Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Sixteen

Jet walked in from the hangar bay with the rest of his squad cheering in victory. He was somewhat mauled from the combined attacks of a honey badger, eagle, and a tiger. His armor held up but he was a little beat up. He exclaimed as he walked into the bridge, “WE. KICKED. ASS!”

“You sure did,” Ship was right there to greet them as Nelly sat in the back resting after her mission, “This is gonna send quite a message to the Pulsar. We just canceled not one, but two of their most important operations in the allied sector. Not to mention we finally got that birdbrain cultist responsible for the attacks on New Ponyville during the colonization period. You guys deserve a long break. Carry on!”

Ship saluted to them as they parted ways throughout the Sky Buster. Jet and his sister went to the mess hall to get something to eat.

“Hey bro, you hear that?” Avia noticed some yelling coming from the mess hall.

“Yeah, hold on,” as Jet opened the double doors he saw Masayuki and Night Glider in a heated argument. Both of them very much angry.

“Your country is nothing but a warmongering tribe that has endangered Neighpon with threats of nuclear arms for decades!” Masayuki yelled with anger.

“And your country is an imperialist empire bent on enslaving the world and oppressing it's conquered people!” Night Glider butt heads with Yuki as the two pegasi glared at each other in anger while throwing some punches.

“Fuck this,” Jet came in and broke up the argument by throwing them both to the floor. Everypony in the mess hall watching the scene continued, “Stand the fuck down! Both of you! What the hell is going on?”

“IMPERIALIST!” Night Glider cried out as she was restrained by Avia.

“North Equestrian Do-” Masayuki was cut short as Jet tightened a choke hold on his neck.

“STAND! DOWN! I swear to fucking Celestia, Luna, and both the sun and moon that if you two don't stop I WILL MAKE IT STOP BY FORCE! Now calm the fuck down and tell me what happened,” Jet asserted his dominance and threw Masayuki on the floor again, forcefully.

“If we where on the the Yonaga this would have been settled in true Samurai fashion in the Shrine of Infinite Salvation,” Zenji Yamada, Masayuki's wingpony was also involved in the argument. The yellowish Neighponese pegasus added.

“I suggest you shut the fuck up! Stay out of this!” Jet did his best to defuse the situation.

Night Glider was squirmed as she was restrained by Avia, “Night Glider! You are not helping!”

Jet picked Masayuki back up, “So? What the hell happened?”

Masayuki dusted himself off and collected himself, “She insulted the Honor of Neighpon.”

“We as Samurai will not take such insults to Dai Neighpon or His Majesty the Emperor,” Zenji added.

“Is this true Night Glider?” Jet went up to her for questioning.

Night Glider nodded, "I only speak the truth against these imperialists for oppressing our people!"

Avia tightend her grip, "YOU SHUT UP!"

Zenji grips the hilt of katana at his side, “Oppression, hah! the Greater East Neighsia Co-Prosperity sphere has allowed the ponies of Manechuria and Zong-Xiao to live free of fear of western powers who would take advantage of them.”

As Jet saw Zenji go for his weapon he drew his revolver and shot a warning shot next to Zenji, “As the second in command of the NGJTF I order all of you to stand down or I WILL have all three of you grounds for a court martial!”

Avia questioned Night Glider again, “Why the hell did you say that to them Night?”

“Like I said, I was expressing my opinion. They took it as an insult.”

Avia facehoofed, “NO SHIT! The first thing you should never do is to express your negative opinions on others! Didn't you learn any manners when you were younger?”

“Well, no. I am not familiar with the mannerisms of the outside world. I thought the sharing of opinion was welcome here.”

Zenji recoiled back and calmed down, “That was not necessary, I had no intention of drawing my blade.”

Jet looked at Zenji and Masayuki and shook his head in disappointment, “For one thing: Night Glider is naïve. She's a recent defector from North Equestria and as you heard she had no idea her opinions would offend you like that. Second: give her a break. We almost killed her once so don't pick on her for being so different. She's still got a lot to learn about the outside world.”

Masayuki stood down, “Yes sir.”

Zenji did so as well, “The Hagakure states there is a time to live and a time to die, now is not the time for us to kill each other when the enemy is still out there.”

Jet sighed, “Finally some progress. Okay, can we try this one more time? Night Glider, this is Zenji and Masayuki. Zenji, Yuki, Night Glider.”

Night Glider nervously stepped forward, “Hello, um. I am Night Glider. And you must be the Neighponese imperialist dogs?”

Avia and Jet both facehoofed, “NOT RIGHT NIGHT GLIDER!”

Zenji smirked to the idiocy of his North Equestrian comrade, “Charmed...”

Masayuki he says with a deadpan expression, “It's an honor...”

“Night Glider,” Jet approached her, “You have a LONG way to go to learn how to work with others. Let's try again and this time say something nice without that Starlight Glimmer propaganda bullcrap swimming in your head.”

“Okay,” Night Glider dipped sheepishly, “Um, hello Neighponese ponies. I-um... Like your hair... I guess? Is that good?”

Jet nodded.

“Right! I do like your hair ponies of Neighpon! May I ask to touch it?”

“Too far!” Jet intruded, “Ask how is their day.”

“Okay! Change of topic, how goes your day?”

Zenji spoke, “Fine, my mother sent me a package of mochi in this mornings post, my family owns a mochi shop in the shopping district of Maizuru. I believe your sisters Izayaka is a couple blocks down from our shop Masayuki-san.”

“Mo-chi?” asked Night Glider.

“Rice cake,” explained Zenji.

“Is it like a muffin?”

“They are very tasty,” Masayuki added.

“All we ever ate in North Equestria were bland muffins,” Night Glider's ears dipped at the thought.

“It's hard to say to say as Mochi doesn’t really have a western equivalent,” Zenji continued.

“It does have a sweet taste though, My father is very good at making them, my mother loves them too,” Masayuki smiled to the thoughts of comfort food.

“Your famliy helped us pound mochi last New Years if I remember correctly,” Zenji went back and forth with his friend

“Yes, it was Very good,” Yuki smiled.

Zenji put a hoof on his friend's shoulder, “Hopefully we will be able to return to do it again next new years.”

“It must be nice having family. All mine were executed," Night Glider became sullen again.

Zenji sighed, “My condolences.”

“Your what?” Night Glider asked as Jet and Avia left them to their conversation, “Nevermind. Well, I do have one family member still alive.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Zenji explained.

“And, why are you sorry? You didn't do it,” Night was left clueless.

Zenji continued, “It's a common way for somepony to express their sympathy for anothers struggle or problems.”

Night Glider cocked her head to one side, “Such a strange action one would take towards that. In the regime we were all concerned only for ourselves and our families.”

“I'm sure one day you will have the chance to avenge them,” Zenji nodded as they went on.

Jet looked back at the three ponies to see they were getting along. Him and his sister waited in line with some of the other new members. Slash and Feather were talking to each other.

“So how do those augmentations work? Don't they get uncomfortable sometimes?”

“Not really Feather. Oh hey, I didn't see you there boss,” Slash turned to Jet.

“No prob. Say! Good job on your first mission,” he turned back to Piggle who was in the back of the kitchen, “Hey Pigsy! Can we get something to eat?”

Piggle's smartwatch beeped, “Oh hold on something came up.”

“Attention all ponies of the NGJTF! We have been invited to dinner by an important UPF businessman. Many of you may know of him and his past opinion on us. So here he is Mr. Alson Burry!” Ship came over the intercom before introducing the once hateful anti-Equus Purrloin pokmorph.

“Hello and good evening fine ponies of Equus. I sincerely invite all of you for dinner at my Emerald City mansion roughly three hours from now. As a token of my gratitude and an apology for my past rude behavior please come down and have some fun! Thank you very much NGJTF and carry on.”

“Did you hear that guys? Dinner's free tonight on this guy! So let's not keep him waiting,” Ship continued after Alson, “Let's not be late.”

Rush bumped into Jet as a paranoid expression donned his face, “I don't like the sound of it.”

“Oh come on Rush!” Jet smiled, “That stuck up bastard finally sees that we're just as kickass as the others in the UPF. It's nice to know we're getting our name out there.”

Rush's tail twitched involuntarily, “DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

“Rush, it's just nervous jitters. There is no way that can be your, um, Sugar Sense?”

“It's not Sugar Sense Jet! It's a Rush Reaction!” Rush started to become more paranoid and looked back and forth, “I get that from my mom and it hasn't failed me once!”

“Rush, you're crazy...” Jet sighed as Rush flew up to the ceiling upside down and started walking along it trying to sneak by. He crawled out of the mess hall and into the hallway, “That Rush. What is up with him?”

“He's Pinkie's kid. Don't think too hard on it bro. I'm just gonna get a quick snack to kill my hunger before we head out,” Avia got some chips from the nearby vending machine and called it good.

-----

The whole crew of thirty some ponies launched out to the planet's surface and landed in the courtyard of Alson's mansion. The businessman was right there to greet all of them as they departed from their dropship.

“Greetings! Welcome to the Burry Estate. Terribly sorry for my past opinions of you. I hope we can make amends,” Alson smiled and shook the hoof of Ship.

“No problem Mr. Burry. You do have a lovely home!”

“Why thank you Rear Admiral Ship. Pardon my security, these recent Pulsar incursions have me a bit concerned lately. My snipers are everywhere and I have a full PMC platoon patrolling the grounds at all times,” Alson explained his rather elaborate security measures, “You wouldn't mind handing over all of your weapons to my guards would you? Just a formality. Company policy you know.”

“Sure thing. Everyone, go ahead and hand over your guns,” Ship ordered to all of them. Rush looked to his hip and saw that he forgot his pistol.

“Wow, and I thought Strella's house was huge!” Jet commented. Rush still sat in the back with eyes squinted in a paranoid gaze. His tail wouldn't stop twitching either.

“Twitcha-twitch!” he whispered to Ship, “Twitcha-twitch!”

“Rush, stop being so nervous. You're gonna embarrass yourself you know?”

“That's not it!” Rush flew up right next to Alson's face and pointed a hoof back and forth, “I'vve got my eye on you!”

“Um, is your friend always this eccentric?”

Unanimously all the ponies who knew Rush replied back with a synchronized yes.

“Ah, fair enough. I don't mind really. Come! Come! Let me show you all inside!”

The first thing they noticed were the shelves that displayed some remnants of Alson's past work. Slash immediately recognized some of the tools he had on display as personal trophies.

“Wow! That's a Reliable Minerals diamond cyber drill. Where did you get it?” Slash eyed the piece of mining equipment.

“I'm glad you noticed!” Alson smiled fondly, “Reliable Minerals Co. 'Our main export is gravel!' Funny how that became our slogan. The founder always had quite a sense of humor. I used to work as a miner for that company! And seeing your augmentations Mr... I'm sorry I don't quite know your name.”

“Slashwing,” the cyber pony replied, “Slashwing Crystal. I think I do remember you now.”

“Oh yes! I shared my lunch with you before you were augmented. You know! That one time were Lenny dropped his and managed to get his lunch all over his girlfriend? I remember that day now!” Alson laughed.

“Oh yeah! That was funny,” Slash rolled his eyes, “Wow, it's been a long time since I've heard anything of them.”

“Well that's the thing. They disbanded due to our funding being cut. When it happened I managed to work my way up the corporate chain and somehow I got most of the company's stock. I traded it in to Rivers Manufacturing and they subsidized it into their mining operations branch. So here I am now, one of the wealthiest backers of Rivers Manufacturing,” Alson gestured with his hands as he talked.

“No kidding. The pay was good,” Slash remembered.

“Anyway! Enough of this boring history lesson! Come on, make yourselves at home! There's plenty of room for all of you to mix and mingle. If you need anything call one of my butlers. I just need to check on dinner for a minute. Well then, go on! Do whatever your little pony hearts desire,” Alson checked his watch before departing to the kitchen to check on his chefs. The ponies all started to explore the mansion.

Jet and Passion walked along in one of the many open hallways of the mansion. Passion spoke up.

“This... Feels familiar.”

“What do you mean Pass?” Jet looked back.

“I dunno. I have a weird paranoia of mansions after... You know, my book?”

“Oh yeaaah,” Jet cocked his head back, “But why in the world did you have to kill my dad like that... AGAIN!”

Passion sheepishly smiled, “Soorrry. I really do like what your father did. To be honest with you. He's my idol as well and to be your friend is, um... Really an honor, Jet.”

Jet rolled his eyes with a smile before giving Passion a hug, “Aw! Thanks Passion. And Nelly if you're watching this it was a friendly hug!”

“Kay!” a yell from Nelly in the other room reaffirmed things.

“Anyway, let's see what's in here,” Jet opened a door with a note stuck to it, “For Jet and Passion. Huh...”

As Jet opened the room him and Water Wings were greeted with a massive assortment of video game systems both Equus and Federation with an equally massive selection of games to boot. Jet's jaw dropped.

“HOT DAMN! Look at all this Pass!”

Passion started to feel a little unnerved, “Okay, this looks very sketchy...”

“OH COME ON! First Rush and now you? It's just a book Passion! There's no way Alson has read it. Didn't you say it didn't sell very well?”

“Well, it didn't sell that much at all outside of Equus! Only one copy outside of our planet and the others I gave to family and friends. I guess you're right Jet. I think it's just the huge mansion making me a bit paranoid.”

“Well, Glitzy is here. She's not gonna get stabbed repeatedly if that's what you're thinking,” Jet sunk into a bean bag chair and started playing a UPF video game, “Whoa! Passion check this game out!”

It was a free to play first person shooter titled: “Joint Strike Force!” All the combat ponies of the NGJTF were the characters of the video game as selectable players for online play. Jet took the controller and selected himself.

“Whoa! Passion they got my voice right! I wonder who they hired for the voice actor? OH MAN! My kit is spot on! I get to select my AR, revolver, and specials but my perks get locked in place unless I buy them! Wow, this is my playstyle all over it!”

“Uh huh...” Passion dug at the ground a little bit.

“LOOK! They even have you!”

“WHAT?!” She jumped in on the second seat, “Out of my way! I'm grabbing the second player on the next TV!”

As they started the match the two of them rushed out of the spawn room only to be bombarded by a grenade barrage from a player who chose Blossom. Jet laughed uncontrollably as his avatar's body ragdolled into the stratosphere.

“DAMMIT! HAHA! Well they got Blossom right! Oh look a guy on our team has his character as one of Frostbite! I'm gonna try and message him,” Jet enabled his microphone to his team, “Hey! They got a Blossom guarding spawn. I need a Prelude, Hornet, or a Alyssa to snipe that bitch.”

“Wait hold on. Jet is that you? Like, the real you?” the person playing as Strella named CobaltArrowXX asked over the game chat.

“Yeah! Who is this?”

“It's the real Strella dude! Notice my in game name is of a different color than these guys. Hold on I'll switch to Ally to take care of that Blossom!” her character's avatar went back into their spawn room and switched heroes, “Okay coming back to suppress the Blossom! How you been Jet?”

“Good! Good! Passion is playing as herself. She's not doing too good.”

“Hey!” Passion pouted, “It's hard! I don't know the controls!”

“Left trigger to aim down sights! That should help. Your SDAR is suppressed so you won't appear on the minimap. Fire from under the water! You get a damage boost caz that's your special ability. Crap! They're capping the point! Get in there Passion and clean house!” Jet ordered to her.

“Okay! Okay!” Passion swam up underneath the capture point and unloaded with her virtual rifle. It was a quick mop up as she earned a triple kill, “I DID IT!”

“Good! Capping first point!” Jet jumped to the hardpoint and started to hack in with Strella giving them sniper cover with her avatar as Alyssa the sniper.

“Say, where are you playing this anyway? Your PING is really good,” Strella sniped another player with the loud crack of her 23mm sniper rifle. The opposing player's butthurt appeared on screen with a chat message.

OMFGWTFBBQ FIREFLY SNIPER OP! I HATE THAT THING YOU STUPID NOOB WHORE.

Strella laughed in the microphone, “Says the guy using Blossom the explosive spam pony.”

“Oh to answer your question Strella, I'm playing at Mr. Alson Burry's house. He invited us over for dinner, all of us, for a job well done,” before Jet could finish the server disconnected to the match, “Dammit! Server lagged out.”

“I was... Actually liking that game. I want to play more after dinner,” Passion took off her gaming headset and looked to Jet.

“Hey! You got me to join the Fairy Mountain Fountain fandom so it's my turn to covert you to FPS games instead of Minceraft all the time! You've heard of Call to Duty?”

“Yeah?”

“Blue Circuit and I play that shit almost every day. He's got some tips and tricks on his channel you should watch. Also I recommend following Drif0rPony, Ali-P, and PmarTn if you wanna get gud scrub. Here, I'll show you one of their videos,” Jet opened up his tablet and started to project onto the wall.

“Hey guys! Drif0r here welcome to Advance Warfare In Dept and today's episode we're gonna be talking about movement mechanics-”

-----

Fragarach and Simon started to explore the balcony of the house that overlooked the courtyard in the evening sunset. Simon sighed, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Something wrong bud?” Frag asked his friend.

“It's the whole single thing. Like, how long will it take for me to find a girl I can settle down with? None of the others like me, I'm a slob, and dammit Frag I'm gonna be a virgin forever.”

“Well, at least you're gonna be an Saddlearabian's bitch in the afterlife,” Fragarach joked. Simon just shot him a glare, “Oh come on. It's not that bad. Besides, I don't have a girlfriend either. I'm fine with my life right now. I've got my whole life ahead of me and you do too! Stop sweating the small stuff man! You'll find one eventually. Plus, being in the military is kinda hard picking up chicks if they're all busy fighting shit. Cheer up. Try wooing some mares outside the military next time we visit Equus. I'll be your wingpony for that if you want!”

“That, makes my life easier. Thanks for being there buddy!” Simon tipped his drink to his friend, “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” they drank their beers and replaced the empty bottles back onto the butler's tray.

“Would any one of you like to sample some appetizers before we serve the main dinner? Master Burry would like to know what ponies tastes like.”

“You mean what we like to eat? Oh sure!” Fragarach volunteered.

“Splendid! We wouldn't want to serve the wrong appetizers if nopony likes them. Please come with me to the kitchen Mr. Fragarach.”

“See you later Simon! I'll be back shortly!” Fragarach followed the butler before being intercepted by Rush, “Oh! Hey Ru-”

“TWITCHA-TWITCH! TWITCHA-TWITCH!” Rush started to panic and flail Fragarach back and forth.

“RUSH! What has gotten into you?”

“Something is wrong! Something is very wrong and I can feel it andthethingandthisandthatannnd!”

Fragarach locked Rush in place for a minute, “Rush buddy! I'm just gonna sample some food before we eat. Geez stop with that Sugar Sense of yours. It's all just nervous jitters because Mr. Burry, well, WAS a complete asshole. No offense taken Mr. Butler?”

“None taken. I assure you Mr. Burry had a change of heart.”

“Great! Now Rush, I want you to calm down. Take a few deep breathes.”

Rush started to gasp like a fish much like his mother in Too Many Pinkie Pies. Frag facehoofed.

“That is NOT helping. Dude, you got to chill.”

Rush froze in place and stopped responding to all stimuli. Frag waved his hoof in Rush's face back and forth.

“Hello?”

Rush literally just started to freeze over. This didn't surprise Frag.

“Whatever. To explain that pony is to try to comprehend the quantum realm. Now! To the kitchen!”

“Yes sir,” the butler lead Frag past the double doors of the kitchen.

-----

“It's nice to know you're on our side now,” Ship conversed with Mr. Burry himself, “Tell me, what got you to change your mind?”

“When you've done so much for my nation of course! Oh hold on something came up,” Alson's phone started to beep, “Tell the ponies dinner is postponed for two hours. Fragarach is helping to taste the dishes best suited for their palette. Oh good! I wasn't quite sure what to serve you tonight or if you even ate meat.”

“Oh no, we eat meat,” Ship smiled as Tough Heart started to nibble her ear, “Oh stop you!”

“Are you two married?” Alson asked.

“Yup! Three years and counting! After the war we plan to have a kid eventually.”

Alson smiled, “Well I wish the both of you a long and happy marriage. I myself favor a less beaten path in life. I use the money I earn to help out a just cause. Helping my nation that is. I believe in Rivers Manufacturing and what it does, however there seems to be some internal affairs that might be linked to those terrorists, the Pulsar. Ugh, this isn't the first time the Federation has dealt with such degenerates before.”

“Please, go on. Maybe it would shed some light on the Pulsar,” Ship got off her chair and leaned on her husband.

“Well, twenty five... Six, maybe it was seven years ago we were engulfed with in a war with Lylat. This started when they seemingly fired upon a civilian mining vessel floating in their territories. You know how the UPF democracy works right?”

“Yes, the people have all the say. The government is only there to serve them. And sometimes that isn't the best of decisions, namely the whole anti Equus thing.”

“Yes Rear Admiral. I am quite ashamed to be one of the prime instigators of that. Well, we voted for a full scale war with Lylat and the majority vote won. So after a few years of bloody warfare we started to notice a pattern. Lylat was under the control of our age old enemies: the Rising Tide. This faction is a group of genetic degenerates who refused to abide by the laws set forth by our Federation. The law that clearly states: any and all insane, sociopath, or otherwise mentally ill individual with intentions to harm other Pokemorphs will be subjected to a non invasive gene therapy to cure them of their insanity. Of course, there was always the large minority of the Tide that chose not to abide by that most civilized rule. And those murderers, scum, and terrorists are all either dead or in hiding. Or forcefully cured. I know it might not be your idea of good ethics but here in the UPF we eliminate the choice to do bad. Well, there is always the huge misunderstanding, like my previous opinion on Equus. Again, terribly sorry for all of that mess.”

“It's okay Mr. Burry. Again, it's nice to know you are on our side!”

-----

Hornet and Scratch trotted in the beautiful night lit garden of the mansion. Scratch was leaning her head into Hornet's cheek, a smile wide on her face.

“Tonight sure is pretty mi amore,” Hornet stopped to look up at the single moon that hovered over the UPF home planet of Ultimax. Scratch tackled her lover to the ground and started to nuzzle him.

“You're short,” Scratch teased, “And I love you!”

Hornet smirked as he put his hooves up in submission. There was a crackle from his radio.

“Pompous to Bumblebee! Pompous to Bumblebee! How goes the evening over?” Lightning, Hornet's old squadron buddy came over the radio.

Scratch snatched the radio off Hornet's belt, “Kitty Cat to Pompous, Bumblebee is a little, *giggle* 'busy' right now!”

“Pompous to Bumblebee, what in Equus is going on over there?”

“It's Scratch! Leave us alone for a minute! Does this thing have a camera? Oh screw it!” Scratch threw the radio past a row of a hedge maze and it landed on the other side. Scratch put a hoof to her lover's mouth, “Shh! I'm gonna have some fun with you tonight.”

Hornet smirked sheepishly with eyes wide. The two of them coupled lips as the radio still transmitted.

“Pompous to Bumblebee! Bumblebee! BUMMBLEE BEEEE!”

-----

After the two hour break from their various activities all around the mansion all the ponies gathered around the backyard where they were seated for dinner. Ship and Tough were right next beside Alson as his guests of honor while everypony else took their seats. Alson tapped his wineglass.

“Everypony! I want to welcome you to dinner. Fragarach is going to be late he is rather stuffed from all the appetizers he picked out for you. Ah yes! Here it comes now! Please, do enjoy!”

The ponies started to sample the dishes one by one. Red October and Blue Circuit were seated next to each other talking about their lives.

“So Blue, I'd like to ask you a question,” Red took a bite of his fine cheese and crackers.

“Go ahead.”

“I saw you talking to that one they call Passion. To be honest I have been eying her from a distance. I think she's cute to be honest comrade,” Red whispered to his friend in his usual Slavic accent.

“Oh!” Blue was surprised, “Actually, Passion is looking for a boyfriend. You know you should ask her out! See what happens.”

“Oh really now! Okay, I will ask her tonight when I have chance. Forgive me if my Equestrian is little sloppy,” Red shrugged as he ate.

“It's cool man! Say you seen Rush anywhere?”

“Probably hiding like little bitch. I have no idea why he's so paranoid. It's like STALKER in Pripyat always worrying about next emission. Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Blah! Who cares? My days as a STALKER are over. Not like anypony would believe me.”

“I believe you,” Blue ate some hotdogs offered to him, “Even though I don't know what you're talking about.”

“That is fine comrade. It is best you don't know. Thank you for clearing things up with Passion friend!”

“No probs. We could always use more happy couples,” Blue smiled as he gave a brohoof to his Stalliongradi friend.

Alson welcomed in the main course, “And to you, my friends I present! The finest steak in all of the Federation! Dig in!”

“Huh,” Jet noticed the smell, “It's not Sky Whale. What is it?”

“Take a guess! Go! Eat!” Alson smiled.

“Mmm! It tastes really good! What kind of seasoning did you use on this?” Avia chowed down.

“It's my secret maple blend of spices. I'm sure not telling what it is. That would spoil the surprise!”

“I have to thank you for all of this. I'm glad we all settled our misunderstandings,” Ship nodded as she ate her steak.

“I have got to have the recipe for this!” Jet was really enjoying his meal, “It's not Sky Whale. It tastes like beef... But, sweeter? It could be just the maple flavor. Please Mr. Burry, could you tell us what this is?”

Alson looked at all the ponies at the table happily enjoying their meal as he finished his mouthful of steak and fava beans, “Oh yes! It's my blend of spices, some stuffing, and,” He paused, letting the taste sink in, “Bits of your friend...”

Mr. Burry lifted up the silver cover to a plate with Fragarach's cooked head on a platter. The ponies all looked in shock and horror. All of them vomited as they realized that they had just been served a chopped up dinner of their friend.

Ship looked in disbelief, “T-This is a joke?! Right?!”

A full platoon of Pulsar infiltrators decloaked behind all of them with guns pointed to their pony heads.

“Oh! On the contrary Rear Admiral Ship! Horse meat is a rather tasty delicacy here in the Federation. Now I thought to myself one day what your species would taste like. I have to say, it was quite better than expected,” Alson took a big chunk of flesh from the cheeks of Fragarach's head and ate it with a side of fava beans, “Tell me Jet, have you ever had lechon? The cheek meat is always the best! Mmm!”

“YOU SICK MOTHERFUCKER!” Jet started to stir before the Pulsar soldier guarding him took a rifle to the back of his head.

“Manners Mr. Jump Jet! Manners. Now, you have all been quite a thorn in my side for the past few months now. You were always disrupting my operations for the Miltia. So now I get to have my fun with all of you,” Alson snickered, “Before we have our dessert let's play a little game. Passion, I do say I really love your book and how you kill so many stupid ponies in it! I do love how Jet's father died. Oh! And how Ship's mother was the first killer! How exciting. I love a good murder mystery...”

“What do you want from us?!” Passion shrieked.

Alson merely snickered again, “This.”

The Purrloin Pokemorph took out his handgun and shot Ship twice right in the stomach. She fell to the floor.

“NOOO!” Tough Heart jumped from his seat and held his dying wife close, “Ship! You're gonna be okay! Dammit! J-Just dammit!”

Ship was in shock. Her eyes locked in a dead gaze and her whole body trembled as she was bleeding out. With her last defiant bit of strength she held onto her husband's hoof as tight as she can manage.

“I-I'm scared Tough...” she whispered.

“No no no! Save your strength!” Tough fought a losing battle as the two 10mm bullets tore a massive hole in her midsection. She was going to die in mere minutes, a slow and painful death in the hooves of her husband.

“Take them away!” Alson ordered the rest of his soldiers. All of the ponies struggled before getting knocked out by tranq darts, chloroform, stun guns, and other assorted restraints. Tough Heart was hog tied and dragged away from his dying wife.

“SHIP! SHIP!” he was bawling his eyes out, “SHIPP!”

A single blood stained tear formed in Ship's eye, still locked in place with a dead and expressionless gaze. She used the last bit of her willpower to roll over to her side and reach out for her husband before passing on. Her eyes remained open in her restless death.

-----

Jet awoke inside of a holding cell to the commotion outside. He could hear punches and bucks being thrown outside his barred room and saw a Pulsar soldier fly across his door and shot dead by a suppressed weapon. One pony managed to escape.

“Bro!” Avia hurriedly opened his cell door, “Come on! I'm busting you out of here!”

“Avia?” Jet gasped as he saw that she was holding her smartpistol, “Um, where did you hide that?”

His sister sighed, “Don't ask. You know where. Why did you think I was wearing pants today? Here! You're gonna need this!”

Avia tossed him his P33 revolver. Jet nodded, “Thanks. I just hope that doesn't give you a yeast infection or something.”

“Just shut up,” Avia flew up to the ceiling and used her wings to walk upsidedown in stealth. Jet did the same.

“So realistically sis how are we gonna save everyone?” Jet whispered to her, “And did you at least keep the mag separate when you stuck it in there?”

“Duh of course I did. But I-I dunno. Ship's dead. We'll be lucky if we make it out alive. I'm the only one with the suppressed weapon here and we don't have a lot of ammo either.”

They saw a guard walk beneath them welding an ARP-5 pulse rifle. The one rifle that can passively recharge shots fielded by the UPF.

Jet signaled to his sister by pointing to the guard. He whispered into her ear, “I got an idea!”

Avia stood upside down and locked onto her target's head. With one pull the guard fell dead and Jet rushed down to secure his rifle.

“Got it! It's not suppressed by at least ammo isn't an issue now.”

“Hey!” Mac Book reached out from his cell, “Guys get me out of here!”

Avia and Jet unlocked his door. He was all battered up from being tortured.

“Can you walk?”

“I'm fine Jet. I wish I could help but the guards took away my PDA.”

Jet looked to the two dead guards in the long hallway, “Any of those?”

“Wait! Yeah that guy!” Mac looked over the dead body and found his device, “Got it! First thing's first. I'm gonna hack into their cameras. There! I see all the others in their cells. Say, what happened to our camera?”

“I shot it. First thing I shot then the guard so we'd be undetected,” Avia made the right call, “You got a map on that thing?”

“Yeah! It shows where we are and where everyone else is.”

“Good,” Avia patted him on the back, “Stay behind us and out of sight.”

“I gotta tell you something. All these doors are analogue. Stone and steel. I can't hack any locks and these guards don't carry the keys to the other sections. This underground prison facility is huge and we're the only ones in this hallway of cells. Hold on, let me check the status of everypony,” Mac flipped his screen to the list of all active members. Each one of them kept a tiny implant in their clothes that could monitor their heart rate and vital signs, “Ship and Fragarach are dead. A lot of us are wounded and tortured.”

“Who's in the most trouble right now? Any vitals dipping?” Jet looked at Mac's screen.

“It's Glitzy! She's in the next hallway!” Mac threw the PDA into his pocket as they rushed over to help their new recruit. As they neared the barred door Avia managed to shoot a guard without alerting anyone else. The guard was covered in blood and had a decorative, yet functional knife.

“Holy shit!” Jet looked into the cell. Glitzy was sprawled on the floor and stabbed multiple times in the gut. A large stain of blood was smeared across the floor as she tried to crawl to the door, “MAC! Healing spell! NOW!”

“Damn! I'll try!” Mac's horn glowed as he tried to close up Glitzy's wounds. They were only made smaller by Mac's inabilities for medical magic, “Crap! I'm a programmer not a medic!”

“Avia! Rip that guy's uniform so I can use it for bandages! Mac! Apply direct pressure to her wounds,” Jet gave his round of orders, “Hold on! I got an idea.”

Jet took a metal pipe from the floor and washed it off before heating it with his lighter. The pipe glowed red hot as Jet pressed it onto her wounds to seal them off. Avia cupped her hoof to Glitzy's mouth to prevent her screams. Avia kept another hoof on her neck as well to check for pulse.

“Damn! She's going into shock! Her heart rate is pounding faster and she's feeling clammy!”

“Roll her onto her back and keep her legs up! Mac, stay here,” Jet rushed out of the cell and found a medical box on the wall. He bashed the plastic case open and took out a large packet of biofoam, “Oh thank Celestia! Biofoam!”

Avia looked to her brother, “Jet! She's not stable!”

“Don't worry!” Jet applied the foam to the rest of her wounds, “Pray to the sun and moon that she makes it.”

The miracle substance worked its way into her blood and started to rapidly oxygenate it. The foam worked to close her remaining wounds with nanosutures and stop all blood loss when it was exposed to the air. Glitzy started to regulate her breathing.

“Holy damn...” Jet looked at the PDA he took out of Mac's pocket, “Stable. But we can't just sit here like this. Who's next?”

“You are,” one of the guards stood next to the open cell door and kicked the other guard's body off to the side. Avia took aim with her smartpistol but for some reason it wouldn't lock. Her visor identified the guard as friendly.

“What?! My pistol-”

“It's me you guys,” Strella took off her beret and sunglasses, “Came by once I saw Jet's message in game. I really figured something fishy when you said you were invited to Alson's house. I know that man. He doesn't change his ideals at the drop of a hat. Are you guys okay?”

“No...” Jet hung his head, “Ship and Fragarach are dead and the rest of us are stuck here. All thirty something of us.”

Strella facepalmed, “Dammit! It's gonna take a lot more than me to break you guys out. Strella to Mitch! We got a situation at the Burry Estates. Turns out it was him working for the Pulsar. Creep left the planet though and disappeared without a trace. He's imprisoned the vast majority of the NGJTF, two confirmed dead. Free to engage all hostiles,” Explosions and gunfire kicked off above them. Strella looked to Jet and the others, “Let's go!”

-----

Passion was thrown into her cell by force after she was beaten repeatedly by the guards. After they had their fun with her they broke one of her legs and left her to rot in her cell. She cried in pain, sobbed, then curled into a ball to protect her injured left limb.

“Eto normal'no ostanovka plachet,” Red trotted forward to Passion laying on the floor, “Stop crying. Everything is going to be okay,” Red was all bruised up and battered like Passion but his tolerance for pain allowed him to escape the more ruthless torture by causing his captor's boredom with him. He slowly lifted her up careful not to put any pressure on the leg, “Come here, it's okay Passion.”

Passion dragged herself into her comrade's arms. Red gently wrapped them around her and gave her a shoulder to cry into. Red started to sing in his native tongue.

“Pust on vspomnit devushku prostuiu, Pust uslyshit, kak ona poet, Pust on zemliu berezhet rodnuiu, A liubov Katyusha sberezhet.”

“That song is pretty,” Passion started to calm down as Red rocked her gently.

“Thank you. It's the song my mother always sang to me for a lullaby. It's called Katyusha. It's an old song about a woman longing for her lover out fighting a war,” Red kept gently rocking and comforting her, “Passion. If we die tonight I want to let you know that I love you. Blue told me how lonely you were. You're not alone any more my little dushka.”

Passion looked up to the smile of her comrade. She tucked her head under his and hugged him with her wings tight, not wanting to let go, “I... I love you too Red. You've made me so happy right now. But I'm sad too. And scared.”

“I'm scared too,” Red started to pet Passion in her warm embrace. There were explosions outside that quaked the room.

“Bam!” Jet bucked the door open as Strella stabbed a guard in the background, “We're outta here! The UPF sent in a rescue team and they're pounding the surface with their gunships. Red! Can you fight?”

“Da! Da!” Red yelled in victory.

“Good! Here's your 6P35 back! How's Passion?”

“She's hurt but only a broken leg! I can still fight while I carry her! Go comrade! I will cover you!”

Jet pushed forward as Pulsar mercenaries started to take defensive positions inside the underground compound. Unknown to them that Jet, Avia, Mac, Red, Passion and Strella came up behind them. Passion was using her left wing to hold onto Red.

“Give me a gun!” Passion whispered as they took cover behind a stack of boxes to take their guards by surprise. Strella dug through her pockets and slid Passion an Equestrian P2011 pistol.

“Make it count,” Strella peaked over her cover, “On three! One... Two... Three!”

They all stood up from their boxes and took out the enemies they managed to flank. With a successful surprise attack a group of UPF soldiers breached through the door.

“UPF Special Forces! We're here to rescue you!” the Eevee Pokemorph leading the exo suited squad secured the room. There was an Espeon shotgunner with black hair and goggles plus a female Syleon sniper with a Fluttershy keychain affixed to her DMR. On top of that there was a male Vulpix that looked very similar to Alyssa of Task Force Frostbite, “Rico, Carmen. Unlock all the cells! Will, you too! Gather all the ponies and get them the medical help they need.”

“Yes sir!” Carmen saluted as she shouldered her DMR, “Rico you get this floor. I got the floor down.”

“Got it sister! Will and I will get the prisoners,” the Espeon rushed over to the cells and started to free the remaining ponies.

Strella stood up and took off her disguise, “Frostbite will take it from here Spazzy. You and the rest of 3-Burn get our friends out of this mess.”

“Copy that Miss Strella!”

Jet helped Red carry out Passion while Avia went back to help Glitzy. He sighed with deep grief finally washing over him, “Alson played his cards right. We walked into a trap and this is what happened. Dammit...”