Fallout: Equestria - Allegiances

Chapter 31 - Defensive
“The first lesson a revolutionary must learn is that he is a doomed man."

We wasted little time getting into the air. I knew that it would take Muddy some time to develop a formal plan and disseminate it, and then even more time for the affected units to get under way. However, that didn’t mean we could delay. We had to get to Coltington and get everypony ready for the attack.

I flew at top speed, straining my muscles but keeping up the pace. After the first hour, the burning turned into pain. But I couldn’t let up. Not if I was going to help save lives.

“Dust, you OK?” Gertie asked as she dropped into formation besides me. She had been flying recon ahead to make sure we avoided stray Enclave patrols, but would come back every so often to give me a report.

“Yeah, Gertie,” I answered. “Just trying to think if there was any way this could have been avoided. I know more ponies are going to die and I can’t shake the feeling that it’s my fault.”

“Dust, you’ve done what you could,” she answered, trying to alleviate my concerns. “You might have been able to reach the General and get him to stop. But Muddy?” Her beak tightened into a grimace. “I don’t think there’s anything anypony can do at this point. We both saw the look on his face when he shot the General. Nothing is going to stop him and the only way to get what he wants now is through you.”

I knew everything she was saying was true, but it didn’t make me feel any better. If I hadn’t blown up the growing facility, the slavery program would only be ramped up. And I would still be hunted. The general might have played by the rules, but he still would have done everything he could have to find me. Muddy just doesn’t play by the same rules.

“So, what’s the plan at Coltington?” Gertie changed topics.

“No plan, really,” I admitted. “We just have to do everything we can to get the town ready to defend itself. But, to be honest, I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done to stop the attack. They will have the personnel and firepower, not to mention air superiority. All we have is home field advantage.”

“And we give a damn about what happens,” Gertie added. “Sometimes, that is more important than numbers and strategy. Our ponies will fight to the bitter end to protect what is ours. Can you say the same for the Enclave?”

“They’ll do what they’re ordered to do,” I responded, shaking my head. “And they’ll do it very well. I don’t know if we can stand up to that.”

Gertie could only grimace in response.

It took a couple more hours to get to Coltington. Having pushed myself so hard, my muscles ached and my body had started to chafe under the harness for the skywagon, but we had to get there quickly. If I had to guess, the pegasi would only be here in a few hours, at best.

Gertie quickly released me from the harness as Silver and Flower came out of the passenger compartment. Unfortunately, I couldn’t waste any time on the pleasantries.

“Flower, you go find Big Boss and try to get him to share the armory,” I ordered. With a smirk, I added, “I’d love to see the look on Firing Pin’s face when he has to open his stock, but I have to be elsewhere.” Flower took off like Tirek out of Tartarus.

“Silver, go see if you can find Old Tin,” I barked. “Find her and get her to round up everypony. We’re going to need them.” Silver simply nodded and took off running.

“Gertie. Horseton is about 15 minutes east of here, by hoof. Do a fly-by and see if you can find anything we can use to bolster defenses here,” I continued, not missing a beat. “Or find a fall back position we can reinforce and defend if need be. If you see the Thunderhead, get back here ASAP.”

“And what will you be doing?” she asked before taking off.

“I’m going to go see the mayor and try to get things organized,” I answered. “It’ll be easier if he orders everypony around instead of just me trying to convince everypony.” We locked gazes. “Be careful.”

“You too,” I returned, with a small caress on her cheek. Gertie took off at breakneck speed towards Horseton.

After watching her leave, I began to run towards Town Hall. My mind was racing, trying to come up with what I would say that would sound believable and quick. How could you tell somepony that the Enclave was sending an entire Thunderhead full of troops to wipe out a town all because of me?

I rounded the corner of one of the private homes. A flurry of motion out of my periphery drew my attention. Unfortunately, I was unable to react when I saw the two by four swinging towards my head. The impact jarred my head and caused the world to spin as I tumbled to the ground. Rolling head over heels, the gravel on the ground bit into my exposed skin as the dust invaded my lungs with every breath.

After coming to a stop, I craned my head around to see what in Tartarus just happened. Before I could see anything, however, something was placed over my head and what felt like a rope secured it over my head and wrapped around my snout.

I fought against my attacker, but I could feel magic working against me and lifting me off the ground. I was being carried through town and we were taking a winding path. Losing track of how many turns we made, I eventually gave up trying to visualize the path on which I was being taken.

After several minutes, a creaking door signaled that we were entering a structure of some kind. The air was cooler and moist, meaning we had entered some kind of cave. That was confirmed once I felt the dirt underhoof transition to stone. I was unceremoniously dumped to the ground and soon felt rope coiling around my hooves and tightening.

Hoofsteps moved away from me and eventually became silent. Out of desperation, I attempted to force my way out of my bonds, but it was impossible. Fucking cheater unicorns. Eventually, I gave up and simply lay there waiting for my captors to return.

After a while, faint hoofsteps filled the cavern I surmised I was in. They drew closer and eventually stopped. Another set picked up again and moved slowly closer to me.

Once the ponies I heard were right on top of me, somepony grabbed the bag and yanked it off my head. The rough material scraped against my skin. Light did not assault my eyes, but it did take some time for them to adjust. I was right about being in a cave. The rocky walls extended into the darkness to my right, but ended abruptly at the door to my left.

Three ponies stood in front of me. Two were unicorns wearing jet black combat armor, and they were levitating assault rifles in their magical fields. The third, standing in the middle, looked like an earth pony. But she wasn’t. Her armor was too familiar… it was too much like mine. The laser rifle mounted to a battle saddle was another dead giveaway.

“So, Updraft,” she growled. “You’re the one that killed the General.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Most down here call me Tumble,” she responded, still glaring at me. “Others call me Operative Sidewinder.”

Operative… it figures. “How did you…” I began to ask.

“Find you?” she cut me off. “That’s easy… Muddy briefed us all.” I felt my face contort as my brain short circuited at the mention of multiple operatives. “Oh yes… Muddy was placed in charge of all the remaining operatives as Cirrus, Luna rest his soul, took on oversight of the overall mission.” She paused as she arched an eyebrow. “But he gave us secondary, private missions. I was here a whole hour before you landed, waiting for you.”

“And what do you plan to do with me?” I asked her.

A evil grin spread across her face. “Me? Not much,” she said, with a snicker. “I’m just going to wait here until the Spitfire shows up and I’ll turn you over. No muss, no fuss.”

“And, what, you were promised a promotion?” I muttered with contempt seeping through the words.

“Huh… you’re right, I’ll probably get one,” she answered, placing a hoof on her chin. “But that’s not why I’m doing this. These are my orders and I am just doing my part as a loyal Enclave soldier.”

“Ha!” I laughed. “Even if what you are doing is wrong? You’re causing pain and torment for the ponies down here, most of whom have done no wrong!”

“Done no wrong?” she scoffed. “Don’t you remember your history classes? Cloudsdale? These dirtponies caused so much death and destruction!”

“It wasn’t these ponies!” I shouted. “That was one hundred and fifty years ago! These ponies had nothing to do with any of that!”

“Then what about what they have done to our soldiers who have gotten stranded down here, never to return?” she shouted right back at me. “Like my brother!”

“Yes, there are messed up ponies down here,” I fought back. “But these ponies, and many others, don’t do that kind of stuff! They are also at the mercy of the animals you’re talking about!”

She hesitated for a moment, but only a moment. “It doesn’t matter. Muddy tells us that you are the key to a truly independent Enclave. We will never have to risk sending any of us down here ever again.”

“But you’ll kill all these ponies!” I cried out.

“Doesn’t matter,” she spat back. “They can all die for all I care.”

A knock at the cave door broke both of our attention. Everypony froze as the knocking sound echoed down the cave.

“You guys expecting anypony?” the pegasus whispered to the two unicorns. Both of them shook their heads. “Sureshot, go check that out.”

One of the unicorn mercs walked towards the door. Floating out one of her weapons, she cautiously opened the door and peeked through the crack. “I don’t see nothin’. Noscope, get over here and cover me.”

The other merc floated out his weapon and walked towards Sureshot. Once he drew near, Sureshot opened the door quietly and carefully moved outside. Noscope followed closely behind.

There were several moments of quiet. “What the? Who?” Sureshot’s muffled voice floated through the door.

A gunshot rang out followed by screaming. A loud thud sounded from outside, then sounds of scuffling on dirt followed by some gurgling, and then silence.

Sidewinder looked towards the door with a bewildered look on her face. “Sureshot? Noscope?” she called out while she approached the door. “What’s going on out there?”

She slowed as she drew near the door, bringing the firing bit to her battle saddle near her mouth. I could hear the energy rifle attached to her side hum as it powered up.

The door swung open, crashing right into Sidewinder and knocking her onto the floor. To her credit, she twisted mid-fall and rolled back onto her hooves facing the door. Gertie was still swinging off the door frame when she saw Sidewinder’s recovery and the shock on her face was palpable.

Unfortunately, Gertie could not stop her momentum and she released the frame. As she flew towards Sidewinder, she tried to extend her wings, but the cave opening was not wide enough. Sidewinder reared up, catching Gertie in her hooves. She twisted her body and threw Gertie to the floor. Moving as swiftly as the wind, Sidewinder dropped onto her hooves and pinned Gertie’s claws to the floor. Then, she placed a hoof on Gertie’s throat and began to press down.

Gertie began to struggle as she gasped for breath, but pained grunts were all she could squeeze out.

“Well, well, well,” Sidewinder mocked her. “What do we have here? Is someone trying to play hero?”

Gertie still struggled but could not make any leeway.

“Don’t you know there are no heroes here?” Sidewinder spat out. “The Wasteland chews them up and spits them out. And what do you two plan on doing? Taking down the Enclave? The two of you?”

I began to struggle against the ropes that tied my hooves together. Unfortunately, the knot held firm, despite my struggle.

“C’mon Sidewinder,” I pleaded. “Your beef is with me. Leave the featherbrain out of it.” I am sure Gertie would have smacked me for that comment if she wasn’t struggling for her life.

“You think I don’t know she is your ally?” Sidewinder laughed. “You think I’m that stupid? You’d have been better off pleading for her life because she’s your special somepony.”

“But she is!” I screamed, noticing the fringes of Gertie’s beak turning blue and her wide eyes turning bloodshot.

Sidewinder and Gertie both shot me looks, both very different. Gertie’s eyes flashed with hope I hadn’t seen since back in camp when we were spending moments together. Sidewinder’s face, however, twisted into disgust.

“Not only do you turn your back on your government, but you turn your back on your own species?!?” she grunted.

“The ponies and griffins have done more for me than the Enclave has!” I shouted.

I saw Gertie’s eyes begin to roll back into her head. Soon, her eyelids slid shut and I saw her body go limp.
“Gertie! No!” I cried out, renewing my struggle against the ropes that bound me. “You bitch! I will kill you!”

Sidewinder laughed as she removed herself from atop of Gertie’s body. She walked towards me, menacingly.

“You are so lucky that orders are to bring you in alive,” she growled. “Otherwise, I would kill you where you lay.” Her face contorted into a vicious sneer. “But I guess forcing you to watch your birdfriend die will be enough until I hand you over to the Muddy.”

A slight, scraping sound drew both of our attention off of each other. I glanced around the cave and saw nothing that could have been the source of the sound. It was still just Sidewinder, Gertie’s body, and me in the cave, and the door was still wide open from when Gertie made her entrance.

Sidewinder moved away from me and scanned the cave. She moved with purpose, almost as if she expected an assault from an unseen force. Once she was satisfied there was no unseen threat, she focused on the motionless body of Gertie.

“Maybe it’s your ghost already haunting me,” she said with a laugh as she kicked Gertie’s body.

Suddenly, Gertie’s claw shot forward, holding a knife. “I’m not dead yet,” she rasped.
Again, Sidewinder reacted very quickly to Gertie’s attack. She deftly blocked the claw holding the knife, grabbing it and twisting as she did so. She forced the arm out to the side and the knife clattered along the ground, landing a few feet from me, wedged between two stones.

The two of them began fighting hoof to claw. It was definitely impressive to behold. Both combatants would attempt to deliver blows and the other would defend or evade. Feints were made, but the attempts were read perfectly. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had they been able to get airborne in the cramped space.

Neither of them was gaining the upper hoof and I knew it was just a matter of time before one of them got too tired to continue. I couldn’t take the chance it would be Gertie. After allowing myself to fall to my side, I pushed myself over to where I saw the knife land before.

Getting to the knife was not the hard part. I knew I was going to have several scrapes and scratches, but that was nothing compared to some of what I had been through so far. Now was going to be the hard part. My four legs were tied together underneath me, and no matter what I did, I could not break free of my bonds.

Twisting myself around, I got my hooves close to the knife’s edge. Carefully, I brought my hooves down over the top of the knife, trying to line up the rope with the edge. Gently, I lowered the rope down onto the knife and began a sawing motion. The knife shifted with each movement, threatening to fall free of the rocks which had a precarious hold of the blade.

I was making progress at a painfully slow rate. Every so often, I would glance over at the fight to see how things were going. Gertie and Sidewinder were both bloodied. Sidewinder had a series of claw marks up and down her legs since they were taking the brunt of the swipes. Gertie must have gotten a few strikes past her defenses since there was a bleeding gash on Sidewinder’s snout. But Gertie was not unscathed. She had a few bleeding wounds on her face and there was a trickle of blood coming out of her beak. But both kept fighting.

I had to get free to help her. I could only drag the rope against the knife a few times before I had to rest or else my twitching legs would dislodge the knife. The fight behind me became more desperate as their moves slowed due to fatigue. Gertie was breathing more heavily than Sidewinder was, which scared me.

Finally, I felt the pressure against my legs relax as the ropes unwound and fell free. I hurried to my hooves and charged the fracas. I don’t know how but Sidewinder knew I was approaching. She twisted away from me and kicked out with her rear legs, catching me right in the barrel. My breath was knocked out of me and I fell to the cave floor panting for air.

“Why don’t you just stay…” Sidewinder began, but was cut off by what I could only describe as a wet, squelching sound followed by a piercing scream.

Shifting my gaze to behind Sidewinder, I saw Gertie had gotten her claw wrist deep into Sidewinder’s barrel and was twisting it. With each movement, the squelching sound mixed with Sidewinder releasing another whimper as her face twisted into a pained grimace.

“You may have… beaten me…” she forced out between groans, “but you will bow down to the Enclave!”

Gertie withdrew her claw with another wet, squelching sound. It was covered in blood and bits of what had to be parts of Sidewinder’s organs. Sidewinder fell first to her knees, and then pitched over to her side. She lay on the ground, breathing shallowly for several seconds, before she let out an all too familiar shudder before she became still. Blood pooled around her wounds as I watched the life drain from her eyes.

“Oh Celestia!” I cried out. “Gertie, you’re alive! But I thought… I…”

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said with a shrug. “I had to let her think she had killed me. Thanks for the distraction though!”

I ran across the cave and locked her in an embrace. She squeezed back just as hard. I pulled back slightly and looked back deeply into Gertie’s amber eyes. “How did you know…”

“I was on my way back from Horseton when I saw the bitch walking into the cave,” she explained, gazing right back at me. “Saw the familiar looking armor and figured it was something worth checking out. When I listened through the door and heard your voice…” she finished with a shrug.

“Well, thank you for saving me, again,” I admitted, sheepishly. “It seems that without you, I’d be dead several times over already.”

“It’s alright, we’re even,” she responded. “If it weren’t for your distraction, I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted with her crushing my windpipe. It seems like you’re always there to pull my butt out of the fire also.”

An uneasy feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach. It felt almost like the time right before… And then Gertie pressed her beak right against my mouth. Her tongue shot into my mouth and seeked mine. As much out of instinct and shock, I returned the gesture.

After holding for a few seconds, I released. “Gertie, we really shouldn’t…” I said. The look of hurt on her face was only a flash, but I saw it and felt guilty about it.

I turned away and walked over to the body of Sidewinder. “From the clouds we were born, to the clouds we return,” I intoned as I closed her eyelids.

Gertie, still panting, moved up to my side. “Why?”

“I can’t blame her,” I explained, as I hung my head. “She was just following orders, much like I might have, if I was in her hooves.”

A set of loud rumbles filtered their way through the open door. It sounded a lot like thunder. Almost like when…

“The Thunderhead,” Gertie and I both mumbled at the same time.

“How did they prepare so quickly?” I asked, out loud, more rhetorically than anything else.

“Dust, it’s been about two hours since we split up?” Gertie asked, her head cocked to one side.

“Was I really in this cave that long?” I answered back. “No matter… let’s go see what’s going on.”

We both ran to the door and rushed outside. To the east of Coltington, I could make out the unmistakable profile of a Thunderhead cloudship. When I had been in training flights, I never found the ship that intimidating. But being on the receiving end was a different story. Knowing the amount of power those vessels carried, I knew we didn’t stand a chance.

“C’mon, let’s go,” I said, mindlessly, more focused on what we were going to do when we got to Coltington.

We both took off and flew back to Coltington as quickly as we could. As soon as we drew near enough, I could see the ponies in town setting up makeshift barricades out of whatever material they could find. Most of it would not stand long under an assault by Enclave energy weapons. And not to mention I was sure most of the attacks would be from the air.

“Damn it,” I muttered, “they’ll be sitting ducks behind all that. Not to mention the first shot will set most of it on fire as soon as it was hit. And nopony has armor to fend off energy weapons.”

“Shit,” Gertie muttered, at the same time I thought it. “And the Enclave is probably wearing ballistic armor similar, or better, than yours.”

“Eeyup,” I agreed with a sigh. “Let’s find Silver and Flower.”

We circled the town, tightening our arc, searching for Flower and Silver. We closed in until we were at the middle of town. Ponies were hustling to and fro, carrying barricade materials to other ponies who were building them, while others were carrying weapons and ammo crates. In the center of it all were Flower and Silver, directing traffic and ordering ponies around.

Gertie and I landed near the two mares. “Look at you two, stirring the town into a frenzy,” I said, with a little tinge of teasing. They both gave me a weak grin. “So, what’s our status?”

“Our status?” they both shot back. “Where in Tartarus have you been?”

“Enclave operative caught me for a bit,” I answered, sheepishly. “She was going to turn me into Muddy, but Gertie pulled my ass out of the fire.”

“Old Tin is rounding up all of her crew. They are going to wait for us to say where they should go,” Silver informed me.

“Big Boss has ordered Firing Pin ta share the stores,” Flower told me. “Should be here momentarily, I reckon,” she added. “Also, when nopony could find ya, I went ta see the mayor. He’s getting the young, old, and infirm inta hiding. Everypony else is setting up defenses.”

“It may not be enough,” I informed them. “They’re sending a whole Thunderhead here.” The gravity of the situation was not lost on my friends.

“We’re gonna be outnumbered 10 to 1,” Gertie added. “Not to mention they’re gonna have energy weapons and the advantage of flight.”

“We may have to consider evacuating,” I added. “Get everypony to the stable. Then maybe we can lure the Thunderhead away.”

A shadow flitted past my hooves on the ground. Looking up to the sky, I saw a pair of pegasi flying overhead. “Recon team,” I said, mostly rhetorically. “Scouting out the area. Not good, not good at all.”

“Why, what’s the worst…” Silver started to ask. I pointed towards the Thunderhead and everypony followed my hoof. Small, black specks appeared around the Thunderhead, with more being added to the mix every second.

“Shit,” I muttered. “They’re coming.” I raised my voice to yell above the din. “Everypony! We have incoming pegasi! Get armed and get behind something!”

The barely controlled chaos that I had seen before erupted into complete anarchy. Ponies were galloping to find weapons or, once armed, into cover. Firing Pin hadn’t even made it here with his arsenal, so most ponies were only using pistols or shotguns. Not good.

The black specks kept growing, and now barely had the shape of the profile of an Enclave flyer. They were still several minutes out, at best.

Ponies began to settle into their defensive positions while Gertie, Flower, Silver and I found some cover in a nearby abandoned shack. An eerie quiet settled over the town. It sucked to just wait.

After a few more moments, the flyers were easily distinguishable with the gray sky behind them. My thoughts about them wearing just armor was quickly dashed when I saw they were each wearing the scorpion-like power armor issued to advanced squadrons. There were dozens of them. The jet black metal with the scorpion like tail, just as intimidating as I remember it. The bug eyed masks completed the fearful look.

I watched and waited to see what they would do. Our weaponry would be useless against them, regardless of the range. Even point blank, it would take a pinpoint shot to penetrate the weakspots of the armor and damage the ponies inside. It was tough stuff.

The first formation flew overhead and did not deviate from their flightpath. It was odd.

“What the fuck are they doing?” I mumbled more to myself than anypony.

The air was soon filled with a light whistling sound. Scanning the sky, I began to see small black specs begin to emerge from the overcast gloom. They soon formed into small, round objects with a stem…

“Grenades!” I shouted by instinct. “Everypony find cover!”

The grenades landed with a thud. Ponies began to run from their cover positions, away from a grenade that had landed nearby. But as they ran from one grenade, they ran right into the range of another. This was going to be a bloodbath.

The explosions happened almost simultaneously. About a dozen puffs of dust suddenly appeared, almost simultaneously. A few ponies were engulfed by the dust clouds caused by the concussion force of the grenades, and they were probably the lucky ones since they would most likely have died instantaneously. Shortly after the sound of the explosions, the shrapnel impacts could be heard, like rain pelting rooftops. Ponies began shrieking, no doubt having been hit by shrapnel. At least three I could see fell to ground and became still. Others were groaning and began to drag themselves through the open ground, trying to find someplace to hide.

Once the initial dust clouds cleared, the sight made my heart sink. I counted about a dozen ponies who were clearly dead. Their lifeless eyes staring right into my soul, sending chills down my spine. They were merely the latest victims of my stubbornness. Several other ponies were still crawling or dragging themselves into what they hoped was cover from future attacks. Some ponies had begun to run.

Another wave of flyers passed overhead, again not deviating from their path. I waited for the grenades to impact the ground. Watching the skies, I saw the grenades begin to stand out from the cloud cover background. These were different. They were cylindrical and long.

They still impacted the ground with small thuds. However, they did not explode like the previous ones did. These simply started spewing dense smoke. Shit.

“Everypony, clear out!” I shouted. If they were obscuring the area, it could only mean a few things, and none of them were good.

The first shrieks sounded shortly afterwards. The first were soon joined by more. Screams came and went, all of them in pain and terror.

“We gotta move,” I whispered to my friends. “Let’s try to save as many ponies as we can, but we gotta get out of here.”

All my friends nodded in agreement and we walked out of the building. The smoke obscured everything more than a couple of feet away from us. We crept our way through the smoke, trying to move in a direction away from the Thunderhead, although I doubt it would really make any difference,

Glancing at my Pip-buck, red and green markers filled the compass at the bottom. It was going to be impossible to figure out where friends and foes were since they markers merged into one, almost solid bar.

Several figures emerged from the smoke. It took me a second to recognize the armor-clad forms of Enclave shock troops. Unfortunately, they recognized us far more quickly than we recognized them. They all dove at us.

One of the troops tackled me to the floor and began to grapple with me. The retractable hoof bayonet was extended and the soldier was trying to stab at me with it. Some of my hoof-to-hoof combat came back instinctively and I blocked the first few swipes. The next nearly swung past my defense, and I was only able to redirect slightly. My shoulder burned as the knife found its way between two of the ballistic plates in my armor. The pain sent my brain into overdrive.

Grunting in pain, I swung with my hoof and connected with the side of the helmet. The impact climbed all the way up my leg, but it also shocked the soldier enough to send him off balance. Twisting my body hard, I was able to knock him to the ground. I leapt on top of him and grabbed for the hoof with the knife. I knew there was some release mechanism for the knife, just in case it got lodged in something, and I desperately tried to remember where it was. In the absence of any concrete indication, I just began to slam my hoof into the armored hoof of my attacker.

A sound to my right drew both of our attentions. Another frag grenade landed next to the two of us and we looked at each other in combined shock. I swung at, and connected with, his head and jumped away from the grenade as quickly as I could.

The world flashed white as every part of my body registered pain. My body flopped to the floor and I allowed it to just sit still. Slowly, a ringing sound grew in my ears and reached almost deafening levels. Once the white glare in my vision faded, I was staring up at the sky with the peaks of the various buildings of the town, all spinning and hazy in my vision.

Looking towards my former combatant, I saw his body lying on the ground, not moving. Large gashes had been cut into the armor and blood flowed freely from the joints that made up the neck and chest. Climbing warily to my feet, I began to wander aimlessly, trying to get out of the wide open battleground.

Muffled screams fought to overcome the ringing in my ears. The smoke was still thick, but I could see flashes of energy rifles. There were bodies everywhere. They were mostly townsponies with the occasional pegasus thrown in. There were also the glowing pink piles of dust which indicated where energy rifles vaporized the poor stallion or mare. The Enclave casualties were from what appeared to be point blank shotgun blasts. But for every pegasus body I found, there were at least five or six Wastelanders.

Eventually, I stumbled my way into an alleyway. I slumped down against the wall and allowed myself to rest. My head was throbbing, my ears were ringing, and my vision was still spinning. Just breathing hurt at this point. Energy rifles flashed and lit up the smoky battleground. A pony shaped form appeared out of the smoke and collapsed next to me.

The pony was large and jet black. His coat was slicked red with blood from several gashes. One wound was mottled and smoking. The pony turned to look at me.

Last Stand looked up at me, his face full of pain. “Dust?” I barely made out over the ringing in my ears.

“Yeah, Last Stand, it’s me,” I answered.

“You son of a bitch,” he said. I flinched as I saw his hoof move, but he wasn’t moving to strike me. He was reaching out to grab my hoof. “They got me bad, but I took out two of them. Heh, heh, fucking Enclave.” He chuckled, and then recoiled in pain. “I know I don’t have long for this world. I don’t blame you for this, Dust. But, please, promise me… whatever you do, you will get revenge for this. Promise me that!”

“I promise, Last Stand. Muddy and the Enclave will pay for what they started today,” I swore, gripping his hoof firmly.

“Good,” he said. “So tired…” his head flopped back and his eyes closed. He took a deep breath and exhaled in a rattle that sounded through the ringing in my eyes. Then he moved no more.

A new flash of light from the battleground nearby caught my attention. A large plume of flame shot through the smoke lighting up the entire area. Through the thinning smoke, I could see the outline of a building and it was now aflame.

A pony in extra thick armor emerged from the smoke. Mounted one side of their battle saddle was a flamer. The tip glowed blue. Another plume of flame erupted from the flamer, lighting another nearby building on fire. Ducking behind a rain barrel, I hid as best I could, lest I become roasted myself.

The flamer pony kept walking, lighting every building on fire that he passed by. The heat from the burning timber warmed my skin as everything became cast in an orange glow. I wanted to move from my hiding spot, but every time I went to make a move, another group of Enclave soldiers would march by, looking for more victims.

A cracking sound drew my attention to the building above me. The fire from the flamer had spread faster than I thought possible and the upper level was already fully burning. A hoof sized chunk of debris was falling towards me. I tried to move out of the way, but my seated position fought against me. I leaned to the side, but the debris still glanced off the side of my head.

The world went white again. The white haze faded and the world was spinning even worse than before. My stomach churned and I was forced to vomit. Pain shot through my entire head. I reached up and felt where the chunk of building had hit me and my hoof came back slick with blood. I had to get out of here.

Moving further into town surely would have been suicide, so I ducked away. I had to hope my friends found a way out on their own. There was nothing I could do alone and in my state against the force of Enclave that had assaulted the town.

The white smoke of the smoke grenades gave way to the black, acrid smoke of the fires that now engulfed the town. I could hardly tell where I was since nothing looked the same much less navigate my way through it.

I never thought about how many ponies lived in Coltington before, but after running across so many bodies, it was higher than I remembered. And my loss of hearing was probably a mixed blessing at this point. Seeing so many ponies struggling to stay alive, at least I didn’t have to hear the groans and ragged breathing that probably haunted the town.

Two armor clad pegasi stepped out in front of me as I turned a corner. They sized me up quickly and I saw one of them stiffen in surprise.

“Dust Cloud,” the voice rang through the tinny speaker of the power armor. “Will you come with us willingly?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but stopped. I couldn’t go willingly and help them. But I was in no state to fight. I felt my energy drain from my body as I collapsed to the ground. I tried to speak, but could only groan. The two began to approach my position. A clatter drew my attention and I tried to focus on the source. A cylindrical grenade was bouncing along the ground towards the armored ponies.

The two ponies tried to jump but the grenade lit up. Crackling blue energy filled the immediately area and seemed drawn towards the suits or armor. Clicking filled the area and then went silent. The two ponies in front of me stopped moving. However, when I looked closer, I could see the suits would shift a little, but then return to being motionless. The sparkle grenade must have disabled the suits.

I fell back and just lay there. I had no energy left to stand. I barely had the energy to breath.

“Dust!” a muffled voice fought its way through the ringing in my ears. I saw several hooves surround me. My body was now being lifted from the ground while my forelegs were draped over two other ponies. My head slumped forward as the ponies now dragged me away from town.

We took a winding path, stopping frequently. When we moved, it was with purpose. Soon, I felt myself being dragged down some stairs and something slammed shut behind me. I was lowered to the floor and leaned up against a wall.

“Dust!” a pony shouted. “Dust, are ya OK?”

All I could do was groan in response. My brain just seemed like it didn’t want to work.

“No serious, visible injuries,” somepony shouted from my left. “Some cuts and scrapes.” A light flashed into my eyes. I recoiled in pain as it felt like a hammer was being slammed against my skull. “Has a bad concussion, though.”

A bottle was forced into my mouth and my head was forced back. I gulped as the fluid forced its way into my mouth. A dull, warming feeling spread over my body. The ringing in my ears subsided slightly and the room stopped spinning. My head still had a deep throbbing feeling, but it was better than before.

“Dust? How ya doin’?” Flower asked. Turning to look at her, I saw that we were in a small storm shelter. The room was full of some of the colts, fillies, and older ponies from Coltingon. The younger ones were cowering in a corner, their bodies visibly shaking. The older ponies were doing their best to comfort them. One of the younger colts cried out for his mother and father.

The room itself was a small, metal walled room. There were shelves lining the walls which held small baskets of odds and ends, and some flats that held various canned or bottled goods. A single bare gem lit the small room.

“What the…” I croaked. “Where am I?”

“Old fallout shelter,” Silver informed me while tending to my injuries. “It was out behind the bar. Pot Luck uses it for storage. We were hoping to get these ponies further away, but the attack came much faster than expected.” She frowned a little. “When we sent them with the mayor, there were more than double…”

I wrapped Silver in an embrace. “It’s OK… you did what you could…” I tried to comfort her, knowing it wouldn’t do much.

“So, what do we do now?” she asked.

“Wait…” I said, dejectedly. “Not much else we can do…”

The next hour dragged on for what felt like an eternity. Occasionally, we would hear the whine of an energy rifle or the whoosh of a flamer being fired overhead. There were screams, which were mercifully cut short. Those sounds gave way to rumbles and crashes of buildings collapsing overhead. All we could do in our bunker was to share uncomfortable glances, hoping that our hiding space was good enough to save us.

After another hour, all noise from outside the door subsided. I looked at my friends and they returned the same.

“I’m going to check out what’s going on up there,” I announced. “Stay here, just in case.” Gertie, Flower and Silver nodded.

The door creaked open, seeming almost deafening given the silence. The scent of burning wood assaulted my nose. Another smell permeated the air, which made me think of the Garden. My stomach turned.

After climbing the stairs, I opened the external doors. The Thunderhead was not visible, fortunately. Acrid, black smoke filled the air. The town had been reduced to multiple piles of smoldering rubble. What used to be houses were now simply small mounds of what amounted to charcoal. Random pieces of metal were interspersed in the debris, impervious to the flames. Everypony had lost everything… I could not imagine anything surviving the blaze.

It was odd to me that even though the town looked nothing like it used to, I was still able to navigate the ruins. Some pathways were closed off to collapses, but the layout was still familiar. Cautiously and slowly, I cleared the exterior of the town. I frequently checked the skies to make sure there would be no surprises from airborne soldiers on cleanup patrols.

Slowly, I circled my way back in towards the middle of town. Not one structure remained. It was sad when I thought about all of the work that had been put it into building Coltington and it was all undone in a matter of hours.

I rounded the corner of another rubble pile and turned towards the center of town. The sight before me stopped me in my tracks. All the bodies of the defenders were stacked like cordwood and were smoldering. Identification was going to be nearly impossible as the bodies were just a pile of blackened skeletons, the flesh having been burnt away.

I approached the pile and could feel the heat radiating off the smoldering ash. I tried to count the bodies, but I couldn’t continue after getting to a dozen or so. A glint near the edge of the pile caught my attention. Looking at it, I saw it was a piece of metal. Carefully nudging it away from the pile and flipping it over, my heart sank even further. It was Old Tin’s badge. Although I knew it was the truth anyway, this solidified in my mind that Coltington was dead. Anypony who was defending the town was killed.

A line of text appeared in my vision. “Enclave Terrestrial Operations Alpha signal found,” it said.

I clicked the radio on. The static cleared and was replaced by Muddy’s voice.

“Attention Wastelanders within broadcast distance of Coltington. The town of Coltington is no more. They had provided shelter and assistance to Dust Cloud. Unless Dust cooperates, we will do the same to other towns. If you see or know anything about Dust Cloud or his friends, give such information to the next Enclave soldier you see. They will be conducting aerial surveys. Compliance will be rewarded. Opposition will be punished, severely. You have been warned.

“The next part of the message is for Dust. This is your fault. You can end this right now. All you have to do is fly to Neighvarro and use your Pipbuck to open the SPP tower. Once you do that, this all ends. Dirtpatch, Fetlock Flats, Fountainview, Trotwood, the Garden… the Stoneclaw Talon camp…”

Muddy’s voice droned on. “It’s your choice… Message will repeat. Attention Wastelanders within…”

I snapped the radio off and fell to my flank. It wasn’t fair… these ponies weren’t hurting anypony. Why did Muddy have to wipe out the whole town just to get to me?

I felt my eyes begin to water, but not from the smoke. A tear began to run down my cheek. I watched as it fell from there and hit the ground. When it hit the ground, there was a flash of light and everything around me seemed to freeze. I could still move but everything else was motionless, even the pulsating embers of the body pile in front of me.

“Who says it has to be fair?” the gravelly from the void said, echoing in my head. The robed figure emerged from the pile of charred bones. “The Enclave can cheat. They see these ponies as not as good as them… as a means to an end. That hasn’t changed in one hundred and fifty years. And they’re going to keep doing it as long as the population is content… as long as they feel safe.”

“But there’s gotta be something I can do!” I cried out in frustration. “This can’t keep happening!”

“But it will,” she answered. “The leaders will never let the truth get out. I know it is not cool, but it is reality. So this scene will repeat itself over and over and over again.”

“But I can’t let that happen!” I yelled. “There has to be something I can do!”

“But didn’t you try that here?” she retorted.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Then tell me what to do! There must be something!”

“There are options, but you have to find one you are OK with… or else it will never work,” she replied, as calmly as ever.

I fell to the floor and began to sob openly. I buried my head in my hooves and just let it all out. It didn’t even matter that dirt, smoke, and ash were beginning to choke me. I was so overwhelmed. Everything I had been through since that damn day in the Stable seemed to flood back at once. Every doubt, all the guilt, every thought flooded my head at the same time. Painful visions of One and Brownie flashed through my mind, mixed with visions of Silver and Gertie and the tender moments we shared. Every injury I had sustained seemed to flare up in pain simultaneously. There was not one part of my body that didn’t hurt. The sound of Muddy laughing echoed in my ears.

“Dust,” a fuzzy voice called out.

My vision flashed white again as I felt somepony touch my shoulder. “Dust, are you OK?” It was Silver.

“Huh? Yeah…” I said with a sniffle, trying to collect myself. “I thought I told you guys to stay put?”

“Dust… that was an hour ago,” she answered. “We didn’t know what happened to you.” An hour? Not possible. “Are you OK?” she asked.

“Not really.. but I am as well as can be expected anyway…” I turned back to the pile. “So senseless… so unnecessary…”

“And so not your fault,” she interrupted me. “Listen to me. I know you are going to be kicking yourself over this. But you did not do this. You did not cause this. This is all on Muddy. Tell me you understand that…”

“But if I hadn’t interrupted him that day in the stable,” I began to explain.

“Still not your fault,” she tried to dissuade me.

“Maybe if I hadn’t survived the fall…” I offered.

“No,” Silver replied flatly. “I will not allow you to think that way. Being dead is not a solution. He would still be the asshole that he is.”

“He might still be an asshole,” I argued. “But he would be an asshole without an army behind him.”

“But he would still have me,” she countered. “Without you, who knows what he’d have done to me. He could have kept on torturing me… or even killed me. And the scary part is… I don’t even know which is worse.”

“But…” I responded. “There’s been so much death. And all because I, for some reason, am the one to use this!” I thrusted my Pipbuck clad hoof towards her. “Without me, this never would have made anypony a target.” There was a long pause. “And your silence tells me I am right.”

“I can’t argue that,” she admitted. “But you not being here would not stop Muddy. You’re right… he wouldn’t be pursuing something this grandiose, but he would have still done what he’s doing. He delights in torture and pain. And that’s what this is all about.”

“Ahem…” somepony cleared their throat. “Everything OK?” Gertie had been the one to ask as she and Flower joined us near the pile.

“Yes… no…” I mumbled. “It’s OK… just a lot to think about.”

“Dust, did ya find anypony else alive?” Flower asked, anxiously.

“No, Flower,” I answered. “I did not.”

“I can’t believe he actually ordered this,” Silver murmured, looking at the pile of bones. “How… why?”

“It’s who he is,” I answered.

We all stood there for a long while, soaking in the consequences of my actions.

No one wanted to ask, but Gertie did anyway. “So, what happens next?”

I didn’t have an answer at first. What did we do next? We could not hope to take on the Enclave head on. This had proven it. But we needed to do something. We needed to find some way to remove what Muddy wanted from play. He wanted the power of the SPP tower. I couldn’t let him have it, of course. I needed to do whatever it took to take away all of his motivation to hurt others, even if it meant he would redouble his efforts at me.

A rainbow flashed in my mind. Mindlessly, I said under my breath, “Just like her…”

“What was that Dust?” Silver asked.

I wasn’t really paying attention except to my own thoughts. History lessons flooded my mind. Rainbow Dash, Ministry Mare for the Ministry of Awesome, was the mare who came up with the SPP towers. She would know what they were capable of doing. She was able to figure out how to limit their power. She knew the Enclave would abuse that power. Which is why the towers were working so minimally.

Then there is the Pipbuck. She either created the Pipbuck, or it was created for her. In either case, it would allow full control of the tower… or the ability to remove control. This is why Muddy needs it… but what if he couldn’t get it? What if it was lost to him?

“DUST!” all three of my friends yelled at me at once.

I nearly jumped at the volume of the shouting. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Sorry… just had an idea… hear me out. Muddy wants the SPP towers, right?” My friends nodded. “And the only way he can have that is with me, right?” Again, more nodding. “What if I made sure he could never get it?”

“But how?” Gertie began to ask.

“I don’t know yet, Gertie,” I cut her off. “But think about it. If he knew he could never control the tower, there would be no reason to kill everypony. Maybe I’d have to deal with the aftermath, but there would be no reason to coerce me to cooperate. He might want to punish me, but he’d have nothing to gain by killing everypony else.”

“But Dust,” Silver called out. “He will imprison you the minute you go to Neighvarro.”

“He can’t… remember?” I responded. “He needs me alive and willing. This is where I have all the power. He can do a lot to try and coerce me, but ultimately, the power is mine.”

“That’s all well an’ good,” Flower interrupted. “But how do ya plan on using it?”

“That’s a great question,” I admitted. “I don’t know what I can do or what the options are. I need more information on the SPP towers.”

“The only place to get that information is the Ministry of Awesome,” Gertie said. “And the only two I know of are the one in Neighvarro and Canterlot. I doubt the military will let you near the one in Neighvarro and the one in Canterlot is inside the pink bubble.”

“But do I really need info on the tower itself,” I questions, raising my Pipbuck laden forehoof. “Or do I just need information on what this can do.”

“Where will we go to get that information?” Silver asked.

“Well, the Pipbucks were made by Stable-Tec, right?” Gertie asked. “Can’t we just go back to New Flankfort?”

“No… this Pipbuck was created after the war,” I answered, shaking my head. “There is a recording of Scootaloo on here that told me as much. So I doubt information will be in any database.”

“So the information would be on there, right?” Silver asked.

I started to hoof my way through the various screens. Most of the screens appeared to be routine functions. Then I got back to the data screen. I hadn’t even looked at the Pipbuck since the “Compassion” entry decrypted and I chose to ignore them. In the meantime, the last two encrypted entries had changed to read “Innocence” and “Integrity”.

“What do ya got there, Dust?” Flower asked, sidling up to me.

“I don’t know, Flower,” I admitted, shaking my head. There appear to be stories about Rainbow Dash. I didn’t read them since I had no interest at the time. And then things got so busy. But the first two didn’t say anything about the SPP towers.”

“Don’t you think Scootaloo would have hidden the information away?” Silver argued. “Those entries were important to her for some reason. I think you need to read them.”

Ugh. I was never a big fan of reading. I would rather go see a movie. But something tells me this would never have been approved for public viewing.

“Let’s get back in the bunker, just in case they fly back around to make sure they didn’t miss anypony,” I recommended. We all made our way back to the small bunker.

I found a spot in a corner, sat down, and brought up the Pipbuck. Hoofing through the screens again, I opened up the “Sacrifice” entry. The entry talked about an aerial competition Rainbow Dash was involved in. It felt like the kind of writing that would appear in a biography. She was competing with her friends from the town in which she lived, but then got invited to fly with the Wonderbolts on their team. At first, she tried to balance both, but then she flew with her friends instead of a guaranteed win with her foalhood heroes.

The next entry was labelled “Hope”. This seemed more like a collection of small stories. Each highlighted a time when Dash was trying to impress the Wonderbolts in order to make it onto the team. There were many stories when she would try to perform some stunt or beat a record, or some feat that would make her dream come true. Each little story ended with an expression of how much she wanted this to be the time she got her invite.

“Perseverance” was next. This story told of Dash preparing for yet another air show. It always seemed she was competing, one way or another. But this time she wanted to win the Young Flier Award. To do so, she wanted to perform a Sonic Rainboom, which had only ever been done once before. Retellings of many failures, some of which were very dangerous, showed how badly she wanted to do this. Eventually, she was able to perform the Sonic Rainboom, even though it wasn’t intentional.

“Compassion” changed tone. This story was about her pet turtle. Rainbow Dash, flier extraordinaire, had a turtle as a pet? Apparently, the turtle had rescued Dash when the other animals she was considering had left her behind stuck in a rockfall. The turtle had freed her, so she chose him as her pet. Later, when winter was coming, Dash was very sad when it seemed Tank was sick. She was doing everything she could to “save” him. Eventually, it turned out Tank was just preparing to hibernate, but you could see how much she cared for the turtle.

The next entry was “Innocence”. Yet another air show. This time, she was only going to be a spectator. However, one of the Wonderbolts got summoned home since her mother was sick, so Dash was asked to fill in. However, Spitfire’s mother was already at the show. Dash ended up being accused of faking the letter. It took her friends helping her out, but she was eventually proven innocent and was able to join the show anyway.

Finally, there was “Integrity”. This story took place much later in her life. The megaspells had already been detonated. The story was more of a detailing of the many arguments and debates that were held regarding closing the skies and ignoring the surface. She asked, and then demanded, that the pegasi help out their brethren below. Each time she was rebuffed. A recounting of her decision to sabotage the SPP towers followed. Finally, she left the Enclave behind, knowing what the personal cost would be. She couldn’t turn her back on her friends, even though they were most likely dead.

I put my leg down, partly from fatigue and partly from surprise. These stories did not match what we had been told in school growing up. Then again, I should not be surprised by that. Of course they weren’t going to glorify the most well-known traitor in history. But was she really a traitor? Or were the pegasi the real traitors to the rest of Equestria?

“Well, what did you learn?” Silver asked. I had not noticed she had sidled right up next to me while I had been reading.

“Nothing useful,” I said, shaking my head. “I learned that Rainbow Dash was not the pony I was lead to believe growing up. But nothing about the SPP towers. It was almost as if the entire purpose of the Pipbuck was to glorify Rainbow Dash and what she did.”

As if on cue, a new line of text opened up in my vision. “Scootaloo 2” recording added.

Quickly, I looked back on my Pipbuck and quickly found the entry and started to play it. The same sickly voice from before spilled out of the tinny speakers. “Hey, it’s Scoots again.” She was interrupted by a wet, wracking cough. “Sorry, I’m not doing so good. Hopefully, by the time you hear this, you see that those bastards have lied to you and what the truth is about Rainbow Dash and the situation with the towers. I created this Pipbuck as an adapter of sorts. It can be used to reconnect the Crusader mainframe that controls the SPP tower. Hopefully, conditions are right enough so you can get access to the maneframe and fix it.

“However, if that is not an option, and if I am right whoever finds this, you know this cannot fall into Enclave hands. Here’s the bad news. These damn Pipbucks are virtually indestructible… sorry about that. The Crusader maneframe has the ability to overload the circuits and destroy it. I know it’s not the best idea, but it’s the best I could do.”

She stopped speaking and coughed for several seconds. I had heard that kind of coughing before and I knew what it meant. “Alright, it looks like my time is running short. I better stash this thing before I run out of time and I still have one more thing I want to do. Good luck.”

A new line of text appeared in my EFS. “Neighvarro SPP Instructions” added. I flicked over to that entry. It read more like a technical document. But essentially, to fix things, all I had to do was connect the Pipbuck to the Crusader maneframe in the Neighvarro tower. But the control room was surrounded by a shield and the Enclave was never able to get past it. For the destruction of the Pipbuck, the location of an access port in the anteroom was described. Apparently, all I had to do was connect to that port and the maneframe would fry it.

All I had to do was get into the tower. You know, the tower that was being surrounded by Enclave forces as we spoke.

This was not going to be easy…

Level Up!

Science +5

Perk Obtained:
Lore Master – “I knew the book was good, but I didn’t know it could drive a pony to petty theft.” - Your INT and PER have increased by 1.