Two Hooves

“Nice job with that guard.” Blackout said to Nacht as they neared the base.

Nacht had given the hoofgun back to Blackout as soon as they’d distanced themselves from the farm. He’d been looking over the mountains since they'd left, and only glanced at Blackout.

“I dunno, maybe I was wrong about you. I guess I took you for a pogue what with you having no weapons and following orders so closely.” Blackout nodded. “You’re good by me.” He waited for Nacht to respond, and when the unicorn did not, Blackout shot a glance to Wildcat. “Hey, what outfit did you say you were with again?”

“When we reach the base, please bring the captive to the detention cell with the other.” Nacht said to Locked Breech.

“Yes, of course, we were going to do that.” Locked Breech too seemed to have gained respect for Nacht and he spoke unsarcastically. Nacht went back to looking out of the side of the chariot.

“Hey, did you guys drug this guy or what?” Wildcat poked the dog. The dog had not moved much in the ten minutes they’d been flying and Red Field had nearly forgotten about him.

“Uh, no.” Said Chesterfield. “He still not moving?”

“He’s barely breathing.” Wildcat said, feeling the dog’s throat.

“Shit, Cat, see what’s wrong. He was doing fine when we grabbed him.” Locked Breech said.

“I knocked him out once you got him into the chariot.” Nacht said. “He’s strong enough to throw one of you out of the vehicle. I decided to reduce the risk; he’ll come to just fine.”

“Where did you hit him?” Asked Wildcat.

“I used a spell, I’ll wake him once we get him secured.” Nacht said.

“The hell? Where’d you train?” Blackout leaned forward in his seat.

“I was part of a now-defunct paramilitary organization supplementing police forces across Equestria.” Nacht said abruptly.

“Let’s keep it quiet till we get back to base.” Locked Breech said.

The dog's feet dragged in the dust and his head bobbed with each step as Wildcat and Chesterfield dragged him out of the chariot. Wildcat pressed his hoof to the dog’s throat to feel for a pulse when Nacht wasn’t looking. He glanced back at Blackout and shrugged.

They entered their barracks and made their way to the basement.

The mission had kept Lambchop and his unknown state of wellbeing out of Red Field’s mind. But as Red Field followed Nacht down the darkened stairs, he remembered the café owner.

The eerie blue light slid up from the furnace chamber and the air grew warmer as they descended.

The furnace was lit and breathed a dry heat. Nearly all of the tool chests stood opened. Luna stood with her back turned as she looked through one of the drawers. Red Field looked around the room for the young café owner. A cot sat next to one of the rows of chests. Atop the cot laid Lambchop.

“Back so soon?” Luna asked. She turned and Red Field was relieved to see she didn’t hold any sort of torture implement. “Any trouble?”

“We alerted the other dogs on the farm but we got away without hurting anyone.” Locked Breech said, motioning for Wildcat and Nacht to bring forward their captive.

“Oh, well, as long as nopony was hurt.” Luna said. “At any rate we’ve received a stroke of good luck.”

“What?” Asked Wildcat. Luna pointed to the chair in the center of the room.

“Please deposit him there, soldier. One of my outside contractors investigating the matter of the changeling has uncovered information allowing us to disregard the final suspect.” She set her hoof on the shoulder of the dog Nacht and Wildcat were balancing on the seat before her. “Meaning this is our dog.”

“Excellent.” Locked Breech said. “Should we return the café owner?”

“No.” Luna said. “We still ought to verify the information, though I don’t doubt his innocence.” She looked at Lambchop. “He didn’t know anything, and doubt he’ll tell anyone what happened to him.” She looked back at the UATs. “I’ll speak with this one and once we’ve got what we need you can take mister Lambchop back to Geode.” She patted the dog in the seat. “Docile this one.”

“I sedated him.” Nacht said.

“Magic?” She asked. Nacht nodded and Luna pointed to Lambchop. “You ponies wouldn’t mind taking him up to your room would you? There’d be a conflict of spells if I tried to awaken just one of them when they’re in close proximity.”

“No, that’s fine.” Locked Breech said. “Cat, Chess, grab that guy.” He saluted Luna. “We’ll head to our quarters now.”

“Of course, thank you again.” Luna said. “We’ve taken our first step toward finding the criminals responsible for my sister’s death.” Chesterfield and Wildcat picked up the smaller dog and carried him toward the stairs. “Take tomorrow off UATs. We’ll need to plan our next move, and you deserve some rest. If that idiot Gmale captain gives you any trouble, send him to me.”

“Sounds good.” Blackout said as they climbed up the stairs.

Back in their room, the UAT team spent a few minutes searching for a solution to the problem of their newfound captive. Eventually, they awoke him with a canteen of water to the face. Lambchop, who laid on the ground with his paws folded over his chest, awoke with a frightened bark.

“Oh God, what’s going on?!” He rolled over and nearly stumbled into the table in the center of the room.

“You’re fine.” Said Wildcat as he set his canteen next to his bed. “Just had a little nap is all.”

“Where am I? What are you going to do to me?” Lambchop rose to his feet and walked backward, toward Red Field and Full Wing’s beds.

“We’re going to take you back to your home.” Red Field said, trying to startle the dog as little as possible. Lambchop spun around.

“You are?” He asked.

“You’re going to need to spend another night with us though.” Locked Breech said. “We just have to finish some things and we should have you back sometime tomorrow.”

“Oh, thank you.” Lambchop swallowed and put a paw on his chest. “You’re very civilized ponies.”

“Yeah, I get the feeling civility isn’t something you people are big into.” Blackout said.

“You’re safe.” Locked Breech said. He pointed to the pile of rations on the floor. “You haven’t eaten in a day, help yourself to whatever is edible for you. Full, give him your canteen, he’s probably dehydrated.” Full Wing threw his canteen to the dog, who barely managed to catch it before it struck his chest.

“Oh, thank you all, you’re very generous.” Lambchop said.

“No problem.” Locked Breech said. “Team, get some sleep. I’ll sit up with our guest.”

The other ponies of Recon were soon asleep. Yet ever since he’d decided not to fire on the old dog in the farm, Red Field had felt stiff and uncomfortable. Was he uncomfortable for failing to fire, or uncomfortable about being ordered to fire on a nonthreatening target? Red Field laid in bed, his head tucked against his pillow, listening to Locked Breech and Lambchop talk.

Locked Breech asked about the dog’s family and learned Lambchop had been married for a little over six months, and he’d married his first waitress. Lambchop sounded as if he were barely out of high school and Red Field smiled a little as he listened to the dog describe how he’d built the first sit-down restaurant in Geode. He’d hired anyone who was willing to apply themselves to their work. For a month or so of the previous year, he’d employed a changeling, before it had abruptly left the town. He’d heard nothing from it since.

In turn, the dog asked Locked Breech about himself and Red Field realized he knew very little about his commanding officer. Over the course of the next few minutes, Red Field learned Locked Breech had never married, had no children, and didn’t mind either quality. Red Field was drifting off to sleep as Locked Breech explained he’d grown up in a town north of Hayseed Swamp.

Red Field hadn’t slept for more than an hour before Locked Breech awoke him.

“Red, come with me. I need somepony to help me bring this guy back to Luna, she just asked for him.” Locked Breech held a chem light, casting a green glow over the two of them.

“Sure.” Red Field said groggily. He stood and shook out his mane. “Why?”

“Dunno.” Locked Breech said, also sounding tired. “But it’ll just take a minute.” The dog stood by the door and he nodded as the pair walked over to him. “Sorry about all of this.”

“Oh no, it’s quite all right.” Lambchop said, making sure to keep his voice down. Red Field walked behind Lambchop and they followed Locked Breech down the hallway. “That mare told me you were looking for an assassin; I can understand why you’d search Mohs, though I don’t know why you’d check my little café.”

“Just following orders.” Locked Breech said.

“Are the assassins bronies?” Lambchop asked as they walked.

“Haven’t been told.” Locked Breech said.

“Oh well, I was just going to say I hope it isn’t them.” The dog said. “You know, they don’t do a quarter of the things they get blamed for.”

Red Field was still partially asleep. He’d fallen into the sort of deep slumber capable of erasing recent memories. Was there a name for that kind of sleep?

Red Field slipped into a walking doze as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The humid air lulled him further into unconsciousness and he rocked forward a bit.

Lambchop gasped and Red Field looked up.

The dog who they’d captured about an hour earlier sat tied to the chair in the center of the room. The bag had been removed from his head and Red Field could see his face. The dog had a short, snout nose and a pair of dirty yellow eyes. His face and belly were bruised and one of his eyes was swollen shut. A bloodied rag was tied around his head and stuffed into his mouth. Nacht sat next to him and watched the three arrive.

“Madam?” Locked Breech asked. Luna stood before one of the walls, she held a piece of parchment to the wall and was writing. The quill twitched as she wrote. She wrote in cursive, but her lines curved downward. Luna added her signature and tossed the quill away. She rolled the letter up and sent it with a blue puff of magic.

Red Field shrank down as she turned.

“Seems we’re out one changeling.” Luna’s face was dotted with tiny drops of red and her hooves were stained with blood. “You! I thought we’d come to an agreement.” She pointed to Lambchop.

“We did!” He said. “I don’t employ any changelings!”

“Who do you know that does? Who do you suspect does?” She crossed the room. “What did I miss?” He moved backward and she caught his shoulder.

“I swear, I don’t know anything about changelings, or anyone who knows anything.” He said as he held his paws up. “I swear I’m telling you the truth.”

“Shut up.” Luna crushed his muzzle closed with her horn. She squeezed so fiercely he whimpered and pawed at his face to pull away the cords of magic.

“What’s the problem?” Locked Breech stepped partially between the two.

“That meat packer didn’t know anything.” Luna said. “Between the two of them, they were supposed to know something.”

“How do you know the meat farmer didn’t know anything?” Red Field asked. The meat farmer growled at them through his gag.

“Nacht, shut him up.” Luna said. Nacht placed a rag over the meat packer’s nose. The dog’s head slumped forward and his eyes closed. Luna looked back at Lambchop, who was still whimpering. She released his mouth, but kept a grip on his shoulder. “I spent half an hour in that idiot’s brain, combing it for any knowledge of changelings. He had no memories of them. I woke him up and probed him consciously for a while and he answered all of the questions truthfully.” She pointed at Lambchop. “Quite honestly I trust him much more than I trust you. So that leaves us with the question of what I missed when I picked your brain.”

“How do you know these are our only two suspects?” Locked Breech asked. “There have to be more than two dogs in Mohs who know a changeling.”

“That’s what our intelligence department gave us.” Luna said. “Three names- one redacted leaves these two.”

“Your agency must have it wrong; that’s a far too small pool of suspects.” Red Field said. Luna looked at him and Red Field grew lightheaded. Luna’s blue eyes bore down on him.

“My agency does not get things wrong.” She said. “Now, it’s time you went back to sleep.” She said, pulling Lambchop toward her.

“Please no, I swear to God I would tell you anything if I knew anything.” Lambchop said.

“We can search the meat farmer’s files and records to see if one of his employees knows something.” Locked Breech said. “If the operation is big enough, there might be changelings on his farm without him knowing.

The door to the barracks banged open above them.

“Nacht, tell that Gmale I’m going to kill him if he interrupts me again.” Luna said. Nacht was halfway to the stairs when gunshots thudded through the floor. Luna slammed Lambchop’s head against the wall and threw him face down at the feet of the meat farmer. She tore one of the shelves out of a tool chest. A hoofgun struck Red Field’s chest.

“Go.” She pointed upward. Red Field saw Nacht had drawn a hoofgun and was already up the first flight of stairs.

“Red on me.” Locked Breech said as he bolted after the other unicorn. Red Field was rounding the second flight of stairs to the main floor when rifle fire banged the wall above them. Locked Breech crouched at the top of the stairs, peeking out into the hall leading to the assembly room. Nacht knelt behind him. A pair of dogs peeked at them from opposite end of the hall.

Nacht and Locked Breech’s hoofguns popped in response. The canines shrank back, then thrust out their Molots, blindfiring in retaliation The three pressed close to the stairs.

“I need your gun.” Nacht said to Locked Breech.

“We’re staying here.” Locked Breech said. “Red, get ready to support us if they advance.”

“Yes sir.” Red Field said, feeling helpless as he hid at the bottom of the stairs. Nacht looked back at him.

“Take my position.” Nacht swung himself over the side of the railing and leaped back down the stairs. The dogs in the assembly room fired another burst and Locked Breech, now alone at the top of the stairs, motioned for Red Field to come to him.

A cloud of concrete dust was collecting in the stairwell as their attackers shot again. Red Field knelt beside Locked Breech and peeked over the top of the stairs. He saw grey fur on either side of the entryway at the opposite end of the hall. The dog on the left held out his Molot and the rifle jerked and flopped around as he expended a magazine.

“Hold here and defend the Princess.” Locked Breech said. “I only have one mag.”

The hoofgun Red Field held was a decade obsolete and he hadn’t taken it off of safe. He turned it, looking for the small lever.

“Two moving!” Locked Breech stood and fired. A pair of Underdogs, crouched under their partners' lines of fire, crept toward them. The dogs covered half of the distance between them and the ponies in the time Red Field took to disengage his pistol’s safety. Locked Breech fired twice as all four opened up on them. Locked Breech fell past Red Field as the younger pony shook the dust out of his eyes. Two targets, advancing at two meters per second.

The rounds left Red Field’s pistol in a stream of muzzle flash. He stood for only an instant and didn't bother with sights. One dog’s chest spotted and sparks jumped from the receiver of his rifle as a bullet struck the weapon. The dog on the left had already collapsed from Locked Breech's rounds. The second Underdog slid down a few steps, nearly knocking Red Field off of his hooves. Red Field watched the blood bubbling out of the holes in the dog’s muscled body. Locked Breech put his hoof on Red Field’s shoulder, pulling him further down the stairs.

“Get back Red.” He said hoarsely. A few other dogs bolted past them as more filled the barracks.

“Stay here.” Nacht stepped over Red Field and Locked Breech. He carried a pair of hoofguns and stood on two hooves. Nacht opened fire on the two dogs at the end of the hall as they saw him rush forward. Locked Breech called for Nacht to stop.

Nacht reached the assembly room. He snapped both hoofguns up and started firing.

“Move, now!” Locked Breech ran after Nacht and Red Field after him. The bright light of the assembly room bobbed as Red Field sprinted out of the darkened stairwell. Locked Breech stopped at the end of the hall and peered out.

Seven dogs, not including the pair laying on either side of the hall, laid in the empty room. Most were gathered at the stairs leading to the second level. Nacht crouched by the door to the base. He held a Molot and was firing out of the doorway.

“Get the others.” Nacht shouted. “There are more.”

“Red, stay with him.” Locked Breech said.

“Yes sir.”

“Across from me and grab one of their rifles.” Nacht said. Red Field snatched a rifle off of the closest dog. The Molot was slick with blood and Red Field nearly lost his grip on it as he knelt a few steps from the door.

“More- out there.” Nacht swallowed midsentence and Red Field looked across at him. A hoof-sized chunk of Nacht’s lower abdomen was mangled from a rifle round. Blood ran down his legs and dripped into a growing pool at his hooves.

“I’ll hold.” Nacht said as if he had been waiting for Red Field to notice. He fired a burst out of the door. The recoil squeezed more blood out of the wound and Nacht hunched over to support himself. He saw Red Field staring at him. “Get me some of their ammo.” Red Field turned and began picking the magazines off of the dead dogs. They wore tactical vests without armor and most only carried two magazines. He stripped away their ammo and ran back to Nacht.

“Wildcat, patch up Nacht. Black and Chess, on the door.” Locked Breech and the rest of Recon galloped down to the assembly room. “Red, you and Full go check on the Princess.” Said Locked Breech, tossing Red Field a Kitty Kat.

Full Wing bounded down the hall past Red Field and nearly tripped over the corpse of the first Underdog Locked Breech had killed at the top of the stairs. Full Wing yelped and scuttled back, before Red Field pushed him forward.

“Dude, what the hell is going on?” Full Wing asked.

“I don’t know.” Red Field said. “They just kicked in the door.”

“Who are they?” Asked Full Wing.

“I don’t know!” Said Red Field.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Full Wing gasped again as he saw the bloodied dog tied to the chair. Luna had been pacing behind him and she looked up as the two reached her. She held a hoofgun.

“What is the situation?” She asked.

“We’re not sure. We’re working to secure the base.” Red Field said.

“Where is Nacht?”

“He was injured. We’re tending to him now.” Said Red Field.

“How many are there?”

“We’re not sure madam.”

“Stay here.” Luna walked past them and toward the stairs. “Keep both of these idiots secure.”

“I believe we were supposed to keep you-” Red Field didn’t finish his sentence, as Luna had already left the room. Both ponies listened to the muffled gunfire above them. They heard Locked Breech shout something.

“Shit dude, I saw like an army of them running around out there.” Full Wing said. “I peeked out the window; it looked like they just opened the gate.” The tiny room hummed with the rough vibration from a grenade detonating in the compound.

“Shit.” Red Field crouched and aimed at the stairs. Full Wing stood in the center of the room with his rifle at his side and Red Field pointed for him to move.

“We’re pinned down here.” Full Wing whispered as he began to aim at the stairs. “Like if they come down here-”

“I know.” Red Field adjusted his grip on his rifle. He heard soft groaning and looked down. Lambchop lay on his back with his paws cradling his head. A gash from when Luna had slammed his face to the wall seeped blood onto the floor.

“W-what’s going on?” He asked. “I’m sorry, please-”

“We’re being attacked, get away from the stairs and keep your head down.” Red Field said. Lambchop crawled over to the wall without a word.

“Who’s attacking?” He asked as he crouched as far from the stairs as he could.

“We don’t know dude!” Full Wing said.

“Thank you for protecting me then.” Lambchop said, crouching behind the unconscious meat farmer.

Both Red Field and Full Wing trained their rifles on the stairs, waiting for whatever might come down for them. The sounds of fighting continued above, and in half an hour, the gunfire and shouting did not slow. Locked Breech called for the ponies to push forward and Red Field heard the sounds of the rest of his team fight out of the doorway and into the base.

Something behind him rattled. Lambchop was pushing one of the tool chests toward the stairs. The heavy chest bumped and rattled across the rough floor until it stopped beside Red Field.

“Thanks.” Red Field said, pulling the chest in front of him. Lambchop began to drag one to Full Wing.

“Oh I got you dude.” Full Wing turned to help him.

“Full! Keep watch!” Red Field said.

“Oh shit, sorry.” Full Wing said. Amidst his fear, Red Field still felt guilty for chastising Full Wing for trying to be helpful. The guilt only rose as he heard Lambchop labor to roll the next chest to Full Wing. Red Field looked over at the dog as he positioned the chest.

“Are there more of you than who came to get me?” Lambchop said, dabbing some blood from his head.

“No.” Red Field said.

Lambchop didn’t say anything.

“We’re really well trained.” Full Wing said.

“I hope.” Lambchop said. A sharp explosion rocked the tiny room and the dog who owned the meat farm began to rouse. He groaned and rolled his head. His mouth was still filled with the gag and he began to growl. At first Red Field tried to ignore him, but soon his ears were filled with the sound.

“Hey, quiet.” Red Field said, looking back at the dog. The dog glared back at him and gnawed at the gag. Red Field took his gaze back to the red dot atop his rifle. The dog continued to growl at Red Field and he lost his concentration. Looking back once more, Red Field tried to be as professional as possible. “Please be quiet, we’re trying to protect this place.” The growling morphed into a jerking chuckle. The dog was laughing at him. Red Field continued to watch the stairs, but the laughter heated his blood.

“Stop.” Red Field said severely.

The dog closed its eyes as if it were genuinely overcome with amusement and laughed harder.

Red Field grew sore from bracing himself against the tool chest and his shoulders started to ache from supporting the rifle. Over the next twenty minutes, the battle moved away from them. The gunshots had grown sparse. No one shouted and the detention cell was filled with the hoarse sound of the meat farmer breathing through his nose.

In another fifteen minutes, the gunfire was reduced to single, intermittent shots.

“Red! We need you and Full up here!” Chesterfield’s voice startled Red Field.

“Okay, we’re coming up.” He called back. Red Field started toward the stairs, then stopped. “Do you need us to bring these guys?” He shouted, but Chesterfield had apparently left.

“You want me to bring them?” Full Wing asked after a few seconds.

“We can’t.” Red Field said, trying to think of a solution. He pointed to Lambchop. “Will you stay here?”

“Yes, of course.” Lambchop said with an obedient nod. Red Field hesitated, then ran to one of the open tool chests. He pulled out a pair of zip ties.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t want to-” He said in embarrassment.

“No no, it’s okay.” Lambchop offered his paws. “Thank you for protecting us.” The dog in the chair grumbled and rolled his eyes.

“Uh, I need you to turn around.” Red Field said quietly. Lambchop turned and held his paws back to Red Field. Render began to chuckle again as Red Field pulled the ties against the dog’s wrists.

“Is that too tight?” Red Field asked.

“No, it’s all right thank you.” Lambchop said.

“We’ll be right back.” Full Wing said as they ran from the cell. Lambchop seated himself on his bed as they bolted up the stairs.

The bodies of the dogs felled by Nacht still laid in the assembly room, and the floor was soaked with their dark blood. The two walked to the door to the compound, which was now shut. Red Field opened it a crack and peeked out.

The compound was littered with flares. Fifteen or so of the sizzling pyrotechnics lay strewn across the gravel yard. They cast an eerie red glow over the ground and their smoke formed a sour fog which hung at Red Field and Full Wing's hooves as they crept outside.

Red Field and Full Wing ventured out into the yard. The base lay silent save for the hissing flares. They saw no one and after only a few steps, both halted.

“Shit, where the hell is everypony?” Full Wing whispered.

“I don’t know.” Red Field turned. “We should go back inside; maybe they didn’t clear out here.” His hoof struck something and Red Field nearly tripped forward. A dog, face down in a muddy paste of blood and gravel lay hidden under the fog.
“Fuck!” Red Field jumped away and nearly fell over another body. His wild movements churned the smoke and revealed several more corpses around them.

Full Wing whinnied in fright.

“Red?” Locked Breech’s voice came from inside the building. “Get back inside!” Both ponies bolted into the building. Locked Breech was standing at the foot of the stairs to their quarters. “What are you doing going out there?”

“We didn’t know where you guys were!” Red Field said.

“Get up here.” Locked Breech said. “We need you to check the cliff and see if there’s any more out there.” Locked Breech shut the barracks door and snapped a padlock onto it. “They dug under the gate and opened it for their buddies.” He said as they climbed to the top floor. “About twenty five of them. Automatic rifles and grenades. We cleared them out of the courtyard and they got all quiet. We changed rooms and are holed up in here.” He said, pushing open the door to room 309.

At first Red Field couldn’t see anything. The room was completely black and all he could see was the glow of the flares on the ground below from the single window. His eyes began to adjust and his hoof struck something.

“Hey.” Chesterfield lay on the floor to the left of the door. His rifle sat on a bipod and Red Field saw he was aiming directly at the door. Against the right side of the wall sat Blackout and Wildcat. Blackout was holding Wildcat’s shoulder and Blackout’s hooves had a slick, wet, reflection.

“Cat got hit.” Locked Breech said. “We need to get support here ASAP.” He pointed to Red Field’s drag bag. “We brought up your gear, we need you to observe the cliff face before we move across and see how the Gmales are.”

“Yes sir.” Red Field picked up his bag and began to dig through it.

“You and Full okay?” Asked Blackout.

“Uh yeah, we’re fine.” Said Full Wing.

“Good.” Blackout said. His deep voice had lost its usual edge.

“If you’ve got lasers or shit on that thing, keep them off, we don’t know if they have night vision.” Blackout said as he picked up his rifle and trained it on the door. “Full, get back from the window.” Full Wing had been gathering his gear to aid Red Field in spotting. “Go and check on Nacht.” Nacht sat against the wall opposite Wildcat and Blackout. He said nothing as Full Wing knelt next to him.

“Red, let us know exactly what you see.” Locked Breech said as Red Field drew the night vision binoculars to his eyes.

The green of the night vision was rich and dark as the infrared light probed the darkness. The glow from the flares splashed onto the lower half of his vision and Red Field felt like he was looking over a pit of hell.

The cliff looked empty on first pass. The tree line and rocks were barren and nothing moved save for a few branches swaying near the tops of the trees. Red Field took each centimeter of the scene before him and scanned it. He crouched just under the window and he felt naked peering directly out at whoever might be watching.

“We don’t know why they attacked?” Full Wing asked.

“Trying to get back that guy the Princess had us kidnap tonight.” Wildcat said. “Can’t ever tell what those diggers are saying when they’re mad but Black and I heard them say Render’s name a few times. Princess could have had her intelligence look a bit more into that asshole’s background.”

Red Field paused on a patch of leaves that rustled improperly. He focused the binoculars and looked for right angles within the mass.

“Shit, the Princess,” Locked Breech said, “she’s still down there with the prisoners. Chess, go and get her.”

“No she’s not.” Full Wing said. “She’s went up to you guys.”

“No she didn’t.” Said Blackout. “What are you talking about?”

“Fuck, uh, she said she was going up to deal it, like you know the-” Full Wing said.

“Jesus Christ.” Locked Breech said. “When’s the last time you saw her?”

“Like, maybe half an hour ago?” Full Wing said. “I thought she was with you!”

“Motherfucker.” Blackout ran a hoof through his mane. “They got her.”

“Red, what’s out there?” Locked Breech asked. “We’re going out to find Luna.”

Red Field did not get a chance to answer, as a burst of gunfire ripped out in the base. The UATs huddled down.

“I’m not dead!” Fo shouted. “Not dead!” Another burst of gunfire popped off.

“UATs and Nacht, the area is clear!” Luna’s voice came from the hell under the window.

Fo had been shot once and his earlier gunshot wounds oozed blood. The lights in the Gmales’ barracks were on, but Fo was the only one outside. The smoke from the flares had mostly blown away and Fo swaggered past the bodies, firing bursts into each. Red Field caught sight of the captain’s face; Fo’s eyes were bloodshot and hazy.

Luna stood near the UATs’ chariot, which had been twisted apart by a grenade. She nodded to the soldiers as they ran out to her.

“The area is secure.” She said. “Where is my assistant?”

“Inside, injured.” Locked Breech said as they reached her. “Madam, what happened? Where did you go?”

“I went to engage the enemy.” Luna pointed to the fence. “The majority assaulted our building; I presume they knew which one held the captives. You and your team held out well and stopped most of the attackers.” Fo fired another burst into a corpse and gave a gloating bark. “The Gmales held the rest of them.” Luna added, gesturing to Fo. “I checked the woods and eliminated the last few hiding out there.” Luna rubbed her neck, which had been nicked by a bullet or a knife. “The prisoners, did they escape?”

“I don’t believe they did.” Red Field said. “They were very compliant.”

“For the love of God.” Luna strode past them. She grabbed a Molot off of one of the dead dogs and entered the barracks.

Luna set the weapon to automatic as she descended the stairs, the UATs crowding behind her. Red Field hoped desperately neither of the dogs had moved.

Lambchop stood beside Render, dabbing at the beaten dog’s head with a dirty rag. Both looked up as the ponies filled the room.

“Did you get them?” Lambchop asked anxiously. Red Field gave a silent thanks to the formless God he chose to worship for Lambchop staying true to his compliant nature.

Two gunshots pounded the air in the humid room. Lambchop fell backward, his forehead split open. The dog in the chair slumped forward, his face obliterated by the rifle round.

“Hey!” Locked Breech shouted. He grabbed Luna’s rifle by the smoking muzzle and Luna jerked it out of his grip. Luna held the rifle away from Locked Breech, before discarding it onto the floor.

“Those dogs were looking for one of them.” She said. “I don’t care which.”

“You can’t execute them for that.” Said Locked Breech.

“Captain Breech, I will remind you that you are foremost a soldier loyal to the royalty of Equestria.” Luna said. “You,” She pointed to Red Field, “avoid the embarrassment of losing your composure over the deaths of two likely criminals to Equestria.” Red Field stared at the body of Lambchop. It lay propped up against the furnace. Blood had splattered the dials and lever of the machine. “It doesn’t matter what they knew.” Luna let out a long breath and turned to Wildcat. “Signalpony, contact your superiors. Bring in the rest of your garrison.”