Fallout Equestria: Storm Protocol

Written by: Thundercloud

(“Highfalutin rootin-tootin son-of-a-gun from Appleoosa, Ragtime Soldier Joe.”)

Location: Equestrian Army Listening Station at Sugar Grove [Town of Sugar Grove] Time: 15:15 Equestrian military time

The Zeppelin surged forward, propellers roaring. The Zebra machine gun’s crew repositioned the barrel over to face the foe that destroyed its sister gun emplacement.

The tracer rounds struck the starboard ridge of the balloon but had no effect. The armored hull kicked up sparks as the brass glanced off the polished steel. I could make out the cannon’s barrel, peeking out of the rear-most hanging gondola. The cannon barrel swiveled and elevated, no doubt aiming for another ranging shot. The DSHK crew atop the wall must have reached the same conclusion as they brought the heavy barreled machine over. The gun roared its deadly serenade. Rounds impacted the steel-reinforced floor of the gondola, though not able to penetrate. I heard the gun crew leader, a midnight blue earth stallion, curse loudly, then yell for more elevation. A higher led burst turned something into a fine red mist as the heavy caliber bullets filled the cabin.
The cannon roared and belched black smoke and fire in retaliation, sending a shell toward the town. I dove for cover as it soared closer, then impacted a few yards away in a cloud of fire and smoke from the impromptu moat surrounding the wall. Most of the defenders on the wall ducked and covered their ears as debris fell from where it had been blasted upwards, then returned fire. A few Sugar Grove ponies had magical energy or plasma guns from Shady’s looted weapons, which he had donated to the cause. Though the majority still used their crude varmint rifles and pipe weaponry, as the attack had started before we could gear up everypony with the better firearms.

A “KRACK” filled the air. A sharp pain announced a bullet tearing through a weak part of my rear left leg’s armor plating and came to a rest inside my leg.

“AHHHH, MOTHER-FUCKER.” I yelled out in pain as I fell on my stomach.

I tried to push past the injury, but fell short and collapsed again. Alerted by my yell, Blackwood sent an automatic rifle burst into the air. A brief firefight ensued against the offending Griffon sniper in the air, dodging and weaving from the automatic rifle fire. Blackwood finally scored a lucky shot, causing the Griffon to falter, clutch its breast, and topple over and out of the air from the extra holes.

“Phucker,” He said through the mouth grip of the rifle. Couldn't agree more.

I turned to my side and looked down at my leg. The bullet seemed to have slowed when entering the armor, which meant that it was still inside my leg. Great…. I did a test flex of my muscle, it moved, but it sent jolts of pain up my leg. I had ended that hypothesis by half praying and swearing to the goddesses, while my Pipbuck politely alerted me that my leg was damaged.

Blackwood looked down at me. "How 'ad is’ht?" He asked through the rifle in his mouth.

“Bad,” I said through gritted teeth. I desperately wanted to inject painkillers and a healing potion, but I knew the chems wouldn't be able to remove the bullet. Only close and re-knit the wound.

He spat the rifle out. "MEDIC! Ah' need help here!"

I heard scrambling from behind me. A young unicorn colt came running up to Blackwood. Now, when I say young, I MEAN YOUNG. He was probably Storm's age.

Yep, I was dying today.

"Look, President Blackwood! Look! I got my Cutie Mark!" The young yellow colt, with a copper-colored mane, said as he turned to show his apparently newly gained Cutie Mark of an IV.

Mhm, this is where I die. Being treated by a foal who just got his cutie mark.

"Thas' great Smokey. Real proud. But riaght now, do yur job." Blackwood said hastily as he bent down to retrieve "Whisper" from the ground. The colt, called Smokey, huffed and turned to me. Greeeat….

Smokey grumbled about "Everypony saying that '' as he neared me. He bent down and began looking into the hole of what remained of my left leg armored servo. "Is that a hole?" He asked foalishly. I resisted the urge to smack him.

"Some Griffon shot me. The bullet is still in there."

"Hmm… Oh! I know what to do! This is my first time doing it though, so hold still Mr." He said as he lit his horn.

The fuck did he just say? The question never left my mouth, as the bullet came soaring back out, bathed in a mustard-yellowish magical hue.

"SON OF A BITCH!" I yelled. It hurt more coming out than going in. Especially since he did the magical equivalent of ripping something out. The colt gleefully laughed at his first “surgery” and trotted in place with his eyes closed and the biggest smile on his face, then dug in his bags. Coming out with a healing potion, he offered it to me.

I had already tongued my armor's administer button. MED-X, my own healing potion, and a calcium concentrate drug called Buck were injected into the ports in my right foreleg. A few unbearable seconds later, the pain relaxed as the Chems kicked in and my leg began mending. I waved him off as I moved.

Smokey shrugged, then deposited the potion back in his bag and ran off. Probably to answer another "call".

=== *** ===

I reclined further into the cushy couch and chuckled, though I did not hear a chuckle in return from my new “friends”, so I continued. “Pardon the attempt at dark humor. It's funny to recount my adventure now after all is said and done.”

“I don't see the humor in almost getting killed." The mare said from the sofa across from me.

“Heh, I guess you're right, but an old stallion can joke about his war stories, can't he? Anyways, where was I? Ah, … Right”

=== *** ===

My Pipbuck beeped again as the cartoon stallion updated from his left back leg being in a cast, to him fully fine and giving that “Hey Neighbor” smile. I still felt the pain crawling around but opted to ignore it, instead scanning my EFS for targets close by. The scan showed a mass of red signatures nearby so I lowered the range. The scan came back red five times near the southern wall.

I stretched my leg and felt the painful strain. Good. The pain would keep me aware and focused. Though my limp probably would stay around after the pain was gone, at least for some time.

Spreading my wings and taking flight, I flew over the large, razor wire-tipped wall to find some slavers setting up a cobbled-together ladder, near where the patch for the breach in the wall that Desponea had used was. Smart bastards. My evil grin probably shone through my helmet as I hung in mid-air over their wide-eyed expressions.

I shot the first one, who wore a utility saddle with wire cutters, in the head. The others got an apple grenade as a parting gift when they tried to flee from Bullion reaching the parapets, and blowing them apart.

A large “BOOM” sounded as the airship’s cannon fired another shell, whistling past in the air over the Pre-War facility, and detonating in the marsh behind. The machine gun crew was, apparently, doing a fine job as a few ponies and a griffon was slouched against their machine guns in the gondolas, with one just hanging limply in the air from a tether. The other gun emplacements were locked in a duel against the Sugar Grove ponies. Shady flapped up next to me and unloaded his IF5 into a survivor of the grenade that had played dead.

“What's the plan on that oversized party balloon Cap?” He said as we turned and landed back, favoring my uninjured back leg, in the fortress settlement where Bullion had met back up with Blackwood who was directing a group of defenders.

I ran through some ideas in my head. “Working on it. Really depends on whether or not it is floated by hydrogen, helium, or levitation talismans. Wanna do a test?”

Shady nodded his helmeted head once.

“We can fly up to it, load those incendiary rounds you acquired, and shoot the balloon. If it bursts into flames, it's hydrogen, and hope to the Princesses you aren't close enough when it erupts. If it flaps, helium. Those two are the best cases as they involve the damn thing hitting the ground in a fireball one way or another. Levitation will be a bitch to kill but is also relatively easy. Find the control module and turn them off, then fly off.”

Shady swished his stinger-like tail in thought. "Getting up to it will be the hard part." Shady looked back up in the distance, watching the airship trade fire with Sugar Grove. "Alright Cap, I'm on your six."

I motioned to follow and spread my wings. Together, we rocketed up and away from the town.

“Go get ‘em!” Bullion yelled as he readied a dozen more grenades of differing types, then cackled a crazed laugh and trotted towards the gate.

Yup, they are insane….

Shady and I banked left and right through the enemy machine gun fire, managing to have a few near misses.

Making it to a blind spot where the turrets couldn't track us, we split up. I flew close to one of the right-hanging machine gun stations and shot the yellow earth mare, who was in the process of reloading, in the chest. Confident that the machine gun wasn't going to be a problem anymore, I flew back over to Shady; Who had burst the side of the Zeppelin, letting a small rip expand. No explosion, good. I peeked inside. Then proceeded to curse loudly.

Large pinkish purple rectangles, wired neatly inside a polymer glass case, were mounted to the catwalk frames in a breaker box style. Wires coming from the box hummed with the current. Levitation talismans… In conjunction with helium gas. Clever, for savage bastards…

I made note of at least three sets of the boxes I could see inside the balloon hull, then decided to invite Shady and myself in. We landed inside the cleared machine gun nest, stepping around the green goo of the previous occupant.

The door opened to a blue unicorn stallion, with a seafoam mane accented with a teal streak. He managed an “Oh Fuck” before Shady shot him with his battle saddle mounted “rattlesnake”.

The stallion crumbled in the bulkhead. Shady's battle saddle reloaded, the mechanism replacing the spent mag with a fresh one.

I stepped over the dead crewmate and peeked into the hallway. Aside from the rattling of the automated machine gun turrets mounted in the reinforced airship's hull, it was quiet.

I motioned with a wing for Shady to follow close. We walked, and limped, out into the hallway of the gondola. To my right sat the now empty sister machine gun nest, the blue stallion being the previous owner. The hallway ended at an observation deck with a large, red-tinted window overlooking the howitzer raining Tartarus on Sugar Grove. The gun ponies were in the process of reloading the large gun. I pulled back before they could notice our infiltration.

I turned to Shady. "Alright, somewhere around here is the wheelhouse. They will probably have automated turrets and guards. So we need to disable or destroy some spark batteries, or reactors, in order to flatline the ship's power usage. They will concentrate on repairs and keeping it aloft, that's when we strike. Capture the officers, dispose of the rest of the scum." Shady nodded.

I looked around the cabin, up about two bulkheads in the back sat an indent in the steel walls. Situated just before the other wall. Lighthouse-like stairs sat in them, allowing potential access to the catwalks in the ballast. We made our way over and began to climb the narrow stairs, not being able to fly due to the close quarters.

My EFS lit up, showing two signatures. I double-checked by halting Shady, then slowly looking above the platform. Two slaver crewmates crouched with their backs to us as they strived to repair a large gash made by Shady in the balloon. I ducked back down and silently confirmed the targets by holding up two pinions of my armored left wing. Shady and I crouched and moved silently toward them.

"Fuckin' Worms. Shootin' 'Gas Bags'. Auuta' slit all their fuckin' throats." One slaver, a puke yellow mare with a dirty blonde mane, said as she bent down to grab a flapping piece of canvas with a hooked pole. Her comrade, a dirty brown stallion with a gray mane, grunted in agreement and took her pole to hold it while she grabbed some Wonder Glue to seal the gap.

Shady flew silently behind them, not making any sound despite the bulky and heavy armor.

The brown stallion lifted his head for a second. "It's gott-n cold. Have we gon' high'r now?"

Shady landed behind them. "Nah, your mom left the AC running. Better go and turn it off before the bill gets too high." Shady said, his helmet speaker broadcasting at a high volume setting. The low rumble distortion made it seem like his usual higher pitch voice was something more akin to a demon. Both slavers froze. The mare craned her neck around slowly to find Shady and I looming over them. She proceeded to make a noise like a fish out of water, piss herself, then faint. The brown stallion scrambled for a pipe wrench and got a blob of superheated plasma in his back for his troubles, turning into a mound of goo.

I stomped hard on the mare's skull, crushing it. Two problems out of the way. Two slaver shitbags went to Celestia and Luna for judgment. We kept on, Shady quickly looting what could be from the toolbox that sat in between the slaver corpses. Apparently, they had a pink kitchen timer, with a, let's be honest here, a creepy pink mare wearing a chef’s apron and hat who I knew was Ministry mare Pinkie Pie. The Ministry mare of the Ministry of Morale, or MoM. Shady’s levitation talisman lit back up and pulled out a pair of dandelion sandwiches in a plastic zipper bag that Shady took rather quickly.

"Do you know where those have been Lieutenant?" I asked jokingly as we walked, but with a serious undertone, as we made our way down the catwalk in search of something useful in our plan. He looked down at them in his unclasped left saddlebag, then discarded the sandwiches as we trotted towards the back.

Large stained yellow helium tanks flanked the catwalks. One possessed a string of hissing holes from Shady’s LMG burst. We passed in between the hissing streams of helium to what appeared like a battery bank. Large spark batteries sat alongside each other, with mixed and matched, but surprisingly not rusty, readout machines and computers dotted in the mix. The center of the large, square-shaped grated platform held a control area, where more computers and a central work area sat in an elongated circle style, with room for ponies to enter and exit in between the workstation.

Shady and I flew over the consoles and began hacking terminals. I struggled with my tool's educated guesswork until I found the correct password, "Buck", and opened the interface. Aside from some downloaded *ahem* wing boner magazine 'models', there was a two-pony authentication lock on the battery control.

Shady had just cracked his terminal and popped open a small hidden safe in the bottom drawer of his terminal bank. The safe swung open in a pinkish haze as Shady's inventory management spell took hold. Inside were some Sparkle~Cola bottle caps, said Sparkle~Cola, some prewar Bits, and a box of .303 ammo for Shady's IF5.

It's a miracle how fast those items disappeared into Shady’s bags.

Shady sat back up in his seat after plundering and taped the keys, sending a notification to my terminal which I pressed to agree. The batteries switched to their 'off' state with a buzzing sound. Instantly, the noise of the propellers outside shut off, then sputtered back to life. Klaxon alarms began sounding. Dammit. We must have tripped an emergency protocol or something. What was worse? A dozen hoofsteps and yells echoed around the interior of the airship, as the slavers came to see what happened. I tongued my safety switch off and began charging my plasma rifles, Shady topping off his IF5 and charging his plasma rifle. The plan could wait, the slavers flooding the catwalks were in for a fight….

=== *** ===

Location: Equestrian Army Listening Station at Sugar Grove [ Town of Sugar Grove ]
Time: 15:27 Equestrian Military Time

An hour ago….

Shady and Thundercloud took off, flying fast toward the airship. The orange earth stallion watching them leave felt anxious. A teal hoof rose up and sat on Blackwood's shoulder, Bullion patting him before levitating an assortment of grenades, cackling, wishing the Enclave pegasi luck, then making for the wall.

Blackwood watched them go, silently wishing for one of those hoof-mounted computers Thundercloud and Shady had. What were they called? Target location would be very useful right about now.

Blackwood took his gaze off the pegasi, looking instead to some waiting fighters who were nearby.

"Riat' Yall! We'need tah re'nforce tha sauth wall. Make shur’ to cov’r that hole. Git'on it!"

Three unicorns made for the southern wall past him with an old Red Racer wagon, pulling weapons and ammo.

"All tha' restah yall, folla' me." Blackwood walked towards the northmost wall, with the last of the group.

As he stepped up on the rickety stairs to the wall, Blackwood glanced up at the airship hovering a good ways away from the town. He could make out zips of black as the Enclave pegasi strafed the guns and balloon, before entering through a cleared gun nest. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding, then surveyed the defense. The slavers had taken cover in ditches made by shells or behind trees and old earth pony vehicles down the road. As well as Sugar Grove was doing, they were still losing ponies, and fast. The town doctor had set up a makeshift triage outside the 'clinic' of the town, Many towns ponies that lay on dirty mattresses with various wounds were tended to by a group of volunteers.

A loud whine filled the air as a shell flew over and impacted the listening post, erupting in an ear-splitting explosion and blowing half the side off. Blackwood hit the deck as rubble crushed a shack as it fell. He rose from where he took cover and looked back out on the battlefield, finding a slaver making a run for a ditch. The orange stallion leaned his rifle’s barrel on the wall. PFT PFT PFT. The slaver fell in a heap within fifty meters of the hole.

Blackwood dropped down and took cover behind a sandbag stack. Dropping “Whisper” from his mouth, He propped the rifle up with one hoof like he had seen other ponies and a zebra do in the past, and using his other, checked the drum magazine. Twenty-five rounds left before needing to reload. Blackwood slapped the mag back into place and pulled the charging handle.

“Ah’ really need a battle saddle”. He muttered to himself.

Two blasts threw up some slaver Zebras into the air. Bullion had landed two apple-looking fragmentation grenades in their midst as they made a beeline for the wall. The teal unicorn cackled in delight, primed a pulse grenade, and threw it clasped in his telekinetic grip, which singed and disorientated a Griffon in a tree making the mercenary fall from the branch it was perched on.

“Be right back.” Bullion said as he dashed off the wall in need of more grenades, his empty bag flapping behind him. Blackwood turned his attention to the Griffon, now getting back up from the electrical burst that incapacitated it. ‘Whisper’ spat five rounds, all making contact with the Griffon's torso, who fell to the ground dead.

Bullion came bounding back up the stairs with more grenades in his pouch. Blackwood wondered where the unicorn had acquired so many but summed it up to Lieutenant Shady and his looting skills. He made a mental note to ask about tips for salvage after the battle. That pegasus was freakishly good at looting…

Bullion had apparently found a victim, as he let out a war cry of "FOUR!". And then pitching a grenade into a cluster of the same black swamp trees Blackwood was named for. The grenade detonated and threw a column of water and debris, along with two unicorn slavers, into the air. Bullion giggled gleefully and set about finding more slavers, laughing about a "double bogey". Whatever that meant.

Bullets peppered the parapets that Blackwood was closest to, the earth stallion dropping down and taking cover. He and the slavers that were watching him exchanged gunfire for a few minutes. Opting to change the fire mode to one round burst, Blackwood flicked a switch on the base of the gun with a hoof tip. A unicorn fell into the hole he was hiding in, and his friends' rifles kicked up wood chips in vengeance against Blackwood's sharpshooting.

Another grenade sailed into their makeshift barricade. Shouts of "Shit, grenade!" And "Cover!" Ended with the detonation. Bullion had already galloped away in search of either more grenades, or more targets.

Blackwood's mind wandered to worry about the safety of his colts and wife, hopefully safely locked inside the old bomb cellar in the back of the facility.

Another push supplemented with rifle fire hitting dangerously close to Blackwood, suppressed his worry. Some slavers had taken cover behind a reinforced wagon and were rolling it toward the gate. The DSHK gun and Blackwood simultaneously, opened up, catching a green unicorn stallion outside the cover and riddling him with a burst of bullets. His comrades left him and continued to roll towards the gate.

A blue earth stallion slaver popped his head out of cover and took aim with a missile launcher on his battle saddle.
The missile flew out and impacted the gun nest, making Blackwood fly from the explosion. He stared up into the sky as he lay on his back from the missile explosion. The tinnitus in his ears got quieter as he finally regained his senses.

"Are you okay?" Bullion said as he ran up and levitated a healing potion from his other bag. Bullion pushed it away and nodded.

“I'll be fine,” Blackwood said as Bullion helped him up with a hoof.

The wall shuddered as the cart rolled to a halt in front of the huge gate. Hatches opened at the top and ladders pushed upwards, leaning against the top of the wall. ponies, Zebras, and a Griffon pushed upward, the latter flying over the wall. Blackwood shot down a few who made it onto the wall in a rhythmic pattern.

“Pft Pft Pft, Pft Pft Pft, Pft Pft Pft, Pft click”

‘Whisper’ sent the last bullet in her magazine crashing into an orange pony with a knife in its mouth, sending it falling onto the roof of the cart. Blackwood started to eject the spent mag with his tongue but was stopped as another unicorn crawled over the wall wearing some very rusty brass hooves and punched him. “Whisper’ was sent flying away, coming to rest on a wood pile.

Blackwood spat and pulled a knife from his right foreleg sheath and lunged. The unicorn sidestepped and Blackwood almost went over, catching himself, pivoting, and pressing his attack. The knife found purchase and cut the side of the unicorn's face, leaving a bloody trail across the mare's face.

Bullion had run out of grenades again and had resorted to sending beams of magical energy into the air from his laser pistol, the Griffon dodging and weaving between the emerald-colored beams. Flipping over, it shot Bullion in the chest, who yelled and fell.

Blackwood fell into a rage, hacking and slashing at the mare. She looked scared at the unpredictable attack patterns and backpedaled, trying to keep as much space as possible between her from the rage and vengeance-filled Blackwood. The knife in Blackwood's mouth came soaring into her right eye, going all the way through and getting stuck.

The mare roared in pain and rage and sent an uppercut into Blackwood. He fell on his back, furious and dazed. The unicorn stood over him with a grin and readied a killing blow. Blackwood closed his eyes.

BOOOOM

The earth-shattering explosion shook the walls of Sugar Grove. Windows of the shacks, and the facilities' remaining ones shattered. The slaver mare froze and shot her head to the side to see what had happened. Blackwood slowly and painfully turned his head to see the Airship crumple in the air in a fiery explosion, looking like a paper airplane after it hit the ground. It fell from the air and onto the battered landscape, erupting again in a secondary, larger, explosion. A black streak from where the airship was a moment ago body slammed the unicorn off the wall and made sure to pump a few rounds into her head with an armor-mounted machine gun. Another black pegasus landed behind the first, turned the Griffon to goo with a blast of plasma from his battle saddles, then held a hoof out for the earth pony. Blackwood took it and rose.

=== *** ===

Location: Aboard slaver airship
Time: 15:57 Equestrian Military Time

Present time…

The slavers came charging down the corridor, seeming to not possess firearms. Good for us… Shady’s IF5 rattled off, its “cake pan” magazine rotating. I caught a slaver in the chest with a glob of magical plasma, she fell and rolled, then liquified. A slaver threw a knife at me, it bounced harmlessly off my armor. I looked down at it, then back at him who wore a sheepish look, then shot him dead. Fucking idiot…

An alert on my armor started sounding. The plasma rifles on my back let out a huge cloud of green coolant, as they tried to cool down from overuse. Right as the next wave came…

A dirty blonde unicorn mare, with an equally dirty (Do they not know what a “BATH'' is?) cream mane, swung what looked like a sledgehammer, with a rocket haphazardly bolted to the back, into my head. The helmet buckled but did not break all the way. Thank the designers. But it still hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. I fell to the ground, hooves holding my head in what felt like a hell of a migraine. My Pipbuck beeped and sent a “concussion” message to my hud. Fucking great. Thanks for that, I didn't notice.

Shady bucked the unicorn and sent her into a battery bank. My armor's automated healing system and repair talisman kicked on and a Healing Potion was injected. At the same time, a pink glow surrounded my armor, the dent from the rocket sledgehammer being repaired.

I rose very unsteadily where I had fallen to see the sledge mare also getting back up and grasping the hammer in her orange-ish telekinetic grasp. She righted herself and levitated up a reddish brown inhaler from her leather barding, taking the puff quickly. Her pupils widened and she cast the used chem aside, lunging again with the force of a train. Fuck..

The rocket soared to life and propelled the sledgehammer toward Shady, who ducked in time. The hammer lodged itself in a steel catwalk pole. The slaver mare roared and pulled it free, swinging this time towards me. I dove at the last second and the hammer killed a control console. My plasma rifles finished venting and I slipped into SATS. Queuing three shots to the head would do it, I accepted and watched in slow time as the shots connected with the unicorn's head, turning her into green goo almost immediately. I also got a very good look at an earth pony stallion with a mouth-held ripper within bucking distance of me. Great….

SATS ended and everything reverted to normal time, also meaning the stallion began sawing into my torso plate. The armor held, even though I felt it breaking and straining, bless you, designers, seriously. Shady gunned him down. I sent two shots precariously close to Shady’s helmeted head and nailed a two-for-two special on dumb fucking slavers, then shot my manticore tail out and impaled a dusty red earth mare. Shady rattled some rounds off from his IF5 and bagged three more. The last fall off the catwalk onto the balloon below. A quiet calm took over as we took a moment to catch our breath, our plasma gun’s venting the new heat buildup in a greenish smoke cloud. They would have to probably be replaced or repaired after this.

“EFS shows no more Capt.” Shady said between gasps through his helmet's speaker."Hell of a workout right?"

I nodded and continued to inhale long and slow, attempting to get my breathing back under control from the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I knew I was going to pay for this tomorrow, but no time to brood on that now.

I righted slowly, still hurting from the leg wound, Smokey's "surgery", and rocket-sledge and chainsaw attacks. The gun sounded again in an ear-shattering roar, thank Celestia, followed by a massive explosion that I hoped had not hit Sugar Grove.

“First order of business, change back to internal comms,” I said annoyingly, the tinnitus still ringing in my ears. Shady nodded and we paired our speakers and ear blooms to each other's armor. The bloom paired with a Beep. “Second, The controls were smashed mid-fight by psycho Buck the Builder here. Good thing we shut the batteries off, but we still need a way to disable the gun and backup reactor.”

Shady mulled the plan over by swishing his manticore tail around and kicking his hoof on the grated catwalk. "Actually, why don't we do it all in one?"

I nodded my head for him to go on.

"If we can rig the shells to detonate, the explosion chain would kill the entire thing. No having to slog through the bridge to turn the reactor off, then to the CIC. And.. we could still take the CIC workers, prisoner. Shady thought for a moment then nodded in agreement to his own plan.

"Excellent idea Lieutenant. Let's get going then if we are going to pay them a visit."

"Well. Uhm. Before we do that." Shady said while looking at a slaver corpse.

I sighed and snorted. "Go ahead, Shady. I am going to check the remaining terminals for any sort of info or logs. I doubt an airship would be dispatched to deal with one town. No matter how large it is."

Shady gleefully trotted over to the dead slavers and began picking through their pockets with the levitation talismen. I walked over to a bank on the far side of the room and sat down at a terminal. The screen was left unlocked so I helped myself to the contents. It didn't add up. Why would they send Desponea's team, then an airship for backup? Why not just a small squad? I tried coming to an answer on why these events are transpiring as it is, but couldn't. So I began combing through the terminal.

What I like to call “usual raider logs” awaited me. Mostly ungrammatically correct sentences about colorful things such as rape, murder, chems. Oh, and more rape. Yeah, not the brightest (Or stable) of Equestria these lot. One did catch my eye though. It had a refined and corrected title. “Message to the crew”. I pulled the mouse down and clicked on it.

“To: ALL
From: Master Geiger

Greetings. We shall find the facility that Lady Despoena reported about in two days' time. She made mention of a town being constructed around the facility. Our primary focus though is to retrieve any information regarding the “Storm Protocol” the old MoM building in Fillydelphia made mention of, as well as retrieve the shipment of Magical Energy weapons our asset will have acquired and stashed for us from the Enclave. We will attempt to gather the town's ponies together for shipping back to the city afterward if the facility has what we are looking for. If not, we shall continue to follow the trail.

Regards, Master Geiger.”

Asset? Storm Protocol? I had read the entries on Starry Gleams terminal inside the communications room, but it made no mention of “Storm Protocol. And asset? Did he mean a spy in the Enclave? I would have to bring this up with Star Chaser later. I downloaded everything onto my Pipbuck, then planted a virus in the system to render the terminal null.

I got up from the seat. Shady was counting what appeared to be Sparkle~Cola bottlecaps he had looted from the corpses. I jerked my head for him to follow.

We began to make our way to the rear, clearing rooms along the way. I decided it was worth seeing at least when our Vertibucks were returning so we ducked into an empty bunk room that smelled… Odd, and opened a channel that both Shady and I could hear. I started the ping to Ralneigh Skyport where the Vertibucks would be. The ping went unanswered three times before a mare responded.

“Ralneigh Air Traffic Control. Flight Sergeant Sprint here.”

“Hello Sergeant, this is Captain Thundercloud, authorization code GPE-765647TC. We sent back two Vertibucks earlier from the surface. When should they be departing? We may need fire support and fast.”

“Hold on one moment Captain, let me see. What was their departure time?”

"Around 14:05. One should be called Tart Cart," I said, remembering the transport's custom name.

Terminal keys were heard typing vigorously as I assumed the Flight Sergeant was locating our transports. “Yes. Vertibuck’s B76 and B77. They deposited a prisoner, a wounded pegasus stallion, a box of…. Junk ( Shady huffed in his comms as he heard the description of his precious loot ), and a priority target. Are these the ones Sir?"

"Indeed," I confirmed

"They have finished refueling and rearming. They are awaiting clearance to take off. Taxiing them now Sir.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. Please pass the message to fly like Tartarus to us. We need them ASAP. Thundercloud out.”

“Yes Sir, take care Captain.”

The communication line disconnected. Shady grumbled something about “It’s not junk, it's got value.” to himself. I chuckled. If the Veritbucks needed time, we could buy it.

“Alright. Let's worry about the Vertis later. That sign-up ahead says fire control center on it. I guess they left their door open Lieutenant." I said as we made our way to an indented ladder shaft in the wall.

Shady nodded, then surveyed the shaft. “Leads down looks like. We could take it and pop up right into the fire control center.”

“Very good Lieutenant. Take point."

The passage was easy enough to fly down as the space was three ponies wide and long. A rhythmic humming and hissing filled the air as we hit the lower level. Pipes putting out steam and other mists was not a good sign for experienced and trained GPE mechanics, unlike these savages who had a fetish for cobbled-together shit. So many were in fact doing so that one look by a mechanic would cause a stroke instantly due to the sheer lack of care. Only one way to go from here, and that was back. The side rooms along the corridor held a server room, mechanic’s room, and other utility installations.

A rustling sound came from a very dark engine room, the yellowish generator humming slightly from our shutdown of the batteries. Shady caught it first and froze in place. Then turned to face the bulkhead of the room.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" I said as I turned to face the room.

"Rustling. Sounded like somepony scooting away from us."

I took point and shined my gem bulb lamp built-in eyes over the room, casting it in an orange hue. A vaguely pony-shaped shadow played against the wall behind the generator. Shady saw it and silently flew behind the pony.

"Hey, buddy, who are we hiding from?" Shady's higher pitch voice whispered out loud, causing the pony to shriek and sprint out from behind the generator bank.

The Pony, no. It was striped. A Zebra cowered in front of me, sat on his hind hooves, and shook with fear. He wore a pair of goggles around his neck and baggy, stained coveralls with a rather high collar to protect against hot steam. Most likely a mechanic caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. His, whatever the Zebra equivalent of a Cutie Mark is called, was a very tribal pattern of cogwheels, with a cloud of steam in the middle, seen through a large gash in the coveralls.

"Surrender Zebra," I said as I brought to life my plasma rifles. He visibly gulped and said something in Zebra that sounded like “Oofa Lah Sharlo'' and laid his ears back in fright, eyes still wide.

"Uhhh, Cap? Can we hear him out? I don't think he is a slaver." Shady said from behind the generator.

"And why would we do that Lieutenant?" I asked sternly. These bastards were bombarding Sugar Grove and our friends.

"Because he is wearing a collar…" Shady's voice struck fear into my heart. I flew back into the hallway again, trying to get away from the explosive around the Zebra's neck.

"Uhh, Buddy? Do you speak Equestrian?" Shady called from behind his generator. The Zebra said nothing and continued to stare at me in fear. "DO… YOU… SPEAK… OUR… LANGUAGE?" Shady sounded out again. If the Zebra didn't say anything soon, I was going to neutralize him before he could detonate himself.

The Zebra nodded slowly. "Yy-yes ponies." He said through a thick accent. I kept my eyes still trained on the collar. I could just make out a red pulsing light on the left side of his neck from the maneframe of the collar.

"State your identity Zebra," I ordered. Regardless of his slave rank or not, he was on board the airship. And he was wearing the latest in explosive fashion around his neck.

"I, I am Anakvad. From the tribe of Propoli. I was… captured alongside my village seventeen years ago." Anakvad stopped, then shuddered. He began sobbing at the thought of the horrible memory.

I stopped him with a slam of my armored hoof on the catwalk. He cowered back in fear. A likely story. One that any slaver could spin if they were cowardly and crazy enough to strap a bomb collar to themselves just to off us.

"I don't believe you Anakvad. For all we know, you could be some fanatic willing to blow your own head off to get us." I said coldly, my speech being demonized as it broadcast from my helmet. "But still-" I continued, " A fanatic wouldn't speak to us this much. I shall choose to trust you and escort you to our objective. You shall aid us in our mission, then we shall discuss this matter further."

Anakvad blinked, then began crying more, yelling out words in his native language that sounded like praise or thanks. I think.

"Lieutenant! Can you verify the make of that bomb collar for removal?" Step one was to remove the damn thing so it wouldn't go off.

" Let… me… see," Shady said, drawn out. He slowly inched his way to the crying Zebra, now attached to my leg and thanking me in Equestrian. Shady did a once over of the collar, then gingerly moved the collar of Anakvads jumpsuit out of the way. Shady's levitation talisman retrieved a lockpicking tool and began flipping through the sizes, testing them to the hole in the collar. Shady let out a breath and stepped back.

"Well, this sucks. The good news is it won't go off, right now. Bad news, the collar is on a sensor timer. Meaning that if I open it and it's still active, it will still go off. Though it will explode inward, it will still harm us. We need to find the pony with the trigger to deactivate it. Chances are, there is one. As easily rattled and unmanaged explosives don't fare well with an airship." Shady said.

I looked down to Anakvad, who was sitting at the base of my forehooves, still sobbing. "Mr. Anakvad, Who placed that bomb collar on you?" I wanted to give him next to no info about our plan to bring the airship down. If the detonator owner was high enough to control collars, he was high enough to own access codes. Find the detonator owner, and find access codes. Find access codes, and destroy the gun and airship. Easy enough said than done.

Anakvad sniffed. "Master Gieger. He is a horn pony with a yellow coat."

Geiger… I knew that name. "And where might he be at this moment?"

Anakvad paused and thought. "Control. He oversees mechanics and gun control."

Bingo. We could knock both out at the same time if he was still there. I nodded at Shady to follow and we began walking off. Anakvad followed us out at a reasonable distance.

The dim corridor was filled with sunlight as we neared a room. We slowly inched out onto a balcony overlooking the weapon control center. A mix of a dozen ponies and Zebras sat at various blinking terminal stations, coordinating and calculating the large howitzer being overlooked by a red-tinted bubble window. We melted back into the shadowy corridor, our stealthy black and dark gray painted armor making it easy to remain stealthy. Anakvad slipped into a utility room to, presumably, hide.

Conversation and general terminal beeping and blipping carried on. Azimuths were read, coordinates were listed, and orders were given. No Pony or Zebra noticed the two pegasus Enclave troopers inching along the shadowy coated catwalk. Nor did anyone see Shady launch off the balcony at my nod until it was too late. Shady landed right in the middle of the command center, conversations stopping suddenly as the slaver crewmates froze at the sight of the black insectoid pegasus in their midst.

“Hello there,” Shady said sarcastically, as he straightened up. Two blasts from a plasma rifle sounded, and two slavers goo-afied onto the deck. The crew split as chaos was set loose in their controlled, monotonous environment. Half ducked under their stations, and half ran up the staircase. Right into me. Their shock was almost hilarious, if I wasn't furious at that moment, as they ran into the lead runner who braked hard on his haunches.

“Going somewhere?” I asked as they panicked and climbed over themselves to go back down to where Shady was suppressing the ones who decided to try and take on a trained, power-armored clad, professional soldier with pipe guns and shitty caliber peashooters.

Shady dispatched another in a fiery burst of his light machine gun. The unicorn crumbled like paper. The slaver's who had hidden, or rushed to "eagerly" meet me slowed, and finally stopped. They all sat down and raised their front hooves over their heads, defeated.

Shady took a role of gray duct tape out from… somewhere, and began taping them together in threes. I made sure to exercise our power by patrolling through the crowd, making sure they didn't get any ideas. Shady finished taping up a trio of earth ponies together and walked over to me, the duct tape spinning on one of his armored pinions.

“So, what do we do about this merry herd?” He asked privately. I thought for a moment. Execution style was not an honorable thing to do, even more so if they surrendered voluntarily. But were slavers really honorable? I decided to try and find Gieger, or at least get some useful info from our prisoners.

I turned my loudspeakers to max volume. “Listen up! I am Captain Thundercloud of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. You may already be “acquainted” with my second in command. Knowingly targeting a civilian settlement is low, even for scum such as yourselves. And you are damned for it. Currently, you are under arrest by the GPE. Comply, and we will give you a fair trial.”

Soft murmurs echoed through the prisoners. I decided to make my proposition known. “We are looking for individuals who wish to comply by giving us info regarding any of your operations. I promise that any creature…. Who complies with this order will be viewed much more lightly in court."

No chance of that in the wasteland, especially for ponies that were one step up from Raiders.

A brown earth pony stallion spoke up. "Shut your damn fucking mouth, or I'm gunna-"

He was cut off by my plasma rifles liquefying his head. The ponies tied to his now goo-ified form whimpered.

"Any pony else have something to fucking say?" I blared. One stallion covered his ears at the volume.

I was not about to take a lip from these bastards right now. Shady pinged me and I accepted the two-way transmission.

“I don't think they really know anything, Cap’. Seems as though they are bottom of the totem pole. Or just playing dumb.”

A "ding" sounded. The doors on the far side of the room slide open to reveal an elevator and a sickly green unicorn, with a very yellow mane. His Cutie Mark caught me near instantly. A Balefire bomb mushroom cloud. Geiger.

"Orion. Have you gotten word from Master Red Eye yet? That mare and his greatest fighter in the pit escaping have sent him into a fit of epic proportions." He said in an almost homiletic-sounding voice. He looked up from his stack of papers held aloft in his yellowish telekinetic grasp and froze, eyes going wide.

"Stay right where you fucking are!" I ordered. He didn't move, though he released the magical grasp of his neat papers, them dropping and scattering over the floor.

"Lieutenant, secure him." Shady moved towards Geiger, while I kept my weapons on him. The green unicorn flared his magic once again and brought up a pistol of some kind. A very weird design that looked like a dish with a handle on it. Before Shady and I had time to react, he pointed and fired it at my friend. A wave of greenish color ripped out of the dish with a static sound and hit Shady, who was knocked back about three yards, though apparently not being affected. What a fucking idiot.

I took my self-comment back when my friend fell to the floor. Vomiting obviously inside his helmet. What the fuck?

Geiger threw himself behind a large workstation and switched to me. I dodged the halo -Esq waves and rolled behind a terminal, heating my plasma weapons up.

"Begone you foul pegasus. Take solace in the Goddess's swift and painless judgment!" Geiger yelled. I think I found a rival to Blackwood and Bullion's colloquialisms…

I peeked and let off a shot of plasma. It sailed over Geiger's head into a brace against the wall, leaving a seared mark and burning some of the metal away.

The now-captured crewmates ducked and tried to scoot away from the green waves. Some received a hit and vomited, or plain slumped over either dead or comatose.

I peeked again just in time to get a wave to the face. My PipBuck screamed as the meter of its Geiger counter soared above the one-hundred mark. Nausea hit me like a truck, but I repressed the vomit creeping up my throat. Ah. Geiger. I understand the name now…

A message in my helmet HUD let me know I had contracted minor magical radiation poisoning. Alongside all my other injuries. I fucking hate today…

Shady had finished throwing up. He slowly moved and crawled into a brace position and lined up a shot on Geiger, but received another dose from the rad gun. He fell again.

Geiger hit me with another wave for good measure. This time my stomach betrayed me and I vomited in my helmet. Then a second time from the smell.

Even though the cleaning talisman began the process to remove and disinfect the unregistered biologicals, the smell of vomited toast, with a hint of radiation, remained. Geiger walked into my line of sight and stood over my prone and sick form, smirking.

"Ahhh. My foal. It was unwise to challenge one of Goddess's devotees. Much less a humble servant of Master Red Eye. You would have made an excellent fighter in the Master's army if there were different circumstances." His soft voice preached as he squatted down in front of me. He lowered a hoof and began patting my helmet like I was a grumpy pet. I gathered up every remaining ounce of strength I had and willed my stinger forward, though it just flopped limply on my head. Motherfucker.

My helmet made a quiet ding noise and injected an anti-radiation chem called RADAWAY into my flank. I barely registered the needle’s prick. It wouldn't matter if he shot me again. My vision began to blacken around the edges from the combo of pain, anger, oh, and now major magical radiation poisoning. I only prayed that the Goddesses would show me mercy when I arrived. I watched as a blackish form approached slowly from behind Geiger, almost out of my sight. Was this what Goddess Luna looked like?

*WHACK*

Geiger's skull shattered from the wrench. He collapsed with that smirk still etched on his face.

"Pony? Are you okay?" Anakvad said as he knelt down and craned his neck to face my helmet's visor.

I managed an "ugh" and he seemed to take that as, "Get the detonator." Rightfully so. He rose up and began looting Geiger. The detonator was pulled from the dead unicorn and disarmed. Anakvad's collar beeped, then unlocked. It fell to the floor with a clatter.

The inside of my helmet dinged and injected RADAWAY again. My PipBuck flashing about the majority of the radiation I had received was purged from my system. After all that though, I still felt tired and strung out.

I unsteadily rose to my hooves as my vision began to clear slowly, and watched Shady do the same. I shakily turned to Anakvad, who pressed his ears back and lowered his head.

I stuck out my hoof, and he seemed to be surprised by the gesture. “Mr. Anakvad. I… I apologize for my tone earlier. Thank you for saving us.” Yeah, talking while still at risk of being rad sick was not a good idea, and I felt nauseous for a brief minute. But I felt that it was a very heartfelt apology for the time being.

Anakvad was silent for a moment, then accepted my hoof. “You are welcome. That is what we are supposed to do, right? Help each other?”

I suppose that was true. Anakvad could have hidden anywhere else. Or not betrayed his master when he was caught. In all fairness, he saved himself.

Shady had been looting Gieger, though more slowly than usual. “Captain. Take a look at this.” He said, then rose a small terminal pad up in the weak grasp of the armor’s levitation.

“Stow that Lieutenant. We can take a look at that later. Good find Shady.”

He nodded and returned to looting, as usual. He stashed the radiation gun, some bottle caps, and a few miscellaneous items in his saddlebags. He then reached back in with an armored wing and pulled a fully loaded pistol out, handing the mouth grip to Anakvad. Anakvad took it and placed it in his belt loop, then stashed the clips in his left jumpsuit pocket. Where on Equestria- you know what? Never mind.

“Thank you Pony,” Anakvad said.

“You can just call me Shady, Anakvad. And he is Thundercloud '' He said motioning to me. “It would be much easier if you called us by our names instead of Pony.”

I looked back at our prisoners, they still sat tied up. If we detonated the gun, the slavers would die. And it would take too long to fly them all down one at a time. slavers or not, they were coming with us. I decided to ask our new friend if there was any way to transport the prisoners off the airship and if there were any more slaves aboard.

“Mr. Anakvad. You know this ship. Is there any escape craft on board? Anything at all to get every pon- I mean, creature, we have captured or freed safely down?”

Anakvad nodded his head, seeming to understand that I wanted to free the rest of the slaves on board as well. “Yes, there is an airplane dock down near the cannon room. They have a propeller airplane docked for cargo purposes. We can use that to evacuate.”

An interesting bit of technology. Usually, The GPE’s Raptor and Thunderhead class Cloudships had hangers running port to starboard consistently for any manner of GPE vehicles. It seems the Zebra nation took inspiration during the war from the first-generation cloud ships and placed their own hanger in their designs. Fascinating.

I nodded. “ Can you take me there so I can survey the craft? Afterward, go and gather the rest of the slaves on board and arm them. Lieutenant Shady will stay here and watch the crew until we finish preparations. You shall be responsible for managing our prisoners when you disembark as Shady and I will go back to the town this airship is attacking and finish the defense, then come and find you. If there is a clearing or airstrip, even if it is just an old farmer's crop duster strip, land there and stay put. We shall find you afterward.”

Anakvad nodded and took the lead, walking towards the elevator that Geiger had come out of. I wished Shady luck and followed him into the elevator. As the doors closed, I watched Shady stumble over and begin shaking down a group of earth ponies for spare loot. Some things never change…

The elevator doors opened with a *ding*. The catwalk we stepped out onto overlooked a medium-sized hanger cut into the balloon. It would have seemed almost cavernous if it was not for the old airplane hanging in the middle. Large metallic doors mounted on the underside allowed the single-engine aircraft suspended on hooks at roughly eye level in and out, while a hydraulic arm could raise and lower the airplane. An interesting, albeit dangerous, and archaic idea compared to modern GPE cloud ships. At the front of the room, and down a lot of steps and more catwalks, sat the large howitzer in the gondola, divided by a wall with windows. The gun crew was struggling to load a shell and typing on consoles.

I bid Anakvad farewell and stealthily made my way to the gangplank of the suspended airplane. From what my armor told me, it was a Zebra-designed Antrotnov AN-2. The faded gray and black fuselage now donning a more rusted grime color. Regardless of the rusty bodywork, I could still make out the faded etching on the tail of the Zebra Empire. I entered the interior through a door installed towards the plane's tail. The inside was spacious, with two seats for a pilot and co-pilot. The passenger bay could probably fit about 12 creatures, sitting on the wooden benches bolted to the interior of the fuselage. Plus room for cargo… Or prisoners in this case. This would do nicely. I checked the fuel tank gauge. Half filled. More than enough to get away from the airship.

I stepped back off the airplane and onto the catwalk. Now all I needed to do was detonate that Goddess's damned gun. I sent a quick message to Shady telling him to start packing up the prisoners and escorting them down to be loaded onto the airplane. Then headed for the gun room.

I had barely made it to the door when it opened. Two slavers stepped out, no doubt to investigate why the CIC crew was silent. They took one look at me and backtracked. Slamming the reinforced door closed.

I chuckled and decided to fuck with them. I limped up to the door and gently knocked on the door with my right forehoof.

Knock Knock Knock.

I heard a slaver mare or was it a stallion? whimpering from behind the door.

“Can I come in?” I asked through my speakers, of course, tuned to demon mode. I silently lit my levitation talisman and pulled my lockpick tool out. I was not Shady when it came to this, but I knew enough to bumble my way through it. I set it to work on the lock.

An actual slaver mare responded. “ N-n No. Go the f-f-fuck away!”

I giggled like a school foal. The lock clicked, and I sat it back in my bag. I went to open the door but found it barricaded by some slavers pushing back.

Well, fuck. This is going to hurt. A lot. I turned and lashed out with my hind hooves, making contact with the door. Even though earth ponies were better at bucking, my armor forced more pressure against the door, releasing the equivalent of an earth pony kick, or maybe more. It also hurt like fuck. I yelled in pain, then tongued the drug administer and let the sweet MED-X roll. This stuff is gold, I swear.

The slavers barricading the door went flying to the opposite end of the gondola. They tried to get up but were stopped, well, dead. Gotta love my plasma rifles. I thought a little more about a name for them as I mopped up the rest of the gun crew.

My thoughts were thrown off. The elevator dinged and I spun around shakily, assuming a battle stance. Anakvad and a group of seven slaves of assorted Equestrian and Zebra races walked off, now armed with a mishmash of weapons, probably from the airship's armory. I relaxed. Anakvad waved and started over, the slaves following behind. We met in the middle, though an orange unicorn mare got to me first and began hugging and thanking me for freeing her and the others. I managed to wiggle myself out of her grasp and told her not to mention it. It's what a soldier does right?

Anakvad chuckled and turned to the mare. "Pumpkin, you and the others get on the plane. We will soon start a new life, my friend."

Pumpkin nodded and stepped onto the aircraft. The others followed suit, taking time to thank me as they passed. Anakvad watched them embark, then leaned closer toward me.

"So… how do we fly the plane?" He whispered. I was silent. Stupid brain. I had thought of everything besides who would actually fly the craft to safety, but I needed to think of something fast. One of the hostages had to know how to fly right? No, no. They probably would die before they aided us. Then, a little Thundercloud in my head switched a lightbulb on. "Anakvad, you can read Zebra writing, correct?"

"Small bits of it, yes. Do you want me to try and fly the plane? I have no knowledge of that."

I shook my head. "No, you translate what you can, and I can probably figure out what is what. Obviously, that stick is the rudder and aileron controls. Left for left, right for right, etc. It shouldn't be too much harder than pegasi learning to fly… I'd imagine."

Anakvad nodded and began studying the glyphs written on various gauges and buttons.

After a very short translation and lesson period, Anakvad eventually had the basics down pat. Glossing over the obvious button tests and the "what does this do?" moments. He wouldn't really need to fly fancy to get off the soon-to-be doomed airship, but he now knew enough to throttle forward and fly a short distance. Now all that was left was the cannon. Shady had finished transferring the prisoners into the cargo hold during the learning process, with the slaves kicking or spitting on the captured slavers as they went, and had joined us in the small space between the seats.

Shady moved to one side as I made for the door. I turned to Anakvad just before exiting. "As soon as you are clear from the hanger doors, push the accelerator to the max. I will disengage the lock. Fly as fast as you can. When you get safely down, wait there. We will find you."

Anakvad turned in his seat. He opened his mouth, stopped, and thought before continuing. "Thundercloud, thank you. I will not be able to ever repay your kindness."

I chuckled. Maybe not all Zebras were bad after all. "It's my duty. Protecting those who cannot protect themselves is what a soldier lives for."

Shady wished Anakvad goodbye and exited the plane. I wished him good luck, then stopped. "Anakvad?"

He made a "hmm?" sound as he powered up some additional consoles.

"For what it's worth, I really am sorry about earlier. I understand my tone may have come off…. Hateful. Good luck my friend. I shall see you afterward."

Anakvad sighed and turned in his seat. "Thundercloud. We all do things we aren't proud of. That just makes us better in the long run. My ancestors did something wrong, and we are still paying for it today. But I have learned to accept it and continue trotting with my head held high. Trust me, I forgive you." Anakvad smiled.

I smiled as well behind my helmet. I nodded in departure to him and stepped off the plane. Shady was poking at a crate that he couldn't open or had broken the lock off. I chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Can't get 'em all Lieutenant."

I walked up the raised section of the catwalk that held the controls. It was little more than a seat, with a small raised bottom panel in front of it. The joystick on the right of the panel controlled the boom arm, as evident by the total lack of correct spelling on a small, pinkish sticky note. They had labeled something as easy to spell as boom control as "Booem Controll." Stupid ass slavers….

Regardless, pressing a red button labeled as "hach dor" (Seriously? They can run a technologically advanced airship, but can't spell correctly? Seems this Red Eye character needs to adjust his goals. Or is this the idiot section?) Started the grinding of the semi-rusted bay doors opening.

The props of the AN2 started up with a sputtered roar. Anakvad gave me a small salute from the cockpit to let me know it was time. I returned the salute with my right wing and grabbed the joystick. I pulled it down slowly, letting the airplane-laden boom outside. The AN2 reached the free-hanging position outside and began throttling up. I let it throttle for about a minute, then sent a prayer to the Goddesses. I punched the button that disconnected the aircraft. It jumped off the hook at a high speed and banked to the left, flying away.

The air around the fleeing AN2 was filled with tracer fire from the still-operating automated machine gun blisters. A few rounds strafed the wings, pocking gashes in the wood and fabric skin, but still, the plane flew on. Finally reaching outside the range of the turrets.

I silently thanked the Goddesses that Anakvad and his friends were safe and underway.

We made our way over to the howitzer. I could tell it was original to the airship as the weld and bolt work was accurate and clean, as opposed to the scrappiness of the reinforced armor segments of corrugated metal and rebar. Shady had carefully moved a shell off the rack and sat it where he could work on it…

Then turned and began, in typical Shady fashion, looting the corpses.

I tittered and walked over to the platform where he was picking over the body of an orange unicorn mare, pulling out an engraved lighter and cigarettes.

"Do you have enough scrap to rig one of these shells to detonate on a timer?" I said as I looked into his left side saddlebag, filled with scrap, tech, and other…. Treasures.

Shady nodded, but continued to loot over the unicorn, then sidestepped to begin looting a Zebra. I trusted Shady's… quirks. But I really needed to blow this bastard to Elysium.

I stooped down to the striped corpse. Did Anakvad know this stallion? How did he treat him? I followed the corpse's stripes. I wasn't sure how or why Zebra stripes form, but these were different from what I could see on our new Zebra friend. The slaver's stripes had a more ragged look to them, almost like tendrils in appearance. I sat down and began also rooting through the dead Zebra's armor pockets with my armor's spell matrix. A few bits, a very dirty syringe with some off-purple liquid inside, which I immediately chucked off the side of the gondola (No thank you hepatitis.), some rounds for a 5.56 mm rifle, and a pack of cigarettes.

I pocketed them all in my left saddlebag. I turned the spell matrix off and rose to find Shady tinkering with the shell. His pink manipulation spell weaved wires through the open top of the shell, exposing the payload. I walked up and stood over his shoulder as he worked. Now, I am not an EOD tech, nor is Shady. Where did he get this almost super-pony way of making bombs? No idea. Possibly from Cloud Buster but, who knows? Point is, he rigged the shell with that battered novelty Ministry mare Pinkie Pie egg timer he looted earlier.

Shady glanced over his shoulder at me. "How long should I set it for Cap?" He asked as he finished soldering two mismatched wires together. I swear, if this went off early and killed us, I would kill him…

"Set it to about two minutes. Limit the time these scum can discover our "present"." Then we bail and use the explosion's shockwave to propel us further. I smirked into my helmet. This would probably end the battle straight up. And look cool. Coolness is always good.

Shady nodded and cranked the timer to two minutes. The Pink mare in a chef's apron and hat said "Time to bake!" In a cutesy voice and the timer began counting down.

Shady and I spread our wings and rocketed off the open gondola into the cloudy sky. thirty seconds passed, then a minute. Then as the egg timer reached its two-minute time limit, the Pink mare sounded "All done!" It was drowned out by the sound of the shell exploding, then the surrounding ammo rack. A huge explosion cut the air as fire bloomed up the side of the airship. It crumbled in the air, then hit the ground in another, more fiery, explosion. The shockwave, as expected, propelled us with a tremendous force toward the seemingly tiny town of Sugar Grove, which got larger and larger as we neared. I caught, somepony, standing on another pony. Only then I noticed the ragtag combat barding and black formal suit.

Blackwood.

Shady had spotted it and was faster, body slamming into the unicorn mare and shooting her in the head. I landed fast behind him and goo-afied a griffon about to kill Bullion. No one was touching my friends… I reached a hoof out to Blackwood, who took it and rose. Then fell as his exhaustion and wounds caught up to him. Shady raced up and popped a healing potion, giving it to Blackwood. The orange earth pony took it and drank like a dehydrated pony in a desert. Bullion was a whole different story. A huge hole in his chest, no exit wound, and was unconscious. This was bad. I ripped off his holed combat armor and now blood-soiled tuxedo to get a better look at it. Small rifle caliber. I could see the faintest glint of brass through the wound. Thank Celestia, the armor slowed the bullet down a lot.

Bullion stirred and opened his eyes. "Heh. Popped that balloon didn't ya?" He said with the faintest of smiles. He winched and coughed, bringing up blood. " I got shot, didn't I?" He said.

I nodded. "It isn't bad." A lie. But a necessary one. Squeezer groaned, then laid his head on the blood-caked wall. "Don't worry, Shady and I will have you fixed in no time," I said as I took a ripped section of his tuxedo in my armor's spell. "Squeezer, this may hurt… a lot."

Squeezer nodded softly and tensed up. I pressed the cloth over the wound and applied pressure. Shady grabbed the duct tape he used to bind the crew and taped the makeshift field dressing down. Squeezer, understandably, yelled.

"GODDESSES DAMMIT." The unicorn yelled. Blackwood began reassuring him. We all knew he needed an operation now or he might not make it. I shot my head up to the clinic in the middle of the town. It had remained untouched and was filled with the casualties of the town, and some slaver’s bound to chairs and beds.

The fighting picked up again. Shots traded from the wall and forest. In reality, Sugar Grove had won the fight. These slavers decided to fight to the last for whatever reason. We needed to get Squeezer to that clinic fast, or he wouldn't be here much longer. I started to throw him over my back when a buzzing noise caught my ears.

Some slavers looked up and around to find the source of the noise, others turned to run but were cut down from above. The buzzing sound got louder until two very familiar Vertibucks dove out of the rolling dark gray cloud cover and preyed upon the enemy. An incendiary missile left its pod, tracked to a group of heat signatures, and blew up, taking the crowd of slavers with it.

Sugar Grove residents cheered as the remaining slavers were hosed down in a barrage of magical energy from the Vertibucks Gatling laser cannon.

The Vertibucks swung around and made for a landing. “Tart-Cart” and its sister transport, "Hornet", unwrapped their dragonfly-like legs and came to a stop around the crumbled remnants of what once was a house, rotors spinning down. Out scrambled ten power-armored soldiers, two of which I recognized as Weather and Racer from their IFF tags.

Doc Weather spotted us on the wall and flew full speed toward us. Shady, Blackwood, and I helped him load Squeezer onto a stretcher and raced into the clinic. I stopped outside the doors alongside Blackwood. Shady entered the clinic to help in every way he could.

I could hear Blackwood on the verge of crying. He sniffled and tried to put a stoic leader face on, but failed and broke down. He fell to the ground. I didn't know what to do at that moment, so I sat next to him. We kinda sat there for a moment, him crying and I just dazed and strung out from the Chems finally wearing off. I knew I would probably be on addiction watch alongside surface quarantine once I got back to the cloud side but I hardly cared at that point. I was stronger to resist the urge to inject more. Blackwood eventually stopped crying to just lay there.

"He will be fine Blackwood. Gusty is the best field surgeon in the unit." I said reassuringly. Blackwood sorta nodded. Somepony cleared their throat behind us. A trooper, alongside another, and Racer in the middle stood behind us.

"Captain Thundercloud?" The obvious stallion asked. I nodded. "General Star Chaser wants to speak to you."

I nodded, then pat Blackwood on the shoulder. "I'll be back, Blackwood. Go and rally the survivors. They need your leadership right about now. Then find me. I need to discuss a terminal I found inside Sugar Grove."

Blackwood stood, then nodded. " Thank'ya Thundercloud.. Fur evre'thin." I smiled in my helmet. I snapped a quick salute to Blackwood, then turned, leaving him to rally the victors. As I followed Racer and the two unfamiliar troopers, we neared "Tart-Cart" for what I thought was a long-line radio, being the signals were still being jammed by an unknown source. I was wrong.

The door slid open and four guards stepped out, then Star Chaser. I, at once, snapped to attention and saluted. Star Chaser returned the salute. He had replaced his office barding with an all-gray jumpsuit, with armor plates on his chest. And had taken an equally gray operative helmet.

“Good to see you, Captain, it seems as though you took care of these ponies' problems.” He said as he surveyed the damage to the town with his eye.

I nodded in response. “Yes Sir. But it is not right to give all the credit to me. A lot of it goes to the residents as well.”

I decided it was time to pitch my idea. If what the terminals said was true, the Windigo was an unguarded time bomb, ready to go off. And we had a spy in our midst. “General, I would like to discuss some stuff in private. It is of utmost importance.” Star Chaser raised his good eye’s eyebrow in curiosity.

After a moment, he answered. “Oh? He prompted. "Very well. I am sure your friends and allies would like to be briefed as well, and I would like to meet this Blackwood fellow you spoke of. Where is he currently?”

“He went to give a speech and rally his fighters. He is probably down by the square.” I turned and began that way, Racer, the guards, and Star Chaser following. Racer caught up to me as we went.

“What happened after we left?” She asked as we passed a mare and filly picking up wood and sheet metal and loading them onto a cart, pulled by a stallion. Most likely a family.

I caught her up, leaving no details out. She seemed really interested in the events of helping Anakvad and his friends escape.

“Do you want me and a few troopers to go and look for them?” She asked as we neared the square. I could hear the murmuring of the crowd as he walked up the hill, heading towards Blackwood’s house, and what probably counted as the market and governmental section of the town.

“No. We will find them later and fill them in. Right now, everypony needs to hear what I have to say.” I felt bad leaving Anakvad and his friends, plus the prisoners, on their own for the time being. But time was short.

A microphone came to life in a static noise as we reached the gathered crowd. Most of Sugar Grove was still alive, maybe some wounded yes, but alive. The crowd of thirty-five or so ponies drew their attention from us and focused on Blackwood, who walked up on the small stage.

Blackwood made his way to an old microphone in the middle of the stage. He cleared his throat upon reaching it. I waited patiently for the large and victorious speech. One that any future member of Enclave high command would remember and talk about for the ages. One that detailed the sacrifice and honor of the brave.

"We Kick'd the’r sorry asses back ‘tah Filly!"

Oh... That works as well….

The crowd erupted in a synchronized "YEEE-HAW!" Hats were thrown in the air, stallions kissed mares, mares kissing stallions. mares with mares, stallions with stallions. You get the picture. I glanced at Star Chaser, who wore a wide-eyed look on his face. I chuckled and leaned over to him.

"This is a tame version of what they have been like most of the time."

A couple of hours ago, I wore the same expression on my face due to the antics here. But I now felt a sense of kinship to these ponies, whether or not they were actually my family.

Star Chaser shook his awestruck reaction. Then surveyed the crowd as they cheered, danced, and generally just celebrated their victory. Blackwood pushed through the crowd and made his way to us. Albeit very slowly as everypony slapped him on the back, or talked with him. He walked up and stuck a hoof out for Star Chaser, who seemed appalled at the dirtiness of it.

"Ah'm Blackwood. You must be Star Chaser."

Star Chaser relented and shook Blackwood's hoof. "It is good to finally meet you, Mr. Blackwood. I have heard good things from Captain Thundercloud here."

Blackwood chuckled and sat his hoof back down. "Thanks, uhh. What can'ah call you?"

"Star Chaser if you wish. Or General. Whichever one you choose." Star Chaser said. His head followed the festivities as they ramped up around us. Somepony had begun to pass out drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. Though it wouldn't really matter as I caught sight of a colt with a bottle of beer in his telekinetic grasp running through the crowd.

“Well, Star Chaser. Ah’ can't thank yah enough. You re’lly came through fur’ us. Both you’n Thunder, and ahm in your debt.” The orange stallion finished.

Star Chaser smiled. “Captain Thundercloud has given you a large amount of trust and help, which you did not betray once. If anypony should get most of the credit, it would be right to give it to the Captain.”

I sat down and flipped a hinge on my armored neck with my hoof, which unlatched my helmet's seal. I twisted it off with my forehooves. Once it was stowed in my empty right saddlebag, I smiled. “Thank you, Sir.”

Star Chaser nodded, then continued. “ I believe the good Captain has something he needs to discuss with all of us.

I nodded in affirmation. “Yes. Unfortunately, Squeezer is still getting patched up, so it will be me, Racer, you, and Star Chaser discussing this matter.”

Blackwood looked confused. “Er, is this about tha’ terminal yah read?”

“Yes. But let’s go somewhere more private. I would rather not - ”I lowered my voice - “Cause a panic.”

Blackwood agreed and led us to his house. Once again stepping into the spacious shack, we made our way to his office space. Star Chaser looked around at the rusted corrugated metal, and wooden shack. No doubt thinking the same as I did when I stepped inside the first time as well. After everypony got settled, and Blackwood offered drinks, which Racer and Star Chaser accepted, I began. I made sure to outline every step of my plan. To find this facility, lock it down if necessary, and station guards there until we can figure out what to do with the Windigo. If they were still there. I ended the briefing, with Racer, Star Chaser, and Blackwood all sharing the same look of alarm.

Blackwood was the first to speak. “ Windigo? ‘Ah thought that wus’ an ole’ Foals tale.”

I shook my head. “No such luck. And they are probably pissed and ready to break loose if no maintenance or upkeep has been done.”

Blackwood put his head in his hooves and massaged his head. I couldn't blame him. Star Chaser continued on with my statement.

“So, do you know where this location is? Where they are kept that is.” He asked.

I nodded. “Yes sir, I have the relevant data. I will upload everything, including my mission briefing packet when I get a chance. One more thing… This is probably going to be an extended mission. So I will probably need a way my squad and friends can travel fast, and can operate out. I wish to requisition a Prowler class Cloud Ship.”

Star Chaser blinked. Or is it a wink? Either way, he expressed surprise at my impromptu requisition form. He thought for a while, then nodded. “I will see if I can get one. Pull some favors. Though I am not sure if it will be approved or not. I will contact the other Generals.”

I saluted. “Thank you, Sir. This concludes my briefing, though I want to discuss one more thing with you General.” I was ecstatic about this mission, though I hid it behind my usual stoicism.

Star Chaser and Racer stood up and began to follow me out. But Blackwood stopped us.

“Wait, Yuh said friends?” He asked.

I turned and let Racer and General Star Chaser by. “Welcome to the Grand Pegasus Enclave, Operative Blackwood.”

He was taken aback. “Y’all are draft’n me’n Squeeze?”

I nodded. “As well as Anakvad, yes. I need you three as well on this mission as I know you can be trusted. This also affects your world as well as mine, so I couldn't choose any creature more qualified than you two. And I believe Anakvad can help if we need to read any Zebra or use his knowledge.”

He seemed to appreciate the sentiment. That I could trust enough to draft non-pegasi into the GPE. “All’ do mah best Thundercloud. You’cn count on it.”

I chuckled. “Good, We will need that where we are going. But, I say let's leave that for later. I need to talk to Star Chaser about something. Then, we need to go find Anakvad and the others.

He nodded and left with Racer. Star Chaser sat back down on the seat he had taken during my briefing.

“General. There is a spy in Ralneigh.” I bluntly said.

Star Chaser nodded. “I have suspected as much. Where did you get the confirmation?” He asked.

“A terminal on board the airship Lieutenant Shady and I boarded. One of the higher commands I killed was named Geiger. He sent a memo to the crew about two days before the assault began.

He nodded. “Make sure to separate that from the data packet. I want only Ralneigh working on this before we announce it to the other councilors and Generals.”

“Very well General.” If there was a spy in our Enclave, we wouldn't want him escaping.

=== *** ===

After collecting Shady, who gave us a good update on Bullion, we set out. We covered a huge swath of the swampy terrain until we caught a glimpse of what looked like a chariot field. We banked left and could make out a flash of rusty gray and black wings, against the backdrop of a black and brown wasteland. Shady, Racer, and I dove and flittered above the broken tarmac. I, very carefully, approached the old country sky chariot landing strip.

The hangars, once a sky blue it seemed, now looked like a rusty muted blue. The tower off to the side of the runway had collapsed at some point, spilling debris across the second runway. I could also make out what was definitely a Zebra aircraft, parked at the far end of the hangar rows.

I motioned for Shady and Racer to follow and we silently flew to the hangars. My EFS lit up with a dozen or so red and yellowish marks. We landed within a few yards of the aircraft. I could make out the faded serial number on the tail of the AN-2 and knew it was the same one from the airship. Shady had, apparently, seen something very important in the crumbled remains of the air traffic tower, and had flown off to “investigate”. I swear to Celestia, that stallion could see through five layers of steel and concrete debris for one Sparkle~Cola bottle.

I called out “Anakvad?” No response. I cautiously approached the plane and called out again. I heard rustling from inside the hanger. A familiar Zebra popped his head out to investigate the noise, then smiled at me and my friends.

“Thundercloud! My friend. I am glad you found us.” The Zebra opened the door more.

I could make out Pumpkin, and a blue earth pony, standing behind Anakvad. They both openly carried automatic rifles and seemed to be relieved that they knew who it was. Pumpkin lowered the rifle held tightly in her orange telekinetic grasp and gave me a cheery wave. Racer, in response, gave a sort of surprised wave back.

I chuckled, then turned to the Zebra. “I am glad to see you alright as well Anakvad. Do you still have our mutual… “friends”?”

Anakvad nodded and opened the door more. I saw the slaver prisoners locked inside the fuselage of a prop airplane. Some of them visibly groaned when they saw the armored pegasi at the door.

“Very intuitive. Can they be moved?” I asked.

Anakvad thought for a moment. “Maybe. How far will they move?”

“To the town about 5 minutes east from here. That was the target of the raid and bombardment. They will be safe there until the GPE can collect them.” I scanned the hangar, there were the usual utilities that anypony would find, scavenging through pre-war airfields. What I was looking for was a rope. Or winch. Or something that could pull the impromptu wagon. The next step was to make sure the aircraft’s wheels wouldn't give out when it finally rolled again after 200 years.

He nodded. “The wheels work. No dry rot from what we could see. We can easily pull them back.

“Then let's get to it. Stash the plane in one of these hangers. We can get it later.”

After Racer, Anakvad, and the blue earth pony pulled the airplane into an empty hangar and then hitched the earth ponies of the group to the converted prisoner wagon, we were off. Racer, Shady, and I flew high above the swampy trees as the caravan went down the road. It was strange that the swamp had almost expanded as a result, at least to my knowledge, of the Megaspell radiation. I glanced at an old billboard, now home to a lot of red-colored vines and a huge spider web, and an even larger spider. I read it as I gave the huge spider a wide berth. “Welcome to Great Gulf Swamp Park!” It read.

An illustration of a family of four, a mare, stallion, and two foals, one a filly and the other a colt, gazed excitedly at a frog sitting on a lilypad in some brackish water, though the portrait had seen better days.

A shot rang out. I dove and landed on the ground, only to find Anakvad holstering his still-smoking pistol. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR? SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!" I angrily exclaimed.

Anakvad shrunk down, ears pressed back. Oh right.. Ex-slave. "Anakvad. *sigh* Sorry. We all are on edge right now, but you can't just shoot randomly when we all are on alert."

Anakvad perked up a tad bit. "No no. It was my doing Thundercloud." He said as he made his way over to the giant spider. "Gino Spider is a delicacy in my village. I have not had such a meal since my family.." He paused, then sadly looked at the ground.

I knew ponies on the surface would sometimes eat meat, instead of the usual vegetarian diet. I had, myself, tried an aptly labeled "patty" in response to a dare during the griffon campaign but was rewarded with all manner of stomach illnesses. I stuck to Enclave MREs after that one.

"Anakavad. Do you need help loading that, what did you call it?" I asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Ginospider." He said as I walked over and gripped the carcass. Even through my helmet, I could smell its putrid stench. This is a delicacy? I carried it up into the air with me and plopped it onto the roof of the airplane cart. Yeah. Let the scum smell it.

Anakvad sorta sulked back on track, heading for Sugar Grove. I landed next to him as the caravan moved down the overgrown highway.

“Anakvad, do you want to talk about it?”

His ears drooped more at the question.

“Sorry. I understand.” I said as I began to lag behind. He sighed, then motioned me back.

“They were… everything I could have ever asked for. My darling, Xella. And our daughter, Melaka. They were my light. Our tribe was mixed with another, the Zencori. Of which Xella was from. She had the most fantastic stories. We lived around the border of the once-Zebra empire and Equestria, a once-pony village called Mayflower Fields. It was spared all of the war, despite being near the frontlines. We had... hoped we would be spared if we were far away from Equestria. We were wrong." Anakvad sighed and muttered something in his native tongue.

"I see. I have a family of my own. My wife and colt are my whole world, and I am damn scared that the wasteland will creep into my home and take them." I said. I understood fearing losing loved ones, especially your own family.

"Is this why you fight?" Anakvad's question caught me off guard. Sure, it was the reason. But the way he said it seemed.. off."

"Well. That and the attempt to cleanse Equestria from its vileness. Or at least that is what the Enclave says. No... I think it is more in line with the purpose of a soldier like myself. Even though I have privileges that non-pegasi usually do not have anymore, I wish it was not like that. I wouldn't wish this hellish lifestyle of being a wanderer of the wastes on anypony, er, creature. Why wouldn't I fight to protect others, or attempt to, at least lay the groundwork for a better future? I could have just left Sugar Grove after completing my mission, but I chose to stay and potentially lay my life down for them. It's what a soldier does Anakvad."

Anakvad pondered a moment as we continued to trot down the road. I could see the smoke from Sugar Grove rising from the treetops now. Dusk had set in, although a lot darker than the cloud side due to the cover.

“You are a good stallion Thundercloud. Are you sure you are in the right place?” He asked.

What did he mean by that? “What do you mean Anakvad?”

“Are you sure you are not a slave just as I was? Just for a different kind of master?”

“You mean the Enclave?” I drew a long breath, then sighed. “The Enclave has been my home since I was born. It raised me into the buck I am today. Does it have its flaws? Yes. It's the government. But. Do I think, if changed, it can revitalize the wasteland? Yes.”

Anakvad nodded, then made a funny noise. “Just be sure to continue your free thinking my friend.”

I suppose that was a good bit of advice. It was not a secret that the wasteland residents hated the Enclave for something that happened over 200 years ago, though I suppose it's the same reason as the same residents and the Enclavers sometime hate the Zebra for the war. We were now walking up the steep incline into the town, so I took time to look around at the carnage.

A group of slavers was chained to a cart. The town's pony guards were watching as a few more “convicts'' were loading their dead friends onto the cart to be buried. But not before being looted.

A huge pile of weapons, ammo, scrap, and other users, and seemingly un-useful, items sat in a large shipping container. The working convicts glanced our way, then stopped when they saw the ex-crew imprisoned. One of them started to gallop our way but was tackled by a large unicorn. Never seen a unicorn that liked bodybuilding before. He was, well. Dragged is an understatement. More like thrown back to his friend.

The gate opened to allow us through. Anakvad got some looks, but those were relaxed when I entered. Racer and Shady walked up behind the prison caravan.

A trooper approached the convoy, and let it pass. Then snapped a salute toward me. “Sir, The General had a pressing matter to attend to back in Ralneigh. He left you a message.”

I nodded and returned the salute. “At ease trooper. What is the message.”

“He said to send the prisoners back cloud side, and then to meet him in his office in the morning.”

I nodded. “Very good trooper. Begin loading the prisoners. It may take two or three trips to get them back, so load two guards on each transport, then as many as the pilots can take.”

The trooper nodded. “I shall see to it you get back the first sir, you and your team deserve to rest.”

I shook my head. “No, we shall stay here, but thank you for your kind offer. Dismissed.”

The trooper nodded, saluted, then turned to meet with a collection of other Enclave troopers a bit farther away. A makeshift staging area had been constructed around the Vertibucks. A Vertibuck must have dropped off supplies when Star Chaser left. The Enclave troops had placed some dark blue fire cover around the Vertibucks, and a communications relay in the center. The comms tower looked a lot like a stalk of corn, just dark blue in color. It was topped by the actual “Bulb” of the dish antenna and adorned with the light blue colored lights, typical of Enclave spark batteries. I was relieved to find some towns ponies chatting with some of the guards. I had no idea how the troopers or towns ponies would react to each other.

I let the caravan by, then motioned for Anakvad, Racer, and Shady. “Ankavad, I need to speak with you. Shady and Racer, help load those slavers onto the Vertibucks. Make sure they are wrapped up nicely. You have a say in what guards go with them.” Racer and Shady nodded and set off.

I motioned him to follow, and we entered a small, secluded alleyway. I took my helmet off and stored it in my bag, then made sure the coast was clear. “Anakvad. I know this will be a high ask…. I need your help. Does the Zebra race have stories of the windigo? Ghostly equine spirits that spread snow and ice?”

Anakvad cocked his head in confusion. “What of them?”

“They are real, and probably ready to break loose. That is why the slavers came here. If they are released, Equestria will be a lot worse than it is now.”

Anakvad looked startled. “You need my help? I would be honored to follow you Thundercloud.”

I smiled and nodded. “I knew I could count on you. But for now, go rest.”

=== *** ===

The festivities lasted well into the evening. A lot of the residents were drunk or on their way to it. I myself, being responsible and needing to come back home not hammered, cut myself off at two glasses of whiskey. So I stuck to enjoying a semi-cold Sparkle~Cola.

The Vertibucks had already lifted most of the prisoners back to Ralneigh by this point and were on their way back for the last time. I had also called home, much to the relief of Misty and Storm, and told them I would be home soon. Though I left out I would be gone again very soon. I had decided to sit both of them down and explain a non-classified version of what I was planning. Better for them not to know…

Weather and Blackwood had joined us a few hours after the convoy entered the town. A band had formed and began to play and sing both pre-war songs and some new ones from one of the surface radio stations. The crowd clapped at the end of a song by a mare named Sweetie Belle. The cyan-coated, pink-maned unicorn stallion who I surmised was the leader of this band, aptly named “Balefire Bucks”, started talking about the history behind the last song. I tuned him out, but not fully. I managed to pick up some keywords like “Rarity” and other tidbits but didn't really pay a whole lot of attention.

“And, here is our next one. I am sure all you fillies and gentle colts out there know it as well, so feel free to sing along. This one is dedicated to those pegasi who saved our flanks today." The unicorn said. The band started up the song with a trumpet solo, mixed with an accordion.

“HEEEE ALWAYS SINGS, RAGGEDY MUSIC TO THE TROOPS AS THEY SWING, BACK AND FORWARD IN THEIR SADDLES, IN A MOOD, WHICH IS SYNCOPATED GAITED, THERE IS SUCH A FUNNY METER TO THE ROAR OF HIS REPEATERS, HOW THEY RUN, WHEN THEY HEAR THE PONY’S GUNS, BECAUSE THE ZEBRA FOLK ALL KNOOOOOW, HE’S A HIGHFALUTIN ROOTIN-TOOTIN SON-OF-A-GUN FROM APPLEOOSA, RAGTIME SOLDIER JOE!”

I had never heard this one before on any of the Enclave radio stations.

“OUT IN THE HOMELANDS WHERE THE ZEBRA’S ARE, THE ONLY THING TO GUIDE YOU ARE LUNA’S STARS, THE ROUGHEST, TOUGHEST PONY BY FAR, IS RAGTIME SOLDIER JOE. HE GOT HIS NAME FROM SINGING THE CAMP TO SLEEP, EVERY NIGHT THEY SAY HE PUTS THE TROOPS TO SLEEP. IN A BASS VOICE, RICH AND DEEP, CROONIN’ SOFT AND LOOOOW. HE ALWAYS SINGS, RAGGEDY MUSIC TO THE TROOPS AS THEY SWING, BACK AND FORWARD IN THEIR SADDLES, IN A MOOD, WHICH IS SYNCOPATED GAITED, THERE IS SUCH A FUNNY METER TO THE ROAR OF HIS REPEATERS, HOW THEY RUN, WHEN THEY HEAR THE PONY’S GUNS, BECAUSE THE ZEBRA FOLK ALL KNOOOOOW, HE’S A HIGHFALUTIN ROOTIN-TOOTIN SON-OF-A-GUN FROM APPLEOOSA, RAGTIME SOLDIER JOE!”

I started humming along, enjoying the music as the instruments took the lead again during the pause between lyrics. I went over the plan again in my mind, trying to find any flaws. Hopefully, we would be quick enough to not waste a week in transit to the borders of the, once, Crystal Empire. I wonder what happened to their crystal rulers.

“HE ALWAYS SINGS, RAGGEDY MUSIC TO THE TROOPS AS THEY SWING, BACK AND FORWARD IN THEIR SADDLES, IN A MOOD, WHICH IS SYNCOPATED GAITED, THERE IS SUCH A FUNNY METER TO THE ROAR OF HIS REPEATERS, HOW THEY RUN, WHEN THEY HEAR THE PONY’S GUNS, BECAUSE THE ZEBRA FOLK ALL KNOOOOOW, HE’S A HIGHFALUTIN ROOTIN-TOOTIN SON-OF-A-GUN FROM APPLEOOSA, RAGTIME SOLDIER - TALK ABOUT THAT SOLDIER, RAGTIME SOOOLLLDDDER JOOOOOOE!”

The song ended and the crowd began to clap. The stallions bowed and began explaining the history of the song. I was more interested in the voice behind me though to listen.

“I love that song.”

I spun around fast, Blackwood doing the same. An earth pony “orderly” pushed a wheelchair up to us, occupied by Bullion. Blackwood and I stood up.

"How ya feelin Squeeze?" Blackwood asked. The orderly stopped pushing the wheelchair and stood nearby.

"Nothing a few bottles of wine can't fix." He chuckled weakly, but clutched his side and coughed midway. The orderly moved to the teal unicorn's side and fished a Healing Potion out of a bag slung across the back of the chair.

The teal unicorn took the potion and vigorously drank it, the coughing subsided after a few gulps.

Blackwood, seeing his friend in pain, walked to his side and helped him drink the elixer. He waited until Bullion had regained himself before he spoke. "Er, Squeeze. Reccon' it's about time Thundercloud told’ya about a sumethin. Maybe leavin' Sugar Grove here soon."

I nodded in response.

"Unfortunately. Do you remember the terminal that we found inside the facility? It made mention of a MAS research center located somewhere around the northern Crystal Empire borders. It mentioned Windigo. The terminal had records of the pre-war ministries caging them. I feel it is in the best interest of the GPE, and the surface, to go and make sure that those…. creatures, are still under lock"

The teal unicorn sat silent for a moment. Seeming to not be fully recovered from his coughing attack. After a few good minutes, he finally spoke. "Why are you taking us two ground ponies? Don't you have pegasi troopers for that?"

"That is true. But, I feel it would be in every pony's best interest to bring along some outside sources. You and Blackwood have lived here all your lives. You know most of the terrain and settlements in the Appleachian mountain range. Truth is… I need your help."

Bullion pondered a moment before a goofy smile spread across his face.

"Adventure I hear? I see. I see. Count me in, my feathered friend."

I laughed. "Great to have you Squeezer. I will be back in a day or two to get yall. In the meantime, Anakvad and his friends will stay here. They were ex-slaves aboard the airship. Treat them well. Anakvad is coming along as well. Make sure to grab what you think you will need."

Both Blackwood and Bullion nodded. I heard the familiar thump of Vertibuck propellers coming closer.

"That sounds like my ride. You guys make sure to pack what you need. And make sure Anakvad gets outfitted. I will see you in a day or so"

The Vertibuck landed on the Sky Chariot pad. We all walked outside of the gates and down to the pad. It was still intact, even from the indiscriminate bombardment from the airship, and the battle. Shady climbed aboard, then Racer and Weather. I was last to climb aboard. I turned and waved, then closed the doors. When we were away, I asked Shady for a pen, of which he pulled twenty or so out of various colors. I took a black one and a piece of paper, also from Shady, and began jotting down a list of sorts for supplies we would need. We would probably be assigned temporary command of an inactive cloudship. Which meant that we would have the actual Captain and their crew going along with us, which may be problematic. Oh well, trot across that bridge when we get there, I guess.

=== *** ===

Two hours later we touched down at Ralneighs airstrip. We disembarked and headed to the armory, where we checked in our gear to the quartermaster. She was very confused at us coming back with more gear than we had been issued but checked Shady’s IF-5 in any way.

I had finally peeled off the last of my armor and flew it to an empty spot in the repair bay. The mechanics would piece it together, recharge the spark battery, and fix the damage. Though they would probably have a strong set of words for the amount of buckling and dents that the armor could not repair by itself. I changed back into my barding and walked back into the main bay.

“Lieutenant Shady, I have a release form for you to fill out for a… “box of junk”, from General Star Chaser. Is that yours?” The quartermaster said as she read from a clipboard in front of her across the bay.

Shady mumbled “S’not junk.” Then accepted the form.

The form was passed back to the mare. “Thank you. Please note that all technological, metal and ammunition items were confiscated. Everything else is in that cardboard box right there.” She pointed at a box marked “2nd LT Shady” that sat in a supply area to the right of the exit door.

Shady groaned, then flew over to root through the box. I nodded in thanks to the quartermaster, then joined Shady.

He was pulling items out and placing them on a table nearby. So far, he had pulled out two leather holsters, various plastic tableware, an entire party's worth of empty Sparkle~Cola and Sunrise Sarsaparilla bottles, and various other items deemed “useless”. Shady had just pulled out an empty shadowbox and was examining it.

“Those goblins took my colas, my duct tape, and my cigarettes.” He said angrily.

I laughed. “You do not even smoke Shady, why do you need cigarettes?”

He shrugged. “Could be useful later on down the line.”

“Don't sweat it Shady, we will have all the loot when we are on our way to that GPS point. But for now, I shall see you tomorrow. Make sure to be here earlier so we can meet, and get the final things ready. We should be ready to depart when the cloudship arrives.”

Shady nodded. “Night Cap’.”

I bid Shady goodnight and caught the tram home. I arrived home around one o’clock in the morning, and silently let myself in. I had just closed the door and locked it when Storm came running down the stairs.

“Dad! Why are you home so late?” He said as he ran up in front of me.

Misty followed him down the stairs, turning on the lights as she went. “Storm, shouldn't you be in bed? You have school in the morning.” She fussed at the gray colt.

“No Misty, we need to talk here for a sec. “ I decided now was the time to talk to them and tell them the plan. “Storm, why don't you go get some Sparkle~Colas and meet us in the family room?”

Storm lit up and scrambled for the kitchen, considering he was never allowed to have soda after nine pm.

Misty and I walked into the living room off to the left of the entrance and sat down on the sofa, Storm fluttered in and joined us with three colas clutched in his hooves.

I cracked open mine and took a swig of the carroty soda. “So, I have a mission. And I probably won't be home for a while.” I started, Misty looked distressed.

“Down to the surface? Is that why you were there today?”

I nodded. Storm Cloud’s eyes went wide.

“You were on the surface? What is it like down there? Are there any monsters? Do ponies really live down there?”

I cut his questions off with a wave of the hoof. “I will tell you all about it here in a minute. I cannot tell you why I will be down there. I know, it's stupid. But it is classified stuff. Just know that I will be away for maybe a week, or two at the least. Shady, Racer, Cloud, and Gusty will be with me as well, as well as some other ponies and a Zebra.”

“A Zebra, like the ones from the war? Is he nice? What do his stripes look like?”

I looked at him and he stopped. “Sorry.”

I chuckled. “Yes, His name is Anakvad, and he is nice. I will be traveling with an earth pony and a unicorn as well. Blackwood and Bullion Squeezer. They are all nice and have agreed to help me. I am going to leave tomorrow, but I will make sure to call you every day.”

Misty dropped her ears. I comforted her by placing a wing around her. “Listen, if I didn't have one hundred percent faith in these guys and Racer, I wouldn't be going. I will be fine. I promise.”

Misty seemed to accept that as she patted my wing, then got up from the couch. “Storm, you don't have to go to school tomorrow. Let's sit here for a while and listen to dad's story about the surface. I’m going to warm up some leftovers.”

Storm bounced up and down in his seat, then looked expectantly at me. I chuckled and said “Ok”.

Misty came back with a tray of food clutched in her mouth. We all took a plate and began eating.

“So, tell me about what happened Dad.” Storm said in between a bite of food.

I swallowed, “Well. It started with a town named Sugar Grove.”

=== *** ===

Footnote: Level two reached.
Perk ranks up. Diplomacy, rank two. “You now have the ability to make contact with other species and convince them to aid you.”
Perk obtained: Lockpick level one. “While no Shady Skies, you can manage to crack a lock with much deliberation and cursing.”

Author's Note

Author's note: Thank you all so much for waiting and reading. I know this has been put off for quite a while, but college has been very hard. But I passed. I want to thank my friends in the Heartmenders HQ for bouncing ideas off of, especially Sithilis, who came up with the name Anakvad. I would also like to thank the inspirations for Blackwood, Bullion, and Shady. Yall are, honestly, the best friends I have. And Xythis and Miky, who I have met along the way. They have both helped edit and plan this monstrosity of a chapter so I owe them a Sparkle~Cola, haha. More updates to come, this story has a lot planned so stay tuned. Thundercloud out, and Merry Christmas.