Twintails, Buzzy, and myself all sat at the small table as Featherweight stood over a stove, cooking a stew of some kind. Buzzy shifted a little, having to stand on the chair so more than just the top of her mane was visible. She pushed a couple bottle caps forward into the small pile in the center of the table. “I’ll raise ya two.” Twintails and I tossed a pair of caps each into the pile. I flipped another card onto the table. Ok, two diamonds in my hand, two down already, one club, one heart. 52 cards in a deck, subtract ten for the ones in play, assume Buzzy and Twintails only have 3 or 4 diamonds together... so that’s 5 out of 42 chance... 12%?

Twintails tapped his hoof lightly on the table, Buzzy doing the same. I spun a cap around slowly in my magic, unsure if I should raise them. I glanced back at the pot - 30 caps wasn’t bad as is, and I definitely wouldn’t want to lose anymore with that bill to pay. Then again, the bill was pretty high, and I could use all the help I can get... I shrugged and tossed the cap in. Twintails grumbled and folded his cards to the table. Buzzy happily tossed another cap into the pile, Featherweight speaking up. “You better not be throwing away all our food money, Buzzy.” He stirred the pot a few times before shaking a bit of salt into the mix.

Buzzy rolled her eyes as I flipped another card. Another club, damn. “Calm down, Feaths, got a great hand here!” She looked at me expectantly. I tapped my hoof lightly on the table, Buzzy looking a bit disappointed. She did the same and we revealed our cards. “Full house!” She said, grinning widely. I groaned and smacked my head on the table. Stupid pair of fours. Twintails looked equally upset, having folded two pairs. Buzzy scooped the pile of caps towards herself, giggling a little. “Nice game, guys. Wanna play another?”

Featherweight looked over his shoulder at us again. “Come on, Buzzy, you don’t need to steal all their caps either. Besides, lunch is ready.” I gathered the cards and placed them back into their worn case before tossing them onto a bookshelf. Featherweight ladled a few scoops into each bowl before sitting down at the table, the rest of us grabbing our own bowls and spoons. Whatever was in the stew, it was great. I quickly gulped down the mixture of beans, plants, and small chunks of meat. “Were you two planning on sticking around for much longer?” Featherweight asked.

Twintails swallowed his mouthful of stew. “Ah, well, uh..." I passed him an idle look, seeing him blushing a bit. He cleared his throat, setrting the spoon down with his wing. "As much as I’d like to stay here, we... we probably ought to head out soon. Have a job we’re supposed to be doing, and Minty sleeping with his cousin didn’t help things along, either.” He smirked at me, myself glaring back with contempt. You’re just lucky they don’t have any snow on the floor here. He went back to eating his soup, as I smacked him on the head with my spoon. “Ach, geez.” He rubbed his head, looking back up at the large grey stallion that sat across from us. “We’ll probably stop by here on the way back to Mooscow though. Besides, lonmg as we can keep pulling caps together I’ll probably have a new toy to test out with you guys by then, too.” Twintails chuckled, leaning back as I grumbled into my bowl of stew. "Saw a BEL back in Gun Runner's that totally had my name on it~"

Dinner continued in relative silence, aside from the occasional... ahem... release of helium from the three pegasi. Twintails tossed his bowl and spoon into the rusty sink, having finished first, myself doing the same afterwards. “You suuuuure you don’t want to play again?” Buzzy asked, tossing a cap into the air. I winced as she spoke - was her voice higher than before? Featherweight chuckled, his voice definitely an octave or two up. At hearing the normally baritone voice at Alto,Twintails laughed too - oh geez, this is awful. I put a hoof over my mouth, doing my best to keep from busting out as well.

“Yeah. Snrk. Yeah, I think we better go.” I said, grinning widely. I dropped my saddlebags and Ivan onto my back, caressing him a bit while Twintails hitched up his own bags, giggling a little as we left their house. We trotted through the gate created from the passenger cars and began to head down the snow covered road. Wind blew up from the testing range, my pip-leg's Geiger counter ticking a bit from the ambient radiation and fallout.

We trotted along the western road, nothing coming between us and our destination for the first leg of the walk, minus a few bloatsprites. As we continued along the small stretch, Twintails stopped me, pointing out some small creature standing in the bottom of the basin to the south. I squinted towards it, shifting Ivan a bit. As much as I love him, even with the carbon-whatever parts, he’s going to snap my back at this rate... The creature looked somewhat like a bear, though much, MUCH larger, with longer forelegs. It slowly trudged back and forth idly, as if it was looking for something. I heard a bang, looking right and seeing Twintails regaining himself from firing his grenade rifle.

The small bundle of explosives flew through the air in a smooth arc, landing just short of a direct hit - talk about a lucky shot. The bear... thing, roared in pain, turning towards us with claws outstretched. That was... that was MUCH bigger than a bear... oh, crap! I wrapped my augmented leg around Ivan, pointing him towards the creature, which was currently barreling towards us with a growling roar that made me glad that stew was still in my stomach. Flicking the trigger, the pent up electricity discharged towards the animal in a massive blue bolt - thank the goddesses it was such a big target. The lightning jumped across the thing’s skin, a couple exposed bits of metal covering its body shining from the voltage. Who thought it was a good idea to augment this thing?! I let the drained charge pack fall into the snow, plugging another into the back.

Twintails fired a few more grenades into the thing’s face as fast as he could load them into the rifle, blowing one of its ears off. The beast swiped at Twintails, who leapt out of the way, if just barely, switching to his machine guns and starting to unload them into the beast - good, I don’t need to be caught in the middle of that grenade rifle-thing’s blast. I fired another jolt of electricity at the animal, lightning swirling around it once again, my mane standing on end. The thing started to stumble, some of the motors in its leg whirring as it strained to continue to support it. Twintails fired off a few more shots before the giant mechanical dog fell to the ground, dead. I panted a bit, recovering the dead batteries. “Okay... lesson learned, don’t fire at things we don’t know what they are, right?” I looked at Twintails. He nodded, double checking his rifle was properly secured to his waist before we turned to continue down the road, on the lookout for more of those beasts - and hoping the Doc won't start charging us for clothes washing.

We trotted up to the outskirts of Trotisk, still a little shaken from fighting off whatever that gigantic dog-robot-monster was. I saw a couple ponies in tattered robes gathered around a small fire in a trash can, lowering the heat lamp a little so it was a little more out of sight. It’s not that I don’t trust them it’s just... yeah. We headed through town, a couple other ponies milling about. “I suppose you’d want to head back to the Plasma Spaz?” Twintails asked, smirking at me a bit.

I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of all those energy rifles, pistols, and grenades. “Well... we- I mean, I do still need to pay off my debt.” I said, chuckling weakly. We walked through town, snow starting to slowly drift down from the sky, bringing with it the faint, familiar tick-ticking of our pip-bucks. We turned into the Plasma Spaz, my doppelganger fixing up a -very- beautiful plasma caster. She looked up as the bell above the door rang, smiling a bit as she saw Ivan. It was still a hundred levels of weird seeing me... her.

“It’s nice to see you two got back safe and sound.” She said, completely ignoring Twintails. He slipped off to the side, seming to idly inspect a few Plasma and Pulse mines on display. “And it’s nice you actually bothered to show up. It probably would’ve been more trouble than it’s worth trying to hire some mercs to get my payment back.” She said. I bit my lower lip a bit, my eyes shifting away from hers.

“Daah, well... I may not actually be able to... pay off the debt.” I said, my ears lowering a bit. Mare-Minty looked disapprovingly at me. “B-but I can at least pay off part of it now, though! Eheh...” I pulled out my cap bag wit some haste, pouring out the contents onto the counter, letting Not-Me count them up.

“125 caps... that’s still 325 caps left. Least you seem serious enough about it.” She said, leaning forwards onto the counter, adjusting her glasses idly. “If you don’t mind, I have a couple odd jobs from my employers you could pick up to make up the difference.” I looked over to Twintails, who was absent mindedly kicking at some lint and tin cans on the floor otherwise looking bored. Oh, come on Twintails, this stuff is awesome! Better than your silly bullets, anyways.

“What kind of jobs?” I asked, a bit eagerly. Not-Me took a step back, seeming a bit surprised at my enthusiasm, myself clearing my throat and pulling myself back. “Ah, I prefer to keep out of assassination, if you don’t mind. B-but I’d happily take something else! Eheh, these Emerald Charge Packs are expensive, let alone the repairs...” I chuckled, grinning weakly, shifting Ivan a bit on my back. Lightning jumped about inside the glass casing, my mane standing a bit on end.

“Hey now, the repairs were free!” She said, sticking her tongue out playfully. “It’s the other stuff that was expensive. And don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. You guys know about a group up north from here called the Steel Rangers, right?” She asked. I nodded. Puh, better than you'd suspect... "I- my employers, I mean, were hoping we could possibly set up some kind of trade with them. I know how crazy they are for old world tech, so I understand they'll be reluctant - Just tell them I'll take anything, no matter how busted up it is. Silver tongue might help."

I thought it over a bit. Getting a bunch of xenophobic mares and stallions wearing tin cans and sporting gigantic guns to open up trade? Well, I did need to pay off that debt... hopefully also won't have to get Nova to put in a good word. No thank you, I'll stick to ponies who don't drug me. "Ah, well, we'll try our best, but don't be surprised if they're unwilling to even give up recycled ammo. Do you have something they might be interested in?" Smirking, not-me nodded to Ivan.

"Well, I fixed that puppy up pretty well, didn't I? Tell them we'd be willing to help fix up anything they need in exchange for a regular supply of standard or heavy beam weapons, or at the very least energy cells." She said, smiling lightly. "My name's Sugar Rush, by the way." Twintails' ears perked up a bit at the name. Did he know her?... "Now, if you come back with an agreement, I'll wipe off... 200 of the caps. You could try rummaging around the broken down R&G facility in the inner city too. There's bound to be some stuff there I'd get, had I the time..." She seemed to let the rest of the sentence dangle off, as if she were hiding something, but... oh, forget it, I can't go around the wasteland a bill-dodger!

"Sounds like a plan. Better than having this debt with us..." Sugar nodded lightly, returning to her repairs. I walked to the door, Twintails following me out onto the snowy street. I turned to face him, catching him peering over at the windows of Gun Runners - don't worry you crazy pegasus, that Egg Launcher isn't going anywhere. "We're heading back to EQUAD, hopefully those ponies aren't too against helping out non-members. Oh, and, uh, do you know Sugar?" Twintails smirked, looking over at myself. Don't tell me he slept with two ponies while I was off kidnapped...

"The salespony, or is that your new nickname for Nova?" He asked, laughing. I smacked him upside the head. "Ow! Sorry, sorry. You walked into that one though. Buzzy mentioned her name when she told me that you were pony-napped - I can see why there'd be the mix-up, heh. That was all." I rolled my eyes, looking to the heavy metal wall that seperated the main boulevard from the rest of the city. A pair of fillies were busily drawing on the side of a dilapidated building in chalk, another wiping his tongue as his piece of chalk rolled down the cracked road.

We passed by the Gun Runners as another yellow and black maned pegasus wearing a green duster shot into the air, carrying a package on her back. I shook my head, doing a double take. Wait just a bucking minute here, does Twintails have a twin he never told me about? He seemed to have not noticed, the entrance to the inner city passing by as we moved through the outskirts, heading north to EQUAD. Looking back, you could see the large rusted sign of "R&G Manufacturing", the lowest of the high windows boarded up, graffiti scrawled on the bottom edge of the brick wall, reaching just over the metal barricade. I made a mental note of it's relative location as we continued up the road.

Several minutes, songs, and errant PSAs later, the road began to curve around and rise up the side of a mountain, overlooking the large expanse of frozen nothing labeled as 'Horseshoe Basin'. A couple ponies in power armor stood at a makeshift checkpoint, one brandishing an almost embarrasingly small assault rifle and another with a more respectable laser rifle. We trotted up to the barrier, one of the ponies drawing his weapon and aiming it at us both, the circuitry whining to charge. “State your business here.”

“We’re trying to set up a trade between you and Pripytrot.” I placed bluntly, smiling. Twintails fidgeted, taking a step back and lowering his head for his rifles' bit. The power-armored stallion didn’t move. “Ah, I’m that pony you guys captured the other day?” I waved my augmented leg at them. The guard still said nothing, but turned to the winch on the side of the blocker across the road. He started to crank it, the arm raising into the air to allow us through. Gee, friendly.

We walked through the gate, trotting towards the tunnel enterance. The two mounted laser miniguns had been replaced, one of the steel rangers seeming to cross his hind legs as Twintails passed between them. He wore a smug smirk as we approached the main enterance, a large metallic door in the side of the hill, well far back within the tunnel. We trotted down the steps leading into the bunker, which opened into a large atrium, a flag of a sword and gears over a large green apple, purplish stars substituted for the gears' axle holes... whatever those things are called. Scribes and soldiers trotted back and forth, a few carrying large pieces of machinery about upon the backs of their power armor. Oooh, how much I wish I had that...

“Hey, I didn’t expect you two to be back so soon!” A familiar voice shrieked up over the hustle and bustle, drawing our attemtion. Twintails and I looked to our left, Nova trotting up to meet us. She shook our hooves, motioning to follow, starting to lead us through the bunker. “I see you’ve taken good care of your new toy.” She chuckled, pointing to Ivan. Well, I may not have gotten to use him much, but at least I haven't electrocuted myself, eheh. “Knight Fringe just radioed in that you two were coming in hoping to start some trading agreement... ah, I just hope my mom’s not too against it.” She led us through another large door and down a flight of stairs. We were soon in the Elder’s office, Quasar digging through a couple files in the round desk. “Hey, mo- ah, sorry, Elder Quazar? Minty and his friend are back!” She said.

Quasar looked up from her papers as we approached her desk. She seemed rather unamused, setting her reading glasses down upon the desk idly, resting her elbows on the desk and holding her forehooves together. “Right, what Is the purpose of your visit? I'd thought we'd made amends enough after that small incident concerning my daughter and yourself.” She asked, almost disinterested, and otherwise seeming to be annoyed. I knew she was probably a very busy mare, but, sheesh, the wasteland seemed warmer... Twintails spoke up as Nova stepped back to stand by the door, along with the other guards.

“Ah, well, there’s a shop in Trotisk, ‘The Plasma Spaz’. The owner wants to know if you would be interested in opening trade with them.” He said, shifting his weight about on his hooves awkwardly. The Elder grimaced a little, clearly not keen on the idea. “The mare at the counter said she’s willing to fix up anything that may need help with.” I slid Ivan off of my back, placing it gently on her desk with my magic.

“She’s already fixed up the beat up Tesla Cannon you guys had.” Quasar inspected the weapon, her expression only changing slightly as her eyes slid across the wires, glass and flashing lights - she seemed a little surprised. I shifted a little, hoping she’d accept the offer.

“I’m sorry, but even with this evidence of her experience in repair, I can’t allow such a trade to occur.” She said, allowing me to levitate Ivan back onto my back. “Only members are allowed to attempt to restore the technology we house here, as much of it would likely cause more damage to the surrounding areas if they were to be released. As well, I can admit to having never seen this particular cannon before, either.” I groaned a little on the inside. She tapped her hooves idly, looking between both of us. “However... we have heard of the 'R&G Manufacturing' factory in Trotisk that may hold something we need. I would have sent a scout in, but we aren’t exactly viewed highly in the city, and any activity may arouse suspicion. The pre-war owners of the factory supposedly built and designed technology to aid the war efforts, as a functioning subsidiary of the Ministry of Wartime technology - unfortunately, many of their schematics have likely either been lost or stolen. I’ve heard rumors the owners designed a safe house in the facility. I’d like you to investigate, and if you can find any schematics, and return them, we’ll... we'll agree to supply you with some of the recruit-standard weapons from our storage. ONLY if you return the schematics."

I nodded, looking back at Twintails, who just shrugged. “Fair enough. We’ll go see if we can find anything.” We turned to leave, Nova trotting ahead of us to see us out. We were climbing up the first flight of stairs as Twintails groaned a bit. “Ugh, I wish we didn’t walk all the way here just to walk right back...”

I nudged Nova, wearing a smirk and looking back at Twintails. “Say, did I ever show you what this baby can do with a generator?” I smirked, tapping my horn. She immediately brightened up and led us to the testing room, Twintails' head dropping as he let off a groan. C'mon, a little bit of high-voltage electricity never hurt anypony!

---

“All wired up?” She asked, flicking some switches to a portable generator. I nodded, Twintails huddled close to me, grumbling. Nova glanced down at the paper measuring my brain waves. “This is so cooooool! According to this, you shouldn’t be able to consciously function right now!” She squealed a bit. “You guys better come back soon! I wanna see what happens when you’re hooked up to a nuclear reactor!” I chuckled a bit as my horn started to warm up. There was a flash of blue light, and I found myself underneath Twintails in front of the R&G factory.

Twintails shook his head a bit, wobbling as he stood up. “I’m never going to get used to that...” I stood myself up, picking Ivan up from off the ground as we turned to face the building, the rusted letters and dark, dilapilated street not exactly creating an inviting atmosphere. “Well, let’s see what we can find. Hopefully it's not too deep in, this place is seriously giving me the creeps...” We trotted into the factory, the walls protecting us from the biting wind. Unlike the old RobronCo facility, the factory looked much more designed for the building of hardware or basic mechanics. What kind of schematics did the Elder expect to find here?

I walked to a broken door labeled “Authorized Personnel Only”. Pushing on it gently, the door fell completely off of its hinges, creating a cloud of dust as it slammed to the ground. Jeez, that's the second time that's happened to me... Behind the door were a few cubicles, a large cockroach crawling out from under one of the desks. Oh, this is going to be gross. I levitated out my well-worn Plasma pistol, quickly firing a few shots at the bug. The first burst of energy knocked it on its back, allowing the second to pierce through its softer underbelly. I made a couple retching noises as bug guts spilled onto the floor, Twintails following me through, putting a hoof up to his mouth to stop himself from losing his lunch. Oh, why can't they all just melt all the time...

We trotted through the cubicles, checking the filing cabinets and desks for any clues. Finding nothing, we headed upstairs, being greeted by more old, dilapilated offices. Twintails finished off a pair of roaches with his pistol - thanks for the tinnitus, Twintails - as I opened the door to what looked like an executive’s office. “Huh, maybe in h-eep!” I leapt back in surprise, finding a skeleton lying in the center of the room. It didn’t possess any bones suggesting a horn or wings, and it looked as if it was clutching a Holotape in an outstretched hoof. I gingerly removed it as Twintails trotted up behind me.

“Minty, what's wrong!? Are you... who the heck is that?” He asked, moving up to the lone skeleton, poking at the bridge of the nose on the skull. He jumped a bit as it fell over, making the room fill with bones rattling. “Ah... you think it was the original owner, or something?” I shrugged, allowing the Holotape to download onto my Pip-leg. An audio file appeared, and I let it play. The voice was... distinctly not pony in origin, a heavy, foregin accent sticking to it. I knew I've heard that diction before...

“Agent 014, your objective is to locate and retrieve weapon schematics held by the R&G company. This holotape contains the password to one of the owner’s computers. Download the information and return to base. The will of the people be with you.” My eyes burst wide open, memories of days in the Stable's school rushing into my mind - the posters, the scary stories on Nightmare Night, the videos, the audio recordings... and now this. This confirmed everything.

Goddesses above, I -hate- zebras.

Man, this place was already fifty shades of creepy. And now the skeleton... huh, come to think, I'm surprised there aren't more of them laying around the place. Let's see, there was a row of filing cabinets behind the desk, a bookshelf full of... pulp, and a wall safe. And the smell of ozone. I blinked a few times, turning around just in time to see Minty reared on his back haunches, his tesla cannon glowing a brilliant blue, and his mane standing on end as faint bolts arced between the metal casing on his cannon and his augmented horn. Goddesses, I really should've worn brown pants.

"M-Minty?..." His red eyes were flared with hatred as he balanced with the cannon, the barrel aimed directly at... the head of the skeleton? Uh, oh, well, um... alright? Electricity arced from the exposed bits of the floor, my own mane beginning to rise from my head and become frizzled, tingling filling the air. Only just now remembering how much metal I had on me - whoever designed this engraved metal neckpiece for the bulletproof vest part of my getup never considered something like this! - I dove behind the desk, ducking and covering. Balefire bomb, crazed unicorn with a lightning gun, same difference!

A massive crackling sound burst the air in the room, a dull thud following as the acrid smell of smouldering carpet and metal rose from the center. Shaking the tingles out of my body - oooh, how can Minty stand this stuff? - I rose to my hooves, peering over from behind the desk and seeing Minty laying against the far wall, his cannon smoking and sparking idly as it layed a few feet from him. He seemed to be breathing, at least, as he lifted his head and stared up at myself from behind his fogged over glasses. He coughed once, pulling off his glasses and shaking his mane down.

"I. -Hate-. Zebras."

Errant arcs of static crackled as we both rose back to our hooves, Minty moving and peering down into the burned hole in the floor his cannon had left behind. At least he didn't hit any gas lines with it, eheh, right? I joined him, arriving just in time to hear a loud howl and groan from the bottom of the facility resonate up through the hole. Well, good thing I was already terrified, otherwise I might REALLY need a new pair of pants! We both looked up at each other, Minty gulping and collecting his cannon with his magic, myself already going for the door. Ah, eheh, yeah, if there are any schematics in this place, I'm sure as hell not going to be the one sticking around to find them! I felt my tails snap, caught in something, my hooves now just clawing against the floor and my mouth biting back a scream of pain. Minty trotted up beside myself, releasing my tails from his magic and letting me fall face-first onto the musty carpet. Stupid unicorns with their stupid magic...

"C-c'mon, we can... we can get through this. Besides, wouldn't want you getting lost, or succumbing to your fear of heights again, would we, ya landlocked pegasus?" He snickered, myself getting back onto my hooves and spitting the taste of two-century-old carpet out of my mouth, looking back and tenderly flicking my tails. Hey, you try being a flying pony born underground in a cramped living space! I let out a huff, watching it cloud up in the cool air.

"Alright, fine. Let's just find wherever they keep these blueprints or whatever, and get out of here already. What's the plan, half of whatever we get to Quazar and half to Sugar Rush?" Minty shrugged as we trotted along, heading down the hallway to another flight of stairs. Man, is it too much to ask for a functioning elevator in one of these places? My rifles jingled a bit, the new forty mil rested within easy reach on my back, and Gamma's .45 Luger in my hoof-holster. Minty levitated out his plasma pistol - oh, it's dripping something, that's gotta be bad - and his plasma rifle, both at the ready, with the cannon still across his back. Goddesses, we're both practically one-pony tanks or something.

A tinny voice and sound of metallic hooves trotting around in the hallway above, and Minty's face seemed to light up with glee - oh, for crying out loud, I am not going to let him program a sex robot! That's just... that's just weird. I pulled the bit for my rifles into my mouth, climbing up behind him in time to see a missile fly overhead and Minty hiding behind an overturned filing cabinet, madly firing both of his plasma-guns at what appeared to be one very angry security robot. I opened up both rifles, watching the rounds impact, some of them plinkng off of the armor and others finding their way inbetween the joints, hydraulic fluid spraying out and staining the carpets. Light machine gun fire pinged off of the back of the cabinet as the security robot limped forwards and I dove behind with Minty, both barrels smoking as he reloaded both his guns. I spit the bit for the rifles out, hitting the eject lever and pulling two fresh clips out of my saddlebags, ducking another rocket as it exploded in the stairwell.

"Gee, if you want to reprogam that thing, talk about very angry sex!" I chuckled, Minty shooting myself a look as one of the bullets pinged up and sliced through his ear. His glance of disapproval turned to one of pain as he screamed, falling down beside the filing cabinets as red stained his mane. I dropped Gamma's pistol from my mouth and hopped over to him, watching as he pulled out a healing potion and getting a few small-caliber rounds in my flanks for my trouble. Fuck me with a fuel rod, that really felt like... well, fucking me with a fuel rod! Better than a missile, at least. I dropped back behind the cabinet, picking up Gamma's pistol and opening fire, one of the rockets flying overhead. Shoulder-mounted launchers, eh? Interesting... I wonder what happens when .45 inches of lead hits one of those rockets!

I began to open up on the robot, aiming for the two blatantly obvious rocket pods either side of it's asthetic head, the rounds pinging through. Goddess-damn, I forgot how much recoil this thing had... and there goes another tooth. If I can survive to lose my teeth of natural causes and/or binging on sweet Sparkle-Cola, I'll have lived a happy life. As it opened up with it's machine gun again, I grimaced and ducked, feeling one of the rounds slice off the tip of my ear - I'll be happy if I can survive to drink another Sparkle-cola at this rate! Ooooh, stupid sonic shockwave! Another pop up from behind the barrier yielded a chance for three more shots, the third thankfully - finally - causing the remaining missiles in the shoulder pods to detonate, the hydraulic fluid spraying with the explosion and coating the hall in a firey, gooey mess. I slumped back, dropping Gamma's pistol back into it's holster and looking to Minty as he gulped down a healing potion, kicking out one of the spots of fire that had been blown past us. He coughed, us both breathing heavily and relaxing for the moment, myself looking back at my tails again. They were starting to be stained with red as they fell about my flanks, myself groaning and digging about in my saddlebags. Note to self, invest in steel-plate underwear.

Minty gasped as he felt the hole in his ear reform together, myself finally gulping down one of the healing potions I managed to find. Okay, we're definitely going to need a shopping trip after this is over. Bleck, now that was a really strange feeling, five millimeter holes closing up on my rear end. I peered over the cabinets, looking at the flaming wreck of a security robot, and the firey ooze that licked at the walls and burned out on the floor. Okay, remember to have cover next time you go blowing up one of these things - I don't care how cold the wasteland gets, getting bathed in fire is NOT on my bucket list!

"Right, so, point taken, won't charge ahead blindly again. Not all going to be easy-to-hack secretarial bots." Minty rose back onto his hooves, myself taking the reprieve to reload my rifles, finally. Buh, 20 rounds is not a lot for light machine guns... but I guess it does depend on the caliber. Heh, dinky 5mm rounds for that robot, you can kill, what, a roach with those things? Maybe at point-blank. Pff. The fresh clips were tapped home, the comforting sound of new rounds loaded in the recievers and empty clips collected. We trotted down the hallway carefully, Minty pushing aside some of the flaming fluids to get to the robot as I idly perused the contents of the various desks in the side rooms. The sound of idle shuffling and wires being ripped out filled the air along with a soft hum of small fans in the few still-functioning desktop consoles. Oooh, personal user files, this ought to be juicy~

The screen lit up with the familiar greenish text, buzzing idly and casting a soft glow out from the display. RobronCo UI code scrolled across the screen as the startup sequence finished, ending with the readouts:

Welcome R&G Employee 015
>Inter-Office mail service
>Drafts
>Novel

"Novel? What..." A jittering sound came from the hallway, drawing my attention away from the screen as the first selected option began to scroll out. As I reached the door, I found Minty sparking idly from beside the robot, shuddering and regaining himself. He shakily held up a very large spark battery, chuckling for a bit before dropping the battery and falling against the wall with a thud. Okay, maybe we should head back to town sooner than later! I slid up beside him, watching as he held his non-augmented hoof against his head, moaning softly in pain. "M-Minty! Are you alright?"

"Ow... who the hell would overcharge a battery like that?..." He shook his head, breathing heavily and brushing down his mane, recollecting his weapons and saddlebags. They visibly sagged with weight - sheesh man, you're going to overload yourself. "Y-yeah, I think I'm d-done scavenging from this robot. F-find anything?" He swayed a little on his hooves, myself a bit more concerned that my half-robot friend may have just fried himself than over some long-dead pony's book. Probably wouldn't have been that good, anyways.

"I think it's all just offices from this floor up. We'd have better luck seeing what's underground, I... I'm pretty sure they wouldn't store important designs somewhere a Balefire bomb could destroy them. B-besides, I think we should think about heading out... are you sure you're alright?" Minty shook his hoof, taking a quick sniff of the chilled air and turning to head for the stairwell again. I followed alongside, watching as he stumbled a bit with his weapons and saddlebags, holding himself against the railings to get down the small stairwell and pass through the hallway. I'm sure he's accidentally electrocuted himself before, but...

"Look, we'll check downstairs, and then we'll h-head out, alright? First door we can't get through, we'll turn back and... and... we'll turn back." Minty pushed open a door labeled 'Factory enterance', the long stairwell leading deeper into the facility smelling of age and burning oil. I put a hoof up against his shoulder, stopping him as he swayed, ready to head down the stairway. He looked over at myself, his pupils seeming to adjust randomly to the lights around. That can't be good. "What? I'm fine, Twintails, just a little... shocked, I guess. We have to at least confirm there is a safe house or something-whatever down here, and... and... lift motors! Yeah, that's what Doc asked for... told us... lift motors for Mary." He chuckled weakly, starting down the stairs and leaning his weight against the railing, breathing heavily. Oh, he was SO not fine...

"The minute we find something that even partially resembles a bunker door, we're turning around and heading right back out. You need a doctor, Minty." The overhead lights flickered in the hallway as we trotted forth, cracked pipes errantly spewing clouds of steam into the cool air, water dripping from where it condensed. There was another howl from deep within the depths of the facility - oh right, forgot about that. Grenade rifle loaded and at the ready, please, can't be too careful. Luna knows what other fun firey explosive brutal death mught be awaiting us further on in.

The metal hallways wound deeper underground, a set of double doors reading 'Factory' in the above lit indicator easily swinging open to a small reception area. Sheesh, isn't this a nice place to have worked, crawl down into a Stable to get to your job, and pray you don't get a direct hit from a warhead. Least it seemed to have survived well. We pushed on, Minty's walking only getting more unsteady, himself seeming to be taking a lot of breaks to rub at his temples and groan about his headache. I hate to say I told you so... "Guh, stupid lights. I'm not... can't... words and stuff. Guh."

"Minty, I'm serious. We're leaving the second we find a bunker do-oof!" I'd looked back at him concernedly, in the low-light conditions of the hallway I'd hardly noticed the large, inert metal figure laying in the center of the corridor. I stumbled a bit, sniffing and getting a whiff of a familiar stench - hydraulic fluid? Another security robot... what could have killed this without lighting it up? EMP? Short circuit? Clown with a seltzer sprayer? I looked at the carcass of the body, Minty coming up alongside and fizzling some light with his horn, casting shadows over the outer shell of the machine. Deep, deep scrape marks were left on the armored metal, some turning into gashes where the armor was brutally cut through by... something. The head looked like it was covered with... with bite marks, of all things, and bits and pieces were scattered about the floor. Minty gasped, his horn's light sputtering out as he held his head and braced himself against the wall, letting out another groan.

"Oooh, fuck me... huh?" There was a dull ringing as Minty tapped his hoof against the side of the wall, myself -seriously- wanting to get the hell out of here as soon as we could. The wall seemed to ring, as though it were hollow on the other side, one of the lights overhead flickering as they all did. I looked over at him and the large expanse of steel, a circular ring cut in half and surrounded by plexiglass viewports was on the noticeably less rusted surface, each section of clear material revealing in the flickering lights a very heavy cylindrical piece of metal. A square-ish piece of metal plate hung off of the wall beside it by only a few corroded wires, Minty stepping backwards with myself to look at it as well, rubbing his temples in pain. He let off a half-grunt, half-chuckle. "Well... here's the door." I smirked, resting a hoof around his neck and smiling.

"Heh, gee, now I'm kind of disappointed I used that balefire egg on those raiders. Don't suppose we could find another missile and lug the warhead back here, do y-" A whining howl arose from the deeper hallways, catching both of our attention. A dull sound of feet... claws, against metal and stone, echoed up through to us, almost sounding like thunder. Hokay, no need to show us the door, we'll find our own way out! Minty levitated up his big cannon, if just barely, resting much of it on his back and following along behind myself. The sound was getting closer, roaring like a bomb aftershock and not making the current situation any more relaxing. We charged past the opening to the factory doors, not exactly wanting to look much longer, the sounds of snarling, growling, and gnashing teeth drawing nearer and nearer. Oooh, we're going to break NEAMO's wash facilities at this rate! I wonder if there's anywhere in the wasteland we could get diapers...

A howl went up as we burst through the outer doors, both of us exhausted and ready to collapse... Minty already getting a head start on doing so. I jumped over to him, hefting his cannon off of his back as a chilling rain/snow mix fell about us, steam coming up in bursts again from the sides of the city streets. Minty was still breathing - at least - as I rolled him onto his back, pulling out another healing potion... that had a five millimeter hole in it. Well, least I won't have to muck about with opening up the top. With a free hoof, I gently pulled open his jaw, setting the pack against his mouth hole-side in, watching him gently gulp down the potion. Come on ya crazy unicorn, get up, damnit...

Slowly he cracked open his eyes, rolling about in the snow and easing up to his hooves with myself as a guide, grimacing and looking to his cannon. The large thing levitated up into the air, the butt end dragging along in one of the drifts of snow as it reached Minty's back, himself stumbling with it slightly and nearly toppling myself over. He breathed heavily out into the chilly air, one of my wings wrapping about his back and keeping him steady. Just got to get to the hotel now.

We stumbled idly through the long canyons of the inner city, the wind biting at our exposed coats and chilling us both to the bone. Every now and again a growl could just barely be heard over the icy blast, the exterior walls of what was now the inhabited section of Trotisk coming into view. Our pace picked up, Minty's headaches getting worse. Oh, hang in there, just one more block and we're home free. You'll get medical attention, I'll see if I can't find something easier for us to do, and we can just take some time and not have to worry over all this for a while. Maybe... maybe we just need some music, yeah, that ought to help. We slowed to a trot as I looked down at my pip-buck, my free wing fiddling with the dials and buttons, tuning in to Hi-fi and Tom's station.

"...and that'll do it for the fallout prediction reports, folks. Again, to anypony living in Quebuck, Mooscow, or Celestia forbid, Emerald Ridge, the balefire warhead that detonated yesterday afternoon kicked up a cloud of radiation that'll almost be sure to set off your geiger counters - best if you all would keep your doors and windows shut, only go out if you have to." There was a light shuffling of papers, Minty's eyes looking a bit distant as he adjusted the cannon on his back. "And, heh, to whoever around the Stable... 76, right? Yeah, Stable 76, whoever's out that way sending out static and the letters 'C S' in morse, I'd think you'll probably want to hole up in that big-ass fallout shelter for a while - assuming you ain't in there already, haha. Anyways, I've talked long enough, let's get some tunes going! Up next is another from storage, something called 'Folded Flags' by Roger Trotters. A bit somber, but hey, it ain't gonna kill ya. Let's listen..." 'C S'... huh. Wonder what that could mean, 'can't swim'? 'Crappy shoes'? 'Crossed-'... wait a minute. Minty's eyes blinked wide, looking down at my pip-buck, listening as the song played on. He glanced back to me, an expression of astonishment, worry, and fear rolling over his face. I slowly started to return the expression as I spotted something behind his head, something big, whitish-brown furred, snarling, and growling - and looking straight at us.

"Oh SHIT!" Minty glanced back in time to see as the giant monster-thing jumped off of the wall of the building, myself getting my grenade rifle and shoving my augmented friend out if the way. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shitshitshitthefuckingbed, this is not good in any way shape or form! Oh, wait, right, I have wings. I snapped them together just in time to feel a really sharp, really massive claw scrape past the tips of my tails, breathing quickly through the mouthpiece of the launcher. Aiming and common sense be damned, we want to live! A blue bolt of lightning blasted the thing in the rear, Minty hobbling behind a crashed wagon with his cannon, the beast spazzing as the electricity ran through it's body. It quickly spun about, charging towards the snowbank the augmented unicorn was hiding behind, giving me a chance to give it a faceful of 40 millimeters' worth of high explosives. It growled and stumbled as I dived down alongside Minty, watching him reload his cannon for another shot - ooh, c'mon, c'mon you bastard, die already! I dropped the rifle in the snow, picking up the bit for the battle saddle and opening up both of the smaller automatics, pelting the beast's hide with bullets. It just seemed to get even angrier.

Minty placed another bolt from his cannon into the thing's gut, the massive beast letting out a growling scream of sorts, the bluish blast carving a deep gash into it's belly and frying the augmentations it had inside. It seemed to seize up and twitch every so often as it fell into the icy snow, Minty falling to the side and dropping his cannon, it's electrified end sizzling in the white fluffy snowbank. I breathed in long, heavy breaths, stumbling up alongside him and resting a hoof on his shoulder, looking down through his fogged-over glasses. Our breaths condensed into gentle clouds that were carried along the wind, us both seriously no doubt just wanting a good few days to recover at this point. Minty looked up at myself with a smile, chuckling gently.

"C-Cross... Cross Stitch... he's... AAAAHHHH!" It was Minty's turn to scream in mortal terror, looking past myself and up at the second gowling, snarling beast that decided to come after us. Again, I really need a pair of brown pants. I grabbed Minty with my hooves, snapping my wings back and propelling us both forwards out of the lethal range... mostly. An intense pain surged up from my tails, myself tumbling through the air and dropping Minty to the side, the snowy street offering little to help in the back-down impact. A second, more intense, positively brutal sharp pain burst from my shoulderblades, every little movement I made now having the effect of making me really wish I was dead. A growl roared up from behind us, and it sure looked like that wish in particular would come true pretty damn fast. The beast charged, mu head falling to the side and looking towards Minty, my extended hoof reached towards his own, himself inching towards me with visible red streaks staining through his face and out of his ears. So, this is how it was going to end for me... for us.

A sharp crack rang through the air, the massive body of the beast flying off to the side, a bloody stump where it's head once was. Breathing heavily, I let off a groan and rolled my head to the side, seeing a silver-clad figure with a massive-bore rifle racing towards us both as we layed in the snow, red starting to stain everything around us. He knelt down, a peculiar emblem etched - painted? - on the breastplate of his powered armor; it was of a short sword, along either side which pegasus wings spread outwards above the handle, a small banner that ran across the blade sporting the phrase 'Who Dares Wins'. Something tells me that the Ministry of Wartime Technology and Ministry of Arcane Sciences-supported Steelponies would not have that as standard markings... the stallion inside grunted, the speaker on the outside of his face covering letting out a sigh and speaking as I felt my vision fading out.

"Dogs... I hate dogs."

---

I groaned myself awake, my heart racing. Th-th-the, the monster! The monster was attacking us, and, and... where's Minty?! Where are my clothes!? Who was... who... kissing me... oh my. The blue-eyed pegasus stallion smiled, his mane gently brushing against my bandaged forehead and lips pressing against my own, the blood rushing to my cheeks as he broke the kiss. He smiled, grinning softly, the small green filly on his back idly drinking down a bottle of Sparkle-Cola. She looked over at myself as I sat up, tugging at the blankets that covered most of my body, setting the bottle of soda down and tapping a hoof against Featherweight's neck. "Told ya it'd work. Just like the fairy tale, 'cept he's not a princess and you ain't a prince." She snickered, Featherweight blushing idly and chuckling. I rubbed at my head, looking over at the augmented unicorn in the bed beside my own, the sound of medical equipment humming in the room finally reaching my ears. "O'course, the prince only had t' kiss the princess once, I think... tenth time's the charm, I guess!" Ah, Buzzy, never change. Wait... -tenth- time?

"How... how long were we out for? And, and how did we get back?" I looked behind myself at my mummified wing, an excess of healing bandages seeming to be around the joint specifically. Well, I wasn't planning on doing much flying for a while, anyways... Minty let off a soft groan, shuffling and rolling over in his cot. A mare with an... interesting mane style and pair of rimless glasses trotted between us, levitating with her a series of healing potions and other medical stuff. She looked up at Featherweight and Buzzy, and they both passed on gentle smiles and nodded, trotting out of the medical bay area. She cleared her throat, letting off a sigh.

"In order; about a week, and those two brought both of you in. I can't believe you two were still alive with the condition you were in, this one had an electrocution-induced stroke and you had a paperweight's worth of lead in your ass and a wing nearly shattered beyond saving. It's a miracle you both woke up." She hummed lightly, Minty letting off a slight yelp of pain as he felt a needle jabbed in his flank. Thank the goddesses you're alive, ya big baby. "I'm Doctor CA, by the way. Come back if you need any more life-threatening injuries that need a miracle, a steelpony paid for a month's worth of bed rest if you needed it. How he knew you two would be along like this, Celestia knows..." She shrugged and trotted out, leaving myself and Minty alone again. I layed back, looking over to Minty as he adjusted himself, laying on his stomach on the bed and burying his face into the pillow. I chuckled idly, cosying myself up underneath the blankets and smirking.

"C'mon now, Minty, don't tell me your flanks hurt from just a small little needle!" He grunted, rolling to look at myself, his eyes red. He just seemed a little annoyed at this point. I looked out the window, seeing the setting sun casting it's rays over the far-off snowy mountains, shuffling in for a bit more rest. "...unless, that reminds you of Cross Stitch~" I smirked wider, hardly hearing the sound of his hirn flaring up.

Where the hell does he get all these snowballs from!?

I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes and letting off a heavy groan. These non-scheduled naps were becoming seriously irritating... my head swam a bit as I put a hoof to my temple., looking over at Twintails in the other bed. Ugh... why did I trust that battery? My pegasus friend wiped the snowball off of his face, myself shaking my head a bit, as if that would somehow fix the headache that I still had. “*ptoo*, guh, ah... sorry...” I laid my head back down onto the pillow, rolled over to face him, hearing the bell above the enterance door to the clinic ringing as the door opened and shut.

“I... I just need to sleep.” I said as Twintails rolled over in the cot beside. I tried to get comfortable in bed, rolling onto my side and shutting my eyes, trying to relax and get to some sense of normalcy. Most of all, though, I tried to push Cross Stitch out of my mind for the moment, but my stomach only sunk a bit more as the thought of Twintails’ Stable and Cross Stitch’s message. I sighed as Twintails shifted his bandaged wings beneath the sheets of his hospital bed, myself finally starting to drift off to sleep, mind flooded with memories - his kind eyes, that beautiful mane, his adorable laugh and happy outlook...

I never said goodbye.

---

I sat up in bed, groaning a bit, my vision cloudy for the few moments it took me to levitate back on my glasses. My left leg felt stiff, requiring a strong whack to break the thin layer of ice that’d formed around the rubber knee - did they ever make anti-freeze for augmentations? I looked over to Twintails, who was already up and eating some sticky oatmeal. He glanced over to me, as I shuffled up, a bit of the gunky stuff hanging around his mouth.

“You feeling better?” He bit into another glob of food, still looking over at myself with concerned eyes. I nodded slowly as I swung my hind legs over the edge of the bed, the door easing open. Doctor CA trotted back into the room, carrying another bowl of oatmeal with her. She placed it on the bed next to me, checking her clipboard and walking over to Twintails, inspecting his wing. She seemed pleased as she began to slowly take off the bandages. I scooped up a glob of oatmeal, suddenly realizing how hungry I was. The oatmeal was just as bland as the stuff back in the Stable, but I didn’t care much. I swallowed the ball of oatmeal, quickly finishing off the rest of it. CA looked me over, making sure I didn’t have any further injuries.

“You two seem to be doing fine, at least compared to the last week.” She said, smiling and sliding the pencil back into the crook of the clipboard. “If you two feel fine enough, you’re clear to leave. Your stuff’s in the hooflockers under the beds.” She nodded to the floor, walking out with a light smile. I looked over to Twintails, who was testing his wing. I hopped off my bed, digging around beneath the bed for the footlocker, dragging it out; surprised they’d managed to fit Ivan into it somehow. I pulled out my armor and weapons, slipping into the warm nylon. Twintails did the same, mounting his guns after fitting into his Kevlar vest and green duster - pff, wow, the poor thing's holding on by threads. Cross Stitch would've been amazed it was still holding together...

“Minty… are you sure you’re ok?” He walked over to me, looking concenerned and resting his hoof on my shoulder. I stifled a tear, rubbing at my eyes and tugging at the armor plating on my barding. I sighed, trying to find the right way to say what was going through my mind.

“I... I don’t know.” I hoisted my saddlebags onto my back, settling Ivan onto my shoulder. I turned to face him, seeing he was slipping his magnum into one of his bags. My ears were at the sides of my head as we prepared to head out. “I just hope Cross Stitch is alright.” Twintails hung his head a bit.

“I know... h-hey, we can stop by Stable 76, if you’d like.” He said, smiling weakly. We trotted out of the small clinic, the door ringing behind us as we were almost immediately greeted by a gust of cold air. Nice to see you again, wasteland. We walked through the snow as a few other ponies in white medical coats walked back and forth between exterior tents surrounding the lone structure. The small camp was surrounded by another crashed train, the entrance comprised of a gate of railway ties, set along wheels to easily roll it. We trotted through the gate, Twintails’ saddlebags jangling a bit from the collection of bullets and grenades.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him as we crunched through the snow, breathing in the frigid wasteland air again. We walked through town, passing by Buzzy and Featherweight’s small caboose of a house. The door opened as we passed, Buzzy zipping out, just as energetic as ever.

“Hey, you two aren’t dead!” She trotted up to us, Featherweight following behind. “I knew you guys’d be fine.” She said as Featherweight walked along with us as we started to walk towards the entrance to town. “You guys are heading out already? I thought we could have another game of poker!” She snickered.

“Buzzy, I thought we talked about taking money from other ponies.” He snapped the small filly a stern look, making her eyeroll and hover up onto his back as we trotted through town. There was a pony preaching about some kind of church of magical sparks or something. We approached the entrance to the Turnpike, passing by Stockcar Supplies. “Though, are you sure you guys want to head out so soon? I mean, we’d gladly have you stick around for a bit, if you wanted." Twintails looked towards myself, then over to Featherweight.

“Minty’s Stable was releasing a distress call. We’re planning on heading out there as soon as we can.” Twintails let out a breath, watching as Featherweight nodded and looked over at me. I tried to smile so I wouldn’t worry him, but it likely wasn’t too convincing... goddesses, I just wanted to see Cross Stitch again. Featherweight thought silently for a moment as we walked through the entrance to the Turnpike.

“You know, you might want a little extra firepower for the trip.” Featherweight said, smiling a little. “Buzzy and I haven’t checked that area out lately, and a distress call doesn’t make me too confident about what might be going on there. I could fly you two over there.” Twintails perked up, myself looking at him for a moment before letting off a chuckle, rolling my eyes a bit. Jeez, don’t get any ideas about this, I'm pretty sure getting kissed ten times like in an old fairy tale would've satisfied you more than enough.

“That’d be great... ah, though, mind accompanying us to that old RobronCo factory north of Quebuck, first? I guess Sugar Rush fould us something a little less, ah, life-threatening to do to work off the debt. I've apparently got an invoice to fill for a couple robots for her, eheh... it’d also be nice to have a bit of extra firepower.” I chuckled weakly, bringing up the note on my pip-leg screen. When did she toss that in for us to do? Guh, losing a whole week to being knocked out really is disorienting as hell... Twintails and Featherweight nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.” Buzzy said, idly flapping her wings, a smile coming across her face. “Hey, that’d even give us time t' run back here for the firepower! Ol’ Feathers may be strong, but I don’t think he could carry all of us and his big guns.” She snickered, Featherweight smiling a bit. Twintails’ grin widened, no doubt excited for any excuse for more explosions. Featherweight lowered himself to the ground, letting myself and Twintails... well, myself, mostly... hop on. Oh, quit blushing, you atom happy pegasus. Buzzy flew into the air as Featherweight spread his wings and took off.

---

We landed a bit roughly just outside the factory, Twintails releasing the death hug he had around me and Featherweight, sliding off into the snow. I followed suit, if in a less graceful manner. Twintails was practically hugging the ground, still shaken from the heights we’d reached. I helped him up, smirking a bit at him. “Sheesh, if you were so worried, we could’ve walked. I thought you would've loved any chance to ride Featherweight~”

“Sh-shut up.” He said, blushing and shaking, but still smiling as we turned to face Buzzy and Featherweight. Buzzy had flopped down into the snow, exhausted from the flight. Featherweight showed equal signs of fatigue, rubbing his wings a bit. Twintails bit his lip, a little nervous. “Eheh... sorry... I'm not used to h-heights yet.” He rubbed at the back of his head, Featherweight passing on a gentle smile and nodding lightly.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been through worse.” He picked up Buzzy, helping her onto his back. “We’ll just need a bit of time to relax before heading back.” We entered the factory, ponies and robots bustling back and forth. A mister handy floated over, sticking one of his robotic claws towards us. it's garbled voice speaking up. Aw, I missed that secretary ponybot...

"Good afternoon, sirs! How may I serve you two?" I shook the outstretched claw as Twintails grabbed another one of the three, shaking it.

"Ah, we have a payment invoice from the Plasma Spaz in Trotisk for some securimares." I said, digging out the sheet of paper. The eye stalk of the robot bent up and down, rusted metal grinding against itself. It turned and started to float towards the manufacturing door. A grin appeared on my face. A look at a completely fully operational RobronCo factory? How could I resist? Twintails and I followed the robot through the doors as Buzzy and Featherweight sat down on a bench near the enterance, seeming to rest back and watch the bustling.

My gaze flew around the large room as we walked down the steps of a narrow catwalk above the larger press machines. Huge machinery rumbled and groaned as mechanical arms methodically built Mr. Handys, Securi-mares, and mounted turrets. Ponies milled about, inspecting the moving parts, flicking various switches and knobs, and pouring scrap metal into large hoppers on the sides of the hulking constructors. The Mr. Handy led us to a brown-coated pony, her jumpsuit stained with grease, oil, and dirt. She shooed the bot away before stepping up to meet us. "So you guys are pickup for the Plasma Spaz's new security bot?"

We nodded. "Yeah, that sounds right. Ah, here’s the invoce for the caps.” Twintails said, pulling the slip of paper out of my magic and showing it to her. The mare nodded, leading us over to three deactivated robots leaning against one of the machines.

"Well, we got three models here. There's the Securi-mare Mark III." She motioned to a metallic pony with a laser emmiter mounted on the shoulder. "Basic model, comes with a laser rifle. Then there's Mr. Gutsy," She pointed to the robot in the middle. "Equipped with a Plasma rifle and flamethrower. A little less sturdy than the mark III, but a lot more fire power. Then there's the beauty." My gaze fell on the third robot, which matched the ones we had found in R&G. “The Mark IX Security bot, complete with gatling lasers, missile launchers, and metal so thick you need Anti-Tank rounds to pierce it!” The mare chuckled. “Of course, she costs quite the pretty cap. The invoice says two basic bots, so I’ll get them fired up for you.”

I nodded slowly, wearing a wide grin across my face and chuckling stupidly as the mare trotted over to the deactivated robots. She fiddled a bit with the two rather alluring robots, before the circuit boards and lights beneath the thick glass casing on their heads began to light up and hum with activity. The robots stood straight up, their heads turning towards us both. “Companion Protocol: Initiate.” The mare said.

The robot nodded and walked up to us. “Hello, Sir or Madam, I am ready to assist in any security related needs.” It said, its voice stopping and starting at odd intervals. We thanked the mare, and started up the stairs, the security bots following quickly behind. We left the manufacturing section of the building, noticing Buzzy and Featherweight had already left.

“Think we should ask for Jumper Cables? You need any more ammo?” Twintails asked idly as we reached the entrance to the factory floor. I shook my head, loking back at the pair of robots as they paused mid-step. Besides, she’d probably be asleep after those weeks of staying up... poor mare needs all that she could get. We trotted out the door, starting down the road. “So, we’ll stop by Stable 76 before returning the bots?” He asked.

I nodded. “Yeah... I just...” I didn’t finish the sentence, Twintails looking a little depressed. He nodded, giving me a gentle pat on the shoulder, trying to comfort me. I sighed, flipping on my radio. There was a crackle of static before Hi-Fi’s voice replaced the crunching of our hooves.

“-so bundle up out there, ‘cause it’s going to be cold! Though that’s not real news now, is it? In other news, there’s a new distress signal confirmed to be coming from Stable 76. How it’s so strong, nopony's really sure, but if anyone’s listening who’s willing to help them out, a friend of ours would be happy for the assistance. Be glad all that fallout kcked up by that bo-” I flicked the radio back off, feeling a pit forming in my stomach again; oh, that didn’t help at all. We continued on down the road in silence, soon passing outside of Mooscow and approaching the road leading into Emerald Ridge. My heart rate slowly grew faster as we approached the hill Stable 76 was embedded in, not sure what we would find... fearing the worst.

We began to climb up the hill towards the entrance; a little surprised nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I glanced at my Pip-Buck, trying to find the distress station, but it wasn’t on. No... no he has to be okay! I started to speed up towards the small door, my breath condensing heavily in the dry air. Please, he’s alright! He’s alright! I burst through the wooden door, running into the dark cave as Twintails followed close behind.

I charged up to the metal door of the Stable, still sealed. But, but this doesn’t make sense! Where is he? What happened?! I jumped over to the control panel, my glasses beginning to fog up with condensation, col tears pooling and running down my cheeks. Password... password, what was the password?! I punched in random numbers and phrases, each new one being met with the 'invalid' return on the display. With each passing moment, the button presses were more violent, the panel starting to bend and sound of cracking as I pounded away at it with my hooves. “Damn it, damnit, Damnitall! WHAT’S THE FUCKING PASSWORD?!" I shouted, slamming my hoof into the keypad. It sounded like it might've cracked as I fell to the cave floor, letting the tears flow from my eyes freely, sniffling and breathing heavily. Twintails wrapped a wing and hoof around me, gently rubbing my mane and resting his chin atop my head, softly 'shh'-ing into my ears. The sputtering slowed down, my vision clearing up enough to see him holding something in his hoof.

“Y-you missed this, it was by the door. He's f-fine... I think...” He handed me a crumpled note, myself adjusting my glasses and rubbing my eyes dry, sniffling again. It looked like it was written in a rush. As my eyes scanned the note, Twintails handed me something else, the tears starting to well up again as I got a good look at it. Oh, Cross Stitch... it was a small plushie of Cross, his purple mane falling over the shoulders of his jacket. The amount of care put into the toy… I felt myself breaking down again, setting the note to the side and squeezing the plush figure tightly in my hooves, leaning against the heavy steel door. Twintails wrapped his wing around myself again, gently embracing myself, a cool wind blowing in from the door.

'Minty, I’m sorry. I should’ve left when you first asked, I should’ve went with you. I managed to tap into the emergency broadcasting system, but I won’t know if you managed to pick it up or not. I tried to get out after you did, but the Overmare caught me. I’m honestly lucky she even let me write this... I just hope you find this letter. I hope you’re still ok, Minty. I’m sorry. Just know I wish I’d gone with you every day. I hope we meet again. Your special somepony, always and forever - Cross Stitch.'

We stepped out through the old wooden door of Minty's Stable's enterance cavern, his eyes sore and reddened behind his glasses and the small plush of the royal-blue unicorn with a purple mane held tightly under his non-augmented foreleg, errant sniffs being drawn in as we approached the pair of waiting robots. A faint ticking sound could barely be heard coming from our pip-bucks, light snow falling. Fallout from that warhead, probably. Stuff drifts for months if it's a ground burst, the blast just kicks everything it doesn't vaporize up into the sky. Still though, it was pretty goddess-damned amazing... We both stopped to look up at the storm front overhead, Minty glancing back down to his plush and nuzzling it lovingly, as if he were nuzzling and hugging the real pony behind it. I found myself chewing on my bottom lip idly, the robots stiffly moving about and scanning their mounted lasers back and forth. Keep your mind off of it all, Twintails, you can't let it get to you...

"Sensors indicate elevated levels of radiation in the immediate area. All non-essential personell should consider evacuating punctually in accordance with Safety and Health Information Training." The tinny voice of the security robots broke the silence of the wind, our breath condensing in clouds as we made our way back up the road. It was weird having the mountain on the other side, coming out of a Stable doorway and turning right up the road instead of left, hearing the wind through the valley and taking a breath of the cool air. The rifles clinked at my sides as we trotted along, Gamma's pistol in it's holster at the ready on my hoof. Emerald Ridge came into view quickly enough, my mind starting to become clouded with distant, faded memories. The geiger counters continued to click.

Hoofprints still kept in the snow along the main square, where it was run over by almost half of a Stable's population so long ago. I slowed down, looking back down the road that led off to my own Stable, my vision starting to blur a little, one of the security robots stopping beside myself, Minty trotting on ahead. I looked over to it's unchanging expression in it's digital eyes, sniffling in and wiping the tears off, moving to catch up with Minty again. How the past still hurt so very much. I glanced down to my left foreleg, looking at my pip-buck and the radio screen. There was a certain reluctance to turning it on - leave it to Hi-fi to know just exactly what song to play when it'd make things go from bad to worse. It'd be Vera, I just knew it. Neither of us needed that.

The trip back through to Mooscow was uneventful - Minty kept the small plush cradled tightly against himself, the sun already beginning to fade as the arcane streetlights of the outer city came into view. A large pony-shaped form passed underneath them, gliding on a pair of wings and sporting a pair of equally large cannons at his sides. A small smile crossed my face for a moment, seeing the large pegasus with his light-blue mane landing beside us, the smaller pegasus resting on his back. He returned the smile, his heavy guns clacking gently in the cool night air.

"How'd everything with the Stable go? Is... ah... n-nevermind." Minty sniffed again, his face scrunched into tearing up and plush held against his cheek tightly. Featherweight sighed softly into the air, looking up at the sky, and the distant mountains that were slowly hiding the sun. Buzzy was unusually silent, leaned up against the drum clips of Featherweight's autocannons, only looking about at the lights as they passed overhead and cast stark shadows of all six of us. "You'll never make it all the way to Trotisk in one day. We'll stay with you for as long as we can." I looked up to the larger stallion, seeing him smiling softly as we reached the Mooscow gate. A shuffling and clicking could be heard inside, the doors swinging open to allow us through, Bloodbeak holding onto the handle and watching us all. Featherweight let off a chuckle. "Besides, it'll be a lot nicer already... you being able to, heh, kiss back, now." He gave a wink, the blood rushing to my cheeks... and trousers... a bit dumbfounded. Well, this whole trip just became a lot more fun!

---

We all trotted into the hotel, Featherweight having to duck a bit to keep from hitting his head on the doorframe. The two robots stood idly in the foyer, Minty heading upstairs ahead of us all, still keeping that plush held firm in his hooves. I fet a small twinge in my gut, watching my friend's solemn gait, Featherweight nosing forwards and gently nuzzling at my cheek. He wore a soft smile, a gentle, heartwarming rub of one of his massive wings caressing the back of my head illiciting a quick blush for myself. And yet... I let off a sigh, trotting up the stairs and finally catching up with Minty at the doorway. He hadn't even bothered to remove the armor plating, having just climbed up onto the bed after dropping his saddlebags and cuddling in with his small plush. Featherweight wrapped his wing around my body once more, looking between myself and the bedroom.

"I... Featherweight-" His large black hoof rose to cover my mouth, the light smile still across his muzzle as he nodded. He gently caressed my cheek, looking back up to the bedroom. Minty seemed to let out a soft groan, shuffling on the bed, and finally levitating the armor portions off, dropping them at the bedside.

"Your friend could use some support right now. I think that's more important." His smile widened, slowly nodding and closing his eyes. I turned back to look into the bedroom, Minty seeming to have finally found himself a comfortable position, the blanket wrapped around him. A warm breath could be felt over the back of my neck, Featherweight having leaned in closely to my ear, whispering. "I'll try to get a room with an extra bed for Buzzy. I'll still be up for a while longer, if, well..." A gentle, light sigh filled my ear, followed by the sensation of his soft lips pressing against my cheek for a good, long while. "Goodnight, Twinnie~" His large hooves trotted down the hallway, myself blinking a few times, looking back and seeing his short blue tail and grey, meaty flanks disappearing down the stairway. I lingered in the doorway, thoughts filling my mind... could he have known? No, no, it's just another coincidence...

Trotting up to the other side of the bed after dropping most of my barding onto the floor, Minty seemed to stir, looking longingly into the button eyes of the small plush, his own eyes dampened and reddened with tears. He sniffled as I slid in under the blanket beside him, resting my head to meet his own eyes, a frown growing on my face. This wasn't any kind of Minty I'd really known. I mean, I've seen him depressed about Cross Stitch, but... he seemed defeated. Broken. This wasn't Minty. I rested a hoof softly on his shoulder, watching as he refocused his eyes, blinking them tightly shut and shuffling over to wrap me in a hug, the plush between us. He began to weep silently, a form of crying I'd know all too well.

One way or another, we had to get that Stable open again.

---

The sun had just risen over the eastern mountain ranges, casting our shadows long across the snowy wasteland. Featherweight and Buzzy picked up behind us, the two security robots traveling in the center, with myself, Minty, and the small plush of Cross Stitch taking point ahead. Mooscow had vanished to the glare of the wasteland a while back, and we were currently about halfway between there and Quebuck. A pair of familiar skywagon wrecks stuck out of a ditch at the side of the road, myself slowing to a trot as we neared them. Minty looked at me, a bit half-hearted yet quizzical, as I dove into the ditch where they layed and began rummaging about. Had to be more of them somewhere, no way we could've cleaned them -all- out... a-ha! Smiling, I trotted out of the skywagon, carrying a brownish bottle with a faded yellow label in each wing and one in my mouth, looking up the embankment at the rest of the group. Minty's jaw hung slack as I climbed back up, his dumbstruck expression staying even as I handed him the three bottles with a light smile. "What? You looked like you could use them, and we were passing by anyways, so..." I shrugged, Minty levitating up one of the bottles and opening it, slowly taking a few sips of it. I trotted ahead, Featherweight and Buzzy sharing glances of confusion as the two robots followed behind me.

"I, um... th-thanks, Twintails." Minty smiled, catching up with myself, the bottle of chilled soda levitated beside him still. He looked at it, letting loose a few weak chuckles as he looked at the bottle. Taking another sip of the soda, he let off a long sigh, the smile turning into a light frown. "Y'know, I, uh, I didn't always love this soda... matter-of-fact, I loved Sparkle-Cola for the longest time, actually..." Well, uh, okay then. What's next, his father was a Zebra? Or, a robot? Robot Zebra? I stopped my gait, trotting forwards again when one of the robots' chests pushed against my rear.

"Wait wait wait, no kidding? Uh... so, ah, why the switch? Found a cockroach in one, or something?" I shuddered, some bad memories welling back up. Oooh, that was not a pleasant Nightmare Night surprise... what's worse, it was half of one. I know that the soda can get ice in it, makes it freeze and crunch, but, oh goddesses, keep your lunch down, Twintails. Minty chuckled again, letting it fade out on the wasteland air. We were just reaching the eastern edge of the Snowdrop Megaspell test range, the large expanse of subsidence craters extending far off to the distance, silvery figures moving about between makeshift structures. Steel rangers, of course.

"No, no, not that... Cross Stitch loved it. I was still a foal at the time, we both were. Met during lunchtime inbetween math and history... I opened up the fridge, his aura wrapped around the first bottle of Sunrise, and so did mine... the Sparkle-Cola was behind it. We both shared a blush, looked at each other, and, well..." A smile crossed his face, his vision gazing off into the distance warmly, a hoof rubbing at the plushie around his neck. "We, ah, got to know each other a bit more when we went on a short field trip of the Stable maintainence areas. Broke away from the group. Heh..." A blush appeared on his cheeks, himself chuckling lightly. Wow, uh, well, talk about getting to know one another fast... "Oh, that was before he got his Pip-buck. Used to bug him for hours on end if I could fiddle with it, his birthday was a few months before mine and I was just impatient." He snickered, looking down to his pip-leg idly, the smile slowly fading back into a frown. "Sometimes I just wonder if I really should have left or not... I mean, when I can hear myself think, what with your snoring~"

"H-hey! I don't snore!" Er, well, at least I thought I didn't. I can't record myself sleeping, dangit! Minty let out a more honest laugh, the smile across his face once more. Nice to have you back, you snarky unicorn. I chuckled along with him, rummaging through my saddlebags and opening up a bottle of Sparkle-Cola - subconsciously checking to see if there was a cockroach in it - and taking a healthy gulp. Mmm, nicely cooled radioactive fizzy soda~ "Mm, so, I guess things weren't really that weird down in your Stable, after all. Yanno, aside from the whole 'all Zebras are chaos incarnate' and battery-powered ponies part, at least..." A soft grunt and roll of the eyes was his response, my own mind filling with memories from my own Stable again. Pleasant ones, at least. The little talking toys... ooh, there was an old one of Celestia, her white coat faded a bit pinkish from age, you could push her cutie mark and she'd say things. I found myself falling back behind Minty a bit, snickers escaping me as my vision moved to his armor-covered flanks. Worth a shot...

"Hey, ponies could always decide not to be augmented... they usually worked as janitors, or with the rea- hey!" Minty seemed to jump as I pressed a forehoof firmly against the side of his flank, mouth a wide grin that subsequently turned into an outburst of laughter, myself falling backwards onto the snowy road. I regained myself, eventually, still chuckling and looking up at Minty's confused, surprised, and blushing face. "W-what's the big idea, huh?" Still snickering, I sat up in the snow, brushing my mane of it and adjusting the battle saddle, my augmented friend still looking rather unamused.

"Battery-powered unicorn... I wanted to see if you had any push-n-say phrases~" I broke down into laughter again, the crunch of snow being lifted up by magic heard faintly over it before a discharge of a very red, hot, and energetic laser flashed overhead. I sat in place fr a moment, the laughter dying off, Minty dropping down as another beam flased over our heads. Huh, whaddayaknow, steam is actually pretty good for washing your mane. A small barrage of lasers followed, the sound of robotic hooves stepping upon pavement and snowdrifts edging closer before ceasing entirely. I blinked a few times, lifting myself back to my hooves again, the tinny, robotic voice of the securimares speaking up behind us.

"Threat analysis; neutralized. Have a nice day." Well, eheh, ah, thanks, I guess? Both Minty and myself looked at the robots, the pair quietly humming as they returned to resting, the fins on the front of their laser-thingies softly steaming out in the cold air. Oh, that's right, getting distracted in the wasteland is a good way to usually get yourself killed. I coughed a bit, shaking my head free of snow once more, the rifles clinking idly at my sides while my wings shuddered as well. Featherweight and Buzzy both trotted up to us, seeming to scan the area slowly as they passed between the robots, the bit for his autocannons held in Featherweight's mouth. Buzzy climbed up ontop of his head, looking down at us both.

"I got a bad feelin', guys. I think we might be bein' followed..." Her eyes moved to the far distance, over the megaspell test range, myself looking with her. Just snow, wind, and the odd Steel ranger here and there, and I'm pretty sure they'd have better things to concern themselves with than just us four. Couldn't have been whatever the robots were firing at, they, uh, neutralized it already, I guess. Though, if Featherweight has his cannons at the ready... Minty pulled out his plasma weapons, myself getting the bit of my own battle saddle held firm in my mouth, moving forwards. Ooh, I really wanted Quebuck over the highway, at least there we could -see- what was about to kill us. The silence of the wasteland might just be getting to us, yeah, maybe we should tune in on Hi-fi and Tom. I kept my radio at a low volume, still looking about, a bit unnerved.

"Gooood morning, North Equestrian Wasteland! This is your resident DJ Bert the Turtle finally tuning in, bringing you all of that wonderfully heart-wrenching news from Mooscow to Trotisk and all points inbetween! So, let's get to it, shall we? Out of Mooscow, most of the fallout Tommy predicted seems to have fallen out, needless to say giving the old stallion a bit of a surprise. Still tells me you should check what you're eating before you go cramming it down your throat, becoming a ghoul from the inside out likely wouldn't be very pleasant. Then again, neither is from the outside in - isn't that right, Tom?" Hi-fi chuckled, a faint annoyed grumbling able to be heard off to the side of the microphone. Personally, I'd just want to avoid being a zombie... oh, right, -that's- what's waiting for us in Quebuck. Well, at least we're better armed this time... I wonder what a grenade would do to them?

"In other news, scattered reports are being heard of big-ass snarling monsters fighting tin can ponies to the far north. To anypony thinking they might be brave enough to take one of these things head-on, here's a word of advice; don't. The reports describe these things as being able to, and, ah, I quote, 'tear your sorry flank a new asshole before you can even think about what's happening, oh my god, they burrowed through, help me, help me, aaaah.' Yeah. Unless you're packing some kind of mini-megaspell with you, or have armor made of the goddesses' manes, general consensus is to avoid at all physically possible costs, or you WILL die. I don't like being the instigator of bad decisions, but to whoever set off that balefire bomb last week... could you spare another one?"

"And finally, a bit of heartwarming - the first foal from what was left of Stable 34 was born in Mooscow today, to a very greatful mother. No mutations here, unless it's actually an earth pony and just happens to have a horn-shaped bone jutting from it's skull, and the mother extends her thanks to the pegasus with the auto-rifles who came back and led them out, and his unicorn friend. If you two are listening in, congrats boys, you're officially a pair of wasteland heroes... as little that title really carries. Try not to get killed, a lot of ponies around here actually kinda like you guys. Anyways, that's the morning news reports from this little tortoise, let's get cracking in with some music already! Here's an oldie from Tommy... boy, how he wasn't slaughtered for this one, Celestia knows. As a great leader once said, 'Send the Marines!'" The song started up, the large structures of Quebuck appearing on the horizon, everyone seeming to have relaxed a bit. A small smile was on my face, as much as I could manage with the bit, at least, a gentle bounce in Minty's step as well. Heroes? Us? Well, er, I guess... hey, least we were helping. We continued onwards, singing along with the music.

"When somepony makes a move,
of which we don't approve,
who is it that always intervenes?

M.O.M. and O.I.A.,
they've got their places I'd say,
but first! Send the marines!..."

---

We'd gotten as far as the middle of the city, passing by more than a few building facades that still held shadows burned into them of ponies and structures. Buzzy and Featherweight had taken point after more than a few incidents where the robots just stood there while the hordes of zombies came and figured us a tasty lunch. Thankfully, 20mm and .30 caliber rounds are very good means of clearing crowds in a pinch. After the second or third wave, a storm had managed to roll in, the security robots remarking again about the elevated radiation levels and non-essential personnell, us all as a group heading for the nearest structure that didn't look like it'd collapse on our heads. It was an old apartment building in the entertainment district; well, at the very least we won't have to worry about sleeping arrangements for the night. The heavier the snow fell outside the frosted window, the more it seemed like we'd have to...

"This... well, it kinda sucks." Buzzy kicked shut the door of a personal fridge, featherweight having taken to pulling together some old musty blankets. Minty cringed as I helped wrap some of the healing bandages we'd found about the places where the zombie ghouls managed to break through his armor and pierced skin, squeezing the plush of Cross Stitch tightly against himself. Nopony ever said this was going to be a fun trip.

"Buzzy, you saw how late it was starting to get by the time we got here. We would've had to stay the night, anyways... at least the feral ghoul population seems to be staying away from us. Be glad we at least have some kind of roof over us." The large pegasus stallion had set the pair of autocannons to the side, rubbing over the old, heavy comforters on the second bed. He watched uneasily out the window, Minty levitating out the heat lamp from his saddlebags and placing it on the nightstand, rising to his hooves with a small gasp of pain. Stupid zombies with their sharp teeth...

"Well, it still sucks. You know well as me that Quebuck is where all those food caravans carryin' bear meat come in from, an' we only have two full reloads for your guns." The pegasus filly pouted, resting on the decrepit counter of the small kitchen, looking over at her older brother. He chuckled idly, easing up onto the bed and spreading himself out, looking over at me with a soft grin. I paused, blinking a few times, looking into his deep, dreamy eyes as he winked. Oh my...

"Buzzy, I'm pretty sure a bear can't survive more than a few hits from twenty millimeter rounds. Besides, we're not that far south in the city, either. We really just ought to... well, relax~" The stallion let out a long sigh, stretching his wings widely and letting them droop against the sheets, resting his head on his large forelegs. Goddess-damnit, why did he have to be such of a tease? Minty coughed, poking me in my wings, getting my attention away from the stallion I probably would be sleeping with tonight. His expression was a bit concerned, sitting on the bed and breathing with the bandages around his stomach.

"We're gonna head out first thing in the morning, right? I've been thinking, maybe whatever's in that factory could help get the door open, and... well..." He paused, looking down at his plush solemnly for a few moments. Well, I'm sure there's some kind of exterior lever to that big heavy safehouse door, and if not, a few Balefire eggs and plastic explosive ought to do it. Worst case, we could probably just blast our way through the floor... but, he didn't mean that door, did he? I slid up next to him, wrapping him in a tight hug for a few moments, hearing him let off a sigh. "I just... I want to see him again."

"I know you do... I promise, as soon as we get what we need from the factory to the Doc, we'll head back to your Stable and try everything to get Cross Stitch out." He looked to my eyes, a small smile on his face, wrapping the augmented foreleg around my neck and keeping the plush held close to his body.

"You're a good friend, Twintails." He squeezed myself in a hug again, a buzzing noise filling our ears a few feet away, along with some stifled giggling. We both looked up to see Buzzy hovering a few feet away, a wide grin across her face trying to hide behind her small hooves. Little laughs escaped her as Minty blushed, cuddling the small plushie closer against himself. I knew she was rather blunt, but... this was just plain mean.

"Well, gee, Featherweight, I guess he's into more stallions than just you after all! C'mon, ain't you two gonna kiss?" She puckered her lips, hovering over beside Featherweight, Minty having buried his face into the bed as both myself and Featherweight glared at her. Yeah, this was where it stopped being cute. She continued laughing, laying against Featherweight's flanks and grinning widely, each one of her mocking breaths condensing in the air of the old apartment. "You- you really had me goin' for a while there, I figured somethin' was going on between you two, b-but all this sappy stuff? Really!? Oh, this is just too m-OUCH!" I blinked, seeing the little filly laying on the floor and rubbing at the side of her head, groaning in pain. Featherweight was breathing heavily, lowering his hoof back down onto the bed, looking especially mad at this point. Well, chalk that up to the second out-of-character moment within 24 hours... this was actually more startling than the first. The large stallion sniffed in, taking a deep breath and looking down at Buzzy as she rolled over onto her back, tears streaming from her closed eyes.

"Are you alright, sis?" She sniffled, looking up at her head and keeping a hoof held to it, nodding gently. All eyes were moving between Featherweight and Buzzy, the room filled with a bit of shocked silence. The small filly rose to her hooves, her wings slowly flapping and lifting her up into the air, sputtering whiles coming from her mouth. Featherweight huffed out a cloudy breath, moving to slide underneath the covers, still watching her. "You really need to learn when to shut your mouth. You'll sleep with Minty tonight, so you can think about what you did. Understand me?" She whined, setting herself down on the bed, and softly trotting over beside the unicorn who layed on it, setting herself down. A frown stuck on her face, Minty returning a softened look of annoyance, holding the plush of Cross Stitch closer against himself. Featherweight let off a small grunt, looking up towards myself again, the light having faded outside the window.

Minty rolled himself over, sliding beneath the heavy blankets and confiding himself to getting some rest, Buzzy sliding her smaller self in underneath what spare blanket he left her. Tugging the tattered remains of my pants and other barding off - I probably wouldn't need much cover with Featherweight being beside me - I trotted around to the other side of the bed, looking between them. Featherweight had turned over to face away from Buzzy, looking up at myself, a small smile having returned to his face. I paused for a moment, looking out the window and to the snowy streets below, illuminated by arcane lanterns that caught the thick flakes in their glow and turned the streets into a strange, wintry ballet of dancing lights. The pip-buck on my foreleg clicked a few times as it neared the windowsil; fallout. I wonder how much of it is from the great war? Fallout from Equesria... Featherweight shuffled, lifting himself up on a foreleg, watching myself.

"I... I'm sorry that you had to see that. Both of you. I don't like doing it, but..." He whispered softly as I slid in beside him, feeling his large body radiating heat between us. He placed his large wing about my back beneath the covers, looking into my eyes, letting off a small sigh and nuzzling into my forehead. Well... he still could make me blush... why does there always have to be something on my mind whenever I get a chance with him?

"Featherweight, it's... it's fine. Minty's just going through a lot. And..." I found myself resting a forehoof on his large shoulder, feeling the firm muscles beneath it, brushing his cool blue mane gently. Memories of my own Stable started coming to me as I thought about Minty and Cross Stitch. The happiness I saw in other ponies' lives. The love I felt from Gamma Ray... the way she'd rub my mane and nuzzle my forehead, softly scratch right in the crook where my wing met my back, the way she would cuddle and hold me when I woke up from a bad dream... her nickname for me... Featherweight shuffled back a bit, looking at myself, lifting my head up with his hoof, meeting my blurry vision with his blue eyes, worry in his face.

"Twintails... Twinnie, is something wrong?" My eyes wrenched shut, silent weeps and shuddering cries escaping me as Featherweight held me under the covers. It'd been almost two weeks since we picked up that distress signal, two weeks since my Stable was forced out into the snowy wasteland above, two weeks since, since... Gamma Ray died. The disabled pip-buck for a grave marker. She looked so peaceful once we cleaned her muzzle of the blood. She looked like she was sleeping, she just wasn't breathing. The blanket only moved when we moved it, Lonelyheart covered her face and helped me with digging a small hole in the permafrost. We'd set her down in it carefully, the first few shovels of dirt and snow painful to put in, but soon enough there was just a small mound left. I set her pip-buck on top, pressing the small button with a wing, watching as the screen flickered and died... like it's owner.

Featherweight pulled myself against his large body, wrapping his wings and hooves about me and letting me rest my cheek against his neck, pulig the covers around us. My nose started to run as I let myself cry out, the large stallion gently stroking my mane, just like she did. Comfortingly, softly, shushing in my ears, just like she did. I'm not sure when I started slowing down, when my aching body overcame the want to keep mourning, when the crying gave way to soft tears and finally the tender embrace of sleep. It didn't matter. Featherweight kept me held close through the night, soon falling to sleep himself, the cool wasteland air hardly being felt as we warmed each other.

---

A roar filled our ears, along with a wooden thrashing and cracking sound, the light of dawn shining in through the frozen glass. Featherweight was first up, his snap to action managing to roll myself over underneath the covers, the jarring movement causing a bit of a headrush. Oooh, that wasn't much fun... I held my forehead, hearing the roaring growl again, and looking over to Minty, laying in the cold snow, red spreading out from our bodies, his eyes fading in and out. We were... we... oh, no, no, we were in the apartment building still. Featherweight had already slid into his autocannons, a crashing sound coming from the doorway below, Buzzy rushing to the window and looking out of it as I finally slid myself out from beneath the heavy blankets. she let off a scream, darting over to Featherweight and wrapping her hooves around his neck, myself almost reluctant to look now. But, goddess-damn my curiosity...

"What the FUCK is that!?" I peered down out of the window, seeing a large, furry beast lumbering about in the streets below, clawing at the front doors of the buildings. That wasn't the beast we saw back in Trotisk, but fuck me with a fuel rod if it wasn't just as terrifying! It looked like it was as big as an entire skywagon, and, and... there were two of them!! Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Featherweight and Buzzy waited for us by the doorway as myself and Minty both picked up our saddlebags and guns, the bit of my battle saddle held firm in my mouth and Minty's cannon at the ready. The pair of robots hummed to life as my augmented friend fiddled with their on switches, and, for the moment at least, sat useless in the corner. They might have guns, but if these new beasts are half as destructive as the ones from Trotisk...

We charged out the doorway, myself and Featherweight alongside one another while Minty worked with the robots, leading them behind us. As we reached the enterance area, the snarling head of the massive animal smashed through the weak wood door, biting at the air. In a panic, the rifles at my sides discharged into what was left of the doorway, each round sending off splinters... and otherwise making the beast on the other side even more angry. It let off a roar and finally pulled it's head - and the door - free, rearing up on it's back legs and screaming into the air. Featherweight's cannons opened up, along with Buzzy's smaller machine guns, filling the beast's exposed stomach with lead and high explosive shrapnel. Its guts and entrails spilled from the open gashes, staining the snow in the street a murky red, the second beast standing over it and roaring as well. Well, shit.

Minty fired his cannon and plasma weapons as our own guns clicked on empty chambers, the beast's fur being singed and burned, and the beast itself stunned for a moment, before roaring into our faces once again. A dawning realization fell upon us all as it reared upon it's back legs like the one before it, the robots peppering it's exposed stomach with red light that was about as effective as shining a laser pointer at it - it likely would take us about twice as long to reload as it would that thing to come in here and turn us all into modern art. We all dove behind the desks in the front room, frantically trying to re-arm before the inevitable, or at the very least try to put up a fight.

A loud, booming crack went up from outside, the massive beast landing with a dull thud - and no head - in the street. We were all breathing heavily, slowly emerging from behind the desks, staring out into the large gaping hole where a wall and doorway once was, and where two massive carcasses layed now. A glinting, silvery figure caught my eye, standing across the street in an alley between two buildings. I blinked a few times, stepping out into the bloodstained snow, noticing a massive, slender rifle supported upon the back of the figure, smoke pouring from the muzzlebrake. I couldn't help but feel that I'd seen it somewhere before... the figure nodded once, slowly turning about and looking back at myself, heading down the alley. A steel ranger...

---

The day had gotten to noon... I think... as we finally approached Trotisk township. Buzzy and Featherweight had went back to their home in Turnpike to re-arm and, as they put it, bring along some fireworks for help later on. From what I'd seen them packing, and prior experience, if it was anything less than high explosives, it'd have to literally be fireworks. We stepped up to the front of the Plasma Spaz with the two robots still in tow, a few scrapes and marks where the zombie ponies attempted to bite through their metal skin left behind, but otherwise miraculously unscathed. Minty tapped on the bell, the plush held around his neck, his mare doppleganger - Sugar Rush, right? - approaching the counter with a light smile.

"Glad you made it back! I was starting to get a bit worried, these robots aren't cheap yanno!" She chuckled lightly, Minty rubbing at the back of his head as I glanced down at the various guns and other things on display... as well as a glowing trail of green goop that led to where Minty was standing. Oh, that's lovely. "Cute scarf, too. Pick it up out of Quebuck or something?" The mare behind the counter nodded towards the Cross Stitch plush, smiling and looking to the robots. A bolt of energy shot from her horn and hit both of them, the pair trotting outside and standing in the doorway as Minty took to gnawing at his lip, gently stroking the small hooves of the plushie.

"Not exactly. Ah, Minty, I think you might want to, um, get that plasma pistol checked out..." I carefully trotted around the trail of goop, my augmented friend and his doppleganger both looking down at the floor in surprise. Minty blushed and chuckled weakly, levitating out the small thing, the casing quite cracked and fluid dripping from every point it could. Sugar Rush bore a look of pure shock on her face as her aura encompassed the leaky gun, her one eye twitching as she examined the pistol.

"You... how... this... what... how in Equestria did this happen!? Did, did you throw it in the jaws of a snow dog or somethi-" She cut herself off, coughing a bit, a blush coming to her face as she moved the pistol underneath the desk, levitating out a brand new one without a word. She cleared her throat, glancing to the back of the store and then leaning forwards, sliding the pistol into Minty's saddlebags. "Consider your debt repaid in full. Don't try to go back to the R&G Facility. Please." Well, um, right, this was rather surprising, to say the least. Minty blinked a few times, a stern look coming to his face.

"I need to get back into my Stable. We have to go back there." Sugar Rush stared at him, dumbfounded, barely noticing as he tossed a small bag of bottlecaps onto the counter and exited the store. I shared a glance with her, shrugging a bit.

"Thanks for the new plasma pistol-thingie, but he really wants to get back in touch with his coltfriend. We just... we just can't -not- go back." She seemed to try and look for what she wanted to say next, myself following the goop trail back to the entrance and slowly heading towards it. There was a sudden tug at my tails, the mare's magic aura surrounding them, making me glance back towards her as she rested against the counter. She let loose a sigh, stepping out from behind it, a frown upon her face.

"Look, there's a good reason nopony lives inside Trotisk anymore. When I heard you two were recovering in the clinic over in Turnpike... please, don't get yourselves killed. I couldn't..." She paused, letting loose a soft sigh, and dropping my tails, finally. "Be careful. I don't want your deaths on my conscience. I... I already have enough of that..." She turned away from the counter, looking at myself for a moment before heading into the back of the store. Slowly, I made my way out into the wintry main street, Minty carrying two ammunition boxes along with him as he stepped out of Gun Runner's. He passed a small smile, opening them and levitating over all of the clips and grenades into my saddlebags.

"Armor-Piercing rounds for your rifles and some special grenades they had in stock, Incendiary and Plasma. No clue what the incendiaries do, but hey, it can't be anything hurtful to us." Minty chuckled and rested a hoof on my shoulder, looking over to the inner wall. With a soft smile, he let loose a sigh, trotting forwards a few steps. "We'll be back together soon, Cross."

"Ah, Minty, we're waiting for Buzzy and Featherweight, remember?" I trotted forwards, my friend looking behind at myself for a moment, then up to the sky. A smile came across his face, poinying his augmented hoof up towards the clouds above. I blinked a few times, following his pip-leg up till I found myself looking at Featherweight coming in for a landing, a massive green steel cylinder held under his body. He set it down in the snow, the two autocannons at his sides jingling as the weight was taken off of the saddle, grinning widely, Buzzy popping up from behind him.

"One-hundred fifty kilos of balefire and high-explosive fun, ready for use! Let's try to not get ourselves killed, eh? Featherweight's thinking of making some bear meat stew later!" The litle filly grinned widely, my eyes falling back to the large cylinder. Balefire eggs -and- high explosive? One-fifty kilograms... that's a few hundred pounds! And Featherweight still managed to carry his cannons and Buzzy with that thing?! Holy smokes... Minty trotted up between all of us, a small string of spark batteries wired up and laying on the ground in front of himself, motioning for us to get up close to him. Well, if it does go bad, at least it'll be quick...

The bright flash and smell of ozone really was starting to get a bit commonplace, I'll admit. Still doesn't shake the fact each jump leaves me with a headache... at least the bomb didn't go off. Minty was carrying it, if just barely, as we all made way into the depths of the facility once more. Featherweight and Buzzy both took point, the bit for his cannons being held carefully in his mouth and at the ready, myself following close behind with my own rifles. The double doors to the reception area of the factory floor were both mauled off their hinges, deep scratch marks in the metal walls giving little to guess as to why. I paused for a moment, contemplating it, the rest of the group heading down the stairwell. We should be careful...

As I caught up with them all again, Minty was carefully setting the heavy bomb down infront of the blast door, Featherweight and Buzzy having moved down the hallway a bit. I found my eyes falling to the bomb, and the innder functionings of it - it looked sort of like a squashed sphere, the panel that Minty had opened on one side revealing a disc of plastic explosives seperating a pair of two balefire eggs, with small needle-like things sticking out of it. Must be detonators... yes, the plastic explosives would best trigger the eggs if it went off all at once, that explains why there were more than one or two. Honestly, an ingenious design. Likely makes one hell of a boom... This was gonna be fun. Featherweight and Buzzy both came back, Minty shutting the hatch on the bomb carefully, the small filly producing a detonation trigger.

"C'mon, we've gotta get out of the blast zone. Never really got a chance to test this puppy before, in a dual setup, at least. Found a storage room that ought to keep us shielded till the smoke all clears." The large stallion smiled, nodding towards the deeper reaches of the hallway, the little filly on his back carefully holding the trigger with her wing. The closet, admittedly, didn't look particularly spacious... but, well, it was better than nothing. Squeezing ourselves in, Buzzy hopped off of Featherweight's back, standing outside of the opened doorway. The way it swung outwards should deflect the blast wave well enough, so we might have a ringing in our ears, but we'll at least be left alive.

"Fire in th' hole!" The young filly pulled the trigger and jumped inside the closet, landing on my head and slamming the door shut behind her. There was a short lull, before a thunderous blast shook the small room, shaking some of the boxes of cleaning solution and tools loose and leaving myself momentarily deaf. I shook my head, groaning - more feeling it in my throat than actually hearing it - and looking at the small pile of whitish powder left on the floor. I blinked a few times, Buzzy climbing back over onto Featherweight, my forehoof opening the door. Thankfully it swung outwards, a silent laugh escaping myself as I moved out into the scorched, smoky hallway. My wings flapped as if out of habit, the smoke forming into clouds I found myself pushing aside as I made way back down the hall, the overhead lights sparking to life and cutting through the haze. Hey, maybe the blast caused the backup generators to start! I chuckled to myself, the sound now just a bit muted, some voice calling for me from behind. I blinked a few times, turning to face the closet, seeing Featherweight's head poking out from behind the door before hiding behind it again. The look on his face for the split second I saw it could be best described as 'oh crap.'

I had time to blink once or twice more before a second, but still pretty damn big explosion sent me hurtling through the hallway head-over-hooves, landing with a hard thud on the cold steel floor up against the carcass of a destroyed security robot. My head was ringing, vision a bit wonky, but the sound was at least coming back. Letting loose another groan, and seeing my tails hanging in my upside-down perspective, the sound of old metal groaning against old metal filled the hall, the... unfortunately, still-intact... door lowering. The black haze had mostly cleared, and on the opposite side of the doorway was stood a very surprised mare - her brownish mane hung in tatters, red coat almost invisibly scarred where it peeled and was shorn away by intense radiation, and wings... surprisingly, still somewhat feathered. She looked down at myself, the sounds of the others' hooves trotting down the hallway breaking the silence as well, her dumbfounded expression returning three words that were likely the most appropriate for somepony who just had a balefire knock at their front door.

"What the hell?"