I quickly made my way to where Twintails was standing next to the lowered door, holding his head groggily as he rose back to his hooves. Sheesh, how big of an impact would it take to actually destroy that thing? Buzzy and Featherweight followed closely behind, the little filly visibly shaken from the shockwave of the blast. I looked through the large hole where wall once was, following his gaze upwards. My jaw fell down as I looked upon the Pegasus, her skin hanging off of her hind leg loosely, revealing her blood stained bone. She was clearly panicked, somehow managing to flap herself around the room with her damaged wings. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” She darted this way and that, double checking all the things on the wall, some of which looked very delicately made.

I quickly rummaged through my saddlebags, pulling out my copy of “Rusty’s Electronics”. I flipped to the back, revealing the black & white picture of the authors; a dark grey earth pony with her hair pushed back by a band, and with a hoof around the shoulder of a lighter grey Pegasus. The caption beneath the picture read, “Author: Rusty Wrench (left) with her sister and co-owner of R&G Manufacturing, Greasy Gears (right).” I looked back up at the Pegasus who was still inspecting pieces of metal. Sure, she was missing some hair and muscles were showing, but the two were unmistakably the same. “Um... G-Greasy Gears?” I asked.

The Pegasus turned to me, freezing for a moment. “W-What? Why do you know my name?? Who are you ponies!?” She spouted off, backing away from us. Featherweight raised an eyebrow to Twintails, who only shrugged in response. Greasy dropped the collection of stuff she was carrying, trying to bolt past us. Featherweight simply put a hoof up, letting her run into it and bounce back. “What’re you going to do? Torture me for information? I’m not giving you any!!” She jumped to her hooves, getting into a defensive stance.

“C-Calm down,” I said. “We’re not with Zebras. We were looking for... lift motors, right, that. We weren’t really expecting anypony to still be alive down here.” I guess our entrance didn’t exactly help our argument. Greasy calmed down a bit, but was still twitchy. “So, ah, how long have you been down here?” I asked, looking around the room. Various mechanisms lined the walls, none of which suffering visible damage, aside from a few scratches from flying rubble. They ranged from what looked like advanced weaponry to simple modifications to manufacturing devices. I trotted up to a set of bronze wings. “And... my Celestia, what are these?” I grinned as my eyes studied the sharp blades as they shimmered a bit in the light, the shiny surface clouded by dust from age.

“H-hey, don’t touch those!” She said, rushing over to push me away from them. “Those are Rusty’s! She’d kill me if she-” Greasy stopped short, her degraded ears falling back a little. “If she were...” She sighed. My grin faded as I looked at her. We stood silent for a moment before Greasy continued. “The bunker initiated the automatic lockdown when the first bomb hit, she was out gathering a few more schematics. We managed to get most of them, but...” The ghoulified pegasus' voice trailed off. We stood in silence for a bit, none of us wanting to be the one to break it. Greasy looked back at us, her eyes seeming a bit dampened, and distant. “Did... did we win?”

We all looked away, myself mumbling a little. “Not exactly.” Twintails said. Greasy’s pupils shrank as she started to hyperventilate. “Oh, no no, the Zebras didn’t win!” He said quickly, Featherweight rushing over and trying to calm her down some more. “The bombs just kind of, uh... wiped out nearly all the living things in Equestria. Everypon-... everybody, in all honesty, lost.” Greasy’s panting slowed as she put a hoof to her chest, Featherweight running a hoof down her straggly mane. Buzzy hopped off her brother’s back, walking over to me as I inspected some of the weaponry that had been set aside.

“Boy, you sure know how to pick ‘em.” She said under her breath, snickering. I ignored her and picked up something which looked like a cross between a plasma pistol and Ivan. “What the heck is this stuff anyway? Were you guys making stuff for the war?” Buzzy asked, turning back to face Greasy. She was holding some mechanical arm, no doubt meant to assemble robots and the like. Greasy jumped over, shooing us away from the pile and taking the gun from me.

“Don’t you touch this stuff! I’ve been working on these things for years, this is all I have left!” Greasy pushed the stuff over to a safe underneath one of the work benches. “Rusty was usually the one doing the fine tuning; I wouldn’t trust these things as anything more than a fancy bomb waiting to go off.” She spun the dial on the safe, opening it and revealing a huge collection of schematics. She inspected a few of the smaller weapons, placing them in the safe. “And, yes, but Rusty and I were hoping we could build things other than weapons, even if the Zebras didn’t seem to hold the same opinion.” She locked the safe before facing us again. “Now, what is it you planned on using those lift motors for anyway? They're designed for major industrial moving, and since it's probably safe to guess that every factory from here to Appleoosa is a smoking crater, well...”

Twintails bit his lower lip, trying to think of an excuse. I don’t think Greasy’d be too happy knowing we were planning on firing up another warhead flinger... “There’s, ah... a RobronCo factory nearby, near Mooscow. Some ponies are trying to rebuild it and needed the motors to fix the crane for all the... heavy bits.” Greasy didn’t look entirely convinced, but looked a little more interested at the mention of the factory. She started to look over some of the larger devices.

“RobronCo? Well, I’m not exactly a fan of their management staff, they weren’t exactly the nicest ponies to try to negotiate with.” She tossed a large chunk of broken glass over her shoulder, forcing Featherweight to duck. “But if you guys are serious, I’d be happy to help fix that place up. In case you haven’t noticed, R&G’s probably bit the dust at this point.” I gave tilted my head noncommittally. She did raise the question as to why this place seemed to have been hit so much harder than the old RobronCo place. I figured a robot factory’d be a bigger threat than nail guns and hammers. “Assuming this isn’t some elaborate trap you guys have to lead me into Zebra territory.” Well, aren't you just fun, missy paranoid.

Greasy finished her inspection, lifting a couple large pieces of machinery onto her back. “Believe me; I’d rather chop off my horn than ally with Zebras.” She raised an eyebrow, looking at my metallic horn. I rolled my eyes. “Ok, chop it off again, I mean. Stable augmentation.” Featherweight offered to carry some of her things, and Greasy thanked him, but made it clear no one touched the wings on the wall but her. We all agreed, and she carefully removed them from their display hooks. The blades of the wings squeaked a bit from age as they were folded together. She gingerly laid the blades onto her back as I lifted up the safe containing her schematics with my magic. “So, um, where are the motors?” I asked as we made our way out of the room.

“I’ll give you the motors once we make our way to the factory. I’m already risking enough bringing all this stuff with me if you guys aren’t telling the truth. Though, I suppose I can’t leave these things here anyway, what with the door as it is now. Opening is one thing, closing the huge thing... well, we never got it to close tight enough. Which might explain some things...” I grumbled a bit. Being thought of as a Zebra spy was not at all flattering. We started to head up through the facility again, making our way through the decrepit halls and around the broken security robots.

Twintails walked to match my pace, him and I leading the group with Featherweight and Buzzy pulling up the rear. He glanced back at Greasy, seeing her struggling underneath her heavy load, but still swatting off Featherweight's advances to help. “We’re not really going to take her all the way back, are we? We’ve wasted enough time trying to find those motors, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Doc thought we were dead.” I grunted a bit, shifting my shoulders so my Cross Stitch plush wouldn’t slip off.

“No, but don’t tell her that.” I muttered under my breath. “We’ll take her to Sugar Rush. She seems to have some good connections about. Besides, she’ll probably be happy to help fix up some of the stuff too.” Twintails nodded as we came to the lobby of the factory, stepping over some large cockroach carcasses. Greasy made a soft retching sound, putting a hoof to her mouth at the sight of spilled bug guts. We opened the main doors, Greasy’s eyes watering as we stepped into the cold air, the unfriendly skies above beginning to gently drop radioactive snow.

Thankfully, nothing confronted us on our way back to the center of Trotisk, though a few loud roars were heard off in the distance as we trotted through the snow. Greasy shivered as we walked through town, the wind biting at her exposed skin and muscles. We soon approached the entrance to the Plasma Spaz, Greasy stopping for a moment, looking skeptical. “We’re picking up ammo. You can’t expect us to escort you all the way with nothing backing up these guns.” Greasy shrugged and followed us into the shop, the secure-mares gaze following us the whole while.

Sugar Rush was tinkering with a plasma rifle, leaning back as sparks flew and a bit of excess plasma dripped from the tip. She wiped up the plasma as I walked to the desk. I'll never get used to seeing me... her... whichever one we were. “Hey, ah, Sugar Rush?” She looked up, blinking a few times, a small smile forming on her face. “You’d never guess who we ran into at R&G.” I chuckled a little, stepping aside. Sugar’s jaw dropped as she saw Greasy. She practically leapt over the counter, rushing up to her.

“No friggin' way... is this real? It can’t be!” She trotted around Greasy, looking her over. Greasy was clearly a bit uncomfortable as her gaze followed the excited mare. “What’re you guys doing here? I mean, I'm more than elated that you're all back, but...” She asked, grinning widely. I placed Greasy’s safe onto the counter as Featherweight slid the other machines onto it. Her gaze followed the moving of pre-war technology with an almost orgasmic glee, bouncing on her hooves giddily. Her left forehoof thudded louder than the others as it impacted the wooden floor - again, sheesh, it was fifty shades of weird seeing her.

“Well, we were planning on heading back to the RobronCo factory, and Greasy said she’d be willing to help them rebuild the place.” I said as Sugar Rush stepped away from Greasy, now focusing on the various things that’d been placed on her counter. “But, well, we need to head up to Steel Creek to ‘seal the deal,’ as it were.” I looked over to Greasy. “Would you be willing to stay here?” Greasy looked horrified, her eyes twitching and darting about the room. Oh, this can't end well...

“I knew it! You're spies for the Stripes! All spies!! This isn’t a factory, you’re just planning on torturing the information out of me!!!” She ran to the door, dropping everything she had only to bounce off of Featherweight again. She jumped up, her eyes jumping back and forth between us. Buzzy raised an eyebrow at me as Greasy picked up one of the broken weapons from the floor, holding it over her shoulder, one of her feathers held on the trigger. The orb in the center began to glow, lasers arcing to needle-like prongs around the edge. “What’re you going to do? Water torture? Ripping my entrails out? Memory orbs? Plucking!? Well, not now you striped bastards!!”

She pulled the trigger, the end of the weapon flashing before there was a loud explosion and smoke filled our vision. I coughed, waving the smoke away, seeing Greasy laying on the floor, the end of the weapon releasing a cloud of dark smog, an acrid smell filling the store. Sugar rushed to Greasy, levitating the gun away from her. “Are you mad, girl!? You’re lucky that thing didn’t set off any the grenades in here!” She helped Greasy to her hooves, the pegasus weak on her hooves.

“Ow... s-sorry. I guess I... I'm just still a little paranoid.” She coughed into her leg, spitting up a little blood. Twintails made a ‘you think?’ face to me as Sugar helped Greasy over to behind the counter, leading her through the door. Twintails and I picked up the broken machines, placing them on the counter. Sugar soon returned, shutting the door gently behind her.

“She's lying in bed now, I’ll call up a doctor to patch her up.” I nodded and we turned to leave. Sugar chuckled a little, looking giddy again as she looked over the various machines on her counter. “I think you guys have more than made up for that Tesla Cannon repairs. Come on back if it starts breaking down again... which looks like it won’t be long the way you guys take care of everything.” She smirked as I rolled my eyes and we headed out of the shop.

“Where to now?” I asked Twintails. He thought for a moment as we walked through town. Snow blew off of the roof of the tall buildings, a few ponies that were milling about bundled themselves up some more. A couple parents called in their kids, looking up to the sky with a little worry as it darkened.

“Well, it’s going to be a while before Greasy’s probably willing to give us those motors.” Twintails said as he trotted a bit faster to lead us. “I was hoping we could head up to EQUAD to find more info about that Steel Ranger back from Quebuck.” I agreed, starting to wonder what exactly he’d been doing to be in the area, and feel the need to help us. Featherweight, on the other hand, paused for a moment.

“If you two don’t mind, Buzzy and I ought to head back to the Turnpike. We’ll stick around until you guys get to the first checkpoint, just in case we run into more of those bear things, but I don’t think the Steel Rangers’d be too happy to see us after our, ah... 'skirmish' last time.” We nodded as we continued through the street, a large gust of wind managing to dislodge an icicle from the roof of the Gun Runners. I flipped on the radio, a soothing voice filling the air.

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My dear, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full.
I’ve walked Manehatten, to Hollowshades
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

---

We approached the raised gate, Buzzy and Featherweight flying off into the distance as snow fell from the sky. One of the Steel Rangers made a mark on a clipboard, recording the traffic they’d experienced through out the day. We trudged up the hill towards the bunker, power armor-clad ponies milling about, firing at targets on the mountain for practice. “You see him?” I asked, looking back and forth between the ponies. Twintails shook his head as he scanned the crowd as well.

As we trotted up to the large metal doors, I started to hear a faint building of white noise. I shook my head, the static getting a little louder. Twintails looked back as I stopped in the snow, putting a hoof to my head. What the heck was going on? “Minty, are you feeling alright?” He asked. I tried to nod but the static was giving me a headache. It felt like my horn was vibrating painfully. I shook my head again; hoping whatever was causing this would pass. I looked over the edge of the hill, feeling a bit nauseous. Twintails walked over to me, looking worried. I panted a bit as the static began to fade, my headache going with it. “W-what happened? Should we head back to Turnpike?” I stood up straight, shuddering lightly and resting a hoof against my temple. Don't tell me my augmentations could be loose...

“Ugh... I don’t know...” I said, swallowing the bit of acid that’d creeped up from my stomach to my throat. “I... think my horn just picked up something weird.” We trotted into the bunker, the doors sliding shut behind us. Trotting down the stairs, the sound of our hooves clanking on metal flooring echoed through the hallways. We came to the entrance hall, a squeal coming from the left. Before I could react, I was tackled to the ground. Oh, hi cousin.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re ok!” Nova said, hugging me tightly. “YouguysweregoneforsolongandoneofourscoutssaidtheysawtwoponiesbeingattackedbyaHellHoundandIthoughtyoutwoweregonersbutnowyou’rehereandfineandnotdead!” She said at a mile a minute. Twintails snickered a bit as I pushed Nova off. “Don’t scare me like that again! Write or something!” She said, letting me stand back up, the wide smile on her face giving way to an expression of light confusion. “What’re you guys doing back here, anyways?”

Twintails spoke up, trying to hide his chuckles. “W-we were looking for a ranger. He saved us from those big... dog things. I didn’t see his face, but he was using an anti-tank rifle chambered in point-five-o BMG, if that’s any help.” Nova tilted her head to the side as she thought for a moment, gently tapping a hoof to her chin. "This was in Trotisk, about a week ago. Just want to, well, say thanks."

“Hm... well, that really isn’t that helpful, honestly. There are a ton of guys here who use sniping weaponry, even exclusively, and most all of them are deployed at the same time.” Twintails' ears drooped, the pegasus looking a little disappointed. “We could head to the records to see if anything was reported lately. You two were spotted fighting that thing, but I don’t know if anypony reported helping out.” She trotted off down a hall, Twintails and I following. Well, isn’t everypony here just a big warm family.

We turned down a few halls, passing by a workshop before finding our way into another large room filled with terminals. A few scribes were reading the screens, typing in a few lines of data here and there. Nova walked up to one of the terminals, flipping a switch on the side. The screen flickered to life, a few green lines starting to scroll up it as Nova punched in a few commands. “If anything was reported, it should’ve been pretty recently.” Nova hit enter, the computer starting to search through it's banks for anything relevant.

A few results popped up after some minutes of searching: “Scout Report: 09-23-68, Scout Report 09-27-68, [CORRUPTED FILE].” Nova opened the first document. “Scout 829, a couple scavengers were found wandering around the Snowdrop Test Site. Questioned, audio recording uploaded. Later had a run in with a Hell Hound, but managed to kill it with Scout 731 and Scout 284, who sustained minor lacerations through armor.” Nova closed it before opening the next. “Scout 432. Two ponies were spotted exiting the R&G facility before being attacked by a pair of Hell Hounds. Injured and killed one, before being attacked by the other. They injured it before it was brought down by an unidentified sniper, both passing out soon after.” Again Nova closed the file before attempting to open the corrupted one, a string of unintelligible characters filling the screen.

Nova gave a grunt of frustration, banging the side of the terminal a bit. “I keep telling the head scribe to have these things looked over, they crash more often than a drunk parasprite.” She closed the terminal, looking annoyed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you guys out. You’re willing to try fiddling with it, but I don’t know if it’ll be much use. I’m going to go talk to Scribe Flare, she really needs to get these things fixed. I’ll see you guys later.” Nova trotted down the hall, her hoof steps quickly fading away.

Twintails looked over to me, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. “You think you can get it to work?” He asked. I smiled a little, tilting my head towards the port, inserting my horn into it. That data won’t be corrupted for long. My eyes filled with streams of code as I felt electricity course through my horn and the interlocking wires in my head. I jumped over to the corrupted file, the useless numbers and letters flashing before me. A few words jumped out, Knight, Hell Hound, Pegasus, Fringe, Blunt Trauma... ugh, there’s no way I’m fixing this stuff. I removed my horn, powering the terminal back down.

“Well, that corrupted stuff’s an absolute mess, I don’t think I can touch that, but I managed to decode a couple words. Not sure how much it’ll help, but who knows.” Twintails nodded as I punched in the gibberish into my Pip-Buck. We turned to leave, my mane standing a bit on end from the extra charge. We wandered through the halls a bit, trying to find our way back out. Twintails had to drag me away from one of the workshops we passed. Come on, Twintails, it could make big explosions too, probably!

We were climbing up the steps back out of the facility as I started to hear the static again. This isn’t good... I felt dizzy again as we stepped onto the snow, the static growing louder in my mind. I fell to my rear, feeling sick. Twintails looked back at me, seriously worried. “Hey, are you ok? I don’t need you having another stroke!” He sat next to me, as I groaned a bit. As I sat, I heard a faint of list of numbers. 2… 8… 23… 51… 92… 85... 6…” Aargh, make it stoooop! I crawled to the edge of the hill again, the constant headache migrating to my stomach. Oh geez, not now. Queasiness overtaking, I deposited my lunch on the other side of the hill. Were... were those numbers in my vomit? I shook my head as the static died back down, Twintails helping me to my hooves. “What’s going on with you? Maybe heading back today isn’t the best idea.” He said.

I groaned, putting a hoof to my head again. “I-I don’t know… I think something’s interfering with my horn. Radio waves from the atmosphere, maybe...” I started to walk down the hill. “No, we need to get going. Whatever’s doing it’s gone and reception should be worse if we’re not on top of a mountain.” I said. Twintails matched my pace as we made our way down. He looked a little concerned as he pulled up his Pip-Buck. Flicking through the screens, he blinked a few times, slowing down behind myself as he fiddled with it.

“Hey, there’s another signal here.” He said. He flipped to it. The static started to build again with my headache and the need to puke. For the love of Celestia, turn it off! Twintails noticed my discomfort and quickly flipped it back off. “G-gah! Sorry...” He apologized. “The station just says ‘SCH-184’. That mean anything to you?” I shook my head, still waiting for it to clear completely. Twintails looked back to his Pip-Buck, flipping on Hi-Fi. Tom’s voice came in clearly, accompanied by a piano, as we trotted back to Trotisk.

Be prepared! That’s the Colt Scouts’ solemn creed.
Be prepared! Wash your hooves before you feed.
Don’t sell away your sister, that’s not nice,
Unless we get a good percentage of her price.

Be prepared! And be careful not to do, your good deeds,
When there’s nopony watching you
If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind,
And you come across a Filly who is similarly inclined,
Don’t be nervous
Don’t be flustered
Don’t be scared!

Be prepared!

---

I entered the Plasma Spaz alone, Twintails having gone off for more ammo. Sugar Rush trotted out of the back room, smiling as she noticed me. “Hey, perfect timing! Greasy’s been wanting to see you, she’s still in back.” I followed her through the door and up some rickety stairs. We entered a small flat on top of the store, Greasy sitting on a stained couch, leaning over a table, fiddling with the wings. She looked over as we stepped in, she smiled as I trotted up to her.

“Hey, it’s good to see you again. Where’s Twintails?” She asked. I explained he’d headed over to the Gun Runners. She nodded before sitting back in the couch a bit. “So... s-sorry for getting freaked out earlier and trying to shoot you guys.” I smiled, Greasy chuckling a little as she thought back to the events. “Sugar Rush helped me fix some of my stuff up. It may not be the factory... or Rusty... but I wouldn’t mind staying here, at least for a bit, so I suppose I ought to fill my end of the bargain.” She leaned down, opening the safe next to the couch, pulling out a ring of keys. She pulled one and tossed it to me. “If you guys dig around near my bunker, there’s another hidden door. There should be plenty of stuff in there; you’ll probably find some motors.” I nodded and thanked her, stowing the key in my saddlebags.

“And… well…” She stopped me as I turned to head out. “Sugar and I fixed up Rusty’s wings.” She lifted them up, the polished brass shining brightly. “I think she’d have liked it to get at least a couple uses out of it, and it does need to be tested anyway.” My grin widened. Was she serious? “I’d... I'd like you to try them out, just to make sure they work. Do not break them.” She said, a little uncharacteristically serious. Sugar lifted the wings up in her aura, levitating them over to me. She shifted my saddlebags a bit, resting the wings gingerly upon my spine and affixing the underbelly strap. The large Microfusion pack rested on my back, the metal bars and joints folded up into a resting position.The blades rested against my sides. Sugar flipped a switch on the pack, the levitation talismans whirring into life as a thick wire was rolled up to my neck and a receptor clicking onto the skin above my spine.

I felt just a bit lighter, shifting my weight as one of the wings unfolded itself. My grin grew even wider as I rotated the wing, giving it a few slow flaps before folding it back. “I... wow... t-thanks!” I said. Greasy smiled, insisting I test it out. “I’ll keep them safe!” I said before Sugar led me back downstairs.

“If you need any more ammo, just grab it on the way out, you wouldn’t believe how excited I am to rebuild all this stuff. I'm pretty sure my superiors wouldn't mind a few missing things.” She said, grinning just as widely as I was. She headed back upstairs as I grabbed a few microfusion cells before walking outside. Twintails was waiting outside the Gun Runners, his jaw dropping as he saw me trotting up, eyes wide. What, never saw an alicorn before, Twinnie?~

“You like them?” I asked, showing off the wings. He was speechless, just staring at the shimmering brass and gold. I chuckled. “Greasy wanted me to test them out. Oh, she also gave me the key to find the motors.” I began to almost skip to the R&G factory, Twintails running to catch up after he snapped back to reality.

“I just... wow... those things are awesome! I joked that you were a princess earlier, but I didn’t think it’d come true.” I glared a little at him as he snickered. “Well, I guess that’ll be a quick way back to NEAMO. Y'know, assuming you don’t crash on the way there~” I only rolled my eyes as we made our way to R&G. We trotted in, spotting a few giant roaches poking around the dead ones. Twintails pulled out his luger, shooting them both. “Whewe we goin’ ayway?”

I stepped over the roaches - egh, I’ll never get used to this stuff. “Greasy said there was another hidden door near her bunker, there should be some motors in there.” We walked down the hall, killing any other roaches we came across. Dust still seemed to be settling as we approached Greasy’s door, a securi-mare spouting random phrases in a garbled voice. Twintails started to run his hoof over the wall, looking for another chink in it. I dropped down, inspecting the floor for a trap door. After a few minutes of searching, Twintails spoke up.

“I think I found it.” He said. I stood up, brushing a cobweb off of my muzzle. I walked around the corner to him. He stood near a torn anti-zebra poster, running his hoof up and down a small seam in the wall. “There’s got to be a keyhole… here!” He pointed to the wall. I leaned in, levitating out the key, spotting the small hole he was pointing to and inserting it. It took a few moments of jiggling, but there was a little click and the door swung inwards. Twintails’ eyes widened as an excited grin popped on his face. I looked up, my heart rate increasing a bit and eyes widening in disbelief as Twintails laughed animatedly.

The room was full of missiles.

Oh. My. Goddesses. Cruiser-class mark 4 guided cruise missiles, megaspell capable, and they still have the original Royal Equestrian Navy markings! Hydrogen-fueled thrust turbines, swept-wings constructed of rolled impact-resilient steel, those beautiful, -beautiful- thrust vectoring nozzles and sleek, smooth skin... somepony smack me, I must be dreaming. The mass of rubber and metal impacting my cheek, accompanied by a series of metal blades hitting firmly against the back of my head, proved that assumption wrong rather quickly. Ow... oh, screw the pain, I have missiles! A stupid grin stayed firmly across my face as I looked up to the unicorn beside me, a distinct stern look on his face.

"Don't even think about it. We're here for the lift motors, not to satisfy your... whatever. I think the wasteland's been nuked enough." Chuckling weakly, I trotted up to look over the missiles more closely, lost in their effervescent beauty as they sat preserved, resting on their launch tracks, waiting for their call to action. Oh, these things would've been fantastic to see, the whine of the turbines as they went up to speed, bluish flames jutting from the nozzle before the force of rapidly expanding steam propelled it off of the missile cruiser deck and out into the dark night, the megaspell warhead armed and ready to detonate above the target designated. I think I may have squeed a bit as I made way around to the front, the long aerodynamic prong jutting from the nose's front out a foot or so being just high enough to comfortably trot underneath. The panel at the front, that was where the flight control talismans were kept, plenty of space for... wait... plexiglass? What the...

I peered further into the canopy, half-expecting to see the megaspell warhead through the clear panel, instead finding a seat... slots for wings... hoof controls... where's the flight control maneframe? Why are there so many dials and buttons? Where's the warhead!? What the hell kind of cruise missiles were these supposed to be, no megaspell payload, pegasus-controlled, pah. Damn things could only explode as big as the hydrogen talismans could cause, unless they were loaded with balefire eggs, or C4, or something... actually, that sounded like it could work pretty well. Hey, maybe these things weren't so useless after all...

A grin still on my face, I turned in time to duck as a wooden board flew over my head and out of Minty's magic, the unicorn groaning and resting a hoof against his face. "Well, I found the lift motors, seven of them. In other words, seven trips all the way to NEAMO." Trotting up alongside him, I peered into the wooden crate. Sure enough, there were seven arguably massive electric motors resting inside it, each one easily the size of the bomb Featherweight had carried in. Considering how much trouble Minty had lifting that thing, and the fact that we probably shouldn't tell everypony we meet that there's a group of ghouls refurbishing a gigantic megaspell-flinging cannon out here, that ruled out Featherweight helping and otherwise just translated to seven very long and painful trips. I looked up to Minty as he rested against the crate, shaking his head back and forth as he started to levitate out the first motor.

"Maybe we should find a cart or something? I mean, there's gotta be some way we can deliver these things fast. Hell, I dunno, stick rockets onto them or..." I let myself trail off, looking to the series of three pegasus-flyable cruise missiles. Without the warhead taking up space... the motors weren't really that big, too... It was just the right level of crazy to work. "Minty... I think I know why there are cruise missiles down here." A grin grew across my muzzle, looking to the large swept-wing cruisers, Minty following my gaze. His expression changed from confusion to disbelief, and then to a look that I could best describe as him thinking that I'm absolutely bonkers. I really couldn't blame him.

"You... you can't be serious. We're going to use a missile?! Don't those things, you know, kind of explode with the force of a megaspell?!" He set the motor down on the floor, taking a few steps back as I moved forwards towards the missiles, chuckling gleefully. I looked along the first one, pressing on a red button along the side of the canopy, both it and a metal panel further down the body opening up to allow entrance into the body. I peered into the second compartment - the motors ought to all fit inside here, which means Minty can ride behind the pilot seat. It'll be snug, but hell, it's quicker than walking there! I'm sure I can fly this thing. Maybe. Minty was still rather skeptical. "You're serious. Oh great, he's serious. Why do I travel with you again?"

"Because I'm great in bed and you know it." Minty stalled for a moment, stuttering, seeming to say something as a blush came over his face. He looked down to the motor on the floor, letting off a defeated sigh - told you~ I chuckled a bit, one that died off as I saw him hoofing at the ground, head lowered. Oh, right, line crossing... letting off a sigh, I trotted up to him, resting a hoof upon his shoulder. "Look, how about this, we get this done and no matter what the Doc sends us off to do next, we're going to focus on getting your Stable open, by -any- means neccessary." He lifted his head, his horn glowing and loading the first motor in, sighing. Nodding, he trotted up to the side of the missile, looking into the cockpit idly and ruffling his, ah, 'wings'. They sounded like knives in a cupboard.

"So, you're going to be flying this thing? Don't these usually have a pre-set course, or something?" I trotted about to the other side of the missile, leaning up into the cockpit and peering in at the control panel a second time. Reaching in and pushing at the metal rod that protruded up from in front of the seat, a whirring of electric motors could be heard, sections on the wings moving in accordance with the motion. The smile I wore grew larger, chuckles escaping myself.

"I read an article in the Mooscow museum about a pre-war company developing pony-controlled aircraft from old cruise missiles, they were thinking of sticking machine guns on them so they could attack dragon fleets and shoot up Zebra munitions encampments. Dunno if this thing still has the automatic targeting maneframe, but if not, then at the very least I think I understand how this thing's supposed to work..." My augmented friend looked at me rather skeptically, taking a step back from the missile as I leaned more into the cockpit. A weak chuckle escaped me, looking down into the area for the rear legs and the pedals at the bottom. Not especially roomy, these things. Minty's magic flared up, the sound of wood boards being broken out of the way of the second motor filling the room ahead.

"I hope you know what you're talking about. I promised Greasy I wouldn't break these things, and I intend to keep that promise, y'know." The sound of the second heavy motor being lowered into the cargo compartment of the missile sounded fuller from inside the cockpit, a gentle but distinct thud as the cylinder settled. The mess of dials and indicators was still boggling, but at least some were marked - gyroscopic horizon, altimeter, indicated airspeed, climb rate, cupholder adjustment... this thing had cupholders? Sweet~ Leaning further in to better see some of the smaller guages, Minty dropped the third motor in as well, a sound that needless to say surprised me rather quickly. Oooh, hm, yeah, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have your head on this part of the chair...

After a few moments of struggling and flapping, I finally got myself unwedged from the cockpit of the missile, my rear end and tails slamming into the roof. Ow. Setting myself back down upon the ground as Minty watched and snickered, a klaxon sounded from up above, red warning lights spinning and illuminating the roof as two metal sections upon it split open and dropped a fine caking of dust upon the top of the missiles, and making the whole room reek more of age and disuse. Long rails lit up along the sides of the room the doors opened up to, revealing them to lead straight up and to the open air above - well, there's our exit strategy, then! In retrospect, actually, I don't think we could fit this thing out the front doors in the first place...

---

"I -really- hope you know what you're doing..." Minty clutched his Cross Stitch plush tightly against himself, squeezed into the space behind the pilot's seat. With a few idle moments of button pushing, the talismans that provided the fuel for the turbine started, a low whine able to be heard as the intake near the front began drawing in the air of the workspace, the acrid smell of burning old dust being kept from us thanks to the cockpit glass. I grinned widely, looking over the side and peering down to the ground a few feet below, another push of a button causing a jolt as the old hydraulic systems lifted the track the missile was resting upon upwards, a section moving out and mating with the track that ran up the exit tunnel. Keep your eyes on the control panel Twintails, don't stare into the endless abyss of sky above... pushing a lever forwards, the whine of the engine increased, several of the needles on the guages spinning upwards. We didn't seem to be moving all that much, though.

"Huh... I really thought that these things just launched after a while of the engine running at full." I rubbed at my head with a hoof, Minty leaning forwards and peering at the controls as well. Red, green, and amber lights all flickered across it, guages hovering above full. A clock in one panel read out that it was already well into the afternoon. I tapped at some of the readouts, lower hooves resting against the pedals below, before leaning - well, laying - back against the seat. My forehooves rested at the sides of the chair, a red button blinking on the control shaft. I watched it for a moment, reaching a hoof out and grabbing it once more, Minty shuffling and bracing himself behind me. "Maybe... thWOAH!"

The button clicked, and suddenly the gaping sky started becoming much, much closer at a quite astonishing rate. Welp, there's another pair of pants ruined. The controls were stiff, a new green light filling the group, labeled with the word, I think, 'ATOL'. The altimeter needle spun rapidly, the cloud layer getting so, so, -so- goddess-damned close, both of us forced backwards by the acceleration of the missile. Streaks of water flowed over the glass as we punched clean through the thin clouds, myself wrenching my eyes shut. Nope, nopenopenope, the sky is too scary for me! Take me down, please! The craft seemed to slow down and level out, myself burying my hooves into my eyes and cowering underneath the control panel. Minty gave off a gasp of astonishment, his hoof pushing at my wings gently.

"Twintails... you, you've got to see this... goddesses above, you have got to see this..." Slowly I let my hooves stop trying to pop my eyeballs - eck, forgot that that happened when you pushed on your eyes - blinking them to clear away the weird ghost things left behind. Lifting my head up past the controls, the sight through the cockpit glass as we screamed along high above the wasteland, slowly dropping down back into the clouds, was... well... it was beautiful. Far off to the distance, out near the mountains that bordered Mooscow and held our Stables, the sky above melded from hues of orange to a deep, dark blue, a massive white disc stuck upon it. It took a moment to remember what that was - I know I've seen it before. It, it had something to do with one of the princesses... it was the moon.

The whine of the engine behind us filled the air as we both sat and watched the night sky slowly rolling over above in a stunned silence, the onboard heaters keeping us both comfortable at this height. Though, looking out at the sight of unclouded sky, the vast, wide expanse that stretched out in all directions for forever, illuminated both by Celestia's setting sun and Luna's rising moon, you really couldn't think about something like that. Such raw, unending beauty high above, hidden by that damned irradiated cover... it just wasn't fair to anypony on the surface. The cloud cover drew closer to the bottom of the craft, the sleek nose eventually passing through and clouds flying over the windscreen again, covering up the night sky. I blinked a few times, looking backwards to Minty - his jaw was still agape, eyes widened, the small plush of his coltfriend held loosely in his hoof as a filly would cradle her own doll, the sensation of amazement still staying as we rested in the soft glow from the control panel.

"Holy... what the hell is that?" The missile continued on it's slight downward slope, the fog around Pripytrot being cut to the east by a massive black scorch mark in the snow, a sick greenish tint lingering about it. Minty placed a hoof against the glass of the canopy, silent for a few moments. A faint ticking sound came from our pip-bucks as we passed by the mark, the panel lighting with warnings of possible radiation leak, or...

"...that was caused by the bomb. I saw it in old test films, a big scar on the lakebeds where all that was left was a crater and black mark. Bombs were designed for air bursts, ground bursts just didn't do enough immediate damage..." We both watched as the mark passed out of our field of view, the missile still slowly arcing downwards. "Lasting damage in the form of fallout, though..." Our geiger counters continued to click, the background noise dying off slowly as the day, and our flight, continued on.

It only felt like a few fine minutes before the side of the mountains to our right shot by the outer edge of the cruise missile's wing, a contrail of snow forming as I struggled to get the damned thing away from what was likely a very thin layer of snow covering a very thick layer of solid frozen rock. Minty had taken to holding onto his plushie again, no doubt squeezing it tighter as the whine of the turbine behind us finally gave out - well, that's just dandy. At least we won't be going any faster, now. I pulled back hard on the stick, which really seemed adamant about not budging in the slightest, pressing at the assortment of buttons on the control panel. Fuel jettison? No. Flaps? I think the wings are rigid, so not happening. Air brake? Well, worth a shot...

There was a distinct feeling of decelration which sent Minty jolting forwards into the rear of the metal seat, the clang of his metal horn and a rather distinct sound of glass shattering filling the cockpit for a few moments. I glanced behind, catching my augmented friend covering his eyes and rubbing at them, holding them closed tightly, his glasses nowhere to be found... at least in one piece, anyways. How the hell did they survive this long in the first place? "Fuck... ah, fuck, my glasses..."

"Minty! Are you alright?" He seemed to rub at his eyes, waving his augmented hoof in reassurance and looking up. He blinked a few times, his eyes going wide as he looked past myself, jaw wide and hoves rushing to clutch the plushie of Cross Stitch. I turned myself forwards, looking over the control panel and seeing... oh, hello ground! Fancy meeting you at a couple hundred kilometers per hour. Oh, this is gonna be fun...

The entire craft shook as it belly-flopped against the snow, white spray overtaking the cockpit glass and covering the forward vision, making the lights from the controls illuminate the interior more. We glided for a few moments before the craft smashed against the ground again, this time with a groaning and tearing of metal that successfully ruined another pair of pants and made me really wish I had some kind of little plush friend to cuddle in the moments before we died in a firey flaming wreck. I felt pushed back into my seat by the overwhelming forces, thrown like a ragdoll in a basket as glimpses of the ground and sky melded together from the covered canopy, another jolt giving a momentary sense of weightlessness before the groan of metal and impact of cold snow brought everything back to earth, cracks forming in the windshield cover as everything was spun upside-down and thrown against me. Ooh, pretty stars...

---

The cool air blew about myself as I rested on the large expanse of metal plating, idly watching the sky above with wings spread out and head resting on my hooves. A series of six contrails appeared high in the sky, dual lines split between three jet-powered air craft, soaring like the massive silver birds they were. The sound of a metal latch swinging open filled the air behind myself, leaning my head back to look upside-down at the thick metal plating at the back of the turret, and the stallion who poked his head out of it, a soft green camoflauge hat covering his mane and cigar held in his mouth. I rolled myself over, stretching my wings and smiling, rising to my hooves.

"C'mon Twintails, we're headed out. Spotters report a bunch of Zebra armor up on the ridge, we're gonna take care of it." With an idle nod, I let off a yawn, trotting along the long, flat back of the heavy tank, and hovering up onto the turret position. The stallion ducked his head back down into the dark depths, the engine below whirring to full power and propelling the massive beast along, a gentle breeze felt from the upwards position. I dropped my lower half into the body, resting my rear hooves on the seat and merely relaxing for the moment, watching the landscape slowly moving past. I couldn't help but smile, trundling along at a nice slow pace, relaxing for the moment.

A slow roar screamed overhead, myself peering skywards, catching another pair of contrails - oh, right, we were making bigger versions of those things, weren't we? Something about having them carry megaspell warheads, I think. The breeze generated from the motion of the heavy metal beast filled my ears once more, watching as the larger silvery bird continued along. A trail of smoke seemed to arc towards it, following behind a bright light - what could that be? Flare, maybe? Or...

My vision lit up with a brilliant flash, prompting me to drop back into the darkness of the tank, my hoof covering my eyes. The light... the heat... it was getting hotter. My face was burning. My foreleg muscles tried in vain to remove it from my face, my vision filled with a sickly black and red. I pulled harder, feeling a straining, tearing sensation, a wail of pain escaping myself as eventually my foreleg pulled itself free from my face. I tried to close my eyes, blink away the pain, cry. My vision fell to the reddened, scarred golden coat on my hooves, an especially horrifying sight greeting me - those... those were my eyelids! Salty sweat fell from my forehead and stung in the fresh wounds, eyes kept open wide, forcing me to watch, and feel, and smell. The room was filling with the scent of burining, cooking, sizzling, and screaming pony flesh. I joined in in the screaming, adding to the endless, torturous noise, the room turning a hot red as flames burst through every possible crack.

Oh, goddesses, make it stop, make it all stop! Th-the voice, oh, no, not the voice...

'Bite the bit. Pull the trigger. Stop the pain...'

---

I gasped, my vision clouded and blurry. Phantom pains stung the area around my eyes, myself raising a hoof to hold against my temple, groaning groggily. A faint tinkling of magic aura filled my ears as I lifted myself up, gaining my bearings, taking stock. Right... naked... well, that's wonderful. Minty's laying in a bed beside me, also naked, alright, at least we're not seperated. And there's a green earth pony in an orange jumpsuit with a pair of antenna sticking out of his brown mane looking over at me with eyes filled with curiosity. Antennas, right. I blinked a few times - oh goddesses, that was such a wonderful luxury - leaning back against the headrest of the... bed, I guess.

You know, I think I'm starting to get used to weirdness. At least, when it's not straight-out trying to kill me, anyways...

"Morning! Or, well, good night, as the time is! That was a nasty crash your craft had, how did you manage to deactivate your thrust compartment mid-flight?" The, ah, I really don't think 'earth' pony would be appropriate - space pony, I guess, trotted up to myself, his deedly-bopper antennas bouncing and moving over my body. If he impregnates me... "No matter, you both seem to be fine enough! Good thing you landed here, there isn't anyone out here for miles, at least anyone who isn't buried underground right now. Weird place for your kind to stick a radio station, behind a huge steel door like that!" He looked up and smiled, Minty groaning beside us. Underground radio station... CONELRAD? Oh, this motormouth is making my head hurt. Or, maybe it was just the concussion.

"Right... ah, th-thanks, I guess? Who are you, and where are we, anyways?" I watched the weird - I really don't want to use the 'a' word, but - alien pony move over to Minty, still smiling and reaching to roll my friend over onto his back. This was definitely some interesting architecture, not even the Stables were this, ah, round-ish? Braced? Damnit, I'm a warhead expert, not a construction consultant! My augmented friend snorted awake, momentary panic overtaking his eyes as he shot up in the bed.

"Gah! Numbers! Zebras! Cross Stitch! Sparkle Cola!!" Boy, that must have been one right hell of a nightmare. The alien pony blinked a few times, smiling, his antennas bouncing about a bit as he walked around the side of the bed. Minty rubbed at his eyes, blinking a few times as well, following the pony with his head before feeling about on the small table next to him. With his normal hoof, he picked up his glasses, sliding them on and readjusting his eyes. They went wide as he focused on the alien, himself grabbing the blankets he was under and pulling them up against his bare body, looking back over to me. "Twintails... what's going on here? And, ah, am I... hey... who fixed my glasses?" He paused, dropping the blanket and tapping at the lenses, blinking. He was right, weren't they shattered when we landed? The alien pony stepped up, smiling, a small tube of gel-like substance held in a free hoof.

"I hope you don't mind, I tried to help fix up all that I could with your things. Your craft was pretty badly beat up from the impact, but it should be fixed in a half-hour or so. Why didn't you just use those six pulse motors you had onboard when the primary engine failed? Or, conversely, why didn't you just bail out? You both seemed to have working wings at the time!" He tilted his head, smiling at the both of us, chuckling lightly. We looked between ourselves, myself shrugging and sitting up, leaning forwards and ruffling my wings idly. Minty was silent for a moment, before gasping heavily and jumping out of the bed, looking behind himself at his back. His pupils shrunk, legs wobbling for a moment, looking over at the alien pony who still wore a smile of oblivious curiosity. He straightened up, a look I found synonymous with the smell of ozone and vaporizing zebra skull upon his face as he started walking up to the alien. Well, great, going to cause an interplanetary incident now, Minty? Welcome to Equestria - we swear we're not racist!

"Where. Are. My. Wings." The neverending smile the alien pony wore faltered more and more at each word, turning to an expression of fear as Minty trotted forwards, towards him, eventually ending up staring quite furiously into his eyes. The alien pony took a step back, pointing to a pair of what I think are crates at the other end of the room, shaking on his hooves. As Minty turned to approach the crates, he dove for the opposite side of my bed, seeming to hide behind it, watching my unicorn friend and shaking as he cowered. Okay, my turn to be the confused pony.

"Uh, what's up with you?" I slid off of the bed, trotting around to the side the alien was hiding upon, squeezing... what I -think- was a plushie of a yellowish snake. He looked up to myself, his deedly-boppers drooped down like his ears, leaning against the side of the bed and peering over it at Minty. The unicorn had slid into his barding and reattached the mechanical wings, and now was just working on removing all the other personal effects from inside the crate.

"Th-that pony scares me... what's -his- problem?" He motioned to Minty, moving back up onto his hooves, the plush snake laying about his neck as his orange jumpsuit squeaked with his movements. My own barding - quite neatly folded, and appearing pretty clean, actually - levitated over to myself, Minty watching the both of us with a soft smile and small wave of his augmented hoof. I waved back, the alien pony cowering back down beside the bed. I bit gently at my lower lip, thinking for a moment, letting off a soft sigh.

"A lot's just been happening. You don't have to try to understand." I reached out a hoof, the alien pony taking it and righting himself, a soft smile coming back to his face. I returned it, turning and trotting to the end of the bed, and then turning to meet up with Minty. The alien pony trotted beside me, slowing down as we started getting closer to my augmented friend. "I'm Twintails, by the way. This is Minty Candy." The alien pony smiled, albeit softly, anxiously hoofing against the metal floor as Minty trotted up to him. He chuckled weakly, rubbing at the back of his head with a hoof, blushing and looking to the side. I trotted between them, looking at them both, rolling my eyes and letting off a sigh. Don't make me have to do this, Minty... "Minty, I think there's something you wanted to say to... um..."

"K-KB. My name's KB." There was a momentary pause, before Minty moved forwards, squeezing the alien in a gentle hug. His green cheeks went a rather distinct shade of red, stuttering and frozen in place, the unicorn chuckling and taking a small step backwards.

"Ah, no hard feelings? S-sorry, I just really can't afford to lose these things. Promised a friend." KB flashed a small smile between his dumbfounded looks, turning himself about and nodding towards us. He glanced back at Minty, a blush still on his cheek, us both following behind him. Minty dropped my saddlebags and rifles on my back the familiar clinking returning and filling in behind the sounds of hooves against metal and the ambience from the rest of the ship. The chill of the wasteland greeted us as we soon reached an exit, the alien pony smiling and still blushing, hiding his face from Minty.

"Y-your ship is still repairing, but i-it should be done in a few more m-minutes. G-g-good luck, whatever you're doing. Eheh..." He giggled somewhat weakly, moving back into the ship as we stepped out into the cool air of the wasteland. Minty peered around, myself grimacing at the long scar in the snow - gee, wonder what caused that. I'm a pegasus, doesn't mean I'm a good pilot. He glanced at his pip-buck, his mechanical wings sproinging outwards with a sound comparable to a sword being unseathed. Huh, mechanical wingboners, how about that. He shot up from the ground, flying high up and over to the eastern sky, sihlouetted against the black clouds by his white coat. Uhm, well, flying lesson at night, I guess that makes sense...

"Minty? What's up?" Following behind him, I brought up my pip-buck myself, moving over to the map screen - we were THAT far south!? Goddesses, I am not a good pilot... though, that did explain why he went off in such a rush like that. Huh, an alien crash site so close to Stable 76, who knew?

---

We landed up on a ridge overlooking the mountain Minty's Stable was built into, the clouds above seeming even darker than usual. Minty panted heavily, his wings slowly returning to their original positions against his body, himself sowly trotting forwards down the slope. I hovered alongside him, peering down to the road that ran along the mountainside, idly scratching a hoof against my head. Man, the bloatsprites must be getting bigger, those were at least seven or eight big black dots hovering out of the Stable entrance. Minty stopped for a moment, grumbling and hefting his large cannon onto his shoulder, myself sliding a round into the grenade rifle and peering downrange. Long-range target practice it is! Oh, look, they're even stopping in one place for us, how nice~ I chuckled, watching them all crowding together in a small ditch, their black bodies glinting against the light of their plasma weapons and hooves resting beneath their metallic wings... wait a minute.

Minty was getting ready to fire, myself landing in front of him and rapidly trying to disarm his big cannon, a confused and surprised look rolling across his face. He lowered his gun, peering down to the entrance of his Stable, myself pressing him against the side of the hill. We shivered in the snow, myself keeping a hoof pushed against his chest, rolling off of him and looking down to the road again, and the ditch beside it. "Twintails! What are you-"

A bright red laser came down from high above, cutting through the clouds. We both watched for a few moments before the laser flashed, lining up directly on... Stable 76. There was a few tense moments of silence, the black dots in the ditch moving only slightly as the sky was illuminated brilliantly through the clouds. Ah, a missile? Balefire warhead!? Megaspell, they have a mgeaspell!?! A bright light burst through the clouds, splitting them apart as the beam rocketed down from the sky. Everything slowed down, moving in perfect clarity - the white-hot rod smashed down through the side of the mountain, hurling dirt, ice, and rock far away from the impact, causing an unwelcoming cloud. The ground underneath us shook, the snow being thrown about as the earth itself rocked and churned. What kind of megaspell was THAT!? Was it even a megaspell?! What... what the hell!?!

---

"Welcome to CONELRAD, 640-1240 on your AM radio dial. This is a bulletin to the residents of the North Equestrian mountains, from the cities of Trotisk, Quebuck, Pripytrot, Mooscow, Emerald Ridge and Steel Creek; this is not a drill. Equestria is currently under attack with knetic and explosive weapons of massive yield. Remain calm and proceed to your nearest bomb shelter, fallout shelter, or Stable, if you have a reserved spot. This is NOT a drill. We will continue broadcasting for an indefinite period. We repeat, Equestria is currently under attack with kinetic and explosive weapons of massive yield. Remain calm and proceed to your nearest bomb shelter, fallout shelter, or Stable, if you have a reserved spot. This is NOT a drill. We will continue broadcasting for an indefinite period. We repeat, Equestria is currently under attack with kinetic and explosive weapons of massive yield..."

I stood up quickly, my head still ringing from the blast. W-what happened!? There was the laser, the blast... I froze. My Stable. My breaths became more shallow. Shit. Shit shit shit shit. This can't be happening. I looked around quickly, spotting Twintails and forcing him to his hooves. He wobbled a bit, obviously disoriented from the blast, and gathered his bearings as I hitched Ivan to my back. "Wha-what’s going on!? We’re under attack?!" He said, his Pip-Buck picking up an emergency broadcast signal. I flared Greasy’s wings out, the metal blades sliding smoothly against each other as they spread. Twintails looked over to me as I bent my legs, preparing to take off. "Woah, hold it, Minty!" He lept for my tail, forcing me to stumble. "You saw what just happened! We can’t go barreling in there!"

"Well, I’m not staying here!" I said, ripping my tail from his hooves. If those striped-skin bastards want a fight, they’re going to bloody well get one! I spread my wings again, the fan on the back starting to whir louder as the flight talismans sparked to life. I started to run towards the edge of the hill, facing the mountainside where the figures were starting to walk towards the center of the blast zone. Leaping off the cliff, the talismans kicked in as I started to glide towards the small group. Twintails followed me closely, pulling out his grenade rifle and shooting myself a wary look. As we approached the group, a couple had already entered the rubble that used to be the Stable tunnel, the other two standing outside as guards. I prayed the door would delay them long enough for us to get to Cross Stitch... assuming there was still a door there.

We flew in closer, one of the figures jabbing his hoof into the other, before pointing to us. So much for a stealthy approach. They lifted their weapons up, taking aim and firing. A laser shot through the sky, singing my tail - fuck, when did Zebras get energy weaponry?! Twintails fired a shot, his grenade arcing through the air and landing above the figures, forcing them to jump away as some snow fell off the mountainside. I pulled the trigger on Ivan, the charged lightning releasing in a large bolt towards them. The bolt struck one of the Zebras as Twintails shot another grenade, it exploding near their feet, knocking them to their sides. One attempted to fire a few shots off, managing to sear one of Twintails’ hooves, the smell of burning rubber in the air. The blast had freed more snow though, and soon the zebras lost their footing as the snow beneath them fell down the side of the mountain, building into a small avalanche. It carried both figures off over the edge, the bastards becoming buried quite satisfyingly deeply in snow. We landed in the snow next to the broken pieces of wood that used to be the door to the Stable’s tunnel.

"Bastards... winged bastards..." Twintails looked over the edge of the mountain, spitting down into the crevass before appearing beside myself again. I ignored him for the moment, instead ducking under one of the rocks blocking the tunnel. He followed me, some light filtering into the partially collapsed tunnel through holes in the ceiling. "Minty?..." I paused for a moment. What if they were planning to attack again? I... I can’t bring Twintails into this. But, Cross Stitch, he’s still in there! As we started to dig, though, a small doubt crept in the back of my mind.

He’s not there. That blast surely destroyed everything.

No, no he’s still ok! I rushed forward again, Twintails running after me. We wove our way through the broken tunnel, quickly coming to the door. Faded sunlight shone through a large hole in the tunnel’s celing. The giant door was fallen on its side, still intact. A figure in power armor was standing in the doorway, levitating a plasma rifle in his green aura. There was a pony laying on his side, his purple mane and blue coat visible in the dusty air... a pit formed in my stomach. Levitating up Ivan, my horn sparked wildly as I overcharged the battery pack that powered it. "Don’t you FUCKING DARE!"

The power armored pony looked up only to be met with a face full of electrical discharge. He was knocked to the side by the blast, letting loose a scream of pure agony as his faceplate sheared away, exposing the scarred skin and bloodied eye beneath, Twintails pulling out his Luger. The bullets ricocheted off the armor, the pony standing up and looking down the sights of his plasma rifle. I let the Emerald Charge Pack clatter to the ground as I plugged in a new one, the aura around Ivan weakening a bit. Severely regretting not charging up before we left R&G, I fired off another bolt of energy towards the pony, which he managed to jump out of the way from, firing plasma towards us. One shot flew over our heads, the other searing my right cheek. Twintails shot off a few more bullets, one managing to break through the rubber knee joint of the armor. The pony stumbled, giving a soft grunt of pain - oh, you're kidding me, don't tell me that armor has painkillers in it! I fired Ivan again, hitting another one of the pony’s legs. The discharge caused him to fall to his side, dropping his rifle. Twintails grabbed the rifle from out of the dirt, pointing it at the pony.

I paused for a moment, breathing heavily, and looking down at the pony as he twitched in pain. I bent over him, looking for a catch on his helmet. Pushing a small button, a hiss resounded throughout the destroyed entrance chamber as air rushed out of the tubes. The damaged helmet grew loose, allowing me to pull it off of his head. Instead of a dirty striped skin though, I was met by a deep orange stallion... Twintails looked over to me, myself more than a little confused. I thought ponies were the good guys! Sitting the pony against the wall of the cavern, he grunted in pain from his damaged limbs. "Who are you?" I asked - demanded, more like it. The command echoed throughout the cavern, the stallion saying nothing in return, only glaring at me. I glared right back at him, pulling out my pistol and placing the pronged end firmly against his temple. "Twintails, go check on Cross." He was hesitant to leave me alone with the stallion, but he still walked back to Cross to check on him. I looked back to the pony. "Who are you?!" I asked again. He only glared at me more. I could feel my patience running out, quickly pulling the pistol from his head and jamming it into the knee joint Twintails had shot, firing a shot of pure plasma into his wounded leg. There was a certain satisfaction that fell over me as his wails of agony filled the enterance hall, hooves grasping at his leg before I slammed him against the hard rock again.

"Private Rays, platoon 37. We were sent to observe the attack." I put the pistol to his head once more, the pointy tip causing a stream of blood to start staining his orange coat. He had something to do with this, I just knew it. Rays looked up at the pistol, starting to draw in more shallow breaths, gritting his teeth tightly. "We heard about the attack and were sent here to investigate." He repeated. I felt hatred seething up. My Stable just got blown up and you did nothing to stop it!

"I saw you standing next to it when it happened. You knew it was coming." I slamed the butt of the pistol into his forehead, a rather satisfying crunch and scrape heard as his metal armor slid along the rocks, the bastard falling to his side. Everything was building up inside myself. My Stable, my home, my friends, everything. All because of a... a fucking weapons test. I found myself breathing slowly, trying to calm myself. Everypony was dead. I can’t go back. Pure fury building within, I stared at the stallion, his blood falling and staining my Stable's hallway. He only looked up at me, a blank expression on his beaten and scarred face. Two hundred ponies, and he just stood there, and fucking watched...

"You knew about this. You knew what was going to happen and you did NOTHING. You just destroyed my HOME!" I raised my augmented hoof up high above his head, the pony’s eyes growing wide before it connected with his jaw. He yelled out through his broken mouth as I felt the bone snap under my weight. Good. A swift, hard kick in the gut had the asshole coughing up blood. "You. Killed. Everypony." I felt his warm blood on my hoof as I stamped on his jaw again, the bone shattering even more. My mechanical leg whirred as it landed on his trachea, his already satisfyingly squelchy shouts of pain garbled by blood. He was crying underneath me. I wasn't finished. I leaned down, one of the blades of Greasy’s wings moving to just below his neck, the razor-sharp metal mere millimeters from still-pumping blood and other essential organs needed for life. He didn't deserve his. The stallion panted for a moment, spitting out a tooth, looking at me with his dampened, literally blood-stained eyes. There was a flash of bronze as the wing swiftly sliced through his exposed neck, allowing him to give another garbled whimper before finally collapsing on the ground. I stood up and turned around, flicking the blood from the wingblade and onto the cavern wall, Twintails running back to me.

"Cross Stitch is in bad shape, I don’t-" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell upon the dead body. "W-what the hell, Minty?!" He asked, looking horrified. I didn’t answer, instead walking back to Cross. He was cut up, his stomach beaten severely, barely moving. I leaned towards his head, listening intently. He was breathing, but it was ragged and shallow - not good. Lifting him onto my back with my magic, Twintails helped to adjust him around to rest better. "M-Minty, what’s going on?" I started to trot back through the tunnel, Cross’s hooves jostling around.

‎ "We need to get Cross to a hospital. Now." I said simply, stepping out into the dull sunlight. I walked down the hill, Twintails looking concerned. Before he could speak again, I spoke up. "Those ponies weren’t here to investigate, they’re working with Zebras." His eyes went wide as we passed the pile of snow the other power-clad ponies were under.

He paused for a moment as we followed the road, starting to pick up the pace. The stallion draped across my back wheezed - come on, you're going to be fine, Cross. "How do you know?" He asked, looking a little confused. I looked over at him, a little aghast. "W-well, it may have been somepony else! Zebras usually don’t use energy weapons... do they?" I only kept walking, the cold air burning my nose a bit as I breathed more heavily.

I pulled out a health potion and a couple energy cells, flipping my hair back and plugging one of the cells into my temple. Feeling my magic recharge slightly, I lifted the other cell and potion up to Cross Stitch. I plugged the cell into his own temple port and slipped the tip of the bottle into his mouth, keeping him levitated up on my back so as it didn't outright choke him to death. Come on, drink dammit! A few drops managed to slip down his throat, but most of it dribbled out the sides of his mouth. I corked the bottle and unplugged the cell, dropping them all back into my saddlebags. "They easily could’ve been spies."

Twintails still didn’t look convinced. "Well, how did they, uh, did they... oh, nevermind. M-maybe there’s something on the radio about it." He stopped halfway through, starting to twiddle the dials on his Pip-Buck. He turned to Hi-Fi’s channel, her voice crackling in. She sounded visibly distressed, the sound of hooves running back and forth echoing behind her.

"-urtle here, this is an emergency! Equestria is under attack, repeat, Equestria is under attack! The mountain outside of Emerald Ridge has been hit by some form of kinetic bombardment weapon, near Stable 76’s area. We advise ponies to seek out any form of bunker available to them." She paused for a moment and muffled conversation was heard, Tom’s voice cutting through here and there. "Y-yes, thanks, Tom." She breathed in and out, trying to relax. "A reminder, Stable 34 is uninhabitable due to radiation and, while we haven’t heard anything from the area, we don’t recommend Stable 76. Again, Equestria is under attack, find shelter immediately! We’ll come back on when the situation is considered safe again. Stay safe, and keep listening." There was a few seconds of silence before the robotic voice of the automated message returned.

Twintails flipped the radio off while we crunched through the snow, trotting into the outskirts of Emerald Ridge. "Kinetic bombardment... who in the name of the goddesses above could have access to that kind of weaponry?" I looked back at Cross again. Good, he’s still breathing. We just need to keep going. There was a loud buzzing of wings from around the corner of a nearby building, prompting myself to lift out my pistol, Twintails likewise drawing his Luger. A couple bloatflies flew around, one melting into plasma, the other exploding into a mess of flesh as Twintails and I fired. Cross Stitch groaned at the sound of the weapons discharging. We continued on, Twintails checking over his shoulder that we weren’t being followed.

I looked up at the sky nervously. The clouds above had never been a pleasing image, but now... knowing something could strike down from them anytime, that was downright mortifying. I looked back at Cross again, feeling the shallow rising and falling of his chest against my neck. We’re almost there Cross... we’re almost there.

---

The doors in the Mooscow outer walls soon appeared, dirty snow blowing in the wind. Thank Celestia! I sped up, panting in the frozen air, and trying the door - it was locked. No. No, no not now! I banged on the door. "Hey! Bloodbeak! Let us in, now!" I was about to kick down the door when there was a click. The door burst open, Bloodbeak holding up a submachine gun with a drum clip in her claws. "Calm down! It’s us!" I said. Bloodbeak lowered her gun, looking relieved.

"Don’t you two do that to me! The whole town’s going crazy because of that attack, I don’t need fuckin' raiders bursting in here too." She let us in, locking the doors back up. She noticed Cross lain across my back. "Who’s that?" She asked, slinging her weapon across her back on a strap.

I stopped, trying to build up the courage to say something. “The attack... S-stable s-seventy six.” I gulped, starting to feel tears welling up. Twintails put a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up at him, seeing he was very uneasy. No one said anything for a moment, our breath clouding in the air. "Go get Cross to the hospital. I’ll fill in Bloodbeak and see if I can contact Hi-Fi. Maybe she and Tom would be willing to house some ponies in her Stable." I nodded and turned down the street. Nopony was wandering the streets, all probably hiding in their basements. Come on, where’s the hospital? I looked back at Cross yet again. Still breathing. Where’s the hospital? I turned a corner, spotting a building with a large red cross hanging from a sign post, cryllic writing hanging from a sign beneath it. I rushed towards it, bursting in.

The hospital waiting room was full of ponies, all looking worried, some barely able to keep in their seats. I ran up to the receptioinist. "I need to see a doctor, now!" The receptionist looked exasperated, scribbling on a clipboard. She spat the pen out of her mouth and looked up at me. Her expression seemed to brighten in a bit of shock as she saw Cross across my back, spotting the dried blood running down his face. She stood up and motioned for me to follow as she walked through the hallway behind her.

"You’re both lucky a lot of these townsfolk are just here to see their families. Everyone’s downright convinced another strike’s going to come down any second." She said quickly. "Here, this room’s empty." She pushed open a decrepit door, revealing a room with nothing but a bed and small table resting next to it. "Lay him on the bed, I’ll get a doctor." She rushed down the hall as I rolled Cross off my back, taking care not to cut him on my wings. Carefully resting him flat on the bed, I pulled the thin blanket up over his almost-still body.

I looked down at him, watching his chest barely move. "You’re going to be okay, Cross Stitch..." I sniffed as I said it, trying to convince myself, leaning forwards and gently kissing his bloodstained forehead. "P-please..." Tears were starting to fall down my cheek as I sat on the floor, never taking my eyes off of his face. He didn’t move. "You’re going to be okay..."