November 15th
C-Day plus 256
Somewhere South of the Eastern Crystal Mountains, Equestria
02:34:12
‘Ghosts of the Storm’

Altair adjusted the straps of his parachute as he sat in his seat, the droning of the C-130’s engines echoed through the aircraft while the other berserkers were readying themselves as well. Each of them wore white camouflage fatigues, like them, Altair also wore the fatigues. He had opted to wear a black beanie rather than the helmets they’d been issued. His Desert Eagle was nestled comfortably in its holster while he looked over the Captured STG-44 he had traded an Equestrian trader a couple of his MREs for. It had a custom mahogany stock and grip, a custom tuned chamber, and a holographic sight.

He didn’t know much about their mission, neither did his men, they had all been pulled off of two day passes for a special assignment. All they had been given was a photograph of a unicorn and cryptic instructions about ‘Meeting a contact’ in whatever place it was they were going. Altair shrugged and tightened the strap on his rifle, it wouldn’t be long until they were over their drop zone. Krieger walked towards Altair, he was around Altair’s age with light blonde hair, blue eyes, and a firm jaw. He was also about as muscled as Altair, making them almost look like twins, if Krieger wasn’t a couple inches shorter.

“Hey, LT.” Krieger said as he took a seat next to the lieutenant. “Know anything else you don’t wanna share with the guys?” Altair shook his head. “So we’re going in blind then?”

“Of course, where would the fun be if we knew what it was we were doing.” Altair said snarkily. “Don’t worry, Sergeant. We’ll be back in time to catch the latest episode of Hell’s Bells.” The red light on the wall flashed on, prompting Altair to stand up and walk towards the back of the C-130. He hooked up his rip cord as the cargo door dropped open, exposing the men to the cold air. Each of them hooked up and watched the light on the wall, meanwhile they could see snow and fog flowing behind the aircraft. In an instant the light went green. “Let’s rock!” Altair sprinted down the ramp and lept out the back of the plane, he fell for a couple seconds before his chute opened. Despite the wind, Altair managed to land in the LZ. He turned on his infrared transponder so the others could find him, then pulled on a pair of night vision goggles. In all the snow and wind all he could see where the other transponders floating down from the plane.

Altair moved towards them as they landed, rounding up all the members of his team. Next he hooked his NVGs into his wrist mounted PDA, a waypoint appeared on the screen. This was an adapted technology developed originally for quadruped pilots, but it proved invaluable in low visibility environments. The others synced up their PDAs, Altair signaled for them to follow his lead as he gripped his rifle and began to trek through the snow towards the waypoint in the distance. After fifteen minutes of trudging along Altair finally saw light ahead, cutting just barely through the thick fog and snow. As the team got closer they could see two rows of houses running along a single road, with a single house on a hill at the edge of town.

”This place looks familiar…” Altair heard Krieger mention, Altair had to admit his subordinate wasn’t wrong. ”I’m getting really eerie vibes from this place, sir. Feels like we’re sneaking into some nazi base from an indiana jones movie.”

“I agree, but keep the chatter to a minimum unless you remember something important.” Altair replied as they trudged down a hill towards the village in the distance, the buildings were all uniform, cookie cutter like. There were no real colorful buildings either, all drab grey, more like a military base than a village. The waypoint lead them around the eastern edge of the village, they could hear engines and talking from inside the town.

”Looks like the Equestrians are here alright. Krieger whispered.

”Negative, those aren’t Equestrian trucks.” The voice of the teams sniper announced from his position overlooking the village. ”They’re just civies, but they’re packing some serious hardware. I count… Five RPGs so far.”

“You mean Panzerschrecks?” Altair asked as he stopped behind one of the buildings for cover.

”Negative. RPGs. Onorussian RPGs.” The sniper replied.

”One of our weapons shipments got hit today, sir… Could be where they got them.”

“But why send us, unless…” Altair trailed off as he peered around the corner and spotted two ponies moving a crate, he recognized the symbol on the side immediately. “They have a Nocturne Artifact.” That sentence sent chills down the spine of every man present. “They must’ve been transporting it to Onorus when the convoy was hit. Kilroy, keep an eye on that box, don’t let it leave your sight.”

”Wilco.” The sniper replied before Altair signaled his men to keep moving towards the waypoint. The men moved through the gap between the two buildings without being seen, their boots leaving marks in the snow behind them. Those marks were quickly blown over by snow and wind, they passed by some of the buildings until the reached the second to last house in the row. Altair stood up and knocked on the window.

“Eagle” He called quietly.

“Hawk.” A voice from inside replied before the window was pushed open, Altair and the others moved in quickly and shut the window before removing their NVGs. It took a couple seconds for their eyes to adjust, when they did they saw a unicorn mare with magenta fur and a purple mane. “Are you the Nocturne Team?”

“We’re Berserker’s, Ma’am.” Altair replied as he tucked his goggles into his kit bag. “The Nocturne Team was wiped out during the convoy attack.” The mare looked a little nervous at the news, but she simply sighed and looked at the ground.

“My name’s Sugarbelle, I’m the last person living in this town after King Steven got rid of Starlight Glimmer.” The mare said as she offered her hand, but she retracted it when she spotted the name ‘Occisor’ on Altair’s fatigues. “You’re the mad man…”

“Mad man? No. Dedicated to a fault? Maybe.” Altair replied flatly. “Let’s discuss your dislike of me AFTER we deal with the potentially world ending artifact out there.” The mare nodded

“The Nocturne Agency made contact with me several months ago, helped me supply myself.” Sugarbelle said. “In return I was to inform them if anyone ever set up shop here, especially if they were armed… Well, they did.” The mare moved to a window with a view of the stallions outside. “Those are Crimson Partisans, they’re a group of resistance fighters that are particularly violent. I think they want to turn this village into one of their outposts.”

“Any idea where the artifact fits in?” Krieger asked, Sugarbelle shook her head. “Maybe they don’t know what it is?”

“If they knew enough to set up an ambush for the convoy, we have to assume they know more than we do.” Altair said decisively. “We’re going to have to take them out before they can activate whatever artifact the Nocturne Agency was after. Ryan and Collin, you take the left side and draw their attention. Krieger and I will move in behind them, secure the artifact, and aid you once we get it far enough away.” The four men nodded and checked over their weapons once again.

“What about me?” Sugarbelle asked.

“I don’t know, go write me hate mail or something.” Altair replied as he and his men moved back to the window and slipped back out into the snow. “Oh, and stay away from your windows, this is gonna get messy.” With that the four men had moved off in seperate directions, all of them with their weapons raised in a tactical position. Altair and Krieger moved through the shadows towards the enemy trucks. “I need a position on that crate, Kilroy.”

”Turn left.” The sniper said, Altair and Krieger turned left down an alley way and stopped at the edge. Both men could see the crate out in the open as stallions in mishmashed uniforms patrolled the area. ”Hold up a sec, LT. Three Victors coming up the road, I see… To trucks and a fancy looking SUV.”

“Alright… All units hold position.” Altair ordered as he dropped to one knee, the heavy snowfall made him harder to spot from a distance. The three vehicles entered the area, both trucks pulled off to the side while the SUV drove towards the center of the village. It stopped next to the crate, after a couple seconds the passenger side door opened and a stallion in a suit stepped out, he moved towards the back and opened the rear door. A dainty white hoof stepped out, another Unicorn appeared. Her fur as white as snow, her main coiffed and purple, she walked towards the stallions with the crate with a lofty, superior expression.

She began talking with the two stallions, then smiled as they opened the crate, inside was a gem unlike any that had ever been seen, it seemed to swirl with a dark energy inside, as if it was containing something. Altair watched as the stallion from earlier returned with a silver briefcase, he held it up as the unicorn opened it and revealed it was full of Equestrian money.

”This doesn’t look good, LT. We’re outnumbered here…” Kilroy replied.

“They don’t know that.” Altair replied. “Alright, follow my lead…” Altair stood up and moved out into the open. “MACOs! Don’t move!” He shouted loudly, all eyes turned to him as four other men stepped out into the open. “Any of you so much as fucking looks at the trigger finger and we all go up in smoke, there’s a reaper drone circling overhead!” The stallions all looked up, but in the wind and snow they could neither confirm or deny the existence of a drone. “Now, all you need to do to walk away from here with your assets intact is to surrender the crate and the mare!”

“You’re bluffing! He’s bluffing!” The mare shouted.

“How can you know? How do you know that if you shoot us you won’t be blown to tiny pieces.” Altair shouted back, the Equestrians all looked at one another, then cautiously raised their hands. “Thank you, now, if you wouldn’t mind loading up the crate and miss chatty here in one of your trucks, we’d appreciate it. Keep the guns and the money.” The mare began to protest as she and the crate were loaded into one of the trucks. They hesitantly watched as their biggest client and their most valued treasure yet was driven off into the night, then quickly packed up their gear for fear the drone would open fire.

Altair, having picked up Kilroy, was flooring it through the flat wasteland with the heat on and the radio blaring. The others all were still relaxing from their ordeal.

“Has anyone told you you have balls of steel?” Krieger asked from the back, he had just slapped some duct tape over the mouth of their prisoner to shut her up.

“Every goddamn night.” Altair replied. “Focus on relaxing for now, we’ll meet up with our exfil in an hour or so. The storm picked up, so we may end up sleeping in the truck.” The others nodded as they continued driving on into the night.

[♠]

Altair quietly sighed as once again they were aboard the C-130, this time flying back towards Onorussian held Manehattan. The artifact was being guarded by Krieger and the others, leaving Altair and their prisoner to be alone. The two of them were sitting near the back of the plane, well, the prisoner was sitting. Altair had crossed his arms and stood in front of her, she wore a white pant suit and a white fur coat was resting beside her, her mouth still covered by duct tape. Just as Altair was about to ask her the first question he had on his mind alarms began to blare through the aircraft, he lost his footing and ended up falling as the plane suddenly began to climb, the crate slide forwards slightly but was stopped by the other.

“I have Zebra fighters on my ass here! Hold on! I can lose them at a higher altitude!” The pilot announced over the PA as the plane continued its steep ascent, Altair could hear gunfire outside as the zebras tried to down the plane. It seemed that whatever the artifact was, the Equestrians wanted it just as bad as the Onorussians. ”Holy fuck, the Zebs are fighting a couple Queasies!” Zebras fighting Equestrians? So now all three countries wanted what was in that crate. ”We’re leveling out higher than either of them can fly, should be safe for now.” Altair stood up and walked towards the mare.

“I’m gonna remove the tape, you’re gonna be quiet.” Altair said flatly before he reached forward and removed the tape quickly. The mare yelped, but stayed quiet thankfully. “Alright… Now, why don’t you tell me what’s so damn fascinating about that crate and why is everyone trying to kill us for it?”

“I don’t know, darling. I just wanted the gem.” The mare said, she was obviously lying, her expression shifted more than once.

“Let’s try this again.” Altair said simply before he drew his Desert Eagle and leveled it at the mare’s head. Her face went white with fear. “What’s with the gem?”

“It’s something that King Steven helped Celestia make!” The mare blurted out nervously. “I was sent to buy it from the hooligans by Celestia!” Altair rolled his eyes at her and moved the gun a little closer. “They removed her darkside! Put it in that crystal! That’s all I know, I swear it!”

“Oh, I’m sure there are more gems rattling around that brain of yours, but for now… I can see why they all want it so bad. I assume unleashing that dark side would be bad.” Altair hummed as he holstered the weapon. “You should’ve seen the look on your face, it wasn’t even loaded!” The man quietly sighed and began walking back towards the crate, there was a sudden explosion outside and the aircraft began to list to one side.

”Shit! They hit us with a SAM! I can barely keep control, gonna have to set her down somewhere!” The pilot announced nervously, the soldiers quickly strapped the crate down before they too rushed to their sheets and strapped in. Altair gripped his straps tightly as the plane dropped in altitude, it began to level off as it hit heavier air, but even that didn’t help it.

“When we hit the ground, as soon as you can you secure that gem, fuck the crate! Get as far from the plane as possible, we’ll use our RF transponders to find one another afterwards!” Altair shouted to his men over the sound of alarms and engines as the plane got lower and lower in the sky. “Remember to scatter as little as possible, we still need to be able to find each other once we’ve hit the ground.”

”Brace! Brace! Brace!” The pilot announced, not long afterwards Altair could hear grass scraping against the bottom of the plane. Seconds later the aircraft hit the ground with a tremendous thud, Altair hung on for dear life as the plane skidded along the snow covered ground. The lights went out, allowing Altair and the others a glimpse of the fire on the wing… Slowly the plan skidded to a stop, though some holes had opened up further near the front of the plane. ”Evacuate!”

Altair unstrapped himself and rushed to the crate, with a grunt he pulled it open and grabbed the gem from inside. The others were busy kicking out the emergency exit while fire licked at the right side of the plane. Altair was about to join them until he heard the scream of the mare they had captured, the man looked at her quietly. Part of him said to leave her, but the other part made him run towards her and unhook the seat straps. With her still hands still duct taped he dragged her towards the exit and tossed her to his men. The pilots hurried along, one of them limping while the other helped carry him. They two exited the plane, leaving Altair as the last one to go.

“Let’s move!” Altair shouted over the sound of the wind and snow. “This thing is likely to explode!” The group began rushing through the snow towards a faintly visible treeline a hundred yards away while the C-130 burned more and more intensely behind them. When they were halfway to the trees the plane exploded into a massive fireball, incinerating all evidence of who or what had been on board. In the distant tree lines they could see a couple flash lights flick on as Equestrian and Crystal Empire trucks rolled into view. “They found us way too fast! The gem must have some sort of tracker on it.”

“Maybe the mare does!” Krieger shouted back, Altair looked at the mare and saw her try to tuck her necklace down into her pantsuit. “I knew it!”

“Leave her! We need to keep moving!” Altair ordered.

“Lieutenant! I can’t go, my legs busted up.” The wounded pilot groaned, Altair moved over to him and hefted the man onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“No one under my command is getting left behind today, soldier! Come on!” Altair grunted as he started trudging through the snow, his assault rifle hanging from its strap while the others followed him, leaving the mare out in the snow. They continued moving while their pursuers stopped to scoop up the mare they had left behind, allowing them more time to get to a different portion of the tree line. “They’re going to lock this area down tight soon… We need to keep moving south!” Altair flicked on his radio as they trudged through the snow, the sky was starting to light up with the morning sun, though it was hidden behind the thick snow clouds. “Eagle Eye, this is Wizard! Need emergency extraction! We’ve been shot down behind enemy lines, in possession of Nocturne Artifact! Do you read?!”

”We read, Wizard. Negative on emergency extraction, we can’t risk sending a chopper into that storm.” The radio replied.

“Damn it, Eagle Eye! I’m holding their key to winning the war, send me a god damn chopper!” Altair shouted back, but once again the negative message came through. “Fuck! We’re on our own until this storm clears up!”

“Not likely to happen, sir! They’ve been using these storms to prevent us from bombing runs in the area!” The unwounded pilot announced as they kept moving through the cold and snow. “The only way we got through was with a C-130, a helicopter won’t survive!” Altair was cursing even more under his breath as he and his men made their way through the trees, the enemy was closing in on them from behind.

“Alright… Alright! Here’s what we do! Fan out and keep moving south, look for farm houses, maintain radio silence! If you see one with a large enough vehicle and you get it running, radio in and we’ll head to your position! Move!” The others nodded and began fanning out as they left the trees and entered more fields, the snow was up to their knees and their fatigues were starting to soak through. There was little in the way of buildings or farm houses to be found, these fields were simply empty to be empty. What was more, there was no way they’d all be able to get their comrades together if they spread out anymore. “Okay! Okay! New plan!” Altair looked at the gem he’d grabbed. “We’re holding a WMD, why don’t we use it?!”

“Last I checked, unleashing demon creatures from hell was a bad thing, sir!” Kilroy shouted back as they moved closer again, Altair shook his head and looked at the enemy approaching in their trucks.

“No no no, like we bluffed with the Reaper drone, only this time we actually have something destructive!” Altair shouted back, the others looked at one another. They could either keep running and die tired, or stand their ground and pray that lightning struck twice. “Kilroy, help me with him…” Kilroy moved closer and took the wounded pilot off of Altair’s shoulders. “Krieger, take the men and get as far away as you can, I’ll deal with the Equestrians.” The man grunted and pulled his sidearm from its holster, he then held it up against the gem in his other hand and turned to face the trucks as they rolled closer. Equestrians hopped out as spotlights lit up Altair and the weapon he held.

“Freeze!” One of the stallions shouted.

“Drop your weapons, all of you, or I blow this thing open and unleash hell!” Altair shouted back, he drew the hammer back on his weapon to show he was serious. His squad wasn’t entirely sure he was bluffing to be quite frank, some of them believed he was just crazy enough to pull the trigger.

“You wouldn’t do that!” A female’s voice shouted, an alicorn stepped out into view. A purple alicorn, Altair recognized her as Princess Twilight Sparkle. She must’ve been sent to secure the artifact by Steven and Celestia, judging by how nervous she appeared. “You would unleash a demon on millions of innocent ponies!”

“You’re damn right I will!” Altair shouted back. “Your government made me into this... An agent not of the moon or son, but of Chaos... You think I won’t pull the trigger?” The man glared at the princess, she looked deep into his eyes and saw… Conviction. He was serious, dead serious, he was willing to free the demon held within the gem if his demands weren’t met. “Now drop your guns and pile out of that truck over there!”

“He isn’t bluffing, guards! Stand down!” Twilight shouted to her soldiers, they kept their weapons raised. “Didn’t you hear him? He’s going to wipe out half the country if we don’t do what he says!”

“How do we know he won’t do it anyway?” One of the stallions shouted back, Altair and the others stood silently as each side tried to determine what the other would do.

”Sir, we’ve found an old cave to hide in. Waiting on you.” Altair heard a voice whisper through the radio in his ear, Altair sighed quietly as he looked between the gun and the gem.

“Not gonna make it, Sergeant. Keep moving.” Altair replied quietly. “I expect the Berserkers to come for me.”

“We’ll bust you out, sir. Just make sure they don’t get their hands on that gem.” Krieger replied in a serious tone, Altair nodded before he tightened his finger on the trigger. The weapon let out a thunderous bang as the bullet shattered the gem, a flash of bright light filled the clearing.

“What have you done!?” Twilight shouted as a fearsome glowing form appeared next to Altair, melting the snow on contact as it became more and more dense. Finally, Day Breaker was free of her prison, though she didn’t recognize the creature that had freed her. She was still weak, she would need to recover some of her power, still… She thanked her rescuer by simply blowing him a kiss, then she vanished in a flash of light. Altair dropped his Desert Eagle and raised his hands, smiling smugly.

“I warned you.” He said simply in a sing song voice as the Equestrians grabbed hold of him and dragged him towards their trucks, Twilight watched the fragments of the gem simply evaporate into nothingness… A shocked expression on her face. “Come on! Wasn’t fighting us getting a little boring!? Now you and all your friends will have another adventure to go on!” Altair began laughing loudly as he was shoved into the back of one of the trucks, leaving Twilight standing in the snow… She didn’t know what monster she faced was worse… The demon of Celestia, or the Demon of Onorus.

Author's Note

Here's another one for you Lovely Dovelies, and here we see that while Altair may be something like his father, he has a lot less qualms with destruction and chaos than his old man... I'm trying to do something with duality where one man is a hero to some and a villain to others. I kinda got the idea from this song right here.

Also, if any of you want, please donate Here... I'm working on moving out on my own and any little support from you folks helps.