> Fallout Equestria: Clearer Skies
>  by TicTac
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I groaned as I rolled out of bed, my leg swinging out at my alarm clock.  I missed, flailing for a second before tumbling unceremoniously onto the floor of my room.

“Oof!” I exclaimed, getting back onto my hooves and shutting my alarm clock off.

Just another day in Stable 199.  I thought, rubbing my eyes and making my way into my bathroom.  I looked at my reflection in the mirror, studying it.  My black mane stuck up oddly in several places, part of it covering my right eye, while the rest fell haphazardly over my ash-grey coat.  Sighing, I scooped up a brush with a hoof and struggled with it until it looked halfway decent.  I spread my wings, giving myself a good stretch before looking down at the PipBuck on my leg, a 4000 model.  It was black, the display red.  I looked at the notes scrolling across the screen.

Schedule: Breakfast, Firing Range, Lunch w/ Scopes, Meeting w/ Overmare, Patrol, Break for Dinner, Patrol.

I sighed, just the usual, ordinary, boring day.  I exited the bathroom, pulling my security helmet and barding off the floor outside the bathroom door.  I pulled the barding on with relative ease, slipping my helmet on so that the eyepiece hung down over my left eye.  Opening my closet, I took out my baton and Ironshod Firearms Desert Eagle pistol, which I shared my name with.  I slid the clip out and seeing it had all seven of the .50 caliber shots slammed it back into the gun.  I slid it into its leg holster above my PipBuck, and then attached the baton to a spring-loaded mount on my front leg that did not have my PipBuck.  With the click of a button, it would shoot out, becoming a metal extension of my leg.  I grabbed five extra clips for my Deagle, as I called it, into some pockets on my barding.

Satisfied, I closed the closet door and exited my room as my helmet integrated with my PipBuck, the Tactical Assessment Computer display, or TAC, flickering up on my helmet’s eyepiece.  I flipped it up and continued down the grey metal hallway towards the cafeteria.  Hardly anypony else was awake as I emerged into the Atrium, hopping into the air and flying over to the cafeteria entrance.

I snatched up three apple pastries from the counter and made my way over to my table in the corner near the door, plopping down at it.  As I nommed hungrily through my pastries I saw two ponies rush past the door uncharacteristically fast.  Curious, I rose from my table and poked my head out the door after them.  It was the Overmare, with the head of security, Melody.  Melody seemed to know I was there, as she turned around as soon as I stuck my head out.

“Desert! Come with us! Quickly!” She said urgently.

I nodded, following the two mares out into the Atrium where the rest of the security ponies were gathered.  There were five earth ponies, and one other pegasus besides myself, the rest of the ponies being unicorns.  They were also all mares, except for me.  I trotted over to the other pegasus.

“Hey Scopes.” I said as I arrived next to her.

“Hey.” Scopes replied, brushing her grey mane away from her brown eyes and pushing her black fedora up.

“You know what’s going on?” I asked her.

In response, the black pegasus pointed a hoof towards the stable door “That.” She said.

It was only then that I noticed the tapping and muffled voices emanating from the other side of the cog-shaped door.

Before I had a chance to say anything else though, the door hissed as the pin that locked it slid away, the arm slowly rolling the door away.  I watched with the rest of the security ponies as at least two dozen ponies, clad nose to hoof in metal armor, with battle saddles displaying a range of missiles, magical energy rifles, automatic grenade launchers, high-powered rifles, and miniguns, stepped through the doorway and into the Atrium.

“We are the Steel Rangers, and this is our Stable now.”

> Chapter 1: Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Escape

I stared at the steel-clad ponies, taking a moment to process what had been said.  The Overmare stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak.

“You h-” She was cut off by the cracking report of the lead Ranger’s rifle and a bullet punching into her chest.

“FUCK!”

I tackled Scopes to the side as a missile exploded in front of us and all hell broke loose.  I threw me and Scopes through the nearest doorway and bashed the controls with my hoof.

“What now?” Scopes asked over the noise of explosions and gunfire coming from the other side of the door.

I thought for a moment.  The weapons security carried stood no chance against the Steel Ranger’s armor, so if we wanted to have any hope of escaping we’d have to find more powerful weaponry.  I remembered the armory had a couple of sniper rifles that hadn’t been used for anything but target shooting since the Stable had been sealed up.

“We need to get up to the armory.” I said. “There’s some sniper rifles up there that should be powerful enough to get through that armor.”

Scopes nodded. “Alright.” She unslung her AA-12 shotgun, racking the first round into the chamber.

I drew my Deagle and began cantering down the hall.  We reached the staircase to the second floor right as the door to the atrium was blown open. “Shit! Run!”

We galloped up the stairs as a minigun revved up and started pelting the area with bullets behind us.

I bucked the door control at the top of the stairs like I had done to the last one, hoping that would give us at least another thirty seconds or so.  It didn’t, bullets ripping through it before we could even get halfway up the stairs to the third floor.

Scopes fired wildly behind us with her AA-12 as we made a mad scramble up the stairs to the third floor in a vain attempt to cover our flanks.  Thankfully, or security barding was strong enough to stop the several rounds that did hit us as we dived through the door.

I hit the panel to close it, and the second set of security doors, for this was the security level.  I heard bullets pinging off the other side as me and Scopes flew for the armory.

I hurriedly typed in the password on the terminal, sighing with slight relief when the door to the armory slid open.  I went in, and Scopes shut the door behind us, standing next to it with her AA-12 at the ready.

I made my way towards the very last two lockers in the armory, one labeled IF-47 and the other IF-107.  I opened the IF-47 one first, pulling out the silenced sniper rifle and its accompanying battle saddle.  “Scopes, here you go!” I heard her trot over and begin putting it on as I opened the second locker.

Inside the second locker was the longest, most powerful sniper rifle Ironshod Firearms had ever made, an IF-107.  Only 1000 of them had been completed before the bombs fell, and this was one of the 10 custom made left-hoofed models of the rifle.

I took the rifle out, my eyes running down it with fascination like they had every time I had used it during practice scenarios.  From the styled muzzle brake, the sleek black barrel, the swivel bipod, the magnificent scope, the surprisingly smooth bit trigger, all the way down to the stock and the inscription engraved in gold lettering on it, The Undoer.

I pulled out the battle saddle.  It was an interesting design, allowing only for one weapon to be fitted on its left side, while the right side was extra ammo storage.  It also had two saddle bags that hung off the back extension.

I threw it on, and attached The Undoer to the quick-release mounting system on it.  I pulled out a box of ammo from the locker next, and loaded the 100 rounds of FMJ ammo into the auto reload system of the battle saddle, which in turn loaded the sniper rifle’s clip with 10 rounds.

I blinked as my PipBuck beeped, interfacing with the saddle and rifle, the scope view of The Undoer coming up on my eyepiece when I flipped it down.  I turned to Scopes, who was finishing securing her AA-12 to her own battle saddle with the IF-47. “You ready?”

Scopes nodded, and a moment later the sound of the door to the stairs being blown across the hallway reached our ears.

“Well, good, cause here they come.”
I moved into position behind a stack of metal boxes, settling my sights on the door as Scopes did the same somewhere behind me.  The stomping of metal hooves got louder, and then stopped right outside the door to the armory, which was promptly sent flying backwards as the Steel Ranger stepped into the room.

I immediately slipped into SATS, and targeted two shots to the Steel Ranger’s head, hoping that even the Ranger power armor wouldn’t stand up to a couple of .50 caliber rounds.

I fired, and sighed with relief as it turned out that it couldn’t.  Both shots penetrated, and the Steel Ranger went down before they could fire a single shot.

“Nice shooting Dez.” Scopes said, trotting up behind me.

“Thanks, now let’s get the hell outta dodge.”


***


“Well shit.” I muttered.

We had snuck our way back down to the atrium, only to find it swarming with Steel Rangers.  I could see the mutilated corpses of the security ponies scattered around the floor, and I could hear intermittent gunfire and explosions drifting from the other parts of the stable.  “They didn’t stand a chance…” I muttered, pulling my head back from the doorway and into the small room we were hiding in.

“Well, we’re not getting out that way.” I said, turning to Scopes, who nodded.

“If I remember correctly, isn’t there some sort of escape tunnel down on sub-level three?” She said, checking her PipBuck.  “Yeah, there is, Emergency Access Tunnel 199-1 it’s called.”

I nodded. “But the maintenance entrance is on the other side of the atrium, how are we gonna get over there without being filled with holes and then blown up?”

Scopes grinned and pointed up, to the vent grate in the ceiling above us. “Through the ventilation of course, please don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all those nights we snuck around the stable using it.”

I grinned back. “Of course I don’t, let’s do it!” I flew up to the grate and pulled it off, letting Scopes fly into the surprisingly spacious air ducts of Stable 199 before I followed, pulling the grate back on behind me.

We snuck quietly along the air duct, the sounds of the Steel Rangers discussing something drifting up to my ears as we went.

“…lost contact with Paladin Breeze.  He went after those two pegasi that were in the stairwell.” One of them was saying.

Curious, I stopped, and peered down at them through a grate.  There were two Steel Rangers standing next to a terminal, one’s armor seeming more fancy than the others.

“Well, did you have the feed from his helmet?” The one with the fancy armor asked.

The other Ranger nodded. “Yes ma’am, I’ll put it up on the screen.” He said, fiddling with the terminal a moment before stepping back.  On it was the staticy view of what the Steel Ranger that had been pursuing us had been seeing.

I watched as he blew the door to the armory off and stepped inside, catching a glimpse of me aiming The Undoer at him.  His helmet began flashing a targeting warning, but then the screen flashed white and an error message flashed up: Ranger #144707 ‘Paladin Breeze’ KIA.

I turned and continued on before I caught more of their conversation, having heard enough.

We passed several more grates before finally reaching the one that was on the stairs down to the maintenance wing.  Scopes kicked the grate out and dropped into the stairway below, me following.

I checked EFS. “Shit, they are down here too.” I muttered, looking at the multitude of red bars. “Well, let’s get to that tunnel before they notice us.”

We made our way down into the maintenance wing of the stable, moving quickly through it.  All of the Steel Rangers seemed to be on the floor below us, on the Reactor level, and the tunnel was below that.

I paused at the doorway leading down to the reactor, looking at Scopes. “Alright, we’re gonna make a beeline straight for sub-level three, try and not get shot.”

Scopes nods, pulling her fedora down. “Let’s do it.”

I opened the door and charged through, Scopes right behind me, flying over top of the first Steel Ranger that had been waiting for us as she sprayed the area we had just been with a minigun.

I turned midflight and squeezed off a shot at the back of her head, turning it into red paste inside her helmet.  I flipped around just in time to avoid a missile shooting past, and dove towards the door that lead down to sub-level three, right as another minigun revved to life behind us. “Shit!”

I slammed my hoof into the door release and dove through, dragging Scopes behind me as I punched in the lockdown codes into the terminal on the other side.

The door slammed shut, followed by a much heavier blast door.

I sank down against the wall, out of breath.  I looked myself over for injuries, but my barding had done its job, leaving me without any bullet or shrapnel wounds. “Hey Scopes, are you alright?”

No response.

“Scopes? Scopes!” I looked at where the black mare was still lying on the floor, unmoving.  There was also a pool of blood beginning to form underneath her.

“Oh no…” I leapt into action, searching my barding for medical supplies.  Thankfully I at least had a roll of bandages.

I grabbed them, and moved over to Scopes, finding that the source of the blood was from several bullet holes along her unprotected left hind leg.  I wrapped the roll of bandages around it tightly, hoping that that would be enough until I could get her proper medical attention.

I hoisted her onto my back, and trotted over to a door marked as Restricted.  I swiped my security keycard in the slot next to the door, stepping back as it slid open, a gust of cold wind hitting me in the face.

I hesitated for a moment, and then stepped into the tunnel, the door shutting automatically behind me.  There was no turning back now.

I flew slowly down the long tunnel, only a few feet above the ground.  After a while, the tunnel sloped up, and I came upon a set of rotted wooden doors.

I burst out into the Wasteland, a second surge of cool air almost knocking me to the ground.  I quickly gained altitude, a fairly challenging feat when carrying another pegasus on your back.  Coming to a hover, I took in my surroundings.  The sky was a mass of grey clouds, and the sun seemed to be setting behind them.

Odd, I just woke up a couple of hours ago.  I thought.  I kept hovering for another five minutes or so, taking in what this new outside world felt like.  Eventually I spotted a very tall building several miles distant, which seemed to pierce through the cloud cover.

That looks like a good place, but I doubt I can make it there tonight.  I thought, and decided to find a closer place to spend the night in.  I spied some mountains rising about a mile to the west of us, and began to fly towards them.


***


I had spied a small shack on the opposite side of one of the mountains, perched atop a sheer cliff.  By this time, I was utterly exhausted, carrying Scopes over the mountains had been no easy task.  I began dropping down towards the shack, aiming for a soft landing in the front, but my legs seemed to have other ideas.  As I came in to land, my legs decided to give out from underneath me as soon as they hit the ground, sending both me and the still unconscious Scopes tumbling into the side of the shack with a loud thud.

“Ow.” I muttered, getting back to my hooves.  I looked over to where Scopes had landed at, her bandages still in place, and began to trot over to her.

CHICK-CHINK!

I froze in my tracks at the sound of a battle saddle’s charging handle racking a round into the chamber.

“Ah wouldn’t move if ah was ya.” A voice above me said.  In front of me landed a rust colored pegasus wearing a black desperado hat. “Ah reckon ya wouldn’t mind tellin’ me jus’ what ya’ll are doin’ on muh porch now?  Ah don’t take kindly to Enclave jus’ droppin’ by.” he said.

“W-we need a place to spend the night, and my friend here is hurt.” I said nervously.

The rust colored pegasus kept his guns trained on me, glancing back at where Scopes lay. “Oh muh, that is not good.” He said, looking her over.  He hesitated for a moment. “Bring her inside an ah’ll see what ah can do.”

I nodded, going over to Scopes, hefting her back onto my back and retrieving her fedora.  I carried both inside the pegasus’s shack, the pegasus keeping the dual rifles on his battle saddle trained on us the whole time.

The pegasus gestured to a bed in the far corner “Put ‘er over there.” He said, rummaging through a cabinet and pulling out a medical box as I gently laid Scopes on the bed.  I hoofed off my helmet and pulled my battle saddle and barding off, leaving my Deagle in its holster on my leg.

“Ah’ll be takin’ that.” Calamity said, pulling the pistol from its holster.  He took it and both of our battle saddles, putting them on a table that he could see while tending to Scopes.

Everypony I knew except one.  Gone.  Just like that.  And on top of it all, we were in the care of a pegasus who thought we were sent from whatever the Enclave was, whom I guessed were hell-bent on killing him or something.  It was too much.  I swore to whatever Goddess that was out there that the Steel Rangers would pay for what they did.

“I’m gonna take a nap.” I said, lying down on the floor.  I watched as the pegasus began tending to Scopes before drifting off into a restless sleep.


***


BOOM!

I awoke with a start at the sound of thunder booming through.  Lightning flashed through the air, illuminating everything for a brief moment.  It was followed shortly by a loud CRACK!

I jumped a little, looking around.  I was still in the pegasus’s shack, and Scopes was still lying in the bed, her side and wing healed.  I saw the pegasus sitting at the table where had put our weapons, and was studying my battle saddle closely.  I got up, rain beginning to drum heavily on the roof as the storm began.

He looked up as I approached him. “So, did tha Enclave finally get up enough courage to come an’ hunt me down?” He asked. “’Cause ah’d say they need to send better operatives.”

“Wait what? Who’s the Enclave? Who are you? And why the hell do you think that me and my friend are Enclave?” I asked, confused.

Calamity chuckled and seemed to relax a little. “Stable dweller, ah presume?”

I nodded “Fresh out of Stable 199.  Steel Rangers attacked…” I trailed off, shuddering at the memory still fresh in my mind.

“Well then, ah ‘pologise.  Thought you and yah friend were Enclave soldiers dressed up ‘n whatever armor they thought would blend ‘n an’ whatnot.  Don’t see too many Stable pegasi.” He said.  “Muh name’s Calamity.”

“I’m Desert Eagle, and my friend over there is Quick Scope, but she likes to go by Scopes.” I said.

“Nice to meet ya.” Calamity said. “This here’s a pretty nice piece o’ equipment.” He looked back down at my battle saddle. “Ahn it’s got an IF-107!  Those are a might rare ah tell ya.  Haven’t seen one since ah was a colt.  Won the Best Young Sharpshooters Competition four years in a row with it.” He said. “Where’d yah get it?”

“From my Stable.” I replied.

Calamity nodded slowly. “What use is there for ah fifty in ah Stable?” He asked.

“Beats me.  It was in a locker at the back of the armory.  Looked like it hadn’t been opened since the Stable was closed up, but it was in full working order when I found it.” I said.  “So who are these Enclave ponies you thought me and Scopes were?”

Calamity proceeded to tell me about the Enclave, how he had become a Dashite, and then moved onto the topic of the Wasteland itself.  He told me everything he knew.  Raiders, slavers, ghoul zombie ponies, and anything else that he told me I filed away in my brain.

Eventually, Scopes stirred, awaking with a jolt as thunder cracked overhead.  “Scopes! You’re awake!” I cried, trotting over to her as she got out of Calamity’s bed.

“W-where are we?” She asked, looking around frantically.

I quickly told her everything that had transpired from the time she had blacked out until now. “So once this storm dies down we will head on over to that city I saw.” I finished saying.

Calamity, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke up. “Ya’ll are gonna go to Seaddle?  Ah would stay away from that place if ah was ya.  That Luna Needle houses nothin’ but raiders around it, an’ ah heard tell o’ an old Ministry o’ Awesome black-ops facility out there too.  Nothin’ good can come out o’ that place.” He said.  “Why would ya even want t’ go there?”

“Well, primarily because we don’t have many other places to go that we’d be safe from these Enclave pegasi that made you a Dashite.  Plus, we need somewhere to plan out how to take revenge for 199.” I replied, Scopes nodding in agreement.

“Well ah can’t say ah didn’t warn ya.”


***


Winds buffeted Scopes and me as we winged our way towards Seaddle.  We had left Calamity’s shack an hour ago, the storm having subsided.  He had left with us to go escort a caravan from New Appleoosa or something.

“Calamity said that the Luna Needle hasn’t been able to be opened since the megaspell hit Seaddle.” I said, looking at the tower that loomed in the distance.

“Well, we’re gonna be the ponies that open it!” Scopes declared.


***


We landed on the top floor of a crumbling building at the edge of downtown Seaddle.  I gazed up at the Luna Needle, the black tower stretching up above the clouds.  As I finally looked back down, I saw movement down the street.

“Scopes, bring up your E.F.S., I think I saw something down there.” I said to her quietly, bringing up my own EFS  display.  The display jumped to life with a dozen red bars, Scopes’s bar a green one.

“Raiders.” Scopes muttered.  We took to the air, spotting the raiders approaching the building we had landed on.  They were armed with various weapons, ranging from spears to a couple shotguns.

Scopes fired first, downing the lead raider with a single shot from her sniper rifle.  I activated S.A.T.S. and targeted two more raiders.  My sniper rifle boomed twice and the tow raiders fell.  Within five minutes, we had dispatched all twelve of the raiders.  As we descended, I reloaded my sniper rifle, searching the raiders’ bodies for anything useful, and only finding a few bottle caps.

“Let’s keep moving.” I said, checking my EFS display again.  It only had Scopes’s green bar on it, for now at least.  I switched the display onto my helmet’s eyepiece so I could keep a better eye on it.

We were walking down what appeared to have been the main road, having decided that flying drew too much attention to ourselves.  My PipBuck began clicking softly as we drew closer to the Luna Needle.


***


I held up a hoof, signaling a stop.  We were only a block away from the entrance to the Luna Needle, which according to my EFS, was swarming with raiders, and whatever ponies that were represented by the yellow bars.  I switched the eyepiece’s display back to my sniper rifle's scope, and nodded towards the building that stood to our right.

“Let’s head on up there.” I said to Scopes, who nodded.  We made our way up into the building, peering out of the third floor window.  Below us was more or less of a small town of raiders, who occupied the ruined buildings taking up the city block in front of the Needle’s entrance.

“Damn.” Scopes muttered, looking over the town. “How we gonna get through that?” She asked.

“Don’t know.  There’s too many of them to fly over, and besides, I would prefer to work on the door without being shot at.” I said. “I guess we will have to fight them.”

Scopes nodded. “Yeah, guess so.” She said.  She looked over the town, studying it for several minutes before speaking again. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll stay here, and Desert, you go over to the top floor of that building over there.” She pointed a hoof at a building that was off to the right of the raider town. “I’ll take out the sniper in the tower first, and then you take out the two guarding the entrance to the town.” She said.

I nodded “And then we just take out the rest of them.” I said.  Scopes nodded. “Alright, sounds like a plan then.”

I snuck back down to the street, making my way over to the building Scopes had indicated.  Making my way up to the top, I sighted in on my targets and waited.

I did not have to wait long.  I heard the high-pitched crack of Scopes’s sniper rifle, followed by a fleshy thud as the bullet impacted its target.  I fired immediately, not needing SATS on the two unmoving ponies.  My sniper rifle boomed as I opened fire, taking out the guards, and then targeting other raiders as they scrambled for cover that the .50 caliber rounds punched right through.

SWOOSH! BOOM!

A missile impacted the back wall of the room I was in, knocking me out the window.  I snapped my wings open, my legs stinging from where shrapnel had cut into them.  I quickly gained altitude, finding the raider with the missile launcher and making his head disappear.

Soon I was joined by Scopes as we hovered back-to-back, firing and reloading as fast as we could.

Click.

“Luna damn it!” Scopes yelled. “I’m out of ammo!”

I checked my ammo count quickly.  Only four 10-round clips left.  “I almost out too.” I replied. “And Celestia only knows how hard it’s gonna be to find more .50 caliber ammo out here.  Might as well make good use of it.  Your shotgun still full?”

“Yep!”

“Alright, let’s go down there and kick some raider flank!” I yelled, drawing my Deagle.  Together we dived down into the middle of the raider town.  I checked my EFS, seeing that the remaining red bars were in the same building with the three yellow bars now.  We approached the building, Scopes blowing the first raider she saw to bits as we entered.

I leapt towards another raider, hearing the loud thudding of Scopes’s auto-shotgun as I avoided the raider’s knife and putting a round into her chest.  Whipping around, I snapped out my baton, catching the raider behind me in the neck with a loud snap.  Shooting two more raiders, and bashing several heads in with my baton, I moved into the next room, and discovered what the yellow bars were.

They were prisoners, the three of them guarded by the final raider, who had a grenade.  He pulled the pin right as Scopes grabbed me, diving to the side.  The explosion ripped through the doorway a moment later, sending debris falling on top of us.

Scopes pushed some boards off of us, coughing a few times as she got up.  “You ok Desert?” she asked, helping me to my hooves.

I nodded. “Never better.” I said. “Now let’s go get that door open!”





Scopes's Rifle

> Chapter 2: The Needle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: The Needle

I tried not to think about the three young prisoners, their expressions burned into my mind.  Don’t think about it Desert, don’t think about it.  I thought to myself, shaking my head quickly.  We reached the entrance to the Luna Needle a moment later.

I looked at the tinted glass windows that lined the front of the building. “Stand back.” I said, taking aim at one of the windows with my sniper rifle.  I fired, and the glass cracked, but didn’t break even as I fired a second round into the same spot.

“Damn, guess we have to try the door now.” Scopes said.

I nodded and approached the set of double doors.  I reached out a hoof and touched the handle.  A searing pain tore through my body and I cried out, being thrown back a good five feet.  The stupid door was electrified!

Scopes rushed over to me as I shakily got back on my hooves.  “Ok, not trying that again.” I said. “Let’s find a stick or something.” I looked at the ground and saw several sticks, all severely charred. “On second thought, let’s not use a stick.”

Scopes nodded “There’s probably a back door.” She said. “And if there is, it’s probably in the sewers.”


***


I quickly decided that sewers sucked.  We trudged through an inch of sludge that was making both our PipBucks go clickity-click, and the only light came from their lamps.

“This sucks.” I muttered, almost running into the wall as the tunnel turned sharply, ending abruptly with a metal grate.  I shined my lamp towards it, illuminating the tunnel beyond.  It was in much better condition than the tunnel we were currently in.

“I think we found it.” Scopes said.  She kicked a rock at it, and I sighed in relief when it didn’t cause a huge electrical discharge. “But, I think you’re gonna have to shoot it with that overkill of a sniper rifle.”

I nodded, and she ran back around the corner as I leveled my sniper rifle at the grate and fired.  It was very, very loud.

I staggered, my ears ringing loudly as my vision swam, trying to regain focus.  I leaned up against the wall as Scopes came staggering back around the bend and said something that I couldn’t hear.

“What?” I shouted back, barley able to hear myself as the ringing began slowly fading.

“I said, you’re and idiot! I thought that thing had a silencer!” Scopes replied.

I shrugged my wings. “Lost it.” I said.

Scopes rolled her eyes and climbed through the large hole that my sniper rifle had put into the grate.  I followed her, and we continued down the tunnel that was now under the Needle, searching for a way out.


***


I bucked down a door, and stepped into the atrium of the Luna Needle.  The tunnel had doubled back and ended in a flight of stairs that connected it to the atrium via a janitor’s closet.  I walked over to where the windows we had been outside of earlier were at.  I looked out and grinned, looking up at the sky.  My grin fell from my face as I saw ten black specks approaching at an alarmingly fast rate.

“Hey Scopes, you’re gonna want to come and take a look at this.” I said, pulling up my scope on my eyepiece.  I zoomed in on the ten specks as Scopes peered down her scope that was mounted on the firing bit bar of her battle saddle.

“Oh my, that’s not good.” She said.

The ten specks were now ten pegasi encased in black power armor, and as they got closer I was able to see the scorpion tail, gold visors, and dual-mounted Novasurge rifles.  It was the Enclave.

“Well shit!” Scopes swore.  “What the hell do we do now?”

“Hide.” I replied. “I have no idea why they’re here, but if they find us we’re screwed.”

Scopes nodded. “Let’s hurry then.”


***


Bzzzzzzzz CRASH!

The sound of a Novasurge rifle smashing through one of the bulletproof windows heralded the arrival of the Enclave pegasi.  Scopes and I had found a hidden crawlspace beneath a section of the atrium floor, and were now lying as still and quiet as we could as the Enclave entered the Luna Needle.

“Those two Dashites sure made it easy to get in here.  Ah wasn’t looking forward to fighting a bunch o’ surface ponies.” One of them said, her voice slightly muffled by the floor.

They had been watching us!

“Yeah.  I wonder how they got in here.  My EFS says they should be right here.” Another said, stomping a hoof right over my head.

Of course they had EFS!

“Hey Sarge, stomp there again, it sounded kinda hollow.”

The pegasus stomped again. “You’re right Private, it does sound hollow.” She said.

Oh. Shit.

“Move!” I mouthed to Scopes, both of us quickly scuttling backwards before the pegasus slammed through the floor with a massive kick.

Dust filled the air as the armor-clad Sergeant dropped into the crawlspace in front of us.  “Hey Lieutenant!  I found ‘em!” She shouted, and then lashed out at us with her scorpion tail before I could react.  Everything went black.


***


When I opened my eyes the first things I noticed were that I had been stripped of my weapons and equipment, my wings were tied, and that my legs were chained together.  I looked around, seeing that Scopes was similarly bound next to me.  We were in a small room, and through the open door I could see the atrium, until one of the Enclave pegasi, wearing only his battle saddle, stepped into the room and closed it.

“I see that you’re awake.” He said, fixing us in his gaze. “My name is Lieutenant Banked Curve of the Enclave Surface Item Recovery Team 2.”  He said. “Who are you and why are you interfering with a secret Enclave operation?”

I stared at him a moment before speaking. “I’m Desert Eagle, and this here’s my friend Scopes.  We’re from Stable 199, and we are not interfering with any operation, we were here first!”

Banked Curve snorted. “Surface stable pegasi?  Didn’t think those even existed, unless you two are lying of course.” He said. “And it doesn’t matter if you were here first, you’re still here.”

“So, are you going to kill us, brand us, or what?” Scopes retorted.

Banked Curve chuckled. “Well for now, neither.  We will take you both back to our base after we are done here and brand you as Dashites, and then give you a one day head start before we inform the hunter teams of you.” He said.

My mind raced, and I suddenly came up with an idea. “Well that’s…stupid.” I said. “If you’re going to have us killed anyway, why don’t you just do it now, save you some time.” I shuffled closer to him, blocking his view of Scopes. “And if you kill us now, you won’t risk us escaping en route to your base.” I said, trying to give Scopes more time.  I heard a soft click as Scopes’s chains came free. “So, what it’ll be?  Now or later?”

Banked Curve stared at me for several moments before he answered. “Well, I’ve never had Dashites actually ask to not have a chance to escape, so I guess I’ll take your advice.  Now.”  He leveled his Novasurge rifles at me. “Any last words?”

“Yeah, surprise motherfucker!” I said, ducking.

Scopes leapt over me, her chains left behind on the floor.  She landed on top of Banked Curve, and wrapped her hind legs around his neck, one foreleg around his muzzle, and the other over his eyes.  She wrestled him to the ground as he tried in vain to fire his rifles.

“Scopes, could you be so kind as to restrain and disarm the good lieutenant while I get these chains off?” I asked with a grin.

She nodded, squeezing Banked Curve’s neck until he blacked out.

I hobbled over to where she had dropped the bobby pin from her hair and unlocked my shackles.  I turned back to Banked Curve, who was now tied up with Scopes’s chains, disarmed, and conscious again.

“Well now, it looks like the tables have been turned.” I said, hearing Scopes chuckle a little.

Banked Curve snorted. “All I have to do is yell, and my men will be in here in an instant.” He said.

“Then why haven’t you?” I asked.

Banked Curve stared at me for a minute before he dropped his gaze. “Because you two don’t deserve to die.” He said quietly. “You see my cutie mark?”

I looked at it, confused.  It was a cloud in the shape of a ‘C’. “What about it?”

As if on cue, it fell off?!  Revealed beneath it was a Dashite brand.

“That’s why.” Banked Curve said. “Both me and Sergeant Tailgate are Dashites.  We were part of Captain Deadshot Calamity’s old squad back when he went Dashite.  Me and Tailgate wanted to go with him, but Corporal Gunslinger and Private Barrel Roll didn’t.  When he made his speech about how the surface wasn’t how we thought it was and left, we followed.  All three of us were captured the next day by the Wonderbolts and branded.  We were given a choice to either live on the surface and be hunted down by the Enclave, or continue to serve them as the head of an ESIR team.  Calamity told us not to follow him, so we didn’t and formed ESIR Team 2.  Additionally, we are required to capture, brand, and inform the Enclave of any Dashites we find, or be executed for treason.”  Banked Curve finished, looking back up at me.

I thought for a moment before answering.  “Well, that’s good and all, but it still doesn’t explain why you were going to take my advice and kill us earlier.” I said, glaring at him.

“As for that, well, I wasn’t going to actually do it.  I acted like I was going to, too keep the eight others, who are Enclave privates sent to us for discipline and don’t take kindly to Dashites, thinking that I wasn’t a Dashite.  I would have fired above you, and then knocked you out, letting you escape during my watch tonight.” He replied.

I remained silent for a long while, mulling over his story in my head.  Finally I turned to Scopes. “Let him go Scopes, I don’t think he’s going to do anything to us.” I said.

Scopes nodded an released the lieutenant, stepping back from him as he got slowly to his hooves.

I picked up his battle saddle and set it down in front of him. “Now, you’re going to go out there and tell your ponies that we are two Enclave captains on a black-ops mission, and that we will assist you in your efforts for the time being.” I said.

He nodded, putting his battle saddle back on.  “Follow me.” He said, and pushed open the door, the three of us filing back into the atrium.  All of the Enclave pegasi, excluding the one I identified as Sergeant Tailgate, looked at us, surprised as Banked Curve told them what I had said.

“Now, Private Swept Wing, if you could return Captain Desert’s and Captain Scopes’s weapons and gear to them, I need to have a word with Sergeant Tailgate for a moment.” He said, moving off to the corner with her.

“Yes sir.” Swept Wing said, reluctantly returning our gear to us.  “There’s a bunch of ammo in those cabinets behind the reception desk, sirs.” He said, pointing at the desk with a hoof.

“Thanks.” I said, pulling my helmet back on.  I made my way over to the desk he had indicated, looking over at the ammo boxes that lay strewn across the floor.

Scopes happily hoofed open a full box of .308 rounds, and let out a squeal of delight as she found another box full of .308AP rounds, loading both into her battle saddle.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes happily.  I scanned the boxes, my eyes landing on a pile of four boxes, two marked IF.50AE, and the other two marked IF.50AP.  I grinned delight as I loaded three clips of my Deagle with each kind of round, slipping the extras into my saddle bags. “See any rounds for my 107?” I asked Scopes, scanning the rest of the boxes littering the floor.

“Nope.” Scopes replied around a box of 12-gauge shells.

“Damn.”


***


“A Stable?  They’re recovering a Stable?” I said to Scopes, who shrugged.  I stared at the cog-shaped door in front of me, the number 198 displayed on it.  We had descended into the bowels of the Luna Needle, finally reaching the Stable after making our way through five levels of sub-basements.

What do you need six basements for anyway? I wondered as Swept Wing fiddled with the controls for the door.

“I got it!  Stand back everypony!” He shouted as the door hissed an began to open.

Suddenly I began to have a bad feeling about doing this, flashbacks of 199 storming through my mind.

“You alright Desert?” Scopes asked.  I looked up at her, seeing the same feelings reflected back in her eyes.  She nodded. “I know, but we have to focus on this right now.  This will not be like 199.” She said, tucking my mane back under my helmet where it had fallen over my right eye.  “Alright Desert?”

I nodded. “Alright Scopes.” I replied, turning to the now open Stable door.  We followed the rest of the pegasi inside.


***


“Yippee!” I exclaimed, my eyes falling on eleven boxes of .50 caliber IFMG ammo.  Five boxes of regular and AP rounds each, and one box of API rounds too!  I could barley load the ammo I was so excited.  Making my way out of the armory, I trotted back to the atrium where Scopes, Swept Wing, and Banked Curve were.  The rest of the squad was searching the Stable for plans to something called the OFC.  Thankfully, the Stable had appeared to be empty, even though the doors hadn’t been opened in the last 200 years.

Wait!  What was that?  I whirled around as a distant screaming issued from the doorway leading down into the maintenance section of the Stable.  I heard the sound of two pairs of Novasurge rifles firing getting closer, along with the screaming.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Scopes muttered, both of us dropping into battle stances.  Swept Wing and Banked Curve followed suit, six of the eight squad members showing up a moment later.

I took a step back as they landed around us, and then nearly puked up my lunch as  an enormous amount of blood painted the wall opposite the doorway red.  Out of the doorway stepped a zombie pony.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” I screamed, following the rest of the pegasi into the air as more and more zombie ponies flooded out into the atrium, an entire Stable’s worth of them.

“Quick!  Close the door!  We can’t let them escape.” Banked Curve shouted, Tailgate diving down and closing the huge door.

“Great, now we’re trapped in here with like 300 of those things.” I said. “There’s no way we can kill all of them, they outnumber us like 30 to 1.”

“But we have wings and guns, and they don’t.”  Scopes replied, rational as ever.

I sighed, yanking The Undoer’s charging handle back with a satisfying clank.

Then the Enclave pegasi dropped every single explosive they happened to have into the mass of zombie ponies.

KA-B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The series of explosives going off in rapid succession tore through the zombie ponies, sending chunks of their decaying flesh flying in every direction.  Despite almost half of the zombie ponies being downed, half of them got right back up.

“Not cool.” I muttered, and then opened fire with my sniper rifle.


***


I paused to reload, the barrel of The Undoer was glowing, smoke rising from the tip after 30 minutes of nonstop firing.  Scopes flew over to me, both her shotgun and sniper rifle barrels glowing and smoking as well.

“We can’t keep this up for much longer.” I said to her.  There were only 50 or so zombie ponies left, but I was exhausted, as was everypony else.  It turned out that while these zombie ponies couldn’t fly, they could jump pretty damn high.  Six of the Enclave ponies had been lost, leaving only Banked Curve, Tailgate, Swept Wing, and another private.  They were perched on a ledge next to me.

The young private took off again, and I watched, horrified, as one of the zombie ponies leapt up and bit down on her wing, and pulled her screaming down into the rest of the zombies.

That was it. I couldn’t take any more of this.  I yanked my Deagle out of its holster and threw myself off the ledge with a scream of rage.  I saw Scopes next to me, and together we dived into the middle of the zombie ponies.

BLAM!  I blasted the first zombie pony’s head I saw clean off, whipping around and catching the one behind me in the neck with my baton.  I bucked another one into a wall, and smashed two more heads with my baton.  My Deagle roared six times, taking down six more zombie ponies.  I reloaded, glancing over to where the thudding of Scopes’s auto-shotgun could be heard tearing apart the zombie ponies with ease.

I noticed that the three remaining Enclave pegasi had also landed, blasting away at the zombies on the other side of the atrium.  I slammed a zombie with the barrel of The Undoer, impaling it and firing.  It was pretty gross, living up to its name by turning the zombie pony into lots of gooey chunks.

A scream issued from Swept Wing as I heard the private fall to the zombie ponies.

“Get out of here!” I heard Banked Curve yell. “We’ll hold ‘em off while you two get out.”

Before I could react, Scopes grabbed me and flew out the door, which Tailgate had opened just enough to let us through.

As she closed it, I heard what would probably be the last words of Calamity’s two old squadmates.

“Tell Calamity he was right!” Tailgate shouted.  “And we would have followed him to the end!”  Banked Curve added. “Now which one of you mother-“

He was cut off as the Stable door clanged shut behind us.

I hovered in the air, staring at the door as Scopes shot the controls to it.

“All of them, just gone, to some stupid, fucking, monstrosity!” My voice rose to a scream at the end, and before I realized it, I was crying into my best friend’s leg as she gently lowered me to the ground.

“First 199, then the prisoners, and then this!  Why did it have to be them?  Why?  Why, Luna damn it, why!” I cried for what seemed like forever until I finally calmed down.  I looked up at Scopes and saw tear stains running down her cheeks as well.

“No more companions.” I said. “Deal?”

“Deal.” She said, giving me a small smile before shooting up into the air. “Let’s get out of here.”


***


It wasn’t until we made it back to the atrium that I noticed we were both hurt, and my PipBuck was clicking like there was no tomorrow. “Hey Scopes, get some RadAway and healing potions.” I said.

I downed both as soon as Scopes got them.  I looked out the windows that lined the front of the atrium, the one the Enclave had busted through having repaired itself.  I looked out at the Wasteland as it darkened, turning the radio on my PipBuck on for the hell of it.

Good evening Wasteland!

I stared at it in surprise as the voice of a buck issued through the speaker.

That was Sweetie Belle you just heard, and now it’s time for the news!  I’ve been getting reports that the raider town that had occupied the area surrounding the Luna Needle in the old pre-war city of Seaddle has been wiped out.  My sources tell me that two heavily armed pegasi, a grey buck and a black mare, are too thank for this.  Well it seems like our resident Dashite Calamity is going to have some company, and he deserves some.  So, if any of you listeners see The Duo, don’t be afraid to say hi.  This is DJ Pon3, bringing you the truth, no matter how much it hurts.

I shut the radio off, stunned.  I looked over at Scopes, who was equally speechless.  How did he know?  I thought, before another thought hit me.  Dear sweet Luna!  We’re on the radio!  Those two thoughts swirled around in my mind before I shook my head to clear them.  “Come on Scopes, let’s get some sleep.” I said, flopping down on the floor.  I took off my helmet, battle saddle, and baton, setting them next to me as I settled in.  I made sure my Deagle had a fresh clip before finally drifting off into a thankfully dreamless sleep.
> Chapter 3: The Legacy of Luna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: The Legacy of Luna

I groaned as the sun hit my face, rolling over and swinging my leg at where my alarm clock would normally be, only to have my hoof collide with the floor.  I opened my eyes in surprise, suddenly remembering where I was.  All the memories of the past two days raged through my mind as I slammed my eyes back closed.

Don’t think about it!  I told myself, shoving them into a pit at the back of my mind.  I opened my eyes again and got up. “Mornin’ Scopes.” I said, pulling my barding and helmet on, and attaching my battle saddle.  I looked over at the black pegasus as she did the same, pulling her fedora on.

“Mornin’ Desert.” She replied. “I’m thinking that today we should explore this place a little, since it seems like we could be calling it home for a while.” She said.

“Great idea Scopes.” I said, realizing that we would, in fact, be calling the Needle home for a while. “And I think that we should start with finding the controls for the security system.  I would love to be able to open the front door without being electrocuted.”

Scopes nodded and trotted over to the reception desk.  I followed her and watched as she hacked into the terminal on it, pulling up a map file of the Luna Needle.  The building was staggering in both size and complexity.

“Where do we start?” I asked as Scopes copied the file into both our PipBucks.

“There.” Scopes replied, indicating a room labeled ‘Security’.

“Oh, of course.” I said.  The room was on the tenth floor, at the top of the atrium. “Let’s go.”

We flew up to the security station, landing in front of the door.  I bucked it open, sending the door crashing to the floor with a crash.  We stepped inside, almost falling from the enormous amount of empty bullet casings littering the floor.

“The hell?” I muttered as I looked around the room.  Bullet casings covered nearly every surface, and bullet holes covered the walls.  All but one of the terminals, which Scopes had already hacked into and disabled the door with, were shot to pieces, and several skeletons lay next to beat up machine guns.

“What happened here?” Scopes said.  She picked up one of the machine guns that still seemed mostly intact. “Hmmm, I wonder if we could mount these somewhere.” She said, looking over it.

I turned my attention to the bones that had been lying next to it.  What’s this?  I wondered, picking a plastic key-card out of the bones.  I looked over it, the front of it reading Cmdr. Silent Sway, NLR Head of Security.  Clearance level 10.  There was a picture of a black unicorn mare below the text.

“Hey Scopes, I think I found something.” I said, turning to her.  She had already opened up four machine guns and had started combining all their parts together to make one working model.

“What’s that?” She asked, staring at the card.

“It’s a card with level 10 security clearance or something.” I replied.

Scopes nodded. “Alright, help me with this stuff then.” She said, hefting the half-built machine gun onto her back.

I nodded and grabbed the other parts that were scattered on the table.  I stepped out into the hallway, noticing that the bullet holes and casings littered not just the security station, but this entire floor as well.  I followed Scopes back down to the atrium floor, giving her the parts. “I’m gonna go back up there, see if I can find anything.” I said.  Scopes nodded.

I flew back up to the tenth floor, looking at the staggering amount of spent ammunition strewn across the floor.  A piece of cloth caught my eye, sticking up from beneath a large machine gun.  I landed next to it, kicking shell casings out of the way, as I shoved the machine gun to the side.  The piece of cloth turned out to be a black flag, white letters spelling out NLR on it.  Oversetting them was a red wing-crest emblem and a blue star.

Those same letters are on the card.  I thought, as I looked the flag over once more before placing it into my saddlebags.  I looked at the map of the Luna Needle on my PipBuck, scrolling through the floors, looking for something interesting.  Two rooms caught my eye.  One, marked OFC R&D Center, spanned all five levels of sub-basements.  The other was marked NLR Operations Center, and was on the fifteenth floor.  I had no real desire to venture into the sub-basements again, so I decided to check out the Ops Center.


***


Identification Required.  The sign on the door leading into the fifteenth floor read.  I eyed the slot next to the door, and pulled Silent Sway’s key-card out.  I slid it into the slot.  A green light flashed and there was a buzz and a click as the door unlocked.

Shnifty.  I thought, pulling the door open.  The hallway beyond was long, barren, and dark, the only other door being at the opposite end of the hallway.

I made my way towards it, eyeing the two turrets mounted in the ceiling in front of the door.  Their EFS bars remained yellow as I reached the door, a gold plate on it reading Level 10 NLR Clearance Only.  I slid the key-card into the slot next to the door, this time a large bolt thudding back and the door swung open with a hiss.

The hallway I stepped into was lined with the same black metal that the exterior had.  A larger version of the flag I had in my saddlebags was hanging across the top of the hallway.  Ammo boxes were scattered around, and a few weapons were leaning up against the wall.  All the rooms in this hallway were unlabeled on my map, with the exception of the NLR Operations Center at the end of the hall.  I made my way towards it.

When I reached the door to the Ops Center, I noticed that there wasn’t any lock on it.  Surprised, I pushed the door open and stepped into the room.  It was not what I expected.

The room was huge, rows of lights flickering to life for fifty feet to my left and right, and a huge bank of screens lined the far wall behind a control board.  The room itself was lined with rows of desks and terminals, most of them still operating after 200 years of neglect.  A banner hanging from the ceiling read The New Lunar Republic: Ob Bonus de Omnis.

So that’s what NLR means.  I thought, making my way over to the bank of viewscreens.  The screens showed views of nearly every area of the building.  Several screens showed static though, including the ones marked as Stable 198 and OFC R&D.  I found the screen marked Atrium and saw Scopes had finished putting together the machine gun.

I turned away from the screens and towards the desks that lined the rest of the room.  I made my way over to the first one on my left, wondering what was on the terminal that sat atop it.  I hit a key with my hoof and the screen jumped to life.

P:\>Session paused for 207y, 54d, 4h. Resume? Y/N

I pressed the ‘Y’ key.

P:\>Welcome back Mr. Oppenhoofer.

A list of files appeared, and I scrolled through them. I selected one called OFC Entries.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #1, Day 1
Received a new assignment from the Princess yesterday.  She wants some sort of orbital cannon that fires a tungsten carbonate slug.  I did some research into this today and discovered that for the slug to breach the atmosphere it will have to have a lining of this concentrated rainbow mixture that Rainbow Dash is developing.  This means the slug will have a rainbow contrail, so I’m going to call it the Orbital Friendship Cannon for the hell of it.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #2, Day 30
Got a letter from Twilight today.  Apparently, the O.I.A. is developing a new megaspell called the Gardens of Equestria.  It’s supposed to be like a fail-safe, to clean up Equestria if there’s a megaspell detonation or something.  But anyway, she wants to use the OFC to amplify the spell, using pure rainbow concentrate. I can’t exactly turn down her request, so I guess the OFC will have a new firing mode.

I skimmed through several entries, stopping on one that had a picture of a tan unicorn buck standing next to a rainbow-maned cyan pegasus mare in front of a huge rocket.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #87, Day 365
We launched the OFC into orbit today.  Commander Rainbow Dash was there to do the honors.  We’ll be doing the first test of the firing system next week.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #88, Day 372
The first test of the Orbital Friendship Cannon was a success.  The tungsten carbonate slug worked exactly as designed, obliterating the target.  The downside is that the slug first caused a massive sonic rainboom when it reentered the atmosphere, and when it hit it caused a large rainbow-colored mushroom cloud.  So much for it being discreet.  Gardens was also commissioned yesterday by the O.I.A. and we’ll be testing that part of the OFC in two more weeks.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #89, Day 380
It’s happening.  Canterlot, Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Hoofington have all been confirmed as hit by zebra megaspells.  Hoofington managed to launch their megaspells though, so we’ll have at least some retaliation.  The OFC has been put on standby, and I’m putting in the coordinates for the zebra capitol of Roam now.

P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Acquiring target... Target acquired.
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Target: Roam.  Fire OFC? Y/N
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Y
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Confirm security passcode: ********
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Passcode confirmed.  Firing OFC.

I never imagined the second time firing this weapon would be in retaliation, but what’s done is done.  They’re evacuating everypony to Stable 198 now, but I can’t imagine Seaddle will be a target.  I don’t think the zebras even know it -.
P:\>Session interrupted, pausing.

I took a step back from the terminal, my mind racing.  This Dr. Oppenhoofer buck had said the OFC had a link with something called the ‘Gardens of Equestria’ that could supposedly clean up the Wasteland.  If we can activate both of them somehow, then Equestria might be able to recover.  I thought, my eyes falling onto a pair of mirrored Aviator sunglasses with gold frames.  I carefully picked them up and slipped them on, so distracted by them that I failed to notice the single red bar coming up behind me until it was too late.

Crack!

A sharp pain tore up through my leg as warnings flashed in my vision.  I dove to the left, drawing my Deagle as another round dug into my barding and a third ricocheted off my helmet.  I turned to face my attacker from behind a filing cabinet, only to see nothing where the red bar was.

They’re fucking invisible!  I ducked back behind the cabinet as another round grazed my helmet.  I rolled out from my cover, hitting SATS.  I targeted the area where my EFS said my attacker should be, a No target found warning flashing on my HUD display.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

I fired three shots and deactivated SATS, diving behind cover again.  I heard two thumps and a cry of pain as two of my rounds struck home.  I leapt into the air, being careful to not slam into the ceiling.  Below me, I saw a zebra?  I stared down in surprise as the zebra threw off a cloak, noting the interesting design of his rifle.

Without another though I dove at him, putting the rest of the Deagle’s clip into his head, splattering blood and guts onto the terminals beyond.  I quickly scooped up his rifle, slinging it over my back.  I looked over at the bank of viewscreens, seeing Scopes firing away with the newly built machine gun at what I presumed to be more zebras.  I took off, heading back towards the atrium.  Hang on Scopes! I’m coming!


***


I burst into the atrium, my new Aviator sunglasses still seated over my eyes as I flung myself over the tenth floor railing.  The sound of machine gun fire reached my ears as I pulled out of my dive at around the fifth floor, coming to a hover.  Scopes had the machine gun mounted on top of the desk, surrounded by spent casings and open ammo boxes.  Five zebras were crouched behind cover, sporadically returning fire when Scopes stopped firing.  They didn’t notice me until I had turned the first one’s head into a spray of blood and brains with The Undoer.

One of them broke cover, getting two shots off at me before being cut in half by Scopes’s machine gun fire.  Both shots streaked past me, one of them grazing my ear.  The other three zebras began to beat a hasty retreat towards the door.  I dove, firing twice with The Undoer, taking down two of the zebras.  The last zebra was lunging towards the door when I tackled him, wrestling him to the ground.

“Scopes!  A little help please!” I shouted, adrenaline pumping as I jumped back to avoid the blade of the knife the zebra had pulled.

A moment later Scopes slammed into him, her fedora flying off her head.  The zebra was slammed into the ground, where he remained.

“Thanks.” I said.  Once the adrenaline had worn off I collapsed.  My leg was forming a small pool of blood around me.  I looked up at Scopes’s horrified expression, and then down at my leg.  It had a large gash in it that ran from the top of my hoof to my knee, and I could see bone.  “Ow.” I said, and then blacked out.


***


~~~


I walked down the hallway leading to the maintenance section of Stable 199.  I carried only my Deagle, and my Aviators were over my eyes.  I reached the stairs leading down into maintenance right as my PipBuck chimed to indicate the start of my shift.  I sighed and began trudging down into the dimly lit bowels of the stable.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard a scream.  I began running towards it, only to come up short at the sight of a zombified Scopes.  Behind her was Melody, Banked Curve, Tailgate, Swept Wing, and the three raider prisoners.

I couldn’t move as the entire group of zombie ponies in front of me let out another scream, and leapt towards me. “DESERT!”

~~~


I jerked awake.  “Desert!  You’re awake!  Thank Luna!”

“Yeah.” I mumbled.  I was lying on the floor behind the reception desk, all the ammo boxes having been pushed to the side.  I raised my head and looked down at my leg.  It was healed, no trace of the wound remaining on it.

“I used up all of our medical supplies, so we’ll have to find more soon.” Scopes said, helping me to my hooves.

“That’s alright, there’s got to be more in here somewhere.” I replied.

She nodded. “I tied up that zebra.  He’s in that room we were held in the other day.”

“I want to talk to him.  Why the fuck are they even concerned about a 200 year old war, when there’s zombie ponies, raiders, radiation, and Luna knows what else out there to worry about?” I said, walking over to the door of the room.

“No idea.” Scopes replied. She hoofed me my Deagle. “I’ll wait out here while you find out.”

I grinned, strapping the holster to my left leg above my PipBuck. “Got it.” I opened the door and stepped inside, letting it swing closed behind me.

The zebra was sitting calmly in the corner, his shackles lying in a heap next to him.

I raised an eyebrow, but gestured to a chair on the opposite side of the table from me. “Sit, please.” I said.

The zebra rose, and moved silently over to the chair, as I took a seat across from him.

“So, first off, who are you?” I asked.

“Qindeo.” He replied.

I nodded. “Hello Qindeo.  I’m Desert Eagle, and my friend outside is Quick Scope, or Scopes.” I said.  When he didn’t say anything back, I continued. “Now, the first question I must ask, is why you and your squad were attacking us, and why were you here in the first place?”

The zebra remained silent for a minute before answering. “First off, that was two questions.  Secondly, it was because you were in our way.  Thirdly, I’m not going to disclose that information.” He paused for a moment, and what seemed like a smirk flashed over his face. “Especially to an armed pony.”

I glared at him. “Alright Qindeo, I see what you’re getting at here.” I said. “But don’t try anything.” I placed my Deagle on the table between us, the huge pistol hitting the table with a loud thud. “Alright, now will you talk?  Or am I gonna have to get Scopes in here to force it out of you?”

Qindeo nodded. “I guess. If I was to return empty-hoofed to the ponies who hired to us as the sole survivor, they’ll kill me.” He said. “But I won’t tell you everything.”

“Fair enough.” I said.

“Now, as for why we were here, we had received word that an Enclave surface team had been dispatched to recover plans to a pre-war super weapon before the squad of Steel Rangers north of here found out about them.  They sent me and my team to recover them before any of them, but we were slowed down by a group of slavers.” Qindeo said. “And before you ask, I’m not telling you who I was working for.”

Wait!  Plans to a super weapon?  They must be after the OFC plans too!  I thought.  And that explains why the Steel Rangers took our Stable.  They needed a base to conduct their search out of!

“The Steel Rangers.  They took our old Stable, killed everypony inside.  Only me and Scopes managed to escape.” I said. “And this means that they will be coming here eventually too, correct?”

“Not necessarily.  They are currently occupied with trying to get out to the HMS Rainbow Dash, a battleship that’s currently moored to a cloud dock in the middle of Seaddle Bay.” Qindeo replied.

I nodded slowly. “Well, that’s certainly good news.” I said.  We both remained silent for a good while before I spoke up again. “So, what am I going to do with you?  You and your zebras tried to kill me and Scopes and were trying to get the plans to the Orbital Friendship Cannon.  But you also cooperated, and provided information on the activities of the Steel Rangers.  I don’t want to kill you, but I don’t trust you either.” I said.  I stood and opened the door to the room, letting Scopes in.  I had Qindeo tell her everything he had told me.  Once he had finished, I grabbed my Deagle and stepped out with Scopes.

“I think we should keep him with us, for now at least.” Scopes said. “I don’t think he’ll run back to whoever he was working for, based off the fact he claims that they’ll kill him, but I’m not taking his word on it either.”

I nodded. “I agree, but this goes against our ‘no more companions’ deal.” I said.

“I know, but we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Scopes replied.

“Alright, just this once.”

Scopes and I reentered the room. “Qindeo, we have decided that you are to remain with us, but until we can trust you, you don’t get any weapons.” I told the zebra.

He shrugged. “Thanks, I guess.” He said.

I nodded. “Scopes, I’m gonna go take a look at this rifle I got from the zebra that tried to kill me.  See if there’s any way to rig it up to my battle saddle.” I said.

“Alright, I’ll take care of Qindeo.” She replied.

I exited the room, retrieving the rifle and my battle saddle from behind the reception desk.  I set them on the desk, and took a closer look at the rifle.  I was instantly intrigued by the design.  The rifle didn’t have a traditional chambered design, but instead had a 10 shot revolver cylinder and hammer.  Slightly behind the hammer was the bit trigger, and the cylinder release was next to the cylinder.  Mounted on the top was a medium range scope, as well a standard iron sights.  The stock was solid, glossy wood, and the metal parts had a beautiful sheen to them.  The shoulder strap was black leather, somehow still in pristine condition.

I let out a low whistle.  Whoever’s rifle this had been had definitely taken good care of this weapon.  I looked at the name plate on the stock.  It read Colt Firearms Hyperion .45 caliber rifle.  Serial # CFHR4525-25.

I knew Colt Firearms.  They were the only weapons manufacturer that Ironshod Firearms hadn’t bought out when the war broke out.  All the smaller gun manufacturers, like Barrett, who were the original producers of the IF-107 and IF-82 .50 caliber sniper rifles, and Magnum, who originally made the Desert Eagle series of pistols had been.  Colt was a lot smaller than Ironshod, but made extremely high quality weapons, which is the only reason they weren’t bough out.  This was evident in the 200 year old rifle before me that was still in mint condition after 200 years.

Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any way to effectively attach the Hyperion to my battle saddle, so I decided to keep it slung over the back of it.  Moving back behind the desk, I flipped the cylinder of the Hyperion open, dropping the ten empty shell casings out.  I dug out several cases of .45 caliber ammo, and loaded ten rounds into the Hyperion.  I slung  the rifle over my shoulder, rearing up on my back hooves and bringing it up into a firing position.  I took aim down the scope at a metal filing cabinet on the other side of the atrium.  I cocked the hammer back, and bit down on the trigger.

CRACK! Ping!

I grinned as the round thumped solidly through the metal filing cabinet and slung the rifle over my back.  With a sigh, I turned on the radio as I trotted out from behind the desk again, hoping to catch some DJ Pon3.

This is DJ Pon3, and that was Sweetie Belle, singing about that one great truth of the Wasteland, everypony has done something they regret.  And now, my little ponies, it’s time for the news!  Now you ponies remember when I told you about those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two?  Well, I’ve been getting reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives, including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo!  Hey kid, thanks!  From all of us!  And now for the weather: cloudy everywhere, with a chance of rain, gunfire, and bloody dismemberment.  Also, The Duo, those two pegasi from yesterday, have apparently taken out the zombie infested Stable below the Luna Needle up in Seaddle.  Thanks for that too!  And one last thing, the other Stable Dweller was last seen out near Appleoosa.  My prayers go out to that one.

I shut the radio off, looking out at the darkening sky.  Well at least somepony out there can actually save prisoners.  I thought to myself.  I looked over as Qindeo and Scopes trotted over to me.

“You two are on the radio.  Lovely.” Qindeo said.

I shrugged. “I’m gonna get some shut eye.  Scopes, make sure he doesn’t run off or anything.” I said, flopping down on a bed Scopes had made earlier. “G’night.”





Colt Hyperion

> Chapter 4: Research and Development
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Research and Development

I was, quite frankly, bored out of my mind.  For the past couple weeks no one, pony or otherwise, had tried to kill us, and Scopes had insisted on only her and Qindeo exploring the various rooms of the Luna Needle, claiming I needed to ‘take it easy’ for a few days.

Staring out the window, where I was supposed to be watching for raiders and the like, I let my mind wander back to when I had first met Scopes…


~~~

Back in 199, I was a loner.  I had lost both my mother and father when I was only a young colt, and was ‘raised’ by my uncle.  He didn’t do much except give me a meal to eat and a place to sleep when I wanted it.  So I grew reclusive, hanging out in the more secluded areas of the Stable, honing my already powerful flying skills and reading old gun magazines.

One day, after school had been let out, I was in my favorite spot in the Stable, a big unused storeroom on the very top floor, reading an old Ironshod Firearms magazine.  I was disturbed by the sound of a stack of boxes near the door crashing to the floor.  Curious, I flew over to investigate.  As I approached, the sound of crying reached my ears.

What I found was a young black pegasus filly, about the same age as me.  I landed next to her.  She was lying sprawled on the floor, surrounded by fallen boxes and crying her eyes out.  I nudged her with my hoof. “Hey, you ok?”

Her head jerked up towards me, her tear-filled eyes staring at me. “N-n-n-no.” She choked out.

To be honest, I didn’t quite know what to do, so when she started to cry into my shoulder, I let her.  After a while, she finally stopped crying, and we both remained quiet for several minutes until the filly spoke.

“Th-thanks.” She said quietly, taking a step back. “A-are you gonna m-make fun of me too?”

“What?  No!  Why would I want to do that?” I replied, smiling. “My name is Desert, Desert Eagle.” I said, extending a hoof to her.

“Oh.  M-my name’s Quick Scope, b-but you can call me Scopes if y-you want.” She said, shaking my hoof tentatively.

“Nice to meet you Scopes.  So, why were you crying?” I asked.

“I-I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Come on, you can tell me.”

“A-alright, I guess.  I-I c-can’t f-f-fly very well, a-and the others were m-making fun of me.” She said.

I shook my head. “Well that just won’t do!” I exclaimed. “I’m going to teach how to fly good and proper.”

~~~


I was snapped out of my daydream by a hoof tapping my shoulder. “Ah!” I exclaimed, whirling around, only to see Qindeo standing behind me. “Oh, it’s you.  What’s up?”

“We found this huge room, but neither Scopes or I can get the door open.” The zebra replied, eyeing The Undoer.

“I’ll see what I can do.  Lead the way.”


***


The massive metal door leading into the top level of the OFC R&D Center toppled over with a clang, the report of The Undoer echoing through the room.

“Now that’s how you open a door!” I declared, stepping over the door and onto a catwalk that overlooked the main room, five floors below.

Scopes and Qindeo followed me onto the catwalk, Scopes letting out a low whistle.  “Let’s get down there.”

As we descended I showed them the logs from Dr. Oppenhoofer’s terminal, which intrigued Scopes as much as they had me, and explained to Qindeo exactly what everypony, and zebra, seemed to be after.


***


When we reached the bottom floor, the first thing I noticed was that it was a lot bigger than the floors above.  It extended out in all directions from the main open area, branching off into a maze of hallways.

The main room had nothing in it, so Scopes and Qindeo checked the first room they saw, and I checked the one right next to it.

I pushed open the door, and looked around the small office it led to. The nameplate on the desk inside of the room read Dr. J. Robert Oppenhoofer. Lead Scientist.  The only other things in the room were a terminal on top of the desk and the skeleton next to it.

I made my way over to the terminal, the screen flickering to life as I tapped a key on it.  Only one audio log was on the terminal, so I downloaded it to my PipBuck and played it.

They’ve hit Seaddle!  Everypony outside the Needle was vaporized. *rumble* I-I think something just collapsed,  They’re getting everypony down to 198, but the radiation has already seeped through.  They’ll all be zombies within a month.

There was a long pause, rumbling and screaming could be heard in the background along with the tapping of keys.

Well, this is the end.  If anypony finds this, I’ve set the OFC into selective standby.  Only me, the Princesses, Commander Rainbow Dash, or a direct descendant can fire it now, and I heard that both Princesses perished when Canterlot was hit.  I pray that Rainbow Dash has enough time to exact a proper revenge with it, or something.  This is Dr. J Robert Oppenhoofer, signing off.  BANG!

The recording ended with a gunshot, and it then that I noticed the silver revolver lying on the floor behind the desk, next to Dr. Oppenhoofer’s skeleton.  I picked it up.  The revolver looked like it pre-dated even the war itself, and the nameplate on it confirmed it.  It read Smith & Wesson .500.

I flicked open the cylinder, four rounds and a casing falling out onto the desk.  There were two boxes of ammo for the revolver in the desk, and I slipped them into my saddle bags, reloading the revolver.  I took a closer look at the grip, and noticed it had Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on it, along with the word Radicalness.

“Damn.” I muttered, slipping it into the normally empty holster that was on my barding.  I exited the office at the same time Scopes and Qindeo were exiting the room they had been in.

“You find anything?” Scopes asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, a revolver.  What about you?”

“A bunch of medical supplies.”


***


We had moved deeper into the R&D facility, and had discovered to be some sort of control room.  Rows of busted terminals filled the room, along with a large screen that had been shot into pieces.

“Hey!  I found one that’s still working!” Scopes called out.

Qindeo and I moved over to where she was standing next to a terminal.

I scanned through the entries, and found what everypony was looking for, the plans and information to the Orbital Friendship Cannon. “Jackpot.”

“What is it?” Scopes asked, staring at the screen.

“It’s the plans to the Orbital Friendship Cannon.” I replied. “It’s what the Enclave, Steel Rangers, and zebras have all been looking for.”

Scopes nodded, and Qindeo remained silent as I downloaded the contents of the terminal to my PipBuck, and then shot the terminal with The Undoer.

As the report of my shot echoed away down the hallways, red bars began appearing on my EFS.

“You probably shouldn’t have done that.” Qindeo remarked as a turret dropped out of the ceiling in front of us.

“No shit Sherclop.” I said, yanking all of us to the floor as magical energy beams raked the floor behind us.  Thinking quickly, I swung the Hyperion up and dove to the left, the barrel of The Undoer knocking over a filing cabinet.  I fired three shots into the turret as it swung towards me, causing it to explode. “Let’s get out of here.”


***


We made it out of the R&D Center mostly unharmed, with only a few burns from grazing beams of magical energy.  I was sitting back over by the windows, my battle saddle off.  I was tinkering with The Undoer, seeing if there was any way to shorten the barrel.  It wasn’t exactly the most maneuverable with a barrel that stuck out two feet.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure it out.  I set the gun and battle saddle aside and pulled up the file on the OFC, staring at the text as it scrolled across the screen of my PipBuck.

P:\OFC>Orbital Friendship Cannon Information
P:\OFC>Commisioned for 165 more years
P:\OFC\Status>Passive: Standby
P:\OFC\Status>Active: Standby
P:\OFC\Firing_Ctrl>Firing Controls: 1/3 Active
P:\OFC\Firing_Ctrl>Active Locations: HMS Rainbow Dash, [HMS Luna], [Seaddle NLR OFC Center]
P:\OFC\Firing_Ctrl>Firing Permissions: [Princess Luna], [Princess Celestia], [Dr. Oppenhoofer, Descendants (?)], Cmdr. Rainbow Dash, Descendants (?)
P:\OFC\Firing_Ctrl>EC-1101 Override: Not Activated

Below that was a 3D model of the OFC.  It had seven large clear cylindrical containers around the top, each filled with one of the colors of the rainbow.  They sat on top of the main part of the cannon, a large cylinder.  An inverted trapezoid was on the bottom, the barrel of the cannon sticking out the bottom of it.

Well, that’s not what I thought it would look like.  I thought, dropping my leg back to the floor.

And explosion jerked me out of my thoughts.  I turned my attention to the area outside the windows, seeing a fireball dissipating over a building about a block away.

“The fuck?” I muttered, bringing up my EFS as Scopes and Qindeo trotted over to me.  The EFS display showed one yellow bar, with six red bars surrounding it.  More explosions tore through the air as I hoofed open the door.

“What are you doing?” Scopes asked.

“Going to help whoever is out there.” I replied.

“Alright, but be careful.  I’ll take Qindeo up into that building and cover you.” She said.

I nodded, and took to the air.  Flying over the building, I saw six of what I recalled were called alicorns.  They were surrounding a lone Steel Ranger, who was pelting the alicorn’s shields with missiles and grenades from his battle saddle, which was the source of the explosions.  I hesitated, staring down at the Steel Ranger as memories of 199 came flooding back.  I quickly shoved them away though, as the Ranger took down one of the alicorns.  The other five began pelting him with spells from all directions.  The Ranger went down.

I let out a yell and dove, kicking API rounds into The Undoer.  I emptied the entire ten round clip into the lead alicorn.  The first five rounds hit the shield with little bursts of flame, the next four causing it to flicker and then finally fail.  The last round tore through the alicorn’s chest, setting her ablaze a moment later.

I let out a little whoop as I pulled out of my dive, beams of magic shooting up around me as the remaining four alicorns turned their attention towards me.  I reloaded an flipped over, diving at the alicorns who were rising to meet me.  That was a mistake.  As soon as I began diving again, one of them was suddenly on top of me, dragging me towards the ground.  She released me with just enough time for her to pull up, but for me to keep falling.  I hit the ground, and everything went black.


***


When I came to, I was lying in a pile of rubble.  I was bleeding from a gash in my leg, a piece of wood protruding from it.  I tumbled to the ground out of the pile of rubble and onto the street, falling face-first into the dirt, knocking my Aviators off.

“Ow.” I muttered, getting up.  Down the street I saw a single alicorn hovering between ma and the Steel Ranger.  Scopes was hovering behind them, Qindeo standing behind her.  To my dismay, I realized that The Undoer had been jammed badly from the fall, so I swung the Hyperion off my back and up to a firing position, standing on my hind legs and slipping my Aviators back on.  I watched as the alicorn fired another spell at the Steel Ranger, noticing that her shield parted when she cast it.

I began making my way down the street towards the alicorn, an idea forming in my head as I approached.  The Steel Ranger seemed to realized what I was doing and began to pour fire on the alicorn, drawing her attention completely.  Before I could reach her though, a spell tore the Ranger in half, and the alicorn turned her attention to Scopes, who was looking at the two halves of Steel Ranger, mortified.

Oh no you don’t!  I lofted into the air directly behind her and waited for the telltale glow from here horn.  There!  I saw it.  I activated SATS and launched over the alicorn as her shield went down, dropping in front of her.  As her shield parted to let the spell through, I fired.  The round drilled straight into her head at the same moment her spell slammed into my chest.

I was thrown back with a burst of pain, slamming into the ground and sliding to a stop.  Blood began to pool around me as I lay there, the edges of my vision beginning to darken.  I saw Scopes appear above me, diving towards me at an antagonizingly slow rate as I blacked out.


***


When I returned to consciousness I was back inside the Luna Needle, lying on the floor of the atrium.  I moaned and rolled over, Scopes’s face coming into focus.  “What happened?”

“You took an alicorn’s spell to the chest.” Scopes replied, pulling me up into a sitting position.  “You’re lucky to be alive.”

I shook my head, my vision still blurry. “How long was I out for?” I asked.

“About a day.” Scopes said, pushing my gear over to me. “You’ve got one hell of a scar on your chest, but other than that, I fixed you up pretty good.”

I looked down at my chest, and sure enough, there was a scar running diagonally from left to right across my chest.  I looked back up at Scopes, my vision now clear. “Thanks.” I pulled my gear on with her help, making sure that my barding wasn’t going to tear open the scar.

Qindeo helped me to my hooves. “Now, I believe that Scopes said you had some exploring you wanted to do on the tenth floor.” He said.

“Yeah, let’s go.”


***


We were back on the tenth floor, Qindeo having been carried up by Scopes.  I had wanted to explore it more to find out why the hell there was huge amounts of ammunition in what seemed like only hours before the bombs started falling.

I trotted around the walkway, kicking shell casings out of my way as I went.  I poked my head into a small room that had had the door completely shot off its hinges.  There was an audio recorder lying next to a skeleton that was splayed over a machine gun.  I picked it up and plugged it into my PipBuck, playing it through the speakers.  The voice was barely audible over the sound of gunfire.

Of all the days they would choose to attack, it had to be today!  Fucking Solar Empire extremists, always trying crazy shit after Big Macintosh took that bullet for Celestia and Luna took over.  Now they’re trying to get the plans to the OFC, not sure why though.  Maybe ‘cause it-.  The speaker was interrupted by the sound of bullets tearing the door off its hinges.  Oh shit!  The recording ended with the booming of a machine gun.

I unplugged the recorder and set it back down, looking around the small room.  Behind the desk the machine gun was on top of, was a tall bookshelf, most of the books on it having been shot to pieces.  I went over to it and pulled down one of the few books that wasn’t filled with holes.  A neatly folded flag fell out of it.  It was white, and in the center was the outline of what I assumed to be Celestia raising an orange sun.  I placed it in my saddle bags with the NLR flag I had found the other day and trotted out of the room.

Well, it seems as if ponies have been trying to get at these plans ever since the OFC was built.  I thought as I trotted over to where Scopes and Qindeo were raiding a medical cabinet.

“Find anything?” Scopes asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I found out why this whole floor is covered in bullet holes and casings.  Apparently, these NLR ponies had this huge battle against some Celestia-loyal extremist group known as the Solar Empire.  They were after what everypony seems to be after now, the plans to the OFC.” I said.

Scopes nodded, and Qindeo just shrugged. “Scopes and I found a battle saddle she could mount that machine gun to, and enough parts to make four more.  Not to mention all the sandbags, metal plates, and repair equipment.” The zebra said.

Scopes nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Although, the battle saddle needs some modifications, and there’s nothing to mount four new machine guns to.” She said.

“You could make a quad-mount.” I suggested, eyeing the pile of sandbags, scrap metal, machine gun parts, repair kits, welding materials, and medical supplies behind her.

Scopes squeed at my suggestion. “Yes! Then I could mount it onto the reception desk and reinforce it with all the sandbags and metal we found.”

I chuckled. “Yes, now there’s one more thing up here I want to check out, and then we should probably get all that stuff back down to the atrium.” I said. “This way.” I trotted towards a room that I had marked on my PipBuck’s map, hoping it was what I thought it was.  Much to my delight, it was.

The door we now stood in front of was marked Armory, and had one hell of a lock on it.  I broke a good five or six of my bobby pins on it, but finally got it open.  The room was lined floor to ceiling with guns and ammo, but mostly ammo, as the guns were currently scattered around the tenth floor. “Jackpot.”


***


It took nearly ten trips to get all of the ammo and supplied we had gathered down to the atrium, and then It took several more hours to sort through it all.

“So, basically, we’ve got enough ammo for our weapons now to start our own army.” Scopes said, finishing up making the necessary modifications to the battle saddle she had found.  She snapped the machine gun onto it with a loud click.  “So what are we gonna do with it?”

I looked up from where I was stringing together a belt of .50 caliber rounds for the machine gun.  “I think we should go and secure the HMS Rainbow Dash.  We can’t have the only remaining fire control for the OFC fall into the hands of the Steel Rangers.” I said.  “And I think it’s time we allowed Qindeo to have a weapon.  He’s been with us for two weeks now and has only been helping us.”

Scopes nodded in agreement, not seeming to have heard the first part of what I had said. “Yeah, I don’t want to wear this thing anyway.” She said, nodding to the battle saddle at her hooves.

“Hey Qindeo, could you come over here a moment?” I called over to the zebra.  He was finishing up reinforcing the reception desk with all the metal and sandbags we had found.

Qindeo nodded and trotted over to where Scopes and I were. “What’s up Desert?” He asked.

“Scopes and I have decided that we trust you enough to allow you to have a weapon.” I said.  I held up a second Colt Hyperion we had found in the armory.  It was nearly identical to mine, with subtle variations from being hoofmade instead of mass produced, and it also had a silencer.  “I think that this would suit you nicely.”

Qindeo took the rifle, his eyes wide. “Really?  I always wanted Garnet’s, that’s whose Hyperion you have, but he never even let me touch it.  Thanks.”

I shrugged. “You’re welcome.  Also, if you don’t mind, I would like it if you could wear this battle saddle if the need arises.  We need something to provide a steady stream of cover fire, and Scopes’s AA-12 is too short ranged.” I said.

Qindeo nodded slowly, eyeing the battle saddle.  “As you wish.  It’s the least I could do.” He said.

“Good.  Now I’ve been thinking, the Steel Rangers that you said were investigating the HMS Rainbow Dash aren’t going to find the plans to the OFC, since I have them, but they very well might discover the fire control for it.” I said, pausing a moment before continuing. “So I purpose that we find it before they do.”

“What?  We can’t take out an entire platoon of Steel Rangers, that’s suicide!” Scopes protested.

I nodded. “Yes, but I don’t think they would have their entire platoon out on the ship.  They’ll probably only have a squad or two.  That, I think we can handle, especially when we have the element of surprise.” I said.

Scopes nodded slowly. “Alright Desert.” She said.

“Alright, so here’s the plan.  There’s a cart outside the building across the street that seem mostly intact.  I will pull you, Qindeo, in it, and Scopes will fly cover.  We’ll fly out over the bay and come in from the opposite side, flying low.  We’ll land on the stern, hopefully undetected at this point.  The file says that the access to the fire controls will be located somewhere in the bridge, so we’ll head up there from the stern, taking out any Steel Rangers we find along the way.” I said.

“And then what?” Qindeo asked.

I shrugged.  “I haven’t figured it out past there.”

Qindeo raised an eyebrow. “Is this how he normally does stuff?” He asked Scopes.

“Yep!” She replied.

“So, we good on my plan?” I asked.

They both nodded.

“Alright, we’ll leave as soon as it’s dark.”


***


Several hours later, we were all ready to go.  Qindeo had been busy making some of his zebra potions, which were all now tucked into his saddle bags.  We got airborne, Qindeo in the cart I was pulling, and made for Seaddle bay.

We flew only a few feet below the cloud cover, pushing far out over the bay.

“Alright, let’s turn around and head for the ship.” I called over to Scopes, who nodded. “Hang on back there Qindeo!”

I dove, leveling out a few feet above the waters of Seaddle Bay, and shot off towards the battleship, Scopes close behind me.

As we approached, my EFS began marking the positions of the Steel Rangers, who seemed to be mostly on the bow of the ship.  We landed on the stern undetected, just as I had hoped.

I unhitched from the wagon as Qindeo hopped out the back of it, the machine gun battle saddle on his back and the silenced Hyperion slung over the top of it.  “Alright, this way.” I whispered, motioning to a door directly in front of us.  I pushed it open, Scopes and Qindeo following me.

The hallway we entered into was lit by the dim red glow from the running lights, and our hoofsteps echoed along the cold metal floor.  It seemed to lead straight to the bridge, ending in a steep flight of stairs leading straight up.

I lead my companions up them, and sure enough, they lead to a door marked Bridge.  “Alright, stay away from the windows.  We don’t want to be spotted.” I said.

Scopes and Qindeo nodded, and I opened the door.

BEEP.

“Oh shit! Run!”

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

We all dove into the bridge, taking cover behind a row of consoles as the mine exploded.

KABOOM!

“Well there goes our element of surprise.” I muttered as the red marks on my EFS began to swarm towards the bridge.

Scopes tapped the row of consoles we were hiding behind. “Qindeo, you use these for cover and mow down any Steel Rangers that come through that door.  I’ll cover you from the doorway over there.” She said, pointing at a room off to the side. “And Desert, you can snipe from the windows.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.  Let’s hold them off as long as we can, and if we can’t, retreat back into that room.” I said, moving to the windows, The Undoer at the ready.  “Let’s do this thing!”

No sooner had I said that than the first Steel Ranger came barging through the door, guns blazing.

> Chapter 5: Skyways
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Skyways

“Oh FUCK!”

We all hit the ground as cannon rounds tore through the bridge, pulverizing what minimal cover we had.

As soon as the Ranger stopped to reload though, I popped up and put a round straight through his visor.

The rest of the red marks were still on the deck below us, but closing in fast.  I moved back over to the windows, sniping the first Steel Ranger in the head right before he reached the door up to the bridge.  The next two got through, but the fourth did not.  This pattern continued as the battle progressed as a seemingly endless stream of Rangers swarmed up from the decks towards the bridge.

Scopes and Qindeo managed to keep the Steel Rangers who did make it through at bay, mostly.  My flanks burned from shrapnel from those damned grenade machine guns.

About fifteen minutes into the battle, my eyepiece began flashing a barrel temperature warning for The Undoer.

“Shit!” I swore, ducking as a missile flew through the window and exploded against the ceiling of the bridge.  I brought up my Hyperion, putting a couple rounds through the visor of a Ranger as they came charging into the bridge.

“Qindeo, Scopes!  We have gotta figure something else out!  This is taking way to fucking long!” I yelled, emptying the Hyperion’s cylinder into two more Steel Rangers.

I dove away from the window as another missile came streaking through it.  I crawled over to the doorway where Scopes was, her AA-12 thudding as she took down yet another Ranger.

“I’ve got a new plan!” I shouted, waving to Qindeo, who was standing behind cover nearby.  He crawled over to us.

“Alright, there should be a turret control around here somewhere.” I said, pointing a hoof at an inactive turret mounted in the roof.  “Find it and activate them, I’ll keep the Rangers busy while you two do that.”

They both nodded and retreated into the room, while I reloaded the Hyperion and fired off another nine rounds at some more Steel Rangers.  I didn’t have to wait long.

Suddenly the turret in the roof activated, spraying the Steel Ranger in the doorway with beams of magical energy.  “Yes!”

I dove back into the room, slamming the door closed.  Scopes looked up from a terminal she was sitting at, presumably the one that had just activated the turrets. “Well, that didn’t go as well as I thought it would.” I said, downing a healing potion for my shrapnel-shredded flank.

I looked around the room.  It appeared to be the fire control for the battle ship, the terminals displaying ammo readouts and targeting displays for the guns.  

“Hey, what’s this?” Qindeo said.

I turned to where he was pointing at a section of wall at the back of the room.  On a portion of it was faded red lettering that read OFC Fire Control Access.  I trotted over to it, Scopes and Qindeo following me.

There were no visible handles on the door, only the thin lines running around it letting me know that it was, in fact, a door.

Both Qindeo and Scopes tried their hoof at opening it, bucking and banging, but neither of them yielded a result.

“Alright, lemme try something.” I said, walking up to it.  I gave it a small push, and it swung right open.

My friends just stared at me, and I shrugged, descending the stairs beyond the now open door. “Are you two coming?” I called back to them, and they quickly caught up.

At the bottom of the staircase was another door, which opened like normal.  Stepping through it, I found myself in a small room.  In it was a small control panel, with a terminal on top of it and a chair behind it.  I looked the control panel over.  It had two rocker switches, along with various displays, on it.  The two switches were marked Arm and Fire respectively, while all the displays were either blank or filled with static.

I now turned my attention to the terminal.  I guessed the password on the first try, which was RDOFCCTRL.

P:\OFC_Ctrl_3>Orbital Friendship Cannon Control #3: Access restricted to Rainbow Dash and descendents.

I stared at the first line in shock and disbelief.  I…I was the only one who was able to open the door.  I thought, remembering what we had learned about the legendary cyan pegasus back in 199, how she seemed vaguely familiar to me, how I had been the strongest flyer in Stable history.

“Hey Desert, you okay?” Scopes’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” I replied, proceeding to check out the rest of the terminal.  Below the top line were two more.

P:\OFC_Ctrl_3>Active Fire Mode
P:\OFC_Ctrl_3>Passive Fire Mode

I chose the Passive Fire Mode option.

P:\OFC_Ctrl_3\Passive>Confirmation required to unlock switches.
P:\OFC_Ctrl_3\Passive>Orbital Coordinates:
P:\OFC_Ctrl_3\Passive>Security Passcode:

“Well, how the hell can we find those?” I muttered, returning to the main screen.

Scopes shrugged. “I could try hacking the terminal for them, but that could also result in a lockout.” She said.

“They could be somewhere back in the Luna Needle too.” Qindeo said.

I nodded. “Let’s head on back then.  We’ll figure something out there.” I said, moving towards the stairs.  I paused, glancing back at the terminal. “Actually, before we go, you two look at the first entry on that terminal.”


***


We flew through the cool night air  back towards the Luna Needle.  Scopes was hauling Qindeo’s cart, and I was flying cover.  I couldn’t get the thought that I, Desert Eagle, a security officer from Stable 199, was related to Rainbow Dash, the Mare of the Ministry of Awesome, bearer of the Element of Loyalty, and commander of the pegasi forces during the Great War.

Warnings flashing in my vision snapped me out of my thoughts.  We were only a couple of blocks away from the Luna Needle, the blacker than black outline of the building rising before us, and my EFS was swarming with red marks.

“Shit!  Scopes, Qindeo, we’ve got company!” I yelled to them, snapping my eyepiece down.  One of the features of it that I never had really used was the night vision, but tonight it would come in handy.

I activated it as pink beams of energy began shooting out of the darkness towards us.

I traced the path of one of the beams back to its source, a pegasus wearing black carapace armor.  It was the Enclave, and they were fucking everywhere.

“Split up!  I’ll take out as many of them as I can and meet you two back at the Needle!” I yelled.  I split off, using SATS to blow an Enclave soldier diving towards me out of the sky.

Two more appeared on my six, one of their energy beams burning the tip of my ear off.  I turned, drawing my Deagle and firing, all seven shots taking both of them out of the sky.  Before I had a chance to reload it though, a five-buck wing appeared above me.  Holstering the Deagle I dove, bolts of energy singeing the air around me.  I pulled up sharply, turning and bringing The Undoer to bear.  I fired five times, downing four of the pegasi and missing the fifth.

“Shit!” I snapped up the Hyperion, firing the last round in its cylinder at the pegasi, killing him.  I saw Scopes flash past me, Qindeo firing the back of the cart at eight, seven, six, now five pegasi.  The Undoer thundered as I emptied the last four rounds at them, downing all but one, which Qindeo took care of.

As the auto-reload system in my battle saddle kicked in, five more Enclave soldiers appeared above me.  Since my battle saddle was still reloading, I drew the only weapon I had that still had ammo, Radicalness.  I turned towards them and activated SATS, targeting one round into each of their visors.  Four hit, sending them tumbling to the ground, but the last round glanced off the fifth one’s helmet.  As she approached, I snapped out my baton, catching the scorpion tail with it and swinging my back legs into her neck, snapping it.  As I pulled away from her body, the armor’s scorpion tail snagged onto the barrel of The Undoer, dragging me towards the ground.  I struggled to free myself, but by the time I did, it was too late.

I slammed into an open dumpster, the trash inside softening my landing enough I didn’t break anything.  My vision swam as I hauled myself out of the dumpster, falling to the ground next to it.  I felt the barrel of one of the Enclave’s weapons being pressed into the back of my neck.  Well, this is a shitty way to die.

Then I heard the distinctive high-pitched crack of Scopes’s IF-47, and felt the pressure of the barrel disappear as Scopes landed next to me.  She unhitched from the cart and galloped over to me, helping me to my hooves as Qindeo fired away at the approaching Enclave soldiers with his Hyperion.

“Thanks.” I said, starting to reload all my weapons.

Before I could finish though, Scopes hugged me.  “Don’t scare me like that again.” She said, releasing me, helping me finish reloading.

“Well, well, well.  What do we have here?” A voice from above us said.  Suddenly we were surrounded on all sides by a phalanx of Enclave soldiers, cutting off any means of escape.

In front of us landed a pegasus clad in more ornate armor than the rest of them.  He, I presumed, was the leader.

“Looks like a couple of highly armed pegasi, and a zebra too?  Oh, this makes things much more interesting.

I glanced over at Qindeo, who was drinking something he had pulled out of his saddlebags.

“Who are you?” I growled, targeting him and the nine closest pegasi.

“Now now, we can’t have any of that.” He said, seeming to know what I was doing.  “I don’t want to waste such a skilled pegasus like yourself.” He said. “And as for who I am, I am Major Striker, commander of Third Battalion.” He paused for a moment, lifting his visor. “But the more important question is, who are you?”

“Why should I tell you?” I replied, glaring at him.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll turn your marefriend here into ash.”

“She’s not my marefriend!” I shot back.

“My mistake.  Now, there are two possible outcomes to this situation.  One, you can surrender and come with us without any further trouble, or two, I have my bucks here turn you all into piles of ash.” He said. “So, which will it be?”

I looked over at Scopes.  She shook her head slightly, and I turned back to Striker.  “We, we surrender.” I said reluctantly.

Striker grinned. “Excellent. Now, disarm yourselves please.” He said.

I pulled the Hyperion off my back and took off my battle saddle, placing them in front of me.  I unholstered Radicalness and my Deagle, placing them in the pile as well.  My baton had been busted by my fall, and was back inside the dumpster.

I slid my Aviators on and shoved my helmet into one of my saddlebags.  I turned back to Striker. “Now, what are you going to do with us?” I asked him.

Striker’s grin was the last thing I saw before I was knocked out.


***


I blinked my eyes open slowly, a dull pain throbbing in the back of my head.  I moaned and sat up.  I looked around, taking in my surroundings.  I was in a cell, and I could see Scopes and Qindeo in their own cells across from me.  The floor was made of clouds, so I knew that the Enclave had taken us up into the sky to wherever the hell their base was.  I looked at Qindeo again, but before I could figure out why he hadn’t fallen through the floor yet, and was instead sitting on his bed in some sort of meditative pose, a guard opened my cell door.

“Striker wants to see you.” She said.

I nodded, following her out of my cell.  Scopes gave me a worried look as I passed her cell, which I returned with a half-hearted grin.  The guard led me into an interrogation room, where Striker was waiting for me.

“Sit.” He pointed a hoof at the chair that was across the table from him.

I sat.

He placed my Aviators on the table in front of me. “You’ll probably want these if things go the way I want them to.” He said.

I shrugged and slipped them over my eyes. “So, what do you want with us?” I asked.

“Well first off, I want to know what you did with the ESIR Team I sent down to the Luna Needle.” He said. “And don’t bullshit me and say you don’t know, cause you do.”

I shrugged again. “Well, we didn’t kill them if that’s what you’re getting at here.  No, actually we helped them.  Went down into Stable 198 with ‘em to look for whatever they were looking for and got attacked by a horde of zombie ponies.  Only me and Scopes survived as far as I know.” I told him.

Striker nodded slowly, unconvinced. “Uh-huh, and why, pray tell, did you help them when they were supposed to capture you on site?” He asked.

I shrugged a third time. “Cause I convinced them we were Enclave agents on a secret mission.  Wasn’t that hard either, considering how well armed Scopes and I were, and the fact we both still have our cutie marks.” I replied casually.

“I see.” Striker said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Now, you and your two friends put up quite a fight, took down fifty one of my best bucks, so I’m going to offer you a deal.  If you accept, you will be branded as Dashites and be placed under my command.  If you decline, you will still be branded, and then given a one hour head start before I send the Wonderbolts after you.”

“Alright, so what’s this deal you have for me?” I asked, already thinking of ways to escape if I accepted.

“The deal is you and your friends will be set free, but must serve the Enclave however I see fit, and obey whatever orders I give you without question.” He said with a grin.

I knew exactly what he was getting at, but it would be far easier to escape if I accepted.  It was risky, yes, but it was my only shot at getting the three of us out of here.  I nodded to Striker. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Striker broke into a wide grin. “Wonderful!  I’ll talk with your two other companions and have you and your pegasus friend branded tomorrow morning.” He said.

I rose as the guard reentered the room.  She lead me out and back to my cell, and then went over to Scopes’s cell and took her back to the interrogation room.

Once she was gone, I turned my attention to Qindeo.  “Hey Qindeo, how the hell have you not fallen through the clouds yet?” I asked the zebra, who hadn’t moved from when I last saw him.

He looked over at me. “Zebra potion.” He replied. “Drank it just before we all got knocked out and dragged up here.  Don’t know how long it’ll last for though.  I’ve got some more in my saddle bags.”

I nodded and glanced over to where the second guard was standing near the door out of the jail room. “Hey guard!” I called over to him. “Could you get my zebra friend here his saddlebags.  He needs a cloud walking potion from it so he, you know, doesn’t fall through the floor or anything.” I said.

“And why the fuck should I care?” The guard replied.

“Because I just struck a deal with your boss, and if Qindeo here dies because you couldn’t complete a simple request, well, I don’t want to imagine what’ll happen to you.” I said.

The guard snorted, shooting me a glare before he turned and disappeared down the hallway behind him.

As soon as the guard was out of sight, Qindeo hopped off his bed and simply walked through his cell door.

I stared at him, my jaw on the floor, speechless.

He simply shrugged, and trotted off in the same direction the guard had gone.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I hopped off my bed and pulled out the bobby pin I always kept hidden in my tail, and tried to pick the lock.  The bobby pin broke.  “Fuck.” I muttered.  The sound of a thump from the direction Qindeo had followed the guard in quickly distracted me from my failed lockpicking attempt though.

A few moments later, Qindeo came trotting back into view, dragging all our gear along behind him.

He came over to my cell door and opened it with the guard’s keys.  I quickly yanked my barding on, slamming my helmet onto my head as I got all of my weapons back into their appropriate places.  No sooner had I finished this, when I heard Scopes and her guard approaching.  When the guard rounded the corner, I tackled her to the ground, snapping her neck.

“Desert!” Scopes said, surprised.

I tossed her fedora to her. “Come on, we gotta get outta here!”


***


We made our way through the hallways of the base, avoiding patrols and dodging around turrets.  The base seemed to be the main base for the ESIR Teams that Banked Curve had been a part of.  I had gotten a map of the facility off one of the dead guards, and we were now making our way up to the Vertibuck platform on the top of the base.

“Patrol!” I whispered fiercely, the yellow marks on my EFS sending me diving off into an open room, Qin and Scopes following.  Once they had passed, we continued on, reaching the platform without further incident.

The door onto the platform slid down, revealing a Vertibuck glinting in the sunlight with a single guard standing near the landing gear, smoking.  His marker remained yellow though, so I approached him slowly.

“Hey!” I said, stopping in front of him.

“The fuck do you want?” He asked, taking a long drag of his cigarette, and blowing the smoke out in my face.

I coughed, taking a step back.  “Well, I’ve been ordered by Major Striker to escort this zebra back to the surface.” I replied, flicking my tail back at where Qindeo was standing.

The guard nodded slowly, flicking his cigarette aside.  “Uh-huh.  Rank and identification please.” He said.

I nodded, thinking quickly.  “Special Operative Desert Eagle.” I said, pointing a hoof at the 199 on my security barding. “Ground operations, and you’re not even cleared for half that information bucko.”

“Ground ops eh?  Well the-.“ The wailing of klaxon alarms through the base cut him off.

“Attention all personnel!  The prisoners have escaped.  They are a zebra, a grey pegasus, and a black pegasus.  They are heavily armed, and you have clearance to shoot-on-sight.  Striker out.”

I turned back to the guard, just in time to see him draw his sidearm.  Needless to say, Scopes was faster, putting a .308 round straight through him.

I took out the two pilots as they emerged from the Vertibuck with my Deagle, watching as my EFS showed red marks swarming towards us. “Alright, time to get out of here!”


***


Five minutes later, we were fighting for our lives.  We had gotten out of the base right as the rest of the Enclave in the base showed up, and were now essentially pinned down on the skyway that lead away from the base.

I was hunkered behind the rusted hulk of an old Vertibuck, while Qindeo and Scopes were hiding behind a metal cart that had been tipped on its side on the other side of the skyway.

BOOM!

The Undoer thundered, tearing an Enclave pegasi from the sky, only to be quickly replaced by another. “This is hopeless!” I shouted over to my friends. “We have to get out of here, now!”

“But – CRACK – they’re – CRACK – all over!” Scopes shouted back, between shots of her sniper rifle.

“We’ll have to outfly them then!” I replied, ducking as a bolt of energy grazed my helmet. “Scopes, toss me your shotgun!  You take The Undoer and cover our flank with Qindeo!”

She nodded, ceasing fire long enough to detach her AA-12 and toss it over to me, while I tossed The Undoer over.  The heavy gun never made it, falling about two feet short.

I caught her AA-12 with ease, snapping it onto the side of my battle saddle.  I turned just in time to see her darting out of cover for The Undoer, and take an energy beam straight to the chest.

Time slowed, as she slammed into the clouds next to The Undoer, laying there unmoving.  I dove towards her, scooping up The Undoer and firing the massive anti-material rifle unmounted.  The recoil nearly knocked me on my flank, but I lined up the scope with the nearest Enclave soldiers and emptied the entire clip at them while Qindeo hauled Scopes into the cart they had been using for cover.

Ammo expended, I dropped the rifle into the cart and hooked myself to it. “Hang in there Scopes!” I said, hauling the aging cart into the air.

Beams of energy flew around us as I sped away, the only Enclave soldier in front of us turned into red paste by the AA-12 mounted into my battle saddle.


***


A mountain loomed before us as I hauled flank down the rapidly deteriorating skyway, which several signs had labeled as Skyway 10.

“Desert!  Try landing there!”  Qindeo shouted, waving a hoof in the edge of my vision towards what appeared to be an entrance of a cave.

I nodded, pulling off the skyway and diving towards it, slowing down as I neared.  I checked my EFS, and seeing that it was devoid of any marks, neutral or otherwise, came in for a landing.

I unhitched from the cart, flying back to where Qindeo had pulled Scopes out and laid her on the ground.  He had removed her barding during the flight, and wrapped what appeared to be our entire stock of bandages around the wound.

“I’ve used all our bandages, healing potions, even a few zebra remedies, but nothing seems to be working.” Qindeo said. “I’m afraid there’s nothing more I can do.”

Tears blurred my vision blurred my vision as my legs decided they would rather not support my weight anymore, and I fell to the ground next to my life-long best friend.

“Scopes, no.  Don’t fucking die on me.  You hear me?  Don’t fucking die on me!”

“Excuse me, but I might be able to help your friend.” A voice behind me said.

I turned my head slowly, my gaze falling upon what was behind us, a giant green and purple dragon.

> Chapter 6: Black Holes & Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Black Holes & Revelations

I was frozen in my tracks at the sight of the dragon.  He towered above us, but he didn’t appear to be acting aggressively.  Once I realized this, his words finally registered in my mind.

“Y-yes, p-please, anything.” I stutter out, wiping the tears out of my eyes with a hoof.

The dragon nodded.  “Bring her in here; I think I know what can help.” He said, turning around and walking further into the cave.

Qindeo hoisted Scopes up slowly onto his back and followed the dragon, as I slowly got to my feet and did the same.

“Set her down there.” The dragon said, pointing a claw towards the massive sunken bed in the floor of the cave.  He began digging through a pile of medical boxes as Qin set Scopes on the bed as instructed.

I moved off to the side as the dragon began instructing Qindeo on what he needed to do.  He talked the zebra through it, as I began to drift off to sleep.


***


When I awoke, the first thing I saw was Scopes resting peacefully on the bed where she had been placed.  I heard Qindeo and the dragon talking off to the side of me, near one of the massive bookshelves that lined the walls.

I rose, making my way over to where they were.

“Ah! You’re awake!” The dragon said. “Qindeo here was just telling me about how he met you and your friend.  I’m Spike, by the way.” He said.

“Desert Eagle.” I replied, taking off my Aviators.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Spike said.

I heard Scopes begin to stir behind me, and I turned towards the bed where she lay.

“W-what happened?” She mumbled, raising her head to look around.

I galloped over to her, pulling her into a tight hug.  “I, I thought you were going to die.  You were hit in the chest by an energy beam while diving to get my rifle.  It was pretty bad.  By pure chance we made it here, to this cave, and Spike here, the big purple dragon behind me, offered to help, and well, you’re alive!” I said, not releasing her from my hug until I was done speaking.

She nodded. “Thanks Desert, but you still owe me, because I’ve saved your flank twice.” She said with a grin.

“Well, I hope I never have to.” I replied, helping her off the bed and leading her back over to where Spike and Qindeo were still.

Scopes studied the dragon for a moment. “Well, Spike, I am deeply grateful of you for saving my life.” She chuckled before continuing. “And for not eating any of us.”

Spike nodded. “You are most welcome.” He said. “And I don’t eat ponies, I eat gems.” He gestured to the many piles of gems lying around the cave.

“Well, that’s nice to know.” I say. “So, what exactly do you do here anyway?” I asked, glancing around the cave for any hints to the answer.

“Well, I stay in my cave, and use sprite-bots to communicate and provide help to ponies who need it.” Spike replied.

I nodded. “Ah yes, those annoying things that go around blasting music everywhere.” I said, a thought forming in my mind. “Actually, now that you mention it, I bet you’ve run into a lot of interesting things while controlling those things, so I have a question for you.”

Spike nodded. “Shoot.”

“Well, do you know anything about the Gardens of Equestria?” I asked, thinking that he probably wouldn’t have, considering it was tied to the most highly classified weapon of the war.

Spike froze. “Uhh, n-no. Why?”

I raised my eyebrow, and decided to take the risk of actually telling him why I wanted to know. “Well, it’s because we’ve found the plans and last remaining fire control to the Orbital Friendship Cannon.” I said, wondering what the dragon would say to that.

“Wh-what?!”  Spike exclaimed, shock and surprise spreading over his face. “You mean that you’ve actually found the OFC?”

I nodded slowly. “That would be correct.  How do you know about it though?”

Spike hesitated for a moment before continuing, seeming to be making some sort of big decision in his mind. “Well, you see, I was Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant during the war, and one of her projects was the Gardens of Equestria megaspell.  It was like a giant reset button for if megaspells ever started being launched, which they obviously did.  But there was one small problem with the spell, its range of effect was too small for all of Equestria.  So when she caught word of Rainbow Dash’s and Dr. Oppenhoofer’s project, she requested that it act as a range amplifier for the spell, to which they obliged.” The dragon said. “I was tasked with keeping Gardens safe, which is also the reason I cannot leave this cave.”

All three of us nodded. “Wow, I never thought we’d actually find it, let alone meet the guardian of it.” I said. “That’s a pretty heavy responsibility.”

Spike nodded. “It is.  Now, tell me, is the OFC still operational?” He asked. “Because if it’s not, then half of Equestria will remain Wasteland if Gardens is ever activated.”

“Well, I believe it is still operational, but we can’t fire it.  We need a passcode and the coordinates of the cannon to be able to, and we don’t know either.” I replied.

“I see.” The dragon replied simply.

We stood there in silence for a moment, until Qindeo spoke up. “So, what exactly is this ‘Gardens of Equestria’ anyway?” The zebra asked.

Spike thought for several moments before replying. “Well, I’ll show you, but you have to promise that what you see and have learned in this cave does not leave here.  If the Steel Rangers or Enclave were to find out about this, it would be the end of me, and Gardens.”

Once we had all promised not to tell anypony else about it, Spike led us deeper into his cave, towards the chamber that housed the Gardens of Equestria.


***


“Here we are.” Spike said, leading us into the chamber that housed Gardens.

The chamber was massive.  Along the walls were 12 maneframes, mostly inactive save for one.  Giant cables ran out of the tops of each one, connecting to a massive tapered column far above us.  The column itself was a mass of steel and magic, and was pointed upwards at a hole at the top of the chamber, through which I could make out the sky.

“What, is that?” I ask, staring in awe at the massive column.

“That would be a Crusader Maneframe.  Most powerful maneframe ever built.  So powerful it can learn and think for itself.” Spike said.

“Holy shit…” I muttered, now noticing the six platforms radiating out from the base of the maneframe, each one having a dais upon which a piece of jewelry sat.

“Those wouldn’t happen to be the Elements of Harmony, would they?” Scopes said.

“They are.  The Gardens of Equestria is activated using the combined power from them.  Only problem is that the element bearers are long dead.” Spike says, a trace of sadness in his voice. “That’s why I spend my time scouring the wastes with sprite-bots.  I’m trying to find new bearers for them.”


***


We returned back to the main room of Spike’s cave, the three of us stunned at the enormous responsibility the dragon had on his shoulders.

“So, have you had any luck finding new bearers?” I asked Spike.

The dragon, to my surprise nodded. “In fact I have.  Littlepip’s, or the Stable Dweller as DJ Pon3 calls her, companions Calamity and Velvet Remedy might make good candidates for the elements of Loyalty and Kindness respectively.” He said. “And a ghoul by the name of Ditzy Doo would make a good candidate for Laughter, but that still leaves Magic, Honesty, and Generosity.

“Well, we’ll definitely keep an eye out for ponies that fit that description for you, but even if you do get all six elements, we still can’t activate the OFC. You have any suggestions?” I said, hoping that the dragon would have some advice to give us.

“Well, for the coordinates, I would head to Tenpony Tower in Manehattan and talk with DJ Pon3.  He’s got a broadcasting network setup with all those SPP towers that are scattered around everywhere, so you’ll probably be able to triangulate the cannon’s position using those.  As for the passcode, I’m not sure what advise I can give you, sorry.” Spike told me.

“Thanks, and don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.” I replied to him, before turning to Scopes and Qindeo. “So, you two up for a little trip to Tenpony?”


***


“The zebra can’t go in.”

We had made the three day flight from Spike’s cave to Tenpony with no run-ins with the Enclave, only the occasional raider party who decided it would be a good idea to ambush us when we landed to sleep or resupply.

“Excuse me?” I said, glaring at the guard in front of me.

“The zebra, cannot, go it.” The guard repeated.

I was about to do something that everypony here would regret me doing, but Scopes stepped in front of me. “Let me handle this Desert.” She said.

I grunted and moved back to where Qindeo was waiting patiently next to the cart.  A moment later I heard the jangle of caps being exchanged and Scopes came trotting back to us.

“He can go in, but we all have to turn in our ammunition in at the guard station.” She said.

“Great, hope they’ve got room for it.” I muttered in response.

We entered into the tower, and went into the guard station to turn in our ammo.

“Sweet Celestia, where’d the hell you get all this ammo?” The guard who was collecting our ammunition asked.  It was an appropriate question to ask, seeing as we had 7 ammo boxes full of various types of rounds.

“Well, we found an armory, and took as much as we could carry.” I replied. “And if you’re wondering, no, I’m not telling you where it is.”

The guard shrugged. “Well, that seems to be the last of it, you’re free to go.” He said, ushering us out of the guard station. “Have a nice day.”

“Well, I guess we better find ourselves a room.” I said, glancing at where Qindeo stood. He had his stealth cloak on with the hood up to disguise himself, but was still drawing second glances from passersby.

“Agreed.” Scopes said. “And we all could probably use a good bath.”

Both Qindeo and I groaned.

“Oh come on, baths aren’t that bad.” Scopes said with a grin. “Come on you two, let’s get a room.”


***


An hour later we were all chilling out in a room that Scopes had rented out for us.  We had gotten some pretty good looks from the other ponies that lived here, who were all clean and nicely dressed, while we on the other hand were covered in blood, dirt, and who knows what else, and were dressed in full combat attire carrying large weapons.  It was pretty funny to say the least.

“Fucking fancy ponies wouldn’t last a day out in the Wastes.” I muttered as I removed my battle saddle, helmet, and barding.  I had managed to sneak two full clips of ammo past the guard at the entrance, and loaded one into my Deagle and slipped the other into a spot on the holster now.

“Now about those baths.” I hear Scopes say behind me as I did this.  I groaned.  “Well shit.”


***


Half an hour later we were all nice and uncomfortably clean, and Scopes was way too happy with herself.

“’Not that bad’ she says, ‘It’ll be fun’ she says.” I muttered, shaking my wet mane out.  I could hear Scopes laughing at me as I reattached my leg holster.  The familiar weight of it was comforting.  I wore it so much that it had almost become an extension of my leg.

“Well, now that we’re all clean, and stuff, let’s get a good night’s sleep.” I said.

“Agreed, I’m exhausted.” Scopes said, collapsing onto the bed. “So fluffy.” She muttered into the sheets.

I rolled my eyes. “Good night Scopes.”


***


When I awoke it was dark out.  I checked the time on my PipBuck.  It was 3:01 AM.  I lay there for a moment, listening to the quiet snoring of Qindeo from where he slept on the floor between mine and Scopes’s beds.  Deciding that I wasn’t going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon, I got up as quietly as I could, and slipped out of the room.

The hallway was dead silent, and there were only three yellow bars on my EFS, which I presumed to be guards.  I trotted down the hallway towards the main area of the tower where we had come in at, and decided to have some fun exploring.  I chose a hallway at random and began walking down it, enjoying the peaceful air that the building seemed to have in it.

The hallway ended with a door that had been left ajar.  I nosed it open and stepped through it, and found myself on a staircase leading downwards.  Curious, I started down it, and soon found myself in some sort of dimly lit access tunnel.  I checked my EFS again, this time seeing 7 yellow bars, all of them directly ahead of me in the tunnel.

Against the sane part of my mind that was screaming at me to go back to the room, I crept forward, sticking to the darkest parts of the tunnel until I was within hearing range.  What I heard shook me to the core.

“…and then, Vladmar, you kill the other two with Fierez while me and George get the target.  The rest of you stand guard, and if you have to get rid of a possible witness, do so quietly.” One of them said.

I crept forward further, hunkering down behind a pile of crates.  Slowly, I peeked over the top.  In front of me stood seven zebras, all dressed in stealth cloaks bearing the same mark Qindeo’s did.

It was then that I realized what exactly was going to happen, and also when three more yellow bars approached from the direction I had come from.  I made myself as small as possible as three more zebras trotted past me to the others.

“Hey boss, the door at the top of the stairs was wide open, and one of the ponies was missing from the room.  I think that he might be down here.” I heard one of them say.

“Well, search the area then!” The one who had been speaking earlier replied.

Shit!

I quickly looked around for some other place to hide, but there were none.  Well, here goes nothing.  I thought, before making probably the stupidest decision I could have.

I stood up and stepped around the pile of boxes, revealing myself to the group of zebras.  “Hey bozos, I’m right here you know.  You should really work on your security; well then again, I am the security.” I said with a grin plastered over my face.

All ten of them turned to look at me. “Well, in that case, we’ll test our current security right now.” The leader of the group said. “Get him.”

Five of the zebras leapt towards me, and I fled. “Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit!” I yelled as I flew back up the tunnel, shooting past the stairs I had come down originally. “Fuck!”

I flew on down the tunnel, the small space limiting my speed.  I glanced back to see the zebras only a tail-length behind me, and gaining slowly. “Well shit.” I muttered, taking a sharp corner only to find myself at a dead end. “FUCK!”

I whipped around just in time to see the zebras blocking the way back down the tunnel.  I was trapped.

“Well, that was impressive, but still not enough.” The leader stepped through the line of zebras towards me, the rest of the group making a second line in front of the first.

“Well, you caught me.” I spat. “What’re you gonna do with me now?”

The leader laughed. “Straight to the point, aren’t you?” He said. “Desert Eagle isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Well then Desert Eagle, if you must know, we were going to kill you, along with your friends, but since you are here now, I think I’ll have you kill them instead.” The leader said. “Oh, and I don’t believe I’ve properly introduced myself yet. I am Head Assassin Kalisz. I replaced former Head Assassin Qindeo when he defected.” He said.

I didn’t respond.  My mind was still trying to figure a way out of this situation.  There was no way I was going to kill my friends! “Well Kalisz, I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline. You see, I love my friends dearly, and one of them almost died recently, and I don’t think I could bear to lose her.” I said, a plan finally starting to form.  I had spied a door to my left just briefly, and began edging towards it as I spoke.

“Well, that’s a shame.  I was hoping to keep you alive at least a little longer.” Kalisz said. “But so be it.  Eliminate him please.”

I dove for the door, and instead of opening it went straight through it, sending bits of wood flying in every direction.  I landed on my back with a thud, stars spinning in my vision as I scrambled to my hooves and started running through the room.

The room was some sort of maintenance room, with various machines lining the walls and floor.  I charged through them, knocking anything over that I could to slow my pursuers down.

I skidded around a corner, sprinting down one of those classic hallways with doors lining each side, and dove into one of them, hiding myself inside.

I could hear the five or so zebras talking in Zebraic out in the hallway.  I heard them begin to search the rooms, and the door to my room swinging open and then back closed.

The zebra trotted around the room, checking all the nooks and crannies, getting closer to the spot I was hiding in.

I slowly pulled my Deagle out from its holster, readying it.  I knew that the noise would alert the rest of them, but hopefully I could pick them off as they came through the door.

The pile of chairs I was behind moved and the zebra found himself staring at the barrel of my gun. I pulled the trigger.  His head exploded from the blast, which also set my ears ringing.

I shoved the now headless body back and stepped out of my hiding spot, my Deagle trained on the door.  I heard hooves pounding down the hallway towards my room, and when the door flew open I fired, the zebra staggering back out into the hallway and collapsing against the opposite wall, a hole in his chest.

The next zebra stopped short, but made the mistake of poking his head around the corner.  He was thrown back into the floor with a hole where his left eye used to be.

The last two zebras were smarter.  They activated their stealth cloaks and tried to sneak in, but at such a close range I could see the shimmer around them, and put a round into each of them.

I breathed a shaky sigh of relief as the sound of the last shot faded away.  Quickly I reloaded, thankful that I had been able to sneak two clips through security.  I had nine rounds left, and four more zebras to kill.  Without a moment to waste, I set out after them, backtracking through the maintenance room to the tunnel.  They weren’t anywhere in sight, and my EFS was blank as well.

I swore.  They must have gone after Qin and Scopes while the others were chasing me!  I thought.  Lofting into the air, I flew back down the tunnel to where I had come in.  I cantered up the stairs burst through the door, throwing myself back into the air and pouring on the speed back to our room, hoping I wasn’t too late.

Thankfully, I wasn’t.  As I turned the corner into the hall our room was in, I saw the four zebras approaching our door. “Oh hell no!” I yelled, yanking my Deagle out and slipping into VATS.

I targeted one shot to each of their heads, Kalisz only having a 10% chance, much to my dismay.  I fired anyway, time crawling along as I watched the first three shots hit their target’s heads, decapitating one of them.  The fourth shot, aimed at Kalisz, missed.  I exited VATS, holstered the Deagle, and dove towards him, slamming him into the floor right as he began opening the door to our room.

Much to my surprise he threw me right back off, and flipped up onto his hooves.  I brought my Deagle up, only to have it kicked out of my mouth, and then before I could react, his hoof collided with my chest.  I heard something crack as I dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.  As the pain laced through my chest, I realized he had broken one of my ribs, and probably was going to break my neck next.

Adrenaline rushing, I forced myself back up to my hooves, and faced the zebra.  He hit me with another kick, this one to the shoulder.  I went staggering back into our door, vaguely wondering why neither Qin or Scopes had woken up and come out here to save my flank yet.

I faced Kalisz again.  The zebra shook his head. “You just won’t give up without a fight, will you?” He asked.  I replied with my own kick, hitting the zebra square in the chest while his guard was down.  Unfortunately, this didn’t do much more than piss him off.

I quickly found myself returned to the familiar entity that was the floor, with what I suspected was a second broken rib.  I spat blood out of my muzzle before forcing myself to my hooves once again.  “Hell no I won’t” I croaked.

Kalisz grinned. “So be it.” He hit my jaw with an uppercut, and while I was still reeling from that, slammed my chest with a full-force applebuck, sending me slamming into the wall.  I slid down it and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, coughing up generous amounts of blood, and finding it very difficult to breathe.  I figured that I probably had a punctured lung, along with a few more broken ribs.

I lifted my head slightly to see him approaching me.  He was saying something, but I didn’t really pay attention to it cause something else had caught my eye.  My Deagle lay on the floor nearby, just out of reach.

I turned to him, and disguised my movement towards it as a failed attempt to get up.  I staggered for a few moments before collapsing again, right next to it so that he couldn’t see the gun.

“Well now Desert, I think that your time has come, but since I am courteous, do you have any last words?” Kalisz asked.

I coughed several times before replying. “Y-yeah, knock knock.”

Kalisz raised an eyebrow. “Really? Whatever. Who’s there?”

“Hot lead.”  I rolled over to face him, Deagle in my mouth, and emptied the last five rounds in the clip at the zebra.  He was staggered back into the opposite wall, five holes in his chest, and slid to the ground, a large pool of blood forming around him.

I dropped the Deagle, the gun clattering to the floor with its slide locked open and smoke drifting slowly from the firing chamber and barrel.

I smiled to myself as I watched the smoke drift upwards, before succumbing to unconsciousness where I lay.
> Chapter 7: Collateral
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Collateral

I groaned as I came to, slowly opening my eyes.

“Gah! Bright!” I exclaimed, blinking rapidly until my eyes adjusted to the brightness.  Looking around I could tell I was in the clinic, in one of the beds.  This was good, considering the beating that zebra had given me.  It was pure luck that I was still alive at all.

“Ah, you’re awake!” I heard the familiar voice of Scopes say somewhere nearby.  She and Qindeo appeared at the foot of my bed a moment later.

“Hey guys.” I said, giving them a half-grin as I pulled myself upright, wincing. “How the fuck you two sleep through that?  I was getting my flank handed to me by that zebra!”

“Well, that would be because they had placed a sound proofing charm on the room, so we couldn’t hear you getting the shit beaten out of you.” Qindeo replied. “Had I not woken up to use the bathroom, we likely wouldn’t have found you until this morning.”

I nodded. “I see, well, I’m glad that you did find me when you did, otherwise I’m afraid I wouldn’t have made it.” I said. “Now, where’s the Doc?  We’ve got a lot to accomplish today.”


***


A couple of hours later we were all riding an elevator up to DJ Pon3’s suite at the top of Tenpony Tower.

I rubbed my ribcage, the damn thing was still sore.  I looked up as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

A grey unicorn mare stood in front of us, smiling. “Hello, DJ Pon3 will see you now.” She said.

I nodded and stepped out of the elevator into the marble foyer. In the center was a large water fountain of an alicorn with her wings spread out.  That was flanked by two sets of stairs leading up to a mezzanine, bronze letters inset into it reading: Ministry of Arcane Science – Manehattan.  There were a set of double doors on each level as well, the upper set bearing a sign that read: M.A.S. Emergency Broadcast Station.

The unicorn lead us up the stairs, past the double doors, and into another door nearby.  Inside was a desk and some chairs.  I figured that this was probably DJ Pon3’s office.

I took a seat along with Qin and Scopes, as the mare sat down on the opposite side of the desk.

“Greetings, I am Homage, better known as DJ Pon3.” She said.

I stared at her, confused.  Luckily, she seemed to sense this. “Yes, I know that this is not the voice you are used to hearing over the radio, but it is a simple voice charm, that is all.  Now, what can I do for you three today?”

“Well, Ms. Homage, my name is Desert Eagle, and these are my friends Qindeo, and Scopes.” I said, indicating each of them in turn. “And as for our business here, I was hoping you could help us find something.”

Homage nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She said.  “And I certainly hope I can help you find what you’re looking for.  What exactly is it?”

“Well, we’re looking for the coordinates of an orbiting satellite.” I told her, not wanting to give anything away just yet. “You seemed like our best option, with access to all of those broadcast towers.”

Homage nodded slowly. “An orbiting satellite eh?  What’s so important about it?  Why do you need to know where it is?” She asked.

I hesitated, glancing over at Scopes, who gave me a small nod, before turning back to Homage. “Well, can you keep a secret?”

She nodded. “I already keep many.”

“Good, because the satellite is actually an orbital cannon with enough power to level an entire city, and we need the coordinates to unlock the fire control.” I said bluntly.

Homage’s jaw, needless to say, hit the floor.  She quickly recovered, however, and grew suspicious. “And why do you want to unlock its fire control?  What do you plan on using it for?” She asked.

I paused.  I really hadn’t thought of that.  Discovering it in the first place had been an act of preventing it from falling into the wrong hooves, but now that we had it, I had no idea what to do with it. “That is a very good question, which I don’t have an answer to.  We haven’t actually thought of using it at all quite frankly.” I replied after a moment.

Homage nodded.  “Follow me.”


***


An hour later I had the coordinates of the OFC safely stowed away in my PipBuck, and we were leaving Tenpony Tower.

My ribcage still ached like a bitch, especially as I gained altitude, but it wasn’t unbearable.

We set course back towards Seaddle, flying 50 feet above the cloud layer.  Scopes pulled Qindeo along in the cart, while I flew cover slightly above and ahead of them.

I kept an eye on my EFS as I flew, and it’s a good thing I did too, otherwise I’d never have noticed those six streaks of smoke and lightning hurtling towards us from above.

“Drop and roll!” I yelled, folding my wings and quite literally dropping out of the sky, plunging below the clouds in a matter of seconds, Scopes appearing a split second later.

Scopes went into a hard banking turn down and away to the left, Qindeo bracing himself against the cart and digging into his cloak for something.

I shot off in a straight line at top speed, clicking on the TAC function on my PipBuck.  It painted Scopes and Qindeo green, while our pursuers were painted red in my vision.

Three of them broke off and came after me, gaining at an alarming rate.

“Oh shit!” I said, pulling up sharply in an effort to have them shoot underneath me.  It didn’t work, my pursuers sticking right with me as I shot back up above the clouds.

They closed the gap to a mere 25 yards, close enough I could make out the inscription on their blue armor.  They were the Wonderbolts.

My eyes went wide. “Well, this ain’t good.” I rolled to the right, bolts of pink energy searing my wings as they missed by mere inches.  I turned towards my pursuers, going nearly vertical and pouring on the speed, causing them to shoot past underneath me.

As they tried to pull up and match my move, I reversed direction, dropping below them and right onto their tails.  My targeting reticule flashed red, locking the nearest Wonderbolt in its crosshairs.  I fired, The Undoer ripping one of the Novasurge rifles clean off its battle saddle, taking the piece of saddle it was attached to with it.  The Wonderbolt whipped around, the useless saddle falling away as she did.

She dove at me, scorpion tail lashing, and collided into my back, knocking us both tumbling below the cloud layer.  A desperate struggle ensued, her whipping her scorpion tail around, trying to stab it into me, as I tried to get a grip on my Deagle.  She won.

I cried out as I felt the blade slice through my barding and straight into my right side, just behind my shoulder.  A second later though, I had my Deagle in my mouth.

I twisted around, putting all seven shots straight into her chest.  At such a close ranger, her armor didn’t stand a chance.  Blood sprayed out her back as the rounds exited, leaving a massive hole in her chest.  She died instantly, her body falling away from me.  As it did, the scorpion tail that was embedded into my side was yanked violently out, the tip grating across the back of my shoulder blade before exiting, eliciting another cry of pain.

I recovered after tumbling for a few more seconds, my side in agonizing pain.  The fucking tails were poisoned with something, I was sure of it, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now.  I holstered my Deagle, looking around for the other five Wonderbolts, Scopes, and Qindeo.

I spotted four of the Wonderbolts flying off into the distance, one of them clutching the body of their fallen comrade.  I snorted, typical Enclave cowards.  I next spotted Scopes flying a good distance below me, and Qindeo’s tag was off to the west.  I started to breathe a sigh of relief, when I suddenly realized that one of the Wonderbolts still hadn’t been accounted for.  I looked around frantically, searching for the remaining Wonderbolt.

The only sign of him was a bright muzzle flash in the distance, the high-pitched crack of a sniper rifle reaching my ears at the same time I saw Scopes start to fall.

“No!” I shouted.  Adrenaline pumping, I ignored my own wounds and the poison seeping through my veins and dove after her, my wings a blur as I accelerated downwards.

I saw the Mach cone start to form in front of me, the little airspeed indicator on my eyepiece reading Mach 3 and going up fast.  The Mach cone started to bend around me, coming to a point before my outstretched hooves, before I punched through it in a sudden burst of near-instant acceleration.  The spectrum of visible light shattered around me, sending a rainbow-colored shockwave rippling out over the wastes, and a rainbow trail streaked out behind me.

I ignored the aerial display behind me, and the fact I had just executed the hardest aerial maneuver ever, of all time, as I caught Scopes about 100 feet above the ground.  I began to level out, bleeding off speed as I approached the ground, heading towards Qindeo’s tag.  With Scopes grasped firmly in my hooves, I flipped over onto my back, and crash landed into a large meadow-like area, dirt flying up around me as I slid to a halt.

I groaned, letting Scopes roll out of my hooves off to the side as my vision began to darken.  I thought I could hear the sound of hoofsteps approaching, sounding distant.  I tried to turn my head to see who it was, catching a glimpse of a green coat before I blacked out.


***


I didn’t know how long I was out for, and when I finally did come too, it was only for a brief second before somepony yelled “Knock him yeut agyen!” and I was unconscious once more.

I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, catching glimpses of Scopes, Qindeo, and several other ponies I didn’t know.  When I was awake, my entire body burned, my vision was blurry, and the area where I had been stabbed was a constant sharp pain.

Despite all of that though, I still managed to catch glimpses of my caretakers.  There were two pegasi, one with a green coat and a purple mane that spoke in a funny accent, and the other had a red coat with a brown mane.  There was also a small earth pony filly and what I thought was a griffon.


***


I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the darkness around me.  My fever had finally passed, though my side was still aching in pain.  I sat up slowly, wincing as pain suddenly laced up my side when I moved my shoulder.  I looked over at the wound, finding a nasty scar where the blade had entered and exited, the scar from the exit wound being wider and offset at an angle from the entrance wound scar.  I looked up from it, taking a look around at my surroundings.

I was inside a tent, the front flap open to the night air.  I was sitting upon a cot raised slightly off of the ground, my gear piled neatly next to it.  In the corner next to the entrance flap, a little terracotta colored filly with a vermillion mane slept peacefully on a bed roll.

I smiled, wondering how long the filly had been sleeping here, before attempting to stand.  I gently put my right foreleg down, slowly putting more weight onto it before the pain became too intense for me to bear and then backing off.  I rose, keeping most of my weight on my other three hooves as I limped over to my pile of gear.

I slowly pulled my barding on, making a mental note to repair it soon.  It was getting pretty beat up.  I strapped my Deagle to my leg, slipping my Aviators into a chest pocket and leaving the rest of my gear in the pile.  I turned towards the entrance flap, only to see the little filly now wide awake and staring at me.

I smiled at her. “Hello there.” I said. “What’s your name?”

“Beep Beep!” She replied, breaking into a wide smile. “Stay right here, I need to tell the others you’ve woken up!” She jumped up, and raced out of the tent.

I blinked. “Okay…?” I sat back down on the cot, rubbing my shoulder and waiting for the filly to return.  I didn’t have to wait long, as she stuck her head into the tent and motioned for me to come outside.

I got back up, and limped out of the tent and into the cool night air.  In front of me were Scopes, Qindeo, the two pegasi, and a griffon, all gathered around a bright campfire. “Hey.” I said.

They began to introduce themselves, starting with the green pegasus.

“Name's Atom Bell.  Glad tuh see yas awake, ah divvint think yee weor ganin tuh myek it the forst couple iv days.” She said, her accent so strong I barely understood her at first.

“Uhm, nice to meet you Miss Bell.” I said, nodding politely to her and noting her cutie mark, a silver lamp.

The red coated pegasus introduced herself next. “Hey, name’s Carnival!” She said.  Her cutie mark was one of those sad theater masks.

I nodded to her, and turned to the griffon, who spoke next.

“Grim Whiptail, at your service.” The griffon said, tipping his desperado hat to me.

I nodded back, turning my attention to Scopes and Qindeo, only to have Scopes tackle me into a hug as I did so. “What did I tell you about not scaring me like that again?” She demanded, tears in her eyes. “Do you even know what you did?”

Before I could respond, she planted her lips directly onto mine.  My eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment I returned her kiss.  We broke apart a few moments later.

I took a step back. “Uhh, I, uhh, umm…” I said, blinking rapidly.

I heard Qindeo chuckle.  He came up next to me, and whispered into my ear. “I think she likes you, just a little bit.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, I’m, gonna go take a nap.” I retreated back into my tent, pulling the entrance flap closed.  I clambered onto the cot, and fell asleep almost instantly.


***


When I woke up, it was still dark out.  I limped out of my tent, taking a look around the camp.  There were five other tents set up around the now dying campfire, and there were two wagons parked around them in a perimeter, their brahmin sleeping nearby.

I saw Grim perched on top of one of the wagons, keeping watch.  Curious about the rest of our surroundings, I flew up to him. “Hey.” I said, landing gently next to him.

He nodded to me, before turning his attention back to our surroundings.  We were camped out inside of an old airfield, at the very end of the crumbling tarmac of one of the runways.  A ways up it I could see what appeared to be the old control tower laying across the runway, and the main building next to it.

I looked down at my PipBuck, which had labeled this as Shadow Field. “Huh, well, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go take a look around.” I said to Grim.

He nodded. “Alright, just don’t nearly die again.  Atom already used up nearly all her medical supplies on you.”

“I won’t.” I replied and took off, flying down the runway towards the building.


***


I landed in front of the building, which turned out to be a two story high command center.  Letters across the top floor read Shadow Field, while smaller letters above the double doors read MoA.  I tried pushing one of the doors open, resulting in it just falling over with a crash. “Well, that works too I guess.”

I shrugged and stepped inside the building, gazing around at the interior.  It seemed to have escaped the notice of looters, a terminal still glowing brightly behind what appeared to be the reception desk.

The floor creaked dangerously as I trotted over towards the terminal, causing me to pause, and look down at the floor beneath me.  That wasn’t a good idea.

With a massive crash, the floor gave out beneath me, sending me tumbling down into the blackness below.

I landed with heavy thud, pieces of rotted wood raining down around me.  Groaning, I picked myself up.  Luckily, I wasn’t hurt any worse than I already was from the fall.

I clicked on my PipBuck light, and shined it around.  I had fallen into some sort of tunnel, writing on the walls labeling it as ACCESS TUNNEL 1B.  A little further down the wall, there was an arrow pointing down the tunnel accompanied by the words CRYO A.  I also spotted a switch on the wall, so I went over and flipped it.  It seemed like the logical thing to do.

Dim red lights flickered to life along the length of the tunnel, giving everything an eerie red glow.  I kept my light on and brought up my EFS display, and started down the tunnel.


***


I had been walking for roughly five minutes before the first red bar appeared on my EFS, followed by another, and then three more.

I drew my Deagle, advancing until five ghoul ponies were visible.  I decided to have a little fun. “Hey!  Bozos!  I got a question for yah.  You prefer to take your daily dose of lead with water or orange juice?” I yelled at them, before opening fire.

I downed the ghouls with one shot each, the sound of the Deagle nearly deafening in the enclosed space.

I reloaded and continued onward, stepping over the bodies carefully and trotting towards a sharp turn in the tunnel.  I rounded it, and found myself standing in front of a metal door, my EFS displaying two red marks milling around behind it.  Letters above the door labeled it as CRYO A.

I readied my Deagle, and hit the door release, the door sliding down into the floor with a clang.  A cold, low, thick fog rolled out, swirling around my hooves, followed a second later by two ghouls charging towards me.  They each got a bullet to the head, dropping instantly.

My EFS now devoid of marks, I holstered my Deagle and stepped into the room, taking a look around.

The first thing I noticed was the temperature drop.  It was probably about a nice 65°F out in the tunnel, while the temperature inside of the room was damn near freezing.  I shivered, my barding not having the best of insulation.

The floor was covered in a thick layer of rolling fog that swirled ominously around my hooves as I walked.  Both walls were lined with big open metal pods, each accompanied by a terminal, none of which seemed to be working.

In the center of the room was a control console with another terminal perched atop it, this one glowing.  As I approached it, something else caught my eye at the opposite end of the room.  I stepped around the terminal and trotted forward to investigate.

Along the back wall of the room lay the body of a griffon, long dead, but the cold temperature of the room having kept it mostly preserved.  There was a pre-war lance sticking out of it, like the ones the Royal Guards of old used to carry.

“That’s odd.” I muttered, wondering what the body of a griffon was doing in the cryo chamber of an old military base.  My gaze flicked over the wall, spotting a small outline of something towards the center.  I moved closer to get a better look at it, my eyes widening in surprise as I saw what it was, a cloud and thunderbolt, better known as Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark.

I thought for a moment, before placing my hoof on it and pressing down.  To my delight, it slid into the wall with a solid thunk.

I took a step back as a hermetic seal released with a hiss, steam blowing out along a previously unseen crack.  The two halves of the wall slid apart smoothly, coming to a stop about five feet apart.

I stepped through the opening into a small room, similar to the first, but with only one of the metal pods sitting in the center of it.  This pod was closed, a little light above it glowing green, and was covered in a layer of frost.

I walked slowly up to the pod, scraping off some of the frost with my hoof, revealing Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark underneath.  I took a step back in surprise.  How was this even possible?  The history books back in Stable 199 said that all six Mares of the Ministry had perished.

I turned towards the glowing terminal next to the pod.  There was only one way to find out if they were wrong.

I stepped up to the terminal, guessing the password, R4D1C4LNE55 on my fourth try.

P:\>Shadow_Field\CRYO_A\RD
>Access Granted
>Open Cryo Pod? Y/N

I hit enter.