//------------------------------// // Level 6: Manehattan - Lighting The Fuse // Story: Resident Pon-Evil (Mission II) - Operation: Phoenix Fire // by Delta 727 //------------------------------// After discovering the military outpost base in Manehattan, Harmony's Elements prepare to take back the city. They signal for supplies, round up the army, and prepare to send the Infection across the city their retaliation. As they begin their plans, they discover that it may not be as easy as they anticipated. *Begin Transmission* Six Pegasi attached to a secure transit flew through the night sky over Manehattan, the hordes of Infected groaning down below. As they flew along, one of the Pegasi spotted their target. "There," a mare said, pointing her hoof to an orange flare on a rooftop landing pad. They immediately flew toward it, and began to land. Dingo, with TrailBlaze at his side, waved his hooves, guiding the team to the landing pad. The transit touched down, followed by the Pegasi. Dingo trotted up to the mare in the front. "This all you could afford?" Dingo asked. "This is it," the mare said. "Cherry says that the ponies back at base need to eat, too. We'll have evac out as soon as you can clear the city." "Thanks, Bolt," Dingo said as he began to trot away. Bolt stopped him with a grunt. "Oh, of course..." Dingo threw her a small bag, which she caught in her hoof and opened. "They're all there. Try not to eat 'em all on the way back. Sugar cubes don't exactly grow on trees." Bolt nodded, and signaled the Pegasi team to release the transit. They detached, and flew away toward Canterlot. Dingo trotted back to TrailBlaze, who eyed him expectantly. Dingo held out his hoof. "Snuck one out for ya." TrailBlaze giggled, took the sugar cube in her mouth, tossed it up, and caught it with a crunch. "Let's head in. The team's waiting." He trotted over to a fire exit on the roof, and pushed it open to let TrailBlaze slip past a large team of SpecOps leading out to secure the supply transit. A few minutes later, Dingo and TrailBlaze entered a recreational room. Harmony's Elements and Nova team were all seated around a table, playing Canterlot Hold 'Em. Marigold and Itzel had the majority of the betting ammunition, followed by Blade, Socket, Cell, Chainlink, and then X-Ray, who had already folded. Dingo lingered in the doorway for a few seconds before he said, "So nopony here missed us?" Nopony turned their head as they continued with their game. He bent down to whisper something in TrailBlaze's ear, and she nodded, covering her ears. Dingo drew his sidearm, pointed it to the ceiling, and fired off a shot. The card players were startled, several pulling weapons. "Dingo!" Socket said. "What the hoof is wrong with you!?" Dingo chuckled as Commander Cherry's voice came on the loudspeaker. "Dingo, what did I tell you about firing a weapon outside of the range?" "Yes, Mom," Dingo replied with a chuckle as Cherry hung up. "Now that I have your attention, the shipment's here. We'll be able to feed the ponies in the base and start preparing to take back the city." "And what of... The sugar cubes...?" X-Ray asked. "Bolt has 'em. Thanks for smugglin' 'em for me. Cherry would kill me if she found out I stole them." Cherry's voice came back on the loudspeaker. "Those are coming out of your pay, Dingo." "What pay? Ya don't pay us!" "Exactly. So don't state your crimes out loud next time." "And what about X-Ray? He's the one who stole 'em!" "He is not mine to command. You are. Now keep it quiet next time, or don't let it happen again." Cherry hung up with a click, and Dingo just grunted. "Is TrailBlaze okay?" Itzel asked. "Yeah. She's right 'ere." Dingo said, stepping aside as TrailBlaze uncovered her ears. Itzel trotted up and looked to Dingo. "She wasn't any trouble, was she?" "Naw, not at all," Dingo said. "And she's quite the good shot!" "What?" Itzel asked. "She's a good shot. Saved Marigold's life, she did." "She nearly took mah head off!" Marigold said. "Well, c'mon, it was amusing," Dingo said with a laugh. Itzel returned the laugh sarcastically, then bucked Dingo's sniper from his hooves. She took the rifle and bashed the stock across Dingo's muzzle. He collapsed, gasping in pain. "I told you you weren't to let her shoot no matter the circumstances, especially for your own amusement!" Dingo coughed as Itzel aimed the rifle to him. TrailBlaze nuzzled her leg. "It's okay, Momma. I'm not hurt, and neither is Marigold. You don't have to hurt him." Itzel paused, then threw the rifle down into Dingo's side, causing him to grunt. She knelt down and ruffled TrailBlaze's mane, causing her to jump back, giggling. "Alright, Tibs," She said. Across the table, Marigold snickered, causing Itzel to look up. "Something funny, Marigold?" Marigold chuckled. "Tibs." She burst out in laughter, followed by Cell, Socket, Dingo, Blade, Chainlink, and half-heartedly by X-Ray. TrailBlaze flapped her wings, jumping up onto the table. "Hey! I happen to like my nickname!" she said. "We weren't makin' fun of it, Sugarcube," Marigold said. "We jus' think it's cute!" She chuckled again as the laughter died down. TrailBlaze giggled, blushing a bright pink, luring a, 'D'aaawww' from the mares. "Well now," Socket said. "With that settled, shall we continue on with our mission? The ponies need food, and soon we will be able to re-take this city." "Well, ah'm ready!" Marigold said. "Let's get to it. Ah, but first," she laid down her cards, revealing four Aces. "Ah win again!" The rest of the team around the table just groaned. --- A week had passed, and the SpecOps were beginning to resemble their full strengths. They now stood in a large auditorium, with Nova Team, Harmony's Elements, Echo, and Commander Cherry's image on a projector screen before them. "Greetings, Everypony," Cherry said. "As we all know, thanks to Harmony's Elements and Nova Team, you have all received a shipment of supplies and have returned to your full strength. Now you are all ready to venture into the fight to take back Manehattan. When you have succeeded in re-taking the city, Evac will be sent to your base. First civilians, then all of you among the SpecOps soldiers." She sighed, pausing. "But unfortunately, we are unsure if our plan will succeed. If this plan is to somehow fail, the Board Directors of the C.P.D. and Military Operations have come to an agreement. If the plan is somehow to fail, the city will be firebombed to clear the infection, as we will not have time to send Evac..." "What!?" Blade and the rest of the team turned on the red mare over the monitor. "We never agreed to this! You can't leave us to die!" "We are not leaving you to die," Cherry continued. "This is simply a last resort. There is a less than 7% chance that this plan will be executed. Your odds are in your favour. We shall begin the operation in 10 minute's count. Good luck Elements, Nova Team, and all of you brave stallions and mares risking your lives in this operation. Good luck, and may Celestia guard you all." The screen flashed to static, and Cherry was gone. "Well, no pressure. Right, y'all?" Marigold asked halfheartedly. "I can't believe this," Chainlink said. "Are they really gonna leave us for dead in a nuclear explosion?" He grunted. "Celestia, this is worse than Harrow..." "But we still... Have a chance..." X-Ray said. "We must... Clear the city to survive... And we have an army at... Our hooves... Do you think that they... Wish for us all to die...? They have no choice..." "And they sure won't have time to launch that nuke by the time we're done," Itzel added. "I say we get out there and do this. We can show them that nuke'll have to wait for a more desperate measure." "She's right, ya know," Dingo said. "They're bluffing to pressure us up. They do it all the time. In fact, last time they pulled this, they threatened to assassinate Cherry for being a traitor. She didn't like playing along, but they paid well in the end. Imagine what'll happen if we do this! We're takin' back a whole city!" A voice came over the loudspeaker, a digital mare's voice. "Mission Launch In: 2... Minutes... Please report to your launch stations." "You guys heard her," Cell said. "Let's get over to the Emergency Doors." Nova Team, followed by Harmony's Elements, began to trot toward a door at the back end of the base. It was a large, retractable door that would be pulled through a brace, pulling it up and under the ceiling. It was wide enough to fit the crowd of 30 heavily armed SpecOps with easy flow. The SpecOps teams had all lined up behind the door, Nova Team and Harmony's Elements taking up the back. Echo had taken up position to the right of the crowd, barking out an order. "On my signal!" Echo yelled. "Three! Two! One! Mark!" At his signal, the SpecOps teams charged into the city, weaving their way around buildings and through streets, shooting through crowds of Infected as they launched their way into the fight to reclaim Manehattan. Echo met with the Elements and Nova Team at the back. "They've waited a long time to take back their city. The Infected have a wake-up call coming their way. You guys ready?" Silence from the Teams. "I'll take that as courage, or fear. I'm guessing the latter." He trotted his way out of the base, leading the teams on. "I'm not gonna lie to you all. Those SpecOps are launching a suicide mission. Possibly none of them will make it back. But they've got a mission, and they're going to take a hoof-full of the Infected down with them." He stared off into the distance, gunfire ringing across the alleyways and streets. "I'm gonna hate to tell Flood's sister the bad news..." "Wait, y'all let Flood go with 'em?" Marigold asked. "Yeah. He insisted that he be with his soldiers in the final battle." Echo stopped in front of an old Medical Clinic. "She used to work here... She was in charge of examinations. She was always great with foals. A young and scared filly coming in for a Cutie-Pox shot or a large operation, she always knew just how to get them settled into the procedure. Well known among the city. Now just about everypony she was known by is an Infected... She used to cry herself to sleep every night thinking she failed. I was always the one to convince her that there was nothing she could do." "And that is how... You two became a relationship, I assume...?" X-Ray asked. "Right. I never was the one to be much of a comforter, but she always had an eye on me. She became a valuable asset since then." "We never got to know," Chainlink said. "What's her name?" Echo sighed. "Morning Star." Silence from the team. "Let's keep moving. The teams should be making their way into the heart of the city by now." He trotted on, away from the old Clinic, leading the teams further. They walked in silence for several minutes, before TrailBlaze peeked her head out of Itzel's bag. "What's that?" She asked, pointing her hoof to the sky. The team directed their gazes, and Echo spoke. "Oh, Celestia... No..." "What is it?" Blade asked. "Do you see that? Up there?" Echo pointed to a moving light in the sky. "I don't think I need to say what that is..." "The nuclear missile..." X-Ray said half to himself. The team stood in silence as the nuke fell from the sky at what felt like two hoofsteps an hour, before finally it touched down. The city burst into light and flame, buildings and skyscrapers collapsing. Within a minute, the explosion had faded, and the city was left in ash. "It's over..." Echo said. "The mission is a failure..." He sighed. "C'mon. Let's get back to base so we can get the buck outta here..." He turned without another word, trotting back toward the SpecOps base. As the team followed, nopony spoke another word. That's when they all stopped dead in their hoofsteps. "No... They wouldn't..." Socket said, fear in his voice. "Impossible! We must get to the base!" The team began to run in fear, for they had spotted another light in the sky. And it was headed straight for the SpecOps outpost, and getting closer. "No, no, no, no, NO!" Chainlink yelled as they broke into a full gallop. But they were too late. The missile floated down with a loud roar, and collided with the base. The team was thrown backwards in the explosion, and the area was left engulfed in ash and flame as the SpecOps base had been destroyed, lost in the fabrics of time along with the new ruins of Manehattan. Cherry's voice came on a discarded radio. "Greetings... It is my great displeasure to announce that the Manehattan recovery mission has failed... The Final Stand operation has been released, and Manehattan now lies in ruin... I apologize to anypony with relatives and friends in the city. We had no other choice, for the Infection had overwhelmed the city. To those of you who live outside this disaster, do not fret, for we will find a way out of this Nightmare. And for those of you who had been in the city upon impact... Rest in peace, for we had no other choice... As fire had rained down where Evil had held the Crown..." The radio signal cut off. --- One dead is a Tragedy, but a Thousand dead is a Statistic. - Delta 727 *Transmission Ended*