Metal on Metal
Chapter 1: Metal on Metal
“You guys really don’t mess around”
I crawled out of bed moaning in annoyance at the alarm clock. I whacked it with my PipBuck until it shut up, breaking it in the process. Panel would be thrilled she had to fix my alarm... again.
I dragged myself through my messy room and yawned, leaning against my dresser, nearly falling asleep again. Fortunately, I had enough willpower to barely push myself away from dreamland. Pulling out a clean maintenance uniform I trudged past my hazy fatigue when I realized I should have put on my utility suit after my shower.
I growled at my own inattentiveness as I removed my barding and crawled into the shower. The warm water poured through my light grey coat erasing both the morning's exhaustion and my filth. I scrubbed my equally grey mane around my horn with the same somehow recycled shampoo everypony in Stable 19 had used for over two centuries.
When I trotted out of the shower I was much more awake than when I entered. I didn't bother to re-equip my blue and yellow uniform, which I had carelessly tossed on the bathroom floor, before I peered at myself in the mirror. I looked into my grey eyes that matched both my mane and coat. My mane was was as messy as ever with the best sign of organization being the large white streak that ran through the middle ruining the grey on grey pattern.
Despite my boringly depressing coloration, ponies constantly reminded me I'm anything but. My horn was the same shade of grey as my coat but what really got pony’s attention was my eyes . My uncle had told me I have those eyes that say "I'm the one who gets shit done!" 'The one' part was was sadly more literal than what he meant now days. Sometimes it seems I'm the only one who gets shit done. Everypony else seemed to give up when they got a little frustrated. When the Stable's systems can afford to give it up that is.
I was wired different, though. When I set my mind to something, I got results. They weren't always the best results but the statement still rings true. Sometimes I would accomplish my goal while other times it explodes in my face. The last part happens more often than I would like.
There was a downside to being reliable, however. Everypony wanted me to do something. Being a technician, the usual request would be to hack their PipBuck or terminal in order to make it do something. For example, I changed Tulip's PipBuck screen to glow pink and programed her terminal to always have tulips in the corners of the screen. I have to admit that I did enjoy that job, though. Not just anyone gets to see Tulip. She's sort of a celebrity in the Stable even though all she does is stand around and be pretty. It wasn't the most dignified job, in fact it was downright embarrassing the way I acted around her, but she seemed grateful.
I brushed my teeth and put my uniform on. One last glance in the mirror before I left catching a look at the terminal embedded on my flank. The fake screen on my cutie mark seemed to glow but I knew it was just an illusion caused by whatever magic allows us cutie marks.
Several security ponies charged across the living quarters when I opened the door to my room. I only recognized one from the few that I managed to catch a glimpse of, Snowflake, who I'd met at Marzipan's filly's birthday party last year. She was nice but we never hung out much after that. Sometimes I wished I was a security pony instead of a boring technician because they get to wear cool armor, carry weapons, boss ponies around, and no pony messes with them. Then I ask myself 'how would that help me at all?' I have no need for weapons, I'm not the bossy type, and no pony messes with me anyway. The only use I could get out of the job is looking badass in that armor. Snowflake made it sound kind of lonely too. She told me about how most ponies avoided her and the other security ponies in fear of getting ratted out on small things or that they'd tell The Overmare things that didn't happen. Nah, my job was alright, if a little boring.
I started to make my way to the auditorium to await my first task of the day and get some chow when my PipBuck started flashing. When I looked at the small computer on my foreleg it went to my data tab. A new file flashed green telling me I received a message. A job already? I thought with a mental sigh I guess I get a late breakfast then. I read the message to myself.
From: Wire Cutter
To: Error Code
Error, we could use your help in maintenance. Some crazy stallion snuck into the stable entrance last night. He's trying to get out but we locked down the door. Now he's using the terminal there to fuck up our access and lock the security ponies out of the chamber! He doesn't seem to know what he's doing besides locking us out so It's nothing to panic about but I'm having a tough time getting control of the entrances systems again. It's just me and the Rookie down here so I figured you were the best pony to call for something like this.
Huh? Why was Cutter up so early? I guessed The Overmare probably sent her down there when she found out about the buck trying to escape and security couldn't get in. This was the third attempted escape this month, but clearly this one caused the most trouble so far. The others either just pulled the lever on the entrance controls, which had a fail safe built into it to stop an escape before safe radiation levels were found through the Stable's mainframe, or just beat and screamed at the door.
I abandoned my hopes for breakfast in order to assist Cutter and the rookie. Another downside to being a reliable mare: maintenance ponies always asked me for help. Error, I never payed attention to this in training so can you do it? Error, I forgot what training said about this can you do it? Error, I'm just too lazy to do this and I couldn't come up with a good excuse, can you do this? My mind mimicked most of the maintenance ponies. I didn't just blame them for their ignorance but also at my unwillingness to refuse. Not only did I never say no, but I acted glad to say yes. It was like a mental block that didn't just prevent me from turning ponies down but forced me to be eager to please.
I trotted past the long broken elevator, and continued on to the stairs. I glanced at the sealed door a little ways down. Nopony knew what was beyond it. It was a mystery left after the world ended. Sometimes a foal or new maintenance pony would think they had a shot of opening it every once and awhile, including me a few times. We had all obviously failed.
Not much longer of a walk now, just down three flights and then I could get to the mainframe. Why they put the mainframe in the middle floor of the lower systems I have no idea. My contemplative thoughts kept me busy on my way down and literally before I knew it I was there.
After backtracking a few steps I stopped in front of the main frame's entrance. The door slid open after a quick scan of my PipBuck's authorization status. Inside was the large, fairly familiar mainframe of the stable. I say fairly familiar because I hardly ever needed to come in here. The reasonably big computer system was made to run with as minimum maintenance as possible required being loaded with different types of repair talismans. The only time we ever needed to come in here was when we needed to do something to the stable protocols or do something manually, like now.
Two other ponies were already waiting for me. The light green earth pony with utility barding that matched mine and a black filly ,who just earned her cutie mark, wearing stable security armor both turned their focus on me. The green mare looked at me with a warm smile while the filly remained expressionless.
"Hey, Cutter," I greeted the green earth pony with a nod. She always had a thin red headband in her dark blue mane for some reason but I never questioned why.
"Hi, Rookie", I nodded to the filly as well, flashing her a reassuring smile. She replied with a squeak that was probably intended to be a 'Hi'.
I liked the kid. She's supposed to be a security mare, but she spends most of her time with us repair ponies. None of the security ponies, not even Sundrop, the Stable Security Chief, say anything against it; except her mom of course. Her mom was a security officer and her mom before that and her mom before that and so on down since before the stable was closed. Her ancestors were always in some position of law enforcement, it seemed. At least, that's what the rookie told us.
Anyways, Rookie's mom thought it was important that she join the force, but her meek personality and her evasion of conflict begged to differ. That said, she'd much rather be in the isolated catacombs of maintenance where she gets the comfortable amount of company us repair ponies provide when we pass her with a quick greeting or small talk. We all enjoy her help and she's quite good with a wrench so we don't mind. Not that anypony would mind a filly doing what she's most comfortable with as long as she didn't get in anypony's way.
I never figured out her real name. I've heard other security ponies call her Rookie even before we were properly introduced and the name always stuck. I'm sure she told me her real name ,or somepony else had, but I forgot or wasn't paying attention.
"So who's the crazy stallion this time?" I continued.
"Greyberry," Cutter answered casually.
"Really?" I asked in surprise. Cutter nodded. Sure I didn't know him very well but from what I did know of him he didn't seem like a crazy pony. He was in charge of food dispensary and him and his friends usually kept to themselves. I remembered helping him retrieve some information he lost on a public terminal a few days back. It had been some old deleted file called The Key which earned me some extra grub.
I looked at the one screen the mainframe needed using the video surveillance and saw the entrance controls untouched. I saw the grey buck, instead, fiddling with a terminal hooked up to his PipBuck muttering something softly to himself.
"...first to leave... they're waiting...." was all I could make out from the clearly insane earth pony.
"Have you been able to hear what he's saying?" I asked curiously.
"Nope," she informed me, crushing my small hopes "The Overmare is beyond pissed right now, though,"
I could see why. I would be too if some random crazy stallion was about to jeopardize the stable too. I put my skills to use and found out how he was blocking us. The bastard put a fucking virus into the stable mainframe! It wasn't that tough of a virus but what was the little shit thinking!? It wouldn't be that hard to get rid of. Cutter should be able to take care of this easily but no she's too lazy just like everypony else.
I hit the last key needed when electricity surged through me. I fell back with my eyes clenched shut as the energy coursed through me looking for an exit and heard both Cutter and the Rookie gasp in surprise. When the shock faded into bearable but annoying tingles I rose to my hooves. I held my hoof to my head to soothe the slight headache growing in my skull before opening my eyes to further darkness. I looked around in confusion finding the only light in the room came from the mainframe's screen which had reported it was 'Repairing...'.
"The fuck just happened!?" I shouted at no one in particular. I turned to Cutter who was just staring at the screen like an idiot."Arg!" I growled loudly at the mare's uselessness and made my way back to the mainframe's controls. I just stared at it not knowing what to do in this situation. I didn't even know what happened! I knew I had to do something but I couldn't do anything. All I could do was wait and hope the mainframe can fix itself soon.
I looked back at the two ponies behind me. Rookie looked terrified and I didn't blame the filly. Who knew what kind of damage the mainframe sustained. Cutter was still lost in her shock still staring at the same spot she was a few seconds ago.
"Well!? You gonna help!?" I asked irritably to Cutter. She shook her head out of her stupor.
"What can I do!?" she countered.
I looked and the ground and growled angrily before looking back at the mainframe controls trying to find out how to fix this mess. As I went through my blank mind for a solution I thought that Cutter was right. She couldn't do anything and neither could I. This was more frustrating than the usual blow up in my face events.
I slammed my hooves on the controls and the screen went black. Not off but back to the camera in the entrance chamber where the lights had been shut down due to the odd power surge in the mainframe. I could see the outline of the large circular steel entrance door (which was now open!) and a few figures walking through. They were massive and made a 'clunk' sound with each hoofstep.
"Kill that one," I heard an unfamiliar mare's voice order to an unseen individual. One of the figures stopped.
"Fuck!" I heard Greyberry exclaim. "Hook up your PipBuck to the mainframe!" He yelled before the intruders made themselves visible with the biggest damn weapon I'd ever seen being fired at Greyberry rapidly. Huge bloody chunks ripped from the buck, splattering on the wall beside him.
I began to shake after what I saw. Not only did they just murder one of Stable 19's residents in front of me but they looked armed to the teeth. Only you couldn't see their teeth! Each was donning magical power armor I had only seen in history books. There were several of them with guns mounted to their sides that matched the one that killed Greyberry as well as other weapons I didn't recognize.
I smelled urine. I glanced back to check on the Rookie but it appeared that Cutter was the one to wet herself. When she noticed me looking at her she blushed. I would have facehoofed if it were a less threatening situation. I looked back at the screen and took a deep breath to calm me down. A moment later an explosion just out of the camera's viewpoint showered the chamber with light once again revealing the intruders' appearances. Screams from familiar voices and gunfire followed soon after.
"What are we going to do!?" Cutter cried hysterically. Rookie remained silent and I reached in my utility belt for my PipBuck connector cable. "What are you doing!?" Cutter looked at me wide eyed when she saw the cord.
"Doing what that grey fuck asked me to do," I answered trying to keep my cool and plugging the cable into my Pipbuck then the mainframe hook up.
"Are you crazy!?" the olive technician shouted at me "Who knows what he put on it!" I ignored her warning and let the transfer complete. By the time I got the mainframe's files (making sure I only took the most recent additions to its data for more effectively finding what Greyberry wanted me too) the screams stopped. The chamber was just a dark empty room. I knew there was no damn way our security team fought off those steel clad ponies.
I flipped through the files quickly finding two messages that shouldn't be there. One was from Greyberry's PipBuck while the other was from a some terminal in Hoofington. I read the one from Greyberry first.
I'm sorry.
If your reading this then I screwed up. I had to take the chance. They had been contacting the Overmare for a few months now. They promised us a safe peaceful place to live outside! All they wanted from us was this 'Key' but the Overmare turned them down several times. I had to take the chance. I told them I'd do it and transferred The Key from the Overmare's terminal to a public one. I was able to get a technician to open it for me and I'm going to let them in. I just couldn't take it any more in here! If I made a huge mistake...I'm sorry.
That crazy fucker killed us all! And tricked me! The Overmare had been talking to these guys? I knew I didn't have a lot of time to think about this so I opened the other file.
Dear, Director
We've placed one of our lesser known projects in a nearby Stable. I personally sealed it in an unfinished room in Stable 19. Please pick it up at your earliest convenience but when you do you might want to wipe its memory and alter its personality a bit. It can be quite the nuisance when it gets angry, which is a lot. Look for a construction pony named Pipe Wrench. He'll push you in the right direction. Oh and you'll need this.
The message never said who sent it but there was an encrypted file attached to it. I tried to decode it but failed. Maybe I could when I was in a less jittery state but for now we needed to find a way to stop the intruders. Why was this message sent to the stable when it was clearly meant for somepony outside of the stable?
The lights returned along with the stable alarm system raising the pain in my head even more. At least the siren should wake any late risers.
"We need to go to the sealed room," I announced "This file has something that can open it."
"Wha-" Cutter started but I quickly cut her off.
"I'm pretty sure whatever is in there is what these ponies want," I explained."Maybe they'll leave if we give it to them." Cutter let out more complaints but I trotted out of the room and began running down the hall. The stairs nearby were as empty as ever so the climb up wasn't hard. After two flights I noticed the Rookie and Cutter caught up to me. The other maintenance pony finally shut up but she still had her panic stricken expression.
Once I neared the destination I began to hear screams as ponies raced past me making me doubt my ability to get to the unknown room. Despite my fears I had made it to the door. A few more ponies charged past me yelling and gunfire rang down the stairwell with noise only the invader's weapons could make. They were close but I still had time. Sounds travels pretty far down here.
When I stopped in front of the door a light shined above it seemingly out of nowhere. That was something the doors don't usually do! The red light shined green after a moment and the door retracted into the ceiling with a hiss. Inside looked like it was half cave and half normal stable. My eyes widened at the sight of stone and the stalactites in the unfinished half of the room. Nothing but a strange cylinder shaped object about the size of my foreleg connected to the ground on the other side of the room was in the strange place. Cautiously, I put a fore hoof in the room and my PipBuck started making a clicking sound.
"Radiation!" Cutter informed with a shout. I looked down at the arcane device studying the geiger counter on the side. The needle bounced safely in the green.
"Its not enough to be dangerous," I concluded before walking further into the room. Rookie and Cutter waited for a moment before following. A compartment on the cylinder opened once I got close enough. Inside was just a grey opening but a light shined from it after a moment. I stared in confusion at s blue mass of light floated in the middle for a second before flying into my PipBuck. Before I could ponder what just happened my E.F.S, or my radar as ponies in the stable liked to call it, appeared in the corner of my eye with a large message in the center of my vision reading "AI ONLINE".
"Woah!" I exclaimed while stumbling backwards a few hoofsteps.
"What is it!?" Cutter asked surprised by my reaction.
"I have no idea," I told her truthfully. The message disappeared but my E.F.S was here to stay until I decided to get rid of it. For now I figured it would be useful.
"Get out of there!" an unfamiliar bucks voice ordered.
"Who said that!?" I yelled looking around.
"I said leave!" the voice continued "Get out of that room turn to your right and hide in the janitor closet at the end of the hall!"
"I um- ok," I answered back to confused to argue with the voices logic. From what I gathered from its idea in my jumbled head it wasn't that bad of an idea. "Follow me!" I told the others before galloping to the exit. I stopped at the door and looked back to see the Rookie and Cutter exchange an unsure glance. "Come on!" I ordered them and ran down the hallway once they started following.
The door was as simple to open as pressing a button. Not much to keep in a janitor's closet out of the public. Who wants to steal a mop? The others went in before me when I waved me hoof toward the open door. Inside was hardly enough to hold all three of us but it did. It wasn't very bright either but my PipBuck light fixed that. I heard loud metallic hoof steps coming from what I assumed was the stairs.
"Error-"
"Shhhh!" I cut of Wire waiting for the hoofsteps to stop. After a few moments the faded into the distance.
"It's safe," The voice told me. "Why are Steel Rangers attacking a stable?" it then asked.
"What the fuck are you!?" I growled looking at the ground.
"Uh, Error," Cutter began "who are you talking too? And what happened in that room?"
"You don't think he..." the Rookie cut in. I knew she was about to say that I went crazy, and I honestly didn't know how to respond to that. A random voice in my does sound like insanity but I've held up the best between us. Not that I can blame them. Our home was just attacked by armored death ponies, we watched a stable resident get shredded by a weapon we've never seen before, and we were nearly caught by said death ponies.
"Oh right, you probably want to know what the new voice in your head. Silly me!" the voice responded. "I'm the Stablecolt AI V-2 but you can call me Coy. At least, that's what Dr.Killjoy called me." A little blue pixelated buck appeared in the corner of my E.F.S and waved at me. He had a short curly blond mane, black one pixel eyes, and wore a more cartoony version of the familiar Stable suit. His flank showed the simple yellow number 19.
"So your an AI?...In my head?" I didn't want a computer thing living in my head. What if it could look into my thoughts or memories or OH NO my fantasies!
"Uh, what?" both my current companions yelped. Cutter a little more dramatically than Rookie.
"Not your head your PipBuck," the blue buck said almost to optimistically. It hardly calmed me down.
"Then how are you talking in my head?" I asked trying to keep as calm as I could but all I could think of was the little buck trotting around in my skull.
"I send synthetic sound waves into your brain the same way your E.F.S projects information to your vision. Don't worry I can't see which mares you want to rut" the AI joked with a chuckle. "Or stallions. Whichever you prefer," I blushed, glad that the others couldn't hear. After I calmed down I looked back at the mare and the filly.
"I got some sort of robot thing in my PipBuck. I think he's what these freaky guys are after," I told them almost casually which surprised me. They didn't look like they believed me. In fact, Cutter looked even more worried than before.
"I'm an AI, the 'freaky guys' are Steel Rangers, and call me Coy," the A- Coy corrected sounding a bit annoyed.
“Ok Coy,” I sighed trying to calm down more “Is there a way to stop the Steel Rangers?”. That earned more worried stares from rookie and Cutter.
“Not in this place,” Coy told me casually like this was a normal situation. Before I could yell at him he cut me off “You need to get out,”
“Get out? You mean...?”
“Yep,” he said in a casual tone again “You need to leave the stable.”
“No!” I shouted a little too loudly. “That’s not an option!” The last part was more of a yell.
“Error your going crazy!” Cutter screamed becoming hysterical.
“You have to go! You don't have the weapons or training to take on Steel Rangers,” Coy warned.
I didn't know what to do. I knew I couldn’t stay here or I would die but I didn’t know what lay outside either. I couldn’t leave all the other ponies in the stable with these murderers. I let out a long sigh.
“If they know I have you will they follow me out?” I asked Coy. Cutter started talking before Coy could respond.
“Even if you have an AI in your head, how do you know they’re after it?” Cutter questioned.
“It makes sense right?” I explained “Why else would they be here?” They had been talking to Greyberry about a key. I opened the file The Key for him just a few days ago which opened the door that lead to-
“Supplies” Rookie cut into my thoughts.
“Huh?” Cutter and I both turned to the usually quiet filly.
“The world ended. They might need supplies to eat or even rebuild,” the filly’s voice was filled with more wisdom than somepony her age should have. “For all we know they could have been finding stables and taking what they can from them. After they deal with the residents, of course,” I opened my mouth to argue but she made sense. Even Coy agreed with her.
“She’s right,” he said “For whatever reason they’re here, I don’t think they’ll just leave your stable alone.”
“So...everypony's fucked?” I glared at the ground before stomping on it in frustration.
“Not necessarily,” Coy said hesitantly. My ears perked. “ I assume since you’re in here means the world ended?”
“Yeah” I answered quickly. What’s that have to do with getting the Rangers to leave?
“How long ago?”
“I don't know. Around two centuries ago or so,” Coy was silent for a few seconds.
“You may be able to disable their armor,” Coy finally began “But I’m not sure how many are on the outside. If they’re here now that probably means there are more of them. With two centuries to recover there are probably a lot more. You need to get everypony out.”
“Uh...That’s easier said than done,” my ears drooped at the thought of even trying to convince everypony to get out.
“What’s it telling you to do!?” Cutter yelled “Don’t listen to it!” I ignored her.
“Let’s focus on stopping them from killing everypony first,” Coy suggested. I couldn’t disagree. “The mainframe is connected to several industrial sized spark batteries throughout the stable,” the blue AI explained “If you can get back to it I can plug a virus into your PipBuck,” I almost stopped him there but I decided to let him finish “The virus can cause the spark batteries to overload, sending a pseudo EMP. I would need to transfer somewhere else after I plant the virus, though. Preferably somewhere outside of the EMP’s range or else I would be shut down along with the Steel Ranger’s armor and your PipBucks.”
“Put a virus in the stable mainframe!? Are you crazy!?” I shouted. Both Cutter and rookie looked at me with shocked stares.
“Think of it as an excuse to get everypony to leave” Coy suggested. Damnit, I don’t know why I agreed.
“Fine, but where will you go to get out of range of the EMP?” I asked.
“There’s a PipBuck tag in the PipBuck repair bay that would be out of range of any blast. Go there right after. No distractions,” Coy ordered.
“Fine,” I looked my companions “Stay here. I’ll be back soon,” I told them before I opened the door. The corridor was nearly silent the only sounds being distant echoing gunfire and wailing from the stable’s pipe system. At least, some of it was from the pipes...
“What are you-” Cutter began but I cut her off with a ‘shhh’.
I slowly stepped out of the closet after I saw it was safe. I heard it slide shut when I was completely out of the doorway. My E.F.S told me enemies waited ahead despite my vision telling me it was clear. They must be above or below. I reminded myself I needed to be extra careful of the ones we avoided that went down to the lower levels.
As quietly as I could, I began my trot back downstairs, keeping as low as possible. I looked into the room I found Coy in to see the case he was in was severely battered to an unrecognizable shape. I guessed the Rangers weren’t too happy he was gone. I thought maybe they did only want Coy and maybe we could fix this and continue living in the stable.
I made it to staircase with no problems. Ok three flights down. I needed to be hopeful that there were no Rangers in those corridors. Stealth was harder than I expected going down the stairs as each step was sounded by a clunk of hoof meeting metal. I winced every step in fear that they’d hear it.
The first flight was safe. None were in view but when I made it to the second floor I ducked back around the corner. Two Rangers had their backs turned to me. They looked like they were looking at something. I worked up the courage to peer back around the corner. They had been studying a bloody PipBuck and talking about something. It didn’t take long to find the PipBuck’s owner slumped against the wall. I shoved my hoof in my mouth to stop myself from gasping.
I knew I had to continue but I really really didn’t want to. Almost too slowly, I began my way to the last flight of stairs. When I made it I let out a sigh of relief. I shouldn’t have. Alerted voices sounded from below. I froze but then I heard galloping heading away from me.
“Did you miss me?” Coy asked smugly. I feared the Rangers would hear him even though I knew he talked in my head.
“I didn’t even know you left,” I whispered.
“I made a little distraction,” Coy informed. “You’re welcome”
“What?” I asked.
“I trapped a knight in the tunnels. They’ll be trying to get her out but you’ll still need to hurry,” the artificial buck explained. I nodded and muttered a thanks. I went down less quietly. Another mistake.
“Who’s there?” a mare’s head appeared from the doorway to the mainframe when I reached it. Instead of being in-cased in thick metal, her head was wrapped in a rubbery substance with small bits of metal plating attached to it and her horn sticking out the top
.
“Hey!” she growled. I froze wide-eyed. She stepped out of the doorway her body protected by the same armor design. She glared at me with green hostile eyes. Her orange face being the only part visible, I realized I should have hit it but I was too surprised to move.
“Go into S.A.T.S!” Coy ordered. Without thought I obeyed. The world slowed almost to a stop. Her head was highlighted green and a 98% appeared next to it showing my chances of hitting her there if I struck.
“Ok here’s what you do,” Coy began. I couldn’t respond my body being as slowed as the rest of the world. “First, see her holster on her right?” With my peripheral vision I saw a holster and a strange pistol residing inside of it. What’s with the guys and their weird guns? “Use your magic to grab the laser pistol,” Lasers!? They had lasers now too!? “Then buck her away, use S.A.T.S to aim at her face. It’s the only part of her body the weapon will be effective on”.
My mind went blank like something took control of my body after he gave those instructions.I slipped out of S.A.T.S whipped the gun out of her holster and bucked her in the chest while she was distracted by my surge of magic.
She slid back but did not fall. I flipped the weapon’s barrel towards her and slipped back into S.A.T.S. I went back into control. I couldn’t shoot, I couldn’t kill her.
“What are you waiting for? Shoot her!” If I could move I would have ground my teeth. I couldn’t kill her even if her and the other Rangers attacked first and killed Celestia know how many ponies. Ponies I knew and grew up with. I had to do something. I... I knew what I had to do. Two strikes from S.A.T.S were locked and ready to go on my mental signal.
The pistol bashed against her skull twice. She staggered after the first blow but the second knocked her down with a shout. A loud shout! She would be on the ground for awhile but I could hear the others yell and gallop this way.
“Maybe I should have made sure the room was clear before you tried to get in,” Coy said in hindsight.
“Yeah that would have made this a lot easier,” I complained looking down the hallway waiting for one to emerge from a corner.
“Inside the room! I’ll lock the door.” Coy told me. Without hesitation I charged into the room to the mainframe. I heard the door slam shut behind me just as the shouts sounded close.
“I’ll open all the doors in the stable or else any effected by the EMPs will be will shut down,” Coy informed. A slam on the door interrupted. It dented!
“Hurry up then!” I growled.
“Done!” Coy said not even a second later “This is the only closed door left,” Another smashed on the door and light poured in from the sides. The shouts that I didn’t even know were muffled now weren’t. “The virus will activate when I’m gone. Remember, PipBuck repair bay!” Coy reminded.
“Alright just go!” I scolded in panic and another bash against the door almost threw it to the ground. I didn’t even know if Coy had left yet when I reached for my PipBuck connector cable. I knew he left when my E.F.S lit up with all sorts of gibberish all across my vision. Damn virus. I plugged my PipBuck into the mainframe just as the final strike against the door caused it to fly toward me. I barely ducked as it struck the mainframe behind me. A Ranger with the same kind of gun that killed Greyberry starred in an eternal scowl from the helmet. Two other rangers flanked him each with smaller (but still intimidating) firearms attached to their flanks.I clenched my eyes shut waiting for the killing blow.
BOOM! The deafening sound burst with a electrical echo. I didn’t feel anything. I opened my eyes to darkness. Was I dead? Had the the shot killed me instantly? My E.F.S wasn’t acting up, in fact, I had no E.F.S. Yep, I was dead. Flashes of light just ahead caught my attention. The flashes had been bolts of electricity jumping from ranger to Ranger. They stood up for a few moments before finally collapsing with a very loud metallic thud.
I wasn’t dead. The plan worked! The EMP shorted out the lights so I tried to turn on my PipBuck light but it didn’t work. I briefly inspected the arcane device before realizing it would be shorted out along with everything else.
The ponies inside the disabled armor shouted threats and complaints at me as I cautiously made my way around them thinking they would get up and blow out my chest with one of their huge guns. I made it into the hallway and luckily my eyes adjusted enough to see where I was going. I looked down at the mare I knocked out on the way in when a realization struck me hard. She hadn’t had power armor! If there were others like her, could they still move around and shoot!? Damn it, Coy! A laser shot above me from further down the hall.
“Lock me in a dark tunnel fucker!?” I heard a mare shout from further down the hall. I could see her armored silhouette from here. This must be the knight Coy locked in the tunnels for my distraction.
I screamed, running up the stairs trying to get away from my pursuer. As I ran I realized I placed my laser pistol in a utility pouch. Wait, where was the trigger on this thing!? It didn’t matter right now, I could outrun this mare, I hoped. I ran up the third flight of stairs to see Cutter and rookie emerged from the closet.
“Run!” I shouted before running up the next flight. I really hoped they listened. In my panic I was still able to pick out the floor with the PipBuck repair bay. A bonus of being a maintenance pony was you knew the layout of the stable to the specifics. I rounded the corner to the welcome greeting of shotgun barrel to the face. Two stable security ponies aimed at me through their visors. Both were unicorns. One had a combat shotgun while the other wielded a 10mm pistol.
I recognized the one with the pistol as Snowflake, the mare I met at Marzipan’s filly’s birthday party. Her bright white coat stood out in the darkness while her icy blue mane slid out from under her helmet. The other pony I didn’t recognize. He was familiar but everypony was familiar with everypony in the stable. He was larger than Snowflake and I and definitely looked tougher than both of us. His coat looked like rust and his mane was a bright yellow sticking out from under his helmet.
“Being...chased...other stable...ponies following me” I explained in between heaves. The nodded at each other and moved around me flanking the stairway. They didn’t react to Cutter and Rookie barrel through the stairway. Both ran to my side.
“What did you do!?” Cutter yelled.
Gunshots interrupted my response. Two shots from the shotgun and four by the pistol followed by a disembodied scream, metallic thumps down the stairs, and shots from the laser pistol that lit up the stairway. The two security ponies rejoined me and the the two others following me.
“Thanks” I huffed.
“No problem, Error,” Snowflake said with a warm smile.
“You remember me?” I asked. Very few mares remember me. “Wow.”
“Of course” she responded. “Why wouldn’t I remember you?”
“What happened?” the buck interrupted.
“I-” I decided it would be better if I didn’t tell him I broke the stable “The Rangers overloaded the spark batteries in the stable to turn off our E.F.S. I guess they didn’t take into account their power armor gets the same result as our PipBucks” I couldn’t help but feel stupid that the situation was actually reversed.
I realized a few Steel Ranger corpses littered the hallway the security ponies came down. Bullet holes piercing the visors. Looked like my plan down stairs saved them. A little bit of pride welled up inside me.
“The what?” Right, they don’t know that term.
“Never mind,” I said with a dismissive hoof. “I need to get to the PipBuck repair bay,” I explained “Somepony’s waiting for me there. Can I get some help?”
“Sure,” Snowflake answered “It’s on the way to the Overmare’s office but we need to go there right after.”
“Deal,” I said with a hopefully confident smile.
***
The way wasn’t as clear as I’d hoped. A few stray knights left both Snowflake’s and the buck I now knew as Gate’s armor with a few new scorch marks. At least the knights weren’t as armed as the normal Rangers.
We made it, though. The lights in this area were still on. Coy said the EMPs couldn’t reach this far. I feared any functional Rangers that could be in the area. I warned my companions as such.
It worried me that even with the power on the PipBuck repair bay was open. What if the Rangers got in, killed whoever Coy went into, and took the AI? I walked in and my fears evaporated when I saw a white mare with a two toned pink mane cowering between work benches with mascara dripping down her cheeks with tears.. Her PipBuck glowed a bright pink showing me she was who I already knew her as.
“Tulip,” I called quietly in concern. My companions followed me in with looks of concern and surprise.
“This is who’s waiting for you?” Snowflake questioned sounding a bit confused.
“Error!” Tulip blinked at me. She remembered my name too! “He told me to give you my PipBuck!” Oh, or Coy just told her... I really hoped it was the first possibility.
“Oh yeah,” I said a little more bitterly than I intended. “This place has tools to remove these, right?”
“Yeah” Snowflake answered “Who said you need her PipBuck”
“The voice in my PipBuck!” Tulip answered with a scared girly squeal while I looked through a toolbox for a tool that would fit the lock on my PipBuck. Great, she’s turning out like Wire.
“What?” both of the security ponies looked at her like she was crazy. By the sound if her voice, I assumed she almost was.
“There really is an AI!?” Cutter exclaimed. Enough with panicking ponies!
“I wouldn’t yell,” I stated “The EMP couldn’t reach here by the looks of it,” I added the last part quickly to not cause any suspicion of my involvement in breaking the stable. “There could be a few functional Rangers around here. Aha!” I found a tool that fit in the PipBuck lock. It was dark red and black and it looked looked like a cross between a key and a screw driver.
With a twist the arcane device popped open releasing my left foreleg. It looked almost like a shackle when opened with jaws waiting to encase somepony’s leg, except with padding for its wearer's comfort. With a grey magical burst I tossed the tool in front of the still cowering Tulip. She stared at it for a moment but eventually went to work opening her own PipBuck. That's when everything went to hell.
I heard Gate shout something from the hallway right before a large explosion cut him off and shook the room. Tulip yelped and dropped the PipBuck key. I heard similar responses from the rest of my companions, myself included.
"Gate!" Snowflake shrieked. I hadn't seen what happened to Gate and I decided I didn't want to with the splatter I heard from the hall echoing the explosion. SnowFlake jumped to the side avoiding an explosive shell I hardly saw fly past and slam into the wall behind Cutter and rookie. The two fell forward from the explosion's shockwave, leaving Cutter's rump with a light burn. I was about to try to get them out of the way when a pink aura surrounding a glowing pink arcane device obscured my vision.
"Take it!" Tulip shouted with her eyes closed. I didn't have time to wonder how she passed the PipBuck to me without sight. I took the device and attached it to my left foreleg with a click. My E.F.S appeared in the corner of my eye... and it was pink. I'd have to get used to that. Another explosion hit near the side of the door still outside of the room while Cutter and Rookie cowered in a corner curled with each other.
"Finally!" Coy sighed in relief.
"We're being shot at!" I half growled half screamed as another missile hit the wall inside the room. He sounded too happy in this situation.
"Right" Coy began taking a more serious tone "Your E.F.S says there's only one," I hadn't really looked at my E.F.S well enough to notice "So tell that security pony to say when the Ranger starts to reload"
"Snowflake!" I called. She stopped shooting her pistol, that I hadn't even notice she began to fire, and looked at me with a questioning look. "Tell me when he reloads!"
"He's reloading!" she yelled not even a second after I said to tell me.
"Well fuck, out of the room! Now!" Coy ordered. I knew it was a crazy thing to do but his plan worked before and hopefully it would again. I charged out without hesitation.
I started to have second thoughts when I made it out the door. The armored invader had a massive cannon mounted on his flank. The red gushy stuff I was stepping in didn't help my shock either. I found out what happened to Gate after all.
A smoking shell that fit the huge cannon's size popped out the top of the gun and landed with an audible thunk. The gun tilted down toward me. What I had just witnessed and the gore pile I stood in raised my determination to NOT GET HIT! I jumped aside to safety behind a wall just as the steel pony fired but the shock wave still caused me to land on my face.
My snout throbbed. When I got up I checked my nose with a hoof. That was a lot of blood. Wait... I looked back at the pile of gore I had been just standing in. My stomach couldn't take the fear and the fact I had just smeared Gate's insides on my muzzle.
After throwing up last nights dinner (and being grateful I didn't eat breakfast) I looked at the bloody pile once more thinking I caught a glimpse of something that didn't fit into the gore. Yes the shotgun! I reached out and grabbed it with my telekinesis, another large explosive shell nearly knocking out of my grip.
"Yes a gun! Of course! You'll need one of those for my plan!" Coy said enthusiastically.
"I'm really having second thoughts about this," I told him "Your plans seem to leave something important out."
"What was wrong with my last one!?" Coy asked irritably.
"Aside from this situation, the knights' armor doesn't shut down on them!" I pointed out.
"Well, lets focus on our current objective, shall we?" Coy chuckled sounding embarrassed. score one for me.
"What's your plan for this one?" Coy laughed at the question.
"It's easy don't worry," Nonetheless, I was worried. "Just use the hallways to circle around to the Ranger's side and take him out from there!" What!?
"That's your plan!?" another cannon shot caused me to wince.
"Running out of ammo!" Snowflake called. With a growl I raced to my suicidal goal maybe because the part of my brain that would think this over more turned off or I was just crazy. I started to fear it wouldn't matter when a knight trotted down a stairway directly ahead of me bringing a (what was that? never mind) gun to bear.
I dismissed my thoughts of failure and charged at her screaming with my best war cry, which wasn't that good. By the time she set up her aim I was close enough to strike the bloody shotgun barrel to her temple with more force than I thought could muster.
I ran to the hallway to my side without looking back at the mare I just hit. There was no way she had still been up after that blow. I turned once more straight away to the Steel Ranger. He was reloading again. I took the opportunity and I charged at him screaming again. He turned to me and I got ready to beat him with my shotgun. He simply held out a hoof which I slammed into, knocking what little breath I had out of me. I fell to the floor while he held me down with the same foreleg I slammed into. He raised his other hoof, preparing to beat the life out of me with it. This time my scream was of terror rather than determination. I could see Snowflake's bullets bouncing off his armor with no effect.
I panicked. I placed the shotgun's barrel to the Ranger's visor and pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. The sound of the shots so close to me hurt. My scream faded as my lungs begged for air and the Steel Ranger tipped over... missing his head! I scrambled to my hooves breathing heavily over what I had just done and my body's growing need for oxygen. Turning around to face away from the corpse I saw his head further down the hall, his visor almost gone, showing no eyes but deep bloody holes where the buckshot had pierced. I had killed him! Was it even a him!? I couldn't tell from their armor! I didn't even know what gender this pony was and I killed them!
My guilty thoughts were interrupted by a burning pain lancing down my shoulder. I screamed again and turned to the knight I hit a few moments ago. Her nose pointed in a direction I knew it shouldn't be and she wore an expression of pure rage.
She aimed her, I assumed from the burn I got, laser rifle at me. A part of me thought It would be good after what I just did. She exploded! The cannon on the dead Steel Ranger shifted and thundered, blasting the knight into a thick red paste.
"You’re welcome," Coy commented "Were you seriously about to beat a Steel Ranger with your shotgun?" I just sat there with my jaw dropped to the floor.
***
It had taken a few minutes to recover though I was still shaking from the ordeal. We made it to the atrium without anymore trouble, thank Celestia and Snowflake led the way now, her pistol raised and her eyes alert. She and the others had been impressed with what I did which I responded to with 'good, cause I don't think I can do it again'.
The shotgun lay across my back, spreading more blood on me. I was too focused on my actions earlier to care, though. Was there another way? Could Snowflake have helped? Should I have waited for her? Did I have to kill that Ranger? Even though every logical part of my brain told me not to feel bad, some piece of me felt guilty over the armored ponies death. They were a pony, enemy or not, with many years of life spent. Spent doing what? I don't know, but all those years and any more life he could have spent was put to a sudden halt because of me. I shook my head and tried to focus my attention on Snowflake and the others.
Speaking of Snowflake, she was taking Gate's death pretty well. I didn't know who he was to her but if he was somepony important to her she didn't show it. I knew was just using her as a distraction from my thoughts of myself but I figured it didn't really matter.
I started to think maybe I did the right thing when we started seeing bodies. We found only a few at first but as we got closer to the atrium more started showing up. Alone or in clusters all the bodies had gaping wounds in them. Some were even missing limbs... and heads. I noted that there were no Steel Ranger corpses though a few trapped in their armor from when the EMPs went off but Snowflake quickly took care of them with a shot to their visors. That was obviously the weak spot in their armor.
We took the long way to the atrium, skipping the living quarters. None of us wanted to see the carnage down there. We found no survivors on our path to the Overmare's office, making me wonder if we were the only ones left. This place was usually filled with activity but now everything was dead, literally. I was dreading the panic from residents I would witness when we made it to the more public friendly areas but this slaughter was much worse than I had ever expected. Silent, dark, and bloody. Not the best combination for comfort.
To my surprise Rookie was holding herself together better than Cutter. Cutter and Tulip both looked about frantically with tears sliding down their cheeks. They weren't meant to go through something like this. None of us were (well maybe Snowflake was) but they took it the worst.
Coy was surprisingly silent on our walk. For the short time I've known him he seemed very talkative. Maybe he knew now wasn't the time for talk out of respect or he could be up to something.
We made it to one of the entrances to the atrium. Snowflake took cover in the doorway and halted us with a hoof.
"Error what's your E.F.S say?" I forgot I was the only pony with a functioning PipBuck.
"Oh, uh," I checked my radar. Only the pink bars of my companions. "It's clear," Snowflake nodded and twirled around the door, scanning the area with her pistol raised.
I stepped out after her to the welcome greeting of even more corpses. Bloody holes and missing chunks of bodies decorated the atrium. A majority of the population had been here when the attack began. The lack of survivors here or in any of the surrounding rooms reinforced my worry that we were the only ones left. I glanced in the canteen and wished I didn’t. Foals. They had killed foals at a party. The canteen was by far the worst of the massacre. The foals’ small bodies couldn’t stand the Ranger’s massive weapons as well as adult ponies. Several corpses sat at a table. Not whole corpses. One of the kids was missing their top half. By the looks of it the top half was smeared all over the table, seat, and all the surrounding ponies. A colt had been close to the door but was blasted in two laying in a bloody puddle wearing a party hat. On the counter was a bundle of balloons and a preserved cake. No blood or damage to either of them.
I looked away shedding a few tears, I couldn’t take the sight. Between what we already saw, what I did, and finally this I felt broken. My home and all the ponies I shared it with were destroyed. The thought made me want to race through the hall until I found a knight and end it. Or use my shotgun.
I shook my head. What was I thinking!? I could hold through this. But what waited for me when I made it through? Where could life take me when the only life I knew was gone? My idea of staying I knew was pointless now. If I did, visions of what happened here would haunt me. Coy was right, we needed to leave.
I was the only one to check the canteen before I closed it. Rookie shouldn’t see, she might have known some of them. Wire and Tulip didn’t look like they were able to take much more. I could hardly take it. I couldn’t take it. Thoughts of joining the bloody ponies on the floor kept festering in my head.
“Error?” Snowflake asked concerned after the canteen door shut.
“Don’t look in there,” I said flatly continuing my trot to the Overmare’s office. The armored mare glanced at the door in worry before following. I took the lead to the office just wanting to get through the devastation without anymore unpleasant distractions.
We made it to the stairs leading up to the Overmare's office. Oddly, light had been shinning the porthole showing the office from the atrium. Maybe the EMPs didn't hit there. I trotted up the stairs to see two more Steel Rangers trapped in their power armor just outside the Overmare's door. The door being closed provided even more evidence that the EMP's didn't hit the room.
Snowflake brushed past me, quickly dispatching the downed ponies without so much as a glance, and knocked her hoof on the door.
"Overmare Cocoa, Security Officer Snowflake reporting. Are you in there?" Her question was answered by a hiss of the door sliding open. The sudden light stung my eyes making me wince back for a moment. Once I opened my eyes I could see a dark brown mare with a swirly brown and white mane.
"Officer Snowflake," the Overmare greeted after letting out a sigh of relief. "These miscreants nearly killed me before a flash shut everything down and they dropped," Miscreants? Seems like a reasonable thing to call genocidal death ponies. I felt more pride when I heard the EMPs saved the Overmare to. Too bad I couldn't tell them I broke the stable. "Who else is with you?"
"Just some of the surviving residents, Overmare," Snowflake stated bluntly turning to us. Her tone seemed to change more seriously when talking to the higher authority.
"Any more security personnel?" The Overmare asked looking behind Snowflake's shoulder at us.
"Negative, Overmare. My patrol was terminated," the snowy white mare's face looked sad for a moment but faded as she continued "Error Code has shown some combat prowess, however," she informed smiling at me. Yeah, if you count screaming and flailing as combat prowess. I noticed she didn't mention Rookie as part of the security force. The Overmare’s eyes went wide when she saw me.
"What happened to him!?" Cocoa gasped. Right, I was covered in blood.... Snowflake sighed.
"Most of it is Officer Strong Gate's," she informed sadly "He got covered in it retrieving Gate's weapon," she pointed her hoof at the combat shotgun on my back. The Overmare grimaced clearly not wanting to know what happened to Gate.
"Come in," the Overmare said "We need to come up with a plan," We stepped in the office. It was hardly big enough for all of us. Maybe without the crescent moon shaped desk in the middle. A few dozen terminals were on the back wall. I looked through the porthole to see a knight moving around. Hopefully he wouldn't become a problem. "So do you have any ideas on how to get rid of these intruders, Officer Snowflake?"
As they talked I wondered why Coy hasn't said anything. I understand why he was silent earlier but now was the perfect time to share some half assed plan. I looked at Tulip's now not so shiny silver and pink PipBuck to see if I could tell if he was on there but nothing was different. Well, besides the fact that everything was now pink...
"I see your PipBuck is shut down," Overmare Cocoa stated pointing her hoof at the device on Snowflake's foreleg. I completely missed out on whatever they were just talking about. The new topic snapped me back to reality, though. I saw the Overmare's PipBuck was still online reinforcing my idea that the EMPs didn't reach this far. "I could use this room's back up generators to jump start the spark battery" Never mind. "You'll probably need S.A.T.S"
"That would be great," Snowflake nodded but didn't smile. Damn formality, I don't know why it bugged me so much.
I waited as the brown earth pony powered up the others' PipBucks besides mine and Tulip's. The Overmare was surprised when she saw I was wearing Tulip's PipBuck and she was Pipbuckless but didn't press the issue too much muttering 'there’re bigger problems to fix first'.
Coy's silence was explained when the Overmare's desk lifted itself into the air by a field of blue magic revealing a stairway leading into darkness. We all stared in surprise except Cocoa who looked panicked. Coy's voice came back on my PipBuck.
"Go down there!" Coy ordered sounding hurried.
"Coy what's-" I tried to ask but Coy cut me off
"While you were wondering around I went to check things out," The blue AI began. "Some ponies came in with machines that run on spark batteries. They started booting up the Rangers power armor! A knight reported your position in here and several Rangers are on their way! You need to leave NOW!" Oh oh, this wasn't good. Not good at all. My eyes visibly widened even more to the others.
"Error," Cutter began "What is it?"
"We need to go! Right now!" I announced very loudly before running down the stairs. I knew they were going to want an explanation but we really didn't have time. I heard hoof steps behind me hoping that they all followed. I heard them shout my name minus Rookie and Tulip. They seemed to be the quietest of all of us.
Pink light surrounded when I turned on my PipBuck light. Now I could actually see a few feet in front of me. The stairwell was ridiculously long. Though, if it was supposed to lead to the stable entrance I understood why. The stable door was a good seven levels below the Overmare's office.
I eventually made it to an open hallway that was brown and grimy from lack of maintenance. I never knew about this place and I doubted many, if any, other's, knew about it as well. A musty rank filled the area. Several red bars on my E.F.S caught my attention but skittering in the edges of my light made me assume it was just radroaches. Damn, gross mutant roaches. They've caused more than enough technical problems for me and the other maintenance ponies in the past. I remember right after I got my cutie mark and became a maintenance pony, instead of using pesticide I took care of some of the nasty bastards in the generator room with my old bb gun. I got in a lot of trouble with the security chief and learned my lesson not to shoot down there.
I didn't get to much farther before Cocoa ran in front of me looking thoroughly annoyed.
"What was that!?" she scolded. "My secret passageway just opens on its own and you go charging down it like you know where it goes! I demand an explaination!" she stomped her hoof in frustration. I sighed.
"You know that room nopony can open?" I asked. She sat eyes wide almost looking dazed.
"Did you... open it?" she said the last words hesitantly like she hoped I'd say no.
"Yes," I told her. The older pony took a deep breath.
"What was in there?" she asked looking down sadly.
"Some AI named Coy. Somepony was supposed to pick him up here before the world ended but well, the world ended," the Overmare didn't move, so I explained more. "He's been helping us move through the stable alive. He's the one that opened your 'secret passageway' and he says we need to leave the stable," Overmare Cocoa closed her eyes and shuttered.
"What else do you know?" she asked.
"That you could have given these death ponies The Key months ago" I told her. She looked at me worried. "And you made the right choice" she shifted from sadness to confusion. "Greyberry let them in and clearly they haven't brought the friendship and rainbows they promised" The chocolate colored mare smiled.
"Well let's do what the AI said and leave" she announced taking lead down the dirty tunnel.
***
We hadn't walked long before Coy told me we were getting close to the entrance. I told everypony but Cocoa already knew. The way down here wasn't clear of hostiles, however. Fortunately, it had only been a few dozen radroaches. Snowflake said she was running out of ammo and switched to a baton I didn't even know she had on her. A few swings later and the way was clear.
Cocoa and Snowflake took the lead even though the Overmare was unarmed. She seemed pretty determined to get the ponies she was responsible for to safety. At least, however safe the outside was, which judging by the Rangers, wasn't very safe.
Muffled explosions echoed through the dark tunnels, bewildering us all. At first it started it off with a few individual explosions but we assumed that was just some unfortunate stable survivor getting found by the restored Rangers but as we continued however the booms became louder and more abundant. Now it sounded like a full on war zone behind the walls. Some even sounded they smashed right into the wall separating us from them.
According to Coy we were very close to our destination. It was just around this next corner. I became more eager and as did my companions. At least, most of them. Wire and Tulip just got more worried, unsure of our plan to leave. Even Rookie bounced in excitement a bit. My heart thumped so hard and fast it felt like it was going to pop out of my chest. We turned the corner ready to make a run for it out into the unknown.
It was a dead end.
"The fuck this!?" I cried in frustration holding out a hoof to show my annoyance.
"The door is disguised," the Overmare explained while walking up the wall. Oh, I suppose that made sense, don't want ponies to know it's here, but it could have just been disguised from one side.
Before the Overmare could do anything, an explosion shook the room. Everypony flinched and Wire let out a squeal. Once we recovered from the sudden shock, the Overmare looked at the wall thoughtfully. She glanced at us, took a deep breath, and tapped her hoof on a button I didn't see at first. The door slid open quickly, thankfully, but was accompanied by a loud screech from rust against metal.
SCREEEE! BOOM!
Something smashed into the wall near Cocoa. She fell on the floor sliding towards us screaming with large gashes running down her chest and forelegs. I jumped to the side on instinct, Rookie jumped behind me, Snowflake took cover in the doorway with her pistol raised, Tulip shrieked and ran back from where we came from, and Cutter curled into a ball on the floor shaking and sobbing. We were a good team... I whipped out my bloody shotgun and peered in the doorway.
I didn't think that shot was purposely directed to us. It looked like a war zone erupting from the... I think it was the entrance chamber, that would make sense. It was hard to see from all the smoke and limited space we could see of the room but some more power armored ponies were clearly visible amidst the chaos. Only they were painted with red trimmings.
Missiles detonated around them sending shrapnel into their armor. One was taking cover behind a wall leading to the stable controls. Another stood in the middle of the room and took whatever came at him while another dragged a fallen comrade out of the fire toward us! A pink glow shined from the fallen one's armor and... was it repairing itself!?
Even knowing the shotgun's range capabilities, I fired it as rapidly as I could in the Steel Ranger's general direction but it wasn't doing anything to the power armor. Snowflake tried to help out with her pistol but that did next to nothing as well.
The armored pony turned to us, dropping his fallen companion for a moment and shot something out of a smaller (but still intimidating) cannon on his side. It bounced off the floor like a grenade in the middle of us.
BOOM!
I couldn't see! My vision filled with white and my head throbbed. A steady ringing in my ears was the only thing I could hear yet I could still feel the combat shotgun in my grip so I fired it blindly. My hearing and vision came back slowly and an imprint of the sight I'd seen before the boom was stuck in my eyesight. The only one of my companions in my line of sight was Snowflake who was slumped against the wall with her eyes closed. I saw the Steel Ranger run into the room. I panicked and shot some more buckshot into him, but it did little. The gunfire sounded strange almost distant. I kept pulling the trigger but the gun stopped firing. The harsh thunder of the gunfire was replaced by a faint click telling me it needed a new drum.
I could do nothing but stare blindly as the Ranger charged at me. He bashed into my shotgun, knocking it out of my grip, and slammed into me, a sharp pain soared through me as the metal met my flesh. My light utility barding could do nothing to absorb that blow. I slid on the floor just as the Overmare did and looked up at the red trimmed Steel Ranger who in turn stared down at me. His read bar on my E.F.S turned pink and he ran back to the battle, and I assumed his friend. Just as my vision started to come back, it started to fade, this time to black. My body couldn't take anymore stress and began to shut down. I think Coy said something, but it was too fuzzy. I felt like I was spinning.
And then everything went black.
Level up!
Level 2: Stable Defender
New perk: Crazy Buck- Voices in your head tell you the best ways to kill ponies!
(I'd like to thank Kkat for making such a fun world to build on, both Lesolan Brinker and lazer726 for helping fix the many many mistakes in this story, and all the good people on the Fallout Equestria Document.)