We stand united 1x1 Maple Bat

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus saw Jack get shot, he pulled him to cover and set him on the ground holding his shield out "Jack. Are you ok? Please tell me you are. I saw you get hit... And bullets really hurt." He saw the wound in his chest "Did... Did that break something..." He was really worried shaking, and tearing up a bit, "I know you're going to turn but don't let that be an excuse to do something stupid." He set his hand on Jack's shoulder "Please... I don't want to lose you any earlier than I have to..."

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Ember ran into the town and threw her axe killing and infected and she took it out killing 4 more with a spin attack.

Maple came in and instead of attack the enemies she looked for Jack and Festus worried about them. "Festus! Jack! Where are you!?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"It... I think it hit my ribcage or something, I have been shot before but this bullet really got deep, can't..." Jack grunted a bit and let himself lean a bit more against Festus. "I felt a good amount of tissue being destroyed from the inside, I believe this person shot me with a hollow point bullet, we are dealing with someone smart Festus..." he said, but it was apparent that Jack's adrenaline was slowly starting to wear off, when he got hit, he had been in the thick of the battle, and thus the impact pain wasn't as much, but now he felt a terrible pain.

He then heard Maple call out, and saw Ember fighting nearby.

"We are behind cover near a brown wooden storage hut, nearby where Ember is fighting!" Jack called out.

Eventually, he saw more infected coming, they where jumping among rooftops, and other places, it seemed these type of infected were alot more agile and had sharper claws which allowed them to climb on walls.

 

Edited December 11, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Ember was roaring at them as she mercilessly swung her axe, the sharpened blade cleaving through the groups with minimal effort "I can take you all on! Try me!" Her voice echoed loudly. Unlike Jack, Ember was wearing a heavy-plated armor so if the shooter was to fire one of their shots at her it wouldn't do anything. Meanwhile, she was killing plenty of the infected keeping them away from Jack and Festus.

Maple skid to meet Festus and Jack nearby where Ember was fighting "Are you both ok? Ember explained what that signal meant to me when we were coming here."

Festus looked to her "I'm alright but Jack's hit... Protect him I need to help Ember, She's strong but she can only fight for so long on her own, just like you Maple." Festus Moved and slid under Maple running to assist Ember and shooting one of the infested that jumped at her side. He then spun the revolver and holstered it switching it for the Sword and he lept over Ember's axe while it was in Full swing, he sliced at the infected and hovered just over their heads.

Maple examined the hit "Jack... This looks bad... Maybe we should get you to safety... I don't know much about these 'Bullets' but I know a lot about injuries and this is bad..." Maple looked at him with her robotic eyes, worry easily seen in them.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I can't... I have to fight, I cannot let those monsters get away with this.  We might be fighting our enemy for the same reason, but i also have a personal blood debt against them, and i won't let them get away with this." Jack said as he looked at the ongoing battle.

"Listen, they need your help, this is far from over, that gunshot alerted all those infected nearby and are swarming the place soon, i cannot let a bullet wound hold me back, not when others need me.  Just follow me in this one alright? I know what i am doing, in fact..."  Jack thought for a moment.

"Alright, i got a better plan... We got a shooter somewhere nearby, i couldn't identify who or what is was, but it wasn't our enemy, no golden eyes, its movement, it was a survivor i presume. And since you have such a robot body, you can shrug off those bullets rather easy. Could you find out who the shooter is and deal with him?  I am counting on you here, can you do that for me? Ember and Festus are already keeping me safe with what they are doing." Jack explained to Maple, knowing it would be their best bet to do it like this, that shooter still out there and could attack them at any moment.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Alright, Just don't get yourself killed." Maple told him with a nod she stepped into the shooter's view, "Hey! Down here! Go on, Try and hit me!" Maple kept watching to see if she could locate where the shooter was. "However I know you can hear me! Don't shoot me and I won't harm you... We're friends here... You can trust me. No one here's gonna hurt you..."

Ember was going strong but the number of foes was starting to push her back a little. Even with her skill and strength, she was getting overwhelmed.

Festus was starting to struggle and an infected was about to hit his exposed back. There was a small area in between his wig where there was no armor, it was to help him fly a bit but it was about to be his downfall.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"You vile abominations! You murder our parents, attack our loved ones and stain our beliefs with your presence! We don't want any of your radicality towards our culture here, so go back to your own planet and cease your influence campaign! We shall never bow to any of you!" A voice rang out, that was implied towards Maple, but his accusations where implied to her entire race in particular. He was not aware she was a robot because of the far distance he couldn't see her that well. 

And then he started shooting at her, 5 times, only 2 of the 5 shots hit its mark, but they didn't do much against her plating.

But there one was one factor that made this situation seem rather awkward, the speaker of this voice was an 11-year-old...

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Jack saw the infected was about to hit Festus, so he quickly tackled the infected, and the 2 rolled over the ground, but Jack was faster in getting up and killed the infected quickly.

He noticed that Ember was starting to get overwhelmed, the same for Festus, and he had an idea.

Jack ran inside one of the buildings and grabbed what he had seen earlier, a propane tank.

"Ember, Festus! Get out of the way, I am going to blow them up!" Jack called out to them.

He threw the propane tank in the large group of infected, when he had seen Ember and Festus move out of the way, he fired a magical blast, straight at the propane tank and it exploded, it was a good thing that Maple was standing far away, so she wouldn't be affected by the explosion.

Jack jumped to the ground and covered his head, and while about 26 infected had been killed in that explosion, about 15 more were coming on the way.

"Damn it.." Jack cursed silently as he released that while he had done a good job at clearing out all those infected, he would get overwhelmed in a matter of seconds.

But he drew his knife and got ready for the next attack to come, as he was a bit overconfident that he could handle this one.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Wait, slow down there." Maple stated loud enough for the kid to hear, completely unaffected by the bullets "I wouldn't hurt anyone innocent... Please put your weapon down I don't want to harm you either..." Maple debated saying this, not sure if the person would even know what she was talking about here but took a gamble "I'm her aiding the last Eldrich... Which happens to be the other one you shot... Calm down... I'm going to stay right here... I want to prove I'm not here to hurt you."

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Festus Saw that Jack was going to get overrun and he flew at some of the infected placing his shield on his feet, drop-kicking one of them his shield flew into a group of them with the force of his kick, He had his sword and the revolver now. "You're not alone Jack!" He fired 3 shots at the infected combining this with some sword-play hitting the closer ones. One of the infected hit him right in the chest, but his armor took it yet he still felt hurt by the blunt force of it.

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Luna, who had been laying down sprang up "They've been gone for far too long... We need to move sister." She stated hurrying off to where she'd been staring at for a while.

Celestia nodded and started to head towards it with Luna "I think we waited too long. Lets hope they're ok."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The shooter seemed to hesitate a bit now but then got angry again.

"And how can I trust you? We have all heard the news! Because of you and your group, we are all going to die, since your group attracted the attention of The Strakir, leading all of them to us! Do you have any idea how many of us are going to die, because they are all looking for all of you!! And we have to pay the consequences while they are sweeping us all down with their search!" The shooter said with anger.

"You and your people claim to be allies of us, yet you mock our culture and religion, claiming that they are nonsense and absurd! We live by our traditions until our very deaths, and none of you will be squandering them any longer! So give me a GOOD reason why i shouldn't attack you here and now, because that Eldritch person has been siding with your people, the very people who are causing this very problem!"

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Jack quickly started using his magic to keep some of the infected at bay from Festus, so that he wouldn't be overrun by to many, while at the same time he also tried to protect himself from the infected. Electric magic shot from Jack's his hands as he unleashed his magic upon his enemies.

"Thanks, Festus, for a moment there I wasn't even sure I could handle this myself after I saw them approaching!" Jack told Festus.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Because I can't fly due to me saving your people from a war machine!" Maple roared before calming down "I know we've messed up... I... Luna, Celestia... We've all been trying to fix that. Believe me... It's hard to go from one culture to another without thinking things are strange. You need to realize that we follow our own and we've never known anything aside from our own culture and that doesn't involve forcing it onto others. But go on... If it helps shoot me... It really only proves you're worse than me since my kind doesn't physically harm anyone. Oh. And I'm sorry for doing everything I can to keep the Eldrich safe... I have failed at that pretty miserably." Maple said looking down humiliated and disappointed in herself

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Festus smiled to Jack before realizing that there where still Infested there one of which lept at him, he was gonna shoot it but a bright white beam hit it before he did. Luna run up to the two and killed a number of the infest with several blast of magic. "Are you both ok? I figured that there was something wrong when Festus signal went up but I didnt expect to be this bad.

Celestia saw Maple standing alone in the open she went over to her "What are you doing Maple? The others might-" She was cut off by Maple.

"Celestia?! Get away from here before they fire again..." Maple said quickly

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

The shooter gritted his teeth "You expect me to feel sorry for you? It is because of your people that my family and friends are dead! It must be nice living in such a fancy paradise all day with family around you, doesn't it? Atleast most of you still have families! Nothing you say will make things better because words won't bring my family back!!!" He roared.

At this point, the person was blinded by rage, but his accusation was directed to the fact that because of not only the arrival of the inhabitants of Equestria that drew this much attention to their enemies but Jack's presence as well. And because of this drawn attention, the enemy started a sweeping campaign amongst countless of area's, search and destroy teams that where trying to hunt down the group, killing any survivors they could find, thus on locations they would never have bothered to look if it had still been the calmer situation before any of the news came in.

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"Aside from a deep bullet wound and a partially broken ribcage, i think I am alright. What about you Festus?" Jack asked Festus

Suddenly he heard something, or more specifically, he heard countless of sounds, lots of movement and occasional growling, but it was not the sounds itself that made him tense up, it was for the fact of how many there were.

"Guys... We need to hide, now!!" Jack shouted as he started to sprint towards one of the buildings, he was just in time as an almost sea of infected started swarming the town, and for a good reason, the town itself happened to be a big breeding ground for them, and seeing as individuals had decided to invade their territory, they where attacking back in full force.

Jack pushed an infected away who had almost bit him in the neck and he jumped straight through a closed window, shattering the glass as in he flew inside with a loud smack.

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The shooter itself suddenly noticed some infected climbing into the building like monkey's, he started shooting and killed about 5 until they overwhelmed him and he then got killed, a tragic ending to a tragic experience.

But his death did prove a bit of distraction as it had distracted some of the infected that where closer.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple had spotted the person a bit too late. "Dang... W... Why... I just wanted him to calm down a bit... And now..." Maple's rage started to brew again. She had lost her determination but now it was coming back "I can't get infested... So you stay back and I'll take the hits."

"No, it's time you relied on me for once Maple. Use that gun of yours on your back I'll take point." Celestia drew her halberd it had been a while since she did. She stabbed a close infested. It died instantly from the weapon's strike.

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Luna blasted back the infected allowing Jack and Festus to slip into the house safely. Luna then teleported inside it. "You both are here right? Jack? Festus?"

Festus, who was laying on the ground put a thumb up. "I'm good... Though I cant say the same about my spirit..." He said going Limp but still breathing.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I am here as well, but I should have known it would end up like this, it seemed such a good idea to in an empty town, only to find out it was a breeding ground for infected, hence why so many are getting attracted." Jack said.

He then wandered to one of the not yet destroyed windows and looked outside at the ongoing battle.

"And yet I cannot help but wanting to join this fight, I have this sudden urge to kill our enemies, all of them until there is nothing of them left... After everything, they have done to me, to my friends and family, to all of us. I don't know it is whether i am infected and its effects are influencing me." Jack said

"Yet at the same time... I don't want to die, not that i have much choice regarding my situation, i feel conflicted, having trouble to to hang on to who i am..." he said, then walked up to Luna's side, and rested his head on her side.

"I don't know what i am, a martyr, a hero, a coward, i don't know what i am anymore, i only do things because i feel the need to do them, yet i always do things wrong in the end." Jack to Luna, almost pleading to her for comfort.

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"It's not your fault..." Festus said still laying on the ground. "I came too. I didn't know and you had no way of knowing. It's fine that it turned out...

Luna put a hoof around Jack "You're, you... You want to help and the only way you know to do that is by fighting. Like Maple. However, I have failed to show you both other ways of being strong. And not putting yourself in danger... Maple exhibits this now, perhaps she can't fight as well but her confidence spreads to others. My sister seems to have it the most profound. You. You inspired me and Celestia both to do everything we can to fight. Hero's aren't always the one who saves everyone, but they are the ones who give that strength to others that need it. You've helped this group in more ways than you could possibly think. Look at it for a second..." Luna motion first to Celestia as she was killing infested keeping them at bay, Then to Festus. "Him especially. He was very scared that battle you both met. Now he's grown quite the backbone so he can be your shield. He used to always run away like he did when he first actually saved you." Luna knew this was a lot so she let it all sink in

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Celestia was hacking at the nearby infested with the axe blade of the halberd it was effective enough to keep them back as long as she combined her magic with it too, Her reserves would run low eventually however but for now, she had plenty to go off of.

Ember, who was ahead of Celestia refused to retreat as her bloodlust grew from a protectors will to more of a brute instinct not long after she got stampeded by the overwhelming amount of infested she got knocked to the ground and the infected tried to tear her apart.

Maple noticed that happen and she revved up her chaingun emptying the ammunition in the weapon managing to get ember out of there, Maple noticed a large number of scratches on the armor and some cuts where she wasn't armored, The face, hands, parts of the arms and wings. 

"That... Hurt... I'll admit. It's up to you ponies now..." Ember looked at the injuries, some of them drew blood but she didn't have anything like what Jack had so she wasn't worried.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"You are both right, but I have to admit here, I never wanted to be a hero, I never intend to a hero, my intention has always been to preserve the lives for those who are still left, all those victims who are scattered across the stars, with no way out. I know you guys don't particularly care for those who I used to live with before, but they mean as much to me as you guys mean to me, dead or alive, I will always care about all of you."

"But I am not trying to prove myself to anyone, or play hero, I am merely doing the task that every one of my race wants to do, work towards a better future. And I still have a personal grudge against these monsters, they killed and infected more then you can count, I intend to exact my revenge, because I don't want to forget that these creatures used to be someone else, and by killing one, I put that very person's soul to rest.." Jack said.

"But you did learn me something very valuable Luna, I have helped all of you without the use of fighting, and i will never stop helping any of you." Jack said to her with a smile.

He then looked outside.

"Guys, we won't last forever here, there are too many to escape from this town from around, but I do know a way where we can bypass that. I will need your help tough Luna." Jack told her. He then looked at Festus. "Festus,  do you want to help as well or rather sit this one out? I won't judge you if you rather recover for a moment rather then wanting to jump straight into action again." Jack asked him.

He, however, remembered something.

"Luna, have you told Evelyn about where you were going? It doesn't really matter if you haven't since I am going to tell her about the situation regardless, she would definitely want to know why I am no longer around the camp." Jack asked Luna.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Look... We may not show what you think to care for your old friends but that's because a lot of what we're doing now... Is something we need to focus on. Look at Maple and Woodland. They're both very focused on helping you save your sister... Meanwhile, they could be more like you worried about their mother and upset that no one else is worried about her. Yet they both set that aside because they want to help out you. The impression you've left on them was the biggest on Woodland and second only to me on Maple. Take some pride in that." At Jack's second Comment she shook her head "She doesn't know of this she seemed busy when I went to tell her and I didn't wish to disturb her."

Festus stood up at Jack's second statement holstering his pistol, "Don't worry Jack, I've got your back... I don't have my shield but I'll do what I..." Festus had been watching for Ember and when He saw her again that hurt, he felt his dragon blood boiling. He couldn't help himself he lept outside placing himself in front of a wall of infected and, in a blind rage, used the same blue fire from before creating an incredibly hot wall of fire setting several on fire as he sliced them, The flames jumped onto his blade as he hacked away. The bright blue of the flame on his sword was met only with the dark crimson trail left by his foes. His assault carried on for a while but he started to wear out quickly, he was well trained but he was still only a kid.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack was about to reply when he saw Festus jumping to Embers aid and joining the battle, Jack couldn't blame Festus, he would have the same thing if he didn't have a plan of his own, so he decided to alter the plan a bit now that Festus had already jumped into the battle.

"Luna, could you help them in the fight? I will make a B-line straight for what I had found, it is an entrance to tunnels that lead to underground, and eventually come back to the surface, we can escape via that way, once I have pulled the switch to open the door, I need you to gather everyone and go inside that tunnel, I will join you guys right after!" Jack told her, he then climbed outside and started running past most of the infected.

Jack had a slight advantage here as he was smaller and lighter, thus it was easier for him to enter narrow and tight spots, while at the same time being able to keep a fast pace.

After a bit of running, he ran into of the buildings and started running upstairs, but an infected came around the corner and tried to attack him, but Jack's instincts kicked in fast as he pushed the infected out of a window.

Knowing he would get overrun soon if he didn't act fast, Jack ran towards the upper floor room, where the lever was located, and with lots of effort, he managed to pull the lever, and the gate that placed before the Mine entrance opened up.

"It has opened up, Everyone go in fast!! Luna, Celestia, clear a path for everyone fast with your magic, i can't keep this gate open for long!" Jack called out.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Luna nodded to him Heading to Celestia to aid her for a while buying Jack some time. All the while Festus was knocking them all down in his rampage.

After the gate was opened by Jack, Luna and Celestia moved together and charged a spell, The spell was aimed to knock as many infested as they could manage to hit away, it was going to require a small time to prep. After said prep, they used the spell it not only knocked them back but also seemed to have stunned them Both princesses shouted: "Let's go!" And headed to the open Mine area,

Maple helped Ember up and supported her as the two princesses finished the spell They headed to the same area as quickly as they could.

Meanwhile, Festus was reluctant to follow the others, he wanted to keep killing but he knew if he had stayed he would've died so he ran but wasn't above a few pot shots on them while leaving.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack saw them moving towards the mine entrance, and he was very relieved to see they were moving there, but especially relieved when he saw Celestia and Luna using their magic to create a strong vanguard so the other could safely follow them without having to fight their way through the sea of infected.

He did notice Festus hesitant at first because he knew that behaviour all to well, he does it himself alot as well, so when he saw Festus moving with them, Jack made a quick follow up plan in his head.

There was one drawback to Jack's plan, when Jack would let go of the lever, the door would slowly close again, so he needed time his chance good here.

Deciding that he needed to act fast, let go of the lever and started climbing on the roof of the house, and jumped straight onto another roof.

So he did a pretty dangerous thing, but he had no other choice, time was of the essence.

"Celestia, Catch me!" He could out as he jumped off the roof, hoping she would catch him, because it was the only way for him to reach everyone fast enough and for them to get into the tunnel before the gate was closed.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Celestia screamed internally when Jack jumped but reacted quickly levitating him safely to the ground and changeling spells to repel the infected from him

Festus noticed that he might not make it however and placed his shield down in by the door driving the bottom tip into the sand but staying there for it to have some hold with his arm still in the straps. It would keep the door open for long enough, Or until Festus' arm broke whichever might've come first.

Maple saw what he was doing, worrying that he might break his arm and lose that shield... Plus then Jack couldn't make it as well, so she placed herself under the door and lifted it herself the mechanical body was holding it much better, "I've got it Festus. You could get really hurt doing it that way. If I bend or break... Well so be it. Hurry now Jack!"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

Jack quickly dove under the still open gate and tumbled a bit over the ground.

When he stood up again, he saw Maple using her body and its strength to keep the gate open which had allowed him to pass through.

He was grateful that she was doing that for him, but he did not want Maple to get destroyed in that very same act.

But to his relief, it wouldn't be the case as he had managed to pass through and so Maple could let go of the gate without the risk of getting bend by still having to hold the weight of that gate any longer.

To his annoyance, his bullet wound was now starting to hurt badly as his adrenaline was no longer distracting him from the pain, and the side effects of his infection where not doing much either since he was not fighting or doing anything tense right now.

"We made it... I guess that is a good relief, but it is a good thing i had decided to look around the town before we got overrun, else i had would have never known there were tunnels that let to underground here." Jack said to everyone.

He then also realised that now it would be the best time to inform Evelyn, since he wouldn't really get attacked off-guard now.

'Evelyn, are you there? I hate to tell you this but... we have run into very big problems, we have been overrun, countless of infected started to swarm us and we are now sheltering in underground tunnels, the infected cannot get to us, i hope...  And well, to make matters worse, i got shot, a hollow point bullet hit me in the chest, it destroyed a good amount of tissue and broke some of my ribcages... Only starting to feel the pain at its maximum effect now due to the amount of adrenaline i had been getting from this entire ordeal.'

'So yeah... I guess describing our situation as bad is an understatement...' Jack thought to Evelyn

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple moved inside, the gate fully closing behind her. "Ok... We're safe for now..."

"Well... We don't exactly know how to get OUT of here Maple... Nor will that door hold forever." Luna said worriedly, watching the door.

Celestia was quick to" We'll wait for now. Recover a bit then we'll get out of here if we absolutely have to but perhaps we could signal the others somehow?" Celestia was trying to plan something out but the situation was extremely complex

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'Jack? Dang I didn't think it would be that bad... Where are you in that town... Want to avoid burning that building.' She laughed through the mental link.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"We don't have to signal the others, remember that I can talk trough Evelyn via my thoughts? I am talking to her right now, in fact, I can ask her to warn the others, and then they can come and help us." Jack told Celestia.

"Although... You are actually still right since even when they arrive we need to let them know where we exactly are. Or wait... We already have an signal! Festus had use his ancient flame, and that will keep burning, or at least that is what i think from what Ember told me,  We have our signal right there." Jack mentioned.

'I am inside a underground, along with the others, we used an outside gate that is now closed, holding back the infected, but we don't know for sure how long it will hold, and if it will even hold for that matter.   Could you please warn the others? Please get me out of here, i really need a doctor... I am not joking around when i say this wound is this bad..' Jack thought to Evelyn, his last words sounded like afraid pleading, as he was really afraid he was going to die.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus looked at Jack's chest "That still looks really, really bad... Can't you get it out by yourself? I mean you've done it before. Right?" He was so worried, his expression, Tone, and face all read that. "Jack, please... Don't let it sit there... Is there something any of us can do? Anything?!"

Maple sighed and sat down she couldn't make much sense of anything going on herself.

Ember was being checked by Princess Celestia things where bleak... She could've been infested...

Luna knelt near Jack "I can help you... Just let me know what to do."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,209]

"I am afraid we can't do much about it, it is like that same situation back in the desert where Fluttershy had that bullet inside of her and had tried to ask me to get that one out, I couldn't really do it since it was so deep inside of her, Celestia did manage inside of her."

"But this bullet isn't the only thing that is hurting when it impacted me, it destroyed lots of tissue, I am bleeding inside, I am not even sure if magic could repair this, the body is difficult to understand, and trying to repair this? I just don't know if magic will be capable of doing the job for this." Jack admitted.

"And I am not sure if Evelyn has heard what I said, she hadn't responded back the second time, so I don't know what our situation will be."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I bet she's coming. We just need to keep waiting." Luna sighed. "As much as I hate doing so."

Festus grabbed his weapons again "He wasn't going to lose his spirit now "Maple... We need to fight them off... They'll break in here of we don't"

"Calm down... Kid... If you go out there you'll get mobed by them faster than you can blink" Ember stated while Celestia was still seeing what she could do with the wounds. "I mean... even with my armor they did this... Maple... She'd get turned to scrap..."

"Ember has a point Festus..." Maple eerily replied, once again this seemed different for her "We don't stand much of a chance if we go to them... If they come in here we will stand a better chance but it'll be a desperate stand..."

Evelyn's voice finally came back through 'Jack I'm close... Just hold on'