Fallout Equestria: The Indefatigable

November 28, 1277 - Mission Day 50

"...The testimony of the Sunset Town Survivors, combined with the logs retrieved from the Victory, and other reports, especially from the Warsprite Scout Plane, have made us almost completely confident that through some mechanism we have been transported through time, into an alternate dimension, or an illusion so deep that it is wholly indistinguishable from reality," Admiral Azure Bluette said, lowering her paper and stowing it underneath a wing, "Additionally, further inspection of the wreck of the Victory has revealed that major structural damage was caused by laser fire, in classes not recorded in use by the enemy during the War. References to being struck by a Cloudship on the vessel's logs suggest this was a case of friendly fire, or some sort of violated MoA policy that we are unaware of. We will have to stay alert for any skybound contacts on our systems."

Looking towards Lightning Bringer, Azure asked, "Any progress on investigating issues with the Single Pony Project network?"

Lightning Bringer shook her head, "The servers continue to reject all requests. From what my team can tell, they aren't even reaching the Maneframe. They're just being 404ed in one of the relays. The only thing it's giving us is GPS data, but even then it's only telling us where we are," a sigh, "I guess that's better than nothing. We can use our full arsenal of missiles with that."

"Someone changed the command codes on you?" Azure asked.

"No. The system recognizes my command codes, the orders just aren't being carried. Either the system is damaged in some way, but still providing GPS data, or someone went into the main hub and rewired the whole thing," Lightning Bringer scowled.

Azure shrugged, "Perhaps the military unit at Blueblood Academy will shed some light on the situation. While Executive Officer Calm Seas goes with an escort to the Gun Rush Casino on behest of the 'Syndicate'," she muttered, raising her wings to make air quotes and accidentally dropping her notes, "Erm... the Rangers will fly out to the Blueblood Academy, where the Warsprite has detected power signatures and signs of civilization, and attempt to make contact. In case this group, who are likely armed with power armor, turn out to be as violent as Mayor Gears claims they are, a rapid exfil plan and air support strategy will have to be drafted up."

"We're on it," Captain Bugle nodded.

Acknowledging the comment, Azure moved on, "Meanwhile, we are seeking to perform probative searches of the Las Pegasus area for food. According to the residents of Sunset Town, pre-war caches of edible material can still be found, which groups known as nomads feed off of. Even though the possibility of trade has been made available, we should still seek self sufficiency if possible."

She reached behind her, dragging open a projector curtain. Then, walking to the left, she pressed a button on the briefing room podium, activating the projector. On the curtain, a map of the area, recently taken by the Warsprite scout plane, appeared.

"We have identified several major targets to investigate. Las Pegasus itself has seemingly collapsed after being struck by Balefire, causing the total destruction of the central business districts, as well as anything in the cloud city section. The heat from the explosions seems to have also caused several fires, as there is a lot of burn damage in the central districts. Anything in there likely has been destroyed, or buried too far for easy extraction with our equipment. We have identified several suburban and commercial districts around the city center that have not sustained as much damage that could have surviving caches of food. Additionally, while it's clear that Cracked Clam Naval and Blueblood Academy have both been looted, two of the three Aerostat Platforms making up the Skytown Airbase are still floating," a pause, "...The third seems to be completely missing."

"Well the three sections were modular and capable of being undocked from each other. It's not that ridiculous to believe that one of the sections was destroyed and cleanly sheared from the others," Lightning Bringer mumbled.

"Currently, we are watching our supply of jetfuel very carefully. It's unlikely that any has survived the 200 years since Bomb Day, due to the denaturing period of the fuel type," Azure gave a slight nod towards High Skies, the officer who gave that information, "We are cutting back on any unnecessary expenditures of fuel until we can source more. The 51st does not require airlift for transit to and from the ship, and the entirety of the Las Pegasus area is well within their reach. Their armor can be recharged with spark energy only, which our reactors will produce steadily for the next fifty years. Thus, Commander Bringer, your special little ponies will be expected to shoulder the majority of the burden of investigating these locations," Azure waved a hoof at the projected map.

"They can take it. Been in much worse scraps than this, with less sleep too," Lightning Bringer nodded, "I am sure they'll be glad for the challenge, Admiral."

Reaching down and grabbing her dropped notes, checking them one final time before stuffing them into her coat pocket, Azure looked towards Ship Right, "Now, if I recall, Ship Right as well as many of the MAS specialists have a few theories to present about our situation."

Ship Right stood as Azure walked to the side stage, adjusting her cap as she deactivated the projector and rolled up the screen, "Now... erm, we know that theoretically time travel is possible. I believe it was Starswirl that first proved its possibility within the laws of thaumomagics, and Twilight Sparkle that allegedly conducted the spell once. We know, however, that if it's to be done, it takes up a massive amount of spellpower, made exceedingly more costly the more matter you bring with you and the longer the travel is. Summer Fruit, however, has made a relation between our apparent time displacement and the failure of the Sunrise Shield Projector."

All eyes turned towards the orange unicorn in MAS uniform, who simply shrugged, "Seems obvious to me. Time travel apparently takes power on the level of a megaspell. We lost contact with the escorts and our sensor distortions occurred soon after an unexpected overload of the megaspell we literally house in the center of our ship."

Dr Shinespark, the main representative of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences aboard the ship, pursed her lips, "Time magic theories only accounted for the possibility of backwards time travel, not forwards."

Atom Bash squeaked forward in his chair, commenting, "But the general theory of relativity does account for forwards time travel through the concept of dilation."

"That's an extremely theoretical field, we have absolutely no way of knowing how or why the Sunrise would produce such a distortion," Shinespark shook her head, "We could have just as easily been hit by some Zebra weapon to banish us to the future instead, which jammed the megaspell."

"Why would they do that?" Atom Bash turned over his forehooves.

Azure coughed, attracting eyes back towards her, "Please, keep the scientific arguments out of the briefing room."

"Look, while I acknowledge that we just know next to nothing about our predicament, there might be something that had to do with the failed activation of the Sunrise," Summer Fruit raised her hooves.

Ship Right nodded, "We're still crunching numbers. With the new evidence in light we have to look at all of the sensor data from that day from a different perspective."

There was silence in the room for a moment, before Captain Anchor, sitting in the back, suddenly spoke up, "If the Sunrise did indeed cause us to, Honest-To-Celestia, teleport through time..." he hummed, "Then theoretically maybe we can reverse the spell? Go back in time instead. Preferably farther back than the time we left?"

Eyes turned towards him.

Captain Anchor pursed his lips, "...Think about it. If we can find the right facilities in Canterlot, we could get data on the launch coordinates and detonations. We could take that back, give that to command. They could preempt every launch, wipe Zebra first strike locations off the map, then rush in with an invasion force while they're reeling. Stop all this before it starts."

There was silence in the room. Azure's own eyes wandered as she herself considered the thought. Eventually, however, she blinked and realized that silence had hung in the air of the briefing room for a solid minute. Clearing her throat, she looked over to Ship Right, "Give Fruit what she needs, Miss Right. Everypony else, try not to get your hopes up too high. The prudent thing to do is to focus on the present, not the possibility of going to the past. We just need to let the scientists do their thing."

After the previous day's revelations and late night mission, the 51st struggled throughout their rest period to find sleep. Minds racing with visions of the wrecked Victory, the mangled walking corpses, and, of course, the time travel. All but the most hardened amongst them had felt like it was the aftermath of their first battle; the insomnia had lasted for weeks.

So, when Crystal Trail came back from a briefing and switched on the lights in their berth, most, if not all, of the 51st Recon gladly sat up in their bunks.

"This is gonna be a long one. Multi-day mission scouting locations out there. Pack accordingly," Trail muttered, walking past them and down the companionway into the power armory.

After sharing a quick meal of a full ration of omelettes and coffee, the squad gladly armored up. Whatever small nicks and scratches had been made in their suits had all been fixed up before they had even gotten back aboard the last day. Donning their respirators and checking their seals, they moved up to the flight deck and took off into the morning sky.

Ice Slushee observed the sky turning grey above them as the sun assumedly rose somewhere behind the curtain.

"Did you hear the news? Apparently when the bombs dropped, Pegasi fled into the clouds and shut it behind them," Radio Whistle, who now carried a long range radio backpack on top of his battle saddle, said over the squadlink as they flew across the Bay.

Crystal Trail sighed, speaking first, "Before any of you airheads get any ideas, we got a strict flight ceiling. High levels of ionization in the clouds and reports from the survivors mean we stay at a safe altitude, below the clouds."

"Hey, I ain't planning on running off anywhere," Shot Stack chuckled, "Not until I get to poke around my shack. What places are we hitting up anyway?"

"Private Stack, you will refrain from unnecessary exploration."

The stallion didn't say anything, but Ice could tell his visor hid an eyeroll.

"Our first destination is Sanditon Boulevard," Trail said simply.

Shot Stack piped up once gain, "Heyyyy! That's my hometown. C'mon, you gotta at least let me poke around!"

Looking over at him with cold, visored eyes, Trail uttered, "Commander?"

"No chance. No unnecessary risks."

Sighing, Shot Stack physically reached a hoof to his forehead to swoon (while moving along at their blistering cruising speed of 50 kph), "Commander, if I never get a chance to search my home, I believe this will affect my mental health extremely poorly to not have closure."

"Closure on your house, Private?"

"Yep!" Shot nodded, one of the only gestures visible back through the video feed

Trail shook her head silently. Sugar Beach piped up, saying, "It won't be just his mental health, ma'am. It'll be all of ours as he whines about it until retirement. May I also remind us all here that muting him may impede this squad's ability to effectively communicate?"

Shot Stack nodded even more vigorously this time, "I only need thirty minutes!"

Crystal Trail sighed, "If it's any difference to you, Commander, the lack of Shot Stack and another squadmate likely will not impact our ability to search the supermarket."

"...Private Stack and Corporal Slushee can search the house. You get thirty minutes and then you will rejoin with your comrades posthaste. I don't want to see this appearing in after action reports either."

Ice huffed. Yeah, sure, if there was something bad in the reports they might pass up Commander Lightning Bringer for promotion to Captain. Frankly, most anypony on the Indefatigable could start calling them Major-General and the only ponies left to care would be the Admiral, the Captain, and the Ranger lugnuts enforcing the chain-of-fucking-command.

"Deal!" Shot Stack said, pumping a hoof out of view of the head camera.

Ice and Shot Stack peeled off of the formation, heading down towards the shoreline below. Along the beach, flanking one of the edges of the Bay of Fortune, rows of beachfront houses lay. Made of concrete, to resist the cyclones that were fairly commonly blown in at too large a scale for the weather team (at least, before the SPP network), the houses had more or less survived intact. Several roofs were either partially or fully collapsed, wooden decks had rotted away, and windows had been blown out.

Flapping their wings a few times to brake, their hooves touched down on the sand in front of a specific house, facing out to sea. It was a single storey bungalow that used to have a deck facing out towards the ocean. A sheetmetal shed had sat out in front within a fenced-in yard, but both the fences and the shed had rusted and mostly collapsed.

Staring at the property silently for a moment, Shot Stack chose to turn around towards the beach, saying, "Hey, I mean- look. Got plenty more beach now..."

The tide recession had, indeed revealed more beach. Ice gave a comforting smile that he couldn't see, before poking him in the shoulder, "Come on. We don't got all day."

"Yeah, I'm coming..." Shot muttered, walking behind Ice as they crossed the yard. His vision went to the collapsed shed, and to the pale, washed out plastic kayaks inside, "...I liked boating here. Not a lot of swimmers cause of the sharks."

"Yeah?" Ice asked, testing the steps leading up to the rotted back porch. The first step instantly gave away underhoof.

"Yeah but like- sharks are kinda just chill. They don't really attack you unless it's an accident. Sparkle-Cola machines kill more ponies than sharks do," Shot Stack muttered, walking over and finally wrenching his eyes off of the kayaks and the sea.

"Would've never thought of you as an animal guy, Stack," Ice muttered, taking wing and just flying up to the back door, trying its rusted handle. It, of course, didn't budge.

"Just kick it in, I doubt keys would work even if I had them," Shot muttered, "Yeah I did freediving out on the reefs over there back in the day..." a pause, "That was ten years ago now."

Ice complied, floating back, before turning her hind hooves and hitting the door squarely in the center. The wooden boards of the door splintered, a few more kicks widened the hole enough to comfortably walk through. Ice ducked through first, Shot following shortly behind.

Beyond the back door was a lounge and kitchen area. The house lacked a ceiling, there simply being crossbeams and then the roof above. Several holes had been punched through the rafters, shining thin shafts of light into the rooms below. A set of couches surrounded a television, a coffee table sitting between them. Sodden magazines were half-melted onto the glass top, where mold grew and a thick layer of muck pasted over everything.

"Nice digs..." Ice breathed, idly peeling a piece of frayed upholstery off of a ruined couch.

In the kitchen, the fridge door hung open and wires hung out limply from the cooling unit in the back. The oven door had been stolen, the heating coil missing from within. A framed photograph that used to hang on the wall had fallen down and smashed onto the floor. Shot Stack walked over to it, righting it and looking down into it with a frown.

"This is the last photo I took with my family before I moved out," he said, wincing, "They were in Cloudsdale. I wonder if they're okay... well... I guess they're dead no matter what. I hope they survived and died of old age, I guess."

Ice walked over, looking down at the photograph. It was hardly recognizable, the glass having shattered and the photograph itself covered in dirt. She could see two adults, a blob that vaguely resembled Shot, and another, smaller blob, "Siblings?"

"Yeah. Her name is... was Cup Stack. One of the reasons I signed was cause I wanted to die before her, so she could go to school and stuff in a world where there wouldn't be Stripes and Pinks breathing down her neck all the time..." he trailed off, "That and, y'know, cause I flunked out of college and stuff," he gave a weak chuckle, "You?"

"What?" Ice raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, like, you got family?" Shot croaked slightly, looking away despite his eyes being visored.

She gave a lopsided frown, "I've told you all this before. I'm a foster foal. My folks were Canterlot. I hope they were alright too."

"Well most pegasi escaped the blasts, right?"

"They were grounders."

"Oh..."

Ice shrugged, "Hey. This ain't about me. What'd you study? In college?"

Shot began to break apart the gummed up frame of the photograph, to extract the image within, "Mechanical engineering. Wasn't for me."

"What do you mean?" Ice tilted her head, finally walking away and looking inside of his fridge, "You seem to know your way around a plasma cutter, at least."

Taking the photograph and stuffing it in his armor's cargo compartment, he went to poke around the hallway of the house, not answering. Shrugging and closing the fridge door, Ice followed up behind him, where he entered one of the bedrooms. A single bed sat in a corner. There was a closet, a writing desk, a window looking towards the road, and a safe sat in a corner. Scratch marks around the lock, along with the end of a bobby pin jammed inside seemed to have spelled the doom of the box.

Wordlessly, Shot crouched next to the safe, unlimbering his plasma cutter and aiming it at the place where the hinges would be, "Flash warning," he muttered.

Looking away as a hail of sparks shot from the safe, Ice only needed to wait a minute or so until the flashes ended and a loud clank filled the room as the safe door fell off. Dropping his tool to the side rather than reholstering it, Shot immediately plunged his hoof inside the cave. With a breath, he retrieved a large, carved wood rocket from within the safe.

That was an odd thing to put inside of a safe, "...Huh."

"You like it?" Shot turned towards her, holding it out, "I made it."

She nodded slowly, "It's... nice..."

"Yeah I was gonna give it as a gift. My sister liked space..." he trailed off, before bouncing the rocket on his forehoof, staring at it as enthusiasm suddenly drained from his posture, "Uh... yeah... I guess I'll leave it..."

Ice frowned, reaching out to grab it as he began to lower the carving, "Hey, it's nice. If you don't want it, I'll take it."

He looked at her for a second, before looking down at the rocket, then back up, "Yeah, okay, yeah..."

Opening a bag, she managed to stuff the rocket inside the tightly organized space before barely closing the belt strap again. Shot Stack sighed, taking his plasma cutter and putting it back with the rest of his tools. He turned to say something to her.

Out of nowhere, the itch came.

All of a sudden, Ice's lungs began to burn up. She pursed her lips, reaching up to her respirator as her lungs instinctually contracted. She held back for as long as possible, before she switched off her microphone. Wrenching her respirator free, the clenching in her chest turned into a rattle of painful, deep coughing.

Doubling over, she hacked and hacked, until her throat was raw and her gag reflex triggered. Her fit only stopped when she needed to gasp for air, which made her cough a few more times until spit erupted from her lips and trailed towards the ground in a string. Panting, she wiped her muzzle, head still hanging low.

"Whoah... you okay there?" Shot Stack blinked, "Are you..."

"I-I'm fine..." Ice quickly excused between breaths, "Just... I think I caught something... didn't want to tell anypony cause of the, uh, situation."

"Is it your asthma?" he asked.

With a final breath, she replaced her respirator, breathing its tinny, filtered air once again, "...Maybe. I'm fine... really I am," she said, deep breaths clicking and whirring through her suit.

"51, team two, I registered a removed respirator from Corporal Slushee. Report status."

"I'm fine. Just a sneeze," Ice lied, looking up towards Shot Stack.

The stallion stared back at her for a moment, before saying, "Yeah, she's fine."

"The respirator can handle a sneeze. Keep that shit on, Corporal."

"Yes... ma'am..." Ice muttered, giving a thankful nod towards

"This place's bunk. Don't bother regrouping at the mart, this place was completely stripped clean. They even took the shelves out of the aisles. We're taking off now, just meet us in the skies," Crystal Trail sighed.

The lack of radiation, zombies, or anything else inside of the supermarket appeared to have made it an open target to looters. It was, in hindsight, not much of a surprise that there was nothing to be found. Still, Commander Lightning Bringer insisted on checking every single location possible, even if it was likely to be empty.

Taking off again, they travelled further north, making a slow circle around the central city limits, landing at yet another commercial district just to find nothing but empty strip malls, a few old dusty holotape copies of Humans (the sequel to the popular movie, Human), and the occasional giant insect that caved quickly to a beam of directed energy.

The sun's pale light was beginning to fade as the clouds went from a dark grey to a pitch black overhead. Still, the rain continued as they approached the last location they would be visiting before hunkering down for the night. This was the closest to the city center the squad had been thus far. The mountain of rubble and debris from the collapsed cloud city towered higher than the Canterhorn, nearly touching the clouds. A monument of blackened concrete and scorched girders...

Ice thought it looked like a fallen Jenga tower, if the bricks were made out of wet sand...

The order came to switch on night vision as visibility continued to dwindle. The city lit up in hazy blues, just in time for a flash of lightning to boom from the sky, causing her automatic flash protection triggering to barely prevent her from losing her sight. Rain fell, slowly at first, before kicking up into a proper storm. Bouncing off of her goggles, dripping down past her respirator, running down her neck, and coursing down her tail.

A beep rang in her helmet as her suit recognized a sudden spike in radiation. It quickly rose, rocketing up to 13 RAD/sec in just a few minutes. A green glow began to rise around her, and she searched for its source.

"Command, 51. Reading a high level of radiation in the area," Crystal Trail reported.

"We are reading that too, even out on the Indefatigable. It started as soon as the rain pulled in." a growing layer of static filled the radio signal.

Ice's eyes locked on the ground below them. Along the city streets below them, draped over roofs and in alleyways, rivers of glowing sludge burned a brilliant green. Embers rose from them, blustering past the squad in the wind, and bright green halos hailed skywards, forming an unholy ground-based aurora borealis. Gouts of flame were beginning to rise from the rivers, licking up the sides of buildings- buildings that were already burned to husks of charred bricks and melted rebar.

Panning her vision around, the rivers of flame and toxicity ran through the city like great, septic veins, emanating from the center. Every river seemed to emanate from some lake near the center city, at the foothills of the debris mountain. There, giant gouts of flame were licking up the sides.

"Sarge..." Ice said, eyes glancing around rapidly as pillars of fire and radioactive glow rose all around them as the rain pelted harder, suddenly realizing where all the blackened concrete had come from.

"I see it too, Private. Commander, you seeing this?" Trail asked.

"Looks like some sort of chemical. Almost like napalm... maybe it's reacting with the rain?"

"I am not sure what it is, but it's slowly giving us radiation poisoning," Lead Syringe frowned, "Those embers rising from the flames are likely radioactive particulate. It's very fortunate we're not breathing it in, but the wind stream up here is likely blowing it right onto us."

Spear Bash grunted, "Still convinced respirators are a sin against Rainbow Dash's design, Pounce?"

"Don't think Ministry Mare Dash had this in mind when designing it," Chaser said coolly.

"51, do you have visual on the LZ?"

Crystal Trail looked back up from the toxic rivers, setting her sight on a gap in the buildings ahead, making way for a parking lot. No green halo or fires emanated from it, "Yes, Commander. LZ appears to be clear of the unknown toxin."

"It might be too risky to extract you back to the Indefatigable at this time. Attempt to land and monitor radiation levels. If it falls to more tolerable levels, you may have to just find a sheltered area, take RadSafe, and wait out the rain."

"What if it persists after the rain?" Trail asked.

"That's a possibility. yes. If so, probe the area swiftly and then RTB. Your supplies of Rad Away and Rad Safe should hold out. You were given an extended supply."

Lead Syringe nodded, "If my theory holds correct, the ground would likely be a lot safer, as long as we're not standing right next to one of those toxic rivers."

"The buildings will probably insulate you from radiation from neighboring sources and the rain will wash any contaminants that have settled on your armor so far off."

Ice shook her head. Commander Bringer was an MoP scientist now as well?

"Yes, ma'am. Squad, dose up on RadSafe. Approach for landing on our current vector, we got a clear shot," Trail ordered.

As the RadSafe took effect, the radiation they were absorbing halved itself. There was a small, hardly noticeable breath of relief picked up over the squadlink. Flexing their wings for a landing approach, the 51st bled altitude and landed as one on the tarseal of the parking lot. As predicted, radiation dropped off significantly, the display reducing its number from 13 to <1 RADS/sec as they got out of the air and into the cover of the buildings.

"Sweep the area. If possible, continue with your probe of the supermarket before making camp"

A collapsed sign lay in front of a large supermarket. Abandoned wagons sat rusted, tires deflated, along the many parking spots in the mall. Blown out windows, cracked concrete, potholes, and trash mounds were spread about the open area. Ice side-eyed a pair of skeletons sitting in the cabin of one of the self-propelling wagons, holding the other's hoof.

There was a collection of critters rooting at a patch of some sort of algae growing on a sidewalk in front of the store. They hissed at them as they approached, but a single blast from a laser rifle sent them screeching into a nearby alley.

"I wonder how they survive the radiation," Lead Syringe hummed curiously, watching them go.

"Well, they're mutants," Shot Stack responded, stowing his weapon again.

Lead Syringe raised an eyebrow, "That does not necessarily answer the question. Necromantic radiation destroys life at the cellular level. It's not exactly something you can biologically adapt to..." a pause, "We think. I guess we never really tried before Bomb Day."

"Yeah well maybe the eggheads can figure it out from all the zombies we brought back to the Indie," Spear Bash sighed, looking down at one of her forehooves as she walked past, "Don't think I'm ever getting my hoof fully clean of that fucking rabies saliva or whatever."

Shot Stack chuckled as he walked past Syringe and into the supermarket, saying, "You're telling me. I'm the one that actually got attacked."

Syringe gave one more look towards the alleyway, before humming and following along.

"Whoah, Command, I think we got a winner here," Trail muttered as they entered the store proper, the rain finally a distant patter on the roof above.

The shelves were properly stocked. Some had been shaken up, tossing cans onto the floor, but most of the store was seemingly untouched. Picking up one of the cans, Ice took her stinger tail and drove the blade through the top, easily slicing open the lid. Taking off her respirator, she looked inside and licked the contents.

Canned peaches in water. She lifted the can and let one of the peaches slide into her mouth. They tasted normal, "Celestia bless the Industrial Revolution and its two innovations: guns and canning," she said, before upending the rest into her mouth.

"Yep. Looks like we have a lot of intact rations here," Trail nodded, the rest of the squad looking away as Ice finished her meal.

"Affirmative. We'll send a team over once the radiation has died down to pick it up. Sweep the rest of the store, make sure there's nothing else. Put down some relays to secure your entrances."

"I know," Ice muttered, reaching into a bag for her tray of motion detector disks.

The squad fanned out, staying in pairs as they slowly swept the store. Of course, every last perishable good had completely rotted away, but Equestria's known obsession with goods, packed with more preservatives than actual food, had kept most of the food edible - if a bit stale. Ice could perhaps understand how some survivors had managed to simply subsist off of food caches for the last 200 years. She walked through a door leading into yet another section of the superstore.

A yellow dot suddenly appeared on her compass.

Out came her weapons, along with the weapons of Waffle Cone next to her. Following the compass, her eyes rested on a group of silhouettes, sitting in one of the aisles.

The long and baggy profiles of gas masks hung from their faces. Cloaks were wrapped around their bodies. The clank of cans came from them as they looted one of the shelves. The scratchy night vision, unable to properly illuminate their bodies as they stood on the far side of the room, couldn't quite make out any signs of weapons.

"We have a contact on the west side of the store," Waffle quickly reported over the squadlink, "Looks like a group. Maybe four of them?"

"Hey!" Ice shouted, switching to speakers.

Heads turned. This time, her vision could pick up the clear image of a barrel being levelled in their direction. The dot remained yellow as they slowly backed up. One of them gestured quickly towards a bag sitting on the floor, which one of them scooped up.

They lingered for a moment longer, before fleeing, blasting through a double door leading into an employees-only section.

"Friendlies approaching behind!" came a warning as Crystal Trail, along with three others rejoined them.

Ice frowned, lowering her weapons, "Seemed to be scavengers. One of them had a gun, I think they were just hungry. They ran."

"Keep sweeping the building. If they're still hanging around, tell them to leave the premises. Everything in here is requisitioned as government property."

Something about that statement struck Ice Slushee in the wrong way. She simply frowned and went on with it.

Through the employee only doors had been an accessway to a back room and a loading bay. The loading bay doors had been jacked open, giving Ice an inkling as to where the mystery ponies could have escaped. The rest of the storefront areas were fully cleared, which just left the offices on the second floor.

Not much was left that was interesting. A 200 year old employee of the month picture hung on the wall of the break room, and a sludge that might have once been coffee sat inside of a sealed glass pot. Of particular interest was the managerial office, which looked to have a good vantage point over the parking lot and the surrounding areas - a good place as any to make camp without exposing themselves too much to the radioactive wind shear as the rain still pounded outside.

The Assistant Manager's office lay right next to the main manager's one. Together, Ice Slushee and Spear Bash searched it while the others posted up.

There was an open safe, filled with mouldy paper bills. There was a skeleton sitting on the desk chair with a hole in its skull and a pistol lying on the ground next to it. A terminal with no power and a smashed screen sat on the desk in front of it, along with an empty inhaler. A familiar, empty inhaler. A pegasus wing was painted on the side.

She threw it over her shoulder. The plastic knocked against the wall.

Spear Bash hummed as she rooted through the random boxes and junk littering the rest of the room. There was, admittedly, something fun about scavenging in Ice's opinion. It was all the fun of robbing a store and just taking whatever you wanted, without any of the guilt of the stuff within belonging to anybody. Fortunately, Lightning Bringer had not yet brought up any complaints about random items stuffed into their pockets - stuff that would have cost more than their yearly salary otherwise.

As Ice checked the drawers, she noticed the sounds of Spear's rummaging stop, causing her to look up from her own search. The mare was staring at a lunchbox she had opened. Slowly, she reached in and retrieved a bright red inhaler from within.

Slowly, Ice walked over as well, watching as Spear stared at the small plastic piece in her oversize hoof. Placing a foreleg on Spear's hulking shoulders, Ice whispered, "Put that back."

"What if the medics need it..." she offered, weakly, turning the inhaler over in her hoof. In the lunchbox behind it, twenty or so more doses lay piled on.

Ice reached up and switched off her audio and video feeds, "If they do, they'll come back for it later," she intoned carefully, "You just got pumped of that stuff. Come on, think of how rough it'll be to show up in front of Dr Slate again."

Breathing slowly, Spear Bash eventually nodded, "Yeah, you're right. You're right..." the inhaler was tossed back into the lunchbox and the lid snapped closed. Sucking in a deep breath, Spear turned around, "I'm gonna go... get some air."

Ice gave an approving nod, watching as Spear walked back out into the hallway. With a satisfied sigh, she turned back to the lunchbox, popping the lid back open. She grabbed a hoof full of Dash, stuffing it into a place where her suit's inventory spell would not detect it. Relieved, she walked out to rejoin the rest of the 51st. Only after she was tacitly reminded by Crystal Trail that her video and audio feed was offline did she reactivate the system.

Menu no. 10, chilli and macaroni meal. Cornbread, a desert of chocolate pellets, a cup of cocoa, a moist towel, wooden spoon, and a flameless heater. Mix a bit of water, crack the heater, and enjoy.

Ice took a deep breath, smelling the slightly moldy, dusty atmosphere. Unfortunately for Syringe's conscience, eating did indeed require they take off their respirators. She'd taken to removing her entire helmet, getting away from the flashing HUD, the high pitched whine of Lightning Bringer's voice, and allowing her mane to breathe again. Behind concrete walls and out of the rain, the radiation was minimal that the foreleg-mounted secondary display didn't even register an increase in incoming radiation.

Gathered around a green glowstick, the 51st prepared and ate their dinners. The only one absent was Sugar Beach and Hay Weave, both sitting by a window overlooking the parking lot with their helmets still mounted and respirators hanging around their neck. Their meals steamed as they sat beside them, both of them taking the occasional bite as they kept lookout, weapons trained on the environment outside.

Ice leaned over, taking a look outside at the rain, seeing the green rays of the burning pits surrounding them. She idly wondered if it would be possible to navigate past them without the power of flight. She shoved a spoonful of chilli macaroni into her mouth and fell back into her more comfortable position.

"How was your search of the house?" Radio Whistle asked, looking over to Shot Stack.

Shot shrugged, "I don't think I'm gonna be able to resell it."

It elicited a few chuckles from around the glowstick. The wind whistled through the shattered window, bringing a slight chill to Ice's cheeks. She had the suspicion she'd be freezing if not for the suit keeping her warm.

"Maybe you can sell it to one of those house flipper shows," Crystal Trail noted, her helmet attached to ensure comms were kept with the Indefatigable, "Wasteland Fixer Uppers, it'd be called. How to make a crumbling bungalow into a fortified base to keep the zombies away."

"I'd watch it," Pounce offered, tossing her bushy, long rainbow-colored mane and staring into the glowstick.

Ice chewed idly, looking as the green aura of the glowstick illuminated the older mare's mane and glimmered in her green eyes, "Hey Pounce."

"What's up?" she asked, looking away.

"Why're you such a Rainbow Dash groupie?" she asked bluntly.

Pounce raised an eyebrow as Spear snickered beside her, "Odd time to ask, three years after we met."

Ice shrugged, her spoon bouncing against the side of her MRE at the motion, "Didn't think there was such a thing as an expiry date on a question."

Pounce Chaser stared at her for a moment, before sighing, "What's not to like? Athletic, brave, fiercely loyal, one of the heroes of Equestria, powerful..." she trailed off.

"Those sounds like reasons to fuck her, Pounce, not be her," Spear Bash pointed out between excessively loud chews of her no. 9 lasagna.

Crystal Trail smiled slightly, saying, "It's okay to admit you're old, Chaser. Tell 'em why," she used a hoof to guide a plastic straw sticking out from the neck of her suit, biting down on it to draw water through it and into her mouth.

After a few more mutters of encouragement from the rest of the group, Pounce sighed and leaned forward slightly, "I'm not gonna tell you how old I am. I'm just gonna say when I was a teen, there was no war, and there was this cool set of six heroes. They defeated monsters, blew up the Mare in the Moon and brought back Luna, and mastered these six magical elements. I know they started teaching that stuff in school, probably while you fuckers were still in it, but it was novel when I was a filly."

A pause as she reached up and drew a lock of long mane into her vision, "I was in Cloudsdale at the old stadium - they knocked it a few years into the war. I had a lot of trouble with flying growing up, later we found out it was cause I had a wingspan asymmetry of about five inches. My parents were deathly afraid of putting me near ledges of any kind, but I was a teen and I was there with my friends with money from our summer jobs. We got seats right up front, and we saw the Wonderbolts.

"A part of their stunt knocked a hole in the side of the cloudcrete, and I tumbled through in the chaos. We sued them later for that, settled for a good amount of bits. Apparently all six of the Ministry Mares were together there, and Rainbow Dash hopped straight up over the railing and dove for me as the show continued on. She flew me back up to the stage, patted me on the head, and then went right back to her friends.

"Later, the war starts, the Ministries are formed after Littlehorn. The doctors figured out how to treat my asymmetry, but by then I had kinda figured out how to fly anyway. She'd inspired me. Then of course when they started asking for experienced flyers for intense training, I signed up right away. Failed hell week seven times before finally getting in, about five years into the war. Sarge Trail was my bunkmate, it was her third attempt I think?" Pounce looked over to Crystal.

Crystal Trail nodded, "You late joiners probably all passed Hell Week first try. Back then, it was real fucking tough. As in, we both saw plenty of ponies literally fall dead during the endurance tests. Not all of them got revived, either."

Pounce Chaser tapped her spoon against the shoulderpad of Trail's suit, "One of them was you, Crystal. You had a heart attack during the time they told us to carry the log," she side-eyed towards the rest of the squad, "And back then they didn't let us cheat and make some sorta harness to make the load easier. We really did have to heft that thing all the way through the course at speed while in powered-down armor."

Ice winced, stomach twisting at the traumatic memory of that particular section of trials.

"Anyway. I kept the dye on cause it made me popular, and cause there was this one bad guy who thought I was actually Rainbow Dash. We got to cut him down and the rest of the POWs when they tried to resist cause of it," Pounce grinned, before plunging her spoon into her meal once again.

Spear Bash suddenly stood with a sigh, putting her half-finished meal down and making for the door, "Taking a piss," she excused.

The group returned to silence as they ate, the giant mare stomping past the glowstick and out the door. Watching her go, Waffle Cone gave a deep, breathy sigh, looking down to his meal, ears falling alongside his eyes.

Shot Stack ran his tongue along his teeth, before commenting, "Waffle, I think you should probably give up the chase. Only thing that catches Spear's attentions is Stripes."

Waffle mockingly raised a hoof to his muzzle, causing Shot Stack to chuckle.

"You become a Zebra, and I'm sure Spear Bash would annihilate your pelvis, then smash your skull, then immolate whatever was left, then probably flavor her next meal with the ashes," Shot took a chocolate candy from his MRE and tossed it into the air, missing his mouth and positioning his eye to get poked by it instead.

"Gross," Lead Syringe scolded as he saw the stallion pick the chocolate off the filthy floor and eat it.

Waffle Cone, responding to the previous comment, said, "Hey, it'd be worth it. I'd do it."

A few minutes later, as meals were finished and wrappers were tossed aside (who was gonna get them for littering?), Spear Bash came back into the room.

Waffle looked up to her, asking, "Hey Bash. Would you love me if I was a Zebra?"

Spear, completely seriously, knitted her brows and said, "No, dumbass. I'd kill you."

The room burst into laughter at that. Spear gave Waffle a solid bap on the head as she walked by to her meal.

That night, Ice took part in the first watch while the rest slept for four hours. The glowstick eventually waned, but with their helmets back on, night vision and the various motion detector tripwires they'd set about allowed them to guard their camp well enough. Eventually, the next watch woke up, and Ice curled up to catch some sleep as the night - and the rain - dragged on.

The next day came by. Ice woke up, rising from her bed with an almighty yawn. She brushed her teeth, took a shower, ate a breakfast of an omelette and coffee, and then went outside to catch the tram. Ponies thanked her for her service, and somepony stood to let her take her seat.

Ponies flickered on the sidewalks all around, existing only when her vision settled on them, before disappearing into her periphery. Scorched posters hung to walls, skeletons sat in wagons as they rumbled past, and an air raid siren rang somewhere.

Up ahead of the tram, a huge banner crossed the street. "VICTORY DAY!" it read. Confetti fell by her like ash as she sat on the seat of the float, her armor adorned with a multitude of medals. Crystal Trail, Pounce Chaser, Spear Bash, Waffle Cone, Shot Stack, Radio Whistle, Sugar Beach, Hay Weave, Lead Syringe, even Lightning Bringer all sat next to her. Just one float down, she could see the backs of the heads of the Shadowbolts as they waved.

Thousands, no millions of ponies shrieked and screamed from the stands around them. The Equestrian Flag waved victoriously over their heads. A bonfire of Zebrican flags burned as they passed by, scorched by green flame. The stands to their left opened up to reveal the Indefatigable in harbor, flanked by the Victory, Hoof, Seaward Shoals, and Constellation. Hundreds more ships sat in the harbor, battleships, other carriers, cruisers, destroyers.. a shadow passed over them. A great Cloudship soared overhead.

Looking back down, Ice stood on Ministry Walk in Canterlot. She was wearing... nothing. No grey MoA fatigues, no armor. Only her chest fluff looked back up at her as the cloudship's shadow soared overhead. A hoof held hers, although it was cold and clammy. A tender unicorn mare's face looked up at her, "I'm so sorry you're out of a job, honey..."

Ice Slushee looked up. A wrecking ball swung overhead, suspended from something she couldn't see, smashing into the face of the Ministry of Awesome offices. Just down the street, construction workers disassembled a giant, cog-shaped door. '001' was written on its face.

"What are you going to do now?" a stallion asked to her right.

Looking towards it, Ice saw a tall, aged unicorn stallion. He reached out to touch her shoulder, she couldn't feel it though. She pursed her lips, trying to think of a path forward. Maybe she could teach gym? Maybe work at a flight college? No... she didn't have the education.

"...Honey?" the mare questioned.

Lying to her left was the burning husk of a village. Scuttling away from it, like frightened roaches, were striped foals and adults. One of them stepped out from behind a building carrying something. He turned towards them, too quick. A bright flash and he was ash. A simple fire extinguisher hit the ground next to his glowing, pink remains.

Maybe the pension would be enough. She'd served her country so well. Surely, surely they'd give her enough to live a decent life afterwards?

"What are you gonna do?" the stallion pressed.

To her right, the city caved away into a sodden bunker. Fireworks exploded in the distance as a cheering audience screamed. Ponies lay have buried in the mud. Rats chewed at their hooves, gnawed at their lips. They were beyond recognition - bloated, bloody messes. A foul gas hung overhead, pouring down the walls and into the trench. A stallion with his guts spilled onto the floor, one of his legs lying several feet away, held out a shaking hoof. His dog tags rattled in his grip.

Maybe... after the war was done... maybe...

A blinding flash rocked Canterlot. Heat burned away the mud of the battlefield, the Zebra village. She stood on the edge of the Indefatigable. Her HUD blinked out. She took off her respirator and stepped forward as the mushroom cloud began to tower over her.

There was a moment of falling. Something chased her down off the side of the ship. Weighed down by her power armor, she sank quickly. The sun disappeared, overtaken by a cloudy curtain of ocean. Sinking deeper and deeper, her ears began to squeal and her lungs exploded. There was nothing waiting down there for her. No jaws to snap her up, just an endless abyss as the surface disappeared above...

She woke up to the sound of gunshots.