Mission 01-A Helping Hand

Mission 01—A Helping Hand
Starring:
Spartan III Anon-B094
The Alicorn Sisters
Enemy Combatants: The Blue Talons Pirate Group
Guest Starring: The Helping Hoof Crew
The Hydra

>The weather sure is rough when there aren’t any weather teams to control it
>Wind constantly smacks into your transport, carrying spittle from the ocean below
>The fact that it is still flying in a straight line is a testament to the ones piloting it
>You still keep from having your feet dangle over the lip, for you can’t swim very well with your armor on, even in calm waters
>You’re glad you get this whole chariot to yourself

>Your radio crackles as it receives a call from Princess Celestia
>”Anon, we suspect the Blue Talons are holding both the Helping Hoof and its crew in the Ursan Mouth. It is the largest natural cave in the region, and the only place able to hide a ship as large as the Hoof.”
>The chariot begins to descend, and you crouch to look over the front and scan the coastline
>A thin, rocky beach, dominated by high cliffs
>”My sister will be able to provide you with intel on the surrounding environment.”
>A rather pompous voice speaks over the comms
>”We have studied well, Spartan, it would be wise to consult us often.”
“I’ll call you when I need to, ma’am.”
>You can just barely hear her “hmph” at you, before Celestia comes back on
>”However you may go about this, Anon, please focus on finding my little ponies and bringing them back.”
“I’ll call you when I have them, ma’am.”
>You don’t get the satisfaction of another “hmph” and resort to watching the four pegasi fight to bring the chariot over to the several-hundred-meter cliffs
>They don’t try to land; you have to jump the remaining height with a *thud* lost in the howling wind
>The chariot circles around, and you notice the lead pegasus looking down to you as they pass over
>You are just able to hear “Be careful down there, Spartan!”
>You turn on your speakers and yell, with an amplified voice,
“Careful heading back to Luna!”
>You take a minute to watch them fly back out to sea, where they’ll turn south once out of sight and head to were the rest of the delegation is

>Now you’re on your own, with an alien coastline to scour
>”Thy destination is a few leagues to the north. It cannot be missed. Make haste, Anon.”
>Well, not really
>You sigh before checking your weapons
>MA5K: full, with plenty of spare mags
>Pilfered energy sword: it worked the last time you used it
>Jackal shield: Should work, but you don’t plan on utilizing it
>Then of course your knife is there where you left it
>You turn north and break into a steady jog, making sure to /not/ silhouette yourself on the many ridges

>About forty five minutes of uneventful running later, the Princesses admit that they’ve casted a sight spell on you
>Whatever you see they can see, and Luna has taken every opportunity to tell you trivia about everything of note you’ve seen
>The coastline (locally called “The Rusties” for their color)
>Those large birds that are heading with the wind (deified in old Equestria and the buffalo tribes)
>That plant you’ve just trampled over (usually found in vineyards where it’s turned into a wine-like juice)
>Your training is the only thing keeping you from shutting off your radio
>You’re so distracted by Princess Guidebook, you almost fall into the giant crack that runs through the middle of a huge lump in the cliff
>Approaching carefully and looking though the crack, you fight against a sudden sense of vertigo

>You were a few steps from plummeting at least a hundred meters and making a stain on the metal deck of a cargo ship
>Celestia begins to think out-loud over the radio
>”That’s the Helping Hoof. No doubt about it.”
>You look along its length, noting a few lit torches down at the very bottom, towards the back of the cave
>”It doesn’t look damaged, but the cargo’s gone.”
“That’s not a problem, is it ma’am?”
>”No. The shipment was mostly processed goods and materials. A great loss, yes, but nothing that will threaten us directly.”
“Whatever way, ma’am, they have to had moved the cargo somewhere. There’s more to this cave than just what we’re seeing.”
>Luna sees this as another opportunity
>”Yes, the Ursan Mouth is a labyrinth of caverns of a variety of sizes. We have yet to discover any official maps, but we are certain the Blue Talons posses some.”
“So I have to find some pirates, but first I have to get down there.”
>You carefully lower your head below the crack and look around, but there’s nothing on the ceiling to latch onto
>And of course you didn’t bring grappling gear or a jetpack
>There /has/ to be a way down from up here

>You move away from the crack and look around the coastline, noting the rolling hills that are further inland
>It’s by luck that you spot a silhouette appear on top of one
>You flex your fingers, and you’re rendered nearly invisible as you watch the contact approach
>Eagle’s head, talons, and wings on a lion’s body
>It’s pulling a tarp-covered cart
>This has to be a griffin, but just to be sure you call Luna
>”A griffin. The Blue Talons prefer to recruit locally; thou should expect more, but also expect a few diamond dogs and minotaurs.”
>You sit still and observe as the lone pirate slowly crosses over the hills and heads in your direction
>It’s going to walk right over to you
>A grin slowly etches across your face
>You slowly lower yourself onto your stomach and crawl towards your only current source for information
>You get to where you’re a few dozen meters form him, but the griffin suddenly stops
>You freeze
>Did it spot you?
>No, it isn’t looking at you
>Why is it just standing there, looking bor-

>The ground begins to move, and you find yourself sliding backwards
>You can hear machinery work beneath you
>A hidden entrance?
>Metal replaces the grass, and the griffin walks onto the artificial floor
>Staying calm, you crawl off the fake landscape and join the griffin on the apparent elevator
>The bored pirate continues to stare at nothing as the platform begins to descend at a slow rate

>Not good
>The photoreactive panels on your Semi-Powered Infiltration armor may last longer than the active camo stuff used by covies, but even ONI’s toys don’t last forever
>You have to get off and out of sight
>The rushing of wind and echoing sounds tell you that there’s space behind you
>Slowly, so as to not overburden the panels, you crawl backwards and over the lip of the platform
>The griffin looks up at the closing entrance, and you take the opportunity to slide over the edge and hang
>There’s only a soft pang of titanium against steel, and that’s lost against the loud machinery working around you
>Free from discovery for now, you look around from your new position
>You’re in a pretty large mineshaft, supported by crossing steel beams
>You look down, and you can spot the bottom several stories below, lit up by powerful light fixtures
>Already you can tell those are going to be a pain in the butt
>You won’t risk getting spotted by dismounting to the front, so you look at the back of the bottom
>You spot what appears to be a vent, and it looks big enough for you to fit in it
>Once the cargo elevator gets low enough, you begin to swing back and forth
>When the elevator’s only a dozen meters from the bottom, you let go, flipping in the air and across to the back wall
>In a fluid motion, you land into a summersault and dive into the vent, just before the elevator could squish you against the hard stone floor
>Not wasting any time, you quickly deactivate the cloaking panels and crawl further into the vent

>Once you hit a T-junction, you stop and call the Princesses
“This is Anon: can you two hear me?”
>Celestia answers, her calm voice distorted a little with static, “There’s a little interference, Anon, but we hear you. I see you’ve made it inside.”
“Yeah, now I just have to find my way around.”
>Luna pipes in, “Unfortunately, there is little we can do to assist thee in this.”
“Don’t worry, I have a way that’ll help a little.”
>”Such as?”
>You remember and execute the specific sequence of finger flexing, and shortly after a soft pinging could be heard
>Celestia realizes what you’re doing and suddenly becomes very interested
>”Echolocation?”
“Yeah. ONI stuffed a lot of gear into these suits to make up for them not being fully powered. They didn’t put Infiltration into SPI just because of the camo.”
>Luna seems indignant from the declaration
>”Well, then we guess thou only needs us for our company.”
“Trust me, ma’am, I still need your help. These gadgets are pretty situational, and I still need your intel. I’m running blind here and I don’t know my enemy very well.”
>And you don’t want to deal with a support team that doesn’t like you on top of the stress of this mission
“I’m going to look around for a bit, see if I can figure out where the crew’s being held. I’ll call you if I need help.”
>Celestia answers, “Very well, Anon. Stay safe.”
>You shut your radio off, then watch as the suit maps out the surrounding tunnel system

>Five minutes of crawling through the carved-out ventilation system later, and you come across an opening
>It’s an overhanging metal grate, situated in the ceiling
>There are steel doors lining each side of the dimly-lit hallway
>After a few seconds, a griffin guard walks into view
>Decorative leather armor and a rapier
>Despite your helmet insulating your voice, you whisper,
“Do griffons speak our language?”
>Luna answers with a little more static, ”They should.”
“Good, I’m going ask a few questions.”

>You wait for the guard to walk away, then activate the suit’s panels
>Carefully, you lift the loose, rusted grate up into the vent and set it aside
>You slip through the opening legs first, then slowly lower yourself out of the vent
>The guard still has a ways to go before the end of the hallway, so you take your time dropping down onto the floor
>The area under the vent isn’t well lit, so you move to the side and lay down
>A mere shadow now, you watch as the guard turns around and starts heading towards you
>Closer…
>Closer…
>The guard stops and looks up at the open vent
>”Huh—URK!”
>You slam the bird into a door, stunning it
>You quickly put it in a chokehold and pin it against the ground
>It squirms and tries to call out, but your augmented body overpowers the beast easily
>You start pulling out your knife to begin, but something bangs on one of the doors
>A female voice calls out, “Hey! What’s going on?”
>You look over your shoulder, knife ready, but only find an empty hallway
>Whoever’s banging on a door keeps doing so
>”What happened?!”
>You turn to the griffin, still struggling, and whisper
“I’ll talk to you later.”
>You tighten your grip, and the beast chokes for a few seconds before blacking out
>With that threat dealt with for now, you run to the banging door
>You ask the room’s occupant with an agitated edge in your voice

“Are you /trying/ to get the whole place to know something’s up?”
>”S-sorry.”
>You look inside, past the bars, and find a group of six ponies
>Five earth and one pegasus
>The dark-blue winged one was banging on the door
>She sees your golden fishbowl and backs away, fearful
>”What are you?!”
>You answer calmly,
“The one your Princess sent.”
>The pegasus and the earth ponies pause
>”The Princess sent you?”
“Yeah. Are you Strato?”
>The navy-maned pegasus hesitates before nodding
“I’m getting you all out of here. Where are the others?”
>The pegasus gets over her shock and gestures to the doors around you
>”Well, we’re all here, except for the captain.”
“Where’s Glittering Shores?”
>One of the earth ponies behind Strato answers, his voice shaky
>”He was taken a few hours ago. W-we don’t know where they took him.”
>Not good, but you’ll deal with it

“Alright, I’ll go look for her, but first I’m getting you all out of here.”
>The pegasus tilts her head in confusion
>”How? The guards around here don’t have keys.”
>You step back, gripping the inactive hilt on your belt
“I have my own masterkey. Get back.”
>The pegasus does as told and backs away
>You activate the energy sword, and the meter long, electric-blue blade of plasma flares to life with a *crack*
>A single swing slices the lock
>You swing open the smoking door, to the amazement of the ponies
>You ignore them and move on to the other doors

>A minute later, and there are twenty two ponies in the hallway
>Some are looking down one part of the hallway, watching for patrols
>The rest are staring at the unconscious guard
>You walk past and approach it
“I need to find out where the captain is.”
>You look over your shoulder to the ponies
“You might want to look away.”
>Strato looks to the guard, then to you
>”What are you going to do to him?”
“Ask it a few questions. Don’t worry, I won’t kill it.”

>Before the Pegasus could respond, you focus on the guard
>You straddle the griffin and take out the knife
>Making sure the knife is the first thing the griffin will see, you slap its face
>”Ugh! Wha—“
>He sees the knife and freezes
“Hello there.
I’m not in the mood for small talk, so I’ll make this quick.”
>The griffin looks up to your visor, its young eyes full of terror
“Where’s the captain?”
>It takes a few seconds for the guard to stutter out,
>”T-the captain?”
>You inch the knife closer to the griffin’s yellow-orange beak
“Yes, care to tell me?”
>”H-he’s in the interrogation room!”
“And where can I find that?”
>You emphasize the urgency of the situation by gently touching the tip of your knife to the base of the griffin’s beak
>”In…in the very bottom of the cave system, at the back! There’s a map in my pocket!”
>You bring your free arm around the griffin’s neck
“Thank you.”
>You choke the guard out again

>Instead of leaving it, you pick its body up and casually place it one of the cells
>You search it and find the map, a piece of paper that folded out
>You stuff it into one of your airtight pouches and walk out of the cell
>Making sure a simple glance won’t cause any suspicion, you make sure the guard is out of sight and the doors are all closed
>When you finish, you turn back to the sea ponies
>A lot of them are practically shaking at the sight of you
>You try to ignore that and move to the ceiling vent
“In here. I’ll show you all the way out. Move to that side of the vent, and I’ll lead you all to the elevator.”
>You help each of the ponies up into the vents
>They’re not too fond of you manhandling them, but they’re not in a position to complain
>Once the last sea pony is in, you jump up and climb into the vent
>It takes ten minutes to lead all of the ponies back through the route you took
>Luckily, the elevator isn’t guarded at all
>You stand by and watch the hallway as the ponies crawl out of the vents and pile on
>When the last pony gets on, you punch the single button on the nearby terminal
>The elevator is noisy and slow, but no one spots you going up to the surface

>The wind continues to howl, whipping up everyone’s hair and pushing them around
>You stand firm and call the Princess
“Celestia?”
>…
>”Princess, are you there?”
>Nothing
>Except for Luna
>”Anon, there has been a complication. Celestia is unable to come to thee.”
>Oh boy
“Do you know why?”
>”We are not sure. We normally communicate with our sister, but…”
“But what, ma’am?”
>”Anon, we apologize, but thou must find another way out of there with our subjects. We cannot assist thee at the moment.”
“Why can’t you just teleport to us and then tele back to Equestria?”
>”We are… ‘in the middle’ of… well—“
“Politics?”
>”Yes.”

>You wish you could pinch the bridge of your nose, but you opt to let out an exaggerated sigh
“I understand, ma’am. I’ll find another—wait.”
>You look to the giant crack you almost fell into earlier
“I have an exit strategy, ma’am. Call me when either you or your sister’s free.”
”Very well, Anon. We wish thee luck.”
>You shut the radio off and turn to the loitering sea ponies
>You yell over the wind,
“There’s been a change of plans! The Princess was supposed to pick us up but something’s come up on her end, so we’re taking the Hoof back!”
>The ponies look to each other, before Strato flies up to you
>”But we don’t even know where the Hoof is!”
>You lead them all to the crack and point down to the cargo ship’s deck
>Strato responds with an “Oh.”

>You tell everyone your new plan, and while they’re a little weary they agree
>It starts with Strato lowering everyone through the crack and onto the Hoof’s deck, starting with you
>Well, she keeps you from reaching terminal velocity at least
>She doesn’t have much control, either
>Then she drops you with twenty meters to go
>Your stomach hits the rail and rolling overboard
>Like you stated at the start, you can’t really swim
>Thankfully you manage to avoid drowning

>Strato gets a few more of the crew down while you catch your breath and take stock of the situation
>You’re soaking wet
>You have to go through an entire floor of pirates to get to Captain Shores
>Then you have to bring him back, and the guard you knocked out will likely be awake and alerting everyone by then
>You come to a conclusion: screw stealth, it’s time for speed

>You take out the map, the only thing that’s dry on your person, and study the entire bottom floor
>It takes a minute for you to plan out the quickest route:
>Going along the edges, you go through a few hallways, a couple of large chambers, another long hallway, then a small room in the /very/ back
>Knock out any guard in your way
>Don’t stop

>You stuff the map back into the pouch and stand up
>If you had music you’d be playing it now
>The ship’s locked down by thick rope, but it’s nothing the energy sword can’t handle
>You run around and cut each of the ropes, leaving only the two massive anchors to keep the massive ship from simply float out of the cave
>With that settled, you sprint to the single door at the innermost part of the cave
>”Hey mister!”
>You stop a few meters in front of the door and turn to face Strato, back on the Hoof, a ways away
>She waves at you, “Be careful, okay!?”
>You point at her, already feeling anticipation
“Just be ready to launch as soon as I get back!”

>A raspy voice that reminds you of the diamond dogs you encountered your first day here asks behind the metal door,
>”Hey, who’s out the—“
>Your head start breaks the rusty lock and throws the door into the diamond dog
>It’s out cold with a comical *CLANG*
>You’re turning to the left and running before the body even settles

>You’re clocking at around 30 kpm
>You’re camo’s partially concealing you, making you look like a speeding ghost
>Nothing’s stopping you
>Not even the minotaur rounding the corner
>Before it even notice something’s coming, you jump to the side and wallrun up to the thing’s height
>You launch off the wall and apply an armored foot to its horned head
>You hit the ground running, not bothering to look back

>The first large chamber is empty, save for a bunch of large boulders that block line of sight
>You run past them and notice that the two large chambers are only separated by a thin archway a few stories high
>The second chamber is plain, except for a massive sliding door at one end that can let a Covenant Scarab through
>You pass that head into in the last set of hallways in seconds

>There’s another guard, a griffin
>It’s moving in the same direction
>It turns just in time to see a titanium fist
>A second is lost as you go back up to 30

>You turn the last corner and see a couple of griffins flanking a lonely door
>You don’t stop
>The griffins turn to the rapid sound of approaching footfalls
>”Hey! Who goes there—UGH!”
>The griffin doubles over from your punch to the gut, but you grab its shoulders and throw it into its surprised buddy
>As they try to untangle themselves, you breach kick the door open, reaching for your rifle
>The door slams the inside of the well-lit room, and you take aim
>There’s a single griffin in a stereotypical doctor’s clothes, paper mask and all, holding a sandy-furred and bloody earth pony in one claw
>A scalpel in another
>Nowhere near the neck, though
>You adjust your aim
>”Don’t mo—“
>*BRT*
>The single 7.62 FMJ round destroys both the scalpel and a few of the griffon’s talons
>He lets out a single cry of pain before you leap over the tray of torture devices and clock the bird with your rifle’s butt
>He crumples to the floor, but you grab the stallion before he could fall
“Captain Shores?”
>He exhales painfully
>Good enough
>You throw him over your shoulders into a fireman’s carry, grabbing a couple of his legs with your free hand

>You turn to face the two griffin guards
>They have just managed to extract each other and stand up
>You run out of the room, knocking down one again
>You then spin towards them, bringing your rifle up
>*BRTRTRT*
>The burst clips the legs of the other griffin, making him roar in agony
>You keep spinning until you’re facing the way you came, then bolt
>The extra weight on your shoulders makes you slightly off balance, but you’re going faster than any normal human can
>You round the first corner in no time
>No new enemies
>You sprint past the unconscious guard

>”SPARTAAAN!”

>You skid to a halt and turn back around, rifle raised
>Two griffins and a minotaur down the hall, walking towards you
>A griffin in seemingly expensive clothing is leading
>His voice is loud and full of pomp
>”So you’re the one who’s been ransacking the place.”
>You say nothing and shift the earth pony’s weight around a little
>The griffin continues with a fake smile, still walking towards you
>”I’m sure you’re wondering how I know, Spartan.”
“Where are they?”
>The apparent Blue Talon leader chuckles at your forwardness, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I only found one more of your kind, and she was… how should I put it… /damaged/.”
>In what way?
>”Now that’s not to say she didn’t put up a fight.”
>She
>”Oh no, she gave us a run for our bits. But her wounds ultimately caught up to her.”
>You make sure to exaggerate your shift to aim directly at the leader

“/Where, is she/?”

>”My, my, no manners at all. But for your question: I’ll just say that she’s being ‘tested’ in my arena.”
>Arena
>In a pseudo-Roman society
>”Speaking of which, I think it’s time you meet my most recently-acquired challenge.”

>The griffin takes in a big gulp of air before letting out a loud screech
>As the sound reverberates throughout the system a clank is heard behind you
>Followed by heavy metal mechanisms doing industrial unlocking
>You look into the chamber, and the air shifts as the massive door begins to slide open
>Something big grumbles behind it

>A projectile blasts you in the side, sending you and the Captain flying into the center of the chamber
>You stop on your back, and you instinctively twist your body to send suppressive fire down the hall
>The *BRTRTR BRTRRRT BRTRTR* of your assault rifle drowns out everything
>You run out of ammo, and instead of reloading you lift yourself up onto your knees
>You turn to where Glittering Shores is laying and sloppily crouch-run to him
>This time you tuck him under your free arm

>You’re about to run when something breathes down on you
>You freeze, before slowly looking up
>Huge, two-legged body
>Orange scales
>Green eyes
>Three heads
>You’re staring into the middle of them, all of which have lowered down to you

>There’s a moment of complete silence
>Then the thing takes in a big breath
>You break into a dead sprint just as all three head let out a deafening roar
>When the heads notice you’re not there, you’re already at the archway
>You move into the rocks as the entire chamber shakes with the thing’s steps
>There’s hardly room to maneuver since you’re going so fast, but if you stop at all you’re dead meat

>You almost clear them when a big chunk of rock almost smacks into your back
>The thing’s throwing stones at you
>You duke to one side to avoid another one
>The rock explodes harmlessly against a boulder, but that’s the last one before a flat stretch
>You pump your augmented legs as hard as you can

>You make it into the hallway, too small for that thing
>You look over your shoulder—
>A flung rock bounces off the ground and comes up to drill you
>You throw yourself to the side, but the rock nicks you in your gun arm
>The AR flies out of you hand as you spin in the air
>Both you and the Captain grunt in pain when you smack the ground, your head still spinning
>Someone in your head yells at you,
>“GET UP DAMMIT!”
>“DO YOU WANT TO GET EATEN?!”

>You lift yourself onto your knees
>Only for your leg to be pulled out from under you
>The thing’s head had lunged inside and grabbed your leg
>You can feel the titanium bending in its jaws
>Desperate, you grab the energy sword
>With a flick and a stab, you boil a green eye into jelly
>The thing lets go to roar in pain, and you bolt back onto your feet
>You run to your rifle, picking it up and reloading it
>The thing pauses just as you take aim
()()()
>The Hoof is still warming up when you get back
>Strato relieves you of carrying the Captain, leaving you with one last thing to do:
>Post up in the stern and cover the single door
>By either on purpose or by sheer incompetence, nothing comes through to attack
>Nothing even appears in the cracks above
>The Hoof trudges out of the Ursan Mouth uneventfully
>You still keep watch for any flyers or even a pirate vessel
>Nothing
>Over a few dozen nautical miles across the sea to Equestria and still nothing
>You’re all out of the hot zone
>No enemies in pursuit
>Mission Complete

>You take a moment to remove your helmet and wipe the sweat from your forehead