The Defector

I quickly but carefully moved through the first-floor halls of the hospital, the barrel of my MP7 pointing the way. My two companions - Rainbow Dash and Crimson Flare - stayed right behind me as we got closer and closer to the raging gunfight ahead of us. As we drew nearer, I could faintly make out screaming amid the gunshots. They were high-pitched. Female. We picked up the pace until we reached a closed door in the hallway. I had the equines stack up on the door with me, and we all burst through at once.

The door opened up into a large mess hall. Contained within it was yet another massacre. The bodies of fallen Royal Guard soldiers were everywhere. Their gold-plated armor was slick with blood. Among them were several hospital workers, seemingly caught in the crossfire, their white uniforms stained crimson. At the far end of the room from where we entered were eight human figures, standing in a line. They were clad in all black, and wielded high-tech tactical weaponry. They had their backs to us, and had their attention on a set of windows that opened up into what looked like a kitchen area. They were firing into the windows with short bursts from automatic rifles. Within the kitchen area, I saw glints of golden armor behind the various counters. I could also hear the screaming, much clearer now that there was no door muffling the sounds. It was coming from the kitchen as well, but I couldn't see the source.

Without hesitation, I ducked behind an overturned dining table and opened fire. My first two bursts dug into one hostile's back, making him lurch forward and fall to the floor. Dash and Flare followed my lead and took cover behind other tables. Flare began firing within seconds of my own volley, and dropped two of them with a long burst from his AK-47. The remaining attackers quickly realized that they were being flanked, and broke out of the line formation they were in to duck behind cover. They opened fire immediately, sending all three of us completely behind our tables. I began taking potshots in between the enemy bursts, firing two to three shots before getting back down again. Flare followed my example, and somehow hit one of them after his second try. I heard the man cry out and fall.

Dash seemed to be taking the bulk of the fire, as she never got the chance to fire her pistol. In an attempt to help her out, I stuck just my weapon out from behind my table and fired a prolonged spray of bullets, swaying it left and right to cover a lot of area. It seemed to work well enough; most of the enemy combatants stopped firing and ducked down to dodge the incoming volley. I kept firing until my gun went dry, signaled by a sharp click! I pulled my weapon back and took out the now-empty drum magazine before popping in one of my spare thirty-round magazines, leaving me with two still in reserve. As I chambered the first round, Flare again followed my lead and began firing at the hostiles, though he actually took the time to aim his shots. I heard another go down, leaving us with only three left to deal with.

They seemed to notice they were losing the fight, as they started taking turns firing to keep us behind cover as the others moved. They fell back to a door off to the right and slipped out of the room. I ordered Flare to cover the door as Dash and I swept the room for any surprise hostiles left behind. There weren't any, leaving the room clear apart from us. I called it out, and noticed the guards hunkered in the kitchen begin to slowly get up. As they gathered themselves, I took the opportunity to get a good look at the new players in this fucked-up game of war.

They wore all-black tactical gear, complete with full-face masks and shaded goggles. Their weapons mostly consisted of FAMAS F1 assault rifles, but two of them had been carrying HK-416 rifles. Their tactical vests were loaded down with magazines and first-aid kits. One of the two carrying the HK rifles had a radio on his belt, with a headset wired to it. I crouched down and pulled his mask off to take out his earpiece, and saw he was a middle-aged man with short, sandy-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes.

As the guards from the kitchen began moving out into the mess hall, accompanied by a few shaken hospital workers, I removed the radio from the dead man's belt and put the earpiece in my ear. If it was on an open frequency, I would be able to hear any chatter his allies sent out. As luck would have it, it was, and I immediately got to listen in to their distress calls. They weren't speaking in English, but in a different language that I understood. Thank God for high-school French classes. I tuned out the noise of the room around me to listen to the exchange.

"Command, this is Alpha One-Four. We have taken heavy casualties and are currently in retreat. My squad commander is down. Requesting immediate reinforcements and aerial support."

"Alpha One-Four, this is Command. Understood. Ground reinforcements en-route. Raven Three is overhead now. Just tell them where you need them."

Shit, not good. I thought. I hooked the radio to my own belt, but took out the earpiece for a moment so I could converse with the equines without being distracted. I stood up, and was about to turn around and look among the ponies for an officer when a familiar voice behind me caught my attention.

"James?" the tone of the voice was a mix of shock and relief. I turned around to see a brown stallion in a doctor's coat with jet black hands standing apart from the crowd of hospital workers. His ears were down flat, and he looked at me with a surprised expression on his face.

"Doc!" I exclaimed, jogging over to him, "Thank God you made it. I'm glad to see you."

"Likewise, friend," he said, smiling. He then turned to look at the human corpses on the floor, "I assume this is your handiwork?"

"Partially," I replied. I gestured to the red unicorn watching the side door, "He got most of them. The last three ran off."

"Which means this place is not secure yet," an unfamiliar, commanding female voice piped up from the crowd of equine guard-stallions. I glanced over to see a black earth mare with an off-white mane step out of the group and approach us. Upon her armor were officer's markings, and her gilded helmet was topped with a crimson-colored crest that ran transversely across her head. She had a revolver holstered at her right-hand hip, but no rifle in her hands. On her left hip was a sheathed sword - a gladius. The whole picture made it look like she had stepped out of an equine-themed Roman army and been given a gun.

Much like the rest of them, but this chick went all-out.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked her, not bothering to hide my confused amusement at her appearance.

She gave me a prideful smirk, placing a hand on her hip as she fed me her rap sheet, "I am Lieutenant Ivory Shadow, second-in-command of the Sixth Royal Guard, Second Security Battalion, First Company. Who - dare I ask - are you?"

"Sergeant James Blackburn, the human POW that just saved your ass," I said in a tone thick with annoyance, "Look, I don't have time for a pissing contest. We have much bigger issues at hand."

She gave me a curious look, as did half of the other guards in the room. The doctor raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean, James?"

"I listened to their radio chatter. They've already got a chopper above us and more infantry are inbound. We need to get the hell out of here before we get completely overrun."

"We can't just leave," Ivory Shadow said. The way she pronounced "can't" revealed a faint English-like accent. I'd have found it cute under less dangerous circumstances.

"She's correct, James," the doctor agreed, "We can't evacuate the patients in time to..."

"There aren't any patients left, doctor," I cut him off, causing the entire room to look up at me in shock, "A force of griffons cleared all of the upper floors. Soldiers, staff, patients... they were all slaughtered. The only people we ran into was a squad's worth of guards on the second floor. They're working on checking the upper floors now, but I know they're not going to find anyone. The griffons were very thorough."

A silence befell the room as the news sank in. After a few moments, the sound of muffled sobbing could be heard within the huddled group of hospital workers. A nurse mare was crying her eyes out, her face buried in the shirt of a stallion in a custodian's jumpsuit. He held her close, comforting her. All of the others - guards included - just stared out into space with blank expressions. The final exception to the norm was Ivory. She just stood a few feet away from me. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were balled into fists and shaking from an anger she was trying to hold back.

I finally grew tired of just standing there, waiting for one of them to act. I turned to the doctor, who was now accompanied by Rainbow Dash. I hadn't noticed her until now, "Let's go, you two," I said, gesturing toward the door we had entered through. Dash nodded, and took hold of the still-shocked doctor's arm. As she led him towards the doors, I looked across the room to my other companion, "Flare, come on. We're leaving."

He gave a curt nod and backed away from the door he had been guarding. He kept his weapon pointed at the door until he was standing next to Dash and the doctor. I joined them, and took a second to check my gun, telling my comrades to do the same. Flare had to reload his rifle. Dash once again said she was fine, but didn't check her pistol. Granted, she didn't really have an opportunity to fire it in the last skirmish, but the way she avoided eye contact struck me as odd. Had we not been in an active combat zone, I'd have confronted her instead of just shrugging it off.

Before heading out, I turned to look at the equines in the room. Some of the guards had recovered a bit, and were going around trying to comfort the civilians. A few others took over Flare's position guarding the side door. The civilians stayed in a huddled mass, too shocked to do much else. Ivory Shadow was still standing in the middle of the room, her breath heavy. Her eyes were open now, and they contained a vengeful, angry fire. She looked ready to kill anyone who crossed her.

Not willing to be the one who ends up crossing the angry mare, I turned my gaze to the three ponies at the door. The doctor was looking at the floor with a solemn gaze, while the two armor-clad equines looked at me expectantly. Dash had her hand on the door's handle, waiting for permission to go. Crimson Flare broke the silence that had befallen our group.

"So, what's the next step, boss?" he asked, raising a dark-red eyebrow.

I answered immediately, "We double back and regroup with your squad, and bring them back here," I glanced back at the huddled group of civilians and guards at the other end of the room, "I don't think they're going anywhere soon. So long as we get back before enemy reinforcements arrive, we should be fine."

"Sounds like a plan," Flare nodded. He then lifted up his rifle, ready to leave as I put a hand on the free door. I signaled to Dash, and she nodded as well. Without another word, the two of us each shouldered open a door...

Only to be met with a squad of nine humans in French military uniforms, their eyes and weapons trained on the doorway. We didn't have the doors open for more than a second before slamming them closed again. They latched into place just as the enemy opened fire, and the thick metal of the doors started making plinking sounds as the bullets collided with them. The sudden noise jolted most of the guards into action, including Ivory Shadow. They all drew their weapons and eyed the door, waiting.

Not missing a beat, Flare once again broke the ensuing silence to comment, "Okay, not going that way. Anypony got a Plan B?" he asked, looking around the room.

While Ivory began contemplating options, I took command for the moment, ordering a few of the guards to help barricade the door. The lieutenant didn't seem to mind, as she didn't argue. With the guards help - especially Flare's unicorn magic - we managed to reinforce the door with three of the nearby dining tables. It wouldn't hold forever, especially if they were smart enough to bring explosives into the equation, but it bought us time to think our situation through. I took a look around the room, and even crossed over to peek into the kitchen. I found out quickly that the only other way out was through the side door in the mess hall. The one that the three French soldiers had fled through minutes before.

When I voiced this fact to the group, Ivory pulled herself out of her thoughts to say, "So, either way, we're fighting our way through?" I nodded. She then smiled confidently and held up her revolver, "Sounds good to me."

Rainbow Dash, however, wasn't as enthusiastic, "Is there another way we could go? One that doesn't require us to put civilians in the line of fire?"

"I wish there was, but no," I said flatly, "Right now, we only have two options: the door with three hostiles, or nine plus. Pretty easy decision to make."

"I agree," Ivory stated. She then looked at the soldiers under her command, "Alright, everypony up. We're moving."

The armored equines all stood up, followed shortly by the very shaken hospital staff. I took a second to do a headcount. Twelve soldiers, seven civilians. With Dash, Flare, Ivory and myself added, we had sixteen combatants on our side. One small platoon's worth. I hoped it was enough to get us through to the second floor. Once we linked up with the other squad, we would be fine. It was the time in between then and now that concerned me, especially with that helicopter supposedly above our heads. If we somehow stumbled into it's view...

I forced the thoughts out of my mind. Worrying about it like that wouldn't do any of us any good. Focusing my attention on the objective, I briskly walked over to the side door. It was still being guarded by three of the ponies. I stepped in front of them, stopping just in front of the door. I then turned and addressed the entire room, "I'll take point. Stay behind me and keep low." None of them argued.

Flare and Dash once again joined me at the door, and the three of us pushed the door open together. Keeping my gun leveled, I scanned the hallway beyond as I took a few cautious steps forward. Compared to the other hallways I had seen that night, it was practically untouched. There were no bodies, no shell casings. Not even the three soldiers that went through earlier were in sight, though it was obvious they had gone through. There was a trail of bloody boot prints in the center of the hallway's floor, slightly smeared - the culprit had been running pretty fast. One of the French soldiers must have stepped in a puddle of gore and left the trail. I kept moving, following the prints down the hallway until I reached a three-way intersection. The boot prints strafed off to the right, which a sign on the wall identified as the way to the Guard Barracks. Similar signs located a bit lower labeled the left direction as the way to the Stairwell and, further down, the Reception Lobby.

I looked over my shoulder at the ponies following me and locked eyes with Ivory Shadow, "Which way should we go?" I asked her.

She paused for only a second before replying, "We go right. Follow the cowards, away from the larger force."

I gave a curt nod and started down the right pathway. I tracked the bloody prints easily, their dark crimson hue a stark contrast to the white tiles of the floor, even under just the dim emergency lights. Eventually, though, they started to dissipate, marking where the blood on the boots had lost most of its volume. The tracks soon disappeared completely, and we were on our own. If the fleeing French soldiers had actually been my primary target, I would have been upset. Good thing they were little more than a minor concern in my mind. Refocusing, I began scanning the area for a way upstairs as we continued down the hall.

After turning at two more intersections - once left, once right - we stumbled upon another stairwell. This one wasn't walled off, but open to the hallway and very wide. It was also very dark; the emergency lights mounted to the walls had apparently failed, and never turned on. Grateful for my weapon's attached flashlight, I flicked it on and began up the stairs, lighting the way for the equines behind me.

The corridor that followed didn't fare much better in terms of lighting, but it was as clean as the ones below. More signs on the wall opposite the stairs labeled each path. To the left was all patient rooms, numbered from two-hundred to two-sixty. The right pathway was labeled as "Laboratories." As I finished climbing the stairs, stopping to wait for the group to make the trek up, I heard a few distant pops to the right. More gunshots. Not a raging battle, like the ones before. It sounded more like a clean-up crew.

With Rainbow Dash, Crimson Flare and Ivory Shadow following close behind me, we led the group of civilians toward the gunfire. It stopped altogether after only a few seconds, but we kept pushing forward. We knew the general direction, it shouldn't be long before we stumbled upon the carnage that preceded the shots.

Sure enough, after passing through three intersections and turning left at a fourth, we started passing by more corpses. No civilians this time; just Royal Guards and griffon mercenaries in roughly equal number. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the griffon bodies also had close-range bullet holes in the center of their skulls. We had just missed the others, but they did go this way.

"Eyes peeled, check your targets," I ordered, keeping my voice low and steady. I kept going, my weapon pointing the way.

We were now just following the battle's aftermath, hoping to catch up with the victors before someone else did. It led us through a twisted maze of hallways. Right, left, right, forward, right... It seemed to snake through the hospital's corridors, dodging makeshift barricades that were left in the hallways. As we went, the number of Royal Guard and griffon bodies lowered, replaced by more black-clad human soldiers. They all had close-range gunshot wounds to their heads, just like the griffons. At least I knew who was winning the fight so far.

Dash broke the silence as we kept moving, "How many do you think are left?"

"Friendlies, or hostiles?" I heard Flare respond.

After a pause, she replied, "Either."

"Don't fret, private," I heard Ivory chime in, "Your sergeant's a tough old mule. He'll make sure they all make it. And we can handle a few humans."

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from mentioning the equine bodies we had passed by. They had already lost a squad's worth of soldiers already. Though that fact made me wonder if they really had found other survivors. Surely, one pony couldn't just fight their through a platoon of heavily-armed French commandos unscathed.

Right?

I was brought out of my thoughts by the eruption of rapid gunfire. It was close; just to the hallway next to us and a bit further down. I sped up to a slow jog, trying to get there fast without risking stumbling into the crossfire. I heard the hoofsteps behind me increase to a similar pace. We crossed into the next corridor just as the gunfire ended. Had it not been for the equines behind me, I would have taken a bullet from one of the three Royal Guardstallions standing in the middle of the hall in front of about a dozen human corpses. The bodies were still leaking blood.

Huh, I thought, So, it wasn't just one pony after all.