18 Hours Later...

John simply stood there as Price glared at him angrily. To his right, MacTavish was standing with his arms crossed, clearly not sure what to think of the scene that had been presented to him. Behind them, Yuri observed the stone dead Nikolai, who was sprawled across the ground with a hole in the middle of his head. A bed that had been in the corner of the safe house had been moved, revealing a hidden latch that probably lead to a passage way. Yuri placed his hands at the tip of Nikolai's eyes and gently pushed them down with his fingertips, afterwards giving his chest a soft pat, probably to say goodbye.

"You don't think that this MIGHT have been important to tell us?" Price growled as he pointed at Nikolai's corpse. John had been just as surprised to find Nikolai dead as Price and the others, he wasn't supposed to die. And Makarov was definitely not supposed to find their safe house. Aside from a dead Nikolai, the safe house contained wrecked laptops, destroyed intelligence, pools of blood, bullet casings, and a lack of six ponies. John looked around the room with disbelief, unable to think of how this happened. It didn't make any sense. The history books had clearly stated that there was no attack on Price's hideout, and that Price and Nikolai were the ones that survived the events of World War III and the attack on Makarov.

"This isn't what happened. According to history your base was never discovered, and Makarov never launched an attack against it." John looked over to Nikolai. To think that only a few short hours ago, Nikolai had been giving them information, tracking down Makarov's location, and just been alive. Now he was dead. This wasn't supposed to happen. Price shook his head and walked away, calling John's history garbage.

"Price, calm down, there has to be some sort of explanation for this." MacTavish said as he looked to his leader. Despite having just recently gotten their original ranks back, and preventing the loss of Sandman, this had not been a good day for the 141. John could only imagine what kind of pain they were feeling right now. He hadn't known Nikolai very well, but it was clear that these men had seen Nikolai as an equal, and as a good friend. MacTavish looked back over to John, keeping his arms crossed as he gave him what looked like a forced, and unconvincing look of understanding. Despite his efforts, John could tell that he was angry.

"Of Price, Yuri, Nikolai and I, who originally survived this?" He asked. To this, Yuri and Price both pivoted their bodies to look at John, who was still standing near the doorway, as though he were afraid to see what would happen should he take any more steps inside. Looking MacTavish in the eye, John provided his answer.

"Price, and Nikolai." MacTavish nodded his head, and brough his hand to his chin as he took the information in. Price seemed to be thinking about something, while Yuri stared at him in disbelief. MacTavish suddenly grew wide eyed, as did Price.

"Soap didn't die... but Nikolai did... which means..." Price began. Before he could finish, MacTavish picked up his sentence where he left off.

"If one of us doesn't die, that means another one of us will. In my case... Either me or Nikolai... and that means..." The three Johns turned to face Yuri, who was only just now starting to understand what they were saying. With his voice trembling, he said what was on the mind of everyone in the room.

"One more of us has to die... And it will either be Price... or me..." John crossed his arms and sighed mentally, somewhat aggravated at what he had just discovered. By saving MacTavish, he had indirectly caused the death of another war hero. For the first time in a while, he actually was somewhat angry.

"John, don't worry about it. You did what you thought was right. There was no way you could have known." Cortana said with a soothing voice. John shook his head and looked toward the escape latch. Chances are those ponies made their way down there, with Nikolai giving them cover. That was his guess anyway.

"Let's try not to think about that. For now... What's our move? Our funding is back, so we won't be limited by cost anymore." MacTavish said as he picked up Nikolai's dropped AK-47. Checking the chamber, a bullet popped out, meaning it was still loaded. John looked over to Price, knowing what he would do. So instead of allowing protest, he provided information.

"Makarov is held up in Hotel Oasis in the Arabian Peninsula." He said with no emotion in his voice. "Upon the mention of Makarov's name, Price instantly stepped forward, and clenched his fist. "He's using a cover name so no one will know it's him who's there. His men are disguised as guests, but they are armed and ready to fight. I'd recommend gaining some armor of some sort before you go in there."

MacTavish nodded as he looked over to Yuri, who now had his arms crossed. There was still a look of uncertainty on his face, but he seemed to be focused on what John was saying. Price stepped forward, coming face to mask with John.

"You're sure that's where he is? No more unexpected surprises?" He asked with a stiff tone. John nodded.

"You only said us, where will you be in all of this?" Yuri asked. John looked over to the latch.

"Getting a few ponies back."

...

Applejack spoke calmly to Twilight as she continued to breathe heavily. She had been hyperventilating for a while, but some breathing control had taken care of that. But she still had a horrified look in her eye. The passage had led to a small room, with a floor made almost completely of stone, along with the walls. There were three sleeping bags, and a few jugs of water and a few packs of food. Although it was by no means enough to last for too long.

"Twilight, it's alright, okay? Everythin's fine." Applejack said to her anxious friend. The only one attempting to help Applejack was Rarity, with Fluttershy sitting next to a wall rocking herself with her hooves over her head. Pinkie Pie was simply bouncing on a large rock she had found down there, while Rainbow just comforted Fluttershy, trying to get her to stop crying.

"He... He died right in front of me... I... I..." Twilight stuttered as another tear trailed down her face. Rarity frowned and placed a hoof on Twilight's, as Applejack just nodded and tried to calm her down.

"Twilight, you must remain calm, it's not healthy for you to be so worried." Rarity said with a concerned tone. Applejack nodded.

"She's right Twi. Just calm down, and talk ta' us." She said calmly. Just then, a soft, distant thudding sounded, causing Twilight to jerk her head to the direction of the sound. She started breathing heavily again, with Applejack looking in the same direction. Rainbow took note of the sound as well, instantly snapping up to her hooves. She growled, as though trying to frighten whoever was coming. Fluttershy seemed to stop breathing for a minute, while Pinkie stopped bouncing. Rarity backed away fearfully, while Applejack stepped forward cautiously. Something spoke in a strange way, as though it were just making some sort of random noise. Applejack had never heard anything like it, and it confused her slightly.

"It's them... It's the ones that tried to kill us... They followed us..." Twilight said fearfully as her voice grew shaky. Looking back to her friend, Applejack could see her place her hooves over her head, with tears strolling down her face. Rarity tried to calm her down, while Applejack stood in front, ready to guard her friends. She didn't know what these guys were doing, but they weren't going to touch her friends. She felt a gust of wind from her side, and looked to her right. Rainbow had flown to her side, taking a stand beside her.

"These guys will be sorry they messed with Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow said with grit teeth. Applejack nodded and adjusted her hat, giving her the best possible view of the passage that was possible. She spit to the side, and grit her teeth with a fierce determination. Planting her hoof solidly in the ground, she readied herself to fight, even though she would probably lose the fight. That didn't mean she wouldn't try though. Looking to her friend, she nodded, to which Rainbow nodded back. Before they could launch off to meet whoever was coming after them though, they heard cries of confusion, along with the all too familiar sound of gunfire.

"What the hay..." Applejack wondered aloud. Standing upright, she looked over to Rainbow, who was equally confused. From the passage, they could see movement, it appeared to be running, as though trying to get away from something. Applejack quickly got back down, ready to fight. Rainbow followed suit. The figure came into view, which was a man in a green shirt and black pants, with some sort of black vest on. Applejack shouted in determination, and leapt forward with Rainbow Dash. Just as they ran forward, another sound, that of a gun, sounded. The running figure's chest gained a red splat, and the man came to a skidding halt as he slid the hooves of the girls.

"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted as she came to a skidding halt, nearly tripping over the fresh corpse. Applejack managed to stop before her, ending up a little behind her friend. Standing a little further in the tunnel, a bright light shined in the darkness, steadily growing brighter. As it came closer, it revealed Master Chief, with his smaller gun pointed forward, and a light on the side of his helmet activated.

...

John lowered his weapon upon sighting the girls. The Ultranationalists had not provided a very good fight, and he dispatched of them rather quickly. It was a good thing they weren't real Russian forces, otherwise he might have had some difficulty. Not much, but some. As he walked closer, the first response he received was not a thank you, but rather the blue pegasus flying up to him with an angry expression.

"Why didn't you tell us that would happen?" She shouted angrily, pressing her face against the visor of his helmet. John casually pushed her away, not caring to deal with her attitude.

"Simple. That wasn't supposed to happen." He said as he calmly holstered his magnum. As the orange pony stepped closer, he couldn't help but take notice of the look of confusion in her eye. John walked forward, past the first two girls to find the rest of them either being spoken to, or bouncing randomly. The blue pegasus quickly rushed past him, making her way to the one he was pretty sure they called Fluttershy. John had deduced that the timid, quivering pegasus was not dangerous, or any sort of threat, and so decided he could use her name. As for the blue one, probably not.

"Did anyone see what happened?" He asked as he looked around the makeshift hideout. It was by no means on par with the other one, with only a single laptop in the corner on a crate for intelligence. To the side, the white unicorn was trying to calm down the purple unicorn, who was Something Sparkle. He sort of trusted her.

"Twilight did, she's pretty freaked out about it." The orange pony said as she walked up to him.

"Now... What didya' mean when ya' said it wasn't supposed to happen?" She asked as she leaned her head forward, as though afraid she wouldn't hear him.

"Just that. My actions has messed up how these events happened. So instead of MacTavish dying, Nikolai did." John said as he walked over to the laptop. The orange pony shook her head, trying to take in what John had told her. John pressed a few keys on the laptop, watching as it flickered to life slowly. It was definitely low tech, lower than he had ever dealt with in the past. As he looked through the laptop, the ponies behind him tried to console each other.

"John, what are you looking for?" Cortana asked quizzically. John pulled up a file on military intelligence, which brought a dossier of Makarov. It stated his name, his information, a list of terrorist acts, and several accounts of evasion of the military and CIA alike. Along with that was a list of several of his followers, with some of his most trusted ones listed in red. Jackpot.

"Getting an Ace in the hole. Sandman lived, which means two more people are going to die, not just one. And I intend on making it one of Makarov's trusted henchmen, not Price AND Yuri." John said as he downloaded the information, instantly going into Cortana's memory systems.

"You're doing that thing I like again." Cortana said with a chuckle.

"Which is?"

"Being crazy."