Hunter shook his head, "We've checked those areas, nothing." And with that, Hunter pulled a map out of his saddlebags and rolled it out. It was a map of Equestria with several markings on it, all in hilly, desolate, remote areas, "These are the likely remaining locations of the bunker."
Ruby looked at the locations carefully, looking at the markings on the map. The closest marking to where she was standing was a fair distance away, but was manageable for a small party to travel towards in a relatively quick timezone. She pointed to the one the closest to her location with Hunter. "Let's start there. Something tells me that is a good place."
Hunter nodded, "Of course. Shall we get going?" He asked, followed up by him pressing a button on a band on his hoof, from which sprouted armor that covered him everywhere but the head in moments.
"Wow. That's very impressive, a find like that somewhere would be worth tens of thousands of caps. Of course, im not interested in currency. Let's get going." Ruby said, as she adjusted her lightweight leather armor. She also adjusted the scope of her hunting rifle to ensure it's reliability. Once that was settled, she and Hunter went on their way. Ready to take on an adventure where anything, or anyone, could find them.
After a while of walking, Hunter's suddenly heard a beeping come from the small comm unit in his ear, that also acted as a warning system. Stopping and lifting his hoof to his ear, he heard a familiar electronic, female voice spoke, "10 Equine bodies detected to the north-north-east. Distance: 150 meters. Probable Species: Pony, earth and unicorn mix. Intentions: Probable hostiles. Difficult of dispatching with current equipment: Easy. Probability of avoiding combat with current equipment; Certain." Hunter sighed as his helmet rolled up, and ten red dots appeared right where the Voice said they would, hidden by the hill they were climbing. He drew his AER-17 out of his saddlebags, "Ruby, get down, we got some probable Raiders a little ways from the ridge. I'll take them, I have the more powerful, quieter weapon."
Ruby then went to hide behind cover, having her hunting rifle at the ready incase she is spotted. She was certain that the commando would take these raiders down easily. He was after all a commando. However, she was curious about his weapon, but would ask about it after due to having never seen such a weapon before. Her town only numbered in the several thousand, quite large for a post apocalyptic town in her parts of Equestria. It was just like any other town, with the special addition of a small factory that manufactures high quality weapons thanks to pre-war military schematics they have acquired and those made by them. The town is well defended with signs surrounding the town, supplied and are considering branching out in successful, and ‘peaceful’ settlements such as New Appaloosa and Los Pegasus. However, her town had gained attention from the wrong ponies because of its success. She waited for her companion, who was obviously better trained then her in combat, to deal with the raider nuisance. She did remain at the ready; It was the least she could do by helping the Commandos find the M.A.D facility for which she believed would be used for a greater good.
Hunter crawled to the top of the ridge, disappearing from sight as he activated the suit's stealth capabilities. Balancing his AER, he aimed down the scope at the ponies, "Yup, definite raiders." He muttered before slipping into M.A.T.S. (Mark Co Assistive Targeting System) selecting each one twice, and fired away, firing 20 quick bolts at the Raiders, who, as they were caught in a flanking attack while out in the open from the top of the hill, fell easy prey to the assisted firing. The one or two that managed to escape the first volley soon found themselves at the receiving end of a grenade. Deactivating the stealth, Hunter looked at the carnage, 17 perfectly clean bodies, 2 blown to bits, 1 got his head and limbs blown off. Replacing his rifle as his helmet, he turned back to Ruby, "All clear."
Ruby came out of her cover and holstered her rifle. She looked around at the mess of raiders that she had just witnessed, looking impressed at the carnage that the commando had created but also looked at disgust of the raiders around her. She then turned around at Hunter. "Nice shooting. Shall we continue?"
The two of them continued on their way once again, heading towards the find of the century. They encountered less and less raiders the further they traveled across Equestria. However, they both encountered an entire town of raiders slaughtered. It appeared that the town had no inhabitants previously and that it was abandoned. The scene of hundreds of raiders littered the landscape like garbage, some on the stone paths while others dangling from buildings. "Geez, Whatever happened here looks like a warzone. Hopefully we can find some supplies, but we should not expect much due to this environment. Should we keep moving or shall we investigate." Ruby said.
Hunter thought for a bit, "We could use some extra supplies. Besides, I would like to know what happened here..." He bent down to investigate a couple bodies close to each other, then cursed, "This bodies are fresh, they've only been dead for about 1-4 hours!" He then looked at their wounds, "And it seems like the bullets that took these guys out all came from about the same direction, with the same caliber bullet, judging by the consistency of the shots and damage..." He muttered
Ruby then searched the rest of the bodies for ammo, which they had plenty of. Supplies were also plentiful, considering the raider's nest might have acted as the hub of this province. It seemed that Ruby and Hunter had only entered the 'back entrance' of the town, in which numbers were low. After a few minutes walking with her hunting rifle at the ready, the bodies seemed to become more numerous and numerous until the largest concentration was focused on the main gate. Thousands upon thousands of bodies were piled onto each other that created an artificial hill of corpses. All of them looked like they were going over each other to try and climb over the large steel gate, their faces still showing their expressions of horror. It was brutal, but showed signs that something big had gone down. "It's like they were trapped. They could have been picked off one by one, then the ones responsible must have entered the town and finished off the rest. They never stood a chance..." The prospector turned around and told Hunter. Ruby could not believe her eyes at the scene, she had been prospecting for almost fifteen years since she was twelve with her father, and she had never seen something this deadly before.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say the Commandos were responsible, but Commandos don't leave a mess like this..." Hunter muttered, "And I would have known about a raid this big, been sent to scout it out, that kinda stuff...This was an independant faction that uses similar universal armament as the Commandos..." He muttered, "But there's not a faction in the Wasteland that I can think that's organized enough to launch a raid of this size that had mobilized on the scale necessary to do this..."
"I know no other faction this advanced other than the Enclave and the Commandos. Whoever came here wanted to keep this raid a secret, kinda hard when you leave bout couple thousand raiders dead lying on the streets." Ruby told the Commando. "I have come into contact with them once during that same raid that i encountered Red Eye's soldiers. But that was a while ago, it doesn't matter now." Ruby then found something on the walls nearby another mass pile of corpses, a small paper note stuck by a pin. Nothing much was on that piece of paper other than a warning to other raiders which was actually quite humorous yet threatening and welcoming wastelanders to occupy the town once the "mess" was cleaned up. It simply said 'During the coming storm, we will remember him.' 'We will remember him. This was definitely not the Enclave then, they don't have issues like this. My best bet is Red Eye or another threat we have not heard before, and if they are wiping out raiders and allowing harmless wastelanders to occupy the town, are they even a threat large enough to gain the attention of your Commandos ? " Ruby began. "We don't want to be making enemies at all, especially whoever performed this. The whole place is surrounded in mystery, why have we heard nothing about this place being purged ?" She then looked below her hoofs and found another note on the ground. It said nothing much, but had a shocking fact about it. More clues would be scattered around the place for the wastelanders, or Hunter and Ruby, to find. This one cemented the fact of the attackers identity. "Hunter. One pony did this by himself, and he's the same writer of the note."
Hunter narrowed his eyes, "I think I know who." He said, "Though I thought he was simply a legend..." Hunter looked around, "The King of Diamonds, the immortal rebuilder of Las Pegasus, if he's real, he would be the only singular pony able to do this..."
“The King of Diamonds, The Archangel, The Crimson Reaper. If he exists, he would have been responsible for this massacre. But this just doesn’t seem to add up, what if he was assisted? Remember the Eternals from the stories dating back to The Great War? If he was one of them, what about the others. One Eternal could wipe out entire armies by themselves, and was proven during one of their ‘special’ missions in the Roaman campaign. Living and immortal superweapons who’s legend has turned into myth.” Ruby said as tied a bandana to her head to keep her mane out of her eyes. She soon found another note the further she investigated. An entire group of dead raiders inside what appeared to be a destroyed cafe. However, something appeared in there as well. Several corpses of Red Eyes soldiers, Enclave officers and even a deceased commando who all appeared to be captured were with the group. How they got captured were unknown, but written on the wall was an ominous message. A message written in blood. “It’s secrets will drive the whole world M.A.D....” “There are several names for the Eternal who wiped this place out, but he would have realized this. This is much more serious than we thought. All of the Equestrian Wasteland’s superpowers are pitting towards the facility’s discovery. It will soon erupt into a full blown war between all of them for whoever finds it first.” Ruby said, her body getting chills after studying their uniforms, making her remember that fateful day when she encountered Red Eye and the Enclave. “The legend might be already mobilizing to prepare for a possible defense in his city. He might even help us, considering his background.”
Hunter suddenly cursed, "Alright, fun, I think we need to go, we can't let anypony else get ahold of MAD, that's too risky..." He muttered before running out, barely stopping to wait for Ruby, he didn't care if this 'Crimson' guy was a possible friendly, there was a dead Commando back there, and he didn't want to be the next one. - - Auto Merge - - Hunter suddenly cursed, "Alright, fun, I think we need to go, we can't let anypony else get ahold of MAD, that's too risky..." He muttered before running out, barely stopping to wait for Ruby, he didn't care if this 'Crimson' guy was a possible friendly, there was a dead Commando back there, and he didn't want to be the next one.
(Crimson was not in the town, he left once the town was wiped out the raiders. Also, the dead commando was not killed by him.)
