Fallout Equestria : Storm Protocol

Written by : Thundercloud

(“Remember the Las Pegas Valley, and the soldier who loved you so true”)

Location : Equestrian Army Listening Station at Sugar Grove [ Town of Sugar Grove ] Time : 13:30 Equestrian Military Time

The facilities foyer was open to the air, doors being removed for scrap for the two week old settlement’s growing pains, and the glass in the windows being shattered when the Balefire Bombs detonated. The front wrap-around desks having destroyed terminals and bent desk fans piled up in the corner from the town's salvage operations. Shady and Racer standing at the top of a stairwell in the back that led deeper into the building.

For an infant town, it was surprisingly built up. Most likely a testament to fabled Earth Pony prowess.

“Lets go” I spoke cautiously as I nodded for Shady to open the doors. The doors opened with a mechanical ‘PSHHH’and my team, plus the President and Secretary of Treasury ( seriously, these Stallions are insane ) of Sugar Grove moved forward into the dim office center of the facility. The doors closed behind us. Most of the lights were off, but some still radiated the warm yellow of the gem bulbs. Racer began to flip some switches on the wall, to no avail.

“Dammit, spark reactor is offline Sir” she reported as she lowered her hoof back to the ground. Shady rummaged through his bag and brought out a long, plastic meter and started tracing power output. Mumbling to himself as he stepped over debris from the collapsed roof, he paused at all major power junction’s to find where the wires all stopped at.

I turned to Blackwood and Bullion, who stood in the corner away from my team's menacing appearance. “ President Blackwood, where is the command center. I dlike to be out of your town’s mane as soon as possible?”

Blackwood responded, “ down tha’ hallway. We sent’n team in here after tha’ noises. We haven't reached this salvage stage yet, only work’n on the outlyin’ structures and foyer.”

The interior of the building was still untouched, and it appeared that they had their work cut out for them. Shady still was following non-existent appearing wires along the baseboards.

“ So “ Blackwood continued. “ We’r gunna find the Spark React’ur rum, then pow’r this place up? “ he asked with a slight cock of his head. I wondered for a moment, what happened to make this place go into lockdown. The power obviously had been down for a while considering the townsPonies were using cobbled together generators

“Yes, that seems to be the plan. Shady, what do you have? “ I asked the tan Pegasus as he stopped for the tenth time to place the meter on the baseboard trim near a Sunrise Sarsaparilla machine.

“Reactor seems to be under the floor here Cap, I'm getting a hell of a lot of readings here” he said as he packed his meter away. In one swift motion, he turned his flank to the machine and bucked the center of it, causing five sarsaparillas to come rolling out of the tray.

“That was very uncalled for Lieutenant” I stated in a level voice as he took all but one sarsaparilla in his power armor’s built in manipulation spell matrix and deposited them into his saddlebags.

“Eh, better than cloud manufactured, “ he said with a shrug. I decided to leave it there. No sense in arguing with my second in command in a hostile environment like this. Especially surrounded by “mud-Ponies”.

I saw Bullion Squeezer take the last cola and shrink away cackling to himself about “delicious cola”. These Stallions needed a Psychiatrist…

We all slowly trotted into what once was a central office cubicle area. Files were piled high in the center, with gas and oil cans around them. “ Looks like they tried to burn them Captain, wonder what's on them? “ Cloud Buster observed behind me. A Robotic voice answered for us down the hallway.

“SENSOR ALERT, ANOMALY DETECTED” A very mare sounding Robot said, as we heard the ‘Fwosh’ of a charging pod open. Out trotted from a room down the hall, a drab green Robot. The head had a large red “eye” in the middle of its forehead, while the hooves were equipped with some sort of retractable talon’s.

“CYCLOPS, DOWN!” Bullion yelled as the Robot jerked its head towards us. We hit the deck as an orange light filled the room, before a huge, equally orange, beam tore over Doc Weathers head.

“YOU ARE DEALING WITH A CELESTIAN ROBOTICS CYCLOPS, STAND DOWN AND BE DISINTEGRATED” The Robot informed us, not caring that the mantra is “OR be disintegrated”

“We need to disable the power talisman. On three.” I said over the Bot clanging through the piled up files. “One” : My battle saddle powered up with a ‘Breee’, catchingBlackwood’s hearing. “Two” : Shady primed a magical spark grenade to fry the Bots circuits. “Three!” I yelled as I rose from the flipped desk I found as a very nice cherrywood “try not to get lasered” bit of cover. The apple-shaped grenade from Shady bounced and detonated under the Cyclops Robot. I followed it up with half a charge pack of magical plasma. The smoke cleared, revealing a very pissed Robot. The razor-sharp talons swung from indents of its hooves, and it charged.
Cloud Buster intercepted it and they went down in a frenzy a few feet from where Blackwood and Shady took cover. The Hooves of the Metallic Pony started to turn as I thought Cloud Buster was about to break them off. He turned, and turned, and turned…. and.. turned? and spun. Cloud Buster let go of the talons as the claws reached maximum velocity, the Robot reared back on its hindlegs and struck Cloud in the chest hard. He yelled at the pain. The Robot’s talons extended with the pneumatic pistons driving Cloud away. Impacting a filing cabinet in the corner of the office space and laying there. Doc Weather flew over to assess him. The Bot seemed to like that as it snapped to look at Bullion levitating a magical energy rifle near its head, switching targets.

“Knock Knock” The Teal Unicorn said as he telekinetically bashed the Robots head with the butt of the rifle. The Cyclops asked “Who's there?” by the form of another blast of head laser that burnt away his eyebrows in a near miss. “Huh, Guess it doesn't like knock knock jokes” he said as he uncapped a vial of a purple tinted healing potion when he dropped back into cover.

Shady fired from his beam rifle as he hovered in the air, trying to hit the military Robot’s spark talisman that powered it. He managed to get a shot through the Eye Laser, disabling it.

“Warning, Optical beam Cannon offline, contacting Equestrian Police for tampering with an M.W.S. Robot. Warning, no response. Reconnecting…. “ The Robot stated as it blindly lashed and bucked with its talon hooves at anything. A few desks crumbled from the impacts. I launched into the air and managed to get above it. The armor was warped from Cloud Busters onslaught and I managed to catch the arcano sparking of the Robot’s power talisman, where a normal fleshy Ponies heart would be. I booted my armor's integrated Stable Tec Assisted Targeting System, or S.A.T.S. and locked on to it. I felt the world pause around me as the spell went off, effectively freezing everything around me in time, or speeding me up. Whatever the spell actually cast, I didn't care much as I bit my battle-saddle’s mouthpiece, and sent a ball of hot plasma into the Robot. The superheated ball burnt through the wires and machines and found its mark on the talisman, which blew up with a ‘SKRECH’ sound. The Cyclops staggered for a moment, before dropping in a heap of mechanical parts.

I looked back to my group, Bullion and Blackwood were nursing their wounds with a combo of healing bandages and potions. Shady had flown over to where the Cyclops was destroyed and had begun to pick apart the most valuable tech from it. Weather was still healing Cloud Buster. The Cyclops had punctured his armor in the chest when the spinning talon had thrown him off. Blood seeped from his wound, and he groaned with pain. Blackwood tossed Weather a hypodermic needle filled with a magenta colored potion in it, Weather administering it into Cloud’s neck once he caught it. The MED-X kicked in almost instantly and he quieted.

I nodded in thanks to Blackwood.

“Is he going to be alright?” I asked Weather as I walked over to them, avoiding the remains of the fight.

“ A lot of internal damage from the toss” he said as he glanced my way. “ He will make it if I can medevac him”.

I glanced down at Cloud, he was in bad shape. If not for his armor, probably worse. He looked up at me and saluted me.

“Cough Ill be fine Cap, Ack.” He said. I could tell he was lying.

“ Sigh, Weather, you and Racer take Cloud outside and get him on a Vertibuck. The rest of us, let's continue the mission” I said aloud. Weather and Racer deployed a small foldable stretcher from his right saddlebag, and moved Cloud onto it, strapping him in for transport. Without another word, they placed the ends of the collars on their necks and walked towards the door.

I keyed up my comms to the pilots. “ Vertibuck 02-B, medevac inbound. Non-town’s Ponies related cas. How copy? “ The Vertibuck’s pilot, a mare, replied with two green flashes of the acknowledged light. I strod to the rest of the party, and flicked my head. “Let's keep going, we need to find the shipment.”

We continued into the facility. A few Protecta-Ponies locked on to us at a guard booth on the next level down. Orange beams flashed from their head domes as we took cover.

“PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SITUATION IS BEING DEALT WITH “ One of the Pony shaped Robots announced as they began to walk towards us.

A magical spark grenade bounced off the lead Robot's right forehoof. ‘ZAP’.Both bot’s went down in a flash from Bullion’s well tossed grenade. We walked past them, Shady stopping to pull bits and bobs from the shells. The guard booth held two skeletons, still dressed in moth-eaten and faded Equestrian Army barding. The name tapes were un-legible but I could make out the ranks. Two Corporals. The doors that led deeper in the facility were locked down, a red light flashed as a warning. I could see a working terminal in the booth though, probably held the door override. I tried the booth door, locked. Another door facing the booth was caved in with rubble.

Blackwood took a look at the door at the end and sighed. “ Thats tha’ door that leads ta’ command. Must’ve locked when we tripped tha’ alarm.” He started as he looked around. “Bullion, can ya’ use yo’r magic ta’ access tha terminal in the booth from here? “ He finished as he addressed the Unicorn

Bullion looked at Blackwood above his white glasses on his muzzle. “ You see, I can't buddy. That's the problem. I need to be able to see the terminal screen to manipulate the logs and keys.” It made sense to me and apparently to him as he nodded.

I turned to Shady. He was busy picking through a waiting room cabinet and pulling out pre-war magazines. He must have caught my gaze as he turned to face me. “Shady? Can you pick the locks on the doors?” Shady only shook his helmeted head.

“Sorry Cap, They are locked down tight”. Came the distorted, mechanical sounding response.

I looked at the door, there was a hole for a key, so copies could exist. I glanced at the wall. The sign on the wall read ‘COMMAND>>> BARRACKS, MAINTENANCE, and ARMORY <<<.’ Barracks and armory it was. If keys existed, they would be kept there.

“Shady, You and I will search the armory. Blackwoods, you take Bullion and search the barracks. There may be keys there for this door.” I indicated to the locked guard door and we strode down the hall. Some non-commissioned officers and officer workroom’s lay to the left, the small barracks on the right. The armory was at the end of the hallway. The door was locked due to losing power two hundred years ago. I glanced at Shady who had already begun to make his way to the maintenance room on the other side of the armory. The door was jarred open by a bit of drywall and we entered. The room was mostly filled with two large hulking spheres. The massive spark reactors colored yellow and blue. Tesla coils and wire connection conduits jutted from the sides of the spheres. Most of the terminal banks were burnt and destroyed, aside from an engineer console on a desk. Shady hacked into the system and got the password, ‘Sparky’. After navigating through various corrupted system messages, he located the boot button for the facility's emergency spark reactor. The arcano-reactor sprang to life with an ear piercing whine as the magic gemstones received the first power in two centuries. Shady got up from the chair, but not before rummaging through the lead engineers desk and pulling out a few bottle caps and some fiber optic wire, and we returned to the now open armory door.

A skeleton lay slumped over a desk in the corner. The weapons lockers still had guns in them. I walked to the poor skeleton as Shady took his helmet off and started opening some lockers with a multitool, pilfering the weapons and ammo inside. Mostly containing magical laser weapons, ballistic ammo and the weapons that used them still sat in their bays, and even a few magical plasma rifles to top it off.

On the desk, an orange rifle sat. The barrel was painted with cautionary yellow streaks in it. Almost like a warning. A large drum magazine sat nearby, with one loaded. Etched onto the barrel was the word ‘Whisper in the Dark’. The terminal that also lay on the desk provided the room with a greenish hue. I placed the skeleton on the ground and sat down on the still comfy cloth chair, doffing my bags and helmet. The pinions of my right wing navigated the up and down arrow keys and I selected the first entry.

SGT Muffins, 1st Equestrian Cavalry: Got a new shipment of weapons today. Usual MWT and MAS Laser Guns, also something new. Ironshod sent over their new IF65 “Stallion” ’s and buck.. They are sexy. The drums hold 130 rounds. And the sights are enchanted with night vision crystals. LT said we can customize ours if we want, since we ain't fighting damn stripes here. Just protecting spooks. I'm gonna paint mine to look dangerous cause why not? Reminds me of a mare I dated in High School. Wonder where she is now?

I flipped to the next log.

SGT Muffins, 1st Equestrian Cavalry: Painted Whisper today, named it after one of the training manual's. I am trying to jury rig a silencer onto it, but it makes it clumsy and heavier. Wonder if I can integrate the suppressor into the barrel? I'll ask Rain Shade later. she seems to be good at that shit after all. LT says the war is ramping up. Stripe’s have been testing Balefire Bombs near Dawn Bay. Fuck, where did they get that tech from?

SGT Muffins, 1st Equestrian Cavalry: Tested Whisper today, she does pretty well at the range. Laid out seven targets in under a minute. Others have begun to paint and customize theirs as well. Orders from HIGHCOM came in today, saying we are going to be deployed to reinforce the position’s near Hoofington. Damn Stripes have been hitting the place for awhile now. Same old shit. They hit the city, we rebuild. Rinse and repeat. Why are they wanting to kill that damn city anyway? It did give me the heebie jeebies when I was at basic there….

The last log was an audio one and was dated the day the bombs fell. I scrolled down to it. Shady could still be heard opening lockers and stashing weapons and ammunition in his bags. At some point during me reading the terminal logs, he had taken mine as well to also fill. I clicked play on it.

This is, *inhale* ,is Sergeant Muffins, 1st Equestrian Cavalry. Fuck. Fuck .. FUCK. Sirens have been sounding for an hour now. We could hear Cloudsdale go down from here. Word also is Fillydelphia and Manehatten have taken one as well. heard Ralneigh had one inbound, but havent heard an explosion yet. Maybe it got shot down? I know the Pegasi had Raptors on patrol around here. Mom and Dad are probably dead. They lived in Filly. Damn, Damn the Stripes and their shit. Whole guard platoon is going to meet here in a minute or two to discuss next actions. We have a lot of Radiation warnings here, and already people are getting sick. I need a fucking drink…. This is Sergeant Apple Muffins. May any who read this be safe.

The audio cut out in static and a beep. I glanced at the skeleton. “ We will Sergeant Muffins, we will. Carry on. “ I whispered. It was the best eulogy to a soldier I didnt know that I could, but I felt it was right. Locking the seal of the helmet back into place, I stood up and flew over to Shady, but not before taking Whisper in the Dark and storing it in a spare holster of my battle saddle. He was flapping his wings and remaining in place, while scooping contents of the lockers into bags using both forehooves. I scooped up two bags and locked them into place on my armor. My helmet’s inventory spells automatically updating and listing contents to the HUD.

“Seems like all of it.” Shady said as he practically slammed the last locker door closed. He winced as it flew shut with a loud ‘BANG’. The inventory spell listed over two thousand rounds of magical plasma and energy cartridges, and three thousand rounds of five five six, three oh eight, ten millimeter, and forty five. A lot less useful ammunition to use when most Enclave weapons were energy based. Shady turned his side to me and gestured to a machine gun, now mounted to his battle saddle. A long, cylindrical barrel made up most of the front of the gun, little ridges on the muzzle for what I knew air cooled the barrel sleeve sat at the front. The rear was a rectangle , with a thin circular magazine mounted on top of the gun. The wooden stock had seen better days. “Like it? Found it in a locker.” He said as he grinned with an obvious love of the gun.

“That's an IF 5 Rattlesnake, isn't it?” I said and drew a long whistle when he nodded. The IF5’s, more commonly called a ‘Rattlesnake’ or ‘Buckels’ for the city it was produced in, was one of the first automatic machine guns Ironshod Firearms produced. It was key in the defense of Flankders Fields, early in the war. Albeit very outdated compared to the IF 249 or IF 240 Machine guns, they were still deadly in the right hooves.

I looked back at Shady. “ I’ll allow it, only if you upkeep it Lieutenant.” I said. Shady almost jumped to the roof in joy.

“Have you found any keys? “ I asked, returning to the job at hand. He nodded, and produced a brass key from his bags grasped in his mouth.

“ Yeff fur’. “ He said through the key clasped in his mouth. I nodded for him to follow and we made our way back into the hallway, Shady retrieving his helmet as he went. This facility could be a treasure trove to the Enclave, and a great salvage place for Sugar Grove now that the power was restored and you could access every level. I made a note to discuss trade relations with General Star Chaser and Blackwood when the mission was complete.

“ Damnation. “ An accent called out as a stained mattress flew out of the barracks door. “ Kill that damn thang! Hate them damn radroaches” An oversized cockroach, or “radroach” as Blackwood had yelled, came streaking out the door back towards the guard post. Bullion came out the door in pursuit, holding a broom in his telekinesis.

“I am going to SQUEEZE you!” He yelled as he tried to squash the bug. Somehow, the roach dodged each attack. “ Stand still you insidious insectoid. “

Bullion finally squashed the roach under his hoof after a few moments of switching between the broom, and hooves. Mud Ponies are damn weird. I gave him a gaze as I went to meet up with the “President” of Sugar Grove. Blackwoods sat on a wooden chair, mumbling about “fucking roaches” and “little pests”. I smirked inside the helmet as he looked up at me in shock.

“Er, you heard that, didn't yah?” he asked as he met my visored eyes.

“Oh, something about “damn roaches”. Are you scared of bugs Mr President? “ I said teasingly through the speaker of the helmet.

he chuckled at my response. “Hate them damn thangs. All beady eyes’n shit” he said as he visibly shuttered at the thought. I chuckled at the absurdity of the idea that an Earth Pony could fear something so (relatively) small as a roach. Blackwood just shot me an angry look in response.

I held out an armored forehoof, and he took it. I helped him up and we started towards the door. Shady had produced two Sunrise Sarsaparilla and given one to Bullion, the latter seeming at awe at Shady’s trick to pop the cola’s open and was busy questioning how he did it.

I looked at Blackwood. “ Here, I want you to take this. I have no need for a weapon that cannot be armed and maintained reliably back home.” I said as I took Whisper in the Dark out using my left wing and handed it to him.

He stared at the weapon for a moment, then looked at me. “ Huh, thanks buddy. Where didya find this at?” he took the weapon in his mouth and slotted it into a mostly empty bag.

“From the armory. The buck that owned it named it Whisper in the Dark. Seems it is integrally suppressed and comes equipped with a night vision talisman on it. Consider it payment for the return of GPE Property.” I said as we trotted back towards the locked doors.

Blackwood made a “hm” sound in response. We had reached the foyer again, and Shady was unlocking the door to the booth. I stepped inside as he got the rusty door open and pressed the button for the override of the door. Thankfully, the emergency spark reactor we had activated had finished cycling fully and came online as the door’s pneumatic pistons pulled the door open… to a group of Ponies on the other side.

The general shock of seeing other living Ponies in the rusting building was equal on both sides. I acted fast, pumping five rounds of magical plasma into a Unicorn Stallion with a rust colored body and red mane to the right of Me. A bright green Earth Pony mare with a deep blue mane yelled a warcry and charged Bullion and Blackwood with a sharpened billiard stick that had a rusty cleaver tied to one end, and an equally rusty screwdriver on the other, forming some sort of Wasteland halberd. The halberd swung and almost spiked Bullion before he rolled under the mare, and shot her with his beam gun, the mare screaming as she disintegrated when the laser made contact.

Blackwood grabbed Whisper in his mouth and let loose. The gun was apparently automatic as the rapid fire “PIT PIT PIT PIT” sounds filled the air. Three Ponies, one Earth, two Unicorns, went down in the deathly silent barrage. Shady dispatched the last Pony, a white Earth Pony Stallion with a gray mane, using his beam rifle.

I stopped to catch my breath. Why were there Ponies in here? How did they get in here? Did they turn the power off? Questions ran through my mind as Bullion and Shady began picking through the bodies, pulling ammo, weapons, and even Sparkle~Cola bottle caps for wastelander trading (heathens). Blackwood watched from my right. By the way he was glancing at the bodies, the same questions ran through his mind as well.

A very gruff feminine sounding voice came from the bottom of the stairs that led to what looked like a command center. “Well, what do we have here?” A blur of white and tan feathers flew up from the lower area and landed in front of us. Yellow talons scraping against a rusted railing as she walked back and forth tauntingly. A creature I haven't seen since the Griffon skirmishes…

“Some mud Ponies made friends… ooooooo, this is too good. And Enclave no less? What a treat.” The Griffon’s left talon'nd hand rested on her left hip as she smiled a sickly grin.

I charged my plasma rifle on my back, Shady kicking with a back hoof to trigger a loading mechanism for his IF5 and beam gun on his battle saddle.

“Surrender in the name of the GPE Griffon…” I spat through my helmet. She only laughed and held her gunmetal gray combat armor. The symbol of a white talon was painted over with a red eye symbol which I had never seen before.

“Oh, oh first egg you are hilarious” she said through a fit of laughter. Regaining composure, she continued to smile that creepy smile. “I have wondered when you Pegasi would show up, considering we stole your fucking shit, oh, yesterday? she purred as she paced back and forth on the landing. “Getting slow I see..” She finished as she flapped her wings and reclined back, talons behind her head and legs crossed.

I placed one hoof forward and assumed a battle stance. “ Comply with my last order you savage. “ I growled as I lowered my head. Shady already had taken flight and was hovering along the door jam, Bullion and Blackwood taking cover behind the booth.

The griffin just chuckled at my order and landed. she stared right at me, that same creepy smile crossing her beak. “ Mmm, I like fighters. Doesn't take long to break ‘em in Filly. Love it when I can be there to see it as well.” she thought for a moment, a right handed talon under her beak in thought, “ Master Shackles would love to have yall.” She finally said. So this Griffon was a slaver. Still didn't answer why the shipment was stolen, or how. Whoever “Shackles'' is, he seemed to be the creature that was behind this.

In a flash, she pulled a IF21 ”Caramel” semi-automatic pistol from her holster on her left leg and let loose a barrage of ten millimeter rounds into my armor. I felt the punch of the rounds hit, but not penetrate as my team and I returned fire.

The Griffon dodged every round by reverse vaulting over the catwalk and landing on the lower level. Blackwood was in the process of loading Whisper when an apple fragmentation grenade sailed over the banister into our midst. I turned and kicked with my rear hooves and sent it back to the Griffon, exploding over the catwalk, sending the railing and part of the walkway falling to the ground. The Griffon let out a grunt of pain as bits of metal pocketed her hide. She rose to the air and sprayed another clip of rounds into the wall next to Shady, who ducked behind a tossed over chair in the corner.

Bullion levitated up his beam pistol and returned fire, The ‘ZAP ZAP ZAP’ scorching the wall behind the slaver.

I slipped into SATS and queued up two shots to her right wing with a eighty-eight percent chance to hit, taking advantage of the distraction. I bit the trigger of my battle saddle’s mouth grip and shot the two bolts. One missed, the other hit, and she screamed as she fell down to the lower story. She impacted with a thud and lay there quietly, still breathing but missing half of her right wingtip.

Bullion levitated a healing potion towards me but I pushed it away, my armor had taken the brunt of the low caliber rounds, though I would have bruises. Better than being dead after all. I still took time to nod in appreciation at the teal Unicorn. The Griffon groaned in pain from the drop down, Shady and I made the short flight down and flanked either side of the supine Griffon. Bullion and Blackwood walked down the stairs, weapons trained on the Griffon.

The Griffon had pulled a healing potion from her bag on her back and was sipping it, the damage in her wing already knitting back. Before it could heal all the way, a teal glow surrounded the potion and it yanked towards Bullion.

“Bad birdies don't get healies… “ The teal Unicorn said through a grin.

“ Who are you? Who do you work for?” I growled as I placed all four hooves around the Griffon’s chest, plasma rifles pointed at her head.

She smiled that malicious smile and spat a glob of blood to the left of me. “ Name’s Despoena, You will soon call me Mistress though…” She psychotically chuckled and giggled. I decided to attempt “enhanced interrogation” in the form of a hoof slap to the side of her cheek. She recoiled and giggled.

“Ooo, Spook's got a hoof.” She said as she brought a clawed hand up and massaged her jaw. She recovered and spat on my armored muzzle guard. Shady grabbed a spit muzzle from his bag and attached it over her beak.

I wiped the spittle off my mask, though it did not get through anyway. Turning to the “eccentric” Unicorn, “Bullion, can you levitate her up and out of here. I think I need to chat with Lady Despoena here further in a place less…. hostile.“ The teal Unicorn nodded and levitated the Griffon up in the air, she thrashed her claws wildly attempting to catch one of us. In another flash of teal colored magic, hoof cuffs from Shady’s grasp also joined in the air and attached around the Griffon's arms and legs, immobilizing her. She screamed and thrashed to no avail.

Blackwood glanced at the command room in front of us. I followed his gaze and found some off white colored crates at the bottom of the step-like command room.

I nodded and walked into the control room.

The room was very cavernous, with screens on the backwalls. A large map sat in the middle of the wall, showing old Equestria. Desks and terminal banks filled most of the room, with the work stations taking a step-like appearance. Most of the terminals were broken, wires hanging out. Only two were active, casting the dim room with a green glow. I took the left stairs down to the first terminal in the room, the screen wanting a password and username to login. The other terminal two cubicles down was unlocked so I sat down at its desk. The bottom held our objective, three off white colored steel crates bearing GPE on the side, with the Enclaves symbol. An E with stars surrounding it and wings off to the left and right of the letter. One was fully empty, while the other two looked untouched.

At the top left corner of the screen, a little welcome message read ‘USERLOGIN : SSGT Starry Gleam’ Welcome! There were a few entries, most looking corrupt, so I clicked one dated 10/3.

SSGT Gleam, MoM Intelligence. 10/3. More sightings of windigo today. Reports from out near Stalliongrad. Shadowbolts were dispatched and they managed to capture three of them. One got away. I swear, with all this tension and the war, it’s a surprise we arent covered by ice and snow by now. Colonel says to keep it on the downlow, we already have the witnesses in custody downstairs having their memories modified. The things we do to keep the public happy… SSGT Gleam out.

I had heard of the windigo. A race of ghostly equines that feed off hatred and fighting. Usually ending in a huge blizzard caused by their ride that ultimately, starves and kills the population. Back long before the war. Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies were not friends. Hatred spread and caused starvation due to the power gain of the Windigo and near-constant blizzard that blanketed Equestria, until the leaders of each tribe made friends. That drove the spirits off. An old Hearthswarming tale that mothers and fathers told their colts and fillies the night before presents were opened and festivities had. A miracle indeed the malevolent wind spirits didn't attack during the war. I navigated to the next and cycled up a download of all files to my pipbuck, intending on locating where the Ministry of Awesome’s Shadowbolts had taken such powerful beings. I glanced to my left where Shady was busy hacking the locked terminal. Blackwood was behind the tan Pegasus’s chair, intently watching the small bar go up on the hacking tool. Bullion and our feathered prisoner were at the entrance of the room. The former having his laser gun and Despoena in the teal waves of his telekinesis. He seemed to be taking great joy in spinning the Griffon around and around while she glared daggers. I caught a chuckle from him as he saw the gaze. I winged the next entry.

SSGT Gleam, MoM Intelligence. 10/17. More sightings of windigo today near the Crystal Empires border. Raptor Contrail, Raptor Incus, and Frigate Typhoon were dispatched from Las Pegasus and made good timing. Incus was damaged by two windigo but managed to kill three out of the five. The two remaining windigo were then captured using a MAS faraday cage from the Typhoon. All ships made it home and Incus is undergoing repair in the Las Pegasus shipyards. Frigate Typhoon deposited the windigo at MAS research facility delta. Report classified per MoM doctrine. Fifty-two casualties as a result. SSGT Gleam out

My pipbuck beeped as my map was updated with MAS research facility delta’s coordinates. I made a mental note to go over all information in my briefing with General Star Chaser later on my mission I was planning. I glanced down at the rest, I could read them later. I unhooked the large round access cord from the terminal and stowed it back in my pipbucks port. I saw Shady had just gotten in the terminal and was browsing the files.

I got up and walked the short distance to where he and the “President” of Sugar Grove were gathered. “Anything to report, Lieutenant?” I said as I glanced at the screen.

The tan Pegasus just shrugged. “ Mostly finance records from the MoM. Want me to download it?” He said as he turned his armored head and looked at me over his shoulder.

“Go ahead and do it, all records are useful. Then wipe the data from the working termin-NET. We can recover the data from the destroyed ones later.” I then turned to face the orange Earth Pony. “ I will make arrangements for you to keep all salvage here. The GPE does not care about old terminals, just the data.” I said.

“Much’appri’ciated buddy.” He said with a nod. I'll admit, I was beginning to develop a sense of comradery with these stallions.

A clatter broke the air. Bullion had rotated Despoena too much and a little brown box had dropped from her armor. A box with an antenna and a red light active. The same type I had taken in the briefing. A Broadcaster. Shit. I swear, even through the muzzle, I could see that creepy smile.

I wasted no time taking to the air and coming smashing down on the broadcaster. It broke into tiny pieces. I jerked my helmet up and faced the slaver, plasma weapons charging on my battle saddle. “ WHO DID YOU SIGNAL, WHO, THE FUCK, DID YOU SIGNAL!” I spat the words. The response I got was a psychotic giggle from the Griffon. I slapped her with my right hoof for good measure. Bullion just looked like a deer caught in a Earth Pony hauling wagon’s lights.

Despoena, her secret now out, looked back at me. “I called my friends.“ he sing songed.

Blackwood raced past me, spun, and bucked the Griffon hard in the face. The impact instantly knocked her unconscious.

Blackwood fumed as he drew ‘Whisper’. Before he could pull the trigger, I slapped the rifle out of his mouth. It clattering to the floor. He spun to me and got muzzle to muzzle with my armor. I could feel the raw anger from him as he yelled “THA FUCK DID YAH DO THA’ FOR?”

“Blackwood, killing the leader of these slavers will not be beneficial. We still have a use for scum like her.” I said calmly, my anger getting checked from my outburst.

“LIKE HELL YA DO! SHE CALL’D’ER DAMN SLAVER BUDDYS TO SACK MAH TOWN!” He yelled as he turned from me and began pacing back and forth. I could tell his anger was now replaced by distress.

I went over my choices. Abandon the town of Sugar Grove and return with my team and objectives, leaving them to defend themselves. Or, let Star Chaser know I was going to defend my new comrades. I made my choice.

I opened my private communications relay and pinged General Star Chaser.

“ General Star Chaser speaking.” The speakers sounded inside my ear bloom. I was glad to hear the General's voice.

“Sir, This is Captain Thundercloud. I have a report.”

“Damn good to hear you, Captain. Go ahead.”

“Sir, We have recovered the shipment, data from the facility that might pique your interest, and a prisoner. A slaver Griffon that goes by Despoena. One problem, the Griffon signaled for reinforcements, and this will threaten the townsponies. Permission to stay and lend support to the defense.”

“Negative Captain. Stick with your mission parameters.”

“General, I think-” I began.

“CAPTAIN, That's an order.”

“ A STUPID ASS ONE GENERAL AND YOU KNOW IT!” I froze as I registered what I said. I heard Shady say over the team's comms, “I'll… be over here. “ He said as he flew over to the far end of the command room. My voice didn't carry through the noise dampening panels inside the helmet, so Bullion and Blackwood couldn't hear the outburst.

“Explain Captain.” Star Chaser replied calmly.

“Sir, I apologize for the outburst. I have seen nothing but courage, respect, and compliance from the leaders of Sugar Grove, and it would be an asshole decision to abandon them in their time of need. An army of slaver’s are approaching, and even though they aren't Pegasi, they still are good Ponies. I would feel ashamed letting civilians fall to scum such as them, same as any other GPE member.”

Star Chaser was silent for a moment. As much as the Enclave was tenacious in delivering the wasteland back to civility, Star Chaser and I both possessed immense respect for the non-pegasi races as a result of fighting in the Griffon wars. Finally, he spoke. “ These towns-ponies, who is their leader?” He asked

“Sir, he is right here. A stallion named Blackwood. Damn fine fighter. He has proven himself in my eyes. “

“Put him on please Captain.” His answer surprised me.

“Sir” I said as I glanced towards Blackwood. He had curled up against a wall with his hindlegs up and head tucked behind them. He sounded like he was crying. Bullion still held the rifle and Despoena in his magical grasp as he sat next to him, his right forehoof over Blackwood’s shoulder. I switched my speakers to external and walked up to the pair.

“Mr Blackwood? Was it?” Star Chaser’s voice made the orange stallion freeze, then slowly raise his head.

“Er, Yeh. Who’m I speakin’ with?” He said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

“General Star Chaser of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. Captain Thundercloud here has told me you are facing a threat. Tell me, If the Enclave was not a factor, how long would you fight on to protect your citizens?”

Blackwood straightened alittle and stared intently at my visor. “Sir, I’would fight till the last fur’ my family.”

Star Chaser seemed to like that reply. I could hear the proud smile in his voice. “ Captain, You have permission with the assets you have to aid in their defense. I expect you to show slaver scum such as this “army” the true might of the GPE. Goddesses speed Captain.” The communication line was ended by Star Chaser. Blackwood was overcome with joyful hysteria, grabbed my left forehoof and began shaking it very fast.

“Thank’ya.. Thank’ya… Thank’ya” He said in rapid succession, then realized what was happening. He retracted his hoof shake and cleared his throat, wiping tears from his eyes. “Lets kick’som slaver flank.” He said after gathering himself, a look of vengeance burning. We gathered Despoena, our gear and loot, the lost shipment, and the data, and made our way for the entrance. There was work to be done.

===~~~===

The preparations were in full swing two hours after we had left the facility. After the Vertibucks had returned to Ralneigh with the wounded Cloud Buster and Weather chaperoning, the data, the shipment, Despoena, and most of Shady’s “Loot” - Shady adding a threatening message about “If one thing is out of place” to the pilots - Blackwood gathered the town together and made a speech about what happened and what was to come. Most of the residents had taken up arms and began reinforcing the walls around the town, including blocking off a hole on the south wall, that led to a fire escape ladder that the Slavers had used to reach the roof. As soon as the dragonfly looking transports lifted off, and began the almost hour long journey back to Ralneigh, did a duo of little voices reach the other Ponies standing near me. A black Earth Pony colt, with gray mane, and a yellowish Unicorn colt with a dull red mane barreled to Blackwood standing next to me, and surrounded him.

“Dad! Dad! What was that thang! Super cool, like awesome. Awesomer than Rainbow!” The black colt said as he bounced on his hooves. The yellow Unicorn just made a foalish representation of the spinning blade sounds the Vertibucks made.

“Your colts I presume?” I said to Blackwood as he tried to keep up with the onslaught of questions.

“Er, yah. This’ere is Maplewood ( pointing to the yellowish Unicorn ) an’ Oak ( pointing to the black Earth Pony ).” The colts had just gotten quiet when they finally took a good long look at me.

I could tell a tirade of questions were about to be rapidly fired my way but Blackwood cut them off as the yellowish foal was taking a breath.

“ Oak, Maple, This’ere is Thundercloud. He’sa Army Pegasus.” Putting it into terms they could, probably, understand.

“Like tha’ ones yah said were ‘bass -tarts’ fur’ closing the sky? And the ones yah’ said you’d slap silly if they show’d their faces agen?” The black colt said, still staring at my black, carapice-like, armor.

I shot a look at Blackwood. My helmetless head sending the full “I am going to PT you till you die” look I gave enlisted Pegasi if they fucked up badly. He just laid his ears back and took on a wide eyed look at the karma for saying those things around his colts.

“Charmed.” I quipped as I smirked at his alarm.

Blackwood shook his stupor and turned to his colts. “Go ta yalls mom.” He said as he narrowed his eyes. The colts caught the hint and quickly sulked off.

He slowly turned his head back to me, still having an embarrassed smile. “Er, bou’t that-” He started. I just started laughing. He reached the conclusion I was not going to murder him and began an embarrassed chuckle alongside me.

I wiped a tear from my eye with a wingtip after regaining composure. “Blackwood, I am Enclave Intelligence, I have heard worse.” I said. “I will admit, probably holding off coming back and helping the wasteland was not the best idea by the GPE, as an example by our Griffon friend that probably by now is getting… “acquainted” with other agents who are much more meaner than I.``

“Hope’so.” The Earth Pony said.

Blackwood and I turned and walked back up the cracked asphalt road that led into the fortifications. The townsPonies of fighting age had reinforced the wall, and mined the sickly brownish dirt around the town in preparation for the Slaver assault to come, while the others not of ‘fighting age’ or who were too scared had been sent to a bunker in the rear of the town. Some ‘tech-savvy’ Unicorns, with the help of Shady, had repaired two mounted machine-guns, a Zebra DSHK-38, and a Equestria .50 cal ‘Duce’. Both of which were mounted on the left and right of the wall, covering huge swaths of the uphill run to the town.

The gate rumbled open as the rusty rolling doors let Blackwood and I into the compound. Much preparation other than the defense side of things meant the town was buzzing. A thin line of Earth Ponies made treks back and forth to the muddy creek, pulling water to be boiled and stored. The purifiers, little more than a-few ten gallon drums connected to hoses and running to another drum suspended over a fire pit, were working overtime. Two Unicorns kept the magical spark generators alive with their magic. I assumed they had stores of food ready as nopony was stressing over it.

A shot rang out, the Ponies inside froze and began looking around frantically. I spread my wings and flew to the wall, Blackwood following in a gallop. The Earth Ponies outside had made it to the wall and were closing the gate, adding a bar to lock it in place. Out in the distance, I could see four Ponies in worn leather and metal armor poking around the forest that flanked the destroyed road to Sugar Grove. One got unlucky and stepped onto a magical plasma mine, which went off with a static-y crackle. The others decided to back off into the forest after learning about the mines.

Blackwood, understandably, hated the Slaver scouts shooting at his Ponies and shot his laser gun clasped in his mouth at the retreating scouts. The beam missed by a mile and impacted a tree, leaving a black scorch mark on the bark.

Spitting out the gun in frustration, he shot an angry look to the forest. “Bunch’o Bast’rds. Shot’n at mah’ friends”

I could tell he was scared shitless at the fact that, very soon, his town would become a battlefield. “Blackwood,” I said with a sigh, “It will be fine. You have a brave heart, and that is shared with the rest of your town.” I said, trying to console the Earth Pony. He sniffed, then chuckled.

“You ev’r get scared Thundercloud, know’in somethin’s outta yur’ control and c’n end up all wrong?” He slouched and put his head down, admitting his fears to a professional soldier risking it all to protect not his own was a brave thing.

I thought for a moment, remembering the anxiety before battle that showed a lot during the Griffon war. “Yes. I have been in many battles over the course of two wars, Fear is a natural Pony emotion. Even hardasses like me get it… from time to time” I said with a smirk. Blackwood chuckled and straightened a small bit, taking the advice and small joke to heart.

“Thanks Bud, I appre’ciate you risk’n it all to help.” I nodded in agreement. In truth, I was dying inside. The thought of never seeing my family again really erking me. I excused myself and spread my wings, flapping to the top of the building where I would get better signals.

I brought up my communication interface inside the helmet, and selected call contacts. I scrolled until I found my house's landline and dialed, letting the pair request ping. It pinged three times before the signal was established, a mare voice answering.

“Hello?” My Wife asked.

“Hey Hon, it's me.” I said, trying not to let my anxiety be heard.

“Hey! Are you going to be home in time for dinner?”

“Uhh, I… I really don't know. Something came up-” I winced, searching for words to prevent leaking classified info. “-At work.” I finished.

“Oh… Well, that sucks. How's work so far?”

“It's.. uh… boring like usual.” I lied. “ Listen honey, is Storm back from school? Put it on speaker quickly.” I said, obvious anxiety leaking from my words.

Misty Days switched the call from private to speaker. “Okay.”

“Hey Dad! Guess what I did, Guess Guess Guess!” Stormcloud yelled from somewhere in the kitchen.

“Uhh, I don’t know. You know I am not a mind reader.” I gave a weak chuckle.

“Well, Me and Wind Rider and Breeze went and played dodgeball, and I threw the ball so fast, it nailed Galeforce in the muzzle, it was funny!”

“That's great bud, true marksPony material you are.” Galeforce had been a particularly spiky thorn in Storm’s side. Something to which his hippy, anti-Enclave parents had encouraged.

Misty Days cut in. “Let's let dad get back to work. Go and take this twenty down to the Super Duper mart and get me some pasta noodles, the big kind. You can get yourself a soda if you want as well.” I heard Storm scoot the dining room chair back and grab the money in his mouth.

“‘Fanks Mom, ‘wov, you Dad.” He said as he left the room for the door.

I heard the door open, then close. Misty sighed. “ You are on a mission aren't you?”

I grimaced. She always could tell when I was scared. “Yes. Things may get hard here soon.”

She stayed quiet for a moment, obvious worry hitting her now as well. She sighed and sniffed. “Look, you will come through, you always do. You have Shady and he always has your back. You know that.”

I nodded solemnly, “I know. I love you and Storm.”

“I love yo-” The signal went dead.

“Misty? Hello?”

A huge mass of Ponies and some Griffons marched in unison up the un-mined road. Already, the Sugar Grove citizens shouted and ran about to their posts. Shots began impacting the brick and rusty metal embrasures around me so I took flight and dove to the ground, landing in front of Shady, Blackwood, and a now uniformed Squeezer. The latter wore a green Equestrian Army combat barding, though still had his glasses and fedora on. The machine guns roared to life, sending rounds downrange to thin the wave.

“I counted at least fifty slavers and mercs before they started shooting.” I said, bringing my rifles and targeting spells online.

Shady took his helmet from his back with a wing and slapped the seals in place on his head. “We can go and flank probably, they don't seem too organized.”

I nodded in agreement. But before I could say anything more, a loud whining noise filled the air.

The .50cal machine gun, and post housing it, blew up. The Ponies manning it turned into a red colored rain.

A low buzzing noise replaced it. A low lying cloud drifted towards Sugar Grove, then broke apart. A huge Zeppelin, with steel gondolas bristling with machine guns and a cannon of unknown caliber moved slowly out of the cloud. The off-white and dark gray stripes on the ballast signified Zebra origin.

With a roar of the propellers, the Zeppelin surged forward, on the attack.

Author's Note

Hey Everyone! Glad you are reading still. Hope you enjoyed! I will try to put the next chapter up by the end of May, but this is a very busy time for me as I will be attending a convention in the middle of the month. Once again, thanks for reading! ~Thundercloud