(The Commandos would have been in stealth mode if they were following her, IE, pretty much wearing a StealthBuck)
(Sorry, had Major connection issues) Honey wanted to get out of the cursed city as quickly as possible without endangering herself or anypony else. Plenty of the Commandos that she encountered were basically rehabilitated Raiders, although she did encounter fairly educated soldiers as well in the process. She then came to think that other than the Federation and Red Eye, nothing could even begin to rise up against the Commandos. It wasn’t helping that the Enclave were also allied with the Commandos. Honey currently took rest in a five story building, taking off her aviation styled helmet, hood and cape as she watched the ruins of the city in the distance. The sun was about to set and she was several blocks away from the bridge. She believed that she can make it across the bridge thanks to the stealth field on the armour, but she would need to wait until it was dark in order to do so.
Dawn and Rain stood by the Buckson River, the radioactive waters lappibg at the shores. But Rain had an idea. He quickly set out and put together one of the reasons behind his cutie mark, a makeshift canoe and paddles. After he was done, they would have a way to get across the river without worrying about crossing the bridges.
After being forced to wait for a few hours until it got dark, Honey put her helmet back on and activated the armors built-in stealth field. Upon discovering a Commando party of around thirty returning from a previous raid and wishing to avoid a fight, she stuck to the darkest parts of the bridge and using grace and agility, she managed to avoid the Commandos with relative ease. Once she was across the bridge, she uncloaked and wished to put as much distance between her and Manehattan as possible.
After crossing the river, the pair snuck through Fetlock, avoiding the Stable and the former Steel Ranger outpost, both of which had become the Commando bases in Fetlock, operating mainly as "rest stops" out of the city from the Bucklyn Bridge fortress. Rain then started leading Dawn off to somewhere he knew the Commandos weren't looking, but it was to be a few day's journey away...
(Stupid connection problems...) Honey was alone. Alone from the Commandos, alone from other ponies, alone from even any form of wildlife. There was nothing but a soul of a pony that was just...alone. Heading back to the Federation would have been unlikely, it was a trip that would had lasted about two weeks nonstop if she began to walk now. She still believed that some good could have been accomplished, and only a few places in the wasteland were safe from the Commandos. Eager to find out, she vanished like the ghost she was and went to perform some "Good Deeds"
"I think it's time." Julion told his top generals, "Our intelligencr shows that most wastelanders that aren't already under our wing are already in the containment zones or too scattered to be of any purpose." Another general nodded, "Yes sir. This war has been going on far too long, it is time Equestria is finally united." Julion nodded, "Then we can finally be whole once more..Then, once Equestria has been reunited, we shall push out and unite the rest of the world, one yard at a time. Send Army B to take Friendship City. Use any means necessary, but try to keep as many alive as possible." "Yes sir!"
Las Pegasus Several generals and the High Commander of the armed forces, Jackpot Fortune, went to the top of an enormous tower which soared hundreds of meters into the air and could be seen for miles. They all entered a room which appeared like a library and an office, with a large glass window looking down on the city and the surrounding wasteland below. All of them entered the room where they seen a pony looking out the window, his back turned to the rest of the group behind him that only allowed his purple and yellow mane and black coat to be seen. All of the Generals stopped about five meters away from him and saluted. "Sir! We've received intelligence that the Commandos are making their final push, all areas not under their control will be taken by force." One of the Generals said. The stallion at the window turned around slowly to reveal bright purple eyes and the sad expression of a pony who seen war almost his entire life. "So....it's finally happening."
(Well, I doubt they would know that quick, but after the first assault on Friendship City it would be obvious.) Wanting to pick the lowest hanging fruit first, Army B arrived at the waterfront facing Friendship City. They thought removing the bridge would stop the Commandos, so the guards were lazy, little more than just one or two on lookout. Before they could sound the alarm as the Commando army came out of stealth mode, they were eliminated by snipers before grappling hooks were launched across the water and some Commandos snuck aboard, swung the bridge out to allow the rest of the Commandos access, before busting down the door. Friendship City fell within an hour.
When news came about the loss of Friendship City, which fell in just under an hour, the news concerned the group of generals and Crimson. They knew that while the Federation and Las Pegasus could hold out against the Commandos for a while, they cannot do it forever. Sooner or later, the Commandos would get an advantage and eventually take the city and the Federation along with it. It could take a week, a month, or perhaps a few years. Nothing lasted forever. Crimson was just as stressed about the situation as he was. Red Eye was busy being a coward behind his walls in Fillydelphia, the Steel Rangers practically didn't exist anymore other than small groups of remnants and the Enclave were actually helping the Commandos with their brutal expansion. As much as he wanted Julion dead, almost nothing short of an Eternal or the very best Guardians could perform such a deed. If everything was lost, he would do it himself. "We can't expand, I don't see much point in doing so. The Commandos would just take the retaken area back and we would be throwing lives away for no reason." Crimson said, busy in thought. "Unless the Enclave turns against the Commandos, Equestria doesn't really have a chance. We won't survive long-term either. In order to turn the tables, something needed to occur. Something big enough to break the back of the Commandos. We'll all die if this doesn't happen."
Gooooood morning Wastelanders, or at least who's left. Today I bring some bad news from Friendship City, for years a bastion of refugee from the Commando menace, has fallen, with all inside either killed or captured. The few who managed to escape report that the city was overrun in less than an hour, and for two hours afterwords, they could watch the defeated residents and refugees being marched out of the city in four lines, with one line apparently having many ponies in it executed. The survivor couldn't tell us exactly why, but he could see that line was mostly made up of the elderly amd infirm. What will happen now that nowhere is safe remains to be seen, in other news... Julion clicked off his Pipbuck radio as he stept out into the sunlight. Looking around him, he smiled at the picturesque scenery, a valley of sorts that was really a bowl surrounded on three sides by mountains and a narrow, 500 meter gap in the mountains that was the only possible exit from the bowl. "Freedom Hills." He said with a smile, "Equestria's new capital, well, I guess it always has been in a way." He then looked at the rolling hills in the valley itself, dotted by Commando camps, over a thousand Commandos and civilians on the surface, with twice that number underground. Freedom Hills was a facility that covered over 20 sq kilometers of surface area and went up to 3 hilometers deep, the heart of Commando industry and the heart of its war machine. The Enclave, which Julion had essentially enslaved its leaders, made sure sunlight always shined over the valley, only interrupted by scheduled rain to keep the crops watered. It was the picture of Julion's vision, and it may have looked idealic on the surface, digging down would reveal its horrid truth; his position as an all powerful tyrsnt with control over his subjects minds, and an economy centered on providing the basics for its civilians and spending tje rest on war. One that sought to unite Equestria and the world at any cost...
Honey had done whatever she could to avoid Commando encounters whenever it was possible, but she also had to kill three groups of Commandos that seemed to be attracted to her. Of course, Guardians were rarely seen this deep into Equestria. With the fall of Friendship City, she was now a wondering nomad. While she did perform some good every now and then, she ultimately found most of it irrelevant. The Commandos seemed to replace every solider she killed with another 100. It was now getting late, so Honey went into the hills and lit a campfire inside of a cave to help her survive the night, far away from Commando interaction. She had enough food and water with her to last what could be another three days, but once they run out, she was on her own.
Dawn and Rain wondered the wastes, disheartened by the loss of Friendship City. Then something came across her mind, "..Rain? Is it possible...That despite the Federation being a tougher target, the Commandos would attack there first so that DJ-Pon3 would report it? It seems to me...The Soldier has turned DJ-Pon3 into unwittling a propaganda machine!" Rain blinked,"That...makes sense..." he muttered before locking eyes with Dawn, "We need to get to Las Pegasus, the Commandos will take a few weeks to readjust their forces for such a large scale assault. I'm sure of it. That means we need to hurry!"
Honey took a deep breath as she opened her wings behind her. She avoided flying for as long as possible due to the Enclave's current dominance of the skies, but it now seemed that she had no choice. She looked outwards from the cave she rested in to watch the skies ahead of her before putting her armor back on. "Come on Honey" she said nervously. "Keep it together, you can do this." Her wings were now fully open as the flames behind her from the campfire flickered to a halt and died out. She then galloped at full speed across the entrance of the cave before taking off into the skies ahead of her.
The Enclave however, so used to dominance of the sky, combined with their relocating of resources to assist the Commando offensives meant that Honey would have been able to fly for a little while unimpeded. **** Julion lead the now extremely feared Alpha squad out of Freedom Hills, they were known as his essential deathsquad. He had decided to attack Fillydelphia next, to remove the slavers from the land and take their slaves as his own, then, after that, the Federation would be next. In the meantime, he had an ace up his sleeve to keep the Federation busy; the assembly lines of Freedom Hills had churned out hundreds of peices of artlilery which would be in place by weeks end and would begin a massive bombardment of Las Prgasus in combination with an aerial bombardment by the Enclavem
While the Commandos had the firepower, the Federation was also working on something on their own. Aside from the ground forces being already on-par with Pre-War Equestria overall in terms of tech, resources and weaponry and that the Guardians were the equivalent of the Commandos yet had a smaller amount of forces, the Federation had manufactured and improved their artillery, tanks and aircraft and all sorts of military equipment to combat their enemy in what would be their last stand amongst other things. The Federation had now kicked into overdrive in terms of protecting itself. Whatever the Commando/Enclave force would do, the Federation were certainly not going to leave quietly. Honey flew for what felt like half an hour before finally heading back down to the surface to avoid the Enclave. From this point onwards, she had to travel on the ground. She managed to cut the time of her travels in half, but it was still a fair trip to Las Pegasus.
(Well, the Federation wouldn't have near the resources unless they started destroying and recycling buildings, which would make the citizens mad. I mean, I bet you would be mad too if your home was suddenly destroyed and would likely never be rebuilt. Anyways, wanna time skip a bit?)
