Fallout Equestria: Shaping Shadow - Book 5

Star Paladin Yellow Quartz stepped off the ramp onto solid ground. She walked forward to the Citadel’s gates. Inside the courtyard was two dozen Unicorns assembled. She had been rehearsing the speech all day. Her nerves were through the roof. Unfortunately, there was nopony else who could do it.

“We have been asked by our allies in the sky to assist on a mission,” Yellow Quartz declared. “It’s straightforward. I have with me 8 cloud walking talismans. Wearing them will allow you to walk on the clouds like a pegasus. I have been using my own and can personally attest to its safety.

“Our allies are small in number, and unfortunately, they do not have a lot of ammunition at their base of operations. They can not confidently assault our enemies with the amount they have. Most of the ammunition was stored at the larger bases. Their attempt to quietly redirect some has failed.

“This will be a different technique entirely. We are going to be tunneling un from underneath the storage depot to connect with several operatives who will sneak in. From there, we will move the crates of ammo. You will use levitation and teleportation to quietly get them to the cloudship. It is the one that is parked outside of the Citadel. It is a flat top design that will allow us to safely stand on top to load it from above.

“We need the best teleporters. Because if we get found out, we will need to exit quickly. Any who can teleport out and to the ground is really what we need.

“Several operatives are going to meet us there, and they will actually do the tunneling for us. They can’t move these heavy crates on their own. At least not to move them down to the ship. They know what crates we need to grab.

“This is a black ops no contact mission. We will run instead of fighting. That doesn’t lessen its risk, but it does give you a sense of our plan.”

A Unicorn raised his hoof. “So, we are attempting a robbery?”

“Exactly,” Yellow Quartz said. “Although, technically we are stealing back what they stole. It’s a lot of mixed up politics. The Pegasi are in a tough spot. From what I get, our allies think that it’s about an even match up for both sides when it comes to combat. However, the ones who want to kill us hold the ammunition. That is not good.

“We need 8 of you for this venture. And we need you in black, unmarked uniforms immediately.”

Only seven Unicorns volunteered. Of those 7, three could teleport to the ground. It was the best they could do so they headed out.

Deke kept them low, right above the ground. They were flying at top speed to avoid detection. Mareland was still in turmoil after their ATC tower had been blown up that morning and the Victorious was put out of commission.

The Renegades had the numbers, but they were still nervous about assaulting Fort Wind. The ACB had the combat advantage, especially at their home base. Their hesitation was going to force them to lose their edge.

“Are you sure this will work?” Yellow Quartz asked Deke.

“70% sure,” Deke shrugged. “Our intel says they are still scrambled there. We will have that advantage. Besides, we can outrun any of them.”

“That doesn’t actually solve the problem.”

“Hey, they won’t be able to hit us. We will escape. I don’t know where it will put us, but we won’t get hurt. I know what I am doing. That is why I was consulted and why I was sent.”

“I thought it was because you are the only one dumb enough to do it,” Yellow Quartz playfully jabbed.

“Dumb enough with the skill to pull it off,” Deke corrected her.

It was a boring ride. It felt weird for Yellow Quartz to be back with Applejack Rangers. Catching up with the news didn’t take long either.The Applejack Rangers were staying in the extra officer quarters. The ACU quarters had been ripped out so they could have more room for supplies.

Deke was topside once they were below Mareland. The vertical acceleration made it difficult to stand. He was on top to guide the ship to the hole, wherever it was. The Zebras were not trained in their navigation techniques. They were working off a map of Mareland Joint Operations Base.

They slowed as they approached the underbelly of the clouds. They had the top yardarm to watch out for. They didn’t need to knock it off. It wasn’t that tall. And it gave them a good clearance to work with as they moved the crates.

Deke got the time. They were 23 minutes early. The longer they were here, the higher chance of being discovered. Deke began to pace. The unicorns were waiting just below, rather than risk falling off. Pegasi would be on top to grab any of them in they fell and help shuffle the crates into the ship.

Clouds glowed above them, but a 100 yards north. Deke navigated them through the com system until they were below it. Kami dropped through the hole using her wings.

“We are ready,” Kami said. “It’s a lot longer of a drop than expected. 70 meters of clouds.”

“Fun,” Deke said. “Well, up you go.”

“Quiet is needed,” Kami said. “Noise can not be concede.”

Kami went back up. They had placed little glowing orbs in the clouds to give light to the hole. As Kami got to the top, the first unicorn popped up through a blue flash of light. Kami looked at Ukuzwa. Ukuzwa nodded back.

Ukuazwa was standing next to a ward she had drawn up. It was a darkness curtain, blocking them from view unless somepony physically breached it. Or if they got too loud. Or if it got too bright. It was a very delicate ward.

The Zebra team was led by Bukhali. Ukuzwa was just there for magical support. Bukhali was leading Izala, Kami, Sumida, and Nukia. Simi was in charge of the others and they were back at Fort Wind.

The Zebras were marking and moving crates. The Unicorns needed senders and receivers because the distance was longer than expected. On top of the Twilight Sky the pegasi were moving those crates into the ship. They were going to pack it as full as possible as fast as possible.

An hour passed by and Deke received good news. The primary storage bay had been filled. Suddenly, the four unicorns above them teleported on to the top of the ship. One was high and had a good fall, but two pegasi caught him before he had a rough landing. Ukuzwa was right behind them using her wings to slow down at the last minute before she landed. Deke had the Twilight Sky maneuvered to the side so that they couldn’t be seen if somepegasus looked down the hole. Deke tensely waited for word from the Zebras.

“GO!” Bukhali ordered them. “FLY!”

They all heard the orders over the communication line and ran to the closest hatches. Thankfully the crates they had on top of the ship had been moved while they waited. The Twilight Sky was accelerating at near top speed. Deke was purposefully last in and he barely made it in because of the air pressure the Twilight Sky was causing as it accelerated.

Normally, Deke would have let himself go overboard, but they needed him to lead the assault on Nellie. Deke was the only one with a crazy enough plan to combat the large fleet at Nellie. He hoofpicked the few ships he needed, opting to give the rest to Little. He wasn’t explaining his tactic to them, which frustrated the brass. But they knew better than to force him to explain. He was their commodore for a reason. He had taken out the Solar. They didn’t need to know the full details of that battle.

“Are we just leaving the Zebras above?” a Unicorn asked Deke once he was inside.

Deke panted a nod. “They got there on their own. They can get out on their own. Ukuzwa joined us for a reason.”

A soldier came up to Deke. “Sir, we appear to only have secured a quarter of what we needed. Also, I believe the bridge wants you.”

“Yeah,” Deke nodded before he began to stumble towards the bridge.

He had not caught his breath when he got to the bridge. He sat down in his chair. He never had to ask for reports.

“Weapons are locked, Sir.”

“Executing Patten 32152.”

“We are clear of Mareland, no ships have moved to disengage.”

Ukuzwa entered the bridge. “Commodore, they believe we were dropping off, not securing a payoff.”

“Good,” Deke said, still out of breath. “We have the advantage. How secure is their retreat?”

“Very,” Ukuzwa nodded. “If they gave the go, then covingering smoke began to blow. The back door was ready, exiting’s risk would be steady. Our cloaks will cover the retreat. They will never secure their beat. The plan was for them to stay. For soon at there will be an affray. It is advantageous for them to be on standby. I do believe their plan is to begin to spy.”

“Did you set up the ward to turn to smoke if it was breached?” Deke asked, finally in control of his breath.

“No. Those traps we rigged ourselves. To give the advantage to cloak to thyself.”

“Self and then thyself?” Deke poked. “Not much of a good rhyme.”

Ukuzwa raised her eyebrow at him.

“You’re right,” Deke said, leaning back a bit. “I don’t rhyme. I won’t judge anymore.”

“Sir,” the lieutenant at navigation called. “We appear to have no cloudships disembarking. At this point, even if any did, they couldn’t catch us, let alone shoot us.”

“I hesitate to say it,” Deke stated. “I don’t want to jinx anything. But with their ATC tower down, they must not have anypegasus at any ship navigation stations. Or they were dumb fucks who tried to get permission from the non existant ATC tower.”

“Sir?” the lieutenant commander at weapons asked. “Do we have any word on who the saboteur was? It seems awfully convenient, but rather aggressive for one of our teams.”

“Don’t discount what we will do,” Deke warned him. “But no, we don’t. The name pitched is a Black Widow.”

“Black Widow?” Yellow Quartz asked.

“You know of her?” Deke asked.

“Yeah. Several years back she ripped apart the wasteland, killing hundreds of raiders or evil ponies. Anypony who harmed others or caused divisions instead of working to build bridges and solidify the wasteland into a whole land again was killed. Often brutally. She came claiming to cleanse the wasteland through fire for its ascension or something along those lines. Her specialty was a sword.”

“A sword?” Deke asked with a grin. “Like, a golden one?”

“I believe it was black,” Yellow Quartz said. “And she was a unicorn.”

“A unicorn,” Deke snorted. “Well that rules out my original thought.”

“Which was?” Yellow Quartz asked.

“Shadow,” Deke shrugged. “But his sword is ornate and gold. Between the two of them, a lot of ponies had to die.”

“No idea,” Yellow Quartz shrugged. “He cleaned out a few places in my sphere of influence, but we only defended our corner of Equestria. Speaking of that, don’t you have to drop off some Unicorns?”

“Helm!”

“Adjusting course, Sir!”

“Good,” Deke snorted. "It's not too long of a detour at full speed."

"Sir, I recommend no more than 80% so that we do not strain the engines too much. Or the frame. Or guns. We have a big fight coming up."

"Fine," Deke groaned. "Keep her moving at 70%."

They finally cruised into Citadel and settled on the ground. Once they dropped their ramp the Unicorns gladly exited. It had been a strain on them. Particularly being on top of the ship, hundreds of feet in the air.

They were greeted by Paladin Warding Blade. Deke disembarked to meet him. Time was strained, but so was a proper thanks.

"Paladin," Deke greeted him. "Wait, no. Councilor? No. Senior Paladin? No… ah fuck it. I forgot! I'm Commodore Derecho. The best cloudship pilot. Period. Nopegasus is better than me.

"I have to thank you. We got maybe half of what we were trying to get before our cover was blow. Initial reports is that they believe that it was a drop off, not a pick up. But all seven of your Unicorns came back safe and sound. Your assistance once again has proven vital. I wish I knew how to pay you back."

"Win," Elder Warding Blade said. "Win. And it's Elder. Elder Warding Blade."

"I was never going to guess that," Deke admitted. "And Elder. I am going to win. Strained ammo supplies or not, we will win. I'll die to ensure it. But I won't need to."

"Your arrogance is concerning," Warding Blade stated.

"A lot of pegasi, eh, ponies, say that. But I don't say what I can't deliver."

"I have a feel that is true," Warding Blade nodded. "Which is also concerning."

"Sir, I have a wife and a newborn foal. They say the most dangerous Pegasus is one who has nothing to live for. I say, it is the one who has everything to live for. They will go to any length to protect the ones they care for. Sure, they don't want to die and leave their loved ones behind. But once forced to fight, they are the most dangerous enemy and the lengths to which they will go are beyond those of the one who has nothing to live for. They will fight when the one who has nothing runs out of energy because they lack support."

"That is an interesting belief," Warding Blade said. "And also a scary admission."

"Pffft," Deke scoffed as he waved it off with his wing. "I have an honor to uphold. And I have the skills to do things that no other cloudship captain can do. That would also be why I have the eyepatch and ear cuff. I saved the ship, saved most of the lives on board in the crash, but got banged up badly for it. I only recently lost my eyesight beyond what our doctors could do."

"Interesting," Warding Blade snorted. "But you have the Talismans back, we have our Unicorns. Things seemed to go well enough. I believe you are running out of time."

"Yes, we are. Thank you Elder. We will repay this debt by winning."

Deke boarded with Yellow Quartz and they got back under way. They were going to be deploying troops shortly. They had to hurry.