"Mac?"

"Eeyup?"

"We should probably move. Like, right now."

With an affirmative, "Eeyup," the two ponies turned tail as quickly as possible, disappearing behind a door, courtesy of the blue pegasus currently reloading her rifle.

The mare flinched when she heard the sound of a machine revving up, and slowly began backing up with her companion as bulges began to appear on the door, long enough to just barely stop from breaking through the metallic frame. Forehead beginning to drip of sweat, Rainbow planted Belle's barrel into the floor, dramatically cocking the bolt and placing another .32 round into the chamber.

Looking over at her with a raised brow, Mac calmly asked, "This some kinda normal occurrence?"

Chuckling, the mare glanced over at her coltfriend and responded, "They aren't normally this Snowflake-esque," noticing the stallion's slight glare at the buff pegasus' name, she continued, "but yeah, ain't nothin' I'm not used to. C'mon, there's a few grenades we can occupy him with in the Atri-"

With a loud crash, the door behind the two gave way to a hail of bullets, narrowly avoiding the still equines who could only holster their firearms and high-tail it around the corner. Passing by the dead corpse of a Blastmaster, the mare quickly grasped his hand in her tail, pulling with all her might and bringing him in front of her. Sliding him down the stairs without a second's thought, the pegasus proceeded to sled down the staircase, swiftly stepping off with a soft flap of her wings as the corpse's skull hit the bottom floor with a resounding thud.

Turning around, the mare once again noticed that her companion was absent, not even the whiff of his apple-scented fur being left behind. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Rainbow shook her head vigorously. As her vision cleared, her heart caught in her gut. Staring down at her from atop the staircase menacingly stood the heavily-armored Raider, the dim light behind him casting an ominous glow on his figure, concealing the mare in a dark, dark shade.

Swinging Belle out from her back, the mare sat on her haunches, took aim, and pulled the trigger. A metallic ping sounded, sparks flying from the heavy iron plates shielding the Raider's heart. Despite her failure, the mare puffed her chest out and bit down into Belle's polished bolt, reeling her head back and placing another round into the chamber.

Looking back up, the Raider took his left hand and grabbed onto a very large lever on his weapon's side, and with a dark, deep chuckle, pulled it back, a heavy grinding sound resounding not a moment later. Lifting a boot, the Raider slowly went down a step, the clang of his steel-soled boots and the staircase echoing inside Rainbow's head. Taking aim again, the mare's iron sights floated over the large Raider's heavily modified welding mask. Yet again, sparks flew in every direction from the mask's view-ports, barely managing to so much as cause the Raider to flinch as he continued to descend the staircase.

Looking around swiftly, Rainbow picked up a combat shotgun from her previous sled's body, pulling the lever back and swinging it back around to the still descending Raider. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, the mare pulled the trigger with the tip of her hoof, scoring a hit on the Raider's shoulder pads. Eyes narrowed, the mare took aim yet again, firing another shell. Rainbow fired shot after shot, until finally, the shotgun clicked empty.

Cursing in a hushed voice, she threw the firearm onto the floor, shouldered Belle, and turned tail, taking a swift right and trotting down the long hallway back toward the Atrium. Daring to make a glance behind her, her mind quickly raced as the Raider menacingly stood at the opposite end of the dim-lit corridor, the large machine weapon still grasped within his large hands.

The mare turned her head back around just in time to find that she had re-entered the Atrium. A group of heads quickly turned her way, as well as the various firearms their owners held.

Waving her hooves in a sweeping motion, the mare quickly hissed, "No time! If you wanna live, you gotta help me!"

A session of whispering among the survivors soon followed, and after three heartbeats, a collection of heads nodded in her direction. For the first time in weeks, Rainbow gave a sincere smile, and waved her hoof over to a pair of men idly repairing a pair of hunting rifles.

"Whaddoo we got, ma'am?" the smaller, thinner one asked behind a pair of leather goggles. The mare noticed he had an accent similar to Applejack's.

"Quick, c'mere."

Leaning up against the wall adjacent to the exit door, the mare was surprised to find the Raider, standing like a statue in the darkness at the end of the hallway, as if daring the pegasus to attack him. In the corner of her vision, she saw the two engineers poke their heads around the corner as well. She could make out the words, "Oh shit," on their lips as they stared in awe at their opponent.

As her right ear flicked idly, she could barely make out the sound of a machine spinning, and with quick realization, spread her foreleg and threw her companions back behind the corner with a thump.

"What the he-"

He stopped as his hand was crushed by the mare's hoof, unfortunately realizing all too late that his hand just so happened to cover the button for the door. As it shut with a hiss, an encore of light thuds made their marks on the surface of the door, once again being stopped right before escaping out the back side.

Breathing heavily, the mare slowly turned her head toward the larger engineer, giving him a cocky smirk and a slight tilt of her head, "So. You wanna tell me what the hell that thing is?"

Still a tad bit hesitant about responding to the talking, winged, dirt and blood-covered equine snipping the control panel's wires next to him, he decided to give his friend behind him a slight jab in the chest, who spoke up instead.

"Well....that there's the Biggun. Or, as Jake 'ere calls 'im-"

"The Big-Meal!"

"The Big-Meal. The Stanford's have been talkin' up about some kinda killin' machine they've been trainin' in secret. We didn't believe them, but damn....we should 'ave...."

Noticing the engineer's slight change of tone and drooped head, Rainbow placed a hoof on his shoulder, brandished a cocky grin, and boldly stated, "Well, let's test this 'killin' machine' of theirs, shall we?"

"Just what the hell are you suggestin' we do?"

It was Jake's turn to speak, "Well, we raid the armory, o' course."

"You of all people should know that th' armory's been locked since Bill lost the key-"

"We can find it," Rainbow stated matter-of-factly, "we just need someone to distract him-"

"I'll do it."

Raising a brow at the obviously feminine voice, the mare's eyes landed upon the group that stayed gathered behind the overturned kitchen tables. Realizing she had been sitting on her haunches, Rainbow rose to her hooves, licked her lips, and questioned, "Who?"

The group parted in the middle as a dark-skinned female stepped out of the group. Her hair resembled a picture Rainbow had seen of recruits in the Royal Guard, with similar armor to boot, instead colored in a light silver coating and bearing the largest pauldrons the mare had ever seen. Grasped within her hands was what Rainbow recognized as a laser rifle, with what looked to be a scope mounted on top.

"Name's Cross. It would be my honor to keep our opponent from reaching the Atrium."

Author's Note

Be prepared for another update soon after this.