Broken Mirror, Part One

Las Pegasus, Twelve Years Ago
Cosmo

“Hey, you awake?”

I opened my eyes to the dull glow of the night vision filters on my helmet. Looks like I hit the switch when I nodded off. “I'm up.”

“Now that everyone is here we can get started.” Tremble hit a button on his gauntlet and a hologram was projected from the ceiling. “Three hours ago the guard post in Las Pegasus received a tip that a group of armed pegasi had taken up refuge in an abandon apartment building on the south side of the city. The patrol that went to investigate came under fire and were killed, but they transmitted this image before they went dark.” The image changed to that of a tall human, decked out in purple armor.

“Naomi…” Muttered Meteor “Today just got far more complicated.”

“Then we just sit back and punt.” Steeljack was leaning up against the back wall of the compartment, wearing the new power armor we had spent the last year cobbling together. “At the very least we should be able to contain one Spartan.”

“No other members of Kilo-Five were sighted?” I asked. Tremble shook his head. “Then Naomi shouldn't be a problem. Let's just focus on getting into that building and dealing with the Enclave.”

The door at the rear of the Pelican dropped and the sound of wind rippling across the open frame filled the cabin. “Alright, ground in fifteen seconds!” The lights went green as the Pelican shuddered at touchdown. “Let's move!”

We were all quick to file off the ship and spread out in the old lot behind the tenement. As our Pelican took off a second took it's place, with Dart and Patch leading a combat team of Marines. “Sergeant Wilkins, take point with First Squad. Dooley, stick with Second Squad and pull security.”

“Aye Commander.” Dooley walked off to the side and started piling sandbags for a machine gun nest while his squad spread out and started setting up other fortifications.

“Blaze Squad, let’s move it in!” Dart motioned for me to take point as we moved.

Now the problem with taking point on an entry is that you never know what you find on the other side of that door. Never. I don’t care who you are, there’s no way to tell what will run out at you… Like a scared blue mare running right into my arms when I opened the door, and the sudden clicking of my Geiger counter. “Whoa, whoa, take it easy!”

“Please, just get me out of here!” The poor mare looked like she had been through hell, and she definitely was suffering visible symptoms of radiation poisoning.

I pulled some radaway out of my medkit and jabbed her arm with the needle. “That should help with the radiation.” I pulled her out of the way of the doorframe and the clicking on my Geiger counter slowly subsided until it was silent once more. “You feeling better?”

“Still feel sick to my stomach.”

I just nodded. “That’s normal. You’re scared. Now what happened?”

“Ranger, we don’t have time. Those soldiers-”

“The left after the guards showed up.” Answered the mare. “They had a lot of ponies up there… They were walking around giving injections to them. I was the only one they didn’t get.”

“Injections?” I asked.

The mare nodded and started tearing up. “As they gave out the injections, the ponies… I think they were killing them.”

“Look, I’ll go check it out.” Said Steeljack. “That radiation had to come from somewhere.”

“Just be careful.” Murmured Patch.

“When aren’t I?” With the click of his rifle, Steeljack walked into the building with weapon shouldered.

“Let’s fall back and get a perimeter set up.” Ordered Dart.

Back in the lot, a transport Warthog had been brought in, a tent already pitched off the side of it. The twelve liter engine was burbling away, acting as a generator for the communication equipment. Dart sat down at the radio and started tuning it while I pulled the mare off to the side. “I never caught your name.”

“Trixie… What’s yours?”

I paused for a moment. “Ranger.”

“Is that really your name?”

I just shrugged. “It’s the one that matters.” We both sat in silence for the better part of the hour. Patch spent most of the time pacing around the checkpoint we set up, obviously concerned.

BOOM!

“What the fuck was that?” Asked one of the marines.

The noise had come from the apartment building. The top floor had been blown to hell as the windows were blasted outward from the explosion. “Steeljack, you alright?” Dart’s questions went unanswered by the static. “Steeljack? Respond!”

“I’m going in there.” Patch popped a few pills of Rad-X and took off towards the building. I just hit the injector on my chestplate to square me away and took off after her. I managed to catch up to her as the two of us slid into the elevator.

“Do we even know if this thing is safe?”

Patch shrugged. “We’ll find out.” She hit the button and the elevator began to rise with a groan. All was quiet for the minute that it took for the elevator to reach the top floor.

But neither of us were prepared for the sight at the top; dozens of bodies disfigured by burns from energy weapons, one of them having been beaten bloody against the wall opposite of the elevator. Further into the floor were the faint sounds of weapon discharges. At the end of the hall was a double door, behind which came the sounds of weapon fire. Without a word I charged forward and bashed the door open with my shoulder.

“Not today!” Roared Steeljack. His armor was coated in blood, and we could only watch as he blasted a pony, presumably one of the prisoners, square in the face. A second was off to the side near one of the broken windows. His final blast hit that one square in the chest with enough force to send him flying out the window.

“Steeljack, what the hell?” I murmured. “You did all this?”

Steeljack only turned around and tossed his helmet to the ground. “Cosmo… Patch…”

I saw Patch march forward and bash Steeljack’s jaw. “You’re a monster!”

“Patch, just listen to-”

“No.” Patch shoved against Steeljack and pinned him back against the wall. “The stallion I fell in love with isn’t a murderer…” She marched back to the door and tossed a small silver locket to the floor in front of him. “If you EVER come near my town, I WILL put you down like the dog you are.”

I just stood by and watch as Steeljack fell to his knees and grabbed the locket. Inside was a picture of him and Patch from when they met all those years ago. He slid it down behind his chestplate and rose to his feet. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“I sure hope it isn’t Steeljack.” I retorted. “Because otherwise you’re screwed.” As if the sounds of gunfire off in the distance wasn't our first clue.

______________________________________________________________________________

Canterlot Castle, Four Hours Later

I just sat with Steeljack in the library while we waited. Princess Celestia had the staff clear out as soon as we arrive, and said that someone would be along shortly to discuss the incident in Las Pegasus. That was three hours ago, and I’m not a fan of advanced magical theory… So here I am bored out of my mind. Steeljack hasn’t said a word, and I can’t even get him to talk to me.

“Sorry we’re late.” Captain Sentry had finally shown up, with Prince Armor and a scientist in tow. “We were waiting on Calpain to finish up.”

“Now then, I want to hear what happened.” Said Prince Armor as he sat down at the table. “I’ll just say this. You’re not in trouble, we just need to know what you saw so we can make sense of what we know.”

Steeljack perked up at that. “What?”

“He said you’re not in deep shit.” Retorted Flash. “Granted it was in more palatable terms…”

“Shut it Flash.” Snipped the Prince. “I understand that the appearances weren’t pleasant Steeljack, but we’re considering the whole thing to be an act of self-defense.”

“Self-defense?” I asked.

The Prince simply nodded. “Doctor, I believe you have an explanation to the behavior of the hostages?”

“In fact I do.” The doctor slid a folder onto the table and opened it. Inside were pictures of one of the last creatures I ever thought I would see again. “Look familiar Ranger?”

“They’re ghouls.”

“Indeed they are. The injections that the hostages were given made them far more susceptible to mutations when exposed to high levels of radiation, which the Enclave supplied an abundance of.”

“That’s beside the point.” The prince put his own folder on the table. “That apartment building wasn’t the only site where the Enclave enacted this horror-show scenario.”

“Not the only site?”

“No… It wasn’t.” Muttered Flash.

“How bad was it?” Questioned Steeljack. He was met with silence in return. “Well? Anyone want to tell me?”

“Steeljack, you think that you did some horrible things today?” Questioned Flash. “Well… I’ve done far worse.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Ponyville, Two Days Later

I looked over at Trixie from across the Pelican. She had been in the hospital in Canterlot for two days undergoing extensive medical examinations to make sure that her exposure to the radiation generators didn’t have any unseen side effects. During that time she got a job offer from Princess Twilight, something about needing another egghead in the castle to help her with her expanding fields of research. “Do you even know why the Princess offered you a job?” I asked.

“I’ve known Twilight for a long time.” Trixie said. “This is just her way of helping me when I need it.”

I nodded as the Pelican touched down. Before we both got off I grabbed a small brown parcel off the seat next to me. The door was already open, and the princess was there waiting for us. “Trixie!” She ran up to her and wrapped her old friend in a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

Trixie pushed back from Twilight and smiled. “Thanks for helping me out Twilight.”

“Not a problem, now come inside.” Twilight stepped out of the way and allowed Trixie to walk by. "So they're calling it a gas explosion?" Trixie only nodded. It was easier to blow the neighborhood up and call it a tragic accident than tell the world that near-zombies had been running around.

I followed the pair into the castle and rolled the package over in my hands as we walked. “Trixie…”

“Yes?”

“I want to give you this before I go.” I handed her the package and watched as she tore it open. She held out the jacket and looked it over. Just a simple steel blue tactical jacket I had made out of neoprene. “I had that made for you.”

Trixie pulled it on and pulled the collar tight. “It’s comfy, that’s for sure… This isn’t goodbye, is it?”

I paused for a moment, glad that Trixie couldn’t see my face under my helmet. “I wouldn’t say that… Maybe it’s an overused cliché, but so long for now sounds more like it.”

Trixie smiled and walked up to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “I’d like that…” She reached back and unclasped my helmet. It was on the table next to me before I had a chance to stop her. “Well… So long for now.”

She stepped up on her toes to meet my height and laid her soft lips on my own. The cough from behind us broke the moment like shattering glass. I broke away from her and smiled. “Until we meet again.” Without another word I grabbed my helmet and swung it back on. Trixie only watched as I walked out the door.