have to find something else because I was not cleaning that.
The houses across the street had several chipped holes in them, a few of the decorative walls were even partially collapsed. The road leading to the hospital was pitted with small craters in a double line and littered with huge brass bullet casings. Those flying ponies probably each had a battle-saddle mounted M2 on them. I didn’t know what made them decide to strafe the hospital, or more importantly where the buck they came from, but I was thankful they did what they did.
I stretched my wings and flapped them once again, taking off into the night sky and directing myself back toward the field hospital. Captain Angel better be bloody pleased with my work.
Midnight Wind
* * *
“Rafael, this is Vampire Four-two. Strafing run on the hospital complete, torch lights all winked out,” a female voice crackled over the radio.
“Affirmative. Bank southbound to regain altitude and clear of Vampire Three’s attack run,” an older male voice responded.
“Copy, Vampire Four,” the mare confirmed.
Aurora, Ballpoint and I managed to climb the rubble of the headquarters and locate one of the backup radios. Aurora quickly went to business, throwing together a makeshift antenna from some loose wiring in the ceiling and contacting Rafael of our dire situation. It wasn’t long before a squadron of thestral ponies arrived and began to paint the town with their impressive aerial gunnery.
While Aurora manned the radio, Ballpoint and I guarded the windows within the burnt-out office, letting the old buck do his work.
Apparently Rafael was that old military base to the west of us, the place where the G.P.E cloudship, the Hailstorm, recently parked above. They were about three miles away in a small settlement that used to contain parts for the Royal Equestrian Air Forces during the war. For whatever reason, they decided to keep all of the goodies left behind for themselves and rent out their talented fliers as mercenaries.
Most of Aurora’s explanation was just plain annoyance towards Rafael. He said they were a bunch of cocky bastards who thought since they flew all the time, they deserved to inhabit the air base. But considering every single thestral in Transylvania could fly, it was just a scheme to pander for mercenary work.
Radio chatter continued over the air as the squadron of ponies provided air support across town. It was an absolute force multiplier that we couldn’t have gone without. I didn’t know how much money it’d cost Renaissance but I figured it was worth setting their differences aside if it meant saving the settlement.
“Rafael, Vampire Four, on station,” the mare returned to the radio.
“Four, take your wingpony to the headquarters and link with Captain Aurora Borealis, authority is switched over to him. Rafael out,” the older voice spoke with finality and the radio returned to its regular battlefield chatter.
“Wait, wha-?” Aurora turned around in time for eight hoof thumps to hit the ceiling.
“Welp, Captain, it looks like we have personal air support,” Ballpoint chuckled from his position at the window.
“Luna’s moon, I didn’t ask for more ponies to follow us around. It’s just a hassle at this point,” Aurora sighed as we walked out the door and to the half destroyed ceiling in the next room.
We waited for two mares to glide down from the rooftop. They let down before us and promptly saluted Aurora.
“Captain, Vampire Four-one and Four-two reporting as requested!” the lead pony spoke sharply.
She was around my age and about a head shorter than myself, or a few inches taller than Scarlet really. Her coat was the usual dark gray and her mane and tail were a shade of sage. Her wingpony was similarly colored but her mane and tail were lighter green. They looked strikingly similar, I could only assume these two were sisters.
The pair wore flight goggles and helmets. The soot from flying through the smoke was smudged across their faces and left ringed imprints on the fur around their eyes when they pushed the goggles up. Each was equipped with light combat barding that was probably pre-war, given their hometown.
Across both of their midsections were battle-saddles with the most mean looking guns I’ve ever seen. The massive half-hoof long cartridges were fed through a caged belt that crossed over their back from an ammo can on their left to the gun on their right. The long barrels stuck almost two hooves in front of their chests and the weapons were activated by a firing bit held by a cable. Large crosshair iron sights were folded up on the side of the guns, ready to deploy for action.
On their chests they had a pair of spray painted bat wings, fitting for their squadron’s namesake.
“Uhh, at ease lass. We’re trying to get situated for now,” Aurora distractedly waved his hoof as he looked over a map that Ballpoint pulled out from his combat vest.
“Yes sir, sorry,” Four-one said, dropping her hoof and sitting on her flanks. She began to quietly speak with her sister.
“Should we tell ‘em?”
“I dunno, they’re in charge…”
“Yeah but it could help with planning.”
“Well, what if it just distracts them?”
“You’re right, they probably already know. We’ll just get in the way.”
“Oh fer the love of Luna herself! Ladies, if you’ve got some input then let me hear it,” Aurora groaned, interrupting their quiet conversation.
Both mares jumped and quickly got to their hooves.
“The Daylight’s on the move. They were able to flank the barricade by crossing behind your building,” Four-one explained, pointing a hoof at the back road we came down.
“The Night Watch are being pushed back to town square and are nearly surrounded,” Four-two spoke up quickly.
Aurora sat there with an unreadable expression as he processed the information.
Oh, that was ‘my’ job. I stared wide-eyed out the window. I forgot to look out for ponies moving behind us.
“Yer tellin’ me, lassie, that they just frolicked whoop de-do past our building, and not myself, nor Ballpoint, nor Midnight saw twenty ponies trot on by?” Aurora spoke with a dangerous edge.
“Y-yes sir… We watched the maneuver from the skies above,” Four-one spoke nervously.
“Shite! We need to get to the fountain and give ‘em everything we’ve got!” Aurora stood and shoved the map back in Ballpointʼs face. “I need you and yer wingpony to hunt and kill the ponies with plumes on their helmets. They take cover in buildings behind the lines but if you spot ‘em, light them up. We need to disrupt their chain of command,” he quickly ordered, gesturing to the street out the window.
Both Vampire sisters nodded and kicked levers near their hind legs. The battle-saddles racked a bolt and chambered the massive machine guns for action. They lowered their goggles and quickly took flight into the nearly-dawn skies.
“So… did we just let the bad guys slip between our hooves?” I asked while we leapt onto the pile of rubble and slid down to the streets below.
Aurora skidded to a halt before us and turned with a solemn expression, “Winds, Ballpoint, I hate to ask this of ya lads, but they need as many guns as they can up at the square. I need you to join the front lines and try to hold off the assault while I look for Lieutenant Dusk and the rest of our guards.”
I felt a pang of fear begin to grip my stomach. I looked over at Ballpoint who shared a similar expression.
He wants us right up front? Like, where all the fighting is?
“This wouldn’t be happening if we didn’t send three quarters of our bloody ponies to Railtown over a false alarm,” Ballpoint spat.
“Aye, exactly. I have my doubts about that call, but right now somepony needs to find them and bring them back,” Aurora spread his wings. “Be careful, Midnight, and give ‘em hell.”
I saluted like I saw all of the other ponies do it, “Yes, sir, we’ll give ‘em hell!” I said sarcastically but not without my voice cracking from my nerves.
Ballpoint saluted with his own affirmation. Aurora nodded silently, and quickly took off toward the walls. Wherever the hell Dusk and the guards were, I hoped he found them soon.
I turned to Ballpoint and he quickly began to speak, “Okay, I have no plan whatsoever. You can’t fly for bugger all, and I’m no good in an open firefight. We’ll play it by ear and watch each other’s backs. Luna-speed to you, friend.”
“You too, Pointy, let’s get moving,” I nodded and began galloping toward the town center.
“Don’t call me that! I said we were mates, not special someponies!” Ballpoint hollered and galloped after me toward the battle.
I chuckled to myself, despite the fearful emotions that festered within me. I guess I was so scared I couldn’t do anything but laugh about it all.
We bolted down the street and entered the crazy fray of town center. I could spot muzzle flashes from the remaining ten or so guards holding their last stance on the far side of the square. It looked like the battle was near its end, the Daylight were attacking from the southern half with over twice the numbers of our own, shooting across the fountain and inching closer. I watched a stray bullet take the tip off the statue’s sword.
I skidded to a halt and propped myself against one of the angled buildings that surrounded the center of town. We were in a position where I could see all of the guards behind cover, they were being commanded by both sergeants I saw at the headquarters earlier this evening, Strafe and Tipper.
Wait a second, where’s Major Starline?
Ballpoint quickly caught up and slammed to a halt beside me. His heavy pants were visible in the frigid air. The moon had fully set by now and the cold skies above were beginning to lighten in a purple hue.
“Pointy, we need to find Major Starline,” I stated plainly as I began to scan the battle. Looking for signs of where she might have gone.
“Hah- wha-?” Ballpoint caught his breath, “who bloody cares, mate? She’s the reason we’re losing!”
“Exactly,” I narrowed my eyes. The nagging feeling itched the back of my head again, the same one that made me want to go to the headquarters when the whole town was panicking from the Railtown battle.
My eyes settled on something that seemed out of place, but oh too familiar. I squinted as I focused on some kind of navy colored ribbon on the door handle of a house.
Wait a minute.
I realized I was looking at Scarlet’s bow, neatly tied around the door handle. What the buck was that all about?
“What? Are you working for the bloody Daylight now? Major Starline made a tactical error, but she’s not a traitor,” Ballpoint exclaimed then paused, “she isn’t… right?
“Maybe. No time to explain but we need to get into that house,” I pointed a hoof across the square.
“Aurora’s house?” Ballpoint peered across the battlefield.
You’re kidding me, I shook my head. “Yeah, I guess so. Let’s go,” I said and took off into a sheer gallop straight down the middle of town square.
“You guess? Mate, wait up, what the hay is wrong with you?!” Ballpoint cried after me.
The moment I cleared our cover, I heard the report of twenty rifles open up and bullets began to chip away at the cobble road around me. I ducked my head and flapped my wings, taking off explosively to cross the entire battlefield.
I felt the familiar pull of something within me and I suddenly maintained level flight at speeds I’ve barely flown before. I didn’t look over, but I knew my wings were alight with that strange magic.
“Luna, buck me into oblivion, you’ve gone mental!” Ballpoint swore behind me, the colt decided to follow me afterall.
I felt a dull sting as a bullet grazed my back, I ground my teeth and poured more speed into our mad dash. Ballpoint barely kept up to my right, the smaller buck was trying to use me as cover.
I braced my shoulder and slammed into the door, Ballpoint soon followed and we both tumbled into the building. The sounds of gunfire died off with the last hail of bullets peppering the doorframe. Ballpoint was already on his hooves, unscathed, and he began to look around him in a paranoid fury.
“Celestia’s cursed reign,” he swore as he panted, “we did that. We just bucking did that! How the hay did we not get hit?!”
I groaned and rolled onto my hooves, I suddenly felt exhausted. I slowly stood up and looked around.
We were in an entryway with a small kitchen leading to the ground floor off our right and a staircase before us. The old building had seen better days, with light peeking through patched windows and faded wallpaper barely clinging onto the walls.
Despite the age, the building was well loved. Various family heirlooms decorated old furniture and even a foal’s toy sparkle-cola chariot was left on the kitchen floor. I sincerely hoped I made the right call, otherwise I owed Aurora an apology.
I stepped off the collapsed door and spotted Scarlet’s bow. I quickly untied it and put it in my saddlebag, she’d probably want it back after all of this. But why the hell was it here? She lost it during that ghoul attack we had earlier.
“Let’s head up the stairs,” I quickly said, “I can bet you a million bits… err caps, that we’re about to find some answers.” I began to trot up the staircase, unholstering my Tidus 11.
At the top, a small hallway shot left. We passed an empty bedroom and came to a closed door at the end of the hall. My ears perked at the sound of hoof clops and a muffled voice on the other side.
“It’s got to be in here, come on!” the familiar voice of a middle aged mare resounded on the other side.
I looked at Ballpoint and whispered, “Starline.”
The colt looked at me in disbelief, “how’d you know she’d be here?”
I shrugged and trotted up to the door, jiggling the handle. It was locked.
The voice behind the door quickly hushed, followed by the sound of a window opening and the telltale sound of thestral wings flapping.
I turned around, double bucking the flimsy door open. I rushed into the room, quickly followed by Ballpoint, who was now armed with the same kind of gun Aurora had, sausage and all.
Inside, the room was clearly a place of higher study. An architect’s table sat against one wall with a massive magnifying glass propped over charts and diagrams of cave paintings. Various bins and boxes were filled with arcane tech and components along another. Overhead, a brass celestial globe and constellation spun ambiently in the still air, it reflected the cool blue light cast from a homemade stain glass window.
The craftily made window dominated a wall, featuring the symbol of a setting sun and rising moon blanketed across a field of stars. The symbol felt eerily familiar to me for some reason.
Shadowed among its cool glow, sat Starline, one leg out an open window and eyes wide like a filly caught with her hoof in a cookie jar.
She wasn’t wearing the same outfit since the last time I saw her. Instead she wore the telltale yellow and black-trimmed combat barding of the Daylight soldiers. Upon her flank, a blue plumed helmet was pinned to her armor.
Ballpoint was first to break the silence. His voice shook with both hurt and betrayal, “M-major… Why?”
The thestral mare slowly stepped back inside the room. I raised my gun at her head. She was armed. Across her side was some kind of energy weapon. Along her chest, a bandolier of hoof-sized objects I didn’t recognize.
“You’re hard to get rid of, feathers,” Starline slowly sat, glaring at me but not daring to move too quickly. Her gaze traced my left side and she raised a brow, “Former feathers, how’d that happen?”
I held my aim, I wasn’t going to let her dodge the question. “You sent us away on purpose. You sent everypony who could help this town away! For what? To help the ponies who despise our existence?”
Starline shook her head, “Nothing in this wasteland is free.“
I felt an eye twitch. “Caps? Really? Innocent ponies died, Starline.”
A frown itched at the corner of her mouth, “No. Life isn’t free. The Daylight are inevitable. Can’t you see that? They’re going to save Equestria and we’re just in their way.”
“Bullshit,” Ballpoint spat beside me. “Tell us the truth or you’ll get one between the eyes,” the colt growled around his pistol.
“Think about it!” Starline pushed. “This all happened because of us! Nightmare Moon returning, Luna taking power during the war, the bombs! Equestria was wiped out because of us!”
“How the hay are a bunch of bat ponies responsible when we didn’t have any say during the war?” Ballpoint asked. “Celestia used us as cannon fodder until the good goddess of the night put a stop to it!”
“History, colts, history!” Starline pressed a hoof to her brow, “you have no idea what Aurora and Amber discovered. I don’t love the Daylight either but they’re right. And it’s join them or die…I wasn’t going to throw my life away under their hoof while trying to protect what should be destroyed.”
My chest gripped with disgust. This mare willingly sold out an entire town of innocent ponies because she thought they’d lose a battle. She was singley responsible for the dozens of dead families that laid in the rubble around us. But one thing she said gave me pause.
“What did Aurora and Amber discover?”
Starline’s eyes darted around the room. They widened and she did a double-take between me and the table behind me.
“Y-you…” her voice quivered.
I furrowed my brow, “What?”
Starline quickly grabbed the bandolier across her shoulder and tore it off, she had a panicked look in her eyes that made me almost bite the trigger. But I held my fire.
“Starline, what’s going on?” I pressed, “What did they discover?”
She began mumbling to herself about ‘the ghouls’ and how ‘they actually worked.’ She suddenly grabbed a pin on one of the round objects and yanked her head, pulling it free and holding the thing between both her hooves.
“You need to die, Midnight, do you understand?!” Starline’s voice was shrill with panic, “you’re a mutant, you shouldn’t exist!”
“I really don’t understand!” I took a timid step back, “what are you holding? What were you saying about Aurora and his wife? A mutant?”
“It’s always the bloody ministries,” Starline rolled her eyes and continued her ramble. “They forced things to happen when they shouldn’t have! They were on Luna’s side the whole time… it all makes sense. Good goddesses what has this world come to.”
Ballpoint holstered his gun and grabbed my shirt, “we need to leave Midnight!”
I looked back at the colt trying to pull me over, “we need answers!”
“She’s holding a bloody bomb! Move your flanks!” Ballpoint cried, turning and bucking my legs.
Oh shit! I widened my eyes and aimed my gun back at Starline. I began to squeeze the plate of the Tidus 11.
“NO! You idiot!” Ballpoint slapped my head, causing me to hit the trigger and my shot went wide, shattering the window behind Starline.
“I’m sorry Midnight,” Starline spread her wings and held a paddle on the side of the bomb tightly, “you don’t understand. You weren’t supposed to exist. I’m sorry!” she began to flap out the shattered window.
Ballpoint was hollering in my ear, “Midnight! She’s holding-”
I activated the S.A.T.S spell and readjusted my aim. I let the spell drop and the Tidus 11 jarred my teeth. The bullet rocketed clean through Starline’s head.
“-the trigger! If you kill her, it’ll blow!” Ballpoint finished his exclamation.
“What?!” I reeled on Ballpoint.
Starline’s body slumped onto the ground and a small metal paddle ejected from the object she was holding. It shot across the room with a percussive pop.
“YOU FUCKING KILLED US!” Ballpoint screamed and ran for the door.
Buck.
I looked down at the bandolier and watched a small puff of smoke pour out a hole from the top of one of the bombs. It would cause a chain reaction down the bandolier. All of them would blow up. I spread my wings and tried to flap backwards, stumbling and slamming into furniture as I instinctively flapped incorrectly.
I felt a gust of wind followed by the sound of flapping wings, shattering glass, and chorus of gunfire erupting outside.
Then the whole world exploded.
It seemed like the bombs went off below me, causing the floor to buckle and groan as it began to give.
I looked back quickly enough to see the smoke from the cluster of explosions erupt out the window. The floor quickly gave out and I felt myself plummet down to wreckage beneath me.
I took a sharp hit to the head and my vision began to blur, a high pitched ringing sang in my ears.
Moments before I felt my consciousness slip, I watched Scarlet’s navy-blue bow gently float down on top of me.
For a moment, the chaos of war and destruction was tuned out by the ringing in my head. Images flashed behind my eyes:
A dark blue mane made from a brilliant field of stars.
The moment of stillness that existed between moonrise and sunset.
The red eyes and scarlet mane of a thestral prince.
‘It’s time,’ the low and soothing voice of Orpheus whispered in my ears.
My limbs fell numb and the world faded to darkness.
XXX