• Published 17th Aug 2014
  • 9,228 Views, 478 Comments

Metal Gear Spark: Peace Zero - GreenS21



Metal Gear Solid crossover. Princess Twilight returns to Equestria after vanishing, but what story does she have to tell?

  • ...
18
 478
 9,228

Zadornov Search Mission 4

“What?! That guy managed to escape?!” Rainbow exclaimed. She then looked confused as the initial surprise wore off. “Wait, what do you mean again?” she asked.

“Exactly that. He’d gotten out before and he did it again. This happened to be the fourth time he escaped,” Twilight replied.

Discord burst out laughing for a few seconds at that. When he stopped, he eagerly asked, “Really? Four times so fast? How many times did he get out in total?”

Twilight gave him an annoyed look and admitted a moment later, “Seven.”

Discord started laughing even harder at that. “Ha, ha, ha! He escaped seven times…! And without magic too! Oh, I’m sure that reflects very poorly on you and your new friends, Twilight!”

Applejack looked at Twilight and asked, “How did he get out so many times?”

Twilight replied, “Well, we figured out how he got out the first time. It had something to do with his prosthetic hand, so we took it away from him. This time it was because the guard watching him in the Brig was invited to try the gallo pinto. All the other times? I have no idea how he managed to get out. Not… exactly.”

Cadance asked, “So what did Zadornov’s escape have to do with you not being able to go cook with Paz, Twilight?”

Rainbow spoke, “Let me guess. They asked you to investigate the cell to figure out what he did to get the door open?”

Twilight replied, “No, I was actually asked to find him and bring him back since Snake wasn’t available at the time. He was already en route to another more pressing mission when Miller contacted him about Zadornov’s escape.”

Celestia asked, “What happened?”

Twilight answered, “One of the Intel team members who was working undercover was exposed in the area of operations and was being hunted down. He managed to get a message to Mother Base, requesting a rescue.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, “Could they not have sent someone besides Snake to rescue him?”

Twilight replied, “He was a very high-ranking member of the Intel Unit, Princess Luna. This might sound dramatic, but it’s entirely true: if we’d lost him, MSF would’ve been in a really bad spot and things would only get worse if we continued to work without him. Both Snake and Miller knew that; that’s why it had to be Snake who rescued him.”

Shining asked, “So they couldn’t send someone else to rescue him, but they also picked you over everyone else in that army to find Zadornov?”

Twilight answered, “Well, by that point, I’d advanced quite a bit in my Combat Unit training. I mean, compared to how I started out, of course. Plus, all things considered, it was a fairly easy mission and it involved going back to familiar places. They managed to hide a tracker on Zadornov, so we did have some idea of where he was going when he got out. In this case, his signal was headed for the mountains Snake and I climbed, but it came to a stop in the prison camp at the foot of the mountain trail.”

Celestia said, “So you were familiar enough with the area that Miller thought he could trust you with the mission.”

Twilight nodded, “Right, Princess. Field training was just starting to be added to the training regiment due to the CIA’s presence in Costa Rica waning, so I kind of was one of the few besides Snake who knew the area.”

Pinkie asked, “So was that your first real mission, Twilight? You got to dress up for it and everything?!”

Twilight nodded again, “Mm-hmm. Exactly, Pinkie.”

________________________________________

Twilight sat at her desk, looking down at the mess of papers on it as she used her magic to move a pencil around on a blank sheet of paper and write down her calculations. The expansions made to the Living Quarters so far had made it possible for everyone to have their own room, which was good for her since it gave her a space to properly spread out her work, even if it didn’t look very neat. It wasn’t just the desk either; the wall she had her back to had more papers taped to it, all spread out in such a way that she could glance at them and see what was on them. It made her room look more like a workspace rather than a bedroom, but it didn’t bother her.

At the moment, she was writing out a complex equation for her homeward bound spell, trying to factor in ideas that she’d gotten while working with the Intel Unit earlier. Suddenly, the door to her room burst open with a shout of “Twilight!” Twilight let out a scream and swiftly leaned backwards in shock, causing her chair to tip over and fall on its back. She groaned as she lay sprawled out on the floor and looked up to see Miller standing in her doorway, the man seemingly looking at her wall of notes. “Damn. Is this how you organize things back home?” he asked after a moment.

Twilight raised herself up into a sitting position before she glared up at him. “Miller, was that necessary?” she questioned.

Miller crossed his arms, “Uh, yes? You know how many times I’ve knocked on your door in the past and thought you weren’t in when in reality you didn’t hear me?”

Twilight blushed a little, “I don’t get that lost in thought.”

Miller simply replied, “Yes you do. You also tend to stop listening when you’re anxious. Should I go on?”

Twilight sighed and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “So why exactly did you let yourself in, Miller? Did something happen?” she asked.

Miller uncrossed his arms and nodded, “Yeah. Zadornov’s escaped again.”

That caught Twilight’s attention and she looked up at him in surprise. “Wha- again?! How did he escape this time?!” she asked.

“The guard in the Brig was one of the men enjoying the cooking you and the other girls did. Says when he came back, Zadornov was gone,” Miller explained.

Twilight buried her muzzle in her hooves. “Oh, come on. This is… the fourth time he’s gotten out. How does he keep doing this?” she asked.

Miller sighed, “Your guess is as good as mine. I’m getting real sick of his walks too.”

A new voice entered the conversation, “I knew he was going to be nothing but trouble. You should’ve had him executed when you had the chance.” Twilight looked up and saw Dr. Strangelove standing behind Miller in the hallway.

“I understand your concern, Strangelove, but think about it. If we could get Zadornov on our side, it would greatly benefit us. Just think of the morale boost our Russian troops would get,” Miller argued.

“Well, I say you’re being too lenient, Kazuhira. The first escape is perhaps forgivable, but after that? I say it’s unlikely he’ll be convinced at this point, and even if he somehow does join the Boss, no morale boost could possibly be worth this much trouble,” she countered. Having said her piece, she turned and continued down the hall without another word or a glance backwards.

Twilight looked at Miller again after several seconds and asked, “Do you think she has a point?”

The man turned back to her and said, “Ah, she’s just angry at him because he threatened to destroy Peace Walker’s AI if she didn’t do what he said. She’ll come around sooner or later; I can’t see how anyone could hold a grudge for long. It’s not good for you.”

Twilight looked down at the chair in front of her and used her hooves to lift it back up as she asked, “So, uh, why did you come to tell me about Zadornov’s escape anyway? Don’t you usually tell Snake before anyone else?”

Miller replied, “I do, and I did contact him about it. Unfortunately, he’s away on a mission. One of our top-ranking Intel team members working undercover has been found out and needs an extraction.”

Twilight paused as she thought about what he said, her eyes widening a moment later. She looked at him, “You don’t mean… Not him?”

Miller nodded, “Yeah, exactly. Sometimes you need the best to save the best, so I was wondering if you’d be willing to go and bring Zadornov back.”

Twilight felt a bit calmer now that the details had been shared with her. “Me? Really?” she asked.

Miller replied, “Sure. You’d be going to familiar territory; the tracker’s signal was headed for the prison camp at the base of the mountains. I asked the Intel Unit to scout out the area and see how heavily guarded it is. Coldman may be dead, but the CIA still has a foot in Costa Rica’s door so to speak. Shouldn’t be too bad, though, so it should be an easy retrieval.”

Twilight asked, “Are you sure about this?”

Miller answered, “I’ve been monitoring your progress. Your sessions with Mosquito and the others have improved your CQC skills and your practice in the Shooting Range and Kill House has made you proficient in handling light weapons and decently good at using medium weapons. I imagine the second one’s not going to be much of an issue; you don’t want to kill anybody after all, right?”

Twilight shook her head, “Of course not!”

Miller added, “Plus, the R&D team has finished making fatigues that’ll fit your… different form a lot better. Better start making use of them so their work doesn’t go to waste. I know you didn’t like how they did it, but I did reprimand those men for getting intrusive with you.”

Twilight blushed, “Intrusive is right. My friend Rarity is a perfectionist when it comes to making a fitting ensemble and she doesn’t grab anypony that much. …Usually.”

Miller sighed and said, “Look, just head down to mission prep, grab some fatigues and equipment, and meet me at the helipad by the Control Tower in ten minutes. If you want my advice, I’d travel light and pick something that offers good camouflage in a variety of environments. Oh, and I heard the R&D team finished developing an improved Soliton Radar. Might want to see if you can grab one and take it out for a field test.” With that, he turned and stepped out of the room, leaving Twilight with a little time to mull over what she should take.

Nearly ten minutes later, Twilight flew down towards the helipad, her breathing slightly faster as she landed at the base of the stairs leading up to it. Miller was standing about halfway between the top of the stairs and the helicopter that would take her to the mission area and he turned as she quickly walked up the steps, seeing her wings still a bit unfolded as she reached the top. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to take so long selecting my equipment!” she exclaimed over the sound of the helicopter’s rotors.

Miller was silent as he looked her over. She’d selected the Jungle Fatigues, a camouflage that helped hide its wearer pretty good regardless of the surroundings, and she had an M16A1 attached to her left side near her flanks. The fatigues looked the same as the ones that Snake and the men wore, only modified to fit Twilight’s form and account for the way she carried herself. Miller had been skeptical about the R&D team not making more modifications to it when they showed him their blueprints and he still was, but it did seem like Twilight wasn’t having any difficulties with it on. “Well, do you have everything?” he asked after a moment.

Twilight nodded, “Uh-huh! I’ve got a Mark 22 that I hope will be the only gun I’ll need to use, I did grab one of those new Soliton Radars you told me about, got a few Smoke Grenades… oh, and I grabbed a cardboard box too. Don’t know how much use that will be, but…”

Miller spoke, “That should be more than enough. According to the Intel team, the area isn’t too heavily guarded and the tracker on Zadornov is still heading north. We’ve selected the landing zone so that the chopper’s landing shouldn’t attract any attention. We’ll be on the radio if you need any advice, but once you’re on the ground, it’s all up to you.”

Twilight replied, “Got it.” She then started to walk towards the chopper.

Before she could pass him, Miller put his right hand out in front of her, pressing it against her chest. She stopped and looked up at him as he knelt down, turning his head to look at her. “This really applies to all of our men in the Combat Unit, but since it’s you and this is your first mission, I want to stress this. Don’t overestimate yourself. If you get spotted, find some cover and try to lose the enemy. And if you have to, put those wings to good use. I’m not saying you should extract yourself if you get caught, but you should use everything you have at your disposal when you’re in the field,” he told her, his tone unusually serious.

Twilight stared back at him for a few moments before nodding, “Okay, Miller, I will.” He continued to stare at her for several seconds before removing his hand and standing up, allowing her to pass. She climbed up into the helicopter and turned around, seeing Miller still looking at her with the same look on his face as she pressed the button on the wall to her left, both parts of the door closing in response. She then sat down on the right side of the seat in the middle and took a few deep breaths as the chopper lifted off, settling in and trying to calm herself for the task ahead.

A while later, she was brought out of her thoughts when the chopper pilot, Cicada, called, “Approaching LZ! Prepare for landing!” Twilight stood up at that and walked over to the right door, pressing the button to open it and sitting down, her hind legs resting on the bottom part of the door as she looked out. From what she could see in the dark, they were landing in a less dense part of the forest as she could see trees clustered close together when she faced forward and looked left, but they were further away. The chopper slowly lowered down and soon came to a stop, hovering just above the dirt below. Twilight slid down the door after a moment, her hooves hitting the small step at the bottom before she pushed herself forward, landing somewhat shakily on her front hooves before bringing her back hooves down. She looked towards the front of the helicopter as Cicada said over the radio, “Be careful out there, Twilight!” He then lifted off and turned around, heading back to Mother Base while Twilight got her bearings. She then began heading north as Miller had advised.

It didn’t take long for the forest to become thicker, the canopy overhead making it darker than it had been only minutes ago. Twilight did her best to move carefully, looking around as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Should’ve grabbed a pair of night-vision goggles while I was prepping, but I spent so much time selecting a uniform and a primary weapon that…” Her thoughts came to a halt when she caught sight of a figure moving in the darkness up ahead to her left. She quickly ran forward and pressed herself against the side of a small rise, creeping along it to peer around the corner.

As she’d hoped, it was a patrol, his green uniform standing out against all the brown around him. While she watched him walk away from her, Twilight used her magic to pull out her Mark 22 and bring it up to her forehooves, gripping the handle with both hooves. She then pulled around the corner slightly and took aim, the tip of her right hoof moving into the extended trigger guard as she pointed the gun at the back of his head. A second later, a tranquilizer round hit him in the back of the head and he fell forward with a groan.

Twilight pulled back around the corner after reloading and quietly cheered to herself as she sat down, “Yes! I got him! …I put him to sleep.” Calming down, she put her gun back in its holster and pulled a small box out of her saddlebags, the new Soliton Radar. Clicking the screen on, she looked at the map and realized there was a vision cone moving down towards her and the sleeping patrol. She quickly turned the radar off and put it away before standing up and moving out from her hiding spot.

As she got near the sleeping patrol, she saw the second one a little further up. The patrol froze a second later, looking in her direction. She wasn’t sure what had caught his attention, but she decided not to wait to find out. She drew her gun and took aim; it took three shots since her hooves were shaking, but she managed to put him to sleep as well. She quickly scanned both of them with her Analyzer before moving on, just missing a patrol off to her right as she ran past.

When the path opened up at the next area, she saw a few crates stacked up to her right next to a dirt path. A little further down the path, she saw some metal containers on the side and another patrol on the path. He didn’t seem to see her since he was turning around to walk down the path; he didn’t get far before she hit him in the back of the head with a tranquilizer round, sending him down. As she crept past his sleeping form, she saw another patrol in the clearing up ahead, walking to her right towards what looked like a freight train car. Twilight decided she didn’t need to put every patrol to sleep and, after a quick scan of the two, she moved to the left as she entered the clearing, hoping she could just sneak past him.

“What the…?” Twilight froze when she heard that and, in a moment of panic, used her magic to summon the cardboard box, the box appearing out of thin air and dropping over her crouched form. She heard whoever had seen her call to the second patrol, “Hey, can you go check that out?” She heard the patrol respond affirmatively and knew he had to be coming towards her.

She heard the crunching of leaves getting closer and she whimpered quietly as she tried to keep herself still, her mind going a thousand miles a minute. She heard the crunching stop next to her and thought, “This is it, this is it, I’m so dead…

A moment later, the patrol called, “Nah, there’s nothing here.”

The one who had seen her called back, “Never hurts to check.”

As the patrol walked away from her box, Twilight laid on the forest floor dumbstruck. “How did he…? He was standing right next to me! Did he not see the box? Or did he see it and think that it was here before?! I’m pretty sure he had to have walked past here earlier! How did he not think this was suspicious?!” She couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened; it just didn’t seem possible.

Despite the many questions flying through her head, she realized she had to take advantage of the situation and press on. She calmed down and used her magic to pull out the Soliton Radar, bringing it in front of her and turning it on. Looking at the map, she saw a dot a short distance behind her position, no doubt whoever had seen her. She knew that the clearing was surrounded on the sides by steep walls; he had to be up on the ledge. She turned the radar off and put it away, thinking about how she was going to do this. The Love Boxes were roomy lengthwise, but they had the same width as a typical box, so she couldn’t really turn herself around without making the box turn with her. She decided the best way to do this was to catch them while they were surprised.

A second later, both of the guards were surprised when they saw the box shoot straight up into the air and hover in place high above them. They both looked up at it, the guard on the ledge even raising himself up off the ground as he stared. Twilight took the chance. She grabbed her gun with her right hoof, sat up, and spun around, taking it in both hooves. She managed to land a headshot on the guard on the ledge and then turned and shot the guard in the clearing in the head as well. Calming down from the brief adrenaline rush, she sighed and brought the box back down, looking at it with a sense of wonder for a moment before making it disappear.

She looked up at the guard sleeping on the edge of the ledge and brought her Analyzer out. The scan revealed he was pretty exceptionally skilled, so she flew up to the ledge and attached a Fulton Recovery balloon to his back, the balloon inflating and lifting him just off the ground. It hung there for a moment before shooting straight up, the balloon managing to make it through the forest canopy. She glided down from the ledge and headed north. As she left the clearing, Miller contacted her, “Fulton recovery to helicopter is complete.”

A short while later, she arrived at the prison camp. She moved to a cement wall and pressed up against it before tuning her radio and holding her hoof up to her ear. “Miller, I’ve reached the prison camp,” she reported.

“The signal from the tracker stops there. Zadornov’s probably hiding in one of the houses. Keep your ears open for anything unusual,” the man answered. Twilight nodded and clicked her radio off. She then pulled out her radar to see how heavily guarded the camp was. From what she could see, it looked like there were at least two patrols in the area. She put the radar away and then looked to her left as she pulled out her Mark 22. One of the patrols was a short distance around the corner. She peered out and took aim once she saw that he wasn’t looking in her direction. She hit him once in the shoulder and then in the back of the head before he fell. She then carefully moved out to clear the rest of the camp.

It turned out there were actually four patrols around the camp. She had a pair of close calls when two of them managed to see her, but she managed to keep either of them from raising the alarm by using her CQC, flying and tackling one to the ground before putting a tranquilizer round in his head and managing to grab ahold of the other and throwing him into a wall with a little help from her magic, ending with a quick shock from her Stun Rod when he tried to get up afterwards. The last one was easily held up and put to sleep when he came to investigate the noise, giving Twilight a chance to search for Zadornov without being seen.

She checked the blue door near the entrance to the camp first, fluttering up to the eye slot and using her hoof to slide it open. She peered inside and, after a few moments, her eyes went wide and she shut the peephole with a squeak of embarrassment, her cheeks a bit red. She then moved into the nearby back alley and checked the blue door she found there, where she heard someone crying for their mother. She felt bad for the person, but Miller contacted her and told her to focus on the mission, so she reluctantly moved on. She then checked the blue door near where a truck had parked near the end of the road. She peered through the peephole for several seconds before she let out a gasp and exclaimed, “…Ah-ha!”

With a flick of her magic, the door swung open and she stepped inside, the tip of her horn shining a beam of light inside. She pointed it off to the right of the wall across from her, where Zadornov was huddled up in the corner trying to look very small. He soon gave it up as she kept the light shining on him and he growled, “Curses!”

Twilight walked over to him as she clicked on her radio and reported, “I’ve found him, Miller.”

As she stood over him, Zadornov grunted, “…Slipped up again…”

Miller heard this and said, “Acknowledged. Bring him on in.”

Twilight used her magic to make Zadornov stand up and she stayed behind him as she led him out of the house. “You know, you really are an enigma, Zadornov. Four times now you’ve managed to get out of your cell, and each time you’re found, it’s like we’re playing hide-and-seek. Very interesting,” she said as they stepped outside.

“Huh. I didn’t think Big Boss would be able to find me this time, let alone the strange horse he managed to get on his side,” Zadornov remarked, keeping his hands held up.

Twilight replied, “Yeah, well the Boss happened to be busy with something bigger when word of your escape reached him. That’s how frequent this is getting, Zadornov, that it’s not just the Boss who has to bring you back when you escape.”

Zadornov glanced back at her, “Bigger? You have no idea what’s really going on, and neither does he. What I’m doing is very important.”

Zadornov came to a stop in the middle of the road and Twilight did as well as she said, “Seems more like you’re playing a game here instead of doing anything meaningful. Like I said, it’s like you want to play hide-and-seek with us.”

Zadornov turned around to face her, smirking. “You know, as someone who’s simply trying to get back to her home, you shouldn’t be blindly trusting a man who turned his back on his country. Just because he’s trying to make his army seem like the best place in the world for you doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way. There are things he doesn’t understand and isn’t willing to tell you. You, however, seem smarter than I would’ve taken you for. If you’re willing to keep an open mind and listen…”

Twilight reached her right hoof back towards her saddlebags as she interrupted him, “Ooh, could you hold that thought?” She grabbed her Fulton Recovery device with her hoof and pulled it out a bit before she channeled her magic into her horn. She then wrapped it around the device and, in a swift movement, moved it around and strapped it to Zadornov’s back, the balloon quickly inflating. The man let out a cry as he flailed in the air for a moment before screaming as he shot up into the air. Twilight looked up for a moment before turning and walking a short way down the road, muttering, “So he wants to talk about secrets, huh? I’m not sure I’d be able to listen to him clearly after what happened with Peace Walker, and I really don’t want to know what he would’ve done to me.”

After a few seconds, she stopped and pulled out another Fulton Recovery device, this time inflating the balloon with the pack in her hooves. She then placed her back hooves in the loop at the end of the line and wrapped her right foreleg around it, bracing herself. A second later, she let out a loud grunt as the balloon shot up into the air, taking her with it. After a little more than a minute of going up, she reached the chopper and was caught by the recovery hook, which deposited her in the chopper’s cabin. When she got inside, she saw that Zadornov was sitting on the left side with a pair of MSF soldiers at his sides. Twilight took a seat on the right side and settled in for the trip back to Mother Base.

Once they touched down at Mother Base, the two soldiers led Zadornov off the helicopter and back to the Brig. As Twilight got off, she saw Miller waiting in the middle of the deck, though he was looking up and off to the side at something. Following his gaze, she saw another helicopter coming in for a landing and realized it must’ve been Snake’s. Sure enough, he got off followed by the extracted Intel team member after it landed. She watched Miller and Snake exchange a few words before all three of them came over to her. Miller was the first to speak, “You did a great job finding and bring Zadornov back, Twilight. You keep doing good work like this and I’m sure we’ll have more missions for you soon.”

Snake said, “Yeah… Nice work.” He didn’t seem to know what else to say, so he turned and walked away.

Twilight didn’t bother thinking about what Zadornov had tried to tell her. Sure, Snake could be pretty rough, but she thought he meant well. She turned to look at the Intel member and bowed respectfully to him. “Mr. Kojima. It’s such a relief to have you back with us, alive and well,” she said. The dark-haired man adjusted his glasses before returning the bow.

________________________________________

“So, what happened next? Dinner?” Rainbow guessed.

Twilight nodded, “Yeah. It was past the usual dinnertime when we got back, but the Mess Hall staff always kept at least a little bit of food ready to serve in case anyone off base made it back before it got too late. I was sure glad for that that night, and a couple other times too.”

Cadance asked, “So was Miller being serious when he said they’d consider sending you out on more missions, Twilight?”

Twilight replied, “Yeah. I did start getting more assignments after that. I even got to accompany Snake on a few of his missions, like when he went to go deal with one of the extra Cocoon AI weapons that the CIA had left behind…”

Author's Note:

I was debating whether to have Cicada refer to Twilight by her real name or her Jem codename. I eventually settled it when I decided that "Jem" doing work in the Combat Unit would greatly conflict with the skills and attributes outlined in her profile.