Title:           Downpour
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/gfvFL7TF
First Edit:      Tuesday 30th of September 2014 10:33:29 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Tuesday 30th of September 2014 10:33:29 PM CDT

Downpour
 
*   *   *
 
    The rain came down. It came down hard.
 
    Lightning cracked the sky over Manehattan. Thunder shook the very foundation of the skyscraper as I climbed it.
 
    “Keep up, Falke. We’re on a tight schedule.”
 
    I was now breathing heavily as I followed Kralle up flight after flight of stairs. My fur, feathers, and down were soaked and matted beneath my armor. The fact that I had to carry this heavy rifle over my back was not helping either. The stairwell we were in was quite dark, but my natural night vision revealed the world to me in shades of gray.
 
    This was a new type of job. Something that Kralle trained with me for weeks to prepare for. It was quite simple, really: get a pony inside of Tenpony Tower.
 
    Another boom of thunder shook the building, causing me to instinctively lower myself to the stairs as I moved. I didn’t like loud noises… they sounded like gunshots. Explosions. Thunder put me on edge.
 
    “Just a few more floors. Hope you’re ready.”
 
    Ready? We had flown through the howling wind for hours before Kralle eventually made the call to continue on foot. That took three more hours. Through pouring rain. I was cold, wet, and tired, yet I was about to attempt to pull off something that I could barely accomplish on the firing range. I kept pace with Kralle, the griffon’s own equipment weighing him down as well. I really hoped, for her own good, that Stele was at least having a better time than us.
 
    I climbed the final set of stairs, panting and wheezing as I found the strength to keep up with my mentor as he led the way into the top floor of the skyscraper. We were extremely high up, something I’m sure a ground-bound individual would be afraid of, especially considering how the building was swaying.
 
    Water poured through the ceiling of the top floor, parts of the roof hung down into the room. Everything around us was broken and dark. Cautiously, Kralle did a quick sweep of the floor, his shotgun held at the ready. After a minute or so, he pointed a wingtip over to a spot that looked relatively dry, indicating that was where we would be setting up.
 
    “Yes, Sir.”
 
    I moved over to the dry spot and gazed out at the destroyed city of Manehattan. Everything was gray – it would have been gray even if it was daytime. But as I stood there, I couldn’t help but feel… sad. How many ponies lived here? All killed in the blink of an eye.
 
    “No time to daydream, Kid. Get the rifle out, set it up.”
 
    I was snapped out of my trance and I began to obey my mentor with a quick nod. I took the massive case off of my back, staring at it for a few moments before undoing the latches with my talons. Inside was one of the most ugly rifles I’d ever seen. An arrowhead-shaped muzzle break tipped the heavy barrel that lead into a rigid, metal frame. An anti-materiel rifle. It was a bullpup design – the magazine and bolt resting behind the trigger to give it a fierce appearance. This made the weapon shorter without compromising barrel length, resulting in a relatively compact weapon that maintains the accuracy of a rifle twice it’s size.
 
And I finally got to use it in action.
 
It was rarely in the armory to begin with, and whenever it was, Kralle never let me use it. He would always say that it’s “too big and unwieldy” and “just twenty pounds of compensation”. However, there was one mission that this rifle, and only this rifle, was meant to be used for.
 
This one.
 
I pulled the rifle out of it’s case, the scope already sighted and mounted onto the rail. As I looked it over, I listened to the sound of Kralle getting his equipment out: a digital anemometer, a tactical spotting scope, and a radio. Lightning temporarily blinded me, followed closely by thunder that left my ears ringing.
 
“Pegasi cooked up a good one tonight, huh?”
 
Kralle growled in irritation. “They didn’t cook up shit. They couldn’t give a fuck whether we die from a drought or drown from flooding. The weather is wild now, Merc.”
 
I made a mental note to not bring up pegasi for the rest of the mission. I’m sure Kralle wasn’t racist… he was just… old fashioned. I personally had no problem with pegasi, I only hated the Enclave… which accounts for almost all of the pegasi left in Equestria.
 
But yeah… not racist.
 
I set the rifle down on the floor, propping it up on the heavy bipod. I looked towards my target. Red Eye’s blockade on Tenpony Tower had been putting a strain on the tower’s residents for a long time, and when a rather wealthy pony came by junction R-7 and asked if we could get her into the tower, who were we to refuse? As I stared down at the blockade, even from over half of a mile away, I could see the barely burning fires struggling to stay lit in the rain as unfortunate guards huddled around them. Thankfully, most of them were in tents. That would make things easier for Stele.
 
Kralle waited weeks for this storm – everything about our plan depended on it. Everything. The guards would be on low alert, most of them would be in their tents, dry and warm. That, and the thunder.
 
“Shadow to Star, are you in position? Over” Kralle said, speaking into his radio.
 
“Star to Shadow, I’m in position and ready when you are, over” Stele’s voice said through the airwaves. She sounded bored.
 
Kralle turned to me, looking away from the window. “Get on that gun.”
 
Without further hesitation, I laid down on my stomach and shouldered the rifle. Pressing my cheek against the weapon, I peered through the scope. “Okay… Sir, where is she?”
 
Kralle looked through the spotting scope, and searched for our comrade. “She should be… there. Rusted skywagon, south side of the road, eight-hundred meters.”
 
Following his instructions, I swept my scope across the area, eventually spotting the skywagon he was referring to. Stele was crouched low inside, a small mare with her. Both of them looked soaked, the mare shivering as she curled up into a ball on the floor of the wagon.
 
“I have a visual,” I said. “Should I load?”
 
“Yes. Just normal FMJ for now… I don’t see any alicorns.”
 
“Understood, Sir.”
 
I moved my cheek away from the rifle and pulled the heavy bolt open with my talons. Grabbing a huge five round magazine out of my armor, I loaded it into place behind the trigger, giving it one final tap to ensure it was in properly. I looked in through the ejection port and saw the massive bullet in place where it should be, then I slid the bolt closed.
 
“Safety’s off, Sir. Ready to go.”
 
I reacquired Stele in my sights – making sure to keep my talon off the trigger, of course – and waited for instructions. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
 
“Standby for orders, Falke,” Kralle commanded as he brought his radio back up. “Shadow to Star, Stele, get ready to move. Follow my instructions and you’ll do fine, over.”
 
“Star copies. Ready when you are, over.”
 
Kralle sat there and studied the area with the spotting scope, the griffon not making a sound. I took the opportunity to look around as well. The camp was fairly decentralized, little lookout posts and guard towers were scattered at random. The tents of the higher-ups were all located in the center, and the area in the direct proximity of the tower was occupied by the more alert guards, most of them facing the tower itself. The perimeter didn’t look very secure – we were going to make it even less so.
 
“Shadow to Star, when you’re ready, move up and take position behind that pile of rubble fifty meters to your… two o’clock. There should be an old light post next to it, over,” Kralle said into the radio. I watched as Stele whispered something to the mare, and they both left the skywagon, Stele holding a wing over the pony to protect her from the rain.
 
Aww…
 
I followed them with my scope as they advanced, Stele’s head was on a swivel the entire time, constantly alert. Eventually, they made it over to the rubble pile, Stelle pointing a talon to instruct the pony where to wait. I watched her pull out her radio, holding it close to her beak. “Star to Shadow, in position, over.”
 
“Shadow to Star, hold for a moment while we clear the way, over.”
 
That meant me. Lightning tore through the sky again, and the explosive crack of thunder that followed it caused me to jump.
 
Just a little.
 
“Get those nerves under control, Kid. Eyes on: to the left of Stele’s position, target in that makeshift watchtower.” Following Kralle’s description, I slowly aimed to the left and found a miserable guard in a small tower by himself.
 
“I have a visual.”
 
“Okay… Target is at… nine-hundred and fifty meters,” Kralle said, reading from the display on the spotting scope. “Wind: twenty-two knots, northward. Just like we practiced: compensate for the wind and distance, wait for the thunder, and engage.”
 
Ah yes, the thunder. We simply couldn’t make shots at this distance with a silenced rifle; subsonic rounds would have way too much drop to compensate for; the wind would take the bullet away with ease. So Kralle had me using a tactic his mentor taught him long ago: use the thunder to cover up your shots.
 
Taking a deep breath, I positioned my crosshairs above my target and adjusted accordingly to the wind. Kralle had me constantly practicing long range shots for the past week, but this time it was for real. This time, I was soaked to the bone, cold, tired, and there was a thunderstorm.
 
Fuck me, right?
 
I held the rifle steady, and waited. A minute went by… still no thunder. Where the hell was the thunder?
 
BOOM!!!
 
I forced myself to not jump as I squeezed the trigger, the boom of my rifle joining the roll of thunder. The rifle slammed back into the shoulder plate of my armor, it’s bipod legs grinding on the floor as it moved back. Overpressure from the muzzle break was fanned out to the sides, kicking up debris in the process. It only took about a second for the bullet to reach it’s target, the heavy anti-machine round crashing through the pony’s head and spattering skull shards for yards.
 
Kralle chuckled. He wasn’t good at chuckling, it only came out as a dark, disturbing choking sound. “Good shot, Falke. Topped that motherfucker.”
 
I couldn’t help but grin proudly as I worked the bolt of the rifle, the heavy shell ejecting and bouncing on the floor. My mentor rarely directly commented when I did something good…
 
“Shadow to Star, you’re clear to move up. Take position behind that old cement barrier, another fifty meters away. Should be to your eleven, over.”
 
“Star copies. Moving up, over.”
 
I breathed normally for a few seconds, glad that I didn’t have to hold my breath. I don’t care what Kralle says about how impractical it was, this rifle was great! This thing could kill anything.
 
“Okay, Falke. Ready up, we’ve got a few more targets. We should try to take one on the next crack of thunder.”
 
“Right, Sir,” I answered, looking back through the scope. “Where?”
 
“Two targets, standing by a barrel full of burning wood thirty meters from the spot Stele’s moving to. We don’t have to take them, but it would make things easier if we did. Your call.”
 
I moved my crosshairs over to the two ponies, wondering how I was going to take them both out at the same time. Once I saw them, it all made sense. They were standing on opposite sides of the fire, the back of one’s head overlapping the other’s. One shot, two kills.
 
“I can do it.”
 
Kralle paused for a moment, then looked back into the spotting scope. “Okay. Targets are at just over one-thousand meters. Wind: twenty-five knots, northward. Wait for the thunder.”
 
I adjusted my aim and waited. Stele checked in on the radio, announcing that she was in position. Despite how cold and wet I was, I managed to hold the rifle steady, mostly thanks to the bipod.
 
I waited… waited…
 
BOOM!!!
 
I took the shot as the thunder ripped. All the water that had accumulated on the rifle was shaken off by the recoil as I was temporarily blinded by the muzzle flash. Old, tattered curtains were blown away by the overpressure as the barrel slid back into the rifle’s frame. I watched my shot impact, tearing through both of their heads with ease and dropping both guards.
 
If it weren’t for the thunder prompting me to fire, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that. They were just having a casual conversation by a fire… it was so… normal. It was much easier than throat slashing, though.
 
“Excellent…” Kralle said, looking through his scope at the two bodies. “You’re a good shot, Falke. I taught you well.”
 
Again, another dumb grin on my face as I slid the bolt of my rifle back. “Th-thanks, Kralle.”
 
The griffon’s face hardened as he continued to look forward into the night. “You will address me as ‘Sir’, Merc. Now… another target. Standing by a tent at the top of those stone steps. One-thousand and fifty meters. Wind: twenty-eight knots, northward. Wait for the thunder.”
 
My grin vanished as I closed the bolt on my rifle and sighted in. Sure enough, just north of the other two guards, a lone unicorn stood by a tent, blissfully unaware that two of her comrades were cut down from afar. I watched her and set up my shot, the pony shivering from the cold as I did so. She was under a small awning that was fashioned together from a piece of sheet metal and some lumber as she slowly looked around as if searching for somepony.
 
With her magic, the pony reached into her barding and pulled out a magazine… A Wingboner magazine.
 
“Really?”
 
“What, Merc?”
 
“Uh… nevermind.”
 
The mare grinned as she opened it up, her eyes widening as a centerfold dropped down. Looking at porn while on guard duty… that was just so… real. This wasn’t just some animal I was killing, this was a pony. An irresponsibly horny pony, but still a living person with a life, and friends, and wants, and needs. How could I–
 
BOOM!!!
 
Without any delay, I squeezed the trigger and the pony was decapitated. Simple, quick, and brutal. I had to take my shots when the thunder gave me the chance. It forced me to act. To kill.
 
This… I was a mercenary. We don’t play politics. We don’t take sides. We are merely an extension of our employers will. This is my job.
 
And that’s the way it goes.
 
I could think about what I did later. Right now, I was on the job, there was no time for angsting. I pulled the bolt back on my rifle, and let the spent brass hit the floor. “What next, Sir?”
 
My question was ignored as Kralle spoke into his radio once again. “Shadow to Star, you’re clear to move up. Position yourself behind the guard post at the top of the stairs. Watch your step too, there’s a lot of brains around there, over.”
 
I shivered.
 
“Roger, moving up, Sir. Over.”
 
Stele was heading deeper into the camp, her path taking her through some tents. She had to rely on stealth at this point, there wasn’t much I could do unless I had a minute of planning, adjustments, and a roll of thunder. She slowly prowled along, the mare keeping close to her side as Stele led her through the area. The mare suddenly gasped and held up her hoof, a stray chunk of gray matter on it.
 
“Ugh, Falke, that’s disgusting,” Stele said into her radio as she wiped the brain off of the pony’s hoof, the mare throwing up immediately after.
 
“Shadow to Star,” Kralle began, his voice rough and firm, “the radio is only to be used for tactical communication, over.” Stele made a goofy face and mimed her talons like a mouth, her beak moving around in feigned conversation. “I can see you.”
 
Stele stopped and became professional again, her eyes hardening with focus. If she had a response to Kralle, she did not voice it.
 
    “Shadow to Star, the next one is going to be tricky. Two targets standing side by side at in front of a nearby tent to your nine. Take the mare on the right on the next roll of thunder. Quietly. Falke will drop the one of the left, over.”
 
    Stele waited for a moment and pointed for the mare to sit down as the griffon looked around in confusion. “Star to Shadow… the one on the right? Which right, mine or yours? Over.”
 
    Kralle sighed, looking through the spotting scope at the two targets. “One is a mare, the other is a stallion. You are killing the mare. Understand? Over.”
 
    Stele mouthed the word “ohhh” as she looked at the two ponies from her hiding spot – a pile of lumber that was being used to build fortifications. “Star copies. Moving to takedown position, over.”
 
    “By the Egg, I have to spell it out to you people…” Kralle growled as he began to list off the information for the shot. “Target at about eleven-hundred meters. Wind: thirty-three knots, northward. Wait for the thunder. Don’t hit Stele.”
 
    I mentally stressed the last part. That wouldn’t be good…
 
    I adjusted for the shot, fixing my crosshairs above the buck’s head. Thankfully, the two ponies weren’t talking, that would make this harder for me to do…
 
    I forced myself to relax as I waited for the thunder, controlling my breathing and holding the rifle steady. I really couldn’t fuck this up. If I did, Stele would be discovered and overwhelmed in seconds and the contract would fail. I had to really be on it this time. This had to be a perfect sh–
 
    BOOM!!!
 
    Thunder. I fired, my shot sounding out with the thunder as Stele lunged from cover and dragged a knife across the mare’s throat. The buck’s eyes widened, but he didn’t get the chance to shout or even move before my bullet slammed into his neck. The buck’s head was thrown off, intact, as his body crumpled to the ground.
 
    Stele recovered, stepping away from the body to take a look at my work. She picked up her radio. “Shit, Falke. You’re scary, you know that?”
 
    “ShadowtoStar, what did I say about the Gawd damned radio? Over.” Kralle said rapidly, his voice getting close to yelling.
 
    Stele ignored his question and continued as normal, the bluish-gray griffoness wiping her knife off and going back over to where she told the mare to wait. “Star to Shadow, I’m ready to move. Am I clear to make my way to the door? Over.”
 
    Kralle set his radio aside and rubbed his head with his talons, mumbling to himself. “She’s cleaning bathrooms...” After a few moments, the griffon reasserted his usual calm demeanor, apparently satisfied with the thought of Stele’s future punishment as he lifted his radio. “Shadow to Star, there’s one more watchtower that overlooks the area. After Falke takes care of it you should be clear as long as you keep low and go fast, over.”
 
    I looked around the area, scanning for the watchtower Kralle was referring to. Sure enough, the final lookout post was closest to the barrier around the base of the tower. I suspected that the area would more properly guarded if not for the torrential downpour. “Sir, it’s the one with the green unicorn in it, right?”
 
    “Affirmative. Twelve-hundred meters to target. Wind: forty knots, northward. Wait for the thunder.”
 
I adjusted my aim, unsure where to place my crosshairs with winds this high. I’d never sniped in conditions like this before. Did Kralle actually expect me to make this? “Sir, these winds…”
 
“Just adjust accordingly. Don’t miss.”
 
Don’t miss. Thanks for that advice, Sir…
 
BOOM!!!
 
I fired. I wasn’t entirely ready and I watched in dreadful anticipation as my bullet flew downrange. He would hear it for sure if I missed… would Stele be able to get out undetected? The contract would fail for sure if I missed… Gawd didn’t tolerate failure of that caliber.
 
My bullet skimmed the side of the buck’s head, but it was still a good enough shot to spatter the watchtower with blood and drop the pony in it. I breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief as Kralle instructed Stele to move up. We were done. All I had to do now was make sure the way was clear for Stele to exit after she sees to it that the pony gets to the tower.
 
“Almost missed that one, Kid…” Kralle mumbled as he stared at the body through his scope. “Good shooting tonight.”
 
“Thanks, Sir. Hey, maybe you can let me use explosives next? I uh… need some practice with those too… Please?”
 
I waited for Kralle to refuse, but the griffon didn’t speak, staring through the spotting scope, his face expressionless. “Falke, load a mag of two-elevens. Alicorn.”
 
Oh...
 
What?!
 
I ejected the last shell from my rifle, ripped the magazine out, and began frantically searching the pouches of my armor for the bullets. The Mark 211 was a legend among all Talons, especially AMR fanatics. It rightfully earned the nickname of “DragonSlayer” as that was what it was intended to do. Incendiary mix, high explosive, and an armor penetrating tungsten slug all wrapped up in the copper jacket of a single fifty caliber bullet. One shot would cost around two-hundred caps.
 
And I got to shoot one.
 
At an Alicorn.
 
I found myself grinning as I found the magazine of white and green tipped bullets, and slammed it into the rifle. The contents of the five round magazine were worth one-thousand caps in total.
 
Fuck, this is gonna be cool.
 
I slid the bolt shut, chambering one of the super-bullets. “I’m ready, Sir. Where is she?”
 
Kralle was still staring through the spotting scope. “Top of the tower. I think she sees us.”
 
“What?! We’re half a mile away! How?”
 
I moved my cheek to my rifle and tilted it up towards the top of the building. The bipod creaked. Then I saw her.
 
Standing at the top of the tower, a dark green alicorn stared directly at me. Straight at me. Not the building, not our general direction, but through the sniper scope and directly into my eye. “S-sir…”
 
“It doesn’t matter. Target is at thirteen hundred meters. Wind: twenty-nine knots, northward. Wait for the thunder.”
 
I waited. She kept staring… I began to panic slightly at the very sight of her. She can’t see me, that would be impossible! It’s the middle of the night, only the sharp eyes of a griffon or maybe a pegasus would be able to see us. She didn’t move… She didn’t blink…
 
What the fuck…
 
BOOM!!!
 
Finally, I got the chance to fire, and I took it greedily. The alicorn continued to stare, even as my shot slammed through her shield with a small explosion and a burst of flame. The giant pony fell, the tungsten penetrator punching through her forehead and blasting out the other side.
 
She was dead. The staring alicorn was dead.
 
She was dead, she couldn’t stare at me anymore.
 
…
 
Then why did I feel like I was being watched?
 
I searched for more alicorns through my scope, thoroughly scanning all the rooftops and the entirety of the camp. Kralle remained silent as I did so, not moving. I felt the hair along my spine stand on end… this felt wrong. Why did I feel like I was being watched still? Was this a spell or something?!
 
I felt panic begin to rise as lay on the floor, still frantically scanning rooftops.
 
“Star to Shadow, I’m ready to exit. Standing by, over,” Stele said over the radio, her voice sounding incredibly loud in the silence. When did it stop raining?
 
“Shadow to Star, Stele I want you to stay inside the tower and wait for further instructions. Something’s wrong.”
 
I found that I was quite relieved to hear that I wasn’t going insane and that Kralle felt it too. That overwhelming presence that just wasn’t there…
 
“Star to Shadow, what did you say? You’re breakiiiiiizzzzssttt.”
 
Silence.
 
Where did the rain go? That was the peak of the thunderstorm, the rain doesn’t just go away!
 
But it was still raining. Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. It’s just that it wasn’t raining in here…
 
“Sir…” I whispered, pointing a talon at a hole in the ceiling nearby. Raindrops pattered against the magical surface of a shield.
 
Kralle followed my talon, his amber eyes locking on to the shield. “Falke, how many two-elevens did you bring?”
 
“Just one magazine. Four rounds left.”
 
Kralle looked away from the ceiling and faced me, an intense look in his eyes. “Falke, listen to me. When I do, you’re going to turn… make all four of those shots count, okay?”
 
I swallowed and nodded nervously. “Yes, Sir.”
 
Kralle slowly moved a talon closer to his shotgun, his muscles tensed. “For the Company.”
 
“For the Company.”
 
With that, Kralle rose with a flap of his wings as I rolled onto my back, the huge anti-material rifle clutched tightly in my talons. Both of us screamed out our own warcry.
 
Nothing.
 
There was nothing there.
 
Kralle hovered in the air, his shotgun pointing around the room. I repositioned myself, sitting up on my haunches with my rifle, my wings fanned and ready to catch me when I was knocked back by the recoil.
 
Slowly, horrifyingly, the other occupants of the building revealed themselves. Two sky blue alicorns appeared in the middle of the room, both of them fully shielded, their horns glowing and ready for combat.
 
BOOM!!!
 
I fired.
 
*   *   *    
 
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More about these Shitheads...
 
Traits:
 
Falke: Small Frame
 
Kralle: Kamikaze