Author's Note

WARNING: In this chapter, there will be mentions of domestic violence! It will only be mentioned twice, once briefly and once in a way that will probably be upsetting. If you want to avoid being upset at mentions of domestic violence, please skip this chapter, or at least stop reading after the dialogue of River Rose stating she loves the song on the radio.

These mentions of domestic violence do serve the basis for the way this chapter ends and affects the chapters following it. So for those of you who'd like to avoid these mentions, I will tell you what basically happens during this chapter or after that specific part of dialogue in spoiler tags. For those of you who don't want a spoiler and or don't mind/won't be upset by the mentions of domestic violence, simply don't click or hover over the spoiler tags.

To sum it up, after a song comes on the radio that reminds Honey Cake of her ex-husband, she blurts it aloud, leaving Zephyr and River Rose confused. Sapphire is as well but only because Honey Cake randomly blurted out personal information, which usually hard to get out of her. After being asked about her ex-husband, Honey Cake briefly explains that he was abusive and that he was just a"sleazy asshole" in general. She then tells River Rose that it's none of her business and then the gang goes on to plan their escape from the soldiers. They make it past several buildings and to a museum,
where their goal is the basement. Honey Cake travels down some stairs and fights off the infected holed up inside the basement all by herself. This pisses off and highly worries Sapphire, who busts in with Zephyr and River Rose just Honey Cake kills the last infected. After asking if she's hurt, Sapphire bucks Honey Cake in the chest, pins her down and puts a gun to her head. Sapphire then proceeds to berate her, but takes it too far when she insults Honey Cake's mother and insults her with Honey's past with her ex-husband. This causes Honey Cake to cry and leaves Zephyr and River Rose shocked (because she is crying and because of Sapphire's rudeness to her). Honey Cake stops crying a few minutes later but states that after they deliver River Rose, get back and obtain their weapons, she's leaving Sapphire and shutting her out of her life for good. The gang then somewhat awkwardly begins to leave the basement via a hole in the wall. The chapter ends after that.

Crossed Lines {Ch.3}

“...and that concludes the updated weather forecast. For those of you living or traveling roughly thirty-two miles north from Las Pegasus or twenty-five miles west from Ponyville, I’ve received information from reliable sources that the number of infected roaming the directional areas of those respective cities have increased. The respective miles west from Ponyville, there have been-”

“Hey, why’d you turn it off?” River Rose questions in an annoyed tone “I was listening to that!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t give a shit,” I snap “so just get over it and stop whining. You don’t need to know what’s going on west of Ponyville, I don’t need to know, we’re not going in that direction. We’re heading roughly north when we reach the bottom of the mountain.”

River Rose glares at me for a moment before mumbling something under her breath as she trots over to the window. Zephyr turns to me with a look on her face as if to ask ‘really?’. I shake my head and sigh as I reach over towards the radio and turn it back on. River Rose looks over at me for a moment before returning her gaze to the window. The door suddenly swings open and slams against the wall. Instinctively, I have my gun drawn and aimed at the door, but holster it when I see Sapphire gallop into the room. She looks out into the hall for a moment before closing the door.

“Everything okay, Saph?” I question.

“For now, yeah,” She answers “a couple of soldiers spotted me but I managed to give them the slip.”

“We should probably get moving then,” Zephyr says “I don't feel like dying or going to jail today.”

“Did you see the weapons?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah,” Sapphire says with a large grin “I thought we had a lot to start off with from Cobalt, but the interest Ocean threw in? The Underground could easily wipe out ERMR and take over the city. Hell, we could wipe out the Fireflies too if we wanted. Ocean even threw in eleven boxes of ammunition for every weapon we get.”

“Talk about desperate, but count me in!” I exclaim happily.

“That's one hell of a deal,” Zephyr says in awe “River must be really important if she's worth a shit ton of weapons and ammunition.”

“You know, that's really been nagging at the back of my mind,” I say “I know I said I didn't care, but I can't help but to be curious.”

“Well, like I told you earlier, Ocean Breeze said I wasn't allowed to tell you,” River Rose says matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes as I stand up and use my magic to secure my saddlebags around my waist once more. Zephyr stretches and follows my lead.

“Eeep!” River Rose suddenly screeches “I love this song!”

An upbeat, classical jazz tune plays from the radio for about thirty seconds before turning into a slow, classical tune of pianos and violins. A beautifully smooth and rich feminine voice begins to sing;

“Hey, do you remember? Back in school? Two fools blinded by young love, me and you. A pegasus of iron and a unicorn of glass…

You swore you would protect me, keep me safe from harm. You promised you'd love me forever, faithfully, unconditionally. And for a while, you kept all your promises. From rough to sweet, rude to mannerly. Suddenly, your friends, they begin to hate me, despised the stallion I made you to be…”

I've got to admit, that Lady Bird has one hell of a voice. From time to time, she visits Quarantine Zones and performs concerts. She visited our Zone a couple months ago and, despite my profuse denials, I genuinely very much enjoyed her singing. The song Lady Bird is singing now is one she wrote herself. It's fairly new and pretty catchy. I'll even admit, it's also pretty badass. The song has only been out for a couple of weeks. She calls the song 'Don't Need Wings’.

“It reminds me of my deadbeat ex-husband,” I suddenly say aloud.

Sapphire, River Rose and Zephyr all look at me with confusion on their face.

“You had a husband?” Zephyr questions.

“Somepony actually loved you?” River Rose questions.

Zephyr elbows River Rose hard in the chest, earning a winded grunt from the young pegasus.

“Yes, I had a husband, and yes, somepony used to love me,” I answer “I understand why you two would be confused, but Sapphire- you know damn well I had a husband, one that I pray to Celestia has been killed by infected or hunters.”

“No, I remembered,” Sapphire says “I was just confused at your… random statement. You don't usually share personal information out of the blue like that.”

“I was thinking too hard,” I say “it happens sometimes. I'm getting pretty old.”

“You don't look old to me,” River Rose says “you look younger than my mom and she was in her thirties when she died.”

“I’m a lot older than your mom, probably old enough to be your grandma,” I say “I'm in my late forties.”

“Late forties? That's not old enough to be my grandma,” River Rose says “maybe if you were like sixty or something, sure, but forties? Nah. No way.”

“I feel old, at least,” I say “maybe it's just the nature of all I've done since the apocalypse started that makes me feel old.”

“What do you mean?” Zephyr questions.

“I don't have time to tell my life story,” I answer.

“You said your husband was a deadbeat? What'd he do?” River Rose questions.

“Cheat, abuse me and somepony else I loved both physically and verbally, and just all around be a sleazy asshole,” I answer “not that it's any of your business.”

“And here I thought we were getting somewhere,” River Rose mumbles with a sigh “back to square one.”

“We should probably get going,” I say “the sooner we ditch the brat, the better off we'll be.”

“Right,” Sapphire says “we'll need to go the long way out to the back. The soldiers were nearing the front when I ran in.”

“Think we can make it to the train station?” I question.

“At this time of night? Probably, but I think they sealed it off already,” Sapphire answers “Nelly and Guffy said they overheard two guards talking about the train station and sealing both it and the tunnels. Probably a load of infected inside.”

“Let's make a backup plan just in case we can't go that way,” I say “if we can't go down the mountain the easy way, how will we get down?”

“You've been to the bottom of the mountain, right? I know four is a lot but maybe you could teleport us there,” Sapphire says.

“I could try, but it'll exhaust me,” I say “and if I can't, somepony will get left behind. I could go back and get them, but then you'd have to count your powerhouse out of the picture for a while. That would definitely exhaust me.”

“What if I just fly down the mountain and meet you at the bottom?” River Rose asks.

“Out of the picture,” Sapphire replies “we're supposed to protect you and we can't if you're not with us. Besides, ERMR send out frequent aerial patrols. You'd be caught for sure, no matter how fast you might think you are.”

“Do you have a picture of the place we're traveling to? Or some place close?” Zephyr questions “I might can teleport somepony as well if I have a clear picture of where I'm going.”

“No, we don't,” I answer.

“I think the train tunnels might be the only option,” Sapphire says “and if it's sealed off, we're shit out of luck.”

“I know you hate Fireflies and all, but I think the Canterlot mines have exits at the bottom of the mountain, you can ask Ocean Breeze and then we can be on our way to the castle thing,” River Rose says.

“And cross back to that part of time at this time of night? No way,” Sapphire says “not only is that part of town swarming with soldiers, which is dangerous enough as it is, but I'm not taking the risk to get lost in the mines and I'm sure as hell not going to trust a Firefly to escort us through them either.”

“It was just an idea for a plan-b, sheesh,” River Rose grumbles.

“Perhaps- and this just food for thought, so don't get mad- you should swallow your pride and all your hard feelings and distrust towards the Fireflies and ask them for help,” Zephyr says “sometimes even the lion needs the lamb’s help.”

“If we can't get through the tunnel, there is always the mines, and if Ocean Breeze needs River Rose to be taken to the Castle of Friendship that badly, then I'm sure she'll happily aide you through the mines,” She adds “and don't forget we could just teleport over to the mines. I know where it's at and so does Ms. Honey, so that's not an issue.”

“I hate it with other ponies are right,” Sapphire grumbles with a sigh.

“Let's just hope the train tunnels are clear,” I say in annoyed tone “let's go.”

Sapphire trots over to the window and opens it. After checking the area below, she climbs out onto the fire escape and waits for us. I watch as Zephyr and River Rose climb out onto the fire escape and stand close to Sapphire. With a small sigh, I climb out the window and join my companions outside. The sky is in the process of becoming dark as nighttime approaches. Dark clouds of midnight grey litter the sky. It'll probably rain soon.

Sapphire leads us up the fire escape until we reach the roof. Boxy HVAC units and metallic exhaust fans rest atop the roof, broken and worn with both age and neglect. A large wooden plank rests in the middle of the roof next to a rusted, mushroom shaped exhaust fan. Sapphire and I pick up the plank and carry it the right edge of the roof. Just as we’re about to place it on the edge and connect it with the other nearby roof, we hear the voices of soldiers coming from the ground below. Sapphire gestures for us to be quiet and for Zephyr to go over the edge. Reluctantly, Zephyr creeps over to the edge and carefully peers down below. A look of worry washes over her face as she backs away and looks at Sapphire.

“How many?” Sapphire whispers.

“More than ten,” Zephyr whispers back “they’re all over the place.”

“Fuck,” Sapphire whispers “if we teleport across, they’ll know we’re here for sure. We’ll just have to place the plank quietly and slowly go across.”

“What if they see us as we’re crossing?” I whisper.

“Then we’ll go one at a time,” Sapphire whispers “help me put the plank down.”

Quickly and quietly, Sapphire and I place the plank over the gap between the rooves. Sapphire climbs onto the plank and slowly makes her way across. The plank bows in the middle from her weight but continues to support her as she makes it across. Sapphire turns and gestures for one of us to come across. I gesture for River Rose to go ahead and cross the plank. She climbs onto the plank and inches her way across. She jumps off onto the roof and stands next to Sapphire. I climb onto the plank and carefully make my way across. I glance down and watch the soldiers mill about, weapons drawn. I jump off the plank and onto the roof. I trot out of the way and watch as Zephyr begins to make her way across. Halfway through, the plank groans and creaks beneath her. Zephyr pauses and looks warily down at the soldiers, then back at Sapphire and I. We gesture for her to hurry up and get off the plank. Zephyr takes a step forward, which earns another groan from the plank. Another step and, this time, the plank snaps in half. Zephyr’s eyes widen with fear as she begins to fall. With a bright flash of light, Zephyr’s suddenly on the roof. We hear the plank land on the ground below with a loud thump and the soldiers shout at each other.

“Nice quick thinking,” Sapphire whispers “now we’ve got to move quickly.”

Sapphire gallops across the roof with the rest of us closely in tow behind her. We jump across the gap separating this roof and the next and stick the landing. Soldiers have made it onto the roof we started out on and start to shout at us. The next roof is too far away for us all to jump across- or at least for those of us who can’t fly.

“Just jump,” Sapphire says to Zephyr and I as we approach the edge “don’t pause to think, just jump.”

Trusting Sapphire, Zephyr and I jump over the edge along with her. The wind whistles through our manes as we fall. A bright orange light illuminates the area and suddenly we find ourselves on the next roof.

“Holy shit, that was crazy!” River Rose exclaims as she flaps over to us.

“Was that necessary?!” Zephyr exclaims.

“Less distance for us to teleport means Honey Cake won't get as tired,” Sapphire answers with a casual shrug.

“I guess that makes sense, but let's not do it again,” Zephyr says in a quieter tone “that was scary.”

“You think that was scary? Just you wait, scarier things are bound to happen,” Sapphire says “scratch that- they will happen, and when they do, you need to keep your cool and your head leveled. All it takes is one slip up for us all to get fucked in the ass.”

“I see your point and your completely,” Zephyr says “but you have to keep in mind that I'm seventeen and I process things differently than you. I'll do my best to stay calm and collected, but you've got understand there are certain things I won't be able to do that with.”

“Are we done debating?” I question “because I'm pretty sure those soldiers two rooves over aren't going to just stand there and let us finish.”

“Right, follow me,” Sapphire says as she gallops away “I think we'll be able to lose them inside the museum if we go down into the basement. Nelly said there were old maintenance tunnels there, but wasn't sure if they were clear.”

“We’ve all got gas masks and weapons, so I'm willing to take the chance of facing infected if it means avoiding soldiers,” I say as I follow after her.

Thunder rumbles loudly in the sky as rain begins to gently pelt everything in sight. Sapphire dashes around a HVAC unit and onto a fire escape with the three of us following behind closely. The rain is cool against my skin and the sound of it against the fire escape is somewhat soothing. It's time like these the rain is either beneficial to you or completely fucks up your day. Depending on how hard it's coming down, rain can make it hard to see, which is beneficial to making a getaway, but if it is raining, the ground could turn to mud, which will leave behind hoofprints and the possibility of getting caught. I just hope the rain is on our side tonight.

Lightning crackles in the sky as we jump down from the fire escape. In the distance, we hear the soldiers shouting orders at one another. Sapphire leads us through several side streets and alleyways. The rain and dimness of the evening make the time worn buildings around us seem more decrepit than they really are. To some, like me, twenty years has felt like an eternity, but sometimes, twenty years doesn't seem that long ago. When I look at how decrepit and delipidated the buildings around me are and how much nature has begun to reclaim the buildings for its own, I think to myself, 'has it really been twenty years?’.

“Through here,” Sapphire says, pulling me from my thoughts.

She leads us through a doorway and inside of a decrepit building. Inside, we make our way past several relics encased in worn glass and aged wood pedestals. We trot into a room filled with worn, somewhat melted wax figures of the Princesses, Elements of Harmony and other important figures of Equestrian history on pedestals. Behind each of them is either a mural or stain glass window depicting images of the importance.

“Woah, these are cools,” River Rose says in awe as she flaps over to one of the figures “kind of creepy, but cool.”

“They might seem like relics to you or Zephyr, but to me and Honey, these were state of the art,” Sapphire says as she trots up to the wax figure of Princess Celestia.

“Equestria had Princesses?” River Rose questions “what happened to them?”

“They're still alive as far as I know,” I answer “they're just up north in the Crystal Empire, hiding away all snug, warm and safe in that city in the middle of the freezing arctic. It's been twenty years- twenty damn years- and they've yet do anything to help their citizens.”

“It's purely wishful thinking to believe the Princesses are doing anything at all to find some sort of cure or way to rid Equestria of all the infected,” Sapphire says “they only say they're working on something to keep Equestria from totally falling into anarchy.”

“The most they've done is make devices to detect when somepony is infected,” I say “we'll all be dead and gone by the time they actually start making some form of cure.”

“We should place blame some other day,” Zephyr says “it won't be long before the soldiers catch up to us, I'm sure.”

“Right,” Sapphire says, trotting towards a set of double doors “I think the basement is this way.”

“You think?” River Rose questions as we follow.

“Hey, I've only been here a couple of times,” Sapphire say defensively “I'm doing the best I can.”

“How about you just keep your little mouth shut and let us do our job,” I snap at River, who simply rolls her eyes in response.

“It's probably best if you did keep quiet,” Zephyr says to River “your arguing is going to be the death of us all if you keep at it.”

“But I'm not- ugh, fine, I'll keep quiet,” River Rose grumbles “I don't want to talk to that wrinkly asshat anyways.”

“That's pushing it a little,” Zephyr says with a sigh “if anything, just talk to me if you really need somepony to converse with.”

“You seem to have a knack for wrangling in bratty, impertinent teenagers,” Sapphire says to Zephyr.

“Well, I do have two younger brothers I always had to wrangle in and keep in line,” Zephyr says “one is twelve and the other is almost eight. They're pretty mischievous and rowdy, but I suppose all young colts are like that. It’s just me, my grandma and my brothers and my grandma- bless her old heart- is always working her tail off so I'm left to look after my brothers.”

“What happened to your parents?” I question.

“They died a long time ago,” Zephyr answers in surprisingly calm tone “my mom died after she had my youngest brother, which left just my dad, my grandma and the three of us kids until my dad died. He and I went out to scavenge for food and we got separated when Runners started chasing us. When I found him, he was torn apart and his guts were everywhere.”

“Oh- er, sorry for your loss,” I say quietly.

“It's okay,” Zephyr says with a sad smile “hasn't everypony lost something they love to this God forsaken apocalypse?”

“I suppose so,” Sapphire says “it's not like the infected- or the spores that cause it all- systematically target us, but you still can't help to think 'why me?’ whenever you lose something or somepony you love.”

Silence- save for the sound of our hooves against the concrete floor- sweeps over us as we trot down darkened corridors. Stained, crooked paintings hang on the walls. Broken vases sit upon wooden tables covered with moth-eaten tablecloths. Soon, the four us come to a set of closed double doors. On the ceiling above them, an exit sign glows a soft red, just barely illuminating the area. On the wall left of the door is plaque indicating exit stairs.

“Are you sure this is the way to the basement?” I question “because the signs say this is the exit.”

“I'm pretty sure they're this way,” Sapphire says “if not, we’ll just have to keep going. There's no turning back at this point.”

“Well, you're the fearless leader,” I say “lead on.”

Sapphire nods and trots up to the doors.

“Wait!” Zephyr exclaims suddenly.

“What is it? What's the matter?” Sapphire questions.

“Shouldn't we put on our masks just in case there might be spores?” Zephyr questions “I can't really see through the door windows because it's dark and I don't want us to get caught off guard.”

“Hm? Yeah, good call,” Sapphire says “it would really suck ass to fuck up at this point. We really need those weapons.”

Simultaneously, we strap our masks securely to our faces. I trot up to the double doors and push the rightmost door open. Sure enough, the stairwell is filled with spores and fungal plates. Cautiously, I turn on my flashlight and peer down the stairs, my shotgun drawn. The light pierces through the thick darkness and illuminates the millions of spore particles floating through the air. I creep silently down the stairs, fully alert but cautious all the same. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the wing-like fungal bodies swaying gently on their own accord. The heavy silence is disrupted by the sounds of grunting, groaning and clicking coming from below. The further down I traverse through the fungal-plated stairwell, the more clearer the noises become. Once I reach the bottom of the stairwell, I trot up to a closed metal door and stop. The grunting, groaning and clicking- in addition to shuffles, hoofsteps and choked cries- are coming from the otherside of the door. There’s no doubt in my mind that infected are on the other side. Given the amount of spores present and the clicking I’m hearing, there has to be many infected inside and definitely more than one Clicker, definitely more than four Runners and- based off the shuffling- maybe some Stalkers as well.

I turn off my flashlight and press my ear up against the door. There’s definitely more than five infected on the other side. The Underground has a rule about fighting infected when you’re going it alone: NEVER- and we meanNEVER- fight more than five infected, even if you could easily take them out. Better to be safe than sorry and whatnot. The rule is especially applied when going up against Runners. They travel in packs of six or seven and will swarm you if given the chance. Unfortunately for us- or rather me- there is a disgusting mix of infected inside. Any one type of infected together- or even alone- is dangerous enough as it is, especially when it comes to Runners, Stalkers and Bloaters- but to have a mix of the types of infected? Trying to fight them is almost always a suicide mission. That being said, if I take the time to travel back up and let the others know about the infected in the basement and then come back down with them, that’s ample time given to the soldiers to find the four of us. However, if I go ahead and take them out myself, that saves time for us to get away properly. That is, at least, if I stop standing here thinking to myself. I sigh and ready my shotgun. Looks like I’ll just have to deal with Sapphire’s bantering later.

As quietly as I can, I grab the door handle and turn it. With a soft creak, I pull the door partially open and slip inside. I close it behind me- which probably will end up being a mistake later- and crawl forward slowly. With the door closed, there’s no chance the infected will slip past me and make it up the stairs to the others. Not only would that put them in danger, but it would worry them- Sapphire mostly- and make them think I was killed. I shake my head and focus on my surroundings. Everything is pitch black and I can just barely see what’s in front of me.
Turning on my flashlight would most definitely result in being swarmed and overwhelmed, which would ultimately lead to my demise. Luckily, I have just the spell to cast for situations like these. With the help of some other unicorns in the Underground, I created a spell that greatly enhances the caster’s sense of hearing and outlines anything emitting a sound, whether it be another pony, an infected or even a generator. The spell takes a lot of energy out of the caster, though, and becomes less effective the more they use it (due to the lack of energy, clearly). Not only that, but it only lasts for thirty seconds and is canceled if you move. That’s not the end of it, though. No, this spell has a lot problems despite its usefulness. In addition to the effects above, the spell causes disorientation and dizziness. In some rare cases, it does also cause temporary blindness. Because of that, the spell is mostly only used as a last resort. Hell, it might be a little unrefined, but that spell has saved my ass more than once. That spell was the first I- or any of the other Underground unicorns for that matter- had ever made, so side effects and problems were unavoidable.

I shake my head and mentally slap myself. Just crouching here in the darkness and thinking is wasting time. With a sharp, quiet exhale, my horn is briefly enveloped by bright orange magic. Anything I previously could see in the darkness disappears and is enveloped by pitch black darkness. Around me, several things become outlined in a bright white. With the help of this spell, I'm able to determine the number of infected inside the basement. With the outlines, I can make out six Runners, two Clickers and one Stalker. Numerous fungal plates are outlined as well, but these are ignored. My ears twitch as they focus on every noise the infected make, every small breath, grunt, mutter and groan they make, every single step they take. The clicks being emitted from the Clickers resonate in my ears, which rattles my brain a little.

I take a deep breath in and take a step forward. Everything turns back to normal and the outlines disappear. For a brief moment, a wave of dizziness washes over me, but I soon regain my focus and prepare myself for one hell of a fight. No matter how sneaky I try to be, blood and bullets will definitely be shed. Thankfully, I memorized the locations the outlines of where the infected were, so hopefully I can stealthy take out a few Runners and or that Stalker.

In the darkness, I make my way to my first target and take great care to avoid bumping into or tripping over anything. The sound of soft, choked sobs and grunting catches my attention. I look to my left and see the faint outline of a Runner with its back to me. By the body shape, I'm able to make it out that it’s a pegasus mare.

I creep up behind the infected, sobbing mare and crawl around the right side of her. In the blink of an eye, I have my forelegs squeezed tightly around her neck. I pull up hard on her neck and stumble back onto my haunches. The mare emits quiet chokes and squirms in my grip as I wrap my back legs around her waist and ease gently onto my back, pulling harder and harder until I can pull no harder nor further. The mare tries her best to squirm and buck her way free, but soon, she's still and quiet in my grasp. With a sigh, I release my grip on the mare and push her off of me. I get up, dust myself off and crouch back down. I wander around the basement as quietly as I possibly can and manage to choke out three more Runners without being noticed. I quickly and quietly switch out my shotgun for one of the shivs inside of my saddlebags as I approach the backside of one of the Clickers. With a deep breath, I quickly grab the Clicker from behind and stab the shiv deep into its neck. The Clicker twitches hard and lets out a small click of distress before becoming still. Dark, red- nearly black in this darkness- blood seeps out from around the shiv and dribbles down the Clicker’s neck.

Four Runners and one Clicker down, two more Runners, a Clicker and a Stalker left to go. Quietly but in a decent, slightly faster pace, I continue to wander the basement in search of my next target. In my slight haste to hurry and clear the infected, I accidentally kick a glass bottle and send it skittering across the floor. It clinks against a wall and rolls to a stop. Around me, I hear the Runners and Stalker let out shouts of agitation and the Clicker emit a loud shriek of anger.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck! I've really done it now! I've been so careful and quiet and- UGH!

I pull out my shotgun and quickly retrace my steps back to the door. I turn on my flashlight and wait, my shotgun at the ready. Within moments, the disgusting, veiny faces of the Runners come into view. Quickly, I also draw my pistols and take aim at my enemies. Time seems to slow down as each bullet and shell leaves the chambers of my firearms and hurls themselves towards the heads and necks of the infected before me. In no time at all, the Runners are mowed down. Their bodies drop to the floor as blood gushes from their bullet wounds and pools beneath their warped, colorless bodies.

In the blink of an eye, I find myself being tackled and pinned to the ground on my back. The sudden attack from the Stalker causes a moment of fear and throws me off guard. My guns fall to the floor with a loud clatter. The Stalker- a unicorn stallion- attempts to take a chunk out of my mask and face. It takes all of my strength to hold him back and keep him from biting any part of my body. I quickly summon a bright orange magical shield that sends the Stalker flying backwards. He lands with a loud thump and grunts loudly. The move gives me just enough time to stand up and ready my guns. The Stalker lets out a scream of anger and comes charging at me. He barely manages to make it a foot before falling dead to the ground, blood pouring from his wounds and gathering below him.

Behind me, I hear the shrill cry of a Clicker and just barely manage to dodge the plate-faced mare as she charges forward. Angrily, she whips her fungal-plated head back and forth as she emits quick, sharp clicks in quick successions in front of me. Without hesitation, I aim for the back of her head and put three bullets into her skull. Just as her body falls to the ground, the basement door swings open violently and Sapphire bolts into the room with her weapons drawn. Zephyr and River Rose follow behind her closely with their weapons drawn as well.

“Honey Cake!! Are you okay?!” Sapphire exclaims as she gallops up to me “Are you hurt?? Are you bitten??”

“I'm fine, Sapphire,” I say “my chest just hurts a little from being forcefully winded, but that's the extent of my injuries.”

“Your chest hurts?” Sapphire questions in a tone as if she were speaking to a child.

Without warning, she bucks me hard in the chest. A loud gasp escapes my lips as all the air in my lungs is forced out of body. I stumble backwards and fall onto my haunches. Pain hits my chest like a freight train as I struggle to catch my breath.

“Woah, what the fuck Sapphire?!” River Rose exclaims.

“Shut up and stay out of this!” Sapphire sneers at her.

I’ve just barely catched my breath when Sapphire kicks me again and pins me against the floor. The wind I had barely regained leaves my body as Sapphire places the barrel of her gun against my forehead. I try to speak, but all that comes out are winded gasps.

“What the fuck, Honey Cake?! What in the actual fuck?!” Sapphire exclaims “the hell did you think you were doing?! Trying to show off and be a badass hero?! Being a fucking reckless idiot is all you were doing!! You could've been killed!! Why didn't you let us know first?! We could've helped you!! Do you know how upset, sad and angry I would've been if you had died down here all by yourself?!

Why don't you stop thinking of yourself for once and think about how other ponies feel, huh?! HUH?!! You… you fucking bastard!! Didn't your mother ever teach you that there's no 'I’ in 'Team’?! Or was she just as ignorant and self centered as you?! Did all those blows from that bag of meat you call an ex-husband fuck up your small ass brain or something?! Did you fucking forget about the rules of fighting infected and going it alone that we have?! Or did you just blatantly ignore them?! Huh?! HUH?! Answer me you fucking bitch!!”

Welcomed silence- save for Sapphire's heavy breathing- fills the basement. Sapphire stares me right in the eyes, tears welling up and spilling from her emerald green eyes. She's angry, but also sad and upset, and it's honestly understandable.Anger and sadness well up and conflict in my chest. Part of me wants to fight Sapphire, even kill her, for insulting my mother and insulting me with my turbulent past- for just insulting me in such a crude manner in general with a gun to my head. The other half of me, however, wants to burst into tears and run away as far as I can from her and just hide. A small, insignificant and quiet part me wants nothing more than for Sapphire to pull the trigger… to end my life.

What feels like an eternity passes by before the silence is broken by a quiet sob. It takes a moment for me to realize that the sob had came from my mouth. Tears I didn't notice I had been holding back fall from my eyes and wet my face as more sobs escape my lips. It seems the part of me that wanted to run away, crying and sobbing my heart out, has come out on top. More tears and sobs came and soon, I couldn't control them any longer. They just kept coming like a flood.

“Holy shit,” River mumbles in a shocked awe “you… you made her cry!”

“I know I haven't known any of you long, but from the time we've been together, I know Honey Cake is a strong mare, physically and emotionally. Stone cold and rock hard,” Zephyr says “it takes a lot to break somepony like that. You broke Honey Cake, Sapphire. It’s understandable for you to be upset, but you took things too far. Honey Cake probably wants to go home or run away now, so congrats! You've done and fucked up the mission!”

Sapphire looks back at Zephyr and River Rose for a moment before turning her attention back to me. Waves of guilt, sadness and anguish hit me likes tsunami waves. I want to rip off my gas mask and inhale the spores. I want that trigger to be pulled. I… I just really want to be with Ivory Rain again. Guilt, old and new, and anguish from my past flood my heart and mind. It's unbearable and I want it to stop. Why won't it stop?!

Sapphire holsters her gun and pulls me onto my haunches. I'm still a sobbing mess and I feel so ashamed… so embarrassed.

“I'm sorry, I went too far,” Sapphire says quietly “I didn't mean any of it, I swear to Celestia I didn't. Please stop crying. We have to go. They'll find us if we don't leave. You have to stop crying, Honey. Please, I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you later, I promise. You know I keep my promises. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…”

Sapphire trails off as she backs away from me, guilt and regret apparent on her face. It takes everything in me to suck it up and stop crying. The sobs coming from me are soon replaced by hiccups, small half-choked whimpers and sniffles as I stand up.

“I'll keep going, but only because I want those weapons,” I sniff “the sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get away from you forever.”

“Forever?” Sapphire questions quietly.

“Forever,” I answer with a hiccup “that's the third time you've gone too far in the seventeen years I've known you. I've always forgiven you for the small slip ups, and even the big ones, but you've striked out this time. Haven't you heard the term 'Three strikes and your out’?”

“I… you're right,” Sapphire says quietly “I wholeheartedly deserve that. Just promise me you'll find somepony to look after you, okay?”

“I'm not promising you jackshit,” I snap “let's just get going.”

“R-right,” Sapphire stammers “follow me.”

Reluctantly, I follow after Sapphire through the basement. She leads the three of us to a hole in the basement wall partially blocked by a old, broken vending machine that's fallen over onto a second vending machine. Without a word, Sapphire attempts to move the machines all on her own, but they just barely scoot forward a couple of inches. Zephyr and River Rose join her and together they manage to half unblock the way. The machines could’ve been completely moved if I had decided to help, but I'm just too angry and upset with Sapphire to help out, which- in all honesty- is really fucking petty. I watch as Sapphire squeezes through the gap they created and enter the hole. Zephyr and River Rose follow her lead and soon the three of them are waiting for me inside of the hole. I take in a deep breath, exhale sharply and squeeze past the machines and into the hole.

This is gonna be a long mission...