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// Part Five: Coltpolis 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: M.I.A. 
// by CivilWarPony 
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Part Five: Coltpolis

Approaching the city of Coltpolis was like approaching any other ruin in Equestria, it carried an inherit risk whenever a pony decided to step a hoof inside of the abandoned streets of Equestria’s once great cities. Death could come in any form from a paranoid scavenger poking amongst the rubble for some long forgotten valuable to taking a wrong step and falling through a hole in the floor to your death. Airborne had learned that in order to survive in the Wasteland, that it was dangerous to step a hoof inside of any of Equestria’s ruined cities for certain death would follow but this time had to be the exception to that rule. Not that the idea sat well with him, in fact it was downright insane to think that they would be attacking such a horrid place to begin with, his tail twitched nervously at the thought of what they would find inside of Coltpolis. But out of all of the ruined cities from Manehattan to Baltimare, Airborne knew little about Coltpolis in fact most of the ponies he met in his travels knew anything about it.  
The city was like a ghost, rising from the radioactive mists as a collection of twisted towers that loomed in the distance then as quickly as they would appear; the ghost city would sink back into the horizon and be lost again. On occasion while sitting around a campfire with some trader ponies, somepony would share the sad fate of the city of Coltpolis. Before the War, the proud city had been a place of art and commerce, the streets were lively in the day and even more so at night. But when Equestria called for arms, Coltpolis answered. The city furnished Equestria’s armies with some of the finest doctors anywhere, but the War took its toll on the city. Numerous monuments were built around the city dedicated to the victories and losses of the War, so many monuments crowded every avenue and park that the city became known as the Monument City. Then when the death of Equestria came, Coltpolis was destroyed its streets burned with rivers of fire, the smoke choked the life out of Coltpolis’s ponies as the flames of their funeral pyres burned so brightly that the fire could be seen for miles around afterwards, all that remained of their bones were mountains of grey ash that blocked the streets. Then the city was left in deathly stillness where only the wind was brave enough to blow through the once glorious city of Coltpolis. 
Flying high over Equestria, Airborne could see the ruins of Coltpolis in the distance, sticking up on the horizon like jagged teeth. Baleout looking at Airborne says, “Doesn’t exactly look like one of the friendliest of places now does it?” Airborne replies, “Yeah, it isn’t a place I would pick for my next vacation.” Landing outside of the city limits Airborne waits until he hears the telltale sounds of battle coming from west of the city. With Spitfire and the Wonderbolts keeping the Red Remnant busy, Airborne gestures to his team to follow him. Approaching the city, the sound of gunfire grew louder; passing by the broken bodies of Red Remnant ponies it was clear to Airborne that the Wonderbolts were cutting them to pieces with their accurate and precise gunfire. All those years locked in the frozen basement of Stable 200 had done little to hurt their skills which were honed to deadly effect during the War. 
Soarin swoops over the many rooftops of Coltpolis, picking off Red Remnant ponies was too easy for him like swatting flies with his tail. Looking at Spitfire he sees her firing her battle-saddle, blazing away at the ponies below them like a fiery angel of death. Soarin laughs saying, "I can't believe these guys are a threat. They are too easy to kill, is amazing that they have been this successful." Behind him Fleetfoot replies, "I know, the zebra's during the War put up more of a fight then these fools. But maybe the only reason they have been this successful is that they have had more firepower until know. But they have never met the Wonderbolts before so let’s show them how a real pony kicks some tail!" Fleetfoot angles her wings and goes into a nose dive strafing the nearest rooftop quickly clearing it of any hostiles. Fire Streak goes into a tailspin twirling his shots across the roof of a large building that was once a factory, laughing as his shots paint the roof red. The Red Remnant ponies set their sights on the Wonderbolts, pouring massive volumes of fire into them but the Wonderbolts dodge their gunfire with ease. Dancing across the sky above them making the ponies below feel like fools.  One of the Red Remnant ponies mounted a large anti-aircraft gun, swiveling the large barrels up towards the Wonderbolts, then fired at them. Big black clouds exploded next to Soarin who barely missed getting torn in half by the shots from the large gun.
Misty Fly flies high into a cloud bank and swoops down out of the clouds aiming her battle-saddle directly at the pony on the anti-aircraft gun peppering the large weapon with gunfire. The pony sitting in the gunner’s seat slumps and falls down dead onto the roof, the ancient gun falls silent as the Wonderbolt’s quickly take care of his comrades. Fire Streak says, “You know this would be a good time to break out the Tornado formation. We haven’t done it in a long time and this place is perfect for breaking out the move.” Spitfire nods and says, “Alright let’s do it.” Spitfire, Soarin, Misty Fly, Fleefoot, and Fire Streak form into a column like formation then rotate around each other firing away at anypony they spot on the rooftops. Their accurate gunfire cuts down many ponies in hail of gunfire that rains downs on the Red Remnant ponies. Some are lucky to duck behind cover as the lead rain pours down onto their position, anypony that steps out of cover to return fire takes their life in their hooves as some find out the hard way. Breaking the formation the Wonderbolts split into five directions across the city, picking off the Red Remnant soldiers as they go, carving a bloody swath on the rooftops of the city of Coltpolis. Parts of the cities defenses fall silent as the Wonderbolts pass over them, killing anypony within their sights. Soarin scans the rooftops for any more targets and says, "I think we got them all, let's find Airborne and continue the mission." 
Below the Wonderbolts, the streets of Coltpolis were wide and covered in a fine layer of ash that stirred when Airborne trotted over it. The sickly swirling clouds of grey ash filled his lungs and irritated his eyes, placing his filtration mask on did little to stop the thoughts that he was breathing in the remains of long dead ponies. All of the buildings were burnt and covered in profane graffiti; most of the buildings were intact with the exception of a few that had burned from the inside out. Finding the sewer cover they needed, Airborne pulls back the lid exposing the dark and smelly underworld of Coltpolis. Carefully climbing down the aged and rusted ladder, Airborne’s hooves land on something with a resounding crack that echoes through the sewer tunnels, looking down he screams and jumps back in terror. The exposed light from the ash covered streets above reveal a large pile of bones from the ponies who had sought shelter in the sewers of Coltpolis as their city burned above them. Baleout says, “That’s really screwed up; remind me to not tell anypony about this.” Trotting down into the tunnel Airborne looks at Sunrise and orders her to close the sewer cover then orders Baleout to take point. Sunrise carefully steps over the piles of bones trying not to disturb the final resting places of the ponies of Coltpolis.
The tunnels seemed to stretch on forever, Airborne turns to Sunrise and says, “Are you sure we are heading the right way?” Sunrise stops and lifts her foreleg to her face looking at her Pipbuck then replies, “Yeah, we are. I made sure to download the maps of the sewers from Fluttershy’s compound. She had her scouts take detailed maps of the layout of the city both above and below the ground. It’s lucky that the Red Remnant didn’t catch onto what the scouts were doing otherwise I guess they would have made it a lot harder for us.” Airborne cautiously eyes the tunnel and says, “Are we close to where we need to lay the charges?” Sunrise nods and looks at her Pipbuck again replying, “Yeah this is it.” Sunrise pulls out a satchel charge from her pack and places it on the floor of the sewer tunnel. Baleout and Airborne trot down the passageway lining the walls with the explosives, as Airborne places the last charge he calls over to Sunrise saying, “Alright everything is set. Let’s get out of here” Galloping towards the ladder to the surface, quickly ascending the ladder to street level there is a low rumbling noise. The ground beneath Airborne’s hooves start to shake, a low rumbling the echoed through the ground, the charges they had set had begun to explode crushing the destroyed streets of Coltpolis into the bone filled underworld of the sewers. Airborne looks at Baleout, Sunrise and Starshine saying, “Let’s get moving!,” flying high into the air Airborne looks down as block after block of the ruined city collapses leaving a massive cloud of dust ballooning upwards into the air towards them. Quickly pulling on his filtration mask, Airborne braces himself against the torrent of hot air and swirling dust that quickly envelopes the group of Pegasi. 
The roar of the rushing wind beats against Airborne’s ears, trying to steady himself in the tempest he calls out, “Let’s fly higher, get above this debris storm!” Flying higher out of the dusty debris, Airborne warms his feathers in the sunlight and smiles seeing Starshine by his side, she says, “I am glad those explosives we brought did the trick, two hundred year old tech can be finicky at times.” They watch as block after block of the ruins of Coltpolis sink into the ground, among the crashing of bricks and metal the panicked whinnies of many of the Red Remnant ponies can be heard cutting through the dusty air. 
Soarin swoops down over to Airborne saying, “Good job! Now we can begin the next phase of the attack.” Airborne nods and says, “Lets land so we can meet up with Halfhoof and begin the assault.” Landing on the ground near a pile of rubble, Airborne looks around for Halfhoof, who emerges from behind the partially collapse wall of an old drugstore. Halfhoof looks at Airborne saying, “Good job with those satchel charges, this debris will give us plenty of cover as we go deeper into the city and hopefully it caused the Red Remnant forces to be thrown into chaos giving us the momentum needed to press the attack.” Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts land behind Soarin with Fleetfoot leaning against Misty Fly as Fire Streak wraps a bandage around her hind leg. Baleout looks at her and asks, “What happened?” she replies, “It’s nothing, just one of those Red Remnant snipers grazed me is all. I was too fast for the rest of them so I doubt they saw me coming but this one sniper was lucky and managed to get a shot off before I got him.” Halfhoof limps over to Airborne saying, “I will have my troops move in to the city while you guys fly above and draw their fire, hopefully we can overtake their outer defenses quickly without taking too many casualties otherwise this whole plan will fail.” Airborne nods and says, “Just make sure to move quickly, we can’t afford to get bogged down in any major firefights here.” Airborne checks his gear and helps Soarin reload his battle-saddle while Spitfire talks to Halfhoof about the layout of the city below them marking locations on a map of major Red Remnant troop presence.
After making sure their battle-saddles are loaded and ready to go Spitfire flaps her wings and soars like a yellow bullet into the air. Starshine looks as the Wonderbolts fly into formation saying, “I wonder what they would have done if the War hadn’t happened?” Baleout replies, “They probably would have continued to be the best fliers in Equestria, performing stunts for entertainment for anypony who wanted to see them or at least that’s what I learned at the Academy anyway.” Airborne followed after Spitfire with Starshine, Sunrise and Baleout following close behind him. As they fly farther over the city, gunshots start to ring out. Airborne flaps his wings harder trying to avoid the whizzing bullets that snap and hiss like angry hellhounds, a bullet sheers the hair off his tail like a razor blade. Baleout flies underneath Sunrise training the barrels of his battle-saddle at the nearest ponies on the roof of an abandoned radio station. Firing he sees the spurts of blood as his bullets smack into them, silencing the gunfire from the station. The firing intensifies the farther they fly over the city, Baleout flies below Sunrise and provides cover fire as she reloads her battle-saddle. Starshine yells at Airborne saying, “We have to land! This gunfire is too intense to continue!” Airborne looks down and spots a building with the no roof but thick walls to protect against small arms fire. Nose diving through the gunfire, sparks fly off of his armored barding as bullets sheer by leaving gouges in the armored plating. 
Landing inside of the building, Airborne pulls out All Equestrian from his battle-saddle and aims it at the nearest approaching Red Remnant soldier. Firing two bursts from the gun he quickly downs the pony. Baleout, Sunrise and Starshine land next to Airborne and take up positions within the building, shooting any ponies that come near. Sunrise says, “What’s the plan?” Airborne replies, “Halfhoof’s forces should already be inside of the city, all we have to do is hunker down and wait for them to reach us. Until they do only shoot targets you are sure you can hit to conserve ammo.” Starshine ducks as burst of gunfire erupts from a pile of rubble twenty feet in front of the building. Waiting for the firing to stop and for the ponies to reload she pops up firing in the direction of the rubble silencing the Red Remnant troops, as she finishes firing at the ponies behind the pile she hears the rustle of wings swinging around she trains her battle-saddle at a group of rapidly approaching Pegasi. Baleout’s ears perk up and he looks skyward saying, “The Wonderbolt’s have caught up with us. Now we will get to see some real action!” Spitfire lands limping, her right forehoof is bleeding from a gash across her knee joint. She says, “It’s really bad up there, I just about had my hoof ripped off by a piece of flak lucky it only grazed me. So, what’s the situation here?” Airborne replies, “We decided to land here, flying any further over the city is suicide, we figured that we would hold this position and allow Halfhoof’s forces time to catch up with us for the final push into the city.” Spitfire nods then pulls out a medkit from her utility barding and takes care of her wound. 
The fighting around the building intensified as night approached, tracer fire whizzing up and down the avenues of Coltpolis like maddened fireflies. Looking up at the darkening skies, Airborne says, “We probably have a few hours of daylight left, seeing anypony in the dark is going to be hard.” Airborne turns to Sunrise saying, “Do you still have those flares?” She quickly digs out a small bundle of flares out of her utility barding and says, “Yeah, I still have them. We can use them to illuminate any noise we hear just in case somepony tries to sneak up on us in the middle of the night.” Baleout looks at her saying, “I would like to see those cowards try to sneak up on us. Nopony gets the drop on Baleout Stormcloud.” Two flashes ring out close to the building, followed by a sickening popping noise. Baleout looks down at his abdomen, his sky blue eyes widening in terror, sinking to his knees saying, “Lucky hit” then he falls flat onto his face. Airborne angrily trains All Equestrian on two Red Remnant ponies and fires spattering their brains all over the place. Soarin and Sunrise turn Baleout over onto his back, Soarin placing pressure on the wound with his forehooves as Sunrise pulls out her medkit fumbling through the rolls of gauze and cotton bandage padding. Baleout looks at them saying, “I am good, just had the wind knocked out of me is all.” Baleout tries to get up but is held down by Soarin and Airborne, Spitfire says, “Easy son, no need to overdo it.” Baleout says, “Come on guys it can’t be that bad, let me up.” He tries to rise again but Spitfire places her forehooves on his chest saying, “There is no need for you to further hurt yourself” Baleout stares into the face of the captain of the Wonderbolts and leans back down saying, “I feel fine, there is no pain.” Baleout’s eyes close and his head slumps into the crook of Sunrise’s leg. 
Tentatively she checks his pulse, feeling the young heart within hammering hard against her touch she says, “He seems fine, but these wounds are serious.” Looking at the bandages wrapped around Baleout’s abdomen, two scarlet stains already soaking through the pads she says, “If we don’t get Baleout some proper medical care soon this is going to get a lot worse.” Soarin looks at the wounds saying, “Those bastards are using armor piercing rounds, there is no way they should have been able to even dent his armor. We need to be careful that no more of us get hit tonight otherwise we won’t last till morning. Until Halfhoof links up with us, we will have to take turns watching over Baleout.” Sunrise shakes her head saying, “I will watch over him, will you guys stand guard. After all he is my best friend and he is the only family I got left.” Throughout the night Airborne and the Wonderbolts stand guard over the ruined building, occasionally trading gunfire with groups of Red Remnant ponies that creep up to their position and quickly retreat in haste as they are cut to pieces by the Wonderbolts excellent aim. 
Baleout’s heartbeat gets weaker as his eyes become sunken into his head, looking up at Sunrise he says, “I am sorry for get myself hurt like this. I made a stupid mistake and now look where it’s got me.” She smiles looking down at him saying, “Don’t worry you will be fine.” Baleout grins weakly, his teeth tinged red with blood. Towards dawn Baleout awakens starring at Airborne saying, “Sorry for all of this.” Airborne replies, “Don’t worry about it, you will be fine.” Baleout then looks at the Wonderbolts saying, “I am glad to have met you all. It has been my dream since I was a colt to meet the Wonderbolts and serve alongside you. Thanks for being my friends everypo…ny…” Baleout’s chin sinks onto his chest and his breathing becomes labored. Sunrise presses down repeatedly on his chest, feeling his pulse slipping away beneath her hooves. She says, “Don’t you do this to me Baleout! Don’t you stop fighting!” Airborne elevates Baleout’s hind hooves saying, “He must be bleeding inside, we need to get him out of here now!” Baleout’s eyes suddenly open and he stares up at the orange sky as the Sun barely breaks through the thin grey layer of clouds above saying, “I don’t want to die.” His eyes become unfocused as he looks at the Wonderbolts the light and life slowly dimming leaving them empty, blood gurgling out of his mouth as Sunrise in a panicked frenzy continues to try to resuscitate him feeling the young heart dying inside his chest, the last few beats flicker like the beating of a hummingbirds wings then cease as Baleout spirit takes its leave from its damaged body. 
Airborne grabs ahold of Sunrise who continues to work on Baleout saying, “You can’t help him anymore Sunrise, he is gone.” She looks at him saying, “No, he isn’t! Baleout wouldn’t let something as stupid as a gunshot kill him, he is stronger than that!” She shoves Airborne away from her and goes back to working on Baleout’s lifeless body. Soarin grabs her and pulls her into a hug saying, “I know this is hard, but there is nothing more you can do for him Sunrise. You did everything you could to help him and make him comfortable but there are something’s you can’t fix with what you have in your utility barding.” Sunrise’s tears soak into Soarin’s coat; he looks at Baleout’s body then at Spitfire who shakes her head. Airborne closes Baleout’s eyes and wipes the blood away from his mouth. 
Sunrise continues to sob over the body as massive explosion rocks the building blowing a hole in one of the walls showering the ponies with debris. Sunrise shields Baleout’s body from the blast, large chucks of cement hit her in the head causing a small wound to bleed from her forehead. As the dust settles a number of Red Remnant ponies rush in through the hole but are shot by Airborne and Fire Streak. Starshine says, “We need to move, this place is attracting too much attention if we stay here we are going to die.” Airborne looks at Baleout’s body saying, “We can’t leave him here.” Misty Fly notices more Red Remnant ponies surrounding the building, one of them yells out in a gruff voice saying, “Surrender, we have you outgunned. If you give up we will guarantee you won’t be harmed.” Starshine looks at Airborne saying, “Don’t you even think about it.” Airborne looks out a shattered window and sees three rows of Red Remnant ponies standing outside, he thinks, “There are too many of them for us to fight. Maybe surrendering would be the best choice in this situation. I wonder how Lightning Dust would react to a situation like this.” Airborne looks at Spitfire who says, “Maybe we could fight our way out of here?” Starshine quickly replies, “Did you lose your sanity while being frozen for two hundred years? As soon as we try to leave here they will kill us all, there are too many of them to fight. It’s probably the fact that they want us alive in the first place that has kept them from killing us all.” The leader yells again, “This is your last chance, give up or die.” Spitfire says, “I can take Misty Fly and Fire Streak with me to find out where Halfhoof’s forces are then return for you while you guys hold this location until we get back. Also we can get Baleout’s body out of here so they don’t claim it.” Sunrise looks at her then at Baleout’s body saying, “Please be careful with him.” Fire Streak and Misty Fly gently lift Baleout’s limp body off of the ground placing it over Fire Streak’s back. 
Airborne watches as Spitfire, Misty Fly and Fire Streak soar out of sight as the Red Remnant ponies open fire in an attempt to stop them. Airborne turns and steadies All Equestrian with the hoofgrip and leans into the butt of the weapon. Switch the gun from semi auto bursts to full auto. Bracing himself he slowly squeezes the tripper and compensates for the recoil as the gun quickly fires into the formation of Red Remnant ponies that duck for cover from the gunfire. Airborne empties one magazine and slaps in another, a bullet clips the brim of his hat sending it flying off of his head. He yells, “That was my favorite hat!” he fires angrily at the ponies then ducks below the window taking cover as gunfire rips into the cement walls tearing large holes in the structure showing the aged metal rebar beneath. Airborne pins his ears back and winces looking at one of his wings. A bullet had shattered the bones and bent his wing at an odd angle, blood pools around Airborne as feathers float through the gory puddle. Soarin rushes to Airborne’s side saying, “Are you alright?” Airborne nods saying, “I think so, it will take more than a broken wing to put me out of action.” Soarin has Sunrise wrap Airborne’s hurt wing in bandages while he covers them. As the firefight goes on their ammunition supplies begin to dwindle. Airborne slings All Equestrian drawing out Thunder and Gust from their holsters. He fires the duel pistols at any targets he can spot; all of a sudden he is knocked backwards through the air as the wall in front of him explodes. He lands painfully on his back and as he rises a gun is pointed into his face, looking up he sees a male pony with an x shaped scar across his face grinning down at him. From behind this pony trots up Halfhoof who says, “It’s over Airborne, you have lost.” Soarin angrily turns his gun on Halfhoof before he is clubbed over the head with the butt of a rifle; Soarin crumples to the ground unconscious. Sunrise rushes to Soarin’s side and checks on him, Airborne asks, “Why did you betray us?” Halfhoof replies, “I lost my faith in Fluttershy and the world she was trying to build after my wife died during the Battle of New Cloudsdale. There was no place for me in a world where she didn’t exist, so I betrayed her. I helped the Red Remnants in any way I could. I gave them information on Fluttershy’s latest plans and even handed them the plans on the assault on Coltpolis myself. This attack was doomed from the start, and to be honest I am surprised you and your friends have lasted this long but I guess I can’t be surprised given you are the pony responsible for destroying the Titan’s Hammer.” 
Airborne’s eyes narrow and he says, “Tell me what world you would you create by helping the Red Remnant? What would your wife think of you if she could see you now?” Halfhoof punches Airborne in the face; falling backwards Halfhoof grabs him and punches him repeatedly. He says, “My wife would have understood that Fluttershy’s vision for the future was an impossible one. You cannot change the world after it has been so screwed up for so long; the Red Remnant understands this better than anypony. They know that in order to survive out here the weak must die and the strong must survive. That is the world we live in Airborne, nopony not even Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash can unmake the world they helped destroy.” Sunrise replies, “We can change the world only if we believe it can change, there are enough ponies out there that don’t prey upon each other. They believe that the world can heal after being torn apart for so long, it’s true that Equestria has changed since the War and not for the better but giving up isn’t an option for me or one that anypony should accept. Strive to be better Halfhoof, isn’t that what your wife would want? She would be ashamed to see her husband embracing a path to destroy the world she gave her life for.” Halfhoof stops punching Airborne and says, “That is easy for you to say Sunrise but when you have lost someone you have loved for so long when they die your soul dies with them.” 
One of the Red Remnant ponies trots over to Halfhoof saying, “Sir, we need to get them to headquarters as soon as possible to be interrogated, we cannot afford for their friends to arrive before we have a chance to spring our trap” Halhoof nods and says, “Alright, get them tied up and brought back to headquarters. I will stay and ready our defenses to meet our guests when they arrive.” Airborne’s hooves are placed in heavy chains as he is stripped of his battle-saddle and weapons. Sunrise is chained to him as Soarin’s unconscious form is placed on a stretcher. Airborne is lead away in chains, walking through a large crowd of ponies outside that pelt him with rocks and garbage calling him names like “feather brain.” Walking towards a large building looming over a destroyed square with a fountain of a large alicorn that is covered in graffiti, squinting to read the plaque on the fountain the only words he manages to make out is the name of Equestria’s former ruler Princess Celestia. He gazes up at the ancient effigy of one of Equestria’s greatest rulers and says, “I never thought I would see what the Goddesses looked like in my lifetime. I would give anything to have met them before the War” One of the Red Remnant guards says, “If you don’t shut up you might meet them sooner than you think, so keep moving.” Airborne looks up at the building in front of him, the lettering Ministry of Awesome Coltpolis Division still cling to the ancient walls. Airborne notices a large number of large guns lining the roof of the building, every window has been covered in thick metal plating and sandbags. Every gun swivels in his direction as the small group of escort guard ponies approach the building. 
A voice rings calls out, “Who goes there?” one of the guards replies, “Who do you think? Let us in we have some prisoners the boss would like to see.” The large metal doors to the ministry building swing open revealing a dark and dimly lit interior. Walking up the fragmented steps of the building Airborne feels like he is entering the Gates of Tartarus. As the doors slam behind him, he understands that this is a place that was deliberately designed to keep whoever entered here from escaping with whatever the Ministry of Awesome was doing here. Gulping nervously he pushed along further into the bowels of the decrepit building to meet with the leader of the Red Remnant, a pony he was sure was just as vicious as his followers, and wouldn’t hesitate to slit his throat should he have no need of him.  The darkness of the place pressed in on Airborne as he was lead towards a pony that would see Equestria return to the vile and desolate place it was before Littlepip’s sacrifice.