Wake up. See this. What do? - Part 2: Raise the Flag (comment driven story)

by RazortheAwesome

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Cleansed by Fire
B Mashina by Laibach

There, in the middle of the desert, further west than the city of Las Pegasus to the point that it almost became forested hills, but still far enough from civilization to not warrant curiosity from taking the best of some pony’s mind and leading he or she there. The official address of this warehouse, six stories tall and several hundred feet deep, remained scratched from all books, scratched from all instrumentation to indicate an approximate location of the building to any inquiring eyes. The warehouse, surrounded on all sides by high fences of barbed-wire, observation towers, and heavily armed anti-magic installations remained ever busy during the daytime, but at night, silence remained to watch the night, with guards ponies surrounding the facility at all times. At this time though, on this single night in the middle of the desert, the facility remained alight, the guard towers burning, the defenses crushed, and the fence torn down with a single locomotive and subsequent cars positioned where the loading dock met the rails.

Three guards, tied to a lamppost, watched as a light grey, blonde maned, pegasus mare with honey eyes that seemed to be looking in two different directions directed the others into loading up some materials, the gags in their mouths preventing any form of conversation with the thieves. The ponies loaded sensitive materials, most of them in metal boxes labeled with radioactive material warnings in addition to Geiger levels, and schematics for how to utilize the materials in the device.

“Be sure to place the matching materials together on the train,” the grey mare called out over the sound of the squeaking carts. A yellow earthpony mare with a curly orange mane looked out over through the window of the locomotive’s engine, a smirk on her face and her snout covered in coal dust.

“How much longer till those guys get that ‘thing’ unloaded into the armored car?” she inquired, drawing a longing sneer from her companion before she shrugged at the question.

“The other ponies said that they encountered some kind of problem with the motorized crane or something to that affect,” she replied, “give them time, they can’t hastily move the thing otherwise, well...” She paused for a minute, her eyes flashing a brief second with the rumored images of the device’s capabilities when utilized, and all at once, she shivered at the thought. “Let’s not think about that.” She concluded when she heard the noise of the crane behind her, and turned to see it carrying a rather large metal crate stamped with the company logo as well as the other important logistical data concerning the device. The grey mare watched as the container was loaded into the railroad car while the others watched on, the guards mostly in horror at the prospect of any ponies possessing the weapon, let alone knowing what it is. The moment the box touched the floor of the car, several metal latches sprung up to hold the large container in place as the train moved across the landscape. Seconds later, the ponies slammed the door to the car shut, the exterior reading "Appleoosa Express" across the metal frame of the railroad car, and the sounds of an internal metal locking mechanism filled the air. With the door shut and locked, the time came for the second step of the plan, the part of the plan that involved sending a message to the government of Canterlot, to the government of Celestia and to the government of Risen Flag. The small group of ponies, sans the eponymous yellow pony, led by the grey mare, walked to the heart of the factory, where there lay three finished devices, each one strapped to single remote detonator with a wireless remote. According to the instruction manual, the safe distance for the blast happened to be twenty-five miles, given the blast radius of the weapon to be twenty-two miles, it would safe to assume that perhaps thirty or even forty miles, would serve better as the safe distance than the suggested.

“So, what in the name of Tartarus,” one pony stated, “is this thing exactly?” his hoof reaching towards the device, to which the grey mare immediately smacked the hoof away, with a stern look upon her face.

“This is an atomic weapon, developed by a private company in the hopes of selling it to the government for possible future use in warfare,” the grey mare explained with a rather enthusiastic and bubbly tone to her voice. “According to the AIA operatives within the Canterlot government,” the Pegasus continued, “the princesses themselves commissioned this weapon since several neighboring kingdoms have already made significant purchases of Flag’s new guns. If detonated, a single one of these devices could vaporize the entire city of Canterlot and the blast radius of the device would result in the burning of the surrounding counties and towns, including Ponyville.”

“Why would the princesses ask for such a device to be built?” the same pony as before asked, causing the grey mare to scrunch her face and furrow her brow in response. “Should not a war with guns be fault in equivalency to ensure fairness on all parties?”

“If an enemy possesses a larger and much more destructive weapon, it discourages warfare, but we are taking that one on the train for a much different purpose,” the grey mare resumed, walking up to the detonator and pulling a single key from within her mane. “The day may come when the government turns its eyes on us and decides with a single stroke of buttons and keys to end our lives in a flash of yellow fire and alight the sky with a second sun. The time of the common pony’s revolution is upon us and we will start it with a bang.” She inserted the silver key, which prompted the screen mounted on the nearest device to light up, and a voice prompted for further command.

“Desired detonation time,” the voice commanded to which the cross-eyed Pegasus leaned forward and spoke into the single embedded microphone on the device.

“Three hours and fifteen minutes,” she started and then looked back at her compatriots, a smile spreading across her lips, “commence countdown.” All at once, an alarm sounded, blaring over the ponies as the countdown on the devices began to move, prompting the ponies to run for the train, which seconds earlier began to move from the factory. The three factory workers watched in horror as the train departed, the pegasus throwing the three a seductive wink before the train picked up substantial speed and carried off into the night. They sat writhing in horror as the seconds ticked away into minutes and knew soon enough, that the minutes turned into hours and the end was not far behind.

Roseluck stood on the hilltop, a scarf wrapped around her neck as she looked on in the distance through a pair of binoculars.

“It’s freezing out here,” she moaned, “I don’t get why he sends me out on these assignments sometimes,” she bemused, adjusting the tripod that was placed before her. “I’m going to be busy, he says,” she complained, “I need you to make sure that he made use of the documents, he says,” she concluded as she looked down at the clock placed near the tripod. “I’ve been here for three hours, I’m leaving,” she said before turning around only to find a red doorframe and a creature stepping forth from it.

“Leaving so soon,” Daedaltheus XIV stated, a suit jacket added to his usual dress of white shirt and slacks, “when there is still the finale to watch, Roseluck.” She ‘eeped’ and jumped where she stood, nearly knocking over the sensitive instrument behind her.

“Daedaltheus, I was just...” she never finished that sentence as the sky behind her alit with glorious hues of crimson, yellow and orange, as though the sun itself shown in the dark of the night. “By Celestia, what have you done, Daedaltheus?” she asked as the mushroom cloud expanded into the night sky and the earth shook with such violence as if the planet itself shifted under the weight of the new hell fire brought to life by a mad pony’s hooves.

“It is death, Roseluck,” he stated, a certain madness flaring up behind his eyes, “death concentrated into a single cylinder and packaged for easy delivery.”

The ponies rested in the passenger car as the sound of the explosion rocked the air and sent vibrations throughout the train. The grey mare smiled and softly hummed a tune to herself as the locomotive sped down the tracks towards its destination and towards the glorious revolution that lay at hoof, the revolution to be started by the AIA for all the ponies under Celestia and Luna’s banner.

In the car behind them, a metal box sat, locked into the floor with a simple stamp of data on its side:

Weapon: Tsar Bomba
Type: Nuclear
Manufacturer: Flag Industrial Works
Approved for Delivery: Verified

Operational Status: ARMED.

A distinctly bipedal figure stepped forth through the door to Risen Flag’s office, a human figure who deftly placed a single folder, thick with papers onto the desk of the Canterlot senator who now slept in his chambers with a tired unicorn mare snug to his side. The label on the file folder read simply, in red lettering with several sticky notes placed about it:

Complete Transcripts of the Conversations, Locations and Activities of Grey Rebl, AIA Operatives, Registered Anonymous, Swimming Dalek, BRP, and Gordon Freebrony

“For your viewing pleasure when you wake,” Daedaltheus XIV stated coldly, “Mister Risen Flag.”