Dan dropped down into one of Halberd Base's random, narrow corridors. Smoke rose up and quickly escaped through the hole Dan had used to enter but the hallway's design and high ceiling filtered it away from him. Alarm lights swirled, advertising a state of emergency that was already evident. The MY-Wing's bombing run, combined with the control tower collapsing into the structure itself, had severely damaged all of Halberd Base's subsystems. Power fluctuated erratically and the lights flickered in some places.
Most of the Enclave's active units had either been dealt with by Derpy and the Rogues or had retreated into the base. Which was exactly where Dan wanted them. He began walking through the hallways slowly, searching for the nearest willing victim for him to teach many undo lessons to.
Oddly enough though, among the base's systems that were still functional, the intercom system was still operational despite the fact that none of the Enclave technicians were in a state to use it. In the absence of a proper controller, the comms picked up and began broadcasting a signal from a radio station in Appleloosa. Dan came upon a trio of Enclave reinforcement pegasi just as the music started.
"Hey! It's him!"
"Get him! Open fire!!"
Darling, we're just so good together~
As green plasma bolts arced towards him, Dan jumped up on one of the railings at the side of the corridor. He sprinted back and fourth between it and the railing on the other side, expertly going back and fourth between the two as he closed the gap on his attackers. Dan dodged every bolt until he jumped on the first one.
Done so many things together~
"AAAHH! AAAHHH! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
There's no one else I even want around~
"Oh mai gawd...!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHH- UAAGH!"
Grabbing the neck of the first 'claver, Dan pressed her down in her power armor and smashed his fist into her helmet, making it rebound against the floor. He bashed the helmet until it cracked and her visor shattered, revealing the struggling merc underneath. Another smack to the face laid her out.
So, tonight, baby, let's take the whole place down~
The others hadn't been able to fire with their comrade's now k.o.'d body in the way but they soon opened up. Dan dove at the next one, grabbed her up by her legs and brought her down into her friend.
Let's really shake the ground!
"AAAIG! *clang!* AAAIG! *clang!* AAAAHHHG!! *CLONG!*"
Baby, you and me can paint the towwwwwn~!
So tonight, baby, let's take this whole place down!
"Attention all units, primary target has been sighted at Sublevel-Two in the south quadrant. All tactical reserve units, converge at Sublevel-Two and neutralize target."
"GO GO GO!! Ready all weapons, set to maximum firepower!"
Darling, we've seen the way they look~
"Security Teams Apex and Pinnacle in position. Tempest Squadron in position, Group Eighteen arriving with heavy ordinance!"
*CLANG!*
"All squads in position and ready to engage!"
In every sight and glance they took,
"He's breaking through the door!"
*CLANG!*
It seemed like they were lookin' down~
*CLANG!* *BAVOOOSH!*
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
"Give it everything! Don't stop!!"
But now it's clear to see
"Keep firing!"
"Oh sweet Luna... he's using the door as a shield!!"
There's no better place to be~
"Get down! Get down!!"
"AAAAHHH!!!!"
*BWAM!*
Baby, they can turn their heads and frown~
Cuz' tonight, baby, we're taking the whole place down!
"FIRE!! FIRE!!!"
"Apex Team is down! Pinnacle Squad is- AAAAAHHH!!"
*BWAM!* *BAAM!*
We'll turn the whole world upside down!
"All squads retreat! All squads retrea-" *BAM!*
"Fall back! Fall ba- AAGUHFFF!"
We'll show 'em every sight and sound!
"All reserve squads, retreat to fall back positions! All reserve squads- oh crap... he's in the communications room."
Baby, you and me are gonna paint the town~
"Uhh... this concludes our broadcast for today. And now, we'd like to-"*BAM!*
Because tonight, darling we're gonna take the whole place down!
-Instrumental interlude-
*ring-ching-ching-ching*...*ring-ching-ching-ching* "Hello?"
"Hey, mom, it's me."
"Oh, Skybright, it's so good to hear from you, sweetie. How are you doing?"
"Well, uh, I'm not really that great mom-"
"Oh, I was just talking to your sister the other day."
"Yeah, that's-"
"You know, she's almost finished with her second master's in Baltimare. She'll be able to practice all kinds of law now."
"Yeah, that's great, ma. Listen, I was wanting to talk to you-"
"I'm worried about those ponies you're with, Sky."
"I-I know, ma, that's actually what I was calling-"
"They're not very nice. And I heard they did something very awful to Cloudsdale. You weren't involved with any of that, were you?"
"Well, kinda... but mom, I'm calling because I don't think I'm gonna make it back today from this one."
"Oh no, why's that?"
"Well, they're doing a real-time action montage sequence and they're playing that weird lounge singer music over it and... I'm kind of calling you during the interlude right now. I don't think it's gonna work out well for us."
"..."
"Mom? Hello? Oh gawd..."
"This wouldn't have happened to your sister."
"OH GAWD! NO! PLEASE, PLEASE NO-"
"Your sister went to college."
"NOOOO!! NOOOOOOO!!!"
"Hi, excuse me, but she's gonna have to call you back. From the infirmary."
"Oh, it's quite all right. Have a nice day!"
"You too!"
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! MOMMY!!!!!"
So tonight, baby let's show 'em how!!
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
Let's really get it started now!!
"All forces, retreat! All forces- AAAAHH!!!" *BAM! BAM! BAM!*
You and me, we're going out to paint the town!!
"Critical systems failure. Evacuate immediately."
Darling, let's take the whole place dooowwwwnnn!!!~
*BAM!*
Dan's mayhem continued long after the intercom system finally shut off. The cameras that were still operational showed him dragging a screaming Enclave pegasus down a corridor by the back of her head, randomly smashing her into walls as he did. She had tried to ambush him and it clearly had not worked out for her. When he finally tired of her screaming, or ran out of walls, he dropped her and let her curl into a ball, eager to find more victims.
And there was no shortage of them. Not all of them tried to fight him, however; more than a few begged.
"Please... Cloudsdale, that was just my first mission. I-I-I, I wasn't even part of the raids afterwards! They haven't even given me my power amor yet!!"
Dan shrugged. "Well, you know what? Too."
"Two?" the pegasus shook nervously, Dan towering over her. "T-two what?"
"Too squeeing bad."
"AAAH!!!!" *CRSSSH!*
He grabbed the small, unarmored mare and threw her through a glass window into an adjacent room. Finally, as his destruction continued to reduce the base's staff, he finally ran out of ponies to beat the crap out of. He began searching for the next objective: things to steal and/or break.
Dan's battle through the Enclave fortress had further damaged the base itself, mostly because of the missiles, rockets, mines, flamethrowers, heavy incinerators and even this one pegasus who tried to blow him up with a time bomb made from a potato clock. The Enclave ponies had fallen in droves to Dan's unorthodox tactics and maneuvers and now the human strode through the corridors, stepping over the bodies of those who had tried to stand in his way. Eventually, he realized he could do no further damage on this floor and decided to use the elevator. Quickly, though, he found the elevator was inoperable so he had to use the stairs.
One level down, the corridors were actually a little wider. Instead of looking like an underground base from Fallout 3 or New Vegas, it began to look more... practical. Instead of a giant tube, it was more like a regular building but with steel walls. The doors even became square and were spaced further apart instead of right in front of each other. The intersection became further apart, too, indicating that each room must be a bit bigger. After looking around a bit, he went through the first available door that looked interesting, the one marked Cafeteria A.
What he didn't realize was that underneath it, printed smaller were the words: Boss Room.
When Dan stepped into the cafeteria, he was surprised, the first time he'd been since he'd stepped in the base. Rather than some sort of pseudo-military concession or depository, there were banners and decorations. The room still had the drab gun-metal gray appearance of the rest of the base with absurdly high ceiling lights but it was well-illuminated and looked like it had been prepared for a party. A massive banner that read "Congratulations All! Aegis Semper Caellum!" was strung from wall-to-wall towards the back.
"Huh... those bastards," Dan thought aloud. "Planning to celebrate a little early, eh? And I wasn't even invited. Tsk, tsk, tsk." His voice echoed just a bit off the walls but otherwise, the room was silent.
In the center of the room was huge display case that looked like it contained a piñata. As he got close to it, Dan saw that it was actually a suit of power armor made to look like a piñata. At the base of the case read the display label: Enclave Fiesta Supremo de las Campana Fuego Armor Prototype. The armor was mostly orange and yellow, like an advertisement for tacos but with black spaces where the pieces connected and pink lightning strikes on each piece. For some reason, it reminded him of something Lightning Claw would create. And then, Dan saw Lightning Claw's name printed underneath the display label identifying him as the chief designer.
"Huh. Figures."
Finally, the armor looked for the most part, bulkier and sturdier than what the ponies he'd just smashed to pieces had been wearing. The helmet had a giant sombrero built into it with the same pattern as the armor only more vibrant. But unlike the other armor suits the Enclave wore, this one didn't have a jetpack attached. Or any weapons at all from the looks of it- just a big sombrero and extra armor. He walked past it and towards the serving area of the cafeteria.
Hot food, ready to be served was all arrayed buffet-style at the serving area. There were no less than three make-your-own taco, burrito and even an omelette station and four nacho fountains. They were all switched off but still warm, a clear indication that somepony had been here not long ago. The smell of monterey jack, pepperjack, cheddarjack, colby jack, blackjack, whitejack and Jack Black's Crackerjack Lip-smacking, hunger-attacking nacho cheese still hung in the air. Dan could not help himself but to try at least one chip.
"Hmm... wow," he said to no one in particular. He keyed his earpiece, "Hey, Twilight? Tell Spike the nazis actually might give his nacho recipe a run for his crystals."
Static answered him. He keyed his hooves-free device again. "Hello? Hello? Anybody? Anypony reading me?"
"*krrrzshhhht... krzzzssssshhhttt.*"
He checked the device. "Figures," he remarked again. "Evil fortress of assholes doesn't get good reception. Should've been expecting this."
*KRRSSH!!*
The sound of glass breaking caused him to spin around. In the center of the room, the display case shattered, pieces of it falling to the floor.
"This was meant to be our victory," a blue pegasus with steel-colored mane and beard said as Dan came close. "Our victory against your kind."
Dan smiled. "I was wondering when I'd finally meet the big cheese. Figures I'd find a big rat right next to it."
"The only rat here is you," Sharp Winter said, glaring back at the human. He showed no fear in his voice, in his expression, in anything as he landed next to the suit of armor. "Because you're the one that's caught in this trap."
Former Cloudsdale Logistics General Manager
General Sharp Winter
Leader of the Enclave
"Haha, oh, do tell," the human scoffed. "I've only kicked every ass in this entire base, tell me how this was all part of your plan to trap me."
The general snarled at him and turned to the power armor. Piece by piece, he removed it from its stand and put it on. Underneath was actually one of Rarity's mannequins from her Carousel Boutique. It seemed to have held up the weight of the armor just as easily as any other garment, something Dan noticed.
"You don't understand," Sharp said, venom in his voice. "You landed in this world, you GOT everything you wanted practically hoof-delivered to you. Me and my girls had to build EVERYTHING. We worked for this, for ALL of this and some surface-dwelling biped isn't going to take it away from us."
"My ass," Dan retorted. "You didn't build Cloudsdale yourselves but you and your little sneak attack blew it up. You massacred your own kind so I'm just here returning the favor on their behalf. And mine. I liked Cloudsdale."
"Pffft," the general scoffed. "One city. When we were an army, we had the whole SKY under our command. Commander Hurricane led the Grand Pegasus Army to every corner of the world and not a single thing dared fly against us. Then, that garbage "peace treaty" she was forced to sign disbanded our forces. That's why she made the Enclave- because one day, she knew the skies would be ours again. Now, that day has finally arrived."
"Where?!" Dan asked, looking around sarcastically. "Where has it arrived?! You all are a bunch of deluded fangirls with your heads up your asses! I BEAT your entire army with my bare hands! All your soldiers, all your weapons, all your base are belong to me now, bluebells! Your victory day just got canceled."
"I think not," Sharp grinned. "You don't have any idea what it's like to work as a pegasus. To have to maintain the entire horizon and get only a third of the credit. The Enclave was tired of it- working crappy jobs around the clock while fliers like the Wonderbolts or Rainbow Dash or Daring Do got credit. When Vice gave us the opportunity to get something better, we took it." Finally, he put on the last piece of armor. The sombrero locked into place on top of the helmet and he turned around, standing on his hindlegs, he looked like a power armored taco bandito.
"You got lucky, Dan... you fell into this world, a world where you felt you belong. Where you felt at home. For us, we have to work every day to make the Enclave a reality, to make it something more than just a fandom! But because it was a fandom first, we're united by a cause, a cause that you can't stand up against!!" he spun around to face Dan, fully armored. "...the hell are you doing?"
"I'm eating a taco," Dan answered, sitting at a cafeteria table. "They were getting cold."
"You put that taco down!"
"No. *Nom*"
"RRRAAARRRGH!" Sharp Winter raged. The sombrero on his helmeted ignited in flames. Fire ran from the he head all the way down the limbs of the armor and down to his tail, creating a fiery whip. "You're in my base! You killed my doodz, now ur eatin' mah foodz!"
"This is actually really good."
"ENOUGH!" Flames shot up from his hooves and the sombrero's pointed top. "I am General Sharp Winter of the Grand Pegasus Enclave! Commander Hurricane gave us our past... now the Enclave will seize the future!! AEGIS SEMPER CAELLUM!!" The fire ignited the banner at the back of the room and caused it to cascade down in flames. Dan had to dodge as part of it landed on his table. The final battle for Halberd base had begun.