Fallout Equestria: Operation 6011

Operation 6011 chapter 3

Into the darkness

"no can-do sugar cube. We sure ain't lettin any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone"

The air rushed through my mane, my wings felt strong. The sky was clear, I could see two familiar ponies, joined by a third, below.

However this didn't feel like my body. My mane was a little messy, and my wings and muscles way too strong. Not only that, I was in a place I've never seen before. The sky was clear, and there was a town below that somehow I reconized to be ponyville. I also somehow knew who the ponies below were.

The first was a gorgeous unicorn mare, with a beautiful white coat, a purple mane that was expertly styled. She had a cutie mark of three diamonds. Also I knew her name was Rarity.

The second was a earth pony mare, with a puffy pink mane, a pink coat, and a cutie mark of three balloons. Also she had a odd way about her, and I knew her name was Pinkie Pie.

The third was also a unicorn mare, with a light purple coat. Her mane was a dark purple, with a magneta streak in it and had the "smart person" combed look. Her cutie mark was a big magenta star with small white ones around it. Also her name was Twilight Sparkle.

Not only that, I knew that Twilight loves books, and is exceptional at magic, Rarity is a fashionista and is very generous, and Pinkie loves sweets, and is great at throwing parties.

How the hell do I know these things?

Obviously I was highly skilled, because I kept doing all these daring stunts and amazing tricks.

Then suddenly I started to lose control and I went spiraling to the ground. The ground grew closer, and closer, then black.

                       ~<~<~<~<~

I woke up in a bed, with a blanket pulled over me.

The air was clean with a small amount of mustiness to it. I guess even down here you can't escape musty air in buildings.

The room was dark, and a light shone  from under the door. I could hear voices, one of which I could tell was Polaris'. The other was male, young, and had a cowboy accent.

"damn' that mare is one heavy sleeper."

"well has she not had a long day?"

"that don' matter, she had a light day, compared t' a normal day in th' waste."

"well it IS her first"

"still, she not only slept through, th' storm, but we were able t' carry her all th' way upstairs without her wakin'"

There was a storm? How did I sleep through that?

I tried to get up, but one of my hooves got caught in the blanket, and I instead rolled off the bed, the blanket wrapping me up. I landed on the hard wooden floor with a thud.

"you hear that?"

"yes, I believe she is awake."

The door opened and the light turned on, revealing me trying to get out of the blanket on the floor.

I looked up at the Polaris and a Earth pony stallion, that had a dark red coat, a black mane, black eyes, whose cutie mark was black crosshairs.

"umm... Little help?"

They looked at each other, then started laughing.

My face burned with embarrassment.

"sorry lightning. This is Red"

The stallion stepped forward and pulled the blanket off me, then said with a smile.

"it's 'dead eye' Red"

I got up slowly.

"thanks, I'm lightning."

I looked at him questioningly.

"so where are we?"

He smiled.

"well we are in th' friendly ol' town of Horseshoe, In th' weary trails bar an' inn."

Okay so we made it.

We left the room, and entered the hall.

The hall looked worn, but you could tell it was being maintained.

"now there are a few rules, in Horseshoe. One: don' cause trouble. Two: don' kill, in th' town anyways. An' three: don' steal."

He looked straight at me when he said that. I'm pretty sure Polaris filled him in on a few things.

We continued down some wooden stairs.

"now my mom said I should introduce y'all t' my brother, but first, we gonna say a hi t' th' owner. She did let y'all stay for free after all."

"Red who is your mom?"

He looked at me with a confused look on his face.

"don' y'all know her already? She did bring y'all here."

My jaw dropped.

"how come you aren't all....ghoulish?"

He looked at me and laughed.

I gave him a confused look.

"ghoulification ain't genetic, you can't inherit it."

I thought for a moment.

"that makes sense, I guess."

I also guess Polaris already had her turn asking him stupid questions, because she just watched with an amused look on her face.

We entered the bar part, and I froze.

The image of Hope and the silver lining bar, flashed in my head. Polaris gave me a concerned look. I shook my head and shoved it into a bottle and shoved that in a closet in the back of my mind.

Red gave me a weird look, then continued.

"this here is miss Trudy. She's th' one who owns this here establishment."

The room was set up just like the silver lining bar was, and at the bar a earth pony mare, who had a grey coat, and brown mane. She had brown eyes, and had a cutie mark of a bottle of whiskey. She was cleaning some mugs with a rag.

She looked up, then smilied.

"well if it isn't miss sleepy head. I have no idea how you slept through last night."

Wow. My reputation is already growing.

I nickered, and scratched the back of my head with a hoof.

"I don't know either."

We shared a laugh.

"welcome to Horseshoe, I understand you mares are new to the wasteland."

Polaris and I nodded our heads.

"well pleased to meet cha, I'm Trudy, and you already met Red. Now Red shouldn't you take them to see your brother?"

He sighed then nodded.

"my mom told you didn't she?"

Trudy smiled and nodded.

"fine I'll take y'all t' see my brother."

I waved at Trudy.

"see you later, nice meeting you."

Polaris did the same.

Trudy just smiled.

"see you all around."

             *** *** ****

We exited weary trails, and stepped outside.

I stretched my wings, and looked up at the clouds.

"I could really use some fly time right now."

I smiled and looked at Polaris and Red, who just returned the look.

The air was a bit tainted by the smell of dust, whose source was well, everywhere. The town looked like something straight out of one of those old western films, Hope showed me when I was a filly. You could hear the sounds of the town going about its day.

Red had on a faded light brown duster, accompanied by a faded light brown cowboy hat.

He pointed a hoof down the street at a house (more of a shack really).

"that there is where my brother lives."

We stepped off the wooden porch and out on the street. The dirt felt softish under my hooves. It was more  of just a layer over the hard ground.

A soft breeze moved through my mane.

As we drew closer, the sound of music grew louder.

The music was like a dubstep (how do I know? Thats the music that my old gang listened to).

When we reached the house, the music was ridiculously loud. Polaris winced.

"is your brother deaf? I do not understand how one could listen to music this loud."

Red sighed then banged the door with a hoof.

"hey SW! I got two mares for you t' meet!!!"

The music grew slightly quieter and I could hear hoofsteps approaching the door.

The door opened, revealing a Unicorn stallion with a messy light blue mane, and a white coat. He had his dark sunglasses up on his horn revealing his light blue eyes. He had a cutie mark of a boom box, and wore a set of high tech looking headphones around his neck ( i didn't know those still existed).

"this is my brother Soundwave, not by blood though. My mom found him when I was just colt,  we grew up toge'er."

Soundwave gave us an, I'm-awesome, smile.

"cool meeting ya, as Red said, I'm the one and only Soundwave, the cooler  bro. Now who are you two?"

His voice sounded like one of those kick-ass radio DJs.

We nickered. Red gave him a "wanna bet?" look.

I spoke first.

"well I'm lightning, nice ta meet cha."

I smiled. Then Polaris joined me.

"I am Polaris. It is a pleasure to meet such an interesting pony."

Soundwave grinned.

Red spoke up.

"well actually, I'm in th' lead by at least five more points."

We gave him a confused look. Soundwave gave him a competitors look.

"that is only because, you got welcome the newbies to the town," he grinned" I'm about to go clear out the geckos from the wells in sparkling valley." he looked at us, proudly.

"all. By. Myself."

We gave him an impressed look.

"oh no you ain't, I ain't lettin' you get ahead." Red interjected.

My hoof shot into the air.

"hey! Can we go too?"

Everyone looked at me. I wore this excited look on my face.

Soundwave smiled confidently.

"okay, you can come. Just so you all can see me kill all geckos, and make a fool out of Red."

Red grinned, challengingly.

"hell nah, you ain't nowheres near as good as me."

Polaris stepped forward.

"excuse me, but what are you two talking about?"

The two, looked at her excitedly.

"well me an' SW here are haven' a friendly ol' competion"

"yea we score based off, kills and good deeds. Whoever has the most points each week, is the awesomest."

Polaris and I looked at each other, then laughed. They gave us a confused look, then in unison said.

"what?"

I shook my head, and smiled.

"nothing, when are we leaving?"

They shrugged.

"when y'all are ready, I'm guessin."

Soundwave nodded in agreement.

We went off and prepared to go.

                           *** *** ****

The gecko's head exploded.

"that's five!"

There were still a lot of geckos left.

Red was posted up on the hill, with me spotting him. Soundwave was down fighting, with Polaris at his side. We had a bet, that me and Red could kill more geckos, than Polaris and Soundwave. The loser had to drink till they dropped, and I didn't plan on losing.

The annoying thing is, though, is Soundwave's weapon. He found a way to concentrate sound so much that it created a destructive beam. He used this in his energy pistol looking weapon, that he dubbed, "The Wubbinator". It just wasn't fair, those geckos didn't stand a chance.

Two geckos charging Soundwave, were blown in half, sending gecko everywhere.

"whoooo! That's seven!"

The wind blew in my mane as I soared above, searching for targets. I spotted three more geckos charging Polaris.

"hey Red! Three more to your right!"

When they reached Polaris, all three of their heads exploded. They may have "The Wubbinator", but we had the second best markspony, in the equestrian wasteland.

"that's eight!!" I called down.

There were two geckos left, and they were fleeing over the hill.

I spotted them and yelled down at Red their position. Polaris also noticed them and she and Soundwave, went into pursuit.

That's when things went straight down hill.

As they reached the crest of the hill, a gigantic dark blue scorpion emerged from the other side, a dead gecko hanging from it's huge stinger.

Soundwave, pulled Polaris back, as it struck barely missing her. They started running, however as big as it was, the giant scorpion, was ridiculously fast. I could hear Red's shots going off, and see his rounds bouncing off it's exoskeleton.

He brought hollow points, expecting to only be fighting geckos.

I knew I had to do something. Every strike it made, came closer to impaling one of the two. I drew the only available weapon I had.

My father's gun.

I drew it from it's holster and aimed. I dove towards it, to try and better my aim, but it was so hard to line up the shot. I  concentrated hard on aiming the gun. Then time actually slowed.

It actually slowed!

A message appeared on my vision.

Welcome to S.A.T.S. Stable-tec Arcane Targeting Spell. This spell allows you to make more precise attacks with your weapons. Just select a target, then select a part of their body to target, then queue up some attacks. The bar in the bottom right is your, Action Points bar (AP for short). Different weapons require a different amount of AP. AP is what is used to make attacks while S.A.T.S is active.

The message closed itself.

Well that's new.

Okay....so choose a target, I selected the giant scorpion. Then a series of percentages and bars showed up across its body. I guess those are my chances of hitting each part, and how hurt each part is (yay for logic!). The head showed, eighty-five percent, and the body showed ninety-five percent, I guess I'll choose the head. I selected the head, and queued up two shots (mostly because I didn't have enough AP for more).

The first shot slammed into it's head, making its flinch, the second made it crack.

I just need on more blow, to kill it. I don't have anymore AP, so what? Think, think, use your head damn it!

Wait, my head... use my head! With enough speed...

I sped towards it. I need more speed.

Be awesome.

I felt new strength in me as I flew faster than I ever did before. The wind roared through my mane. I dove right for it's ugly head.

A loud crack rang out, as I head butted it hard, smashing it's head open.

I could feel its bodily fluids all over me, as I got up slowly. I looked over at the surprised looks I was getting from Polaris, Red, and Soundwave. I had a splitting head ache, my vision was blurring, but I still managed a smile.

"we win."

Darkness covered my vision and everything faded to black.

                  ~>~>~>~>~

There was an endless whiteness.

The floor felt cool. Fresh, cold, clean air filled my lungs. I also had the feeling I wasn't alone.

"umm... Hello? Is anypony here?"

The was no answer at first, then I heard somepony approaching.

I looked to my right, to see a pegasus mare, with a light blue coat, and a rainbow colored mane that was fairly messy. She had rose colored eyes, and a cutie mark of a white cloud emitting a single rainbow lightning bolt. She quickly made it to me.

"umm.. Well hi. Nice to finally be able to talk to you."

Her voice was kind of scratchy.

I gave her a confused look.

"are you.... Rainbow Dash?"

She nodded her head, then smiled.

"you don't seem all that excited to meet me."

I shrugged.

"well to me, you were somepony, who lived 200 years ago. Sorry if I'm not all FanMare like. What are you doing in my dreams anyways?"

She took a deep breath, then began.

"well you see you are my direct descendant, in other words, I'm your great, great, great, grandmother."

My jaw dropped.

"how? And how do I know this isn't just a dream?"

She gave me a confident look.

"let's answer question number two first. When you picked up your fathers gun, by the way, why don't you give that thing a actual name? Something cool like..."

She caught my look, of "can we get back to the story now?".

"well when you did pick it up, the enchantment on it was activated. The enchantment was my soul, and when you picked it up, my soul entered yours."

I gave her a look of disbelief.

"how?"

She smiled.

"well the enchantment is made to activate when I died, capturing my soul, no matter how far away, and storing it in the gun."

"wait, if that's true, then why didn't you reveal yourself sooner?"

She sighed then continued.

"well over time my soul lost strength, it needed a direct descendant, to keep going. If you hadn't come along, I might not have made it to the end of the week. So when I entered you, I was too weak to make an appearance. However, when you picked up my statuette, it gave me strength."

"and about this being real?"

She looked at me firmly.

"it's real, the fact that you relived one of my memories already, is proof enough."

I thought about it, then gave her a concerned look.

"so if what all you said is true, then you won't be taking over my body or anything, will you?"

She just laughed.

"no, I won't be taking over you're body, I'm too awesome to have to do that. I'll just be contributing to you some of my awesomeness, and hanging out in your head."

However my curiosity wasn't satisfied.

"if you needed a direct descendent, then why me?"

She grinned.

"isn't it obvious? Because your the most awesome of them all."

We shared a laugh.

"now wake up, Polaris is starting to get worried about you."

                  ~>~>~>~>~>~

My vision slowly came into focus, as I slowly opened my eyes.

The bed I was in was very comfy. The sight of Polaris, Red, and Soundwave came into focus. So did the room. It had worn walls, and the air felt cool, on my coat. The air smelled a but musty ( what is with buildings and mustiness?!?), and light was provided by a lamp on the wooden end table next to me. My head ached.

"wow, yur' one crazy mare, chargin' a giant radscorpion, like that."

"yea, that was really awesome, that way you took down that thing and saved our lives."

"it is good to see you are okay. I was worried about you."

I looked at them with a weak smile, then rubbed my aching head.

"how long was I out?"

Polaris spoke up.

"you have been unconscious for two days."

My eyes eyes widened.

Two days!?!?

They caught on to my thought.

"well that ain't so bad, considerin' what you did."

I thought back to the giant radscorpion. Then I rubbed my aching head again.

"People always told me I had a thick skull, I never thought they were right.."

We all shared a laugh.

"so any places that are interesting around here?"

Red thought for a minute, with a hoof to his chin.

"well there is that used-to-be enclave base, north of here..."

Everyone looked at Soundwave. He then frowned and continued.

".... Except it's overrun with Raiders."

I gave everyone a daring look, Polaris gave me a worried look.

"why don't we clear them out?"

They gave me a look of disbelief. I frowned.

"what?"

"we almost died in th' last simple adventure, now you wanna go on another one?"

I rolled my eyes.

"a giant radscorpion just happened to show up, these are just raiders right? Don't tell me you can't handle a few crazed maniacs."

They blinked. Then Red sighed.

"aw, horse apples. I'll go with ya, clearin' out that place, will safen' up th' road, for th' caravans."

"I'm going if you are bro!! Not after the last adventure."

Polaris sighed.

"I am as well."

Suddenly two days of no bathroom hit me.

"first, where is the bathroom?"

They all laughed.

"down th' hall to yur' right."

I sat up and stretched wings. I then carefully rose from the bed, not wanting to have another tangled-in-the-blanket incident, and landed on the wooden floor in front of the bed with a soft 'thud'.

I trotted out into the hall. It was in the same condition as the room, except there was four lamps evenly spaced on the walls, two on each side. There were three doors spaced between the lamps. On the left side, there was a door, then the entrance to the stairs. On the right side, there were two doors, first marked "stallions", the second marked, "mares".

I choose the second to do my business.

              **** *** ****

I washed my face in the sink.

The bathroom was really clean, compared to the rest of the town. Even the mirror was clean. However, that still didn't stop the air from being a bit musty.

The cool water dripped from my face. I looked in the mirror.

Was it just a dream?

"nope"

I jumped. Then spun around to face the source.

Rainbow Dash was standing smiling on the other side of the bathroom.

I wore of look of disbelief, then I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I opened them, she was still there.

She nickered.

" I thought you were supposed to stay in my head."

She smiled.

" just because I stay in your head, doesn't mean I can't pop up in your vision. Basically only you can see me."

I opened my mouth to say something, but she anticipated it.

"and no, your not crazy. I just messed with your senses so I can pop up like this. Cool huh?"

I thought about it. It was cool, if you think about it.

I had other questions, but they could wait for another time.

I wiped my face off with a towel, then trotted out the door to go get ready.

Red was waiting for me outside.

"girl, we need t' get you some protection."

                      *** *** ***

We entered "guns and bullets". Guns of every kind lined the left wall, and armors lined the right wall. There was a earth pony stallion, with a tan coat, a tan mane, and a cutie mark of a revolver. He also wore a revolver on his side.

He waved a hoof at Red.

"well if ain't 'Dead Eye' Red, and you have a friend too. What can I do for you?"

Red nickered.

"nah, she's too crazy. Did ya' hear bout th' giant radscorp?"

The stallion, nodded.

"sure did."

Red smiled.

"she head butted it right th' head. Smashed it's head, like a pumpkin'."

The stallions jaw dropped.

"you better not be pullin' my tail."

Red shook his head.

"ey-nope, I was there, saw it happen. She saved my brother, an' another mare. Now she's wantin' t' go an' clear out dem, raiders at th' old enclave base. I told her she needs proper protection first."

The stallion gave us a look of disbelief.

I spoke up.

"umm, how do you know about the fight with the giant radscorpion?"

He smiled.

"why, DJ-Pon3 o' course. She mentioned it, when she talked bout that stable mare, takin out the slavers in appleloosa."

I noticed Rainbow in the corner, she nickered. I smiled.

Red turned to me.

"now go an' pick out an armor. This is on me."

I walked over to the displays. Rainbow, was also browsing through them.

The stallion called out to me.

"the Pegusas bardin' is at the end"

Rainbow was already looking those over.

Red and the stallion talked about various things while me and  Rainbow browsed the pegasus bardings.

There was a small selection, and they were okay, but they were all missing something.

We came across this dark blue, security barding.

"what do you think?"

We looked at it for a minute. Then shook our heads.

"nah, needs to be at least twenty percent cooler."

"I agree."

There were other armors, but none of them were any good.

Then we found it.

It was on a mannequin, it had light grey plates with a black material connecting them underneath. Somepony had painted a lightning bolt crossing a scoped hunting revolver on the back, and under it, the phrase, "the last thing you never see".

We couldn't take our eyes off it, I almost started drooling. Rainbow was entranced by it.

"so.. Awesome."

"and cool.."

"and radical."

We looked at eachother. We both knew we had to have it, but we needed to convince somepony else.

Red was talking with the stallion, when I sped over, grabbed him by the tail, and brought him to the armor.

The stallion chuckled.

Red had a "this is going to be expensive isn't it?" look on his face.

"I see your friend has good taste."

He walked over to the armor.

"that there, is the T-51 light-weight combat armor. The plates are made up of a light-weight, strong, metal, and are connected to each other, by a carbon fiber nanoweave. It combines mobility, with protection. It will protect ya from small arms. I put the price at round 2,000 caps."

Red gave me a "are you serious?" look.

"Whoa girl, when I said I'll get you armor, I didn't mean th' most expensive one in th' whole apple pickin store."

I gave him a really cute, "pretty please" look.

He stared at me then looked away in conflict.

"No"

I just continued the look.

He looked at me with one eye, then closed them tightly as to try to shut out the image.

"come on. Isn't there any other armor?"

I gave him a sad look.

"but this one will keep me safe.."

I even added a tear at the end.

He tried his best to not look, but the tear broke him. He sighed heavily.

"fine, I'll get you th' armor."

My face brightened up, and I gave him a big hug.

"thankyou!thankyou!thankyou So much!"

I released him, as he, with a pained look on his face, dug out the caps for it, and gave it to the stallion.

We exited the store, and met up with Polaris and Soundwave. Soundwave had his headphones on. When he saw us coming, he took one look at me in my new armor and laughed.

I gave him a confused look, and Red gave him a pained look. He took off his headphones.

"wow, Red! You got cleaned out by a newbie to the wasteland!!"

He turned to me.

"how much was it? I gotta know."

I looked at him with a big grin.

"2,000 caps."

With that he burst out laughing, falling on the ground, Polaris nickered. Red still wore the pained look.

I gave Red another hug.

Then looked at the others.

"well Red did something really nice for me, which means he is now farther ahead of you," I checked my Pipbuck'"and the weeks almost over."

Soundwave's eyes went wide, as Red's face brightened up. He got up quickly.

"whoa! That's not fair. Polaris insisted she didn't need armor. Something about it just slowing her down making it harder to fight 'her way'."

Polaris stepped forward.

"I will be fine, armor will reduce my ability to fight silently. But Soundwave is right, he did try constantly to persuade me to get armor."

Soundwave, had a "come on" look on his face.

I nickered.

"fine, half points for trying. Agreed?"

He smiled.

"agreed."

My adventurous look spread across my face once again.

"now let's go kick some raider tail."

With that we were off.

                    *** *** ***

The cold rain pattered my armor as we walked. Well THEY walked, I flew above making sure the way is clear.

Don't want to have another giant radscorpion incident.

I volunteered for look out, mostly because I can fly, and my pipbuck's E.F.S allowed me to see what the darkness of the night would hide from me.

The used-to-be enclave base rose up over a hill as I my vision reached over it. My E.F.S filled with red bars.

I returned to them and landed next to Polaris. Soundwave removed his headphones at my presence. Apparently they were water proof too.

"the raider base is right over the next hill."

We reached the top of the hill.

Red pulled out his custom sniper rifle which he named "Death's Justice". He even had the name engraved on the butt of the gun. He looked through the scope and surveyed the building.

Then his whole composure changed. The second he put the scope to his eye, he was whole different pony. His  black eyes, turned to a cold cobalt. His breathing was controlled, and calm.

At that moment, I knew I never wanted to be on the other end of that scope.

"there is at least four of them. Two on th' roof, an' two out front."

Four quick shots rang out. The four raiders dropped. He was in his own world now.

"make that no raiders now, an' a way in."

Our jaws dropped.

Except Soundwave's.

He just nickered.

I turned to others.

"okay, let's try and be quiet as possible. Let's see how many we can take out before they notice."

Polaris stepped forward.

"Lightning, may I please speak to you in private?"

I looked at Soundwave, who just nodded and slipped on his head phones. That's when I turned to Polaris.

She wore her concerned look.

" Lightning are you sure you can do this? I still have memories of last time."

I sighed.

" no. I'm not sure. But, I need to get stronger, I need to do this."

I gave her a reassuring smile.

"besides, this isn't just about clearing out the raiders. It's about getting answers. This was an ENCLAVE base, and I want to know what they were doing here, even if I don't like what I find, and I probably won't."

She still wore the look.

I gave her a hug then walked towards Soundwave , who was waiting, and held out a hoof to her.

"come on, don't cha trust me?"

She gave me a weak smile, then shook my hoof.

"as I have said before, I am with you."

I smiled, then Soundwave patted on me the back. I looked at him in surprise, he was grinning.

"I'm with ya too. So is Red, the only reason he doesn't show it, is because he is too much of a lone wolf. But I know my brother, he trusts you. The armor your wearing is proof of it."

"but why?"

He just smiled and Polaris joined him.

"you not only saved our (he was talking about his and Polaris') lives, but you've shown you got heart. Polaris here told me all about your plan."

I had almost forgotten about the rain, at least I did until the sound of thunder rumbled across the sky.

Rainbow gave a smile.

"see, I told you, you are awesome."

I grinned confidently.

"okay team. Let's do this."

           *** *** ***

The air inside was, like every stupid building on the face of the planet, musty and cool. The metal floor, and walls, were very dirty.

As we silently continued down the hallway, red bars started appearing on my E.F.S.

However, there was a problem.

There were yellow bars too, and a strange creepy giggling coming from the second door down, on my left.

There also was a strange smell coming from it too.

We reached the open door, then I almost lost my lunch.

There was body parts strewn all over the lab, intestines were hung on the walls like streamers.

The smell of dedicated body parts attacked my nostrils.

I'm pretty sure he didn't hear me lose any food I may eaten today, seeing as he was busy ripping to pieces an unrecognizable dead pony and giggling uncontrollably.

There was a unicorn mare, with a yellow coat, and a pink mane, holding a little filly. They both were crying and shaking in their cage. Her cutie mark was a gum ball machine.

Rainbow came up beside me, with a sad look on her face.

" this could've been prevented..."

I looked at her. Then an indignant look spread across my face.

"it's too late to prevent it. So I'm ending this. Now."

Polaris gave me a concerned look, which faded when she saw my look.

I pulled out my Fathers gun.

It seemed like an appropriate choice.

I aimed it at his back. He didn't deserve a quick death.

"hey asshole!"

He turned, and faced me with his crazed look, giggling.

"playtimes over."

He charged, and I emptied the gun.

The first shot hit him square in the chest, but he kept charging. What the fuck?

The second shot slammed into his side, be he still kept coming. Why don't you die?!?

The forth shot blew off one of his forehooves, but he just kept coming. Die already!

The fifth, sixth, and seventh shot, all went into his head, effectively blowing it apart.

I holstered the gun.

Why didn't he go down with the first shot? Does insanity offer protection against bullets?

At any rate, my little battle alerted everypony to our presence. I could see the red bars moving in on us. I turned to the mare and the filly, who were still shaking.

"stay here okay?"

They nodded shakily.

I turned to the others.

"hey! We got company!"

Soundwave readied, but Polaris put an arm in front of him.

"it is time for my turn to contribute."

She smiled.

I opened my mouth to say something, but it just hung open.

The reason being, what Polaris was doing.

She started to glow with a white sparkling energy, which began to concentrate around her hooves and started forming something around her two fore hooves. The energy formed a blade on each one.

The raiders turned the corner, and she sprang into action.

Her movements were quick and fluid, the first raider charged her as the others opened fire. She jumped over the raider, and disappeared into the shadows.

The raider fell into three pieces, as she appeared effortlessly dodging the raiders frantic shots.

She moved past the second raider smoothly, and moved to the next one.

The raider watched his gun fall to pieces, then his surprised look froze as half his head slid off.

The last three started backing away and firing panicked shots, only to see her disappear into the shadows again.

The last one backed up against the window as he watched the other two just fall to pieces.

Literally.

Polaris appeared right in front of him, just in time for his head to explode.

The sound of the shot reached us, as the dead raider fell over.

We just stared at her in disbelief, as the sparkling energy faded away.

I was the first to snap out of it, Rainbow just stood there in awe.

"that was awesome!! I didn't know you could actually use your energy to fight!"

She smiled.

"I can. However it is very draining."

Soundwave shook his head, and snapped out of it.

"wait, what energies?!?"

I looked at Polaris and she looked at me, then we smiled.

"well you see, she's a star."

His jaw dropped.

"like 'twinkling light in the sky' type star?"

We nodded out heads.

My E.F.S was clear of reds and I left Soundwave to question Polaris, while I made sure that the mare and her filly were okay.

I entered the room, the mare was still a bit shakey and she held the trembling little filly in her hooves.

"let's get you two out of there."

I went to work on the lock. It was a simple lock, so it wasn't that hard. I held the screwdriver with my teeth, while I operated the bobby pin with my tongue.

The lock opened with a click, and the door swung open.

I helped them out of the cage (mostly because they too scared to move).

I picked them up and put them on my back. They weren't too heavy, I guess what they went through may have had something to do with it.

When I exited the room, with them on my back, Soundwave was still contemplating the concept of her being a star.

Red entered the hall, and surveyed the scene.

I was trying to console the mare and her filly, Soundwave was sitting with a screwed up look on his face, while Polaris explained something to him.

"what in tarnation happened here?"

I looked up at Red, with a pained look.

"If you really want to know.. Look in there."

He walked over to the doorway, and a grim look spread across his face. He looked at the mare, then at the dead bodies littering the hall, and connected the dots.

I looked back at the mare, who had managed to calm down enough to tell me her name.

Her name was bubblegum, and her filly's name was gumdrop. I had my right wing wrapped around her in a comforting way.

"so what happened to you?"

My voice was calm, and gentle. Rainbow looked on, with a hopeful look on her face.

Her breathing slowed as she tried to summon the strength to answer.

"mmy caravan, was ppassing through when..."

She hung her head low, still shaking. Gumdrop was no better.

I was able to piece together what happened next, and seeing how old she was, I could tell that they didn't just slaughter her friends in front of her...

I hugged her tightly, and she cried into my shoulder. I could feel her wet tears fall in my shoulder and feel her shaking. The others looked on with a sad look on their faces, so did Rainbow.

               *** *** ***

Polaris had taken my place in keeping her company, and trying consoling her.

I was up the records room, looking for answers, while Red and Soundwave scavenged below.

I solemnly searched, Rainbow did what she could to help.

"I could have prevented all this.."

I looked over at Rainbow who wore a solemn look.

"It not your fault, The zebras fired first."

She just shook her head.

"no, we started the stupid war."

A sad look spread across my face.

"you didn't create the megaspells-"

She suddenly stomped her hoof and turned to me.

"your right I didn't create them, but I knew fluttershy would give the zebras some megaspells. She just had to help EVERYPONY."

I reeled at that, she just continued.

"but no, instead of stopping her, I just let it happen. Not only that, I called her a traitor!!"

My eyes widened.

"I knew she was just trying to be kind, but I was just frustrated. You know what the worst part is?"

Her rose colored eyes were dripping with tears.

"I never spoke her to afterwards. The last thing she knew when she died, was that her best friend hated her."

With that she broke down. She dropped to the floor and buried her head in her hooves crying.

I picked her up and hugged her, wrapping my wings around her as well.

I guess I'm "Lighting the therapist" today.

Five minutes later she composed herself. Her tears may not of actually touched me, but it sure felt like they did.

She pointed a hoof at the far wall.

"I saw a terminal, that looked pretty important, over by the wall."

I Walked up to the terminal and tried to access it. However it was too hard for me.

I had no idea were to start.

Soundwave trotted in.

"hey Lightning you alright?"

I looked over at him.

"oh, trying hacking for the first time?"

He must have seen my confused look.

He trotted over and directed my attention towards the screen.

"okay what you should do first is connect your pipbuck to the terminal. I can't do it for you, because I can't touch the terminal. Seeing as it is made from clouds."

I looked at my pipbuck, there was an option on it that said, "connect to terminal", so I selected it.

The terminal lined with random words and characters.

I looked up at Soundwave.

"what now?"

"well you see, you need to find the right word, and you get four tries. Go ahead pick one."

I selected the word "secrets". One of the bars disappeared, and the word appeared on the side saying 2/7 correct.

"okay so two letters out of the seven are right, so try that one."

He pointed a hoof at the screen.

I selected the word "cleanse". It worked. The screen changed, then a list of projects, and what not, scrolled across the screen. None of them held any interest. Project lightning strike... Experiment 501..... Operation 6011.

Operation 6011.

I knew were I heard that name.

I selected it. This time three options appeared. Project Wavelength, Project Shining Star, and Project Ground Breaker.

I selected the first.

A list of items scrolled across the screen.

"huh."

I looked up at Soundwave.

"what is it?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know... Those parts seem familiar."

Well I didn't know what it all was about, but I didn't feel like we had the time to read all of it.

"hey Soundwave, is there anyway I could save this for later?"

He nickered.

"just download it on to your pipbuck."

I rolled my eyes.

Of course. There was an download option.

I downloaded the rest of the data from Operation 6011 onto my pipbuck.

We went downstairs and joined the others. Bubblegum had finally calmed down, and was able to compose herself. However, gumdrop was still a bit shaken.

Everyone turned to me.

"okay gang! We have two choices: spend the night in "nightmareville", or walk back to Horseshoe in this bad weather."

                 *** *** ***

The rain pattered against my armor and wings, as I soared above. My mane was already soaked, and Rainbow was giving me the "you just had to give them a choice" look. Her rainbow colored mane was soaked, apparently she could be affected by the environment.

I just gave her an apologetic smile.

I could see the others below, so could Gumdrop.

She peeked out of my saddlebags.

She originally didn't want to go, so I offered to let her ride in my saddlebags while I kept watch above. That brightened her up. She begged Bubblegum to let her do it, for ten minutes straight, until she finally said yes. When she hopped in, my pipbuck let me know that "Gumdrop" had been added to my inventory.

I swear that little pink filly was so cute. She had a pink coat, with a short messy pink mane, even her eyes were pink. Her flank was blank.

I shivered a little. Not only was the rain cold, the night air was too.

I looked over at Rainbow. She must be freezing.

I looked back down at the others.

Soundwave had his headphones on, and was nodding his head to whatever music he was listening to. His light blue and white barding was perfect for him, he even had a built-in sound system. He seemed to be able to ignore the rain as long as he had his music.

Red just wore his duster and cowboy hat, both were dripping wet. But he also ignored the rain, guess it comes with the job of being a mercenary. In case you were wondering, he only took jobs to help good ponies.

Polaris was also soaking wet, and seemed to be the only one who actually reacted to the rain. She was shivering from the cold, but she refused to let anyone know. However, I could tell.

Bubblegum was also soaked. However she was far better at hiding how cold she was.

I turned my gaze to scenery.

I can see why it's called the "Great Equestrian Plains". Everything was so plain. The only differences were the hills, and a group of large rocks every now-and-then.

Gumdrop's cute little filly voice rang out.

"Look Miss Lightning! It's a flying scorpion!"

A confused look spread across my face.

What the heck did she mean by flying scor-.

I stopped myself, as a look of realization appeared on my face.

That sounds like...

I dove down.

"we got baddies!! Left side!!!"

They heard me, and they all took cover in a grouping of large rocks.

A deadly bolt of magical energy flew past me, causing Gumdrop to duck down and curl into ball inside my saddlebags.

A wing of three Pegisai in enclave power armor sped towards us.

The armor was dark blue, and was designed to look kind of like a bug. The tail had a ball of spikes at the end, and the armor was equipped with four magical energy weapons that were mounted on the helmet. The whole look was designed to be intimidating as hell.

However that wasn't the half of it .

Up ahead, the town of Horseshoe burned.

That made me snap.

First the enclave took my trust. Then they took Hope. They even took my home. But now, they have taken, not just from me, but from all my friends. They even took from the Horseshoe's residents their lives.

With a roar, I charged the three soilders.

Footnote: level up

New perk: hard head- you know how to use your head, your repeated use of it had made it stronger. You bring literal meaning to having a thick skull.  You have a +5% damg increase when using your head butt, and use have +15% dt against headshots.

New quest perk: extra pair of eyes- nothing escapes your notice, with Rainbow Dash's help, what you miss she won't. Most of the time. Your perception is raised to 8 out of combat, and raised to 10 in combat.

(author's note:(PLEASE READ) thanks for your patience!!! Sorry about the wait, it was big and important chapter. Thanks to Kkat for creating the universe of F.O.E. also thanks to somber without his help I wouldn't be writing as good as I could be. Be sure to read his fic "Project Horizons". Thanks to support of my friends, The writers Group, and of course...You!! My readers! thanks for reading, as long as there as at least somebrony out there who enjoys this, I'll keep writing. Also I could use a new cover image, I know some of you out there are artist, it would be greatly appreciated, even those who aren't artist are welcome to submit stuff. Please send all art to my email, jamestron10@gmail.com! Remember constructive criticism is welcome in the comments. Now have an awesome day!

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