Author's Note

Disclaimer: Scenes of violence ahead.

6: Return to Form

There’s no sense in that, Eight. You need to slow down. You can’t solve everything by drawing blood.

Watch me.

…

Equestrian Wilderness
D3-08 “Blue Moon”
997.05.30 11:00 AM

The young buck hit the floor gagging as his throat was ripped away. I jumped up from the couch, as did Lilac. With a deep growl, I shoved the dying pony to the side with my magic, then began pushing the couch towards the door. “Everybody Alive? Anyone hit?” I shouted, a bit unnecessarily. I heard the others make various sounds of affirmation. Lilac was by my side, rifle at the ready as she hovered close to the floor. Rolo and Walnut had pulled their couch back towards the wall, and Momma Withers was taking cover behind the kitchen counter. Jack was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Jack?” I asked.

“Right here,” he said from above me. I looked up and saw him in the rafters, trying to free a rifle. I pulled it free from its mounting for him with my magic. It was an old lever-action rifle, looked to have seen a lot of use long ago. “Thanks, missy.”

“Rolo! Need ammo, all our spare mags are in the truck, think you can pop some in here?” I said over to him from where me and Lilac were. We’d backed up to the other corner of the house. I was looking for things to cover the windows with. We hadn’t taken any more fire yet, but I was sure it’d come.

The duffel bag Rolo had brought with him appeared next to me. “Green tip, hope you don’t mind,” he said calmly from across the room.

“Thanks.” I levitated out three magazines and set them in front of me. “Lilac, you okay?” I looked over to her. She was still hovering with her hooves just barely off the floor. “I need you.”

She looked at me. “What do you need?” She looked to be all right.

“I need eyes out there. Range, heading, that sort of thing. Think you can fly fast enough through the trees to avoid getting shot?” I rummaged around in Rolo’s bag some more as I spoke. “I’m buying a compass when I get home,” I said.

“House faces directly East, little lady,” Momma Withers said. She had procured a shotgun and was approaching the window.

“I can do it Blue, just need an out,” Lilac said. Then Momma Withers shot out the window, and somepony outside screamed. She shot again, and the screaming stopped.

“You got one, least until some other bastard takes those two’s places,” Momma Withers said, nodding to the window.

“Two?” Walnut asked.

“Doesn’t matter, Wally! Thanks, Momma Withers!” Lilac took off. “I’ll be quick,” she said to me before launching out the window.

“Two shots, two kills. First one hit ‘em both, second one finished the job,” Momma Withers said to Walnut. She loaded two more shells into the shotgun. She appeared to have loaded the pockets of her apron with shotgun shells.

“We wait for Lilac to get back with her report, then we take action.” I began passing out magazines. “Everyone make your shots count. I need accuracy, not volume. We’ll clear as many as we can, then we break for the vehicle. Jack, Momma Withers, you two need to come with us. Isn’t safe here,” I said, and began covering the windows with quilts and the like. “Need you to cover that window up when Lilac returns,” I said to Momma Withers as I floated a bear skin to her. She nodded.

“Y’all gonna just take us from our home like that? What about all the stuff we got here?” Jack asked.

“It’s just stuff, Jack, it ain’t worth a damn if we’re dead,” Momma Withers said to him.

“You remind me of one of the guys I used to run with. Same name, too,” I said to Jack. He was struggling to free the action on the old rifle. I levitated over mine and the three spare magazines. “Always worried about the materialistic, saw value as a tangible thing. Was a good friend.” He looked at the AR and shrugged, then took it in his hooves and sat back down next to a wall.

A few shots rang out outside. They were met by fire from an AR which sounded like it was circling the house. A cacophony of gunfire roared all throughout the nearby forest for maybe half a minute, then dulled as the report of the AR continued. I counted thirty shots from the AR, then silence. A moment later, Lilac soared back in through the window she exited from and Momma Withers jumped up onto the counter and hung the bear skin in front of the window.

“Got a couple. There’s two down below the house, East-South-East, fifty yards. I hit one of them.” I passed her a magazine and she reloaded quickly. “Three more North of the house, along the road right next to the pond. Don’t know if I killed the one I hit down there, but he dropped. At least five above the house, West side. They’re deep into the woods though, couldn’t get close enough to be sure. Maybe a hundred yards?”

“Okay, that’s good. Thanks Lila. Rolo, think you can teleport in the spare rifle?” He nodded, and it appeared in front of me. “Okay. Need to formulate a plan here.” I paused for a moment. All was silent for a while, then somepony outside shouted something incomprehensible.

“They’re going to smoke us out,” Jack said. “We need to move, soon.”

I inhaled deeply. “Okay. Everyone take up a position near a window.” I moved to the West side of the house, and made my way towards a window. “I’ll need you with me Rolo, need your accuracy. Make your shots count, we don’t want to burn out of our ammo now. We have a long road ahead, and I doubt it’s friendly.”

“Shit, Blue,” Lilac said as she took a position on the East side of the house. “Forgot to mention, sorry. They hitched the trailer to my truck. I don’t know if I can unhitch it quick enough-“

“Don’t worry about it,” I interjected. “Deal with it when we get there.” I looked to Walnut. He was at the only window facing North. Jack was with Lilac on the East side, and Momma Withers was at her window near the kitchen, facing West. “No hostiles to the south?”

“Too dense, couldn’t have come from back there,” Momma Withers said. “You gonna signal us or something?”

I breathed in, filling my lungs. I did it again, and again, closing my eyes. Had to focus. This was a simple spell, but I hadn’t used it in a long time. Focusing on each of the windows and what covered them, I cast my spell, then tore the cover away. “Hold fire. Take aim first, let me know when you have a clear shot. They can’t see us.” I waited for a moment, then gradually I got affirmation from the others. Once everypony had a clear shot, I took aim. It was hard to focus through the spell, my eyelids felt heavy. I leveled the sights on one of the far targets, he was leaning up against a tree with a bottle at his hooves. “Okay, fire.”

We all shot nearly at once. The sound made my ears scream in agony. The feeling in my chest was not unlike how I felt when I fell from the sky all those weeks ago. I focused through it all and took aim at my next target, as I watched both mine and another fall. I shot again, and couldn’t hear the shot, but watched as the pony fell to the ground writhing. Another fell with him. Then I took the last one as he began running, putting two in his rump. He fell to the ground as well.

I slumped to the floor, and looked all around. I couldn’t hear the others shooting, just a constant scream in my ears. I didn’t expect that, didn’t anticipate for it. I saw the others had their ears folded. That probably helped protect them. I felt something running down either side of my head. I reached up to touch it, and my hoof came away bloody. Not good.

Rolo looked over to me and set his rifle down. He maneuvered me onto my stomach and placed his horn to my head. It began to glow, and slowly my hearing returned. It wasn’t perfectly clear, but I could hear clearly enough. There was just a really annoying buzzing sound.

“Blue, are you all right?” Rolo was asking me. I looked at him for a moment, then shook my head and stood back up. I was shaky on my hooves, but I didn’t fall back to the floor.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just wasn’t paying attention. Took a lot of focus to cast that spell.” I looked at the others. They were scanning their windows, watching for any other hostiles. The shooting had stopped. “We need to move,” I said. None of them reacted. “We need to move!” Shouting seemed to do the trick, as they all looked at me, then began making for the door. I followed. “Truck, now. Lilac, get it cranked up and ready to move, quick.”

We hurried out the door and around the house towards the truck. Running proved challenging, it felt like I couldn’t balance at all. I stumbled on more than one occasion, but Walnut came by my side and helped me along. “You all right? You’re bleeding,” he said in my ear. It sounded like he was half a mile away, I could just barely hear him.

“I’m fine, we need to move,” I replied, and kept moving towards the truck as Lilac cranked the engine. “We’ll take the trailer with us. Souvenir.”

“Sounds good.” He helped me to the truck and I got into the passenger seat with my rifle. Rolo had thrown his duffel bag into the back and gotten in with it. Walnut got in the back seat of the cab, along with Jack and Momma Withers. “Okay, that’s all of us, go,” Walnut said to Lilac. I slumped into my seat.

“Yeah, we taking the trailer?” Lilac said, putting the truck into gear and beginning to drive down the gravel road from whence we came.

“Souvenir, Blue said,” Walnut replied. Lilac looked at me and her eyes shot wide.

“Shit! Shit! Blue, are you okay? Fuck!” She slammed on the brakes and put her full attention on me. I tried to push her away but I felt like I was spinning. “Rolo! Celestia damn it, get in here! Need your magic, now! Wally, switch with me.” Lilac put the truck in park and lifted the center console before scooting over next to me. Walnut got out and flew over the truck to the driver side and got back in. Rolo got in where Walnut had been. “Heal her! Do something, what the fuck happened?”

“Over-pressurization of her ears. Messed up her equilibrium. I’ll see what I can do.” Rolo leaned over the center console as Lilac held my head in her hooves. I felt like I couldn’t move. I was looking down at Lilac’s belly and hind legs as she sat. Her pants were getting stained red as blood dripped from my head.

I felt Rolo’s horn contact my head again and felt a cooling sensation in my ears. The buzzing sound eased, and I could hear more clearly, but still felt like I was in a whirlpool. I tried to lift my head, but Lilac kept me from it. As Rolo worked his magic, I slowly felt better. After a moment, I felt as though I could hear as clearly as normal, and I was able to push Lilac off me. She grabbed me again and held on to me, wrapping her hooves and wings around me.

“Fuck, I thought you’d been shot, Blue,” I heard her whimper in my ear. I shook my head. “Shit, shouldn’t have gotten involved in this mess, coulda got us a job bagging groceries or something. Fuck.” She sounded distraught. I hugged her back.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll just need a minute.” I looked out the front window. We were moving again, down between the trees. I could hear the trailer behind us rattle as it was pulled along the gravel. We traveled down the road until we reached the clearing at the bottom, and I saw a wall of white. It was snowing. The tree cover had been so thick behind us I hadn’t noticed how heavy the snowfall was, but it looked almost as bad as the blizzard I’d arrived with.

“Gonna put it into four high,” Walnut said before reaching down and pulling the appropriate lever between Lilac’s legs. The road we’d taken in was covered in snow.

…

We traveled in silence for a short while, then I heard something hit the metal cabin of the truck. Thump. Thump. It happened again. “Taking fire, get moving Walnut,” I said. I still didn’t feel great, but that didn’t matter. Walnut floored the throttle, and we began accelerating faster down the snow-covered road. I looked out the window but couldn’t see anything past the heavy snow. I growled in the back of my throat. “They’re shooting at your tires, I’m sure. Get us out of here quick.”

“Gonna have to slow right down anytime we take a turn, that trailer ain’t gonna like bein’ swung ‘round a corner too quick,” Jack said.

I growled again. “Rolo, need you to help me steady the trailer when we come to a corner. Walnut, tell us when you’re about to make a turn and which direction it is. We’ll steady the trailer.” I turned in my seat so I could see out the back window. I looked right at Jack, and he ducked his head.

Rolo and I watched the trailer out the back window. It was white, same as the snow, which was frustrating. The red glow from the tail lights of the truck were a big help in managing to actually see the thing.

“Taking a turn, left,” Walnut said. Rolo and I focused our telekinesis on the trailer, keeping it from swinging out and dragging us off the road. I pushed and pushed as we turned, and the trailer stayed steady, but the effort nearly knocked me out. I slumped against Lilac, who held me up.

“You okay, Blue? You sure you should be doing that? Here, let me fly out there and push on it-“

“No. I’m fine. Stay here, safer inside,” I said through gritted teeth.

We rode along until we took another turn, and we did the same routine of steadying the trailer. Again, I nearly passed out for the effort. It felt like there was a hot iron right behind my eyes, and I was starting to lose color vision.

“Easy, girl. Don’t push yourself too hard, we’ll be okay from here,” Walnut said from the driver seat. He floored the throttle again and we barreled down the road.

“Watch for ice, damn it!” Lilac said as we swerved slightly. Walnut tried to correct but it was no good, he’d lost control of the vehicle. “Brace!” WHAM.

…

I awoke to that insufferable buzzing sound in my ear. I looked up and found that we’d slammed into a snowbank in a ditch. Everypony else was also just coming to. Thump. Thump thump thump…

“Under fire!” I shouted as loud as I could, and levitated out my rifle. I folded my ears and blasted the window next to me with a push spell and it shattered, then began firing blindly out at the vast empty white. “Get down! Small caliber, not piercing the hull! Avoid windows!” I searched all around for where the fire was coming from, then the bolt locked to the rear. I released the spent magazine and a new one appeared before me, in Rolo’s magical glow. I nodded my head, reloaded, and kept firing. I heard a shout from outside and directed my fire towards it. The incoming fire stopped. I got out of the vehicle and began making my way towards where I’d heard the voice.

The snow was already several inches deep and felt cold against my hooves. The way the wind pulled at me and buffeted me with snowflakes felt simultaneously refreshing and unpleasant. I stared straight ahead and watched for anything that moved, rifle at the ready. I needed answers.

Eventually I came upon a few drops of red in the sea of white, just off the other side of the road from where we’d gone off. They lead down a slight decline towards the river below. I carefully followed them, trying to keep my rifle steady. I could hear them now, the sound of someone drowning in their own blood. I recognized it.

“Where are you?” I shouted into the bleached air. I heard movement dead ahead, they’d fallen into the river. They’d likely freeze to death soon, I had to hurry. Eventually I reached the water’s edge, and I could see the shape of a pony half-submerged in the flow. They were shivering violently. With my magic, I dragged them by their tail back to the bank of the river and flipped them on their back. I’d hit them in the chest, through and through. Definitely hit a lung. “I want answers,” I said to them through gritted teeth, as I smacked the side of their head with the barrel of my rifle.

The pony looked over to where the barrel of the rifle was, right next to their head, then grinned. Their plaid shirt was soaked through, and with the wind blowing like it was, they were losing heat fast. They knew I didn’t have long to get my answers. That wasn’t good for them.

I passed my field of magic over the pony’s body, searching pockets and body cavities. I found a broken cell phone, a wallet with nothing in it, and a knife. I took the knife and inspected it. Dull, good. They were likely numb in their hooves, so I couldn’t get any reaction from them by going there. Had to be center mass. Keeping my rifle steady next to their head, I lowered the knife towards where I’d shot them. This pony was young, they surely didn’t have any experience in dealing with torture. I did. Turning the knife sideways, I pressed the flat of the blade into the open wound, and the pony screamed in agony. I leaned my face down next to theirs on the other side from my rifle and let off with the knife a little.

“You have information I need. I’d appreciate it if you shared it with me.” I shoved the knife hard against the wound and they yelped again. “Where’s the rest? Your crew, friends, whatever?” I asked loudly, staring into their eyes. No reaction, they just stared back at me and grit their teeth. I growled, long and low, pressing slowly with the knife again. “You’re not tough. Cough it up, where are they?” The pony spat in my face. I turned the knife and dug it into the wound, cutting flesh, and they screamed again.

“Answers! Now!” I yelled in their face. My voice was hollow, and I felt hollow. Like I wasn’t even there. My hooves were getting numb, I didn’t care. “Who do you work for?” I screamed, pressing the knife harder, the blade digging deeper. The pony under me tried to thrash and move, but their motor functions were failing as they gave in to hypothermia. “Names! Locations! Now!” I was getting angrier and angrier. It didn’t matter, I had to have answers. I could hear shouting behind me, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was me, this pony, and the knife I’d buried in their chest.

The young pony coughed and hacked up blood, then looked back up at me. I saw fear in their eyes. That was good, I could use fear. I pulled the knife away a nd got my face close again. “Stay with me here, I’m not done with you,” I said, tapping the barrel of my rifle against their head when I said done. "You lot have really pissed me off. You've made one hell of an enemy out of me. My name is Delta Three, Zero Eight, last living member of Delta Three. And, considering I'm the last living member, that means you've made an enemy of the whole of Delta Three. Now tell me what I want to know." Their eyes were pinpricks, staring into my empty eyes. I was a machine, I didn’t care what I felt, what they felt. I had an objective. I had to find the people that’d sent this pony. It was necessary.

The pony coughed again, wheezing as their lungs began to fail. I tapped the barrel against their head again, and they wheezed. “Krysinny… Kogot.” Rat Claw.

Then their eyes unfocused and they stopped moving. I dropped the knife to the ground and turned around.

Up the incline I’d gone down was Rolo and Lilac. They were looking at me with odd expressions. I began climbing back up, but couldn’t get my footing, and fell back down. I needed to go find out what, or who, Rat Claw was. I just had to get up off the ground. The world felt like it was spinning again. I needed to move, but I just couldn’t. The snow was so cold, the sky was so grey. I looked over to the corpse I’d created nearby. There was a lot of blood. The young buck had an amber coat, not unlike the color of Butterscotch’s mane.

Butterscotch…

…

I woke up in the truck. We were moving. I was in the back seat, next to Jack. On my other side was Lilac. She was looking at me with a worried expression. I looked back at her.

“Blue?” She asked me, tentatively. “You okay?”

“Where’s my rifle?” I asked. I patted around below the seat with my hoof. There it was. There wasn’t a magazine in it.

“We’re clear, Blue. Don’t need it anymore,” Walnut said from the driver seat. “Leave it there.”

“Blue,” Lilac said my name again. I looked at her. She had fear in her eyes. I remembered what I did.

“Rat Claw,” I said. “Got that out of him. Who or what is Rat Claw?”

“What? Blue…” Lilac looked away from me. “That was…”

“Lilac. You asked what I used to do for a living. That was it. That’s what I did. What I’m good at, getting answers. Rat Claw, what is it?” I wasn’t what was important. We needed to focus on getting to the enemy.

“Never heard of it. Organization, maybe?” Rolo said.

“They were Russian. I mean, Ponussian,” I said, rubbing my face with my hooves. At least I was warm a gain. Who was I kidding? It didn’t matter if I was warm, I had to find the enemy.

“Blue, slow down. What did you do that for?” Lilac asked.

“I told you. Needed answers.” I looked at her. “You’re a flier. Don’t do the ground work. Folks like me go places no one else knows about and we do things that no one hears about. Whoever set us up is going to pay for it. Just need to find the enemy.”

“Enemy? Blue, we’re in Equestria!” Lilac started, her feathers ruffled. “There is no enemy, we just got caught up in-“

“No, Lilac she’s right. That was a sting. They knew we were coming, knew where we’d be, and were ready to take Jack and Momma Withers out with us. This is bigger than some gang shit,” Walnut said. I breathed in, trying to calm down. Maybe Lilac was right, I was a civilian now. I couldn’t just go hunting for these ponies on a whim, could I?

“I don’t know what to do,” I said. “Used to be, something like this happened we’d gear up and hunt them down, it’s how we did things. Now, I’m in a strange land surrounded by strange faces and I’m trying to drag all that old stuff back to the surface. Maybe I should… I don’t know.” I sighed. Lilac wrapped a wing around me.

“It’s okay, Blue. You did what you felt you needed to do, nopony can fault you for that. But, next time give us some warning, okay?” She looked me in the eye. Her wing was so warm.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll do it.” I leaned into her and closed my eyes.