Fallout Equestria: Tales of Transylvania

by MeetSouder

Chapter Nine: A Renaissance Faire

Chapter Nine: A Renaissance Faire

Scarlet Rose

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Aurora’s dark blue tail waved in the wind far ahead of us. The older stallion had elected to fly straight toward town with Midnight and myself far behind in tow. I felt my chest tighten with fear as the occasional bright flash and following deep ‘boom’ would resound across the dark forest below us. The town slowly grew bigger as we approached and it became clear that the twinkling I saw earlier were fires set across various houses.

Though Midnight still struggled to fly, the leap from the tall cloud gave us precious altitude for a straight but wobbly flight as I helped him stay true. Earlier, I was so elated to fly alongside him; watching him smile as we flew wing in wing, the feeling of him against my side, it warmed my chest in a way I wasn’t familiar with. But the cold realization of what may be happening to our new home quickly washed that all away.

“Look,” Midnight pointed a hoof below us.

We were flying a few hundred hooves above the forest and nearly made it to the treeline that bordered Renaissance not far ahead. I glanced down at the treeline and spotted a group of ponies gathered in a clearing.

We flew by quickly, but from what I could tell, they were all earth ponies. Every single one of them was clad in black and yellow combat armor. They all wore similar styled helmets with some kind of respirator and visor combination sporting a solid metal cap and a yellow symbol painted upon them. Every earth pony carried a battle-saddle mounted weapon.

I flinched as a chorus of cracks and booms suddenly erupted from the treeline below us. I widened my eyes as hundreds of white smoke plumes erupted from the treetops and screamed up toward us!

“Midnight, dive!” I shouted and banked just in time for a small rocket to shoot between us.

“Whoa!” Midnight almost lost control, “The hell is that?!”

Midnight and I both descended, as quickly as the poor bloke could with his unsteady flight, and leveled just at the tops of the dead pine trees. Our hooves and wings barely skimmed the thin branches as we watched the salvo of rocket artillery fly overhead.

The rockets’ engines sputtered and burnt out as they continued their parabolic trajectory over us. I watched with wide eyes as they made their terminal vector, clearing the wooden wall at a steep angle and littering the buildings and streets of the medieval town with a crackle of explosions. Thermal warheads shot white hot sparks in every direction, setting the thatched roofs of houses ablaze.

“Good goddesses,” I squeaked with a hoof over my mouth in horror.

Who knew what sorts of victims fell to such a careless barrage. The town had mothers and foals for Luna’s sake.

We cleared past the treeline and just made it above the swath of dead plains the town sat within. I spotted the telltale armor of Night Watch guards within the town walls. They began rushing toward the buildings, guns at the ready and pails of water being passed down from one of the nearby wells. We were dangerously close to the city at this point.

I pumped my wings and flew before Midnight, turning and halting him into an unsteady hover. I stared into his eyes worriedly.

“We need to leave,” I looked at the dark forest we had come from, “we can hide, they won’t know-”

“No, we need to help,” Midnight said firmly.

“What?” I shrieked, “Middy, are you mental? There’s a goddess-damned army attacking!”

Midnight flapped harder as he began to lose altitude, I grabbed his shoulder and hoisted him back level. He held my hoof and looked at me determinedly. He was serious.

My jaw began quivering in fear as I watched the town burn not far behind us. “How can we even make a difference?” I pleaded, “I- I don’t know what to do.”

Midnight’s eyes softened as he looked at me, he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off just as all hell broke loose.

A roar of battle cries and hoof stomps rushed from the forest. We looked down in surprise to see a group, maybe sixty to eighty strong, gallop out into the open field and charge straight toward Renaissance. The crowd hadn’t noticed us, but it was only a matter of time before we were singled out flying above them. We were stuck out in the open.

Midnight took my hoof and pulled me in close. I yelped as he tucked in his wings and we fell straight down toward the thick grass. Being a flier, I wasn’t exactly used to uncontrolled falling. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my stomach lurch from zero gravity.

“Oof!” I grunted as Midnight suddenly flared his wings and tried to slow down, too late, and we crumpled as a heap atop each other.

Midnight rolled off of me and laid low, “Stay quiet and duck in the tall grass, they won’t see us.”

We were in the middle of an open field between the forces of Luna-knew-what and the only safe haven left in Transylvania completely ablaze. ‘Staying quiet’ was not an easy task.

Midnight had a valid point though, the entire force was made up of earth ponies. They didn’t have the advantage of night vision. The grass was nearly half my height. Maybe we had a chance.

I knelt down lower and my world suddenly became enveloped by the smell of dry grass. For just a moment, I could only hear the sounds of the dead blades softly swishing in the gentle wind. I felt Midnight tense against my side and I laid my head down lower, even flattening my ears hoping that would somehow help our stealth.

The ground started shaking. The distant sound of a small army of hooves galloping came closer and grew in intensity. A lone high caliber gunshot pierced the night, swiftly followed by a salvo of rifles echoing afterwards. The Renaissance Night Watch began their defense.

I flinched while the supersonic bullets cracked overhead, followed by cries of pain as the incoming forces were laid under fire. The watch towers and natural night vision of those that were within offered a massive advantage. The guards had some serious trigger discipline, spreading out their fire to leave a constant barrage of lead.

“Midnight,” I whispered and flinched, fighting to keep my eyes from twitching at every crack of a bullet passing overhead. “I think they’re gonna cross on top of us!”

The thunderous wave of sound came upon us, I saw hoof steps part the grass before my eyes as dirt and grass were kicked onto my back. My heartbeat raced while I tried to stay still.

Oh Luna, please don’t step on me, please don’t step on me.

I felt a sharp pain at the base of my back followed by a grunt as a charging soldier slipped on my bloody tail of all things and stumbled into the grass.

I involuntarily let out an, “Eep!”

Ouch! That bucking tosser! I mentally screamed and felt tears well up on the edges of my eyes.

Midnight shoved a hoof on my mouth. I looked up to him and caught his panicked eyes in the moonlight.

Maybe he didn’t hear that?

“What the hell was that?” the fallen soldier yelled as he slowly rose to all four hooves, allowing his comrades to pass him. His helmeted head leaned forward in what I believed was a squint in the darkness.

Oh, shit! I gripped Midnight’s foreleg with my hooves.

Just as the soldier probably spotted my scarlet mane in the fading light, a familiar thestral took the moment to pounce.

“Hey-” the soldier was cut off when Aurora suddenly popped out of the grass, wings flared.

The experienced stallion gripped the handle of a combat knife in his jaw, baring it to full extent the moment he made contact with the soldier. They both collapsed in the grass and disappeared from sight.

“Did he get him?” I whispered.

“I- I’m not sure, be ready to gallop if we have to,” Midnight responded, squinting as if we could see anything through the thick grass.

Around us the sound of the charge trailed off, followed by ponies barking orders and the chatter of gunfire. The attacking ponies must have gotten close enough to see and began trading a crossfire with the defending guards.

The grass ahead of us jumbled and swished. I felt my heartbeat in my ears. I hoped to Luna the soldier didn’t win and was coming back for us. I held even tighter onto Midnight.

“He’s down,” the accented voice of Aurora softly spoke, “let’s crawl to the west and try the main gate.” The gray stallion nonchalantly stepped out of the grass and past us.

Midnight and I let out a massive sigh of relief and nodded. I had no bloody clue where he had gone earlier, or why he came back, but I was glad this old bloke cared enough about us to save our skins.

We turned tail and began crawling through the field. The assault force was about two hundred hooves away with all of their backs turned from us. We had an opportunity to get the hay out of here.

Aurora suddenly lifted a hoof. We halted our crawling and I peeked my head over the grass.

Ahead of us was one of the ponies launching rockets into town and terrorizing our new home. He had a huge-arse tube strapped onto a battle saddle, and quite frankly, I had no idea what it was. I only knew about guns, not bloody rocket launchers!

Aurora sat on his flanks and reached down, unslinging the laser rifle we salvaged from the warehouse. He moved some sort of dial on the side of the weapon before raising it to his shoulder. He gripped the bit lightly and aimed for the one-pony-artillery-force.

*Blang*

A disturbingly bright yet quiet shot rang out into the frozen night. The brief blast of red light pierced the darkness as the laser instantly struck the artillery-pony’s head. The burning beam punched a clean hole in the side of his helmet, leaving only a smoldering red ring in the metal as he crumpled over.

Thankfully nopony seemed to notice the shot. It was barely louder than the chatter of the battle reflecting back from the surrounding mountains and every eye was turned toward town behind us.

I blinked in shock. I had seriously underestimated these energy weapons. They were quiet and they melted bloody steel. Maybe I’d have to give them another chance.

Aurora hit a release on the side of the rifle and ejected a red-hot magic crystal. A trail of steam followed while it fell onto the dirt and cooled, resembling a lump of coal more than a magical gem. He reached into his bags and replaced it with a new properly glowing white gem.

Aurora had made his rifle single-shot with that dial, somehow upping its power. But those crystals were rare enough as is. Maybe energy weapons were still kinda gimmicky after all.

He swung the rifle onto his back, looking over his shoulder and nodding. Midnight and I returned the nod and we continued our hunched-over canter towards the west.

We maintained our awkward low running until we were on the opposite side of the town, where we stood up and galloped full speed along the well-worn dirt path that led to the front gate of Renaissance. We just barely made it past a watchtower before a group of three guards intercepted us, rifles drawn. Midnight and I immediately halted in our tracks but Aurora kept approaching.

“Stop right there or we’ll open fire!” a gruff buck sounded into the night. It was Striker, that pony who gave Midnight a hard time when we first arrived yesterday.

“Stand down private, we’re on the same side,” Aurora barked as he slowed down to a trot and stopped only a few hooves before the guards.

“Cap’n Borealis! Bloody norah we thought you were dead!” Striker lowered his weapon in disbelief.

“I knew he ain’t easy to kill,” a young mare smiled behind Striker.

“What’s the situation?” Aurora asked as he unslung his laser rifle and tossed it to Striker. “Gimme that,” he gestured to the private’s IF4 carbine.

Striker reluctantly parted with his gun and ammunition and another stallion stepped forward. We had seen him in pajamas earlier, Sergeant Strafe, if I remember correctly. This time, he was in proper combat barding.

“Sir, it’s the Daylight. They skipped past railtown and came straight for us; it was a diversion. We’ve barely got enough guards to cover town. Fighting is primarily to the east, they’ve been barraging us all night and finally made a push not long ago. Medical personnel are collecting the wounded at a makeshift field hospital in the southern sector. Dr. Bone’s hospital was too close to the fighting to treat civilians,” Sergeant Strafe reported as Aurora absorbed all the information.

“Where are my ponies currently?” Aurora asked absently while he loaded magazines into various pouches of his armor.

“Your squad is stalking on the northern edge of town, they’re flanking the main assault force. Lieutenant Ballpoint is currently in charge of them and moved to take out the rocket launchers,” Sergeant-Pajamas reported on a dime.

“Good, that colt knows what he’s doing. Continue with whatever orders were given to ya’ and prioritize saving civilians,” Aurora commanded and returned the salute that the sergeant gave before they all took off flying towards the front lines.

He turned and faced us, “I’m going to rendezvous with Ball and assume command again, you two… Uh, just do what you can to help. Most importantly – stay safe. Hide if you have to,” Aurora ordered us.

“Who are the Daylight?” I quickly asked, “What do they want?”

Aurora paused mid wing-rise and looked at us, “They’re evil bastards is what they are. They’re some fanatical sun-loving cult that got too powerful for their own good. They think us ‘bat ponies’ are a sore sight and want to take Transylvania for themselves.”

Midnight sat silently while he listened, his expression was grim with familiarity.

“Don’t get caught by them, lass,” Aurora flapped his wings, “You’d be a terrible loss to us all.”

I furrowed my brow as I watched him fly to the north.

“What’s he on about?” I looked at Midnight.

The blue pegabat sat still a moment longer before speaking, “Remember my dreams about you?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, “Mate, now’s seriously not the time. I don’t even want to hear what sort of messed up-”

“No, Scar, really,” Midnight explained, “I’ve almost had like, visions about this.”

I stared at him for a moment but nodded for him to continue. I sincerely hoped he wasn’t going to enter a brain-damaged ramble again.

Midnight explained the last few dreams he had. About the alicorn, Orpheus, the world of Umbris and the vision he had being in the so-called ‘Prince of Twilight’s’ head. Supposedly this 'thestral prince' faced a war against the Solar Empire during princess Luna’s banishment. At least that’s what Midnight’s description sounded like if it followed the timeline of history correctly.

I sincerely doubted any of it was true to history though. We never heard anything about any other alicorns besides our two goddesses, Luna and Celestia, and their entourage of alicorn princesses. If there was an alicorn who reigned over thestral kind and commanded the same celestial power as a goddess, I was certain we, the thestrals, would have heard about it by now.

But, the way Midnight explained it sounded like he really believed what he saw. Normally, I’d dismiss it, but recent events had me wanting to believe him more. It aligned with what ponies were talking about out here and might even explain whatever strange magic Midnight accidentally discovered. Not to mention this attack tonight.

“Is that why your wings did that… stuff?” I asked.

Midnight shrugged, “Probably. I can’t control it, it just sorta happens whenever.”

A resounding whoosh and boom had us both jump. We were still in the middle of a battle that could only get more terrible. And unless we wanted to see our only home get destroyed by these sunshine-worshiping fanatics, we had to start lending a hoof where we could.

“Midnight,” I looked around at the orange glow lighting up the night and sighed, “Look, I believe you, okay? But right now, we need to focus on Renaissance. We can delve into your fever dreams when this is all said and done. I promise.”

Midnight cracked a small smile at my reassurance, “You don’t know how much I needed to hear you say that.”

“I still think you’re looney, mate,” I spread my wings, “but this whole world is looney too.”

I helped him take off into a hover and we crossed over the wooden walls.

<><><>

We wound through the houses until we spotted a series of olive drab tents laid out in the middle of an intersection. The sounds of moaning, crying, and screams of pain filled the night air, complemented by distant gunfire of the battle.

We landed and trotted through the makeshift hospital. Stretchers of ponies were laid out in an unorganized array; guards and civilians alike all sharing severe burns or bullet wounds. A few were even missing limbs from the rocket strikes.

I let out a small cry when I saw the bloodied form of a filly carried on a guard’s back. She was being taken away from the field hospital, which certainly meant she was dead.

“Luna above, Middy, these poor ponies didn’t do anything to deserve this…” I whimpered, I felt my ears flatten against my head.

“C’mon let’s go find the pony in charge and see what needs to be done,” Midnight spoke softly, nudging me towards a tent in the center.

We ducked under the suspended flap and into the wooden-supported tent. Inside, there wasn’t much in terms of furnishing besides a simple wooden desk. A large map of Renaissance dominated the center of the table, with a few stacks of messages scribbled on parchment stacked off to the sides.

Standing behind the desk was a thestral mare with a white mane and tail and a light gray coat to match. She had armor similar to Aurora’s, even sporting the same rank. The main difference however, were the two pink butterflies on her shoulders. I could only assume this mare was in charge of all the medics.

“Who are you ponies and why are you in my tent?” she looked up from the map laid before her.

Midnight cleared his throat, “Captain Borealis sent us to find you and assist you in any way we can,” he somewhat told the truth. It sounded convincing enough.

The medic looked at us with a cocked brow, sizing us up, “I recognize you two, you stumbled down that mountain and into town yesterday. Stable dwellers, right?”

“That’s us!” Midnight nodded.

“Weren’t you supposed to be a pega- oh,” the medic sat up in shock when she noticed Midnight’s other wing.

I stepped forward before she started asking Midnight uncomfortable questions, “Look, we can help, okay? We’ll do anything if it means saving our new home.”

The light colored mare sighed and nodded, “I have a few urgent tasks, but are you willing to put yourselves in danger?”

Midnight nodded without hesitation and I quickly followed suit after seeing he did. My willingness very much depended on how much danger there was, however.

“Okay, consider yourselves temporarily under my command, welcome aboard the Night Watch. I’m Captain Angel,” she nodded.

“Midnight, Scarlet,” Midnight pointed at himself and me with a wingtip.

“Fitting name,” Angel smirked at me. “I’m going to be brief, there are ponies that I need to attend to.”

She looked down at the map and pointed a hoof at the eastern edge of town. A red line was drawn from the surrounding forest all the way through town center, where an ‘X’ was marked. “The Daylight has pushed into the town, down Command Avenue, where they currently have control of the hospital and the ruined headquarters. Our guards have them stuck in a bottleneck at town square. We’ve got teams currently flanking from the north and south to keep them pinned.”

She shifted her hoof to the bottom edge of the circular town, a green ‘O’ was drawn on one of the streets, “This is our current position,” she continued, “I need somepony to squeeze past the assault force and sneak into the hospital. Inside, there is a cabinet upstairs with vital chemicals that will help stabilize some patients in critical condition. One of you needs to gain access to that cabinet and bring them back to us,” Angel looked to both me and Midnight expectantly.

“One of us?” Midnight asked, “Why not send both of us? We can cover each other and carry more together.”

I nodded my head vigorously, I didn’t like the sound of separating at all.

“With our radio tower down, we’ve lost all communication. I need the other one of you to relay an important message to Aurora and Ballpoint, the old stallion took off too quickly. I can’t afford to send any of my own ponies with all the wounded to take care of,” Angel traced a line to the northern side of town to a blue ‘X,’ “this is particularly difficult because the messenger will be forced to gallop. We cannot afford to give away their position if the messenger is spotted from the air.”

“I can’t gallop that fast or that far…” I looked worriedly at Midnight while he thought about the tasks.

“Scar, you’re probably way better at sneaking than I am. I can barely fly anyways. We need to help if we want Renaissance to have a fighting chance. You should go to the hospital and get those chemicals. I’ll meet up with Aurora and tell him the message,” Midnight concluded, shifting his gaze to the Angel who nodded in affirmation.

“What?! Middy, we always stick together! What if one of us gets hurt?” I asked pleadingly, “Can’t we do one at a time?”

“I need both of these to happen right away,” Angel said grimly, “you two came at the perfect time. But I won’t force you to do anything.”

“We’re both gonna die if we don’t try,” Midnight shook his head. “Look around us, the Daylight won’t stop until every single one of us is dead,” he gestured a wing at the wounded outside. “We have to try, Scar. If we lose Renaissance, we lose Transylvania. We already lost our Stable. What else would we have left?” His expression showed his determination, but his eyes betrayed him. He was just as concerned as I was and I could see my pleading probably tore him up inside.

Dammit… let’s help this town.

I steeled my nerves and nodded. He was right, we had to set ourselves aside to help everypony. It was my new home. Our home. Thestrals always got the short end of the stick throughout history. Hell, we only had one Stable. Transylvania was a dream come true for us. If I wanted to live in that dream, then I was going to have to fight for it just as much as Midnight was.

“Okay, Captain, I’ll sneak into the hospital and retrieve the medical supplies and Midnight will relay the message,” I spoke with determination.

“Very well, Midnight your task is simple, give them this piece of parchment and follow through with any orders they give you, you most likely won’t be able to return due to their covert position,” Angel hoofed over a folded piece of parchment to Midnight, who took it and stored it in his saddlebag.

She then turned to me, “Scarlet, when you get into the hospital, I need as many IV bags of anesthesia and syringes of Med-X as possible. Skip the health potions, we need the stronger stuff. You can access the supply wagon outside of my tent, take what you need. Luna guide you and good luck to both of you,” Angel concluded and returned to reading the orders posted on her table.

Midnight and I exited the tent and turned to one another. We looked at each with a mixture of concern and fear. I hesitated a moment.

“Don’t die on me, okay, mate?” I nearly whispered.

Midnight winked, “I’ll be back before tea.”

I caught myself staring into his golden eyes. That unfamiliar sensation grew in my chest again, it kept me from wanting to look away. I didn’t realize how much I grew to depend on this stupid colt since leaving the Stable only two days ago.

Midnight cleared his throat and stood taller, looking down the road before glancing back at me one more time. His ears fell back as he paused like he was going to say something, but he quickly shook his head and galloped toward the north without another word.

I sat there and watched him until the thick trails of smoke obscured his waving two-toned tail. The sky was now bright with the burning flames of the houses near the frontlines.

I let out a sigh and turned toward the armored green chariot parked outside the tent. Faded paint was written along its side: ‘Transylvanian Pals Battalion.’

What a load of rubbish, I huffed as I read the line.

Our history books explained that during the early war, Princess Celestia was desperate to conscript ponies from across all Equestria to join the ranks against the zebras. One of the programs she made was the ‘Transylvanian Pals Battalion,’ a company made up of soldiers who would be grouped together if they enlisted together. Fight alongside your friends, as it was. That sounded like a dandy idea, until you realize that companies of soldiers tended to fight in the same battles together. Meaning they all died together if they lost.

The blasted ‘pals battalion’ wiped entire local towns of residents and left mothers and spouses alone with nopony returning home. To top it all off, of course the princess of the sun made it so only thestral ponies were a part of this program. As if she was trying to keep us separate from the others. It was no-pony’s surprise that we were the first asked to be fed into the grinder and the first forgotten for our sacrifice.

At least this explained how Renaissance was so well equipped. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of surviving thestrals today were descendants of those brave volunteers during the war. We were practically a standalone army by the time Luna took over.

Trotting up to the chariot, I climbed onto the bed and saw supply crates were filled with weapons and ammunition. If I was going to go stealthily I needed to change up my gear.

I looked around until I spotted a small black steel box labeled: ‘Suppressors.’

Perfect, I devilishly smiled.

I opened the container and nosed around, grabbing some tools and eventually finding one that fit my gun’s caliber. It was a shoddy thing, obviously made from pre-war scraps, but hopefully it would work. I grabbed it in my teeth and let my carbine slip off my back and fall before me.

I propped the gun up and used my hooves to unscrew the flash hider on the end of the barrel with one of the wrenches from the crate. I plopped the small piece into my saddlebags and screwed on the suppressor in a similar manner.

I looked around the bed of the truck again and found an ammunition crate labeled ‘5.56.’ The small bullets would still break the sound barrier, but hopefully the suppressor would help me out if I needed to shoot and scoot without ponies figuring out my exact location. At least, that’s what they did in the action movies I watched in the Stable. That was all I had to go off of for tactics.

I opened the crate and sighed in relief when I saw bandoliers of pre-loaded magazines. Not only did it save my poor hooves from shoving hundreds of bullets into mags but I finally had somewhere to store them all too. I grabbed a bandolier and strapped it over my shoulder. I made sure to grab six magazines to fill the pouches. Three was obviously too little if I came across another onslaught of robo-ponies.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't find any good optics. Unless I wanted a huge-arse hunting scope on my little rifle, which was all they had. I guess electronic sights were just a thing of the past. Maybe they were too delicate or difficult to keep powered out in the wasteland. Or maybe Princess Sunbutt was too cheap to give us thestrals any good equipment during the war.

I ditched the laser rifle in the bed of the truck. It was a silly weapon for silly ponies. I didn’t care how advanced it was; it was heavy and not nearly as sensical as good old fashioned firearms. Maybe some lucky guard will find this thing in the truck and disintegrate a bunch of sun cult fanatics. But that pony was not gonna be me.

With my carbine finally loaded against my back, I glided off the tall bed of the chariot and lifted my left leg to look at my PipBuck. Using my nose, I shifted to the ‘DATA’ tab and pulled up the map function.

It looked like my best bet was to head east and through a huge clearing near the edge of town where I could only assume the apple and pear orchards were located. Then, I’d go back up another road and cut through the alleyways around the hospital where I could hopefully find a back entrance and avoid everypony.

Satisfied with my plan, I lifted off into the cold night air and headed toward the orchards.

<><><>

I dodged and weaved between the buildings as I flew over the alleyways that connected the spider-webbing main roads. I was careful to keep my altitude below the rooftops in hopes of not being spotted.

The alley I flew down suddenly opened up to a large expanse of sickly looking deciduous trees. I pulled my wings in and dove to match level with the treetops, flaring them out and sped among the branches.

I reached a hoof down and grabbed an apple off one of the high branches. I hadn’t eaten in hours! Don’t judge me for stealing.

We had been on the move non-stop since twilight. I was definitely feeling hungry and exhausted. I slowed to a gentle glide as I gratefully munched on the apple. It was a bit bland but it was the best bloody thing I had all day.

Far above, the moon just barely hung over the mountain tops. I had a good hour or two of concealment before the sun began to rise. If I wanted to keep sneaking, I’d have to make this quick.

In my moment of dietary distraction, I felt my ears swivel. I heard the modulated voices of stallions beneath me, down one of the alleyways. I jettisoned my half-eaten apple and banked towards the rooftop above where I heard the voices. I gently alighted on the opposite side of the triangular roof and knelt down to peer over the side.

Two stories below, I saw two stallions clad in the yellow and black trimmed armor of the Daylight. Up close, I could see the symbols on their helmets; a rising Equestrian sun. They were trying to navigate the complex alleyways of town and must have somehow separated from the main force before they were cut off the flanks of Command Avenue.

For a moment, I was afraid I was going to have to hurt these two unsuspecting ponies. But the images of the field hospital replayed in my mind. The innocent filly; killed simply because she was born in a different land. These earth ponies were monsters, their hooves were drenched in the blood of innocent civilians.

I grabbed the firing bit of my suppressed IS4 and debated how I was going to go about taking two ponies at once without raising an alarm. I was nowhere near a good enough shot to just pop both buggers in the head. I looked around and my eyes fell upon an overhanging porch supported by two cables, perfectly in line with where they were trotting.

“I don’t know where the buck we are, Lamplight, now shut your mouth and keep trotting,” the soldier on the left grumbled through his helmet.

“Yeah, but if we keep goin’ too far, we’re gonna get surrounded,” Lamplight droned in a heavily rustic Equestrian accent.

I let them pass beneath me and waited for them to trot underneath the porch. Once they were in position, I spread my wings and glided down to it. My leathery wings rippled in the air while my hooves made a metallic clomp on the steel overhang. Both guards stopped and looked up at the swinging structure.

“The hay was that?! Ya think it was one o’ them vampires?” Lamplight tried to peer at the dark silhouette of the porch against the night sky.

“Aw shit, if it’s only one of those bloodsuckers then we can take em,’” the first one responded. He unslung his assault rifle and pointed it up at me.

We don’t drink blood! What the buck? I angrily thought to myself as I bit a pin holding both cables in place with my teeth.

Drink some of this you bloody cunts! I quickly yanked the pin and flared out my wings, flapping rapidly to keep me aloft while the porch fell beneath me.

“Whoa! Watch out-” the cries of both ponies were cut off by a sickening crunch as they were crushed by the enormous weight of the steel porch.

Two down, Luna knows how many more to go…

I glided forward slowly to gain momentum and then banked to my left, pumping my wings as I continued east toward the hospital.

I didn’t have time to think about those ponies. If they were good or bad, why they were here, or whatever Luna-damned reason it took for me to fight off the guilt of taking lives. All I knew is that innocent ponies were depending on me. I was not going to freeze up this time from the weight of it all. I was not going to let anypony down ever again.

XXX

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will this story have a little vampire filly in it?

[MeetSouder]

11891666
It certainly may! Though I doubt our bat pony friends appreciate being called 'Vampires.' Blood is hardly on the menu!