Part 3
Chapter 1
45 A.B.
“Four suspects confirmed inside the building,” came Echo-1’s gruff voice through the radio. “Three armed with firearms, the fourth is a Unicorn. Echo Team ready to enter.”
“Copy that,” came the response of the lead Enforcer. “Echo-2 are you in position?”
Echo-2, Jace, looked over his shoulder at Scamp and Dew, who both gave a single nod in response.
“We are in position, ready to breach.”
The three of them were at the back side of the building, while the other three members of Echo were at the front.
Scamp took the moment of silence to adjust the submachine gun on her right side and the pistol on her right hoof. She flexed her wings slightly, anticipating the next few minutes.
“Echo Team, you are clear to breach.”
“Breaching.” There was a small explosion on the door, followed by Jace bucking the door open.
Scamp was the first in, followed by Jace and Dew.
“Left side clear,” she said into her mic as she scanned the room, using the reticle on her helmet's HUD to aim the submachine gun on her side.
“Hallway clear,” Jace announced. “Proceeding down the right side.”
Scamp followed from the rear, watching their back as they walked down the hallway.
As they neared the end, the sound of gunfire could be heard from the front of the building.
“Contact! Hostiles are in the warehouse section!” Came the loud but calm voice of Echo-1.
Jace tensed slightly, but the three of them kept up their slow steady movement. As they neared the door, it burst open and a unicorn ran into the hallway. They came to a stop right in front of Dew, who had their rifle almost pressed right up to their snout.
“Don’t move!” Dew screamed in a commanding but surprised voice.
The Unicorn stared at all three of them, who now had all weapons pointed at him. He took a step back.
“Don’t do it!” Jace commanded.
In an instant, the Unicorn’s horn flared to life just in time to push all three weapons up as they fired, the bullets barely missing his head. He then dropped down into a fighting stance as his horn flared again sending all three members of Echo Team flying backwards.
Scamp, being a Pegasus, recovered first mid air and brought her body around to face the Unicorn, moving the reticle to his chest. But just as she fired the gun snapped to the side, causing her bullets to miss completely.
“Fucking Unicorns!” She roars as she’s grabbed by unseen magic and slammed into the wall.
As she hit the ground, the other two had recovered and opened fire on the Unicorn. But curses and thuds revealed they’d had the same results as she had.
With a grunt Scamp jumped to her hooves and jumped forward, using her wings to propel her towards the Unicorn. This move seemed to catch him off guard as he back peddled and tried to stop her with his magic.
Her gun was yanked aside again, but this time she wasn’t attempting to use it. Instead she continued forward and slammed a hoof into his face.
The Unicorn stumbled back looking dazed, giving Scamp time to tackle him to the ground.
The two of them wrestled back and forth, with Scamp trying to get a magic inhibitor over his horn and the Unicorn trying to get free and focus. Suddenly, she felt her right hoof start bending towards her head, the attached pistol slowly inching towards her.
She grunted as she fought against the magic, but it was a losing battle. Sweat poured down each of their faces as she fought to hold him down and keep her pistol from pointing at her head.
Just as she was sure she was about to get shot, she gave up holding him down and shot her hoof up and gripped his horn. His eyes widened as she let out a roar and jerked her whole body to the right, snapping the horn in the process.
The Unicorn let out a scream of agony as he stopped fighting her and grabbed his broken horn.
She stood up just as her teammates made it to her side.
“Celestia!” Dew exclaimed as he saw the screaming Unicorn and Scamp dropping his horn. “Horn Snapper at it again.”
“He was asking for it,” Scamp said as she readjusted her gear and weapons.
“It was justified,” Jace said as he hoofcuffed the Unicorn and placed a magic inhibitor on what remained of the horn, just as a precaution.
“Damn Bronies,” Dew said, staring at the large B on either flank of the Unicorn, the branding that all Bronies must have.
With a sigh, Jace stood up and keyed his mic, “Echo-2, Unicorn suspect in custody.”
“Copy that, Echo-2. Echo-1, status?”
There was a pause before a response came. “Echo-1, all three suspects are down. No casualties on our end.”
“Outstanding, Echo Team. Finish clearing the building.”
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Good work making the arrest, Scamp!” Cherrywood, the radio operator, said happily as she trotted out of the command truck and towards the Members of Echo Team as they returned. The Unicorn trudging along with his head down.
“Thank you, because I obviously did all the work back there,” Scamp replied, a playful tone to her voice.
“Oh shove off!” Dew said as he punched her side, getting a chuckle from the rest of the team.
“Yes, excellent work, filly,” came a cold voice from the command truck.
Scamp looked over to see the lead Enforcer standing in the doorway to the truck, an unimpressed look on his face. His imposing black power armor with gold trim only added to the malice his presence gave off.
“Thank you, sir,” Scamp responded, knowing it wasn’t in her best interest to joke around with him.
“My only comment,” he said, lowering his voice as he looked each of them in the eyes. “It took six of you to bring down three armed Bronies.”
“Four sir,” Dribble corrected, gesturing to the Unicorn.
The Enforcer stared at Dribble, causing him to start sweating under his intense stare.
“The fact you consider an unarmed Unicorn a threat only lowers my opinion of your team.” He steps forward, his yellow fur seeming to glow in the sunlight. “Now, release him into my custody.”
“Yes, sir.” Echo-1, Parker, says with a nod and pushes the Unicorn towards the Enforcer.
The Unicorn finally looks up and tries to stare the Enforcer down, but the stare he gets back causes him to whimper and back up.
“Seize him,” Enforcer Strawell said calmly. Two other Enforcers, these ones wearing their helmets, step out of the command truck and stomped up to the Unicorn.
They didn’t give him time to react as they roughly grabbed him and began dragging him away to the Enforcers Mobile Command Rig.
“You’re all dismissed,” Enforcer Strawell said as he brushed back his pink mane and put on his helmet, hiding his glare behind the darkened visor.
Echo Team saluted as he walked away.
“Creepy prick,” Scamp muttered, getting nods from her teammates.
The six of them turned and headed for their own truck, a large armored truck with “Echo” on its side. They all entered the truck without a sound, removing their helmets as they all took their seats facing each other.
Scamp wiped sweat from her brow as she pulled out her water bottle from its compartment and took a few swigs of flavored water.
“That Unicorn was a damn threat,” Dew said aloud now that they were all alone. “He threw us around like we were nothing. And almost made Scamp perform her own sucide.”
“Yeah but ol’ Horn Snapper wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to add another horn to her collection,” Dribble remarked, a large smile on his face.
“I’ve only broken like twelve horns,” Scamp said with a look of innocence on her face. “Well I guess thirteen now.”
“Yeah but who’s counting?” Dribble teased, getting a water bottle thrown at him.
“Don’t mind Enforcer Strawell,” Parker said, changing the subject. “We don’t usually have to work with him or any of the Enforcers from the Office of Equine Affairs.”
Scamp rolled her eyes at the mention of the OEA, and lifted her left hoof to look through her wrist mounted PDA.
“Find any more ‘intel’, while we were in there?” Dribble asked, smiling at Scamp as she tapped at her PDA.
“Nope,” she replied dismissively, already being used to being teased for her side project.
“I’m just saying, you have checked every single Brony database we’ve found, and none of them have even mentioned him or anything related to him.” Dew said seriously. “You’re going to get in trouble if Command or any Enforcer finds out about your snooping.”
“Leave her be,” Calypso said, causing everyone to look at her. “She’s not technically breaking any laws. Besides, screw the OEA.”
“Well if Calypso says drop it,” Parker says with a smirk. “ Then we drop it.”
Scamp gave a small smile to the other Mare, who only nodded and went back to the book she was reading.
“So who’s buying drinks tonight?” Jace asked, causing everyone to point to Dribble.
“Aw applesnatch.”
ooo000<^>000ooo
Later that night
Scamp stepped into her house, throwing her badge and locker keys onto the kitchen table. She walked to her fridge and pulled out a soda and leftovers from the night before, putting them into the microwave.
With a sigh she walked to her room and removed her pistol from her hoof, placing it by the bed. Using her wings she removed her jacket and tossed it over the nearby chair.
She returned to the kitchen and grabbed her food as soon as the microwave went off. She balanced the food on her wing and grabbed her soda with her other wing. Carefully she walked down the hall to her study.
Upon entering, she sat down at her desk and laid her food out. She turned on her computer and connected her PDA to it, transferring the small amount of data she’d found.
All around her were maps, pictures, and notes. The main piece of the collection was a large heavily used book filled with bookmarks. The faded title ‘Memories’ adorn the top of the book, with a piece of paper taped under it.
The computer chimed when it finished downloading the contents of the PDA.
Scamp stared at the files she’d found on the Bronies computers, clicking through each looking for anything of note. After a few minutes she smiled as she found something she was looking for.
She jumped up and flew to the largest map on her wall that was covered in red pins. Using her wing, she lifted a new pin and placed it on the map.
“Hmm.” She leaned back and looked over the map, trying to make sense of the dots. Her eyes glanced at the top of the map where she’d written ‘Possible Ominus Sightings’.
If she could figure out how to get in contact with Ominus, the dimensional traveler Lance knew, then she might be able to help him return to his own world.
Her gaze drifted to a picture of Lance, taken by her when she tried to gain permission to talk with him. She’d only been allowed to look at him from afar while he sat alone during yard time.
She then lifted up the book and ran a hoof over it, a smile appearing on her face when she read the new title she’d given the book.
‘Living the Dream’