John’s heart fell.

Curled up in a corner, underneath the bed, was a sky blue, Pegasus colt with a black mane and tail. From the puffy, red eyes and overall terrified expression, John could tell that the colt had been crying.

It was bad enough that two more ponies had lost their lives, but now add a foal into the mix…

The distant sounds of growling and yelling brought John back into reality. He had a job to do, and it was too dangerous for the colt to stay here.

Slowly, John reached under the bed toward the foal, who tried backing up further into the corner he was hiding in.

“It’s alright little guy, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to take you somewhere safe.”

The colt looked at John with fearful eyes, so John pulled his arm out.

“The Manticore is gone. You can come out now.”

The colt slowly crawled out from under the bed as John picked up his rifle and slung it across his shoulders. Trembling, the colt looked up at John with wide eyes. "*sniff* W-who a-a-re y-you?"

John softened his expression as much as he could. "My name is John, and I'm with the Royal Guard. What's your name?" At the mention of the guard, the colt seemed to perk up a little.

"M-my name is C-cloudburst. *sniff* It's n-nice to meet y-you."

CRASH

John snapped his head up at the sound of a trash can falling over down the street. "Alright, Cloudburst, I'm going to get you out of here, but in order to do that, I'll have to pick you up. Ok?"

The colt slowly nodded his head. John shifted his rifle around so that it was slung across his back, then picked up the colt, who wrapped his forelegs around John's neck.

“W-where are we *sniff* g-going?”

John stood up and drew his sidearm. “We’re going to the guard station,” Now comes the awkward part… “but, I’m going to need your help, because I’m a little lost and I don’t know how to get back from here.”

This drew a small giggle from Cloudburst, but the foal nodded.

John cautiously made his way back through the house, making sure to take a route that avoided the bodies so the colt wouldn't see them. Glancing down the street to verify the coast was clear, he stepped out into the darkness and started walking in the direction of the guard station, with some help from the small colt.

However, he was unaware of the two large eyes watching him from the shadows.

“Oh, thank Celestia!” As John approached the guard station, he was greeted by a frantic looking Lightning Flash. "I was looking everywhere for you."

John rolled his eyes. "Yeah, ok. Where's Star, and what's the situation here?"

"He's fine, a little winded, but fine. The Manticore stopped chasing us a few minutes after you peeled off. I tried to keep an eye on it, but it lost me in some alleyways." The duo started walking toward the station. "So far, we've got most of the mares, foals, and wounded inside. The rest are being evacuated to Sweet Apple Acres, but a few stallions volunteered to stay and help."

John sighed. The orchard was out past the outskirts of the town, so there wasn't any chance of running into a Manticore out there.

"Good, but there's one small snag that I've encountered..." John nodded to the colt in his arms, who was starting to nod off. "Is there anywhere I can put him?"

Lightning thought for a moment. "Well, we've packed the place pretty tight, but I told them to keep your bed and the area around it clear, in case you needed to get anything."

"That'll work for now." As they neared the station, John noticed a multitude of guards and civilians standing guard around the perimeter of the building. From where he was standing, he thought he saw Big Mac, but it was dark and he wasn't sure.

When the door opened, they were met by a veritable sea of ponies, mostly mares and foals. As the two entered the building, the occupants slowly took notice of them and began clearing a path.

John couldn't help but look at all the faces. There was a multitude of emotions woven about the room. Sadness, anger, anxiousness, worry, awe, and an overwhelming amount of fear. However, there was one emotion that caused him to pause.

Every single face that looked at him, standing in the middle of the room holding a sleeping colt, whether it be crying, pouting, unbelieving, or fuming, had a glimmer of hope.

A hope that the attacks would end. That the sun would rise soon and end this dreadful night. That the pain and suffering would cease.

A hope that the human in front of them would pull through, and save them.

With renewed determination, John made his way up the stairs to the sleeping quarters. Quietly pushing the door open, he saw that the majority of the room was filled, with the exception being around his bed. Like before, all the ponies moved to make a path for him as he strode to his bed, gently laying the colt down and covering him with the blankets. Moving to the end of the bed, he opened the chest and pulled out the ammo can.

As quietly as he could, John began to refill all of his magazines again, many of the ponies curiously watching him as he did so.

The sound of hooves alerted him to the presence of another pony, but John paid it no mind. He had a job to do, and he'd be damned if he let any more harm come to these ponies.

"What do we do now, sir?"

He glanced up from his work, seeing Lightning and Star standing beside him.

"....... Whatever we have to..."

"I greatly appreciate your help, with it, we'll be able to hold out until reinforcements get here."

John stood in front of the building, addressing all of the volunteers that stayed behind to help.

"And when they do get here, you can be damn sure that we'll catch those flea-bitten Manticore sons-of-bitches and kick their asses into orbit!" He thought he heard a 'HOO-AH!' (or something similar) from one of the guards a few meters away, but he wasn't paying attention to it. "Now, you all know the drill, report any movement, whatsoever, and stay with the guard I've assigned you to and follow his orders. Do NOT wander off. Understood?" A myriad of 'Yes sir's and nodding heads were directed at him. "Outstanding. You're dismissed."

John reached down to pick up his helmet, and noticed Lieutenant Crimson walking up to him. On impulse, he had grabbed his flight helmet from his chest before leaving the sleeping quarters. It wasn't exactly designed for ground combat, but it would protect his head a lot better than anything else he had.

"You're quite the speaker. And I pray to Celestia you're right."

"About what?" John cocked an eyebrow.

"Holding out. If the reinforcements don't get here soon, we might lose the town."

John didn't like the sound of that. "Why's that?"

The stallion let out a sigh. "You did some damn fine work in the market district. Saved my guards, killed a Manticore, and got that fire put out. However, of the fifteen guards originally stationed here, and eleven from the crash site, only thirteen are left, and only six of those, including you and me, are uninjured."

John cursed under his breath. He knew it was bad, but he didn't think it was this bad.

"With those numbers, there's no way we can take back this town. To make matters worse, Lightning has informed me that two more fires have started. He also saw a Manticore remodeling the library, so good thinking getting the Elements out of there."

Another curse. If these Manticores weren't dealt with soon, the town would be a big pile of rubble and ash come morning.

John snapped his head around as he heard a yell (not unlike a Wilhelm) come from the other side of the building.

"CONTACT REAR!"

John slammed his helmet onto his head and began running, muttering profanities the entire time. He reached the far corner of the building, closely followed by half the ponies that had been on his side of the building. John steeled himself and turned the corner...

Only to get bitch slapped by a very large and pissed off Manticore.

His world was a mixture of dizziness, pain, and 'What-the-Fuck-Just-Happened?'. Unfortunately, his mind didn't magically clear when his face broke his fall.... twenty feet away.

It took John a few moments to recover, but once he did, his blood ran cold.

Ponies were flying everywhere. Some broken and bloody, others just trying to avoid their brethren-turned-projectiles.

He was about to raise his rifle and start unloading on the rampaging beast, but another frantic cry was heard...

"CONTACT FRONT!"

John's rifle almost fell from his grasp as he scrambled to get up. He needed to get to the front of the building. He would NOT allow that THING to get inside the station. He started running, and he was almost to the front of the building, but that was when he saw movement in his peripheral vision.

When he turned his head, he did not like what he saw...

Which was a charging Manticore, ready to turn him into paste.

THWAANG-WHUMP!

John almost had a heart attack when a Javelin came out of nowhere and impaled one of the Manticore's legs, causing it to fall and roar in pain.

Overcoming the initial shock, John rushed around the corner, sighted on the second Manticore, and began firing.

*BABABABABABABABANG!* *BANG!* *BABABABABABABABABABABANG!*

vvvvVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOOOOMMMMMMmmmm

Dafuq?

John looked up, only to see a massive.... thing... zoom overhead. It looked like someone had taken a medieval-era ship, chopped off the masts and sails, and replaced them with a massive balloon. On each side, there were at least three large ballistae, and the entire vessel was armored.

A series of muffled 'Whump's brought John's attention back to the ground.

Standing in front of him were a multitude of dark grey pegasi, wearing varying shades of dark purple plate armor, and armed with to the teeth. They all carried either a spear or halberd, had some type of sword across their backs, and razor sharp talons protruding from their front hoofguards.

John couldn’t help but watch in admiration as they began to converge on the Manticore. With reflexes almost too fast for him to follow, they dodged every single swipe or attack from the beast, all the while stabbing away with their weapons.

“HEADS DOWN! CLEAR OUT!”

Almost as soon as the order was finished, the ponies dove out of the way and hit the deck. John saw a pegasus, or at least he thought that’s what it was, swoop by on silent wings with a massive two-handed claymore.

SHHHHIIIIIIIINNNKKK

A second later, the Manticore’s head fell from its shoulders, and landed on the ground with a plop.

John then realized that he had been holding his breath, and exhaled explosively. He was about to go greet the new arrivals when he felt something strong grab hold of one of his legs. Wheeling around with a yelp, he cane face to face (or face to large-pointy-teeth) with the first Manticore, the one that had been struck by the javelin. Apparently, during the short battle after getting hit, the beast had crawled up behind him while he was watching, and was now about to take a bite out of him.

With a curse loud enough to wake the dead (and turn the heads of the ponies behind him), John began firing wildly at point blank, right into the Manticore’s open mouth.

Unfortunately for the Manticore, the inside of its mouth wasn’t as bulletproof as the outside.

With a loud thud, the Manticore fell face-first into the dirt, with the roof of its mouth looking like swiss cheese and a brain that probably resembled scrambled eggs. None of the rounds were able to punch through the thick skull though, so the exterior looked normal.

Heart racing, John extricated himself from the Manticore’s now-limp grasp, hands shaking from the adrenaline and shock. He didn’t even hear the zeppelin-thing land, or see two ponies walk up to him.

“Well, Lieutenant, I guess we can skip the evaluations.”

“Huh?” John turned and noticed a white unicorn, followed by a dark blue one, examining the Manticore. Both were wearing armor, but the white one’s armor was light purple, trimmed with gold…. Wait a second… the only pony that wears armor like that is…

“Whoa shit!” John stood as straight as an arrow and smashed his hand against the brim of his helmet in a salute. “I’m sorry Captain, I didn’t realize it was you.” He then stood straighter when it clicked in his mind that the other dark blue pony was Princess Luna.

“At ease, Lieutenant. What’s the situation here? Is everything under control?”

John glanced up and surveyed the area. Both Manticores were dead, the majority of the guards and volunteers were injured, but they all seemed to be alive. Smoke could just barely be seen against the night sky, and the muffled sounds of crying ponies came from inside the guard station.

The fight was over, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

“Honestly, sir, the situation is far from being under control. The majority of our forces are wounded, some critically, and they need medical attention ASAP. Most of the refugees have been evacuated to Sweet Apple Acres, but there are still some inside the station. As far as a casualty count is concerned, I have absolutely no idea.”

Shining Armor frowned. “That is grave news indeed. What about that fire in the markets?”

John’s stomach dropped, and he sprung into action. He had forgotten about the fires. “Dammit! The fires in the marketplace have been extinguished, but two more have sprung up elsewhere, but I don’t know where. LIGHTNING! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!”

Immediately, the Pegasus flew over and landed next to him, but kept one of his hind legs raised off the ground. John noticed a trail of blood flowing down the limb.

“The Lieutenant said you saw two fires. Where were they?”

“Uh, one was in the commercial district, the other in residential. I told the fire ponies about them, so I’m assuming they’re trying to put them out now. That was a while ago, though, and I haven’t seen or heard from them since."

That wasn't good. "Shit. I hope they're just busy, and nothing's happened to them." John turned to Shining and the Princess. "If you can spare it, I need a few runners."

Shining nodded. "What do you need?"

"First, I need someone to find out what happened to the fire department, and where they are. It's dark, so the fires should be pretty visible. Second, we need more medical staff here. There are too many wounded and not enough doctors. Third, if you can spare some men to help with the fires, and cleanup afterwards, it would be much appreciated."

"Alright, we've got twenty knights with us, so I'll leave five to help out here, I'll send one to the hospital, one to find the fire ponies, eight will come help with the fires, and the rest will be on patrol. Sound good?"

John smiled for the first time that night. It wasn't a big one, but it was still a smile. "Sounds great, sir."

The orders were more or less shouted out moments later, and within a minute, all the knights were either busy with their assigned tasks, or busy preparing for it. Not a single soul was standing around.

John was confused by one thing though, and he turned to Shining Armor. "Sir, if I may ask, what's a knight?"

The Captain smirked. The Lunar Knights, or Knights for short, are Princess Luna's personal guard. However, she doesn't exactly use them as such."

This confused John even more. "What, then, are they used for?"

Shining thought for a moment. "Remember when Princess Celestia told you that the royal guard mainly keeps the peace, and that we don't have a military?"

John remembered that night in the hospital as if it happened the night before. "Yeah, why?"

"Well think of the knights as our, what did you call them, Special Forces? They're all bat ponies from the far east. They have exceptional hearing and reflexes, and can see perfectly in pitch black darkness. So, the Princess has put them through additional combat training, as well as more in-depth tactical, survival, and medical training."

"Wow." John was stunned. "So the Princess pulled out all the stops."

"Oh, you have no idea, Lieutenant."

John continued checking his gear. After getting tossed like a ragdoll by the Manticore, he wanted to make sure that nothing was broken. He was in the middle of field stripping his pistol when one of the knights returned.

"Captain Armor."

Shining looked up from the report that Lieutenant Crimson had given him. "Yes?"

"I have located the fire ponies. They are currently fighting the fire in the commercial district. No casualties reported, although one was knocked unconscious by a falling timber. The fire has been brought under control and should be extinguished within the hour. However, the residential fire is currently unattended. I did see the local REC detachment headed toward the blaze, but they do not have the proper equipment to handle it."

Shining folded up the report and stuffed it into his armor as John reassembled his pistol, determining that it was still in working order. "Alright, mount up. We can handle it."

"Sir!" The knight saluted, then ran over and boarded the airship.

"Mind if I tag along, sir?" John asked as he holstered his pistol.

Shining Armor nodded. "I'm sure another set of hooves couldn't hurt."

John was seated on one of the benches in the belly of the airship. The inside was full of racks of weapons and armor, as well as an assortment of firefighting equipment. At the prospect of possibly having to help the local fire department, the airship had been outfitted and stocked with the necessary gear and equipment.

At the moment, John watched as the knights donned what looked like the pony equivalent of turnout gear. All John did was unsling his rifle, take off his vest, and unclip his sidearm from around his waist. The thought of entering a burning building with live ammunition strapped to his person wasn't a very good one.

"30 SECONDS!"

John stood and made his way to the open door in the side of the hull as the knights put on what looked like modified gas masks.

He felt the vessel begin to descend, and it wasn't long before it landed in a small clearing about a hundred yards away from the burning building.

The first thing John noticed was that the building wasn't small... and it was almost completely engulfed in flames. It was a rather large, two story building, that resembled something like a hotel. As he, and the rest of the ponies grew closer, he could see a rather large group of ponies standing outside the building, many of which he recognized as members of the REC that were helping with his aircraft.

He jogged ahead of the group to see what he could find out, when he spotted a familiar face.

"Hey Ratchet!"

"Ah, it's good to see you Lieutenant, we need your help somethin' fierce."

That didn't sound good. "What's wrong, other than a building on fire?"

The stallion gestured at the group of ponies behind them. "Most of them got out in time, but when the Caretaker took roll call, one was missing."

John looked at the group of ponies. Other than the REC ponies and an older looking mare, the rest of the group was entirely made up of fillies and colts of varying ages. Children.

"Ratchet... What is this place?"

"It's an orphanage."

John coughed and wheezed as he made his way down the burning hallway, narrowly avoiding a falling beam.

Moments before, John had asked the Caretaker where the missing foal was, to which she responded room number 230. Second floor, fifteenth door on the right. All the way at the end of the hallway. A hallway that was now almost completely engulfed in flames.

Saying it was hot would be putting it lightly. The only reason John hadn't caught fire yet was because he had jumped into the small fountain outside the front door, soaking himself. He knew it wouldn't last though, as the water had almost evaporated and the fabric of his clothes was starting to become charred.

He couldn't stop though. He wouldn't.

Finally reaching the end of the hallway, John swiftly kicked in the door. Immediately, smoke started billowing out of the room. Coughing with renewed vigor, John fell onto his stomach and began crawling under the smoke.

Over the roaring of the fire behind him, he could just barely make out the faint noise of coughing coming from the corner of the room by the window.

Slowly, John crawled over and soon spotted a small bundle of fur huddled underneath a desk. Taking off his BDU jacket, he wrapped it around the foal. Grabbing the bundle and standing up, eyes watering from the smoke, John quickly punched out the window, further venting the room of smoke but earning himself a large gash on his arm in the process.

A crash thundered through the room and John looked behind him to see the floor in the hallway give out and collapse, trapping him in the room.

He tried to curse, but instead brought on another fit of coughing. The building was on fire, the floor was collapsing, and there was only one way out now.

Walking over to the window, John carefully cleared the edges of the window of broken glass, then swung his leg over the edge. Keeping one arm firmly around the foal, and the other attached to the window sill with a grip of steel, John edged himself outside, clinging to the bottom of the window.

This is gonna Suuuuck!

John brought his legs up and placed them against the side of the building. With a mighty kick, he let go of the window sill and propelled himself away from the wall, foal clutched against his abdomen.

THUD

John's back hit the ground, foal on top of him. He gasped for breath, as the air had been driven from his lungs on impact.

His vision failing, he could feel himself being dragged away from the inferno.

He felt a great tremor through the ground and watched as the building collapsed in on itself.

Unable to draw a much needed breath, John slowly faded into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Holy crap. This one was a royal pain in the flank!

Between technical issues, writers block, and crappy internet service, I wasn't sure if this update would ever get out.

Luckily, it's finally out. HUZZAH!

I think I'm going to go back to using a flash drive to store my work, instead of Google Drive. Had a few syncing issues that led to me having to rewrite the majority of this thing twice.

Anyways, as always, feedback is appreciated. Good, Bad, doesn't matter to me. Helps improve my writing either way.