All at once, everyone moved. The ragged Medic dove for cover and the Infiltrator engaged his cloaking device.
“Open fire!” the Major yelled, spinning behind the door frame and out of the way of the Corporal.
The MAX stepped into the room without hesitation and the twin M2s sent a hail of bullets forth. Twilight screamed and threw herself low on the floor with her hooves over her head. There was a cry of pain and a ripple in the air as the cloaking field was disrupted near the bottom of the stairs. The MAX homed in on it with both guns. The walls were shredded but no additional contacts were made. At the same time, the Medic sprang to her feet and shot out a window with a burst from her Pulsar, jumping through it and out of sight just as the Corporal rounded on her with his deadly streams of lead.
The MAX stopped firing and scanned the room for movement. Paper fluttered to the ground from the tattered bookshelves and smoke from the sustained fire cast a haze over everything. Long seconds of silence passed.
“Looks like they bailed sir,” the Corporal reported, as the Major cautiously made his way into the room.
“What in Tartarus do you think you’re doing?!” Twilight screamed at them, jumping back to her hooves and advancing on the Major.
“I could ask you the same question.” He leveled his carbine at her. “Those were VS troops, right here in your very home. Should I take it that you are allied with them?”
Twilight did not back down. Instead, she raised a force field around herself and continued walking toward him until her horn was mere inches from the end of his gun. She looked up at him with dagger-sharp eyes.
“What does it matter who they were? You just shot at guests in my home without even looking twice at them. Forget the damage you’ve caused! Forget that you could have killed me in that madness! They didn’t do anything to you! Nothing that could warrant you attacking them on sight!”
“On the contrary,” he retorted in an even tone. “They are soldiers of the Vanu Sovereignty. That is enough for them to be marked enemies of the Republic. Hell, they’d have shot us with less hesitation had we not possessed the superior firepower.”
“They were only here to research a way home! Just like you asked for help with! In fact, if I’m not mistaken, we just heard you firing your weapons out in town.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “If I find that anypony was hurt…”
“We were returning fire. And that’s what brought us back here. There are other humans here and you obviously knew that. Are you working with the NC behind our backs as well?”
“NC? You mean the third faction is here as well?” Twilight glanced out the window worriedly. “This is getting out of hoof.”
“You’re useless,” the Major growled. “Come on Corporal. We’re hunting down those two cultists and then going after the traitors.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Twilight said angrily. “If you start a fight in these streets, I will personally remove you from Equestria. Permanently.”
The Major considered her calmly, measuring her threat.
“You would attack us openly?”
“No,” she replied coldly. “I would defend my friends and subjects openly. Now get out of our town. You are no longer welcome. And I will know if you return.”
“So be it,” the Major said and stomped out, gesturing for the Corporal to follow.
Anthony hesitated as he crossed the threshold, turning to say something to the Princess. But the look on her face told him not to try.
“I am not your enemy,” she said just before she closed the door. “But you are not my friends.”
~*~*~
“So the new plan is,” Mat said as they made their way through the back streets of town. “We’ll get to this market, grab what we can, high tail it back to the farm and throw this signal beacon together. Hopefully, we can avoid any more TR until we can get some evac, or at least more support.”
“That MAX is still bothering me,” Trevor said. “Where the hell did it come from? Do you think the TR have a base set up somewhere around here that they’re calling in supplies from?”
“I’d rather not be the one to find out if they do.” Mat shook his head as he ran. “Getting shot like that really shook me up, man.”
“We just need to hold together for a bit longer and then we’ll be out of this mess.”
They kept moving through town. Ponies had just begun to venture back out into the streets. Any who saw the two soldiers quickly scurried back inside or ran away. Mat tried not to let it bother him but in the back of his mind he knew he was the reason their lives were being upended by violence.
They reached the city hall again and didn’t see any signs of the TR. What they did see was a small crowd of ponies surveying the damage. A large chunk of one roof was lying in the road and bits of debris covered everything. The building it belonged to was little more than a husk, leaning in on itself like an old man bent with age. A pair of ponies, who looked to be medics, were stooped over another pony, treating the other’s injuries. Mat could hear the mare whimpering in pain even without getting closer.
Neighbors and perhaps family were huddled close by, drawing some comfort from each other’s closeness as they tried to get over the shock of what had happened. Across the way, the same official looking mare that had tried to stop them from getting to the top of the hall was discussing the damage with another pair of official looking stallions. She gestured to the ruined house once or twice but always returned to the hall. Most of the windows on that side of the building had been shot out by the MAX and bullet holes scarred the structure.
Trevor and Mat slowed down to a walk as they took in the scene. Some ponies began to notice them and eyed them suspiciously. A few mares shooed their foals indoors as the humans passed. The officials took notice of them after a silence fell across the square. There was no malice in their gaze, only blame. Mat tried to shake the feeling it caused him but wasn’t able to manage it. From the look in Trevor’s eyes, he wasn’t having any better luck.
The ears of every pony in the square perked up and all heads turned north as more weapons’ fire echoed through the town. Most of the onlookers returned to their homes more out of worry than fear, clearly losing the will to continue reacting with urgency. Sustained fire was coming from the north and the NC knew from experience that they were hearing the M2s of the TR MAX. They took one look at each other and quickened their pace.
“That MAX survived,” Mat observed when they’d left the city hall behind and the gunfire had subsided once more into tense silence.
“I figured it had,” Trevor said with a nod. “There’s just one thing that worries me though. What was it just firing at?”
Mat was taken aback. “I hadn’t even been thinking about that. Shit, who could it have been?”
“Well, the way I see it,” Trevor said as they came to the end of the row of houses before the open fields fronting the market. “It could be anyone: More of our boys, some ponies they’ve managed to piss off, or even-“
A bolt of blue-purple light zipped by Trevor’s head and hit Mat in the shoulder, causing his shields to buckle.
“Fucking lasers!” Mat yelled, ducking back behind the last house to the familiar tune of his chirping shield indicator.
Trevor returned fire blindly before throwing himself backwards as well. Another bolt of light cut through the air where he had just been. Mat caught his breath while he waited for his shields to come back. He peeked around the corner and ducked back quickly but no shots were fired. He glanced over at Trevor behind him and saw a ripple in the air. Before he could even try to warn him, an Infiltrator appeared with a zip and stabbed at Trevor. Trevor heard the sound and turned away from the Force Blade reflexively. It bit into his shields and stopped at the armored plates of his suit.
Trevor grabbed the Infiltrator by the wrist, twisted him around and struggled to throw him back. Mat raised his Mercenary and waited for a clear shot. Trevor threw himself sideways and out of the way. The Infiltrator staggered with his sudden freedom. Before he could right himself, Mat opened fire. The Infiltrator was hit full in the chest by the burst. No shields were in evidence and the Vanu soldier went down. Trevor snatched up his Brawler and fired two rounds at the body for good measure.
“Fuck you, bitch. Teach you to knife me!” Trevor spit on the body.
His display of disrespect earned him a volley of laser fire from farther down the street. His shields hadn’t yet recovered from the knife and the bolts of plasma ripped into his armor. Mat’s shields were in better shape and he threw himself in front of his comrade. Trevor hobbled around the corner and took off as fast as he could to the south. Mat ducked and wove as the enemy soldier continued firing. He followed Trevor as quickly as he could, his shields buckling and a bolt cutting into his back as he ran. He didn’t look back.
~*~*~
Katie waited less than a second after she saw the last NC soldier disappear around the corner before jumping up and dashing to reach Nathan. She threw herself to the ground at his side and fired her applicator at him.
“Please! Oh please, Vanu, work!” she whispered desperately. “How stupid I must be to have forgotten to count!”
The nanites spread out over the wounds and slowly but surely sealed them shut. Nathan began breathing again. Katie fell back and sat there, numbly watching him come to. Never before had she been so afraid of being too slow. He raised his head to look around before rolling over and coming back to his feet. He looked down at her questioningly, offering his hand to help her up.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m…fine,” she said, accepting his hand and getting up dazedly.
“Good,” he said, looking off in the direction the NC had been heading. “Because we need to get after those two quickly before they have a chance to regroup and set up for us…”
“No,” Katie said, pulling her hand away from Nathan’s. “We are not doing that again.”
“What do you mean?” Nathan asked, not sure why she was suddenly so hostile.
“Because it was stupid and dangerous and completely foolish!” she yelled.
“Fine. We’ll go at it differently. I won’t try the close quarters method this time.”
“You’re damn right you won’t be doing that again! If they hadn’t run when they did, I might not have gotten to you in time! And then….then I…” She chocked on the words and turned away from him.
“Katie, I’m sorry.” He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “But it worked out. I trusted you and you came through. I promise we’ll be more careful this time. But we have to get after them before they get too far ahead of us.”
She pushed his hand away. “We didn’t even get one of them when they weren’t expecting us! How do you think we’ll take them both now that they will be expecting us?”
Nathan was silent for a time. “How do you propose we continue then?” he asked evenly.
“We need to get out of the streets, first off.” She looked around. “We need somewhere we can make a real plan.”
“Rarity’s,” Nathan said.
“I suppose,” Katie conceded.
They headed off to the east to the boutique, keeping an eye out for both the NC and TR. When they arrived, they were greeted warmly by a somewhat surprised, but high-spirited Rarity.
“Darlings! Back so soon?” she asked as she swept them inside and bustled around getting them a tray of tea. “I’ve been so busy since you left! I seem to have underestimated my own enthusiasm for this project!” She giggled madly as she set the tray in front of them.
Katie smiled wanly as she accepted her cup. Nathan just watched the Unicorn curiously as her energy continued to bubble over.
“I’ve made excellent progress so far. I made up the material much faster than I’d thought. And before I knew it, I’d nearly finished your suit,” Rarity went on, indicating Katie. She turned her attention to Nathan. “I haven’t forgotten about you, darling. I should be able to finish yours up in…oh dear.”
She looked at the state of his suit, noticing for the first time that the front was torn open completely and stained with blood.
“Did…did I miss something?” she asked, glancing between them apprehensively.
“Wait,” Nathan said. “You mean you don’t know what’s been going on? You haven’t heard?”
“Well, I suppose not. I’ve been so in the zone, as it were, that I must not have been paying any attention to, well, anything else.”
“You didn’t hear any of the fighting out there?” Katie asked.
“Fighting?! Heaven’s no! I haven’t heard…well, there were a few sounds a while back that I couldn’t place, but I didn’t fret over them. What fighting has there been?”
They briefly filled her in on the presence of TR and NC forces in Ponyville while Rarity brought Katie’s suit down.
“That’s just dreadful,” Rarity said with wide eyes. “If there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is ask.”
“You’d be prepared to get involved?” Katie asked. “Do you know how dangerous it would be?
“Oh, I’m well aware that danger exists,” Rarity said, putting her hoof over her heart to reinforce her resolve. “But the fact remains that my friends need help and I am not about to sit idly by while I am able to offer that help.”
Katie finished getting the new suit on and admired herself briefly in the mirror.
“I wish I had the time to fully appreciate this. But you’ll have to settle for quick thanks, Rarity.” She picked up her Pulsar and checked the battery. “Because we have work to do.”