"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" Sang October lightly as he wildly flipped pancakes in 'stunt mode'.

Sweetie Belle was the earliest to wake after him, as she began to walk down the stairs, intrigued by the smell of October's breakfast. Walking up to October in his work she asked, "Are those the same kind of pancakes we made before?"

October looked down at the little filly with a bright smile, "Good morning Sweetie Belle. Uh, yes these are the same kind, but I added something special this time. My dad would say that these were the best pancakes that I made, so I figured I'd see how you ponies like it."

"Well what exactly did you put in it?" she asked him as she walked up beside him and put her hooves up on the counter top to get a better look. Sweetie Belle watched the expertise of October's cooking skills as he flipped and flopped the food on the griddle, giving it that perfect coat of brown. She tilted her head a bit and began to drool on the counter, which got a laugh out of the cook when he saw her mouth watering with an 'in-the-distance' expression on her face.

Grabbing a paper towel, he handed it to Sweetie, who took it in her magic. This caught October a bit by surprise, so he asked, "Been working on your magic hm?"

"Oh yes!" she squeaked with pride, "I have! I can levitate anything in the Boutique!"

October raised his well known eyebrow of skepticism. "Is that so?" he asked with a smirk, "Are you to say that you can lift me?"

Sweetie Belle tapped her hoof in her chin in consideration before she replied, "Although I'm quite sure you pretty well understand what I meant, I think I could give it a try, if you wouldn't mind?" She looked up at October with a smile, who himself had a odd look on his face. "What?" Sweetie asked, noticing his not-all-together look. "Oh, right. Rarity will kinda, uh, you know, get to me that way." she answered before October asked.

October, who indeed was not all there, had shut his mouth as she gave the answer to him. "Aight. Well that's not a bad thing. Learning how to talk is the first step in learning how to convey a message. But make sure to keep your drama levels low."

Sweetie Belle looked at him with her own expression of oddity, but simply shook it off as she readied herself to lift the man in front of her. Her horn began to glow with her signature aqua aura. October readied himself in a sort of squatted position as her glow enveloped him. Sweetie began to groan under the strain of his weight. It seemed as though she was just on the verge of lifting him into the air, for he could feel his weight leave him, but before such could happen, she dropped the glow from her horn, and October's heaviness came back on his with a horribly savage vengeance.

October grabbed his belly, and went down to his knees, so as to not hit his head anywhere. "Ugh." Was really all that could, or needed to be said.

Sweetie hurriedly rushed for a bucket, the closest of which was a box actually. She found that, as most of the things in the Boutique, it had something in it that was not to be soiled or played with. Thinking Rarity wouldn't appreciate her gems with a coat of vomit, she dumped Rarity's things in the corner for the moment, then rushed to October, who looked like he was barely holding in his dinner.

"October? Are you alright?" she asked as she put the box under his head.

"I think...I'll be...just fine." he said, pushing the box away. He stood back up, still with hand on his stomach. "Perhaps, it would do you good to gently release instead of just dropping." he advised the filly, who looked to the floor.

"Sorry. I didn't know that would happen." she replied apologetically.

October laughed a bit. "Well I didn't know that was going to happen either, so I'd say you're just fine."

Sweetie looked up at October with a bright smile at his words, but that smile soon drooped into a look of confusion. She sniffed the air, then looked to the griddle with alarm. "October, your pancakes!" she squeaked.

He followed her alarmed look to his cooking to find it was on fire. "Oh, Jiminy Cricket!" he shouted after her, though, is wasn't all that much to worry over, it was still on fire. He blew on the crisps of crust, (that turned out to be nothing more than ash now), putting out the fire. "Well," he said with a laugh, "Let's not do that again."

"Where in Equestria did you get molasses?" Rarity asked October after she took a bite of the pancake breakfast. She was quite thankful for the making of the meal of course, that was not to be misunderstood, but molasses was a rare thing to find, for not many knew how to make it. This was actually rather a queer thing for the Iron brothers to think, because molasses to them was a common household sweet.

"Well I just pressed the sugar cane stalks to extract the juice, and then reduced the liquid to form crystallized sugar. Once I had removed the crystals, (or most of them), I was left with light molasses. You had sugar cane in the cellar that seemed a bit old, so I figured using them before they were attacked by mice or bugs would be best." October replied, as if it was obvious.

"...Really!?" Rarity shouted excitedly, to which the table occupants jumped.

"Yes, Rarity. *Ehem* You didn't know?" asked Matthew, who contently munched on the molasses pancakes.

"That trade has been forgotten long ago darling. Sorry for my, eh, sudden enthusiasm." Rarity said with a awkward smile. "So, no I didn't realize how simple it was to make molasses. Where did you press the cane, October?" she asked the apparent cook.

"I just had to go take some, maybe two foot long branches, cut them to length, pin them to a tree stump as pivot points so they were right on top of each other as a roller, secure the bottom piece to immobility, and crush the stalks out for the juice between the newly made cane press into that jar up, uh, up there on the shelf." October said as pointed to the big jar full of cane juice and took another bite of his breakfast.

"Is that all? Well, I wonder how something so simple could be so easily forgotten, like dumping my jewels on the floor." Rarity said, finalizing it with a lecturing look at Sweetie Belle, who ducked under the table just a bit. "Well anyway, today is the day for the three of you, is it not?"

The Iron brothers looked from one to the other, and back to Rarity, who began to give them a look of confused curiosity. "How do you typically address royalty here in this land?" asked Jason, who ruffled his feathers at the look of astonished excitement on Rarity's face.

"Well well," Rarity said, almost...menacingly? October didn't like that face of her's one bit, and neither did the other two, whereas Sweetie Belle was obviously trying as hard as she could not to burst with laughter. "I have a remedy for that." she finished as she got up from her...actually she finished her breakfast.

"Come on you guys. This is gonna be fun!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she hurried from the table with October's hand in her magical grip.

"That...was not fun." Matthew stated simply as they walked out of the back room with combed manes, shining hooves, and brushed coats. Yes, Rarity's bathed them.

That was one of the most uncomfortable things October had ever endured. He was a soldier, he had been through many pain staking ordeals, but that...ugh...

"Oh come now darlings, it wasn't that bad. You three look absolutely fabulous!" she squealed. Her look of eagerness only made their own faces droop more. "Surely you're at least a bit excited?"

"Well, yes, of course, but...uh...hoof shine? Really?" asked October as he looked at his hooves again. "All this prettying up just makes me feel weird. I mean, do we really have to do it like this?" he asked awkwardly.

"Completely, absolutely and without a doubt my dear." Rarity replied with a smile. "Now then, the chariot will be here soon, so, remember what I've said, and don't forget you things. But..eh.." she said, looking at the firearms all propped neatly against the east wall,

"Perhaps those...should stay here."

"Yeah, we didn't intend to bring those. Just are blades will do." Matthew said, patting his own Kukri that was buckled to his side.

"Well if you must." Rarity said, looking at October's blade in particular, with it's horribly painful frontal curve on it. She shivered as she thought how awful t would be to have that be used in a fight.

Not a moment earlier, did the chariot arrive precisely on the hour. Nine O'clock it was. As the chariot pulled in at the appointed time, Rarity levitated their backpacks to them. "Eeeee! Now hurry along! Don't keep them waiting!" she said, trying to get them going.

"Rarity, it's okay, we're going." said Jason, who fitted his backpack on. "Are you not coming will us though?"

"No no, I will, but in my own time. I will be taking the train you see. I will be with you in Canterlot not to shortly after your own arrival with the other five. So go go go!" she said, more or less pushing them out the door.

As they came out, the five stallions, (yes, five), that were attending the chariot said, "Greetings Iron Brothers." saying it more or less as a title. October raised his eyebrow as he stepped into the chariot, followed by his two brothers. "There are no harnesses, no belts, or any other body securing machines in this vehicle, so don't scare yourselves in not finding any. It will be about a three hour flight, so make yourselves comfortable. Are you ready?" asked the leading pegasus, who was a tan color, (perhaps orange) with a blue mane and tail, to which the three nodded in response. "Good. Now off we go." And with that, the stallions began to make a running start, until they were successfully in the air and on their way to Canterlot.

They arrived at the Canterlot Castle a bit behind the time because carrying the three brothers was a bit more challenging than first thought. Jason asked why they couldn't fly themselves to the castle, but the pegasi said the princesses wished them a relaxing ride, (which it was), and they insisted on them to stay in the chariot, and so they did.

At their arrival, ponies all about them began to stare. Of course one can't help but to look up when the guards bring in a chariot, but the chariot was not what they were muttering about. Although it was not supposed to be heard by the three brothers, hence the whispering, it was far too obvious what they all were talking about. As the guards escorted the three to the steps of the...palace actually, (at least by human standards it would), the posh ponies of the city moved far out of the way, with strange looks on their faces. Some looked at them with curiosity, some with minor interest, and some with...fear? In any case, all alike moved out of their way as they made it up the steps.

As they approached the gates, the guards there at their posts, opened them with their blue and yellow magic. The doors swung open without so much as a sound, which was quite odd, but not something to swoon over as was the inside. The interiors were beautiful, more beautiful than perhaps even Twilight's estate.

As opposed to the crystal walls that made what was Twilight's abode, this was seemingly constructed of smooth, clean cut, white marble. Something such as this was scarcely seen, if seen it was at all. The magnificent size of the place was enough to make October shiver with a queer delight. Along either side of the expansive room, where windows stained with many colors that were made into the pictures that the three began to gaze at with curious wonder. The head guard of their five escorts hummed to himself in amusement, seeing the looks upon the faces of the three brothers. "It does look rather stunning, doesn't it?" he rhetorically asked, to which they nodded in answer. "Well save the staring, for there are better things to see on the way my lads."

At the words of the guard October swiveled his ears in his direction, before painstakingly peeling his gaze from the glass artistry about him. He looked at the pegasus, who made a head indicator for their direction of taking. As they continued on their walk through the place, October as well continued his gazing at the windows, while also there were many cases with odd looking items in them.

October came to a sudden halt as his face was given the warm welcome of Matthews back. Matthew turned around to see the slightly confused little brother of his, looking up at him with an apologetic expression, while Jason who stood beside, put a hand to his mouth, so as to not let loose an inappropriate laugh.

The head guard cleared his throat for their attention, (as well as to prevent from laughter himself), and pointed to the magnificent set of double doors that were imprinted with many intricate designs before them as he said, “Behind those doors are the two ruling princesses of Equestria, and as such, you are expected to treat them with respect and reverence. In case you are unsure as to what all that entails, your first act upon entry is kneeling. You will also not speak unless directly spoken to, as well as to keep our rulers names in high regards. No insulting, scoffing, complain, or whining, though I’m sure you three can handle that just fine.” The blue maned guard laughed.

The brothers looked at each other with their own personally odd looks, just as the doors swung in on their hinges, being as silent as the last. The men brought their attention ahead of them, and as they did, they found it hard to breathe. As the palace was molded with the smooth white marble of what they could never hope to see from their war, the throne room was made likewise, but far brighter and more polished. As the many windows that filled the palace with light, here there was not much more room for walls. The windows were made of brighter, cleaner, illuminating colors, filling the room with layers and layers of them. But as their eyes were drawn to the center, they saw, sitting tall and proud on two thrones, side by side, were the princesses of Equesrtia.

October had heard of them and of their appearance, that much of no doubt, but the descriptions didn’t live up to the personal sight. The shorter of the two was a deep blue of the summers midnight sky. Her mane, all dotted with the many stars of the night, sparkling with every move of her mane that flowed with an unexplained breeze, while her eyes were as blue as her coat. She wore upon her head a black crown, placed carefully behind her horn, and around her neck, was a black caller with the white imprint of the crescent moon, much like the marks on either side of her flanks. Luna was her name.

Sitting beside her, was the older of them. Taller she was, and quite the contrast in color to her little sister. She was coated with an alabaster white, much like the room around them. The many colors of her mane flowed like a river of rainbow, (if ever there were such a thing), with her golden crown sitting atop her head behind her own horn. And of her horn, it was quite like a spear compared to the other horned horses of the land, and even to Luna. It would be quite a frightful dilemma to be met with such a weapon. Around her neck also was a caller, much thicker than Luna’s, and of a golden hue to match her crown. On it was a diamond, centered with perfection, but more than that, there were very intricate designs that was unidentifiable by October’s eye at his position, but nonetheless it looked fantastic. On either side of her flanks was the symbolic image of the sun, yellow in right. Her face though, was behind by an inexcusable pillar of parchment, which was then, lowered down to show here brilliant amber eyes that seemingly shown like the sun. Celestia was her name.

5 minutes earlier

Celestia and Luna sat straight in their thrones, waiting on the arrival, (and late one at that), of the much spoken of, 'Iron Brothers'. At the moment however, there was an unholy amount of papers to be dealt with.

"Dear sister," Luna complained, "must you go on with those papers? The Brothers will be here any minute."

Celestia took her eyes from her work to look at Luna. "Yes, I know, it's just, all these childish claims and bantering about this and that...takes a little to read right." she said with an annoyed smile. Luna leaned in to take a look at the parchment, the first thing that jumped out at her was the signature of Prince Blueblood. She groaned with understanding annoyance as well.

"So what is it this time? He needs a bubble bath?" he asked mockingly, to which Celestia chuckled.

"No actually. As trivial as he may be with his complaints, he does learn. This time it's...well, perhaps you should read it." Celestia said with a sour face as she gave Luna the peace of paper. Luna scanned over the text with a growing sour face of her own.

"Oh my. That's...disgusting." she said, trying not to gag. "This is certainly something to hoof. First of all, fire the three guards plus any that may have been attributed to the act, and send the prince a few new recruits." she said with finality as she thrust the paper away, trying to forget what she read.

Celestia slid the letter from her nephew in a desk drawer beside her seat, so as to make sure she gave a reply, for this is where she kept the more important letters. She returned her attention to the next paper. As she focused on her work, she flicked her ears at the sound of the opening doors on the other side of the room. To accompany this, there was an eminence sense of authority and power that entered the room. She kept the parchment in front of her as she swallowed down her...fear? Odd. But, succumbing to the curiosity of this feeling, she peeked over the paper to see that her guests had arrived.

Something felt rather quite queer though. There was more than just power and will in the room with her and her sister. She could feel fear, but not her own. It was fear and hate...but...why? Pushing the feelings aside for later, she beamed a smile at the 'Iron Brothers', as she heard it. Celestia giggled lightly at the amount of awe in The Iron Brothers' eyes. They looked around, gawking at the magnitude of beauty around them. But while Celestia liked to let them look around as much as they wished, her little sister, as she could see, wished to get on with the meeting. So, with a sigh, she called for everyone’s attention saying, “Hello Iron Brothers.”

At the call of that name, their turned back to the princess again, (or rather, the two older, since October’s eyes hadn’t left them, though, only from his curiosity did he stare mind you). In a moment’s time, the guards around them knelt to their rulers. By an unsaid decision, the three brothers didn’t kneel, but instead, gave a bow. The guards on either side of the three of them, began to glance looks of concern at them, for one had yet to displease Celestia.

Celestia, seeing this nontraditional act from them, raised a brow and asked, “So you don’t kneel. Why is that?” Though her question was simple enough as she thought, she hadn’t expected the oncoming explanation, for others only refused to kneel out of clear defiance.

Matthew, Jason, and October looked at one another, nodding for the election of Mathew to speak on their behalf. Mathew took a step forward, gaining the attention of all in the room. He cleared his throat and spoke, “It is not an act of defiance as some may mark it as, but a show of respect. Though we just now met, we still trust you to a degree. In the position of bowing, we leave ourselves vulnerable. Kneeling is very different to us as humans. Kneeling is beyond respect, kneeling is an act that one will perform to show their utterly unyielding loyalty to an individual or group. So again, we just met; our loyalty is not yours for the taking; our loyalty is not one to be bought; our loyalty is one to be earned.” And with that, Matthew bowed once again before falling back in with his brother.

The royal guards were visibly sweating now. Nopony ever spoke to the princesses like that but Blue Blood or Twilight, and only that because of their close relationship.

Unexpected to those in the room, Celestia began to laugh a bit...laugh? Why was she laughing? "I never thought of it that way, Matthew. However, I suppose, given your situation and such, you're right. But it's a little saddening that you seem no edge in this way. Be that as it may, I'm happy to see that you have the sense of honesty about you. Now then, sit down, I've heard much about you three, but I would like to hear more!" Celestia said as she levitated several chairs into the room. The two princesses walked down from the thrones to sit beside the brothers so as to make thing less awkward. Looking up at one sitting on the throne while speaking can be rather stressful in more than a few ways.

A few hours. Yes, a few hours of talk between the five of them, in that time the six bearers of the Elements had made their own arrival. A table was set and tea was served, seeing as their stay would be well into the hours as it was now. It actually took longer than expected, but that was of little consequence. It had been quite sometime since anypony had gotten the princesses so riled with laughter.

Matthew continued his talk as the guards as well couldn't help but smile. "So Brutus leans over and says, and he was a big man you see, a head and shoulders taller than I, and he says 'Is you gonna eat yo cornbread?' At that moment, October snatched up that cornbread like it was his only chance of survival!"

They shared yet another laugh, though October had to interrupt saying, "Oi! It was corn bread! Did you expect me to let him take it?" This only gained more laughter.

Luna, who had been rather quiet throughout the whole of their time, spoke up and asked, "So, how was it that you three began on the battlefield?" The chirpy nature of the three suddenly died down to more of a sullen chuckle. Oh dear, did I soil the mood? Luna! Why do you have to keep doing this! These thoughts kept a rage in her mind as Jason spoke back in reply.

"Well, just to start off, it must be said that our grandfather was the first to fight before we were born, then our father after him. Our father...fell in battle, as well as his entire unit. It's still unclear what happened there, but every single man simply when missing. Well, that's not true actually. There was Brutus." he recalled with a little smile. "Brutus was the only one that came out of whatever happened. He was shell-shocked, so we assumed they dropped a bomb on them, there was no evidence to say that any kind of explosive went off there at all though." Jason trailed off as him memory began to falter a bit, to which Matthew entered in.

"As far as we know, they may have either been kidnapped, ran off, or...something happened that we probably shouldn't know about." The ponies about gave Matthew a quizzical look, so he took up again. "Here you use magic on a daily basis. It's comes naturally to you, like walking, yes?" each pony gave a nod, so he continued. "I have read in a few books here and there that, according to what you people know about us humans, that we don't have magic. Now, it can be said that we don't, not like you anyways, but it's still there. The meaning of the word 'magic' is obviously different from here to there. As humans see it, magic is the name of anything that we don't understand, and albeit, I don't understand your magic here." he said with a chuckle. "Now with that said, yes, human do have magic. An example that jumps to mind right now is a man named Elisha. He was known for doing some very out of the ordinary things. One of which was that he blessed a widow and her son with an endless amount of flour an oil. How? Well, I don't understand. Besides the fact that he did what he did by the command of the one who made everything, then it's beyond any comprehension of physics to me."

Applejack took this time to speak her mind. "So, this is fascinating and all, but what does it all have to do with your disappearing unit?" her friends gave an agreed nod as they looked back to Matthew for an explanation.

"I was getting to that." he replied with a finger pointed at the apple farmer. "Just as was said, the unit was gone, with no trace of life but Brutus to tell what he remembered. The point is, that as crazy as it was, and even as no one wanted to say it, it seems that we all mutually agreed that something happened there that they didn't understand. Magic. From where we come from, if I was to just say that out to the captain, he would have made me run the course five times over to make sure I wasn't drunk."

Matthew paused for a breath before continuing, "Now, as odd as it may sound, this is what made us come to the battlefield. At hearing that our father and his unit were gone, just like that, we knew that we had to fight. Not just because we wanted to help, but because we were needed."

The throng settled back in their chairs in thought as they processed what Jason and Matthew relayed. October had his chair leaned back with his arms crossed and what looked like a scowl across his face. Whatever the matter was, he wasn't jolly as he was just a moments ago. "What's the matter Red?" Matthew asked as he noticed October's foul mood. Again, October winced with the recollection of the name.

"Nothing, I just...nothing." was all he said as he tried to remove his thoughts from April and grandpa.

"Hey," Pinkie chirped up, "why do you two call him 'Red' anyway?" She looked to see October become more sour still, as if he wasn't sour enough.

Both Matthew and Jason stumbled a bit, trying to say what they meant. "Well, actually, perhaps we just shouldn't talk about that." Jason said.

"Then why do you call him that if it can't be talked about?" Pinkie retorted. "I mean, if you call him that all the time, then what harm can there be in-" Pinkie was cut short by a sudden bang on the table, making them all jump out of surprise. Even the guards were startled a bit. They looked to see that October has his fist pressed against the table top rather firmly.

"Ya'll really want to know?" October said, trying to keep himself together. Pinkie, who brought up the initial question, hesitated before nodding slowly, a bit worried what he might say or do. "Alright, I'll tell you." October said. Matthew tried to say something, but was silenced with a look from October that said more than just 'shut it'.

"Not too long after my brothers and I were recruited, Russia was on the move, but they were not so foolish as to go alone..."

The three Iron brothers lay in their beds, laughing along with their friends and acquaintances until their stomachs ached. "Are you serious?" Brutus asked Caleb, "he just took it?"

"Yes yes and yes, he did, really!" replied Caleb, gaining another howl of laughter. Without a warning, Colonel Hogan walked into the barracks, causing the group of friends to quiet down.

"Matthew, Jason, October. The Captain wants to see you." Hogan said with a rather downcast look.

"What's the matter?" Jason asked in worry.

"Just come with me, please." Hogan replied. The Colonel lead them through the base to where the captain was, and showed them in. Hogan closed the door behind the Iron's, so as to give them and the captain some privacy.

"Ah, there you are." the captain said in a low, soft voice. This had the brothers worried, for it was almost a never heard account that the captain would speak this way. Having their attention, Captain Reilly stood up from his chair and grabbed himself and his guests each a glass, filling them with a bit of whisky. Reilly saw the odd looks he was getting from the brothers, and explained, "I have a few things I need to tell you three, but I figured with the way things turned out, you may need a drink."

Accepting the captains hospitality, they took their glasses in hand. "Please, sit." the captain offered, to which the brothers complied. "First off, we made a foolish move to take the Russian force without taking ISIS into consideration. It seems that this whole time, or for a good portion of it at least, they have had an alliance against us. It may not seem all that surprising, but it wasn't altogether expected."

"Okay, I see the problem, but what does this have to do specifically with us?" Jason asked as he stood from his seat

The captain raised his hand up to Jason, saying, "I'll tell ya son, just sit down, please." Jason complied as Reilly continued. "It came without warning, as we sent troops to meet the Russian soldiers, the Russians sent out an ISIS group to go around us, and invade while we were off guard. It worked. We had no idea what there had in store. They came in...and bombed everything. They didn't stop with the military bases either, they went further inland, into the towns...they...killed, you sister and grandfather."

The brothers were hit with a sudden, fiery wave of boiling hatred and pain. How could they do such a thing? Coming into the towns and slaughtering the people? What kind of insanity is that? October jumped up from his seat, forcing his chair hastily backwards and to the ground with a sharp crack. Reilly fixed his eye on October's, and, frankly, wasn't sure what he was seeing. He could see sorrow and anger, that much was expected from all three, but something was wrong now. October snapped.

October stormed out of the building, his brothers following with heavy, grief stricken hearts. October was as furious as the devil's fire. "October!" shouted Matthew as he struggled to hold back his tears. "Don't do anything drastic. You can have your vengeance in time, but you need to control yourself. Anything misjudgment you make could kill everyone here."

October looked his brother in the eyes, then around him, seeing that everyone had their eyes locked on the scene. Jason slowly walked by, with only resting in mind, he headed to the barracks. "Come on October, we should just sleep right now." And with that, Matthew followed Jason back as well, while October stood there for a little longer, stiff as a steel post, before he too found it best to sleep.

21:36

October opened his eye and clenched his jaw. He decided to do something drastic. He hopped out of his bed and gathered everything he figured he would need. He had no intention on coming back, in fact, he was quite sure that what he was going for would be then end. But did that matter to him? not in the slightest.

October dug around in Brutus' things, finding an empty jacked, waiting for use. October smiled as he took the jacket, and headed to the Armory. Once in, he flipped on the lights to get what he felt like. That all included his own gun, many many grenades to attach to the jacket, his knife, (as well as someone else knife), and a set of keys. October locked up the building as he left and set his sights on a particulate vehicle. The M2 Bradley. Was this insane? yes. Would it get him killed? probably. Was he going for it? Absolutely.

October smiled with a vicious bloodlust that could kill any man as he popped his 'belonging' down the hatch and hopped in. The vehicle started with a roar that didn't go unnoticed by anyone that was previously asleep. He raced the Bradley out just as people came pouring out of the barracks' with whatever they had on them, ready to kill whatever moved. What they didn't expect was to see their own vehicle leaving the base.

October chuckled as he sped the Bradley to it maximum capacity. "You wanna play dirty? then you get ready to play dirty." he mumbled to himself.

21:53

The Russians base was now in sight, but he didn't want to begin just yet. Just in a few more miles, then things got fun. As Octobers mind raced through was he had just done and what he was doing, he kept telling himself to stop, but another voice said that they deserved what he was there to serve. Hearkening to the black words of Satan, he jammed one of his knives to keep the accelerator to the floor as he jumped up to man the 25mm chain gun mounted on the top.

As the people slept in their beds, Russians and ISIS alike, they came to at the sudden thunder of Octobers fury and the hollering of alarms peeling a deafening shriek. Some hardly had time to wake at all as lead and copper tore through the walls of the more feeble structures. Other had their weapons out and ready to fire back.

October swept his firing across the whole of the base, making people fall and thing fly apart. As the Bradley got closer and closer, he dove under and grabbed his minigun and jumped out of the vehicle. The enemy kept their focus on the oncoming Bradley, whereas October got up from his savage tumble with a little limp. The Bradley slammed itself in the side of the armory, putting a nice hole in the side, while simultaneously causing a few more sensitive things to explode along with the vehicle.

October fired up his gun as he wrenched a grenade from his over-sized jacket, pulled the pin with his mouth, and threw it at the largest group of gathering opponents, causing them to try to skitter away from their inevitable death. With a sudden power packed shock wave. bit and pieces of things flew about, while October continued his onslaught.

22:00

The team that October left had followed after seeing October carryout an obvious suicide mission. Matthew, of course, somewhat figured that the boy would do something dumb, but not quite this dumb. The V8 diesel engine roared as Matthew pressed the petal further to the floor.

"Half a mile ahead!" shouted Brutus, who was less than pleased that October took his favorite jacket. "Permission to fire!?"

"Can you see October!?" Matthew shouted back.

"Yep!" was all he said as the giant of a man sported a huge grin on his face as he fiddled with the chain gun mounted to the back of the Humvee. "And he seems to be holding out well!"

"Fire!" Matthew shouted, letting his anger flow into that one word.

"Yes sir!" And with that, he lit up his chain gun, (being careful not to hit the little rampaging dot called October), and began to pepper all in sight. At seeing Brutus lay copper to the enemy, all the rest began as well. Suffice it to say, the enemy was already dwindling very quickly, which was probably helped by the fact that they were all in confusion due to the unexpected attack. Then again, they were pulled more than their fair share of rude entrances, so pay back seemed justified. But as they pulled closer to the enemy base, there really wasn't too much left to destroy, seeing as the place was practically flattened by the time they got there.

22:30

The enemy base was nothing more than a few smoldering bits of concrete once all was said and done. Although October made the stupid idea for suicide, he actually came through. Fortunately, he didn't try to attack any heavy weapons base, but instead they came to find that the particular location was a radio contact base. In other words, by Octobers idiocy, they managed to destroy a major communication system to the Russian/ISIS forces. But out of this victory there came a great loss. While October did survive, he was far from unscathed. Almost every part of him was covered in bullet holes. His legs, arms, even a few in his torso. Needless to say, no one though he would make it through...

"Regardless of the wounds, I managed to make it with about two months stuck in bed. Let me tell you what, the doctor was absolutely flabbergasted. As it turned out, the captain of the enemy base had enough time to send a message to a few other teams. In not too long a time, according to what was broadcast that night, a name began to float around. The name...was Red Rain. That's the name I was given after that night. That was the name that put fear in the enemy. But that's not who I am. I will tell you the truth, was happened that night...I didn't have much control over. Or I suppose I should say, I let something else get control of me. Either way, it wasn't me." And with that, October ended his story.

Matthew and Jason looked to the ground as the recollection of that fateful night hit them like a baseball bat to the head. All the rest of the room occupants however, looked at October with mixtures of pity, regret, and fear.

"October, I...I don't know what to say." Luna spoke softly.

October waved it off saying, "You don't have to say anything, princess. There was nothing you could have done. There's no amount of comfort you can give to fill the hole I dug."

Disregarding his words and mood, Luna walked to his side and draped a wing around him. "Don't say such thing, October. Seeing one like this, even if they are not subjects of my own...it hurts." she said as she too looked to the marble floor.

Luna let out a squeak of surprise as October began to pet her mane. As odd as this action was at first, she began to find pleasure in the feeling of his hands, and thus even leaned in a bit. "I'm sorry Luna. I didn't mean to make you feel this way." October said.

Now unexpected by all in the room, particularly October, Luna picked up her hooves and wrapped them around October's neck for a hug. "Don't fret about such things, October. No matter how hard things may be at times, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel." And with that, she slid herself back to the ground and said. "It's getting late, perhaps you all should get to bed. Also, I have a small offer for the three of you." she said, pointing to the three Iron Brothers. "But that will have to wait till tomorrow. Flash?" At the call of his name, Flash Sentry zipped up to Luna's side. "Please escort the Brothers to their room. Um, I hope you three don't mind, but you all have one room as of the moment."

"Oh, not a problem at all princess. We're quite accustomed to the conditions." pipped up Jason with a smile. Luna nodded in thanks as Flash took the lead out of the throne room with the three brother in tow. As they did, Twilight and her friends left the princesses alone as well, as they were already familiar with where it was that they were to go. And finally, the guards were all dismissed, so they too filed out of the courtroom.

When all were gone, and the silence engulfed the two princesses, Celestia looked over her younger sister, who bore a small smile and even a light blush on her face. Celestia took notice of this and pretty well knew the cause of her sister cherry face. "So, do you like that young one?" she asked with a small giggle.

"What do you mean dear sister?" Luna asked, truly not quite understanding the implications.

Celestia rolled her eyes and responded, "October? I saw they way you looked at him as he left the courtroom."

This brought a blooming flower of red to adorn Luna's face. "I..you..Tia! Why would say such things?" Luna retorted with a huff and puff of her cheeks.

"Oh come now Luna. No shame, no shame. He is a handsome young stallion, even if he isn't really a stallion." Celestia said as she nudged Luna a bit.

Luna pushed Celestia's hoof away and replied, "I won't speak about this with you." and turned her head away, but then found herself in a stitch. "Well..."

"Awwwww, Luna, finally going to admit it?"

"Quiet you. Not a word about this goes anywhere."

"I promise not to tell, dear sister."

Luna sighed in relief and got up from her seat. "Well, I suppose I had best get myself prepared for the night. And perhaps you should get yourself to bed, Tia."

So now, with an agreement among them, Celestia and Luna walked out on the balcony to work the magic of the days changing. The sun began to lower, and as it did, the moon made it yawing entrance into the sky. Luna closed her eyes as she relaxed with the moons rising. She smiled as she let one though drift out among the oncoming night. Good night October. Sweet dreams...

Author's Note

So yeah...that took forever. Sorry about that ya'll. I've been ridiculously busy...and maybe a little bit lazy. Anyway >.> I'll try to keep my chapters writing more frequent, but I can't make any promises. So with that being said, the 'Hiatus' tag will be left on, because, although it's not technically on hiatus, I don't know when I'll have the time to write some more. So one again, sorry for the massive delay, and I'll see you next time

~Crazy Jay