War Gone Cold

by Bronycommander

Chapter 10 A Quiet Exit

Chapter 10: A Quiet Exit

It took Lily a moment to calm down. “Right…Where is this container heading?”

“As it was in a media platform, medical supplies most likely.” Dinky suspected and they looked around, seeing medical and food supplies before they heard a sound behind them.

Turning around, they saw Quiet with her head lowered. “Why do you run?” Katja asked her confused.

“I am sorry…” Quiet spoke in a foreign language. “So very sorry…you got into this because of me…”

The children quickly understood what they meant and gave her a gentle hug. “We don’t blame you, Quiet. How should you have known?” Lily spoke in a comforting tone and the woman smiled weakly.

Without any warning, there was a loud bang and the container shook violently, the kids screamed and Quiet clutched them protectively as they felt how it went down fast.

The impact was so strong that they got dazed.

Groaning, their ears ringing, they could faintly make out how the container was opened.

“Freeze!” A voice yelled as their vision and hearing recovered. The eyes of the children became small as they found themselves held at gunpoint by Soviet soldiers.

All raised their hands/hooves in surrender, knowing there was no way out.

---

The ponies were chatting what to do next. “It will take a lot of magic to get us all home. We have to combine our magic for this to work.” Fletcher said, Abstraction, Insistra, Siyarjit and Blue nodded, the former merc had an expression of unease about what would happen to her once back in Equestria.

“Guys!” Patch yelled, running in with Wagensroll, Dawnwind and the two Soviets, completely out of breath.

“What’s wrong?” Midnight asked.

“Dinky…her friends….missing…” The historian tried to catch his breath.

“What?” Fletcher exclaimed, “How?”

“Well, apparently, Quiet managed to stow away on a departing chopper and we tracked her down to Afghanistan. The chopper was carrying a container with food and medical supplies for refugees here. It got surprised by a hidden AA position and lost the container. We suspect that the children tried to stop Quiet and accidentally entered the container just before it got moved.”

“Then we must move quickly!” Abstraction exclaimed.

---

The children got brought to the Lamar Khaate Palace, Katja and Lily got brought into one of the barracks, Dinky and Blau into the basement of the Palace, Quiet was brought out of their sight.

They all tried to make each other hope as the soldiers had neutral expressions, restraining them.

“Fletcher and his friends will come for us, right? Right?” Lily asked with fear.

“Don’t panic, I am sure they will,” Katja replied, although she was just as scared.

They both gulped as the door opened and an officer walked in, noticeable by the red beret, his expression one of hate.

“Who ordered you to kill Soviet officers?” He asked stern.

“P-please sir, we never wanted to do this…” Lily stuttered, yet this seemed to anger the Soviet.

“Who do you think you are fooling?!” He yelled, his eyes blazing.

“Ask my brother and his friend, they will tell you the same.” Katja tried to calm him down.

“So you made up a story together. Enough.” He swatted both with his rifle, causing both to cry in pain. “If you do not know anything, we're done here.”

Dinky and Blau trembled as the officer walked in. “All right, now you can both talk to me. Who ordered you to kill Soviet officers?” He asked in a stern tone.

“We…we never wanted to do this…” Dinky said honestly, yet the man wasn’t convinced.

“You expect us to believe that? You’re murders of people of the Soviet Union. You will pay for your crimes.” He spoke coldly.

“Skull Force was the one who ordered this.” The unicorn added, it just slipped out.

“Hah! So it's all Skullface’s fault.” The Soviet taunted.

“I beg you, we did not want to k-kill…” Blau stuttered before he got swatted by the man with his AK, crying out in pain.

“Don't worry. Hell has room for both of you.” The Officer was cold as Katja and Lily got brought in and Blau looked at his sister in desperation.

“Please, don’t kill us! Skull Face forced us to do this!”

“I find that hard to believe. If you want to be spared from your crimes, that door is already closed.”

“Wait!” Dinky called out as he was about to leave.

“Shut up!” He yelled and turned to one of the guards. “Dispose of the prisoners as per playbook.”

“Sir, with all due respect, they are children.” One of the guards pointed out with slight disgust in his voice.

“Are you refusing a direct order?” The officer asked in a threating voice.

“No sir, we are soldiers, not murders. They feel regret, they were forced to do this, it’s clearly visible.” The guard protested.

“I don’t care! I lost good men to them! Dispose of them!”

The guard sighed. “Yes, sir."

Now, the children started to tremble as the guards raised their rifles. “Please! Don’t! We beg you!” Dinky started to cry.

They closed their eyes, waiting for the shots that would end their lives.

Bang!

A shot.

But they felt no pain.

Slowly opening their eyes, they saw that the soldiers had missed. “W-why?” Lily asked confused.

“We have standards and we know you’re the children that were with Arkturi and Sergei. You don’t deserve any of this.” One of the soldiers said and untied them.

Before they could move, there was a strange sound outside. “Stay here while we check it out.” One of the men said and the kids nodded.

---

Lovec, Sergei and the ponies hoped it wasn’t too late as they were en route. Snake was already there and they overheard on the radio how Ocelot commented he couldn’t blame the Soviets for wanting payback, given they had lost a lot of men to Quiet, with Code Talker mentioning that she was carrying vocal cord parasites, a third English strain to be precise. A vector by Skull Face, yet refused to speak or let it treated.

As the chopper touched down, Atgeir left the group to gather a “friend”, with the others joining Snake, moving towards the palace. Reaching it, they saw Quiet stumbling out of one of the barracks, restrained and dressed like a POW, beige-colored with brief lines around the torso and white armbands on the upper sleeves.

Three Soviets chased her and one managed to grab her and drowned her in a small, open water container, then pulled her pants down.

However, this caused her to wake up and retaliated, mutilating and slaughtering him and the other soldiers in a way better left undetailed, as it was quite shocking for the group.

As Snake was about to cut her retrains, she pushed him down as another three Soviets opened fire at her. She made quick sprints and throw one over, jumping on the next one and spun him out, causing him to accidently shooting his third comrade.

The second one tried to slash at her with a knife but she stretched her arms out, resulting in him cutting the restrains and she grabbed the knife, stabbing both into the throat.

Another two came out of the barrack, so she grabbed one of the bodies and pulled the pin of a grenade attached to it, causing both soldiers to back up into the barrack, the woman close after her.

Then the explosion and both soldiers coughed from the smoke, having survived just barely, with the barrack catching fire. Gunshots followed and the group saw how one soldier got thrown out of the window, knocked out.

Seeing the barrack was slowly collapsing, Snake fired on a water barrel mounted on a tower next to the fire, putting it out. The other soldier crawled out of the door before killed with a shot to the head. Quiet walked out, now in her “normal” clothes, carrying an Anti-material rifle, and an RPG.

“Guys, what’s going on?” A voice asked and two more Soviets came out of the palace, the kids behind them, looking shocked at the dead bodies.

Quiet fixed the soldiers with their glare and they slowly backed up before running away, the kids ran into Fletcher for a hug, he calmed them down. “Shh, it’s alright.”

“Guys, we got company!” The beast master warned and they saw a tank force moving in.

Snake grabbed the RPG from Quiet. “Let’s finish this.”

The tank fired, destroyed the barrack completely and making everyone stumble for a moment from the shockwave before Fletcher brought her kids into the basement. “Stay here, for your own safety.” They nodded scared, hugging each other.

The snipers got into position on the roof of the palace, Lovec and Sergei did too, the other near sandbags. A roar greeted their ears and a bear was next to Atgeir as Siyarjit grinned.

“The Russians wanna give us one last display of brute force... Let's give them one last display of courage.”

And with that, they all attacked. Blue and Fletcher shot all enemy soldiers, Quiet fired at the tank, disabling it and forcing the crew to bail. Sergei and Lovec gave suppressing fire and called out targets, they didn’t want to kill any fellow Soviet.

Snake fired on a T-80 at the right of the palace’s road, disabling it as he hit the threads, with Neolith firing non-lethal bolts to take out the infantry escort.

Atgeir and his bear charged at a BTR-80 next at the front, evading it’s fire and punched it with enough force to throw it over.

A third T-80 came from the right, Insistra used a crystal as landmine to disable it, with Abundo and Siyarjit swinged their maces with enough force to knock out the infantry escort instantly. Midnight, Wolf and Abstraction used their signature weapons to disarm any stragglers by cutting their firearms in half, forcing them to flee.

“Damn, there’s more of them!” Sergei warned as another T-80 moved in from the front, a BTR with rocket launcher behind it.

Lovec saw a glint in the distance and ducked just seconds before a bullet hit the wall next to him. “Snipers!” He yelled, but the two unicorn snipers reacted quickly and took them out.

Snake fired his RPG, managing to disable the tank but the BTR fired it’s rockets at the palace. However, Insistra fired lasers, destroying the rockets in mid-air and the beast master and his animal ally threw the APC over.

Another BTR-80 drove up from the road on the left, Quiet fired a shot, it hit the driver and the APC crashed against a rock.

“Airborne enemy approaching!” Blue called out as a Hind was closing in. Fletcher drew his bow and fired a charged shot at it. It wasn’t’ strong enough to destroy it but damaged it heavily, forcing it to fall back as it smoked.

Snake fired at another T-80 in the middle of the desert. The moment it exploded, all enemy soldiers retreated.

“We did it…We defeated an entire Soviet Armored Division…” Abstraction breathed heavily as he looked over the wrecks.

“Is it over?” Dinky whimpered as she and her friends slowly peeked out.

“Yes, it is.” Fletcher said in a comforting voice.

Snake offered Quiet a hand. She was about to shake it but shoved him aside and grabbed his RPG as a single tank was still operational. Both fired at the same time, the tank shell knocked everyone over.

“Ugh…” Blue groaned, her ears ringing as she got up with Snake, Lovec, Sergei and the Dark Horse members, seeing that Quiet and the others had been knocked unconscious.

A fearsome sandstorm was coming and the radio was jammed by it, so they had only one choice.

Snake picked Quiet up, Blue lifted Dinky and Lily gently on her back, Insistra took the siblings, Abstraction carried Fletcher, Siyarjit took Midnight and Atgeir took Wolf as they carried her out of harm's way through the storm.

A short moment later, Quiet started to thrash as she regained consciousness and the group moved behind a rock as another mechanized unit was nearby.

Snake held Quiet tightly to prevent her from alerting a soviet soldier that moved towards them and heard a hiss. He got bitten by a cobra, yet managed not to cry in pain and threw it away.

The soldier got alerted by this and shot the cobra before a fellow soldier called out, “Hey, keep up.”

Then everyone passed out, Snake from the venom, the others from exhaustion.

---

After some time, they came to just barely, their visions blurry as the radio buzzed. “This is Pequod. Do you read me?” There was a lot of static. “This is Pequod. Ahab, what is your position? We can’t stick around any longer…Talk to me, Boss!”

“The Boss is here. Hurry.” Quiet spoke into the radio in a foreign language.

“Ahab, I can’t copy your transmission Repeat.” Pequod replied.

“Hurry! The Boss is dying!”

“Again, I cannot copy. Can you repeat in English? We cannot stick around any longer. We have zero visibility. We’re gonna have to pull back. Cutting transmissions.” Pequod replied and Quiet sighed.

“The Boss is with me” She spoke in English.

“Ahab? Wait, who is this? Identify yourself!! Pequod demanded.

“There is no time. Hurry!”

“Where are you? What is your location?”

Quiet took a look. “No, you’re moving away from us. Circle back to your 8 o’clock.”

“Copy that, guide me to your location.” Pequod acknowledged.

“Proceed to your 10 o’clock. Come back to your 1 o’clock. Shift lightly to your left. Now proceed straight. 1.5 miles. Slight right, a little more. Yes, there you go.” She did as told, with the pilot acknowledging every turn. “One more mile. Strong winds approaching, quick, adjust to your right! Left. A little left…Yes. Now hold your position and proceed straight! Half a mile to go.” Then she looked up. “Pequod, I can see you. I have a visual.” She waved to show their position.

“There you are, Ahab! Visual confirmed! I didn’t know you could be so talkative, Quiet.” Pequod commented and the ponies and three humans saw the searchlight of the chopper before everything became black again.

---

Coming to again, they saw several Diamond Dog soldier before them, helping them up, with one saying to Snake that he gave him an anti-venom. Yet the Boss had only one question.

“Where’s Quiet?” He asked as the woman was nowhere to be seen.

“I…” The soldier hesitated. “We’ve got to go.” He helped his leader up, the others helped the children, ponies and Soviets up and Dinky pointed to footprints in the sand.

They followed them, only finding a cassette tape hanging from a tree branch and Snake put the tape into his iDroid, turning the speaker on.

“I did not choose to be Quiet. I wanted to express my feelings to you. If only we shared a common tongue. Vengeance was what drove me to them...The only language left to me, revenge. But the words we shared...No, that was no language at all. That's why I...I chose the language of gratitude instead, and go back to silence. I am Quiet...I am...the absence of words.”

Then it ended and the children sniffed. “We’re sorry, we tried to stop her…” Dinky looked down in guilt but Abstraction put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t be, you aren’t to blame.” Then they boarded the chopper and listen to what Miller had to say to this.

“You have the results of Quiet's scans?”

“Yes. As I suspected, her entire body underwent parasite therapy. The parasites compensated for her burned epidermis, and provided her blood with oxygen through cutaneous respiration instead of pulmonary respiration. In addition, they replaced the digestive organs she lost, and she receives carbohydrates through photosynthesis.” Code Talker explained.

“Was Skull Face responsible?”

“There is no other possibility.”

“Skull Face ordered Quiet to assassinate Snake, only she got set on fire instead when he woke up at that hospital. But then Skull Face revived Quiet through his parasite therapy. At the same time infecting her with the English strain. That way, even if the assassination failed again, she could still kill all of us just by coming here.”

“That was the third English mating pair - correction, the first and only English pair to be carried by a person.” Code Talker concluded

“So either because she wanted to get even with Snake, or because she was working for Skull Face, Quiet approached Snake again.”

“Though in the end, for whatever reason, she did not complete her objective. Some change of heart, perhaps? We won't hear it from her.”

“I hope…she can find her peace.” Lily commented at this.

It was evening when they got back to Mother Base. As Snake opened the door, DD ran up and pounced on the children, licking them repeatedly while growling in affection.

They giggled as Wolf said, “I guess he was worried for you too.”

Feeling still exhausted, they all went to bed, trying to rest.

---

Breakfasting in the morning, Lovec had a message for them. “The Boss’ birthday is today, wanna join at the party?”

Dinky grinned. “I’d love to!” The others nodded and they helped to prepare everything as Snake returned at noon.

Fireworks were used and everyone started to sing.

♫”Happy Birthday! Congratulations! Happy Birthday with salutations! Happy Birthday! May your sky stay blue. Happy Birthday to you!”

Snake smiled as Sergei brought the cake, decorated with the logo of his PF and Ocelot gave him a cigar. Snake was about to lit it via one of the candles bit Miller snatched it way with a grin.

The Boss chucked and blew the candles out and everyone clapped.

Everyone had cake and danced, enjoying the party to the fullest.

As Fletcher finished eating a piece of the cake, he noticed that Blue was watching the sea and walked up to her.

“Nice view...” She looked at him and he smiled weakly-

“I've never been too good in the sun...”

The mare sighed. “So what happens now?”

“Well, that's up to Snake and the others really.” Fletcher replied calmly and she rolled her eyes.

“I meant to us, you Muppet! I can't just go back to Equestria now, can I?”

In response, the stallion shrugged. “Why not?”

Blue blinked in disbelief. “Sorry, are you ill or something? I have a body-count of literal thousands! If I am seen by anypony back home, I will spend the rest of my life in prison, no argument. I'll never get to see my son again, or anypony else.”

“Not necessarily. There are ways you can avoid that. All you need to do is prove to society that you've changed.” The Eternal knight pointed out

“Yeah, I don't think the 'Turning Over A New Leaf' is quite going to be enough in this case.” Blue replied with a slightly irritated expression.

“Blue, you don't seem to understand the situation at all.”

Sarcastically, she titled her head. “I'm sorry, what?”

"Tungsten knows how all this happened but he still loves you. To him, you are still the loving mother who's struggled through a very difficult time to get that privilege. That's the mare you are to him. Not a killer. And there are ways you can show Equestria that you are that mare as well. You've been given another chance, Blue. Are you just going to pass it off?” He countered.

“Fletcher...that life, the mother, the wife, the...the goodness. It was all a lie.” She told with a guilty voice.

“No. I don't think it was. I think the killer was a lie. I don't think you were born good and fell to bad, quite the opposite. I think you were born bad and rose to good. And if the work of six very incredible mares is anything to go by...you can only go up from there.”

Now, Blue looked at him with a tired look, her eyes showing regret. “You do... whatever you want to me... as long as I'm with Tungsten... I'm ... I'm a happy mare. If it means I go to prison, let them do what they must.”

Fletcher smiled as the other ponies joined him. “I think we can work something out for you.”

“Yes, Tungsten, Pip and Nancy, they all miss you.” Dinky added with a smile of her own.

“You had a troublesome past, but you’re not a bad pony, Blue. You are a caring mother deep within.” Insistra pointed out.

“Goodbye, you two. Thank you for everything!” Lily gave Lovec and Sergei a hug, with her friends, they returned it.

DD also ran up to them and said goodbye with a bark, getting petted by the kids.

“Ah, before I forget.” Abstraction lit up his horn and in a flash, a painting was before the two men. It was a drawn group photo of them with the children and ponies. “I hope you like it.”

Both Soviets smiled. “It’s beautiful! You really have talent.” Sergei exclaimed.

“Goodbye, have a safe trip home.” Lovec saluted them with his friend and commanders before all unicorns lit up their horns, Insistra assisted with her crystals and the group vanished in a white light.

He sighed. “At last, they finally are home, safe and sound.”

“Yes and not only them.” Ocelot said, getting a puzzled look by Arkturi. "The commander of the Harmonious Guard contacted us. He said someone’s waiting for you.”

Arkturi grinned, knowing who it was and boarded the chopper.

He hoped they would understand his situation.

Comments

[Blackfox7475]

good chapter and it seems that things will not end soon ... I think

a good way to end the adventure of the ponies with snake's birthday

[Bronycommander]

9830089
Thanks! I thought it would Suit most here, given Situation and Setting

[midnightwolfGX]

Quiet... such a backstabber!

Well, this chapter really tied things up quite nicely, and now the ponies and children and finally home again!

[Bronycommander]

9831951
Glad to hear it. Though you know Quiet wasn't like that.