Malignancy

Chapter 1, Part 2:
Live Without Regrets

Manehattan, Hay-Packing District,
Monday Morning (September 18th, Anno Domina 988):

"Alright, Constables!" the Sergeant called out. "I see most of us are here, so let's get this started." Sergeant Constable Blue Carbuncle tapped his levitating notes on the lectern. He was a large, moustachioed unicorn with a dark brown coat and a deep parade voice that resonated with authority. Looking up from his notes, he ran through K-division's first shift roster in his head, completing the roll call. "Okay, as many of you know, Constable Steel-Hoof's wife went into labour earlier this morning and delivered a healthy little colt."

There was a round of applause, the gathered constables pounding their hooves on the floor in solidarity with their brother in blue and his new child.

Sergeant Blue even joined in by wrapping his hoof on the lectern. "I've given Steel-Hoof the rest of the day off to be with his family and assigned Hayseed to station duty." He nodded at Hayseed in the second row. "Tell your partner, when you see him tonight, we send him and the wife our best wishes."

"Will do, Sarge," Hayseed nodded back.

"Which brings us to item one: we're a little short for today's patrols, so I'm going to need Agnet and Gardner, as well as Magarac and Palfrey, to each cover half of Steel-Hoof and Hayseed's beat today."

"Not to complain, Sarge," Gardner said in a careful tone. "But couldn't Furlong and Acre take over the beat since Hayseed will be helping you with station?"

"Those are your assignments," Sergeant Blue stressed. "Acre and Furlong have other duties that need to be taken care of ASAP. Understood?" He met eyes with all six of the constables involved, who nodded in acknowledgement of their assignments. "Item two…" the Sergeant sighed. "There is a very angry beaver loose in Reed Park. Some joker managed to get a bright green sweater on the poor critter with the words 'PET ME' knitted onto the back of it. It's bitten five park-goers in the last twenty-four hours, one of whom needed thirty-three stitches on his foreleg. I suspect college students." He cleared his throat. "As a result, Constables Destier and Blazer, before you head out, go down to equipment and requisition yourselves some animal snares and nets. And no bellyaching! A police constable's job is to protect the public! Be it from criminals or from dangerous animals."

"Yes, Sergeant," Destier and Blazer groaned.

"Okay, item three: Central Plaza wants us all to be on the lookout for a parole violator. Female pegasus, name of Wind Whistler. She is described as having a powder blue coat and greying light-pink mane and tail with magenta eyes, standing approximately 1.2 meters tall and weighing approximately 12 stone. She was last seen leaving a pegasus mare's clinic last Friday. She's 76 years old but is said, according to her parole officer, to be in surprisingly good shape and is to be considered dangerous."

"What sort of 'dangerous', Sarge?" Blazer asked, mirroring the puzzled looks and comments from the assembled constables.

"Uh…" The Sergeant flipped through his notes. "Doesn't say. Just says to use caution and 'follow-and-report' procedures if you spot her. Is everypony clear?"

A round of nods and quiet agreements went around the room.

The Sergeant nodded. "Good. Item four… As you know, Her Majesty, Princess Celestia, will be gracing our fair city with her presence this Wednesday and Thursday for the Knights-" Another round of clacking applause from the constables started as soon as Celestia's name was mentioned, accompanied by a few patriotic whistles and shouts. The Sergeant waved the applause down. "Okay, yes, it's very exciting. The point is – and it pains me that I need to say this again – but apparently, some of you just didn't hear me the first three times! But, with how crazy it's going to be this week, with all ninety-nine Knights coming into town for the Knights Summit, and the Princess's military parade down Sixth Avenue on Thursday, all time off requests and vacations, even those previously approved, have been suspended until the Princess's departure after the conference on Thursday. Stop submitting request forms! And just as a side note, if you try to pull a sick day this week and aren't either having a foal or on death's doorstep, then you had better see the station doctor for approval first, or else you'll be cited for dereliction of duty and I will, personally, make you eat your own notebook!Do you understand me?"

"Yes Sergeant!"

"Good! Now, item five: Noise complaints. There has been a band of some sort rehearsing at all hours of the night and morning in the warehouse district near the waterfront. It's a different warehouse every night and the neighbours are screaming bloody murder to whoever will listen, including the commissioner's husband, whose favourite restaurant just so happens to be near that neighbourhood."

"Where's that, Sarge?" Agnet called out from the back of the room.

"Mort's Place?" Joe Magarac drawled with his usual dry wit. There was a titter of laughter around the room when the seedy dive was mentioned.

"'Nouvelle's Nook'," the Sergeant read off his notes with a smirk. "The Commissioner and his husband are stallions of refined tastes, and, I'm certain, both of them will be extremely grateful to whichever of you all find these delinquents and restore the sanctity of their favourite establishment. I, of course, suspect college students. Moving on!

"Item six: The Constabulary Oversight Office has issued an all-points bulletin to be on the lookout for a suspected traitor and murderer believed to be fleeing Canterlot for the coast. His name is Folio Luminant. Male unicorn, brown coat, light brown mane and tail, brown eyes, 1.8 metres tall, weighing over 24 stone. And, I'm led to believe, that's muscle mass, given his service record – over twenty-five years in elite military service. So watch yourselves, constables. He's wanted for the murders of two fellow employees of Her Majesty's government."

"What makes them think that he's headed for Manehattan, Sarge?"

The Sergeant shrugged. "They think he'll try to flee the realm, so all ports are on alert. Understood? Good!

"Moving on… Item seven: Clean your food out of the fridge, ponies! Seriously! The facilities staff are still giving me complaints that food is being left in the refrigerator and forgotten about. Don't take up our limited space with food you don't intend to eat! It's both common courtesy and common sense!

"Item eight: That gang of purse snatchers struck again last night on 11th Avenue between twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth. If it keeps up there may be an opportunity for overtime-"

Half the ponies and Joe Magarac, the only donkey constable present, shot their forehooves into the air, volunteering.

"Overtime helping out third shift."

Several of the hooves lowered, accompanied by groans of disappointment.

"That's what I thought," Sergeant Blue harrumphed. "Those still interested, keep your evenings open for a while and I'll update you all on the situation in the next few roll calls.

"Item nine: Prisoner transfer. As many of you know, Baltimare Constabulary have a number of class six and seven prisoners that were due to arrive at Hoofton Yards last Thursday. Since the storms have made that impossible, the ship transporting these prisoners was forced to make port in Trottingham. From what we can tell, everypony is fine, but they aren't going to arrive until Wednesday at the earliest. Rouncey and Easterly, you two are still assigned to the transfer detail. Wednesday you're on station detail until we hear more specifics of when the ship is due in."

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Alright." Sergeant Blue returned his notes to a file folder and laid it on the lectern. "That's all I've got, Constables. Now remember: Let's be careful out there."

"Yes, Sergeant," first shift said as they stood.

The members of the K-division day shift broke into a dozen separate conversations as they milled out of the briefing room and into the bullpen area of the station. The morning light through the high frosted windows cast the open space in yellows and browns, the varnished wood of the walls and desks gleaming with polish. The huge Equestrian flag along one wall fluttered as two patrol pegasi departed through the open skylight door. Senior Constable Swift Rouncey and his partner, Senior Constable Easterly Gale, made a beeline for the coffee machine. Third shift had a tradition of strong, expensive coffee and, out of professional courtesy, left first shift the remains in the airpots rather than pouring it out. The result was a coffee made even stronger by its long, insulated stay in the stainless steel dispenser. Even the dregs tasted of quality and made for a powerful eye-opener if one could stomach the bitter, acidic flavour.

Rouncey took the dregs and allowed his partner a cup almost free of sediment.

"Thanks, Swifty," the sky blue pegasus said, raising her cup to him.

"Cheers," he acknowledged before knocking back a swig of the thick black beverage. "Ooo! That is potent!"

"I still think you two are crazy for drinking that swill." Constable Blazer, a wiry red unicorn, opened a cupboard and extracted a bag of first shift's cheap freeze-dried coffee.

"You'll understand when you grow up, Blazer."

"So, when I hit Senior Grade they're going to surgically extract my taste buds?" Blazer quipped.

Easterly snorted and returned to drinking her coffee without further comment. Blazer loaded the coffee machine. After another few sips Easterly noticed her partner was staring off across the bullpen. She followed Rouncey's eyes to a group of ponies standing around Senior Constable Jasper's desk, chatting. In particular, his gaze was focused on Constable Honey Meadows – golden feathers preened and glistening, her voluminous light brown mane cascading down her neck and shoulders, silky locks flowing with every breath and slight turn of her head. Her partner, Jasper, said something that made her laughter ring out high and crisp.

Easterly smiled with narrowed eyes at her partner's dopey little grin and sipped her coffee, thinking.

In another few moments, Rouncey turned, saw Easterly looking at him, and frowned. "What?" he said, defensive, flustered – guilty.

Easterly tittered and shrugged. "Nothing," she crooned.

"You have something to say?" Rouncey glowered.

"Hm... somepony's got the feather-fever," she teased.

Rouncey harrumphed and turned his head to hide his blushing.

"Well, yeah, duh," Blazer said as he turned away from the coffee machine to let it percolate. "You pegasus mares are hot! Who's got the crush on you, Easty?"

"Not me," Easterly guffawed, her feathers fluffing. "Rouncey's mooning over Miss Meadows over there."

"Oh, hots for the new transfer, eh?" Blazer looked from Rouncey to Meadows. "Yeah, I'd go for it."

"Well, that's not saying much, Blaze, you have no standards."

Blazer wheeled on Easterly, glaring. "I do so! You never see me hitting on your mangy ass, do you?"

"Well, you know I already have a fillyfriend, one; two: you know I'm not into non-pegasi; three: you know I'm not into stallions; and four: you know that, objectively, I am way out of your league."

"She is a bit out of your league, kid," Rouncey agreed, rejoining the conversation.

Blazer made a rude sound and rolled his eyes.

"You should go talk to her," Easterly encouraged Rouncey. "All joking aside, I did ask her out once – back when she was with R-division."

"What were you doing hanging around R-division?"

"Hush, Blaze. She very politely told me she wasn't into other mares, but we went out for drinks anyway. All night we commiserated about our past relationships." Easterly leaned in so she was whispering into Rouncey's ear. "All her past coltfriends were earth-ponies."

Rouncey's eyebrows cocked and he turned to look at his partner. "Seriously?"

"Dead serious. Go on, do it now and live without regrets."

"I gotta agree with her, Swifty. If you don't go over there and make your move right now, I'm gonna give it my shot as soon as my coffee is done brewin'."

"W- I mean... what do I say?"

"Oh! Okay, okay… say… say you're going to Shamrock's after shift with me and Lilac and ask if she wants to come along. You can point over here and I'll wave and nod if you need."

"How come you're never my wingmare?" Blazer whined, jealous.

"One, because you're not my partner, you should go ask Destrier-"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

"And two, you're a creepy little jerk and I hate you. Anyway," Easterly turned back to Rouncey. "Go on, go now, she and Jasper are getting ready to head out. Go!" she shoved Rouncey bodily in Meadows’ direction, Blazer taking his coffee mug from him with his magic.

"Okay! I'm going, I'm going," Rouncey tsked and straightened his blue tunic, falling into a casual lope as he crossed the bullpen.

"Oh my goodness!" Meadows was laughing at something either Jasper or Hayseed had said. Her voice was like a morning breeze in spring: cool, fresh, sending chills up and down Rouncey's neck and made his chest and sides tighten. He felt dizzy.

"Good morning, all," Rouncey managed.

"Good morning, Swifty," Meadows said, gracing him with a smile that made Rouncey's knees tremble.

"Hey, Swifty," said Jasper.

"Howdy, Rouncey," Hayseed drawled.

"Oh, hey," Rouncey addressed Hayseed with a wave of his hoof. "Give Steel-Hoof and Carbine my best."

"Sure will, pal!" Hayseed nodded. "The three o' them were doin' real good when I left 'em at the hospital this mornin'. Though Steel-Hoof is lookin' the worst out o' the three o' them, I'll tell ya! Guy's lookin' like he just did a long stretch of bad country with a worm-eaten plough! His missus is lookin' ten times as steady as her mister. Well, I'd even say-"

"It's good to hear they're all doing well," Meadows interrupted.

"Sure is," Jasper agreed. "I need to go over some expense requests with the Sergeant – meet me out front in fifteen, Meadows?"

Honey Meadows nodded. "See you down there."

"Well," Hayseed began after watching Jasper leave. "I need to get onto the front desk m'self before the third shift desk jockey throws a fit – gooood mornin', everypony." Hayseed waved and left through the double doors to the reception area.

Without warning, Rouncey found himself alone with Honey Meadows. His breath caught in his throat and he hiccoughed and coughed, pounding on his chest with a hoof.

"You alright there, Swifty?" Meadows asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah-" he coughed again. "Just... particularly strong coffee today."

Meadows laughed, and Rouncey's knees weakened again. "You Senior Grades and your coffee! I don't know how you and Jasper drink that stuff!"

Rouncey gave a lopsided grin and shrugged. "It's an acquired taste."

"I guess so. So, how's the Theatre District beat treating you and Easty?"

"Well there have been a-"

"And why is Easty waving and nodding at me?"

Rouncey followed Meadows’ eyes and turned to see Easterly nodding and waving at Meadows from across the room, confirming an expected question which had not yet been asked.

"Uh..." Rouncey fought off the urge to hyperventilate. "Oh right. Easterly and her marefriend invited me out to Shamrock's tonight, we were wondering if you would like to come along?"

Meadows eyes snapped from Easterly to Rouncey. "Oh." She blinked several times. Then she looked off to the side and down at the floor.

Rouncey's stomach flipped and he held his breath, his face blank.

"Sure." Meadows faced Rouncey again, grinning.

Rouncey blinked. Then he remembered to exhale.

"What time were you thinking? I have some errands to run after shift so... five thirty, you think?"

"Perfect," Rouncey beamed. "Lilac doesn't get off shift at the hospital until five so she won't be there until closer to six, but Easterly and I will be there when you get there."

"Great. So we'll all be there for the last half of happy hour."

"Great," Rouncey parroted. "So have you heard-”

A crash of breaking glass and a clatter of something metal bouncing across the floor made Rouncey jump and spin around, backing into Meadows as he moved away from the soup-can shaped object. "Sorry," he said in reflex, turning to make sure he hadn't knocked Meadows off her hooves. Her wings were fluffed, her eyes wide, and getting wider, and fixed on the canister, which was now leaking white smoke with a hiss. Her wings shot out to their full extension. "GET DOWN!" She hugged Rouncey's neck and wrapped her wings around them both just as the canister exploded in blinding light and deafening sound.

Shock from Meadows throwing her forelegs around his neck, more than the explosion, kept Rouncey's knees locked and the both of them upright. The world was white and his ears rang with a painful shrill. He tried to talk, tried to shout, but he couldn't hear himself. He could still feel Meadow's strong forelegs wrapped around his neck and shoulders, her soft, powerful wings wrapped over his face and body. This close, she smelled of heather and fresh hay. He tried to say "Thank you," but still could not hear himself.

After a moment, a sound returned to him as the ringing dimmed and his ears popped. A loud, rhythmic clattering of metal. Meadows retracted her wings but didn't let go of him with her forelegs. As the ringing grew dimmer, the clattering grew louder and louder. He blinked his watering eyes, blurring the burnt-in afterimages on his retinas, and could just make out dull shapes swarming around him.

One of the shapes stopped in front of him and he felt a stiff, hard shove against his chest. He staggered back and Meadows released him and dropped back onto all four hooves. The wide wooden object hit him in the chest again and he could distinguish the solidifying shape was shouting something at him, though it sounded far away and muffled, drowned out by the high pitched keening still ringing in his ears.

Rouncey took the hint and backed up, each step uncertain, his head swimming, his legs rubbery and unsure. He felt the wall on his hindquarters and leaned against it, spreading his hindhooves along the base of the wall, bracing himself upright. He felt Meadows' body bump into him, beside him, leaning against his body. The world snapped back into colour, blurry and indistinct, but visible. Ponies in gold armour were flooding through the bullpen, wielding halberds, shouting, surrounding blind and deaf constables, herding them into small clumps along the walls.

"BACK UP!" they were shouting.

"What in the world..." he muttered, and discovered he could now just hear himself.

As sight and sound returned, and shock gave way, he began clenching his jaw and glaring at the gold-armoured soldiers storming the station. "What is going on?"

"Shut up!" One of the soldiers whacked Rouncey in the side of the head with the staff of his halberd. He staggered and fell on his rump, limbs flailing, head rolling on his neck.

Meadows pulled Rouncey to his hooves with surprising force for a pegasus.

Shaking his head, Rouncey refocused his eyes and saw Blazer attempting to get Easterly to her hooves on the other side of the bullpen. Meadows' foreleg pressed insistently against his chest as he tried to move forward toward his partner.

He looked at Meadows and saw her calm, cold face staring straight ahead, looking at nothing, waiting, her ears were pressed down against her scalp, her eyes hooded. She sighed.

Rouncey pulled back from her, unspoken questions jostling around inside him.

Her eyes flicked toward him, sad eyes, tired eyes.

"What-?" he started, but her eyes turned away from him once more.

"Scanners out!" a mare shouted, and dozens of multicoloured lights floated out into the room through the double doors. As one of the glowing, levitating crystals approached Rouncey, it blinked green, then left him and floated beside Meadows' face. She glared at it, teeth bared in disgust. It flashed red.

An instant bolt of magic shot out from the crystal and hit Meadows in the jaw, forcing her mouth open, and the crystal flew in, bracing itself between the roof of her mouth and her tongue.

"We've got another one over here!" shouted one of the soldiers surrounding Rouncey and Meadows.

"In a minute!" called a mare's voice from somewhere out in the crowd.

"Leave him... leave her... leave him." A beige unicorn with black-rimmed glasses was walking through the crowd, floating dozens of glossy photographs around herself and checking them against the faces of the constables she passed, pointing at each constable and issuing orders. "Take that one!" she said, pointing at Constable Acre. The earth-pony stallion hadn't yet regained his senses and the gold-armoured soldiers had no problem in hefting him to his hooves and half dragged him out through reception.

Beside him, Meadows was sputtering and gagging on the gemstone propping her mouth open, struggling against the magic that was holding her jaw and chin in place. Rouncey reached out a hoof, but stopped. What could he do? Could he get the gem out of her mouth without slicing her tongue in half? What could he do against the magic? He put the hoof on Honey Meadows shoulder, uncertain. She looked at him with one wide eye filled with panic.

"AGAINST THE WALL! " a soldier barked, prodding Rouncey in the chest.

The beige mare walked up to them and appraised them over the tops of her angular glasses, her face critical and disapproving. She cycled through her floating photographs until she found two which she held beside Rouncey and Meadows. She made marks on both photographs and put them into separate folders in her saddlebags, then said, "Leave him," while pointing at Rouncey. "Wait for the dentist to take care of that one, then take her. COLGATE!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"IN A MINUTE!" came the response. "Shit!" The unseen mare's voice was dripping with agitation and anger.

The beige mare sighed and moved on to the next cluster of constables. Two gold-armours followed her, and a soldier smacked Rouncey in the chest with a green paintbrush and Meadows in the chest with a red one, marking them both.

"What is going on?" Rouncey asked.

"SHUT UP!" a soldier bellowed back, raising his gold shod hoof above his head-

A blue unicorn wearing safety goggles pushed her way past the soldier, pushing him aside before he had a chance to strike Rouncey. "Okay, I'm here, what do we – oh." She stepped toward Meadows.

Several metal surgical instruments, held in the mare's blue magic, floated into Meadow's mouth: blunt hooks that pulled her lips back; a spring-loaded, crescent-shaped instrument replacing the crystal holding Meadow's mouth open, with straps that the blue mare fastened around the back of Meadow's head like a bit-and-bridle. The crystal floated out of Meadow's mouth and into a pocket on the blue mare's white, blood-splattered lab-coat.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here..."

"Is it safe?" a soldier asked, leaning in to see.

The blue mare shoved him out of her way again. "Probably not, get out of my way."

Meadows' wings were flapping, her hooves stomping, trying to get away.

The blue mare grunted. "Hold her still!" Her horn flared and the blue magic holding Meadow's lower jaw glowed brighter as the pegasus attempted to struggle.

Rouncey was shoved aside as two soldiers flanked Meadows and grabbed her, holding her by the wings and shoulders.

The blue mare, holding a long, narrow tuning fork in her teeth, inserted the two skinny prongs into Meadows mouth and began tapping the teeth of the pegasus' lower jaw, each in turn, until she got to one of Meadows' molars. She tapped the molar again and slumped. The mare then yanked her head back and replaced the tuning fork in her coat. She extracted a pair of padded pliers from the same pocket.

Seeing the pliers, Meadows gurgled a scream, thrashing against the soldiers holding her.

"Is it safe?" one of the soldiers said again, this time levitating a dagger against Meadow's throat, looking to the blue mare for confirmation.

"No!" the blue mare said. "Hold on! I've got this." She levitated a scalpel into Meadows' mouth along with a tongue depressor. "Alright," she sucked air between her own teeth. She met Meadows' eyes with an apologetic grin. "This is going to hurt like crazy." She cut into Meadows' gums.

Meadows' eyes bulged in their sockets and her jerky, ragged breathing sent trails of saliva and blood spraying out at the blue mare, leaving stains on her already soiled white lab-coat.

Rouncey strained to get up to his hooves, to charge the blue mare. One of the soldiers pushed him straight over with a prod from his halberd staff, sending him thudding to the floor. The soldier gave him a kick in the stomach with a gold shod hoof.

"COLGATE!" the beige mare called from the other side of the room.

"SHUT UP, RAVEN! I WILL END YOU! I AM CUTTING OVER HERE!" the blue mare shouted back. She shuddered with anger. She took a second to collect herself, took a deep breath and smiled as she returned her attention to her patient. The pegasus’ cries of pain had degenerated into pitiful, choking, gurgling sobs; the soldier was still holding the dagger to her throat, blood trickling from a tiny point where he had broken the skin.

Rouncey was numb. He was sitting on the floor where the soldiers had knocked him. He could just manage to keep his head upright and muster his forehooves to prop up his front half. Looking around, he could see the beige mare strolling through the office, doling out judgements on the other police constables of K-division's first shift. She reached the coffee area and compared Blazer and Easterly to their pictures. Putting the photographs in separate folders, she pointed at both of them.

They were both marked, Easterly with green and Blazer with red. Soldiers grabbed Blazer and one of them managed, using only hooves, to struggle a cold-iron ring over the constable's horn, unable to hold the magic-resistant metal with his telekinesis. They dragged Blazer out of the bullpen as he cursed and made threats. Blazer snarled, "Caesar will kill you all for this! You shit eating pieces of-"

One of the soldiers punched an armoured hoof into the side of Blazer's head with a meaty crunch. They dragged his limp body through the doors to reception.

A wet, tearing, ripping sound was accompanied by Meadows' gurgling scream. Rouncey turned to see the blue mare inspecting a bloody extracted molar, holding it in the pair of floating pliers. The tooth was... cracked. Like porcelain.

"Is it safe?" the soldier asked again, though he had sheathed his dagger and was no longer threatening Meadows' life.

"The inner rubber seal isn't broken," the blue mare confirmed. "Trust me, Corporal, you'd know if it were broken while outside of her mouth. For starters, we'd all be dead, or at least choking on our own liquefying lungs – that's the first sign to watch out for, the whole death thing." She nodded at the tooth, satisfied. "Containment!" A soldier levitated a metal box, bearing a chemical hazard symbol, in front of her and she deposited both the tooth and the pliers into the box and locked it shut.

"Doctor Colgate!" a husky male voice shouted as he burst through the doors from reception, dragging another stallion by the foreleg. It was Sergeant Blue, his eyes rolled back in his head, white foam – blotched pink with blood – bubbling out of his mouth. "We found him in the bathroom!"

"OH SHIT!" The blue mare floated a large rubber bag out of her saddlebag and slipped it over the Sergeant's head, pulling drawstrings around his neck and tying them tight over his windpipe. "You!" she pointed to a random soldier. "Get this body out of here and into a tub of water and DO NOT tear that bag! Make sure its fully submerged. YOU!" she pointed at the burly gold-clad soldier who had dragged in the Sergeant. "Shove this up your nose, squeeze the bottle. Breathe deeply!" She floated him a bottle with a rubber applicator. The soldier did as he was told.

Rouncey turned from the Sergeant to Meadows. The blue mare had released her magical grip on Meadows' lower jaw but the metal device was still holding her jaw open, two soldiers still held her upright by the shoulders. Her head was lolling side to side, tears streaming down her cheeks, blood drooling from her mouth to puddle on the floor. Her eyes were fluttering, half closed.

The soldier the blue mare had instructed began dragging away the Sergeant's still-twitching body.

Rouncey struggled to get up. "What's going on? Will they be okay? What's wrong with them?"

"COLGATE!" the beige mare shouted again.

"Hit him," the blue mare hissed through clenched teeth, pointing at Rouncey. "ALRIGHT! I'M COMING!" she shouted out into the bullpen. "Shit!"

Just as Rouncey managed to get to his hooves and tensed his muscles to leap after the blue mare, the blunt metal side of a halberd cracked him in the back of his head. Everything went black.