//------------------------------// // Level 12: Hometown Security // Story: Resident Pon-Evil (Mission II) - Operation: Phoenix Fire // by Delta 727 //------------------------------// Harmony's Elements have traveled to New Appleoosa to trade work for an unknown technology unit, and have been assigned to patrol the outer wall of the city after unknown armed ponies were seen traversing the border of the city. At first, they assumed they were only scavengers, or worst case scenario, mercenaries. But after Chaos had found out about the lone ponies, he had pieced together that they were not scavengers. They were part of a reorganized government that had already been long destroyed. Or so they had thought... *Begin Transmission* The room was silent for several seconds, until Chainlink finally started chuckling. "I gotta tell ya, Chaos," he said. "You really know how to tick me off." "You think I'd make something like this up?" Chaos asked. "If they were scavengers, what would they be doing wandering around the wall of a random city that we just happen to be in? And where did they get guns at all, let alone silenced? There are no armories or gun stores anywhere in Equestria they could've raided for them, and unless Canterlot's been sending soldiers that act like they'd be shot if they were seen, I doubt they came from there either. So unless there's some other group of ponies with access to weapons just below the Canterlot guard, then Harrow's End is all that's left." Chainlink just shook his head. "Lemme tell you something. If Harrow's End WAS still out there, then they'd be a wreck. There's nopony left to keep them in line. So unless Canterlot's been hiding something from us, which would mean I'd have to cut that Cherry mare's throat with her own badge, there ain't a Harrow's End left out there. End of story." Chaos tried to speak again, but Chainlink cut him off. "I said. End. Of. Story." "Now, y'all hold on," Marigold spoke up, stepping to the front of the crowd, between Chaos and Chainlink. "We ain't endin' anything yet. They might er might not be our dear ol' friends at Harrow. But that ain't the problem right now. We ain't here fer Harrow. We're here fer that machine." "We'll keep looking into it," Blade cut in. "But for now, we've got a job to do. Let's get it done so we can get the machine and leave." "That's another problem I've got with this," Chainlink said. "What's this 'machine' that we're going through all this for? Or are you gonna tell me it's-" "Classified," Chaos finished. "Oh, so you get to know what it is?" Chainlink threw back. "What does Canterlot really have to hide from us? A bomb, so they can almost kill us, like back in Manehattan?" "Whatever it is, it's not something you need to be putting your muzzle in," Chaos replied. "You're being paranoid." "Yeah? Well, last time in Manehattan, all we got was, 'there's a certain percent on whether or not we're gonna blow you apart'!" Chainlink pushed past Marigold to step right up to Chaos. "Y'hear that? They had a PERCENT. Clearly they're thinking, 'Maybe if we give them some kinda reassurance, they won't suspect a thing'! And when we get back, they try to sugarcoat it. So yeah, I don't trust Canterlot. Shoot me for it, if they don't first." "Enough!" Lens Cap raised his voice, silencing the room. "You're here to help New Appleoosa. Whatever you're so worried about, it can wait until you're done here. Now all of you get out there, and help the guards on the wall, so we can ship you outta here already!" Chaos just stared at Chainlink for a minute, then turned away and shouldered his way though the crowd, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. "I meant all of you," Lens Cap said firmly. One by one, they all began to leave. Starting with Itzel, followed by Nova team, Marigold, Blade, and finally Chainlink, after muttering a few crude statements under his breath. X-Ray almost left last, but Lens Cap stopped him. "Wait," Lens Cap held up one hoof to stop him. "There's something we need to talk about." He trotted to the door, closed it, locked it, and pushed the small sliding hatch over to look through the hole, checking to see if anypony had lingered back to listen in. Then, he slid it shut, and turned back to X-Ray. "I know that telling you the other day that what happened wasn't your fault didn't help. But it's better that you move on from it. You've got a new team now that you need to be thinking about." "I am not thinking about... The incident..." X-Ray replied. "Nice try, X-Ray, but I've known you my entire life." Lens Cap trotted away from the door to stand back next to X-Ray. "Your team might not be able to tell what you're thinking, but I can read you like a book. What happened was not on you. It was the mission, and you did what you could." "Then how was I... The only survivor...?" X-Ray asked. "They trusted me... And I was the only pony to... Come home alive..." "Don't talk like that." Lens Cap put a hoof on X-Ray's shoulder. "You led them in with them knowing perfectly well what they were getting in to. They trusted you to lead them to completing the mission. They all died as heroes, but it's because of you that they were heroes." "I am not a foal..." X-Ray replied. "Their lives were... My responsibility... But now, Harmony's Elements are... My new priority... Now, if you will excuse me..." He turned around for the door. Lens Cap paused, then stopped him. "Wait. There's one more thing you should know, but don't tell anyone I told you this." X-Ray stopped. "I'm listening..." Lens Cap took a deep breath. "You deserve to know what the machine is that Canterlot is so desperate to get from us." --- About 30 minutes later, X-Ray finally exited the main building, barely surprised to find the rest of the team waiting outside for him by the wall. Silently, he trotted over, only to be met by questioning looks. "What took ya so long in there?" Marigold asked. "Lens Cap... Wanted to talk..." X-Ray replied. " I need to get to my post... On top of the wall..." He began to trot away through the crowd. "Hold it," Blade said. "What'd he want to talk about for so long?" X-Ray stopped. "It was nothing..." "You don't talk about nothing for half an hour," Blade said. "Now just spit it ou-" "It is none of your concern!" X-Ray shouted, followed by labored breathing. Silence fell over the crowd. Not once, no matter how long any of them had known him, had any of them heard X-Ray raise his voice. Harmony's Elements had secretly thought that if he did, he'd blow a vocal cord. After a while, X-Ray sighed. "I... I'm sorry... I did not mean to..." X-Ray felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down to see TrailBlaze hugging his leg. "Don't be mad, X-Ray," she said. "They're sorry for asking. All better?" X-Ray just grunted, gently pulling away his hoof. TrailBlaze carefully let go, smiling up at him before trotting away back to Itzel, crawling into her bag. Trying to think of something else to say, X-Ray looked around the crowd of ponies around him, only to notice that one of them was missing. "Where is Chainlink...?" "We thought he was with you," Itzel said in a monotone voice. "Never saw him come out." "What...!?" X-Ray asked with a sense of alarm in his voice. "Why was he-" A voice raised from behind them. "I knew I couldn't trust that little bucker!" Chainlink shouldered his way through the crowd to stand in front of X-Ray. "So that's what you were hiding, huh!?" He shoved a hoof against X-Ray's chest. "We've known you all this time, but you can't even tell us what you've had locked up!? And to think we could trust you!" Chaos finally cut in. "That's enough, Chainlink! What're you talking about?" "What am I talking about?" Chainlink turned on Chaos. "You're asking me what I'm talking about? How do we know you're not hiding it too!? Buck, who's to say all of you aren't a bunch'a back-stabbing traitors!?" "Chainlink, we ain't got th' slighted idea what yer talkin' about!" Marigold spoke up. "Whadda they got in lockup yer so mad about?" "Lockup? Lockup!?" Chainlink yelled. "Y'know that 'technology' they've hid from us since we got here? Well it just so happens, it's not 'technology' at all! It's-" Chainlink was suddenly cut off. The conversation ended when the wall exploded, crumbling down on top of them. --- X-Ray's vision finally began to come back. It faded in and out continuously, his brain trying to come back to consciousness. He picked up several bits of sounds and images. Fire. Rubble. Screaming. Gunfire. And worst of all... Infected ponies. X-Ray tried to look around, his mind in a panicked blur. His vision goggles were gone, and his gun was missing. He finally sat up, his suit torn in several places, some with bleeding cuts underneath. He pulled off his head cover. His green mane was ruffled, and his grey face was marked with blood, sweat, and dirt. His whole body hurt, and his ears were ringing, but he barely noticed as he took in the scene around him. The ground was covered in broken pieces of the wall. There were small fires all around him. He heard ponies, screaming and firing weapons, in the distance. The air was thick with smoke and dust. He saw what he thought were ponies stumbling past him. And they were. And all of them were infected. He tried to get up, but fell back to the ground. Suddenly, something hooked under his leg, and put him on his hooves. He tried to look around for the source, but all he heard was a faint voice whisper, "Run, or you'll die..." And they were gone. He tried to find the source of the voice, but couldn't find anything, and he thought he was hallucinating. His brain was throbbing in his skull, and he had trouble distinguishing so much as his left hoof from his right. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, drew his knife and his sidearm pistol, being the only weapons he had left on him, and ran towards the gunfire, trying to keep his weapons in hoof while galloping at the same time. He stumbled from the pain in his body, but he galloped on. He shoved any infected in his way, and finally managed to make out a a large group of living ponies at the main gate. Hundreds of civilians were running out past them, and several other unidentified ponies were killing infected ponies running toward them. His face turned solid, and he started to gallop toward them. His escape was cut short when he was suddenly tackled. He hit the ground hard, groaning from the pain of the impact on his injuries. He heard a loud, decayed groaning in his ear. He tried to shove the infected pony off of him, but he could only just barely keep the infected from biting him. Suddenly, a spray of warm blood landed on his face, and the groaning stopped. He turned his head to his right, only to see a once brown, yellow-maned, decaying stallion hanging over him. His jaw was hanging open, and his eyes were pitch white. But only one of the eyes were still there. The other was torn apart by the tip of a knife pointing out from it. The knife slid back in to the infected's head, and the corpse was thrown off, only to reveal the scratched up face of Itzel standing over him, pulling him back to his hooves. Through the ringing in his ears, he heard her yell at him to run toward the main gate, but it sounded like she was thousands of miles away. Before X-Ray could respond, Itzel hooked one leg under his and began pulling him toward the gate. X-Ray forced himself to walk, but his vision faded in and out. Frame by frame, he could see them getting closer and closer to the gate. Several armed guards in armored suits were leading civilians out of the city, and soon, a few were rushing their way over to help him and Itzel. He felt a guard hook his other leg, the two ponies carrying him by his front legs toward the gate, the guard firing with an assault rifle in his free leg, and Itzel slashing out with her knife. X-Ray slipped in and out of consciousness, as several images flashed before his eyes. Approaching the gate. Pushing through the crowd of armed guards. An open, armored transit unit in front of him. The transit door closing. Darkness. And yet, as he blacked out, for only the second time since he'd been a soldier, he had a smile on his face. --- "When we spoke, I heard you, but I didn't listen. And now, when there's nothing left to say, I can't hear you anymore, but I still listen." - Rainbow Dash (Dream of Me) *Transmission Ended*