Once we'd all gathered into the armored truck and Spitfire and Spike had stored their Arms safely away, the flame-maned pegasus popped open a hatch below the dashboard and from it, pulled out several small handheld devices. She gave one to each of us and explained that they were two-way radios linked to the medics out on the field. contact with them was to be made once we'd found any injured civilians and somepony from the Medical Squad would arrive at the location ASAP. The device would also connect to any nearby Daeus Hunters in the area as well—something I, and I'm sure the others, were immensely grateful for.
Once the transceivers were passed around and she'd explained how to use them, the Lieutenant punched the gas and we were off. It wasn't long before the armored truck was roaring out of the garage, through the large driveway, and out into the inner district of Ponyville. I wasn't sure if Spitfire was just rushing because we were short on time or if she was just a reckless driver in general, but to my terror and that of another, more soft spoken pegasus, there was a lot of dangerous tilting and swerving in the first few minutes of the drive.
Thankfully there hadn't been many civilians on the road as we came tearing through—something I found somewhat odd. I'd assumed there would be refugees from the Outer District fleeing deeper into the city all things considered.
Maybe most of them already evacuated to a safer place? Or maybe...
I stopped myself from going any further than that, as that last thought didn't bear thinking about. I instead focused on keeping my eyes, and my thoughts, on the task ahead, which, unfortunately, also brought my mind to the tragedy that might've been. Those ponies that were still out and about were heading further into the city as I suspected, and I was doubly glad they had the sense to stay far out of Spitfire's way. Things finally smoothed out for the most part as we reached the main road, but before I or anypony else had a chance to complain about the initial exit from the facility, Spitfire started talking.
"Alright fledglings, here's the long story short," she began, blasting the truck's horn at a group of ponies crossing the road up ahead, "a massive pack of Vargren started attacking the slums out of nowhere about half an hour ago. None of us know why for sure, but the Doc has a theory that it has something to do with the Cannibal."
My eyes widened in recognition and understanding at that.
Right, that was one of the reasons I was transferred out here to Ponyville in the first place. I guess it would make sense if that were the case. It's not uncommon for Avidaeos to eat each other from time to time, but to gorge itself so much that it possibly drove the other group out of its territory...
"C-Cannibal?" Fluttered whimpered, her eyes going as wide as mine, albeit for completely different reasons, "you're talking about... a-about that strange Avidaeos that's been... that's... been—"
"That's been making a meal out of all the other local monsters in the area, yeah," Spitfire answered, "initially when we discovered the Celestia damned thing we thought it was weird, but since it wasn't bothering us, we figured we'd leave it to do some of the work for us."
"Bad move," Vinyl replied seriously, "in a lotta ways, Avidaeos are just like wild animals. Territorial wild animals. That's part of the reason why they attack so frequently in some areas. They don't like other Avidaeos muscling in on their turf, and if they get ousted by a stronger force, they'll eventually try to find a new feeding ground elsewhere... and try to wipe out anything or anypony that gets between them and that goal."
"The Doc figured that much might happen from the beginning," Spitfire agreed with a nod, "he convinced the Director to send out a few squads to pursue the thing, but... well..." she trailed off, and though I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, I could practically feel the grim scowl on her face as she spoke her next words, "...things didn't exactly work out as planned in the end."
"So... it's still out there somewhere then," Spike surmised from next to me, "and you think it chased the Vargren out of their territory?"
"I know it did," Spitfire replied, "the walking kindling never leave the Everfree. Ever. For them to attack Ponyville like this... it's never happened before—not with the Vargren," she shook her head, "but anyhow, that's the long and short of why they might be attacking, now comes what we—or more specifically, Twilight, Vinyl, and Fluttershy roles are in this clusterbuck—"
There was a sudden burst of static from the dashboard and the unfamiliar voice of a mare filled the truck.
"Lieutenant Spitfire do you read me? Are you there?"
Shifting in my seat a bit, I saw that the voice had come from a small speaker built into the dashboard itself. Connected next to it was a small handheld comm device, the back of which was adorned with a steadily blinking red light.
Why wasn't there one of those in the truck we took to get here? Probably would've made things a lot easier...
I set the thought aside as we all watched Spitfire frown and pick up the device. She kept her eyes forward as she put it close to her mouth and spoke, her tone somewhat clipped.
"Spitfire here, what's the situation, Fair Weather?"
"Good news, thankfully," came the relieved reply, "Applejack's team managed to either terminate or drive out most of the Vargren that made it in, so you shouldn't see too much opposition when you arrive."
There were a few sighs of relief from the back, one of which was my own. I knew we weren't in the clear yet, but I was still thankful for small favors and was willing to take anything I could get at this point. My relief was short lived, and fear took over once again as the sound of an explosion ahead of us rocked the truck. A quick glance outside the window showed the blast was far enough away that I could only see the resulting smoke rising in the distance.
Still, it had been too close for my liking all the same, and the fact that were passing less civilians and more ponies in Wendigo uniforms and other Wendigo transport vehicles wasn't helping my nerves any. Unfortunately, the mare on the other end of the line hadn't finished talking either.
"Don't drop your guard though," the mare continued, "there's still some stragglers hanging around, and several more are still trying to breach the wall. Fleetfoot and her team are on the walls picking off the ones that haven't gotten in yet—"
"What's the 1st Unit doing now?" Spitfire interrupted, "where's Applejack?"
There was a pause on the other line and I could hear the sound of urgent typing amidst a host of other frantic background noise and voices, then...
"Um... it looks like Applejack and her squad are working with the Research Team to mount a counter-offensive and eliminate the rest of the Vargren outside," another small pause, "I just got word that the Defense Team is taking care of the stragglers still inside the walls."
"Shouldn't the Defense Team be out there instead?" Spike asked, turning to Spitfire with a bemused frown, "I'm pretty sure the Research Team can handle the stragglers, right?"
"Normally we would send the Defense Team out there instead," Spitfire answered somewhat grimly, "but we lost a lot of ponies in both the 1st and 2nd Units not too long ago, so we're trying to focus each squad on where they're needed the most, and the Research Team has the most members right now," she allowed a wry smirk to cross her face, "this last month's probably been the most exercise the Research Team's gotten in awhile."
"Oh," Spike replied simply, "alright then."
Spitfire raised a brow at the drakeling for a moment, but shook her head a second later and returned her attention to the comm device.
"Well, in any case, it's good to hear we have nearly everything in hoof," she continued, speaking to the mare, "what about civilian casualties?"
"Minimal, but we have several injured in the crossfire," the mare replied, "the Defense Team has their hands full with the remaining Vargren in town. We've rounded up a few volunteers to help the wounded get to safety, but we could really use a bit more help trying to get the civilians out of the battle zone."
"Let Bon Bon know we've almost reached the slums," Spitfire answered, "we'll be there in a few, just tell them to hold on until then."
"Roger that, Lieutenant," there was another pause, and then, "and... Lieutenant?"
Spitfire raised an eyebrow at the worried tone in Fair Weather's voice. But responded nevertheless.
"Something else I should know about, Fair?"
"No, it's just..." another pause, "things are mostly under control now, but... do you really think it's a good idea to send the rookies out there without any training at all? I mean they don't even have Daeus Arms yet."
"Frankly? No, I don't. Not in the slightest," Spitfire answered after a second of thought. She turned and cast a quick, unreadable glance in our direction before returning her eyes to the road, "I think it's a damn fool move on the Director's part, but there's nothing that can be done about it now other than for those of us who can fight to make sure they come out of this alive and stronger for the experience."
An uneasy silence reigned for the next few moments after that. I continued to stare out the window, listening to the rapidly approaching sound of battle and trying to get my nerves under control. I could practically feel the fear flowing off of Fluttershy, but without looking I couldn't discern how Vinyl and Seeker felt about the whole thing. Curious despite myself, I turned and saw that Vinyl wore an uncharacteristically grim frown. Her eyes were once again hidden behind her violet shades and Seeker for his part wore a stony expression that gave nothing away.
No, wait... hang on...
I frowned and narrowed my eyes slightly, trying to get a better look at the stallion.
He actually looks... is that a smile?
A resigned sigh over the comm distracted me from my observations and we all looked over to Spitfire as Fair Weather finally responded.
"I guess that's the best we can hope for," came the mare's unhappy reply, "just make sure you and that dragon keep them safe alright? I don't want to lose anymore ponies tonight if we can help it. Fair Weather, out."
Before Spitfire could reply, the speaker cut out with another small burst of static. The Lieutenant sighed and returned the comm device to the dashboard.
"Well that wasn't very inspiring," Spike muttered before turning around in the front seat to give us a confident grin, "but hey, things are gonna be fine. It isn't like we're alone out there or anything, right?"
I was the only who gave any kind of response, and it was a small half-hearted and mostly distracted agreement. Most of my attention was focused on the surrounding chaos outside the truck. The well maintained and sturdily built structures of Ponyville's inner district had finally given way to the more dilapidated hovels of the outer district where the slums lay. There hadn't been as much collateral damage as I'd expected given all the noise, but that was probably because we hadn't reached the actual site of the battle yet.
I could see a few lightly armored medical transport vehicles parked here and there. As we passed by I could see both Wendigo medics and civilians loading injured into the trucks and was strongly reminded of the harrowing journey Vinyl and I had taken to get here. I felt like this was even worse than that had been if for no other reason than that there were far more lives at stake than just Spike's. Back then, only he'd been injured, and he'd recovered fairly quickly, but these ponies weren't part of Wendigo. They weren't Daeus Hunters and they didn't deserve to go through any of this.
"I'll be damned if these ponies don't know what they're doing..."
I broke my gaze away from the window to look at Vinyl and saw that she'd also been watching the ponies outside. When she noticed me looking she nodded back towards the window and spoke again.
"Looks like this isn't the first time they've had to do this," she observed, "they look focused, y'know? Methodical and precise, kinda like gramps whenever he's doing maintenance on his scythe."
Setting the weird comparison aside, I gave the ponies outside another look. It took a moment, and it was a bit hard to tell with us speeding by everything, but eventually I began to see what Vinyl was talking about. The citizens that had volunteered to help with the injured were clearly distinguishable from the Wendigo medics by their attire and overall raggedness, but aside from their appearance, there was little difference in the way they handled the situation.
The ponies of the slums seemed just as professional and efficient as the medics, and I was even more surprised to find that their was no panic in most of their expressions—just a dogged determination to save as many lives as possible. It was an inspiring sight, and looking at these ponies, I felt as though we'd be just fine. I realized then that Spike was right; we really weren't alone out there, and it wasn't just because we were being protected by Daeus Hunters.
"Avidaeos attacks happen often enough that most parents in the slums teach their foals safety measures and evacuation protocols," Fluttershy said suddenly. Something in her voice made me turn to her, but she'd been looking out her own window and I couldn't see her expression as she continued, "a few members from the Wendigo Medical Team visit the slums once every couple of weeks to hold 'first response' seminars free of charge for anypony who wants to learn," she finally turned to face me, that grim look of determination the volunteers wore mirrored in her eyes, "there isn't a single pony living in the slums who doesn't attend those seminars."
I blinked and stared at the mare for a long moment.
"Fluttershy," I began slowly, a growing suspicion working its way into my mind, "did you also... do you... live in the Outer District?"
We looked at each other for an oddly tense second, but it was Fluttershy that broke first. She looked away and opened her mouth to give some kind of reply, but before she could, Spitfire spoke first.
"Alright, enough chit-chat, ponies," she interjected, "our destination's just up ahead, so here's the deal. Spike and I will be the first one's out, we're gonna mostly be sticking to buildings as we search for any civvies that need a helping hand," she cast us another side glance, "don't stray too far from us, and for Celestia's sake do not try to be a hero; you're not trained for it yet. Help who you can and bail out if things get too bad or rescue seems like a lost cause, got i—"
"CONTACT RIGHT!"
Spike's sudden outburst was the only warning we got before something smashed itself against the reinforced glass of the drake's window. The sounds of terrified shrieks and loud expletives filled the truck mostly coming from Fluttershy and Vinyl Scratch. Unbidden, my mind instantly flashed back to the massive wolf-like Lobairo that had attacked on the way to Ponyville as a snarling, vaguely lupine face pushed against the now cracked glass of the window. From what little I could see of the creature, it was large enough that its entire face took up the majority of the window.
It was the first time I'd seen one in person, but I had no doubt that this was what one of the Vargren the other Daeus Hunters had been fighting against.
The Avidaeus was somewhat wolf-like, but unlike the giant horned Lobairo, this beast looked as though it was made entirely of splintered and ashen wood that wrapped around the frame of its face like raw corded muscle. Combined with the sickly yellow glow that replaced the eyes in its eye sockets and its snapping jaws with two rows of jagged blackened teeth, the effect was rather horrifying and more than a little gruesome. To Spitfire's credit, she managed to keep the truck under control for the most part, but the thing had somehow latched itself onto the vehicle and wasn't letting go.
I watched, frozen with fear as the thing bashed its face against the window again and again, putting more and more cracks in the glass with each repetition. Just when it looked like the window was about to give, the entire truck sudden swerved to the right and stopped, the sudden movement enough to tilt the truck slightly. All of us in the back were thrown to the left, but the beast held on, and as soon the truck stopped moving it slammed its face into the glass again.
Fluttershy and I screamed as the glass finally gave, but as the wolven Avidaeus tried to push its gaping maw in to take a bite out of the young dragon, it found its progress stymied by a pair of strong purple claws. Spike grunted as he held the Vargren's jaws open, his sharp teeth clenched, his draconic eyes narrowed, and the scales in his neck and hands shifting and bulging with the effort of holding the beast back. I sat, staring in amazement at the feat of strength, mentally trying to reconcile the vicious dragon I was seeing with the adorable baby faced drake I'd spoken with only hours before.
The amazement didn't last long, and was quickly replaced with shock as Spike opened his own mouth and let loose a blinding gout of green flame straight down the creature's throat. The Vargren immediately, pushed itself away from the truck, its pained howls mixing with the loud sound of crackling firewood. The flames had caught the beast on fire from the inside out—its burning wooden hide giving off an oddly pleasant scent, like potpourri.
The wooden wolf thrashed about for a few moments, probably trying to put itself out, but eventually gave up and fled down the street. I watched it go until it turned down a different road and ran out of sight. I didn't have time to dwell on what I'd just seen, as something was suddenly shoved into my hands by Spitfire, who'd made her way to the back of the truck at some point while we were all distracted.
"Here, take these and try not to blind yourselves," the Lieutenant grunted, handing us each a small metal canister, "it'll keep the bastards busy for a bit and give you some time to escape if need be. It's not much, but it's the best we've got right now, and it's better than nothing."
I held the canister up to get a better look and at first, didn't know what I was looking at. It was a small grey and yellow tube capped on both ends by thick metal plates. There was what looked like a small flat circular dial on one end. The dial was numbered from three to ten, and seeing that, I realized what Spitfire had given me was a stun grenade. Fluttershy, Vinyl and Seeker had each gotten one as well. I grimaced, wishing we'd been given something a bit more substantial, but standard explosive grenades were found to be horribly ineffective against even the weakest Avidaeos. The best we could do outside of using Daeus Arms was momentarily stun and trap the things.
I'd heard the R&D team was working on something that could do some damage, but nothing had come of the project as of yet. Until then, we'd just have to deal with keeping the Avidaeos at bay as best we could with what we had, and the Lieutenant was right; it was better than nothing. I'd never used anything like this, but Shining, in one of his many overzealous explanations of Wendigo weaponry, had filled me in on how to use one. Looking at Vinyl, it seemed like she was also fairly comfortable with the thing as she turned the canister this way and that, inspecting every inch of it.
In fact, the only one who didn't seem like they knew what they were doing was Fluttershy, who held the thing away from her like it would go off at any second. Spitfire must've noticed, because she started explaining without any kind of vocal prompt.
"It ain't exactly rocket science, hon," she began, moving aside as Spike made his way to the back to grab his own Daeus Arm, "just turn the dial and throw. Each number on the dial represent the seconds it takes for the thing to detonate once thrown. Now get back here all of you, we're heading out."
Fluttershy and I shared a nervous glance—well, my glance was nervous; Fluttershy looked absolutely terrified, but she followed after Spike and Spitfire nonetheless, right behind Vinyl, Seeker and I. Once we were all gathered in the back, Spitfire took a second to observe all of us with a heavy frown of dissatisfaction. Whether it was aimed at us or at the situation in general I couldn't tell, but it didn't last long and she gave a quiet sigh of resignation after another moment.
For a second I thought the mare was going to give us some kind of inspiring speech, but she turned away instead, grabbing hold of a latch on one side of the truck. Without a word she pulled the latch out slightly, twisted and pushed it back in. There was a loud click as it slammed into place. It was followed by a low whir as the back of the truck began to rise up and out, revealing the battered and—in some cases—burning remains of the Outer District beyond.
"Remember, we're not alone out here," Spitfire said, giving us a backward glance, "if at any point you lose track of us or vice versa, stay calm, stay out of sight and if you can, look for the other Daeus Hunters, you have the comm devices, use them whenever necessary. The other Hunters will make sure you get out of this alive if we can't get to you. Now let's move, rookies!"
With that, she hopped out of the truck and immediately took up perimeter around the outside. Spike went to follow, but held back a moment and turned to us with another encouraging smile. He opened his mouth, no doubt to give the inspiring speech we were expecting from Spitfire, but faltered. After a few false starts he gave a sheepish grin, rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
"Uh... what she said, I guess," he finally said, "we'll make it through this, just leave the fighting to us, alright?"
He didn't wait for us to answer, and jumped out after Spitfire. Seeker was next to head out, not saying a word to any of us as he moved forward and dropped down out of the truck.
"Welp, it's do or die time, ladies," came Vinyl's far too jovial tone, as she stepped past us and towards the open hatch. She looked back and gave us one of her signature lazy smiles, "don't know about you, but I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible. Still have some sleep I need to catch up on, so..."
She left her statement unfinished as she jumped down and joined Seeker. Fluttershy and I were the only ones left, and I turned to mare, intending to try and give some kind of words of comfort, but it turned out there was no need. To my surprise, the shaking pegasus moved on her own, the stun grenade clutched to her chest like it was the most precious thing in the world.
"Fluttershy?" I asked, unsure of what to say as she walked ahead of me, "are you... okay?"
She tensed for a moment, but relaxed a second later and gave a small nod. She didn't look back, nor did she reply verbally, she just moved ahead, carefully climbing her way down off the truck. I stood there alone for another few seconds, biting my lip and taking one last worried look out at the ruined buildings in the distance.
I really hope you knew what you were doing when you sent me out here, Celestia, because I'm still not convinced this was a good idea...
With that depressing thought, I let out a long, shaky sigh and followed after the others, praying everything went well, but afraid that nothing would.