Lyra drunkenly leaned against Bon Bon as Vinyl Scratch finished her performance with an extra loud set of WUBs ringing out across the audience. The mint-colored unicorn had a small blush on her muzzle as she sipped at her drink.

“I wish Six was here to see this,” she snorted.

“I think he’s still running his routes,” Bon Bon said, sounding a lot more keen and a lot less intoxicated than her wife. “Maybe he’ll get back soon, the real show’s about to start.”

As the two mares sat in the crowd pondering where the human was, they soon saw the curtains drop down. Several stagehoofs began to prepare for Coloratura and Sapphire’s performance, all the while Vinyl exited stage right, soon finding Octavia amidst the lights and wires. The gray mare winked back at her as Doctor Whooves trotted up.

“No malfunctions?” he asked, bags under his eyes.

Vinyl Scratch shook her head.

“Speakers sounded crisper than ever?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Easy to control the soundboard?” he shot back.

Once more the unicorn nodded.

He sighed, wiping his brow.

“Fantastic. For a second there I thought something absolutely dreadful was about to happen,” he managed, giving a weak smile.

“It was a great sound system, Doctor,” Octavia said, speaking up for her mute partner. “You did marvelous. You should get some well-deserved rest.”

“Rest?” he scoffed. “My dear, that was just the test run. I’m going to need at least another month’s worth of shows before I can conclude my work is adequate.”

“You’re worrying too much Doctor,” Octavia pointed out. “I know you are a stallion of science, but really, you are overexerting yourself! You truly need a break.”

“Yes well…” he cleared his throat, pondering her words. “We still have another few nights before we leave Dodge. I will worry about resting later.”

The two musical mares shared a glance. Even through her glasses, Octavia knew Vinyl felt an equal hint of concern for him.

Behind them, Coloratura and Sapphire Shores were engaging in small talk. Before long though, they ceased conversing among themselves as Cherry Jubilee herself trotted out. Soon the aged mare pushed aside the stage curtains and trotted into view of the crowd.

Easily over a hundred or so ponies cheered up at her, knowing she was here to announce the main event of the night. She stepped up to a microphone that one of the stagehoofs set up and scanned over the crowd, who soon quieted down, silently anticipating what she’d have to say.

“Well howdy there everypony!” she began. “I sure hope y’all enjoyed Vinyl Scratch’s performance as much as I did!”

She got a series of hoof claps and cheers back at her, making her chuckle.

“Now I know most of y’all aren’t from Dodge itself, but that’s alright! We might still be a small town, but as you can tell, we’re gracious to have each and every one of ya!” she said graciously. “Now I know I already said this but I’m happy that Cherry Hill Ranch could host a show as amazin’ as this!”

She got another cheer and a small round of hoof-based applause and whistles. Cherry took a moment to look over her shoulder, seeing behind the curtains. Coloratura smiled back at her, giving the signal that she was ready. Cherry herself smirked at that and turned back towards the crowd.

“Now without further ado, I give ya’ll Sapphire Shores and Coloratura!” as she shouted this out into the microphone, a sense of tenseness began to shoot through everypony in the crowd.

Most ignored this of course, and once the curtains pulled back to reveal Coloratura and Sapphire seated together at a piano, which had replaced Vinyl’s DJ stand. Most of the lights around the stage dimmed, as a single spotlight shined down on the popstars. Cherry herself quickly went backstage once more, making sure she was out of the way so the two could perform. A microphone hung down overhead, letting Sapphire lean up and speak.

“Now this is a bit more mellow than anypony would expect from me, but just know, I’m behind Rara one hundred percent, I hope you all enjoy this!” the glamorous pony said, winking out at the audience.

“This song goes out to not just Dodge, but every other Equestrian here!” Rara added with a smile.

After another moment, the two slowly began to play the piano, with the beautiful melody being belted out as they were perfectly in sync together, tapping away at the keys with their forehooves. The microphone lowered a bit more as Rara went to sing first.

“Eque-”

“Equestriaaaaaa~” a deep, scratchy, masculine voice rung out, interrupting her and silencing any cheers in the crowd.

The popstar was so utterly baffled that she stopped playing, her hooves remaining down on the piano, stretching out the note. Sapphire Shore was equally as baffled, pulling her own hooves back as she looked at Rara with a cocked brow.

“W-what is going on?” she questioned. Her words echoed out through the speakers nearby, having been picked up on the mic, confusing the crowd even further.

“The land you looooveee…” the scratchy, grimey voice continued.

The ponies in the audience began to notice how thick and muggy the air felt now. It was as if something

“Land of harmony,” the masculine voice chuckled. “Those are the lyrics, right?”

“Alright listen here buster!” Sapphire growled, her temper flaring as she grabbed the mic with her forehooves. “This prank isn’t funn-”

“Prank? Who said anything about a prank?” it replied back, echoing out. “This is… an attempt at democracy!”

“What?” Rara questioned.

“Ohhh right,” the voice replied, chuckling. “I suppose you’d rather meet me in pony, correct? Everypony feel free to answer, this is a question for the whole crowd. Not just these overrated sows!”

Sapphire Shores balked at that before fuming, literally snorting steam like a pissed off horse. Rara gave a deep, concerned frown as she looked around. The audience was a whirl of confusion, everypony chattering amongst themselves as they seemed uncertain on what to say.

However, a large, green burst of magical energy from a rooftop nearby rang out, interrupting their panic. It sounded like a cannon shot, causing everypony to flinch as they turned towards it. Lyra and Bon Bon were still in the crowd, squinting their eyes as they looked up to see what the cause of the ruckus had been.

The magical energy dissipated, and a pair of small, burning green embers stared down at the gathered ponies. The form they belonged to was hard to make out in the darkness, but they could see it was bipedal, and shrouded in a large, flowing black cloak. In one gnarled looking hand, he held a microphone.

“Alright, let’s drop these pretenses,” the voice rang out across the crowd. “Believe it or not, I come here offering peace.”

The crowd was still stunned, most of them being silent as the few ponies who hadn’t seen the bipedal creature were now looking up at him.

“Oh yeah? Why would we believe you, huh!?!” Lyra shouted out, her voice half-drunk.

The head of the creature snapped towards her direction.

Despite him being on a rooftop several dozen feet away and having a small field of distance between the two and numerous chattering ponies he had heard her. She nearly fell over in shock. She couldn’t see much of him other than two glowing dots, but she felt his gaze peeling at her skin.

“Good question, dear,” he laughed, his voice still echoing throughout the speakers. “I am here to give you ponies the choice of subjugation or mutual assistance.”

Many got panicked at the mention of ‘subjugation’ with them looking around fearfully.

“What I mean by that is this is,” he began, laying it all out, “I need a large dose of magical energy to help me out in my plans. Now naturally, I could just attack you all, but that would be quite… horrific for the lot of you.”

The crowd were even more panicked now.

Bon Bon narrowed her eyes up at the creature. Somehow despite him not looking at her, she felt as if he was glaring right back at her.

“Think of it like this: You let me drain your magic, and I leave Dodge peacefully. No harm will come to it tonight,” he offered.

Cherry Jubilee had rushed out on stage now, with the Doc, Vinyl, and Octavia peeking out behind the curtains as well. Cherry took the microphone that the Sapphire and Rara were using and put it into your hooves.

“Now listen here,” she growled into the mic, a fiery, southern temper flaring up in her voice. “I have no idea how things are done in yer neck of the woods, but here in Dodge, we don’t take too kindly to threats-”

“It’s not a threat, Cherry my dear. It is a cold, hard, fact,” laughed back the voice.

She glared up at the robed figure, eyeing him down from her own vantage on the stage.

“And what if we did give ya our magic, huh?” called back the voice of the mare, speaking for the whole of Dodge. “What are ya gonna do with it? Even if ya left us alone, what would that mean for the rest of Equestria?”

“Ohhh now you’re just asking the obnoxious questions,” replied the growling, hissing voice. “As I said, no harm comes to Dodge tonight. If you all just willingly let me sap some of your magic, we’ll leave it at that.”

“Ya won’t have a drop of magic from me!” Cherry replied with a scowl.

“Me either!” Rara shouted, a sense of Equestrian pride in her heart.

“You can kiss my flank!” Sapphire said with a huff to the strange creature.

The other ponies in the crowd looked around, conversing amongst themselves.

“What a shame,” the voice replied flatly, with the monster on the roof glaring down at the three mares, before his gaze settled on the crowd. “Now if there are any of you who aren’t utter buffoons in the crowd and actually don’t want your home destroyed, please step up now.”

Some of the ponies looked around, as if they were actually considering it. It was mostly the tourists though, the rough and tumble Dodge locals just glared up at the beast.

“Come on, are you all really going to risk your hides for ponies you don’t even know?” the voice replied like a con man selling a faulty product, a pompous air about it.

A few ponies still looked uncertain.

A certain minty unicorn wasn't among that category, though.

“I am!” Lyra belted out over the crowd.

His glare returned to her, and she shrunk back, but held her ground with a determined expression.

Bon Bon clenched her jaw, before standing up as well.

“Me too!” the secret agent shouted.

Lyra looked at her wife with a passionate, loving expression on her face, with it being further fueled by her tipsy state.

“You know what, I will too!” another earth stallion in the crowd shouted.

"Me too!" a pegasus mare shouted.

"Me three!" joined in a unicorn stallion.

A roar of shouts joined them. The crowd nodded and stamped their hooves and shouted the rare obscenity up at the beast on the rooftop.

“You’re all making a big mistake,” it growled. “I am offering you one mo-”

“Go buck yourself!” Cherry Berry growled into the mic, getting a round of cheers.

The creature gave a sigh into his own microphone.

“Well, I tried,” he shrugged.

He suddenly tossed the mic aside, freeing up his hand before a flash of magic came from his palm. Suddenly, the crowd watched as he summoned a long, gnarled looking wooden staff from his hands. It ended in a glass-like orb that contained a billowing green energy inside of it. It whirled this way and that as the robed creature suddenly pointed it down at the crowd.

“Attack,” he growled the word, his voice at a normal speaking level. A good chunk of the crowd didn’t even hear him.

Something else did though…

A lot of something elses, actually.

They rushed the stage from the alleyways and from behind trees and from around corners. Dozens and dozens of them, well over a hundred or so. They were bipedal, tall, skeletal bodies, skull-like heads with similar green glowing balls of energy for eyes.

It was as if they had just been willed into existence from nothingness.

The army of piggish monsters charged down the concert crowd within seconds, with many ponies letting out gasps and shouts of shock and terror. Immediately, the few security guards at front were tackled, being shoved to the ground and forced onto their backs or sides.

The creatures shoved and punched and restrained as many ponies as they could as the entire concert devolved into an unorganized, chaotic war. Chairs were thrown, hooves were bucked, and the unicorns of the audience were sending out magical blasts as the unstoppable horde of cold, gray beasts clashed with the horde of color and warm ponies.

Few realized it in the chaos, but if one listened closely, they would make out the sound of gunshots in the distance as well…

Ping!

Six grabbed the Garand’s expended clip from midair and shoved it into his satchel, replacing it with a fresh one. He then shoved the new clip into the battle rifle and readied it at his shoulder as he advanced. A dead pig-beast was turning into ash at his feet, a large hole in its chest. It just joined the half-dozen others he’d put down on the way here.

Six was rushing, running at a light jog as he held his rifle pointed dead ahead. He couldn’t full on sprint at the moment, but he was making his way through the town to help any of the remaining ponies left in it.

The door of a nearby saloon was kicked open, and a large boar-beast drug out a flailing mare. It didn’t even have time to register Courier Six’s lenses glaring at it from the darkness before a .308 round blew its skull apart.

The mare screamed in panic, freezing up as she ducked under her forehooves.

“Get the fuck to safety you nitwit!” growled the Courier, as another one of the beasts rushed him from an alley nearby.

He turned to it on a dime and blew a hole in its stomach, making it step back, gurgling in pain as it clutched at its wound. Six put it out of its misery by shooting it in the head, fracturing the skull like glass and dropping the fucker flat onto its back.

The mare finally shook from her stupor, and rushed back into her saloon, likely to find a better hiding spot. The human trudged forwards, not having time to collect the spent casings of the rifle as he moved like a man on a mission.

He heard one rushing up behind him, and he turned again, using the momentum to slam the wooden butt of his rifle into the fucker’s cheek. Its lower jaw snapped fully off as it stumbled back, falling to the dirt a moment later. Six pulled out Lucky, cocked the hammer, and finished it with a .357 round to the neck.

“How many of these pricks are there?” he growled, turning around a corner, only to freeze in place as he stared ahead.

A dozen of the beasts looked back at him, with several of them holding numerous ponies down in the dirt.

“Me and my fucking mouth,” he hissed, shouldering the Garand.

He fired off two shots, dropping the closest of the bastards with inky smoke leaking from the wounds in its chest. Another rushed at him before he fired off the fifth round of the magazine. He got it in the right bicep, blowing apart the beast’s upper arm. Inky black smoke spewed from the gaping wound as it squealed like a pig. The squealing was immediately silenced by Six walking up and smashing half its skull in with the butt of the rifle.

Another rushed at him with swiftness, abandoning the pony it was holding to try and tackle the human. Six kicked it in the stomach when it got too close, sending it stumbling back. It slammed into two other of the beasts who had also charged forwards, stunning them as well.

Six just took aim and fired.

Bang!

One. Got one in the head.

Bang!

Two. Another in the collar bone.

Bang! Ping!

Fuck! Three! In the eye at least!

Rifle was slung back over the shoulder, a pair of 1911’s would have to handle the others.

Six let the next half dozen of the charging beasts meet God’s caliber. The ponies they had been holding were freed now thankfully, but that meant all the attention was being drawn by him.

Good.

He wielded the pistols akimbo style as he let lose all fourteen rounds. .45 met flesh and flesh lost, with the creatures dropping back with numerous hisses as he slow-walked forwards, keeping his pistols aimed straight out at the approaching monsters as he did. One had a nice new hole in its skull. Another clutched its neck as it fell back. A third tumbled backwards as its shoulder was ripped open from the high-powered round.

Six met six beasts, and now he was the last thing left standing, as the creatures laid bleeding and dying and disintegrating.

He had a minor amount of free time to catch his breath and reload, shoving the used mags back into his satchels as he replaced them with fresh ones. Did the same with his Garand too. As he did this, he tried to remember the mail route he’d taken and orient himself. He was only a few blocks away from the edge of town, and thus not far from the concert. Maybe Lyra and Bon Bon and the others were alright?

Six looked up as a colorful blast of energy caught his eye. It was a dark green. Reminded him of a plasma grenade exploding. Only a block ahead too.

The mailman holstered his pistols and kept the Garand slung over his shoulder as he picked up the pace, bolting towards the fun. Less monsters now. Guess they fucked off?

A man could hope.

He continued sprinting as he went, his rifle and duster billowing about. The secret surprise under his duster also clattered around too, sounding like wood and metal bouncing off of his strong riot armor. A bit later, he reached the source of the earlier blast.

The building itself was a small shop, however, the explosion definitely came from atop it. Six looked up, squinting his eyes. Thanks to the night vision, he could see a figure perched above. It turned towards him in a flash, and he could see a similar skeletal visage from the pig-beasts staring at him. However, this one was a bit different. Bone structure wasn’t that of a pig’s. No tusks either. Looked more… equine?

He saw it actually jerk back a bit as it looked down at him, as if it was shocked.

“You…” a raspy, screechy voice rang out as the beast moved his lower jaw, talking crisply without lips.

“Me?” Six responded with an assholish tone.

It walked up close to the edge of the building as it stared down at him.

Six examined him closely.

He wore a long, dark robe, bipedal, but not as tall as the other pig monsters. Even from his high vantage, Six realized this creature would’ve only been about four or so feet tall, come up to his chest at best. Held a long staff in his right hand as well; used it as a walking stick as it moved.

“You know, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re the one responsible for all those monsters running around, right?” the human asked.

The creature’s skeletal head leaned closer as he looked down at the Courier, not answering.

“What gave it away?” the creature soon spat, as if it was too pissed to be properly snarky.

“What’s the matter pal?” Six asked. “Stage fright?”

“You’re a human,” he growled back.

“Oh, that’s not fair. You know me, but I don’t know you,” Six replied.

The creature straightened back up, as if he was trying to play off his own anger.

“I suppose you’re right…” he replied, offering a dry, humorless chuckle.

The creature reached up his gnarled, clawed left hand and pulled back his robe’s hood a bit. Six watched in a minor amount of curiosity as the monster revealed his entire head and face...

Well, head, not face. No face to show. Still though, one thing that did shock Six was the fact a long pair of donkey ears and mane of grayed hairs unfurled themselves from under the black hood. Unlike the boars, this creature seemed to keep enough skin on his head for him to have a rugged, unkempt mane run along the back of his neck. Still no eyes or nose though, obviously.

He had a cocky air about him, as if his skull-like face was smirking down at the Courier. While the mailman knew it wasn’t possible, it was like he could see his bone structure shift into a smile. Either magic or an illusion.

“Donkey huh? I knew you guys could be cranky, but I didn’t expect this,” Six shot.

The bipedal donkey chuckled at that, his demeanor laxing.

That’s it you fuck, get nice and comfortable.

“You know, you’re not quite like the other humans I have met,” he smirked. “Though, there aren’t any humans in Equestria last I’ve checked.”

His smirk dropped into a look of dead-seriousness. Damn it!

“How did you get here?” he growled.

“Your guess is as good as mine, pal,” Six said, playing it cool.

“Oooooh really,” the donkey scoffed, his seriousness turning to more cockiness. “You just showed up here one day without rhyme or reason and now you’re here, at this exact moment, at this exact time, based on pure happenstance?”

“Summed up my life perfectly,” Six replied casually.

He exhaled at that, giving a chortle, which grew into a proper laugh for a few seconds. Dropped his guard.

“You know I-”

With lightning-fast reflexes, Six pulled out the Ranger Sequoia and loosed a shot aimed right for his head. The Courier was damned quick, but the donkey was just slightly quicker.

Immediately the orb on the end of his staff let loose a burst of magic, and a bubble-like shield surrounded him. The .45-70 left a massive crack on his shield, however the spider web of cracks immediately vanished as he pumped more magic into it, making it sturdier.

“-Partly expected that,” laughed the donkey, keeping his cool as Six had.

“Damn, almost had your ass too,” Six chuckled, still holding his big iron.

“You’re quite skilled in combat,” mused the donkey. “I wonder if that’s a shared human trait.”

“Mind telling me how you know humans?” Six chuckled up at him.

“I would love to, but you know I really, really wanted to know how you got here and, since you can’t answer… I’m afraid we’re at an impasse,” laughed the donkey, giving a cackling hee-haw mid-bellow. Sounded like nails on a chalkboard mixed with a dying dog.

“Your laugh sounds as shitty as you look,” Six said, giving a small chuckle.

“We’ve resorted to name-calling, is that it?” tsked the donkey. “Here I thought we were getting along.”

“Buddy, I tell you what,” Six said, holstering the big iron and raising both of his open palms. “I’ll cut you a deal.”

“I just love deals,” chuckled the undead creature as he leaned in.

“You take your pigs, and yourself, and you get the fuck out of Dodge,” the Courier offered.

“Ah and what do I get in return?” the villain shot back.

Six exhaled, giving a single “heh” in response.

He looked him dead in his non-existent eyes, giving him a glare from underneath his mask that any living creature could feel.

“You get to keep your life,” he said coldly.

The smirk on the donkey’s lack-of-face disappeared.

There was a tense silence between the two.

“You’ve got fight in you, unlike so many others I’ve seen…” mused the creature.

Six just glared back.

“I will give you the chance to walk out of here now,” the donkey offered. “These creatures they’re… self-destructive. The ponies offer friendship and kindness but speaking from experience, they just need a few choice words to be ripped apart.”

“Maybe I don’t particularly believe that,” Six replied.

The donkey chuckled.

“They were fractured before; they can be again,” shrugged the skeletal creature. “With the utmost ease. Why, even a bug could do it.”

Six didn’t detect any lies from him.

“Even if what you're saying is true, we both know I’m not walking away,” growled the human.

“I know you’re only against me because you care for some of the ponies… I’ll let you take up to ten of them,” offered the cocky creature. "How's that?"

“How about you tell me how you got here instead,” Six replied

“That’s not important,” the donkey shut him down.

“Okay then, what’s your name, asshole?” Six grunted

“That’s not important either,” the donkey said, losing his patience, “because soon enough, you’re going to be dead.”

“That’s a long ass name. How about I just call you Prick, huh?” Six shot back.

“Ahh I remember now why I hate your kind,” the donkey groaned, like an old schoolteacher. He even reached up a hand to rub the side of his skeletal head, as if he had a migraine forming.

“If it makes ya feel any better, feeling’s mutual,” Six replied. “You’re not the first power-hungry asshole I’ve seen, and you won’t be the last.”

“I bet you have a life almost as interesting as mine. I could’ve even had use for you,” the donkey huffed, a trace of genuineness in his voice. “It truly is a shame you’ll just have to die along with the rest of this gutless, bastardized country.”

“The only one dying at the end of all of this is you, pal,” the Courier promised.

“Kill him,” the donkey said with an almost bored tone, waving his staff.

Immediately, Six looked on as a miniature tornado of ash and dust billowed up a few feet in front of him. Had traces of green magic dancing in it. He stepped back and watched as over a dozen shapes formed within the gusts of wind and debris. They took form, and the human stepped back further as over a dozen of those same pig bastards from earlier seemed to form from the ashy gusts of wind.

“You’re gonna need a lot more than that,” Six boasted.

The donkey’s skull morphed into what looked like a smirk, before he jiggled his wand a bit. Immediately, Six saw another dozen or so more of the boarish bastards come around the corner of almost every building around him. Easily there was close to forty of the fuckers now.

“How’s that?” chuckled the donkey, before he disappeared, teleporting away with a green burst of energy.

The Courier just growled back at him.

Alright. Surrounded by about four dozen bipedal pig monsters? That was definitely grounds for the ‘oh shit, we have a problem!’ kind of tool he’d been packing under his jacket.

They surrounded him in a semi-circle, trying to block him in. Six smirked as he reached under his jacket. Time slowed as they charged.

Six pulled it out…

Tommy gun-like in its appearance. Had the wooden finish. Had the same basic shape. Even had the drum mag…

But even still it wasn’t a tommy gun...

The Laser RCW made itself known as the Courier grabbed the front half of the laser rifle by its foregrip and let loose a volley of light-based death at the charging, ashy beasts. The laser light show was wondrous as he fired upon them. No different than a gangster from the 30s taking down some fellow bootleggers, the Courier channeled his inner mobster and downed the first volley of mooks.

Fuckers dropped, falling back as the laser blasts scorched their bodies. A couple even disintegrated on the spot, but more came.

Good. Let ‘em.

Had the recycler in this baby anyways. Eighty fucking shots, no waiting.

By God, he almost had the desire to shout-

Alright, fuck it. Fuck having the desire. He just went for it!

“Nyah! See?” Courier Six laughed as he utterly unloaded the rapid capacity weapon at the skeletal monsters.

One blast lobbed the head off of one of them. Another dismembered a bastard’s arm. Another laser incinerated a boar-beast that leapt at him. And then the monsters just kept coming!

The horde continued to throw itself at him as he backed up. More were even coming from the damned woodwork. He was losing ground. Backed up onto the porch of a small shop now. Six was losing ammo almost as quickly as he lost space. However, the volley slowed the mob enough for him to plan his next action.

When the electron charge pack finally gave out, he made his move.

Six rushed over and jumped up, managing to launch himself three feet into the air, he kicked off of the guard rails on the end of the porch and flung himself higher. The Laser RCW was dangling around his waist thanks to a strap, letting him reach his hands out and grab the edge of the wooden building’s roof. He grunted thankfully as he hung there for a second.

After a moment, he forced himself to clamber up and onto the roof, leaving the horde to swarm below his feet as he forced himself up. He laid on his back for only a second or two to catch his breath from the insane stunt before he hopped up and looked down at the piggish army.

They were squealing and hissing as they began to try and climb up after him.

Six turned and could see the stage show in the distance. He was actually only a hundred or so feet away, plus maybe a couple dozen.

“Hooo-lyy shit…” he said instinctively.

There was a full-scale battle going on below.

He saw earth ponies bucking the pig-beasts. He saw pegasi dive bombing them. He saw unicorns throwing objects and letting loose magical blasts at them. It was an utter anarchy of numerous pastel colors against a gray mass. The pigs moved as one for the most part, though they broke off into chaotic brawls.

He was happy to see the ponies weren’t just laying down and taking it or running away. But holy fuck there were a lot of the pig monsters below. Outnumbered the ponies nearly two to one, give or take.

His musings were cut short when he heard a growl and hoofsteps approaching. Six turned on a dime and slammed his elbow into the approaching pig monster’s gut. The beast doubled over, dropping to its knees, giving the human the ability to quickly reach his left hand down and pull out Blood-Nap, while also slicing the monster’s neck with one fluid motion.

The mailman turned back towards where the crowd of the monsters had been attempting to clamber up and saw two more already on the roof. Six pulled out a throwing knife with his right hand and tossed it at the one on the left. The knife flew through the air and struck dead center, into one of its eye sockets. The creature went slacked and tumbled right back off the roof with a weak howl.

Six just reloaded the RCW as the next one charged him. It got within three feet of him before a volley of half a dozen lasers dropped it face-down onto the wooden roof, a pool of tar-like slime leaking from it. With no more immediate threats, he quickly walked over to the edge of the roof, letting the RCW go so it could dangle at his waist as he pulled out and cocked Lucky.

A monster peeked its head up before he shot it point blank, dropping it back on top of the other pig-beasts. Still, more of the bastards were climbing.

He turned and saw one had clambered up on the other side of the roof while he was covering this portion. He turned back and shot the creature in the chest twice, dropping it. After he did that, he felt a hand grab around his left leg. Before it could yank him, Six snapped to it and shot the creature’s wrist, blasting it apart and severing its hand as the pig monster roared in pain, only silenced by a round to the head.

Six stepped back as he reloaded Lucky. Alright, had to get off this fucking roof. Couldn’t run though. Could jump down, but they’d catch up, and then he’d probably have to take them on from an even worse vantage. He took a moment to breathe and think, but the pig bastards and their squeals and roars were making it hard to do either.

Soon he began firing over the edge at the mob below. Six downed another four or five of the bastards, but the group seemed endless. He even subbed Lucky in for the Garand, hoping the penetration would mean more instant kill shots, and thus less bullets he’d have to use. It was almost like fish in a barrel as he shot down at them, but even still, for every one he’d drop, another would take its place.

Ping!

He grabbed the spent clip, shoved it into a satchel, and replaced it with a fresh one, feeding the Garand once more. Fuck. Should’ve brought more ammo! Had some left still thankfully, but half the reserves were gone. Only so many electron charge packs too.

Six turned, shooting the battle rifle at another beast that had climbed up on the other end of the roof, uncapping its skull like he would a bottle of sarsaparilla. Even as the ashy smoke flowed and the being died, he was too focused on another behind him to do much to celebrate. It dropped back into the horde, its body trampled over as more clambered over to him.

“Do you assholes ever fuck off!?!” he shouted, relieving some anger as he blew the head off another one down below.

Shoot. Reload. Shoot.

Shoot. Shoot. Reload.

Reload. Shoot. Shoot.

A fucking maddening cycle.

However, as he popped another clip into the rifle, he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned towards it. It was bright pink and airborne…

“Holy shit…” he said softly to himself.

“Six!” Cherry Berry shouted as she flew in, managing to keep herself in place, hovering over the horde as they looked up at her, letting loose a choir of growls. “Get in!”

The Courier nodded befo-

“Look out!” she shouted.

He turned and slammed the wooden stock of his Garand into the jaw of an approaching pig, sending it tumbling back. Two more were already on the roof, and five more were just itching to join their brothers as he saw their heads peaking up over the edge. He shot one of the ones already on top and then bolted towards the direction of Cherry’s chopper.

Didn’t have time to get much of a run up, he just fucking dove for it, sending himself flying at the helicopter. Everything seemed to slow as he flew, his hands outstretched towards the flying vehicle.

The battle rifle and the RCW clattered against him.

The monsters roared up, reaching for him as if they could grab him despite a dozens feet below.

The aviator pony felt her heart thump in her chest.

The helicopter drew closer as he continued soaring through the air…

…

Finally, Six's fingers locked around something solid.

His gloved hands grabbed onto the landing gear, shaking the small craft a bit as he dangled from it, his entire weight making it a bit lopsided. Cherry pedaled as hard as she could as another monster dove at the Courier, following his lead by jumping. Six let loose a grunt of shock as he felt it latch onto his right leg. Only a moment later, it dug a claw into his thigh.

He hissed in pain, as he felt it rake a deep gash into his leg but was able to bring his other foot up and slam it into the skeletal face of the beast. Its grip loosened but didn’t give way from the first kick. The Courier repeated the process, slamming the heel of his boot into the fucker’s head.

This time the kick sent it flying back with a roar. It tumbled to the ground and slammed hard into the earth below, landing with a sickening snap and going limp from there. Without the unwanted passenger, he managed to climb his way upwards and into Cherry’s helicopter.

“Are you alright?” she shouted.

“Get me up higher and start circling!” Six said, as he grabbed his Garand and shouldered it.

“What!?! Are you crazy!?!” she asked. “You just had that thing take a chunk out of your leg we need to get to the-”

“What I need to get some shots off on that donkey prick! If I can get him, I might be able to stop them all!” Six replied with a growl.

She shrunk back at that, looking terrified both from the whole ordeal and his shouts.

“Cherry, please!” he managed. “I have to save my friends!”

After a moment of silence, the pink mare finally nodded back at him. Her face became steeled with determination. As she began to pedal quicker, she reached up a hoof and pulled down her goggles, adjusting them over her eyes.

The battle-ready Cherry and Six hovered over towards the stage as Six began taking pot shots at the monsters below. He saved a stallion from being tackled by one of them, letting the pony help out his marefriend, and together the two bashed the head of another one of the pig monsters in. Another round blew out the brains of one of the beasts, who was about to tackle an old, familiar looking mailpegasus. And then a third saved another old stallion who had been so snooty to Six back at the hotel.

As he gunned down more and more monsters, the human kept his eyes keen, trying to see if he could spot that donkey bastard. Cherry continued circling, and after Six took out another clip’s worth of pigs, he finally saw him.

A dozen feet off to the side and out of the way of the chaos, he saw that fucker. He stood, his large glowing orb on the end of his staff giving him away.

Six took aim at him, taking a deep breath and steeled himself...

Pulled the trigger...

Bang!

...

Fuck! Missed by an inch!

Below, the donkey jerked back in shock, stumbling about as he tried to piece together where the shot had come from. His head lurched this way and that before finally he spotted a bright pink helicopter, which he glared hatefully at. Six glared right back at him.

“Yeah I know you see me, asshole,” Six growled.

“Who sees us?” shouted Cherry with concern, though she never got an answer.

The donkey just summoned a small, billowing gust of gray, ashy wind at his side, creating a brand-new pig monster right beside him. Moments later, he then pointed his staff at the pig and enveloped him in a green magic. Instantly after that, the donkey flung him right at Cherry’s chopper. The pig squealed as he flew through the air, his skeletal limbs twisting this way and that as he barreled through the sky.

“Oh shit, dive!” Six shouted.

“This is a helicopter, not a-” she was interrupted by the pig monster slamming into her tail rotor.

The pedals gave her resistance at first, but suddenly, there was the sound of flesh being shredded by steel, and a massive cloud of ashy smoke billowed up from the copter’s tail blade.

Cherry’s eyes widened in shock, before she looked around, seeing if anything else was approaching. Suddenly, another pig slammed into the glass windshield of her copter, cracking it as its own skull splattered against the reinforced, see-through material. She screamed in shock as the monster slid down, falling to the ground.

The creature’s death didn’t matter though, as it had obscured her vision.

“Oh shit!” she heard Six shout over the sound of approaching squeals before-

RIIIP!

SCREECH!

The main rotor blades got it that time, and the pedals resisted her attempts to turn them as the piggish beast’s guts locked up the helicopter’s delicate mechanisms. Even as it disintegrated into ash, the damage was done.

“Aw fuck!” shouted Cherry, not even bothering to censor herself with a ‘buck’ on this one.

“Get us low, it’s time to go!” Six shouted, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he leaned over.

“How? My pedals are screwed!” she replied.

“You can still steer, right?” he shouted.

“Yeah?” was her response.

“Steer us away so we don’t crash into the crowd!” he commanded back.

“Crash!?!” Cherry shrieked.

“I’ll keep you safe, I promise!” he growled. “Just do it!”

She steeled herself as best she could, praying to Faust that she’d be saved, before she nodded.

The aviator did her best to steer herself away from the crowd as Six acted as her eyes, with him precariously hanging halfway out the helicopter as they descended rapidly through the air.

“To the left!” he shouted.

She banked hard to the left, avoiding crashing into the stage. Now the two were heading towards the treeline of the denser portion of the cherry orchard.

“Keep her steady!” he sounded out, wind making his duster billow about.

“Alright!” she replied.

About thirty seconds later, he shouted again.

“Okay, fuck the controls, just let her descend!” the human growled.

“We’re coming in too hot! She’s gonna get smashed apart!” Cherry cried.

“Yeah but we won’t be in her!” Six said, before he suddenly reached over.

“What do you me-aaaahhh!” Cherry managed before he yanked her from her seat, undoing the straps and grabbing her hard with both hands.

“Hang on!” he shouted, before jumping out, back first as she was clutched against his chest.

Cherry only screamed in response.

Six however, aimed himself properly.

A wide variety of twigs began to surround the two, though only he noticed as Cherry clutched her eyes shut. They snapped against his robotic spine as he descended. A wide abundance of pink-colored leaves pelted into him as he hit several particularly thick branches. Even though they slowed his falls, he grunted in pain at each strike.

The human held himself almost like a ball around the mare as they fell, making sure to absorb the majority of the impacts with his body. He only uncurled around her when he slammed back first into the dirt, knocking the wind out of himself as he groaned. Cherry landing right on top of him didn’t help matters either.

She grunted herself at the sudden impact of the ground but was able to quickly open her eyes and realize she’d survived.

“O-oh my Celestia… we’re alive!” she shouted with glee. As she looked around, she noticed the two had landed deeper in Cherry Jubilee's ranch, meaning they were out of the way of the battle proper.

“Shut up!” he grunted with a whisper. “If there’s any more of those bastards lurking around, I don’t want them to hear us.”

“S-Sorry,” she squeaked as she stood up, getting off of him.

“Holy fuck,” he groaned as he sat up, taking deep, ragged breaths.

“Are you okay?” Cherry whispered.

“Barely…” he managed, before reaching into a satchel and pulling out a Stimpak.

He just injected half of it into the gash on his leg, before then injecting the rest into his neck area. Six gave a deep sigh of relief as the cooling, numbing, healing liquid flowed through his veins.

“Fucking shit…” he said quietly once more, simultaneously in pain and relaxed.

“What do we do now?” asked the pink mare.

“My friends are still back there at the concert,” he huffed. “Think I saw ‘em while we were overhead.”

“You’re going back into that mess?” she hissed.

“Like I said, gotta save ‘em,” shrugged the human as he finally stood up, his wounds only partly healed over.

“What about me?” she asked.

“I’d say lay low and sneak off into a barn or something. Maybe nothing will find you,” he offered.

“I’m not leaving you!” she hissed once more. “Not after you saved me!”

“What about the monsters?” he pointed out.

“I-I can buck ‘em!” the mare said. “Us earth ponies are stronger than pegasi and unicorns. Maybe I can help you beat ‘em up!”

Six remained silent at that.

“Cherry…” he said softly, pausing as she looked up at him.

He took a sigh as he gazed into her glamorous, beautiful eyes. They were luminous, looking majestic even through the night vision.

“...Remind me to buy you a year’s worth of hayburgers after this whole thing is over,” he offered, sounding genuine.

She chuckled at that, before readying herself.

“Come on Six, we’ve got a town to save,” she said, sounding determined as she looked back towards the concert.

“Fuckin’ A,” the human growled back, slamming another fresh clip into the Garand.

Lyra slammed a chair into the back of one of the monsters, dropping it down onto its knees, before Bon Bon followed up this attack by giving the creature a double-hoofed buck with her back legs. The pony’s powerful back legs snapped the piggish creature’s neck with a satisfying snap before it fell over, soon dissipating into ash.

However, there were still plenty more of the creatures around, as Bon Bon scanned the battlefield, she could see more and more of them coming from the treeline and behind the buildings nearby. As she did this, Lyra blasted another charging creature, blowing a hole right through its chest and dropping it dead instantly.

“They just keep coming!” shouted Bon Bon. “We’ve gotta do something to stop them!”

“Like what?” Lyra asked, her speech a bit slurred as she blasted another monster, dropping it down before a small group of earth ponies got to stomping on the fallen creature.

Bon Bon bucked the knees of another creature, snapping them backwards and dropping the wounded beast down to the ground. It hissed up at her, before the earth mare picked up a nearby chair with her forehooves and slammed it down onto the creature’s head once. Twice! The third time killed it, with the creature's skull caving in and the chair exploding into woodchips!

The brawl just continued from there. Some ponies were drug away from the battlegrounds, but even then, the others held their ground, though they were losing numbers as their brothers and sisters were restrained by the piggish creatures.

“We need to get somewhere more easily defensible and come up with a plan! Standing here fighting isn’t working!” Bon Bon shouted.

“You think if we stop the guy on the roof, it’ll drop the rest?” Lyra offered as she stepped back. “Like when Starlight beat Chrysalis.”

“Maybe,” Bon Bon pondered.

Suddenly though, the two mares had to flatten their ears against their heads as a small explosion rang out.

They scanned their heads around, looking to the direction of the source and then they saw him…

Six put a .45 round in the head of a charging beast while Cherry bucked another away with her hind hooves. He held the 1911 in his left hand while holding the Garand with his right. He one-hand fired off the rifle, downing another charging beast instantly. No-sold the resulting recoil without much effort.

The weapons of World War 2 carried him further as he fought his way through the next few monsters that charged him and the pink mare who was escorting him. He pistol-whipped one with the .45 pistol, dropping it to the ground for Cherry to rear up and slam both of her forehooves into, shattering its skull.

“Oh my Celestia, gross!” she groaned as she stepped back, tar-like black slime clinging to her front hooves.

“Get used to it!” Six replied, bashing the butt of his rifle into another monster’s cheek, sending it stumbling back before he unloaded three rounds in its upper chest.

“Six behind you!” she suddenly called out.

The Courier felt several claws rake into his back as two of the monsters full force tackled him. However, like a great stone wall, he shoved back against them, holding his ground against both of the beasts. They squealed in shock as he flexed his muscles and used his unbreaking spine to reverse the roles, putting all his weight into shoving them away.

Six let out a grunt of effort as he finally forced them off of him, sending them stumbling back. He then brought up the 1911, holding it backwards over his shoulder, pointed right at the beasts. He let loose one round, right into the head of the monster on his left, before he turned to the right a bit. Didn’t even have to look backwards as he fired the second round, dropping the other pig creature with the power of the .45.

Six reloaded, leaving one extra round in the chamber as he did.

Cherry Berry looked on with shock.

“Could’ve done more than just stand there, you know!” he grunted at her.

“Sorry!” Cherry squeaked, as Lyra and Bon Bon rushed over, kicking aside a few monsters in their way.

“Six!” Lyra shouted.

“Lyra hold this!” Six shouted, offering her his 1911.

She confusedly grabbed it with her golden magic, letting him use his now free left hand to properly shoulder the Garand. He loosed another shot into a nearby monster, dropping it before it could take down a nearby pegasus mare. A ping rang out and the Courier caught the clip mid-air yet again, before replacing it with a fresh one. With that, he slung the rifle back over his shoulder and grabbed his .45 pistol from Lyra’s magical grasp.

“We’ve gotta get somewhere more defensible!” he shouted. “Somewhere with a better vantage so I can try to spot that donkey fuck.”

“Exactly what I was thinking!” Bon Bon agreed.

“Donkey fuck?” questioned Lyra.

“I’ll explain later,” Six grunted, checking the rounds left in his other 1911.

“Where could we go?” Cherry asked.

The group looked at her, and then turned, eyeing up the stage.

The four watched as Cherry Jubilee bucked a pig-beast off, slamming both of her hind hooves into its chest, snapping its ribs and sending it flying half a dozen feet back and onto the ground with a dull thud, landing just a meter or so from the group.

“That might work,” Six said.

“Everypony get to the stage!” Bon Bon shouted, before the trio of equines rushed ahead.

Six followed up their rear, occasionally taking less risky shots to put down any monsters in the way. There were so many of them though, and he had to hold himself back from unloading so he didn’t hit any innocent ponies in the crossfire.

Nevertheless, after bashing past a couple of the piggish monsters, the group clambered up onto the stage, with Six leaping up onto it and rolling for a few feet as he forced himself into a crouch, his rifle and Laser RCW clattering about as he did.

“Who in the hay are ya’ll?” asked Cherry Jubilee.

“Ma’am we’re here to hel-” Bon Bon was cut off by a familiar, accented voice.

“Lyra, Bon Bon?” shouted Doctor Whooves as he rushed over. “What in Equestria is going on here?”

“Your guess is as good as ours, Doc!” Lyra replied. “All we know is some guy wants our magic and wants it bad.”

“I heard that over the speakers, but who is it specifically?” the Doctor asked.

“An evil donkey is using his army of pig demons to try and take over the town!” Six replied, shooting a nearby monster as it tried to climb up onto the stage.

“Oh goodness, it must be Tuesday,” the Doc pondered.

No one was able to question it as more and more of the pig monsters began to encircle the stage, trying to climb up.

“Doc you’re a scientist, right? That means you have both science and magic on your side, surely you can make something to help us!” Six shouted over the squeals and the roars.

“I have an idea but…” he brought up a forehoof, running it over his chin as he watched Six operate his firearms. The Doc narrowed his eyes in thought as he concluded, “...it will be rather risky.”

“I’m willing to take the risk!” Six said, shooting another few rounds out across the stage, trying to help any ponies in need he could see.

“Well, you do have opposable digits. And those weapons of yours were quite effective… Alright just give me a few minutes!” the Doctor concluded, before he rushed behind the curtains. He barreled past Vinyl, Octavia, Rara and Sapphire Shores, who were backstage during all this commotion.

The pale unicorn DJ looked extremely pissed, letting loose a loud horse-like snort at Octavia.

“Vinyl, we can’t just go out there and throw ourselves into the fray!” shouted the earth mare. “You could get hurt.”

Vinyl Scratch just glared back. Even through her glasses, Octavia knew she wasn’t backing down. After a moment of scowling back to her fellow music artist, the gray mare eventually caved with a loud sigh.

“You’re so pig-headed… no wonder I’m engaged to you,” she said, her tone one of admiration for the unicorn. “Let me get my cello, dear!”

Vinyl just smirked proudly at that.

Sapphire Shores and Coloratura looked at each other for a moment. Both had an unsure yet determined gaze. Neither were fighters at all, but if even their fellow music artists were willing to stand up and deal with these invading beasts, then they should as well!

Back out front, Six blew the skullcap off another climbing beast with a .45 round, sending it crashing to the floor below.

“Goddamn they just don’t give up!” Six growled.

“Don’t worry hun, we’ll whoop ‘em real good!” Cherry Jubilee shouted, bucking another off the stage.

“That donkey asshole keeps summoning more of them,” Six shouted, scanning around the Dodge rooftops as he tried keeping his eyes peeled for any hints of green.

“Use one of those gun things to take him down!” Lyra shouted, blasting another pig-beast away, before she picked up a nearby speaker with her magic and tossed it out into the crowd, smashing apart the skull of a different one of the monsters.

“If only it were that easy!” Six growled, slamming a fresh mag into his 1911.

“Cherry Berry look out!” called Bon Bon. Six turned and saw two monsters charging at the pink earth pony in question.

However, before Six even raised his pistol, a wooden bow flew in and penetrated the creature’s chest, making one stumble back with a growl.

The second was knocked away by Cherry Jubilee, who reared up and straight up punched the creature with a powerful right forehoof, sending it flying backwards and rolling off stage. The aged mare looked over to the younger pink one and smirked.

“Yer name’s Cherry too?” she chuckled.

Cherry Berry could only nod frantically.

Back to the first beast, a second bow flew in and slammed right into its skull, dropping it flat onto its back. Six looked over to see where the wooden stakes had come from and found a gray earth mare he was unfamiliar with holding a cello in her forehooves. A massive box of spare bows sat beside her.

“Octavia!?!” Lyra shouted in confusion, recognizing her friend.

“In the flesh!” the elegant mare responded, before she grabbed another wooden bow and hoisted it up.

The Courier and a few others just watched in shock as Octavia pulled back her cello’s string and loosed another bow at a third oncoming monster, hitting it dead in the center of its head.

She treated her cello as if it were a bow bow, if you will.

“I… how-” Lyra was cut off.

“I took archery in school, dear!” laughed Octavia, before another mare came rushing forwards.

Vinyl Scratch wasn’t exactly a master of magic, but she was still able to send small energy blasts out into a crowd of oncoming pig monsters, knocking some of them over, and sending the sturdier boars stumbling back.

“Alright, that takes the weight off us a bit!” Six shouted to Lyra, before he then shocked her by throwing a .45 pistol at the minty mare.

She magically grabbed it and listened intently as he spoke.

“Lyra I need you to help hold off more of those pig fucks, you have seven rounds in the mag, DO NOT fire into the crowd, just shoot any that come on stage,” he explained like a drill sergeant, before tossing her a second magazine, which she grabbed in her golden magic as well. “Once you’re out, hit the release on the side, pop in the second mag.”

“Six are you su-”

“Not even remotely,” he answered. “But I need to get to a better vantage, and you have the closest thing to having proper hands here.”

She nodded, remembering the times she'd attempted to constitute human hands with her magic years ago.

“I’ll be right back!” Six shouted, before rushing over to the side of the stage.

A pig monster climbed up yet again only to get a boot to the skull, sending it tumbling back as Six began climbing up the metal support beam of the overhead lights. Given its sturdy nature and the numerous crisscrossing beams in it, it was able to give the Courier a makeshift ladder.

He climbed up towards the overhang above the stage, reaching the point where the stage lights were before he turned to see if he could spot anything from his new high-up vantage point. Six scanned over the rooftops keenly, being a few feet above them, though that didn't help that much given he was at a distance of a few dozen yards.

From this vantage he could see a good chunk of Dodge and the raging battle below. Had to force that to the side of his mind though, for now, he kept an eye out for any green.

Green.

Green. Green. Green.

Green…

Got ya.

Six saw the donkey off in the distance, a few rooftops away from his prior spot. He still held his magical staff, which gave him away in the darkness, especially thanks to the riot helmet’s night vision. The human shouldered his Garand and aimed down the sights since he had no scope to help out.

Took a deep breath…

Leveled it…

Bang!

The bullet flew from the end of the muzzle and out towards the bipedal donkey as he observed the fight. Given he was preoccupied this time, Six’s round caught the fucker in the right shoulder. He stumbled back, clearly hissing in pain as he clutched at his smoke-spewing arm.

The pair of green fireballs looked around for a few seconds, before steadying towards the direction the bullet had flown in from. Six shot again. He was wise this time though, threw up a shield. Six just let the other six rounds in the clip fly in response.

Ping!

The clip spiraled to the ground as the six bullets left a series of cracks on the green dome. The human knew the donkey was glaring back at him now. Felt the hate oozing off of him.

Familiar sensation, that one was!

The donkey pointed his staff towards the human and growled something out loud. Likely a command for the remaining piggish beasts to focus more on the human.

Good. He just reached to grab a second clip in response, going to shove it into the battle rifle.

Six’s musings and attempts to reload the Garand were cut off by a series of screams below. He looked down and saw two unfamiliar mares surrounded by five of the pig monsters.

One of them was glamorous looking, cream colored with a blue mane and snazzy outfit. The second was gray, black maned, and far more down to earth looking. And currently they were being restrained by the beast.

Suddenly, Six realized his thumb was still inside the mag-well of the Garand, and when the metal snapped forward, he grunted in pain, tugging back his digit as he did and shaking his hand for a second.

Fucking Garand Thumb!

Six growled in annoyance, ignoring the bane of every G.I. as he flung his freshly loaded rifle over his shoulder and replaced it with the RCW. He one-handed the laser blaster with his left hand as he reached up with his right one, grabbing some of the lighting’s wiring.

“Oh this is fucking stupid!” he growled to himself before tugging on the high voltage wires, finding them reasonably sturdy.

Fuck it.

He jumped from the steel support girder and held on with all his might as he flew downwards towards the stage. His weight ripped a large portion of the wiring loose, letting him turn his fall into an arcing swing. Like Tarzan, Courier Six came flying in, his boots outstretched in front of him before he collided heel first with one of the monster’s heads!

Snap!

It tumbled backwards against the others with a newly broken neck!

The two popstars only watched in awe as he continued his swing, having not lost enough momentum from the kick to slow down.

“Duck!” he shouted down towards the two.

They complied, and with the piggish creatures reeling back in surprise, he swung back around and then did something wild.

Like a pulp hero, he one-handed the RCW, unloading two dozen shots into the last four standing beasts. It was a quick… swing-by! But it did the trick, with the four creatures dropping back with new burn wounds in their heads and chests. With one final change of direction, Six let go of the wires and dropped down, boots first onto the monster he’d kicked down earlier, crushing its chest from his weight.

“Coloratura and Sapphire Shores, I presume!” he shouted, stepping off of the ashy beast’s corpse.

Their jaws dropped.

“Yeah just stick to music next time!” Six growled, before walking back over to the backstage curtains. He peeled them back and peered in, seeing the Doctor hunched over a strange looking device.

“Doc, I need your help out here!” Six growled, replacing the RCW with the Garand. “I’m running low on clips!”

“Just a few minutes!” Doc replied.

Six just growled, turning back towards the front of the stage before he rejoined the fray.

Lyra unloaded a burst of three rounds point blank into the skull of one of the pig beasts as it climbed up, with the 1911’s slide locking open.

“Damn!” the mare hissed before she turned to see Six.

She offered the gun back to him, and he quickly reloaded it, holstering the firearm back under his duster, away from the magical grasp of the half-drunken mare.

“Not bad,” he said, as Lyra blasted away another charging monster, this time with magic and not bullets.

“I was getting a bit tired there from using all my magic,” Lyra huffed. “Thanks.”

“I know where that old donkey fuck is,” Six called out, pointing towards the direction he saw the bastard in.

“That’s back towards our hotel!” Lyra shouted over the roars as the brawl continued.

“Yeah, and I intend on going right there, but I need to clear a path first!” he shouted.

“Let the Doc finish up that weird invention he’s working on!” Lyra shot back “That might help!”

“I hope! I’m running dry here!” Six replied, pulling out and unloading a scoped .44 revolver. The beastly weapon wasn’t quite the biggest of irons, but it shredded a nearby monster’s skull without issue.

Nearby, Octavia loosed another trio of bows at the monsters in quick succession, dropping one or two of them, along with Vinyl Scratch’s magic.

Bon Bon, Cherry Jubilee, and Cherry Berry used their combined earth pony strength to bash back any other monsters trying to board the stage. Coloratura and Sapphire Shores hung back, but tried bucking away monsters when possible alongside their fellow earth ponies.

It was utter anarchy in the crowd as well.

While many ponies had been restrained, many others continued fighting, with the brawl spilling out into Cherry Hill Ranch by this point. And yet more and more of the piggish monsters continued coming.

High on a rooftop back in town, the donkey clutched at his gaping wound. As he summoned more pig-beasts to fight, he clutched not only it, but the area around his heart as well.

“Bastard,” he hissed, glaring down towards where the Courier was.

The bastard in question popped another .44 round through the neck of one of the pig creatures, kicking its corpse aside as he then flicked open the revolver’s cylinder and shoved in a speedloader’s worth of rounds. Flicked it closed and got right back to killing! Six soon backed up, peeking into the backstage once more.

“Doc, I’m running out of speedloaders now!” he shouted. "Hurry the fuck up please!"

“One more minute!” Doctor Whooves shouted. “Ah blast it! Why did I have to forget my screwdriver at home!”

The human shook his head and continued back out into the battle.

The Doctor for his part used his forehooves to cross wires and work on the strange device. It was big, easily as long as his brown-coated body was. Had a gigantic speaker strapped to the front of it, likely one of Vinyl’s. He had a pair of safety goggles on as he worked, using nothing but a cheap soldering iron and his wits to construct the damned thing.

Back out front, Six had ran out of .44 rounds, and had resorted back to Lucky now. Only one or two .45 mags left too, so the 1911s were sadly out. The Ranger Sequoia only had one cylinder's worth of bullets in it, so that was soon emptied too! Even the RCW, with its ammo recycler, was getting spent too quickly for his liking!

Only one round in the Garand by this point… had to make it count.

He looked around, seeing if he could find any use for his final .308 bullet.

Nearby Lyra blew apart some more of the creatures with her magical attacks. One of the monsters she missed climbed partly up onto the stage and swiped at the Courier. It then found its footing and rushed him down, focusing on the human as its master commanded. Six responded by leveling his rifle and shooting it right in the lower chest, all one-handed too, as he gripped Lucky in his other one.

The resulting point blank shot ripped a gigantic hole through the creature’s lower lung and out the back of its spine. But given the bullet was still traveling, another creature that was clambering up behind the first one suddenly jerked its head back as the bullet penetrated right through its skull. The round kept going downwards, finally finishing its journey by slamming into the neck of a third pig-beast.

The first one looked down at the hole in its chest, giving a hiss before it fell over dead as a doornail. The other two doing much of the same.

Lyra looked at Six, who wiped away some viscous black tar that had splattered onto his lenses.

“Told you the penetration matters!" he boasted.

The Garand had pinged its final ping with that one, and he had to set the rifle down on the stage and resort to fan-firing Lucky exclusively now, with the nearly tapped out RCW dangling around his waist. As the .357 shredded another monster, the pigs were gaining ground, with more and more of them climbing up the stage front as the ponies (and human) got more and more drained of energy, ammo, and magic.

“You know Cherry,” shouted Bon Bon as she reared up and decked a pig across the face, with sweat dripping down her brow, “I’m sorry we never got to hang out more!”

“Yeah, I know you used to really love my jokes!” shouted the pink mare as she bucked another beast off the stage.

“Especially the one about the donkey! I hope you found a good comedy club to work at!” Bon Bon chuckled.

Cherry sighed, her face dropping a bit as sweat poured off it.

“I wish,” she rolled her eyes before punching another one of the pigs.

Octavia had run low on bows by this point and had resorted to taking her cello and bashing it across the heads of any climbing pigs. It was shockingly sturdy, only denting a bit after having knocked away a dozen of the monsters. Suddenly a pig rushed up behind her, but before it could tackle the earth mare, a blue blast of magic sent it squealing backwards and falling back into the crowd below. Octavia turned and saw an exhausted Vinyl, who just gave a loving smile back at her.

Down the stage, Six reloaded Lucky, having to slowly shove in one round at a time due to the nature of the older revolver. His pace had slowed a bit, with him having to resort to punches, kicks, and knife slashes by this point. One of the beasts rushed down the Courier before he was finished reloading the ancient revolver.

Six reached down, ready to grab Blood-Nap, only for the monster to have its neck caught by a wire fashioned into a lasso. Six looked on in surprise and saw that Cherry Jubilee had been the one to throw out said lasso, with it being gripped tightly in her teeth. The powerful earth mare then yanked the beast onto its back and tugged it towards her. While it was down, she walked over and bucked it harshly, snapping the monster’s neck.

“Holy shit, nice save,” Six said, looking down at the middle-aged mare.

She looked exhausted but had a fire in her that wouldn’t give out.

“The original Calamity Mane, at yer service,” she snickered. “I’d give ya a hoofshake, but now’s not really the time fer a proper Dodge welcome!”

Six nodded and went back into the fray after seeing more beasts climbing up nearby.

“Get the fuck off my stage!” the human growled, booting another pig-beast back down.

Despite his insults and verbally claimed ownership of the stage, they just kept coming and coming.

Before long though, a new voice shouted out.

“Mister Six!” the Doc cried, rushing out from backstage.

A strange, gigantic device was slung over his back. As Six examined it, he was reminded almost of a rocket launcher, albeit, with a gigantic speaker on the front end instead of any type of propelled explosive. It even had a trigger and everything! The Doc reared up and threw it at Six, who holstered Lucky and grabbed the gigantic device mid-air and shouldered it. A long, thick wire came out of the back of it and ran across the stage, meaning it was electrically powered.

“Now be extra careful with that!” warned the Doc. “Don’t point it at something unless you want it absolutely destroyed!”

Six nodded back and then aimed down towards a section of the concert that didn’t contain any ponies. He pulled the trigger. It let loose a singular wub. Nothing more.

“Hold it down!” Doc shouted, bucking back a monster nearby.

Six growled in annoyance but did as instructed.

Wubwubwubwubwubwubwub...

He felt the object shake and rattle in his hands. He looked at it with concern, backing up as more and more pig monsters came up towards him.

Wubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwub!

More and more of them were getting onto the stage now as he backed up even further.

WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB!!!

Oh shi-

WUB!

Courier Six was knocked off his feet and fell to the ground, sitting up and watcheing on wide-eyed as the front speaker of the cannon-like weapon fired out a blast of sheer, compressed sound. Reminded him a lot of the Lakelurks back in Mead, but this… This made those fuckers look like a mouse’s squeak.

The compressed soundwave fired out, slamming right into one of the pig-monsters and utterly shredding him to pieces, before it continued to travel forwards. It utterly ripped a straight path through the entire crowd of beasts, dropping and shredding anything in its way. It flew out so far it even reached one of the buildings back in Dodge proper, with it shattering the windows of it and letting out one final, loud WUB as it died down.

Six grunted, forcing himself back up and making a mental note to brace himself better next time.

“Holy fuck, Doc!” Six shouted.

“I do what I can with what I’ve got!” laughed the stallion, helping Octavia buck a monster off stage. “Do be careful though, I doubt it will remain together for much longer!”

“Oh that’s reassuring!” Six shouted as he fired off another WUB! from the heavy weapon, shredding a second path in the group of pigs.

He didn’t fall down this time, but still skidded back a few inches from the sheer force of unleashing the blast. As the Courier fiddled with the gigantic weapon, turning knobs and dials to tune it properly, he heard the faint strum of a guitar blasting out the front of it, which got louder as he flicked a particular dial. He soon could even make out lyrics…

The human cocked an eye as the tune seemed partly familiar…

“Is that fucking Black Betty?”

“You guys have that back where you're from too?” Lyra asked from nearby.

“It’s one of Vinyl’s favorite non-dubstep songs!” Octavia rolled her eyes as she smashed another pig’s head in with her damaged cello.

“You know what, I’ll question it later,” Six shouted over the guitar strums and the Bam-Ba-Lams and the wubs.

Vinyl Scratch just headbanged a bit as she magically blasted apart the head of a nearby pig-beast.

The Courier just pointed the Wubcannon at the large pockets of beasts who weren’t near any ponies, blowing them apart with high-powered soundwaves. Doctor Whooves' new invention absolutely turned the tide, as more and more of the pig-beasts were dropping now, to the point it looked as if there were starting to be more ponies than monsters!

Six saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye and stared up to a nearby rooftop. That robed fucker again. Likely here to oversee the battle and figure out what that big ass explosion was. Still clutched his bleeding shoulder too.

He could faintly hear the deranged maniac’s shouts, despite him being dozens of feet away and well above the human. The donkey was pissed, no doubt.

Good, fuck ‘em.

“Forget the foals, focus on killing the HUMAN you IDIOTS!!!” growled the monster.

Six smirked and aimed the Wubcannon upwards right at him.

WubwubwubwuwbwubwubwubwUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUWBWUB!

The donkey overlooked the scene, only finally glaring at the Courier to see him charging up. Six knew he didn’t have eyes, but he could’ve sworn the robed bastard’s sockets widened in shock.

WUB!!!

There was a faint flash of green as the soundwave was let loose.

KABOOM!!!

The entire upper portion of the building exploded on contact, kicking up a cloud of wood chunks and debris, which rained down with small thuds and thunks.

Six felt a jolt of electricity in his hand, and the speaker on the front died down with a hiss of static.

“I do believe that’s all she wrote!” the Doc shouted. "Thank Celestia it didn't explode."

“I’m not done yet!” Six shouted. “That fuck wants me dead, not you guys, and after that move I bet he’s willing to toss a good chunk of army at me!”

“What in Tartarus does that mean?” shouted Lyra.

“Means I’m going for it!” Six shouted.

“Wha-”

Before anypony could stop him, Courier Six grabbed his RCW and loosed it into the few pigs who hadn’t been knocked aside by the last WUB, killing them and further clearing a path for the human. He then dove right off stage and began fucking bolting. The ponies back up front watched in shock as easily two or three dozen pig monsters quickly began to follow the human as he hauled ass.

“Come on assholes!” Six shouted, drawing as much attention to himself as he could.

He definitely got it, as a horde charged him.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Six shouted to himself, lasering down a monster that tried to cut him off.

He just continued moving, his RCW held in one hand as he fled.

Only a bit more juice left in it; have to make it back to the hotel!

Six continued, exiting the open fields of the cherry ranch and bolting into Dodge proper, ducking through alleyways and trying to use any shortcuts he remembered from the mail route. It was a blur of sound and colors and laser blasts as he moved. At one point he decked an approaching pig beast, dropping it to the ground as he got within sight of the hotel.

“Ah shit yeah,” he growled in ‘victory’ as he bolted for it.

Jumped up and dive-smashed right through the front window. Didn’t give a fuck about the glass as he rolled to his feet. He ran up the stairs, and thanked God that Lyra had given him the keys as he unlocked their room. As he slammed the door shut and relocked it from the inside, he heard the monsters approaching up the stairs and fast.

Took a few deep breaths, but he had only a moment to rest before they began banging at the wooden frame. It wouldn’t hold for long, given how many of the fucks there were. That was alright, though. Six grabbed the pink pack and checked it, finding the grenades inside.

He would’ve grabbed the lunchbox out of it but didn’t have the time as they already smashed out a chunk of the door, with the rest about to give way. With survival on his mind, he pulled all three pins of the grenades, and then threw them and the entire canister of flamer fuel at the door as the monsters finally smashed completely though it.

Six just rushed for a window and dove out it, letting more glass cover him.

The second KABOOM!!! of the night rang out as Six felt the heat against his back.

He grunted in pain as the fiery shockwave of three combined grenades and a tank of flamer launched him forwards, sending him tumbling down. The RCW was blown away in the blast, clattering down the street somewhere. He smashed chest-first into the middle of the street and grunted once more, the wind knocked out of him again as he bounced a few feet into the air and then slammed back down once more onto his stomach.

The human barely managed to roll onto his back and looked up at the burning wreckage of the motel. A good chunk of the second floor had been blown apart, sending hunks of flaming wood and flying about. He took three or four deep breaths as he grunted. The burning body of a pig monster flew down and slammed harshly into the ground beside him, with it laying limply there.

Suddenly though, he saw a faint flash of green, and the donkey stood on a rooftop nearby, looking down at Six. No doubt the fucker teleported here after hearing the blast. Sadly, the Courier’s immense energy was sapping by this point, so he could only stare upwards at the sky as he tried to recompose himself. Numerous other monsters nearby had been knocked over by the shockwave too, so at least he wasn’t swarmed immediately…

Wait…

As he stared upwards, from in the air a familiar object tumbled downwards and then impacted the ground a few feet to his right.

Holy shit…

They really did build these lunchboxes to last!

The front portion of it had snapped off, the hinges having given out, and there were numerous dings and dents in it, but it still remained mostly intact. The Buffout’s plastic bottle was melted, and the Steady's vial had shattered, but that didn’t matter… The Psycho and the Med-X remained intact!

Six began crawling towards it, desperate in his struggling, exhausted state.

“Get up!” he heard the donkey roar to his minions from the nearby roof. “GET UP!”

Six reached the lunch box, grabbing both the Psycho and the Med-X in his gloved hands. He turned onto his back once more, facing down the street as he could see the monsters slowly but surely rising to their feet, following their master's command.

The mailman smirked, the world slowed, and he slammed both needles into his thighs within a split second. The drugs acted fast, both forming a perfect cocktail of power and soothing pain relief in his veins.

GRX kept things slow. He needed just a bit longer to count how many there were…

Three dozen of the bastards had chased him, not counting the ones he blew apart inside…

Not nearly enough of 'em to take him down.

Six reached out and grabbed the Vault-Tec lunchbox with his left hand before he shot up to his feet. He fucking chucked it at the closest pig monster, knocking the bastard onto his back as Six reached into his duster. He pulled out a pair of spiked knuckle dusters.

Love and Hate.

No guns. No laser rifles. No knives. No grenades.

Just fists and brutality and hate and the need to bleed!

Tonight… he was gonna have himself a real good time.

He bolted them down, cracking the skull of one nearby with a single punch, dropping it. He followed this up with a two-piece combo into another approaching one, bashing it in the head twice before he slammed the spiked dusters into the fucker’s neck, piercing it and dropping it to the floor as it gurgled its last breath.

As the drugs rushed through his veins, he felt alive, like he could turn the world inside out.

Dropped the next one with a hard left hook, sending it to its knees before he slammed his own knee into its lower jaw, snapping its neck from the force of the blow.

He was floating around in ecstasy by this point.

A second wave approached him. He just charged forwards to meet the horde of grayness, his brown duster billowing as he did. He was a shooting star leaping through the sky as he rushed them down!

Like a leaping tiger he launched himself at them, decking the first skeletal beast in the face, dropping it down right onto its back before he charged the others. Dropped a different one with a hard elbow that cracked apart its eye socket! He was out of control!

His fists were almost supersonic with their blows, hitting the next beast like atom bombs.

WHUMP! CRACK! WHUMP! CRACK! WHUMP!!! CRACK!!!

Even though it got wise, guarding its face from his assault, that didn’t matter. The bastard fell backwards, its ribs broken from the strength of his punches to its unprotected chest.

He cleared the way a bit now, and looked up to see the donkey fuck sitting on the roof nearby. Six didn’t hesitate, he just charged him, barreling through anything that got into his way like a pro football player. The skeletal fucker stepped back as Six leapt up, jumping several feet into the air, which let him grab onto the edge of the roof.

The donkey stepped further back as he clambered up, his staff's orb glowing brightly. However, before Six could offer him some more pain than just a demolished shoulder, he was hit in the chest with a blast of singing magic, leaving burns in the duster.

The Courier growled as he was launched back, falling a good distance for the third time that night. A few seconds later, he felt his back collide with something boney, which broke his descent. Six got up to see he’d landed on one of the beasts, which laid on the ground with a huge crack in its skull, which couldn't compare to his durable spine. He repaid the pig creature’s kindness by grabbing a nearby rock and caving its head fully in.

More charged him down, and he threw the rock at one, smashing its head in from the force of the toss. He continued on, charging them down as they rushed him, swinging his fists with strength and wild, untamed power!

He was burning through them now, as if he were traveling at the speed of light!

One rushed at him and tried to respond with its own punch. He just caught its fist and then put some power in his palm. The beast howled and grabbed at its forearm as he crushed and shattered its hand in his grip with a satisfying Crack! Six then kicked the creature in the chest, sending it falling to its back.

Another rushed up from behind him, but the Courier heard him coming and turned. In one fluid motion, he ducked down and leg-sweeped the fucker, sending his duster billowing about from the slick move. The pig squealed as it fell, its ankles having been broken from the NCR Ranger technique.

More charged, more dropped before him.

Love bashed one’s head in.

Hate snapped another's neck.

Nothing could stop him even if he wanted them to…

Which he didn’t!

Six grabbed a nearby piece of rusted metal from the ground. It was long and sharp and likely came from the hotel he’d blown apart. He just used it as a makeshift sword, slashing the throat of a charging pig. Another beast leapt at him, but he was quick, catching it mid-air by impaling it on the long, sharp piece of metal. The creature squealed as it slid down on his makeshift blade, leaving a trail of tar-like blood on it.

The Courier just shoved it aside, letting its black internals spill onto the ground as he continued taking down the dwindling group of pigs.

He didn’t wanna stop at all!

Snapped the neck of one with a right hook!

He was having such a good time, having a ball!

Picked the bleeding, dissipating corpse another up and just fucking tossed it into an approaching trio of other monsters, knocking all four of them to the ground as the creature’s body fully disintegrated into ash.

He liked it!

Only under a dozen left.

He was having a good time, good time, yeah!

He grabbed the neck of one and shoved his fingers through its ashy skin, tearing its throat out from his own strength and rage alone. Kicked its gurgling corpse back as he just continued on.

Caught a claw slash across his chest, created sparks.

Didn’t matter, just replied by uppercutting the fucker who did it. Got a gash in his right leg after he kicked one. Just kicked with his left from then on.

Unstoppable force of anger and adrenaline and drugs.

SMASH! CRACK! POP! SNAP! RIP! CRUNCH!

Finally, he was the last one standing…

He was breathing heavy now, coated in blood that was both tar black and deep crimson. Duster had a ton of new rips and tears in it. He felt a new hole gouged into his upper left bicep. Fucking hurt even with the Med-X.

He looked up, saw the donkey bastard on a rooftop nearby.

Took a few deep breaths before he spoke.

“What? You giving up that easy?” Six boasted up at him with a growl. “I’m still standin’ ya prick!”

The bipedal donkey was as ragged as he was, giving his own deep, concentrated breaths. He pointed his staff at Six, and the ball on the end began to glow. However, he suddenly gasped, with the light fading away as he clutched at his chest.

Wasn’t the shoulder wound this time. Must’ve been something else...

“Y-you bastard,” growled the skeletal beast down at the human.

“I’ve been called worse,” Six chuckled. “Low on magic, asshole?”

“This… Isn’t… Over!” growled back the monster.

Immediately, Six watched as he seemed to dissipate into an ashy gray cloud. Even his staff disappeared in the cloud. Six pulled out his 1911 and just fired off his final rounds as the cloud flew upwards and floated away. The bullets passed through it as they would any other cloud, making the human swear to himself as he finally stopped firing.

He could only watch as the donkey-cloud flew away, far into the sky and far off into the distance.

“I’ll be waiting… prick,” Six managed...

...And then just let himself tumble down, falling flat onto his back.

Didn’t pass out this time unlike back at the dam, though. Just laid there, breathing deeply in exhaustion as he gazed at the night sky...

Author's Note

Thus ends Act 3, and ends Arc 1 as a whole! I will likely take a decent break for now and be back (relatively) soon with more of the fic!

Comments, thoughts, critiques, and more are all welcome!

Also, if anyone can guess all of the references in this fucking thing, feel free to post them in the comments lmao.