//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Operation Lance of Vengeance // Story: The Equestrian X-Com Project // by Sir_Puma //------------------------------// (The following chapter contains Drug references and mild gore. Should this offend you it is recommended to skip this chapter.) The Equestrian X-Com Project Chapter 9: Operation Lance of Vengeance ----- This was torture! Sitting alone in the base commander's office, waiting for her to return and decide your fate. This was the situation Thunderlane found himself in, all alone in this cramped metal office with only the hypnotic ticking of Luna's clock sitting on the desk to calm his nerves. To take his mind off the burning agitated feeling rising up his throat he rose from his seat and examined the pictures sitting upon Luna's desk. The first picture was of the ruler of Equestria princess Celestia, her eyes and smile were always comforting to look at, maybe that was why Luna had a picture of her sister on her desk. The second was of Shining Armor and Princes Cadence during their wedding, Celestia and Twilight could be seen in the background witnessing the moment of perfect harmony. Thunderlane began to notice a common theme; Twilight, the wielders of harmony, Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, all the rulers were there, apart from one. Thunderlane spotted a lone picture laying face down on the metal floor. Thunderlane picked it up off the floor and examined the photo, just as he predicted, it was of Princess Luna and the now abandoned Luna Republic. There was something different about the deep blue alicorn in this picture compared to the one Thunderlane worked for, she was smiling. Then Thunderlane realized, he hadn't seen Luna smile once, she was depressed, despondent, emotionally dead. Thunderlane put the picture back up on Luna's desk next to the framed picture of Celestia, they deserved to be together. Thunderlane quickly took a step away from the desk as he heard Princess Luna and Dr Whooves approaching. Suddenly the door slammed open and Luna stormed into the confined office, she was followed by Dr Whooves who looked quite worried and the baby dragon Spike carrying a large folder. The green finned dragon put the folder on Luna's desk in front of Luna as the alicorn of the night faced Thunderlane. Her face was stern as she looked Thunderlane in the eyes, despite his harsh military training he found it hard to meet Luna's eyes for an extended period of time. "Let us begin, take a seat Thunderlane" Luna ordered. Thunderlane sat on the chair behind him and awaited his fate. "To start us off, I hath concluded that thou actions on thy quarantine patrol were justified. Despite the loss of two soldiers during the conflict and failing to rescue the civilians, I understand and commend thou efforts. But..." Luna pushed the folder closer to Thunderlane. She was silent as she glared at Thunderlane, "thou hath fibbed to me." Thunderlane's eyes widened as he saw the folder, he knew the insignia printed on it's cover, it was the insignia of the Wonderbolt Academy. Attached to the top of the folder was a tag which read 'Thunderlane.' Dr Whooves spoke up "when the X-Com project began we requested data files on all of our recruits, just for things like medical conditions we had to watch out for, or allergies and things like that" Dr Whooves explained. "The odd thing is some of the files were missing, despite their claims that their records were maintained and stored for years... Your records were missing..." "You stole them didn't you?" Luna asked, already knowing the answer. "Thou broke into thy Wonderbolt record room and took your file. Did you not think I would find out?!" Thunderlane remained speechless, suddenly with a flash of light the deep blue alicorn changed into a white pegasus stallion. "Mentally unstable, unfit for battle, dangerous to those around him" Milky Way read from the report, a smirk appeared on his face as Thunderlane flashed back into reality. "It all makes sense now, the dreams, those 'statues' you told me about, shoving Octavia aside to charge the alien commander" Dr Whooves exclaimed putting the clues together, apparently somepony had told Dr Whooves about what happened in Dodge Junction. Again another white flash blinded Thunderlane and this time the doctor was replaced by the deceased Lyra Heartstrings, "PTI, 'post traumatic insanity.' You've gone insane Thunderlane" Lyra explained concerned for Thunderlane's well being. Thunderlane rubbed his eyes and focused on the brown stallion standing in the office, he was back to normal. "What do you recommend doctor, how can we stop his PTI" Luna asked. "The Wonderbolts had the right idea, Thunderlane is unfit for battle. The longer he stays on the front lines, the more likely he could hurt somepony else, or do permanent damage to his sanity" Dr Whooves explained grimly. As a friend he didn't want Thunderlane to go, but as a doctor, he knew it was best in the long run. Luna sat down behind her desk and rubbed her temples with her hooves, she couldn't let Thunderlane go ether. "I can not do that, I can not loose my best soldier after I lost two other ponies..." Luna looked up at Thunderlane again, this time her eyes were much more forgiving than before. "Thou knows of your condition, thou knows what could happen to you if you decide to stay... I am hereby giving you the choice to go or stay. Should you stay you will not become the field commander and not be chosen for 'Operation Lance of Vengeance.' Should you leave, the door is right behind you, I shall not think less of you and personally pay for your mental treatment." Thunderlane nodded his head, "I will stay, the aliens have to be stopped, even if it kills me I have to try. I will regain your trust" Thunderlane said saluting. Luna smiled, he reminded her of herself, both ponies knew that their future was bleak, but still fought for the future of others. She spoke much more calmly now "let us hope Fillyances doesn't..." Suddenly Luna stopped as the side of her office began to open revealing the lines of monitors. Luna's face dropped, but she quickly adjusted her mane and plastered on a fake composed expression. "Please stay quiet no matter what they say, let me handle this" Luna explained to Dr Whooves and Thunderlane as she faced the monitors. Only two monitors flared to life this time, Celestia's feed, and Fillyances's feed. Celestia seemed dispirited and slightly disappointed, which was unlike the grand alicorn. Fillyances was far to professional to let any of her personal emotions be seen. Luna bowed her head under the white alicorn and grey earth pony, "salutations Princess Celestia and Mayor Fillyances, is there something you wish to discuss with me?" Luna asked. Celestia didn't respond, her mouth trembled as she wanted to speak, but she knew she couldn't. Fillyances responded, "Princess Luna, certain information has been brought to my attention. The first being that X-Com had failed once again to defend Ponyville, the closest town to the X-Com headquarters. With the town only minutes away from your base how could you let the aliens escape your grasp with a reported 17 civilian captives?" Luna took an involuntary step back, "you must understand; we were caught of guard by the speed of the-" "-Should X-Com really be the fighting force you claim it to be, I find it hard that you were caught off guard. Not only did X-Com deploy a small defense force of 4 ponies, due to their inexperience in battle you lost two and just about lost a third" Fillyances interrupted. Celestia opened her mouth to voice her opinion but Fillyances spoke again, she wanted to get her point across and be done with this transmission. "Not only that, but word has come to my ear of your prized soldier Thunderlane. Deploying a mentally unstable pony onto the front lines tells me that the base commander is not taking her job seriously... Ponies are dying every day, you swore to protect them, you failed... I am withdrawing my funding of the X-Com project, I will use it to bolster Manehatten's defenses to protect my ponies... You efforts were admirable, but were not enough to face this threat by yourself... Goodbye Princess Luna" Fillyances announced. And just like that the monitor cut out, and the X-Com project was doomed. Without the large funding from Manehatten, the X-Com project would dry up and crumble to the ground. Luna put her head into her hooves, Dr Whooves and Thunderlane dared not move or speak, not even Celestia could summon the confidence to speak. "We... Were... So... Close" Luna muttered, in an oddly soft tone for her. "Do not despise Fillyances for her decision, she is only doing what she thinks is best for her civilians" Celestia repeated what she had said earlier. Again a silence engulfed the room, the ticking of the clock piercing the cold hum of the air vents. Dr Whooves shrugged, "i-it was a long shot anyway, it was unlike Equestria could stand united under pressure like this" Dr Whooves admitted. "No, it would have worked" Luna disagreed looking up at the stallion, her eyes moist and vulnerable. "We just had to take the alien base, stand united, power the elements of harmony, destroy Mosaic... We could have made it happen... We could have won..." "There there sister, you gave it your best try. We will abandon the X-Com project and let the settlements have their bits back... Maybe our luck will change, the future is always uncertain" Celestia uttered. "Will you return to Canterlot and help me muster Equestria's other defenses?" "Should the X-Com project be abandoned, there will be no future. There won't be an Equestria to defend" Luna retorted as she gazed into her sister's eyes, almost begging her to find a way. "We need to stay positive sister, return to Canterlot, we will begin preparations for the future." "Umm, Princess Celestia, I-I have an idea" Spike said as he stepped forward. Thunderlane, Dr Whooves and Luna quickly spun around in surprise, it seemed all of the ponies had forgotten he was here. Celestia smiled at Spike's innocence, she knew the best ideas could come from her smallest disciples. "Yes Spike? What is your idea?" Spike felt less confident as the larger ponies turned and faced him, fidgeting with his fingers he voiced his ideas. "W-Well there's a stockpile of broken UFO parts and leftover alien bodies Twilight couldn't find any use for... Do you think we could sell it to some pony who might be interested in it. It's just filling up our storage room anyway" Spike suggested, he was hoping he wasn't coming off to naive in front of two rulers of Equestria. Dr Whooves raised his eyebrows, "this might come back to bite us in the flank if some criminal organisations get a hold of these materials. Imagine what could happen if the Changelings got hold of alien equipment" Dr Whooves pointed out. "Judging by the scale of the invasion, I think the Changelings might have already gotten their hooves on some alien equipment, if they have been fighting as well as us" Thunderlane added. Luna brought a hoof up to her lip as she contemplated Spike's plan. "If you are confident that the X-Com project can succeed, perhaps Spike's plan is the best way to continue, if you can live with the risk of selling those materials" Celestia suggested. "I am confident, The X-Com project is our last hope... So be it! We shall sell our excess materials to whoever will buy them!" Luna announced, her hoof held highly and proudly in the air. Spike was truly surprised, he didn't think his idea was that good. "D... Does that mean..." He stuttered. Celestia bestowed one of her warmest smiles, "that's right Spike. You saved X-Com" Celestia pointed out. A wide grin spread across Spike's face, he tail wagged enthusiastically. Spike always loved hearing that his work was appreciated, and hearing it from Celestia herself, Spike was over the moon. "I can't wait to tell Twilight about this!" Spike squeed and ran out of the room with a spring in his step. Celestia smiled watching Spike leave, she admired his innocence. Being dragged into a war but retaining his childlike charm, it demonstrated his powerful spirit, a rare trait found in Equestria after the war started. "I should leave too, I know you have a lot of major financial decisions to make sister, I fully trust your judgement" Celestia stated. "That is true, thank you for for guidance sister" Luna responded. "Thank Spike for his idea. May we see each other again" Celestia bowed and then disappeared into a lake of static as the transmission ended. 'I miss you' Luna thought, she dared not say it with other ponies around. She had to maintain her brave and strong facade for her troops, or they would loose hope, like Luna felt she was starting to. ----- It was hard to accept Lyra and Bonbon would never come back to the base. Bonbon's open and friendly nature would never again be seen, Lyra's childish pranks would never haunt the base again. But they were not forgotten, their picture's were placed upon the altar to the fallen, and their names written on the wall. Even without those physical reminders, no pony could ever forget those two. But what of the other soldiers, with two casualties against a small abduction force, what hope did they have against the base? But the names on the volunteer poster were written in, and no pony had the courage to cross their name out. Bulk Biceps nervously looked over his bulky shoulder at the poster as he sat at Pinkie's bar. The poster had been taunting him lately, ever since Lyra and Bonbon died Bulk had spent his time drinking himself into a haze. Even though the two mares died only yesterday, Pinkie Pie had been noticing Bulk's odd glances and increased cider consumption. "The best thing to do with a cold is to wash it out! My mom always told me water was best, but I think fairy floss is much more better for a cold!" Pinkie stated approaching Bulk Biceps. The white stallion looked up from his glass at the energetic bartender, and then back to his glass. "I'm not sick... I-I just..." Bulk sighed, he couldn't finish that sentence. "Oh so you're preparing for a trip across the desert? Storing cider in your humps like a camel? I can't see your hump though, is it under your muscles?" Pinkie Pie asked. Bulk Biceps didn't even raise his head this time, "no Pinkie" he moaned. Pinkie Pie squinted her eyes, "oh I get it now. Drinking so much cider, quick glances at the notice board... You're not afraid of the base assault are you?" Pinkie inquired. The pink pony took Bulk's silence as a indicator she was right. "You know what I do when I'm scared? I just smile and laugh! Look at the brighter side of things, there is something funny about everything!" The pegasus looked up, she had hit the nail right on the head. He was afraid, he didn't want to go on this assault, but he knew he would be chosen, unless he took his name down now. "There's nothing funny 'bout this war" Bulk responded. "You were laughing the other day weren't cha?" "That... That was different. That was 'bout Ponyville, not the war" Bulk pointed out. "But it still made you happy! I saw those tears of joy in your eyes. So when your down and troubled, just think about those memories, and you'll be happy again" Pinkie Pie explained. "It's what I do when Twilight and the others aren't around, I make sure they're always with me... In my head" Pinkie Pie whispered putting a hoof on her temple. Bulk grinned glumly, she was pretty good at her job, already her random behavior was taking it's effect on the stallion. "Th... There is more than that... There is some pony I worry 'bout." "Ohhh, do you have a very special somepony Bulk?! Who?! Who?! It's Cloud Chaser isn't it! Her rough tough nature is the only thing that can match yours!" Pinkie Pie squealed. "No! It's not like that... I worry 'bout Thunderlane" Bulk admitted. "Oh so you two are like that are ya?" Pinkie inquired clopping her two hooves together. "No!" Bulk boomed. "He, is like, the best pony I know. The strongest and the bravest pony in Equestria... He helped me through some tough times in my life... And now look at him. He's not right, these aliens are killing him... And I don't know if i can save him... I don't know if I can pay him back for saving me..." Bulk Biceps explained. "He saved you? How? When?" "He gave me some good advice, when I needed it the most." ----- "Bulk? Bulk are you in here?!" "Yeah... Arr... I'm here..." "Bulk I... Bulk I want you to reconsider joining the Militia..." "..." "I-I know you made your point clear last time... It's just... I'm not sure if the four of us can defend Ponyville for much longer... We need a fifth... I need you Bulk..." "... Yeh... Umm... J-Just give me a bit to th-think on it..." "... What are you doing in there Bulk?" "D-Don't come in... Just g-give me a bit!" -Smash- "Oh! I just had to see it to believe it!" "No Thunderlane, it's n-not what it looks like!" "By Celestia's honor! I thought you were off the stuff! But here you are shooting up again!" "..." "This! This is what got you kicked out of the Academy! This stuff right here is what ruined your life! What the hell do you have to say for yourself?!" "... I don't think you have the right to judge me..." "What?" "Oh look at you! Big tough Thunderlane! The savior of Ponyville! The white knight of the ponies! Hah! You can't even tell Midnight Strike how you feel about her!" "What's that gotta do with anything?!" "Just because I need the roids to face another day doesn't make me any less of a stallion than you!" "This has nothing to do with being the bigger stallion! This is about you wrecking your life even more!" "Life is wrecked! Mine, yours, everyponies! If you haven't noticed there are mass murdering aliens running around town everyday! Killing everpony! Ruining families! Destroying everything Equestria once was!" "Look... I know it's hard..." "M-maybe with the steroids I won't need to be afraid... M-maybe the aliens won't get me too... Maybe I'll keep getting stronger! I'll get so strong that the aliens will run from the sight of me!" "Would you listen to yourself?! You're not like this! You're not like this at all! You would never be this selfish!" "The aliens don't play by the rules! Why should I?! They come to our planet with their plasma and their UFOs, but then its only a big deal when Bulk Biceps injects a few steroids into his body!" "Because it's killing you Bulk! No pony has seen you in days because you spend them locked up in here shooting up! Please Bulk; Ponyville needs you to step up and defend it... I need you Bulk..." "... Get out of my house Thunderlane..." "What?" "GET THE HELL OUTTA MY HOUSE!" "... Fine... Suit yourself..." "I hate you." "You know... One pony will never win this war... No matter how strong you get... You'll never win by yourself... You need teamwork... You need friendship..." -Slam- "What does he know... He doesn't know me..." ----- The day was coming to a gloomy close, the second day without the two support operatives, and a day closer to 'Operation Lance of Vengance.' Dr Whooves had finally finished tending to Midnight Strike, he had been by her side all day, applying medicine to her external wounds and her more difficult internal wounds. To tell the truth, Dr Whooves didn't think Midnight Strike would make it through the operation. When she was brought in she was barely alive, she had lost so much blood and wore serious burns about her body, but the hardest part of the operation was the reconstruction of her organs where the plasma bullet had torn through her skin. Before the invasion this operation was only performed by skilled unicorns, and rarely ever asked for. But now it was a rather frightening common case, earth ponies like Dr Whooves had to learn ways of patching together such wounds, but again, there was no certainty of survival. The very prospect of Midnight Strike surviving so far was nothing short of a miracle, her heart was strong and her willpower refused to let her give in and throw in the towel. Even though the flightless pegasus's condition could deteriorate at any moment, Dr Whooves had to attend to another pony. Keeping a close eye on Midnight's vitals from a computer in his office, Dr Whooves invited his sister Derpy into his office to begin his routine checkup on her 'condition.' The checkup was a simple process, attach a few brainwave sensors on her head, ask a few questions, and record the results. It was the most he could do, he just hoped any clue or odd behavior would pop up on the recordings so he could use the lead to find out how her brain worked, and how to fix it. But none had showed, and he had not made any progress on finding her a cure. "So how long? How long till you fix me up and make me just like the others?" Derpy asked, trying to remain still as she sat on Dr Whooves couch letting her brother work. Dr Whooves was gently applying small devices on his sister's grey colored head and wiring them to his computer. "Not long now... Won't be long until we don't have to have these sessions at all" he lied in a soft reassuring tone as he brushed more of her blond mane aside to attach another sensor. "You said that last time" Derpy groaned as she crossed her arms. Dr Whooves was surprised that Derpy could even remember back that far, maybe she was improving slightly. He smiled, "I did, and I was meaning to... But just with everything going on I lost track of time..." "How did you lost track of time? You have an hourglass on you flank." Dr Whooves chuckled lightly, "yes; yes I do... I should have used that" he agreed. There was a long silence as the brown stallion hooked up the last of the sensors into his computer, there was something plaguing Derpy's mind. "Umm... Where did Lyra and Bonbon go? I haven't seen them around lately." The doctor shot his head up and looked at the wall on the far side of his office. He didn't want to answer that question, but he knew he had to be the one to tell her, but not yet. "They left the base, they were deployed to Saddle Arabia to help bolster their defenses... Kinda like Braeburn heading to the badlands... They probably won't be back for awhile..." "Aww, I wanted to play with Lyra again." The doctor was silent again, the lies were killing him. But he had to keep it up, Derpy just wasn't ready for the truth just yet. He had even kept her from going to Milky Way's and Braeburn's funeral, he called it a 'going away party' and made sure Derpy had an important assignment in engineering while it took place. "Yeah... I'm sure Lyra is looking forward to playing with you when she comes back... You really liked her didn't you?" Derpy's face lit up, "oh yes. Lyra's great, the other day we played a huge prank on Scratchy. We couldn't stop laughing, Octavia nearly caught us! It was so much fun. Vinyl's great too, she had a good laugh when she found out it was me and Lyra." It was true, Vinyl Scratch and Lyra were the only ponies who really opened up to Derpy, they were her only two friends, apart from her brother. She didn't even know that one of them had died. The very thought of that caused Doctor Whooves to hide his face behind his computer monitor, he wasn't sure if he could hide his emotions anymore. "So you like Vinyl a bit too?" he asked keeping his voice calm as he began recording the readings. Again Derpy became energetic with her happiness, "yep yep. Scratchy's a really great pony! She asked me in to play a card game one night with Tavi and Pinky! That was the most fun I've had since we moved to this base! Tavi was a little bit bossy and Pinky was pretty weird, but Vinyl was a load of fun, cracking jokes, playing music, shes awesome!" "That's good, friends always help out when you least expect it" Dr Whooves smiled noticing an improvement in her brainwaves, maybe simply having friends around would give her the strength to fix her own brain. "Now Derpy... There is something we need to talk about... I saw your name down for 'Operation Lance of Vengeance.' I want you to cross your name out, it's far to dangerous." Derpy looked up at her brother, "but I have to! They're all counting on me! I need to be there!" Dr Whooves raised his eyebrows, the readings were quite odd. The patterns matched that of determination, but multiplied it by unnatural levels. "Such dedication... H-how" the doctor gasped. He pondered for a few seconds, his sister really wanted to do this, did he have the right to stop her? He had lied to her for so long, he had performed tests on her all her life, had he any right to tell Derpy what to do? "Hrmmm... Okay, just be careful... You don't know what you'll be facing down there... Just keep your wits about you." "Sure thing! I won't let you down!" Derpy smiled. "I know you won't" Dr Whooves responded. ----- Luna had returned to her office once again leaving her night staff to monitor the radar and the holo-globe. On her desk sat a pile of important documents, she had spent hours wrestling with these papers, her words had to be perfect, her judgement had to be pure. Now they were finally completed, apart from the signature of one other pony. A certain pony Princess Luna had placed all of her trust in, a certain pony who had been summoned to her office. The door opened, and the pony in question entered, Vinyl Scratch. "Hey Luna, what's up?" the unicorn DJ asked, her glowing pink and purple DJ glasses covering her eyes. "Vinyl Scratch, please, enter and acquire a seat" Luna beckoned the relaxed unicorn into her office. Why she would trust this important task to such a rowdy unicorn, she did not know. War changed ponies, usually it broke them, ripping their emotions into a million pieces, leaving them as a dead shell of their former self. But not Vinyl, Luna had seen it herself, this unicorn had the bravery to stand up against this unstoppable force, this unicorn had the willpower to lead. Vinyl nodded and collapsed on the seat with a thump, "what did you need this late at night commander? I was just about to call it a night and hit the hay before you called." Luna sat behind her desk, she pushed her papers closer to the white unicorn. "Vinyl Scratch, it is with great trust and careful judgement, I am bestowing the Field Commander position to thou. I believe a congratulations are in order." Vinyl's face dropped as she heard the news, this was not the outcome she wanted. "What about Thunderlane? Why isn't he going to be the Field Commander?" Vinyl asked, her voice was much more serious now. Luna shifted uncomfortably, "due to recent... Events... Thunderlane is unsuitable for the Field Commander role... You have proven yourself worthy of this position with thy outstanding efforts out in thy field and leading thy squad-mates." Vinyl lent back on her seat and fidgeted with her hooves. She hated the idea of leading X-Com into battle, she knew she had taken the lead on previous missions but that was only because no pony else would, she had to lead to survive. She never put her own hoof up for it ether. It was pushed on her, they voted for her. Leading X-Com fully? That was a responsibility far to daunting for the simple DJ. "No" she answered and pushed the papers back. Luna's expression turned to an icy cold glare, "I urge you to reconsider" she warned, her voice dark and threatening. Luna didn't take rejection well, as a ruler of Equestria it rarely happened. "I can't do it Commander! I'm not a hero! I don't have what it takes to lead these ponies!" Vinyl pleaded removing her glasses and letting the princess see her pleading deep red eyes. Luna tensed her jaw until pain shot through her teeth, she knew she couldn't order Vinyl to undertake this. "Everypony voted for thou to lead, everypony desires to follow you into battle. There is no reason to fret, X-Com will follow you." "Luna... Just... Just give me some time to think... My mind is all over the joint" Vinyl Scratch blurted out holding her head. "Be quick. The lance will strike soon, I want thou to be the pony wielding it. I shall hear you decision tomorrow, thou hath until then" Luna boomed in her royal voice. "Thanks 'Commander L,' I'll make my choice by then" Vinyl nodded and hastily left the room. In her haste she didn't realize she called the ruler of the night 'Commander L.' Left alone once again Luna sighed and dropped her gaze to the floor. ----- "No Twilight! I'm not doing it!" Spike cried. "Look it's just like the others Spike, you've done this before, you know it's not that bad" Twilight responded. A dim light illuminated the small room, a table covered in medical tools sat in the corner. An operating table was planted in the center of the room, the body of a civilian pony laid out on top of it. The body was slightly decayed and severely wounded, her chest had been opened up, like something had violently torn it's way out. "It's not like the others! It's a damn pony! I'm not doing an autopsy on her! We've gone to far this time! I may be a dragon, but you ponies raised me! I can't do this!" "Spike, we need to. This autopsy could be the very thing we need to overcome the Chrysalid infection. We could find how to save Ponyville." "Who is she?! She could have family! Loved ones!" "Shes an organ donor, we had permission from her family to research on her, we will return the body afterwards for a proper burial..." Twilight couldn't believe she was saying such things, and placing such heavy burdens on the baby dragon she had raised from his hatching. Tears were forming in the dragon's eyes, he put his hands together and begged, "please Twilight! Do we have to do this, can't we just call it a night?" "I have to do this! I have to find a way to fight the aliens... It's what he wanted me to do... It's the task he gave me..." Twilight trailed off. Spike realized Twilight was not going to back down, "I'm not doing it! WAAAAH!!!" Spike cried, tears flew from his eyes as he ran for the door. Suddenly he stopped as Twilight spoke again. "Don't leave me too... I'm sorry..." Spike sniffed as he turned around to see Twilight slump in the corner of the room. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You're all I have left Spike... My brother is dead... My sister is far away in the Crystal Empire... My friends hate me... Please Spike... don't leave me too..." The violet unicorn sobbed. "I can't go through with this ether." Spike nervously approached Twilight, and sat next to her. "There there Twilight, we'll get through this" he said putting a claw around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry Spike... I've ruined everything... I'm not cut out for this" Twilight whimpered hugging her assistant. "No Twilight, everything will be fine. The others know your trying, we're all trying... We'll get through this together Twilight." "Th-thank you Spike" Twilight sobbed. The pony and dragon spent the night huddled in the corner. Their world may have been ruined, there might not be a chance to return to the life they once had, but they had each other, and that was enough to allow them to sleep through this cold dark night. ----- Today I was told what I am, what kind of pony I have become. They told me I'm insane, they told me I'm loosing my grip on reality. A nutcase! That's what they think of me! Some pony to stuff into a pillowed cell and let their insanity take them to the grave! But I also feel an odd acceptance to the news, it does explain some odd things I have been noticing. Could it all be true? Is an asylum the only place for me to call home? They said if I left X-Com now I would hold onto what sanity I have left, but even then, only if I am lucky. I was given the choice to abandon my duties and leave the war so I can return home and we can live our lives again. What did I answer with? I'm sorry Rumble, but I chose to serve. I couldn't turn my tail and run from my responsibilities. Our life after the war may be hard, but please understand this is where I have to be. No matter what the cost. I know you support me on this, my future may be bleak, but yours will be magnificent. Live it for me Rumble. Entry10 Thunderlane's Private Journal X-Com Operative ----- "Everypony put your hooves up! Got a fresh new mix for all you ponies! Coming straight from the streets of Manehatten directly to your ears! I wanna hear your voices! I wanna hear your stomps! Lets get this party started!" - "Good job on your show last night Vinyl, I still can't say I like your, 'style' of music, but I enjoyed watching you throw yourself around like that... Just try not to overdo it and hurt yourself." - "Vinyl maybe you shouldn't head out today, some weird stuff is going on... I was told to stay inside by a police pony when I went out to get our groceries... They said the TV will tell us what's going on." - "Yes it is true that the unicorns have lost their magic, but there should be no reason to panic. These effects should be just temporary side effects of a comet passing the planet. So do not worry as our magic will return to us soon. The moon and sun will continue to orbit without interference. Canterlot's head researchers are on the case and they will work to shorten these side effects as much as they can." "Well that explains why I had so much trouble lifting things today. Guess that means I can take it easy today and you can do all work today Tavi." "I do all the work anyway." - "TAVI! You better come here and see this!" "Mngh, What? Do you have any idea what time it is?" "Look at the TV! What the hell is going on?!" "... Where... Where is this?" "Las Pegasus..." "Celestia save us..." - "Where are you going?! Don't tell me you are seriously going out to Baltimare to play that concert?!" "Jeez Tavi, relax. I have a crowd of ponies to entertain, it'll be safe there." "Baltimare barely has a defense force as it is! You can't count of the FLD to come save you if the aliens attack!" "It would be the same threat here. The FLD will protect all of us, I'll be fine." "Please don't leave me alone like this." "Come with me. If you can put up with my music that is?" "... I'd love to." - "... Octavia... I have an idea I've been thinking about..." "Yes Vinyl?" "I know how dangerous it is fighting the aliens, and what they did to the FLD... But, I think I want to sign up for X-Com..." "X-Com?! Why in all of Equestria would you want to charge out onto the front-lines like that?!" "Tavi, ponies are dying out there, we can't stay barricaded in like this! We gotta get out there Tavi! Think of all your fans being hunted by the aliens! We gotta help them!" - "Well I think you all know me, but if you don't the names Vinyl Scratch aka 'DJpon3.' You lot ready to buck some alien ass?" "Now Vinyl we cannot just charge in guns blazing, we need to use tactics and teamwork." - "What happens when we die?" "Shes with Celestia now, shes watching over us... Now lets give her a bad-ass show worth watching!" - "We fight till we fall, the aliens must not rearm the bomb!" - "They were X-Com ponies right daddy? Why aren't they scared of the aliens like the rest of us?" - "You have no right to insult Midnight Strike like that!" "You could never understand what I've been through!" "What we have ALL been through! If you haven't noticed the entire planet is under attack! Not just you!" "You dumb clod! Do you think I would be that stupid?! The stuff I've seen is things no pony could ever compare too!" "Enough!" - "Don't waste you're strength, you're gonna get through this! Can you imagine what Octavia would do to me if I let you die? Just stay with me Vinyl!" - "All I'm trying to say is be careful; the base has been changing. The soldiers are not the same ponies they were before your incapacitation." "Your talkin' crazy Tavi; ponies just don't up and change like that." - "let it all out Octavia, you'll feel better in the end." "Just... Don't die... J-Just do that for me okay?" "Don't be scared Tavi, before you know it we'll be living back in Manehatten and all this will be just a bad memory." - "I just wanted to thank ya for having me around Vinyl, I don't think the others like me to much." "Hey it's alright Derpy, you're a nice mare. Don't listen to what Cloud Chaser says." "I'm sorry for making Octavia so upset, I just don't know what went wrong." "Look you had a royal flush and you played it, thats the rules of the game." - "Vinyl Scratch, it is with great trust and careful judgement, I am bestowing the Field Commander position to thou. I believe a congratulations are in order." - 'What is this place... It's all so dark I can barely see... I've never been here before... Wait, I can see somepony... I can see, me... And, another yellow unicorn... I don't know who she is... She has a gun! Shes got an alien gun! Shes going to shoot me!' "VINYL LOOK OUT!!" -BLAM!- - Vinyl Scratch shot up from her bed gasping for air, her heat pounding in her chest and sweat pouring from her forehead. She quickly got a grasp of her surroundings, it was her room, she could tell by the large DJpon3 poster she had hung on the wall on the far side, she hung it there to see it every morning to remind her of the life she had. Also Octavia laying next to her was a dead give away. Octavia's eyes slowly opened, "Mrrgh, what are you up to Vinyl" Octavia moaned closing her eyes again attempting to give in to her urges to continue sleeping. Vinyl was still panting and confirming her surroundings, "n-nothing... Just a... Just a bad dream..." She stuttered. Carefully she lowered herself back onto her side of the bed, unsure if she should try sleeping again. She tried to close her eyes but she could not, there was far to much going on in her brain. "Octavia... Luna offered me the field commander position" Vinyl said. Octavia's eyes opened again, slowly she sat up. "She did? Thats wonderful. Will you be leading the alien base assault?" Octavia inquired, her face beaming joy for Vinyl's success. "But what if its not so great? What if I screw up? I saw what happened to Thunderlane, and he is much more qualified than me!" Vinyl pointed out. Octavia placed her hooves on Vinyl's shoulders, looking her in the eyes, "Vinyl listen to me. You won't screw up, you won't end up like Thunderlane, your more than..." "Octavia! Just stop it! I'm not the pony you think I am" Vinyl responded pushing Octavia away, slightly harder than she meant to. Octavia gasped as she recoiled from Vinyl's push, something was very wrong about Vinyl tonight. Octavia was silent as Vinyl stood up and trotted towards the door, "Vinyl, do you remember the day the riots started in Manehatten?" Octavia asked. The DJ stopped, she remembered it well, she had relived it just a few moments ago in her dream. "I... I remember it." "I wanted to stay in our room and just wait it out, but you dragged me out, onto the streets. I watched you climb on top of a carriage and face the looters. The way you spoke, the way you faced those frightened ponies..." "Tavi... That was..." "Or when you convinced me to join X-Com with you... You showed me how wrong I was to hide and let ponies die around me. That look in your eyes, the passion in your voice..." "Tavi please..." "Even in Appleloosa when we were pinned down in the Salt Block. What did you say Vinyl? 'Fight till we Fall?' Even with a devastating explosive sitting meters away, you gave nothing but selfless orders. You saw death approach and you spat in it's face by ordering us not to retreat and telling Derpy to keep clear..." Octavia took to her hooves and approached Vinyl. "Your a leader Vinyl. That is your fate" Octavia said and placed a hoof on the unicorn's heart. Vinyl looked down at her heart, and then back up to the pleading eyes of her best friend, "you really believe in me don't you?" Octavia smiled as she spoke, "you are exactly the pony I know you are, I just want to show everypony else your perfection." "Okay... I'll do it for you... Have you got my back if things screw up?" "I will support you to the end of Equestria." ----- "Head researcher? Princess Twilight are you around?" Twilight awoke to a voice echoing from her lab. Her hoof was wrapped around Spike holding him close, her back ached from being bent awkwardly all night, but somehow she had managed to fall asleep. "Urk, coming" Twilight groaned as she weakly lifted herself onto her hooves and slumped Spike over her back, who was still asleep. Straightening her hair up slightly with her hooves she opened the door out of the autopsy room and into her lab. Rare Find; a brown unicorn researcher; was waiting in Twilight's lab. His face dropped as he spotted the weary alicorn leaving the autopsy room. Word around the base Twilight had been struggling with her work lately, but the rumors were not enough to prepare Rare Find for the current state of the newest Princess of Equestria. "Err. Princess Twilight! I come bearing an invitation from Rarity to witness her unveiling of her latest project" the unicorn explained, his eyes darting about the lab, daring not to scrutinize the head researcher current condition. Twilight rubbed her eyes, she hadn't properly woken up yet. "R... Rarity? Rarity wants me to come see it?" Twilight asked, she was stunned that Rarity actually wanted to have her around after how Twilight had treated her friends lately. Spike yawned and slowly sat up on Twilight's back. Spike was accustomed to riding on Twilight's back, he could easily position himself in a riding stance without loosing his balance. "See Twilight? Rarity doesn't hate you. Come on lets go see her already!" Spike eagerly kicked Twilight's belly with his ankles. "Easy lone ranger" Twilight nickered and turned back to the Unicorn. "Okay, lead the way." Rare Find smiled and nodded his head. He lead Twilight Sparkle through the X-Com hallways, the cold steel tunnels used to make the alicorn shiver, but going to go see her friends, or even just trotting alongside Rare Find made her start to remember why she was here, standing defiant against the alien menace, alongside her friends. The door to the X-Com testing chambers hissed and opened as the alicorn and unicorn approached. A small crowd was gathered inside, gawking at Rarity's latest prototype. Twilight scanned the crowd, she spotted Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, some of the troops, base commander Luna and even Applejack. And in the center of the gawking crowd Rarity presented Bulk Biceps to the crowd, the bulky white stallion was covered in a new type of armor. Bulk's muscles seemed double the size they were without the armor. Thick steel plates coated his body, he seemed much more protected but much more encumbered. Bulk struggled slightly to keep his balance as he struck rather mareish poses showing off the armor. "Behold! The carapace armor!" Rarity announced to the crowd. Despite the thick alloy plates coating the white pegasus's body and the armor's bulky vest joining the plates together, the armor appeared to be graceful and futuristic. The crowd applauded and approached the white stallion examining him closely, Twilight Sparkle on the other hand approached Rarity. "Wow Rarity, this new armor looks amazing!" Rarity turned to the violet alicorn, "thank you Twilight; I'm glad you like the design. The thicker plates will protect our troops from alien plasma, but despite my best efforts I could not keep it's original mobility. This armor would be best suited for ponies who are shot at more often and are not afraid to loose their dodging capabilities" Rarity explained. Twilight smiled politely, she tried to speak and congratulate Rarity some more, but something was weighing down on her. She had to say sorry. "Rarity... About the other day..." Twilight said slowly. Rarity held up her hoof and shifted about awkwardly, "No, no, don't bring it up. I said some things that should not have been said." "But you were right. I have been a total idiot lately... I should have been there for Applejack... I should have been there for all of you." Rarity shook her head, "but I was wrong to say what I did. I never meant to hurt you for being busy... I just wanted you back... And you came back... Thank you Twilight, you're a true friend." Twilight Sparkle's eyes began to sting, if she had any tears left she may have shed a few, but these tears would have been from joy. After everything that had happened she still had her friends. Suddenly a loud voice boomed through the room, "should that armor make you gawk, this shall land your jaws on the floor!" Twilight shot her head over to the crowd "who said that?" she asked Rarity. Rarity rolled her eyes, "can't you guess?" the white unicorn sighed. The crowd began to part revealing the culprit to Twilight and Rarity. The boastful blue unicorn who refers to herself as 'the Great and Powerful Trixie.' With a wink and a tip of her large pointed wizard's hat her hooves pulled a mysterious weapon from under her purple cape. "Bow in awe to... The Laser Rifle" Trixie announced raising the gun up for all to see. From what the basic shape could tell Twilight, it appeared to be a gun, a heavily modified X-Com assault rifle. She noticed most of the chambers and other inner workings of the basic assault rifle had been removed and replaced by glowing red tubes and containers. The basics still seemed to be in the regular spots, barrel, trigger, hoof holders, ammo magazine, but they all seemed much more exquisite and futuristic. White plates cased the gun's mechanisms together, revealing some throbbing red tubes and covering other workings. A small winking Trixie face was printed on the side of the stock as a finishing touch. As Trixie guessed, the crowd was stunned by it's perfection, even Rarity and Twilight could not hide their astonishment. But Trixie was not finished yet, she span around gracefully and positioned her rifle in a firing position, standing on her hind legs and aiming towards the wall away from the crowd. "Derpy! Target! Now!" Trixie bellowed. Quickly the grey pegasus, who Trixie easily convinced to help her, charged into the room carrying a large target cutout Bulk had drawn for the firing range. The medic placed the cutout in front of the wall and dashed off to the other side of the room. "Good to go Ms Great and Powerful Trixie!" Derpy responded with Trixie's volume. Trixie's gun hummed loudly, the tubes throbbed and pulsed brighter and brighter shades of red. The gun began to shake in Trixie's hooves and a bright powerful glow radiated from the front of her gun. Then suddenly the light exploded in a white flash and a thick red beam shot from the futuristic rifle and contacted with the target almost instantaneously. The beam pulsed red hot energy into the target until it exploded into a fiery mess, casting flaming cardboard shrapnel all over the room. The crowd cowered in fear as the embers scattered about them, Trixie smirked and rested her gun on her shoulder and turned back to the crowd, "bow down to the greatness of my great and powerful Laser Rifle!" Trixie announced. Ponies ran about trying to put out the flames or fleeing from the smoke, even Bulk Biceps coated in Rarity's armor was timid seeing the laser's destructive power. Only Luna remained calm as the ponies ran around her, she glared a Trixie for a few seconds before clopping a single hoof on the ground. "Well done Trixie Lulamoon, thou efforts hath paid off in full. Perhaps this moment may haunt Equestria one day, but for now, your invention will turn this war around. Thy hath my admiration for such a great weapon" Luna announced. Trixie and Luna began to talk more about her weapon and the finer points of it's mechanics, Twilight and Rarity watched from a distance with their mouths wide open. Luna actually congratulated Trixie for nearly blowing up the lab, and Trixie actually created a laser rifle. In their amazement they didn't see Applejack approach and stand beside them. "Some weapon huh? Nice work on the armor too Rarity" Applejack said watching Luna and Trixie talk, and the other ponies run about putting out the fires. "Yeah, Trixie really impressed me this time... Oh Applejack! How are you feeling?! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, unable to hold her questions back. Applejack lowered her head letting the shadow of her hat cover her face, "I'm done crying... It won't bring my sis back..." Applejack paused for a few seconds before raising her head back up, "I thought I'd come check out Rarity's new project, but it looks like Trixie has stolen the show." Rarity sighed sadly, "it appears that way... Not to worry, I'll let my armor prove it's worth out in the field... I'm sure Luna cares about stronger armor as much as she cares about stronger guns..." "Heh, I was gonna show my new project to X-Com today too, but I didn't want to look like I was trying to out do you" Applejack chuckled. "You were working on something too? What is it?" Twilight inquired. Applejack tilted her head back and smiled teasingly, "not gonna tell ya. Your gonna have to wait until the alien base assault to see it in action" Applejack chuckled. Rarity smiled, "good to have you back Applejack" she added. ----- Time was ticking away, Operation Lance of Vengeance was only hours away, preparation had to be perfect if victory was going to be achievable. Luna had the volunteer list taken down and began to make her choices on which ponies she would send into the unknown. She hoped if she choose the perfect ponies for this operation, X-Com would win, and no more ponies had to die. Maybe capturing this base would end the war, maybe there was something inside X-Com could use. But getting that far would require an elite detachment, lead by a capable commander. There was a knock on the office door. Luna looked up from her papers and saw the silhouette of the pony in the door's window. "Vinyl Scratch? Please come in" Luna said. Just as Luna predicted, Vinyl Scratch opened the door and trotted into the small office, closing the door behind her. "I have made my choice. I will lead this operation on the alien base" Vinyl stated approaching Luna's desk. Luna nodded, "I thank thou for thy bravery, you carry the goddess's blessing on your shoulders, you will be safe." Vinyl sat in the seat she sat in a day ago when Luna first told her of her new duty. Thoughts of music, party and booze dissolved around her and was replaced by this new thought, duty. Vinyl was new to this responsibility, she needed more information to calm her nerves. "Who will I be taking on this operation?" Luna separated her paperwork, she slid 4 mugshot pictures over her desk. Luna began to explain her choices as Vinyl held each picture up. "Since Thunderlane is unable to partake in this operation, your assault pony will be Bulk Biceps. His brute force and brash nature should be quite matched for this scenario, also he will be wearing Rarity's new armor. Keep an eye on him, he is not invincible with the armor" Luna warned. Vinyl looked at Bulk's picture, "I understand. I like to have him covering my flank." "Thy next pony will be your sniper. The base could be quite tight inside, still it would be wise to have a sniper at your side. Octavia Philharmonica has proven she is much quicker to aquire and fire on targets than Midnight Strike. The pegasus is much more suited to outside combat, while the earth pony will be far more useful indoors. I also have taken your friendship into account when picking her" Luna explained resting her front hooves together in front of her face. Vinyl raised up Octavia's picture, "heh damn right shes not weaseling out of this" Vinyl chuckles. "Now onto the third... The medic. Derpy Whooves has proven time and time again that her skills are phenomenal. Despite her own condition I trust her to quite effective in this operation, and I trust the squad's health to her. I am also trusting her with the use of Trixie Lulamoon's new weapon, I feel in combat it will prove to be much more effective than the basic X-Com assault rifle." Vinyl moved her eyes over to Derpy's picture, an ordinary pony wouldn't trust something this important to this pegasus. But Vinyl trusted her, X-Com trusted her. "Good choice, Derpy is a great soldier." "Now to the last soldier. The newcomer Cheerilee... Despite her inexperience I can see the dedication in her eyes, she has the willpower to fight. She is also the only other support specialist X-Com has employed, you will need two support ponies on this mission." Vinyl picked up the final picture and examined it. She could see it too, unwavering dedication, unstoppable will. The unicorn nodded, "I will take her with me then. If she is as good as you say she will fit in perfectly in this squad." "Should you have no objections, this shall be your squad. Lead them well, do not fear the unknown. Thou shall achieve victory tonight, and Equestria may own it's tomorrow" the princess of the night announced as she stood up and saluted proudly. The white unicorn stood up also, and returned the salute. Something deep inside the DJ was still loathing this whole scenario, still her deep red eyes remained dedicated, "by your command Princess Luna, we will end this war." ----- The time had come, operation Lance of Vengeance was preparing to begin. The hanger was crowded by staff members and soldiers, cheering on the ponies chosen to represent Equestria in this brave assault. Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were happy to have the company, but despite their boastful natures the general attention was aimed towards the five ponies standing by the Skyranger. Small groups had splintered off in the crowd, for planning and fond well wishes. Dr Whooves had taken this chance to prep his sister as much as he could before she departed. It was hard to find the right words, and the stallion was even having second thoughts of sending her in the first place. "Now you may see some things down there that may seem odd and cruel, you need to ignore those thing, soon they will be gone from Equestria completely" the brown stallion lectured. "Don't worry, if I see some weird stuff I'll just close my eyes" Derpy responded with a warm smile planted on her face. "No don't! Keep your eyes open at all times! Don't let the aliens sneak up on you!" Dr Whooves boomed, he quickly withdrew his hooves from Derpy's shoulders as he realised how worried he was sounding. Suddenly Derpy's eyes went wide as she stared her brother in the eyes. Dr Whooves flinched at his sister's odd reaction, not sure if she was about to cry or faint. He took a closer look at her eyes, he saw them wobble as they strained themselves to stay open. "You can blink Derpy" the doctor added. Derpy gave a sigh of relief as she closed her eyelids and opened them. "I was gonna say, it was gonna get pretty painful down in the base after awhile" Derpy laughed bouncing on her hooves. - Over towards the Skyranger, the wielders of harmony finally were reunited. It was hard for the other 5 mares to find a time to come out and visit Rainbow Dash together between their various jobs. Rainbow Dash never admitted it, but she was very pleased to have her friends around again. But the attention of the group were not focused on the cyber-pony, but rather focused on the large wooden crate behind Applejack. "So? What's in it already!?" Rainbow Dash barked as she inspected the crate on all sides. "You'll see soon enough. All you need to know is how much it weighs, 'cause your gonna be carrying it pretty soon" Applejack chuckled crossing her legs and leaning on the huge crate. "What?! You want me to carry this over-sized hunk of junk?!" Rainbow Dash protested as she indicated it's massive size. "This thing is nearly as big as the Skyranger! How am I going to carry this all the way to Las Pegasus?!" "Ah thats easy Rainbow, we chuck a strap over your back and your suit should do the rest. Just fly with Fluttershy and then deploy my invention by flipping the release lever on your arm" Applejack explained. "It better be worth it, what is it anyway?" Rainbow Dash inquired as she inspected the crate for any openings. "Just be patient, you'll see it soon enough" Applejack chuckled. - Standing alone by the Skyranger the newest X-Com soldier braced herself. The ex-teacher practiced moving about in her armor, she examined her gun and got familiar with aiming it. Bulk Biceps approached her, his armor made a thud with every step. "Nervous Cheerilee?" Bulk asked as he lent on the Skyranger. Cheerilee didn't turn her head as she hopped on her hooves warming herself up. "No sir, just bracing for the next few hours" Cheerilee responded, her voice was flat and emotionless. Bulk shrugged his beefy shoulders and turned his attention to the crowd. A creak came from the Skyranger and Bulk quickly took his weight off of the drop-ship. "Ya know... It's okay to be a little scared..." Bulk Biceps added looking up to the sky. "I have no interest in being scared, it's what the aliens want us to feel" Cheerilee answered. Bulk looked at the ground awkwardly as he thought back to his last encounter with this mare on the battlefield. "I'm sorry for not saving your students, it just wasn't possible to go back into West Ponyville" Bulk admitted as he turned and faced Cheerilee. The ex-teacher stopped her stretching and gazed over the crowd consisting of the X-Com staff. She was silent for a few seconds as she heard the screams in her head once again. "I don't blame X-Com for that day. Despite being the best of the best Equestria has to offer, you all succumbed to the alien's greatest weapon. Not the Chrysalids, weaponized fear injected by all the horrible things that the aliens had done to us. I cannot blame you for being bested by that weapon. But I swear, I will never submit to their fear" Cheerilee spoke, her voice was slightly different, anger and determination began to slip into her emotionless tone. Bulk Biceps was silent, he felt pretty terrible listening to Cheerilee. It didn't make him feel angry, it just made him sad, coping with fear was something he struggled with. "Stay strong Cheerilee, it's harder than it looks" he warned as he trotted back to the crowd, seeing what Cheerilee had become made Bulk feel sick in his stomach. - "Vinyl Scratch! What in Celestia's name is on your back?" Octavia asked as she approached her best friend, who was busy receiving hoof shakes from the staff members about her recent promotion. Vinyl looked over to Octavia and shrugged, "what? It's just my rocket launcher." Octavia prodded the side of the large launcher with her hoof, "I know that, it's just what is written on it?" A large grin appeared on Vinyl's face, "oh that" the DJ chuckled. "I ran into Applejack today, seeing how she is finally done with her latest invention she offered to add a few improvements to my guns. I thought I'd ask her to engrave my gun while she was working on them" she explained. Octavia frowned at Vinyl and inspected her rocket launcher, the writing was written clear as day on the side of it's main chamber, 'The Bass Cannon.' Octavia planted her face into her hoof, "Vinyl; when are you going to take this job seriously?" Octavia sighed. Vinyl Scratch laughed as she nudged the grey earth pony, "aw lighten up Tavi, why don't you engrave yours? You could call it 'The Philharmoniper!'" Vinyl exclaimed writing it with her hoof in the air. Octavia closed her eyes as she rubbed her temples, Vinyl Scratch made her head hurt sometimes. "'Philharmoniper' seriously? I would expect something that stupid from Pinkie Pie." - The hour had finally arrived, it was time for Luna to address the crowd, it was time to start 'Operation Lance of Vengeance.' The crowd silenced as base commander Luna entered the room and stood in front of the Skyranger. The time for goodbyes and well wishes had ended, the chosen squad stood behind Luna and faced the crowd. Luna paused as she scanned the crowd, making sure everypony was listening. "Celestia bless this day, this day shall be the day X-Com will win the war for our planet. All of Equestria and the lands beyond will speak of us and our efforts this day, as they once again live in peace and harmony. This is the day we turn the war around, we may not completely destroy the aliens today, but with their leader dead, they will scatter like sheep and we shall hunt them down as the quarry they are." Luna took a step to the side and revealed the soldiers to the crowd. "These brave soldiers have been chosen to be the ones to lead the charge. Wielding a lance formed with our hated and vows for vengeance for what the aliens have taken from us. Milky Way, Braeburn, Lyra and Bonbon, they gave their lives for this day! We shall not waste this chance!" Cheers and stomps erupt from the crowd as Luna boomed with more passion. "And with the lance formed from our anger we shall drive it deep into their subterranean base, piercing their defenses and striking down their leader in one swift thrust! Today Mosaic will learn just how strong we are, Mosaic will know how we deal with our threats!" Luna barked raising her hoof up in the air, the cheering from the crowd echoed throughout the room and all of the deep tunnels of the X-Com headquarters. Luna turned to face the chosen squad, "Cheerilee, Derpy Whooves, Bulk Biceps, Octavia Philharmonica and Commander Scratch, give them no mercy, for they have given us none. Strike with the combined vengeance of all of Equestria, strike strong, strike true. Head Engineer Applejack's invention will get you into the base. Once inside you will face the unknown, be brave, be careful. The five of you are the only ponies in Equestria capable of this task. Our future hangs in your hooves." 'Commander Scratch' and her squad saluted the majestic blue alicorn, her speech and the applause from the crowd granted them the confidence to overpower their fears of the unknown. Should they succeed, Equestria's dreams of the war ending would come true, should they fail, death would be the only escape from the alien's vile plans for them. Commander Scratch put her hoof up in the air and faced her squad, "alright squad! Let's go end this! Can I get a buck yeah?!" Vinyl announced. Vinyl closed her eyes as wind blew her mane about as Derpy and Bulk responded with a loud and beefy "buck yeah!" Cheerilee and Octavia remained silent. The squad then turned their flanks to the crowd and boarded the Skyranger. The crowd covered their faces as Fluttershy activated the Skyranger's engines and began to rise up and out of the hanger. Rainbow Dash also gave her large metallic wings a giant flap lifting her off the ground carrying the large crate. Only one pony remained still as the two large exoskeletons took flight, Base Commander Luna. No pony knew it then, but an ancient plan had swung into motion. A dark and twisted plan conjured by one of the universe's most vile beings. One of the 7 ponies leaving the base was chosen, that pony would not be returning. ----- Apart from a loud drone of the Skyranger's engines, there was not a sound inside the drop-ship. Fluttershy was to busy flying to talk, and a burning nervousness prevented the soldiers from talking. Vinyl Scratch was never one for stage fright, the company of the backstage crew, the roars from her crowd, the thrill of taking her position on the stage, the DJ fed off it. Vinyl ran her eyes over her squad, this was different, there were ponies trusting their lives to her, these were her friends, her leadership had to be perfect for this operation to succeed. There was also a sense of deja-vu in the back of the Skyranger, all of the squad, apart from Cheerilee, were on X-Com's first fight with the aliens. Just thinking about how far they had come from the Mexicolt invasion brought a grin to the DJ's face. They had pushed through the draining experiences of the X-Com project to be here today, in this horrible silence waiting for the horrors they were about to face. Rainbow Dash's voice broke the silence, "alright we're getting close Fluttershy, stay alert for any alien gun emplacements, they could try shooting us down before we get closer" Rainbow Dash's voice radiated from Fluttershy's radio. "Ohmy! Ohdear! Ohdear! Why didn't we just stay at the headquarters and wait it out?!" Fluttershy responded, her voice hasty and panicked. "Fluttershy! Pull yourself together! We'll be fine! Just keep an eye out is all I'm saying." "Oh, yes, keep an eye out, right." A third voice called out from Fluttershy's radio, "Fluttershy? Rainbow? Do ya hear me?" a voice with a country accent called out. "Y-yes, we can hear you Applejack" Fluttershy replied. "Judging by your speeds, you should be right overhead of the alien base in about a minute. Fluttershy hold back until Rainbow Dash activates my invention, then fly low to the opening. Commander Scratch are you listening in?" Applejack asked. Vinyl Scratch turned on her radio, "yeah AJ, what do you need?" "When Fluttershy levels off, open the back of the Skyranger up. There should be some ropes and harnesses in the storage containers. Rope into the opening with those" Applejack explained. Cheerilee opened the container next to her to make sure the ropes were in there. "Gotcha, what opening are you talking about?" Vinyl Scratch asked. "Heh, I'm getting to that. Rainbow, when I give you the signal, hit the release switch on your arm." There was a pause, the burning nervousness had returned, they really were about to punch a hole into the alien base. "Now! Release the Tatzelwurm!" Applejack announced. Rainbow Dash flipped the switch before she could think. "Tatzelwurm?! Are you mad Applejack?!" Rainbow Dash boomed. As the crate opened it's floor Rainbow Dash expected a 30 meter long carnivorous earth worm would drop from her cargo and create a huge danger to both pilots. But instead a giant metallic 'drill' fell from it and plummeted from the sky. The drill looked like one used in a mine, but also combined with a missile. Engines fired to life spinning the drill head at a insanely high speed, and also flame shot from rocket boosters planted on the back of the drill shooting the large drill towards the ground. An engraved insignia caught sunlight as Rainbow Dash saw it. 'The X-Com Tatzelwurm.' With an awful racket and a cloud of dust, the Tatzelwurm made contact with the desert floor. Effortlessly the large drill passed through the layers of sand and burrowed deep into the ground. "Drill running at 80% power, contact with base in 10 seconds" Applejack's voice announced from the radio. "50%, 5 seconds... 20% power and we have contact! Repeat the Tatzelwurm has breached the alien base! Operation Lance of Vengeance is good to go!" Fluttershy brought the Skranger closer to the gaping hole in the desert floor. The troops had already attached their harnesses as Fluttershy opened the Skyranger's back door. Fluttershy turned her head to see the troops about to jump. "Be careful down there you ponies, I think they know we broke into their base from that racket" Fluttershy warned. Vinyl Scratch turned her head around and grinned at the pilot. "Let them know we're coming, it won't stop us" Vinyl grinned as she slid on her purple DJ glasses. She then dove from the back of the hovering Skyranger and descended with her squad into the hole, disappearing into the darkness. ----- The descent was slow and silent, layers of dirt and rock surrounded them on all sides. Each slide of the rope dropped them deeper and deeper into the Equestrian soil. The Tatzelwurm had tore through the soil ripping apart any dirt or rocks in it's way, if Fluttershy had seen the destruction up close she would have lectured Applejack on how many earthworms she killed, or how many ant nests she obliterated. An alien glow began to illuminate the shaft from far bellow, the strange purple light became stronger with each descent. No amount of preparation could have emulated this feeling to Bulk Biceps. He had run so many scenarios through his head of this day, sometimes he saved the day by heroically charging in and capturing Mosaic, just like Thunderlane catching the alien commander. Other times he watched his squad die around him before ending up face to face with an alien plasma rifle. But none of those of trial runs could have prepared Bulk for this feeling. It was all so real, the dirt, the rocks, the silence from the team, the fear of the unknown horrors below him. He knew he wasn't the only one feeling this, he could see Octavia nervously glance her delicate pink eyes downwards with each slide of her rope. He noticed Vinyl Scratch above him occasionally run her eyes over all of her team, despite her glasses covering her eyes, Bulk could tell Vinyl was nervous by the worried frown and clenched jaw. The white stallion couldn't see 'it' so much in the teacher and mail carrier. Cheerilee remained professional, occasionally checking her harness and equipment. Derpy just smiled, she was happy to just be with her friends. She was exactly where she wanted to be. Soon the rocks turned to alloy, an alien alloy, smooth, purple and oddly shaped. One by one the soldiers silently dropped into the base and softly placed their hooves on the metallic alien floor. The ponies were surrounded by mysterious objects and walls. To one side of the room big tubes with attached cables glowed red with energy as a loud drone echoed from the contraptions. To their other side the hole where the Tatzelwurm had pierced the metallic roof continued through the floor and deep into the earth bellow. Octavia slowly approached one of the contraptions and examined it closely, "could this be how the aliens power there base? Like our generator rooms in the X-Com headquarters?" Octavia inquired daring not to get to close. "Lets smash 'em, we could cut their power off and take 'em by surprise" Bulk suggested taking his shotgun off his back. Cheerilee shook her head, "steady yourself soldier, we have no idea how these things work. They could explode and kill us all, or release some new sort of alien monster on us" Cheerilee responded. Derpy moved forward and was about to poke the tube out of curiosity until Vinyl stopped her by deflecting her hoof, she was getting pretty accustomed to keeping Derpy out of trouble. "No touching Derpy, it could be pretty hot. Come on ponies, I can see a door over there" Vinyl said and pointed her hoof at a glowing blue door similar to the ones on the alien UFOs. Silently the X-Com squad gathered by the door. Vinyl gave Bulk a nod and the bulky white stallion placed his hoof on the center of the door. Like the ones on the UFOs the door dissolved around his hoof revealing a way into the next room. The sight stunned the squad, a long bridge stretched out before them, all around there was vast space reaching further than the eye could see. No walls or any other alien structures could be seen apart from the large wall behind the squad, the bridge they currently stood on, and a series of alien domes connected together on the far end of the bridge. "H-how?" Octavia gasped as she carefully approached the side of the wide bridge and gazed down into the orange haze bellow. The sheer depth of this excavation was mind boggling. 'Could there be other sections further down? Could we completely clear this base without transportation?' Octavia thought to herself. Cheerilee looked up, she couldn't even see the roof, "how is the desert retaining it's surface? How did the aliens build this without causing a gigantic sinkhole?" Cheerilee asked. "Maybe the base ignores the rules of physics? Like it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?" Derpy suggested as her head tilted to the side. Cheerilee remained silent for a few seconds, "firstly; I don't think this base defies the laws of physics. Secondly; how do you know about the laws of physics?" Cheerilee asked. "My brother told me about it" Derpy responded with a smile. Vinyl waved a hoof, "cut the chatter, we've got company!" Commander Scratch bellowed pointing a hoof toward a group of 4 little grey sectoids lead by a hulking green muton approaching from a branching bridge to the left. "Take cover behind the walls of the bridge! Bulk! Get to those alien crates over there and stop them from getting closer!" Commander Scratch ordered as her squad got into battle positions. The aliens ducked behind their bridge's wall as the X-Com squad opened fire on them. [Holo-Targeting] Vinyl's machine gun unloaded on one of the sectoids hiding behind the wall, her bullets struck the bridge wall as the sectoid ducked behind it. To the sectoid's dismay Applejack had made some modifications to Vinyl's machine gun and Octavia's sniper rifle. As the new tracer rounds impacted around the sectoid, Octavia's scope focused in on the area, a small computer inside her scope stabilized her rifle to fire much more accurately. A bullet erupted from her rifle and struck the sectoid in the chest as it rose up to return fire. The Muton bellowed and charged forward accompanied by a sectoid to where the bridges connected. Bulk Biceps stepped out of cover briefly to fire a shell at the muton, unfortunately the shell missed and impacted on the floor. The two aliens returned fire on Bulk's position blowing holes in the crates he was hiding behind. As one plasma shot burst through a metallic crate, a red glowing liquid began spurting out of it. Bulk howled with pain as the liquid soaked through his armor and began to burn his skin. "Hang on Bulk, I'm coming!" Derpy called out as she arose and galloped towards the struggling stallion. Derpy hit the floor as a sectoid on the other bridge opened fire on her. The sectoid's plasma shots melted the wall Derpy dove behind, the second sectoid lined his rifle up to shoot the exposed pegasus. But suddenly bullets tore through the sectoid's body and it fell to the ground and died. Cheerilee smiled as her bullets cut down that sectoid, "hostile down, get to cover Derpy!" Cheerilee barked. Derpy skittered to her hooves and dove behind the wall beside Bulk Biceps. She grabbed the muscular stallion by his leg and dragged him out of the acidic red pool with her mouth. Her head shot up as she heard the bark of Bulk's shotgun, she saw a sectoid fall to ground with a large shotgun wound in it's chest. Derpy also noticed Bulk lowering his shotgun, "keep going Derpy, I got em" he rasped, his body still in a lot of pain. The last sectoid opened fire on Octavia, the once graceful mare ducked her head briefly to dodge the plasma bullets. [Snap Shot] Octavia jumped up and planted the barrel of her rifle on the bridge wall. Octavia gritted her teeth as she took a second to line up her shot, fire erupted from the barrel as a bullet shot from the tube and blasted through the alien's shoulder, causing green blood to splatter from the sectoid as it fell to the ground. Suddenly the muton crashed through the leaking crates, the alien barely flinched as the red liquid ran off it's armor. As it lined it's alien rifle up with the pegasus dragging her comrade from danger, Commander Scratch raised her machine gun up to her hip as she stood on her hind legs. "Cheerilee! Help me with this big guy!" Vinyl ordered and Cheerilee took to her side in a split second. Bullets flung along the bridge as the DJ and teacher opened fire on the muton before it could shoot Derpy. The alien struggled and recoiled as the X-Com bullets tore through his body. The massive alien stood for a few seconds as Vinyl and Cheerilee stopped firing, it took a step forward to stop itself from falling and then fell over backwards with a thud, the mutons were hardy beasts. "Area clear!" Cheerilee announced. "Derpy, see to Bulk!" Commander Scratch ordered as she examined her surroundings making sure no alien had survived. [Field Medic] Derpy nudged Bulk Biceps onto his back and slowly removed sections of his armor, the red acid had burnt away small patches of his white coat and damaged his skin. Derpy opened her medical saddle bag and pulled out a small bone chew toy and gave it to him, "ponies say this helps dull the pain." Bulk Biceps smiled at the sight of his old chew toy, he bit down on it and braced himself, "Okay, do your worst" he grunted. Derpy took her medical spray and unleashed it's contents on Bulk's burns. The stallion grunted and squirmed on the ground as the moisture contacted his skin. His burned skin screamed out in agony as it began to heal, and slowly the pain subsided as his burns dissolved. "There we are, all done done" Derpy patronized. "Good work Derpy, Bulk you right to continue?" Commander Scratch inquired. "Yeah I'll be fine, lets keep going" Bulk responded as he rose to his hooves and put his chew toy in one of his grenade holsters. Vinyl nodded and waved her hoof, the squad carefully pushed forward across the bridge. Their hoofsteps and the soft breathing of the squad were the only sounds heard in this gaping chasm of a base. Slowly and carefully the 5 soldiers crossed the series of bridges and made it to the metallic alien domes on the far side. The X-Com squad breached the glowing alien doors and pushed further into the base. ----- Inside Vinyl Scratch's fears came true, it was a branching path. One to the left, leading up a ramp, and one to the right, leading up another ramp. Due to the high metallic walls there was no visual clues of where they lead, they were heading into the unknown. Sure she could lead the entire squad up one and push forward, but then they could be flanked, and killed. Her mind was made up, "looks like we gotta split up, Octavia; you take Cheerilee and Derpy up the right side, Bulk; you're with me" Vinyl Scratch ordered as the squad split up and carefully moved up the ramps. The top of the ramps revealed the rest of the room, two catwalks ran the length of the hollowed out dome. Each catwalk was lined with various alien monitors and computers, their hologram displays flashing various information in their alien language. The walls of the dome had strange circular humps along it's smooth metallic surface. Vinyl spotted the other half of her squad standing on the second bridge, should both groups push forward they would meet the end of the alien dome and another glowing blue door. The blue door suddenly dissolved as a group of aliens entered the room. Three mutons stormed onto Vinyl's bridge while two thin ponies and three sectoids grouped up on Octavia's bridge. "Open fire!" Commander Scratch bellowed and suddenly bullets and plasma littered the air. Twilight Sparkle's voice filled the radios, her voice was hard to understand due to the static in the air. "Comman... -hiss-... atch. -ssss- Watch... fire aro... -ssss- omputers... learn -hiss- so much." "We must be losing contact with the base down this low! Just watch your fire around the computers!" Octavia called out through her radio as she ducked some oncoming fire. Bulk Biceps ducked behind one of the large alien computers as a muton fired plasma past him, "it's kinda hard when they are firing this much plasma at us!" He bellowed firing a shotgun blast into the closest Muton, despite the shell's massive impact it failed to kill the large alien. As Bulk flipped back behind the computer to dodge the muton's retaliation, Vinyl slid her engraved rocket launcher off her back and into her hooves. [Fire Rocket] Using her shoulder to hold the rocket she took aim, not at the mutons threatening her, but across the room to the cluster of Thin Ponies and Sectoids. "Chew on this!" Vinyl announced as fire erupted from the back of her launcher, flinging the explosive rocket across the room and impacting on the wall near the alien position. Cheerilee ducked behind a row of alien computers spouting out orange hologram monitors as the explosion from the DJ's missile send out a powerful shock-wave in all directions. Cheerilee was the first pony in her group to raise her head back up to see the outcome. The aliens were mostly scattered about, dead, but a single Sectoid and Thin Pony staggered to their feet and hooves and dove into cover. Cheerilee's bullets caught the Sectoid before it could reach cover and blew it off it's feet as three lethal shots tore through it's small grey body. Derpy watched the oddly proportioned pony slip from cover to spit poison at Cheerilee, carefully she lined up her experimental rifle and unleashed powerful red laser, striking the alien pony in it's chest and blowing it apart into a cloud of green fog. "Field tests conclude, Trixie's gun make aliens explode, quite effective" Derpy concludes watching the remnants of the thin pony fall to the floor. A bullet from Octavia's sniper rifle tore across the room and finished off the wounded muton by striking it once more in the chest. Weakly it stumbled and fell to the ground with a thud, it's green blood slowly pooled around it's body. The two remaining mutons countered by charging forward closer to Vinyl and her teammate. Now that they were closer their shots were more accurate, one muton fired three shots at Bulk Biceps, the first two shots impacted on his armor while the third just missed his head. The new armor held strong preventing the plasma from tearing through his flesh underneath. The other Muton fired three of it's bullets at Vinyl Scratch, who was much less armored than her squad mate. The first two shots hit a nearby computer, the third exploded on the commander's flank, the force of the bullet hitting her light armor knocked the unicorn off her hooves and along the floor a few feet. Vinyl howled with pain, she tried to clamber to her hooves, but her hind hurt to much and her rear legs didn't have enough strength to lift herself up. Seeing their commander in trouble the three ponies on the far bridge took aim across the room, Cheerilee's bullets struck one Muton and then a red laser blast from Derpy's rifle shot through it's chest and killed the alien brute. The other Muton raised it's rifle at the wounded unicorn determined to kill one of the ponies before it was killed. [Disabling Shot] A large bullet fired from Octavia's sniper rifle and impacted on the Muton's plasma rifle. The earth pony knew that her rifle didn't have enough power to defiantly kill the alien in a single blast, but she knew a bullet could tear the rifle clean from it's hands, which it did. The Muton barked as the glowing alien rifle flew from it's stubby hands and skittered along the floor, a large golden bullet planted in it's side. [Aggression] Before the alien could make a dash for it's gun Bulk Biceps already stood before it, his muscles tensed, his eyes narrowed, and his shotgun planted firmly under the alien's red wrinkled chin. "Get the hell off my planet" he growled as he pulled the trigger and blew the Muton's head off. Quickly the squad rejoined with their wounded commander, Vinyl had already rose to her hooves and leaned on a computer for support. She tried to look as healthy as she could, but her flank still hurt, and her leg's could not completely hold her weight yet. "Here Scratchy, got some more medi spray for you" Derpy announced pulling her spray off her suit with her mouth. Vinyl backed up as Derpy pointed the spray bottle at her face, "No no no, I'm fine, I'll walk it off" Commander Scratch said backing away from the eager pegasus. Unfortunately Vinyl's hooves brushed past the hologram keyboard of the alien computer, suddenly the yellow hologram screen turned red as a pulse of red energy ran through the transparent tubes lining the walls of the dome. "What's going on?!" Bulk bellowed raising his shotgun as he followed the red tubes with his eyes. "What did you do Vinyl!" Octavia growled noticing the computer screen had changed color. "I don't know! I didn't touch anything!" Vinyl protested as she saw the tubes pulse the red energy into the odd circular humps on the dome walls. She saw red details appear on the humps. Suddenly a hump burst from the wall and rearranged itself as it hovered upwards. "Cyberdisk!" Cheerilee shouted as the destructive disk floated up on equal height as the catwalk. Vinyl Scratch watched as her squad opened fire on the robotic disk, their bullets deflecting off it's shell. The disk had proven again that the alien armor could withstand any amount of Equestrian bullets. But Applejack had left one last ace up Vinyl's sleeve, another ammo type set on destroying robotic creations. With all of her determination to save her squad, she mustered enough strength to raise her machine gun up once again. [HEAT Ammo] Commander Scratch unleashed a fury of specially crafted bullets. The bullets effortlessly pierced through the metallic disk and scrambled it's components inside. It shook and sparked for a few seconds as it's computer was destroyed and it fell from the sky. "Wahah they aren't that tough!" Bulk boasted as he watched it explode on the dome wall, but then he saw how many of the humps began to light up red. "V-Vinyl? There is to many of them!" Octavia commented raising her sniper rifle as some began to burst from the walls. "Hoof it! Come on let's get out of here!" Commander Scratch barked as she galloped towards the exit. Her squad followed hastily, charging out the door onto another series of bridges. Octavia was the last out, she slid out the door as plasma rained on the inside of the room. Thankfully the blue door closed before the cyberdisks reached it. As the haunting hum of cyberdisks were heard as the ponies caught their breath. "T-That was close" Octavia croaked. Cheerilee panted as she looked up at her commander, "does X-Com always do things like this?" Cheerilee asked, quite annoyed at how clumsy the Equestrian elite were, but keeping her voice calm to not draw attention to that fact. Commander Scratch slowly stood up, "you would be surprised what the aliens throw at us" Vinyl responded as she trotted off with her squad towards the next dome. Cheerilee frowned as she watched the squad continue, "or what you do to yourself" Cheerilee mumbled to herself as she followed her squad. ----- The next dome was another empty open room, the ponies stood upon a raised section of the room, at the far side of lowered section the door leading deeper into the base. Circular openings ran the length of the room, leading into dark tubes. Commander Scratch rested her hooves on the alien railing preventing the ponies from falling off onto the lower section, she gazed at the door on the far side. It was all to easy, where were all the defenses? If this base was the alien equivalent of the X-Com headquarters, where were all their troops? After-all X-Com only had 8 operatives, the aliens had an army. Octavia seemed to be the most interested in the alien equipment, seeing how the squad lost contact with Twilight Sparkle, somepony had to be marveling at the odd artifacts in this base. "What could they possibly use this room for? Is this the place they use for entertainment? Do they even need entertainment?" Octavia asked. "Nah I bet they got games on their computers that they play when their boss isn't around" Bulk laughed. Cheerilee shook her head, "don't think to much into those monsters, we are only here to kill them" Cheerilee added darkly and prepared her rifle. Commander Scratch finally spoke, "I don't like this ponies, keep quiet and move to the other door." One by one the squad silently climbed over the rail and down to the low section of the room. Flank to flank the squad crossed the room, their hooves softly tapping on the metallic surface. As the squad reached the door the tapping continued, Octavia turned around to see what was making the noise when she came face to face with one of the horrifying purple monsters the aliens had released on Ponyville. "Chryssalid!" Octavia screamed as she tried to jump back, but a razor sharp talon lashed out at her chest and pierced her grey coated skin. Commander Scratch turned around at the scream of her best friend to find Octavia on the ground with a chryssalid looming over her, it's mouth drooling saliva over her and about to finish the earth pony off. Before Vinyl could raise her weapon and call for support the chryssalid was filled with bullets. Cheerilee stepped forward as the chryssalid was pushed back from the bullets from her gun. Cheerilee's eyes were filled with hatred and vengeance as she unloaded her entire magazine of ammo into the chryssalid. The chryssalid fell in a bloodied heap due to all the bullets shot at it, but the ex-teacher was not done yet. She began to pummel the corpse ruthlessly with the butt of her gun screaming manically as she smashed it more, "Take this! And this! Just die! Die!" Vinyl took to Octavia's side with Derpy while Bulk Biceps tried to restrain the enraged mare, "come on Cheerilee! It's dead, we're okay!" he grunted as he tried to pull Cheerilee away. Octavia breathed quickly and lightly as Derpy looked over her wounds, [Field Medic] Derpy noticed Octavia's flesh slowly becoming infected around the open wound on her chest. Vinyl saw it too, "i-is she... Gonna t-turn into one of t-those things?" Vinyl asked, her chest was pounding and her throat was hurting with nerves. She didn't know what she would do if Octavia was going to turn. Derpy shook her head, her brother had managed to teach her much about medical symptoms, maybe it was her dedication to be like her brother that made it stick in her memory. "No, but she has been poisoned" Derpy explained taking her spray off her belt. She sprayed a thick coat of it onto Octavia's wound, the earth pony wriggled her body weakly with pain as the spray sealed up her wound. The pegasus patted the musician on her healed up chest, "there we are! You're all good now" Depry announced, her voice returning to it's normal cheerful tone. Vinyl sighed with relief as she helped Octavia up, "oh thank Luna your okay" Vinyl said. She wanted to say more but she didn't know what to say, the power of these feelings of worry were quite new to her. It had all happened so sudden, it was a reminder of how quickly any of their lives could end. "Mmhh, don't worry about me Vinyl... I'm fine..." Octavia croaked trying to stand on her own strength. Her body shivered nervously as it tried to deal with the close encounter. "Err c-commander" Bulk Biceps eeped as Vinyl rose to her hooves. "More of 'em" Bulk croaked. The DJ quickly turned around to see the chryssalid's pouring out of the tubes lining the room, "Run!" she bellowed opening the door behind her. She hurried Derpy out who was supporting Octavia. Vinyl waited for Bulk to charge out the door when she noticed Cheerilee load another magazine of ammo into her rifle.'Was she really planning to fight that horde?!' Vinyl thought as she bit down on Cheerilee's tail and with all her strength pulled her quickly out of the room. As the blue door sealed up behind them Commander Scratch turned to Cheerilee, "what in all of Tartarus were you thinking Cheerilee?! Were you really going to fight all of those monsters by yourself?!" Vinyl asked, the DJ always became very angry when her friends took risks like that. "Those... 'Things' in there killed my class!" Cheerilee stated. Vinyl Scratch found this odd, Cheerilee seemed so composed about the war before, but now she was speaking nonsense. "That's no excuse for letting them kill you too! Now come on, let's finish this" Vinyl retorted, trying to end the conversation before things turned nasty. Cheerilee nodded and walked with the squad towards the next dome along the bridge they had escaped onto. Octavia looked at the dome through her sniper scope, "looks like this is the last dome in this area" Octavia croaked, her voice was still wobbly from her near death experience. "Right squad; let's go finish this" Vinyl ordered. ----- The final room was less open than the last two, catwalks on both sides of the room ran along the length of the room and two paths in the center ran downwards. Some large alien pylons lined the various paths cutting the ponies visibility, but a bright purple glow could be seen in the lowest section of the room. Cheerilee inspected one of the closest pylons, she stiffed a scream to see an unconscious pony suspended in liquid inside the pylon. Cheerilee knew that pony from Ponyville, "I-I found where t-they took the hostages..." Cheerilee whispered. The squad gasped as they saw the pony also and would have spent some time trying to figure out if they could save the pony or not, if it wasn't for Octavia hearing the strange voice. "I hear voices up ahead Vinyl" she whispered trying to see through the foggy glow. An eerie voice speaking an alien language could be heard over the loud hum of the alien pylons. "I hear it too. Octavia and Bulk take the catwalk to the right, Derpy follow me up the left catwalk, Cheerilee use the pylons to sneak closer and wait to ambush" Commander Scratch whispered. The members of her squad nodded and carried out the unicorn's plan. As the ponies approached, the voice was slightly louder, it was a whispering voice some would mistake for the wind. As the pylons began to thin out the lowest part of the chamber could be seen from the catwalks. 4 thin ponies could be seen with a sectoid watching a large hologram monitor. The hologram was only visible for a few seconds before flashing out, but it was long enough for Vinyl to see a large pair of glowing purple eyes on the monitor. As the monitor disappeared the aliens turned around, that's when the squad noticed. The sectoid was different, it's skin was red instead of grey, and it's eyes were pitch black instead of the dull grey the other sectoids had. And the strange purple energy the sectoids had used to heal their comrades pulsed constantly around it's oddly proportioned head. The sight of this new sectoid was only rivaled by another realization, one of the thin ponies, wasn't a thin pony, but an equestrian unicorn. The unicorn seemed horrifying though, strange red veins ran up her body, they were so swollen the squad could see them under her yellow coat. Her eye's seemed swollen and bloodshot with yellow outlines creeping towards her pupils. She wore a bloodstained police uniform and hat which read LPPD, and a horrifying alien device had been injected into the back of her neck judging by the red pulsing tubes running out of the back of her neck and into a small device attached to her back. The ID on her lapel read 'Flashlight.' A green glowing alien pistol could be seen in her right hoof. As 'Flashlight' looked up at Vinyl Scratch the DJ realized, this was the pony from her dream, 'is she about to kill me?!' Vinyl thought to herself. The unicorn then realized, she had been spotted. "H-how?" Vinyl whispered to Derpy. The red sectoid spoke in its alien language in a broken voice, the device on 'Flashlight's back reacted pulsing red. The unicorn jolted her head uncomfortably and stumbled, before smirking and speaking in an uncontrolled voice. "IT apPeArs X-CoM hAS f-fiNaLLy JoiNed uS... I-I-I-I HaVe beeN e-eXpecTing tHis DAy." The X-Com squad came out of their hiding spot's confused by the alien's knowing of their approach. "What the hell is going on? Who are you?" Vinyl Scratch inquired approaching the railing. The policepony struggled to restrain her spasms as she spoke again. "I-I wAs knOwn as PoLIcePony F-FlashLIghT to YoUR kINd." "'Your kind?' You are a pony too are you not?" Octavia inquired from the other catwalk. Flashlight shot her head around and faced Octavia Philharmonica. "I hAvE beEn chOOsen tO HEAR M-MosaIC's voICe. I-I hAVe BeCOMe MoRE thAN a PoNY LIKe YOU!" Flashlight suddenly spasmed frantically, struggling with the device pumping more red liquid into her, she managed to scream out "BEWARE OCTAVIA PHILHARMONICA!" Octavia gasped, "y-you know me?!" The sectoid barked more alien language at Flashlight and her device hummed loudly. Flashlight shot back up into her slanted stance, "M-MosaIC's PlaNs wILL bE KnoWN tO YoU In DUe tIME, ANd ThE ROleS yOU WilL PLaY." Again Flashlight spasmed and screamed, "GET OUT OF HERE NOW! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Octavia flinched as she watched the machine pulse more liquid into Flashlight causing her veins to swell and knock her to the floor. Flashlight breathed heavily and picked herself back up. "Stay calm Flashlight, we're here to save you, just keep your head down" Vinyl bellowed preparing her machine gun. "I H-HeaR O-onLY MosAiC's wiSheS. I WiLL onLY caRRY oUT MoSAic'S WisHEs. I cAN nOt BE sAVEd. NoW LeT US beGIN oUR FIGht! JUsT As MOSAic hAs FoRESEEN!" Flashlight bellowed as the alien squad opened fire on the X-Com positions. Due to the elevation difference the aliens found it hard to take cover from the X-Com bullets. But the tortured pony remained still standing by the monitor, Mosaic had told her she was not going to be targeted. Around her bullets rained down from both sides slowly killing off the odd thin ponies one by one. Seeing that it's plasma pistol was difficult to land shots the red sectoid put away it's pistol and placed it's hands on it's head. The purple energy pulsed and cracked and then shot upwards and contacted with Bulk Biceps's head. Bulk dropped his shotgun and grasped his head in pain. Alien voices filled his head and the world around him began to distort. Suddenly all he could see was Octavia standing in front of him and a large pair of purple glowing eyes behind her. Somehow Bulk now understood what the voices were saying "kill Octavia Philharmonica, kill Octavia Philharmonica, kill Octavia Philharmonica." "G-GET... OUTTA... M-Y... HEAD!" He grunted as he opened his eyes, now torn with purple energy. "B-Bulk?" Octavia inquired nervously as she noticed her teammate struggling. Suddenly the bulky pegasus pounced on Octavia knocking her to the ground, Octavia managed to put her rifle between her and Bulk trying to hold him back. Her under developed muscles strained to keep the hulking pegasus from biting her face. Under all of her stress she managed to figure out what was going on. "Don't shoot him! Shoot that sectoid! It's controlling him!" She screamed. Vinyl and Derpy watched from the other side with horror as they saw the situation unfold. This was the moment Flashlight was waiting for. Flashlight had been tasked with one order and one alone, that she would follow without hesitation, 'kill Vinyl Scratch.' Flashlight stumbled to the left as she raised her plasma pistol up at the distracted unicorn. "ThIS Is ThE RoLE yOU PlaY ViNYl SCRatCH" the modified unicorn barked and fired a single life shattering blast towards Vinyl's head. Suddenly Vinyl's world began to slow as she realized what had happened. Her dream had predicted the future, Flashlight would kill her. The words "VINYL LOOK OUT!!" echoed around her, but she did not pay attention to them. All of what she had done throughout the war had led to this one moment. She had worried so much about leading her friends to their deaths, she had not realized she had led herself to her own. But then suddenly her vision of the plasma blast was replaced by whip-lashed blond hair and the back of her squadmate's head. And then blood... So much blood. Vinyl watched in horror as the searing hot plasma tore through her friend, she felt her blood splatter on her white coat, and she watched the grey pegasus fall to the ground in front of her. Vinyl screamed at the top of her lungs, but she could not hear it. But to the rest of the room they heard her voice call out, "DERPY!!" "WHAT!!" Flashlight barked as she saw the pegasus take the bullet for the X-Com commander. Her head shot to the left as she saw Cheerilee rush out of cover and fill the red sectoid full of bullets, tearing it's control of Bulk Biceps away. Flashlight knew her time was up, "I FaILeD yOU MosaIC... I DiD WhaT YoU WaNteD ME tO do... I WaITEd uNtiL ThE mOMEnt yOU spOKE oF... I HaVE KilLed aN INNocENT POny... PLeaSe, JUst LEt ME DiE..." Flashlight gasped as the device shook violently on her back. Suddenly the red fluid inside her turned lethal, the Policepony fell to her knees and gasped for air, until she was finally released from her cursed life. Vinyl didn't see Flashlight die, she had already taken to Derpy's side and rolled her onto her back. The pegasus's wonky eyes looked up weakly into Vinyl's wobbly red irises, "h-heya Captain..." she wheezed softly. "I-it's so c-cold down here..." Vinyl could feel Derpy's body tremble while she cradled her, Vinyl quickly examined Derpy's body for her medical spray, "where is your spray Derpy? Your gonna get through this" Vinyl responded trying not to look at the gaping hole in the pegasus's chest. "Cheerilee get over here!" Vinyl barked trying to get some assistance. "It won't w-work on a w-wound th-is big... J-just a-apply pressure to my chest... T-that'll k-keep me g-going for a f-few more seconds..." Derpy weakly took Vinyl's hooves and placed them on her wound, her hooves then dropped to the ground. Vinyl pushed down to try stop the bleeding, tears formed in her eyes as she felt her blood stain her hooves, never had she felt this helpless before. "Stay S-strong Derpy, Cheerilee's coming! You're gonna make it." Derpy looked up at Vinyl again, her face was stern and serious. This was the first time Vinyl had seen her like this. Derpy knew exactly what was going to happen, she wasn't going to be lied to anymore. And she was fine with it, this was exactly where she wanted to be, this is exactly what she wanted to do. Vinyl Scratch was safe, her friend was safe. "P-put on a g-good s-show f-for me Scratchy, I-I'll be... Watching..." All to quickly the pegasus's body went cold. Vinyl drew a sharp breath as she felt her friend go limp in her arms, she heard her soft heartbeat silence. All the X-Com commander could do was watch as the pegasus's sweet crooked eyes closed for the final time. [Mission Complete: Operation Lance of Vengeance, Las Pegasus Desert.] [Aliens Killed: 20] [X-Com Operatives Lost: 1] [Lieutenant Vinyl Scratch has been promoted to Captain, Danger Zone perk added] [Lieutenant Octavia Philharmonica has been promoted to Captain, Executioner perk added] [Sergeant Bulk Biceps has been promoted to Lieutenant, Flush perk added] [Squaddie Cheerilee has been promoted to Corporal, Covering Fire perk added]