Sentinel

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

When my consciousness returned to me, I could hear the faint beeps of some machinery just nearby. The agitated voices of six people. The sharp, dry click-clack of three M5A2 Folsom carbines being loaded.

I also was running a moderate fever. Oh, joy.

Ah.

Oh, hello, accent.

Goodbye, accent!

Urk. Where amWhat is your name?

...huh?

What is your name?

Um...

“Answer me! What is your name?” The voice finally came into focus, even though I didn't have it in me to even consider forcing my eyes open.

My name...

“My name is Alice Gwendolyn Bradley.”

A couple of tense seconds passed and I could hear the voice again.

“Stand down. She's lucid.”

Lucid? What happenedOh. OH.

OOOOOOH.

Project Abraham. Right.

They chose all manner of guys from across the military – some came here to avoid prison, like that Capelli guy. Others were either curious of what was goin' on in Europe, joined up because someone they knew were doing so, or were trying to pay their debts off – the ten thousand dollars of incentive was nothin' to scoff at.

Luckily, I wasn't any of those. I got the call because of my leadership skills. I was a Staff Sergeant at the time, and was pining for a lieutenant's rank. My superiors said I was a natural and had a promising career ahead of me.

And that's when the letter came, explaining how there was some sort of an influenza over in Europe and I'd been picked by SRPA for their tests.

Me an' my family owned a farm, you see. We weren't rich, but we got by. We were a tight-knit bunch. Nonetheless, ten thousand in green would have helped us immeasurably. So, that's why I accepted the offer from SRPA and was whisked off to some distant, classified location.

I wasn't the only one chosen... Gennaro, Khaner, Danby, Brown, Oster, Capelli, and Hale. We knew each other by surnames. Fraternising was a big no-no, but then again, what wasn't? Curfews, guards everywhere, that sort of stuff...

After numerous and lenghty tests, Capelli went off to the labs on 2nd of November. Couple of days after, he returned, sporting a big ol' scar on his face. Man, he looked way more pissed than he usually did... And his eyes had that weird amber glow, or was that just my imagination?

Channing was picked on the 14th. He didn't return. A couple of the lab guys and guards looked kinda sick, though.

Oster was summoned up on 20th. He didn't return, either.

30th of November. Khaner. Never saw him again.

1st of December. Hale. Returned later on, but was even more quiet than before.

8th of December. Gennaro. Bye-bye, dude. Nice knowing ya.

Danby was supposed to go on the 15th. But he got out for some reason, so I was bumped up on the schedule. Lemme tell ya, that was one helluva surprise.

After the injection of that cure and the virus, however, I wished I'd burned the letter as soon as I received it...

Today is...

Um...

I have no idea, actually.

I forced my eyes open a little and received a headache for my efforts.

“Uuuurgh... Whuh... What time is it?”

“Three in the morning, sergeant. 27th of December.”

Whooa. Hold the phone. I've been out for twelve days? Damn... what did they inject me with? I never really did get to know – they made me promise I'd keep the whole thing secret, and sent me off on my merry way, back to my farm. Got back just in time for New Year's celebration, too... Mom and Dad were real happy to see me.

Life returned to normal for me. Well, for the most part, that is. I sometimes heard odd music in my head. I liked it, but it was always too short.

And then, I was called up, enlisted in the 1st Ranger Regiment. Brass didn't say anything, and that got us all on the edge. I was put in charge of a squad, as was expected. We were loaded on an aircraft carrier, and shipped off to Great Britain, along with a fleet.

On 11th of July, 1951, Operation Deliverance began. Twelve thousand American soldiers would be sent to assist the Brits with something, and they'd be giving us some sort of secret weapon in return. Intel was very sketchy. We were flying in blind, so to speak.

York was going to be our rally point where we would meet our British liasions. Was supposed to be clear for our Hawks to land and set up in. Instead, we flew into a storm of flak. Troops ended up scattered all over the city and when we landed, I understood the purpose of those tests with frightening clarity.

This was the so-called influenza that was ravaging Europe. And ravage it did, with guns and ruthless brutality...

The Chimera.

They set upon our units – we were confused and disorganised, dying in droves. My squad was wiped out. I barely escaped with my life. And so, I wandered aimlessly for weeks until I was picked up by a troop of British resistance fighters. I stuck with them for the time being, helping in their fight for survival. Occasionally, I even heard of Hale – he had also survived York and had become somewhat of a legend among the Brits. I tried and failed several times to contact him. Days turned into weeks as I learned just what sort of stuff our government kept secret from the civilian populace of USA...

And then the all-out assault on the London Tower started, on a oddly cold day of August. I was assigned to lead a new squad. I boarded my transport with a sense of finality. We knew this was it – make or break. Many of us would not survive the coming battle. But we were left without any other choices. So, off we went...

We arrived at London virtually unscathed. Chimeran Goliaths were closing in, so we had to blow the Tower and Southwark bridges to stop them from bombarding us. That done, we advanced towards the big, conical Chimeran tower squatting in the distance.

When we got to it, it was a nightmare. The Chimera kept swarming out of the tower and we were hard-put to stem the flow to allow other teams to get inside and sabotage the reactor. Me and my squad were among the infiltrators. We fought for what seemed like hours when, all of a sudden, the tower went sky high, killing everything inside and in its vicinity... including me, Jack, Will, and Bill.

Somehow, we survived and ended up in a whole new world called Equestria. We met a group of rogue Chimera, and stayed with them. Eventually, we became close friends with both them and the locals. Imagine my surprise when I found out they were a bunch of pastel-coloured ponies. Though we got off to a rocky start with them, we eventually came to an agreement and settled down peacefully.

For most part, that is. There was that time Princess Celestia asked us to lend help to the griffons in taking down a rogue general, for example.

After that particular event, though, we used the chance to live normally. James, Jen and Ted went and got themselves ponified with Twilight's help and went off to pursue their relationships. So did Bill.

In a way, their stories had ended...

But my story...

Well, my story had only just begun.

I'm guessing it all started a couple of days after that party Pinkie Pie threw in celebration of our return from that siege. As I'd agreed with Nurse Redheart, I returned a week later to get my scars checked. I missed having depth perception. So off I went.

I owned a small apartment near the Town Hall – it was about half an hour's hike to the hospital. As I went, I spotted some of my friends – James, who was trotting alongside Rarity, laden with shopping bags. Fred, humming amiably to himself as he headed towards Ponyville Elementary, teaching supplies in a bag that seemed ridiculously tiny in the Titan's huge hand.

Indeed, we had found peace and happiness in Equestria...

I knocked on the door twice and waited. After a moment, I heard a familiar voice.

“Come in!” I opened the door and entered the office of Nurse Redheart. She was sitting at a table, her pink mane in a bun as she looked at me – she seemed quite annoyed with something, her blue eyes having a sour look to them.

“Um... did Ah come at a bad time?”

“No, no, it's not you... Just frustrated at a regular visitor here...” She gestured at a vacant seat and I took it.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I assume you know our resident mailmare, Derpy Hooves?”

“Oh, her? Yeah, Ah know 'er. Keeps crashin' into stuff, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more cheerful gal 'round here, Pinkie Pie aside.”

“That might be so, but she gets herself injured while she works and all the times I've tried to get her to take my advice of

being more careful, but I would have more success at taking a Manticore down with a toothpick...” The white mare gave a heavy sigh and slumped in her chair, rubbing her face. “Either way, let's get to it. How's the scars? Any irritation or suchlike?”

“Nah, 's been fine so far, ma'am.”

“Hm. In any case, let me check this one last time. Better safe than sorry, no?”

“That makes sense, Ah guess.”

“Very well, then. Let me get my tools.” The earth pony trotted off and returned a moment later, carrying scissors and some other assorted tools.

“D'ya really need all of 'em?”

“I want to make sure there's no bandaging material left in the wound. Don't worry, it won't hurt or take long.”

I grumbled something to the effect of 'Ah've had worse' and she rolled her eyes at that.

“I swear, you're worse than Hooves...”

“Okay, okay, don't get yer panties in a bunch...” I settled down and let the puzzled pony at my face. Same as before, she cut the bandaging away and examined the skin surface thoroughly, plucking errant strands of fabric out with tweezers. Occasionally, I felt a prick and a bit of wetness. Redheart would then grin sheepishly and appologize, dabbing away at the trickle of blood and resuming her task...

“And that's that, Miss Bradley. There's no sign of infection. But the scar's there to stay. Those are... tricky to undo, even with unicorn magic.”

“Nah, 's fine. Ah've-”

“Had worse?” I chuckled at that.

“'xactly, ma'am.” I reached into my pocket, and drew out my wallet. “So, what do Ah owe ya?”

“Oh, don't worry about it, really.”

“Ah insist! 's only fair that Ah pay ya for doin' this.” I plucked about ten or so bits from the wallet, and passed them to the nurse – she sighed resignedly in turn.

“Oh, all right. You have that stubborn look about you.”

“'s what Ah'm good at.”

“So I've noticed.” Redheart deadpanned, then gave a light chuckle. “Well, that's me for today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I only came in because I found Miss Hooves with a nasty bruise on her forehead earlier. Other than that, it's my day off.” I nodded at that, and stood up, gathering up my belongings as Redheart pocketed her rightfully-earned bits.

“Well, Ah guess Ah'll see ya 'round th'town someday, ma'am! Bye!” I waved at the white mare and she smiled, waving back.

“Until next time, Miss Bradley!”

I hummed to myself, a duffel bag slung on my left shoulder as I headed home, having purchased several goods that I was in danger of running out. The weather was excellent, as it used to be most of the time, scheduled rainstorms and suchlike aside. As I went along, I noticed Redheart – her mane was no longer in a bun, and was tied into a simple ponytail.

Ponies with ponytails... Heehee.

She wasn't all too happy, however, and I soon saw the reason – a unicorn stallion was leering at her like she was a piece of meat. The mare's ears were folded back, and she was glaring at him, telling him something that I didn't hear due to the distance. Mr Lecherous didn't seem to like what he heard, however, and jabbed her in the chest sharply. She took a step back, teeth bared.

Welp. Intervention is go. Time to be a hero.

“I've said you more times than I can remember – I'm not interested in you anymore!” Redheart growled at the pale blue stallion, eyeing him balefully. “Times have changed since the medical school!”

“C'mon, Red, that was like only year and a half ago!”

“How dense are you? I told you 'No!'”

“Celestia damn it, I-”

“The lady said she ain't interested in ya, boyo.” A calm, but obviously irate voice said and Redheart turned to look at the new conversation member – Alice Bradley.

God, this son of a bitch... Makes me sick to even think of how he stared at Redheart... I thought to myself as I took in the stallion – not too tall, but well-built and strong-looking.

“And who do you think you are, intruding in others' personal business?” I leaned closer to him, growling out nigh-inaudibly.

“Ah'm the Ranger that's going to kick your ass seven ways to Sunday if you don't fuck off right now...” I think that took the starch out of him quite quickly – his body language seemed to speak quite clearly. Part of me kind of wished he tried to attack me.

Alas, to my great disappointment, he backed away, but muttered out a last line.

“This isn't over, you freak.”

“Sure it is. Now run off and go bother someone else.” He disappeared from my sight and I turned to look at Redheart.

“Y'alright, ma'am?” The pony in question blinked and heaved another great sigh.

“Not really, no... but thanks for asking... And for getting him to leave, too.”

“'s nothin'.” I shrugged slowly. “Who was he, anyways?”

“Somepony I thought I had left in the past. He was a fellow student at the Canterlot Medical University. He always kept hitting on other mares studying there, me included. Suffice to say, I was still single at the time, young and foolish. Decided to see how's having a coltfriend was like. Biggest mistake of my life...” She sighed again and readjusted her saddlebags. “He kept being too demanding and whenever I wanted to have some time alone so I could study, he got angry about it. So I left him...” She sighed again. “I graduated. He didn't.”

“Oh... An' he thinks he can fix this up somehow?”

“I think so, yeah... But I can tell he hasn't changed in the slightest.”

“Well he did seem like a bad sort, true enough.” I frowned slightly at the dour mare. “So, any reason in particular you're spillin' yer guts t'me?”

“I'm sorry, what?” She looked at me, utterly confused.

“It's a human saying for revealin' secrets an' suchlike.”

“Ah. Well... you seem like a nice po-er, person. I've seen you around town often. One can learn a lot by watching from the sidelines. And, if the Princesses themselves trust you and your friends, who am I to question their judgement?”

“Well, okay, then, ma'am.” She smiled wanly and nodded, turning to leave, before turning back for a moment.

“Oh, correct me on this if I'm wrong, but are you looking for a job right now?”

“Um, yeah. Ah'm lookin' for a permanent place to work at. So far, only jobs Ah've had're temporary or one-time things.”

“Hmm. We do have a couple of open posts at the hospital – they aren't anything overly flashy, but the pay's good. I could drop by your house later with the list if that would help.” I smiled at that.

“Neat! I live at Twenty-One Cherrylane. Know where that is, ma'am?”

“Yeah! It's about two blocks away from where I live. So, I'll be there in about two hours, if that suits you.”

“Sure thing, ma'am.” And with that, we were off, chatting about various topics until we went our separate ways – I headed towards my apartment, and she, hers.

Redheart hummed thoughtfully to herself as she closed the door behind herself and set her purchases down on the kitchen table. There was something... slightly off about Alice. As they'd walked along, she'd noticed the woman had gone noticeably paler. She didn't point it out because of politeness, but now, it seemed like something to be concerned about. What if some sort of mess arose from...

Dang it.

I forgot to clean my office up, didn't I?

She had, indeed.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the white pony picked her keys up again and left her home, heading back towards the hospital...

I giddily stumbled inside my house, and locked the door behind me. I nearly had to crawl to my bedroom to get to my secret locker – I'd built it under the floor boards. Feverishly, I pulled the planks aside, and opened the locker. I pulled out one of the vials filled with the orange liquid, and inserted it in the receptacle of the stainless steel injector that also rested in the locker. Making sure it wouldn't leak, I took a few deep breaths and pressed the needle against my neck, using the mirror on the wall to ensure it would go into my jugular. The prick of the needle went nearly unnoticed among the rising fever I was experiencing. I depressed the trigger slowly, carefully emptying the vial into my bloodstream. Once it was empty, I carefully pulled it out and eyed the mirror, seeing the small hole in my neck slowly seal shut. After a couple of moments, my fever started to recede and I sighed relievedly.

That was a tad too close, Alice. You need to be more careful.

I removed the empty vial, and eyed the locker – seven vials left, along with two I-Packs, both of which were still unused, and I sighed through my nose.

I would need more inhibitor doses. Soon.

But here's the catch. There's no SRPA here.

So, in a sense, I was royally fucked.

Redheart groused to herself quietly, cleaning up her office – she had maintained a spotless record up until now. She paused for a moment, eyeing the slightly bloody bandages on the table, and was reminded of Alice's odd behavior earlier...

She turned the microscope's light on, and placed the piece of bandaging under the lenses. After several long minutes of examining, and a couple of recalibrations, she came to a conclusion – there was some sort of a foreign presence in the human's blood. There were some similarities with pony blood, but Alice's blood had this big, glaring difference to it – the blood had even dried up in a flash, if the examinations were anything to go by – you didn't have to be a top class surgeon to see the oddities.

Turning the microscope off, she hummed thoughtfully to herself.

“What are you hiding, Alice Bradley...?”

Chapter 2

I hummed to myself as I swept the floor – I didn't have much to do aside from waiting for Redheart to arrive, though I was understandably excited at the prospect of permanent employment. I wasn't exactly poor, living economically, saving the bits I earned, but I would be glad to have some reserve funds to use should any emergencies arise. One-time jobs and suchlike around Ponyville could be easily found, but they seldom paid well. Thus, Redheart's offer was an unexpected, but a welcome surprise.

About ten minutes later, just as I had finished my task, I heard a couple of quiet knocks on the door.

Ah, that must be her.

I went over to the front door and opened it – lo and behold, there was Nurse Redheart.

“Hi, there. Come on in!” I stepped aside, letting her enter the hallway.

The pink-maned mare hummed as she looked around – Alice's home looked quite empty, or as humans said, Spartan in its appearance. Nevertheless, there was a strong sense of order to be found. Then again, considering Alice was a soldier, it was to be expected.

“Thanks. Now, I've got the list right here.” She tapped her left saddlebag.

“There's that many vacancies?”

“Not really. Most of it is simply descriptions and requirements of the jobs available.”

“Ah, okay. That makes sense. Want some coffee or tea? Ah was jus' gonna make some. An' before ya say anythin', it's not a problem.”

“Caught me red-hoofed, you did.” The white pony snarked good-naturedly, luring an amused chuckle out of me. “Well, since you insist, I suppose some tea wouldn't hurt. With a teaspoonful of sugar, please.”

“One tea, comin' right up! Take a seat in th'livin' room, Ah'll be right over!” Though Alice couldn't see it, Redheart nodded and trotted inside the living room and sat down on a couch, pulling out the folded sheets of paper. She set those down on the table and took the time to look around. A pair of chairs and the couch she currently occupied were arranged around a table near a fireplace built into one of the walls, and a pile of firewood was stacked at its side. Her ears twitched occasionally as she heard Alice prepare their drinks and her thoughts were drawn to the anomaly she'd discovered in the human's blood – it had even dried up in a noticeably different way...

I stepped into the living room, setting down the tray on the table – there was Redheart's tea, a cup of coffee for me, and a plate of muffins I'd bought from none other than Pinkie Pie.

“There ya go, ma'am.”

“Oh, thanks! Bought these at the Sugarcube Corner, am I correct?”

“Indeed Ah did. Miss Pie sure knows how to bake 'em.”

“Now, then...” Redheart picked up her tea cup and took a couple of sips, then took a bite from a muffin. We ate for a moment in silence. “Let's see, here...” She picked the papers up and examined them. “These are mostly simple menial tasks, but important to everyday proceedings at the hospital. Here, take a look." She passed the list to me and I took a closer look, scrutinizing the available posts. Groundskeeper, janitor, technician, security, and so on and so forth... Hrm.

“Hm... Ah think Ah'll go for th'security vacancy. Be kind of nice to have some use f'r that Ranger trainin'.”

“Well, remember it's your choice to make. Keep the list and make good use of it. When you've decided, come to the hospital and ask at the reception.” I nodded at that.

“No worries, ma'am. Shouldn't take me too long. Ah'd say y'can look towards hearin' from me tomorrow. Just need t'make sure Ah've tied up any loose ends, if there're any, that is. F'r now, however, let's finish these muffins. Be a thing of shame if they were left uneaten.” The white mare let out an amused nicker at that.

“I hear that.”

It was fifteen minutes later that Redheart left Alice Bradley's house, thinking to herself – her job involved talking to ponies, and she had become a good expert on reading one's body language over time. And Alice was definitely hiding something. Whether it was something dangerous or not she did not know. Considering than none of the humans or Chimera had caused too much trouble around Ponyville, she soon began berating herself about it – maybe Alice had a blood condition that applied only to humans and posed no threat whatsoever? Who knows? Most likely she was just making a fuss over nothing, that's all – Alice had been friendliness incarnate, so to speak. And she had been happy to find out about a post that would let her make use of her training.

Well, I guess I can keep an eye out, just in case. Better safe than sorry, right?

I hummed to myself happily, washing the dishes – I'd soon have a proper job! Doing guard duty was something I was familiar with – during basic training I had been put on watchposts on the occasion. Perimeter patrol, passwords, and the sort.

That wasn't to say there weren't any mishaps, though... On a sunny day, 1st of April, the rest of the trainees bought three pigs, and numbered them 1, 2 and 4. They released them when I was on guard duty. I managed to chase the damn things down and lock 'em up, however.

And then I made a complete fool of myself by spending ages looking for the non-existent number three. I wished ground would open up beneath my feet and swallow me when I had to explain it to the fort commander, seriously...

I got the last laugh in the end, however. I wasn't the one stuck with cleaning the barracks when several cows mysteriously broke inside on an unspecified night at an unspecified time...

The commander was a pretty cool guy when off-duty, I have to say.

But, going back to my point, I was glad I was going to be able to put my training to some other use than killing. And honestly? I had gotten more than my fair share of killing over in Europe...

Pushing that depressing thought out of my mind, I stacked the now-clean dishes to dry and hummed thoughtfully, turning to survey the room. I had gotten this place for a rather low price. There was a catch, though - at the time, it was in quite a poor condition. But I got it fixed up with the help of my friends.

But I wished we would meet each other more often – I wished our encounters were more than a simple greeting or a nod. I can't blame any of them, however – at some point, even the closest of friends will part ways and live their lives out, or pursue whatever their ambitions are.

Oh, there I go all depressing-mode again. Ah, damn it. I'll go to the hospital first thing in the morning and get that job.

So there, depressive mood. I'd stick my tongue out at you, but, you know...

I probably should stop talking to myself now.

Good idea, Alice.

…

Sometimes, I wonder whether my brain ever is useful and contributing in some way to my existence.

Next morning, I left for Ponyville General hospital in high spirits. Pausing at the market to buy myself a quick snack from Applejack, who always could be found there, plying her trade, I continued onwards, humming a jaunty tune to myself.

The mare at the reception desk smiled at me as I walked up to her.

“Uh, hi, ma'am. Ah'm here about the vacancy you have open an' Ah'd like t'apply for it.”

“Let me guess – Nurse Redheart is involved, hmm?”

“Um... Yeah, what of it?”

“Oh, nothing. She is well-reguarded among the staff, so if you have her vouching for you, there should be no problem in gaining the vacancy – she has somewhat of a knack for finding good employees. There are some tests to be gone through, however.”

“Ah can take 'em. Where do Ah go to, then?”

“Take an elevator to the top floor. When you leave the elevator, turn left and keep going until the end of the corridor, take another left, and the director's office is at the third door on the right. He'll sort you out.” I nodded and set off, examining the sterile, white hallways as I went.

I reached my destination without any setbacks, and soon found out that I wasn't the only one hoping to apply for work here – there were three ponies sitting by the door, waiting patiently. They turned to look at me and gave me a wave, which I returned.

“Good mornin'.”

“Hello! You're here for the vacancies too, yes?”

“That Ah am. Ah'm hopin' t'get the security guard post.” One of the ponies - a charcoal unicorn mare with a two-toned purple and white mane – stood up and smiled, extending a hoof to shake. I accepted the, um, hoofshake.

“I'm Silver Starlight. I recently graduated from Canterlot Medical University and when I heard about the openings here, I just had to jump at it. I studied to become a surgeon.”

“So, ya like t'help others?”

“Of course! It's a noble cause, after all.” Silver beamed, then jabbed the pony next to her in the side, a slate grey pegasus mare with dark blonde mane and dark blue eyes. “Iron, stop slouching. Where's your manners?” Letting out a grumble, the pegasus sat up and stuck a hoof out at me and I shook it too.

“I'm Iron Night.”

“Alice Bradley. Nice t'meet y'all. Guessin' you're goin' t'apply for a job here too?” Iron shook her head.

“Nah. Just accompanying my marefriend.” She hummed and sat back down, giving Silver a slight nudge.

“Ah. So ya two're together, then?”

“Yes, though our relationship hasn't been without its trials and problems...” Silver hummed thoughtfully. A moment later, the door opened and a purple-coated stallion poked his head out, and asked her to come in. Iron gave the unicorn mare a reassuring smile as they went inside, leaving me sitting outside with the last applicant, a green pegasus stallion with a two toned blue mane.

“So, what's yer name?” That seemed to get his attention and he coughed twice before speaking.

“Tech Beat. Nice to meet you, Miss Bradley.”

“Likewise. What position are ya applyin' for?”

“A technician. I've got a good grasp on electronics, and feel like I can put my skills to good use here. And you?”

“Security. Y'know, guard duty and suchlike.” He nodded at that.

“Ah. I see.”

We spent about half an hour, chatting to and fro as we waited for Silver's interview to be done with. When it ended, the unicorn all but bounced down the hallway – much like Pinkie Pie used to do. Iron was cantering after her, chuckling amusedly.

“I told you they'd accept you here, didn't I?”

She got a strange squeaking noise in return and I chuckled to myself. The director returned again, and ushered Tech Beat inside, leaving me to wait alone with my thoughts.

I didn't scare easily. The Chimera had seen to that. But the possibility of not getting the job was quite unnerving for me, which I found to be quite ironic – I was able to face certain death, yet still got cold feet in anticipation of the interview.

Life is funny that way, no?

Either way, Tech Beat exited a while later, also in an upbeat mood. He wished me good luck before leaving. A couple of moments later, I was invited into the office. The purple stallion – a pegasus, I now noticed – gestured towards a chair.

“Please, take a seat.”

I did as asked and eyed the stallion in front of me as he sat down in his chair, humming – now that I was able to get a better look at him, I could see that his mane was two tones of brown.

“Now then... My name is Final Draft and I'm in charge of Ponyville General hospital.”

“Ah'm Alice Gwendolyn Bradley. Nice t'meet you.” He nodded at that.

“I know that you are here for a vacancy in this hospital. Which one did you intend to apply for?”

“The security one.”

“I see. What sort of skills do you have that would be of use for that post?”

“Well, Ah used t'be a soldier. Ah was a Ranger, in th' First Ranger Regiment, United States Army.” I chose to skip the happenings of Project Abraham for obvious reasons.

“Yes, your arrival to Equestria caused quite the stir. We've heard quite a lot about your friends' exploits, yet know little of who they are as an invididual. So, tell me more about your training...”

As time went on, I noticed how he kept his eyes locked with mine – obviously, I returned his stare. I don't back down easily. Kinda difficult to tell where determination ended and stubborness began. Other than that, though, he was well-mannered and polite, not interrupting even if I stumbled with my words at certain points.

Final Draft hummed, looking up from the notepad he'd been busily scribbling on with a pen – he was taking some sort of notes. Or just doodling. Either way, he still eyed me, making me feel like I was a teeny tiny ant under a magnifying glass...

I would later find out from Redheart that it was his way of evaluating possible employees. He didn't have much respect for application forms, and preferred to put the would-be employees on the spot in his own way, to see how they'd cope with his questions. He also was an expert at reading body language and could tell in a flash if the applicant was genuinely interested in the job or not, whethere they were being truthful with him or not. With these skills, he had enabled Ponyville General to prosper – employees were paid well, patients seldom complained, and everything was in pristine condition.

Either way, I guess I must have left a good impression on him because I got the job! I was to start next week, and in the meantime I'd ensure I was ready to start my duties.

I now kind of understood why Silver had pranced past like that – I could barely keep myself from doing the same as I headed home, feeling better than I'd felt in days. Stopping in the market to buy some things that I'd forgotten about yesterday, I resumed my trek. Seriously, this was the best day ever, far as I was concerned.

Of course, my real concern reared its head a moment after I got back to my house.

The inhibitor shots. Without those, I'd turn into a Chimera once I ran out. That wasn't a fate I was eager to meet, as one can well imagine. It would be stupid of me to dilute the serum, too. I had no idea how to make any myself, either.

I was a Sentinel. This was one secret I did not wish to reveal to my friends. Why?

I didn't know myself, really. I guess I didn't want them to think different of me. Secrets from my past would only complicate things in my opinion. I wasn't without a plan, however. I knew that there was one pony in all of Equestria that could help me find either a cure for me. I'd met her at the Gala in the year before...

Princess Celestia.

She and her sister held absolute power over Equestria. If there was even a possibility of finding a cure for me, they would have ways of making it happen. I just needed to find a way of meeting them and explaining my situation to them. Discreetly.

As luck would have it, the Gala was starting in about a month and a half. I just had to hold out until then, and be as sparing with the inhibitor as I could without growing another four eyes and a set of teeth that a lion would be jealous of.

Here's hoping.

Chapter 3

I think my tenure in Europe had spoiled me, now that I thought on it a little.

Guard duty at this hospital had a severe lack of Sabertooths. And Hawks. Man, those things could liven up any soldier's day. Tanks and VTOLs – what's not to like?

Okay, getting sidetracked...

So, guard duty. It was not the most eventful job, but it was good enough. I worked night shifts, which meant I could permit myself to sleep longer in the mornings! A win-win if there ever was one. I would go to the hospital at about seven in the evening, clock in, carry out my shift, then go back home at about three in the morning and sleep, rinse and repeat. Considering that winter was slowly encroaching on Equestria, I could look towards spending more money on ensuring my domicile didn't turn colder than Norilsk. And, with my job, I could afford such pleasantries.

Money makes the world go round. Or headshots do. Don't remember which one.

Either way, sidetracking thoughts aside, my life was very good. I could afford to buy some more things for my house, and so on. I was a good guard, and my pay was good. Most of the time, it was little more than wayward ponies who'd had too much to drink, although sometimes they would be troublesome and had to be handled in a more direct manner. And even a couple of burglars that tried to sneak in.

Not on my watch. More often than not, I'd snag the perps, and have the Royal Guard collect them. Only a handful ever got away . Hopefully, that'd teach them to stay on the straight and narrow.

When required, I'd help handling injured ponies from whatever disasters befell ponies - chariot crashes, workplace accidents, fires and the like. But enough about that.

Silver and Tech had both settled comfortably in their posts at the hospital – Silver as a junior surgeon, and Tech was happy with keeping the electronics in the hospital running as a technician. Most of the time we'd encounter each other before my shift started – I'd drop by the cafeteria for a quick meal and have a chat with the two, before clocking in. The three of us soon became good friends. During our chats, we would speak about all kinds of things – Silver turned out to be quite a religious pony, for one.

“My mother, Eternal Dawn, raised me to be kind and helpful to other beings, pony or not. Kindness is its own reward, and it is commendable to follow the Princesses' guidings.” The charcoal-furred pony spoke to me and Tech as we munched on our snacks, the cafeteria relatively empty at this hour. My shift started in ten minutes, and as always, I'd spend the time with my friends, talking – we'd swap all kinds of stories during our free time – about friends, family, the like.

“So, she's a preacher of some sort, Ah presume?”

“Well, not really. She runs an orphanage in Stalliongrad – she has a lot of influence in that city, and she uses her riches to help those of Equestria who are not as fortunate – charities, affordable apothecaries, that sort of stuff. But she likes to preach, I admit. The lecture she gave me when I finally revealed that I was in a relationship with Iron...” Silver gave a brief chuckle. Tech, noting my confused expression, decided to explain it to me.

“Same-gender couples aren't unheard of in Equestria, but aren't exactly popular, either. Most of the time, it isn't too bad, but some ponies have disowned their children over it.” He grumbled for a moment. “Love and tolerance, my ass-”*thwack*

“Language, please.” Silver chided him, then turned to face me. “Lacking in eloquence he may be, but it's true – I was so nervous when I told my mother of Iron. Got quite an earful from her for keeping it a secret for so long, but once I explained it in length, she understood why I did it.” I nodded at that, letting her continue. “She found Iron's personality to be abrasive, just like I did when I first met her. But that grey brute means well.” She let out a small sigh and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Your turn, Alice.”

“Ah don't really have much to tell, ya two. Ah only had two boyfriends back on Earth. Neither relationship lasted very long, a couple a'months at most. When Ah finished high school, Ah enlisted in th'Army.”

Why'd you do that?” I shrugged slowly at the unicorn's perplexed expression.

“'s kinda a family thing – my pa served, an' my granddad did, too. An' Ah chose to get engineering training after basical. When Ah went back t'the farm, Ah was able to help fix whatever machinery there was. But, going back to your original question, no. Ah don't have a special someone in my life. Ah did luck out on havin' a lot of good friends, you lugs included.” That got a chuckle out from both Silver and Tech. I raised my coffee cup. Silver's glass of orange juice levitated in air. Tech raised his energy drink and we made a toast.

“Here's to us!” Three voices spoke at the same time, and the cup, glass and can met with a clink.

Silver had gone home, Tech was doing some last checks on the equipment around the hospital before leaving, and I was in my guard's uniform, patrolling the hospital grounds, humming to myself as I did so. The sun was setting, and the moon was peeking over the horizon on the opposite side, and all manners of stars also winked into existence, dotting the darkening sky. It looked nice, but then again, it always did. Luna had a real knack for it. It was her talent, after all. Although I still remember the case of vapours I had when Twilight had explained how the sun and moon worked on this world. It's quite interesting stuff, most definitely something one will find difficult to wrap one's head around.

That train of thought taken care of, I returned my attention to the task at hand. About an hour later, though, my attention was interrupted again. This time, however, it was far more important. An all too-familiar sensation of burning was settling in my guts.

I needed to take an inhibitor injection again. But, to do that, I needed to leave my post. And I had to be quick about it, so as not to make anyone suspicious. Suppresing a grunt of discomfort, I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead and swiftly strode towards the hospital.

Once inside, I quickly sought out the wardrobe – my backpack was there, along with my doses of inhibitor serum. Grabbing it, I quickly located a vacant janitor's closet. I prepped the injector, placing it against a vein in my elbow. Carefully, as with all other times, I slid the needle in, so as not to tear the blood vessel. I slowly squeezed the trigger and felt the familiar chill rush through my body as the borderline-rampant Chimera virus was brought to a halt, and my temperature started to return to normal. I let out a sigh, letting my eyes fall shut in relief.

*click-creeeak*

“Alice? Why're you hiding here?”

My eyes sprang open and I saw Redheart standing a ways off in the doorway, staring surprisedly at me.

Well, shit.

I let the injector drop from my grasp as I leapt at the white mare before she could so much as move a muscle. All she managed to do was let out an 'eep' as I dragged her inside the locker and locked the door.

“Y-you're taking drugs?!” Redheart stammered out, eyeing me fearfully – I was standing in front of the locked door, denying her a chance to escape.

“It's not drugs. It's medication.”

“Medication? For what?! Why'd you never mention anything about it? And why did you sneak off like that?”

Those were questions I hoped I'd never have to answer. For a moment, Redheart must've thought I was going to kill her – her ears folded back and she shrunk back from me.

“Look, ma'am, Ah ain't gonna hurt ya. But ya can't talk 'bout this t'anyone. Look, Ah'll explain this after my shift's done, 'kay?”

“Don't you end, like, three hours later than me? I finish up at midnight.” Redheart responded. “Besides, how can I be sure you won't run off?”

“That wouldn't help me in any way, now would it?” I hummed for a moment before facepalming and giving a chuckle. “Oh, silly me. Ah forgot tomorrow's Saturday. I don't have work that day. If ya want to, y'can drop by and I'll fill ya in on my, erm... condition. Sound good?”

“Um...”

“A Ranger's promise, ma'am. Ah'll be there.” That seemed to satisfy her and she nodded.

“Very well.”

“Jus' remember – don't breathe a word of it t'anyone else, okay? Ah'd rather keep this as secret as possible. Ah'll explain it t'morrow.” Warily, Redheart nodded and I let another sigh escape my lips. “Thanks. Maybe some good'll come of this... It ain't exactly a very pretty secret, lemme tell ya right now. Either way, Ah gotta get back to my post.” She nodded once more and I packed my things back up, then left the locker at a brisk pace, eager to return to my job...

The key clicked as I locked the door and turned around – the lighting inside was barely noticeable, but since I was half-Chimera, it barely bothered me, my senses ever-sharp. Without fault, I found the light switch, and the lightbulb in the corridor flickered into life. The clock on the wall showed the time – thirty-four past three in the morning.

*yawn*

Welp. Bedtime it is, then. Brush my teeth, put my clothes away, etcetera, etcetera, and then flop down in the bed with a tired sigh and let oblivion take me. And then feel like a total idiot because I forgot to turn the bathroom light off. Turn said light off and crawl back under the blanket and fall asleep. Dream about cheesecake.

Redheart sighed, somewhat nervous, knocking on the door of the house of one Alice Bradley – it was a crisp, chilly morning of late October and she shuffled about for a moment, a cloud of steam escaping her muzzle as she let out a huff. A couple of moments passed before she heard activity on the other side of the door and it creaked open, revealing Alice, who was eyeing Redheart levelly.

“Good mornin'.”

Redheart seemed suddenly hesitant to enter and I took a step aside.

“C'mon in. Ah ain't gonna hurt ya, ma'am. Ah promise.” She nodded slowly, and trotted inside. I closed the door behind her, and rubbed my palms for a moment. “Right, then. Take a seat in the livin' room. Ah'll be right there.”

The skittish mare nodded again and trotted inside the warm room – the fireplace was crackling brightly, filling the room with light and warmth. She uncoiled the scarf from her neck, putting it aside as she patiently waited for Alice to return. She looked around, humming to herself as she eyed her surroundings. Winter was definitely just around the corner, judging by the frost enchroaching upon the windows. She heard Alice hum to herself from the kitchen – moments later, the human arrived, carrying two plates in her hands. She set one down in front of Redheart, who eyed it.

“'s scrambled eggs, nothin' t'worry about. Ah treat m'guests all th'same.” Alice sat down, and began to eat her own share of food. Not one to be impolite, Redheart did the same and the two ate in silence.

I put the empty plate down and hummed, eyeing Redheart – the pink-maned mare was eyeing me back levelly.

“Well, then. Let's get to th'brass tacks, hmm?” Redheart nodded at that. “Jus' promise me ya ain't gonna tell this t'anyone else – Ah don't want anythin' Ah say now leave this house, 'kay?”

*nod*

Deeply hoping I would not come to regret this later on, I laid it out for Redheart, holding nothing back – Project Abraham, the Chimera, the war against the monstrous aggressors... I told her everything that I knew. As time passed, her face grew more and more horrified and disgusted beyond measure. I don't blame her, really.

“How did your leaders justify carrying out those injections?” She muttered out in shock, staring at me.

“We needed monsters of our own to fight th'Chimera. Those bastards are stronger than humans – more tenacious and unrelenting, too. If we were to so much as stand a chance against 'em, we had to make sacrifices. Pray that your Princesses never have to do the same.”

“So, about that inhibitor serum...”

“Ah'm going to ask th'Princesses when Gala comes. I want to keep the number of people aware of this as low as possible, as ya can well understand.” She hummed to herself thoughtfully, then looked at me.

“Very well. I will do as you ask. I just hope you know what you are doing, Alice. I do have another question for you – why do you keep calling me 'ma'am'?”

“Ah'm jus' mindin my manners.”

“But I do not refer to you by your surname. 'Ma'am' makes me feel old and stuffy. I'm not going to take offense if you call me by my name.”

“Fair enough, then... Redheart.” She chuckled briefly and nodded. “Well, Ah got my invitation to th'Gala 'bout an hour ago in my post...” I held up a small, ivory-colored envelope. “An' it says Ah can take one guest with me. Ah haven't chosen one at th'moment.” Redheart's gaze was glued to the envelope. “Now, if ya promise you'd keep my secret a, well, secret, Ah'd-”

“My lips are sealed forever.” She blurted out immediately. “Oh, this is not fair... I've never been to the Grand Galloping Gala before and here you are, bribing me with an invitation for it! Very well. I shall keep your secret hidden.”

“Ah guess you're going t'want to get a dress fer yerself.” I snickered at her and she grumbled.

“Yes, I suppose I should.” She sighed and sat up.

“Th'Gala's on in three days. Once you've got th'dress, drop by here, 'kay?”

“Wouldn't it be better if we went to the Ponyville Train Station and met there? It'd save us some time if we did so.”

“Oh, don't ya worry yer head 'bout that. Jus' make sure t'be here on time, 'kay?”

“I will, don't worry. I'm not a little foal.” She groused and I chuckled.

“Sweet. Ah'll be seein' ya, then. It's a date.” Redheart raised a hoof to protest, and then sighed, catching on that I was just egging her on. “Relax, Redheart, Ah'm only messing 'bout – nothin' to get upset over.”

“I'll never understand human humor, it seems...”

“Seems likely. Now, then. Anythin' else on yer mind?”

“Nothing that I can think of, really.”

“'kay, then. Meet me here on Tuesday. An' remember, not a word o' this t'anyone else, got it?”

“You have my word on it.”

“I better, or you can say farewell to th'Gala!” That got her more annoyed, much to my amusement.

“You have no idea how big of a deal the Grand Galloping Gala is, do you?”

“'xactly! An' that's why it's so fun to egg ya on.” I smirked – the white pony was so adorable it felt like I had diabetes coming on – she stood there, pouting unamusedly at me and I doubled over in a fit of giggles and she tsk'ed sourly.

“You are incorrigible.”

“Ah know!” I grinned.

She cringed.

Chapter 4

Days came and went - soon, the Grand Galloping Gala was only a couple of hours away. I went through my wardrobe and dusted off the dress Rarity had made for me for the previous year's Gala. I washed it, ironed it, and paid a visit to the hairdresser's, just to be sure. Never hurts to err on the side of caution.

The weather was still the same, which meant a chilly Tuesday. Since the time was drawing ever so close to five in the afternoon, I donned my dress and sat in the living room, watching the embers in the fireplace, thinking...

More often than I liked it to, my brain, being the scumbag it is, wasn't letting one topic go – home.

Did we win? Did our assault on the London tower end the Chimera threat? Did the sacrifices of thousands of brave soldiers turn the tide in Europe, or had it all been for nothing? Were my parents alive and well, or had our farm also been-

My blood froze for a moment and I shook my head fiercely, banishing the thought. My family had to be alright. They... they just had to be.

This was my dilemma, you see – I wanted to find a way back to Earth, to my family. But I didn't know how to do it – I'd even asked Twilight about it. She'd contacted Celestia, in turn, and we'd gone over the topic together. She'd listened to what I had to say, and had explained the problem to me straightforwardly – since it would be complicated, to say the least, to reproduce the exact conditions – an exploding Chimeran tower – of the arrival of my friends and I...

Urgh.

Simply put, I was stuck here.

And then Pinkie Pie would jump out of nowhere and shout 'Forever!'

Either way, it was quite the sucker punch – to be told you'd never be able to go home, never to return to the place you held dearest in your heart. It was made even worse by the fact that I had made friends here, ones that I also did not want to leave. It was quite the conundrum, and I saw no way to solve it, really...

*knock knock knock*

Saved by the bell. Or door, in this case. My depressing train of thoughts was derailed – no survivors. Letting out a sigh, I sat up and went to answer the door. My guest turned out to be Redheart, predictably enough, even though it took me a moment or two to recognise her – her mane was done up in a stylish bun, she was wearing a light blue dress that brought out her eyes, and her ears were decorated with small, simple earrings, and her face had some makeup applied to it.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Ponies have makeup? B-but wouldn't their fur~

Before my mind could wander off once more, I smiled and gestured for Redheart to enter. The white pony nodded and trotted inside and I closed the door behind her, leaving the cold evening outside.

“Evenin'. You're lookin' real snazzy, Redheart.” She chuckled at that.

“Thanks, Alice. So do you.” Her smile briefly waned as her eyes noticed the scars on my right shoulder – the dress didn't cover those up completely. She looked back at me and forced a grin.

“So, how are we getting to Canterlot, then? Did you hire a pegasi chariot, or...?” She drew a circle in the air with a hoof and I chuckled, eager to change the subject.

“Somethin' like that. They should be arrivin' in a couple of minutes or so. Trust me, you're goin' t'like it. In the meanwhile, take a seat.” I gestured at the couch and she settled down there, while I took one of the chairs. And so, we waited, making small talk as we did so – I learned that Redheart came from San Franciscolt – at that point, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the puns – and had moved with her family to New Yoke – more puns – before she had parted ways with her parents, intent on starting her own life in earnest. From what she told me, her parents are also renowned surgeons. She'd been eager to live up to their reputation, and thus she found employment in Ponyville General hospital. In return, I told her about myself – she knew little else aside about me, Project Abraham aside...

Me and my family owned a farm, about forty miles from Houston. There were seven of us – my parents, two brothers, two sisters and lil' ol' me. We owned some livestock, but received most of our income from crop fields. My life was a little mundane, but good – I had work, a roof over my head, and folks I could rely on, no matter what. My parents worked pretty hard to get the five of us into school, even though I hated getting up early so that Dad could drive us to Houston in time for school. Screw that – everyone hated getting up at six in the morning. But we bore with it. I got through high school, joined the army, got my training and then some. The rest Redheart already knew – the call-up and deployment to United Kingdom, and the way the events unfolded from then.

It was about then that I heard someone knock on the door. Taking a quick look at the clock, I realised with a start that we'd spend more than twenty minutes chatting away, and our transport was already waiting for at least ten of those. Grinning sheepishly, I went over to open it and was presented with three ponies there – James, Jennifer, and Rarity. The former Chimera were easily distinguished by their glowing amber eyes, the only trait they retained. Hah... I still remember the day he and Jen went to Twilight, wanting to find a way to ponify themselves. Nearly blew the library's top off with that spell, too, but it worked well enough. Jen became a pegasus, and James turned out to be a unicorn. And Twilight ended up with the mother of all migraines afterwards.

“Evenin', y'all! Sorry if Ah kept ya waitin'.”

“Alice, we've been waiting for fifteen minutes. The Kingfisher's not getting any warmer, you know. Would you kindly hurry up?” James grumbles out, shuffling about for a moment. As I expected, Jen whacked him over the head at that.

“Pot calling the kettle black? You're not exactly punctual, either.” Rarity snickers at the two squabbling ex-Chimera, before pecking James on the cheek.

“Maybe so, but he does know what manners are when it comes to treating a lady correctly.” Jen mutters something sour at that, rolling her eyes. Rarity smirks and shakes her head slightly.

“So, you ready, Alice? Others are already gathered up, so let's get a move on.” I nodded and picked my keys up, looking over my shoulder for a moment.

“We're good to go, Redheart!” James perked up at that.

“Redheart, huh? She works at the hospital, right?” I nodded affirmatively.

“That she does. She's a good friend, an' Ah didn't really have anyone else on my mind t'invite, so Ah picked her.” I replied, not revealing my real motives for obvious reasons. “She helped me get that job in th'hospital, so Ah'm returning the favor now.” The pony in question arrived, and smiled cordially, waving to the three arrivals. The greetings were kept short, however, in large part due to James's impatience and soon, we were off towards our transport. Redheart was in for a bit of a surprise, heh heh heh...

The pink-maned mare stared, slack-jawed, at the machine waiting a ways off – its metal hull shone dully in the quickly-fading sunlight, and a couple of muffled voices could be heard from inside as their group approached it. James grinned at her bafflement and trotted ahead, beginning to speak.

“This is a P-1117 Kingfisher and, for the foreseeable future, it's how we get around. Until it breaks down, that is. But, considering that Jen always keeps tinkering with the damn thing's innards, it's unlikely to happen, catastrophic failure of all primary systems aside.”

*thwack*

“Jen, if you don't stop that, so help me-”

“Oh, go soak your head, James. That'll teach you to make fun of my talent at fixing things, considering you can't even fix a bent fork.” The amber-eyed pegasus trotted ahead, and pulled the sliding side door open, leaping inside. James grumbled something to himself and followed, Rarity in tow. Alice followed suit, but then stopped, turning to look at Redheart.

“Anythin' wrong, Redheart?” The earth pony blinked a couple of times and squeaked out, suddenly looking very timid.

“I'm afraid of heights~” Alice stopped and stared at the mare like she'd just grown a second head before sighing.

“Oh, that's just perfect...”

In the end, it took another five minutes of persuading and reassuring the mare until she so much as even got on board the VTOL. As it turned out, we were the last ones to be picked up – the rest of the Elements were present, along with Big Mac and that freaky little Leaper, Snaggletooth. Will, Jack and Bill were nowhere to be seen – Bill was at Appleloosa, Jack and Will were doing some travelling around Equestria, interested in seeing what this world had to offer.

“So, where's Fred at?” Twilight responded to my question, waving at me and Redheart in greeting.

“He took a train to Canterlot some time ago.” Jen nodded in agreement, sitting down at Big Mac's side, the soft-spoken stallion wearing a black suit.

“I've been working on some sort of a seat for him that we could hook up to the Sabertooth's harness, but it's still a work in progress. He doesn't weigh as much as that goddamn tank, but it's still a bloody challenge.” Mac chuckled lowly at that.

“Ah, don't ya worry 'bout that, Jen. You're sellin' yerself short. Without yer help, Ah figure most of our equipment back at th'farm woulda broken down ages ago.” The sandy brown pegasus blushed slightly, offering Mac a crooked smile.

“Flatterer...” I smirked at the two and took a moment to look around – the Kingfisher's interior had been scrubbed spotless, with no dirt or misplaced tools in sight. All in all, it looked as if it was fresh off the assembly line. James climbed into the pilot's seat and his horn lit up, flipping various switches as me and Redheart sat down on the vacant seats. With a bit of working, I managed to strap myself in, and helped do the same for Redheart. Well, as much as I could, that is. Different anatomy and all. A low thrum started up in the roofing of the VTOL, where the power core nestled. Redheart looked around for a moment, anxiety clearly visible in her eyes.

“Don't worry, Redheart. That's jus' th'engines startin' up. Nothing to be 'fraid of, trust me.” She nodded slowly at that and sighed deeply, calming down somewhat. We could hear the whirring of the props as James fed more and more power to the engines. Soon, there was a slight tilt forwards and we were airborne. Big Macintosh seemed to be just as uncomfortable as Redheart was, it seems.

“Still can't believe ya talked me inta takin' this contraption to Canterlot, Jen...” The once-Chimera in question shrugged noncommitally.

“Well, too late to change your mind right now, ya big lug. Don't worry, though. This bird's rock-solid. You have my word on it.” That seemed to assure the stallion and he nodded once.

“Eeyup.” A sudden lurch and several hissed curses later, we were moving forward, heading towards Canterlot – even at this distance, I could see that it was lit up like a Christmas Tree, now that evening had descended – a myriad of lights twinkled across the capital of Equestria. The distance would take a couple of hours to cover in the train, and our transport was much faster. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and others braced themselves against the walls – all of them, except for me, Jen, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy – I'd found out that a pegasus' sense of balance was pretty damn amazing, which explained their ability to stay upright even during horrible weather. I, on the other hand, was quite used to the acceleration of Kingfishers and Hawks. So, off we went in our squeaky clean VTOL, on our merry way towards Canterlot.

The trip proved to be fairly uneventful, with the passengers of the Kingfisher swapping stories of what they've been up to – James had moved in with Rarity, and had been helping her with business, apparently intent on learning the tailor's trade. Both Rarity and Twilight had been helping him develop his magic skills, too. He'd been good at it, too, despite his attention span of a goldfish, as Jen so eloquently put it. The pegasus herself had a part-time position in Ponyville's weather team, but spent most of her time working at Sweet Apple Acres, making good use of her magic-given wings.

Actually, I had a bit of a talk with Twilight about that spell after she'd cast it on Jen and James – turned out, it had been created by some long-forgotten mage back when unicorns were testing the boundaries of magic and their own power, just to see what they were capable of accomplishing. They'd created all manners of artifacts, summoned beasts from different realms, and invented various spells, both mundane and downright nightmarish. Many of them went awry, apparently, and such work was strictly limited once Celestia and Luna came to power. It had been a one-time exception for the two Chimera when Twilight was allowed to dig through the royal archives for the necessary spell. Luckily, it had worked flawlessly and both James and Jen had become noticeably less moody – not being constantly reminded of what the Chimera did to them seemed to help. Personally, I don't know how they held it together – what they've gone through is no laughing matter... How does one cope with losing one's humanity, after all?

“We're almost there!” James' voice shook me from my reverie, something that I was glad for – I'd been dwelling on depressive subjects far too often as of late...

“Nice to know. I can't wait to be on solid ground once more.” Redheart murmured, Big Mac nodding in agreement.

“Eeyup.”

With a gentle tilt to the right, we began to descend, touching down a minute later. The hull let out a quiet creak as the Kingfisher came to a halt, its engines winding down. James turned to look at us, smirking.

“Thanks for choosing Willoughby Airlines. Be aware that luggage in overhead racks may have shifted during flight. We hope you'll choose us in the future for your travelling needs.”

“The in-flight entertainment sucked and my peanuts were stale!” I replied, much to Jen's amusement. Others snickered as well, sending James into another grumbling fit. He kept grousing all the way up to the Canterlot Castle's entrance, where Luna awaited, greeting the arriving guests. Upon noticing us, she grinned.

“Ah, hello there, good friends! It is great to see you on this fine evening!” She exclaimed and we spoke our greetings. She nodded once before continuing.

“Your friend, Fred, arrived minutes ago. Do go on inside, and make sure to enjoy yourselves! The Gala's only begun, after all.” Her horn lit up and the large, elaborately-carved doors swung open, letting us inside. We nodded and went forwards, just as the midnight blue alicorn greeted the next arrivals.

“Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, Princess Luna actually said hi to me!” Redheart squeed overexcitedly, all but bouncing along as we went. Big Mac, on the other hand, had remained unflappable – no surprises there, honestly.

“Yeah, we kinda noticed, Redheart. Calm down, girl.” I chuckled at the overexcited mare. “Nothin' to get worked up over.”

“Nothing to get worked up over? But it's Prinmmmph~!” She managed to mumble out before I clamped my fingers around her muzzle.

“Redheart. Seriously. Relax.” She stared at me for a couple of long moments before nodding slowly. I let her go and she took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.

“Okay, I'm calm now. But seriously, though. You can't imagine what honour it is to be in the presence of a princess.” We resumed walking, and soon met a friend. Hint: he's twenty feet tall and enjoys tea.

“Hey, Fred! Nice to see you!” Jen exclaimed and our group turned to look at the Titan we were approaching – he grinned widely and nudged the top hat back on the middle of his head.

“Hello there, fellow partygoers! It is great to see you here! I trust your trip went well?” I nodded, waving a little in greeting.

“All things considered, yeah. So, I guess we best get to it. Th'Gala ain't gonna wait for us.” The looming Chimera chortled – his voice was deep and rumbling, and I could feel the floor quake a little from his chuckle.

“Indeed.” He straightened out and led us onwards, humming a tune to himself as we walked through the torch-lit hallways. In the distance, we could hear the subdued conversations of dozens of voices and what sounded like a band playing – the noises grew louder as we drew closer to the large, gilded door that was flanked by two unicorn guards. Upon seeing us, their horns lit up, pulling the door open. The wave of light and noise hit us and I stopped for a moment to take in the view.

There were dozens of all manners of smartly-dressed ponies milling about in the huge hall. Unicorn waiters, carrying trays with them wandered all across the hall, passing out refreshments and snacks to others. Two long, wide tables were laden down with more foodstuffs. Redheart's head was on a swivel as she drank in the sight, utter surprise written across her face as she stuttered out in awe.

“O-oh wow...”

“Right, then. Y'all enjoy yourselves, now. Same goes for you, Redheart!” She nodded slowly and trotted off to one of the tables, giddy with excitement. Others wandered off as well. I took one last look around, and sighed deeply.

Well, time to find me an alicorn.

You'd think someone of Celestia's stature would be easily-found.

Well, think again.

I'd been looking for the diarch in question for about twenty minutes for now, and she'd proven to be surprisingly elusive. I did end up meeting a good friend of mine – Silver Starlight. Upon seeing me, she grinned widely, and waved at me. I went over to her, glad to see her.

“Alice! It's good to see you!”

“Same here, Silver!” Closer to the charcoal-furred unicorn, I saw she was accompanied by two more mares, one of whom I recognised – Iron Night. The other one was noticeably older – her fur was white, her mane dark pink with a purple streak running through it, and her eyes were the exact same violet as Silver's. The elder unicorn eyed me levelly for a moment, and then smiled warmly.

“You must be Alice.” She stuck a hoof out at me. Without pause, I grasped it and shook it.

“An' you must be Eternal Dawn. Nice t'meet ya.” She chuckled slightly at that.

“Likewise. I trust you are enjoying the Gala?” I nodded in return.

“That Ah am. The princesses sure know how t'throw a party. This is even bigger than the previous Gala.” The unicorn chuckled softly and nodded.

“True enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” Dawn and I nodded to each other and she trotted off. I looked back to Silver.

“She seems nice.” The charcoal mare chuckled for a moment.

“Don't worry, she'll warm up to you.” She turned to look at the pegasus at her side. “Iron, could you get us some drinks, please?” Iron nodded and trotted off as well.

“So, what've you been up to, Alice?”

I told Redheart some pretty messed up stuff and am now trying to track down Princess Celestia so I can ask her if she can find a cure for the Chimera virus that's slowly killing me.

“Oh, nothin' much. Same old, same old. Y'know how it is.” She chuckled at that.

“Yeah, I guess I do.” A couple of moments passed before she spoke again. “You lie like a rug, you know.”

“Okay, yeah, maybe Ah got somethin' on my mind.” I hummed for a moment. “Jus' thinkin' 'bout my family – I'd give anything t'know if they're doin' alright.” She nodded understandingly at that.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Reminds me a little of Iron, too – she's an orphan. No idea who her parents are, or why they left her. Nopony should ever be cast away like that...” Silver looked down at the floor dourly and I felt the need to change the subject.

“So, how'd the two of you meet, anyways?”

“Oh, that's quite a tale, really. So, it's a calm and sunny day in Ponyville and I'm returning from the market. As I go, I suddenly hear this beautiful singing a ways off and think to myself – who is the mare with that amazing voice? Of course, my curiosity gets the better of me and I trot off to investigate, following the voice. I come across a music instrument shop. I venture inside and there she was – a messy, unruly pegasus, hunched over a guitar, singing as she worked.” Silver chuckled softly to herself. “I guess you could say that's when I fell in love with her. When she noticed me, she stopped singing and asked me what I wanted. I stammered my way through an excuse about snapped violin strings. Several more half-baked excuses and visits to the shop later, she saw through me and, well...” She chuckled to herself. “Whenever she isn't busy running her store, she spends time with me.” Silver smiled wanly and let out a soft sigh.

“She's kinda clingy, then?”

“No, not at all. It shows that she cares, a lot. And I don't mind.” Silver's smile waned for a moment. “I think that she's just afraid of losing me. What little I've managed to coax out from her concerning her past isn't pretty, and she seldom speaks of it – she sometimes has nightmares, mood swings, the like... I have a feeling she'd crumble quite fast without me...”

God, what was it with depressing topics lately?

“Well, Ah'm no expert on relationships, but maybe she doesn't want to talk of whatever's happened t'her. Leave past as it is an' focus on here an' now. But if she wants to talk 'bout it, well...” That seemed to throw Silver for a loop and she stared at the floor thoughtfully for several long moments before looking back at me.

“Hmm... Well, I have to admit I've never tried looking at it that way. But it can't hurt to try, right?”

“'xactly.” I gave her an encouraging smile and she smiled in return, her mood improving already.

“Puts things in a new perspective, that. Thank you, Alice.” I shrugged slowly at that.

“Think nothin' of it. 's what friends're for, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I snagged a couple of snacks from the tray carried by a waiter that was passing by. Handing one to Silver, I continued.

“The way Ah see it, every relationship's a two-way street. Ya gotta be willin' t'make compromises, just like with everything in life.” She was about to respond when the pegasus in question returned, balancing three glasses on her right wing. Silver smiled at Iron, and picked one of the glasses up, taking a sip.

“Oh. You got us champagne?” The grey mare shrugged slowly.

“Yes, well, there was no whiskey, so I had to make do with what they had available.” I received the second glass and took a sip.

“Much obliged, Iron. So, Ah guess this is your first time at th'Gala?” The pegasus nodded.

“Yeah. Oh, something I really gotta ask while I still remember it - some of the Canterlot musicians are my clients and I heard a bit of gossip that Prince Blueblood got beaten up by one of those Chimera in the previous year's Gala. Did it really happen?” I smirked at that and noticed Silver rolling her eyes.

“Yep. If you want th'details, you'd need to ask Jen about that. Pegasus, sandy browny coat, dark green mane, amber eyes. Might be with Big Mac. Can't miss him.”

“Wait. You mean the Big Macintosh from Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Mhm.” I nodded and Iron gave a low whistle.

“Wow. I kinda feel jealous now.”

“Ahem.” Silver coughed, looking sternly at the gray pegasus. Iron chuckled, grinning sheepishly as she wrapped a wing around Silver, giving her a slight squeeze.

“But I already have Silver, so, 's all right.”

Silver still gave her that stern look and Iron smirked slightly, whispering something into the charcoal unicorn's ear. Whatever she said had an immediate effect on Silver – her eyes went wide and she blushed a fierce red-

...how do you even see someone blush when their body's covered with fur.

H O W

Either way, Silver turned decidedly less stern and more distracted by Iron's words. One didn't have to be a genius to get the gist of what Iron told her.

“...so, yeah. Jen's the one ya want t'talk to for details of that particular event.” I spotted a brief flash of alabaster a ways off and finished the rest of my drink. “Oh, Ah saw a friend of mine. Ah'll see y'all later, then.” The two mares nodded and I set off, feeling slightly anxious.

Or maybe that was just the champagne.

I can't even convince myself of that. Oh, this is going to suck...

I tapped the tall, alabaster alicorn on her shoulder and coughed politely. Celestia blinked in brief surprise, and turned to look at me. A pleasant, motherly smile bloomed on her face and she nodded once to me.

“Hello, Miss Bradley. I trust you are finding everything to your tastes?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Ah jus' wanted t'have a bit of conversation with you. In private.” Her smile waned slightly at that.

“I'm sorry, but I already explained about returning to E-”

“It ain't that. Ah wanna talk to ya 'bout somethin' else. 's important. Might want to call Luna along f'r this one, too.” She eyed me levelly before nodding once.

“Very well, then. Follow me.” I nodded and did as asked, trailing after the diarch.

The door closed behind us with a soft click and I saw two other alicorns sitting at a table – Luna and a pink alicorn mare whom I didn't recognize. They nodded silently in greeting and I did the same, eyeing the two. Celestia came to a halt at my side.

“This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, ruler of the Crystal Empire.” The pink alicorn smiled and stood up.

“But you can call me Cadance. I take it that you're Alice? It's nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Now, then. Ah've got somethin' to tell, and Ah'd rather that whatever Ah say doesn't leave this room.” The three alicorns frowned slightly, but remained attentive. I took a deep breath and began my tale – how I joined the Army, was selected for Project Abraham, the tests, injections, the whole nine yards. I withheld nothing. Well, when I finished, they were pretty damn disgusted. James and others had told Celestia and Luna of what the Chimera were and what they had done in Europe, but Project Abraham was a whole another can of worms entirely. Cadance seemed to be on the verge of fainting. Luna looked fairly ill. Celestia was regarding me with a rather unnerving look of suspicion. Several long moments later, she hummed thoughtfully, and trotted over to look out one of the windows. Silence reigned for a while before she spoke.

“It would be simpler to follow the path James and Jennifer took, no?” I shrugged slowly at that.

“You've kinda got a point there, ma'am. But Ah think they only chose to do so because of what the Chimera turned 'em into. Ah feel quite comfortable as Ah am. Ah'm not a full-blown Chimera yet.” She gave a slight chuckle at that.

“Would you be willing to provide samples of that serum and your blood, then? If there is to be a cure for your condition, my researchers would need to know what exactly they are making a remedy for.” She raised a hoof, signalling she wasn't done speaking. “A favor for a favor.”

“Uh... What kinda favor?” I frowned. I don't think I'd like the answer all too much.

“We will do what we can to develop a cure, or the equivalent of one for you. In return, we will forward you assignments that will make the best of your training.”

And Bingo was his name-o~

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Jus' hold up for a second there. Y'want me to do mercenary work?” Celestia turned to look at me, her face a carefully-composed mask.

“While I wouldn't have put it like that, yes. This is sensitive information you'd be entrusted with, just as you trusted us with your secret.”

“Look, Ah've had more'n my fair share of killing back in Europe. No way Ah'm doin' yer dirty jobs in yer stead.” Luna bristled angrily at the insinuation, opening her mouth to speak, along with Cadance, but were stopped by Celestia.

“Everypony, calm down. I'm sure we can reach a compromise here, Alice. All who agree, simmer quietly.”

Two alicorns simmered quietly.

A human glowered indignantly.

“Now, then. I guess a little explanation in order. Equestria isn't quite the utopia everyone sees it as. Many lands border ours – Minos, Griffon Empire, Zebrica, Saddle Arabia, and others. We have warred with some of them in the past. Even though the peace has been maintained for a millennia, there are those who still harbor hate against Equestria and seek to harm my subjects as slavers or pillagers. If it's not that, it's either Diamond Dogs or a hungry dragon, freshly-awoken from its slumber. Most of Equestria's inhabitants live in a blissful ignorance of the threats that see us as a tempting target. To counter especially dangerous foes, we've assembled a special forces team – while their methods are unorthodox, to say the least, they get the job done. I would have you join them whenever they are needed. You only need aid us until we have found a viable means of stopping the virus. After that, you're free to live as you please. I promise.” She looked at me and I steadily returned her gaze, though on the inside I was torn by indecision.

In the end, though, I accepted her offer. My only other option was to die, frankly. Those few vials I had wouldn't last forever. Besides, despite everything, I was a soldier. I'd enlisted to protect people above all else.

I just hoped I wouldn't have to regret making this choice.

Chapter 5

Ever have your otherwise-perfect day ruined right off the bat?

Well, then you'll know how I felt when a Royal Guard delivered an ivory-coloured envelope to me roughly three weeks after the Gala.

I'd just put the water on boil as I prepared my breakfast when I heard a knocking on the door. It was almost seven in the morning, piquing my curiosity as to who was coming to visit me this early. I got my answer as soon as I opened the door – a Royal Guard stood there, his breath coming out in puffs of steam as he hand-er, hoofed a letter over to me. I was about to ask what was this all about when he trotted away, leaving me puzzled. Turning the envelope around in my hands, I spotted the Princesses' seal. Soon as I saw it, I understood what this was, and my mood soured in a flash.

“Oh, great...” I muttered under my breath, shutting the door behind me as I went back inside the house, and tossed the envelope on the table in my living room. I had a breakfast to make. The letter could wait.

Fifteen minutes later found me fed and somewhat less-irate as I opened the letter, pulling out the folded sheet of paper, and began to read it.

Miss Bradley,

We hope this letter finds you in good health. We have found a situation that we request your help with. Recently, some of our trade caravans have been attacked while they travelled between Equestria and Crystal Empire. The bandits took only what they could carry, instead of attempting to claim the entire caravan. Their leader is no fool, and knows how to use the environment to his advantage. To end his harassment of our ponies, we turn to you for aid.

We have already arranged for a letter to be delivered to your hospital's superior, Final Draft, so you don't have to worry about trouble from him. Far as he knows, you've been summoned to Canterlot on royal business.

Your friend, Jennifer, has agreed to loan your air transport to us if need be. Considering you'll have a lot of distance to cover, taking this Kingfisher would be prudent.

Once you arrive at the Canterlot Castle, we will meet you and introduce you to the rest of the task force before heading out to apprehend the bandits. How you deal with them will be left at your discretion.

That's where the letter ended, marked with a crescent moon.

Luna.

Letting out a sigh, I finished the last of my breakfast, washed the dishes, and went upstairs, to my bedroom. Opening the wardrobe, I pulled out a couple of things – my old Ranger uniform, helmet, backpack, and my weapons - the M5A2, and the tried-and-tested M1911 sidearm, along with four magazines of hand-loaded ammo for each, courtesy of Jen's workshop. I plucked out my winter clothes, donning those for now. I'd only draw unnecessary attention if I walked around Ponyville in my uniform. There'd be time to change later.

With the necessities packed up, I grabbed the duffel bag and slung it across my shoulder. I ran a last check over my house – the fireplace held only a couple of weak embers, the trash was taken out, back door and windows locked, yadda yadda yadda...

The lock clicked as I turned the key and pocketed it afterwards. Snow was falling from the sky in large, graceful snowflakes. The weatherponies were really outdoing themselves today, I realised, looking around – the houses were all covered in a layer of white, while the streets themselves were covered with trails of all kinds, left by chariots and ponies, drawing a disorienting picture upon the white canvas. I sighed and turned to look one last time at my house before walking away.

I passed a handful of bits to the stallion pulling the chariot, and climbed out of the cab's interior. He tipped his hat to me and deposited the fare into a saddlebag before driving off, in search of new passengers. I picked my bag up, and started down the path leading to the Sweet Apple Acres, humming quietly to myself.

When I arrived there, I met Big Macintosh. The stallion was dragging a sled after him, laden with firewood. When he saw me, he stopped and waved to me, smiling in that calm way of his.

“Howdy, Alice. What brings you here?”

“Need to borrow the Kingfisher. Know where Jen's at?”

“Eeyup. She's checkin' her workshop. Reckon she might still be there.” I nodded at that and strode towards the small-ish hut, the snow-covered Kingfisher parked at its side, canvas covering the more exposed parts of it to protect it from weather, namely engine cowlings. The workshop's window was lit, and I could see someone move around inside. Walking up to the door, I knocked on it, and heard Jen's voice after a moment.

“Come in!” I pushed the door open and entered Jen's so-called sanctuary. Tools of all sorts and sizes hung from the walls, and the tables were covered in all kinds of odds and ends. The Steelhead-turned-pegasus was picking over something on a table.

“Hey, Alice. What brings you here?”

“Moon Horse says she needs the VTOL.” The words came out before I could even properly think about that sentence. Jen, however, doubled over and snickered loudly.

“She does, huh? Yeah, I told her they could borrow the Kingfisher if they ever needed some fast transport. Only time we had a combat drop was back when we took that rogue griffon general down, remember? Anyways, here are the keys.” She plucked a keyring out of her saddlebag and tossed it to me. “Make sure to take all of the covers off and run some of the power core's waste heat through the systems. Won't do if you try to start the engines and they're frozen solid.”

“So, you ain't gonna ask why they didn't just send some guards over?” Jen smirked at that.

“Kinda obvious, that – none of them know how to pilot that bird, and Rarity's keeping James busy. You, however, know how to fly a VTOL. Just don't scratch the paint on it.”

“Don'tcha worry none 'bout it. Ah could pilot a Hawk with my eyes closed, an' the Kingfisher's virtually identical. They used t'call me Alice the Ace back at bootcamp.”

“Really?”

“Nah.”

The trip to Canterlot was largely mundane – the most exciting thing to happen was a pegasus or two racing along the Kingfisher for a moment or two before veering away. The weather team was really going at it, moving the snow clouds around the skies, blanketing the ground with a white layer. The muffled drone of the Kingfisher's engines was my only companion as I closed in on the majestic city perched on the side of the snow-covered mountain.

Luna was waiting for me as I landed, a thick, woolly scarf wrapped around her neck. Just the scarf, and nothing else, her usual regalia aside. As the small snowstorm that the Kingfisher's rotors whipped up died, she trotted over to me, all business.

“Good day, miss Bradley. Follow us to the barracks.” I nodded and fell into step at her side. “We trust you read the letter?

“Yep.”

“Then all that remains to do is to introduce you to the ponies you'll be working with. They may not seem like it, but they are all highly-trained. But you'll be able to see for yourself.” I only nodded as we trekked through the snow-covered castle grounds.

The barracks were a far cry from the castle itself – while just as immaculately clean, it was much less roomier there. There was a mess hall, sparring grounds, archery range, a magic combat arena, armoury, a smithy... everything an army would need. But the whole place was all but deserted, and I voiced that thought to Luna.

“All of the troops stationed here currently are on leave with their families, and the site is maintained by a token force in the meanwhile. As such, you can prepare for your mission in relative secrecy.”

“Ah guess that's reasonable.” The midnight blue alicorn nodded and we walked on through the quiet hallway.

Eventually we reached our destination, which I guessed was the common room. Several voices could be heard from inside, and Luna pushed the door open, and trotted in. I followed, and took a look around. A dozen or so ponies were lounging inside, either doing nothing, or chatting with each other. Several suits of armour were arranged on nearby racks. Upon our entrance, they looked at us, and then bowed to Luna. She turned to look at me and nudged me towards the ponies with a wing.

“Well, then. We shall let you get to know your compatriots. We wish you good luck on your mission.” With a flash, she teleported away.

“C'mon, close the door an' take a seat!” A heavily-built unicorn mare shouted from one of the chairs, beckoning for me to come closer. “I'm Siegebreaker, and this brat over here...” she dragged a younger mare over with her magic. “This is my daughter, Windwaker.” Windwaker grumbled something rude and waved a hoof at me in greeting.

“Yo.” Windwaker also seemed to have some muscle on her. Her coat was pale yellow, her mane carmine red and her eyes were grey. Her cutie mark was a cracked skull, oddly enough. Siegebreaker, on the other hand, looked like she was related to Big Mac. The brown-furred unicorn easily towered over her daughter by at least a head. Scratching her green-maned head, she let Windwaker go back to whatever she was doing, her red eyes eyeing me inquisitively.

“And you are...?”

“Alice Bradley. Nice t'meetcha.” I went over to shake her hoof. She stood up and met me halfway – I could tell from her gait she knew how to throw her weight around.

“Likewise. I have to say, you don't look like much. But if the Princesses vouch for you, that's enough for me.”

“You'll just have t'wait until we find those bandits, then. Ah'll put up a show, jus' fer ya.” Siegebreaker cackled at that, slapping me on the back.

“That's what I like to hear! Okay, go and mingle with the rest of our group.” I nodded and walked over to the one pony that stood out like a sore thumb – she had bat wings, after all.

“Hey.” I waved at her and she grinned widely in return, giving me an enthusiastic wave in return.

“Hello!” Soon as the words left her mouth, she scowled slightly, adopting a noticeably more gruff appearance. “I mean... A good day to you...” Her whole stance could be summed up with a single word – edgy. Hell if I know what that means, but that's the first word that popped into my head.

“Ah'm Alice. What's yer name?”

“Night Star! *cough* I mean, I am Nox Stella of Lunar Guard.”

“So, why do you have bat wings, if you don't mind me askin'?”

“Well, that's because I'm a bat pony! *cough* I mean, I am a thestral. I prowl the nights, protecting the ponies without them ever realizing it. They may fear me and my kin, but that is to be expected. We stand in an eternal vigil over Equestria...”

“Just scratch her between her ears.” Siegebreaker whispered to me, suddenly appearing at my side. For a mare her size, she was sneaky as hell. Either way, I did as instructed. Immediately, Nox stopped her dark and gloomy tirade and cooed blissfully, her ears flicking about. It took her a couple of moments to process this turn of events.

“Nooo! Stop touching me! I am the night!” I snickered at that, and kept scratching.

“All Ah see is a diabetes-inducin' bat pony, sorry.” That coaxed a snicker out of a stallion perched on a nearby – he was cobalt blue, with a jet black mane and sharp, blue eyes. He also had a stetson perched atop his head.

“Nox always tries to play tough. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.” He stood up, and trotted over to me, sticking a hoof at me. “Name's Dustin Echoes.” I shook his hoof, and noticed the mark on his flank – a pair of crossed crossbows. A moment later, a fiery red pegasus mare trotted up to me, also shaking my hand.

“Heart Phyre. Nice to meet you. Princess Luna said we'd be getting help for this one. You're not quite what I expected, though.”

“Pfft. What'd you expect, then?”

“Oh, a minotaur. Or a griffon.” I smirked slightly and tapped my face, where my scars were.

“Ah got these from a griffon when he ambushed me. Last mistake he made.” That seemed to impress the pegasus some and she whistled.

“Damn. I'm surprised you still have both your eyes after a tangle like that.”

“Ah've had worse, believe me. Now, then. Is there anyone else left for me t'meet?” Siegebreaker finished a drink, letting out a quiet burp.

“Well, there's a couple of other dudes from the Guard that should arrive in a couple of minutes. Top-notch soldiers, all of 'em.” I nodded and took a seat, intercepting Windwaker's thrown bottle of apple juice. Popping the lid, I took a sip.

“Sweet. Soon as we're all ready, we'll take the Kingfisher.”

“You mean that flying machine? I've seen it once or twice.” Nox spoke up, apparently done with her mysterious-slash-dark dramatics.

“Yup.”

“Awesome! *cough* I mean, that is good to know. Time is of the essence, especially since we have a lot of ground to cover.” I smirked to myself at her antics and looked back at Siegebreaker.

“So, do we have some maps to guide ourselves with?”

“Totally!” The unicorn pulled out several parchment scrolls from a nearby saddlebag, waving them about. “These come from the Royal Archives, so I feel pretty damn confident about our odds at getting to the caravan route on time.” She glanced at a clock on the wall for a moment. “Should be a couple of minutes until they're here.” I nodded and was about to return to my drink when something popped up in my mind.

“Did your parents really call you Siegebreaker?” The heavily-built unicorn cackled again, shaking her head.

“Fuck no. It's my nickname.”

“So, what's yer real name?”

“That'd be telling, now wouldn't it?” She smirked at me, making Windwaker roll her eyes.

“Don't mind her, she's always like that.”

“'kay, then. Guess we'll wait for those others to show up.”With that settled, I got to know my new companions some more...

Dustin levitated the crossbow up, letting me inspect it. “This baby's one of a kind. Built it myself. The limbs are reinforced with a couple of strips of copper and the whole thing is enchanted to protect it from harsh weather.” He plucked out a scope from his saddlebag and slotted it in place on his crossbow. “With this scope on, I can hit just about anything I desire to, provided it's within two hundred metres of me. You need something taken down silently, I'm your stallion. The bolts it fires are crafted by yours truly, each and every one of them – explosive, incendiary, armor-piercing, the like. And my armor's got some enchantments on it, too, but I'll show those off when we get there.”

“Sweet.” That's about when the door was kicked open and four more ponies burst inside the room, all of them clad in armor. Siegebreaker grinned gleefully and began to introduce them to me.

“Yo, listen up! Princess Luna has given us a new squadmate! Her name is Alice Bradley! Alice, meet Burning Ember, Summer Heart, Thunder Charge and Harmonics.” Two stallions and two mares waved at me, and I waved in return before adressing the rest of the group.

“So, Ah guess we're all here, then. Pack your gear, we're moving out ASAP.” They nodded and jumped into action, putting their armor on and gathering up their weapons. Siegebreaker had a heavy-looking maul, Windwaker toted a halberd, Nox had hoofblades of some sort. Heart strapped a rather intricate pair of wingblades to her wings, and gave a couple of testing flaps to make sure they worked properly. I observed the asembled group, and found myself very impressed. These guys looked like they could dish out some serious hurt. “Now, let's get a friggin' move on. Our ride's waitin'.” A chorus of assent followed my words and we filed out of the room in a clatter of armor, while Dustin and Heart didn't even make so much as a single sound.

I heard the ponies behind me mutter quietly among themselves as we reached the Kingfisher and grinned as I turned around.

“Now, then. Y'all get on board and get yerselves seated. Ah've gotta check if there's anythin' frozen up while it's been here.” I unlocked the door, letting them inside as I ran a check on the Kingfisher's hull. Once I was satisfied with the VTOL's condition, I joined my passengers, taking the pilot's seat. “Strap yourselves in, if you can! This flight might be a bit bumpy, considerin' the weather. Might want to secure yer weapons, too. Would be bad if one of us ended with a sword through the face, huh?” That got a chuckle or two out of them and they strapped their various weapons into the rack that once held the Rossmores, Jen having stored them away in her workshop. With that out of the way, I started the engines. The nigh-inaudible hum of the Kingfisher's power core jumped up an octave or two and the muffled 'clunk' from the roof indicated that the props had started to spin, slowly gaining speed as I fed more and more power to the engines. Sure, I could've just cranked the power to max right off the bat, but that could damage the propeller blades, and then even Jen's considerable technical expertise would be useless. Slow and steady it was, then.

Thirty seconds later, we were airborne, zooming upwards, through the dark snowclouds. Knowing what was to come, I snagged sunglasses from my breast pocket, quickly putting them on. A couple of moments passed before we were above the low clouds, and sunlight flooded the VTOL's interior in a warm, golden wave. I was the only one that didn't wince or curse at the sudden brightness. Levelling the flier out, I chuckled to myself before speaking up.

“Okay, so, can someone bring me those maps, please?” A moment later, Siegebreaker claimed the co-pilot's seat, carrying with her the maps, rolling them open. She examined one of them for a couple of moments, then eyed the Kingfisher's instrument panel, humming to herself as she did some calculations in her mind. A minute later, she spoke to me.

“Head north-west for now. At this bearing, we'll reach Siltway – it's a small settlement that also will serve us as a good landmark to navigate from. It'd be faster if we flew in a straight line, but I don't really want to risk us missin' the caravan route.”

“Makes sense.” I nodded thoughtfully. The snowclouds soon ended, revealing the snow-covered lands below us. It was a nice view, really, considering we were at about 700 metre altitude. Though the interior of our transport was cold at first, the heat radiating from the power core soon warmed the VTOL up, letting my passengers remove their armor and rest comfortably, and relative silence soon set in. I took a look at the small mirror affixed near the top of the windows and smirked – most of my passengers had dozed off, Siegebreaker and Harmonics aside. The former was alertly eyeing the landscape, giving me the occasional course corrections. The latter was fussing over a staff.

“Say, Harmonics, what's with th'staff?” She looked at me and chuckled, turning the length of wood over in her hooves.

“Well, even though I can cast spells on my own, what with me being a unicorn and all, they can be made more effective if you have something to channel your magic through.”

“Ah guess that makes sense. What kinda spells do ya cast?”

“Sound spells.” She replied and returned her attention to her staff.

“Fair 'nough. Guess you'll show me when we get there?”

“Mhm.” She nodded and I returned my attention to piloting.

The calm was interrupted some time later, when Harmonics also decided to take a nap. She tried to cuddle with Windwaker, 'tried' being the key word here. Siegebreaker's daughter didn't take it well – she was awake in an instant, bucking Harmonics off of her, sending the unicorn flying on top of a sleeping Dustin.

“Ack~” Dustin sat up blinking dazedly, and Harmonics ended up sprawled on the floor, rubbing her sore side.

“Oooowww... What was that for, Windy?” Harmonics whined, sitting upright.

“Don't call me that. And stop trying to grope me in my sleep. Gettin' real tired of your shit.” The earth pony mare grumbled, scowling at the source of her ire.

“But I know you like me!”

“I tolerate your presence. There's a difference.”

Siegebreaker shook her head and chuckled lowly. “Oh, boy, there they go again...”

“Somethin' I should be concerned about?”

“Nah, not really. They've been going at it like this for a couple of weeks, now. It all started when Windy got drunk – like, totally smashed – after a successful mission we had out in the Badlands. So, she's full as a sock and drags Harmonics off to somewhere. Next morning, as everyone prepares to deal with the horror that is a hangover, the two of them show up. Neither would tell us what they had been up to, but when we paid a visit to the armory, the tables there were... sticky, to say the least.”

“Oh, ew.” I grimaced slightly.

“Ew, indeed. Took three days to get rid of the stench. Windy clammed right up. Harmonics did the exact opposite.” Siegebreaker shook her head slightly, casting a look at the two bickering mares.

“...remember a muzzle clamping down on my tail and dragging me away to somewhere private...”

“Oh, for fuck's sake, I was drunk! Ponies do stupid shit when they're drunk!”

“I recall you kissing her in front of us.” Dustin added (un)helpfully, and Harmonics nodded, grinning widely.

“I did that to get her to shut up, Dustin. I can endure her yapping for only so long.” Windwaker retorted. Harmonics looked somewhat hurt by those words.

“Sometimes, I wish they'd just kiss and make up or someshit. Unit integrity's sufferin' this way. Windwaker keeps claiming she ain't a fillyfooler, Harmonics says otherwise, and no visible end to it, far as I can see...” Siegebreaker sighed thoughtfully. By now, the two squabblers had woken everyone else up and fucking hell the noise was getting on my nerves.

“Cut that shit out or I will turn this thing around, I SWEAR TO GOD.” My voice fell silent – and others' as well, thankfully – and I looked in the mirror at the ponies. “Sort this out later, 'kay? You're a detriment to th'mission if you can't keep it together. If ya can't remain calm, you're going t'sit this one out. Any objections?”

There weren't any.

“Nice t'know.” Fuming somewhat, I returned my attention to piloting. God, it was worse than a friggin' kindergarten back there.

*ahem*

I turned to look at Siegebreaker, who returned my gaze, mild concern in her eyes.

“Are your eyes supposed to glow amber like that?”

I mulled over that sentence for a couple of moments before looking back out the window.

“Not if Ah can avoid it...”

Chapter 6

It was already dark when we arrived at Siltway, and our only waypoint was a cluster of lights on the horizon that marked the settlement's location. This place was quite a distance away from the main roads that spanned Equestria, and as such, maintained a militia force, and the whole place was surrounded by a wall. When we landed in the town square, the Kingfisher was instantly surrounded by a bunch of the militia. Luckily, Siegebreaker defused the situation – as in, she waved around some sort of a token. Soon as the residents saw it, they calmed down and Siegebreaker was able to explain our task to what seemed to be the mayor of Siltway. Though wary of me and our transport, he provided us lodgings for the night, which we happily accepted – we'd been cooped up in the Kingfisher for several hours, and were all but ready to chew each other out.

I hummed to myself as I locked the doors, securing our belongings aboard the VTOL. The engine covers were in place – it'd suck big-time if the works were clogged with snow and ice next morning. Taking a couple of steps backwards, I examined my handiwork for a moment. Glad that it was all proper and such, I followed my companions to a nearby tavern that had vacant rooms, courtesy of the mayor. To me, it would be a welcome change to the Kingfisher's seats – they seriously needed some reupholstering.

The door closed behind me with a quiet clunk and I sought out the stairs that led to upstairs, trying to ignore the looks I was getting – folk at a place ways out like this would obviously be suspicious of me, whether I was here under the royalty's authority or not. Humming to myself as the wintry chill left my bones, I entered the room that had been given to us. Everyone had settled in comfortably. Well, aside from Windwaker and Harmonics, who were at it again. I let out a sigh, taking a seat as I idly watched the two of 'em chew each other out. Turns out, there was more to it that I'd first thought.

“...Y'know I ain't gonna judge ya, kiddo. Character matters, not race or gender. And Harmonics is nice enough, if a little obnoxious on the occasion.” Siegebreaker interjected at one point, seeing as her daughter was about to start tearing her own mane out in frustration.

“Princesses damn it, none of you get it, do you? Okay, let's see here – say, I do decide to have a relationship with Harmonics. Everything's fine and dandy for an indeterminate length of time. And then, bam - shit happens on a mission and I buy the farm for some reason, whatever that may be. Or she does. Either way, one of us will be left in grief, not to mention our families.” That took the starch out of Harmonics and Siegebreaker, both of whom considered this for a couple of moments. Eventually, Harmonics spoke.

“Well, when you put it that way... I won't bother you any more, Windwaker. I guess I just got a bit too excited.” She smiled wanly, giving a little shrug. Siegebreaker hummed to herself for a brief moment.

“I guess you've got a point, kid. Hell, now I'm wondering how you even got into this team.”

“Because I hit like a sledgehammer?” The mare in question offered, puffing her chest out proudly.

“Well, there's that.” Siegebreaker smirked involuntarily before yawning. “Shit, I'm tired. I'ma get to sleep. I suggest the rest of you do the same. We'll set out at dawn tomorrow if we wanna get to the caravan route in time.” Others murmured in agreement and settled down in whatever was available. Nox dragged a couple of blankets down on the floor, making a resting place for those who didn't have a bed available. I simply reclined in the chair I occupied, gazing into the crackling fireplace, sleep slowly overtaking my senses...

The drone of our U/AV-17 Hawk's engines doubled in loudness as the door slid shut, the VTOL joining the flock of other Hawks taking to air from USS Lexington's flight deck, the aircraft carrier but a part of the fleet anchored roughly forty miles away from York. My squad was all ready, strapped into the seats, anxious about the upcoming mission – brass had been very scarce with intel, which made a lot of us nervous. All we knew was we were the reinforcements for the British, and they'd give the brass some sort of a superweapon, and that was all the briefing we got. If I were more attentive at the time, I'd have been suspicious of our task. As it was, however, I was more occupied with staying awake as we drew ever closer to York – my last night had been mostly filled with nightmares and I managed to snatch precious few hours of sleep. As a result, I was zoning in and out of it.

Well, until the Hawk leading our wing exploded into a giant fireball and plummeted downwards, that is.

With a shout of terror, our pilot veered to side wildly in an attempt to avoid the now-destroyed Hawk's tail prop, and I glimpsed numerous projectiles soaring upwards to meet our aircraft. The radio was instantly alive with chatter, with pilots crying out for orders, or screaming as their fliers were blown out of the sky or collided mid-air with others. Our bird got clipped by flak for a moment, but our pilot managed to keep us aloft.

And then a Hawk missing its left wing sideswiped us, sending our craft into an uncontrollable spin. The flier's hull groaned and shuddered as the pilot tried vainly to regain control of his aircraft, landscape spinning madly outside the windows. And then we crashed – the bone-rattling jolt was to be expected but it still stunned us. My own restraints snapped and I was thrown from my seat, slamming me face-first into a wall. The last thing I felt before passing out was something sharp and jagged go through my right shoulder.

I jolted upright in my chair, my heart beating frantically as I took in my surroundings – the inn room. A couple of moments passed until I realized I had my M1911 in my hand and I quickly holstered the sidearm, looking around the room. Luckily, no one else was awake and I sank back down into my chair, letting out a quiet sigh. Yay, my nightmares decided to remind me they were still there. Lucky me. I checked my wristwatch for a moment – it was twelve past six. Early enough, I guess. Best get the VTOL thawed out before others wake up. Donning my clothes, I left the inn, striding towards the aircraft squatting a ways off. As I closed in, I saw that the canvas covers were still in place, which was good – it meant that no one had tampered with it in the meanwhile. I pulled the covers off, shaking the accumulated ice and snow free from the canvas sheets before folding them up and returning them to their compartment.

It usually would take about an hour to ensure a Hawk would be ready to fly after being left outside during a cold winter night. All kinds of checks had to be run to make sure that nothing had been damaged by the weather. Luckily, I only had to let the power core idle for about ten minutes – the heat it let out suited well enough to melt even the most stubborn ice. That, and Jen was a superb technician – she'd kept the flier in a remarkable condition. From what she told me, all kinds of junk had appeared in the weeks following our arrival in Equestria - bits of human machinery, and some of Chimeran origin... as well as bodies of either. Of course, nothing new had been sighted for months. Jen had salvaged what the ponies had recovered, and the dead had been given a burial.

Either way, Jen had accumulated a small stockpile of spare parts for both the Sabertooth and the Kingfisher, considering most of the salvage recovered was deteriorated to the point it was useless when found.

Hoofsteps crunching across the snow snapped me out of thought and I turned around, looking at Siegebreaker trotting towards me. “Hey, Alice. What's up?”

“Nothin' much. Jus' checkin' for ice where it ain't supposed t'be.” She nodded at that.

“Ah. Others are going to wake up pretty soon. I sorted out a breakfast for us all. Wanna join?”

“Sure. Gimme a moment, Ah'm almost finished.” She nodded and waited patiently as I locked the doors, and followed the heavyset mare moments later.

Our group clustered around one of the inn's tables, busily munching away – in this early hour, we were the only ones up and about, and I used the opportunity to gain more insight on our mission when there were no opportunistic eavesdroppers nearby.

“So, what've we got, exactly?” Siegebreaker swallowed before speaking.

“The caravans always get ambushed at the same stretch of the route, more or less. The bandits always wait for nightfall, and attack from both sides. From what the caravaneers told the inspectors, the group's a mix of griffons, ponies, and a minotaur or two.”

“Hmm. What're the procedures like for a caravan tryin' t'use the route?”

“Well, there's the usual paperwork, and the officials take an exact manifesto of what the caravan's got, a headcount of whoever's with the caravan, the like.”

“Huh. Maybe one of 'em's feeding that info to the bandits, tellin' 'em which caravans they're supposed to ambush and which ones to let pass unharmed?” Siegebreaker nodded approvingly at that before speaking.

“That's one of the possibilities we came to a while ago, but so far, our investigation's turned up nothing. And, when we get to the bandits, it's possible that this theoretical informant goes to ground.”

“Yeah, that's liable to happen. So, what do the bandits take when they attack?”

“Nothing much, only what they're able to carry and still remain reasonably mobile. This seems to suggest that they don't have the means to storing lots of goods, or that they have their base of operations relatively close to the caravan route. None of the caravans have been completely sacked, although they've taken several captives, and always retreat as fast as they can once they've got what they need.”

“'kay. What about the caravans themselves? How d'ya transport the goods around here?”

“This far up north? Sleds of all sizes, all year 'round. The ponies who maintain the route have some sort of a deal with the reindeer tribes – the reindeer haul the cargo to and fro, the ponies give 'em all kinds of supplies in return as payment.”

“Huh...” I hummed to myself, deep in thought, as the inklings of a plan took hold in my mind.

“Alice, you look like you're planning something.” Heart leaned closer, cocking a curious eyebrow at me.

“Perceptive, ain'tcha? Yeah, Ah'm plannin', alright. We put th' Kingfisher on the biggest sled that'll carry her, covered up with tarp, an' we pose as caravaneers, see if we can't lure the bandits out. We get our 'cargo' marked as highly valuable, which it is, but that's 'sides the point. If they do have an informant feedin' them info, they'll get curious n' greedy, and might lay us an ambush. When the bastards jump us, we take at least one of 'em alive, so we can find their base, and cut the head off the snake, so to speak.” I leaned back in my seat, waiting as I gauged their reactions. Dustin was the first to speak up.

“That could work, if we can pull this off. For starters, we need to find a sled big enough to carry your aircraft. We'll need a team of reindeer to haul it – two dozen fully-grown bucks, I'd wager. Tarp will be easier to find, and the unfamiliar profile of our transport will make them more curious about our caravan. But we'll see when we get to there.” Heart sat up, nodding in agreement.

“The other option would be to send an escort of guardsponies with each caravan, but that'd take time to sort out, and every caravan would need a sizeable escort – they'd be less mobile, too, and the bandits would likely go into hiding until the escort unit sizes are lowered and they go about raiding once more.” Others murmured in agreement, and Siegebreaker joined in, grinning.

“Well, guys, looks like we've got a plan. So hurry up and finish eating, 'cuz we've got some bandits to catch!” A chorus of 'Yes, ma'am' was the answer she got and she puffed her chest out slightly, smirking self-assuredly. “Hell yeah. I still got it.”

“Mom, eat your breakfast.”

“'kay, so how does that work, anyways?” I turned to ask Siegebreaker as the scroll burst into a ball of purple fire.

“It's like dragonfire, but portable. This way, we can send important letters from one place to another. Thing is, only unicorns can send and receive the letters, and it is complicated to create such a link, so, if a letter is sent from, say, Baltimare to Vanhoover, the letter'll hop between several of the posts inbetween. Either way, we'll be ready to go soon as we get there. We'll get the biggest sled, the strongest deer team to pull it, and a big fucking tarp. In theory, our expenses are covered by the royal treasury. Let's see if that is actually true.”

“What, y'think th'princesses might try t'work us over?”

“Nah, not them. Some stuck-up noblemoron asshat who only cares about their own wealth, however, might. Why the logistics isn't managed by entirely competent ponies is beyond me, but I guess some ponies do need to get kicked far enough upstairs where they can't do any damage.”

“Fair 'nough. Right, let's get goin'. Dustin looks like he's going t'have a fit.” True enough, the stallion was impatiently tapping his hoof against the floor at a rate which suggested that the floor would need to be remodelled soon. Siegebreaker smirked at the sight and nodded, motioning for us to follow her out of the post office, towards where the Kingfisher awaited.

We flew as fast as we could, seeing as we had precious little hours left until the daylight ended, and we'd be flying blind. Siegebreaker assured me, however, that we wouldn't miss the settlement marking the start of the caravan route – it was a big place, called Bellwake. Ponies and their weird names, heh... Anyhow, the place would be lit up during nighttime, seeing as caravans used the route 'round the clock. And, with no other settlements around, it'd be the only source of light for miles around.

Honestly, that didn't do an awful lot to reassure me – I hated flying blind. The VTOL's radar was practically useless, seeing as there was nothing for me to guide us by. I had to turn off the interior lighting just to see outside, and the snowfall only made the visibility worse – every moment, we could pancake against a mountain and that'd be the end for us. The built-in spotlights weren't much help, either. Thus, I could do little more than follow Siegebreaker's instructions.

When we got there, though, her words proved to be true – I'd have to be blind to miss the place. There were torches everywhere, lining the streets of the large town. It obviously was very prosperous, with many houses dotting the landscape, and large, sturdy warehouses clustering around the wide clearing which marked the beginning of the caravan route. I can honestly say it was an impressive sight to behold.

“Go over there, that's our landing zone.” Siegebreaker motioned towards a circle of lights that showed up a moment later after coming about for a landing. Nodding, I turned the VTOL towards the marked area, and touched down a couple of moments later, our transport's hull sinking slightly into the snow. I cut the power to the engines and opened the doors. A gust of wind swept in, followed by a scattering of snow as my passengers filed out, one by one. Siegebreaker followed, and I followed suit, running a quick check that no one had forgotten anything before grabbing my own belongings. With the help of Nox and Heart, I got the Kingfisher all canvassed up in a couple of minutes. With that done, we headed into the town proper.

I was definitely glad that I'd got my winter clothes on at Siltway – even with them on, I felt the bite of the cold. Others didn't seem too affected, though. Then again, they were covered in fur, and their armor would be enchanted. With Siegebreaker leading us, we headed towards the biggest building around – common logic dictated that persons of importance would be found at the biggest, most noticeable place there was to be found.

And so we ended up in someplace that was a cross between a hotel and an office complex. There were ponies and reindeer everywhere. The warmth was also a nice change. After weaving our way through the bustle, we reached the mayor's office and were promptly let inside, where we met our host – a grizzled, stately reindeer going by the name of Wayfarer. He'd already prepared what we'd need – a heavy-duty sled, one of the strongest hauler teams, and enough tarp to cover the Kingfisher in its entirety.

Although I would've loved to do a bit of exploring the settlement, we didn't have time for that right now – the Kingfisher was loaded up, covered with the tarp, and we were off in just a little over an hour since we arrived at the route. I know, I know, I'm rushing ahead of myself, I suppose, but I have my reasons.

When I came to Equestria, I was utterly baffled as to how this land had managed to prosper – at first sight, it seemed like a weak, tempting target.

But on that night, I was a witness to just how capable the Equestrians were of protecting what was theirs.

Chapter 7

The large sled glided near-silently along the wide, well-kept route. The Kingfisher was secured on top of said sled, and covered in the tarp. Of course, some parts were exposed, but hopefully, that would only increase the chance the bandits would pick our caravan for an ambush. The reindeer that were pulling the sled didn't show any signs of tiring or discomfort, but then again, we got the dibs on the best team, usually restricted to express deliveries and cost a ton of gold to hire. Luckily, our costs were covered by the Royal Treasury and the request was carried out post-haste. All was left to do was traverse the route and hope we get some unexpected visitors.

Heart returned from her short flight, her form winking into existence as she deactivated her armor's enchantments. Shaking her wings lightly to loosen the snow from them, she gave us her report. “Nothing so far. If they're out there, they know how to stay undetected. These aren't some wet-behind-ears mooks we're dealing with here. Whoever's in charge of this operation knows their stuff.”

Dustin grumbled in assent as he checked his crossbow. “Considering how brazenly the bastards operate here, it isn't a surprise – there ain't no hope of getting help if you get jumped all the way out here, and if somepony does escape, they're very likely to freeze to death before getting either to the start or the end of the route. Winter all-year round in these parts.” He finished, puffing out a cloud of steam as he did so.

“Makes sense. Ah'm sure ya could get real creative when choosin' a place to hide in – would only need a cave to fit out, conceal the entrance and that'd be that. We'll definitely need t'capture at least one of th'bastards.” Dustin shrugged at that.

“Sure. I can do that. Running anywhere is kind of difficult to do when you've got a crossbow bolt sticking out of your ass. And if that don't work, Heart and Nox'll be on them on a flash.” I nodded at that.

“Sounds like a plan.” I looked up, where the shimmering aurora slowly curved this way and that across the night sky. “Well, Ah'll catch a quick catnap in the meanwhile. Wake me up if anythin's going on, a'ight?” A noise of assent reached my ears and I stuffed the hat tighter on my head, and jammed my arms into my jacket's pockets as deep as they went. I might be half-Chimera, but I still felt the chill. Carefully, I leaned against the VTOL's hull as others settled down in wait...

When I woke up, I received a bit of a shock – a pair of glowing eyes were staring at me. I nearly went for my gun when I heard Nox's voice, her tone hushed. “Stay calm. We might be nearing the point of ambush. Heart thinks she saw something skulking in the woods nearby.”

“Ah see...” I whispered back, slowly sitting up.

“The rest of us are in their positions. You'll have to play bait. Hopefully, the bandits'll try to capture you first, letting us take them by surprise. Don't worry. You won't see us, but we'll be there.” With that, she slinked off, her dark fur helping the batpony blend in with the darkness. Huffing to myself, I sat up, eyeing the reindeer hitched to our sled. They spoke little, instead focusing on hauling the sled.

My head whipped to the side as I heard the cracking and splintering of wood – a hefty tree slammed down across the route, and the sled came to an abrupt halt. A brief moment passed before all hell broke loose. From both sides of the road, a mob of bandits appeared, all of them clad in armor painted in various shades of white. Everyone was clutching a weapon of some sort. The ambushers were mostly ponies, but there were quite a few griffons, Diamond Dogs, and a pair of minotaurs were there, too. Quickly, they surrounded the reindeer, while the rest swarmed around the sled itself. My attention was drawn by the braying laughter of one beefy sumbitch of a stallion.

Well, looks like this asshole was in charge around here.

“Lookie here, boys, any of ya ever see somethin' freaky as this thing?” He stomped up to me, who was doing her best to appear scared – I didn't have any reason, however. With the bandits' attention firmly on me and the sled, Siegebreaker and others were easily able to slink off towards their earlier agreed-upon positions.

“Oh, hey, dude. Nice armor you've got.” I responded. That seemed to throw him for a loop and his brain – which was the size of a pea, I imagined – spat out a lame 'Thanks'.

“No problem. Gotta love hand-me-downs, right?” A snicker swept through the mob at the words. Big Moron was less enthused about my joke and backhanded, er, backhoofed me. Rubbing my jaw, I gave him a wicked smile. “That one's on the house. Next one's going to cost you.” He cocked his head sideways at that.

“Oh? Izzat so, you freaky thing?”

“Mhm.” He went to hit me again, but failed to do so, on the account of a crossbow bolt lodged in his foreleg. He stared at the shiny bolt for a couple of moments before letting out the most unmanly shriek and started hopping around.

“MRUOOOOOGH!” One of the minotaurs let out a colossal bellow as his ass caught on fire. That was when Siegebreaker and Windwaker charged into the mob, and began to wail on them. With the bandits forgotten about me, I grabbed my Folsom and bashed the closest bandit in the face with the rifle's stock before putting some distance between me and his compatriots. A crackling lightning bolt leapt from somewhere nearby, zapping several of the bandits senseless.

Someone else might've had a doubt or two bout killing a pony. Hell, even I was initially going to try and knock these bastards unconscious. But when you see a bunch of 'em rushing at you, swinging swords, clubs, axes and the like, your survival instinct kicks in pretty quickly. I brought my rifle up and snapped off a couple of shots, savouring the kick of the weapon – it'd been ages since I'd last used it. Three bandits fell over in the snow, just as the rest of our group made themselves known – Heart and Nox swept in from above, and Harmonics landed amidst the rabble, knocking them over with some sort of concussive spell.

And then the reindeer joined in, starting to bash the bandits relentlessly with short wooden clubs and tossing them around with their horns. I would later find out that the bunch we hired to haul our sled was trained how to fight. The top sled teams were well looked after, and as valuable assets, were taught how to defend themselves. Using the general chaos of the melee that just began, they'd retrieved their weapons and joined in on the fun. There were more than enough bandits to go around, after all.

Oh, what's this, then? The big one was trying to slink away unnoticed, but was less than successful, what with the crossbow bolt lodged into his foreleg. Can't have that, now can we? Grinning to myself, I followed him, making a mental note of where the caravan route was.

The hunt was on.

“HOME-FREAKING-RUUUUN!” Siegebreaker hollered at the top of her lungs as she swung her maul, knocking a screaming bandit high into the sky. Chuckling to herself, she turned to look at her daughter, who was duelling with a bandit wielding a nasty-looking flail. With a masterful flourish, Windwaker batted the weapon aside, driving her halberd into the bandit's chest. Pulling it out, she swung behind her, sending another would-be ambusher spinning away with a splash of blood. Thunder Charge and Burning Ember were doling out lightning bolts and fireballs like it was Heart's Warming Eve.

Nox and Heart were a whirling flurry of blades, dodging the bandits' every attempt to strike them down, yet left many a lifeless body in their wake. Dustin was nowhere to be seen, yet crossbow bolts whistled from seemingly nowhere, grounding the griffons and pegasi that tried to escape. Harmonics was in her element, parrying attacks with her staff and blasting the bandits away with her sound spells.

Summer was in the thick of it, fighting in her preferred style using a shortsword and a shield. She didn't use any flashy tricks, but she got the job done, blocking attacks, parrying and feinting with the ease of a well-oiled machine. The reindeer were also chipping in, taking down any would-be escapers – she was thankful for their help. The group that ambushed them was certainly bigger than what any of the other caravaneers had described.

The bastards must have a schmuck feeding them info from the inside. No way this is a coincidence.

Huffing to herself, Siegebreaker heard a loud bellow and jumped to side just in time to avoid the blade of a minotaur's battleaxe. With him came the smell of well done bacon, something she found both gross and humorous at the same time. Accepting the unspoken challenge, she hefted her maul and charged straight at the berserking minotaur. With a grunt, she swung the heavy weapon, blocking her opponent's blow. A small jab of pain lanced up her horn as she pushed back and struck in return. The minotaur was no fool, however, and leapt back, avoiding a bone-crushing blow and sent another ferocios blow her way. Rather than fully absorbing the strength behind the battleaxe, she parried, leaving her opponent wide open for a counterattack. The muscles in her hindlegs bunched as she launched herself forward. Her maul connected with the minotaur's chin, sending him sprawled on his back. Roaring something profane, the burly unicorn swung her weapon down, turning the hapless bandit's head into a gory mess.

As she stood up, she noticed the overall lack of noise. The snow was soaked with blood, and littered with the dead, all of whom were bandits. The reindeer hadn't lost any of their number, but several were nursing wounds. The rest of her team were also unharmed, and herded up the survivors of the ill-fated ambush. As silence set in, Siegebreaker realised something.

“Hey, anypony know where Alice is at?”

“Now, Ah'm going t'ask again. Where's yer damn hideout? You're only makin' this harden on yerself, ol' buddy ol' pal.” I spoke, holding my combat knife an inch away from the hogtied stallion's knee. “Ya tell me where the rest of your buddies are an' Ah won't pop yer goddamn knee off.” To drive the point home, I poked where the joint was with my knife. Sadly, he was... less than cooperative and spat at me. “Oh, man, ya really shouldn't've done that.” With a forceful stab, the tempered steel blade slid between his knee bones. With enough strength, I could shred the tendons and muscles holding his knee together, effectively ensuring he'd never be able to use that limb ever again.

Biting back a scream, he growled out, his voice thick with saliva. “F-fuck you...! My friends'll be here soon and yer gonna pay for this!”

“Ah don't think so. We're all alone here, it's almost romantic. Either way, Ah've got 'nuff ammo for all o' ya.” I twisted the knife slightly, putting some pressure on the limb and he yelped in pain. “Ya hear that? That's th'sound of yer knee comin' apart. Now, if ya don't give me directions, Ah'll make sure ya get buried missin' half a foreleg. So, which one is it goin' t'be?” The smell of blood made my heart race, my Chimeran side surfacing for a moment – all of a sudden, I didn't see a source of information. I saw prey. Food.

And I felt mighty hungry, too.

Summer stood upward as she heard three distant cracks. “Anypony else hear that?”

Dustin shrugged as he strode around the bloodied battlefield, recovering the crossbow bolts he'd fired during the fighting. “I guess so. Nox, go over and see what's going on there. Heart, back her up, just in case.” The batpony nodded and took to air, followed by the fiery-maned pegasus.

Catching up to Nox, Heart spoke to her. “You see anything?”

“No. I do smell blood, however. Somepony came through here a while ago.” Nox swept down, to closer inspect the trail she'd just smelled. In the dark, her keen eyes soon proved useful.

“Look! Hoofprints. And more blood. Looks like somepony's been limping through here a while ago. And there's more hoofprints. They look really odd, however. I guess now we know where Alice went off to. Let's keep following this trail, see where it leads us to. Might even find our way to the bandits' hideout.”

“I guess it can't hurt to try. Lead the way, Nox.” Nox nodded and they both landed quietly, the flaky snow crackling under their hooves as they followed the tracks, ever alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Nox stopped, her ears swivelling around as she tried to locate the source of the noise. A moment later, she hurriedly cantered off in a direction, with Heart following her. “We're getting closer. Shouldn't be much further.” Heart made an agreeing noise as they trekked onwards.

I looked up at the sound of two sets of hooves, and grinned at Heart and Nox. “Hey, there, girls. Look what Ah've got.” I gestured to the unconscious, hogtied stallion lying nearby. “Me an' my friend here had a lil' chat. Hope ya don't mind Ah snuck off like that. Everyone else alright?” Heart chuckled briefly at that.

“Yeah, we're all fine and dandy. The reindeer got a bit banged up, but nothing some healing can't handle. So, you say you got him to talk? Nice.”

“Yep. Told me everythin' about their precious lil' hideout there was to know and then some.” Nox hummed to herself for a moment before speaking up.

“So what do we do with him? Do we take him with us or leave him?”

“Well, Ah'd be all fer leavin' this bastard to freeze to death. But Ah'm feelin' mighty merciful today. Let the reindeer take 'im with any other stragglers that y'all have back there.” Heart chuckled briefly at that.

“Not much of a mercy, that. I doubt the reindeer'll be much more charitable than you. But it's exactly what he deserves. Him and the rest of those schmucks have been running unchecked for too long. The caravan route is their main source of income and things that are difficult to come by, like medicine.”

“We're agreed, then. Let's get this sumbitch back to th'caravan, and go greet his buddies in style.” I chuckled, and the two mares nodded in return as we began to drag our captive back to the sled.

Mightee Kludge perked his ears up as the echo of a distant roar reached him. The rest of his boys also noticed it – they'd been waiting for quite a while, out in the snow, for the ambush party to return. Some thought they'd been taken down. Most thought that their target was exceptionally big, moreso than their informant had hinted at. But this roar... was it some sort of valuable beast they'd acquired?

He got his answer soon enough when an odd metal contraption swept into view from ahead, nearly scraping the treetops as it descended and his heart stopped for a moment – his boys had outdone themselves! What an odd flying carriage this was! Now they'd be able to ply their trade across a much wider area.

His musings were interrupted by a loud rattle and he saw two blooms of light in the carriage's front. Immediately, twin streaks of buzzing projectiles mowed down several of his boys, their blood splashing across the ground. The machine roared past, banking to side as it came about and then he saw three letters on its side – RAF. A moment later, 'RAF' chattered again, spitting death as more of the boys crumpled into bloodied heaps. The thing came to a halt just meters away, and a door slid open from its side, letting out a group of heavily-armed ponies who wasted no time laying waste to his boys. He unsheathed his sword, but that was far as he got, on the account of a steel-tipped crossbow bolt burying itself between his eyes. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Anything wrong, Alice?” Siegebreaker inquired as we flew away from Bellwake. Our mission had gone flawlessly. We'd sacked the bandits' hideout, freed the captives, reclaimed everything that had been stolen, and sent the surviving bandits off to Bellwake for their just sentence - under the watchful eye of the reindeer, of course. All in all, it was a textbook op.

“Nah, not really.” I sighed thoughtfully, but the mare wasn't having any of that, apparently.

“I know what you're thinkin' – itty bitty ponies have bandits and other lowlifes among them. Well, you may or may not know this, but the Princesses can't be everywhere at once. Equestria's too big nowadays for that, and there're folk that'll look the other way if they're given enough bits. And that's where we come in – to be the big damn heroes that stop the bad, exploiting bastards.”

“Good, but no cigar.” I chuckled for a moment. “Ah was a soldier b'fore this whole deal, too. A real good one, too. But you can only see that much people die before you throw in the towel, ya know? Ah'm sure Ah had a good chance at joinin' up with yer Guard, but Ah'm kinda tired of soldierin'. Want t'have some peace, y'know? The things Ah've witnessed are enough to drive anyone insane.” I finished, and found out that my hands were shaking a bit. Sighing, I gripped the controls tighter. Once again, Siegebreaker took note of that.

“Must've been some pretty nasty shit to put you off like that.”

You don't know the half of it.

“Pretty much, yeah. But Ah made a deal with the Princesses an' if there's one thing Ah'm good at, it's keepin' my word. It's a personal matter, so Ah hope you'll understand if Ah don't go into any details 'bout it.” Letting out a slight hum, she nodded.

“Then I won't bother ya 'bout it any more. Nonetheless, you did good back there. I'm lookin' forward to working with ya in the future.” I smiled wanly at that.

“Same here, Siegebreaker.”

“Oh, just kiss already, you two.” Windwaker popped up from behind my seat, startling the two of us. I took a moment to get over the small heart attack before responding at the mare.

“Oh, fuck you. Real frickin' funny, startling your pilot.”

Oh, brain, why do you betray me so? Someone like Windwaker would find a way to retort to those words. And retort she did.

“Name the time and place, babe.” She winked at me saucily. In response, I waggled the Kingfisher's wings, sending the cocky mare to the floor in an undignified tangle of limbs, seeing as she'd yet to find her sky legs. Siegebreaker smirked good-naturedly as she sat there.

“Kids these days...”

As before, Luna was waiting for us as the VTOL touched down on the impromptu landing pad. Soon as we got out of the aircraft, she came over to us.

“You have done well. The bandits have been taken care of and the route is safe to use once more. The greedy scumbag who was cooperating with them has been apprehended and it is not likely he will see daylight anytime soon. Your rewards have been transferred to your respective bank accounts. For now, you are dismissed, but know that you will be called upon to aid with sensitive matters in the future.” She nodded to us and took off after that.

“Well, I guess that's that, then.” I sighed, stretching out a little as the long trip finally caught up with me. All of a sudden, I felt pretty worn out, and, if the gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach was anything to go by, I needed to take an inhibitor shot soon. “Guess Ah'll see you lot whenever the Princesses come a-knockin'.” Their goodbyes reached my ears as I climbed back into the Kingfisher. Had to get this thing back to Sweet Apple Acres, then take a cab back to my place, and have a long, dreamless (hopefully) sleep.

Doing what more or less counted as mercenary work for pastel-colored ponies was not how I'd imagined my life working out, now that I thought about it.

Chapter 8

The mission up in the north had netted us all quite a hefty sum of bits – definitely nothing to scoff at. After some parting words from the princesses upon our return, we went our separate ways, with me fighting off a persistent, bugging need to sleep as I flew back to the Sweet Apple Acres – had to get there before Sun Horse lowered the sun, to boot. Despite my tiredness, I felt some sense of accomplishment – I took up arms back on Earth to protect people, to do the right thing, you know? Despite my griping, I was glad to have helped out here. This mission gave me a bit of an insight on how Equestria worked, too.

Now, however, I simply hoped I'd get to the Acres before I fell asleep. The arranged leave from the hospital would end in a couple of days, and I most definitely would spend sleeping through most of them before returning to the daily grind that was my job. I already could feel my muscles getting sore. Serves me right for not working out regularly. Pretty sure the only reason I didn't get fat was because of my Chimeran metabolism. Either way, with my sleep-deprived mind picking apart whatever random snippet of thought happened to pop up, I soared across the twilit skies, looking forward getting to my bed.

I did not look forwards to thawing my domicile out, though. That'll be a bit of a bitch, for sure.

Over the next couple of weeks, my life returned to its normal rhythm. I received the occasional updates on the antidote's progress and such, or requests for another blood sample. As time went on, Luna sometimes mailed me with a letter requesting for assistance at one top secret mission or another – among the most interesting of those had concerned changelings.

After Chrysalis' failed siege of Canterlot, numerous changeling expatriates had asked the Princesses for help. Turned out that Equestrians' ability to defend themselves was only matched by their willingness to make friends. The diarchs had acquiesced to their request, and helped the changelings discreetly integrate themselves among Equestria's population. All seemed well for the time being, until changelings started popping up dead around Equestria. Immediately, me, Siegebreaker and others were summoned to Canterlot, where an incandescent Celestia greeted us and lemme tell ya – she is really goddamn scary when pissed.

As I soon found out, she had very good reasons for that – the dead changelings showed signs of torture – wings cut off, chitin ripped off, etcetera. When she finished reading us the reports, we were sweating like pigs, in equal parts of terror and heat. Rather briskly, we departed in the Kingfisher and left to search for clues – apparently, there was an underlying pattern regarding when the bodies showed up. If we cracked it, we could predict where the murderers would be the next time. We chased down all manners of small, seemingly insignificant details – just like you'd meticulously sweep the floor after dropping a glass on it by accident.

It took us a while, but we did it, tracing the clues back towards several nobles who had heavy pull in Equestria. We rooted out the murderers, arrested them, and sent the lot of 'em to Canterlot for Celestia to deal with. A couple of days after the conclusion of our mission, she announced that she'd be introducing several restrictions that severely reduced the nobles' control over Equestria. This naturally meant that quite a few of the noble houses would fold in on themselves like wet cardboard in the coming years.

But that was neither here or now. At the present, I was strolling down the Mane Street in Ponyville – oh god, the puns are getting to me – taking care of an errand for Jennifer. For reasons I couldn't quite understand, she needed piano wire, but it had something to do with the Kingfisher. And, far as I knew, there was only one store in Ponyville that sold musical instruments and musical instrument accessories – the drumbeats were kind of hard to miss, considering most ponies were staying indoors at this weather. So off I went, weaving through the mostly-empty streets, guided by the noise of muffled music.

The door creaked as I pushed it open – a wave of warm air hit me, followed by the loud music I'd heard before, along with someone enthusiastically belting out lyrics to a song.

Breakout - let 'em shout

We are here tonight

And it's our fight

Breakout - let 'em shout

We own the night..!

Well, obviously the shopkeeper was busy. No matter. I could wait. Humming to myself, I took a look around – the store wasn't anything flashy, but was well-maintained – the back wall was covered with guitars and such, while several cellos, violins and the like were arranged around in the store, each of them sporting a price tag. There was also an abundance of posters covering the walls – one in particular caught my eye. This one displayed about half a dozen or so of young dragons, with 'DRAGONFORCE' written on the lower half of the poster. Now that I paid more attention, most of the ponies, minotaurs and griffons featured in the other posters had copious amounts of facial hair and long manes. Hell, some were even dressed in leather, denim, and were wearing sunglasses, seeming to enjoy scowling a lot. Most of the posters were signed, to boot. Clacking my tongue absent-mindedly, I sat down on a vacant chair, twiddling my thumbs as I waited. A couple of minutes later, the window-shaking music ended and I was left with a mildly-annoying ringing noise that bounced around in my head like Pinkie Pie after a shot of adrenaline.

Don't think too much about that sentence, I certainly didn't.

“Hey! Alice, right? Haven't seen you since the Gala!” A slate grey pegasus mare trotted out from behind the shop's counter, smiling as she trotted over to me. We shook, hoof to hand.

“Yeah, 's been awhile, Iron.”

“So, what brings you to my humble establishment, anyways?”

“Runnin' an errand for a friend.” I fished out a scrap of paper from my pocket – the note Jen had given to me. “Here's the details.” Iron took it and studied for a moment.

“Piano wire, huh? I think I have some in the storeroom. Be right back.” With that, she trotted off, humming a tune to herself, leaving me to twiddling my thumbs again. Iron returned a minute later, clutching a paper packet in her left wing. “Right, that'll be seventy-three bits.” I nodded and withdrew the sum of golden coins from my wallet – Jen had given me a hundred to cover the costs. “So, wanna make out?”

I sat upright in alert, my wallet spilling its contents across the floor as I turned to stare at Iron in shock. In response, the mare toppled over, all but shrieking with raucous laughter. “Ho-ho-holy shit, thelookonyourace~” Her voice petered out as she ran out of breath, still erratically twitching on the floor as I stared down at her, unamused.

“Ya done with bein' immature yet?”

“Khrrrrrk-kh-kh-kh~” I rubbed my face at the noise and waited patiently for her to be done with it.

She got back up a minute later, wiping mirthful tears from her eyes. “Man, I needed that... Anyways, what've you been up to? Silver says you'd taken a leave from the hospital for a while.”

“Oh, ya know. Royal business in th'Canterlot an' whatnot.” She nodded, seeming satisfied with the answer.

“Makes sense, what with you being an alien and all. So, do you have any musical needs that I can help with, perchance?”

“Nah. Ah ain't much of a musician. But it is a pretty nice shop you've got here.”

“Damn right!” Iron puffed out her chest proudly. “When I first bought this place, it was in a real crappy state. I worked for days, cleaning it out and getting everything to a decent state. It took me some time, but it was worth it in the end.”

“So, does anyone else work here?”

“Nope. Everything you see here in the shop is my own hoofwork. Most of the time, I maintain a small stock of completed items, and take orders as they come – sure, it might take a while longer, but you get a guarantee of superb quality. Whenever I complete a guitar or a violin or something, I do stress testing, to see how much it can take. You might've heard me test a drumset just a couple of minutes ago.”

“Ah think half th'town heard it.” She snickered at that.

“Fair enough! Anyways, not only can I make music instruments and such, but I can also play them, and sing, if I feel like it.” She gestured to the posters on the walls. “Listened to a lot of bands and musicians since I was a filly – Motorherd, Mare-O-War, Discord Priest, Maretallica, Bridle Guardian, the list goes on! I've lost the count of hours I've spent with headphones on.” I chuckled at her enthusiasm as she talked. “I’m not one for composing tunes or lyrics, but I can play a guitar like nopony’s business and sing, if need be. Say, you doing anything next Thursday? I an’ a couple of other dudes are organizing a concert-slash-party. Wanna come along and loosen up some? Can’t be fun working as a security guard at the hospital all the time, right?”

Well, I sometimes do top-secret missions for the princesses - mix things up a little.

“Sounds nice. ‘s been a while since Ah last had a night out. Where’s it goin’ to happen at?”

“A warehouse a ways off from here. I’ll give you the address.” She grabbed for a piece of paper and a pencil, scribbling on it for a moment before passing it to me. “If there's any problems, just drop my name and you’ll get in, no problem. If you find somepony who wants to come along, even better!”

“Cool.” I pocketed the paper, gathering up my things as I stood up and exited the shop. “Be seein' ya!”

“Buh-bye!” The grey mare waved at me as the door closed.

I'd pitched the idea of having a night out to Redheart when I met her at the hospital. She also was eager to get out of her routine, if only for a day – hell, I even managed to rope Tech Beat in joining us. But, as it seemed, trouble was fond of following me around, because that evening turned out to be anything but fun. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The three of us found the warehouse without much problems on that day. The muffled music also served to guide us. We eventually found ourselves outside an old warehouse, its entrance watched over by a pair of brawny stallions. As we made to enter, they stepped in front, staring at us.

“Password?”

“Uuhhh...”

“Nah, just kidding. Go on inside. All are welcome, so long as they don't make any trouble.” The leftmost stallion chuckled, pulling the door open and stepping aside. “Have fun!”

We nodded as we went inside, the music getting louder with every step, dozens of voices singing along to some fast-paced song that was positively shaking dust from the walls – seemed like they were trying to bring the place down around them.

That's what the minstrels sing

Join in the horrible screams

Take part in murderous deeds

Re-owned be the lion-hearted...

“Well, that sure sounds cheery.” Redheart intoned flatly, watching as a nearby pane of glass vibrated from the sheer loudness.

“Ain't gonna argue with that.” I chuckled and entered the warehouse proper – and was momentarily stunned by the bustle of unfettered chaos – ponies and the occasional griffon were bouncing up and down among their crowd, singing along with the musicians that were playing their hearts out from atop a stage set up against the far wall. A number of dim spotlights on the ceiling kept the place vaguely lit, and a bar counter was set up against one of the side walls, with a pair of unicorns tending to the needs of their patrons. Heck, there was even a food stand.

“Yo, Alice! Nice to see you decided to come! And you brought friends, sweet!” Iron's cheerful voice reached my ears and I turned around, seeing the grey pegasus trot towards me through the crowd, Silver in tow. “Grab something to drink or eat if you feel like it, it's all free!”

“Seriously?” Tech piped up, although he had to all but shout to be heard.

“Totally! Now, I do have some ground rules to lay down – first, don't be a dick. Second, be cool to others. Simple enough?”

“Sure!” The three of us chorused. Both Redheart and Tech wandered off, while I turned my attention back to Iron.

“How did ya afford this, anyways?”

“Oh, a couple of thankful customers and sponsors gave us the funds for this as a way of thanks for providing their artists with good instruments.”

“'Us?'”

“Yeah – me and a couple of other folks from Bolton, Manehattan and Phillydelphia. This is the get-together for me and my associates, and we decided to take it up a notch!” Iron stood on her hindlegs, gesturing at everything with her forelegs.

“Taking it up a notch is kind of failing to describe this, Iron. Ah am fairly certain there'll be more'n a few ponies here with hearing problems after this.”

“Well, that's nothing a bit of healing magic can't fix!” Iron patted Silver on the back, whom grumbled.

“What am I, a walking medicine locker?” Iron chuckled at that, wrapping a wing around the charcoal unicorn.

“No, you're my walking medicine locker, and I love you very much.” The pegasus pecked Silver on the cheek, making the mare roll her eyes.

“You utterly confound me sometimes, Iron.”

“And that is why you love me.”

Silver sighed, nodding as she conceded. “Yes, yes it is. Now, isn't it soon going to be your turn on the stage?”

“Oh, you're right. I'll go and get ready. See ya later!” With that, the grey pegasus was off, soon disappearing amidst the crowd.

“She's sometimes a hoofful to deal with. But that's what makes her, well... her.” Silver chuckled good-naturedly as we went over to the food stand. “Of course, we've had our misunderstandings and arguments but no relationship is complete without them, right?”

“Right.” I responded as the music slowly died down, replaced by the spectators' cheers and stomping in lieu of applause. Humming, I snatched a sandwich from the food stand, inspecting it carefully for any hay, flowers, or suchlike. Upon finding it human-friendly, I took a bite as Silver did the same with a clump of hay fries she held aloft in her magic. “So, how long have you two been together, anyways?”

“Oh, for about a year and a half. I was still studying medicine when we first met.” Nom. “Might sound cliché, but I was immediately smitten. We hit it off some time later, and here we are now. Dealt with a few tripping stones along the way, too, but what I have with Iron is worth fighting for.”

Not exactly knowing what to say to that, I simply nodded in lieu of an answer. Nom.

Nom.

A moment later, Iron stepped on the stage, followed by a minotaur and two griffons – the minotaur sat down at the drums, while Iron and one griffon took up the guitars. The last griffon went over to the microphone. The four of them chatted among themselves for a brief moment before starting to play.

At the summer solstice you and I will gather round the strong

We'll drink a toast from the cup of blood and realize the truth...

Well, one thing's for sure – those four knew their stuff. Despite my skepticism, the rhythm, although heavy, drew me in after a while, and I found myself singing with the crowd, a bottle of beer in my hand. I wasn't doing my sobriety and ears any favours, but at the moment, I didn't give a damn. It was my night out, and if I wanted to sing my vocal chords out, then I damn well would.

That's what I intended to do, and I would have done so unless something had come up.

Specifically, the unicorn dude I'd told to screw off all those months ago. He was bothering Redheart. Again. No idea what he was doing here, but that didn't matter. I'd hoped he'd get the idea not to bother my friends, because she was looking downright pissed by now. Putting my half-empty beer aside, I went over, anger stirring inside my mind. Didn't even take ten seconds to get behind the persistent bastard.

“Ya just don't know when t'quit, do ya?”

At that, he unsteadily turned around – the fumes coming off him indicated total and utter drunkenness. Nonetheless, he remembered me.

“Oh, it's this freak again, hmm?” He slurred out, kinda-sorta focusing on me.

“Ah think Ah told ya to not bother Redheart anymore.” I ground out lowly, my voice barely audible.

“What, why d'ya care about that worthless muddy anyways?” He spat out defiantly.

He never saw the fist coming. Already unsteady on his hooves from the booze, he toppled over like a house of cards.

I believe a bit of context is in order. Some time ago, I went over to Twilight's to learn more about Equestria – social etiquette, manners to use, that sort of stuff. I didn't want to get my head kicked in because I committed a social faux pas of one sort or another. And while reading the appropriate books, I came across the term 'muddy' – a derogatory term for an earth pony, one that had been coined back in the days when the ponies were divided in their three tribes. Simply put, one did not say that to an earth pony if one valued one's life. I'd wager Redheart would be wailing on the bastard if I hadn't beaten her to the punch – being called a muddy was just about the gravest insult around. Just to give you an example, one of the culprits we'd tracked down during the whole changeling murder deal called Windwaker a muddy. Siegebreaker almost beat him to death with nothing but her own hooves, and it took everyone's combined strength to pull the enraged unicorn off the bleeding, bawling mess of a stallion.

Almost immediately, the music halted and I spotted Iron glide our way, an irritated expression on her face. “Okay, what's going on here?” She got her answer a moment later when a nearby stallion spoke up.

“That bastard called her friend a muddy!”

Following that exclamation, some other nearby spectators nodded, murmuring in agreement. The grey pegasus' eyes narrowed as she glared at the prostrate unicorn.

“That so, huh...”

Several heads nodded affirmatively.

“Well, then...” Iron took to air again, raising her voice. “What do we do with those who mess with our friends?!” The answer was a bit unexpected.

“WE KICK THEM OUT ON THEIR ASSES!”

Suffice to say, that was the last of him both me and Redheart saw.

Turning to look at Iron, I spoke to her. “Hope ya don't mind if we leave early. Don't really know if we can enjoy ourselves after this incident.”

“No, it's okay. I know how you feel, believe me. If you feel like partying with this bunch again in the future, just let me know.”

“Ah'll keep that in mind.” With a final nod, I left, with Redheart in tow.

Soon as we were outside, I turned to look at the mare. “You alright, Redheart?”

The nurse sighed dourly, shaking her head wanly. “No, not really, Alice. But thanks for interrupting, nonetheless. I don't know what I would've done to him if you hadn't beaten me to the punch.” She chuckled half-heartedly at the pun.

“Don't worry 'bout it. Ah sure as hell ain't lettin' some idiot harass any of my friends. C'mon, let's get ya home.” With that, we headed off into the lamp-lit streets of Ponyville. I accompanied Redheart up to her house before leaving for my own, mood not quite buoyant.

Remember how I said that trouble seemed to follow me everywhere? Well, case in point.

Next morning found me at Iron's shop again, seeing as I wanted to apologise for yesterday's business. I knocked on the door, and a couple of moments later, Silver, of all ponies opened it. Seeing it was me, she smiled and beckoned me to enter.

“Alice! Come on in. Iron's cooking up some breakfast if you're feeling peckish.”

“Nah, Ah'm fine. Wait, she's doin' the cookin' in her store?”

“Upstairs. She both lives and works in this place.”

“Ah, okay then. Lead the way.” She nodded and opened a door that I'd missed during my previous visit – it was pretty much the same colour as the wall, which would've explained it. Up a narrow, creaking staircase we went, reaching a slightly chilly hallway which led to three other doors. We went through the one that had a bit of vapour spilling from the slight gap between the floor and the door itself. Inside, was Iron, busying herself over a stove, humming to herself as she cooked. Upon seeing us, she grinned.

“Hey, Alice! Nice to see you. Come on, take a seat. You feeling up for breakfast?”

“No, thanks. Ah already ate at my place. Smells good, though.”

“Thanks. 's just a sweet little snack I like to have now and then. Silver calls it Type 2 diabetes.”

The unicorn grumbled to herself as she sat down. “And justly so, considering there is enough sugar in that cooking pan to give one of Miss Pie's cupcakes a run for its bits.”

“Oh, don't get me started on her, Silver.” Iron tsk'ed sourly.

Well, that was definitely news – a pony Pinkie Pie wasn't friends with? Curious, I looked at the peevish pegasus. This I had to know.

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, it happened when I'd just moved here to start my humble business. I'd just gotten the deed of the place from the Mayor and set about fixing it up. At the end of the first day, I was pretty much dead on my hooves. Had no appliances yet, and had to hoofslog it into town for food. And, when I came back, I almost got a heart attack when she jumped out of nowhere, yelling 'SURPRISE!' at the top of her lungs the very moment I came inside.”

“And then what?”

“I called the police on her and had her escorted off my property for breaking and entering.”

“Oh, wow. Seriously? You had th'Element of Laughter arrested and got away scot-free?”

“That happened before the Summer Sun Celebration. And besides, Element of Harmony or not, you can't go around and waltz into others' houses. 'cause, you know, if you live in Equestria, you gotta abide by their laws.”

“Well, Twilight had her surprise party without throwing Pinks out, if Ah remember correctly.”

“And it was arranged in the Golden Oaks library, which is, y'know, a public library. Technically, she didn't break any laws there. This building, however, wasn't a store at the time. I was fully justified to call the cops on her.”

“So, she never showed up here again after that?”

“Nah. Which is fine by me. I don't know if that sort of hyperactivity is contagious, and I really don't want to find out.” She hummed as she lifted the pan over to the table, shovelling some of the sweet-smelling foodstuffs onto two waiting plates. “So, what brings you here, Alice?”

“Jus' wanted t'apologise f'r makin' a scene last night.”

“Ah, don't worry about that, Alice. I asked around later that night – turns out that guy had been kind of an ass to others there. Looks like he forgot what the rules were, huh?”

“Totally. The bouncers were pretty clear about what was allowed and what wasn't.” I replied, prompting the pegasus to nod her head sagely before digging into her meal.

“Exactly.”

I left their abode half an hour later, my mood improved as I headed straight back to my home. The streets were empty and quiet at this hour, and I got home in record time. Turns out, however, a little surprise was waiting for me there – a pegasi-drawn chariot parked just outside my lawn. Upon seeing me, one of the guards turned to me.

“Alice Bradley? The Princesses are requesting your presence in Canterlot.”

Well, this day just got more interesting.

Chapter 9

The splinters in my palms stung, but I ignored them.

The shards of glass cut into my knees, but I ignored them.

A terrified Nurse Redheart, however, I wasn't able to block out as easily. The earth pony was standing in the doorway of my house, staring, wide-eyed, at the carnage I'd wrought.

“A-Alice?” She meekly spoke, flinching when I slowly turned my head to look at her. Fighting her nervousness, she continued. “W-what happened here?”

I was greeted upon arrival by none other than Celestia herself. Soon as I was in front of her, I gave a little bow. That made her face twist like she'd bitten a lemon.

“There's no need for that, Miss Bradley.”

“Ah'm sorry, but you were the one t'grant me an' my friends Equestrian citizenship. By yer law, you deserve to be bowed to. An' my momma taught me good manners, after all.”

The sour face grew sourer.

“There's no need to stand on formality today, Miss Bradley.” I smirked at that.

“Says she who keeps referrin' t'me by the honorary 'Miss.' So, Ah guess ya summoned me here f'r a reason, then?”

“Yes. I have news for you, the good sort and another that Luna has yet to explain to me. Which one do you want to hear first?”

I frowned at that a little, but banished the thought for now. “Good. Whatcha got for me, Princess?” At that, Celestia perked up a little, regaining her motherly composure.

“Well, it took our scientists a lot of work, but they managed to isolate the virus in your blood and create a potion that will halt the virus' progress in transforming you into a Chimeran Hybrid. If you'll come with me, we can get right to it.”

“Sure. Lead the way, Princess.” She nodded, and off we went, into the Canterlot Castle. It being winter didn't cause the marble-lined halls any colder. I would've inquired about it, but suspected that the answer I'd get would be 'magic'. If Celestia could move a star about twice per day without any apparent effort, I doubted she'd have any trouble keeping the castle warm.

Our path took us lower and lower, and the hallways took on a distinctive dungeon-y feel. The fact that only the occasional guardspony could be seen there didn't do much to dispel that feeling. A while later we arrived at a sturdy door. Celestia bowed her head, touching it with the tip of her horn. There was a faint glow from the door's surface and I heard a click as the door swung inwards.

I have to say I was kind of disappointed at seeing the pristine walls and floors – though why I had expected the cliché dungeon was beyond me. Upon seeing us, a small group of ponies in labcoats bowed to us. Well, Celestia, actually. I was too busy looking around, my attention captivated by the eerily Earth-like lab equipment.

“Welcome, Princess! I assume you're here for the cure?”

“Yes, doctor.”

“And is this Miss Bradley, then?” The unicorn doctor was suddenly in front of me, sticking out a hoof for me to shake. I obliged, of course. “Good to finally meet you in person! I am Clean Stitch and I've had the privilege to be heading the team here!”

“Uh-huh. So, um, don't mean t'be rude, but what did you find out 'bout it?” He grinned at that, beckoning us to follow him.

“Well, from a scientific point of view, it's amazing! It gives one the ability to heal faster, immunity against numerous sicknesses, greater endurance and stamina, and improved reflexes.” His smile waned somewhat, though, a moment later. “However, Princess Celestia told us, at length, what the virus does to a living being if it runs its course. That is not something I could ever approve of.”

I nodded grimly in agreement – the Chimera had rolled across the entirety of continental Europe virtually unopposed, leaving nothing but death in their wake.

“Anyways, the virus was particularly tenacious and resistant to the conventional methods – half of my team were all but pulling their manes out by the end of the first week. But let it never be said that we leave anything half-baked!” His expression turned upbeat once more as he wandered over to a locker, levitating several vials out, all filled with shimmering amber liquid. “There we are! Oh, one last thing – how were your inhibitor shots administered?”

“An injection directly into my brain stem.” Whatever answer he expected, mine was one he didn't anticipate and I had to choke back a laughter as his face turned faintly green. “Those were done in labs, b'fore big missions an' such. But if ya were in field, any vein served just as fine, simply took longer fer the dose to take action.”

“Ah. Well, er, we'll inject this through the elbow vein, then.” Clean Stitch replied, preparing the dose. “Now, I should warn you that you'll experience side effects for several days as the cure does its work – since your body is accustomed to its current conditions, you'll feel colder, slower and more sluggish. Your metabolism will also be toned down, so any strenuous tasks are out of question. It's also very unlikely that your regenerative abilities are going to remain even half as efficient. We've run trials on several of the samples you provided, but the exact effect on your abilities remains uncertain, at best. But the virus will be stopped completely. This I promise.”

I stared at the syringe, now filled with the faintly glowing liquid. I could, of course, decline, and simply ask them for more inhibitor doses, but that would only delay the virus.

“Let's get it over with, then.”

He nodded and stepped forward, the syringe floating in his magic. “As you wish, Miss Bradley.”

I turned to look at the alabaster alicorn at my side as we trekked back. “So, uh, what's the other news, Princess?”

She shrugged slowly. “I'll let Luna explain. She was the one who found out about it, though she has kept it under the covers, as it were.” As she returned my questioning look, she spoke again. “Let's teleport to there. It'll be faster this way.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Two seconds later I regretted my choice as I fell on all fours, feeling like my guts were trying to swap places with my lungs. I was helped up by Celestia – as I regained my bearings, I saw that we were in what could only be Luna's quarters. The younger alicorn in question was also present, busy with some sort of a mirror on a low pedestal. Upon hearing us appear, she turned to greet us.

“Greetings, Alice Bradley. I thank you for arriving on such short notice.”

“Well, Ah didn't really have a say in it. Yer sister teleported me here.” I responded, still a tad squeamish. When I make hasty decisions, they often come back to bite me in the ass, case in point. “It was mah decision t'do so, though. Kinda regrettin' it now.”

She chuckled at that, gesturing for me to step closer. “Teleporting for the first time can be unsettling, yes.”

“So, uh, what's this thing, anyways?” I gestured towards the mirror.

“Ah. This, is my most treasured creation – a means to spectate upon distant lands or beings!” She floated out a long, cylindrical object out from a small shelf on the wall, presenting it to me – I soon recognised it as a 20-mil slug from a Sabertooth's coaxial Gatling cannon, complete with the casing and all. “Out of pure curiosity, I wanted to see if I could not take a peek into your world.” Celestia took over then, seeming slightly irate.

“The amount of magic needed to observe somepony increases proportionally with the distance. I had to help charge the device to ensure Luna didn't burn out herself. Eventually we simply charged a number of crystals with our magic.”

“Yes, yes, but that isn't important right now. After some fine-tuning, I managed to get a view of this projectile's place of origin – it was a great, sprawling city that could easily give Canterlot a run for its bits. There was also a grand bridge spanning the channel, coloured red.”

“So ya saw San Francisco, then? The bridge yer talkin' about is Golden Gate Bridge. Far as Ah know, it's the longest one back on Earth, too.”

“Amazing... And to think it was assembled without any magic!” Luna muttered in awed voice before shaking herself out of the reverie. “Anyways, let's see if we can find it once more.” She set the huge bullet down in front of the mirror, and her horn lit up in a blinding flash, striking the mirror's surface – the reflective glass pane absorbed it and the glow died away. A long moment passed before I saw it change – vague, blurry shapes took form in the mirror, slowly coming into focus. But when it did, well...

Nothing could've prepared us for what we saw.

San Francisco was on fire. Entire districts were engulfed in terrible firestorms that put the earthquake-induced fire of 1906 to shame – and the culprits were easily found.

A veritable fleet of massive vessels lazily moved through air about a kilometre or so above the city, occasionally letting of a burst of energy bolts to tear into the buildings below. Numerous smaller ships surrounded the airborne fleet, and a fierce air battle seemed to be taking place, if the puffs of explosions peppering the sky were anything to go by.

You know that sickening lurch in your gut, the sinking feeling that happens when you know, bluntly put, that shit's fucked? Yeah, I think all three of us experienced that one right then and there.

“Is... Is this happenin' right now?” I managed to weakly whimper.

“Y-yes... It is.” Luna muttered, numb with shock. Instantly, I moved, knocking the oversized bullet aside. Immediately, the terrifying visage disappeared. With shaky hands, I fished out my necklace, placing it down in front of the mirror before stepping back and praying silently that my fears would be allayed.

No such luck. When the image solidified into something recognisable, the sight drove me to my knees as I let out a low moan, like that of a wounded animal.

The farmstead was bombed-out. Not a single building was left untouched. Dad's truck was lying on its side, a charred shell that I was hard-pressed to recognise as the trusty Dodge which had weathered many years.

But that wasn't what numbed me to the very core. The dead livestock and destroyed farm machinery weren't to blame, either.

The six fleshy cocoons scattered outside my home's front porch, however, left me void of all emotion.

I didn't say a single thing ever since I'd left the castle – I simply sat there, in my seat, as the chariot took me back to my house. Both Celestia and Luna went out of their way to console me. I just responded automatically, like a machine. Went along with the motions and such, even as they promised to carry out any requests I needed, as a compensation of sorts for the dreadful revelation we'd experienced. I just nodded automatically.

Another realisation struck me as I was back within the privacy of my home. The thousands of soldiers who'd fought and bled in United Kingdom had, in the end, died for nothing. The Chimera had crossed the oceans and fallen upon continental USA with a tremendous fury. The sacrifices of brave men and women were left unknown and unsung. And I was supposed to be okay with it?

No.

No!

NO!

“NOOOOOOO!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs, lashing out at the closest thing – a bookshelf. Blind rage giving me strength, I grappled with the piece of furniture, toppling it over, the items it held scattering across the floor.

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAD DIED FIGHTING A FOE THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT! INUMMERABLE FAMILIES WILL NEVER SEE THEIR LOVED ONES AGAIN! AND, DESPITE WHAT WE'D DONE IN UNITED KINGDOM, THE CHIMERA STILL KICKED OUR DOOR DOWN AND BEGAN TO BUTCHER MILLIONS – A BIG 'FUCK YOU' FOR ALL OUR EFFORTS!

Everything that wasn't nailed down or too heavy, I flipped over or smashed against a wall. In a very distant corner of my mind, a pessimistic part of me said that I could pretty much torch my whole house down – the Princess had, after all, offered to pay for anything I wanted, right? But that was a very small part of me. The rest of me wanted to destroy and obliterate anything I could get my hands on – anything I could do to make the grief end.

Eventually, my eyes fell upon the table – a solid thing, made from sturdy oak. Growling, I grabbed hold of its edge, I tried to flip it over in an attempt to further my rampage. But, as I said, it was made from oak. Thus, it was heavy and refused to budge. Grunting with effort, I tried again, but to no avail. With the table resisting my efforts to wreak further havoc, my rage petered out. I let go of the table, sinking once more to my knees, staring blankly ahead.

I was so fucking done. I was done raging, I was done grieving. I was simply. Fucking. Done.

And that's the state Redheart found me in.

My voice fell silent as I finished regaling the mare – Redheart gasped quietly in horror, raising a hoof to cover her agape mouth.

“A-Alice... By Celestia... I d-don't know what to say-”

“There ain't nothin' t'say.” I could practically hear her wince at my tone. A moment later, I heard her walk over to me – she stood up on her hindlegs, and wrapped me up in a hug with her forelegs.

“Don't bottle it up, Alice. Just let it all out.”

So I did. I'm not ashamed to say that I bawled my eyes out – probably soaked Redheart's shoulder with tears and snot while at it, but being the saint she was, she said nothing, instead being a silent, comforting presence as I hugged her back.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but when she let go, I felt better – just a little bit, but better than before.

“Thanks...” I muttered weakly, my voice raw from all the crying.

“Think nothing of it, Alice. I know it must be terrible to have experienced that awful scene. And I know it hurts. But you have friends here, ones who can relate to what you're going through. Talk to them. They can help.”

Lo and behold, the truth was spoken – I wasn't on my own in this, after all. I just needed a reminder of that. I nodded faintly in agreement and Redheart smiled approvingly.

“I'll tell the hospital's management you're taking a week off. You obviously need the time off.”

“Just like that, huh?”

“I'll just tell them that you've received distressing news. Don't worry, just leave it to me.”

“Thanks, Redheart. Yer a lifesaver. Ah don't rightly know what Ah would've done if ya hadn't come along.”

“Don't think nothing of it. It's what friends do.”

Yeah. Guess it is.

Now I only needed to find a way to break this news to James, Fred, and the rest.