86-34: Arc 1: Fight the Power, Fight the Fad

It was afternoon when they finally got back to the safehouse in Manehattan. As they opened the door, Cipher hurried to the basement, where he found the long range radio still functioning. He put on the headphones and adjusted the frequency.

“This is Cipher form Manehattan. OverColt, do you copy, over?”

“*static* This is OverColt, we copy, Cipher.”

“What is the status of the Baltimare team headed to the MRJ-12 bunker, over?”

“Cipher, we’ve lost contact with the Baltimare team no less than a few hours ago,over.”

“What? Did you send anypony to investigate,over?”

“That’s a negative, we did not sent anypony else to investigate, over.”

“Damnit! We believe the asset in question is being pursued by a highly dangerous terrorist cell. Possible unknowns from outside Equestria,over.”

“Say again, Cipher, I don’t think I read you on that last part,over.”

“We are dealing with enemies beyond the mountain range,over.”

“.....copy that, Cipher. What do you need,over?”

“Have all available forces on standby to move to Canterlot. I’ve got a feeling the situation there is about to go critical. Cipher out.”

Cipher went back upstairs where the ponies were exhausted from their ordeal.“Something’s not right.”

“You’re telling me”,Circuit Cut responded,”After Rarity got nabbed by some Diamond Dogs yesterday, lo and behold, today there are already some pretty saucy art on Wild Equestria.”

“No,not that. The team who is supposed to secure the bunker is not responding.”

“You think something happened to ‘em?” asked Badger.

“Most definitely. That’s why you and I are going to investigate.”

“Are you serious?”

“Being pegasi we can travel there faster.”

“I don’t mean to say that’s a bad idea, but let’s say the strike team is in trouble, how are the two of us going to be of help if we’re up against 10 D34 ponies?”

“That’s why we won’t go unprepared”, Cipher replied, with a faint smile as he gestured Badger to follow him. They made their way to the basement where Cipher slid a cabinet aside, revealing a second cabinet. He opened the cabinet doors to  reveal an assortment of weapons and armor.

“Here, take this,” Cipher said as he handed Badger an MP40 submachinegun.

“Hey, tehis looks like the one that D34 unicorn used”, Badger remarked.

“Exactly, but see, the grip has been removed so it’s now a MO weapon. You can bite on the trigger here.”

Cipher took another for himself, but this SMG was a bit different from Badger’s. Instead of the filed off grip, the trigger connected to a curved piece of metal, big enough to fit a hoof in.

“That is a weird-looking gun”, Badger said, giving it a puzzled stare.

“Hoof-Operated. You’ll see”, replied Cipher as he took two extra magazines for his SMG. Cipher handed Badger a knife with a sheath, which he tied under his left hoof. Cipher himself sheathed a machete.

“One more thing”, Cipher said as he passed Badger what seemed to be a biscuit. “It’s an energy cracker. It’s not much but it will keep you alert for a little while.”

After Cipher and Badger suited up with armor covering head to hoof, he told Ratchet,”If we don’t return within two hours, call HQ for help.” Ratchet reluctantly nodded.

Cipher and Badger spread their wings as they took to the skies, not knowing what to expect or what awaits them at their destination.

~~~

“According to the map, the bunker’s entrance should be in the valley. It’s easy to miss, especially from the air, with the rich vegetation in the area”, Cipher explained as he and Badger reached BaltiMount, the mountain overlooking Baltimare. The mountain height and the sheer amount of vegetation made railroad building difficult there, and hence Fillydelphia was connected to Baltimare via the Manehattan Outskirts and by sea.

As they passed BaltiMount, they reached the valley where the river made it’s way to the ocean. They slowly descended, with Badger following Cipher’s lead. Finally they found a good place to land. Following the map, Cipher cut a swath through the vegetation with his machete, keeping a keen eye on the surroundings for any signs of the bunker, or enemies.

“Dhere”, Cipher said, still clenching the machete. He and Badger approached a clearing where the vegetation had been cut already, and a few feet away, was a cave. They cautiously entered the cave, switching on their flashlights.

At the end of the cave, they came across the bunker’s round door. Badger here opened it, and they went in. The bunker it was shot up with many bullet holes and loose sparking wires. They moved past the destroyed furniture, trying to avoid the wires.

“Looks like a fierce battle took place here”, whispered Badger.

Suddenly they heard something drop behind them. They turned to a dark section down the hall and could make out shapes of two unicorns.

“Who’s there? ”

One of them began to mumble something. “If it exists...it will be defiled...”

As Cipher moved closer, he could recognize their uniforms as members of OWP Baltimare. The unicorns were facing the other way, and slowly turned around. The other pony mumbled, “It will be defiled...defiled....”

“Do you copy..?.”

“I WILL DEFILE YOU ALL!” the pony shouted as he raised his weapon.

“Get down, Badger!” Cipher said as he ducked behind a support beam.

A hail of bullets whizzed past their faces. Badger ducked from behind a monitor and returned fire. That’s when he saw Cipher do the most peculiar thing: he got on his hind legs, pulled out his SMG, and held it with his forehooves. The curved metal piece was able to fit his hoof. Cipher ducked out of cover, aimed by aligning the gunsights and squeezed his hoof in control bursts of fire. One unicorn collapsed with multiple hits to his face and chest. The other unicorn started to pick up objects with his horn and furiously throw them at Cipher. Badger tried to distract him by providing covering fire. The unicorn caught sight of Badger and hurled a bench at him. The bench hit the monitor Badger was hiding behind, pinning him to the ground.

Cipher sprinted forwards and hit the unicorn in the face with his gun. The unicorn flew backwards.

“Don’t do it!” Cipher shouted at the unicorn, who was getting to his hooves.

“Heh...death...to the infide-”

A burst of rounds embedded themselves in the crazed unicorn, and he fell to the ground, motionless. Cipher moved towards the dead unicorns and checked the bodies.

“Damn, why did you do it?” He said, almost tearing.

“Hnnngh”, came a voice from behind. Cipher turned around to see Badger pinned by the monitor.

“Are you alright?” Cipher asked as he helped Badger to his hooves.

“Yeah. Who knew a monitor could be so heavy?” Badger asked, jokingly. “Was that them?”

“I’m afraid so, and they were just rookies too. What the buck happened to them? DId they someone get corrupted as well?”

Badger and Cipher continued to search the shot-up bunker. Further inside, they came towards what seemed to be a functioning monitor, with a blank cyan screen. “That’s strange”, Cipher remarked, “The stuff here stopped working ages ag-”

The monitor suddenly produced an image, a video feed. A familiar unicorn was displayed on the screen, as they recognized the silver cutie mark and mane color.

“....Quicksilver?” Badger asked.

“Hello, boys. I thought somepony might drop in here”, came the voice from the screen.

“What did you do to those unicorns?!” Cipher demanded.

“Actually, all did was persuade them a bit. After that they eagerly submitted themselves.”

“Your acts of influencing these ponies will to come to an end! I will personally see to it!”

“I’m not influencing  anypony to do anything against their will...I am only leading them. They chose to do this...by their own will. Equestria needs a new entity to lead them, and the Directorate of Anarchy, Ravaging and Killing, or D.A.R.K, is here to fulfill that purpose”, Quicksilver said with narrow eyes and a devious smile.

“No. I refuse to believe it!! Nopony with a sane mind would ever do this!” Cipher exclaimed.

“Oh, you’ll be surprised what anypony would do with the correct persuasion.”

Two unicorns appeared on screen beside Quicksilver. Without their helmets off, Cipher recognized the other half of OWP Baltimare. “No...it can’t be!”

“Join us, Cipher...be part of the cause. The rewards are quite...‘exquisite’,” one of the unicorns said with a smile, running a hoof down Quicksilver’s flank.

“My, my, you two can’t get enough, can you? Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where that came from”, Quicksilver said with a laugh.

Cipher clenched his teeth. “You...you’re despicable, you know that?”

“See? That’s the ultimate reason why you can’t stop us, and never will. You can fight all you want, but you cannot prevent anypony from doing what makes them feel good.”

Cipher’s widened. He tried to speak, but the words didn’t come out. He dropped his weapon and slumped to his hind legs, and could do nothing but stare at the ground in front of him.

“Ha, I sure love it when I leave ‘em speechless...or breathless,” Quicksilver said.

“Cipher...Cipher, you ok?” Badger said as he tried to shake Cipher.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but you took too long to get here and I’ve got another engagement somewhere else. See you soon. Oh, and since this seems like a depressing moment, I wanna end it with a bang.”

The monitor switched to a timer showing 10 seconds. Badger’s eyes widened.

“Cipher,we’ve gotta get out of here”, Badger said at the top of his voice, but Cipher just stared blankly at the ground. Badger hoisted him on his back and flew as far as his wings could carry him. Bits of dangling wires scraped his wings as he flew towards the exit. He. barely cleared the door when a huge explosion engulfed the whole bunker. A few seconds later, a cave-in buried the bunker for good.

The sun was setting as Badger set Cipher down on the ground beside the river. “You alright? Hey, snap out of it!”

Cipher remain dazed, staring into nothingness.

"‘If it exists, it will be defiled’”.

“It’s what we all want: fame, recognition...the Six gagged and bent over, hahahaha.”

“They chose to do this...by their own will.”

“If the Six were somehow removed(in a violent and painful manner), Equestria would lose its source of power, and will subsequently crumble into delirium.”

“We will remove CHC, and with them out of the way, Equestria will be ours for the taking.”

“I’d love to stay and chat, but you took too long to get here and I’ve got another engagement somewhere else.”

Cipher suddenly blinked and came to his senses. “...the Gala...”

“What?” said a puzzled Badger.

“The grand Galloping Gala is tonight. They are going for Canterlot, their targets being Princess Celestia, Canterlot High Command, and the Six. All three figures will be present at the Gala.”

“Holy shit, really?”

“If I were to plan the fastest revolution in history, that’s how I’d do it”, Cipher said as he pulled out a radio from his backpack which had an extendable antenna.

“What’s that?”

“Long-range radio. For operatives deep within enemy lines. Hello, OverColt. This is Cipher.”

“Yeah, we read you, Cipher. Go ahead.”

“They’re heading for the grand galloping Gala which is tonight.”

“Cipher confirm your last message, over.”

“It’s exactly what I said. Get the team in Canterlot on maximum alert. We’ll need them at the palace. Cipher out.”

“Roger that, Cipher. Overcolt out.”

“We’ve gotta get to Canterlot ASAP.”

“But how are we gonna get there? It’s miles away!” remarked Badger.

Cipher smiled as be produced two more biscuits from his pocket.

“You gotta be kidding me,right?” Badger said, wondering how the biscuits survived the ragdoll show just now.

“Hey if doesn’t work, I wouldn’t eat”, replied Cipher with a smile, much to Badger’s relief. “Now come on. We’re gonna show them that although ponies are ‘creatures of this world’, we don’t back down easily.”

~~~