Chrome was in rough shape.
He was finally stable, but any normal doctor would have told him that he was never going to walk again. His hind legs had to be amputated to his knees, leaving only a pair of bandaged stumps for him to walk on.
Luckily, the Department didn't have normal doctors.
After giving his express permission, Chrome enrolled into the same program as Chestnut, and Alpha team’s heavy was ready to walk him through each step as they prepped him for his first surgery.
Still, with Gamma’s leader down for the duration, the restriction on Alpha team had to be lifted. “You guys can take a team mission again,” Spike had said. “With the next recruiting day still months away, I can't afford not putting you on the field.”
Silver understood, although he was still incredibly cautious about sending his team out where a monster was waiting for them. It didn't help that Chestnut still wasn't back in fighting shape. He had three legs now, complete with his cutie mark etched into the hind leg, but that was still too few for the “Auto-hydraulic Jack” program to be effective.
So Silver delayed. He waited and waited as long as he could before he finally, finally relented. He had picked a “delivery” job, a hopefully easy job creating an armory stockpile in case one of the teams were stuck outside the base.
“Let's go, Alpha team, we have a job to do.”
Ponies moved this way and that, preparing their load for deliver.
The only trick was that the info network suggested that there could be a Covenant cell nearby.
Hopefully the cell was either non-existent, and merely the result of a wild rumor, or they were weak, and would go down without much difficulty.
They had taken out cells before, it was possible.
Silver just hoped he was right.
“Leaving already?” Chestnut asked, and Silver looked up to see the earth pony roll up in his wheelchair.
“Yeah, we won't be long, though,” Silver said.
“Better not be,” the heavy said with a smirk. “Amber and I have a date tonight.”
“She’ll be back, don’t worry. You going to be okay by yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ll just spend a little time sitting in the cafeteria while I wait for you to get back.”
Silver nodded. “I’ll send Amber your way once we land.”
“Oh, you won't have to. I’ll be right here once you get back,” Chestnut replied.
Silver blinked, and was about to say something, when Silk called over. “Hey, Assault, we’re ready!”
“Who said you were waiting on me? Load her up, and let's go.” he turned back to the wheelchair-bound pony. “You’ll be alright?”
“I’ll be fine, just get out of here and do your job.”
Silver smiled. “Will do.”
===ᐁ===
With the DASH-1 hovering in the air, Silk scanned the ground below them. Ponies ran back and forth, moving large crates as they tried not to trip over their crimson robes.
Covenant ponies crawled over the small, abandoned Celestial cathedral that was supposed to serve as their backup armory.
“They’re everywhere,” she said.
“Of course they are,” Silver groaned.
“They’re too close to the church to bombard,” Spike noted.
“We can still try,” Silver said.
Spike shook his head. “If we run them out, they won’t come back here, it’ll make the building more secure.”
The DASH-1 barely purred as it hovered above the cathedral. It’s lights were off, and its engines were running silent. This kept the ship all but invisible to the ponies on the ground, who continued to move, unaware of the Department sniper staring down at them with her incredible eyes. “There’s another one.”
“What do you mean another one? Here are dozens of them,” Silver asked.
She glanced at him, mildly-annoyed. “There’s a different one. He’s covered in silver.”
“What kind of silver?” Spike asked.
“A crown, a silver belt, just tons and tons of jewelry.”
“Any weapons?” Spike asked.
“Um...a silver knife that he’s swinging around?”
“Does it have any runes on it?”
“A few,” she said.
“One that looks like a set of teeth?” Spike asked.
“Uh...yes...yes there’s one there,” she said.
Spike groaned. “Of course Valentine would have a priest…”
“What?” Silver asked.
“Every now and then someone’s ego gets big enough that they think they’re an honest to goodness god. When they do, well, what else is there to do but hire a priest?”
Silver blinked. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately.”
“So what?” Silk asked, hefting her longrifle. “Do we take him out or not?”
Spike sighed. “We can...and nothing would make me happier than dropping Valentine’s ego a bit. Unfortunately, it’ll make him come against us all the harder. That’s something we almost definitely do not want.”
“So do we find another cache location?” Silk asked.
“You will,” Spike said. “I have some unfinished business.”
Silver had just enough time to open mouth before Spike leapt from the open cargo bay door.
Both ponies watched as the dragon landed, his handgun barking it’s hard-mana needles at the cultists, tearing skin and clothing apart with ease.
Silver sighed.
“We're going in?” Silk asked.
“We're going in…” he answered. “Thundercloud, touch down, we have to get the Commander back up here.”
“Roger that,” Tinker answered before the DASH-1 began to drop.
“Get ready, team. LZ is hot!” Silver yelled, before Silk took to the air, flying for the tower with all speed.
“Demo!” Silver called. “I need you to open up the LZ!”
Lemon ran up, eager to send a very familiar, white-hot grenade into the Covenant ranks. The sun-blessed Molotov erupted into a bright, white light, and more than one cultist burned in the holy flame.
A red thermal shot vaporized another cultist head, and between the fire, Silk’s pinpoint shots, and the rampaging dragon, the DASH-1 one landed without trouble. “Let's move, team!” Silver ordered, and Alpha Team quickly poured out of the cargo bay.
Neon rushed forward, bolts flying from his pneumatic crossbow, as Sparky followed close behind. Mandible and Amber took the right side, while Silver and Lemon took the left. With the sudden, three-pronged attack from the front, the cultists ran, trying to form proper ranks.
These results were quickly ended by Spike’s own claws. In minutes, the cultists were torn to pieces, and the forces that were surrounding the cathedral were utterly destroyed.
With the initial cultist force down and out, the tea! Moved forward, catching up with Spike.
“I thought I said to find a new cache location,” Spike noted.
“Sir, we will, sir. However we decided it was prudent to first eliminate any possible chance of the enemy following us,” Silver said.
Spike narrowed his eyes, before the sudden, frantic yelling of a madpony inside caught his attention. “Rise up, my brothers! Rise and defend yourselves from those who would leave us blind! Rise to protect the name of the Great Guide! Lord Ebonbite will take us through the darkness, we are only asked to stand!”
Silver raised an eyebrow. “They worship a vampire, but call us evil?” he asked.
“It takes a special kind of pony to be a cultist, Assault,” Spike explained. “Now get in there!”
The Celestial cathedral, according to tradition, had one door, facing the East. It would be a tight, and no doubt deadly chokepoint for the enemy to take advantage of.
Luckily, they had a pony just for that job. “Agent, get in there and secure a hoofhold!”
“Shall I serve you tea as well?” He asked, before his mirror cloak hid his body in a strange, almost magical shimmer.
“Sniper, try and find a spot behind us to shoot from, we’ll need you focused on taking the ones ahead of us out.”
“Already ahead of you, Assault,” she replied in a sing-song voice.
“Alright, Demo, open us up with a stun potion,” Silver ordered.
“Gladly,” she replied, loading the proper grenade.
“Breach in 3, 2, 1!”
The doors exploded inward, and immediately the air was filled with smoke and whistling lead as the Covenant ponies fired their muskets. This lasted half a second before the space between them exploded in white light and sound.
The cultists screamed, firing blindly as the brilliant flash burned into their eyes. Silver caught a few bullets, but other than the hole in his skin, his subdermal armor protected him. Still, he dove for cover, hiding behind a long empty stone basin.
“Charge!” Silver yelled, feeling like an idiot as he did, while the first line reloaded.
The priest stood at the altar, which had been defaced, as though to make Ebonbite’s claim all the more legitimate. “Defend yourselves, my children, defend the name of our Lord Ebonbite!”
He was silenced with a perfect thermal shot to the face.
“They took the priest!” a cultist cried. “Avenge him!”
The crossfire was as hard in the chokepoint as Silver thought it would be. The lead was flying, the muskets were roaring, bolts were leaping across the space, and there was not a single, safe square foot of air as the cultists and Alpha Team both laid into each other.
And then the backstabbing began.
Silver couldn’t hear them over the musket fire, but he saw that the cultists were screaming at each other. They were angry, pointing hooves, and yelling before they drew their weapons on each other. Silver almost didn’t believe it when he saw the cultists shooting each other.
“Push forward!” Silver yelled, hoping that the distraction on the Covenant line would be enough for them to push through.
The Department ponies pushed forward, passed into the sanctuary, firing bolts and pinning ponies left and right. In seconds, the Covenant ponies were taken care of, leaving little more than bodies ready to be cremated.
Mandible deactivated his mirror cloak, reappearing amongst the bodies. “You know, convincing them that their friends stabbed them was almost too easy,” he said with a smirk, before his face changed to one of the bodies around him. “Brick? What are you doing Brick? Arg!” He chuckled to himself before his face changed again. “Like, they turned on each other so fast that these guys have to have some serious trust issues. Sorry, had trust issues.”
Silver raised an eyebrow. “You’re certainly taking a lot of enjoyment out of this,” he noted.
Mandible shrugged, smiling all the way. “Old habits, you know?”
Spike walked up. “Well, at least we cleared up this mess,” he grunted. “Of course, now I think about it, they may have too much interest in this cathedral. We may need to move to a different location anyway.”
“Well, if nothing else, we stopped what they were going to do here,” Lemon said, while Amber flew over to take care of Silver’s bullet wounds.
Silver nodded. “Besides, it could have been worse. They could have had a stronger force, could have been more dug in, any number of things.”
“Yes...I could have been here.”
Everyone froze at the sound of rumbling, deep voice.
Spike spun, drawing his weapon and searching the shadows.
Valentine laughed. “You’re just so easy to startle, Commander.”
“What do you want, Valentine?” Spike demanded as motioned the others to get out of the church as fast as possible.
“Why that’s simple, Commander. I drew first blood last time. You owe me a life.”
In a single moment, everything went wrong.
Spike had just enough time to turn, eyes wide in horror as he realized what was about to happen. Alpha team was still backing out of the chapel, keeping their eyes on the shadows, checking behind only after Spike had moved.
By then it was far too late.
A face, half skull, half flesh, was among them. The grinning, fanged smile of Valentine as his hooves reached out for a neck.
Silver had enough time to blink, before Valentine was gone, carrying a pony up with him. A strangled, feminine cry sounded, along with the weak flapping of wings.
“Let her go!” Spike yelled, firing shot after shot at the vampire.
He simply weaved out of the way, dodging each attack as he carried his captive up into the air, out of reach.
Fire form the team shot upwards after him, all trying to stop the vampire and save their teammate. They might as well have been throwing tissue paper.
Valentine laughed, before he tossed the mare into the air. Immediately she threw her wings open, trying to catch the wind before the blood-red aura of Valentine’s magic.
Valentine shook her about, throwing the mare about like a rag doll. “Now, now, Commander. You should know by now that it is my job to make sure anyone that walks with you dies. And I don’t leave a job half-finished.”
With that, he squeezed, and Amber Breeze, medic of Alpha team, felt her windpipe crush. She clawed at the magic around her throat, but by then, she had already breathed her last.
The whole room exploded in panic.
More shots rocketed up to the vampire, trying to hit him as he danced out of the way.
He let Amber fall, still faintly struggling to breathe as Valentine stepped into the shadows.
She hit the ground hard, too busy trying to breath to spread her wings. Silver rushed to her side, fumbling to grab her first aid kit that was secured to her belt.
He finally pulled it free, and wasted no time opening it. A dozen different tools stared back at him, and his lack of training made him hesitate.
Only for Spike to pick up the slack. “Call Thundercloud closer!” He ordered, “prepare for emergency evac!”
“What about Valentine?” Neon asked.
“He’s long gone,” Spike said. “It’s just us now.” He grabbed a small, plastic tube from the kit, and stabbed it into her neck. A slight spray of blood shot upward, hitting Spike’s scales in a fine mist. Her chest immediately Rose, filling with air again.
Silver ran out, yelling into his comms as he tried to reposition the massive airship.
“I’m ordering you to stay alive medic,” Spike told her. “Training a good medic takes too much time.”
She was breathing heavy, and her eyes were unfocused.
A bloody foam began to dribble from the tube, and Spike cursed as he carefully drew his claws down her side. He felt every rib, until he felt one give, still over her lungs.
Spike had seen this enough to know exactly what happened.
The fall broke a rib. A very important rib.
He cursed again, before he began yelling over his communicator. “Get here faster, Thundercloud. Her lungs pierced. She’s bleeding fast, and it's choking her!”
“Touching down now, sir,” she replied as the DASH-1’s loading lights turned on.
“Grab a stretcher and get the medic on board!” Spike yelled.
Alpha team moved as fast as they could, rushing to save their medic. “Let's move, let's move!” Silver said. “It's our turn to save her flank, let's go!”
They ran up the loading bay door, and Silver and Silk quickly secured her in place as Spike yelled into the cockpit. “Back to HQ, full speed ahead! We’re saving this mare!”
“Sir!” Tinker answered, before the loading bay door closed shut.
The DASH-1 lurched forward, picking up speed as they slowly raised in the air.
===ᐁ===
Chestnut read his book, trying to figure out what a “sconce” was, when the massive steel doors began to open.
He looked up from his novel. They were back already? That was fast. Maybe the Covenant cell had already backed out before the team got there? Ah, it didn’t matter as much, the point was they were back.
Setting his book in his lap, he began to make his way toward the landing dock.
“Ah, Guttentag, Chessnut,” a voice said as he pulled into the hallway, and he turned to Butter Streusel walking up behind him.
“Hello, Miss Streusel. What brings you here?”
“Ah, vell it is mein day off, und it is mein turn to be outside,” she explained. “So, vee decided to take zee valk around zee department.”
He nodded. “I might take one of those myself here soon.”
“Ah, of course. You only need one more leg, Ja?”
Chestnut nodded. “Yup, one more and I can walk again. Of course, the suit’s what going to be real fun.”
She chuckled to herself. “I’m shure. Vell, don’t let me keep you, dear, go und zee your beloved.”
Chestnut smiled again. “Always.”
The earth pony began to wheel himself down a ramp, through a set of doors, and finally came down to the landing bay.
The DASH-1 was just touching down, and the loading door hissed open.
Chestnut smiled as Alpha Team began to walk down the door-turned-ramp. “Hey, everybody, good to see you back.”
No one answered him.
The earth pony’s smile began to fade. “Guys?”
They didn’t look at him.
“Guys?” he asked, concern growing with every second. “Guys?”
Spike and Silver came last, and they were the only ones that could even look him in the eyes. “Chestnut…” Silver began.
“Where’s Amber?” he asked, a growing sense of dead building in the pit of his stomach.
“Chestnut,” Silver began again. “Valentine was there.”
A couple of nurse ponies ran up to the cargo bay.
“What happened?” he asked, his mouth going dry.
“He was out for blood,” Spike said. “He felt that he was owed a life, so he was trying to take it.”
The nurse ponies walked out, carrying a stretcher with a figure, covered by a sheet.
Chestnut took a long, shaky breath.
“I’m sorry, Chestnut,” Silver said, “we tried everything we could, the DASH-1 just wasn’t fast enough to get here in time.”
Chestnut said nothing.
“Chestnut,” Silver began, before Spike laid a claw on his shoulder.
“Just...let me take care of this,” Spike said.
Chestnut simply stared at the open cargo bay doors.
Silver frowned, but conceded, and walked away, leaving the wheelchair-bound earth pony, and the dragon alone.
Spike said nothing, but merely set a claw down on his living back, and sat beside him.
Neither moved, nor said a thing for hours.
Spike sat there, patting his back while Chestnut simply stared at the empty cargo bay.
Finally, finally Chestnut spoke up. “Is this what he did to you, Commander?”
“Over and over again,” Spike told him.
“Then I’m going to kill him. For both of us.”