Fallout Equestria: Due North

Our ride shuddered to a halt, the cloud generators shutting down. I peered out of the narrow viewport behind me, catching sight of a rotting turquoise mare cantering over. The troop ramp dropped onto the asphalt, and in silence I disembarked the sky-tank.

Lightning Dust noticed my expression just as the others caught up with me. She gave a worried frown and increased her pace.

"Cloudburst," she called out, her voice like sandpaper, "What happened down there?"

"I did it," I replied simply, not in the mood for conversation.

"You did what?" she raised an eyebrow for a second. "Does that mean you got inside?"

"Yeah," I deadpanned.

"That's great news," she looked genuinely surprised, "Then what went wrong?"

I stood there for a second, unsure of what to say. Did she really not know about the state of the north? Or did she expect me not to be affected by it?

"The Republic…" Sunbeam piped up before I could think of what to say, "It was awful."

"You didn't know?!" Lightning's wings unfurled in surprise. "Shit; I wouldn't have dumped you in there if I'd known."

"Too late now," I shrugged.

"Anyway, you said you passed through the shields?" she asked. Of course she would want results.

"Yup, got into Switchboard," I explained, "Turns out I have 'Vermillion-Level' MoA clearance. And I may have worked out why."

A dash of pride crept into my voice at that last point. Being related to Scootaloo was a pretty cool idea.

"Good," she said quickly, "Get some rest, then meet me in my office."

"Yes ma'am," I tried and failed miserably to salute.

With her satisfied for the moment, I turned towards the barracks. I set off silently, and the others followed as I cantered across the mountaintop and onto the cloud.

From there it wasn't far until I found my room, first on the left. Inside I just dropped my saddlebag and threw myself into the cloud matress, tired out by the day's events. Why weren't the Boomers doing anything about the Republic?

I'm not sure how long I lay there, just contemplating everything that had happened up until that point. The Enclave had always said the wasteland was a lawless expanse, filled with chaos and ruin. Raiders had pretty much proved that point for me, but there had also been civilised groups in towns and cities, places like Friendship City and Firefly.

What I'd never expected was for the ponies in those civilisations to be just as bad. The way that soldier had just beaten that mare to death without a second thought, all because she'd dared to ask for charity. It made me sick to my stomach, all of it, and if Lightning Dust's militia weren't doing anything about it now, then they damn well would be.

"We've got the music in our hearts; we're here to blow this thing apart,"

I sat up; someone was singing, and singing well, their voice dragging me from my thoughts. Was that Songbird? I stumbled to my hooves, peering out of my door and across the narrow hallway.

Sure enough, the girl was sitting on her bed, pencil in hand, drawing something while singing to herself. I trotted slowly over, the cloud muffling each hoofstep down to a soft 'fwoomp'.

"We're here to sing our song out loud, get you dancing with the crowd,"

She continued her song, unaware that she had a single-pony audience. I moved closer again, as silently as possible, until I was literally in the doorway. She finished up her drawing, cheeks reddening slightly as she held it up to the light.

With a faint giggle of delight she placed it down on the bed, tearing the page from her notepad. She folded the paper up and went to put it in her pocket, and saw me.

"Oh, h-hi Cloudburst," she was blushing, a lot, "I-I was just, erm,"

"Your voice is amazing," I offered, trying to be reassuring.

"Y-you really think so?" she stammered, embarrassed.

"Yup," I smiled warmly.

"Thanks,"

"Can I see your drawing?" I asked, prompting her to shy away defensively.

"I-it's not very good," she sighed, "You probably wouldn't like i-"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," I sat down next to her, "I'm sure it's great." I was starting to sound like Golden Heart.

"O-okay," she took a deep breath and stiffened up, fidgeting nervously with the paper as she unfolded it.

I studied the paper. She'd drawn a human, wearing some kind of armour, carrying an advanced weapon that I was sure I'd seen somewhere.

Where had I… wait; that was a holorifle. I suddenly noticed the segmented plates on the arms and legs, and the faint stripes in the hair. This was me, drawn as a human. No wonder she'd been staring at me that morning.

"It's great," I said in total honesty, "It's me, right?"

"I, yeah, it is," she let out a deep sigh. "You really like it?"

"Sure I do kiddo," I admitted, taking another look at the cross-hatch shaded pencil shapes. It was only then that I noticed; she'd sketched a little heart in the bottom left of the page. A heart? Why would she…

Suddenly everything fell into place; the staring, the embarrassment, the way she was always self-conscious around me, perhaps even the whispering in the mess hall. I'd been exactly the same way once, on-and-off for five years; Songbird had a crush on me.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Uh huh?" she looked up from her next drawing.

"You know," I began; careful now, "I do notice when you're staring at me."

She looked down at her feet, swinging off the edge of the bed. Her entire face went from a pale pink to a reddish hue, and for a second an awkward silence hung in the air.

"I-I'm sorry," she muttered, "I d-didn't mean to, I was just-"

"Songbird," I reassured, "It's okay. I'm not going to think any less of you for this, or anything else. You need to stop worrying around me."

"O-okay, it's j-just," she stuttered, unsure of what to say.

"Nothing you can do is going to make me hate you," I reassured, wrapping her affectionately in an undersized wing. "I like you a lot, Songbird, just not in that way."

"Thanks," she sighed, "Again."

"No problem," I smiled, when a thought came to me. "Hey, where's that song from?"

"The one I was singing?" she asked. "It's really old, like, pre-Midnight Incident originally. It's the Rainbooms debut release; The Music of our Friendship. It's been covered so many times, but I still really like the original."

"The Rainbooms huh?" I asked, glad to have found something she was interested in.

"Yup," she smiled, picking up her jacket, "There were seven; highschool friends who got together every so often to sing songs."

"Cool," I replied, "D'you know of any of the members?"

"W-well, you see, that's the thing," she reverted to her earlier shyness, "I told Granny Pearl about them once, a-and she told me to stop being stupid. Apparently they're l-like government figures over here."

I suddenly remembered the photo of the human Ministry Mares, alongside the owner of the jacket she was now wearing. Had that been an image of the Rainbooms?

"Did one of them own your jacket?" I asked slyly.

"Yeah, yes one did!" her face lit up, and she came out of her shell once again. "Sunset Shimmer, guitar and part-time lead vocals. How did you guess?"

"I saw that photo of them in the museum and recognised the other six," I admitted, "They're a big deal over here for a different reason. During the war they were major political figures."

"So, there were like, parallel versions of them here?" she asked, eyes wide with interest.

"Probably," I shrugged, "Hey, you know you said they got together before the Midnight Incident seventy years ago?"

"Yup?"

"Well in this world, at least according to Enclave history, they met around forty years before the war in something called the 'Nightmare Crisis'," I explained.

"And if those two happened at around the same time," Songbird caught on, "Then Watcher was right!"

"Exactly," I grinned. Suddenly I froze; I was supposed to be seeing Lightning Dust. With that thought I launched myself to my hooves.

"Where are you going?" she asked, disappointment clear in her voice.

"I have to see the general," I admitted, before conceding at the sight of her crestfallen expression. "Alright, you can come if you want."

She leapt up from the bed, delighted at my suggestion. She pulled on her jacket and stuffed her drawing equipment into the pockets. I set off slowly down the hallway, and she fell into step beside me.

She seemed a lot more comfortable now that the cat was out of the bag. She'd probably expected me to react badly, and my more accepting response to her feelings was no doubt reassuring. I could hardly blame her; she was a young teen, who as far as I could tell had never had a boyfriend. That was, of course, assuming that eight-year-old humans didn't form romantic relationships.

The walk to the command building was short, although I paused for a second to see if Sunny was with the rest of the foals. I caught sight of her sitting on the grassy plateau in the centre of a circle of children under Windbreaker's watchful gaze. Whatever she was telling them they were completely invested, and her pigtails fluttered as she rapidly turned to each kid in turn.

Tearing my eyes away, I continued to head for the main building. Songbird followed suite, a slight spring present in her step as she followed me closely. The trot was quick, and soon we were through the door and out of the sun, past the guarding statues.

Lightning Dust's room was, as usual, shut. As I approached I found myself wondering if she was averse to light in some way, given how her room had been dark when I'd entered. Then again, she had come out to meet our aircraft.

I raised a hoof and rapt on the door quickly; no response. I tried again, but was once again greeted with silence. It was only when I gave up that I became aware of voices on the other side of the cloud wall, talking about me.

"Vermillion?"

"Yes," it was the general's voice, "Vermillion. That's half the reason I'm letting him go north; he'll have access to more of the empire than anyone else here."

"We don't have the aircraft to send him up," the other pony observed, "Are you suggesting he go on hoof?"

"I'll have Fleur get him an escort," Lightning explained. "It's not ideal but it's the best we can do."

"Alright," the other voice seemed satisfied. "Hold up a second. What's the clearance on the hub?"

There was a moment of silence, before somepony spoke once more.

"Well Vermillion's the highest," Lightning said slowly, "But there's a high chance only the general herself had access. Besides, we both know there's no chance he'd agree to that."

If Dust was talking about 'the general', then she was probably referring to Rainbow Dash. This 'hub' was somewhere possibly only she had access to, ergo a facility of the highest importance.

"Still," the other said, "It's something to think about. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe you have company."

My heart skipped a beat; they knew I was here. Hang on; I'd knocked on the door. They'd probably just heard that.

I stepped back as somepony approached the door, their hooffalls too heavy to be Lightning Dust. The door swung open, and a large stallion strode through. He and I brushed shoulders, yet he didn't even spare me a glance. He just trotted past, away down the halls.

"What's his problem?" I muttered under my breath as I entered the darkened room. Lightning looked up.

"Who, Tailwind?" she let out a long, raspy sigh. "The Enclave put him through a lot of shit."

He'd been in the Vertibuck that had picked up up at the factory, and again when we'd been dropped off in Ponestown. On neither journey had he spoken, instead choosing to sit in total silence. My old flight school teachers would've loved him.

Songbird entered the room, closing the door behind her. Lightning's discoloured eyes narrowed.

"You remember when I told you about Dashites, about Calamity?"

"The Enclave invented a load of shit about him killing his flight?" I suggested.

"Exactly," she thumped the desk with her hoof for emphasis. "He was one of the ponies in that flight. Now, from the council's point of view that's five ponies who need to disappear, or else their little story doesn't hold up."

"The Enclave had them killed?" I blurted out, prompting her to nod sadly.

"That's horrible!" Songbird exclaimed.

"That's the Grand Pegasus Enclave," Lighting shrugged. "They set the fucking Wraithwing on them."

"Who?" I raised an eyebrow.

"The Enclave Inquisition picks some lucky soldier to be the council's personal knife," she explained, "They're technically a member of the 'Bolts, but they don't fly with 'em. There's a special suit of armour and everything from what I've heard."

I suddenly remembered the day when me and Maelstrom had been working on Astral's sky-tank, when that armoured pony had strode laughing out of the command building. Had that been the Wraithwing?

"So he just dives on this squad while they're out on ops," Dust continued, "And starts slaughtering them. Tailwind's ponies were murdered so the council could forge their own version of events. He's only alive because he played dead.

"He took a fucking power hoof to the chest, fractured three ribs, and didn't flinch. The Wraithwing thinks he's dead and flies off. He gets up, limps to the nearest town, and says he'll work for medical aid."

"So your guys recruited him?" I asked.

"Yup; he's a damn good soldier," Dust said proudly. "Now, let's get down to brass tacks; you want answers, I want information."

"I was able to enter the post in the basement," I began, "It's some hub called Switchboard. That's not all that's down there though; they've built an underground bar."

"You mean The Shop?" she asked, prompting me to nod. "So that's where it is. So you said you discovered why you have clearance?"

"Scootaloo had a brother," I smirked, "One Corporal Eclipse. Worked at a listening post"

"Eclipse?" she asked. "If he's MoA then he's Air Force; in other words he's probably a pegasus. I'll have somepony in Thunderhead run that through the records, see what turns up. Anything else you found?"

"All the data's on here," -I placed my pipbuck onto the table- "I downloaded it all."

"Good work," she smiled, "Take it over to Cross Halving, in the armoury. He'll get it extracted. Now, I promised you answers, so ask away."

"What's really going on in the Northern Republic?" I demanded.

"Going on?" she raised an eyebrow. "What's going on is everypony's desperate to get to the top, and those at the bottom are being crushed under the weight. It used to be better, back when Stalliongrad first became the Divide, but that was two decades ago."

"What happened to Stalliongrad?" I asked.

"There was a missile base there, with balefire warheads," she explained. "They were low-yield though, designed to be used to bombard the enemy in case of invasion. As a result they weren't covered by Operation Windigo, and never fired.

"Twenty years ago somepony found a way into the silos, managed to set off two thirds of the fucking megaspells underground. The ground cracked and broke, and a bunch of stuff collapsed. Some of the survivors made it to places like Ponestown and those villages banded together as the Republic."

"But it didn't last," I cut in.

"Like every good thing in this Celestia-forsaken wasteland," she shot back. "All the radiation and shit in the Divide created TDC, y'know, the disease. The problem got so bad that they had to close the border, stop accepting refugees. That went down well.

"The Marked Legion rose up, and the whole NR turned to war. Rainbow Falls used to be a thriving town; now it's just barracks and guns. It's the kind of thinking that caused the Great War, but what's the alternative?"

"There's one thing I don't get," I sighed, "Why've they banned trading?"

"It's part of their 'Equalism' policies," she explained, "Which, despite the name, are about keeping the rulers on top and everypony else down. Nopony, at least nopony poor, owns anything in the Republic, it all belongs to the government."

"If citizens can then buy things, then they can get their own property. So instead the ponies on top blanket ban commerce and pay their citizens in self-printed 'ration tokens' valid for food only within the Republic. Then they hoard the food as well, and so there's never enough of anything to go around."

"Why would they do that?" Songbird cut in.

"For their own gain," Lightning Dust shrugged, "They blame it all on the disease; 'the blight' they call it, but really they're just trying to be better off than everypony else. Doesn't help that ration tokens are allocated on how much the government likes you or finds you useful."

"Why doesn't anybody fight back?" Songbird asked.

"They do," Lighting retaliated, "We do. There's a group dedicated to fighting the government; the Twittermites. They take out key Republic figures and smuggle refugees out of the Divide into land under our protection, where we can best treat the disease. We provide them with weapons and ammo, and on occasion air support."

I breathed a sigh of relief; the Boomers were helping after all. A thought suddenly hit me.

"Hey, if TDC kills half of all foals who catch it," I asked, "How come there are still Marked after eight years?"

"They breed like rabbits," she looked away. "They have mares whose sole purpose is to pump out children. They're the ones we rescue most often, alongside the kids. I've seen girls as young as thirteen used like that, it's horrific."

The thought of somepony Songbird's age being used as a sex slave was truly sickening. I felt the urge to punch something, but nothing disposable was in range.

"My thoughts exactly," Lightning Dust noticed my outraged expression. "It gets worse. The mountain passes to the west are controlled by a raider group called the White Hooves. They worked out that the Legion would give them weapons and positions of honour if they delivered captives with all four limbs. So they raid to the southwest, towards Baltimare, and sell slaves to the Legion once they're done torturing them."

My urge to pummel something doubled. This had to stop, as soon as possible, and I wasn't going to sit back and wait for it to.

"I want to help," I blurted out, "There's got to be something-"

"I'm sending you into the Divide," she said slowly. "We'll get you a Twittermite agent as an escort. I'd expect you to put any Marked out of their misery, but that's not why you're going."

"The Crystal Empire," I said sombrely.

"Exactly," she thumped the cloud desk again, "The joint research facility there was MoA lead; if anypony can get it it's you."

"The other ministries were involved?" I asked.

"Yup," she explained, "Officialy Arcane Sciences owned it, although we know better. They still did a major project on crystal weaponry there alongside Wartime Technology. Energy weapons came out of that. MAS had two other operations there; Project Sunset and Project Starfall."

"Starfall was a megaspell," I asked, "Right?"

"You've listened to that tape from A113," she observed, "All the posts were ordered to tape that order, just in case. That's why I wanted it; to see if they actually fired Starfall. Nopony except those who built it and Twilight herself know what it actually is, but judging from everything I've heard it's bad news."

"Any idea about Sunset?"

"Nope," she shrugged, "But hopefully you're going to find out."

"I have MoA clearance," I pointed out, "Not MAS."

"And I know somepony who's been to the Empire," she shot back, "Somepony who came back with a load of information. Her name's Fleur, a high-ranking member of the Twittermites. What we're all hoping is that with your DNA and her info you'll have unrivalled access."

"Alright," I conceded, "I'll do it… on one condition,"

"What?" she snapped.

"Her," -I gestured to Songbird- "And my sister get to come too."

"Why?" Dust asked, "You'd just be putting them in danger."

"The only way for her to get home is in the Empire," I retorted, "And Sunny's family, where she goes I go."

"Fine," Lightning let out a long, deep sigh, "Fine. You'll be departing with Railroad 2-1, so I expect you to be at the briefing tomorrow at eight."

"Yes ma'am," I said quickly, turning to leave.

"Dismissed," she said simply.

I trotted briskly away, Songbird in tow. She skipped along as we passed back out into the light. Once again I looked for my sister, but by now Windbreaker had called the foals in for the afternoon.

The armoury was a short ways away, and we arrived within a few seconds. It was as large and imposing as last time, and, now that I thought about it, was probably a repurposed aircraft hangar. I knocked on the door.

As expected, nopony replied. I gave the door a gentle push, and it swung open slowly. Songbird shot a furtive glance at me, then looked back at the dark hallway beyond. I just smiled reassuringly and trotted inside.

As I headed along the cloud corridor the sounds of machinery could be heard. Somepony, probably Cross Halving, was using a metal lathe. What exactly he was working on I couldn't tell, but I was about to find out.

I entered the main workshop, and wasn't at all surprised to see an orange stallion leaning over a lathe. It was a bulky green thing, drawing power from a rubber cable snaking across the floor. The buck moved one of the inbuilt tools in, and aluminium shavings flew everywhere.

He hit the stop button, stepping back from the machine. He pulled up his goggles onto his forehead, muttering all the while.

"No, no, this won't do at all," he turned towards me. "Oh, hiya mate!" He gave a cheery wave, trotting up to me. "What can I do you for?"

"You're Cross Halving, right?" I asked. "I've got the data from the MoA facility in Ponestown."

"Ah, right this way," he set off at a canter, heading into a side room. Inside was a large terminal, with red lights blinking on the sides of advanced databanks. It wasn't as futuristic as the ones in the listening posts, but it was certainly not civilian equipment.

"Just plug 'er in there," he gestured to a universal port on the side of the device. I unrolled my data transfer cable and connected, while he sat down at the terminal screen.

There was a moment of silence, with only the click of the terminal keys audible. Then Cross stood up and trotted over, disconnecting my cable.

"It's done," he grinned, "I'll go over this with the general later. Anything else you needed?"

I didn't think so, unless… the recordings! I had three audio logs of Songbird's father, one of which was directly addressed to her. She deserved to hear them.

"Is my old pipbuck still here?" I asked.

"Yup," Cross nodded cheerfully, "Over there. Forget to take something off it?"

He pointed into the main area, to the shelf where I'd left my equipment the previous day. Apparently he hadn't gotten around to it yet. I cantered over.

I linked the two pipbucks and located the trio of audio files, downloading them all. Songbird shot me a confused look, but I just nodded. This was going to be a surprise. I quickly thanked Cross Halving and headed for the door, not really sure what I intended to do next.

Outside everything was soaked in the warm glow of Celestia's sun. The light glinted on the windows, on the rushing water, and on the barrels of the multiple howitzers stationed around the peak.

The 'krump' of a cannon going off shook me out of my reverie. Smoke was wafting from the barrel of one of the guns, rising away on the gentle breeze. That could only mean one thing: zone call.

I never got the chance to warn Songbird. Anything I could have said was smothered by the roar of an artillery barrage. The sound rolled across the plateau, blowing the grass over and rattling the base's windows.

The shells arced over, trailing smoke, until the punctured they cloud layer and fell out of sight. As they flew they converged, all heading to one unlucky point beneath the clouds. Whatever was down there wasn't going to last much longer.

The howitzers' fury died down, replaced with the distant rumble of the shells 'landing'. The orange flashes lit up the clouds, like some kind of inverse lightning. I looked over at Songbird, who was shuddering with a mixture of fear and excitement.

"Woah," she muttered, breathtaken.

"I know," I replied simply. "Hey, c'mon; there's something I want to show you."

I lead her quickly across the cloud to the barracks, past the great statues of the command building. She skipped alongside me, eager to find out what this surprise was. I was worried though; this would undoubtedly end in tears.

======

"Songbird! Sweetie… if you can hear this… daddy… daddy loves you-"

Crosswind's voice gave way to a mixture of sobs and hacking coughs, before the recording abruptly cut out. I looked over at Songbird.

She was sitting next to me on the edge of my bed. Her eyes were reddened from crying, tear-stains running down her face. For a second she quavered, as if unsure as to whether to burst into sobs again. Then the floodgates opened and a fresh deluge of sorrows began.

I pulled her close. She gratefully accepted my embrace, throwing her spindly arms around me and placing her chin on my shoulder. She hugged, hard, until she nearly forced the wind out of me.

"It's okay," I whispered, as gently as possible, "Let it all out."

"I-I-I miss him," she stammered, "I m-miss them all; my family, and f-friends, and-"

"You'll see them again," I reassured, "I'm getting you home, no matter what."

She was silent, letting her emotions flow free. Slowly but surely her shudders grew less and less pronounced, until all of her sadness was spent and the tears receded.

"I feel so…" she hesitated, "Empty, I mean…"

"It's alright," I continued my embrace, "I felt the same after my brother died."

"Y-your brother?"

"Yeah," I let out a long sigh, "Died out on operations, hunting an outlaw. That's why I enlisted, to try and make him proud."

"Did you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," I gave an empty shrug. "And I'm sure you've made your dad proud too."

"Thanks," she released her grip on me, prompting me to do the same, "For everything. For letting me come with you, for being so nice to me, for not getting mad at me for having feelings for you, and for letting me hear him one last time."

"It's fine," I smiled warmly, "I know Pearl was pretty awful, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be. I care about you kid."

A faint redness crept into her cheeks, beneath the tear marks. The edges of her mouth twitched upwards in a slight smile.

======

"Cloudburst!" Sunbeam called across the mess hall, prompting me to take my tray of boiled carrots over. I stood next to her, sitting on a table populated entirely by children, and Songbird sat down beside her. She was acting with more confidence, and it didn't go unnoticed by my sister.

"Did something happen between you two?" she asked, only somewhat serious. Songbird nodded bashfully, prompting Sunny to turn to me. "Did she tell you?"

"I worked it out," I shrugged, "We went over things, talked about music mostly. She showed me her drawing. I also showed her Crosswind's audio logs."

"So you two are just closer friends now?" one of the foals, the colt who'd whispered yesterday, asked.

"Pretty much," I smiled, turning to Sunny. "So, how was your afternoon sis?"

"Great!" she beamed. "Miss Windbreaker told us all about the history of the Air Force, from the Wonderbolts in the EUP to the Skyguard and then the MoA. It was awesome!"

I suddenly caught sight of somepony in my peripheral vision, gesturing to me with a hoof. I turned
and saw the general sitting at an empty table.

"Hey," I said quickly, "I've gotta run. I'll meet you in the barracks after dinner, alright?"

"Okay," Sunny smiled, while Songbird nodded. I cantered briskly away, over to where Lightning Dust was sitting.

"Ah," she rasped, "Cloudburst. I wanted to talk to you, outside of my capacity as general."

I sat down, trying not to gag at the smell of rotting flesh. She gave an apologetic look.

"You're loyal to your family," she observed.

"Yes," I replied.

"It's good; the wasteland needs more loyalty," she let out a long, gravelly sigh. "Most ponies I meet are just in it for themselves, not caring who they trample over. I used to be like that once."

"Really?" I found it hard to believe that a mare who'd set up an entire militia dedicated to helping ponies would ever have been selfish.

"All throughout my teen years," she admitted. "At seventeen I enlisted into the EUP 1st Pegasus; the Wonderbolts. As far as my youthful self was concerned all I had to do was be better than everypony else; I got thrown out on my ass for that.

"I'll never get used to running this place; they held the academy here. That office used to be the scariest place in Equestria, back when Captain Spitfire ran the place. After I was given the hoof I never expected to find myself sitting in that chair."

"Why'd you set all this up?" I asked, unable to hold my silence any longer.

"An old friend gave me a second chance," she mused, "I wanted to honour her. For the first century and a half of my immortality I became a soldier of fortune, helping wherever I could while hiding from the Enclave. Then I remembered 34."

"As in Stable 34?" I questioned. This 'friend' was probably Rainbow Dash, given the second flag on the command facility.

"The fabled 'MoA black-ops stable'," she let out a chuckle. "It's nothing of the sorts. Apparently Scootaloo decided that her sister needed her own stable. They'd already booked ponies into it, so they just left 35 empty and planned to redirect everypony.

"Dash didn't know what the fuck to do with it, pretty much left it empty. I thought it'd make a pretty good base of operations, so I headed over. Turns out somepony else had found a use for it."

"Huh?" I quickly swallowed the carrot in my mouth, turning my attention back to her.

"When Cloudsdale was hit," she explained, "The remaining members of the 'Bolts gathered up as many survivors as they could and fled. The bastards in Neighvarro wouldn't let 'em in, called 'em 'unclean' or whatever, so they headed to the only facility they knew was still intact."

"And you missed out?"

"I was lying unconscious in the debris field near New Appleoosa," she deadpanned. "Anyway, I arrived, opened the stable door, and used my old rank to convince the inhabitants to follow me."

"You weren't a general though," I said, "Were you?"

"Colonel," she corrected, "I moved up after setting up here so I could promote ponies to pretty much any other position. Okay, so maybe it was a little narcissistic, but it doesn't matter now."

"You've done a lot, from what I've heard," I offered.

"We've got allies in Thunderhead and the Divide, eight flights flying 'round the clock, artillery to spare, better quartermastery than the NR, and enough personnel to run this place at nearly full capacity," she sighed, "And yet it still feels like I'm not doing enough. I just hope Dash, wherever she is, isn't disappointed."

"She's… dead, right?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Ponies like her don't just fade from history," Lightning said firmly, "So either nopony's found her legacy yet, or she's still out there forging it."

======

Evergreen paced in front of the chalkboard, dark green wings flared. Her brown eyes were narrowed, and she was a picture of seriousness.

On the board she'd drawn a series of symbols. All except one consisted of a series of lines, like spokes of a wheel, around a different shape. The other was notably different; it consisted of a crescent, upended so that the points faced upwards. From each side of this protruded a pair of insect wings, and a lightning bolt arced straight down from it. The whole thing was solid colour, bisected by a wide vertical gap.

"Now," the sergeant began, "I know some of you've worked with the Twittermites before, but for the benefit of those who haven't," -she looked directly at me- "I'm going to go over this again. If you see one of these symbols, and undoubtedly you will, then you need to know the meanings.

"If there's an arrow in the centre, you follow it. If there's a box then there's a cache or dead drop nearby. A cross means there's danger; you might be on a Republic patrol route or something. The plus sign means an ally is nearby, in this case our contact.

"This one here is the Twittermites' emblem. If you see this then something's either gone very right and you're in one of their facilities or very wrong. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," we barked in unison.

"Good," she continued. "Now for this operation we're doing something a little different; 1-2's going to drop us off since they have a sky-tank. We'll proceed on hoof until we reach the drop-off point, swap Cloudburst and co. for whoever they've rescued this time, then retreat and fly back to base."

"Aww," Snap Roll pouted, "I don't get to be pilot?"

"No," Evergreen deadpanned, "And there's more; the Republic cannot be allowed to know that the Boomers are involved. As a result no E series or AER/P weapons may be used; that's no lasers in laycolt's terms. Unless it's an emergency you're not allowed to fly above the buildings either."

She pulled down a screen over the chalkboard. Right on queue Firing Pin activated the briefing room's projector, displaying a map of the Crystal Mountains.

"Here," she pointed to the largest village save for Rainbow Falls, "Is the ruins of Ponyat. Used to be the trade capital of the north, before they banned it and everything went to shit. The highway to Stalliongrad runs out of here, so it's the main point of access to the Divide.

"When they closed the border they shelled this place to oblivion, then built the wall," -she gestured to a thick curved line on the map, bisecting the town and connecting to the mountains on both sides- "To keep the Marked out. It's eight yards up, solid concrete, with turret posts. Watchtowers have been built on the mountainsides either side and regular patrols run both sides, however those on the northern side tend to be the penal units."

"So how do we get through?" Firing Pin spoke up.

"According to the 'Mites," Evergreen continued, "The Stalliongrad monorail/subway system had a stop in Ponyat for commuters. The station's caved in, but they've found other ways into the tunnels, south of the wall. It's the only way in and out that isn't owned by the White Hooves or the NR.

"We'll depart at twenty-two hundred hours; this is a night-time operation. You'll have all day to prepare, so I want you all to be ready by then. Have I made myself clear?"

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk:
Birthright - Your DNA is easily mistaken for that of an important figure. As such you can enter certain facilities others cannot and will not be targeted by some automated defence systems.