FarNeigh

"Bolo! Bolo!?"

My ears perked up, and my eyes shot open. Gunshots could be heard in the distance.

Blam Blam Blam

Somebody was shooting a rifle from somewhere, and I was pretty sure it was not Trigger, since he stood next to my bed shaking me violently.

"Damn, Bolo! Get up! Some ponies are here, they-", he was on the edge of hyperventilating, and looked at me through fearful eyes, "they have guns and- dude we need to get out of here!!"

I was completely awake in a split second and had to process everything for a bit before lifting my head and answering.

"Wha- Trigger, Who is "they", and where are the others?" I said and tried not to get nervous myself but failed miserably.

"I-I, they are upstairs, except Silver, he- he said he wanted to check something in the garage and left before we heard the gunshots!"

The first thought that shot into my head was the most obvious one. This had to be another dream. Another stupid nightmare trying to ruin my sleep, but it felt different, too real. Fear started to build inside me. I quickly jumped out of the bed and ran to the locker in which I deposited my stuff. My shoulder burned in pain, but I could not let myself be slowed down by a little bite, not right now.

"Trigger, quick, we need to get out of here. Take the others from upstairs and bring them here, I will get Silver," I said while I got my jacket, my machete and a knife, "we meet outside in two minutes, you still have your gun right?".

"Y-yea, but I could never-"

"Trigger, I can't force you, but I tell you that you will have to defend yourself if they try to get you or the others, you understand that?"

"Yes, I do", he gulped loudly before levitating his handgun out of a holster on his side that I didn't notice before. Even in his magic grasp the weapon was visibly shaking. "I-I will protect them Bolo".

"Good, now go get them, and remember", I was already at the door and shouted the last words in his general direction, "two minutes!"

With these words I opened the door and ran outside before even looking around, all I had in mind was to get to that damn garage.

Blam Blam Blam

The shots sounded closer by the minute, and I saw a few bullets hitting the second floor of the unused barrack. I had to act fast. I ran to my right, directly towards the little building between the barracks, and nearly kicked in the door due to the force with which I opened it. It turned out to be a bad idea, since only by sheer luck Silver missed his swing and I was not laying on the floor with a smashed head.

"Blo?" he said with a surprised look and spat out the wrench he had in his mouth. "Bolo what are you doing here?!", he shoved me to the side and leaned against the wall, peeking out out of the little slit of the door frame, "You have to hide, don't you hear the gunshots?!"

"Silver, no time! We can't hide, we need to go, I already told the others, we need to hurry"

I grabbed him with a hoof to make my message clear, but of course he had something to argue. Even with armed ponies closing in.

"Bolo, we can't just go out there, dont you hea-"

"Silver, don't argue, why do you think they are shooting like idiots? Nobody can be that stupid, they want us to hole up, to hide, or to loose our shit and run around like rabbits! We have to get out here through the jungle, fast and quiet, I mean, just look at this place, do you think we can hide in here? Or fight them?"

He was clearly unconvinced, but by the look on his face he thought about my words, and he stopped resisting, giving me a small nod and running out into the open with me. Out of the garage, the shots sounded even closer and the sound of wood being torn to splinter followed each seventh echo, they would be here within the next minute.

I ran into the direction of our building, and saw Trigger standing in the doorframe, the gun still enveloped in his white magic aura. I did not even stop and ran straight for the tree line on the northern end of the compound, unfortunately some muzzle flashes already lightened up the jungle, but they seemed to be bunched up on the right side of the dirtroad leading into it. This was our only chance.

"Trigger, lets go go go!" I said and kept running. A short glimpse behind me confirmed that Sunny, Violet and Smoky were all right, and now followed us as well. I did not look long enough to make out details, but I was certain that Sunny was not in a good condition and would loose composure any moment.

"We need to-" I got cut off by a harsh and deep voice of a stallion shouting from behind us, which led to a series of other shouts coming from nearly every direction.

"They are fucking running, get 'em!" surprisingly the voice came from above, and another quick glimpse made me see that it was, in fact, a Pegasus hovering over the compound, and opening fire in small bursts from an assault rifle he used with both hooves.

Some shots hit dangerously close to the ground around us, making Sunny whimper, and Violet let out a shriek when a bullet hit the ground next to her. Fortunately it seemed like hovering in one place and shooting was not the most accurate option. I heard more rifles shooting behind us, and I was sure that the pegasus would get one of us sooner or later, no matter how inaccurate he was.

I was then that I saw Trigger clenching his eyes shut while running, and turning his gun in the direction of the flying attacker, giving off a few shots.

"Shit, they got guns, they got guns!", he screamed, and his own fire ended. Without the Pegasus pinning us down, we were able to reach the tree line unharmed and ran through the bushes and leaves in a random direction, but away from the compound. Trigger did not stop shooting into the same direction until a small click indicated that the magazine was empty. Tears had formed in his eyes.

We were not out of danger at all. Shots could still be heard, and tracers hit the trees around us, too close for my taste. We were in the jungle tough. Our chance of getting out of here increased by a tenfold, now we just had to find a place to hide-

"AAAH"

I got interrupted in my thoughts, when I heard Violet scream in agony. She stumbled and fell into the dirt, still screaming, and holding her hindleg with both hooves. We immediately stopped, and I immediately saw the gaping wound in her leg, bleeding onto the dirt and grass underneath.

Sunny only gasped, clearly horrified, while Smoky and Trigger looked worried and kept scanning every direction, afraid of whoever was hunting us right now, all while tracers still flew through the air. Trigger was breathing like a madpony, I never saw him this nervous before.

"We need to get out of here and hide, I will take Violet!", Silver said while already picking her up and positioned her on his back.

"Silver, she is bleeding badly, we need to treat her, take care of the wound!" Sunny interrupted hastily while hovering on top of Violet and looking at the bleeding injury.

Silver glanced at the bleeding mare on his back and answered firmly, "We will take care of that later, shes a strong girl, she will handle it", and began to move.

As Sunny passed by me with flapping wings it finally hit me.

"Sunny! Your wings!" I shouted with more glee that was appropriate for our current situation and everybody halted.

"What? What's wrong with my wings?! Did they shoot me?" She said hastily and hovered on the spot trying to examine her own wings.

"No, Sunny, you can fly! You can scout ahead or even get help!"

"I- scouting ahead? Alone? Bole, I uhh, do not think this is a good idea at all"

They were slowly loosing us, since the shots and shouts of our hunters sounded more and more dispersed, some still too close to feel comfortable though.

"Sunny, you can fly over the tree crowns and search for some kind of village or hideout, we are running out of time here, it's probably our only option for surviving longer than 10 minutes with that mob chasing us"

She still looked less than convinced.

"We all depend on you". All eyes were now on Sunny, who was glancing at each one of us and stopping at Violet, who was breathing heavily on Silvers back. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath.

"I'll do it", she said exhaling, but not looking less worried.

The tension decreased, and I was the first to speak up.

"Thank you Sunny. We all know it's a lot to ask for...just be careful, okay?"

"I'll try".

With this she began to hover up and gave us a last nod before flying through the tree crowns and out of our view.

I let out a sigh, "Let's move".

We continued trotting as fast as we could, wich was not a lot considering Silver still had Violet on his back. By now the shots completely faded. I was Relieved but still cautious, we were in middle of a jungle after all, and I doubted that wolves were the only predators roaming around.

We kept walking into the direction we thought was the best, until a loud scream combined with a shriek suddenly echoed through the area. In a matter of seconds two blurs crashed through the trees above us and hit the ground only a few steps away from me. As I dared to look, shock rippled through my body. Sunny was laying face down on the jungle ground and a Pegasus armed with a assault rifle stood on top of her, looking at us through angry eyes.

He was a Green stallion with a brown mane and clothed in a patchwork armor showing a handgun, a knife and some equipment I never have seen before. A red piece of cloth was wrapped around his muzzle, more could also be seen wrapping up some parts of his armor and forelegs. The Rifle was aiming straight at me.

"Nobody move!" he shouted and cooked his rifle, shooting a glance to the rest of my friends, apparently to make sure nobody would run away. "Onyx, Quill, get your asses down here! I got them!" he seemed to be talking into some kind of radio on his chest. "You stay calm, if I see any magic or a sudden movement, it will get much, much worse than-" The bastard glimpsed at Sunny with a smirk "-this, understood?"

Nobody cared to answer of course. Everything we could do was to stand there, and not make any sudden movements. I had my horn, and my knife, but one mistake and either me or one of my friends would pay the price, and I was not ready to risk that. I looked at Sunny, and saw her chest raising from the ground, unsteady but her still breathing was the only thing I was concerned with anyway.

After a few seconds of almost silence, with heavy breathing, trembling and a gun being swung around, the rustling of leaves indicated the arrival of the reinforcements for our captor.

"Daaamn, you messed that one up pretty bad", a dark blue Pegasus stallion said with a nod towards Sunny as he descended towards us, his rifle already aiming in our direction. He had a similar makeshift armor and gun, but instead of his muzzle, he wore the red cloth as a bandana around his dark grey mane.

"Doesn't matter", the green pegasus answered, still standing on top of Sunny with one hoof, and giving her limb body a symbolic nudge with one of his hindlegs, "he wants the warrior, not the rest".

"You fucking idiot!", the third of them shouted in a feminine voice. The mare hovered near Silver, who still had the bleeding Violet on his back. "He wants them all you moron. Alive! Fuck!" She said in an angry tone, facing Silver, "...you! Get that mare on your back patched up, Ill take care of the Pegasus".

She tossed a bandage to Silver, who was already putting Violet down on the ground and started treating the still bleeding wound immediately. Violets eyes were lifeless and I couldn't see her breathing. A mix of angst and anger overcame me at the idea of her dying like that. And it was all my own fault.

"So what? we are going to help them? Onyx, are you nuts?" Our initial captor cried out as he got pushed away by the mare. The mare whos names seemed to be Onyx got a hold of Sunny and checked for a pulse and vital signs before answering.

"IM nuts? Do you have any idea what Kiapolo is going to do to us if we let even one of them die? More so, what he will do to YOU if he finds out you fucking killed one of them? He will cut your dick off and feed it to you before you have the chance to bleed out!"

The stallion now seemed a bit more thoughtful, apparently Onyxs words had truth behind them. That Kiapolo did not sound like somebody I would like to piss off.

"You are lucky, she is in a bad condition, but if you don't fuck it up somehow she will survive. I can't say the same about your balls though". She seemed dead serious. And it scared me.

"Yea man, you know how he is," the dark blue stallion spoke up in a casual voice, but still pointing his rifle on Silver and Violet, "and he did say to not kill them after all".

"Aw, shut up Quill. Just keep watching them while I get the others, and make sure they are unarmed!" was the harsh answer, but a nervous undertone was clearly heard. With this the Green Pegasus moved towards the side and mumbled something about their mothers, before turning his attention to the radio. I couldn't understand what he said into it due to the distance while Quill searched us for weapons.

He found Trigger's empty handgun easily and Silver was unarmed. As he scanned my body up close, and told me to throw the machete in front of me on the ground, I could have sliced him open right there and now, but in any case things would get messy, so I had no other choice but to comply, separating myself from my trusty tool, but keeping the knife I had hidden in my vest. The stallion was too careful to search me up close, at least not without any cover or backup.

I heard the rustling of leaves and a glance confirmed that Smoky was slowly getting closer to me, moving inch by inch on his haunches. The armed Pegasi were too busy with arguing, treating Sunny and watching over Silver to notice it.

"Bolo, dude," Smoky started whispering once he was close enough, "we have to get out of here man. We can't just sit here and let them take us with them you feel me?. I-I don't know about you, but I really would like to avoid a meeting with this Kiapolo guy!"

"How are we supposed to pull that off? They have rifles!" I said through clenched teeth. Smoky was out of his mind, I saw no way of doing anything but wait at that moment. Smoky though had his own ways of forcing an action, he just ignored what I said.

"Listen, I create an distraction, you get that blue fucker, I hope Silver will realize what to do by then".

"You hope?!"

"Sounds like a plan? Good, now wait for my Signal and be ready".

Did I even have a choice?

"Oi! Ya green son of a mule" Smoky shouted from my right, "too bad you are not allowed to kill me, because you look so damn fucking ugly, I would love a bullet in my head just to stop having to look at you!"

The green pony reacted immediately by taking fast steps towards him. If his goal was to anger him, he succeeded.

"Oh really?! ... Keep watching them, I got this one!" he now stood above Smoky, who was still sitting there with a awkward grin. got a knife out of a front sheathe on his vest and began playing with it in front of Smoky.

"Yea, really. I would rather get my brain carved out to forget your damn face than having to live with it for the rest of my life!"

The green stallion's eyes twitched a little and he moved the knife to Smoky's throat, speaking through clenched teeth "Watch your tongue you fuck, or I swear I will cut it out, and then you wont even have the ability to tell it was me anymore, allright!?"

The dance of insults and threats between the two continued and I took the opportunity to get a glimpse at Silver who was finished treating violet's leg and looked back at me, with an unsure expression. The mare was still busy checking on Sunny, apparently it really was important that we survived, for now. It was a serious advantage. The only thing that kept me from acting was that damn last stallion watching out for-"

"You little bastard!" The green stallion shouted suddenly and with a loud smack I heard the impact and a second later Smoky's body hitting the floor. "I will fucking kill you you hear me! Like I care what Kiapolo is going to do to me! I will kill you!"

He was almost wrestling with Smoky now, giving him punches and it looked like he would just slice his throat any moment.

"Whoa, Whoa watch it Cloud!" Quill to speak up, but it didnt seem like the green stallion cared. "Cloud! Cloud jumper!" He lowered his rifle and began a quick trot towards the two fighting ponies. Even though it couldn't be considered a fight really, it seemed to one sided for that. As he arrived the pair, he flung the rifle on his back and tried to get Cloud Jumper away from Smoky, who now bled out of his nose and seemed bruised on multiple parts of his body. By Celestia, what did Smoky say to him?

The first minute of this entire happening I could do nothing but watch in horror, before I remembered that, as sick and stupid as it seemed, this had to be Smoky's plan. The Mare treating Sunny was too busy to react to the fighting stallions, and both other captors were in said fight. The perfect opportunity. Smoky, as battered up as he was, still took the force to keep it up.

"C-Cloud Jumper? Mor-More like Cloud...Humper, am I right?"

I had to admit, that one made me chuckle for a second.

"Aaaaaah! No, let me kill him before the others arrive! We will say it was an accident, aaargh!" The display, as violent as it was, still looked comedic. Like a school fight, Cloud Jumper tried to grasp and kick for Smoky while Quill held him tight, struggling to keep his comrade contained.

At this point I gave up on the idea of saving everyone just like that. In retroperspect, it was kinda foolish of me thinking I could lead us out in this jungle without expecting for them to reach us. Hard times are fought with hard actions, so I stood up, slowly enough to not immediately attract attention, gave Silver a nod, and ran.

I didn't care if Silver even saw the nod, or if the armed ponies were following me. Hell, I wouldn't have cared for a bullet in my back at this point, I just needed to escape, get a clear head, and then find out a way how to solve all this. As much as it hurt to leave my brothers and everybody else behind, I wasn't going to just let this chance slip.

Branches snapped under my hooves, and twigs slashed at every part of my body as I rushed through the thick flora of the jungle without even knowing which direction I went, only focusing on running and not tripping. I can't tell how long I ran before my muscles hurt too much, and inhaling became too hard, forcing me to make a pause near one of the hundred of giant trees suurrounding me. I panted heavily and sweat ran over my face, my only concern being where to go next.

At least it was my only concern, before I heard a twig snap close to me. Of course they followed me, why did I even think they wouldn't? I stopped my breaths and tried to calm down faster, using my nose to take quick inhales. For a while nothing happened, and everything I could do was to press myself against the tree and trying to see who or what was out there.

Leaves rustled, soft steps came closer. I had my knife drawn, not wanting to use magic because I was sure it would give my position away. Exhaling silently I prepared to lunge at whatever was out there, but I didn't have the chance. Before I could do my first move, something grabbed me from behind, pressed me to the ground and a hoof covered my muzzle. I did my bet to struggle against the grasp, but it was strong, a strength that I remembered. I stopped the struggle and looked up, to see the Silver's eyes stare right back into mine.

"Shhh, they are close".

I nodded into his hoof, and he retracted it, looking around and scanning the area. After a while of just standing there, he finally gave me a small nudge and he moved off me, still getting a glimpse at every corner.

"You made it out? Where's Trigger?"

"I don't know. I doubt he even moved. I hope you have a reason and a plan for all this, it was foolish to just run away from the group".

"A plan, not directly. But it is better than having no option at all. And I do not count being captured in any way as an option!"

"Bolo we are in the middle of a jungle, how the hell do you plan on-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence, since the rustling above us caught our attention. I think both of us knew it was not a good idea to stand still and look up to see what it actually was, yet we did exactly that, and payd the price dearly when a shout brought us back into our grave situation.

"There they are!"

Damn.

We wasted no more time and began running, but this time I knew somebody was behind and following me, trying to chase me down, and It felt daunting. The only upside was Silver who was now running with me. Not being alone helped me to stay sane and not loose it entirely under all the pressure and stress that has been continuously thrown at me all day.

The voice that shouted didn't seem to be any of the three captors I left behind when I chose to run, but the lack of gunfire either meant that we encountered somebody who knows what happens to him if he kills us, or that we already lost him. I wasn't going to stop and check.

As we kept running, I felt a deep headache forming under my skull. I didn't know if it was from the exhaustion, dehydration or if I had a migraine from all the stress, but each step made it worse, and soon every movement felt like a jackhammer pounding in my brain. My vision began to blacken and I was drenched in sweat, yet I couldn't quite stop myself from running.

"Bolo!"

Silver... I turned my head, the jungle now just seemed to be one black corridor, with one direction to go. Silver was still running behind me with a worried expression, but for the first time I saw the armored earth pony who gave chase to us. His black mane...his wide grin, made even more intimidating by the trench knife between his teeth, sparked something in my memories, but I couldn't quite remember it. For a second a jolt of pain rippled through my head, and I actually had to concentrate and close my eyes not to fall or stagger by my own, even though by now it all just felt like my body was moving on autopilot.

When I reopened my eyes, a Black wolf was giving chase to us. I felt like I was dreaming again. Was this all just a sick dream? Was I still in my bed, sleeping? Waiting for Trigger to wake me up for breakfast?

No, this...this couldn't be a dream. Unfortunately, this revelation made the fact that I saw a giant Black wolf chasing us not a tad easier to swallow. I had no idea what to do, and my head was killing me, making me loose focus and I could feel how my energy was being sucked out of my body. Since I wasn't sure if i was hallucinating or on the verge of passing out I forced a decision.

"Silver, you have to stop"

"Wha- Why? What are you doing?"

"Just stop!"

After giving the command, I wasted no more time and made halt in my tracks, leaving breaking marks in the dirt under my hooves, which felt worn out and tired. Silver saw my move and stopped too, I could clearly see his confusion. Fortunately for me, the chasing beat did not expect this sudden change and kept running. I wasn't going to wait for it to leap at me. Not this time. I just started a sprint with the last forces I could muster, and rushed towards it with a wicked grin. Every fiber of my brain hurt as I eveloped the knife hidden in my vest in my magical grasp and ran towards the the predator.

"Bolo, what the hell are you doing!?"

I couldn't blame him for shouting at me, I knew that I was crazy for doing this, but this craziness felt right...too right. Only seconds after, me and the wolf collided, and I made sure to stay away from it's dangerous muzzle. The initial impact was painful due to the hide of the wolf being harder than I expected, and we both stumbled to the ground. I should have used my horn to stab at it, but it was too late. We fought on the ground, kicking and struggling, his muzzle swinging at me, while I tried to hold my knife in my magical grasp.

The wolf's forelegs kept fighting against my weapon, and we rolled in the dirt, giving stomach blows with our knees and trying to hurt the other as much as possible. My anger rose, and a wild bloodlust came over me. A thrill, exactly like in the dream, when I rammed the machete deep into the beasts stomach. With a surge of power, I made a horizontal stab with my knife and finally hit the beast under me directly in the throat.

I didn't feel a rush of winning yet, so I pulled my weapon out, and rammed it into its throat again, and again, and again. The initial sound of flesh being torn apart, and the gurgling sound of the thing under me trying to breathe, got cut off by the fourth time my knife connected and I stopped.

Only then did I notice that I was panting hard, and bleeding on several spots of my body. I blinked once, and my vision returned, leaving me open to the shock of the scenery. Underneath me laid a stallion in a makeshift armor, his black hair was fixed with a red piece of cloth, but I saw much more red on him. Blood, it was everywhere. My vision cleared bit by bit, and as I regained full focus all I could do was raise my forehooves and stare at them.

They were bruised and drenched in blood.

Even the immense amount of adrenaline rushing through my veins could not help to make me panic, and an overwhelming feeling of guilt hit me like a lighting when I looked closely at the body under me. I nearly beheaded him. His head was only connected to his body by the rear part of his neck and blood was pouring out of the gashing wound I left behind, dribbling on the ground, forming an enormous pool of liquid around us.

Silver stayed quiet, and I could only imagine the shock on his face right now. The entire situation got worse when the adrenaline high wore off, and left me behind with a sore, hurting, body and the sudden realization that I did this. I killed a pony and stabbed his throat multiple times and his lifeless blue eyes are staring right back at me. A strange feeling of fear rose deep in my body, and I could no longer hold the bloody weapon I used to kill the stallion, letting it fall down in the dirt.

"Bolo? You okay?"

I knew Silver wouldn't take this as serious as I did. He has seen his share of dying. I was sure his shock was purely from the fact that I just killed a pony in front of him like an animal.

"Bolo, I know how you feel, okay? Trust me. But we have to go, we can't stay here"

I slowly stood up, not caring to take the knife with me, and took small steps towards my brother. I was out of breath and even though I doubted the cuts I received were fatal, the pain kept on hitting me and reminding me of them.

"Yes...Yes, let's go", I tried to muster some normal tone, but failed miserably. Silver took the lead and we moved off into a direction I didn't know. In that situation Silver could have taken the way back and I wouldn't have noticed it. I glimpsed back a last time, looking at my kill. The lifeless form of the stallion and the puddle of blood.

"He attacked us didn't he? He wanted to capture us, take us somewhere. I had the right to kill him, right?" I stammered, trying to justify my actions somehow. But I knew that the display I showed was in no way simple self defence and I was ashamed of it.

"Yes, it was. Look, I know it is hard right now, but you have to focus somehow. The first thing we need to do is find shelter and get your wounds fixed up"

I nodded and tried to follow his advise and think clearly. The pain that followed after each single step and the emotional overflow of feelings did not help at all though.

We kept walking. I lost track of time long ago and just tried to keep my mind together until I heard the shout.

"Don't move!"

These two words did it. My mind crumbled and the despair took over. I was tired, so endlessly tired. I didn't want to run, I didn't want to fight anymore. All I could do was accept my fate. "Atleast I tried" was what I kept telling myself. The limit was reached.

"Stay there, don't turn around!"

Oddly enough I anticipated exactly what happened next. First I heard a small shifting of the weapon that probably still aimed at us, followed by a mumble and a answer with static in the background, confirming that whoever stood behind us, was calling reinforcements.

I took a deep breath and decided that I might as well look around myself a last time in freedom. The jungle was still as beautiful as before. The birds singing, the leaves rustling in the wind, and just that giant wall of green that green that greeted me wherever I looked. It was glorious, and the sound of water hitting the ground only added to its magnificient-

Water?

Indeed, the sound of a waterfall splashing its content down could be heard clearly, and closely. I realized that we must have ended on some kind of ledge on top of a sea. Maybe something was giving me a last chance after all?

"Stay nice and put, soon there will be nothing to worry about anymore", I don't know if it was his voice that dripped death, or the laugh that followed that made me shiver, but I knew that staying like this was not an option.

My exhausted mind raced and tried to work out anything better than what my initial idea was, but everything ended up the same way. I looked to Silver on my right, he wanted to give me confidence with a firm look, but I knew better. He was out of ideas, and I would not let him risk the same thing I was going to.

We were two ponies, this meant that if one were to go, there was no way our captor would just leave the other behind. I had to act fast.

What happened next could only be described as dumb. Plain and simple stupidness and risk. In front of me stood a line of rather tall bushes, and it was from that direction the sound of the waterfall seemed to come. I had only this chance. In a single motion I leaped towards the bushes, jumping through them and burning my last bit of energy.

The last thing I heard were the shouts of my brother and a curse from my captor. I didn't care for either at that point though, as I flew downwards, my vision blurry. Water was everywhere around me, and I didn't need to look to know that under me a sea was present. As I let my body be dragged down by gravitation and simply hoped to not hit one of the hundred rocks that usually lay in those seas, or at least for a painless death in case I did.

I felt the impact and blacked out.

Author's Note

As always, feel free to give criticism!