Chapter 1: Answer the Call
Manehattan. Hearth’s Warming Eve.
Snowflakes gently fell to the ground, carried by short gusts of wind that whistled through the otherwise silent streets. Holiday decorations were still strung up on the buildings and streetlamps, but there were no carolers, no colts and fillies at play. Up and down the trash-lined avenue, the townhouses and apartments were boarded up. Their walls were covered in graffiti. An overturned taxi-cart burned in the distance.
Shining Armor walked down the lonely street, leaving hoofprints in the fresh snow. In the corner of his eye, he saw glimpses of ponies staring at him through their barricaded windows. They looked at him with mistrust and suspicion. Who was this strange stallion walking down the road? Another looter? A rioter?
He did not blame them for their apprehension. Trust and security were hard to come by these days. The streets weren’t safe anymore. But if only they knew he was here to help them…
He sighed, his breath curling in the frosty air, and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He continued down the street, passing the burning taxi-cart. A few raggedy ponies were using the wreck as a heat source, but they scattered in fear when they saw Shining Armor approach. He sighed again, removing his baseball cap to shake it free of snow.
As he put his hat back on, he saw three stallions standing in front of him, all carrying baseball bats. The leader, a scarred, skeletal unicorn, stepped forward and sneered at Shining Armor.
“Well now,” he said menacingly, “what do we have here? A big ol’ pony all by his lonesome.”
Rioters, Shining Armor thought to himself. He stood his ground and met the leader’s eyes, refusing to be intimidated by such a scrawny little punk.
“Whatcha got on your back, big guy?” the leader asked, tapping his bat on the ground. “Looks fancy.”
“It is,” Shining Armor said coolly. “It’s a caster rifle, but we usually just call them spellguns.”
The leader cocked an eyebrow. “Who’s we?”
Shining Armor smiled. “Why, fellow Agents of the Strategic Homeland Division, of course.”
“The Stra-what now?”
“Strategic Homeland Division. A secret agency dedicated to ensuring the continuity of government in the event of an apocalypse. That means keeping the ponies of Manehattan safe from thugs like you.”
The leader reeled, and his comrades gnashed their teeth. Shining Armor didn’t budge.
“So, you’ve never seen a rifle like this before, have you?”
The rioters shook their heads.
“It’s powered by unicorn magic. It can blast a hole in concrete or knock a raging chimera out cold.” He slowly unslung the rifle and held it firmly in his hooves, never breaking eye contact with the thugs. “Wanna see?”
The rioters looked at each other in confusion, but after a moment the leader turned his attention back to Shining Armor.
“You talk pretty tough.”
“I guess you could say I’m one tough cookie.”
One of the other rioters perked up. “Cookie?”
“Shut up, Tubbs,” the leader growled. Shining Armor couldn’t help but snicker, and the leader turned back to him with eyes full of fury. “What, you think this is funny?”
“Yeah, kinda,” Shining Armor replied, still chuckling.
The leader’s eyes narrowed. “See if you laugh after we’re done with ya. Get ’im, boys!”
The other rioters roared and charged him, raising their bats in the air. But suddenly there were two bright flashes of light, and the leader was momentarily blinded. When his vision returned, he saw his comrades were lying motionless on the snowy ground—and Shining Armor had his rifle trained on the scrawny pony’s forehead.
“You…” the leader gasped. “You…”
“I knocked them out,” Shining Armor replied, keeping his aim steady. “They’ll be up in fifteen minutes or so. One flick of a switch on this rifle, however, and I could put holes in all of you. Now drop the bat.”
The leader complied, letting go of his weapon and raising his hooves in the air.
“I know you’re not alone,” Shining Armor growled. “You’re like rats coming out of the sewer, aren’t you? Well I’m the exterminator, buddy. You’re done.”
The leader was too scared to say anything, and he gulped as Shining Armor pressed the barrel of the gun against his scrawny throat.
“I’m not going to kill you, but I am going to send you and your fellow rats a message. The Division is here. We’re taking back this city. Anyone who gets in the way of that is going to lose. Badly. You got it?”
The leader nodded, and Shining Armor smiled.
“Good. Have a nice day.”
And with that, he swung the butt of his rifle around and clubbed the leader in the jaw, knocking him out cold. He dusted the snow off of his jacket and gingerly stepped over the unconscious rioters as the ponies in the windows stared in awe.
Shining Armor paid no attention to the gawkers as he looked down at the device on his fetlock. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary watch, jet-black with a glowing orange ring around the case. But then Shining Armor held it up to his face and spoke into it.
“ISAC, update route to rendezvous point.”
Suddenly the orange ring on the device turned white, and a monotone, computerized voice spoke from it. “Route updated. Destination is 0.3 kilometers to the north.”
“Patch me through to Agent Drops.”
“Confirmed. Contacting Agent Sweetie Drops.”
Shining Armor lowered his fetlock and continued walking as a signal came through his earpiece. After a few moments, a female voice spoke into his earpiece.
“Agent Armor. It’s good to hear from you.”
“Feeling’s mutual, ma’am. I’m less than half a klick out from the camp. How are things going there?”
A brief pause, then a sigh. “To put it simply, Agent, it’s a mess. The JTF are barely holding this place together. The sooner you get here, the better. I can tell you more then.”
“Oh, okay,” Shining Armor replied, picking up the pace. “How many other Agents have answered the call?”
“So far, three.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”
“Three, including the two of us.”
“Three?!”
“There were more,” Sweetie Drops explained. “The First Wave had at least a hundred. Now they’re all dead or missing.”
“Son of a parasprite. How the heck did we lose that many?”
“Manehattan is a battleground, Agent Armor. We’re all that’s left, at least for now.”
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Shining Armor sighed. “Well, who’s our third?”
“A rookie. Came from Bronclyn a few days ago, right before you got the call, actually. You’ll meet her soon. Just get here as fast as you can.”
“Roger that,” Shining Armor replied. “Agent out.”
He lowered his fetlock and continued down the road, picking up the pace from a brisk walk to a full gallop. The wind began to pick up, and snowflakes stung his eyes. He was unsure of just what he would find at the rendezvous point, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.
* * *
Camp Hoofson was a sea of tents and crudely-built shelters that resembled a refugee camp more than a military outpost. Members of the Joint Task Force, the remnants of Manehattan’s police and City Guard, patrolled the camp’s perimeter. Some of them had spears and batons, while others carried makeshift ballistic rifles that might as well have been squirt guns compared to Shining Armor’s magical weaponry. But most of them were completely unarmed and had little to no protective gear. They looked underfed and unrested, and all had the most depressing looks in their eyes, looks of hopelessness and fear. Shining Armor gulped. The situation was much, much worse than he thought.
He passed a wall on his way in that was covered with hundreds of flyers, each with the name and picture of a missing or dead pony. A few JTF soldiers stood at the wall, mourning silently and holding candles. As he glanced at the wall and saw the countless faces of those that had been lost to the Green Pox, Shining Armor felt his heart wrench. But he quickly stifled his feelings and walked past the grieving soldiers without a word.
The main command post turned out to be little more than a ragged tent propped up on some poles, with all sorts of equipment crammed underneath that left barely any standing room. Agent Sweetie Drops stood hunched over a griffin JTF radio operator as they tried to get a signal on their ham radio. Her mane was cut short and her eyes were tired and ringed with dark circles. She wore a thick green jacket over a combat vest, and had her own Division-issued caster rifle slung over her shoulder, along with a caster pistol strapped to her thigh. She didn’t notice Shining Armor until he impatiently knocked on one of the poles.
“Oh, Agent Armor!” said Sweetie Drops, momentarily startled. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Welcome to Camp Hoofson.”
Shining Armor looked around and grimaced. “Millions of bits poured into the Division, and this is all we get?”
“I hear you, Agent, but there’s not much we can do about it. Most of our equipment and personnel were with the First Wave. When they fell we had to leave the rest of it behind, and now all we’ve got are table scraps.”
“Oh wonderful. So this is it, then.”
Sweetie Drops nodded sadly. “Unfortunately, yes. Commander Ironhoof went down in the Haypacking District, so I had to take over as acting Commander. We may have taken a hit when the First Wave fell, but mark my words, Agent: we’re taking this city back.”
“Really?” Shining Armor remarked, cocking an eyebrow. “I mean, I agree that we’re gonna take it back, but…with all due respect, Commander, how exactly are we gonna take back Manehattan if it’s just the two of us?”
“It’s not just the two of us,” Sweetie Drops replied, standing up straight and smiling. “Agent Armor, meet Agent Selena Moon.”
Shining Armor turned around and saw a young mare approach the command post. She had deep-blue skin, azure eyes, and a mane as white as the snow around her. Unlike everyone else, she seemed bright and cheerful, walking with a slight spring in her step and smiling warmly as she approached. With her bright blue puffy jacket and pom-pom beanie, she looked completely out of place in this military camp. If it weren’t for the short, stubby caster rifle slung over her shoulder, Shining Armor could have easily mistaken her for a civilian.
“Hiya!” she said, her voice bubbly. “Nice to meet you, Agent Armor!”
She stuck out her hoof, and Shining Armor shook it respectfully, but his eyes were hard and calculating. “Little young for an Agent, aren’t you?” he said coldly.
Selena’s smile faded, and Sweetie Drops coughed awkwardly. “Agent Moon has proven herself to be capable in the field. Why, she was my partner when we were in Bronclyn, before I got transferred to this dung heap. Saved my rump more times than I can remember.”
“Is that so?” Shining Armor said dismissively, eyeing her up and down. “Well, I guess I’ll have to see for myself.”
Selena smiled again, though it seemed much less cheerful. “I won’t let you down, Agent Armor. And, well, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about—”
“Don’t,” he growled, glaring at her. “I know what you’re gonna say, but just don’t. I’m sick of hearing it.”
Selena gulped meekly and averted her eyes. “S-Sorry…”
For a moment, there was only tense silence. Then Sweetie Drops sighed.
“Could you give us a second?” she asked the JTF radio operator. He nodded and left the tent, leaving just the three of them behind. Sweetie Drops turned to Shining Armor and glared at him angrily.
“Look,” she said tersely, “Selena’s with us, Agent Armor, for better or for worse. She’s saved my hide countless times and I’ve no doubt she’s gonna end up having to save yours if you keep acting like this.”
She sighed again. “I know it’s hard, Agent. We’ve all lost somepony close to this damned Pox. But now is not the time to act like a petulant colt. Now is the time to act like a Division Agent. Understand?”
Shining Armor’s chest swelled in anger, and for a brief moment he looked ready to punch the mare in the face. But then he sighed and looked down at his hooves. “Yes, Commander.”
“Good. Now, both of you listen up.”
Sweetie Drops walked over to a table in the middle of the tent and unrolled a large map of Manehattan. “As you can probably tell, Camp Hoofson is in no shape to serve as our base of operations. We need a place with power and heat, someplace more defensible. I’m thinking here.”
She pointed to a small blip on the map that was circled in red pen. “The Manehattan Post Office, right next to Madison Stable Garden. The JTF’s commanding officer, Captain Fireside, was reconnoitering the area with his squad before we lost radio contact with him. The intel he gave us before comms went dark suggests that the Post Office could work as a suitable base.”
“How so?” Shining Armor asked.
“The building was being used as a relief center by local emergency services before the city fell. It’s big, so it’s got plenty of room to set up operations. It’s got an underground generator, which means power and heat. And with a few guards and well-placed barricades outside the perimeter, we could easily turn it into a fortress.”
“Okay. What about hostiles?”
“According to Captain Fireside’s last transmission, the area’s crawling with rioters. Their weaponry is crude at best, but I’ve got confirmed reports that at least some of them have scavenged ballistic rifles off of dead JTF soldiers. These guys may not seem like much of a threat, but they outnumber us at least three-to-one. Do not underestimate them.”
She leaned forward over the table as her eyes narrowed. “Agents, I shouldn’t have to remind you that Manehattan is a war zone. That means we can’t afford to take any chances. We’ve lost too much already. Set your casters to high power. From now on, we shoot to kill.”
Selena and Shining Armor briefly shared a look before unslinging their rifles and adjusting the power settings.
“Right,” said Sweetie Drops as she unslung her own rifle. “Any questions?”
Selena and Shining Armor both shook their heads, and Sweetie Drops cocked her gun.
“Then let’s move out.”
* * *
Prancesylvania Plaza was eerily quiet. Shining Armor watched a pair of rats scurry across his hooves as he, Sweetie Drops, and Selena Moon made their way down the barren street. Two emaciated dogs fought over a piece of meat in the alley next to the group, and a crow pecked at the eyes of another dead dog lying on its side in the middle of the road. Selena grimaced and kept close to Shining Armor.
“So,” she said awkwardly, “nice spellgun you got there, Agent Armor.”
Shining Armor gave her a quizzical look as they continued walking, but then looked down at his rifle. “I guess. It’s a standard-issue caster rifle, nothing that special about it.”
“It’s bigger than mine,” Selena said, looking at her own rifle in disappointment. “The armory was pretty much empty back at the Bronclyn safe house. This was the only one they had left.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Shining Armor replied. “Did you get a sidearm?”
Selena nodded and pulled a big, clunky caster pistol from her thigh holster. “It’s too big for me, though. Might as well be a hoof cannon. I can barely fit it in my holster.”
“Well that’s going to be a problem if we’re in a tight spot and you need to draw your sidearm fast,” Shining Armor said, pulling out his own sidearm, a sleek metallic caster pistol. “If that thing gets stuck in your holster, we die.”
Selena nodded again, sighing. “Yeah. Maybe when we get this base place up and running we can get some—”
“Hold up,” Sweetie Drops interrupted. They all stopped in their tracks as Sweetie Drops held up her fetlock to her face. The device on her fetlock was glowing and beeping, and a few seconds later a familiar robotic voice spoke from it.
”Alert. Intercepting JTF radio traffic.”
Suddenly the static-laced sounds of chaos filled their ears. They heard gunfire, explosions, and screaming as a male voice cried out over the radio.
“…taking small arms fire! Small arms fire! Rioters have us pinned down outside the Manehattan Post Office! Any JTF hearing this, we need reinforcements now!”
“Son of a parasprite,” Sweetie Drops cursed. “Double time, Agents. Let’s go!”
The three of them broke into a frantic gallop, racing down the barren streets. They soon heard the gunfire in the distance, and it grew louder and louder until they finally emerged onto Courier Road, where the Manehattan Post Office stood. The building was a massive marble-and-stone complex with smooth stone steps and mighty columns decorating the façade. However, there were signs of neglect and disrepair all over the building: the walls were decorated with graffiti and burn marks, and trash bags filled with medical waste were thrown haphazardly across the steps. In front of the building, several JTF officers were taking cover behind makeshift barricades, as the wreck of an emergency services wagon burned on the sidewalk. Further down the street, a gaggle of hooded rioters were shouting obscenities and firing at the officers with scavenged ballistic rifles and pistols. Dead rioters and officers littered the road in between the two groups, turning the snow red.
“Move up!” Sweetie Drops ordered, raising her rifle and firing several magic bolts at the rioters. Shining Armor and Selena Moon kept their heads low as they galloped toward the JTF soldiers. Shining Armor slid into cover next to a crouched JTF minotaur as bullets flew over his head. Selena took cover across the road, crouched behind a concrete barricade with a few other JTF officers, as Sweetie Drops continued to provide suppressing fire from behind them.
“Who’s in charge here?” Shining Armor shouted to the minotaur.
“Staff Sergeant Storm! He’s dead. Who the heck are you?”
“Shining Armor. That’s Selena Moon and Sweetie Drops. We’re Division Agents.”
“Division?” The minotaur smiled. “About time we got some good news. We’re low on ammo, and we’ve only got ballistics. No magic. The staff sergeant was our last unicorn officer!”
“How many hostiles?”
“At least seven, all armed with ballistics.”
“Anypony inside the Post Office?”
The minotaur’s eyes narrowed. “The Post Office? No, I don’t think so. Why?”
Shining Armor snuck a peek over the barricade, only to immediately duck as a barrage of bullets whizzed past his face.
“My team and I are going to establish a base of operations inside the Post Office. We’re taking this city back. You with us?”
“Heck yeah,” the minotaur replied, smiling again and cocking his machine gun. “Help us take down these thugs and you can count us in.”
Now Shining Armor was smiling. “Deal.”
With that, the two of them rose out of cover and began firing back at the rioters, who quickly scattered and tried to find their own cover. Selena followed suit, firing her stubby rifle rapidly. One by one, the rioters began to fall, some with burning holes in their bodies, others covered in blood. Sweetie Drops moved out of cover and sprinted forward, dodging enemy fire and somersaulting into cover behind an overturned dumpster on the sidewalk. She then pulled a flash grenade from her belt, bit off the pin, and chucked it in the direction of the rioters. A few seconds later, there was a blinding flash of light, followed by screams of pain and confusion from the rioters, who stumbled out into the open.
Shining Armor saw his chance and took it. With three quick pulls of the trigger, he put a burning bolt through each of the remaining three rioters’ skulls. They fell to the pavement, and a silence settled over Courier Road, broken only by the low whisper of the wind.
“Clear! Move up!” the JTF minotaur bellowed, breaking from cover. Shining Armor kept his rifle raised as he and the other JTF officers began to move down the road. Selena and Sweetie Drops joined him, flanking his sides with their heads and guns on a swivel. The silence was unnerving, and the group kept expecting a sniper to light them up from one of the nearby rooftops.
Sweetie Drops took point, moving to the front of the group as they approached the main entrance of the Post Office. As they kept moving, Selena stepped over the bloody body of Staff Sergeant Storm, audibly flinching. She then looked up and smiled.
“Nice work with that flash grenade, Commander Drops, but dang, those things are bright, I mean—”
“Quiet,” Shining Armor said, softly but firmly. “We’re not out of the woods yet, not until we clear the area.”
Selena frowned, slightly embarrassed by Shining Armor’s rebuke, but kept her gun steady as the group reached the main entrance. A makeshift tunnel had been constructed over the front doors, snaking out of the entranceway and down the steps like a tubular slide. Sandbags and trash flanked both sides of the tunnel, remnants of the emergency center that had once occupied the Post Office. Sweetie Drops motioned for the group to stack up on the side of the tunnel.
“Wait,” Selena piped up suddenly, “why are we going in now? I thought you said there was still another guy around here!”
“There is,” Shining Armor replied, “but the priority is the Post Office. We killed all his friends, so he’s probably run off with his tail between his legs.”
“But how can we be sure? There were seven rioters, right? I count six bodies.”
“Enough, Agent Moon. We’re going in there. We’re getting this done. And you are not disobeying a direct order.”
“Order?!” Selena exclaimed. “You’re not my superior! The Commander is!”
Sweetie Drops turned her head momentarily. “Yeah, well, as acting Commander I order both of you to shut your—”
WHACK!
The aluminum bat seemed to come from nowhere, as did the masked rioter wielding it. Sweetie Drops fell to the ground, her face covered in blood, and the rioter roared as he prepared to bring the bat down on Shining Armor’s head.
Five shots rang out in rapid succession, and the magic bolts passed so close to Shining Armor’s face that they singed the tips of his mane. The rioter staggered backward, stared down at the five burning holes in his body, and collapsed.
Dumbfounded, Shining Armor turned around to look at Selena, his eyes wide as saucers. The barrel of her rifle was still smoking, and she met Shining Armor’s gaze with narrow eyes and curled lips. Shining Armor struggled to speak.
“I…I…what just…”
Suddenly a low moan came from behind him. He turned around, looked down, and gasped. Commander Sweetie Drops lay on the ground, bleeding profusely. Almost all of the left side of her face had been destroyed. Her left eye was gone, with only a broken socket and glistening viscera in its place. Bloody bits of bone speckled the snow around her head. She moaned incoherently, as though she were trying to form words but just couldn’t.
“Commander!” Shining Armor cried. “Oh, sweet Celestia…Commander Drops?!”
“We have to get her inside!” Selena exclaimed.
The JTF minotaur bent down and gently scooped up Sweetie Drops in his arms. “I’ve got her, let’s get in there!”
Without another word, they hurried through the tunnel, leaving a trail of blood drops in their wake.
* * *
The interior of the Manehattan Post Office was as ornate and intimidating as its exterior, with high ceilings, marble tiled floors, and intricate patterns carved into the limestone walls. Once upon a time, thousands of pounds of mail would arrive at the building every day, to be sorted and delivered by the faithful mailponies of the Equestrian Postal Service.
Then the Green Pox hit Manehattan, and local emergency services set up a relief center in the Post Office. Its halls filled with the sounds of the sick and dying as doctors tried desperately to curb the spread of the deadly disease. Then the doctors began to get sick. Supplies ran out. Rioters waged war in the streets. It wasn’t long before the remaining healthy doctors and medics were forced to abandon the center, leaving the sick to their fates.
Now the Post Office was a ghost of its former self. The chandeliers had fallen from the ceiling, scattering broken glass all over the floor. The carved oak sorting desks had been broken down to use as firewood. The dark halls were lined with empty cots and trash, and it all reeked of musk and death, as though it were the belly of some giant rotting beast.
Emerging from the tunnel, Shining Armor cast a magic ball of light from his horn, illuminating the abandoned post office. The place looked even worse when lit up, and the rest of the group nearly tripped on the bags of trash and other debris scattered across the floor as they rushed into the main hall.
“You three! Sweep and clear the west wing of this building!” the JTF minotaur shouted to his fellow officers. “The rest of you, clear the east wing! Make sure we don’t have any more thugs lurking around.”
The officers nodded and moved off in separate directions. The minotaur turned to Shining Armor and Selena as he continued to hold the barely-conscious Sweetie Drops in his arms.
“This place has to have a medical wing,” he said. “Someplace with bandages, antibiotics, anything we can use to patch her up.”
“Got it!” Selena exclaimed, pointing to a door with a crudely-painted sign above it that read ‘MEDICAL.’ They all hurried through the door as Sweetie Drops continued to bleed in the minotaur’s arms.
The medical wing was a mess. Trash and broken medical equipment lay haphazardly strewn about, and most of the supply cabinets looked as though they had already been looted. The room smelled of stale blood and bodily fluids, and the medical beds were stained and torn. Tables were overturned, tarps were ripped to shreds, and worse of all, body bags lined the base of the walls, crumpled and piled as though they had been carelessly tossed to the ground.
Shining Armor looked around before pointing at the cleanest bed in the wing. “There!”
The minotaur nodded and set Sweetie Drops down gently into the bed, taking a closer look at her wound. “She’s losing blood fast! I’m not a doctor, I don’t know what to do for a wound like this!”
“Well is there anypony on your team with medical experience?” asked Shining Armor.
“No…wait, yes! Caduceus! He was a paramedic before the outbreak, but…”
“He’ll do, just get him! We’ll look around to see if there are any supplies left!”
The minotaur nodded and rushed out of the wing as fast as his hooves could carry him. Shining Armor then began rifling through the various cabinets.
“No…no…no…” he growled. “There’s nothing here! Selena, come help me!”
Selena, who had been staring in shock at Sweetie Drops, snapped out of her trance and joined Shining Armor. For several minutes, they rooted through dozens of boxes, shelves, and lockers. The supplies they gathered were meager at best, unusable at worst, ranging from a few bandages to a half-empty bottle of ponycillin.
“That’s it?!” Shining Armor cried. “Damn those looters to Tartarus!”
Selena was about to speak before a weak voice came from behind them.
“Uh…Uhhhh…”
Shining Armor and Selena turned around to see Sweetie Drops squirming in her bed, struggling to form words.
“Uhhhh…”
“Commander?” Selena said worriedly. “Are you—”
She stopped talking and looked up when the minotaur returned with a brown pegasus by his side. The pegasus wore a red-and-blue emergency services shirt under his neon-green JTF vest.
“Agents, this is Private Caduceus. Caduceus, meet Agents Shining Armor and Selena Moon. They’re with the Division. The wounded one is Sweetie Drops, acting Division commander.”
Caduceus did not look at the two agents, but rather went straight to Sweetie Drops, examining her injury. Shining Armor handed him the scavenged medical items.
“This was all we could find. A couple of clean bandages and some ponycillin. I know it’s probably not enough, but…”
Caduceus took the supplies, looking them over and sighing. “No, it’s not. Her skull’s nearly caved in, and there’s no telling what kind of trauma her brain might have suffered. The eye’s crushed as well. I’ll do what I can, but I can’t make any promises. I’m just a paramedic, or was, I should say. Now, give me some space so I can work.”
Shining Armor was about to object, but Selena cut him off. “You got it, doc. We’ll stay outta your mane.”
Caduceus gave her a momentary look of annoyance, as though he resented being called ‘doc,’ before returning his attention to Sweetie Drops. With that, the agents and the minotaur quietly walked out of the room.
Selena and Shining Armor sat down in the hallway outside the medical wing, leaning against the wall as the rest of the JTF began to regroup at the main hall. The minotaur sighed.
“Well…uhhh…I suppose I should say thanks again for the help out there. Sorry about your commander.”
Selena smiled. “You’re welcome. Happy to help.”
“Good to hear. Not many folks seem too keen on helping each other these days. The stuff I’ve seen out there…” He shook his head. “Folks go crazy when they think the world is ending.”
“The world hasn’t ended yet,” Shining Armor replied. “Not while we’re here.”
The minotaur smiled. “The citizens of Manehattan are gonna be glad to hear that. By the way, I’m Corporal Bighorn.”
“Nice to be working with you, Corporal,” said Selena, smiling back.
“Trust me, the feeling’s mutual, Agent. Now, I’ve gotta get back to my squad. We’ll take a look around and start setting up shop. Let me know when Caduceus finishes up in there.”
With that, the corporal left the hallway to rejoin his fellow soldiers. For a while, the two agents sat in silence, anxiously worrying about the fate of their commander.
“Hey,” Shining Armor spoke up, turning to Selena. “Just wanted to say…thanks for saving my hide back there.”
Selena frowned. “First time I had to kill anypony.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Back in Bronclyn, I always had my caster on stun. The hostiles we encountered usually never had more than spears or rocks…they weren’t armed with stuff that could kill us. Even when we got in tight spots, I still shot to stun, not kill. I just…it didn’t feel right…”
Shining Armor laid a hoof on her shoulder, grasping it gently but firmly. “You heard what Sweetie Drops said. You’re a Division Agent. This is who you are, and this is what you do. Believe me, before the Pox, heck before I even joined the Division, I never wanted to hurt anypony, much less kill them. But now…well, you saw those guys out there. They weren’t holding back. They were out of blood. One of them nearly killed Sweetie Drops and tried to kill me. You put him down. That’s just the way the world works now. You can’t be afraid to kill, but that doesn’t mean you should be comfortable with it. It’s a good thing that killing makes you uncomfortable. It means you’re still equine at heart.”
He sighed and looked down, his eyes clouding. “Some of us have seen so much death already that we’re becoming numb to it…”
Selena frowned and looked at him sadly. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but…I am so sorry about your wife and daughter.”
Shining Armor felt a pang in his heart, and he stared at Selena, his eyes brimming with anger. But after a moment, it subsided, and he just sighed again and looked down at his hooves.
Several minutes passed in silence, before Caduceus finally emerged from the medical wing. His hooves and shirt were covered in blood, and his expression was grave. The agents stood up.
“Well?” said Shining Armor.
Caduceus sighed. “I bandaged the wound, and the bleeding seems to have subsided. She’s unconscious, but stable. With things as they are now, there’s a chance the wound may have already been infected. It’s too early to tell, but we can’t take any chances.”
“Can’t you disinfect it with the ponycillin?” Selena asked.
The pegasus shook his head. “Ponycillin wouldn’t work. Besides, it requires an ampoule, and there are no clean ampoules in the wing. I’m sorry, Agents, but I’m just not equipped or skilled enough to deal with this kind of injury. I’m just a paramedic.”
“Well then we need a doctor!” Selena exclaimed. “We can’t let her die!”
“Caduceus, please,” Shining Armor pleaded. “Do you or the JTF know any place where we can find a proper doctor? Maybe we can take her back to Camp Hoofson?”
“No, we can’t risk moving her and injuring her further,” Caduceus countered. “As for a doctor…” His brow furrowed in thought, and a minute later his eyes widened. “Of course! How could I have forgotten?”
Shining Armor’s ears perked up. “What is it?”
“There was a field hospital set up in Madison Stable Garden, right across from here.” Caduceus explained. “Rioters hit the place a few days ago, and the JTF were planning to launch an assault, but we hit a wall after Captain Fireside went missing. Staff Sergeant Storm took us to reconnoiter both the Post Office and the Garden, but then we got ambushed, and…well, here we are.”
“A field hospital?” said Shining Armor. “So there are doctors there?”
“Maybe, assuming the rioters didn’t kill them all. They’re most likely holding them hostage, making them treat their wounded. I can’t say for certain how many people were working in that hospital, but I do know at least one doctor was there. Dr. Candlelight.”
“Candlelight?”
The pegasus nodded. “I worked at Manehattan General Hospital, same as her. We were friends, and went the outbreak hit the city she immediately went to the field hospital at the Garden to help the sick. She’s a virologist.”
Selena raised an eyebrow. “A virologist? How’s a virologist going to help Agent Drops?”
Caduceus shrugged. “She’s a doctor, and a damn good one. Plus the Garden is probably full of medical supplies, assuming the looters haven taken everything yet. It’s better than nothing, and probably better than anything I can do from here.”
“Hey, don’t put yourself down, Caduceus,” said Shining Armor, smiling. “We’re grateful for what you did, and I’m sure Commander Drops will be too. We can take the rioters, assuming we can borrow some of your fellow JTF officers.”
“Say no more,” said Corporal Bighorn, who walked into the hallway with his soldiers behind him. “You saved our hides out there, Agents. We’d be honored to fight alongside you.”
Shining Armor looked them all over. “How are you on ammo?”
“I got some of my guys to take back our guns from the dead rioters outside. We’ve got enough to hit the Garden. I’ll leave some officers behind to guard the base, maybe start setting up what we can, and the rest of us will come with you.”
At first, Shining Armor hesitated. These officers were exhausted and underequipped. He was almost certain they wouldn’t all make it out alive. But as he looked at their tired faces and saw the passion in their eyes, the determination of a true soldier, he couldn’t help but smile. He took his rifle from his shoulder and powered it up, standing firm.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s go find us a doctor.”
