Battle Scarred

“C’mon, we have to get to higher ground for an advantage!” Rainbow Dash yells out back to the other 5 girls and an army of Royal Guards and Wonderbolts as they run up the hills of the battle grounds while close gunfire and explosions are still in play. They all stay low once they reach the top. “Alright, Shining, I need your fleet to cover the outside grounds. Rarity and Fluttershy, I need you to go underground with a surprise attack from behind. Pinkie and AJ, we need sight over heard of the battle to break through there line of defense. There are buildings on the outside of the grounds. If you can get there, we’ll be safe. Flash, you and Soarin’s fleet will create a barrier with their shields to break through so Twilight and I can get in. If this works, Queen Chrysalis won’t ever try to fuck with us again. Who’s with me?” They all yell out raising their guns. “Then let’s finish this war. Let’s move!” They all break apart into their separate and desired locations, as a barrier is created around Rainbow Dash and Twilight. “Twilight, this might be our big chance to end this for good. You ready for this?”

“Fuck yeah. I’ve been waiting to get at her ass for the longest time.”

“Let’s move guys!” The wall slowly moves forward, slowly increasing the pace towards a crowd full of Changelings firing at them. They manage to get by half of the crowd, trying to get pushed back. Soarin looks over to Twilight and Rainbow Dash while still trying to push forward.

“This is a far as we can go! It’s all you now!” Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash quickly switch out there guns strapped on their war suits with swords. “And Dash!?” She looks over at Soarin, seeing him smiling. “Trip the black and bring back the dawn.” She smiles, then looks over at Rainbow Dash and nods, seeing them both jump over the group of shields, fighting their way through the crowd of Changelings and blood spread. They manage to get through, but keep running as they’re being chased by 10 Changeling who saw them break through. All of them stop, raising their guns at Twilight and Rainbow Dash, until they’re blasted away by an explosion from a grenade landing dead center in the group. Rainbow Dash and Twilight stop and look back, seeing Changelings all dead from the hit. Rainbow Dash looks up at the building next to them, seeing Applejack wave.

“That’s what I’m talking about girl!” They both turn back and run, stopping behind a wall and peeking around the corner, seeing an unknown castle guarded by 8 Changelings. They both switch back to their guns, strapping their swords on their backs. “Dash, bad news, we got company. 8 Changelings are guarding that place. And that’s a castle I’ve never seen before. Good news, doors are open.”

“Didn’t quite expect this. We gotta get though there. If we get noticed, they’ll alarm Chrysalis and we won’t get our chance.”

“Hey, what Soarin said to you back there? What did it mean?”

“Trip the black and bring back the dawn is our own way of saying good luck and I love you. It always helped me keep my head in the game when a situation was about to happen. Speaking of which, I have an idea. You still have that container I told you to use for certain occasions?”

“I always carry it.”

“This is that kind of situation. Use it.” They both place on masks, seeing Twilight pulling a pin and tossing it around the corner as smoke escapes from it. 10 seconds later, they hear bodies drop, peeking around the corner. “And I never though poison gas would have to be a must in this situation. Let’s move.” They both runs past the smoke and into the castle. Quietly, they search around the long hallway of rooms, as Rainbow Dash enters one of them, whispering to Twilight to get her attention.

“Twilight, come check this out.” Twilight rushes over to Rainbow Dash, walking inside the room with her. They both take off there masks, looking around. “Is this, the control center? I thought this place would be secluded and heavily guarded. Well, time to fuck some shit up-”

“Don’t touch anything. This isn’t the control room.”

“Then what is it?”

“…I don’t know, but something tells me this is the wrong place to be at the wrong time. Chrysalis isn’t in here, so we shouldn’t be either. We have to keep searching.” They both leave the room, continuing down the hallway stopping at a flight of stairs. “She has to be up there somewhere. I just know it. “They both quietly walk up the stairs, hiding behind a wall at the top, seeing 2 Changelings talking in the hallway. Rainbow Dash looks over at Twilight and nods, knocking twice on the wall, the Changelings stop their conversation, slowly walking over towards there direction. Rainbow Dash holds up 3 fingers, slowly counting down, then they jump out at the Changelings, disarming them and breaking both of there necks.

“Well that felt good to get out.” They look forward, seeing 4 different flights of stairs in 4 hallways. “Well isn’t this a shitty situation? 4 paths, but we only know 1 leads to Chrysalis.”

“Then it’s a good thing I saved a couple of these.” She pulls out 4 metal balls from her pocket that transform into drones, separating and flying up to the 4 hallways. A holographic projector screen appears on her watch with 4 different videos. Rainbow Dash starts to walk towards the end of the hallway towards the last staircase on the left. “This one. This is the one that’ll lead to her.” She then looks out the window at the end of the hall, seeing the war between Equestria and Changeling army. “Soon, this’ll be all over. Ya ready Rainbow Dash?”

“Always.” Before Rainbow Dash starts walking back to Twilight, 3 containers of tear gas get dropped down the stairs, setting off and covering the whole hallway in smoke. Rainbow Dash turns back towards Twilight, calling out for her.

“Twilight?! Twilight can you hear me?”

“Dash, is that you? I can see anything.”

“Put your mask back on.” Rainbow Dash quickly places hers on, but then hears metal drop in front of her. “Twilight, tell me you heard that?” Right after Rainbow Dashes sentence, an explosion erupts in front of her, sending her out the window. As Rainbow Dash falls, she sees an image of Queen Chrysalis at the window, holding Twilight in a headlock and a gun pointed at her head. Rainbow Dash reaches out for her, but suddenly hits the ground knocking her our cold.

[Unknown Location]

Rainbow Dash slowly opens her eyes, waking up in an unfamiliar location. It was dark, only lit by a few fires fueled by trash cans. She sits up, holding her head in pain, seeing bandages wrapped around her left arm, lower left ankle, and right eye. She gently touches her covered eye, only pulling away back fast from the pain she experienced. She reaches for her watch, realizing it’s gone as well as her other items. Looking around, she sees her mask lying next to her, but when she picks it up, it’s broken in 3 ways. Then a flashback occurs, remembering how that mask was broken. The grenade explosion between her and Twilight sent her out the window, breaking the mask in the process.

“Twilight.” She whispered to herself, as tears start to run down her eyes. “I’m sorry. I failed you.” After quietly crying for 2 minutes, she stands up, wiping her eyes, dropping the broken mask and balling up her fist. “But this won’t go down in vain.” She looks around, seeing a small light appear. Taking a step towards it thinking it’s the exit, she drops to her right knee. “My ankle. What happened? I actually might need to rest for a while.” [!] “No, I can’t. We’re at war. I trained to lead our fleet. I was built as a warrior, and warriors don’t back down nor surrender. I can’t give up. Not now.” Rainbow Dash stands up, gritting her teeth at the pain as she walks forward towards a small light. It was covered by a ripped cloth, so she peeks out of it, seeing many bodies of royal guards, Wonderbolts and Changelings around. “No.” Looking around, she walks out in search to find anyone alive. She walks out onto the middle of the battlefield, looking around. “Everyone’s gone. We lost the war.” She looks over to her left, seeing Soarin on the ground. Walking over to his body, she drops to her knees placing a hand on his chest, closing her eyes. “I’m sorry Soarin. I tried.” She feels her hand on his chest get slightly pressed down, instantly opening her eyes and hearing a whisper.

“Dash?”

“Soarin, you’re alive.”

“Not for long though.” Rainbow Dash looks down at his stomach, seeing a hole pierced through him and a puddle of blood on the ground next to him. “One of the Changelings got me pretty good. I fought for a while until I couldn’t take the pain anymore.”

“Soarin don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed up in no time.”

“Don’t bother. I’m dead weight if you drag me around. We gave em a hell of a run huh?” Soarin smiles, seeing tears run down Rainbow Dash face. “Please, don’t cry. This isn’t the end of the war. Your friends are still alive. They were taken as prisoners, but other ponies are still out there. Get them back.”

“I need your help. I can’t do this on my own. Especially not without you Soarin. I can’t lose you. I already lost too much. I need you.” Soarin reaches inside his Wonderbolts Outfit, pulling out a necklace of his and her initials inside a heart, taking it off and placing it around her neck.

“You won’t be alone. I’ll always be with you. You taught me to never give up, and you shouldn’t now. Please Dash, they need you out there. They need there captain. I know you can finish this. Do this, for me.” Soarin gives her a sword he used. “Take my sword. When you battle with that, know that I’m fighting right alongside with you. You have the strength you need to end this, now do it. Do it for everyone we care about. Your family, your friends, Equestria.

Trip the black, and bring back the dawn. Don’t forget that Dash. Don’t forget.” His eyes slowly close and head falls to the side, seeing Rainbow Dash crying looking down at him.

“I’ll fight for you Soarin. I’ll do what I can to restore what’s is broken.” She wipes her eyes, standing up and strapping the sword to her side. “No matter where you are, I’ll find all of you. I don’t care how long this takes.” She walks off back to the location she regained consciousness in. “Who brought me here?” She hears multiple footsteps appearing, deciding to hide behind the trash can. When the footsteps enter, she hears 2 sets of voices. 1 recognizable mare voice, and 1 non-recognizable stallion.

“Good thing we got out of there in time Spitfire. Who knows who else is lurking inside that place? It’s like they all turned on us. Well, they don’t know who I am so they turned on you?”

“I thought they would help. I didn’t know they would be mine controlled or some shit. I didn’t ask for this. Speaking of others.” Spitfire pulls out a radio. “Lightning Dust, come in.” There’s no response. “Lightning, come in. Were back. Do you copy?”

“I don’t think she’ll be responding any time soon. Her tracker is off. She gone.”

“Son of a bitch. Who else are we gonna lose now? It’s only us, and Rainbow Dash, but who knows where she is now. Apparently she wanted to leave after we got her here to safety.”

“It’s not like she was supposed to stay with us anyway. We brought her back to safety. Now she’s on her own. Besides, with her injured the way she is, she won’t get far. Plus she’s got nothing on her to protect her. We took everything remember?” Rainbow Dash appears from behind the trash can, pulling out a sword and holding it in front of her to defend herself.

“Not everything you greedy piece of shit. All of those items you took were given to me by my team, my commander, and my family. Luckily I just got this from someone.”

“We bring you to safety and patch you up in this cave, and this is the thanks we get?”

“You’ll get nothing from me since you stole everything I have already. I’ll make sure that you don’t walk again.”

“Rainbow Dash, you don’t scare me. You can try all you want, but it won’t make a difference. I don’t know why you think we’re the enemy when we just saved you, patched you up, and brought you somewhere you wouldn’t be found. We don’t like this war any more than you. We’re trying to stop this, save some ponies we know, and end this. If you think we’re here to team up, you’re completely wrong. I already lost too much. I know you don’t have the guts to strike me with that sword. Even if you had a different weapon, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“Shall I prove that theory?” The stallion removes everything that was strapped to him, except his GLOCK 19, walking over and giving it to her.

“Prove me wrong.” She slowly lowers the sword staring down at the gun. “Go on, take it. I want you to blow my brains right the fuck out.” She takes the gun, looking at the many symbols on it. “Well? Raise it.” She slowly raises it at the stallions head, seeing Spitfire quickly raise her Beretta 92 at Rainbow Dash. “Stand down Spits, it’s cool. I know she can’t do it. She failed her team once, and this makes her afraid to fail again. She doesn’t have what it takes to pull that trigger. She’s dwelling on the past which is making her weak. Weakness stops you from doing everything you need to do to succeed.”

Tears start to run down Rainbow Dashes face, as she lowers the gun. “I thought so. Even Captain Rainbow Dash doesn’t have courage and strength now to kill someone she doesn’t even know. What happens if you go out on that battlefield and you encounter an enemy in this state? You’ll be too scared to do anything, you’ll die, and you’ll fail again. You’ll be lucky if they want to just capture you and bring you inside to Queen Chrysalis. You can’t even pull the trigger on me, which lets me know you’re definitely not ready to go out there and face the real fight. You’re weak, and we don’t need that to help us. So unless you let go of the past, fuck everything that happened before, and show that you’re a captain again right the fuck now…I have no need for you.” He takes the gun out of her hand walking away. With his back turned facing the exit, he looks down. “Sometimes you have to be tough enough to let go of the past. It wasn’t always just Spitfire and I. We had many more on our team. 10 to be exact. They all either died or got captured because they showed signs of weakness…except 1. Thunderlane risked his life to save me and Spitfire and helped us get away. He took a huge hit for us. 8 bullets to his chest.” He punches the wall of the cave in anger. “And I won’t let his death go down in vain. He gave up his life to save us, and I’m gonna make sure I pay him back. Weakness holds you down Dash. You should be happy that you’re still alive. That’s a chance a lot of ponies at war got thrown back with a grenade and fall from a building and lived didn’t get.” The stallion places his back against the wall, sliding down to sit down. Spitfire walks over, joining him, resting her head on his shoulder. “We don’t have much Dash. It’s a fish eat fish world out there now. Ya take or ya get taken. I have something I’m fighting for. And I can’t give up until this is over. I made a promise, and I’m gonna keep it.” Rainbow Dash has a flashback to when Soarin was dying, remembering that she said she’ll fight for him.

“I didn’t make a promise to anybody, but I have someone fight for, and some of my friends to find. This sword is from a Wonderbolt, who I was dating…but is now gone. He gave me something to fight for. Everyone I know I thought was gone, but my crew is out there, captured and taken as prisoners. I won’t stop until I find them. You’re right, I am still scared. Scared of what will happen if go back out there. But I’m not gonna let that control me. I have to keep moving and I can’t look back to the past. I know they’re out there somewhere, and I’ll do anything I can to find them. First things first, I need my gear back.” Spitfire opens her eyes, looking over at Rainbow Dash smiling. She stands up, walking towards Rainbow Dash.

“If you want everything back, prove to me you’re ready Crash.” The stallion sits up, looking over at the situation.

“Oh this should be good.”

“Take me down, and you can have everything back. This isn’t Wonderbolts training like before. We’re out here to kill and protect. Prove it.” Rainbow Dash unstraps the sword on her, moving to the middle of the cave in a fighting stance.

“Then let’s go.” Spitfire unstraps everything on her, standing 5 feet away from Rainbow Dash in a fighting stance as well. The both have a stare down for 5 seconds, until the charge at each other fighting for about 45 seconds, until Spitfire pins Rainbow Dash against the wall, with one arm at her neck while the elbow is holding Rainbow Dashes upper arm down, and Spitfire holds down Rainbow Dashes wrists.

“2 options Crash. Tap out or die?” Rainbow Dash struggles to break free, losing oxygen in the process. Remembering her combat training before the war, she kicks up, wrapping her legs around Spitfire and pressing in the back of her neck. Spitfire removes her arm and lifting Rainbow Dash off the wall.

Rainbow Dash quickly switches to Spitfires back still with her legs wrapped around her neck, leaning back, grabbing he legs from under and pushing forwards to make Spitfire fall. Rainbow Dash keeps a strong grip around Spitfires neck while holding her legs, slowly leaning back while Spitfire is trying to unwrap Rainbow Dashes legs. After 10 seconds of slowly leaning back, Spitfire rapidly taps on Rainbow Dashes legs. Rainbow Dash releases Spitfire, doing a back hand spring to get on her feet while Spitfire holds her neck, rapidly coughing. Catching her breath 10 seconds later, she stands up facing Rainbow Dash. “Well, I’m impressed. You’ve gained a lot more tactics since the last time we brawled.”

“I guess you can say Soarin on his off time taught me a couple of techniques.” Spitfire smiles, looking back at the stallion, seeing him getting up and walking over to her.

“It’s very rare of Spitfire to ever tap out in hand to hand combat from what I’ve seen. You got guts kid. “I’m Rapid Strike, leader of this establishment we call “Force Back.” We’ll do what we can to help you find your friends, but this that world out there is dangerous. If we end up finding your friends and any of them try to kill us, I won’t hesitate to shoot them. How many are we looking for anyway?”

“5 others.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Spitfire tosses Rainbow Dash a small and full backpack, strapped with multiple guns around it.

“You’re gonna need all of those if you’re walking our path. No matter where you are, you always need protection.” Spitfire takes her multiple items in the strap on the ground, strapping it back on her, looking over at Rapid seeing him finish gearing up. “Where too first?”

“Before we think about going anywhere in Equestria, we need food, water, and some rest. Besides, it’s getting late. Scouts come out at night and if they see us we’re dead. Dash, do you know any places where we can get food and water?”

“Maybe the castle, but we have to get in by a balcony. The front and back main entrances are completely gated shut. We did that before we left.”

“If we go to a higher ground, we might be seen. That could be too risky.”

“…maybe that could be a good thing.” Spitfire looks over at Rainbow Dash in confusion.

“What?”

“If one of us gets seen and gets to cover quickly enough, the Changeling scouts will come closer looking for one of us in the castle.”

“And we have to plant a trap for them to run into before they could get to us.”

“Exactly.” Rapid looks over at the ripped cloth, seeing a shine from the sun go down.

“Alright, so we have to go when it’s dark then. Main question on that. Why?”

“That’s the thing. In the castle where back up food is hidden, the vault door unlocks for an hour and only at 8pm. If we go at night when it’s dark, there’s less of a risk of being caught. Rapid, your wings and battle suit are black. You’d be less easy to spot. All we need is to get to the first balcony and were fine.”

“Alright, I like the plan, but there’s one problem…I’m the only one with a dark enough coat to not be spotted. Spits has a bright yellow coat and you have a light blue.”

“Who said you were flying to the balcony?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll take care of that. Since your coat and battle suit are dark enough, you have to set up the traps. No pony will see you during the night. Spits, you do what you do best during Wonderbolts training…draw attention away from the crowd.”

“I knew flares would be good in a case like this. Rapid said they would be useless, right Rapid?”

“If they were the flares that glowed from the spot you shot them. I double checked and these ones will only show any light when it explodes. We only have 5, so we have to use them wisely and at a certain time.” A long beep comes from the pocket of his battle suit. “That’s my watch. Its 5 now. Leave in about 2 ½ hours?”

“That should give us enough time.”

“Good. That gives me time to set up something. You 2 should get some rest. You’re gonna need energy to pull this off. I’ll keep watch.” Spitfire and Rainbow Dash sit with their backs against the wall, closing their eyes and keeping their heads down next to each other.

“Hey Spitfire.”

“Yeah?”

“…thanks.”

“For what?”

“A move to get out of a combat situation where some pony is locked around your neck is something you taught the Wonderbolts as a first lesson in combat. You let me win.” Spitfire moves towards Rainbow Dash, kissing her on the cheek.

“Get some rest Crash. We’ve got a mission to complete.” Rainbow Dash smiles and blushes, easily falling asleep.

[7:30]

Rapid’s watch beeps again, instantly waking up Spitfire and Rainbow Dash.

“It’s time. We should move. Dash, take these.” He tosses her a pair of sunglasses. “Night vision. They’ll help.” She places them on as well as Spitfire and Rapid. They all get up with their gear on, quietly walking outside. Aware of their surroundings, they stay low and close towards the walls, easily walking by Changeling scouts. 10 minutes later, they see the lower balcony of the castle. Rapid looks around the area, whispering back to Rainbow Dash. “Alright Dash, we see it. Good news is, we’re close. Bad news, its being guarded by 6 scouts. Any other plans to get by them?” Rainbow Dash looks towards under the balcony, seeing a Changeling scout standing by a large pile of bushes with a line of bushes leading towards his way.

“What traps did you make?” Rapid holds up 5 mid-size nets of Chicken wire. Rainbow Dash takes them, quietly moving towards the bushes, keeping herself low towards the ground and making it over.

She quickly appears from the top of the bushes placing her hoof over the scout’s mouth and pulling him. Minor shuffling is seen by Spitfire and Rapid, but quickly stops. 3 seconds later, 3 smoke grenade cans are thrown out towards the center of the rest of the scouts, creating a large cloud of smoke. The scouts instantly realize, turning on Flash lights and looking around. One of them pulls out a radio trying to contact someone.

“Number 371, is there anything in your area?” No answer comes as a pair of blue wings fly up towards the balcony, landing and instantly moving down. “Number 371, do you copy?” No answer comes as the smoke cloud expands. “Everyone stay close and keep a lookout for anything. We don’t know what or who might’ve did this, but they’re gonna try to-” The changeling scouts sentence is cut off when hearing a metal object drop. Another voice is heard from the smoke.

“152? 152 are you there?” The changeling scout hears something drop behind him, instantly turning around and seeing blood pour out on the ground from what looked like a head on the ground. “Uh, guys? Something’s wrong. Captain’s dead. We should report back to the queen that there’s an intruder. Guys, ya there?” He looks back, not seeing the others. “Uh…guys?” 2 bodies fall from the balcony, hanging in the air by an item around there necks. “Oh...shit. Fuck this I’m out-” When turning to run off, Spitfire is already there with her Beretta 92 at his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“…would it be a bad time to say I surrender?”

“Nope. Continue.”

“I-” She shoots him, seeing him drop with blood slowly running out of the back of his head. Rapid looks at Spitfire when stopping next to her in confusion.”

“What? I let him continue but I didn’t agree to let him finish.”

“Let’s just not draw any attention to us. Try to find silencers while we’re in here.” A rope ladder is tossed down in front of them, seeing Spitfire climb up first. Once Rapid gets to the top, Rainbow Dash pulls up the ladder, tossing down a leg snare trap.

“I had time to reuse the wire for the scout’s head I took off and make that. Anyone comes by, they’re not getting out of that. C’mon, the vault shouldn’t be far.” The 3 walk inside the abandoned and destroyed castle from the balcony, carrying armed and loaded Assault Rifles careful of not trying to make noise from what they step on. They end up going down 4 flights of stairs, one of them leading below the castle. Walking down a long hallway lit by multiple small fires, next to them are closed cages. “So Celestia and Luna really did have a dungeon? I thought it was just a myth.” Continuing on, they reach the end of the hall in front of a vault with a dial number combination lock, a combination padlock, and a thumb scan pad. Rapid sighs in irritation shaking his head.

“Even if you know the combinations, you still need to scan your thumb. Since this is the princesses castle, we can’t do shit now.”

“Not true.” Rainbow Dash passes both combination locks, then presses a button next to the thumb scan pad, seeing an image of multiple dots appear.

“This is the only other option, but it can only be used once every 6 months. I know how to solve this puzzle lock, but if it’s been used already, it will set off an alarm that can only be shut off by the princesses. The alarm will bring a shitload of changelings over.”

“So we either get this, or die fighting?”

“Basically.” Rapid looks over at Spitfire.

“What do you think? Risk it?”

“…we need to get food and water to survive. We came this far, and I’m not gonna give up now. Do it.” Rainbow Dash passes the lock, hearing a large click of the vault door unlocking. “Did it work?” Rainbow Dash opens it, seeing large stocks of food and drinks.”

“Yep…it worked.” Rapid walks passed Rainbow Dash, instantly walking inside and setting his Rifle down leaning against a wall.

“I see cigarettes. Dibs.” Spitfire gets Rainbow Dashes attention, looking inside a cage.

“Crash, check it out.” Rainbow Dash looks over, seeing multiple duffle bags in many sizes locked inside. Spitfire sets her Rifle down and pulls off a hair clip from her tail, seeing it fall closer towards the floor. “Yes, I have a hair clip to keep anything loose close to me. If my tail is out and I’m being chased, they could grab me.”

“They would grab your tail wouldn’t they?”

“They can’t touch what they can’t handle.” Spitfire looks closer inside the lock, inserting the paperclip, then stops when feeling her flank smacked by Rainbow Dash behind her.

“Remember that doesn’t exclude me.”

“We’ll talk about that.” She gets the caged unlocked, looking over towards Rapid to let him know and seeing his expression of surprise while holding onto packs of cigarettes. “What? Turned on?”

“Please, continue. Don’t mind me.” Spitfire walks inside, tossing out 3 bags. “Hey Rapid, good news. There’s silencers in one of these bags.” He comes out grabbing a bag and placing the cigarettes inside.

“Pull out 4 for me. I’m stocking up.” After Spitfire pulls out 10 silencers, she and Rainbow Dash join Rapid with their bags and load up as much as they can handle. They stay for 15 minutes, finishing up packing. “We’re all done?” They all place the duffle bags on their backs, held up by the front straps and holding their Assault Rifles. “Let’s head out.” They leave the vault and the dungeon heading for the balcony the came in by, but duck down while still inside seeing multiple lights outside. “We’ll this is just fucking great. More scouts.” Spitfire pulls out her Beretta 92, reloading the clip and cocking it back.”

“Before I had the silencer, it must’ve drawn some attention by the noise. So what now Rapid?” Rapid pulls out another Assault Rifle strapped to his back.

“You know me Spits. If I go down, I go down fighting like a fucking champ.” An explosion is heard from outside from a grenade, then multiple guns shots fired. They hear one of the scouts call out to the others.

“Don’t let him out of your sight!” Multiple shots are continuously fired for 30 seconds, until silence comes out. Using sign language, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash silently communicate with each other.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Probably a survivor. I don’t know who, but my bet is he’s probably dead by now. Multiple lights were out there which must’ve meant there had to have been at minimum of 20 changelings out there.” They both hear a voice from outside.”

“Worthless Changeling shit. I thought this would be a challenge, but as usual I’m disappointed. Now, where’s that vault?” Both Spitfire and Rainbow Dash Look at each other in shock, using sign language to speak again.

“What the fuck?! He’s alive?!” They hear the leg snare trap catch the survivor, hearing a drop of his gun.”

“I always asked myself why I get caught up in certain shit related to this. Now I realize I’m not that aware of my surrounds like I should be. I wonder what Rainbow Dash would tell me at a time like this.” Rapid places both Rifles back strapped to his back and pulls out his GLOCK 19, walking out with his pistol pointed at the wire. Looking over the edge, he sees multiple bodies of changelings on the ground, and the survivor hanging from his leg. Meeting up with him is Spitfire and Rainbow Dash both looking down at the survivor, seeing him wearing a mask. The survivor looks up at the 3, recognizing Rainbow Dash.

“Dash? Is that really you?”

“You know me?” The survivor takes off his mask revealing himself.

“Who else would besides the brother of your best friend?”

“Holy shit…Zephyr?”

“Hi.”