Fallout Equestria: Chivalry

Voices seemed to dully echo around Westwood. A small beeping sound could be heard amidst the chaos and confusion of the voices around him. The dragon's eyes slowly began to open finding himself still in his armor on what seemed like an operating table. His arms attempted to move only to find that he was pinned to the table from thick straps. The beeping started increasing as the dragon attempted to struggle. The voices were becoming more and more clear as the stress from the moment forced Westwood to awaken from his centuries long sleep.

"It's waking-" Parts of a voice came into focus while the dragon woke.

"I don't like-" Another voice seemed to answer the first, this one familiar in some way.

On Westwood's visor a readout began to cover his eyes

Subject stress dramatically increasing

"Aria. We have to put him back to sleep. Double the sedative. Triple it if you have to." The voice from before seemed to come from a stallion that was in the room with them trying to keep up a calm despite the fact it was only him and the mare in armor.

Stress levels critical.

Warning: Berserker protocols enacted.

All friendly units are to vacate the vicinity immediately.

On the armored mare, the warning message echoed onto her visor exactly how it appeared on Westwood's, "Doc! Get out now!" Her voice now rough. Her words fell on deaf ears as the straps keeping the dragon secured to the table snapped leaving the dragon now free, "I said get out!" The mare shouted as she bucked the doctor back enough for the lab coated stallion to escape from the beast in front of her. Only the horrified stallion had shut and locked the steel doors behind him without thinking of the mare inside that had possibly saved his life, "Well fuck you too Doc!" She shouted at the door before facing down the beast in front of her.

Pipbuck 'DRACO' auto-injecting triple dose of high strength sedative.

Berserker status removal estimated fifteen seconds

Westwood's helmet hissed at the region around where his mouth would open as the helmet matched the pressure of the world around him. His mouth shot open as a loud and deep roar echoed through the room signaling his blind rage. The hinges that were at his mouth swung open with the roar exposing the multitude of razor-sharp fangs that lined his mouth. The dragon's shadow leaped from the ground and attached to the dragon's naturally armored forearms which shot out into ethereal blades. It was then the beast began to wildly attack Aria. The dragon's wild swings carving deep gashes into the steel and slicing the equipment apart that surrounded them in the relatively small room.

It took everything for the armored mare to avoid the blades as the beast swung them around wildly in an effort to make their mark on the intended target, "How long is fifteen seconds?" The mare asked herself avoiding each swing by mere inches.Every move she made was strictly to avoid being slashed apart like the lab around them. Swipe after swipe missed the evasive pegasi until her movement backed her into a corner with the drake closing in fast, the previous swing having cut the part keeping the helmet to her head. The mare's scarlet mane flowed out from the now halved helmet and her cream colored coat was exposed to the air.

Westwood's last strike stopped just short of piercing through her skull, though had still made it into the skin between her eyes.

Stress levels stabilizing.

Berserker status lifted

Westwood's helmet closed with the dragon's mouth once more hissing as it sealed the atmosphere from his face. The dragon huffed audibly underneath the helmet as his body normalized, "What are the casualties?" The strong voice of the dragon asked through the voice emitter before the blades on his forearms seemed to fade into a liquid and meld back with his shadow.

A small trickle of blood came from where the blade and barely punctured into her skin, the line traced down her face as she shuddered, "N-" Aria started as her voice shook with her body, "None." Her voice shook with her blue eyes staring directly at the dragon's now yellow visor.

A relieved sigh came from the dragon, "Good." He spoke now dropping to one knee with his fist supporting him off the ground as his body recuperated from his berserk rage.

Aria's eyes focused on Westwood as the dragon seemed to struggle to breath, "Just what in Tartarus are you? " She asked not moving from her place in front of the drake.

Westwood reached under his helmet and undid the latches under his jaw line which dropped the mouth plate to the ground. The dragon pulled his helmet off his head to take deep breaths of fresh air, "A friendly dragon." He spoke as his breathing returned to normal.

Heavy metallic thumping could be heard from the door as well as the muffled sound of a buck hollering for what seemed to be half minute, "For fuck's sake." Aria's now irritated tone shifting from her fearful one before. Her body moved to the door and was about to open it from the panel on the side only for the door to hastily open.

The door opened with a buck springing into the room, massive magic energy weapons charged and ready to fire, "Alright beast. What did you do to Aria? Don't make Ironsides turn you to an ash pile."

Ironsides's question was answered by a solid clack as Aria's hoof struck the back of Ironsides' helmet, "Look left dumbass." She answered calmly, "I'm just fine. Barely a cut." Her tough words going with the small trickle that ran down her muzzle.

The dragon began to chuckle at the way the two interacted with one another.

Aria and Ironsides glanced to each other when they heard the dragon laughing, "So who exactly are you? We haven't exactly seen a dragon of your size in, well, ever." Aria asked with a quizzical look on her face. Ironsides remained more or less silent lest he get another hoof to the back of his head.

Westwood calmed his laughter down once he heard a question go by him, "Right. Never introduced myself have I?" The Shade spoke before clearing his throat in an attempt to stop his laughing, "Westwood. Former king of Dracous. Commander of the Shadow STG." He introduced himself offering a salute to Aria and Ironsides.

The two pegasi returned the salute, "Sergeant First Class Aria of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, sir" Answered the mare before dropping her hoof from her head.

"Corporal Ironsides." The slightly smaller buck replied before dropping the salute, "Heavy weapons specialist, sir. "

Westwood looked at the two large weapons that were mounted on his armor, "I can see that." A line played out in his head that he had to resist saying out loud despite the humor of the idea.

Aria was the next to speak, "As interesting as this conversation is, I need to get a new helmet after you chopped it in half." She spoke jutting a wing out to point at the cleanly cut helmet, "Corporal." She started causing Ironsides to jump to a position that appeared like he snapped to attention, "I'm sure the commander would like some information. Show him around. And I'm sure that Doc would like to see that the ferocious beast he brought in is sentient." Aria added in as the mare picked up the two helmet pieces up in her mouth only to walk off.

Ironsides shifted his gaze to the drake who was holding his helmet and standing, "Well then sir. Right this way." He spoke keeping to the dragon's side so he wouldn't lose his sight of the reptile.

Westwood took the walk next to Ironsides, "So. Heavy weapon specialist." He spoke trying to start a conversation during their walk, "You must have quite a story if you've got that as a stallion of your stature" Westwood started, breaking the ambient sounds around them.

Ironsides had half a mind to vaporize Westwood for the size comment, though decided against it after seeing the carnage that was the inside of the lab, "I'm strong for my size." He spoke shortly though with the new silence that occurred for a minute he added in, "When I was a trainee our camp got hit by a group of griffins that were contracted to wipe us out. I was the first one to volunteer to pick up the big guns. And by volunteer, I grabbed them after our other gunner had been downed. Nearly held them off by myself until reinforcements arrived. After that they strapped me with these babies." He tapped his wings on the large weapons mounted on his sides, "Promotions and demotions go by, I still keep the guns."

One of Westwood's eyebrows lifted up when he heard the word 'demotion'. Given the buck's somewhat trigger happy nature he could guess why, "Interesting story." He started looking at the gun metal grey surroundings while lead along, "So, where are we anyway?" He asked not seeing anything that could be an identifiable feature.

"Camp Pendlecolt." Ironsides briefly stated getting a chuckle from the dragon, "What's so funny?" He asked turning his head to the drake who had his free claw to his snout to suppress a laugh.

"Oh nothing. Inside joke." Westwood answered. His mouth mimed a few words with his head turned from Ironsides, 'still using horse puns.'

Ironsides let out a small groan, "Sure." He stopped in front of another of those doors and tapped heavily on the metal structure, "Doc!" He shouted through the door, "I got a present for you!" He continued so that the stallion from before would answer the door.

"Oh goody." The excited tone of the stallion from before the door opened to show a pegasi stallion, dressed in a lab coat, a half head taller than Ironsides with a vibrant violet coat and silver mane that hung down over his shoulders, "I do hope you managed to get a good sample from our subject." Doc spoke looking up at the dragon when he first saw the dragon's feet, and the four-inch talons each possessed. There was a brief silence as he and Westwood stared each other in the eye. Doc taking note of the yellow eyes that he could swear looked like they were glowing. Doc took a step back and lifted a hoof to the side which speedily shut and locked the door in between the two.

Westwood stood in silence for a moment before looking to Ironsides, "Is he normally this excitable?" He asked finding the awkward moment rather entertaining.

Ironsides groaned once more and beat on the iron door with his hoof again, "Open the door Doc. He's not going to eat you." The buck's tone called out as he rapped at the door for a solid minute, "If he was he would have eaten half the camp by now." He continued.

The door opened again, this time with Doc poking his head out, "Are you sure?" He asked in a meek voice looking up at the more imposing looking drake in front of him.

If not for the helmet, Ironsides would have glared at Doc, "Yes. Whatever you did in there just spooked him for a sec. And before you ask. Yes, Aria is fine. Little scratch on the forehead. That's it." He spoke shifting one hoof to the space between the armor's lenses.

Westwood shook his head, "Yeah, sorry about that. I swear I need a warning label for that." He joked with Doc as he lowered a claw in the gesture of a hoof shake, "Westwood by the way."

Doc looked at the points in Westwood's claw though mostly saw the opposable claw that must have made things hundreds of times easier for him to grab and move, "A-" He gulped lifting one of his hooves to meet with the dragon's claw, "Doctorate. Though everypony calls me Doc." He spoke trying his hardest not to sound nervous despite the monstrous scene he witnessed only a moment or two ago.

Westwood shook Doc's hoof then looked into Doc's room, "I'm not going to eat you if that's what you're thinking." He showed a grin that unintentionally showed his fangs as he let go of the nervous pony's hoof.

A nervous chuckle came from Doc, "Of course." He stated not realizing that the dragon released him until several seconds after he saw the drake's free hand not carrying his own hoof any longer, "Anyway. I'm sure that you'll have a lot of questions." Doc started as though he was keeping himself from saying much more. It wasn't anything new to the dragon.

Westwood nodded to Doc, "True. Though before anything. I'm feeling a tad bit naked." He stated patting the holster then the clip attachment that went to his carbine both of which were permanently attached to his armor, "If you catch my drift."

That was when Ironsides made a sound of clearing his throat, of course with the voice emitter set in it sounded like a bizarre set of coughing, "Your weapons and ammunition are in the armory. Despite our Eyes Forward Sparkle saying you were friendly, we took them for safety."

Westwood rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Yeah. Stuff you do for unidentified ponies, or in my case reptiles. I know about that stuff. Just not used to being unidentified." The dragon then turned for the door, "Lead the way corporal." The drake's claw gestured for the armored buck to proceed.

With that, the heavily armed pegasi and the draconian commander made their short trek for both the armory and the firing range.

"That's exactly how it happened." The irritated tone of Aria spoke as she shoved the two halves of her helmet on the counter to the bored looking pegasi behind the armorer's cage, "The thing we picked up woke up in a rage, wrecked the lab and cut my helmet in half. You can march your sorry ass to the lab to see for yourself." Her voice now raised as she slammed her hoof to the counter.

The pegasi behind the cage let out a sigh, "Unless you have verifiable proof that such an unusual thing happened. I can't and won't make any special requests for damaged equipment. If you want to fill out a requisition form for a minor dock in pay we can arrange for the form to be brought up from headquarters in a couple of weeks or so. Until then you have to make a modification to your battle saddle so you can do your missions. Just mind your head." The younger mare spoke with a bored monotone

Aria growled, "I'm your superior noncommissioned officer. I am giving you an order to get me that Luna damned helmet." Her voice now taking a commanding tone.

The tone did not have any real effect on the armorer, "I've heard that so many times that I might as well start a counting gag every time it happens." She started now pulling out an old magazine with the title 'Playcolt Magazine', "And the battalion commander gave me all overriding orders that instructed me that anyone playing the rank card are disregarded. If you have a problem with it then take it up the chain of command." The mare flipped pages in the magazine, "Have a nice day."

Aria huffed then threw the two halves of her helmet over the counter, "Then shove it up your tail hole!" Aria shouted at the armorer as the helmet halves clattered about on the ground.

Right as Aria approached the door, the door opened up with the Westwood and Ironsides both standing there in front of her. Aria's face lit up with a grin, "Just in time." Her voice now elated by the dragon's presence, "Oh Phenom." Her voice shifting an octave as though she was starting to sing, "You know that proof I was talking about? Look over your porn and take a look at the heavy hunk of scales here."

The armorer, now exposed as Phenom, shifted her eyes over her magazine and dropping the papers in a heap on the ground, "Dragon?" She asked with a small, nervous laugh, "A small-sized dragon." There was a pause as the mare's eyes now shifted into what was, uncharacteristically, an enthusiastic tone, "A dragon, full-grown, that's barely two heads taller than an average pony." If it wasn't for the cage keeping the two of them separated she would have likely jumped the counter to pounce on the drake.

Westwood looked around then to the armorer, "Me?" He asked jabbing his opposable claw into the armor into his chest though it was somewhat sarcastic seeing he was likely the only dragon on the entire base.

Phenom jumped from behind the desk and disappeared for a moment. A buzzing sound echoed into the room before what looked like a wall opened up with the mare shooting out from the now open wall. The way she bounced around seemingly studying the dragon reminded him of Pinkie Pie when they had first met before the war, "Oh my Celestia!' Her excited tone seemed to come from everywhere at once as she sped around the biped, "How do you stand? How does your armor work? Do you have any archanotech?Are you full-grown? Do-"

Her rapid fire questions and dashing movements stopped when Westwood dropped one claw down and caught the formerly bored mare, who had suddenly burst into a massive surge of energy, with his claw placed in a way not to hurt the mare, "One question at a time." He spoke with a small laugh at the mare in front of him. His eyes started shifting between Phenom and Ironsides, again the buck was shorter than another mare, "And try to calm down. You suddenly look like a pony I used to know." His claw released Phenom

Phenom let an embarrassed grin creep up her muzzle, "Sorry. It's not every day that somepony ends up meeting a dragon let alone a dragon your size." Her tone maintaining the energy of her new status, "We don't even get many new pegasi here." Her voice slowed enough so that she didn't sound like she was on nitrous oxide though still had a lot more energy than when she was behind the cage.

Westwood chuckle in response, "I understand perfectly." He spoke then looked for a chair outside of the one behind the cage, "Is it alright if we take a seat? Sounds like I might be answering a lot of questions." He added in as he moved to another counter and leaned up against it.

Aria tapped her armored hoof on the metal floor, "So can I get a new helmet now?" She asked Phenom while the other mare was caught up dealing with the newcomer to the base.

"Yeah sure. Whatever." Phenom answered with no hesitation between the last word Aria said to her and Phenom's first word.

Aria looked up at the dragon then winked at him before walking into the space where the wall opened up to get her replacement helmet as well as the dragon's armaments whilst she was behind the counter.

Phenom was having a hard time keeping herself steady standing before the drake, "So many questions." She started as though her brain was trying to concentrate on a single question for the black scaled drake, "Just what kind of dragon are you? I don't think anypony has seen one quite like you. Or if they have, it's been ages."

Westwood shrugged his shoulders, "What kind?" He started moving a claw to the underside of his snout, "A race called Holy Dragons, pretentious I know, called me Shade. Used to be an insult. Imagine their surprise when I ended up taking the throne." The dragon spoke with a snicker.

Phenom looked like she could barely contain her excitement though Ironside's mood was hard to determine through the multifaceted  goggles on his helmet. Either he was bored or the mare's questions were mildly annoying to him.

"A Shade? I can't say I've heard or read anything about a race called Shades." Phenom stated inquisitively while looking at the black scaling that his legs, tail possessed and a segment of his arm possessed, "Though it makes sense seeing the black scales." She continued earning another chuckle from who was identified as a Shade.

"Oh, the black scales aren't the reason I was called a Shade." Westwood's shadow seemed to bubble up from the ground he stood on underneath the artificial light, "This was." With those last words, a segment of his shadow jumped from the ground before Westwood grabbed it. The shadow near instantly formed itself into solid matter into the shape of a military styled combat knife that he flipped through his finger-like claws once it took a solid form and weight, "My species had magic shadows. I say had because I'm the only one left." At this point he was more stalling for time while Aria was getting his and her equipment.

Phenom's interest was peaked as evidenced by the look on her face, "Wow. I thought dragons could only breathe fire and do very basic magic." Her eyes jumping to the black steel knife that had materialized from an intangible source like a shadow, "But magic shadows." Her words featuring a tone of wonder that was lacking before the drake wandered into the armory, "Dragons are such fascinating creatures."

Westwood shrugged his armored shoulders, "That's the trade off. Shades can't breathe fire. We're warm blooded to make up for that fact though. Maybe another time I can show some magic me and the Holy could do. For now." He looked to see Aria had grabbed his rifle with her teeth and a new helmet that was slightly slipped onto her head. By now the knife he created turned into black smoke before dropping to the ground with the rest of his shadow, "I need to get over to the firing range. You think I could get my pistol and ammo?" He asked seeing that he was lacking in bullets for his personally crafted weaponry.

Aria had slipped out of view by the time Phenom had managed to turn around, "No problem Sir Dragon. I'll get them out right away." Phenom interjected with a small squeak with her last word. To be honest it was kind of cute.

Westwood shook his head, "No, no. Just call me Westwood." He stated thinking the term 'Sir Dragon' was a little more than he was comfortable with even when he was classified as a ruler in his own right.

A voice came from behind the counter now that the wall was closed up once again, "Alright then Mister Westwood." The voice was accompanied by the noises of metal scuffing against more metal along with clanking sounds. The mare was once more at slight window behind the armorer's cage. The pistol appearing on the counter first with the magazines for the side arm and rifle soon coming up after, "No need to sign Mister Westwood. The're yours anyway." Her tone still keeping its perky quality that had only appeared when the reptile graced her with his presence.

Westwood had already gotten to the window by the time Phenom appeared behind the small window, "Thanks." He spoke taking the pistol with the built in silencer and pulling the slide back. A nine millimeter bullet jumping from the opening. The weapon locked in place with the slide pulled back all the way. The fact peeved him that one of his weapons were not unloaded before stored, but the mare was in too good a mood for him to start going officer mode and scream down her throat, "Future note. Make sure that the weapons are unloaded before you put them away. Never know when something might happen and it shoots off." Westwood stated picking the bullet off the ground and checking the magazines for his side arm to place the bullet in the magazine that was not full.

Phenom let a nervous smile cross her muzzle, "Sorry about that. New weapon protocols. Since we've never seen your rifle and pistol  type before we were instructed not to do anything that could possibly shoot it."

Westwood slipped the pistol into the holster strapped to his leg, "Alright. I suppose I can forgive you this time." He chuckled before placing each pistol magazine into the pouches on the top of his chest armor and the rifle magazines into the pouches closer to his stomach, "See you later." He said to the excitable mare before putting his helmet on. The yellow lights on the visor flashed on for a second as the system connected to the pipbuck once more underneath the massive armored, almost bone looking, scales on his forearms.

Phenom didn't want to see the dragon leave, but at the same time she was sure he had something to do, "Come by again sometime. I'm not done asking questions." She called to the dragon that was now leaving the armory. It was at that moment that she looked around to see that Aria and Ironsides were both gone as well, "What? Where did they end up?" She spotted that the dragon's rifle was gone despite the fact that she had only given the drake his pistol, "Damn it Aria!" She shouted realizing that she had gotten duped while she was distracted with the newcomer.

Aria began to laugh now that the carbine that she had been carrying was out of her mouth, "I wish I could have seen her face." Her tone showing a great amount of amusement while the dragon and smaller buck walked on either side.

Westwood was snickering after hearing the loud shouting from Phenom after his and the other mare's conversation, "I'm sure it would have been hilarious." He added in clipping the front of the carbine to the armor at his waist line and wrapping the sling around his neck.

Ironsides however didn't share in that humor, "You two do realize that you two probably got her pay docked and possibly demoted right?" the buck that was more or less silent during the exchange happening before interjected.

Westwood looked to the buck, "I don't think so. For one, the only thing taken from the armory was a helmet that needed to be replaced. And judging from the yelling I heard, the helmet that needed to be replaced is already back there. My rifle and ammo was already mine to begin with. So no harm done." He explained to Ironsides.

A brief pause that left the hall silent aside from the dull thumping of the pads on Westwood's talons and clacking of the two armored pegasi at the side. The statement from Westwood must have said something to Ironsides since he didn't have a retort about the matter. Their silence was broken from the sound of a door opening accompanied by the sounds of firearms of both the physical projectile and magical fire.

"And here we are." The tone of the buck spoke, the loud sounds blocked out by the noise cancellation in each of their helmets keeping the loud sounds from damaging their ears, "Camp Pendlecolt firing range." Ironsides entered with Aria and Westwood following close behind.

The range was much like how he remembered them, a large set of lanes with dividers to keep each lane defined as well as an assortment of targets set out at varied distances. Altogether there were thirty lanes of fire with only half of them being used giving the three plenty of space to shoot. Slowly the weapons fire slowed to a stop as the dragon passed. Heads turned from the other pegasi to see the oddity. The gunfire had completely ceased by the time the black scaled beast. Murmurs and whispers could be barely audible as Westwood unclipped the front end of his carbine.

Westwood took the next lane that wasn't occupied before unloading his equipment. Unlike before where he was willing to talk, it was like the voices around him were nothing but dull sounds. The long magazines were stacked one by one on the bench he needed to bend down slightly to complete his actions. All but one of the full magazines that were full were set on the bench, the last one remained in the pouch. The last magazine was loaded into the carbine before pulling the charging handle back. That was when more words appeared in lines on Westwood's heads up display. The world slowed to a crawl as the letters scrawled over the screen.

Initiating S.A.T.S targeting spell initial activation.

You recently received an update to your pipbuck prototype and have now readied a weapon.

This spell is designed by Stable-Tec to assist non-combatants in efficiently combating hostiles.

The amount of targets you may select per charge varies to the weapon that the user currently has equipped.

Due to your non-pony physiology, an audio command will be necessary to initiate this spell.

Select your target to complete this tutorial and return to real time.

As instructed, Westwood made mental notes of where to shoot on the target in front of him that was the shape of a stereotypical zebra, more than likely a surviving artifact of the war. His mental notes made the highlighted segments of the target in front of him flash while the bar in the corner of his screen seemed to deplete. The parts he intentionally aimed for was a burst to the head that was labeled as sixty-seven percent, the right foreleg that was labeled for eighty-nine percent then the torso that was labeled as ninety-five percent. It was then that his carbine fired in unconscious trigger pulls.

The first burst seemed to fire wildly though the next two bursts fired with near perfect accuracy. Six small holes formed on the torso and leg of the target and the brass casings falling to the floor before the world flashed back to normal. Westwood shook his head keeping his weapon facing down range, "I am not using that again." He stated glad that the spell was over and he could move freely once more. Again a stream of text invaded his visor, thankfully without the world freezing effects.

This concludes your S.A.T.S combat training.

Please enjoy the rest of your new features that your update have offered.

Features include: instant inventory management, automatic medication injections, radio and memory orb playback.

A new tutorial will be offered when each function is started.

Westwood's free palm smacked the helmet a few times expecting the text to leave his sight though they left on their own. The entire sequence broke his initial concentration.

"You aren't going to go berserk on us again are you drake?" Ironsides asked through a radio link that was force opened in Westwood's helmet. The magical minigun began charging up before a stream of bright lights shot out from his position in the next lane and into the target ahead that began to glow red hot with each shot hitting the solid target. The sound from the magical energy weapon being extremely different from the one that shot a lead projectile.

Westwood saw a symbol appear in his visor when the radio link was opened, "No. The thing that the princesses wanted me to test out is doing some weird shit I wasn't expecting." The drake looked at the pipbuck implanted into the unarmored segment under his forearm, "I wondered what the hell they gave me this for. All it had was the heads up thing and an IFF system. Or was it EFS?" He asked breaking off into a tangent only to be snapped out of it with Aria's voice in the radio link this time.

"You knew the princesses?" Aria's surprised tone breaking her concentration when she was lining up a shot herself. Her gaze would have gone straight to the drake if her lane wasn't divided by

Westwood chuckled lightly, "Is my radio frequency publicly listed in the phone book?" He asked with a joke, "We can have this talk later. I have no idea how long I've been out and I want to see if I'm still a good shot, and making some sort of spell control my aim doesn't help at all." The drake added in before taking aim again. This time he was shooting off rounds one at a time instead of bursts like it was when he was in S.A.T.S. Each shot taking their mark in both the torso and head until the magazine was empty with the bolt locked back with the empty magazine. It was then that Westwood used the zoom function on his visor to inspect the damage, a smirk crossing his helmeted face seeing that he still had impeccable aim, "Yeah. Still got it."

The magazine dropped from the carbine before the drake's claw dropped to another of the forty round magazines set on the bench. The magazine slipped straight into the magazine well with a satisfying click. His opposable claw hit the button on the side which slammed the bolt forward to load the next magazine completely. In the corner of his EFS the ammo counter shifted to a total of 40/200-5.56mm, "You guys have five-five six ammo here right?" Westwood spoke through the radio link to both Aria and Ironsides, "Otherwise I'm going to run dry real fast."

Aria's voice spoke first, "Yeah, we've got rifle rounds. Did you expect us to just be shooting magic beams at everything?" She asked somewhat sarcastic tone before a series of bolts from the plasma based rifle on her battle saddle caused a pause in her speech, "Me and Ironsides can get you resupplied once we're done here. And after that it's chow and lights out." Aria's voice went from sarcastic to conversational after the series of blasts.

Ironside's voice covered the radio as soon as Aria's was finished, "That time already? I'm starved." The voice of Ironsides stated as the magic weapons on his sides powered down.

Aria laughed off the line then reconnected, "Alright. Ironsides. Commander Westwood, you good for some chow?" Aria's weapons powered down as well as the two pegasi stepped out of their lanes.

"Yeah. Just let me clear my stuff and I'll meet you outside." The drake stated before pulling the magazine from his rifle and pulling the charging handle back to take the bullet from the chamber. The drake quickly caught the bullet in the air and place it back in its respective magazine with all the magazines being placed in the right space soon after. As Westwood packed, up the ammo counter on his display disappeared to the image of a condition meter being the object left behind, "I swear, this is turning more into a video game by the second." He muttered as he clipped the weapon back into its place.

Everything in the base was rather close together, the armory was no more than a hundred-fifty meters from the range, the science labs were near the barracks and the mess hall was at least fifty meters from the range. When he eventually got out of this place Westwood would definitely need to go airborne to get a good view on the size of the base.

Westwood had his entire helmet removed while Aria lifted the visor plate to properly eat the grub the mess sergeant was serving out. Ironsides kept the helmet on his head through the line that was formed. Idle chatter gave the mess hall a familiar feel to his previous life.

Given the dragon's size, his tray was filled slightly more than his companions as they searched for an empty place to eat. The meal today was a somewhat brown looking paste-like substance that supposedly was safe for consumption. No one had grown a second head or anything so it was somewhat safe.

"It's been a while since I've eaten something like this." Westwood started with a chuckle, "Reminds me of my lower enlisted grunt days." He took what looked like a combination of a fork and spoon with a butter knife back end to scoop up the paste.

Ironsides used his wings to finally remove his helmet from his head and set the armor on the table. The sight of the buck's face nearly made the dragon's utensil drop from his claw. Ironsides' face nearly looked half melted, his left half, "You know that battle I told you about. Never said I left it unscathed. Plasma bolt from a griffin caught my face. This is the best the medics could do to fix me up." The melted coat and skin looked like it was barely hanging onto the buck's muzzle and heavily contrasted the baby blue coat of the other side of his face that was complemented by his light gray mane and silver eyes. The look on Ironsides' not melted face showed an amused look instead of melancholy, "I figure it's for the best. Otherwise I would have all the mares all to myself." The unaltered side of his face gave a grin while the melted half remained unmoving, "No offense to you sergeant first class." The way the eye on his melted face remained wide open was kind of creepy to look at.

Aria shook her head before digging into the paste.

Westwood was impressed by Ironsides' outlook, "You remind me of a soldier I knew way back when. Guy always had a positive outlook." The idea that he was reminded of his past flashing unpleasant memories of his failure, "To break the mood," Westwood started picking up the spork-knife and lifting up the viscous paste that didn't want to react to movement like his usual slop, "What is this made out of exactly?" He asked before putting the first spoonful in his mouth to find it somewhat crunchy. At least it didn't taste horrible.

Aria was the first to answer, "Whatever the mess sergeant finds really. Rad-roach, sometimes moss,  might have tasted radscorpion once."

Westwood thought about the crunch in the paste being a cockroach and nearly gagged on the idea of eating what was in front of him. He swallowed the first spoonful then let out a held breath, "You guys must be in a rough spot if you're eating bugs." Now that Westwood knew what was in it he wasn't that shocked to get back to eating.

Ironsides shrugged, "We make do with what we get from the Enclave. We don't get resupplied as often as the thunderheads being ground operating based, but when we do it's just about a celebration."  Ironsides stated before just about diving face first into his paste.

Westwood sighed hearing about their lack of supplies on a military base...on the ground, "What do you mean on the ground?" The drake question mid-spork lift.

Ironsides lifted his muzzle from the paste. The vicious strands hanging off his muzzle trying to drip, yet not able to, "You didn't know? You must have been stuck in that pod longer than Doc thought. After the war the pegasi closed off the sky from the rest of Equestria and took to the skies. Every so often we'll send a group or two ground level, but we have to take an sterilization shower any time we go outside the base. It was Tartarus trying to drag your limp body to the sterilizer."

Once more the drake's spork dropped, "And how long ago did this happen?" He asked with a small shake at the isea he had been locked in cryogenic sleep for as long as he thought.

Ironsides didn't like the look on Westwood's face, "Nearly two hundred years ago. Didn't the zebra that locked you up tell you how long he was putting you to sleep?" He asked thinking the dragon was once zebra allied like others he heard about.

Westwood's eye twitched, "No. My squadmate never said how long. Likely he didn't know. And my squad mate was a dragon like me trying to keep the balefire from being launched." To him the room fell silent for nearly two minutes as he contemplated the idea that two centuries passed before somepony woke him up, "I think I need some fresh air." The dragon spoke pushing his tray forward and walking off.

Aria glanced at Ironsides with the death glare, "What did Doc tell you about telling him so early after he woke up?" She asked rhetorically before her armored hoof struck the back of the buck's head and slamming his face back into the paste. Aria then raced off to catch up to the drake.

Westwood picked up speed through the metal hallway, now his talons clacking against the metal floor as he searched for an exit from the base. Signs labeled' AIRLOCK' guided him out before throwing the door out open. The helmet clipped to a ring on his armor clanged against each other. The hissing sounds as the airlock pressure equalized with the outside made the dragon uncomfortable as he awaited the chance to escape from the confined halls.

The door in front of him had a green light as soon as the room was pressurized. Westwood threw the door open with explosive force as he stared out into the endless nothingness that was the result of his failure. The dragon stood stunned as he looked in every direction only to find what his previous kingdom had been when he took the throne now two hundred and twenty years ago. A wasteland.

Panicking, the dragon shot skyward. His wings working furiously as he escalated up and up. He was nearly a hundred meters in the air before his wings flapped off and on to keep him airborne. Again, all he saw was a waste. Instead of being the result of negligence from its former ruler, this was because he he failed to stop his home from being destroyed.

Westwood's breathing showed the result of his panic matched by his effort to fly up as high as he had in such a small amount of time. A thunderous, sorrow ridden roar echoed throughout the wasteland as tears streamed down his eyes and down to the waste below, "All my fault. This all happened because I couldn't stop it. Not the war, not the launch. I couldn't stop anything." His words stung himself in the heart as his altitude declined slowly.

Minutes passed by the time Westwood touched the ruined earth at his talons. His body dropped as he slammed his near bone-like armor into the ground in the rage and depression he felt about his failure. His first and only failure.

Aria stormed outside to see that the dragon had not grown into the berserk monster he showed himself as shortly before now, "Commander" her tone now trying to give a console to the dragon that now was smaller than her as he pounded the ground, "Try to calm down sir." She continued as she slowly approached the grieving dragon, "None of this is your fault. It was the Luna damned zebras and the old government. You did what you could, no one can blame you for that. " Her hoof hesitantly moved to the drake's armored shoulder trying to console the living relic.

Westwood took a claw full of dirt from the ground as he picked himself up so he was just barely shorter than Aria, "Are you trying to fix this?" He asked trying to choke back the tears, "If you are. Sign me up for any mission you got." The dragon started, a fire in his eyes to fix his home. His form of his redemption to fix everything in his extended lifetime, "I will make everything up if it kills me. No stopping, no resting. I will fix this." The dragon's golden eyes meeting with Aria's blue lighted visor, "Until I die in battle or old age. I will be sure I fix this."

Aria smiled under her carapace armored helmet, "Then buck up lizard." Her words sounded somewhat harsh, though she knew he could take it after he commented about his time as a grunt.

Westwood let a grin slowly cross his features to break the depression that was shown before, "Yes ma'am." Were the words that spoke to the mare as he got back to full stature.

Aria snickered, "Don't call me ma'am. I work for a living." Was her reply before knocking an armored hoof into Westwood's armor, "And don't forget that damned sanitation shower. You forced me out here too so you get to suffer with me."

Westwood chuckled back at Aria curling up his claw into a fist and offering to bump her hoof to his fist. The offer was accepted with a solid clang between them.

Update recognized

No experience to claim as of current

Combat perk authorized: Berserker

You are sent into an uncontrollable rage under the conditions of extreme stress or you inject yourself with a damage increasing substance such as Rage or Stampede. Can be countered by injecting yourself with stabilizing substances such as steady. This rage will last by default of one minute if not injected with sedation substances.

While under the effects of Berseker your Strength and Agility are maxed to 10 unfortunately that animalistic rage reduces Endurance, Perception and Intelligence by half.

Faction status updated

Grand Pegasus Enclave faction set to accepted.