ex-ONI Sloop, Somewhere over Equestria
Cloud Runner

“BLEGH!” I sputtered as I spit out my coffee. “How the hell do you call this coffee?” I asked.

“By calling it coffee.” Osman rebutted before she took another sip from her mug. “You have a problem taking it black?”

“Yes!” I yelled. “Where’s the sugar, the cream? Hell, where’s there any vanilla!”

“So the walking tank takes his coffee like a-”

“Mister Geffen, might I suggest refraining from finishing that thought out loud?” Came a voice from the computer on the wall. “I know you didn’t see what our guest here is capable of but I did take the liberty of recording it.”

“I’ll take your word for it BB.” The soldier said as he turned his attention back to his mug.

“So what kind of name is BB?” I asked.

“The artificial intelligence kind.” The voice retorted. “It’s more of a nickname. Black Box at your service.”

“That’s…" I nodded as the realization of a smart computer program hit me. "That’s impressive.”

“Coming from a member of a society that believes in magical phenomenon and only recently discovered life from outside your atmosphere, I’ll take it as one of the highest complements.” The AI said.

“Was he being sarcastic?” Sky asked.

“That’s just who he is.” Osman replied. “Although in hindsight I could argue he’s mellowed out over the years.”

“In other words my associate here is trying to say I’m old in a nonchalant manner.” The AI added.

“Just keep telling yourself that Black Box.” Said an older woman who was hobbling into the room on a cane. “Now then Serin, please tell me that you’re attempt at salvaging your mess at least solved the Enclave problem.”

“Huh?”

The lady rolled her eyes. “Black Box has sent me everything you’ve recorded on your interactions with General West Wind and his subordinates, as well as the intrusion records that you believe he made into ONI systems. He also sent me all your files on something you called ‘Warlock’.”

“And what’s Warlock?” I asked as I dug around a cupboard for some coffee trimmings.

“We’ll get to that.” Osman said as she slid onto a free stool. “To understand Warlock, you need to understand why we got involved with your war.”

“Well please do- Oh, vanilla!” I exclaimed as I pulled the bottle “Finally some worthwhile coffee stuff!”

“Vanilla? Really?” Sky asked. “That’s you’re poison?”

I nodded. “With sugar and a bit of cream.” I pulled a small blue box filled with similarly colored blue packages labeled sweetener. “Eh… I guess I’m going heavy on the vanilla.”

“Are you done?” Asked Osman as I stirred the vanilla and sweetener into a fresh cup full of that black elixir.

I took a quick sip of the mug and nodded. “At least for now.”

“So can I continue?”

“Please do.” I insisted before blowing some of the steam away from the surface of the liquid.

“About six years ago I met General West Wind when we first discovered your world. What started as a simple trade mission changed once we discovered what West Wind was doing in your country… And that he was doing some of it using UNSC equipment.” Osman answered with a sigh. “I took up an advisory role to try and figure out where he got the gear, but he kept getting more. Then one at a time ships started going missing and he somehow knew about them, even though he didn’t have the access to the relevant data. Then about a week ago the Enclave launched two major attacks using UNSC assets and personnel that have been declared lost for years. The Johannesburg, Empire and Say My Name were destroyed without a clue about where they or their crews came from or where they had been. And any forces that attacked Dodge City have since disappeared without a trace.”

“So you think the Enclave had something to do with your missing ships?”

“It’s the only thing we’ve got to go on.” Osman retorted. “West Wind would ask me about the ships every time one disappeared. And then those same ones show up to support an Enclave offensive?”

“I'd mark that off as weird.” Sky muttered.

“Glad someone else thinks so.” I heard one of the soldiers add.

Osman put her empty cup down on the counter and sat back against it as she mulled over what I’d assume to be her words. “I developed the Warlock protocol as a failsafe to counter West Wind’s advances. Once it became clear that the Paris and the survivors from her squadron had taken refuge here, only to come to the aid of the locals after one person managed to convince them that they were this world’s best home to blunt the Enclave’s advance, I realized that we found our Warlock candidate.”

The answer slammed into me like a pile of bricks. “Dusk.” I said. “He was your answer to Warlock.”

“More like he is Warlock.” Osman retorted. “About three years ago he boarded West Wind’s airship during the early hours of the war with the hope of destroying it before it could reach a major city… I was on the comms with Naomi at the time when he hijacked the call. He got that far and I realized that we just had a hero dropped right in our laps. So while it wasn’t savory, I had him taken to an ONI facility where Catherine Halsey augmented him along the lines of other Spartan candidates.”

“But why?” Asked Sky.

“They were tools.” Naomi said as she finally joined the conversation from the sidelines. “He was angry, but turning him into a big gun would create one of the biggest threats to the Enclave and give us the best opportunity to eliminate them.”

“In short the idea was to point him at the Enclave and let him go off.” Osman added. “While he was in stasis most of the time in our custody, that changed when I put him in charge of the Spartan contingent on the Infinity. It was my expectation that Captain Lasky’s trusting nature would lead him to help turn back the Enclave and eliminate West Wind as a threat.”

“And you underestimated Halsey.” The old woman chided. “Letting her sneak a datachip out… That was a childish mistake if I’ve ever seen one.”

“What datachip?” I asked.

“One that was a copy of Dusk’s files, as well as data that had been corrupted by an Enclave agent we discovered after Dusk had departed, hoping to cover their tracks. From what I did hear most of the corruption was found and already has been ruled out, but the damage had been done. So I took my team in to try to eliminate the Encalve from within, as the General still trusted us. We were able to sneak into a shipyard they had built in the arctic regions of your world before Dusk and his father arrived, captured the facility and apprehended us.”

“Shortly after was the attack on Vanhoover. Considering you were there and we were in cells, you can probably fill in the blanks from then up until we met.” Said Naomi.

“You do realize that’s a bit hard to believe, right?” Sky pointed out.

“I get it.” Osman said in an effort to reassure Sky. “And you have no reason to believe anything I’ve said. But over my life I’ve seen dozens of worlds burn at the Covenant’s feet in my lifetime. Billions of my species have died and I saw that was where your world was heading… I just couldn’t sit by and let that happen. Your people were the first aliens we met that weren’t part of the Covenant, and the few we met while on recon missions in Manehattan and Fillydelphia just… God, they were just great. I’ve never even met people of my own species that were so kind that it just radiated from their very being.”

“So it was either help you, or let you burn.” The female soldier said. “And trust me when I say we’ve all smelled enough burning flesh where it doesn’t bother us anymore, but it wasn’t right to sit by while our weapons of war helped lay waste to your world. Somehow one of us made a mess, and it’s our duty to try and help clean it up.”

“Do you really expect us to buy all that?” Sky asked.

I ignored her, instead studying Osman like I did when we first met. Like before the person behind those eyes came across as broken and defeated. But now there’s something else there…

A glimmer of hope.

“I believe you.”

“What?” Sky spat.

“I said I believe her.” I retorted. “Sky, do you know how to look someone in the eye and get a feeling for they’re telling you? Well I think Osman is telling the truth, and my gut is telling me to give her a chance to try and help where she can.”

“Uh… You need our help?” Osman asked.

I turned back to her and nodded. “Absolutely we do, assuming that you’re game.”

Osman and her partners exchanged glances for a moment before she looked over at the old lady, who by now I’m assuming is Parangonsky. She seemed to look relieved when she gave a curt nod of approval. “Alright, what do we need to do?”

I chuckled, and the silent glare that Sky was obviously giving me helped spur it along. “Tell me something Osman. What do you know about regime change?”

***

Vanhoover, Cosmo’s Loft, Half an Hour Later
Cloud Runner

It didn’t take much effort to drop into Cosmo’s loft through the skylight, seeing he doesn’t leave it locked.

“So why are we here again?” Osman asked as she got up and dusted herself off.

“Two things, guns and to call Cosmo.” I said, hauling the door to the armory back along its rail. “We need to know what’s going on in Carniola and he’s the best pony to ask.” I strolled in past my namesake Tempest armor that I had left here on my last visit and slid into the seat in front of a console before powering it up.

“How do you know he'll even be listening?” Sky asked.

“I don't.” I flipped one last switch and a buzzing noise floated out of the speakers on the terminal, just below a light that read 'live'. “Ranger, this is Tempest. You there?”

zzztttt... “Tempest, this is Alpha One. How did you get this frequency?”

“I turned the radio on?” I said with a shrug.

“Turned it on... Wait, are you at the Vanhoover loft?”

“Where else would we be?” Sky droned.

“Give me a minute. We'll be right there.” zzzttt....

“Uh, right there?” Sky muttered.

POP!

“Told you we'd be right there!” I heard a stallion shout out in the kitchen.

“Dusk?” Osman mumbled.

I got out of the chair and made for the armory door, stopping just in time to avoid smacking into the night-sky colored stallion and my sister. “Who else would it be Ozzy?” He said, bypassing me and grabbing Osman's shoulders. “Good to see ya!”

As Dusk bear-hugged the human that was responsible for his kidnapping, who was at this point already in the air, I couldn't help but shake a nagging feeling making itself heard in the back of my head. “Dusk, are you alright?” I asked.

“Totally fine.” He said, putting Osman down and letting her go free. “Now get this, but ONI didn't-”

“Know anything about where the Enclave was getting those soldiers and ships?” I finished. That statement seemed to take the wind out of Dusk's sails as he drooped a smidge. “Serin already told us.”

“Us? Who's-” Dusk finally saw Sky and cocked an eyebrow. “Aren't you supposed to be dead?”

“That's what they tell me.” She retorted. “In case your friend is wondering, my name is Sky.”

“I know, and we're still working on the jackets.” He said with a smirk. “Trust me when I say you're not the only pony in recent memory to come back from the grave.”

“Oh trust me, I know.” Sky chided. “Now what's the situation in Carniola?”

Dusk rolled his eyes. “Ah, that chestnut… Cosmo still have his map table?”

“Map table?” I asked as Dusk brushed past me and opened a compartment in the wall.

With a jerk of a lever in the compartment part of the floor slid away and a large circular table rose up to fill it. “When Cosmo bought this place about five years ago I built this thing after I saw the map that Princess Twilight has in her palace. Cosmo already had a bunch of gear, but with this… Oh boy, we could replace Canterlot!”

“Why would you want to do that?” Sky asked.

“It’s a fallback.” Dart answered as she plugged something into the side of the table. “If something ever happens to Canterlot like what we saw in the Wasteland you need some sort of effective command and control center.”

“And this building with its massive armory and equipment stores fits the bill.” Dusk finished as the table lit up in a pale blue glow and the southern tip of Carniola grew out of the mist. “Now then, this is the most recent scan of the southern half of the island. At the moment we hold five miles of beachfront.”

“And it’s the low ground.” Osman pointed out.

“We’re well aware.” Dusk assured. “But here’s the kicker, De Witt is ignoring us.” He pointed out positions on a hill about ten miles inland from the beach where a small fortress had been constructed, with a rail line leading to a harbor a few miles north of that. “After he kicked our ponies out of Emona, he pulled his men back to positions parallel with that fortress and isolated us from the northern half of Carniola, using the terrain to create natural chokepoints that will bottle up our ground advances.”

“But why so far north?” Osman asked.

“Well there’s two reasons.” Dart said as an image of a naval ship grew from the mist above the table. “For one, the Griffon Empire has a fleet of sixteen ships a few miles offshore. His positions are just out of range of their guns. They’ve been landing soldiers for the last three days and have a sizable defensive system in place along the beach. As of this morning they’ve got one thousand soldiers of the Eighth Marine Detachment on the ground, bolstering the two thousand Equestrian forces already on the ground, split between the First Home Battalion, Equestrian Marines, the Ranger Corps and the hundred some odd survivors of the Second Division.”

“And for the moment all we’ve done is bring in equipment by ship.” Dusk added. “He doesn’t know that we have the Paris and Redoubtable in position to assault the island, and he doesn’t know about the ten thousand soldiers standing by on the Spirit.” Dusk highlighted the harbor that the fortress was connected to. “This here is Odessa. It’s De Witt’s primary supply base and the main point of access to the fortress. Blaze Squad will be taking the depot while the Northern Guard establishes a landing zone for the Spirit’s troops. From there we encircle the fortress, and available Spartans will link up with us and the Northern Guard while we push in to apprehend De Witt.”

“Am I the only one who thinks that’s a bad idea?” I asked.

“You mean sending in the Spartans?”

“Well… Ya.”

Dusk nodded. “Cosmo isn’t too keen on bringing them in.”

“He’s worried about what De Witt might do, isn’t he?”

Once more Dusk nodded. “Look I don’t know everything and I don’t need to, but he’s spooked. And… In all honesty I’ve never seen him scared.”

“Other than when he's faced down alicorns...” Sky muttered.

“Alright, whatever. My point is that he’s been acting funny since I got we got back.” Dusk retorted. “Now I’m assuming that you two plan on going back?”

“Yup.” I replied. Damn, how many ponies are going to ask me that anyway?

“Alright then.” Dusk muttered. “Go get some sleep Cloud. Me and you will train in the morning.”

I nodded and walked out of the armory and down the hall to the room I had previously used while I was here. The door creaked open as I pushed on it and I flopped down on the bed as the day’s events finally caught up with me. Then I started thinking about something rather important.

Time to get out of this armor.

With a groan I got off the bed and hit the release for the Enclave armor. As the armor along my wings retracted and the backs of the armor opened to allow me to exit, I hopped out and hit another realization. I was still wearing the undersuit from the armor that the humans had given me. Come to think of it I don’t remember when in the last few days I haven’t worn this.

Click

I turned around and saw Sky standing behind me, having ditched her jacket who knows where. “Hey.”

I nodded. “What’s up?”

She sighed. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” I said, patting a spot on the bed for her to sit with me. The mattress sunk slightly as Sky took her spot at my side. “What’s wrong?”

“Remember what I said this morning?”

I thought back and remembered that kiss we shared back in the courtyard. “Well, it’s later… You want to talk?”

“Sure.” I said. “So… Where’d that whole heart-stopping thing come from?”

“You know those old wives’ tales… The ones where you know love when you find it?” I nodded. “Look at the two of us. You’ve taken enough on the chin over your life. Your wings, your sister… Me? I lost my best friend and the home I’ve always known because I tried to follow him.”

I nodded in agreement. “And since the two of us met we’ve started getting back what we’ve lost.”

“Ya…” Sky muttered as she scooted closer to me. “And I’ve got someone I feel that I can actually talk to.”

“Alright… So what do you want to talk about?”

“Well the first six months I was in this Equestria…” She paused and looked up at me. “Promise you won’t judge me until I’m done?” I silently nodded and the tension that Sky was keeping in her shoulders seemed to drop away. “After I dug myself out I wandered the countryside for the better part of a month before I found my way into Trottingham with nothing but my body armor and jacket.”

“You were off in a bad way.” I consoled. “Am I supposed to think worse of you?”

“It goes downhill from there.” She said. “For something close to two years I was an emotion-fueled wreck. I went after anything that could take my mind off my home and my best friend… So alcohol, drugs and mind-numbing sex were the order of the day. Hell, there was this hare that called himself-” She stopped herself as her cheeks started glowing cherry red. “Right… I think you get the idea.”

I just shrugged, not knowing what else to say. “So in short you owned the club scene. But you said you were running around in Trottingham for two years… What changed?”

“My nightmares.” Sky said. “I had the same one for those two years… Cosmo burying me while I screamed for him to stop. Then one night the week before I left Princess Luna intervened and cut the whole thing short. From what she told me afterwards all the pain killers and beers I’d been downing had made it damn-near impossible to actually get in my head and do something. After that tongue-lashing I locked myself in an abandon warehouse for the week.”

“And that was just to give you time to get everything you’d been taking out of your system?” I asked.

She nodded. “Not my brightest idea… When I locked the door I threw away the key. By the end of the week I was in worse shape than I was when I was popping pills. Dehydration, starvation… It wasn’t very fun. Sombra just so happened to find me before I was in real trouble, thanks to Princess Luna guiding him to where I was holed up. After that they brought me to Canterlot, got me patched up and got me some new gear. Up until I met him and Radiant I hadn’t seen anyone act out of compassion towards me in a long time. It wasn’t much of a jump for me to stick with the two of them. From there we scoured the face of the planet trying to find the chunks of Princess Amore that he scattered centuries ago. We were doing that until a few weeks ago when we were attacked by agents from De Witt’s organization in Nuremburg. Suffice to say they didn’t get all that far and I got proof that Cosmo was alive and here in Vanhoover, in addition to getting their boss’ name. By the time I got here Cosmo was already in the Tundra and the city was already flooded. Once he got back and I came for that little visit… Well, you know where things went from there.”

“I do.” I admitted. “But I’m glad you have enough faith in me to talk to me like this… I do have some questions though.”

Sky just smiled out of the corner of my eye. "Then fire away."

***

Twenty minutes later

"Alright, one last question." I said, satisfied with all but one sticking point from Sky's 'adventures' over the last few years.

“What’s that?”

“A hare?” I said with a cocked eyebrow. "Really?"

Sky started blushing again and held up her hands in defeat. “I was drunk and horny!”

I smiled as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Just busting your chops Sky.” I looked down at her and we locked eyes. “That’s not a problem… Is it?”

She swung into my lap with eyes lidded. “Nope.” Sky had just wrapped her arms around me and was leaning in when the door swung open.

“Alright you two, get it back in your pants.” My sister said. “We got a problem.”

Sky and I just gazed at each other before we both admitted defeat and untangled ourselves. Out in the living room was a large screen. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“Brought it down from the sloop.” Osman said.

“It’s not the screen that you want to see though.” Dusk added, pointing out a series of pens outside what appeared to be a weapons depot. “This is the munitions depot in Odessa. Notice anything odd?”

I walked up to the screen and took a good look at the pens and realized that, yes, there was something seriously wrong. “They’re prison cells.”

“Exactly.” Dusk pulled up a map of the area. “And we’re not the only ones who know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Scouts in Carniola reported their presence back to the main camp.” Said Dart. “Cosmo is already halfway into that trap.”

“Trap?” I asked. “What trap?”

“This one.” The map highlighted a number of foxholes along the trails just outside of the town. “Mortars, machine guns, you name it. De Witt’s guards let the scouts leave, and judging by the movement in the town they know that Cosmo is headed their way.”

“Damn it…” Sky muttered. “He’s gonna get killed.”

I looked over at Sky before looking back to the map. “Not if I have anything to say about it. Osman, do you know if that sloop has weapons?”

“It’s got some pulse cannons. Nothing fancy, but they work. Why?”

“We’re going to need a ride.” I said as I walked into the armory. “Sky, you think anything in here will fit you?”

“What makes you think I’m going to need anything?” She asked as she walked into the room.

I didn’t look at her as I pulled out a shiny black chest piece from a case of matching armor. “Isn’t it obvious?” I retorted, tossing her the armor I was holding. “We’re going to war.”

Author's Note

And there's our fifth chapter. Really not much to say. We got more details on the universe, ONI's unwitting role in the Enclave's war that we saw break out in Broken Mirror, Part One, and Sky spilled a little bit on what she spent some of her time during her first few years in this Equestria. Next chapter we're going to see a bit more on those prisoners that were held in Odessa that were first mentioned in the prologue. We're approaching the endgame, and it'll be one that is integral to the events years down the road within this "mirrorverse" that I've created.

Also, completely unrelated. But the cover for Broken Mirror that Pia has been working on is almost done. Odds are once it's done I'll turn my attention briefly to establishing Part Two of Broken Mirror with a prologue.

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and I want to hear from you fellow denizens of the interwebs. Until next time!
-Striker