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- >Gerard was flying up and down the hall unlocking the gates, as you kept your smg
- >trained on the door, lest any unwanted guests barge in. Gerard joins you, followed by your
- >pony friends, it seems that someone had bandaged Flutters wings. Good. The prison cells
- >are still being opened, Griffons are starting to join you. Gerard motions for you to move up.
- >You do, slowly opening the door and keeping your smg trained at the opening. It’s clear,
- >Gerard wasn’t joking, they must be really short staffed. You cover one end of the hall as
- >Gerard and several other griffons stream out of the door. It’s only now that you realize,
- >you don’t know the prison floor plan. So not knowing what else to do, you wait for the rest
- >of the griffons to leave before your pony friends come out, they look tried, hungry, but
- >determined. AJ taps your thigh.
- >”C’mon, that Gerard feller seems to know whats what.”
- >You turn around to join the veritable train of griffons when you hear it. It echos down the
- >hall, causing all present to freeze in place. It’s the crack of a rifle, the stillness is shattered
- >by the staccato report of a smg.
- >You, being the only other armed member of the prisoners,
- >push your way to the front through the griffons.
- “Make a path!”
- >They do and you run up to Gerards position. A mino is face first in the ground, rifle at his
- >side. He gives you a brief glance before speaking.
- >”There’s two more, they ducked into those there doors, if my memory serves, one is admin
- >and the other is some sort of storage.”
- “Think one of us could reach the rifle.”
- >”hm, no they have a view of it from the doors.”
- >It’s at this point that the three ponies come up behind you.
- >”If I may.”
- >Gerard turns to regard Rarity.
- >”If you may wha-“
- >Rarities horn lights up, much dimmer than usual, probably due to fatigue and hunger, and
- >the rifle begins to slide towards you. Gerard frowns a little, an odd expression given the
- >beak
- >”Right.”
- >The sliding rifle attracts the attention of the minotaurs, one sticks his hand out of cover to
- >fire a revolver at you, but you already had your sights trained on his position. You depress
- >the trigger, letting out a burst of fire. The ponies next to you flinch and back up, Flutters
- >attempts to take flight, only succeeding in jumping higher than usual.
- >Your rounds impact up the door frame, one lodging itself in the minotaurs forearm.
- >He lets out a cry of pain, drops the revolver, and pulls back into cover.
- >That’s when the siren started. Took them long enough.
- >With the siren Gerard throws all caution into the wind, goes on all fours and runs forward.
- >Catching the minotaur hiding in the admin building off guard. You run to follow, putting a
- >few more rounds into the wounded minotaur before entering the admin room, stepping
- >over Gerard as he tears the minotaur to shreds with his talons, you look at the admin
- >rooms map. You turn back to the hall full of griffons, they’ve taken the revolver and rifle.
- “The armory is down this hall, left, and the fourth set of double doors.”
- >The griffon holding the rifle takes off down the hall, once again slinging the rifle on his
- >chest and going four on the floor. He’s followed by the rest of the prisoners, it’s now just
- >you, Gerard, and your pony buddies. You squat down in front of the ponies as Gerard strips
- >the minotaur of everything valuable, you think you see him pocket a gold ring. You put on
- >your best reassuring face and size up how your small friends are doing. AJ is solid as ever,
- >although she does look a bit shaken, ponies aren’t used to death, nor do they cope well.
- >Rarity, seems to be keeping it together, though indignant about the whole situation.
- >Flutters is a mess, she’s hiding her face, and trying to make herself as small as possible, AJ
- >had to actually push her up the hall. Gerard taps your should and hands you a revolver.
- >By the time you turn back AJ and Rarity are trying to comfort Flutters. You reach out your
- >left hand and scratch her under the chin, just like she told you she liked.
- “Well get out of this, it’ll all be okay.”
- >AJ and Rarity both nod.
- “Gerard, shouldn’t you go back to your griffons?”
- >Gerard pauses for a moment before laughing.
- >”I’m actually just the chef, we told that to the minotaurs to mess with them.”
- “But… Then why?”
- >”I didn’t know who you were, thought it was best to keep up appearances.”
- >AJ steps forward obviously upset.
- >”If you lied ta us before, how’d we know yer not gonna lie again.”
- >”Well, look at it from my eyes. I don’t know you; I don’t even know why the minotaurs kept
- >a bunch of ponies around.”
- >”Still, ya coul-“
- >Rarity looks up from Flutters.
- >”Excuse me dears, but we still do have a prison break to focus on. Now shouldn’t our first
- >order of business be to shut off that infernal siren? Hmm?”
- >Looks like Rarity is back in the game.
- >Gerard tore the map off its pins while you took care of the minotaur in the storage closet.
- >The griffons must have made it to the armory successfully, because the air is now filled
- >with rifle cracks and yelling. You net yourself some more ammunition and a nice full
- >canteen. You turn back to the admin room where the three ponies and griffon are debating
- >which route to take, Flutters still isn’t talking, but at least she’s standing now. You hold out
- >the canteen to AJ who takes a long drink before passing it around to everyone else, none of
- >you have had a proper drink since the sea mine incident. Finally Rarity points out a path
- >that is mutually agreed upon. All of your set out, every once in a while you encounter
- >roving groups of griffons armed with whatever minotaur weapons they could find. Some
- >where fires had be started, you can smell it.
- >Well, there’s central control, problem is the minotaurs have decided to make their stand
- >here. With a pair of belt fed machine guns, most of the griffons have congregated behind
- >what little cover there is. Every time they stop firing even for a moment, the griffons return
- >fire with whatever they have, needless to say, more bricks and rocks are thrown than
- >bullets. Then something unexpected happens. Three griffons had apparently taken the
- >time to remove one of the heavy steel doors from the cell blocks, and were now working
- >together to push the monstrosity forwards. Using it as shield. It’s not a flawless plan, not
- >by a long shot. You cover your head as rounds ricochet off the door. You see one impact a
- >griffon on the other side of the hall, his head whips back as a talon comes up defensively.
- >Within a few long drawn out moments the door is blocking off most of the minotaurs field
- >of fire, allowing the griffons to engage the minotaurs at spitting distance. Apparently your
- >previous examples of minotaur/ griffon combat have been skewed. The minotaurs throw
- >hefty punches, you can tell that the blows are breaking ribs or at least causing a fair
- >amount of damage as the griffons often don’t get back up after being hit. However, the
- >minotaurs can’t keep up against the onslaught and are brought down by rifle butt and
- >talon. There’s a crack as the griffons shoot out the doors lock, and with that they surge into
- >the control room. Within ten seconds the alarm stops and there’s a moment of silence.
- >The prison break went pretty well all things considered, the griffons were extremely
- >organized. It only took an hour for the griffons to collectively loot the prison and distribute
- >the supplies. Once that was out of the way the griffons broke into groups of five and were
- >going back to their own lines. There was an odd griffon out, so Gerard decided to stay with
- >your group, you haven’t the faintest idea why, but he’s proven himself helpful this far. It
- >was agreed upon that walking back north to griffon lands was the best course of action.
- >That way, you could find where your buddies washed ashore, and go to your original
- >destination.
- >It’s been two days in this blasted desert continent. Flutters wings have healed, but she still
- >hasn’t said anything, she won’t even look you in the eye after you strangled out that
- >minotaur. You don’t think any of them will ever look at you the same. Well, it’s ten, if your
- >method of telling time off the sun is still valid, time to set up camp and begin moving again
- >at dusk. You hate desert treks; most of the time is spent waiting for the ever beating sun to
- >go away. You can’t help but feel that Celestia is purposely letting it hang in the sky longer.
- >Just to spite you. Either way, you stop and set down your pack, another prize from the
- >mino prison. To everyone else this is a signal to stop as well; your group finds refuge under
- >a small grove of trees by a dried out river bed. You open your pack and produce one of the
- >loafs of bread from the minotaur prison, you pass it out to everyone, leaving none for
- >yourself.
- >”Aren’t you hungry Anon?”
- >It was AJ, the only one of the ponies that would still talk to you. There’s a deep fear in your
- >gut that even if you do make it back, and you are allowed to retire, that your relations with
- >them will never be as buddy-buddy as they were before they knew the violent side of you.
- >Nonetheless you smile, still intent on trying to piece together something of your old
- >friendship.
- “No, I’m fine.”
- >You were lying again, you could have eaten that entire loaf, but they mattered more to you.
- >With that AJ went back to her bread. Out of habit and boredom you begin to review your
- >supplies. Sure everyone was carrying some of their supplies, but it was good form to
- >ensure that your pack was in order. Enough food for a couple more days, a couple of
- >gallons of water, a revolving rifle with a long thin magnified sight on the top, your subbie, a
- >flare gun, and of course munitions. Even with all of this, your pack was still lighter than
- >when you were surveying the northern tundra. Everyone sits quietly, they just want to
- >know that their friends are alright. You want to know if they’re okay.
- >It’s almost time to move again, another hour and the temperature will have gone down
- >enough. Good thing too, you can only disassemble the mino smg so many times before you
- >lose your shit. Flutters stands up and peers out into the distance, she’s soon followed by
- >Rarity. You pick up your rifle, Gerard does the same with his subbie, and then you see it.
- >Way off up the coast you’ve been walking along, a small rainbow streak about twenty feet
- >off the ground. You scramble back to your pack and draw out the flare pistol.
- *Thu-dunk*
- >The red flare trails up along the sky. The streak changes direction, towards you.
- >Gerard hovers just above your head height, you feel him shift his weapon to low ready
- “No, it’s alright we know er.”
- >You can sense that he’s still on edge, but he lets his weapon dangle on it’s sling.
- >Rainbow practically crash lands a few feet from your position, Flutters runs out and tackles
- >her into a hug, followed quickly by AJ and Rarity.
- >You grab another loaf and a half gallon canteen, and join the group. Without saying
- >anything Rainbow grabs the canteen and begins to drink, the rest of the ponies backing off
- >letting her drink. She stops for a breath before going back at it, with that she hands you
- >back the canteen and snatches the bread out of your hands. AJ puts a hoof on her head.
- >”Easy there, don’t want cha ta burst now.”
- >You shake the canteen, there’s maybe a mouthful left. Rainbow keeps chowing down.
- >When she finishes, she looks back up at all of you, and promptly passes out. Flutters
- >immediately crouches down and begins to shake Rainbow. You finally get a good look at
- >her, head to toe dust, rapid breath, and what you can only assume to be an elevated heart
- >rate. She’s passed out from fatigue. You look back up at the sky.
- “It’s time to get moving again, that flare could also bring some unwanted attention.”
- >Fluttershy looks up at you, first time she’s looked you in the eye. It’s an odd combo, rage
- >and pleading.
- “I’ll carry Dash with us.”
- >You placed her between you and your pack, you also gave her your hat, the holes meant
- >for the minotaur horns seemed to fit her ears well. They twitched every couple of minutes.
- >You would have taken a moment to admire how cute it was for the normally brash Pegasus
- >to be like this, but no. This fucking desert has your complete focus, the heat, the constant
- >rock outcroppings, the fact that hostile minotaurs could be hiding behind any bush.
- >According to Gerards map, you should be getting close to the front lines. Speak of the devil
- >Gerard flaps his way up from the tail end of the group next to you.
- >”We should stop here.”
- “We still have a coupl-“
- >”No, we need to cross the front in a day, if we get caught in the middle were as good as dead.”
- >What the hell, you haven’t seen hide nor hair of any minos or griffons.
- “Well just fly over and tell them tha… right front lines are going to have AA guns aren’t they.”
- >Gerard nods before adding.
- >”Most likely belt feds and more flack.”
- “I’m guessing crossing at night is no picnic either?”
- >”The minos should have searchlights up, that a-“
- “Search lights? You guys have electricity?”
- >”What the hell is electricity? No they’re magic powered… Also, night is when the snipers
- >come out. So unless you want to catch a bullet in the head, I suggest we stop here and
- >think about what we’re going to do.”
- >You feel a talon shake you out of your slumber.
- >On instinct your right hand forms a fist and shoots out, you manage to stop yourself
- >from punching Gerard right above the beak. It’s your turn for night watch, you quietly
- >apologize to Gerard. Who simply ruffles his tan feathers before responding.
- >”No worries, probably would’ve done the same.”
- >With that you grab your rifle, sling your subbie and take your post on top of a rather tall
- >rock formation overlooking the camp. You run over the plan in your head. It’s stupid.
- >Really stupid, but you can’t come up with a better one. It’s the classical distraction.
- >Which you volunteered for. Once you get within range of the camp, you’re going to
- >start popping off shots at open minotaurs from behind their lines, and then try to lead
- >them away so that Gerard and your pony friends can reach Griffon lines. Shit, you still have
- >no clue where Pinkie or Twilight are, but Twilights got magic, and Pinkie… well Pinkie is
- >Pinkie. They’re fine right? Your thoughts are broken by the soft beating of wings, you level
- >your rifle at the source. Oh, it’s just Rainbow. You hold out he canteen you brought up with
- >you for her to take, she sits down next to you and takes it. Drinking greedily, but not as
- >much as before.
- “So you’re awake.”
- >”Yeah, but I wish I wasn’t. Everything hurts.”
- “So, catch me up, what happened?”
- >”Well after the ship exploded, I was too wet to fly. I can’t really remember what happened
- >after that.”
- >She settles in, that weird folded leg thing you see the ponies do when they sit for extended periods.
- >”When I woke up I… I was… alone. I didn’t know if any…”
- >She goes quiet and puts her head down, you can tell it was a hard time for her. She talks a
- >big game, but come the end of the day she needs her friends just as much as they need
- >her. You reach out your left hand and set it on her shoulder. There’s a long period of
- >silence as Rainbow deals with her emotions, and you scan the horizon, you still have a job
- >to do. Eventually she picks herself up and begins talking again, slower, but more controlled.
- >”First thing I did was fly up, I figured I was the fastest, so I could search for you guys… But
- >there were these flashes and lights from the ground… every… everything… Anon, what’s
- >wrong with this place?”
- >Deep breath in, this is going to be a long explanation. You begin to inform Rainbow what
- >Gerard told you, and to explain what flack and anti-air guns were.
- >Well it was time, the slog here had been depressing. Especially since you split up at the
- >morning. There were craters and trenches across the land, you passed at least twenty
- >forgotten corpses. There was no point looting either of them, both had been picked
- >entirely clean. Both in the sense of gear, and in the sense of buzzards. You stop for a
- >moment, taking refuge in a crater; you take off your pack and pull out the map Gerard left
- >you with. You should be coming up to the minotaurs trench network pretty soon, you look
- >at your pack. Taking it would be more weight, leaving it would leave you SOL if this went
- >south. You leave it. If you fail, and they don’t make it, what’s the point. You get up and
- >keep walking towards the front. After about another twenty minutes the land changes,
- >abandoned trenches, forgotten belt feds, and of course more craters and corpses.
- >You begin to stoop down, and run from trench to trench, so as not to get picked off.
- >The sight before you reminds you of pictures from WW1, but less mud and more dust.
- >However, what gets to you is the smell, dear god the smell. Rotting flesh, open sewage,
- >burned metal, cordite, powder, and a slight tinge of vomit.
- >”Hey, spare a smoke?”
- >”No.”
- >”Jerk.”
- >You stop dead, look around, your trench is empty. You raise your head sideways over the
- >lip of the trench, sure enough there. Are two minotaurs in the trench right in front of you.
- >You slowly pull your head back down; you look up and down the trench. You pull a dead
- >griffon off of a crate marked with a cartoon explosion, you open the crate. Grenades,
- >about 20 of them, simple pull cord soup can things, but still. You, take the bandolier off the
- >griffon and start stacking it up with the grenades. You manage to fit about ten onto the
- >thing, and take another one in your hand, you throw it to your left and run right. You draw
- >your revolving rifle and wait.
- *SK-DOH!*
- >To your left there’s a shower of dust and rocks, you flinch but quickly come back.
- >The minotaurs start swearing, you see two heads raise over the ledge, rifles drawn.
- >”What was that?”
- >”We being shelled?”
- >”Could be a dud finally went off.”
- >”Go check it out.”
- >”Fine, but you’re getting the next one.”
- >The far minotaur pulls himself out of the trench, and begins walking forward, rifle still up.
- >You can see his nostrils flared, and fur standing on end. You steady your crosshairs over the
- >one still in the trench.
- *KAH!*
- >You hit slightly below the left eye, the head implodes inwards following the void hollowed
- >out by the bullet. The minotaur in the open drops to the ground. You swing your rifle to
- >him and wait, slowly his head comes back up.
- *KAH!*
- >You don’t see the impact but you see him slide back into the crater. You vault over the lip
- >and begin to run for the next trench.
- *Thu-dunk*
- >A flare sails right over your head, apparently that wasn’t a kill shot.
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