Finding peace

On the clouds the portal sits in the middle of Cloudsdale. Every pegasus is warming up for the mission Princess Celestia made and on top of that she is going to be with them today. Everypony is excited and they wait until the princess gives her signal. Princess Celestia however, was not in a good mood.

"Are you alright your majesty?" One of the volunteers ask

"Yes, I am" Princess Celestia sighed deeply

"Still worried about Twilight?"

"Much more than that. I'm worried about my ponies, Ripper"

Ripper looked away from her and looked into the purple and black portal below them. Ripper stood up and flew away to meet up with the others. Celestia looked at the sky for a brief moment before standing up and telling everypony that the scouting is about to begin. Some pegasi have started to become nervous and others have been trying to keep confidence high. But there was only one who didn't have a single one of those. Rainbow Dash was soaring through the sky with a big grin on his face.

"Oh yeah! When I get in there I will kick those foalnapper's butts"

The crowd was lively once again. Most ponies have shaken off their fears. Then Rainbow noticed somepony in the crowd. She flew down to see Scootaloo looking up at her

"You will come back right?" Scootaloo asks as she tries to not cry

"I'll be fine. Besides, how would they catch me?" She raises her wings for everypony to see.

"Promise?" Scootaloo asks before whimpering

"I promise" Rainbow comforted her

Then Celestia moved to the front of the portal. She called out to the volunteers

"On the count of three!" All the pegasi have turned to the princess

"One" They ready their wings

"Two"

"Three" All of the volunteers including Celestia have gone through the portal.

Minutes past until Sean and Thunder Wing has finally entered Bronycon

Thunder Wing looked around him. Broken shops and stands have been fixed with pieces of scrap metal and poles. The lights above them are shattered and there were humans and ponies walking alongside each other everywhere.

Sean stops at a stand with nuts, screws, bolts and nails alongside with an open toolbox overflowing with tools. He fumbles in his backpack and hands out canned beans and a few paper bills. The shop keeper, wearing a green jacket and camo-pants, took the can and money in exchange for two small boxes of nails.

Sean thanks the shop keeper and went in a direction further into the half exposed structure. He motions me to follow him and so I did.

Around me, were ponies either half-covered in bandages or recovering. On one corner of the room, Sean is talking to a man with a full grown beard and wearing a poncho.

"Are you bringing in another pony?" The man pointed at me "A pegasus ay? That's rare to see"

"No, I'm asking if you've seen a female unicorn with peach skin and rosy hair"

The man scratches his beard for a second before answering

"I did see one. But she is long gone. She was being taken by the yellow tigers a few hours ago"

"The yellow tigers... How far is it from here?" Sean asks

"About 2 miles at least"

"Two?"

"Sorry pardner, it's a long walk from here to them"

I sat down and hung my head. How are we going to walk two miles when I can't even finish my exercise quota back in ponyville? I really didn't think my lack of exercise would bite me back.

"How about if we fly?" I chipped in

"Thunder, you know I can't fly" Sean stretches his hands out and pretending to flap wings.

"Don't worry. I've got a mode of transportation right here" The man uncovers a small pile of debris behind him. There were two scooters both colored in bright blue. They each had a small basket made of bright oak to their front.

"These girls are very maneuverable in the harsh debris. For you Sean, this time it's for free"

"Uh, Thanks for the offer but we-"

"I'll take one" I interrupted him

"Wonderful choice. Although I don't see why you would need a scooter when you have wings" He handed me the scooter.

I made a spin around the room. Avoiding all the wounded ponies. The wind blowing through my mane made a feeling when I was back in equestria controlling the weather.

"Woowee! This is amazing" I stopped right at Sean's feet

Sean's arms were cross but the grin on his face made me feel happy. To our left a pony cried out of pain and the man in the poncho came to him or her. I can hear silent whispers from them. Out of curiosity I trotted next to him. Sean did to.

"Is it okay now?" The man asked the pink pony

She only whimpered but nodded eventually. I examined her thoroughly. Three large bandage covered in red stains were enough to gag me already. Her hooves were sore and bleeding. Her sides were I assume cuts. Luckily, the bleeding has stopped but she's still weak. On her left side was the same print that was on the mare we found dead in the safehouse.

"Red... What does that mean?" I asked pointing the stamped fur and another to my chin

"Means that the red dragons have disposed of her. Fortunately, a few scouts have found her before she died"

"Ah. But what's the use of the stamp?"

"So that when they scout for more ponies they aren't gonna get the same one"

We left Bronycon with a new goal: to find the Yellow Tigers and rescue Tulip Blossom. At the T-junction, Sean told me that he'll come back to the safe house to reinforce the hole in the floor and the door. I agreed but before we could part ways. A fast gust of air left us landed on our backs and followed by wisps of wind. Looking up, I saw a rainbow slowly fading. Sean looks at the rainbow with me

"Was that Rainbow Dash?"

"Looks like it" I flew up until I was high above the city. The rainbow trail seems to be going to the opposite direction we were heading.

I tried to call out for them but they didn't hear it. They were too far already. I flew back down next to Sean.

"Did you manage to get their attention?"

"No. They seem to be distracted by someone or somepony"

Sean ponders for a second before talking back

"Well, I'll be going now. You take care now" Sean puts his backpack on him before walking away

"Yeah, you too"

Tulip is only two miles away. Approximately four hours between here and there. As the few minutes pass, I became quite bored of the scooter. I looked around me to find something that would help me make some fun out of. Fun comes first before mission after all. My eyes catch a pharmacy just across the street. Through the broken slide doors, it's lights are busted and the shelves are thrashed. In the middle of the store lay a wooden chest. It barely fits in the aisle. The lock was rusted with a green note sticking at its front.

"If you want the goods, then you need to earn the goods

-Green Eagles"

I searched around trying to find something that will break the lock. On the counter I found a screwdriver and some pins, seeing that I grabbed them both only to realize I don't know how to pick a lock. I frowned and put them back on the counter. Looking back, I take the screwdriver because it's the only weapon I can find here.

I enter the storage room. It's rather small for a large store like this. Eyeing at the taped cardboard boxes I pull the screwdriver under my wing and start to cut it. It didn't take long until the cardboard box opened and I took a look inside. The contents of the box were painkillers lots of them, some snacks and cereal bars and a few bottles of water. I took a cereal bar and started ripping the wrapper off. I ate the crunchy cereal bar in three bites. I looked back down at the cardboard box more closely. There were bundles of cereal bars and a hidden cigarette pack under them. I took a bottle of water and opened it with my teeth. After sipping, I figured I'd put the scavenged snacks and water when I leave. Taking snacks and placing them on the basket is quite tiring even though it's just a small distance. As I make my final trip, I looked back at the aisle where the wooden chest lay. Examining the chest I trot behind it and saw a hole. There goes my curiosity of whatever was in there. But when I approached the chest it started to emit this glowing purple light. I crouched down to look for the light source and I saw a purple diamond-like gem sitting in a glass box container. I reached out for the gem.

The gem was glowing brighter and brighter when I pulled it closer to me. When the glass box was finally outside the chest. I looked into it. The gem was on top of a wooden foundation the size of the glass box. The foundation had an engraving on it that says:

"Subject #01 interrogation please handle with care"

Outside, I can hear screams and gunfire just a short distance from here. I kept the parcel under my wing. There was no way I'd be staying here for long.

Satisfied with my choice to keep the cereal bars and water bottles I move on. In the next intersection I cross was a slaughter. I counted at least seven bodies, all of them in a camo uniform with a vest with the word 'Police', in the middle and long trails of blood leading from the middle to their respective owners. I gagged but not enough to make me vomit. The dead humans were armed judging by the huge guns that they were holding. One was full to the brim with explosives. Between all the blood and bullets scattered around the intersection. There was one trail of blood that caught my interest. It was leading to a bar with cracked glass windows and a glass door with multiple cracks and an obvious struggle happened with the lock seeing as the knob of the door has been hacked straight off from the door. The blood trail goes behind a counter. When I approached the floor below me squeaked and a voice came behind the counter.

"Alright! You got me. You got me. I'm coming out now"

I expected a human criminal or one of the gangs out living in those buildings but what came out was a pony. A unicorn stallion with a yellow coat and a bright green and green patterned mane. He is stained in blood both his and not his. He looks at me wide eyed.

"Oh thank fuck. I thought I'd never see another fellow pony. You are not going to kill me are you?"

"No, I'm not" I said

"Finally, somepony who I can trust after a week" he says wearily

I inspect him. He was limping the time when he faced me. He had bandages strapped around his entire chest. The bandage was tattered. He also had multiple slices in his chest region. One of the cuts were huge. Probably made by a sharp object. Maybe a machete. His knees were trembling in fact, his entire body is trembling by the amount of blood he is losing.

"You okay there?" I asked him, he just slowly shook his head

"Here, let me treat your wounds. I'm an amatuer"

He didn't say anything. He fell onto his knees before slowly laying on his side.

I didn't think twice but look for medical supplies somewhere in the bar. Lucky for me, I found a first aid kit just across me and my patient. I unraveled the adhesive bandage and luckily there were no open wounds under it. The chest area was the one I'm worried about. I opened the first aid kit and started to work.

I worked on it immediately. I sat there then looked around looking for a bathroom. Behind us were two restrooms. One had a symbol of a stick figure and the other had an extra triangle in its body. It didn't matter to me at all. I helped him as we slowly trot up to one of the restrooms. Once there, I laid him back on his side and trot upon one of the sinks. I bit the faucet and turned the handle. Water was splashing around me. I wet my hooves and laid them onto the injured unicorn. He groaned but didn't move. I massaged the cut and added pressure to stop the bleeding, The unicorn winced but ignored it. Looking into the kit I grabbed the antibacterial bottle in my teeth and put it between my hooves then opening it with my teeth. I opened the bottle and started to put the oily liquid next to the wound then to the wound itself. The unicorn wriggled around then stopped. I took a clean bandage from the kit into my mouth and started to wrap him up. I kept the bandage in place then tied it. As my first time doing this to somepony else it felt good. Doing these kinds practices over and over again in a training area for years in the best hospital of all of equestria is just insanely boring.

"You should be good to go now" I gently tapped my fore hoof to his chest

"Thank you for that" He waved his hoof at me

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I looked for supplies in the bar. All I could find was a stock full of beer and wine in the back rooms and a strange long box with a golden lock I found in a room just beside the restrooms.

"Let me see that" The unicorn slowly walked to me and lifted it up with telekinesis. His tired red eyes looked at the lock and looked at me.

"Do you happen to have a screwdriver on you and a pin?"

I lifted up my left wing and grabbed the screwdriver with my teeth.

"I have a screwdriver just no pins"

"Eh, this'll do"

He wraps his light green magic on the screwdriver and starts to work on the lock. I looked away going back to search for supplies. For minutes, I thought he'd just given up on the lock and started to search around like me but then I heard a loud click reverberating the bar. Inside the large box was a long gun. I've never seen a single gun this large. I only knew the pistols or the revolvers. But not this kind.

"Ooh! Me likey!" The unicorn wraps the long gun with his magic.

"What's it called?"

"It's called a shotgun. One pull from this trigger at point blank and your victim would just be a clump of blood lying on the floor" He raises the gun at eye level and points it to the wine bottles.

Bang!

The bottles explode from the blast. The recoil was extremely powerful even the unicorn stumbled back.

"Has it really been that long since I first held a gun?" He checks himself then the gun dangerously pointing at him to him. He sees this and points it somewhere else safe. Again, he doesn't look like one of the volunteers I saw back at camp so I asked him.

"Where did you come from?"

"I came from one of the portals like you silly"

"Then where was the portal located?"

"Erhm..." He looked around probably thinking for an answer

There we go. I didn't need anything after that

"You're not one of the volunteers aren't you?" I finally broke the silence

"Okay, you got me. I am not one of the volunteers of the princesses" The unicorn sighs "I was not a pony before"

I raised an eyebrow

"I lived one peaceful life, training myself to become one of the best marksman in the world but this happens and that dream is forever lost to the sea. Because I don't think I will get hired in this" He looks at himself

"If you were not a pony before, then what were you?"

"A human"