Equines of War: Friends to the End

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

"There's too many! We're not going to make it!"

"Hold them off just hold them off!"

Delta squad was making a stand at the Lambet swarm. Dom was blasting at the Drudges with his gnasher shotgun when he heard an empty click when he pulled the trigger.

"Shit. I'm out off ammo." Dom thought to himself. He threw the empty gnasher to the ground and stood towards the lambent swarm. He saw the mass wave of drudges and formers that surrounded him and his team. "We can't kill them all."Dom thought.

He turned around to see the rest of his squad buckling down holding off the Lambets on their side. Then he looked down to the fuel truck that was below the platform where he stood. One of the stalks weighed the fuel tanks down. Then an idea popped in his head. "Marcus you're going to hate me for this."

He jumped from the platform to the ground next to the tanker. He unhooked the truck from the fuel tanks.

"Dom!" Dom turned toward Marcus.

"Get out of there! Jump!"

He grabbed a hammerburst and fired at the lambets blocking the way to the truck. He climbed in and shifted the gear into drive. He sped off into the tunnel running over a few of the locusts that had popped up.

He heard Marcus on his comm. Link. "Dom! Dom where are you going?"

Dom thought to himself, "Sorry Marcus, your gonna have to go on without me."

He reached the end of the tunnel and did a hundred and eighty degree turn and stopped. He gave a heavy sigh. He knew what he had to do.

"Dom what the fuck are you doing?"

"Pulling the plug on them Marcus! Jump will you! Do it!" Dom slammed his foot on the clutch and drove into the tunnel. He honked the horn to let the squad know he was coming and he wasn't stopping.

"Never thought it would end like this huh? Huh Maria?"

He shifted the gear and sped into the fuel tanks. "Dom noooo!"

Right before impact Dom closed his eyes and let himself go.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dom opened his eyes and found nothing but pitch black darkness. He felt his body and saw that he was still intact even if he couldn't see.

Dom cried out. "Hey! Hey is anyone out there! Somebody! Anybody!" nothing but silence.

Dom heard a gust of wind pass him and turned around. When he turned he saw a small hint of light.

"Maria?" Dom took on into q sprint towards the light. "Maria hold on I'm coming for you baby! I'm coming for you and the kids baby!"

As he ran, the light began to glow brighter. As it did Dom sprinted faster. "Maria! Maria!"

He finally reached the light. When he did his whole world went white. The brightness forced him to close his eyes, but he never stopped running.

The lights dimmed down allowing Dom to open eyes.

"Maria!" Dom looked at his body and his armor had turned bluish white. "Whoa! I guess I really am dead."

He looked around his surroundings. He was in a dim lit cave. It seemed strangely familiar to him. Then his eyed went wide when remembered.

He had been here before. Dom started pacing in a panic.

"No. No no no no! Not here! Anywhere but here."

He heard Marcus's voice from behind him."Dom... It's okay." Dom's worst fear was about to come true.

He slowly turned around and saw Marcus and himself, his past self, on his knees holding somebody. He looked at himself. He looked at who he was holding.

It was a woman. Or at least it seemed like a woman. Her skin resembled something of rotting flesh. Her body was broken down and seemed like there was nothing left under her skin but bone. Her eyes resembled fog and her hair had missing patches in it. Her skin was gray and terribly scarred. It was his wife.

Marcus walked away from the two. Dom knew what would happen next. Inside he screamed at himself to look away, to turn his eyes away to spare himself from the memory. But he couldn't. He just stood there and watched.

The past Dom held his wife in embrace heads touching together. "I love you so so much."

He pulled away and brought up his pistol to his wife's head. Dom's cries of distress echoed in the caves.

Finally he leveled the gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Her brain splattered on the interior of the cave and Maria's body went limp.

Dom, the present Dom, saw every action that took place. His fell to his knees as he looked upon his dead wife's corpse lying on the ground.

He never broke his gaze. Even when his past self got up to leave, he never looked away. "I tried to save you baby. I truely did. But that was never enough was it?" He reached out to try and touch her. His hand passed right through. "No. I don't deserve to be with you. That's why I'm here; in hell."

Another voice interrupted. "Well...not exactly."

Dom, not expecting anybody else to be there, turned to the source turned to the source of the voice.

He drew back in shock at what he saw. A large monster stood next to him gazing where Maria's body lay.

Dom gazed at the creature's body. Its head represented that of a goat's. His horns were mismatched and his body had scales embedded to it. His limps were also mismatched representing those of a lion, an eagle, and a gator. He also had wings sprouting from his back and he outstood Dom by at least five feet.

The creature stood still, still gazing at Maria's body.

Dom recovered from his shock. "Who and what are you?" The creature chuckled at the question and broke into a small grin.

"Introductions can wait until later. Right now I want to offer you a deal."

Dom raised his eye in question and suspicion.

"I see that someone has been a naughty boy in their lifetime." The creature chuckled. "Trust me, hell as much more planned for you unless you consider my offer."

Dom still remained cautious but was curious.

"What do you have to offer?"

The creature's grin grew larger. "How would you like to be reunited with your wife and children again?"

Dom's eyes grew wide, but kept himself in check.

"You can do that?"

The creature broke out into an uproar of laughter. He settled himself down and turned back to Dom.

"Of course I can. I have powers that you can't even imagine. Taking you back to your family upstairs would be a cakewalk."

Dom still remained suspicious. He knew there was a catch.

"What's the catch?"

The creature reached out his paw and offered it to him. "Take my hand and we can discuss buisness."

Dom grew hesitant, but then he saw the vision of his wife on the ground not five feet away from him.
He turned to the creature.

"Maria."

He had made his decision.

He grabbed the creatures paw and then his whole world turned to black.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dom finally came to his senses to find himself in a luxurious office he still had his bluish white tint, but he found himself wearing a suit and tie. The office had dark green carpeting and the walls were a dark red color.

He felt his face and found that it was shaven back to his old style. He looked around and found he was sitting in front of a shiny black desk. Behind it there was a large leather chair with its back towards him.

A voice behind it spoke. "Alright!"

The chair turned to show that the creature was sitting in it. He had shrunken in size to match Dom's height and was also wearing a suit and tie. "Let's get started."

He shuffled to make himself comfortable and turned to Dom. "I find interest in you human only for one reason. You are a human."

Dom raised an eye in question. "What?"

The creature continued. "You're a human, and there's one thing humans are good at and that's war."

Dom spoke up. "You want me to fight for you?"

The creature gave away a grin. "My my you catch on quick. Yes I want you to fight, but not for me specifically."

Dom waited for the creature to continue.

"There is a world. A whole other world where there is a war going on as we speak.

One side is one that I'm quite fond off, but they seem to be having some trouble."

Dom didn't know what possessed to ask the next question. "So if you say you're so powerful, why don't you turn the war into their favor?

The creature drew a distasteful look upon his face.

"As powerful as I am, I must abide by certain...rules." He seemed to gag at the last word. "I however found a loophole, and that loophole is you my friend." He pointed his eagle claw at Dom.

Dom rose from his seat and slammed his hands on the desk. He leaned towards the amused creature. "What makes you think I would kill for you? I don't know the terms of how that war started or who is even fighting in it! What if the side you want me to fight on turns out to stand for everything I stand against!"

The creature stared at Dom for a few seconds before answering. "Because my easily tested friend, it seems that there are some old friends of yours who already thrown their part into the war."

Dom stood in confusion. Then it dawned on him. "The Locust? The Locust are in your world!"

The creature clapped his hand in joy. "Ding ding ding you guessed correct!" The creature's uproar died down after a few seconds.

It turned back to Dom.

"You see my friend... I am simply leveling out the playing field."

The creature snapped his claw and a piece of paper and an ink pen appeared in front of Dom.

"How do I know you will stay true to your word?"

"I might be many things my friend but a liar isn't one of them. I swear on my honor as an all powerful being. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"So... Do we have a deal? You help my side win the war and I send you on your way to you precious family. But... If you fail... I'm afraid then this deal will be made invalid."

Dom grabbed the paper and the pen out of the air. He signed his name on it and slammed it onto the desk.

"Believe me. I won't."

The creature smiled. "Excellent." He snapped his fingers and the paper vanished. The creature turned to the door behind him and shouted.

"Okay you all can come in now!"

Dom turned when the door behind him began to open. He saw the people who entered but didn't believe it.

"Tai...Anthony...Prescott? What are you doing here?"

All of his dead fellow gears entered the office.

Their bodies all looked like his, with a bluish white tint that marked them as one of the dead.

Tai stepped forward. "It seems we have been offered a chance at redemption from our dishonorable deaths." Tai was still the boulder of a man Dom remembered him to be, and he still wore the same traditional armor of his.

His body seemed to have been changed though. Dom remembered the horrible condition they found Tai in after rescuing him from the locust. Now he seemed to have returned to normal. Excluding the being "dead" part of course.

Anthony cut in, "We all signed Dom." he still had his helmet on but there was a hole where the sniper bullet hit and killed him. Dom could see part of Anthony's brown hair through the hole.

Prescott stepped forward. "It seems we've found a way around hell I suppose." Dom looked at the ex chairman.

He was still wearing his armor but it appeared to be damaged badly. His body was riddled with scars, and one of his eyes had a milky exterior ruling it out to be useless.

Prescott saw Dom looking at his condition. "Your friend found me in hell after I was in there for no more than thirty seconds."

He turned to the grinning creature with a scowl on his face. "Thirty seconds too late if you ask me."

The creature chuckled. "Just wanted to give a taste of what is to come if you fail."

The creature rose from his chair floated in Prescott's face. "You know... Now that I think about it, you're not exactly soldier material. I'd take you for a tactician rather than a soldier. I bet as soon as you set foot on the battleground you would be dead in minutes. Tell you what; I'll better your chances."

With that he snapped his claw and Prescott's body shrank into a stream of white and aimed directly towards Dom.

Dom didn't feel the impact, but he felt a sharp pain in his skull like someone stuck a knife in it. He grabbed his head in pain.

"Aauuugh! What did you do?"

The creature raised a finger. "Wait for it."

Dom stood in silence. The pain in his head began to dull away, but nothing else happen.

Than he heard a voice. "Hello? Where am I?" It sounded like Prescott.

"Prescott where are ya!" Dom looked around to find him.

Carmine spoke up. "Uhh Dom, he isn't here."

Dom looked at his friends and asked, "What do you mean? Don't you hear him? They shook their heads no.

Dom heard Prescott's voice again. "Wait. I can see now, but I can't control my body. Oh dear god."

Dom grew frustrated. "Dammit Prescott where the fuck are you?"

The creature fell over in laughter in his chair as if he heard the entire conversation between the two confused Gears.

He began to calm wiping a tear away from his eye and said, "Well friend now you're playing for two. I put your friend in a place where he could be useful."

He pointed at his head. "When you think about it I did you a favor. A softy like him would've only slowed you down."

Dom grew furious. "I'm not letting a slime ball like Prescott stay in my head! Get him out! NOW!"

The creature simply chuckled in amusement. "You'll thank me later. All of you." The creature rose from his chair and snapped his finger.

"Wait! I'm not done with yo-." Dom and the rest of the gears disappeared to only god knows where, leaving the creature alone in his office.

The door began to open.

"Hmm?"

A creature with an eagle's head and a lion's body walked in. A griffin. Its feathers were pitch black and its hide shined golden brown.

"Ahh, Solomon. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

The griffin glared at the creature. "Whatever happened to the great god of discord's originality?"

The creature chuckled. "I have no idea what you're talking about Solomon. May I offer you some chocolate milk?"

With a snap of his finger a glass of chocolate milk appeared before the griffin. "Keep your childish drink." The griffin slapped the glass away spilling it on the carpet of the office.

"Oh dear, that's going to leave a stain."

"I know what you've done and I find it pathetic."

"Maybe the person who did it learned it from you."

The griffin only grew angrier at the witty insult. "My followers will cut them down the second they appear to our world."

"My dear Solomon I still have no idea what you're talking about. I thought you had come over to talk like the good ol days, but it seems that you are still the constant downer you've always been."

The griffin stood fuming in anger before he exited the room slamming the door leaving the creature to himself once again.

He chuckled to himself. "That was fun." then he began to frown. He shifted his leg revealing a chain that binded him to the room. He looked at a corner of the office and began speaking to what appeared to be nobody.

"I've done all that I've can. Other than that my hands are tied. It's all up to you now Princess."

Somewhere in a dark damaged castle, there was an armored dark blue alicorn mare that stood upon a large mirror looking upon the chaotic beast. As the picture of the beast faded away, she
turned away to exit the hall.

She walked passed her dark Pegasus royal guards who escorted her to her chariot.

"To the battlegrounds as soon as possible."

The guards replied in unison. "Yes Princess Luna."

The royal guards strapped themselves to the chariot and took off. They flew in the sky and headed towards their destination.

Chapter 2

Somewhere in the mountains

Solomon had just arrived back from his recent visit to his old "friend." The griffin guards stood in attention as he walked through the tunnels down into the nest. The interior of the nest was the inner tunnels of the mountains.

In there they fashioned a series of caverns that served any purpose they chose. For storage, for resting grounds, for a military base.

Solomon entered the "war room" in rage. He saw that it was empty which allowed him to vent.

"That damn childish fool! He thinks he can make my army fall with four measly humans! He insults me! I'll show him! Him and all of Equestria!"

Solomon felt a presence. He wasn't alone.

"I believe you meant… "We" will show them all." A theron guard emerged from the shadows of the corner of the room. He was large in size and his armor only made him seem more massive. Solomon only guessed that he reached up to him mid chest. He never got too close enough to him to measure.

He was holding a large serrated knife with a piece of bloody meat hanging from the blade. He began to gnaw on it with what seemed to be like a bored expression on his face if anyone could tell. He hardly showed any emotion which just made him seem all the more intimidating.

Solomon approached him cautiously but stern. "Don't forget your place General Raam. I brought you here and allowed your kind to repopulate under the earth in exchange of your services. But if I hadn't revived you and your army; you would all still be in hell. In truth you are in my debt."

The General looked unamused. He began looking at the piece of meat out of boredom. "We suffered in the afterlife because of our failure in our world. You brought us because you wish to avoid the same fate. This time we will succeed and we will be given redemption for the entire Locust horde."

He turned his gaze to Solomon.

"These humans that you've mention, there were four?"

Solomon paused before answering. "Yes. They were sent in a feeble attempt of defiance. They shouldn't present a problem."

Raam tackled Solomon and held his head against the table while stabbing his knife on it inches away from his face; blood still dripping from it. He brought his face near Solomon's beak.

"It is unwise to underestimate them! The very few of them can go up against hundreds of your warriors! They will blast you soldiers out of the skies like flies hovering over rotting flesh! They will bring your army their knees and make them beg for mercy!"

Solomon staggered trying to reach into his armor to grab a red skull jewel. He held it toward Ramm, causing him to release him and collide with the wall behind him. When Solomon was free from his grasp he moved closer to the downed general holding the gem towards him. His feathers were ruffled and his pride was shooken.

"I could have your head on a pike for that, but luckily for you I need you to keep your beasts in check. Wouldn't want them running loose without their precious General holding the leash." He took a second to collect himself and smooth down his feathers. "I guess I can overlook this and grant you mercy, if you bowed and swore your life to me."

Ramm just glared at him with a still gaze, and then he turned to the stone that bounded him in servitude. The red gem pulsated a brighter glow of red forcing him to look away. He gritted his teeth and kneeled on his knees. "I and the Locust horde are under your command."

Solomon put on a satisfied grin reassured that he had his pride returned to him. "Good." He picked up Raam's blade from the table. "A gift from you General. I'll be sure to make good use of it."

"Now, prepare your troops General. We will be attacking soon, and do make it quick."

Raam stood up with his head still bowed. "As you command…Master." The general exited the war room. He started to walk through the dark tunnels of the mountains when a small bat like creature started creeping up on the walls next to him. It took flight with its wings and hovered before the General. Ramm raised his finger allowing the creature to land.

He gave it a small pet with one of his massive fingers."Don't fret my pet. Patience is the answer." He allowed a small grin form on his scaled face.

"Patience... then it will be time to feed."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dom! Dom! Wake up soldier!"

"Huh what?

Dom found himself lying on the floor of a bright white room. Prescott was standing before him now wearing his old chairman's suit. His body and his eye however still showed the marks he received from hell. "You need to get up. There are things we need to discuss."

Dom stood up and glared at Prescott. "What makes you think I'll listen to the likes of you?"

Prescott took a step towards Dom. "Listen. I know you don't think of me highly. I hardly expect anyone to, but right now we need to work together In order for us to succeed. That beast that brought us here wasn't entirely wrong about me. Being the Chairman's son, I have received the highest tactical training possible, and if we are going to lead an entire army to victory you're going to have to put trust in my judgment."

Prescott paused to let Dom absorb this before pressing on. He lowered his tone that allowed him to show a sense of truth in his words. " War is all I know, and if you just gave me the chance I, I know you will not be disappointed."

Dom stood there letting Prescott's words sink in, and as much as he didn't want to admit it... He was right. He was taught the skills in the art of war. He knew nothing but simple tactics for small groups of soldiers, but to lead an entire army...

Dom gave a heavy sigh. "Goddamit! Fine. I'll take your advice for consideration, but remember if you screw up then it's both of our asses that pay the price."

Prescott gave him a small grin and a nod. "Duly noted."

"Now, there's one more thing I need you to do."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"I need you to wake up."

Dom opened his eyes. He was lying on snow covered ground in the middle of a dying forest. The sky was a blanket of eerie darkness, and the forest was filled with silence filling it with a peaceful yet haunting atmosphere almost like a graveyard.

No time to admire the scenery Dominic. Stand up soldier. The time for action is now.

Prescott's voice grew silent, leaving Dom to figure things out for now. He saw his fellow gears beside him rising from their sleep.

"Tai, Carmine you guys okay?"

Carmine rose brushing some snow off the lenses of his helmet. Tai gave a mighty shake loosening all the snow on him.

"I'm okay," said Carmine.

"As am I," said Tai.

"So our quest for redemption begins. However it seems that we've been left without the tools of our trade. This presents a problem."

"Shit! He's right, we don't have any weapons. What are we gonna do if we come across the Locust Sarge," said Carmine.

Dom was taken aback by Carmine. "Sarge?"

Carmine looked at Tai gesturing him towards Dom.

Tai stepped forward. "I believe what our friend is trying to say is that our faith lies with you. We will fight under your command." Tai bowed in humble respect towards Dom.

"We know you will not fail us."

Still taken aback by this, Dom turned to Carmine.

Anthony gave a nod towards him letting him know he would do the same.

Dom put on a face of determination. "Alright, let's try to see if we can find shelter. We won't last long out here in the snow. And keep your eyes peeled. We're in unfamiliar territory. Something tells me the Locusts are not the only things we got to worry about out here."

The three Gears began their trek through the forest in search of shelter. As they distance themselves from the spot they appeared, a presence made itself know within the forest. It gazed at the newcomers with a fearful gaze.

"Oh Celestia protect us." It sprinted into the unknown now leaving the forest in silence.

Chapter 3

Dominic and the other Gears have been walking through the forest for about an hour. They were starting to tire and the winter cold was getting to them. A winter storm had started and the wind was tossing the snow all over the freezing Gears. The snow was passed their ankles now and they were slightly blinded by the snow being tossed up by the wind.

Anthony was rubbing his hand trying to warm them up. "Man its freezing. How far do we have to go until we reach shelter?"

A mighty gust of cold wind pushed against the Gears.

"Fear not my friend. For every great journey begins with a single step."

As if the wind heard Tai, it collided against the Gears with a bombardment of flying snow.

"And sadly many more after." Tai showed evidently that he disliked the cold. He was used to the humid climates of his island homeland. Such cold climate made him uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable.

Dom was leading the group struggling against the snow.

"We just got to keep going until we find shelter. Then we can bunker down until this storm clears."

Carmine slipped on the snow but quickly recovered. "Dammit! You think that thing could've poofed us someplace that's not 40 below zero, but no! He had to poof us in the middle of a fucking snow storm!"

Another huge gust of wind and snow ruptured around the Gears. Carmine slipped on the snow, and couldn't catch himself. He fell face first in the snow.

Tai couldn't help but chuckle. He gave a hand in assistance. Carmine looked at Tai's hand and grabbed it.

"It is unwise to anger the forces of nature my friend."

Carmine dusted the snow off of his armor. "Yeah well, maybe nature could cut us a break for once."

Dom turned back to the two Gears. "Come on! We have to cover ground if we're gonna get out of this storm!"

Tai and Carmine caught up to Dom. "You okay there Carmine?"

"I'm fine Sarge, just lost my footing there for a second."

"Make sure you watch yourself now."

Anthony nodded. "Got it Sarge."

The Gears turned to continued struggling to see the trail before them. They continued when Dom saw a little blue lights about fifty feet away. "Tai. Carmine. You guys see this?"

The two Gears saw the lights and looked at Dom.

"What do you think it is Sarge?"

"I don't know. Let's check it out, but keep your guard up. It could be an ambush." The three Gears walked slowly to the lights with extreme caution. As they grew nearer they found that the lights split into three separate sources buried underneath the snow.

Dom looked at the lights from the snow. "The hell is this?"

Dom reached into the snow and with a mighty heave, grabbed the source from the snow.

A large metal container emerged from the snow with the COG symbol imprinted on the side.

"What is it Sarge?"

"It's an ammo pack. Check the other two and see what's inside."

Carmine and Tai each dug up an ammo pack from the snow.

"You think this is from you know who."

Tai looked at Carmine. "I rather not question it."

Dom opened his pack to find a comm. Link, Snub Pistol, a Gnasher Shotgun, and a Lancer. Several ammo cartridges were piled in the pack. Among the contents he found a note taped to the bottom of the pack. Dom read the note.

"Christmas came early this year. Continue down the trail, but approach with caution. You'll meet with my friends sooner or later. I'm sure you'll give them a helping hoof."

"Wait what?"

Carmine looked in his pack to find a comm. link, Snub Pistol, a Lancer, and a Longshot sniper rifle. He found a note written taped to the rifle.

"Oh the irony."

Carmine scoffed. "That slick son of a bitch."

Tai opened his to find a comm. Link, Snub Pistol, a Lancer, and a Boomshot. A note was taped to the Boomshot.

A big gun for the big boy. Try not to scare the locals.

Tai raised an eye in question.

Dom finished arming himself and turned to his squad.

"Everyone put on their comm. Links and synchronize them."

They strapped the earpieces on and made sure they were in sync.

"Comm. Links operational Sarge."

"Alright, grab as much as you can and let's keep moving."

The Gears stocked up on armaments and began to trek down the trail. Carmine couldn't help but think about all that was going on.

"Hey Sarge, how are we going to know when we find our rendezvous?"

Dom looked back at Carmine still walking. "What do you mean?"

"Well how do we know who's who? What if they aren't even human?"

Tai's eyes widened and looked at Dom holding the same question.

Dom stopped and stood in front of his squad. He didn't know how to answer that question

Then Prescott spoke up.

Remember the note.

Dom recalled the note.

"Helping hoof."

Before Dom could answer Carmine, a beastly roar echoed through the forest. The Gears stood in high alert at the sound.

I highly doubt that's our rendezvous Sergeant.

"Sarge, what the hell was that?"

"Probably better if we don't find out."

Tai spoke up. "Agreed."

Another roar echoed through the forest.

"Time to haul ass people! Let's go!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Somewhere else in the forest.

A small filly sprinted through the snowstorm with three large shadows followed her in pursuit.

The filly was running as fast as her legs could carry her before she ran into a clearing that ended with a cliff wall.

She tried to climb up the cliff but she was near exhaustion and her legs couldn't grab on the rocky wall. The cold air burned her throat and she had almost no vision due to the snow storm. After sliding off the wall several times, she looked up at the cliff.

"It's no use. Oh what do I do what do I do." She heard the trees rustling behind her.

The storm dimmed down just enough for her to see three Griffins emerging from the trees and lowering themselves to the ground, like a tiger waiting to pounce. They slowly got closer to the filly who had her back against the cliff. The griffin leading the group put on a malicious grin.

"Heh heh, we have you now little spy." He took another step closer.

The filly took a big gasp of air and let out a piercing scream. The griffins covered their ears at the piercing screech.

"Ahh her scream is like nails on granite!"

"I'll shut her up." The leader sprinted towards the filly and pounced to end her.

"Oh no you don't!"

Suddenly, a large metal beast with blue glowing eyes came and tackled the Griffin Guard.

The Griffin thrashed about trying to shack off the beast, but it had clung on with its metal claw around his neck trying to subdue the griffin.

"Man you one ugly son of a bitch aren't you? Sarge a little help here?"

She heard the griffin let out a roar trying to throw the metal beast off his back. The other two Griffins were shocked at the metal man and stepped back in fear. "What is that thing?"

"Well don't just stand there, get him off me you idiots!" The griffins moved in to help their comrade when one of them felt his flesh being torn through. The Griffin fell on the ground and saw he had bled a small puddle of blood on the snow.

The filly saw two more metal beasts emerge from the trees holding strange metal objects. They didn't have metal skin on their head like the first one, but instead had nearly furless skin. One of them spoke.

"One down! Tai take down the other one!" The more massive metal man tackled the second Griffin guard and held him down to the ground with his foot. He tried to struggle free, but the metal beast brought his metal object up to his head.

The filly heard loud explosive sounds and little flashes of light coming from the object. Each bang it made caused the filly to flinch. After the noise went quiet, she looked at the Griffin to find that his head had turned to nothing but mulch. Blood was spattered and pieces of his skull had broken off and stuck out of the snow.

The leader was still trying to throw the blue eyed metal beast off him. The beast reached to its side and pulled a smaller metal object. He aimed it at the Griffin guard's head but was thrown off and crashed into the rocky cliff next to the filly.

The Griffin turned back to the filly and quickly raised his talon to swipe his claw at her.

"Die Spy!"

The filly closed his eyes expecting the blow to come, but it never came. Instead she heard a loud "CLANG" echo. She opened her eyes and saw the blue eyed metal beast had jumped in front of her and took the blow to its head. It was brought down to its knee and small piece of its metal hide had broken off and fell in the snow. The Griffin however, was bleeding from the claw after breaking it on the beast's metal hide.

The Griffin gave a loud roar nursing his injured claw close to his chest. BlueEyes looked up still kneeling.

"Serves you right bitch!" He slured his words obviously affected by the blow.

The griffin stepped back still nursing his claw.

"Hold on Carmine we're coming!"

Seeing that the two other beasts had killed his soldiers, the Griffin guard quickly turned away and fled. The two beasts raised their metal objects and made more loud noises and lights. The filly tightly closed her eyes and covered her ears to drown out the booming noise of the metal objects. The two beasts stopped when they saw that the griffin had escaped, leaving a small trail of blood into the abyss of the forest.

The two beasts sped towards where BlueEyes stood.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you alright my friend?"

"Son of a bitch nearly got my eye. Good thing I wear a helmet."

"Carmine, what the hell were thinking taking on that thing head on? Why didn't you use your weapon?"

"I was afraid I would hit the horse." Carmine gestured to the little filly who was still cowering in fear of the large metal beasts. They had never seen anything like her. She had a solid red mane with a red bow and her coat was a bright yellow, but what they found more unnatural was her eyes. They were abnormally big and they were a shade of reddish yellow almost like fire. Carmine got near her and crouched down to her level. He removed his glove showing his bare claw to the filly. She shied away from his hand and cowered even further against the wall of the cliff.

Tai looked towards Dom. "This world is truly one we are not familiar with. Such creatures with the ability of speech, is not something I am used to."

Dom barely paid attention to Tai. He was too busy trying to sort the situation out in his head. Along with a certain somebody else in his head.

"helping hoof."

Things are really starting to get interesting aren't they Sergeant?"

Carmine was slowly gettin closer to her and started to speak in a soft soothing tone.

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt ya."

The filly looked up at the beast and saw its face. Under its metal hide she saw one of its blue eyes have been torn off from the Griffins claw, but then she saw through the broken hide. From the broken hide she saw a part of the creature's true face. A small area allowed her to gaze at his eye. It was a shade of green like the grass during the summer time.

The creature crouched even lower still holding his hand out to the filly. She was still unsure whether or not to trust the beast. True they had just killed the Griffins that were after her, but that was all the reason itself to be wary of them. Any creature that could easily kill a griffin probably would've had no difficulty with a little pony filly.

"Come on. I'm not gonna hurt ya. Can you understand me?"

The filly eased up from against the cliff wall and took a couple of steps towards Carmine but then stopped. She looked up at him.

"Yeah, you can understand me can't you? My name is Anthony. Anthony. Can you speak?"

She was about to open her mouth to answer him when a roar echoed through the forest. The filly immediatly jumped into the Carmine's hands and buried her face against his arm.

Dom saw the trees rustlin behind them and turned to his squad.

"Looks like someone brought friends. Everybody, let's move."

The Gears sped from the clearing and sprinted into the trees.

They heard the trees rustling behind them showing that they had something coming up on their flanks.

"Carmine, get in the front and protect her. We'll give you cover"

Carmine sprinted into the front of the pack still holding on to the filly with one arm while arming the other with a Snub Pistol.

"Hold on tight kid all right!"

The filly gabbed on to Carmine's arm and held on tight.

Dom and Tai paced behind Carmine with their Lancers at hand. Dom blind fired into the trees behind him. Their pursuiters were still heavy on their tail and getting closer. Suddenly a Griffin guard sprinted and pounced on top of Dom. It tried to swipe at Dom's torso but his body armor repelled to blows. Dom tried to raise his Lancer, but the Griffin grabbed it with its talons trying to bite off Dom's face.

Tai quickly saw the downed Gear and came to his aid. He sprinted over and blasted a few bullets into the Griffin. Its body slumped over Dom's bleeding all over his armor. He tossed the corpse off of him and jumped into defensive position back to back with Tai. Dom saw that Carmine and the filly were not with them.

"Shit! We lost Carmine. We have to go after them" They tried to make a run for it, but were immediatly surrounded by a dozen Griffins. One of them was afloat in the air leading the group.

"There! That's them! Kill the wicked beasts!" The Griffins began to step closer to the Gears. Dom and Tai raised their Lancers while still back to back to each other. The Griffins grew closer and closer with each step they took.

"It seems that there is only one way out my friend."

Dom chuckled at Tai's comment.

"Yeah... always seems to be that way don't it."

Sounds of gunfire echoed through the forest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Equestrian Border Wall

On the Equestrian Border, and large wall of stone stood with Unicorn guards at their post ontop of the wall and Pegasus Gaurds scanning the skys above. A single unicorn captain stood upon the wall and with a steely stare, gazed toward the mountain peaks a distance away from the border. A Pegasus guard landed next to the captain and stood in attention.

"Captain, Princess Luna has arrived. She wishes an audience with you immediatly."

The captain shifted his stare towards the pegasus. "Very well then. Let us be off."

The two guards met with Princess Luna inside of the Equestian border. The Princess stood near her dark Pegasus guards. The Captian greeted the Princess of the night with humble respect.

"Ahh, Princess Luna, to what do I owe the honor of this visit."

The Princess looked upon the captain. "Captain Brutroot, I need you too double the guards upon the border."

The Captain's eyes lit up in shock. "Double the guards! Princess, what would lead you to come all this way to issue this command."

"I have intelligence to believe that the Griffins will be preparing to strike soon, and I need every guard at your disposal to make sure not one of them enters into Equestrian land.

The Captain began to laugh in an uproar. "Princess, I assure you that any attempt of passing through my security forces will be rendered useless." He pointed his hoof to the border wall.

"This wall is made of ten feet of solid stone with Earth Pony Guards ready to prevent anything from breaking through, and I have my most skilled Pegasi and Unicorn guards scanning the skies to prevent any Griffin from sneaking over."

"No way over it. Now way through it. Therefore, there is no way any enemy can get past my patrol."

Princess Luna gazed at the Captain with a steely gaze of her own. "Captain I'm afraid they already have."

Luna climbed on her chariot. "Back to Canterlot as soon as possible."

"Yes Princess Luna!" With that they sped off into the sky towards Canterlot leaving the Captain and the Pegasus guard. They returned upon their post upon the border wall. The Captain stared upon the mountain peaks and scoffed.

"Double the guards? Already brached my border? She doubts my security forces. No enemy gets past Brutroot's forces." He began shouting towards the mountain peaks.

"You hear that you Griffin scum! Give me your best shot and I will send it back to you tenfold!"

He laughed in heavy cockiness and returned to his post.

Meanwhile, a long distance away from the Equestria border in enemy territory.

Solomon stood at the entrance of his mountain fortress gazing towards the Equestrian Border. Behind him General Raam emerged from the tunnel behind him.

"Ahh, General Raam. Have you prepared your forces?"

"The Locust forces I have prepared are armed and ready, and the scouts are in place behind enemy lines. They are ready to strike at my order Master."

Solomon gave a small frown reaching for his stone. "I believe you mean my order General."

Raam almost gave a small growl but quickly caught himself. "Of course Master."

Solomon returned to a satisfied smile. "That's better. Send your forces and break through the Equestrian border General."

"As you wish Master." General turned to leave before Solomon stopped him.

"And General one more thing."

"Yes Master."

Solomon put on a malicious smile. "Take no prisoners."

Raam put on a small toothy grin

"Gladly." He turned and left into the tunnels of the mountain leading to the dark abyss underground.

Chapter 4

Dom and Tai stood in the middle of their work. Griffin corpses layed about in front of them either laying in the snow or hanging from the trees. Dom and Tai felt at unease at what they had done. This wasn't like killing Grubs. The Grubs, they felt no remorse for. Animals that were bred to do nothing but kill humans. They had no sense of morality or sense of ability to decide for themselves.

They seem human like in a way.

The creatures here seem intelligent enough. Why did we have to kill them?

You had no choice Sergeant. Here the basic rule of survival still applies. Kill or be killed.

Dom found truth in Prescott's words, but when will the killing end he thought? When will he find peace?

"My friend…"

Dom shook out of his train of thought.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dom answered somberly. "Let's go find Carmine."

The two Gears trudged into the forest searching for their lost friend.

Carmine was still running though the forest with the filly grasping onto his arm. He had long lost Dom and Tai, but right now that was the least of his concerns. Something was on his tail and he was in full sprint trying to put distance between him and them. However, Carmine knew that they were going to catch up to them very soon and luck seemed to be against him at the moment.

The snow storm had stirred up again and the wind blew against Anthony with peddles of snow that slowed him down tremendously. He rushed against the storm shoulder first trying to find some way of losing his pursuers. Carmine sped through the forest trees making twists and turns to try to shake off them off, but whatever was chasing him stayed right on his tracks getting evermore closer and closer to its game.

Carmine kept running until he saw a small opening out of the forest. As he ran out into the open he skidded to a sudden stop when he realized that the ground in front of him was missing. He looked down and saw that he stood in front of a steep trench that he couldn't see the bottom to.

"Damn, that would've been nasty fall." He looked along the edge of the trench and found that there was a roped bridge not far from him. He looked across the bridge and saw that the storm prevented him from seeing where the bridge ended.

Carmine took a step on the first plank, cringing at the creaking sound of the wood beneath his foot.

"Dammit, if I go out like this…" He holstered his Snub Pistol and grabbed onto the rope rail of the bridge to try and balance himself while the wind was tossing the bridge around like a ragdoll. With each step Carmine took, he was walking on eggshells.

The filly raised her head from Carmine's arm to see what was going on, but as soon as she saw that they were practically on a wooden death trap, suspended up who knows how high, she buried her muzzle right back in Carmine's arm, grabbing on tighter this time.

"It's okay. We're almost there. Almost there."Carmine was trying to calm the filly, but at the same time he felt like he was trying to calm himself down as well.

Carmine had reached the midway point and was carefully edging slowly across, but not without eagerness to get off the bridge.

Suddenly, he felt the bridge do a sudden jump that nearly made him fall of the bridge. He heard a loud snap and the right rope rail went loose. Someone was cutting the bridge down from behind him.

"Oh shit!"

Carmine took off into a sprint, not caring about the planks breaking under his feet. He saw the end of the bridge in sight and dashed towards it.

Another snap shot through the air. Carmine jumped and reached out and grabbed onto the ledge of the trench with his left hand by his fingers while he was still holding onto the filly with his right. He couldn't pull himself up with one hand alone and his fingers were beginning to slip.

"Trust me on this one kid." Carmine tossed the filly over the ledge safely onto steady ground. After hearing the filly land, he began to pull himself up. Carmine was almost out when a griffin landed against the ledge with his claws right on top his hands.

One of his claws was purple with dried blood and one of his talons was missing. He recognized him as the Griffin who he had stopped from killing the filly. The griffin drew his beak near Carmine's face and gave him a malicious smile while digging his claws in his hands.

"Don't have your friends to help you now. They are being ripped apart limb from limb as we speak." He went into a fit of giggles.

Carmine tried to get his hands free out from under the Griffins claws, but the Griffin dug his talons into his hands making him grimace from the pain.

"Now now, be a good dumb beast and stay down."

"I'll show you who's a dumb beast, and I'll tell you another thing. I doubt that my friends are the ones being killed off. As a matter of fact, they're probably already cleaning the blood from your friends off their hands right now."

The Griffin pulled an amused look. "You might be dumb as dirt, but at least you're not a coward. However, I believe I can fix that." He pushed Carmine's hands closer to the ledge.

"You wouldn't happen to have a fear of heights do you? That would be such a shame." Carmine's fingers were now trembling trying to hold on to the ledge.

"Not even a day in being alive again and I'm already going to be done in by a fucking bird thing. I must have the worst luck ever." Carmine thought.

The Griffin was in blissful enjoyment with himself. He hadn't noticed that the filly was behind a tree not five feet away watching the whole scene before her.

With a sudden burst of courage, the filly ran up behind the Griffin and she finally spoke.

"Leave him alone!" The filly then opened her mouth and bit the Griffin right on his tail.

The Griffin let out a roar as he went berserk trying to get the filly off of his tail. He whipped his tail and the filly flew and crashed against a tree.

After the Griffin had finally gotten rid of the filly, he turned to find that Carmine was standing right in front of him holding his Snub Pistol right in front of his beak. Carmine pulled the trigger, blasting a bullet directly into the center of the Griffins skull.

A single smoking casing fell to the ground at the same time as the body.

The storm was now beginning to dim into a calm, and the air was still with the smell of blood in the air.

Carmine stared at the body before turning back to the filly, who was lying under the tree. She wasn't stirring, but she was still breathing.

Carmine picked up the filly in one arm huddling her like a football.

"Man I have to admit, you got some guts for someone your size."

"Carmine!" He turned around and looked across the trench. He saw that Dominic and Tai were emerging from the trees waving towards him.

"Tai, Sarge, over here!"

"How'd you get over there?"

"There was a bridge, but the bird thing cut it down! How are you going to get across?"

Dom looked down the trench and found that he could see the bottom.

"We're going to climb down and climb back up on your side! Wait there!" Dom and Tai began trekking down the trench side being very careful to not slip off the rocky wall. They were cautious to check whether grabbing a certain area would be able to hold them or not.

Pretty soon, there were already on their way back up on the other side. As soon as they reached the ledge Carmine was there to help them up.

Carmine saw the blood on their armor had already dried and began to crust in the cold.

"We headed into a little detour."Dom pointed out. "Is the horse okay?"

Anthony showed the filly that was huddled in his arms.

"Got her right here."

"Her?"

"Well it seems like a "her" to me."

Dom looked over at Tai who just shrugged his shoulders

"And you won't believe this Sarge, she actually talked. Not only that, she saved my life."

"No shit?"

"Yeah. Damn bird had me pinned down against the ledge, and the little horse went right up and bit it on the tail. The bird got off of me and I was able to kill it, but the horse got knocked out against a tree. She's still breathing though, so that's a good thing."

Carmine followed for a pause that lasted for several seconds before Tai broke his silence.

"So. . . what happens now?" Carmine and Tai looked towards Dom for their orders.

"Alright, since the snow storm cleared we will be able to see and walk much easier now. What we need to do is-" Dom was cut off when a large blast of light aimed directly at his chest. At the impact he flew back in mid-air and fell into the snow.

"Sarge!"

The other Gears tried to get to Dom but they were also blasted by the same light. When Carmine was hit, the filly fell from out of his hands onto the snow still unconscious.

Dom was dazed by the blast and was slowly getting up.

Dammit soldier what are you doing? You're not going to let yourself die barely into the game are you? Stand up on your feet and fight like a man!

Dom finally recovered gathered to his fellow Gears.

The Gears recovered from the ambush and were one their feet, Lancers in hand and ready.

Among the trees, they saw shadows slowly emerging from the forest.

They aimed their Lancers ready to fire a soon as the threat was identified. Dom's eyes went wide when he saw what was in the forest.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"

Tai and Anthony were confused at Dom's sudden outburst. They turned to the forest and saw Pony Guards emerging from the shadows.

Slowly a dozen Earth and Unicorn Pony Guards began to surround them while several Pegasi Guards hovered over the trench behind the Gears. They were completely surrounded.

A single Pegasus Guard hovered in front of the Gears landing about five feet from them. Under the Guards helmet streaks of rainbow colored hair peeked out. On the center piece of her armor on her chest, a large jewel piece shone. It was the shape of a thundercloud with a rainbow lightning bolt.

"Attention trespassers! You have walked into Equestrian land! You will surrender yourselves and fall in to our demands! If you refuse, we will subject to force!"

"What is your decision?"

Chapter 6

Shining Armor stood in the compound of his personal quarters reviewing the map of his great country. His eyes rested on the small town of Ponyille where his little sister resided. He tried to convince her to move to the capitol, but she stubbornly refused as she always does.

The problem was the geographic setting left it vulnerable for any attack. And it being the last front before Canterlot, this presented a major problem. The town lacked any sort of home advantage that would leave it favorable to defend.

Not like the far and vast dry desert land of Appleloosa and Las Pegasus, that would surely exhaust even the hardiest regiment and deplete them of food and, more crucially, water.

Neither like the industrial powerhouse of Manehattan, which would leave the populous very well supplied and armed and would stand fast against any pillage.

Neither like the military stronghold of Stalliongrad, where all ponies go to receive their training before being allowed to where the armor of the Royal Guard. The harsh environment was perfect for toughening up the ponies and giving them the discipline they needed before swearing their oath to Equestria. Upon that said oath, they would fight to their very last breath to defend their country.

No, Ponyville lacked all of these things and was vulnerable against any attack. This would leave it as the easiest to lose to the Griffins. That's why it was crucial he found some way of reinforcing its defenses, so it would be able to act as the last stronghold before the capitol.

Celestia forbid it would ever come to that.

The door of his quarters opens and he sees Princess Luna entering with her dark Pegasus Guards. She tells them both to wait outside.

"Captain Armor," she greeted.

"Princess Luna," he returned.

"Has the preparations been made?"

"Of course Princess, everything has been prepared for their arrival."

"Very good, I knew everything would be well under your watchful eye, Shining Armor."

"As I have served under Princess Celestia, I would proudly serve you Princess Luna."

"I know you will Captain."

"Our most prestige scholars are doing everything in their power to break the spell, I assure you. It is only a matter of time."

"I do hope you are right Captain. But until then, the fate of our country rests solely on my shoulders."

Princess Luna looked over to Shining Armor who's eyes were looking down to the ground.

"Is there something on your mind Captain?"

"Princess you know I will never question your authority, but are you sure we are able to trust Discord?"

"In truth Captain Armor, I'm not very sure what to think of him right now. I don't know if he has something to gain from all this or maybe he finds all of this to be some sort of sick game, but I'm afraid we all running out of choices Captain."

"Princess?"

"Something dark is coming this way Captain. Something cold, dark, and sinister, that we won't be able to avoid. Solomon has turned down any chance for peace to form between our two countries. And I fear the worst."

"He's brainwashed his own people! He knows that his claws were blood red when he took the crown! And now the only people that can influence Griffinland are either too cowardly or too greedy to stand up to him!"

"And now the Griffins cry for blood and war, all founded on a lie." Luna looked upwards to the map of her beloved country, and then to the very outskirts where Griffinland bordered. She knew it was only a matter of time, before all of she knew would change forever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ditzy finally saw the equestrian border. The great wall was built between two mountain valleys that stretched on for miles, with no other entrance into Equestria, and to attempt to fly over the peaks would mean freezing to death over the great altitude.

So the only entrance into Equestria was through the wall.

Upon landing at the landing site at the bottom of the wall, Ditzy was greeted by a small number of Royal Guards and their spears. After placing his spear directly in front of Ditzy's muzzle, one of the Pegasus guards demanded her to explain her presence at the wall.

"I-I have a message from Captain Rainbow Dash of Ponyville that needs to be delivered to you captain immediately," explained Ditzy still having both eyes on the tip of the spear.

After being assured that she was a friendly, the guards pulled back their weapons and one of the guards approached her. "The captain is busy doing his inspections of the sentinel towers. You'll have to wait inside until you are summoned."

"I-I can't stay here. Here, I'll just give it to you and you can deliver it to him. "

The guard recoiled from the message. "No! I can't! I'm not allowed to!"

Taken aback from the guard's reaction to the small parchment, Ditzy pulled the message away from him.

"The captain suspects there is a traitor amongst the border guards," explained the guard. "Any guard leaving their post or handling vital information can be charged with treason. You are going to have to deliver it yourself."

"B-but I can't stay here. I have a family to look after back home."

"I'm sorry miss; those are the regulations we have to follow."

Despite her reluctance, Ditzy obliged having to being housed inside one of the towers until she would be able to finally meet with the captain. The guards escorted her into the small magically powered elevator that allowed non-Pegasus ponies to reach the top of the wall. Two unicorns at the ridge powered the elevator by levitating the boxed platform up the cables, which are able to be used manually if there were to be no magic available.

Once reaching the top, Ditzy was able to see the valley of mountain peaks that marked the beginning of Griffin territory and the sentinel towers that spanned across the Equestrian wall.

While being escorted she noticed the other guards standing at their posts with their stern posture and unwavering façade that could win a staring contest with a statue. Their entire being spoke calmly except when she looked into their eyes. Their whites of their seemed to be all that Ditzy could see, and when two guards were found walking in opposite directions, you could see them darting their heads behind them as they crossed each other; holding each other's gaze while walking away.

The captain's suspicions had been adopted among the Guards so it seemed.

But how great must an event take place that a captain would suspect his own soldiers of treason? When Ditzy asked her escort this question, she could see his face grow dark. The closer to the tower she got, the more she began to notice a faint smell invade her nostrils. It was first a dull metallic smell, but as she drew closer to the source, she saw three black pony sized bags at the entrance of the tower.

Soon the dull smell became a grotesque wave of revulsion that forced the mail pony to gag. As she entered the tower, she could still feel the irony smell of blood permeating from her coat.

Once she entered one of the rooms in the tower where they housed her, she had just realized how tired she was. She had been traveling in the midst of the storm for hours, and her wings were nearly broken down.

She found a small bunk where she was able to lie down to try to get some sleep. She failed however when she couldn't shake of this feeling that she was being watched.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai and Carmine sat on the Town Hall entrance steps absorbing the scenery before them. Which consisted mostly of deserted snow paved streets and the occasional wandering ponies who stop to stare at the newcomers before retreating to whatever it was they were doing. It seemed that the locals were quite intimidated by the humans and chose to stay indoors.

Even the guards exchanged words of the event that took place in the dungeons. Captain Rainbow Dash's ears burned at the whispers of her humiliation. She had worked so hard to gain the respect of her peers and under one fell swoop, she was dishonored in front of her own fellow guards . . . and her friend.

That's what really made her sick to her stomach. The brief moment where her friend had to bargain for her life was really burned her up inside. She had put her friends and her fellow soldiers at risk due to her clumsy mistake.

She was nopony's burden. Nopony.

Tai caught her gazing from a distance hovering over one of the buildings. She held this stare until Tai gave off a smile towards the cyan guard. She cursed under her breath and dashed off to continue her patrol.

"Looks like you made yourself a new friend Tai," Carmine said sarcastically. He laid back against the steps while picking at the teeth of his Lancer.

They saw an old brittle green pony walking towards their way, carrying a sack across her back. As she stood in front of the two armored men, she held her calm gaze and faint smile towards the two strangers. It wasn't until she stopped in front of the two Gears that they saw the little filly from the forest hiding behind her. The little filly whispered something in the old mare's ears, who then turned back to the Gears.

"You teh ones that saved my little youngen," she asked?

"Uh yes mame," answered Carmine.

The old mare reached over her shoulder and heaved the small sack into the ground in front of the Gears. Anthony slowly lifted the sack and saw that there were a small number of bright red apples inside. Carmine lifted his helmet halfway across his face and took a bite out of one of the apples. The small burst of flavor shocked his taste buds and the smooth delicious nectar of the fruit soothed his parched throat.

Such a luxury was very rare back home, and after days of eating C-rations, this was a rather large change of pace.

"Yah two consider these a thanks frum the Apple family and Applebloom here. If you ever need anything else, just ask for Granny Smith and I'll see what I can do fur yur."

The little filly looked up towards Carmine's broken visor and her lip started to tremble. "You're hurt," she exclaimed. Anthony saw the tears begin to form in her eyes and quickly acted.

"Aww, don't worry about me! It's going to take something more than an overgrown chicken to take me down!" Carmine then folded his arms to his side jerking his head clucking like a chicken, trying to cheer up the little filly. He hated to see her upset, and making a fool of himself was a small price to pay for cheering a little kid up. Even if it just was a pony.

It works and Applebloom immediately starts giggling at the Gears comical act while rubbing her tears away with her hoof. With all the commotion going on, pretty soon the rest of the ponies sees started coming out their homes to see Anthony's comedy act. Slowly the hostile atmosphere fades away from the streets of Ponyville, as ponies continued on with their day to day life as if their newcomers had added no change in their matters.

Soon Dom and Twilight exited Town Hall to find Anthony in mid-cluck.

Dom tried hard to hide his grin while Twilight just stared in question at the strange human.

Very professional, Sergeant. Very professional.

"Geez Carmine," Dom said shaking his head.

"*Ahem* sorry Sarge."

Dom looked over to the little filly they had rescued not too long ago and gave a friendly nod before turning back to his squad.

"Time to move out boys, we're heading to the capitol."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Within the mountain a great crowd of Griffins occupied the rows of hollowed caverns that acted as the chairs of the court. In the far left of the chairs sat a group of elderly Griffin, conversing with one another.

"Can you believe this fool? He's turn the court into a war room."

"What can be said? By technicality it is his court."

"By coincidence you mean."

"Silence you fool. Or else you'll end up with your head on a pike."

"He has no such power! And believe me I'll have plenty to say to him."

"I do not envy you my friend."

"Silence, he stands, ready to speak."

Solomon stood in front of entire of regiments on top of his pedestal.

"My fellow countrymen, my fellow soldiers, my fellow Griffins, today is the day we start anew. We have all suffered our own burdens. All of us. We've suffered hunger. We've suffered humiliation. We've suffered lost. These Equestrians, these so called guardians of peace, love, and understanding. To them I ask, where was our peace, when we called for aid on the war against the Minotaurs? To them I ask, where was their understanding, when we claimed that the cause of said war was not ours and we were forced to pay for forgiveness? To them I ask, where was their love, when they oh so brutally slaughtered our beloved former King, and my own beloved brother."

Many of the Griffins gasped in horror, many chattering amongst others on this. He raises his claw to silence them and continues.

"On the day he would declare our country to be a republic was when this happened. As foolish I thought this was, I still obeyed him as my king. Then I saw Princess Celestia, with my very own eyes; use her cursed magic to murder my own flesh and blood before me."

"And as I held my brother during his last seconds of life he told me "Solomon . . . bring our country back to its former glory. And make sure these Equestrians know that we are not weak."

The crowd is filled with the cheers of the crowd. The group of elders sat still steaming in the midst.

Solomon reaches over to his gem and holds it over his head, letting the dark blue tint shine in the light, causing the crowd to grow silent.

"When my brother exhaled his last breath, I took the pony's cursed magic and turned it against them! I and I alone, entrapped their witch Princess Celestia, and fought my way out of their capitol single handedly. If I am able to do that alone, then together, we can make Equestria fall, and we will be reborn out of the rubble! Our children will look back to this day as the finest day in Griffin history."

One of the elders stood.

"Or the day of our true downfall!"

Everyone stops and stares at the lone elder hovering up to Solomon.

"Ahh Minister, so glad you could join us," said Solomon while smiling as if greeting a friend.

"You have gone too far this time Solomon! Your declaration of war will tear this country down!"

"No it will build this country up. The Griffin kind has suffered for too long."

"If we have suffered it was because of our own foolishness. We were blinded by our own wants that all we saw was what we could take, when we should've been focusing on what we could grow."

"What could we grow out of the barren lands we were left with Minister? Please tell me."

"Peace! We could finally grow peace!"

"I'm sorry to say Minister, but peace has already betrayed my brother."

"I think we both know what really betrayed our king."

The crowd begins to murmur and Solomon's eyes widen.

"It is not so much as what as it is was whom I suppose. Isn't that right Solomon? And what of his son, did you betray him too?"

Solomon pounces to the Minister, unveiling the dagger he had concealed in his cloak. He slits the blade across his throat and steps back to let the blood flow. No one rises to help the Minister as he collapses to the ground unable to utter words, but only gurgles on his own blood.

He soon falls silent and his eyes grow dark.

Solomon stands tall clinging on the blade to his side. His beak breaks into a smile as he addresses the court. "You see my brethren; I only spill blood only when it is necessary."

The door to the court room opens and a small group of Locusts enter brandishing weapons with two Kantus priests, following General Ramm.

"Now . . . let by gones be by gones." He opens to the crowd with open arms with one of them still waving the knife. "Will you, the soon to be leaders of tomorrow, follow me on the path to a new country?"

One of the Locusts cocks his Hammerburst and small group of Griffins cheer.

"Will you follow me into the path of a new life?"

One of the Kantus Priest lets out a demonic hiss and half of the crowd cheers.

"Will you follow me into the path of a new world?"

General Ramm comes and crushes the Minister's skull under his foot and the whole chamber is filled with the continues chant of their new King.

Solomon!

Chapter 7

Outside the Capitol

The guards that occupied the remaining seats of the train sat in an unwavering stance, every now and then taking a quick peek towards the Gears.

Dom decided to have a little fun with one of the guards, in order to satisfy his growing sense of boredom. Whenever he would catch a guard sneaking a peek towards him, he would meet his eyes with his. When Dom met the Guard's gaze, it would freeze staring into his. After a few moments, the guard would grow anxious but would never waver from Dom's stare.

It was almost like he had some sort of hold on the soldier that prevented him from looking away. All the while, the guard kept staring into his gaze, growing more anxious by the second. He began to labor into his breathing, and he could see his coat darken with sweat.

After letting the guard sweat for a few more moments, he would release his grip, and the guard would be able to breathe calmly again and made very well sure he didn't meet Dom's gaze again.

The other Gears had other ways of keeping themselves entertained during the train ride. Tai was in his medative position, with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and his Lancer on his lap.

Anthony was watching the mountain scenery pass by, which wasn't really much because the snow storm had picked again, and the white powder prevented any sight that wasn't five feet from the window.

Anthony, Tai, and Dom isolated themselves to the back corner of the cart while Twilight and Rainbow Dash took the front.

"Twi," started Rainbow Dash. "Why are we doing this? Why are we taking these . . . beasts straight to the capitol?"

"I can't explain right now Rainbow Dash. All I can tell you is that Princess Luna's been expecting them. For what, I don't know. But they must have some part in all this."

"Twilight, you haven't seen what I've seen. I'm telling you, bringing them here is a bad idea. And if they try anything, at all, that would give me even the slightest hint they will cause trouble, I am taking them down."

Over where the Gears sat, Carmine couldn't help but notice the various glares from the two ponies. "I don't think they trust us Sarge," whispered Anthony, as if the notion wasn't obvious enough.

"That's not my problem," replied Dom.

"We should at least try and be friendly. Give them some reason not to be so jumpy around us you know?"

"Carmine, we threatened to blow one of their soldier's brains against a slab wall. I think the last thing they will want to do is talk to us; let alone play nice with us." Dom finished his statement by crossing his arms and closing his eyes to end the conversation.

Anthony decided to leave Dom well alone, and began wishing that he had asked for more of those delicious apples that he received from Ponyville. But a few apples weren't enough to fill three Gears. He had almost forgotten the humans' burdens of being in mortal form. Back when he was nothing more than a spirit, he felt neither pain nor hunger. As a matter of fact, he hardly felt anything at all. Just cold

Carmine decided to take off his helmet, seeing that there was no reason to be wearing it. For once Dom got a good look at Anthony. He was surprisingly clean cut looking guy, showing no weariness from the hardships of war. He started to play around with his helmet, examining the damages.

"You would be better off without it you know," said Dom. "That things already costed you one life. You want to go for two?"

"Hey Sarge?"

"Yeah?"

Anthony found that his mouth was a little dry and found it difficult to let the words out.

"There's something that's been bothering me for a while. I was wondering if you might be able to explain it."

"Go ahead."

"Are we...still the good guys?"

"We're here," shouted Rainbow Dash! "Everyone mount up. I find anypony holding anypony up, I'll make sure to get your flanks in gear."

All of the guards began to mount up from their seats, preparing themselves for the stop.

"What was the question again Carmine?"

"Never mind."

Forgetting about Carmine's question, Dom looked outside the train window and saw Canterlot Castle; amongst the haze of the storm. The towers reaching towards the sky, was built with what seemed to be carved stone with sharped edges. Around the peak of the towers, he saw Pegasus guards descending towards the train. With a team of Pegasus on each side, the train continued towards the entrance of the fortress.

"What exactly did the purple mini horse say Sarge?"

"Not much really. In all honesty, all she told me was that they've been expecting us. Something about meeting their Princess."

Well it isn't every day we get to meet royalty.

"That can't be all you two talked about Sarge."

"These people aren't exactly the chatty type Carmine. I do believe they are holding a lot of information from us."

Tai unfolded his arms and reached for his Lancer. "Perhaps they are prepared for what is to come."

"What's that suppose to mean," Carmine asked?

"In times of war, the ones that talk too much are the first to go."

That's surprisingly accurate actually.

It wasn't until they approached the checkpoint gate, that the Gears were put into shock. A light purple wave was formed around the castle and had penetrated the train carts as they passed through.

Still shy from the blast they received back in the forest, the Gears immediately jumped out of their seats and sprinted for the back door, only to find that the aura like wave had passed right through them.

The three humans received numerous glances from the Guards. Captain Rainbow Dash couldn't help but allow herself a small chuckle from the Gears overdramatic outburst.

"Like scared beasts."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Equestrian Border

"Never in my twelve years as a loyal soldier for the Royal Guard, had I ever been so insulted. You dare question my ability as Equestria's Border Captain."

Ditzy's legs were shacking as she was standing in front of Captain Bruteroot. He had just finished tearing the report into confetti, and was now foaming at the mouth practically spitting words at her.

His fellow Guards weren't exactly too pleased either to have their ability as Border Guards put into question, and they made that apparent. One of them especially after he snapped his spear in half with his bare hooves.

Ditzy "Oh no no no sir, not me . . . Captain Rainbow Dash does."

The Captain veins were on the verge of popping when he heard that name. He drew himself muzzle to muzzle towards Ditzy with snarled teeth and red eyes.

"Listen and listen well, because I am going say this once. To hell with your report and your Captain. How that flaring arrogant foal got past shoveling foxholes in Stalliongrad I will never know. I am Captain Bruteroot. Guardian of the Northern Equestrian Border, and I refuse to believe that any enemy was able to pass through my wall. There are other possibilities that could lead to the outcome of Captain Dash's report. Perhaps some unruly Griffins that were already Equestrian citizens; or even Griffins that had traveled through the other borders.

"Sir, I-I'm just the messenger," said Ditzy.

"Then you can go back and recite that message word by word to your Captain. And another thing, tell her that her hypothesis, that Equestrian lives have been threatened due to my incompetence as a soldier, is enough to make my blood boil. So I must advise her to not test my temper."

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click!

"What is Celestia's name is that noise," asked the Captain?

Click Click Click Click Click Click Click!

"It . . . it sounds like something's ticking," replied Ditzy.

The Captain and the other Border Guards searched the room for the source of the noise, but weren't able to locate it.

"Somepony find whatever is making that ti-!" The Captain stopped after he felt a little warm spot on his shoulder. He touched it and found that a long strand slime had landed on him.

"Uhh Captain sir," Ditzy said. "I think I found what was making that noise." She pointed up towards the ceiling right above Captain Bruteroot.

Before the Border Captain could look up, he felt tiny claws grabbing on to his face, blinding him completely. He had managed to throw the creature off of him towards the corner of the room. After the creature recovered from the impact, it stood and clawed at the ponies like a rabid animal.

Click Click Click Click Click Click Kaaaaah!

The creature itself was hideous. It held similar resemblance of an insect, if it had scaly skin, sharp teeth, and was the size of a medium sized dog.

But what really stood out was the device it carried on its back. It was a cylinder like container about the same size as the creature, and shined bright orange.

"What is that thing," asked Ditzy?

"Guards, subdue the creature," commanded the Captain!

As soon as the Guards took a step towards the creature, the container on its back began to shake violently and steam. The Captain saw this and by instinct tried to hold everypony away from the creature. But before he could give the order, he was already blasted outside of the bunk.

Several Guards were caught in the blast and their remains were streamed on the walls.

Ditzy had managed to escape the blast, but received some cuts on her side from the shrapnels. She limped over to where Captain Bruteroot was laying, still dazed from the blast.

"Captain! Captain!"

He was wheezing and was covered in cuts and bruises from the blast but he was alive.

Two Guards had entered down towards the bunk after hearing the sound of the blast, shocked to find their fellow Guards covering the wall and their Captain injured. They attempted to help their Captain stand, but he pushed them away stating he was well enough to stand on his own.

"Let go of me, I'm fine you fools." He began to spit blood, which said otherwise.

"But Captain, your injuries."

"I said I'm fine, status report."

"Sir, the wall is receiving heavy fire from Griffin territory. We've never seen this kind of weaponry. Explosions have already happened at several points of the wall."

"Gather the Unicorns, and have them have them use their magic to subdue the creatures. Don't approach them physically."

"Sir, your injuries."

"If I wanted someone to baby me I would've called my mother. Go and raise the alarm."

"Sir, you must receive medical attention."

"Did I stutter? I said go and raise the alarm!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Canterlot Castle

The three Gears have, found themselves waiting once again, surrounded by Royal Guards. Whether they were there to guards them or to protect others from them was still put into question. Also this time they had found themselves in a completely different setting than before.

They sat in what was a large luxurious hall. Others that occupied the room were what seemed to be a mixture of high class diplomats, decorated, high ranking soldiers, and a couple of other strange characters. Also amongst them were Twilight Sparkle and Captain Rainbow Dash.

There was an uncomfortable sense of uneasiness on both parties, human and pony.

Dom decided to try the staring game again with one of the ponies sitting on the complete opposite side of Dom and his men.

At first he tried to get grab onto the attention of the classy dressed stallions who sat on the far right side of the table, but he immediately drew away his eyes in disgust.

Then he tried to get the lavender colored unicorn that he first met to meet his eyes, but she seemed to be so incased in her own thoughts that her eyes never met his.

He tried to get the cyan Pegasus, but apparently she was already in a staring contest with Tai. Her stance seemed tense while Tai seemed composed. Dom couldn't help but think that she was taking his relaxed stance as an insult.

Further across the left side of the table, Dom saw a scrawny, neon green unicorn stallion that had a black messy mane and dressed in a white lab coat. He seemed like he was frantically focusing on a notepad he had in front of him, that he never paid him any mine at all.

Soon, a large door on the end of the hall had opened. All occupants, except for The Gears and the green unicorn, immediately stood.

They all relaxed back into their seats when only a petite grey unicorn mare in a maid's uniform entered the hall, followed by a line of carts.

"Oh good, foods here," said Twilight. "You go ahead and help yourselves."

The unicorn maid levitated the plates in front of each occupant, including the humans. Such ability still mystified the Gears, but right now, starvation was another factor that demanded more attention.

Dom and Tai were one of the first to receive their plates. They both took a peek at their entree and exchanged looks.

Then they saw Anthony receiving his meal.

"Oh thank God," exclaimed Anthony! "I'm starved! Let's eat!"

"Wait minute Carmine I don't think that you're going to want to-" Dom was cut off short.

He could already see Anthony's smile fade when he saw what the main course was.

"Nooooooo!"

The ponies were taken aback by the humans wail, and were quite unsure of what caused his ailment.

"Is there something wrong," asked Twilight?

Carmine only shook his head while he held a forkful of hay in front of him. "Horses, it had to be a world of horses."

Dom

"Listen, whatever your name is," started Dom.

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

Oh dear God, Dom thought. Even their names are ridiculous.

Did you expect anything different Sergeant?

"Listen . . . Twilight Sparkles or whatever it is you call yourself, we can't eat this."

"What's wrong with it? This is quality "A" food that has been prepared for your arrival. This is only served to high class citizens of Equestria."

"Well excuse me if we can't digest hay. We are not miniature horses you know."

Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof against the table. "We are not miniature horses! We are ponies, Beast!"

Again with that word, Dom thought.

"Rainbow Dash, please control yourself."

"So much anger in you." Tai's words somehow pierced through the heated argument, for a short while.

"What did you say," questioned Rainbow Dash?

"Rainbow, please calm down," pleaded Twilight.

"So much anger, so easily tested, so unbalanced," continued Tai. "That is why you allowed yourself to be defeated."

Rainbow Dash was at her limit, but one of the other occupants raised an eyebrow in interest.

A white unicorn stallion with a blond mane spoke up. "I am curious myself on the terms of this 'defeat' Captain. Surely such an attempt couldn't have been too overbearing for a high ranking officer such as you." Dom recognized him as the same high classed unicorn that avoided is gaze.

"It was nothing more than a fluke Prince Blueblood; with a mix of cowardly tricks."

"Waiting for the perfect moment to strike is not cowardly," replied The Boulder Man. "It is a tactic that every warrior strives to master. So that he may better his opponent."

"A real warrior doesn't depend on tricks in order to win battles. A real warrior attacks head on, with brute force until his opponent breaks," retorted Rainbow Dash.

Am I the only one that sees the irony in this?

The stallion was starting to get giddy with all of the excitement and tension in the air. "Well in this case, what say we test the skills of your arts."

"Prince Blueblood! I cannot allow this. Princess Luna's orders were to bring the newcomers to her immediately."

"And bring them to her we shall Ms. Sparkle. All I'm asking for is a friendly challenge that is all. Some small proof that they are true warriors of honor is all I'm asking. I'm sure my aunt wouldn't mind. "

"I don't see no problem with it," cut in Dom. "What do you say men? Why don't we go get ourselves a little exercise?"

"But we haven't eaten yet," piped Anthony!

"I accept the challenge," said Tai. "But I must warn you, if my honor is being put into question, I will not be inclined to holding back." There was a small trace of hardiness in the Gears words that made sure that others took them seriously."

"Bring it tough guy," yelled Rainbow Dash!

The stallion just smiled and rose from his chair. "That's fine, that's just fine my friend. To the sporting hall, shall we?" The stallion exited the hall, as the Gears, Rainbow Dash, and the other occupants followed him.

The only ponies that remained in the hall were Twilight and the green unicorn. It was only when he raised his muzzle out of his notebook, did he finally take notice that everypony was absent.

"Oh dear, it appears that I've missed out. Pardon me Miss Twilight, but if that is all, I must be off. Much research and development to do. I'll give you the latest updates on the armory afterwards. Will that be all?

Twilight never answered him. She was to busy trying to absorb how that she had completely lost control of the situation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside Equestrian Border Wall

General Ramm stood on a small hill, a safe distance from the wall, and admired his work. The Tickers had done their job. Now it was his turn.

He turned to his Locust brethren and began his speech. He began it with a deafening roar that echoed through the mountain range behind them for good measure.

After he had gotten their attention, he allowed a dramatic pause, just to savor the moment. And then he spoke the words that every Locust would carry with them to battle.

"Locustssss Horde fight!"

The entire Locust horde shook with anticipation and blood lust just by these simple words.

"Locustssss Horde kill!"

Now their blood was at their boiling point. They smelled the scent of war and it was throwing them in a frenzy. They couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Locustssss Horde attack!"

This is what we were born to do, General Ramm thought. This is what we are.

Why deny what you are?

Chapter 5

The town of Ponyville stood not far from the forest. Upon entering the town, blanketed by snow, the locals walked the streets relishing the cold winter air and the quiet atmosphere that had always been a perk to small towns.

However, now the blissful past-times of Ponyville now seemed like a distant memory. As Royal Guards now walked the streets, putting everypony on edge at when the first essence of war will leak into their small town.

So it came as a surprise when the newcomers from the forest had set foot into their town.

The three Gears were being led in chains through the center of town. The ponies on the streets stopped and gazed at the lumbering metal beasts.

"What in Celestia's name are they?"

"They're so tall and huge!"

"Look at that one's eyes!"

"Are they from the Griffins?"

"Look! They have blood on them!"

As more ponies had started to gather, the more Rainbow Dash wanted to get them in the dungeon cells. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a panic.

She turned to one of the other guards. "Private!"

He stood in attention. "Yes sir!"

"Escort them into their prison cells until I come back."

"Yes sir!"

Rainbow Dash broke off from the guards, but not before giving their newcomers a onceover look of their large size and metallic hide.

One had some sort of art printed on his large arm of a winged creature similar in resemblance to him and another had metal skin and a blue glowing eye on his head, while another sported black markings which seemed to grow as a vine on his upper right side. They all looked back her with eyes that seemed too relaxed for her comfort, all of them giving her a smug impression.

It didn't matter. They were her prisoners anyway. They were just beasts. Weren't they? But beasts don't just surrender out of willingness when cornered. A beast foams at the mouth and attacks at anything that dares get near it. Or at least a stupid one does.

Rainbow Dash headed toward one of the buildings that held a picture of an envelope on the front door. The Messenger's Lodge was what it was called, the main way of communication for the Ponies.

She entered and looked at the small room of Pegasus ponies spread that stopped here either to rest from their runs or receive jobs delivering messages between towns.

The Lodge right now was especially filled due to the snow storms by the weather ponies. The room was filled with tables where companions sat by the fireside, drinking cider and sharing tales of their journeys around the far lands of the countryside.

But at the sight of the cyan Royal Guard in their merry place, the atmosphere was taken by silence.

She approached the front desk where an old Pegasus stallion, the caretaker of the establishment, was searching through shelves of parchments that stood upon the back wall of the desk.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat to get his attention. The stallion didn't break from his search and just simply answered, "Yes, how may I help you?"

"I need a message sent to the Equestrian Border immediately."

"Nopony's doing runs over their anymore," said the stallion still searching through the shelves.

"It's too dangerous. Nopony's willing to take the risk making the run for some mare to send love letters to her coltfriend on the guard for a few extra bits."

"I think this can be made into an exception."

The stallion gave an uproarious laugh still facing away the cyan pony. "Or really? Care to let me in on it?"

"Griffins Guards have been found in the Everfree Forest," she said in a loud voice.

The old stallion stopped searching through the shelves.

He slowly turned around, finally facing Rainbow Dash. His eyes staring straight at hers.

"So I suppose this message is urgent?"

"Should've been sent hours ago."

The old stallion stared at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds before calling out.

"Ditzy!"

Immediately, Rainbow heard the sound of hooves trotting towards the front desk. She turned around to find a gray mare with a blond mane walking towards her. Her cutie mark resembled a cloud of bubbles and her eyes were terribly cross eyed. After a few seconds the mare was able to straighten her eyesight for the sake of first impression. Upon first sight, Rainbow thought the old stallion was joking, but his eyes assured how serious he was.

The old stallion brought out a piece of parchment and a quill to start writing the report.

"Don't let her looks fool you. She's the best messenger we have here, and the only one daring enough to make the run all the way to the border."

He finished the message, stamped it with the Equestrian Seal, and slid it inside a cylinder container made with a leather strap for travel.

Rainbow Dash grabbed the message and stood in front of the gray mare sizing her up, trying to make her look away. Problem was that she didn't even know what eye to focus on.

Finally she spoke. "This message must reach the Equestrian border. You fail this task and you risk putting you homeland in peril. This message must get through. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Like he said sir, I'm the best message messenger of all of Ponyville . . . uh sir. I'm ready."

Ditzy grabbed the message and gave a small nod before quickly giving a salute and taking off, dashing out through the doors of the lodge. The other messengers walked to the windows to see their fellow flyer off, alongside Rainbow Dash,

"May Celestia be with you."

She exited the Lodge and headed towards the Town Hall. Once inside she immediately found Twilight who was talking to Mayor Mare on the updates of the town's perimeter. Twilight saw her friend enter and cut her report short while she went to go talk to Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Rainbow Dash. Or is it Captain Dash now?"

Rainbow waved her off holding a smile. "Nah, drop all this formal buisness. You and the rest know me as Rainbow Dash and that's what I expect you all to call me."

"Glad to know the recent promotion hasn't gone to your head. It would be disappointing to the girls if they found out you turned stuck up like that Mare-Do Well incedent," Twilight said holding back a smile.

"I swear you'll never let me live that down will you," Rainbow sighed? "Speaking of the girls, how are the others?"

"Applejack should be on her way back from Appleloosa. Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie are still off in Canterlot on royal buisness," Twilight answered.

"Well I got some news for Applejack when she gets back."

"Granny Smith hasn't passed away yet has she?"

"No no, I found her sister out on patrol in the Everfree Forest."

"She's not going to like to hear that."

"That's just small stuff. Also Griffins were found in the forest."

Twilight gave off a shocked look. "Griffins? You actually found Griffin guards on Equestrian ground?"

"Don't worry. I've already sent a message to the border guards. As for the Griffins…" Rainbow Dash paused before continuing.

"Well, I guess you can say we found what's left of them. The entire platoon was torn to pieces."

"Describe torn."

"Dead. Killed off. Blood and feathers everywhere."

"What could've caused this?"

"I have a few guesses," said Rainbow Dash as she shifted her eyes to the dungeon building not far from them.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Twilight . . . I think there's something you should see."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sarge, I'm not doubting your or anything, but please explain to me why were letting miniature horses hold us against our will?"

"Call it a hunch."

"Is having Prescott in that head of yours starting to get to you." Questioned Carmine?

"I just feel like we should be waiting for something."

"Couldn't we have waited for it somewhere else except in a cell?"

"Better than freezing our asses off outside."

"Agreed," said Tai.

Carmine shifted in discomfort in the cells wooden bench he shared with Dom. Tai was sitting on a bench of the opposite walls with his head leaned back and his eyes closed. The interior of the cell consisted of stone wall and floor with wooden benches chained to the walls.

There were several Royal Guards on duty watching the cell standing dressed in their golden armored uniform. They stood strict and stern, holding still gazes front forwards. They held themselves as soldiers, but lacked the common sense to strip their prisoners of their weapons. Either that or were full of ignorance of what they were truly capable of.

"Just trust me on this one alright."

"Whatever you say Sarge

I'm not very sure if I'm willing to place my life on the line due to gut feeling alone Sergeant. The situation of being imprisoned by something that looks like it belongs in a child's storybook is humiliating enough.

Say's the man who's stuck in my head. Your already imprisoned you slime ball, Dom thought.

Oh come now I'm sure you can think of better insults than that.

Dom just waved him away and returned to the blissful silence of the dungeon.

Tai remained silent and still in his medative position. Only at the sound of the door opening did his eyes open.

The same cyan pony from before and a purple unicorn stood on the other side of the cell doors. Tai merely glanced at Rainbow Dash and Twilight and then returned into meditation.

Twilight eyes went wide at the sight of the Gears.

"These are the creatures you were talking about?" asked Twilight.

Creatures?

Rainbow Dash nodded in response to Twilight's question.

They think of us as savage beasts Sergeant.

What Prescott said was not said in fury or anger, but as merely stating a fact. A fact that these whatever they were, were not imprisoning them as humans, but keeping them caged up as animals.

Oh the great irony. To be caged by a petting zoo animal. We are surly not going to allow this are we?

"What are they? I've never seen creatures like these before in Equestria," asked Twilight who couldn't help but look away from the blood that stained their metal hide.

Dom stood in response of her question. "I believe you mean who are we?"

Twilight jumped back at the sudden response of the disgruntled Gear.

"They can talk?"

"Yes. We can talk. And we would appreciate it if you let us out of here," said Dom, obviously losing his patience.

"Wait just a minute," said Rainbow Dash! "You are our prisoners! You are in no position what so ever to be making demands of us beast!"

Dom shouted. "Tai! Now!"

The cyan guard had hovered too close to the cage.

Tai immediately jumped from his bench and reached through the metal bars, grabbling Rainbow Dash around the neck and his Snub Pistol against her head. She tried to struggle out of his grasp, but his massive arm had her pinned against the metal bars.

Dom gave off a smile. "Now we are."

The Unicorn Guards were now aiming their horns at the Gears, ready to fire. Tai gave off a warning shot shooting upwards. The sound from the gun made everyone flinch and still. Small pieces of stone fell from the roof where Tai had shot the warning shot. Carmine and Dom armed aimed their Lancers at the Guards, who now stood nervous at the humans strange weaponry.

Twilight couldn't fathom what had just happen. One second everything was fine, the next she was in a standoff for her friend's life.

Rainbow was still struggling under Tai's grasp.

"Let me go you big dumb beast!"

Dom turned towards Twilight ignoring the cyan Guard.

"I'm talking to you now. You seem smart so listen carefully. We let your soldiers capture us so we would be able to find shelter and to avoid any more killing. We can bust out of this sorry excuse of a cell anytime we want, but we are giving you a chance to comply with us. But we've had a very long day and we are not going to wait anymore."

"Let . . . us . . . out."

"Don't do it Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "I've seen what they can do. They're blood thirsty monsters!"

Dom reached over his back and armed his Lancer. "Let us out or we will let ourselves out." He revved the chainsaw for good measure; the sound of hundreds of metal teeth with smoke drifting from it was enough to convince Twilight.

"Alright, we'll let you go. Just don't hurt her." Twilight's horn glowed and the gate of the cell was opened. The guards still were aiming their horns at the Gears.

"Tell them to stand down," said Dom.

Twilight turned and nodded to the Guards who relaxed their stance. Dom nodded to Tai and only then, did he release Rainbow Dash. She then dropped from his grasp holding her neck coughing.

"I'll get you for that," wheezed the cyan Pegasus. Tai heard but did not speak. The three Gears stood in front of the ponies shouldering their Lancers. They were out and their pride had been restored being able to think of themselves as men again. That, was enough.

"Now that you let us out, we can help you."

Now this threw the ponies off big time.

"What," bellowed Twilight? "You just threatened to hurt my friend. What makes you think that anypony is going to believe you're here to help anything!"

Carmine chuckled. "Anypony." Tai nudged his shoulder getting him to stay quiet.

Dom continued on. "We only did what we had to do. You had us locked up like if we were animals."

"You were trespassing on Equestrian Ground," yelled Rainbow Dash!

Again Dom ignored the cyan Pegasus. Instead he reached into his pocket, causing the unicorn guards to aim their horns again. Even Twilight was backing up wide eyed fearing what other kind of strange weapon the human had on him.

Dom stopped midway his pocket. He's already gotten hit once with whatever they shot at him, and he didn't want to be hit again. He slowly unbuttoned his pocket and pulled out the note he recieved from the forest.

"I'm guessing paper is real dangerous in this world isn't it."

Twilight levitated it from his hand and read it. She looked back up at Dom and then back at the note. Then at Dom and again back at the note.

"Did he send you here?"

"If you mean my dealer under contract, then yes."

"Guards, at rest."

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. "You can't be serious."

Twilight turned to Dom with an angry expression. "Why didn't you show this to me before? We could've avoided all of this."

Dom shrugged. "Didn't think you would listen." Then he turned back to Rainbow Dash. "I'm just a blood thirsty monster."

Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to look at him. She was focusing on the one who pinned her down. Who dishonored her in front of her soldiers. They met each other's gaze, eye to eye, never wavering.

"Like I said, I'll make you pay for that."

Tai heard but did not speak. But there was a little glint of a smile on his stern facade which made the cyan Guard even more furious.

Twilight rolled up the note and looked up at Dom. "Follow me. We have much to discuss." The ponies and the Gears exited the dungeon, with the Gears hoping it would be the last time.