Ante Up! Yap that fool!
Ante Up! Kidnap that fool!
The week passed with a peace that was eerily uncommon for the Hoof, the usual bloodshed calming down to an almost frightening level. But beneath the surface in the miles-wide maze of tunnels, the real chaos was going to begin.
A party of four, dressed in combat armor shined lights from their helmets at the gruesome scene before them, all had looks of unease shared between them. They saw the mangled corpse of a grass green mare laying frozen in the river of murky water.
An older more worn stallion trotted up to her, examining the body with fine eyes he gave a worried glance to his companions. “No signs of struggle, she was killed instantly. Called it in card Shark. The Demon Mares most likely Lacunae are here.”
A blueish stallion nodded then got started pressing buttons on his Pipbuck around his foreleg. The screen flashed to life in a green hue but before he could say anything a tapping sound was heard. The stallion fell over into the murky water.
Before the others could react the same tapping sound came in quick succession. Almost all the ponies dropped except the older stallion who galloped off at the first tap. His gallop was stopped when an invisible force impale him.
As he fell over a shape fell from the ceiling, its form only visible from water that dripped off it. Magical energy crackled around the shape until it formed into a very obliged Cyber mare.
Looking around frantically, her eyes began to glow violently. “Charity, I’m approaching the target location. No alerts, but scouting party encountered but neutralized.”
“Good, continued to location. Try avoiding any more random encounters. Get to it, the Steel Rangers and Legion are in position.”
“Understood.” the glow of her eyes dimmed as she faded into nothing again. Only the slight movements of the water gave her away.
Through the dark tunnel lay a bright room, a metal staircase led from the murky water to a metal grading balcony. On top of it stood two ponies armed with assault rifle battle saddles, one was a rugged-looking mare with spiked hair that blew smoke puffs toward a light blue smaller mare much to her annoyance.
“So you were a raider before you joined the Harbingers?”
“Yep, was born into a tribe that lived in an old movie theater. We called ourselves the Ghost Killers after a villain in an old martial arts flick.”
“What’s with you raiders and names like that anyway?”
“Huh? It’s scared rivals tribes and enemies into fearing you, or to create the sense that these ponies could be dangerous.”
“Yeah but some of those sound really dumb, like I heard one was called the Smile Squad. Like whose gonna be scared of that? I think ponies would just fall over laughing from hearing that.”
“Some are stupid obviously, but in defense of dumb raider names, I raise this. If you heard the name Smiled Squad what would you think?”
“That they must be dumb if that's their name?”
“Yes, but it could also mean that their crazy, take pleasure in killing, or are so morally bankrupt that robbing and killing brings a smile to their face. All of a sudden that name takes on a more disturbing meaning. They could also be using that name to lure in ponies who don’t think they're a threat, a way to kill easy prey. Sometimes it’s the unthreatening sounding things that are most dangerous.”
“I never thought of it that way, I guess rai-” The word died on the blue mare’s tongue as her head exploded outward, spattering the raider mare in the face and causing her to fall back. Before she could react two more bullets found their way into her throat without a sound.
Both mares collapse onto the metal grading as Blackjack appeared to the side of them. “Huh? I’ll thank Applebloom for mods later.” Walking to a blast door connected to the rest of the balcony, she pressed a red button on a panel and the door slid open to a pristine hallway. “Charity, ready to start.”
“Roger.” Releasing her magical hold on her earpiece, Charity looked around the deck surrounding her, a set of consoles lined the room from one end to the other, large glass windows set above them giving the whole deck a view of the outside. A command chair sat perfectly in the middle with a panel to the side, its contents of flashing buttons went over Charity’s head. Apple Bloom had told her she would run most of the ship’s function so all Charity had to do was give orders, for that she thanked Celestia for the A.I. mare.
“Can’t believe you manage to buy this airship from the Society.” A raspy gruff voice sounded from behind the command chair. He wore armor that looked like a mashing of combat armor and sports gear from a prewar poster “Old King Awesome wouldn’t part with this beauty for mostly anything being the last of its type and all. But you somehow convince the old fart to cough it up.” He seemed impressed by the filly. In all his years he’d never met one so young yet so scheming.
She just snickered at that. “Well the Society has been a very good customer of my business, plus making them a deal they couldn’t refuse doesn’t hurt.” Charity grinned evilly. “Time to cash in on all my loans.
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Blackjack crept through the greyish halls of the hub, attaching herself to pipes running along the ceiling and activating her stealth buck, she silently moved throughout the halls, avoiding several groups of ponies dress in purple robes as she went. Finally reaching a set of double doors with a yellow glowing sign named ‘generator’ she scanned the area for hostiles, once she was sure no pony was around she detached from the ceiling and snuck into the room as quickly as possible.
The generator was a 10-foot tall metallic square with two pipes ejecting out of it, one went into vats of water that bubbled and spiraled below the metal grading the generator sat on, and the other extended up toward the wall, breaking up into several pipes going all across the room. Steam rose from the vats below covering the room in a bright yellowish haze. As Blackjack approached the generator she reached into saddle pouches around her waist and pulled out apple-shaped devices.
Placing four of them across the generator, she connected them to a horseshoe-shaped object. “Time to set it and go.” Reaching out with her talons she began punching numbers into the device, her process stopped when she heard the sound of heavy metal hoof steps. Turning quickly around she was greeted with the lumbering form of a giant pony whose entire body was encased in heavy steel armor. Standing twice the height of a normal pony his armor was a sickly green with strakes of grey, two mounted miniguns set to his sides ready to fire. A lamp shined through the haze directly upon the Cyber Mare.
“Steel Rain? You survived that trip down the river?” Blackjack half joked but still was impressed he was alive. When they first return to the Hoof Dawn sent Steel Rain to deal with them, it was the perfect warm-up for them and a lesson in floating for him. “So Dawn restored you huh? No hard feels Cake Walk?”
The twin miniguns roared and Blackjack flipped to the side, running as the storm of bullets followed her. “Meeting old friends is always a party.” looking up she pointed her left forehoof towards a pipe, her hoof fired out like a grappling hook gripping onto the pipe, the cable retracted pulling Blackjack off the grading and away from the wave of death chasing her. When she caught up with the pipe she swung around it and planted her back hooves on top. Steel Rain guns clicked then a box cycled out the guns, opening to several rockets line up and ready to fire.
Rockets blasted out with a screaming hiss followed by smoke and fire as the room exploded. Blackjack jumped from pipe to pipe, always one step ahead of the destruction that followed. Having a bright idea Blackjack fired her left forehoof at a pipe high above the entrance, quickly pulling herself away as soon as her hoof reconnected she dropped like a rock toward the steel clad pony below. Landing on his back, belly down with a metallic thud, she tore into his rocket launcher with her talons. Lifting with the might of several ponies she pulled the guns up while she bit his neck causing the knight to scream and cry.
She droved her cybernetic teeth into his neck more and more as he struggled, laughing in glee at the steel pony’s pain. With a huff she jerked back tearing a piece of his throat off, his screams echoing throughout the room as sparks and blood gash from the wound. “What’s wrong Steel? What don’t like a good rodeo!” she laughed as she wrapped her forehooves around his neck. “Like all my upgrades! Was saving this fun for Dawn but you can be a warm-up!” She took her left forehoof and drove a talon into the visor of his helmet.
Steel Rain galloped with all his might hoping to throw the Cyber Mare off, but as she dug her talons through his visor into his eye and then into his eye socket, his running became a weak trot then fall. He fell limp to the floor, his screams becoming faint cries then silence.
Once he stop moving Blackjack hopped off him, completely forgetting her former enemy and going back to her real task. “You were always the most annoying enemy I had.” Was her last words to him.
she looked back at the generator of the room, the bombs were torn to shreds. Luckily she knew how to improvise. Walking over to the machine she pointed her talons at it and then stab them into the generator. With frightening vigor she tore the machine piece by piece, using even her teeth to rip it open. When she was done the machine was a pile of barely functioning parts that bellow steamed.
All throughout the tower lights went dead leaving Harbingers completely lost and confused. The darkness of the halls gave way to a red glow as the backlight turned on, and the generator room became a haze of red instead of the sickly yellow.
Outside the shadow of the airship loomed over the Hoof as it approached the towering form of Stable Tec HQ, its frightening form causing ponies on the ground to look up in awe and surprise. Inside Big Daddy walked through a refined hallway, the floor was velvet carpet with hexagon patterns along dimly lit lights created a nightly mood. the elder stallion approached two ponies dressed in strange armor standing in front of a set of wooden double doors, nodding respectfully to the buck one turned and open the entrance to a large theater room. Dozens of ponies, griffins, and buffalo sats were in the front row, as the elder bucked trotted down the walkway many nodded or bowed their heads to him.
Getting onto the stage, he trotted past a grey unicorn mare in the same armor most of the people in the audience wore and onto a poem. The grey mare’s horn lit up and Big Daddy’s voice boomed throughout the theater. “Reapers! Attention!” At that all of the crowd stood up, faces held high saluting the old buck. “Our greatest challenger since the Steel Rangers war is the enemy who sits below us! Today we face an enemy for the very soul of the Hoof, probably Equestria as a whole! They’ve come to the Hoof giving out promises of a better tomorrow under the guise of a False Prophet, but in reality, they want to take the city and conquer us all! They want the technology of the city of Hoofington so that they can build an empire under the name of a fake goddess, and destroy anybody that goes against them, well fuck that! I say that the Reapers show these robe-wearing Holy Flame-spouting pansies why the Reapers are the deadliest army in the Wasteland!”
No pony cheered instead they gave a loud stomp and shouted. “Death before dishonor!” Before saluting the buck.
“Now let's give ‘em hell!”
On the left side of the gondola of the airship hangar doors opened, the Reapers stood in attention looking determine at the landscape below them. Big Daddy trotted in front of them and then turned to the wasteland. “Reapers! Let’s stomp ‘em” With that, the grey buck grab a bottle from a strap around his armor with his teeth and smashed it across the floor. Stepping on the colorful liquid and then splashing it all over himself, he grinded his teeth as bat-like wings sprouted out of his torso.
Most non-griffins followed suit making the actual flyers cringe at the display, soon all the Reapers were sprouting wings. Big Daddy just smiled and then galloped toward the outside, jumping like a missile into the air and then taking flight toward the tower. The Reapers followed him, looking like a Hellstrom of bats descending from the airship. Down on the ground ponies standing on the walls and taking positions behind set-up defenses in the complex started firing up at the army of hundreds of gangers coming at them. Some tried to activate the gun towers, but their hearts shrunk as each tower refused to spring to life.
Their worry soon turned to panic as explosions tore through the tower’s walls. From the ruins that surrounded the tower poured forth dozens of power armor-clad ponies, wielding saddles with weapons fit for tanks.
Attacked from above and below the Harbingers fought vigorously to protect their found home. Sending the weak and elderly into the tower while the soldiers of faith laid their lives down.
“Now time to find Glory than Dawn.” Blackjack cracked her neck, ready for the fight.
But before she could leave a voice spoke from loudspeakers in the hall. “Oh, so the one born in a Stable has become a true heir to the Wasteland.” The familiar calm motherly voice made Blackjack stop and listen intently. “Look at what you have become. Cybernatic killer so driven by revenge you sacrifice your freedom, body, and name to a filly, all to destroy me. Even giving up your own title of Security for this ‘Demon Mare’ just to mock me. All this hate, all this effort. Tell me is this worth it?”
“It’s worth it for him.” Blackjack clicked her guns, loading them with armor-piercing ammo then walked with methodical anger down the hall.