Chapter 25 - Infiltration
“When in Roam…”

My plan had few moving parts, but left a lot to chance. Scanning the path the cart would have to take to Manny’s, we saw a small valley where several long dead trees had fallen and would provide cover for us. However, I know that we couldn’t just meet them head on. Even though it was five against four in our favor, assuming the non-pegasus cart driver was not an Enclave sympathizer, it was still four fully trained soldiers with superior weaponry. Our ragtag group of one former Enclave soldier, one neophyte mercenary, two experienced Wasteland adventurers, and one inexperienced fighter wouldn’t stand a chance face to face. We needed the element of surprise.

My friends took their positions among the husks of the dead trees, hid and waited. I would distract the escorts and my friends would take them out while they would be, hopefully, focused on me. The cart drew near and entered the small valley. The guards tensed up, noticing the perfect spot for an ambush. Once they were fully in the middle of the trees, I took off and flew right towards them.

All four flicked up their firing bits and three of them began to aim towards me. I couldn’t get a good read on their faces since they were all wearing standard issue combat helmets. What I did know was that there were three stallions and one mare. The mare called out.

“Whoever you are, you are to land and submit to interrogation!” she shouted at me.

Without delay, I landed several yards in front of them, keeping the guards directly between me and where my friends were hidden. “It’s about to be your lucky day,” I announced. When I saw barely a reaction, I doubled down. “You do know who I am right?” I held my left foreleg aloft so they could see the Pipbuck on my fetlock.

“Holy shit, Shear,” one of the rear guards gasped through his bit. “You don’t think this is the traitor, do you?”

The mention of the word traitor drew the attention of the ponies in the back. They trotted forward as the driver of the cart slunk down as far as he could in his harness. He’s seen this type of tactic before I assumed.

“Yes, it is I, Dust Cloud, formerly known as Operative Updraft!” I called out with mock bravado. “And I am surrendering myself to you to bring me to Clear Skies or Muddy Waters or whatever he goes by now.”

“Holy shit!” one of them mumbled. “Do you know what this means? This will probably get us a juicy promotion!”

While they were all discussing their new found fame, my friends emerged from behind the trees and quietly approached the guards from behind. I watched as Gertie quietly counted to three on her claws and then they all moved. Each of my friends leapt and wrapped their hooves around the throats of the pegasus in front of them while they grabbed their opposite foreleg. They all applied pressure and the look of fear in the eyes of the soldiers became visible.

The guards began to wheeze and gasp while beginning to struggle against the death grips my friends had. The leader tried to activate the radio button on his shoulder, but Gertie quickly severed the wire with her sharp beak.

I watched as the exposed parts of their faces started to turn blue, and in one case, more blue. Two of the soldiers were still trying to pull the forelegs away from their throats. That was a waste of effort. The other two began to flail back and forth, even resorting to rearing up and falling backwards to wrench free of their attacker. Flower was on the back of one of them and made an audible “oof” when she slammed into the ground, but held firm.

Silver didn’t fare nearly as well. When her victim reared backwards and fell over, Silver’s grip loosened just enough for the soldier to break free. They tumbled away from each other both breathing heavily, albeit for different reasons. Silver tried to pull her weapon as quickly as possible.

“No!” I shouted. “We need the uniform clean!”

“Is… that… so?” the pegasus wheezed. Retaining an impressive amount of composure, he aimed the plasma rifle mounted on his side right at Silver. “You… will… pay… for… that…” the soldier wheezed between breaths. I made a move to put myself between Silver and the pony. “Nuh-uh,” he shouted. “You stay... right there, or she... gets it right now.”

Silver looked between the rifle and me. “Dust...” she cried out in anguish.

I froze. Here I was again. Somepony’s life was in the balance and it was because of my actions, or lack thereof. If I moved, the soldier would shoot her. If I didn’t move, the soldier was probably going to kill her anyway.

“Alright… now you… will give… me all… your… weapons…” the solder began to blurt out.

“Batter up!” I heard Gertie’s voice from somewhere behind the soldier.

Before he could react, there was a loud “THWACK”. The soldier’s face contorted and froze weirdly. He released a low groan as his eyes rolled back in his head. The soldier then collapsed to the floor. Gertie was standing there with the warped remains of a plasma rifle in her claws. She was shaking her head at the now useless weapon.

“What a waste,” she mumbled. “This could have gotten us some good caps at the right trader.” She allowed the ruined weapon to clatter on ground.

“You... you saved me,” Silver gasped. “Even after I treated you so badly. Thank you.”

Gertie sneered a little. “Don’t thank me,” she deadpanned. “I didn’t do it for you…,” she started, turning towards me. “I did it for Dust.” There was a long awkward pause.

Fortunately, Brownie broke the silence. “Ah think we better take care of our other guests here,” he said, gesturing towards the cart.

Before we had a chance to strip and bind the soldiers, I heard a soft whimper from the cart. The driver was still on the ground, covering his head. “P...p...please don’t kill me…” he stammered.

“Shhh… it’s OK,” Silver said, comforting the pony. “We’re not going to hurt you. In fact, we’re going to let you go home.”

“Even the foals?” the driver asked, still skittish.

“Foals?” Silver gasped, her jaw flapping open.

I moved past Silver and the driver and peeked inside the covered wagon. Bound to each other were approximately a half dozen foals. They were all shaking in terror, but otherwise, looked none the worse for wear.

“What the hell?” I muttered more out of shock.

“The soldiers came a few days ago,” the driver recounted as Silver began to unhook him. Flower and Brownie began to free the foals. “They told us they needed volunteers. When we refused, they took the foals and told us they’d release them once we decided to join them.”

Brownie, Silver, and Flower all tensed and I could see the muscles in their face straining as they were most likely clenching their jaws. Gertie looked unfazed by the report. Then again, the griffons had been screwed over just as badly by the Enclave, so she probably wasn’t surprised. I was heartbroken. I know they were following orders, but still…

“Those sons of bitches!” Silver growled. “How can they do this?”

Everyone was looking to me for answers. “I didn’t think frontline soldiers were capable of this,” I answered with sigh. “Then again, what choice do they have? Most soldiers are the only means of supporting their families. Especially with the projected food shortages, military families will get preferential treatment. Still doesn’t make it right, though.”

Gertie was in the middle of stripping the soldiers out of their uniforms, binding their hooves, and gagging them. Brownie and Flower finished untying all the foals. They were all a little fearful, but who could blame them.

I turned back to the driver. “Are you going to be OK getting these foals home?” I asked him.

He tilted his head to one side and placed a hoof on his chin. “I think so,” he responded. “There really isn’t much between here and home. There are some raider camps out to the south, but I can swing more northerly to avoid them. I just need a weapon. Those bastards made me leave mine back in Mudwater.”

“Brownie, got anything to spare?” I called out. One of the foals had climbed up on his back and was taunting the other foals. Flower had an amused look on her face.

“Eeyup,” he called back. “Ah got a coupla pistols ah can spare.”

“Should be fine,” the driver added. “Should only be some radroaches or bloatsprites between here and there. “Thanks for saving us.”

“You’re welcome,” I said in return. “But they will probably come back when they realize what has happened here. Just be ready this time.”

A small frown curved his mouth downwards. After a simple nod, he turned to the foals. “C’mon, kids! We’re going home!”

“YAY!” the foals all called back and ran towards the wagon. The smallest of the group, the one that had been on Brownie’s back, stopped and turned. “Mistah Brownie?” he said. “Thank you for letting me be king of the mountain.”

“Twas nothing,” he said. “Now go with yer friends.”

Flower trotted over to Brownie. “Aww, Brownie,” she gushed. “I never knew you were good with foals.” She wrapped him in an embrace.

“Tain’t hard,” he said. “They just like ta have fun.”

Brownie, Flower, and I chuckled.

“Now that the daycare center is closed,” Gertie butted in, “we have larger issues, don’t we?”

The small joy we felt quickly dissipated as we cantered over to Gertie. She had, by this point, stripped the four soldiers and secured them in the bushes so they couldn’t be seen from the road. I looked over the four soldiers. I did feel bad for having to do this, but it was necessary.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “For what it’s worth, I know you were only following orders, but we have to stop this.” Not surprisingly, they didn’t answer. As I looked over the last two, I realized I had seen them before.

“Everything OK, Dust?” Gertie asked, seeing me pause.

“Yeah, I know these two,” I mumbled as I thought. “I ran into these two back up in Fort Coltington. They were only trainees. They ran into me while I was looking for information on the General’s plans. They’re so young.”

“Want a tissue?” Gertie asked harshly. “Dust, they are down here doing bad things. I don’t feel bad for them.”

“Yeah, but...” I began to rebut, but Gertie shot me a glare. She was right. They may have been otherwise good ponies, but they were down here doing bad things. My stomach turned as a sad thought crossed my mind. “Gertie, wouldn’t that make me a bad pony since I was down here doing bad things before?”

Gertie stopped what she was doing and walked over to me. She placed a claw on my shoulder. “Dust, you may have come down here for the wrong reasons, but everything you have done since then has more than made up for it. Don’t you ever forget it.”

I looked up at Gertie and a small grin spread on my face. She gave me a terse nod and went back to her sorting of the gear she took off our victims.

Silver and I quickly changed into the uniforms that fit us best. Both of ours were a little baggy, but they didn’t look too bad. My helmet was hard to put on due to my wild mane, but we were able to get it to fit and hide most of the unkempt mess. I wish we had something to cut it quickly. Hopefully, I could pass myself off as an operative if I got noticed, but that could mean an audience with the general or even Muddy. Meanwhile, Brownie and Flower took off their armor, revealing their wasteland clothing they wore beneath. Brownie and Flower stashed all their gear into a duffel bag that Gertie borrowed from the wagon driver. Meanwhile, I pared down the gear that Silver and I carried to closely resemble standard issue gear for a routine mission.

“It’s not too late to back out of this,” I nervously asked my friends. “Once we get inside, we have no idea what exactly they are going to do to you.”

Brownie and Flower looked at eachother gravely. “We know, Dust,” Brownie answered. “But if we don’t do this today, it may only be a matter o’ time ‘fore it happens anyway.”

Nervously, I took the small bit of rope we had and loosely bound Flower’s and Brownie’s forelegs together. I did my best to make a slip knot that looked secure. It wouldn’t pass any close scrutiny, but I was hoping the guards would accept it since they were being escorted by “soldiers”.

Silver had me the most nervous. She would need to pass herself off as an Enclave soldier even though she had no Enclave training. Hell, she had no formal military training at all. I’d have to cover for her as best I could.

Gertie landed behind us. “I found a good overwatch point,” she announced, looking us all over. “I’ll have a view of most of the property, including the tunnel into the facility. But, there is a small piece of the property in the northwest that’ll be blind. Do your best to avoid that area.”

“Got it,” I said with a terse nod. “Try not to fire unless absolutely necessary. If you have to intervene, then I’m guessing we will have larger problems.”

“Understood,” she answered. Her brow furrowed in concern. “Dust, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I can’t think of any other,” I admitted with a shrug. “As long as that facility is there, the Enclave won’t leave and they will keep enslaving ponies to keep it running. We have to do this.”

Silver took up the loose end of the rope in her mouth and we began walking towards Manny’s farm. I could see from the look in her eyes, she was nervous. For that matter, so were Flower and Brownie. Their lives were entirely in my hooves and my plan. If things went awry, they were completely helpless.

The short walk to Manny’s seemed to take forever. As we drew closer, we saw that the military force had beefed up security around the compound. There was now a tall fence and makeshift guard towers set up every dozen yards or so. Large spotlights hung from the underside of each platform, but they were off in what passed for daylight down here. A checkpoint had been set up about a hundred yards from the house, close to where the facility entrance was. A small line of carts had formed waiting to be cleared for entry. The large warship that flew overhead recently had landed and was near the checkpoint. Carts from the compound were forming a line near the cargo hatch.

“We have to slow down or else we’ll have to wait in line,” I whispered to everypony.

“Ah got this,” Brownie whispered back. He suddenly collapsed to the ground. “Ya gotta yell and hit me, Dust.”

“Brownie, no, I can’t,” I pleaded.

“Ya have ta,” he said. “We’re already drawing some attention.”

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that some of the guardposts were indeed looking in our direction. The snipers had drawn their weapons and were peering down the scopes.

“C’mon you filthy dirtpony!” I yelled nervously, adding a stomp at the ground. “Get up!”

“Sorry, ah can’t!” Brownie answered back.

“Get up now or you’ll regret it!” I shouted. To add some drama, I fired a shot into the dirt next to him.

“Dust, they’re sending some guards out here to look,” Silver whispered. “There’s still one cart waiting to be checked in.”

“Hit me, Dust,” Brownie whispered. “They’ll back away if they think ya have it under control.”

“Brownie, I can’t hit you!” I pleaded softly.

“Dust, ya have ta,” Brownie answered. “You are a soft pony. Ya are too afraid ta do what needs ta be done. Ya will get somepony killed and ya will have nopony to blame but yerself. Ya got One killed. Ya got Buster killed.”

I felt the rage grow inside me. Why was he saying all of this. It wasn’t all my fault.

“Fer Luna’s sake,” he added, “ya probably got yer mom killed!”

That did it. I felt my body turn and my rear leg kick out. The sickeningly wet impact assaulted my ears as the impact jolted my body. Silver and Flower both gasped. Brownie whimpered in pain. What have I done?

“You have him under control now?” a strange voice called out.

I turned and saw one of the gate guards about halfway between the gate and us. The last cart in line had just begun to move inside the complex.

“Y… yeah,” I answered. “I got this. This dirtpony thought he’d get a little uppity.”

“Well, don’t hurt him too bad,” the guard answered while turning away. “We need all the labor we can get.”

I turned to Brownie and acted like I was harshly forcing him up. “Brownie, I’m so sorry,” I whispered while standing over him.

“S’alright, Dust,” Brownie answered, flexing his jaw and grimacing. “It needed ta be done. Sorry ‘bout the stuff ah said. Let’s go.”

He was right, but I still felt awful. I bucked one of my only friends left down here. What was worse… I knew on some level that he could be right. My mom and Buster could be dead and it would be all my fault. And if things went wrong here…

My thoughts were cut off abruptly as we reached the gate and were stopped by the guards. “Better late than never, Operative Breeze and Storm. Where are hell are Operatives Sunburst and Zephyr? And what the hell happened to your wagon?”

Quickly, I composed myself. Here goes nothing. “We were attacked by raiders, sir,” I began to report, keeping at attention while explaining the made up details. “It was an IED we didn’t see until it was too late. Zephyr and Sunburst were running point and took the brunt of the blast, taking out our radio. We had to fend off the rest of them, but they destroyed the cart and cargo.”

“Fucking dirtponies,” the guard said. “We’d be better off just wiping them off the face of Equis.” The pegasus scanned Brownie and Flower. “So who are they?” he asked gesturing towards Brownie and Flower.

“Two scavengers we found on the way back. We figured we shouldn’t come back empty hooved,” I tried to defend myself.

“Clear Skies won’t be happy about losing the foals. We needed them for collateral,” the guard grunted. “But I guess you didn’t have much choice. We can always go back with another cart. Alright, get these two down to workforce processing and then get yourselves to the medic and get yourself looked over. We’ll need you for another pickup run in a few hours.”

“Yes, sir,” I responded with a salute. “C’mon, primitives, move it!” I barked at Brownie and Flower. Grabbing the rope from Silver, I gave it a tug, causing Brownie and Flower to stumble. The guard giggled a little under his breath.

After we cleared the gate, I look at Brownie. “Brownie, I’m so sorry…” I began to apologize again.

“Dust, ya did what needed ta be done,” he whispered. “Now keep quiet or ya’ll blow our cover.”

The layout of the property hadn’t changed all that much since our last visit. The piles of junk and other refuse were exactly where they had been. For Luna’s sake, I even saw the box I used to creep around last time. But the military had definitely made its mark.

It’s amazing how base camps always seem to be made up the same no matter where they are. During some of the skirmishes with the griffons, the camps were laid out nearly identically. The mess tent and infirmary were adjacent to each other, which was SOP. The barracks was a short distance away and was the largest tent out here. What was missing was the command tent, but I imagine that Muddy and the General had commandeered the house for their command post. There was a new tent which was heavily guarded, and had to be the tent holding the workers.

There was also more activity in the yard than last time. Fully laden wagons appeared from the direction of the facility, drawn by an earth pony or unicorn. They looked exhausted and malnourished. I guess the Enclave felt taking care of the workforce wasn’t necessary since there was a large supply of fresh workers from the surrounding settlements. However, there were no obvious injuries, so at least they weren’t being abused. Empty wagons travelled in the opposite direction, presumably heading towards the facility to be reloaded. The wagons weren’t escorted on the grounds because the security that ringed the property probably took care of that.

“Where do you think you’re going, Operative!” a voice yelled out from behind me. Fortunately, Silver stiffened into an attention posture as I taught her and I more easily did the same.

“Taking these new workers to the facility,” I yelled back through the rope in my mouth as I looked in the direction of the voice. An indigo colored stallion was approaching me. His lime green mane was still in the military buzz cut. He was wearing the same uniform I was, but he had an insignia I didn’t recognize affixed to his collar.

“First of all, that’s Senior Operative to you, maggot,” he snapped back. “Secondly, you need to go debrief. Senior Operative Cyclone is waiting for you in the house.” He reached for the rope I held and took it from me. “I’ll bring these two dirtponies and put them to work for you.” He trotted away as I gave Brownie a concerned look. He returned a barely perceptible nod as he and Flower were led away. Shit.

“Well, let’s go debrief,” I muttered to Silver. “The sooner we get this over with the better.”

“Will they be OK, Dust?” Silver mumbled to me, watching our friends be dragged off.

“Yeah,” I tried to comfort her. “They can take care of themselves.” I doubt she believed me. I didn’t believe myself.

We quickly made our way to the back door of Manny’s house. As we entered the rear door, we saw we were surrounded by pegasi all wearing the same uniforms and insignia as the senior operative we encountered before.

“Dust,” Silver asked, her voice wavering. “How are we going to find Cyclone?”

“I… I don’t know,” I mumbled back. Asking where Cyclone was might draw too much attention to us and we were trying to avoid that at all costs.

I peered down both hallways trying to find some way to identify where Cyclone’s office would be. But there were just too many doors.

Muffled yelling from my right drew my attention. A door flew open as two pegasi ran out. These two did not wear any insignia.

“Fuck!” one exclaimed, not breaking stride. “What crawled up Cyclone’s ass today?”

“I heard that, maggot!” a stern voice yelled out from the newly opened door.

The two operatives looked at each other and picked up the pace.

“Breeze! Storm! Get your asses in here!” the voice bellowed.

Without hesitating, we both picked up our pace and trotted towards the office. We trotted into the room and closed the door behind us.

Cyclone’s office was a converted library. The walls were lined with Old World books. Most were faded and dust covered, but I was able to make out an old copy of Twilight’s “Friendship Journal”. It was in amazing shape.

“I know you two were probably expecting to be debriefed by Typhoon, but this time you two certainly did screw the dragon!” the gruff voice pulled me out of my distraction. I looked around the room for the voice but couldn’t find it.

“We were taken by surprise, sir,” I tried to defend myself. “There were no reports of raider activity along our route!”

A tiny stallion, barely taller than the desk, walked out from behind it. His cream colored coat and white mane were impeccably groomed. It made me jealous. But, I’ve never seen a full grown pony that small. And the voice coming out of that body? I was barely able to stifle a laugh. Silver wasn’t so disciplined.

“And, just what is so funny, Operative Storm!” he bellowed.

“N… nothing,” she answered back.

Cyclone craned his head towards her. “Nothing, what, maggot?” he screamed.

“N… nothing, sir!” Silver blurted out.

“Report, now!” Cyclone demanded.

I told the cover story that we had concocted. The raiders attacked the cart with an IED which took out the other two operatives, the wagon, and its cargo. Since our radio operator was caught in the blast, we lost our radio at the same time. We were barely able to fight off the attackers, but not without losing all of our gear.

“Celestia’s horn on a hog. Are you two incompetent or unlucky?” Cyclone bellowed, still pacing the office.

“I would say unlucky, sir!” I shot back.

“After hearing from Typhoon about last week’s fiasco with the Mr. Handy in the facility, I’d say the former,” he said with a smirk. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Sir, yes, sir,” I admitted resignedly. What the hell did Breeze do to the Mr. Handy?

“Get your fucking asses to the infirmary, and let Doc Sawbones check you out,” he ordered. “Once you’re cleared for duty, see Typhoon for your new orders.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” I answered with a salute. Silver followed suit. When I saw Cyclone’s face tighten in aggravation, I turned and trotted out of his office. Silver was right behind me.

Once we cleared the house, Silver released a breath she must have been holding. “Dust, are all Enclave military officers such assholes?” she asked, breathing heavily to catch her breath.

“No, just the ones that like power too much,” I answered. “Which means most. C’mon, let’s go requisition some explosives. We have a facility to close.”

Silver fell into line with me and we trotted off to the quartermaster’s tent. The flaps were tied open as this tent was needed nearly all day every day. Fortunately, when we got in, there was nopony else waiting. This would make things easier.

“Storm! It’s great to see you!” the olive green pony with the red mane called out from behind his desk. “I heard your convoy got hit?”

“Yeah, we got attacked,” I said, feigning sadness. “Only Breeze and I made it.”

“So Sunburst and Zephyr?” he began to ask.

I nodded with a grimace on my face. “Yeah.”

“Damn, they were good ponies,” he said. “Fucking grounders. We should just wipe them off the face of Equis.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, fighting back my anger. If only he knew the whole truth.

“So what can I do for you today?” the quartermaster asked.

It was now up to Silver. “It’s not w...w...what you can do for us,” she said as demurely as possible. “It’s what I can do for you…” She moved awkwardly to the desk and leaned over it, blocking the quartermaster’s view.

“Whoa…” he reacted, coughing a little. “I thought you and Mist?”

“Yeah, well,” she purred, batting her eyelashes. “Sometimes one pony just isn’t enough.”

The quartermaster was completely distracted by Silver. Even as awkward as she was coming across, she was being very effective.

I ducked behind the counter and slinked my way towards the large red cabinets where the explosives surely were stored. The large bomb symbol as well as the myriad danger stickers were a dead giveaway. Looking back over my shoulder, Silver had her head cradled in her hooves and the stallion was so enthralled I probably could have snuck up behind him and removed his uniform. But there was no time for that.

Bypassing racks of energy weapons, arcane power cells, and other arms, I made my way to the cabinet. A quick tug on the handle caused the entire cabinet to rattle. Shit!

Peeking back over my shoulder, I saw the quartermaster start to turn his head. Silver, thinking quickly, pushed his head away from me and back towards her. That was too fucking close. I had to open that lock! What I wouldn’t give for a damn unicorn and some lockpicking tools at this point. And if I had to guess, the quartermaster probably had the keys on him. Fuck me.

Slinking my way back across the tent, I was able to see Silver and the quartermaster. They were still flirting and Silver was doing everything she could to keep his attention. It was working on him… as well as me. Watching her try to seduce the quartermaster, as fake as it was, still made me jealous, and aroused. The way the light from the gemstone lanterns danced off her eyes… the way she swayed her flank.. It was hypnotizing.

A crashing sound drew me from my reverie. “Oh my,” Silver gushed, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to knock that off the counter!”

“It’s alright!” he eagerly replied. “I’ll get it.”

When the quartermaster bent over, she shot me an annoyed glare and gestured me to hurry up. My cheeks flushed and I meekly shrugged an apology.

“Don’t worry about it, Breeze,” the quartermaster said, his cheeks reddening.

Silver quickly lured him back into conversation and picked up right where she left off. After waiting long enough to make sure the quartermaster was enthralled again, I crept my way towards him.

Peeking around the corner, I saw the quartermaster’s gaze was fully on Silver. I looked at his belt, hoping to see the keyring dangling there. No luck. Turning to look at Silver, I saw her give me a subtle glance. “Get him to turn around,” I mouthed silently to her.

“Ooh, what is that gun back there?” she said, point to something opposite me.

“What? That old T-13 plasma rifle?” the quartermaster questioned, clearly confused. “That’s standard issue.”

“But it looks like it’s in great condition,” she complimented. “You must take really good care of everything around here. Better than I’ve seen anywhere I’ve been posted.”

“Breeze? You feeling alright?” he asked, clearly unsettled. “We’ve been down here for weeks now. You’ve been in here before.”

Panicking, I looked quickly at the quartermaster’s side. Dangling off a small hook was a keyring with several keys in it. But the quartermaster was turning back around.

Then Silver did something I wasn’t expecting. She leapt onto the counter and began to kiss the pegasus square on the lips. I was stunned. What was she doing? Looking in her eyes, which were oddly open, she glared at me.

Oh, shit, yeah!

Slowly and carefully, I crept up behind the quartermaster and grabbed the keyring. After ensuring he didn’t react, I made my way to the back of the tent and opened the cabinet as quietly as I could. The door swung open and I saw what I was looking for. Hastily, I grabbed several bricks of C4, a box of blasting caps, and two detonators, just in case. As quietly as I could, I closed and relocked the cabinet and made my way back to the front of the tent.

I tiptoed back to the pegasus and carefully placed the keys back on his keyring. Silver was still locked lips-to-lips with the quartermaster. My blood boiled. Wasting no time, I made my way back in front of the counter and cleared my throat.

“Breeze?” I asked, uncomfortably. “Command is waiting, remember?”

“Oh, Storm,” she giggled, “such a stickler.” She giggled some more and then turned to the quartermaster. “See you later?” she said, adding a wink.

“You’d better believe it!” he answered enthusiastically.

We trotted our way out of the tent and started to make our way to the facility. Passing between two tents, I pulled her aside.

“What were you doing back there?” I hissed quietly at her.

“Distracting him!” she defended. “You needed to get the keys and he was about to see you!”

“But, you… you… you had to kiss him?” I stuttered angrily.

“I didn’t see you coming up with any other ideas,” she growled back. “Besides, it didn’t mean anything.”

“Didn’t mean anything?” I shot back. “How would you feel if you walked in on me and…” My body froze and it felt like my heart skipped a beat as Gertie flashed through my mind. “Oh…”

“Can we argue about this later?” she grumbled. “We have more important things to do, don’t we?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Let’s go.”

I don’t know why it was bothering me so much. I know she only did what was necessary and we didn’t really have any other choice at that moment. We couldn’t be discovered or else this whole thing would come crashing down.

As we drew near the opening to the facility, overhead speakers squealed to life. “Operative Breeze, please report to Command. Operative Breeze to Command!” a mare barked over the loudspeakers.

“Dammit, what now!” I spat out, angrily. “Alright, let’s go take care of this.”

The speaker squealed to life once again. “Operative Storm to wagon pool. Operative Storm to wagon pool, immediately.”

“Fuck,” I groaned. “Silver, are you going to be OK? We have to split up.”

‘Y… y… yeah, Dust, I should be,” she stuttered, glancing nervously at the manor house.

“Don’t worry,” I tried to comfort her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Just say ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir” and you’ll be fine. We’ll meet up at the facility, OK?”

“A...alright,” she said, uneasily. We both turned to our destinations. I was about to start trotting when I heard Silver stop. “Dust?”

“Yes?” I responded as I turned around. Before I knew it, she had wrapped her hooved around me and kissed me. I kissed her back quickly. We separated before we drew any unwanted attention. “What was that for?”

“Just in case,” she murmured. “Dust… I still love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said back. Silver grinned a little, still obviously nervous and then trotted away.

I got to the wagon pool in short order. When I walked in the yard, I saw the bottom half of a pony jutting out from a wagon. The blue jumpsuit was stained with dirt and grease.

“Excuse me, Operative…” I began, uneasily.

The pony rolled out from underneath. The exposed part of his light brown coat and yellow mane were, likewise, coated in dirt and grease. “Elbow Grease… and you don’t hafta call me Operative,” he said jovially. “E’rryone just calls me Elbow Grease around here. What can I do for ya?”

“Command ordered me here,” I explained, shrugging my shoulders. “No idea why.”

“Oh, hmm,” he said, pensively, placing his hoof on his chin. “They sent a field operative to assist me? Why on Equis would they do that?” This was an unusual request? He led me to the far end of the wagon yard to several wagons that were separated from the rest. “These here wagons have malfunctionin’ levitation gems. We gotta swap em out with new ones. Unfortunately, this is a two pony job. Ya feel up to it?”

“Sure thing,” I groaned. I needed to get out of here and find my friends. “Let’s get this done as quickly as possible.”

Replacing gems was one of my least favorite jobs when I used to be in the wagon pool. They simply weren’t meant to be replaced. But with a lack of unicorn magic to fix these, we had to jerry rig a way to pop out the old ones and mount new ones or else the wagons simply wouldn’t lift all the cargo. It was hoof-breaking work. After a couple of hours, and many small scratches and bruises later, Elbow Grease let me go.

“If’n I need help again, I’ll be sure to ask for ya!” he called back over his shoulder as he walked to another corner of the yard.

“Oh, please do. I’m sure Storm will love that,” I mumbled to myself, giggling a little bit.

After being released from a job that gave me flashbacks from my past, I trotted my way back to the facility. The main door was a tempest of activity. Wagons were entering and exiting at an almost constant clip. The earth ponies pulling the carts seemed exhausted and gaunt. They did not seem abused, however. Just overworked. Small mercy there.

As I was about to make my approach, two more wagons exited the facility. A familiar crimson bodied stallion emerged from the door. It was Manny! He was a lot worse for the wear. His impeccably groomed mane was a mess and filled with knots and kinks. His hoofs were caked with dirt, and the bags under his eyes betrayed the fact that he was exhausted. Right behind him was an orange bodied mare with a brown mane. Leafy… it had to be. She was as much as a mess as Manny was. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything for either of them, right now.

There were two guards flanking either side of the door, both armed with double energy rifles on their battle saddles. They were carefully eying the wagons as they exited the facility, loaded down with bushels of food from inside. Seeing the sheer volume of food, this facility must have been much larger than I had originally envisioned.

“Here goes nothing,” I mumbled to myself as I approached the door.

“Halt, Operative Storm,” one of the guard stallions barked. “You are not cleared for this area.”

“I know, Operative,” I began, quickly scanning his uniform. “Twister. But command wants me to look at the computer system to make sure the Mr. Handy robots won’t go haywire.” I raised my left hoof and pulled back my uniform to expose my Pip-Buck. “Tech team found this in one of the primitive towns and want me to try to interface with the computer system.”

Twister warily eyed the Pip-Buck and me. After several tense moments, his stoic features returned. “Alright, go ahead,” he barked at me.

“Yes, sir,” I responded and quickly cantered my way past the guard, weaving my way between two carts.

Once I got inside, I ducked down a small side hallway and then inside the first room I came across. It was a small security booth with a window looking out into the hallway near the entry door. The room was illuminated by a small, flickering, overhead light. The computers were long dead.

Working quickly, I popped open a nearby access panel and placed two of the bricks of C4 I took earlier. Instincts kicked in as I pushed the blasting cap into the clay-like material and attached the wired to the receiver of a detonator. Flicking the switch, the light on the detonator glowed a dim green. I pushed the access panel back into place.

I was about to leave the office when the unused monitor caught my eye. Quickly removing the cover from the tube in the back, I removed as much of the circuitry as possible and stashed it in the desk. Molding the rest of the C4 I had to fit in the casing, I added a blasting cap and detonator. Carefully, I replaced the cover and made sure it looked undisturbed.

After slowly edging the door open, I peeked down the hallway to make sure nopony saw me leaving the security office.
Once I was sure the coast was clear, I crept my way out and quietly closed the door behind me. My ears perked up at the sound of hoofsteps echoing from further down the corridor. I turned to look and saw a flash of the hindquarters of a yellow pony with a green tail.

“Flower?” I called out, hearing nothing in response but my own echoing voice.

I walked down the hallway to where I saw the pony pass by before and saw nothing but a series of junctions in either direction. I still heard hoofsteps, however.

“Flower? Brownie? Silver?” I whispered. Again, my echoing voice was the only other sound I heard.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another flash of movement just as it turned a corner a few dozen yards down the hall. A fast as I turned my head, all I saw was a quick flash of pink and green.

“Silver? Is that you?” I called out towards the pony I just saw. After getting no response, I quickly followed, damn the silence. I needed to catch up.

Rounding the same turn as the pony I saw, I was greeted with only another hallway with several junctions.

“Luna be damned!” I hissed.

More hoofsteps drew my attention in a different direction. This time, I saw a brown body and tail trotting away from me.

“Brownie! Wait up!” I called out, trotting to catch up.

Brownie rounded a corner several yards ahead of me. I caught up, nearly galloping. I rounded the same corner as him but saw an empty hallway.

“What the fuck is going on here?” I pondered out loud.

Scanning the entire hallway for Brownie, I saw something I wasn’t expecting. There was a doorway with light spilling out from inside of it about halfway down the hallway from me. That was the only room that had been open my entire trip.

Creeping quietly up to door, I sidled my way against the door jamb. Carefully craning my head around the frame, I looked inside the room. It appeared to be a simple meeting room, dominated by a rectangular, metallic table with several chairs around it. One of the chairs, oddly, was facing away from the doorway. Behind the chairs on the other side, I saw the backsides of my friends.

“Brownie? Flower? Silver?” I cautiously called out as I slowly made my way into the room. As soon as I had crossed the threshold, the door slid shut behind me with a surprising slam. I nearly jumped out of my own skin. “The fuck?”

“Welcome, Dust,” Muddy’s cold voice called out. The chair facing away from me slowly turned around revealing the yellow and green head of Muddy. I could feel my heart rate increase and my teeth began to grind.

“Muddy!” I shouted as I tried to reach across the table to get at him but it was too long.

“Now, Dust, that’s no way to greet an old friend, is it?” he calmly replied, not even moving to avoid my charge. “Where are your friends?”

“What do you mean… aren’t they...!” I shouted back, my voice wavering.

“Thank you for your help, Operatives,” Muddy snickered. The three ponies behind the table turned and I saw they weren’t my friends after all. “Head back topside.”

“Yes, sir,” all three ponies said in unison with a salute. They trotted around the table and out of the room, completely ignoring me as they walked past.

“Where are my friends!” I growled at Muddy through clenched teeth.

Muddy snickered, which enraged me more. “All in good time, Dust… all in good time,” he retorted. He gestured towards the open seat directly opposite him. “Why don’t you have a seat? We need to talk.”

Skeptically, I looked towards the chair he indicated. Not willing to take any chances, I sat at one of the chairs immediately adjacent to it.

“Now, Dust,” he said, feigning indignance. “That hurts. You really think I would try to trick you like that, knowing I have the upper hoof anyway?”

“Fuck you, Muddy,” I grumbled. “What do you want from me then?”

“Well, let’s get technicalities out of the way then…” he said, almost sounding bored. “Will you open up the Neighvarro tower for us?” he droned, as if he didn’t really want to be having this discussion.

“N…” I started to say.

“No…” Muddy said over me. After seeing my surprised reaction, he added, “I told the general you still wouldn’t help us. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Now for plan B.”

Three terminal screens crackled to life behind Muddy. The first screen showed a video of Brownie, bound and gagged, on the floor of a skywagon flanked by Enclave troopers. There was a small town in the background. The second screen was very similar to the first, but this time it was Flower who was bound and gagged. Again, another small town was in the background. Finally, on the third screen was Silver, bound and gagged as the others were, with yet another town in the background.

My blood began to boil and I could hear by heart pounding in my ears. “Where. Are. They!” I asked tersely, between breaths. “Tell me where they are or else I’ll…”

“You’ll do what,” he interrupted. “Should anything happen to me, you won’t make it out of this facility alive. Secondly, you will never find out where your friends are. And my troopers have orders to kill them and leave their bodies to the elements. Muddy pressed a button on a small console I hadn’t seen on the table and a speaker crackled to life.

A cacophony of cries for help filled the room. The voices of my three friends were jumbled together, but the fear and desperation in their voices was unmistakable.

“Muddy, if you have hurt them…” I yelled.

“Oh, Dust, please,” he dismissed me. “You are all talk and no action. We both know you’ll do nothing to me, even if you were able to get away with it. Now shut up and listen.”

I settled back in my chair. He did have the upper hoof for now. I patted my armor, feeling for the detonator, just in case things went poorly.

“I have each of your friends,” he began. “Each of them has been escorted to a different place in the Wasteland. Your friends have a limited amount of time before my troopers leave them, bound and gagged, wherever they are. Now, I know you know that the Wasteland isn’t exactly a safe place. Who will find them? Will it be a benevolent wanderer or merchant?” His voice was rising with excitement and his smile grew. “Or will it be a vile raider? Who will win? No one knows!”

My stomach was spinning. My friends were truly in danger. And I had no idea how I was going to help them.

“Of course, I would be willing to help you,” his voice had an edge to it. “All I need, is your cooperation. And before you just snap back saying you’ll never help, just look at your friends. They need you. Now, I know you are going to say that you won’t help me. I know you are thinking of a way to help your friends without having to give in.” He pressed a different button than before and the door behind me slid open. “So go. Try and help your friends on your own. And when you change your mind and want my help, you can find me here.”

Slowly, I got up from table. As I began to walk towards the door, I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting Muddy to pull something.

“No tricks, no gimmicks,” he said with a sigh. “Go… do what you think you must… but I’d hurry. You don’t have a lot of time.”

Getting to the frame of the door, I peeked my head outside and scanned the hallway. They were as empty as before. I looked back over my shoulder and Muddy had turned around and was watching the screens. I walked out into the hallway and began to work my way out of the facility.

At first, I was simply walking. Walking became cantering. Cantering turned into trotting. Finally, I was at an all out gallop. As I got back to the main entry way, I noticed it had been cleared. The main door to the facility was open. I cleared the frame and the two guards were simply standing there and made no move to stop me.
My entire trip out of the compound went the same. Enclave troopers had cleared a path all the way out of the complex. Nopony lifted a hoof to help nor hinder me. It was surreal.

I cleared the gate of the complex and kept galloping towards the rally point we had hidden the Enclave soldiers earlier. As I approached, I saw the silhouette of Gertie overhead as she began her descent. Soft mumbling came from the place where we had stashed the bodies.

A soft thump behind me signalled Gertie’s landing. “What’s going on, Dust? I saw three skywagons take off almost two hours ago and you were hauling ass out of there. Where is everypony else?”

“Gertie…,” I said, solemnly, “we have a problem…”

Level up!

Sneak - 25

Perk Obtained:

Trapper Keeper - “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” You are beginning to have a sixth sense about detecting traps. SATS can now target components of traps in targeting mode.