01 - The First Step
FALLOUT EQUESTRIA:
SHADOWED SONGS AND PAINTED VALLEYS
CHAPTER 01 – THE FIRST STEP
“A wise pony once said, 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first hoof step.”
-Lao Aurora Tzu, Departures
Friendship...
Friendship was supposed to save us all.
It failed. We failed it.
In time there was a great cleansing. Green fire blossomed across the landscape, erasing Pony and Zebra life in equal measure. Poison soaked into the land and into the souls of all who survived it.
Life itself seemed to almost become erased, the ghosts of the billions of victims little more than background radiation humming an eternal song of regret..
- - - -
Far to the southwest of the Equestrian Wasteland, there were a range of mountains marking the coastlines. Known as the SanFranNeigho Mountain Range, it formed an enormous cul de sac of land. Pony-kind had blasted an entrance that became the Interstate 45 Junction.
On the day the bombs fell, a great storm enveloped the peaks and skies of the valley. Tornadoes that lasted for months patrolled for miles of dusty interstate across I-45 until they coalesces ed into one super storm. This storm became known as the Eye Of 45.
The Eye never ended, never closed its baleful gaze to all that approached the I-45 Junction. Thus The Valley Of Summer became forgotten with time. The mountains became the valley's tomb. It was like Nature itself became Overmare of the largest Stable ever conceived.
Sometimes things went into the Valley. Rarely did things come out. To the inhabitants of the Valley, their home became known as the Valley of Shadow...
Further along the same mountain range to the east was what passed for civilization in the region.
The ruins of Cisco City, formally known as San Marecisco, were contested by multiple factions but also acted as a sort of cross cultural hub in this region of the Wastes.
– - - -
Shadow Song was larger than average. Both being slightly taller than the average Pegasus and a little on the weighty side. Her squadmates constantly teased that she must secretly be an Alicorn that cut off her horn to infiltrate their number. That was how big she was. And her body was as black as the night sky.
Her fur color helped during night missions, but her size usually was a disadvantage for her, like right now.
A small hail of 9mm rounds wizzed past her face, shredding a little of her silvery mane while others spranged loudly off of the sky chariot she was using for cover. The pain in her right shoulder was proof that not all of them were stopped by her Recon Enclave Barding.
“Luna damnit!” Shadow Song cried reflexively at the pain and glanced at Lead Star, a gray mare with a mane like a fireball. It was cut short to a military buzz cut and only visible because the helmet that had covered it lay in the street with a bullet imbedded in it.
Little streams of blood poured from a nasty gash along part of her head. But the wound was not as bad as it appeared, merely blunt trauma. The helmet had saved her life for now.
Lead Star was looking for an opening to use her twin double-barreled shotguns she had slung on a combat saddle but had little hope. An unknown number of Earth and Unicorn ponies were sniping them from an elevated bridge over looking miles of highway and broken wreckage. The blood she kept having to wipe from her vision was not helping either.
Shadow Song reached a hoof to switch the communicator in her helmet on and began broadcasting, “This is Devil Moon to Messenger Boy. We need a delivery.” she smirked even in this situation at her call-sign.
The radio crackled in the earbuds of the two ponies, “Messenger Boy here, where do you want it?”
“Follow the smoke.” was Shadow Song's terse reply as she turned to Lead Star, “Hey Leady, I'll distract them while you pop some smoke.” Lead Star gave an uneasy nod and reached a flare out of a utility loop on her barding with her mouth.
“Hey you Dirt Fucking Shit Humpers!” Shadow Song screamed at the top of her lungs and bit down on the trigger of her combat harness.
With a loud VRRRRRRRRRR of shrieking metal, Shadow Song leaped from one side of the sky chariot wreckage and began to spray the entire bridge top with a storm of 5mm bullets.
Empty shell casings clattered across the ground, adding their own distinct noise of brass as her shots went wild but did a good job of keeping every pony on the bridge rushing for cover.
Just as Shadow Song ducked for cover again to avoid overheating her firearm, she saw thick green smoke begin to climb the skies that would be visible for miles.
“Location received, ya'll stay down now!” cried a familiar male voice as an equally familiar blue streak shot across the bridge. A giant flash of plasma and fire suddenly enveloped everything across the bridge and partially the ground beneath it.
The screams from the bridge were short lived, but the fires and the smell would last for days.
Shadow Song released the clamps to her minigun, letting it slam to the ground with a resounding crash of metal. She would need help getting that back on, but right now she rushed to Lead Star's side.
“It's nothing, SeeSee.” Lead Star used her pet name for the squad's science pony but began to sway dangerously on her hooves.
Shadow Song pulled her against her side, gritting her teeth against the pain caused by contact with her shoulder, “It's not “Nothing”. Your hurt, may have a concussion.” she chided.
“It doesn't..” Lead Star swayed a little and held her head with a forehoof, “It doesn't matter. Command wanted us at the target two hours ago. It's.. like a hop skip and a jump away!”
“Shhhh.” said Shadow Song and limp-carried Lead Star to the nearest of the wrecks.
Shadow Song helped Lead Star into the remnants of a couch in one of the Sky Chariots and pulled a vial of Med-X from her barding.
“Now no more arguments, this will help you until we can get you back to base.” and plunged the syringe into Lead Star's neck, pressing the plunger with her tongue.
Lead Star gave a little hiss as the drugs took instant effect while Shadow Song reached down to unhook one of the shotguns from Lead's combat saddle and placed it in her forehooves.
“Just in case you have to help return fire till help arrives. And one for me.” Shadow Song wrestled the other shotgun from its saddle holster out from underneath the prone Lead Star and balanced it in her forehooves.
“Messenger Boy, need an extraction. Leadhead is down and need of evac.” crackled Shadow Song over the radio.
“Negative, SeeSee. Command has me coming in to cover while you go to the objective alone.” Messenger Boy half radioed and half completed stating face-to-face with Shadow Song as he landed.
Grandeur Boom was the youngest of a new generation of the Grandeur family and considered a controversy by his fellow clanspony. Instead of becoming an officer, he chose to go with the enlisted military and worse, to the Surface Recon.
Recon received slightly better training than average but was frowned upon for its high mortality rate. All losses were viewed as grave, but the special case for Surface Recon was that most resulted from ponies being declared “Contaminated” and disallowed from returning.
Largely, his family had already disowned him. Grandeur Boom, aka Messenger Boy, was little more than a contaminated pony or Dashite waiting to happen. Either was felt as being tantamount to treason.
So the family of the Grand had disowned him before he could disgrace them.
Grandeur Boom shifted his grenade launcher from his combat saddle and braced it in his forehooves just like his fellow teammates, taking a stance to guard where Lead Star rested.
With out a word, Shadow Song dragged the minigun beside the wreckage, “Here look after my gun. You may need it more than me if more Surfacers show up.”
Boom gave no reply and nodded while Shadow Song placed the shotgun she had been holding now into the slot on her combat saddle. She also grabbed a couple of grenades from a satchel on Boom's barding and began slowly trotting ahead past the burning bridge.
- - - -
Twenty minutes later.
Flickering shadows from the fires on the bridge spooked Shadow Song a little. It was becoming dusk and if she didn't finish the mission soon, she would have to cancel it or worse be left here.
An old recharging station for sky chariots lay not far from an exit on the interstate. The place had the haunted look of old pre-war abandoned buildings, but thankfully lacked the demonic ambiance that a Raider-den held.
Shadow Song did her best to quietly pad up to the edge of the building to peer through one of its broken windows. The pumps and equipment were stripped a long time ago, but there was no telling what might be in the building.
Her PipBuck indicated that the target of her mission was inside. With a silent little sigh, Shadow Song gripped the knob of the front door in her forehooves and tried to delicately open it. Naturally it made the most mane-standing-on-end screeching noise.
Peering long enough for her eyes to adjust to the darkness in the building, Shadow Song waited nervously with her mouth waiting to press the trigger of her weapon.
Waiting what she felt was long enough for anything curious to come a calling, Shadow Song padded into the darkness. Various pre-war items crunched underneath her steps.
The building was a ransacked mess of pre-war merchandise thrown on the ground and parts of furniture trashed long ago.
Finally feeling resigned that she would be the loudest intruder this night, Shadow Song came into a small garage with a sky chariot sitting on a hydraulic lift.
The PipBuck indicated that the target was located underneath the vehicle so Shadow Song inspected the lift. It seemed to be receiving no power. Tearing open a service panel revealed that the Sparkle battery held within had burned out long ago.
Searching the service garage, Shadow Song happened upon a replacement and swapped the batteries.
With a grinding song loud enough to wake the dead, the sky chariot lifted into the air. Shadow Song searched in the darkening gloom with much frustration until she decided to give up on yet another level of stealth and turned on her PipBuck's light function.
Part of the floor beneath the hydraulic system turned out to be a hollow cover that had a sliding door leading under ground. The door was locked by an advanced system that would require her to plug her PipBuck into it. That of course assumed she had the right password.
Every member of the team on this mission had been given several possible passwords. Getting up, Shadow Song took a glance out the nearest window. All still seemed still and yer her nerves were a mess.
Returning to the door in the floor, Shadow Song plugged her PipBuck in using a retractable cable and tried the first of the passwords. Naturally it didn't work so she promptly erased it and tried the next one. And so on.
Finally with a resounding beep, a green light suddenly glowed on the door as a long twenty-four digit code unlocked the stubborn lock.
The door gave a little resistance and then slide open to utter blackness below. If it weren't for her PipBuck's light spell, she would have never seen it coming.
A feral Ghoul on the other side of the door lunged at her and leaped from out of the hole, tackling Shadow Song to the ground. Her armored foreleg was locked in its mouth as it shook like a dog, slowly sinking its teeth between the armor's plates.
Shadow Song screamed as two more climbed out of the hole and rushed her. One made a grab for one of her hind legs while she lay on her back. Giving a sickening pop, its neck broke as she kicked it with all the force she could muster while the one clamped on her foreleg continued to shake.
She couldn't see the third Ghoul until it was trying to bite her face through the helmet she wore. Faceplate and respirator prevented the monster from getting to her flesh.
With a growl of her own that flamed from fear turned to rage, Shadow Song bent forwards and struck the third Ghoul in the face as hard as she could with her forehoof. The strike didn't seem to do more than push the undead monster away from her face.
But Shadow Song wasn't finished as she struck again and again, aiming her hoof into the side of its head where its ears used to be. Finally staggered, the feral Ghoul stopped attempting to get at her throat and lay stunned.
Hooking her hindlegs underneath the Ghoul who was continuing to try to bite through armor, Shadow Song kicked it and sent it flying across the room.
Now freed, Shadow Song rolled over and then reared up on her hindlegs. It was a feat of pure strength and balance she was able to perform sometimes when her adrenaline was at its peak.
Walking the short distance that way, Shadow Song began plunging her forehooves into the face of the arm biter over and over again until its head seemed to pop, making a small explosion of gore all over a shelf and the front of her armor.
Third Ghoul than began to recover from its stupor so Shadow Song upper-cut-ted it just as it lunged for her face. Then she got its head between her forehooves and started bashing it against the hydraulic system, gasping “You..Do..Not..Get..To..Eat..Me!” each word exerted after another CLANG of its skull against the metal.
Panting, Shadow Song waved her PipBuck-ed hoof around the room searching for any more threats and than looked down at the dead Ghoul with its head half imbedded into the hydraulic jack.
There was something odd.. she quickly realized it was wearing the tattered remnants of a laboratory coat. So were the other two. It was not unusual to occasionally see feral Ghouls that wore clothes. After all they once were people who became trapped and turned into monsters by radiation from the Balefire.
It was just rare to see feral Ghouls wearing uniforms.
One of the ferals had two Bits, which was gold coinage before the war. The other had something more interesting, a strange organization patch.
The patch had two logos. The one that dominated the patch was for an Office of Magical Disease Study (OMDS) while a smaller logo was for an organization called J-SwAP which had no explanation.
Shadow Song searched and found patches on the other two ferals. They were the same except in place of J-SwAP, they had a logo for something called the OIA which had no expanded explanation for the organization's name either.
Pulling a knife from her barding, Shadow Song cut the patches from each of the ferals and put them in a bag. She then crawled to the edge of the door leading into the floor and hung her PipBuck-ed leg through the opening, illuminating what she saw below.
Below was a large hallway that looked military built. At least five skeletons lay in various places, visible from the hole and the ladder that lead down there.
All of the skeletons wore the same lab coat uniform but she couldn't see the patches from here.
Gathering what mental strength she could find for her nerves, Shadow Song began to climb half-blind to the depths below.
- - - -
Night time.
Shadow Song exhaustively trudged back to the entrance of the recharging station.
Something was wrong. The time felt wrong. It was too dark. It shouldn't have taken this long. And there was one other thing. The front door was open.
A sudden blow to the back of her head sent Shadow Song sprawling into the pavement in front of the station. A lunatic's laughter accompanied the blow as Shadow Song saw the eery glow of a unicorn raider who now swung a baseball bat into her chest.
The blow was not as bad as the hit she took to her head since the armor plating absorbed most of it. She didn't remember losing her helmet. Everything just felt wrong.
Why was it so dark? Where the hay did these raiders suddenly come from?
Getting to her hooves, Shadow Song shot the unicorn which only seemed to stagger him briefly. But raiders are never alone and two more rushed her from out of the darkness.
Her shotgun clicked on empty, which made no sense because it had been fully loaded. At least the last time she remembered. But then Shadow Song briefly recalled running deep under ground, her shotgun illuminating medical equipment as she fired at something.
A knife brought her freshly back from the vision as one of her assailants managed to stab her between the armor plating. Wetly, Shadow Song coughed, choking briefly. Panic was beginning to set in.
As she struggled, the knife continued to bite into her flesh as one of the raiders now had a line of steel cable wrapped around her forehooves.
“Hey Knives, she's a big one for them Enclavers. I say we fuck her right here rather then dragging her back to base!” a male voice sneered, the one with the cable.
Knives pulled the knife free and poked her a couple of times in the side while the only reply was an unsettling mare's giggle.
The unicorn Shadow Song had managed to shoot now limped over her prone form and spit in her face, “Bitch managed to mess me up. I say we throw her back into Hell's Barn and just leave her here.”
There was a short giggle and Knives said, “Dewby, you actually believe that shit?” Shadow Song could feel them searching for a way to undo her armor while her breathing was very difficult. If breathing and being conscious hadn't been such a difficult task, Shadow Song would have been gripped with fear.
A sudden exclamation of sound and light drown out anything the raiders said to each other. The sound was a very well known VRRRRRRR as a lethal hail of bullets turned her would-be rapers into a meaty blood soaked mush that blanketed her.
Shadow Song stayed very still, not feeling like she could move very easily and being afraid that the gunfire might not be from friendlies.
But a familiar fiery mane peered down into her eyes and nudged one of the corpses off of her.
“SeeSee you don't look so good.” Lead Star grunted and started trying to lift Shadow Song. “Argh! Your too heavy! Better wait for Boy to get here.”
Lead Star cradled one of her out stretched wings over Shadow Song and surveyed the area, the blunt nose of the chaingun that was now on Star's battle saddle sweeped the area.
Shadow Song passed out, her last sensations being her friends shaking her. Or maybe they were lifting her. It was hard to tell.
- - - -
Darkness.
Total and all-encompassing. It was as empty as it was full of itself.
Most folk, especially pony-folk, did not realize that darkness had different sort of 'feels'. This one was cold and intrusive.
“Momma?” a timid, younger version of Shadow Song cried out for the umpteenth time, “Dad?” there was no reply.
And yet the shadows all around her felt now like she was in a room full of beings. Eyes all looking down on her.
But the eyes all belonged to the same being behind them. The emptiness.
It's mood cycled between cold indifference and blind hatred. She was a failure. Not good enough to match her parent's expectations. Not good enough especially to match her own.
And all of them knew it. They didn't say it, but she knew that they knew. The plain fact was that she was a failure. And statistically, that was the only thing she could be.
Shadow Song was always too stupid to match her peers. Too slow. Her body was too big and clumsy and unskilled to make up for it in physical tasks. She was too ugly to get by on looks. She was depressingly average and average meant useless.
Expendable.
A failure.
Once when she was a filly, she was staying with some others her own age in a Stable cut out of the side of one of the SanFranNeigho Range peaks. She made her first friends that year.
Oh they showed no interest in her at first, other than a source to pick on. But when the power went out to the entire Stable, she was able to keep the others calm.
They learned how to play games in the darkness with only sound and touch. Some how eventually being able to just sense that not only when somepony was in the room with them, but whom.
That was the day she got her Cutie Mark. Playing tag, singing songs, and telling stories in the darkness of Stable 235.
But here, in this darkness there was nopony to sing to. None to cheer up. Just cold reality to face.
And it hurt. It hurt worse than that time she fell while trying to learn to fly and broke one of her ankles. The only thing to blame for her pain was her inadequacies.
Which were her fault to begin with. We all get at least a chance at some point and she knew she'd fucked that chance up.
That left two choices. Accept the pain and the guilt and doggedly just keep going or end it.
And right now Shadow Song just didn't care.
- - - -
Shadow Song woke with tears blurring her vision. She had no memory of her dream but some how waking to a dark room felt extra disturbing.
Taking a deep breath as she partially sat up in what clearly felt like a bed, Shadow Song gently reached out a forehoof and felt around. Actually at first she tried to use both forehooves but a dull stinging pain on that side told her not to.
Between feeling around and her own ears, she was able to learn that she was in a room. Probably a bedroom or clinic. She figured this because she accidentally knocked a glass and water pitcher over. The second thing was that she heard snoring she thought she recognized.
Shadow Song turned her head towards the source of said snoring. Some where in the room a clock chimed gently and announced the time as being noon. It was noon and yet her vision was pitch black.
A kind of unintelligible mournful sob briefly escaped her lips but she bit back the feeling of utter hopelessness and took another deep breath. So that was the conclusion. She was awake and she was totally blind.
“Leady?” Shadow Song called out softly. She was still trying to keep all panic at bay but her voice shook a little as she called out again, “Leady?” this time sounding with a tone more like “Please, are you there?”
The familiar snoring stopped and she could hear somepony struggling to get up some where in the room.
Then Shadow Song heard a noise she never expected. Lead Star was stifling a snicker at her as she felt a cloth-covered hoof dab at her chin and face.
“See-See, I don't know what to do with you.” her friend gave a short forced sigh.
“I can't see.” Shadow Song stated, feeling she needed to state the complete obvious in order to get Lead Star's attention. She wasn't always the most observant of mares.
“That's because you still have a sleeping mask on. I mean, unless drool causes you to turn blind.” the cloth dabbed a few more times at Shadow Song and then began to lift a veil from Shadow Song's vision.
Suddenly everything became a white blinding flash as Shadow Song clenched her eyes shut and then opened them slowly. Nope, still far too bright. With each blink she was able to keep them open a little longer until finally she kept them opening and forced the world to begin coming into focus.
Lead Star looked like a wreck. Like she had partied all day and all night for a week but also malnourished. Her fiery mane resembled a pile of garbage that was on fire. Shadow Song thought she might have said so out loud because her friend flipped a hoof at her and told her to go spin on it.
“Don't wanna.” Shadow Song playfully pouted at Lead Star and shifted, testing to see if she thought she would be able to get out of bed. New pain informed her something that was suddenly very important as her expression changed.
“See-See, what's wrong?” Lead Star suddenly looked alarmed.
“Leady, I neeed to peeeeeeee!!!” Shadow Song clutched her abdomen near where she presumed her bladder was. Didn't matter, it hurt like a mother bucker!
“Argh!” Lead Star picked up a pillow and made like she was going to throw it at Shadow Song and stopped as her eyes glanced past stitches and dressing in Shadow Song's side.
Lead Star quickly glanced another direction, not wanting to be caught staring at her friend's wounds, “I'll call the nurse. Don't you move!” she gently pushed Shadow Song back towards the direction of bed.
With Lead Star's head turned, it was Shadow Song's turn to do the awkward stare and look away game. A small part of Lead Star's mane was gone, having been shaved. In that tiny bald area were stitches of her own.
“Leady..?” Shadow Song began to ask immediately but her friend acted like she didn't hear her and was on the phone to the nurse.
It took little more than a minute for the nurse to show up. Lead Star dutifully dodged Shadow Song's attempt to ask about her head and rearranged the room so that the nurse would be able to do her job (before the room had the appearance of half of an apartment which apparently was how it was being used by her friend while she waited on her recovery).
An older purple stallion in a male nurse's uniform suddenly rushed in and turned to both of them after setting aside a wheeled cart of some kind, “What seems to be the problem?”
“See See needs to pee, apparently.” Lead Star gave a little shrug and the nurse turned to look at Shadow Song.
“So..if you could maybe just help me to the bathroom, I can take care of myself.” Over the nurse's shoulder, Shadow could see Lead Star snickering. At first she thought her friend was laughing at her but she pointed towards the stallion's rump.
The nurse raised an eyebrow, “I'm afraid not. You are not allowed to leave this bed for any reason yet. If you moved, your newly forming ribs could become malformed and are even brittle enough to break off again. A part of his cream colored mane flopped over part of his eye as he spoke and he scrunched up his nose and blew the offending part of mane back out of the way.
“Private Star, if you will help me roll your friend on to her side..” the nurse stated and turned away from Shadow Song as she felt her hind feet being pony-handled. Hooves on her back pushed as the nurse grunted and pulled as Shadow Song was suddenly flopped on to her side faster than her addled mind could keep up.
Her mind, was however distracted by the full view of the nurse's rump which featured what was obviously a bedpan. She could feel her cheeks turning a little red as the nurse turned back to her.
“Oh it's about to get a lot more embarrassing. Private Star, please leave the room.” the nurse almost commanded.
“Ya, see ya later See See.” Lead Star gave a little wave, her wings looking a little forlorn as she trotted out the door and then closed it quietly with an out stretched wing.
“So, Corporal Song, this is how a catheterization works..” the nurse intoned.
“Corporal? But I'm only a PFC..” stated Shadow Song.
“Never mind that.” the nurse stated, annoyed.
“Will it hurt?” asked Shadow Song.
“Yes. So let's get this over with.” some how Shadow Song wasn't sure what to think of the bedside mannerisms of a bedpan Cutie Mark'ed nurse.
- - - -
Else where in Stable 235, a meeting was being held by a hand full of officers and the doctor over looking Shadow Song's recovery.
“Look, we just don't have enough information.” intoned Staff Sergeant Sandy Might. She was a medium sized sandy colored mare with a blond mane and tail. Right now all that was visible was her face and mane since she wore full Enclave power armor. The rest assembled wore uniforms.
“I think I've heard enough information. This Project has been an utter failure and it has cost us yet another perfectly good soldier learning that fact. Possibly two!” Master Sergeant Onyx Belle gestured angrily as he spoke. He was a charcoal gray stallion with a buzz cut styled white mane and a mysterious Cutie Mark of a black bell. He wore a standard drab green military uniform.
“Both of my patients are recovering just fine and I do not see any reason why Shadow Song can not return to active duty within two to three months.” Doctor Lovely Cloud said in an exasperated tone. He wore a simple white lab coat.
The Doctor was the most unusual looking of the group. Having been in a magically fueled fire which cost him his fur, the Doctor kept himself wrapped in bandages in a daily attempt to protect his naked skin from germs.
The same cruel fire that took all of his hair also had cost him his wings whose stubs were bundled in elastic bandage and tucked under the coat. Some how all of the bandages made his green eyes stick out as the feature most ponies remembered the most.
“Herr Doctor, with all due respect, it is not their bodies that concern me. One of them seemingly at random goes into sleeping spells which hit with out warning and send her into deep comas.” Onyx Belle gestured at Doctor Cloud to indicate he was not finished.
“But the other one worries me even more. Before the incident with the Raiders even occurred, we have evidence that she simply went wild at the mission site. That she talked to herself, shot equipment and ran for hours for what seems to be for no reason.” Onyx made one more gesture to indicate he was going to finish.
“And after she quit all of that and did complete her objective, what occurs? Those savages were waiting to ambush her. We are not even clear what occurred until Private Star arrived and killed them all.” Onyx then took a drink of water, glancing around the room.
“So what are you saying? That we should retire her?” Sergeant Might asked sarcastically, “Retire our best combat hacker?”
“That's right, she is a hacker. Not a proper combat soldier! She had no business going in alone!” Onyx Belle glared at Sandy Might.
A cough from across the conference table ended their staring match. Colonel Heavy “The Risky” Saddle looked like a civilian or more like a pony that belonged on some great safari. Underneath his safari helmet (or pith helmet) glared a single red eye the color of a laser. The other eye was ruined by a huge gash that took up half of his face and was covered by an eyepatch.
Colonel Saddle was almost a cute pastel purple with a pale pink mane and tail. Most of his tail was shaved except the end of it in a tail style that was strangely Zebra in origin. He was a very eccentric stallion, especially for the normally traditional Enclave.
“We were given a time table for this mission. PFC Song was merely carrying out her orders while trying to maintain losses on her team to a minimum.” he coughed a few more times and then moistened his throat with a glass of water of his own.
“Sir, why was this given so much importance?” asked Sandy while Onyx glared at her.
“We received orders from Neighvarro High Command, Sergeant. Unless we want them breathing down our necks, we better do anything they say with the utmost haste!” Colonel Saddle glanced around the room to see looks ranging from fear to approval.
The room was silent for awhile after the mentioning of the High Command.
“Ahem. Ponies, I believe now is not the time to squander any resource. As it stands, we can no longer keep Private Star under military service. We should offer her limited retirement and continued service as a civilian contractor.” The Colonel paused to sip his drink.
“As for PFC Song, I have arranged for her to be moved up to the rank of Corporal. She will be stationed as a liaison between us and the Sovereignty of Aligned Clans in their capital of Cisco City. If Star wishes to continue servicing the military, she will accompany Song. Are there any questions?” Majority of the ponies in the room looked dubious but did not question the Colonel's decision.
“Then this meeting is adjourned!” and with that each pony began to file out of the room single file. The last was Doctor Cloud which Colonel Saddle stopped, “Doctor, I would like a word with you in private.”
“Certainly, Sir.” Doctor Cloud stated and stopped preparing his briefcase to leave.
“Doctor.. do you think there is any chance your patient's mental states will become a liability in the field?” asked Colonel Saddle.
“It is hard to say.. I do not think Star's issues are mental but we know very little about how the pony mind works in regard to sleep and dreams. It seems it was a field of study that had little importance during the Great War.” Doctor Cloud gave a little sigh, indicating his feelings towards the matter.
“What about Shadow Song?” asked Colonel Saddle.
“She is a different matter altogether. Her body will heal fine given enough rest. Both of my patients possess a resilient amount of willpower. But the mind is a tricky subject. As long as she believes what she is doing is important, she will remain focused. Any more I can not say.” Doctor Cloud tapped a hoof on his bandaged chin thoughtfully.
“Thank you for being candid, Doctor. War is coming. I can feel it in my old bones. We will need everypony we can get.” Colonel Saddle stated and leaned back in his chair and lit an old bent cigarette, using his hoof to spark a light.
As Doctor Cloud filed out of the room and headed down the hall, Colonel Saddle stared into the smoke as he exhaled slowly and spoke to himself, “Indeed. War is coming. And I don't think Pegasus-kind will be ready for this one.” Doctor Cloud could feel a shudder creeping down his spine and doubled his hurry to his office.
- - - -
“NO!” Shadow Song screamed and flailed at her assailants. Some how they seemed to be every where. Almost like things made of the shadows that surrounded her.
They held her down and beat her. Some of them had long knife-like claws instead of hooves and cut into her flesh slowly. All of them laughed and talked about what a pathetic failure she was.
Every time she almost got free, they suddenly pulled her right back into place to show that they could at any time. Then one of the shadow things began to take a more recognizable pony-like form. He was a big male unicorn and he began to force himself on top of her.
Shadow Song screamed and woke up.
Only there was no sound, because she was not really awake yet. She could still feel the shadow things some where distant as consciousness began to flood its way back into her mind.
Light. She was awake again. Awake and with tears stinging her eyes again. This time Lead Star lay draped across part of her hindlegs, her head resting against Shadow Song's belly on the not-operated-on side.
Shadow Song licked a hoof and tried to fix the rat's nest that was her friend's mane which caused Lead Star to stir a little.
“Wha?” Lead Star yawned and began to get up slowly.
“Get off me. You'll make the brass think I'm some fillyfooler like you!” Shadow Song teased and gave Lead Star a poke.
“Suuurrreee. I've seen you look at pictures of girls when you think nopony's around.” Lead Star giggled.
“I do not. I look at art! And I read really dramatic stories! I mean, I don't care if some of them are about ponies who are gay. Their really emotional!” Lead Star gave a raspberry in response.
“Besides all you read are fart jokes and toilet humor!” that was enough to make Lead Star grab a pillow and smack her gently in the face with it.
“Fine, here's what I've learned from my fart books!” Lead Star suddenly yanked up the blanket and made a big wet raspberry on Shadow Song's exposed belly.
“Gah, stop that! Your acting like a damned foal!” Shadow Song half giggled and shoved at her friend.
An embarrassed cough at the door brought both of their attentions away from one another.
“Private Star, Colonel Saddle would like to see you in his office. PFC Song, I have a letter for you from Sergeant Might. You are to open it ASAP. If you have any questions, please call me and I will confer with one of the officers.” It was Bedpan again. At least he didn't have his damn cart with him this time.
Shadow Song and Lead Star exchanged worried glances and then Lead Star left immediately while Shadow Song slowly struggled to open the letter. It read:
PFC Shadow Song,
I am glad to hear of your swift recovery..
yadda yadda yadda
yadda yadda.. you are hear by raised to the rank of Corporal.
Your new assignment will be as Acting Liaison in Cisco City in which you will organize various local assets and attempt to maximize our contact with the locals.
Good luck.
-Staff Sergeant Sandy Might
“May our Grand Enclave never lose a feather.”
Shadow Song stared at the letter in shock and some confusion. It seemed to both be a promotion and a demotion. It was a big jump in rank. But “working with the locals” usually meant a desk job and time wasted attempting to kiss the ass of various local tribal leader types. Plus she was not very good at dealing with other ponies. All of her skills were in either soldiering or technology.
Finally Shadow Song balled up the letter and attempted to make a basket. It missed of course. Maybe the brass wanted her to use her wonderful paper throwing skills to impress the locals, she thought sarcastically.
Worriedly Shadow Song glanced in the direction of the door. She had felt like a prisoner in this bed for so long. And now not only would she have to suddenly leave the mountain range she had called home all her life, but be in charge of ponies that she had never met before.
She hoped Leady was faring better..
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