My Little Anti-Hero

Chapters

Chapter 1: Meet the (Dysfunctional) Family.
Chapter 2: Skills for Kills
Chapter 3: These Go to Eleven
Chapter 4: A Heavy Taboo
Author's Note

Chapter 1: Meet the (Dysfunctional) Family.

“I can see the charred remains of my house from here!”

The yellow earth pony guard stood at her post, smoking a cigarette, sniper rifle strung around her neck. She looked down and sighed, pushing her green mane out of her eyes, the lack of activity making her question the orders she had received.
Why would they send me to guard an inactive piece of junk? she thought, leisurely looking down at the ground. Sure, it’s shiny and looks pretty, but who would even be able to climb the 30 foot tower to get to it? Even we had to be airlifted up here! And it has to weigh, like, 300 pounds!
Quick Scope paused and looked down, noticing a blue blur moving about two hundred feet to the right of the tower. A car sped towards the tower, its windshield tinted, the driver showing no intention of stopping. She dropped her cigarette and turned to the 2 guards standing slightly behind her, who by now were also monitoring the car. “Is this idiot really going to ram the tower?!” She exclaimed to her compatriots, gesturing with a hoof.
“Damn, Scope, I think they are.” Her friend and fellow guard, Check Point, said. “Too bad that’s solid concrete. I vote that Metal gets to scrape them off of the side.”
Full Metal, the third guard on the tower, let out a small smile that quickly turned to a look of concern as the car, now only 75 feet away, showed no signs of decelerating. “Yeah, well, either way, this isn’t going to end well.” The look of concern on the grey unicorn’s face turned into a look of worry, and Metal started fidgeting. “What the hell are they trying to do?”
“Act as a distraction?” A voice behind the 3 guard ponies politely suggested.
Metal reacted first, assault rifle magically swinging towards the intruder. With slight confusion as the infiltrator didn’t move, he pulled the trigger. Full Metal’s eyed widened as the gun emitted a soft *click*. He raised the assault rifle vertically and inspected the empty magazine well.
“Well, fuck.” Metal said, seconds before being bucked hard enough to fly backwards 10 feet away from the edge of the tower and begin plummeting to the ground. Point and Scope spun around and began unloading their sniper rifles into the infiltrator.
The trespasser appeared to be an earth pony contained inside a suit of power armor. As the earth pony just sat there, Scope stepped back and pulled out a pistol as Point took to the air, loading armor piercing rounds into his rifle. The power-armored intruder paused before looking at the handgun for a second and swatting it out of Scope’s mouth, pushing her to the floor. He looked up at Check Point trying futilely to pierce his armor before jumping ten feet into the air and knocking the pegasus unconscious. The intruder pushed Point away from him at the crest of the jump and watched as he fell towards the ground.
He turned to Quick Scope, the only survivor of the squad. She was lying there, staring shocked as the pony that had just killed her friends walked calmly up to her.
The super-pony looked at Scope as if she was a disobedient foal. With what sounded like a laugh, he leapt from the tower and back down to the ground, and rushed off towards the building opposite the street.
Scope looked on in disbelief. This... thing had just scaled a 30 foot tower and killed her friends before galloping off faster than equinely possible.
Then she noticed the small metal sphere lying a few feet away from her.

The resulting explosion rained debris onto the street below and blew pieces off of the tower. A few seconds later, a hoof appeared over the edge of the tower and a large pony in power armor pulled itself up. He stepped onto one of the undamaged metal pressure plates set into the ground and waited patiently.
After a few seconds, the strange device residing on the tower sprang to life with a hum. A lance of blue light pierced the sky above the city and continued off over the ocean.
The armored pony leapt off the roof and landed on the ground 30 feet below.
"Good job, Agent!" A voice crackled in his ear. "That's the first unit in this chain. Head to the next beacon on your tracker, then complete this set to ready a beacon.” The Agent barely acknowledged this order, already leaping onto the next overhang and reaching a nearby rooftop. With a quick nod to the nearby Royal Guard who had acted as his distraction, he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, never breaking stride. He began alertly scanning the nearby rooftops and the ground for any more hostile forces.
A few red dots on his radar seized the Agent’s attention. He slid to a halt and lay down behind a short concrete railing on the edge of the roof, already pulling his sniper rifle from his shoulder and began searching for the source of the disturbance.
In the doorway of a short green building, a squad of four soldiers was combing the area for any suspicious activity.
“Take note, Agent.” A hushed voice spoke into his ear. “Those are soldiers of the Lunar Republic. More accurately, that is a lethal hit squad comprised of mercenaries working for the Lunar Republic. All of the enemies you have fought so far belong to that same group, who aim to take down the Solar Empire.” The Director’s voice was seething with barely controlled rage. “They are nothing more than terrorists and criminals. They exist only to kill our soldiers and capture our technology. After we complete the project, we can teach them the consequences of their actions.”
The Agent slowly raised his rifle off of his back and allowed his armor’s auto aim spell to levitate and aim the rifle. With pinpoint precision the cross-hair placed itself over the first pony’s head. The Agent waited patiently for the aiming spell to steady, and observed him carefully, making sure the soldier wouldn’t move. With no hesitation he pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet bounced off of the pony’s head.
Fuck. Reinforced helmets. No armor piercing rounds left, either. The Agent pulled the trigger twice more, sending one bullet pinging into a nearby wall and the other near the dent made by the first shot. The bullet pierced through the damaged metal and tore through skull and brain, destroying his cranium, sending blood and grey matter onto his comrades. As his body fell, the remaining members of the hit squad turned and began scanning the rooftops for the rifle's barrel or some other indicator to their enemy’s position.
The Agent aimed for the next in the group, who was now rushing towards a nearby piece of rubble to use as cover. Another bullet lunged off of the wall, and the enemy soldier turned towards the roof he was on.
And suddenly, a piece of rubble floated up next to the enemy unicorn. What a strange thing to do... The Agent thought.
“Agent, get down!” The Director’s voice resonated inside the helmet. What at first had appeared to be rubble turned out to be a much more serious threat. The rocket launcher let out 3 missiles, all headed towards his location on the rooftop.
Now, rocket launchers have a few major flaws. One is: unless the target is static, the projectiles will most likely miss at long range unless guided or remotely controlled. Any moving targets can easily evade and retaliate quickly.
The Agent leapt from the roof, his armor’s shields dropping considerably as the projectiles detonated upon impact with the roof. Screw the objective! The Agent though, letting his anger override his orders.
The Agent sprang up, grabbed onto the edge of the railing on the roof and launched himself over the building. He tapped into his suit’s aiming spell and levitation talisman and tossed a grenade towards the remnants of the hit squad, landing it behind their cover. The Agent leapt, landing behind the hit squad as the flash-bang detonated, blinding and deafening the remaining hostiles. A quick sniper shot to the uncovered muzzle took out one of the enemies, and another three shots to the helmet took out another. The remaining adversary, the unicorn colt with the rocket launcher, levitated the heavy weapon with obvious difficulty. He swung it around, his face showing strain from the mixture of the flash-bang he was only just beginning to recover from and the weight of the gun. The 10 pound rocket launcher, the two rockets in the launcher adding about 10 more pounds to that, and the rockets actually being carried by the unicorn adding about 40 more pounds made it easy for the Agent to dodge out of the way and fire off a few shots at the hooves of the lone hostile. This wasn’t a fight anymore; it was a game of cat and mouse. After three or four minutes, the Agent decided that was enough toying around. He dove towards the remnant of the hit squad and placed the rifle against the scared unicorn’s temple.
“I...I surrender?” The stallion said uncertainly, a look of pure fear on his face.
They stood like that for a few seconds. The unicorn stared into the Agent’s eyes, concealed behind the visor of his helmet, as the Agent stared into the enemy’s wide eyes. The unicorn started to relax slightly, believing that nothing could be as cruel as to shoot an enemy that had already surrendered.
The crack of a gunshot broke the silence in the epilogue of the battle.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

“That was a truly unacceptable performance, Agent!” The Director yelled into the radio integrated into the Agent’s helmet. “I said we could teach them a lesson AFTER the mission! You wasted ammunition, and more importantly, valuable time on a petty quest for revenge!” The Director paused for a moment, safely seated inside the Solar Empire’s tower base, contemplating his options. “Alright. Because of your negligence, the citizens get to live in fear of a terrorist group AND mutants for another day.” The Director audibly sighed. “Get your flank to the next unit. You might be able to atone for your folly if you at least complete the set of units and detonate the beacon before midnight. That should kill off most freaks in the immediate vicinity and minimize civilian casualties.” The Director paused. “WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Get your genetically enhanced flank out there and detonate that beacon!”
The Agent slowly rose to his hooves and leapt onto the next building, thinking. Alright, maybe he had gone a little bit too far that time, but that was no reason to throw in the towel now. As the Agent's body almost automatically guided him towards the next unit, his mind guided him into the past...

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

"Welcome to the city of Canterlot, Agent. You are the only current agent clone to make it through diagnostics successfully. Come on into the briefing room, and we'll tell you all that you'll need to know," The unfamiliar voice of the Director called out over the Agent's radio. The Agent hesitantly made his way into the small circular room with a projector in the middle, pointed at a wall. The lights dimmed and a slide-show began to play. The first slide was an image of Canterlot in all its glory.
"This, Agent, is how the city looked ten years ago." Another slide replaced the first. This one was an image of the current city, littered with rubble and burning buildings. "This is the direction the city is currently heading in. Already we have reports of broken or burning buildings and houses, the result of attacks by a terrorist organization and mutated ponies. You'll learn about the organization later; now, we talk about the mutants. These mutated ponies, known as the Freaks, are unable to think or feel emotion. They are sentient in only an extremely simplistic way."
The slide changed. A picture of one of the "Freaks" was displayed, standing over a dead citizen. It looked, well, basically like a zombie - deformed, coatless, mindless. "These are the Freaks, created by a virus to which there is no cure. We've attempted to contain them, but that's easier said than done.
"Our scientists are years away from a cure. We don't even have months before all of Canterlot is overwhelmed. We have but one advantage over the freaks.
"The Freaks cannot tolerate sunlight. At sunrise, they retreat into underground lairs. We have technology that can basically deliver pure sunlight into the lairs, eradicating the Freaks permanently.
“Problem is, we've lost the units needed to absorb the sunlight. Since Celestia disappeared shortly after the Empire was originally formed, we have no way to simply force them to remain underground until appropriate measures can be taken.
“But we are the Empire. We need no help. The combined forces of Agents and Guards will prevail. The terrorist group that I was telling you about before has somehow managed to capture instruments vital to the project, codenamed “Project Solar Flare” So get out there, take them back, and crush all those who oppose our peace tactics!”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

With a start, the Agent emerged from the memory and looked around. He was standing on the border of the street and a humongous park holding the next unit. The park contained a building (that most likely was a souvenir shop) on which the unit was perched. Three guards littered the immediate area, assault carbines and shotguns slung over their shoulders in the case of unicorns or in some kind of saddle in pegasi and earth pony soldiers.
There were maybe 15 guards in all, all armed to the teeth, some on the rooftops with heavy weapons. The word that somepony had scaled a 30 foot tall tower and took out 3 armed guards had spread like wildfire, sparking terror and resolve in every Republic soldier, veteran and recruit alike. They were on high alert, shooting to kill anything that wasn't an ally or a civilian.
A head on assault won’t work... The Agent thought, attempting to formulate a strategy. By sniping, I could take out 4 or 5 before they caught on... Rockets would show them exactly where I was...
Suddenly, a plan fell into place in the Agent's mind. They were shooting anything that looked like an agent!
“Director!” The Agent exclaimed into his two-way helmet radio. “How quickly can a plainclothes Guard squad with satchel charges get to my position?”

Ten minutes later, 2 out of uniform Guards arrived at the Agent’s location. The hostiles would recognize an agent, but would they realize that those “civilians” were planting C4 at strategic locations?
The Agent silently watched on, his black armor concealed by the dense foliage of the bushes and tall grasses at the edge of a small copse. He fiddled with the invisibility talisman delivered to him by his collaborators in the sabotage. Short bursts of invisibility would be helpful, if he could actually install it into his armor.
I’ll get the eggheads in the labs back at the tower to install it, He thought as he turned the talisman over. It was about half of the size of a grenade, rectangular, and didn’t appear to fit into any of the equipment slots his armor contained.
A green light on his HUD brought the Agent’s attention back to the current situation. The light meant that the charges were set to detonate and the detonation codes were locked into his helmet. The two undercover Guards had returned to their car and were watching the grove, waiting to see the light show.
With an unnoticeable smirk behind his visor, the Agent jumped from his hiding spot in the woods and into the hostiles lines of sight. He hit the ground with a noticeable thud, and turned towards the guards. Satisfied that he had their attention, he turned tail and began to run from the clearing.
All of the hostile ground forces rushed forwards at once, all attempting to reach the Agent and claim the kill for themselves. In their frenzy, none of them noticed the small plastic explosives hidden in the bushes and on the trees surrounding the narrow path that led straight to the Agent. He turned and faced them, stray bullets ricocheting off of his armor. "Boom," The Agent calmly said, as fire and shrapnel engulfed most of the enemy forces. The remaining hostiles in the back were quickly taken out by heavy fire from the Guards, still in their car.
Now all that remained were the snipers and rocket launcher troops on the roof. The Agent turned to run towards cover, not noticing the rocket speeding towards him. With a bright explosion, the rocket launched the Agent backwards, shield flaring before failing. The Agent landed near a large fountain, armor punctured in multiple places, his shields refusing to recharge. The Agent struggled to get up, disoriented and his ears still ringing from the impact. As he regained his bearings and dove towards a fountain, two flashes from the snipers on the roof sent one bullet thudding into the ground and another directly into his side.
The Agent hit the ground hard, rolling over to inspect the damage. The bullet had hit directly in front of and slightly above his cutie mark, probably not hitting anything vital, but burning like hell. He grunted and got to his hooves, making sure the fountain covered him completely. As he turned back around, he noticed the Guards’ car doors were ajar.
Now, sneaking across a battlefield in armor is a bad idea. Sneaking around a battlefield not wearing armor was an even worse idea. The two Peacekeepers, a unicorn and a pegasus, slowly made their way to the souvenir shop. The unicorn levitated an assault carbine alongside him, while the pegasus held a pistol in his teeth, the gun elongated by a removable suppressor.
The guards on the roof took another shot at the Agent’s cover, causing him to reluctantly duck. If I can keep their attention, this could actually work... The Agent leapt to his hooves, the hostiles already tracking him with rockets and armor piercing rounds. He ran towards the forest, grabbing a marksman rifle from a fallen enemy. With the cover the trees provided, he put two bullets into the first rocket guard, leaving the one with a rocket and two with sniper rifles remaining.
The Peacekeepers were at the side of the building, the pegasus slowly lifting his unicorn comrade up to the roof. The hostiles were all focused on the Agent, but if they turned around...
The Agent realized what was about to happen with seconds left. One of the guards was facing the side of the roof that the Peacekeepers were slowly ascending, and the other two were scanning the trees, rocket launcher and sniper rifle ready.
The only way to get his attention is with something big... The Agent reluctantly realized. He stepped away from the treeline and shot several rounds into the air.
The rocket launcher soldier turned, the launcher itself locked into some kind of saddle resting on his back. He turned to the agent and stared at him, eyes filled with hate. With a look of pure contempt, 2 rockets zipped from the saddle and tore for the Agent, exhaust trailing behind them.
All of the guards turned and looked towards the Agent. Well, fuck, The Agent thought, seconds before the rockets impacted.

Chapter 2: Skills for Kills

“We won't mince words- the situation is dire. You are our last hope.”

The Guard brought the rifle down, once, twice, onto his enemy’s head. As blood began seeping onto the roof, he turned and levitated the assault rifle in front of him. The gun spun towards the hostile who was just beginning to bring his sniper rifle towards the unexpected visitor. With a slight pressure on the trigger, the sniper fell, bleeding from multiple bullet wounds to his chest.
The remaining hostile, armed with a rocket launcher, turned and brought the weapon forward. “This might be a problem,” the Guard spoke into his radio.
The hostile aimed in the Guard’s general direction and jumped backwards, attempting to escape the blast radius. Pressing a small button on his left foreleg, the rocket turret on his left side let out a rocket with a hiss.
The Guard screamed as the rocket blasted the roof beside him. He slammed into the other side of the roof and lay there, bleeding profusely from multiple shrapnel wounds in his legs and stomach. The hostile pulled another missile from his bag (which, with hooves, was an impressive feat) and placed it inside the turret at his side. He faced the Guard again and moveded his hoof towards the trigger button.
Well, this is it. The Guard thought, Wait... is that... A blur of blue and orange streaked across the sky, rocketing towards the hostile.
The pegasus mare dive bombed the rocket soldier, knocking him to the ground away from her ally. As the hostile fell, the button on his leg depressed, firing off the rocket in the turret. The rocket slammed into the roof behind her, pushing the pegasus forward.
“Ooh...” She muttered. “That was a bit too close, eh buddy?” Receiving no response, she sat up and shook her head, clearing her vision. She groaned and got up, walking over to the shape of a Guard on the other side of the roof.
Fuck. She thought to herself. No pulse. She placed her pistol into the holster on her side and grabbed the assault rifle laying next to the Guard. Well, guess you won’t be needing it. She mused darkly.
It wasn’t shocking that the Guard had died. He was a rookie, and this had been his first mission. He was a fellow Guard, of course, but the mare hadn’t even known him, being paired with him not even an hour ago to go on this stupid mission. She turned from the colt who's name she didn't even know and glided down to the Agent’s position, keeping an eye out for any hostile movement.
Satisfied the area was safe, she trotted up to the Agent who was just beginning to get up. He had dived out of the way at the last moment, taking shrapnel in the sides and rear, only his dignity being seriously injured.
The pegasus helped him to his hooves and walked over to a small piece of metal steaming on the grass. The small piece of metal was a severely deformed rectangle that appeared to be releasing large amounts of magical energy.
“Well,” The Agent began, trotting up behind her. “There goes my invisibility.“ He nudged the invisibility talisman with a hoof before turning to look at the edge of the park. “We should get going before reinforcements get here.” He gestured to the car she and the now late unicorn had driven up in. She nodded slightly before walking over to it.
This isn’t good, She realized. That colt up there takes a rocket to the ground near him and dies, and this guy takes 2 almost direct hits from rockets AND a sniper bullet and gets back up? If this guy had died, there would have been a huge shitstorm from the higher-ups, but since it was that Guard who died, they’ll just have a short funeral before shipping his body home.
That proves we’re disposable...
The Agent jumped onto the roof of the souvenir shop and began the activation procedure for the unit. Another beam of light streaked off into the distance, intersecting the other over a building in the distance. Satisfied that the beacon was working, the Agent leapt from the tower and hit the ground near the Guard
“Hey, getting in?” He said to her. The pegasus mare snapped out of her tangent and got into the car. Sitting at an almost 90 degree angle, wings crushed under her body, her legs hanging over the edge of the seat and her back arched in a way that shouldn’t have equinely possible made the ride unbearable.
Whoever designed these seats deserves a medal for their stupidity, the blue mare thought to herself, brushing her orange mane off of her face as she stared out the window, looking at the passing city. What had once been a pinnacle of beauty was now a rubble-filled hell on Equestria.
A voice broke the silence. “So.” The Agent said, turning to his new companion. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, you know, with the explosions and dying and everything?”
The Guard just stared at him, shocked that he could joke about getting getting hit with rockets and losing a friend. “Radiant Eclipse.” She said shortly. “That’s my name. Don’t bother remembering it; I’ll be out of here shortly.” She turned away and looked out the window again, lost in thought.
Sompony’s really friendly, The Agent thought. He looked at the blue pegasus mare out of his peripheral vision.
She had an orange mane and similarly colored tail and she seemed to enjoy staring out car windows, lost in thought, looking at nothing in particular. The Agent noticed her cutie mark for the first time; a single black circle with a yellow ring encircling it. He shifted his gaze back to the road.
If we’re disposable, then why do they even keep us around? the mare thought to herself. The bits put into deploying us could be going to making more of this guy. A sudden realization struck the Guard with the force of a small car. Maybe... maybe they can’t. Maybe they can’t make enough to patrol the city, or the agents aren’t living up to expectations, or something! But for whatever reason, the Empire still needs us around.!She turned back around to the Agent, looking at him in his shrapnel-perforated armor. Maybe he isn’t all that he’s cracked up to be...
She stared for a few more seconds before looking forward. “So. You... Just how did you survive that?” She asked, looking over at him. He looked back, and then down at the multiple wounds he had received.
“Well...” He began, contemplating the injuries. “Those rockets didn’t exactly hit me. I’m actually pretty quick inside all of this armor, so I just jumped out of the way. As for the bullets, well, this is million-bit armor, and is specifically designed to cushion explosions and deflect bullets. The shields it projects are actually really strong, when they actually decide to recharge.”
The pegasus looked at him strangely. “Decide to recharge?” She asked quizzically.
“Yeah,” the Agent explained. “Sometimes the shields won’t recharge if the armor takes too much of a beating. It’s kind of a glitch in the system, but we can work around it if need be.”
She looked at the injuries that the Agent had sustained from the battle and shifted in her seat. Maybe I should stick with this guy. I’d be more likely to live if i did tag along... she thought to herself, deciding to ask him when they got back to the base.
They spent the rest of the ride in silence, the Agent driving through the winding streets of the city, heading for the looming tower in the distance. On the main highway leading straight to the tower, he took a sharp turn towards the crowded city.
“...We aren’t going to the Tower, are we?” The Guard asked, looking over to the driver.
“Nope,” The Agent replied. “Here, stay in the car. I’ll be back.” He pushed the door open with a hoof and stepped onto the street. Pulling out his sniper rifle, he closed the door with a back hoof and walked down the crowded streets. As he walked, civilians parted for him as if he radiated death. He leapt onto the roof of a nearby building and looked around,
noticing the next sunlight unit on a nearby building, its console dark and the hum of its activation silenced. It sat unprotected, the hardware required to collect the sunlight sitting undisturbed nearby.
The Agent stared. It was completely unprotected, with no guards or hostiles in sight. I know what they’re up to. The Agent realized. They realize head on attacks won’t work, so now they try sniping. With that thought, the Agent raised the rifle to his face and looked into the scope, scanning for any sight of the snipers.
With an ever growing sense of dread, the Agent realized that there were no snipers. He moved towards the inactive unit, his rifle’s safety switched to off. This is unnatural,
the Agent thought. It’s quiet... during the day, the city is never quiet.What the hay is going on?
He stepped cautiously up to the activation pad set into the ground and placed a tentative hoof on it. Alright, it’s not rigged with C4. At least I don’t have to explode anymore today.The Agent stood there quizzically as no opposition arrived and the third absorption unit powered up with a hum, firing a beam off light in the direction of the others. This one intersected the ones emitted by the other two units, forming a pyramid.
The Agent turned, the last light of day fading behind him as the sun set.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Wait, WHAT?!? The Agent panicked, turning and staring at the setting sun. Only now did he realize why the unit was unprotected: every sensible pony in the city had gone into their respective house or any nearby buildings as soon as the light began fading. He turned and galloped towards the edge of the roof, jumping off and hitting the ground hard. He looked up and stared at what he saw.
All of the civilians who were sensible had ran for the nearest building minutes ago.
The ones that hadn’t were being slaughtered by the Freaks wandering the streets.
The freaks stood between the Agent and the street Eclipse was waiting in the car on. He placed the rifle onto his back and jumped vertically, grabbing onto a ledge and using an overhang to walk over the street, when about halfway through, his armor began getting warmer. That’s strange, he thought. Why does it- Gah!
The Agent leapt back, realising too late that smoke was rising off of his armor. He jumped out of the puddle of acid and fell to the street below.
With a loud crack, the Agent hit the ground, crushing one of the freaks, struggling to get to his hooves, the mutant ponies swarming around him.
The Agent stood up and turned towards a freak biting his leg. With a swift kick, it flew off and spun into two more freaks in the crowd, but as soon as that one was evicted, yet another took its place chewing on his leg. Some of the approaching freaks stood back and spat acid at the Agent instead, avoiding his powerful hind legs.
They can spit acid?!? The Agent thought, kicking any freaks within distance.
The Agent, realizing that this fight was futile, pulled the pin on a grenade and leapt for cover. With an impressive blast, the freaks were blown through the air, spinning for a few seconds before hitting the ground.
The Agent galloped for the corner before they could regroup and attack again, tossing more grenades behind him. He rounded the corner, already pulling his rifle from his back as he looked to the other end of the freak-infested street.
And noticed the overturned car, blood splattered on the glass of the broken windshield, flames rising from its bottom.

Chapter 3: These Go to Eleven

"If you’re going through hell, keep going."

The Agent tore through the street, lashing out at anything that moved with his rifle, knocking back wave after wave of freaks, only then beginning to realizing the problem that the city faced.

What at first had appeared to be a minor nuisance to the Empire now showed its true form as freak after freak died, and freak after freak tore the ground open, pulling themselves up from the underground caves and sewer systems that littered the city, refilling their ranks.

The Agent ran to the side of the street, throwing his sniper rifle onto his back and reaching to grab a nearby parking meter, the talismans in his armor forming a firm grip on it, and pulled upwards. With a rumble, the parking meter (and a large chunk of concrete) relented and disconnected from the ground. With a loud crack, a freak was suddenly a few feet shorter and had a lot less intact bones as two more freaks ran towards him, not smart enough to realize giant club = bad.

The Agent swung the club and stumbled, the motion of swinging the club almost impossible with hooves. The Agent swung again, this time connecting with the freaks, and one went flying, again stumbling, this time accepting his inability to swing clubs and dropping the club. He jumped over the heads of the ravenous freaks, landing near the overturned car and throwing two grenades into the crowd that was quickly shambling forward, and then crouching to inspect the windshield.

Fuck...That’s a lot of blood. He stood back up and examined the car. Well, here we go... The Agent turned around and bucked the car hard enough to flip it over, glass tinkling as the car settled. He looked inside quickly, checking the floors and in the back for any sign of Eclipse.

What? The only thing here is blood! The Agent wondered. What happened to Eclipse? Did they drag her somewhere? A sick thought crossed his mind. Did they eat her?!

The Agent’s thoughts were interrupted by a familiar tugging on his back leg. He turned around and lashed out, the freak hitting the wall with a bloody thud, and looked down the street. What only minutes before was a small gathering of the mutants on the street was now a massive mob of deformity, all now rushing towards the burning car. Well, The Agent thought. This is going to be too easy.

The Agent reached down and noticed that the pocket that stored his grenades was empty. Or maybe not. He turned and leapt down the other side of the street, landing on a nearby car.

As soon as the Agent touched the car, a blaring alarm cut through the silence, the car alarm managing to draw more freaks, pulling themselves from the sewers and sprinting out of improperly secured buildings. He leapt from the car, touching down on the roof of a nearby building.

The freaks crowded around the car, smashing the windows that still remained and diving in through the broken ones, oblivious to the shards of glass cutting them while a few hung back, cautiously examining the large car.

The Agent took a couple shots at the stragglers, attracting the attention of the group. As the freaks looked up at him, they were greeted by a single gunshot, and then the resounding sound of a car’s fuel tank being pierced by a bullet.

As the fire died down and all the pieces of shrapnel began falling back to earth, the true terror revealed itself in the form of more mutation. Near the back of the still-advancing group, mutated ponies larger than the rest stepped forward, the one in front leapt higher than even the Agent could, landing in front of the carcass of the car. The others soon followed, about half began slinging acid which they secreted from their bodies while the remaining super mutants rushed forward, leaping into locations that would either give them a direct line to fire at the Agent or jumping straight towards the Agent himself. He began backing up, unsure of how to handle these new threats, and his confidence gave way to indecision as he leaped vertically onto a taller building, turning to fire at the new enemies.

A bullet hit one of the evolved mutants in the chest, pushing it backwards. It stumbled, then quickly regained its composure and returned to the chase as the Agent fired another shot into its body with the same results. Realizing that these things were beyond his killing ability as of now, he turned and ran back towards the Tower.

After fifteen or so minutes of being chased by acid-slinging mutants, he reached a building that appeared to be abandoned. It was largely elliptical, and upon closer inspection, appeared to be crumbling from old age. The Agent jumped from the roof he was currently standing on to the roof of the elliptical building, the crumbling roof strangely structurally sound, and stepped over to one of the smaller holes in the ceiling and peered inside.

What he saw shocked him. The building appeared to be a refurbished command center, the disrepair on the outside masking the advanced technology on the inside. Lunar Republic soldiers idled inside, talking, sleeping, or maintaining their guns while off to one side, what appeared to be a supercomputer was being repaired by technicians. Around the perimeter of the building, armed guards were on high alert.

Directly in the middle, Eclipse was being tortured for information.

She was bound to a pole and gagged with a cloth as Republic soldiers stood around her with what appeared to be blowtorches and hammers. The torturers removed the gag and checked to see if she was ready to talk. Fortunately, it appeared that she had not revealed anything yet. Unfortunately, that was mostly because she was now unconcious.

The Agent boiled with rage. Eclipse was the closest thing he had to a friend. Sure, she’s cold and sarcastic at times, but she did save my life... He thought. Now, I can repay that debt and kick some Republic flank. He walked over to a large hole in the roof and stopped. What am I thinking? I can’t waste time on one Guard! I’ve got to get to that beacon and stop the freaks! The Agent stopped, the Director’s silence and his own confusion breeding indecision in his mind.But...What they’re doing to her...Can I really just leave her here? He looked at the sky, illuminated by the three beams of light and the waning moon, then back down at the hole in the building and with an audible sigh, jumped down into the building and swung his rifle downward.

As he hit the ground (or, rather, the enemy who was unfortunately standing beneath the hole in the ceiling), the Agent swung his sniper rifle around blasted the closest three guard’s heads into nothingness. He galloped towards the supercomputer and ducked behind it, firing at the technicians on the side he was using as cover as stray bullets hit the sides of the supercomputer, damaging the circuitry inside the system unit. The Agent peered around the corner, looking for any indication as to where Eclipse was, turning towards where he had seen her from the roof.

An enemy soldier aimed the pistol in his mouth at the back of her head.

The Agent leaped, soaring over the masses, bullets pinging off of his armor. He landed on the soldier with enough force to crack the metal armor the hostile was wearing and kicked the pistol away, severing the ropes that bound Eclipse and sliding her onto his back, securing her with the mags integrated into his armor. He took a few more pot shots at the hostiles who were quickly regrouping before noticing that there were no ways of escape nearby.

Well, in case of emergency... The Agent slammed through a nearby wall, surprising three civilians as he ran from the Republic’s command post. The sun was just beginning to break over the horizon, and although the freaks still wandered the streets, most ran for nearby sewer grates or under cover. He turned and leapt onto the base once more, and ran across to the other side of the roof.

He fell to ground level, and flagged down a civilian in a car. “Empire emergency!” He yelled, and pushed the civilian out the passenger side door, sliding Eclipse into the unoccupied seat as he crammed himself uncomfortably into the driver’s seat and sped down the street, slowing down only for the occasional civilian.

They made their way away from the enemy, Eclipse still unconscious from the torture and trauma. She had multiple burns all over and a few lacerations to her sides and legs. Just what were they trying to accomplish with this? The Agent wondered. It’s not like she knows anything important. He looked down at her battered, sleeping form, wondering what it was that she knew that they wanted so badly.

The car was driving along a more rural section of town, containing multiple mountain passes and open plains. They turned onto a side street and made their way towards the mountains that both supported the city and comprised most of it, stopping at a ski-lift type transport where the Agent lifted Eclipse back onto his back and made his to the owner's building.

The unicorn operating the lifts nodded in his direction and levitated a key over to the door of a nearby storage shed, the door unlocking and swinging upwards, revealing multiple weapons and supplies along with a blue vehicle. The Empire kept supply caches like this all throughout the city, in case Agents or Guards need weapons without direct connection to command. The vehicle was an armor-plated, 4 wheeled ATV that was slightly longer than a pony and sported a rectangular, raised area, implemented with the same mags that allowed him to grip the handlebars. He slid Eclipse into a stray set of Guard armor, making sure it was secured to the mags, before starting the 4 wheeler and tearing down the mountain path.

As they sped towards the mountain, The Agent fiddled with his helmet, looking for any problems with the radio linked to the Tower. What? He said, stopping the ATV and removing his helmet. It should be working perfectly! Maybe somethings wrong on the other end? He shook his head and sighed, placing the helmet back on his head and starting down the path again.

After about fifteen minutes of driving, they reached a cave near the base of the mountain. The Agent dismounted the ATV and walked into the mouth of the cave. Now which one was it?... Ah! There. He moved one of the rocks near the back of the cave to reveal an intercom system, pressing one of the buttons, he spoke a single word.

“Anarchy.” A word the Empire would never guess. The Agent thought. The voice recognition scanner recognized his voice and the back of the cave opened, revealing the laboratory the Agent had been secretly stockpiling with medical supplies for the past few days. An examination table sat in the middle, a small table for surgical tools next to it. Cabinets full of medical supplies ringed the right side of the room, while books and audio recordings on medical treatment sat along the left wall, while a large sink sat under the cabinets containing the supplies. He guided the ATV into the cave and transferred Eclipse from it to the examination table.

The Agent was finally able to see the full extent of her injuries. The torturers appeared to have been extremely crude and untrained; they had simply burned her with blowtorches when she refused to give them answers. Her sides and back had multiple burns, most of them not serious, but her wings were blanketed by singed feathers and small 2nd degree burns. She hadn’t given them the information they wanted, that was for sure. Eclipse is a Guard, after all. The Agent thought, looking down at her battered body. But even they aren’t trained to withstand that kind of torture.

He walked over to one of the cabinets and grabbed an audio recording on the treatment of burns. Listening to the parts about 1st and 2nd degree burn treatment, he shifted Eclipse once again onto his back and transported her to the sink, which was big enough to hold her and allowed her head to be kept above water. The Agent placed the stopper into the sink and began filling it with cool water.

When it had filled, he made sure Eclipse’s head would not slip underwater and trotted over to the medical books. No... no... no...Ah! The Agent thought as perused the books. He brought two books, on acute stress disorder and shock, over to the table, and began to read through them as Eclipse’s burns cooled in the water.

A sharp gasp brought the Agent out of the pages of the book. Eclipse sat up, shaking her mane to get the water out of it as she blinked and looked around, obviously confused.

“Wh- where are we?” She said, looking over at him. She looked around quizzically, first at the room, then at the sink. “And why am I wet?”

“It’s okay.” The Agent replied. “Do you remember where you were before here?” He asked, helping her out of the tub and bringing her a towel. He walked over to the cabinet and brought over a roll of gauze bandages and a bottle of painkillers.

“I was... In a car? Yeah, we were in a car, and then you left.” Eclipse replied, closing her eyes and trying to remember. “Then...” She paused, and her eyes snapped open, a look of pure anger on her face as the Agent led her over to the surgical table. “Those Republic assholes showed up. They threatened to shoot me if I didn’t get out of the car, and then one of them hit me in the head with his gun when the freaks showed up.”

“Hold still, okay?” The Agent interrupted, wrapping the gauze lightly around her body.

“They brought me back to one of their command centers. They tied me up and... After the initial torture, I blacked out. When I woke up... SHE was there. She asked me some questions, and then the real torture started.” Eclipse stopped talking and stared at the wall, a look of anger as she attempted to remember what had happened as she was tortured. "I blacked out again, and woke up here."

The Agent finished bandaging her body and looked up at her. “Who would she be, exactly?” He said, picking the bandages back up and moving closer to the table.

“‘She’ would be the current leader of the Lunar Republic.” The Pegasus said with a grim chuckle. “Nightmare Moon, the ‘one and only goddess of Eq’- hey! Watch it! Those are sensitive!” She snapped, turning her head to look at what the Agent was doing.

The Agent finished wrapping the gauze around her wings. “Well, this is the best I can do for now. You might not want to fly for a few days, and they might hurt for a bit, but they’ll heal in time.” He helped Eclipse to her hooves, and they walked back to the ATV. “We can leave this outside; I’ve paid a civilian to bring it back.” They walked outside the cave and he sealed the laboratory once more.

The Agent and Eclipse trotted back towards civilization and the hell of a city without rule. Once they reached the storage shed, the Agent nodded to the unicorn again, who was alreadylevitating a ‘Closed’ sign into the window of the operation room. As he started towards the trail, the car containing the two Empire soldiers began the long drive back to the Empire’s Tower.

Chapter 4: A Heavy Taboo

“A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.”

The Agent sighed and walked back toward the door, pocketing three clips of 5.56mm rounds for his sniper rifle. The conversation that unfolded earlier reverberated in his mind, bringing on yet another wave of both guilt and uncertainty. What was I supposed to do? He thought. I did the right thing... right?
He continued pacing back and forth, his hooves clacking against the steel of the floor. Although he felt vulnerable and foreign without his armor, he also felt something that he hadn’t known before; he felt lighter and more agile, and a serene feeling encompassed him. He didn’t notice this, though, because he only had one thought on his mind.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
1 Hour Ago

The car pulled up to the Tower, slowing to a stop at a large circular lot. The Agent and Eclipse stepped out and began the slow trot to the main building, Eclipse constantly adjusting her bandages. As they entered the building, a fellow Guard stepped in front of the pair.
"Sir, the Director is requesting a meeting with you about your last assignment in the room on the next floor up, directly across from the stairwell." With a nod from the Agent, he turned and retreated to the barracks.
The duo looked at each other, Eclipse nodding and walking toward the medical station. The Agent looked at her for a moment before turning and heading for the stairs.
He slowly ascended the staircase, dragging out the time until his meeting with the Director. Nothing that was said would be good, and he knew it. Engrossed in thought, he didn’t notice the door looming in front of him.
He tapped the door controls set onto the wall lightly with a hoof and stepped through as the door slid upwards, lifting into the ceiling. Feeling trapped as the door slammed back into place behind him, the Agent surveyed the room in front of him.
An old circular table sat in the center, its surfaced covered with worn books and research notes. On the wall, a large television screen sat idly, displaying breaking news and the occasional commercial.
As he watched, the news faded and was in it's place a larger-than-life silhouette slowly came into focus. The stallion, shrouded in dakness, simply stared at the Agent.
He craned his neck away from the camera and spoke, presumably to somepony off camera.
After a brief inaudible exchange, he turned back to the Agent. The Agent sat there, waiting for the Director to start the conversation. After a brief sigh, he began speaking.
“Agent... You single-hoofedly almost annihilated the fruits of over ten years of scientific research in order to save a single guard.” The Director slammed a hoof onto the table. “This is not acceptable! We can not have you jeopardizing entire projects that could save this city in order to save “friends”.”
The Agent stared silently, taking in the Director’s words. The Director started again. “The next time you pull one of those stunts, you WILL be disciplined accordingly!” He was interrupted by a scientist trotting over and placing a file in front of him. He scanned the report silently and sighed audibly. “You...you’re fucking kidding me. Is this a joke?” He turned towards the scientist and flung the file at him. The scientist cringed and retreated off camera, shaking in fear.
The Director turned back towards the camera. “According to this, you aren’t progressing along with our projections. You should be much more advanced right now, but apparently there was a glitch in our systems.” He hung his head. “Get the fuck out of here. But if this happens again, remember what I just said.” He turned back to the scientist. “And you? You’re fired.”
As the screen faded to darkness, the Agent practically galloped out of the room, making sure he could get as far away from the Director as possible. Damn, he thought. And they say that I’m scary.... With a shudder, the Agent started back towards the barracks.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Agent trotted up to the medical wing, still lacking his trademark armor. Without the only garments that most ponies recognized him by, the Agent received only slight glances from off-duty Guards.
The wing bustled with doctors and medics levitating or calling out for various supplies. A group of nurses burst through a nearby door, a stretcher careening through after them. As the Agent watched, they pushed through a similar door, all the while yelling about emergency surgery.
With a shudder, he walked up to the front desk. A familiar blue pegasus stood idly there, talking with a nearby doctor. After they had spoken, the doctor nodded and returned to his office while Eclipse trotted towards the entrance. She looked at the Agent standing by the door and looking at her, and cleared her throat.
“Um, may I help you?” She asked, looking strangely at him. He raised an eyebrow quizzically and gave a short laugh. “Wierdo...” Eclipse muttered as she stepped past him.
“Don’t recognize me without the costume, do you?” The Agent smiled as her eyes widened and a look of realization lit up her face. They simply stared at each other for a few moments before Eclipse broke the silence.
“Um, sorry. Well, thanks, actually.” She said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Wouldn’t have gotten out if you hadn’t came along.” She looked up at him hopefully. “Speaking of tagging along, do you think... maybe we could travel together again?" She smiled and gave the Agent a pleading look.
"Well... I guess..." He started. "But I don't think that the Director will approve. He'll just say that you'll slow me down or endanger the mission." He grimaced at Eclipse and frowned slightly.
"Well then, why don't we get his opinion?"

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Agent gulped, nervously standing before the monitor the Director had inhabited less than an hour ago. He was still nervous, but having somepony else in the room had lowered the tension, if only slightly.. Why oh why did I ever agree to come back into this room? He thought while taking a look in his surroundings, even though nothing had changed.
As the monitor powered on, a familiar silhouette appeared onscreen. The Director sat in the same pose as earlier. He sighed and began speaking. “I don’t remember calling you back in here,” he said hostily.”So why are you standing there?”
Eclipse spoke up first. “Um... I just wanted to ask you if I could accompany him on his next few missions.” She said slowly, choosing her words carefully. “I believe that a small squad backing him up could be beneficial to the project.”
Their higher-up turned his head quizzically. “Oh? And how is somepony slowing down my super soldier not detrimental?” He shook his head and shifted backwards slightly.
Eclipse answered, without missing a beat. “How do I endanger the mission? I can fly, which he can’t, I’m smaller, and I’m a whole lot smarter than him!” The Director contemplated the proposal as the Agent glared at Eclipse. After a few minutes of silence, he cleared his throat and began to speak. “You have one chance. One chance to prove that this is a good idea. If I decide that it isn’t, you’re back to your old assignment. Am I clear?”
They nodded and withdrew from the room as if it were radioactive, unable to see the grin covering the Director’s face.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Agent and Eclipse made their way to the helicopter, the pegasus showing a large change in attitude. Ditching the silent air, she talked easily and showed a rare smile.
“I mean, it’s stupid, really.” She said, looking over at the Agent. “Why do we need a helicopter when I can fly and you can just jump your way over there? It’s kinda counterproductive, if you ask me.”
They continued talking as they stepped onto the helicopter and throughout the flight to the LZ. Before they knew it, the pilot turned back to announce their arrival at the first beacon’s landing zone.
Eclipse leapt gracefully from the chopper, gliding down to the pavement below and landing daintily on her hooves. The Agent followed suit, falling like a rock and cracking the pavement as he landed in front of the building.
“Alright, let’s keep this quick and quiet.” he said, motioning for Eclipse to follow him. They trotted up to the door of the building that acted as a facade for the Freak activity inside. With a swift kick, the doors were launched off of their hinges and splintered against the far wall. The duo stepped inside the eerily silent building. The Agent motioned for Eclipse to follow him, and together they began to make their way to the second floor. As they reached the door, he hid behind an overturned table and peered over the top. This room, along with the first, was completely devoid of freaks.
“Whaf fthe hay?” Eclipse muttered, her voice muffled by the pistol in her mouth. The Agent emerged from his cover and together they entered the next room in the abandoned building.
This room contained a point of interest in the form of a fissure slicing through most of the floor, mirroring another one on the ceiling . The super soldier and the Guard walked up and peered into the breach, taking care not to fall in. The hole led through a sealed-off room on the first floor and concluded in a large cavern underneath the building.
The Agent looked up at Eclipse and laughed. “Fillies first!” He exclaimed motioning towards the large depression.
With a sigh, Eclipse dove into the fissure and landed on the first floor. The Agent followed, this time falling slowly enough to not have enough force to damage the floor. The duo peered over the edge once more.
Gwa-huh!?! The Agent thought. At least 50 freaks littered the cavern, sitting idly or wandering around, oblivious to the intruders.. Now what? He voiced his thought to Eclipse, and she simply stared back into the lair. After a few seconds, she replied.
“Explosives could clear them out...” She began. “Then you keep the ones that are either left behind or come back off of me while I call in the beacon. After that, we get out and get back to the base.”
With no better plan, the Agent raised a grenade with the suit’s levitation spell and got ready to execute the mutants below. With a click and a ping, the grenade hit the ground in the middle of a mass of the freaks and detonated with a muffled bang.
The Agent fell in between a group of freaks, slamming down onto one of them and levitating his sub-machine gun. Eclipse flew into the grotto, touching down in the beacon’s landing zone. As the Agent leveled waves of freaks with both bullets and the butt of his gun, she called in air support to drop a beacon at their location.

The Agent swung the gun upwards again, caving in another freak’s chest. The levitation spell spun the gun back towards the crowd and fired another clip of ammo into it, taking down a total or 4 freaks. Fuck! We need a better way to kill them! He aimed for another freak’s head, and another burst brought the hostile down. He turned to check on Eclipse’s progress as another hostile slammed into him.
Eclipse was faring much better, as the freak’s hadn’t reached her yet. As he watched, the beacon fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, showering the pegasus with dust and debris.
With the beacon beginning to charge, the Agent slammed his gun into the freak and tossed another grenade into the mass of bodies. Following another bang, the air was filled with charred bodies and pieces of said bodies.
All hell broke loose as the evolved freaks from the previous night stepped out, yelling in anticipation as the beacon continued to steadily charge.The Agent and Eclipse turned, and they both began to unload their weapons into the newcomers.
One evolved freak galloped straight towards the soldiers, stopping momentarily to fling acid at them, before leaping over the Agent and landing next to Eclipse.
The Agent singled out that freak and levitated another clip into his gun, realizing that that was his final clip. He aimed for the freak’s head and unleashed a barrage of bullets, tearing into its skull and dropping it to the floor.
With his attention singled onto that offending freak, he did not notice the other evolved freak advancing towards him. The Agent turned.

The freak smashed into him, launching him backwards about 4 feet. He scrambled to his hooves, swinging his gun back around.
*click*
*click*
Gah! Letting out a stream of obscenities and throwing aside the now useless firearm, he levitated one of his last 2 grenades and dropped it at his hooves before galloping in the other direction. Sliding to a halt, he turned to look just as the freak’s charred body flew past and a loud humming started up behind him. He yelled out to Eclipse as he lied down. “GET DOWN!”
Eclipse turned and hit the floor seconds before the beacon detonated, bathing the subterranean cave in blinding light. The Agent was unable to see anything for a few seconds, even with his helmet darkening to compensate for the burst of light.
As the light died down and the hum quieted down, The Agent stood back up and walked over to his partner, snickering as she groaned.
“Why oh why did I ever agree to do this?” Eclipse muttered as she stood up. The Agent walked over to the hole in the ceiling and looked back. Eclipse trotted up to him and sighed, stretching her wings. Together, they exited the cavern and then made their way to the front door.
Eclipse lagged back as the Agent stepped out of the building and into the sunlight. “The mission was a success,” she muttered into her headset. “He’s progressing as we expected.” Without waiting for a reply, she shut off her headset and stepped past the School for Gifted Unicorns sign amidst the dead grass in front of the now-empty freak lair.

(Author's note: I don't really like the pacing of this one, but I can't rewrite it now. I might go over all of the chapters and fix parts of them later, but right now I don't have time.)

Author's Note

Hey, it's the author here. I'm kind of tied up with some things IRL, so there'll probably be either shorter chapters or long(er) waits in between chapters. I've also hit just a little bit of writers block, which, combined with the roadblocks in my life, is creating the perfect aura of procrastination around me.

Well, anyway, about the story. I've been thinking about changing it to a first person view for a chapter or two, but I don't know how that would affect the story. It might be really hard to write first person and not reveal things that I'm not ready to reveal yet.

But, anyway, so yeah. Tell me in the comments if you have any suggestions or anything.