//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Five minutes until detonation. // Story: The Equestrian X-Com Project // by Sir_Puma //------------------------------// The Equestrian X-Com Project Chapter 4: Five minutes until detonation. ----- A few hours after the X-Com soldiers cleared out the UFO crash site in White Tail Woods, a small engineer team lead by the head engineer Applejack was flown in to take inventory of of anything salvageable from the UFO. Princess Twilight Sparkle demanded to come along to to see the UFO devices intact before they were salvaged. Once inside the wreckage Twilight shot about inspecting different gadgets and devices writing notes in her notebook. Applejack watched Twilight and wondered how it was possible for her to move so quickly. "So errr... Did you find anything Twi?" Applejack asked as she tilted her head. Twilight turned to face Applejack; her eyes were wide like a child in a candy store. "This is incredible! Have you any idea what we could learn from this wreckage?! The secrets inside could advance Equestrian technology by 100 years of our own research!" Twilight squealed giggling madly. Applejack raised an eyebrow at Twilight's off behavior, "Yeah... How 'bout that... So where did you want us to start?" Applejack asked taking off her tool saddlebags. Twilight began leading the engineers around the UFO pointing to various objects. "I want that; and those ones over there; and also make sure to grab that one." Twilight looked at the large green pulsing pillar "Applejack; I feel this device will hold many secrets, maybe even how the aliens got to our planet. Just take care; it looks unstable" Twilight said looking at the center pillar. Applejack approached it looking for a way to remove the glowing pylon, that was when she saw a small purple gem left by the commander alien on the ground. She picked it up in her hoof, "what about this Twi? I think this was the gem Thunderlane was talking about" Applejack said showing Twilight the gem. Twilight inspected the gem slowly, "hmmm; it looks like it's power left it when the commander ran. If only we could find one with it's energy still inside it. The gem could tell us a lot about alien commanders and the alien's battle plan... But that would require a live alien commander..." Twilight and Applejack stood in silence before an idea came into Applejack's brain. "What about a non-lethal weapon we could give the soldiers, like a pellet gun; or a taser" Applejack explained. Twilight nodded, "yeah like the ones police ponies use against criminals. We could use it to capture aliens and interrogate them! Use their tactics and knowledge against them! Applejack you're a genius!" Twilight cheered hugging Applejack. "I'll begin work to build a holding cell in the X-Com base to house captured aliens. Your team should start work on the blueprints for this non-lethal weapon" Applejack said before taking out her angle grinder. "After we salvage what we can from this UFO of course." ----- "Lets see; Thunderlane and Sweetie Drops; both with stage 3 wounds to the body. Bulk Biceps was just about to be released and I get two more soldiers dropped on me" Dr Whooves sarcastically moaned as he paced around the X-Com clinic infront of Thunderlane's and Bonbon's beds. The clinic's medical ward was small and cramped with various medical apparatuses. 4 hospital beds lined one of the walls where injured ponies would be kept and treated. Just like any other hospital the ward attempted to by nice and comfy but in reality the apparatuses were quite frightening and the dull grey walls felt lonely and isolated. "What have I told you about avoiding alien plasma?" "That's easy for you to say doctor; you haven't been out in the field yet" Bonbon protested weakly. "Save your energy Sweetie Drops, you're going to need it to get through the treatment. Hear it from Bulk; the treatment is quite demanding. Thunderlane if you're going to go for the Field Commander rank; promise me you will lead your team with greater care" Dr Whooves said standing at the edge of Thunderlane's bed. Thunderlane was silent; he had not thought about the Field Commander position. He did have some of the characteristics to lead the X-Com soldiers, but he felt the choice should be up to Base Commander Luna and not himself. "I don't think I will be the Field Commander; but I'll still promise that I'll try keep the other operatives safe anyway" Thunderlane replied. "Nonsense; I know a leader when I see one; and I'm seeing one in the bed infront of me. I know the other ponies are praising and recommending Vinyl Scratch for Field Commander. But not me; I'm voting for you Thunderlane" Doctor Whooves annouced with pride. "When you two are done flirting could we get started on the treatment. I don't want to be stuck in here all week" Bonbon complained before seeing Bulk Biceps limp out of the surgery room past their ward door with a brace on his hind legs. Bulk heard Bonbon and entered their room. "You may want this to go through the treatment" the white pegasus suggested as he tossed Bonbon a small bone chew toy. "Bite down on it to ease the pain." Bonbon gave it an odd look; "wait, were you using this? I'm not sticking that in my mouth" Bonbon grumbled. Bulk Biceps shrugged his beefy shoulders, "fine suit yourself. Good luck you two, you'll need it" Bulk chuckled and left the room. Bonbon's eyes widened with fear about the upcoming treatment, Thunderlane smiled. "Don't worry Bonbon; we're in this together" Thunderlane laughed comforting Bonbon. Bonbon relaxed slightly; "thanks Thunderlane." ----- Later that night Base Commander Luna summoned the head armor engineer Rarity to her private office. Rarity entered the neat and tidy office of Princess Luna, she laid out a small metallic skintight vest apon Luna's desk infront of base commander Luna. "Here is the nano fiber vest prototype we have been working on, the vest is built up with the smallest of our strongest fiber materials. It will create a skintight seal completely covering a soldier's chest and midsection" Rarity explained taking pride in her work. "It will defiantly help our soldiers brush off plasma fire; as it is our strongest bullet proof vest" Rarity boasted tapping it with her hoof. "I trust that it has been tested?" Luna inquired. "Spike volunteered to have a pellet gun shot at him while wearing the vest. He seemed to be fine afterwards" Rarity answered. "Excellent work Rarity; produce more for our soldiers and some for distribution to other cities. As for why I called you here I have another project for you, with thy data gathered from Rainbow Dash's encounter I hath decided 1 interceptor is not enough. If we lost Rainbow Dash X-Com would have nothing to shoot down thy alien UFOs; we must have another interceptor" Luna explained resting her front hooves together on her desk. Rarity ran a hoof through her mane crunching some numbers in her head. "Okay I'll get the my engineers to create a copy. Do you have a pegasus in mind for this second exoskeleton?" Rarity asked. "I had a look through the FLD Wonderbolt recruit list before deciding who would be accepted into X-Com. There is only one pegasus alive who is up at Rainbow Dash's flying level. I have conscripted her into service; she will arrive tomorrow" Luna said to Rarity. Rarity nodded slowly and her expression turned grim, "are you certain conscription is the way to approach this? I had hoped we wouldn't have to conscript at all during this program." Luna's eyes fixed on Rarity, closely analyzing her expression. Luna had to choose her words carefully to maintain Rarity's trust in her. "Equestria counts on us to save it; certain sacrifices need to be made. Don't think I make these choices lightly" Luna explained bluntly, she knew she had to stomp out any doubt Rarity had about her conscription tactic. Rarity's expression didn't change as she looked into Luna's eyes. "I understand; sorry I shouldn't have challenged you" Rarity said eventually before leaving the room with her head hung low. Luna watched her leave remaining silent; before giving a sad sigh returning to her paperwork. How much longer did she have to keep up her protection? How many more lives did she have to put in jeopardy? The deep blue alicorn massaged her temples with her hooves trying not to think about it. ----- Over at the barracks a small argument had broken out infront of the dorm marked 'Vinyl and Octavia.' "Who on earth listens to dubstep this loud at this time of night!?" Cloud Chaser the pegasus yelled over the sound emulating from the dorm room. Octavia stood in the doorway, "don't worry; it won't be long, Vinyl is just brushing her teeth" Octavia argued calmly. "Why does she need to listen to music to brush her teeth!?" Octavia sighed before continuing "she brushes her teeth with the... Please just give her a break; she doesn't do it often. You get used to it eventually." Derpy stumbled down the hallway even though she was completely sober, the arguing ponies didn't see her approach. Cloud Chaser took a step closer threatening Octavia, "listen up earth pony. I only listen to one pegasus; me. Only I know what is best for me. You better think again if you think you or your friend are going to order me about! I don't care if everypony is recommending her for field commander-" Cloud Chaser threatened until she was interrupted by a friendly hug from Derpy Hooves. "Good night Cloud Chaser, don't let the bed bugs bite" Derpy said friendly. Cloud Chaser tried to struggle out of the hug but was unable to break Derpy's friendly hug. Eventually she let go. "What's your problem you dunce?!" Cloud Chaser yelled pushing away. "Its a hug! Hugs are the best form of harmony! If we can't hug; then we don't have harmony. And if that's the case; what are we defending?" Derpy asked tilting her head. Cloud Chaser gave a frustrated groan before storming off back to her room. Octavia gave a thankful sigh. "You have my thanks Corporal Whooves-" Octavia said but was interrupted by Derpy's hug. "Nighty night Octavia, hope you have lots of good dreams!" ----- Dr Whooves had called it a night for the treatment. He had removed all intact fragments of the alien bullet for further study, he had also treated the burn wounds around Bonbon's midsection and Thunderlane's flank. He still didn't know much about the alien weaponry so treatment was slow and risky. Bonbon had to go through a severe knockout gas during the treatment, she lay out cold on her bed. Thunderlane remained awake deep in thought about his tactics during the last mission. He stared at the cold steel roof long into the night, he had heard the other ponies retire to their rooms to sleep, he concluded he was the only pony awake. Once he felt he was alone he pulled his small diary from his bag he had requested to be put under his bed. He only wrote in his diary when he was alone, he felt that due to it being filled with his letters to his brother it made it private. He was about to put his quill to the paper when he saw through the open door a silhouette of a pony move out of it's room and into the bar. Thunderlane couldn't see the figure clearly enough to determine whether it was a mare or stallion, or even if it was a earth pony, unicorn or pegasus. All he could make out was that the figure was carrying something, he felt quite certain that it was an X-Com assault rifle due to it's odd shape. He watched the figure silently move out of the bar towards the training rooms. Thunderlane waited for a moment while wondering who it would be at this hour, but then his mind turned back to his diary and his quill he held in his mouth. He finished writing his next letter and rolled over to get some sleep, the unknown pony still bothered him slightly, he made a mental note to find out who it was once he recovered. ----- "Okay, its approximately 0600 hours, this is head researcher Twilight Sparkle preparing for the first alien autopsy. Spike will be performing said autopsy" Twilight spoke into a camera she had set on a tripod filming the autopsy room. She had laid out a deceased alien body they had recovered from Mexicolt onto the autopsy table. Spike nervously took a step away from the alien body, he held a small scalpel in his trembling claw. "Umm Twilight; I'm not c-comfortable with doing this" Spike quietly complained. "Spike please; I cannot do this autopsy without my magic, your claws are more accurate than my mouth" Twilight told spike as she nudged a scalpel trolley closer to the autopsy table. "Look I-I-I don't want to do this, cutting up a body like this! I'm no murderer" Spike said putting the scalpel down. "You won't be, you'll be the first scientist to perform an alien autopsy in all of Equestria. I will work as your assistant for this operation." "But I'm your assistant! This won't work!" Spike argued. "Spike if you do this for me... I will speak to Luna about requisitioning more gemstones for 'scientific' purposes" Twilight smiled nudging spike. "G-G-G-Gemstones! Like rubies? Or sapphires? Mmmmmm" Spike drooled as he picked up his scalpel. "Okay; lets do this assistant!" "... Try not to drool on the alien body." ----- Autopsy Report Species: Sectoid Autopsy date: 10th of Seiha, (Celestia's Solar Calendar) Autopsy performed by: Spike the Dragon Assistant: Princess Twilight Sparkle Report written by: Princess Twilight Sparkle I have taken to calling this species of alien the 'Sectoid' due to it's eyes bearing similar traits and appearance of an insect's eyes. Those traits include various ocular lobes allowing the Sectoids to see in the dark. The exterior body is slightly stronger than pony flesh, similar to leather or a stronger bull hide. They don't seem to have any organic armor so it seems they are going into battle lightly armored, almost like they didn't expect us to fight them. The Sectoid bears similar organs to pony life, with slight variations to their digestive tract and brain. Without a mouth it seems they get their food from a non-solid or liquid substance, possibly photosynthesis or something similar to Changling food sources. A point of interest lies within the brain, it seems that the brain has a large unused section to it. We couldn't identify what the section contained, but seeing how the brain is restricted from it makes me think that maybe there is higher up aliens which could have brainwashed these Sectoids, or maybe restricted their cognitive thinking to make them easy to control. Ether way we should always use caution when facing these aliens, they could have a nasty power we haven't seen yet. We will perform the 'Thin pony' autopsy tomorrow. Head Researcher Twilight Sparkle ----- "Base Commander Luna! We are getting an emergency call from Appleloosa!" a unicorn manning one of the X-Com terminals called out to Luna who was sitting on her command chair. "On screen now!" Luna demanded. A video feed was brought up on the X-Com main terminal of a heavily breathing earth pony stallion. His coat and mane were brown, but his curled mustache was black. He wore a large black cowboy hat and a silver star on his leather vest. "This is Sheriff Silverstar of the Appleloosa militia! We need an X-Com detachment here now! We have lost the top side of our town; we got the civilians out thank Celestia. Our scout reported that the aliens have brought a large device into the bar. We're certain that it's a bomb! We need help if we're going to defuse it!" Sheriff Silverstar yelled into the monitor. Luna stomped a hoof, "to stations! Get the Skyranger ready! Assemble a detachment now!" With a press of a button X-Com went into it's alert status as red light filled the base and sirens rang though its long corridors. In just a couple of minutes four soldier ponies had barged into the armory and grabbed their gear. Cloud Chaser was one of selected soldiers, she had grabbed a shotgun and one of the new prototype nano fiber vests. Derpy Whooves was another, she took one of the X-Com assault rifles and one of the new medkits. Octavia was also selected, she slung an X-Com sniper rifle along her back holster. The final pony was Vinyl Scratch; she was selected to lead this force by Princess Luna. Her armor was slightly bigger than the others to hold her new X-Com machine gun and X-Com missile launcher on her back. ----- The Skyranger flew through the cloudy skies over Equestria, a thunderstorm was brewing but Fluttershy had no option other than to cut through it due to the urgency of Appleloosa's situation. The crew in the transport compartment bumped and bounced about as the Skyranger struggled to fly. The on-board screen lit up as Base Commander Luna began her briefing. "We are deploying you to the south end of Appleloosa. Your mission requires you to link up with the survivors and then push north to secure the alien device the survivors saw. It would be a wise move to ask the survivors about the size and shape of the device to help you locate it" Luna announced. The screen split up as a second video of Head Researcher Twilight Sparkle in her lab flared to life. "We have scanned the area with our X-Com radar, it detected a unique energy signal slowly building. Its encrypted to unleash its maximum energy as a plasma discharge or explosion, this conforms it is a bomb" Twilight explained grimly. "How big is this explosion going to be?" Vinyl Scratch asked. "Our predictions estimate it will wipe Appleloosa completely off the map. That will result in a shortage of apples from their orchards, a ruined trading line due to the railway running through the town, and finally an unimaginable death toll. We must prevent the bomb from going off at all costs" Twilight answered. "Great, I guess we will be the first to know when the bomb goes off. Where is the energy building?" Cloud Chaser asked. "The main spike of energy is building in the north side of town. Due to this being a combat zone and the Skyranger being a non combat dropship we will have to deploy you at the south end of town. On a side note the radar picked up small energy signatures throughout the town contributing to the bomb's energy. These could be small generators which you could shut down to slow the bomb's charge and give you a bit more time to find it" Twilight explained thinking of a plan. "Approaching drop zone, setting down" Fluttershy called from the cockpit. "How long do we have?" Octavia asked. "I will keep you posted on the time through your radios. The bomb will be fully charged in 10 minutes" Twilight said sternly. "Be quick, be strong. You must not fail!" Luna barked terminating the video feed. ----- The soldiers disembarked from the Skyranger and were instantly met by the survivors of the Appleloosa Militia. Sheriff Silverstar approached the soldiers "Thank the goddess you've come. We don't have much time to explain-" Octavia held up a hoof "We've been briefed already. We are going to push north for the bomb, can you lead the survivors south out of the blast radius to keep them safe if the worst should happen?" Cloud Chaser sighed, "What are we suppose to do when we find the bomb? We have no clue how it works!" Cloud Chaser said to Vinyl Scratch. A stallion stepped forward through the Appleloosa Militia, he wore a leather vest and hat which covered his lush blond mane. "I may be able to help with that! Name's Braeburn; I have a lot of experience dealing with bombs. Back when we had problems with the buffalo I'd dispose of any bombs they could smuggle in" Braeburn said energetically. "Dealing with small arm explosives is nothing like the scale of explosive we are dealing with!" Cloud Chaser waving a hoof at Braeburn. Octavia took a step closer to her friend Vinyl Scratch and whispered into her ear, "we don't have much of a choice here, we may need him to help defuse the bomb." Vinyl nodded, "okay Braeburn; follow my orders and you should be fine. Can you defend yourself?" Vinyl asked. Braeburn picked up his FLD rifle he had from the Appleloosa Militia and smiled. Vinyl nodded, "okay lets move out, how are we doing for time Twilight?" Vinyl asked her radio. Twilight Sparkle's voice responded "you have 5 minutes until detonation! Hurry!" ----- A slight breeze blew through the empty main street of Appleloosa, a tumbleweed bounced by as the 4 X-Com ponies and the bomb defusalist stood at the south end of the deserted street. Apart from the tumbleweed and rattling windows in the wind; the street seemed devoid of life. The sun was yet to fully rise from the behind the mountains which cast long shadows from the buildings and junk on the street. "Stay alert everypony, it's a trap" Octavia whispered. "Vinyl; leading the team down the road may be the quickest way but would walk us into an ambush. Maybe splitting the team up and using the side and back entrances to clear each building? We may find more of those generators that way." "Okay that sounds like the best course of action; Cloud Chaser and Braeburn push through the buildings on the right side, Derpy and I will go down the left side. Tavi could you move carefully down the main street and give the two sides sniper support?" Vinyl said quickly. Octavia nodded loading her sniper rifle. "Remember; look for those external generators! Move!" Vinyl ordered galloping off to the left side shops followed by Derpy. Cloud Chaser gave an angry sigh and lead Braeburn to the right side shops. "4 minutes, get moving Vinyl!" Twilight barked. Derpy and Vinyl burst into the first shop on the left side of the main street quickly scouring the interior for any alien life or external generators. Vinyl ran her eyes over the empty shelves of the store, she had guessed they had once displayed various apple treats but due to the invasion all the apple produce was sent towards relief efforts around Equestria. "Check the second floor, I'll check the back room and head to the next building" Vinyl ordered Derpy as she galloped out into the back room desperately searching for any generators. Cloud Chaser stopped Braeburn outside the door leading into the first shop on the right. "Stick behind me and don't do anything stupid, I can't babysit you today" Cloud Chaser said in a low tone. Braeburn would have responded but Cloud Chaser ignored him and stormed into the shop. Inside 3 aliens Twilight had named 'Sectoids' spotted Cloud Chaser and jumped into cover behind the counter and store shelves. "Suppress the two in the shelves" Cloud Chaser barked at Braeburn as she quickly darted through the store towards the end of the counter, [Run and Gun] the pegasus flipped out her shotgun and quickly lined up her shot with the alien behind it unleashing a spray of lead killing the alien. [Overwatch] Braeburn lined up his FLD rifle towards the other 2 Sectoids ready for any movement. The Sectoids saw Braeburn ready to shoot as soon as they moved from cover, so instead of moving they shot their guns out of cover towards him. Braeburn eyes widened and he quickly ducked as plasma tore through the wall next to his head. "Could use some help over here!" He shouted. [Headshot] At that moment a loud gunshot rang out as a single high caliber bullet blasted through the front window and planted itself in one of the Sectoid's skull splattering it's insides on the floor. "Hostile down" Octavia said into her radio preparing her next shot from her sniper rifle. Meanwhile Derpy carefully pushed open the door to the second floor of the apple treat shop. She saw that the room had a large green alien generator with no aliens guarding it. But she also saw through the window the fire fight across the street. She brought her gun up to her eyes and fired three bullets towards the building on the other side of the street. The bullets hit the last Sectoid in the side felling the invader. Octavia looked up at Derpy on the second floor with surprise, "Nice shot Corporal." Derpy pressed the large green button on top of the generator, it slowly powered down and deactivated. "Hey it stopped! Twilight what's the reading at" Derpy called into her radio. "Nice work Derpy; you bought yourself a little more time. Approximately 7 minutes until detonation" Twilight said reading her graphs on her computer monitor. "Keep it moving ponies!" Vinyl said moving quietly into the next shop. She carefully stepped her white hoof out into the main room of the shop and immediately spotted 3 more Sectoids held up on the second floor of the 3rd shop on the right. She quickly lept behind the windows as the aliens opened fire on her building, she wasn't quick enough. Vinyl fell to the ground underneath the windowsill clutching her wounded leg, "damn it! I'm hit!" Vinyl barked as she gritted her teeth. She planted her hooves firmly on her leg in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but now she was a sitting duck. Octavia's eyes widened as she saw Vinyl go down, "hold on Vinyl I'm coming!" Octavia shouted as she ran towards an empty wagon on the main street. One of the Sectoids began firing at Octavia from their elevated position pinning Octavia behind the wagon. Cloud Chaser and Braeburn moved into the 2nd shop on the right, from there they could see the aliens held up in the next shop. "Looks like they fortified the upstairs of the post office, storming the building would be certain death" Braeburn said into Cloud Chaser's radio. "I... I have and idea" Vinyl said weakly, "I need some cover though." By this time Derpy Whooves had galloped back downstairs and took cover behind the building Vinyl was pinned down in. [Smoke grenade] "Here have this" Derpy called out as she threw her smoke grenade inside the building. The building filled with red smoke breaking the aliens line of sight with Vinyl. "Thanks Derp" Vinyl coughed as she put down her light machine gun and carefully took her rocket launcher of its holster. She stabilized it on the windowsill and a teethy grin appeared on her face "Suck on this flank faces!" [Fire Rocket] The missile fired from Vinyl's rocket launcher and shot through the air into the 2nd floor of the post office exploding in a giant ball of flame completely destroying the front of the post office and all the aliens inside. Octavia, Cloud Chaser and Braeburn regrouped in the street watching the destroyed post office burn while Derpy treated Vinyl's wounds. Braeburn took of his hat as he tried to block out dark thought swirling in his brain. He was far to polite to voice his opinion about the destruction of the post office, all the services it had provided and was giving to the survivors suddenly destroyed without a second thought... By the X-Com soldiers and not the aliens. Was it truly the right thing to help these ponies? Braeburn thought on this deeply, he did not notice the clouds from the nearby storm slowly form overhead, darkening the small town for the fight ahead. "4 minutes, keep moving you're nearly there!" Twilight Sparkle said. ----- The X-Com soldiers huddled behind a street cart in front of the 'Salt Block' tavern. "I saw the aliens take the bomb inside, I reckon they are hiding inside waiting to ambush us" Braeburn said peeking over the cart. The outside of the 'Salt Block' looked like an old western tavern straight from a cowpony movie. It was positioned on the last lot of the main street where the street intersected with a major trading road. Before the invasion the Salt Block would get all sorts of visitors from all around Equestria, it would house and hydrate them, but some travelers just went in to see the famous Salt Block tavern just to soak up the rustic atmosphere. Now it served as a fortified position to protect the north side of town, it's exterior second floor balcony made for perfect cover. "Well we need to get in there quick, so here's the plan" Vinyl explained beginning to draw in the sand frantically. "Derpy, we need more time, go and scour the town for any other generators, now!" Vinyl ordered trying to sound polite. [Sprinter] "Got it Scratch" Derpy saluted before galloping off through the town. "Okay Tavi hang here and provide support, Braeburn and I will breach in the back. Cloud Chaser; I want you to wait here with Tavi and storm the front only after Braeburn and I get their attention" Vinyl Scratch explained. "Be careful Vinyl" Octavia said as Vinyl and Braeburn galloped down the alleyway next to the 'Salt Block.' "Two minutes! Two minutes!" Twilight yelled as she began biting her hoof in anticipation. Derpy covered her mouth with her hoof as she carefully moved into the burning post office. The smoke billowed out of the gaping hole from Vinyl's missile, but remained stagnant in some areas straining Derpy's eyes. Searching was difficult; she could barely see her own hooves so she had little chance to see the remains of the tables and chairs which she tripped over on falling flat on her back. Derpy tried to flip back on her feet when she saw a green light glowing through the thick smoke 'a generator!' she thought to herself as she clambered onto her hooves pulling herself next to the generator. She pressed the center button with her hoof, "generator down" Derpy rasped into her radio and then coughed violently. "Great work Whooves, 5 minutes" Twilight Sparkle gave a sigh of relief. Vinyl placed a hoof on Braeburn's shoulder as they stood by the upstairs back entrance, "be quick and accurate; I'll be right behind you. Don't be afraid to retreat if there is to many of them" she whispered. Braeburn nodded as he turned back to the door, he took a deep calming breath and pushed open the door with his front hoof. He jumped inside legs spread ready for action but couldn't see any hostiles. He scanned the top floor and what he could see of the bottom floor, he tapped his hoof nervously, "room clear?" he called out to Vinyl unsure. Vinyl carefully trotted into the tavern and ran her eyes about the rustic tavern. The wooden walls, the red carpets, the second floor landing, lacy leathery couches, there was a reason why so many ponies came here to take a rest in-between long trips. "Where the hell are they?" Vinyl muttered to herself as she searched about the upstairs rooms. Fear began to grip at her sanity, where were the aliens? Where was the bomb?! Were the witnesses wrong? It could be anywhere in town? Vinyl's fears were put to rest as a voice called out from downstairs, "Vinyl, you better get down here!" Braeburn called out. Vinyl vaulted off the upstairs balcony to the downstairs bar. Vinyl Scratch found Braeburn inside the kitchen behind the bar staring at a gigantic alien device. "Is that what I think it is?" Vinyl asked looking at the towering pillar. It looked allot like the energy pillar salvaged from the UFO Thunderlane's squad had raided. Braeburn nodded looking over the large explosive, "I'll need to look it over before I try anything, how much time have we got?" "3 minutes Braeburn, Celestspeed" Twilight called out over the radio. Vinyl nodded before looking over the tavern again, this time for defensive positions. "Okay ponies heres the plan..." Vinyl begin to explain but stopped as a strange sound filled the streets. It was loud and unpleasant, it sounded like a roar of a few miniature jet engines crossed with the high pitched whine of flame fueled by pressured gas. "What the hell is that sound!?" Cloud Chaser asked Octavia as they looked over the cart on the abandoned main street. Suddenly Cloud Chaser and Octavia looked up to the skies in horror as 5 creatures took to the skies from behind the buildings. "What the hell are they!?" Cloud Chaser yelled crouching behind the cart. The creatures looked like the top half of a Sectoid with what looked like a portable flight device built into their waist and back, their faces seemed to smile terrifyingly as they raised their alien weapons. Octavia's eyes narrowed as she saw them prepare to fire, she realized remaining out here was suicide. "Get the hell off the street!" Octavia shouted at Cloud Chaser as they burst from cover and began galloping towards the 'Salt Block.' A second later the aliens opened fire raining green balls of death down upon the street, Cloud Chaser was faster than Octavia as she took the lead galloping towards the tavern entrance. Octavia could feel the ground being torn up around her by plasma fire, the shots were coming dangerously close to her. She kept her eyes trained on the tavern, she could see Cloud Chaser gallop inside; she seemed so far away. 'Keep galloping keep galloping' Octavia thought to herself as dust and flame exploded all around her. With one mighty leap she dove inside and hid behind an overturned table. Vinyl let out a sigh of relief as her best friend made it inside safely, "Okay ponies, hold up here! Cloud Chaser; behind the counter! Octavia; Upstairs! Braeburn keep working on that bomb! Derpy keep low in the post office, do not engage them by yourself" Vinyl barked out her orders as she flipped another table over and set up behind it. The flying aliens slowly lowered their altitude as they surrounded the 'Salt Block,' the sound of their flight devices echoed from all directions. The ponies waited in silence for the first alien to show, they switched their glances around the multiple windows and doorways the aliens could use. The tension was broken "Contact upstairs!" Octavia yelled out lining up her sniper rifle at the 2 flying aliens which barged through the upstairs balcony entrance. The other 3 aliens breached in from the main entrance downstairs engaging Vinyl and Cloud Chaser in a gun fight. Octavia managed to get a shot off from her sniper killing one of the aliens before they flew into cover. Vinyl unleashed a hail of bullets from her light machine gun towards the aliens, the bullets tore apart tables and chairs but fail to land any decisive hits of the elusive invaders. [Hunker Down] Cloud Chaser ducked under the bar counter to avoid the incoming fire, she turned to see Braeburn in the next room still inspecting the large bomb. "Luna damn you, stop donkeying around and defuse it already! We need you out here!" Cloud Chaser yelled hoisting her shot gun above her head and fired blindly towards the aliens. "Sorry Cloud, I need to take this slow like any other high powered explosive. One wrong move and it'll level this entire town in a split second" Braeburn explained breathing slowly as he carefully took off a small section of plating. "When you hold your life and the lives of others in your hooves you must be certain that your moves are planned and precise" Braeburn said calmly. "What the hell are you talking about?! Why are you so calm?!" Cloud Chaser backed as more plasma blew apart the shelves around her. "You must remain calm, under any circumstance, you need any mental edge you can get on whoever set this bomb up... It's risky and I don't wanna do it, but somepony gotta do it, and it may as well be me." And with that Braeburn nodded with determination, he leaned into the casing and bit down on a single wire severing the odd purple circuit. Braeburn closed his eyes and prepared himself for any outcome. Suddenly the green energy flowing through the main pillar dispersed as the bomb powered down. Braeburn gave a sigh of relief as he slipped beside Cloud Chaser taking her radio off her arm, "Twilight, the bomb has powered down but it could be reactivated at any time and be detonated immediately if the circuit is repaired. We need to defend this area until we could get a team to dispose of it completely." Twilight responded "copy that Braeburn, you've done Equestria a great service today. Vinyl; you and your team need to-" "-Yeah I heard, we'll hold here until X-Com can get some engineers here" Vinyl interrupted ducking back behind the table. "Great now we are stuck here with our flanks against a wall" Cloud Chaser grunted cynically ducking another group of plasma shots. Braeburn stood up and returned fire with 2 bullets from his FLD rifle which flew past the aliens and impacted on the front wall. Octavia holstered her sniper on her back, she knew that she wouldn't have time to line up a shot with her rifle so she decided to use her mouth to pull out her pistol from its holster on her hind leg and used it to fight the alien pinning her upstairs. Plasma tore through the table Vinyl was hiding behind forcing her to dive backwards over the bar to evade the incoming fire. She turned and saw the looks of fear and despair on her squad mates faces. "They are just to quick to hit, what do we do?!" Braeburn asked Vinyl pushing another magazine into his rifle. "We fight till we fall, the aliens must not rearm the bomb" Vinyl responded putting on a brave face and standing back up on her hind legs and firing her LMG killing one of the aliens trying to move to different cover. Suddenly gunshots came from outside and bullets tore through the front of the tavern hitting and killing the ground floor aliens from behind, and then shortly after the one upstairs. "What the?" Octavia stood up seeing the dead aliens. The X-Com ponies gazed out the windows and saw Derpy Hooves standing by Sheriff Silverstar and another member of the Appleloosa militia. Derpy waved to the dumbstruck ponies inside the tavern, "hiya ponies; Vinyl said not to engage by myself so I grabbed some backup... Please don't be mad" Derpy explained cowering in fear. Octavia's jaw dropped open, the whole squad was just saved by Derpy Hooves... For the second time! Vinyl stepped out onto the street and slowly trotted towards Derpy. Derpy lowered her head expecting to be yelled at, instead she was greeted by a friendly warm hug from Vinyl Scratch. "Thank you Derpy, you saved the whole team!" Vinyl said embracing Derpy. Slowly the clouds cleared and the morning sun lit up the town and the shadow of the two hugging ponies stretched far down the street for all to see. With the X-Com soldiers on one side and the militia on the other that hug was a perfect symbol that friendship and harmony still flowed through Equestria, and it had just beaten back the aliens. [Mission Complete: Bomb Disposal, Appleloosa] [Aliens Killed: 11] [X-Com Operatives Lost: 0] [Squadie Vinyl Scratch has been promoted to Corporal, Holo-Targeting perk added] [Squadie Octavia Philharmonica has been promoted to Corporal, Snap Shot perk added] [Squadie Cloud Chaser has been promoted to Corporal, Aggression perk added] [Corporal Derpy Hooves has been promoted to Sergeant, Field Medic perk added]