I stood up quickly, my head still ringing from the blast. W-what happened!? There was the laser, the blast... I froze. My Stable. My breaths became more shallow. Shit. Shit shit shit shit. This can't be happening. I looked around quickly, spotting Twintails and forcing him to his hooves. He wobbled a bit, obviously disoriented from the blast, and gathered his bearings as I hitched Ivan to my back. "Wha-what’s going on!? We’re under attack?!" He said, his Pip-Buck picking up an emergency broadcast signal. I flared Greasy’s wings out, the metal blades sliding smoothly against each other as they spread. Twintails looked over to me as I bent my legs, preparing to take off. "Woah, hold it, Minty!" He lept for my tail, forcing me to stumble. "You saw what just happened! We can’t go barreling in there!"

"Well, I’m not staying here!" I said, ripping my tail from his hooves. If those striped-skin bastards want a fight, they’re going to bloody well get one! I spread my wings again, the fan on the back starting to whir louder as the flight talismans sparked to life. I started to run towards the edge of the hill, facing the mountainside where the figures were starting to walk towards the center of the blast zone. Leaping off the cliff, the talismans kicked in as I started to glide towards the small group. Twintails followed me closely, pulling out his grenade rifle and shooting myself a wary look. As we approached the group, a couple had already entered the rubble that used to be the Stable tunnel, the other two standing outside as guards. I prayed the door would delay them long enough for us to get to Cross Stitch... assuming there was still a door there.

We flew in closer, one of the figures jabbing his hoof into the other, before pointing to us. So much for a stealthy approach. They lifted their weapons up, taking aim and firing. A laser shot through the sky, singing my tail - fuck, when did Zebras get energy weaponry?! Twintails fired a shot, his grenade arcing through the air and landing above the figures, forcing them to jump away as some snow fell off the mountainside. I pulled the trigger on Ivan, the charged lightning releasing in a large bolt towards them. The bolt struck one of the Zebras as Twintails shot another grenade, it exploding near their feet, knocking them to their sides. One attempted to fire a few shots off, managing to sear one of Twintails’ hooves, the smell of burning rubber in the air. The blast had freed more snow though, and soon the zebras lost their footing as the snow beneath them fell down the side of the mountain, building into a small avalanche. It carried both figures off over the edge, the bastards becoming buried quite satisfyingly deeply in snow. We landed in the snow next to the broken pieces of wood that used to be the door to the Stable’s tunnel.

"Bastards... winged bastards..." Twintails looked over the edge of the mountain, spitting down into the crevass before appearing beside myself again. I ignored him for the moment, instead ducking under one of the rocks blocking the tunnel. He followed me, some light filtering into the partially collapsed tunnel through holes in the ceiling. "Minty?..." I paused for a moment. What if they were planning to attack again? I... I can’t bring Twintails into this. But, Cross Stitch, he’s still in there! As we started to dig, though, a small doubt crept in the back of my mind.

He’s not there. That blast surely destroyed everything.

No, no he’s still ok! I rushed forward again, Twintails running after me. We wove our way through the broken tunnel, quickly coming to the door. Faded sunlight shone through a large hole in the tunnel’s celing. The giant door was fallen on its side, still intact. A figure in power armor was standing in the doorway, levitating a plasma rifle in his green aura. There was a pony laying on his side, his purple mane and blue coat visible in the dusty air... a pit formed in my stomach. Levitating up Ivan, my horn sparked wildly as I overcharged the battery pack that powered it. "Don’t you FUCKING DARE!"

The power armored pony looked up only to be met with a face full of electrical discharge. He was knocked to the side by the blast, letting loose a scream of pure agony as his faceplate sheared away, exposing the scarred skin and bloodied eye beneath, Twintails pulling out his Luger. The bullets ricocheted off the armor, the pony standing up and looking down the sights of his plasma rifle. I let the Emerald Charge Pack clatter to the ground as I plugged in a new one, the aura around Ivan weakening a bit. Severely regretting not charging up before we left R&G, I fired off another bolt of energy towards the pony, which he managed to jump out of the way from, firing plasma towards us. One shot flew over our heads, the other searing my right cheek. Twintails shot off a few more bullets, one managing to break through the rubber knee joint of the armor. The pony stumbled, giving a soft grunt of pain - oh, you're kidding me, don't tell me that armor has painkillers in it! I fired Ivan again, hitting another one of the pony’s legs. The discharge caused him to fall to his side, dropping his rifle. Twintails grabbed the rifle from out of the dirt, pointing it at the pony.

I paused for a moment, breathing heavily, and looking down at the pony as he twitched in pain. I bent over him, looking for a catch on his helmet. Pushing a small button, a hiss resounded throughout the destroyed entrance chamber as air rushed out of the tubes. The damaged helmet grew loose, allowing me to pull it off of his head. Instead of a dirty striped skin though, I was met by a deep orange stallion... Twintails looked over to me, myself more than a little confused. I thought ponies were the good guys! Sitting the pony against the wall of the cavern, he grunted in pain from his damaged limbs. "Who are you?" I asked - demanded, more like it. The command echoed throughout the cavern, the stallion saying nothing in return, only glaring at me. I glared right back at him, pulling out my pistol and placing the pronged end firmly against his temple. "Twintails, go check on Cross." He was hesitant to leave me alone with the stallion, but he still walked back to Cross to check on him. I looked back to the pony. "Who are you?!" I asked again. He only glared at me more. I could feel my patience running out, quickly pulling the pistol from his head and jamming it into the knee joint Twintails had shot, firing a shot of pure plasma into his wounded leg. There was a certain satisfaction that fell over me as his wails of agony filled the enterance hall, hooves grasping at his leg before I slammed him against the hard rock again.

"Private Rays, platoon 37. We were sent to observe the attack." I put the pistol to his head once more, the pointy tip causing a stream of blood to start staining his orange coat. He had something to do with this, I just knew it. Rays looked up at the pistol, starting to draw in more shallow breaths, gritting his teeth tightly. "We heard about the attack and were sent here to investigate." He repeated. I felt hatred seething up. My Stable just got blown up and you did nothing to stop it!

"I saw you standing next to it when it happened. You knew it was coming." I slamed the butt of the pistol into his forehead, a rather satisfying crunch and scrape heard as his metal armor slid along the rocks, the bastard falling to his side. Everything was building up inside myself. My Stable, my home, my friends, everything. All because of a... a fucking weapons test. I found myself breathing slowly, trying to calm myself. Everypony was dead. I can’t go back. Pure fury building within, I stared at the stallion, his blood falling and staining my Stable's hallway. He only looked up at me, a blank expression on his beaten and scarred face. Two hundred ponies, and he just stood there, and fucking watched...

"You knew about this. You knew what was going to happen and you did NOTHING. You just destroyed my HOME!" I raised my augmented hoof up high above his head, the pony’s eyes growing wide before it connected with his jaw. He yelled out through his broken mouth as I felt the bone snap under my weight. Good. A swift, hard kick in the gut had the asshole coughing up blood. "You. Killed. Everypony." I felt his warm blood on my hoof as I stamped on his jaw again, the bone shattering even more. My mechanical leg whirred as it landed on his trachea, his already satisfyingly squelchy shouts of pain garbled by blood. He was crying underneath me. I wasn't finished. I leaned down, one of the blades of Greasy’s wings moving to just below his neck, the razor-sharp metal mere millimeters from still-pumping blood and other essential organs needed for life. He didn't deserve his. The stallion panted for a moment, spitting out a tooth, looking at me with his dampened, literally blood-stained eyes. There was a flash of bronze as the wing swiftly sliced through his exposed neck, allowing him to give another garbled whimper before finally collapsing on the ground. I stood up and turned around, flicking the blood from the wingblade and onto the cavern wall, Twintails running back to me.

"Cross Stitch is in bad shape, I don’t-" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell upon the dead body. "W-what the hell, Minty?!" He asked, looking horrified. I didn’t answer, instead walking back to Cross. He was cut up, his stomach beaten severely, barely moving. I leaned towards his head, listening intently. He was breathing, but it was ragged and shallow - not good. Lifting him onto my back with my magic, Twintails helped to adjust him around to rest better. "M-Minty, what’s going on?" I started to trot back through the tunnel, Cross’s hooves jostling around.

"We need to get Cross to a hospital. Now." I said simply, stepping out into the dull sunlight. I walked down the hill, Twintails looking concerned. Before he could speak again, I spoke up. "Those ponies weren’t here to investigate, they’re working with Zebras." His eyes went wide as we passed the pile of snow the other power-clad ponies were under.

He paused for a moment as we followed the road, starting to pick up the pace. The stallion draped across my back wheezed - come on, you're going to be fine, Cross. "How do you know?" He asked, looking a little confused. I looked over at him, a little aghast. "W-well, it may have been somepony else! Zebras usually don’t use energy weapons... do they?" I only kept walking, the cold air burning my nose a bit as I breathed more heavily.

I pulled out a health potion and a couple energy cells, flipping my hair back and plugging one of the cells into my temple. Feeling my magic recharge slightly, I lifted the other cell and potion up to Cross Stitch. I plugged the cell into his own temple port and slipped the tip of the bottle into his mouth, keeping him levitated up on my back so as it didn't outright choke him to death. Come on, drink dammit! A few drops managed to slip down his throat, but most of it dribbled out the sides of his mouth. I corked the bottle and unplugged the cell, dropping them all back into my saddlebags. "They easily could’ve been spies."

Twintails still didn’t look convinced. "Well, how did they, uh, did they... oh, nevermind. M-maybe there’s something on the radio about it." He stopped halfway through, starting to twiddle the dials on his Pip-Buck. He turned to Hi-Fi’s channel, her voice crackling in. She sounded visibly distressed, the sound of hooves running back and forth echoing behind her.

"-urtle here, this is an emergency! Equestria is under attack, repeat, Equestria is under attack! The mountain outside of Emerald Ridge has been hit by some form of kinetic bombardment weapon, near Stable 76’s area. We advise ponies to seek out any form of bunker available to them." She paused for a moment and muffled conversation was heard, Tom’s voice cutting through here and there. "Y-yes, thanks, Tom." She breathed in and out, trying to relax. "A reminder, Stable 34 is uninhabitable due to radiation and, while we haven’t heard anything from the area, we don’t recommend Stable 76. Again, Equestria is under attack, find shelter immediately! We’ll come back on when the situation is considered safe again. Stay safe, and keep listening." There was a few seconds of silence before the robotic voice of the automated message returned.

Twintails flipped the radio off while we crunched through the snow, trotting into the outskirts of Emerald Ridge. "Kinetic bombardment... who in the name of the goddesses above could have access to that kind of weaponry?" I looked back at Cross again. Good, he’s still breathing. We just need to keep going. There was a loud buzzing of wings from around the corner of a nearby building, prompting myself to lift out my pistol, Twintails likewise drawing his Luger. A couple bloatflies flew around, one melting into plasma, the other exploding into a mess of flesh as Twintails and I fired. Cross Stitch groaned at the sound of the weapons discharging. We continued on, Twintails checking over his shoulder that we weren’t being followed.

I looked up at the sky nervously. The clouds above had never been a pleasing image, but now... knowing something could strike down from them anytime, that was downright mortifying. I looked back at Cross again, feeling the shallow rising and falling of his chest against my neck. We’re almost there Cross... we’re almost there.

---

The doors in the Mooscow outer walls soon appeared, dirty snow blowing in the wind. Thank Celestia! I sped up, panting in the frozen air, and trying the door - it was locked. No. No, no not now! I banged on the door. "Hey! Bloodbeak! Let us in, now!" I was about to kick down the door when there was a click. The door burst open, Bloodbeak holding up a submachine gun with a drum clip in her claws. "Calm down! It’s us!" I said. Bloodbeak lowered her gun, looking relieved.

"Don’t you two do that to me! The whole town’s going crazy because of that attack, I don’t need fuckin' raiders bursting in here too." She let us in, locking the doors back up. She noticed Cross lain across my back. "Who’s that?" She asked, slinging her weapon across her back on a strap.

I stopped, trying to build up the courage to say something. “The attack... S-stable s-seventy six.” I gulped, starting to feel tears welling up. Twintails put a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up at him, seeing he was very uneasy. No one said anything for a moment, our breath clouding in the air.

"Go get Cross to the hospital. I’ll fill in Bloodbeak and see if I can contact Hi-Fi. Maybe she and Tom would be willing to house some ponies in her Stable." I nodded and turned down the street. Nopony was wandering the streets, all probably hiding in their basements. Come on, where’s the hospital? I looked back at Cross yet again. Still breathing. Where’s the hospital? I turned a corner, spotting a building with a large red cross hanging from a sign post, acrylic writing hanging from a sign beneath it. I rushed towards it, bursting in.

The hospital waiting room was full of ponies, all looking worried, some barely able to keep in their seats. I ran up to the receptionist. "I need to see a doctor, now!" The receptionist looked exasperated, scribbling on a clipboard. She spat the pen out of her mouth and looked up at me. Her expression seemed to brighten in a bit of shock as she saw Cross across my back, spotting the dried blood running down his face. She stood up and motioned for me to follow as she walked through the hallway behind her.

"You’re both lucky a lot of these townsfolk are just here to see their families. Everyone’s downright convinced another strike’s going to come down any second." She said quickly. "Here, this room’s empty." She pushed open a decrepit door, revealing a room with nothing but a bed and small table resting next to it. "Lay him on the bed, I’ll get a doctor." She rushed down the hall as I rolled Cross off my back, taking care not to cut him on my wings. Carefully resting him flat on the bed, I pulled the thin blanket up over his almost-still body.

I looked down at him, watching his chest barely move. "You’re going to be okay, Cross Stitch..." I sniffed as I said it, trying to convince myself, leaning forwards and gently kissing his bloodstained forehead. "P-please..." Tears were starting to fall down my cheek as I sat on the floor, never taking my eyes off of his face. He didn’t move. "You’re going to be okay..."

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