The Crystal Mountains, Two Days Later

It’s been a long slog to reach the Crystal Mountains from the outskirts of Chicacolt. For me, most of that time was spent riding shotgun to Specter, trading off occasionally with Gramps so I could stretch out on the engine deck. It was there that I felt the first snowflakes as they began to fall. Part of the problem with travel to the northern parts of the continent. Lucky for us, we had grabbed a sizable canvas tarp that would allow us to erect a simple tent over the engine deck, protecting us from the snow and wind.

“You know, if we weren’t running around an apocalyptic hellhole, I’d say the scenery is rather nice.” And there goes Comet breaking the silence. “It’s just… Peaceful”

“Hey moron!” I yelled. “First rule; don’t jinx the peace.” I flinched as two holes were ripped in the canvas, roughly the size of a small bullet. “See what I mean?”

I felt the tank grind to a halt, along with the sounds of muffled yelling outside the makeshift cover. “I’ll remember to stow it next time then.”

We didn’t get a chance to act before part of the tarp was flung up and over the top and we were staring down two armor ponies armed with some rather powerful looking shotguns. “Alright, everyone out.”

We really don’t have any choices, do we? So Comet and I both scrambled out into the cold air. Everyone else was already outside and lined up against the side of the tank, while two other soldiers searched the driver’s compartment. “Something we can do to help you folks?”

“You can tell us where you got this equipment for one.” Retorted one of the soldiers.

I just shrugged. “A bunker here, dark basement there. Where else do you find unusual pre-war technology?”

The two seemed to exchange a brief glance (it is rather hard to tell, what with those helmets in the way) before one went for his radio. “Lieutenant, you might want to get out here sir.”

That’s when I noticed, of all things, a Vetibuck had landed ahead of us. Must’ve already been there if we didn’t hear it. Out of it stepped a male Pegasus, definitely on the older side. He had this blue coat over a set of body armor on, looking more like a dress-version of normal Royal Guard armor. He did eye us all over as he approached but his gaze stopped on me. Said gaze turned more into a look of surprise the closer he got to me. “By the goddess…”

I just waved. “Uh, hi?”

“All of you, stand down!” The Lieutenant yelled. “Commander Light… You don’t look like you’ve aged a day. And you found Specter?”

Great, now this colt is ready to start groveling. “Alright, just stop the brown-nosing before it starts.” I groaned. “One, I’m not your ‘revered leader’. From what I gather he’s been dead a long time. Two, I’ve just been helping Specter get home. I didn’t rescue him, save him, break him out of jail or any other bullshit like that.”

“Then… How?”

“Jericho-” Specter said “the Crystal Mirror?”

The Lieutenant paused before the realization dawned on him. “Through the looking glass…” He muttered. “Regardless, you’ll all be coming back to the base with me. My men will take your transport back behind us.” Doesn’t look like we’re short on options… So we followed the Lieutenant to his Vertibuck and piled in. As his soldiers slid the door shut, I watched as two of them scrambled down into the driver’s compartment before my sight was blocked by the solid steel slider. “Specter, how have you been?”

Specter silently shrugged. “OK I guess…” He mumbled. “Sir, I managed to get to the Manehattan Bunker.”

“You made it?” He asked. “After I called a retreat?”

“With all due respect sir, I couldn’t get back to our lines if I wanted to. The only logical course of action was to continue towards our primary objective.”

“Specter… I’m not mad, if that’s what you think.” Assured the Lieutenant. “If anything, I’m extremely proud. Did you find anything else?”

Specter looked down at his feet, almost looking defeated. “Sir, I found the Commander. Along with three holotapes, old logs of his from when he left Manehattan the first time.”

I reached into my pocket and tossed them to Jericho. “Already listened to them. Nothing really groundbreaking there.”

Jericho turned the tapes over in his hands before pocketing them. “What makes you think it was him?”

“The corpse was still wearing the armor that Commander Light had last been seen wearing when he departed Mountain Base on the first Manehattan Expedition.”

Jericho only nodded before turning back to me. “Your thoughts on the matter?”

I just shrugged. “Don’t know what to think.” I said.

“Fair enough.” Jericho seemed to study my expression for a moment. “So why did you agree to help Specter?”

“Because we need firepower.” Gramps said, stopping me before I can begin. “Tell me, do you know anything about an Enclave officer called West Wind?”

“I do. He was branded as a Dashite, and we noticed was making some noise a few years back... Why?”

“Because they let him back in.”

I get a feeling that if Jericho was drinking anything, I’d be taking a shower in it right now. “It sounded like you said that the Enclave let a Dashite back in.”

Gramps nodded. “And they gave him an army which he’s been using to attack our world.”

“Long story short, we got sick of trying to fight on his terms.” Comet added.

“Goddess…” He whispered, before pulling a larger radio receiver off the wall and dialing in a frequency. “Tower, send word to Kovac. I need an emergency meeting of the council as soon as I get back.” We couldn’t really hear what the pony on the other end was saying, but Jericho obviously wasn’t amused. “Just do it!” He slammed the receiver back down and huffed out his chest, obviously not too happy.

“That looks like it went well.” I muttered.

“It’ll go better when you explain everything to the Council.” Jericho assured.

…Too bad that didn’t make me feel any better.

______________________________________________________________________________

Second Division Mountain Base

I really didn’t get a chance to get a look at the inside of the base until some soldiers slid the doors open. The hangar wasn’t all that impressive, just a wide open affair with a number of vertibucks and ramps to deeper seated storage areas. Hell, the rest of the base wasn’t all that impressive either. Once we hit the main office area, Jericho had Specter take everyone bar me and Gramps to find some food.

By the time we hit the meeting room I noticed a portrait hanging on the wall. A plaque below it read ‘Whirlwind’ with some dates that I didn’t pay much attention to. The next one read ‘Jetstream’ before ending on one last name; ‘Dusk Light’. I stopped and looked up at the old picture in the frame. It was definitely me, although a bit older. This version of me had started growing out a beard with little wisps of grey hair mixed throughout. Turning back to the plaque, I noticed a small inscription below the name. “Missing in action…” I mumbled.

“Something wrong?” Jericho asked? I shook my head and followed him into the briefing room. At the head of the table was a rather burley looking stallion, resembling a bulked-up royal guard. “Sorry about the short notice, but we’ve got a potential situation on our hands.”

“Gents.” I said as I pulled a chair out and plopped down. “Name’s Dusk, leader of Blaze Squad.”

“Eh hem-.” Gramps coughed as he sat down next to me. “I’m Brigadier General Meteor Shower, commanding officer in charge of the South Equestria Theater of Operations.”

“That’s a mouthful.” I muttered, sharply being cut off by an elbow to the chest.

“Gentlemen, we have much to bring you up to speed on and not much time. We’ll answer any questions regarding our presence here once we explain the current situation.”

The councilmembers looked around the table before Kovac held his hand up. “Considering that Jericho has only ever called one other emergency meeting… You have the floor General.”

Gramps nodded. “Gentlemen, for roughly the last three years we’ve been fighting a war against General West Wind of the Enclave. Based on records supplied by the Watcher, we discovered references to his reinstatement, and assigned to secure what was left of the Canterlot ruins after one of their operations, codename ‘Cauterize’. It’s apparent that sometime after he discovered a way to travel to our world. For reasons and means unknown, he allied himself with a fringe group of humans to gather supplies, and has waged been waging open warfare on our people since his launched their first attack on Dodge Junction three years ago.”

“Might I ask a rather important question General?”

“Of course, Miss?”

“Juno, sir. Now what makes you think that West Wind actually holds any command within the Enclave hierarchy? Our intelligence shows he was branded a Dashite for refusing to follow the orders of his superiors.”

“What makes us think it?” I asked. “Try the thousands of shock troopers at his command and who knows how many airships.”

“With those forces at his disposal he’s caused the direct deaths of thousands of civilians, displaced just as many.” Gramps leaned forward on the table. I couldn’t see his face, but I know where he going with this already. “We’ve been fighting a losing war. Only within the last week has the opportunity presented itself to finally remove West Wind from the picture and finally put a stop to the attacks by his forces.”

“So you want our help?” Kovac asked.

“Indeed I do. The six of us simply can’t storm Canterlot on our own. We need an army, and you’re the best chance we have of getting just that.”

Some of the other Council members looked ready to but in, but Kovac managed to maintain some level of order when he held up his hand. “General, I have no problem providing what help we can. However we only have just over one hundred troops that are ready for immediate deployment. We have 50 reservists, while the balance of our organization are made up of non-combat logics and operations staff. If West Wind has such a force at his disposal as you’ve described, we simply don’t have the manpower to get into the ruins.”

“Couldn’t our armor help?” Jericho asked.

“Oh it very well may but we only have two working infantry tanks and an SPG, and the Vertibucks are unarmed.”

“We could try to throw some pintle mounts together for the doors.” I pointed out. “Just enough to clear a landing zone.”

“It still doesn’t matter!” Kovac groaned. “Even if we did that, we don’t have any intelligence on the defenses.”

“Then we get the Uhu ready to go.” Jericho added.

“Get what ready?” I asked.

“Uhu is Gryphon for Eagle Owl.” Gramps said. “Don’t ask me why they have a name for it though…”

“The Type 189 ‘Uhu’ was a pre-war project meant to allow non-pegasi to preform aerial reconnaissance duties.” Jericho said. “We haven’t wanted to use is because we don’t have any spare parts for the camera equipment.”

“But it works?” I asked. Jericho nodded in silence. “Then that’s how we gather our intelligence.”

“But what about a place to land?” Kovac asked. “We can’t just fly it back here. The base just isn’t a feasible location to coordinate this assault from. We’re just too far out of the way.”

The room was quiet for a few minutes while the council members mulled over their options. “What about the old air force base outside of Chicacolt?” Juno suggested. “What was it called again… Neighfair?”

“Then what do we do about the raiders at Filly’s Pier? We need those docks if we want to get our ground equipment onto that base” Kovac pointed out.

I cleared my throat to get the attention of the room. “Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. “We need to take Filly’s Pier.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Chicacolt, One Day Later

The Vertibuck bounced around a bit as it maneuvered through the abandoned towers of Chicacolt. I managed to catch my reflection in the window for a brief moment. The black combat armor and mask I was wearing definitely looked like a good enough disguise. Under normal circumstances I’d never have agreed to wear something this heavy, but subtlety is more of a necessity at the moment. “So any reason your friend isn’t too happy with you lot?” Jericho asked.

“No idea.” The Vertibuck finally hit the ground and the doors slid open. Now would be the time to stop talking.

Patch was already waiting outside with Lilith. Maybe the six other Vertibucks were the clue. “You must be Patch.” Jericho said. “Lieutenant Jericho, Second Division. Mind if we come inside?”

Patch waved us on inside and led us to the small parlor just by the main entrance. “So what can I do for you?”

“Well… There’s a pattern to occurrences in Chicacolt. You know that?”

“Am I going to like where this is going?” Patch asked.

“I would hope so.” Jericho sat down on the couch while Patch grabbed the open chair. I opted to remain standing. “Usually when things happen in this city, there are three types of ponies involved. Your associates, yourself, your children or any combination of the three. I’m hoping to continue that trend.”

“Can you get to the point?” Lilith groaned.

“Fine. My men and I are planning to remove the raiders from Filly’s Pier. Considering that you lot know the lay of the land best, I was hoping you’d tag along.” Jericho pulled a sizable pouch out of his pocket and laid it on the coffee table between him and Patch. “There is of course more compensation where that came from.”

Patch’s eyes went wide when she opened the bag. From where I was standing I noticed the sizable bounty of caps. “Compensation?”

“Well I guess investment would be a better term… To the tune of two large duffle bags of caps.”

“You really want our help, don’t you?”

“Like I said, you know the lay of the land.”

“Do you really expect us to do all the heavy lifting?” Lilith asked.

“I don’t. We brought some tanks and their crews for that. As well as fifty five other soldiers to provide support.” A rapping on the doorframe distracted the four of us. One of Jericho’s soldiers was standing there. “Something to report?”

“Aye sir.” Now obviously I can’t see under the stallion’s mask but just his fidgeting gave the news away as something rather bad. “The General’s Vertibuck has been shot down half a mile from Filly’s Pier. Aerial recon reports that they’re alive, but have been captured.”

“And they’re being taken to the Pier…” Jericho muttered. “Looks like our timetable just got moved up. Trooper, radio the transports and tell them the light is green. I want everyone on the ground and ready to move inside of ten.”

“I’ll meet you two outside then.” Patch said, waving Lilith out into the main entrance and hurrying deeper into the building.

We were quick to walk back outside, the two Valentine tanks getting one last looking over while the soldiers mounted a .50 cal machine gun to the top of each of the turrets. Specter had already taken charge and was directing the individual fire teams as they went about preparing their gear. “Give me a status report Spec.”

“The Uhu should be on station over the pier shortly.” He said, pausing to hand service rifle clips out to a group of soldiers. “Once she gets there she’ll start radioing in hostile positions.”

“And the Crusader?”

“Already forward deployed.” He said. “They team there has already spotted the General and his team, and have confirmed that they’ve been taken onto the pier proper.”

“Well that’s fucking great.” I muttered.

“Do we know if any of them have their radios?”

“You honestly think the raiders would have let them keep them?” Specter asked. “I mean if they do, the Uhu should be able to track their exact positions… But we’re talking a big if.”

“It’s still worth investigating, so get on it.” Specter nodded and went on his way to deal with more of the soldiers. “Your thoughts Commander?”

“I don’t know what to think.”

“Then just keep it that way for now.” The both of us noticed a small crowd walking out the front door to theater, led of course by Patch and Lilith. “And here I thought it would just be the two of you.”

“Like hell!” Patch yelled. “Now we going to get moving or not?”

“Alright, you all heard the mare. Let’s get moving!”

“Tanks at the rear. Infantry at the front, loose spacing.” Specter yelled as we began the walk towards Filly’s Pier.

Patch was quiet for the first hour of the march. Rather odd, considering her gung-ho attitude that she had walking out the door. “Something on your mind Patch?” Jericho asked.

“What was the first clue?” She said. “Just thinking about some things…”

“Care to talk some of these ‘things’?”

“My kids have been asking my why I threw their father out of town.” Patch said with a sigh. “He and his friends showed up a few days ago and I made them leave.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Their father, Steeljack... A few years back we were out helping his friends. Long story short I caught up with him in time to see him butcher another pony. He was already covered in blood, so maybe that did it. Don't get me wrong, I know what happened...”

“Alright. So why are you still mad?”

“I’m not mad.” She said. “I just don’t think I can trust him… The Steeljack I knew was not one to just go around and fight like some homicidal maniac. Seeing him covered in blood with a body at his feet...”

Jericho just held up his hand. “You don't need to say any more.” We rounded the corner into an open parking lot overlooking Filly's Pier, almost half a mile away at this point. Jericho obviously noticed that Patch had a weird look plastered across her face. “Something else wrong?”

“I know that tank…” She said.

Alright, no reason to keep quiet anymore. “I damn well hope you would Patch.” I ripped my mask and helmet off and tossed them to the ground. “Does that bird of yours have a live feed capability?”

“It’s already up sir!” The lead scout yelled. “There’s a firefight in progress.”

“What?” I walked over to where the scouts had set up a large monitor. The feed itself was greyscale, but I immediately recognized a trio pushing towards the bridge onto the pier. “Hey Patch, your kids are on TV!”

“What?!”

“I’ll bet everyone fifty caps on why they’re here.” I said. “I’ll guarantee that they saw the Vertibuck go down and are trying to save dear ole’ dad.” Studying the feed, I mentally marked off the positions of two machine guns across the bridge from their location in addition to at least ten raiders, some armed with long range rifles. “Can we get them some support fire?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Jericho assured me. “Alright, dial in that tube!”

I reached for my radio and plugged it into my pipbuck. “Starry, you hear me?”

“Yah… Wait, Dusk?”

“The one and only.” I saw one of the soldiers nod to me as he held the mortar round over the tube. “Get your head down.”

“Fire in the hole!”

The mortar whistled out of the tube and faded off into the distances before we heard a soft ‘POMF’. The monitor confirmed that the round had hit the side of the dock right in front of one of the machine guns. “Just keep firing. We’ll clear the lane.”

“And who’s we?” Patch asked.

“They’re your kids, aren’t they?” I snapped. “Now let’s go.” I marched off down the street along the river, the sounds of gunfire growing louder the closer we got to the pier

I finally saw Starry and her brother after a five minute hike with Patch and Lilith keeping a wide berth. The pair had ducked behind a jersey barrier as mortars came down one after another on the opposite side of the docks. I ran forward and slid up next to the two. “How’s it hangin’?”

“There are bombs falling out of the sky. How do you think we’re doing?!” Chaser yelled.

“Well you aren’t getting shot at.” I observed.

“That’s fine and all, but you do know you can’t bomb out the rest of the pier?” Their power-armored companion asked.

“I would assume that there’s a good reason?”

“Slave pens, with lots of slaves.” Starry said.

“And you’d still need to drop the bridge.” Chaser added.

Patch nudged me to get my attention. “You’ll need a bloody miracle if you really want to get in there.” She gazed upward as a shadow passed over our group.

Dust was kicked up when a tall blue alicorn landed in front of us. Over one shoulder she had slung a minigun, while off to her left a green unicorn was standing with rifle in hand. “Someone ask for a miracle?”

Author's Note

Just in case anyone wants to know what the Valentines look like...