Both Eyes
Sometime before the execution of Littlepip's plan at Maripony...
Breath.
Darkness.
Breath!
Flash!
Shoot.
Shoot!
The sounds of battle are so loud! So, so loud!
The muzzle flash illuminates the shape of a monster. There! Above! SHOOT IT!
But the shots go wide, and in an eternity that lasts only a second, the monster is upon the slaver with claws and teeth, impossibly sharp. In the next moment he is dying. Then his whole world is on fire. Quite literally. Another of the slavers in Red-Eye's employ, an orange unicorn mare with a patchwork yellow mane and tail, wastes no time dousing both the hellhound and the pinned slaver in flaming liquid, unable to save her trapped comrade, and unwilling to wait for the hellhound to turn its attention on her.
Before the flamethrower-equipped slaver even stems the flow, a rifle round from somewhere in the black of night ignites the tank, and she too, goes up in flames.
Sideline, another slaver, standing only meters away from this horrible sight, turned tail and raced farther inside the backwater slaver station-turned-nightmare. All too soon he heard the none too subtle sound of another hellhound charging towards him and wished desperately that it really was a nightmare. Something he could wake up from. Something he could live through.
Sideline turned to bring his weapon to bare, but his big battle saddle wasn't even going to get turned around in time to line up a shot, much less stop the onrushing beast. He begins to fire anyway. It was all over now. Or it would have been.
A grenade of some kind whizzed by the the hellhound's head, giving it a moment of pause. A moment in which a second explosive found its mark and stopped the hellhound in its tracks. Permanently.
The shock, alone, was enough to cause Sideline to collapse into a sitting position. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, but he could only sit there and shakily turn his head in the direction of his momentary savior. Another earth pony sat in a shallow ditch not too far from his position, cradling some kind of launcher that looked like it normally attached to a rather heavy-duty battle saddle. Sideline attempted to pull himself together as best he could and crouched low as he makes his way to the somewhat less exposed position.
"Th-thanks," breathes Sideline. It's about as much as he can manage.
The other earth pony regarded him with blank, distant eyes, and then turned his head forward again.
Somewhere closer to the center of the compound, a deadly, fixed-position machine gun started to fire. That was where everypony with any sense left in them would be gathering. The concrete walls and floor of the central building, the one that held most of the slave cages, would provide at least some protection from the rampaging savages hell-bent on killing them all. It was certainly better than the ditch he was in right now. That said, Sideline had nowhere near sufficient courage to break cover. It would surely be suicide.
Sideline tried again to get the other slaver's attention, louder this time by necessity. "Do you know if we have any griffon mercs coming? Any support from the air? We can't fight these things like this!" The other earth pony turned his head to face him again, but still said nothing. This time however, he raised one foreleg and pointed towards the forever-clouded sky. Sideline looked up as well.
As if on cue, massive flood lights switched on in the night sky, illuminating the ground as though it were day. A massive metal... thing, sheathed in storm clouds, slowly drifted through the sky. It made no noise that could be heard over the madness on the ground. The comparative silence with which it moved is disconcerting and eerie.
Safely above the chaos and slaughter, a dusk blue pegasus in a stately gray military dress uniform looked on, clinically observing the behavior of both the slavers and the hellhounds. A haunting aria could be heard from a nearby record player. In mournful tones it told of the glory and horror of war. From behind him came the sound of hoof steps.
"So then, Councilor Harbinger, I imagine you have a good reason from taking me away from my... duties," said the officer, with a hint of impatience kept in check by protocol.
"Your strings group can wait, Colonel Autumn Leaf. Come, hover here a moment, watch the brutality that is the everyday of the Wasteland."
"I know all about the Wasteland, Councilor. I am not a foal, I am a soldier. I have lead a number of surface reconnaissance mission, personally. And besides, I've seen all our latest reports on Red-Eye about a hundred t-"
"You've seen nothing! Dissecting a dead hellhound in a lab is one thing. Unleashing them on ponykind is another.
"Taking the fight to Red-Eye will not be easy. Our military is superior in every way to his band of rabble, yet underestimating him, or for that matter, the Wasteland, would be a foolish mistake. The Wasteland takes. Whatever is wrested from it is not easily kept. The surface will treat us no different"
"You must go into this with both eyes open."
"There will be no second chances, no stopping, no turning back the clock. Are you prepared to see this campaign through, Autumn Leaf?"
At this the Councilor paused, and gave him a hard look, one that demanded the Colonel think before giving his response. In truth, Councilor Harbinger himself did not think the outcome of the campaign in the weeks to come was actually uncertain. In the end, Enclave training, technology, and discipline would carry the day over whatever opposition they faced. Once an alliance with the alicorns of the Wasteland was secured, victory would be all the more certain.
Be that as it may, the High Council wanted to make sure that this attitude was not picked up by the officers that would be overseeing the inevitable engagements to come. The soldiers of the Enclave would give their lives in battle, as was expected, but there was no reason to increase the cost in blood simply because of overconfidence.
"Yes. Yes, I am prepared to see this through to the very end, my good Councilor."
"Good, good. I am sure the Enclave can rely on you when the time comes."
A brief crackle could be heard as the bridge contacted the observation deck.
"Councilor, this settlement is about to be overrun by the hellhounds... Shall we intervene?"
"Take us above the clouds, Mr. Big Sky, we've seen enough."
As the aria neared its crescendo, the Raptor brought full power to its engines and propelled itself towards the ever present cloud cover. Then it was gone.
The slaves and slavers, alike, were once again alone as the hellhounds overwhelmed their encampment.
Down on the ground, Sideline could only watch as the mighty war machine abandoned them to their fate, a strangely calm, almost wistful expression upon his face. Perhaps he was cracking up, too.
Beside him, the other earth pony continued to look straight at the wall of the ditch they were in, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. His only movement was a slight rocking motion, back and forth on his haunches. Their only source of light was from a few gas lanterns hanging around the compound and, of course, the flash of gunfire.
Below, unbeknownst to Sideline, tunneling through the earth towards them, were more hellhounds.