Fire & Rain: Applejack and the Queen of Knives

by Limbo Theorem

The Problems are Compounding

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
200156SJUL30:

Applejack dreamed again.

She was back on the farm, sitting at the dinner table and doing her homework. She seemed to be the only one present in the house, even though it looked lived in. She paused and looked at herself. Though she couldn’t see her reflection unless she went to the bathroom, something told her she was her teenage self once more.

“A recollection of happier times.”

Applejack turned towards the stairs, seeing Sunset walk down them. She looked calm and at ease, and she wore the clothing that she had the day before everything went south – the day before the sleepover that Bloom and her friends had ruined and had cost everyone everything.

Applejack smiled. “You know,” she said, gesturing to the paperwork, “it was you that got me interested in math. I really never cared for it until you showed me how it worked in ballistics.” Even as she spoke, she wondered why she spoke with her current vocal affectations and not the one she’d lived with for most of her life. “Maybe you knew, before everyone else, I was always meant to hold a gun.”

“I never thought that, AJ.” Sunset walked over to the chair and sat down. “We were family. I just wanted you to do well.”

“Some family I was.”

“I thought we agreed that you would let go of the past.”

“I did – until I ran into Fluttershy. That bitch is here, and I have to go to Canterlot with her. Did you know—”

“—that she married Flash?” Sunset finished for her and Applejack looked at her, shocked. “I just know these things, you know.”

“Magic, right.” Applejack was silent for the longest time. “How can I forgive her? Forgive what we did to you?”

“It’s not your duty to forgive her, AJ; that’s mine – and I already did. Besides, I need you to work with her to find my book and then find the others. I need you all to come together.”

“Sunset, what if…what if I can’t? Fluttershy didn’t even know I was still alive. What if the others aren’t? Or they’re in a coma or something? What if I fail? Fail you?”

Sunset went over and hugged her foster sister. “You won’t fail,” Sunset told her with a smile. “Because I believe in you. And I believe in her. Work together and we’ll work from there.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Sunset gave Applejack another smile.

“This above all: to thine own self be true, Honesty.”

Applejack sat up in the bed, running a hand over her face to try to dispel the tiredness from her eyes.

“I wish you’d just come back and talk to me again – in person,” she said to the empty room.

---

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
200208TJUL30:

In the dim candlelight of the room, a young woman with long cerise hair in a braid that went over her shoulder worked out on a bench press. Ripped like a bodybuilder, she was proud of her muscled form, especially given that she’d been frail and weak as a child, and had been a late bloomer in high school as a result. Not the case now: between her form and her beauty, she caught the eye of just about everyone available. Not that it mattered much to her; her life wasn’t defined by the attentions of men or women.

Finally sitting up, she draped a towel over her breasts; though she was wearing a sports bra at the moment, her shirt was being fixed – a necessity, given that because of her build, typical women’s clothing no longer fit her and she more often than not had to wear men’s attire. It didn’t matter much anyway, she knew – the other person in the room hardly cared how she was dressed.

“You done sewing my shirt yet?” she called out to her partner.

“Yeah, almost done,” he said, sewing the last stitch in place before biting the end off and tying it in a knot. Finally, he threw the shirt over to her. “See if this works,” he said.

She removed the town then slid it on. “Like a charm,” she said with a smile. “Thanks, Grady.”

“No problem,” he replied with an equal grin. “So you’re going to actually stay up all night?”

“Don’t have much of a choice,” she told him. “With Sweetie down, Bloom and I have to do double work.”

“And yet I’ve never seen her do that. In fact, she’s probably in bed right now, snuggled against whoever it is she’s with tonight.”

“Grady, I wish you’d lay off her, okay? She’s a friend of mine.”

Gradient moved over to his bedroll and looked at Scootaloo. “Are we going to have this conversation again? Because I swear, it always ends the same way and you never listen anyway.”

“Look, I keep an eye out on all my friends, you included.” She gave a soft smile. “It’s too bad you’re gay, otherwise you would be the only guy for me, you know that?”

Gradient shook his head. “Gay or not, you have to be desperate if you want me.”

Scootaloo laughed. “Same old Gradient – always puts a smile on my face. See?”

He ran his hands through his long, shaggy cobalt-blue hair; at one time he considered himself a debonair metrosexual, but now, with survival more of a priority he had to admit he’d let himself go a little from those days. “Well, if it makes you feel better, you’re more of a match for me than most of the guys I dated back before Decimation.” He pointed at his chest. “Hell, I’m wearing the t-shirt you gave me at that concert we went to the week before it all happened.”

She turned, her purple eyes looking at what he wore. A lazy smile came over her face. “It is! I remember that shirt! We went to the Broken Desktops concert that year. You were annoyed that they didn’t have a pink shirt for guys, so I got you the largest woman size they had.” Her eyes filled with nostalgia. “Good times.”

“Yeah. I’m going to sleep now. Mind if I shut off the candle?”

She shook her head. “Naah, I can use the night vision goggles if need be.” He reached over, snuffed out the candle, leaving the two in the darkness, save for the starlit skies above.

After a few minutes, she asked, “Grady?”

“Yeah, I’m still awake,” he said with an unconvincing yawn.

“When this war is over, let’s get married, okay?”

“You’re joking – I can tell you’re joking,” he commented.

“No, I’m serious! You haven’t really dated anyone since forever, and with all my personal issues, I just never got around to the dating scene. So we’re perfect for each other.”

“No, it means we’re pathetic, Scoots.”

“Hey, you’re a guy, and it works regardless,” she said, joking. “Plus, in all seriousness, you’ve always been there for me. If there’s one lesson I learned in my life, it’s stick by your friends. Believe me, I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he told her. “Look, if you want me to relieve you in a few hours, that means I need to get some sleep, okay?”

“Yeah, I gotcha. Night, Grady.”

“Night, Scoots.”

Now seated in a lonely vigil while keeping an eye out for anything unusual, it gave her time to think – something she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. For starters, the bombed-out area she was in had once been Southside, the more rundown part of town. It had been where she’d ended up after all the fallout from the whole Anon-a-Miss debacle had occurred, after she’d been expelled from Canterlot High and ended up having to transfer to Southside High.

That had the add-on effect of her missing out on college, which meant that her parents kicked her out of the house at eighteen, making her live on her own. Fortunately, she was able to move in with Gradient, who had graduated the year before and was taking classes at Canterlot Community College. Between that and a thrilling job with Canterlot Collections as a sanitation engineer (aka waste manager, aka garbage collector), she was finally able to put her past behind her, especially given that due to distance, her friendship with Sweetie and Bloom had faded away.

Then Decimation came, and changed everything: Gradient’s boyfriend had been killed, their home and life decimated, and through it all they had not been successfully evacuated, instead being abandoned by the government when they could no longer hold the line against the alien invasion. Hundreds of thousands had died that day, and those who had been unfortunate enough to remain behind in Canterlot now had to eke out a life that was part modern, part medieval.

That had been her life for the past five years. And though she’d found out, much to her surprise, that Bloom and Sweetie had survived and had been trapped here as well. And now the three of them rekindled their friendship and forged that into a weapon, a trio of surprisingly capable snipers who had ended plenty of alien lives at the end of their rifles. And even though things weren’t as they were, Scootaloo allowed herself to feel comfortable once more with her friends.

But now things were changing. Sweetie was married and pregnant, bowing out of their battles as a result. Bloom had found herself a guy to call her own, and they were slowly but surely moving on with their lives as much as they could given the situation. And that meant Scootaloo would once again be on the outside looking in, left in a dead-end life while being in love with a guy she absolutely knew could never return her affections.

As if to add insult to injury, at that exact moment, the radio beside her crackled to life. “Olympus to Moerae. Are either of you up? Over.”

Scootaloo picked it up. “This is Atropos, go ahead.”

“Good! I…I just needed someone to talk to right now,” Sweetie said over the line. “Do you mind switching to channel 17? Over.”

Scootaloo twisted the knob on the radio just as Bloom’s voice then came over the line. “Sorry for takin’ so long. Was…a bit tied up.”

“Oh?” Sweetie said, her voice holding an impish lilt.

“Yeah, and Ah think he’s the one this time.”

“Really? Spill, Bloom, spill!”

Bloom sighed. “Fedora. Yeah, he’s a bit older, but he’s a sweet guy and just mah style.”

“Bloomie, we’re adults. Age ain’t nothing but a number, you know.”

Scootaloo wanted to say something but then was cut off by Bloom’s words: “He ain’t that old, Sweetie. Yeah, he’s about five years older than me, sure, but he makes me smile. Anyway, why’d ya call?”

“Well…the baby kicked and I didn’t want to wake Button. He’s been working night and day, so I wanted to give him a break, but I wanted to share the news with someone.”

“Well, that’s great! Maybe when the war’s over, we c’n do a double weddin’ – a real weddin’, where we can be brides as pretty as pictures!”

“Yeah, and Scoots can be our maid of honor!” Sweetie said. “I mean, she’s not tied up, right?”

Silence ran over the line for a few seconds before Sweetie suddenly realized she’d picked the worst words to say at the worst possible time.

Sure enough, Scootaloo got the unintended message. “Battery’s dying,” she lied. “I’m going to cut the call.”

Bloom, to her credit, tried to immediately salvage things. “Look, Scoots—”

“Atropos, out.” She switched to the main channel, knowing that even the two of them would have enough sense not to bother taking their argument there. She was sure enough anyway that once morning set in and Scootaloo went back to her apartment, Bloom would be there to apologize and try to make peace. And of course, in the end, Scootaloo would forgive her friends for that.

Because, sadly, maybe that was all she was really good for, anyway.

---

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
200536SJUL30:

Two figures jogged up Evergreen Hill, running past the apple trees that lined the main pathway. The cloying scent of the fruits filled the crepuscular air and it made Fluttershy think of happier times. As the first rays of dawn poked over the horizon, starting the day, she had to wonder if others she knew were seeing this same morning and thought like she did…

…or if the aliens saw the beauty of the waking world as well, instead of just a place to slaughter.

Reaching the crest of the hill, the pair stopped. “Well, you’re getting better at this,” Flash said to his wife.

“Yeah, thank Boltie,” she said. “I wouldn’t have done it all without her.”

“You know, you’re supposed to keep in shape,” he reminded her.

“Yes, but I always took the swimming portion of the endurance tests, not the running. And with there being no pool here, I’ve had to adjust,” Fluttershy admitted. “In any case, I needed to get better so we can go back to Canterlot. It’s not going to be easy there.”

“Not by half,” a voice behind them said. “And this is almost literally a walk in the park for me.” The pair turned to see Applejack standing there, having jogged up the hill not in PT attire, but instead her NAVPATs. “Next time you run, you should get used to running in your ACUs. The more weight you can handle, the better. They’re not just for show.”

“AJ? But I thought—”

“I can’t do this alone. I would rather do so, but I can’t. Even I need to acknowledge my own shortcomings…to be honest with myself.” She looked at Fluttershy and the gulf between the two, wide as ever.

“I know,” Fluttershy spoke. “I had a dream last night where Sunset told me I wasn’t being kind to you. That I was so busy focused on my own pain that I didn’t acknowledge how you were feeling about all this.”

Applejack looked surprised. “She spoke to you last night as well?”

“She spoke to you, too?”

Flash looked at both women and asked, “Ladies, is there something I’m missing?”

“No, but it’s something we are,” Applejack said. “Look, I…I don’t trust you. Either of you. I can’t, not after what happened. But for her…. For Sunset, I need to learn how to do that again.” She offered her hand to Fluttershy. “She needs us.”

“I still think you’re a self-centered bitch for what you did, and I’m not sure I can forgive that either,” Fluttershy admitted. But she took Applejack’s hand in her own. “But we started somewhere years ago.”

“Yeah, we have done this dance before, haven’t we?”

“And we were just as stupid then,” Fluttershy said, nodding. “All that time and we never bothered to check to see if the messages to each other were really from one another. And ultimately we found out it was just because Sunset used lookalike numbers on Google Voice.”

“We were such idiots back then, weren’t we?”

“Absolutely.”

Watching from a distance, both Chrysalis and Tempest grinned. “She really needed that,” the spymaster said.

“Absolutely. I’ve known Jackie for years and she has a habit of carrying around guilt like an albatross around her neck, especially when she doesn’t have to.” Tempest’s eyes slid over to look at her friend from the side. “Kinda like someone else I know.”

“Temp, I’m the spymaster, which means I’m the one who gets to play mindgames, not you,” Chrysalis said, mock-pouting.

“We girls gotta stick together, you know,” Tempest said, turning away from her point halfway up the hill. “Besides, today’s a day for us to relax before it’s go-time, right? So go spend it with your guy. Because you don’t know what will happen.”

“I know,” Chrysalis said under her breath as she and Tempest jogged back down the hill. “And that’s what I’m afraid of.”

---

Meanwhile, in Spearhead’s office, two colonels were having a meeting. And one of them was definitely not happy about it.

“This is bullshit, Shining, and you know it!” Rising from his chair, Spearhead held the printed documents in his hands. Orders that had come in a few minutes ago and ones he was dutybound to follow.

Shining, seated in a chair across from him, nodded. “Spear, we do what we have to. Even my hands are tied on this one.”

Spearhead’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, really? You act as if you’re completely surprised. After all, you’re the one that sent out the message to the Mountain after our meeting, and lo and behold, I now have orders to transfer Cpt. Sentry and Maj. Fluttershy to your command, effective immediately.”

Shining looked at his colleague. “Those were my orders, Spear. From the Admiral, no less.”

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me beforehand?”

Shining looked at the papers in Spear’s hand. “I have yet to actually read those documents. The only reason I even know they exist is because one of your sergeants told me about it and said she’d bring me the documentation later.” He sighed. “Look, I know what you’re thinking: that I’m taking your best doctor and one of your most promising company officers, is that it? Because if that’s the case, I can call the Mountain and have new officers here to replace them by the end of the week.”

“No. You, more than any person here, should know why.” Spear slapped the papers on the table. “They don’t deserve this, Shining. You know as well as I do if you take them, one of them or the other – probably Fluttershy – is not going to make it back.”

The smile vanished from Shining’s face. “I know. Believe me, Spear, I know. But they’re both from Canterlot, and my orders are clear.”

“Shining, those two are….” Spearhead sighed. “Flash doesn’t need to be like us. He doesn’t need to know what it’s like to lose the woman he loves the most. I still grieve over losing Rosevine, Sugarstripe and Blueblaze. And you’ve told me before how empty you feel without Cadance and Flurry. Do you want him to end up like either of us?”

“No, no I don’t. And honestly, when Jackie had reservations of working with them, my gut instinct was to agree with her. But they knew this unicorn girl as well. And that means that the safety of the world has to take priority over your feelings and mine. Besides, this is settled and it’s going to happen.”

“I just hope you’re not making a mistake that’s going to cost a life, Shining. I really don’t.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Same here.”

---

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
201441TJUL30:

Sure enough, the moment she arrived at the apartment she shared with Gradient, there was a note for Scootaloo to join Bloom at her assigned location over by Blackdot Avenue. Patrols by the Octos had increased there as of late, and Button and Zeus wanted to know why – and it was a big enough priority to split the Moerae for the time being.

“Look, you know she didn’t mean it,” Bloom told Scootaloo.

“Yes she did; she just didn’t mean to say it like that,” Scootaloo grunted. “Look, I really don’t want to have this discussion to begin with.”

“Ah c’n see that.” Bloom turned away from her weapon and looked at her friend. “Look, we want you to be happy, you know. And Ah’m not sure that stayin’ with a guy you love who can’t ever give you what you want is a good thing for you.”

Grabbing her own weapon, Scootaloo settled in; if she was going to have this argument with Bloom now, she may as well be of some use. As she got into position, she noticed a patrol moving two blocks beyond Blackdot, over on Treeline Parkway. From the way they moved, she could easily take one down, but unfortunately there was no real way to tell which one was in command – or even if a decapitation strike would be effective.

“Scoots, Ah’m being serious here,” Bloom told her. “Y’ might love Grady, but he’s never gonna look at you like that.”

Scootaloo closed her eyes, swore under her breath, and then looked at her friend. “You don’t know that.”

“How long have you been livin’ with him now? Ah mean, you told me that he had a live-in boyfriend when y’ first moved into his place. He ain’t dated anyone since, an’ you don’t tell us how things are goin’ in the smoochin’ department.”

“Maybe I like to keep that part of my life private?” Scootaloo hissed. “I mean, I really don’t need to hear conversations about how Sweetie rode Button until she got pregnant; or for that matter, how your guy hits your G-spot. You know, some of us like to keep our private lives private?”

“Scoots, Ah’m serious! You’re just hurtin’ yourself!” Bloom pled. “Ah know y’ love him. It’s obvious. But he can’t love you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” She turned back to her scope.

“Stop bein’ ornery and listen, will ya?”

“I did listen. I found someone I love. And maybe he doesn’t love me the same way. But in this world…at least I know I have someone. Probably the best I can ask for.” Letting her anger and frustration override her common sense, Scootaloo focused on the lead Octo, then pulled the trigger. Her rifle barked out, flames curling away from the muzzle as a single 7.62 NATO round sliced through the air, crossing the half-kilometer and tearing its way through one of the eyecoverings of the Octo. It went down with a scream and the others reacted, starting to change their colors to match the surroundings. But Scootaloo was quicker, having pulled the trigger once more. A second bullet speared forward, and a breath later a second dead Octo hit the ground, its dark green lifeblood staining the cracked and shattered street pavement.

“Guess that ends the argument fer now,” Bloom said, scrambling to her feet. It was time to scatter. “But Ah ain’t gonna let this one go, Scoots. Not at all.”

“Everything that had to be said has already been said,” Scootaloo said, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. “Anything after that is just words.”

The moment they left the building, they were greeted by the sizzle of energy blasts striking the location where they’d been; the Octos had quickly triangulated where the fire had come from and were responding in kind. Above them the office space where they had been detonated in a shower of fire and pulverized concrete. Chunks of building materials rained down on the two, sending both scattering, which the enemy took note of immediately.

Thin beams of white energy crossed the street, headed towards the pair but thankfully missing. Both Bloom and Scootaloo returned fire, but given that they were using sniper rifles, their weapons were not optimized for the kind of battle they now found themselves in – once the Octos sent in enough extra numbers, it would overwhelm the pair pretty much instantly, and given that they were an area of concern, that probably would happen fairly soon.

Cueing her radio, Bloom called out, “Moerae to anyone in the vicinity of Circle Square – we’re pinned down by the Octos and need backup!”

“This is Aura,” a voice called over the line. “My troops and I are nearby. How much opposition are you facing?”

Bloom looked at Scootaloo, who immediately peeked her head out from cover and a second later ducked back down, shaking her head. Bloom hissed into her radio, “We’re not sure.” A second later the ruins of a storefront behind them went up in flames and she said, “Isn’t gonna matter though if you guys don’t get here in time!”

“This is Ixion,” a gruff, male voice chimed in a few seconds later. “We’re nearby as well and on the way.”

“We’re moving as fast as we can! We’ll try to give you cover. Aura out.”

Initially, Scootaloo tried moving into a firing position that would let her longer barreled weapon fire. In the confined location that they were in, she was forced to use her pistol instead, which meant reduced range and power. With any luck, the Octos wouldn’t realize this and would either stay away, increasing their chances of survival; or close the gap and get into the range of the pistols. “You know, when we were younger I never thought I’d be in this situation,” she said, trying to make small talk.

Also in the same situation, Bloom pulled out her pistol as well. Unlike Scootaloo’s weapon, however, Bloom’s was a typical “Apple Bloom Special” – in this case a 3D-printed gun based on various blueprints she’d found on the internet years ago. She’d kept them out of curiosity, and now was using them to make her own weapons. Sure, they didn’t hold up as well as the ones everyone else used and she had to replace the plastic regularly, but in the ruins of Canterlot, plastic wasn’t exactly something that was hard to obtain.

Plus, there was an additional advantage that she had over Scootaloo’s sidearm: longer barrel, meaning longer range. The round spun true through the air, tearing a small hole through a third alien and dropping it to the ground. But with half the original patrol down, that was all but assured that there would be a retaliatory response. And less than a second later, it came: three white bolts came within striking range, and while Bloom was lucky enough that they weren’t close enough to kill, one of them hit the muzzle of her pistol, melting it instantly. She dropped the useless weapon as the scent of vaporized plastic filled the air.

“You okay?” Scootaloo asked, returning fire.

“Not at the moment, no,” she said. The redhead then pulled out her emergency weapon: a revolver that had been in her family at least since her grandfather. She never inquired as to where it had originated, but she found it fascinating enough that when it became time to take arms, she made it hers. Of course, it made it a burden to reload where needed, but at least she had enough plastic left over from her work to make enough moon clips.

She then opened fire, her revolver barking out a tinny sound as the bullets left the weapon. She wasn’t sure if her rounds had made the mark, but it would at least keep the bastards at bay a little longer, and right now every second counted.

“How much longer until reinforcements get here?” Scootaloo asked.

“Fuck if’n Ah know!” Bloom replied, dumping her spent cartidges and slapping another moon clip in. She had several on hand, but even those were going to run out sooner or later as the battle dragged on. “Ah’m sure Cotton’s movin’ as fast as she c—”

A massive beam of energy tore into the space between the two of them, slagging part of the car and sending both flying out of the way. Burnt metal flew everywhere, and one of the two screamed. A second later, flames and smoke filled the air, as well as the scent of burnt ozone, as if a lightning strike had just charbroiled the local surroundings.

Grunting, Scootaloo forced herself back to her feet, ignoring her rifle for the moment. “Looks like the fuckers brought out their heavy guns,” she groaned. “Reinforcements or not, we can’t stay here, Bloom. We need to get moving.” Silence. “Bloom?”

Scootaloo turned to see Bloom, on the ground, gritting her teeth and with a large piece of shrapnel embedded in her right leg. “Looks like Ah ain’t goin’ nowhere,” she grunted.

“Don’t pull it out; that looks like it might be near an artery.”

“Ain’t gonna matter, Scoots,” the redhead told her friend. “No way Cotton’s gonna get here in time.” She reached behind her, pulling out her remaining clips and offered both those and her revolver to Scootaloo. “Leave me your rifle,” she said. “Ah c’n cover for ya, an’ at least one of us’ll get out of this alive.”

“What? Why are you….” A second later, the realization sank in. “No! What the fuck are you even thinking, Bloom?”

“Ah’m thinkin’ Ah’m a dead woman one way or ‘nother,” she admitted. “At least one o’ us has t’ live for Sweetie’s sake. Can’t leave her baby without an aunt.”

“Oh, no, don’t you dare pull that shit on me!” Scoots snarled. “I’m not leaving you behind!”

Bloom was going to respond, but then a keening cry sounded in the air. “Great, those bastards are loosin’ whatever it is that’s makin’ that sound,” she grunted. “Definitely can’t be good. Y’ need to get out of here, Scoots!”

“I said no! I’m not leaving you behind, and that’s final!”

“Awww…you two are so cute,” another voice said behind them. The two of them looked to see a girl their age with short sky-blue hair and lilac eyes looking down at them. “Should I go find you two a hotel room?”

“Classy as always, Cotton,” Scootaloo said, glad to see the woman.

“Well, she can do classy. As for me, you two are buying me and my folks a round or two back at the bar,” a heavy-set man in his forties with thinning teal hair grunted as he scooted right next to Scootaloo. “So, I see you made some friends over there and they want to share the love.”

“Yeah, Build Up,” Bloom grunted. “As y’ can see, they love me soooo much. Don’t know how much more lovin’ Ah can take.”

“I can tell,” Cotton said, signaling for two of her own guys, who immediately fired on the Octos. “We’ll get you out of here, but it’s gonna be a long haul. You going to be able to walk?”

“I can carry her,” Scootaloo said, without hesitation.

“Lucky you,” Cotton cracked to Bloom. “I can’t get my husband to do foreplay right and you’re getting the whole romantic treatment.”

“Fuck you, Cotton,” both Bloom and Scootaloo said to their snarky ally.

“Yeah, but I’m straight, so you’ll just have to dream about it,” she said with a grin.

“Cotton,” Build Up said, cutting her off. He then waved two of his folks and gave them orders to clear an escape route. Looking back to Scootaloo, he said, “Run down 43^rd, then make a turn at Rainbow Ridge. The emergency shelter should be open, and the guards there can escort you the rest of the way. We’ll call ahead for a medic.”

“We’ll buy you as much time as we can, but you’re going to have to move fast,” Cotton added. The unnatural howls got louder and she said, “Those things – whatever they are – are getting closer and I’m pretty sure none of us want to find out what they look like, especially if they made mincemeat of our other people earlier!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Scootaloo said, slinging her rifle around her shoulder, then scooping up Bloom as if it were nothing. “You just make it back, okay?”

“You’re buying the brews,” Lightning Flare, one of Cotton’s gunners, snarked.

“Yeah, and I drink a lot!” Plum Star, one of Build Up’s, added. “See you two back at HQ!”

“Don’t need to tell us twice!” Gingerly moving so that she wouldn’t aggravate Bloom’s injuries further, the two beat a hasty retreat away from the area.

“Well, we don’t have the dead weight to worry about anymore, folks,” Cotton ordered, “so we don’t have to be nice! Cut those sons of bitches down!” She and her patrol immediately fired as one, filling the space in between the two groups with gunfire. The Octos gave as good as they got, forcing the humans into cover. Tracers and plasma beams filled the air and the stench like burnt hair filled the immediate surroundings. Though the Resistance took down several Octos, Plum Star and Rainbow Writer died immediately, with the former taking a laser blast almost literally right between his eyes and the latter having part of her head blown off by the Octo’s heavy beam.

The keening noise grew louder, now accompanied by weird-sounding snarls. “Cotton, we need to get the fuck out of here!” Build Up told her. “They should hopefully be far enough that we can do a staggered retreat and lead them away in the opposite direction, towards 45^th and Grassglen.”

“No shit!” she shouted back as a beam sizzled its way past her arm. “Okay, we’re getting out of here while we still can! Grab the lost weapons and rig Plum and Rainbow’s bodies – we’re not going to let them be used for whatever sick shit the Octos do with our dead!” While Build Up his troops out of the area, she set the charges on her fallen, fighting back the tears – Rain had been her best friend since high school and to see her go like this ripped Cotton’s heart out, but she couldn’t give up now.

She took her dead friend’s hand in hers as she set the charge in the other one. “Guess I’m the one naming my daughter after you, Rains,” she said softly. “Can’t cry now – I’ll do it when I’m safe.”

“Cotton, we gotta go,” Equinox Voyage, another one of her guys said.

“Yeah, I know.” Setting the timer on the charges for three minutes, the two of them grabbed Plum and Rainbow’s rifles and then beat an orderly retreat down the street, scooting behind safety and returning fire as quick as they could. Thankfully humans moved much faster than the Octos did, so they wouldn’t be able to keep up easily, and as long as they were lucky and didn’t sustain any more injuries, they would live to see the next day.

In the distance, she heard gunfire, likely from Build Up’s group. Chances were, he ran into a group of Octos trying to flank them, but the gunfire stopped quickly, and with no sounds of plasma weapons going off, it sounded as though he’d gotten the drop on them and they were free and clear. Additionally, she noted the Octos giving them chase were now backing off, which meant for the moment that they had succeeded.

“Okay, looks like we’re in the clear,” Cotton told her people. “Let’s hustle it up and get back to base!”

“Yeah, I can practically taste them brews!” one of her guys said.

“Yeah,” she said limply. She continued to force Rainbow’s death out of her mind. When she made it to safety, only then could she cry her heart out and properly mourn her friend. But for now, Button had put her in charge of her patrol, and it was her duty to make sure that that they made it to safety.

Breaking into a jog, she turned the corner onto Grasglen Boulevard…

…and became witness to an abattoir, as unnatural beasts howled and rushed towards them, teeth and sinews on full display.

---

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
202307SJUL30:

She couldn’t sleep. Chrysalis got out of bed, leaving Shining behind in it. They’d went to bed early, opting to skip out on the pre-deployment celebrations so they could spend time together as a couple before things got professional again. That seemed like it happened all the more nowadays, and that there was precious little time they spent together as lovers and too much time as colleagues.

Her hands traveled down her toned belly, wondering what it would be like if she’d been pregnant. She hadn’t told Shining yet, but she was the kind of girl who wanted lots and lots of kids. She was, admittedly, an only child, but that was more because her mother’s illness prevented her from having any more children; her mother had plenty of siblings, as did her mother, and her mother before that.

Chrysalis chuckled silently, remembering that her father, a tenured entomologist at Badlands University, had once joked that the women in Chrysalis’ maternal family “bred like insects”, and that was hard to argue. She herself wanted lots of kids with Shining; maybe not the nineteen and counting that family on TV years ago had (even she had to admit that was going too far), but the proverbial “baseball team’s worth” sounded fine by her.

But the future could jeopardize that. What if they were to arrive in Canterlot to find that Shining’s wife had somehow survived? He was technically still married; he had never had her legally declared deceased because the legal mechanisms to do so just simply didn’t exist. In a desperate attempt to survive, no one simply worried whether anyone was truly still alive or not; for all intents and purposes, they either were, or they weren’t.

But even still, there was always the chance that she was; just a month ago Chrysalis had read a news article about a soldier whose wife was believed to have been killed during Decimation, but by a minor miracle, during the Boston debacle, she turned up alive…even though she’d ended up being one of the ones who started the riots. Fortunately, she’d been arrested rather than “pacified” by the Diamond Dogs, and though husband and wife united, she would have to sit in prison for her crimes while he continued fighting (President Sombra deciding to be “benevolent” and sentenced her to prison for the rest of the war instead of executing her for treason).

So it was possible that they could stroll onto the streets of downtown Canterlot, Cadance could run up and reunite with Shining…and Chrysalis would lose the man she loved more than anything. In many ways, that would hurt worse than if he’d died in battle.

Part of her wanted to go find a doctor, have him yank out her IUD, then for her to run back and climb back on top of Shining until she got a bun in her oven…but she knew that was just stupid. She was a professional, and they’d agreed to wait on children until after they married, which neither had really rushed plans for. A wedding just seemed like a frivolous thing at the moment, and given that they’d been together for a couple of years now, she partially felt married to him as is.

And like all wives in love, she worried that she would lose him. Not to war, but to his actual wife.

Silently, she went back to bed and crawled back in, snuggling next to him and feeling the warmth of his body and the strength of his muscles as she tried to go back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would bring her worst fear, but for now, at least, she had him.

For now, at least, she would never let him go.

---

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
202047TJUL30:

“How’s she doing, Healthy?” Sweetie Belle asked Healthy Life, the current doctor on duty. Mostly self-taught, Healthy had been working on her pre-med studies when Decimation had occurred. Given that only a handful of people had survived with any sort of medical training, by virtue of her classes Healthy had become the de facto chief medical officer – and even she had to admit she was well in over her head.

Healthy gestured to one of the medical beds and on it, Apple Bloom, hooked up to an IV and mercifully asleep. “It was very close. A little more to the right and the shrapnel would’ve severed an artery and we’d have lost her. As it is, it’s going to take a while for her to heal, so she’s off the combat roster until further notice.”

“You mean permanently,” Sweetie told her. “When my husband hears about this, he’s going to insist that she come off for good. She’s our top engineer and technical guru – we can’t afford to lose her.” She sighed. “I know she’s going to hate that, but that’s not my call to make.”

“Well, to be honest, it’s not her I’m worried about. I’m more worried about Cotton. She was the only one who survived whatever the hell hit them, she’s severely injured to the point that she’s going to be permanently scarred, and I don’t mean just physically. I’m not a psychiatrist, but whatever the hell it was that she saw…it’s snapped her mind.”

“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, Healthy, just let me know.”

“Yeah, but I suspect you can’t exactly conjure up miracles on a whim, can you?”

“No,” Sweetie said, recalling a girl – several girls – who once could…and the end of that at her own hands. “No, I can’t.”

---

Meanwhile, back at their apartment, Button looked over some computers, with Zeus, several patrol leaders and Scootaloo standing behind him. “We lost two patrol teams,” he growled. “I want to know what the fuck hit us that hard.”

“Well, fortunately, that was in a part of town that CPD and the CSP had covered with closed-circuit cameras, due to the proximity to the state capitol,” Tech Type, seated at one of the laptops, said. “My team checked them last month and they were still working, so we had them recording on a loop, feeding data to the mainframes at the capitol building. So with any luck, we should have a recording of whatever this new threat is.”

“Not sure of what would be worse,” Scootaloo said, folding her arms. “A new type of alien or if they had some sort of special warfare soldiers.”

“You saw the bodies of our dead,” Button told her. “Whatever it was that killed them, it wasn’t anything less than an animal. Say what you will about the Goddamn Octos, but even they don’t act like wild animals.”

“I know. That’s what scares me, Button.”

“Okay, looks like the cameras picked up something,” Tech said to the group. “Let me bring up the footage and…what the fuck?”

Onscreen, grainy timestamped video showed the fight between their forces and the new assailants…and what they saw horrified them. The creatures acted like animals, ripping off arms, tearing out throats and assaulting the militia without a care for their lives. Even though gunfire tore apart the new creatures easily, there were simply too many of them as they appeared through rips created by the Octos. Both patrol teams were eventually overwhelmed by the beasts. Eventually it devolved into an orgy of blood, with the beasts feeding on their dead, slaking their hunger before eventually following a signal sent by the Octos, heading uniformly towards a rip just as much as if they had been trained to follow a dog whistle.

After several minutes, slowly, painfully, Cotton started to move, crawling down the street covered in blood and leaving a severed leg behind. The people watched the lone survivor painfully crawl out of camera view before Tech Type turned off the camera, then ran for the nearest window in order to throw up.

“What the fuck was that?” a voice said.

“See if you can bring up a better image on those…things,” Zeus said, his blue eyes taking on a hard cast.

“Yeah,” Button agreed, looking at the computer. “Tech, are you up to it?”

“No,” she said, wiping her mouth and feeling the tang of bile in her throat still, “but we lost good people from those…things. We need to know how to stop them.” She sat back down at the computer and brought up the footage again, this time focusing on the creatures.

“Can we clear that up?” Zeus asked.

“Yeah, let me see what I can do. We are talking technology that’s nearly a decade old, after all.” She fiddled around with the settings a bit, ran it through some filters and police-grade equipment until she got the computer systems to give her a composite. Pointing to another screen, she said, “From what the system can identify, that thing is the leader – the alpha, if you will.”

On the second screen was a nightmarish figure that looked quadrupedal…but quadrupedal was a relative term. If anything, it looked like a severely deformed human that was made to walk on its knuckles, like an ape. The face was small, scrunched and reminiscent of a rat; the ears were pointed and enlarged on the side of a head that barely had a neck and almost seemed to merge directly into the body. The hands were large and splayed, while the feet were small and flat, with the toes apparently having merged together. The creature wore no clothing and was biologically like a human woman; even if technically nude not a single one of the guys felt anything less than revulsion.

Lastly two more features stood out: the creature had avocado-green skin, as if a mockery of a human; however, she had long, ragged blue-and-lilac hair that draped down from top of her pointed, semi-cylindrical head. Similar tufts of hair adorned her forearms and shins, as well as her pubic hair. Lastly, receded orange eyes were sunken into the face, with the sclera not present and the pupil being a long bar, similar to that of a goat.

The group looked at the mockery of a human on the screen. “Did they…did they try to create their own humans in order to kill us off?” Scootaloo, horrified by the creature on screen, asked.

“I don’t know,” Zeus stated, “but I hope to God we don’t find out.”

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[Flynt Coal]

Spooky update on a spooky night!