The D.S.P.I.

by DungeonMiner

Operation Silent Vanguard

A red-cloaked mare moved through the sewer, her hooves clopping lightly against the flagstones that paved the raised pathways beneath Fillydelphia. Keeping close to the walls and hugging the shadows at every turn, she walked quickly, making her way to a large service door that sat in the wall ahead of her.

She knocked on the heavy, steel door before a glowing eye made of mana made its existence known, floating through the door’s surface. It gave the mare a scrutinizing once-over before it faded away.

The door finally opened, and a stallion, wearing the same red cloak, stepped out into the sewer.

“Sister, are you alright?”

“I was waylaid, nothing more,” she replied in a hushed whisper.

“Come inside, quickly,” the stallion said, and both ponies slipped inside.

The stallion led the way, down the hall, leaving the mare for just a second as she closed the door and fiddled with the lock. It took a moment, but she quickly caught up, closing the distance between the two of them.

“What waylaid you?” the stallion asked.

“I thought I saw the dragon around town. I went the long way around.”

“The dragon?”the stallion asked. “You saw him?”

“I thought I did. I wasn’t sure… but I wasn’t going to take a chance.”

“I hope that was enough, if you were right.”

The mare nodded, and kept walking, staying as close to the stallion as possible as they worked their way into the Covenant’s Fillydelphia base.

The long-abandoned service tunnel lead to a large, open room, filled with podiums decorated with occult scrolls and tomes of dark rituals. Blocks of candles, fused together by melted wax, lit the room as the stallion led the mare up a set of stairs to a raised dais, upon which a throne was set.

“My master,” the stallion said as he bowed before the throne, quickly followed by the mare, “Sister Sable has returned.”

“She is late,” the pegasus on the throne said as he drank from a golden goblet, encrusted with Red Spinels.

“Forgive me, Master,” the mare said, “but I thought I saw the dragon from the department, and so I took the longer way around to be sure I was not followed.”

“And you returned here anyway?” the pegasus asked, shifting his leathery wings and glaring at the mare with his blood-red eyes.

The mare quailed before the vampire and tried to speak again. “I...I had to warn you, my master. I simply could not let this danger go unnoticed.”

“Unnoticed? Do you think I am blind?” the vampire demanded.

“No, Master, no. I dare not.”

“And you will dare not again!” the vampire growled. “Now go to my chambers to await your punishment.”

“Yes, my Master,” the mare answered, before she began to move.

As soon as she passed the throne, however, she reached up to her ear, and tapped twice.

An explosion echoed from the hallway beyond the main room, and a sudden burst of red-hot silver flashed down the hallway as Chestnut’s mini-cannon cleared the way.

“You fool!” the vampire said, turning to face the mare as he leapt from his seat.

Mandible met him with a smile and a crossbow bolt to the heart.

“One down,” he said with a smirk.

Alpha team burst through the end of the hallway, throwing cultists aside as they leveled their weapons. “D.S.P.I.!” Silver yelled. “Put your horns, hooves, and wings where we can see them!”

The room, however, erupted in chaos. Pegasi took to the air while earth ponies and unicorns ran this way and that, trying to take cover behind the massive blocks of wax and podiums.

A sudden blast from a magical beam opened up the line, streaking down from above and behind the enemy as the nearly-invisible Silk picked her next target.

Spike leapt forward, rolling through the crossfire without a hint of fear as the enemy slowly gathered itself for a counter attack. Flintlock pistols came up, and the cultists moved to fire, only to meet Spike’s claws.

The room quickly cleared, with only a couple of ponies offering surrender. Silver and Neon quickly secured the prisoners as Chestnut and Lemon took the corridor that led deeper into the facility.

Spike spoke into his communicator. “Manticore, how is it on your end?”

“Well, considering that I’m snacking on a pretty sad thrall here, I’m doing well,” she answered.

“Just be sure to save some room for dessert,” Spike said. “With any luck we’ll take out the head vampire today.”

“Oh, I’ll be ready, trust me. I am famished.”

“Roger that,” Spike said, before he began to gather the team. “Alright, get ready, team.”

They formed up on the next corridor, leaving the bound ponies off to the side while the dead were left where they lay.

“On three,” Spike said, before counting down. “One, two, three!”

The team charged, with Lemon and Chestnut at the lead. With the demolitions pony firing grenade potion after grenade potion off into the darkness ahead of them. As explosions rocked the hallway, the team charged forward.

They burst into the next room, laying down a fan of bolt fire.

“Keep them pinned!” Spike yelled as his old, practiced eye quickly took in the scene.

Thirty cultists, armed with their ruby daggers, a handful of muskets, and a runeblade which definitely needed to be confiscated, took positions around the room. They had a number of makeshift cover, barricades made from broken machinery and discarded sheet metal offered some resistance to their silver-tipped crossbow bolts, but Chestnut’s mini-cannon would rip through them without too much difficulty.

No, the largest problem was them vampire standing boldly in the open.

It was another pegasus vampire, which meant that she would most likely be rather adept at transformation magic. This was immediately proven when four of the quarrels simply passed through her, as though she were mist.

He hated pegasi vampires.

“Focus on the covenant, I have the blood sucker!” Spike yelled as he leapt forward, into the crossfire.

“Roger that!” Silver yelled. “Heavy, priority on the sheet metal!”

“You got it!” Chestnut yelled, before his mini-cannon swept across the flimsy cover the cultists had erected. Silver fire ripped through the cover, and cultists went down screaming.

Spike leapt forward, his handgun roaring as it fired its unique, and powerful ammunition at the vampire. The needles dug into the mist, and they reacted, transforming their phase and landing solid blows against the mist.

The vampire screamed in pain as the needles bit deep, stopping in her as though she were solid.

“You’re not hiding from me!” Spike yelled as he closed the distance, and putting the barrel directly against the vampire’s chest, only for a solid hoof to bat it away.

“Who’s hiding?” the vampire yelled, before a powerful kick sent the dragon flying backwards.

Spike rolled back to his feet, and the vampire pounced, fangs bared and hissing.

They rolled, struggling just barely beneath the line of fire that whistled above them from both sides. Spike’s claws dug deep into cold, dead flesh while the vampire’s fang tried to pierce through the dragon’s scales.

Another handful of cultists died.

Spike drove his hand into the monster’s chest, only for it to dissolve into mist once again. She slipped through Spike’s grip, and she flew towards Alpha team.

He had just enough time to stand, before the true weight and terror of the situation dawned on him.

Every member of alpha team had their crossbows aimed directly at the vampire, but no one dared to shoot. The cultists were too busy reloading fire, and that was the only reason why no one was dying yet.

The vampire had Chestnut pinned, and even though the large earth pony was struggling against his bonds, he could not overcome the vampire’s unparalleled strength.

“Move again, and I’ll rip your pony here into pieces,” the vampire threatened.

Amber had frozen solid.

Chestnut tried to struggle again, pushing against the vampire, but she simply slapped him with her free hoof, knocking him unconscious with the blow.

“I am not playing around, Dragon,” the vampire warned.

Spike glared, his eyes darting between her, Chestnut, and Amber, who looked on in horror as the vampire’s grip tightened around Chestnut’s throat.

Spike frowned, and shook his head. “That’s a bad move, blood sucker, cause I don’t care what you do to him.”

“Then why haven’t you shot me, yet?” the vampire asked, smirking all the way.

The cultists began to level their muskets.

Spike grit his teeth and leveled his pistol. “Because I don’t like wasting ponies.”

The vampire’s smile slowly disappeared.

Silver looked between the vampire and the Commander, wondering if the boss was truly thinking about letting Chestnut die.

Spike simply stared into the vampire’s eyes, his emerald green meeting the blood red with every iota of fury he had. The vampire looked on in kind, cool, almost apathetic anger doing its best to hide the growing nervousness in her eyes.

A second passed.

Another.

“Well, I guess I don’t have much choice then,” the vampire sighed.

She ripped Chestnut’s forelegs from his body, and Spike fired into the shower of blood. The whole team unleashed their bolts, ripping into the monster, only for a wisp of mist to fly out of the way, dodging the magical needles while taking the bolts without so much as a blink.

“Medic! Stop the bleeding!” Spike ordered.

Amber was on him in an instant, using her spray bandages and hypodermic needles as tears fell from her eyes. She worked frantically, trying to stop the bleeding on both sides.

But Spike and the others didn’t have time to think about it as the cultists opened fire, slamming into alpha team’s line.

Amber almost didn’t see the incoming fire, until the muskets spat smoke. She dived into Chestnut’s bleeding body, trying to shield him from the lead balls that came flying at them.

A second passed, and the medic looked up to see Silver standing before her, with bloody pits in his skin that revealed the armor underneath. “Get him to cover, Medic! Now!” He ordered, blade drawn and pneumatic crossbow outstretched.

She nodded, and pulled him to the side, tears still in her eyes but momentarily forgotten.

Silver launched forward, swinging his silver and obsidian machete like a pony possessed. Silk’s thermal shot screeched across the room, as her wings propelled her into the shadows. Neon’s crossbow hissed as he fired, and Lemon's close-range explosives rocked the room. Mandible slashed with his salvaged daggers, and fired his light crossbow. Sparky ran through the room, dipping into and out of sight as his camouflage changed patterns with every step.

But for Amber, it didn't matter. Of course it didn't matter. Chestnut was dying.

She heard the vampire laugh, but she couldn't bring herself to care about her.

Chestnut was still dying.

The part of her mind that retained whatever professionalism it had noted that losing both forelegs meant his body would fall into shock very quickly, and that little could save him from that. In response, her body moved. She administered the proper elixirs at the proper dosages, she checked the bandages, her hooves worked automatically, lead by muscle memory as her training went to work.

“D-d-don’t...don't die, Chestnut. Please don't die…” she muttered under her breath. “Stay with me, please…”

The vampire laughed again, floating above their heads as a cloud of mist. “Oh, you pathetic little fools, my master will eat your souls and gnaw on your bones! You cannot stop him, you cannot stop me! Nothing can save you from the coming darkness! Ha ha!”

“Well what's going to save you from me?” A voice asked behind her.

The vampire spun, and her eyes fell on the figure of Manticore, who glared with angry, starving eyes.

Manticore’s hoof grabbed at the mist, her own magic as a pegasus vampire manifesting itself, and threw her to the ground as though she were solid.

The vampire landed hard, and the thing once known as Fluttershy pounced on her like a large, starving cat, eager for its next meal.

They rolled across the battlefield, and with the vampire finally distracted, Spike could focus on the cultists, and they felt every single blow of his claws and assistant alike. They went down, chests split open or skulls riddled with the magical needles of his weapon.

Manticore wrestled with the vampire, using her overwhelming strength born of a life spent wrestling bears, until finally, the Covenant vampire’s neck was exposed. Manticore bit down, fangs digging deep into supple flesh, and the vampire screamed.

It was not a scream of pain. It was a wail of abject terror. Her eyes went wide as she struggled and pushed, trying to throw Manticore from her throat.

“Delicious,” Manticore said around the flesh in her mouth, drinking deep of the congealed, dead blood of the vampire.

“Get off! No! No! Stop!” she screamed.

But Manticore’s jaw was a spring trap, and nothing could escape her fangs.

“Stop! Please! No!” she cried, giving a final push before she finally shoved Manticore away, as well as a chunk of her own throat. The vampire scurried away, her neck open and exposed as it bled. Her mouth moved, but only a whistle of air moving through her open windpipe could be heard.

Manticore laughed as she spat out the cold, dead, flesh. “Aw...look at the little hunter, realizing she’s not as high on the food chain as she thought. Now come on, get back here and feed me. It’s only fair.”

The vampire screamed again as Manticore descended on her once again, and the screams of terror filled the room once again. The screams were bone-chilling, and soul-wrenching, tearing into the souls of the gathered team.

Spike ignored it. He had a more important job to take care of. “Thundercloud, come in.”

“Huh? Commander?” Tinker’s said, coming in confused over the communicator.

“I need an emergency extraction on my location. Prepare medical teams.”

“Sir, yes sir!” She answered.

“Team, help Medic move Heavy out of here, we’re going to do everything we can to save his life!”

“Yes, sir!” They answered, moving in quick, careful moves to move the pony.

Manticore’s feast continued, but Spike ignored it. He had a life to save.

===ᐁ===

Chestnut was in a haze, a blurry darkness the surrounded everything.

Someone was yelling somewhere, he wasn't sure where, but he could tell they were yelling.

One of them was very angry.

“It’ll...be...moment,” one of the voices said, just on the edges of his hearing.

“You...do this!” the other voice said.

“...Need...permission...in...right mind…”

“...Cruel...be in a lot of pain…”

The voices were becoming clearer, and the world slowly became sharper, falling into focus as he opened his eyes.

“I need...awake, Amber,” the first voice said. “He needs...know.”

“...Can’t do this!”

“I have to.”

He recognized the voice this time. That was the Commander.

“I won’t let you do this!”

That was Amber.

“You’re too late,” Spike said, before the dragon’s face appeared in his field of vision. “He’s already waking up.”

“What?” Amber cried.

“Alright, Chestnut, listen to me, the faster we do this, the better. Do you understand?”

Chestnut slowly nodded. “Yeah, yeah...I..understand…” he muttered, before he tried to reach for his head.

“You’re stable,” Spike continued, “you will live, however, you’ve lost both forelegs.”

Chestnut blinked, before realizing that his leg should have reached his head by now. That, and a sharp pain was beginning to grow along his sides.

“As of now, you’re useless to me. Normally, I let you go, and you live the rest of your life being taken care of by the crown.”

The pain was starting to grown sharper, and Chestnut was beginning to shake.

“But with the attack, you have another opportunity. There’s another program, and in order to join, you were going to have to lose your legs anyway. You can go, or you can join the Auto-hydraulic Jack program, and keep fighting. Make a choice.”

The pain was making him grit his teeth.

“The sooner you decide the faster the pain will stop,” Spike said. “I hate to do this to you, but I need to know what you want done.”

Chestnut groaned as the world became agony.

“Commander!” Amber added, worried as the obvious pain forced Chestnut to silence. “He can’t focus with the pa—”

“I’ll do it,” Chestnut said with a grunt. “I’ll join.”

“Chestnut,” Amber said. “You’re not thin—”

“If it means I can watch over Amber, I’ll do it,” he growled.

Spike nodded. “I understand,” he said, before he flipped a switch on a console nearby.

The pain began to fade.

“When you wake up next, things will have changed. The process already will be underway.”

Chestnut nodded, even as the world was already fading to black.

“You’re going to be the first, Chestnut. The first…”

Chestnut didn’t hear the last word that Spike said. It was lost to whatever was flooding through his veins, but regardless, Chestnut had his own idea of what he would be.

He would be Amber’s protector.

Comments

[Valiant Knight]

I’m really liking this story. There’s a particular sense of efficiency that the D.S.P.I. (and Spike especially) deals with both allies and enemies. It’s an interesting mix where morals aren’t used to make decisions, but they aren’t necessarily broken by these decisions simply because treating the ponies well is the most efficient use. If your soldiers are healthy and well trained then you won’t have to keep recruiting, so the efficiency and the morals line up in an odd, almost twisted fashion.

And I love it.

Keep it up!

[Doood]

HOO BOY. GOTTA LOVE SUSPENSE - HAS THAT CERTAIN AROMA OF... CLIFF HANGING.

Honestly though, I'm seriously excited to wonder what happens next. You can't really tell right now.

[djthomp]

Well, a few more vampires down. Generally speaking I'd call that a success.

So, some sort of augmented leg replacement program? Hydraulic jacks, so maybe something extendable?