//------------------------------// // 13. Vinyl Scratch // Story: A Kingdom Divided // by Samey90 //------------------------------// The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy. Friedrich Nietzsche “Excuse me,” said a green unicorn mare with dark brown mane. “Where is the room 12?” “Right at the end of that corridor,” a brown pegasus replied. “By the way, mah name is Roo.” “Emerald Clover,” the mare introduced herself. She had a proper Canterlot accent. Roo wondered what she was doing in the sordid, half-ruined building on the outskirts of Manehattan known as “The headquarters of the Moon Army’s 1st Bomber Wing”. The wing itself consisted currently of only three big airships, but at least it sounded good. “I am a new waist gunner appointed to the airship called–” She winced. “–Heart-Shaped Coffin.” Roo smirked. The flagship of their small fleet was, of course, called Princess Luna, and its twin ship, bought in the Griffon Empire long before the war was known under its Pferdisch name Die Schwiegermutter. Roo didn’t know exactly what it meant, but he suspected that it had something to do with the caricature of an old griffoness wielding a rolling pin painted on the engine gondola. The name of their airship, only recently built to replace the one destroyed during the first bombing of Canterlot and their old, steam-powered vehicle which had to be written off, was, however a completely different story. It was Vinyl, who, after seeing Die Schwiegermutter decided that their new zeppelin needs a “badass” name and a gondola art. One “night”, she stole the cans of red and blue paint from the magazine and, before anypony noticed, painted the anatomically proper hearts on both engine gondolas of the airship, along with the name Heart-Shaped Coffin written with large, red and blue letters on its side. At first Roo, along with some officers, objected, saying that the aircraft didn’t resemble a heart, but then Vinyl, with her inborn straightforwardness, told them which body part was, according to her, the most similar to the balloon. They all sighed with relief. For some reason, no one, not even the officers, by definition devoid of any sense of humour, cared about the “coffin”. “Seems that we’ll serve on one airship,” he said. “Standard question: why did ya enlist?” “You will laugh,” Emerald Clover said, smiling. “I am a philosopher and I was tired of all those theories why the wars start, so I decided to see one myself.” “Well, normally Ah’d ask ya why did they even let ya enlist,” Roo replied. “But on my first mission, Ah was flying with a former DJ and a former clairvoyant.” “And what happened to them?” “The DJ is still alive and kickin’, but the clairvoyant somehow didn’t predict a bullet which hit his head. Then we spent half of a day wiping his brain from the floor and walls before they told us that we’re getting a new airship.” “Poor guy…” Emerald’s head drooped. Roo thought that she looked really cute when she was sad. “Could be worse. By the way, if ya want to know more about war, yer best bet is Scratch, the other waist gunner, and yer new roommate. She’s, like, livin’, breathin’ ‘too much information’…” From behind the door near them they heard a sound of a flushing toilet, and soon the door opened, revealing a white unicorn with red eyes and an electric blue mane, who smirked, seeing them. “Don’t go there,” she said, closing the door and taking few deep breaths. “The food actually smells better after passing the system, but it’s still not good enough to sit there…” “Ms. Scratch, I suppose?” “The one and only, Vinyl Scratch, at your service,” Vinyl said, leaning closer to Emerald – a bit too close for comfort. Roo chuckled. “This is Emerald Clover, our new waist gunner,” he said. “She wants to know what war is.” “Hoo, honey…” Vinyl embraced Emerald, who backpedalled, trying to shake her hoof off of her. “Ya really wanna know that?” she asked in a tone of an experienced veteran. “So, I will tell ya. Before the war I had money, fame, fans, vodka, more vodka, cigarettes, weed, and, screw the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, copious amounts of lesbian sex. Now all I have are shitty food, ponies shooting at me, and my own hooves, if ya know what I mean.” “Told ya.” Roo smiled. “Umm… we will be roommates, right?” Emerald asked. “Yeah, but, although ya’re sweet, I’m taken, so sorry honey. ‘Sides, ya’re not in my type, I prefer earth ponies…” “Me? I do not…” Emerald exclaimed, blushing heavily. Vinyl, however, didn’t notice that, smiling at her memories. “I’m telling ya, there’s nothing like an earth pony cellist hooves…” she said in a languorous voice. “I’ve met one cellist when I was in Canterlot…” said Emerald, desperately trying to hide in a rift between the floor tiles. “Was her name Octavia?” Vinyl asked, leaning closer to Emerald, who couldn’t stand it any longer. She disappeared in a flash of a green light and appeared again next to Roo. “Sorry, I do not usually teleport like that, but I am not very used to, umm… such outpourings. And yes, her name was Octavia.” “Really, the world is a small place…” Vinyl said, “Octavia is my marefriend.” “Oh… I guess many things changed since I moved to Detrot. How is she?” “Good, I hope. Haven’t seen her since the war started.” Vinyl’s ears drooped. “I miss her so much… D’ya know we wanted to adopt a foal? I even started to learn how to stop the little unicorn’s magic outburst when it goes crazy...” “Umm… She’s very nice, doesn’t she?” “Oh yeah…” Vinyl moaned. “Well, Octavia is like…” she waved her hoof in the air, trying to find the right words. “She’s like Rafaello – at first we have coconut, ya know, all that fancy envelope, shy, proper accent, something like ya, but more Trottingham than Canterlot, ya know. Then, when we got to know better, I discovered a milk cream – sweet and lovely, like… like... well, like a milk cream. And then, when we first… ya know… I discovered that beneath all these layers there’s a nut.” “A nut?” Emerald asked. “I thought it was an almond?” “Hey, don’t ruin my perfect analogy! I meant, after few drinks she goes nuts, and she has really flexible hooves and crazy ideas, like that one time at the band camp…” Vinyl paused. “You know, I have to go my room for a while. Be right back.” She quickly trotted down the corridor. “Umm…” Emerald was still blushing. “I guess I shouldn’t go there now?” “No,” said Roo, trying his best to contain laughter. “But don’t worry, it’ll only take about ten minutes…” He saw her confused expression and added, “Thin walls.” “Yes. Thin walls. Right,” Emerald muttered absent-mindedly, lowering her gaze. “Ya’ve never went past the coconut, haven’t ya?” he asked. “No, and I really wish I would not have learned about things beneath it…” Emerald said slowly, regaining her composure, “I see that life here is very interesting.” “Hoo, honey…” said Roo, mimicking Vinyl’s voice. “Ya can’t believe how bored we were when we were waiting for a new airship…” *** With a quiet “puff!” a bullet hit the sand, leaving a small crater in it. “Fifty four seconds,” said Vinyl, turning the stop watch off. “That’s an academy record!” “Yeah, Ah’m on fire, it’s the third one today,” said Roo, reloading his sniper rifle. “Yer turn,” he added, giving her the rifle. Vinyl gave him a stop watch and levitated the gun, aiming at the sky. “Remember, when Mr. Safety Catch is not on, Mr. Rifle is not your friend.” “Sure thing,” she muttered and pulled the trigger. “Aaaargh!” somepony above them screamed. Vinyl quickly released the rifle from her magic grasp and looked around with an innocent expression. A bat pony landed next to them, picking up the rifle. He then turned to Roo. “Friendly fire? One more stunt like dat and I’m gonna shove it down yer throat and fire, Dummkopf!” he shouted and flew away, leaving them dumbstruck. With a quiet “puff!” a bullet hit the sand, leaving a small crater in it. “Fifty six seconds,” Roo deadpanned. *** Vinyl was sitting on a windowsill, the bottle of applejack in her magic grasp. She took a long swig and turned to Roo. “So, how this song goes?” she asked. “Which one?” Roo asked. His sniper rifle was stripped down, the parts lying on the desk in front of him, while he was cleaning its barrel. “The one ya named your gun after. I’m in the mood for singing, ya know…” Roo sighed and put the barrel on the desk. “Matilda’s not a gun, it’s a sniper rifle…” “Okay, nevermind.” Vinyl took another swig from the bottle. “How the song goes?” “Once a jolly swagmare camped by a billabong–” “Swagmare? Like those kids nowadays?” “No, swag is a word for saddlebags where Ah live.” He sighed again, knowing that he was going to explain a lots of things. “It sounds like a cool place. Except of the alligators.” “Crocodiles.” “Nevermind. What is a billabong? Some kind of bong?” Vinyl smiled upon the thought of weed. Too bad, it was even more illegal than drinking alcohol in the base. “It’s a pond.” Roo began to assemble his gun. He felt that it was going to be a long night. *** The sound of a trumpet woke Roo up from his daydream. “What is going on?” Emerald asked. “Meeting with the commander,” he explained. “Hope Vinyl won’t be late…” Vinyl joined them shortly after they stood in line next to the airships. “Did I miss something important?” she asked. “No, it didn’t start yet.” The commander – Vinyl’s old friend, Major Road Ahead – cleared his throat. “We just got dire news,” he said. “The Sun Army, along with the traitors from the Crystal Empire recaptured Ponyville and is preparing to attack the Princess’ castle in the Everfree Forest.” “Dire news, my flank,” Vinyl whispered to Emerald. “He tells us such a bullshit since the day we came here. Wanna hear a joke? ‘A family act goes in to see a talent agent…’“ “As you know, our brothers and sisters in Detrot are still defending themselves against the ruthless killers and warmongers from the Crystal Empire–” “–and the agent said: ‘No, get out with that family act, they’re always so cute that I wanna throw up when I only think of one–’” “–our duty is to protect the citizens of Equestria, no matter what the costs are. Fortunately, our beloved Princess Luna, in her infinite wisdom, found a solution–” “–So, the agent said: ‘Okay, show me what you got here.’ And then, the father started to–” “A powerful ally will send his forces to defend the city of Detrot, harassed by those filthy criminalists, led by so-called Princess of Love. They’ll also help us reclaim Ponyville and eventually get rid of that old warmonger, Princess Celestia–” “–and then the mother and her daughters started to dance, covered in–” “–I want to introduce you the commander of a squadron of griffons who volunteered to support us in our fight, Mr. Red Baron!” The crowd of soldiers immediately went silent, seeing a tall, middle-aged griffon, who went out of Die Schwiegermutter. He was followed by his eleven compatriots, all wearing red and yellow armours, with two cannons attached to battle saddles. Each of them was carrying a helmet in their claws. They stood in line behind their leader and saluted. “–and then the shocked agent asked: ‘How is that disgusting… thing called?’” Vinyl snickered. “The father smiled proudly and said ‘The Aristocrats!’” She finished and laughed, while Emerald was trying to hide behind Roo, her face bright red. “Well, I see that anti-nobility spirit is strong in you,” Red Baron deadpanned. He had no trace of any foreign accent. When Vinyl stopped laughing, he cleared his throat and spoke: “You don’t have to worry about the Crystal Empire any more. Today in the morning, our forces attacked it. It was almost devoid of soldiers, although it took some time before the griffons were able to defeat and capture the alicorn princess who was living there. We cut all the communication between the Empire and Canterlot, so they don’t know yet. However, we must be quick. Any questions?” he asked, seeing that Roo rose his hoof. “Does it mean that the Griffon Empire is now officially involved in the civil war?” Roo asked. “Don’t worry, soldier,” said Red Baron. “The Emperor and the Princes-Electors know nothing about us. We’re mercenaries, hired by Princess Luna.” “Mercenaries, yeah…” Roo muttered to Vinyl. “Have ya seen their equipment? It’s better than this junk the Sun Army’s wearing, not to mention our poor Luftwaffe. And some of them didn’t even bother to remove the Empire’s coat of arms from the chest plate…” “So?” Vinyl asked. “You know I’m not good with politics when I’m sober.” “If we win, griffons will probably stay in Equestria for a little longer. If we lose, we can already book tickets for the next flight to the Moon…” Vinyl cursed under her breath. “So, before Celestia gets to know what’s going on, you’re going to attack and bomb Ponyville, destroying as much of the Crystal Empire forces gathered there as possible. If what I heard is correct, there are several smaller airships stationing in the Everfree; they’ll serve as a bait to attract their elite squadrons which we’ll destroy,” Red Baron said. “We’ll set out tomorrow at 5 AM.” The briefing was dismissed and most of the soldiers went back to their quarters, discussing the details of the tomorrow mission. Vinyl, however, stayed on the airstrip, watching the griffons. Their armours had some sort of crystals attached beneath each of the cannons; she also noticed, that, unlike the pegasi from the squadrons protecting Canterlot, they were using retractable wing blades. One of the griffons noticed that she was staring on them and went closer to her, glaring at her angrily. “Umm… Guten Tag,” said Vinyl, smiling sheepishly. “Kann ich eine Frage haben?” “I can frag you in a minute, punk,” the griffon said. Vinyl thought that although she didn’t know much about griffons, she was sure of one things: her interlocutor was female. “Seriously, what is with ponies thinking that all the griffons speak Pferdisch? I don’t even know it.” “Sorry, honey. I only wanted to ask…” “I’m not into mares. And ponies in general.” “Is it true that the male griffon is called a cock?” The griffon’s claw connected with her forehead. For a moment they just stood there in awkward silence, before the griffon finally said “No, it’s called tiercel.” “Oh… thanks,” Vinyl bowed and walked away. “What a dweeb…” the griffon muttered, rolling her eyes. *** A steady sound of the two engines was soothing Vinyl’s emotions. She looked through the scope of her cannon and sat on the floor, taking a cigarette from the package put behind the strap of her goggles. She lit it with her magic and exhaled the smoke with a blissful expression. “Isn’t smoking forbidden here?” Emerald asked, turning away from her gun and looking at Vinyl condescendingly. “Honey, when we were grounded in the base, I smoked cigarettes next to our hydrogen generator and nothing blew up.” She had a long puff and suddenly started to cough. “What do they put in them?” she muttered staring at the cigarette. “Dust from the floor?” “A propos, remember when Major caught ya smoking?” Roo asked. “Yeah, that’s why I’m talking about dusting the floors… I’m a gunner, not a friggin’ maid…” “Chill out, Vinyl,” said Roo. “By the way, do any of you know what beautiful place will we visit today?” “Either Ponyville, or, if we will not be able to get through, the nearby water dam,” Emerald explained. “Seriously, am I the only one actually listening during the briefings?” “So, that important griffon subscribes to ‘if ya can’t bomb ‘em, let’s drown ‘em?’ theory?” Roo smiled. “It figures. By the way, those smaller airships from the Princess’ castle already engaged one of their squadrons. The second one was informed that we are flying to them and is on the way,” said Emerald. “How d’ya know?” Roo asked. “That mule who is an engineer officer came here to tell me the news when you were in the rear turret checking who can spit further. Apparently they can catch their frequencies on our radio.” “Amateurs.” Vinyl spat with disdain. “They should use some kind of code… Dunno, maybe a bat ponies’ language?” “Pferdisch? No way, too many ponies know it. Heck, even you know it…” “Yeah, ich heiße Vinyl und ich bin dreizehn Jahre alt, Leck mir den Arsch recht schon,“ Vinyl said with a horrible accent. “But I meant the language of that other bat ponies’ tribe, ya know, remember that guy called Ystlum? The one who told me how to regulate the crosshair?” “Merlyn? That would be interesting, though it is quite difficult,” said Emerald. “Of course ya tried to learn it?” Vinyl asked, “Well, after few drinks with Ystlum I was almost able to understand him…” “I do not drink,” Emerald muttered. Vinyl wanted to quote the old saying that all teetotallers were snitches, but she was interrupted by a signal from the airship’s intercom. “We’re being approached by a squadron of pegasi. Everypony go to their stands,” the pilot said. “Mind your head, Emerald,” said Vinyl, looking through the crosshair. From her stand she could see Princess Luna and Die Schwiegermutter flying in formation. The squadron of griffons, hiding on the deck of the second airship, took off in the air, gaining altitude to attack the incoming pegasi from the sun. “Let’s play,” she muttered, gritting her teeth. *** “They left nothing for us,” said Rainbow Dash, seeing the Wonderbolts flying around the four blimps which flew from the Everfree Forest. One of them was burning; the other one, devoid of its crew was slowly falling to the ground, where the remains of its another companion were scattered. The fourth airship was fleeing to the forest, attacked viciously by the pegasi in blue armours. “Don’t worry, Dash,” she heard Spitfire’s voice in her headphones. “There comes the big fish!” Rainbow Dash raised her head and saw three larger airships approaching from the north. She immediately checked her guns and tuned her radio to her squadron’s frequency. “Three bandits on three o’clock, split and attack in claw-four formation,” she said. “Swirl, stay with me.” She flapped her wings, gaining altitude. Cinnamon Swirl, Flitter, and Cloudchaser flew by her side. “Let’s take the leader,” Rainbow Dash muttered through gritted teeth. “Watch out!” somepony shouted in her headphones, deafening her temporarily. Few bullets whistled past them and when she made a half roll to see what was above her, she noticed that the sun was obscured by a silhouette of a griffon. As he flew past her, she heard a distinctive sound of Flitter’s Jackhammer. “Fuck!” Flitter shouted when the futuristic weapon jammed after only two shots. She removed the drum magazine from the gun and threw it at the griffon, who was turning to attack them once more. It bounced off his helmet without hurting him, but it stunned him for a split second, allowing Rainbow Dash and Cloudchaser to fire at him. “Crap!” Dash cursed, seeing the 7.62 mm bullets bouncing off the griffon’s armour. She saw some blood on his wing and thought that at least Flitter’s buckshot-firing gadget scratched him. “Dash, watch out!” Cinnamon Swirl shouted. Instinctively, she dodged a stream of 20 mm bullets from behind and watched them hitting the griffon who had just attacked them, piercing his armour and sending him plummeting to the ground. She turned back to see an incoming griffon, who, seeing that he just accidentally killed his brother in arms, stopped shooting and did nothing to defend himself. Dash hit him with the butt of her gun, knocking his helmet off. “Dash?” the griffon looked at her with a surprised expression. She lowered her gun, staring at her. “Gilda?” Rainbow Dash was stunned. Suddenly, a burst of shots shook her awake. She saw Gilda’s face becoming pale, blood dripping from the gap between the plates of her armour. Behind her, Cinnamon Swirl was hovering with her rifle, ready to fire once again. Gilda turned her head back and their eyes met. “So lame…” she whispered, struggling to keep herself in the air. “Killed by a dweeb…” She stopped flapping her wings and closed her eyes. Rainbow Dash dived forward, catching her. “Dash!” Flitter shouted, pointing at the place where there rest of pegasi from their squadron were fighting more griffons. “Are you going to fuck her? Leave her and let’s help ‘em!” “Yes, right…” she said, releasing Gilda and quickly turning her head away. “Umm… thank you, Swirl.” They darted forward, trying to catch up with the fighters. “Airships!” Dash shouted to the radio. “Try to lose them, the airships are more important!” “How?” the voice, which she recognised as belonging to Cerulean Sky, cried. “Those fucks just massacred Blossomforth… three guys with cannons… They’re after me… Aaargh!” Rainbow Dash cursed, checking her cannon. Their rifles were too weak to pierce the griffons’ armours, and although hitting a quickly moving target with a heavy autocannon was more difficult, she knew that there was the only way. She practically rammed into the first griffon, firing at him at point-blank range, and leaving him with her armour covered in his blood. Behind her, Cloudchaser shoot another griffon’s hind leg off, and left him to be finished off by Stormfeather and Cloud Break. Rest of the formation dove to lose them and regroup. “To the airships!” Dash commanded, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Four griffons down… Report losses.” “Blossomforth and Sky are dead,” said Stormfeather. “They were in our formation.” “Snowflake is slightly wounded, but it’s nothing serious,” said Thunderlane. “And we don’t know where are Kicker and Devil…” “What?” Cloudchaser exclaimed. “They weren’t with you?” “Last time I saw ‘em, they were attacking that airship on the right,” Snowflake said. Cloudchaser flapped her wings harder. *** “Griffons!” Cloud Kicker exclaimed, taking a pill from her pocket and swallowing it. “This fucking whore of a princess hired griffons to fight us!” “We shouldn’t have left them behind…” Dust Devil said. Her radio was hit by a bullet and she barely heard what Cloud Kicker was saying. “Fuck ‘em – airships are more important!” Cloud Kicker shouted, pointing at the large picture of a griffon on an engine gondola of the nearest airship. She saw a tail gunner preparing to shoot at her and spread her wings to slow down, watching as few tracers flew before her. She then darted to the right, leaving Dust Devil behind, and positioned herself in front of the gunner. “See you in Tartarus!” she shouted, pulling the trigger of her cannon. The bullets pierced through the plexiglas, hitting the earth pony operating the rear gun and throwing him backwards. Cloud Kicker laughed and looked at Dust Devil, who landed on the engine gondola, trying to open it by hitting the boards with her gun. “Leave it! I have a better idea!” She grinned maliciously and flew upwards, followed by Dust Devil. Soon they were over the balloon of the airship. Dust Devil, seeing that they weren’t within the reach of any gun, started to shoot holes in its surface. “Don’t do that, you’ll destroy it!” Cloud Kicker prodded her. “I thought it’s what we’re supposed to do?” Dust Devil muttered. Cloud Kicker didn’t hear her, flying above the balloon with a determined look on her face. She overtook the airship and tucked her wings, making a somersault and grabbing the triggers of her guns. She started falling but soon she spread her wings, firing at the windshield. The plexiglas was more reliable than she thought, bullets only leaving dents in it. The co-pilot, suddenly seeing a fast approaching pony in front of him, pulled the trigger of the aircraft’s forward-facing guns. Before any bullet could reach her, Cloud Kicker smashed into the windshield, hooves first, crushing it and knocking the co-pilot down. She recovered quickly, pulled the combat knife from the sheath in her armour and stabbed him in the neck, severing the carotid artery. In one swift move she pulled the knife out and threw it at the pilot. The co-pilot’s blood squirted in her face, but she managed to see that her throw missed: pilot only got hit with the handle. She rolled on the floor, dodging the pilot’s kick. A bullet ricocheted from the boards next to her; the front waist gunners pulled out their revolvers and were trying to shoot her. She got up, her vision getting blurry from the pain from collision with the windshield and, seeing that her cannon was still attached to the right side of her battle saddle, fired it at one of the waist gunners. The effect of 20 mm bullets on unarmoured pony’s body was certainly interesting, but she had no time to watch it – another bullet from the second waist gunner’s revolver bounced off her armour with the sound of her recently healed ribs cracking again. She took her assault rifle – unlike cannon, it wasn’t attached to the battle saddle but was hanging from her neck, making aiming easier – and fired at him, only to hear the silent click of the firing pin. Before she could reload, the pilot rammed into her side, pushing her at the wall. Somepony kicked her in the face, breaking her goggles and throwing her back, on the airship’s dashboard. Cloud Kicker yelled and darted forward blindly. A revolver bullet deflected off her chest; another one tore the tip of her wing off. She tackled the pilot, grabbing his head in her hooves and hitting it against the waist gun mount. The gunner jumped to help his comrade, but suddenly, two shots fired and he fell to the ground, inches from Cloud Kicker. Dust Devil flew into the cockpit, landing on the floor next to the co-pilot’s body. “Couldn’t ya hurry?” Cloud Kicker panted, grabbing the pilot’s mane and hitting his head against the mount several times, till she heard a wet crunch. She then rolled off his body, breathing heavily on the floor. “Are you allright?” Dust Devil asked, looking at the bodies and trying to contain nausea. “Nothing I can’t fix in a minute,” said Cloud Kicker, spitting blood and pieces of her teeth. She disconnected the cannon from her armour and took the battle off, hissing when the metal-enforced belts touched her injured wing. Then she took off all the parts of her armour. Her flying suit was torn and drenched in blood. She tried to take it off, but hissed in pain when she realized that the fabric sticked to her wounds. “Tear it off…” she said to Dust Devil. “I can’t do it myself…” “Are you sure?” Dust Devil asked. “I don’t wanna mess something up…” “I said tear it off!” Cloud Kicker shouted. Dust Devil carefully cut the flying suit with her knife and pulled its remains off of her. Cloud Kicker groaned through gritted teeth. Dust Devil winced, seeing Cloud Kicker’s body badly bruised; her fur was soaked with blood, hers and co-pilot’s. Cloud Kicker slowly stood up and went, limping, to the cockpit’s door, locking it. She then proceeded to take various items from the pockets of her battle saddle: an unlabelled bottle of pills, a bottle of water and a syringe with morphine. “Hold the rudder, Devil,” she muttered. She took two pills from the bottle, drank some water and injected morphine in her thigh. For a moment she was sitting on the floor waiting for the medications to kick in. When she finally spoke, her voice was a bit slurred but much stronger than few minutes before. “So, now we have an airship with, like, six tons of bombs…” She went to the rudder and took it in her hooves, struggling to stand on her hind legs. She smiled at Dust Devil menacingly. “What if we flew it to the Everfree and see how Luna takes our load up–” She laughed goofily. “–the dark side of the moon?” “Remember that there’s a crew on the back…” Dust Devil quickly counted. “Two waist gunners in the rear gondola, bombardier, mechanic and a ball turret gunner are still alive.” “Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of them…” Cloud Kicker muttered, pushing the throttle levers forward. The engines started to roar louder, their airship slowly overtaking the leader. Suddenly, they heard a silent hum from the intercom, followed by a voice. “Guys? Carpet Bomb here. Are you okay? We’re accelerating!” “Shit,” Cloud Kicker whispered and passed the radio to Dust Devil. “Talk to him.” “Uh…” Dust Devil cleared her throat. “Everything's under control. Situation normal.” “What happened?” Dust Devil started to think really quick. “Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?” “I’ll come to you,” said Carpet Bomb. “Negative, negative. We had a fuel leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.” “Fuel tanks aren’t here, idiot!” Cloud Kicker whispered theatrically. “I’ll send a mechanic…” Carpet Bomb insisted. Dust Devil had enough. She took her rifle and shot at the intercom, earning an annoyed glare from Cloud Kicker. She shrugged, reloaded her gun and switched it to the automatic mode, aiming it at the door. “We’re so screwed…” she muttered. “There’s a trapdoor in the floor if you chicken out…” said Cloud Kicker condescendingly. Her body was shivering slightly, when she was trying to keep the airship under her control. “Me? Never!” “Good,” Cloud Kicker smirked and suddenly turned the rudder left. The whole airship leaned to the side, knocking Dust Devil off balance and sending her flying to the wall, next to the body of a waist gunner shot with a cannon. “What the fuck are you doing?” she screamed. “Turning,” Cloud Kicker stated calmly. When she turned her face to Dust Devil she saw that her pupils were dilated and that she was still smiling, showing the missing teeth. “Turning where?” Dust Devil looked through the remains of the windshield and saw the leading airship getting closer to them. “Oh fuck!” “Don’t worry, Dusty, we’re gonna get medals from Princess Celestia herself for that…” Cloud Kicker giggled. “Posthumously?” “Oh, you, of a little faith…” Cloud Kicker waved her hoof around the cockpit, pointing at the bodies, “I crashed into a windshield, they were trying to shoot me and beat me to death, and they didn’t! You know why? Because I’m FUCKING UNSTOPPABLE!” “Kicker, stop it!” Dust Devil cried, trying to push her away from the rudder, but Cloud Kicker slapped her, knocking her down. She then pushed the throttle levers forward, until they snapped, shards of metal cutting her skin. “See you in Canterlot soon, Dusty!” she shouted. *** “Sweet fucking baby Woona…” Vinyl muttered, seeing Die Schwiegermutter ramming into Princess Luna’s side, the latter’s gondola snapping in half like a piece of dry wood. Both airships caught fire and soon exploded, sending a wave of debris around. Vinyl’s airship shook violently, hit by a blastwave, sending her flying. “Ouch!” Emerald cried when Vinyl landed on her. “Sorry, honey,” Vinyl muttered, trying to get up. Their pilot managed to get the airship back in control and the shaking slowly died down. “What the fuck was that?” Roo, who had just emerged from his turret, asked. “Two thirds of our brave fleet just evaporated…” said Vinyl in the same calm tone she’d used when Black Cat was shot. Adrenaline was slowly wearing off and she started to feel the first signs of panic. “It figures that we will be the dessert,” Emerald added when the airship turned slightly. “We’re heading to the dam,” the pilot said through the intercom. “There’s no use bombing the town with only one airship.” *** “Cloud Kicker!” Cloudchaser shouted, watching the burning remains of two airships falling to the ground. “She… she wasn’t there, was she?” Flitter asked, tears in her eyes. “We’ll find her later, now we have to take care of this!” Rainbow Dash commanded, pointing at the last airship, which turned slightly. On the horizon, they could see the dam. The water in the reservoir was enough to flood Ponyville. They quickly formed two claw four formations and started to chase the airship. Rainbow Dash checked the ammo – she had only one magazine left. She was also worried about the griffons who had disappeared mysteriously after they’d killed four of them. Next to her, Flitter put another ammo cassette to her Jackhammer, shaking it and checking the action bolt. “On 9 o’clock, Dash!” Cinnamon Swirl shouted. Rainbow Dash looked left and saw a small point on the sky, slightly above them, quickly approaching them and gradually changing into eight silhouettes. “Save the cannons for the airship,” she muttered. “Aim at their wings.” They accelerated, hoping to use the zeppelin as their cover. Rainbow Dash, aimed her cannon at the right engine gondola and fired, followed by Cloudchaser. Some splinters fell off it, but the engine was still working when they had to dodge the tracers fired by the tail gunner and right waist gunner. “Griffons!” Cinnamon Swirl shouted, aiming her rifle upwards and firing. A bullet missed her only by an inch, flying further and scratching Flitter’s leg. They dived, hoping that the griffons would start to chase them. “Fire!” Thunderlane yelled, when his formation, consisting of him, Snowflake, Stormfeather and Cloud Break fell on their opponents. The griffons all turned right, to face them, one of them breaking away from the group, after his wing was hit by Stormfeather’s bullet. Also Rainbow Dash’s formation turned back to attack them from behind. Thunderlane spotted a large, muscular griffon in the middle of the formation, immediately recognizing him as the one who had mercilessly shot Blossomforth just few minutes earlier. He flew straight at him, when the griffon suddenly turned his head at him. “No way you can turn those cannons so quickly, birdie,” Thunderlane muttered to himself, pulling the trigger. The griffon made a rapid dodge, series of bullets flying past him. Thunderlane also overtook him, somersaulting in mid-air to shoot while upside-down. A bullet hit him, piercing his armour and shattering his shoulder. He was still flying towards the airship, somersaulting without any control. “H-how…” he whispered, seeing a bloody mess above his right leg. He struggled to regain control; he managed to dodge the propeller, but suddenly he hit the engine gondola and bounced off it, unconscious. As he was falling down, a series of bullets, fired by the airship’s left waist gunner hit him, penetrating through his flank, side, and, finally, his head. His wings twitched, tugging themselves by his sides, and he plummeted to the ground. *** Red Baron, the leader of the griffon’s squadron, smiled seeing another pegasus going down. He turned back and saw a violet mare, aiming a weird-looking weapon at his wings. He opened his beak to shout, but when she pulled the trigger, nothing happened. She looked at it, her mouth opening to form a swear, when another griffon, Jasta, tackled her, revealing his wing blades. Red Baron aimed his cannons at them, but he didn’t decide to fire, not sure whom he’d hit. He had to admit that the mare was good: she dodged the wing blade, but Jasta managed to scratch her face with his claws – if it wasn’t for her goggles, she’d lose her eye. Red Baron darted forward, ramming into the mare. Even without the radio he heard somepony above him shouting “Flitter!”, when he stabbed her through the gap between the plates of her armour with his wing blade. The metal snapped, a shard of it still protruding from the mare’s side. She was, however, unfazed – she hit him with the butt of her jammed gun, pushing him away, and put its barrel between the plates of Jasta’s armour, pulling the trigger. Red Baron saw, to his surprise, that the weapon worked this time, emptying the magazine in Jasta’s stomach. Ten cartridges of buckshot blew a large hole in the griffon’s body, blood and gore forming the red cloud behind him. As Red Baron was watching that, another pony, much heavier than any pegasus in the squadron they faced, rammed into him, knocking his helmet off his head and wrapping his foreleg around his neck. “What the–” Red Baron exclaimed, turning to see the large, white pegasus. “Yeah…” the pegasus muttered, catching his wing with his hooves, tearing the damaged wing blade off. Red Baron started to fight for his breath, but the pegasus was too strong. He caught his wing with the other hoof and twisted it rapidly, snapping the delicate bones. Red Baron tried to yell, but the white pony kept strangling him, still pulling his broken wing. Around them, the rest of pegasi were keeping his griffons away from him, his close-tongued opponent and the wounded mare. With a sickening sound, his skin finally gave up, and his torn off wing fell to the ground. Only years of military training prevented Red Baron from passing out. “That was for Thunderlane…” the pony muttered, grabbing his neck with the other hoof and catching his right wing. “Snowflake!” a cyan mare with rainbow-coloured mane stopped in her tracks, hovering in front of Red Baron. “Stop it!” “Yeah,” Snowflake said. “That’s for Featherweight.” He caught Red Baron’s beak and pulled it to the side. With a crunch of snapping vertebras, the griffon’s body went limp and plummeted to the ground when Snowflake released it. Beaten and horrified by death of their commander, the griffons ran away. Rainbow Dash looked at her squadron, now consisting only of Cinnamon Swirl, Cloudchaser, Flitter (who was barely able to keep herself in the air), Snowflake, Stormfeather, and Cloud Break. “Where’s the airship?” she asked, looking around. She finally spotted it, slowly approaching the dam. “What will we do?” Cloud Break asked. “Even if we get to it, we won’t down it before it reaches the dam…” “There’s only one way…” Rainbow Dash said. “Swirl, you still have that bomb, right?” “Yes,” Cinnamon Swirl nodded. “Give it to me, and help Flitter, she needs to see a doctor,” Rainbow Dash ordered. Cinnamon Swirl disconnected the bomb from her armour and gave it to her. Then she caught Flitter, trying not to move a broken piece of wing blade in her wound, and they flew away. “Snowflake, go to Ponyville and warn the crystal ponies. If we don’t make it, they have to evacuate.” “Yeah,” Snowflake saluted. “Ok, here’s the plan,” said Rainbow Dash to the remaining pegasi. “Storm and Break will fly to the airship and fire a single, large hole in the balloon. Then I’ll fly there and throw the bomb into it. Cloudchaser will watch my back.” They darted forward quickly. The airships weren’t very fast, but they had to hurry anyway. “We’ll approach from the right,” said Stormfeather. “The right waist gunner seems to be a blind idiot.” *** “Right in yer ass, gelding!” Vinyl shouted, pointing her gun upwards and trying to hit the two approaching pegasi. “Shit!” “Vinyl, if you want to hit the moving target, you cannot fire directly at it!” Emerald wanted to add something, but was interrupted by the sound of cannons firing. Vinyl quickly ducked behind her gun’s mount, but nothing happened; the pegasi stopped firing, and the only sound they could hear was a hissing of the hydrogen. “It seems that we are losing gas,” said Emerald, leaving her stand and standing by Vinyl’s side. “Thanks for that very useful observation…” Vinyl muttered, watching the sky. A silhouette of another pegasus appeared above them, approaching them rapidly, leaving a rainbow-coloured trail behind. She watched it, dumbstruck, despite Emerald poking her. “Come on, Vinyl, fire!” “I can’t! It’s Rainbow Dash; I can’t simply shoot an Element Bearer!” A green aura engulfed her gun, busting it out of her hooves, raising it upwards and pulling the trigger. Above them, somepony screamed and they heard something heavy hitting the balloon. Upon hearing that, Roo left his turret again and joined them. “Now, to the dam,” said Emerald calmly, releasing the gun from her magic grasp and leaving Vinyl watching cyan feathers, some of them with red drops on them, slowly floating down. “What have ya done…” Vinyl finally muttered, feeling tears coming to her eyes. “Either she or us,” Emerald’s soft voice rang in her ears. “She had a bomb.” Suddenly, they heard another, scratching sound, as if somepony was trying to climb on the surface of the balloon. “Shit,” Roo muttered. “Ya said she had a bomb?” “You know what?” Something changed in Emerald’s voice. She still sounded like a little filly, but this time it was a filly that was going to prank somepony. “I think I have seen enough of war. Goodbye, guys.” She disappeared in a green flash. Vinyl ran to the place Emerald stood just a split second ago, but she couldn’t catch her. “Ya little, annoying, fancy-speaking cunt!” she shouted. “You bloody, arse-fucked whore of a philosopher!” “Vinyl, if ya could teleport, ya’d do the same long time ago…” Roo commented, but Vinyl continued, her, quite impressive, stream of abuse, suddenly lapsing into Trottingham accent. “Vinyl,” he continued, hearing that the pegasus above them was still climbing. “Ah think we should leave too. The wounded crocodile is the most dangerous one. The same applies to ponies.” “Not before I fully express my hatred towards that diamond dog’s bastard, who deserves to suck dicks of all the homeless stallions in Canterlot to the end of her life…” “Can ya express it on the ground, not in the place that can blow up at any moment?” Roo asked, taking a parachute from the small locker next to the rear turret and throwing it to Vinyl. She caught it in her magic grasp and put it on. Roo opened the emergency exit – a trapdoor in the floor, placed between the waist gunners’ stands. Vinyl approached it and looked down. “Umm… Roo?” she muttered. “D’ya know that I’m scared of heights?” “No shit! You’re a gunner on an airship, for fuck’s sake!” “Yeah, but... ya know, I’m not scared of heights when I can’t see the ground…” “Sorry, Vinyl,” Roo said. “Sorry? For what?” she asked. “That!” Roo exclaimed and pushed her off of the airship with his wing. “We’ll meet on the ground!” he shouted, jumping behind her. *** Rainbow Dash was flying toward the airship, her hoof on a strap releasing the bomb. She was trying to focus on the hole torn in the balloon by Stormfeather and Cloud Break, but she couldn’t get the images of the dead and wounded ponies and griffons out of her head. Gilda, Cloud Kicker, Blossomforth, Flitter… Dash gritted her teeth. “Come on, Dash, get yourself together…” she muttered to herself. “As long as I’m flying, everything is okay…” She was almost there. She spread her wings to slow down, her gaze fixated on her target. “Aaargh!” she screamed, feeling a jolt of sharp pain in her left wing. Her vision darkened, and she lost control of her flight, colliding with the balloon, sliding off the surface. Instinctively, she reached with her hoof and caught the rope attaching the gondola to the balloon. She was panting heavily, her heart pounding in her chest against the bomb attached to the armour. The whole left side of her body was numb. The sensation was slowly coming back, but, as an athlete who knew everything about the wing’s anatomy, she understood what it meant – the bullet went through the large nerve at the base of her wing, severing it. Even if she wouldn’t have the remains of the wing amputated, she would never be able to move it again. “As long as I’m flying, everything is okay…” she whispered. “Yeah, I found something that makes me happy, Cloudchaser…” She looked right. The dam was only half of a mile away; the reservoir full of water after the rain and snowfall they had created. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain and twitching of the torn muscles in her injured wing, and started to climb up the rope. She threw away her rifle and cannon – her task was hard enough without additional 30 kilograms of equipment. Now the only thing that mattered was the bomb. She started to breathe deeply, trying to steady the accelerated heartbeat. Her left hoof was still a bit stiff, almost causing her to fall off the balloon. The airship was approaching the dam, the doors of its bomb bay opened. Rainbow Dash gave out a scream of frustration and climbed the last few feet upwards, catching the rant of the rift in the surface. Panting heavily, she disconnected the bomb from her armour and lifted it to her face. “Hope there’s enough oxygen in the balloon now,” she muttered, setting the delay on only three seconds. She pushed the switch arming the bomb and threw it inside the balloon. She then pushed herself backwards, closing her eyes and putting her hooves on her ears. The bomb exploded inside the airship, tearing a large hole in the bottom part of the balloon, and setting the mix of hydrogen and air on fire. Another explosion followed, tearing the whole aircraft apart, debris flying around. Some of it hit Dash – at first only small splinters and metal shards, but then a large piece of wood collided with her side, breaking her injured wing further and knocking the air out of her lungs. A shockwave swept her away like a kite during the storm. Another piece of debris hit her, knocking her unconscious. She didn’t even feel when somepony caught her just above the ground. *** The remains of the airship fell to the ground, the bombs and fuel exploding in a safe distance from the dam. Vinyl, her parachute also caught by the shockwave, was desperately trying to regain control over it. Finally, after a long struggle with ropes, she saw quickly approaching thatched roof and then the world around her became dark. When she woke up, she was hanging from the ropes of her parachute, which had gotten stuck on the roof of some house at the outskirts of Ponyville. She cursed under her breath, cut the ropes with her magic, and fell to the ground. Fuck this war, I’m leaving, she thought, standing up and wiping the mud and ash from herself. I’m gonna get rid that uniform, go to the crystal ponies, tell them that I’m a civilian, go to Canterlot and shag Tavi like there’s no tomorrow. She looked at the orange sky. Well, quite literally. “Hey, you!” somepony behind her shouted. She turned back and saw a violet pegasus mare with white and blue mane above her. She was wearing a black armour and, although she had dropped her weapons somewhere, Vinyl stepped back. “Help me!” the mare cried, landing next to her. Vinyl saw that she was carrying another pegasus on her back. Even though her mane was charred, Vinyl recognized her immediately. “Where should I carry her?” she asked, levitating Rainbow Dash gently. The pegasus regained her senses for a moment, moaning loudly. “There,” said the mare who brought her, pointing at the side street. They carried Rainbow Dash together and carefully put her on the ground. “Dash, can you hear me?” the mare asked, sitting next to her and resting her head on her laps. Rainbow Dash’s breath was shallow and slow. Her companion reached the straps joining her armour together and pulled them, taking the suit off. Vinyl winced, seeing her body – the left wing was only a bloody stump with some remaining feathers, tied with a tourniquet. Rainbow Dash’s whole left side was a single large bruise with darker places over the ribs. The violet mare touched it. “Acute abdomen, she might have an internal haemorrhage,” she said. “I’ll call help.” She turned on the radio, trying to contact somepony, but all she got was static. Vinyl looked at Rainbow Dash helplessly and noticed that she opened her eyes, looking around groggily. “Cloud… chaser…” she whispered. “Don’t worry, Dash, I’m gonna call somepony to help you.” “Too… late…” Rainbow Dash’s breath was short and shallow. “Did I… make it?” “Yes, you did, Dash,” said Cloudchaser, tears flowing from her eyes. “Good,” Rainbow Dash smiled faintly. “I’m… tired… See you, ‘Chaser.” “What? No Dash… You’ll live. I won’t let you die… I can’t let you die!” Cloudchaser shouted. Rainbow Dash exhaled loudly. She closed her eyes and her head hung limply in her hooves. Cloudchaser put her carefully on the ground. She then put her hoof on Dash’s chest, checking for pulse and breathing. “Shit…” she muttered, sobbing. She opened Rainbow Dash’s mouth, checking for any foreign objects, then she began the series of thirty chest compressions, followed by two breaths. After a few repetitions of the procedure, Vinyl slowly started to feel that it was too late; when she touched Rainbow Dash, she felt that her body was cold and began to stiffen. Her half-opened eyelids revealed widened pupils, devoid of shine. Finally, Cloudchaser gave up. She wept, hugging Rainbow Dash’s body and rocking back and forth with her. Vinyl also felt tears coming to her eyes. After all, she’d also met Dash on several occasions and always admired her, as well as the rest of the Element Bearers. She trotted to Cloudchaser to console her, when she slowly raised her head. Upon seeing the rose eyes, piercing her with a cold, emotionless expression, Vinyl realised one thing: wearing the Moon Army uniform in front of a pegasus who just lost her friend could be the biggest mistake of her life. She turned back and started to run, but she knew it was a lost cause. Cloudchaser could fly much faster than she could gallop, and soon the pegasus tackled her, pinning her to the ground. Vinyl thrashed when she grabbed her horn with one hoof, preventing her from casting any spell. Her other hoof was squeezing Vinyl’s throat, strangling her. The unicorn tried desperately to catch some air, her hooves bouncing off Cloudchaser’s armour when she was bucking wildly to free herself. Her vision started to blur and she felt a hot wave spreading through her abdomen when her bladder gave up. “No hard feelings,” Cloudchaser panted. “Just primitive instincts…” Vinyl, gathering the remains of her strength, bucked one more time, hitting Cloudchaser’s hind leg. The pegasus hissed, loosening her grip on her throat. Vinyl thrashed, freeing herself, and kicked Cloudchaser in the stomach. She screamed when one of her short pasterns snapped upon contacting with the armour, but Cloudchaser also felt that hit – she fell on her back, trying to recover. Vinyl, staggering on three legs, aimed her horn at her. She didn’t knew many spells that would be useful in such situation, except maybe a demolition spell which she’d used in Manehattan to open the door of the Bootleg’s pub but she started to charge her horn. “C’mon, do that,” Cloudchaser said in a dejected tone. Her eyes lost all the fire and she was now looking sad and tired, covered in sweat and dust. “You already killed Dash, one more pegasus doesn’t make a difference…” “I… didn’t…” Vinyl whispered, her voice quiet and raspy. She coughed, her lungs and throat still burning. “It was… Emerald… Clover…” Cloudchaser looked behind her, a spark appearing in her eyes. Vinyl thought it was a trick to distract her, but suddenly she felt a touch of metal on the back of her head. “Horn up, or I’ll blow your skull to pieces, you bag of piss…” Vinyl lifted her horn slowly and turned back to see at least ten crystal ponies aiming their guns at her. They surrounded her, one of them helping Cloudchaser to get up, another trotting to the side street to take Rainbow Dash’s body. “Vinyl, duck!” somepony above her shouted. A bullet hit the head of a crystal pony who was holding her at gunpoint. His companions aimed their guns in the air, when Vinyl fired a spell at them, sending some of them flying. “Run, Vinyl!” Roo shouted, firing Matilda, his sniper rifle, at another crystal pony. Vinyl darted forward, but screamed and fell down when her injured hoof contacted the ground. “I can’t run…” her voice was still only a raspy whisper. Roo cursed under his breath and grabbed Vinyl, flying away with her, only few feet above the street. A bullet flew past them, hitting the wall of a nearby house. Vinyl looked back and saw that Cloudchaser was following them, wielding two rifles in her hooves. “Watch out!” her scream immediately degrading into another fit of coughing. Her stomach ached and she felt that she was going to throw up. Roo made a sharp turn to the left, one of the bullets flying through his tail, scorching the hair. “Ya killed her coltfriend or what?” he asked Vinyl. Her only answer was a gagging sound when his shaky flight finally caused the motion sickness. They quickly flew into some side alley, hiding behind the houses. Roo released Vinyl and landed next to her. “We need to hide inside, there will be more of ‘em…” he said, watching Vinyl, even paler than usual, slowly getting up. He opened the door of the nearest house and they entered it. “Stay away from windows,” he said, ducking behind the sofa. The living room looked nice and cozy, though it could be seen that somepony left it in a hurry. “We need to go upstairs. Ah’ll have a better position to shoot there.” They trotted on the first floor, hiding in the bedroom – Vinyl noticed empty closets, large, comfortable bed and a photo of a nice, minty green unicorn mare standing on the nightstand. Roo looked at the bed and smirked. “Don’t even think about ‘one last time before we die’, daddy,” Vinyl said. “I told ya I don’t swing that way.” “Vinyl, Ah don’t mean to be rude, but ya don’t look very sexy at the– Get down!” They ducked behind the bed, its mattress getting pierced by the bullets. Roo quickly took his rifle and fired back, destroying the only remaining pane of glass in the window. “It’s that crazy pegasus,” he muttered. “Cloudchaser! Get down here!” one of the soldiers outside shouted. “Or you’ll get hit by debris!” “Ah’ll go to the window, maybe Ah’ll shoot some of them,” said Roo and crawled to the window slowly, carefully avoiding the shards of glass. He lifted his gun and fired outside, missing. Several soldiers fired back at the window, but he managed to duck in time. “Why don’t they storm the house?” Vinyl asked. “And did he say ‘debris’?” “They’re waiting till we surrender or commit ritual suicide, like the ancient pegasi in Neighpon,” said Roo. “Can ya do that spell once more? Ya’d demolish the wall and we’d fly away before they’d get what’s going on.” “Sorry, I can only cast it once an hour. I guess we don’t have so much time?” Vinyl muttered, resting herself against the bed frame and rubbing her swollen hind leg. Suddenly they heard a sound of an engine coming from the street, followed by rattling of the caterpillars. Roo looked outside and darted forward, hiding behind the bed. The wall behind them exploded, pieces of bricks flying in the air. A photo of the house’s previous inhabitant hit Vinyl’s back when she was running to the corridor, gritting her teeth when she stood on her broken hoof. Roo caught her, flying with her downstairs, when another explosion shook the house, demolishing a part of the roof. They landed on the floor, crawling to the kitchen and hiding under the table. “Will you go out or do we have to tear that house to pieces?” they heard somepony speaking over the megaphone. “Go and fuck yourself with the tank’s cannon!” Vinyl shouted. They didn’t have to wait long for the reply – the tank rammed into the wall, scattering the debris all over the living room. The floor gave a warning crunch, so the vehicle retreated, allowing the crystal ponies to go inside and search the house, taking cover behind the remains of the furniture. “We’re fucked…” Roo stated simply, lowering his sniper rifle. “Ya aren’t,” said Vinyl, her voice a bit louder, but still trembling, “Ya can still fly away if ya don’t have anypony to slow ya down…” “Vinyl, what are ya…” “Fly away, I’ll stop them,” she muttered. “Go back to… to Babs and tell her all that crap fathers usually say to their daughters. With my leg I wouldn’t be able to keep up with ya anyway…” “Ah can’t leave you like that… What about Octavia?” If they get me alive, they’ll take me to Canterlot anyway… Vinyl thought. “She’ll understand.” “No, she won’t! If Ah were her, Ah wouldn’t understand why my marefriend decided to sacrifice her life like that…” “Will your daughter understand that?” Roo said nothing. He got lost in his thoughts for a moment before finally taking his sniper rifle and giving it to Vinyl. Then he trotted to the window, checking if there was nopony outside. “Ah guess ya’ll need Matilda more than Ah… See ya, Vinyl,” he said, not looking at her and flew away. Finally, she thought. He thinks it’s Where Griffons Dare or other war novel? “I’m here!” she shouted, dropping Roo’s rifle on the floor “I sur–” A series of bullets flew over her head, tearing holes in the kitchen table. She rolled on the floor, splinters tangling into her fur. Few soldiers entered the kitchen, aiming their guns at her. “Don’t shoot!” she cried. Most of the soldiers heard her and took their hooves off the triggers. One of them, however, a young crystal pony private deafened by the previous shots, aimed at her and fired. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. Then the world exploded around her and everything faded to black. *** First thing she felt was a jolt of pain in her ribs. “What’s this?” She heard a raspy, low-pitched voice. “Can I bring a body bag for her or you guys are not done fucking her yet? I see all the crystal ponies prefer their fillies cold…” Somepony kicked her once again. “We didn’t fuck her, Tungsten Heart would rip our balls off for that,” another voice, a bit higher than the previous one, said. “And she’s not dead. One of our boys shot her, but this cunt was apparently born with a silver spoon in her mouth. The bullet missed, ricocheted from the fridge and hit her.” “Yeah, right… Then why is she lying here? You should take her to a doctor, or, for fuck’s sake, at least wash her!” “It was the doctor who told us not to move her. He said that she may have a spinal injury and went to get a stretcher. So, can you, please, stop kicking her and get the fuck out?” “No, until I get to know who of you, morons, had a brilliant idea of demolishing a house to get one prisoner.” Vinyl tried to lift her head, but everything went blurry and again she was embraced by the darkness. *** “Vinyl?” a soft voice called. “Tavi?” she asked, raising from the bed. The walls and bedclothes were snow white, Vinyl also noticed an i.v. rack above her. Her head and hind leg were bandaged. “Oh, Vinyl, what have you done?” there was some sadness in Octavia’s voice. Vinyl looked at her and saw tears in her big, violet eyes. “Don’t worry, Tavi, I’m with ya. Everything will be all right.” Octavia was still crying, not paying attention to what Vinyl was saying. Suddenly she rose from her seat and sat on the bed, hugging her. “It’s ok, Tavi, I’m–“ Vinyl paused, seeing that Octavia was, indeed, hugging her, but, at the same time, she was watching that scene, standing in the corner of the hospital room. “That sucks, huh?” somepony next to her said. She looked right and saw a familiar pegasus mare sitting on the floor. She ran her hoof through her rainbow mane. “What? You’re–” Vinyl felt that the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. “Rainbow Dash. Also yes, we’re dead. Or at least I am dead. Not sure how about you.” “I’m sorry…” Vinyl muttered. “Don’t be sorry, I don’t care anymore. At least I’ll see Scootaloo again…” Her voice drifted off, and the vision blurred into nothingness. *** A stream of ice-cold water woke her up. She shook her head, muttering curses under her breath. She was trying to recall what had happened to her, but all she saw was some blurry pictures: two soldiers talking about how she was shot; the doctor, bandaging her hoof and looking at her with worried expression; a small airship, so called “assault blimp” crystal ponies were using to transport the bodies of the dead soldiers, and which they used to transport her to Canterlot; a strange vision of Octavia crying over her dead body. “Stand up, punk!” a royal guard, who just poured the water from garden hose all over her, shouted. She stood up, feeling dizzy, and almost fell down again, her hind leg too weak to support her weight. “Don’t even try to throw up, or we’ll have to shower you once more…” There was a threat in the guard’s voice. Vinyl looked around. The room she was in was a tall, dark chamber, walls made of stone, the only source of light being the torches. She tried to light up her horn, only to find out that the anti-magic ring was put on it. “Welcome to the Royal Dungeon.” The guard laughed. “Have a nice stay…”