Ministry of Morale observation post overlooking the Aquastrian Embassy
Saturday
05:50

It’d taken three days to locate the captives. Three days’s worth of Scouts and Crimson Raiders pooling together their investigative capabilities, of prying scraps of intel from frightened and suspicious locals, of bribing caravan owners to extend the range of our search farther, and three days of dealing with Steel Rangers and the Unity alicorns’ reluctance to be of any help despite possessing the best scouting potential between the two of them.

At last, large thanks to a few lucky breaks, and Cyclone’s underground connections, we had been able to confirm our enemy’s base of operations - an extensive prewar network of sewer tunnels running under one of the least hospitable parts of Baltimare. Both the Crimson Raiders and the Steel Rangers avoided this place. It was a massive bizarrely designed building, which had at one point served as an embassy to an obscure sea pony nation, and now apparently had become a sort of black market bartering post and a hideout for lowlives so shifty and violent that not even area raider gangs would have them.

The Aquastrians, whom the embassy had been originally built to accommodate, were a sea-dwelling people, so the building’s underworks was said to be comprised of a lot of pipes, tunnels and reservoirs, all connected to the sewer system and the harbor. A pink storm had come through, covering the region in pink slime. Many of the underground waterways had become dangerously flooded.

We were in an upper level of a building overlooking the objective - the Aquastrian Embassy. This appeared to be a wartime observation point. Judging by the ominous posters of a violently pink old mare informing us that she was watching us forever, I suspected it had been a Ministry of Morale operation.

We’d settled in a few hours ago. A couple of wasteland volunteers were still ferrying some equipment up. The command post was a room over with Generals Matchlock and Azure, the alicorn leader and a few other important officials.

I glanced at the poster again.

I could swear her eyes were following me.

“Would someone please take that fuckin’ poster down?” I stepped over to Plat, who was looking at the building through a window, her new rifle deployed on a table beside the window. “See anything?”

She shrugged, stepping back quietly. “No change in the past five minutes since you last asked, Shine.”

A couple of griffons dropped through a hole in the ceiling. They’d requested to join the rescue operation. Their contract for protecting the hospital applied to the contract signer as well, apparently.

After everything had come in, Firefly and the Raider leaders had settled on two simultaneous attacks. Firefly would lead a force through the sewers to rescue the prisoners. As soon as the prisoners were located and rescued, Ivory and several of the ‘rogue’ alicorns would teleport the entire team back to a staging point a block over. Serenity would lead a force to attack the Embassy on the surface, to keep their eyes focused up. If reports about this area were correct, the enemy would occasionally retaliate against perceived threats to the Embassy, in their own cowardly ways, so the thinking behind Serenity’s attack was to coax them out from their underground tunnels, clearing the way for the rescue team.

The bulk of the Crimson Raider forces and most of the wastelander militia and mercenaries from the BCE, now all under the command of Azure, had been stationed across the area near all known sewer and maintenance tunnel access points, prepared to ambush whoever emerged from there after the shooting at the Embassy started.

Matchlock’s smaller force was currently standing guard at the HQ..

We couldn’t determine if the ponies in the Embassy weren’t part of the abduction, so it’d been decided to mark them as unknown. Serenity’s Raiders were aiming to make a lot of noise, primarily, rather than to kill anyone specifically. However, several officers, including General Matchlock and the Steel Rangers, had expressed a desire to be far more aggressive and to properly storm the location.

I assumed that it had something to do with politics between the Embassy and Raiders.

“One-One in position.” That was Firefly’s unit, going in through the sewers. A detachment of the wasteland “volunteers” rounded out her group, and some of the ghouls from the sewers to guide them.

“One-Three in position.” That was Ivory, securing Firefly’s exfiltration route. Another detachment of wasteland volunteers were with her.

“Two-One copies all. Two all in position.” Two was the Raiders under Major Serenity, Blitz and Lieutenant Dash’s force, One-Two. The Steel Rangers were nominally attached to her command, though most of us suspected they’d just do whatever they wanted. So long as they weren’t shooting at us, whatever they were doing was probably helpful.

An alicorn, a green in a ragged jacket, popped into the room next to me, speaking quietly. “Firefly says they have located the captives. They are going in.”

Off in the distance, I heard gunfire. Serenity’s Raiders were starting their diversion assault.

Under the Aquastrian Embassy
06:02

Even with the route scouted out in advance, and Cyclone’s friends guiding the team, navigating the murky underground had proven frustrating for One-One, with only the flickering unevenly spaced maintenance lights to push back the dark; most of the team were equipped with PipBucks and torches, but kept them turned off to avoid giving away our position. All things considered, however, I felt proud of how smoothly my Scouts had transitioned into moving in a single file through the cramped environment, while the wastelanders stumbled and walked into walls every now and again.

The guides had said there it was a five minute trot from the tunnel entrance to their destination, but with the entire team trying to be stealthy while carrying their combat gear and medical supplies, and avoiding stepping into puddles of unidentifiable goo and into piles of age-old debris and rusted wiring and junk, it felt like half an hour had passed before our slow pace had brought us to where the captives were. The tunnels smelled… wrong, somehow. Mold was growing on the walls, but they looked relatively sturdy and well built.

Wastelanders were maintaining security around us, and we’d settled next to the door that held the captives. I nodded as Ivory passed the message back, confirming everyone knew the captives were here. A message had come in a little earlier from the HQ: just as we’d expected, following the beginning of Serenity’s mock assault, the ambush teams had reported figures in stealth coats climbing out, followed by a prewar zebra ghouls; they’d attempted to capture a few for interrogation, but a fight had broken out, and now there were a dozen skirmishes going on topside between Azure’s forces and what I could only assume the ones responsible for taking the Overmare. Oh, and Crimson, too.

I’d been relieved to learn from the scouts that the prisoner area had been left lightly guarded, but with the fighting in progress outside, these few remaining guards would likely be wound up and twitchy. That ruled out any chance of negotiations - saving the captives took precedence.

“Ready SATS.” I looked around. “Do it, Samsiir.” I looked to Samsiir, and he bucked the door open.

Swan Striker, Rolling Block and I activated SATS as Samsiir rolled sideways, and moments and a brief cacophony of gunfire later, the two guards watching the captives were dead from several hits each.

One of the wastelanders on security whistled. “Damn, that SATS is pretty cool shit, eh?”

I nodded curtly, stepping inside over one of the bodies.

The captives were suspended from the ceiling by their hooves. Crimson, Doctor Rez from the hospital, Sheriff Splinter from the Central Exchange… and no Overmare.

“Well, you certainly took your time.” Crimson looked rough. Blood had dried to his muzzle, and the fur on his barrel was messed up.

I looked to the corners, confirming the room was clear. “Didn’t know where you were. We needed to do some detective work.”

Crimson glanced around, watching the ponies entering. “I was expecting my other adult daughter, but who am I to complain about a free rescue…?”

“Serenity’s topside, making a lot of noise.” I looked past him. “Where’s the Overmare?”

“What? You’re not going to even pull your poor father down before interrogating him?”

I released his restraints, and he fell to the floor roughly, making several undignified noises.

Block was helping Splinter down. “They took her, I’m afraid. Don’t know where.” She snickered as Crimson fell, along with a couple of the wastelanders with us.

I passed him a canteen and a couple of ration bars as I untied his wings. He nodded gratefully, washing the blood off of his face.

Rez stood up, stretching her legs. “They said they were going to… ‘harvest her parts’.” Samsiir shivered.

“Do you know where they took her?” I turned to face Rez.

Splinter shook her head. “Afraid not, Scout.”

We took a short break to feed the captives. While the Scouts and the wastelanders were splitting their attention between guarding the entrance and attending to the sore, hungry and dirty prisoners, I took the time to consolidate all available information on Book Keeper’s whereabouts.

The guides said they hadn’t had the time to explore the area enough to know of any other guarded holding areas nearby, nor did they have any idea where one might be located.

“Understood.” I nodded. “I need you to do a sweep of the area. Find where those other tunnels go. Make sure you’re not spotted. Don’t engage the enemy under any circumstances, just report back.” A couple of them saluted, one mocking, one sincere, and they left. I turned to Rez. “Doctor, are you alright?”

“I’m… fine, thank you.” Doctor Rez, groaned. “Thanks for coming for us, Stable.”

“Of course. We come back for our friends. You said they took the Overmare - when did this happen?”

“Well, we didn’t exactly have any clocks hanging on the wall to tell the time.” She narrowed her eyes. “Couldn’t have been more than a day ago, I think?”

“A day?” I nodded tightly.

That made things more complicated… and less likely to be successful.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I truly am.” She glanced upwards, to where she’d been restrained, and took a step away. “We really should be getting out of here.”

I shook my head. “We’re not leaving without the Overmare. Or her body, if it comes to it.”

“I… see.” She didn’t, though. She didn’t know how critical returning with the Overmare, even just her body, was.

It also wasn’t her concern.

Disappointed, I turned to study the other prisoners. I wasn’t about to give up that easily. Samsiir was pacing alongside the edge of the room, I noticed, away from the main group huddled in the middle.

“Everything alright?” Taze asked, coming closer. Crimson limped over as well, still stretching his wings.

“It’s a refreshing feeling, you know - being excluded from a conversation for once,” Crimson rasped, “Thanks for introducing me to it.” Taze gave him a strange look. “So, was the good doctor any help?”

I looked to Crimson, considering my response, before deciding that nothing would annoy him the most. I raised my voice and glanced around at the rest of the former captives. “Did anypony notice anything specific about your captors? What was their routine? Have they mentioned other locations around here, other rooms?”

There was an awkward silence, broken up by the sound of Samsiir’s continued patrolling of the room’s perimeter. He was one of my most competent troopers, a hero of the fight for the Stable, and a pretty fun colt overall, but given who our enemy was, the sight of his striped coat moving around in the shadows was giving me the creeps.

Unsurprisingly, my father spoke first.

“No, our hosts were… peculiarly discreet. Violent, vicious, but admirably tight-lipped.”

“We’ve only ever seen a few,” Splinter said, looking at the ground, “There was a large one. He seemed to be in charge here, like a jailer. He had a metal leg.”

“The others seemed like common muscle, like these,” she poked one of the dead zebras with her hoof. Of course a security expert would be the most helpful of the bunch. She continued. “They’d come in twice a day to give us food...”

Crimson nodded in agreement.

“...They’d rough us up if we didn’t cooperate. Mostly the Raider here.”

“Only the big guy seemed to be able to speak Equestrian,” Rez offered, “He spoke in a different language to other… guards. Oh, and those of them that we’d gotten to observe closely were all ghouls.”

“What did he say to you?”

“Mostly poorly spoken verbal abuse,” the doctor shrugged, “Kept gloating we were next after they’d taken your friend away.”

“One thing that got me,” Splinter spoke again, “was they needed four grunts to haul that poor mare away. With more hiding in the shadows. It was like they were afraid she’d kick their flanks, or run away.” She shook her head.

Crimson smirked. “She sure put up a good fight.”

I nodded blithely at Crimson’s comment. “Not all Stable ponies are pushovers.” I glanced back to Splinter. “Did they file out the doors one by one?”

“Eh, no, I don’t think so. They stumbled out of here in one big mess as they carried her off. Why?”

“Well, if we’re looking for a way they could have gone,” Crimson butted in with a grin, “we would only be looking for a passage broad enough to allow a large ugly group to pass through. Nicely spotted! That’s my girl.”

Somehow, that remark made me hate Crimson more than all his villainy put together. I was about to say as much, when I heard someone calling me from the corner of the room.

“Captain! Over here!”

That was Samsiir, standing near the sole decently lit spot on a rusted metal wall. I trotted over, trailed by Crimson and Taze.

“What is it?”

“Look, Captain, it’s a little out there, so bear with me. See this pattern?“ he pointed at the wall.

I thought it was nothing but random lines on rusted metal at first, but as the extended hoof moved around, pointing out what Samsiir was talking about, I made out shapes of twisting spirals and circles.

I paused, studying it. “What am I looking at?”

“It’s just a picture I remember from an old book Dad used to show us when we were little. It was a bunch of scary stories…”

I cleared my throat impatiently.

“Yeah, sorry! But I was just about to - see, there was this dark cellar that a… it’s something like a Boogeymare, a really bad monster, would carry misbehaving colts and fillies away to this cellar, and it would keep them there, and then take one of them into the room upstairs to gobble them up, and all the blood would spill down onto the ones still alive through a grate…” He shuffled around and looked at the ceiling in the middle of the room.

“...Just like this.”

It was barely visible in the dim light, but there was thick-barred grate built into the ceiling. There was stuff oozing down in thick droplets.

“Oh, dear Celestia…”

“Yeah, so that pattern? It was the name of the Boogeymare, in, uh, the old language.” He looked to me. “It marked the creature’s lair, I think.”

I slowly turned and looked at my subordinate.

“And that was supposed to be a… little fillies’ story book?” Taze looked to him, concerned.

“Yeah, see, that was supposedly based on one of the ancient religious scrolls.” He shrugged. “Those ancient zebras were weird. But I’ve heard you and the doctor mare talking, and it had gotten me thinking back to that book, and then I stumbled upon that… glyph, I think they’re called? I wish I knew more about this stuff.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Private, that was very helpful.” I made a note to consider Samsiir for promotion.

“Alright, everyone!” I turned to face the rest of the force. “Break’s over, kit check, we’re moving out!” I trotted over into the middle of the room, looking up.

As I peered into the darkness, I could see interlocking bars and plates behind the grating, preventing anyone from seeing what was on the other side. Yet the fluid was still dribbling down through the cracks. If there was any truth to this crazy guess, anyone listening in the room above us must have heard the firefight down here quite well.

There was a commotion as our scouts stumbled inside the room. I debriefed them quickly: they complained that the place was a damn maze, with corridors and vents going in all directions, and they’d been too busy evading the random frantic Star Touched galloping about. They had noticed a wide tunnel leading upstairs, however.

That where we headed, as soon as everyone had finished their preparations. A short trip took us to a large door that, if my Pipbuck’s map was correct, should be above the room we’d been in.

“Same as last time, SATS. Watch your fire.” I looked to Samsiir. “Do it.”

Samsiir kicked the door open. There was a hail of bullets as several zebras inside opened fire.

I ducked as I felt my armor shrugging off several impacts. An energy weapon blast hit my injured leg, burning through. I gritted my teeth, suppressing a pained sound.

“Samsiir, on my mark, throw a flashbang.” I glanced to Taze. “Taze, pick a team to take the room when the flashbang goes off. We’ll cover you with SATS.”

Taze glanced around, calling several names. ”Screwdriver, Card, Clips. Repeater.” She nodded to me. A few wastelanders looked to her and back, readying weapons.

I looked to Samsiir and nodded. “Do it.”

“Flashbang out…” He dug out a flashbang and spun, bucking it into the room so that it detonated near the ceiling.

Taze growled at her ponies, and they rushed the room. She followed them in, head down, rifle up. Block and Striker peeked around the corner, firing with SATS.

Within a minute, the room was taken. Block and Samsiir entered the room trailing the wastelanders.

“Captain, the Overmare is hit!”

Oh shit.

Rez pushed past Block and I. “Move!”

I looked to Taze as I followed Rez over to the Overmare. “Set up a perimeter, we’ll hold here for a short time.”

Rez threw herself down next to the Overmare, murmuring to herself as she looked her over, pressing her hooves to the Overmare’s neck where she’d been hit. “Gunshot wound, no exit point. Pulse, bleeding seriously. Likely severed arteries, aspirating blood into the lungs.”

The Overmare coughed, spewing blood all over Rez.

She winced and yelled over her shoulder, “Get me a first aid kit!” and went back to the Overmare. “Wait. Is that all?” She leaned down, her horn lighting up. “Okay. Good.” The torrent of blood coming out of the wound slowed.

Block, the squad’s medic, opened a first aid kit and sat it beside Rez. She dug through the kit, pulling out a scalpel, looking over it. Judging it suitable, she made a small incision, removing the bullet from the Overmare. I glanced away as she dug a healing potion and some other things out.

Rez stepped back, taking a slow, deep breath, before she turned to me. “Okay, she’s stable. She was hit in the neck, which severed her jugular. I mended it, removed the projectile and healed the skin.”

I looked from the Overmare to Rez. “Can she move?”

Rez sighed, tail swishing violently. “I should tell you no, she shouldn’t be moving anywhere but a bed to rest for a week. She’s still weak. But yes, she can move. It would probably be best if someone carried her, however.” She looked down. “Oh, your leg. Sit, please…”

I sat, and she took a look at my leg. “Energy weapon strike, wound is cauterized… looks unpleasant, but you should recover fine.” She wrapped a length of bandage around the wound. “It might leave a scar, but I’m not a dermatologist.”

I snorted at her final statement. “Thank you.” I offered her a canteen and a clean rag. “You’ve got some blood…”

Rez took the canteen and rag, wetting the rag and wiping some of the blood off of her face. “I… thank you.” She looked around. “I don’t know how she survived this long…”

“What?” I looked to Rez, confused, and then looked around.

I realized that the items surrounding the Overmare weren’t just tools. There were also limbs, and a horn, all the same color as the Overmare.

One of them held several vats of liquid that I guessed may have been some sort of… preservation station.

...

I shivered and turned, looking to the Overmare as she sat up, violently coughing more blood. “Welcome back, Overmare. How are you feeling?”

She looked to me, tired and covered in blood, and cleared her throat before speaking hoarsely. “Something is missing.” She looked from one of the hooves on the table, then to one of her hooves, confused. “My Pipbuck...”

“Overmare?” I looked to her.

She shook her head, looking back to me, before slipping off the table and stretching. “I’m fine.”

I frowned, watching her. She seemed to be doing better than I’d expected. That worried me for a reason I couldn’t quite put my hoof on…

I made a note to have someone talk to her afterwards. “We’re going to hold here for a few. Block, see that the captives get fed.” I switched to the command comms. “Target secured. We’re leaving. Sitrep, One-Three? Over.”

One of the wastelanders spoke up. “That was too easy…”

Taze growled at them. “We’re not out of here yet. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.” She looked to me. “Back the way we came, Scout?”

I nodded and looked to Citrine.

Sewers Checkpoint
06:35

“Target secured. We’re leaving. Sitrep, One-Three? Over.”

“Heard, One-One. Transmitting now.” I looked to one of the alicorns, a green coated one in a ragged, ill-fitting combat jacket. I’d nicknamed her Combat Jacket.

“I have heard.” Combat Jacket closed her eyes, teleporting off.

I was still awed by how elegant their teleporting was, how effortlessly they just appeared. “Exfil secure, over.”

We were holding position in a large underground room housing a some kind of a sewer terminal, with at least four maintenance corridors leading away from it, dozens of pipe mouths opening into the room were sticking out of the walls, water cascading down into narrow canals. Some prewar water treatment equipment was uselessly humming in the corner.

It didn’t smell as horrible as I would have expected, but the moisture was intense here, condensing on every surface, and making the protracted waiting a nightmare of sodden shuffling. According to the old city maps Cyclone’s friends had provided, this was the closest spot to the Embassy’s own separate waterway system that was also close enough to the surface and far enough from the anti-magical field the scouts had picked up nearer the supposed hideout of Overmare’s kidnappers. If I concentrated hard, I could just sense the guiding magic signatures of the reception crew at the chosen exfiltration destination - a nearby warehouse that had been hastily converted into a well-protected outpost.

I could guess at where Firefly and her team were, but I needed a clear comm line to her in order to properly home in when the time would come to get them out of the fire. If they got too deep into the magically-insulated tunnelworks, we would need to come get them personally, unless our new alicorn friends knew a trick for long-distance precision multi-person teleportation in an unknown subterranean environment, with your magic being actively disrupted, and avoid getting stuck in a wall. Not that getting out once we’d gotten together would be a piece of cake.

None beside me seemed to be the least frustrated at the seeming impossibility of our designated task, acting well at ease. Even the alicons appeared bored out of their heads.

At times like this, I really hated my usual need to determine all complicating factors for a problem at hoof.

I turned to look to Creaking "Flank" Coffin, the commander of Surface-Three. He was an interesting pony, with a truly epic peaked cap atop his head, a sword slung slung over one of his flanks. There’d been a small disagreement between a couple of the surfacers when one had attempted to claim his sword.

He looked over at me. “Did you hear…?”

“What?” I cocked an ear, listening. Cas and Sharps glanced around, looking to Flank in concern.

There was a sudden, sharp crack and a loud hiss off in the distance...

Everything exploded!

The roof collapsed!

I ducked, and a couple of massive stone bricks fell on either side of me.

I looked up, and a third stone block was coming straight at me.

I did the only thing I could think of.

I teleported.

Gunfire erupted around me, and I fell over as one of my hind legs screamed at me. I looked down, and my leg was bent in a way legs weren’t supposed to bend…

Uh.

Uhh…

I looked around and spotted Min ducked behind some rocks next to Sharps. “Min!” Sharps was firing bursts over the wall with a subgun.

Min ran over and dropped beside me, looking to my leg. She gasped. “Oh, no, no no no...”

Cas ran over to me. “Ivory!”

Min dug into her medical bag for a tourniquet, tying it around my upper leg, mumbling to herself frantically.

“Min, what’s wrong?” I squeaked as she yanked the tourniquet tight.

“I don’t know...”

I looked over at my leg. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I don’t know if anything can fix your leg!”

…

Firefly was screaming in the radio, but I couldn’t quite… pick out the words.

I saw Min talking into my radio, and everything got blurry…

No, no, I… can’t.

Firefly’s words brought me back. “Come to us. Break out and come to us. One of the wartime ponies should be able to guide us to another exit.”

“Copy, One-One! Proceeding to you, over.” I glanced to Cas. “Cas, I need you to carry me.”

I gasped sharply and grit my teeth at the spike of pain as Cas picked me up.

Min dug through her bag. “Here, I’ll give you some painkillers...”

I nodded and raised my voice. “Pack up, we’re moving! We need to break through and get to One-One. This position is untenable!”

“We’re leaving? This position is defensible! We just shoot that way!” one of the wastelanders protested, rising.

“They fire another rocket down here and it’ll be our fuckin’ tomb!” I looked to the older surfacer who’d spoken, as did several others.

I nodded as he spoke. “We stay, we die! If you can’t walk, get someone to carry you!” I looked to Flank. “Surface-Three, you’re on point. We’ll be right behind you! On your go!”

Flank looked to me, worried, but nodded. “Ponies of Baltimare, we’re first!”

I leaned in to Cas, yelling in his ear over the gunfire. “We are following him!” I pointed to Flank. “When he moves, we move. Got it, Cas?”

He looked back, worried. “Ive…”

I nuzzled his neck. “I’m okay. We’ll get out of this in one piece. We gotta get Firefly out, then we can leave.”

“Okay…” He nodded, determined.

Flank looked up. “Five seconds!”

I glanced around, seeing everyone around us readying.

Flank galloped forward, screaming as he went, brandishing his revolver and sword. “Move, move, move! Forward!”

I hugged Cas around the neck tighter as he followed Flank, and around us the rest of the force moved out, firing as we went.

Then we were on them! They were zebras wearing mismatched kit. They’d set up a crew served missile launcher, and our rush had disrupted their reload.

Cas leaped over them, landing on the barrel of the weapon and hopping off, sending it spinning.

I hung on tightly, using SATS to shoot the zebra loading the launcher.

I looked forward to see Sharps fall, felled by one of the zebras brandishing an axe. The zebra turned to face Cas and I, raising her weapon.

I activated SATS and shot her attacker, watching them fall.

Then… we were through. I looked back, seeing the attackers were in disarray. A few shot in our direction, but none chased us.

I looked to my Pipbuck, following the repeater beacons Firefly had left along their path, and saw they’d gone left. “Left, go left! Left!”

I heard ponies behind us repeating my orders, and one of the Scouts yelling, “If you’re hearing this and not repeating it, you’re doing it wrong!”

Having left the scattered attackers behind, we followed the repeater beacons to Firefly. After some time, we came to a junction where they’d left repeaters on both ends.

I looked to my Pipbuck, tracking Firefly’s Pipbuck. I got a faint signal to the right. “This way…”

We continued, following the repeater beacons, rounding a corner.

Someone shot at us as we passed the corner.

“Back!” I grabbed the tail of the pony in front of us, one of the surfacers, dragging him back.

I looked to my Pipbuck, seeing no hostiles on the EFS.

Were they… I leaned forward, yelling around the corner. “Princess Celestia!”

… please say Princess Cadance.

The gunfire slowed, then stopped.

I could hear ponies whispering frantically, and after a moment someone yelled back. “We’re friendly!”

Someone else, Swan Striker, called out. “Princess Cadance!”

Phew…

I glanced back, before poking my head around the corner.

Nopony shot at me.

“Okay, forward…” I gestured around the corner.

Cas looked back. “Jumpy lot, aren’t they?”

I shushed him with a glare.

Firefly and her force, with the Overmare and other captives, had bunkered down in a room that had held the Overmare. It smelled horrifying, and just felt… unnatural.

The wasteland doctor, Rez, took a look at my leg. She shook her head sadly and tied a sling around it, holding it against my barrel.

We moved out, and Firefly glanced to Citrine, our wasteland guide, as she stopped. “Where to?”

She turned, going down the tunnel to our left. “This way.”

She then stopped, looking down the hallway thoughtfully. “Ah.”

“What?” Firefly leaned around her, holding a lit flare up. “Oh. I see.”

Citrine shook her head. “That path lead to the other exit...”

Cas stepped past Firefly, looking, and I saw that the tunnel was flooded with pink water.

He shook his head. “It’s just water, right?” He looked from Firefly to Citrine. “Who’s up for a swim?”

I opened my mouth to point out that Cas - and most of the Stable ponies here - couldn’t swim, but Citrine shook her head and cut me off. “No. It’d kill you in a few minutes.”

Cas looked to her, confused, but Firefly interrupted him before he could start asking questions. “Are there any other possible exits, Citrine?”

She shook her head again. “None down here that aren’t flooded or collapsed that I am aware of.”

“That you’re aware of?” Firefly looked to Citrine, curious. “Down here?”

Citrine shrugged. “Wartime planners had a thing for secret tunnels in high value installations… I worked here, but I’m not aware of any down here. Upstairs, though…” She looked up towards the ceiling.

Crimson pointed up with a wing. “Seems we’re going up, then.”

I looked from Crimson to Firefly as she spoke. “Towards the ponies that tried to kill us?”

“They’re mostly decent ponies.” Crimson stepped over. “Better than the ones that tried to cut us up.” He paused, furious, before taking a breath and speaking more quietly. “They’ll negotiate with us. Failing that...” He nodded to Citrine. “She could find us a path?”

Citrine shrugged. “Possible.”

Rez frowned. “They’ll negotiate with you, at gunpoint, maybe.”

Crimson looked to her, confused. “...yes? Is that not what I said?”

Rez shook her head in disgust and turned away.

I drifted off for a moment, I think, but was snapped back into focus by an incoherent scream and several gunshots. I looked up to see Firefly collapse.

Min rushed towards Firefly, turned and kicked seemingly at nothing. There was a sound of hooves hitting something soft, a pained cry, and someone appeared out of thin air next to Min and collapsed beside the Captain.

It was a zebra under a cloak. She was covered in tattoos, her fur cut in strange, mystical patterns.

Rez tended to Firefly, and she came to quickly, groaning. “What happened?”

“Stripes found us.” Crimson kicked her body. “She hit you with with a pipe.”

Firefly winced, rubbing her horn. She squealed sharply.

Rez looked to it with a worried frown. “Oh no… horn injuries are serious. I need to look at it.”

Firefly shook her head. “No time. Tape it up, we need to move.”

Rez narrowed her eyes in irritation and nodded. As Rez taped Firefly up, I noticed Min tucking a stealth cloak into her barding.

We kept moving and entered a T junction. There were Star Touched in the two opposing exits. A single zebra blocked each hallway.

But with their cloaks there might be a hundred all around.

One of them stepped out from under a cloak. “There you are, Star Maiden.” He had a metal replacement hind leg.

Star Maiden?

Firefly stepped forward. “What do you want?”

“We must discuss matters.” He approached her cordially, like an old friend, lit by the harsh, pale red lighting of the flare in Firefly’s magic.

She stepped back, raising the Ironpony and putting it between them. “Pardon?”

“Surely, you know.” He paused, looking to her in earnest. “The very world we live in is in danger. The time to act is coming. We must prepare.”

What the fuck…?

“Explain.” Firefly stepped sideways, away from him.

We raised our weapons, I levitating my subgun from Cas’s back. Block settled down, resting his rifle along Min’s back.

“The streams of fate are shifting, Maiden. Old enemies are made friends, and friends turn on each other to survive what’s coming. The Black Book rediscovered, only to be lost again. The false Goddess shall die, and a new god will rise from the grey, the red and the autumn gold.”

Firefly gave him a confused look.

The stripe waved a hoof, pointing to the Overmare. “You come here for our sacrifices, but you are worth more to us than their mangy hides - take them with you as a token of our regard!”

That sounded like he was… letting us go?

“You’re letting us go?” Firefly shifted.

“All for a price, Equestrian! You will be leaving this holy place alone, you and your rust-covered mongrel cutthroats outside. We leave you alone. Until the time when we will need your eyes and weapons to carry our will outside. ”

An alliance? With us? After everything they’ve done?

I snorted, and the Overmare cast a look in my direction.

Firefly seemed to share my opinion.

The stripe continued. “Think what you will, Maiden. You will return to us, when the time is right… you will require our assistance in the near future, and us, yours. Do not die in the meantime.”

“Oh, I see…” Firefly grinned, stepping closer to the zebra. “You got nothin’!” She stabbed the zebra in the eye with the lit end of the flare. “Send it, Block!” She dropped to the ground as Block shot the leader through the chest.

“Fire forward, run!” Firefly raised the Ironpony from her position on the ground, dumping the magazine into the leader as he fell to the ground. “Go right! Right!”

I opened fire and heard several impacts, unsure of what I’d hit or how effective my shots had been. Firefly rolled to her hooves and galloped down the hallway to the right, running into something.

She tumbled to the ground, and fired down the hallway.

Crimson paused to pull her to her hooves as Cas lead me past her. “On your hooves, mare!”

We ran around a corner, and found ourselves face-to-face with a group of wastelanders, weapons up. I almost fell off of Cas as he stopped suddenly, raising my subgun.

Crimson darted forward through their ranks, approaching one in the second line. “Hammer! Good to see you. The Star Touched are behind us.”

Gunfire and angry screaming came from behind us, punctuating his words.

Hammer nodded and the wastelanders parted to let us through. “Don’t go too far, Crimson.”

We kept running, chased by gunfire and sounds of a vicious fight. It wasn’t long before we slowed, finding a room to bunker down in.

“What’s the plan, boss?” I looked to Firefly.

Firefly sighed. “Plan B.”

“Oh, right…” I looked around. “The alicorns left us…?”

Firefly turned to face me. “Handle it, Ivory. You can do it.”

“I don’t know…” I gritted my teeth, feeling around. “The anti-teleportation enchantment seems to be weak in this room.”

I… should be able to…?

I had to…

I got this.

Firefly nodded. “Right. Everyone, hold still. Sergeant, when you’re ready...”

“Right…” I closed my eyes, concentrating on the staging point we’d set up behind our lines.

Under the Aquastrian Embassy
07:54

Ivory teleported out, as did several Scouts and most of the wastelanders.

I waited a moment, to see if Ivory was coming back, or I was just being delayed.

Ivory didn’t return.

Nor did any alicorns.

I looked around. Min, Scarlet Paper, the Overmare and the other captives remained. A few of the wastelanders remained, too.

Min frowned, looking to Scarlet. “Um…”

Crimson looked around and cleared his throat.

Splinter frowned. “This was your escape plan?”

I shook my head, thinking. “This was the backup plan.” I waved a hoof, suppressing a wince as I shifted my weight to my injured leg. “There should have been alicorns to assist Ivory.”

Crimson looked to me, amused. “You convinced alicorns to help you?”

“Yes, but that’s not important right now…” I looked back to Crimson. “I’m open to suggestions…” I looked around to those surrounding us.

Ponies outside banged on the door. “Open the fuckin’ door and come out! Empty mouths and saddles!”

I looked to Crimson, speaking quietly. “Do you think they’ll kill us if we comply?”

Crimson shook his head, speaking quietly. “Not if they’ve any brains. Pull Tab ain’t stupid, nor is his second in command. I die, Raiders sweep in and kill everyone, everyone loses.”

He approached the door, raising his voice. “I’m Crimson Nimbus. With me is the Stable Scout, the head of the central exchange and the pony that runs the hospital. Go get Hammer and we’ll talk. I’m not negotiating with grunts. Tell her Crimson and the Scout want to speak with her.”

One of them outside spoke, loud enough for us to hear. “I say we just toss some frags in, tell Hammer they were dead when we found ‘em.”

I readied my TK in case they tried anything, wincing as my horn sparkled.

Crimson snarled, head extended. “You remember Celestial Midtown? If you kill me, the Raiders will burn this fuckin’ place to the waterline! Nobody wins! Go get your boss and then we’ll talk.” He snorted, then looked to me and my horn.

I nodded.

Pull Tab or Hammer might not be stupid, but their grunts…

A couple ponies moved away, but we could hear others moving around on the other side of the door. I drifted over to Crimson, speaking quietly. “You think this will work?”

“I think Pull Tab’s not been level with his ponies about what’s going on down below.” He nodded. “Assuming everyone’s rational, yeah, I think we’ll make it through this fine.”

I thought about that. “Assuming rational actors is a big assumption.”

He nodded grimly. “Plan B: can we expect anything from your alicorns?”

“Plan Bravo? I think we’re on Plan Foxtrot or something at this point.” He frowned, and I shrugged. “No clue. They panicked and fled when the tunnel collapsed.”

“That sounds like the Goddess all right…” He shrugged. “How did you even…?”

I opened my mouth to tell him about the ‘Crimson Alicorn,’ but I was interrupted as Hammer called through the door. “I’m here. What do you want, Crimson?”

Crimson sidled over to the door casually, speaking through it. “Did Pull Tab tell you about the Star Touched in the sewers?”

…

Hammer took a moment to respond, speaking coolly. “That’s none of your business, Raider. What do you want?”

He shot me a look, nodding slightly, confidently, mouthing ‘good shit’.

I spoke. “I’m the Stable Scout. We were here to rescue the captives they took, including our Overmare.” I looked to Overmare Keeper. “The ones who took our Overmare have made enemies of everyone in Baltimare. Let us leave and I can assure you that nobody will think you helped them.”

Silence greeted me for a moment.

Crimson nodded approvingly.

I felt a confusing mix of disgust and pride at his approval.

“Unfortunately, that’s not my call to make. Pull Tab wants to speak to you. Toss your weapons out, and we’ll not kill you. You have my word.”

I glanced to Crimson. “Can we trust them?”

He nodded, speaking quietly. “They can’t kill us, we’ve got them at gunpoint. They know that.”

“You’re thinking we tell ‘em to fuck off until they agree to let us leave unmolested?” I looked back to the door.

He shook his head. “Let’s play their game for now. In the words of Ministry Mare Sparkle… ‘friendship is magic’.”

“You’re saying we’ve got them right where we want them?” I looked from the door back to him.

“Exactly!” Crimson nodded sharply, raising his voice. “Very well, we accept. We’ll give you our weapons.”

I frowned as he spoke for all of us.

I was going to agree with him, but I’d have preferred if he’d talked about it first.

Min looked to me in shock, beginning to protest. “Captain?”

I cut her off before she could start. “You heard the pony.” I suited words to action by unslinging the Ironpony and unloading it.

Ministry of Morale observation post overlooking the Aquastrian Embassy
08:15

Blitz sailed through a hole in the front of the building, coughing at all the dust as she dropped to her hooves. She flapped her wings, blowing much of the dust out of the hole.

She then hurried to pull fallen debris off of one of the ponies of Surface Two on the ground. “Who’s in command here?”

Someone in the corner coughed, crawling to their hooves. “If you’re asking that question, it’s probably you!”

Blitz hopped back, pulling them to their hooves. “Fuck!”

Shine poked her head out from under some rubble. “Me! I’m here! I’m in command!” She coughed, crawling out. “What the fuck just happened? Sitrep!”

Blitz passed through, moving to the next room as one of the ponies of Surface Two answered her call for information.

The other room, the Raider command center, was also a mess.

Blitz keyed her radio. “Medic to command center, mass cas!” She approached General Azure, pulling some debris from him. “General?”

“I’m here…” General Azure crawled out from under debris, falling over as he tried to stand.

General Matchlock approached Azure. “Azure, you’re injured… I’ll take command.” He then turned to Blitz. “Blitz. Go get Major Serenity.”

“Aye, sir.” Blitz turned, hurrying to get Serenity.

Serenity was in a building overlooking the Embassy. The Raiders had pulled back and were licking their wounds.

Blitz approached Serenity. “Major, General Matchlock needs to speak to you.”

Serenity nodded. “Why didn’t he just use the comms?”

Blitz shrugged. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask.”

“Right… Understood.” Serenity looked across the room. “Peony! Matchlock needs me. You’re in command.”

Peony, a bandage covering half of her face and neck, turned to look at Serenity with her one good eye and waved a hoof. “Heard, Major!”

Blitz took to the sky behind Serenity. Once they were out of earshot of her troops, Blitz called to Serenity. “Hey, Major. You think Matchlock’s up to something?”

Serenity glanced over. “Matchlock is always up to something. Don’t know if he’s doing something now.”

“Now might be a good time for him to pull something.”

“I know, Blitz.”

Author's Notes:

It's been a while. StSc progresses towards the end, slowly but surely. Only a few more chapters to go...

Happy holidays, merry New Year everyone. May the next year be more productive than the last!