"Where did they go? Who took that many guns? And how did they stay hidden while moving all those weapons?" I almost yell.

"I'm sorry sir, but you seem quite upset. Can I help you?" said that damn unicorn from earlier.

"Ok, miss what's your name?"

"Starry Skies, sir", she replies way to cheerfully for me right now.

"Interesting name since we hardly ever see starry nightscapes here. However, Miss Skies, could you do me a favor and leave me alone? You're really starting to piss me off", I'm almost snap at her.

"But I'm just trying to be helpful", she pouts.

"Yes, and I appreciate it, I do. It's just I don't want your help right now. The fire and rescue squad could probably use your help more than me."

"Fine, I'll go 'help' the fire squad", she says as she leaves me to contemplate my situation.

As I'm thinking about what to do, a thought strikes me, "Hey, Miss Skies", I call out. "Did you happen to see anyone over near the watershed while I was in the tower?"

"Well, no. However when I went to get some more water I saw a pile of weapons and had a pony take them to be put away."

"Where did they go?!" I almost shout.

"Well they went towards the forward armory in Charlie Courtyard."

"C-Charlie?"

"Well, yes, it is the closest."

"This day can't get any worse. I gotta go. Bye" I say as I fly off towards the forward armory hoping the pony hasn't reached there yet.

~~~~~~

Charlie Courtyard is only the most guarded and best death trap in the whole Compound. Whenever someone wants to test new assault strategies, they use Charlie Courtyard. Just 3 turrets and 20 soldiers can defend against the best of our military deployments. It is designed as a 2 tier defensive point with 2 turrets up top and 1 turret on the ground floor. The courtyard lies in the middle of 3 sides of the building. The fourth side of the building is open for anyone to enter it. The reason this courtyard is so much harder to assault is that the building doesn't have many windows with which to break in, or doors to use, so you can't flank the courtyard. Anyone who tries to climb the walls get shot down by the turrets on level 2. There are cleverly placed cement walls on level 2 that act as railings and waist high walls that are reinforced. They mostly protect against bullets and other such ordnance. On level 1, it's worse. There are many raised gardens and fountains in the way as to provide lots of protection for defenders. Not to mention the carvings on the cover is carved and has small holes through which one can put the barrel of a gun so they can shoot while behind cover.

As I near Charlie Courtyard, I notice she hasn't reached the entrance to it, but she is close enough that I can't knock her out and steal the gear without being noticed and promptly shot by someone in the courtyard. I only noticed her because she had bright blue fur that stood out from the browns and reds around here as well as all the guns she was carrying. 'Maybe if I follow her inside and attack her near a closet. I don't think I'll need clearance for the building, just certain sections of it.' With that I fly off to beat her inside and find a hiding spot along the way to the armory.

The earth pony is stopped by a guard and is asked "Why do you have so many weapons and where are you going with them?"

"As it were I was asked to bring these weapons to nearest armory after someone found them near a water shed of all places", the mare replied.

"Well it's good you brought them here. Go on inside then. Armory is first right and then it's the second left."

When she rounds the first corner I'm standing there waiting. Before she gets a word in I hit her in the throat she stumbles around and with my other talon I grab the side of her head and smash it into the wall. She slumped against the ground groaning and trying to get up. I give her a final swift punch to the face and she is knocked out cold. 'Should I hide her body? Nah, no time. I need to leave soon. But how? it's not like I can walk out of here without being stopped. Why not? I would be flanking them and if I rushed fast enough I should be able to disappear faster than their response.' With that I set about stripping her of the weapons. Once all of the weapons are secure I move to the entrance of the building and look out. I breathe a sigh of relief when I only see 4 guards; 1 zebra, 2 earth ponies and a minotaur, instead of the standard 7. "They must be needed elsewhere", I mutter to myself. I steel my nerves and turn the corner, bringing a gun up and pointing it at the nearest guard and pull the trigger; an earth pony falls down dead. The other three turn to see me rushing towards them wielding a pistol and pointing it at the zebra next.

~~~~~~~~

As Boxer is looking around he sees the Queen and immediately jumps down from the truck and rushes over to her to see if she is still alive. "Medic! I need a medic over here!"

A medic jumps down from the side of the 4x4 and rushes over to where the queen is. He starts checking over her as Boxer starts checking over the area. Boxer makes his way over to the gate controls and notes that they are all blown to hell. "No wonder the gate is closed. We can't open this mess. The pressure in the pipes have been released." He walks back to check on the medic and asks "How is she doc?"

"She'll be fine. It's just some minor burns and a hard blow to the head. I'll check her for a concussion when she wakes up but until then there's not much we can do."

"Alright, thanks doc. Want to help me move her so we can continue on our rescue?"

"Nah I got it, let me just...", with that he used his magic and deposited her in the bed of the truck.

Boxer hopped in the truck and drove down to next logical location which was over to the north tower. The medic and him got out to set up a make shift medic tent since there were quite a few ponies in need of help here. The medic magic'ed the queen out of the bed and put her in a medical cot. As soon as she was clear of the truck Boxer drove off still in search Of where mongoose could've gone when he hears a loud CRACK. He stamps hard on the accelerator and turns the wheel in the direction of the noise. "No, nononononono", realizing that this is the direction of Charlie Courtyard things could get bad fast and might be getting worse by the sounds of things. He pulls up to the courtyard to see Mongoose getting flung through the air by the minotaur.

~~~~ 2 minutes earlier ~~~~

I fire my gun at the zebra. He rolls and I miss him. The minotaur swings his fist down and it collides with my head. Dazing me as I try to stay standing. The Pony plants his front hooves and bucks me in the face and I am sent tumbling backwards into the wall. All of my rifles slide off of my back and land on the ground beside me. I try to stand as I regain my senses. Being punched and promptly kicked into a wall isn't fun. Getting back up was hard since my legs didn't want to work properly. The minotaur walks over to me and asks "What do you think you're doing? Attacking and killing a guard is grounds for death around here."

"Well that may be true if I planned on staying here", I spit back.

"Well now that is interesting. Do you feel like we should teach him what happens to traitors, Snake?" turning his head to face the zebra.

"Yes, yes I do. Let's start with a leg those aren't needed in court."

"Good idea." He starts moving his hand for my left leg. Once his hand is in range I grab his wrist and pull him close enough so I can grab his neck. He almost falls over because of how quickly I moved him. With my talon firmly gripping his neck, I squeeze my claws causing small streams of blood to pour out and down his neck. He retaliates by ripping me off his neck, causing more blood to pour out, and throwing me through the air into the far wall.

~~~~

Boxer hops out of the truck and runs over to where I was and yells "Hey dickhead, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

"Huh?" is all he managed to get in before Boxer throws a left uppercut to the jaw of the minotaur. The Minotaur stumbles backward into the wall. Dazed from the blow and light-headed from the blood loss, he is having trouble standing. Boxer grabs his head punches him twice and then snaps his neck. The pony using this distraction to his advantage went and grabbed one of the guns that fell off of my body. The pony raises the gun and gets a shot off as Boxer is turning to face the remaining attackers. The bullet tore through Boxer's left side leaving a small entry wound and larger exit wound. The Zebra was reaching around in his bag to pull out one of his potions. He finds the one he was looking for.

"GAAAGHHH!!" was all I heard.

Getting up from the wall I start flying towards the pony still facing away from me hoping he doesn't hear my wings flapping furiously. I forgot that there was still a zebra to deal with. That damn zebra hit me with tear gas causing me to land so I don't kill myself flying. "Fucking Zebra, wait till I get my hands on you."

"Why wait?" he replies in front of me. With that, he promptly bucks me in the chest.

I slammed my back into a raised fountain and started trying to get the tear gas out of my eyes by dunking my head under water. Meanwhile Boxer was moving in on the remaining earth pony. "You're gonna pay for that small fry", Boxer says to the pony.

"That's where you're wrong", The pony says as he pulls the trigger.

Click.
…
Click.
Click.
Click.

"Look at that. The gun failed you in your time of need. My turn." Boxer steps forward and raises his fist. As he's bringing it down the Snake kicks Boxer in the side of the leg and topples him. "GGAAAGH!!" Boxer yells. Snake then brings his front legs down trying to smash in Boxer's head. Boxer grabs one of the legs and bends the joint the opposite direction of what it should bend, breaking it with a sickening crack.

~~~~~~

"Oh my, did you have to be so merciless to those ponies?" Fluttershy asks.

"Did you hear them? They were going to kill Mongoose", Boxer replies.

"Only because he killed one of the guards", Twilight replies.

"We were escaping and they were standing in our way. It made the most sense to kill them to leave quickly," I reply.

"What happened next?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Can't we continue this later? It's getting kinda late," I reply looking at the sun.

"It did get later than I thought it would. Perhaps we should continue this tomorrow?" Celestia asks.

"I was hoping not to," I say. "I wanted to go out and travel tomorrow."

"And leave the story at such a cliffhanger? No way, You need to finish this story, NOW!" Rainbow Dash practically yells.

"Yes you should stay the night and continue this story in the morning. You can go travel once the story is over," Celestia states.

"Come on Mongoose, I don't think we're getting out of this," Boxer says.

"Fine, tomorrow. Night then," I say heading off.

Author's Note

I am sorry to say that this story will be going on Hiatus since my class work has taken up a majority of the time not spent sleeping. I will try to put out a chapter sometime but no promises. This story should resume semi normalcy after December and the new year starts. I'm happy with how this story is turning out.