//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: To Fight for a Dream // Story: Fallout Equestria: Tales of Transylvania. // by MeetSouder //------------------------------// Chapter Five: To fight for a Dream <><><>                  “Drop into the tall grass everypony, it’s all we have.” Dusk spoke softly to my right. We were in the middle of an open field with the forces of the Black Daylight charging right to us. Dusk had a valid point though, the entire assault force was comprised of earth ponies, they didn’t have the advantage of night vision. If we dropped down into the grass, that came halfway up our rear legs up to our ankles, we could wait until they passed. I shot a look towards Midnight to my left, he shared a similar expression to my own: worry and fear. I quickly stepped closer to him and pressed my side against his, though it wouldn’t mean the difference between life and death, I felt comfort whenever I was around him. He was now my coltfriend, and by Luna if we died tonight, I wouldn’t want to have anypony else by my side in our final moments. We all knelt down and my world suddenly became enveloped by the smell of dry grass, with only the sounds of the dead blades softly swishing in the gentle wind. I felt Midnight tense to side and I layed my head down lower, even flattening my ears hoping that would somehow increase our stealth. The ground started shaking, and the distant sound of a small army of hooves galloping started to grow in intensity. A lone high calibre gunshot pierced the night, swiftly followed by a salvo of bolt action precision rifles echoing afterwards. The Renaissance Rose Night Watch began their defense. I could hear cries of pain as the incoming forces were taken under fire, the watch towers and natural night vision of those that were stationed within offered a massive advantage. The Renaissance Rose had some serious trigger discipline, spreading out their fire to leave a constant barrage of lead. “Shite Middy, I think they’re just about to get on top of us!” I hastily whispered and leaned my head down on his prone forehooves. His close presence comforting my rapidly beating heart in my chest. The thunderous wave of sound was now right on top of us, I saw hoof steps part the grass before my eyes as dirt and grass was kicked onto my back. Oh Luna, please don’t step on me, please don’t step on me. I felt a sharp pain at the base of my tail followed by a grunt as a charging soldier slipped on my bucking tail and stumbled into the grass. The bloody tosser stepped on my bucking tail! That bloody hurt! I mentally screamed as I felt tears well up on the edges of my eyes.   I involuntarily let out an “eep”, and Midnight shoved a hoof on my mouth. I looked up to him in fear and caught his angry glare in the moonlight. Maybe he didn’t hear that? “What the buck was that?” The fallen soldier yelled as he slowly rose to all four hooves, allowing his comrades to pass him. His helmeted head leaned forward in what I believed was a squint into the darkness. Oh shite! I gripped Midnight's Foreleg with my hoof as I tensed up in fear. Dusk was deathly silent during the entire ordeal, and now watched the soldier intensely, I could see he was silently growling and baring his fangs. Just as the soldier probably spotted my scarlet mane in the moonlight, Dusk took this moment to pounce. “Hey-” The soldier was cut off as Dusk popped out of the grass wings flared, gripping a the handle of a combat knife in his armour and drawing it to full extent right as he made contact with the Soldier. They both collapsed in the grass and disappeared from sight, shortly followed by the sound of a knife being slid softly back into it’s cloth sheath. “Did he get him?” I asked Midnight, looking up to him with my even eyes wider with fear. “I- I’m not sure, be ready to gallop if we have to…” Midnight responded, squinting as if trying to see through the thick grass. Around us the sound of the charge trailed off, followed by ponies barking orders, and the chatter of automatic and semi automatic fire filled the air. The Black Daylight must have gotten settled into the field within range and began trading a crossfire with the defending guards. The grass ahead of us jumbled and swished faster, I felt my heart race as I hoped to Luna the soldier wasn’t coming after us and didn’t out pass Dusk in the hoof to hoof combat. I held on even tighter to Midnight, eliciting a low grunt from him as I constricted his poor foreleg. We waited for our potential demise. “He’s down, lets crawl to the west and try and enter Renaissance from the front entrence.” Dusk nonchalantly commanded as his head, followed by the rest of his body poked out of the grass. Midnight and I let out a massive sigh of relief and nodded, we turned tail to our right and began low crawling through the field. The assault force was about two hundred hooves in front of us and all of their backs were turned away from us, we didn’t have to worry too much about stealth from where we were crawling. Suddenly Dusk lifted a hoof indicating we should stop. We all halted our crawling and I peeked my head over the grass. Ahead of us was one of the ponies tasked with launching missiles into the town to terrorize the public. He had a huge arse tube strapped onto a battle saddle, and quite frankly, I had no idea what it was. I only know about firearms, not bucking missile launchers! Dusk sat on his flanks and reached his head into his combat armor, near the waist where he had a few magazine pouches. He removed a large calibre suppressor with his teeth, then unslung his rifle from his back. Damn, where do these ponies get this kind of hardware? First the bloody missile launching ponies, and now Dusk has a rifle suppressor. I ranted silently. Dusk propped the rifle between his lower legs and screwed the suppressor onto the end of his IS-700 with both hooves. He then hit the latch on the bottom of the gun, effectively dumping the internal magazine and spilling the ammunition into his hoof. He returned the ammunition to another pouch and retrieved similar ammunition shortly after. I knew right away what he was doing, he was replacing the standard surplus ball-ammunition for subsonic ammunition. A suppressor may soften the sound of the powder charge, but the supersonic bullet would have been just as loud had the suppressor not been on. Lieutenant Dusk had to have been more than just a standard field officer, these kinds of military tactics were not simple. “What’s he doing Scar? Why’d he shove a sausage onto the end of his gun and reload a full magazine?” Midnight whispered to me as Dusk loaded the weaker ammunition into his rifle. “Middy seriously? That’s not a sausage! It’s a suppressor, he’s prepping his firearm to shoot a lot quieter, not silently, but hopefully enough where those twats won't be able to distinguish it from the echo of the guns coming back from the mountains.” I whispered angrily as I stared at Midnight, I love the buck, but damn he needed to learn more about guns. Dusk raised his rifle to his shoulder, gripping the bit lightly and aimed for the one-pony-artillery-force. A disturbingly loud, yet still noticeably quieter shot rang out into the frozen night. The artillery-pony only flinched from the sound before the subsonic bullet struck his head and lodged itself into his unarmored skull. Thankfully nopony seemed to notice the shot, it’s power only just barely being louder than the chatter of the battle reflecting back from the surroundings. Dusk recycled his bolt and hit the safety, then swung the rifle back over his back, leaving the suppressor on. He looked over his left shoulder and nodded. Midnight and I returned the nod and we continued our hunched over canter towards the west. We cantered in our painful low position until we were on the opposite side of the town, where we stood up and galloped full speed onto the well worn dirt path that lead to the front of Renaissance. We just barely made it passed the sign before a squad of six guards intercepted us, IS-700’s drawn. Midnight and I immediately halted in our tracks. “Stop right there or we’ll open fire!” A young buck sounded into the night, he wore similar armour to what Private Starshine did the last time Midnight and I were standing here, sporting the helmet and all. But this time the leader of the squad had a blue rose outline spray stenciled onto his armour. “Stand down Sergeant, we’re on the same side.” Lieutenant Dusk barked as he slowed down to a trot and stopped only a few hooves before the young buck, probably the same age as Middy and I really. “Lieutenant Dusk! Bloody nora we thought you were dead!” The, sergeant I would presume, spoke in disbelief. “Spec Op’s ain’t easy to kill sarge.” one of the red rosed privates spoke behind the sergeant. Oh, so Dusk’s part of a special operations unit, that makes sense. “Whoaaa that’s badass, I mean I kinda hated Dusk, but damn that’s super badass.” Midnight whispered to me and stared at Dusk like a young colt looking at his super hero. “Wait you hated Dusk?” I cocked an eyebrow to my coltfriend. “Long story, I’ll tell ya later.” Midnight dismissed with a waving hoof. I rolled my eyes and refocused on what the guards were discussing a few hooves in front of us. “... On the eastern sector. Medical personnel are collecting the wounded at a makeshift field hospital in the southern sector, not far from us now. The hospital was too close to the fighting to be an effective place to treat the civilians.” Sergeant-blue-rose reported as Dusk absorbed all the information. “Where’s the Northern Star at currently?” Dusk asked after processing the battle. “Your squad is currently stalking on the northern edge of the forest, they’re flanking the main assault force. Staff Sergeant Orion is currently the superior officer and she ordered your squad to provide sniper cover and take out the rocket lobbing ponies.” Sergeant blue reported on a dime. “Good, she knows what shes doing. Continue on with the orders tasked to you. You have the freedom to modify your tactics to help rescue any civilians or further the protection of Renaissance. Dismissed.” Dusk commanded and returned the salute that the Sergeant gave before they all took off flying towards the front lines, he then about faced to us. “I’m going to rendezvous with my squadron and assume command once again, you two… uh just do what you can to help.” Dusk ordered us. He quickly reached down into his many pockets and removed a quick-snap high power scope and bipod, attaching them to the picatinny rails on top and below his rifle. He reslung it across his back and took off into the night, giving us one last nod of affirmation. “You’re welcome for saving you, you bastard…” Midnight cried out, softening the end enough where Dusk wouldn’t hear his insult. I quickly hit him in the shoulder with my left hoof. “Ow! Hey Scar that hurts more than you think!” Midnight whined, and I hit im again. “We owe that buck our lives for killing those two soldiers out there in the fields, give the chap some credit.” I said with a sigh, Middy… always the dense one. “Well at least I’m not the one trying to seduce a taken mare with my eyes!” Midnight sat on his flanks and raised his hooves up in exasperation. Is that seriously what was bothering him? “Is that seriously the reason you don’t like him?!” I nearly shrieked, echoing my thoughts. Almighty Luna above, keep me from slapping this buck into oblivion. Amen. “Well yes! He’s so smooth, wonderglue wouldn’t even dare dry on him!” Midnight yelled out, pointing a hoof towards where Dusk took off. “Are you jealous?” I asked, my voice much softer in tone now. “Of course I’m bucking jealous! He’s like a giant hunk of eyecandy!” Midnight complained Aww he’s jealous for me, that’s so sweet. I suddenly pounced forward and knocked Midnight onto his back, planting a leg-shakingly deep kiss on his lips. When we parted I pushed my example further and looked into his eyes with my own half-lidded. “Is this proof enough to show you where my loyalty resides?” I blinked in what I hoped would be seductive. Midnight gulped and nodded vigorously, his face a miniature sunset with the shades of red and blue mixing so well together, he’s so cute when he’s flustered. “Good.” I winked and slid off of him, rubbing my hooves down the length of his body and standing up again. Ahh the sweet feeling of making Middy flustered to the point of stupidity. I relished as I watched my coltfriend blink emptily into the cold air, his legs sticking limply upwards. Before shaking his head and rolling over to his hooves. “Ahem, right, now that that’s settled let’s actually try and contribute to saving this town?” Midnight spoke as he regained his composure, taking his usual stance once more. I quickly trotted ahead of him and looked back over my shoulder. “Alright, but remember, if we get out of this alive, there will be plenty more where that came from.” I teased and vivaciously wiggled my hips to add further destruction to Midnight’s pride. Call me a temptress, but I seized every moment I had to pull Midnight’s leg, relationship or not I enjoyed teasing him to no end. Besides, maybe I did want ‘more of where that came from’... What, can’t a mare enjoy her time with her coltfriend? Sheesh. I let out a giggle as I saw Midnight’s eyes follow my flank, as he mumbled to himself what I said. He then promptly took his right hoof and brutally punched himself across the face, knocking himself on the ground. Welp, that was unexpected… I turned around and gawked at him as he groaned and nodded, getting back to his hooves. “Lets… gah… go see if the field hospital needs assis- assistance.” Midnight winced as he slowly started trotting towards the east. I took off into a low hover and slowly glided after him, what a weird buck. <><><> We continued winding through the houses until we spotted a series of olive drab tents laid out in the middle of one of the spider webbing roads. The sounds of moaning, crying and screams of pain filled the night air, complemented by distant sound of the front line battle. I landed next the Midnight and once again pressed my side against his as I saw stretchers of ponies carried into the field hospital, guards and civilians alike, all sharing severe burns or bullet wounds. A few even missing limbs from the rocket strikes. I let out a small cry of disdain when I saw the bloodied form of a filly, carried on a Night Watch guard’s back, be taken away from the field hospital. She was certainly dead, the wounds too great for the surgeons to try and save her. “Luna above, Middy these poor ponies didn’t even do anything to be attacked like this…” I whimpered to him, I felt my ears were flattened against my head. “C’mon let’s go find the officer in charge and see what needs to be done.” Midnight softly spoke, nudging me towards a tent that had a golden rose outline embroidered on it’s walls. We entered the tent, which contained nothing but a simple wooden desk. A large map of Renaissance dominated the centre of the table, with a few stacks of messages scribbled on parchment stacked off to the sides. Standing behind the desk was a Transylvanian mare, she had armour identical to Aurora's, sporting the inlaid mother of pearl rose on her chest plate. The difference however, were the two red crosses on her shoulder plates. She had a white mane and tail and a light grey coat to match. “Who are you two ponies and why are you in my tent? This is a restricted area.” She spoke calmly, looking up from the map laid before her. Midnight cleared his throat and straightened his stance, “Lieutenant Dusk sent us to find you and assist you in any way we can.” He responded with confidence. Though it wasn’t entirely true, it sounded convincing enough. I could only assume this mare before us was the captain of the medical wing, as she looked to us with a cocked eyebrow sizing both me and Midnight up. “There are a few tasks I need done, but are you willing to put yourselves in danger to help the civilians of Renaissance?” She asked, no level of indication to whether or not she was okay with our presence. Midnight nodded without hesitation and I quickly followed suit after seeing he did. “Okay, consider yourselves temporarily under my command, welcome aboard the Renaissance Rose Medical Guard. RRMG for short. I’m Captain Angel” She paused to let both myself and Midnight to soak it in. Well that was might easy… “I’m going to be brief, there are ponies that need immediate medical assistance that I need to attend to.” Angel looked down to the map and pointed a hoof at the northern edge of town, a red line was drawn from the forest all the way down to halfway to the town centre, where a blue ‘X’ stopped. “The Black Daylight has pushed into the town, down Command Avenue, where they currently have control of the Hospital and the ruined headquarters. Our guards have them pinned in the bottleneck of the road and a stalemate has been reached. Special operations squadrons Northern Star and Distant Horizons are currently flanking from the east and west preventing any further maneuvering around the town.” She shifted her hoof to the way bottom edge of the circular town, a green ‘O’ was drawn on one of the streets. “This is our current position, I need somepony to flank the assault force from the north east and sneak into the hospital. Inside there is a cabinet with vital chemicals that will help stabilize some patients we have that are in critical condition. One of you needs to gain access to that cabinet and bring them back to our surgeons.”  Angel looked to both me and Midnight to my left expectantly. “Excuse me ma’am but why not send both of us, we can cover each other and carry more chemicals if we work together.” Midnight inquired. I nodded my head vigorously, I don’t want to be separated from Midnight, especially in a battle of this scale. “I need the other one to relay an important message to Captain Borealis who is currently leading Distant Horizons, I cannot afford to send any of my own personnel as they are all busy with wounded. This mission is particularly difficult because the messenger will be forced to gallop, we cannot afford Distant Horizons position to be given away in the event that the messenger is spotted from the air.” Angel concluded in her steely calm tone. “Shite, I can’t gallop that fast or far away… But I don’t want us to be separated Middy” I looked pleadingly to Midnight as he thought about the tasks. “Scar you’ve always been better at sneaking than I have, and I can’t fly anyways. We need to do these things if we want Renaissance to have a fighting chance. You need to get to the hospital and ferry back those chemicals, I’ll meet up with Aurora and tell him the message.” Midnight concluded, shifting his gaze the Angel who nodded in afirmation. “What?! Middy we always stick together! What if one of us gets hurt?” I asked pleadingly. “We’re both going to die if we don’t try everything we have to save this town, the Black Daylight will stop at nothing until every single one of us is dead. It pains me more than you can imagine that we have to go our separate ways, but it must be done.” Midnight certified, his expression showing his determination, but his eyes betrayed him. He was just as concerned as I was, and I could see my pleading was tearing him apart on the inside. Dammit then let’s save this town. I steeled my nerves and nodded. He was right, we had to set ourselves aside to help everypony in this town. It was our new home. Our home. The thought of us living together in peace resonated through me, if I wanted to live that dream then I was going to have to fight for it just as much as Midnight was. “Okay Captain, I’ll sneak into the hospital and retrieve the medical supplies and Midnight will relay the message to the Distant Horizons.” I spoke with determination. “Scar was it? You have access to the supply wagon that’s been driven up outside of my tent, take what you need and return as many IV bags of anesthesia and syringes of morphine as possible. Lunaspeed and good luck to both of you. Dismissed” Angel concluded and returned to reading the orders posted on her table. Midnight and I exited the tent and turned to one another, we stared into each others eyes with a mixture of adoration, concern and fear. “Don’t die on me, okay mate?” I whispered, thinking of what Midnight said to me before my move with the raiders. “I’ll be back before dinner.” Midnight winked then leaned down to kiss me softly. I gratefully obliged and kissed him back, hoping this would not be the last we shared together. “I love you Scarlet.” Midnight spoke quietly. “I love you too Midnight.” I responded, feeling tears well up in my eyes. Without another word Midnight stood tall and looked down the road to right, the sky now bright with the burning flames of the houses near the frontlines. He looked back to me once more before galloping off towards the north east to accomplish his mission. I sat there and watched him until the thick air laced with trails of smoke obscured his waving two toned tail. I let out a sigh and turned towards the armoured green chariot to my left. Trotting up to it, I climbed onto the bed of the chariot and saw supply crates were filled with weapons and ammunition, if I was going to go stealthily I needed to change up my loadout. I looked around until I spotted a small black steel box labeled “Suppressors”. Perfect. I opened the container and saw there were suppressors per calibre grouping, one for 9mm through 45ACP, and another for 5.56cal through 7.62mm. I grabbed the larger suppressor with my teeth and let my carbine slip off my back and fall before me. I propped it up similar to how Lieutenant Dusk did for his IS-700 and used my hooves to unscrew the flash break that currently was on the barrel end. I plopped the piece into my saddle bags and screwed on the suppressor in a similar manner. I then looked around the bed of the truck once more and found an ammunition crate labeled ‘5.56 SSAP’. Those would do nicely, the Subsonic Armour Piercing rounds would be not only quieter, but also served a chance to penetrate that combat barding those soldiers wore. I opened the can and quickly grabbed the paper wrapped pouches of ammunition. I then began the painfully tedious job of unloading my magazines and replacing them with the black tipped ammunition. Once all of my magazines were loaded and my carbine cocked, locked, and ready to rock. I peered down the low power scope and used a hoof to calibrate the glowing red chevron to a lower position. The ammunition I was using would travel slower and drop considerably faster, so I had to take account for the new physics. With my carbine against my back once more, I glided off the tall bed of the chariot landing on the solid ground once more and lifted my left leg to view my Pipbuck. Using my nose, I shifted to the ‘DATA’ tab and pulled up the ‘Local Map’ tab. I saw my best bet was to head around the field hospital to my right, the east, and through a huge clearing near the base of the town, where I could only assume the apple and pear orchards were located. Then back up another road and cut through the alley ways around the Hospital building where I could hopefully find a back entrance. With my track planned, I lifted off into the cold nights air and headed towards the orchards. I dodged and weaved between the buildings as I flew over the alley ways that connected the spider webbing main roads. I was careful to keep my altitude to below the rooftops hoping not to be spotted. The alley way soon came to an abrupt stop and a large expanse of sickly looking deciduous trees came into view. I pulled my wings in and dove to match level with the tree tops, flaring them out to maintain altitude as I left my speed bleed off. I reached a hoof down and grabbed an apple off one of the high branches. I haven’t eaten since yesternight! Don’t judge me. I slowed my flying to a gentle glide as I gratefully munched on the apple, it was a bit bland I’m gonna be honest, but it was the best bloody thing I’ve had all day. I looked up at the moon to check to see how much darkness was left, it hung just barely over the horizon. I had a good hour or two to conceal my movements before the sun began to rise. Just in my moment of distraction I felt my ears swivel as I heard the modulated voices of stallions beneath me and to my left, inside one of the alley ways. I jettisoned my half eaten apple and banked towards the rooftop above where I heard the voices. I gently let down on the opposite side of the triangular roof top, and knelt down to peer over the side. Two stories below me I saw two stallions clad in the black and white trimmed armor of the Black Daylight. They were trying to navigate the complex alley ways of the town, and they must have somehow been separated from the main assault force before the special operations units cut off the flanks of Command Avenue. For a moment I was afraid I was going to have to kill these two unsuspecting ponies, but then the images of the field hospital replayed in my mind, the innocent filly killed simply because she was born Transylvanian. These earth ponies before me were monsters, they’re hooves bathed in the blood of innocent civilians. I grabbed the firing bit of my suppressed IS-4 and debated how I was going to go about taking down two ponies at once without raising alarm to my position, I was no where near a good enough shot to just pop both of these buggers in the head. I looked around and my eyes fell upon an overhanging porch supported by two cables that was one story up from where they were trotting. “I don’t have any idea where the fuck we are Lamplight now shut your mouth and keep trotting.” The soldier on the left grumbled through his helmet. “Kay, but if we’re too far from th’ assault force we’re goin’ ta git out numbered in enemy territory” Lamplight droned. I let the pass where I was currently sitting and waited for them to trot underneath the porch. Once they were in the prime position, I flared my wings and glided down to the overhang, my leathery wings rippling in the night causing both guards to stop and look up above them on the now swinging porch. “Da fuck was that?! Ya think it’s o’ of them vamps?” Lamplight cried as he tried to peer around the dark silhouette of the porch against the dark sky. “Aw shit if it’s only one of those bloodsuckers then we can take em’” the first one responded. We don’t drink blood! What the buck? I angrily thought to myself as I bit the release pin holding both cables in place with my teeth. Drink some of this you bloody cunts! I quickly yanked out the pin and flared out my wings, flapping rapidly to keep me in place as the porch fell beneath me. “WHOA WATCH OU-” The cries of both ponies were cut off by a sickening crunch as they were both crushed by the enormous weight of the steel and wooden porch. Two down, Luna knows how many more to go… I glided forward slowly to gain momentum and then banked to my left, pumping my wings as I continued east to the Hospital. * * *         I pumped my legs as quickly as I could, the soft thumping of my hoof strikes being muffled by the dirt road beneath me. Images of my beloved marefriend burned into my vision as I bolted down the straight western pointing road towards the open fields. Buck, you’d think I did enough galloping in one day, but nope, let’s just have the town besieged before I even get a chance to take Scar on a date. Lovely. I complained in my head as I raced passed bloodstains in the road and leapt over cretors the missiles left in their wake after the initial barrage. When the road came to an abrupt stop, I quickly plowed into the tall grassy field, altering my course northwest as I remembered the trail from Angel’s map. I really, really hoped that Distant Horizons wouldn’t shoot the blue pegabat running towards them from friendly territory. When I reached the pine tree line, I slowed to a brisk canter and looked around me for any signs of the Spec Ops team. Nothing seemed to give away their location, but Angel’s map said they would be right here. The telltale report of an IS-700 resonated from behind me and I whipped around to see… nothing. “Tango down, new target one thousand five hundred-fifty hooves eastwards. Windage twenty five, elevation one-naught-six, temperature three degrees celsius, air pressure one hundred sixteen point six KPA, clear to fire.” A familiar low toned northern braytish accent sounded from… on top of me? “I have a visual, stand by fer shot.” A new similar accented, far younger male voice responded near by above me. Followed by the sound of a bolt racking and a shell tumbling down to land in front of my hooves. I jumped as The mighty roar of the .308 round splitting the air resounded and I finally saw the muzzle flash, the sniper team was perched in the low branches above my head. That’s actually pretty damn smart now that I think about it. “Clean hit, looks like it entered the lads right shoulder.” The first voice reported. “Hey I have a message for Captain Borealis.” I called up to the two pony sniper team. “SHITE!” Cried both of the ponies 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 pistol before me, it had one of the sausages attached to the front that Scarlet told me made them quieter. The pistol quickly lowered and I saw Aurora was the one behind it. “Bloody nora… Midnight what the buck are ye doin’ out here?! You scared the living Luna out of me and me partner Ballpoint.” Aurora cried after he returned his sausage pistol to it’s place in his leg holster. Ballpoint….? Like Ballpoint Pen? That’s a weird name for a sniper… “Captain Angel sent me to give you an important notice.” 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 to moment to look up to the sniper above as he read. The sniper was currently prone against the tree branch as was watching us as he waited. He had a black mane and tail, and a near white-grey coat, he was considerably younger than I was. His armour was similar to Dusk’s and I assumed he was a Lieutenant as well since he had a golden rose. His color scheme honestly reminded me of a ballpoint pen. “Lunadammit, Ballpoint, we’re moving out to cover the northwestern sector of inner Renaissance, it looks like the assault forces are now in control of half of Command Avenue and we need to prevent any of them from flanking out blockade. They’re only about thirty strong now, barely matching our own main defenses after we sustained casualties from their breach of the perimeter. Thankfully they lost nearly half of their force during that slaughter when they charged the fields.” Aurora informed us. “Aw shite, and I was just beggining to enjoy pickin’ off the rocket ponies.” Ballpoint’s young voice cracked from above me, Luna above was he like bucking fifteen years old or something? Howed he become a lieutenant in the guard? “That’s too bad laddie we’re going to need to cover the rest of the Night Watch guards, none of the other branches can afford to redirect reinforcements to the front lines.” Aurora confirmed. Ballpoint let out a small groan as he strapped his rifle to his back and glided down next to me. At this distance I could definitely see he was at least four years younger than myself, he had the cocky expression of a young teen with too much skill and who knew it was true. Heh kinda like myself… except I’m not skilled. “Alright lad you’re going to have to stick with us for now and help keep the main force from flanking, no need to worry about stealth anymore, they’ll know we’re there no matter what we do.” Aurora concluded, as he took of on a brisk canter towards the northwestern side of the town. “Wait,if you cared so much about stealth, why were you just randomly firing off into the night without a sausa-... suppressor… on your rifle?” I asked as I caught my nickname for the fancy equipment. “Oi, first mate, it wasn’t random. Me shots were right on target every single time. They don’t call us Distant Horizons fer nothin’. When you can’t see em’ past the horizon, I already took me shot.” Ballpoint boasted and looked proudly ahead as we were now crossing the tall grass. “An’ second, when we’re past a certain distance from the target, our bullet is the only thing they’ll hear before their bloody lives are taken away. The sound is absorbed by the surroundings before the bullet even reaches em’.” The young buck concluded. He’s got the firearms intelligence of Scarlet and the same cocky little shit attitude as me… What, is this colt our bucking son or something? I thought to myself, then realized if we ever had a colt he would turn out like this one… Luna above that would be something else. “Okay, okay sniper-writing-utensil, I get it. Let’s go help our fellow guards.” I faux submitted, not willing to argue with somepony that was so much like me. I knew I would never win. We continued our canter towards the north east. When we finally passed the first watch tower Aurora directed us onto a road that ran parallel from Command Avenue. He quickly spread his wings and flew two stories up one of the buildings, followed by Ballpoint. I sighed. Okay, leave the flightless bird behind. I looked around for an alternate way to get up, the original construction workers of this place must have built some sort of access to the roofing for any nonflying faculty members. I soon spotted a ladder that lead up to a steel grated landing, followed by another ladder. I never climbed ladders before, 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 very slowly inch my way up to the platform. When I reached the platform I was thoroughly exhausted, my heavy breaths were carried way into the frigid air, the temperature must have dropped to below freezing by now. Since I could always fly I never really had to climb anything. Ever. So this wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for me. When is my blasted wing going to heal? I don’t think I can keep up with this… I looked up to the next ladder, and sighed as I began to climb once again, one hoof, the next followed by the last two behind. I inched my way up slowly to Aurora and Ballpoint who were surveying the battlefield from the elevated position. When I reached the top of the roof I collapsed into a heap and stared over the triangular edge. Below and ahead of us was the front line. 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 a tall blockade dominated the centre of Command Avenue. On one side, Night Watch Guards were prone against the rubble and damaged military chariots that comprised their cover. They would occasionally prop their guns against the blockade and take a shot over the cover, only to quickly duck back down from a hail of semiautomatic fire. A few hundred hooves up the street towards the north, the Black Daylight were fortified on either side of the street, taking cover behind the two houses that made up the dead end. They would occasionally lean out from either side and return fire to the Night Watch only for precise fire to strike near their heads forcing them to return to cover. It was a perfect stalemate. “Alrighty, looks like the left squadron’s leader is the one with the white plume on his helmet” Ballpoint spoke as he peered down his rifle scope. He didn’t use any form of stabilization, instead his rifle was simply propped on the crown of the triangular rooftop we were currently laying on. “Hold yer fire laddie, we don’t want to give our position, we’re right smack dab in the middle between both fronts.” Aurora spoke softly, he was using a pair of binoculars held up in a hoof strap. Ballpoint let out a soft sigh and nodded, he continued to peer down the scope and I could see he was grinding his teeth against the trigger plate. This colt was just itching to shoot. “Okay Captain then what are we going to do? Wait till they run out of ammunition?” Ballpoint spat out his firing bit and let his rifle’s butt rest on the rooftop. “Nope, we’re going to get into the demolished headquarters, try and see if that bloody HAM radio works, and contact our sister town. We need the Rafael Air Forces.” Captain Borealis sighed, dropping his hoof down and turning to his subordinate. “Aw bloody tartarus, the last time we contacted those mates we owed them four thousand caps for their ‘services’” Ballpoint moaned. “I don’t exactly know why they charge us, even though they’re a branch of our own guard, but take a look about ye lad, there aren’t that many options about us.” Aurora gestured to the blockade with a hoof.   The headquarters off to our left was miraculously still standing, half of the wall that faced the north up the road was in ruin, with the top floor exposed to the eye. The flames that previously engulfed the building subsided leaving only the charred and smouldering husk of the building. “Wait, what’re the Rafael?” I asked looking between the two, there were too many damn factions in Transylvania. “Alright 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, off we go.” Aurora nodded and they both glided down to the road behind and below us. Once they landed they began cantering off to the right, towards the back of the headquarters. “You guys suck. So, so damn much!” I yelled down two stories of building, as I inched my way back down the steep slope of the roof, heading back to the Luna dammed ladder once more. Buck this shit, I should have opted for the damn hospital mission. I sighed, hoping to Luna and all things holy that my dear marefriend was okay. <><><> I really wish Midnight were here… I thought as I ducked behind yet another bloody hospital curtain. I made it all the way into the back lower floor of the hospital only to find that the entire bloody thing was absolutely filled with Black Daylight soldiers. They seemed to be patrolling the area for no Luna damned reason at all. A group was mumbling in a corner over a table illuminated by their head torches, one of the ponies was trotting around as if he was thinking to himself. I proceeded to stick to the shadows of the lower floor’s room, and dodge the guards. It looked like the rocket artillery must have destroyed the power leading into the building, because the entire interior was pitch black, to the soldiers of course. For me, I could see just as fine as any moon lit night, unfortunately that didn't mean I was silent, nor did it mean bloody torches didn’t still glow. Shite here he comes again, this is the third bucking time. I internally groaned as I ducked even lower behind the bed, the pondering soldier came to a stop before my curtain as he began to mumble incoherently to himself. The torch’s white light may not be able to illuminate through the curtain, but anything behind the translucent fabric would appear as a silhouette. And I seriously doubted the soldier would simply look over the fact a bat-pony was sitting in the hospital with him. I couldn’t just shoot the bugger either, a suppressor only does so much, it’s not like the gun is simply going to burp and that’s it. The resulting report of my carbine would be more than enough to grab every tossers attention in the building and then they'd rush down the stairs to… That’s not a bad idea…  I leaned my shoulder down and let my carbine drop into my hooves and slowly lowered my head to grab a hold of the firing bit, bringing the carbine up to rest on the mattress. I selected the ‘Auto’ position with my tongue. If I was going to make some noise, I may as well burn some ammunition in the process. I peered down the four times magnification scope, and placed the glowing red chevron about five inches below the centre of the torchlight illuminating the curtain in front of me. I knew my sights weren’t set to this ridiculously short range encounter, so I had to aim well below. Gripping the bit tightly, I pressed the pressure plate feeling it click beneath my teeth. *Crack crack crack crack* The resulting gases slowed down as they escaped the porous cylinder at the end of my barrel. The bullets easily tore through the fabric and embedded themselves into the soldier who was standing behind. The poor bastard let out a cry of agonizing pain as the  four bullets tore into his upper chest, he wasn’t going to make it far. I flinched as I heard the shouts of the ponies upstairs and all around me, the sounds of hoof clops galloping through the building resonated in the small interior. Soon torch spotlights all began to convene on the now dead form of the soldier I killed. He had a funny blue plume atop his helmet and they all seemed to not know what to do. I took the momentary confusion to my advantage and flapped my wings as hard as I could and I began to rise above the hospital curtain racks. I hunched over as I got near the ceiling and bolted over the group of five or so soldiers that were inspecting their slain comrade. The contrast from their bright torch lights was probably too great for their earth pony eyes to spot me overhead, but they sure as tartarus heard my flapping wings.   “Where the buck is that assassin?!” I heard somepony scream out as the torches began to spotlight everything around me. I’m not a bloody assassin! I simply killed a soldier, it’s not like he was your damn Colonel. I grumbled internally as I reached the staircase on the far side of the room. Their spotlights doing no justice to find me if they continued to not look at the very place they came from. I glided up the stairs only pumping my wings twice and sharply banked to the left. I let down at the top and took in the interior of the room. It was much like the one downstairs with hospital curtains and beds lining each side, but at the back of the room, illuminated from the left-side window by the dim flames and Hearths Warming Eve lights from outside, was a large steel cabinet with a pretty cheap looking padlock keeping it safe. I quickly cantered over to the cabinet and shoved my carbine barrel against the lock, pressing on the firing plate. *Crack crack PING PING PING WHUMP WHUMP* LUNA'S BLOODY FLANK! I mentally screamed and quickly let go of the pressure plate and let the carbine fall back down to my chest, safely held on by the sling. I forgot the blinking thing was still on ‘Auto’ and the recoil not only made me fail to shoot off the lock, but also punch the bullets into the steel and even embed themselves into the wooden walls when my muzzle climb exceeded the cabinet’s height. I groaned and decided it would probably be safer to open the bloody thing with a lockpick. Thankfully that bobby pin Midnight found was still in my mane. I sat down and reached up, taking the pin out with both hooves. I then spread it apart and shoved it into the pathetic padlock, it unlocked immediately from it’s mane-stylish intrusion and I let out a small cheer in glee. That was stupidly easy. I checked over my shoulder not seeing any of the soldiers made it up the stairs yet, but I knew they soon will be after that stupid stunt. I whipped the cabinet open and began shoving anything that wasn’t broken from my bullets into my saddle bags. Once I shoved everything I could, I quickly turned around, only to notice the five torch lights on me. Aw buck… I closed my eyes tightly not only because the blinding lights hurt, but I also knew I was sure to feel all of their assault rifles fulfill the duty they were designed to carry out. Just as I began to think about Midnight and the brief time he and I shared together as lovers, a rapid heavy chomping sound filled the air; I knew exactly what caused it. I felt the tension in the room take a moment to pause as everypony, including myself, stopped and looked out our own windows to the source of the sound. My eyes rapidly adjusted to the dim light and through the billowing smoke of the nearby buildings that were aflame, I saw a formation of two transylvanian ponies burst through the acrid cloud, pulling up out of a dive and gliding towards the hospital’s second floor. Right at the window that the soldiers were now looking out of. The rapid chugging grew louder and soon the window by the soldiers exploded in a hail of glass fragments and wooden splinters, followed by meaty ‘slaps’ as the soldiers were torn apart from an incoming barrage. I could follow the vapor trails left by the bullets as they zoomed through the window and walls, passing through or tearing a chunk out of a soldier and then easily penetrating the floor and out the back of the hospital. A few of the bullets were little balls of flame and left a thin visible line of smoke in their wake. I knew immediately what was causing this carnage before my very eyes. The mighty chugging roar of the IS-M3 .50cal machine gun. And I assumed the ammunition used was the silver tipped penetrating rounds, with every third round in the belt that fed into the gun being a red tipped, silver striped penetrating tracer. The tracer rounds were coated in a light layer of phosphorus that glowed bright red as the bullet ripped through the air. I stood in front of the cabinet, my legs shaking slightly as the adrenaline began to subside. All of the soldiers were now missing limbs and heads, their body parts a random scattered mess in front of me. Some of the head torches were still operating and randomly illuminated parts of the walls or ceiling. I’m not telling Middy this ever happened… He’d probably go daft. I thought immediately when I finally stopped shaking and began to slowly trot over the bodies. I scrunched up my muzzle and didn’t look down, the smell was horrendous. I knew if I looked, I would soon lose that apple I ate on my way here. And just as my bloody luck would have it, I felt a hoof glide on the slick blood, causing me to loose my balance and trip onto the severed torso of one of the soldiers. I let out a disgusted scream and shut my eyes closed as I rolled off the torso onto the stinking blood. I felt my stomach twist as the pungent rusted smell filled my nostrils, fighting to not loose my snack. I slowly rose to all four hooves and snapped my eyes open, spotting the stairs, I quickly bolted 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 began to take in the scenery that changed from what I originally saw on my way in. The orchard that stood before me now had several trees with chipped trunks, a few of the smaller ones even having fallen down. The dirt was pitted with small cretors in a fine double line, I knew those flying ponies probably each had a battlesaddle mounted M3 on them. I don’t know what made them decide to strafe the hospital building, or more importantly where the buck they came from, but I was damn thankful they did what they did. I sighed and flapped my wings once more, taking off into the night sky and redirected myself back towards the field hospital. Captain Angel better be damn pleased with my work for how much effort I put into this bloody task. * * *         “Rafael, this is Guardian Four-two, strafing run complete, torchlight’s all winked out.” A female voice crackled over the radio we were currently sitting behind. “Affirmative. Guardian Six, hold perimeter while Gurdian Four banks towards the south eastern quadrant to regain altitude.” An older male voice responded. “Copy, Guardian six will circle around the soldiers until Four is ready to strafe.” A new voice sounded over, seemed like a young mare to me really, maybe a few years above my age. Aurora, Ballpoint and I managed to climb the rubble of the headquarters from the back and locate one of the intact HAM radios. Aurora quickly went to business contacting the  Rafael of our dire situation, while Ballpoint and I guarded the windows within the burnt out office space. Apparently the Rafael was the air force branch of the Renaissance Rose Guards, they were stationed 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 have their own settlement remain separated from Renaissance's military government, stating that they were so great in number, they should remain an entirely separate estate. Most of Aurora’s explanation was just plain annoyance towards the Rafael, he said they really were just a bunch of cocky bastards who thought since they flew all the time, they needed more space. But considering every single natural inhabitant of Transylvania had that ability, it was pretty damn stupid. “Guardian Two is dry, returning to base.” Yet another voice, male this time, sounded over the master channel of the radio chatter. “Copy Guardian Two, rendez-vous with Guardian Actual and Guardian Three back at base, Guardians Five and Six provide support for the Rose until you’re bingo on ammo. How copy?” The first older male voice, I assumed the commander of this operation, spoke over the radio. “Solid copy, Six and Five will remain on target until ammo is down to fifty rounds.” The same young mare from before responded. “Rafael this is Gar-ian Four, what’dya want us to do? Over.” A northern braytish female asked, probably the lead or wingpony of Guardian four. “You and your wingpony let down at the Rennaisence headquarters and receive orders from Captain Borealis about specific targets, authority is switched over to him. Rafael out.” The old male spoke with finality and the Ham radio returned to it’s regular battlefield chatter. “Wait wha?” Aurora spoke as he turned around in time for eight hoof thumps above us to arrive. “Welp Captain it looks we have personal air support.” Ballpoint chuckled from his position at the window to Aurora’s right. “Bloody nora, I di-n’t ask for more ponies to trail about behind us like this. It’s just a hassle at this point.” Aurora sighed as we walked towards the door, and to the half destroyed floor ahead of us. We waited by the ledge of the destroyed floor as the two mares gently glided and banked towards us. They let down to my left and promptly saluted to Captain Borealis. “Guardian Four-one and Four-two reporting as requested sir!” The modulated thick braytish accent of the lead mare reported. She was about a head shorter than myself, just barely above where Scarlet’s height would have been. Her coat was the usual dark grey and her mane and tail were a nice shade of sage, her wingpony was similarly colored but her mane and tail were a lighter shade, I could only assume they were sisters. They were wearing glass flight goggles and the soot from flying through the smoke was smudged across their faces. Their bodies was covered in light metal plates of combat barding identical to those of the Rose guards, though not quite as heavy. Across both of their midsections were battlesaddles with the most mean looking cannons I’ve ever seen, the massive half-hoof length cartridges were fed by a belt that crossed over their back and into an ammo can on their right sides. On their chests where roses usually were situated, they had a pair of bat wings, the lead mare’s being spray stenciled blue and the wingpony’s being spray stenciled red. I guess they had similar ranking systems as the Guard. “Uhh, at ease lassie, we’re trying to get the battle situated for now.” Aurora distractedly waved his hoof as he looked over a map of Renaissance that Ballpoint pulled out from his combat vest. “Yes sir, sorry sir.” Four-one said dropping her hoof and sitting on her flanks. She began to quietly speak with her sister. “Should we let em’ know?” “I don’t know, they’re in charge…” “Yeah but it could help with their planning.” “Well what if it just distracts them?” “But they should still know, their plans may not fit the situation.” “Oh fer the love of Luna herself! Lassies if ya got some input let me hear it then!” Aurora roared   interrupting their quiet conversation. Both mares squeaked and quickly got to their hooves. “The Black Daylight has redirected their forces towards the north west, they were able to flank the barricade and proceed down the street behind the building we’re in. The Night Watch have been pushed back to the town square and are currently surrounded.” Four-two spoke up quickly. Aurora sat there with a non-readable stern expression as he processed the information. Oh…. shit. “Yer tellin’ me lassie, that they just frolicked whoopdie-do past our line of defense, and not myself, nor Ballpoint, nor Winds saw twenty ponies trot on by?” Aurora spoke with a dangerous edge. “A- aye sir… We watched the maneuver from the skies above.” Four-one spoke nervously, Aurora falsely giving Guardian Four the blame. “SHITE! We need to get to the fountain and give em everything we can to help then! I need you and yer wingpony to specify fire on the two ponies with white plumes on their helmets, they usually take cover in buildings but if you spot em, light them up with everything you’ve got. We need to disrupt their chain of command.” He quickly ordered, gesturing to the street behind him. Guardian Four both nodded and quickly took flight out into the open night. I turned to Aurora with a quizzical expression. “Soo… we just let the entire strike force slip between our hooves?” I asked rhetorically as we leaped down onto the pile of rubble beneath the floor we were on and slid down to the streets below. Aurora skidded to a halt before Ballpoint and I and turned around with a solemn expression. “Winds, Ballpoint, I hate ta ask this of ya lads, but they need as many guns as they can get up at the barricade, especially when there’s guards without cover from the flanking maneuver. I need you to join the front lines and try to hold off the assault force while I try and get Lieutenant Dusk and the rest of Northern Star back to town.” He spoke quickly. I felt a pang of fear begin to grip my stomach upon hearing his commands, I looked over to Ballpoint who shared a similar expression, our minds seemed to be thinking the same things. He wants us right up front? Like where all the massive firefights are happening? I gulped and nodded, throwing my right hoof up to my brow in a salute. “Yes sir Captain, we’ll give em’ hell.” I steeled my voice, but not without it cracking on the last half. Ballpoint saluted as well, stating his own affirmation. Aurora nodded silently, and quickly took off towards the north east where Dusk was currently tending to old orders. I turned to Ballpoint and he quickly began to speak, “Okay mate, I have no plans whatsoever, you can’t fly, so let’s just hoof it to the centre and figure out what needs to be done… I wish Lunaspeed to you friend.” “You too Pointy, lets get moving then eh?” I teased his name and began galloping off down the street that connected to the town centre, I could spot the muzzle flashes as the remaining fifteen or so guards held their last stance on the northern side of the centre, taking cover behind the buildings at the entrances of the square, or circle really. “Don’t call me that ya lousy tosser! I just said we were mates, I never said anything about ya get-in all warm n’ fuzzy up to me!” Ballpoint hollard behind me as he too began to gallop towards the battle. I let out a cheerful laugh into the frozen night, my enlightened mood acting in stark contrast to the emotions that played within me. I guess I was scared so shitless I couldn’t do anything but laugh about it all. We bolted down the street and entered the crazy fray of the town centre. It looked like the battle wasn’t complete chaos, the Black Daylight were attacking from the southern half of the centre, shooting across the length of it towards the Rose Guard who were taking cover on the northern half. I skidded to a halt and popped myself against one of the forty-five degree angled buildings that surrounded the centre of the town. I was conveniently in position where I could see Honey Bee’s Gun Emporium across the building in front of me, and on Command street. Wait a second where did that bastard go off to? Ballpoint quickly caught up to me and slammed to a halt to my left, against the same building. His heavy pants visible as it trailed off with the wind. “Point, we need to find Honeybee and try and take him out.” I stated plainly as I began to scan his store. Looking for signs of where he might have gone. My eyes settled on something that seemed vastly out of place, and oh too famillier. I squinted as I focused on some kind of navy colored ribbon on the door handle of his store. 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? Or have you finally gone daft?!” Ballpoint exclaimed into my ear, interrupting my investigation. “No, no, umm. Long story, I don’t have time to explain but Honey’s a traitor and I can bet you damned well he’s probably cooped up in his store.” I shook my head to clear the ringing in my left ear, I suspiciously eyed the vendor’s door once again. “Let’s just get inside that store and see if we can find him, then we can help deal with the battle afterwards.” I reasoned, steadying my stance and preparing to sprint across two open roads. “Luna buck me into oblivion… Mate I don’t approve, but I sure as tartarus don’t have any better idea of how to help out. I’m with you on this one.” Ballpoint swore and prepared to gallop with me.   With one final nod, we both bolted towards the store. The moment our bodies cleared the cover of the building, I heard the report of twenty or more IS-16 rifles open up and bullets began to chip away at the buildings to our left. I felt a dull stinging as a few of the bullets grazed my back and flanks, I ground my teeth and poured more speed into our mad dash. Ballpoint ran to my left, the smaller younger bastard using me as cover. I braced my right shoulder and slammed into the door, Ballpoint soon followed suit and we both tumbled into the building. The sounds of gunfire died off and the hail of bullets ceased to exist. Ballpoint was already on his hooves, unscathed and he began to look around him in paranoid fury. I groaned and rolled onto my hooves, standing up and also inspecting the building we crashed into. We were in a hallway, the door we broke down was behind me, and all that was before us was a closed door to our left, leading to the back of the front counter of the emporium. Directly ahead of us was the stairwell, and it was anypony’s guess Honey would be hiding up there. I spotted Scarlet’s bow atop the cracked door that lay beneath my hooves, and I quickly picked it up and put it in my saddlebags, she’d probably want it back after all of this. Maybe I could surprise her when we finally went on that date of ours. “Let’s head up the stairs, I can bet you a million bits… err caps that Honey’s up there cowering in a corner.” I commanded and quickly began to trot up the stairs, I reached back once more to my saddlebags and unholstered the Tidus 11, selecting the safety to bottom, ready to fire. A small hallway to our left adorned the top of the stairs, with not more that a window directly ahead at the end of the short hallway, and a single wooden door to our left. I quickly trotted up to the door and turned around, double bucking the flimsy thing open. I rushed into the single bedroom quickly followed by Ballpoint, who was now armed with the same kind of gun Borealis once had, equipt with sausage and all. Inside the room was a simple, wooden framed bed to my right, a desk with a random assortment of gun parts sat to my left, and a large stained glass window directly in front of me. The simple white and blue checkered pattern of the window was interrupted by the sitting form of Honey Bee, a wide grin spread across his features. “I knew you’d come Midnight.” Honey spoke softly in his ‘cliche bad-villain monotone voice’. “You were seriously waiting for me? That’s just sad... So we’re going to kill you or capture you, kay? But first I gotta ask, why’d you have Scarlets bow?” I ignored Honey’s opening statement and pointed my gun right as his face. “Oh, ya know, after executing another one of the Lieutenants in the forest, a bunch of ghouls were attracted to my gunshot. I took off onto the upper branches of the forest just in time to see you, your cunt and Lieutenant Dusk trot merrily into the swarm.” Honey spoke with a singsong voice, Luna above, he’d definitely lost it. “I must say lad, you fought well, but when I spotted your slut’s bow in the grass, I knew exactly how I’d get you to come to me so I could end you and Dusk for good. Unfortunately Dusk isn’t here, but I guess that will be fine for now.” Honey finished, lifting his hoof to show a white brick with wires was taped to it. Ohhh he went there, nopony insults my marefriend like that… Nor do they threaten me with a powered brick! I narrowed my eyes as I began to squeeze the plate of the Tidus 11. “NO! You bloody idiot!” Ballpoint slapped my head, causing me to complete my squeeze and causing the shot to go high. Shattering the window behind Honey. “That bomb is on a dead stallion’s trigger! If you kill the bastard, it’ll blow and probably take the whole floor with us!” Ballpoint exclaimed. “Aye that you’re right, this here is P4 enchanted high explosives. Unless you let me go, it will set off a timer for three seco-” Honey’s dramatic monologue was cut short as I readjusted my aim and shot him right in the head. “There, easy as pie.” I spat around my Tidus 11, Honey’s body slumped over and a soft beep emitted from his hoof. “ARE YOU BLOODY DAFT!?” Ballpoint screamed and ran for the door. Oh, right. I looked down to Honey’s hoof and watched as the digital timer went from two seconds to one, I closed my eyes and berated myself for my stupidity and awaited the explosion, there was no way I could run from it. I felt a gush of wind followed by the sound of flapping wings and a chorus of bolt action fire from outside just as the whole world exploded. Though it seemed like the bomb went off below me, causing the floor to buckle and groan as it began to give. I snapped my eyes open only quickly enough to see a bloody trail lead out the window from where Honey once was slumped over, the floor quickly gave out and I felt myself plummet a story down to the wreckage beneath me. I felt a sharp hit on my head and my vision began to blur, a high pitched ringing in my ears soon invaded my senses. Moments before I felt my consciousness slip, I watched as Scarlets navy-blue bow gently floated down atop me. With my eyes only focused on it, the chaos of war and destruction tuned out by the ringing in my head, images of flickering flames and billowing smoke now only a blur as I watched the silky ribbon flow through the air with ease. The last thoughts I had before slipping unconscious, were those of Scarlet, my beautiful mare. One day we might get a chance to adjust to this wasteland, maybe even settle down and enjoy our lives a little. But with the threat of the Black Daylight, risking to eradicate our entire race, that was a dream that had to wait until this was all over. That was a dream, that both Scarlet and I; we had to fight for. <><><>         I folded my wings and dove to gain more speed as I raced toward the town centre, IS-4 bared in my teeth and ready. After Captain Angel thanked me for my service, she immediately ordered me to the front. Apparently a branch of the Rose guards, called the Rafael, came to assist the battle and they spotted the Daylight’s tactics, informing all of the captains. The Rose guards simply weren’t equipped for aerial combat like the Rafael were, bolt action rifles have advantages, but in the air, they’re nearly impossible to operate. The Roses were forced to fight on the ground, and because of this, the Daylight managed to out maneuver them. Thankfully however, I had a carbine which was gas operated, meaning I didn’t have to cycle the bolt as long as the bullets were hot enough, so for now I was airborne. I looked off to my right, where two more ponies flew in formation ahead of me. Both stallions carried battlesaddle mounted IS-16’s with armour piercing tracer ammunition. They were a part of the Rose Medical Guard, though they’re normally non combative, they’ve been trained in field combat, which was infinitely more than I have received. Since the Medical Guard had access to that weapons chariot, the two guards I was flying with opted to join the air assault. We barely streaked above the  rooftops, the setting moon and early dawn hour’s light would give our position away too quickly for us to react to any fire directed up at us. I spotted the group of Rose guards below us as they took cover in the street corners. I knew Midnight would probably be in the fray as well, but I couldn’t let my emotions take hold of me, he was doing his part and I sure as bloody tartarus was going to do mine as well. My only order was to join the ground defense and push the Daylight back. I watched as the two stallions looked back at me and nodded, their job was to provide air support with the remaining Rafael. They both banked right and peeled off, heading towards a formation on the north side of the town. I narrowed my eyes and dove into an alleyway, the last stretch before the town centre. The close confinement of the buildings on either side gave way to the open space of the centre, I flared my wings forward to decelerate and softly let down just at the street corner. Ahead of me, I could clearly see the Rose guards taking cover to my right, and the Daylight doing the same to my left. Both factions traded occasional crossfire, bullets striking the statue in the middle chipping the well chiseled stone. I scanned the ranks of Rose guards as I tried to get a firm grip of what was going on in the chaos. A particular blue pegabat and a shorter Transylvanian buck in trail caught my eye as they slammed into a wall across the fountain from me. Oh Luna dammit, I know I’m supposed to focus on my own things, but I can help out just as much if I work with Middy… I reasoned with myself as I watched Midnight and the buck bickered silently. I needed to get over there somehow, but with the crossfire I was sure to get my flank litten up. I shifted my gaze to the Black Daylight forces briefly, watching as a small squadron of ponies dove out of the skies and strafed the ranks, causing them all to take cover in the buildings. The light rattle of the IS-16s told me they were the stallions I flew in with. Suddenly all of the Daylight soldiers redirected their fire upwards and I could see the tracer ammunition streak into the sky around the pair. Bullets tore through the wings of one of the ponies and he plummeted onto a rooftop, striking it at high speed and slid off, falling  two stories below. I quickly averted my gaze back to Midnight and his companion, and I felt myself begin to tremble slightly in fear. Buck, I’m not cut out for this kind of stuff.  I had to admit, I was a bit timid when it came to those things, and a full scale battle? That was almost too much. Midnight was more brash and open to participate in these kinds of things, and as I watched him, I began to think about how I’d give him the biggest tackle hug I could summon. As luck would have it, before I was able to think of a plan to get over to my coltfriend and his mate quickly and safely, I widened my eyes as I watched both of the two bloody idiots charge right across the streets. They went diagonally to my right and slammed into a random building, the hail of bullets trailing them over shot and hit the building, quickly stopping and redirecting back to the guards. Why in Luna’s name did that bucking moron do that?! And why’d he slam into… oh. I realized he just barreled into Honey Bee’s vendor, probably to capture or eliminate the traitor, smart colt. I peeked back over to the battlefield and guessed my chances, seemed probable. I spread my wings once more and pushed forward, flying backwards until I was no longer too close to the battle, I then climbed over the rooftop to my right directly onto the street Honey Bee’s shop was situated at. On my way over I spotted a formation of four ponies quickly diving towards me. I turned and faced them as they let down on the street, spotting Lieutenant Dusk, Captain Borealis and two other ponies I didn’t recognize, one a stallion with a black hood hiding his face and a blue rose on his armor, the other was a mare with a navy mane, a silver rose adorned her armour. “Oi Lassie, you come to join the defense?” Borealis called out as they quickly cantered over to me. “Aurora! Luna above, I’m glad to see you, this isn’t exactly the situation I was hoping to reunite in, but yes, Captain Angel sent me to the front lines to help defend. I just spotted Midnight and another guard break into Honey Bee’s store, hopefully to capture him.” I explained as they came to a halt before me. “Aye, I’m aware of his betrayal. Lets get in there and help your special somepony out eh?” Aurora winked and unslung his rifle, the other ponies in his squadron followed suit. “Sergeant Breeze, Staff Seargent Orion, take position at the head of the road, cover our flanks while we breach the building.” Dusk ordered to his subordinates. “You got it sir, c’mon Breezie.” Orion saluted and both ponies cantered towards the centre of town. “Alright let’s head on u-” Aurora was cut off when the report of a large caliber gun went off above us, shortly followed by the sound of glass shattering. We each snapped our heads up and watched as a multicolored shower began to plummet towards us from a story above. I yelped and jumped back, avoiding being maimed by a rainbow of glass splattering around me. “Bloody nora that sounded like Midnight’s Tudis 11!” I yelled and we all took flight towards the window. Suddenly another shot echoed into the night, this time accompanied by a spray of blood shooting out the window and a soft beep emitting from within. I could only assume things went south and Midnight had to kill Honey. Oh Luna I hoped it was Midnight who did the shooting and not vice versa. Just as I was about to reach the windowsill, Aurora stiffened, and planted both of his hind hooves on the shoulders of both me and Dusk. He pushed off of us gaining incredible speed as he shoved both me and Dusk down. I tumbled backwards and hit the ground hard, with Dusk the same to my right. When I came to a stop from my rolling across the street, I shot my eyes upwards to where Aurora had folded his wings and shot into the building. For a brief moment nothing happened. What the bloody tartarus is wrong with him?! I mentally screamed to myself. Middy could be bucking hurt and Aurora just pushed me and Dusk down and across the street. Suddenly Aurora burst back out of the window, the world seemed to slow down as I focused on him folding his wings in a near suicidal dive for such a short distance to the ground. Then something in his teeth caught my eyes:  A brick of P-4 explosives with a belt of red gems lining the charge. Surely it was enchanted with some kind of spell to make it have a greater explosion for it’s small size. It dawned upon me just exactly what Aurora was doing. I lay sprawled on my side, the faint report of IS-700 rifles firing to my left, Dusk’s distant voice yelling at me to get up and return fire toward the now retreating Daylight soldiers that were maneuvering onto our street. All ignored as I watched Aurora dive vertically down to the ground, his eyes closed in acceptance. The explosion fell upon my deaf ears, I wasn’t able to register the sound as I bore witness to Aurora’s figure simply vanishing in an enormous fireball. The shock wave caused me to instinctively force my eyes to shut, stopping the tears that just began to form on the lids. Sound seemed to rush back to me all at once as I began to process what just happened. Aurora must have found a bomb that was threatening Midnight and the other guard inside. And he sacrificed himself for my coltfriend. Luna almighty. I was shaken from my thoughts when I spotted the figures of ponies emerging from the quickly collapsing house. A young buck, covered in soot and nearly all black limped out from the smoke and flames, upon his back was a bloodied heap of blue fur and feathers. I quickly rose to my hooves, and dashed over to the colt. Ignoring the incoming fire from the Daylight’s newest offense, I galloped next to the young guard and helped prop him up with my shoulder, we cantered as quickly as he could without injury towards one of the many alley ways that interconnected the streets. “Please tell me hes alive, please, please don’t let Aurora’s sacrifice be in vain. Don’t let me loose the only two ponies I cared about!” I blurted out as we stopped into the alley, and I began to trot around the buck as he gently set Midnight down and began to go through his saddlebags for medical supplies. “O-” he coughed and continued to rapidly administer bandages to the bleeding cuts and scrapes that dotted Midnight’s body. “Oi! Shut your trapper lass and provide cover fer me and ye laddie. Can ye do that instead of prancing around like a useless filly?!” He yelled in a hoarse voice. I stopped my nervous trotting and nodded. At least Midnight was alive, and if I wanted it to stay that way I was going to need to keep the remaining Daylight off of us until Midnight was stable enough to move to the field hospital. I grabbed the IS-4’s bit with near practiced ease and peered around the corner to the remainder of the Daylight’s forces. They lost a considerable number and it looked like victory was nearly upon us. The remaining seven or so soldiers were galloping full speed down the street we were on. I took the opportunity of surprise and flicked the switch of my carbine to ‘Semi’. I lined the red chevron right onto the chest of one of the soldiers and pressed on the plate. High pitched cracks rang out as I repeated my shots thrice, two of the armour penetrating bullets striking him on the chest and sparking off, being too low a velocity to penetrate. But the third finding great solitude in his shoulder, easily passing through the thinner metal. The soldier collapsed behind his routing comrades and was quickly over beared by the guards. I noticed the citizens of Renaissance also took advantage of the retreating soldiers, now that the Daylight were no longer a strong force to be reckoned with, the smaller calibre guns that everypony seemed to carry, suddenly became effective. Ponies began to fire from windows and alleyways that they were previously hiding from. Countless small arms fire sparked off the combat armor of the soldiers, eventually felling them all. I quickly safetied my gun and swung it across my shoulders, the citizens began to slowly mingle back out into the streets to grab a firm perspective of what happened. Many began to loot the soldiers, others attended to the wounded guards or bodies of those that didn’t make it. The battle however, was not over for me yet. I turned around and cantered over to where the young buck was. After he had wiped his eyes from the soot, I saw his coat was actually a very light tone, and his mane was probably jet black. He had managed to bandage the superficial wounds that covered Midnight, but his condition was still only going to get worse if we didn’t move him soon. Without a word, the guard and I quickly began cantering towards the south eastern sector of the town, towards the field hospital. Captain Angel better have an open bed ready for Midnight, otherwise I’m pretty sure I’d throw her maps on the ground and use her own bloody table. The sun was beginning to rise, and just merely hours ago when the night started, I would have never expected an outcome like this to unfold. It was all happening too quickly for me, and I felt the familiar sense of overbearance and fear begin to weigh on my shoulders. I looked over to where Midnight lay across the guards back, his eyes closed tightly and his body covered in bandages. I took solitude yet again with his presence in my life. I felt a few tears begin to slide down my face as I remembered what Aurora did for him. For us. It was a deed so noble, yet so bloody wrong at the same time, Aurora was the first pony who accepted both Middy and I, and he was now the first friend that we have lost. I began to wonder how many more would soon follow. We bobbed and weaved through the rubble from the artillery strikes, as well as the ponies that began the mingle about the town. All around ponies were silently looking on to destruction that lined the streets, there weren’t as many civilian casualties as there were from the Guard, but there were still enough for every street to have ponies mourning for the wounded and deceased. But somehow, Renaissance had successfully defended themselves from the Daylight’s attack. A force of well armed and well trained soldiers were defeated, but with maybe more than half of Renaissance’s Guard lost in the process. I knew this victory was something to celebrate, but with such heavy losses, and with this attack only being one of the Black Daylight’s many waves across Transylvania. I knew this was only but a taste of the war that was soon to come. xxx Level up! New Perks added! Midnight Wind: “Touched by a Guardian Angel”: Your life has been miraculously spared by one of your few friends out in the wasteland. You gain +2 permanent DT to all attacks. Scarlet Rose: “They Call Me Batmare!” Your stealth skills are less than superb, but with your quick thinking and boundless luck, you gain +5 stealth to related activities.