Fallout Equestria: Dracony Chronicles

This was undoubtedly a first for Lazuli. Sure, Tempest had spent quite a while going through the basics of the mission, and she was assured that her ‘squad’ would be able to handle themselves even if she wasn’t the best leader…but going from a lone operator in the Wasteland to being the leader of a small group of military-trained ponies was a massive leap. She wondered, briefly, if Tempest was pranking her somehow.

As she walked along the dirt road with her squad in tow, she occasionally glanced between them. They all seemed to understand that she was the leader, that much was certain…the only one who seemed vaguely unhappy about it was Mahiri, who had spoken very little to her, but the zebra seemed generally aloof.

“So, Captain.” A voice at her side nearly made her jump, but she shook it off and turned to look at Velvet Rain, who had slid up alongside her. She seemed to constantly be smiling.

“…Yes?”

“What’s this suit made out of? If, er, if that’s not out of line, ma’am.” Velvet’s smile widened as she nodded towards the black suit that Lazuli was dressed in.

Lazuli figured she’d only be able to get more comfortable with this team if she talked to them, so she had no problem answering. “Mostly special fibres woven out of Dracony fabrics. Laced with a bit of diamond throughout, to make it extra durable.”

“Woah…” Velvet peered a bit closer. “Diamond? How’s that possible?”

“Well, uh…” Lazuli brought her tail up to her mouth and nibbled on it slightly, a habit she tended to partake in that probably wasn’t good for her teeth – though she realized the ponies were staring at her, so she cleared her throat. “Draconies used to be able to cut gems really well. Our whole land was filled with them. They used special techniques, sort of like magic, to make the minerals into lighter, thinner fabrics…a lot of Dracony fabrics used to have gems in them.”

Velvet looked amazed. Lazuli was happy to see somepony legitimately interested in Draconies, and not just calling her a mutant. “That’s so cool…” The unicorn murmured, then shook her head. “Uh, sorry if that’s out of line…ma’am.”

“Oh no, it’s uh, fine.” Lazuli glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the group. “All of you don’t need to be…this formal. It’s fine, honestly.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, miss…” Swift Bolt, the pegasus who had been flying the whole time, softly landed and started to fall into step next to her. “What happened to your wings? Commander Tempest never told us you lost them. She said you had these big, beautiful blue ones.”

Lazuli frowned, looking back and wiggling her metal wings. “Yeah…I got those removed. Not because I didn’t like them. They just uh…got broken beyond repair.”

“…Ah. Apologies.” Swift nodded, and started to fly above them again.

“Swift, it would help if you could stay in the air.” Mahiri piped up from the back. Over her right eye, she wore a half-visor that allowed her to see through a camera attached to Swift’s chest. “While you all are chatting, we could be missing things.”

“And, Captain?” Crystal Harmony spoke, leaving Steel Mustang and Wild Ace as the only silent ones.

The Dracony looked over her shoulder. The medic was rooting through her bags idly, checking the stock of her items. “How experienced are you with the military? The Commander told us you were discharged after an accident.”

“Oh, that.” Lazuli nodded slowly. “I was in the army for, uh…two years? Yeah, about two. Started out as a Royal Guard before that, patrolling Canterlot…but I got discharged because of my erm…” She gave Crystal a sheepish smile. “Attachment to Tempest. We were best friends.” She paused. “…Still are. Honestly, you guys probably have more experience in the military than me, but I don’t really know what Tempest’s training is like.”

Mahiri spoke up from behind her again. “I’ve noticed you don’t carry a rifle or anything, but you have that blade on your tail. Why’s that?”

“Hm? Oh.” Lazuli swished her tail a bit with a slight frown. “Well, I wasn’t in the military for long…so I kind of…er…” She couldn’t find the right way to phrase it. “I don’t know, fell out of practice? I used to be decent with a rifle, but I was always better with hoof-to-hoof.”

“Really?” Velvet chimed in from the side.

“Well, I was a street brawler for a while, heh. Then I was an assassin…then I joined the military. Then I got kicked out. Then…” She stopped, trailing off and shaking her head. “Well, I know you all know what happened then. Military training isn’t much good when you’re on your own, so I kinda…regressed, I suppose, back to street brawling styles and everything.”

A loud gasp came from beside her, and she turned to see Velvet practically right in her face. “Wait, hold on, did you say you lived in Canterlot?! Like, before the war?”

“Well, sort of, ye-“

“Can you tell me about it? Oh my gosh I’ve always wanted to kno-“ She stopped herself and hurriedly looked away, puffing her chest out as she walked. “Er…sorry, ma’am.”

Lazuli couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Well…I don’t see why not, we’ve got another hour of walking to do…”

After about an hour of walking, with a break near the three-quarters point to check their gear, Lazuli’s squad was nearing the raider camp. Just as Tempest had said, it definitely didn’t look like much. They didn’t even have solid buildings, just frantically cobbled together structures of metal and wood, and the occasional cloth tent. Mahiri relayed all of this back to them through her visor, which doubled as binoculars – or, as she was inclined to correct them, a monocular.

All six of them sat behind a large outcropping of rocks and dirt, checking their equipment again. “So, what’s the plan, Captain?” Wild Ace finally spoke. He had chimed in a few times during their Canterlot conversation, but never directly spoke to Lazuli.

“Hm? Right.” Lazuli cleared her throat. “Well I haven’t worked with you all before, so I was planning to stick to each of our strengths. Mahiri’s already scouting out the area, and Swift’s helping her. Swift can try to direct Velvet on where to aim.” She glanced at Velvet, who saluted and lifted the long-barreled sniper rifle she had on her back.

Lazuli looked at the rest of them. “Crystal, you’ll stay behind, mostly. As support.” The unicorn seemed not to have any issue with that, nodding in agreement. “And Steel, Ace, you’ll be the main attack forces. Steel in front, of course.” She looked between them all. “I’ll be scouting the inside of the camp, and taking out anyone I come across. If any of you need my help, just tell me over the radio, okay?” She tapped her ear with a hoof. “The estimate is there’s about twenty in there, but that’s only an estimate. Swift and Mahiri spotted fifteen already. They’re pretty lax on guard duty, so this shouldn’t be too hard.”

The six ponies at her command nodded to her, then to each other. Velvet hopped up and placed her rifle on its tripod, sitting atop the rock. Steel fitted the bridle off his battle saddle into his mouth, clipping the strap of his helmet shut. Wild Ace stepped up beside him, holding an assault rifle in his magical grip. His mechanical parts thunked loudly against the ground as the two of them started to move.

Lazuli was glad this was going well. She had been required to learn about tactics in the military, but that was over two centuries ago – she was glad that she somewhat remembered the basics. She slinked off to the side of Steel and Ace, slipping herself under the badly constructed metal fence.

Mahiri’s voice crackled over her earpiece, which covered nearly her entire ear. “Careful Captain.” She said softly. “There’s two to your right. Not facing you.”

Lazuli craned her head to the side. She saw two ponies standing there, both earth ponies. Their backs were to her, through one kept looking at the other while talking.

She slowly slipped under the fence completely, raising her tail above her head. Looking up, she could faintly see the outline of Swift flying above – if one wasn’t privy to his presence, they would have no idea he was there. Clearly, though, Mahiri had a perfect view of the camp below.

The Dracony quietly creeped up behind the two unaware stallions. She briefly glanced at the backs of their necks, ensuring they weren’t wearing collars – which would imply they were slaves – and when she saw they weren’t, she struck.

Her movements were quick, for she knew they would both be armed. She ducked between the two of them, flaring her wings out. The sharp blades hidden in the tips of her feathers slashed at the two stallions, not killing them, but startling them enough to knock them back. She quickly spoke into her microphone. “Steel. Ace. Now.”

She heard an affirmative “Yes ma’am” from the other end, and it was followed up by gunfire from near the entrance to the camp. Lazuli ducked under a swing from one of the stallions she had knocked over, his hoof grazing over her head while she lashed out with one of her hind legs and slammed it into his side. He fell to the ground, wheezing, while the other one got up and reached for the rifle leaning against the fence.

Lazuli’s tail swung through the air, cracking against the rifle like a whip. The stallion’s weapon flew several feet through the air, landing in Lazuli’s hooves as she reared up on her hind leg. She centered the ironsights on his head, not even hesitating to slide her wingtip around the trigger and pull it back.

She then spun around, pressing the barrel to the struggling first stallion’s temple and firing again. Both of them lay in the dirt, blood seeping out of the holes in each of their heads while Lazuli discarded the gun and began jogging along the fence.

“Left, Captain.” Mahiri’s voice came again. She paused just before the break in the tents, swinging herself around the corner with her tail outstretched. She landed firmly on the back of a large earth pony mare, and before she could react to her impromptu passenger, a sharp blade was being plunged through the back of her neck. This is super helpful. Lazuli thought to herself.

“Ace, Steel, three coming towards you. Two left, one right.” All seven of them shared the same channel, so Mahiri was being careful to give the right directions to the right ponies.

“Velvet, one guard on top of the fence.” Mahiri called. Lazuli looked up, seeing a pony with a rifle attempting to use the higher vantage point to shoot at the two stallions in the middle of the camp. As she watched, a bullet flew from a few hundred metres away, impacting directly into his chest. The burning hot metal sliced right through his flesh, entering the left side and puncturing his heart, knocking him from his perch and sending him falling to the ground. By the time he landed, he was already dead.

Lazuli ducked under the bottom of a tent, bursting out through the front flap into the middle of the camp. One unicorn stallion tried to raise his sidearm to shoot at her but she quickly lunged forward, swinging herself around in the air. Her tail smacked the gun out of his magical grip, and her hind leg firmly impacted his face, knocking him to the ground. Her tail followed up again, stabbing into his chest to finish him.

“Four more, that I can see.” Mahiri said. Lazuli rushed out into the ‘road’ in the center, where Ace and Steel were standing.

Lazuli heard a click, and Mahiri was in her ear again. “Grenade!” She yelled, with actual urgency this time. Her head snapped upwards, watching as a blinking red orb sailed through the air.

Lazuli spread her wings out and leapt off the ground. With a flick of her wings she spun herself around, flipping forward through the air. Ace watched with his eyes wide as her hind leg collided with the primed explosive, knocking it right back where it came from. The unicorn mare who had thrown it glanced at the grenade as it landed right next to her, her ears folding back against her head before it exploded.

Lazuli landed back on her hooves, her wings folding back at her sides. The tent that the mare had been standing next to was now on fire, but it wasn’t close to any others, so she hoped it wouldn’t be an issue.

She didn’t hear Mahiri in time, or perhaps the zebra hadn’t spoken fast enough. “CAPTAIN, BEHIND-“ She began to yell, when she felt a solid metal object against the back of her head. She wasn’t even able to describe what the sound was, because almost right away her hearing was gone. Immediately her vision exploded into stars, her entire head swimming when she slumped to the ground. She was only lucky that the stallion who had swung the pipe at her was less than steady, or it would have killed her.

She couldn’t hear anything. Her vision was swirling, and she was completely unable to keep herself conscious. As soon as her head hit the ground, she was out like a light.