War. War never changes, but it changes you.
Ponies found that out the hard way. War is a monster that, once unleashed, is hard to tame. We failed miserably and now we have to live with the consequences. Will we ever figure out whose fault it was? Was it the Ministry Mares, was it Celestia stepping down or Luna? We’ll never find out.
Stable 242 was a collaboration between Stable-Tec and the ENA, the Equestrian National Army. It was designed to be the first Stable to be opened. A whole Stable dedicated to an army, which was destined to start rebuilding what it once had helped to destroy .The systems were linked to an array of sensors, which was placed somewhere near the Stable itself. Unfortunately the array was destroyed when the Coltsboro bomb went off. The signal never came and the Stable remained sealed for far too long...
The voice of the instructor mare snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Sergeant Tarts!”
“Why did you cease fire in the middle of a drill?”
“Er... Ma’am. I got carried away. I was thinking about the Great Wa—”
“I don’t give a buck about what you think. Your job isn’t thinking! Your job is to shoot when told to and I’m telling you to shoot RIGHT NOW,” she snapped at me.
I levitated the rifle back up and shot at the targets down the range. What a good start for a day...
“Yes, Ma’am!”
~~~
“I heard you pissed off Cloudy Vision today,” my sister, Apple Tarts, said with a snicker when I entered the barracks.
“I know you’ve always been more of a thinker than a soldier, but I think you’ve outdone yourself today. Mom would be so proud,” she said, then continued to break down her rifle to clean it.
“Cut it out Apples! You know I always have to think about it when I’m at the range.”
“Yeah yeah. I know...” she said casually.
“Don’t you ever think about it? About why we’re living underground nowadays?”
“Nah, not really”, she said putting the rifle back together.
My sister was roughly a year younger than me and my mother had died during her birth. Although she was the younger one, she always seemed to be the more mature one of us. I had taken care of her for as long as I can remember. We always stayed together and I organized her to be under my command, so that I could always have an eye on her. That included patrol duty. We never knew who our fathers were. Mom had always been a rather active mare so it’s hard to track down.
“C’mon, we’re gonna be late for our patrol. I don’t wanna piss off another officer today.”
~~~
Patrolling the Stable is so exciting as it sounds. Since it’s a military Stable, everypony is in the army and that means everybody follows the rules, or at least that’s the theory. Sometimes somepony is the odd one out and then the patrol has to pick her/him up and escort them back to the barracks. Sometimes the patrols finds a foal hiding down in the maintenance tunnels. Not everypony’s fit for the army. We were patrolling the maintenance tunnels when a guardspony approached us.
“Sergeant Tarts?”
“Er, yes. How can I help you?”
“You need to come with me, the commander wants to see you,” was all he said.
I looked at my sister, a mix of disbelief and confusion in my eyes.
“May I ask why?”
“That information is classified.”
My sister looked back at me, the same confusion in her eyes. That was not what I had I mind for the evening, but it had to do. Visiting the Stable’s commander usually meant one of two things. Either you did good and he wanted to compliment you or you messed up. Big time.
“You need to come too”, he said, looking at her.
I trotted along the behind buck, following him to the office. Cloudy Vision popped up in mind. Did she report me? Oh my gosh, I didn’t want to spend some days in detention or get my platoon some extra drills for that. It was only the second time this month!
~~~
The commander was the Stable’s leader. Becoming the commander was easy. The only thing necessary was the highest rank in the whole Stable. The only problem: becoming a high ranked officer. In Stable 242, ranks were more related to age than anything else. Sometimes somepony does something heroic and gets promoted, but getting a promotion otherwise was pretty difficult. The current commander was a buck who was several years older than me and more than a bit taller than me. The door to the office was guarded by two bucks, armed with heavy battle saddles, just in case somepony went nuts or tried anything. As we entered, I saw that three other ponies were already there, waiting. The commander, Cloudy Vision and a buck I didn’t recognize. The commander set behind his desk. His face looked like cold, almost stone and wore a stoic expression.
“Ladies and gentlecolts, what I’m about to say now is highly classified. I have gathered you here for a mission. A mission which will take you beyond the doors of this very Stable”, he said as the office door closed We have an imminent crisis at hoof. We discovered that the Stable is about to run low on ammo and medicine.”
My sister gulped.
“After evaluating our possibilities I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to dispatch a small team to give us an overview on the surrounding area and possible locations of interest. Everypony who thinks that she or he isn’t up for the task may leave now, but is ordered to treat this meeting as highly classified,” he continued, pacing back and forth behind his desk. After several seconds of awkward silence he continued.
“I have chosen you because I think you are the best we have to offer.”
Now the buck gulped.
“Sergeant Tarts will be your leader.”
Cloudy Vision gave me a glare and her yellow eyes seemed like they wanted to shoot right at that moment.
“Apple Tarts, you will have medical duties. I heard from the medical department that your scores are more than above average. Cloudy Vision, you’ll be issued a silenced sniper rifle. Hot Shot will be issued two battle saddle mounted light machine guns to provide suppressing fire if need be.”
“Hot Shot, huh? I hope he lives up to his name,” I whispered. Apples couldn’t suppress a snicker. The commander stopped and looked at me.
“There is no space for unprofessionalism here, Sergeant! Failure is not an option.”
“Yes Sir, I won’t disappoint you!”
Oh, how I hated those eyes. He was a good stallion, but his eyes just made me shiver.
“Good. You are dismissed.”
~~~
“I don’t like this. Not at all,” Apples said as we made our way to the armory the next day.
“Me neither, but remember it’s for the Stable.”
“Yeah I know, but I still don’t like it.”
The quartermaster looked particularly bored this day. As we approached the counter he quickly tried to hide his copy of the Playmare magazine.
“Care to share?” I asked him with a wink.
“Argh, just give us our gear”, Apples said and gave me a sour look. The buck, looking more than relieved, rushed back to bring us our guns.
“10mm SMG, standard issue with ten mags.” he said and plonked the gun and magazines on the counter. Apples picked the gun up and checked the chamber.
“Now to you Sergeant...” he said while putting my gear onto the counter, "Standard issue service rifle, six magazines standard rounds, two magazines armor piercing rounds and of course some standard combat armor."
“Anything else?”
“Yep, this thing,” he said and put a 9mm pistol next to the rifle. “You get three mags hollowpoints with it.”
I picked it up and checked the slide. Since I was trained for rifles, I wasn’t very familiar with the right usage of pistols.
“Might be worth a little detour to the range,” I muttered while examining the weapon.
~~~
I’ve never been a religious pony, but I figured that a prayer or two wouldn’t hurt, so I went to the chapel the evening before our departure. I didn’t expect to find Hot Shot there. He sat in front of the altar, facing the small statues of Celestia and Luna on it. Wait, was that the noise of sobbing? I coughed to make him aware of my presence. He took a glance over his shoulder, tears running down his cheeks
“Sshh, it’s okay.” I said with in the softest tone possible, “What’s the matter big boy?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just a bit nervous. I thought maybe the goddesses could help me.”
“Me too. I though I’d ask the goddesses for some protection, Maybe we can pray together.”
And that’s what we did.
After we had finished our prayers, he looked at me, obviously relieved.
“Thank you Sarge. I promise that I’ll give my best on this mission. You won’t be disappointed!”
“I expected no less from you,” I answered with a smile. “Let’s get as much sleep as we can before we move out tomorrow,” I suggested.
“Yes Ma’am” he said, saluted and then trotted away.
I stayed in the chapel for a little longer, wondering what we would find outside. Worst-case scenarios popped up in my mind, but I tried to shove those into a dark and far away corner of my mind. Nopony had left this Stable for about 200 years. Was there even something left to explore? I banished that thought too and turned around to get back to the quarters.
~~~
The four of us stood in the atrium, dressed in our combat armor, our weapons holstered or strapped on our backs. The commander was in front of us, wearing his best uniform.
“You are dismissed. Go and say goodbye to your parents and siblings. You’ll move out in 30 minutes.”
My sister and I looked at each other in confusion. It seemed like a bad joke to us. Hot Shot and Cloudy Vision trotted off to a small group of ponies which was standing nearby.
“I’d like to have a word with you two” the commander said, turning to us.
“Sir?” I asked him in confusion.
“It’s about your mother. Follow me to my office.”
Another confused look was exchanged.
As we entered the commander’s office I noticed two pistols laying on the desk, four magazines beside each one. They had silencers attached.
“They belonged to your mother. She gave them to me after your birth, Apricot. Now is the perfect moment to give them back to their legitimate owners. They are called Spectre and Spook. They’re .45 caliber.”
I picked up Spectre and examined the gun. It’s name was carved into the slide. It felt lighter than the 9mm. I exchanged the pistols, putting Spectre into the holster and the 9mm pistol onto the desk. Apples put Spook, along with its magazines, into her saddlebags.
“Thank you sir,” I stammered. Apples remained silent.
“Ok, now off you go. I think your comrades are awaiting you.”
The opening mechanism hissed and creaked as it got activated after 200 years of resting. The large, gear shaped door was pulled out of the frame and the rolled to the side. Soldiers were standing next us, pointing their rifles into the darkness.
“PipBuck lights on!” I commanded.
Then we trotted away into the darkness, into the unknown.
Into the Wasteland.
----
Footnote: Promotion (new rank: Private)
New Perk: Rapid Reload - All your weapon reloads are 25% faster than normal.