Fallout Equestria: Shaping Shadow - Book 5

Shadow Flare was watching the front of the New Cloudsdale food distribution center from under Mwokozi's cloak. He was street level in an alley. He watched as a whole platoon exited the facility and headed directly across the street to Civilian Housing. Shadow moved out to catch up with them. Soldiers should not be moving into civilian housing. Maybe there were a few residences available, but that was doubtful due to its prime location for the working pegasi.

The soldiers were unaware of him as they talked and walked. The lobby had two elevators, but it also had a stairwell. The soldiers stayed together as they chatted and took the stairs, simplifying things for Shadow. It was easy to stay right behind them.

They exited on the eighth floor of the ten story building. It was still in the low fly zone of the nearby Weather Factory. Which was another reason why they should not be there.

They fragmented from there and Shadow followed the closest one into a residence. He just barged his way in. His carelessness and noise made it exceptionally easy for Shadow to slip in. He was not the brightest soldier the Pegasi had.

He walked to the main room and tossed his gear off and into a pile of more stuff before plopping onto the couch with a belch. The two foals quickly scrambled to the kitchen where a mare was working. On the other side of the room was a very annoyed stallion, who was trying to read the paper. It was obvious at a quick glance that he was doing it to keep an eye on their "guest."

"Do you have a departure date?" The stallion calmly asked. "We can't support you being here much longer."

"Look," the soldier snapped. "I do not. I don't care. I'm on deployment, keeping you safe from the Pegasi who are intent on destroying us. Me staying here is an honor. You are doing your duty to the Grand Pegasus Race by sheltering me during this difficult time."

The stallion snorted angrily.

"Now, how long until dinner?"

"We can't support you on the budget we currently have," The stallion said, holding his tongue. "You have to tell your superiors we need support to do it. I'm almost out of bits. I haven't been to work since you seized the facility and stopped us from working. I am also running low on ration tickets. And the stores are running low on food."

"Not my problem," the soldier waved off. "I do my duty protecting you. You do your job, helping me to do that."

Shadow poked his head into the kitchen. The food smelled like food. But the dish was plain oats. The open cupboard had nothing on its shelves.

This was beyond cruel what this single soldier was doing to them. Ordered or not, it was cruel. And the rest of the ponies that lived here had to be in similar situations.

Shadow stepped into the kitchen and grabbed the mare as his cloak came off. He covered the two foals with it. He held her in tight, keeping her from screaming.

"Quite!" Shadow ordered her and the scared foals. "We can't let him know I am here. I'm going to help you. But you have to stay quiet. Can you do that?"

The mare did her best to shake her head in his iron grip. Shadow released her and pulled his helmet off.

"Forgive me. All of you. I hope I didn't hurt you with the armor on. He can't know I am here, yet. But I'll get rid of him."

"Please," The mare said, almost begging in her despair.

Shadow nodded quietly and picked up his cloak. He folded it up and put it away before he flashed them one last smile and put his helmet back on.

"Remember, stay quiet and stay in here. This is not something you need to be involved in or even watch, but you can trust me."

Shadow stepped out and confidently strode into the main room. The stallion saw him but didn't respond. He was waiting to see what would happen. The soldier was laying on the couch with his back to Shadow and the door. A rookie mistake.

"Ahem!" Shadow coughed to get his attention.

The soldier rolled over to look at him. "The poker game isn't till 7, after dinner. If you want in, it's 200 bits."

"Poker?" Shadow calmly asked. "I'm not here for poker."

"Then why are you here?" the soldier asked, clueless. "This place is occupied by me. Check another room for housings. And I don't have a fucking list of available rooms."

"Why are you here?" Shadow calmly asked. "What I mean is, why are you being housed in here. This is civilian housing, not military. And it should only be used as such. Your place is at Mareland Joint Operations Base, not here."

"How dumb are you. We are deployed to the food facility across the way. Walk out onto the back patio and you can see the shit hole. We can't commute that far from Mareland."

"It is far," Shadow admitted. "But why are you being forced on civilians? Why not stay at the facility you claim to be protecting?"

"Duh," the soldier snorted. "It's full of food, and it's got no room to put any cots."

"So all of the soldiers holding the facility are housed outside of it?"

"Are you that fucking dumb-"

"Out!" Shadow order. "Every single soldier must leave immediately! Let your superiors know that civilian housing is not for active duty military personnel. We are not barbarians who must force ourselves on others. We claim we are more civilized than that. So get!"

The stallion snorted. His right eye had flinched every time the soldier had used foul language. "Finally a Pegasus Pony with a brain."

"You are not the fucking boss of me!"

"I outrank you," Shadow spat. "Since you appear to be blind, it is Command Sergeant Major and you will do as I command or face the consequences."

"I don't have a Command Sergeant Major over our division. Fuck off!"

"Fine," Shadow shrugged. "Then reap the consequences."

Kifo Herixleta was drawn and plunged into the lounging soldiers. Shadow wasn't going to ruin their couch, or their property. The blade was thrust in through the shoulder and into the body's length. The blade was iced over to stop the bleeding. He held the blade there for a moment to make sure the blood flow around the whole body was stopped before he withdrew it without spilling a single drop. Shadow picked him up and opened the glass door to the patio. He discarded the body off the patio to drop all the way down. There was no way it wasn't not seen.

Shadow contacted Captain Lemon Lime. "I need Law Enforcement here ASAP. The GPE has forced themselves into civilian housing and that includes forced feeding. We need to get them out."

"Perfect timing," Lemon Lime said after another minute. "I am with General Blue Shield discussing several things. We will get on this immediately. We were not aware of this development. I assume you are already stirring up trouble?"

"Absolutely," Shadow chuckled. "I just killed one of the bastards and will undoubtedly have to kill more as they try and flush me out. CSM Shadow Flare out."

Shadow pulled his helmet off to address the stallion. "Forgive me."

"Ha!" The stallion laughed before Shadow could continue. "That was perfect. And I expected to have to clean up. That soldier had it coming and he and his friends need to go. From all of our home."

"I am with the Council, and the Equestrian Pegasus Military. The Renegades claimed the Grand Pegasus Enclave name and symbol when they chose to bypass the Council and seize control. We have been trying to get an upper hoof, but we are in the minority.

“And I would never force you to clean up my mess. I am better than that. Why should I free you from their grip and force you to clean up after me?”

“Well you are certainly not the same type of soldiers as the other one.”

Shadow sighed and flipped on his helmet. The noise from outside the patio had gotten a lot louder. They were going to be attacking the residence momentarily.

“Kids, into your room!” Shadow ordered. “Everypony into there before they storm this pace and hurt you.”

While they rushed to get out of sight, Shadow flipped the cloak on. A pegasus flew up onto the patio and checked the door. Shadow had remembered to lock it so the Pegasus went up to the next patio above. They were shooting in the dark, trying to figure out what room the soldier had come from.

A minute later the door took a loud kick. A second kick came, trying to break the door down. Shadow could have knocked the door down in a single kick. Their attempts were pathetic.

As soon as they kicked in the door, the four of them did a better job fanning out to cover and sweep the room. Without visual contact with anyone, they moved into the residence.

“Grand Pegasus Enclave soldiers!” their leader announced. “Come out and talk! We need to confirm who was staying here.”

One of them moved to the room where everyone was hiding. Shadow uncloaked right beside her and snapped her neck. The others jumped into action. Their weapons came off safety, but Shadow japped one in the throat, rammed the other one’s lower jaw into his face. And sweep the leg of the last. The first one succumbed to the collapsed throat, the second one was spitting out broken teeth. Shadow snapped the neck of the third and then walked up beside the second and did it a third time.

It was a horrible sound and an even worse feeling. Shadow had done it time and time again for it’s efficiency. But it never got any better. He whipped his helmet off and stumbled to the patio. He didn’t make it as he vomited the little he had in his stomach.

Once the dry heaves finished, he moved as fast as he could to the front door and closed it. He put a chair in front of it. The chair wasn’t set to brace or reinforce it. It was just there to make noise if somepony tried the busted door.

The bedroom door squeaked open and the stallion came out, closing it behind himself. He looked around at the carnage.

“You shouldn’t see this,” Shadow quietly told him as he got to his side.

The stallion looked him in the eyes without a shred of fear or doubt. “Young, Sir, this is my home. What happens in it is of my concern.”

“Forgive the mess,” Shadow said as he put one of them on his back.

“I don’t think you understand what a mess is,” the stallion replied. “A bit of blood, some uh, teeth? To clean up, and some vomit, easy. We are rid of the real mess, that soldier.”

Shadow slid open the patio a crack and put the body on in. He got all of them onto the patio before he went to drop them off the patio. The stallion joined him.

Before Shadow could protest he spoke. “This is my house. If I want to throw the trash off the back with you, I will.”

Shadow sighed and they tossed the bodies down to the other one. They were seen because soldiers were watching the front and more were below by the body. Shadow locked the door and drew the curtains. It was better if they couldn’t see inside. It kept him a bit more blind, but it was still to his advantage.

A pounding knock came at the door. “Open up and surrender!”

“Get out of my house!” The stallion called back. “Your intrusion won’t be tolerated any longer! I may not have killed them, but I will not be pushed around anymore!”

“Surrender the killer. Peacefully surrender him and we will talk about the housing arrangement.”

“The housing arrangement is more than just me! It’s this entire building! I will stand and resist you until every single soldier vacates this building and we get heavily compensated for the hell we were forced into.”

Shadow laughed. He made sure to add a bit of mania to it. It was easy since he would have fun protecting them if anypony tried to breach.

“Come in and meet your death!” Shadow taunted. “That is all that awaits you in here. You can not win this. I am far superior in skill. I am Recon Team 4. You can not handle me. The wasteland couldn’t, and it had better ponies trying than I have seen in the Enclave..”

They were obviously hesitating outside the door. That was exactly what Shadow needed. He tied back into a line with Lemon Lime.

“Lemon Lime, I need an ETA. I’ve got 5 dead and more stacked outside. With 4 civilians inside, two foals.”

“ETA is two minutes. We have a full reaction team moving in. Just hold out a little bit longer.”

“Understood,” Shadow said.

Shadow tilted the chair so it reinforced the door. He flipped his helmet back on and moved to the patio. He got on the ground and lifted the bottom of the curtain. His helmet picked up no individuals outside.

Shadow slowly opened the door to wiggle out. He snapped together Soarin's Lightning and set up an impromptu sniper nest. The patio had cloud bars, opening it up nicely. Perfect for a sniper to see out, while blocking view in. He was about to pull the cloak over his head when the stallion slid up besides him.

"What?" he asked quietly. "I am going to go as far as I can with this. I'm fighting for my family, for my friends, for my life. I can't get at a rifle, but I can hold my ground here."

Shadow looked through his scope. Everything below was tense. The Law Enforcement Division had just arrived. At its head was General Blue Shield. He was in his regular duty uniform, no extra armor or weapons visible.

"General Derringer!" General Blue Shield called out to the other Pegasus with stars on his collar. "We have a problem. I spoke with you when you 'deployed' here to protect the food. We didn't come to an agreement then. However, now you have crossed a line."

"And what line is that?" General Derringer asked, not closing the 75 yards between them in the middle of the road. "Nothing we have done has changed since we last talked."

The Law Enforcement Division had about 50 officers in regular uniforms, except they were carrying rifles along with their pistols. None of them had extra armor like General Blue Shield. They were spread out in a good pattern, however it didn't match the amount of soldiers visibly ready to fight. Most were in defensive positions at the food distribution center, but others were in the road or at the building to respond to the situation.

"Well that just pisses me off even more!" General Blue Shield declared. "I have tried to be reasonable, because the Law Enforcement Division is not a part of this dick measuring war you are having. We are here to protect the citizens of the Pegasi. You have occupied my citizen's homes with soldiers. That ends now!"

General Derringer snorted loudly. "We have not stepped over any boundaries. We have the right to house our soldiers where we need them. We have to hold this facility. This is how we are doing our duty. If this facility falls into the wrong hooves-"

"IF YOU SURRENDERED IT TO MY HOOVES AS YOU SHOULD HAVE TO BE PROTECTED BY ME AND MY DIVISION WHO'S UNDENIABLE DUTY, WRITTEN INTO OUR LAWS! IS TO PROTECT THEM AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE FED! THAT IS OUR CLEAR DUTY! YOU DO NOT HAVE SUCH A CLEAR DUTY AND YOU HAVE STEPPED INTO THE FIELD OF MY DUTY! UNDER MY CONTROL! YOU WILL DO AS I SAY OR I WILL BRING DOWN THE LAW ON YOUR HEAD! WITH THE FULL LEGALITY OF THE COUNCIL AND OUR FOUNDERS!"

"Ha!" General Derringer laughed. "That is funny. I am in my complete and legal right."

General Blue Shield confidently walked, alone, over to face General Derringer. He fearlessly stood right in front of him.

“Don’t fight this,” General Blue Shield stated, just to him. “We can work this out. Evacuate your soldiers from any civilian housing, and I won’t arrest any of you who are outside of the facility.”

“HA! Arrest me. You wouldn’t dare. You couldn’t! You-”

“Are outmanoeuvred,” General Blue Shield finished. “You are outmaneuvered. I can place more soldiers than you can. In more places. I have snipers available. Snipers you do not.”

General Derringer snorted again. “The Law Enforcement Division has no snipers.”

“We got cleared for advanced and specialized training seven years ago after the near riots.”

Shadow pulled back from the scope he fumbled in his bag for a laser pointer. “Want to do something? Point this on General Derringer’s chest. I don’t have a laser mod on my rifle. This will give that effect.

The stallion took the laser pointer and did his best. It was difficult to see in the light and the distance distorted things. Shadow guided him with the scope to the chest of General Derringer. It flirted around on the chest of General Blue Shield first, but it caught the eye of General Derringer who then saw it move to his chest.

“You were saying?” General Blue Shield said. “Ten minutes to vacate any and all civilian housing, occupied or not. That is my final word.”

General Blue Shield began to walk back to his other officers. The dot stayed on General Derringer’s chest. General Blue Shield even turned his back on General Derringer. The dot on his chest was warning enough.

General Blue Shield got back to the other four officers who had been beside him. Captain Lemon Lime and Lieutenant Light Bomb were with the LE Major there. Both Wonderbolts were in black uniforms, unmarked. They looked more like they were in the Law Enforcement division than being in the Aerial Combat Battalion.

“I didn’t realize you had snipers,” Lemon Lime quietly said.

“We do, but that team was stupidly deployed into the building. They also are one of our best clearing teams. I don’t know who that is.”

Lemon Lime snorted. “That means it’s Shadow Flare. And from what I understand, his sniper rifle is one hell of a gun. A real legendary rifle from the war.”

“Are we sure he is on our side?” General Blue Shield asked. “If he pulls that trigger…”

“He won’t unless we are in trouble,” Lemon Lime said. “I am sure of that. What matters is how we play things out. We need to make sure we don’t force him to shoot.”

“Well, it’s a waiting game now,” General Blue Shield said. “Can you reach the Command Sergeant Major?”

Lemon Lime nodded. “Shadow? Can you hear me?”

“Yep!” Shadow replied. “You drew a good line.”

“I didn’t realize that rifle of yours had a sighting laser modification.”

Shadow chuckled. “It doesn’t. The stallion who owns this residence is holding a laser pointer for me while I keep him in my sights.”

“That is devious. But, um, what about protecting them?”

“He wants to help protect his home, his family, and his friends. The rest of his family is tucked away, safe. Also, I didn’t mess up the place, much. Just a bit of blood, a few pieces of teeth, and some vomit.”

“Vomit?”

Shadow chuckled nervously. “When I break necks, I vomit.”

“Ugh,” Lemon Lime exclaimed, disgusted. “I haven’t done it, but I know how. I don’t envy you.”

“Zebras suck,” Shadow shot back. “Although, there are a few things that are actually worse than snapping a neck. I, uh, won’t speak of those. I’ve made my peace.”

“Well, we need the clock to run out,” Lemon Lime said. “We want this win to set precedence with both sides for the rest of the war.”

“And you sit on what side?” Shadow asked.

“Irrelevant at this point,” Lemon Lime replied. “We need the Law Enforcement Division to truly stay bipartisan. We need them to keep the civilians safe. It also helps us not cross that line.”

“Time?”

“Two minutes. See anything?”

“Nah, he isn’t even flinching. When you move in-”

“You won’t see,” Lemon Lime said. “It will be swift and fierce.”

“I will switch to watching the door.”

“Sure, but you won’t see anything.”

“Shit!” Shadow swore. He turned to the stallion. “Get your family into the kitchen. Wet towels and put them over your head and sit there. It’s the best protection available. It's safe, but go!”

The stallion dropped the laser pointer as he got up. It clanked on the clouds and then bounced through the bars all the way down. A soldier saw it and picked it up.

“General! This laser pointer just came from a balcony above us.”

“A laser pointer!” General Derringer laughed. “I knew you were-”

BOOM!

A giant hole was blasted into the clouds right in front of General Derringer. The General just stared at the hole. The angle made the hole a cone from the impact point outwards.

“NEXT SHOT WON’T BE A WARNING!” Shadow announced.

General Derringer definitely looked up at the patio. He couldn’t see Shadow, but he did appear to be challenging him to shoot. There wasn’t time as a message came in.

“Sir, this is the entry team at the door.”

“What!” General Derringer barked over their coms.

“We are held at gunpoint by Law Enforcement team. They are ordering us to stand down. What do we do? They are fully geared out.”

“What! What do you mean?” General Derringer shot a look at General Blue Shield and the other law enforcement officers. He was about to argue with them but they all had masks on. Gas masks. Which didn’t make sense.

Shadow looked up as he heard the chariots. They sported the Enclave Law Enforcement badge on their black sides. They had their red and blue lights flashing. Most of their chariots were closed to take in prisoners. But these were open for quick deployment. They were not deploying soldiers or officers.

As they came overhead an orange cloud opened up and blanketed the air. It dropped to the streets below in a great cloud. The orange assaulted the very air and choked everything out.

The Law Enforcement had just bombed the entire area with oleoresin capsicum, instead of delivering it in a spray. It was a risky move using the riot control spray to cover everything. They covered multiple blocks with the spray to get to every single deployed soldier.

Meanwhile, through all the screams of terror as the outside of their windows turned orange, each residence was busted open by the designated team. They had used the 10 minute time limit to move their crews into position. In a matter of seconds most of the building had been cracked open and the soldiers clapped in irons.

General Blue Shield leaped the distance between him and General Derringer in a few strides. He defied the age he appeared to be. He was faster than most recruits were at the end of Basic Training. Forehoof cuffs were on General Derringer in a flash. The OC helped control him as he clapped his wings down.

“You are under arrest for endangering the Citizens you are charged to protect!”

General Derringer wasn’t carrying a mask. He was coughing as his body reacted to the heavy irritant. And there was no relief for blocks. “How dare you,” He managed.

“You had your time!” General Blue Shield said through the mask. “You are outside of the facility and you are aiding the subjection and endangerment of the citizens in that building. If your soldiers fight back they will be killed. We still have a sniper who will kill them.

“I am also getting multiple reports of unsecured firearms in the presence of foals. Young fillies and colts having easy access to firearms is a major violation of multiple laws. And you just got caught and will pay the price.”

A chariot landed and General Derringer was put inside it and secured to the seat. General Blue Shield’s second in command was inside to personally escort him to prison. General Blue Shield had more to deal with in the area.

He took to his wings to the residence where Shadow Flare was waiting. Lemon Lime was inside as well, and they were trying to get the residence cleared. It was a nearly pointless attempt with the cloud that would hang heavy over the area for a good hour.

“We need to move them out of the area,” General Blue Shield said to Shadow and Lemon Lime.

“Can you explain what is happening?” the stallion asked from inside the kitchen. He coughed heavily. “I believe we deserve an answer.”

They moved the talks to the kitchen as General Blue Shield explained the situation. “We just bombed the entire area with an irritant used to control riots or subdue a problematic individual. We hit the entire area to show the soldiers we mean business. They will be hurting, but it is not deadly. The wet towels you are wearing are a solid counter to the smoke. I know it must be hard. If we could have protected you, we would have.”

“You just dragged every single invading soldier from our homes,” the stallion shot back.
“That is protecting us.”

“We will move you as soon as the arrested trespassers are removed. We can’t get you out without risking you and your family. It is safer in here right now.”

General Blue Shield spoke into his com. “I need free hooves to get these citizens some relief. Towels over their heads as we try to get them out. We need to move the old and young first. Let’s get to prioritizing their removal.”

He received the confirmation.

General Blue Shield stepped out of the kitchen to observe what he could through the orange haze in the living room. It was just a pile of gear. A quick check confirmed that the battle saddle was not just unsecured, but had a loaded round in the chamber. The safeties could easily be switched off. It was not proper storage. There were strict laws about weapons and foals, laid down for their protection because of family members in the military carrying weapons back home when they lived on base, or off base in certain circumstances. None of these residences had proper storage for weapons in place. Every soldier arrested for trespassing was in violation of at least 2 specific laws that came with a huge penalty.

“How did you exactly find out?” General Blue Shield asked Shadow. “We never discussed it. The important thing was protecting the citizens.”

“I was watching their lines,” Shadow explained. “I saw a group enter after getting off shift. I followed them in and then to this soldier. It was easy to enter after how he barged in. After a chat, I killed the lazy bastard on the couch. He wasn’t going to leave. He believed they had a right to invade these pony’s lives.

“They also discussed, without knowing I was there, the current economic problem. These ponies are out of work. At least, those who worked in the food distribution facility. They haven’t gotten paid in a long time either. And feeding an unplanned mouth has soaked up their food tickets. They can barely feed their families, and certainly they won’t be able to do that soon.”

“I’ll get them taken care of,” General Blue Shield said. “I won’t fail them on that. They won’t go hungry and I will try and subsidize no income. It won’t be easy with the Council bound up.”

“The Second Councilor should be able to secure resources for you,” Shadow said. “I was there not to long ago, in front of them.”

“Sure, but if they control the food, I doubt they didn’t grab the banks and resource storage centers as well. I don’t have an unlimited budget to work off of.”

“They won’t be around for long,” Shadow assured him.

A coughing fit from the kitchen turned their attention back to the residents. The stallion had tried to handle the repulsive air on his own.

"I just wanted to look you in the eye and say thanks," He finally was able to say. "I know you did your best to save us and not make a mess. I wish I could do more. You said you were spying on their forces."

"Yeah," Shadow said. "I was. But we just severely thinned their numbers. And even the homes without a soldier had gear in them. Gear that they won't be getting back, giving us a very good edge. No military should impose itself on a civilian’s home."

"And where will you do the rest of your spying?" The stallion asked.

"All around," Shadow shrugged. "It won't be one solid place."

"And you will stay where? A hotel?"

"I have a residence on the other side of town," Shadow stated. "I'm recon. We have locations to use when moving throughout the… well what used to be the Grand Pegasus Enclave. What is left of it now."