Fallout Equestria: Shaping Shadow - Book 5

Shadow's team had reloaded, Ukuzwa was back with them, and they were finishing eating when a loud protest from the main triage tent caught Shadow's attention. Out of it stumbled Marble Falls. Olive Pit was right there, to help her stay up but she refused to go back as she set her gaze on Shadow.

"Shadow," she said through labored breathing. It was clear it was important from her tone. "You need to know. You did bad things below, in the name of the Enclave, but you did bad things to the ponies below. She is here, Black Widow. She judged the pegasi torturing me and withheld my judgement because not killing me proved to be the wiser strategy. I'll face her again and have to answer for my own actions. She is powerful. She will come to judge you. Be careful."

Shadow gave a slow nod. "I know about Black Widow. If she comes, I'll make my case, but for now, I can't worry about it."

"We need you!" Marble Falls exclaimed. "You give us hope and provide a better path. Be careful and don't get caught by her."

"You need not worry," Ukuzwa stated. "Mtoaji has already faced her jury. You cannot hide from the magic mare, but your worry you shouldn't bear. She is after those who think they can escape justice, those who are without conscience. You and Mtoaji and the EPM have the same goal as she, the unification of Equestria that has been foretold generations ago will come to be. Mtoaji was foretold and so was the joining shadow. The greater Equestria needs both to plow the land that has been left fallow. Besides, Mtoaji was already judged and chose to be redeemed. He was exiled from Equestria and delivered to us injured but soon to be esteemed. He served his exile for his crimes. Now the Enclave must answer for the division they have kept all this time. How many former Enclave must also answer I do not know, however at this time peace and unity is what you sow. I see your heart, Falls, and it is filled with peace and love with a drive to once again make Equestria ruled from a single hall. I do not think you will require judgment because you know you deserve punishment of some form, unlike the ones we face who see the conquest below as something to which they were born. They see no reason why they should be judged, the EMP is paying the price of their punishment through the challenge to overcome this dividing grudge."

"Rest up, Falls," Shadow said. "I'll be fine. I know how to take care of myself. You may need me, but we also need you. You are the only one who can teach our next generation how to be defenders, rather than wage a war."

"We cannot worry about this at the moment," General Misty Thunder stated definitively. "Focus on your jobs, not Black Widow, or none if this will work. Marble Falls, go heal up after your ordeal. Shadow Flare, Golden Dawn is caught in a tight spot and needs your team to help them bust through the enemy defense."

A soldier reported in. "General, Colonel Arrow says they are cut off and surrounded. She has 41 and 72 with her and they are under the direct charge of General Nova."

"Simi, take the others and help Golden Dawn," Shadow ordered. "I can bust out Arrow and Nova."

"You are going to need help," Yellow Quartz said, joining the conversation. "I've been playing it safe as the rearguard, in case there is a weak spot in the clouds, so I don't fall through. You, Command Sergeant Major, need heavy firepower to support your rescue plan. General Nova isn't going to retreat. The Steel Rangers or Applejack Rangers never used NCO command positions like the Enclave military. If you were one of us, with your skill and experience, you would be a Star Paladin. You probably would have my position, but the point is, Star Paladin Yellow Quartz reporting for duty Command Sergeant Major." Yellow Quartz saluted.

Shadow saluted back with his wing. "I welcome the assistance of a Star Paladin, especially one esteemed above most star paladins. You were impressive as a knight and I look forward to fighting directly besides you again, however, if you were impressed by me back then, remember I was using secondary equipment. I'll show you how to really use power armor."

Yellow Quartz let out a laugh. "We will see about that. Before we go, the Colonels and the others will probably be running low on ammunition. We should bring more with us."

"Simi, go!" Shadow ordered. "And what was 41, 72, and Nova using?"

"All of them are using ACU battle saddles," Misty Thunder said. "Nova brought his old scout saddle out of retirement. It's highly modified to facilitate his old job, but it uses the standard magazines and ammo the others use."

A few soldiers rushed to pack them saddlebags and then ensured they were secured over their armor.

Shadow used the short time to find out where they were. They were following Nova and watching his back as he went after his nemesis, who was also the pegasus who sent the black ops team to eliminate them at the squad barracks. He had not been on the reports as being at Nellie and they had not eliminated him, but he was a pegasus who would not be logged as being present on the general documents. He kept a low profile. He was most likely the one leading the battle.

Shadow rushed off with Yellow Quartz hot on his tail. They ignored enemy units, even when they were shot at, pushing to get to the stranded soldiers. Nova was too valuable to lose and Unit 41 would be a tough blow as well. Arrow was good and would make an excellent senior officer in the future defense forces. Shadow wasn't sure who was in Unit 72, but he didn't want to lose anypony that they didn't need to.

They found the building they were sheltering in. It was being accosted from all sides and off in the distance a squad of power armored Enclave soldiers were rushing to provide support.

"Arrow, it's Shadow, we are almost there and have supplies for you all."

"Good," Arrow said over the coms. "We are running low. Nova won't leave. We are too close to his target."

"Yellow Quartz is going to meet up and provide direct fire support, I'm going to put down the units in the power armor before they arrive."

"I know you won the long distance shooting competition, but this is a battle with moving targets and they are at least 1200 meters away," Yellow Quartz stated.

"I won with a regular rifle," Shadow stated. "I didn't bring my good one. It would have drawn too much attention to me and the Steel Rangers would have confiscated it. Just do as ordered."

"Understood," Yellow Quartz replied, surging ahead of Shadow with an impressive burst of speed.

Shadow vaulted off some crates and onto a roof. He pulled out Soarin's Lightning and snapped it together. The magically enhanced large caliber sniper rifle was lightweight and would put down any of the powered armored soldiers with ease. Shadow went prone, using it's bipod as he found the targets through the scope. The magically enhanced bullets wouldn't drop like conventional rounds did and the wind wouldn't affect them the same either.

It was twelve enclave soldiers, a third of a full platoon, but enough to wreck the ACUs. They were unaware of a sniper and running in a straight, predictable line. Shadow pulled the trigger, firing the first round. He didn't wait for it to hit as he put his sights on the second and fired. As he pulled the trigger on the third, the first one was hit with the giant bullet and was knocked back as it shredded the power armor. Soarin's Lightning flashed again as Shadow put down the fourth and moved onto the fifth. The fifth went down as they spread out, going for cover as their comrades fell from a single bullet. The cover didn't save them because Shadow knew where they were and the cover couldn't stop the massive bullet. The lead still found the pony inside the armor with more than enough mass and energy to permanently drop each of them.

Shadow picked off the last soldier and began to break down the rifle as Yellow Quartz engaged the regular Enclave soldiers. Her minigun shredded them. She took some enemy fire but didn't flinch as she retaliated with heavier firepower than what they could generate. She quickly cleared out the enemy troops. Any runners were picked off by Arrow.

When Shadow arrived he found their situation worse than reported. Both units were in regular ACU armor, despite 41 being shock troopers, and their medic from Unit 0 was also lightly armored and sporting only one rifle so he could carry more gear. One from 41 was dead, four others were injured across the twelve remaining ACU soldiers. The medic had the injuries under control for the moment.

Nova didn't have a scratch on him and he was angry. He wasn't angry at the units with him. It was directed at the enemy and his nemesis, General Star Facet. The command bunker was in sight but they hadn't been able to breach it before they had been forced to get to the shelter of the building they were in.

"I know Star Facet is in there and also leading this," Nova spat. "You did a great job, but finding him wasn't going to be easy on your recon mission. He is the one who made the 61st into that black ops unit and you saw what he did with them. Now Star Facet has control of the Enclave military. I want him alive. I doubt we can get any info out of him, but it is worth the try. He is the linchpin; the stitch holding the quilt together. If we remove him from the equation, we can win this."

"We are short hoofed for this op," Shadow said. "But I agree. We have a good amount of firepower, but is this worth the lives of more of our limited soldiers?"

Nova narrowed his eyes at Shadow. His words were cold. "Any sacrifice here, assuming we eliminate him, will save ten soldiers per lost one. Yes. It is worth the lives of everypony here; including mine."

"We can't let that happen," Arrow said. "But we agree that we need to push our advantage. With you two providing support, we can make it to the bunker and get him. Especially now that our ammo supplies are back to nearly full. Speaking of ammo, what were you using, Shadow, against the heavies?"

"A large caliber, magic enhanced sniper rifle," Shadow replied nonchalantly. "If we are going to make an assault, we need to move before they can get units to counter us and really make us bleed to get the job done."

"I'll stay with the injured," a mare said. Shadow knew the voice. It was Dipper under all of her gear. Shadow looked at the others. One of the injured was Chocolate. That explained why she was willing to stay back.

"The medic will stay back as well," Shadow decided. "Nova, I respect your rank, but we need somepony with a clearer head to run this op if we are to get out of here safely. I'll lead the assault team. Arrow can lead the defense team with the Star Paladin as their heavy support. Star Paladin, we are going to have a tough fight to make it back to the others once we get our target."

"I agree with the plan," Yellow Quartz stated.

“I’ll follow you, Shadow,” Nova added with a nod. “Let’s get this evil and end this war.”

Shadow moved out of the cover of the building with Nova right behind him. There were two from unit 72 with them. Everypony else was under Arrow; following Yellow Quartz on point with Arrow pulled up the rear.

Shadow stopped in the middle of the street and popped up his rocket launcher. He sent two at the fortified door. They were good hits, giving them an entrance. Shadow rushed through the opening and found several soldiers trying to recover from the blast. He put shotgun rounds into two of them and killed the other two with his bare hooves.

The building had 61st iconography on the walls. It was their headquarters and well fortified in the construction. There was a bunker below them, with the entrance in the back corder that was protected by a cage. There were several guards, waiting for them, but they couldn’t stop Shadow and Nova. Shadow whipped out Kifo Herixleta and turned the blade white with heat. He sunk the blade in between the door and the frame, slicing the hinges that were hidden on the inside. Shadow ripped the door off before the metal cooled enough to fuse together.

Nova went on point, backed up by the others as they entered the bunker. Shadow pulled up the rear as Arrow began to issue orders to deal with incoming enemy troops.

Below was another checkpoint and there was no cover. Nova unleashed an entire magazine as he covered the retreat up the stairs to the landing. It was too high to see the defenses. They couldn’t get shot, but they couldn’t shoot the enemy from the landing. Nova fished out two grenades from his backpack, set a delayed timer on them, and pitched them down the stairs. With the delay, there was the chance the enemy would think they were not live and try to throw them up the stairs. The grenades went off and Nova went down the stairs. He immediately came back up, backpedaling after quickly exchanging fire.

“I’m hit,” Nova groaned, sucking in deep breaths to curb the pain. “Shoulder wound. We need more armor to beat their defensive cover.”

Shadow opened the coms to everyone. “Arrow, Yellow Quartz, can you spare the Star Paladin? We need armor to beat their defenses.”

“They are not hitting us with anything heavy,” Arrow said. “Take her. Paladin, go get this mission done.”

“Nova and the others are going to join you, Arrow,” Shadow added. “Nova is hit. Not too badly from the look of things.”

“We are ready to receive the General,” Arrow replied. “Looking forward to it.”

Shadow looked at Nova. He was being treated for the wound. It didn’t look bad. After all he had been through, there was no way the wound was going to be Nova’s undoing.

Yellow Quartzs arrived as they started to evac Nova.

“Other than being exposed, any info I need to know?” Yellow Quartz asked.

“I never saw the layout,” Shadow said. “I’m blind. Nova’s grenades didn’t seem to do much.”

“Let’s blast them with everything we have,” Yellow Quartz said, popping out her grenade launcher. “I say we open with a carpet bomb.”

“I’ll go right, you go left,” Shadow said as he popped out his own launcher.

They went down the stairs side by side. As they stepped off the bottom step into the open room, they swept in an arc, covering their side of the room until they met in the middle. The grenades were lobbed over the defensive covers, exploding right beside the entrenched Enclave soldiers.

Shadow swung right, clearing the room and checking that everypony was dead. Yellow Quartz did the same on the left. They met up in the center, in front of another security gate. Shadow drew his sword and sliced the door hinges like before. Yellow Quartz ripped off the door for him.

The noise of the door being ripped off wasn’t subtle and neither was the enemy fortifying the room on the right. Shadow was on point as they moved down to the doors. Yellow Quartz watched the right one as Shadow cleared the left room. It was an empty break room. Shadow checked the closet and found it clear. Everypony left was in the other room.

Shadow went back to Yellow Quartz’s side. “What do you say about mixing up our entry by giving them something they would never see coming?”

“Keeping the enemy off balance and scared gives you the advantage,” Yellow Quartz replied. “Using your sword?”

“Yeah,” Shadow said as he smiled under his helmet. He loved drawing the blade. When it was glowing, he plunged it into the center of the door, all the way to the hilt. Shadow let it sit there for a few seconds and then removed it. He started in the top right corner, slicing an X in the door.

Yellow Quartz bucked the door, the power armor assisting as one of the sides folded in. Whatever was reinforcing the door cracked and splintered. Yellow Quarts kicked in the other three sections. She was hit by a stream of magic bolts from a side arm, but the power armor deflected them with ease.

Shadow dove through the gaping hole, rolling to avoid some of the fire. He vaulted off the wall over to where the novasurge rifle was being shot from. Shadow swept the leg and then bashed in the head with a stomp of his power armed hoof.

Shadow heard a commotion behind him and turned to see Yellow Quartz shrug off two pistol shots and then engage the pegasus in black fatigues in hoof-to-hoof combat. Even without the power armor, she was clearly the better fighter and slammed him into the wall as she broke a hind leg. The pinned pegasus has a star on his collar. He was General Star Facet. One star general Star Facet met a real military star, Star Paladin Yellow Quartz, and was immediately outmatched.

“Who are you?” Star Facet grunted. “You’re not dressed as a former Enclave. I don’t recognize any of your markings or your yellow shoulder cloak.”

“Star Paladin Yellow Quartz, Trottingham Applejack Rangers. I’m an Earth Pony attached to the Equestrian Pegasus Military, for diplomatic reasons, but I was needed for my military expertise. A star Paladin is a high ranking, highly skilled member of the Applejack Rangers, with a vast and long combat history filled with unique missions that required out-of-the-box thinking in order to complete. In short, my actual military experience far outranks your puny service records.”

General Star Facet let out a dark laugh. “You won’t get far. Reinforcements were in route before you broke down the door. It’s a large force that will stop you.”

“We are still going to try,” Yellow Quartz spat.

Shadow drew his sword and poured heat into the blade. With Star Facet pinned, he pulled out a wing and sliced it off, letting the heat cauterize the wound. He ignored the screams of the Enclave general.

“Now he can’t fly away,” Shadow declared. “We can carry him out now with less worry.”

“A bit extreme, but good thinking, Command Sergeant Major,” Yellow Quartz replied. “I’ll carry, you take point. Nova and Misty Thunder will want to have a chat with the General.”

General Star Facet was thrown on Yellow Quartz’s back and Shadow used one of the saddlebags they had used to carry the ammo resupply to hold him down. Even down a wing and with a broken leg, he could still put up a fight and would. The power armor would protect Yellow Quartz from an attack, but jumping off would force them to stop and they could not afford any distractions.

Shadow led them through the bunker and back out. Golden Dawn was directing the defense. Two others were injured as novasurge battle rifles pounded their defenses.

“Good, you are here,” Arrow said. “We need to go, but we are going to be slow because of the injured.”

“Who else can lead?” Shadow asked. “I can run the defensive screen, but I will need your support, Arrow.”

“Dipper can handle it,” Arrow immediately replied. “They don’t know we have the injured elsewhere. They can open up and pound them, giving the others the distraction needed to go. You and I can cover their exit as well before we start to fall back.”

“Copy that,” Dipper said over their coms. “Forty-two second countdown until we open fire.”

Shadow took up a post as close as he could to the door, but the primary slots needed to be used by the others so they could exit faster. They continued to return fire in order to not tip the soldiers off about Dipper’s group.

All hell broke loose when the forty-two seconds were up. Dipper’s group let it all go. Everypony who could fight, was. Yellow Quartz led the defenders out and Shadow jumped out into the open as he opened up with his gatling laser. He poured consistent fire downrange, forcing the enemy soldier’s heads down. They began to pop back up and targeted Shadow. Arrow picked them off from the doorway if they gave her a clear enough shot. It split their attention, forcing the Enclave to address them, rather than pursue the fleeing EPM soldiers. Several went airborne, but Arrow and Shadow quickly picked them off, ending any hope of following them from the sky.

After two minutes, Arrow broke from her cover, rushing across the open ground to get to the safety of another building. Shadow covered here, taking multiple hits before Arrow began to cover him. His HUD was flashing multiple damage warnings for his armor, but it had done the job. Now Arrow and Shadow had to make it back to the EPM line while also stalling the reinforcements so they didn’t overtake the injured soldiers.