/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>163665
>>163666
The sheep nods, evidently not enthusiastic to be a shield in a firefight. Or maybe he's just a sheep.

The officer looks directly into the stall. Between the opaque door, the straw on the ground, the sheep, and above all, the officer's unwillingness to come close to any potential hidden danger, the officer does not start immediately shooting into the stall. He moves around to look into the stall on the other side.

>>163667
Is the officer now close to the door, facing away?

>>163668
He is off to Amber's left and kind of in front of the wall that separates the stalls, but he is closer than he was before, yes.

>>163669
Let's call it here while I consider my next course of action.

I will be free tomorrow.

We left Spark in the forest after returning with Wellspring.

>>163677
Yes. Presumably the set of them want to go to... the Zagaskway village?

>>163678
I think so.

>>163680
Yes.

(You) are all cute ponies

>>163680
Maybe we can pick back up tomorrow.

>>163591
The radio immediately opens up with what sounds like a news broadcast in progress. The broadcaster has a more or less Fillydelphian accent:

"- Intercity travel is expected to be restricted until further notice, with civilian travel only with State approval. Mail transit is suspended for a period of seven days, after which intercity mail transit is expected to be limited. In what they say is a necessary step to prevent sabotage, the Committee of Public Safety has suspended intercity telephone calls.

Reports show that businesses and schools across the land are shutting down for the day, even in areas not subject to evacuations, in anticipation of Changeling retaliation. Many towns and cities have declared martial law to root out or suppress the activities of saboteurs. The Committee of Public Safety has ordered the Home Guard into a ready position and asks all ponies with military experience above the age of 28 to join. Already, many instances of fighting between Changeling infiltrators and Home Guard have been reported on Equus in strategic areas like rail junctions.

All cities on Equus with a population above 125,000 have been ordered to evacuate until an all clear is given. The Directorate characterizes this move as a precaution against possible but not necessarily imminent retaliation. The risk is moderate, the Directorate states, but it has taken every precaution including the stockpiling of grain supplies, medicine, and fuel. The Directorate has also issued an order extending National Service and recalling those who have previously served and do not meet exemptions back into service.

The Republic has started bombardment of Changeling positions all along the border between Free and Occupied Equestria, and the first aerial combat has taken place in the skies above. Early reports suggest the Republic has taken control of most of the airspace, with some areas contested. An attitude of jubilance has swept across the pony republics, tempered in many areas by fear reprisal. In several of the non-pony republics, however, there are rumors of protests and resistance. One source states the Sister Republics of Puimont, Asterion, and Falcor showed hesitation in joining the war. Rumors circulate of Imperial, Abyssianian, or Arissian intervention, but nothing has been confirmed.

This is Friend of the Ponies keeping you updated on the situation as it develops. Long Live the Republic."

>>163686
no u

>>163691
>>163591
Spectral Streak is in no hurry to change the station away from the news broadcast, letting it play. And as it plays, the car continues through the maze of the refinery, and back into the city, heading generally east, away from the water, and towards the center of the city. The vehicle drives past still more distillation towers, and what seem to be various smaller, connected petro-chemical plants. When the broadcast is over, Streak changes the channel.

"We've entered the first floor of the Administrative Building. Fire support cleared out the machine gun nests. Still facing heavy resistance."
"Keep it up."
"Ashborn is still congested, but things are clearing up."

Spectral Streak himself speaks into the radio
"Just stopped infiltrators at the Celestial Oil Refinery. Civilian Casualties, but its clear." He lets off of the button

"Coffin Bay Road has no activity, except some unruly civilians. Situation normal."

"Anyone heard from the transport Ministry?"
"This is uh, this is Transport Ministry. All clear"
"You sure? Any problems?"
"No problems, no."
"Hey, we have buggers pinned down at WMARE Television station. We cannot dislodge them."
"Do you need airsupport?"
"We may. We have civilians here though. Multiple hostages and nearby residential."
"If it's necessary its necessary, we have authorization."
"Hey, has anyone heard from Jasmine Flower Station? The Meadowbrook Line seems to have stopped."
"No, we haven't heard anything. Maybe they forgot to check in?"
"Bullshit they forgot. Train was supposed to be here already."
"It's only been a few minutes, maybe it'll come-"

>>163692
"Hostages at television station? They need rescued!"

>>163693
Spectral Streak hangs in silence for a moment - only a moment - and then places the mouthpiece up to his mouth.

"This is Spectral Streak. We'll assist you at the WMARE station."
"Thank heavens! Come on over!"
"Stop by Jasmine Flower, that's on the way I think. From the refinery, right?"
"Yeah. We'll drive by. It's only a few blocks out of the way."
"Copy that. And good job, by the way. That refinery couldn't take any fire support."
"Just don't take too long. WMARE needs you."

>>163694
"'Jasmine Flower'? Is that pony or locatuon?"

>>163695
"I think it was a pony, but now it's a train station. Or something like that." He answers

>>163696
"Well then, let us be on our way. I wonder what it is that we need to go out of way for."

>>163702
Spectral Streak shrugs, picks up the mouthpiece, and asks
"Hey uh, this is Streak heading towards Jasmine Flower. What exactly are we looking for?"

A voice responds
"The train hasn't arrived at the northern terminal. Jasmine Flower is silent. Make sure something hasn't happened."
And then another voice chimes in
"Hey uh, I've sent a train north from Healing Station. Bridge is showing a red light."
"When did you do that?"
"About three minutes ago"
"Don't send trains against traffic."
"The bridge has a red light. The whole Meadowbrook line north of the river is green, including Jasmine Flower. There could be sabotage on the bridge."
"Send a team to check out the bridge, but hold up the train. Don't send trains from south of the city center north."
"The line is green. If they are right about retaliation I don't think we have the time to hold up trains-"

>>163705
"If they were going to retaliate blowing up bridge would have been among first things they would do. First step is crippling enemy's ability to respond and move troops and supplies to where battle is."

>>163706
"Yeah, looks like they already attacked one bridge across the river. They may have sabotaged a second. Anyways, let's see what they want here."

Spectral Streak drives the car further east, away from the harbor, away from the chemical plants, and out of Cowtown into Eastside, the section of the city Silver first came to when he entered Manufacturing plants still line at least some streets, along with trucks and railways that cut across. But these slowly, and certainly, give way to apartment buildings that take up much of a block, and are between four and six stories in height. Most seem relatively new with bright brick or concrete, though more than a few are of an older design that might be familiar to Silver. The buildings actually get older the further away from the harbor Silver goes, in stark contrast to Silver's prior experience of Baltimare.

Spectral Streak drives to an Avenue marked as being Traveller Street, a street in Eastside that traverses North to South, and turns North. Silver can immediately see something that he can't recall having ever seen in Baltimare anywhere - an elevated subway line in the center of the avenue. The avenue itself seems to have changed, or have been expanded, and along the east side of the avenue, almost no buildings are old. The subway is elevated 18 or so feet up, usually in between two two lane roadways, and sometimes to the left. Its in one of those areas where the track moves off to the left, and the roadways come together, that Spectral Streak comes to stop at Jasmine Flower Station. The train station is a simple covered platform and rail with a small ticket booth, located about 20 feet above the roadway. The roadway has a crossing section, but also a narrow pedestrian bridge that goes from across the avenue directly to the train station, and ends at one end of the platform. The other end of the platform has a simple walkway that goes directly up towards it from the left side of the street. The station is covered by a green painted wooden cover, and thus most of the inside is not visible. More becomes visible about this location as Silver nears

Silver can immediately see, however, that there are a number of cars alongside the roadway parked here. This would not e abnormal, except that the evacuations have largely cleared out cars elsewhere. Coming closer, Silver can see that along the right side of the street is a police car hastily parked facing away north. Along the west side, there is something pouring an opaque white gas a little further north. And Silver can also see that there is a subway train parked on the rails, half in the station and half along the single-track north of it.

>>163708
Silver marvels at the advanced above-ground subway line, something he only ever heard about before in the biggest cities like Canterlot and Manehattan. His marvel is cut short by the sight of the cars, and of the gas. He double checks that they have gas masks in case it's poisonous, remembering how dangerous gas can be.

"Something is not right with this."

>>163709
They do indeed have gas masks.
"Yeah, it's a little off."
Spectral Streak slows down the car as they near the station, trying to find a specific place to pull over with all of the cars

>>163710
Silver makes sure to add his to equipment, and he brings his Jenny up in case they get set upon by waiting changelings.

>>163711
If changelings are waiting, they haven’t made themselves known. The row of cars is thick, with the police car partly in the street. Spectral Streak simply places the car in park in the right most lane. Silver can see that multiple vehicles have shattered windshields - not from bullets, but from what seems to be impact.

>>163712
Silver gets out, and quickly investigates the police car first.

>>163713
As Silver moves closer to the cars, he sees more and more. The police car and the line of cars in front of it are parallel to the street on the right side, opposite the train station and the train.

The police car is hastily parked, jammed in behind a parallel parked car, although the small gap between the police car and the sedan in front of it shows that it was indeed placed in park, and did not drive into the car in front.

Silver can see that the drivers side window is shattered, and there are two bullet holes in the door. Silver can see a grey unicorn with blue uniform and cap slumped over the wheel, with blood across the seat. One hoof is on the steering wheel, and another on the handbrake. Looking over to the right, the right passenger side door is open, although that window, too, is shattered. There is a small trail of blood that moves from the seat, to behind the car in front of it. And to the right of that sedan, on the sidewalk, Silver can see a yellow pegasus in blue uniform slumped over, having bled out over the side walk. There are bullet holes going right through the steel rear of the sedan, and shattered rear windows even as the front windows are untocuhed.

In front of these two cars is a third, bright yellow car with a very odd site. The large rear window is completely shattered as if it hit an animal. No holes save one near the middle, nor has the glass broken away as it has in the other two cars where it seems bullets him. And immediately to the right of the car, in an inglorious pose, is a green pegasus stallion laying limp on the ground. No blood except a very small amount out of his mouth., left wing extended, right wing unceremoniously half folded, and limbs strewn about in every direction. One eye is closed, and the other is half open and rolled up.

>>163714
Silver alerts Spec to the presence of bodies and bullet holes before going to check the ponies' vitals.

>>163715
Dead, dead, and dead. The third pony is perhaps the strangest, as he didn’t seem to have much blood circulation by the time he arrived in his current position, judging by the lack of blood. The third pony has no bullet wounds. The two police officers each have three of four wounds. The bullets seem to have travelled straight through glass, steel, and flesh, and then out the other side.

>>163716
"Was this pegasus dead in air before he crashed?"

Silver next investigates the strange hole in the back window of the yellow car.

>>163717
The hole is at the center of the cracked glass. It's hard to say whether this was the point of impact, or whether it was simply that the glass bent here more than in the glass further from the center, and thus broke away. Looking at the back of the car, nothing broke through, though some glass has fallen in.

>>163718
"What do you make of this, Spec?"

>>163719
Spectral Streak gets out of the car, and moves along the sidewalk.

"These two got ambushed from the left. Barely had time to react, no cover. And this one" He points to the pegasus. "Fell out of the sky and died. Or died and fell out of the sky."

>>163720
"And giant hole in rear windshield?"

>>163721
“Stallion must have landed on the windshield and bounced off.”

>>163722
"Still seems...odd."

Silver looks down the alley, seeing if there's tire tracks from the police car reversing out of it rapidly or if it was ambushed in its current position.

>>163723
The vehicle seems to have parked in its current position when it was ambushed.

>>163724
Silver readies his Jenny.

"Come on, let us investigate platform. Changelings that did this may still be here."

>>163725
But Silver sees that this is not the end of it. Silver can see further down another downed Pegasus. Over on the other side, by the tracks, more than one pony lying on the ground and another busted windshield. The train itself has busted windows in some cars, and a grey smoke that seeps out the open windows, while grey smoke (gas) seeps out of an unknown something beneath the track.

All the same, Silver (presumably) approaches

>>163726
Silver puts on his gas mask as he approaches. Even if it limits visibility it's far better than dying from poisonous gas, which to Silver seems to be what is billowing out of the train.

>>163727
Silver turns to the left to see someone already looking back at him.

On the stairs on the right side, entering into Jasmine Station, Silver can see a pony in an olive green uniform, khaki pants, and a green cap - the standard somewhat impromptu dress of the Homeguard. The pony is a coffee brown unicorn, and he too wears a green and black gas mask, and with magic holds a Jenny battle rifle in a semi-ready position.

"Who are you?" He calls to Silver and Spectral Streak

>>163728
Silver keeps his Jenny at the ready, in case he turns hostile.
"Silver Sword, Homeguard. You?"

>>163729
He seems to wait, or hesitate a moment, but then answers "Gritty Grief." He doesn't seem very happy to see Silver and Spectral Streak

"We are Homeguard. We've only just arrived here."

>>163730
Silver asks Spec to pass him his flashlight as he slowly approaches Gritty.

"What is situation here?"

>>163731
Gritty watches Silver as the two approach. It quickly becomes apparent that there are at least two other stallions above and behind them. Both also wear Homeguard uniforms (the khakis aren't a part of a formal uniform, but they fit into the style, more or less) and both have battle rifles.

"Looks like Changeling infiltrators attacked the station. We only just confirmed the station is clear when we got here."

>>163732
"Hmm. Do you mind if we check something really quick?"

>>163733
“I might. How do I know you are not changelings?”

>>163734
"We were about to test you on that, actually."

>>163735
Spectral Streak whispers to Silver:
“And what will you do if he is a Changeling? Get shot by the other two?”

>>163736
Silver whispers back:
"Better to know they are changelings when we get shot than get shot in back."

He turns again to Gritty, flashlight in his magical grasp.
"May I?"

>>163737
“May I what? He asks back

>>163738
"Just hold still and keep your eyes open."

>>163739
Gritty stands still, and evidently submits. But there is no question, the other two ponies have their battle rifles trained respectively on Silver and Streak

>>163740
Silver shines the flashlight in the eyes of Gritty.

>>163741
Purple eyes that reflect back blue, the distinction between whites and the iris being non-existent.

>>163742
Silver nods to him, and turns his flashlight off. As he looks at Spec, eyes facing away from the disguised changeling, he gives him a look of clear alarm and warning.

>>163743
Spec looks back at Silver. He does not nod, nor reveal much on his face or in his posture

Gritty:
“And?”

>>163744
Silver turns back around, face returning to neutral as he does so.

"...you are good."

>>163745
He moves away, slowly.
"The train was a mess when we came. I wouldn't recommend going in there."

>>163746
"Yes, I see that...looks like poison gas?"

Silver looks at Spec, and whispers quickly:
"Ideas?"

>>163747
"That is our theory. In a confined space. Some got outside, be careful." Gritty turns his back to Silver and Streak and starts to walk back up the stairs, but the other two ponies remain at the top, looking back at Silver and Streak

Spectral Streak doesn't have much opportunity to think or reply. He whispers
"Don't get killed."

>>163748
Silver continues to whisper.
"That is...idea. How do we engage this?"

Silver speaks to Gritty.
"It is travesty changelings are resorting to gas attacks on civilians."

>>163749
Spectral Streak does not respond, evidently because he is afraid that his whispering will be noticed by the two changelings watching them.

"Well..." Gritty has been walking away from Silver and Streak, but he pauses and turns back to Silver.

"You heard the First Consul's speech. This is a crusade to 'forever end the threat of ponykind's oldest enemy'. A war that will result in unity, or death. A war to see justice done, may the heavens fall. This little strip of land is the entrepot and manufacturing center of the whole Southeast. The 'civilians' here are workers in factories and offices... they form the muscles that beat the heart of the Equestrian war machine, and you better believe all of Equestria is or soon will be mobilized as a war machine. Could you expect anything less than a gas attack, under these circumstances? The Hegemony will put up a fight. It will not give unrequited mercy. You should probably go make sure the other roadways and stations are secure. We've got this one."

>>163751
Silver recognizes the out they've just been given, and nods to Gritty.

"Alright. Make sure you keep fort held down, here, we can not let changelings do anything else like this."

He turns to Spec, motioning that they should go.

>>163752
Spectral Streak let’s them move out of line of sight. When this happens, Streak says to Silver,
“Isn’t a train coming this way?”

>>163753
Silver nods, and whispers back to him as he pulls his Jenny out.

"Now we can take them out without having two rifles aimed at our heads."

>>163754
Spectral Streak turns his head halfway
"I suspect they will watch us, or try to..."
He likewise holds his rifle tight

The enemies seem to have pulled back into the covered, elevated train station. As stated before, it has two entries, besides the rail itself which is technically another two points of entry.

>>163755
"Any ideas? Take up cover in neighboring building? Full frontal assault?"

>>163756
“Either go around back, go up the stairs, or lure them onto the tracks.”

>>163757
Silver nods to his son.

"Let us go around back, fuck them in their bug asses."

>>163758
“Heh” he smiles. “I don’t know about that.” Then he moves the rifle, and presses the fire selector switch. “But I’d love to kill these fucks. Through the back door it is.”

The two walk in the direction of the car, Spectral Streak looks around as if lost, and then starts to walk up the stairs to the pedestrian bridge that connects to the train station’s other end.

>>163759
Silver looks back up at the train station to see if he can see the changelings watching them, before following a similar routine to his son and going up the same set of stairs that his son did.

>>163761
>>163760
Silver thinks he sees one peering at them through the left side-stairwell.

>>163762
Silver stops and stares intensely right at the changeling, hoping to make him uncomfortable.

>>163763
Roll die, charisma modifier
[1d20-1 = (7-1) = 6]

>>163765
After a few awkward moments, the "pony" breaks off, and moves out of line of sight within the train station.

>>163766
Silver gives himself a little satisfied smile before rejoining his son.

>>163767
The walkway ends in a simple door that leads into the enclosed space, on the southern end of the platform, opposite the side the train protrudes out of. Silver and Spec have no way of knowing who or what might be there and where.

>>163768
Are there any windows or openings with which to pear through?

>>163769
There are no windows anywhere on the platform. Openings are the two stairwell entry ways, and the ends of the platform where the rails come out

>>163770
By opening, do you mean an open archway or a closed door?

>>163773
It’s only slightly bigger than a doorway, and the same rectangular shape. It is, however, completely open.

>>163774
Silver tries to get a peak in through the open doorway.

>>163775
From this angle, all Silver can see is the open platform through to the other side.

>>163776
Silver pulls back and whispers to Spec.

"How do you want to do this? We breach, then I aim right and you aim left?"

>>163778
“We could do it that way. If they are expecting us to come, we may have to, because they would try to flank us from behind. But if they are where they should be, they will all three of them be to the right.”

>>163779
"So, what do we do? Both aim right, or aim in different directions?"

>>163789
“Do you think they will expect us to come through that door?” If so, we need to aim in different directions.”

>>163797
"And they are not, it will not be too hard for us to reacauire targets."

Silver steels himself for the combat ahead.

"On three, yes?"

>>163799
>>163801
He nods
“One, two, three”

Roll Initiative

[1d20+3 = (6+3) = 9]
[1d20-2 = (10-2) = 8]

Soon

>>163802
>>163807
As Silver moves inside of the covered train platform, he can immediately see that the platform is wooden-planked, at least twelve feet wide, and exists only on Silver’s side, the right side, of the tracks. It’s well over a hundred feet long. There are two tracks by the platform, one of which must only be used for switching as it is not adjacent to the platform. Silver can see the snub-nosed, silver colored end if the train halfway on the tracks by the end of the platform, and halfway on the track out of the station going north.

Silver can see a scene on the platform itself. There are at least five pony corpses on the platform. One is near Silver, facing him, lying on his belly just a few feet away from the rear entry. Another is a cream colored Pegasus mare with a short mane cut lying ingloriously on her side near the other exit, further down. It almost looks like she was kicked aside, so as to not be visible looking through the entrance. A purple unicorn mare faces silver on her belly, legs tucked underneath her. A beige earth pony stallion lies on his side, partly hanging off the platform, with multiple visible exit wounds. In front of him is a darker brown colt, with a yellow mane. This is what Silver can glimpse in a second, and the presence of multiple blood trails, and multiple shadows further away from his part of the platform implies the presence of more ponies, some who limped away, and some who did not.

But now, Silver faces his presumed enemies. Three alleged ponies. To his left, in front of him, and already facing him some maybe 25 feet distant, is Gritty Grief, the coffee brown unicorn wearing a gas mask, an olive green army uniform, and khakis. He has his battle rifle aimed at Silver. Further away, and evidently facing the other door near the cream colored Pegasus mare corpse, is another of the gas mask wearing “ponies,” a grey Pegasus. He is quickly turning his battle rifle towards Silver. The third creature’s position cannot be discerned. Not now.

>>163807
>>163907
If it wasn’t obvious, Silver has surprised them, and while at least “Gritty Grief” was expecting expecting a hostile force to come through that door, Silver is quicker.

[1d20+6 = (9+6) = 15]
[1d20+6 = (10+6) = 16]
[1d20+6 = (10+6) = 16]
[1d20+6 = (14+6) = 20]
>>163907
>>163909
The sight of the bodies angers Silver, and steels his resolve. To commit such atrocities against civilians, innocent ponies! These changelings will pay, all of them. He will send them to the Great Mother with more holes than they started the day with.

He immediately levels the rifle at Gritty Grief upon seeing him, flips the switch to full auto, and with a roar unleashes a burst of his Jenny's kick.

>>163910
tat tat tat tat
A flick of the fire selector to right, and Silver’s rifle is fully automatic. Silver lets out a four round burst. It’s his first time to fire the Jenny fully automatic. The gun is a full pound lighter than the old service rifles, and with a vastly more powerful cartridge than the submachine guns he’s fired before. You could say th rifle kicks like a mule, but it’s a bit of a lighter touch than that. Like a female mule.

With only a very short distance between Silver and Gritty, at least three of the four shots hit, with the first perhaps being low.

[2d8 = 14]
[2d8 = 9]
[2d8 = 4]
>>163911
It kicks...like a Jenny.

>>163912
Silver can see a small splatter of blood out of gritty, and then a smaller one, and another small ripple. The first shot seems to have hit something important. He stumbles, and falls down.

[1d20+2 = (14+2) = 16]
[1d20+2 = (11+2) = 13]

[1d20 = 15]

>>163912
>>163913
But the other creature turns towards Silver, and fires his own gun
[b]Tat tat tat tat tat tat[b/]

[1d20 = 4]
[1d20 = 2]
[1d20 = 11]
[1d20 = 17]
[1d20 = 13]
[1d20 = 12]

>>163914
Definitely a hit there

>>163915
Silver feels a firm, sharp pain beneath his otherwise protective layer of floof.
[2d8 = 13]

>>163915
>>163916
A bullet has shot right through his protective jacket and has caused fairly significant injury. Fortunately the other shots have missed, though Silver certainly heard at least some of them as they wizzed past.

>>163917
>>163915
Silver gets the next shot

>>163916
>>163917
>>163918
The sharp pain makes him take in a gasp of air, but it only makes it worse. He worries it may have hit a lung.

Through the pain, he aims for the grey pegasus and lets loose what he thinks is a burst of fire. Two shots are let loose from the end of his Jenny's barrel before he hears a distinct sound of a gun running on empty. If possible, he pushes through the intense pain to make for the cover of the train.

>>163920
Miss
Silver misses both shots. Gun is empty, bolt holds open.

[1d20+2 = (9+2) = 11]
[1d20+2 = (20+2) = 22]
[1d20+2 = (9+2) = 11]
[1d20+2 = (19+2) = 21]
[1d20+2 = (4+2) = 6]
[1d20+2 = (8+2) = 10]

>>163921
Oof...

>>163921
>>163920
A wave of shots, and two hit Silver’s assailant.

>>163924
>>163922
The creature is at least wounded, and stumbles.

>>163925
The creatures they're fighting, are they on the platform same as Silver and Spec are, or are they separated by train tracks?

>>163926
It’s all the same platform. Maybe a dead body or so, but otherwise there is nothing separating them.

[1d20+10 = (5+10) = 15]
>>163927
Silver knows this is going to hurt, but the alternatives are reloading in the open or diving for cover and leaving Spec exposed. He braces himself for pain, thanks the foresight to affix his bayonet earlier, and charges the grey pegasus.

>>163928
Silver charges forward towards the perhaps unsuspecting creature, and hits it in the neck above the jacket and below the mask. Silver can’t see the creature’s facial expression because of the mask. But from the way it stands there, leaning to reduce the weight on a wounded leg, staring at Silver as he charges, he must surely have been surprised.

>>163931
>>163929
And Silver stabs it into the creature’s neck. Right before him, it flashes green, and when the flash recedes, those parts that were grey fur are now chitinous black. Blue blood slowly starts to seep out of the wound. It starts to fall backwards, and then down onto its legs.

>>163934
>>163932
>>163931
But silver has no time to celebrate as he is hit twice in the side.

>>163933
>>163934
>>163935
Silver stumbles, and falls halfway down onto his side. He's not yet dead or dying, but it feels like it. Silver has been hurt bad. His lung has definitely been hit, judging from how much it hurts to move or even take a breath. Blood begins to leak from him at an alarming rate, staining his fur and armor crimson. His vision starts to go a little blurry as he looks for his mystery assailant.

>>163936
Normally this would be straightforward, but these are exceptional circumstances.

Roll spot.

>>163938
>>163937
Silver can see that his assailant came from a shot out window inside of the train, two cars down.

>>163939
Is there a way for Silver to get out of the sightlines of the changeling?

>>163941
Silver is almost immediately next to the front entrance, though the angle means he’d want to get halfway down if of more to be sure he’s out of line of sight.

>>163942
How far is the train?

>>163943
The end is only a few tens of feet away.

>>163944
Silver decides that of the options currently available to him, the best in his current state is likely to play dead and hope the changeling thinks he has succumbed to his own wounds. Perhaps then he'll get a chance to reload his Jenny when his focus goes elsewhere.

Silver's legs visibly shake, and he collapses into the small pool of blood forming beneath him. He stares blankly ahead, as if looking at something nopony else can see, and halts his breathing. Internally, he prays to Celestia the changeling will buy it. He did, after all, get shot three times this engagement.

>>163945
>>163946
After a solid second and a half of shooting, Silvers hears clopping, and then is jerked
“Silver! Are you okay?!”

>>163947
Evidently, from all of the shooting, Spec must have laid into the remaining changeling with everything he had. Suspecting that currently there are no remaining opponents, he allows himself to start breathing again and looks at his son with a weak smile.

"No...but I am alive."

The unicorn coughs up some blood and groans in pain. He is in a sorry state. He is bleeding profusely from three fresh bullet holes, and the puddle of his own blood that he laid down in has stained a good portion of the floofy pony. Despite his light grey coat, Spec can swear his father looks pale.

"Get me up...I do not...think I can...on my own."

>>163948
“You’re alive!”
Silver’s son, an old man now in his own right, hugs him. He takes a moment, then pulls away.
“Uh, yes.”
He helps him up.

>>163949
Silver strains and groans to get up on all four hooves, but with his son's help he does. Standing, he hugs his son tight, even at the risk of staining his coat with his own blood.

"I am sorry to...frighten you. Thought playing dead...give me moment to reload, take bastard...bug out."

>>163950
“Are you sure? You’re bleeding.”

>>163951
He lets go of his son, clearly still a bit unsteady on his four legs and still clearly bleeding profusely.

"Well...it may have only been half-playing dead..."

>>163952
“Oh… heh. You really need help though.” He says, moving back, and smiling awkwardly.

>>163953
"Yes...can you search bodies for ammunition? I need to...report massacre over radio. Get instructions."

>>163954
“Uh… yes…” he moves away, and over to the downed Changeling.

>>163955
Silver gets on the radio, and speaks into it.

"This is Silver Sword and Spectral Streak at...Jasmine Flower Station. It is massacre. Changelings disguised as Homeguard, gassed entire station and train...executed whoever was left. No survivors." cough "We got roughed up bit, but changelings that did this are dead now."

>>163956
“They did?”
“She was right. Those bastards really would do that…”
“Glad you got them? Is the area secure?”
“Is the track clear? We have a train heading north at 30 miles per hour.”

>>163957
"Area is secure. We are working on moving train out of way right now."

>>163958
“It’s on the tracks? Get it out!”

>>163959
Silver puts the radio away, and looks to Spec.

"Come on...we need to get train out of way."

>>163960
Spec nods, and changes out the magazine on his Jenny.
“Last mag.”

>>163961
Silver changes the mag on his Jenny as well. Didn't the changelings have Jennies as well?

>>163962
Yes.

>>163963
Quickly, before they get on the train, Silver checks the two downed changelings and their guns on the platform for any magazines.

>>163964
He’d have to be really quick. Gritty has/had one more magazine, and has also turned black. The other drone does not. Both drones have functioning rifles with some amount of cartridges in the loaded magazine.

>>163965
>really quick
Silver just grabs the magazine off of Gritty, and moves as fast as his injured body will let him onto the train. He heads for the front of the train where the controls are.

>>163966
Silver presumably enters through the last car.

Entering the train car, Silver can already see that the door furthest on the end is closed off. Moving into the car, Silver can see a sky blue earth pony mare lying dead on the floor near the connector with vomit around her, a red stallion stalion dead lying on his back across the seat in the middle of the car with large amounts of blood, and one, two, three, four ponies gathered by the other door, all bleeding. These include a mare, a foal, and two adolescents, both of whom seems to have died pressing against the car door. By the connector, and past the mare, a white unicorn stallion in full blue police uniform lies dead, ingloriously hanging half on the chair and half off. There are a number of spent cartridge cases on the floor, and even more trails of blood, some of which lead in lines out of the car.

>>163967
"Bastards!"

Silver pushes through all of the death around him, feeling increasing anger towards the changelings that did this. Death was too kind for them, when they did all of this...

He gets to the door, suspecting it must have been barricaded from the other side if the changeling was there and these ponies couldn't get in. He tries it to be sure.

>>163968
It opens with a simple pull.

In the next car are many more bodies. Notably some of the windows on the right side are wholesale missing, while some are shot up. On the floor, Silver sees many more bodies of ponies. There is a small aqua foal on the ground by the door Silver has to walk over, and then a maroon mare on the side who has her hooves placed over her head. There is an adolescent orange filly in a seat leaning over, next to a black pegasus colt with a hoof over her. Silver sees, laying on the ground in a comparatively controlled fashion, a black drone, wearing a gas mask, a uniform, and khakis while losely still holding onto his rifle with his right hoof. Further beyond, a grey bat pony holds a handerchief over her mouth. A neon green mare lays on the ground next to the door. Some of the bodies have visible bullet wounds, but many do not. There is both blood and vomit on the floor. Some in trails, some not.

>>163969
This is...this is evil! How, how could anyone do this? This was completely senseless, completely without reason. These ponies, stallions, mares, colts, and fillies, none of them did anything to these changelinges except apparently exist. How could anyone do this to so many innocents?

He pushes further onwards, hoping these changelings have gone to their species' version of Tartarus. He tries his best to avoid the sick these ponies threw up as the gas claimed their lives while he moves onto the next train car.

>>163970
Silver quickly runs into a problem - the door into the next car will not open. Through a window, Silver can see why - there is a large pile of corpses at the door.

[1d20+2 = (1+2) = 3]
>>163971
Strength: This hell Silver has borne witness to hasn't ended yet. The bleeding Silver doesn't have much strength left after that last fight, but he sees if what he has left can let him force the door open.

>>163972
Silver presses his weight against the door, slips in vomit, and falls

But maybe that's a good thing

[1d20 = 17]
[1d20 = 8]
[1d20 = 20]

>>163972
>>163973
Not quite
Bang Bang Bang

Silver feels another sharp pain. He is shot
[2d8 = 6]

>>163974
As Silver screams in pain on the floor he tries his best not to swallow any of the vomit he has found himself in.

He really is nearing the end. What little life he has in him is rapidly bleeding out in the traincar, and the only thing really keeping him going now is the singular desire to not die here, not in this hell. He won't become part of the ocean of bodies.

>>163975
Silver lays there for a moment on the cold, steel floor.

Then he hears a Ching Ching Ching in three seperate, distinct chings, followed by another Ching Ching

"Silver!"
Spectral Streak comes up behind Silver much as before

>>163976
Silver looks weakly at his son, and can only offer up a series of terrible coughs in response. Silver desperately tries to get up to no avail, but he is just too wounded to do so on his own.

>>163977
Spectral Streak picks him up, and places him on a bench.
"Okay... This has to be quick..."
He takes a medical kit that he seems to have pulled out while Silver was going through the train.
He starts by wiping clear a wound. Then another. And then another. Then he tries, as best as he can to bandage the wound.

"This... won't really hold. You need more than this. But this will work well enough for now."

Then he pulls out a magical potion, and places it to Silver's lips, relunctantly removing Silver's gas mask. It isn't clear that this is the right move, and he only does it for long enough for Silver to swallow the potion.
"Just take this"

Then he injects something with a needle. And then something with another needle.
"Okay... Morphine, and Adrenaline. The Adrenaline will cause you to bleed out faster, so you will need blood or at least plasma very soon. But not right now. Get up. You can do it."

>>163978
Silver makes sure the mask has been applied properly, then gets up unsteadily, perhaps with Spec's help. The painkiller numbs the worst of what he is feeling fairly quickly, leaving dull, achey reminders that has been shot in rather important areas. The bandages, even when working against the adreanaline, seems to at least help slow the amount of blood he's losing. As the adrenaline begins to take effect, his weak and unsteady legs begin to stablize and stand sturdy again. His breathing is still rather pained and weak, but he's still breathing.

"Thank you...is bastard bug still alive? Where is he?"

>>163979
Silver knows that he is not in a good position. At all. The pain is slowly numbing, and his heart starts to race. But between the pain, his feeling of weakness, and the numbness, he feels as if he is nearing an almost somnambulant dissociative state.

"Behind you. He was pretending he was dead and ambushed you. Don't worry. I took care of the fucker."

>>163980
"Evil creatures did this. I hope their souls rot."

He tries to shake his head clear, before looking at the door.

"Bodies...there are too many. I can not push through it to get to next train car."

>>163981
"Well we have to. Because the control panel is at the front of the train, and we have to move it. Come on. Let's move this door."

Spectral Streak places his hooves on the door. He's at least as strong as his father. Certainly more so now, with Silver being so injured.

[1d20+2 = (15+2) = 17]
>>163982
Strength: Silver stands next to his son, places his hooves on the door, and tries again to force it open.

>>163983
And with it
[1d20+4 = (10+4) = 14]

>>163983
>>163984
Silver pushes with great strength, as does his son. But Silver pushes with perhaps a bit more strength. The pile is moved aside.

Silver immediately notices a few things. The first is that this car is foggy, filled with gas that lowers the visibility.The second is... the carnage. Silver has gone through two cars, and corpses outside. But in every location he's seen four bodies, or five, or six, or seven. Something like 20 overall. Not even enough ponies to fill a single train car at rush hour. Trails of blood always implied more wounded who got away. But... not this car. This car is different. It is dense. Silver can see what happened here. Gas was laid in the car and ponies started to flee. Evidently, the front of the train was a no go because the trail of ponies is towards the rear, with the most ponies caught at the door. It looks like there was a stampede, making it impossible to pull the door mechanism (which mostly opens to the side) enough to move the door. Many ponies are entirely on top of others, and some may have been crushed to death. There must be a dozen at the door alone. Further in the car, some are collapsed on the floor, some lay hunched over themselves holding their heads, and many more are crawling against the windows, evidently trying to figure out how to open them. Some windows are covered in trails of vomit-soaked hooves streaking against them. Some are streaked in blood from hooves that pressed hard. And somewhere near the end of the car, underneath a pile of purses and newspapers, gas emanates.

>>163985
If it wasn't for the gas mask and the risk that throwing up inside would carry, Silver would want to vomit as well. There is no doubt about it now. The changelings that did this, they are evil.

Stepping carefully as to avoid disrespecting the dead any more than they have already, he closes in on the pile of purses and newspapers, and uses his magic to move them aside.

>>163986
As he does so, a puff of gas comes up. Silver can see that it is a metal device with two tubes that come together to produce gas. It is still smoking, and now more so.

>>163987
The smoke obscures his vision, but he lifts it up in his magic and looks quickly to see if there's a way to shut it off.

>>163988
Roll wisdom

>>163990
The device works by mixing two precursor chemicals together to make gas that automatically seeps out of slits past the mixing chamber. To do this, break a seal in the mixing chamber, and break a seal holding back aerosols that move the chemicals into the mixing chamber. This process is automatic and cannot be stopped.

Unless you break a precursor tube...

>>163991
Silver figures that the best way to do this is to use his magic to beat it against something hard until the precursor tubes break. Such as the train itself.

>>163992
Another wisdom roll for the telekenisis.

>>163994
Silver smashes it against the steel, and it breaks, releasing a liquid chemical onto the floor. But it stops producing gas.

>>163995
"There we go. Gas will remain, but it will disipate now."

With that done, Silver goes to see why the front of the train was a no-go for the doomed ponies.

>>163996
Silver, however, is still cooped up in the car.

>>163997
So, Silver makes his way through what remains of the bodies between him and the end, and tries the door that leads to the front of the train.

>>163998
This one opens simply.

Looking into the next train car.... Well, it's an improvement over the last car, but that is all that can be said for it. One window is missing, and that window has a pile of bodies around it. Silver can see an apple green earth pony, a blood red unicorn, and a young purple bat pony mare in the pile, the later of whom has a small bat pony foal in her hooves thrust towards the window.

Elsewhere in a car a few dead ponies, including a stallion, a mare, and two foals huddled together in a group, with the stallion around the edge and the foals in the center, using items of clothing to cover their mouths. This room includes a black bat pony stallion in a police uniform, shot dead on the ground.

>>163999
Silver's heart aches for the bat pony mare, who tried desperately to have her foal escape the slaughter...and failed. He goes towards this pile of bodies, gently moving them aside to look down out of the missing window.

>>164000
Silver can't really move them aside, but he can tell that below the window is the raised section of track

>>164001
Can he see down there? Are there any bodies?

>>164002
Looking out another window, Silver can see a couple bodies on the edge of the raised platform near the window, although separated from it and not directly beneath it. The edge of the platform is a couple feet wide, and beath that is a 25 foot drop to the street level

>>164003
It was a false hope for them, then...Silver sighs to himself. He pushes onwards on this seemingly never ending hell train towards the controls. He wonders to himself just how much more suffering has been committed on this train.

>>164004
Silver moves into car number five, the first car of the train, and more importantly, the one with the cab.

This car is less populated than the last two. Near Silver's side, there is a device spewing gas. But further away are many, many shattered windows, and more with bullet holes. Near Silver is a dead black uniformed officer, maybe a security guard. It's a grey unicorn, who left a revolver on the ground nearby, and has a hoof over his mouth. A little further down is a brown earth pony half hanging out of a shattered window, and a couple foals lying on the ground with a mare over top of them, hooves spread out. Halfway through the car, Silver can see a Jenny battle rifle, lying next to spent cartridge cases on the seat. And further down, much further down, next to a cut and bloodied dead stallion, is a dead drone in a pool of blood, that is half red and half blue. He has a mask that is half on, and half pulled off, and wears a uniform and khakis the same as everyone else. Behind him is the cabin.

>>164005
This stallion must have fought back, and with his dying breath made sure to bring one of the changelings with him into the darkness. He can't say this is a proud moment when looking at all of the death around him, but it certainly is a small light in Silver's eyes to know that this stallion fought to his last.

Like before, Silver takes the cannister spilling gas into the train, and uses his magic to try to bash it and break the precursor tubes.

>>164006
Roll wisdom

>>164008
And it breaks, spilling a trickle of a chemical on the ground.

>>164009
With the second of the two cannisters broken, and gas production halted, Silver moves to the cabin to get the train moving.