>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.