Welcome to the Jungle.

The group was wading through the empty park walk ways, keeping their wits about as they approached the gate to Fluttershy's Jungle. Dragon Blazer had donned his Sparkle-Cola armor again and was in lead of the group. Blossom added a few pieces of metal to her legs. The five security ponies just followed silently, looking around the wide open area.

The heavy steps of the armor stopped in front of the front gates to the Fluttershy's Forest park. The seven ponies lined up in a fashion like a military force ready to sweep in and take back what was theirs. Only they were seen ponies with determination and a mission. Dragon Blazer was the first to step forward and enter the once zoo, then Blossom followed by her Stable's supplied security team.

The park was quiet save for some ambient noises of the other wildlife still hanging around. Though somewhat harmless mutated creatures there were, the air was a bit tense as the group was on approach to the visitor center. Dragon's eyes peered out from behind his visor, scanning the area and spotted a tree with a large structure built on it. His eyes soon became fixed on the earth pony with the rifle, the pony caught the gaze and looked back.

Silent words were exchanged between the two as Dragon pointed the structure out. The security pony nodded and trotted off. Not soon after a horrendous roar was heard and the rifle pony was galloping back and jumped back on to the platform with the others. Blossom went pale hearing that roar, but Dragon took on a battle stance.

"I was hoping to avoid this...." Dragon muttered as heavy steps of a large creature were heard. "Everypony form a circle!"

Without hesitation the five security ponies formed up in a circle with their guns facing out and ready. The first of the demonclaws to have shown their nasty mug was fired into immediately after. The beast fell over, riddled with bullets and bleeding from all of the wounds. It didn't take long for the entirety of Fluttershy's Forest to be filled with the same roars and heavy steps.

Sickle looked beyond the balcony of the grille to the rest of Sparkle-Town. The stallion looked at the rest with disgust before his ears perked up to some sounds in the distance. The more he tried to listen, the more it became clear what was going on. Gunfire and loud roaring, he turned his head to listen more. Something was going on, something one of the other groups were planning?

The space outside the visitor center had turned into a battlefield. Bodies of demonclaws were piling up and two of their members had already gone down as a result. Dragon lost his helmet in the fray but kept fighting as he went hoof to hoof with one of them. Blossom had grabbed the minigun saddle and rained down hell upon the relentless monsters.

"Get to the nest!" Dragon ordered, using his back legs to kick a demonclaw down. "Quickly, while it's clear!"

Blossom and the three remaining security ponies made a break for the center of the park. Dragon soon followed suit but was still behind due to the heavy suit of armor. Dragon quickly turned around and started to open fire with his heavy magic gun. The barrels spun up and a spray of pink lasers lit up their pursuers. Blossom and her group navigated the hedge maze to make it to the base of a large tree.

Dragon could be heard coming, the armor of his whirring and shaking the very ground beneath him. The roars and hissing continued as the demon claws lurked the corners, not nearly as fast but trying to keep up. Dragon made it to the tree base before they did and took the lift up to the treehouse by himself. A sigh of relief came over him when he saw the rest of them up here in safety.

The five soon gathered at the tree houses bar, soon after finding out that this was really a restaurant itself. Each had a Sparkle-cola near them and some food. Dragon's Sparkle-Cola armor stood in idle while the rest had weapons leaned up against the bar. All five of them sat in silence for the fallen.

"So... I never got you names. I know Blossom Cherry here." Dragon piped up, looking down the bar.

A mare was the first to break the silence, being a unicorn with both shotguns now, "I'm Flower Powder. Most call me Powder."

The stallion was next, a built earth pony who had to carry the missile launcher, "I'm Buffalo Step."

The last one stayed quiet a bit longer, then spoke, "I'm Spring Leaf. Also called 'Long-eye.'"

"Dragon Blazer." The pegasus stated. The rest looked at him.

"So, Question." Blossom piped up, looking at Dragon. "How did you get a name like 'Dragon Blazer' as a pegasus?"

"Well," The large pegasus started, "'Dragon Blazer' is more of a nickname. My real name is Sky Blaze."

"How'd you get it?" Buffalo asked, now interested in the origin.

"Ever burned a dragon from the inside?" Blaze looked at the stallion, his face wearing a dead grimace. "It isn't pretty."

The group fell silent as their lead just stared down the bar towards the stallion. The group finished up their meals and dissipated around the vantage point to tend to their own businesses. The Stable ponies looked over their weapons of choice while having checked over their ammo. Blaze and Cherry were off on the other side of the restaurant. The pegasus worked on his armor with what little tools were around. Most of the damage was minor, some scraped off paint here, a couple of scratches there.

"Dragon?" Blossom looked over at the preoccupied pegasus.

"You can call me Sky, few ever get to call me by name." He responded and looked over to her.

"Sky, what do you think our odds here are? Y'know, of succeeding in taking territory from these raiders without them noticing?"

"Somewhat slim, they will notice eventually." Blaze replied to her as he finished up his maintenance. "We take enough territory and somepony's bound to notice"

Blossom hummed out in thought as Sky stood up on all fours and turned to face the mare. He took a step forward and placed one of his fore legs on the railing and gazed out to what remains of the amusement park. He scanned the streets, seeing what was left of the toothy monstrosities they called Demonclaws. Then his gaze shifted to the horizon, looking towards the sky to gauge the time. He was focused for once, and it felt like ages to him since he last was.

"I have a plan." Sky blurted out as he spun around to face the group. "We split into two teams. One will get in the visitor's center and see what they can find out, the other team will seek and destroy these monsters."

"Oh..'kay. Who are the teams?" Powder ended up asking after a brief moment of silence.

Sky just pointed a hoof in the stable ponies direction, "You all are the Visitor Center Team."

"Then that just leaves you as the other team" Blossom pointed out.

"Of course, my armor and magic gatling should allow me to hold my own. Once you all are in, I'll make my way to you when I think the coast is clear."

The four other ponies just sat in silence as they stared at the stallion. Powder was the first to use her magic to cock both shotguns and stash them on her back. Blossom looked at the trio now as they started to gather up supplies and their weapons without much of a fuss.

"You can't be serious." Blossom said as she seemed to pout a bit, "You're just agreeing to this plan?"

"Well, yeah." Buffalo poke out. "We got nothing else to go on but Sky, and it sounds like he knows what he's doing."

Blossom looked at Sky now. "That's suicide! Fighting raider ponies by yourself is one thing but facing those monsters is another!"

"Blossom, you're going to have to trust me on this. I do know what I'm doing and they're not that many right now." Sky gave her a bit of a knowing smirk.

Blossom couldn't give much of a rebuttal as the ponies around her were starting to leave the treehouse haven. Behind her were the whirrs and hiss of Sky's armor as he stepped back into it and it enclosed his body in a heavy steel shell, save for his head. Blossom just sighed in defeat and grabbed her saddle gun and slid it over her backside. She looked over to Sky with some visible concern on her face.

"Don't you worry you're little head about me. Remember what the mission is." Sky said to her, briefly locking eyes and showing his determination.

Before Blossom could say another word, he hopped the railing and landed with a loud thud. A cloud of dirt covered his landing before he made off in a sprint and leaving behind a crater. The other Stabledwellers reached the ground and looked over the crater for a moment while they waited for Blossom. Before they started moving, they could hear Sky's fire off in the distance.

"Guess that's our cue to get moving." Blossom stated s she reached the ground.

Blossom led her group to the visitor center of the park. It was quiet for the most part, save for the occasional explosive in the background. Bodies of the monsters littered the ground to the center. They did spot the mangled bodies of their once allies. Blossom put herself on point, Spring on over watch, Powder and Buffalo flanking the sides of the doors. She looked to the each of them. Both nodded to her and she nodded back. Blossom inched herself closer to the door.

The door to the visitor center creaked open to the large, open lobby was empty of life it seemed. Blossom poked her head in before taking a step in and looking around the room. She then leaned outside and waved the other two in. As she was coming back inside, that's when it awoke. A Demonclaw larger than any they seen so far. It let out a guttural, deep growl as it rose from behind the lobby desk.

"Oh buck." Blossom muttered with a kick to the saddle gun.

The minigun barrels spun to life as it wound up. The monster started to charge, the minigun hailed bullets towards the beast. It was to no avail as the Demonclaw seemed to have just shrug off the bullets as it cleared the room in mere seconds and knocked Blossom off to the side. Before the monster could make another strike against the mare, two shotguns were shoved into its face.

"Bueno dias, motherbucker" Powder quipped as she pulled the triggers with her magic.

The beast roared out in pain as it backed away, grabbing at it's face. Blossom was pulled back out of the center with Powder's magic and soon replaced with Buffalo's ready missile launcher. A loud FWOOSH erupted from the tube and smoke bellowed out the back. The missile headed right for the monster and collided. The resulting explosion sent the beast flying backwards into a wall, still kicking but now majorly injured.

Blossom stood in the doorway again and spun her gun up. The demonclaw started to get back up, letting out another growl. The minigun let loose a stream of fire again and tore down what was left of the monster. With the area now secure, the group moved on into the lobby and start what they guessed was an investigation for something. Blossom trotted over to the lobby computer and started to pick through the files stored there.

"Ugh! There's nothing on here!" Blossom slammed her hooves against the desk. "It's just welcome messages and useless notes!"

"Blossom!" Her ears perked up at the sound of Spring calling her name. "You should come see this."

Blossom left the front desk to follow the sound of Spring's voice. There she found a security gate hidden just out of sight and around a corner with a sign that read "Research and Development." This definitely didn't look like it belonged here. She tried to access the terminal close to the gate, but it was password locked and no amount of attempted hacks was bearing any fruit. Just then the door to the center opened again and this time, it was Sky. He had a slight limp to his step as he came in.

Blossom peeked around the corner and her eyes widened. "Sky!"

She rushed on over to the armored stallion and looked him over once. Sky just smiled at her some and limped on over to the desk. He leaned against it as he reached into one of his spare bags and pulled out his lost helmet. Blossom just looked at him, trotting over to the desk and looking at his helmet. Sky then reached into his saddle bags again and pulled out a holotape between hi teeth and handed it over to Blossom.

"What's this?" She asked before taking the tape and shoving it in her pip-buck.

"No idea. Found while out there and figured you might use it." Sky responded as he huffed a bit.

"What happened to you?" Blossom looked to Sky as the tape loaded.

"One of those bastards surprised me."

With the tape now loaded, Blossom started to flick through it. It was a journal of one of the science ponies that used to work here! The journal detailed plenty they needed to know. Like the demonclaws being created here in this section of the park to attract more guests and the password to the security gate.

"Here, take this." Blossom said, pulling a healing potion from her own bag and placing it on the desk next to Sky.

"Thank you." He took the top off the bottle and started to down it.

Sky started to feel the effects of the potion and watched as Blossom trotted off. He grabbed his helmet with his front hooves and slid it back on to his head. He then followed the mare to the gate and gazed at it with the rest of the crew. Something felt off to him about the sight before him. Blossom got into the terminal and the gate unlocked in a matter of minutes.

"Now why would a park need a R&D for a zoo?" Sky remarked.

The gate swung open on its own and the team filed through it one at a time. Blossom silently putting herself on point, followed by Powder, then Buffalo, the Spring. The last to step through the gate was Sky. The halls were silent as they made way deeper into the facility. Sky eventually made his way up to the front, trotting next to Blossom.

"What do you think went on here?" Sky asked.

"I guess this is where those monstrosities came from." Blossom answered. "That holotape you gave me belonged to a science pony called Test Tube. He led the project."

"What for?" Sky peered around a corner.

"To gain guests."

The team ended up in the main lab. First thing they saw were three of the demonclaws. Two of the regular sized ones and another larger beast. There was also a large machine behind them. Sky just scanned the room and motions for the crew to fall back. So they did and Sky started up in hushed whispers.

"Here's the plan. Buffalo, whatever that machine is, you blow it to hell. Spring and Powder, focus fire on the little guys. Blossom and I will take down the large one with our guns."

Every pony seemed to be in agreement with the set up. Blossom breathed an internal sigh of relief. She was just glad he wasn't fighting these things alone again. The ponies started to get in some sort of position, the respective three staying out of sight the best they could. Blossom and Sky both descended the stairs.

A missile went flying over their heads and the heads of the creatures after the duo met the bottom of the staircase. It collided with the machine in the back, causing it to explode in a glorious manner. Sky and Blossom spun up their gun and the monstrosities let out guttural roars as they turned their attention to the ponies. A well placed sniper bullet put down one of the regular-looking beasts and buckshot took care of the other one. Yet this only served to piss off the larger of the demonclaws. It let loose a roar that shook the very building.

Sky and Blossom started firing away in unison at the beast. It only shrugged off the magical and small arms fire as it started to charge the two. Powder rushed to intervene but was simply pushed aside by the hulking beast. Blossom soon charged at it while firing away with her minigun.

"Blossom! Wait!" Sky called out.

It was too late.

He helplessly watched as Blossom was smacked out of the way and knocked unconscious.

Thump-Thump

Time seemed to slow down now.

Thump-Thump

He scowled underneath his helmet and stopped firing. He turned his back to the charging monster and raised his hindlegs in an upward kick. The power he put behind his legs combined with the added strength of the armor snapped the creature's head up. It reeled back as it howled in pain. This gave enough room for Sky to perform his own charge against the monster.

With a powerful bash against it with his head, the demonclaw struggled against it. The rage built, fueling his fire. Sky took some more steps back and charged again with the added fire of magic gatling. He threw his entire body into the monster this time around. The beast started steeping backwards towards the fire, struggling to keep ground. Then another bash, this time sending it into the machine and flames.

Sky only stepped back as it watched the thing burn alive. Teeth were gritted as he refused to take off his helmet. Save for the raging inferno, the entire room are silent, the smell of burnt flesh filling the room rather quick. Sky stomped over to the unconscious body of Blossom.

"Blossom."

The voice sounded familiar, but far off.

"Blossom!"

This time, the voice was louder, unmistakable now.

Blossom groaned out as she came to outside the gates of Fluttershy's Forest. What she was laying on was not all that comfortable. As she gained more of her conscious, the clearer the voice was. Sky was calling her name as he was marching away from the park.

"Sky..." Blossom muttered

"Blossom! Good, you're awake. I was worried we lost you back there." Sky stated, not breaking his march.

"Wh..where are we?"

"Heading back to the garage. You took a thrashing. I need you to stay awake tho."

Blossom just groaned out again and shifted on the stallion some. Sky's march continued all the way back to the Red-Dragon Garage an quickly got her inside. He gently set her down on the bed and went to the main garage to get out of the armor. When he came back inside, he started to tear through his stuff for a medkit.

"Where are the others?" Blossom meekly asked.

"I left Powder and Buffalo to guard the front gates incase some raiders get curious. Spring is on his way to the Stable to let them know they can move in on that area."

Sky was soon by her side at the bed with the kit open and examining her. Blossom's armor was cracked, he assumed from her impact with the wall. It was also pushed in on her chest, might've been from the force that beastie smacked her. Sky was quick to pry the chest piece off her body then peel the Stable barding off to get a better look at her.

No blood. Good

"How many times you gonna save me?" Blossom ended up asking through her groans.

Sky doesn't seem to answer as he's just bandaging her.

"Sky."

"I don't know. This place was more dangerous then I thought."

Blossom could feel herself going out again.

"Blossom, I need you to stay with me. Okay?"

She just nodded, grumbling while trying to stay awake for Sky. "The next park we go to, you get in trouble so I can save your flank next."

Author's Note

So, after probably what has been four years, this has laid dormant. No longer. I do hope you all enjoy.