Ruins of Canterlotby heavyweaponsponyChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2ProloguePrologue I examined the structure in the clearing through the binoculars. It was a wide box of concrete with a metal covering most of the roof. I could see a few more buildings behind it. There were a couple of guard ponies armed with rifles beside the simple steel door. The guards were scanning the area around the building, not looking towards my position in the trees 50 yards away. The compound was a "secret" facility built by rebels that were planning on overthrowing Princesses Celestia and Luna, and taking control of Equestria. As part of the Royal Army's Special Pegasus Service, it was my job to make sure that didn't happen. My patrol had been sent to the Everfree forest to sabotage the facility after it was learned that the rebels had high power artillery guns here. Our job was to get in, plant explosives on the guns, grab any information we can, then escape. I looked at the diagram of the rebel compound. There were four rectangular buildings around a circular center building, which held the command center and barracks. Our target was in the building labeled "AB02". Red paint above the door to the building confirmed that this was the correct section of the compound. I floated the diagram back to my bag and set the binoculars on the branch, ready to regroup with my patrol and begin the raid on the compound. I slung the binoculars' strap over my neck and jumped down from the tree. My patrol was camped a few yards away. A bright red pegasus with a yellow and orange mane was checking a bag full of equipment. A light blue mare was examining a diagram of the compound, and another pegasus, already suited up in his S.P.S. barding and mask so you could only see his yellow mane, was tinkering with a disassembled pistol. Blaze Rush, the red pegasus, jumped up. "What did you see?" he asked. "That's the right building," I told him. "There are only a couple of guards, so getting in shouldn't be difficult. You have the explosives, right?" "Of course," he answered. He was the demolitions pony for the patrol, so he was in charge of the bombs we were using. "I think we need to wait until dusk before we begin the raid," I told them. "I'll take out the guards and sneak in. According to the diagram, there are four artillery guns in the main room of the building, and a control room on the far side of that room. I'll get into the control room and see if I can find any useful information. You three plant the explosives and get out. We'll regroup here before we radio Canterlot." "Sounds like a good plan," the blue mare, Sky Shard, replied. I slid on my S.P.S. mask. Being the only unicorn in the S.P.S., mine was custom made to allow for my horn. Likewise, my S.P.S. barding was fitted with protection over where my nonexistent wings would go. I had only been allowed to enlist because of my stealth skill, which surpassed that of any pegasus in the S.P.S., which was also the reason my patrol was assigned this mission. I glanced at the door from behind a tree. The guards were not a big problem. In the dim light of twilight, the guards would not be able to see me unless I stood out in the open. I could only see them because I had used magic to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I slipped my handgun from the holster, fitting it with a silencer and grasping it in my hooves. The glow of magic would give away my presence, and I wasn't going to let them see me. The guards were at least ten yards apart, looking away from each other. I took aim at the guard on the right of the door. I squeezed the trigger. The gun gave a small kick and almost invisible flash, then the guard fell with a hole in the back of his head. I quickly adjusted my aim and fired at the other guard twice. He collapsed from a hit in the neck and a hit in the shoulder. After a couple more shots, he stopped moving. I signaled the rest of the patrol. We approached the door. "I'll take out any guards by the door," I said. "Slip in after I give the signal." I opened the door slowly, my horn glowing as I used magic to make myself disappear. My cloaking spell would make sure none of the guards knew I was there unless they bumped into me. I entered the doorway, stepping into a short, dim hallway. There was a door at the end of the hallway, two doors on the left, and one door on the right. A guard was dozing next to the door on the right. I quickly took him out with a single shot to the head, then levitated the body out the door so it wouldn't be seen. I cracked open the door he was standing by and glanced inside. This room was the guards' quarters. Cots hung from the far wall. Two of them were occupied. A unicorn with a rifle across his back was sitting at a table playing cards with an earth pony guard. Neither of them noticed the door open slightly. I slipped inside and behind the unicorn guard. My combat knife slid from its pocket in my barding and positioned itself next to the guard. The knife slowly became visible as I dropped my cloaking spell and plunged the knife into the guard's throat. Blood splattered across the table. Before the other guard could react, I drew my pistol and shot him straight in the forehead. I recovered my knife and magically scraped off the blood before sheathing it. I turned my handgun on the two sleeping guards as they began to stir. I killed them both quickly, with a single shot to the head for each. Then I turned back to the hallway and glanced around the corner, making sure nopony had entered the hallway while I was clearing the room. I then returned to the entrance and signaled my patrol. "About time," Blaze Rush said jokingly. We regrouped in the guards' quarters. Sky Shard picked up the rifle from one of the guards, and Blaze Rush was fitting his submachine gun with a suppressor and laser pointer. "When we get in there, we can open fire and drop the stealth," I told them. "There will be enough guards in there that we won't be able to reach the guns without the alarm being activated." I judged from the amount of cots that there would be around eight to ten guards. "Blaze, get to the guns as quickly as possible. We'll give you covering fire. After you've planted the bombs, get back out this way and detonate them as soon as you get out the door." They all nodded, and we exited the room. I reloaded my submachine gun. I was pinned down behind a crate with Sky Shard. There had been more guards than we had expected, with at least 15 guards protecting the guns. The alarm had sounded and more would be here soon. The others were pinned down at the first artillery gun, which I assumed had already been fitted with explosives. I looked around the crate and almost immediately had a rebel firing a rifle at me. I managed to fire a few shots from my SMG, one hitting the rebel mare in the hind leg, causing her to fall over. I reloaded again. "Sky Shard, can you distract them?" I asked. "I can try," she replied. Sky Shard burst out from cover and flew towards the ceiling, firing a barrage of bullets from the rifle she picked up. The noisy weapon drew the attention of a few guards, and hit one in the side. Blaze Rush shot a distracted guard and ran over to the next gun. I took the chance to dash over to the control room. The door was open, with a guard standing in the doorway. A quick burst of bullets cleared the path. I shoved the guard out, then closed and locked the door. The control room was small and windowless. There was a desk with a radio and folder full of papers, as well as a computer. I ran over to the desk. Looking through the file of papers, one caught my eye. Weapon Description Talon III Artillery Gun Ammunition: 172mm Chaos-enhanced High-Explosive rounds Range: 64 km Crew: 4 ponies Weight: 8,240kg It had a picture that perfectly matched the guns in the room outside. I was alarmed when I read the ammunition that the guns use. 172mm HE rounds could be devastating, but Chaos magic ammunition would magnify the power of the shells and disable magic within a large radius. If these bombarded a city, it would be ruined. I grabbed the file with my magic, turned to the recently used computer, and searched for information. Most of the files were messages between "Central Command" and "Captain Sparks." Captain Sparks was apparently the officer in charge of this section of the compound. Most of the messages were about guard postings and supplies, but some had useful information. From: Central Command Captain Sparks, We have delivered the artillery units to your sector. We're posting extra guards for now. You will need to have the weapons set up and ready for use in 16 days. The attack is scheduled for then. I checked the date, and it was three days ago. I printed the message off of the computer. Then I saw a file labeled "weapon_supplies.doc" Weapon Supplies Stored in Central Command: 24 Rifles 12 SMGs 12 Shotguns 32 Pistols Stored in Sector AB01 24 HE Grenades 24 Fragmentation Grenades 24 Incendiary Grenades 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB02 24 SMGs 24 Pistols 24 PDWs 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB03 12 Pistols 12 Revolvers 48 Rifles 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB04 24 Civilian Shotguns 24 Combat Shotguns 24 Combat Knives 4 Talon III Artillery Guns I realized that there were more than 4 artillery guns. According to this file, there were a total of 16 guns in the facility. I printed the file, stuffed the paper in the folder, and put it in my barding's saddlebags. I unlocked the control room door and burst out. Blaze Rush was working on the last gun with the others covering him. There were 5 guards left, two taking cover behind a group of supply crates, the others next to the door that connected this sector to the rest of the compound. I slipped out my submachine gun and took one of the guards by the door by surprise. One of the other two turned their attention to me. I dodged the burst from his rifle and reached the spot where Blaze Rush was working. He finished setting up the bomb, and looked up. "Ready to go?" he asked. "Definitely," I replied. I shouted to the others and turned for the door. They fired a couple of final bursts at the guards before following Blaze and I. We dashed down the hall and burst out of the door into the clearing. We caught our breath and Blaze Rush held up the remote detonator. He adjusted something, then hit the switch. The walls and roof of the building behind us blew apart, showering us with bits of cement and steel. Chapter 1Chapter 1 I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I clumsily opened the saddlebag lying beside the cot with my hooves, levitating a water bottle out and lifting it my muzzle. I sipped the stale water and prepared to rise from the cot, glancing around the compartment and listening to the soft drumming of helicopter blades. The other cots mounted on the metal walls in the back of the compartment were unoccupied, save for the one where Sky Shard slept soundly. My two other patrol mates stood near the front of the compartment, near the door to the cockpit. Blaze Rush nodded a greeting, and I politely returned it. I slid on my barding and approached the side of the transport, where two windows provided a view of the area we were above. I looked down upon fields where carrots, celery stalks, and flowers grew, just outside the little town of Ponyville. My eyes followed railroad tracks that led from the tiny village to the mountain that held the capital of Equestria. The helicopter was slowly approaching the massive city of Canterlot. The city looked like shelves attached to a mountain. There were four levels. The one at the top, known as "Old Canterlot", consisted of the Royal Palace and about 100 extravagant, colorful buildings owned by the richest ponies in Equestria. This part of the city was simply jutting out of the mountain. The three lower levels, or "New Canterlot", were sheets of magically reinforced steel and concrete held up by huge metal pillars. They were a sprawling metropolis. The helicopter descended towards a tall steel building on the highest level of New Canterlot. Two pegasi in Special Pegasus Service barding stood next to a helipad on the roof of the building, and watched us approach. As the helicopter lowered itself onto the platform, the pegasi greeted us with. "Welcome back," one of the pegasi shouted, barely audible over the roar of the chopper. "Have fun in the Everfree Forest?" I stepped out of the helicopter, followed by the rest of my patrol. After the four of us were on the ground, the helicopter took off again. "How did the raid go?" one of the pegasi asked. "I can see that there were no casualties." "We took out the targets," I replied. I did not see a need to elaborate yet, so I simply trotted to the rooftop elevator. I stepped off of the lift onto the hallway's beige carpeted floor. The hallway extended for only a few yards, with only two doors, one on each side, to break up the deep blue walls. The door on the left was labeled "Major Warwing," while its counterpart on the right read "Communication Center." I turned to the door on the left and knocked lightly. The door opened soon after, with the room's sole occupant, an old brown pegasus with a graying black mane, standing on the other side. "Sergeant Nightwatcher, Mobility Troop, Patrol Alpha," I reported, saluting. "Returning from Everfree Forest," the major said, nodding. "Come on in, I need a full report of the results of the raid." I entered the office. It was a plain office room, with carpet and walls matching the hallway and little furnishing other than the commander's desk and a few chairs. Warwing sat down behind the desk and picked up a cigar, lighting it and sticking it in his mouth, under his dark mustache. He moved a few papers and picked up a pen. "So, Sergeant... looks like this was a rather important mission," he said. "Some artillery guns poised to barrage Canterlot are no minor issue. How did the raid go?" "We infiltrated the rebel facility easily and sabotaged the artillery guns," I explained. "While our demolitions expert was working on the weapons, I found some information that I thought would be of use." I pulled the folder of enemy documents out of my saddlebags and handed the information on Talon III artillery guns to him. "This is apparently the artillery they ordered and stationed in the facility. I believe they are Griffon-made." "Interesting... 172mm rounds..." he muttered. "How did they get a supply of weapons that use extremely explosive Chaos magic shells?" "Here is more information," I told him. I handed him the messages I'd recovered and the inventory document. "We managed to take out the four Talon III's in that sector, but if those documents are correct, they have 12 more artillery guns and are planning to fire them in about 11 days." The major looked distressed. "With 12 Talon III's, they could easily decimate Canterlot." He shook his head. "But how could they get 16 state of the art Griffon artillery guns, plus a supply of Chaos-imbued 172mm shells? They couldn't possibly have enough funds," he wondered. He put the documents in his desk and continued, "Thank you, Sergeant. Report back here tomorrow morning, you have one day of leave for your efforts. We will make sure to deal with this." I nodded and turned to leave. I walked up to the quartermaster's desk. A yellow pegasus stallion looked at me and muttered, "Hello Sergeant. Heard you were successful in your last mission. Good to know that we're safe from those big bad rebel cannons." I told him I had a day off, and he nodded. I handed my sub-machine gun and combat knife over, but he stopped me when I put my Bronco Hi-Power on the desk. "Major says there's a lot of rebel infiltrators around, so keep your sidearm," he explained. I nodded. "He also said to wear your armored barding, even in public, so you're ready if you need to respond to an emergency." He chuckled. "Just him being paranoid, if'ya ask me, but he's the Major." I trotted to the lift, waiting for the door, and looked out the window. I was a floor or two above the average building height in Canterlot, so I could see the roofs of much of the magnificent city. Ponies were moving through the streets, heading to work or walking to the store. A couple of fillies chased each other down the street, annoying a few pedestrians. Suddenly, a burst of red appeared a few blocks away. The flames roared into the sky and I felt the floor shiver in fear. I recognized the harsh boom of an explosion. Before I had time to realize what was happening, the floor started violently shaking as another explosion occurred, much louder this time. The S.P.S. tower was swaying back and forth, and I was thrown against the wall as the floor started to collapse from beneath my hooves. I fell through the gap in the floor, expecting to land but finding that the floor below did not exist. I hit a metal beam, feeling sudden pain ripple through my chest. However, almost as soon as I had landed on the beam, I was falling again. I tried to stop my descent with telekinetic magic, but my magic failed me at the second. I kept falling, hitting pieces of debris. Finally, I found what must be the ground, greeting it with a loud thud and a lot more pain. I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was in four different places at once, which was strange because I was certain I had only two eyes. Once my vision finally focused, I noticed that I was in a pile of rubble, with one front hoof trapped under a chunk of cement. I glanced at the final remnants of the crumbling military building above me just in time to see a huge piece of rubble fall. I awoke slowly, aching all over. I was breathing heavily, and I could feel blood trickling along my side. I looked to see part of my navy blue coat that showed through the barding I wore tinted red. I tried to move, but a slab of rubble was covering my entire flank and hind hooves, and it was heavy enough to keep me pinned in the pile of plaster, cement, and metal. I attempted to lift the slab with magic, but my telekinesis was not powerful enough to be of any help. I felt more pain as the rubble continued to press into my flank. My breathing got heavier, but slower, and darkness crept into my vision. I closed my eyes and lost my hold on consciousness. Chapter 2Chapter 2 I awoke slowly to a distressed, inquisitive voice that I was unable to hear clearly enough to understand. As consciousness returned to my mind, my eyes opened and my hearing started to return. I stared at the bright yellow face of the mare that was trying to awaken me. I coughed, tasting the metallic flavor of blood. "Oh great, you're alive!" the mare said, clearly relieved. "You're really lucky. One of the bombs exploded right here!" I shook my head a bit, trying to make sense of what had happened. I figured I needed to get up and take a look at my surroundings... With a gasp of pain, I collapsed. I had tried to rise, but the chunk of rubble covering half of my body had made it an extremely painful and unfruitful attempt. The mare looked worried. "Here, let me help you with that," the she said. She hovered over me (I noticed for the first time that she had wings) and grabbed the slab that had imprisoned me. She tugged on it, relieving some of the pressure on my hind legs, but was making little progress towards freeing me. My horn glowed dark blue as I lent some assistance. After a few seconds, the chunk slid down the pile of rubble, releasing me and bringing my bloodstained flank and cutie mark of a star and cloak into view. I picked myself up off of the ground, and immediately I was sliding down the rubble as well. I realized how much my legs and sides ached from bruises. I figured I most likely had at least one fracture in my ribs, and I could see the gashes and scrapes on my flanks and legs. My subconscious decided that it was too much for my conscious mind to deal with right now, and it proceeded to send me back into darkness. This time, when I awoke I felt rested, instead of feeling as if I had been run over by a massive train. I was resting on a thin but soft mat on the floor of a half-collapsed building. My legs and flank had been bandaged, albeit clumsily, and most of my bruises were on the way to healing. My barding was scratched and torn. Thankfully, it had protected my chest and sides from lacerations, although it was not made to protect from collapsing buildings, so I still felt a bit of bruising. I hesitated before attempting to stand again; this time, I succeeded, although my left hind-leg protested. I would have to check to make sure it was not seriously injured. The yellow pegasus mare that had rescued me from the remnants of the S.P.S. building was sitting a couple of feet away, with a mobile phone in her hoof. She looked frustrated, but glanced over to me and smiled when she saw I was awake. "Hey, you're up again," she said. "Hope you're feeling better. I tried to fix up some of your scrapes." She thought for a second, then pulled a granola bar out of a saddlebag lying on the ground beside her. "You must be hungry. You you like some food?" I noticed how empty my stomach felt, so I nodded. She handed me the granola bar and introduced herself. "My name is Sungaze," she told me. "I'm a surveyor from Ponyville. I was on vacation here in Canterlot a few days ago." Her cutie mark matched her occupation; it was a pair of binoculars. "Who are you? You have one of those special forces uniforms, so I guess you're a commando. It explains why you were in the military building when it was bombed." "My name is Nightwatcher, I am a Sergeant in the SPS," I told her. I looked out the shattered windows of the ruined building we were in at the rubble outside. "What happened?" "Bombs fell," she said with a frown. "Two days ago, tons of bombs exploded all across the city. That building over there was one of the first ones hit. The bombs blew up an entire block each, and the bombing lasted for hours! So many ponies died. You're the first survivor I've come across." She looked absolutely depressed about the fact. "I'm not sure who bombed the city or why, but I can't believe they would do something like this." I had an idea of who might be behind the bombing, which I suspected was not actually a bombing, but an artillery barrage. I looked at the building we were in a second time. Most of the ceiling had caved in, covering a large part of the floor with rubble. It looked like the upper floors of the building were completely destroyed, only the ground floor remaining, and only partially. "We should probably find a different shelter," I said. "This building is a hair away from collapsing, and we need to look for supplies and other ponies." She nodded, gathered the few things she had out into her saddlebags, and stood up. "Let's go!" Sungaze said cheerfully, as if oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. She trotted out the doorway, and I quickly rolled up the mat I had been sleeping on, floated my saddlebags onto my back, and followed. As we started making our way down the street, I observed the buildings on either side. Most of the buildings had collapsed or been leveled completely. Pieces of rubble littered the sidewalks and road, and the few cars parked on the edges of the road were either crushed by pieces of the buildings or blackened. The engines had probably caught fire when the Chaos magic shells hit. I saw a charred corpse on the side of the road, and suddenly realized I must have been lucky to be in the upper floors of the S.P.S. headquarters. The street ended in a T-shaped intersection. Across the street, my eyes found a small building that looked mostly intact. In fact, the building must have still had power, or at least its own intact generator, because I could see through the windows that the inside was lit. Over the door, a sign read "Mason's Deli." I could see a few tables and a counter inside. "Let's check out that deli over there," I told Sungaze. "It has power, and it's intact enough that the ponies inside could have survived the bombing." "Great!" she said. "And maybe they have a phone, so we can call someone and try to figure out what to do." We approached the deli and opened the door. A little bell rang, announcing our entrance. I looked around at the green-painted walls and white and brown tiles on the floor. The counter sat on the far side of the room with a cash register and a sign displaying the menu resting on it, and a door behind it. The restaurant seemed to be abandoned. "Maybe the people here left to look for help," Sungaze offered. However, soon it was evident that was not the case, because a pony jumped out from behind the counter. He was a blue coated, brown-maned pony wearing a green apron with "Mason's Deli" in elegant red cursive stitched onto the front. He stared right at us, and it was clear that he was in a bad condition. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his mane was frazzled. He yelled and charged right at us, but when we ducked to the side, Sungaze jumping up with a short 'eep!', he kept going, right out the door and into the street. He kept running, screaming the entire time. Sungaze and I took a second to take in the unnerving experience. We glanced at each other, Sungaze clearly startled. I looked at the counter from which the crazed pony had sprung, and trotted forward. As I turned the corner to the place behind the counter, what I saw surprised me. Two ponies lay on the floor, motionless, and coated in blood. One was a mare who looked similar to the insane pony, with the same apron, and the other's features were indiscernible through the blood. The blue pony on top had a steak knife through her back, and the other had multiple gashes in his or her stomach. Sungaze stepped up behind me, and gasped as she saw the bloody scene in front of us. Stepping closer to get a better look, I became certain that the two ponies were dead. The crazed pony that had charged us had likely murdered these two. "W-what happened?" Sungaze asked, horrified. I turned to her with a grim expression. "The insane pony from earlier must have killed them. Either he killed them because he was insane, or went insane because he killed them," I told her. "I'm not sure why he killed them. Unless they were worried about food, but it's only been a day since the bombing, so I can't imagine ponies killing over food." Sungaze nodded, accepting the fact that there were two dead ponies in front of her. I looked at the bodies, and levitated the top one. "Let's take them outside," I decided. "We should probably burn them instead of leaving them here to rot." After making a small fire using cloth and some matches Sungaze had stuffed into her bags, and laying the bodies on it with a tablecloth used as a makeshift burial shroud, we decided to investigate the door in the back. A small sign taped to the door read "Employees Only", but I assured Sungaze that it was perfectly fine to enter. It opened up to the kitchen, which had a refrigerator full of cold lunch meat, fresh vegetables, cheese, and bread. I made myself a sandwich from the food supplies, and started eating lunch. Sungaze was reluctant to get any food; I tried to assure her that the owner of the store wouldn't mind us taking the food, but finally we compromised and I left some bits on the counter outside to compensate for the food we took. I thought it would be unlikely that the owner of the store would come back any time soon, but Sungaze disapproved of what she thought of as stealing. After eating the sandwich, I looked at the door in the back of the kitchen. The room behind the door was apparently an office; when I stepped it, I saw a desk, an desktop computer, and a file cabinet. Papers and miscellaneous items like pens, pencils, some keys, and a ticket to a hoofball game. After moving closer to the desk, I noticed that the computer was powered on, but in sleep mode. I hit the space bar on the keyboard, and the machine's fans powered up as the computer woke up. When the monitor awakened, it revealed a two-day old email message on the screen. From: storm1337@hoofmail.net Subject: Hurry Up Where are you, Mason? Did you get command's message yesterday? You should be out of Canterlot by now! You've got to get out, it's almost time! You could die. Get out of there now! I was read the message twice. The message had been sent at about eleven o'clock two days ago, the day of the bombing. I was pretty sure it had been about noon when the bombing had started. This was enough evidence to incriminate this pony Mason and his contact for treason. I looked at a few papers on the desk, then noticed a scrap that had obviously been intentionally torn from the rest of its sheet of paper. After investigating a bit more, I found two more scraps that looked like they fit. I only had about half of the paper, but I tried to fit it together. Supporter Mason Stone, Thank you for cooperating with us with your help we wi a new country ruled by ponies like you and me, inst ered princesses in their prestigiou epublic, down with the Equestrian mona Sincerely, The Demo racy Association of Equestria Even with only half of the paper, it was not difficult to fill in the blanks. I was certain it was a letter from the Democracy Association of Equestria, a traitorous organization that conspired against the Princesses. A few years ago it was exposed and all of its members were fugitives, but it was one of the largest supporters for the recent rebellion. Mason was obviously associated with the group. I would make sure to tell Major Warwing about the traitor... Except Major Warwing was dead. And if most of Canterlot was like this area, then most likely I would not be reporting the criminal to anypony anytime soon. However, it was my duty to deal with things like this, so I made sure that once I was out of these ruins I would take care of the matter. Truly, I had no idea whether Mason Stone was still alive or not. I decided I would just forget the matter for now. However, this brought up an important question; what will I do now? Obviously, try to find other ponies. I suppose I should report to Mareford, the S.P.S. base at the foot of Mount Canterlot. But how much damage did the artillery barrage cause? I realized that military buildings would not have been the only targets. The rebels would have targeted infrastructural buildings, like transportation, power plants, law enforcement, and emergency response teams. Plus the most appealing target of all for the rebels: Canterlot Palace. Of course, the Palace would be well protected, but an artillery barrage, especially with such powerful weapons, may be too much for the castle's defenses. If the Palace was attacked, there is a good chance the Princesses would be killed. The Princesses' death would bring the collapse of Equestria, and victory for the rebels. It was decided. I was going to travel to Old Canterlot and investigate the Palace. I was sworn into the Princesses' service, so I could at least make sure that they had not been killed in the bombardment. I walked back through the kitchen, into the main area of the restaurant, and picked up the bits I had left on the counter. "This business has been suspended due to treasonous activities," I told Sungaze. "What?" she exclaimed. "I found a document that placed evidence that the owner was working with the rebels," I said. She still looked confused. "He helped the people that caused the bombing." She gasped. "How could somepony do that?" she questioned. "Support all this death and destruction?" I just shook my head sadly. I spent most of the afternoon trying to contact someone with the phone. I called every Canterlot emergency number and a few numbers of military bases outside of Canterlot, but it seemed that the phone had no connection to a line. I had no luck with the computer either. After I gave up, we set up a couple of mats in the kitchen, and used the keys to lock the door to the deli and the door to the kitchen, just to be safe. I had found a firearm in one of the desk drawers of the office, a Heckler and Claw Universal Self-loading Pistol. I wondered where he had obtained it, since Heckler and Claw was a Griffon company, and Griffon firearms were restricted from civilian use. I confiscated the illegally owned weapon, putting it in a free holster I had on the left side of my barding. There were a large number of 9mm magazines for the gun, which I carefully crammed into my saddlebags. We had some salads for dinner, with turkey and ham on the side, before turning off the kitchen lights and crawling onto our mats. I was somewhat restless, affected by the unnerving events of the day, as well as the events of two days previous. Finally, I managed to close my eyes and relax, allowing sleep to claim me for the night.
ProloguePrologue I examined the structure in the clearing through the binoculars. It was a wide box of concrete with a metal covering most of the roof. I could see a few more buildings behind it. There were a couple of guard ponies armed with rifles beside the simple steel door. The guards were scanning the area around the building, not looking towards my position in the trees 50 yards away. The compound was a "secret" facility built by rebels that were planning on overthrowing Princesses Celestia and Luna, and taking control of Equestria. As part of the Royal Army's Special Pegasus Service, it was my job to make sure that didn't happen. My patrol had been sent to the Everfree forest to sabotage the facility after it was learned that the rebels had high power artillery guns here. Our job was to get in, plant explosives on the guns, grab any information we can, then escape. I looked at the diagram of the rebel compound. There were four rectangular buildings around a circular center building, which held the command center and barracks. Our target was in the building labeled "AB02". Red paint above the door to the building confirmed that this was the correct section of the compound. I floated the diagram back to my bag and set the binoculars on the branch, ready to regroup with my patrol and begin the raid on the compound. I slung the binoculars' strap over my neck and jumped down from the tree. My patrol was camped a few yards away. A bright red pegasus with a yellow and orange mane was checking a bag full of equipment. A light blue mare was examining a diagram of the compound, and another pegasus, already suited up in his S.P.S. barding and mask so you could only see his yellow mane, was tinkering with a disassembled pistol. Blaze Rush, the red pegasus, jumped up. "What did you see?" he asked. "That's the right building," I told him. "There are only a couple of guards, so getting in shouldn't be difficult. You have the explosives, right?" "Of course," he answered. He was the demolitions pony for the patrol, so he was in charge of the bombs we were using. "I think we need to wait until dusk before we begin the raid," I told them. "I'll take out the guards and sneak in. According to the diagram, there are four artillery guns in the main room of the building, and a control room on the far side of that room. I'll get into the control room and see if I can find any useful information. You three plant the explosives and get out. We'll regroup here before we radio Canterlot." "Sounds like a good plan," the blue mare, Sky Shard, replied. I slid on my S.P.S. mask. Being the only unicorn in the S.P.S., mine was custom made to allow for my horn. Likewise, my S.P.S. barding was fitted with protection over where my nonexistent wings would go. I had only been allowed to enlist because of my stealth skill, which surpassed that of any pegasus in the S.P.S., which was also the reason my patrol was assigned this mission. I glanced at the door from behind a tree. The guards were not a big problem. In the dim light of twilight, the guards would not be able to see me unless I stood out in the open. I could only see them because I had used magic to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I slipped my handgun from the holster, fitting it with a silencer and grasping it in my hooves. The glow of magic would give away my presence, and I wasn't going to let them see me. The guards were at least ten yards apart, looking away from each other. I took aim at the guard on the right of the door. I squeezed the trigger. The gun gave a small kick and almost invisible flash, then the guard fell with a hole in the back of his head. I quickly adjusted my aim and fired at the other guard twice. He collapsed from a hit in the neck and a hit in the shoulder. After a couple more shots, he stopped moving. I signaled the rest of the patrol. We approached the door. "I'll take out any guards by the door," I said. "Slip in after I give the signal." I opened the door slowly, my horn glowing as I used magic to make myself disappear. My cloaking spell would make sure none of the guards knew I was there unless they bumped into me. I entered the doorway, stepping into a short, dim hallway. There was a door at the end of the hallway, two doors on the left, and one door on the right. A guard was dozing next to the door on the right. I quickly took him out with a single shot to the head, then levitated the body out the door so it wouldn't be seen. I cracked open the door he was standing by and glanced inside. This room was the guards' quarters. Cots hung from the far wall. Two of them were occupied. A unicorn with a rifle across his back was sitting at a table playing cards with an earth pony guard. Neither of them noticed the door open slightly. I slipped inside and behind the unicorn guard. My combat knife slid from its pocket in my barding and positioned itself next to the guard. The knife slowly became visible as I dropped my cloaking spell and plunged the knife into the guard's throat. Blood splattered across the table. Before the other guard could react, I drew my pistol and shot him straight in the forehead. I recovered my knife and magically scraped off the blood before sheathing it. I turned my handgun on the two sleeping guards as they began to stir. I killed them both quickly, with a single shot to the head for each. Then I turned back to the hallway and glanced around the corner, making sure nopony had entered the hallway while I was clearing the room. I then returned to the entrance and signaled my patrol. "About time," Blaze Rush said jokingly. We regrouped in the guards' quarters. Sky Shard picked up the rifle from one of the guards, and Blaze Rush was fitting his submachine gun with a suppressor and laser pointer. "When we get in there, we can open fire and drop the stealth," I told them. "There will be enough guards in there that we won't be able to reach the guns without the alarm being activated." I judged from the amount of cots that there would be around eight to ten guards. "Blaze, get to the guns as quickly as possible. We'll give you covering fire. After you've planted the bombs, get back out this way and detonate them as soon as you get out the door." They all nodded, and we exited the room. I reloaded my submachine gun. I was pinned down behind a crate with Sky Shard. There had been more guards than we had expected, with at least 15 guards protecting the guns. The alarm had sounded and more would be here soon. The others were pinned down at the first artillery gun, which I assumed had already been fitted with explosives. I looked around the crate and almost immediately had a rebel firing a rifle at me. I managed to fire a few shots from my SMG, one hitting the rebel mare in the hind leg, causing her to fall over. I reloaded again. "Sky Shard, can you distract them?" I asked. "I can try," she replied. Sky Shard burst out from cover and flew towards the ceiling, firing a barrage of bullets from the rifle she picked up. The noisy weapon drew the attention of a few guards, and hit one in the side. Blaze Rush shot a distracted guard and ran over to the next gun. I took the chance to dash over to the control room. The door was open, with a guard standing in the doorway. A quick burst of bullets cleared the path. I shoved the guard out, then closed and locked the door. The control room was small and windowless. There was a desk with a radio and folder full of papers, as well as a computer. I ran over to the desk. Looking through the file of papers, one caught my eye. Weapon Description Talon III Artillery Gun Ammunition: 172mm Chaos-enhanced High-Explosive rounds Range: 64 km Crew: 4 ponies Weight: 8,240kg It had a picture that perfectly matched the guns in the room outside. I was alarmed when I read the ammunition that the guns use. 172mm HE rounds could be devastating, but Chaos magic ammunition would magnify the power of the shells and disable magic within a large radius. If these bombarded a city, it would be ruined. I grabbed the file with my magic, turned to the recently used computer, and searched for information. Most of the files were messages between "Central Command" and "Captain Sparks." Captain Sparks was apparently the officer in charge of this section of the compound. Most of the messages were about guard postings and supplies, but some had useful information. From: Central Command Captain Sparks, We have delivered the artillery units to your sector. We're posting extra guards for now. You will need to have the weapons set up and ready for use in 16 days. The attack is scheduled for then. I checked the date, and it was three days ago. I printed the message off of the computer. Then I saw a file labeled "weapon_supplies.doc" Weapon Supplies Stored in Central Command: 24 Rifles 12 SMGs 12 Shotguns 32 Pistols Stored in Sector AB01 24 HE Grenades 24 Fragmentation Grenades 24 Incendiary Grenades 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB02 24 SMGs 24 Pistols 24 PDWs 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB03 12 Pistols 12 Revolvers 48 Rifles 4 Talon III Artillery Guns Stored in Sector AB04 24 Civilian Shotguns 24 Combat Shotguns 24 Combat Knives 4 Talon III Artillery Guns I realized that there were more than 4 artillery guns. According to this file, there were a total of 16 guns in the facility. I printed the file, stuffed the paper in the folder, and put it in my barding's saddlebags. I unlocked the control room door and burst out. Blaze Rush was working on the last gun with the others covering him. There were 5 guards left, two taking cover behind a group of supply crates, the others next to the door that connected this sector to the rest of the compound. I slipped out my submachine gun and took one of the guards by the door by surprise. One of the other two turned their attention to me. I dodged the burst from his rifle and reached the spot where Blaze Rush was working. He finished setting up the bomb, and looked up. "Ready to go?" he asked. "Definitely," I replied. I shouted to the others and turned for the door. They fired a couple of final bursts at the guards before following Blaze and I. We dashed down the hall and burst out of the door into the clearing. We caught our breath and Blaze Rush held up the remote detonator. He adjusted something, then hit the switch. The walls and roof of the building behind us blew apart, showering us with bits of cement and steel.
Chapter 1Chapter 1 I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I clumsily opened the saddlebag lying beside the cot with my hooves, levitating a water bottle out and lifting it my muzzle. I sipped the stale water and prepared to rise from the cot, glancing around the compartment and listening to the soft drumming of helicopter blades. The other cots mounted on the metal walls in the back of the compartment were unoccupied, save for the one where Sky Shard slept soundly. My two other patrol mates stood near the front of the compartment, near the door to the cockpit. Blaze Rush nodded a greeting, and I politely returned it. I slid on my barding and approached the side of the transport, where two windows provided a view of the area we were above. I looked down upon fields where carrots, celery stalks, and flowers grew, just outside the little town of Ponyville. My eyes followed railroad tracks that led from the tiny village to the mountain that held the capital of Equestria. The helicopter was slowly approaching the massive city of Canterlot. The city looked like shelves attached to a mountain. There were four levels. The one at the top, known as "Old Canterlot", consisted of the Royal Palace and about 100 extravagant, colorful buildings owned by the richest ponies in Equestria. This part of the city was simply jutting out of the mountain. The three lower levels, or "New Canterlot", were sheets of magically reinforced steel and concrete held up by huge metal pillars. They were a sprawling metropolis. The helicopter descended towards a tall steel building on the highest level of New Canterlot. Two pegasi in Special Pegasus Service barding stood next to a helipad on the roof of the building, and watched us approach. As the helicopter lowered itself onto the platform, the pegasi greeted us with. "Welcome back," one of the pegasi shouted, barely audible over the roar of the chopper. "Have fun in the Everfree Forest?" I stepped out of the helicopter, followed by the rest of my patrol. After the four of us were on the ground, the helicopter took off again. "How did the raid go?" one of the pegasi asked. "I can see that there were no casualties." "We took out the targets," I replied. I did not see a need to elaborate yet, so I simply trotted to the rooftop elevator. I stepped off of the lift onto the hallway's beige carpeted floor. The hallway extended for only a few yards, with only two doors, one on each side, to break up the deep blue walls. The door on the left was labeled "Major Warwing," while its counterpart on the right read "Communication Center." I turned to the door on the left and knocked lightly. The door opened soon after, with the room's sole occupant, an old brown pegasus with a graying black mane, standing on the other side. "Sergeant Nightwatcher, Mobility Troop, Patrol Alpha," I reported, saluting. "Returning from Everfree Forest," the major said, nodding. "Come on in, I need a full report of the results of the raid." I entered the office. It was a plain office room, with carpet and walls matching the hallway and little furnishing other than the commander's desk and a few chairs. Warwing sat down behind the desk and picked up a cigar, lighting it and sticking it in his mouth, under his dark mustache. He moved a few papers and picked up a pen. "So, Sergeant... looks like this was a rather important mission," he said. "Some artillery guns poised to barrage Canterlot are no minor issue. How did the raid go?" "We infiltrated the rebel facility easily and sabotaged the artillery guns," I explained. "While our demolitions expert was working on the weapons, I found some information that I thought would be of use." I pulled the folder of enemy documents out of my saddlebags and handed the information on Talon III artillery guns to him. "This is apparently the artillery they ordered and stationed in the facility. I believe they are Griffon-made." "Interesting... 172mm rounds..." he muttered. "How did they get a supply of weapons that use extremely explosive Chaos magic shells?" "Here is more information," I told him. I handed him the messages I'd recovered and the inventory document. "We managed to take out the four Talon III's in that sector, but if those documents are correct, they have 12 more artillery guns and are planning to fire them in about 11 days." The major looked distressed. "With 12 Talon III's, they could easily decimate Canterlot." He shook his head. "But how could they get 16 state of the art Griffon artillery guns, plus a supply of Chaos-imbued 172mm shells? They couldn't possibly have enough funds," he wondered. He put the documents in his desk and continued, "Thank you, Sergeant. Report back here tomorrow morning, you have one day of leave for your efforts. We will make sure to deal with this." I nodded and turned to leave. I walked up to the quartermaster's desk. A yellow pegasus stallion looked at me and muttered, "Hello Sergeant. Heard you were successful in your last mission. Good to know that we're safe from those big bad rebel cannons." I told him I had a day off, and he nodded. I handed my sub-machine gun and combat knife over, but he stopped me when I put my Bronco Hi-Power on the desk. "Major says there's a lot of rebel infiltrators around, so keep your sidearm," he explained. I nodded. "He also said to wear your armored barding, even in public, so you're ready if you need to respond to an emergency." He chuckled. "Just him being paranoid, if'ya ask me, but he's the Major." I trotted to the lift, waiting for the door, and looked out the window. I was a floor or two above the average building height in Canterlot, so I could see the roofs of much of the magnificent city. Ponies were moving through the streets, heading to work or walking to the store. A couple of fillies chased each other down the street, annoying a few pedestrians. Suddenly, a burst of red appeared a few blocks away. The flames roared into the sky and I felt the floor shiver in fear. I recognized the harsh boom of an explosion. Before I had time to realize what was happening, the floor started violently shaking as another explosion occurred, much louder this time. The S.P.S. tower was swaying back and forth, and I was thrown against the wall as the floor started to collapse from beneath my hooves. I fell through the gap in the floor, expecting to land but finding that the floor below did not exist. I hit a metal beam, feeling sudden pain ripple through my chest. However, almost as soon as I had landed on the beam, I was falling again. I tried to stop my descent with telekinetic magic, but my magic failed me at the second. I kept falling, hitting pieces of debris. Finally, I found what must be the ground, greeting it with a loud thud and a lot more pain. I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was in four different places at once, which was strange because I was certain I had only two eyes. Once my vision finally focused, I noticed that I was in a pile of rubble, with one front hoof trapped under a chunk of cement. I glanced at the final remnants of the crumbling military building above me just in time to see a huge piece of rubble fall. I awoke slowly, aching all over. I was breathing heavily, and I could feel blood trickling along my side. I looked to see part of my navy blue coat that showed through the barding I wore tinted red. I tried to move, but a slab of rubble was covering my entire flank and hind hooves, and it was heavy enough to keep me pinned in the pile of plaster, cement, and metal. I attempted to lift the slab with magic, but my telekinesis was not powerful enough to be of any help. I felt more pain as the rubble continued to press into my flank. My breathing got heavier, but slower, and darkness crept into my vision. I closed my eyes and lost my hold on consciousness.
Chapter 2Chapter 2 I awoke slowly to a distressed, inquisitive voice that I was unable to hear clearly enough to understand. As consciousness returned to my mind, my eyes opened and my hearing started to return. I stared at the bright yellow face of the mare that was trying to awaken me. I coughed, tasting the metallic flavor of blood. "Oh great, you're alive!" the mare said, clearly relieved. "You're really lucky. One of the bombs exploded right here!" I shook my head a bit, trying to make sense of what had happened. I figured I needed to get up and take a look at my surroundings... With a gasp of pain, I collapsed. I had tried to rise, but the chunk of rubble covering half of my body had made it an extremely painful and unfruitful attempt. The mare looked worried. "Here, let me help you with that," the she said. She hovered over me (I noticed for the first time that she had wings) and grabbed the slab that had imprisoned me. She tugged on it, relieving some of the pressure on my hind legs, but was making little progress towards freeing me. My horn glowed dark blue as I lent some assistance. After a few seconds, the chunk slid down the pile of rubble, releasing me and bringing my bloodstained flank and cutie mark of a star and cloak into view. I picked myself up off of the ground, and immediately I was sliding down the rubble as well. I realized how much my legs and sides ached from bruises. I figured I most likely had at least one fracture in my ribs, and I could see the gashes and scrapes on my flanks and legs. My subconscious decided that it was too much for my conscious mind to deal with right now, and it proceeded to send me back into darkness. This time, when I awoke I felt rested, instead of feeling as if I had been run over by a massive train. I was resting on a thin but soft mat on the floor of a half-collapsed building. My legs and flank had been bandaged, albeit clumsily, and most of my bruises were on the way to healing. My barding was scratched and torn. Thankfully, it had protected my chest and sides from lacerations, although it was not made to protect from collapsing buildings, so I still felt a bit of bruising. I hesitated before attempting to stand again; this time, I succeeded, although my left hind-leg protested. I would have to check to make sure it was not seriously injured. The yellow pegasus mare that had rescued me from the remnants of the S.P.S. building was sitting a couple of feet away, with a mobile phone in her hoof. She looked frustrated, but glanced over to me and smiled when she saw I was awake. "Hey, you're up again," she said. "Hope you're feeling better. I tried to fix up some of your scrapes." She thought for a second, then pulled a granola bar out of a saddlebag lying on the ground beside her. "You must be hungry. You you like some food?" I noticed how empty my stomach felt, so I nodded. She handed me the granola bar and introduced herself. "My name is Sungaze," she told me. "I'm a surveyor from Ponyville. I was on vacation here in Canterlot a few days ago." Her cutie mark matched her occupation; it was a pair of binoculars. "Who are you? You have one of those special forces uniforms, so I guess you're a commando. It explains why you were in the military building when it was bombed." "My name is Nightwatcher, I am a Sergeant in the SPS," I told her. I looked out the shattered windows of the ruined building we were in at the rubble outside. "What happened?" "Bombs fell," she said with a frown. "Two days ago, tons of bombs exploded all across the city. That building over there was one of the first ones hit. The bombs blew up an entire block each, and the bombing lasted for hours! So many ponies died. You're the first survivor I've come across." She looked absolutely depressed about the fact. "I'm not sure who bombed the city or why, but I can't believe they would do something like this." I had an idea of who might be behind the bombing, which I suspected was not actually a bombing, but an artillery barrage. I looked at the building we were in a second time. Most of the ceiling had caved in, covering a large part of the floor with rubble. It looked like the upper floors of the building were completely destroyed, only the ground floor remaining, and only partially. "We should probably find a different shelter," I said. "This building is a hair away from collapsing, and we need to look for supplies and other ponies." She nodded, gathered the few things she had out into her saddlebags, and stood up. "Let's go!" Sungaze said cheerfully, as if oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. She trotted out the doorway, and I quickly rolled up the mat I had been sleeping on, floated my saddlebags onto my back, and followed. As we started making our way down the street, I observed the buildings on either side. Most of the buildings had collapsed or been leveled completely. Pieces of rubble littered the sidewalks and road, and the few cars parked on the edges of the road were either crushed by pieces of the buildings or blackened. The engines had probably caught fire when the Chaos magic shells hit. I saw a charred corpse on the side of the road, and suddenly realized I must have been lucky to be in the upper floors of the S.P.S. headquarters. The street ended in a T-shaped intersection. Across the street, my eyes found a small building that looked mostly intact. In fact, the building must have still had power, or at least its own intact generator, because I could see through the windows that the inside was lit. Over the door, a sign read "Mason's Deli." I could see a few tables and a counter inside. "Let's check out that deli over there," I told Sungaze. "It has power, and it's intact enough that the ponies inside could have survived the bombing." "Great!" she said. "And maybe they have a phone, so we can call someone and try to figure out what to do." We approached the deli and opened the door. A little bell rang, announcing our entrance. I looked around at the green-painted walls and white and brown tiles on the floor. The counter sat on the far side of the room with a cash register and a sign displaying the menu resting on it, and a door behind it. The restaurant seemed to be abandoned. "Maybe the people here left to look for help," Sungaze offered. However, soon it was evident that was not the case, because a pony jumped out from behind the counter. He was a blue coated, brown-maned pony wearing a green apron with "Mason's Deli" in elegant red cursive stitched onto the front. He stared right at us, and it was clear that he was in a bad condition. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his mane was frazzled. He yelled and charged right at us, but when we ducked to the side, Sungaze jumping up with a short 'eep!', he kept going, right out the door and into the street. He kept running, screaming the entire time. Sungaze and I took a second to take in the unnerving experience. We glanced at each other, Sungaze clearly startled. I looked at the counter from which the crazed pony had sprung, and trotted forward. As I turned the corner to the place behind the counter, what I saw surprised me. Two ponies lay on the floor, motionless, and coated in blood. One was a mare who looked similar to the insane pony, with the same apron, and the other's features were indiscernible through the blood. The blue pony on top had a steak knife through her back, and the other had multiple gashes in his or her stomach. Sungaze stepped up behind me, and gasped as she saw the bloody scene in front of us. Stepping closer to get a better look, I became certain that the two ponies were dead. The crazed pony that had charged us had likely murdered these two. "W-what happened?" Sungaze asked, horrified. I turned to her with a grim expression. "The insane pony from earlier must have killed them. Either he killed them because he was insane, or went insane because he killed them," I told her. "I'm not sure why he killed them. Unless they were worried about food, but it's only been a day since the bombing, so I can't imagine ponies killing over food." Sungaze nodded, accepting the fact that there were two dead ponies in front of her. I looked at the bodies, and levitated the top one. "Let's take them outside," I decided. "We should probably burn them instead of leaving them here to rot." After making a small fire using cloth and some matches Sungaze had stuffed into her bags, and laying the bodies on it with a tablecloth used as a makeshift burial shroud, we decided to investigate the door in the back. A small sign taped to the door read "Employees Only", but I assured Sungaze that it was perfectly fine to enter. It opened up to the kitchen, which had a refrigerator full of cold lunch meat, fresh vegetables, cheese, and bread. I made myself a sandwich from the food supplies, and started eating lunch. Sungaze was reluctant to get any food; I tried to assure her that the owner of the store wouldn't mind us taking the food, but finally we compromised and I left some bits on the counter outside to compensate for the food we took. I thought it would be unlikely that the owner of the store would come back any time soon, but Sungaze disapproved of what she thought of as stealing. After eating the sandwich, I looked at the door in the back of the kitchen. The room behind the door was apparently an office; when I stepped it, I saw a desk, an desktop computer, and a file cabinet. Papers and miscellaneous items like pens, pencils, some keys, and a ticket to a hoofball game. After moving closer to the desk, I noticed that the computer was powered on, but in sleep mode. I hit the space bar on the keyboard, and the machine's fans powered up as the computer woke up. When the monitor awakened, it revealed a two-day old email message on the screen. From: storm1337@hoofmail.net Subject: Hurry Up Where are you, Mason? Did you get command's message yesterday? You should be out of Canterlot by now! You've got to get out, it's almost time! You could die. Get out of there now! I was read the message twice. The message had been sent at about eleven o'clock two days ago, the day of the bombing. I was pretty sure it had been about noon when the bombing had started. This was enough evidence to incriminate this pony Mason and his contact for treason. I looked at a few papers on the desk, then noticed a scrap that had obviously been intentionally torn from the rest of its sheet of paper. After investigating a bit more, I found two more scraps that looked like they fit. I only had about half of the paper, but I tried to fit it together. Supporter Mason Stone, Thank you for cooperating with us with your help we wi a new country ruled by ponies like you and me, inst ered princesses in their prestigiou epublic, down with the Equestrian mona Sincerely, The Demo racy Association of Equestria Even with only half of the paper, it was not difficult to fill in the blanks. I was certain it was a letter from the Democracy Association of Equestria, a traitorous organization that conspired against the Princesses. A few years ago it was exposed and all of its members were fugitives, but it was one of the largest supporters for the recent rebellion. Mason was obviously associated with the group. I would make sure to tell Major Warwing about the traitor... Except Major Warwing was dead. And if most of Canterlot was like this area, then most likely I would not be reporting the criminal to anypony anytime soon. However, it was my duty to deal with things like this, so I made sure that once I was out of these ruins I would take care of the matter. Truly, I had no idea whether Mason Stone was still alive or not. I decided I would just forget the matter for now. However, this brought up an important question; what will I do now? Obviously, try to find other ponies. I suppose I should report to Mareford, the S.P.S. base at the foot of Mount Canterlot. But how much damage did the artillery barrage cause? I realized that military buildings would not have been the only targets. The rebels would have targeted infrastructural buildings, like transportation, power plants, law enforcement, and emergency response teams. Plus the most appealing target of all for the rebels: Canterlot Palace. Of course, the Palace would be well protected, but an artillery barrage, especially with such powerful weapons, may be too much for the castle's defenses. If the Palace was attacked, there is a good chance the Princesses would be killed. The Princesses' death would bring the collapse of Equestria, and victory for the rebels. It was decided. I was going to travel to Old Canterlot and investigate the Palace. I was sworn into the Princesses' service, so I could at least make sure that they had not been killed in the bombardment. I walked back through the kitchen, into the main area of the restaurant, and picked up the bits I had left on the counter. "This business has been suspended due to treasonous activities," I told Sungaze. "What?" she exclaimed. "I found a document that placed evidence that the owner was working with the rebels," I said. She still looked confused. "He helped the people that caused the bombing." She gasped. "How could somepony do that?" she questioned. "Support all this death and destruction?" I just shook my head sadly. I spent most of the afternoon trying to contact someone with the phone. I called every Canterlot emergency number and a few numbers of military bases outside of Canterlot, but it seemed that the phone had no connection to a line. I had no luck with the computer either. After I gave up, we set up a couple of mats in the kitchen, and used the keys to lock the door to the deli and the door to the kitchen, just to be safe. I had found a firearm in one of the desk drawers of the office, a Heckler and Claw Universal Self-loading Pistol. I wondered where he had obtained it, since Heckler and Claw was a Griffon company, and Griffon firearms were restricted from civilian use. I confiscated the illegally owned weapon, putting it in a free holster I had on the left side of my barding. There were a large number of 9mm magazines for the gun, which I carefully crammed into my saddlebags. We had some salads for dinner, with turkey and ham on the side, before turning off the kitchen lights and crawling onto our mats. I was somewhat restless, affected by the unnerving events of the day, as well as the events of two days previous. Finally, I managed to close my eyes and relax, allowing sleep to claim me for the night.
