Equus Proditor Servus

“You’re a fool Jay! You’ll end up a slave to those filthy equines.”

“Really…and you think that’s worse than what you force your own soldiers to do Bark? Forcing them to torture ponies? Yeah, a lifetime’s worth of animal Cruelty’s a lot better alternative than being a slave forever!”

Robin could barely see or feel anything. The bullet in his leg was blotting out every emotion except pain. Hazy shapes swam in front of his vision, sometimes taking the shape of a hand, or a face he couldn’t seem to recognise. He was being carried by someone along a dark corridor, with white hot bullets zipping past them and bouncing off the walls and floor with loud bangs. Fragments of glass and chips of metal peppered them on every-side, falling from broken light fixtures or scraped away from the walls by the shots from their pursuers. Loud, echoing shouts followed them up the passageway as Robin and his carrier ran for their lives. Since he had shot Robin, Bark had taken to chasing both Jay and Robin, along with the escaped Pegasus all across the base, shooting at them every step of the way.

“Come…on…Robin, Come on mate. I…have…to get…” Jay stammered, panting heavily as he struggled under the combined weight of both the injured Robin and the large clothed bundle that was Fluttershy. The Pegasus had stopped screaming a little while back. Robin seriously hoped she hadn’t been hit by Barks shots. Then again, it’d be a stroke of luck if any of them got out of this alive. Alarms were going off all over the base and Bark was chasing after them, a squad of soldiers with him, firing at them every step of the way and screaming insults and curses at them. The stink of smoke and blood hung thick in the air.

“Filthy, traitorous SCUM!” he was screaming, firing his weapon with a kind of frenzied anger, spraying bullets around the corridor, not seeming to care whether he hit friend or foe. “You’ll undo all our hard work, all MY work. YOU, FILTHY, HOOVES KISSING SHI…” Bark stopped his tirade to duck, as Jay tossed a hand grenade over his shoulder, just as he and his charges, reached the exit door and bashed through it. Rushing headlong into the cold winter’s night. The effort of throwing the grenade, seemed to exhaust all Jay’s remaining energy though as he sagged against the doorframe allowing Robin and the blankets containing Fluttershy to fall heavily to the floor. His knees shaking and sweat pouring off his uniform and skin in great rivulets. The grenade exploded, sending flecks of snow and heated water flying everywhere. The heat prompted Jay to haul Robin to his feet and push him over to a waiting jeep.

“Get…up…there!” Jay growled, pushing Robin hard into the cargo part of the jeep. Robin’s injured leg hit the side of the jeep, prompting another howl of pain from him as he fell awkwardly into the back. Blood leaked out of the bullet hole, slicking the metal surface underneath him. “Oh….suck it up you big baby!” Jay shouted, hauling Fluttershy into the Jeep next to Robin. The unconscious ponies’ head lolled limply, staining the pink mane with rust and grime. Jay climbed into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine. The jeep roared to life, juddering slightly as though it were alive. “Hold on mate,” Jay grunted, pushing his foot down hard on the accelerator, “This is going to be a bumpy ride!”

Though Robin braced himself, the pain from each bump and near-crash almost made him black out. It felt like fire, pulsing its way up his leg, traveling up through his leg, across his chest and through his heart. The world seemed to deaden with the pain. The roar of their pursuers seemed lower in pitch than it should’ve been. The impact of bullets striking the car were dulled, so that it sounded like they were driving underwater. Darkness crept into the corners of Robins vision again. He was going to pass out if this pain continued. Jay was shouting at him again, but the words were unintelligible…gibberish. Robin was quite sure that he was dying. The world was dissolving into bright, white light now. Everything was going. The ripped tarp of the Jeep, the smell of smoke and the sound of Jay shouting at him to stay awake. It was all fading to white.

Robin awoke to the feel of someone lightly pressing something down upon his injury. What had once been blurry, undistinguished shapes, now flared into bright undistinguished shapes.

"ARGH! SON-OF-A-BITCH!" Robin shrieked, pulling his injured limb out of the unknown assailants grip and punching out in an attempt to desist the idiot who had attempted to touch his leg. His fist made contact with something smooth but hard with a grisly crunch. He felt whatever he had hit give way. Someone shouted in pain, the blurry shape next to him fell away and the pressure on his leg alleviated. The pain that the pressure had triggered lessened to a painful throbbing.

"OWWW! What the actual f&*£ you complete dick-head!" The other person yelled, rolling onto their front and writhing around, holding his face. "Why on earth do you need to punch somebody who tries to actually help you?! You complete Dick." The boy next groaned, the angry words muffled because the man had decided to role over onto his front and press his face hard into the ground. Robin took the moment, now that his vision had cleared to look around the place he was currently lying in. The triangular shaped cave was a dull grey, with a rough blanket covering the soft, wet ground. Small strips of cloth was covering the entrance, which were fluttering violently in a powerful wind, issuing from the outside. A small cylindrical shaped heat stick was lying on the floor. These small sticks of plastic, with several small chemicals on the inside, the small stick provided a large amount of heat over a small spread of area when snapped, almost like a glow stick. Robin took a look at Jay who Robin now recognised, as the man who he had punched in the face. He grinned apologetically at the other man, who had finally decided to roll up into a sitting position and was massaging his bruised nose with an expression rather akin to a man who had recently been whacked in the face with a rotting fish.

"Sorry about that Jay." He grunted trying to lift his leg to reduce the throbbing in his leg. Said action only served to infuriate his injury even more. Jay gave a groan of anger and pushed Robin back into a lying position. Jay picked up the bloodied rag that had been resting next to Robin and held it up to his eyes, examining it closely. He sighed and looked back to Robin. He looked just as bad as Robin did. His jacket had been torn open at the chest, leaving a long bloody gash, with a large blood-stained rag wrapped around his head. His eye were glazing over, looking almost bleak with pain. He was swaying on his knees a soft groaning noise issuing from between his lips.

"RRRRRIGHT." Jay said briskly giving Robin a look that plainly did not invite argument. "Your leg needs cleaning and binding, or it'll get infected and you'll lose more blood than you already have done. This is going to hurt....a lot." Robin opened his mouth to argue but instead of coherent sentences or even a sound of opposition, Robin howled as pain shot up his leg, spreading like boiling acid through his body. He tried once again to punch the other man but his fist, which had shot straight at Jay's face, collided instead with the hard metal roof of the cave with a loud clang. More pain laced through his arm, across his knuckles. Jay chuckled lightly as he tied another rag around the injury tightly and rounded it off with a small knot.

"I fricking hate you." Robin growled massaging his bruised fist. Jay laughed airily, jerking his head over at the small bundle huddled by the heat stick.

"Don't be ungrateful dude, Fluttershy fainted when I came near her with the med-kit." He held up the small orange case and flipped it open. Taking out a miniscule bottle of brightly coloured pills, he tapped out several and handed them over. "Swallow them down Robin. It'll dull the pain." Robin glared at him then tipped the foul tasting bits into his mouth and swallowed them. He coughed painfully, feeling something thick and phlegmy sticking in his throat. He coughed and hacked painfully until the obstruction cleared and he managed to breath clearly. He spat hard onto the floor and frowned at Jay.

"Where are we anyway," He demanded, "Since when do caves have metal roofs?" Jay stared at him for a second then sighed and lent back and stared over Robins head at the strips of cloth covering the entrance to their makeshift shelter. It was a few seconds before he spoke. When he did, it was in a slow, strained voice.

"I...think we hit the gateway Robin..." He said quietly, never taking his eyes off the fluttering fabric. "One minute we were driving away from the base-camp, Bark was shooting at us. Then something hit us, next thing I know we were rolling down a snow dune. We were stuck upside down. This the back of the jeep. It's just....it's upside down." His small half-hearted smile did nothing to assure Robin, who had sat up on his elbows and was staring at him with a look of utter horror.

"You...mean....we're in...."

"Equestria? I think so." Jay nodded calmly, his small smile disappearing into a frown. "I'm pissed about it to alright! I give a break okay?" He said, glaring imploringly at Robin who was attempting to put himself into a sitting position and was glaring into at Jay with a look full of venom, "You try driving a army jeep across mega-spelled devastated London while people are shooting at you when you haven't passed your driving test after the TENTH time trying." And he dissolved into a fit of angry mumbles about "Driving tests in the apocalypse." Robin glared at Jay still more venomously than before until Jay's mumbles subsided and he looked nervously at the prone boy.

"You mean to tell me..." Robin said, in a voice shaking with rage, "That you managed to not only crash our get-away car but..." Jay looked positively terrified now, shaking with nerves. "That you also managed to get us stranded in what appears..." he glanced at the fabric strips fluttering in the wind. "To be a windswept wasteland where every living creature hates us and will not hesitate to tear us a F&*&ing NEW ONE!" Robin shouted attempting to stand up over the other man. He regretted it when his head crashed hard into the metal roof, bringing on another stab of pain. Robin fell back to the floor holding his head with both hands. Eyes streaming with pain, Robin turned his angry glare toward Jay who was still looking nervous at the prospect of further facing Robin's wrath. The other man soon decided it was safe enough to move back to re-open the med-case and pulled another small bottle, filled this time with a clearish liquid.

"Here," Jay said coldly, thrusting the bottle at Robin who's only response was to snatch the bottle from Jay, unscrew the cap and throw the liquid back harshly. It made Robin's tongue feel like it had been coated in garlic. It stung, making the organ tingle like it had gone numb. "You're some piece of work y'know that?" Jay asked calmly, taking his own bottle from the med-case and drinking the vile liquid within. "Trying to hit the guy who patched you up." Robin stared at Jay for a second, then grinned.

"Yeah, though you were the one who spared no expense on giving me pain dude." Jay grinned back. They both shared a small laugh, until they both noticed that their breath had started to mist in front of their faces. The temperature had started to drop too. Both men looked down at the heat-stick, to see that the small orange cylinder whose glow had dimmed drastically, taking with it the heat that it had brought. Jay sighed, tossing the small med-case back into the small traveling pack that all their army jeeps came equipped with. He glanced at Robin with a pained expression.

"We're going to need to move...see if we can find some help." Jay said calmly though he still looked pained and nervous. Robin stared at him incredulously. He couldn't believe what Jay was suggesting.

"You want us to go out into that..." He jerked his head at the fluttering in the wind, "On my leg, with her..." he jerked his head at the bundle of blankets that was holding the still unconscious Pegasus. Jay nodded busying himself with tightening the straps on the traveling pack. He looked up at Robin with a cold look of desperation.

"Listen Robin," He said, shuffling over to the Pegasus and sliding a few traveling straps underneath the bundle of clothing and pony. "We're both in a bad way. My head wounds caused something akin to a drugs high and your leg will get worse if it doesn't get proper treatment. I don't have the medical skills necessary to get it healed up in the proper way. If we don't move, we're dead anyway. That was my last heat-stick." Robin sighed in angry despair. He sighed as he watched Jay finally manage to hoist the unconscious pony onto his back, giving him the look of a hunchback hermit.

"Fine, you complete arsehole. Help me out of this thing."

Robin had already regretted it allowing Jay to pull him out of the warmth of the makeshift shelter and out into the cold wasteland that was outside. Icy winds cut through the boys almost immediately, like blades dipped into the coldest waters. Clouds of snow swirled through the air, reducing all visibility to the bare minimum. White blankets covered the ground, soaking their boots and socks in a matter of minutes. Robin glared at Jay who had allowed Robin to wind his arm heavily across Jays shoulders.

"You think there's anybody out there?" He demanded, glaring at Jay with a venomous glare. Jay turned his head and raised his eyebrows with a pointed expression. "Alright, alright Jay, I get the point." Robin said, trying to get his footing on the cold, wet, snowy surface. Jay nodded in satisfaction and, heaving the massive load on his back into a better position, set off at a slow lopsided trot, Robin leaning heavily on his shoulder.

Jay was on the verge of passing out after several hours of walking. Robin, Fluttershy and himself had been slowly staggering through the snow-storm, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of civilisation. So far though, they'd had no luck. Snowy white flakes bombarding them repeatedly from every-which way but loose, soaking them through their supposedly survival jacket's and wetting their skin, freezing them to the bone. Jay was convinced by now that he was the only one still awake. Fluttershy had been unconscious ever since their arrival. Robin who had been trading banter with Jay for several hours, was now slumped against his shoulder with a heaviness that someone couldn't produce while they were awake. This was the one thing that he hated about his body. He was often weaker than most of his other friends, therefore, if he had to help carry anyone who was taller than he was, his progress would also suffer.

He was so close to passing out now. The world was distorting in front of his vision. The flakes of snow in the air became slowly twisting sparks of light in front of his vision. The pain from his head wound was reaching its peak. He was barely aware of anything passing around him. He fell to his knees, Robin dropping to the floor beside him, the small bundle slipping of his shoulders and hitting the ground with a loud thump. He placed his hands on the snow covered ground to try and steady himself. He couldn't bring himself to try and push himself back up to a standing position. He would drop soon, then that would be the end of............

"HEY, HUMAN, ANYPONY AT HOME!" Yelled a loud voice. Jay' head snapped up in surprise. His eyes tightened in shock. Four hazy shapes were standing in front of him. Creatures with four legs, armoured covered barrels and each one of them had long, sharpened....HORNS?!
Jay felt a pang of fear. Anypony.....only one group of creatures he'd ever known used that phrase.

"Shit...I'm surrounded by fricking ponies. Unicorns. Bloody brilliant." It was clear from the angry snorts around him, that he had said the wrong thing. Something hard cracked him across the back. He fell forward into the snow. His vision clouded over as he felt another harsh strike across the back of his head.

"Damn," he thought as his vision grew darker with each strike. "That could've gone better."

As Jay slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing he hard was the harsh grating voice of the unicorn who had called out to him.
"Right, get this human back to the crystal empire. Captain Shining armour will want to interrogate these two PERSONALLY!"