Two hundred years ago, Spike the dragon watched the mare he loved die in his arms. On that night, he swore vengeance, and he would not be denied.
Now he runs the most secret, most powerful military organization in the world.
It's not an easy job. One mistake could cost a life, and whole teams have gone missing in a single night. Yet still Spike continues his vigil, and still he pushes these ponies to fight and keep the world safe from its hidden threats.
Zombies, lycans, vampires, ghosts; it's simply too much for a team of ponies to handle.
But by Celestia, Silver Dust is going to try.
After all, when the Department of Supernatural and Paranormal Investigation calls, you are duty bound to answer.
Chapters (30)
Uh.
That was... interesting. I'm kind of miffed by all the elements of modernity and modern "hard-boiled super secret antiparanormal dude" you pulled up with Spike, but hey, they seem to work with the tone of the story.
Getting really curious about all of this, though. I'll be stalking it for a while. Hope to see more of the bunch of wacky characters ouo
I know that the whole point of this is to get a starting point. But you would think that Spike would have his headquarters as far way from Canterlot as possible. Like in the San Palomino Desert, or the middle of the ocean.
Damn all those sir and ma'am sandwiches were killing my inner basic military training of basic protocols when speaking to appointed officers or NCOS.
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That's what happens when I guy who's not military tries without looking anything up!
Interesting start. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
In the type of situations they deal with, sad but true. Still, Sweetie Bell and Fluttershy are still around, they're dead, but they're still around. So, yeah? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Wow, this looks really good and I'm actually super excited to see this play out. Having read the Harmony for All series, I certainly know that you can build a world very effectively, and I'm ready to see how that turns out here.
Spike seems to be quite enigmatic in this, and I really love it. I also liked that you didn't just hand out information to the readers in the form of "explaining to the rookies" and whatnot, but instead left areas of mystery to be covered later, and in greater detail than could be provided here.
Interesting start. The intro leaves so much up in the air about the state of Equestria, but lots of little hints. Four dusty thrones makes me think this is a small time skip before the larger one, and unless I'm missing something there's no real hint about the identity of the mare. Based on the tagging though, I'm guessing that the two remaining Bearers are Twilight and Fluttershy and that Spike's love interest was Sweetie. We didn't actually see the death either, so what Twilight did or failed to do still remains to be seen.
Hmn. It's tempting to ship Silk Star and Silver Dust just from the get go (StarDust is a great ship name), but I'm probably jumping to conclusions a bit.
Ahh, well that explains the character tagging. I was wondering if we might be getting Flutterbat, but forgot to mention that in my comment last chapter. Agent Siren probably puts a stake in my other theory, though I suppose that's not an absolute, two centuries is a lot of time for a forced non-physical relationship to fade away. Feels like it's probably wrong, though.
I'm enjoying this story. It's a realistic take on the "keep the ignorant citizens safe from supernatural threats" squad, and I like that. You even had Spike explicitly state it:
And I love that. It makes their struggle so much more real, and the impact that much greater, because we know they are destined to fail in the same way as all the teams before them.
Keep up the good work, man.
This gives me a familiar feeling...orig14.deviantart.net/625d/f/2013/108/0/9/xcom_insignia_by_howling_techie-d6279e7.png
...Am I wrong?
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No, that certainly was a source of inspiration. Just Hellsing instead of Men In Black.
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I thought as much. I knew we probably wouldn't be seeing aliens in this fic.
2 down. So, replacements, or shorthanded? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
So, supernatural Xcom. Awesome
So its tf2 classes with an xcom organization(and sword-wielding assaults) Awesome
Spooky haunted house plus some unwitting Portal gameplay. I like it.
Apple vampire Fluttershy? Awesome.
Well then. Good thing you aren't like most ghosts, eh Sweetie?
Interesting background for the source of the zombies.
Hmn. Not really a fan of the direct from TF2 combat role names being used mid-fight in dialogue and everything. And wow, that was a larger squad body count on just this first mission than I expected. How is this organization even sustainable?
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If you've ever played X-COM, you've probably asked the same questions.
So, Fluttershy has multiple personalities and is some sort of vampire plus that can prey on regular vampires. Good thing she seems to reliably work for Spike.
Enjoyable as always but some how i expecting things to go a bit worse.
With the way you have this done it would make for an interesting mod for xcom. Granted it would be a pretty indepth one if not a TC but it would be interesting.
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Hmn. Makes me wonder what the Department's policy is on fraternization. Even if not romantic, with this many ponies working in close quarters with each other day in and day out, something is bound to happen every once in a while.
Danger room, and it even comes with a TWI. Neat.
Vampires, always so OP.
Ehh, there's got to be some happy medium there, though. If you train your team commanders to never think strategically, that's just asking for them be unprepared for situations where contact with central command is lost.
Dang, long prep time on this attack.
Oh man, whoever Spike lost way back when is in that crystal, aren't they?
Another well written chapter. I'm really curious to see who Spike is referring to when he mentions "him" because there's clearly a lot of history there. A long time foe, back for another strike? Very interested to see where this goes.
MAybe I haven't gotten far enough into this. Wondering where the other Princesses are since so far we've only heard mention of Celestia
Uh oh, incoming shipping drama. I wonder if that was part of Mandible's plan in encouraging Silver.
I wish i could upvote this twice.
Good job Mandible, now you just need to figure out why.
Flurry, neat.
Bad thoughts, Sparky, bad bad thoughts.
Better watch your back Silver, you may find a knife in it soon.
A white furred, blue eyed unicorn sacrifice? I feel like that was aimed at Spike specifically.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm definitely rooting for Cinnamon keeping it under control.
This DNA project, on the other hand, sounds like something that can/will end terribly for at least one participant. Probably either Sparky or one of the two Gamma volunteers.
I'm a bit saddened by Silk being infertile, both before and after the DNA modification, but hey, less chance of inconvenience if her and Silver's movie watching eventually turns into fooling around.
Wow. It’s true, but that just seemed a bit... lacking in tact.
Spike came at Silver, Silver can't get at Spike. That is, until he opens the, room. Wonderful chapter!
Dang, these genemod abilities are working out pretty well.
Hah!
Interesting Spike backstory details. Garble is still as much of an idiot as as ever, I see.
One way or another, he's bucked.
Nice, there's the relationship and Spike doesn't even have enough of a problem with it to split the squad up for fraternization reasons. Shipping success! Let's just try to avoid a tragic ending to it, if that's even remotely possible given their jobs.
Possibly the best comeuppance he could have received, honestly. And then his response.
That was good.
I’m assuming that you might further the thing with Spike and the Scepter a little longer. It would be kind of a waste to have him struggling with it, then we just find out that he casually handed it back between chapters.
Whoo! NEW CHAPTER HO!!
Stay good, Spike!
Damn, a terrorist attack style suicide bombing. That's an escalation.
Random speculation, this Madame White has some sort of connection to Rarity. I don't think it could be Rarity, given the history we were told about her, but I don't know.
I call flags. Death flags all around.
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!
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.
...And here I thought they had all died of old age except Rarity. This is an interesting development. I suppose the enemies they’ve been encountering recently are lead by the vampire Valentine?
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?
Dang, Spike you kind of did screw everything up. But what about Twilight? Natural life and death as an Alicorn, or something else?
GOOD OL' NICHOLAS VALENTINE.
Amazing chapter as always. I'm quite interested about this immortal vampire now, considering he affected the mane six in different ways.