“This is Raptor ‘Nephilim’, target in sight, firi-” The captain was saying, then she caught sight of the beam howitzers this base had, the other Steel Rangers bases they had passed hand all been either caught completely by surprised, or were in a state of panic and disorder, still put up a hell of a fight according to the other two raptors assigned to this task, they were the most heavily armed and armored faction in this goddess forsaken wasteland, some enclave security teams suffered over fifty percent casualties, but one-by-one the Rangers had broken under pegasi superiority. These ones though, they were prepared, well prepared… Trenches and dugouts, magical beam and magical plasma gatling emplacements, and those cannons… The captain, Winter Snows, had realized a second too late that she shouldn’t have hesitated to fire.
The Steel Rangers didn’t… Their shots were not random, they had three beam howitzers, and so they fired at the three most important targets on any vessel… The engine, the weapons, and the bridge… One shot took out one of the side-mounted triple-barreled beam turrets, causing the energy in those magically active gems to dissipate violently, there were a series of shocks as the safeties, that were supposed to prevent this sort of chain-reaction, failed… No pegasus ever believed the wastelanders had weapons that could destroy the magically-shielded and graphene-reinforced armor plating around the turrets, there was simply no reason to maintain the safeties… Thus, an entire quarter of the ship went dead as magically active gems overloaded from the sudden backlash of power and detonated.
The next shot blew out the aft-starboard engine cluster, propellers breaking free from their rotors and slicing into the hull, more magical gems blowing out, although not to the same degree as the first hit, but the clouds magically bonded to the airship’s keel had dissipated, they were going down hard… The third shot fired right into the bridge… Or, rather, observation tower, no pony would be stupid enough to make the bridge stick out from the top of the ship, such an obvious target! It still caused blackouts across the ship's systems from poor gem maintenance and poorer safety systems… “Prepare for impact!” The captain yelled, “Radio Enclave High Command at Neighvarro, tell them we’re downed!”
“Can’t, ma’am, radio gems got overloaded! They aren’t broken, but it will take us at least an hour to drain the power safely without blowing out our ears!”
“Damn it, fucking dirt-ponies!”
The airship smashed into the ground hard, rending a large gash into the earth, the bottom turret had managed to get a shot off before the crew climbed up to avoid getting crushed as the ship dipped down.
That shot from that beam cannon, which should have torn a hole clean through fifty meters of dirt and blown a hole in the defunct stable they were using as a base, missed… It struck the ground behind the stable, certainly from the smoke billowing out it hit something, but the defenders didn’t flinch…
After regaining her composure, the captain yelled, “All surviving security teams and fight crews, jump! Jump! Jump!”
The airship was coming in for a strafe, it wasn’t going head-on, more like a slightly angled broadside, that gave the howitzer teams plenty of space to target… The three fired in quick succession, with the Stable’s tiny power supply, beam cannons that were supposed to recharge over the course of three minutes, took sixty minutes… The barricade team certainly hoped the battle would be over before they had to take another shot, but if it wasn’t, then another trio of blasts would certainly end it…
Harry watched as the engines on the airship exploded and fell to pieces, the side-mounted gun, once aiming right at him, was shattered glass, melted metal, and warped plastic. The gun on the ship’s underside had gotten off a shot, but it flew over their heads and hit somewhere behind them. The Star Paladin’s voice, echoing through the communications equipment that they were all issued right before the ship breached the clouds, spoke up on all frequencies, “Damage report?”
“Cafeteria got slagged,” The familiar voice of Sparkweld continued, “Nothing else though, the beam missed anything vital completely.”
Hangar doors on the ship’s underside, unfortunately intact despite the crash, jerked open and power-armored ponies with wings swarmed out, along with large floating black rectangular things with rounded turrets… Flying tanks… Harry would have been surprised but she didn’t think she’d ever be surprised again after seeing the airship fly out from above supported by clouds.
“Steel Rangers! Hold the line!”
Harry did so, firing bolt after bolt into the attacking horde, but even from Trottz, her shots just bounced off the hulls of those sky-tanks… Magical plasma cannons fired, blasting away, but the rangers weren’t stupid, like raiders, who would charge at you with a knife even if you had power armor and a gatling gun, they took cover behind the freshly dug trenches, they took only ten minutes to lay out some impressive trench lines, amazing what magic could do. Harry could still hear a few ponies shouting as the tank strafed their trenches, Harry hoped no one he knew well were in there when they blew…
Seeing the tactics being employed, the pegasi took to the sky to fire over the walls of the trench, but those in the air weren’t behind cover, a pegasus was fast but, against a rotary autocannon, oversized miniguns mounted into prepared dugouts and belt-fed so they wouldn’t run out of ammo mid-battle, they were made short work... Any pegasus who didn’t try to dodge or spin was torn from the air, and it was hard to aim while spinning.
A ranger ducked out of cover, immediately getting pelted by beam and plasma shot, she vanished into ash, but not before getting off a shot with her rocket launcher, it was set to proximity, and it didn’t explode, it fired out a hemisphere of shrapnel that didn’t kill that many, but made the pegasi drop like flies, tearing holes in wings, or ripping the wing off completely. Any pegasus that made it close enough that accuracy didn’t matter got torched by flamers… But the tanks were still getting closer, there were three tanks now, and Harry’s section of trench was nearly hit by a plasma blast, across from her she saw the knight, the female one who had accompanied her in Trottz, was ripped in half by the swirling magical energy, Harry stared in horror… Never had she seen one of her allies fall in battle directly, occasionally one would crawl back wounded, sometimes she would hear an explosion or energy blast from upstairs or downstairs in a ruin, and arrive too late, but she had never seen the act directly… It wasn’t too different from what she saw when she shot her enemies, but something about it was different, it was different when it was someone you knew, even if you didn’t know them well…
“Assholes!” Harry lifted up a grenade dropped on the trench floor and flung it with all her magical might, the blast didn’t catch anything, but it was the thought that counted… Then the cavalry arrived… Cavalry? She didn't think it was entirely appropriate, since they weren’t mounted, nor were they horses.
There was a thunderous KUNPBOOM! And one of the tanks just detonated in a multicolored magical fireball… Zooming in from up above came the Talons, “You’re gonna owe us for this!” She heard Corvo yell as she loathed another hundred-milimeter round into her cannon, Harry couldn’t imagine she had all too many of those left, especially if she had to fly while carrying them. Smaller flak-cannons, miniguns, assault rifles, beam guns, plasma guns, and pistols of all shapes and sizes roared into life, the pegasi almost retreated, we outnumbered them now, but they still out-gunned us.
“Damn it! Why didn’t we pick up griffons on radar!”
“Don’t know, sir!” The pegasus was hiding behind a tree, it was pitiful cover, they never trained for this, all the dirt-ponies knew was how to fuck and murder, they didn’t have military tactics! He was nearly hit by a huge shell from one of the griffon’s guns, luckily it wasn’t explosive, or it was a dud… Yep, that was a red band, definitely a dud… The Pony’s heart raced as he ducked from pitiful cover to pitiful cover. “We need to get back into the ship! We can’t hold out in the lack of cover!”
The captain’s voice picked up on the comms, and shouted loud, clear, and angry “If any of you featherbrained bastards take one step back I’ll shoot you myself!”
The pegasus stood his ground for a second, then the pegasus next to him got sliced clean in half… It was a clean razor’s cut, not a bullet hole or magical blast, it was like he was simply sliced by an invisible sword, the pegasus felt something pass mere millimeters from him, like a ghost, and felt a cut start to pour blood down his backside, he didn’t even feel the blade! He had enough sense to chug a healing potion, then ran, damn the consequences, he wasn’t fighting this!
He wasn’t the only one, now pegasi were starting to abandon the fight in droves, if their superiors found out they would be branded dashites and either imprisoned or killed, but possible death later was preferable to certain death now. They fled, but as they did, the ship’s one still functional tipple-barreled beam cannon tracked them, and fired, he ducked out of the way in time, but several others were smoking ash in the wind… He flew, and didn’t stop until his wings gave out.
The rest of the pegasi that weren’t dead or bleeding or disabled were retreating into their airship, there appeared to be some fighting going on inside the ship itself, it appeared they had a mutiny on their hooves, the Steel Rangers had successfully broken the pegasi morale, but with the ship in the condition it was, all they were doing were making easy prey of themselves and backing up into a corner to be captured. Crescent Bolt stepped out into the battlefield herself, “Forward, all Rangers forward! Capture if possible! We need pegasi prisoners!” One of the beam-howitzers was hit by a tank blast, and completely slagged, the second had its power line cut and was in no shape to fire, the third however had fired a blast into one of the airtanks, slagging the front and back plates, immolating the crew, and overloading every magical gem and talisman that made it function... The third was abandoned by their crew, the Rangers didn't kill fleeing ponies unless they were raider and slavers.
They had made their way just inside the large dark airship, two rather brave pegasi guards raised their guns, but then their heads separated from their bodies without a sound, everyone paused for a moment, then appeared a winged unicorn, an alicorn, dark blue and with a pair of combat knives floating around her, “Oh, forgive me, I couldn’t focus on two blades and the invisibility spell at the same time.”
“Everyone, hold fire!” Harry shouted.
“What?” The Star Paladin, for the first time in a long time, was rather confused, she gestured the other rangers to continue forward, Victory Flame led the way, it was almost comical to see a foal leading an army, as they ran deeper into the airship wreck.
“Umm, I’ve seen her before, she’s a friend, not an enemy,” Harry began.
“Well, I’ll take your word for it, but I would still prefer if she were disarmed and had a magical suppressor placed on her horn.”
“I will do so willingly,” The alicorn began, “However I want your assurance that Little Mare will not be harmed.”
“We assure you, Harry will not be harmed by us, and will in fact be the one to guard you, so she will be on the rear lines.”
“Thank you,” With that, the alicon dropped her knives and sat down on the edge of the airship’s bay.
Harry watched over her, and listened for the sounds of fighting, there were what sounded like small skirmishes here and there, but for the most part, it seemed the enemy had routed. “So, uhh, I never got your name…”
“I do not have one, you ponies have names, I think I used to have a name, cannot remember…” She sounded wistful, but also sad.
“Well, how about, Ghost, since you can turn invisible.”
“Many of us can turn invisible, but I like that name, name, it’s weird to have a name…”
“I thought you had gone back to look for your Goddess.”
The Alicorn erupted into tears, Harry suddenly felt rather awkward, “She is dead, I know she is, so I searched for my sisters, to reconnect, to have the comforting presence in my mind again, but then I saw the ship, you are not like me, you are small, you are weak in magic, you are alone in mind, now that the Goddess is gone, you will not hear her again, Little Mare… I feared for you, I circled around you, I blocked beams and bullets when you did not see them coming, when I knew you were safe I moved forward to harm those who sought to harm you, with a blade I am undetectable, unlike my spellcraft, so I sliced and cut, it is crude, but it is one of the few magics left to me, as my horn will never return I feel.”
“What… Happened to it?”
“I do not remember, I do not remember much, most of what I remember is bad, you are one of the few things that I remember that is good…”
The capitan drew a magical beam pistol and shot the first pony who leapt into the door, burning her head clean off, she marched out into the foredeck, seeing the fifty or sixty so ponies who survived, “This is my ship! Under the jurisdiction of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, you are all hereby branded dashite unless you turn around and face these barbarians!”
“Get us out of here! It’s hopeless!” A pegasus stallion cried, he was shot dead too.
“The engines are dea-” One of the bridge technicians began, then silenced as the barrel of the beam pistol was pointed into her head too, the Captain at least shot her in the leg instead of the head, but her whimpers of pain only served to further horrify the remaining crew.
“There will be no cowards on my ship,” Captain Winter Snows finished, “You will fight or you are a traitor to the Enclave, you will fight or these mutant rapist murdering mud-ponies will kill you, you will fight or I will shoot you myself!” One of the soldiers drew their rifle and fired a warning blast at the Captain, she returned fire, but the beam glanced off her power armor, “Security, arrest the Traitor!” She shouted, realizing her beam pistol wouldn’t scratch the armor, but then she realized none of her crew, even the ones on the bridge, were following her command anymore… She wouldn’t realize anything else ever again as every loaded gun in the room turned on her, there was pretty much nothing left.
“Surrender to the Steel Rangers! We will not harm you! We have explicit orders not to harm you!” A ranger called from down the hall. The fifty five, now fifty four that their ex-captain had unofficially been relieved of duty, pegasi had barricaded themselves in the bridge, it was a tight fit. Eventually, one of the braver ponies inside stepped forward, head bowed, she was ready for whatever the savages were going to do to her, she just wanted to get the torture and fucking over with… To her surprise, there was nothing of the sort, instead, the Rangers simply relieved her of her weapon, the ex-captain’s beam pistol, and then had her join a group down in a deck, others were suspicious, thinking they would just mass-execute or burn them alive, but the ‘savages’ could have just done that already… So one-by-one, the pegasi surrendered and gathered on the ship’s deck.
“Enclave Pegasi, I am Star Paladin Crescent Bolt of the Steel Rangers, and I have a simple order for you, can you fix this vessel and make it operational again?”
“W-Why should we trust you! Why should we work for you! You’re just going to go flying up to our homes and burn, and torture, and enslave us!”
“You seem to be under the delusion that all ponies on the surface are the same, we are not like the raiders and slavers, we are the Steel Rangers, and we uphold many of the values your leaders claim to uphold as well, we seek to restore Equestria, we seek peace, we seek freedom, and we seek kindness… At least that is true of me and my Rangers… And I am sure there are many others in this wasteland who feel the same… But it seems your leadership are not one of them,” She paused for a second, waiting for any objections, but everypony here had seen the Captain, “We have spared you, we are willing to let you all go free, but I heard what your leader was shouting, your chances of a safe return to your homes are slim, you are branded traitors, but unlike your superiors, we are willing to give you a second chance… We spared you, while your beloved captain would have shot you in the back if you dared think to surrender.”
Many of the pegasi had actually begun to listen, some were accusing others of being dashites, they retorted by pointing out what the captain had done, and what the Steel Rangers were offering… A few fights nearly broke out, but they were broken up before anything real could get started. Crescent Bolt smirked, she had one more thing to point out to these ponies, it was clear they didn’t actually know their orders… Before she had them gathered she had her scribes search the ship’s databanks thoroughly, marked as a high-priority order for the captain only was a document marked “Operation: Cauterize”
Crescent Bolt got everyone’s attention again, “This document was for your captain’s eyes only, do you know what it reads?” She said, as a projector displayed the terminal’s text, every pegasus present was hesitant, knowing they could get in trouble for reading it, but they were already in trouble, and curiosity gnawed at them, she opened the document… “The Objective of Operation Cauterize is to terminate all current and potential enemies of the Enclave, this includes;
Subjects A: All former Enclave personale, those officially branded dashites and those not, who are on the surface, and all sapient creatures who have had contact with these personale.
Subjects B: All renegade forces who would act as disruptive agents to future stability, including all those declared raiders or slavers.
Subjects C: All sapient creatures who have knowledge of the Enclave’s mission, knowledge of the Enclave’s inner workings, knowledge of the Enclave’s technology, knowledge of the Enclave’s political structure, knowledge of the Enclave’s current economic status.
Subjects D: Anyone who directly or indirectly opposes the Enclave’s mission.”
Crescent Bolt smirked as the looks on the pegasi’s faces turned from confusion, to horror, to fear, and then to rage as they realized what this implied, after two centuries, that could very well be everyone on the surface. “So… Will you get this ship operational again, and we can guarantee you some degree of safety in Stable 107…” Every single pony’s hoof raised at once.
“From a rough estimate of the damage… Give us six hours to get it flying again, give us eighteen if you want the guns working, give us a month if you want the hull damage repaired.”
“Our scribes, unicorns and earth ponies, with years of experience will aid you in this goal, their numbers are almost double yours at one hundred and five.”
The pegasi’s jaw dropped, the wastelanders were more impressive than they gave them credit, “Give us two hours for flight, and four to repair the guns.” Already, some of the pegasi ponies from the crowd had broken off and started painting dashite brands on the hull. Soon, the Nephilim would fly again!