Resident Pon-Evil (Mission II) - Operation: Phoenix Fire

by Delta 727

Level 3: Tactical Launch

Harmony's Elements have come acquainted with their new ally, and they begin their plans to counter the Outbreak that has flooded Equestria. Unable to conquer this feat alone, the Elements look to Marigold to make out a new plan of backup to aid the team in the spreading wave of revenge.

*Begin Transmission*

Harmony's Elements, Marigold, and Itzel all stood over a small digital map table in the middle of their small cottage, reveling over their plans. They had been here for several hours, trial and error of plans that would instantly or eventually fail. They had tried everything, from assaulting a nuclear plant that would blow the whole of Equestria into a burnt wasteland (Denied due to the risk of killing the team and possibly Canterlot, and that the explosion may not even reach the whole of the infected), to sending Pegasi teams to air raid the land (Denied due to shortage of able Pegasi and lack of ammunitions to spread for the entire horde).

"Face it, y'all. We're outta feed for our inspiration herd," Marigold said with a sigh. "We've been laying around over a haystack of bad ideas, AND-" She paused at the sound of a low snoring. "-And does anypony mind waking up Chainlink?"

X-Ray gave Chainlink a shove with his hoof, and the armoured stallion collapsed to the floor. Chainlink awoke in a panic, staring around for the threat that awoke him. "Wha-!"

Marigold cut him off. "If you draw another gun on us, you'll be sore outta luck that Daisy ain't here to stop you this time. While y'all were sleeping, our ideas ran dry. Unless you'd like to offer a bucket to the stream?"

Chainlink recovered, clearing his throat. "Sorry, I'm fresh out of ideas."

"You haven't said a thing," Blade said. "How are you, 'Fresh out of ideas' if you haven't given a thing?"

"Cease your arguing..." X-Ray said. "We do not... Have time to turn on everypony... We are wasting valuable time in which we... Will be able to conjure a plan..." He turned to Itzel. "Any thoughts...?"

The yellow Alicorn shrugged. "I've already offered everything I can think of."

"Then we are... Hopeless, yes...?"

"Nonsense!" Marigold said. "Y'all can't just quit 'cause we don't have anything! We just need to dig this waterhole a little deeper. Think about it." The team remained silent. "C'mon, it ain't that hard." Still nopony said a word. Marigold sighed. "We're shooting down our plans 'cause we don't have anypony to back them up! What we need is a force that can push a barge big enough to break the wall!"

"And where exactly would we find this 'barge' of yours?" Blade asked, unconvinced.

"Uh, hello?" Marigold said, sarcastically amused. "Y'all are talkin' to the Liutenant of the Canterlot P.D. who happen to own the biggest arscenal and armed forces this side of Equestria!"

"I'm liking where this is going," Itzel said with a grin.

"All ah've gotta do is get a word in with Command, and we'll have a whole army on our hooves!" Marigold said, amused with herself. "It couldn't be easier if we were to balefire bomb the whole horde!"

"And why couldn't we just do that?" Chainlink asked.

Marigold sighed. " 'Cause unfortunately, our resources for such a weapon have been cut. We don't have the right stuff to build even one. So this is the next best thing."

"But you are... Missing one detail..." X-Ray said. "You are... Only a Liutenant... They will not put their... Whole of defenses into the hooves of... A single mare without good reason..."

Marigold smiled. "Well then," She said. "We'll just have to give 'em a reason. C'mon, y'all. Pack your gear. We've got an army to convince."

---

The team strolled up to the front entrance of the C.P.D., a large and heavily defended building in the Western side of Canterlot. Marigold trotted up to the armoured bulkhead front door, and pressed a button on a small terminal with a speaker and a small lightbulb, and with a buzz, a stallion's voice sounded through a speaker.

"Code phrase?"

"Colt Echo 72757," Marigold said.

The stallion on the raido remained silent, then said, "State your name and rank."

"Marigold. Liutenant Officer."

The stallion remained silent, then said in a sort of amused tone, "I can't seem to find you on record. You are being requested to leave."

Marigold sighed. "Open the door, Sabre."

The stallion paused. "And how are you going to convince me you can be trusted?"

"Lunch is on me," Marigold said.

"... Fair enough." The stallion laughed, and the lightbulb on the terminal flicked green as the front doors slid open.

"Stallions..." Marigold muttered as she entered, the Elements and Itzel following close after. They followed down a large, white hallway past several offices, some occupied. After stopping at an automatic door, she entered a code on a keypad in another terminal, and the door slid open. They then passed several holding cells, all empty. Marigold led the team to a door at the end of the hall, with no terminal or doorknob, and a tinted window in the upper half. She tapped on the glass, and a clicking sounded from the other side.

"Who is it?" A mare's voice sounded from the other side.

"Put the pistol away, Commander. It's only me," Marigold said.

The mare remained silent, and a buzzing noise came from the door. "Come in," The mare said.

The door slid open, revealing a mare sitting at a desk. She was red with a light grey mane, and dark pink eyes behind a pair of bifocals. She was thin but stocky, and she was wearing a leather holster that she replaced her pistol back into. Her desk was covered in papers with a lamp, a picture frame, and a small copper name card that said, "Commander Cherry".

"I nearly took your head off, Liutenant," The Commander said, returning to her work.

"At your age, ah'm surprised you can even hold that thing," Marigold said with a grin.

"Funny. I assume you are not just here to brag about how you are still young?" The Commander adjusted her glasses.

"Not even remotely. I neeed a favour of you."

Cherry looked up from her work. "I already told you, I am not replacing Sabre with a more reasonable pony."

Marigold laughed. " 'Fraid that's not it, either, Cherry. I need something even bigger."

"I don't like the sound of that..."

"Then you'd best hold onto something." Marigold sighed. "I need you to put me in charge of the Task Forces and full control of the Arscenal to take in with me for support in stopping the Outbreak in it's hooftracks." Cherry stared at Marigold, a blank expression across her face. "I'm serious."

"You're out of your mind is what you are. I cannot just hoof over every gun and pony over to a Liutenant who wants to be a hero. Again. You would need a much higher authority than even me for something that drastic."

Marigold chuckled. "Well, it just so happens that ah may just happen to have this authority." She stepped aside, setting Harmony's Elements into view. "Look familiar?"

But instead of looking to the Elements, Cherry pulled her pistol again and pointed it straight at Itzel. "What the buck is she doing here!?"

Marigold turned to Itzel, then back to Cherry. "Hey, hey, easy there, Sugarcube. She's with us."

"She is a Harrow's End assassin!" Cherry held her aim.

"Put it away, Cherry. She ain't one of them. She wants payback just as much as us," Marigold said calmly.

Cherry held her gaze, but slowly put away her sidearm, then looked straight to the Elements, stopping dead. "Is that... Harmony's Elements?"

"Sure is!" Marigold said. "Is that enough authority for ya?"

Cherry held still, then pressed her hoof onto a small speaker on her desk, and said, "Echo. Get your flank up here, please."

"On my way," A stallion said.

"Who... Is Echo...?" X-Ray asked, but Marigold and the Commander remained silent. About a minute later, the door behind them opened, and a large armoured stallion stepped in with a red-lens gas mask, helmet, and full-body armoured suit similar to Chainlink's.

"No... It can't be..." Blade said. "Chaos?"

"Good to see you too, Blade," Echo said. "But you'd be better off by referring to me as, 'Echo'. My Harrow's End name won't get much out of me anymore."

"I could have sworn to Celestia you were dead? And what about Buck?"

"Dead. Killed in the inferno after I'd made a gallop for it. The real question is what are you doing here?"

"We're here to request full authorization over the C.P.D. armed forces in a counter attack against the outbreak," Chainlink said.

Echo looked to Chainlink, then back to Blade. "And what does this have to do with you?"

"The Quarantine was sabotaged as revenge for us taking down Harrow's End, causing the anonymous posers to lose their payment methods. It's our responsibility to stop them."

"Sounds impossible," Echo said. "That was always your way." He pushed past the Elements and Marigold, standing across from Cherry. "I guess that's why you need me?"

"That's correct," Cherry said. "And you will be helping them in this operation."

"You're letting them go?" Echo said just as Marigold had said, "Y'all are letting us go?"

"Why, yes," Cherry said, amused. "I required a high authority for this operation, and Harmony's Elements fit this requirement. I am approving the mission."

Echo grunted, and turned to Blade. "Fine. I'll be helping you in this operation." He put a hoof on Blade's shoulder. "But you are to follow MY lead, and do EXACTLY what I say, WHEN I say it." He put his hoof down. "Are we clear on this?"

"Of course." Blade nodded. "Sir."

"I'm not your mentor anymore. Call me Echo from here on. We are to leave that behind with Harrow."

"That reminds me..." X-Ray said. "Why have you... Turned away from Harrow as well...?"

Echo looked to X-Ray, then to Cherry, who nodded. He looked back to the Elements and said, "After Buck was killed, I had escaped the facility and found Town Hall burned to the ground. I contacted Harrow for information, and learned of you and your team burning the evidence of the operation. Something felt wrong, and they disconnected me for asking of it. They later responded again, only to say that you had betrayed them, and I would be left on my own in suspicion that I would as well. After the Outbreak, I met Marigold at the station, and she sent me in an evac back here, where I was set into command over their armoury after their previous was killed in the Outbreak on a field operation. I was even the one who sent the Pegasi evac to your team after Marigold carried out the plan of eliminating Zernovski. That was when I had heard the news of Acid..." The team remained silent. "She was a good soldier. It was a shame to lose her, but her sacrifice came with Dmitri's demise, and that is unrepayable. Otherwise, in the current situation, I'll be supporting your team with the arscenal here in Canterlot, as well as your field operations."

"Now hold y'all's cattle for just one moment," Marigold said. "Y'all know each other?"

Blade nodded. "Echo's original name was Chaos, and he had once been my mentor who taught me everything I know to this day. It is an honour to fight by his side once more."

"Save the reunions, Blade," Echo said. "There's no time now. We need to discuss what we will be doing for our operation. Come with me. I'll show you around the armoury." He turned for the door.

"You are dismissed, Marigold," Cherry said. The golden mare nodded, and she followed out after.

"C'mon, y'all," Marigold said. "I'm just itchin' to see all the weapons!" She exited the door, and the team followed out. As the door slid shut, Cherry began to speak.

"Good luck, Elements." She sighed. "You may be our last hope..."

*Transmission Ended*