Chapters Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
(Harrow's End Corporation Laboratories) - In the Harrow's End Equestrian facility, a betrayer collects the last of his life's work. His name is Dr. William Buck and he plans to sell the Harrow Virus to the Royal Palace Government. Harrow's End Security Service (H.S.S.) has been sent in to neutralize the threat.
*Begin Transmission*
It was time. The mission had begun. A voice came over the radio.
"This is Delta Team. We're in position."
"... Copy that." A large stallion, codenamed Chaos, covered from head to hoof in armor including a full-faced red lens gas mask and bowl-shaped helmet, stood behind a door as he drew his knife from his shoulder. "Get ready." He charged through the door in between two guards that never saw him coming. As he bucked the first away, he stabbed his knife through the other's chest, and pulled it out just in time to grab the remaining guard to snap his neck with a sickening CRACK!!
As he left the bodies to lay limply on the floor, he walked slowly over to a control panel and pressed a button that read, "Hatch release".
Another nearby door slid open. There stood three stallions and a mare. These were the members of Delta Team - Harmony's Elements (Named after the Elements of Harmony, the team was named as a limerick of their missions to keep peace and order).
The armored stallion who opened the door was the first to speak. "You must be the new Delta Team. Report."
First stood the mare. She was wearing a thin, black body suit with a zipper down the middle and armored padding at her knees and hooves, and a biohazard anti-material mask over her muzzle, showing only the upper half of her head. "Call me Acid. At your service." Acid had a grey coat with a long black mane, but deep green eyes that reflected her name. She carried a small Canterlot Corporation sidearm and had a few suspicious looking vials in her belt. Developing an unhealthy obsession with science since she was a filly, Acid specialized in virology. She was so deeply focused on her work, that she had little interest in anything else, including the feelings, or lives, of other ponies. Studious and detailed, she always wanted to know more about a given situation.
Next was a stallion with another full body suit that fit over his entire body and over his head, and night-vision thermal goggles strapped over his eyes. He wore a gas-proof respirator over his muzzle. "This is X-Ray... All set..." A veteran of war between the races of the Ponies and the Zebras, he was a former spy when he was moved from Harrow's End Equestrian Wing for unknown reasons. The premier surveillance expert of the H.S.S., he was transferred to Harmony's Elements when the upper echelon of Harrow's End management realized his skills had greatly benefited them. When he was only a colt, X-Ray had been shot in the neck. Ever since, he had worn a respirator and always struggled with speech, pausing mid-sentence and rarely speaking much. He carried an automatic Hammer assault rifle equipped with a targeting laser sight under the barrel itself.
After him was another stallion wearing a lightly armored suit with a hood, a single respirator nozzle and a pair of recon goggles fit into a full-face mask. "Blade here. Good to see you again, sir." Blade was a recon specialist and hightly stealthy in his art, and was a former apprentice of Chaos. Blade's file remained largely confidential, his true identity hidden. Training at Canterlot Island, he developed his lethal martial art ability and elite skill for recon and stealth activities. As a covert operative, his achievements in-the-field are only matched by his former mentor. His weapon of choice was a Vector sub machine gun, but he mostly relied on his knife to do his killing in stealth, cloaked by his hex-design hood.
Finally stood a rather large stallion covered entirely in thick body armor including a surrounding helmet and oxygen tubes leading from a hefty collar around his neck, as well as he was covered in explosive rounds that resembled a suicide bomber. "Name's Chainlink. Nice to meet you, 'Mr. Death' " Chainlink was an elite demolition expert that was discharged from the Royal Guard Corporation of Engineers. Not much was known about the incident other than the addition of his prosthetic hind leg. His dedication to his craft was beyond question, while his joy for blowing things up was always visible. He had been armed with a Ravager Riot Gun largely known for its high caliber and undoubted destrucion methods.
Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, they did have cutie marks. Acid's cutie mark was, well, a vial of green acid. X-Ray had a pair of night-vision goggles, Blade a dagger shrouded in a black mist, and Chainlink a grenade with the pin already pulled.
"Command, I've rendezvoud with Delta Team."
"Roger. You have your orders. Find Buck and secure those samples. Failure is NOT an option."
"Copy. Let's move."
Chaos opened a nearby elevator, and the team stepped in. As the doors slid shut, he briefed the team on their current mission.
"We're entering the lab of Doctor William Buck. A Harrow's End scientist attempting to sell classified samples of a weaponized virus strain to the Royal Palace Government."
"You mean the biohazard P-Virus?" Acid said.
"No. This is a gene-altering compound called the Harrow's virus invented by Dr. Buck. It's significantly more powerful, and he is in possession of the only known samples. There is a detatchment of Harrow's End Biohazard services on site. They will likely try to protect him. They are however unaware of this operation, and are considered expendable." Chaos seemed to live up to his violent and careless nature as much as anypony covered with that much armour...
"Aren't we on the same team...?" X-Ray spoke. "Shouldn't we just... Pick up the phone and call...?"
"The containment teams are just mercenaries. They can be bought. We can't assume their loyalty to the company."
"So what is the objective...?"
"Intercept Buck and secure the Harrow Virus samples."
The elevator doors slid open, and a small corridor with a reception desk was spread out in front of them. The lights flickered on, and a voice spoke over the loudspeakers. "Welcome to Harrow's End Research Labs." The team advanced to a nearby door, and Chaos began to enter a code, his hoof pressing into a series of buttons on a large keypad. "Alright. Weapons live. You'd better be ready for action. Let's go!"
The door opened, and a small walkway led down to a platform with three or four tanks with suspicios, reptile-like creatures inside.
"Ugh." Chainlink said. "Those are some of the ugliest little buckers I'd ever seen since my ex-marefriend."
"They aren't the prettiest specimens, are they? Let's keep moving." Acid said.
As the team advanced across the platform, a large spotlight shined through the room, revealing catwalks and long floorways being patrolled by...
"Buck's SpecOps teams! Take cover!" Chaos ordered.
As the team dove behind a large sheet metal stairway blockade, bullets began flying all over the compound's room.
Delta Team and Chaos opened fire. During the firefight, a catwalk had collapsed from gunfire as the supports gave out, sending every SpecOps on it down to the floor, crushing a few others under the debris. As the team emerged at the end of the room, all that was left was a floor full of bodies and wreckage. The Elements advanced into Buck's office.
"Delta, stay out here and cover the entrance. Do not let anypony in." Chaos said. He looked at a member of his own team and said, "You. Come with me."
"So, you've finally come..." Buck said as Chaos entered.
"It's over, Buck. We're here for the Harrow Virus samples." The door slid shut.
"Sorry, but I'm not about to just give up my life's work...."
Gunfire. Buck screaming. "Careful!" Chaos said. "You'll damage the samples!"
Soon after, Delta was blown backward as the door from the other room in front of them exploded. SpecOps flooded into the room. As the team returned to their hooves, a bloody firefight broke out. SpecOps dropping at the shot of bullets. Ponies diving from cover to cover. Even Blade managed to slash up a soldier or two. As they ended through the hall, they entered a supply room.
"Guess we'd better resupply." Chainlink said, picking up a small gunbox magazine in his armored hoof. "While we can. I have a bad feeling we'll need it soon..."
"But... What about... Buck...?" X-Ray questioned. He was right. Buck was dead, but what about the samples?
Two Alpha team stallions ran down the hall. One carrying a briefcase with the Harrow's End symbol on it. Just as they were about to exit the corridor, one of the soldiers was sent flying across the room. The other turned, and a large pipe struck him in the head. The samples crashed across the floor, one rolling into one of the downed soldiers. He looked up in time to see a large, grotesque figure walking through the steam of downed air pipes.
Delta had been positioned around the corner. They dashed across the hall and into a nearby room, Acid sealing the door behind them. Her green eyes were troubled.
"Was that... Buck?" she asked, clearly disturbed by the monster that they had just left behind.
"I'm going to have to assume, 'Yes'." Blade said back. "Buck wasn't dead. He must have used the virus to his advantage."
Delta advanced down the hall to rendezvous with Chaos and to hopefully escape the mutated Doctor. But as the team rounded a corner, a huge figure busted through the wall, knocking them to the ground. It struck out at them with a large pipe, and the team galloped further up the corridor, giving them a good look at the creature.
It stood up on its hind legs, a large pipe in one hoof, and a grotesquely large and functional eye in its right shoulder. Its mane was a golden brown, but its body lacked its hair coat, as it was shed from the grey, rotting skin covered over by a shredded white lab coat. It was no longer Buck. It was an abomination.
"RUN!!" Chainlink yelled. The team turned tail and dashed as fast as they could. After the destruction caused by Buck, the hallway had been set into a blaze. Dodging streams of fire and debris, Delta managed to meet up with Chaos.
"Get out of here! Buck injected himself with the Harrow Virus!" He grabbed Acid by the shoulder, pushing her through the door. Chainlink and X-Ray followed, but Blade stopped in the entrance.
"What about you, sir?" Blade said, knowing it would probably be the last time he would ever see his mentor.
"I lost the sample." Chaos said. "I'm going back for it." He pushed Blade through the door, and turned to face Buck, firing straight at the creature as it continued to advance.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Days have passed since the H.S.S. lost the Harrow's Virus and witnessed its metamorphosis in William Buck. Equestria is also with disease due to a P-Virus outbreak. Harmony's Elements are ordered to destroy evidence at the Town Hall linking Harrow Corporation to the epidemic.
*Begin Tramsmission*
*... Harrow Login... Network Confirmed... Loading... Access Granted*
"The failure to contain the Harrow's Virus has left our Security Service in a precarious situation. Delta has been deployed to contain the situation... Chaos is not responding. H.S.S. has deployed their forces."
"H.S.S. Team 4, report."
"Command, we're seeing a lot of RPD and civillian activity in the downtown area."
"Team 5 reporting! Gunfire in the hospital... Command! We have multiple contacts!"
"Understood... Move to contain."
"Ma'am, please calm down! What is the nature of your emergency!?"
"They're trying to get in the windows! Please help us! Oh Celestia, they're in the house! Ru-..."
"They're everywhere!"
"Containment failed! We need extraction!"
.....
"To ensure H.S.S. is to survive, the story of what happened must never be told. We need to make sure the truth dies, along with each scrap of evidence, and every survivor... Harrow's Security Service Task Force. Commence Operation: Equestrian Downfall."
"Let's move out." Blade said. "Our objective, Town Hall, is up ahead."
"Harrow's End is making us responsible for this... 'Accident'..." X-Ray said aloud. He was lucky the communications were currently down.
"We're not the ones who clean up their mess." Chainlink said. "Why are they deciding to throw us back into it, hooves first?"
"Command isn't getting us out of here until we're sure we've destroyed all evidence linking them, and us, to the outbreak." Blade went on, "And I plan to keep my hooves clean and be alive by morning. Let's go."
Delta climbed down the catwalk to the ground floor. They were inside a large storage area, with only one exit door. X-Ray activated the hatch release, and the team cautiously advanced forward. The room was pitch dark. Only the sound of a few generators broke the silence. They advanced around them, reaching another door.
"Command." Acid said. "We have just reached Position 1. Orders?"
"... Position confirmed, Elements. Proceed into the containment zone." Nopony on the team liked the way he said, 'Containment'.
They opened the door into what looked to be a janitor's closet on sterroids, but it was mostly empty and still pitch dark. They began to advance up a small staircase, when Chainlink noticed something near it in a small patch of light.
"Ugh... Guys, we've got a body." It was a member of the Equestria Police, and was wearing a thin blue suit with black covering the legs.... Only it was lacking a head, and one of his hooves were chopped off.
They began to advance up the staircase, but when they neared the door, loud sounds of groaning sounded from the next room. The team all stood around the entrance. "There's something up ahead..." Acid spoke.
"Who... Will be going first...?" X-Ray looked around at the team. "...No one...? Fine... I will..." He walked straight up to the door, pressed the release button, and the door slid open.
As soon as it slid open, a grotesquely zombified mare grabbed him, pulling him into the room. "Infected...!" X-Ray barely managed to yell. "Kill them...!"
The entire team opened fire. It was messy. Limbs flying, blood splattering, groans of dying infected everywhere. At the end of the firefight, bodies (Or at least the remnants of them) littered the floor.
"Ugh..." X-Ray said. "Looks like... They were eating each other..."
"They're quite the specimens..." Acid spoke. "I wonder what motivates them..."
Delta advanced into the next room, an old office with papers covering nearly every surface. There were only 3 zombies in the room.
"I'll take care of these..." Blade said. After activating his cloaking (Did I mention that already?), he slowly moved forward. After that, a gash appeared in the neck of one zombie, an upward slash through the chest of the next, and a cut-off front leg with the addition of one of the most violent moments of gut-spilling that would make anypony sick to describe to the third.
Blade reappeared, cleaning blood from his hooves. "Now was that too violent for the rest of you?" There was no answer. The team only stood silently, Acid with a face of disgust and stone cold annoyance.
"You're quite well at defiling the undead. Those used to be ponies, you know."
"Does it matter?" Chainlink spoke. "They're all freaks now after what that virus did to them. I say they're begging for a slaughter."
After a few more rooms (And a few more scenes of killing and maybe a little slashing), they were about to enter a room when a white, blonde-maned stallion in green padded armour that lacked a helmet busted through the door.
"Hold your fire!" Chainlink yelled. "He's on our side."
"Dmitri Zernovski. Canterlot Security Service, B-Squad. You're Harrow's Security Service? Upper management must have realized that their mad scientist bucked them over with the virus. It's about time..."
"Then what are you doing here?" Blade put his hoof on his gun trigger.
"My team was sent here to rescue citizens, but there's no time for that. Town Hall is a mess. We're trying to find a safe zone."
"Aww, running scared already?" Chainlink taunted. "I guess you guys should be glad to see us. How much have you let it get out of hoof?"
"Town Hall is crawling with infected, and some unidentified military personnel. They're looking for something. Why? What are you doi-"
"Enough..." X-Ray cut him off. "I say... We silence him..."
"... Let's let him go." Blade said. "He'll probably rot with the rest of the infected anyway. Let's go."
"All the best with your 'mission' " Dmitri said before walking back the way Delta came from. The team moved through the same door into a stairway shaft.
"The Town Hall has been locked down. Access the security pannel and override it."
"Copy that, Command..." X-Ray said. Delta advanced up the stairs to a door surrounded by a few bodies, but a largely suspicious pool of blood coming from the door. When they opened it, the entire hallway was spattered with blood, zombified ponies lumbering about. "Go...!" X-Ray barely yelled, and the team ran through the hallway, blasting every zombie pony in their path, splattering the rest of the hall in blood. Lovely.
A large door came into view. Chainlink bucked it open, and a bright spotlight shined on them all. "SpecOps!" Blade yelled. "Let's get the buck outta here!" X-Ray gunned down a few. Acid tripped one over, sending a spray of bullets into it. Blade stabbed a SpecOps in the neck, throwing it to the ground. Chainlink snapped the neck of one more SpecOps soldier as they reached the other side into the main building of Town Hall.
"Command... We're inside Town Hall..." X-Ray said as they entered. They rounded a corner, through a door, and into a large surveillance room, full of monitors. X-Ray walked over to one of the monitors, and eyed it suspiciously. It looked like a security feed.
"Good. Now your team can access the main security feed and override the lockdown." Command said through their radio.
"Observe... That monitor there..." X-Ray pointed his hoof at a monitor. "This is a security feed from earlier today..."
A video began to play on the monitor. It was Dmitri. He stopped in the doorway of the exit of the surveillance room, but he turned, and shot one of his team members in the leg. Dmitri closed the door and locked in his team. A large horde of infected ponies lumbered in. The soldiers bucked and banged at the door, crawled onto machines, and the injured soldier pulled a pistol. But it was not enough. The soldiers were overrun, and promptly eaten alive by the horde.
"That's Dmitri and his team..." Blade said. "They didn't put up much of a fight."
"I hope you don't mind me saying, but we have a mission to complete." Acid said next. At that moment, zombies burst in from every door, crawled out from crawlspaces, and even Dmitri's team stood up. "Let's move! Now!" As they blasted their way through the room and up the corridor (Plenty more infected blood spilled along with the second deaths of Dmitri's team), they moved up a stairway and into an open balcony across the center of city hall. Two SpecOps soldiers were shooting at infected ponies down the way. Blade and X-Ray snuck up, stabbing one in the neck and cutting the other one through the back. After walking through several more bloodstained hallways, (Possibly several more unidentified body fluids and parts), they entered the intelligence storage room. Of course, this meant destroying every hard drive in it, erasing the evidence of linking the H.S.S. to the outbreak. And then, yet again, a massive horde of zombies.
"Good. Now proceed to the records room and finish the job." Command ordered. Delta proceeded into the next bloodstained hall, and back out onto another balcony. Advancing around it to the right through more SpecOps and a long firefight, they moved up a central staircase at the North side of the walkways. Two doors led in front of them, and inside was a room full of documents.
"Records room located..." X-Ray said. "Let's... Watch it all burn..."
"Good. Now find that evidence and get rid of it!" And so they did. They found every last document, file, staffing plan, and recording leading the H.S.S. to the outbreak. As of then, their hooves were clean.
"Command... The evidence... Has been destroyed..." X-Ray spoke.
"Mission accomplished." Chainlink said. "Now let's get the buck outta here!" The team exited the records room, leaving it in a smoldering pit of flames and ash. After a quick ressuply in a downstairs ammunitions room, they exited to find Dmitri on a high platform in a largely open room.
"Dmitri! Why are you doing all this? And why did you kill your team!?" Blade yelled at him.
"Hahahaha..." Dmitri laughed. "They served their purpose most excellently! Just as YOU will!" He fired a pistol shot in their direction, but he missed as if he deliberately wasn't aiming...
"Dmitri! Stay where you are!" Blade yelled back. Acid darted her green eyes around at a scurrying on the roof, and a horde of infected emerged from a hole in the ceiling. But they looked very different from the mutated forms of the other ponies. They had long, sharp claws, had more flexible legs relative to a frog, and were lacking eyes and skin with their brains exposed on their heads. They crawled around the roof like spiders and lashed out with long razor tongues. As Delta pointed around their guns, it was inevitable: They had just walked into a nest of the creatures. "Everypony out! Move!" Blade yelled.
Killing the creatures one by one with shots to their exposed brains, the team dashed around bookcases and fallen debris to a door at the end of the room. As Blade tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. "It's locked. It needs a keyca-!" Just then, Chainlink bucked out the door.
"No we don't, now move!"
They exited out back into the open courtyard at the front, and it was filled with only a few infected, and made their way through in a few unexciting shots. Okay, an enormous horde of them, and they blasted their way out one pile of limbs at a time. Satisfied?
They burst their way out of Town Hall, and into the city streets.
"Good. Now that the evidence is gone, continue on with your mission, and we'll look into this security officer, Dmitri." Command ordered, and Delta galloped off, hooftrot by hooftrot, into the night.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
After destroying evidence at Town Hall, Harmony's Elements are left to search the local Equestria Police station in search of supplies and weaponry. In their search, they watch their hoofsteps to keep from crossing fire with Dmitri once more. Even so, Delta Team are given new orders to search out one last leak in the Corporation, and they will be home free.
*Begin Transmission*
*Terminal Activating... Connected. Command Channel Operational*
"Delta Team, you did good work back in Town Hall. Saved the manes of many good ponies. All you need to do now is take out a final witness to the operation, and to hide and take refuge until we can get a pegasi squad out there to evacuate you back to Headquarters. Good luck, Delta."
"Copy, Command. Out." Blade deactivated his radio. The team now stood on the landing pad of the Equestrian hospital. Blade recited the orders to the team.
"So... All we have to do is find... One more target and... Find shelter until they can... Evacuate us...?" X-Ray said. "I don't like the sound of that..."
"Command said they'll get a pegasi team here to fly us out of here in secure transport. They're pretty satisfied with us cleaning the blood from their hooves. Now we only need somewhere to take up shelter."
"The police station." Chainlink said. "Plenty of emergency supplies, and whole armouries of guns to have a little fun with."
"Plus, there's a secure bunker underneath it that can withstand just about anything that you would ever see this side of Ponyville." Acid agreed. "We can stay there until Command arrives with evacuation."
"Then we are... Agreed...?" X-Ray finished. "Shall we... Move on...?" Blade nodded, clopped his hooves together, and the team re-entered the hospital through the roof access. They trotted down a metal staircase, and managed to slip quietly into the elevator. Chainlink pressed, 'Lower Level', and the elevator descended through the building. On about floor two, the elevator stopped. A voice came on the loudspeaker. "Emergency stop activated. Shaft block in, 'Lower Level'. " Acid read the floor name displayed above the button pannel.
"Morgue... I assume that's bad." The elevator doors slid open, and the team readied their weapons. Surprisingly, the morgue was full of noninfected pony corpses still in body bags and metal cabinets. A few stallion doctors in blue trench coats and goggles, as well as a nurse in a white lab coat, were lying dead on the floor, a couple with loaded pistols covered in blood next to them. But what caught their attention was a filly in the corner of the room. It had been horribly mutilated, missing one eye and covered in bite marks in shapes that looked like the clumsy bites of infected ponies. Its hoof was pressed against a blood trail on the wall, and it lead to a pattern of more blood that said, 'Celestia Save Us'. A cry for help upon the goddess that never came. It had a grey colored hair coat and a short, black mane, which surprisingly resembled...
"No!" Acid screamed. She dropped her pistol and ran to the mutilated filly, cradling it in her hooves. "No..." Tears welled in her eyes... "I told her to run... To hide... She cried to stay with me, screamed not to leave her, but I had to... Harrow said they would take care of her, and they left her to the infected to chew away her Celestia forsaken life..!" Acid looked down at the filly's bare flank. "She didn't even have her cutie mark yet..." She buried her gas-masked muzzle in the remains of the filly's mane, sobbing like she was only a filly herself.
"She was... Your daughter...?" X-Ray asked. Acid only nodded, her tear-stricken eyes sealed shut. "Acid... I'm sorry..."
"Command said they would take care of her. But they told us to eliminate loose ends. And that must mean..." Chainlink started.
"Harrow left her here to be killed and to seal the leak against them. She was the daughter of someone who knew about the operation. They had no bucking idea what she knew." Blade finished. "They weren't having us eliminate threats against our reputation, they were going to have us plug their leaks and then leave us for dead!"
"Then now... We will just have to wait for their... Evacuation... But we will have to find that loose end..." X-Ray commented. "So... We find him, or her... And help them to expose Harrow for what they really are..."
Acid looked up from her deceased daughter, anger flaring in her eyes. "... I'm in. I won't let them get away with the blood of all those innocent ponies... Or the blood of my daughter. And the rest of you?"
"... I'm in." Chainlink finally said.
"I could use some blade practice on a living pony for once..." Blade suggested.
"It's about time we... Stop covering for their crimes... I stand with you as well..." X-Ray agreed.
"Then it's settled..." Acid laid her half-eaten daughter on the floor in the corner. "I owe it to my daughter..." She curled up the filly into a position that suggested it was sleeping, its tail tucked across its body and muzzle in its forelegs. "Goodnight, Shade..." She whispered. "I'm sorry..."
Before leaving, she stopped, turned to her sleeping daughter, and shut the filly's eyes with her muzzle, kissing her on her bloodstained cheek. She stood to her hind legs, picked up her pistol, and headed for the fire exit. "It's about time we spill the blood of the ponies who started this bucking outbreak."
Delta Team jumped down the fire exit ladder onto the abandoned streets of Equestria. No infected were about, and the street was lined with abandoned structures that used to house the businesses of a once bustling city. At the end of their current street stood a blue building with a large badge sticker in the window. The police station.
"There it is." Chainlink said. "We're gonna make it, everypony!" The team cautiously advanced up the street, and approached the station. As expected, a figure emerged from the side alley, wielding a small machine gun.
"Who are you? Verify yourselves before I buck you all to Celestia!" The figure raised its gun.
"Harrow Security Service. Delta Team - Harmony's Elements. Are you the contact Harrow is looking for?" Acid spoke, her voice stone cold and stern.
The figure lowered its weapon and stepped from the shadows. It was a cream-colored mare with a long golden-yellow mane. She was wearing an armored police riot uniform, similar to Chainlink's but lighter, but lacking a helmet.
"I know you were looking for me. I hacked your comms. You hate Harrow as much as I do. And yes, I'll help you to expose them for the blood they have spilled," She looked to Acid. "Like that of your daughter's." Acid just looked away. "Get inside. This place will be crawling with infected soon." She stepped into the police station. The Elements followed her, Acid still with her head hanging low and staring down at her hooves.
When they entered the police station and sealed the door, the mare in the police uniform blocked it with a large wooden plank. "It's not too sturdy, but it'll hold. Name's Marigold. Equestria Police."
"I believe... You already know the plan...?" X-Ray spoke.
"Yep. You kill me, camp out here, Harrow comes and evacuates you all, and you all live in heroism and fame, right?"
"That sounds about right." Chainlink agreed.
"But that's not the new plan." Blade began. "We need you to help us get the blood on Harrow's hooves exposed to everypony between here and Canterlot. Can you help us?"
"Well, I can help you... For a price." Marigold smiled.
"We don't have any bits." Acid snapped. "And we could always just kill you for our freedom..."
"I don't want your bits." Marigold responded calmly. "I want your services. And you and I both know you wouldn't let Harrow get away with killing your daughter." Acid froze, then looked away again, anger reflecting in her green eyes. "An old 'pet' of mine seems to have run away from home. I need you to find it and bring it home to its mommy."
"So you... Want us to retrieve a... Pet...?" X-Ray implied.
"Well, not quite a pet." Marigold smiled again. "More like a creation of sheer destruction that will keep me safe while you are 'evacuated'. "
"Of course..." Chainlink breathed. "A Tyrant."
"You are quite the genius, Mr. Tank. Mind if I call you that? It went haywire and I need you to retrieve him."
"Done." Acid said quickly. The Team, and Marigold, turned and stared at her. "We'll get back your little pet. Anything to avenge my daughter. Any objections?" Silence, then she went on. "Good."
"Excellent!" Marigold clopped her hooves together. The stallions of Delta supressed a surprised flinch, and turned back to the golden mare. "Now here's the plan..."
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
With Delta Team betrayed by Harrrow's End, the H.S.S. are left on their own. They begin by recovering a weaponized 'pet' for their new friend, Marigold, and plan to avenge the death of all the ponies that their former Command slaughtered and left for bait to cover their own hoofprints in the trail of blood. As they pick up the pieces of their shattered relationship with Harrow's End, they begin their mission to burn the remains in a smoldering flame of revenge.
*Begin Transmission*
*Signal activating... Connecting... Line Failure. Source Undetected... Disconnecting... Activating Emergency Channel...*
"Delta, come in. You communications are disconnected. What are you doing?" Command said over the comms.
"... You... Betrayed us, Command..." X-Ray responded. "You left innocent ponies... For dead to cover your tracks..."
"What!? What in the name of Celestia are you talking about!?"
"You took the lives of countless civillians! You thought they were going to rat you out for the tainted blood on your hooves!" Blade answered. "You sent us in to close the gaps in your plan, kill the survivors, and then you were going to execute us in thought that we would spill the cupcakes on your operation, making us look
"Delta, you are all insane! You'll only get yourselves killed! Finish the mission, or you will all die, and your names will be the only thing tainted in blood!"
"You lied to us!" Acid yelled. "I trusted you with my daughter, and you left her for dead, worried that she would give you away, just like I had to give her away! She was the daughter of a mare you didn't trust, and you fed her to the infected like she was no more than bait! We'll gut you and your whole corporation from the inside out, one bloodsoaked name at a time!"
"You all have no idea what you're doing! You have your orders! Complete them, or we will have no choice but to leave you all to die with the city!"
"We'll take our chances." Chainlink finished. "We're on our own mission now: To make sure that Harrow's End is left in piles of debris with any records linking us to your crimes! Enjoy your lives before we burn them to the ground... Delta out." He turned off the radio.
"Y'all have quite the grudge against Harrow's End. Sounds like they've done more than I expected." Marigold was leaning against the wall, her mane curling around her smiling face.
"I guessed you would know all about it after you hacked our comms." Blade retorted. "How long did you have our signal hacked?
"Ever since you destroyed the records at Town Hall." Marigold's smile had faded. "So, about 3 days."
"Then... You know about how we... Worked for Harrow's End...?" X-Ray asked. "And you still... Trust us...?"
"Of course. It ain't often you see a group like yourselves with a grudge against Harrow's End as deep as yours, except me, of course."
"We never got to ask you," Chainlink said. "What IS your hatred against the ponies in Harrow's End?"
"I thought y'all would never ask!" Her smile returned, and she looked up. "Being a security servicemare myself, our department had a few... 'Ties' with Harrow, if you will. We kept our eyes and hooves patrolling the city for them, they kept us well paid and even more well armed."
"I'll assume that's how you got the Tyrant in your possession?" Blade said. Marigold just nodded.
"It was a little deal of ours. We would use our profit to spread our reach across the city and keep an eye on all those little ponies that Harrow didn't trust. They suggested showering us in bits, but we had another idea. We wanted a fully controllable weapon of theirs. Now, I was expecting some kind of neat contraption that would turn a pony's skull inside out or something like that. Instead, they gave us the Tyrant. It got us some good work, but we found out why they chose what they did." She sighed, sadness forming in her golden eyes. "The Tyrant was controlled from Harrow's headquarters. They thought we were using them to squeeze a little extra pay outta them. The Tyrant went haywire, and killed our entire department... Even Venus..." She looked down, a tear streaming down her cheek.
"Who's-" Blade started.
Marigold cut him off. "Venus?... She was my partner in the business. A real crazy mare, she was. Always ready for a fight. Hooves always itching for a good killing. She always was good at her job... When she found out we were betrayed, she went berserk on the Tyrant, shooting and bucking it until I thought she was gonna rip it circuit by circuit. And the Tyrant... It..." She raised her hooves, and clopped them together. Delta remained silent. "It took me hours to pick up her splattered body and bury it. I respected that mare too much not to lay her to rest... I even left her favorite cowpony hat on the dirtpile. It's saddled off in the wind somewhere far away, now..."
Blade began to speak, but Acid cut him off. "I never got to give Shade a proper burial... I could only curl her up to sleep, kiss her goodnight like I always used to, and leave her to rot beneath her own plea for help written in blood that I never answered..." She sounded like she was ready to burst into tears, but she just looked away. "... Which means we both have equal reason to gut Harrow's End for what they took from us."
"Yes..." X-Ray began. "Now... Shall we begin... Phase One...?" He trotted over to a table with a digital map in the middle of the room. "We have... Much to do, and... Not as much time on our hooves..."
"Right. Y'all must be itchin' for a good slaugher right about now?" Marigold perked up. Her and the rest of the team moved to the table to begin planning their operation.
"So what's the plan?" Chainlink said.
"It's simple." Marigold said. "All we've gotta do is to break into an abandoned storage house located here." She pointed her hoof to a large, square building about 3 blocks to the East of the police station. "Sounds like no problem, right? It shouldn't. The place is crawling with SpecOps, who have turned it into a 'munitions warehouse." A smile creeped across her face. "Who knows, maybe we can sabotage them and leave a nice little dilema for Harrow. Outside their little stockpile, there is a vent shaft we can break into and sneak right above their communications room. Throw in a quick flash grenade, maybe an explosive, everyone in the room dies along with their ability to squeal for help like little fillies." Acid glared at her. "Er... Sorry... Anyways, backup will come, we drop in, buck 'em up a bit, and steal their uniforms. Then," She snickered. "I'm sure you know what happens next. After we all dress in, try to hold your blushes, we can give the all clear and say that a circuit malfunctioned and exploded or something. One of you will not have a uniform, considering there are only four ponies to the control room. Any of you good with a little sneaky-stabby stuff?"
Delta Team all looked at Blade. "I guess that's settled then. You can sneak through the base and keep an eye on us. I'll even let you stab a guard or two. We will also need one of you to stay in the control room and hack the remains of the communications and get into their security systems. A little sneak peek at what's goin' on inside the base. Any takers?"
"That... Would be me..." X-Ray said. "I can get a few... Extra eyes on their workings..."
"Good. That leaves the remaining three of us to advance through the base. Stay incognito, if you know what I mean. We sneak past a few guards, Stealthy over there-"
"Blade."
"Blade over there can kill out a few catwalk prowlers to stop their high-ground advantage. And you..." She motioned at Delta's surveillance spy.
"X-Ray..." He said.
"X-Ray..." She paused. "You can make sure no one catches on. And please, make sure to say something if a guard takes a 'turn in the wrong direction', meaning that they don't go anywhere they aren't wanted and find something like oh, I don't know, any of Blade's bodies."
"I'm not careless. I hide the bodies or make them look... Less suspicious."
"Well if they discover a body, it's on you..." She went on. "Now, after we make our way through the main storage area and their makeshift living quarters, we'll reach the room with a large, buckhead door. Very sturdy, as you know. This is where it gets interesting. We'll have no choice but to be spotted, for we have to get through the door. A little demolition? You know, 'Bang, Squeeeeal... Crash?' I'm sure that with all those explosive things on your chest, you can do that quite well, can't you, Mr. Ta-"
"Call me Chainlink. I'm not your pet." Chainlink interrupted. "And yeah, I can handle one buckhead door."
"Well that's swell and all, but we'll have been spotted. Can you reseal the door from the other side?"
"I can give it a few good bucks."
"Perfect. Don't want the whole base right on our hooves. Err... Blade and uh... X-Ray. You should be able to get to us without raising suspicion?"
"Of course..." X-Ray responded.
"I may have to stab a few more guards, but I can handle it." Blade said.
Marigold went on. "After we successfuly become our little family again, we will be in the containment room holding my Tyrant. It'll be inactive, but can be reprogrammed through a little gene alteration. Biology, anypony?"
"Acid." The three stallions said, then all looked to each other, then to Acid. She simply just stood calmly, her eyes glinted with what seemed to be amusement.
"After... Acid reprograms the Tyrant, we can use it to break a wall out or something and escape."
"That's it...?" X-Ray asked. "Just break out... And walk away...?"
"Well, I'm a mare of many surprises. Did you notice I never said where I would be?" The Team fell silent, listening in interest. "I will have managed to sneak from the control room when we break in to head to their reactor plant they store in the South end of the base. We blow it up, and the warehouse is a pile of burning ash and maybe a few dozen southern-fried ponies, just like Mama used to make... Okay, maybe that's a little derranged."
"So we blow the reactor, burn the warehouse to the ground, and come back here with your pet." Chainlink summarized.
"That's absolutely correct. Someone should throw you a cookie." She smiled. "So, are we all agreed on the plan?" Delta Team all just nodded and said their agreements. "Then it's settled." She held out her hoof above the middle of the digital map. "United Under Celestia." Delta all just stared blankly. "Well?"
"What are you doing?" Blade asked.
Marigold dropped her hoof and sighed. "It was a symbol of alleigance in our department to touch hooves and all say, 'United Under Celestia'. Now are we an alleigance, or not?" The team stood silently, then Acid stood forward and held out her hoof, determination in her green eyes. Determination to avenge her daughter. "United Under Celstia."
They all stood silently again, then Blade stepped forward, and reached out his hoof next to hers. "United Under Celestia."
Chainlink stepped forward next, holding out one armored hoof. "United Under Celestia."
X-Ray stepped forward last. He held out his hoof into the group of others in the middle of the table. "United... Under Celestia..."
Marigold looked around at the group, pride reflecting in her golden gaze. She put her hoof in once more, and the new alleigance all touched hooves. "United Under Celestia. Let's go give Harrow a nice, 'Hello'. "
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Level 4.5: Corporation Casaulties
After Delta Team betrayed Harrow's End, the Corporation is left to work using 'other resources'. With their Security Service gone, Harrow's End works on their way to compromise and repair the damages done. After their exposure to their Security, the Corporation decides to let Delta Team die off and rot in the rubble over the wasteland that was once Equestria.
*Begin Transmission*
*Harrow's End Corporation Network: Scanning... Access Granted. Main Communications Feed... Active. Identity Confirmed: Doctor Simon Seawell. Welcome to Harrow's End Research Lab.*
Dr. Seawell entered into the research lab, carrying four small casefiles in his hooves. He was a short, light blue stallion with a mint green mane, wearing a lab coat and a pair of bifocals. He trotted over to a small table in the middle of the room surrounded by another scientist on the left, a SpecOps captain on right, and the Harrow's End commander who operated the entire corporation and controlled it in the center.
Seawell set the files on the table, all lined in a row facing the Commander. "Are these their files?" The Commander asked. Seawall simply nodded.
"All four of them. Codenames Acid, X-Ray, Blade, and Chainlink. Former Delta Team." He opened the first file. "Acid was one of our most gifted virologists, and she was of great use to us in our studies on the virus." He then opened the second file. "X-Ray was a surveillance expert and hightly advanced technology expert. It was rumored even that he once hacked into the Royal Palace's Security Firewall just to delete his name off of a few records that he owed money to the local bar." Seawell open the third file. "Blade was a scout recon specialist and very well trained in hoof-to-hoof combat. We had equipped him with our hex-pattern cloaking suit that greatly enhanced his abilities, and his usefulness." The Dr. opened the final file. "Our final member, Chainlink, had a very odd enjoyment in demolition. In his thick armour loaded down with explosives, he could blow his way through anything, or anypony, that got in his way. He even had a motto for himself: 'Destroy it first, ask questions later if they're still alive under the rubble'. He was always an interesting stallion." Seawell closed the files and stacked them.
"So this is the team that has betrayed us." The Commander finally spoke. "They look quite capable. It's a shame that we have to lose them."
"Yes..." The doctor at the left of the table said. "Acid was famous across our labs and always knew everything from curing a pony's cutie pox to altering a single gene and saving a life from cancer."
Seawell went on. "The Team was last seen at the abandoned hospital and may be trying to team with the contact we sent them to kill. It is possible that codename Marigold might not trust them. This has a possibility to give us an advantage. They will take up shelter and plan their operations, but they are clumsy and inexperienced."
"The H.S.S. are inexperienced," The Commander spoke again. "But they are very advanced. We can't afford to underestimate anything. If so much as a whisper against us leaves this wasteland and reaches Canterlot, then Celestia may as well crush us where our hooves now stand."
The SpecOps commander spoke. "They have made it this far. Even some of my toughest and highly-trained teams were unable to stop them. It almost seems like they have the power of Luna herself in their hooves..."
"As we all know," Seawall said, "They plan to expose us somehow and put our Corporation in ruin. Being a member of the Research labs, I cannot afford to let that happen, for our sector will be taking the majority of the blame-" Seawall stopped midsentence as a loud bang sounded. His face went blank, and he looked down. A large bullethole had formed in his chest. He let out a breath of fear, and fell sideways to the ground on his flank, revealing his cutie mark: A diagram of a DNA strand.
"Now what was that for, Captain?" The Commander looked to the SpecOps leader who had drawn a pistol in his hoof. He slid it back into its holster around his waist.
"He was speaking of his precious Research wing taking the blame. We can't afford to let someone like him stay on his hooves in our Corporation. He would have probably directed the blame to us to cover his hoofsteps. We can't let that happen, now can we?"
The Commander simply grunted, and he spoke toward the door. "Clean this up and burn the body. We can't afford an infection." Two SpecOps guards entered the room, and grabbed the body of Dr. Seawall in their hooves, dragging him along in a trail of blood.
The scientist at the left of the table simply looked disgusted, but he spoke like nothing happened. "We've found that Equestria has been monitored by the police department, and it will hold much evidence. We will have to find a way to remove the evidence without it being spread. I suggest we simply bomb the power station and shut down the hard drives that contain the information?"
"That would be excellent." The Commander said. "But where exactly... ARE these records?" The scientist just stood silently. "That's a bit of a compromise to the operation. Where would you assume these records are, then?"
The scientist snapped back to awareness and said, "We believe after the records were destroyed in Town Hall, it could have been the last. But I am afraid that I am aware of where the records are." He paused. "They... Had been malfunctioned when the Town Hall hard drives were compromised. They have been transferred directly... Into our hard drives, and to get rid of them, we can either destroy the power station and risk losing power in the Corporation itself, or destroy the hard drives and all of our research."
The room fell silent. The Commander had a troubled look on his face, a frown frozen across his muzzle. It was clearly a tough choice. But it was either the Research wing losing its life's work, or everypony in the Corporation living off of no power. It was settled from the start. "We will destroy the Corporation storage drives and get rid of all the evidence." The scientist looked ready to argue, but the SpecOps Captain moved his hoof for his pistol, and the arguement was dropped.
"So it is agreed...?" The SpecOps commander said. "We burn the records and all the links to the corporation." He looked to the scientist. "Deliver the order with the code Colt Alpha 245639." The scientist bowed his head, and exited the room.
In the Hard Drive Storage Room, SpecOps soldiers and scientists cleared the storage drives off their holding shelves, their hooves clopping over the plexi-glass tile floor, fury and disappointment on the faces of the scientists. Yet, none of them uttered a word. Keeping information was not worth losing their lives.
The Hard Drives were brought out the South entrance, and were thrown into a large, metal box dug into the ground. When it was filled with every last file, a large metal platform was brought down into the pit, crushing the drives and the information they contained. The platform lifted, and all that was left was the debris and smashed casings of what used to be very valuable, and dangerous, information. Two mares and three stallions trotted to the edge of the pit, and armed two incendiary grenades each. As the canisters were thrown in, the pit was set fire, and the records were burned into the debris melting down into a bubbling mass. The ties to the Harrow's End Equestrian Corporation had been destroyed and were now... Obsolete. It was time to kill the former H.S.S. and clear the name of the Corporation once and for all.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Marigold and the former Delta Team have mapped out a plan to retrieve Marigold's Tyrant. As they move into position for the retrieval, they prepare for not only a bloody firefight, but their first mission on the path to their revenge on Harrow's End for their betrayl. As Delta Team is no longer their name, their name has been changed to their squad name instead: Harmony's Elements. As the Team's limerick name was used as simply a little more than Delta, this name became fit in their attempts to restore peace from Harrow's End.
*Begin Transmission*
Harmony's Elements were positioned outside the compound that held Marigold's Tyrant, and the stash of ammunitions that Harrow's SpecOps were storing, keeping it well guarded with several dozen SpecOps soldiers. Chainlink was already standing on a dumpster, a blowtorch in his hooves. He was welding away at the vent cover, and connected the glowing line of molten metal around the vent, allowing him to remove it, and pass it into X-Ray's hooves to place it quietly on the ground. "We're in." Chainlink declared.
X-Ray looked to Marigold. "Ladies... First?" Marigold gave the stallion an approving nod, grabbed Chainlink's outstretched hoof, and hoisted her way up into the vent. Next came Acid, Blade, X-Ray, and finally Chainlink. As they crawled in the tight vent, Chainlink whispered, "Why couldn't we have just found a unicorn to use its magic to get us in a little more... Quietly?"
X-Ray answered. "The unicorns... Were killed in the outbreak... They were the first to die as the magic... Seemed to attract the infected. They never stood a chance..." Chainlink was silent, but he gave an understanding nod. They came through twists and turns, their armor clattering on the metal.
"Won't all this noise give away our position?" Blade asked from behind Acid.
"No." Marigold said. "The air conditioning is on, and it'll muffle the sound considering these vents are very sensetive and old. Didya really think I would put us in here with sound that would make y'all sound like a herd of cattle in here?"
"That's strange. I can't feel any air conditioning..."
"That's because you're wearing a suit. We're almost there." Marigold stopped. She was right above another vent opening. She motioned her hoof behind her, and Chainlink grabbed two grenades from inside his belt. A flash grenade, and an explosive. Marigold took them both in her hooves. "Now the real fun begins..." She whispered.
She armed the two grenades, and bucked open the vent. The guards below jumped, and looked up just in time to see the flash grenade roll out and drop to the floor. They reached their hooves for their sidearms, but the grenade already went off. They instead placed their hooves over their ears, blinded an deafened. Marigold rolled in the next grenade, and the room burst into a cloud of smoke and shrapnel. "Get ready to get in there." Marigold warned.
As if on cue, four more SpecOps guards entered the room. In the smoke and haze, the team dropped in. The room was full of smoke, so the beating wasn't viewable, but there was several crashes, thunks, and gasps of pain from the guards. When the smoke finally cleared, Chainlink, X-Ray, Acid, and Marigold had already began to slip into their uniforms.
"Why didn't you all just leave me to stab them insead?" Blade asked.
"We couldn't risk damaging the uniforms. If a guard saw they were tattered, we would be exposed." Marigold explained as the team managed to hoist the bodies back into the vent and seal it. "Y'all know the drill. Blade, you take the hallway down that way," She pointed her hoof to a door to their left, "Chainlink, Acid, y'all come with me this way," She pointed her hoof around to an open door with a staircase leading down to ground level. "And X-Ray, you stay here and hack their cameras. Communications will be down. Hope you don't mind that." X-Ray trotted over to one of the nearby systems, opened its main panels, and started to do what looked like pulling a few wires and moving some parts around inside. A few hoofbeats later, he said, "I'm in... I have a view on the... Entire complex." Marigold nodded.
"We'd better get moving. I'll see you guys in the containment room." Blade said, and he exited through the door to their left, and was gone.
A voice came over the system radio. "What's going on up there?" It was a young stallion, and he was very agitated.
X-Ray answered as casually as he could: "Everything is... Fine. There was... A malfuncion. The system... Blew a circuit. I can easily repair it..."
There was a pause, and the stallion came back on. "Whatever. Just fix the system up there. You know the boss hates malfunctions."
"Of course she does..." X-Ray answered. "I already know-"
"The boss is not a mare. Don't you know that...?" The stallion spoke again. X-Ray had to think fast.
"Well... He acts like one sometimes... Does he not?"
The stallion paused again. "Yeah. You bucking got that right. Thank Celestia he's not there to hear that. Try to fix that circuit as soon as possible."
"No... Problem..." X-Ray finished. The radio speaker cracked, and the call ended.
"Clever thinking." Marigold said, her voice approving. "We need quick thinkers like you."
"In surveillance... I need to be..." X-Ray said very casaully. He stayed behind to work on the surveillance system, and Marigold, Chainlink, and Acid began to move through the open door and down the staircase, but X-Ray stopped them with a call of Marigold's name. "Whatever you do... Stay safe..." He saw them off and closed the door.
They were in. Marigold, Chainlink, and Acid were moving through the main storage area, and walking past several other SpecOps soldiers, afraid that one wrong move could expose them and they would be filled with bullets so fast that they would become short-living ponified pencils. Marigold leading the way, Chainlink on her right, and Acid on her left, they faked a casual conversation about work. Marigold did most of the talking, while the other two simply threw in a comment or two. Passing around a large crate that said, 'Danger: Highly Explosive', they had reached the living quarters. A group of stallions were sitting at a round green table, playing a game of Canterlot Hold 'Em, a popular card game among bored soldiers. Since they had no betting chips, they were betting bullets between each other. Two or three of them had a small or regular sized pile, enough to fit about two magazines, and one had enough to fill a whole boxgun clip.
When they sneaked in through the door at the far end of rows of beds, which were flat mattresses on rectangles of metal bars and four legs, they had reached the large, buckhead door that would lead into containment. Marigold proceeded to speak into her radio.
"Blade. They're all yours." A few seconds later, she turned to look through a glass pane in the door to the living quarters. Looking at the guards, she saw one of them jerked their head back, and a gash appeared in his neck. In shock and confusion, the other three stood up. Another stumbled to one knee, and an opening appeared through the front of his face and out the back of his head, splattering his mask in blood. The third jerked sideways and lay still with a large cut across his face, and the fourth with the large pile of betting ammunition was kicked into the wall, and screamed in pain as a very large gash slashed across his chest and up through his neck. If any of the ponies were still alive, they would have bled to death by the time a shadowy figure exited back into an open vent. "It's clear." Blade's voice came on the radio. "Make your move."
X-Ray's voice came on the radio. "The room... has two lines of catwalks on either side... SpecOps patrolling them... About six are on the ground... And unarmed... This shouldn't be too hard... Will the door... Be sealed?"
"Perfectly shut." Chainlink responded. "They won't be getting in for backup anytime soon."
Marigold turned back to the door and nodded at Chainlink. The buckhead door was two large panels of metal split down the middle, and a small keypad next to it. Chainlink placed a large paste-like wad in the split next to the panel. "Stand back." He said. He pulled a detonator from his belt, and pressed the button. A loud hissing broke out, and then a loud explosion. The panel sparked and malfunctioned, and the door proceeded to open. SpecOps in the next room were unarmed, and began to scrabble for guns. The team rushed in, and Chainlink gave the door an enormous buck with his back hooves, sealing it back shut.
The room was mostly bare, with a few control panels similar to the ones in the surveillance room. As was spoken before, two catwalks lined either side. Before any of the three had a chance to shoot, a figure on the left catwalk busted through a door, killing the catwalk guards with a single thrown grenade and flinging the bodies over the rail, their bodies thunking to the floor and their hooves clacking in the fall. On the opposite catwalk, guards were flinching around as if they were being bucked around by something invisible, minus the trails of blood staining their outfits, and gashes appearing on their bodies while they struck out blankly with their hooves. Eventually, every last one of the ponies on the catwalks were all dead.
The six stallions on the ground were a different story. "They're mine. I'm gonna enjoy this..." Chainlink pulled his Ravager, and ran in. The stallions attempted to flee, but Chainlink quickly struck them down. He kicked one in the front leg, and shot him through the head as the SpecOps went down. He swung back his gun, bashing in the skull of another that tried to jump him, and bucked another that cowered by a crate, crushing his ribs into his lungs. The final three pulled pistols, and they all dropped dead after a short spray of bullets that entered at numerous points into their bodies. The floor was now with several stallions lying dead in their own (And several others') blood.
"Where's the Tyrant?" Blade yelled down from the catwalk. "Shouldn't it be in he-?" Blade nearly finished as a large portion of the wall broke open, and a large, deformed pony in a black trench coat and legskirt split down the middle lumbered in. It was twice the size of the other ponies, and it lacked ears and a muzzle.
"Ah! There you are, Daisy!" Marigold walked toward the Tyrant. "I've been looking everywhere for yo-" The Tyrant struck Marigold away, slamming her into a nearby wall. She slid down it, and went limp, her legs sprawled out in front of her, and her mane ruffled over her neck.
"The SpecOps have programmed it against us...!" X-Ray nearly yelled.
"Well what the buck do we do now!? It's under their control!" Chainlink yelled back.
Acid spoke next. "We have to weaken it to get in close, and I can program it to show the SpecOps as hostiles, and it'll follow Marigold's commands again! Aim for the head! The trench coat is bulletproof!" She then proceeded to aim around her pistol at the Tyrant, and fired exactly three shots into it before it charged.
Chainlink and Acid dove out of the way, and X-Ray jumped down to fire toward it. A couple of bullets hit it in the back of the head, but the rest all sparked off the trench coat. It turned and grabbed him with two grotesquely large hooves. "It's... Got me!" X-Ray called out.
"Pull your pistol!" Acid yelled. "Shoot it in the eye!" X-Ray pulled his sidearm from its holster and sent a bullet just to the left of the Tyrant's right pupil. It leg him go, and staggered backward. "It won't be enough to stop it! Keep shooting!" The entire team opened fire, but the Tyrant simply struck out in rage, knocking over a stacked crate in it's wrath.
The Tyrant recovered itself, and grabbed Acid, causing her to drop her pistol. "Shoot it!" She yelled. No one fired, worried that they would hit Acid.
At that moment, a transparent figure appeared on the Tyrant's shoulder. It stabbed a long blade into the side of its neck, and the Tyrant let Acid go with a loud roar of anger, subduing it to the ground.
"Reprogram it, Acid!" Blade yelled. "It won't last for long!" Acid trotted as fast as she could to a panel below the Tyrant's left hoof. She entered a code, opened a small injector hatch, and poured in a vial of something unknown from her belt.
"Remove the knife!" Acid called up. Blade pulled out his blade, and the Tyrant breathed rather slowly, seemingly calm. "It's back under our control, but now it will only respond to Marigold."
"Marigold!" Chainlink yelled. At that momemt, the Elements galloped to the body of Marigold against the wall, as she was already beginning to recover, holding her head in her hoof.
"Wha-..." She began to speak, but X-Ray put a hoof on her shoulder. "Do not talk... You are... Injured."
"Ah'll be fine." Marigold said, rising to her hooves. "What about Daisy?" She looked over to the Tyrant, which had risen to its hooves, frozen, staring off into the distance. "Daisy." She called it's name, and it turned it's head in her direction. "It's functional. Who's ready to leave?"
"Daisy?" Blade asked.
"Well sure, I thought it'd be a perfect name for her. Why, something wrong with that?" The team said nothing. "Good." She turned to Daisy. "Could you get that wall down so we can go home?" The Tyrant marched over to the far wall across from the hole it had come in from, and bucked it down with one powerful hoof. The team slipped around it, and exited into the open air. "Good girl! Momma's so proud! Police station." As she said it, the Tyrant moved off in the direction of their makeshift base. "Thanks for the help, Acid. I couldn't have gotten her back without you."
"Anything to give us an advantage. Are you alright?" Acid asked. "Can you walk?"
"Oh, ah'll be fine. I've taken worse hits than that."
"I can only... Imagine..." X-Ray said. "Now let's... Go home. We have a new pet that may need a little... House training..." It was the first time anyone had ever really heard him sound amused. "I'm sure we would all like... Our old uniforms back..."
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Marigold said. She pulled a small switch from her pocket, and turned it. She raised her hoof, and then dropped it. When it fell down to her flank, the compound exploded, bursting in one large explosion, then hundreds of smaller ones as explosives and bullets went off inside, and the faint screams of SpecOps soldiers as they were burned alive or, ironically, shot. "Can't let Harrow keep this building standing, now can we? Ah, I love the smell of sabotage in the morning. Oh, wait. It's evening. My bad!" She chuckled, and the team turned for the police station refuge bunker.
On the way, Acid spoke. "Wait... How did you get those explosives in place if you were with us the whole time?"
Marigold simply chuckled again and said, "Like I said, I'm a mare of many surprises."
When the team finally managed to return themselves to the police station, Daisy stood, stationary, in the corner. The team all sat around the table, their face masks removed. "Ah, it's good to be home and back with my darling Daisy again!" Marigold said, filling five glasses with a sparkling liquid from a bottle with a Griffon on the label.
"Wait..." X-Ray said. "I... Recognize that label..."
"Ah'm sure you do!" Marigold replied. "Some of the strongest stuff out there. Ah guess that's why they call it, "Griffon Tears."
"Leave it to X-Ray to recognize a bottle of alcohol..." Blade muttered. X-Ray barely glanced at him as Marigold began pouring the drinks.
When all the glasses were full, they all picked one up in their hooves. "To our victory in the recovery of Daisy and the glorious sabotage of Harrow's End!"
As they all raised their glasses, Chainlink spoke. "You know, X-Ray, this drinking thing reminds me of how you hacked Canterlot to get rid of your overdue bar checks! You plan to pay Marigold here back for her hospitality this time?"
"Shut up..." X-Ray said quietly, but in an amused voice for the second time ever. The team laughed, clinked their glasses together, and drank to their success in hopes of many more to come.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
After celebrating their victory over retrieving Marigold's Tyrant, Daisy, Harmony's Elements are given a new mission. Dmitri has become more as well active, and not only is Harrow's End upset about it, but Marigold and the team are holding a grudge of their own. Sharing their motives, the team goes out in search of the stallion hiding in the wasteland.
*Begin Transmission*
The celebration was now over. As Daisy remained in her corner, stationary since the day before, the rest of the team was a different story. Chainlink was sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall with his head back, still missing his mask. X-Ray had been sleeping on the table in the center of the room. And Blade was sprawled out on the floor next to a spread of shattered glass. Both were still missing their face masks. Marigold and Acid, however, were in the next room, Marigold explaining that she had contact with her headquarters in Canterlot, and they entered to see the rest of their unconscious team.
"Should we wake 'em up?" Marigold suggested.
"Possibly. After that report you told me, we'd best make sure they're still alive." Acid's mane was slightly ruffled, but her mask was still in place. She walked over to X-Ray on the table, and promptly flipped it. X-Ray let out a muffled gasp of surprise and toppled to the floor. "Wake up, X-Ray. You know only fillies fall asleep on tables!"
X-Ray jumped to his hooves, surprisingly alert, yet still a little wobbly on his four legs. "What happened...!? Infected? SpecOps? Is somepony dying...?" He stopped when he saw Acid with a look of amusement on her face. "Or... My psychotic team member... Waking me from an unsually... Long night...?" He brushed a few shards of glass from his suit and grabbed his face mask.
Marigold trotted over to Blade, and bucked him in the side. He gasped loudly, rolled over, and his hooves collided with a bookcase. It toppled over, showering him with the several hardcovers on the shelf. He emerged from his pile of literature to see the other three laughing like a group of foals. "So you decided on the rude awakening? When I get my hooves on you..." He jumped out of the pile, grabbed his mask from the glass shards, and trotted up to the chuckling team members. "Where's Chainlink?" Acid pointed one hoof to the armored stallion in the corner. "... Well? Who's going to wake him up?"
Silence... Then, "You." All four of them said, each pointing a hoof at the other. This was going to be a debate. After a long conversation of reasoning, 'I'd prefer to keep my mane attatched to my neck.', 'He'd buck me all the way to Canterlot if I tried.', 'I... Don't have the strength after... Last night's "Celebration". ', or 'He'd stab me with my own knife before I could even buck him!', the team finally decided to step into the next room for a compromise. Marigold grabbed one of the station's flash grenades, armed it, and threw it into the next room. It went off with a loud BANG! and a flash of light, followed by a loud yell from Chainlink, a small amount of gunfire, then a crashing noise. The team entered into the room, and the three of them except for X-Ray burst out laughing.
Chainlink had scrambled from his corner, pulled a gun, and Daisy had reacted by grabbing him and throwing him through the doorway down into the bunker. Chainlink had already returned to the top of the stairs, his armor dented in several places. "What happened..?" He asked as he saw his laughing teammates.
X-Ray had managed to recover and said, "You... Had a little too much last night... Daisy had to restrain you by... 'Removing you from the room'. You pulled your gun."
"I know I pulled a gun. I even opened fire. What I wanna know is why the buck did none of you just wake me?" The team all looked at each other, remembering their arguements of 'why-not's.
"It's a long and funny story..." Marigold said quietly. "But nevermind that. We have a new mission toward our way into a pain in the flank in the Corporation..."
After the team had cleaned themselves up, readjusted their armor, and recovered Daisy back into her stationary spot in the corner, they got down to business, standing at the replaced table in the middle of the room, Marigold had been going over the digital map. "The Department of my branch in Canterlot messaged me in with a bit of a lead. Dmitri has gone rogue, and is surviving in the city on his own, causing problems with their operations in the city. They want us to hunt him out, and kill him."
"This sounds like... Another betrayl chance to me." X-Ray said. "What if they can't be trusted?"
"I work for them. That should be enough for y'all to trust them. We won't be evacuated, the city is too overrun to get in a pegasi team, but they can have one send us in a nice buckload of supplies."
"Do they always do this for you?" Chainlink asked.
"Sometimes they send me in a shipment to keep me alive, but they always send me something special if I do something special for them. With a kill contract on such a high ranking officer, my mind is racing like a group of foals on what would be in it!" She smiled mischeivously.
"Then let's get started. Where do we go?" Blade ordered.
"Hold your cattle there, cowpony." Marigold said. "We're just getting warmed up. Dmitri was last seen... Oh, you're not going to like this..." She pointed to a large transparent square on the map in the center.
"The town park." Acid said. "But why is it so bad?"
"The town park is where they keep the, uh... Cemetery." Marigold answered. The team fell silent. It was obvious that the situation would be a very ugly one. "The infected may not have been able to dig their way out of the ground, let alone the infection reach them at all, but we are unsure. And unfortunately, the SpecOps are looking for him, too. So we'll be bucking them around to get to him."
"So what is... Our plan?" X-Ray asked her when she had finished.
"Easy. We get in, blast our way through the supposed horde of infected and SpecOps, buck Dmitri around a little, get some nice information to give to the Department, kill him, blast our way out. Simple right?" The team all just stared at each other or at the map.
"Let's do it. Anything to get my hooves on a target of Harrow's End." Chainlink armed his Riot Gun.
"Then let's move out." Acid said. "I'm ready to knock that stallion around a bit..."
"Ah'll bring Daisy." Marigold said, and the Tyrant in the corner looked at them. "Maybe with her, we can be back by nightfall for another 'celebration' ?" She snickered and headed for the door, calling Daisy out after her.
In the early sunlight of the morning, Harmony's Elements were already passing the ruins of town hall. During the day, the zombies stayed inside. Acid said that the light irritated them and the heat harmed them. Just outside the gate entrance, an archway opened out into a large square of land with a statue of Celestia in the middle. Scattered around the grassy land were headstones, the piles of dirt remaining filled. The buried dead had not managed to dig their way up. At the far end was a large building that looked like the funeral center. They suspected that Dmitri would be hiding in there, and possibly even using it as his operations base. "Perfect place to hide out. Should we attack?" Chainlink suggested.
"Not yet. He'll see us coming during the day. We'll camp over in there until he comes." Marigold pointed her hoof in the direction of a small mausoleum with the crescent moon of Luna engraved above it.
"The... Lunar Momunemt?" X-Ray asked. "Well... It is... Small... Maybe the infected won't be... Hiding out inside..." He slowly approached the entrance. "Will you... Do the honors, Chainlink?"
"Heh." Chainlink grunted. "Yeah. Sure." With one powerful buck, he sent the door flinging open, and inside were a few step-like ledges around the sides, and a stone coffin with another crescent moon on the lid.
"I hope whatever's inside that doesn't decide to wake up for a little midnight snack..." Acid said.
"If it does, I'll put it back to sleep." Blade said. "Permanently."
"Now, don't y'all get cocky. We can't let our guard down now." Marigold said. "Daisy. You wait outside, dear. We'll come get you when it's time to attack." The Tyrant stalked around the side with a few powerful hoofsteps, and was gone. Chainlink resealed the door, and the team all gathered in the dim light to plan their next move.
"So, do we have to wait here until nightfall?" Acid said. "I'm sure some of us," She nodded at Blade. "Might get a little restless." Blade only put a new clip into his SMG.
"I'm sure y'all will be fine. Anyone up for a nice 'friendly' game of Canterlot Hold 'Em?" Marogold pulled out a deck of pink cards and emptied the ammo out of a pistol magazine.
Night had fallen. At the end of their cardgame, Marigold and Acid all had the majority of the ammo, giving the three stallions the thought that those mares may have cheated. After redividing the ammo to the rightful owners and returning the deck of cards to Marigold, the team exited the mausoleum. Daisy was still outside, standing stationary at the side of the structure. Marigold called her name, and the Tyrant lumbered over. It was time to attack. "Alright..." Marigold whispered. "X-Ray and Acid, you go in the door on the left side of the building in to the altar room, Blade and Chainlink, you go around the right through the casket room. I'll take Daisy with me to help bust through the front and take him by surprise..." She nodded to the creature in the bulletproof trench coat.
"Sounds... Fair enough..." X-Ray said, looking at Acid. "Let's go..." The team split into their squads and moved for their locations: X-Ray and Acid to the left, Blade and Chainlink around the right, and Marigold and Daisy straight through the front. X-Ray lined up to open the door, him and Acid on either side. Chainlink pressed a square of plastic explosive next to the doorknob, and him and Blade stood at a distance. Finally, Marigold and Daisy stood out front, ready to order the Tyrant to break in the door. Marigold moved her muzzle to her radio, and said, "On three, we're going in..." The team all lined up in their position, and Marigold smiled. "Three-" The bucking of the door, the explosion, and the crashing in of the front entrance all happened at once, shaking the entire building, and the Elements and Marigold entered. But, all they had found were the bodies of dead SpecOps and debris, but no sign of Dmitri. "Where... Is he?" X-Ray spoke in the confusion.
At that moment, a fallen radio in the corner sounded on, and Dmitri's voice came through. "Greetings, 'old friends...' I hope you haven't forgotten about me." His voice was dark. "A little Griffon told me that your team not only hate Harrow's End, but you teamed up with a hole in their corporation? Most impressive... However, I'm afraid I must end our reunion short... But as a token of our shared enemy, I've left you a little... Homecoming gift. Enjoy..." The radio clicked off.
"I swear, when I get my hooves around him..." Chainlink said, clopping his armored hoof onto his gun trigger.
"What did he mean... Homecoming gift? And there are no SpecOps here, either... Why?" X-Ray asked. At that moment, every non-broken door burst open, and a swarm of infected ponies covered in dirt lumbered in.
"Impossible!" Acid yelled. "He dug up the bodies in the cemetary and sent them after us!" She immediately pulled her pistol and opened fire. The rest of the team did the same, X-Ray his Hammer, Chainlink his riot gun, Blade his Vector, and Marigold her SMG. They all ran their way out of the building and back to Daisy, who was already slamming around infected ponies, crushing them beneath her grotesque hooves.
"Daisy!" Marigold yelled. "Head for the police station!" The Tyrant smacked away another group of infected ponies, and galloped her way toward the exit, smashing more infected beneath her back hooves. The rest of the team had followed. Chainlink heard Acid scream, and he turned around, firing half a magazine from his Riot Gun, knocking down the infected like bowling pins and screaming profanities.
Daisy bashed through the gate of the front entrance, and the team followed out. They made a straight dash for the police station, with the horde of infected right on their hooves. Chainlink reached the front door and bashed it in, herded the team and Daisy inside, and slammed it shut just in time to replace the wooden plank on the door. The infected, however, had all stopped dead on their hooves, lumbering around in confusion and walking away in loss of interest. "That... Will be useful to know later. They do not follow us if... They cannot see us."
Chainlink spoke through nervous breaths. "Acid was lucky I saved her flank back there. I lost half a magazine on only about seven of them. By the way, Acid, are you alri-" He had only just turned to the team when he had realized the horrible truth.
Acid was gone.
*End Transmission*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Level 7: Missing In Action
After attempting to hunt out and kill Dmitri Zernovski, Harmony's Elements had found that they had walked into a trap. Upon fighting their way out of a horde of infected kept contained and released by Dmitri in the cemetery, Acid had gone missing, possibly killed among the horde. Refusing to believe so, the team ventures out to find her, or retrieve her remains to be buried.
*Begin Transmission*
"How didn't I see she was gone!?" Chainlink yelled, slamming a large crack in the wall with his hoof. "I heard her scream, but didn't even bother to look back for her?"
"There is... Nothing we can do about it now..." X-Ray said. "We can only... Go back and search for her..."
"X-Ray's right." Blade spoke. "We can't just leave her out there. She's a tough mare, and may still be alive." There were groans coming from outside, as the infected ponies were still roaming around. "Even if we have to kill every last one of those creatures. Acid wouldn't like it, but we have no choice..."
"Well, I'm real sorry for y'all, but we don't have time to go looking for lost mares." Marigold said. "She may be already dead."
"And what about what you said about burying Venus?" Chainlink said, a little calmer. "I'm not going to leave her out there after losing her so easily... We're going after her. With you or without you. Are you helping us, or are you gonna make us go out there and keep your own hooves alive?"
Marigold looked shocked, then calmy responded, "I'll help y'all look for her, I just want you to know that we have other problems, and that she may already be dead."
"We... Don't care if she is... In pieces." X-Ray responded. "We're going to find her..." Marigold shook her head.
"I understand that, but I just don't want y'all getting killed over a lost cause. We'll find her, but I have a deal so everyone's happy." The team all stared at her, then Chainlink nodded. "We'll be working on our missions to track down Dmitri, but we'll all look for your friend on the way. Compromise a little?" The team continued to stare on silently, then Blade answered.
"Fine. We'll hunt down Dmitri and kill him. Slowly. For Acid. But we will still find her if we have to scale this whole Celestia forsaken city."
"Deal." Marigold said. "Now to get back to the real problem. I managed to intercept the transmission from Dmitri, and found that he had been spying on us from an old H.S.S. outpost inside the abandoned oil factory. Celestia only knows why ponies ever needed oil, but it's there. We'll search out the compound, kill any SpecOps we find, and destroy any resources on site, like maybe a few oil systems that have survived."
"And a nice wave of burning oil flooding the compound wouldn't hurt either..." Chainlink suggested. "Well, it wouldn't hurt us, at least.*
"I like the way you think Mr. Ta-... Er, Chainlink." Marigold smiled. "Consider it an option."
"So we enter the compound and... Clear it of anything and anypony that Harrow's End might need...?" X-Ray asked.
"Eeexactly!" Marigold smiled a little more, then it faded. "But I can't guarentee that Dmitri is there. He may pull another trap."
"Then we'll just have to take our chances." Blade said. "If Dmitri or Harrow can use it, we'll just have to get rid of it. The sooner, the less they can get out of it."
"Perfect!" Marigold smiled again. "So, are y'all in agreement?" The three stallions nodded. "Superb!" She stuck out her hoof, and the rest of the team held out theirs.
"United Under Celestia." They all said.
"And to search for Acid until we are muzzle to muzzle with the goddess herself..." Chainlink added.
The team were outside the compound at nightfall, and even Daisy came along. The entrance to the compound was covered from the front by a main gate topped with barbed wire. That wouldn't matter, considering they weren't going through the gate. On the edge of the compound's left fence, there was an old guard station with a wooden dropbar in front of it. As silent as he could, Chainlink brought one armored hoof down on it, breaking it in half.
"Shh!" Marigold whispered. "Do you want the entire compound to know we're here...?"
"I just want to get in there so we can get the job done and search for Acid..." Chainlink retorted. "Now let's go. I don't like the looks of this place already..." And with that, the team entered the compound. It was mostly a few office buildings with lines of two or three large, cylinder-like tanks. "I'm guessing those are the oil tanks..."
"You'd be guessing absolutely correct. That's our target." Marigold said. They began to walk into the center of the compound.
"It is strange, though... Where are the... SpecO-" Before X-Ray had a chance to finish, a large spotlight shined on them from above, and a very infuriated stallion yelled down.
"Delta Team? What the buck are you doing here!? And why is she here!?" The stallion said about the golden mare in the police uniform. "I wasn't expecing we'd be able to kill you for some time!" The Elements aimed around their weapons. "I guess this is our chance! Open fi-!" He was stopped midsentence by a loud scream. One of the catwalks around the compound was collapsing. The SpecOps on it were knocked straight to the ground, killed on impact. "What in the name of Celestia is that!?"
The Creature that exceeded to pull down the platform had charged across the compound, and slammed into the watchtower. The stallion fell, collapsing to the ground. All remaining soldiers in the compound had opened fire, and panicked. When the tower had hit the ground, it managed to fall into the next catwalk, ripping it, and the gate, to the ground. Most were killed in the fallen debris, wile others were killed by the oil spill...
"The oil!" Blade yelled. "It's collapsed! Everypony out! Now!" They had all made a complete panic-stricken dash for the exit, but oil was flooding around their hooves, and debris had blocked the exit. "Left!" He yelled, diving over a small oil barrel that nearly knocked him off his hooves.
Avoiding debris and the thick slick of oil, they were able to dodge out of the gate, and into the city once more. Chainlink, for good measure, bucked a downed SpecOps, crushing its muzzle into its skull. With that, the team slipped out into the night.
"That was... All part of the plan, right?" X-Ray asked when they returned to the police station. "We... Killed them and took out the supplies?"
"I suppose so. Y'all alright?" Marigold asked. The team nodded. "Good. And I suppose you're wondering what that creature out there was...?" She smiled.
"Yeah. What was that thing? It looked not only big, but it looked like somepony made it bucking angry." Chainlink said.
Marigold snickered, looked to her right at the corner of the room and said, "Great job, Daisy. I'm proud of you." The Tyrant just looked at her.
"That thing was Daisy?" Blade said. "Tyrants usually stay on the ground and attack at a slow pace. I've never seen one like that before, or one so angry."
"To be honest," Marigold's smile faded. "Neither have I. What do you think caused it?" The room went silent, and the Element stallions all looked at each other.
"Acid." They all said at the same time.
"Do y'all always think the same thing at the same time?" Marigold asked. "If I had to guess, I'd think y'all have the hearts for her."
All three Elements began to act as if they were extremely offended. "Are you crazy?" Chainlink said. "Members of a squad never fall in love, and lovers are never in the same squad. Command... Harrow always said that it would not work well for combat."
"I thought y'all left that all behind."
"Just because we are no longer... Part of their corporation... Does not make it any more likely we will change what we are adapted to..." X-Ray clarified, his voice nearly blank.
"Whatever y'all say. What is it, then?"
"We all just have her figured out." Blade said. "It would be very much like her to do something nice, like upgrade your Tyrant, and not even mention it."
"Well, it was quite kind o' her, but Daisy doesn't need upgrades." Marigold said flatly.
"Well she saved our flanks back there. That's good enough for me." Chainlink said.
"Now... What are going to do about... Finding her...?" X-Ray said.
"Relax. We'll find her. It'll just take us some time..." Marigold said. At that moment, a hoof knocked on the front door. The team armed their weapons and pointed them at the door within a hoofbeat. "... Somepony going to answer the door?"
Very slowly, Chainlink approached the door. When he reached it, he bucked it out and aimed his gun. Pointing it to his left, then to his right, and reentered the door. "There's nothing out he-" Just then, something struck him from behind, and Chainlink fell to the ground, his gun dropping down by his flank. Hoofsteps came from the doorway. A figure entered, took Chainlink by the neck in one foreleg, and pointed out his gun at the team.
"Greetings, H.S.S." The stallion said. "Or should I say... Harmony's Elements? Were you looking for me?"
It was Dmitri Zernovski.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Level 8: Fallen Into Enemy Hooves
In a successful mission to bring down an oil storage compound belonging to Harrow's End during their search for their missing teammate, Acid, an unexpected guest shows up at Harmony's Elements' door. Now trapped in another one of Dmitri's tricks, Harmony's Elements discover that there is a leak in the corporation of their own, and find that not all they see is true, as well as the past is not always gone.
*Begin Transmission*
"You all seem shocked. I cannot pay a visit to some old friends?" Dmitri's hoof remained planted on Chainlink's back, pistol pointed at his head. The Elements aimed their guns straight at his vile head. "Ah, ah, ah... One move and I put a bullet through his head and send him straight to Celestia!"
"Do what he says," Chainlink said. "It's not worth getting me killed over a bucker like him..." The team lowered their weapons, but Marigold still aimed.
"You can drop the act now, Marigold. I don't assume they will be alive much longer," Dmitri said in an almost comforted tone. Marigold lowered her weapon, walked straight up to him...
And hugged him.
"Good to see you're okay, hon. I was worried about you!" Marigold said cheerfully.
"Marigold! What the buck are you doing!?" Blade was shocked, and Chainlink cursed under Dmitri's hoof.
"Oh, y'all didn't know? I've been with him this whole time! Even gave him your communication channel? Must've slipped my mind."
"You bucking traitor!"
"Now now, Blade," She said. "I'll make sure your deaths are nice and painless. Now put the guns down." The team all looked at her in fury, and reluctantly put their weapons on the ground. "Good. Now move. Daisy, remember what I told you."
The Tyrant looked at her commander, then broke down the West wall and stalked off into the night. "Good girl! Now let's move." She pointed her SMG at the team, and they all moved out the door, glancing with hatred as they went past. Dmitri bucked away Chainlink's gun, picked him up in his front hooves, and pushed him out the door after the others.
After about an hour of walking, the team found themselves in the remains of the Equestrian Town Square, in front of the Town Hall building that had now burned to the ground. Dmitri and Marigold, guns aimed, led the team to an elevated speaking platform originally intended for the mayor. Now it looked like a shooting range. "Get up there." Dmitri pushed X-Ray toward the ladder, and he climbed up. The rest of the team followed, as well as Marigold and Dmitri.
''You may want to go now, Marigold. After what happens next..." Dmitri smiled.
"No problem." Marigold kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see y'all later..." She jumped off the platform and disappeared.
"Now that I have you all right where I want you... Line up." He pointed his gun straight at the stallions.
"You know we could easily overpower you," Chainlink said.
"Yes, but I will gun you down before you take one hoofstep. Now line up." Dmitri waved his gun along the wall, and the team followed his direction. He aimed his gun, but pointed it into the air, and fired. Almost instantly, infected ponies galloped out of every last alley and crevice, their rotting out manes flowing through the wind. As they gathered around the tower, hooves reaching, they were surrounded. "Any last words...?" He laughed.
The team knew this was the end. Their time had come. After so many victories and losses, they were about to fail their mission for the last time. After alliances and betrayls, they had lost their last ally. As they lined up against the wall, they all had to face the truth, and prepare themselves to come muzzle to muzzle with Celestia herself. In their final moments, X-Ray stepped forward. "Yes... We have a few..." He twitched his head to signal the team to step forward. As Chainlink and Blade joined him, he turned and held out his hoof. "We will all be executed today... And the blame will be on us... But we will not lose... Our unity... We are still a team... Together.... United Under Celestia."
The two stallions hesitated, and Blade touched hooves with him. "United Under Celestia."
Chainlink followed next. "United Under Celestia. Buck you to Luna, Dmitri..." He touched hooves with the team, and they all faced their killer.
"Aww, how cute." Dmitri pretended to wipe a tear from his eye with his hoof. "But your unity won't save you. Marigold is gone. She betrayed you for me, and now you will all die-" He hadn't been able to finish before something bucked him to the ground. "What the bu-!" Something hit him again, and a pistol appeared at his neck, and the team all stared in horror.
"I think you remember me, after you got me all caught up in your little 'trap'? "
There, pointing her pistol into the neck of the traitor with a hoof in Dmitri's back...
Was Acid.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Level 9: Corrosive Counterpart
When Harmony's Elements are captured by Dmitri Zernovski at their base in the police station, they discover that Marigold is a traitor, and is in love with Dmitri. Marigold fled the scene, and Dmitri has lead the Elements to an old speaking tower in Town Square and surrounded it in infected ponies. Just as it seems the stallions are about to be executed, an old friend once thought lost arrives from the shadows and holds Dmitri hostage under her hoof at gunpoint.
*Begin Transmission*
Acid stood over Dmitri, one hoof in his back and her pistol in his neck. "And to think you could really spring a trap on me," she said. She turned her gaze to her teammates and said, "I appreciate the help back there. You sure were looking out for me..."
"Hey! I was in fury when I returned knowing I lost you," Chainlink said. "We even brought down an old oil refinery with that bucking traitor Marigold's Tyrant!"
"I'm sure you did. But that doesn't matter now," Acid said. "Looks like we have a little problem on our hooves..." She pressed her pistol hard into Dmitri's neck, and bent down until her muzzle was right next to his ear. "You have a lot of questions to answer for me..."
Dmitri's ear twitched at her breath as he said, "Of course. What will it be? Why I did this? Who I work for? What was with Marigold? Go on, hit me."
"I'd love to, but I need you unharmed," Acid said. "Go on, team. Ask him anything. If he tries anything... Well, let's just hope he doesn't try anything."
"I'll start... Are you... Working for Harrow's End?" X-Ray started.
"Yes. I was more of one of their mercenaries. They sent you after me to make sure I could corner you and kill you dead on your hooves." Dmitri had the remnants of a smile on his face.
"And Marigold?" Blade asked.
"Her and I have been in business for quite some time. After a while, she was interested in me. Now she can't keep her hooves off me."
"Save the details," Chainlink said. "Now I want to know, why toy with us like little foals instead of just killing us?"
"I was testing you. Harrow's End thought it would be a little out of interest if I just shot you dead." Dmitri's smile had faded. "They thought that if they were betrayed, why not have a little fun?"
"So that's why you sent those zombies after us?" Chainlink's voice became filled with anger. "The exact same zombies that almost killed Acid!? You're lucky I haven't snapped your neck with my bare hooves!"
"Oh, please," Dmitri said. "Why would you want to kill such a lovable stallion lik-" Acid pressed her hoof deeper into his back, cutting him off.
"Save the sarcasm. Think about what you're saying before my bullet keeps you from ever thinking again."
Dmitri looked straight at Chainlink. "Yes. They were only to toy with you. I was a little impressed when your friend disappeared. It worked better than I anticipated."
"And the... Oil depot? Why would you need... Oil?" X-Ray asked.
"Experiments." Acid slapped Dmitri across the muzzle with the barrel of her gun, causing a swelling bruise on the left side of his nose, telling him to be specific. "That's all I know! Harrow's End wouldn't tell me more. I think it was part of their virus experiments." He rubbed one hoof on his muzzle, and flinched. "Ah, you crazy bucking-"
"Watch it."
"If Marigold is on your side, then where did she go?" Blade asked.
"She went back to her Department." Dmitri's face was blank. "I told her once the mission was done, she could go back to her job, and Harrow's End would erase the records of her for helping on the job."
"And what about the Tyrant?"
"Her Tyrant has been terminated," Dmitri said. "We had no more use for it after the upgrade your friend here gave it. Yes, we know about that as well. Now I have a question." He looked as far as he could behind him at Acid. "How the buck did you survive?
"Simple." Acid said with a smirk on her face. "During Chainlink's spray of gunfire, I threw a flash grenade that I stole from Chainlink's belt."
Chainlink reached one hoof onto his grenade holsters for the missing grenade. "You're one clever mare."
"Thank you. I threw it out of the crowd of ponies around me, and they lumbered after the flash like foals to a mug of cider. I slipped away into an alley and took refuge in the hospital. In the morgue, to be exact." She flashed a glare at her team, and they all showed signs of pity for her. "I was kept with spirits high by Shade's corpse. And now I'm here to kill you for not only attempting to execute my team and leading them to a traitor, but for killing my daughter!"
Dmitri paused, and he simply laughed. "Go ahead, shoot me. I'll just blow us all to Celestia!" He managed to lean his upper body up far enough to tear open his uniform jacket with his hooves. It was covered in explosives. "These grenades are attached to a heart monitor. If it gets too low, it will set all of them off. A nice present from Harrow's End in case I was killed." He reared up out from under Acid's hoof, bucked her down, and spun around to grab her in his front hooves. He drew his pistol and put it to her head. "Now who is in trouble? You're all unarmed, and you can't kill me without killing yourselves!" He lauged as he said, "Soon, I will escape with a Pegasi team, and you will all be left here to die with the infected, just like all those civillians you killed thinking you were doing the right thing!" The infected below them moaned like they were all in agony, clopping their hooves on the boards of the speech platform. "Any last words before I send you all to Celestia?"
There was a long pause, and Dmitri began to speak, but Acid cut him off. "Actually, yes. Are you afraid of heights?"
Dmitri only seemed confused, and then he laughed. "And what would that have to do with your final words?"
She looked at the three stallions in front of her, and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." She looked back to Dmitri and said, "Because breaking some bones in the fall will make you easier to chew." She kicked her back leg into Dmitri's, breaking it at the knee. Dmitri yelled in pain, and he stumbled with Acid still in his hooves. As they both lumbered backward, they fell over the edge of the platform, straight into the reaching hooves of the infected.
"NO!" Chainlink yelled. He dove for the edge of the platform to grab Acid's hoof, but it was too late. They were already in the hooves of the infected. Blade and X-Ray had to hold him down with all the strength their hooves had left, and Dmitri's bomb coat went off, sending a cloud of flame into the air as it killed the crowd of infected, flaring up in the faces of the Elements. Chainlink had stopped his thrashing as reality sank in. Harmony's Elements were now missing their virologist for real this time. As they stared off into the mass of burnt ponies and the dismantled bodies, there was almost no sound except from the flickering flames that still had not extinguished, and the beating hearts of the Elements as they watched the ashes of defeat.
As the Elements collected themselves together, they sat down on the speech platform. Finally, X-Ray spoke. "So what... Happens now...?"
"Now," Chainlink said, "We're stranded. No guns, no backup, and now no way to bring back Acid. Buck it to Celestia, it's all my fault." He looked down at his hooves. "I should have saved her when I had the chance... If I had gone back for her, she would still be here."
"And what about Dmitri?" Blade asked. "Would he still be alive and able to execute us all?"
"If that happened, I could have died with her instead of living now for her to sacrifice herself." X-Ray put a hoof on Chainlink's shoulder, but he shook it off. "No. Don't comfort me. That only works on foals... I know it was my fault." He sighed, but looked up. "But crying won't bring her back. We still need to-"
Chainlink was interrupted by a spotlight shining on them from above. As Chainlink groaned in frustration, the light had shined off of them to the burning mass of dead ponies, and landed. A Pegasi team! As they landed with a large, square transport capsule attatched to them by steel cable, the front hatch opened. An armed team of ponies trotted out, dressed from head to hoof in thin police uniforms. As they formed a perimeter around the landing zone, a figure stepped out.
"Marigold!" Chainlink screamed in rage as he charged the golden pony. "I'll bucking kill you, you traito-!" He stopped as Marigold smacked him across the face with her front hoof, then hugged him as if he was an old friend. Chainlink attempted to resist, but she began to speak.
"I know y'all think I'm a traitor. But I'm not. I'm here to save you." She let go of Chainlink. "I managed to get back to my Department to send in backup. And in good news, Harrow's End is gone. They've been exposed for the outbreak. I took everything they had about me working with them, and the information was enough to send the whole corporation into collapse. The slate's clean. Y'all are home free. No more of Harrow's End dragging you into the blame." The two stallions of Harmony's Elements that remained on the stage jumped down next to Chainlink.
"And what about you and Dmitri?" Blade asked. "Weren't you in love with him?"
"Oh, him?" Marigold spat out the words like venom and pretended to vomit. "I would never be in love with him if I was tied to an infected!" She spat. "I'll be washing his taste out of my mouth for weeks." She looked around. "I'm sorry Acid wasn't alive to see this..."
"She was." Chainlink said, and Marigold instantly perked up.
"Oh, really? She's alive!? Well, where is she?" As she looked around the ashes that surrounded the area, her ears dropped. "Oh... Was she...?"
"She sacrificed herself... To kill Dmitri," X-Ray said. "Dmitri... Was covered in a heart-sensetive explosive belt. Acid threw herself... Over the side with him, and..." He stopped. Marigold closed her eyes and raised a hoof.
"I get it. Y'all were more important to her than her own life. She'll be missed. Ah'll have one of my teams retrieve Shade's body to be buried for her... But now, y'all have a celebration to get to!"
The three stallions of Haromy's Elements looked at each other, and all said simultaneously, "What?"
Marigold continued. "Well, ever since Harrow's End was brought down, y'all are heroes! You brought down a corporation of liars as dark as Luna herself!"
"But you said that you were the one who collected all the evidence against them," Blade said, clearly confused.
Marigold smiled. "Oh, did I say that? It may have slipped my tongue when Canterlot heard about it." The three stallions remained silent. "Well, c'mon! Don't wanna be late. Let's go home, heroes!" She trotted back into the secure capsule, and the soldiers surrounding it all followed. After a few hoofbeats, Chainlink stepped forward and into the capsule as the rest of the team followed. The capsule closed, and the Pegasi team took flight, leaving the ashes of Dmitri and Acid in their final resting place.
Even so, all four of Harmony's Elements were finally out of the nightmare of the Equestrian Harrow's Virus.
*Transmission Ended*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
With Harrow's End exposed, and the team safe away in Canterlot, Harmony's Elements are heroes. As they reflect their past and represent their future, X-Ray, Beltway, Blade, and Acid are heroes. But after the loss of Acid, all that can be made is a memorial. When it seems the memory is lost, Harmony's Elements turn their gaze to the horizons.
*Begin Transmission*
The trumpets sounded all across Canterlot. Every pony for miles that survived the outbreak had gathered in the Royal Palace and lined the walkways. Just outside, a Pegasi team landed with a large transport capsule. A soldier trotted over to the hatch, pressed the release, and it fell open. Inside stood three stallions and a mare. As they trotted out, the crowds cheered. These were Harmony's Elements with their new friend from the Canterlot Security Department itself. The four now stood outside the capsule as a white, rainbow-mane mare and a blue, black-starry-maned mare trotted out of the Royal Palace, their unicorn horns and their wings held high. These were Princesses Celestia and Luna themselves, venturing forward to greet the heroes of the wasteland of Equestria. In turn, they touched their horns on the teams' heads, and stepped back to face them.
"You have done well, Harmony's Elements," Celestia said. "It is a great honor to be known as the heroes who helped us all to see the lies of Harrow's End." The white alicorn turned her head. "Guards. Take the prisoners. I will deal with them later..." As she finished, three Royal Guards clopped their way into the transport container, and returned with the Harrow's End Commander, the SpecOps Leading Officer, and the scientist from the meeting of the evidence disposal. The scientist was yelling across the whole square as the guards led them away.
"Let me go! I'm innocent! I could have left, but they threatened to kill me! You must believe me-" The Royal Guard bucked the scientist across the head, knocking him out cold. The guard dragged him along and led them away to the holding prisons.
"Will I be allowed to recieve time with thy spoken traitors?" Luna said in her royal accent. "I possess numerous ideas for their demise."
"We do not want to kill them, my dear sister," Celestia responded. "We'll see what we do with them, but you'll have your fill of 'time with the traitors'. " Luna simply nodded. "Come with me. It's time you were recognized as the heroes you are. We have fixed the roof of the castle to celebrate your ceremony with a view from the Pegasi in the clouds," Celestia turned toward the Royal Palace, followed by Luna and the team. As they all trotted down the main hall, ponies cheered and clopped their hooves together, Pegasi in the crowd flying in cheer and flips. Celestia led them onto a main stage, with Luna at her side, and the Elements with the Department officer lined up behind. She silenced the cheers with a flash of bright magic from her horn, releasing the retractable ceiling to shine down pure sunlight onto the stage. The Pegasi above cheered and applauded, and Celestia addressed the crowd.
"Good day to you all! We are gathered to recognize three heroes and their accomplice in the downfall of a corporation that has betrayed us. Fighting their way through death and decay, they have exposed Harrow's End as liars and the corporation will be demolished and punished accordingly." She stepped aside, Luna still at her flank. "I introduce to you, X-Ray," X-Ray stepped forward, "Blade," Blade stepped forward to X-Ray's right, "Chainlink," Chainlink trotted next to Blade, "and Marigold." Marigold stepped forward last, her head high and golden mane flowing in the wind. "The three stallions and ex-operatives of Harrow's End who brought out the lies, and Marigold who supported them in the downfall of Dmitri Zernovski as equal of a traitor."
Marigold spoke up, saying, "Now c'mon, y'all!" She looked at the three stallions, "You can take off those masks now. I'm sure we'd all like to see you in person!" The team glanced between each other, and Celestia dipped her head.
"Go on," she said.
X-Ray stepped forward. He had kept his respiratior in place, but removed his thermal goggles and body cover off of his head. He was a grey Earth pony with a long, green mane. His eyes were a light blue, and he had a long scar on the left of his jaw that led down his neck. X-Ray would soon move on into the Special Services division of the Canterlot Corporation, using his skills and abilities to support in seeking out an enemy before they even had time to suspect.
Blade moved forward next. He removed his mask, hood, and recon goggles. He was a black Earth pony with a red mane and grey eyes. There was a small gash mark across his muzzle. Blade would later become an Operation Patrol guard set on post to defend Canterlot against several attacks that would fail against the city
Chainlink stepped forward last, removed his helmet, mask, and respirator tubes. He was a bulky, brown Earth pony with an orange mane and purple eyes. One of his ears was torn, and a large scratch crossed over his left eye. Chainlink would later be re-hired to the Royal Guard Corporation of Engineers, and promoted to head demolition director.
Marigold stared on proudly of the team she had aided in driving Harrow's End into the ground. She would later become a Liutenant in her Department.
"Although, sadly, one mare had not made the success of the mission," Celestia went on. "Her name was Acid, an ex-virologist for Harrow's End. After her daughter was killed in a horde invasion in the hospital morgue, she vowed revenge against Harrow's End. She had saved her team from execution, but sacrificed herself to kill Dmitri in his own explosive vest trigger. The spirits of Acid and her daugher, Shade, now resign among the skies, and will be remembered in memorial by a statue crafted in their honor." Celestia looked to her sister, and Luna signaled to a large drape over a towering object. A member of the Pegasi team pulled it down, and a statue stood before them. Acid, with her Canterlot sidearm still in hoof and face mask in place, stood with a small filly that looked like a smaller version of her riding on her back. The stone eyes stared off into the distance, and the filly on her back was actually smiling. The crowd cheered in honor and celebration of the sacrifice and success in her mission.
"In her honor, the traitors shall still be put to fair trial," the crowd chanted disapproval, yelling 'guilty' several times before Celestia raised a hoof to silence them, "Even if the verdict is obvious. But in the meantime, this statue shall be placed here in the Royal Palace as a rememberance to the virologist and her daughter." She trotted over to the base of the statue, and pulled down one last tarp to reveal a plaque titled, 'A Soldier and Her Filly'.
In that moment of cheering, X-Ray looked to the sky. As his light blue eyes scanned the clouds, he spotted something. And for the first time, after years of emotional solitude, X-Ray had done something the rest of the team had never seen him do before.
He smiled.
Blade noticed him, followed by Chainlink and Marigold. As they followed his gaze, a large smile also appeared on the face of Blade, Marigold chuckled, and Chainlink gave a sound of, 'Well, whaddaya know?' .
For what they were looking at were the sparkling celestial spirits of a grey mare with a black mane and an identically colored filly staring down at them from the clouds above.
*Operation: Equestrian Downfall - Status: Failed. Operation aborted.*
*Staffing Status: Arrested. Files: Terminated*
*Transmission... Terminated*
Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Equestrian Downfall
Author's Note: Updates and Q&A
Greetings, Everypony. As you all know, this story has been the first publication of the Resident Pon-Evil series. But, as you thought this was the end, it is not. I have released the sequel: Resident Pon-Evil - Operation: Phoenix Fire. Many have stopped at this story, but I ask that you read on, for the nightmare that has haunted our heroes for so long is not yet over, while the plots of revenge have only just begun...
On a brighter note, I am also releasing this as a Q&A session. Post your questions in the comments here and I will post them in this Author's Note along with your name. So if you post a question, look for updates! Because I may just have answered your questions!
With Love and Creativity,
~ Delta 727
