Fallout: Equestria - Operation Killjoy

“Timing is key. If you hesitate, you will find yourself being engulfed in balefire. If you rush it, you will find yourself ill prepared and also engulfed in balefire.”

At noon they left Galloping Gorge. They were packed with food, ammo and medicine and they were glad to swap their old clothes, bags and weapons with new ones. Only Midnight kept his old rifle. He didn’t want to part with his Cicada. Key asked for a weapon as well, but Shibboleth forbade it. Fade secretly took an extra one.

Fade didn’t feel the additional weight of another gun. She was amazed at how easy it was to move with power armor. She no longer felt the weight of her bags pulling down and offered the others to carry more. She asked Shibboleth with the most insistence as she was burdened with a wide array of devices for radio transmission, decryption and electronic warfare. But she only shook her head.

In the late afternoon they reached a wide river. Even though they were constantly traveling south, the sight of the river let them forget their uncertain destination. Fade trotted to the river, impressed by its size and how clean the water looked.

“This water doesn’t smell funny. Does it mean you can drink it?” Key asked.

“Better we filter it first,” Shibboleth said with a calm voice.

“Was all of Equestria like this?” Key’s gaze wandered along the river bank, where the water foamed from the strong current. Here and there she found a few plants growing, which even showed a small hint of green. Small insects were crawling over the wet rocks.

“Better.” Midnight joined a few feet away and dipped a hoof into the water. He missed the numbness and even the stinging pain of cold water. “Everything around us would have been covered in short grass and in summer there would have been flowers too. The air was so clear, you could see the mountains to the north.”

“Midnight?” Key asked him with a careful tone in her voice. “How did you become a ghoul?”

Shibboleth was already stepping in, but Fade gently stopped her.

Midnight looked down at the water. “I was a few miles outside Stalliongrad. I was used to the sound of the sirens from the regular drills but on that day… It was like the air was carrying the sirens from all over Equestria. You heard the sirens from Priob, Orlov, Quebit… Vanhoover. Everypony stopped and looked at each other. We all knew that… the day had come.”

Key and the others were listening quietly. Even Feather stopped.

“It wasn’t one bomb. I…” He remembered how he counted the missile trails. How he lost track when Stalliongrad’s defenses tried to intercept them. How blazing lights erupted from and around the city when the hidden megaspell sites returned fire. How their light blinded him. “One bomb struck far outside the city, but close enough that we got hit by the shockwave.”

“Why didn’t you fly up to the sky?” Key wondered.

“It didn’t matter. I knew I was a good pony.” He tried to see his smile on the mirror image in the water, but the ripples only let him see a vague silhouette of who he was. “That was all I was thinking until the first missile struck. All I saw was that… ugly green sky and an ugly green snow falling down on me. It wasn’t cold. It was warm as if you were sitting next to a campfire. It slowly covered me like a blanket. The last thing I felt was… that I was tired. Like when you were lying in your bed and… slowly… slowly falling asleep.”

“Did it hurt?”

He shook his head. “No. I was only tired and knew that I was a good pony.” His body quivered and he looked away from the others. “When I woke up, I was like this. I miss being tired. I wish I could feel tired again.”

“Did… all the ponies fall asleep like you?”

He hesitated. “Yes. They did.”

For a moment Fade wished that she let Shibboleth step in. But now Key and Midnight were talking. He answered all of Key’s questions about the past, like she never learned it from her parents. Fade wondered if Midnight tried to prove her wrong. She couldn’t tell which Midnight was talking to Key, until he started to talk about his peace activists. Then she was sure it was the Ministry of Morale-Midnight talking.

They followed the river to enjoy the tranquility of the sound of flowing water. The day passed by and when the sun was setting, the gray cloud cover was tinted in dirty orange. But even that was a welcome splash of color. In the far distance they saw a bridge, a massive train station built on one end. Old gantry cranes were towering over cargo containers and trains. Some of the trains were so long that they couldn’t see the ends of them. A narrow bridge, only wide enough for two trains, was the only way over the river. It was hastily built and rust was already eating away the supports.

“That’s a maze,” Fade said. “Key, better turn on your PipBuck.”

“Doesn’t your armor have an E.F.S.?” Key asked.

“Yeah… You are right.” Fade reached for her luggage and took the helmet. Even though she didn’t want to wear it, she couldn’t leave her father’s helmet behind. “How do I even turn it on?”

While Fade was searching for a button or dial on the helmet, Key was already checking the nearby train carts with Midnight.

“I have a yellow signal,” Key said and looked at the long train, which snaked over the bridge and off into the distance.

Fade prioritized the signal and followed Key’s directions. At first she looked below the train cart but couldn’t find anything. Fade told Key to stay back and warn her if the signal turned red. She knocked at the door and pulled it open with ease. The door screeched loudly and she winced. With a sudden hiss a roach as huge as a pony jumped at Fade. She screamed and fell back on haunches, scrambling away and kicking after the insect. With its clicking legs it skittered over the ground, ran in a circle and rushed for Key. She yelped when the scared insect crawled over her before taking a turn and lastly fled under the bridge.

Midnight chuckled. “Are you alright?”

“It’s not funny!” Fade got up, a bit ashamed.

“It had sticky feet,” Key said, her mother already approaching to comfort her.

Suddenly another loud hiss erupted from the train station. A missile arced through the air and crashed into a wagon close to the bridge. The blast was deafening and they all threw their bodies to the ground. Without even knowing who was firing at them, they crawled under the train for cover.

Only Midnight was daring enough to search for the attackers and in the far distance, approaching from the north, he saw the heavy armor of Steel Rangers glistening in the light of the setting sun. “Rangers!” He shouted and urged them to move.

They followed the train, crawling slowly over the trackbed. They didn’t even get a few feet before a second missile rushed past them and impacted with a wagon in front of them. Smoke and dust made them cough. With the wagon set ablaze, they felt the heat of the fire reaching for them while the Ranger kept approaching from behind.

“I'll give you cover!” Midnight shouted and took position behind a wheel to aim. With his scope he aimed at the visor of a Steel Ranger. The missile launcher on the back was already aligning to fire another one.

Midnight shot first. The bullet merely cracked the visor and made the Ranger flinch. Even though the Cicada was not strong enough to penetrate even the weakest part of the Ranger armor, it at least staggered them. He fired again and tried to force the soldier into cover.

In his focus, Midnight didn’t notice when another Ranger opened fire. Dozens upon dozens of tiny bullets shredded into the side of the wagon, slowly tearing apart and chipping away the metallic case of the train car. Fragments of trackbed pierced Midnight’s body like ricocheting bullets. The others curled up and Fade opened her wings to protect the others with her armor. Her wings began to hurt from each impact on the metal plates and soon it felt as if they were torn out.

Shibboleth’s equipment suddenly emitted a screeching sound. She winced and quickly turned it off. A brief moment later, the storm of bullets stopped. “Now!” Shibboleth yelled and pushed her daughter. “To the other train, while they are jammed!”

Midnight took position again. The Steel Ranger with the minigun was pressing their metal clad hooves against the helmet. He shot at the visor, forcing them to retreat into cover and causing more panic. “Run!” He yelled. “They are retreating!”

Fade pushed Key and Shibboleth over the bridge, running just behind them to give them cover while they tried to gain as much ground as possible. Midnight and Feather were following close behind.

They were halfway across the bridge when new bullets whizzed past them. Fade warned them to take cover but too late. A bullet struck her hindleg and threw her off balance, even though it didn’t pierce. More bullets tore into the ground around her and she curled up, covering her head with her forelegs.

A magic aura wrapped around her body and both Shibboleth and Key pulled her under the train.

“It fucking hurts!” Fade examined her leg and wings. She groaned and felt like every bone in her body was shattered.

The unmistakable hiss and whistle of another missile made them all curl up. Only Midnight saw the missile curve in the air and lose control thanks to Shibboleth’s jammers. He could only watch in horror when the missile lost altitude and corrected its path just enough to crash into the rusty metalwork of the bridge.

The metal cried out when the bridge began to tilt. Concrete splintered and collapsed into the river below. The burning cargo wagon was torn in half by the weight of the other carts crashing down.

The bridge was still tilting and Fade realized her mother didn’t make it nearly as far as them. “Mom!” She rushed to her but the bending metal groaned louder and a shockwave moved through the bridge. It threw Fade off her legs and made the train cars jump off the rails. Midnight had to flee into the open to avoid being crushed. When they crashed down the rails were springing free, one hitting the side of Key’s head.

When Fade heard Shibboleth’s desperate cries she found Key unconscious. Blood was pouring from her temple. Fade crawled to them, tears already burning in her eyes. “I’m here! I'll get you out!” Fade grabbed her sister, forcing her way forward, while Shibboleth was still trying to stop the bleeding.

The bridge shook again, making them fall once more. She still had Key tight in her embrace but the concrete broke and toppled. She tried to find something to grab onto but then the cold water was grabbing her. She gasped for air and felt her legs and chest cramping before disappearing completely into the foaming water.

Midnight arrived just a second too late. All he found was Shibboleth, panicking and leaving her cover. “Run! Run and follow the river! I will keep them at bay!” Midnight shouted and took aim at the Rangers. When the dust settled he counted two, three, no, four ponies in power armor. Among them, half a dozen engineers, trying to shield and stabilize their systems with counter spells to Shibboleth’s jammers.

His rifle was not able to penetrate the power armor, but he could kill the engineers instead. He took aim at the first, ready to pull the trigger.

It was his brother.

He kept the rifle primed at his horn and slowly lowered the rifle directly at Thunderbolt’s face. One shot and the engineers would scatter into cover. One shot and they were saved. One shot and he would kill his brother.

The minigun opened fire again. Midnight felt the tiny bullet piercing through his body, shattering bones, tearing apart muscles, ripping the skin from his body; Pulling the rifle away. He fell to the ground and could no longer move his legs. They were twisted and bent into strange angles. All he could do was stare at the sky. The dull, gray sky. There was no snow. No warmth from the balefire. No feeling of being tired. Just gray clouds and smoke wafting by.

A magic aura surrounded him, while bullets were still flying past, occasionally hitting his body.

He didn’t understand why he was still alive.

He didn’t understand why a stranger saved him.

He didn’t understand why his brother tried to kill him.

Fade found herself in cold pain.

“Don’t let go of Key,” was all she thought.

The armor was dragging her down and the currents were pulling her away.

“Don’t let go.”

She didn’t know where the surface was and her chest began to ache.

Don’t let go.

She opened her eyes but around her was only gray water, cloudy from concrete dust and mud.

Don’t let go.

She grabbed Key and pressed her against her chest.

Don’t let go. Swim!

The lack of air filled Fade’s mind with the urge to just survive. She moved her wings, hoping they would carry her upwards. The armor carried her as much as it pulled her down. The muscles in her wings began to cramp from the cold but Fade kept moving them. She fought against the water and her mind sang the cruel song to save only herself.

Don’t let go.

Fade burst through the surface and she took a deep breath. A wave hit her, pushed her down and filled her nose, mouth and lungs with water. Her body felt heavy, ready to sink back into the numbing cold water. Pain spread from her chest into her head as if something tried to gouge her eyes out from the inside.

Suddenly she felt a pull. Something was with her in the cold rapids. She grabbed it, tried to hold onto it, while she still tried to hold Key.

Don’t let go.

In a last attempt she flapped her wings and struggled towards the surface. Finally she breached the water and wanted to breathe but all her body did was retch and cough. The pull was still there, too weak to move her but enough to give her a vague direction.

Fade felt sand and rocks under her hooves. Sand that carried her weight and allowed her to stay afloat. A pony grabbed and dragged her out of the water. Fade coughed again and again. Every attempt to breathe filled her with pain. Was she crying? She didn’t know. All she did was try to escape the river. Only when she felt grass against her hooves was she able to breathe again. Her body ached and the water felt like slime.

“Key…” she croaked and found her still in her embrace. Blood was flowing from her head, coloring the beige coat in red. Key was pale and Fade’s attention was drawn to her PipBuck, which was flashing a critical warning.

“Apply CPR”

The screen on the PipBuck changed.

“Press”

Fade saw the instruction.

“Press”

She placed her forelegs on Key’s chest and pushed. She heard a cracking noise.

“Press”

The PipBuck began to show a rhythm and Fade tried to follow it. Slimy, foamy water ran out of Key’s mouth. Fade kept pressing and when she saw blood running out of Key’s nose and Fade’s vision blurred from tears.

A cold wind picked up, accompanied by a mechanical whirr and the sound of beating wings clad in power armor. Fade didn’t stop, not even when she saw the black armor of an Enclave soldier next to her.

“Stop!” The soldier ordered and aimed his magical energy weapon at her head. But Fade kept going.

“I said stop!” he shouted and hit her head.

“No!” Feather yelled and coughed. Snot was running from her nose. “She’s the pony you need to open the ministries!”

The soldier stared at Feather and back at Key. “Medic!”

Immediately one pony in a yellow flight suit galloped to Key. The pink butterflies on the uniform and first aid boxes made Fade recognize her as a doctor. She fell back and the medic injected some medicine into Key. Fade watched in horror when the doctor pushed a thick tube down Key’s windpipe to rebreathe her.

“Well,” the arrogant voice of a pegasus mare chimed with glee. “When our sensors registered explosions, I wasn’t expecting to find the Steel Rangers shooting at you.” Colloquy’s voice carried a mocking tone and Fade’s body tensed up. “I can understand that the Steel Rangers would rather kill you than allow us to catch you. But I didn’t expect them to use heavy artillery.”

Fade wasn’t paying attention. She stared at the dreadful treatment to save Key’s life. She began to cough and more foam and slimy water ran out of her muzzle.

“Will she survive?” Colloquy asked.

“Barely. The drugs will keep her body going. After that she has to stay in IC.”

The wind grew stronger when the huge Raptor cloudship hovered not far above them. Fade looked around. Feather was guarded by one soldier and Colloquy was escorted by two bodyguards in black armor as well.

Even with her chest still hurting and her body shivering madly from the cold, she knew that her father’s Ripper knife could pierce a visor. She would kill the soldier next to her first. Her hoof slowly moved to the knife, as she planned how—

Two shots erupted and threw Fade back to the ground. There wasn’t any pain at first, but then the heat set in and the smell of burned fur and flesh hit her nostrils. Hot plasma was heating up Fade’s power armor to the point that it burned her shoulders and back.

She cried and screamed as she felt the hot armor melting together with her skin. She pulled at the armor with shaking hooves but didn’t even have the strength to loosen it by the tiniest bit. Her strength faltered and in her desperation she tried to crawl away from the searing pain.

“Are we playing Shadowbolt?” Colloquy stepped next to her. “Some see it as a design flaw, that power armor heats up from constant contact with plasma. But we can both agree that heavy burns are better than plasma melting its way into the body.”

Fade growled and tried to stand up, but she collapsed and couldn’t even crawl anymore.

“You should have read the manual, Swift. Do you know that every Power Armor has an emergency removal feature?” Colloquy spoke slowly. “I am sure you left the armor on factory settings you ignorant brat. Just pat the left leg’s armor plate. Just below the service screen.”

Fade did. But the armor didn’t open.

“Three times.”

Fade’s hoof struck the plate again. Immediately she felt the armor loosen up. In a rush Fade threw off every armor piece until she was able to brush off the heavy plates on her back, peeling the skin with it. The armor was glowing from the heat. She saw smoke rising from her back and the stench of burned flesh made her choke.

“This feature was installed so that medics can easily treat an injured soldier. Since you were able to take the armor off yourself, you clearly don’t need one.”

Fade was lying on the ground. The exhaustion was too much for her. She tried to get up one last time, but she collapsed and passed out.

The sun began to set behind the mountains. Shibboleth brought Midnight into a small roadside diner. She was shivering and sweating. Her last effort was to get Midnight and herself into a small office room. She turned on the tiny screen on the listening device. It gave just enough light that both were able to see rough silhouettes of each other and the furniture in the room.

Midnight tried to speak, but his lungs couldn’t hold any air. He was sure she didn’t even want to talk. Instead of searching for food, she was already working on the radio equipment. It was so quiet that Midnight could hear the sound from her headphones.

“...priority. Please inform General Lightning Dust that we have captured the objectives.” Midnight recognized Colloquy’s voice.

There was a pause.

“Can you confirm? You captured the wanted pony?”

“I have confirmed it myself. We captured three prisoners. Two of them are the primary objectives and we are on our way to Quebit. ETA… In about twelve hours.”

“I will forward it to General Lightning Dust immediately. Anything you want for breakfast tomorrow?”

Early and before sunrise Shibboleth got up. With nothing other than a pistol and a flashlight she left the tiny office room. Soon Midnight heard her rummaging through the kitchen of the diner. He winced when she knocked over a few pans by accident.

He envied her at that moment. Shibboleth’s world was clear and simple. She only needed to save her daughter. But for him, he could no longer tell friend and foe apart. He wished he could sleep.

Midnight didn’t know how much time passed, but eventually Shibboleth was loading him and the radio equipment onto an old and rusty cart. It was still dark when they embarked. They were wandering towards the mountains. Midnight realized that she wanted to go to Quebit. Following the roads through Unicorn Range, past by Lunaland and finally Edmareton. From there just west until Quebit. But he didn’t understand why she took him with her. Why was she treating him like an object?

Towards the evening Midnight felt the warmth of balefire radiation. At first he thought it was just some of the ambient radiation they had to pass through. But it got stronger. Midnight tried to stir and warn Shibboleth but he only managed to make a few dry noises. She didn’t pay him any attention and continued.

Eventually Shibboleth stopped. She hurled Midnight with her weak magic off of the wagon and hid his broken body next to a rock and dead bushes. After she took her equipment, she turned the cart over with her magic and what was left of her strength. She groaned but managed to hide Midnight under the cart and it whirled up irradiated dust. He was worried about how much she was breathing in.

For two days Midnight felt nothing but fear, then anger and soon violence. He was glad about every time he could lash out at any mutated roach, which wanted to eat him. One morning Shibboleth returned and was glad to see that the radiation knitted his muscles back together.

“Shib…” Midnight croaked weekly. His lungs were punctured and filled with dirt, but he could utter short words.

But Shibboleth ignored him. She dumped a bunch of wood and short metal pieces on the floor. Her magic yanked at his limbs, not in the careful way like she tugged at his leg to sew it. He realized that for her he was just there to fulfill a purpose. He was quiet while Shibboleth put his limbs into splints.

“In this direction is a leaking warhead. Go there and I'll see you tomorrow.”

She got up to not risk any more exposure in the irradiated area.

“Shib… What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know. But you are a pegasus. You can fly and you will bring me to their fucking cloud fortress.”

When Shibboleth left, Midnight didn’t stop her. But he felt the urge for violence returning. First for the Ministry… then Feather… and now Shibboleth too. When would they finally see him as something else than a pawn?