//------------------------------// // 36. Manehattan Liberation - Part II // Story: Millennia: Beginning // by Thunderblast //------------------------------// Kicking in the previously locked door of a cafe, the five of us entered with our weapons drawn and flashlights shining into the dark place. "Lunar Marines! Anypony in here?!" I called out, advancing into the back storage room to search for anyone who might be hiding. Following a quick search, I determined the place was clear and hung my weapon back around my neck, trotting out to the others as they too eased themselves. "All right, the place is clear. We might be better off grabbing any extra food while we are here. What ever you can find, take as much as you can carry in your bags, at least enough to live off of for the day more until we can find a source to survive for a long period of time, assuming our visitors don't torch all of it," I said, removing my backpack and opening a small, empty zipper area to store food in. "Hang on a second, Star," Anchorage stepped forth. "Who put you in charge?" I stopped and moved my eyes up to meet Anchorage's. "No one did, and I'm not trying to be. I'm simply suggesting we stay on the safe side and not starve." "Well, by default, I outrank the four of you, therefore I should be in charge. Unless any of you have a reason not to put me in such a position," he stated, looking between the others. Silver shook his head. "That's not an issue. Normally, though, ponies of the Navy don't get put in charge of squadrons of the Marines. At least, that's what I've heard. Then again, today is not a normal day, and there's nopony else around to judge that. So, yes, you are in charge." Anchorage nodded once. "Though, I concur with Star. What we have on us really isn't much. If help will not be coming for at least three days, we can surely ration until then." His chest slightly puffed outwards. "Take and pack what you can, but keep it equal. If anything, take more water." "Yes, sir," we replied in unison and each went back to the small storage area, searching taped-up brown boxes for supplies. "You don't have to call me that," Anchorage muttered, a brow raising. "Its respectful. Deal with it." I said, cutting open a box with my combat knife and opening the flaps. Inside was full of smaller fresh bottles of water, plenty to go around between the five of us. "Hey, you guys! I've got water over here." "Same here!" Solar called, levitating his box down from the top shelf. It was already opened and not full of bottles like mine was. He began stuffing a few into his backpack while leaving room. We partitioned the water there was between each other. Now there was more than enough to last a few days which was plenty relieving. Afterwards, everyone took small packages of snacks of candy bars and small bags of potato chips. They weren't the best things to survive off of but it was all we had. Suddenly, Anchorage raised one wing up to stop all of us from moving. Each of us froze, while he stared out towards the open part of the shop, ears perked. He gently whispered, "I hear voices." He moved gradually towards the doorway, one hoof resting on the handle of his gun. Anchorage leaned against the edge of the doorway, just barely peeking out into the shop. As he did, what he could hear quickly became audible to the rest of us. To make matters worse, it wasn't Equestrian language. "Sind Sie sicher, das ist immer noch eine gute Idee? Ich habe nicht gesehen für mehr als eine Stunde." "Nur den Mund halten und in Bewegung zu halten. Wir sind verpflichtet, etwas zu finden. Es gibt keine Weise, die Stadt hätte dies schnell evakuiert." "What are they saying?" I whispered to Anchorage. "Something about scouring the city, I think," he replied quietly. "They are scouts. We should take them out before they get any further." "Good idea." I nodded once. Anchorage motioned me over to the doorway where I rested opposite of him. The both of us peeked out towards the cafe's windows, seeing a pair of armed griffons walking past. Much to my surprise, they wore modern combat uniforms and armor, complete with fitted helmets and visors and long-range shotguns. They meant business when it came to weapons it appeared. Then again, they were just the scouts. "Ready?" Anchorage whispered. I nodded in response. The grayish white pegasus raised his hoof, signalling to hold. As the griffons passed the shattered glass door, he moved his hoof down and whipped around the corner, rifle raised and aimed towards the scouts, pulling the trigger and engaging. I followed suit, not necessarily spraying in their particular direction but not the best aim either. The windows of the place shattered instantly and coated the ground in shards of glass. "Ambush!" The left griffon screeched, just prior to taking a couple of speedy bullets to the side and neck, collapsing down. The one on the right whipped around to find where we were. He didn't go for cover and went to shoot back, only to be killed instantly by a bullet to the forehead, as well as many that pierced his body armor. In just a few seconds of one-sided gunfire, both were dead and laying in a pool of blood that spread outwards. I lowered my rifle and blinked a couple of times, then carefully made my way out of the storage room towards the bodies. Anchorage came out as well and stopped me, resting a hoof on my shoulder. "Don't go out yet, there might be more," he spoke quietly. I nodded and stood back, watching Anchorage raise his gun once more and scanning the streets outside. Upon finding it clear, he waved his hoof and kept his barrel drawn forward. I hurried silently to him, standing just behind as he stepped through the door and up to the adjacent, bullet-strewn bodies. The sight sent a gentle chill running up my spine. Very few of our bullets missed and dotted either griffon. Neither breathed nor moved. Neither had much on them, either. "Definitely scouts," Anchorage lowered his weapon. "All they have are G-three's, not even a knife. Decent armor, but not good enough. They both appear young as well, not as well trained." "I can't imagine the rest of them being this way," I put out as I kept an eye around us. "Did you also notice that they spoke English when we shot at them?" Anchorage nodded. "Yes, I did. Very strange if you ask me. And, well, you're not wrong. There will be more, less-trained troops, yes. However, they have much more heavy soldiers with great training, and most likely better weapons. We will have to be extremely careful. Not to mention, they may have snipers set up anywhere east we may go," Anchorage explained. "Good thing we have helmets, right?" I gave a weak smile. "Not that it helps much, but yes." Anchorage shrugged. "All right. Silver, Solar, Night, it's clear. Come on out." At his word, the other three sneaked out of the cafe and stood around the griffon bodies, Solar looking as if he was ready to hurl. He ended up looking away to prevent doing so. "We need to find a proper location to set up a perimeter and hold off any Constitution troops they may throw at us. This is where it will get tough, but everypony will be needed here." I said to them, turning to the pegasus beside me. "Anchorage, what can we use?" "Taxi carriages and any large movable objects we can hide behind. We'll build a wall and keep it together. It will block off an intersection entirely and give us plenty of cover. At the same time, it is imperative that we ensure not a single griffon or pony can jump or fly over with ease. Anyone with wings are our number one priority. "We will also need to watch our flanks. I can't imagine they will be too ignorant to realize they can slip around us on another street and hit us from behind. This will be tricky as there's just five of us. And, if all doesn't go to plan, there is always Plan B." "And that is falling back to take positions in buildings, correct?" Nightpath asked. Anchorage nodded in response. "Yes, exactly. Either way how it goes, we cannot let them past where they are now. Is that clear?" "Yes, sir!" The four of us answered at once. "Darn it, I said stop calling me that! *** Within just over ten minutes, we found ourselves just a few small blocks east of Trotterdam Tower. Further down the street, one could make out a slowly intensifying blaze breaking out on one of the upper floors of an apartment building as well as the gaping hole it seeped out of. The damage itself appeared to be induced by some sort of high-power explosive weapon, allegedly a rocket-propelled grenade. I figured that would be another danger to look out for. Soon, Anchorage stopped at a T-intersection where numerous vacant taxi carriages sat, some flipped on their sides and others marginally damaged in the panic that ensued when the attacks commenced. There were more than enough scattered around to form a wall for cover and to hold in position, with metal mailboxes, trash cans, and other things that could be used to strengthen the integrity of the wall and aid in preventing one of us from being killed—hopefully. The five of us equally assumed it wouldn't be long until we would see the first round of troops make their way towards us and tossed aside some of our gear neatly to begin work as quickly as possible. It was a huge shame that Ashfall wasn't there to help. Moving most of the carriages was easier said than done, especially with them not being sat upright and off of their wheels when doing so. This, however, was to stop oncoming fire from piercing the wall and injuring one of us, again with other objects helping with that. Around twenty or so minutes later, by my guess, the wall was finished. It did not completely span across the street but the gaps on either side were too narrow to allow anything to slip by. As the last object was set into place, Silver hopped down from the top and stood beside the rest of us, all panting and sweating slightly. Even with the help of Silver and Solar's magic, as well as Nightpath's muscle, moving the carriages remained to be the toughest part of building the barrier. But it was done now. Anchorage stepped in front of us and turned back. "All right. Step one, build the wall, is complete. Now, step two. Star, Silver, you'll be watching the front in the direction they will be coming from with me. Night, Solar, you watch our six. If we get overwhelmed on our end, feel free to help, and vice versa. Clear?" The four of us nodded in response. "And don't you say it!" Anchorage's hoof poked towards us as he tossed a glare our way. We remained silent this time, each splitting up to grab our gear and settle into position. Anchorage did too, resting his weapon on top of the wall while remaining mostly hidden. Despite all of the cover the wall gave us, I was sure that the enemy would be able to tell what this wall was for. That would certainly harden things. I set up on the right end of the wall, whilst Silver was on the left side, and Anchorage in center. We left our backpacks within reach in the event that we needed to grab more ammunition. Thankfully there was plenty of it for all and we hopefully wouldn't run out for a long period of time. Both Solar and Night went back to their own small wall area on the adjacent street that split off southward from the one we were situated on, and that way, we were covered from almost all sides, granted no one flew overhead or into a building. Before any of us knew it, the whole city went strangely quiet. Not even the far-off bursts of shotguns or other guns shooting further east could be heard. Along with nopony else to be seen for blocks. I could only hope that any civilians still in the city were in hiding somewhere. It made our job easier when it came to causalities. Off to the side, my eye caught onto Silver struggling to get a good posture. He grumbled and growled, shifting about. "Damn this gun. I can't see shit!" He muttered audibly. "Need a scope, Silver?" Anchorage turned to the beige unicorn, sitting back. "I wish I had grabbed one," he looked back at the grayish-white pegasus. "Trade guns?" Anchorage offered. "Huh? No." Silver shook his head. "Keep yours. I'll be fine." "Come on, Silver. I grabbed mine in a rush. I'm less accustomed to scopes. Take it." Grumbling, Silver nodded. "Fine," then levitated his gun over to Anchorage in exchange for the scoped M16. "Thank you." "Don't mention it," Anchorage nodded once and settled back into position, as did Silver, adjusting the scope on the rifle to see further down the street. Silver scanned around slowly, keeping his eye peeled for any signs of enemy griffon or pony troops that might be coming. However, none could be seen. "It's awfully quiet, you guys." "Yeah, no kidding," I replied, also looking for signs of trouble. "You don't think they are going around us, do you?" "If they are, we would have seen them on our end," Nightpath added in. "He's right, we've got nothing," Solar said. Damn these sneaky griffons. What if they were creeping around us and we had no clue? No, shut up, Star. No more what ifs. Why did I have to worry so much? "Grenade!" Suddenly, a small explosion rocked the area just in front of us. I ducked into cover as quickly as I could. Pieces of rock and cobble flew upwards in a shower of pebbles and debris, the force of the explosion shattering windows for a whole block. I peeked up, and now just a few feet from the wall sat a freshly made crater formed by a thrown grenade. My eyes moved up, and just past the cloud of dust approached multiple silhouettes of what appeared to be ponies and griffons in modern military-grade armor with weapons similar to ours in their hooves or talons. "Shit, there they are. Light them up!" Anchorage shouted, sitting up from out of cover and opening fire on the advancing squadron of assailants. From just the looks of them, the approaching griffons and ponies were seemingly caught off guard by the sudden revolt and scrambled to cover. There was not all that much for them to hide as most of the objects they could use were a part of our wall. This turned out to be better on our end as the three of us had a clear shot. I took aim on one smaller stallion running towards the safety of a building off to the side. With a short, deep breath, I let myself go and shot at the stallion while he was vulnerable. The first couple of bullets buried themselves in his hooves, another two in his side. He collapsed, allowing me to finish the job. One final bullet, right to the cheek. Off to the side, a normal-sized griffon with a tan mask covering much of his face minus his eyes shifted to the side, all the while firing back towards Silver and Anchorage. At first, the bullets that did hit him were embed in his body armor. He grunted at every hit, until falling backwards with a small spurt of blood popping out either side of his head as Silver's shot killed him. Four others, three griffons and one pony, also made their own cover out of any debris that was on the street or inside of buildings with little places to shoot from without being out in the open. My eyes locked onto a taller griffon reloading in a small shop, back against the small pillar between the door and window with his arm and beak sticking out. I narrowed my eyes onto the tiny cross hair at the end of the barrel, moving it carefully to take aim for his elbow. With a few more shots, the griffon screeched and dropped his weapon, collapsing to the sound and out of sight for the moment. With that, I shifted my focus to another griffon preparing to throw one more grenade. This time, at his distance, it would make it inside. "Careful, grenade!" I called out. To my side, Anchorage sat up from reloading his weapon and shot the griffon's talon just after the pin was pulled. The multi-shaded grey figure screeched out in pain, the grenade dropping to the ground at his feet, completely ignoring it as he tended to his bloodied talon. As he realized the grenade was just below him, it was too late to run. The grenade burst, this resulting in the other grenades following suit on the griffon's body strap and killing him instantly. Much of the gore was shrouded by the dust and dirt cloud that followed the explosion, whilst shrapnel from the grenades being set off flying in all directions and just narrowly missing Silver's head. "Whoa, shit!" He yelled, ducking back down briefly and sitting back up right after. Upon the cloud fading out, the remaining two left had come out of hiding and were now shooting with an actual aim as opposed to them before blindly shooting while seeking cover. Bullets pelted against the bottoms of the carriages, threatening to break through, though on the other hoof thankfully didn't. The moment one paused to reload, I sat back up out of cover and shot the approaching pony, not directly killing him but enough to injure him to the point of no longer being able to fight back. This left the griffon beside him to fight, and the three of us converged on him. He noticed this, and in turn ran back to grab the fallen pony who lay there bleeding out on the damaged cobble street. His likely mindset was to retreat with the pony to try and save him. That wasn't the case. Before he could even lift the severely injured pony up, Anchorage shot him until he was no longer breathing. Three bodies laid motionless in the street in pools of blood, as well as bits of another body blown to pieces by grenades, and the two remaining dead or dying. With that, the three of us peeked out from behind the wall to see if anyone else was coming. "Silver, you picking up anything?" Anchorage glanced over to the beige unicorn, staring through his scope and scanning the street further down. "Not that I can see. It looks like we're clear." He answered, sitting upright and wiping his forehead free of sweat. "That was wave one." "You don't say?" I shot Silver a brief look. "I'm sure they know we're here now." "To hell with them if they don't. They'll know sooner or later," Anchorage added. "Good work, boys." "Now, what do we do, Anchorage?" Silver questioned, switching out his empty magazine for a fully loaded one. "We wait. There will be more coming. And when they do—" With a shout of surprise, both Nightpath and Solar Wave lit up with gunfire seemingly out of nowhere, shooting at something from out of our line of sight. Their faces lit with the light of their weapons shooting, before stopping just a few moments later. Solar panted heavily, turning to look at the rest of us. "Three of 'em just tried to come from our end from above. They're dead." Anchorage nodded to them both. "Good work. Keep looking out above too. A lot of them will be flying." He turned back to me and Silver. "At some point, we will need to go somewhere else. We'll work that out later, though." *** Little action came in the hours that followed. More small waves of scouts in twos and threes came around, each being taken down with ease, and after we were sure it was clear, Nightpath would slip around the wall to bring the bodies inside the little fort and keep them well hidden. Each scuffle reminded us to check our ammunition in our backpacks as well. Solar was the lowest out of the five of us and Anchorage, obviously, had the most to spare. It would still be at least a day before we would need to find a new source of ammunition within the city. That was a new challenge the five of us faced. A substantial one at that. "Frag out!" Silver called aloud, yanking the silver pin from a grenade and tossing it towards the corner of a building where a couple of hostile ponies took cover. Me, Anchorage, and Silver ducked behind the bullet-riddled wall of taxi carriages and other objects to shield ourselves from flying shrapnel. Before the ponies could move out of the way, the grenade completely blew the first floor corner away, leaving a gaping hole in it that stretched all the way up to almost the third floor of the stone high-rise. One pony was killed by the grenade burst, the other cut open by the fragments that exploded outwards and slowly bleeding to death. By now, there was extreme damage to the small area around us caused by forward and returning fire, including some grenades tossed back and forth between us and the Constitution troops. The wall continued to hold strong, although it was plenty evident that wouldn't be the case in the long run. Finally, there was another break. The five of us could move about once more without the fear of being caught in the open. It seemed as if the waves were growing further apart. Anchorage stood up on all fours, gun strapped and hanging from his neck and brought us to center. "We're doing good, Marines. Knock on wood, this was a very good idea. However, I must also add, we have no form of communication in the event our fellow Marines make it back, meaning we cannot call for backup if we find ourselves in a sticky. I've said this before and I'll say it again. At some point, we will need to find somewhere else to hold up." "There's a news station about seven blocks from here, I think." I stepped forward, taking a street map of Manehattan out of my backpack. "Yes, seven blocks east. It's a radio news channel we could use. If anything, it doesn't hurt to grab the attention of the Equestrian Army. Isn't their base about twenty miles from the city?" "Yes, but should I remind you that Fort Fetlock has old tech. Out of all of the bases, theirs is the most outdated," Anchorage replied flatly. "Unless..." "All radio stations hold onto their old ways of communicating in the event of a breakdown, just like the emergency services use tactical channels to let each other know what is going on in time of city or countrywide emergency. All we can do is hope there will be still some ponies there to help us out. I'm no good with that stuff," I said back, tucking the map back away. "All right, so the radio station is our objective now. When do you advise we go?" Nightpath turned to Anchorage, as did the rest of us. "Now would be best. But hold on, Star," Anchorage moved his attention back over to me. "You said east, correct?" "I'm afraid so," I nodded. "We'll most likely have to fight our way to it." "Then so be it. We have the weapons, we've handled their squadrons up to now. There's no saying we can't make it further. Although, we must also consider the fact that..." Anchorage trailed off, noticeably stiffening his posture. My head tilted quizzically. "The fact that what?" "We should consider the requisite perception that our enemies may have total control over the station." Anchorage finished, rather hesitantly with a tone of worry in his voice. The four of us each stared at the grayish-white pegasus timidly, Solar stepping forth and speaking up, "Are you questioning our competence, sir?" Anchorage's look perked, eyes expanding marginally with bewilderment. "No, negative. I am simply suggesting that we may be unwelcome visitors is all, and if we are, I don't deny the fact that we'll have a struggle getting to the place and inside if that is the case." Solar bobbed his head in a nod, understanding. "Then lead the way, Anchorage. You're our squad leader." "Actually," he glanced towards me. "Let's leave this up to Star. He has the map." What? Why me? I'm not a leader! "Yes, sir." Anchorage tossed me a glare, opening his wings and flying up over the short-in-height barrier. I sighed, looking towards the others. "Let's move, Marines." I trotted back towards the wall and put much of my weight into my hooves, springing upwards and on top, then landing back on the other side with a light clump of my hooves digging into the dirt of a small grenade crater. Silver, Solar, and Night followed one by one, Anchorage having landed and waiting for me to take the lead. I reached behind into my backpack and removed the rolled-up map, taking it and unrolling it. I had marked where our current position was to aid in movements we would make and pinpointed our destination mentally. The station was situated seven blocks east, and another three south. Much to our dismay, the path took us right into Constitution territory of the city where we knew the majority of the militia swarmed in groups. The further we walked, the more I could feel my chest tightening. Now I knew how it felt to be a leader—a literal leader that is—and be out in the open, vulnerable, and ahead of my group. Then again, I preferred my life to be taken over my friends. A couple of blocks down from where we set up post, a new thought crossed my mind. I wanted desperately to ask it, only to remember neither of them would be capable of answering. The only ponies who could were hundreds of miles away. Since the day before, I had not heard from or seen Rose. I could only hope she was safe and sound back at base, or better, on her way home or already there. I returned my attention to the map, checking street signs as we walked past and comparing where we were on the map. Within a few minutes we reached our turn and I led the others in the direction of the station. It wasn't clearly visible due to smog and dust, but it was there. I kept my map up in case we ended up going too far. Then, suddenly, multiple loud explosions, quickly followed by the whine of jet engines from above made all of us freeze in our tracks. "Airstrike!" Silver shouted just hardly above the ear-piercing loud noises. Anchorage, taking a pair of tactical binoculars from his backpack, held them up to his eyes and looked at the two jet fighters flying southward before darting out towards sea, behind some buildings. "Not to worry, they're ours. Lunar Navy fighters. It's good to see we have air superiority." The rest of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. So it seemed the Navy was in the fight anyway. Airstrikes helped and didn't simultaneously. If they were accurate, they would wipe out targets with little issue. At the same time, it weakened the city's integrity as well as putting any innocents stranded in the taken-over sectors in harms way. Continuing down the street and through a thick cloud of cough-inducing grayish-black smoke, the radio station was just to our left. I tucked my map away in my pouch and grabbed hold of my rifle. "There it is. Everypony inside!" I motioned my hoof telling them to advance into the building. I crouched slightly as I ran into the dual doors. One was already opened and much of the glass on the front face of the building was shattered and riddled with bullet holes, as was the wall inside. Paper was scattered across the floor, some being blown about by the frigid breeze seeping inside. Aside from the gentle rustling of the papers shuffling around with our movement, all was quiet. I walked cautiously up to a wooden door and opened it, the door leading into a hallway, to the side being an open elevator shaft and an emergency stairway. There was little debris in the hallway, although some of the lights had been shot out or were damaged, one of which hanging down and spurting electrical sparks, while some of the others flickered and eventually went out, leaving little light in the hall. I moved towards the staircase, Anchorage just behind me and keeping his eyes peeled for any movement, whether it be hostile or not. "Star, what floor is the communication center?" Silver asked with a gentle whisper from behind. "I'm not sure," I whispered back, stopping at the second floor's doorway and checking around. The lights were completely off and much of the floor was vacant, despite multiple packed boxes as if those occupying it were moving their equipment in. "Not this one. Keep going." From there, Anchorage took the lead and advanced slowly up to the third floor. There, most of the ceiling lights were still on, a couple flickering. The floor had multiple rooms, presumably offices. Once again, it was not what we were looking for. We continued upwards to the fourth floor, where I peeked out and out of luck, spotted the studio room at one end. Beside it, surely, would be where the connections were set up. Looking down the small cross hair peg at the end of the barrel of my gun, my eyes moved across, finding where we needed to go. "Bingo." As I crept out into the hallway, a bullet whipped past my ear. The quick movement startled me and I snapped in the direction it came from, just before taking a hit right to the chest, then another. I wheezed and fell backwards, Anchorage gasping from above and dragging me back into the stairwell. "Star's down, enemies at our nine. Take them out!" He shouted, Silver and Solar running out into the heavy gunfire to cover, where they could easily engage the assailants. Down the hallway approached two bulky uniformed griffons, one with a high-powered shotgun, the other with a modified MP5, the one that shot me. Nightpath remained in the stairwell with me and Anchorage, whom laid me on my back on the floor with my gun off to the side to check for any severe wounds. "Star, are you alright?!" Anchorage asked hastily, chest heaving as he panted. Slowly I nodded, then coughed heavily. "These vests work..." I answered in a somewhat stunned tone. Anchorage exhaled deeply, then grabbed my rifle and returned it back to me. "Get up, Marine." He ordered, offering a hoof. I took his hoof hastily and brought myself up to all fours, taking my gun up off of the floor and leaning against the wall in cover, looking out into the hallway. "Silver!" I shouted for him. "What!?" Silver called back, turning around a corner and firing back at the approaching griffon troops. "Got any grenades on you?!" Anchorage called. I quickly snapped my head to look at him with wide-eyes, them saying are you nuts?! "A couple! Why?" Silver replied, slipping back around the corner. "Use it!" "Are you sure?!" "Positive! Throw it!" Hesitantly, Silver took a small grenade from his pouch and yanked the pin out with his teeth, tossing it around the corner. It bounced off of the wall, rolling slowly afterwards up to the griffons. One screeched, both shuffling to get away. It was too late for them. The grenade was set off, and blew a massive hole in the wall on either side of the hallway, as well as a gaping pit that collapsed onto the floor below, and the floor below that. Above, pieces of the ceiling came down much like a ramp, blocking the hall with a loud crash. Dust filled the air, leaving each of us coughing and wheezing. The griffons were not nearly as lucky, either killed by the explosion or crushed by debris. Thankfully it seemed the rest of the building's integrity wasn't jeopardized aside from the area that was highly damaged. Cracks lined the floor, ceiling, and walls but weren't showing signs of growing. Electrical wiring sparked, having being cut completely, and a pipe had snapped, pouring water in large quantities down into the hole. Above the gentle rumble of water flooding out of the pipe came a new sound. It caught the full attention of my ear. It swiveled, and I turned to look where the sound was coming from. It sounded like muffled cries. "Do you guys hear that?" "Mmmmhmmf! Hmmmph!" "Barely, but yes." Night nodded. His head snapped toward the room we were headed to. "In there!" He ran past us, then smashed his body into the door and fell down on his side. The wooden door exploded inwards with a loud crack, and was smashed to bits with splinters covering the floor. Night pushed himself back up, the rest of us galloping inside. The room highly resembled the one back at base but was much larger in size. And, in dead center, sat a pony beneath a flickering light in a chair, trying to rock side to side. "Hmmph! Mmmph!" I gasped, running up to the figure. The light flickered on for a short period, revealing a pony in a hoodie with the Lunar Marines' main emblem on his upper right chest. His hooves were bound to the armrests with duct tape and had some also covering his mouth. Over his eyes sat a white blindfold. He struggled hard and trembled. I quickly removed my knife from my belt and cut the tape from his hooves, followed by the tape on his mouth and blindfold. The pony's pupils expanded and he calmed seeing who we were. He panted heavily and sat up out of the chair, bringing me into a lung-crushing hug. He wasn't all that bigger than I was, which came to my surprise feeling how strong he was. "Thank you... t-thank you for coming. I thought they were going to kill me." The pony sputtered, backing off of me after a couple of moments. He looked around at the rest of the group. "Is this all of you?" "Afraid so," Anchorage nodded once and stepped up to the pony. "Circuit!" "Anchorage!" The pony gasped loudly. "It's great to see you, squid. What the hell are you doing here?" "Helping take care of this little griffon problem we're having, that's what. We came to attempt communication with the Equestrian Army. What are you doing here?" Anchorage's brow raised, staring at the dark blue earth pony questionably. "I was just asked to come downtown for the day and help out setting up a new system. I didn't see any of this shit coming, but thank Luna you're all here. But you all need to listen, they are sending more." "They're what?" I blinked. "They communicated the rest of them. There is more on the way. The whole army. You won't stand a chance against them." "You're kidding. This isn't all of them here in the city?" Solar's eyes went huge. Circuit shook his head in denial. "They've been planning this out in waves. When they grabbed me, their intention was to use this place to call the rest of their cronies. They are en-route. Hell, they might already be here. The ones you're seeing now have been in the city for at least a month. Its just been extremely hard to keep track of them. That is why they've avoided captivity. Now they're launching their full attack." "Shit..." I muttered, slowly exchanging looks with the others, then back to Circuit. "Have you got any weapons on you?" "I had a pistol, but they took it. No clue where they put it. If I can get a hold of something, however, I'll sure as hell give you guys a helping hoof," Circuit offered sternly. "Not an option. You have no armor let alone weapons. It's best if you evacuate and take anypony else that might also be caught in the open," Anchorage said back. Circuit's stance hardened. "Then it is that I shall do. Although, I have some bad news for you boys. The towers and satellites on the building over were destroyed by an airstrike. Their signal made it out, but we're cut off. You will have to go somewhere else if anywhere is still up and running." "Damn it." I stomped my hoof. "Although..." Circuit started. "Word was spreading that the military is coming back. An S.O.S was sent out and received while they were setting up. It won't be long before backup arrives." "What a relief," Night exhaled heavily. "Yeah, but until then, you five are on your own," Circuit said as a matter of fact. "Now, I say we get the hell out of here before the others come." "The others?" Silver's head cocked. "There's more in the building." Circuit answered grimly. Just a moment after, shouting could be heard from a few floors up, emanating from the staircase, as well as foot and hoofsteps rushing downstairs. "That's our cue. Come on," Anchorage's hoof waved in motion for us to leave. Night, Silver, and Solar ran back out through the broken door, across to the staircase, Anchorage, myself, and Circuit close behind. Just a couple of floors up, the enemies were fast approaching. "Go, go, go!" Anchorage shouted at the top of his lungs, all of us rushing down the stairs as hastily as we could. Once back on the first floor, the six of us were immediately met by heavy gunfire from a few different rooms and the hallway down. With the others coming from above, it left us trapped. In turn, I ran back up the staircase about half of a flight and set up, waiting for the oncoming enemies to reach us. Meanwhile, Silver Edge, Nightpath, and Anchorage returned fire on the attackers down below. "Protect Circuit!" I called out, reaching to my backpack to click in a fresh magazine, cocking the rifle and aiming upstairs as a smaller stallion in military camouflage turned to meet me with a knife in his hoof. Swiftly, I pulled the trigger and lit up the pony, his body tripping and tumbling down the steps to my hooves where he lay bleeding and dead, while the griffon soldier behind him, wearing a heavy vest and an eye patch, screeched down towards me and whipped a pistol out of his holster. He shot towards me, bullets ricocheting off of the concrete and the floor just barely missing while I shot back. One hit my helmet and sent me into a quick shock though not penetrating, while doing so I sprayed aimlessly while I stumbled to regain posture. As I did, I watched the griffon collapse to the ground, his pistol bouncing down to my hooves. I grabbed the pistol up off of the staircase and handed it to Circuit. "You'll need this, for sure!" "Hey, my gun!" Circuit shouted, nodding once and cocking the pistol after taking it. With the targets upstairs down, I shifted my focus to my friends downstairs, still engaged in a heavy gunfight with multiple enemies surrounding the stair corridor. We were still pinned in, and from what I could tell, no one was winning. Then, out of the blue, I heard two light metallic bounces I never wanted to hear. Looking down towards Anchorage's hooves, I caught sight of a grenade, pin pulled. Solar, also catching eye of it, gasped and looked up towards Anchorage. "Grenade!" In a last ditch effort, and in the blink of an eye, Solar shoved the grayish-white pegasus out of the way and jumped down onto the little explosive. My pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and seemingly time slowed itself significantly. There was a loud pop, Solar's body jumping upwards with a light flash emanating from beneath him, and shredded bits of his armored vest flying outwards. He landed back on the ground, completely motionless, head pointed to the side. Within a couple of moments of the explosion, a pool of blood formed out from Solar's chest. I watched with absolute horror as the scene unfolded. Anchorage, having fallen to the side, was up on his hooves within a couple of seconds, looking down towards the severely injured unicorn. He screamed, dropping his gun and running back to the yellow pony. "Solar!" The pegasus shook Solar, desperately trying to get him to stand back up. His efforts were of no use. Anchorage then took the strap of Solar's helmet and cut it off with a knife, his helmet rolling off to the side and wobbling as it came to a stop. Solar's eyelids were just hardly cracked, with little trickles of blood seeping from either side of his mouth. Helplessly, I watched Anchorage try to sit Solar up. He was beginning to break down himself with the sounds of combat drowned out around us. It seemed like the whole world was quickly slowing itself. I watched Solar blink slowly, coughing once and a bit of blood dripping onto the floor beside him. Just seconds after, his head rolled over to the side. It was then where the color was noticeably fading from him. I hadn't even noticed my rifle had dropped out of my hoof as I was too focused on Anchorage and Solar half of a flight of stairs below. I slid onto the wall, sitting completely with my back pressed against it, staring through the steel barriers protecting the rim of the steps down at the two. Anchorage now held Solar tightly in his hooves and was getting some of his blood on them. Solar had multiple severe wounds to his chest where the grenade completely vaporized a small section of his body armor, as well as piercing his chest with pieces blown out from the explosion. My eyes swelled with tears, chest heaving quickly as I felt myself succumb to emotion. This was all happening too fast. This could not be happening. My heart pumped hard and ached with a new type of pain that echoed throughout my veins. Mental pain. By the time the gunfight stopped, one thing was clear. Solar was gone.