Fire Base Zebra

Half an hour after they had captured the factory, Crack Shot saw rest of the ponies coming back towards the factory. They had finished cleaning the rest of the facility area.

They had been in two more gunfights, both were in the east side of the facility area, where two groups of changelings had been hiding. Crack counted five ponies returning, so they hadn't lost anypony else.

That reminded Crack Shot about Grunt. He turned around from the edge of the roof, and saw Charge and Buzzcut leaning against a air handling unit. Healing Horn was there with them, making sure that they were as comfortable as possible. Behind them, he saw the young pony's body hidden under a white sheet.

The sheet was red from blood where Grunt's head was.

Crack turned away.

He hadn't even know the colt, but still he was feeling bad for him, unlike when Spade died. He thought that maybe it was because Grunt had been so young, only eighteen years old.

Crack shook his head to clear it from all the unpleasant thoughts, and returned to watch the approaching ponies, that were almost at the facility.

Healing Horn changed the bandages around Buzzcut's wound in his foreleg. The wound was stubborn, and didn't want to stop bleeding. Healing took a quick look at Buzzcut's stomach, and saw that at least the wound there wasn't bleeding.

"There, try to keep your leg up," Healing said and tightened the knot he had made in the bandage.

"Okay," Buzzcut answered and lifted his leg above his head, whimpering silently. Healing smiled at him consolingly, and then turned to Charge.

"Everything okay here?" he asked and sat in front of Charge.

"Yep. Just hurts like hell, but I don't feel dizzy or anything," Charge said and grinned.

"That's good, It means you're not in a shock," Healing said, while examining Charges bandages. He saw that the wound wasn't bleeding at all, it was good.

"It still hurts though," Charge said, looking at Healing.

"Yeah, stomach is the second painful place to be shot at," Healing said to Charge, who smiled a little.

Buzzcut looked at Healing Horn with a questioning look. He then asked: "What's the most painful then?"

"Kneecap," Healing said and poked himself in his left foreleg's knee.

"Do they teach that in the medical training?" Buzzcut asked.

Healing nodded.

"Think about how they have tested that," Charge said, smiling stupidly.

"Okay, we're going to shoot you in the stomach, and then in the knee. Then you tell us which one hurts more!" he imitated doctor Sawbone's deep voice. Healing Horn and Buzzcut couldn't help them selves. They all burst into a laughter, but then Buzzcut and Charge whimpered and held their stomachs.

"Yeah, you shouldn't laugh," Healing said, still chuckling a little.

"Buck you," Charge said, and smiled a painful smile.

Healing chuckled and rose back to all fours. He then trotted to Crack Shot, who was aiming trough his scope.

"You see anything?" Healing asked from Crack.

"Yeah. They're coming back," Crack answered to him. Healing looked over the edge, and saw that Rough Gunner and rest of the ponies were already entering the factory, they should be up any moment now.

Riff just jumped in the building from the hole in the wall, that Charge's grenade had made.

Rough Gunner and Blade were in the lead. Boxsee walked behind them. He had a bandage rolled around his right hind leg. He had been hit during the first gunfight in the east side, but it was just a scratch.

Riff and Thrill walked side to side. They were getting closer to the first set of stairs.

"Did you see how Boxsee just kept fighting, even he got hit?" Thrill whispered to Riff.

Riff nodded and said: "For a medic, he is a pretty though one."

Thrill nodded, and then they walked in silence again.

They came to the stairs. Riff saw the same bodies lying in the hallway that he had seen earlier.

He walked past one, but stopped, and turned around. He thought he had seen something odd.

"What are you doing?" Thrill asked, when he saw Riff crouching over the dead changeling.

Riff picked something from around the neck of the dead changeling.

"What's this?" Riff asked from himself, when he held a silver necklace in his hooves. He rose up and showed it to Thrill, who too looked interested.

The necklace had a small silver heart hanging in it. They looked at it for a moment, and then Thrill pointed at it and said: "Hey, there's a button there."

Riff looked at where Thrill pointed. There indeed was a small button. He pushed it, and the heart opened. It had hinges in the corner, and when Riff opened it, they saw two pictures in the both sides of the heart.

The other one was a picture of a male changeling, with a spiky mane, or what ever the changelings had. His tail was short and messy, and his eyes and wings were clear blue. Even his expression was somewhat annoyed looking, he still seemed to be happy.

Riff looked at the changeling lying on the ground before him. He could tell that it was the same changeling that was in the picture, even his face was now twisted into a expression of pain and fear.

Riff then looked at the other picture. It had a female changeling in it. Her horn was a lot smaller than the male one's. Her mane thing was flowing on the side, and a small curl covered half of her face. Her tail was straight and flowed behind her like a veil. Her wings were also different. They were light purple, just like her eyes.

Then Riff noticed it. She was smiling, with her mouth little open. Her eyes were full of happiness and care. She didn't look like any monster that the new propaganda posters made the changelings look like.

Riff and Thrill looked at the two photos in silence. They then slowly turned to see each other.

"She's.. She's actually not that bad looking," Thrill said.

"Yeah," Riff answered. He then looked at the dead changeling in front of him. He was lying in a pool of blue blood, with his hooves resting on his chest.

Riff looked at the pictures once more, before closing the necklace. He then crouched over the body, and placed the necklace back around the changeling's neck.

When Riff rose up, he heard Thrill say behind him quietly: "Maybe they're not so different from us after all,"

"Yeah, maybe not," Riff said, and turned to see Thrill, who looked as confused as Riff felt himself. They looked at each other for a second, trying to get their thoughts straight.

"You two coming or what!?" they heard Boxsee shout, breaking them from their thoughts. They turned towards the stairs where they saw Boxsee standing. He looked annoyed.

"Yeah, were coming!" Riff shouted and started to trot towards him, with Thrill close behind him.

Rough Gunner looked behind him. He saw Boxsee, Thrill and Riff galloping up the stairs. He then turned to Blade, who was walking next to him. Blade noticed Rough looking at him. He looked back at Rough with a questioning look.

"Hows the hoof holding up?" Rough asked from Blade, who looked at his wounded hoof.

"It feels okay. Hurts a bit when I walk, but otherwise it's good," Blade then said, and looked at Rough again. He examined Blade's hoof for a second, and then asked: "You wanna go with the other wounded? The wagon's coming soon."

Blade looked at Rough amused.

"You really think this little paper cut would keep me away from the action?" he said.

Rough smiled a little, he had already known Blade's answer.

"Okay, but there's no other changes after the wagon leaves. Remember that," Rough said, sounding serious.

Blade chuckled and said: "You don't need to worry about that, captain."

Rough nodded, and they continued to walk in silence.

After couple of minutes, they reached the hall with the destroyed machine gun. The ponies walked around it, towards the staircase that led to the roof. They quickly rose up to the roof, where they saw Crack Shot standing on the edge with Healing Horn. Charge and Buzzcut were sitting against a air handling unit. They both seemed to be in a stable condition.

"Oh you're back," Crack Shot said when he turned around and saw Rough and the rest of the ponies.

"Yep, no more enemy presence in the area," Blade said, grinning proudly.

Rough walked to Crack Shot and Healing Horn. He then quickly looked at Charge and Buzzcut.

"How are they?" he asked from Healing Horn.

"They're okay. Wounds don't bleed anymore, but we need to get them back to base as quick as possible," Healing said and looked at the wounded ponies, who were now talking to Riff and Thrill.

".. so you found a medallion with pictures of two changelings, that were in.. love?" Charge asked from Riff. He sounded suspicious.

"Yeah! I saw it too!" Thrill explained wide eyed. Charge and Buzzcut looked at each other confusedly. Then Buzzcut turned to face Riff.

"What do you think about it?" he asked from Riff, who scratched his small goatee in his thoughts. He then looked back at Buzzcut and started: "I don't know.. but I can tell you that they aren't so different..."

Riff's sentence was cut short by a loud thud behind them. They turned to see what that was, and they saw Rough holding a flare gun in his hoof. They looked up, and saw a bright yellow dot high above them.

"The wagon will be here in less than ten, get the wounded ready for escort," Rough commanded while putting the flare gun back to his bag. Riff and Thrill turned back to Charge and Buzzcut, who were getting ready.

"Let me help you with that," Thrill said and crouched to help Charge, who tried to get his bag onto his back. Riff helped Buzzcut onto his feet, and held him up with his body.

"Thanks guys," Charge said.

"I promise that the beers are on me when we get back to home," he continued. He spoke to the whole squad.

"I need to remember that. It's been too long since I've been drunk," Riff chuckled.

Healing rolled his eyes. He remembered how Riff and Crack Shot used to slip out from the boot camp during the night. They usually went to the local bars, where Riff could get intoxicated and Crack could find some cute mare to play with.

"Yeah yeah yeah, we should first win this bucking war," Boxsee said, sounding annoyed. They all chuckled, but then Rough gestured to be quiet and said: "We'll have enough time to talk after we get to the base, lets just focus on the task at hand."

Everypony got the message, and they spent the rest of the time waiting for the wagon in silence.

After about five minutes, they saw the wagon approaching the factory. The pegasies flew low, just above the factory's roof. The circled the factory two times, and then stopped to levitate to the side of the factory's roof, so that there were about a hoof's length between them and the factory's wall.

"Why the hay did you park there? Couldn't you just land on the roof?" Crack Shot asked angrily from the four pegasies.

"We don't have time for a safe landing, we need to leave now!" The leader of the pegasies, a deep cyan pegasus with small moustaches said. The pegasies looked nervous and kept worriedly looking around themselves.

"Get the wounded on board!" Rough commanded. Healing Horn and Riff helped Charge and Buzzcut to walk towards the wagon, that levitated on the edge of the roof.

Rough meanwhile walked to the leader, and asked  with serious tone: "What's going on?"

The cyan pegasus looked around him nervously, before turning to face Rough.

"We got message from the HQ, there's a changeling gunship coming this way!" the pegasus said.

Rough's eyes widened in surprise. He looked at the nervous pegasus for a moment, and then asked: "What else?"

"They also have infantry with them. We can't stand a change against the gunship, we don't have any weaponry!" the cyan pegasus explained, while flapping his wings faster, to keep in level with the other three.

Rough turned around to face his soldiers. There were only seven, who were capable to fight anymore. He thought if they would have any changes against the new wave of enemies, that were approaching them fast.

He looked at himself. He had five full clips in his combat vest, and enough single bullets to fill at least two of them again. He didn't feel too tired either.

"Everypony! I've just heard that there's another group of enemies approaching the facility!" Rough Gunner shouted to the ponies, who instantly stopped what they were doing, and turned to Rough, looking surprised and confused.

"I want to know, that are you all are sure you can face them! If not, then we all will leave right now!" he quickly continued.

He saw the ponies looking at each other confusedly. Rough knew that they weren't sure. He saw Healing Horn and Riff changing quick glances with each other. Thrill stood still and looked at the others, trying to find help from them. Crack Shot looked at the others, then at Blade. They stared at each other for a second, and then they both nodded.

"We will stay," Crack and Blade said in unison. Rough nodded to them. He then turned to Healing Horn and Riff.

Healing Horn looked at Riff, who still didn't seem to know what to decide. Healing then turned to see Crack Shot. He gulped and then said: "I will stay too."

"I stay!" they heard Thrill shout. Now everypony except Riff were staying. They all turned to look at him. Riff seemed to shrink under their gaze. His ears were drooped, and he had small dribs of sweat running down his forehead.

He looked at them for a moment, but then he saw Healing Horn looking him right into eyes.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but I'll stay," he said, sounding defeated.

"Alright! It's settled! Get the wounded and Grunt in the carriage. After that get ready for a battle!" Rough shouted, and everypony started to check their equipment and loading their empty magazines.

Riff and Healing Horn helped the two wounded on the carriage. After Charge and Buzzcut were sitting inside the wagon, they turned to look at Grunt's body. They looked at it for a moment, then they moved closer.

The sheet was now soaked in red blood, and there was a small pool of blood under him. Healing was becoming pale, and Riff noticed that.

"You take the other end," Riff said, and placed himself over to Grunt's upper body. Healing nodded and moved to Grunt's legs. They lifted the body in the air with their front hooves, so that they were walking on their rear legs. They left the sheet on the body, but there was still blood dripping on the roof when they walked. It formed a small red line behind them.

Riff carefully stepped into the wagon, and Healing followed him. They laid Grunt's body on the corner of the wagon, so Charge and Buzzcut wouldn't need to sit right next to his body. When they stood up, Healing and Riff looked at the body with bloody sheet on it. They then turned to the two wounded ponies.

"You two take care now," Healing said and patted Charge on the shoulder.

"We will," Buzzcut said and gave him a painful smile. Riff grabbed Charge from the shoulder. He looked serious when he said: "And you don't forget what you promised."

Charge looked confused first, but then his mouth turned into a smile when he remembered what he had promised.

"Don't you worry. I will remember that," he said.

"Would you four already knock it off? We really need to get going now. The changelings could be here any mi..." the cyan pegasus started, but his jaw dropped when he turned his head to their direction.

"They're here!" he shouted and pointed his hoof behind him.

Everypony turned to that direction, and they all saw it.

A huge, completely black carriage with four changelings flying it appeared from behind a small hill. They had used the same tactic as the ponies had, when they arrived. The changelings had flown low, and nopony had seen them.

The flying changelings were wearing a blue armor, that looked almost like the royal guards armor. There were also changelings inside the wagon.

Rough saw that there were at least half a dozen of them. They too were wearing the blue armor. His eyes went wide when he saw what was attached to the side of the wagon.

There was a big, mean looking machine gun. It was not like the one in the factory. It had multiple barrels, that formed a circle. He saw that two changelings readying the weapon.

"Get out of the wagon and let them go!" Rough shouted to Healing Horn and Riff, who were still in the carriage. They winced when Rough Gunner shouted at them, but quickly moved to the side of the wagon.

"You go first!" Riff shouted.

Healing looked down, and saw that there was at least a twenty meters fall. He gulped and backed to the other side of the wagon. He looked to the other said, where Rough waved his hoof and shouted: "Quickly!"

Healing took couple of running steps, and jumped over the gap, landing safely to the other side.

"Now you Riff!" Crack Shot shouted. Riff looked at the approaching gunship. It was not far away.

He too backed to the other side, and just as he was about to start jumping, when he heard one of the pegasies shouting: "It's going to fire!"

First it was just barely audible rattle, but then the sound changed into a loud, rapid gunfire. It sounded more like a very loud buzz than gunfire, but then they saw the tracers flying trough the air in one solid, golden line. They were aimed towards the carriage.

The gun was deadly accurate. The bullets connected with the four ponies, and ripped the screaming pegasies into a red mist. A big part of the wall got covered in blood and big holes.

"Hold on!" Riff shouted from top of his lungs, when the wagon started to fall down, spinning around violently. He saw that there was only one pegasus left alive, but he didn't manage to keep the whole carriage in air by himself.

Riff and the other ponies screamed and held on for their dear lives as the wagon rushed downwards. The three bodies of dead pegasies were still attached to the wagon, and they lugged around like rag dolls.

Everypony on the roof watched in terror, as the wagon spun trough the air with Charge, Riff and Buzzcut in it. They saw that somepony flew from the wagon, followed by a white and red sheet.

"Who was that!?" Boxsee asked terrified, as the body hit the ground and splattered blood all around.

"I think it was Grunt!" Thrill shouted, and watched as the wagon was about to hit the ground.

The wagon started to steer to away from the building. Probably because the still alive pegasus tried to pull it back up.

It's speed reduced a little, but not enough.

It crashed right into the side of one of the smaller buildings around the factory with a loud smack, lifting a huge cloud of dust into the air. Pieces of concrete flew around the air when the wagon crushed the wall and landed inside the building.

"Holy shit!" Crack Shot shouted, and looked at the big cloud of dust.

"Do you think they'r...." Boxsee started, but then they heard the familiar rattling sound again. They looked up, and saw that the black changeling gunship was coming for a second pass.

"Everypony get down!" Rough shouted and jumped behind the air handling unit with the others.

The changeling weapon roared, sending a deadly stray of bullets towards them. The air handling unit got shredded to pieces. The changeling weapon fired for about two seconds, and then went silent.

Rough quickly rose up, and saw ponies crawling from under the pieces of air handling unit. Luckily nopony got hit.

Rough Gunner looked up to the sky, and saw that the gunship was now facing them so that the weapon couldn't shoot at them. He knew that they should get down form the roof.

"Run to the stairs!" he shouted, and they started to gallop towards the staircase. He saw that the gunship was turning for another sweep, and just as they managed to get down to the stairs, another two second burst ripped big holes to the door that led to the stairs.

"We need to get somewhere where the gunship can't shoot!" Boxsee shouted as they ran down the stairs.

"You're right! Get to the second floor, there should be safe enough!" Rough shouted and stopped running. He let the other ponies pass him.

When Thrill tried to go past him, Rough stopped him with his hoof. Thrill looked at him with confused look on his face.

"You still got those rocket launchers?" Rough asked from him.

Thrill dropped his bag to the floor, and opened it. There was four launchers in it.

Rough nodded and said: "You come with me."

"Yes sir," Thrill said and swung his bag back to his back. They then started to run in towards the windows of the floor they were in.

Crack Shot and the other ponies had reached the second floor, and were now getting ready for a fight. They rolled empty barrels and pallets to the windows and doors for protection.

Crack Shot rolled a barrel towards one of the doors to a staircase, that led to the bottom floor. He closed the door, and placed the barrel so, that it was leaning against the door, jamming it shut.

"This won't hold them of for long, but it will slow them down," he said to himself, and then rushed to help Blade with a pallet.

Meanwhile Healing Horn and Boxsee used magic to lift heavy objects, like old rusty steel bars that were ling in the corner, and placing them by the windows.

"Okay, I think that's enough, now start readying your weapons," Crack shouted.

"Hey, wheres Thrill and captain?" Boxsee asked when he noticed that the two ponies weren't there.

"They stayed upstairs." Blade said, while inserting a new ammo belt to his machine gun.

"Why?" Healing Horn asked.

"I don't know, but they probably have a plan or something," Blade answered. He pulled the cocking handle, and opened the bipods of his weapon.

Crack Shot laid full clips in the ground next to him. He then looked outside. The gunship was circling over the building, where the wagon had crashed. There was still a thick dust cloud around it, and they couldn't see what the situation was.

"I hope they're okay," he heard Healing Horn say behind him.

"Yeah, me too," Crack answered quietly.

"Aarghhh.. My head.." Riff mumbled as he slowly started t open his eyes. First his vision was blurry, but then it started to become more and more accurate. He lifted his head, but the world started to spin when he did so, and he decided to rest his head back down.

Riff looked up towards the ceiling of the building, or actually the sky, because there was no ceiling anymore.

All the dust made him cough, and he covered his mouth with his hoof. He felt something warm and sticky running down his forehead, and he swept his hoof across it.

Riff was bleeding.

"Riff.." he heard somepony saying. The sound echoed in his head, and he  didn't know who said it.

He turned to his side, and saw Buzzcut. He wobbled badly as he walked towards Riff. His wounds had started to bleed again, and the bandages started to get even redder. His grey coat was ruffled and his green uniform was ripped from some points.

"You okay Riff?" he asked, and knelt down to Riff, grinning in pain.

Riff coughed, and then lifted himself up to a sitting position. He looked at Buzzcut, who held his stomach and panted slightly.

"Yeah. I'm okay, I guess.." Riff said, and started to look around himself. He saw the carcass of the wagon, and it's flyers.

They all were dead.

"Is Charge okay?" he asked, when he didn't find the third pony anywhere.

Buzzcut drooped his ears and pointed at the carriage.

"His under there," he said.

Buzzcut noticed Riff's questioning expression, and then added: "Dead."

They were silent for couple of seconds, until they heard the terrifying buzzing sound again. They looked up and saw the gunship above them. It was shooting at the factory.

The shells fell trough the air, like golden rain.

"We need to get out of here!" Buzzcut shouted over the sound of gunfire. Disoriented Riff nodded, and slowly rose to his hooves. He noticed that his rifle was still on his back, but his bag was left to the roof.

Riff had only one full clip, and Heavy didn't have a weapon at all.

They slowly started to walk, leaning into each other. They made it to the closest opening in the wall, where they crouched behind what was left of the wall.

They saw that the gunship was now starting to land. It was flying slowly and low. Soon it stopped to levitate, and then it smoothly landed on the ground.

Riff and Buzzcut saw how the changeling soldiers started to climb out of the carriage. They quickly dashed to cover, when they got out.

Not long after the gunship landed, Riff and Buzzcut heard gunfire. They looked towards the factory, and saw four muzzle flashes fluttering in the second floor windows. At least some of them were still alive.

The changelings started to move towards the building where the wagon had crashed, but luckily ponies in the factory kept them under heavy covering fire. It forced the changelings to move behind cover, which slowed them down.

"We need to move now!" Buzzcut said, and they helped each other up to their hooves.

They started to run towards the factory. Riff felt that his left front leg hurt a little when he ran, but didn't let it stop him.

The changelings opened fire at the factory windows, but some of them also fired at Riff and Buzzcut, who dived behind a old, broken wagon, that hadn't been moved in years.

The old wagon, didn't protect them from bullets, they went right trough it. The two ponies laid on the ground, as flat as they could. The changelings fired few seconds more, and the wagon was full of holes and it hardly stayed together.

Riff was sure that they would get killed, but then the changelings stopped firing at them. Riff carefully lifted his head over the wagon, and saw that the ponies in the factory suppressed the changelings with machine gun fire. It had to be Blade.

"Buzzcut, get up! They..." Riff started, but stopped when he turned to Buzzcut, who was laying still on the ground. There was blood coming from under his body. Riff gasped and crouched over the grey pony.

"Buzzcut!" Riff shouted and turned him over to his back.

He had two bullet wounds in his right side, and they were bleeding dark blood. Riff shook him from his shoulders, but Buzzcut's body was limp, and he didn't react in any way.

Riff realized that Buzzcut wasn't with him anymore. He looked at Buzzcut's face. There was blood running from the corner of his mouth. His face was calm and expressionless. Like he was sleeping, except his eyes were open.

Riff ran his hoof over Buzzcut's face, closing his eyes.

Then another storm of bullets hit the old wagon, ripping it even more.

"Is he alive!?" Healing Horn shouted and fired quick shots at the changelings. He saw a changeling firing at him, and ducked just before the bullets could hit him. They fizzed over his head and hit the ceiling.

"Yes! His going to make a run for it!" Boxsee shouted back, and used magic to reload his rifle.

Healing Horn looked outside the window, and saw Riff behind the wagon. He was getting ready to run.

Healing looked at the group of armored changelings. Couple of them were approaching Riff, but most of them were moving towards the factory.

"We need to cover him!" Crack Shot shouted and aimed his rifle at the changelings that were moving towards Riff. He aimed and shot three times. One of the changelings fell down.

Crack tried to shoot again, but then, all of the sudden they heard the buzzing sound again. They all crawled behind any cover they got, when the golden string of tracers ripped the room around them.

The shooting lasted for couple of seconds, and then it stopped.

Crack Shot looked at the other side of the room they were in. The whole wall was full of bullet holes, and the burst was only couple of seconds long.

"We can't fight with that!" Blade shouted scared.

"We need to fall back!" Boxsee shouted.

Healing Horn was lying under the window. He looked at Crack Shot, looking terrified.

Crack looked outside.

There was at least twelve changelings getting closer to them, and the gunship was getting ready for another pass. None of them was hit during the shooting, but Crack was sure that they wouldn't be so lucky next time..

They were outnumbered, almost out of ammo and the enemy had even a gunship with a devastating weapon they had ever seen before. What chances they had?

Crack Shot thought that they were going to die.

He saw the gunship turning. It was now facing them.

Everything seemed to slow down when Crack saw the changelings turning the devastating weapon towards them. Crack couldn't move, his body didn't want to, like it was waiting for the inevitable.

The barrels of the changeling gun started to rotate, rattling like a tail of the rattlesnake.

Crack Shot thought that this was it, this was how he's going to die.

Just before the weapon fired, they heard a loud bang, followed by a swoosh. They saw small object fly through the air with high speed and smoke following it. The gunship tried to pull up harshly, but failed to dodge the missile.

The missile hit the gunship in the front end, behind the flying changelings.

A big explosion snapped the gunship in half, and the back of the wagon fell from the sky with the weapon and it's users still in it. It hit the ground and crushed into big pile of twisted metal and changeling remnants.

The flying changelings got either killed, or knocked unconscious by the blast, and they too fell from the sky, crashing in the ground with a sloppy splat.

"Fucking great shooting!" Rough Gunner laughed and patted Thrill on the back.

Thrill was still in a half sitting position, with his rocket launcher still on his shoulder. He looked at the smoking wreck of the changeling gunship on the ground.

He turned his head towards Rough. He had a confused smile.

They looked at each other for a second, the whole battlefield had fallen silent, there was no shooting from both sides. Everypony seemed to wonder what the hell had just happened.

Then the firing started again. The changelings shot at the ponies, and the ponies shot at changelings. They seemed to move more aggressively and faster now, to avenge the destroyed gunship.

"We need to get down and help the others," Rough said and helped Thrill to pack the rocket launchers back to his bag. After that they galloped down the stairs, until they reached the second floor.

They approached the windows, keeping their heads low due the enemy fire. Rough saw that the floor was full of empty shells. He though that there was so much of them that the ponies must be running out of ammo soon.

Blade was first to notice them. He stopped firing his machine gun and shouted: "Awesome shooting!"

All the other ponies turned to them, they all had looked at Rough and Thrill, then they cheered at them. Thrill seemed a bit embarrassed by all that.

"What's the situation down here?" Rough asked, breaking their cheering.

Crack Shot, who was back to normal now, shot two shots at the advancing enemies. He then turned to Rough and said: "I'm almost out of ammo, and Riff's still out there."

"I'm almost out too!" Healing shouted from the other side of the room.

"We'll all almost out of ammo!" Blade shouted, and fired a short burst with his machine gun.

Rough thought for a moment. Then he quickly peeked out trough the window, and saw that Riff had moved closer to the factory. He was now behind a small bulge, where he tried to shoot at the changelings, who were coming towards him.

"Wheres Buzzcut?  I thought he was with Riff!" Rough shouted.

"He was! I think he's dead!" Boxsee shouted back at him. Rough looked out the window again.

"How can you tell?" he asked.

"He never left behind that old wagon," Boxsee answered, and pointed at the broken wagon behind which Riff and Buzzcut had been hiding.

Rough knew that that was probably true. He had been injured already, so maybe the wounds got open again in the crash, and he bled to death?

Anyway Rough was sure that Riff wouldn't have left a wounded friend behind.

"Okay," Rough said and looked out the window.

"Riff's still there!" Crack Shot shouted, sounding worried.

Rough looked at Riff, and the attacking changelings. He could still make it to the factory, if they laid a good covering fire for him.

"COVERING FIRE!" Rough shouted, and everypony started to shoot at the changelings.

Riff saw every pony opening fire inside the factory. Riff counted that There was now six muzzle flashes.

He saw that the covering fire from kept the advancing changelings at bay, and he might just and just have a chance to make it to the wall.

He saw one of the changelings got hit in his chest armor, but he didn't even wince. Riff realized that their armor was bulletproof, just like the armor of the royal guards.

Riff didn't really have time to think that right now, and he strapped his weapon to his back. He made sure that the coast was clear, and then he dashed towards the wall.

He galloped towards the factory zigzagging, while bullets whizzed around him, and ripped the ground around his legs. His leg hurt at every step he took, but he was getting closer to the factory.

Now Riff had to decide that where would he enter the building. The main doors were too far away, the windows in the first floor were too high from the ground and the only door there was would probably be closed.

Riff heard gunfire from behind him. He didn't have enough time to look back, and he just dived to the ground without looking. He felt how the bullets flew just inches from his head. Riff then noticed where he was diving.

"Fuck.." he managed to say, before he landed on his face to some ditch.

Riff laid motionless in the bottom of the ditch for a moment, and then lifted his head from the mud. Now his face was covered in mud, in addition to the blood that ran down hi face. Riff swept the mud from his eyes, and then he noticed something on the bottom of the ditch.

It was a shell casing of a 40mm grenade.

Riff quickly peeked over the edge of the ditch, and noticed that he was in the same ditch he and Charge had been when the fighting started. There was the hole in the wall that the grenade from Charges grenade launcher had done.

It was Riff's way in.

"He's in!" Crack Shot exclaimed, and he and Healing horn looked at each other happily. They were brought back to reality by a long burst from a changeling weapon, and bullets that almost decapitated them.

Crack looked at Healing with a sheepish smile, who returned it.

"That was close one," Healing laughed nervously. Crack just nodded, still smiling stupidly.

"Okay! Let's move to downstairs!" Rough shouted, earning confused looks from his squad.

"We're almost out of ammo! We're not staying here any longer!" he explained.

"I'm okay with that!" Blade shouted and shot last long burst at the enemy, before he stood up and threw his weapon to his back. Everypony else too left their fighting positions, and started to move towards the staircase.

On the bottom of the stairs they met the winded Riff, who was leaning against the wall.

"You look like shit!" Crack shouted from the stairs.

Riff grinned painfully and shouted: "So do you!"

They shared a quick laugh, before Rough Gunner came down the stairs, shouting: "We'll exit from the back! Then we will move to the camp as quickly as possible. It's only six klicks away from here!"

"Hooah!" rest of them shouted in unison.

They heard a loud crash from their left.

They looked towards the sound, and saw that one of the doors got kicked in, and there was a changeling in his blue armor standing in the doorway.

Nopony moved, and for a second, they all just stared at the changeling soldier, who stared back at them. They all had their weapons strapped onto their backs, even the changeling.

Then everything happened so fast that it was hard to even understand.

First the changeling had started to pull out his weapon, and at the same time Crack Shot had pulled out his sidearm. They both pointed their weapons towards each other.

Luckily Crack was faster, and he fired his weapon at the changeling, who got hit in the troath.

The changeling lowered his fore leg, but he managed to fire his pistol couple of times, probably from a reflex.

The changeling fell down to his knees, and then to his back.

Right after the changeling died, two more appeared in the doorway. They had their assault rifles hooves.

The ponies quickly ran towards the corridor, escorted by bullets. The corridor led towards two large doors. They ran trough the doors, and entered a big hall. There were some kind of factory machinery in the hall, and in the far end of it they saw the back doors.

They stopped there, to reload their weapons. Crack took out the empty clip from his pistol, and Rough leaned against one of  the big, old, rusty machines.

"Now.. Get out of here.. and get to the camp," Rough Gunner said to his squad. His sound was a bit slurry.

Everypony turned to him. He leaned against the machine. He panted slightly.

"Come on captain, we need to move!" Crack said and tried to help Rough to move. He gasped when he saw blood coming from Rough's mouth.

"Captain! He's been hit!" Crack shouted terrified. At once Healing Horn and Boxsee ran to Rough, who started to collapse. They grabbed him from under his fore legs, and gently placed him to lean against the machine.

"He's hit in the left side!" Boxsee said to Healing Horn, who duck out bandages from his medic bags. Rough tried not to show that he was in pain, but failed to stay silent when Boxsee started to bandage over the wound.

"Argh, motherfu..." he started, but was interrupted by a changeling coming trough the doors.

Crack Shot, Blade, Riff and Thrill were quick to react, and they opened fire towards him, before he could even react. The changeling's armor managed to stop most of the bullets, but some of them made it trough, and the he got wounded badly, and fell back behind the doors.

They could still hear him screaming behind the doors.

"We'll cover you!" Riff shouted to the two medics, who tried to save their captain.

Healing Horn or Boxsee didn't answer, they kept bandaging the wound in Rough Gunner's side.

"You two, scram.." Rough muttered, and shooed the two medics away from him. They had confused and worried expressions on their faces, but they moved away from Rough.

Rough started to rose up, leaning against his assault rifle. Healing and Boxsee helped him to his feet, and then he leaned against the machine again.

"Crack Shot.." he said quietly.

Crack quickly moved to Rough, who took a good grip from his shoulder. Rough looked at Crack Shot trough his aviator glasses, and then said: "You need.. to get out of here."

Crack looked shocked.

"We won't leave you captain!" he said loudly.

Riff, Thrill and Blade shot again at new enemy, that had appeared trough the doors, forcing him to fall back.

"You don't have much.. time," Rough said, and moved his face closer to Crack's. Rough saw refusal in Crack's face, and he then said: "Leave me."

"But captain.." Crack Shot started, but was stopped by Rough Gunner saying sternly: "That's an order."

Crack Shot's face drooped, he looked at Rough.

"Are you sure.. Rough?" he said, using captains name to make his point.

Rough smiled painfully, and then said: "Yes, I'm sure. I'd just made the moving slow, and then we'd all be dead."

Crack knew he couldn't change Rough's mind.

He nodded to the panting pony, who nodded back.

"Okay! we're leaving!" Crack Shot shouted.

Other ponies looked at him with expressions filled with disbelief. They first looked at Crack Shot, and then at Rough, who panted and nodded.

"I will hold them off.. as long as I can," Rough said, and patted his assault rifle.

Everypony was silent, they looked at Rough.

"But captain.." Healing Horn tried, but Rough silenced him with a small gesture with his hoof.

"We can get out with you! I'll carry you cpipn!" Blade offered, but Rough shook his head and said slowly: "You can't change my mind, I'll stay."

They were silent again, but now they heard more sounds behind the doors. They were running out of time.

"Go.." Rough said, and rose to his hind legs and reloaded his assault rifle. The others still looked at him in disbelief. He noticed it, and he took off his sunglasses, revealing his green eyes.

"Go, I'll hold them.." he said, and looked at the squad.

They all looked at him, but then Crack saluted, and others followed.

Rough looked at them, feeling proud.

"It's been honor serving you, captain," Crack said.

Rough nodded, and then the ponies started to make their way towards the back doors.

Healing Horn walked to Rough Gunner, and opened his medic bag.

"This isn't much, but it should take some of the pain away.." he said and offered Rough a syringe full of painkiller.

"Hit me," Rough said and stretched his fore hoof towards Healing, who stuck the needle into Rough's leg, and emptied the contents to his circulation.

"Thanks.. I hope it works," Rough said sadly and patted Healing on the shoulder.

"Good luck," Healing said, with almost tears in his eyes. Rough patted him on the shoulder again, and then Healing Horn started to walk towards the doors.

"Riff," Rough said when Riff passed him.

"Yes sir?" Riff asked. Rough pointed at Riff's bag and asked: "You still got those plastic charges?"

Riff looked at him confusedly, but then said: "Yes, I still got them."

"Give them to me," Rough said.

Riff did as he was told, while the others looked at them two. Rough took the bag of explosives, and threw them to his back. Then Riff gave him the remote controller, that would set off the bombs.

Thrill didn't say anything to Rough, but Blade shouted teasingly: "I'll see you in hell!"

"I hope we won't see too soon!" Rough returned the joke.

"There's everything," Riff said when he gave Rough the detonator.

"Good, now get going," Rough said, and pointed at the back door, where rest of the ponies were.

"Yes sir, good luck sir," Riff said, looking straight in the eyes of Rough.

Riff ran to the rest of the ponies, while Rough looked them.

He saw his squad starting to leave trough the back door. Crack Shot was last. He stayed in the doorway, looking at Rough, with a sad look on his face. Rough saluted at him, and Crack returned the gesture. He then returned trough the door, leaving Rough alone.

He looked at the door. There was light coming from behind the door, and there was shadows moving under it. He thought that the changelings didn't know that the ponies had left, leaving him alone. It could give him more time to prepare.

Rough felt the drug kicking in. His side was starting to feel better. It wasn't burning anymore, and he started feel pretty tired. That wouldn't stop him now. If he was going down, he would take as many changelings with him as possible.

Rough was still leaning against the machine on his hind legs. There he had actually pretty good visibility to the door.

He lifted his rifle, and held the stock tightly against his shoulder.

He was ready.

As if on cue, the first changelings emerged trough the door.

Rough cut them down with two well aimed shots to the head. They fell, but two more came to replace them. They had more time to react, and managed to pull out their guns.

Rough killed the another one with couple of shots, and he fell over another body of a changeling. The another one started to fire at Rough, but the bullets missed him, giving Rough enough time to take out the shooter.

He shot at the feet of the changeling, making him fall to the ground. Then Rough finished him with aimed shot to the head.

Now there was three changelings coming trough the door. One of them stopped and dug his gun. He manged to fire at Rough, but Rough managed to duck, still leaning against the machine. The bullets made holes to the metal, where Rough's head had been just seconds ago.

Rough opened fire and, dropped the shooting changeling with three quick shots.

He aimed at the another two, but when he squeezed the trigger, his gun clicked. The changelings used the moment to their advantage, and started to go around Rough, while two more changelings emerged trough the doors.

There was a lot more changelings that Rough had though.

He still had his pistol, and he started to reach for it. He was about to get it into his hoof, but then he felt a strong tuck in his back, and a red mist exploded from his stomach. Rough fell forward, hitting his face to the floor.

"I got him!" Rough heard changeling voice behind him.

He didn't feel hurt. He actually didn't feel anything but anger. He wanted to smash every single one of them, but his body felt limp. He saw more of them walking towards him. They all had identical armor, but one of them had a red helmet.

"Bastard's still alive!" the changeling with a red helmet said and kicked Rough in the side, but Rough didn't feel it. He thought that it was because of the drug that Healing had given him, or because he was dying.

"He made quite a mess," the one with red helmet said, pointing towards the five bodies near the door.

"Clear!" Rough heard changeling shout from the other side of the other side of the hall.

"They're not here!" another voice shouted.

There was silence. Then one of them said with it's high pitched voice: "Okay listen, We will go after them, and drone 18265"

"Yes sir?" Rough noticed that the voice belonged to the changeling that shot him in the back.

Rough tried to turn his head, but all he managed to do was just move his head a little.

Rough couldn't see the changeling behind him, but he saw the one with red helmet. He was clearly the leader of the squad. He looked aback at Rough, and grinned evilly.

"You will finish him off," the leading changeling said, looking at the changeling behind Rough.

"What? Why me.. I.. I mean he's going to die anyway.." The changeling behind Rough said nervously.

The leader looked at him angrily, and then took his pistol and threw it on the floor in front of Rough.

"No need to hurry," the leader said, and then left with the rest of the changelings, leaving Rough alone with the changeling behind him.

Rough heard footsteps behind him. Soon four legs appeared to his vision. Then they stopped in front of him. And soon the changeling crouched in front of him. The changeling looked almost sad.

He took the gun into his hoof, which shook a little.

Rough started to tense up. This was the first time he was this close to death.

"I.. I'm sorry," the changeling said.

All Rough could reply was just a barely audible grunting sound. He tried to say 'fuck you', but his mouth didn't cooperate with his brain.

"This is nothing personal.. I.. I don't want to do this," the changeling continued. He lifted the pistol to Roughs forehead.

When the mouth of the gun touched Rough's head, he felt sudden rush of adrenaline flow trough his body. Now Rough felt like he got new strength, and there was only one thought in his head. He wouldn't give up without a fight.

Rough Gunner concentrated all his powers, and quickly grasped the gun that was pressed to his head. The changeling got surprised by the sudden movement, and failed to squeeze the trigger in time. Rough turned the pistol away from him, before the changeling pulled the trigger.

Gun fired four times towards the ceiling. Rough and the changeling struggled more, and the gun fired two more times. Rough managed to turn the pistol towards the shocked changeling. He pressed it against the unprotected part of his side.

Rough pulled the trigger, and a single shot rang trough the hall.

They didn't move for a second, but then the changeling fell backwards and backed up a little, while blue blood sprayed from his wound. Rough still held the pistol aimed towards him, but it was empty. He threw it away, and took his knife from his combat vest.

He showed it to the shocked Changeling, and asked slurring badly: "You.. wanna.. do.. this?"

The changeling looked at the knife, with his mouth hanging open. Then he shook his head, and backed more, so he could lean in one of the machines.

"I'm.. I'm going.. t.. to d.. die.." the changeling spoke, while he spit blue blood.

"We're.. both.. going to die.." Rough Gunner chuckled painfully, and started to crawl closer to his bag. The changeling watched him.

"Wha.. what are.. you doing?" the changeling asked, but Rough didn't answer. He took his bag to his hooves.

"I'm.. sorry.. I didn't.. want this to.. happen.." the changeling cried, and took off his helmet.

Rough looked at him.

He was a young one, Rough could tell that. The blue blood had formed a big pool under him. He cried softly, and looked at Rough.

Somehow, Rough felt bad for the kid. He then turned back to his bag, and took the explosives from it. He placed them in front of himself, and started to plant the detonators to the blocks of plastic charges.

"Are.. you.. going to.. blow.." the changeling started, but was too tired to continue, so he just watched Rough work.

Rough too was feeling rather sleepy, but he had to do this.

"Yeah.. This.. fucking place.. nothing but harm.." Rough answered slurring, and planted the final detonator.

He looked at the changeling, who chuckled a little. He seemed to think the same.

"Tell me.. about it.." he said with as amused voice he could at the moment.

Rough then took the controller in his hoof.

He locked his green eyes with the changelings blue eyes. He saw that the changeling too felt tired, they both could just barely keep their eyes open. They looked at each other for a second. Then the changeling nodded, and Rough pressed the button. He thought that now he could have some rest.

Then everything in his world went black.