Death Fillies from Above

Death Fillies From Above
Chapter 3
By CDRW

The poor oval table in the ready room had taken quite the beating acting as an impromptu stage for the three fillys' musical number, but it had totally volunteered for the job by virtue of being large and wooden and very stage-like, so it was all right. Therefore it came as a bit of a shock when Captain Octavia strode in, took one look at the gouged and dented surface, and said, "That is coming out of your paycheck."

"What!" Exclaimed all three of the fillies in unison.

"That's not fair!" Applebloom cried.

"Yeah! You can't do that!" Scootaloo jumped down from the table with Sweetie Bell right behind. Flapping her tiny wings as fast as she could, she managed to hover high enough to yell in the Captain's face. "You're not going to get away with this!"

"I assure you, I can and I am," Octavia answered smoothly as she walked around her and sat in the chair at the head of the table.

Scootaloo's front right leg had once been replaced with a mechanical one and whenever she walked around the ship every step she took made a little clang (except when she was trying to be stealthy of course). This time it made a big CLANG when she punched the wall. "You piece of..." She whirled around and drew an eight inch, serrated knife from its sheath on her belt. "I'm gonna—"

Quick as lightning, Captain Octavia ducked her head inside the jacket of her dress uniform and pulled out a squirt bottle, which she sprayed in Scootaloo's face.

The orange filly reared up and fell over backwards, clutching her face. "My eyes! Oh Goddess it burns! What was in that thing?"

"Ammonia."

Applebloom burst out laughing. Holding her sides, she collapsed on the table top and started rolling back and forth. "Scootaloo, you sissy!"

Scootaloo stood up and stretched out her hoof, peering through the haze of tears in her eyes and feeling for Octavia so that she could throttle her. "You are so gonna pay for that you cunt! When I find you—"

Applebloom started pounding the table in glee. Sweetie Bellspoke up and said, "Oh put a sock in it Scootaloo. You can shank her later. I wanna hear about the drop."

Scootaloo finally found one of the walls with her hoof, and she plopped her rump down on the floor next to it with a "Fine. Whatever."

"Applebloom, kindly get off the table so we can start this meeting," Octavia said. When she'd done that, with a bit of a scowl and a sniff, the Captain continued. "Good." She brushed a speck of dust off the front of her jacket. "Five weeks ago, the Luna One, Equestria's most advanced mobile laboratory was working on a vital experiment for the weapons development program. Something, we don't know what, went wrong and she disappeared without a trace. Rainbow Dash has just reported in that she's found the wreckage.

"In approximately fifty minutes we will be passing overhead. Heavy plasmoid fire is expected, so we cannot land. Instead, the three of you will be making a HALO drop. You have three objectives in descending order of importance. First, locate the central laboratory. Inside, there will be a large metal box six feet long, three wide and two deep with various magical equipment attached. Retrieve that box. And don't open it!"

The three fillies started grinning evilly.

Octavia glared hard at them. "If the box is open when you get back, you will get no dessert for a month."

Their grins faded, replaced with looks of dismay.

"Second, Rainbow Dash reports that there are entirely too many changelings in the area for it to be just coincidence, and there aren't any more coming in from the outside to explain their presence. She believes that the Luna One has crashed on top of a changeling hive. If that's true and you cannot secure the area, activate the Luna One's self-destruct mechanism. It should be enough to take out the hive."

Applebloom rubbed her forehooves together with glee.

"Third. If possible, clear the area of changelings so that the Celestia can land and do a more thorough recovery of the Luna One's contents. Any questions?"

"Yeah." Sweetie Bell raised her hoof. "I get why you can't trust Applebloom with her grenade launchers and all that stuff." She shot a look at her 'friend.' "She's kinda messy. But why can't I have any guns? They aren't gonna hurt anything!"

"The contents of that box are delicate. We cannot risk having it get hit by a stray round. If it does, everything you're going down there for will be useless."

"Ha ha! Suck it bitches!" Scootaloo crowed from the floor. "I'm the only one who gets to have any fun this time around!"

Sweetie Bell and Applebloom shot her a glare that she still couldn't see.

"Oh come on, I promise I won't use any inside the ship! Just let me take my BAR ok? What use is a weapons expert if she can't take along any weapons?"

"Yeah!" Applebloom chimed in. "And I want at least three grenades. It ain't no fun if there's no explosions!"

"No!" Octavia glared even harder at them. "Your record speaks for itself. There will be. No. Guns. Or. Explosives."

Sweetie Bell folded her front legs and chewed on her lip. "Fine, but you're paying us extra for this. A lot extra."

"You'll save a lot of money without wasting all that ammunition," Octavia replied.

"Not good enough. Ten thousand on top of our usual price."

"One thousand."

"Eight."

"Two, and you don't have to replace the table."

"Deal." Sweetie Bell spit on her hoof and held it out. The Captain in turn stood up and walked to where Sweetie Bell was standing, spit on her own hoof, and bumped hooves in agreement.

All done, the fillies started filing out one by one. Scootaloo brought up the rear and paused to wait for Octavia. "Don't think I haven't forgotten," she hissed. "You better watch your back. I know where you sleep."

Octavia pulled out the squirt bottle and sprayed her in the face again.