> Fallout Equestria: WNC - Fallen Star DLC
>  by Alamut
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Heavens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria there was a time of prosperity and progress, fuelled by a never ending war. The virtues that have shaped the realm for countless generations were cast aside, forgotten by minds corrupted by greed and anger. And then came an end...   
Silence fell across the planet as the lands were consumed by balefire. The only salvation for the survivors found in vast, underground Stables. When the great blast doors finally opened their inhabitants found a different world. A world deprived of moon and sun, covered in an eternal cloud cover.
The pegasi, the lords of the skies have sealed them off from the surface and its horrors, forgetting the virtue of the greatest of them all. Hooves were raised and curses thrown but the ponies of Equestria received no response. Darkness fell across the Wasteland of Equestria...        


oooOooo


The pink mare landed on top of a hill that rose above the wide, desolated area. She brushed away a few streaks of red mane that had fallen on her face and looked into the distance. Around thirty or forty kilometres to the north east she could spot a white, needle-like tower. The titanic structure rose all the way up to the heavens, piercing and disappearing into the dark cloud cover.

Her mother told her about it in her stories. It was used for weather control as part of the S.S.P. and somewhere between it and the point where she stood was Ravenclaw. Her green eyes lingered on the lead coloured clouds. Somewhere up there was the place her parents once called home, the Enclave they’d left to help the surface.

The pegasi didn’t know how it was down here. They believed the Wasteland was an irradiated place, full of mutants and monsters. A hell deluded of life, in which ponies were unable to survive. She knew from her mother that the Enclave had laws forbidding contact with the surface, created to protect their citizens, and that she and her father had broken them. It made them outcasts, who could never return. 

There was a confident look on her face, eyes sparkling with determination. Ruby was going to fly up there and plead for her parents. She would tell them about the life under the cloud cover, and the ponies that lived here. That they were good, always trying to do better and they needed help. The young mare was sure they would hear her out. The Enclave would exonerate her parents and come down to help. They had to! 

Although her mother always praised their society, and the virtues of loyalty and duty it was build upon, she never hid from her daughter that the pegasi also had faults. Vices based on 200 years of history and living in isolation for so long. But in their hearts they were good ponies. Ponies that only needed somepony to show them the right way. Ruby was certain that she was this somepony. In her youthful enthusiasm, the idealistic mare believed, that she would change the Enclave and the wastes.

A loud rumbling in her stomach gave a pause to her thoughts. The mare was hungry and tired. It took her the past 5 hours of constant flight to get here and she had to do it at night. She hadn’t wanted to attract the attention of anypony at the Collective. Especially the one of her parents, her friend Brutus or his grandmare Crackshot. The young flier could use a little break for sure... 

Ruby sat down on her haunches, rummaging in her small saddle bag. She pulled out a pack of fancy buck cakes and a bottle of purified water. Taking a sip from the bottle the mare decided, that she would start the ascend in an hour or so. The pegasus unwrapped the paper and took a bite from one of the cakes. She smiled in delight. Cherry!

Once again her eyes wondered towards the cloud cover. Her mother explained it to her once, saying that it was maintained by the S. P. P. and served as a protection from the radioactive fallout. The mare sighed. What fallout? Everything was more or less irradiated, but nowhere near to the dangerous levels from two centuries back. Ok, there were places where you risked death or instant ghoulification, but they were few.

Ruby took another sip from her bottle and asked herself how Ravenclaw would be? Her father wasn’t too keen to tell stories about the Enclave but her mother always described it as a better place, worth to strive for. She said that it was the antithesis of the Wasteland. Peaceful and secure. Free of slavery, raiders and other nightmares of the surface. A nation with a proper health and education system, hospitals and schools, caring for the needs of its citizens. Everything that Equestria once was. What it should be! An utopia over the clouds, and the mare would soon get to know it.


oooOooo


The mare fought against the wind current. She was flying blindly, eyes closed to protect them from the fine mist. Ruby always thought of clouds as fluffy and warm, but the wet darkness surrounding her seemed more like swimming in a cold river than flying! She’d almost squealed the moment she dove into them and the cold droplets of water covered her muzzle and body. Now her muscles were screaming in pain. Her wings were going numb, too exhausted from the additional weight, as her fur and feathers became heavier, pulling her down, soaked in the water gathered in the clouds. The flight seemed to go on for days. How long would it go on? 

And then suddenly it was bright and she could feel a gentle breeze passing over her wet body, sending shivers down her spine. But at the same time she felt warm beaming down on her coat, drying her off in mid flight. The mare stopped. Hovering in the air, she slowly dared to open her eyes a little bit, but squinted them back together as brightness assaulted them. She rose a leg to her brow and opened her eyelids once again. Still half blinded by the brilliant light Ruby gasped. 
The sky above her was the colour of a clear blue, more beautiful than she ever imagined. She eyed the boundless space wondering just how far did it stretch? Ruby had always thought of the sky as her limit, the dark cloud curtain being the border of her world, but now... How high could she fly in this sky, that didn’t seem to even have an end? 

Beneath her stretched an endless mass of white. The clouds were passing slowly, forming and changing into fantastic landscapes, known only in dreams. She slowly descended, with legs bent under her. Hovering barely a meter above the white carpet she stretched out with a hoof and restricted it immediately after touching the now hard surface. With wide opened eyes the mare tapped it warily a few more times, before setting down. She was standing! Standing on clouds! The pegasus grinned happily, the euphoria was like nothing she had ever experienced. Even getting her cutie mark hasn’t felt this good. 

“Woohoo!” Ruby reared on her hind legs and started pouncing around with joy. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!”  
She leapt into the air and started doing barrel rolls, the fatigue from the ascend completely forgotten. A beam of light to the eyes blinded her for a moment and she looked up for its source. Even with a hoof hold high for protection, she could barely grasp the bright outline of the light source high above in the middle of the sky. Was that...

A sudden realization struck the thoughts of the young mare. The sun. It was Celestia’s brilliant sun! She leapt down on the clouds. Wings wide outstretched, Ruby closed her eyes and lifted her face, bathing in the warm light. The mare smiled and sighed with relief. She had made it, managed to fly all the way up, through the dark veil covering the world below.   It was so... peaceful. Nothing like the sadness and disheartening dark of the Wasteland. The young pegasus felt happy. She felt at home.


oooOooo


“Wheee!” Ruby couldn’t hold back a giggle as she slid down the cloudy slope on her belly. She was playing around like a little, hyperactive foal. The young daredevil was flying tailspins and other manoeuvres or was simply running up and down the pall hills – the endless white landscape her own private playground. She hopped over smaller clouds and busted into the bigger ones, coming out on the other side, her pink coat covered in fine dew. For mere moments she was sparkling like a brilliant star, before the sunlight and air rush dried her of once again.

Ruby landed on a large cloud formation, obscuring her sight until now. Finally coming to a halt and breathing heavily from the exhaustion, the mare looked up from her hooves. Her eyes went wide and she fell back on her haunches, mouth agape in a big O. In the distance, maybe five or ten kilometres from the mountain she was sitting on, behind a plane filled with similar hills and giant pillars made of clouds, she could see a white city. 

Based upon giant, island like clouds, great buildings, many stories high, were rising into the sky, their forms impossible for any architecture using different materials. Long colonnades run along the edges of each isle, mighty and yet filigree bridges spanning them together. And then Ruby saw them. A silent “whoa” has left her muzzle as she looked at the bright, multicoloured arches and rivers pouring down from some of the clouds on the ones below them, forming wonderful cascades. The mare’s eyes sparkled in glee. Rainbows, just like the ones in her mother’s stories. But way prettier, with colours more vibrant than she could ever imagine, and real. Real rainbows!

A movement to the far left caught her attention. Something was moving under the white surface, whirling up the clouds. The pink pegasus could recognize a shadow slowly floating up from the depths of the cloud cover. And it was big, really big. As she watched, the shadow surfaced, taking the form of an enormous black platform, flanked on both sides by dark storm clouds, with little black dots, apparently pegasi, flying around it. Another one followed in its wake, merely two hundred meter to its left. And then a third one! 

Ruby watched them amazed. She’d read about them in old history books! They were cloudships. No, wrong – warships. Arcanotechnological wonders that secured the pegasi air superiority during the Great War. Those were raptors, dragon hunters, designed to fight the mighty lizards, that have once fought on the side of the zebras. There were large letters, painted across their black hulls. The pink flier squinted her eyes. Carnifex was the name of the battle platform closest to her but she was unable to read the ones of the other two.

The mare looked at the cloudship with awe. Its front was an open hangar, which looked like the wide mouth of some marine predator, brimmed with anti aerial guns. The Carnifexes undersides showed numerous batteries of magical energy cannons. Each of them pulsed with rainbow coloured energies, seemingly eager to let their destructive power loose upon the world. The black thunderclouds that were keeping the craft aloft were illuminated from within by the powerful electric discharges, bellowing silently. At the rear end of its dark hull a few dozen propellers powering the battleship.     

The ships massive magical energy cannons roared to life, obliterating a white pillar two kilometres to her right. The mare folded her ears terrified by this sudden demonstration of power. What was going on? Why were they shooting? Was something...

“What the fuck are you doing here kid?!” Shouted a voice from behind.

Ruby spun around and saw five young pegasi hovering behind her. Each of them was wearing some sort of black barding, which left their legs and face bare, with a purple emblem of clouds and wings on their chests and a strange battle saddle like contraption on their backs, connected with their flight goggles. The one that had shouted at her was a yellow coated mare with a fierily red mane and a winged flame as her cutie mark, a golden pegasus badge pinned to her breast. The red eyes behind her goggles showed a mixture of terror and anger.

“I asked what the fuck you are doing here!?” She repeated furiously.

“I-I...” The pink mare stammered in shock.

“Are you insane? Don’t you know that...”

“Hellfire! The Carnifex!” Shouted the mare with a dust blue coloured coat and a white mane with blue streaks, next to her. She had a similar badge like the first one, but hers was silver.

Every pegasus looked towards the raptor's black form. Its weapon batteries were slowly turning towards the cloud that Ruby was sitting upon. One single thought connected the young fliers like a hive mind.

OH FUCK...

“Sweet Celsetias burning tongue lick my horny clit...“Hellfire mumbled under her breath. She quickly shook her head and yelled. ”Wing! Fall back! Milky Way!” She turned to the mare on her right.” Help me with this kid!”

The three other pegasi took off towards the city while the two mares dived down towards Ruby, who was still sitting like petrified, eying the raptor's guns in shock. They grabbed the younger flier under her fore legs and jutted into the air, barely seconds before a bright beam of magical energy obliterated the great cloud. 

After a few minutes they sat down on a small cloud high above the white plane. The three raptors continued their onslaught far below them. Hellfire grabbed the shoulders of the pink pegasus and started to shake her.

“Are you dumb or something you fucking brat?! Do you even know how dangerous that was?! You could have been split into atoms by that fucking cannon! Do you want to die?! If I were your mother I would spank your retarded flank so long and hard that...”

SMACK!

“Eep!” The golden flier made a cute scream and turned towards her team mate, who had just slapped her flank. “What the fuck was that for Milky?!”

“Look.” The blue mare glared angry, nodding at something behind her.

Hellfire looked towards Ruby and blinked stupefied. The younger mare had tears streaming from her eyes and sobbed silently. She sat back on her haunches and stuttered. “Hey Kid... Look I’m...”

“Cut it Hellfire.” The other mare shoved her to the side and laid a wing around the pink pegasus. She had a veil of stars as a cutie mark. ”Shhh, it’s ok now.“ She cooed into her ear. ”Don’t mind the big wild dummy. She’s the one deserving a spanking for making a cute little filly like you cry. And a spanking she will get...“ She looked up making the other mare blush wildly, her cheeks almost matching her fierily mane. “I’m Milky Way and that’s Wildfire. What’s your name?”

“R-ruby...” The younger mare hiccoughed.

“Hello Ruby, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You know that the thing that you’ve done was very dangerous, don’t you?” She asked in a calm voice.

The pink pegasus nodded.

“Everypony in Ravenclaw knew about the manoeuvres. Why did you fly on the firing range?“ She lifted the head of the younger pegasus, her blue eyes meeting with teary, green orbs. ”If you wanted to see the raptors then there are enough good watching spots in the city.” 

“I didn’t want to watch them...” Ruby wiped the tears away with her leg. ”I’m not from Ravenclaw.”

“Fucking tourists...” Hellfire muttered under her breath.

“Shush you!” Milky Way glared towards her friend and then returned her attention to the younger pegasus. “Oh, were you visiting your family then? Your coltfriend maybe?“ She poked at her shoulder and the pink flier giggled shaking her head, the tears mostly forgotten. Even the other mare smirked. “So where are you from? Neighvaro? Thunderhead? Sky-Top Outpost? “The blue mare tilted her head smiling.”

Ruby shook her head once again. “No, I’m not from the Enclave.”

“What does it mean not from the Enclave? We are all part of the Enclave!” Said Hellfire throwing her hooves in the air.

“I’m from the surface. From under the cloud curtain.”

Milky Way nodded. “That explains everything if you’re... WHAT?!”


oooOooo


“How did you get your cutie mark? Did you have to kill some giant mutated super bug?” Asked the purple coated stallion, with a missile for a cutie mark.

“Buzzsaw! Stop asking the filly such stupid questions.” Milky Way waved a hoof at him.

“I am not a filly!” Ruby eyed the mare beside her with an irritated look. “I’m almost sixteen.”

“That still makes you four years younger than us, so you are a little filly for sure.” Hellfire laughed while tousling her mane with a hoof.

“Hey!” The pink pegasus shouted as the whole squad begun to laugh.

They were sitting on the couches and pillows in one of the common rooms of the military academy. The whole campus was located on the outskirts of Ravenclaw and had, beside the barracks and usual training facilities, also its own control tower and runway. After coming back with Ruby and meeting up with their squad Milky Way and Hellfire were ordered to keep an eye on her until further notice. 

“But seriously, what’s your cutie mark and special talent?” Asked a black coated mare with a lilac mane, leaning against a green coloured stallion. Her name was Wind Dancer and she had the picture of multicoloured fireworks on her flanks.

“It’s a scarab beetle!” Said the pink flier proudly. “I love to read about history, especially mythology and ancient civilizations and my cutie mark proves it.”

“Pfff, egghead.” Said Hellfire and got smacked in the back of her head by one of Milky Way’s wings.

“Pretty impressive.” Nodded the green pegasus, Sonic. He was Dancer's mate and had a processor as a cutie mark. “Is that how you knew where to find Ravenclaw? From old maps?”

Ruby shook her head. “No, my parents told me about its location. They used to live here.”

A heavy silence fell across the room. The older pegasi gave each other concerned looks. The pink mare eyed them with worried eyes. Had she said something wrong? Were they angry with her?

“Who are your parents Ruby?” Asked Milky Way breaking the tension.

“My father used to be a doctor in Ravenclaw. His name’s Nova Star and my mother...”

“Dawn Star.” Sonic cut in, rising to his legs, his sudden motion knocking Wind Dancer over. “Your mother’s name is Dawn Star?”

The younger mare blinked surprised. “Yes, how did you...”

“Hellfire! She’s a fucking spy!” The stallion yelled holding a hoof towards Ruby. “Her parents killed my aunt and my two cousins!”

The pink flier eyed him in shock. “What? I don’t...”

“Sonic, please calm down!”  Wind Dancer touched her coltfriend's shoulder with a hoof.

“Calm down?” He shoved her away. ”They bombed Clean Winds eighteen years ago!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Milky Way’s voice rose up. “You’re scaring her!”

Everypony looked towards Ruby, who was shivering in the blue mares embrace. She eyed the green stallion with angry eyes. “Is she responsible for what happened?”

“No but her parents!” Sonic yelled once again.

“She’s fifteen! That happened before she was even born!”

“N-no... Mom and dad would never do such a thing! They’re good ponies!”

“They fled the Enclave!”

“They wanted to help the surface!” The pink pegasus shook her head wildly.

“They’re murderers!”

“You don’t even have any evidence! The bombing was never cleared, those are just rumours.” Milky Way shouted back at him.

“Shut the fuck up, you don’t know anything!” The stallion took a step towards the mare.

“ALL YOU COCK SUCKING, CLIT LICKING WINGBONER CLOPPING FUCKTARDS SHUT THE FUCK UP NOW!” Hellfire reared on her hind legs and yelled as loud as she could. The room fell silent, everypony looking at the yellow mare in shock. ”Celestia and Luna fuck me with their horns! I’m the sun fucked wing commander and there will be order! Do you cunts understand that?!”

The pegasi eyed themselves uncertain how to react.

“You!” The mare pointed a hoof towards Ruby, who shrunk together and cuddled herself into Milky’s side. “Do you know anything about your parents being terrorists?! “

The pink mare shook her head wildly, terrified by her frenzied stare. 

“And you!” Hellfire turned towards Sonic. “Are you so retarded as to let out your steam on an innocent filly that has shit to do with the whole story?”

The stallion met her glare for a few seconds and then looked away with a sigh. “No ma’am.”

“Good.” The mare nodded approvingly. “And now apologize.”

The green pegasus eyed Ruby with a sheepish look and brushed a hoof trough his mane. “Sorry kid. I guess I’ve overreacted. No hard feelings?”

The pink flier smiled weakly and shook her head. “N-no hard feelings.”

“Woohoo! Way to go! The title of team mom goes from Milky to Hellfire!”

Four pegasi face hoofed. “Shut your trap Buzzsaw.”   

Ruby watched them all for a moment and then bursted into laughter. The five squad mates looked at each other, some cracking a smile. First smirking, then chuckling, giggling and snorting, one after another joined the outburst. Buzzsaw fell to his back, rolling on the ground and Sonic gave Wild Dancer a kiss as an excuse for shoving her away earlier. 

“Oh filly...” Hellfire wiped away a tear. “My wing is a bunch of idjits.”

“What does that make you then?” Ruby chuckled trying to get some breath.

“The most wonderful idiot I know.“ Milky Way peeked her fillyfriends cheek, making her blush.

Ruby sat up. “What’s a wing commander by the way?”

“See this badge kiddo?” Thankful for the change of topic, Hellfire pointed towards the golden pegasus on her chest. “It means I’m the best cadet of my class. Fastest flier, best shot and a born leader!” The last exclamation made the whole team roll their eyes.

“So that makes Milky second best?” The pink pegasus tilted her head.         

The mare with the silver badge nodded. “Yes, I’m the vice wing commander, and it also means that our whole squad is the best in the entire academy.”

The younger mare wanted to ask another question but was interrupted by the opening door. Two insect like beings came into the room, making the pink mare shrink together. Quadruped, they had antennas rising from the back of their heads and big, scorpion like tales. There were... magical energy guns strapped to their backs? Ruby tilted her head. Were those black carapaced things pegasi? Yes! Those were power armors! They were a little bit different than those in her history books, but they were power armors for sure. Another arcanotechnological wonder from the Great War. They bore the sign of a white lightning in the middle of their chest plates.

“We have come for the suspect.” Said the one on the right, the speaker in his helmet distorting his voice in a mechanical way. 

“What do you mean by suspect? The filly hasn’t done anything wrong.” Milky Way eyed them with a somber glare.

“Enclave law says it is forbidden to penetrate the cloud cover that protects our society from the radiation left after the Great War. No matter in which direction.“ Answered the other voice, this one seemed also masculine.

“Ok, never mind the semantics.” Hellfire waved with a hoof and looked towards Ruby. “You’ll have to go with them now, understood kiddo?”

The pink mare nodded, eyeing the two soldiers warily. 

“Good.” The older pegasus gave a nodd and turned towards the black figures. “Where do I have to sign?”

The two pegasi in power armor looked at each other. “Sign?”

“If she’s a suspect, and through this making her my prisoner, according to article twenty three of the fifth Thunderhead Proclamation I’m supposed to sign up the forms, that I’ve handed her over to you guys and get a copy.” The mare recited the rule with a blank expression, reaching out with a hoof towards them. “So?”

One of the stallions sighed while reaching into his saddle bag and gave her a pile of papers. 

Hellfire looked through them, signed them and gave the two pegasi an angry glare. “You’re also supposed to sign this up.” 

“For fucks sake...” Muttered the stallion to the right, while writing his name.

The mare looked at the forms again. “Sunshine Smiles and Frolicsome Meadowlark? What kind of names are those supposed to be?”

“OUR NAMES.” Said the other one, while leaning towards her in a menacing way, his mechanic voice at edge and the scorpion tail slightly risen. “Will you hand the suspect over, or do we have to talk with your supervisor?”

Hellfire took a step back and looked towards Ruby and the rest of her squad. The young fliers were glaring at the figures clad in the black carapaces but the pink pegasus stood up, smiling at her nervously. She didn’t want her new friends to get into trouble. “Don’t you worry Hellfire, I’m going to be ok.”

Milky Way gave her a hug. “Be careful, you hear me?”

“Sure thing.” The younger mare nodded and trotted towards the two black figures. “We will see each other later.”

“Sure thing kiddo.” Hellfire tousled her mane and gave her a shove with a wing. 

After Ruby has left the room Milky Way walked beside her mate. “Those white lightning bolts on their armor...” She said softly. ”They were from the Blitzwing, weren’t they?”

“Yeah...” The yellow flier answered with a pensive voice. Her ears perked up as her fillyfriend leaned onto her side.

“I hope she will be ok...” Whispered the blue pegasus.

> Broken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


We must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood and nobody else.



oooOooo


The room she was sitting in was making her nervous. Plain gray walls with a single door surrounded the big table she was sitting at. Two chairs, a clock over the entrance and a few lamps on the ceiling concluded the decor. Ruby wriggled on her haunches. No matter how she sat, the chair was simply uncomfortable. The young mare looked to the door, as she did countless times in the past hour or so. She had the weird feeling that the clock was going wrong. It seemed that it sometimes skipped whole minutes while ticking backwards at other times, but the pegasus was unable to actually catch this kind of alterations. She sighed – waiting was boring.

The two stallions that picked her up at the moment weren’t of the talkative kind, silencing her every time she tried to start a conversation. The flight through Ravenclaw was nevertheless breathtaking. Ruby got a pretty good look of some of the tall buildings, but a big stadium was the thing that had caught her main interest. It rose from a cloud on the opposite site of the city than the military academy where Hellfire and Milky had brought her earlier. Like many of the pegasi buildings it seemed an impossible feat of architecture, its arches and the winged statues along the edges way too big and yet filigree to support themselves.

She was brought to a big building standing in the middle of the cloud city. Its big doors were flanked by gigantic columns, many stories high, and the tympanum that was supported by them bore the symbol of a single lightning bolt. Under it were three words written in strange letters: 


 Δικαστής. Πίστη. Φόρος. 


The mare recognised the alphabet from a book about the ancient Pegasopolis, from the time before Equestrias unification. She couldn’t be sure, but the writing apparently meant something along Justice. Loyalty. Duty. On each side of the entrance stood a pegasus in a similar power armour as her escorts, but theirs was bulkier and they had some weird Gatling guns on their battle saddles. After entering the edifice she was brought underground into this room and told to wait.

A silent “click” came from the direction of the door, making the mares ears perk up. It opened silently and a pony entered the room.

It was a pegasus stallion with a healthy, cobalt coloured coat and black mane and tail. Ruby’s eyes darted towards his flanks and she saw five lines of vibrant red, strongly contrasting with the dark blue colour of his body. The mare frowned slightly, she couldn’t grasp the cutie marks meaning. He wore a black uniform that matched his mane, with a white shirt and a black tie underneath it. At each side of his collar was a white lightning bolt, identical with the ones on the power armours of the pegasi earlier. But the most characteristic part of him were his eyes. From behind a pair of reading glasses two golden orbs were looking at Ruby without a trace of emotion. The mare watched him with surprise – his eyes didn’t have irises!

The stallion gave the young mare a charming smile while walking towards the table in the middle of the room. “Hello little filly, my name is captain Scourge Cloud and I will be the one leading this little interview with you.” He sat down o the chair opposite to Ruby and took out a file from under his wing and a small device with a holotape plugged into it, placing it in the middle of the table. “I hope you don’t mind me recording this conversation. It’s a standard Blitzwing procedure.” The mare slowly shook her head, her eye still fastened onto his. The stallion chuckled. “It seems that my eyes have caught your interest, allow me to answer the question in your mind before it eats you up. It’s a genetical defect called aniridia. It makes me stand out, but it doesn’t do much besides weakening my eyesight. Don’t worry about it, I’m used to the questions.“ He smiled and waved a hoof at her, seeing that she blushed. “So what’s your name my little filly?”

“I’m Ruby. Ruby Star.” The pink pegasus gave him an apologetic smile. She wanted to facehoof for staring at him. Ruby knew that it was rude to judge somepony by his looks. Crackshot, the “grandmare” of her best friend, was a ghoul. Her milky eyes and the mostly skinless body gave her a disturbing appearance, but she was nevertheless one of the nicest ponies she’d ever met. The stallion in front of her seemed nice and behaved like true gentlecolt. The irisless eyes didn’t disfigure him. They made his handsome face even more intriguing... The mare gave herself a mental slap. “And I’m not a filly anymore.”

“Oh, of course, what was I thinking calling such a fine young mare a filly!” It was the stallion's turn to smile sheepishly while he wrote down her name onto a form. “Could you tell me your age Miss Star?”

“I’ll be turning sixteen in a few weeks.”

“Fifteen it is.” The cobalt blue pegasus stated calmly, making the pink mare frown. He clapped his hooves together and rested his chin upon them. “It’s a really impressive feat for a pony your age to fly alone to Ravenclaw, all the way from the surface. Remarkable, indeed.”

Ruby looked to the side, feeling a little bit embarrassed. It wasn’t easy, truth told, but objectively seen it was just a simple, if tiresome, ascend. Earlier she had seen the way how the pegasi from Hellfire’s squad flew. Full of grace and yet economical, each flap of their wings perfectly utilizing the full of the movement’s energy. Compared to them the pink mare could only think about herself as an amateur.

“The feat is even more noteworthy if you consider that you’ve chosen to penetrate the cloud cover and our security network at a spot deprived of lightning rods.” Scourge Cloud continued in a calm voice.

“Lightning... rods?” The mare tilted her head, eying him not understanding what he meant.      

“A defence system designed to shoot down anything trying to invade the Enclave.” He chuckled and smiled as she folded her ears back in shock and went pale. “A miraculous amount of luck I must say.”

“I... didn’t even know that it was this dangerous...” Ruby answered with a weak voice. Her mother never told her about anything of this. Sure, she told her not to fly as high as the cloud cover, but she always thought it was because of the strong and unpredictable wind currents up there. If the clouds were full of weapons, then how were earthborn pegasi even supposed to ever reach the Enclave? Did those ponies indiscriminately kill everyone, no matter if pony or other being, friendly or hostile, who trespassed their turf? 

The cobalt blue stallion shook his head. “And then the situation at the manoeuvres...“ His voice seemed pitying and the mare wasn’t sure if she liked this tone. “Almost at the goal of your journey, you nearly died. You were once fortunate, that cadet wing commander Hellfire’s squad spotted you during their scouting flight simulation.”

The pink mare nodded slowly. “I was lucky that those ponies saved my life...”  

“Yes...” He said looking at the mare from behind his glasses, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Scourge Cloud collected himself, ears once again perked up and started with a smile. “This cleared, let us continue. Where do you come from Miss Star?”

“It is a place called the Collective. It used to be a pegasi airbase before the war but...”

The stallion cut her off. “The term collective suggests that it isn’t a settlement purely consisting of pegasi doesn’t it?”

Ruby blinked, surprised by this sudden interruption. “N-no, we also have unicorns and earth ponies and also some ghouls.”

“Ghouls Miss Star?”

“They are... ponies, but different.” Ruby frowned while thinking about the answer. “They used to be normal, but the balefire and radiation changed them. Some lost their skin, others even their mind... But the ones at the Collective are still good ponies.”

Scourge Cloud tilted his head. “Ghouls... So that’s how the muckdwellers call the Type I mutations. Wouldn’t have thought that they even were intelligent.”

“Type I... mutation?” The young mare looked at him insecure, she didn’t like the way he spoke the word “muckdweller”, but remained silent about it. Sometimes unicorns and earth ponies also called her names. Featherbrain was ok, but she never liked “sky-stealer” and there were even worse ones. It had to be similar up here...

“Specimen that were victims of high radiation poisoning resulting in severe skin decaying.” The stallion shrugged. ”We’ve encountered them during our scouting flights after the bombs fell, took some tissue samples. Enclave researchers speculate the reason for that is some unknown genetic characteristic.”

Tissue samples? The mare didn’t like the sound of it. They were ponies. Scarred and maimed, different, but nevertheless ponies. Why was he talking about them as if they were just... Things?

The stallions voice brought her back to reality. “Could you tell me how many ponies live in the Colective? Are there many pegasi?”

The mare eyed him with an uncertain expression. She was starting to dislike the way those golden eyes watched her. “Why would you want to know that?”

He smiled at her. “As an officer of the Blitzwing it is my duty...”

“You said that name again.” The pink flier interrupted him, cocking her head to the right.  “What is the Blitzwing?”

One of Scourge Clouds eyes twitched almost unnoticeable and a sigh left his muzzle. He gave her another charming smile and put a hoof to his chin, thinking aloud. “You’re asking me what is the Blitzwing, but it’s a little bit tricky to describe the full spectrum of our activities without going into boring details.“ Ruby eyed him sceptically but he didn’t show any reaction on that. “I think the best would be to say, that we deal with the unexpected and are there to ask the right questions.”

The mare’s browns frowned. ”You’re some sort of security force then?”

The stallion chuckled. “That would be an exaggeration, we’re still part of the Ravenclaw and Enclave military but our priorities differ slightly from the other troops. We follow three great virtues that are chiselled into the fronton of this great edifice.”

The ears of the pink pegasus perked up as she remembered the words under the lightning bolt. “Justice, loyalty and duty?”

For a brief second Scourge Clouds face showed a mixture between anger and irritation from the interruption and great surprise over her knowledge. His eyes narrowed,  a blank expression upon his muzzle. “How did you know that?”

“I’ve read the words over the entrance.” Once again there was the look of uncertainty in her eyes.

“You can read and understand ancient pegasi?” He tilted his head and smiled. “The old saying seems to be true: Diploûn horôsin hoi mathóntes grámmata.”

Rubys eyes widened. “You know Pytrothagoras?”

“Proper education is obligatory for officers of the Blitzwing. But I’ll admit that I underestimated you Miss Star.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m curious where does your knowledge come frome?”             

“Ancient history is my special talent.” She looked towards the scarabaeus on her flank.

“I see, and it’s represented by the ancient solar symbol from Saddle Arabia.” The mare once again looked at him in amazement. “Your curiosity filled let’s go back to my questions.” He eyed her with those empty golden orbs. “What else can you tell me about the Collective? I would like to know if they have any troops or...”

“I won’t answer anymore of your questions.” Ruby looked him in the eyes. “I think that I’ve told you enough and I still have things to do.”

Scourge Cloud smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. “It can wait. For what reason, did you come to Ravenclaw?”

“I...” Ruby stopped, eying him warily. “I’ll discuss that matter only with the council.”

“I represent the council; you can state it to me.”

The pink flier watched the stallion sitting opposite her for a few long moments. The good impression she had of him at the beginning has slowly faded away, replaced by wariness. What were his intentions and why was he insisting on her telling him the names of the other pegasi in the Collective. Always smiling, he stayed an enigma to her.

Finally she sighed and took a deep breath, before looking him in the eyes with determination in her face. “I came here to ask the council to acquit my parents.” 

“And who would your parents be?” The officer’s smile broadened. “Maybe Nova Star and Dawn Star?”

Ruby eyed him puzzled. “How do you...”

“That would make a certain Miss Firefly your aunt, wouldn’t it? Or is she already a Missis?” The stallion chuckled, amused by the surprise written all over her muzzle. “As a society with limited resources we have to keep a strict population control. We notice when somepony defects and there weren’t that many cases in the last twenty five years. Especially ones concerning ponies, with knowledge about the lightning rod grid.” He eyed her for a few moments and the mare shrunk together in her chair. ”Dawn Star told you about it, didn’t she?”

Still caught by surprise the mare shook her head. “No! She only told me about the location of Ravenclaw and from where I should start my ascend.”

“Old reports do claim, that she was a clever one.” The stallion muttered under his breath and gave the pink pegasus a charming smile, leaning back in his chair. ”Nevertheless, coming all the way up here to plead for one’s family is definitely a noble cause, I have to admit that. There’s only one obstacle Miss Star.”

“What would that be?”

“The Enclave doesn’t take back traitors and dashites.” He raised a hoof before the mare could respond. “But there’s nevertheless something, that we could do for you.” Ruby looked at him in silence. “From the eugenic point of view you’re a pureblood Enclave, your genome untainted by the mutated population down there. We would need to do a few tests in this regard but general Cloud Striker from Thunderhead has made a much worse precedence a few years ago.” More than saying them, Scourge Cloud nearly spat out the last words with disgust.

The mare frowned thinking about his words. “You are saying, that I... That, I could stay here, in Ravenclaw?”

Scourge Cloud nodded. “Yes and after serving your term in the military you could even become a full citizen of the Enclave with all the privileges and responsibilities that come with it.” He put a hoof to his chin, thinking about something. “The lack of proper education would be a hindrance of course, but seeing what an intelligent young mare you are that shouldn’t create such a big problem. Some individual tutoring should solve that in no time.“ He smiled at her. “Who knows? The Blitzwing could need the services of somepony as smart as you.”

Ruby looked at him in bewilderment. Staying here above the clouds, far away from the dangers of the Wasteland? It would be a dream coming true. The young pegasus always imagined the live in the Enclave and the possibilities that came with it. The refined culture, the knowledge coming with a proper education, the safety and the stability her mother always told her about. Her mother... The mare thought about her family. The officer in front of her had already mentioned that it was impossible for Nova Star, Dawn Star and Firefly to ever return. If the pink flier accepted this offer she would never again see her parents and aunt...

Ruby looked Scourge Cloud in the eyes. “Nothing comes without a price, doesn’t it?”

The stallion nodded sagely. “Wise words, for such a young pony.” He mused about his next words. “The disappearance of your parents and aunt happened almost simultaneously with a terrorist act in a settlement not far from Ravenclaw.“ The mare’s ears folded back as she remembered Sonic’s outburst from a few hours ago. ”The Blitzwing never had enough evidence to link the two cases together but there are already rumors circulating, and it seems a little bit too much for a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know anything about that matter.” The pink mare swallowed hard and continued with a weak voice. “I haven’t heard anything about this before coming to Ravenclaw.”

The cobalt pegasus nodded once again and smiled. “That wouldn’t be a problem Miss Star.”

She looked at him, a grim realisation forming in her head. ”W-what do you mean?”              

“We only need a statement that would validate our suspicions so far and in which you would reaffirm your loyalty towards Ravenclaw.”
The mares eyes widened in disbelief. “You want me to... to lie?”

Scourge Cloud gave her a charming smile. “And to cut off the ties with your family.”

Ruby leaned her forelegs against the table, rising from her chair. She glared at the stallion in front of her. “No.”

“Miss Star you should consider the possibilities that come...” He started calmly but was cut off by her furious response. 

“I said NO!” She yelled, her wings spread wide in agitation. ”No fucking way am I going to betray my family!”

The stallion sighed and rubbed the back of his nose. “Miss Star, please calm down. Let’s keep this talk professional...”

“NO! I had enough of your horse apples! Let me out! I’m going...”

SLAM!

The cobalt pegasus rammed a hoof into the table, the sudden reaction silencing the mare. He looked at her with his emotionless gold eyes, a blank expression on his face. “I said CALM  DOWN. Believe me, you don’t want me to get unprofessional.”

There was something in his voice that made the mare tremble inside. She sat back down, glaring at him. “Let me out.”

“When our little talk is done.”

“I won’t answer anymore of you questions.”

The stallion started to put his notes back into the file. “We will continue this tomorrow, maybe a night in a holding cell will change your mind.”

“You don’t have the right!” Ruby yelled at the stallion. The idea of staying here filled her with dread.

Scourge Cloud gave her another charming smile, sending shivers along the mare’s spine. “We are the Blitzwing Miss Star. We have all the rights we need and we usually get what we want.”      


oooOooo


Hellfire fought against her restraints, her screams muffled by the piece of cloth gagging her muzzle. She couldn’t stand it anymore! Sweet Celestia please! Please make this torture stop! Tears were streaming from under her eye band as she cursed her louse mouth. By Lunas divine pale fanny, why hadn’t she simply held her trap? She had to bitch around and play the alfa mare, didn’t she! Her body arched and she could feel the bonds around her legs cutting deep into her flesh. 
The gag in her mouth was choking her, she felt like suffocating!

Somepony removed the piece of cloth and the mare snapped after air. Panting heavily the yellow pegasus started to talk in a trembling, almost breaking voice. “P-p-pleahse stop-p...  I c-can’t take it anymore... I...b-beg you... sto...”

Her words where sealed off by a wet muzzle, that started kissing her passionately, once again depriving the mare of air. After a few long moments their lips broke apart and the blinded mare took another deep breath. 

“Your such a wimp Hellfire.”

“W-why, are you doing this to me?” She asked weakly.

“Silly filly...” A sultry voice poured into her ear. “I love to blow your mind.”

A pair of hooves delicately pulled of her eye band, and the yellow pegasus saw a blue mare leaning over the restrains over her forelegs. She felt herself blushing.

Milky Way took of the bonds and leaned towards her, peeking her nose. “Besides that I always liked red coated mares.
Your mane is fine, but I prefer the rest of you when you’re moaning... That’s what I mean.“ She smiled as she saw her mate flushing. Hellfire probably could’ve died out of shame, but she was unable to lie to herself. She simply loved the things the blue mare did to her... ”You also needed to relax after the manoeuvres. And I promised you some serious spanking.”

The wing commander looked away ashamed. “Where did you even get that riding crop?”

“This one?” Her fillyfriend gave her a coyish smile while holding the after mentioned object in her teeth. “Your mother gave it to us last Heartwarmings Eve...”

The yellow mare rose up.“My mother?! When?” Her eyes widened in terror. “US?”

The blue pegasus shrugged and circled around her to unwrap the bonds on her hind legs. “We had a little talk while you were playing hoofball with your dad and little brother.”

“You’re talking about our sex live with my MOTHER?!” Hellfire hid her face in her forelegs. 

“She’s quite open minded about those things and please...” She kissed her still pulsing flank. “... don’t say you didn’t like it.”

The yellow mare answered with a groan. Although they were sometimes polar opposites, she nevertheless loved her mate, but in moments like this... 

“Celestia burn me with your flaming gaze...” Hellfire sighed and she turned to her apparent subordinate, the roles reversed in the bedroom though. Her forehead frowned as she saw the other mare fumbling with some rope in her hooves. She seemed lost in distant thoughts.

“Is something wrong Milky?” The yellow pegasus tilted her head, read streaks of her mane falling down on her face.

“I was wondering...” She answered in a pensive voice.

Hellfire frowned. “About the kiddo?”

Milky Way looked up to her, while rubbing her shoulder with a hoof; she had a worried look on her face. “What if something’s going to happen to her? You know those tales about the Blitzwing...”

“Shhh.” Hellfire embraced her friend, hugging her with her wings. “Nobody’s going to harm her. She’s just a little filly.” The blue mare nodded, but she didn’t seem fully convinced. The yellow pegasus nuzzled her neck. ”Want to cuddle?”

“Mhm.” She murmured while lying down. She pressed herself tight against her fillyfriend. “I love you Hellfire.”

“I love you too Milky.”


oooOooo


The door to her holding cell opened rising the pegasus from her sleep. The mares eyes were blinded by the bright light. She squinted them together and saw five guards coming inside. A grey stallion wore some sort of a device on one of his forelegs, similar to a pipbuck, but seemingly less advanced than the Stable-Tec device.

Ruby sat up and jumped of the bed. She eyed them with surprised eyes. “Am I free to go?”

“Not yet, my little filly.” He pushed a button and the door closed behind them.

The young mare frowned. “What do you want then?”

One of the guards laughed and another one started circling her from the right. “We thought we could keep a cute little filly like you some company in this dunk, old cell...”

“I-I’m not a filly anymore, don’t call me that.” She said a little bit insecure. 

“Of course you aren’t...” Said the one with the device on his foreleg, apparently the leader of the group. ”What’s your name filly?“ He asked while putting the accent on the last word. All of them were getting closer towards her.

“How did you get your cutie mark? Are you good at stumping bugs?” Laughed a stallion to her left, briefly brushing the Scarabaeus on her flank with a hoof.

She eyed him with fear and put her tail tighter between her legs. ”N-no I...”

“Did you have to eat a bug to earn your cutie mark?” All of the guards laughed at the joke.  

“N-no... My special talent, is history and ancient languages. I...” Ruby was becoming more and more terrified. 

“An egghead?” Laughed the pegasus on her left. 

“Are you good at reading body languages too?” 

The stallions were scaring her. She breathed faster and felt her legs turning into lead. The fear was paralyzing her.   

“Filly you have a way too nice flank to be an egghead!” Exclaimed the other one, eyeing her rear. The mare didn’t like that look, it made her feel soiled just by lingering over her body. She looked towards the door. Could she outrun them? They were five, but she was probably more agile, maybe a better flier even. A realization struck her. The door was closed, and the one with the key...

“I’ll keep it short filly.” Said the grey pegasus in front of her, cutting of her thoughts. “These fine gentlecolts are called Swift Wing, Windbreaker, Grey Storm and Snowfly. I’m called Hard Buck...“ He smiled lustfully. ”... and we’re here for a little fuck.”
Ruby took a step back from him her eyes shooting between them. The looks in their eyes sent a shiver down her spine. 

“W-wait! What are you...” She started in a panicked voice.  

“Come one filly. You’re going to like it.” Said the one on her right and nuzzled her neck.

The mare turned around and hit him in the face. The stallion took a step back and touched his cheek. He smiled mockingly. “You should have taken the easy way bitch.”

Another guard, the one called Windbreaker, bucked her hard in the muzzle before she could even react. She fell on her side, the pulsating pain blinding her thoughts. It was so strong that she thought he had broken her jaw.  

“Get her on the bed and hold her down boys.” The mare heard Hard Buck say.

One of the stallions bit down her neck and tossed her on the mattress. Almost immediately two hooves stepped down on her wings, pinning her down effectively. She was still stunned but the growing panic made her struggle under them. She got one wing free and tried to buck them with her hind legs in her adrenaline rush. The response was a brutal kick in her side that pushed the breath out of her lungs.

The pain from the strike made her want to curl up but she was pinned down once again. Ruby made one more, vain attempt to get free, but they pressed the smaller mare down with their weight. Her heart froze as someone lift up her tail and a tongue licked across her cutie mark. She looked back and saw Hard Buck standing right beside her. He smiled sadistically when they eyes met and he was... Her eyes widened in terror as she looked down... Sweet Celestia, he was enjoying this...

“P-p-please...” She stuttered, tears flowing down her face.

“What did you say little filly? I can’t understand you.” He bowed down to her head, one of his forelegs resting on her back.

“Please don’t... I-I’m still... I... Please...” She whispered with a weak voice, terror sweeping from every word, a pledge in her wide open eyes. She couldn’t move, the fear making her go numb. The emptiness in her head wouldn’t allow her to fight, only beg 

“Oh, I understand.. Did you hear that guys?” He turned his head towards the other guards. ”I’m going to be her special somepony!” He crackled a wicked laugh and the rest accompanied him. He leaned down towards her head, kissing her main and smiling at her shrinking together. ”I can’t promise you that I’ll be gentle my little filly...” He whispered into her ear and bit down on it, making her yelp. “But hell if it will be a night that you’ll ever forget!” He yelled almost maniacally and pushed himself into her. 

Ruby cried out in pain. Her screams echoed through the corridors into the dark of the night...    


oooOooo


The young mare lay rolled up in a ball in the corner of her holding cell. She was sobbing silently to, her throat hoarse of the screaming. Her body was in pain, sore from the beating and... the things they’ve done with her. The bitter taste in her mouth made her want to puke and she could still feel the wetness between her hind legs. She knew it was blood and concentrated only on it. Blood was ok. Blood was natural. Blood was a part of her. You bled when you get hurt. Blood was ok. Her mind wouldn’t linger on other things staining her. 

Ruby could still hear their voices and the names they’ve called her. She put hooves over her ears, but they still ringed in her head no matter how hard she tried to ignore them. 

Whore. 

“You like that?”

Slut.

“Oh yeah! Scream for me!”

Filly.

“I love her mouth.”

Best fuck toy ever... 

More tears streamed down her cheeks. They... They took...

Eyes clenched she shook her head wildly. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to remember. She didn’t...

A pained sigh left her muzzle and she hugged herself with her wings, rolling into and even tighter ball. Why had she come here? 

Ruby remembered the look in her mother’s eyes when she spoke about her former home. The mare always told herself that all she wanted was to make her happy. Allow her to see the world above once again. But she wasn’t that selfless. 

The truth was, the pink flier also wanted to see the vast blue sky from Dawn Star’s tales. Breathe fresh, unpolluted air while lying down on a soft cloud... But foremost she wanted to see the sun. Feel Celestia’s warmth upon her coat and bathe in its light. Instead she’d only found darkness worse than in the Wasteland...

Her body began to quake and she bawled, caughing and crying, just like a little, hurt foal. “M-mommy... Dad-ddy... I... I... I... waaa-nt to g-go hooome...”




> Shattered
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


In the face of pain there are no heroes.



oooOooo


The mare watched the door of the interrogation room with fearful eyes. The clock above it was once again doing something with her time perception. Has it only been fifteen minutes? It felt more like an hour and the random ticking was gnawing on her tattered nerves. Moreover all the waiting was making her remember. She didn’t want to remember...

With ears strained the whole time Ruby hasn’t been able to sleep in the night, the fear of the possible return of her assailants keeping her awake. Nevertheless they have left her alone, huddled and hurt in the dark cell. Her only companions were the demons lurking inside the shadows and her own thoughts. 

The guards came back in the morning and greeted her with a water hose. They had to clean up their little toy before the captain came to see her, almost drowning her with the cold water stream in the process. Ruby hasn’t eaten her breakfast – the white, slimy oatmeal reminding her of things that made her want to puke. The stallions didn’t touch her, but watched the young pegasus the whole time, not sparing her the humiliating questions and comments. 

Wasn’t the cell too cold after they’ve left?

No appetite?

Still stuffed after the night?

Maybe she would like a piece of meat instead of the oatmeal?

Terrified and powerless, the mare could only cry out of the overwhelming shame. She tried to make herself as small as possible but their glares kept drilling into her. The way they looked at her, how their eyes run her over, was making her sick. She felt dirty. Humiliated. Helpless.

Every time one of them came closer, the pink flier would start to tremble against her will, expecting the worst, her heart gripped with cold fear. But the abhorrent touch never came. Only a wicked grin or an outburst of mocking laughter. Ruby wanted to scream. Why her? What has she done? Her only wish was to give the sky back to her parents! Why had they done those things to her and why wouldn’t they still leave her alone!?

Finally, after an eternity of mind blanking fear they brought her into the same interrogation room as yesterday. Or was it another, identical one? She couldn't tell them apart. Every of the twisting corridors seemed the same. Each made of dark, nearly black clouds, crossing with other identical ones on regular intervals. They could have leaded her in circles just as well; she surely wouldn’t have been able to notice.   

And now she was waiting. Seconds. Minutes. Ticking and gnawing on her nerves. Waiting for what? Were they playing with her? Was this some sort of a sick game? Would they come back and if yes, would they hurt her again? Ruby shook her head. She shouldn’t think about that. That was what they wanted. To see her fear, to tear her mind apart, to...

The mare’s ears perked up at the sound of the disengaging lock, and she looked in terror at the opening door.  

“Good morning Miss Star.” Captain Scourge Cloud entered the interrogation room with the same charming smile as the day before. He sat down in the chair opposite to her and took the recorder and some notes out of his ever present file. Finally 
he looked towards her, tilting his head. “How are we feeling today?”

The mare eyed him frightened. What’s with that casual question? Was he playing with her? Maybe even making fun of her? How could he ask her something like that in such a tone, after what the guards have done to her? Was he...

“Miss Star, is something wrong?” The cobalt coloured stallion was looking at her, the expression on his face changed to a more serious one.        

Ruby didn’t answer. She sat there, feeling uncomfortable under the inquiring glare of those golden orbs, trying to make herself as small as possible. The mare was afraid. Although he didn’t do anything to her, he was still scaring her, because he was a stallion. Because he could harm her...

“Why do you keep hiding your face Miss Star?” Ruby suddenly realised, that she was subconsciously averting from him the side, swollen from the buck one of the guards has given to her last night. She tried to cover it with her mane and wing after the stallion’s comment but he kept staring at her in an anticipating way. His expression softened a little bit, it seemed almost comforting. “Show me your face Miss Star, please.” 

The mare lowered her wing and slowly turned her head. She wouldn’t dare to look at him, awaiting his reaction with a fear that caused her to almost forget to breathe. He would laugh at her. He would judge her. He would...

“How did this happen?” 

The voice struck her as cold, almost emotionless. Ruby turned her head and looked Scourge Cloud in the face. His expression was a blank mask but the mare could feel a tension, a strain from hidden emotions. Anger maybe? 
She felt insecure. Should she tell him the truth? The stallion in front of her was the guards superior. Could she trust him? 

Wasn’t he the same as them?

“Miss Star please tell me what had happened to you since our talk yesterday.” His voice was concerned, warm and reassuring.

“T-the...” She started but wasn’t able to look him in the face. The mare turned her gaze away and started looking at the table in front of her. “T-the guards... They came in the middle of the night... T-they have b-beaten me and t-they... a-a-afterwards... t-t-they...“ Her voice broke and she clenched her eyes shut. She was unable to talk about it. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to remember. She felt tears wailing up but she wouldn’t cry, she had cried enough. She...

A movement to her right startled her and she jerked up. Ruby looked beside her and saw Scourge Cloud standing at her side. The proximity of a stallion made her shrink together, especially as he placed a hoof on the legrest of her chair. There was a pained expression on his face, as always unmirrored in his emotionless eyes.

“You poor thing...” He said, seemingly saddened by her sudden reaction. Ruby looked away once again. “I’m so sorry. The things those stallions have done to you were unprofessional and they can’t be forgiven. Please believe me. I didn’t know 
about any of this and I’ll do everything possible to punish them.”

Was he honest? The mare couldn’t say that for sure but he showed her sympathy and wasn’t threatening her. Furthermore and  most importantly – he wasn’t hurting her.

“Nevertheless you have to understand that I have supervisors and it’s only your word against theirs.” Her ears perked up and she looked toward him. “I’ll need a sign of good will on your part. You have to understand Miss Star one hoof washes the other.” He smiled at her apologetically. “Will you cooperate with me and answer my questions about the surface? I promise that I shall protect you from those guards.”        

Ruby stayed silent for a while, lost in her thoughts. Was he using her? Should she accept his offer? He wanted information and answering a few questions wouldn’t harm anypony, right? Scourge Cloud seemed the only pony willing to help her right now. He would protect her if she cooperated. He would keep the guards away from her and wouldn’t allow them to harm her. It was the most important right now. She needed to be safe.

The cobalt coated pegasus smiled as the mare slowly nodded and he retracted his hoof from the legrest. He returned to the opposite side of the table and Ruby sighed in relief. She felt ashamed of herself. He showed her concern and she was still afraid of him. The mare couldn’t help it, the others have hurt her too much. Scourge Cloud apparently didn’t hear it or simply ignored it. The stallion sat down with the same smile and started to search in his notes. He looked towards Ruby.

“Good let’s start so we can finish this as fast as possible.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Miss Star would you kindly tell me how many ponies does this Collective count?”

The mare reminded silent.

Scourge Cloud tilted his head. “Miss Star?”

She sighed. “We don’t have a constant number...” Her voice seemed resigned. “Ponies tend to come and go. Maybe around four dozen? Fifty something, at best.”

The stallion nodded, while making some notes. “How does its racial makeup look like?”

The mare sighed once again, she could feel that this was going to take some time...          


oooOooo


“Come on! How much longer are we supposed to wait for those two?” Buzzsaw fell on his back, utterly bored but his words fell on deaf ears. He looked towards Sonic and Hellfire. The green stallion was sitting patiently on the monuments top step, eying the ponies passing by and the mare was leaning against the pedestal with closed eyes, her head wobbling slightly to the music of her headphones.

“Hellfireeeeee...” He whined loudly.

The yellow pegasus sighed irritated and took out one of her earplugs. “Yes Buzzsaw?”

“We’ve been waiting for over an hour!” The purple stallion continued to complain, while waving with his hooves. “When will 
Milky and Dancer finally come?”    

The wing commander shrugged. “They are two mares on leave, probably on a shopping trip, how am I supposed to know when they show up?”

Buzzsaw sat up and pointed towards the great clock on the other side of the plaza. “We all were supposed to meet at an agreed place and time, weren’t we? And look! More than an hour has already passed! An hour Hellfire! An H-O-U-R! An hour!” The mare rolled her eyes. It was one of those arguments. She could already see that some of the flier- and passerby’s were turning their heads towards them. “Can you even imagine what I could have done during the time that I’ve spent sitting here with you two?”

“Sure like, I don’t know, maybe making a fool of you in front of somepony else?” Hellfire gave him a bored look and shut him off before he could respond. “You could follow Sonic’s example. Have you seen him complain?”

The green pegasus turned his attention away from the ponies on the plaza towards his two squad mates. The blank expression on his muzzle turned towards a pained What have I done to you Hellfire? moment Buzzsaw flung a foreleg around his neck. The mare smiled apologetically at him before the purple stallion started his monologue.

“Like Sonic my dear Hellfire? You are certainly jesting!” He pulled his friend towards himself, almost strangling the poor buck. “Our dear Sonic here is more like a robot or a statue, the perfect soldier deprived of any kind of emotions...”

“Fuck you Buzzsaw.” 

“... just like an automaton. Besides that he’s in a relationship with a cute mare with a sweet flank that loves from the depth of analytical heart.” 

“Your contradicting yourself Buzz.” Hellfire snorted at the sight of the death glare Sonic was giving Buzzsaw.

“AU CONTRAIRE, MON CAPITAINE! I’m not contradicting myself...”

“You can’t talk Fancy.” Muttered Sonic still glaring at him.

“... as love makes you dumb.” He patted his chest for emphasis. “Our Sonic here is like a dog waiting for his owner to return so he can bump her leg or whatever other part...

“Enough of this!” The green stallion pushed his leg away and attempted to land a punch on his muzzle which Buzzsaw artfully averted.

“Just like colts...” Hellfire sighed and averted her eyes from her two squad mates and looked upwards towards the statue giving her shade. 

His wings wide outstretched, commander Hurricane, the last archon of Pegasopolis, was looking over the plaza with a stern expression on his face. The mare looked over his muscular yet slim body and the richly decorated armour, her eyes lingering on the ornate helmet bearing a bladed ridge with a sharp hook on the front. She knew its purpose – it was a weapon for fighting winged opponents, designed to cut their tendons or ram it into the enemy’s chest. The magical energy weapons strapped to their battle saddles seemed easier to use, at least in training...

Her thoughts were interrupted as somepony heaved her from the ground suddenly.

“For fucks sake!” Hellfire looked down on the purple forelegs holding her. ”Put me down Buzzsaw! Has Luna fucked your brain with her horn or something?” The mare stared at him angrily over her shoulder. 

“Sonic wants to kill me!” The stallion was using her as meat shield against their squad mate.

“He insulted my fillyfriend!” The green pegasus was glaring at them, or at Buzzsaw to be more precise, with a murderous intent.

“By Celestia’s flaming clit are you two retarded or what?!” 

Many pegasi turned their heads at the scolding that followed from the direction of the Hurricane Monument, some mothers covering the ears of their foals. Two mares with shopping bags on the other side of the plaza, one black with a distinctive lilac mane, the other one with a dust blue hide and a white mane with blue streaks in it, halted in their tracks.

“Is that...” Wind Dancer looked to her companion with an insecure look on her face.

“Hellfire...” Milky Way facehoofed as her cheeks were turning red.       


oooOooo


Scourge Cloud stretched his limbs with a few cracks in his joints. He looked towards the pink mare, still sitting gloomy on her chair. The interview has gone on for a few hours and in that time he has gotten many interesting answers out of the young flier. Some of the information, like the rumours about alicorns or the dangers of certain areas of the Wasteland, wasn’t anything new to the Enclave and yet a few facts seemed pretty interesting. Especially this Red Eye figure. According to the intelligence gathered in the past decades the city of Fillydelphia was supposed to be a desolated hellhole or a warzone between gangs of slave traders. As of nowadays this has changed apparently and a new economic force was rising in the west of Equestria’s burnt out corpse. This information could certainly prove useful in the future.

“I have to admit, these are some really intriguing facts Miss Star. We’re almost at the end.” The stallion gave Ruby a charming smile but she avoiding his gaze. Scourge Cloud shrugged and pooled something out of his file. “Would you possibly recognize this young stallion?”

The mare looked towards him and saw that he was holding up a picture. A brown coated stallion with a orange-yellow mane was looking at her from it with intelligent brown eyes. He was wearing a military uniform and couldn’t be much older than Hellfire and her friends. With his face turned towards the viewer Ruby guessed that it had to be an identification photo of sorts, maybe taken for a pass or some other official document. The mare shook her head, she didn’t know him.

The cobalt blue stallion sighed disappointed and held up another picture. “She should be a few years older than you can 
see here. Take a good look.”    

The second photo showed a pegasus mare with a pale grey hide and a purple-lavender mane with pink highlights. It had to been taken at an official occasion as she was wearing a blue jacket that went together with her coat, while standing at a lectern in front of a crowd of pegasi. Ruby couldn’t see her eyes but she had very pleasant features. Nevertheless the mare was a stranger to her.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know this mare.” She said with a week voice.

“Are you sure Miss Star?” The stallion in front of her has tilted his head but put down the picture as the young mare shook her head once again. “It seems you can’t get everything that you want. But nevertheless there is only one more thing that we have to record before you’ll be free to go Miss Star.”  

He reached into his file and took out a document that he shoved towards her. Ruby took it into her hooves and flipped through it. It didn’t count more than ten pages but her eyes widened as she read though its contents.

“W-what... is this?” She asked in a weak voice.

“Just a short statement, regarding your family.” Scourge Cloud answered in a nonchalant tone while waving with one of his hooves. “I would be very obliged if you could read it loud and clear into the recorder.”

“B-but I’ve told you already that I don’t want to stay in Ravenclaw.” The young mare was eyeing the stallion with shock. 
What was going on? She didn’t agree to this.

The pegasus with the cobalt blue hide chuckled slightly. “Please excuse me for the misunderstanding Miss Star. The Enclave citizenship was an offer valid only yesterday. Today we’re talking about your freedom.” His smile broadened. “Read the document in front of you and you’ll be free to go.”

“No...”

“Miss Star please be reasonable.” The officer sighed and tilted his head. “Those are nothing but words.”

“No Captain.” Ruby shook her head and looked him in the eyes. ”I’ve already told you yesterday that I’m not going to betray my family.”

Scourge Cloud sighed and took of his glasses. He looked at the mare in front of him for a moment before rubbing his eyes and putting his glasses back on. The stallion started to pack his notes into the file.

“Miss Star I think a break in the interview will do us both well, don’t you agree?” The pink flier kept eyeing him but didn’t answer. “What would you say about an hour?” He turned his head towards the roof. “Lieutenant Hard Buck?”

Ruby folded back her ears as he heard the name and her heart skipped a beat at the sound of the voice that came from the hidden speakers. “Yes captain?”

The stallion in front of her gave her another charming smile. “Would you and your subordinates mind keeping Miss Star a little bit of company?”

“With pleasure captain.” 

The mares eyes went wide in terror as he looked towards Scourge Cloud. “N-n-no... p-please...”

“Miss Star I’ve already told you that we’re having a break now. I’m off...”

“Y-you... p-promis-sed...” Her mind was going blank out of sheer terror. They were coming. They would hurt her again. They would... He shook her head and looked at him with tears wailing in her eyes. “You promised!”

He smiled at her. “Only if you’d cooperate.”

He forced herself to smile and nodded with enthusiasm. “I-I’ll cooperate! I’ll read everything you want! I...”

“Miss Star we will talk about this in an hour, after my break.” He turned his back on her and opened the door.

“N-no...” The smile faded from her face as they entered the room. Hard Buck saluted Scourge Cloud with his wing and gave the pink mare a wicked grin as the entrance closed behind the Blitzwing captain. “No...” She slowly shook her head as she stood up. They were saying something but she was too terrified to comprehend their words. She eyed them with terror. 
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Scourge Cloud could hear screaming from inside the examination room. He folded back his ears as something impacted against the wall with a crack of breaking furniture. The screams have gotten louder and he could make out the sounds of a fierce struggle as he began walking down the corridor. He took a little holotape player from one of the pockets of his uniform and pushed the play button. The music started the moment as the passageway echoed with the mares wailing. He made it louder and sighed with relief as it muted out the unpleasant sounds.

“The last triplet between Heartstrings, Fiddlesticks and Octavia in the Canterlot Royal Hall...” He smiled to himself. “A true blessing for the mind.”                


oooOooo


Scourge Cloud looked at the watch on his left fetlock while walking down the corridor towards the interrogation room. He still had around ten minutes to spare but he could already hear the voices of the guards ahead. 

“I think I’ve almost ripped her asshole apart !”

“Wich wroke m’ hose...”

“But it was still worth it wasn’t it?”

The cobalt blue stallion frowned at the laughter that echoed down the hallway. This kind of brutish behaviour always filled him with disgust and contempt. It was unprofessional.  The captain preferred a more refined way of interrogating ponies. He enjoyed the slow game of undeck their secrets and using their desires and fears against them. Sometimes he even managed to turn them into valuable pawns. But there were also cases like this one... 

Scourge Cloud saw that one of the guards remained by the door. The gray buck noticed his superior just as he ended tiding up his uniform. He slicked back his reddish brown mane and saluted with a wing. 

“Captain Scourge Cloud.”

“Lieutenant Hard Buck.” The Blitzwing captain returned the gesture and looked towards the door. “Is the suspect conscious?”

“A little bit bruised but conscious. The boys went a little bit rough on her; nevertheless I think that she’ll be a lot more cooperative than earlier sir.”  

Scourge Cloud cocked his head. “What do you mean by rough?”

“I’m afraid that in the initial struggle wingman Windbreaker has broken her left foreleg, not that the rest of the squad has minded the additional moaning afterwards.” Hard Bucked smiled wickedly while mentioning the little detail.

The cobalt blue stallion has seemingly ignored the last remark. “Windbreaker. Isn’t that the same guard that almost fractured her jaw the night before?”

“So I’ve stated in my report.”

“He seems too aggressive for this kind of work.” Scourge Cloud put a hoof to his chin. “Even when inflicting pain you have to be precise to not overdo it. Put him in solitary confinement for now.”

“Solitary confinement sir?” The lieutenant was taken aback by the order. “He certainly...”

“Lieutenant.” The gray coated buck was interrupted. “Who are we?”

“We’re the Blitzwing, sir”

“And what does that make us?”

“Soldiers, sir.”

“In some aspects, yes.” The cobalt blue pegasus nodded but he didn’t take his golden eyes of Hard Buck.”Yet foremost we are professionals lieutenant. We have our goals and we have a certain modus operandi for achieving them. Won’t you 
agree?”

“Certainly, sir.”

“Although this case required a certain dose of, as you mentioned earlier, roughness” The dark hided buck almost spat the last word.” I wouldn’t like to see our stallions showing off their primitive instincts on a daily basis.”

“I... understand sir.” Hard Buck nodded slowly.

“Good. I hope Miss Star will be truly cooperative after this... session.       

“Molding things into the desired form is my special talent sir.” The gray stallion nodded towards his flank and the chisel cutie mark adorning it. “And I love to work with my tools.”   

“How fitting...” Scourge Cloud’s eyes narrowed slightly and he continued coldly. “You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you lieutenant?”

“Yes sir, captain sir!” Hard Buck saluted enthusiastically with a cheeky smile. “I consider my work... Invigorating.”

“How old are you again?”

“Twenty five sir.”

The cobalt blue stallion sighed and shook his head. “Lieutenant, it fills me with terror to even imagine what kind of actions you’ll perform to fill invigorated in a decade or two.”

“Nevertheless I can only recommend it, sir.” Hard Buck grinned at his superior.

“You say you recommend it?” The lieutenant’s smile started to fade the moment he noticed the blank, expressionless mask Scourge Cloud’s face has become. His ears dropped while the cobalt blue pegasus continued with a cold voice. “I asked you a question lieutenant Hard Buck.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what lieutenant?”

Hard Buck gulped slightly. ”Yes sir, I said I recommend it sir.”

“Oh, so you recommend the raping of juveniles as a pastime fitting a married stallion with two foals in a position of authority in the organisation you belong to?” Scourge Cloud inquired further, while taking a step towards the grey stallion. Hard Buck fought back the notion to take a step back while looking into the two emotionless, golden orbs. “I have a daughter lieutenant. Do you think that it would be truly appropriate for me to violate a mare only slightly older than her?”

Hard Buck shook his head but the stallion in front of him continued to stare into his eyes. “N-no sir.” He gulped. “It was a slip of the tongue.”

“I thought so.” The captain nodded slowly. ”You should pay a better attention to what you say lieutenant. You can return to your duties now.”

“Yes sir.” The gray pegasus saluted once again and hurried down the corridor.

Scourge Cloud eyed after him until he turned on one of the intersections. The Blitzwing captain pressed a button on the wall beside the door, opening it, and re-entered the interrogation room. He looked down as his hoof stepped on something. The floor around the door frame was covered by the remains of a chair, seemingly the source of the impact he heard earlier. 

He could hear a silent sobbing coming from the opposite side of the room. As he walked around the table in the middle he saw a shaking pile of legs and wings, curled up with one limb bent at an unnatural angle. The drops of blood on the walls and floor around her and the bruises covering her soiled coat were the silent evidence of the fight that she put up against her assailants. Sadly she was only a young mare, barely a filly, pitted against trained soldiers.

Scourge Cloud halted a few steps away from her, his ears perking up as he heard her whispering under her breath in between the sobs. “Mommy, D-Daddy... I-I’m sorry... I w-want to go home...”

“The break is over Miss Star.” The stallion stated with a levelled voice. He could see her body stiffen at the sound of his words, but the mare didn’t react in any other way. “I would appreciate it, if you would look at me when I address you.”

The mare turned her head and looked up at him with bloodshot, terrified eyes, still crying; the tears making the pain slightly more bearable. She couldn’t feel her rear over the numbing pain, only slightly aware of the blood coating her hind legs and underbelly, and wasn’t sure if she could stand or even sit up. Moreover Ruby was terrified. Terrified by the sheer presence of the stallion standing in front of her.

“You don’t have to believe me Miss Star, but I’m truly saddened by this kind o development.” Scourge Cloud continued with the same calm voice, unfazed by neither the mare’s condition nor expression. He sat down with a sigh. “Sadly the Ravenclaw council considers you a nuisance, an unknown if not even a dangerous element in their equation. They demand certain results.” The officer frowned. “And that means they want them quick, very quick. If it weren’t for the pressure of my superiors I would have taken a different approach on you. It would have taken longer but it would have been far more enjoyable for the both of us. You can’t believe how difficult it is to find anypony capable of conversing about ancient history and philosophy nowadays.“ He smiled at the mare, who continued to stare at him with terror in her eyes. The stallion shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe you would have become an ally? The talk about you possibly joining the Blitzwing was honest, I assure you. I foalishly hoped to convince you during our first talk but sadly it didn’t work. Nevertheless I had to revert to way more direct and brutish interrogation methods to keep my deadline.” Scourge Cloud almost spat the last word. “I still believe in you being an intelligent mare and I hope that you’ve already learned the simple lesson: cooperation keeps the harm away. You have to understand Miss Star that at the moment you are not considered a pony anymore. For the council you’re just a foreign element. The guards consider you their, eh, fuck toy.” The stallions seemed disgusted while Ruby shuddered. “Furthermore even I, although sympathizing with your predicament, see you only as an asset. An asset worth to protect, but only as long it keeps being useful. Do you understand your alternatives Miss Star?”

The mare continued to look at him, she didn’t dare to look away or even blink. His words filled her with fear. Ruby felt an emptiness inside of her. She was nothing for these ponies, they could even kill her if they only wanted. Her parents, her friends...  Nopony would ever know what happened to her. In addition she was aware that it wouldn’t be a fast death. They would once again...

“Miss Star. I asked you a question.”

“I-I-I...” Stuttering was the only respond she could give.

Scourge Cloud sighed. “Miss Star I hope you’re aware, and I will be painfully direct on this, that I’m still the only one keeping those brutes from rutting you to death.” The blue stallion arched an eyebrow. “Or actually to near death as I would have to find an even less pleasant way to gain your cooperation.”

“C-cooperate... I-I will cooperate...” The mare answered while breathing heavily, too terrified to even think clear.

The stallion in front of her gave her a smile. “I’m happy to see that mine opinion about your intellect wasn’t misguided.” He laid the recorder and document in front of her. “You don’t have to stand up, we wouldn’t like to make you feel any more uncomfortable than it’s necessary, wouldn’t we?”

The pink pegasus swallowed hard while eying the papers in front of her. ”I-if I read all of this... Will I be allowed to go back home?” 

Scourge Cloud clasped his hooves together and smiled jovially. “My dear child of course you will be allowed to go back.” He eyed her from behind his glasses. “And now READ. From the start please.”    

The mares lower lip shivered as she began to read. “M-my name is Ruby Star. I’m the daughter of Nova Star and Dawn Star. Niece of Firebird. They were the leaders of the terrorist group responsible for the bombing and initial destruction of the Clean Winds settlement and the death of twenty seven enclave functionaries and their families.“ Ruby stopped, tears running down her face once again. 

The cobalt coated stallion looked at her patiently, his glasses reflecting the light of the lamps in a menacing way. “Continue.” 

Ruby swallowed hard. “The total body count: sixty seven. Twenty five stallions, twenty three mares, eleven fillies and eight colts. After cowardly fleeing from the righteous wrath of the Enclave they founded a new organization which they called the Collective which associates over three dozen dashites or their offspring and slaves from the lesser, nowadays degenerated races. Their intentions are...” 

Scourge Cloud thought about the mare’s question. The council would certainly let her go, especially as an example for the traitors below the clouds, but first there would be judgment. How did it go...She punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation ?           


oooOooo


“...were the reasons for which my parents sent me to the Ravenclaw Enclave.” Ruby laid down the paper on the table. She looked at all the lies about her family that she was forced to read. The sheet was wet from her tears, some words now unreadable, but each of them was carved deep in her heart. Letter by letter. There was emptiness in her soul. She felt dead inside... 

Scourge Cloud clapped his hooves together. “Wonderful Miss Star. I’m truly happy that you were willing to cooperate.” 

The pink mare felt her cheeks getting red as she silently cried out of shame. “I-is it over? Am I free to go?” She asked silently. 

“Oh one more thing.” Ruby dared to look at him and saw that the cobalt blue stallion in the black uniform was grinning at her sheepishly. ”I’ve almost forgotten to ask the most important question.” He gave her a sympathetic smile, but one would search in vain if he would try to spot the same look in his cold eyes. “Would the acronym PCDM ring any bells with you?” She slowly shook her head in response, but her expression changed to sheer terror as she saw him standing up again. Scourge Cloud tucked the casebook with his notes under one of his wings. ”No? Then maybe Portable Cloud Dispersal Machine?” He cocked his head and walked towards her. She shook her head once again shrinking slightly together. He stopped in front of her, lowering his head while lifting hers with a hoof, so they were now on the same eyes level. ”You wouldn’t lie to me wouldn’t you?” 

“N-no...” Her voice trembling in fear, she clenched her eyes shut.

“I understand Miss Star.” The stallion let go of her and turned towards the door. “Nevertheless I would appreciate if you could try to control your bladder during future conversations.”

The mare started trembling in a growing yellow puddle. Ruby felt ashamed. A slight touch was enough to make her lose control over her body...  

“Don’t bother about it and stay where you are.” He opened the door. “I will send for a physician to take care of you.” He mused for a moment. ”And for somepony to get rid of this mess afterwards. Have a nice day Miss Star.”  

After closing the door Scourge Cloud could hear the mare bailing in the room behind his back. He reached to the little holotape player and started one of the tracks.

“Hm... Frederick Hoofin’s  nocturne f-moll? How fitting.” He said to himself while walking down the empty corridor.


oooOooo