Chapter Thirty-Five: A Coalition Scattered
“I thought I was finished with the Equestrian military after moving to the Crystal Empire. I was wrong about that. Still, I thought that, given the Empire’s sovereignty, I would only be an instructor and advisor. I was wrong about that, too. The Empire is not so independent as I once thought, and this war has only drawn the bonds between it and Equestria tighter. Despite this, the Empire’s subjects have tried to maintain neutrality, but no more. The Littlehorn Massacre has put an end to that.”
“So many things are changing what we thought would always remain constant. Nopony could’ve imagined that Celestia would abdicate her throne because of the Littlehorn Massacre, leaving Equestria in the hooves of her sister. The monarchy, the system that has governed Equestria for a thousand years or more, has become confused. Now Luna is forming ‘ministries’ to be run by Twily and her friends to help the country pull through the war. This hasn’t helped the damaging rumors that Luna isn’t capable of ruling on her own at all. Not that they aren’t completely ridiculous—if anything, Luna is more capable of ruling in wartime than her sister—but lack of confidence in Equestria’s ruler could be disastrous. The whole nation seems even more taken by madness than before, and now the Empire is joining in.”
“The Crystal Empire’s subjects have voted to create a volunteer fighting force to aid Equestria in her war: The Crystal Regiment. They’ve asked me to command it, and my superiors in Canterlot are urging me to accept. Is there any other option? I once thought peace was possible with the zebras in a status quo, but if they’re willing to be so aggressive as to attack unarmed schoolponies, then I urge ending this war as quickly as possible with an overwhelming show of force. The crystal ponies will go to war for the first time in over a thousand years, willingly this time. It would be a disgrace if they weren’t led by their Prince, Colonel Shining Armor.”
The barrier of train cars around Railyard came into sight as the latest recording by Shining Armor reached its end. Celestia’s abdication, the formation of the Ministries; it seemed Shining Armor had realized even then how much of an impact they would have on the future of Equestria. It also drew him one step closer to the General Shining Armor I’d met in the Flankorage simulation. He was a full part of the Equestrian Army, commander of the Crystal Regiment. I wondered if I’d met them or been part of it during the Flankorage simulation. The only information I had on the Crystal Empire and the crystal ponies was from Shining Armor’s recordings since it seemed every other source had completely vanished from the Wasteland.
I asked Roaring Thunder about it, since he’d actually been alive during the War, but he knew just as little about the Crystal Empire as I did, probably less since he hadn’t heard the earlier recordings. He’d been only a foal when taken for Project SOAR, and hadn’t even been born yet when the Littlehorn Massacre had taken place. It was something that had great significance to him, though, as it must have been for everypony who’d grown up during the War. Unfortunately, though the pegasus had been around for the War, most of the time it was happening had been spent at the SOAR Headquarters, cut off from the outside world except when sent on missions, so he wasn’t going to be able to fill the gaps in ponykind’s collective memory of the War.
“Halt, who goes there?” Gully called out from atop Railyard’s barricade as we approached.
“It’s me, Doc!” I called back before adding a few seconds later, “The Wasteland Doctor!”
“Oh, so it is!” Gully replied, “You’ve got a couple more friends than last time! Come on in!”
As before, I had no idea which train car was safe to pass through until the Railyarders opened it for us. Roaring Thunder stretched his wings and looked like he was considering just flying over the wall, but thought better of it and passed through with us. It was probably the right decision, given how on edge the ponies of Railyard seemed to be. There were more guards atop the encirclement than last time, as well as other non-militia ponies busy rushing around to add more barricades and weapon emplacements.
“What’s going on?” I asked Gully as she trotted down to meet us within the settlement.
“The PRS is demolishing Red Square; we can’t even get close. They might be planning to expand the city again, and if they do, it could place them dangerously close to us. We’ve got to prepare to defend ourselves if it comes to it,” Gully explained, “So, what brings you all here?”
“The Northern Lights Coalition,” I answered, “They’re preparing something. An army of mercenaries—the Black Skulls—was sent to Stalliongrad to assist their raider forces. They were doing the same in Vanhoover, but we stopped them with the help of the Crimson Tide. We’ll need help if we’re to defeat them here as well.”
“Yes, I heard something of the sort from DJ Pon3,” Gully said, scrunching up her nose, “I don’t think we’ll be able to help you. We’re no mercenary company, and there wouldn’t be enough of us even if we didn’t have to defend Railyard from the PRS, but you can ask Scattershot.”
“Thank you,” I told Gully, and she trotted back to the barricade of train cars while the rest of us headed for Scattershot’s home.
Even with our new mode of transportation, word still traveled faster than we did in the Wasteland thanks to DJ Pon3 and Radio Free Wasteland. I’d wondered if maybe the mysterious pony and DJ Pon3 had been one and the same, since they both seemed to see everything that happened in the Wasteland, but Roaring Thunder had dispelled that idea. He didn’t seem to have the radio host personality anyway. As tales of my companions’ and my deeds spread across the Wasteland, it also warned our foes. If the Black Skulls listened to Radio Free Wasteland, they’d be aware of the defeat in Vanhoover and prepared for us here. There was also the possibility that they’d come after me if DJ Pon3 broadcast my location, but thankfully he didn’t do that often, or broadcasted only where I’d been, not where I was or was going.
Several times on the way to the yard office we had to wait for train cars being shunted around to pass before we could cross the tracks. The homes of the Railyarders were being moved into a more defensible formation and the empty ones were being used to shore up the defenses. Whenever we had to wait, Roaring Thunder hovered anxiously. Clearly, he wanted to just fly to our objective and not wait for us landbound ponies. He voiced no complaint, so he must have realized himself that he had to adjust himself after spending over a century alone or with only other pegasi for company. Eventually, we made it through to Scattershot’s home and knocked on the door.
“Come in!” the griffin called.
Scattershot was alone this time, Gertrude and Gustav nowhere to be seen. The town’s leader was seated at the table she’d eaten at the last time we were here, making repairs to a custom battle saddle that would fit her frame. Because she was easily able to hold and fire her shotguns (also on the table) with her claws, it served more as a rack for her to holster her weapons, including a few small bombs that could be dropped from above, than as a weapons platform like it would for a pony.
“Welcome back to Railyard. From what I’ve heard on the radio, you’ve been busy this past month,” Scattershot said after glancing up from her work, “I know what you’re here to ask me, but I can’t help you. Railyard has our own problems dealing with the PRS; we can’t spare anyone to go chasing after Black Skulls or the Northern Lights Coalition.”
“Yes, Gully said much the same thing outside,” I lamented, “Is there anything we can do to help you out?”
“Unless you can get rid of the PRS or convince them to leave us alone, then no,” Scattershot laughed, “We’ve been fighting for a long time, but they’ve never advanced in our direction before. It’s not a good sign for the future of Railyard. Even if the PRS were gone tomorrow, I don’t know that we’d be able to help you all on our own. Facing raiders and the small forces the PRS sends our way once in a while is one thing; fighting an army of mercenaries is another. You’d have better luck getting help from Neon or the County of Rain, provided they aren’t part of the NLC and I just haven’t heard.”
“Neon and the County of Rain?” I asked, “I don’t know much about Stalliongrad’s settlements, I guess. Where are they?”
“Both are southeast of us here, well outside the PRS’s threat zone, though maybe not for long; anypony could give you directions to them. I wouldn’t count on them for fighting the Black Skulls, though. Both are smaller than Railyard, and they’re as much longtime rivals with each other as we are with the PRS, so it would be near impossible to get them to work together.”
“If they’re the only allies available to help, then I guess we’ll have to take what we can get,” Rare commented, and I was inclined to agree.
I knew that together we’d killed more raiders and Black Skulls in less time than probably anypony else in the Wasteland, but we still weren’t enough to take on an army all on our own. To my knowledge (which was admittedly lacking), there was no equivalent to the Crimson Tide in Stalliongrad, so we had no mercenary army of our own to counteract the one our enemy had hired. If Neon and the County of Rain were all we had, it would still be better than trying to storm LuxuriMane with just the four of us.
Scattershot wouldn’t be able to help us, and the four of us likely wouldn’t make much difference if the PRS stormed Railyard anyway. There was always the possibility, but we had other concerned and couldn’t stick around forever. There was nothing that said the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad would attack Railyard, but their recent expansions were making the ponies of Railyard nervous. If we waited around for the PRS to attack, it could be weeks, months, years, or never at all. Railyard had always turned them back before, but it had never come cheaply.
We left Railyard to prepare itself and returned to the Clinic parked nearby. The cloud cover was beginning to darken, so there was no point in traveling around tonight anymore, even if we could probably cover a decent distance. Our new mode of transport made everything so much easier, including finding a place to stay at night.
I was the only pony in one of the three beds at the moment, making sure my weapons were in top shape after the fight at SOAR Headquarters earlier. Rare Sparks was sitting in her armor, since we hadn’t yet had an opportunity to retrieve the power armor rack from Harmony Tower that would let her get out of it and use a bed as well. Ache would use one of the remaining beds later, when she came in from keeping watch atop the trailer. She only needed an hour of sleep a night unless she was healing, so she was the perfect candidate to make sure that no raiders or monsters snuck up on us in our sleep. Roaring Thunder also needed little sleep, but he could’ve used a bed if he wanted, since he was able to remove his armor without the aid of a rack, but at the moment he was pacing the length of the trailer.
While we were in relative safety, I balanced a memory orb on my hoof. It wasn’t one of the orbs I’d recently acquired at the SOAR Headquarters; rather, it was one of those I’d taken from the SAS vault. According to the recordings Shining Armor had left, it was time for the <Saber Orb>. The orb I had balanced on my hoof had a sword etched into the surface, undoubtedly the next part of the general’s story. I decided not to put it off any longer and got comfortable before touching the orb with my magic.
<-=======ooO Ooo=======->
As I’d expected, I was once again in the body of Shining Armor; it made sense, since these were his personal memories. It also helped calm my worries that upon entering a memory I’d find myself in a body of a non-unicorn or a mare and spend the first few minutes adjusting and not really paying attention. As it was, I was still having trouble focusing on events happening around my host because of the entirely new environment I found myself in.
Everything—and I mean everything—around me was made of solid crystal. Multicolored gemstone buildings reared up around me; the street I was standing on was a shimmering span of quartz. Even the ponies around me were made of crystal—well, most of them. When I’d heard Shining Armor mention crystal ponies in his recordings, I hadn’t imagined anything like this.
Despite the light that seemed to shimmer and shine from everything and everypony, the mood was extraordinarily somber, and it didn’t take me too long to figure out why. The majority of the ponies around me were lined up along the street, watching a small procession walk by, paying special attention to Shining Armor and the family around him and the wagon in front of them. It was being pulled slowly along by two crystal ponies, and on the back of it sat a casket draped with two flags: the familiar Equestrian one bearing the sun on a field of crimson, and one I’d never seen before featuring a snowflake on a purple background. Shining Armor’s wife, the alicorn Cadence, trotted next to him, dressed in black mourning clothes. As he glanced backwards momentarily, I could see his daughters, Midnight Aurora and Sunset Rose, following behind.
The procession eventually reached its destination, a massive crystal spire in the center of the city, and the wagon came to a halt. Six crystal ponies wearing white, silver, and purple livery rushed to remove the casket and began carrying it off to the side, leading the rest of the procession where the cart couldn’t go. A ramp gradually led down underground into a series of crystal catacombs, and the group stopped in an open space with a few empty places on the walls. The casket was set down before an elderly crystal pony wearing elaborate robes and those who’d carried it melted into the shadows.
“We are gathered today to inter the body of Golden Saber, son to Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, into the Royal Mausoleum,” the elderly pony announced once everypony from the procession had shuffled in, “This is the first time the mausoleum has been opened since the death of Princess Resplendent Wave over a millennium ago. Everypony expected it to remain sealed for decades to come, but tragedy has brought us to this sorrowful day, when we must bury a pony so young.”
“Golden Saber, lord of the Crystal Empire, Corporal in the Equestrian Army, died as so many others did in the Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge. Assigned as part of the protection detail for Princess Celestia, he did his duty when the zebras betrayed their word and attempted to assassinate the princess. He escorted the princess to safety, taking fire from the zebras the whole way, before returning to the battlefield where he ultimately met his end. He will be remembered forever by his loved ones, the Empire’s subjects, and the friends he made during his time in the Equestrian military, and his life will be recorded in the Crystal Chronicle.”
“Gone, but not forgotten. Dead, but alive in each of us,” the elderly pony finished her speech and the assembled ponies repeated the line.
Ponies about the same age as I expected Golden Saber had been, wearing Equestrian Army uniforms, stepped forward and removed the flags from his casket. As they stepped aside, the robed crystal ponies who’d carried it down to the mausoleum picked it back up and carried it over to an empty alcove. The pony who’d given the speech cast a spell on the crystal above it, inscribing the story of Golden Saber, and liquid crystal flowed around the casket before solidifying, leaving it encased in translucent gemstone.
The funeral’s attendees began congregating, speaking to one another and taking turns offering their condolences to Shining Armor and his family. Among them were six familiar ponies that I’d last seen also in Shining Armor’s memories. The Ministry Mares came together to express their sympathy for the princess and prince’s loss. Applejack stood out in that, while the rest were dressed appropriately for a mournful occasion, she was wearing the more severe mourning clothing like Cadence and her daughters. She leaned in close to Shining Armor while the others were speaking to Cadence.
“Ah won’t let this happen again,” she whispered, determination in her voice and red-rimmed eyes, “Luna’s entrusted me with the Ministry of Technology, and ah intend to use it so that nopony like mah brother or yer son has to die again. We’re gonna make armor that no one can ever break, but ah’ll need buy-in from the military to make this work. Can I count on you to help?”
“You can,” Shining Armor replied lifelessly as he stared at the casket holding his son’s body, and Applejack nodded in understanding.
<-=======ooO Ooo=======->
When I returned to reality, the lights in the trailer were dimmed. Rare Sparks was right where she’d been when I’d gone under, tinkering with some contraption she’d built out of scrap. Roaring Thunder was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’d Roaring Thunder go?” I asked as I sat up and carefully returned the memory orb to its case, “He keeping Ache company?”
“Hardly,” Rare snorted, not looking up from her work, “When I suggested he do that instead of wearing a hole in the floor, he announced he was going to scout out the LuxuriMane factory.”
“What? Why would he do that?” I asked, “Alone.”
“He said he had to do something, and it’s not such a bad idea to have a better idea of what we’re up against. He’s not used to down time. Since the War, and probably during it too, all he’s had was the mission. Training, gathering intel, probing weakness, striking; he was always doing something. It’s going to take him some time to adjust,” Rare Sparks explained, looking up at me at the end, “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. He’s fought on his own against alicorns, for Celestia’s sake. Plus, he’s got way better skill and equipment than a Steel Ranger like me.”
“Ok-ay, what’s that about?” I asked, worried by the last thing she’d said.
“It’s nothing, really, and I think a lot of it is just him not knowing how to be around normal ponies—well, ponies at least no weirder than us. It was just something he said offhoof. I don’t think he has a very high opinion of the Steel Rangers, though whether that’s from his experiences during the War or after, I don’t know. As you well know from your own experience, we’re not all such great individuals, and you haven’t met anypony really nasty,” Rare said, “I’m sure he’ll come around eventually; you did.”
“Well, how could I not with a Steel Ranger as charming as you around?” I replied.
“Y’know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were making a pass at me,” Rare Sparks said.
“Of course; we’re good friends, but that’s all,” I said.
“Not entirely what I meant, but let’s go with it,” Rare replied mischievously, “So, what was in that memory orb?”
“Wait, what was that?” I asked, thinking of Rare’s sidelong comments when we were at the Strip.
“The memory orb; what was it about this time?” Rare asked, though I could tell she was being deliberately obtuse.
I decided to give up and tell her about the memory orb. One of these days I’d get a straight answer out of her regarding the insight she thought she had into my romantic life, but it wasn’t going to be today.
***
Roaring Thunder returned the next morning with news about LuxuriMane and the Black Skulls. It seemed that they weren’t concentrating their forces as they had in Vanhoover, perhaps fearing a devastating attack that would wipe them all out, or perhaps they just had no group they needed a full army to go after. In either case, the Black Skulls were scattered across Vanhoover, mainly in the south. Roaring Thunder had scouted out several of their camps without being detected, and they were now marked on my PipBuck map. Also, LuxuriMane, while fortified, was only inhabited by raiders and a small group of Black Skulls. Our chances were good against a group like that, so there was no point in trying to recruit Neon or the County of Rain to help us out, not when time spent talking to them could be better spent storming the NLC headquarters before Mr. Bucke or his equivalent decided to destroy all the records like he had before.
With the Black Skulls patrolling southern Stalliongrad, the safest route was north, which worked out just fine for us. We made a very slight detour to Harmony Tower to retrieve the power armor rack there for the Clinic. When we arrived at the former settlement, though, we weren’t the only ones there. Dozens of ponies wearing PRS uniforms were walking back and forth from the tower carrying its contents to wagons waiting outside. When we tried to approach the building ourselves, a stern-looking mare wearing a cap with several prominent-looking symbols blocked our way.
“What’s going on here?” Rare Sparks asked, looking at the different wagons to see if the power armor rack had been removed already.
“This is the business of the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad, not yours,” the mare replied, “Move along.”
“Looks to me like you’re scavenging,” I observed, and the Stalliongrader made the pointless move of shifting her position in an attempt to block my view.
“Reclaiming,” she replied stubbornly, “This settlement is abandoned, and it was inhabited by greedy ponies who murdered those who sought shelter here. The settlement is thus forfeit, and since it is within Stalliongrad, it is the right of the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad to reclaim it.”
“You call it reclamation, the Steel Rangers call it safeguarding technology, but when it comes down to it, it’s just scavenging,” Rare Sparks scoffed.
“You don’t have any more right to scavenge here than anypony else,” Ache spoke up.
“I’d like to see you try to keep us out,” Roaring Thunder said threateningly as he stepped forward.
The PRS officer’s eyes grew wide as she sized up our newest companion. Pegasi were a rarity in the Wasteland, and the only ones most ponies had seen were those of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. From what I’d gathered, no confrontation with them went well for the landbound party. The mare seemed to be reconsidering her position if it meant she’d have to fight him.
“I’ll have to talk to my superiors about this,” the mare said, trying very hard not to take a step back.
“Go ahead, but while you do, we’re going to do some ‘reclaiming’ of our own,” I said and moved to step past her.
This time, she didn’t block my way.
***
"Everything is quiet tonight. There aren't even signs of zebra scouts probing our positions, looking for a weakness to exploit tomorrow. I suppose the legends of the crystal sharpshooters have convinced them not to risk it. Being able to see clearly even on an overcast moonless night is obviously a great advantage in war, and not even Princess Luna's night guard has so many ponies with the ability as the Crystal Regiment. It's one of the many abilities that makes them invaluable, and the Equestrian Army is beginning to treat them as an elite unit instead of an ill-equipped volunteer force. This is both good and bad. The Crystal Regiment will get the respect it deserves, but I fear that we'll be asked to undertake dangerous tasks far more often than other units. Despite the regiment's tactical value, I hope Luna and her war cabinet understand how much smaller the Crystal Empire's population is than Equestria's. Our contribution and casualties cannot outweigh our size by too much or Equestria risks alienating the Empire."
"When this campaign is over, I'll have a word with my superiors, but for now I must focus on the task at hoof. The zebras have occupied Savanneigh for the last year and a half, but now that we've pushed them back, the city will soon be in Equestrian hooves again. I have no doubt that we'll be victorious on the morrow, but I do fear what awaits us. The streets of Savanneigh are narrow and easily defensible. If the zebras decide to dig in and fight us for every building, it will be a long and costly battle, especially with no pegasus reinforcement. The aerial corps has been scattered to the wind in a frenzy after rumors that the zebras have managed to convince some of the dragons to side with them. They think they can defend the entirety of Equestria's vast borders from the sky, but they abandon the armies of Equestria working to reestablish those borders or push closer to Roam. Another complaint to send to the higher-ups."
"There is some news from home, at least, to fortify me. Midnight Aurora has taken a position at Twily's Ministry of Magic. For so long, in the wake of the Littlehorn Massacre, she had no desire to do anything, so it's good that she'd finally found a way to move on. She may be leaving home, but she's been assigned to the Ministry headquarters in Canterlot, so she'll actually be around more family than before. Her aunt is head of the Ministry, I am often in Canterlot on military business, and Sunset Rose is finishing up her studies. I doubt she'll visit her younger sister at Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns, though, since it's likely to bring up unpleasant thoughts of Littlehorn and Luna's school."
"The zebras will pay for what they've done. To Equestria and to my family. Equestria is transformed, forced to face war for the first time in a millennium, and it's put a strain on everything. The old diarchy has collapsed, replaced by Luna's rule through the Ministries. Ponies have to bury their children now, and not for reasons like sickness or accidents; they can now point at what caused their child's death. The zebras massacred foals at Littlehorn, traumatizing Celestia, Luna, Midnight Aurora, and many others; the whole nation felt the blow, though perhaps not as severely as those close to the events. If that wasn't enough, they treacherously set up a peace conference with the intention of killing Celestia. If it wasn't for the brave sacrifices of ponies, including Golden Saber, they'd have succeeded and struck an even greater blow at the heart of Equestria. After all they've done, there's only one way this war can end; with Roam burned to the ground and the zebra Caesar's unconditional surrender."
Shining Armor's latest recording, considerably darker than his previous entries, brought us to LuxuriMane. At Harmony Tower, the PRS workers had watched us with suspicion, but hadn't done anything to impede us as we retrieved the power armor rack from the room Rare and I had stayed in before. It was still intact, and we disassembled it before carrying it back to the Clinic and reassembling it inside. We then progressed through the ruins of Stalliongrad to the river that snaked through the city, dividing off a small section to its east. Roaring Thunder's scouting the previous night had revealed that there were still some standing bridges across the river, but the ones in the north were only passable on hoof. Leaving the Clinic behind, we trekked across the crumbling span and into the ruined industrial area across the river.
Factories were a staple in Stalliongrad, covering more area than homes and stores combined, and this section of the city was especially dense with them. More than once we had to detour around a fallen smokestack or find a bridge over a stream of glowing industrial waste. Roaring Thunder ignored such obstacles, able to fly over them with ease, and every so often he'd fly off to scout the area before returning. Whenever he took off, his armor would shift in color to a lighter shade of gray that made him practically invisible against the cloud cover. His suit was designed to camouflage him, which was pretty cool, but would've been more impressive if the Wasteland had more colors than grays and browns.
The Black Skulls weren't concentrated at LuxuriMane, but they were still in the area. The last thing we needed was to bring them all down on us when we had no backup, so we tried to avoid their patrols as we made our way to our destination. Roaring Thunder was able to guide us past them with ease. I found myself watching the sky more often now that we had a pegasus companion. It was a good habit to get into, especially since the Black Skulls had at least a few griffins in their ranks and we were in a city with alicorns.
Eventually the LuxuriMane factory reared up ahead. It was easy to see why the NLC had chosen it for their Stalliongrad headquarters; the complex was massive. Brick and steel reared up toward the sky ceiling, a giant faded billboard featuring a mare with an elaborately curled multicolored mane covering one side. Four huge exhaust stacks rose from the factory; between the third and fourth, atop the crumbling remains of another, was the familiar sight of a radio tower. A rail line ran near the factory, and a branch line ran off to LuxuriMane, leading to a train yard with unloading docks. A drainage ditch for the factory's byproducts ran off toward the river and was bridged in several places.
Whether it had been entirely the work of the Northern Lights Coalition or somepony else had done it first and they'd only taken it over, I didn't know, but the factory had been turned into a fortress. The fence around the factory had been reinforced, much like the fence around Sundale, and there were several guard posts outside the perimeter. A small crane inside the compound could be used to lift up the slab or concrete that served as a gate, but for now it was closed. There were other ways into the LuxuriMane factory, as Roaring Thunder had discovered last night, but they were single-pony doors, locked and guarded. Rare Sparks would never fit through them in her armor, but that wasn’t the only problem. Our primary goal here was to learn more about the Northern Lights Coalition, so we had to be fast to beat the NLC from destroying the information. Fighting through service corridors wouldn’t be fast enough.
We ducked behind an old bus stop as we approached the main gate and spotted a griffin alighting on one of the factory’s exhaust stacks. With my binoculars, I confirmed that she had a magical energy sniper rifle and was wearing Black Skull combat armor. Wordlessly, Roaring Thunder shot off into the sky when she looked in another direction. I barely saw him when he came down from directly above the griffin and knocked her rifle from her claws. The two of them tumbled into the exhaust stack, fighting with hooves, wings, and claws.
The remaining three of us moved forward as the griffin and pegasus disappeared from sight. Three raiders were in the guard post near the gate, and they looked better disciplined than most raiders, their attentions focused. Problem was, they were focused in the wrong direction for them to see us. I fired my magical energy rifle, close enough that I couldn’t miss, and turned one of the raiders to ash. Ache’s submachine gun rattled off several bursts as she took out the other two.
“Hey! We’re under attack!” a raider atop the wall yelled out, taking away our element of surprise far sooner than I’d planned.
I fired my magical energy rifle at the pockets of raiders preparing weapons on the wall, and Rare did the same with her minigun while I made my way toward the guard post. One of the ponies there had a rocket launcher battle saddle, and I shifted her corpse around to use the weapon. When I had it lined up on three raiders firing assault rifles at Ache, I depressed the firing bit with my magic. A missile shot out and blew the raiders off the wall, taking some of the scrap metal with it. I adjusted my aim and fired at another group of raiders before shooting at the wall next. It must’ve been more reinforced than I thought, for it didn’t give way to blast. According to the chiming coming from the battle saddle, I only had one rocket left, so I had to make it count. Lining up a shot, I fired on the crane holding the gate. The crane’s arm was torn off and the concrete gate wobbled, but it didn’t tip open like I’d hoped.
It looked like it could if I just gave it a push, though, so I ran to the wall. If there was ever a serious overestimation of my strength, this was it. According to my PipBuck, I had the strength of a “doughy foal,” so it shouldn’t have been too surprising, but it still looked like the gate could tip open at any minute.
“Rare! Ache! Give me a hoof here!” I called over to my companions, needing their strength to pull the gate open.
They came my way, firing at the raider defenders on the wall. A griffin suddenly streaked overhead, with different markings than the one Roaring Thunder had attacked atop the exhaust stack. I looked up and saw our pegasus friend zooming after the griffin, as well as a bomb falling toward me.
“Get back!” I yelled at Rare and Ache and promptly gunned it myself, using SATS to help.
It wasn’t enough to escape the blast. The griffin had used a weapon meant for battlefields, and the explosion deafened me before hitting me from behind and throwing me like another piece of debris. When I pried open my eyes, bits of scrap metal and concrete were still raining around me. All at once, feeling returned to my body and I felt all the damage done to it.
Celestia! Luna! My leg! Why?! My right hindleg was completely gone, the Stable jumpsuit and doctor’s coat around it tattered and smoldering. Most of the bones in the left side of my body were broken, but my mind kept coming back to my leg! Alarms that I was severely crippled sounded loudly in my ear from my PipBuck as my hearing returned.
I remembered, as my sight began to fluctuate, that I’d had the foresight to buy some of the expensive regenerative potions with our Burnside fortunes. With my magic, I shakily extracted the flask from my saddlebags and managed to get most of it into my mouth. I bit down on the coat sleeve of my foreleg as the potion took effect. Bones repaired themselves, the internal bleeding ceased, and most importantly my hindleg began to grow back. I couldn’t bear to look, but I could feel the bones regrowing, the flesh wrapping around them, and the skin returning to coat everything but the hoof. When I looked back as the tingling subsided, I could see a brand new and healthy hindleg, though it was bare since the potion wouldn’t repair my clothes too.
It held my weight as I stood on it, and I trotted unsteadily to where my magical energy rifle had fallen. Rare Sparks was nearby, feeding her armor scrap metal to repair it. Her armor had shielded Ache from the worst of the blast and the pondroid was firing at the raiders atop the wall, protecting the former Steel Ranger. I joined in, firing at the raiders, and made my way toward the large gap the blast had opened in the wall.
It had been the griffin’s intent to kill us all, but instead he’d opened a way into the factory compound for us. As I approached the gap, I spotted a group of marks on my EFS approaching and tossed a metal apple in their direction. The pips scattered and only three of them survived the blast. One of them had thrown themselves into my sight, and I used SATS to fire my magical energy rifle into her several times, leaving smoking holes in her flesh.
I noticed that the pony I’d killed was wearing a Black Skull uniform, and exercised caution as I looked for the other survivors. The wall had been composed of brick, steel, and a train car, and I poked my head past the twisted wreck of the train car before swiftly pulling it back. A shotgun fired and would’ve taken my head off if I’d been a second slower. I could tell by my EFS that the Black Skulls were close and pulled out my ripper.
I darted out into the open and swung the chainsaw-sword at the mercenary with the shotgun, depressing the button that brought the blade to life as I did so. Like most Black Skulls, he was wearing combat armor that would have nullified most of my strikes, but I was aiming for his lightly-protected face. The spinning blades tore off his visor and dug into his eyes, causing him to scream violently and drop his shotgun.
The mercenary fell to the ground still screaming as I pulled the blade free and angled it at his companion. The second Black Skull to survive my metal apple was wearing strength augmentations on his forelegs and struck out at me. I jumped back and when his hooves hit the ground, lightning shot out from them. He repeatedly tried to strike me, but I kept my distance, biding my time. When the moment was right, I thrusted my ripper point first at my opponent’s exposed neck, the added range from my magic giving me the upper hoof. The Black Skull fell dead to the ground as I pulled my weapon free.
Shots began to fly around me as a group of raiders emerged from the factory, and I fired my submachine gun at them. They scattered as Rare Sparks and Ache entered the train yard too, and I put the first Black Skull I’d attacked with my ripper out of his misery. Roaring Thunder was nowhere to be seen, but the rest of us moved in toward the factory. The raiders were no match for us, and we were soon inside the building.
A few raiders tried to ambush us in the halls, but generally the factory seemed pretty empty. I was glad, since it would take more than the four of us to fight an army, but it did seem strange to have so few defenders at the NLC’s headquarters. I supposed that the raiders probably preferred to stay in their own bases, acting like warlords, and with the Black Skulls out patrolling the city for Celestia-knows-why, there weren’t all that many ponies here. Red marks still flickered on the edges of my EFS’s range, so there were others here; we just hadn’t seen them yet.
When we entered the factory floor, a sniper shot rang out from above. The shot pierced Rare Sparks’s armor, but thankfully only the tail portion, and we all ran for cover behind the huge mixing vats. I located our sniper, a griffin perched in the rafters of the massive room; she would be difficult to dislodge. Another shot rang out, piercing the vat Ache was behind. Shampoo over a century old began to ooze from the hole as I drew my own sniper rifle.
I fired at the griffin, but missed, and her next shot came only a moment later, dangerously close to me. She was watching me now, and I wasn’t able to fire back without being shot myself. Placing my sniper rifle on the ground, I slid it across to Ache. Most ponies wouldn’t be able to fire such a weapon without a battle saddle or magic, but Ache wasn’t most ponies. With her synthetic advantages, she was able to brace and hold it properly using her forelegs and fired off a shot at the griffin while she was watching me. The griffin fell from the ceiling, crashing into a vat of shampoo with a wet, sucking sound.
We hurried up onto the catwalks over the mixing vats and toward the staircase at the end of the room. It ran up to an office much like that of an Overmare in a Stable. Besides it being the likely place for the NLC to set up the head of their headquarters, there were also cables running out of the circular window and away in the direction of the exhaust stacks, where the radio tower was set up. Shots came from the direction of the office as we approached, two Black Skulls at the top of the rickety stairs firing at us. We fired back and one of them fell, tumbling over the ledge to hit the floor with a sickening crunch. The remaining mercenary produced a metal pear and threw it at us. As the grenade detonated, it took out a section of the staircase between my friends and me. Crouching low, I fired my submachine gun up at the Black Skull, and he wasn’t able to throw a second metal pear.
“Find another way around,” I called down to Rare and Ache.
Rare Sparks resignedly turned and trotted back down the stairs, but Ache took a running start and leapt across the gap, landing next to me.
“You’ve got to be crazy if you think I’m going to leave you alone,” the pondroid said.
“We’ll be fine, Rare,” I called down to her as she turned to look back up at us, “I promise.”
“You keep that promise,” she demanded before trotting the rest of the way down the stairs.
Together, Ache and I ascended toward the factory’s office. The door was locked, but I was able to pick it in good time. It was a good thing we’d kept low, because as soon as the door opened, a shotgun blast went over our heads. Ache fired her submachine gun at the Black Skull with the shotgun, the bullets boring into his brain via his chin. One more mercenary was in the room, and she looked up from a bank of terminals in shock as we entered. Grabbing a crowbar with her magic, she began smashing the screens until Ache shot her.
“This is it!” I said excitedly, looking at the terminals that were still intact.
“Go for it,” Ache said after sweeping the room and making sure there was only one other way out, “I’m going to make sure nopony is preparing to ambush us.”
As she headed through the only doorway that didn’t lead to a broken staircase, I headed over to the terminals. I had no need to work my magic with them, since they were still logged in, and I was able to pore over the entries immediately. The Black Skull had been busily deleting files when we’d entered, but there were still some left (the physical files were a heap of burning paper in the room’s corner). There were inventories of equipment and journal entries by the base’s commanders, but my attention was drawn to the files labeled as census data. I opened the most recent one and began to read.
06.03.1503 – CENSUS REPORT (STALLIONGRAD)
OVERALL CENSUS
-------------------------------------
Ruins of the Old World:
Settlements: 2
Raider Orgs: 3*
Slaver Orgs: 0
Crystal Empire/Frostpoint:
Settlements: 2
Raider Orgs: 12*
Slaver Orgs: 0
Northern Cross:
Settlements: 1
Raider Orgs: 4*
Slaver Orgs: 1
Stalliongrad:
Settlements: 4
Raider Orgs: 42
Slaver Orgs: 13
Vanhoover:
Settlements: 3
Raider Orgs: 36
Slaver Orgs: 19
-----
Total: 142
Settlements: 12
Raider Orgs: 97
Slaver Orgs: 33
------------------------------------
STALLIONGRAD CENSUS
Stalliongrad recruitment is proceeding at expected pace and is now self-sustaining. The majority of raider and slaver organizations and half the settlements have joined the coalition. The largest threat continues to be the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad, and they will need to be dealt with before they realize the threat we pose to them. Recommend all Departments to send troops to expected conflict with PRS. Second-greatest threat is the area’s Steel Rangers, but addition of Black Skull personnel from Vanhoover Department should provide adequate counterforce. Recommend a strike as soon as opportunity presents itself. Requesting additional instructions from LISTENER and BARON.
Settlements:
* Recruitment Progress: 50% [4/8]
** Agents seeking arrangement with Neon and County of Rain. PRS and Railyard considered unsuitable for membership. Castle Bridge and Quarry potential sites for Integration. Increase in progress from last census due to destruction of Harmony Tower.
* Existing Settlements:
** Castle Bridge
** The Old Guard
** Quarry
** Stallion Hill
Raider Organizations:
* Recruitment Progress: 79% [42/53]
** Loss of three organizations since last census, gain of sixteen. Four non-coalition organizations disbanded/destroyed/absorbed since last census and two new organizations created. All remaining organizations are considered suitable candidates for membership and should be pursued.
* Reformation Progress: 42% [18/42]
** Seven new organizations considered ready for Integration, pursuing arrangements with nearby settlements.
* Integration Progress: 0% [0/42]
** No new updates.
* Existing Organizations:
** 7th Street Hooligans
** Axle’s Gang
** Arc Welders
…
The list went on and on, and there were more detailed reports on each settlement and “organization” in separate files. I noticed with shock when I backed out of the file that there were less available than before. As another file disappeared before my eyes, I panicked. I dug into the terminal’s spell matrix to find out what was going on, if I had triggered something or the Black Skull here before me had set something up to delete the rest of the files. I discovered that they were being deleted remotely, through the connection with the tower atop the factory. I rapidly copied everything I could to my PipBuck before they were able to finish the job.
Just in case they were able to access my PipBuck too, I hurriedly unplugged it from the terminal. As the screens went blank, the sound of breaking glass suddenly came from my right. I drew my magical energy rifle and cast SATS as I spun to face my attacker. I stopped and dropped the spell when it identified that the being who’d given me the fright had not been a griffin, but Roaring Thunder.
“There you are,” I said as I put my weapon down, “What’s going on?”
“I hope you’ve gotten everything you need, because we need to go,” Roaring Thunder said, nodding toward the terminals, “Trouble is on the way. The Black Skulls called for backup, and their answer is coming.”
Level Up
New Perk: Like They’re Wearing Nothin’ At All – Conventional weapons ignore 3 Damage Resistance of enemy armor.
New Quest: Out of the Shampoo Factory … - Survive the Black Skull attack on the LuxuriMane factory.
Big Guns +4 (35)
Explosives +4 (87)
Lockpick +2 (66)
Medicine +2 (66)
Melee Weapons +5 (86)
Speech +3 (79)