Fallout Equestria: Chivalry

It was strange. Just moments ago Westwood was in what he found was now the Equestrian Wasteland and now he was alone in what he thought was a pitch black room. The drake was not unfamiliar with such a scene, but he thought that it was all left behind after the final conflicts in his old life in the wartime era of Equestria's history.

"I thought you said that you would always be there for us." A voice echoed in the darkness.

Westwood shifted his body where he heard the sound, his right claw instinctually reaching for a pistol that was normally holstered onto his right leg. He found no such luck as his leg was all bare scales, "Who's out there?" He asked, his voice echoing within the pitch darkness.

"I thought you said you would be our protector." A second voice called back to Westwood in the dark. These voices were familiar to him. Voices that he knew well.

"Celestia? Luna?" He asked shifting his body in the space void of all light. Westwood's tone shuddering as he heard the voices of friends he once had.

"You lied to us." The first voice replied with what seemed like a lamp turning on overhead with the shape of Luna. Her body however was beyond any sort of repair. Bits of flesh hung off her body, ribs exposed, her head partially torn open with skull visible. Luna's exposed skull had one unblinking eye stare to the dragon in front of her, "You let us die. You killed us." Her words accusatory to the drake.

Westwood took a step back in the darkness seeing Luna in a zombie like state, "I tried. I swear. I did everything I could." His voice wavering as he stared at the former princess, "I wanted to stop it. I tried everything."

The voice from before, the voice he realized was Celestia, was now behind him, "You failed Westwood. You let Equestria die. You let your friends die. Twilight, Luna, myself, everypony is dead because of you." Fury could be felt behind those words.

Westwood turned quickly seeing the white alicorn standing a head taller than he was much in the same state of disrepair. Flesh and fur barely attached to her skeletal frame, her horn broken and one of her wings appearing to be ripped off the joint, "Please. I wanted to save you. I-" His words were interrupted by another voice.

A third lamp illuminated a small spot showing Twilight Sparkle. Half of her head appeared to have been violently ripped from her body skull and all, again flesh remained attached by mere threads of meat. The differing factor being that it appeared that a leg was brutally ripped from her body "I thought that we were friends Westwood. Why did you let us die?" Twilight questioned. Her jaw hanging loose as the body spoke in the small space of light, "We were all counting on you."

Before Westwood could speak again another light flashed on. The lights forming a rough circle now that a fourth figure was in view. The figure this time was Applejack. The orange coated mare was missing a majority of her coat which was mostly identifiable through the accent in for voice with the visage of her cutie mark being one of the few spaces on her that had fur. The rest of her was exposed muscle and organs threatening to spill from her bones, "How could ya? Ya let everything die. Where was that undying loyalty ya promised us. We're all gone and yet ya'll are left." The ghastly image of the former apple farmer spoke before another light appeared in the darkness.

"You didn't care about us. You never cared about us. I should have seen that when you never danced at the parties I invited you to." This time was the voice of Pinkie Pie. Once more the disturbing image of another of the ministry mares' distorted and destroyed bodies appeared when Westwood turned to face the next voice. The circle was growing closer as the lights shown the horrific images of his friends accusing him, blaming him for their deaths, "You were only looking out for your own self. Your country. And look at you now."

Rainbow Dash was the next to appear as the circle closed in further on the drake, "Not cool Westwood." The bloody and broken cyan pegasus, her words shot venom as she spoke, "After everything we've gone through. And you look out for just yourself. You are alive and yet we all had to be the zebra's victims. All because you couldn't stop that megaspell." Westwood's gaze shifted to the flier that had taught him to properly fly. Again the ripped and mangled body of another of his friends haunted his vision, "Did we really mean that little to you?"

A heavy thud could be heard as another light shot on, this time was the disfigured form of Rarity. The top half of her head was missing as well as her flanks, "I should have thought that a dragon would behave like a selfish beast. He only wanted to save himself. Why else would he still be breathing and yet we could not even make it to our natural lives?" The elegant tone of the pearl white mare colored by blood as the remainder of her body stood before the drake.

Westwood shook in his place between the figures that had shown themselves so far, "I know it's my fault. I tried everything. I worked as hard as I could, fast as I could. I'm sorry." His words shaking as tears dropped from his eyes. His body dropped to what he could feel was a floor in the black nothingness while his body lost all of it's strength in the presence of his deceased friends.

"Don't feel too hard on yourself. All dragons are selfish creatures. I should know." The light then turned on to the form of a decayed baby dragon, "After all. I am a dragon. You are no different from what I was when the greed came in and made me a mindless monster." The decayed and barely together baby dragon spoke with a poisonous sting to his tone, "And we all had to die because you became a selfish and greedy bastard."

Then came words that hurt worse than any venom, "I should have feared you when I first saw you." Now the form of Fluttershy appeared in the darkness. The circle was complete, he was fully enclosed by the living corpses of his former friends, "I was always afraid of dragons bigger than spike, and now I know why. You betrayed us you filthy lizard." Her tone kept the softer tone, but still held hatred.

Westwood curled up tighter as the images grew closer together, "No. I did everything I could. I swear. I tried. I wanted to save you!"

"It's too late." The circle announced in stereo to the cowering dragon in the center of the circle, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT."

Again the world went black with an only recently heard feminine voice replacing, "Commander! Commander wake up!"

Reality flooded around the drake as he jumped from his space on the ground. His surroundings returned to the gun-metal grey supply closet that he had been unceremoniously thrown into for a place to sleep. Westwood's head jolted from side to side. The shock of waking from his nightmare drove the drake to take quick and shallow breaths.

"You doing alright? We could hear you talking in your sleep from the other side of the base." The voice from his dream came back, the voice of Aria. She was not decorated in the battle armor that he had seen her wearing previously. Instead she was completely bare, something the drake had long gotten used to with his time working with ponies and the like.

Westwood forced himself to take a deep and held that breath for a few seconds to stabilize himself, "I'm fine. Just a bit of a nightmare is all." He spoke once his breath had returned to him.

Aria gave Westwood a look that plainly stated 'I don't believe you', "You know. In the Enclave the word fine is actually an acronym. Stands for: Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional. I'd say that we've got a tear out of a battle hardened dragon warrior says that plainly enough." Aria stated pointing a hoof to the space between the dragon's eyes.

Westwood moved a claw up to his face and felt the moisture of tears in the grooves of his scaled head, "Huh. Would you look at that." He stated in a deadpan trying to save face for apparently crying in his sleep.

Aria's glare showed that she was not amused by the dragon's attempt, "You're a horrible liar." She stated plainly before she pressed a hoof to the dragon's unarmored chest. The hoof landed on the ancient diagonal scar on his chest that showed the age, "I can get it if you want to keep it to yourself for now. Though the longer you wait the harder it will be to talk later." She stated once more.

Westwood had only now gotten a glimpse of the mare's cutie mark since she wasn't wearing her armor. On her flanks bore the image of a rifle, an energy lance and a ribbon connecting the two. Strange enough that she would be named something musical yet she had a mark that showed that she was possibly a combat efficient pegasus instead of a musical performer. Then again he hadn't known that many pegasi with such a talent before all this happened, "I'll talk about my problems later then. You know the gist of it already." He stated moving Aria's hoof from the scar on his chest and exposing the second one on his belly that looked much deeper than the one on his chest, this one was completely vertical.

Aria huffed then took a step back, "Understood sir." She started lifting a hoof in a salute to the dragon commander, "Also, breakfast is getting prepped up in the mess. I would imagine that a dragon would get hungry faster than us given the portion sizes."

Westwood shuddered remembering the crunchy paste that he barely had any of the day before, "Yeah. I'll get right on that" He returned the salute once he was standing upright. His attention was shifted from the dream to the idea of eating that paste and his face showed the disgust.

Aria groaned at the dragon before dropping her hoof to the metallic floor, "Trust me. I'm no more excited about this as you are." Her tone now sharing the same distaste for their so called food. Her eyes briefly scanned the two scars the drake bared before finally turning around, "I'll meet you in the mess sir." She stated before walking away from Westwood.

Westwood sighed before looking at the armor he had neatly stacked beside the selves that carried a variety of odd and end parts for machines and equipment that they likely didn't have.

He picked up the main body of his armor and stared at it for a moment as though deep in thought, "The last thing I have left of you guys. And I don't even like wearing it." He spoke to himself before slipping the heavy metal pieces in place over his upper body. Both sets of scars now hidden under the armor. Once everything was in place he looked into the dormant and dull eyes of his helmet's visor, "And once again I'm the only one alive when I should have been taken with the rest of you." He hung the helmet on the shoulder plate opposite of where the vials of brightly colored liquid were clamped onto his armor, "Just my luck isn't it?" He asked almost like he was expecting another voice to come out of the ether.

Idle chatter filled the mess hall as each pony got him or herself their morning paste filled with Celestia knows what. The barrage of new colors compared to the insect like armor coverings and monochromatic uniforms were a welcoming sight.

Ironsides had long since received his paste like meal where he waited patiently for somepony in particular. His hoof batted the tray of slop in front of him back and forth. Until the frustrated tone of a certain mare could be heard.

"Ironsides." The now obviously frustrated tone of Phenom started as she dropped her tray in front of the buck and took her place in front of the battle-scarred male, "You haven't seen Aria around have you? I've got a bone to pick with her." Her muzzle then showed the start of an evil grin, "Oh, and the major wants a word with her too. Something about making up for a stolen helmet." The snark in her tone nearly sent a chill down Ironsides' spine.

"Can't say I have." His voice straightening out more than his body as he lied, "Something about personal business in the outside." His eyes locked with Phenom whom he saw had a restrained fury in the mare's eyes.

Phenom's eye twitched at Ironsides' words, "Really now. Then I hope that she gets killed by a bloat-sprite. With a stinger in her damn eye." Her anger returned before getting into the strange crunch in the paste the mess pony was in charge of making. Her motions restrained from being driven by rage, "If she doesn't then I wait right here until she does. Or the major will get even more pissed off than he already is."

Ironsides wished that he had his helmet, one reason being that he could turn off the optics and another being to radio Aria to inform her that she was hunted by the armory recluse.

There was an awkward silence between the blue coated buck and the armory mare before more familiar voices could be heard, "Oh great. If it isn't the phenomenal bitch." The voice was from the cream coated mare herself. Aria came into view of the armory mare and plopped her tray next to Ironsides, "So what do I owe the immense displeasure to?" She asked staying near the battle-scarred buck.

Westwood followed suit and took a seat on the other side of Ironsides. The slop in his tray barely more than his new colleges.

"Well." Phenom started while tapping her hooves together, "For starters. You got an interesting request from Major Storm. Something about repayment for stealing a helmet from the armory." A wicked grin nearly stretched from one ear to the other, "And I'm going to be watching the entire exchange as he rips you apart."

Aria huffed at the armory mare, "Yeah sure. You're just going to stir in your juices like always. You do realize this is the sixth time this week you've tattled on me for something small." Aria stated glaring at the mare in front of her.

Phenom nearly growled like a dog at Aria's retort, "You brought a thing on a vertibuck that weighed nearly half a ton. The next day you go and use it as a distraction while you plunder my armory for a foreign weapon and a power armor helmet. I wouldn't call that tattling."

Aria snickered at Phenom for displaying her temper, "I wouldn't have had to do that if you had just given me a replacement helmet like I asked instead of acting like a stuck up bitch. With that the two mares began to nearly blend their words together as they argued unintelligibly at each other.

Westwood and Ironsides changed their line of sight between Aria and Phenom when they had gone through their argument, "Does this happen often?" Westwood asked leaning in next to Ironsides.

"Nearly every morning. " Came the quick reply from the blue coated buck, "And they never get less heated."

Westwood gave a nod almost wishing he had some popcorn to watch this if it came to blows. Instead he leaned over and tapped Aria on the shoulder, "Just go with it for now. If anything we can talk this over with your Major and straighten the story out." Westwood spoke once Aria and Phenom stopped arguing.

Aria huffed, "Fine, but if I have to see her while I get my flanks chewed on then there will be Tartarus to pay." Aria spoke with venom in her tone.

Phenom giggled like a naughty school filly when the dragon seemed to side with her, "Well thank you mister dragon. I'm glad one of you has some reason in you."

Westwood was somewhat scared of how she was able to switch from being a raging tyrant to acting like a filly talking to her colt friend. He went back to his paste, struggling with the texture more than the taste. The tide was calm now that he had intervened in the two mares' conflict.

After that awkward silence known as breakfast Aria, Ironsides and Westwood had arrived at Major Storm's office in the compact ground side base. Westwood tagged along as context for who was hauled back to the base. Ironsides was there primarily because he wanted to and things were not as strict ground level as they were in the sky.

"Sir. Sergeant First Class Aria reporting as ordered sir!" Her tone now displayed a professional tone that was absent in her previous interactions that the dragon was present to see. Westwood and Ironsides displayed their salutes to the slightly older stallion behind the desk.

The stallion looked at the rag-tag bunch then nodded, "At ease." He started which lead to the group dropping their salutes, "Really Sergeant. You steal a helmet from the armory? I know I'm only getting half the story here, but seriously, do you have to do everything in your power to piss Phenom off? I'm getting tired of these complaint reports she makes of you." The stallion behind the desk dressed in elaborate enclave apparel. His coat was an emerald color with eyes that matched. It was now apparent that he was being less professional about the matter, signs that he was tired of these meetings.

Aria let a grin form, "Well, I did try to get a helmet the regular route. Then she gave me the 'you have to wait for the proper form' crap that she usually does when my equipment gets busted on an operation." One of her front hooves spun in small circles further emphasizing that this was a normal routine or they knew each other. Granted the looks, they both looked like they could be similar ages.

Major Storm looked from Aria with a smirk to the dragon wasn't much taller than the rest of them, "And this was the pick up from the mission?" He asked now stepping away from his desk and approaching the dragon, "It's a pleasure to meet a survivor of the few friendly lizards back then. Major Summer Storm of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. Welcome to our humble ground base." The enclave officer greeted the black scaled drake with a salute.

Westwood saluted back to accept the greeting, "Glad to see that you guys don't see us all as enemies. I know how many of us sided against ponies way back when." Westwood replied looking to the officer in front of him.

Major Storm was silent for a moment before his voice turned inquisitive, "Are you really a half ton like the reports said? He asked figuring that they were exaggerating things just slightly.

Westwood gave a toothy grin, "More along the lines of eight-hundred pounds or so. Haven't weighed myself in close to two centuries so it might be a little heavier than that." Given the dragons small stature and the more muscled body it was hard to imagine, "My bones and muscles are incredibly dense. Makes me heavier than I look."

The explanation seemed to be enough for Storm, "Fair enough. Dragons don't follow the same rules as pony folk do." He stated then his gaze looked over the three in his office and from the look of the cot it was his room as well, "Back to business.”

His tone shifted to professional again, "For your 'theft' of an enclave armor piece you and your partner have been selected for a special mission."

Ironsides tucked one of his front hooves close to his chest in and pumped it down showing he was looking forward to the idea of heading out again.

"One of our search teams found a possibly abandoned stable fifty kilometers south of here. I normally wouldn't be concerned, but they stopped reporting back about five hours ago." The stallion's tone was somber though wasn't without hope. He moved to his desk and picked up the map that was rolled up in the corner. Summer Storm unrolled the map and showed the marking of where the stable was located, "So we need to send a search and rescue team to extract them or their bodies. And since we lost a six pony team, I'd say take our friend down to assist."

Westwood nodded, "I'm up for it. After being stuck in a tube for shy of two centuries I'm ready to rock and roll." The dragon grinned before picking up the helmet he clipped to his armor and equipped it to his head. The hiss from his helmet signalled that it was sealing itself to his head.

Storm gave a nod, "Good to hear Black Knight." The major added with his own grin. He knew who the dragon was and wasn't subtle about it.

The group would have seen the dragon blinking in confusion if not for the intimidating steel that surrounded his head shy of his horns, "I'll save the questions for after the mission." The muffled tone of the dragon spoke through the voice emitter.

Quest added. Search and rescue.

Mission parameters: Find the missing Enclave search party and return with either the individuals or their bodies.

Westwood's eye twitched seeing the notification on his display, "I swear to all that is holy. If this thing makes my life more of a game I'm going to travel in time and shove a boot up the pony in charge's ass." He stated bluntly under his breath. His voice emitter making a slight buzzing sound as he spoke.

Storm glanced up at the dragon's masked face with an eyebrow raised before adjusting his gaze to Ironsides and Aria, "Since our guest is suited up already, you two have ten minutes to get yourselves ready." Before the trio could turn to leave the major added in one more note, "And Ironsides. Try not to blow this stable up." The tone almost sounded like pleading which was returned by the baby blue buck's nervous grin. After that it was off to prepare for their excursion.

The ten minutes passed by like molasses to the drake as he waited by the exit. His eyes scanned the EFS compass to check for the two he was doing the mission with. Two green pixels formed in front of him. He glanced through the display to see the two armored pegasi following with the friendly identification, "Took you long enough. I was about to check if my pipbuck had games on it." His words, while hidden by the buzz of him emitter, gave a tone of amusement.

Aria was the first to answer, "Yeah. Tiny over here had to get some extra help mounting his guns." Her now armored hoof bumping into Ironsides shoulder.

The mare was replied with a nicker, "Not my fault my legs don't bend that way." Ironsides returned reaching back to reach to the heavy weaponry. His hoof dropped when he emphasized his point.

Westwood shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah. I see your point." The knuckle of his claw impacted the door to the air lock behind him which opened the steel door, "Enough talk. We need to get on our way." He stated before slipping through the doorway and into the airlock.

The two pegasi followed suit. The hissing as the room pressurized to the outside world echoed dully through their helmets until they were allowed to leave, "Three decontamination scrubs in one week. I have a feeling we're in for a long one." The voice of Aria could be heard through Ironsides' and Westwood's helmet radios.

Westwood smirked though unseen, "At least you've got some good prizes from those scrubs. Brought back a thought extinct species of dragon, calmed said dragon from unleashing the equivalent to a nuke on your base and now we're getting some of your friends back from a stable." That was when it struck him that the stables were abandoned, "So why would ponies want to get out of a stable if Equestria is a shit hole like this?" He asked. The door opened to the outside, the sickly grey and brown colors of the outside reminding Westwood yet again that this was not the home that he remembered.

"That's the thing. We don't know, Some ponies have theories, but for the most part we think that they just left because the stables forced them to. Maybe they sensed it was the right time to open and just opened up. But whatever the reason, they opened up." Ironsides commented before the sound of something flying overhead came into view, "I had a feeling we'd be getting a lift."

Westwood stared in awe as the vertibuck came into view and dropped down in front of their small crew. A small chuckle came up from the drake as he approached the back section of the hovercraft, "So this is what you guys use." He started reaching for a metal bar towards the ceiling of the structure only to find no such bar existed on this piece.

"Only for trips that need a large pickup like we're doing now." Aria stated as she made her way on board with Ironsides in tow, "And if we can salvage some archano-tech from the stable, why not have a vertibuck pick it up so we don't have to haul it around by unnecessary saddle bags."

It was a point that Westwood could understand even if the flight was relatively short compared to missions he had to run in and before the war. Then again his group had never carried much so it was easier to move around, "Makes sense I guess." He set himself down on the metallic floor before loading his weapons.

The pressure as the vertibuck lifted off made each of the passengers feel much heavier as it swiftly climbed.

There was a brief silence between the passengers until the radio lit up in Westwood's helmet, "Sir." The voice of Aria entered the drake's helmet, "I don't mean to pry, but the scars. Any story behind them?" Aria's hoof motioned at their dragon companion.

Westwood shrugged his shoulders since they had a few minutes to the drop zone, "Not much really. Challenged the former dragon king when he tried to send a dragon army to Canterlot. First assassination mission I did for Equestria. Scar here." He paused running one of his claw tips on the top section of his armor, "Swung a massive sword when I got distracted. Hurt like a bitch. His claw then motioned to his stomach, "This one's a through and through. Got knocked on the ground and stabbed me with that same sword. Seeing as I'm still here and there was a war you can guess how everything went from there." He stated as though the fact that he was nearly killed was a casual conversation topic, "After I ripped the old king's heart out I got the throne. Weird dragon royal thing. Tested in battle instead of hierarchy." His claws dropped to the floor when a bump could be felt that made the passengers jump slightly.

Ironsides stared in awe through the unemotional mask his helmet presented, "So you mean to say that you got cut up, got back up then took out the guy that got you? Damn, remind me not to piss you off or threaten a war on you." The buck joked with Westwood chuckling in reply.

Westwood sighed softly to get the laugh out of his system then turned his head to Aria, "And since we're on the topic of personal stuff." He started before clearing his throat, "Kind of odd that a pony with a name like Aria would have that kind of cutie mark. What's the story behind that?" He asked keeping himself balanced with the bumping of the vertibuck on the route.

Aria let out a small groan, "Just had to take a peek back there didn't you?" She answered in a smart assed question, "If you have to know, my mom wanted me to be a singer or at least have some kind of musical talent so she named me Aria. Her dreams were ripped to shreds when I enlisted myself. Music was just never my forte, pun intended. Got my mark when 'borrowed' my dad's old rifle." Her front hooves lifted up for a set of air quotes around the term borrowed, "Went out shooting and found I was really good at it.  Unfortunately I clipped somepony's wing in the process. He got better after the crash." She stated looking at Ironsides and pointing one hoof at the buck, "And that's how I met this microscopic lug. Haven't been able to get rid of him since." She joked.

Ironsides chuckled in response obviously not hurt by the joke on his size, "Oh come on. You know you love it." He returned jabbing one armored hoof into the side of Aria's body armor, "And you already know my deal." His tone shifted to Westwood even if their voices were sent to one another through radio signals, "Bet you can't guess what my cutie mark is." He stated confidently to the armored dragon.

Westwood looked at the buck for a moment then made his guess, "A wall made out of iron bricks?" He stated given that the buck's name.

Ironsides huffed at the drake, "Lucky guess."

With that the vertibuck began a rapid descent. The sensation of weightlessness flew through the internal chamber of their transport right until the sounds stopped completely. The door opened to show the depressing visage of the wasteland, the grey skies with the immense cloud cover keeping the sun from shining as brightly as it should have. It made the dragon want to get indoors so he wouldn't have to see it, "Alright. Let's get a move on." The drake stated seeing a wooden door that looked like a mine entrance in the side of a mountain. His claws unclipped his carbine from his side ready for anything, a six pony team in power armor went dark so there had to be something in there, "Stick together, if you unavoidably split from the group then radio in every five minutes to let us know you're still alive." Westwood's tone changed from the enjoyable to be around and more friendly tone to a cold and calculated tone.

Ironsides took to Westwood's right flank with Aria covering his left. Westwood placed his less dominant claw on the door. There was a brief pause before Westwood shoved the door open with his carbine aimed through the doorway. That was when they saw the massive vault door with the number '44' in paint that had flecked off the heavy steel door.

"Wait. Didn't the Major tell us that he sent a recon team in there already?" Aria asked pointing out the obvious question, "Why the hell is the door closed if somepony jumped themselves inside already?" She asked.

Westwood felt a buzzing on his arm, his gaze shifting from the massive door to the screen on his forearm. It was just now telling him that he had found vault 44, "Either your major told us a load of bull shit or whoever is in there didn't want anything getting in or out." Westwood stated once again in his cold tone before approaching the panel next to the massive door.

Ironsides looked from the door to Aria then pointed a wing at the structure, since moving a hoof in his standing position with two heavy weapons strapped to his body would cause him to tip over, "You think you can work your magic on that door?" The buck asked.

Aria would have glared daggers at her partner if not for the helmet blocking his eyes and face, "Now is not the time and place for jokes." Aria chastised Ironsides tempted to once more strike her armored hoof against his head.

Westwood was working the console silently, each movement of his less dominant claw having a beeping feedback, "I got good news and bad news." He started before two more beeps caused the door to begin to open, "The good news is that your major wasn't lying. The bad news is that this is an automated door. As soon as we're clear through that door is going to close on us." He stated before the door finally opened its way for them to enter.

Aria stared at the opening door like it was the first time that she had ever seen such a thing before though shook it off when Westwood's voice had burst into her radio, "Understood. And what's letting us get out once we've got our bucks out of there?" She asked thinking about if there should be anypony left outside to open the door once the mission was over.

Ironsides tapped one hoof on the ground impatiently, "They're not going to make a stable that nopony can get out of." He stated as though that was supposed to be common knowledge, "How is anypony going to get out of there is there's no exit console or something."

There was a brief silence as Aria and Westwood look to the buck, "By Celestia's horn, that's the most intelligent thing I've head out of that mouth of yours yet." Aria stated before moving closer to Ironsides. A satisfying clang rang through the chamber when the impact of her hoof hitting the buck's helmet again, "If there was a way out then the recon team would have used it to get out of there." Aria's annoyed tone started.

Westwood groaned looking back at the two who were clearly too caught up in their own bickering to even notice that he had walked in on his own. What clued the other two in that he was gone was the sound of the vault closing back up on them. By the time they heard the sound of the door, it was already too far closed for them to get inside, "This is Black Knight. Initiating radio check." The voice on the other end of the radio reached the two pegasi.

"Commander. All due respect, what the fuck are you doing?" Aria answered going for the console to try and open it again.

Westwood checked the load on his rifle before taking a few steps into the surprisingly well maintained steel room of the stable's entrance, "If you two are going to act up like this in the beginning of a mission I don't want to deal with it when the shit hits the fan. So until you can open that stable door on your own you're staying outside." Westwood stated in that cold tone that nearly gave shivers up Aria and Ironsides' spines, "I'll be checking in as I said. Every five minutes." He stated to the pegasi outside.

Aria slammed a hoof onto the stable door, "We're getting in there Westwood. You can count on that." She called out over the radio back to the dragon.

The drake shook his head, "Good luck with that. It's a password system, it's given to a select few individuals. I have the password because I was supposed to get in here way back when." He stated before progressing through the first door.

It was then that he felt something, like he passed through an invisible wall. He shook his head to get his mind back into clarity. His eyes looked forward into the next doorway where he saw what looked like a flowing mane and tail turning a corner, "You. Freeze!" He called out into the hall with his weapon at the ready.

As soon as the dragon turned the corner the scenery changed from the underground safe house to what looked like a garden, "What the fuck?" He stated lowering his carbine slightly as he looked about the location. His eyes glanced upwards after he saw a light seem to shoot over the ceiling. What he saw was not the ceiling of a stable, it was a night sky, "What the hell is going on?" He asked himself dropping the weapon further as he gazed at what should not have been possible.

"I'm glad you enjoy my night Westwood." Came a voice Westwood knew all too well, "But our friends are waiting for us." The dragon looked down to see the voice came from Princess Luna.

Westwood wanted to speak, he wanted to believe that what he was seeing was real, he wanted to believe that Luna had been lucky enough to survive the balefire assault. He wanted to believe this, "Luna?" He tried to ask, "How did you-" He continued looking around. That was when he found out where he was. This was the Canterlot gardens, "How did we get here?" He asked the princess.

Luna looked at the dragon oddly, "Whatever do you mean?" She asked in return, "You took a chariot to Canterlot for the annual gala."

Westwood looked down at himself. He wasn't in his power armor any longer, he was in a suit. There was only one time he ever wore a suit and he vowed never again after that, "Wait. The Gala?" He asked now realizing that he didn't have his EFS system in his vision.

The world seemed to shatter seconds later Aria's voice screeched in his ear, "Westwood. It's been five minutes. You still alive down there?" The female voice asked in the slightly distorted manner the radio offered through the armored door.

Westwood shook his head to see where he was at. Now it was the stable, steel walls and floors piled with debris, "Yeah. I'm alive." He stated looking in every direction to see where that old world was, "Just had a lapse in time." He replied on the radio before shouldering his carbine again. His EFS was back in view, the compass showing nothing around him, "Nothing found yet. Two rooms cleared." The dragon exposed to his squad outside.

Aria growled, "We'd be down there helping you if you didn't act like an ass and trip whatever it was that closed this Luna forsaken door."

Westwood felt somewhat light headed as he progressed further into the stable, "And you just displayed the reason I left you and Ironsides outside. You're screwing around too much." He stated before cutting the conversation.

The next doorway he found had a sign over it with the word 'ATRIUM' on a bright sign in bold black lettering, "This is Black Knight. I've made it to the atrium." He started while using his old call sign from his unit. What he saw when the door opened shocked him to the core. In the atrium was a mass of bones piled together with what appeared to be a bipedal beast's skeleton much like himself sitting atop of it like it was some sort of macabre throne, "You wouldn't believe it if I saw it." He spoke through the radio line, "There's a stack of bones in here. I'm kind of glad I left you out there now." He called out over the radio to Aria and Ironsides.

"Any sign of the recon team?" Aria asked wanting to see what was going on and instead had to settle for getting the layout as some sort of story told to her.

"Negative. These bones have been here for a long time. And none of them are armored." He stated getting closer to the disturbing sight with his carbine swinging from side to side as Westwood took in the entire room. Again there was no sign of a hostile or a friendly presence in the area.

That was when the throned skeleton's mouth started to move. A haunting voice spoke to the dragon, "You couldn't stop one lousy zebra could you?" The skeleton's voice echoed throughout the atrium. Slowly flesh began to float from the past rotted corpses that the skeleton sat upon, "You managed to tear my heart from my body and take my crown, but one damned zebra stopped you and caused the world to end." The flesh then began clumping together onto the bipedal skeleton. The flesh melted together onto the skeleton until it the body was fully formed. A dragon Westwood's size with bright white scales with golden strips that looked like ribs on the exterior of his body, "I feel offended now."

Westwood aimed his carbine straight at the white scaled creature in front of him, "Fuck you Luz." He started before firing six bullets through the former skeleton's head, "You would have caused this mess sooner than I would have." He stared at the ghost of his past .

The beast named Luz grinned as the bullet holes closed up and sealed themselves completely, "Oh please you worthless Shade." Luz grinned before dropping from his throne of mixed bones, "I would have never let this happen. Because those worthless ponies would have been nothing but a scorch mark on the dirt where Canterlot now rests. My species were always the superior one. You know that right? You taking the throne made us worse because it was a Shade that took it. A Shade that somehow came back from the dead and stole what was mine."

Several more bursts of fire from the dragon's carbine echoed through the room. What stopped the bullets from flying was the eventual click as the magazine currently loaded ran dry, "Just shut up you disgusting warmonger." The dragon dropped his carbine, his shadow jumped from the ground and formed a long bladed sword with solid black steel in the black scaled reptile's claw, "Your death was the best thing that could have happened to Dracous." He jumped from the ground and slashed clean through the former skeleton's neck.

The white dragon's head flew from its shoulders with a laugh, "So says the creature created by the dark lord Sombra." The flesh vanished from the skull as well as the rest of his body.

Westwood grabbed his helmet with his free hand as though something was trying to pierce through his skull. The skeleton on the top of the bone pile was now missing its skull as it flew from the mound and throne to the ground where Westwood stood once he landed back on the ground. He started at the now evidently reptilian skull that had rolled to his talons.

"Commander. Are you alright?" Aria's voice boomed in the dragon's ear, "We heard gunfire through the radio and you were mumbling something we couldn't get." The mare's tone came up once again.

Westwood shook his head to free himself of what this room did to him, "I'm fine. Something just spooked me down here." He state as the sword vanished into a cloud, the carbine being reloaded shortly after to replace the spent rounds.

Aria huffed indignantly, "You don't wasted forty bullets because something spooked you!" She shouted through the radio to the dragon on the other end of the door.

Westwood shot his head to the side with the shouting in his ear. How he wished he knew how to lock anything out of his communications. He chose to ignore the last comment to proceed into the residential zones. There was no markings to which was to male or female housing so he assumed this place was co-ed, "No sign of your recon so far." He said to Aria and Ironsides ignoring her comment about how much ammo he spent shooting at the skeleton, "I'm continuing down to the residence zones."

Those steps felt heavy for some reason, like each step he took downward was slowing him down more and more. His thoughts about the recent events broken by radio chatter, "Commander. Can you just tell me the password so we can get down there. I promise I won't shoot you when I get down there." The voice of Ironsides broke into Westwood's helmet that was mildly covered in static.

Westwood growled, "No. That's final. Right now it's personal since I was supposed to be caught up in this death trap." he stated over the radio as the haze started to cover his mind the farther he ventured into this stable. It was when the dragon reached the final step that a few green bars appeared on his EFS, "Black Knight to Aria and Ironsides. I think I found your recon team. It seems they're still alive." All that returned was a squelch of heavy static with no discernible voices, "Alright then. No updates up top. Fine by me."

Just when it was at its quietest in the stable's many hallways, the sound of a foal crying could be heard. Haphazardly, the drake rushed through the halls nearly skidding on bones scattered throughout. With the drake finally skidding to a stop and his claw tightly gripping into the steel once he arrived at the source of the crying. What he found was not a foal, it was just an empty room. Westwood gripped his helmet tightly with his free claw, "Get it together Westwood." The green bars on his EFS were gone now even though his sprint didn't even take him that far.

Static echoed into his helmet with a broken message, "M*buzz* Lord. I ca*buzz* tell y*buzz* how sorry I am. I tr*buzz* to save this st*buzz*, but I co*buzz* stop the machine."

On his heads up display a message read in the corner.

'Wireless signal received. Tracing Source'

An arrow on his compass showed him the approximate location of the signal. Sure it wasn't the current objective, but it might give a little context on how this place had gone to shit. The signal was coming from inside the room which was fortunate for him. The room was different from the others however. This room had a semi-circular desk with a single terminal in the center of the desk as well as a series of cameras in the wall behind said desk. He had wandered into an overmare office for this stable. Westwood's pipbuck began to beep when he had made his way to the desk, where he found an audio log with a jack for his pipbuck.

Downloading audio log

A bar stretched across his screen as the download completed. Once done, the audio file opened itself to play in the radio system in the drake's helmet.

"I'm sorry my lord." The elder voice of a male started now clear of static, "I can't tell you how sorry I am. I tried to save this stable, but I couldn't stop the machine. I deserve this fate. I do not know what I will do when I break like the rest. I just hope that you can forgive me for whatever happens. This is my last message. I know this will never reach you my king. It just makes me feel better to at least try to talk to you."

Audio file finished. Saving

Westwood rubbed the space between his eyes even if all he did was put small scratches on his helmet. He shifted to the seat in front of the terminal to find out more about this place. His password used in the stable door worked on the terminal 'MY HEART TO HER', "Way to go old guy." He chuckled before going through the process to read the last files.

Surprisingly there were only a few lines of dates. This stable had only been active for no more than a week before things went to hell.

Day 1: Gray Matter down in research explained that everything is working, but things feel off. Many of the ponies in here have reported seeing family that were killed in the war, some of them even having long-winded conversation with those that they knew never made it into the stable. I know there was supposed to be some sort of social experiment going on in these underground lairs, but this just doesn't seem right.

Day 2: I think that this isolated incident is more than that. Now we have a few of our surviving white dragons complaining about seeing things. Nothing about long-winded conversations, but when you see friends you know did not make it to any stable you start questioning things. Keeping things more under control to try to find out where this is all coming from.

Day 3: Those bastards. This is a new low for the ministry mares and stabletech. They planted an archano-tech device in the power core that enhances the pleasure centers in the brain. The device got an overload and is projecting old memories, things you want and dreams to see as real. I think that I might have gotten more exposure when I went to investigate myself. Got hit with some sort of spark. Now I can barely think straight. Took me nearly three hours to make this update. It hurts to think.

Day 4: It's over now. No more bad ponies, no more bad dragons. All gone. They're all gone. I saved the stable. The evil ones were cast into the darkness and I shall make their bodies into the most proper throne. Now I shall rule over the stable like a good king should.

Nothing else followed after. In just four days the elder of his peers had gone from respected ambassador and a kind old soul to a demented lizard like Luz.

"Westwood?!" A sing-song sort of voice called from outside. He saw Luna again in the doorway, "Westwood. There you are. I've looked all over for you." Goddesses this hurt. Westwood linked his pipbuck with the terminal to download the text files before he left the desk. By Celestia how he wished that this was real and Luna was indeed in front of him. He walked past the image of the alicorn, "Is this about the mega spells?" The image asked.

Westwood froze when he heard Luna mention what had been the cause of her death, "I failed and everyone. Every dragon, everypony that didn't make it to a stable. They all died because I wasn't fast enough." He was talking to this image as though she was really there, "You're gone now. I can never see you again because I couldn't stop it. My friends, my home. It's all gone. All because I couldn't stop what I promised."

Luna elegantly shifted in front of Westwood, "No. It's not your fault." She started, "This would have never happened if we had not caused that war. You fought your hardest, saved hundreds of lives, maybe thousands, during the war though your special actions. You are not to blame for our mistakes."

Westwood removed the helmet from his face, tears had welled up in his eyes as he talked to the image that he truly wanted to see, and now that image was comforting him unlike what his nightmares had told him last night, "Funny how something projected in my subconscious is more or less arguing with me." He spoke wiping his eyes with one of his free claws

Luna laughed with Westwood's comment, "Well, I could make my way into dreams. What's to say that I'm not letting myself into the land of dreams in the afterlife?" She inquired with the dragon in front of her, "I know you might want to just stay there for now, but we have to fix this. You have pegasi to save." She stated making her way to the power supply like Westwood needed. Westwood tried to reach for the princess though his claw passed through her body as though it wasn't there, "I'm sorry. But this has to end. You cannot rest properly unless you let all this go. That mare and stallion at the door are waiting for you and their friends. They can't see them unless you do this." She stated to the dragon.

There was no room to argue, he had his mission and now Luna had given him his pep talk, "Alright. Let's do this and bring everypony home."

The Luna image gave a smile to the dragon, "That's the dragon I know." She muttered as she guided him to the power station. This walk was not plagued with other images like what he saw in the atrium since his image was the one guiding him. Now it was a straight shot.

The radio in his helmet buzzed alive with Aria's screaming voice nearly taking Westwood's ear off where it hung, "Westwood you better answer my Luna damned transmission this instant before I have Ironsides blow down the door!"

Westwood moved a claw and twisted the tip into the slit that served as his ear. Seconds later he put the helmet back on, "Sorry. I tried calling in, hit a patch that wouldn't let me make or receive anything." He said to the mare on the other end, "I'm good. I found the reason why things went to shit and I'm shutting it down. I'll radio in when I find your recon team." He responded while leaving out the fact that he was walking with a ghost of his past and attacked another of those ghosts in the atrium.

There they were. The alicorn and the drake stood in front of the generator, the aura it gave off nearly made Westwood black out after the constant exposure the instant he received, "So that orb is the device Alabaster was talking about." He started while wrapping his  claw in his shadow. After reading about a spark driving his elder into an insane rampage he was going to do what he could to keep himself from suffering the same fate.

"The orb is built into to the power supply." Luna interrupted, "In order to be rid of this presence you have to destroy the generator." She stated, "I know that you can move that stable door. I've seen you move and carry heavier things than some door."

Westwood chuckled at the idea of pulling that massive cog out of its seal, "I don't know what's stranger. That you're complimenting me on my strength or that you might be a part of my mind complimenting myself." His sense of humor was back. Once more his shadow leaped from the ground to the already shadow cloaked hand, "It was nice seeing you again." He said to the alicorn near him. The shadow formed another short sword before one swing cleaved through the orb and the power supply. That was when the stable went dark.

Aria called into the radio once again without an answer, "Westwood. Answer the Celestia damn radio right now!" She shouted once again with no answer. The door to the stable was covered in burn marks now without a single bit of paint left on the blackened door. Aria had let Ironsides blast away at the door when Westwood stopped calling in and it proved once again that it was made to withstand the apocalypse.

After the long absence of any return a static filled voice that was just barely audible came in, "Sorry about the wait. Hit a rough patch and I couldn't radio in." The voice of the dragon entered both Ironsides and Aria's helmets, "And I found your boys. They might need some medical attention when we get back to base." The voice continued.

Ironsides was next to speak, "About damn time. I tried blowing the door down and everything. That door is something else."

Aria shook her head in annoyance, "We are up here waiting. The console stopped working for some reason reason though. It doesn't look like the type that would lock out like a terminal would." She started pressing buttons on the console to try and receive some sort of response.

Westwood chuckled over the radio, "Don't worry about it. I've got a solution." He stated with a voice that seemed closer despite the radio.

With that, screeching began echoing throughout the small chamber. The door started sliding back slower than before. As more of the door a sound became evident that there was something opening the door manually as impossible as that sounded. Two loud snaps could be heard from within as the door finally cleared before falling back. That was when they saw that Westwood had actually pulled the door out and even broke the automated opener, "You two going to stand there and gawk or are you going to get in here and help extract these ponies for medevac?" The tone of the dragon, while showing he exerted a lot of himself in the act, was strong.

"Yes sir!" Ironsides and Aria both exclaimed before rushing into the darkness illuminated by Westwood's and their own helmet lights.

Minutes later the six members of the recon team were extracted from the stable and loaded onto the vertibuck waiting for them outside. Due to the excess weight on board the vertibuck, Westwood volunteered himself to fly the route on his own. Two hundred years without a chance to stretch out his wings was starting to cramp them up, "You sure you'll be good out here. You know how long this flight is." Ironsides stated over the radio system.

The door to the vertibuck closed itself with the recon team accompanying Aria and Ironsides, “You know full well I’d keep that thing from lifting off if I stuck around. I’ll see you at the base.” Westwood broke the communication before watching the vertibuck start its lift off. Westwood spread his armored wings while he waited for the transport to take off.

Once it was in the proper altitude Westwood lifted himself from the ground and flew low to the ground compared to the vertibuck that had gone up much higher, “If that’s how high you flew up when you guys transported me I’ll personally beat your flight instructors to a pulp.” Westwood announced to the radio to Aria and Westwood since they were the only radio frequencies he had a lock to.

Ironsides replied first, “Relax Westwood. There’s been no sign of raider or slaver activity and this is way beyond where the Steel Rangers would go. We’re perfectly safe up here.”

Westwood looked around the area as he flew behind and under the vertibuck in the air, “I really need to teach you ponies about Murphy’s Law.” He started though his next thoughts were interrupted when he heard something a short ways from them on the ground. A stream of black smoke shot into the air from the ground, “And there it is.” He shot upwards with a white magic circle appearing over his claw. A thick spear of light shot upwards and impacted the top of the pillar of smoke. A loud explosion rocked the skies originating only a few meters from the vertibuck.

The vertibuck shook from the shockwave the when the rocket exploded, “Westwood. What in Tartarus was that?” Aria asked while she rocked in the trooper cargo.

Westwood shot upwards before igniting another white circle, “Murphy” He replied launching another spear of white magic when another rocket was fired up at them. Another detonation shook the ground while it was still in a low altitude, “Tell your pilot to get the hell out of here. I’ll deal with this. You’ve got too much cargo to be pulling any fancy fights.” He called out through the radio.

Aria growled, Westwood had a point and she couldn’t go about risking more than her and Ironsides in a firefight with ground fighters. Her radio went off though to the pilot, “Alright. This is an order. Get back to base while our dragon serves as back up. Don’t look back.” She ordered the pilot.

With that the vertibuck took off at full speed back to Camp Pendlecolt.

Westwood looked down through the cloud of smoke. He saw another set of ponies in high tech armor on the ground. These ponies he recognized as Steel Rangers from the armor designs he had seen that made him request similar armors for his forces, “Well fuck me.” He stated to himself as the smoke cleared enough to see it was not one or two, but a platoon of the power armored ponies, “Fuck me in the ass.”

More rockets were fired off which were counter measured with Westwood’s spears of white light. The sky grew heavy with smoke as each rocket grew closer and closer. Westwood couldn’t cast enough spears to keep them all down even while he shot them down with both his claws casting the ranged spell. One rocket impacted the dragon directly in the chest.

A shape dropped from the plumes of black smoke. The smoke floated away from the center before a heavy impact could be heard throughout the area. The dragon could barely move, if not for his armor he would have been bagged and tagged. Now he was barely even conscious.

The armored ponies gathered around the fallen dragon in his armor, “Did the enclave make some kind of autonomous new robot?” One asked in a feminine tone drowned out by an emitter on her helmet.

“Doubtful.” A male asked this time, “If they could then they would have made made a way to make more of their sky vehicles.” he elaborated in a more knowledgeable manner.

Westwood groaned as he curled his claws together in an attempt to get up, “I’m not a robot.” The dragon stated before his vision went out and dropped completely

Update authorized

Level Up

Survival Perk Authorized: Dense Body

You are astoundingly strong for a creature of your size. Like an ant you have the capability to lift and move objects many times your size and weight. You have demonstrated this in your display with Stable 44 and its deactivated door.

Faction Status

Grand Pegasus Enclave faction set to liked

Steel Ranger faction found. Faction status set to neutral