Fallout: Equestria - Operation Killjoy

“They will indeed go very far if you ask them nicely. But they will stop at nothing if you make them believe it is the right thing to do.”

Midnight sat next to the cockpit, his rifle pointed at Feather. As much as the killing of General Lightning Dust shocked the Enclave and gave them a head start, it showed Midnight how unreliable she was. Midnight made sure that everything of importance was near him, while also protecting Fade. Feather barely moved. She only wrapped her legs and hooves into clothes to fight off the cold, which was penetrating the damaged hull.

Midnight knew that Fade had to focus on the flight. The effects of the drugs were dwindling fast and Fade felt the shortness of breath burning in her chest. Thankfully her armor supported her greatly. She barely felt the strain on her wings. It helped her to calm down and get used to the shallow breathing she needed to avoid the pain in her chest. But each time she coughed, she tasted blood.

Some time after their escape from the frigate they were followed by a scout ship. No matter how fast Fade flew, she couldn’t get rid of the ship. Feather had peeked out of the hatch’s window and warned them early on of their pursuer. Without weapons they couldn’t do anything about it.

In the distance Fade saw the flashes of occasional explosions in the dead forest at the foot of the Smokey Mountain. The Steel Rangers and Everlast were already fighting. They were both early and it was only luck that Fade and Midnight had returned in time.

Suddenly the shrill beeps alerted Fade that they were under fire by an air defense cannon. Yellow streaks of anti air rounds rushed from the ground at them.

“Fuck, not again!” Fade yelled and turned the Vertibuck to evade the incoming bullets. Swaying the Vertibuck left and right, diving and ascending quickly, she tried everything to confuse the gunner. The Vertibuck rattled loudly and reminded Fade of the lightly damaged hull and how much suffering the vehicle had to endure.

A second alarm blared up.

“Locked on!” Fade shouted and in front of her she saw a missile ascending from the forest. She tore the Vertibuck around at the last moment in an attempt to confuse the missile. It detonated behind them, the shockwave enough to make Fade lose control.

Alarms of a hull breach and a damaged cloud generator were numbing Fade’s ears while she fought with the centrifugal forces tearing at her body. Midnight and Fade were pressed against the hull. The sky around her got peppered with smoke clouds and shrapnel crashed into the Vertibuck. The windshield shattered after the abuse and freezing winds rushed into the vehicle. It took all of Fade’s will and stamina to stabilize the Vertibuck and keep it just above the treetops.

“Midnight! Are you alright?” she shouted in a feeble attempt to be heard over the rushing wind.

“Yes! Feather too.” Midnight held the Cicada and the balefire egg launcher tightly. The rear hatch was shaking violently. Midnight noticed a tear at the spot where they crashed into the hangar bay. “Fade! The Vertibuck won’t make it much longer. Get us to the mountain!”

When Midnight got his balance back, Feather was pointing a small pistol at him.

“Feather?”

The darts of the taser tore into Midnight’s weak flesh. There was no pain but the electric surge made his muscles spasm uncontrollably. He tried to fight it but he wasn’t even able to focus his eyes on Feathers.

Fade looked back and saw how Feather quickly approached Midnight. She grabbed her rifle and shouldered the launcher. She quickly turned to Midnight and pressed his twitching body to the floor. She grabbed a balefire egg from his bag and lastly tore his clothes aside to take Killjoy.

Before the taser emptied its batteries, Feather opened the hatch. The wind tore the hatch out and the Vertibuck shook even more. Fade had to fight against the winds and each wave of turbulence pushed the Vertibuck off course. There was no way for her to stop Feather. With the hatch wide open, she didn’t dare make any maneuver for the fear that Midnight may fall out.

Feather spread her wings under great pain and jumped.

“Midnight! Feather took Killjoy!”

“I know…” Midnight growled. He tore the taser darts out of his body, his muscles still cramping. “I’ll try to stop her. Warn the others!”

“I will.” Fade looked back for a moment before Midnight jumped out as well.

Fade arrived with aching wings at the plateau just under the cloud cover. She had lost track of the scout and didn’t want to draw any of the Enclave’s attention by landing right in front of the lair. The landing gear wasn’t deploying properly and the Vertibuck crashed heavily onto the rock.

Fade tore herself from the harness and rushed out. She stopped when she saw a massive Raptor cloudship, escorted by four Vertibucks and two scout ships descending from the clouds. Fade believed she could recognize the ribcage drawn on the Raptor’s belly.

She ran. The armor gave her a speed she thought impossible in her state. Her entire body was hurting. She was used to it but the pain was stretching out into her skull.

“Shib! Key!” She shouted upon arrival at the huge cave.

Key was rushing to her and grabbed her for a tight hug.

“It’s okay. I’m here. Where is the dragon?” Fade didn’t have much time to comfort her sister.

“What’s going on?” The dragon’s voice growled when he emerged from the depths of his cave. “I can hear the explosions up here!”

“We have a problem. Killjoy… Feather got Killjoy. She has a balefire egg launcher and is on the way here.”

“To do what?”

“To kill you and activate Killjoy.”

Green flames burst from his nose. “I should have never trusted you!”

“It’s not my fault that she is convinced you have that stupid computer!” Fade was shaken by heavy coughs. She tasted blood and spit it out. “Listen… If you have any medicine, I will find Feather and stop her. Midnight is already searching for her in the forest. Her wing is broken.” Fade wanted to say more but the sickness was taking its toll on her.

The dragon growled in anger. He stomped away to fetch a strong healing potion for Fade. She drank the liquid hastily. It burned in her throat and she felt something shifting and moving in her lungs. The pain subsided but she knew one potion was not enough and certainly not able to heal the disease.

She turned to Shibboleth. “The Enclave is here too. They followed us. So no radio contact with us.”

“Okay.” She turned to the dragon. “Do you have anything to give my equipment more power? I can jam their communications and sensors. That should help to keep your cave hidden.”

“I’ll get you a cable,” the dragon said, more concerned about his own safety than theirs. “And you!” He turned to Fade. “You will fix this.”

Fade gave him a brief nod. “I promise.” She turned around to leave in a rush.

Key stopped her at the entrance. “Don’t go.” Key grabbed her.

Fade held her sister in a close hug. “Listen… I must.. I have to go.”

Key shook her head, her cheeks dampening from tears.

“Key. You need to be my Shadowbolt. You need to be my hero. Remember… Use S.A.T.S. Okay?” Fade hugged her sister tightly.

“It’s not okay.”

“But it has to be okay.” Fade searched in her clothes and found the Rainbow Dash figurine to give it to her. She couldn’t lose any more seconds. Fade broke the embrace and rushed out of the cave. She jumped over the cliff and spread her wings to dive through the clouds.

Fade landed briefly on a plateau to observe the battle. The Enclave ships were hovering high above and bombarded the forest with its missiles and cannons. Fires broke out where the explosives set the dead trees ablaze. Missiles and flak fire was returned at them, one Vertibuck was already damaged and had to retreat back over the clouds.

Fade opened the visor and had to rub the tears away. She didn’t want to go. Fade checked if her remaining four doses of drugs were still there. Taking a deep breath, she put on the rebreather mask and dived into the battle below.

Midnight sought cover and shelter under the husk of dead trees. The Enclave bombardement was inaccurate and indifferent to Steel Rangers and Everlast’s troops alike. On his frantic search he came across the mangled remains of ponies who had gotten hit by the missiles. All around him the forest was filled with explosions, heavy gunfire and smoke. The red hue of fire was spreading far away. He had no idea how to find Feather in this chaos.

He saw the Raptor drifting slowly overhead. The tracker… The only thing he knew the Enclave had to retrieve Killjoy was the tracker. He followed the Raptor and hoped it would lead him to Feather. He saw missiles being fired at the huge Cloud Ship. They were moving erratically and missed the behemoth. The dragon killer cannons returned fire but didn’t even come close to hitting their attackers.

He just ran as fast as his legs allowed him. The smoke was darkening the light of the setting sun. He had trouble seeing the floor and stumbled over rocks and debris.

Not far away he saw streaks of bullets tearing through the forest. He recognized the loud drone of a Steel Ranger’s minigun. The fire was returned by brightly colored energy bolts from the air. The Enclave deployed its pegasi and they began strafing runs. The Steel Rangers had massive weapons to return fire, but with the targeting systems jammed they barely hit the fast fliers.

A few yards away he saw energy bolts crashing into a rock, just big enough for three ponies to take cover. One of them was trying to repair the damaged Power Armor of a fallen Ranger, while the other two fought off the approaching Enclave soldiers.

Midnight had no time to give them any more attention but was stopped when a bright orange flare was set ablaze nearby them. “Move!” He heard one of the technicians shouting. They abandoned the armor and ran, blindly firing their meager energy pistols at the Enclave. A brief moment later heavy bolts of burning plasma rained down on their position when a Vertibuck rushed by above the treetops.

The plasma fire added a chaotic display of rainbow colors to the dead gray forest. Midnight jumped behind a fallen tree and curled up. Looking over his cover he saw the technicians tending to one of their wounded. He was too slow and the plasma fire reached his hindleg. Most of the flesh was torn when the hot plasma boiled the blood.

“Over here!” He called them. “Get into cover!”

The two dragged their comrade to the tree. They didn’t dare to use their magic to prevent the Enclave noticing the glow of their horns. Despite their precaution, the Enclave squad was already rounding the plasma fire and shot at the Rangers again.

Midnight followed the bolts to their origin. He used the fallen tree to stabilize the gun, aimed, and fired every time an energy weapon was flaring up.

The technicians made it over the tree. The colors of their coats were unrecognizable from the ash and dirt. The third was screaming and crying in pain. The flesh was still boiling even though the plasma fire was gone.

“Anesthetics spell! Quick!” It was Thunderbolt. Of all the ponies he could have encountered it was him.

The other unicorn covered his horn with a foreleg to keep the magic glow hidden. Thunderbolt was shielding the destroyed leg, looking around at the same time. Only now he realized that he wasn’t helped by another Ranger.

“Midnight… You bastard, did you lure us in here?”

What should he answer? He couldn’t think as the Enclave kept firing at them. He remained quiet, focused and shot. Midnight barely saw a silhouette falling to the ground after he fired. The shooting stopped.

He sank back behind the cover and looked at Thunderbolt. “Yes. It was us.”

Thunderbolt levitated his gun against Midnight’s forehead.

“Bolt! Listen… We told you about Everlast. We gave you the choice.”

“And the Enclave?”

“Bolt, if I wanted to see you dead, I would have killed you already.”

His brother hesitated.

“Listen, the Enclave being here was not part of the plan. We… we were betrayed by one of our members.”

“Why should I even believe you?”

Midnight dug a hoof into his clothes and took the memory orb. “On this is a confession by somepony named Blue Sky. He tricked me into… whatever I did in the past. He… did even worse things than that. Be careful if you look in that.”

They ducked when a burning Vertibuck was crashing through the treetops above them. They covered their heads to protect themselves from the branches and debris. Trees were breaking like dry bones when the Vertibuck crashed into the ground not too far away.

”Bolt! I don’t care if you forgive me or not, but… I am no longer letting Blue Sky dictate who my enemies are!” Midnight pushed the orb into Thunderbolt’s hooves. “Do you have a broadcaster?”

“What for? Why am I even asking, it’s not working!” Thunderbolt shouted.

“That’s our jammer. Try a civilian channel or a Shadowbolt frequency. Use a simple encryption and send a message to Shibboleth. Send her your targeting and communication frequencies so she can exclude them.”

“Again, why?”

“Do you really think I gave you a memory orb only to let you die here? I want you to get out. I want a second chance. And we need somepony to take down these cloud ships.”

Thunderbolt grabbed the radio equipment from the injured technician. He was only whimpering when the spell dulled the pain. Thunderbolt put on the headphones and worked to write and encrypt the message. Midnight guarded them. He looked over the tree. The fire was spreading rapidly. Explosions and gunfire were bleeding into a constant noise.

His brother tapped his shoulder and Midnight sat down again. “Communications work again. We got a regroup order.”

Thunderbolt combined his magic with the other technician to levitate their injured friend onto his back. He glared at Midnight, his eyes showing the deep rooted conflict between them. Midnight covered their retreat. It was now on his brother to shake off Blue Sky’s influence over them.

Fade’s flight down the mountain was a treacherous ordeal. Stray flak fire exploded so close that she thought somepony was firing directly at her. Missiles spiraled without any control through the air. Steel Rangers and Everlast’s scattered soldiers were firing at Enclave squads. The combat stretched so far out that her E.F.S. was useless. The visor tried its best to dim down the bright flashes of explosions and flares. Her rebreather protected her from the smoke, but the steadily spreading forest fire caused rogue winds and updrafts in places she didn’t anticipate.

It was impossible to find Feather amidst the chaos. Fade’s mother was no amateur in staying hidden either. She flew deeper, close to the treetops. Below her, Everlast’s soldiers were rapidly advancing to the mountains. Small groups of ponies were scouting ahead to ensure a free path to the dragon’s lair. She tried to find Everlast or Maverick. Instead she only found diamond dogs escorting ponies or rapidly digging trenches when Steel Rangers or the Enclave were approaching.

A lucky missile crashed into a Vertibuck. Its heavy plasma turrets exploded in a colorful fireball. Spinning around its own axis as it crashed into the trees.

Flapping her tired wings faster she realized that the healing potion would dampen the pain only for so long. She already felt her chest aching. It was still bearable but the moment the pain returned she had to take yet another dose of her drugs. She already forgot how the previous high felt. And her mind was already screaming for the next dose. She ignored it.

Above the treetops she immediately noticed a sudden change in the battle’s dynamics. A scout had troubles dodging the incoming fire from a minigun. The bullets eventually tore through the thin armor. Fade saw the windshield shatter and the scout was tumbling into the burning inferno below.

She circled in the air and used the turbulent updrift to save energy. When she found the Raptor, it was carpet bombing a wide area with a barrage of small rockets. If one pony had a tracker for Killjoy it must be Colloquy. The Raptor was the only ship she could be on. Fade let herself carry a bit higher from the fires and rushed to the Raptor only a few hundred yards away. She didn’t know why and how but the Steel Rangers must have managed to repair or adjust their targeting systems. Several groups of Steel Rangers fired their heavy weapons at the huge Raptor.

Just when it was about to retreat, a barrage of missiles crashed into its side. A bright explosion and smoke was erupting from one of its cloud generators. Like a leaking battleship it began to tilt. Fade flew faster. This was her only chance. Pegasi were already evacuating the ship. She saw ponies in power armor fleeing as well as draftees without any necessary protection.

Low caliber bullets crashed into Fade’s armor and threw her flight off balance. Her body tumbled and only violent flaps helped her to slow down. Just above the treetops she caught her fall. She didn’t see who attacked her, but with the battle focusing on the raptor she saw herself forced to land.

After Fade landed she felt a stinging pain in her side. She felt with her hoof at the places where she got hit. Only small indentures. The bullets didn’t penetrate the armor but the bruise was painful. Breathing hurt and she worried that her ribs may be cracked.

She didn’t have any more time to examine her injury when the Raptor came crashing down. It threw up a massive cloud of dust, which mixed into the heavy smoke. Behind her she heard chaotic gunfire. A series of small explosions told her the Steel Rangers fought with someone, but she couldn’t say who.

Fade ran, but the pain in her side was spreading into her entire chest. She groaned and had to stop. She leaned against a tree and felt sweat under the armor. “Already?” The piercing headache returned and the air began to burn. She tried to ignore it but she almost collapsed after a few more steps. She coughed and tasted blood again.

“This is bad… Really bad.” Fade lifted the rebreather and spit out the bloody slime. She needed that tracker. She couldn’t rest now. Fade took the third inhalator. The motion felt like it was ingrained into her brain. Bite, press, breathe. Joy.

Fade put the rebreather back on. The chemicals quickly flooded her body. Fade expected the drugs to increase her call to destroy the Enclave. But this time the drug only heightened the urgency to find Feather.

She crossed the remaining distance in no time. The Enclave soldiers weren’t reacting to her. For them she was just another soldier to help them survive. Medics and soldiers were dragging injured ponies out of the wreckage. The water reservoirs for the cloud generator were torn open and turned the ground into mud. The few soldiers who were able to fight were already engaged with Everlast’s soldiers. They were not even a hundred feet away and heavily disorganized. It was a group of more than a dozen ponies. They must have fled a battle with the Rangers and ended up here. Fade searched for a way into the Raptor. Her E.F.S. was showing all the pegasi as yellow signals.

“You and you! Cover that side!” Colloquy was hunkered down next to a broken turret, surrounded by two soldiers. Colloquy didn’t wear any armor. Just a thick jacket and a breathing mask against the smoke. The two soldiers rushed to reinforce the others. Everlast’s troops were outnumbering them. Most of the ponies around were draftees and not trained to fight. Pokey was among them.

Fade wished to not find Pokey amidst the chaos and rushed to Colloquy.

“Shadowbolt? What are you doing here?” Colloquy said but then her eyes flooded with fury when she recognized Brave’s armor. “You. Soldiers!”

“No. Feather betrayed us! She killed Lightning Dust.”

A whistle alerted Fade of a mortar shell. Colloquy and the other ponies covered their heads. Fade even found herself shielding Colloquy. The shell hit the Raptor directly and debris of the damaged armor rained down on them.

“Colloquy! I wanted to fulfill the deal.”

“Fuck off, bitch! Soldiers!”

“Colloquy! Listen! I need your help to find Feather. If you want revenge for General Lightning Dust, I need to find her. Give me the tracker for the holodisk and I will tell the Rangers to let you retreat!”

“The Great Pegasus Enclave never retreats!”

“Most of your soldiers are wounded or dead. If you want them to survive, get me a radio and the tracker!”

“Since when do you care for us? You are nothing more than a murderous, treacherous bitch!”

“I am not doing it for your sorry ass. I am doing it to give the draftees a chance! But if you expect me to be a murderous bitch, I can start right here with you!”

Colloquy tried to keep her rage under control. Her eyes were filled with doubt. “You!” She called for one of the engineers. ”Give that cunt the tracker and a radio!”

The engineers rushed to them. His clothes were drenched in blood from his attempts to save the injured. Fade grabbed the radio and looked at how to use it.

“I am glad you are not part of us,” Colloquy said and attached the Broadcaster to a utility mount at her chest. “Too stupid to even get the basics right.”

The armor connected to the Broadcaster. She put the knife away and used the dial on the Broadcaster to switch to a frequency where she hoped Shibboleth would hear her.

“Shib! Can you hear me?” No answer. “Shib. Please.”

“Trackers,” was the only word Shibboleth dared to say.

Fade was elated, the drugs amplifying the relief to an ecstatic rush.

“Shibboleth. Tell the Rangers to let the Enclave go. They are retreating.”

“How?”

“I got the tracker to find Feather, but I promised them that they could retreat. Now tell the Rangers!” Fade couldn’t hold back her frustration.

“On it.”

“Good. It’s done! Now give me the tracker.”

Colloquy hesitated but gave Fade a small device she wore on her foreleg. Fade grabbed it and read the numbers. Fade couldn’t guess how far away Feather was, but her altitude was above her own. She was already climbing the mountain.

“The Rangers are falling back!” one soldier reported to Colloquy.

“Do not shoot at them! We retreat. Focus on these other mud ponies!” Colloquy kept giving orders. When she looked for Fade, she had already disappeared into the smoke.