Vagrants

by Jetfyre922

Nuclear

The sky was black with smoke and ash. There were still sounds of screaming and yelling, though the nuke had already hit the base. Jet’s face was fixed on the ground ahead as he sprinted through the wreckage. His mind was focused on one thing- Find the armory, get a gun, a vehicle and get the hell out of dodge.

Jet was brought to a sudden halt as one of the massive airships came crashing down in front of him, missing him by just a few hairs. Quickly shaking his head to rid the shock, he started to sprint down another path that he knew led to the armory and hopefully other survivors. As he went on, Jet had to keep weaving through the still falling debris and barely recognizable corpses that littered the ground.

Jet tried not to think of all his fallen comrades, some just at the age of eighteen. His plans just changed when he turned to find the armory half gone. A huge wave of nausea hit him- In his haste, he forgot that nuclear bombs meant radiation. He had to find a shelter, and fast. Quickly thinking, he remembered the nearby residential area that had once housed families, but it had been long since abandoned. There was a shelter there; every town had one, post war. Changing course he ran past the armory, headed towards the rows of houses.

As Jet neared the residential area, he noticed a few figures halted a little off to the side. Knowing that the radiation would kill off anything that did not move to shelter quickly, Jet went into a full sprint towards them to tell them to get to the shelter as fast as possible. As he neared the figures, he noticed that there were two men and a batpony gathered around a fallen, but apparently still breathing soldier. Jet recognized one of the men from his inprocessing orientations though the name escaped him at the moment and the others seemed to be more fledged members of the army.

“What are you guys doing, the radiation will kill you!” He got closer to the injured soldier. It was a human woman. The wounds weren’t too bad, but they would require attention. The people (and pony) gathered were still silent, and Jet assumed that they were in shock. “Alright, help me carry her, I know a shelter not too far away.“

“It depends on how far away it is,” the taller human soldier stated without breaking his gaze off the fallen comrade, “because one of us has been made a little unmobile.” He gestured with his head to the smaller human standing next to him, his condition now visible to Jet. It seemed that parts of his left body were missing, though it seemed to be to clear cut for it to be due to the explosion.

“It’s not far, just a few blocks down the road. We can stay there until the radiation goes away. We need to move fast.”

“That is still a bit away though” The soldier responded as he looked toward the broken human. “Can you make it that far in your current state?” he asked, receiving a nod from the small form. “Okay, take the feet and be careful. She is a rather important person.” He quickly stated toward Jet as kneeled down and took the fallen soliders wrists into his hands.

Lift on 3… “1...2...3!” Jet grunted as they lifted the unconscious woman. I was hard labor, but they reached the hatch door within five minutes. Jet felt like he was about to pass out, between the radiation and the work. His face was pale as the moon.

“Hydrate” the tall man stated as he pulled a water bottle out of a backpack he was wearing and threw it toward Jet, who fumbled before catching it. “Radiation takes a lot out of your system. Something tells me this is your first encounter with it, or have you been around it before?” he asked as he pulled out water for everyone who was currently still moving and breathing in the shelter.

“Nope, been in the army about a year, it’s my first time with any devastation like this.” Said Jet, thinking about what happened so far in his day. “Shouldn’t we take stock of what we have here? We could be in here for a while.”

“Shelters are usually stocked well in case, but you are right.” The tall soldier stated as he nodded toward the batpony who immediately trotted off to most likely check the status of the supplies in the shelter. “While he does that, you two should rest. You look like you got a rather unhealthy dose of radiation and you are missing a few parts.” He said toward Jet and the smaller soldier.

Jet wandered off into the expanse of the shelter. There were shelves stocked with rations, dried food and water. Ian another corner, there were cots. He sat on one, and it felt like a hammock. Eventually, they uncovered a generator, which gave power and sight to the rest of the shelter. Jet fell asleep to the low buzz of the generator.

The tall soldier took notice that Jet had drifted off to sleep as he continued to care for the injured woman. “So he is part of the regular forces here then, just like you are Grav.” He stated toward the broken human, who had taken up sitting on the opposite side of the wounded. Grav gave a quick nod as he continued to watch the tall human try to perform as much medical aid as he could. The batpony, now finished with his stock, came toward the pair gather around the woman.

“You want to get some rest? I can take over from here.”

The tall figure looked toward the batpony and gave a quick chuckle before answering. “Probably is for the best Quicksilver, I am sure that your spec ops training has more medical built into it than what I had. Me and Grav will follow in that young ones actions and take a rest. Come on” he stated as he and Grav to up and went toward the cots, laying within them and quickly going to sleep leaving Quicksilver the only one still awake for the moment.

“Never been much of a medic, but I can give it a shot..” He started working. First, he put some disinfectant on her major wounds. She stirred. Then, he started wrapping bandages around them. He noticed one that looked particularly bad, and might need stitches. Quicksilver finished bandaging the smaller ones, then turned his attention to the big gash in her shoulder. “Yep… definitely needs stitches…” He started to pull out the needle and thread. “I’m gonna be sick…”

As Quicksilver got the needle closer to the shoulder, he heard a sound come from the cot area. Looking up for a moment, he noticed that another figure had gotten out of a unseen cot and was moving toward him. He took note that is appeared to be a female unicorn with a rather cautious look on her face. One thing he was quick to take note of as well was the Celestial uniform she was wearing. She stopped a yard short of Quicksilver, a small side arm coming from a holster at her side.

“So some of you did survive the attack then.” she stated as she started to chuckle, not noticing small sounds coming from behind her. “This shall be rather easy. Got any last words?” she asked with a rather creepy smile as she waited for the batpony in front of her to respond.

Jet woke up to one of his allies being threatened with a gun. He held his breath, slowly, quietly making his way out of the cot and looking for the nearest weapon like object. He grabbed a nearby pipe, not daring to make any noise. He raised it over his shoulder like a baseball bat. He crept closer and the mare was still talking.

With a quick battle cry Jet tried to get a surprise lethal attack on the mare, but due to the radiation that was still in his system he missed his mark and hit her on her shoulder, managing to cause her to shoot the side arm off target, the bullet ricocheting off the ground right next to Quicksilver. The mare turned around and tried to pistol whip Jet, only to be stopped by her gun somehow breaking apart right before it made contact. The glow around the parts quickly changed to a rusty red color as it flew toward the cot that held Grav, who was now sitting up in bed. The parts somehow reformed into the pistol in his hands.

Jet stood there speechless for a second, before turning his attention back to the mare.
“I don’t really know what just happened, but you’re in for a world of hurt if-” The tall soldier interrupted him.

“Grav, throw me the gun” the tall soldier stated coldly as Grav nodded and threw the gun to him. He quickly got out of the bed and aimed the gun right at the mares head. “ten seconds, thats all you get to explain yourself before your brains decorate the floor.” He stated as he pulled the hammer back on the side arm. “Ten… nine.. eight…” He continued to count down before right at one the mare finally replied in a hasty voice.

“Well… uh… what do you want to know?” She said, putting a fake smile on.

“Who are you and what are you doing next to a Lunar Republic base dressed in a Celestial Uniform.” Said the tall soldier again.

“My name is Thorned Rose, and I was spying on the base for about a month. Nopony was any wiser, the fools. Now they’re all dead.” She did a bad job of hiding a smirk.

The tall soldier did not seem to react at all as his finger slowly added a small amount of pressure to the trigger. “Funny that you should say that… I have been on the trail of a spy named Rose for a while now. Who thought I would actually get a chance to meet her in person. So, any last words before you meet your end? Maybe the right words can save you” He announced as he let a small smirk appear on his features.

Rose tensed up. “I’m willing to join you. I think what Celestia did was unforgivable, and I realise the error of my ways.” She laughed nervously.

The soldier shook his head slowly and made direct eye contact with Rose. “You are lying through your teeth. And here I thought you would actually manage to save your life.” His smirk grew as he pressed the side arm into her head causing Rose to start shaking in fear. “I hope whatever deity you believe in is merciful” he stated as his finger depressed the trigger in one quick pull causing Rose to completely tense up with tears in her eyes as a small click was heard. Not feeling anything, Rose slowly opened her eyes to see the soldier with a wide grin on his face and Grav floating what looked like a small spring above his hand.

“Now then… you didn’t really think i would kill you did ya” the tall soldier asked as he
handed the gun to a frozen Jet. “Enough blood has been spilled today as is, plus keeping you alive will have more benefits. I mean you already told us who did this so I know you have useful information in you” He said as Rose was just able to stay there speechless with tears in her eyes before passing out. “Maybe too much?” he asked as he looked toward Jet for an answer.

“Maybe a little.” Jet slowly pocketed the broken handgun and gripped his pipe. “Now what do we do? Did anyone find a radio?”

The tall soldier looked toward Quicksilver who only shook his head slowly. “Looks like we don’t have one” the soldier stated as he looked toward Grav. “But we can make one if we get enough parts together.”

“How? Is someone a mechanic?” Jet decided to just go with what was happening. “Whatever.” He fished around in his pocket he had the handgun, some loose change, two depleted AA batteries from his TV remote and a paper clip. He pulled everything out and said “All I got on me.”

The tall soldier stepped aside to let Grav inspect the items in Jets hands. The rust red glow appeared again around the handgun, batteries, and paper clip. The items were lifted from Jets hand and disassembled, letting their components continue to float just above Gravs now glowing hands. He looked toward the tall soldier with a neutral look on his face.

“He needs more components to do this,” the soldier said as he looked toward Jet and Quicksilver. “Any of you got any ideas?”

“Do the parts have to be mechanical or just metal?” Asked Jet.

“I think a mix of both.” the soldier responded as Grav nodded. “Anything should do really.”

“I saw some electric blankets over by the cots, and there are nuts and washers under the shelves for some reason. I’ll go get the blankets.” Jet walked to the cots.

“I could go get the screws and stuff,” Offered Quicksilver.

The soldier nodded as the two went to go get the materials. As soon as both got back with them they were enveloped into the rust red glow and broken down to be joined with the other parts in Gravs hand. The solder dipped his hand into his backpack as he said “time for the last piece of the puzzle” as he pulled out a strange looking object from it. It started to glow as well before being broken down and levitated above Gravs hand. The components started to attach together by themselves, forming what looked to be a rather strange looking radio.

“How does it work?” Asked Jet. There were buttons and switches all over it, the only recognizable thing was the channels and the dial used to swap channels. He inspected it further, but there were no words written on it. He tried a switch on top, and static came out of the speakers. He fiddled with the dial, finding nothing but an old music station. The rest was just static.

“We should keep it on, just in case there are any broadcasts.” Said Quicksilver.

“Usually there wouldn’t be any due to the after effects of the nuke… but this radio should still be able to receive far past most others, so it might pick up a broadcast that was out of the range of the EMP effect. However, there is one small problem with that…” the soldier announced as he inspected the radio up close making sure it was stable.

“Why? Does it have a limited lifespan or something?” Jet was looking at it nervously.

The soldier looked at Jet with a semi confident face. “No, it has a rather good lifespan considering. The problem is this…” the soldier paused for a moment as he tried to think of the right wording to explain it. “It is the fact that the only one who knows how to make it reach that range is currently missing a voice box.” he said, his features not changing.

“So what you’re saying is- “ Jet was interrupted by the sound of the hatch opening. Five figures could be seen entering cautiously. It seemed that two of them were pegasi, one was a unicorn, one was a human, and the last one was an earth pony. The human, quickly taking note of the occupants, rushed toward the soldier and proceeded to slap him… hard.

“How dare you leave me like that Air, I thought you died” the human, who appeared to be female stated as the soldier Air rubbed his burning cheek. “And you,” she turned toward Grav as she threw a bag to him, “you forgot this. Really, you two are probably the worst when it comes to times right before a disaster….” she continued before another voice spoke up.

“Who is this? Care to introduce me?” Said Jet.

The woman quickly turned toward Jet and let out a small bow. “My name isn’t too important, just call me Mortar. I am part of Airs’ group here, though I am sure that piece wasn't really needed. Now if you would please return the favor youngling” she smiled at Jet as she waited for a response from him.

“I’m Jet. Short for Jetfire. My real name isn’t important either. Do you know if the Rad levels went down out there?”

Just before Mortar could speak the bag she gave to Grav started to glow as a bunch of gears and cogs flew out of it and attached themselves to him. After few few seconds, his body was now somehow reformed. He cracked his neck before speaking in a tired sounding voice. “It should be by now, though prolonged exposure will still damage a bit…” he trailed off as Air picked up where he left off.

“So we should probably try to head out as soon as we get sleeping beauty to wake up.” He stated as Mortar looked toward the fallen woman, her expression quickly changing to one of panic.

“Really, you let her get hurt… please tell me she is still breathing…” she stated quickly, a look of worry now forming on her features.

“Is she part of your squad too? I didn’t get a chance to finish patching her up, but her breathing stabilized.” Quicksilver told her.

Mortar shook her head as she looked at the resting woman. “No, she is someone who is very important. And SOMEONE should consider themselves lucky she is still breathing.” she stated angrily as she cast a glare towards Air, who didn’t react to the motion.

“I’m new to this whole army thing.” Jet said.

The radio sparked to life, with a frantic and broken voice. “The Lunar republic has shattered. Princess Luna has disappeared. There is no more Lunar Republic. They have won.”

The room became silent as the radio continued to describe what had happened, a mass nuking seemed to have happened in all major parts of the Lunar Republics’ military causing the Celestial forces to easily take over and dominate the Republic in one big swoop. Everyone was speechless until Grav started to speak up.

“How… how could they have done that… there was an agreement…” Air and Mortar quickly went to his side to try and calm him down as one of the ones who came in with Mortar, a male pegasus, quickly stomped his hoof down in frustration.

“How could this have happened you ask…” the pegasus quickly flew right in the middle of the gathering. “This happened because Luna thought it was a good idea to back down a smidge. Of course Celestia would nuke every little part of our military, because she knew she couldn’t win any other way.” His gaze quickly went to the between everyone as they soaked in what the pegasus just said.

Jet’s shock quickly grew to rage. His fists balled up and he yelled “I want to be there when that BITCH DIES, slowly and painfully!” He threw the pipe on the ground in anger.

Mortar quickly took note of Jets rage and ran to his side to try and calm him down. Grav had calmed down, though an eerie red glow surrounded him as he continued to calm down more. The pegasus was quickly engulfed in a green glow as the female unicorn walked to the middle of the group to try and calm everyone down.

“Listen everypony, this isn’t how we should be acting.” she started as her gaze scanned through everyone in the shelter. “The point is right now our home has been shattered due to Celestia deciding that mass murder was the only option she had…” she started to trail off as the weight of it started to finally appear to her. “So many people we all once knew….” Air hastily took over to try and calm everyone down.

“She is right, many have died today in a cowards attack. That fact can not change… but the fact that this nation, your Republic is shattered is something I refuse to believe. You all don’t believe what we just heard right, it can’t be true. Luna can’t truly be missing… I know she will turn up soon stronger than ever and attack head on like she always does.” He stopped, a saddened look on his face as Mortar gave Air a sharp look.

“You know what I say? I say we fight back.” Jet said, confidence rising in his chest.
“How?” Asked Quicksilver, “Luna’s MIA.”
“We form a rebellion. We can be called The Vagrant Army. We will dethrone Celestia. We have the training, the numbers for a basic camp, all we need are weapons and a proper base; HQ, if you will.”

Air, Mortar, and Grav stepped forward with mixed expressions on their faces. “We can get those supplies” Air stated as looked at Jet, the expression slowly turning thoughtful. “But there is a catch with it” Mortar started to speak next, her voice a little quieter.

“And it is kinda a big catch” she stated towards Jet.

“What’s the problem this time?”

“It’s our one of our outposts, just a few klicks from here.” Air started as he took a step closer to Jet, his expression turning cold. “And I can bet you my bottom bit that the people there have turned side to help Celestia.” Mortar quickly added in.

“They always prefered the top bit instead of staying loyal, thats why only we were hired for this job.” She turned her gaze toward the still unconscious wounded woman. “We will also have to keep her alive, no matter what happens.” she stated with a sharp tone in her voice as she turned her head toward Jet, to hear his thoughts on what they just said.

“We could still do it the hard way, scavenging for supplies at ground zero. It’s probably dangerous, but our only other option is stealth.” Jet’s rage had been replaced with thought.

Air took a second to think as an idea hit him. “I have an idea, though it will require a lot of equipment. Most of which should be at ground zero… and it will allow us to take the outpost rather easily.” Mortar and Grav exchanged nervous glances as Air looked towards Jet, knowing that he was the most level headed as the current time.

“We should send a team. Fastest and strongest go. Me, Quicksilver, Grav, Air and Mortar. We’ll get the supplies and come back here for planning.”

“Seems like the best group to go, as long as everyone else who stays behind can make sure Sleeping Beauty stays safe and Miss Solar Spy here will stay in control.” Air stated as he moved toward Jet with Mortar and Grav following.

Jet grabbed his pipe and headed towards the hatch ladder, the team in tow. The sky was now a deep shade of pink, and most of the smoke had dispersed. Now you could fully see the damage. Scorched earth for miles around.
“Celestia WILL pay.” Said Quicksilver. They walked towards the smell of fire, and it didn’t take long to start seeing scorched, mutilated bodies.

Air was one of the first to notice the bodies and decided to try to help out the ones who had never been in this kind of environment out. “Do not look at what is around you, just keep looking forward toward the horizon and goal. It will only hurt that much more if you look…” Air trailed off as they continued down the path of scorched earth.

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. We have big plans for this, so stay tuned.

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[Jetfyre922]

Those five dislikes are from The Celestial Alliance.